Chapter Text
Izuku stood proudly on the stage between Mt. Lady and Kacchan. Not only was he a (proper) hero again, but in just a few months of being back in action, he’d risen up to the rank of number four. It felt fitting four had always been a lucky number for him, despite what Kacchan always said. Even now he could feel his old friend trying his best to not cause a scene despite his burning hatred for the number.
“FOUR MEANS DEATH, DEKU! DO YOU WANNA DIE?!?!?” He’d always scream whenever the number came up.
Kacchan and him had always been at odds about believing in luck, mostly because Kacchan was very superstitious, and Izuku just wasn’t.
“I’ve walked on plenty of cracks and my mom’s never complained about a broken back. I’ve stepped on plenty of lines and my dad’s never called us from America to say he’s hurt his spine,” Izuku would always counter.
The only time Kacchan had been right about fours being unlucky was when the USJ happened on their fourth day at UA. It was pretty hard to say that that wasn’t unlucky, but Izuku had been quick to point that this wasn’t a cosmic thing, this was something that the villains had probably been planning for a while and the only reason they could do it now was because they’d stolen the lesson plan for the USJ the day before, on their third day at UA.
Check and mate, Izuku had thought back then.
He’d even refused an internship with Best Jeanist because he was the number four hero at the time. Instead he asked Todoroki to get him an internship with Endeavor because he was the number two hero.
It was a better opportunity anyway.
Izuku smirked at Kacchan. Kacchan groaned. He knew what Izuku was thinking.
“Don’t say it,” he whispered. “Don’t you fucking say it.”
“I won’t,” Izuku chuckled. “I’m mostly thinking about how far we’ve come.”
Kacchan sighed. “Yeah, no argument from me there, Izuku.”
“I think in this setting you can actually call me, Deku,” Izuku teased.
Kacchan rolled his eyes. “When we’re facing off with the villains or talking about each other to reporters, sure, it’s Deku and Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, but when we’re just talking about our lives one on one, it’s Izuku and Kacchan.”
“If you say so,” Izuku shrugged, smiling for the crowd.
It really was incredible that they’d come so far. They'd gone from a daydreaming nerd with no quirk and an angry jerk to… A nerd with a power suit that made up for lacking a quirk and an angry jerk who cares about people.
Izuku panted as All Might stood across from him at the beach. He was drenched in sweat and exhausted, but the past 8 months of hard work had more than paid off.
“Well done, young Midoriya,” the number hero complimented, tossing him a soda.
“Thank you sir,” Izuku huffed out, trying to catch his breath. He’d just pushed a small truck up a mountain of trash by himself. “I thought the diet you had me on didn’t allow for carbonated drinks?”
“Give yourself a little wiggle room kid, you’re training to be a pro hero, not an Olympian, you’re allowed to have sweets and junk food every so often,” All Might dismissed. “Besides, you’re gonna need something to wash down what you’re about to swallow.”
Izuku’s head jumped up. “What the fuck does that even mean?”
All Might paused and rubbed the back of his head. “Okay yeah, that was poor phrasing on my part, what I mean is I’m ready to pass my quirk on to you but here’s the snag,” the old man explained, pulling a hair from his head. “You need to swallow some of my DNA in order to take the power.”
Izuku stared at the hair dumbfoundedly. “Wh-why now? The entrance exam is still four months away?”
“Exactly! The power of One For All grows inside each individual user, the power is greater in me now than it was in my master when she gave it to me, and it was greater when she gave it to me than when she was first given it.”
Izuku nodded. “It’s like you said when you first started training me, if I took the power then, my arms would explode.”
“Exactly, you’ll have my power but you’ll still need to learn how to use it. I never had the problem myself but the power was weaker then and I was already this height at your age and was a lifelong athlete, you’re probably in for a growth spurt soon but your body isn’t used to being like this. If you were in an actual fight now, you’d still probably lose, quirk or no quirk.”
Izuku nodded again. “And plus the power’s already been growing for forty years.”
“Exactly, so even with the leaps and bounds you’ve made, and will continue making, you’re going to need some extra time to learn how to properly channel it or else you’ll just break your arm every time you throw a punch.”
Izuku cringed. “So why the hair?”
“Like I said, you need to swallow my DNA to inherit my power, so…”
Izuku looked down at the soda in his hands. Now it all made sense.
Izuku took a deep breath as he stood at the starting line for the entrance exam. He’d put in the work and he’d put in the hours and he was ready to take what was his… He also really wished he hadn’t been listening to Tech N9ne right before coming in, now he had Face Off stuck in his head.
“LET’S FUCKING GO!!!!!!!!!!” Roared Present Mic
Everyone’s head jerked up as they heard the Voice Hero shouting and cursing.
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! THERE’S NO COUNTDOWN IN A BATTLE! GO!”
Everyone listened and ran past the gates for the exercise grounds.
Izuku stopped in the middle of the field and surveyed his surroundings. The area was flooded with the robots that were on the display in the test room.
Okay. The robots. I can do this!
Izuku held up his hand in a flicking motion, bracing his arm with his other hand and channeled One For All’s power.
“FIRE!” He hollered, blasting away two Three Pointers in one shot.
Izuku grinned proudly. He was doing it! He had six points already!
He looked over his shoulder and spotted two more Three Pointers coming up at him from his 7 and his 5. He whipped around and blasted them both away, one after the other.
This was easier than he’d thought! He had 12 points already and there was still 20 minutes left of the exam! This wasn’t nearly as hard as he thought it would-
Izuku’s thoughts were interrupted by the stomp of a fuck off sized Zero Pointer marching in his direction.
“I need to think quieter thoughts,” Izuku grumbled, running in the opposite direction until he heard a voice screaming for help.
He turned back to see who it was from.
THE NICE GIRL FROM OUTSIDE THE ENTRANCE! She was caught under some of the rubble from the Zero Pointer.
“TWO MINUTES REMAINING!” Hollered Present Mic.
Izuku groaned and pulled at his hair. “12 points will have to be enough,” he murmured, before leaping into the air with 100% of his new power.
He had to time this just right, if he jumped too early he’d have destroyed his body for nothing. Too late and the nice girl would be crushed.
Izuku reared his fist back.
“SMASH!!!!!!”
He connected with the machine with a true strike that decimated its face… And his entire right arm.
“This is gonna suck,” he murmured as he felt gravity begin to drag him back down towards the cold black top.
Izuku was pretty sure he was about to die until the nice girl smacked him in the face four decimeters from the ground.
Izuku let out a sigh of relief. He’d not only made it but with 12 villain points and 60 rescue points for trying to save the nice girl, he’d managed to score fourth place, right between the nice girl and someone named Ibara Shiozaki.
Izuku bowed his head and closed his eyes, clasping his hands together. “If there’s someone up there then I apologize if I’m doing this wrong, I’m not a superstitious sort. I mean, I guess I really like the number four, but that’s it, and not really the point I guess.”
The new hero snorted. “Anyway the thing is, what I really mean…”
Izuku cursed himself internally. Now he had Elton John stuck in his head.
“My dream is about to come true and that’s mostly because I worked really hard and made my own choices, but I only had this opportunity because I just happened to get caught by a villain who was stopped by All Might. That’s a really strange thing to happen just because, so if that wasn’t just a whacky coincidence, if that was someone upstairs giving me a chance to do something special, then I’d really like to thank you. That was a really kind thing for you to do.”
“Izuku? Who are you talking to?” Called out Izuku’s mother.
Izuku chuckled and picked his head up. “No one mom, I was just praying.”
“Praying because something good happened or because something bad happened?”
Izuku opened his door. “Something good,” he answered. “Something really good.”
Inko let out a deep breath that she didn’t realize she’d been holding and gave her son a big hug. “Oh I’m so glad to hear that sweetie! Should we celebrate?”
“I think we should, but I can’t think of anything to do besides going back to training,” Izuku mused.
“Well, you didn’t get where you are now by slacking off,” Inko teased, squeezing her son’s impressive new biceps. “Goodness, it’s hard to believe you got all of this in one year.”
“No kidding,” Izuku snorted, flexing one of his arms. “I look like I ate junior high school me.”
Inko gently put a hand to her son’s face. “You’re still you, Izuku. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a skinny kid getting picked on by bullies or a crying little boy watching his favorite All Might video or a budding new hero with a right hook that can turn a giant robot into paper mache, you’re Izuku Midoriya, and that’s why you’re special.”
Izuku smiled and relaxed into his mother’s touch. He wished he’d heard that when he was four years old but he was really glad to hear it now.
Izuku groaned. Of course Kacchan and the jerk with glasses were in the same class as him.
The aforementioned jerk looked towards the door and gasped. “It’s him.”
“It’s me!” Izuku murmured, already feeling defeated.
I wish I were back in bed.
“I’m Tenya Iida, I’m-”
“Yeah, I heard, I’m Izuku Midoriya. I’m really glad to meet you,” Izuku lied.
“Midoriya, you realized there was something more to the practical exam didn’t you?”
“What?”
“You must be very perceptive, and I completely misjudged you! I admit, as a student you’re far superior to me.”
Izuku stared at the taller boy blankly. Did he actually think he did that on purpose? “Um, listen I really do appreciate you saying that but I didn’t break my arm punching the Zero Pointer because I thought it was part of the test. I punched the shit out of it because someone was in trouble and, I mean, what kind of hero would let someone get hurt just because of a test?”
“Was it at all because you owed me one for tripping while we were outside?” Asked a new voice.
Izuku grinned widely and turned around.
The nice girl was here. Oh thank God. And she looked really good in her school uniform too.
“So how the hell did you get in then, Deku?”
Izuku took a sharp breath. “Well Kacchan, I developed a strength quirk four months ago, trained really hard to get a decent grasp on it, then I used to destroy five robots.”
“Only five? You got in with only five robots?” Iida questioned.
“Yeah, I was hoping for more, but I’m not going to complain.”
“Hopefully you won’t be making any complaints after today either,” interjected a fifth voice.
Izuku, Iida, and the nice girl all turned back towards the door to see a homeless looking man in a yellow sleeping bag laying down outside the door.
“Hello everyone, I’m Shota Aizawa. I’m going to be your new homeroom teacher,” the hobo introduced.
Izuku stared at the man in bewilderment. “So were you there the whole time or…?”
“You all have fourteen minutes to put on these uniforms and meet me outside. Don’t be late.”
“Well what about orientation?” The nice girl questioned.
“If you really want to be a pro, you can’t focus on trivial formalities. Now get going and meet me outside,” Aizawa replied, tossing her one of UA’s signature blue, red, and white gym uniforms.
The four assembled students exchanged confused looks then shrugged. No time like the present they supposed.
“Alright Deku, you’ve got a big fancy quirk now, why don’t you show it off some?” Kacchan mocked.
Izuku cracked his neck and tossed the baseball up and down in his hand for a few moments. His body still wasn’t completely used to One For All’s power, he was learning various tricks to help it along, but the best he could do a serious pinch was probably only around 40%. Izuku took a deep breath, reared his arm back, and… Tossed the ball a good 144.4 meters.
“I’m pretty sure he just did that quirkless, not bad!” Commented a young man with black hair and tape dispensers in his elbows.
Izuku looked down at his hand, he couldn’t feel One For All.
“Apologies for the interruption, I wanted to speak with you one on one, before you use your quirk, I’d like to remind you to be careful with how you regulate it. You were doing fairly well during the exam but then acted rashly during the exam. I can understand why but do not repeat that behavior. You won’t be any good to your allies or to civilians if you're constantly destroying your own body.” Aizawa asked, his hair floating in the air as his eyes glowed red.
Izuku looked at the man incredulously. “Why would I go all out for this test sir? I know my limits and I know how to push them without breaking anything.”
“I’m not saying you don’t, I’m only reminding you to be careful. Before you can go beyond your limits, you need to know what your limits are. Before you can go from 0 to 60, you need to get a feel for 10 through 50. Do you understand?”
Izuku nodded. He didn’t care for being singled out, it brought back bad memories from Aldera, but he understood his teacher’s concerns. After all, someone like Eraserhead probably knew a lot about how far you could push before you break. A quirk centered on staring at people that stopped working once you blinked probably wasn’t great for your eyes.
Izuku took a breath and started tossing the ball again. 40% to start would probably be bad, but he still wanted to push higher. He tossed the ball up and down again, getting a feel for its weight, size, and shape. He lit up again, letting only 25% of One For All’s power flow through him, then reared his hand back again.It was all about the timing. He would wait until the exact moment he needed to increase his power just like with the nice girl and the Zero Pointer. He’d hold off until the ball was leaving his fingers then increase to 40% and…
FWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!
Aizawa whistled. “808.4 meters. Not bad kid. Not bad..”
Izuku was feeling pretty good by the second day at UA. He’d placed fourth in the entrance exam and then fourth in the quirk assessment test. Four might be turning into his lucky number.
Or at least he thought it was until the Battle Trials came up. He’d drawn fourth and had been placed on a team with Uraraka (that was actually good luck) and then got placed against Iida (not good) and Kacchan (even worse).
Was the number four betraying him?
No, there was no room for that kind of thinking. Not now. He’d gotten this far and he needed to keep showing that this was where he belonged.
“Your thoughts are too loud, ya damn nerd!”
“Dammit.”
Kacchan roared from the stairwell, sending a blast of explosive power towards Izuku and Uraraka, that Izuku managed to partly avoid, destroying half of his mask but leaving him mostly unscathed.
Izuku took a quick breath and moved back. He’d managed to do pretty well by adjusting his output, it might be a good idea to-
“You’re really bad about thinking out loud, Deku,” Kacchan taunted, his hands sparking as he charged at him.
“Good thing then, now you think you know what I’m gonna do,” Izuku replied, grabbing Kacchan’s right arm and tossing him overhead onto the floor creating a large crater in the ground.
“Holy shit!” Uraraka yelped.
“Uraraka, go find Iida, I’ll catch up,” Izuku suggested, pulling out the capture tape.
Kacchan gasped and panted. “Whatthefuckwasthat?” He wheezed out.
Izuku snorted. “I grabbed you with no powers, then I used my powers on the way down.”
Kacchan kept panting. “... Smart.”
“Thanks,” Izuku replied, wrapping up his hands with the tape. “See you outside,” he grinned, offering him a thumbs up.
“Go to hell,” Kacchan groaned. He’d come in first in the entrance exam but lost to the kid who used to abuse in middle school. How the hell did that happen?
Izuku lit up again and ran up to the fifth floor.
Iida looked up at the hero team in surprise. “Midoriya? How did you get here so quickly?”
“My quirk isn’t pure strength, it’s overall enhancement.”
“That’s very interesting, but can you outpace me?” Iida replied, smirking behind his helmet as he raced towards the heroic duo.
Izuku smirked back. “I don’t need to,” He replied as he grabbed Uraraka by the back of her costume, tossing her past Iida. Iida watched in horror as a pink and black blur flew past him and grabbed hold of the missile.
Iida was already racing towards his opponents and had no time to react to them.
“Team B wins! With 4 minutes remaining!”
Izuku stared blankly at the blackboard. He’d gotten not one, not two, but four votes for class president.
Yaoyorozu nodded with an impressed look. “You’ve made a strong impression on our classmates, Midoriya. I look forward to being your number two.”
“Holy shit,” he murmured, slumping into his chair.
He hadn’t actually wanted the title, it was why he hadn’t voted for himself, but if four other members of his class had said ‘you’re our man, don’t let us down!’ Then he really didn’t have any choice but to accept the job.
“I look forward to being your number one, Yaoyorozu,” he breathed out.
The heiress chuckled. “You’re stunned I see.”
“I am,” he admitted.
“Okay you idiots! Who voted for him?!” Kacchan hollered.
“Wht? Did you honestly think anyone was gonna vote for you?” Sero snarked.
“Did you vote for him?!”
“Absolutely I did, he’s a nice guy and he made you look like a moron.”
Izuku stared in shock.
“Who else voted for me?”
“I did!” Cheered Ashido.
“For real?”
“Yeah, I thought what you did at the Battle Trials yesterday was super impressive, so I decided to toss a vote your way!”
“WHO THE FUCK ELSE?!”
“I voted for me,” Yaoyorozu shrugged.
“I voted for her too,” Todoroki added.
“It was you two! Wasn’t it!” Kacchan growled, looking towards Iida and Uraraka.
“I’m pretty sure telling you guys goes against the point of it being an anonymous vote,” Uraraka replied, a shit eating grin spreading across her face.
“Correct Uraraka! Bakugo, we have no obligation to tell you who we voted for, that said, I absolutely did pick Midoriya,” Iida replied, his hand making a chopping motion as he spoke.
“Wait then, if you two voted for him,” Kacchan reasoned, pointing to students Iida and Uraraka, “And those two morons did,” he added, pointing to Sero and Ashido, “Then who did Deku vote for?”
“Oh me? I voted for Yaoyorozu. I listened to her assessments of the other matches during the battle trials and thought she sounded like she knew what she was talking about,” Izuku shrugged.
Yaoyorozu smiled. “I’m beginning to like you, Midoriya.”
“I think this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Madam Vice President,” Izuku smirked, offering the tall girl his hand to shake.
Yaoyorozu shook his hand and smiled back. “I think you might be right.”
“Cool. So your class reps are Midoriya and Yaoyorozu. Go get your lunch now while I nap,” Aizawa muttered, laying back down on the floor.
“But the lunch bell hasn’t rang yet?” Izuku questioned.
Aizawa held up five fingers. Four. Three. Two. One.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Izuku blinked. “I stand corrected.”
Deku and Yaomomo held steady.
“They’re out in groups of four, each wave of villains that walks through the portal comes out in a group of four men,” Yaomomo whispered.
Izuku nodded. “Too bad for them, we’ve got four kick ass heroes here.”
Yaomomo nodded, biting back a smile. It was hard to feel at ease right now since Aizawa-Sensei had said these men were real villains but she also felt a bit less scared than she would have been otherwise with their teacher, Thirteen, Snipe, and even All Might himself here to help them.
“You know, all you fine fellows are really guilty of at this point is trespassing, charges that would gladly refuse to press if you just walked away now,” All Might suggested.
“I mean we can take y’all on if you want us to, but the paperwork would just be a whole thing, y’know? Just do us a favor and go home. We won’t tell nobody and ruin yer street cred, we promise,” Snipe chuckled, pushing the brim of his hat up with one of his pistols.
“Kurogiri,” the villain with hands decorating his costume muttered, “you told me there would only be three heroes! Why the hell is he here?”
“See after you numbnuts decided to break into the school and steal Eraser’s lesson plan, the principal figured it might be a good idea to give the kids one extra layer of protection just in case the Symbol of Peace got busy, and luckily for us, since y’all seem to have gotten every crook and gangbanger in Musutafu to come in, it was pretty calm day on the commute over here, so All Might showed up right as scheduled. Aren’t we all lucky?” The cowboy explained.
“Also, Snipe carries with him a walkie talkie that’s tied directly to the principal’s office. Go home while you still can,” Eraser warned.
“Walke talkie? Why does that matter?” Tomura asked.
The doors behind them flung open to reveal four more pros. Miss Midnight, Present Mic, Cementoss, and Ectoplasm.
“YOU GUYS ARE SO SCREWED NOW!” Hollered Kirishima.
Izuku and Yaomomo exchanged amused looks. They were hard pressed to disagree.
The villain with hands all over his person scratched at his neck and started muttering under his breath. “Screw us? Screw us?! SCREW YOU! KUROGIRI! TAKE NOMU AND ALL MIGHT AND BRING THEM SOMEWHERE PRIVATE! WE’LL ALL DEAL WITH THE REST OF THESE ASSHOLES!”
In an instant, a purple smoke emanating from the man next to the hand man spread around All Might and the dark skinned man with a man and exposed brain.
“NO! LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Izuku screamed out in a panic.
Izuku ran straight for the portal surrounding All Might. “DON’T YOU TOUCH HIM YOU STUPID VILLAINS!”
Before anyone could stop him he was gone, now standing in a field across town between All Might and the tall bird villain.
“YOUNG MIDORIYA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”
“DON’T WORRY ABOUT THAT! WORRY ABOUT THAT GUY!”
‘Nomu’ threw a punch at All Might that the Symbol of Peace barely dodged.
“Young Midoriya, do you really intend to help me fight this?” All Might questioned. “I may not be as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was,” the old hero claimed, throwing a punch that should have rocked the villain but instead just kicked up a bunch of dust.
“I’m not sure now is the best time to be quoting country songs sir,” Izuku questioned, delivering an axe kick to the villain’s shoulder with 40% power… It also did nothing.
“This villain must have some kind of shock absorption quirk,” All Might reasoned, throwing a punch with even more force.
The villain’s expression didn’t change but it was pushed back.
“Well, if the big guy here can only absorb shocks, that means there’s probably an upper limit,” Deku reasoned, delivering a drop kick to the villain that sent him flying into a right hand haymaker from the number one hero.
“Then let's find it together my boy!” All Might roared, delivering a left hook with even more power than before.
“Yes sir!” Deku replied, a big ass haymaker of his own.
Excitement filled the two heroes. They’d both assumed they’d likely never get to team up with one another, All Might’s career having faded well before Izuku’s even started, but here they were, the eighth and ninth users of One For All, coming together to take on evil.
“You may have heard these words,” began All Might, knocking the villain off his balance with an uppercut.
“But we’ll teach you what they really mean!” Deku cried out, firing off with a strong shot to the back.
“Go beyond!” The two heroes hollered in unison. “PLUS! ULTRA!!!!!” They both roared out, firing a 100% power body shot that sent the villain flying across the field and back into the city.
The two heroes panted, adrenaline fading as the high of battle ended.
“Young Midoriya…” All Might coughed, steam billowing off of his body. “I have a question.”
“Yes sir?” Izuku replied
“How are we going to get back to the USJ?” He asked, his body shifting into his more skeletal form.
Izuku’s shoulders sagged. He had absolutely no idea where they were.
“I guess we’d better start walking,” All Might chuckled.