Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya had just come from what was possibly the worst day of his life so far. He was told by his Number 1 Hero that he couldn't be a hero because he was quirkless. He had two run ins with the same sludge villain, almost dying both times. Kacchan almost suffocated AND he had run into save him without a second thought. ‘What was I thinking? Stupid Deku and his stupid brain. Should just go take a swan dive off the school roof if this was all he could do.’
His hairs stood on end, a shiver rolling up his spine. Someone was behind him, no… something was following him. Snapping around, there was a emaciated blond man with blue eyes hidden by the shadow of his brow line.
”Young Midoriya!” All Might in his skeletal form ran up to him, finally a few feet in front of him. A hand on his knee and coughing into his other fist.
It was quite an interesting interaction to say the least - Midoriya was somewhat aware of his presence, even while talking with All Might. Quirkless people tended to be far more aware of him than those with quirks. Oh and the waterworks, Yuji would've thought that he had some sort of fire hose quirk related to his tear ducts. If not for the fact that where his quirk would’ve been was a coal-like lump. After the appearance of quirks, they had entangled themselves with the original souls so much so that sometimes he had trouble actually finding the soul itself. Excluding the crying, the boy reminded him so much of himself, or rather who he wanted to be when he was younger. Much younger. He would have to chat with the Midoriya after Yagi was done with him.
Arriving at the entrance to his apartment complex, he felt the familiar “aura” which he decided to call it. Here it was again, the pinpricks on the back of his spine. It felt like he was slowly being suffocated by something other than the humidity. This feeling had persisted throughout his entire talk with All Might, but the larger-than-life hero seemed to not notice it. ‘It must my emotions goin-’
”Yo!”
A voice from across the road yelled out, one of their hands in the pockets of a grey windbreaker and another waving at him. Izuku could tell that even from their distance they were moderately taller than him. Waiting for the car to pass, the stranger jogged over with both hands tucked away.
”H-h-hey. S-s-sorry but do I k-know you?” Izuku was basically trembling in front of the stranger. The feeling that he had been contributing to his rough day was suddenly kicked into high gear. This person radiated the same pressure that had been hanging around him after the villain fight and he was definitely not a fan.
”Call me Yuji, Midoriya-kun” lifting back his hood to reveal a boy who looked somewhere around his age with white hair and pink tuft on the ends of each strand, giving a sort of halo effect to his head. But that wasn’t his most striking feature. He had four scars on his face, one on the inner edge of his right eye socket that stretched up past his eyebrow, another blotch of scare tissue on the left of his lips, and two thin lines in symmetrical positions under each eye.
”G-good evening Y-Yuji-san” Izuku was borderline have a panic attack ‘Crap crap crap he’s dangerous and he followed me home and-’
”Dude your like shivering. You ok?” Izuku barely heard Yuji over his own mumbling, feeling the world slowly drift away from him. ‘Oh god I’m going to die before I even get to train with All Might!’ with one large gasp, he fell forwards into the boy.
With another fairly large gasp Izuku shot up, drenched in sweat and panting softly. Scanning his room, he felt… well the lack of feeling that suffocating aura, helping him calm down considerably. The All Might paraphernalia coating the room with the *I AM HERE!* and *FEAR NOT!* was a welcome sight at least. But how did he get here? Where did that thin- person go? Before he could further turn into a mumbling storm he heard his mothers call from the living room.
”Izuku dear! I'm off to work soon!”
With a soft grumble from his stomach, Izuku pushed the scary thoughts away. Jumping out of the bed, he repeatedly leaped from his floor, pumping his fists. ‘I’m gonna be training with All Might! THE NUMBER ONE HERO!’ rushing to his door, he bounded down the stairs to meet his mother in the kitchen “Mum your not gonna believe thi-”
”I hope your feeling better now Midoriya-san”
There he was. The boy from outside. How was he here? Why? Why wasn’t his mum freaking out from being within 5 metres of him!?
”Izuku its rude to leave friends unanswered! Yuji-san thoughtfully carried you up the staircase all by himself!”
Yuji-san a friend? Carried me? What the hell was going on!?
”T-thank you, Y-yuji-san” he bowed slightly, not taking his eyes off the boy drinking tea at the table. He took a sip from the All Might mug, then lowered it to the All Might coaster fittingly captioned *I AM HERE… AS A COASTER!* With a big beaming smile covering half of the surface area.
”I’m going to head off now Izuku. There should be some leftovers in the fridge for you to heat up. Sorry about that Yuji-san, I’ve been pretty busy and haven't gotten around to cooking anything lately."
"Don't worry about it, I'm glad you invited me to have dinner at all" Yuji said with a beaming smile. Despite how natural it looked on him, it was sightly strained. Like he hadn't done it in a long time.
"Alright I'll leave you two besties to it" His mother giggled to herself, closing the door behind her.
Sweat dripped down Izukus forehead. He was going into full fight or flight despite the menacing aura from earlier dissipating. What was he going to do!? He couldn't let it end here! He had so much to live for now!
"Sorry about earlier Midoriya-san. And about trying to catch up to you after the villain attack." Yuji spoke, rubbing the back of his neck. He sounded sincere, but Izuku didn't know what to expect from this guy.
"How did you know where I live!? Also why did my mum say you were my friend!?" basically yelling at the stranger all the while rushing to cover his own mouth. Would he kill him for that? 'Crap I've really messed up now'.
"I kinda had to try all the rooms asking if they knew anyone by the name of Midoriya, and as for the friend thing that was all your mum"
The hand rising to cover his mouth turned into a face palm. Of course his mother just let anyone into the house. Yuji was now staring at the mug in his hands, rotating it back and forth with a small smile on his face.
"Sooooo someone's a big fan." a hint of teasing was present in Yujis voice and it wasn't lost on Izuku. Following the eyes of the white and pink haired intruder, he landed on the framed photo of a much younger, gap toothed Izuku and his mother. "You probably cried like that as a kid too"
Izuku raised an eyebrow. "What does that even mean?"
Yuji shrugged and took a sip from the mug "Nothing. Forget it."
"Didn't you need to talk to me about something?" with a light blush appearing in Izukus face as he promptly ignoring the odd remark.
"I just wanted to ask how you were feeling after that villain attack." Yujis gaze lingered down to his slightly burnt hand that had reached out to his childhood friend. Izuku quickly hid it behind his back.
"Oh um... I'm fine. I wasn't seriously hurt. How did you know about that?" a quizzical look appearing on his face. Why would a this stranger care about his wellbeing?
"I was just in the area and happened upon the whole... thing. You did good you know. Running in despite not having a quirk. You'll be a good hero one day." Yuji said with a surprising level of enthusiasm compared to his earlier monotonous tone.
'And there goes the floodgates, this kid could really cry'. After talking to Inko about Izukus future and how he was fairing in school, the boy in question had quickly launched himself down the stairs. Inko seemed like a lovely woman, further reinforcing the idea that Yagi had chosen the right heir, it was about time that man got an apprentice. With the rate at One For All has been stockpiling energy, the next user would explode after inheriting the quirk, that much he was sure of.
With a sniffle the green haired boy looked down, finally lowering his guard. "Do you really think I can be a hero?"
Yuji stood up, walking towards the borderline crying kid in the doorway and placing his hand on the boys shoulder. "Yeah. You will."