58

Chapter Text

The door opened and Aizawa walked in, looking as tired as ever, but no worse than normal. Izuku and the rest of 1-A immediately fell quiet, as they had been well trained by their teacher's piercing glare over the weeks, ready to receive whatever instruction he was going to provide. 

"Is there anything before we get started?" he asked, casting his tired eyes over the class. 

All eyes moved to Pony as she slowly raised her hand and Aizawa nodded toward her. "It's nothing huge," she began quietly, "but something I noticed and it been bothering me."

Aizawa nodded again, his expression unmoving. "Go on."

Pony straightened up a little, fortifying her nerves. "Why everyone else in alphabetical order but I'm here?" 

Izuku raised an eyebrow. He had noticed that, but hadn't really given it any thought. 

"Oh? And where should you be?" Aizawa asked calmly.

Pony looked behind herself for a moment. "I should be between Sero and Tokoyami, right?" 

"Very good," Aizawa returned with a note of approval. "I was hoping you'd mention that this semester." 

"What do you mean?" Pony asked. 

Aizawa almost smirked. "It was a test to see how fast your assimilation was progressing. You'd have to have enough knowledge to notice it and feel confident enough to bring it up. Go on, make the change," he called out to the class.

Pony froze for a moment before she nodded and stood up with several others. The four students sitting behind her all moved forward, putting Kaminari at the front of the second row, while Shouji moved to the back and left Jirou at the front of the third. Pony took her place in front of Tokoyami, directly next to Izuku. 

He smiled over at her as she beamed back, her face a little pink from the embarrassment of being in front of the class. 

"Alright, listen up," Aizawa droned, bringing the class back to order as everyone sat down. "Your midterms are coming up next week, so make sure you're caught up with your studying. You're adults now, so I'm not going to go out of my way to police you on this. You're either gonna do well, or you're not."

Izuku was listening carefully. It was hard to imagine that they were already halfway through the semester, but he was grateful that the past several weeks had gone by smoothly. No villain attacks, no big drama, just him, his friends, and hero training. Tsuyu was still taking things slow, which he appreciated. One day, things would progress, but he was content for now.

"Your midterm is going to be purely theoretical," Aizawa continued. "Pencil and paper tests to make sure you've absorbed what we want you to have absorbed so far. Your practical examination will be during your finals." 

Not everything was perfect, of course. Iida had been a different person ever since his return from his internships. Izuku had made effort after effort to get through to him, but nothing had worked. He would put on a mask that would convince most people and often found excuses to avoid his classmates when he could, but Izuku wasn't going to let it slide.

Aizawa glared over the classroom as they listened. " However , this doesn't mean you can slack off on your training. Our curriculum is tough, but you shouldn't be happy with simple success. You should be aiming for perfection and excellence in everything, regardless of circumstances. If you don't have that drive, find it or get out. That may sound harsh or dramatic, but when you're in charge of saving lives, that's the reality."

On the contrary, Izuku felt like that was entirely justified. Only the best would do. 

"Use the resources you have available to you: your teachers, your TA, each other. Pro heroes don't exist in a vacuum and neither should you. We are here to help you excel, but we can't make you. Like I said, you're adults now, and you need to start acting like it. We're gonna push you, but it's up to you to go beyond. Learn what Plus Ultra means for yourself."

Izuku shot a glance over at Iida, who was listening with a face so rigid it could have easily been made from stone. He looked on sadly as he thought how animated the Iida from the first few weeks of school might have been after Aizawa's speech. Something involving hand-chopping and bold declarations to be sure, but at the very least, he would have shown some sort of energy. 

"That's all," Aizawa finished. "Come to me or Hadou if you have questions." He scanned the classroom for a moment before turning and heading out into the hallway, closing the door behind him and leaving his class alone.

"Well, that was intense," Kaminari grumbled. "I thought things were supposed to be easy for the first year! All the upperclassmen talk about how easy freshman year was."

Jirou scoffed. "That just means the next years are even harder than this one. You know, I gotta say, it's gonna be nice actually being able to see the front of the class. No offense, Shouji, but you're like, almost a foot and a half taller than me."

In the back of the room, Shouji shrugged with all six of his arms. 

Izuku leaned over to Pony. "Welcome to the neighborhood." 

"Thank you!" she returned cheerily. "I realized it earlier, but I not know if I should say anything to Aizawa. I'm glad I did." 

Izuku smiled warmly. "Me too. Hey, do you think it's time to finally have those English lessons we talked about on the first week of class?"

Pony nodded. "We put it off long enough. Come to my room after dinner tomorrow. I busy tonight."

"Sounds good," Izuku responded as Ectoplasm entered for Math class.

As their last class for the day finished, Izuku was ready to strike. He spotted Iida quickly leaving the room like he had for weeks, using his seat next to the door and his speed to escape back to the dorms before anyone could talk with him. It wasn't exactly subtle.

However, Izuku had been the nice guy for weeks and he was over it. 

No more.

Izuku grabbed his backpack and swiftly headed for the door, passing by Mina, who gave him a knowing nod and a soft smile. He managed to spot Iida rounding the corner down the hall and began walking purposefully after him, determined to actually have a conversation with him. 

"Iida!" Izuku called out as he turned the corner after him. He saw Iida's shoulders flinch slightly, but he otherwise pretended not to hear Izuku as he continued to power walk down the empty hallway.

Insolence.

"Ingenium!" Izuku yelled, his voice firm and demanding. 

This caused a more visceral reaction in Iida, as he stopped dead in his tracks and stiffened up. He slowly turned around, forcing a visibly strained smile onto his face as he looked down at Izuku stomping up toward him. "Ah, Midoriya. Can I help you?"

Despite how many times Izuku told him to call him Izuku, Iida had refused to do so. "Yes, you can help me," Izuku responded directly as he walked up to the taller man. 

Iida looked at him expectantly, his stiff facade making him appear anything but calm. It was time to rip off this bandaid. 

"You can help me by not pretending any longer," Izuku said firmly. "You're not fooling anyone, especially not me. You're avoiding us, all of us, and it's not healthy. We are your classmates and your friends. I know you're upset because of what happened to your brother, but-"

"That's not it," Iida said suddenly, interrupting him. His facade had shattered under Izuku's direct questioning, but instead of looking angry or distraught, he just looked… sad.

My assessment was flawed.

"At least, not mostly," Iida continued. "Do not mistake me, I am still upset about what happened to Tensei, but I have come to terms with most of it."

"Then why have you been avoiding all of us?" Izuku asked plainly. 

Iida's head hung a little. "Midoriya, you've been a good friend to me, so I'll answer your frankness with my own. Shame. I have been avoiding you all out of shame."

Shame? This was something Izuku had considered, but dismissed. What did Iida have to feel shame about?

"Do you know how many in our class were at Hosu?" Iida asked rhetorically. "19. Every one of you besides myself was at that horrible place, doing your best to be heroes and to help people. I was kept away."

He was held back?!

"I… didn't know," Izuku mumbled softly. "I just assumed you were elsewhere in the city. Do you know why?"

"Because I was angry," Iida answered frankly. "Perhaps it was wise for Gran Torino to keep me away. Perhaps I would have done something rash. Foolish. I can't say for certain, but I know that during that week, just like I had for every night since Tensei was attacked, I laid awake at night, my mind filled with hatred and anger against the Hero Killer. If I had run into him… I don't know what I would have done. I ran through that scenario countless times, but…"

Izuku put a hand on Iida's shoulder. "Trust me, running into Stain was nothing short of horrifying. I wouldn't wish it on anyone." 

Iida straightened up, pulling away from Izuku's hand. "Yet, I felt it was my duty to do so. Heroes are supposed to be brave and stand up to villains, no matter how terrifying they may be. I felt it was my duty to confront him after what he did to my brother. He hurt my family and I wanted…"

"Revenge?" Izuku offered.

Iida hung his head again, looking down at the ground. "Yes, that shameful word. I wanted revenge on Stain for what he did to my family. My rage was boiling over and Gran Torino saw that. I suppose between you and him it is clear I'm not very good at hiding emotions." 

"I tend to be good at reading people," Izuku added as a half joke, trying to maybe lighten the mood a little. 

"Regardless, I was angry," Iida continued. "Furious. Dangerously so, even. Then… then you and the others ran into Stain. You even defeated him. You took my duty and did it for me, shaming me." 

He's blaming me?!

"It's not like that," Izuku began, but Iida held up his hand.

"I know it's not," he said with a sad smile. "Do not mistake me, Midoriya, I know you never intended anything of the sort, nor am I blaming you. I am merely explaining how I felt, how I… feel. I feel shame because I could not fight Stain, nor bring him to justice. I feel shame that my anger caused Gran Torino to keep me away from Hosu and kept me from helping people."

His speech became faster as his breathing grew more frantic. "Because I could not control my emotions, I lost out on not just valuable experience, but a chance to make a difference. If there is a single person who lost their lives in that city that I could have saved if I was there, then I have done nothing less than failed completely as a hero. I have thrice brought shame upon myself and the name Ingenium!" 

Iida's chest was heaving as his bottled-up emotions came pouring out. As Izuku suspected, he needed an outlet, but he hadn't considered it would be this bad. 

Comforting him will help form a bond.

"I don't-" Izuku faltered, placing his hand back on Iida's shoulder. "You didn't bring shame upon anybody, especially not yourself. Do you remember what I told you after your loss to Shinsou?" 

"I- I do," Iida choked out, a sudden gulp of air interrupting him. "There is no failure if we keep learning. But I was kept from learning because of my emotions! If I can't control these selfish feelings, then maybe I'm not suited to being a hero." 

Izuku was silent for a moment. "Why do we become heroes?"

Money. Influence. Women.

"To help people," Iida answered quietly. 

"And do you still want that?"

"Absolutely!" he declared firmly. "It is only because I want to do that, to help people and make my family proud, that I'm this upset!"

Izuku squeezed his shoulder once. "Then I don't see anything to worry about. If your heart's in the right place, everything else will follow. We're still young, Iida. Being irrational and foolish is part of the gig." 

For the first time in weeks, Iida smiled. It was faint and barely there, but it was a smile."I suppose it is. Even so, I have fallen behind the rest of you."

"That's why you need to come to Hadou's extracurricular training!" Izuku exclaimed. "What's the point of that quirk of yours if you can't catch up?"

Iida laughed once; a second victory for Izuku. "I can't argue with that. Thank you for speaking with me. I do not know how long my stubbornness may have lasted otherwise." He pulled his glasses off and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "You seem to have this strange way of bringing my emotions to the forefront and getting me to say things. Perhaps it is your way of cutting to the heart of the issue."

"That's what friends are for," Izuku said warmly. "If you can't be vulnerable around them, who can you be? And besides, I wouldn't be a very good friend if I just let you stew like this. I'm regretful I didn't say anything sooner."

Iida shook his head as he put his glasses back on. "On the contrary, your timing couldn't have been better. You see, Tensei came home a few days ago, which put me in a better mood. If you had spoken to me sooner, I may have been unreceptive. Besides, I appreciate you giving me space. You're my friend, not my mother, yes?" 

"Fair enough," Izuku muttered with a chuckle. "Glad to have you back, Iida."

The taller man held up his hand. "I wouldn't say that quite yet, but you have definitely opened up the path forward. Thank you again, Midoriya." 

"Izuku," he tried.

Iida tensed up for a moment before sighing. "Fair enough. Thank you again, Izuku." 

He smiled widely as the two turned to walk down the hallway in the other direction, back toward the lunchroom.

"English is the worst!" Jirou groaned as she rubbed her eyes.

Izuku chuckled as he sat on the floor in Pony's room with Jirou, Kouda, and Pony herself. It had been a long evening of study and earlier, the room had been packed, but the sun had set several hours ago and most of the other students had trickled off to bed. The only people who didn't show up for Pony's help at one point or another were Mina and Momo, who were studying on their own.

Pony had been nothing but a ball of smiles and energy all evening, seemingly thrilled by the number of people who wanted her help. Her rapid progress in learning Japanese was only building her confidence more, which was a treat to see. The sparkle in her big, blue eyes was endearing and enrapturing, second only to her dazzling smile. 

"If it make you feel better," Pony began with a giggle, "a lot of Americans think the same way. They say, uh, how to put this into Japanese… English is like three language in a coat pretending to be one language." 

Izuku laughed at that and even Kouda grew a soft smile. The tall, quiet man had hardly said a word, and had waited until most people had left to show up. It was all but certain he had some form of social anxiety, so Izuku did everything he could to make him feel welcome without making him uncomfortable. 

"I feel like such a child," Jirou huffed. "I'm 18 and I'm learning colors."

Pony blinked at her once. "That's how I felt. I still feel like that sometimes." 

Jirou winced. "Oh shit, I'm sorry."

Izuku smirked teasingly. "That sounds like something you would have given Kaminari crap for saying."

"Shut up!" she hissed, blushing slightly. 

"No, no, it's fine," Pony quickly added. "I'm not upset, I just know how you feel."

Jirou sheepishly went back to studying her book and soon she began to mumble under her breath again. Izuku had first noticed it in the hospital, but now that he was looking for it, he couldn't help but notice that Jirou muttered a lot. It was faint, only audible if he used his quirk, but it was there. He supposed that she was likely an auditory learner and her quirk allowed her to be very quiet while doing so. 

Was she an auditory because of her quirk? Or did her quirk merely make it easier for her? It was a chicken-and-the-egg question, he figured. 

As he watched Pony gently show Kouda that infuriating rule about i-before-e—which he felt was weirdly broken almost as much as it was followed—he couldn't help but listen in to Jirou. 

"Red, orange, yellow, green… hmm. Green. That wouldn't have been a bad nickname, either." 

She continued to review the colors as Izuku snapped off his quirk, not feeling comfortable listening in any further. 

Izuku had noticed that Jirou had a better grasp on English than most of her classmates other than Katsuki and Momo. She attributed it to listening to a bunch of English music, but he thought it might be more than that. Jirou had continued to prove herself as someone with a creative and agile mind, and perhaps that helped her pick up new languages. She wasn't the sponge for knowledge that Izuku or Momo were, but only a fool would think she was anything but smart.

Soon enough, Kouda quietly thanked Pony for her help and headed back to his room, followed shortly by Jirou, which left Izuku and Pony alone. 

"Are you leaving too?" she asked in English.

"Only if you want me to," he responded in kind. "I still have more I want to go over, if that is okay." 

"That's great!" she exclaimed, before blushing slightly. "Er, I mean, yeah, it's okay. W-what else did you want to go over?"

Both of them were leaning up against her bed, but Izuku scooted a little closer so she could see his book easier. She shifted closer as well, until her shoulder was pressed into his arm.

She smelled nice.

Ten minutes turned into a half hour, which turned into a full hour before they knew it. Izuku felt his brain absorbing less and less information as he got more and more tired, but he didn't want to stop. It was nice spending time with Pony alone, which was something he hadn't ever really gotten to do. Because he was fluent enough in English for her to speak in her native tongue, he felt like he got to see the real Pony.

She was energetic and kind, with a fire burning inside of her that attracted him like a moth. It was hard to imagine that this was the same woman who made Kurogiri and Stain both bleed, but at the same time, it wasn't hard at all.

His yawns were becoming more and more frequent, as were hers, but neither of them gave any sign of wanting to be done.

Since when was leaning up against a bed this comfortable?

Pony awoke in the middle of the night. At least, she woke up a little. It was more one of those half-awakenings that she wouldn't remember in the morning.

She didn't even open her eyes as she slowly returned to something approximating consciousness. There was something strange that had woken her up, but she couldn't quite put her-

Oh, there it is. She had forgotten to take her bra off before going to bed. She hated when she did that.

Pony quickly undid her straps and pulled the bra out of her shirt without taking it off—a feat she was quite proud to have learned. She tossed it to the side and settled back into her bed.

Her bed was normally comfy, but for some reason, it felt like something truly special tonight.

She was asleep again before another thought crossed her mind.

Izuku woke up as the morning sun began to shine through the window. The first thing he noticed was the strange stiffness in his back; he must have slept weirdly. Oh well, nothing some stretching and calisthenics couldn't fix. 

There was a cute yawn in front of him followed by a very quiet, "Man, I haven't slept that well in forever."

The second thing Izuku noticed as his eyes shot open was that Pony was sitting in his lap, leaning up against his chest with his arms wrapped around her. 

Mine.

"P-Pony?!" Izuku exclaimed.

Pony flinched hard against him. "Izzy?!"

She scrambled out of his arms as he almost jumped to his feet, quickly putting some space between them. 

Izuku's quirk was roaring victoriously in his mind as he tried to calm down his racing heart. He must have fallen asleep studying, but that didn't explain why she was cuddled up to his chest.

Keep her close.

Okay, he had a pretty good idea.

"I-Izzy, what are you-?" Pony asked, her voice also full of panic.

"I must have fallen asleep!" he replied hurriedly. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry!"

Pony and him stood there for a few moments, both of them panting as their minds tried to catch up to everything that had happened. 

Finally she took a big, heaving breath. "It's fine, Izzy. I'm sorry I scared you." 

"No, no, I scared you t-" Izuku's words caught in his throat as his eyes were involuntarily drawn down to her chest as she breathed.

Those certainly hadn't been there the previous evening.

Hanging off Pony's chest, bulging out her shirt, was the largest pair of breasts he had ever seen. They had to be at least the size of her head and were even larger than Momo or Nejire's. The fact that they were on her 5'1" frame just made them look even larger, especially with how surprisingly perky they looked.

Mine. Mine. MINE.

Pony's gaze followed his own and she squeaked as she realized what he was looking at. Izuku quickly slammed his eyes shut as her face turned bright red. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to look!" 

"Wh-what?" she mumbled. "How? No… wha?" 

Izuku heard her scrambling around the room and the shifting of fabric as he stood there, rooted in place and unsure of what to do next.

"You can open your eyes," Pony said quietly after a little while.

Izuku cracked one open, then the other as she stood there next to her bed, her chest looking much more normal. Or at least, what he thought normal was. She had always been one of the bustier girls in class, more so than Ochako and less than Mina, but that was… something else.

"I… I…" Izuku didn't know what to say. He was too confused and flustered. 

"You weren't expecting that?" she asked softly.

Izuku gulped and shook his head. 

She smiled sadly, looking down. "I guess I did a good job at hiding them, then." 

"I didn't kn-know-"

"That I had huge fat fucking tits?" she asked sardonically, almost spitting the words. "I was hoping nobody would find out."

Izuku's brain finally began to work again as his quirk finally stopped being horny and put itself to good use. Ideas and thoughts raced through his mind as he went over everything Pony had told him. "Does this have to do with that 'high school insult'?" 

Pony nodded. "Izzy… you have to keep this a secret, okay? Please, promise me." 

Izuku nodded firmly, pulling himself upright to appear more sure of himself. "I swear. I will tell nobody, not even my girlfriends. Nobody will know." He meant it, too.

She visibly relaxed, calmed by his confidence. "Puberty hit me like a truck. I don't know if it has to do with my quirk, or what—my mom's kinda busty too, I guess—but you would think that a girl having huge tits would be a good thing, right? Make things easy on her maybe? Wrong. For my entire high school career I was bullied and made fun of by a bunch of other girls." 

Pony put on a mocking air. "Pony? Shouldn't your name be Cow with those fat udders you're carrying around? How can you walk with those sandbags weighing you down? Stay away from my boyfriend, whore! Slut! Bitch!" 

'Iida was right,' Izuku thought to himself. 'I really do have a knack for getting people to tell me things.'

Pony's shoulders slumped. "That's why Monoma got to me so easily. He reopened a wound that had barely begun to heal."

How dare they?

"That… really happened to you?" Izuku asked, his voice shaky, but from sadness or from anger, he didn't know.

Pony nodded. "I'm wearing a very expensive minimizer bra, which is why I look somewhat normal. I tried to wear one back in America, but everybody already knew. When they saw me hiding them, I guess they smelled blood in the water. The name-calling got worse until I stopped wearing it."

How DARE they?!

He was very sure now. It was anger. "Did any of them follow you to UA?" His voice was calm, although otherwise he was anything but.

"What?" Pony asked, clearly surprised. "No, no. I left all of them behind. And before you ask, I didn't come to Japan just to get away from them. It was just a nice bonus. I have a fresh start here. Nobody knows about these stupid things." 

Izuku's rage lessened as it was replaced by his own surprise. "Nobody?" 

"Nobody," Pony repeated. "Other than you and Recovery Girl, I guess. That's why I need you to keep it a secret, Izzy." 

Izuku's mind was racing. The other women didn't know? 

Good. A secret will bring her closer to me. I can use this.

Izuku shook his head as his quirk bucked with equal parts rage and glee. 

"Izzy? Are you okay?" she asked, concern in her voice.

Tell her what she wants to hear.

"I'm fine," he reassured her. "Pony, I guarantee that the other women wouldn't do any of those things to you if they found out. Mina might make some lewd jokes, but I know for a fact that they wouldn't call you names or do anything like that." 

Pony smiled a little at that. "I think you're right. I'm just… nervous. I feel safe without anybody knowing, and with all this other stuff going on—classes, training, villains —I just haven't had the energy to do anything about it. When Stain is trying to kill my classmates, who cares that the foreign girl has stupid huge boobs?"

Izuku's mind was still firing off thought after thought. How had she hidden those from the women? Had she considered a reduction if she hated them so much? Surely she had, Pony was a bright woman. Just what else was she hiding from him?

"Don't call yourself that," Izuku said softly. "I know I speak for the rest of our class when I say that we 100% consider you one of us. This class wouldn't be the same without you. Pony, you are nothing short of irreplaceable, alright?"

Her smile grew wider. "Thank you, Izzy, really. I'm sorry for dumping all of that on you."

"And if anybody ever makes fun of you," Izuku continued with a snarl, baring his fangs. "I will personally make sure that-" 

Izuku caught himself as his quirk began to leak out. "Um, not that you can't take care of yourself. I pity whoever stands in your way."

Pony giggled and moved forward, finally breaking the immobile standoff they had still been having. She put her arms around his chest and squeezed, reminding him of her strength, but also making him feel very comfortable. His own arms went around her back as he leaned down a good bit—after all, he did have 11 inches on her, not counting her horns—and returned her hug. 

"I know what you meant," she mumbled into his chest. "Thank you for being understanding and uh, thank you for caring."

Gooooood.

Izuku squeezed her tighter. "You deserve every bit of friendship you have here at UA. If America wants you back, they're gonna have to fight me for you."

Pony laughed harder at that. "And if villains keep coming after you or the others, I'll keep fighting them, too. Nobody is taking any of you away from me." 

Well, that went and did it. Izuku felt his Midoriya genes show themselves as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. He hugged Pony even tighter as she did the same, her enhanced strength showing itself as she threatened to lift him off the ground again.

"I guess we gotta get ready for class," Izuku muttered after a while, causing the two to finally break apart. 

"Yeah," Pony replied softly, glancing over at the mirror to see her terrible bedhead. "You're lucky that with your hair you can just roll out of bed and look good." 

"Me and Mina both," Izuku said with a chuckle, noting that Pony said he 'looked good'. "See you in class, yeah?"

"See you there," Pony responded with a nod and a grin. 

Izuku grabbed his backpack and slipped out of the room, closing it quietly behind him, hoping to not have woken Eiko up next door. Maybe she took after her quirk and slept like a rock.

As he headed down the stairs to his room, he noticed the twin wet spots on his shirt from where Pony's eyes had been. He didn't know what made him feel worse: the fact that those things had happened to her…

Or that his quirk was reveling in the fact that she had made herself vulnerable to him like that. 

Nejire hummed happily to herself as she flew over the training ground, watching her students spar with each other. She had been holding these weekly sessions for a month now, and she was already seeing marked improvement. What was even better was that Greenhorn had finally gotten Iida to show up, which meant that all 20 of them were there. It was unfortunate that he had to spend the first few minutes in a bow, profusely apologizing for 'foolishly spurning the opportunity' or something like that. People like Iida needed to lighten up; you could be competent and capable without being a stick in the mud.

She had put him up against Bakugou due to his insistence that he be pushed even harder to catch up, and she was happy to see that he was doing alright. As she flew over, she could tell Bakugou was pacing himself, but Iida was making him try more than perhaps he expected. That would be good for both of them.

Uraraka was trying to grab the very elusive Asui while Tokoyami worked at battering down the defenses that Yaoyorozu could create. The entire class was doing their best and she couldn't be more proud. She had even gotten a compliment from Aizawa about how much her extra effort was paying off.

Nejire stopped to give Satou some advice as he sparred against Kirishima, then she took back to her lazy patrol route. Over in one of the far arenas, she spotted Greenhorn going against Tsunotori and kicking up far more dust than anyone else. She drifted closer and saw him bulked up with a slight transformation and charging forward into the small American, who planted her fee- hooves and received the charge, stopping him in his tracks even as he ground her back a few inches. 

She continued to watch with a grin on her face as the deceptively strong Tsunotori sparred with Greenhorn, both of them locking horns—sometimes literally—as they traded blows. When breaktime came, she saw them sitting together, both laughing and chatting as they drank their water and rested.

It warmed her heart to see Greenhorn making friends like that. Sure, he had… three girlfriends, last she checked, but every person that he befriended was just that much better. He had always been a personable and kind boy, but there was a darkness to him that Nejire had noticed as she watched him finish high school. When he didn't think anyone was looking, or if she watched his face carefully when certain things happened, Nejire could see that something buried beneath. It was similar to what she saw out of Ryukyu sometimes, although his seemed… different. 

Poor guy. He deserved friends. Real ones. And UA was the place to finally give them to him.

Nejire wanted to be friends with him, too. She always had, ever since she had met him. If you asked Tamaki, it's because she wanted to be friends with everyone, but that didn't change anything. The unfortunate thing was that she had never gotten an opportunity to spend a lot of time around him. Before, she could only see him when he came by Ryukyu's agency, but now that she was his TA, she had a better opportunity. Maybe she could offer to tutor them or something? She'd just have to find a good excuse to spend more time at the 1-A dorms.

"Hey, Sero!" she yelled. "No slacking! Just because you've wrapped Mineta up doesn't mean you're done!"

Oh well, thoughts for later. She had work to do.

Momo smiled as she got her graded midterm back. The test had been quite difficult, but thanks to her rigorous training regimen, she had done quite well. She hadn't gotten perfect, but the bright red '1' at the top of her page told her that nobody did better.

Aizawa was giving them a fairly standard debriefing about the exams before he dismissed them for the day, but she noticed something off in front of her. Zu was… stiff . Stiff and trembling slightly as he looked down at his test. Before she could ponder more on what could be the matter with him, he seized up and slowly turned his head around, gazing over Mineta and staring straight at her with a positively predatory expression in his brightly glowing, slitted eyes.

What had she done to upset him so much?

Aizawa lazily finished his speech and she quickly packed her stuff up and hurried for the door. She grabbed Mina and pulled her outside and around the corner; she would know what was going on.

"Oh, Momo!" Mina exclaimed. "I did so well!" She proudly held up her paper that had a '14' written at the top. 

"Oh, that's… great?" Momo responded carefully. If she had gotten 14th, she would have been inconsolable. 

"It's so much better than I would have done without you!" Mina exclaimed, wrapping her up in a big hug and even lifting her off the ground the smallest amount. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

Momo blushed as she hugged Mina back. "You're very welcome, Mina. However, I do have a question at the moment. Zu seemed… upset after the test."

"Upset?" Mina asked, releasing Momo and looking up at her with a raised eyebrow. 

Momo nodded. "He was shaking a little, then he looked at me and his quirk was going wild. His eyes were glowing brightly and they were reptilian and-"

"Did he look hungry?" Mina asked, with a smile on her face for some reason. "Like he wanted to eat you up?"

Momo pondered for a moment. "I suppose it could be described like that."

Mina chuckled softly. "Oh, Momo. How can someone be so smart and so clueless at the same time?" 

"Clueless?" Momo repeated indignantly. "What do you mean?"

Mina leaned up and pecked her on the cheek right as Zu rounded the corner, his eyes immediately locking onto Momo.

"Let me see if I can guess," Mina said smugly. "Midori, what did you get on the midterm?"

"Second." 

Momo wasn't expecting his draconic voice, but she saw the scales creeping up around his shirt collar. His quirk had to be surging with power right now; it was a little exhilarating just to be near him.

"And what do you normally get?" Mina continued.

"First." 

Mina's smug grin grew wider. "Have you ever not gotten first on a test like this?"

"No."

Mina's toothy grin looked almost as predatory as Zu's. "Looks like I aced that test. You two have fun~" 

"What do you-?" Momo asked as Mina slipped away from her. Her thought was interrupted by Zu surging forward and grabbing onto her head with both hands, his eyes staring into hers with that hungry passion. 

Oh.

Ooooooooooooh.

Well, she deserved a reward after doing so well on that test, right?

Notes:

I want to make this point right now before anybody says anything. Some of you might want to call me out or whatever about this Pony reveal, but let me say my piece first.

Pony's situation is based on a real life experience that one of my friends had in high school. She was a smart, funny woman who was 'endowed' with an exceptionally large chest and was ruthlessly bullied for it. Most of those insults in this chapter were things I heard in person. In many ways, this is cathartic for me, so try not to judge too harshly.

Highschoolers are vicious, man.

That being said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.