Word Count: 4793
☾✧☽
You stumbled into the classroom only to be met with another repeat of the day before. Iida was chopping the air, preaching about etiquette and formality to an unbothered Bakugo, who, once again, had his feet propped up on his desk.
You chuckled to yourself as you walked to your desk. You avoided thinking about your childhood with him because it brought back painful memories, but you couldn't help but snicker at his completely unchanged personality.
Idly laying your head on your desk, you fully intended on taking a nice little nap..-
"Hello, (L/N)!"
You groaned and buried your head deeper into your arms as you felt the boy knock softly on your desk.
"(L/N)? A-Are you okay? Do you need me to call-"
"No, no. Just, what do you need?"
You cringed at yourself and tried to hold back your wrath from the innocent freckled boy in front of you. Despite wanting nothing more than to pass out right then and there, you lifted your head to meet his eyes and raised a questioning brow at him.
"Oh! Well, you see.."
Midoriya flushed a deep red as he nervously teetered back and forth. Seriously, his social anxiety was worse than even yours.
"Yes..?"
You sighed at his struggling figure and was about to put your head back down when a jumbled mass of words spilled from his mouth, all in one go.
"II was wondering if you could tell me about your quirk, aha, you see I have this journal where I keep track on everyone.. not in a weird way or anything, I just think quirks are so interesting and-"
"Okay, okay. We are probably doing quirk related exercises today so how about you just watch and I'll answer any questions you have after, alright?"
You sighed, massaging your temples in annoyance. He was a nice kid, but damn was he excessive about everything. Since you weren't nearly as close to him as you were with Bakugo as kids, he didn't really get to find out what your quirk was.
"O-Oh! Alright, great, thank you (L/N)!"
"Call me (Y/N). (L/N) sounds weird."
The greenette's face turned a deep red, and he just about fell over.
"Eehh!? If you say so, (Y/N)!"
You gave him a look as he did a full-on bow, which he thankfully didn't see. The short boy timidly waved at you and skipped back to Uraraka, who was grinning and giving him a thumbs up.
Looking back at your beloved desk with a deep, you folded your arms together to make a makeshift pillow sigh and began to lay your head back down..-
"ATTENTION. It took you seven seconds to get into your seats. That is unacceptable behavior. Now look alive, today we start the real training."
Your head shot up at Mr. Aizawa's shouting. God fucking damnit.
"Well fuck me I guess."
You muttered to yourself bitterly, totally not sending Aizawa death threats for interrupting your nap.
Todoroki, who sat directly in front of you, couldn't help but raise a brow at your rather vulgar language. What did you mean by that? The poor boy furrowed his brows in deep concentration. He could pretty much tell the quirks of everyone in the class; everyone but you.
Meanwhile, the rest of the students glanced at each other nervously. Uraraka raised a trembling hand from the back of the class.
"Erm, Mr. Aizawa, you want us to start training already? It's only the second day..."
The teacher sighed, a stoic expression on his face.
"This is the top hero course, you can't expect to become real heroes if you don't expect to begin training immediately."
The brunette shrunk back in her seat, face flushed in embarrassment as Mr. Aizawa continued his speech.
Out of nowhere, the door flew open, the hulking figure of All Might standing in its frame.
"I AM HERE."
The students gawked at him, both in excitement and confusion.
"Welcome to the hero course! Now, your hero costumes have been tailored based on your requests filled out before the year began. They are over on the wall, grab the suitcase with your name and go change."
And with that, everyone ran to grab their respective suitcases, basically bursting with excitement. You lazily picked up your case and followed the rest of the girls to the locker room.
☾✧☽
You set down your suitcase on one of the benches in the far corner of the locker room. Opening the lid, you nodded to yourself as you sifted through the case. You had just told them to make a simple yet durable outfit, and it seemed pretty accurate to what you were imagining.
(this is your hero costume, if you want to change it you can but don't yell at me if it isn't what you wanted. You also have a black hood and mask to go with the costume if needed for stealth operations. )
You slipped the outfit on, relishing in the way it fit perfectly. Pulling your metal-lined gloves over your fingers, you heard the room suddenly go quiet.
Tentatively, you glanced upwards to see all eyes staring at you. Mina stood with her mouth agape, a light blush on her cheeks. The others quickly followed in suit as they saw your appearance.
"Holy shit (Y/N)! You're jacked!"
The pink haired girl exclaimed, running up to you to get a better look. You awkwardly scratched your neck and nodded, explaining how you went through extensive training throughout middle school.
The rest of the girls wandered over as well, complimenting your hero costume and gushing over your physique. Their grins soon faltered, however, when they noticed the puffy white scars lining your back. Thick lines of scar tissue ran across the otherwise unblemished (S /C) skin; there had to be at least 15 large scars just on the small portion of your back that was revealed.
"Woah, what happened there, (L/N)?"
Momo watched you nervously, a concerned expression adorning her face. You glanced down to see what they were talking about and grimaced as you realized some of your scars were on full display. They definitely weren't scars that you could excuse as some dumb childhood accident.
Thinking fast, you used another part of your past that didn't cause the scars but at least wasn't a complete lie, even if you were only a baby when it happened.
"When I was younger, my house burned down. I got caught in the barbed wire surrounding my house as I was trying to escape because my dad was kind of a freak about protecting our house."
If they didn't have their jaws dropped earlier, they definitely did now.
"What?! Are you okay? Are your parents okay?"
"Well my parents died in the fire, but it was a long time ago so it doesn't bother me anymore. Besides, my grandparents look after me now."
"My god.."
Sympathetic glances filled the room which honestly bothered you. You didn't want their pity, shit happens. Desperate to escape the awkward tension, you finished putting away your suitcase and began to walk to the doors. Soon enough, the others snapped out of their thoughts and followed you out, not daring to say anything else about your scars or your past.
☾✧☽
You and the rest of the girls met Mr. Aizawa, All Might, and the rest of the class out on the field. Behind them was a giant building that looked abandoned. All Might grinned at the students lined up in front of him and gestured to the two boxes beside him; one labeled "heroes" and the other labeled "villains".
"Today we are doing a simulation of a heroes vs. villains scenario. I will draw lots to decide who will be on what side. You are expected to work in pairs, with one solo and two groups of three, and stay true to your role. The heroes' job is to 'defuse' the bomb planted somewhere in the building, while the villains work to prevent them from touching it. If the timer runs out before the heroes manage to touch the bomb or they get caught, the villains win. Any questions?"
Kirishima glanced between his classmates before slowly raising his hand.
"Uh, who's gonna be the solo?"
"That would be (L/N) here! She was recommended by the hero commission, and they requested that she have the harder challenges if the odd class number makes things difficult."
You rolled your eyes and sighed. Of course they wanted to push you as hard as they could.
The class finally took notice of you, more specifically your hero costume. To say the majority of your classmate's faces were red was an understatement as they gaped at your figure.
You stood there nonchalantly, pinching the bridge of your nose in annoyance as you began to think of strategies. You felt eyes burning into the back of your skull, but you did your best to ignore it.
Bakugo stood a few feet behind you, eyes transfixed on the scars covering your back. They were clearly lacerations from a whip, but why the hell would you have them? Something horrible had happened to you in the past 5 years you've been gone, but he had no idea what. It bothered him to not know, but his pride stopped him from immediately grabbing your shoulder and making you explain it to him.
Soon enough, All Might began to pull names out of each box, creating teams for both the villains and heroes.
Izuku Midoriya & Ochaco Uraraka vs. Katsuki Bakugo & Tenya Iida
Fumikage Tokoyami & Tsuyu Asui vs. Eijiro Kirishima & Hanta Sero
Denki Kaminari & Kyoka Jiro vs. Momo Yaoyorozu & Minoru Mineta
Yuga Aoyama & Mina Ashido & Toru Hagakure vs. Rikido Sato & Koji Koda & Mashio Ojiro
(Y/N) (L/N) vs. Shoto Todoroki & Mezo Shoji
Seeing that you were last, you wandered over to a bench and sat down, resting your head against the wall. Your newfound peace was quickly interrupted by a certain redhead as he plopped down next to you with a large grin.
"Hey (L/N)! I didn't know you were so buff, that's so manly!"
You gave a stiff nod in response, shifting your position so that your scars were out of sight. You definitely needed to get an undershirt to cover your stomach and back added to your costume. Blissfully unaware of your discomfort, the boy rambled on, shark teeth on full display as he smiled.
"My match is second, after Bakubro's. I have Sero on my team, which is great because we're friends but I have no idea how his tape is going to stop Tokoyami and Dark Shadow. Oh well, I'll still do my best to win! I still can't believe they are making you go alone against Todoroki and Shoji, those are two of the strongest kids in our class! I wonder if Bakugo can keep his temper in check to win this one..."
After a few more minutes of him ranting and you not responding, he glanced over to look at you. Kirishima chuckled to himself as he saw you asleep on the bench, curled up in a ball with your head resting against the wall.
It wouldn't be manly to wake you up when you clearly needed rest, so like the gentleman he was, Kirishima sat in silence with you, watching the video feed of the current match as you slept.
☾✧☽
You groaned as you rubbed your eyes, neck painfully stiff from the awkward position you fell asleep in. You glanced over to see Kirishima still sitting there, now looking a lot more sweaty and tired than before.
The TV screen displayed Mina gliding around on her acid, meaning that you were next. You sighed, thinking of a plan to beat Todoroki and Shoji. You were the hero in the simulation, meaning all you had to do was touch the bomb to win. That was easy enough.
"Hey Kiri?"
"Yeah? What's up?"
"Wake me up when its my turn."
"O-Oh! Alright!"
☾✧☽
Kirishima gently pushed your shoulder, causing you to jolt awake.
"Sorry (L/N)! I just was trying to wake you since its your turn."
"Its alright, thanks Kiri. You can call me (Y/N)."
"Alright, (Y/N)! Good luck on your match."
The redhead sent you a cheeky grin and waved to you as you made your way to the entrance. Unbeknownst to him, a light pink blush coated his cheeks as he watched your retreating figure.
You stood outside the building as you waited for the 'villains' to set up and hide the bomb. Idly picking at your nails, the buzzer finally went off, meaning you could start your fight.
Using your quirk to make yourself invisible to Todoroki and Shoji, you wandered around the building until you spotted Shoji wandering one of the halls.
Closing your eyes, you manipulated his vision into seeing a fake version of you running down the hall, away from him. Instantly, he gave chase after the diversion. You smirked to yourself, this was going to be easy.
As you continued to check each floor using your invisibility, you kept Shoji busy chasing after your clone. Soon enough, you found the right room, Todoroki circling the bomb like vulture guarding its meal. In one fluid motion, you took away Shoji's sight and made your clone reappear outside the door of the bomb room.
Todoroki whipped his head around at the sound of footsteps outside the room. He could hear Shoji on his headset yelling something about not being able to see, but now that he found you he wasn't too worried about his teammate. He froze the floor as soon as he saw you come in, a small smirk spreading across his face as he saw how his plan worked seamlessly. Taking his time since he was sure you were no longer a threat, he pulled out the cuffs and slowly walked towards you.
Meanwhile, you casually crawled down from the pipe you held onto to avoid the ice. You had read him like a book. Manipulating his hearing so that he didn't hear your steps, you walked right up to the bomb and placed a gloved hand on it.
"Heroes win!"
The announcement called, making Todoroki whip around in surprise. You were right there , how the hell did you get out of his ice? He looked back towards the spot you were standing in the ice, and surely enough, you were still there. The clone shot him a devilish grin as it slowly began to melt. His heterochromatic eyes widened in shock as the real you tapped him on the shoulder, now visible to him again.
"Don't be so confident without knowing my quirk, Elsa."
He glared at you, angry blue and gray against bored (E/C). Stomping out of the building, you trailed behind him while dusting off your hero costume. The abandoned building smelled like old people and mold, and you couldn't wait to get out of it.
Shoji stumbled out a minute later, clearly disoriented. He sent a wary look towards you and hugged himself with his arms before walking back to the rest of the class.
☾✧☽
Meanwhile, the class watched your match against Todoroki and Shoji in anticipation. A select few of them knew your quirk from during lunch, but they still didn't really understand exactly what you could do.
"I wonder whose going to win.. Todoroki and Shoji are at the top of the class, but (Y/N) had to have been recommended by the hero commission for a reason. I mean, how do you even get recommended by the hero commission?"
"I dunno man, they both seem pretty strong. I hope (L/N) wins though, I want to see her in action."
Kirishima and Kaminari muttered back and forth as they eyed the TV. You had just started to enter the building, and you seemed way to casual as you loudly checked each floor. After a few floors down, you spotted Shoji.
Even though you stood in front of him, Shoji didn't react. In fact, it looked like he didn't even see you. All of a sudden, he started running down the hall, chasing what looked like nothing. The hell?
The class watched in confusion as a small smirk adorned your face and you continued your stroll. This was definitely the strangest match so far.
Not even a minute later, you were inside the bomb room with Todoroki. Once again, the dual haired boy didn't even seem to notice you standing right there. The class watched, eyes glued to the screen as you grabbed onto one of the pipes lining the walls and hoisted yourself off the floor. A moment later, Todoroki was tense, eyes darting back and forth as he scanned the room.
On Shoji's camera, he had stopped his chase, and instead was whipping his arms around, desperately rubbing his eyes as he shouted.
"Yo, bro, I think she took his vision."
Kaminari nudged Kirishima, knowing exactly what Shoji was feeling. They continued to watch as Todoroki froze the floor, a small smile on his face. He pulled out the cuffs and slowly walked towards the door, staring at the wall like you weren't hanging from the pipe next to him like a sloth.
As you watched him near the door, you casually slid down from the pipe and walked up to the bomb, placing your hand on it and therefore winning. The class let out a breath, that was it? It felt like nothing had happened. They expected a flashy battle from Todoroki, but he looked completely lost.
Midoriya gazed at the TV in amazement; your quirk truly was one of a kind. He quickly scrambled to write down every last detail he could about your performance next to the crude sketch of your hero costume. He definitely had a lot of questions, but he decided to hold his tongue until you seemed to be in a good mood.
As the class muttered to each other, no doubt commenting on what they just watched, Bakugo just stared at the now blank screen. He knew your quirk already, but damn did you seem like an actual threat now that he saw how confident you were with it. You managed to beat Todoroki, one of the best in the class (after him of course), with nothing but a thought.
And honestly? It scared him. It scared him to think about fighting you, the one person he saw worthy of climbing the ranks with, when you could take away his senses without a second thought. It scared him to think about what happened to you in the past five years, and who you had become in that time. Most of all, it scared him to think about if you were even remotely still the same girl he had called his best friend all those years ago.
☾✧☽
"Well done, young (L/N)! That was a well thought-out plan, and you executed it wonderfully."
All Might complimented the aloof girl as she sneezed from the dust. She looked up, lost for a second before she identified who was even talking.
"Oh, thanks.."
All Might sweatdropped at her lack of a reaction but quickly replaced it with a signature smile.
"Well done, students! Great first day of training and introduction to UA's hero course. And, as always, Plus Ultra!"
All Might lifted a mighty fist into the air as he yelled his catchphrase before awkwardly leading the class back to the locker rooms, Mr. Aizawa following in suit.
Loud chatter filled the classroom as everyone made their way back to their seats, mostly about the matches. You pulled a set of earbuds out of your jacket pocket and jammed them in your ears, shuffling your favorite playlist and laying your head on your desk.
Finally at peace from drowning out your classmates with music, you closed your eyes... only to be shaken awake by an overly-excited Mina.
"(Y/N), (Y/N)! Me and the squad were gonna go to the arcade after school, do you wanna come? It'll totally be fun!"
You deadpan at her but decide to go anyways, solely to piss off the hero commission since they told you to not make friends and instead focus fully on getting stronger. Take that, government.
"Sure, why not."
Mina's face lit up even more, if that was possible, as she clasped her hands together and bounced back to Kirishima and Kaminari's desks to tell them. The duo grinned and sent her a thumbs up as she made jazz hands towards you.
You groaned and rubbed a hand across your face. What the hell did you just get yourself into?
☾✧☽
You spotted the group fighting over a large tray of pizza in one of the booths as you entered the retro themed arcade. Mina noticed you as soon as you walked through the door, waving you over enthusiastically.
You lifted a hand as a way to say 'hi' and took a seat on the end of the booth next to Kaminari, who was drinking his milkshake like his life depended on it. You raised an eyebrow at him, to which he sheepishly grinned and slowed down, offering you a slice of pizza.
Taking it as a peace offering, you nodded and happily ate. It was shitty arcade pizza, as expected, but you didn't mind all that much. After all, it was as gourmet as a steak compared to what they had you eat at the commission.
The group talked about nonsense as you ate, Bakugo glaring at everyone from the end of the booth like the grumpy man child he is. The topic of conversation soon switched to school, which left everyone's prying eyes staring at you.
"So what exactly did you do during your match? We couldn't tell from the TV."
You exhaled and put your slice down, knowing they would ask about it at some point.
"Well, I made myself invisible to them so I could scout the building. Then I made Shoji see a fake version of me so that he would be distracted and split up from Todoroki. Once I found the bomb room, I climbed up onto the pipe to avoid Todoroki's ice and took away Shoji's eyesight before replanting my fake into the bomb room. Todoroki froze the floor, thinking he caught me, and I used that as an opportunity to touch the bomb and win. I could've probably just gone invisible and touched it without doing all the rest, but I wanted style points."
Wide eyes peered at you, as if still processing what you just said.
"Sheeesh.."
"Damn.. that's smart as hell."
"That's so badass, girl!"
Safe to say, nobody dared to mess with you as you finished eating.
When you guys were done, Mina dragged you to the first game she saw, darts. You shrugged as you followed her to the prize booth to buy a round of darts, taking the blue set while she took the red.
"Alright! Me and (Y/N) first, then you guys can go."
Mina stood on the line, closing one of her eyes and aiming. She threw the dart forcefully at the target, but it only hit the outermost ring.
"Man.."
The pink girl sighed and stepped aside so you could go. You lined yourself up with the line on the ground, barely looking at the target before you threw the dart at it. Bullseye.
Mina's jaw dropped as she watched your nonexistent reaction. She very quickly forfeited and let the others go against you, all of whom lost miserably.
"Ehh, next game!"
Kirishima hooked an arm around yours and Kaminari's, dragging the two of you to the next game; the punching bag.
Bakugo, being the violent person that he is, pushed his way to the front to go first.
"Alright extras, watch how it's really done."
You quirked a brow in amusement as the hotheaded boy reared back a fist and pounded it into the little punching bag on the machine.
998.
A satisfied grin on his face, Bakugo backed up, sure that nobody would beat his score. I mean, he was only one point off from the maximum, and he was pretty sure it was only because the machine was rigged.
The rest of the group went after, the only one anywhere close to Bakugo's score being Kirishima. Finally, it was your turn. You stepped up to the machine, pulling back a fist before landing it squarely in the center of the punching bag.
999.
"OH FOR FUCKS SAKE-"
☾✧☽
You wandered around the arcade for a few more hours, playing games like air hockey, whack-a-mole, etc. As you were about to leave, Sero gasped and pointed to a sign in the corner of the arcade that read 'LAZER TAG '.
"Guys, I think we all know what our final game needs to be.."
The rest of the group nodded eagerly, even Bakugo, who was clearly craving violence. After paying at the desk, you all went to pull on a vest.
"Alright kids. The vests will randomly assort you, and there's no changing teams. Once your vest lights up, go stand with the rest of your color until the game begins."
You all nod and waited for the vests to sort you into two teams; red and blue.
RED: (Y/N), Bakugo, Kirishima
BLUE: Mina, Kaminari, Sero
Bakugo's brows furrowed angrily as he saw that you were on the same team as him. He was looking forward to targeting you, thinking that it would make him feel like he got his revenge. Even if you hadn't gone willingly, he still felt like you had abandoned him as a kid. He knew it wasn't right to blame you, but he needed a way to understand his feelings, and anger was the only way he knew how to cope.
Nevertheless, he begrudgingly lined up next to you and Kirishima, who were already discussing 'battle tactics' as if this were a life or death scenario.
On the other side, Mina and Kaminari high-fived, saying something about hiding from you the whole game as their strategy.
After everyone was ready, the doors opened, and the two teams ran through the course to set up before the grace period ended. You decided to take high ground, climbing up on one of the watchtowers to pick at the other team from above. Bakugo Apparently had the same idea, because soon enough you saw him kneeling in the other watchtower across the room.
Before you knew it, you and Bakugo were in a personal battle for who was the best sniper. Just like Legolas and Gimli during Helms Deep, you both were neck and neck on 'kills', the blue team scattering like chickens as they tried to avoid you.
After the game was over, with the red team being the clear winner despite Kirishima joining the blue team halfway through to make it more fair, you and Bakugo scrambled to see the scores of each player.
Sure enough, you had managed to beat him in both kills and points, much to the blonde boy's dismay. He murmured something about it being rigged as you all put the vests back and exited the arcade.
Waving goodbye to the group, you walked home with a little more bounce to your step and a little bit more of a smile on your face.
☾✧☽
You pushed the creaky door of your apartment open and entered the room. Dropping your backpack on the floor, you walked to your tiny bathroom and got ready for bed. You stared at yourself in the mirror with a bored expression as you brushed your teeth, fingers tracing over the jagged scar on your cheekbone.
Once you were done, you laid down on your flat mattress, pulling the old, tattered blankets over your frame. Staring at the ceiling, you physically felt the subtle contentment you had earlier wash away, leaving you with a numb feeling in your chest. It was stupid for you to make friends, knowing you would have to leave them whenever the hero commission thought you were ready to become their next big debut as a top hero.
You couldn't cry; you hadn't cried in years. Sometimes you wished you could, just so you could feel something real, but all you really felt was emptiness as you reflected on the train wreck that was your life.
Rolling over to face the wall, you traced the peeled up wallpaper with your eyes as they slowly fluttered shut and you fell into a dreamless slumber.
☾✧☽
A/N:
(QOTD): Who is your favorite villain from the MHA universe?