Canary

Chapter 20: Worth My Weight in Silver

There was an awful lot of people in the audience.

Sure, this had been apparent from the beginning – but only now, when Midoriya was standing (barely, standing) on the second-place podium, staring at them all, did he really appreciate he sheer quantity of people who must have been singing along with him during the final.

He blinked up at them, mouth slightly agape as the crowd roared, clapping, cheering and whistling for them – and for him.

Midnight had said something – so had All Might, but Midoriya could barely register it. He was busy panicking about the cameras, flashing lights in his face. They were probably pretty enthralled by Siren, who had refused to leave his side, even when Shinso tried to pull her away. Now the little green canary kept flying circles around Midoriya's head, twittering in excitement – only occasionally landing on his shoulders to hop around the place, still singing in his ear.

All Might was handing out third place medals to Todoroki and Tokoyami, talking to one for a good while before turning to the other.

Midoriya, meanwhile, kept signing little gestures to Shinso, who was standing at the edge of the huddle of students watching the awards ceremony.

[Sleep] Midoriya signed.

[Join the insomniac club] Shinso replied.

[No! I want sleep!]

[Join us, Canary]

Another benefit of sign language – communication over a lot of noise and a good distance.

"In second place, Izuku Midoriya!" Midnight suddenly cried.

Midoriya actually jumped into the air at the proclamation, whilst the volume of the crowd increased exponentially and he silently mourned the loss of his headphones.

It was so loud – people were standing at they yelled his name and punched the air – making as much noise as humanly possible, so much so that All Might actually had to wait for them to calm down a bit before he could talk to Midoriya himself.

He held out the silver medal and slowly lowered it over Midoriya's head.

Silver had never felt more like gold.

"You put up a remarkable effort, young Midoriya," All Might told him as he embraced the boy awkwardly.

Midoriya tried not to squirm away at the touch.

Siren must have noticed his discomfort, because she immediately flew right at the number one hero's face, tweeting furiously at him.

"Feisty little thing, isn't she?!" All Might laughed heartily.

And with nothing more to say, he left Midoriya's side to retrieve the gold medal for Kacchan.

As soon as he was no longer hidden behind All Might's bulk of a body, the crowd cheered louder once more.

[You're famous!] Shinso signed as big and boldly as possible, a big grin plastered on his face.

[I don't know if that's a good thing!] Midoriya replied nervously.

"And in first place, Katsuki Bakugo!" Midnight announced to the crowd.

But... the cheer for Kacchan was nothing compared to Midoriya's.

He must have noticed – because rather than letting All Might drape the golden medal over his neck, he simply snatched it off him. His hand gripped the metal as All Might spoke, as if trying to bend it or screw it up into a ball to toss it away.