*Izuku's POV*

Although it was a close call, the entire class managed to make it through the first portion of our provisional license exam. My hands were sweating profusely as I watched my classmates scramble around up to the last second. The sense of relief I felt when Aoyama tagged his last person was immeasurable, I could feel the weight of the world fall off of my shoulders. "Well done everybody!" Iida congratulated everyone as we stood in a tight circle in the corner of the antechamber, "We all made it through to the next portion of the exam and I couldn't be more proud of each and every one of you." Iida continued, pride and joy shining like stars in his navy blue eyes. Everyone returned Iida's beaming smile, patting each other's backs and retelling stories of their battle exploits enthusiastically. I smiled to myself as I turned away from my classmates to indulge myself with some of the food splayed out on the table beside me. "Hungry much?" a voice chucked from behind me. I looked up from where I was stuffing my face and stared at Kacchan and Kyoka with wide eyes. I felt like a deer caught in headlights. Kyoka and Kacchan laughed at me. I can't imagine I was a pleasant picture. My mouth was stuffed with food, my cheeks swelling outwards like a chipmunk's, and yet more food was still clutched in my hands. "Kyoka told me that you turned an entire portion of the arena into a lake," Kacchan said casually as he picked up an apple and took a frighteningly large bite out of it. I nodded and swallowed the mush in my mouth so that I could answer.

"Yeah. I was really worried that someone from the other school wouldn't be able to swim but as far as I can tell nobody was seriously hurt. It was a really stupid move to make." I mumbled to myself, staring off into the distance as other strategies whizzed through my head at light speed. Kacchan slapped me over the back, jolting me from my thoughts, he stared down at me with blood coloured eyes and shook his head slightly. "Can't change the past now, dipshit," he growled, patting my curls before straightening up at the sound of Mera's voice echoing throughout the room.

"Well done to all 100 of you who have passed the first portion of the exam. You have all shown good judgement and that you are capable in battle." Mera's exhausted voice reverberated off of the walls of the antechamber, silencing the hum of conversation. " Now we test your rescue abilities.". The word's had barley left the speakers when the sounds of string explosions echoed around the room. Everyone spun around to look at one of many TV screens dotted around the room. We all watched in horror and awe as the buildings in the faux city toppled and the industrial district exploded. I felt my stomach clench as people shambled across the ruined landscape.

"Your task is to save these actors. Every hero needs to be adept in rescue scenarios. To pass this portion of the exam you must retain as many points as possible. An agent has been assigned to each of you and they will deduct points from you should you make a mistake or endanger the lives of others." Mera's voice droned monotonously through the speakers. I looked up at Kacchan and saw his jaw lock. Varying emotions flickered across Kacchan's face. Anger. Hopelessness. Confusion. Although, anger seemed to be the most prominent one. Kacchan wasn't one for rescue operations.

"If you dip below 60 points, you will fail this exam. Each of you has 100 points to start with and each mistake you make is worth anywhere from 1-10 points depending on the severity. Understood? Good. The second portion of the exam will start in 5 minutes." Mera's voice echoes before the speakers went quiet and everyone was left staring at the perfect picture of destruction before us.

When everyone broke out of their trances, all of my classmate and me reformed our huddled and put our heads together to talk. "Ok. So as we are all aware, this is a rescue operation. Without meaning to offend, we all know that Bakugo isn't the best at these sorts of operations." Yaomomo sighed, ignoring the angry snort which came from Kacchan. "Also, Shoto isn't the best due to his lack of teamwork. I'm sorry Shoto, but it's the truth." Yaomomo continued, holding her cheek in her hand as she stared up at the TV screens. "The rest of us are moderately good to excellent at rescue work but we really can't take risks if we all want to pass this exam. We don't know what sorts of things classify as mistakes and what their point value is.". We all listed to Yaomomo intently, she was the smartest person in our class and one of the best rescue and support heroes.

"I have a plan. We should go in groups. That much is pretty obvious. If we go in groups we can save people easier and stuff. We should get into groups with people who have complementary quirks to our own. Like Kacchan and Shoto. Does that make sense?" I asked, somewhat nervously. I watched as my classmates nodded, all of their eyes were glued to me as I spoke. "We all know what to do in rescue situations. We all just need to be confident in our abilities. I'll go with Kacchan and Shoto to keep them in line, ok?" I continued, earning nods from my classmates and affronted looks from both Kacchan and Shoto. "Ok. Everyone, do your best." I beamed at everyone before a buzzer sounded and we all broke out of our little huddle to enter the ruined arena.

As soon as we stepped out of the room, my senses were hit with a barrage of things. The air smelt like smoke which I could taste as it worked its way down through my nose and into my lungs. I could feel the wind as it skimmed across my face, bits of ash and dust mixed into it, stinging my cheeks ever so slightly. Everywhere I looked I could see smoke, fire and destruction. The sight made me feel extremely uneasy. The scenes were eerily close to that of Kamino ward. The very thought of that day brought back bitter memories which I wished I could forget but knew I never would. Those memories will haunt me until the day I die. I could hear the sounds of buildings crumbling and people calling out for help. Their screams of agony were so full of pain and fear that they sounded real. My body felt frozen as I stared out onto the scene before me. My mind strayed and my breathing began to speed up. My heart pounded in my ears and my hands and feet got extremely sweaty. I could feel something building up within me which I desperately wanted to repress but couldn't find the strength to. Just as my panic and discomfort were reaching their peak, two warm hands clamped down onto my shoulders, bringing me back down to earth.

I looked up to see Kacchan staring directly into my eyes. Emerald met ruby as he looked deep into my soul. "Hey. Hey. It's alright. You're not there, you're here. You're here with me and Icyhot. It's not real. The exam is about to start. Do you remember? The exam. It's a test. We'll be fine. Are you ready to fight, Izuku?" Kacchan's usually angry and gruff voice was now low and soothing as he calmly brought me down from my near panic attack. I took deep breaths which rattled my ribcage but cleared my head. I looked around and took notice of certain things. The rings of high seats around us. The 100 or so people in black suits who were ready to observe our performance. The distinct seafoam green hair of Auntie Joke in the distance and the collum of black beside her which could only be my dad. None of that was there at Kamino. We were safe. Hisashi wasn't here. Neither was the LOV. It was a test. Slowly, my breathing evened out and I was able to think clearly. I looked up at Kacchan nodded to signal that I was good. He nodded in return and pulled away from me, his hands slipping from my shoulders.

I looked over at Shoto and saw him looking at me with concern. "Are you sure you're ok, Love? You were about to have a pretty bad panic attack." Shoto said in a whispered voice so that he didn't alert any of the other candidates around us who were all buzzing in excitement. I nodded my head and whipped my gloved hands beneath my eyes. "I'll be fine. I just need to push through it. I'll have to do this out in the real world. I don't matter when there are people out there who are in danger." I said, setting my shoulders back and staring resolutely ahead. I could feel Shoto looked at me in shock.

I could do nothing as Shoto firmly grasped me by the arms and turned me so that I was looking directly into his turquoise and silvery eyes. My heart fluttered at the beautiful sight before me. "Don't EVER say shit like that again! Your health matters you dipshit! If you're not ready to do something, you don't have to FUCKING do it! Think about yourself, Izuku. We're going to be having a very long talk after all of this is over." Shoto whisper-yelled at me. His eyes holding a storm which I didn't want to face. I stood there in shock as Shoto let go of me and shook his head slightly. I wanted to say something, anything, in return but Mera's voice echoed from the speakers again, initiating the second portion of the exam.

"Terrorists have launched an attack. The city is in ruins. Dispatch as many heroes as possible to help deal with this disaster!" A panicked voice crackled over the speaker. I looked around at everybody and saw them preparing to run into the epicentre of all of the destruction surrounding us. "Remember, Class 1A, don't leave your groups. Stick together with your assigned people." Iida ordered, giving a pointed glare to Kacchan. We all knew that Iida's words were directed at him even without the intense eye contact between the two. The walls of the room fell once again and we were off, running into the ruined city.

Kacchan, Shoto and I were quick to head towards the mountainous area. I thought that their quirks would be most useful there seeing as they were quite destructive. "Izuku, there's bound to be a second wave of attacks, why can't we just wait for that?" Kacchan whined like a child. I continued running but turned to glare at the aggressive boy beside me, "You know as well as I do that we can't just wait around for a villain to potentially show up. We need to help these people. So hurry up because your quirk could be good for something." I ordered Kacchan as we reached the base of the mountain.

As we reached the base of the mountain, all three of us let our gazes sweep the landscape, looking for any potential survivors who needed saving. Seeing nobody, I dropped to the floor and transformed into Kyoka. My earphone jacks slivered across the floor and plugged directly into the mountainside so that I could hear any victims who may have happened to have been on the mountain. It took a second, but I heard some pained grunts and groans from the top of the mountain. Everywhere else seemed to be clear except the top. With this new information, I pulled back, transformed and spoke to my teammates.

"As far as I can tell the entire mountain but the top is clear. I can hear three people. It seems to be a family. Two males and their son." I said a serious tone in my voice even though the scenario we were in wasn't real. Kacchan and Shoto nodded, their eyes straying to the top. "I'll go up first in bird form. I'll warn them of Kacchan's quirk as it is likely to scare them since it's so loud. Just to be on the safe side, Shoto, use your ice to get both you and Kacchan up there until the people can see he isn't a threat. Kacchan, once we're up there I won't get the chance to say it, but you need to keep a lid on your temper unless you want to fail. Got it?" I asked, glaring directly into Kacchan's vermillion eyes. He nodded his head slowly, obvious reluctance shining in his eyes. He was not cut out for rescue work, but we'd have to make do. "Ok then. I'm going up. Follow behind me." I breathed out. With that, I transformed into a falcon and started flying towards the summit of the rather short mountain.

It didn't take any longer than a minute for me to reach the top of the mountain. I barely had to look around to see where the three people we needed to rescue were. They were to my right slightly, up against a wall. I will admit, their appearances were a little unnerving. The child was clearly a very short adult and they all seemed to be exaggerating their performances, there wasn't time to dwell on that though. One of the men had his leg stuck under a boulder. I rushed over and knelt beside the man. "Sir, can you hear me? What is your name?" I asked in a soothing voice. I made sure I spoke quite loud, but not loud enough to be considered shouting. The man below me nodded his head slowly, his eyes going in and out of focus, "Kenga." he rasped. I nodded and turned around to look at the 'boy' and the man behind me. "Is this your husband?" I asked. The other man nodded, tears streaming down his face like waterfalls. "Ok, sir, please could you come and hold your husband's hand to reassure him. I'm going to remove the boulder from his leg." I said in a calm voice, making sure I didn't inspire any more fear in these people. The other man nodded his head frantically, causing his white hair streaked with dirt to swing around. I smiled reassuringly at him and moved away from the yellow-haired man on the floor.

The white-haired man rushed over to Kenga and clasped his hand tightly. Tears beaded in his eyes as he muttered prayers under his breath. The actors were really into their roles. I moved away from Kenga and quickly looked closely at the boulder. It wasn't that big, I could easily lift it as a gorilla. So I transformed into a gorilla and wrapped my arms around the boulder so that I could lift it and place it somewhere where it could no longer hurt anyone. Once I had placed the boulder back down, I transformed back into myself and rushed over to Kenga to check how bad his leg was. It was at this moment that Kacchan and Shoto arrived on the scene.

Kacchan opened his mouth to speak but I quickly shushed him, I didn't doubt that whatever he said would make him lose points. "I've just removed a boulder from Kenga's leg. I haven't had the chance to check these two for injuries. Ground Zero, splint Kenga's leg. Ice Burn, check the other man and I'll sort out the child." I ordered. I think by this point it was clear who was leading the operation. Kacchan didn't look too happy being ordered around but followed through lest he fails the test.

I moved away from Kenga's leg and towards the cowering golden-haired boy behind me. I made small movements which couldn't be perceived as threatening and knelt at the boy's side. "Hello there, what's your name," I asked in a gentle voice, making sure not to sound like I was babying the boy, but also being sure not to sound to mean. "I'm Mono. I'm 10." the old man child whispered, voice low as it warbled slightly from fear. "Hey, Mono. I'm Deviant. It's nice to meet you. Are you hurt anywhere?" I asked gently. Mono nodded his head and pointed to his ankle which looked extremely bruised. It looked like it was broken. I nodded my head and smiled reassuringly at Mono as I pulled out some bandages and a stick so that I could splint his ankle. "Is that the only place, Mono," I asked gently, being sure not to jerk his foot around as I bandaged it. Mono shook his head and wiped away the tears on his cheeks. "That's good then, isn't it. You're being really brave, Mono. Let's get you to a safe place, yeah." I smiled, hoping to ease some of the man-child's fears. He nodded and tried to return the smile. I gently guided Mono to his feet before making him put his arms over my shoulders so that I could carry him on my back.

"Hey guys, is everything going ok?" I called over to Kacchan and Shoto as I neared them and watched them do first aid. They both nodded and looked up at me, "We're done here. We need to get Kenga to the medical centre quickly." Shoto explained in a monotone voice. I nodded and looked out towards the city. Even from high up on the mountain, I could see where the medical bay had been set up. "I can see the medical bay, but we need a way to get all three down there safely," I muttered to myself. "Hey, nerd, can you transform into vehicles?" Kacchan's brash voice asked. I nodded my head hesitantly, already not liking whatever it was that Kacchan was going to suggest. A devilish smirk spread over Kacchan's face.

Being a helicopter was... an experience. I couldn't see, but the sensation of flying through the air and having large rotating things on me was not pleasant. I knew from the moment we took off that I would be in no rush to repeat the experience. I could hear Kacchan and Shoto's voices as they attempted to reassure the passengers. They weren't very empathetic or compassionate people so it was amusing listening to them trying their hardest to keep people calm.

We touched down by the medical bay within minutes fo leaving the mountain. We were far enough away that we didn't disturb the other victim's but close enough that we could get the people with us to the medical bay quite quickly. I felt a hand tap against me three times, an indication that everyone was out and I could transform back. I quickly reverted to human form and shuddered. I was not eager to be a helicopter again. Something about it was just disturbing to me. I picked up Mono and started carrying him towards the medical bay as the other two did the same with Kenga and his husband.

We arrived at the medical bay and dropped off the people we had saved. They all thanked us graciously as we waved and walked away towards the city so that we could assist more people. We had barely taken two steps away when an explosion rocked the floor and all three of us stopped in our tracks. Kacchan got an excited gleam in his eyes as he slowly turned around and looked in the direction the explosion had come from. I also turned around to look at what had caused the explosion and felt my stomach drop. Sauntering into the arena was the pro hero Gang Orca. I felt my mouth fall open in surprise as not only Gang Orca but a bunch of minions swarmed into the arena. What were we in for?

"We need to get these people to safety," I shouted out to Kacchan and Shoto over the noise of explosions rocking the earth. I could see the anger in Kacchan's eyes at being held back. "Remember we stick together, we'll fight him as soon as we know that these people are safe," I told Kacchan. He scowled but nodded his head in understanding, turning ever so slightly to appraise the injured people who were being rushed away by other examinees. "Fine. But we better come back to fight," he growled, scooping up the closest kid to him and rushing him away. I nodded my head and helped escort some other victims away from the scene.

After we had gotten everyone away from Gang Orca and his minions, Kacchan, Shoto and I all returned to the battle scene. We knew that some people had stayed back to keep Gang Orca and his henchmen at bay, but it seemed as though they had lost that battle. People like Shindo and some of his classmates were sprawled on the floor, seemingly paralyzed by Gang Orca. I desperately wanted to be smug about how Shindo couldn't take down Gang Orca despite his 'oh so great' quirk, but that mindset wasn't befitting of a hero. I quickly rushed over to Shindo as Kacchan and Shoto faced Gang Orca, falling into their fighting positions.

"Hey. Can you speak? Can you see?" I asked Shindo in a quiet, rushed voice. I watched as Shindo slowly nodded his head, opening his mouth with some difficulty. "I-i-i c-can't m-m-move." he stuttered through a locked jaw. I nodded my head and looked around. One of Shindo's schoolmates was crouched out of sight behind a rock. Her golden hair like a beacon amongst the dirty earth tones. "Psst. You. Yeah, you, who else would I be talking to. Take him somewhere safe to recover." I called out to the baffled blond. She was hesitant, but she slowly emerged from behind the rock and took Shindo from my arms. I quickly sent them on my way so that I could focus on the battle raging behind me, just from the sound I could tell it wasn't going well.

When I turned around I was met with an interesting scene. Kacchan was flying around with his explosions, battering the henchmen with enough ferocity to question if he was trying to kill his foes. His moves were made with practised ease. It was like he was dancing an elegant dance which flowed like silk. He was doing what he was supposed to be. The same can not be said about Shoto.

I wasn't sure what made Inasa despise Shoto so much. I also wasn't sure why Shoto was letting it get to him so much. He usually didn't care what others thought about him and just waved everything off. It may be because he was so socially inept, but Shoto didn't usually pick up on when people didn't like him or when they were being rude to him. So what was so different about Inasa? It was a mystery I wanted to solve. But the middle of a vital test which my boyfriend was fucking up was not the optimal environment.

"Shoto! What the fuck are you doing!" I screamed as I watched Shoto and Inasa attempt to fight Gang Orca. They were both using their quirks simultaneously to try and take down Gang Orca, which was a dumb idea seeing as wind tended to blow out the fire. Shoto's eyes swivelled over to me, widening slightly at my use of profanity. When you've been around Kacchan as long as I have, you tend to pick up some of his habits in high-stress situations. I shook my head and picked up some rocks on the floor, transforming them into the familiar fabric of my dad's capture weapon. I quickly hooked it around both Inasa and Shoto and pulled them towards me.

As soon as the two idiotic boys were within my grasp I unwound them from the capture weapon. "I don't care what's going on between the two of you! You are messing up this entire exam not only for the two of you but potentially for Kacchan and I as well! I suggest you two get your heads out of your asses and start working together because I'm not going to sit here and watch as you both destroy your futures!" I bellowed, slapping both boys gently around the back of the head. At that moment I was a lot more like Kacchan than I would like to admit. The two boys looked up at me with wide eyes before slowly nodding and standing up. I nodded my head, satisfied that my point had been put across before turning to look at Gang Orca who was advancing towards us.

I looked at the capture weapon which was still in my hands then up at Gang Orca. I had a sudden burst of inspiration. I turned around to look at Shoto and Inasa, glaring at them I spoke through gritted teeth, "Work together." before I allowed the comforting feeling of my body shrinking and shifting to envelop me.

Once I had transformed into a fly, I fluttered towards the large gathering of henchmen all surrounding Gang Orca. I was hoping that none of them would notice a fly fluttering amongst them. Whilst one of them did attempt to swat me out of the way, they didn't seem suspicious. I landed on the floor behind the group and transformed once again so that I looked like the henchmen surrounding me. No one noticed the extra amongst their ranks. No one noticed as the capture scarf in my hands slowly morphed into a stun gun with enough power to incapacitate Gang Orca, who was fighting Shoto and Inasa once again. No one realised what I was doing until I had pulled the trigger.

"Well done young heroes. You did extremely well in your fight against me, especially after you two started working together." Gang Orca congratulated me, Shoto, Inasa and Kacchan as he lay upon the stretcher that had been brought out to cart him away.

After I had fired the stun gun at Gang Orca, he had been weakened significantly. I had hoped that the stun gun would completely knock him out, but he managed to stay on his feet and continued to try and fight Inasa and Shoto. I wasn't able to help them since I was too busy fighting off henchmen, but from what I had seen from the corner of my eye, the two boys had considered my words and had started fighting alongside each other. They had made a towering fire tornado which sapped the last of Gang Orca's strength from him, causing him to promptly collapse to the floor. I think I even saw Shoto using fire and ice simultaneously whilst I ducked a henchman's swipe at my head.

Once the buzzer had gone off, signalling the exam, all of the examinees were gathered together so that we could be checked over for injuries. Once we were cleared, we all went back to the changing rooms to change back into our school uniforms and await our results.

"Dude, I'm so worried. I'm not sure if I was kind enough to some of those people." Kirishima groaned as he pulled his shirt on over his head. Kacchan snorted in response to this, "You're basically a puppy, Shitty Hair, I doubt any of them were to put off by you.". I snorted slightly at this and continued to get dressed. Everyone was speaking in excited voices about their own experiences in the exam. Greatly exaggerating their feats or shyly deflecting when someone placed the spotlight on them. I smiled as I looked around at my classmates. I couldn't have asked for better friends.

Everyone stood in nervous silence as they stared up at the board in front of us. Every single one of our names was on the board, the only thing we were waiting for was the pass or fail which would flash next to them. I'm sure Shoto could feel how disgustingly sweaty my hand was in his but being the gentleman he was he didn't mention it. "Don't worry, Sweetheart, I'm sure you passed. Me on the other hand..."Shoto trailed off, looking up into the sky with a conflicted look on his face. I smiled at him and squeezed his hand, "I'm sure you did fine." I tried to reassure Shoto, though my wobbly voice may have contradicted my statement. He smiled at me as a mechanical beep echoed around the stadium, signalling that our results were on the board.I closed my eyes briefly and whispered a prayer under my breath before reluctantly peeling my eyes open and looking for my name on the large blackboard. 

Once I found my name I felt joy well up inside me at the sight of the green pass beside my name. I felt all of the breath leave my body at the sight of the pass mark. It felt like all of my worries had been alleviated from me and I was walking on air. I spun around to share my excitement with Shoto but faltered when I saw the look on his face. I felt worry and guilt swell up within me at the shocked look on Shoto's face. "Shoto! Are you ok, did you not pass?" I squeaked, searching the board intently to locate Shoto's name.

Once I saw my boyfriend's name, I scanned across the board to see the bright green 'pass' written next to it. I practically collapsed into Shoto's arms in relief. "Don't do that. You worried me!" I exclaimed, half-heartedly glaring up at Shoto. He looked extremely confused but patted my hair and kissed my forehead nonetheless. "Sorry, Love. Didn't mean to scare you," he said, eyes still glued to the pass mark beside his name.

Editing this was a bitch and I now never want to look at this chapter again. 

Later today, hopefully, I'm going to publish a oneshot which took me a lot of effort to write, it's a sad one. So if you want to read that, it'll be published in maybe an hour or two. Anyway, I hope you have a lovely day wherever you are.