This story was born because I liked Shinsou and wanted to see how he might interact with the various students of Class 1A.

More than anything else, I don't want anyone to be OOC. Let me know if you think I did a good Job on that. Of course, we haven't seen too much of Shinsou's actual personality, but I'll do my best.

Enjoy.

Chapter one: It's Official

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Shinsou glanced across the empty room at the rows of empty desks and took a deep breath.

He'd done it. He'd made it into the hero course.

He'd put in a decent showing at the joint training exercise and he'd heard some of the praise the watching teachers had given, but he still hadn't really believed he'd make the cut until it was all over and Professor Aizawa had taken him aside and told him:

"It's official. You're in. you start tomorrow so be at my class at seven. Don't be late." Then the exhausted-looking man had turned around to critique the other student's performances in the exercise.

…Okay, so it was hardly the most sanctimonious moment of his life, but that was just how Aizawa was. Personally, Shinsou appreciated how straight-to-the-point he was. People had always walked on eggshells around him ever since his quirk manifested, watching what they said so as not to set off the mind-controlling monster… or something.

But here he was, standing in the classroom where he would finally start making some real progress on his journey to be a hero and prove all those little whispers wrong. He glanced at the clock, it was only six-thirty. The weight of what was happening had hit him sometime after dinner and he hadn't been able to sleep much.

There was even an extra desk for him, against the far wall and somewhat awkwardly placed in front of all the others—clearly one that had only recently been added. He made his way over to it and sat down.

Without much else to do, he closed his eyes, hoping to regain some ground on his lost sleep and waited for the day to begin.

It was ten minutes before he heard the door open, Shinsou glanced over as a guy walked in. Tall, smartly-dressed, and with a pair of businesslike glasses on his face—that guy who runs fast, if he recalled correctly. What was his name again? Ida?

Glasses stopped when he saw Shinshou, caught off guard, but recovering quickly.

"Why hello there, Hitoshi Shinsou!" the guy declared, his voice booming far too loud for this early in the morning. Striding over with bold confidence, the guy stopped in front of Shinsou's desk and stood at attention. "I apologize for not seeing you at first! Professor Aizawa had informed us that you would be joining our class. I was attempting to arrive early in order to welcome you, but it would seem I underestimated your initiative!"

Shinsou blinked at him. That was… way too gung-ho for this early in the morning—he had a feeling that this was going to be a theme among his new classmates and had mentally prepared himself for it.

The guy strode closer, apparently taking his silence as "As class president, allow me to be the first to welcome you on your first day in the Hero Course! It is an honor to have you here!"

Shinsou stared up at the earnest face, searching for any hint of guile or insincerity, But…dear god, this guy was completely serious and why was he chopping the air with his hands like that?

"Of course, as the first to welcome you. I believe it falls upon me to fill you in on various aspects of life in this class and other things you will need to know that you may not have already been informed about!"

Shinshou felt his eyes glaze over as his ears filled themselves with the peaceful sound of ocean waves, an automatic self-defense against the onslaught of words as the minutes slipped by.

"—and, as I have already stated, review and study sessions as well as quirk practice take place every night at 7 pm. Furthermore—"

"Oh my god, Iida, give the new guy a rest, you're gonna scare him off!"

Shinsou blinked as the new voice intruded on his happy place. He glanced past Glasses—or Iida, he supposed— to check out the newcomer.

Pink. That was definitely the first impression. Pink and loud. Another of his new classmates whose name he couldn't remember. She'd thrown acid at him a couple times yesterday. That had been fun.

"Ah, good morning, Ashido! It is wonderful to see you arriving so early today!" Glasses had recovered from the interruption. "However, I would like to point out that I was not 'scaring him off' as you suggest, I was merely sharing crucial information with him to ease his transfer into our class."

"Uh huh," Pinkie was grinning. "And was he listening to any of it?"

"Of course he was." Glasses answered. "Weren't you, Shinsou?" The question came out of nowhere and Shinsou's mouth reacted on autopilot.

"No."

On the bright side, that answer had seemed to put glasses on back on his heels and Pinkie certainly seemed to find it amusing. But on the other hand, it did make him look like kind of a jerk. Too be fair, he was a jerk—being nice to people seemed like a waste of time when they were all just watching him to see if he'd do something villainous—but Aizawa had asked him to play nice. So, he tried to look a little contrite.

"Sorry." He said, yawning a bit and probably ruining any validity the apology might have carried. Well, he tried.

Glasses seemed to stall for a moment, but only a little. "No apologies are necessary," he declared. "Clearly you wish to adapt to the course at your own pace and I was overwhelming you with information. I should have realized," he bowed, actually bowed. "Please accept my apologies."

"…It's fine." Shinsou replied weakly. Pinkie finally managed to overcome her giggle fit and stepped forward.

"Don't worry about Iida. He's always got his motor running full tilt, if you know what I mean. You get used to it." She gave him an amiable grin as she elbowed Glasses in the side. "Anyway, I'm Mina." She thrust out her hand. Shinsou stared at it like it was about to start dripping acid… which, to be fair, it might. But… playing nice. He took it and gave it a shake. His hand didn't start melting, so he felt like that was a good start.

After that the rest of his new classmates started to trickle in.

Most of them gravitated straight toward him—everyone loves novelty—some of them were more tolerable about it than others.

"Shinsou, dude! You made it!" That was blondie, the electricity guy—calamari? No, Kaminari—clapping him hard on the back and giving a gigawatt grin. "I'm so happy for you man!"

"I thought you'd get in, but wasn't sure if the teachers would make a decision that quickly." He recognized that one too, the frog girl, Tsuyu.

Most of the others had similar things to say, congratulations and happy greetings, their names blending together as Midoriya's smile outshine even blondie's. There were a few of them that hung back, uninterested—explody and a few of the quieter students. Shinsou briefly locked eyes with Ojiro, who was frowning but nonetheless nodded a silent greeting. Shinsho nodded back.

It was all very happy, and nobody looked at all nervous about talking to him—which was weird, but whatever.

"All right, brats." Called Aizawa as he stepped into the room, his sleeping bag draped across his shoulders. "Stop crowding him and get back to your seats. Class is starting."

Everyone drifted away to their places as the older man made his way behind the front desk. He yawned, pulling the sleeping bag off his shoulders and stuffing it in a desk drawer. "Alright," Aizawa said. "As I told you last night, we have a new student in our class. Shinsou, stand up and introduce yourself."

Shinshou raised an eyebrow, what was this? Third grade? Everyone here knew who he was and about his quirk. Still, sensei was staring at him in that entirely neutral that meant he was completely serious. So, he shrugged and stood.

"My name is Hitoshi Shinsou. I'm going to become a hero that surpasses everyone here."

He sat back down.

Aizawa sighed.

"That's kinda cliché," Tsuyu commented. "But I can admire the drive."

"I like it!" Red Spikes said, turning around and grinning. "That's a manly goal! Consider your challenge accepted!"

"Tch. As if some mind-controlling bastard is ever going to surpass me."

There was a lot of other chatter as all the students chimed in. But… no mockery, no rejection of his ambitions.

He'd long since grown used to ignoring such things, but he had to admit not having to was… nice.

He had a new lunch period thanks to his new class, so none of the acquaintances he'd made in the general studies class who he found tolerable were around to sit with. So Shinsou slipped out of the cafeteria as soon as he'd grabbed something to eat, the messy cacophony of students chatting had never been for him. Besides, there was a nice tree just outside the main entrance that he liked to sit under and with luck he'd get a break from his entirely too enthusiastic new classmates.

"Nice spot, dude! Mind if we join you?"

Or not.

It was Kaminari again. What was he? Some kind of electrified puppy? Did he think that Shinsou had a treat for him in his pockets or something?

"Hey, new guy."

Shinsou looked lower, there was a… something standing next to Kaminari. Three feet tall with round purple things instead of hair, it took a few moments for him to realize that the thing was a human. It didn't help that the tiny guy had a weird look on his face, half eager, half sneaky—kind of like a weasel that's just found a big store of unguarded food.

"That's Mineta." Kaminari said helpfully.

"Your quirk," said the midget. "It's mind control, right?"

Shinsou gave an internal sigh. This could be going one of a few ways, most of them well-traveled ground. He didn't bother bracing himself. "What of it?'

Mineta's grin widened, turning positively smarmy. "So, you can make people do… things?"

"Mineta, dude…" Shinsou raised an eyebrow at the uncertainty in Kaminari's tone.

"Oh, come on Kaminari!" Mineta rolled his eyes, "don't pretend you don't see the possibilities." He pointed a finger at Shinsou, "He can control people!" he declared triumphantly. "He could control…" the midget lowered his voice, "girls."

Shinsou took a deep breath and let it out, staring impassively into the eager, lecherous eyes.

Don't say anything. Just don't say anything.

The mantra repeated in his head with the bland repetition of long practice as he stared into the grape-haired midget's face. He'd had conversations like this a hundred times and he'd tried all the tactics.

Yeah, I could also make you jump off a building. Wanna see?

He'd only been stupid enough to try a line like that once back in grade school. It had been born more out of panic than anything else and the look of fear on the kid's face had turned his stomach. Rumors and whispers had circulated for months. Actual months. It had been ridiculous.

I would never do that!

That never worked either, because why would they believe it? It was like a guy walking around with a loaded gun and pointing it at people in random while promising that he would never shoot them. Sure, he might never actually do anything, but it was only a matter of time until someone took a swing at him.

No. The only way to deal with it that even sort of worked was to just walk away. Say nothing and walk away. He'd gotten pretty good at it.

But… he didn't want to walk away from this. If he was going to be a hero, he'd have to deal with questions and comments like this; from reporters or regular people or…whoever. He needed a better solution, he just didn't have one yet.

"I'm not hearing a no…" the midget waggled his eyebrows, and Shinsou's felt his face twitch in disgust. But before he could say anything else there something pink shot passed his face and smacked into the midget, launching him into the air until he slammed into the school wall.

Shinsou blinked.

"Nice one, Tsu." Kaminari blinked. "You sent him at least three meters, that's gotta be a new record.

"I sensed I was needed." The girl said matter-of-factly, stepping into view. She nodded towards him, "Hello Shinsou."

"Hello Asui," Shinsou nodded, appreciatively eyeing the way the groaning midget was slowly sliding down the concrete wall before turning to look at the girl. Not quite the solution he was looking for, but he had to admit her method had a certain something to it that just walking away did not.

"My friends call me Tsu." She answered, sitting herself down in the shade of the tree and pulling out a green and black lunchbox. "You can too, if you want." She gave him a small smile. "You know, if you think you can bring yourself to tolerate having someone think of you as a friend."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Kaminari leaned toward the girl. "Wow, that's more than I could get out of him." he stage-whispered. "What's your secret?"

"He probably finds your enthusiasm annoying." Tsu answered, pulling out a sandwich of her own.

"Pretty much." Shinsou answered.

"Ouch," Kaminari clutched his chest and plopped down on the grass theatrically. "I guess I'm just too much of a rock star for this world." He whined, reaching out one hand towards the sky and sighing piteously. "Whatever shall I do?"

"Give up and stop talking?"

"Nah. I think I just need to try harder." He raised his head, "You mind if we join you for lunch?" he grinned. "I promise we'll keep our friendship to ourselves."

"She's already eating." Shinsou said, gesturing to Tsuyu.

"Can I take that as a yes?"

Shinsou rolled his eyes and took a bite of his sandwich. "Do what you want. It's not my job to tell others what to do."

"Actually," Tsuyu said thoughtfully around a bite of sandwich. "Considering your quirk, it kind of is."

Kaminari laughed. "Nice one."

Shinsou rolled his eyes but made no effort to move.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Just a short thing, but I want to make more. I think it could be fun to explore how Shinsou interacts with the various people of the hero course. That could be fun.

If you liked it, let me know. And if you have any suggestions for fun interactions, I'm open to that too.