After a while, when the sun was starting to set. Most of class 1-A had already filtered out, talking excitedly about the days events, but Dante stuck behind for a moment, his sharp red eyes scanning for Izuku while his antennae did the same.
He finally spotted him walking slowly down the hall, clutching his finger.
"Yo." Dante walked up beside him, hands in his pockets. "Still walking? Figured recovery girl would've put you in a wheel chair or something."
Izuku glanced over, trying to smile. "Haha, it's not that bad. Just my finger. Again."
Dante gave him a side glance. "You always been that intense? Jeez dude you didn't need to do all of that."
Izuku looked away, a little embarrassed. "I—I just didn't wanna get expelled…"
Dante sighed and grabbed his arm, slinging it up over his shoulder. "Yeah, yeah let's go get you patched up properly."
…
Recovery Girl gave Izuku a long winded lecture as she healed his finger with a kiss
"Young man, you will be my number one problem child if this keeps up!"
Izuku looked down, embarrassed. "Sorry…"
Dante leaned against the door. "You should've seen the other guy," he said with a chuckle.
Recovery Girl gave him a look, but finished up patching up izuku nonetheless. "You two, behave."
…
The two boys walked down the front path, backpacks slung over their shoulders, then they heard hurried footsteps behind them.
"You two!" A voice called.
They both turned to see Tenya Iida walking towards them.
Iida adjusted his glasses with a sharp motion and looked at Dante. "I have misjudged you, I had thought you to be a good for nothing delinquent, I apologise!"
Dante just waved his hands with a chuckle, "it's totally fine, I get it all the time."
Then, from behind him. A bubbly girl walked over, and Izuku started blushing, a change that Dante had noticed.
"Oh, you're the infinity girl?" Iida realised.
"I'm Ochako Uraraka." She waved with a bright grin. "Nice to meet you!"
"I should formally introduce myself, I am Tenya Iida from Somei Private Academy."
Dante looked at them both, pausing before giving a nod. "My name is Dante Graves."
Iida looked at him, squinting. "I must say, you preformed remarkably in the quirk assessment test. Your use of physical movement along with your unique transformation ability is quite unorthodox."
"Thank you…" Dante muttered.
Ochako was having a seperate conversation with Izuku before chiming in. "Are you guys friends? You and Deku?"
"Deku? Ah right," Dante said, slinging an arm casually over Izuku's shoulders. "Yeah we go way back."
Izuku smiled awkwardly but nodded. "We… went to the same elementary school."
As the four of them walked together down the hill toward the station, Dante found himself in unfamiliar territory, surrounded by people, talking and not feeling like running off.
Isn't this what he wanted? He was walking home from school, with friends…
They all joked. They all laughed. Ochako even admitted to thinking Dante was some street boss from a biker gang. And he didn't even argue.
"…Well you're not fully wrong."
…
When Dante got home, everything was quiet. Little Dante was nowhere to be seen surprisingly. So he just made himself some food and went off to sleep.
…
The next morning started off normally. Well, as normal as you could get at U.A.
Homeroom covered the usual academic grind, math, literature, world history with an emphasis on quirks and their global effects. Dante sat in the far back corner, sitting slouched in his chair, tapping a pencil idly on the desk. It was clear that he wasn't struggling by any means, he was just bored. Most of the written stuff came easy to him, and the rest? Well he'd fake it till it mattered.
By lunchtime, he'd gotten used to the casual rhythm. The cafeteria was buzzing with energy, food trays clattering, students gossiping and making theories on eachothers quirks. Dante sat near the edge of the room with Izuku, Iida and Ochaco, picking at his food while watching his surroundings.
It was kinda peaceful, especially with little Dante nowhere to be seen.
And finally, Hero Basic Training Class began.
A booming, familiar voice echoed outside the door.
"I AM… COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A HERO!"
The classroom door exploded open with theatrical flair as the one and only All Might made his dramatic entrance, striking a pose that almost had everyone on their feet.
The symbol of peace himself had arrived to teach everyone their very first Heroics Class.
Dante sat there, unimpressed as ever, lips tightening into a small smirk. "Theatrics," he muttered under his breath. Still, just by him being here the energy in the room shifted.
All Might then explained their lesson, Battle Training.
And that's when the real surprise came.
With a remote click, he gestured toward the wall as lockers emerged up. "Everyone, get changed into your hero costumes and meet me at Training Ground Beta!
Everyone swarmed the lockers with excitement, pulling out the designs they had carefully submitted weeks before. Flashy colours, sleek materials, personalised armour and gear. Everyone had some vision of what kind of hero that wanted to be.
Well, everyone except one.
Dante opened his locker slowly… only to find a blank Dark Red pair of cargo shorts along with a Dark Grey vest folded neatly inside. No armour. No enhancements. No personal flair. Just a basic training outfit that Dante imagined Aizawa picked out for him.
"…You didn't send in a design?" Izuku asked, slipping into his own green costume nearby.
"Uh, no…" Dante replied tugging the vest on over his lean scarred body. "Didn't even know we were supposed to, this will work though."
Little Dante seemed to like this outfit though, "An ideal outfit, nothing flashy. It suits us."
Izuku just nodded, "I think you'd look cool in something with a cape, or like, spikes or something!"
Dante rolled his eyes. "I'm not dressing up like some cartoon character."
"Guess this makes you a mystery pro hero in training," Iida added dramatically as he adjusted his armour like gear.
Dante chuckled once. "Well, whatever gets the job done."
Then they all made their way down toward the training grounds, everyone buzzing with excitement in their flashy new looks, but Dante stood out in his simplicity. No flashy gadgets, no bright colour, just him. Raw and unfiltered.
All Might spotted him immediately.
"Hm? No costume, young Dante?"
Dante shrugged. "I didn't submit one."
All Might gave a deep laugh. "Then I suppose you'll be making a name for yourself without theatrics!"
Dante cracked his neck. "I was planning on doing that anyways."
All Might scanned over the class. "Welcome, everyone!"
He then gestured to a nearby building, a tall building kinda like a villains hideout. "This exercise will simulate a real scenario: Villains have hidden a nuclear device in this building. You, the hero's must stop them!"
He began pacing around. "Two teams. One of hero's and one of villains. The hero's win by either capturing the villains or recovering the device. The villain's win by defending the device until time runs out, or capturing both heroes."
Then he held up a box. "Now then! We will randomly draw names for the matchups and teams!"
The class leaned in.
Not Dante though, he stood off to the side, hands in pockets, watching with mild interest. The only person here he really new was Midoriya, and maybe Iida, Ochako and Bakugo by proximity. Everyone else though? No clue.
The names were drawn.
"Okay! First matchup!" All Might declared. "Team D : Dante Graves and Momo Yaoyorozu will be the heroes. And facing them Team E : Hanta Sero and Fumikage Tokoyami as the villains!"
Dante blinked, looking to his right as Momo stepped forward, posture oddly straight, her expression calm and thoughtful.
"We haven't had the chance to talk yet," she said, offering a small bow. "But I have reviewed your stats. I believe we will be a strong team."
Dante tilted his head slightly. "Stats? I'll try to live up to 'em."
Little Dante looked over his shoulder. "What the hell is she wearing, they let high school kids wear something like THAT?"
Dante ignored it, then started walking with Momo.
…
The rest of the class filed into the observation deck, all watching the monitors as team E headed into the building to prepare a strategy.
"Those are the two highest ranked right? I wonder how that guy fights, looks like a total delinquent." Kaminari muttered, tapping on the glass.
Izuku kept his eyes fixed on the screen. "I know he's strong… really strong actually. But I don't really know how he fights."
"I have a feeling he will just charge in like some deranged muscle head," Jirou said.
Bakugo snorted. "I bet he will."
…
Down below, Momo unfurled a compact item from her belt, projecting a 3D map of the building. Her eyes scanned quickly as she pointed.
"They will likely fortify the upper floors, from what I've heard, Tokoyami's quirk grows in strength from shadows, and Sero can trap hallways. If we move without a plan we will surely get boxed in.
Dante peered over her shoulder, scanning the map too with narrowed eyes. 'Hmm, she's smart.'
"Your quirk creates stuff, right? Can you make something to act as a decoy or something to make a lot of noise? That could pull Tokoyami out of position:"
"Hm? Smart…" she replied. "And while they are distracted?"
"I can break through. Fast and quiet, if I can be."
She hummed, "That's a very direct approach."
He looked up at the building. "Being direct works most of the time."
…
Inside the building, Sero wrapped tape around beams, setting up traps while Tokoyami just stood near the target room, arms folded.
"Momo isn't the combat type, what about that Dante guy?" Tokoyami asked.
Sero shrugged. "I don't really know, from what I've seen his quirk is focused on mobility or something? That and the fact that I've never actually seen him look uncomfortable or distracted."
Tokoyamis beak twitched. "Well, I guess we will find out."
…
Back outside, All Might pointed to the screen.
"Match… START!"
Dante took his vest off, he didn't need anything getting in the way of his back tendrils, nor did he want to destroy a nice vest, he'd just wear it later or something.
He wasn't there to show off, it was just more efficient this way.
But he was confident in winning.