It is indeed a strange world we live in, isn't it?

Millenia of Humanity's steadfast determination to remain the alpha species of a world supposedly granted to them by some higher power, or maybe not depending upon ones worldviews. Individuality has only grown more prominent with every passing generation, moreso in recent years but perhaps that is simply due to what has undoubtedly been lost to time if not just falsely documented.

'History is written by the victors' after all, and though we now exist as the result of those victors, that isn't to say those ancestors were ever in the right.

Of course, that is because Humanity is as cruel as it is beautiful, fascinating. A species that will protect their own with unreal zeal, but can bereave a family of every member one by one for something as simple as more land for further development of ones homestead or livelihood. It is not noble to declare war for resources; it never has been, least of all if said resources amount to fossil fuels or excess material.

A populace can get by without the newest phone or a fancier car, as well as the means to fuel them. They did it for the last however many thousand years after all, albeit with more difficulty, but that does not warrant the murder of thousands.

But Humanity has always been selfish, and their care for others diminishes the less relatable they become: blood, class, country, race, language, religion; the less of these one shares, the less one cares for their existence.

And now the world is taking a greater, unprecedented turn.

Quirks.

And with them came a greater show of individuality, a show of ones uniqueness to the masses. One man can summon a hurricane whilst the next can release a faint breeze.

Human's were never born equal, not really.

And now that has never been more apparent, not in a world where the unexpected becomes the norm, and the norm became the scorned.

In a world of superhumans, what would ever be expected of a mere human?

But Humanity has always found a way.

"Your son is quirkless ma'am." The ensuing silence was deafening, and one Inko Midoriya seemed to crumble under it.

"P-pardon doctor..?" She managed weakly, the doctor now moving a little closer to her since it didn't take his medical degree to deduce she looked to be on the verge of collapsing.

"I'm afraid your son is without a quirk, even with both you and your partner having had generations of them to your name." The silence began to permeate again, but the doctor broke it when he pressed the tip of his pen to an X-ray scan on the board "You can see the extra joint in the smallest toe correct?" Inko dumbly nodded and he took it as his cue to continue "Well unfortunately your son possesses this joint, and it has become a very common theory in the medical industry that this joint is the tell of whether one is to possess a quirk or not. The joint is superfluous, and the quirked have proven statistically that the majority of our generation have evolved beyond it." He adjusted his glasses "It seems that young Izuku is one of the decreasing few who are not meant to have a quirk." the doctor was frank, but she imagined that this wasn't the first time he'd had to grow through this explanation.

But even with this knowledge, it didn't make it easier on the young mother. Not when she looked to her side and saw the dead eyed gaze of her son.

Her little Izuku.

Her beautiful little Human Izuku.

"Thank you Doctor."

Four years he had been alive, and for four of those years he had been watching the heroes of today, another norm brought on by Humanity's evolution. He admired their bravery, their power taking a back seat to the bravery and determination that only the best possessed. Their hero rank be damned, a hero with a heart of gold would always be a better hero than one who did it just for the money, the fame, even if they could show better results.

It was the heart of the hero that Izuku admired.

And All Might was the personification of everything a hero should be, and as the young Midoriya clicked replay once again on the video link, he watched in awe as apparent as the very first viewing how All Might went above and beyond on his heroic debut, saving lives left and right with power for all to depend on and a smile to destroy all fear.

"The Symbol of Peace..." He muttered softly, numbly noting the sound of his door opening and his mother calling his name. It was with eyes more dead than he knew he could manage that he turned to her with an unfeeling grin that just broke her heart, even more when he opened his mouth to speak just to choke on his tears.

"Oh Izuku!" She clutched him tightly, as if he wasn't just without a quirk, as if his life was over, as if he were just going through the motions now, a corpse not dead but neither was it living.

Was that what he was? Was that what it meant to be human?

And as his mother sobbed out her apologies for the dozenth time that minute, it was with a heavy heart and a mind more advanced than a child his age should possess that he decided maybe he wasn't dead yet.

He had life enough to fight yet.

Or was heroism just birthright?

And so for the decade onward, Izuku Midoriya spent every waking moment doing his best in the fields his human self could still excel in: academically he topped his class handily, physically too, not to mention he was positive he was the most diversely trained in multiple forms of combat, picking up a few in his life, even if that left him with less time to truly master any one or the other.

As a Human, Izuku was top dog amongst his peers. Though that never amounted to much since he wasn't exactly on an even playing field when it came down to it.

The boy released a sigh over such thoughts before getting back to his notebook, jotting down every detail he could recall from the two new debuting heroes: Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady. Both were skilled, but putting himself in the shoes of just some guy, he could tell which of the two was going to be more popular.

It didn't hit any runs in the greenette's books but he could admit that Mt. Lady knew what she was doing with that skintight body suit of hers on top of her quirk.

"Oi Deku!" He flinched, floundered and nearly fell out of his seat at the sudden exclamation of his childhood friend, breaking him from his thoughts, eyes flicking over to the scowling face of Katsuki Bakugou.

The boy growled at the sheepish look on the smaller boys face "Schools over dipshit, get your shit and catch me outside!" He said threateningly before leaving, the rest of the classroom either looking over with disguised looks of exasperation or just outright ignoring the outrageous behaviour of the class delinquent, even with his above average grades and status as the strongest of the class by no small margin.

Izuku sighed and grabbed his backpack, placing his books away neatly and in order as he usually did before heading out with a swift pace, maneuvering through the innumerable milling students with grace and precision simply for the sake of avoiding further ire from the exploding jackass outside.

He wasn't far outside before-

"OI!" An explosive fist flew overhead as young Midoriya managed to lean back and under the attack into a full bridge, face tilted to the side to better avoid the heat of such a move. But even that heat paled to the heat in those hate-filled red eyes "You were thinking bad shit about me weren't you Deku?!" He started to circle his 'prey' who got back into a standing position quickly, following his previous movement back into his feet with the elegance of a dancer.

Bakugou stopped and pointed one finger at the hero wannabe whilst his other began to remove his blazer and loosen his tie "Well if you've got something to say then fucking say it Deku!" At this point they had an audience, and they had grins on their faces as they watched Izuku release yet another sigh and remove his own blazer, loosening his tie but not removing it even as his 'friend' threw his to the ground beside him with a vicious smirk. "I'm gonna beat you into the ground Deku, because nobody ever gets sick of watching me waste your pathetic ass!"

Izuku didn't have even a second to respond before Katsuki was upon him, right arm reared back for a mighty swing enough to decapitate somebody not on their guard.

But Izuku was, and so he used his Judo skills to grab at the boys arm and bodily throw him over himself, all while avoiding his hand and pointing it away from himself to prevent follow up blasts.

Izuku's teeth were grit and his eyes fiery as he performed the maneuver, tense and ready for anything, including the heel kick and backhanded explosion sent in retaliation from his free arm and leg.

He put space between them and watched as Katsuki growled like a wild beast, wiping the dust from his face from having his face pushed into the dirt. "I'm going to break you, shitstain...!" He mumbled heatedly, eyes glowing as he began to slowly walked onward, hands glistening with his explosive sweat and startling to crackle lightly as he became less stable with holding the rage back.

He broke out into a run again, this time his starting swing being replaced by a left-handed palm thrust, an explosion nearly bursting the green-haired boys eardrum as he narrowly dodged it, placing a knee into Bakugou's gut, earning a wince even as he had to withdraw to avoid the hand that had barely clasped his leg, leaving only singed cloth and a lightly burnt thigh.

He kicked it down a couple times and was grateful to find that he hadn't been impeded too drastically by the light injury, barely anything but some stinging pain at this point. And so with that he thought he'd start his first offensive, despite his opponents vastly superior abilities on the matter.

He burst forward faster than any nearby students would have expected him to have been able to exert, his foot kicking back his opponents to throw his balance and his palm surging up towards his opponents jaw, to which the delinquent managed to avoid despite having his balance thrown, throwing his head one way and then back to pin the extended limb between his shoulder and neck, keeping Izuku in place just long enough to swing his explosion-aided fist right into his opponents ribs, bringing a winded cry from the quirkless boy.

He managed to draw his arm back once the force gave him the leeway to do so, clutching his heavily bruised ribs painfully.

But Bakugou wasn't done there.

He saw his downed opponent and took the opportunity to beat him down until there was no getting back up. The only way to break rebellion was to take it down mercilessly.

What he didn't expect was to have his lunge avoided, nor did he expect the heel at the back of his knee, that brought him down to them. With renewed anger, he went to rise and spin, roaring out his fury with his biggest explosion yet, only to feel a hand on his shoulders and the full weight of his opponent for a moment as he used his body as a springboard amidst the destruction to flip over him.

And then the world spun, face in the dirt with arms pressed down by a knee and a foot, the weight of his foe totally above him.

"But how did..." His breath was stolen from him when the object around his neck tightened, and he realised that during the course of Izuku's flip, he had managed to place his tie around his throat, now using it as his final tool to gain submission.

Submission that the bully Katsuki would never give.

"Fine you win Deku. You fucking scrub..."

But he'd left that moniker behind.

Izuku's face broke out into a grin, cheeks a bright red just like his left forearm, sleeve in smolders from the narrowly avoided attack from before, the one that he had been forced to take head on to ensure his victory. "Good fight Kacchan."

And with that he helped the other up, a chuckle escaping him as his reward was to be bodily shoved down onto his rear in return.

"Next time I'll fucking end you." He promised, the students around them scoffing and jeering at his words.

"Yeah, just like last time!"

"And the time before."

"And before that."

"And-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" He boomed, hands following his example.

The populace just began to laugh, even as a couple shouted some words of praise to Deku for shutting the class barker up for a bit.

Life was shaping out just fine.

"He did WHAT?" Izuku flinched in his seat, looking up from his notebook to realise that the entirety of the class had their attention focused entirely on him. As per usual, it was the cause of the explosive blonde, but for what reason this time he did not know.

Perhaps he should pay more attention in class, public face demanded attentiveness on the odd occasion. Notes for when he made it big.

"Who did what?" He questioned, curiosity written all over his face since it didn't take his higher than average IQ to pinpoint himself as the cause of his childhood friends ire, glowing crimson irises seething with a fury only slightly reminiscent of the norm.

That was unusual to say the least.

The blonde growled at the back of his throat and lay waste to his desk and another between the two of them as he made his way over, the occupant of said desk flinching out of the way in a frightened stupor and the teacher beginning to panic as the delinquent's usual anger became far more palpable than the usual incessant barking.

Izuku met his gaze bravely through the following seconds, neither their eyes from one another. Katsuki's breath was ragged and angry, and the slight shaking in his tightly wound fists made it obvious that it was taking every ounce of his battered restraint to not just throw the first punch without an explanation. It wouldn't have been the first time but on this occasion it seemed he had a point to make before things flew off the hook. Meanwhile, Izuku was a stark contrast, an ocean of calm with his eyes refusing to break contact, the emerald green of his clashing with the ruby red of his closest friend.

And yes, he would use that term to describe the boy. At least, when he wasn't within earshot anyway.

The delinquent swallowed heavily and took precaution to calm himself enough to talk, pointing his finger directly into the smaller boys chest before balling the collar of his shirt in a quickly tightening grip. "You still want to go to UA..?" His words were silent, and Izuku was sure that only he would have even heard them had the room not fallen deadly silent since the start of the altercation.

Ah, so that was what this was about.

"I do. I've applied and already passed the written test, just like you ha-" He quickly threw his hand to the ground to halt his unwelcome descent, free hand moving to his painfully bruised left cheek with stone cold eyes still unyielding, maintaining eye contact even now. "Better than your score even I'd wager." His words lacked that usual playful vibe when dealing with the explosive hothead, knowing that this was a matter beyond their usual scuffles, and as he stood to his full height, he let it be known that he would not budge on this subject.

"You promised me Izuku." The words came through grit teeth, practically grinding under the force applied. "You admitted that the Hero life was out of your quirkless reach," the sentence was meant to sting, and it had the desired effect, "You swore that if I trained you using my quirk that you'd take up police work or become a detective." Izuku was roughly shoved about a foot back, fury reaching boiling point now "SO TELL ME WHY THE FUCK YOU LIED TO ME!" He was angry, that much was obvious.

"Because if I can take you in a fight and win, then who's to say I had been right back then?" He was resolute in his words, but the falling face of his childhood friend made it obvious that whilst he was indeed angry,

it was the hurt shining through the cracks that really made it painful.

But then his face became a mask, and that frightened Izuku just from how out of character it was. "If that's what you think then follow me outside." He got right into his face, eyes shining with something foreign this time around. "I'll show you the real gap between us." And like that he was gone, no looking back.

Izuku took in the room for a moment after that, students starting to mutter without an eye leaving his frame and the teacher still refusing to maintain order in his classroom, painfully aware of the real pecking order here.

The boy sighed and started to pack. Looks like this is happening after all.

"So you came after all." It was a statement, not a question.

"Honestly I think this is the first time you've demanded a fight without forcing it on me." Izuku threw his bag to the side and rolled his shoulders, starting to stretc his muscles about, Bakugou performing no such rituals. Instead, he just stared ahead calmly.

"Are you ready?"

Alright, he had this like he had the last time if he just played cautious. He could prove that he was hero material.

But that was naive of him, and with speed he didn't know his childhood friend possessed, Katsuki was upon him, barely giving him time to dodge the usual initial swing, giving him barely a moments respite before he found a heel in his abdomen, explosive force blasting him backwards, narrowly avoiding some of the many encircling students, hastily throwing themselves out of harms way, the berth around them growing vastly at this uncommon show of power.

Izuku groaned as he rose. That initial right swing was essentially Katsuki's calling card; he always started with it and it was with this knowledge that Izuku grew to learn heavy-handed counter strikes. But perhaps it was foolish of him to assume that his closest friend hadn't caught onto such a fact.

No, Katsuki was smarter than that.

Izuku's brow knitted together, determination now flaring to life in his emerald eyes. His pride depended on this!

"Kacchan!" He blasted forth, practically a blur as he pushed his body to the limit, to the extent he could force his human body to answer to, braced to counter even as he took the initial strike, preparing to start with a heavy overhand strike feint into a bodily throw.

But he was reminded of just how human he was.

The explosions were deafening, and as he retracted his scorched arm, bereaved of his shirt sleeve, he tried to block out the searing pain inflicted upon the angry red of his skin, but he hadn't the time for that as another strike went for his shoulder, forcing him to parry it aside, a blast almost rupturing his eardrum from the proximity. Another kick aimed for the inside of his knee, one that he caught, locking his leg around his opponents before twisting his body over, throwing them both to the ground with Izuku on top.

But he was foolish to think that his superior strength and skills made up for his humanity.

An enormous boom followed, and the second it took for the light to vanish and the heat to cool down to a burn was all it took for him to realise that he was easily three storey's high as a result.

Izuku plummeted, and resist as he may, he was without a paddle, any attempt to slow himself down being nothing compared to when he met the ground with a smack and a crack. He bit back a cry but tears still pricked the edges of his eyes as he looked down to his broken angle, reaching his arms out to grasp it only to find that one arm wouldn't respond and the other was snapped at the wrist.

And even that much had been fortunate.

He heard steps echoing, as if he had been underwater. His eyes went up and with agony on his face, he stared into the neutral face of the one he had called friend.

"The hero life isn't for you Deku, you think I had been going all out all this time?" he spat to the side, sneering down at the humbled boy before him, "I wanted to help you grow stronger so that as a cop you could do the work too boring for us heroes to even care about, but now... now you're nothing." he gestured to his broken leg and dislocated arm, shaking his head in mockery.

"You're weak; deal with it." And with that he began to leave, not even looking back once as the students began to step aside for the teachers intent on taking him to the hospital over his injuries, no doubt having waited for the danger to be gone first knowing their sheepishness around the explosive delinquent.

He heard them all, scorning his back as he left, questioning how he could do something like this but they hadn't seen what he had seen. The pain in his eyes, buried under a resolution to protect his friend from a fate he had decided equaled death.

They didn't know the Bakugou he knew. The boy who, despite being rough, and in the eyes of some: a bully, cared for the lives of others, his standoffish attitude being his front to protect people, people like his family and as he had been humbled to discover:

Himself.

He was hefted into the back of an ambulance as his consciousness began to blur from the pain, the scorches and breaks becoming too much for him to handle now that adrenaline was wearing off, his last thoughts fumbling together any coherency they could.

His last thought before the darkness was that whilst humbling; this would only help him grow stronger.

Sorry Kacchan.

And done.

New story, same as usual with this kinda stuff: if you like it you review, fav, follow. Hopefully this takes off because the releases will keep coming if it does! Trying to stick to a schedule on releases but I'm testing the water by finding out just what works for now.

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Au Revoir for now Readers! ^^