Be Careful What You Wish For

Friends

If there was one thing Izuku didn't expect out of this whole Hero Killer business, it was this.

"Dude, why did you never tell me you were such a badass?!"

Izuku blinked in surprise, staring dumbly at Kaminari.

"Excuse me?" the word left his mouth automatically, being the first thought that entered his brain after the bizarre exclamation.

As soon as he had stepped through the classroom doors, it had felt as if every head turned in his direction simultaneously. Next he knew, his classmates were crowding around him, all with equally excited expressions on their faces. Ashido squeezed herself to the front of the throng of students, yelling gleefully.

"The Hero Killer!"

Izuku took an immediate stumbling step backwards. What? Instantly, he searched for the familiar faces of Iida and Todoroki. He couldn't imagine either of them would slip up about what occurred in that dark alley, but why else was he being hounded like this?

Todoroki sat quietly in his seat, eyes focused on the tabletop. Iida was making his way toward the group circled around Izuku, all the while waving his arms excessively and yelling about "proper classroom conduct" and to "give Midoriya-kun his personal space".

Thankfully, the words didn't go completely ignored, as the students took some short steps back, but it did nothing to kill their animated chatter. Izuku met his bespectacled friend with a questioning gaze, but Iida seemed just as bewildered as he was.

The freckled teen turned back to his classmates. He tilted his head slightly, switched his emotions off, and spoke flatly.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Kaminari laughed and stepped up next to him, slapping him on the back.

"Don't be like that, dude! We've all seen the video."

Izuku face grew cold as all blood left it at once. "The video?" he sputtered, alarm bells ringing in his ears. Iida went still as his attention shifted solely to Kaminari, mouth still gaping open in silent reprimands.

"Yeah!" the electric user took a step back, taking in Izuku with eyes filled with... reverence? "Stain was like, super intimidating. Scared the crap out of me. But you didn't even care! You just went 'hey', and then scolded all those heroes right after like it was nothing! Like, damn, I wish I had those kind of guts. Totally fearless."

Izuku blinked. "Oh." Another blink. Silence. "Uh..."

His tensed muscles relaxed by a tiny fraction, but his confusion remained. From the sound of it, the video Kaminari was talking about wasn't his fight with Stain. Which, now that he thinks about it, he probably should have realized. Otherwise, Todoroki and Iida would be receiving the same treatment as he was right now.

His classmates didn't seem satisfied with his reticence however, because suddenly, Ashido was in his face, sharing something on her phone.

"Look—it's all over the internet! Someone even made a forum for you!"

"What?!" He promptly snatched the phone from his pink skinned acquaintance, scanning the screen in disbelief. The banner of the website read 'Deku Fanclub' in bold lettering, with the tagline 'The fearless hero of U.A.' just underneath.

Izuku felt lightheaded as he scrolled through the site, his disbelief increasing with every second spent staring at the words and pictures filling the bright screen. He didn't know what to feel about this. He really didn't. Was he supposed to be happy? Maybe. Was he? He honestly had no idea. The only emotion he could currently decipher was unadulterated confusion.