A Silent Kind of Strength

Chapter 47

Izuku stood nervously amongst class A, feeling a bit out of place in his gym uniform while everyone else was in costume. It was his first official practical heroics lesson as a part of the course. They were waiting in one of the gyms for All Might to show up, how the man managed to be the number one hero with his abysmal record of class attendance was beyond the teen.

The kids chattered energetically amongst themselves until their teacher finally showed, a full five minutes late. "Apologies! I was held up with another student for a moment! Thank you for waiting! Midnight won't be able to join us as planned so today will be a bit of light sparring! Don't want to tire you kids out with your internships so close now do we! Now, as always, come forward to draw a lot to determine your first partner! From there, partners will switch every five minutes!" Izuku rolled his eyes, randomized selections again? Honestly for a hero the man was so lazy. It would be much better to place less experienced fighters against more experienced fighters. The newbies can learn from their peers, and those who have experience will get to test the old adage 'the best way to learn is to teach'.

As they slowly separated out into 10 pairs Izuku studied Shinso and the way he stood next to Todoroki. They seemed fairly relaxed, he hoped that meant they had made up. Hitoshi was still getting used to having such a large friend group, it would be a shame if one of their quieter friends decided to stop hanging out because of one bad decision. The small teen smiled quietly to himself as Hitoshi murmured something to the other boy, getting a small nod in response before walking over to draw his lot. It seemed things were at least civil now.

Hearing his name Izuku startled out of his musings and stepped forwards to pull a tag from the box, snagging the second E and ending up partnered with Ojiro as his first match. He started up some basic stretches as he waited for the rest of the class to get organized, he had noticed All Might's penchant for skipping warm ups during the classes he had sat in on and he wasn't looking forward to the extra soreness he would no doubt deal with later on. Maybe he should bring that up with Aizawa later. Not warming up seemed like a big oversight for a hero school after all.

They separated onto their mats, pairs chatting easily amongst themselves. Izuku smiled shyly at the taller blonde across from him. The other boy smiled easily back, though he seemed a bit distracted by something. The smaller boy decided to leave him to his thoughts as they waited for the signal to start. But before All Might could tell them to go, Ojiro was distracted by their smallest classmate. "Oi Ojiro! Make sure to go easy on the Null right?! Wouldn't want to beat up someone like that, it wouldn't be heroic!"

Izuku felt his ears burn in embarrassment as he ducked his head. He was mortified to be called out so blatantly during his first heroics class. He heard a bit of commotion off to the side and flinched. Damn it. He had made a scene, he really hoped he only got detention for the distraction.

It took a moment for what was being said to filter through the muddled emotions in his brain. But eventually he realized it was Hitoshi and Kaminari who were kicking up a fuss, shouting at Mineta and being held back by their sparring partners. Green eyes chanced a look around and Izuku flinched again at the scattered looks of irritation and anger, even Todoroki looked vaguely upset.

When the usually charming Kaminari let loose with a string of curses aimed towards their classmate the newest hero student felt a jolt of panic. He needed to diffuse the situation quickly, who knew what kind of punishment would be doled out for causing a fight at UA. He scampered forwards quickly, placing himself in between Mineta and most of the others. He raised his hands placatingly. "Hey. Th-that's enough. I- uhm- it's ok?"