Happy Wednesday everyone~! And Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!! I hope you all enjoy this latest chapter of A Robin's Nest, because things are starting to get interesting.

Also, I FINALLY have a day off, so I'm going to write instead of cleaning my room like I probably should (meh, I've [shockingly] got Saturday off work, too, so I'll clean then). Working 2 jobs is hard, and toss in babysitting too (as an only child, I've got 0 experience with small children, and IT'S HARD!!!), and free time goes to 0.

Luckily, one job may or may not be willing to promote me to a full-time employee, which means I could drop my other job and then actually have just one job and still pay all my bills and rent (because, as I have to keep reminding coworkers, I completely support myself. I don't get a free-ride to ANYTHING).

Keep your fingers crossed for me~

Chapter 3: Quirk Assessment

It had been nearly two weeks. Izuku was fairly confident that he'd passed, but his nerves made him second-guess himself. So he did what he always did when stressed—patrol.

He'd—unfortunately—been unable to run into Eraserhead during this time, but he'd bagged nearly twice as many criminals as he usually did.

Present Mic had—as promised—spoken to him after the exam. He guest starred on his radio show twice a week, now—Fridays and Saturdays. Izuku absolutely loved it, and went by the name Richard (Richie, as Mic called him) on the radio show, much to Mic's confusion.

The two got along swimmingly, and had even traded personal numbers. He had permission to call him Yamada, outside of the radio station, of course. The two texted regularly, and Izuku found it surprisingly not weird to be friends (at least, he was pretty sure they were friends) with someone who may or may not become his teacher soon.

He hadn't met any other teachers or heroes during this time, but he still enjoyed the time he took in the evenings to unwind. On those nights, he patrolled after the radio show, and went until sunrise.

Tonight, he found his favorite person sitting on a rooftop. "Been looking for you, Eraser." He grinned as said Hero twitched in surprise.

"Midoriya." He nodded in greeting.

"So you did figure it out." Robin grinned, sending the Hero a wink.

"Not that hard—your movements were practiced and that grappling hook was a giveaway."

"I wasn't necessarily trying to hide from you. I made this game easy." He placed his hands behind his head in a carefree manner.

"You've impressed Nezu, you know. That's no small feat."

"I did? How?" Robin thought maybe it'd been from his fast movements, but maybe it was the robot thing at the end?

"You're kidding me. You hacked the Zero Pointer. The security and coding on that thing rivals the government's." Eraserhead leveled him with a disbelieving look.

"Oh. Yeah, it would've been faster if I'd been allowed my usual equipment, but I only had my phone on me, so I had to make do."

"Make do..." He echoed. "You really are a Problem Child."

"You know, I hacked the Pentagon once." He grinned as Eraserhead choked on his spit.

"Why did you— you know what? I don't want to know."

"Nope~ The less you know, the safer you are." Robin grinned. He didn't mention that time he hacked SHIELD, though. Were they even still around? He'd have to look into that later.

"Once the semester starts, I'll expect you to stop doing these patrols alone."

"I know, I know." Robin sighed. "So Nezu approved the apprenticeship?"

"He did, on the condition that you meet with him at some point during the first week of school." There was a lull as the two scanned the surrounding area for trouble. "Who the hell trained you, kid?"

"My mentor... He's one of the greatest heroes I've ever known." Robin smiled softly, looking out over the skyline. "Taught me everything I know..."

Eraserhead waited. Robin knew he wanted a name, but honestly... that name would be recognized—however vaguely—even now. The echoes of his mentor reached even here, three hundred years into the future.

"He's gone, now. Died a long time ago." Robin finally said, trying to ignore the painful clenching of his heart as the words left his lips.

"I'm sorry. It's never easy losing the people you care for."

"Maybe I'll tell you the story one day... maybe even his name... but not tonight."

"I'll be here when you're ready; just as long as nothing comes back and bites you in the butt. If something from your past comes up, I expect you to tell me before anyone's at risk—yourself included." Eraserhead sent Robin a mild glare to accentuate his point.

"Fair enough." Robin chuckled. "Though the chances of that happening are slim-to-none." He muttered. Somehow, I doubt the Joker can survive three centuries, mad genius or not.

The evening passed relatively quietly, likely due to Robin's overactive vigilante work lately. The sun was starting to light the horizon as the two went to part ways.

"Oh, and congrats, kid. I'll see you in my class on Monday." Eraserhead smirked as he called over his shoulder.

And if he grinned at the excited whoop from Robin, nobody saw.

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By the time Izuku slipped into his bedroom window at home, he was exhausted. The nervous energy combined with finally having the answer to his enrollment at U.A. equated to an extremely tired vigilante.

"And I thought tests in normal high school were nerve wracking. At least in America they don't have exams to get into high school." He shook his head.

His mother was asleep, he knew. His father—luckily—was away on a business trip.

After Izuku had vanished at the tender age of 9 due to an accident involving someone else's Quirk, his mother had panicked, calling his father home. Of course, Izuku had reappeared just a few days later (a few days to everyone else, at least). But he'd changed so much in just those 'few days' that his mother had grown increasingly concerned.

His father, on the other hand, had been hoping that Izuku had finally developed a Quirk—he was wrong.

But ever since then, he'd been going back and forth between trying to force Izuku's nonexistent Quirk to emerge, and just plain abusing the kid. His mother had no idea, and Hisashi had only hit her when he'd been drinking.

In exchange for Izuku's silence about the abuse, he'd keep his hands off of Inko. And he'd threatened to kill Inko if Izuku ever told anyone outright.

Accidental slips that could be explained away were met with 'accidental' drunken rages on Inko, to which Hisashi would 'apologize' profusely when sober, and she'd forgive him, because she was far too nice.

Purposeful slips, his Father promised, would be met with Inko's death and Izuku's endless suffering. Whether that suffering meant more beatings, or selling him to Villains remained to be seen. Either way, his Father was only home for a week or so at a time before leaving for a few weeks on business.

Izuku didn't complain when the man vanished, and though Inko seemed mildly disappointed (the man was a brilliant actor), she never stopped him from going. Izuku was grateful.

So he knew he could rest easy for a few more days before Hisashi would return from said business trip.

With this in mind, he let his eyelids slide closed and fell into an odd dream that he'd vaguely remember upon waking. Something about Bruce and Barbara and Wally and Alfred, and for whatever reason, Eraserhead and Present Mic had been there, too.

————————————————————————————

"I'm so lost." Izuku sighed, looking at the hallway he was sure he'd passed through several times already.

He heard someone chuckle behind him. Turning to look, he found the Pro-Hero Snipe. Fighting the urge to fanboy (though he couldn't keep the excited sparkle from his eyes), he pouted. "Mou... It's not nice to laugh at someone's misfortune."

"Sorry, kiddo." Snipe grinned. "Looking for 1–A?"

"Yeah. Aizawa-sensei would kill me if I was late. Do you know where it is?"

"Oh? So you are him." He smirked. "Aizawa warned us about you, Robin." He jabbed a thumb behind him. "Back that way, two lefts and a right. Better hurry, that bell will ring in six minutes."

"Arigatou, Snipe-sensei!" With that, Izuku dashed off in the direction that the blond had indicated. Within a minute, he was standing before the very large and imposing doors of class 1–A. Wasting no time, he quietly pushed open the door and slipped in.

Not for the first time, he thanked his training. By remaining quiet and silent, he prevented the class from noticing him. Though it seemed they were all too entertained by getting to know one another.

That blue-haired kid who'd interrupted Present Mic's speech during orientation was there. So was Bakugo and that girl he'd briefly met before the exam. He quietly slid into his seat—right behind the explosive blond—and waited. He knew Aizawa. And the man would certainly want to make an impression.

After all... anonymity was the perfect way to test someone's experience, and when you look like a hobo who hasn't slept in a month, it makes for a great excuse to see if people are willing to pay attention to details.

Things that Robin had noticed when he'd first laid eyes on the man. Things that screamed that this person was a Pro Hero and not a hobo. Like the sharpness of his gaze, the sternness to his voice, how every movement—no matter how lazy it may seem—conserved energy and wasted nothing.

Or, you know, the obvious stuff like his Capture Weapon and the knife he kept in his left boot.

Movement caught his eye, and he found himself locked in a brief staring contest with the man he'd just been thinking about. Though said teacher was now laying on the floor... in a sleeping bag?

I've seen some weird shit. And I guess it does make sense, but... why would he crawl all the way here from the Teacher's Lounge in a sleeping bag? That seems... unnecessarily exhausting. He raised an eyebrow to convey this thought, to which Aizawa rolled his eyes and waited for the other students to notice that they were no longer alone.

It took eight seconds. Izuku was severely disappointed in them.

Apparently, so was Aizawa, as the man chewed them out—in a tone that said he really didn't want to be there—and told them all to change into their gym uniforms and meet him out on the field.

Izuku grinned. Years as a vigilante—particularly the years he'd spent as Robin fighting alongside Batman—taught him how to change in seconds. Time was precious, after all, and spending even one minute changing verses the ten seconds he could now do would waste 50 seconds that could cost someone their life.

He knew this. He'd seen it happen. So even though this was school and nobody's life was at stake, Izuku was changed and out on the field in thirteen seconds flat—having jumped out the window and parkoured his way down the outer wall of U.A., much to the shock and awe of the handful of classmates who saw him do so (Kirishima and Kaminari).

He reached the field at the same time as Aizawa.

"Problem Child." He raised an eyebrow.

"What? I don't like to waste time." He crossed his arms. "Time lost changing clothes could kill people. My record right now is ten seconds. I'm working on it."

"I'm impressed you can do it that fast to begin with. It's not a skill most Heroes have these days."

"The Old Heroes used to do it all the time." Izuku sighed.

"It's a good skill to have." He paused a moment. "Do not take offense to the topic of today. It's a Quirk Assessment Test."

"Oh?" Izuku smirked. "I'll accept that challenge, then. Quirk or no Quirk, I can hold my own in a fight."

"I have no doubt of that. As a reward for being the first on the field, I'll give you one hint—don't panic." Izuku glanced up at his teacher's mischievous smile, returning it with one of his own. He knew he'd felt a kinship in there somewhere—a fellow prankster. (Just, apparently, a prankster that liked quieter and subtler pranks.)

After a few minutes, his classmates started to trickle out. "Dude, did you seriously just jump from the window?! That was so manly!!" Kirishima grinned, clapping a bewildered Izuku on the back.

"Uh... thank you?"

"You have to teach me how to do that!" Kaminari grinned.

"I'm sure you'll pick up the skills during our classes." He replied, settling into a relaxed posture.

"Twelve minutes." Aizawa spoke up as soon as the last person joined the group. "That was twelve minutes a villain could've used to kill hostages." The smiles froze and died as the students processed what he'd said. "The only person who seems to be taking this seriously is Midoriya. I said the same thing earlier—Time is precious, and you cannot afford to waste it." He sighed. "That aside, today we'll be having a Quirk Assessment test. Now, you should all be familiar with—"

"But what about orientation?" Uraraka asked, and Izuku had to wince. She interrupted him...

"You've got three years. That's it. Three years to learn how not to die while protecting the lives of people around you. We don't have time to waste on things like orientation. U.A. prides itself on its freeform teaching approach. That applies to teachers, as well." He sent the girl a mild (for him) glare before continuing on. "As I was saying, these tests will be the same ones you've been doing all your life. Long jumps, endurance runs, ball throws... But this time, you'll be allowed to use your Quirks."

"Sounds like fun!!" The pink-skinned girl—Ashido—grinned.

Izuku felt a flash of anger. They're just children. They have no idea what's in store for them out there. He reminded himself. Sure, he had a shit ton of fun on patrols and fighting villains, but he knew the dangers of this profession. He'd stared his own death in the face many times, and watched the light leave the eyes of those he'd failed to protect.

He was prepared. He had fun because it was his coping mechanism and his own life choice. He entered this profession knowing full well what he was getting himself into, and even then he'd almost died. These children were brought up believing this to be some kind of celebrity thing, and it honestly sickened him.

He became a hero without expecting thanks or recognition. He did it because he didn't want to see other people suffer. He wanted to help people. But in the Quirked Era, most kids did it because it was the 'cool' thing to do. Because they wanted to be popular or feel important or because they believed that it was the fast route to getting rich.

It was one of the reasons why the Old Heroes were so respected—they got nothing in return, and still became incredible heroes.

"Fun?" Aizawa's eyes turned sharp, and Izuku knew that the man had been thinking along similar lines. "You think this is going to be fun? All right, then. Let's add a little something. The person with the lowest score across all the tests will be deemed to have zero potential and expelled."

There was an outcry among the students about how unfair that was because it was only the first day of school. Again, Izuku felt his own anger flaring up.

"Life is unfair. Get used to it." He snapped out, glaring at the others. "You think villains fight fair? You think they're going to care that it's your first day on the job and go easy on you? I'm sorry, but that's not how the world works." He scoffed and bit his tongue, stopping himself from going on a rant. His classmates were already staring at him wide-eyed. A few of them just shook their heads, dismissing his words as that of a child with as much inexperience as them.

"He's right." Aizawa spoke up. "It's a hero's job to make it fair. Take advantage of everything around you to even the playing field. Analyze, Adapt, Overcome. Plus Ultra."

After that, the class fell in line fairly quickly, and though Izuku wasn't allowed to use his gear, he still felt he did a lot better than some of his other classmates. And he still gave it his all.

At the very least, he was proud of himself for outlasting Yaoyorozu in the endurance test.

"How the hell did you manage that?!" Kirishima gaped. "She made a freaking motorbike, for crying out loud!!"

"I had a tough mentor."

Even Aizawa couldn't completely hide his disbelief at Izuku outlasting a motorbike of all things. Psh! She's got nothing on chasing villains around Gotham all night. Compared to that, outlasting a motorbike is a piece of cake!

Then the final test—the ball throw. Izuku realized that he needed to not score the worst for this one (which wasn't looking to be much of an issue, considering the fact that Ashido had melted half the ball, and the invisible girl had managed to get a somewhat below-average score).

He stood in the circle and thought for a brief moment before smirking. He quickly took off his shoes and socks, and fashioned a makeshift sling.

"What're you doing?" One of the students asked. The rest of them looked just as bewildered.

"Leveling the playing field." Izuku smirked, before swinging it in a very practiced motion. Once he felt the apex of his swing, he released the ball. With a proper sling, he could've thrown the ball about 400 meters, but since his was rudimentary at best he only got to 297. Still better than a lot of other kids, though.

With little fanfare, he untied his socks and slipped them back on before replacing his shoes.

"I-is that even allowed, sensei?" Someone asked.

"I said do whatever you want as long as you don't leave the circle." Aizawa stated. To anyone else he would've sounded monotone and done with the day, but Izuku could hear the approval in his voice. He'd impressed him.

"DEKU!" Bakugo shouted, enraged as he charged Izuku. He just stood there, waiting for the right moment to dodge, when Aizawa's scarf wrapped around the boy, his Quirk erasing the explosions that had just been crackling on the kid's hands.

"Stop making me use my Quirk, it gives me serious dry eye." Aizawa growled, as he pulled the struggling blond away from his target. "I will not tolerate infighting in my class. Pull another stunt like that, and there will be consequences." Aizawa promised, before releasing his Quirk and hold. Bakugo stood there, glaring at Izuku.

"You think you're better than me, huh?!"

Izuku ignored him, causing the blond to snarl, but his impending explosion was cut off when Aizawa continued the assessment.

Before Izuku realized it, they'd finished, and Aizawa showed the results. Izuku was quite pleased to see himself placed solidly at 10—right in the middle. The person at the bottom was an unbelievably short boy with purple balls for hair. The kid gave off a lecherous vibe that Izuku did not like. He made a mental note to keep an eye on the brat around the girls, just in case.

"Right, so these are the results." Aizawa said as the kid started to cry. "Oh, and nobody's getting expelled. It was just a logical ruse to make sure you all did your best." The man's grin was frankly terrifying to the kids, but Izuku had seen worse as Robin. And nobody's smile is as creepy as Joker's.

"Hey~! So I'm so curious!! What's your Quirk? Something like agility maybe? Or an intelligence-booster?" Ashido grinned as the rest of the class leaned in to listen.

"Stupid Deku doesn't have a Quirk. He's Quirkless." Bakugo butted in with a nasty grin. Gee, thanks for essentially outing me, jerk.

Sure, Izuku was going to tell them himself, anyhow, but the fact that Bakugo just outright told them without even considering Izuku's position on the matter pissed him off. And judging from the look on Aizawa's face, his teacher agreed with him.

"What?! Quirkless? No way!" A few of them shouted. Izuku steeled himself, preparing for the negative backlash he knew was about to come.

"That's so AWESOME!" Kirishima cried out with a grin.

Um... what? Izuku stared blankly at the redhead.

"You managed to get into the Hero Course without a Quirk?! Dude, you're amazing!" Kaminari grinned, Jiro nodding along with him.

"You must've cheated somehow. No way a Quirkless kid could get in." Mineta scoffed. Ahh... there it is. I was worried I'd stepped into an alternate dimension for a minute.

He relaxed at the familiar jeer.

"Hey, man! Not cool!" Kirishima glared.

"Everyone has earned their positions here!" Iida reprimanded the shorter classmate. "U.A. would never let someone unqualified into the Hero Course! To say such things is offensive and rude! Apologize immediately!"

"Everyone calm down." Aizawa spoke up, cutting off Mineta's reply before he could get started. "I assure you that Quirk or no Quirk everyone is here for a reason. If you've got a problem with that, there will be plenty of controlled combat situations where you can address the problem yourselves. I don't want to hear anything about anyone giving anyone crap because of how they were born. I do not tolerate bullying in my class." He glared. "Now scram, you've got a class to get to."

Izuku stayed back after the class had moved on to grab the syllabus. "Thank you. You're the first teacher who actually spoke up for me."

"I expect you to let me or another teacher know if something happens again." Aizawa sighed. "You're far too used to that. Don't think I didn't notice how you relaxed at Mineta's words."

"Honestly, I thought I got dropped off in the Twilight Zone or something." Izuku chuckled, before realizing that Aizawa might not know what the Twilight Zone was. They do have a more modern re-make, right? I think... It came out in 2345? About twenty years ago?

"Anyways, you were totally going to expel someone. Don't think I didn't hear about those three homeroom classes you expelled." Izuku changed the subject.

"There's potential. The test wasn't about physical ability, but to gauge the level of determination each student has." He explained.

"I figured that much out. It's illogical to test the control a student has over their Quirk on the first day, especially when they're legally only allowed to use their Quirks at home or in designated Quirk Practice Areas, which can be expensive. So logically, you were looking for something else. Something that would be essential to become a hero. Determination and drive are important, yes, but that can be tested using other methods." He smirked when he looked up at Aizawa. "No, you were testing our ingenuity. When the odds are against us, and the stakes are impossibly high, would we freeze? Falter? Hesitate? Our drive to do whatever it takes to survive when our back is up against the wall... It's something you either have or you don't. It cannot be taught. It cannot be learned."

"Kid, your mind is terrifying. I think I see, now, why Nezu wants to talk to you this week." Aizawa grinned. While the smile would've been the stuff of nightmares to his classmates, Izuku felt himself grinning back.

"Experience is Life's most efficient teacher."

"Not the safest, though." The teacher sighed. "Now get to class before you're late."

"Hai, sensei~!" Izuku grinned as he scaled the side of the building to slip into the window closest to his class.

Of course, actual classes didn't start until the following day (Day 1 was just figuring out where everything was and who their teachers were), and Izuku was looking forward to what the school would be like.

Iida, Uraraka, Kirishima, and Kaminari were waiting by the gate for him after school. He blinked in surprise.

"Uh... hi?"

"Hey Midoriya!" Kaminari grinned. "We wanted to know if you wanted to walk to the train station together!"

"W-why?" Izuku tilted his head.

"Because we're friends, silly~!" Uraraka grinned. "So what'dya say, Deku?"

Izuku flinched at the nickname.

"Uh... Deku isn't my name. Midoriya Izuku is my name. Deku is something Bakugo calls me to call me useless."

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't know. But I just thought that 'Deku' sounded like 'Dekiru', like 'you can do it'."

"As much as I appreciate that, please don't call me Deku. It brings up some bad memories." He winced.

"So, dude! We've gotta work out together sometime~! You have the best stamina in the class, and I need to know your secret!" Kirishima grinned, diffusing the awkward situation like a pro.

The five of them chatted amiably on the way home, striking up a fierce and fast friendship. The four made it known that they couldn't care less about his lack of a Quirk, and Izuku made sure that they knew how much that meant to him.

As it turned out, Kirishima and himself had the same train stop.

"Hey, wanna meet up tomorrow at the station? We can ride to school together!" Kirishima grinned.

"Sure! Though I'll probably take the early train."

"No prob, man! I'll see ya tomorrow!" He grinned as he ran off, leaving Izuku smiling after him.

"Mom, I'm home!" Izuku called.

"Welcome home, sweetie. How was school?"

"I... I made friends, mom!"

"Oh, Izuku, I'm so happy for you! Sit down and tell me all about your day while I start dinner."

And he did. He excitedly talked about how his teacher was his favorite Hero, Eraserhead, and how he now had four friends who didn't care that he was Quirkless!

If his mother cried in happiness, hearing her normally quiet and reserved son talk so animatedly about his first friends since he was four, then he didn't say anything.