Izuku read through his list of offers one last time before turning back to the post-it note that had been stuck on the front when Aizawa had handed him the packet.

Midoriya,

Congratulations on your offers! I am absolutely astounded at how well you were accepted at the sports festival and am, of course, proud of you. I would prefer, however, that you spend this coming internship week with me. Your offers are all from underground pro heroes, but you have already had substantial combat experience in that environment. Midoriya, your mind is your most powerful weapon, but it still needs to be sharpened and honed for you to be the best hero you can be. It is in your best interest, therefore, to develop it further and I am sure you will agree that I am the hero best suited to assist you in that goal. If you have your heart set on one of the other heroes on your list, I will not stand in your way, but I will assume you will be interning with me unless you tell me otherwise.

Sincerely,

Nezu

Mic: I have no idea whether to hope that Midoriya will accept or not accept.

Midnight: I mean good for him if he gets smarter but that means there are going to be two of them...

He had meant to talk about it with Nezu during his private lesson, but between their discussion about Todoroki and working on their plans to discredit Endeavor, it had completely slipped his mind. He had honestly been surprised at how many offers he had gotten and he could easily choose any of them, but... Nezu was right. He had spent every minute since meeting Eraser and the others working to become proficient in combat, but his main advantage had always been his mind. His classmates would be using this week to hone their quirks, but he didn't have one of those, so his mind was the most important.

Besides, maybe if he went with Nezu they'd be able to use the time to make a more detailed plan for Endeavor. He was still worried about how this whole thing would affect Todoroki, but Nezu seemed to have something he was working on behind the scenes, so Izuku would have to be patient and wait until Nezu let him in on his thoughts.

Todoroki: Yes go take down that abusive idiot.

Endeavor: Did you just-

Recovery Girl: He did and you don't get a say in this.

"Hey Deku!" Uraraka's cheerful voice startled him out of his thoughts and Izuku looked up to see her smiling at him. "Wanna walk to the station together?"

"Sure!" Izuku hurried to put away his papers, not wanting to be left behind for whatever reason. It was just so surreal that he had friends now, and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that, especially since Uraraka was his own age. His pro hero friends would always be special to him, but there was just something different about having people his own age actually want to hang out with him. He couldn't imagine anyone at his middle school offering to walk home with him without using it as the set up for some mean prank. He was still struggling to wrap his head around it.

Inko(sadly): Oh Izuku...

"We should invite Iida too!" Uraraka said. "Hey Iida... wait, did he already go home?"

Iida: I probably did...

"He probably already decided where he wants to do his internship and is turning in his paperwork." Izuku said. "Should we wait for him?"

Uraraka nodded, "We should check by the lockers first, though, see if his stuff is gone. I hope he's okay, after everything that happened with his brother..."

Iida(sighing): I wasn't...

"Me too." They started walking toward the lockers and Izuku tried to keep an eye out for Iida in case they passed him.

"So, have you decided who you're going to intern with yet, Deku?"

"I think so..." Izuku said hesitantly. "But I got a lot of good offers, so it makes it hard to choose... "

Nezu: Completely understandable. But I do hope he chooses me.

"I know what you mean!" Uraraka opened her locker and started loading things into her backpack. "I honestly wasn't expecting to get any offers at all!" She looked over at Izuku, who was staring at Iida's empty locker. "Oh, did Iida already go home?"

"I guess so." Izuku frowned, "Do you wanna just leave?"

Uraraka: Guess we're leaving.

"Yeah." Uraraka adjusted her backpack so it sat higher up on her shoulders. "You ready?"

Izuku nodded and grabbed his own backpack, "So have you decided where you're going?"

"Yep! I'm gonna intern with the pro hero Gunhead!"

Midoriya: I guess that doesn't change across worlds either.

Izuku stopped walking and stared at her, "Gunhead? Isn't he combat based? I thought you wanted to be a rescue hero?"

"I do." Uraraka said. "But he sent me an offer and I think it'll be really good for me. I've been thinking about it since my fight with Bakugo at the sports festival and I've decided that I need to get stronger to be the kind of hero I want to be. An internship with Gunhead will give me a different perspective."

Thirteen: That sounds good. Rescue heroes need to be able to fight too... gee I really should take up Gunhead's offer on learning some martial arts...

Izuku smiled and started walking again, "That's so cool, Uraraka! Gunhead will definatly help you be a better fighter. Who knows, maybe next time you fight Katsuki, you'll be able to win!"

Bakugo: You'd better bring it on, round face!

"A girl can hope." Uraraka laughed. "So who did you decide on?"

"It's kinda weird..."

Kaminari: Yeah the principal...

"Ah, now you're just making me curious!" Uraraka groaned. "Who is it? Tell me!"

Izuku chuckled, "I'm gonna be interning with Nezu."

Now it was Uraraka's turn to stare at him in shock, "The principal? How did you manage that? I didn't even know he took interns."

Nezu: Oh I don't but Midoriya is an exception!

"He requested me specifically." Izuku shrugged. "And I don't know if he normally takes interns, but you know that I'm more focused on strategy than most heroes are, so it makes sense for me to intern with an intelligence based hero. I've already learned a lot from him this year, so I'm hoping this internship will kinda jumpstart things, you know? I don't know, maybe I should go with a hero I've never worked with before and get a new perspective, like you said."

"No!" Uraraka shook her head decisively. "Just because something works for me, doesn't mean it'll work for you. You're one of the smartest people I know, Deku, I mean you came up with a winning strategy against Aizawa on our first day! So I think playing to your strengths is gonna be really good for you."

Midoriya: Thanks Uraraka...

Uraraka: Of course, Deku.

"You really think so?"

Uraraka smiled, "Yeah! This is gonna be so much fun! Who do you think our friends are gonna go with?"

"Well, I don't know about Iida, since he was probably planning on interning with his brother before everything happened." Izuku muttered. "Then Todoroki will probably intern with some sort of flame based hero if he plans to keep using his fire, but then again that's his decision, so I don't really know. Yaoyorozu said something about interning with Uwabami, I'm not sure it's the best fit, but she's really smart so I trust her judgement..."

Momo(sighing): I probably should have gone with someone different.

Kendo: Yeah that was a big waste of time.

"Where do you think Bakugo will go?" Uraraka asked.

"Oh, he'll go with someone in the top ten if he got any offers from them." Izuku said. "He always wanted to be the best."

Bakugo: Yup.

"Yeah, I can see that." Uraraka laughed as they arrived at the station. "When does your train get here?"

"It should come in about ten minutes." Izuku said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "What about yours?"

"Mine always comes at an awkward time." Uraraka huffed. "I either barely make it, or barely miss it, it just depends on how fast I walked and... wait, that's it! Bye, Deku!"

Uraraka: Wow I'm actually on time for once.

Izuku smiled as he watched Uraraka run toward the train as people piled in and laughed as he realized her backpack was floating slightly. She must have lightened it so she could run faster. She jumped between the doors right as they closed, then turned and waved to him as the train sped off. Izuku waved back, despite the fact that she was gone and couldn't see him, then went to find a place to sit while he waited for his train.

He was so lucky to have friends.

Midoriya: I sure am.

"Hey brat!" Mom yelled from the kitchen, "You decided on an internship yet?"

"Leave me alone, hag!" Katsuki yelled back. "I'm still thinking about it! You should just be happy I got so many offers."

"Yeah, I'm proud alright! You showed 'em all at the sports festival!"

(everyone chuckled a little at Mitsuki and Bakugo being as iconic as ever.)

Katsuki looked at the handwritten list he'd made that put all his offers in order based on their hero ranking. The highest offer was Best Jeanist, who was the number four hero, so that's who he should go with if he wanted to be the best, but Katsuki couldn't get Hound Dog's question from that afternoon off his mind.

What kind of hero did he want to be?

Bakugo: Well definitely not like Jeanist. That dude was an idiot.

Kirishima(laughing): Yeah I still can't believe he managed to get your hair to stay down for more than a second.

Bakugo: Shut up don't you dare remind me about that!

He'd always wanted to be the best hero, to be number one, but how much of that was pressure from his old teachers and how much of that was what he actually wanted? Maybe he should stop focusing so much on being the best. After all, Endeavor was only focused on being the best and look at where that got him.

Dabi: Yeah on the fast track to becoming the number one worst parent in existence.

So what kind of hero did he want to be? Or even what kind of person did he want to be? Ugh! Why was this so hard?

Well, he knew that he didn't want to change who was to fit what other people wanted. He didn't want to change his personality at all, and he definitely didn't want to be nice like Deku, so maybe he should find a hero that matched his personality?

If that was his plan, Best Jeanist was out. Yeah, he might be the best among the offers Katsuki had gotten, but he was just too... tame. Everything about Katsuki was wild, from his hair to his personality, so interning with Jeanist would be like trying to put a feral animal in a cage. It wouldn't end well. So did he get any other offers from the top ten? Yeah, he did. Mirko... who was that?

Mirko(excitedly): Oh boy he might actually intern with me!

Hawks: Well you two are going to get along like a house on fire.

Mitsuki: Or set the house on fire.

Mirko: Eh my house has seen worse.

A quick search later and Katsuki was grinning. Mirko was currently number seven in the rankings, but rising fast and she was fierce. Like Katsuki, she wasn't afraid to speak her mind and she was more of a lone wolf than a rabbit, an image that would probably make the Mutt laugh at the irony. Katsuki didn't really know what kind of hero he wanted to be yet, but he knew that Mirko was pretty $@#&* close.

So if Katsuki was a feral animal, why not intern with a wild rabbit?

Mirko: Oh this is going to be fun!

"So even All Might's scared of this guy?" Nejire asked. "He must be pretty intimidating!"

All Might(shivering): Yeah...

"Yeah." Mirio said. "And I mean, I got other offers, so I don't have to intern with his Grand Torino guy, but who could pass up an opportunity to learn from the man who taught All Might?"

Gran Torino: Well this should be interesting.

Mirio: I'm sure you'll teach me a lot, Gran Torino.

"You're going to die." Tamaki had been trembling ever since Mirio had told them how intimidated All Might was by even the thought of his old teacher. "Don't leave us alone, Mirio."

Tamaki: Yes please don't...

Nejire: Oh he'll be fine, Tamaki. Gran Torino's only a threat to villains and All Might.

"Oh stop being so dramatic!" Nejire said. "I think you should do it! I believe in you!"

"Yeah, I think I will!" Mirio clenched a fist in determination. "Gran Torino, here I come!"

Midoriya: I don't know whether to feel sorry for Togata or not...

Ojiro: Well you really improved after your internship so he probably will too.

Midoriya: Yeah but Gran Torino's a bit... much.

All Might(shuddering): You're telling me...

Shouta stared at the phone number Nezu had slipped him during staff meeting. He had more than enough on his plate right now with internships and keeping his students safe from villains; he didn't need anything else to worry about.

Aizawa: Okay now what's wrong?

After a long moment, he sighed and dialed the number anyway. The teasing was never going to stop if he didn't do anything about it and besides, how could he teach his students to do hard things and take risks if he didn't have the courage to do the same?

Cementoss: Wait now what's he doing?

The phone seemed to ring for an eternity before someone finally picked up. Shouta took a deep breath. "Hey Emi, it's me. I was wondering..."

Mina(squealing): Sensei?!

Joke(gasping): Hold on a second. Hold on a second. Eraserhead's asking me out!

Hagakure: Yes he is!

Midnight: Oh my goodness Shou you actually did it! Oh never in the world did I think that you of all people would make the first move!

Mic: Aw Shou's growing up...

Aizawa(turning red and hiding in his capture weapon): Don't talk to me.