The Forest Thing

Chapter 8: Jobs

When Izuku returned to the classroom, already back in 'dog' form, he was just in time to hear Aizawa tell the students about the upcoming sports festival. Honestly, the idea of the students fighting each other and most likely getting injured made Izuku a little worried, to say the least.

But after the students left for their break, Aizawa offered Izuku his own job during the festival, or rather, jobs.

For the first job, he would act as part of the security for the event, making sure no villains or possible trouble makers got inside. Unfortunately, he was told he couldn't keep Endeavor out of the event.

And for the second job, this one was Izuku's favourite, he would be moral support for the competing students. This meant that while he's patrolling the building as part of the security, he would also be checking up on and making sure students were okay for the competition. He would also spend a lot of time in Recovery girl's office with students who were also recovering physically.

At first, Izuku was confused about the second job, since he's not trained and a counselor would be a better choice. But Aizawa explained that most students would rather the comfort of a big fluffy dog than talking to a stranger, even if a professional would be better.

And that's how Izuku got here, the halls of the stadium, just after the obstacle race finished. The dark green collar he usually wore when he went out was now replaced by a thin rope, holding up a sign around his neck that Mina and Denki made for him.

White painted cardboard with big black writing on it, saying: "My name is Izuku! I'm student moral support, come pet me!"

It had glitter, stickers, and little drawings all over it like it was decorated by a bunch of little kids. Izuku loved it.

The students had a small break after the obstacle race, Ochaco coming in 1st place after distracting her opponents and quickly floating over the finish line with Shouto and Katsuki close behind her, now it was time for the cavalry battle.

Izuku was just wondering why all these events had to be so violent. Obviously, he knew why, but if every event was made for students like Katsuki who had physical fighting quirks, then all the students, like Shinso, who didn't would be at a serious disadvantage. Why not make one of the events a puzzle? Test the minds of the students for once instead of making everything about having the strongest or flashiest quirk.

The forest thing trotted down the hallway as he made his way outside the watch the cavalry battle and to cheer up any students who didn't make it to the second event, but paused when he smelled something, or someone vaguely familiar.

The scent reminded him of Shouto, so it was probably one of his siblings who came to watch him compete. At least, Izuku hoped it was one of his siblings. He didn't know what he would do if he saw Endeavor after finding out what he did. He didn't think it was Endeavor though, he would most likely sense the negativity the man radiates from across the stadium and as far as he could tell, the flaming dumpster hasn't arrived yet.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Izuku follows his nose to try and figure out who his senses were telling him to track down.

Izuku walked through the door and started walking through the rows of seats, some people stopping him to pet him or just to stare at him because he still looks weird.

He managed to spot the Todoroki siblings sitting together closer to the first row so they could call out to their little brother to cheer him on. But when he found the person he'd been tracking through the stadium, all he saw was a young man wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled so far forward Izuku could only see the black hair poking out. Who is this guy?

Izuku didn't realize he was staring at the guy until he looked directly at Izuku, made a face that he didn't understand due to the scars that obscured the man's facial expressions, then he stood up and walked to a different seat, mumbling something about Izuku being a "Creepy ass dog".

"That was weird. I've seen some weird things in my life, but that was weird." Izuku thought as he made his way towards the student seating area to sit with the students who did make it into the second event and to watch the almost finished cavalry battle.

The last 30 seconds of the battle Izuku got to watch was mostly the teams Bakugo and Todoroki fighting over the 10 million point headband while other teams who were still standing tried to interfere, the whole time Present Mic narrated with a few quiet comments from Aizawa.

Izuku would be lying if he said he didn't laugh when the battle ended and Katsuki fell right onto his face after a failed attempt at stealing the 10 million headband from Shouto. He didn't feel too bad about laughing since Katsuki stood up immediately and started yelling while all his friends laughed just like Izuku was.

The forest thing ran out onto the field to congratulate the students who won and comfort the students who didn't. He almost trampled Mineta accidentally but he was too excited to think about it before he jumped and tackled Katsuki back to the ground.

"No! Izu- Stop! You said you wouldn't do this at school!" Katsuki yelled as he tried to shove the 'dog' off him. Izuku barked loudly and put all his weight on the teen, pinning him to the ground while most of the students and bystanders laugh at them.

"Hey, Izuku! I want hugs too!" Izuku jumped off of Katsuki after hearing Eijiro call to him and ran to jump onto the other teen. This time he was ready to be jumped on, so Eijiro didn't fall over like Katsuki did.

Izuku held himself up with his big paws on the redhead's shoulders as the boy hugged him and laughed. Some of the other students joined in on hugs as well until they were all told by Midnight to go inside and prepare for the next event.

Izuku walked beside Katsuki, mentally laughing every time he looked at the blond. He had dirt all over him and looked so grumpy and every time Izuku nudged his hand to get his attention, all he would say is, "Fuck off, I told you I wouldn't forgive you." or, "Stop it, you're not the cool parent anymore."

He knew it wouldn't be long until Katsuki stopped pouting and his grumpiness only made Izuku laugh more.

Izuku watched as Katsuki stalked off to his waiting room to relax before the next event and soon most of the students went their separate ways to enjoy their break before the tournament.

A gentle hand placed itself on Izuku's back and the forest thing turned around to see another one of class 1-A's blonds, Ojiro. Izuku didn't know him very well, he never really spent time with the 'dog' like his classmates did. Izuku did know he decided to withdraw from the event after the cavalry battle.

"Hey there," Ojiro smiled bashfully. "I was told you'd be here for student support. I like your sign."

Izuku gently nudged the boy's side as he pets the forest things head and back. Izuku could sense the disappointment coming from him, no doubt a result of the cavalry battle and withdrawing from the tournament.

As much as Izuku didn't know Ojiro, he was still one of his kids and he doesn't like it when his kids aren't happy. But since he doesn't know the boy well enough, he doesn't really know how to cheer him up.

Thankfully the boy seemed to grow more content as he petted the 'dog', the feeling of disappointment eventually being replaced by a calm and peaceful one.

"I understand why Todoroki likes you so much," Ojiro tittered. Looking at the 'dog', he only seemed to hesitate a little after noticing Izuku's odd appearance, which was a win since most people tend to run away or leave quickly after noticing.

Well, they used to. It's been happening a lot less since he's come to UA. It's a nice change but it still surprises him sometimes.

Izuku sat with Ojiro for a few minutes until the teen felt better and decided to go find his friends after thanking Izuku for helping him feel better.

Izuku really likes this job.