A Different Path

Chapter Seven - Introductions

Tomura could feel his sweaty palms beginning to clam up under his two-fingered gloves as he made his way to Class 1A for his first day as a hero course student. Usually, Tomura couldn't give a flying fuck about other peoples opinions of him, but for some reason he really wanted to fit in with the hero course students. Maybe he wanted to be accepted so badly because it would make him feel like he had made the right choice. As the door to Class 1A came into view, Tomura could feel his heart beginning to pound in his chest.

"Fuck, what is wrong with me," Tomura hissed under his breath, wiping the exposed parts of his sweaty hands on his jeans.

"You just need to stay cool," Tomura reassured himself, "they are just a bunch of high school kids, their opinions don't matter."

Despite what he tried to tell himself, their opinions did matter to Tomura, so his reassurances were not very helpful in calming his nerves.

Tomura arrived at the door of Class 1A. He could hear the chatter of the other students inside. For a couple of moments he seemed to be frozen in place, unable to convince himself to go inside. Tomura snapped himself out of his daze by reminding himself he was invited here by Mr. Aizawa and that he was wanted. He was not a pest. With one big deep breath in and out, Tomura stepped inside of the classroom.

The classroom was almost full as it was almost time for class to start. At first, no one seemed to notice him. They were all too engaged in their own conversations. But then, the alien looking girl with pink messy hair caught Tomura's eye and paused mid-sentence to gawk at him. The rest of the group she was conversing with turned to face him too after following her eyes. It wasn't long until everyone else in the classroom was staring at him too. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Tomura wanted nothing more but to disappear right at that second, to vanish into dust. This was the last thing he wanted. Then, just as Tomura was considering running right back out the door he entered, a familiar voice sounded behind him.

"Tomura?"

Tomura turned around to see the confused face of Deku.

"Oh, uh hi Midoryia," Tomura expressed nervously.

"What are you doing here?" Deku quizzed, a curious glint shining in his eyes.

"Oh, um, I thought Mr. Aizawa might have mentioned it yesterday. I, um... Well I got invited to join the hero course yesterday and I accepted. I am a hero course student now."

A shocked silence spread across the room like wildfire. Even Deku seemed dumbstruck. He was staring at Tomura with wide eyes and mouth agape. Tomura could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead. For fucks sake could someone please say something, Tomura begged silently. Luckily for him, Midoryia answered his prayer.

The shocked expression on Deku's face morphed into one of overwhelming excitement and joy, and before he could stop himself he blurted out:

"WHAT!? Oh my god, Tomura, that is amazing!!! I am so happy for you! I can't believe we get to train together! This will be so great!!"

Tomura, once again taken aback by Deku's enthusiasm, responded shakily,

"Oh, um, thanks Midoryia. I am excited too."

It was then that Mr. Aizawa entered the room, demanding everyone to return to their seats and shut their mouths. As everyone settled in, Tomura couldn't help but feel the eyes of his fellow classmates burning into him. Aizawa broke the tense silent with an introduction,

"As you may have noticed, we have a new student with us today," Aizawa stated matter of factly.

"You may remember Mr. Yagi from our training last week. It was because of that training as well as other factors that we decided to extend the invitation for Yagi to join us in Class 1a. He accepted and so he is now one of us. I expect you to treat him with the same respect as you would any of your other classmates. With that out of the way, let's begin..."

Aizawa then jumped right into the lesson, not leaving any time for questions. Despite their curiosity, the rest of Class 1a turned their focus to the lesson. Tomura couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Finally, he was not the center of attention. From the row next to him, Tomura felt a tap on his shoulder. It was the red-haired boy Tomura recognized as Kirishima.

"Hey man! It's so great you get to join us in Class 1a," Kirishima whispered so that Mr. Aizawa couldn't hear him, "A powerful guy like you will make the best sparring partner!"

At this, Kirishmia lifted his arms to flex his biceps, as to accentuate his remark. It caused Tomura to crack an amused smile. Kirishima continued to speak after dropping his arms,

"After school, me, Mina, Su, Denki, Midoryia, Sero, and Bakugou are gonna go out on the town for some after school shopping. You should come! We would love to get to know you better."

Around the room, Tomura could see some of the various students Kirishima mentioned waving at him or giving him thumbs up. Midoryia looked especially enthused, giving him two thumbs up and a wide-eyed excited grin. Bakugou, on the other hand, didn't seem very enthused. Tomura felt his cheeks heat up at the attention, so he turned his attention back to Kirishima quickly.

"Oh um, yeah that sounds great. Thanks Kirishima," Tomura rasped quietly.

"No problem man! Meet us by the UA gate at 6!"

Tomura nodded in response, turning to face the front of the room once again. He knew he should be paying attention to Mr. Aizawa's lesson but he couldn't help but notice the warm feeling in his chest once again. Maybe he really would fit in here.