Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya walked home in silence after a rough day at school, clutching his hero notebook tightly. He'd let slip his dream to get into UA, the prestigious hero school.

"You quirkless loser! You really think you'll make it into UA?" The memory of Katsuki Bakugou's harsh voice and sneering face followed his footsteps. The volatile boy he looked up to was right; diagnosed with quirklessness at age four, there was no way he was getting in.

Izuku kept walking, taking a different route than normal. He was deep into thought when he heard screams up ahead. He smelled smoke and felt heat rush over him. Something was wrong! He started running, this was surely a villain attack and he had to see how the heroes sorted it out.

Everything changed when he saw the victim of the attack, that angry blonde boy he had grown up with. “Kacchan!” he yelled, rushing in.

~~~

Katsuki’s ears were ringing as he struggled in the writhing mass that was this strange villain. It seemed to be made of this awful sticky, stinking sludge. He fought, releasing near-constant explosions with his quirk that would allow him the tiniest of breaths, Why aren’t the heroes helping? He thought.

He caught a glimpse of someone running towards him. Someone with curly green hair. It couldn’t be… but it was. It was Midoriya screaming “Kacchan!”

He watched, struggling, as Midoriya threw his backpack at the villain’s eye. The villain stopped holding him for just a second before that quirkless Deku rushed up and started clawing away at the villain’s gooey form.

He couldn’t understand why Midoriya was trying to save him. Katsuki had been so awful to that green-haired boy he once called friend, why would he still care about someone who bullied him for years? But when he looked at Midoriya’s face, his tear-stained and frantic face, he realized.

Deku was a true hero.

~~~

Izuku clawed frantically at the sludge villain, noticing how fast his movements were. His thoughts were clearer too, and his hands seemed to do more damage to the villain than he thought they would. He had a single thought, one that he immediately disregarded. But what if?

His thinking was interrupted by the sudden whoosh of wind as a hero finally stepped in, splattering the villain across the pavement. He looked up at the muscular form of All Might, seeing that iconic smile. Then, he looked for Bakugou.

His friend was on the ground, coughing up sludge. Izuku noticed a strange look on his face, a look of... shame. He figured Bakugou was just embarrassed at getting caught up in a villain attack, Izuku picked up his backpack, hanging his head and nodding at the heroes who were now cleaning up and scolding him for putting himself in danger. Like Bakugou's comments earlier in the day, they followed him as he continued his walk home. But that one thought from earlier nagged at him.

Did he have a quirk after all?

~~~

Izuku and his mother walked to the doctor’s office, nervous but excited. As they entered the waiting room and waited for Izuku’s name to be called, he thought about what had gotten him there.

After the encounter with the sludge villain, Izuku wondered about the potential of him having a quirk. He started to test, to see if anything happened. He tried everything to activate a quirk he didn’t know he had, but nothing had worked. It wasn’t until he gave up that he made any progress.

He had decided to just continue life as normal. It was clear he didn’t have any special abilities if all his testing failed. Izuku sat down, beginning to watch the latest hero news, excited about the villain takedowns and new debuts. He was filled with energy and excitement as he watched. But then, he accidentally knocked over a cup of water on his desk, and in a flurry of movement, caught it at lightning speed without even looking.

That had to be the result of a quirk. And so here he was.

“Midoriya?” A nurse called from the doorway.

Izuku stood and made his way over, his mother following closely. She seemed worried.

“Dr. Reid is ready to see you, follow me.” The nurse said, walking into the hallways. “You’ll be in room 13, the doctor will be in to see you soon.” She pointed to the room, made sure they walked in and left.

The nerves hit Izuku all at once. He realized he didn’t know what outcome he wanted from this appointment. If it turned out he did have a quirk, it meant that the previous doctor was wrong. It would mean he had been misdiagnosed as quirkless, leading to all that bullying in school. But if he didn’t have a quirk, he really would never be a hero. He’d never get to save people, to help.

A doctor that Izuku figured was Dr. Reid walked in, greeting Izuku with an awkward wave. He was tall and skinny with mousy brown hair falling around his shoulders. He tucked it out of the way and held up his clipboard.

“I see you’ve come in for a second quirk diagnosis. What triggered your doubt in your original diagnosis?” He said, looking quite interested in this case.

“Well, uh.. I feel stronger and faster when I'm interested in something, and I caught a cup before I was even able to register that it fell.” Izuku mumbled. The doctor nodded, writing something down.

“It says here that you were diagnosed as quirkless at the age of four, correct?” Izuku nodded. “Well, that was before we developed a new test for quirks. Technology has advanced so much since then, even though it’s only been a little over a decade.”

Dr. Reid pulled open a drawer, grabbing a small box-like device with a screen on it.

“This will prick your finger, allowing the device to test your blood. It will check for your quirk genes, which will tell us if you have a quirk, and if so, what it is.” He explained.

Izuku nodded, holding out a finger for the test. His mother watched the doctor approach her son, nervously picking at her fingers. Izuku knew she was thinking the same thing as him. This test would change so much.

When the test was done, Dr. Reid sat in a chair in the corner of the room, connecting the device to his computer. Izuku caught a glimpse of the screen, watching thousands of strange symbols pop up as the doctor read each line with almost terrifying speed. After only a few seconds, he turned to Izuku and Inko.

“Well, good news! You are not quirkless! I looked at the formation of your genes, and it seems you have a power quirk. It’s set to activate upon a heightened emotional state.” He turned the screen around so they could see it, and pointed at a small section of symbols. “These genes seem to indicate that there’s more to your quirk than just that though. However, our current knowledge of quirk genes doesn't cover this set here. We would like to study your progress as you learn more about how it works. It could be quite unique!”

Izuku started to cry with joy and relief. He turned to his mother and hugged her as she started to cry too. Dr. Reid looked confused, but Izuku didn’t care.

He had a quirk. He could be a hero.

~~~

Katsuki hadn’t seen Midoriya for weeks, outside of school. Even at school, he could never find an opportunity to talk with the other boy. It made him angry, and so he set out to find him. All Katsuki wanted to do was apologize to the damn nerd! Why was Izuku making it so damn hard?

And so he walked through the city, as he had for the last month, whenever he had the time. This time, he found himself walking to a local beach. He read the beach’s sign, it read ‘Takoba Municipal Beach Park’. Damn, that’s a mouthful. Katsuki headed down the steps to the beach, picking his way through mountains of trash washed up from the polluted waters. He figured there was no way Deku was here, but he explored anyway. As he maneuvered around a pile of garbage, he heard grunting and the screech of metal grinding on metal. Someone was here.

He looked up and saw that familiar green hair. But something was different, because this boy was strong, lifting a large broken tv and plopping it in a wheelbarrow. Katsuki hadn’t noticed before, since he only saw Midoriya in his school uniform, but now he could see the difference. The boy was training in secret and had clearly been doing a good job since his muscles were now more defined.

Katsuki felt his face grow hot and dismissed it as the afternoon sun beating down on him. Not wanting Deku to notice him, he turned and walked away, finding a place above the beach to wait. He could apologize when Midoriya was done training. For now, Katsuki would watch to see how strong he had really gotten. After all, Katsuki needed to be the best. He had to beat Midoriya.

At least, that’s what he told himself.

~~~

Izuku finished cleaning up a small section of the beach. Already, Takoba Beach looked much better, and he was proud of his work. He wearily walked up the steps, ready to head back home, when he spotted a familiar face.

“Kacchan? What are you doing here? Wait.. how long have you been here-” Izuku blurted out, but Bakugou cut him off.

“I saw your dumb training, yeah. I came to..” He mumbled the next word. “Apologize.”

“You’re.. Apologizing? To me?” Izuku sputtered in confusion.

“Yeah, dumbass! I’m apologizing for all the shitty stuff I said!” Bakugou yelled, before lowering his voice and growling, “And.. to uh… thank you. You tried to save me, even without a quirk.”

“Oh..” Izuku was stunned by the sudden change of behavior from his childhood friend, but then he remembered something. “Wait, you haven’t heard? I have a quirk! They misdiagnosed me as a kid.”

“WHAT?!”

Chapter Text

Katsuki entered the UA building, prepared to ace the entrance exam and beat everyone. He was going to be the best student UA had ever seen. He found his seat and waited to hear the presentation explaining the practical exams.

As the presentation started, and the pro hero Present Mic explained the test - they would be fighting robots - Katsuki found himself looking around the room at the different participants. Obviously, he knew Midoriya, who was muttering a few seats over from him, but it’d be a good idea to see the real competition.

Halfway through the explanation, a boy with dark blue hair and square glasses stood.

“I noticed there is another robot on this sheet, one that you have not explained. Surely a prestigious school such as UA would not make a mistake. This is unacceptable!” He shouted.

Katsuki immediately decided this boy was annoying. He listened to the response from Present Mic, something about a type of robot worth zero points, but honestly, at this point, he was itching to just get this done.

When the battleground assignment sheets were passed out, he noticed Midoriya had the same battleground as him. He found himself eager to see the green-haired boy in action. He had to know how strong his rival was, after all.

Then everyone shuffled out to their respective battlefields. Once there, it was only a few minutes before the bell rang and the doors opened, signifying the start of the test.

Katsuki blew through the doors, using his explosions to propel himself forward. Once he was inside, he quickly located a few robots, blasting them apart with gleeful rage. After about five minutes of this, he figured he had enough points to pass. But he didn’t want to just pass. He wanted to be the undeniable number one.

As he blasted apart another robot, he heard a loud rumbling noise. Katsuki headed towards the noise and saw a girl with brown hair and pink cheeks trapped under some rubble as a massive zero-pointer robot slowly made its way forward, threatening to crush her.

And Midoriya had that face, the one that told Katsuki exactly what he was thinking.

Deku had a plan.

~~~

Izuku turned the corner to see a massive robot labeled with a large zero. The zero pointer... Present Mic said not to engage. He turned to avoid the large beast of a robot but heard a yell for help, and had to turn back. He scanned the debris, seeing a brown-haired girl trapped under some rubble.

He started thinking furiously, noting everything in the area. Spotting Bakugou, he frantically signed something to him, not even looking long enough to see a response. He knew his friend would understand him; they’d both learned sign language at a young age because Kacchan’s hearing was being damaged by his explosive quirk.

Izuku ran towards the girl, shoving rocks and pieces of pavement out of the way. Once he got to her, he assessed the situation.

“Help! My ankle is stuck, I can’t get out!” She cried.

“I’ve got this!” He assured her, as he focused. All his training became worth it as he felt his quirk activate. He’d learned to channel his emotions enough to power up slightly on command.

He lifted debris as explosions rang out behind him. So Kacchan did listen.. He thought as he freed the girl. Quickly helping her out of harm’s way, he looked back to see Bakugou flying through the air, shooting explosions at the robot.

A loud ding echoed through the battlegrounds, and a voice came over the speakers.

“That concludes the UA entrance exam, please make your way over to the exits as fast as possible. Nurses will be there to heal any injuries you might have sustained during the test.”

Izuku sighed. He might not have gotten many points, but he felt good. He had helped someone. He walked with the girl, helping her to the nurse's station. Once they were both checked out and healed, he walked home, excited but nervous for the letter that would come in the mail soon enough. Had he gotten enough points to pass?

He squealed when it arrived, and burst out in tears as All Might himself said he was a teacher this year before revealing the bigger news...

Izuku was going to UA!

~~~

As the school year approached, Katsuki had to move his things into the school dorms. UA had large dorms for all students, and they were expected to move in a week before school started, to help them adjust to the new environment.

He had brought all the normal supplies; clothes, furniture, posters, and more. But he had also brought groceries to fill the dorm kitchen fridge, so he could prepare his own food. School cafeterias never had enough flavor in the food. He liked it when his face felt on fire from spices. He’d heard that UA food was amazing, but he wasn’t taking his chances.

Katsuki might have had another reason, but there was no way you’d ever get him to admit it. He had to be the best, he couldn’t be beat by stupid feelings. Not for anyone, not even a strong, smart green-haired boy with freckles.

He shook his head, trying to clear that thought from his mind. He returned to unpacking and then took a look at the dorm assignments. He knew his room, obviously, but he hadn’t checked who else was in his class, or where their dorms were.

Midoriya’s room was right next to his. They shared a balcony.

~~~

Izuku walked into his dorm room. He was one of the last to unpack since saying goodbye to his mom had taken so long. She had cried tears of joy at hearing he made it into UA, but tears of sadness at hearing that he would be living there from now on. It had taken hours to pack with all the tears and heartfelt goodbyes.

As Izuku looked around his room, deciding where all his All Might figurines would go, he began to sort through the various boxes. After an hour of unpacking, which got him to a basic room design, he left to go meet his classmates.

He made his way down to the common area, finding his class all sitting around introducing themselves. He made a mental note of each classmate, even recognizing a few from the entrance exam.

“Oh hey, you’re one of the boys who saved me! Thanks for that!” the brown-haired girl from the entrance exam stood, greeting Izuku.

“Oh, yeah! I just did whatever I could. I’m glad you made it into UA! I’m Izuku Midoriya.” He said, a little awkwardly.

“Well, you did awesome! And the way that other boy exploded the robots, you guys must know each other really well, being able to communicate without words. I’m Ochaco Uraraka.” She smiled.

Izuku smiled back, greeting his other classmates. Bakugou was suspiciously absent, but Izuku figured he was just decorating his room. He introduced himself to his classmates, and they spent the rest of the night chatting and wondering what their first day at school would be like. They talked about many things, from dorm decorating to favorite foods to Izuku’s favorite subject, thoughts on the top pro heroes. When the sun had set, everyone decided to go to bed. They parted ways.

When he returned to his room, he smelled the delicious scent of his favorite food, katsudon. He looked for the source of the aroma, his eyes landing on a steaming bowl on his balcony. He went over to pick it up, finding it strange that this meal had just appeared. It was probably a gift from a classmate who thought it’d be nice to cook everyone a hot meal. He breathed in the scent of the delicious meal, sitting at his desk to eat it. He caught another scent, a sweet scent that seemed familiar but he couldn’t quite place it.

He savored the familiar flavors of his favorite food, the heat and comfort making him feel sleepier than he already was. Once he was done, he flopped onto his bed, snuggling under the covers and falling asleep, dreaming of heroes and katsudon.

He thought the mysterious katsudon was a one-off thing. He was wrong.

~~~

Katsuki spent the week before school perfecting his katsudon recipe late at night, when nobody could catch him cooking. He had always enjoyed cooking, but this time it felt different. He had gotten quite skilled over the course of the week he’d spent practicing. He breaded the seasoned pork chops, chopped onions with frightening speed, and made the rice all in a short amount of time. His nightly routine of making Midoriya’s favorite meal had left him tired, but he got better at it every night. Some nights he ate it himself, as his dinner, but every other night he’d secretly place it outside, on the balcony.

When the night before the first day of school came along, he was prepared. He cooked the meal, challenging himself to make it even better this time. He enjoyed the nightly challenge of cooking better and better food, and giving it to Midoriya occasionally was just a way to not waste all the food.

That’s what he told himself, every night.

He snuck the food out to his balcony that he shared with Midoriya, and placed it outside Midoriya’s room. He glanced into the room, hoping not to get caught, and didn’t see anyone inside yet. Phew, Deku’s not here yet.. He thought.

And he returned to his room, flopping on his bed, exhausted. He’d worked a lot harder on the meal this time, even garnishing it with chopped scallions. All that work left him tired, and he drifted off to sleep quickly.

~~~

Izuku walked into the classroom, adjusting his backpack. He looked around at the classroom, seeing no teacher. As he was scanning the room, he heard a shout.

“Stop disrespecting UA! Get your feet off the desk!” Iida was chopping his arms in a strange, robot-like manner.

“Shut up, Glasses. I don’t have to listen to you.” Bakugou sneered.

Izuku went to his seat as Iida continued trying to get Bakugou to listen. He fidgeted with his hands, wondering how his classes would go. The door slid open, revealing some strange creature standing in the doorway. It looked like a yellow caterpillar, with a human face?

The entire classroom went silent as everyone fled to their seats. The caterpillar unzipped to reveal a grumpy looking man who placed his sleeping bag - the ‘caterpillar’ - on the floor by the teacher’s desk.

“I’m your teacher, unfortunately. You can call me Aizawa.” His voice was completely monotone, and he seemed tired already. “Now get your gym clothes on and meet me by the baseball pitch.” He sighed.

“But what about the opening ceremony-” One student started to say, before Aizawa cut them off.

“If you really think some ceremony is more important than your education, you’ll never get anywhere as a hero. Anyone who values their place in this school should come out to the baseball pitch.” And with that, he got up and walked out of the classroom.

There were a few moments of stunned silence, before everyone rushed to get to the changing rooms. Izuku followed along, excited but nervous for the upcoming test. Unlike the rest of the students, he had only known his quirk for a short time, and had an obvious disadvantage in any exams.

But he knew he’d try his best, and that’s all he needed to feel better.

~~~

Katsuki opened his locker, gathering his gym clothes. He looked around the changing room, studying his classmates. Most of them seemed pretty average, and he figured he’d quickly rise to the top of the class. His eyes paused at Midoriya, who was pulling on his UA athletic uniform. He had almost forgotten how muscular the boy had grown over the summer. His face grew hot and he turned to scan the rest of the class, ignoring the feeling. He changed quickly, meeting everyone outside.

The quirk tests sounded almost pathetically easy, like grade school gym classes but with quirks. He knew he'd ace them and had nothing to fear from the teacher's threat that the lowest ranking student would be expelled. He squinted around at the other kids, trying to figure out who would get kicked out. It wouldn't be him or Midoriya; Deku had a great chance against these losers.

Now, it was time to destroy the competition.

~~~

The tests were difficult, but Izuku managed to get an above-average score in all of them. It was pretty fun, feeling his excitement and passion fill his body with energy and strength. While waiting for the tests to finish, he thought about the different ways he could train his quirk.

Obviously, he should try to increase the powerup he got when using it, but that could be difficult if he didn’t feel that passion that was required. He hadn’t yet figured out how to trigger it when he really needed it. Sure it was easy to feel excited about something, but there was an extra something involved in his quirk he hadn’t pinned down yet. He decided to train his body, because if he was stronger and faster without the quirk, once he learned to harness it he’d be even more powerful than that.

Once the tests were done, Aizawa revealed that he was just deceiving the class to make sure they did their best; nobody would be expelled. The invisible girl who got last place sighed in relief, and everyone was excited to know what came next.

As everyone read the results, Bakugou angrily stormed past Izuku. Izuku caught a whiff of a sweet, toasty scent. One that he had smelled for his whole life, so he never noticed it before. But this time, he realized something. He had smelled this on the mysterious katsudon that he found on his balcony every night. Izuku thought of only one explanation.

Bakugou had been the one cooking for him each night.