(Author's note: Oof I'm new to this, but hello! I just wanted to give a quick disclaimer that not everything in this fanfiction follows the canon exactly. So far I've only seen the anime, ie to the end of season 2, and although I do have some knowledge of what happens in the manga [ie Toshinori retiring] I don't know most of what happens [ie, I uh, don't know how they explained Toshinori's alternate identity to the UA students]. So if something doesn't perfectly follow the canon, that's why! A couple major changes that may be necessary for understanding the story, however, are:
- Shinso replaces Mineta. Mineta existed, but was expelled due to harassment accusations.
- This story starts near the beginning of class 1A's third year in the school. There are a few timeskips in the story, however, as its an ongoing story.
- The class 3A homeroom teacher is Thirteen

Also! I should mention that I try to address certain relationships/keep characters in-character in the fanfic without just pushing all other ships to the side. This isn't like...a tododeku or a dekuchako fanfic but I do keep in mind friendships and crushes from the main series! But characters develop, they change feelings but they stay good friends, ect. Note that this does NOT address Bakudeku as a possible ship, so if you're uncomfortable with that ship, that will not be teased at in this fanfic. And please don't take platonic relationships between them and make it romantic, thank you!

And that's about it...! Hope you enjoy, and interaction [ie comments and faves/follows] is much appreciated~!)

Prologue, Part 1:

A ravaged battlefield, coated in a thick layer of dust. Sparks still flying in the air. Bits and pieces of the field peaked out like small, jagged mountains over the dustcloud. The stadium was hushed, waiting with baited breath.

The dust finally dissipated. On one end stood Kacchan, body heaving visibly with every breath. On the other end laid Izuku, the light of his quirk flickering out, indicating his defeat.

"…Izuku Midoriya is down, which means Katsuki Bakugo is the winner of the 3rd years' division of the Sports Festival!" Present Mic shouted over his speakers, the crowd erupting into cheers as he spoke.

Izuku quickly came to, not even realizing he had blacked out at the end of the fight. He looked up at Kacchan, who was slowly walking back towards, him, limping slightly.

After all these years, Kacchan still ends up on top, Izuku thought to himself. It's just the same as our first year Sports Festival. But…

Kacchan bent down and offered Izuku his hand. "Need a hand?" he asked, his uncharacteristically kind words clashing with his usual snarky and cold voice.

Izuku smiled and grabbed Kacchan's hand in both of his hand, heaving himself off the ground. Izuku waved to the crowd, a smile on his face, as the crowd continued to roar its praise.

…Just because he won again doesn't mean he hasn't changed. His second year really taught him something – it taught us both a lot of things.

Izuku glanced back at Kacchan, who had a bored and annoyed expression on his face.

But maybe not everything has changed.

Kacchan may have still had more raw power than him, but the two finally saw each other as equals – and this battle was the final testament to that. The two were almost punch for punch, blow for blow, each landing critical hits on the other. But in the end, Kacchan was just in better control of his powers, and Izuku couldn't keep up for such a long period of time; Izuku thought he could rely on his own strategies to beat Kacchan, but Kacchan was well aware that Izuku was a strategy-oriented fighter, and had a counterstrategy for each of Izuku's moves.

But perhaps that was part of the reason Kacchan was in a much better mood – not a perfect mood, but when was he ever? – at the end of this festival. This time, Kacchan knew Izuku had battled him with all he had. But Kacchan was just that powerful, and Izuku just wasn't experienced enough.

Izuku could see the rest of class 3A cheering the two of them on. Ochako and Eijiro were both balancing on the bottom part of the fence, waving at the two to-be pro heroes and cheering them on. Tenya, Mina, and Momo were all applauding happily, and even Shoto seemed impressed with the battle.

Izuku winced as he set his arm down. Recovery Girl was already waiting to escort them off the battlefield, and both of them followed after her as the staff gave their concluding speech.

"I know, I know - we pushed ourselves too hard again, right?" Izuku asked as Recovery Girl looked him over.

She was silent for a few moments. "Actually, you're much better than last year. And the year before," she muttered.

"That's because Katsuki wasn't trying to kill him this time!" Eijiro's voice echoed from right outside the open door. He burst inside, followed by Ochako, Tenya, and Tsuyu.

"Hey! I never got a chance to pop his head off the last two Sports Festivals!" Kacchan roared.

"Actually, it's because Toshinori wasn't nagging him this time," Recovery Girl muttered.

Izuku looked down and swallowed nervously. All Might hadn't been able to come to this year's Sports Festival due to a supposed stomach bug; while he had said it was nothing to be worried about, Izuku couldn't shake the feeling that All Might's condition was steadily getting worse and worse. He had been retired for well over a year, but even so, he seemed to still be declining. He seemed to have some kind of sickness or somewhat serious injury every other week.

"But Izuku!" Ochako turned around and beamed at him. "You did so good again! You were so close again, just like last year!"

Izuku laughed, blushing slightly. "Yeah, but I still have a long way to go." I still have a long way to go until I can match All Might…

"And I bet you'll all get even more internship offers this time around," Tsuyu stated, putting a finger up to her mouth. "Both for you two and for Shoto and Momo."

Izuku nodded, and Kacchan clicked his tongue dismissively. Out of all our internships, these internships have the biggest impact on what kind of heroes we'll be working with when we get out of school, Izuku thought. We have to pick the one that will both offer us the most credibility while looking for work, but also gives us connections to the types of heroes we want to work with once we graduate… "Where are Shoto and Momo, anyways?"

As if on cue, they both appeared from outside the doorway.

"You both did so great!" Momo congratulated immediately. "I had no idea which of you was going to win throughout the entire battle; you were so evenly matched!"

"And because you got beat by Katsuki in the semifinals, you got in third, Momo," Tsuyu remarked. "Congrats!"

Momo smiled proudly. "Thanks; I'm really proud of myself this Sports Festival! I've learned a lot about my quirk and how to best use it to fight against opponents, even if I can't outright beat the strongest of heroes."

Recovery Girl gave Kacchan one final kiss before stepping back. "Alright, I'll get some bandaids for your cuts and then you should be free to go."

Eijiro turned from Izuku, to Kacchan, to Izuku again. "So what was it that finally made you slip? What was the final move that had you beat?" Eijiro asked curiously, eyes wide.

"Well…it was probably that big blast towards the end," Izuku answered, thinking hard. "I know it wasn't Kacchan's last move, but he exhausted my quirk and I didn't stand a chance after that. I thought I was getting the upper hand, so I let my guard down and didn't notice him gradually building up his fuel reserves."

"That's what happens when you take me for an uncalculated idiot," Kacchan growled as Recovery Girl plastered a bandaid onto his forehead, above his right eyebrow.

Izuku jumped nervously. "I wasn't trying to say that-!"

"YOU BETTER NOT HAVE BEEN SAYING THAT!" Kacchan roared, forming his fist like he was about to blow the entire room up

Ochako stiffed immediately, standing closer to Izuku, as the others jumped up in alarm.

"Hey, chill out!" Eijiro exclaimed, stepping closer to Kacchan. "He didn't mean it like that; he's Deku, he's not trying to insult you." He gripped Kacchan's arm.

Kacchan stared at Eijiro

"Alright, that's the last bandaid," Recovery Girl interrupted. "Now stop fighting and shoo, shoo! You need to get ready for the closing ceremony!"

"…We had a very talented group of final years this year, so please give all our participants a big round of applause!"

The crowd cheered, some chanting the names of the participant they liked the best, others simply cheering on the entire grade.

Izuku puffed up his chest proudly, holding up his medal for the photographers to capture. Kacchan stood in his usual bad posture, back slouching and hips uneven, a scowl on his face. Momo held her metal proudly, waving enthusiastically but in her usual deliberate and elegant way to the crowd.

"And that concludes this year's Sports Festival. We have a promising group of students this year, in all of our classes! Thank you all for attending!"

The crowd gave another round of applause as Midnight stepped off the stage.

Izuku looked up at the crowd, his friends waving at him. He was suddenly overcome with a twinge of guilt thinking about All Might. Maybe I should go see him tomorrow…

(The next day)

Izuku quickly stuffed his books haphazardly into his backpack and slammed his locker shut, not even bothering to lock it before he prepared to take off.

"Hey, Deku!" someone called out from behind him.

Ochako, who seemed to have just been talking with Tenya, Hitoshi, and Eijiro, was waving at him.

"Oh, uh, hi Ochako," Izuku muttered, glancing at the school exit.

"Where are you going? It's a Friday afternoon; shouldn't you just kick back and relax in the dorms?" Ochako asked.

"Ochako was talking about us all going out for ice cream today with Tsuyu and Todoroki, and of course you," Eijiro explained, "or to the bakery. Personally, I'd be more for the bakery; I've been craving macaroons all day."

"Sorry, but, uh…" Izuku trailed off. "I'm actually going to be visiting with All Might today."

"I didn't see him at the festival yesterday; is he alright?" Tenya asked, concerned.

"He's…come down with something. I'm not really sure what, but I think he said it was the flu, although I don't really think it's contagious," Izuku explained. "So he should be fine, but I just…want to check on him."

The others' faces fell.

"Aw man, I'm really sorry," Eijiro said, offering his condolences.

Tenya nodded in agreement.

Ochako grabbed Izuku's hand and squeezed. "But I'm sure he'll be all right! He's All Might, after all."

Tenya put his hand on Izuku's shoulder. "And we're always here if you need someone to vent to."

Eijiro nodded, grinning a toothy yet sincere grin.

Izuku smiled faintly. "Thanks, guys."

"Don't get sick if you can help it," Hitoshi offered, trying to be nice in his own way. He paused. "Do you think he would appreciate a snack from wherever we head off to? You could come with us to the bakery, buy something, and then head over there."

"Thanks for the offer, but I really want to check on him. I haven't heard from him all day, so I want to make sure he's alright," Izuku stated. "Thanks, though." He started back towards the exit. "See you guys! Have fun hanging out!"

They all – minus Hitoshi, who kept his hands in his pockets – waved him off.

Izuku hurried down the street to All Might's house. He had visited there several times before when All Might was sick, so he knew the way, but he always mixed All Might's house up with…all the other houses on the street. They each had their own charm, yet were indistinguishable from one another. The only way that he could tell which house was All Might's was by the fact that his house didn't have a mailbox in front of it, and instead had a pink and red rosebush in its place.

Izuku looked down at his phone once more. Still no text from All Might. He had sent a text to All Might asking how he was last night, expecting to hear from him in the morning. He was surprised he didn't get a response the next day, so he sent another text asking again how he was doing and if he could come over. Again, no response. He sent another text during break and another when he left the school, and he still hadn't heard anything from All Might. He tried calling him on his way there, but it went to voice mail after ringing several times.

He's probably just busy or not feeling well, Izuku assured himself.

He scanned the houses on his left until he came to the one with no mailbox, and walked up onto the porch. He knocked on the door. The door creaked slightly as he knocked.

Izuku stood in shock for a moment as the door wobbled back and forth in place, slightly opened. Bad thoughts raced through his mind – What if All Might was taken to the hospital? What if All Might died at the hospital? What if All Might was killed? What if he was kidnapped? What if he's laying dead in his house right now?

Izuku trembled, gripping the knob of the door tightly and forcibly opening it the rest of the way, despite the fact that he could have simply pushed it and it would've opened easily.

"All Might?" he managed to call out through his panicked breathing.

There was no response.

"All Might?!" he called again, breathing even heavier.

There was a pause. Izuku held his breath.

He heard a cough from the other side of the house.

Izuku let out a deep sigh. He could still be in trouble, though… his anxiety reminded him.

He hurried to where he thought he heard the source of the cough come from, down a hallway and into the next hallway. He peaked into every room, checking to see if All Might was there. Eventually he noticed one of the lights was on in the room at the end of the hallway, and hurried over.

"All Might?" Izuku creaked the door open.

"Midoriya?"

The blonde-haired, pointy-chinned, bony man was laying in his bed, several layers of blankets wrapped over him and a bucket to the side of him. A digital clock, a lamp, and an empty water bottle were perfectly arranged on his nightstand. His flip phone was laying on top of the clock.

"All Might!" Izuku exclaimed, hurrying over to his bedside. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly. "I tried texting you, and you didn't get back to me…"

All Might sighed. "I honestly couldn't focus on the screen for long enough to even read your texts, let alone respond. I'm sorry for worrying you." He coughed once, then again, then more forcefully, each time covering his mouth with his hand.

Izuku could see drips of blood seeping through the cracks in his fingers. He brows furrowed in concern. "All Might, I really…I really think you should maybe go back to the hospital. You don't look well. I can call them for you."

There were bags under All Might's already usually-sunken eyes, and he looked substantially thinner and paler than usual.

All Might seemed ready to object, but he went into another coughing fit, coughing up blood once more. "Yeah, I…I think that might be best."