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Chapter Text

The question ‘Can I be a hero?’ was one of the first things Izuku ever wanted to ask.

It had been something almost everyone wanted to ask, but ever since he first saw a hero on TV, it felt like a question that could determine the rest of his life.

When he would ask his mom that question, to the best of his ability as a 3 year old, she would chuckle, pat him on the head and tell him he was too young to know for sure.

Every time Izuku would see All Might, or any other hero on screen saving lives, Izuku desperately yearned to become just like them.

After he and Kacchan had discovered what heroes were they often played heroes vs villains whenever they hung out.

It made him feel as if one day he could also be flying through the sky, giving it his all, and saving others.

So, when they approached age 4 and Kacchan obtained his quirk, Izuku was ecstatic to get his.

But soon his 4th birthday came and went, however no quirk manifested.

Izuku tried everything he could afterwards.

He tried to lift the couch over his head, but all it did was hurt his arms, so unfortunately he knew his quirk wasn’t super strength Like All Might.

He tried to levitate his cereal spoon until he got a headache, so it wasn’t a form of telekinesis like his mom.

He whistled and huffed air until his throat hurt and he almost passed out from lack of air, so his quirk wasn’t fire breathing like his dads was.

It felt like a physical blow to his heart every time another kid came to class with a quirk, but Izuku only went to class with injuries from his attempts to earn what they obtained naturally.

Eventually, his mom decided it was time they visit the doctor.

Which Izuku was very excited about, since they could tell him what his quirk was. He hoped it was something cool, especially since he had to wait so long.

When they arrived at the hospital, Izuku fidgeted nervously in the waiting room.

Inko urged him to go play in the kids area, where a few other kids were.

Though Izuku was a bit nervous to make new friends, he ran over to join the other kids and questioned them about their quirks.

All his questions were rapidly asked and the other kids tried their best to answer. He was far too excited but he couldn’t help it.

Maybe he would share the same quirk with one of them.

He was in the middle of animatedly asking about one girl's quirk when his mother called for him.

Izuku looked over and saw their doctor waving to him, so Izuku said goodbye to the other kids and ran to his mom’s side.

He nervously took the hand Doctor Tsubasa offered and gave it a small shake. The doctor smiled at Izuku warmly, slight amusement in his eyes.

“Well hello Izuku! We’re gonna do some fun tests and hopefully we can figure out what your quirk is.” He explained.

Izuku perked up happily at the concept of finding out his quirk and gave the doctor a blinding smile.

“I'm ready!” he yelled, throwing his fist up in the air, his All Might figure clutched in it.

His mother shushed him with and exasperated smile and the doctor chuckled.

“Then lets get started.” the doctor said cheerfully as he offered Izuku his hand.

Izuku took it with a bright smile and followed the doctor with his mom beside him.

The testing began and it went really well. Izuku tried his best to be good for the doctor.

It had seemed no different from his normal checkups, until they moved to a different room with a weird looking machine.

He had overheard the doctor calling the machine an x-ray.

Izuku giggled as the machine whirred to life and passed over the lower half of his body.

He couldn't help but wonder how it worked and why it made so much noise as it passed over him. Maybe he could help build a machine like this once he got his quirk.

After the weird machine stopped moving with a beeping noise, he was helped off the bench and led back to the previous room.

Doctor Tsubasa didn’t follow at first but reappeared soon after. The doctor looked slightly disappointed and his warm demeanor seemed to have gone away.

He even seemed as if he was suddenly annoyed by them wasting his time.

Izuku wondered why.

When the doctor told his mom that she should take a seat, again Izuku wondered why.

When Doctor Tsubasa brought out his x-ray and his mom started to seem nervous, he also got a bit scared.

What was wrong, why was everybody so tense?

The doctor gave him his answer.

Quirkless.

Izuku was quirkless and his dreams had never seemed further away.

Izuku would not let go of the vice grip he had on his All Might figurine.

Not as his mom ushered them out of the hospital and buckled him into his car seat, not as they drove home and his mom cried silently, and not even as they got home and Izuku rushed to his room and slammed the door shut.

Later his mom found him with tears falling down his face as he rewatched his favorite All Might video over and over again.

He asked her, the most important person in his life, a very crucial question. One that he had asked many times before

He pointed to the video of All Might, who seemed larger than life, everything he could no longer be.

“Can I- can I still be a hero?” he asked, his words tripping over his tears as he sobbed.

Perhaps in another world Inko would have broken down at seeing her child so desolate.

Maybe she would have tried to avoid hurting him further by telling him she was sorry.

(Though, what she was sorry for, she wouldn’t know.)

But in this universe, Inko walked over to her son and forced herself not to cry as she fiercely hugged her baby.

She didn’t know if the route she took was best for him but Inko knew it was what he needed to hear.

“Yes,” she whispered, her voice barely audible but loud enough in between their desperate hug, “you can be a hero Izuku.”

Izuku tearfully fell asleep in her arms some time later and Inko carefully carried him to bed.

As she tucked him in she used a tissue to wipe away his tears, and gently brushed a hand through his hair.

After discarding the tissue she brought her hand down to his face, cupping his cheek and lovingly running a thumb over his many freckles.

“You’ll be the greatest hero,” she said, to nobody but the quiet night of their home, “even if the world tells you otherwise.”

It was a quiet moment full of uncertainty, a moment of understanding, and it changed everything.

Izuku knows now, he can be a hero.

Chapter Text

Izuku often wondered why everyone else treated him so differently.

It was barely manageable after he was diagnosed quirkles.

When he went back to school it was with a resigned attitude. He knew that others wouldn’t take the news as well as his mother had.

He initially thought they may just be slightly disappointed.

But, as the other kids began to jeer at him after he revealed his quirk status, Izuku was surprised by how truly mean they could be.

He told himself constantly that he believed his moms words more than theirs.

They pushed him over on the playground and he got back up, like a hero. Because that was what he was going to become.

Even when his best friend Kacchan turned around and began to burn him at every chance he could get, Izuku chanted his mom's words like a prayer.

So when Kacchan told him things like, “You can never become a hero, you’re just a pathetic, quirkless, loser deku. You’re not even cut out to be a sidekick” Izuku could ignore it.

Izuku learned to stand up to Kacchan as he bullied other students with weak quirks. He trembled and shook but stood his ground even if it earned him many burns and bruises.

He couldn’t fight back, he wasn’t strong enough, but he could certainly be a good distraction.

In his head he reassured himself it was all fine, even as the people he stood up for would run away or insult him just because he was quirkless after he saved them.

He was just glad to have protected them.

At the end of the day he went home to his mom, who fretted over his injuries, and he would tell her they were from playing too rough.

Her worry and love would make him smile and forget about the day's struggles, they weren’t able to reach him at home.

His mom and her support was all he needed.

So he learned how to take care of himself at school. If the others were so determined to hurt him then he would persevere with kindness, like All Might.

Yeah, he tried his hardest.

But the first time he found the words “kill yourself” carved into his desk Izuku froze.

Because surely someone would finally say something, this was too far for anyone to go. He was just a kid, just 10 years old, a living and breathing human being.

The teacher even clearly saw the markings as he passed by Izuku’s desk during class. Yet all he did was scoff and move on.

Nobody came forward to help and he learned not to hope.

Izuku went home that day and stared at his notebooks. He thought about how easy it would be to write a single letter, for the one person that had been there for him.

One measly letter and he could disappear without the world even noticing his absence.

But, he found himself writing about quirks he saw that day instead.

It cleared his mind, and offered him solace. When he was done he found himself staring at his work and he forced himself to stay, to stay living here in this moment, for his mom and for himself.

He wanted to be a hero and he can’t do that if he’s dead. Right? He can't be a hero if he’s dead.

So, he pushed the events of the day out of his head and joined his mom for a warm dinner. Something he found himself never wanting to miss.

Even if the thoughts in his head seemed to overwhelm the delicious taste of his moms cooking.

To distract himself Izuku found an escape by other means.

He wrote more frequently in his notebook to hide from the looks that other students would give him.

Writing about anything he thought was interesting kept his mind clear.

Izuku would hum or mutter to tune out their harsh insults, he would avoid areas where others could get him alone, and even began to take the long way home to avoid them.

(Cleaning his desk also become a repeated task as he watched the colors of painfully imaginative and dangerously personal messages mix)

Izuku eventually realized, as he was writing about his classmates' quirks, that they seemed to be using them wrong. Or, could at least be using them more efficiently.

He even took pictures of them using their quirks so that he could reference them later as he put them in his notebook. They were much easier to study when he got home.

Less threat of his notebook getting ruined, again.

Nobody in his class received his critiques well. Especially when they caught him taking pictures of them.

Especially not Kacchan as he immediately began to yell about not needing a “deku’s” help.
Izuku had already known what would happen, especially since he offered Kacchan his advice personally, but he had still wanted to try.

It earned him a harsh beating or two, so he never offered his advice to them again. Often he wondered if they would even use his advice in a positive way.

Izuku may have headed home with another hand shaped burn that day, but he decided that his new hobby seemed worth the risk

That’s when he wandered upon something called “In depth hero analysis”. It’s the process of asking questions and answering them to find a pragmatic solution to a problem.

He had always been great at that.

It was basically what he had already been doing, even if he hadn’t known exactly what to call it before.

After discovering his new niche Izuku fell into a long research spiral as he researched heroes like Sir Nighteye and Nedzu. Support heroes were a whole new world to him.

He researched everything he could about them and their success.

They used their practical skills to help heroes and worked in the field, even without physical quirks.

Izuku knew it was a stretch to think he could do the same but it gave him a new determination.

That determination and the knowledge of non-quirk focused heroes is what carried him through elementary school and into junior high.

He kept his dreams close to himself even as he learned how to run from someone who wants to hurt him and learned to take a hit.

Izuku began to shake less as he stood up to the people that hate him and even managed to avoid some of their attacks.

(Dodging was an easy skill to learn when so many people tried to hit you.)

He let their insults pass over him every day.

They had gotten kind of old anyway with how many of the same generic jabs he’d heard.

However, one day a particular comment caught his attention.

“There’s never been a quirkless hero and there never will be!” It was a throwaway insult from Tsubasa’s grandson but it made Izuku pause.

Had there ever been a quirkless hero?

Izuku's hesitation at his sudden epiphany earned him a bruised cheek from faltering in their fight but when he walked home he couldn't get the question off his mind.

He rushed to his new computer as soon as he arrived home.

-

Over the years he had grown into constantly researching topics for hours on his old and failing computer. Which would lead to it overheating, and ultimately cutting his research short.

His mom noticed and later surprised him with his own computer setup one Christmas.

Izuku was ecstatic, since now he was able to do his research for longer periods of time without having to steal his moms laptop.

(It was great for when he had to discreetly learn how to treat burns.)

-

Izuku started his research with a broad search for quirkless heroes.

At first he only found pre-quirk comics like Batman and others. Eventually though, he wandered upon multiple sites detailing quirkless heroes and their importance in history.

Quirkless people were the first heroes.

With the emergence of quirks villains rose up, but those who had quirks were inexperienced and unable to fight the villains safely. So, the quirkless took charge and taught those with quirks how to fight.

The quirkless heroes would even take their place in the active combat until the quirked ones were ready.

They constantly fought villains that possessed quirks without the use of one of their own.
Quirkless heroes had raised the second generation of heroes and many after that.

It leaves Izuku reeling at the fact that this history was buried so deep and he had learned nothing about it in school.

It seemed like a major piece of their history had been glossed over.

As Izuku dove deeper he learned that even now there were still quirkless heroes in other countries.

For some reason he could only find older heroes, the youngest being 36 but it still brings Izuku hope.

Yet, he wondered why there weren’t any younger quirkless heroes?

Quirkless discrimination became the norm as quirked people became the majority. He soon discovered that many quirkless people never made it past 15.

That search led to him finding a long list of child and teenage obituaries.

A pit opened in Izuku's stomach as the air was all but knocked out of him, he felt intense dread.

It hurt because Izuku knew how that could happen.

He experienced it every day in school, in every strained smile Izuku had received after he said he had no quirk, and it makes it hurt even more to know he could have become a part of that list.

That one night four years ago, when he had considered writing a letter to his mom, resurfaced in his mind.

Izuku thought he had pushed past that night and yet he couldn't help but think about it again.

He had been 10.

There’s a ball in his throat that he can’t swallow.

Izuku tried his hardest to push past the names and faces of people just like him but it clouded his mind.

It left him with a burning, itchy feeling in his eyes and a tight feeling in his lungs as he desperately searched for more information on quirkless heroes.

Some names came up for heroes, villains, and vigilantes.

Though Izuku read them, nothing from them stuck. He couldn’t stop thinking about the list.

Feeling disconnected he read article upon article until his mom arrived home.

+

It was a familiar sight that Inko walked into as she gently opened her son's room door to see him on the computer.

She smiled and knocked on the wood of his door frame to let him know she was there.

But, she wasn’t expecting another familiar sight as he turned to her.

(a 4 year old boy who cried at a similar computer, one she hoped she hadn’t failed came to mind)

Izuku had tears streaming down his face as he turned to look at her and though he hurriedly tried to wipe them away Inko automatically knew it had been a bad day.

She slowly walked up to him and took a hold of his hand.

Neither of them said anything as she pulled him from his dark room and settled him on the couch.

To fill the silence Inko flicked on a random channel and headed to the little kitchen of their apartment.

She put the kettle on the stove before she moved back to the living room where Izuku was silently sobbing.

“Izuku,” She said, hesitant but soft, “I’m right here, I’ll always be right here for you”.

Inko knew it was a good thing to say as her son finally made a sound, though it was only a painful hitch in his breath.

His eyes finally focused on her and she gently hugged him. He sunk into her arms. Inko tried her hardest to put as much of her sincerity as she could into that hug.

Inko hoped it was enough.

The steaming kettle interrupted the moment with a high pitched squeal, signalling it was done boiling.

Inko pulled away and thankfully Izuku seemed to be more aware as he got comfy on the couch and turned his gaze towards the tv.

She gently placed a fuzzy blanket over his shoulders and squeezed both of them briefly before going to the kitchen and making hot cocoa.

It's the cheap instant kind but Inko knew Izuku loved it.

When she arrived in the living room Izuku had calmed down and only sniffled occasionally. Inko handed him his mug before settling beside him.

Its All Might theme entirely too bright in the dour atmosphere.

Izuku buried into her side, as much as he could, with their height difference and all.

She watched as he took a sip of his hot cocoa and she finally saw him give a slight smile. Inko contentedly sighed, relieved she could help him, and turned on a good movie.

The world can wait, Izuku needed her and she wasn’t going anywhere.

+

Izuku found himself finally able to think and breathe again with his mom there to support him.

He knew what he could have been, where he could've ended up, what another name on that list would have done.

Izuku promised himself then and there that he would help those that could be on that list in the future.

But first, that feeling, the feeling that he had been so close to taking a step off the edge.

It was too much for Izuku, He needed to be confident in his ability to save himself before he could save others.

So, as he sipped his drink and listened to his mothers heartbeat. He made a promise, not to himself because he didn't think he held himself in that high a regard yet to keep it.

But, he made it to his mom and to those who were before and after him.

There had been a quirkless hero. Many of them in fact.

Whether that meant just those fighting villains or the ones who were and weren’t strong enough to not listen to their personal ones.

He is glad they existed, they were heroes for what they endured, they always would be.

Izuku promised them all. He would be enough for them.

He won’t be the last quirkless hero.

Chapter Text

After the previous night both Inko and Izuku broached the topic of therapy.

Izuku had already wanted to go to therapy, and his mom was willing to support him in his endeavours to heal, so he had decided to agree.

He also requested one other thing.

Fighting courses, or at least any self defense classes were added onto their search. Learning to throw a punch would definitely help Izuku mentally and physically.

It took a few months, but Izuku found a dojo, it was close to Aldera Junior High and he could walk there after school.

Though they were still searching for a good therapist.

(Inko was being very thorough with her search because her boy deserved the best of the best)

When his mom informed him that she had finally set up his lessons it gave him extra energy to get through the day.

He hummed a song as his mom kissed him goodbye and later he found it easier to ignore the insults that were marked onto his desk.

Even as he settled into his homeroom after lunch he thought his mood couldn’t be soured.
He was wrong of course.

Izuku had continued to hum quietly, as he enjoyed his day best as he could, only to stop when his teacher blatantly scorned his enrollment form because he had put UA as his only option.

He had already experienced the teachers' quirkism but it didn’t quite stop the shame that he instinctively felt. It caused something in him to wither as he hunched in on himself.

Everybody began to whisper, gossip already flowing from one ear to the next, and all Izuku could think about was how wonderfully complicated his route home was gonna be that day.

Kacchan looked the most disgusted that he had even considered UA an option, and honestly?

Izuku didn’t even know why.

He had always wanted to go to UA no matter what. It was the dream they had always shared together, and just because Kacchan had left him behind didn’t mean Izuku had left their dream behind as well.

Izuku ignored them as best as he could during class but as soon as the bell rang they cornered him.

Kacchan confronted him and he began to ramble on about Izuku's worthlessness. It’s nothing new and Izuku just begins to tune it out with his head held high and his gaze facing straight ahead.

He forces down any negative emotions he feels at his childhood friend's words. He won’t cry in front of them.

Izuku's attention was snapped back to the present when Kacchan grabbed his notebook, taunting him about his dreams, and then he proceeded to blow it up.

Izuku watched the torn pages fly onto the floor and he had to hold himself back from following his notebook as it sailed out the window.

But he did look out, and he watched as the singed notebook fell two stories down, straight into the water fountain outside.

Izuku really hoped it wasn’t too ruined.

His focus was entirely on his newly deceased notebook, until Kacchan said something that he had never said to Izuku before.

“You wanna be a hero so bad? I’ve got a time saving idea for you.” He sneered over his shoulder, as he had begun to turn away, “If you think you’ll have a quirk in your next life… Go take a swan dive off the roof!”

What happened next, went by in a split second.

Because now that he knew Kacchan could be the reason for another name on that awful list he found, something snapped within him.

Even though Izuku had never heard those words from Bakugo until now, he couldn’t find it in himself to be sad. Even though he was Izuku’s childhood best friend, that didn’t matter.

Izuku wasn’t willing to let this pass by like all the other times.

He saw nothing but a stranger as he reared his fist back and punched Bakugo directly in the nose.

Izuku would be lying if he said the feeling of Bakugo’s nasal bone snapping under his fist wasn’t satisfying. After everything he had put Izuku through, he knew Bakugo deserved it.

Even so, he’s kinda glad that everything stopped for a moment and Bakugo laid there on the floor holding his bloody nose instead of fighting back.

Izuku didn’t want to fight him, not like that, not when he was so clearly at a disadvantage.
Bakugo stared at him in disbelief.

Izuku was just as surprised as the others, but he also wasn’t stupid enough to stay that way.

So, instead of continuing to stand there dumbfounded, or at least attempt to fight him, Izuku hopped over him and took off in a dead sprint.

“Sorry!” Izuku yelled over his shoulder, mostly on instinct. He didn’t actually feel that sorry.

It wasn't long until he heard the explosions and yelling that followed him.

He made it out the front door of the school and grabbed his notebook from the fountain as he was passing by, not taking the risk of fully stopping.

In another split second decision Izuku turned down an entirely new direction home to avoid Bakugo.

Definitely hadn’t been his smartest idea.

Izuku was distracted listening for any stray explosions and navigating the new route home, so he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings as he passed under a small tunnel.

Therefore, when there was a clatter of the sewer drain lid flying off, Izuku entirely missed it.

Izuku did, however, hear the villain's exclamation of “a medium sized body to hide in, perfect!” right before his body suddenly seized and he found himself unable to breath.

The villain smelled foul and all of his senses were screaming for air but he refused to open his mouth.

Izuku froze for a split second, entirely consumed with thoughts of panic, before he began to ask himself questions.

He had studied countless hero fights, and without a thorough plan the heroes never won. He just had to think of this situation like an analyst would.

Was the villain entirely made of goop? Yes, Izuku could definitely tell that with certainty.

Did the villain have anything tangible to it? He couldn’t tell.

Izuku did his best to move around and feel for anything solid, even as he felt his lungs beginning to burn.

He could vaguely hear the villain yell for him to cooperate. Like it expected Izuku to not struggle when he might be about to die.

Izuku eventually bumped into a solid shape just as he gasped for air and the villain started to force itself into his lungs.

He immediately took hold of whatever the solid thing was, squeezed, and didn’t let go. He practically tore the object out of its predetermined spot in the sludge.

The villain howled in agony, the sludge retracting from his lungs, as Izuku was thrown from the villain's body and consequently took the foreign object with him.

Izuku coughed on the villains sludge, what was left of it exiting his body now that he was free. He was still holding the solid object as the villain screamed in the background.

It was writhing in pain and obviously very distressed.

“You’re fucking crazy kid! CRAZY!” it yelled.

When it turned fully towards him Izuku distantly noted it only had one eye. But then he looked down and noticed the ‘foreign object’ he had grabbed was in fact the villain's entire eyeball.

Izuku definitely would’ve screamed if he could've gotten through his coughing.

But before Izuku could do anything as ridiculous as offer the villain its’ eye back in his disgust, a powerful gust of wind splattered the goop everywhere.

A loud “I AM HERE!” echoed around the tunnel.

What Izuku wouldn’t have done to hear those words a moment earlier.

He still hardly believed it as All Might himself walked into view. Even less so as the hero squatted down to be on his level.

“Are you alright lad?” He asked, holding out his hand to help Izuku up. All Might rubbed the back of his neck almost sheepishly. “I had been chasing this villain but ended up losing him in the sewers, I hope he didn’t hurt you.”

Izuku just stared at him open-mouthed like an idiot, not saying a word. Causing All Might to chuckle awkwardly to fill the silence.

“Well, I'd better get to detaining this villain.” He stated before he walked towards the villain, which was now plastered all over the tunnel walls.

Izuku saw him look to the side and then hastily swipe a few discarded soda bottles.

He stuffed the villain into the bottles, though Izuku doesn’t know how he managed that, and he walked back towards Izuku.

As he walked back he picked up Izuku's discarded and slightly burnt notebook that he had lost in his struggle.

Before Izuku could take his notebook back and attempt to thank All Might for his help, the hero produced a pen from virtually nowhere and signed the book with a dramatic flourish.

Handing the notebook back to Izuku, who was starstruck, as he was holding the hero merch equivalent of a golden ticket, All Might crouched as if he was about to jump away.

“Glad to meet another fan, but I must be going now. Gotta get this fella to the police!” he said as he patted the bottles that were precariously stuffed into the pockets of his pants.

Izuku’s brain decided at that moment to function again, his eyes pulled away from the signature now in his notebook, and his thoughts raced around in his head as he finally caught up to his predicament.

He almost died and he also survived somehow.

He still had the villain's eye, which he had to return, he just met All Might, (Oh my god he just met All Might!), and he still needed to ask him a question.

Oh shoot! He still had a question he needed to ask All Might!

“Wait!” he said in an aborted attempt at acting on his thoughts.

“Sorry, no time for chit-chat.” All Might responded briskly as he started to launch into the air.

What followed is what Izuku thought might be one of his stupidest moments in history.

He latched onto the NUMBER ONE HERO’S LEG as they rocketed into the sky.

Then they were thousands of feet in the air and Izuku held on for dear life.

“Hey Now!” All Might exclaimed. “Release me! Such enthusiasm is a bit much!!” He spun slightly as if trying to shake him off.

“If I let go right now I’ll die!” Izuku yelled back and All Might stopped spinning with a remark of “true enough”

Once they touched down on the roof of a random building Izuku thought he could honestly kiss the ground.

He let go of All Might's leg and stumbled away from the hero. He crouched over his knees and took a few steadying breaths.

When he suitably calmed down, Izuku remembered how he landed into this situation in the first place.

He had already gone to the extreme to get here so he might as well ask.

He steeled himself, squeezed his eyes shut, and didn't lift his head.

“Can someone without a quirk become a hero?” Izuku asked in a rush.

He didn't think he should continue, just leave it at that. A simple yes or no question.

But all he got in response was silence, so he turned around and looked up to hear All Might's response, and instead found a cloud of smoke and a skeletal looking man.

Izuku was not ashamed to admit that he had screamed.

The skeletal man, who was apparently All Might, told a grisly tale of loss and a fight for the ages. One that had forever handicapped him.

He ended the tale with a damning statement.

“Without power, can one become a hero? No, I should think not” He stated, a sense of finality to his words.

Izuku was frozen upon hearing those words.

They were so similar to what the bullies in his class had said. What everyone had always said, the same thing Izuku was so used to hearing.

Yet it came from the person Izuku respected most. He found himself in shock as he stood there with All Might telling him to be realistic.

He thought he should feel a sense of defeat, sadness even. But instead he felt something else.

Izuku felt determination, he had felt the same thing for those who hadn’t made it listed on the obituary list, and he also felt the certainty he had gained from his mothers words so long ago.

Izuku had never been one to listen to everybody telling him no before. He wasn’t going to start now.

As All Might once again flew away, Izuku thought, with a sick sense of humor, how ironic it is that All Might, the symbol of peace, just left a kid on a roof after he crushed their dreams.

Obviously he might not know how precarious a quirkless person's mentality can be, but still, it just made him feel more determined to prove the man wrong.

Maybe if he had been another unfortunate quirkless kid All Might would have been the reason he was on the obituary list.

But no, Izuku Midoriya’s name would never be joining the others on that list.

He smacked his face with both hands, to stop himself from thinking any more dark thoughts. Izuku needed to get home before sunset.

As he went to shove his hands into his pockets, he was pulled from his thoughts on how to get home by the feeling of something squishy.

The villain's eyeball, he had entirely forgotten to give it back…

He felt kinda guilty for that.

Guess he would have to make a stop at the police station on his way home then. It would be cruel to leave the villain partially blind even if he had attacked innocents.

He left the building, planning to start heading in the direction of the police station, only to hear an explosion.

He could see a large amount of smoke in the distance, but it was close enough for it to be concerning.

If Izuku was gonna be a hero he needed as much experience with villain attacks as he could get. This could be a learning opportunity.

Plus he was always worried about other civilians during a villain attack, so he would want to make sure everyone was okay.

Using the smoke as a reference of location, he followed it and eventually found himself facing a large crowd surrounding an open street that was bathed in flames and wreckage.

He balked as he recognized the attack was being done by the villain from earlier.

Izuku overheard the heroes talking about a hostage and he winced in sympathy.

He knew what that felt like being controlled by that villain, so he felt even worse about the situation.

How had the villain even escaped? Didn’t All Might still have it? Was it his fault for distracting the man?

Hopefully the situation got resolved quickly, so he could at least help by giving the villain's eye back to the police.

Thing is, none of the heroes were moving in to get the hostage or deescalate the situation.

He heard them say their quirks weren't a good match and Izuku was confused, they didn’t need their quirks to be heroes. Why did they think otherwise?

Izuku turned back to the scene and found himself searching for the aforementioned hostage in the slime. He saw the explosions first, then a broken nose, and then fear filled eyes.

The hostage was Bakugo.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t Izuku’s fault that his body decided to move without his consent.

However, that shouldn’t have excused his brain's critical thinking so as Izuku flew towards the villain he scanned the rubble.

What could he use as a weapon? There, a broken pipe. He grabbed it without losing momentum and continued to run at the villain.

The villain saw him running towards it and visibly lurched backwards with a scream of “IT’S THE FUCKING CRAZY KID!!” as Izuku closed in.

He took the distraction for what it was and asked himself, what was the best target?

Their mouth, enough pain to get Bakugo out but not enough to leave it permanently more blind than it already was.

Izuku swung and the ensuing crack and swearing was answer enough, but as he reached into the slime, the villain wouldn't let go.

The villain began to draw Izuku in as well, both of his arms sinking into the goop, yelling about getting him back for breaking his tooth and taking his eye.

That’s when Izuku remembered a key piece of information, he still had the villain's eyeball.

So, using all his strength he ripped one hand from out of the slime villain's hold, and grabbed the eye that was still in his pocket.

“Remember this?” He asked as he held out the eyeball for the villain to see, he must be having a really weird sense of vertigo, seeing himself while also seeing his eyeball.

The villain gasped and lurched forward, which allowed Bakugo to breathe for a moment, and for Izuku to free his other arm.

As the villain lunged toward him, desperate to get his eye back, Izuku made a risky decision and squeezed the eyeball, hard.

It brought the villain to a complete stop as it yelled, “GIVE IT BACK YOU ASSHOLE!”

“Only if you let him go, I'll give you your eye back and you give me your hostage.” Izuku replied, shaking as he held out the eyeball.

The villain didn’t even hesitate as he threw Bakugo at Izuku's feet, “FINE TAKE HIM, JUST GIVE IT BACK.” it screamed.

Izuku, true to his word, threw the eyeball towards the villain and immediately crouched down to check on Bakugo.

Only for them to be tossed to the side by a sweep of the villains' slime. The air was knocked out of him but Izuku got up quickly.

He shook as he stood in front of Bakugo who was coughing, and unable to get up. Izuku tried to reassure him, “I’ll get us out of this, we’ll be okay.” even though he didn't believe it himself.

He would go down fighting.

The villain was rushing at them, spouting expletives and promising, “I’LL KILL YOU!”

Only for there to be a sudden rush of wind and a loud “DETROIT SMASH”.

The slime villain was once again sent flying, like back in the tunnel, and the clouds seemed to gather around All Mights’ power to make way for rain.

When Izuku realized they were finally safe he felt his body automatically try to shut down.

Izuku was breathing hard as he dropped any pretense of bravery he had previously felt, he just wanted to go home to his mom.

Then there was a hand around his forearm, as pro hero Death Arms led him away from where All Might was now being swarmed by the media.

Izuku briefly wondered where All Might had come from, how he had lost the villain, and why hadn’t he done anything up until that moment? But he was too shaky with adrenaline to really care.

Izuku thought Death Arms would ask about his health, maybe ask if he needed a doctor.

(But neither of those were what Death Arms cared about. He cared about appearances.)

“What were you thinking running in there like that!!? And without even using your quirk?” The man admonished.

That seemed like slightly bad after battle etiquette, but Izuku couldn’t fault him, he was a bit reckless.

Though he had saved the hostage they were struggling with, so he thought maybe a bit of praise would be nice.

But then he heard the praise, not directed at him of course, never him, but towards Bakugo.

Who was being praised for saving himself with his flashy quirk, nevermind the fact that Izuku rescued him and did so without a quirk.

It made Izuku feel horrible, as Death Arms continued to berate him, he felt himself start to break.

“And yet I still managed to save the hostage without a quirk!” He all but screamed, feeling annoyed and tired, if not slightly embarrassed as he cut off Death Arms before he could talk again, “I was able to save him when you guys weren’t doing your job! Why did you ever think you couldn’t save him?”

“You’re a hero, I've seen you fight, idolized you even, so why did you believe you couldn’t be heroic in this situation??”

Death Arms looked dumbfounded, and he tried to mutter about quirk matchups but Izuku stopped him.

“I overheard you discussing that, but isn't heroism about stepping up and going past your limits to save people?” Izuku had drawn a crowd with his speech now but he didn’t care, he was just so disappointed.

And his anger had been building up all day, this was finally his breaking point.

“A few more minutes, and if All Might hadn’t shown up that victim would be dead, drowned and gone because you couldn’t push past your limits to be a hero!”

Izuku realized at some point he had started crying, he must look insane, telling off a hero while crying.

Suddenly he also realized the crowd that had gathered, Izuku wiped away his tears with embarrassment, muttering a quiet “sorry” as he hastily pushed past Death Arms to flee through the crowd.

The crowd parted to let him pass through, and some of them even murmured their encouragement for him.

Which fell on deaf ears, as Izuku focused on getting away from there and getting home.

+

Toshinori had watched as the slime villain wreaked havoc from a distance. He silently cursed himself for being so rash with his handling of that villain.

If only he had a bit more time to use in his transformation, because without his quirk Toshinori couldn’t interfere. He felt helpless.

Then suddenly a green blur sped past him and he only had enough time to recognize it as the young man he had just saved from the same villain.

Toshinori physically had to hold himself back from sprinting after him to ensure the boy’s safety.

But he didn’t have time to be worried, because suddenly the kid was taking control of the situation.

He used a pipe to give the hostage a break and then talked the villain down when using the pipe failed.

The boy's effort to push past his obvious weakness of having no quirk ignited Toshinori's determination once more.

Suddenly, he had zero clue why he ever thought he couldn’t do more. Wasn’t he all about going beyond his limits?

Toshinori reached into the depths of his quirk and forced it to give just a bit more time before he ran out into the street.

“DETROIT SMASH!” he yelled as he used the wind force his punches created to dismember the villain entirely.

He was glad the kids were both okay and was about to go check on them when suddenly he was swarmed by the media.

Toshinori attempted to placate them by giving them his normal excuses so he could get away, only for them to press him harder for more details.

It frustrated him that he couldn’t get to the victims but it was what he had to deal with as number one.

After a while of being bombarded there was finally a break in the questions as something else caught the reporters attention.

There was a small commotion happening off to the side and since Toshinori was tall enough to see over the crowd he could see the young boy from earlier with the green hair at the center of it.

Obviously distracted, the reporters finally lost focus on him, and Toshinori took the opportunity to slip into a nearby fire escape alley. Where he decided to stay and listen to the young man's speech.

The way the boy so thoroughly questioned the other hero, Death Arms he thought, hit too close to home for Toshinori, because had he not been doing the same thing?

The boy was right, they hadn’t been heroic, and neither had he.

As he watched the boy finish his speech and fled through the crowd, Toshinori couldn't help but think that letting the kid go would be a waste of talent.

He needed to be a hero and Toshinori knew exactly how to make it possible for the quirkless boy who was braver than him.

+

Izuku found himself a bit lost as he was attempting to get home. So much so that when he looked around he couldn’t recognize his surroundings.

Just when he pulled out his phone to look at Goodle maps to attempt to find his way home he was interrupted.

“I AM HERE” All Might shouted as he ran out in front of Izuku in his muscle form, only to deflate immediately afterwards.

The man coughed as he deflated and Izuku saw blood pour down his lips, and promptly freaked out, rushing forward to offer tissues and ask if he’s okay.

The man waved off his concern and used a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket and wiped his mouth free of blood.

He then said, “Kid, I’ve come to thank you, and revise what I said earlier,” All Might held his hand out to point at Izuku dramatically, “YOU CAN BE A HERO!”

Izuku was confused about All Might's sudden change of heart, and even more confused on why he had decided to track Izuku down just to tell him he could be a hero.

The man had just made it clear what he thought a very short while ago.

Besides, he already knew that he could, after all he would never doubt his mother’s words.

As All Might continued, explaining that Izuku's brave action against the slime villain had inspired him to act and had made him reevaluate, Izuku found himself getting slightly exasperated.

He’s had a really rough day, so maybe that’s why he kept feeling so annoyed.

All Might kept going on about “even though he had an obvious hindrance”, and how his “quirklessness didn’t stop him from acting”, and something about “his body moving without thinking”.

But it all didn’t impact Izuku as much as it once might’ve.

Because all he could hear is the fact that All Might still thought he could only be a hero DESPITE his quirklessness.

Then when All Might began to tell him he wanted Izuku to inherit his secret power, his quirk, Izuku felt like he needed to stop him.

So, and he didn’t know why he did, considering All Might was a complete stranger, he moved forward and slapped his hand over the man's mouth.

The height difference made it slightly awkward but it somehow worked, weirdly enough.

The man had raised his finger to point at Izuku dramatically but he had ignored it when he interrupted him. Now he was kind of just getting poked due to their close proximity.

“Uh, sorry,” he apologized as he removed his hand, backed up, and bowed before speaking again, “Please let me speak real quick, I truly appreciate your words, and your acknowledgement.”

All Might nodded, still staying silent as Izuku had asked. Though his finger was still pointed at him.

“I even forgive you for what you said earlier. But I want you to understand something, I didn't overcome my quirklessness by acting like a hero, but instead I acted like a hero because of my quirklessness!” he remarked in one huge rush.

“You saying all this has been nice, but whatever you’re about to offer me, I don't want it.”

All Might looked absolutely dumbfounded at his denial and Izuku felt the need to elaborate.

“I have always known I would be a hero, because anybody can be. The only reason I asked you is because I’ve idolized you for so long I felt I needed your reassurance!.”

“But I don’t want your support unless it’s towards me becoming a hero in my own right.” he explained, waving his hands around as he talked in an increasingly frantic manner to get the man to understand.

Again All Might nodded, seemingly at a loss for words.

Izuku's annoyance was gone by that point, more replaced with anxiety, embarrassment, and exhaustion.

He decided he should probably just deny his offer here, before he could make the situation even worse for All Might.

“I understand what you were about to explain was probably really important, but I already know one secret of yours, and I don't need to know another, because I wouldn’t have accepted your offer anyway. But thank you very much!”

He ended his final statement with another bow, just to make sure the man knew he was truly grateful.

Izuku stayed in the bow for a bit too long before he looked up to see All Might still frozen and not saying anything.

“All Might?” he asked.

That snapped the man out of whatever trance he had been in.

He quickly recovered his dignity and said, “I see now that I was being extremely rash, and that I was also being overly prejudiced. I won't excuse my actions, because they were wrong but I don’t want to rescind my verdict.”

“I do still think you could be a hero, and if you’d let me, I'd like to be a part of your journey to get there. Even if it’s not as my successor.” All Might offered as he sheepishly lowered his hand that had still been pointing the entire time.

At this, Izuku felt as though a weight had lifted off his shoulders with the man's words and he couldn’t help but smile at him.

Maybe he would have accepted All Might's previous proposal at a different time in his life, but for now he enjoyed this new one much more.

“I accept!” He agreed with excitement.

All Might smiled back at him and they both stood there for a moment before Izuku remembered something.

He was still lost.

“Uh, do you think you could help me get home, I actually was kind of lost.” he asked the man.

It clearly took All Might off guard as he let out a surprised laugh.

“Of course my boy, let's get you home!” He cheered as he gently patted Izuku's shoulder before they began trying to find out where they were.

Chapter Text

Izuku had all but collapsed the moment he closed the door to his apartment.

He now had All Might's number in his contacts and a promise to support his growth in any way he could.

But he also had a boatload of new issues.

He even missed his mom coming home because he had fallen asleep, exhausted from the day, and stayed asleep until about 5 am.

His mother was glad he got the extra sleep when she woke up as well. So she told him not to feel too bad. Making sure to give him a good morning hug as she went to make breakfast.

She turned on the TV in the background as Izuku showered and was debating on how he could get out of school for the day.

Only for him to hear his mothers ear splitting scream.

Izuku rushed out of the shower, towel barely thrown on at the last minute, to find his mom staring at the TV screen with her hand over her mouth.

The TV, which was playing a very clear view of him getting attacked by the villain yesterday after he had gotten Bakugo out of there.

Oh, he realized he had a lot of explaining to do as his mother slowly turned towards him in shock.

It was a very long discussion.

But thankfully it only ended in hugs and his mother’s relief that he was okay.

(He only told his mom about meeting All Might, not about his secret transformation though)

He was glad to use the traumatizing experience as an excuse to miss a day of school at least.

Izuku definitely didn’t want to face Bakugo so soon after breaking his nose and even more so after the whole villain incident.

He spent the entirety of his free Friday at home without stress, which was a welcome change. For once he spent an entire day without feeling anxious.

Until Izuku found out that his mom had finally found a credible therapist for him while she had been out.

(Though their only open availability for new clients wasn’t for a few months.)

But, Izuku didn’t know if he was relieved or not. Having to tell someone about something he had silently been dealing with his entire life, seemed daunting.

Instead of focusing on it he just enjoyed being home and wrote in his notebooks all day.

Distractions had always worked for him, so why stop now.

Inko later prepared katsudon for dinner and Izuku nearly cried. She never failed to make him feel better.

He decided to go out for a run early the next morning and pondered his options.

Trying to compartmentalize all his new responsibilities. He knew that there would be a lot on his plate after he went back to school.

As he was wondering about his options, Izuku passed by what he had always thought was a landfill. It had been there his entire life and was secluded behind a few buildings.

He was so used to it that he always ignored it without much thought, but that day something caught his attention.

As he stared at the massive piles of trash, he vaguely heard the sound of waves.

Izuku debated if he was willing to risk the tetanus to investigate. Eh why not, he thought, as he squeezed past the piles and was greeted by a beautiful sight.

The dump was actually a beautiful beach shore where he could see the rising sun peeking over the horizon. It was breathtaking, even though he couldn't thoroughly enjoy it with the smell of trash.

The sight was still enough for him to feel just a bit lighter. Keeping his mind off the concerns he had.

It was probably only going to be a one time thing though, the solitude he experienced on the beach, due to the sheer amount of trash he had to wade through to get there.

Though he wondered if anybody had ever considered cleaning this beach?

Well, he could always try to. It would be just another task on Izuku’s list, but a fulfilling one.

So he decided that he would be the one to clean the beach as best he could.

He wouldn’t have a moment to breathe before the UA entrance exam.

Izuku left after about an hour of watching the sun rise and taking stock of the garbage piles. Hoping to see what he could and couldn’t move right away.

A few of the heavier items, like an entire kitchen set somehow, would be an issue but he would figure it out.

Back on his run He decided to make a mental list of all his new activities.

He was going to attend a martial arts class after school, every day except for the weekends.

To clean the beach, he’d most likely stop by on weekends, though he would definitely need help.

After he was done he realized his schedule was fuller than it ever had been before. Yet, he was ready for the challenge, excited for it even.

Once he had gotten home Izuku took a deep breath when he looked up the stairs to their apartment.

He should ask his mom for help with the beach but he felt as though that would burden her.

He climbed the stairs and opened their door.

“Mom? I’m home!” he yelled.

Inko greeted him from the couch in the living room. He took off his shoes and headed down the hall.

“Hi sweetie, come join me, they’re reporting on a villain attack that was stopped by Ingenium.” Inko said while she patted the spot next to her.

Izuku sat and fiddled with his hands, picking at his cuticles as a nervous habit.

“Mom, I recently saw this really dirty beach and I kind of want to clean it. But it is pretty bad and I would need your help to move big pieces of trash. So, can I clean the beach and can you help me?” He asked, hoping she would approve.

His worries were for nothing as she smiled at him.

“If you think you can do it, I think that would be a wonderful idea. I think I know what beach you mean and I remember how beautiful it was before people started dumping trash there. I’ll help as much as I can Izuku.” She agreed, readily encouraging him.

Izuku gave her a smile of his own and leaned over to hug her. She patted his back comfortingly.

His busy schedule seemed less heavy with her support.

After he changed in his room Izuku came back out to the living room and watched the news alongside Inko.

It showed the aftermath of a villain attack. Ingenium and his sidekick Crawler took the villain down with a quick and effortless attack keeping the collateral damage to a minimum.

Izuku watched with rapt attention and began to wonder what he could discover about their quirks.

Their takedown was so well executed, and he could definitely utilize some of their techniques as a hero later on.

He barely caught Inko’s soft noise of recognition as he was thinking.

She nudged Izuku slightly and pointed to the Crawler on screen. “That young man once helped me out when I was lost.” She explained.

She moved to put her finger on her chin, “If I remember correctly, people used to call him Nice Guy because he did a lot of community work.”

She paused for a moment and tapped her chin as if to remember, “Though I'm fairly certain he was using his quirk illegally because they called him a vigilante.”

Izuku paused at that last part. Vigilante?

He had never really researched them before but he vaguely remembered reading something about them when researching quirkless heroes.

Izuku’s curiosity was peaked.

He moved to get up from the couch after a while of watching the news. Using the excuse that he had homework to do, and Inko waved him off to his room.

Izuku turned on his computer and typed vigilantes into the search bar.

Of course he first found arrested vigilantes, wanted vigilantes, and villains. But, a bit farther down he found the successful vigilantes and laws on vigilantism.

There were plenty of successful vigilantes, some of them had even gone on to be pro heroes. Izuku was fascinated by the crawler in particular.

But their actions were considered illegal for some reason. Izuku couldn’t see why as they were doing lots of good.

So he looked into the next topic, the vigilantism laws.

The laws stated that vigilantism is doing heroic deeds without regard for the quirk restriction laws and as he looked further into it he found that those prosecuted for vigilantism were usually tried according to quirk misuse laws.

Which seemed like a weird way to describe it. That made it seem like the only reason vigilantes were illegal was because they used quirks.

So, hypothetically Izuku or someone else quirkless wouldn’t find themselves in deep water for vigilantism.

Izuku could do vigilante work, he could go out and do good in the same way, but he wouldn’t be an illegal vigilante.

He couldn’t believe he was even thinking about it.

But if he were to go out in disguise to study the underground side of heroes and villains it wouldn’t technically be illegal.

(Maybe it would require a bit of trespassing but who would ever know?)

So, following some heroes and villains around wouldn’t hurt right? If maybe he just so happens to help out some people while he’s gaining experience, that’s just a bonus.

It could just be another thing to add to his list.

But Izuku knew he could never keep up with the heroes with how scrawny he was.

He had never done much more than dodge his bullies and the only punch he had ever thrown was the punch he threw at Bakugo when he broke his nose.

Which had given him a nasty set of bruised knuckles and a bit of guilt.

So, he would have to postpone thoughts of heroics until after he’d built some muscle.

Good thing his schedule was so full of stuff that would help him with that.

So Izuku turned off his computer and looked over only to realize that he did indeed have homework.

He groaned and moved to grab his pencil and realized he had already grabbed it at some point and started taking notes.

Izuku shook his head, he could see why people had called him weird.

His mom called out to him saying dinner was ready and he decided he’d do his homework later.

Izuku walked to the dinner table and spoke with his mom about his day.

Though his mind still hadn’t fully gotten off the topic of vigilantes. So he could tell she knew he was distracted.

One thing is for sure, he thought, it’s not like he would technically even be called a vigilante.
Because a vigilante was bound by quirk laws, whereas he was not.

He would be some sort of not-vigilante.

Chapter Text

Izuku may have had a death wish.

Not literally, though he wanted to save that talk for his therapist, but his actions said otherwise.

Punching Bakugo had been a split second decision but he definitely knew he wouldn’t survive when he went back to school.

Izuku sighed as he rested his head against the door of the Midoriya apartment, he’d been stalling but he just didn't want to run for his life yet.

He only left when his mom walked out of the kitchen and got scared by him after she found him still standing there.

She had asked if anything was wrong and Izuku had made an excuse before running out the door.

Izuku steeled himself for the fight of a lifetime once he got to school.

Yet he didn’t immediately get pulled into a fight when he entered, nor as he walked through the hall. So he was sure the attack would be when he slid the door to his classroom open.

He tensed, expecting a punch to fly straight for him.

But when nothing came, Izuku searched the room only to find Bakugo sitting, not looking at anybody, bandage over his nose, in his seat.

It made Izuku even more nervous.

He quietly crept around to his desk, expecting the normal messages, only to find that his desk was surprisingly clean for once. Weird.

Then Izuku noticed something else.

Everyone stopped talking, not in the “the quirkless kid is here nobody say anything and act like he doesn’t exist” sort of way but instead the “something happened” sort of way.

Oh no, either they’re all gonna try to jump him or people heard about him punching Bakugo.

He ducked his head and sat down, he desperately didn’t want to deal with this. Today was gonna be a long day for him.

Which was proved very soon.

After his first class he found himself pulled aside by a teacher. Who sent him to the principal's office, with an obvious look of disgust and faux disappointment.

(He really wished his teachers liked him more.)

The first thing he heard as soon as he sat down in the office chair across from the principal was, “You are in big trouble Midoriya.”

Okay Izuku deserved that. He did break another student's nose.

“You broke the nose of a star student and could’ve ended up putting a mark on his spotless record for the damage he did to the classroom afterwards.”

Wait, spotless record? That had to be wrong?

Plus the principal was blaming him for Bakugo destroying stuff? How was that his fault?

Bakugo had been bullying many students since kindergarten, not to mention the wonton amount of property damage he caused with his quirk, what happened to those incidents?

“Uh, I do understand that it was horrible of me to ever physically harm another student, and I promise not to do it again,” Izuku tried to explain as he nervously fiddled with his fingers, “but it was fully in self defense, Bakugo had tried to-”

The principal cut him off, “Now Midoriya, you know Bakugo would never hurt another student, he’s going to be a hero.”

Izuku felt his jaw drop, was he being serious? Either he was blind or extremely misinformed, and Izuku really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Sir, I don’t want to be rude, but I think you've missed something, Bakugo has been a serial bully to many students, not just me, for years! Not to mention how many times he’s damaged school property!” Izuku tried to tell him.

The principal shook his head, with a click of his tongue, as if he expected better of Izuku.

“Roughhousing between students hardly counts as bullying, and of course Bakugo would damage a few small things, it's in his nature due to his quirk.”

Once more Izuku had never felt so confounded, had Bakugo really gotten away with his horrible actions all these years? Simply because of his quirk?

“Now, we do need to discuss your punishment-”

This time Izuku is the one to cut the principal's words short. As he felt a brief burst of bravery.

“Sir, I really hate to say this, but I don’t think you understand what the current problem is.” Izuku stated, as he felt his determination rising.

“Bakugo Katsuki has been bullying me for years! Yet you’ve never done anything to stop it, you’ve never even tried to crack down on bullying within this school!”

“I really don’t think you guys became teachers just to let your students suffer but I've never seen anything proving otherwise!” He yelled, as his voice had steadily risen throughout his rant.

Izuku watched as the principal readjusted his glasses and clicked his tongue once more.

“Causing strife and spreading rumors is a horrible way to try and get attention Midoriya, just because you lack a quirk doesn’t mean you should take it out on others.” he said, with such condescension that Izuku truly felt his faith in the school leave him.

It shocked him so much that the next words out of his mouth were entirely involuntary, “I’ll sue the school.”

Why had he done that? The look on Izuku's face had to be laughable, since he threatened to sue his school and immediately regretted it afterwards.

The principal certainly looked taken aback, he blinked a few times before he smiled, a sleazy and self confident smile. “How would you sue Midoriya? You have no evidence towards a good case?”

Izuku honestly hadn’t gotten that far. But now that he thought about it, he did have evidence. In his notebooks and from peers.

Ever since the bullying had started Izuku had been taking pictures of his classmates' quirk use, originally to help further his quirk analysis of them.

But some of them contained the aftermath of unlawful quirk use, and some had the suicide notes drawn on his desk in plain view.

Plus there were a few students who had later texted Izuku through social media to thank him for helping them when they were being bullied.

They had been too scared to talk to him during school hours due to the ostracization it would cause. Which always hurt Izuku a bit, since he would’ve liked to be friends with them.

But now that may come in handy.

He told the principal as such, using each count of evidence he could scrape up on the spot and finished his impromptu presentation with, “Plus, if I actually did report the school are you entirely certain they would find absolutely nothing awry during a thorough investigation?”

That final statement finally seemed to be the nail in the coffin for the principle as he blanched. Obviously the school didn’t have the clean record he boasted about.

So he left that office with a clean record, a promise to start managing the bullying more, and about two tons of adrenaline causing him to literally fall apart while standing still.

He gave himself a moment, as he stood there in that empty hallway, to wipe away the tears brimming in his eyes.

Izuku slid down the wall, tucking his legs up against himself as he sat on the floor.

Izuku had just threatened the principal of his school and succeeded. But for some reason as the adrenaline wore off all he could feel was disappointment and sadness.

Did he really have to fight that hard just to get fair treatment?

It drained him to know that he’d probably have to deal with it for the rest of his life.

Eventually he picked himself back up and headed back to class, since there was still time to the school day. He couldn’t deal with how he felt right now.

The rest of the day’s classes went by without incident and Izuku just knew Bakugo was biding his time.

His nails were probably bleeding, since he had such a stressful day, as he fidgeted nervously with them during their last class of the day.

Izuku was ready to run as soon as the bell rang.

He managed to get out of the door and through the school's entrance before he was grabbed and pulled into a dark alley beside the school.

After he was grabbed he was shoved harshly against the wall as a fist hit the spot next to his head with a quirk fueled punch.

Bakugo was seething. He was breathing heavily, the white bandage on his face standing out in the darkness of the alley, and his broken nose made a whistling noise with each breath.

Izuku could also hear him talking under his breath.

He had a small moment where he was a bit concerned that he had somehow caused Bakugo brain damage, so he decided to speak first.

“Uhm, is everything alright, Bakugo?” Izuku asked, hoping he hadn’t actually caused the other boy permanent damage.

“Bakugo?” Bakugo whispered, almost sounding lost, “When the fuck have I ever been Bakugo to you?!” his voice raised to a yell.

Izuku didn’t have time to respond as Bakugo continued. “Are you looking down on me now because of that scumbag villain?! I’m not fucking weak! You’re the weakest, most pathetic person I've ever met!” He ranted.

Izuku heard Bakugo’s words and again he was so confused. “When have I ever looked down on you? All I’ve ever done is look up to you?” He questioned with genuine befuddlement.

Bakugo released him and opened his mouth but Izuku really needed him to understand that he had the wrong idea.

So in a move that had worked once before, he shoved his hand over Bakugos mouth.

The other boy looked legitimately disgusted and Izuku hastily whipped his hand away, scared Bakugo might bite it.

He really had to quit making others stop talking like that.

“Please just listen to me, because I'm actually so tired today, I've dealt with enough crap and I just want it over with,” He stated, and he expected Bakugo to stop him.

But instead he stayed still, letting Izuku continue.

“I have never done anything to you, You were my best friend when we were kids. And yet, that changed the moment I was pronounced quirkless. If anything that should have given you the ability to see I could never look down on you.” He rambled, incredulous at even the idea.

“I won't lie, you’ve hurt me deeply, and ever since you decided I was better off killing myself you’ll never be the ‘Kacchan’ I used to look up to. You’ve been Bakugo to me ever since.”

Izuku paused to take a breath, he had started crying halfway through his explanation and he furiously wiped at his eyes and hiccuped his way through the rest of what he wanted to say.

“Never once did I think I could hate someone, but you sure did your best to make me hate you with every action you took.”

A pause, “Everybody always says you’ll be a hero, but you’ve certainly never acted like a hero to me.”

There was a finality to his words and maybe that is why neither of them moved for a while.

Izuku was breathing harshly, hiccuping sobs echoed in the dark alleyway they were in.

Finally Izuku decided to try and walk past Bakugo who was just standing there with no movement, “Goodbye Bakugo.” Izuku said over his shoulder as he walked out of the alleyway and into the light.

Once he ensured that Bakugo wasn’t following him he took the route towards the beach.

He needed to calm down before he could go home. Izuku probably looked like a mess and he really didn’t want to face his mom, she would have questions.

Izuku neared the beach and skirted around the piles of trash, finding a small pier with a bench at the end. It was a sketchy pier, creaking under his every step, but the pocket of space was peaceful.

His thoughts were still racing and every bad thing from that day began to close in on him.

But he forced himself to focus on the waves crashing onto the sand and the birds circling above.

As he watched the waves Izuku took a deep breath in and breathed back out. The tight hold he felt in his chest lightened with each breath before leaving fully.

Sometimes he needed the reminder that the world could be beautiful and not just cruel.

Chapter Text

School was much easier to get through after he had threatened the principal.

Which was slightly ironic, because it only took one threat from him to stop years of abusive treatment.

But Izuku was grateful nonetheless.

Bakugo acted as if he'd get physically ill if he was anywhere near Izuku.

Which also caused most other bullies to back off. The teacher’s even eased up on their ignorant and preferential behavior.

He guessed that the principal had a talk with his staff.

Sadly Izuku couldn’t say every bit of bullying stopped, but he could deal with them.
Bakugo had been the only one able to catch him.

The others had stopped being able to find him, much less land hits on him, ages ago.

Another change in his life was when he started to attend the local dojo he had found.

It had made him feel awkward at first, Izuku was so much farther behind the learning curve than all the others.

But eventually he was guided through the forms, techniques, and exercises by his wonderful sensei. Who was nothing like the other teachers he had met.

Sana sensei, which she had forced him to call her during his first day at the dojo, was a sturdily built brunette woman with the legs, horns, ears, and eyes of a goat.

She taught him how useful a well placed kick could be.

Sana sensei had even noticed his ability to analyze his opponents and decided to give him the chance to watch her more advanced class after his beginner class had ended.

Izuku was insanely grateful and had jumped at the chance to do so.

He watched the advanced classes with heavy focus and found himself itching to get even closer to the action somehow.

Eventually he found himself trying to copy the advanced students' moves in his own time.

He practiced so often that it began to show in his beginner sessions that he had been advancing quickly.

Sana sensei took notice one day, as he was watching the advanced class, how he seemed to be fidgeting with too much energy as he was forced to stay away from the action.

So she gave him a proposal, “Midoriya, would you want to move up to the advanced class?”

Izuku doesn’t think he had ever agreed to something quicker.

There was a clause to her proposal though, she wanted him to attempt a friendly spar with an advanced class student first.

Just to see where his progress actually was in comparison to the other advanced students.

The student she put forward was Ojiro Mashiro.

A student that Izuku had been watching very closely due to his unique application of his tail quirk in his martial arts. He couldn’t wait to ask Ojiro all about his quirk after the spar.

So they went into a separate training room, where there would be less distractions.

Plus Sana sensei could easily spot any mistakes they made without her attention being pulled away.

Their spar opened with a friendly introduction, a bow, and their movement into their opening stances.

Sana sensei supervised from the sidelines as they began to circle each other.

From Izuku's previous analysis he tried to pull what weaknesses he had noticed in Ojiro’s fighting style.

What could he utilize to take him down? Izuku had noticed that not only did Ojiro have a very limited reach with his tail but he also seemed to use his tail for balance.

If he could get Ojiro to overcompensate on his balance then it might make it easy to knock him down.

Was his center of gravity shifted? Similar to the shifted gravity of an animal with a tail?

Time to test it out.

The moment the spar had begun Izuku launched himself forward, hoping to catch Ojiro off guard.

It clearly worked as he stumbled slightly when he dodged and only just managed to catch himself, a look of surprise clear on his face.

Okay, Izuku thought, he could work with being underestimated.

Suddenly Ojiro’s face lost its surprised look and a smile replaced it as he rushed forward.

Ojiro brought his leg up in a kick and Izuku barely managed to dodge it. The impact it made with the mat echoed through the big training room.

But the kick had left Ojiro open as Izuku pressed into his space, causing him to stagger back to give himself the space to recover.

Then, exactly as Izuku had wanted, Ojiro used his tail to keep himself upright and put distance between them.

Izuku used the brief overbalance that action caused to slide his foot behind Ojiro’s.

He carried his momentum forward, swiftly dodged around him, and used his momentum to push against Ojiro’s tail with his leg at the same time that he swept his feet from beneath him.

Ojiro hit the mat hard and Izuku had a brief moment of remorse, it sounded like it hurt, before Ojiro started laughing.

His laugh was contagious and Izuku found himself giggling alongside him.

Through their laughter he could hear the approach of Sana senseis' hooves clicking on the floor as she walked over to them.

“Midoriya is the winner of today's first spar. Good job kid.” she announced, before she wrote something down on her clipboard, “Now help Ojiro up please, we still have some lessons to go through today.”

As Sana Sensei walked away, Izuku couldn’t help but preen under her praise before he looked over and saw Ojiro still sitting on the mat.

He hurriedly reached out his hand, and muttered a quick sorry.

“Damn I didn’t think I'd get so thoroughly outplayed, I really should’ve guessed that the dude who had been analyzing our classes for a while now would know how to beat me.” He said when Izuku helped him up off the mat.

Izuku waved it off, “I don’t think I would’ve won if this wasn’t our first spar!” he tried to reassure.

The other boy just shook his head, “Nah, you won fair and square.” he said and held out his fist for a fistbump.

He eagerly accepted the fist bump, really glad for the experience he had just gotten, before going to get a sip of water.

Ojiro came with him to get his own water and after they put their bottles down Ojiro turned to Izuku and asked, “Round two? At least before sensei drags us out of here?”

(Sana sensei later came to him and told him to look forward to more hellish training from now on. He was officially in the advanced class after all.)

Izuku was permanently attached to his ice pack when he arrived home, but he was also smiling the rest of the day.

Alongside his training he also still wanted to clean the beach he had found.

Izuku knew he would need help, and he had already recruited his mother, but he felt he needed a few more hands.

The answer to his problem was given to him in a text message.

All Might, which he still couldn’t believe he had the number one hero's number, had been texting him every so often.

It started with him inquiring about Izuku's health after the sludge villain attack, and eventually grew into asking about his new training regimen.

From there it just became easy for Izuku to send him a text every day telling him about his daily experiences. Then All Might would respond with stories from his day too.

His stories were usually better considering he was out fighting villains every day. But All Might made sure Izuku knew he found the boys' stories just as entertaining.

All Might and Izuku shared a surprisingly similar sense of humor.

During one of their usual conversations All Might had told Izuku that if he needed anything he could ask the man for help.

That’s when he had the idea to ask All Might about the beach.

When he had agreed Izuku must have made a very weird face if Inko’s amusement had anything to say about it.

It made Izuku happy to have someone else around that he could rely on.

Eventually they arranged a day for their first cleaning session and Izuku eagerly told his mom to be ready as well.

Izuku had been extremely surprised when All Might hesitantly offered the use of his truck to haul big items and he was glad to accept the hero's offer.

It made it so his mom wouldn’t have to worry about figuring out a way to haul the bigger items to the actual dump.

After Izuku had introduced Inko to All Might under the guise that he was working as a volunteer and had offered his help, they ended up getting along like a house on fire.

He couldn’t exactly say he enjoyed the united force they became when they thought he was pushing himself too hard, but Izuku soon found his weekends were filled with laughter.

Which was something he hadn’t ever really had before, so he couldn’t complain too much.

(All Might had even taken to making things harder for him, as he sat on top of heavy objects and made izuku pull them to the truck when his mom wasn’t around.

He called it ‘extra training’, Izuku called it torture.)

Soon Izuku could start to feel the effects of his work. His mom even had to get a few new shirts to support his rapid growth.

He had rapidly gained muscle and felt more confident in his fighting ability than ever before.

His days had never been as full of happiness as they had in the four months that had passed since the sludge villain incident.

However, there were also times where he found himself unable to enjoy it.

It made him feel so guilty, he was supposed to be happy. But then, some days, smiling and laughing didn’t come as easily to him.

Izuku's energy would suddenly leave him and he would find himself not able to leave his bed.

On those days he could tell his mom would peek into his room and decide that the day could be a break day.

Shouldn’t he feel grateful? He was doing the things that so many other of the quirkless people he’d seen on that obituary couldn’t.

What was wrong with him?

Sometimes, when they didn’t think he was listening, Izuku would overhear All Might and his mom talking about it.

+

“I know his therapy sessions will be starting soon, but I can’t help but be worried. Izuku has been through so much, I could never imagine being as strong about everything as he’s been.” Inko said

Toshinori nodded, worried in his own right, from what he had seen she was right. He had even contributed to some of young Midoriya's strife.

As he had grown to know the boy, he found himself regretting his actions more and more each day. He was a damn fool to ever doubt the boy.

He would never make that mistake again.

“I believe,” he started, coughing a bit as Inko moved to give him a napkin for the blood on the side of his mouth, “that if anyone can get through what he is currently experiencing it would be young Midoriya.”

“He’s the strongest young man I know.” He stated, knowing in every fiber of his being it was true.

Inko smiled at his words, a soft hopeful smile, as she reached out to put her hand over Toshinoris.

“Yes, you’re entirely right, I've never once not believed in my boy, he has proven time and again how resilient he is, Izuku is my little hero, no matter what.” she said, small tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

Toshinori smiled back at her and offered Inko a tissue from the box that sat on the table.

They both knew that they would do anything to ensure Izuku Midoriya's happiness, and he would never have to go through it alone, not with them still breathing.

+

Sometimes the words he overheard that day were the only thing keeping Izuku from collapsing entirely.

He couldn't push himself to believe them just yet, but maybe he just needed a bit of help?

Like when he needed help to clean the beach.

That’s why when his mother sent him into the therapist's office, he wanted to be ready.

Izuku tried really hard to stop worrying.

Yet he had ended up working himself into an anxious mess even before he stepped into the therapy office itself.

His mother had worriedly offered that they reschedule if Izuku wasn’t ready, but he denied the offer, he needed to do this.

However, as soon as he stepped into the therapist's office, Izuku suddenly found himself able to breathe again. His panic fled to the back of his mind, still present but finally manageable again.

A kind looking man, with black hair and yellow eyes, sat in a plush chair in the center part of his cozy office.

The man greeted Izuku kindly before motioning him to the chair beside him.

Daichi-san, who had established that Izuku could refer to him by his first name, started the session by explaining his quirk as an ice breaker.

Apparently his quirk was called Incense, it made it so that anyone Daichi-san looked directly at would feel slightly relaxed.

It wouldn’t do anything more than that, just minutely augment their stress levels to be neutral.

He ended his explanation by saying that his patients all had the ability to ask for him not to use his quirk during his sessions, as he showed a pair of quirk cancelling glasses he kept, and he asked if Izuku would like that as well.

Izuku could understand the reasoning behind his question, considering it altered someone else's emotions.

But he certainly didn’t believe it would be much of a problem to him.

So he gently shook his head. Honestly Izuku was more intrigued by Daichi-san's quirk than anything else and he couldn’t help but launch into a tangent of questions.

There was no prodding or pushing for information, forcing Izuku to confront anything deeper.

Daichi-san just willingly gave him all the information he wanted, catering to him the entire time, and by the end of his session he somehow felt less tense.

Even though they hadn’t yet broached anything important, his head felt quieter.

Turned out, he had stressed over nothing.

His mother would later tell him how proud she was of him, All Might would ask how he was doing, and he’d find himself having less of the bad days.

It was the lightest he had felt in years.

Chapter Text

Throughout his time training Izuku found himself sorely missing his analysis.

But his schedule took up so much of his time he found himself avoiding his notebooks.

The only time he ever brought them out was when he had been in the beginner class at the dojo.

However, since he had been moved up to the advanced classes he was always in the action more so than observing it.

Even so It was one thing to be able to observe from afar, But he wanted to study action close up, specifically to study certain villains and their quirks.

So about 5 months after the sludge villain attack, Izuku began to find himself researching things that may or may not have seemed illegal.

Forum boards and other sources in the deep web helped him figure out more about vigilantism.

He would need a way to study after all, and if he was forced to defend himself by taking on a few villains.

Well it wasn’t illegal for him.

After a while of searching Izuku finally found a reliable source to get some ‘self defense tools’.

From an alternate account he eagerly ordered multiple pieces for himself, using up a hefty sum of money he had earned from recycling trash and selling old hero merch.

(A lot of his All Might merch had been replaced with new stuff that All Might himself had brought Izuku, so some of his old merch had to go.

He had definitely cried as his mom patted his back to console him as a box of his stuff was taken to be sold.)

When it arrived Izuku almost tripped down the stairs trying to get to their apartment's mail office.

Inko had warned him to be careful but he hadn’t listened. Izuku was far too excited.

He ran to his room, almost slamming the door in his haste, only to hear his mom go “Izuku!” in warning.

So he gently closed the door instead before basically throwing the box on his bed.

When he opened the box he found everything he had ordered in perfect condition. It sent a jolt of adrenaline through him, Izuku couldn’t believe he was going to do this.

It had been a slightly shady site so he’s immensely glad that everything seems to be great quality.

Izuku ordered a casual outfit that allowed for flexibility and function.

He wanted it to be a pretty normal looking outfit as he was only planning on following some heroes, not actively fighting.

However, if he did need to fight he had properly prepared for that just in case.

Izuku had ordered some steel toe boots and some iron knuckle gloves. The metal parts were removable with a built in metal latch he had specifically requested.

That was so Izuku could blend into a crowd if need be but could still have self defense.

Which felt really weird to him, knowing someone else might have to be on the other end of one of his attacks.

Even with his unease at the thought of real violence, Izuku made sure they were easily concealed weapons, that way he wouldn’t be caught carrying a weapon around.

He had also gotten a half mask to hide the bottom part of his face. Alongside Izuku's hood, he was certain that nobody would recognize him.

If he was really going to do this he had to be prepared.

So he decided to try everything on and practice moving around before he actually threw himself into the fray.

Once his mom had gone to sleep Izuku thought that would be the best time to do so. After dinner he watched the hallway closely and noted when his mom finally settled in.

After her light had clicked off Izuku pulled the box out from under his bed, where he had hid it temporarily, and began to put on his new costume.

He felt giddy with excitement and adrenaline, it was an entirely new feeling, but it was one he never wanted to forget.

Izuku triple checked that he had everything that he ordered, he went over his mental checklist as he looked at himself in the mirror.

His outfit consisted of a sturdy black undershirt, a dark green sleeveless hoodie pulled on over it, gloves that went up to his elbows, dark green cargo pants that held all his excess supplies, and dark red steel toed boots.

He had his new small and discreet analysis notebook ready, pens and markers in the pouch on the belt he wore, and a small first aid kit ready to go.

The outfit fit perfectly, and he couldn’t help but feel excited.

There was no better way to gain experience than putting himself out there.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt if Izuku went out on a test run, he wouldn’t actively seek out trouble as he planned to later, but just to stretch and adjust to his new gear.

So Izuku used the fire escape in their living room, careful to not wake Inko, as he slipped out into the night.

However, as soon as Izuku was out on the street he found himself utterly lost.

Where did he even start?

Izuku decided it would be best to just start walking. His gear was conspicuous enough, so long as he just left his mask and metal bits off.

No one would assume anything wrong with a person taking a walk at night.

Alright maybe they would, but it’s not like he would be caught doing anything wrong.

He was just getting a lay of the land.

After he had walked a sizeable distance away from his house Izuku found himself getting antsy.

Nothing was happening, and even though he knew that was a good thing, he wanted at least something to catch his attention.

Unconsciously he began to search for any figures patrolling the rooftops.

During his time studying heroes Izuku found that those who patrol at night, how few they may be, tended to patrol from above.

Maybe he could actually find a hero to study, even though he hadn’t originally set out to do so.

As he searched there was suddenly the sound of a commotion, and a large amount of side wall in an alley ahead of him exploded outwards.

Izuku began moving towards it immediately, he really hoped everyone was okay, and as he went he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

On the rooftops he saw a figure who was running straight for the commotion. A hero if their urgency to get there was any indication.

The hero was really hard to keep up with but eventually they reached the scene together.

Though Izuku kept to a nearby alleyway to avoid being seen.

As he looked through the rubble of the wall, he found a bar, the inside was torn apart and the other patrons had obviously made a hasty retreat.

There was a group of three people being cornered by the five shady figures who emerged from the hole in the bar's wall.

The supposedly all female smaller group looked terrified and Izuku could see one of the girls' dresses had been torn near her upper chest, while the two others tried to huddle around her, as if to keep her safe.

The implication of assault made him lurch forward before he could catch himself.

But thankfully he didn’t give himself away as the hero from before dropped down in between the two groups. Which gave Izuku the chance to retreat again unnoticed.

Unknown hero began to talk to the shady group and even tried to give them the chance to give themselves up.

They obviously didn’t take that well as one of the men immediately launched at the hero.

He had to stay hidden, but he itched to help the hero and victims.

Though he might be a hindrance if he did try to. So for now he stayed back.

Izuku searched his pockets and grabbed his new notebook, no time like the present to start his analysis.

What quirks were at play? Three of the villains had no visible quirk, one had an enlargement quirk (their hands and feet), and the last one had a touch quirk if their special made gloves were anything to go by.

The hero didn’t have a clearly visible quirk but it was clear that with or without the use of their quirk they were easily taking down the villains.

The man with the enlargement quirk tried to rush in, his hand growing twice its original size, but suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

Izuku watched in fascination as the man's hand shrunk to a normal size.

The hero's hair and scarf had begun to levitate. An obvious tell he was using a quirk, so the hero's quirk could cancel other quirks?

That was amazing!

Weirdly though, the hero didn’t seem to be able to cancel all five of the villains' quirks at the same time.

Might be a conditional quirk. Hopefully it wasn’t too hard for them to fight the multiple enemies alone.

As he watched Izuku was entirely absorbed in the fight. He was writing rapidly everything he could catch about the hero and villains.

It was so hard to stay put whenever the villains gained an advantage. A smoke villain in particular was making it harder by limiting the hero's visibility.

At one point he couldn’t help himself, as he gave a small shout of “Watch out!” as another of the villains decided to try and go behind the hero, using the smoke, to grab one of the victims.

The hero’s attention snapped to the villain in question and they immediately face planted, a gray scarf caught their ankle and dragged the villain away from the girls.

Now that Izuku had warned them, he could tell the hero was struggling to maintain his focus on keeping the men away from the girls while also fighting all five at once.

The victims looked so concerned and scared, yet they weren’t leaving, they might have been paralyzed in fear.

They needed to get out of there.

He looked for a route to get to them, and avoid the conflict. Only to see a large gap in the fighting.

Izuku made sure to slip his mask and metal gear on as headed into the fight.

He used a similar tactic as the villain from earlier had when trying to get to the girls. Izuku discreetly moved towards them using the smoke.

He noted that the smoke didn’t seem to have any ill effects as he moved through it, and he wished he could have learned more about it, but he was on a mission.

As soon as he reached the victims, Izuku gently spoke.

“I think this hero has the situation handled.” He started, they all jumped, even though he had spoken softly, and turned to him. One even held out her purse like a weapon.

Izuku held his hands up, signalling peace.

“I’m here to help, I think it would be better for him if I could escort you guys to a safe spot.” He explained as he motioned to the ongoing fight.

They all glanced at each other and one, who was obviously trying to be strong, nodded and began to lead the other girls to follow as Izuku moved away from the fight.

He motioned them towards the left of the bar. Then he took the hand of one of the girls, as they all held on to each other, so he could lead them through the smoke without getting lost.

The entire time they were moving through the smoke Izuku was tense and ready for a fight if need be.

He was right to be prepared.

Izuku definitely made a very unheroic noise at the surprise.

As a villain had suddenly leapt out of the fog at them and Izuku thanked Sana sensei’s training as he whipped his leg out in a kick.

He took a moment to be glad the steel toe worked as his boot made contact and the villain hit the floor. Izuku didn’t think he’d be getting back up.

He hoped the guy would be okay.

They shuffled around the downed villain a bit awkwardly and continued ahead.

Izuku noted that he saw one of the girls give a spiteful kick to the villain as they went past.

Which he couldn’t really blame her for.

As they moved forward again he whispered small reassurances to the girls until they finally made it out into clean air.

Izuku brought them to a small shop which he had noticed still had an open sign lit on his way there.

It was a coffee shop and no employees were visible behind the counter, only a single person reading a book occupied a table in the far corner.

Who was probably the employee now that he thought about it.

It was about three buildings away from the main fight so they should be safe. They all shuffled in and Izuku turned to them.

“Are any of you hurt?” he asked, since he hadn’t gotten a good look at any of them during the commotion.

Two of them shook their heads but one of the girls, the one with the ripped dress, gave a small nod.

Izuku had a slight moment of panic but calmed himself and helped the woman sit down at a nearby booth.

He pulled the first aid kit out of his pants pocket and asked, “Where are you injured?”

“When one of those men grabbed me he crushed my wrist with his grip, I think I heard a snap.” she explained, as she held up her very purple and swollen wrist, “It hurts like hell.”

There were tears welling in her eyes and Izuku felt nothing but sympathy.

“Here, I can wrap that, and then we can ice it. It’ll be a temporary solution but you will have to go to the hospital.” He said as he pulled out his first aid kit.

He prepared the bandage roll, “Tell me if I accidentally hurt you okay?”

She nodded, and her two friends hovered worriedly over her as he thoroughly wrapped her bruised wrist.

She would wince every so often and Izuku would try to reassure her as best he could.

Thankfully her friends also helped to talk her through it, one kept a comforting hand on her shoulder the entire time.

He could tell they were being strong for her, but they were still scared, especially since one of them kept changing skin color and was mostly red the entire time.

Which he guessed meant she was anxious.

“Alright,” he said, as he turned towards the still vacant counter area, “That should do it for the bandage, now for the ice.”

Izuku jumped over the counter and turned around to look at the employee in the corner. Who only now realized they had company.

“Sorry for going into an employee only area, I just need a bit of ice, do you know where I can find a bag to hold the ice?” he inquired, and the employee just vaguely pointed in a direction and went back to reading.

He grabbed the ice pack and gave it to the woman, who gently put it on her wrist with only a slight indication of more pain.

“Thank you.” she said.

Izuku shouldn’t have been surprised by a simple thank you but he hadn’t been thanked for his efforts in a long time.

So he tried to deny it. “Of course, I didn’t even really do anything.” he assured as he waved his hands around frantically.

The woman laughed softly and her friends joined her as he babbled on trying to deny their thanks.

They all looked so relieved, the color changing one had even settled on a nice soft yellow color. She said it meant she was relieved.

Eventually he decided to just stop trying to dodge their gratitude and said, “Make sure you have that looked at, I better get going though, I don’t know if the fight is over yet.”

Izuku left no room for any more than that as he ran out of the shop.

Only to feel weightless as he was yanked off the floor.

The hero from earlier was crouched on a lamppost outside the building, and he had wrapped his gray scarf around Izuku's ankle to dangle him upside down.

Sidewalk was the only thing he saw as he swayed back and forth.

He tried to look up at the hero, thankful his mask was still secure and not revealing his identity, and put his hands up in a surrender motion.

“Heyyyyyyy” Izuku said, trying to put on an innocent expression knowing full well his mask wouldn't let it show. “Would you believe me if I, you know, said I was only a bystander.?”

“No.”

“Cool.” Izuku sighed and suddenly felt the scarf loosen and lowered him to the floor.

It was probably his lack of experience or maybe even lack of common sense but he didn’t immediately book it. Even though he wasn’t restrained anymore.

Instead he watched as the hero dropped down beside him.

“What are you doing out here kid?” the hero asked, sheer exhaustion in his voice.

Izuku scrambled for an excuse, “Just taking notes.”

Another blank stare. “Mhm. Is this your first night ‘taking notes’ kid?”

“Maybe” Izuku said, with no confidence at all.

The hero sighed loudly and shifted their goggles up onto their head, revealing their eyes, they were painfully red and irritated looking.

“Kid, whatever you think you’re gonna be able to do, it won’t work. All you’ll end up doing is injuring yourself and becoming a liability.” The hero said as he pulled out eye drops, “go home.”

Obviously Izuku wasn’t gonna stop when he just started. He actually did some good that night, helping the victims when he could.

But the hero didn’t need to know that.

Izuku nodded his head at the man's speech anyway because he would agree to anything if he could get away scot free.

Though he doesn’t think he’d get out of this if he said that.

So instead he opted for the safe option. Acting innocent.

“Well, I guess, I guess you’re right. I would never want to be a hindrance, I don’t really know what I was thinking.” Izuku stuttered, not entirely acting with how nervous he was, as he hoped the hero would buy it.

The hero made a vague gesture with his hand after he put in some of his eye drops. “Go home and go to bed. I’m guessing you have school tomorrow.”

Izuku hastily bowed, “Thank you hero-san” he replied before he started to turn away.

“The names Eraserhead kid, don’t let me see you out here again ‘taking notes’ or I will drag you straight to the police station.” Eraserhead threatened.

However Izuku could tell there was no real malice there, so he turned back to the hero and gleefully waved him goodbye.

“Bye Eraserhead! See you again soon!” He yelled and then immediately ran as fast as he could.

He gave a quiet laugh as he heard the hero make an affronted noise.

Even as he heard the hero obviously begin to follow him, to make sure he didn’t stick to that promise, he still felt entirely too pleased.

Izuku would make sure to lose him before he got home, he was experienced in losing a tail after all.

And if he found another hero to study afterwards, who would have to know?

Chapter Text

After a while Izuku had decided to do some more research on his future school.

He had been so excited to figure out if he could use any of his newly acquired hero knowledge to pass the UA entrance exam.

Maybe he could even see if tracking specific heroes to study would be a good idea.

But then he looked into the public UA exam results.

Almost all the applicants that passed had explosive and flashy quirks.

Zero people with quirks lacking in the physical sense actually passed, which meant he had about a zero percent chance of passing as well.

Safe to say his head met his desk multiple times that night as he banged his head on it in frustration.

What surprised Izuku most was the fact that Eraserhead, who he had started to look into and admire since they met, hadn’t passed his own UA exam.

He hadn’t attended the hero course of UA until his 2nd semester.

How?

Sadly that’s where Izuku’s research had been cut off as he had a long day of responsibilities ahead of him.

So he had to wait until later to look into it more.

That day he had to clean the beach some more with All Might and his mom, plus he had an extra lesson scheduled at his dojo.

By the end of the day he hadn’t gotten a single chance to look into anything about UA besides the hero course and its exam.

He could tell that it had affected his mood the entire time, his vigor to learn lacking at the dojo, and his urge to clean lessened on the beach.

Izuku could only focus on looking into how he, a quirkless kid, could ever make it into UA.

But considering he had planned to go out that night for some non-vigilantism, he wouldn’t be able to research until later.

He left their apartment as soon as his mom was asleep, she had helped a lot more at the beach recently so she was often tired on weekends.

Izuku had lots of pent up energy, considering how frustrated and hopeless he felt.

Jumping from roof to roof had become one of his favorite things since he'd begun following heroes. It became a method of both travel and stress relief.

-

At first he'd been terrified of it, watching the heroes sprinting towards a dangerously high drop only to launch themselves across it and tuck and roll on the other side, was heart stopping to him.

So, he had stuck to following on the ground but it eventually started to get in the way of his work.

Therefore, the next time the hero he was trailing jumped the gap of a building, Izuku followed.

It was terrifying and he had crashed onto the other roof, earning him a particularly bad case of road rash on his arm after he had tried to tuck and roll.

But he had gotten the hang of it. Now it wasn’t terrifying at all if he didn’t think about it and just let himself fly.

-

Ahead of time he had decided to tail Hound Dog that night.

Since he was so good at tracking down rogue villains, Izuku was wondering how much of it was his quirk and how much was actual detective work.

Maybe he could copy his non-quirk methods.

Izuku had hoped to watch from afar and analyze everything he could.

But he wasn’t expecting for the hero to turn abruptly and stare at where he was hiding. The hero had obviously noticed Izuku stalking him.

Izuku cursed himself because in his haste to learn about Hound Dogs’ methods he had forgotten that the man could also, most likely, smell him with his quirk.

He was about ready to bolt, trying to think of a way to escape a hero notorious for catching runaways, when a gruff grunt came from the hero.

“Eraserhead mentioned you. I’ve got a lead, follow at about fifteen feet, but don’t engage.” The hero huffed, his voice sounding almost amused.

Izuku gawked at him.

The heroes knew about him?

Eraserhead was talking about him?

Wonderful, Izuku never thought he would be nervous about what actual heroes thought about him. He didn’t think they would even notice him.

But he guessed his interactions with Eraser had been pretty bold.

-

It took a month and a half of going out at night whenever he could, but eventually Izuku found a good non-vigilantism routine.

Izuku would find a hero he had researched, copy their Mustafu patrol routes, and follow them from behind.

He always made sure to keep a good distance between himself and the heroes.

But it gave him every opportunity to learn. It was especially fulfilling whenever he was able to step in to help innocent civilians without being noticed.

Izuku went home satisfied at night whenever he had saved someone.

Even Daichi-san could see something had drastically helped to improve his mood.

He obviously couldn’t tell him why, but Izuku reassured him that it was a healthy improvement of his mindset.

Even if he couldn’t exactly classify seeking out danger as the most physically safe thing in the world.

He had run into Eraserhead a few more times since that first night out and Izuku really did try to avoid him.

But he was such a cool hero, and Izuku couldn’t help but follow him for research.

So when Eraserhead ended up spotting him multiple times while he was busy fighting, Izuku would just move to a different spot and keep watching him instead of running away.

It got to a point where Izuku could tell Eraser felt him watching.

Because the man would suddenly let out a world weary sigh and would announce a half hearted threat out loud so Izuku could hear him.

It never worked to deter him.

Izuku would just grin at him, though it couldn’t be seen behind his mask, and let Eraser see a peek of him out of the corner of his eye.

It ended with the hero begrudgingly accepting his stalking tendencies. Since they both knew Izuku had explored the city too thoroughly for Eraserhead to find him if he decided to run.

(Eraserhead had learned that only after five attempts of capturing Izuku. Which he counted as a win.)

Besides he helped with victims, and secretly made sure that they were safe while avoiding a majority of the major fighting.

So Eraser couldn’t be too mad at him.

The one time he had jumped in to help Eraser during a more severe battle, it was because Eraserhead had been struggling against a really large gang ny himself.

Obviously by the end of it Izuku had received an earful of colorful threats from the hero and had even been on the end of his quirk canceling glare.

Izuku had no remorse though, because after he had jumped in, the fight had wrapped up pretty quickly with zero damage done to innocents or their surroundings.

The ensuing lecture he was given afterwards was the first time they interacted face to face without Izuku feeling two seconds away from being killed.

The hero had Izuku cornered in an alleyway as he paced and ranted.

Yet the man hadn’t even tried to arrest Izuku even though he could’ve.

Somehow, the man scolding him like a child seemed to erase the tense nature of their interactions.

Izuku found that he liked that Eraser obviously cared about his well being.

From then on Izuku readily allowed himself to be seen around him and interact with the hero.

Eraserhead was just another person that Izuku could add to his list. The list of people that stopped Izuku from joining the other list he kept in his mind.

That obituary never left it after all, but it certainly was beginning to feel less painful.

-

Izuku stepped out of his hiding spot he had been in and gave Hound dog an unsure nod.

He would take any learning opportunity he could get.

Hound Dog wasted no time as he sprinted away, down on all fours, at a very high speed, and Izuku was forced into a desperate game of catch up.

The hero eventually arrived at an empty looking parking garage and motioned for Izuku to stay put.

He considered his position as the hero entered the building and opted to climb to an adjacent building so he could see through the levels.

Since his other vantage point had been so crummy it was a justified disobedience.

It was interesting to watch as Hound Dog tracked the smell to the correct floor and wrote it down in his notebook.

In the notebook he wrote down that Hound Dog seemingly had a radius for smell at about one hundred feet in any direction.

A pretty large range.

It didn’t seem off put by any other scents, though Hound Dog might have had training to differentiate.

Izuku wondered if Hound Dog may consider removing the muzzle on his costume.

It seemed like such a restricting design choice and may be limiting his ability to breathe when tracking.

Once the hero reached the right floor, the fight was a quick affair, no fight to be had really, only a few teenagers who were definitely not supposed to have those drugs with them.

Only one of the teens had reacted violently and was easily subdued.

Izuku found it extremely fun to watch as Hound Dog then gave each kid an impromptu life lesson talk. It reminded him of a school assembly speech somehow.

It surprised him that the man seemed so adept at it. Another note to be added to his notebook.

The teens were escorted out of the building and Izuku watched the hero bring them to the awaiting police officers he had called.

Hopefully they’d take Hound Dogs talk to heart and listen to the warning.

Izuku decided to slink away from his hiding spot to intercept the hero as they moved away from the police.

He felt emboldened by the fact that even though the hero knew him and what he was doing, Hound Dog hadn't tried to capture him.

Maybe he could finally ask someone his questions instead of writing them down. Or muttering them to himself.

Hound Dog came to a stop as soon as Izuku had waved to him from a rooftop.

“Is something wrong?” he questioned, after having climbed up the side of the building with nothing but his claws.

Realizing that the hero had assumed Izuku was warning him of danger, he waved his hands to signal that there was in fact no imminent danger.

“Sorry! There isn’t anything wrong, I just had a few questions for you,” Then Izuku paused as he realized he was obstructing the hero, “Only if you have the time though! I know you’re a busy hero and you have really important things-”

Hound dog cut him off mid ramble, “It’s okay kid, I have some time, my patrol from this point on intercepts with another hero and they can handle whatever they find.”

Izuku nodded, glad he hadn't stopped the hero from saving someone.

That was all the peace Hound Dog got for the next hour though as Izuku launched into a barrage of questions.

By the end of it Izuku was satisfied and eager to use his new info, meanwhile Hound Dog acted like he really wanted to run away.

After he had waved at Hound Dog as he went back to patrol, Izuku also went back to his own patrol.

From then on any hero Izuku trailed acted like they knew he was there. Some even directly confronted him and asked if he had any questions.

It got to a point where he stopped trying to be sneaky and just let them see him.

Nobody had tried to fight him yet, and he was relying on that to continue.

Izuku assumed it was probably because they were talking about him with Eraserhead. Which felt weird, but weirdly nice.

He eventually found himself tailing Eraserhead himself, as his last hero of the night.

After Izuku had watched him for a while Eraser beckoned him to a nearby rooftop.

The man crouched down to sit on the floor of the roof and Izuku decided he might as well join him. So he moved closer and sat down next to him.

“I see you’ve started taking a higher route during your stalking escapades.” Eraser said as they sat there staring at the night sky.

Izuku nodded, “I’ve really been trying to keep up with you heroes, but it got kind of hard staying on the ground.”

Eraserhead hummed, acknowledging their abnormal travelling methods.

Izuku considered what he had learned earlier that day. “You went to UA right?” He asked.

Eraser looked at him suspiciously, before he grunted a yes.

“So did you take the hero course?” he continued

Eraserhead made a so-so motion with his hand as he answered. “Well yes and no, I started in a different course.”

“A different course? What are the other courses?” Izuku asked, logically he had known there were multiple courses available at UA.

But he had been too honed in on the hero course to notice the other courses actual purposes.

“Yeah,” Eraser confirmed, “There are others, which include the general studies course, the support course, and the business course. I transferred from the general studies course to the hero course after my first semester.”

Izuku had begun to tune out everything after the hero had mentioned one specific course.

“Support Course?” He mumbled.

“Yeah, the type that focuses on supportive actions. Building support items, analysis, costume design. That stuff, not really my expertise but-” Eraser makes a vague gesture towards Izuku.

Suddenly, cutting the man off, Izuku surged to his feet. “THERE’S A SUPPORT COURSE!?” he yelled.

Izuku had thought he would stand no chance of getting into UA even if he would still try.

Yet here Eraserhead was, telling him there is another course that could support his interests and get him into UA?

Where he could potentially transfer into the hero course through non-traditional means?

Izuku barely heard the confused comment of, “Yeah, there is.” from the hero beside him, as the man repeated his earlier affirmation.

There was no time to waste.

He gave the man a quick goodbye, and he hopped up from where they had been sitting and sprinted home.

Izuku could hear Eraserhead sigh in exasperation as he ran.

The rest of his night was spent scrolling through any results on the UA support course he could find, religiously searching for more information.

Like all of UA’s exams, the actual exam for the support course was confidential.

But he ended up finding that there is a practical and written portion, similar to the hero course.

Instead of demonstrating your prowess in physicality though, Izuku believed that the course required a demonstration of your support abilities.

This was done because the applicants that tended to pass had varied quirks that weren’t suited to hero work.

Meaning Izuku would be able to submit his analysis, without his quirklessness being used against him.

It felt like a chance.

To become the hero he wanted to be he’ll have to climb the rank.

Izuku thought that was doable.

He might even have to build some physical support items alongside his analysis. The problem that came from that is, he would have to build it mostly himself.

And even though he had always wanted to build support gear, researched it thoroughly, even designed every part of his current suit, he had never actually tried to make anything.

That sparked his next topic of research.

He found coding courses, intros to basic mechanics, and engineering courses.

His already busy schedule was going to get even worse. But despite that Izuku smiled, a genuine smile.

It had been such a foreign feeling to him until just a short while ago, being happy.

He only felt it around his mom for the longest time.

Yet here he was feeling happy over the smallest things, like coding, which many would dread in his same spot.

Izuku found himself wishing that when he did become a hero he’d be able to support others.

To tell anyone who felt as useless, worthless, or downtrodden as he had felt, that they could one day find themselves smiling again.

It may take work but Izuku remembered his terrible nights where he contemplated not existing at all, feeling as though each time he breathed he was failing (his mom, himself, the world).

He wanted to be the one to help others avoid those feelings.

That obituary list he found would stop growing so rapidly. He would make sure of it.

They all mattered and Izuku wished they had known that.

He’s starting to know it himself.

Chapter Text

Believe it or not Izuku finds himself looking forward to the ache in his muscles when he has a breakday.

He’s glad to sit back and let his body relax and ache as it stops its constant activity.

His mom putters about the house, energized and doing hard tasks with ease, since she gained muscle from helping at the beach.

After one of the beach cleaning days she had said she loved the ability she now had to do the more difficult tasks she had once struggled with.

They’re both enjoying themselves, basking in the afternoon sun and soaking in each other's presence.

It’s a Friday and school had let out early since a supposed villain attack was happening just a street away.

Since that happened, Izuku gets to spend some time with his mom before heading to therapy.

As Izuku sits on the couch and watches his mom. He contemplates everything he’s done since the whole slime villain incident.

Eight, almost nine months full of training, learning, and non-vigilantism have made him feel more content than ever.

Bakugo barely even glances in his direction anymore and the other kids have backed off since Izuku can now fight back.

He never thought his life could feel peaceful again, not as someone who’s quirkless. But he knew better now.

Lazily he moves his gaze away from the tv and looks towards the clock, he has a therapy session in about-

30 minutes???

Izuku hops off the couch in a panic and runs towards his room to change for his session. On the way there he slips on the hallway rug and his face almost meets the floor.

Only to be caught by the nape of his gakarun, as he hears his mom laugh at him.

Izuku looks back and sees All Might, puffed up in his powered form and having apparently just arrived, even though Izuku hadn’t heard the door open.

“Careful my boy, you can’t end your hero career by losing to the dastardos villain called the hallway rug!” He jokes, letting out a bark of laughter as Izuku squirms in his hold.

All Might gives him a big smile and Izuku can’t help but smile back.

“Thank you for saving me, oh mighty, number one hero! But I do really need to get ready for my therapy appointment.” he says, giggling slightly, but still struggling in the man's grip like a misbehaving kitten to their mother cat.

All Might gives a little ‘ah’ sound and swiftly deposits Izuku back on the floor with a gentle pat to the shoulder. “Can’t be late for that little hero, make sure to tell Daichi-san I say hello!”

Izuku nods eagerly and then runs into his room and gets ready as fast as he can.

After he’s changed into casual clothes Izuku bids his mom goodbye with a kiss on the cheek and a swift hug. She kisses his cheek as well and hands him his lunch before waving him off to the apartment door.

“Be safe Izuku, no chasing dangerous villain fights!” she warns as he practically skips away from her.

If only she knew, but Izuku still turns to nod at her.

All Might, now deflated, waves at him from the table where he’s cradling a steaming mug of tea, and Izuku waves back before closing the door behind him.

Ever since All Might had revealed himself to Izuku's mom they had been getting along really well. To the point where he came over almost every other day.

(Even though Inko had almost fainted upon realizing the man they had been working with for months was All Might himself.)

He’s so glad to have those two.

On the way to the bus station Izuku lets himself think, muttering out loud so he can sort through his thoughts.

His therapist, Daichi-San, had been tentatively asking about his past school life.

At first Izuku had omitted a lot from the talks, both considering his school life had significantly improved and that he doesn’t want to get anyone in trouble.

But he finds himself more willing to talk as time goes on and Daichi-San proves he can understand and empathize with Izuku.

So he’s begun to look forward to his therapy sessions.

It provides him an outlet for the thoughts that cloud his head. Even if he hasn’t told the man everything.

While thinking he suddenly hears a noise.

It’s nearby, in an alleyway. Not suspicious at all, Izuku thinks. Okay, maybe a tad bit suspicious, but Izuku has investigated more dangerous things.

So he carefully follows the sound around the corner readying for a fight.
Instead he begins to recognize the sound, it’s a soft, almost stunted, crying.

His guard lowers immediately, caught off guard, and he hurries to the entrance of the alley.
There’s a teen there, most likely his age, leaning against the wall with his head in his hands.

His purple hair gets in the way as he tries to wipe his eyes.

Izuku feels automatic sympathy tears begin to brim behind his eyes and pushes them back, the other teen obviously needs help, not another crying person.

Izuku gently makes his way up to the teen with his hands out, hoping not to startle them.

“Um,” He whispers, his voice low and soothing with the same tone he uses on villain attack victims, “Do you need some help?”

The boy startles, and looks down at Izuku. He’s surprisingly tall now that he isn't hunched in on himself.

The teen seems embarrassed as he hurriedly wipes his eyes and doesn’t say a word. His body language is tense and he looks like he’s about to run away

Hoping to break the awkward tension, Izuku rifles through his bag and grabs his travel tissue pack (necessary for a Midoriya) and hands it to the other teen.

It's accepted and the boy finally replies after blowing his nose. He seems hesitant to speak.

“Yeah, uh, I may or may not be very lost.”

It sounds like his voice is really rough, like he either lost his voice or isn’t used to using it.

The boy's voice has Izuku worried but he can’t exactly help him there, but the lost part, that’s something Izuku can help him with.

“Oh, where are you trying to go then? I might be able to help you!” Izuku declares

The boy is taken aback by Izuku’s sudden enthusiasm but explains that he’s new to the area. Having just moved to Mustafu and started school.

After said school day he found himself extremely lost without knowing where he was.

When the boy relays his address to Izuku, He snaps his fingers in recognition, “I know where that is! Your address is about twenty minutes away from my dojo!”

He grabs the purple haired boy’s wrist and begins to lead him away from the alley.

Being a tad bit late to his therapy session is worth it if he can help someone in need.
The other boy noticeably tenses and Izuku immediately lets go, not wanting to make him uncomfortable.

“Sorry, I got overly excited!” he apologizes, trying to reassure he hadn’t meant to offend the other boy.

The teen just waves it off and falls into step beside Izuku. They walk in relative silence and

Izuku can’t stop himself from trying to fill the silence with chatter.

“So how did you get lost anyway? I know you’re new to the area but by the sound of it you said your school was pretty close to your home?” The other boy looks vaguely uncomfortable at Izuku's question and he begins to try and backtrack.

He’s interrupted though as the boy mumbles something. Izuku doesn't exactly hear him, so he asks if the boy could repeat it.

“I was chased after school.” It’s a rigid statement and the taller teen seems even more tense than before.

Ah, Izuku can guess what he means by that.

He’s had his fair share of torment from people who think they’re above him.

The other teen must have been chased by bullies after school. Izuku was very familiar with that experience, but he thankfully hadn’t had to deal with that in a while though.

Then suddenly an idea occurs to Izuku.

“Well,” he says, drawing out the L, “Maybe if you had a way to spook them, whoever chased you, would back off. Like I mentioned earlier, you live pretty close to my dojo. I could give you the address if you wanted to learn self defense?” It's more of a question than a statement.

The other boy gives him a tired stare. Obviously contemplating his words the boy moves his head in a slow nod.

Izuku beams at him and by the time they’re at the station Izuku has given the other boy his contact info, the address for the dojo, and in return received a small smile from the tired teen.

As the other boy goes to board the bus before stopping. “My name’s Shinsou by the way.” He says over his shoulder.

Izuku grins and yells “Mine’s Midoriya!” at the boy as the bus doors close behind him.

Now Izuku has something new to talk about at his therapy session.

Which, as he looks at his phone and sees the clock, he realizes he’s five minutes late too.

Izuku must make an interesting sight as he sprints after his bus, frantically waving his arms to get them to stop, as they begin to leave without him.

+

That night as Izuku is out doing non-vigilante research, he finds himself debating on if he should text Shinsou first, he already gave the boy his contact info.

Izuku thinks he would definitely mess it up somehow, so it causes him to hesitate. Izuku has gotten better at talking to others recently but texting still feels so awkward to him somehow.

Izuku shrugs to himself and pulls the hood of his costume up. He’ll decide what to do later.

For now he needs to decide who he wants to follow.

They had started to call him Trail. Which makes him extremely nervous, since he never really wanted to become this known in the hero community.

He had already discovered that word was spreading about his not so illegal activities since so many heroes had taken to interacting with him on the daily.

But they had always just referred to him as kid or some other nickname. So when someone had tried calling out to him using the name Trail, he had accidentally ignored them for a good bit.

It was very surprising when the hero finally got fed up and stormed up to him to get his attention.

Safe to say he was very apologetic for having ignored them for so long.

Izuku thought maybe Eraserhead knew how the name started, so he decides to ask him about it when he next sees the man.

Eventually when Izuku finds him Eraserhead is dealing with the aftermath of a villain attack, talking to someone on the phone, presumably calling the cops to come pick up the unconscious villain.

“Eraser!” Izuku shouts at him from the rooftop he’s on, waving excitedly to try and get the man's attention.

Said hero turns towards him with obvious annoyance and it seems to double when he realizes who’s calling out to him. But he still beckons Izuku over so it has to be fine.

Izuku grins behind his mask and uses the fire escape on the building to descend quickly and runs up to Eraser.

The hero says a quick “I'll have to put you on hold for a sec.” into his phone before turning to Izuku with a questioning look.

“So I have a few questions.” Izuku starts.

Eraserhead interrupts him with a monotone, “You always do.” that Izuku ignores.

“Recently whenever another hero has spotted me they call me something different than usual,” Izuku explains as he begins to pace in front of the man, “Which is weird because they’ve always called me kid before, or in your case, problem child.”

“A name that suits a troublesome vigilante very well.” Eraser remarks dryly, looking at him with tired eyes.

“Technically I'm not a vigilante, I would have to be doing something illegal for that to be true.” Izuku corrects, pointing at himself and blinking his eyes innocently

Eraserhead just rolls his eyes and motions for Izuku to continue.

“But somehow now every hero I meet is calling me Trail? Which is weird since I never once called myself any name, especially not Trail. So I have no clue how they got the idea to start calling me that-”

Eraser cuts off his ramble midway. “I told them to call you that.”

Izuku stops and stares at the man. Huh.

“I couldn’t really keep calling you the little stalker who’s always a pain in my ass, so I had to shorten it to something else.” The man explains, a smirk beginning to grow on his usually impassive face.

Again, huh.

“The little stalker who’s always a pain in your ass.” Izuku repeats slowly, trying to process if that’s really what the hero thinks of him.

He can tell it isn’t, Daichi-san has talked him through this type of thing far too often, but still.

Izuku’s tone must seem pretty depressing as the man's grin suddenly drops and he begins to reach towards Izuku as if to comfort him.

“Kid wait I didn’t mean-”

Izuku's hand shoots out as he uses their sudden close proximity to steal Eraserheads goggles right off his head.

The man looks bewildered as Izuku gives him the cheekiest grin he can, knowing it’ll show in his eyes.

“I know you didn’t mean it, but for being mean to me I’ve decided to be a ‘Pain in the butt’ as you so put it.” Izuku says, feeling extremely petty all of a sudden.

Eraserheads eyes narrow, “give them back problem child.” he says, a warning of retribution in his voice.

Izuku responds with a shrug before he turns tail and runs.

Eraserhead grunts, unmuting his phone to say a quick, “Sorry Tsukauchi, I'll have to call you back.”, before whipping his capture weapon towards the already fleeing not-vigilante.

It misses by a mere inch and Izuku runs for his life. He’s laughing the entire way.
He leads the hero on a wild goose chase for a while, zipping down roads and never once attempting to truly lose him.

By the time Eraserhead catches up to him Izuku has already taken out one of the permanent markers he keeps in his pocket and drawn a big smiley face directly on the side of the man's goggles.

It matches Izuku's smile as he happily presents the man with them.

Earserhead snatches them out of his hands and groans when he sees the new addition Izuku had added. But instead of doing the normal thing, like trying to arrest Izuku as punishment.

The hero just reaches over and ruffles Izuku’s hair roughly as Izuku pushes his hand away with a laugh.

He’s honestly really glad he met Eraserhead, he had been so helpful to Izuku, to the point where he didn’t even feel nervous around the man anymore.

Izuku is about to tell the man thank you, for caring about his safety, for giving him hope for his heroic future, for everything.

But suddenly there’s a ground shattering boom.

He’s thrown behind Eraserhead’s back as the man attempts to shield him from any oncoming debris.

Once the sound of breaking glass has quieted and the feeling of the ground shaking stops, Izuku decides it’s safe to peek past Eraser's protective stance.

The man had obviously taken a few hits from flying debris but most of it had been knocked away due to the man capture weapon.

Past that Izuku sees that the street a few hundred yards away from them has been blown to bits, as a building that once resided on the right side of the road has been absolutely decimated.

There's a massive fire towering above it all, most other buildings around it either destroyed or catching fire as well.

They were far enough away to have escaped without much injury, but others weren’t as lucky.

There are multiple civilians running from the buildings, some screaming, others not able to say anything anymore.

Izuku feels sick, it's unlike anything he’s seen since he started going out.

There’s a sharp scent of smoke, ozone, and blood in the air. Izuku gags as he smells the scent of burning flesh.

Izuku is frozen for a solid minute, just staring at the carnage, but is thrown out of his fear as Eraser casts a worried look back at him.

He scans Izuku up and down, checking for injuries before pulling on his goggles.

“Stay here and don’t engage, call for backup and only help with civilian rescue, I mean it problem child!” He orders, as he sprints towards the growing chaos.

Izuku has only a second to nod before Eraserhead disappears into the growing inferno.

Finally able to move again, Izuku rips his emergency burner phone from the back pocket of his belt.

He calls emergency services first and then scours the scene for more information.

It’s so overwhelming that Izuku can feel himself steadily beginning to shake. Where does he even start?

Questions, he needs to answer his own questions, stay focused.

Take stock, unaccounted cause of explosion, one hero, countless victims.

If only he had the time to gather more information.

He sprints towards the fire as fast as he can, taking reckless leaps over rubble and other debris.

As soon as he gets to the brunt of the scene he hesitates for a second, it’s gotten worse, some victims have stopped struggling, he hopes they're not dead.

From what the emergency service operator told him, help is 15 minutes away.

Izuku is right here.

He jumps into the fray and immediately begins clearing anyone who was hiding. The buildings are structurally unsafe and could come down any minute.

He finds everyone he can and leads them to an open ended alley that leads to the next street where they can continue downtown.
He darts back through the alley and focuses on the injured, ETA 10 minutes, as he works Izuku can hear sounds of fighting and it makes him extremely worried for Eraserhead.

Briefly he pauses to find the hero in the chaos.

He’s fighting two people, one seems to have an electrical quirk and the other has a metal body quirk.

Interesting team up if they weren’t murderers Izuku might have liked to study them more.

As it is he just wants them to be stopped.

But Izuku still has people to save so he leaves them to Eraserhead.

He hefts anyone who can’t walk over his shoulders and in his arms. Carting off multiple injured victims at once.

Adrenaline courses through him like lightning. They’ll never be as heavy as a full sized All Might on top of a fridge or car.

He almost vomits the first time he nears a victim only to be met with glassy eyes and the smell of blood and burned flesh.

It hurts as more time goes on and he only finds more bodies, not injured people.

ETA 5 minutes, the sound of sirens is faint but growing closer, they’ll find the injured and other refugees first and tend to them because Izuku directed them right to the road that heads towards the battlefield.

It’s probably going to take them more than five minutes to actually get to the middle of the chaos.

Izuku has to admit he is tiring, however he’ll be damned if that will stop him from saving lives tonight.

Izuku turns from his last victim check just in time to watch the metal quirk user go down.

He has only a split second to be glad before the other villain goes berserk.

It was as if they lost complete control over themselves and their quirk. Electricity arches all around them, hitting anything and everything that could ground it.

Eraserhead is struggling to keep a grip on the villain's quirk as the electricity’s close proximity blinds him every time he tries.

Izuku is barely able to dodge the blast of lightning that zips past him, and is kept at a far distance by it, making him unable to help Eraser.

He ducks behind a piece of concrete rubble, using it to shield himself and he sees Eraserhead follow his lead.

They make eye contact behind their temporary covers and Eraser gives him a hard look as he points to the end of the empty street. Telling him to get away from the danger.

Izuku shakes his head, the hero can tell him to flee all he wants, Izuku is not leaving.

Instead he peeks around his concrete shield and looks toward the villain's partner, still unconscious on the ground, and realizes the electricity keeps trying to arch towards the downed villain before turning to a different target.

Then Izuku realizes something, in the moment he hadn’t cataloged it since his more pressing concern was the casualties, but the villains hadn’t stopped holding hands the entire fight.

The metal villain might have been grounding the electric one, and without a ground, electricity runs rampant.

Oh.

He has a plan, but Eraserhead might kill him after this.

Izuku sees his chance as the sirens grow even closer. The downed villain is moving, if only slightly, it’s their best bet.

Any other grounding method available would end in burnt hero or burnt not-vigilante.

The next pocket of time that Eraserhead uses his quirk from behind his shelter, Izuku dashes out from behind his own concrete hiding place.

The moment he runs Izuku can hear a faint yell of “No!” from Eraser behind him. The shock must make the hero blink because suddenly there is lightning coming his way.

Izuku dodges to the side when suddenly both villains lash out, the metal villain having fully regained consciousness.

It’s obvious the metal one attacked on instinct to protect their friend and the lighting one was still out of control of their own quirk.

But having to dodge the first lightning strike had pushed him off balance, so he can only dodge one of the incoming attacks.

Electricity strong enough to maybe stop his heart or the spear shaped metal hand coming towards him.

It’s an obvious choice.

Izuku flings himself downwards as the electricity arcs over his head, hitting a nearby metal pole.

He tries to quickly whip his head out of the way but all it earns him is the sound of his mask tearing off his face and a searing pain and he feels the skin and meat of his chin and lips tear open.

He can feel the muscles snap under the pressure and hears the sharp sound of metal.
It hurts really badly, it’s searing, enough to make him falter and fall to his knees beside the metal villain.

He has a brief moment where all Izuku can think is that he’s grateful his eye wasn’t hit, before pushing through the pain.

He's dealt with pain his whole life and this won’t do him in.

“Hey,” Izuku starts, his voice sounds pained even to him and his mouth is wet with blood, “Could you do me a favor and help your friend? They need you to ground them, they're losing control of their quirk.”

He has to spit blood out of his mouth to finish the statement and the villain stares at him for a second before getting up and turning towards their friend.

Only to be stopped by a gray cloth snagging their wrist and tugging it away before they can make contact.

Izuku can’t tell where exactly Eraserhead is right now as his vision is blurred with tears. But he can hear the sound of the hero's capture weapon whipping out to parry the metal villains' attempts to break free.

From what he could guess, the hero had most likely canceled the lighting villains' quirk straight after Izuku dodged their strike and was trying to get to where Izuku was downed.

Izuku turns slightly, His face hurts so badly, he shouts blindly to Eraserhead, “Let their partner ground them!” hoping he gets the man to step aside and let the metal villain reach their friend.

Distantly he can hear sirens. Help had arrived, about 15 minutes too late.

Izuku gets up from where he was on the floor.

His torn mask is hanging off of one ear and he hastily rips it off. Izuku balls it up and attempts to put it against his wound, hoping it stops the bleeding even slightly.

The blood gushing from the wound on his face doesn’t seem to slow. It’s starting to overflow, dripping onto his shoes.

He hears the other heroes flock to the, now in control, electric villain. Some even ask Eraserhead what happened but the man ignores them.

There is the sound of footsteps hurriedly approaching him and Izuku has just enough sense of mind to turn away, hopefully keeping his identity somewhat intact.

“Trail, I saw you collapse, are you okay kid?” Eraser asked.

Izuku was panicking and in pain. The only thing stopping the man from seeing his wound and his exposed face right now was his back.

He blames the aforementioned pain and panic for what he does next.

Izuku whips around, digging into his pockets, and throws one of his field notebooks straight at Eraser's head before turning around and running.

He can hear it land with a thwack on the hero's face and he’s far enough away that when Eraserhead yells at him he can’t even hear it.

Losing the hero isn’t as easy as normal but he manages, the man's pleas slowly get quieter as he puts distance between them.

Everything is kinda fading into background noise anyway.

Chapter Text

After a struggle, Izuku managed to use his gloves as a makeshift face bandage. Hoping it was enough to sustain him until he got home.

But it was already bleeding through and Izuku was still panicking.

What does he do? He’s so scared and he feels so tired.

He finally stumbles up the fire escape to his home, it feels like a momentous task just pushing himself to keep moving and he trips over the topmost stair onto their balcony.

Izuku can’t even move his arms to catch himself, they feel like lead and stay limp as he hits the ground. hard.

The brief jolt of pain that gets sent through him by the collision is enough to white out his vision for a moment

When his vision comes back he can barely force himself to keep going, but he wont let his mom find him out here.

He could never do that to her.

So Izuku uses all his strength to push himself up and takes step after step until he finally manages to reach his room.

He strips off his costume with tremendous effort and shuffles over to his computer in only his undershirt and boxers with blood most likely all over his face.

What a sight he would be if anyone saw him, he thinks deliriously.

He’s in the midst of typing into Goodle “how to stitch a face wound” when his mom opens his door.

His first thought, thank god he had already taken off his costume and stashed it. His second thought? Oh shit.

“Izuku? Honey, are you okay, I heard a crash?” Inko asks as she innocently pokes her head into his bedroom.

“Uh, yeah?” It sounds shaky and weak even to him.

She ventures further into the room, light from the hallway casting onto Izuku, “I could’ve sworn something hit our fire escape, I already checke-” his moms sentence stops abruptly as she finally catches sight of Izuku's face in the light.

His makeshift bandage must not cover as much of his wound as he thought it had.

Initially she gasps, a look of pure terror crossing over her face.

But it’s more terrifying to watch his mom’s face go entirely blank as she immediately runs from the room and returns not moments later with the first aid kit.

“I need you to sit down now.” It’s a command, filled with a calm determination, even though he can hear the way her words tremble.

Izuku immediately complies, he hadn’t even registered how dull the pain was getting until his mom takes the makeshift bandage off.

Exposed to the open air the wound feels as if it lights on fire. He flinches strongly but then his mom is pushing his head upwards gently, guiding him to look straight at her as she flicks on the lights.

“This is going to hurt, okay sweetie? I need to bandage this properly, then we’re going to the hospital.” She says, her gentle tone soothing and her expression softening at his obvious pain.

He nods and she hurries to apply a new bandage as his wound slowly begins to bleed again.

She’s right, it hurts. Really badly. He fights not to cry or move, he can’t make it worse.

So he settles for gripping his mom's sweater, clenching the pink fabric, probably staining it a russet red.

She cleans it lightly with only water and a clean cloth, yet it’s as if she is rubbing lemon juice on the wound.

Then she takes a powdered form of coagulant and dusts it onto the wound. He can’t help it when he yells and digs his fingers further into the sweater.

It aggravates his wound and he can feel Inko gently brushing her fingers through his hair before he fully succumbs to the darkness around the edges of his vision.

He doesn’t know how, but when he slowly wakes up again Izuku is in the car beside his mom. They’re definitely going way past the speed limit if the scenery whipping past his window is any indication.

The beach cleanup they had been doing must have been paying off if Inko was able to lift him and bring him to their car.

Izuku feels dizzy from pain and exhaustion, unable to even lift his head from where it leans against the window.

His mom is staring straight ahead as she drives, her hands are clenching the steering wheel so hard her knuckles are white, and the way her face has gone entirely blank once more scares him.

Did she even know why he was injured? Was she mad at him?

The car ride blurs together, a ball of fear and anxiety gathering in Izuku's chest.

(Maybe he should’ve let himself stay on the fire escape, maybe then he wouldn’t have disappointed her.)

When they arrive Izuku is immediately seen to. They get one look at his half wrapped face that is quickly soaking with blood and take him back for surgery.

It’s worse than Izuku thought if their reactions are any indication. Is something seriously wrong?

Suddenly a hand is in Izuku’s, and he turns to find his mom, the blank look on her face is gone, replaced by a reassuring smile.

Izuku wishes he could smile back.

They cart him off for surgery, and he’s pulled back into the darkness.

+

Shota was freaking the fuck out.

There had been a severe villain attack and though they had dealt with it, there were so many casualties.

And he wasn’t so sure that the problem child wasn’t one of those casualties.

He had seen the kid dash out from his hiding spot and it was like he was flooded with fear. Which had only intensified when he momentarily blinked and suddenly the kid was on the ground.

Shota had jumped straight into action, trying to get to the kid and stop the villains from reuniting.

But the kid had screamed for him to stop and let them, and Trails scream was so rough that Shota paused and allowed the villains to grab onto each other.

The lightning that had been going haywire immediately stopped. Of course, the villain was their electrical ground, the kid had deduced that before him and acted on it.

Trail was too smart for his own good sometimes.

He tried to check on the vigilante as soon as he secured the villains, tying them together so no one could separate them again. He was terrified of what he might find.

Trail hastily stood up and turned away from him and Shota felt his heart rate pick up. He made sure that his steps towards the boy were loud enough for the kid to notice.

“Trail, I saw you collapse,” He reaches out slightly with his hand, attempting to touch the boy's shoulder, “are you okay kid?”

He’s taken off guard, as the kid suddenly whips around, throwing a book straight into his face.

However it doesn’t stop him from seeing a flash of fearful green eyes and a face covered in gore.

It’s far too brief to identify the kid, but it is enough to know his kid is seriously hurt.

By the time Aizawa had recovered the boy was already so far away he wouldn't be able to catch him.

But that doesn’t stop him from trying.

“KID!” he yells, anxiety making his voice crack.

He tries the hardest he ever has to keep the kid in his line of sight, yelling, pleading for the kid to just let him help, but eventually he loses him.

Shota doesn't even know how it happens, but he spends hours patrolling the streets afterwards attempting to catch a glimpse of green curls.

He doesn’t know what he’ll do if he finds the kid dead somewhere in an alley.

Maybe it's a good thing that he can’t find any trace of Trail, maybe it’s a good thing, but all Shota can think of is the brief glimpse he got of the kids face.

Not many people can recover from that sort of blood loss.

He hasn’t ever regretted letting the kid leave more.

He’s scared, in a way he hasn’t been in years.

(Meanwhile, a distressed mother finally breaks and cries over her sons unconscious form)

+

Izuku isn’t dead.

Though he does sort of feel like it with how he wakes up. He feels entirely out of touch with the world around him in a very floaty way.

When he was finally able to pull his eyes open he found the room bright with sunlight.

He’s still in the hospital if the clean walls and machines are any indication.

His face doesn’t hurt currently. It’s more of a dull ache than anything else.

There’s bandages trailing up the entire length of the injury on his face. Even covering one of his eyes.

If he had to guess from where he felt the aching, it most likely started at the end of his chin and stopped just beside the left side of his nose. It was definitely gonna be an ugly scar.

He manages to laboriously roll his head to the side and sees his mom sleeping in a chair against the wall. It’s definitely a very uncomfortable place to sleep

He tries to say something and finds his throat very dry, making him unable to get out more than a quiet huff of air and he clears his throat to lessen the feeling.

Inko blinks awake at the sound and is by his side in a second.

“Here honey.” she says, offering a white plastic cup of water.

She eases him upwards in bed and Izuku takes a few sips. As he drinks he looks closely at his mom.

She had obviously been crying, her eyes are red and rubbed raw.

The guilt he feels threatens to climb up his throat and suffocate him.

“Mom, I,” he lets out a cough to clear his throat even though it aggravates his wounds, “I’m so sorry, I-”

But then Izuku realizes, what is he going to tell her? He is sorry, he got hurt in the first place, forwent a hero's help, and let her find him bleeding out.

Izuku can’t lie to her, he feels monumentally guilty already, but his non-vigilantism is something he can’t tell her.

There is so much that could go wrong after telling her, she could be disappointed in him for lying, she could get too worried to calm down, or worse, she could make him stop.

He doesn’t want to find out what her reaction would be.

Terror at even the idea forces his words to stop before they even leave his throat. He can’t lie to his mom but maybe he can tell her a half truth.

(Maybe he is just a weak, useless, coward)

“I, well I couldn't sleep so I thought,” he begins as he shifts uneasily in his hospital bed, “maybe a nighttime walk could clear my head.”

Inko looks worried at multiple of the things he had just said but nods her head in understanding.

So Izuku continues as he looks down and picks at his nails. “While I was walking I felt this really big explosion, it almost knocked me off my feet. And I was so concerned that somebody could be hurt that I went to go help”

He pauses, not wanting to look at his moms reaction.

Inko lets out a soft noise of concern before she reaches over and gently puts her hand over his. Stopping him from picking at his nails and when Izuku looks up her eyes shine with unshed tears.

She urges him to continue with a gentle squeeze of his hand and Izuku looks away to continue.

“When I got there, it was, it was bad. I was terrified.” He explains, it's the truth, he honestly still was a bit scared of what he’d seen. “But then I saw people that needed help and I knew I could help them so I did. I tried to rescue as many people as I could. But-”

Izuku pauses there, his voice having begun to waver during his explanation, tears beginning to well in his eyes. Now they’re finally spilling out.

“And,” Izuku hiccups, feeling the bandage on his face beginning to grow wet from tears, “The villain that had been there, they attacked me. I-”

Inko moves her hand away from where they were holding his and gently moves them up to each side of his face. She gently moves his head to look at her.

She’s crying just as much as he is.

“I’m proud of you.” she says, even through the tears he can tell she means it.

It breaks Izuku, he doesn’t deserve her, and the tears grow even more as he lunges forward to squeeze his mom in the tightest hug he can.

She holds him as he says apology after apology. He apologizes for going out, for scaring her, for panicking and not getting medical help, for being reckless, anything he could.

But she just shushes him and hugs him back just as fiercely.

“You’ve always been my little hero, I’ve known you were always never one to stand by as others were suffering.” she says, her voice soothing and her hand rubbing circles on his back.

“Ever since the slime villain incident I knew you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from getting into danger,” she pauses, a gasp of air as she struggles through her own tears, “You scared me so badly last night, I've never been more terrified. And if I had it my way, I'd wrap you in bubble wrap and never let you get hurt again.”

“But, I've also never been prouder of who you’re growing to be.”

His mom pulls back, holding Izuku at arms length as he sniffles, his tears slowing.

“So, Don’t let this accident stop you from being who you are, keep being the hero you are, Izuku. I’ll be there for you the entire way”

Izuku really wishes he was less prone to tears, because by the time a nurse comes to check on him, they note that he’s thoroughly dehydrated.

Chapter Text

Izuku was still in the hospital being monitored for any oncoming infection and he was getting restless.

Thankfully he had others to keep him company.

All Might was the first to visit Izuku in the hospital. He visited the day after Izuku woke up.

The man burst into the room, in his normal form, and shouted “My boy!”

The man ran over to Izuku and looked him up and down. His eyes stopped on the bandage on Izuku's face. It looked as though he wanted to reach out and check on the injury himself.

“What happened? Inko called me and all she told me was that you were in the hospital.”

Izuku explains the same thing he had told his mother, trying hard not to think about the events in detail.

His story ended with him saying, “I understand if you think I was too reckless, or if you’re disappointed in me.”

He felt detached from his own mind as he finished.

Then suddenly he felt a soft smack to the back of his head.

Izuku snapped out of his trance to look at All Might in shock, his jaw would’ve dropped if it could’ve.

All Might let out a sound of alarm and waved his hands around in worry, “Ah! Sorry young Midoriya I wasn’t thinking, did I aggravate your injury?”

Izuku shook his head, still in shock.

“I-,” the man started, “I think you were reckless, yes, but who would I be to tell you not to have been?”

All Might looked extremely earnest as he continued, fiddling with the handkerchief he usually carried. “I actually think I would've done the exact same. I’ve already told you before, your actions are that of a hero.”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” He placed his hand on Izuku’s shoulder, “and I'm proud of what you did.”

Izuku truly shouldn't be crying as much as he is, since he has bandages on his face that shouldn’t get wet. But he thinks the nurses will understand.

“Thank you.” Izuku mumbles, after he finally stopped crying.

“Always my boy.”

Inko later found them laughing over a shared joke.

When they failed to notice her arrival after multiple minutes she let out a fond sigh and announced her presence.

“Would you like to stay for lunch Toshinori?” she asked, walking over to Izuku's bed with bags of food in hand.

They both startled a bit and All Might looked slightly sheepish as he accepted and Inko began setting out the food.

She had somehow guessed he’d be there and had his favorite order already there for him.

All Might and Izuku shared a look over his mom’s head. Sometimes she could be scary in her foresight.

His next visitor was Ojiro. Who came to visit a week after he’d been admitted.

The day before he was meant to get discharged actually. Even though his wound was still healing he was ready to jump from his bed and declare himself healed.

Technically his wound would be fully healed within about a month. But the spear he had taken to his face had not only given him a huge scar, but it also gave him nerve damage.

Because of it the left side of his face was essentially dead from the bottom of his eye down. It refused to move alongside the other half.

The doctors said he was extremely lucky it wasn’t worse, especially since it missed his eye by a mere inch.

Izuku would agree with them, but that would be later, for right now he could only focus on how arduous his recovery process was.

Especially with the physical therapy exercises they made him do.

So Ojiro was a welcome distraction. Especially when he came in with an All Might themed teddy bear and a card that everyone at the dojo had signed.

“When you come back to the dojo I'm going to kick your ass for making us worry.” He threatened, before giving Izuku a hug so tight it made his back pop

Izuku laughed at his threat. He loved the teddy bear and once again tried to hold back his tears as he read the nice messages people had written in his card.

“Oh,” Ojiro says halfway through Izuku’s tearfest, “There was one person who wasn’t able to sign the card, he’s new and I couldn’t manage to catch him in time.”

Izuku tilted his head in curiosity. “A new member?”

“Yeah.” Ojiro nodded his head, “he’s got purple hair, he’s pretty tall, and he looks majorly sleep deprived.”

Izuku snapped his fingers in recognition. “Oh! I think I know who you’re talking about! Shinsou right?”

“You know him Midoriya?” Ojiro asks, something weird in his tone.

“Mhm.”

Ojiro looks vaguely uncomfortable so Izuku asks, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just-” Ojiro starts, “did he tell you what his quirk is?”

“No,” Izuku says, getting more confused by the second, “Does it matter?”

Ojiro looks conflicted at that. “Well his quirk is brainwashing, kind of villainous, don’t you think?”

Izuku just stares at his friend. He can’t tell what facial expression he must be making right now, but it must be bad with how Ojiro leaps to defend himself.

“Wait I didn’t mean- I meant- what I meant to say was,”

Izuku cuts him off. “You know I'm quirkless right?”

“Uh, yeah?” Ojiro confirms.

“Does that make me weak? Or useless? Or uncapable?” Izuku lists off each thing others in his life have assumed of him by putting down a finger of his now raised hand.

Ticking off a finger with each insult.

Ojiro looks appalled. “NO! I would never think you were, I've seen how well you can handle yourself!”

“Okay so if you know, that a quirk doesn’t define a person,” Izuku gently puts down his hand, hoping his genuine intent is carried in his words, “Why are you letting that define your impression of him, especially if you haven't even had that much time to interact with him?”

His friend looked thoroughly cowed as he tried to explain himself, “I- No you’re right. I shouldn’t have assumed, I’m sorry.”

Izuku patted him on his shoulder, and tried to smile at him as best he could with a bandage still covering half his face.

“It’s okay, but I don’t need an apology, maybe try giving one to Shinsou. You know, after you get to know him instead of his quirk.”

Ojiro nodded, a new determination in his eyes.

By the time Ojiro left he had stolen Shinsou’s number off of Izuku’s phone and set out on a mission.

Izuku was just glad that for once one of his friends could actively stop being quirkist.

He’d lost enough friends because of it.

The world had lost enough people from prejudice.

The thought of the obituary list has Izuku reaching for his phone.

He hadn’t ended up on it because he had people to rely on, maybe Shinsou could also use some friends.

So Izuku sent his first message, simply saying he was glad Shinsou had taken him up on the dojo offer.

Shinsou replied back a few hours later.

He said he was glad he had as well, but he was wondering where Izuku had been.

To this Izuku sends a picture of himself, hospital setting, all might bear, and bandaged face in full view. He adds that he’s been busy.

It gets a kick out of the other boy after Izuku calms him down.

They text back and forth until his mom comes by with dinner, even calling at one point when texting was too much.

He went to sleep that night knowing he was getting discharged the next day, with many people waiting to see him.

-

Then he woke up, with screams in his ears, the scent of burning in his nose, and the feeling of pain.

He gasped as he launched out of bed, stumbling over himself and sliding down the side of the bed onto the cold tile floor.

Izuku hiccuped as he sobbed, his hand hovering over his mouth to try and stifle the noise. But then he accidentally pressed down and felt pain as his bandage pushed into his wound.

He ripped his hand away like it burned. Instead he fixed his fist into the scratchy fabric of his hospital gown.

He couldn’t breathe.

Izuku needed to breathe, which was kind of important.

Daichi san told him once that when you can’t breathe it’s important to focus. Count the breaths, and then follow the rhythm.

So Izuku does, he forces himself to breathe in and out. It feels too hard at the beginning, his breath still coming in small stuttering gasps as they trip over his tears.

But then he gets one decent breath in, and then it repeats itself.

All he can hear in his little hospital room is his own rattling breathing and the sound of puttering outside the room.

There are no screams, there is no burning, he’s healing.

(He’s not so sure he is)

-

He’s extremely happy to be home after he’s discharged.

It was expected when Inko informed him he wasn’t allowed to go to the dojo or do beach clean up for a while.

But Izuku still almost cried when she told him.

Inko reassured him that he could watch some of Sana senseis lessons, no fighting, after he healed a bit.

Eventually they would even discuss Izuku coming to supervise beach cleaning which she and All Might would continue to do without him.

But for now he was to focus on his recovery. Inko reminded him every day to do his exercises and Izuku would agree reluctantly.

Then came the day they were to take off his bandage permanently.

It was different when they changed it at the hospital, he didn’t have to look at it then, there were no mirrors to look at. Plus the nurses handled it so he didn’t need to even think about touching it.

Now, that was all out the window.

Inko squeezed his hand encouragingly as she made him sit down on the toilet lid in the bathroom.

“We’ll be quick, are you ready?”

“No,” Izuku responded, his hands shaking where he clasped them in his lap, “But I’ve got to get used to it at some point right?”

His mom smiled sadly and nodded before gently removing the bandage.

The first thing Izuku noticed when he looked in the mirror once it was off was the fact that it was big.

It stretched from the bottom of his left cheek to right underneath his left eye, taking up most of the cheeks width as well. He can see exposed muscles, it's gruesome really.

The second thing he noticed was that, yeah he had been lucky, it was really close to his eye.

Izuku turned away from his reflection and tried to smile a reassuring smile for his mom. But Inko had unshed tears in her eyes, and Izuku immediately looked away.

Which was a mistake because catching his reflection in the mirror he realized something.

He can’t smile properly anymore.

His lips refuse to raise on the left side of his face, they just, droop.

It’s unnerving and Izuku has to look away. He had always wanted to be the hero who saved everyone with a smile.

What was he gonna do now?

His mom is beside him immediately and she catches him as he sags, his hands going from their iron grip on the bathroom counter to clutching at her side.

“You have the most wonderful smile in the world Izuku, this doesn’t change that.”

Izuku had always believed her before. But for some reason, this time he can’t.

He can’t smile goddamnit. How can it not be changed?

Chapter Text

Izuku found some solace in his newer extracurriculars when he was essentially grounded.

(Especially since he was actively ignoring his slightly illegal side activity.)

Inko forbade him from leaving the house for anything besides an absolute emergency.

The last time Izuku left he came back without most of his blood, so he could understand.

But still, he had another week off of school, so even his worst, but required, option for leaving the house was a no go.

That also meant his friends his age had to go while he couldn't, which made it so they couldn’t really come over when he had the energy to hang out.

Even All might had promised to come over soon but the symbol of peace still had a lot keeping him busy, so there was no telling what soon was.

Which left him to sit in his room a lot.

Eventually this spiraled into him rushing through the support courses he had enrolled in out of pure boredom.

But surprisingly they were extremely fun to Izuku.

Each time he learned a new script for coding he felt like he’d done something important.

When he learned how to create an accurate blueprint for a project he felt accomplished.

And when he finally managed to build his first working invention he was downright ecstatic.

He was ready to start the next lessons only for the program to give him a notification. It read ‘Congratulations! You’ve finished every course!’

Izuku stared at that little pop up for a while, then he immediately searched for more courses.

Only to find that each one cost a ludicrous amount of money.

Which he was not going to be able to pay, and he certainly wasn’t going to make his mom pay. She already spends enough on his activities.

But thankfully just as he was giving up hope Inko interrupted him.

“Izuku?” She said, having opened the door to him rapidly descending into madness trying to find another free course.

“Honey, are you alright?” she asks.

Izuku finally manages to tear his eyes away from the screen of his computer.

“I think I’m going a little stir crazy mom.” he replies, with what he's pretty sure is a twitch in his right eye,

Inko sighed. “Alright,” she conceded, “I think it’s about time I stop being so controlling. Sana has been asking when you’d be back and I did say I’d let you go back”

“Maybe you should pay them a visit.”

Izuku had never gotten up from a chair faster in his life. “Yes!” he shouted.

“But,” Inko stopped him as he ran to change into going out clothes, “No actual sparring, you’re there to watch, nothing more.”

She finished the statement with a definitive waggle of her finger. The look in her eyes threatened no katsudon for months if he didn’t comply.

But Izuku would readily agree to anything if it got him out of the house so he nods his head eagerly. “Of course, only a bystander.”

“Alright, you’re lucky I’m not sending you to her covered in pillows, so don't try your luck mister.”

Izuku holds up his hands in surrender and has to hold in a giggle as his mom tries to act threatening.

(He would smile but he still can’t get his left side to respond, so he hasn’t been doing much of that lately.)

He’s pretty sure she would’ve stalked him all the way to the dojo if she could have.

But Izuku managed to talk her out of it and pinky promised he’d send updates every thirty minutes.

It was overkill but Izuku knew he was the reason she was so stressed, so he compromised.

Eventually when he reached the dojo and sent a text to his mom saying he had arrived, he was giddy with anticipation.

But he was also slightly dreadful, sure he had talked with his friends over the phone, but nobody had seen him in person since he left the hospital.

Which meant nobody had seen his new scar besides his mom and himself.

He didn’t know if he was ready for people's questions.

However he ended up not having a choice in the matter as suddenly the front door of the dojo was swung open and Izuku was pulled into a hug by a strong pair of arms.

Sana sensei was squeezing the life out of him, ranting about stupidity and reckless teenage boys until eventually Izuku tapped her arm hoping for her to release him.

She did release but she still held onto him. Holding him at arm's length she looked him over and paused on his scar.

Which seemed like it was going to be a trend from now on.

Then she nodded, “It looks badass kid, now get in here, your mom called to say you were coming. So everyone’s been waiting for you.”

Izuku dazedly followed her inside where he found himself quickly surrounded by his peers.

It was just as overwhelming as he thought it would be. Everyone had questions and he was almost dizzy trying to turn to answer them all.

But thankfully his solace arrived in the form of Shinsou and Ojiro pushing their way through the crowd.

“Okay everyone I think he’s had enough to deal with without you all bombarding him.” Ojiro said, placing himself in front of Izuku like a shield.

Shinsou nodded and joined Ojiro in shielding duty and only then did the others disperse.

When his friends turned to face him Izuku could see the moment they registered his new scar, acknowledged it, and then decided not to mention it.

He was so grateful for them.

“Now come on Midoriya, let's see how rusty you are.” Ojiro began to drag him towards a mat and Izuku shook his head.

He had no plans of reacquainting himself with the feeling of slamming into the mats today.

“Sorry, I can’t, not until this,” he gestures at the new addition to his face, “is fully healed.”

Ojiro nodded in sympathy and for some reason Shinsou looked vaguely disappointed.

“What’s up Shinsou?” Izuku asked.

“Oh, uh nothing really,” He began trying to wave it off, but faltered under Izuku's pleading look, “I was just uh- I mean, I kinda wanted to ask you to spar after you got better, surprise you with my newfound skills.”

“The student becomes the teacher or whatever.” Shinso mumbles the last part and Izuku lets out a surprised laugh.

Shinsou looks a bit down and Izuku waves to make sure the other boy knows his laugh wasn’t mean spirited.

“I would love to spar with you and think it would've been fun to be surprised,” He gives Shinsou his best attempt at a smile, “But I don’t understand the teacher thing, I never even showed you any sort of martial arts?

“I don’t know, you recommended it and everything, plus you’ve been training longer.” Shinso explains, holding his hands up and shrugging.

Before Izuku can respond, Ojiro gets to it first.

“Do you wanna spar with me?”

Shinsou looks surprised by this, looking between Izuku and Ojiro like they were conspiring against him.

Eventually he hesitantly nods and Ojiro immediately begins dragging him to the mats in Izuku’s place.

“Midoriya!” Ojiro shouts over his shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“I found a better sparring partner, you’re being abandoned!” he responds and then snickers at the look of faux offense the freckled boy gives him.

“I’m hurt Ojiro!” The boy yells, even though he’s smiling as he walks over to the bench to watch their match.

Ojiro sticks his tongue out at him and Izuku fondly shakes his head.

Shinso is definitely not a better sparring partner. The tailed boy easily wipes the floor with him.

After taking so many shots to Izuku's own self-confidence while fighting Ojiro it’s wonderful to watch someone be on the other end.

So he laughs the entire time, even the glare he gets from Shinso is worth it.

Izuku thinks that Ojiro and Shinsou will make great friends.

-

Eventually Inko lets Izuku continue most of his normal activities.

By the time the next week rolls around and he has to go back to school he feels at least a bit more prepared to face others.

It’s a close thing though.

All Might finally said he’d be free to come by after Izuku got out of school though, so Izuku was using that to push him through the day.

While Izuku was getting ready his mom approached him with his lunch in hand. She also looked like she needed to ask him something.

So Izuku asked first, “Something on your mind?”

Inko nodded as she handed him his lunch.

“Have you put any thought into when you want your next session with Daichi san to be?” she asked.

Izuku felt dread fill him at the thought, he definitely wasn’t ready for that.

“Not really,” He responded and scratched the back of his neck nervously, “I think I want to catch up on my schoolwork first, and also my other extracurriculars. So I don’t think I'll have much time.”

It wasn’t entirely true and they both knew it.

“Izuku, don’t think I don’t notice the bags under your eyes, you haven’t been sleeping.”

Izuku feels guilt settle in, he doesn’t want to worry her. He wants to get past it as much as she does but he just can’t talk about it yet.

Just not yet.

“Mom, I'll be okay, and it won’t be forever. I’ll talk to Daichi san soon.” He reassured, gently placing the lunch his mother had made into his bag.

“I promise.” Izuku finished his promise with a peck onto Inko’s cheek and tried to smile a reassuring smile.

(He’d been practicing his smile in the mirror, at least it looked half convincing now.)

Inko nodded, though he didn't think she was very reassured and he headed out the door.

All he could think about on the way to school was how selfish he was being. He was making his mother worry for no reason.

He really needed to stop being such a coward.

His thoughts were only interrupted when he finally got to his desk. He had left early to avoid most of the others like he normally did.

Which meant he was sitting in an empty classroom until others arrived.

But what stopped his spiral was what was on his desk.

They’d made a faux shrine.

There was a single fresh spider lily in a clean white vase, a small picture of him, and the words good riddance carved into his desk.

Not written, carved. That was new.

They set this up on the exact day he was to come back.

God he didn’t need to deal with this anymore.

So Izuku didn’t, he just sat down at his desk. Ignored the mess, and didn’t clean it up for once.

It wasn’t worth it. If they wanted him dead so bad then he would survive.

Every moment he would fight to be there to look them in the eyes. Not as a ghost or a nobody but as a living breathing person.

He must make quite the sight, sitting next to his own “funeral” picture.

Izuku can’t even take joy in the fact that when people finally enter the room they seem too ashamed to even look at him.

He just feels hollow.

The hollow feeling only grows until he just finds himself staring at the board across the room, his eyes going unfocused.

But then a loud crash grabs his focus back from the board.

“WHAT THE FUCK!”

The loud crash had been the sound of Bakugou's bag hitting the floor apparently. Bakugou, who literally vaulted his way over a few desks to get to his.

Grabbing the white vase and picture off Izuku's desk he yelled, “WHO THE HELL DID THIS???”

He holds out the vase like it's a rat, radiating disgust.

And all Izuku can think is ‘like you wouldn’t have done the same.’

He knows it’s cruel, truly he hates that he even thinks it. But he knows it’s true.

Nobody fesses up and eventually Bakugo throws the vase and then the picture across the room straight into the trash can.

Then he grabs a handkerchief from his pocket and throws it onto Izuku's desk, covering the carving there. Izuku hadn’t even realized he'd begun to stare at it until it was covered.

Everyone creates a wide berth around Bakugou as he storms over to his own desk.

“Fucking cowards.” he mutters under his breath. (He knows he’s one of them)

Izuku watches him go. The hollow feeling he held earlier is lessened, replaced by confusion, slight gratitude, and even slight anger.

It’s suddenly too much.

So he excuses himself to the bathroom.

It takes less time for him to calm down at least, but maybe he shouldn’t be glad he’s getting better at controlling his panic attacks.

By the time he gets back to class it’s already in session.

He gets a slight lecture from the teacher, but is otherwise let go.

From there the day passes in a blur.

When the bell finally rings Izuku gets up robotically, shoving his things in his bag and leaving as fast as he can.

He doesn’t even try to avoid other people like he normally would, he ignores them all.

But then he feels a hand on his shoulder.

Izuku flinches backwards violently, his detached state suddenly ripped from him at the physical contact.

Bakugou lets go like he’s the one who usually gets burned when they see each other.

Izuku is pretty sure his heart is trying to make it through his ribcage with how hard it's beating.

“I just- ugh,” Bakugo growls as he shoves his hands into his pockets, scowling, “I’ve been an asshole to you so I know you probably won’t believe me. But I’m glad you’re alive.”

He rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet as he waits for Izuku to respond.

Meanwhile Izuku thinks he may be hallucinating.

This has never happened before, it sounds vaguely like Bakugou Katsuki was apologizing.

At that thought Izuku realizes something, he can’t forgive him. At least not yet.

For once he’s the one looking up while Bakugou looks down, “I can’t forgive you for what you’ve done,” Bakugou's shoulders raise at his words, like a dog's hackles when threatened, “But, I do believe you.”

“So,” Izuku gives him a small smile, his scar stretching a bit “Thank you.”

Bakugou's shoulders fell just as quickly as they had risen and he blew out a breath.

He nods his head and apparently decides that’s enough emotion for him that day.

So he shoulders past Izuku, gentler than he’d been in years, and heads towards his house.

Watching him leave Izuku feels utterly lost. So much has happened in such a short time.

When he finally gets his feet moving, he realizes he isn’t heading home, no he’s heading towards the beach.

Dagobah has never looked more beautiful. It’s almost clean.

Yet Izuku can’t see it because as he makes his way towards the pier his eyes cloud with tears.

It’s a different cry than the others he’s experienced recently.

It rips through him, stealing his breath, making his insides feel rubbed raw as if he had run miles. It feels like each sob steals his very being from inside himself.

Collapsing onto the end of the pier, Izuku lets himself cry.

It feels simultaneously like the worst breakdown he’s ever had and the the most cathartic one at the same time

By the time he feels the waves of tears ebb he feels raw from the inside out.

He’s still sniffling when he hears the sound of tentative footsteps behind him.

Izuku doesn’t bother looking back, whoever is there obviously isn’t there out of ill will, if the way they’re shuffling in place says anything.

He does, however, look to the side All Might sits down beside him.

“Do you want to talk about it my boy?” He asks.

Izuku doesn’t, not what happened today at least.

“Do you ever find it hard to keep smiling? You always try to save people with a smile, but are there points where you just can’t?” Izuku asks instead.

All Might goes to respond but it feels like the floodgates finally open as Izuku keeps talking over him, unable to stop.

“Because I can’t smile anymore, I physically can’t and I don't know how I'll be a hero without it!” His voice is rising now.

“Every time I look in the mirror I'm reminded of how afraid I was!” Then suddenly Izuku's voice breaks and he can’t hold the same volume. “I still am.”

The last part is barely a whisper.

His energy drains from him after it’s said.

All Might shifts beside him and grabs Izuku by the shoulder, forcing the boy to look at him.

“Do you want to know a secret?”

Izuku gives a small unsure nod.

“So am I.” All Might says, he’s not smiling.

“What?” Izuku says, not processing.

“I’m afraid every day, every second, every moment I breathe. My smile isn’t real, like I try to tell people, it’s one of the hardest things to keep it up.” All Might looks at Izuku with such earnesty in his gaze that Izuku can't speak.

“It’s for them, It’s my facade. I keep myself going by acting like everything is fine.” He puffs up into his muscled form. “Because of course, I AM HERE!”

When he deflates he asks, “Do you think that makes me any less a hero?”

Izuku is stunned. The man that sits beside him feels so human in that moment that Izuku can’t get himself to respond for a moment.

Instead Izuku chooses to launch himself at the man, hugging him as tight as he can.

“No, I think you’re the strongest hero because of it.”

All Might lets out a fond bark of a laugh and wraps his arms around Izuku.

“My boy, I think you’re even stronger than me. You’ve been through so much, in my books you’re already a hero.”

Izuku, for once in his life, was out of tears to shed, but his eyes burned none the same.

“And,” All Might tightened their hug for a sec before pushing back to look Izuku in the eye, “You have the kindest smile I've ever seen, I myself feel reassured by it. That hasn’t changed.”

“Right now I look at you and I know in the future you’ll save so many people. You haven’t lost your smile, it’s just slightly different now.”

Izuku sniffs a bit and he can’t help but think of the good he’s already done during his ‘not vigilante’ work.

Nobody can take that from him.

So he nods, then he pulls his lips back into a smile. He can feel the skin stretching and pulling, It must look very awkward.

It isn’t how he practiced in the mirror.

It’s his new natural smile.

It feels freeing.

“There it is.”

All Might is smiling back, big and bright as he brings his pointer fingers up to the corners of his lips as if pulling his smile wider.

“No matter how scary things get, give others a smile,” He says, as if he’s repeated it to himself before, “As if to say to them that everything is a-okay.”

Izuku can’t help but giggle a bit as he mimes the same action as All Might.

“And when it gets too hard, when the smile slips.” All might continue, dropping his hands to Izuku's shoulders, “You have people willing to bear the burden with you.”

All that Izuku can do at that point is nod.

He doesn’t think he’s fully ready just yet but he will be, eventually.

They stay on the pier until the sun sets.

Chapter Text

They finally finish cleaning Dagobah beach about 3 days before the UA entrance exams.

It only took them so long because of Izuku's impromptu hiatus. But when he was finally allowed to help out again he leapt at the chance eagerly.

Especially since now he knew how to turn the scrap he found on the beach into actual projects.

It was fun to see each piece of trash and immediately come up with ideas on how he could use it to make something.

Most of the time his mom or All Might would catch him finding lots of useful bits and pieces.

Izuku would stop suddenly when he found something interesting, mumble to himself, and then hurry to store away whatever caught his attention.

He liked to brainstorm, but each time they caught him Izuku would flail around and deny he’d been mumbling as much as they implied.

They found it endearing.

Then they finally finished clearing the beach and Izuku was tired, covered in sweat, and trembling from exertion.

But he grinned, letting out a brief shout, and pumping his fist into the air as he turned around to see his mom and All Might grinning right back at him.

They were just as tired as him, but they were also just as proud.

“Are you ready for UA my boy?” All Might asked, as Izuku collapsed backwards onto the sand.

Izuku thought about it, closing his eyes as he did.

Inko and All might came to stand over him, watching him with matching looks of fondness.

Finally Izuku opened his eyes, looking up at them, “As ready as I can be.”

They nodded and held out their hands to help him sit up.

Then he watched as they both crouched down to sit beside him. His mom sat down to his left and All might to his right.

“When we get your acceptance letter I think this would be the perfect place to celebrate.” Inko mused, looking at the waves with a content sigh.

All Might eagerly agreed.

Izuku however was slightly less confident. What if he didn’t get in? What if he let them down again?

They had so much faith in him, was it even deserved?

His mom gently placed a hand on his arm, “Now Izuku, I see the look on your face. I know you’ll get in. Whether into the hero course or the support course.”

“So stop doubting yourself.” She admonished.

All Might nodded and ruffled the top of Izuku's hair.

“None of that my boy. I’ll be seeing you in UA’s halls, no matter what.”

Izuku batted away All Might's hand playfully. “Yeah.”

“You will.”

+

Shota really hated exam day.

Every year at the same time he was forced into the same headache inducing situations. He was usually forced to host at least one of the entrance exams for heroics.

Nedzu liked to say it was his ‘duty’ when they both knew full well it was not. Plus Hizashi was already on it.

That was more than enough.

Besides he hadn’t been in the best of moods recently ever since Trail went missing. It had been an entire month and a half, with no leads.

It was starting to look more and more like the kid wasn’t gonna show up.

He refused to believe that meant he was gone forever.

But he was a pessimist through and through so every dead end really didn’t help him.

As Shota was thinking, he walked circles around the main entrance of the UA gates.

He was doing his normal rounds, scoping out potential, noting troublemakers, etc.

Then, as his eyes panned over the crowd, he’s forced to do a double take.

When suddenly he sees a flash of green.

A very familiar shade of green, one he saw every time a certain vigilante's hood fell down.

But when he blinks the flash is gone.

Like it disappeared entirely and he could swear he even heard a familiar laugh, but that too disappeared the moment he wasn’t looking.

He whips his head around, scanning for any sign of him.

Shota even briefly considers using his capture weapon to scale the building for a higher vantage point.

However he discards the idea, it wouldn’t be a good look to suddenly act out. The students might panic if they think there’s an attack.

Maybe he was going senile.

Shota didn’t think he was at an age where he had to worry about that yet but damn if hallucinating wasn’t an indicator then what was?

So he decided that Nedzu could suck it up. Hizashi could cover his exam.

He needed to go lay down. Maybe sleep for a month, until classes begin.

Testing arena 2B would have to deal without him.

+

Izuku was told by the proctors at the front gate of UA that he would be assigned to testing arena 2B for the hero portion of his exams.

He thanked them automatically but he wasn’t really paying attention.

Because he was standing in front of UA.

UA.

He would’ve vibrated into the floor if he could be any more excited.

Shinsou and Ojiro had texted him saying they were already there and that they should all meet up beforehand.

Just to compare testing areas and settle their nerves.

So he headed towards where they said they were waiting.

As he walked under the lights leading up to the main building of UA he was so ecstatic that he didn’t realize there was a loose pen in his way until it was too late.

Izuku was gonna die before he even made it into the building.

Horrible way to go honestly.

As he braced himself, positioning himself to try and catch his momentum and turn it into a roll he suddenly felt weightless.

Which threw him off just as badly as tripping because suddenly the momentum he had been building up was being used against him.

As he somehow managed to roll multiple times while hovering in the air and when he tried to straighten out his momentum still sent him forward.

Smacking his chin straight into the ground.

“OH MY GOSH I'M SO SORRY!” Izuku hears from behind him as suddenly the weightless feeling leaves.

Which leaves him in an unceremonious heap on the floor groaning over his newly bruised chin.

“I was trying to stop you from falling! I didn’t mean to use my quirk on you! Especially not when it caused you to get hurt! I’m so sorry!”

Honestly Izuku's almost savior could rival him with much they were rambling at that point.

Izuku just waved his hands around, “No no it’s fine, I'm glad I had someone watching out for me.” He reassures with a chuckle as he finally looks up from where he is on the ground.

A kind looking brown haired girl with rosy cheeks and a worried expression is standing over him. She looks utterly embarrassed as she fusses over his injury.

Izuku again waves off her concern and easily takes her offered hand to pull himself off the floor.

She bows in apology once again and he can tell she’s about to keep apologizing.

But she’s stopped by a loudspeaker calling out ‘Testing arenas 1A-1F report to your designated written exam portion’

And Izuku watches the brunette girl turn multiple shades lighter as she pales. Then she turns tail and begins booking it towards one of the designated arenas.

Leaving Izuku with another, this time shouted over her shoulder, apology and a quick

“THATSMYARENAI’VEGOTTAGOBYE.”

Izuku huffs out a laugh, waving at her as she goes, and then reaches to prod at his chin.

It’s not too bad all things considered. It not even bleeding.

At least he had avoided hitting his scar, that would’ve hurt.

But for now he’ll just have a decent sized bruise that’ll likely be gone in a week.

When he begins walking towards the main building again Izuku pulls out his phone to check if Shinsou and Ojiro are still at their meeting spot.

He notes sadly that Ojiro apparently was in one of the previously called arena groups.

Izuku sends him a text wishing him luck with a copious amount of thumbs ups before going to meet up with Shinsou.

“Hey Midoriya.”

The other boy greets when he spots Izuku.

“How are you doing Shinsou?” Izuku asks, settling down next to him on the bench he’d been sitting on.

Shinsou sends him a very deadpan look. “Absolutely fantastic, I’m going to breeze through these exams, and then I'll meet with the prime minister afterwards for tea.”

Sarcasm is practically dripping off Shinsous words and Izuku snorts.

“Yeah,” Izuku says, picking at his nails, “I’m nervous too.”

“We’re so not the target demographic for these exams, flashy quirks are, it seems. I think I legitimately saw somebody with chainsaws for arms.” Shinsou says, leaning his head back and closing his eyes in resignation.

“Chainsaws, how could I compete with that?” the boy asks.

Izuku would ask lots of questions if he ever saw that guy.

But for now he nudges Shinsou’s side with his elbow and Shinsou opens his eyes to look at Izuku.

He gives Shinsou his best encouraging look. “You and I both know that quirks aren’t everything. You’ll give them all a run for their money.”

“Especially with how brutal Sana Sensei has been with you since you started training. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her kick a student that hard in a spar before”

Shinsou winces at the reminder and looks around as if Sana sensei is about to materialize and kick him again somehow.

“She said it was because I had limited time to learn before the exams, but I think she just enjoyed torturing me.” Shinsous says.

Izuku seesaws his hand back and forth in a so-so motion and shrugs.

They talk and try to plan ahead for their exams together until finally the loud speaker sounds again.

‘Testing arenas 2A-2F report to your designated written exam portion’

Turns out they both were in the 2 group, Shinsou was in 2E and Izuku 2B.

So they parted ways and headed for their individual exams.

As Izuku neared his testing area he was swept up in a large crowd of rushing participants also trying to get there.

He tried his best to keep himself from getting squished and almost makes it out when he bumps into someone's back.

The tall blue haired boy looks back at him with sharp looking red eyes.

He gives Izuku a passing glance before suddenly yelling.

“EVERYBODY CALM YOURSELVES! AS PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS TO THIS PRESTIGIOUS SCHOOL WE MUST SHOW DIGNITY AND RESTRAINT, YOUR FRENZY HAS CAUSED DANGER TO YOUR FELLOW PEERS!!” The other boy finishes his speech with a chop of his hand like he’s trying to physically part the crowd.

Which surprisingly works as most of the crowd ends up slowing down and parting to let others recover and move on.

“Now,” the tall boy says as he turns on his heel to face Izuku, “Are you alright fellow examinee?”

“Uh” is all Izuku can manage to get out, stuck in a shell shocked state over the blue haired boy's overwhelming nature.

This seems to concern the boy as he frowns. “I could get a supervisor to provide you with medical attention if needed? I’d walk you to the nurse myself but being late to the exam would be very unseemly of me.”

This snaps Izuku out of his daze, they’re going to be late!

“No!,” he shouts in panic, then he grows sheepish and lowers his voice, “No, i’m alright, we really should get going so we aren’t late.”

The blue haired boy nods and pushes his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

They fall into step with each other, though Izuku does have to take bigger steps to keep up with the taller boy.

“My name is Midoryia Izuku, thanks for the save.”

The boy looks over and seems to come to a realization before suddenly bowing at a ninety degree angle. “I apologize for my rudeness! I forgot to introduce myself, I am Iida Tenya!”

Izuku frantically waves his hands. “You have nothing to apologize for, I promise!”

Iida nods gratefully and Izuku breathes a sigh of relief as they keep walking.

Other examinees are filing into lines around them to enter the doors to the large building ahead of them.

Izuku is about to question if Iida is related to the hero Ingenium when the other boy snaps his head to the right.

Then he’s off like a bullet, yelling something about improper behaviour and pushing others as he runs.

Izuku notices engines on his legs, pushing him even faster. Definitely related to Ingenium then.

He has so many questions to ask Iida if he sees the other boy again.

For now he has an exam to take.

Chapter Text

Finally Izuku makes his way inside the testing building.

It's a large auditorium-like building with a semi circle shape. Which isn’t as grand as Izuku was expecting.

It looks pretty much like any other school auditorium, just larger.

There are seats that all curve around a center stage with a single podium in the middle.

The huge screen behind it is pretty imposing though and Izuku wonders how they even managed to fit a screen that big into the doors of the building.

He hesitates for a second wondering if there are assigned seats before seeing a few other examinees just choosing which seat they want.

So he wanders towards the stairs and picks a random seat in one of the middle rows.

Izuku sits down, gently places his backpack beside him, and rustles through it to grab a loose piece of paper and a pencil.

He places both on the desk in front of his chair.

Then he feels a wave of anxiety that has him straightening his pencil over and over again. His leg begins bouncing and he tries to take his mind off his nerves.

Izuku scans the room hoping to see something to distract him and he’s able to spot Iida a few rows over.

Before he can even begin to make his way over though, to hopefully chat with the other boy and keep his mind occupied, the lights go out.

Multiple people gasp and one person even lets out a shriek.

“ARE YOU READAYYYYY??!!”

Izuku's head snaps to where he thinks the center podium is and squints through the darkness.

There is a figure rising up from the floor, back facing the seats.

The very pointy head of hair clearly discernible even in the dark made Izuku's heart rate suddenly skyrocket.

He might die from being too much of a fanboy.

“I SAID, ARE YOU READAYYYY??” Present Mic repeats as a bright spotlight appears, highlighting him as he turns around to point at his audience.

Izuku finds himself nodding even though the room remains silent.

But sadly Present Mic doesn’t see him as he lowers his finger and shrugs.

“Dry crowd I guess.” he says, shaking his head a bit. “Anyway my little listeners, please get out a piece of paper and a pen, we are about to start the written portion of the UA hero exam.”

A few groans are heard around the room, obviously having forgotten that there was a written portion.

“Now now my dear examinees, we’ll get to the good stuff soon. But academics are just as important, so let's begin.” Present Mic explains, waving his finger at them.

The hero then goes on to explain how they’ll have an hour and a half to finish their exam.

There are three main topics covered, just the normal math section, language section, and science section.

The hero passes out their tests and tells them to sign their names, date, and current grade level in the top right.

Izuku can’t help but feel a little bit disappointed as the timer on the big screen starts and the sound of pencil on paper begins.

He doesn’t know why he expected something more extraordinary from the UA exams, even the written ones.

But nonetheless he puts all his focus into the exam, and he does find that the questions on the test are pretty advanced.

So at least they are still unique.

Thankfully Izuku had studied well ahead of the curve, so it’s not too much of a struggle. He can see that it’s not the case for a couple other examinees though.

Multiple of them are groaning in frustration, he can see multiple people looking very lost, and Izuku thinks he even hears someone hit their head on their desk.

Izuku thinks he hears somebody crying in the back.

He hopes they’re alright.

Eventually the timer on the screen comes to a stop and Present Mic says, “Pencils down! Now we’re onto the main portion listeners!”

The lights turn back on and everyone blinks to adjust to it again.

“THE PHYSICAL PORTION OF THE HERO EXAM IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!” He shouts, before adding, “ARE YOU READAYYY???”

This time the reply is almost instantaneous as many of the examinees begin to yell and cheer their confirmation.

Even Izuku claps to add to the noise.

“Now that’s a much better response! But let's calm down again so I can explain the rules.” Mic says.

Immediately a hush falls over the crowd as everyone eagerly waits for Present Mic to speak.

The hero goes on to explain that they’ll be placed in an urban arena, filled to the brim with robots.

Each robot has a number indicated on the side, which equals the amount of points an examinee will get when they destroy it.

Izuku stops listening after Present Mic says robots.

He had searched for so long online, he already knew that he didn’t have a high chance of passing the hero exam.

But destroying high quality villain robots?

Shinsou was very correct, there was no way this test wasn’t rigged against non physical quirks specifically.

Much less the quirkless.

He barely even hears the hero explain that there is a zero pointer robot, which he would’ve questioned if he wasn’t feeling his dreams crumble around him.

But he tries to remind himself, he has the support course exam later, he’s already known that he would need the second option.

Thank god Eraser had mentioned it when he did, otherwise Izuku would’ve been in deep trouble.

Somehow Izuku comes back to himself just as they’re about to enter the arena. He has no clue how he even got there but he just can’t seem to shake the fog in his head.

Then he feels a light tap on his shoulder.

“Hey! You’re the kid with the scar from earlier!” A bubbly voice says.

Izuku turns around and sees the brown haired girl who had tried to save him from tripping.

“Uh, yeah, that's me I guess?” Izuku responds, even though it sounds like a question even to him.

“Oh that was probably really rude to bring up your scar! I’m so sorry again!” she hastily apologizes after realizing why Izuku sounded a bit confused.

Izuku just waves her off, “I’m Midoriya Izuku, Just call me by my name instead and everything is forgiven.”

The girl nods her head, “I’m Uraraka Ochaco!”, and holds out her hand for a handshake.

As Izuku goes to shake her hand he notes the pink pads on her fingers and his curiosity gets the better of him as he takes her hand in his.

He turns the handshake into an inspection as he turns her hand all around and pokes at one of the pads, spewing question after question at Uraraka.

Who had begun to resemble a very red strawberry.

Which makes Izuku practically jump to release Urarakas hand. “Im so sorry I didn’t mean to-”

Only to be cut off by a giggle from Uraraka.

“Look at us, we’ve only just met and I think we’ve said sorry a grand total of eighty times!” she says as she sheepishly covers her mouth to hide the giggles, her face returning to its normal color.

Izuku can't help but join her, his scar stretching just a bit as he laughs.

Then he hears a familiar voice rise above the rest.

Iida was yelling over the crowd, “LAUGHING DURING A SERIOUS EXAM IS VERY-” until he got closer and saw Izuku and Uraraka.

“Ah, Midoriya, it’s not very professional to be laughing right now.” He reprimands with another chop of his hand.

Izuku holds up his hands in surrender and sees Uraraka mime a salute with a very serious face in the corner of his vision.

They both make eye contact and suddenly they’re laughing again.

Which makes Iida sputter and attempt to make them stop.

But he’s thwarted as Present Mic’s voice comes from where he stands on top of the walls of the large arena.

“ALL RIGHT EXAMINEES, EVERYONE IS HERE AND YOUR EXAM BEGINS NOW!!”

That’s when Izuku realizes the doors that had loomed shut in front of them are very much open now.

Yet everyone kind of stays put.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?? HEROES DON’T GET A COUNTDOWN IN REAL LIFE SO NEITHER DO YOU!”

And just like that most of the examinees are off. Running straight for the nearest possible robot.

Except as soon as Izuku is inside a giant robot head is sent flying at him.

He dives to the side to avoid it and lands harshly on the floor.

Now that the exam has started there are loud noises everywhere, people are yelling in excitement, and Izuku can smell burning.

However, as Izuku tries to push himself off the floor, he’s no longer in a testing arena.

He’s back in the rubble of the burning buildings from his last night out.

The noises aren’t examinees quirks anymore, it’s the sound of lightning striking the ground.

The yelling isn’t from excitement, it's from pain.

The smell of burning isn’t faint anymore, it’s all consuming and it smells like burnt flesh.

He’s frozen on the floor. He can’t move.

Izuku doesn’t even realize he’s hyperventilating until he sees someone appear in his vision.

It’s a random examinee asking if he’s alright.

But the ringing in his ears is too loud.

Then Izuku realizes the ringing isn’t just in his head anymore.

Abruptly a noise akin to a high pitched whistle sounds out alongside the sound of tearing metal.

Izuku and the examinee that had been checking on him clap their hands over their ears. It muffles the sound a bit but Izuku can see the other examinee wavering.

Their knees give out and Izuku is jolted back into action.

Everything else forgotten, all Izuku can focus on is making sure the person doesn’t hit the floor.

He manages to catch them, checks that they’re still breathing, and sighs in relief.

Izuku shakes off the flashback best as he can and repeats a quiet mantra of, ‘You’re okay’ under his breath.

Carrying the unconscious kid towards the entrance, as they’re relatively close to it still, he notices that their ears are bleeding.

He considers the earbud jack like appendages attached to their ears.

So they probably have some sort of advanced hearing quirk.

Which means the other quirk must’ve been even worse on them than on him.

It hurt him to hear, so he couldn’t imagine their experience.

And as Izuku is running he looks around and realizes something.

There are a crap ton of inexperienced kids running around with full authorized use of their quirks.

Which, from what he can see as he’s heading towards the entrance, is resulting in a lot of collateral damage.

He has to stop about two more times to pick up another injured examinee.

By the time he gets to the entrance he has one person on his back, one in one of his arms bridal style, and one being dragged behind him on a makeshift fabric stretcher he made from a fallen flag.

Immediately Present Mic and multiple little robots carrying stretchers are on them.

The hero helps maneuver each of the kids onto a cot, giving each a quick checkup to assess their state, and sending them to what seems like a temporary medical center.

Izuku can swear he hears Present Mic whisper ‘I really hate how this exam is done.’ under his breath with a bitter twist to his lips.

But then it's gone, replaced by a smile as the hero ushers Izuku back into the arena with a warning that he’s almost out of time.

Izuku nods and heads back inside, people are hurt in there because others are being reckless.

He has to help them.

He would try his best to take down a robot or two while he was at it.

Only, he couldn’t really focus on the robots because he soon found many other injured examinees.

The ones that could still walk Izuku pointed to the entrance and informed them about the medical center.

Those that couldn’t he picked up and began to carry himself.

In total he carried about three more people to the entrance, helped 2 others find their way, and defeated zero robots.

Once he finally drops off his last two victims he’s about to run back in only to hear an automated voice say ‘1 minute left’ over the speaker.

Which sends Izuku into a panic.

So he begins running for the nearest robot, desperate to get at least one point.

Except he’s stopped as a large crash echoes throughout the suddenly very quiet arena.

Because standing in front of Izuku, dwarfing the robot he had been about to try and take down, is a massive robot the size of a skyscraper.

On the side of its head is a giant red zero.

Those are the zero pointers?

Was UA trying to kill them?

Izuku stood frozen, alongside many others as they stared at what was certainly their looming death.

Then there was a frenzy around him as everyone began to sprint for the exit.

Izuku could feel himself being pulled back into the memories of his last night out again but slapped himself on the cheek.

He had to get out of there.

But just as he turned to get to the exit alongside everyone else he sees a blur of pink.

Then the yelling registers in his ears, almost entirely buried by the sound of crashing.

Because there under a huge piece of rubble is Uraraka.

Right on the path of the zero pointer.

Izuku pivots immediately and runs straight for her.

He passes multiple people, pushing his way through until he reaches her. He looks around and has to ask himself.

How does he get her out of there?

There! The flag pole he had ripped the flag off of for the makeshift stretcher earlier lays prone just a couple feet away.

Ignoring the sound of crushing metal he detours to grab it and returns to Urarakas side.

Thankfully the zero pointer is advancing quite slowly for its size.

“Are you alright?!” he shouts over the loudness surrounding them.

Uraraka looks dazed, but shakes her head and motions at her legs that are stuck under the rubble.

“I can’t make it hover more than a few seconds because I overused my quirk,” she explains, her voice shaky and weak, “My legs are really stuck.”

Izuku nods at her, “I’m gonna get you out okay!” he reassures, a lopsided and uneasy smile on his face.

He places the pole under the rubble and moves to use it as a lever.

“Uraraka, I need you to do something for me! Use your quirk on the rubble when I say to okay? A few seconds is just what we need!”

Uraraka nods and angles her torso a bit better to use her quirk.

Izuku assumes she has a finger contact quirk, from what he saw of the pads on her fingers earlier.

So he heaves against the pole and the rock begins to rise off her legs.

When it's at a good height, Izuku strains himself to keep it there and then yells, “Now!”

Uraraka slaps the rubble and Izuku can feel the burden he’d been holding with the flagpole leave.

So he immediately moves in, dropping the flagpole and hefting Uraraka out from under it.

When Uraraka winces at his rough treatment Izuku apologizes but she says it’s alright.

He wastes zero time and maneuvers her into a bridal style carry before turning around to run as fast as he can to get away from the zero pointer.

Along the way Izuku can’t help but catch a glint of metal as it ducks into an alley.

As he runs past it Izuku catches a glimpse of Present Mic.

Who is holding a remote of some kind and is exiting the arena through a side door. Izuku thinks maybe he should follow him.

But Izuku can’t stop and make the turn in time thanks to his momentum carrying him straight to the exit.

(Mic had been ready to stop the zero pointer at any point, he hated how dangerous these exams were. But he didn’t need to worry thanks to the bravery of that green haired kid.)

Eventually when they do reach the exit Uraraka taps on Izuku's shoulder and he looks down at her worriedly.

“Please put me down.”

Izuku immediately sets her down as gently as he can and backs away, only to realize why she asked to be put down as she promptly vomits.

He crouches down beside her to rub her back in sympathy.

The medical bots make their return so Izuku moves out of their way so they can work

They begin moving towards the medical center, However they stop for a moment as Uraraka catches Izuku's hand.

“Thank you so much.”

Izuku smiles at her, “Of course! I’d do it again.”

Uraraka smiles back and then she's whisked off.

Then a loud buzzer sounded out.

The UA hero course entrance exam is now over.

Izuku didn’t get a single point.

He failed the exam.