Rejected Stones

The Stage Is Set

Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida

35. The Stage is Set

Fame is a beast that you can't control or be prepared for.

-Tom Holland

Carefully, Izuku reached out and picked up the chopsticks, holding them between his thumb and fingers. With a slow, deliberate motion, he reached out, picking up the chunk of egg. Sweat beading on his brow, he carefully moved it up to his mouth, leaning forward and hastily taking a bite. He felt a thrill of success and-

There was a loud snap, and he jerked back as splinters peppered his lips. Chagrined, he leaned back, and opened his hand so that the wooden pieces fell out onto the table. Using his left hand, he swept them off into the trash can next to the table.

"Izuku! That was so good! You're getting the hang of it already!" Mei praised, eagerly watching him from across the small table. Her own meal was forgotten on her plate, her eyes fixed on Izuku's progress.

"Thanks Mei, the arm you made is really amazing," Izuku answered, reaching out and gingerly picking up another set of chopsticks.

"Ten minutes!" Hari shouted, hurrying through the dorm kitchen. "Ten minutes until bus time!"

Her shout made Izuku twitch, and he snapped yet another set of chopsticks. Sighing, he let them fall, taking up a final pair with his real hand and quickly snarfing down his meal. Mei did likewise, quickly cleaning her plate, then taking hers and Izuku's and stacking it in the dishwasher. It was a deliberate action for her, one that Izuku had traditionally done, until Bakugo had yelled at Mei for making Izuku put her plate away one handed. Mei had yelled right back, but after that she'd started to clear the dishes herself.

With that out of the way, Izuku walked out to where the bus was already waiting to take them to the Provisional License Exam. The newly finished Power Suit was already stowed along with the modules he'd be using for the test, two of which were new creatures. One was a tank of the capture foam he could spray using a nozzle, another was a special module they'd created specifically to allow Izuku to release excess electricity from Kaminari's own gear, allowing him to recharge his suit and allow his classmate to continue using his quirk. They'd had to replace Kaminari's gear so that instead of simply blocking electricity it stored it, but it had been worth the late nights in Izuku and Mei's opinion.

Mei sat next to Izuku on the bus, though she did talk to many of their classmates, as did Izuku. It was still something of a shock to Izuku for both he and Mei to be so well liked and accepted by the others. Even Bakugo was mostly polite, at least for him, towards Izuku and the others. He'd somehow fallen in with Uraraka, and by extension Iida, along with Shinso. Shinso and Bakugo constantly traded sarcastic barbs back and forth, but Shinso seemed to enjoy it and Bakugo was at least willing to put up with Shinso if it meant someone else would be around him.

Hari drove the bus, while Mr. Aizawa sat up front taking a nap. It was a long trip, and though Izuku felt nervous, he was also confident. After all, this was only a test. Even if he failed, neither his life nor Mei's was on the line, and compared to the trails they'd faced over the summer it was almost normal.

Except, he, Izuku Midoriya, was on his path to being a hero. And for the first time, it seemed like everyone around him believed that he could do it.

They arrived at the testing site around lunch time, and everyone piled out to a grassy area to sit and eat. Izuku meticulously used his prosthetic arm to feed himself. He was getting far better with it, but for more delicate tasks he still needed a lot of improvement as his set of a dozen shattered chopsticks showed.