Disclaimer: Do not own. Yes.

AN: I think I should talk about shipping in this fic. Short version, don't hold your breath. The absolute earliest any real shipping is going to happen in this thing will be after the summer camp arc if any shipping happens at all. That said if there is romance, who the lucky/poor soul captures the tentacled hero's heart is still up in the air. One person I can say for certain will not be shipped with Izuku is Uraraka. I know people will be disappointed with this, but she has a minor, yet extremely important part later in this story that disqualifies her.

Regardless, on to something else. Since this story last updated (oh so long ago) it has inspired a piece of fan art. Mysterywhiteflame on Deviant Art has drawn "Deku of the worms". I think this is the first time that my work has inspired someone to just draw something so that is really cool.

The Worm That Dorks

06: Let's Get Ready

All Might sat in Nezu's office as the principal prepared a cup of coffee. "You're going to meet with the first heroics class today," Nezu said, taking a seat across from All Might. "I'm guessing that you are feeling quite nervous."

All Might scoffed, "The idea that a bunch of high school kids could make me nervous is laughable."

"Yes, and the most laughable part of it," Nezu replied, "is that it is true."

All Might broke out into laughter. "Yes, it really is." He shook his head. "It's silly."

"It's normal. Those kids will be looking to you for guidance," Nezu said. "Every teacher is anxious at first. Believe me, it will be fine."

The hero let out a sigh and smiled. "Thanks."

"I believe your first class is with 1A," Nezu said. "What do you think of them?"

All Might's fists clenched. He sat silent for a moment before saying, "Are you trying to ask me if I think any of them are worthy of One For All?"

"No," Nezu said without hesitation or anger. "I'm asking what you think of them."

"Sorry," All Might said sheepishly.

"Do you want to talk about that?"

"It's just," All Might said looking down at his hands, "it seems like every time I talk to someone who knows about One For All, the only thing they want to talk about is me picking a successor. Everyone's acting like I've got no time left."

"Their hearts are in the right place," Nezu said before sipping his coffee.

"I know, but even NightEye called. He introduced me to a kid he thought was worthy of One for All." The hero paused a moment before continuing. "Years of nothing and that is the first thing he talks to me about. He still just wants me to retire."

"Mister Togata I presume. A solid choice. If you were to ask me right now whom I would recommend to you, it would be him." Nezu was careful not to phrase his next sentence as a direct question, "I am curious why you did not choose the young man."

"It's not entirely rational," All Might sighed. "It's just, All For One. I beat him, it's over. It's just," All Might trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"We never found the body," Nezu said. "He could still be out there."

"Yeah and if he is," All Might sighed, and shook his head. "I can't place that burden on someone else's shoulders. It wouldn't be fair. Togata will be an amazing hero, with or without One For All. It wouldn't be right to burden him with that enemy. It isn't his fight."

Nezu took another drink before asking, "And if All For One really is gone?"

All Might tensed, readying himself for an argument. "Than maybe it's time that One For All goes too."

"If you think that's for the best," Nezu said with a shrug.

All Might blinked in surprise. "I didn't expect you to take that so well. Isn't that the reason I'm teaching here?"

Nezu laughed. "In the fight for society, One For All is a useful tool, but that's all it is. Ultimately it is just power," Nezu said. "It is hardly irreplaceable. No, I did not invite you to teach at my school so you could simply pass down a quirk. I'm after far more valuable resources."

"Your dedication. Your sense of justice. Most important of all, your charisma," Nezu continued. "I don't care if you pass down the qualities that make you All Might, the number one hero. It is the qualities that make you All Might, the symbol of peace, that I am interested in. Those are what I want you to pass down."

All Might sat back and said, "I'm not sure I know how to give them that."

"Teaching is often not as straightforward as we would like," Nezu said. "Now let's talk about your first class. We have some very interesting students this year."

In the cafeteria of UA, Midoriya sat down next to Bakugo with a tray entirely covered in food. Opening his mouth unnervingly wide, he shoved a large sandwich into his mouth.

"You must be hungry," Kirishima said eyeing the staggering amount of food before the other boy.

Midoriya swallowed before replying, "I'm always hungry."

Kirishima leaned over and whispered to Ashido, "Where do you think he puts it all?"

Mina's mind flashed back to the remains of the zero point robot in the entrance exam, before responding, "No idea." Thinking of something to change the subject, Ashido said, "Am I crazy or was that Lunch Rush?"

"That's UA," Kirishima said. "All of the teachers, and even most of the support staff are active or retired heroes."

"What about Mister Aizawa?" Ashido said. "I don't think I've ever heard of him before."

"Worm," Bakugo said. "What's Aiz-what's-its hero name, and don't give me any of that 'I don't know crap' either."

Midoriya swallowed. "Eraser Head matches all known parameters." With that said, he picked up a plate of rice and dumped it in his mouth.

"Who is Eraser Head?" Ashido asked.

"He's Aiz-what's-its," Bakugo said as if that answered the question. "I think I've read about him. He's an underground hero. I think his quirk does something to suppress other quirks." He looked over to Midoriya who gave him a thumbs up.

"Well whoever he is, I hope he's not this tough on us all year," Kirishima said. "The teachers are all hitting us hard."

"You said it," Ashido agreed. "Don't they know that they're supposed to go easy on us for the first few weeks?"

Bakugo scoffed at that, "Don't be ridiculous. If you can't handle the work then you're wasting your and everyone else's time by being here. Learn or get out of my way."

"You're right! That's how a man should act!" Kirishima brought his fist down on the table. "Facing these challenges head-on."

"Say that again after you are literally buried in a mountain of homework," Ashido groaned. "Midoriya, what do you think."

Midoriya swallowed. "It doesn't seem bad," he replied. "I'll help you study if you want." He proceeded to stuff another sandwich into his mouth.

For a moment, Ashido's eyes flicked to look over Midoriya shoulder. A girl with purple hair sat a little way off staring at the back of the boy's head. A smile spread across Ashido's face as a plan formed. "Yeah, that would be great," she said. "You seem to know a lot."

Heroics 101.

The class was silent. They had all heard the rumors. He would be teaching this class.

The door opened. "I am here!" A heroic figure stood before them. It was All Might.

Half the class began talking in excitement. The other half was silent in complete awe. All Might. The All Might was their teacher.

Ashido was stoked. When All Might said they would be doing combat exercises she was excited. Learning that they would be doing so in their new hero costumes almost made Ashido explode.

As the girls walked to their locker room Ashido was literally skipping, until that purple haired girl caught her eye. Quickly she looked around, confirming that none of the guys were with them. Sidling up to the girl Ashido said, "I saw you eyeing up my boy Midoriya today."

Jiro blinked, "What?"

"Midoriya," Ashido said, "Short. Green hair. Probably could throw a bus. The boy you definitely have a crush on. Stop me when this sounds familiar."

"Are you serious?" Yaoyorozu said. "You want to talk about boys, now?"

"Well yeah," Ashido said. "There's a young maiden with a pining heart here. Her soul mesmerized by a boy's strength and stoic demeanor. A romance is ready to bloom. This is my jam!"

Momo shook her head and muttered, "So much for the Bechdel test."

"Crush?" Jiro did not have a crush. At least, she did not think she had a crush. This awe and wonder she felt was not like a crush. She did not want to date or have some kind of romance with Midoriya. Jiro wanted to write songs about him. She wanted to record his teachings. Maybe she even wanted to worship him. Jiro blushed. "I don't, I mean," Jiro trailed off. There was no way she could tell her classmates that. Even in her head, it sounded weird at best or even insane.

Ashido's hand came up and pointed directly at Jiro's blushing face. "Your feelings betray you," the pink girl said triumphantly.

"It's not like that," Jiro said weakly.

"Course it's not," Ashido replied, with a devilish little smile. "But if it were ever to be like that, know that I could totally put in a good word for you."

Jiro was relieved when the group finally reached the locker room, and Ashido was distracted with her hero costume.

In the boy's locker room Izuku opened his package. Izuku looked at its contents and said, "I do not know what this is."

Despite being one of the first to change into her costume, Ashido was one of the last girls to leave the locker room. She just looked so cool. Ashido had to spend some time admiring how stylish she looked. When she left the locker room she was excited to see how awesome everyone's costumes were. She saw Midoriya and stopped.

Ashido had not really thought of what her new friend's hero costume would be like. If she had given it any thought she would have guessed that Midoriya would have a somber, practical costume. The boy did not seem to have much of a flair for the dramatic. On the other hand, he could have gone for a cute costume to try and offset the unnerving effect of his quirk. Whatever she would have pictured it would not have been what was standing before her.

There was a lot of leather.

Skin tight, black leather pants clung to his legs. An equally tight, dark purple crop top with a symbolic representation of a Kraken covered his chest. Midoriya's stomach was covered only by a layer of fishnet. His right arm was bare, but the left arm had more than a dozen belts wrapped around it forming an impractical sleeve. There were no shoes. The finishing touch was a simple black domino mask.

It was a costume that took confidence to pull off. It complemented Midoriya's slim build and pale skin. With the proper amount of swagger, it would make Midoriya look sexy and dangerous.

That was unfortunate because Midoriya did not have the proper amount of swagger. Midoriya did not have any amount of swagger. Midoriya was in fact, swagger-less.

On Midoriya it did not look like the trendy unique costume of an aspiring hero. It looked like someone loaded a cannon full of trendy unique clothes and fired it at Midoriya before calling it a day. It was an abomination to all things fashion.

"You look," Ashido struggled to think of anything positive to say, "dressed?"

"I guess," Midoriya said with some obvious confusion.

"Didn't they follow your design?" Ashido asked.

Midoriya wordlessly handed the acidic girl a few pages stapled together. On the first page, there was a crude drawing of a human with spiky green hair wearing only a pair of black shorts. There was an arrow pointing to the shorts which helpfully labeled them as shorts.

The second page was a typed letter.

"To Izuku Midoriya.

"Regarding your submitted design, no. Your costume designing privileges have been revoked on account of a complete lack of style. From this point forward, costumes will be assigned to you until either you no longer attend UA, or a panel of teachers have judged your sense of style adequate. This first design was submitted by Midnight. Future costume designs can be submitted for approval through the 'Midoriya box' in classroom 1-H.

"Sincerely, the UA staff and public relations team."

It was signed by Midnight, Powerloader, Hound Dog, and Present Mic.

The third paper had a cartoonish doodle of what could be a mouse, a dog, or a bear, and the message "I do apologize for this. I am afraid they were quite insistent."

Ashido looked back to the leather-clad Midoriya.

He looked her dead in the eye and said, "I do not understand."

A sense of purpose filled Ashido. "On my honor as a mallrat and fashion diva," Ashido said, as she placed a steady, reassuring hand on Midoriya's shoulder, "I will teach you the ways of hip, and make you so styling."

Bakugo was there to ruin such a moment of camaraderie. "Good luck with that," he said.

Bakugo's costume had large white gauntlets around his forearms shaped like rocket engines. He wore gray fatigues, with heavy combat boots, and a white tank top. His eyes were covered by a semitransparent visor. Altogether it gave the impression of an ace fighter pilot.

Standing behind Bakugo the guy with the weird elbows, Sero, asked, "What does PO stand for?"

Bakugo turned, revealing to Ashido the stylized letters "PO" on his back. "Post Office," he said, with a completely flat tone.

Taken aback Sero said, "Really?"

"No."

The students' chatter was all cut short by a cry of, "All right!" A blur streaked down from the sky to land before them. Suddenly, All Might stood before them wearing a brilliant smile. He looked over the class and said, "Now you're looking like some real heroes."

All Might spent a few moments looking over the class before explaining the rules. "You all will be divided into teams of heroes and villains for a series of two on two indoor battles. The villains will be given a few minutes to hide a weapon before the match. If the heroes get the weapon they win. If the villains hold off or defeat the heroes then they win. Time is limited, and teams will be decided at random. Any questions?"

"Why can't the heroes win by defeating the villains?" Ojiro, the boy with the tail, asked.

"And leave the weapon unattended? Who knows what could happen then," All Might said. "Capturing the villains would be a fine first step, but the heroes' goal needs to be to resolve the current crisis."

Uraraka asked, "What do you mean by defeat?"

"Fighters can be defeated by knockout, surrender, removal from the battlefield, or capture," All Might said. "Also, I will be watching the match, and if I say you're defeated, then you are. No arguments."

"How will the matchups be determined?" Asui questioned.

"Simple." All Might said, gesturing to the board beside him. "Match one will have Team A as the heroes and Team B as the villains. Match two will be Team C verse Team D, and so on."

There were no other relevant questions, so All Might had the class line up to get the teams assigned. Each person would grab a ball with a letter on it out of the box All Might held. The hero would then write the students name on a whiteboard to keep track of who would be in what match.

Ashido ended up being almost the last person in line and was jittering with inpatients the whole while. When it was finally her turn she was not really hoping for anything in particular. Looking down at the ball, Ashido saw that she would be on Team C. She showed it to All Might, before going back to the group.

Team C. That meant she would be in the second match. Good, she would hate to be waiting for hours before her fight. She was pumped.

Midoriya asked her what team she was on.

"C. What about you?" Mina asked her friend.

"Team D," Midoriya said casually, seemingly unconcerned with, or unaware of what that meant.

Mina nodded. She was a little disappointed that she was not teamed up with her friend but thought that it was likely for the best. Whoever was paired with Midoriya would have an easy time of it. The green haired juggernaut would probably tear through whatever team was unfortunate enough to be selected to oppose him. Mina wanted to win with her own power.

Idly, she wondered who would be facing him. He was part of Team D which meant he would be fighting Team C. Mina's train of thought metaphorically hit a giant tentacle monster. She was on Team C.

Looking over to the whiteboard, Mina paled as All Might had written, "Match Two. Heroes: Tenya Iida and Mina Ashido. Villains: Koji Koda and Izuku Midoriya."

AN: I hope you like the chapter. Life for me continues, and I am working on entirely too many projects. Sorry about that. All your feedback is appreciated.

Now onto the fun story stuff. Midoriya's costume. As I tried to indicate, it will not be a fixed thing, and he'll have a new one assigned whenever one is needed. If you got an idea of what one of his costumes should be (and know who in-universe would submit such a design) then let me know. Let's have fun with this.

Oh, and bonus points for anyone who can guess what PO stands for.