Hello everyone! It's Nimarin Driggen here~

This would be my first attempt at a My Hero Academia story.
I came up with the idea and the OCs with a couple of friends of mine and felt compelled to share it with you.
Plus, I've got a bit of writer's block for my other stories haha!

Also big thank you to AnimeFanGirl2223 for all your help!

Hopefully you guys will like it!

Please, please leave me a comment to let me know if you want me to continue!

"I'm so sorry, Izuku…"

"No… That's not what I needed to hear, mom…"

"Why don't you jump off a building! Maybe in your next life, you'll be born with a quirk!"

"Why? Why would you say that to me, Kacchan? Why are you and your friends so cruel?"

"No, kid, I don't think you can, not without a quirk."

"Even you All Might… I thought you would be different…"

Izuku stood alone on the roof of the building that All Might had left him on after he'd gone to take the still captured sludge villain to the police to face justice. He hadn't moved an inch since his idol had thoroughly crushed his dreams.

Though the sun was bright and the day warm, his body felt cold. His green eyes wandered to the perimeter of the building, the words his ex-friend/current bully had spoken earlier that morning echoing in his mind. He approached the edge slowly, hesitantly looking down to the streets below. It was really high; if he did jump, he knew he wouldn't survive long. Midoriya inched his feet closer and closer.

"If you want to be a hero, then just be one," a new voice spoke, breaking through his thoughts.

Izuku backed up and twirled around quickly, not having heard anyone else come up. "W-Who are you?"

The one who'd snuck up on him was a young man, maybe seventeen years old. He had short, messy dark green hair and golden eyes. His clothes were plain, a simple black shirt and beat up jeans partially hidden under a trench coat.

He stared at Izuku for a moment before breaking out in a smile. "My friends call me Pan. If you want, we can be friends too. What do you say?" He held out his hand for the young quirkless boy to take, offering more than anyone ever had before.

Izuku's life changed that day… The day he met Peter Pan.

Eventually, Pan talked Izuku out of his momentary suicidal ideation and the two took the stairs to exit the building. They walked silently beside each other in the direction of Midoriya's home, the younger occasionally glancing between the road and the strange teen that had saved him.

"Do you really think that I could be a hero?" he finally asked.

"You can be whatever you want to be, kid." Pan replied, "But, I do have a question for you. Why do you want to be a hero?"

Izuku furrowed his brows at the query like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "I want to be a hero so that I can save people… To keep them safe with a smile on my face so that they know everything is going to be alright."

Pan looked at him thoughtfully, "Oh really? Can you fight?"

"What?"

"Can you fight? I mean, if you want to save people then you have to be able to not only defend others but yourself as well." He explained, his words distracting Izuku for a moment as they turned down a different path without him noticing. "From the look of you, it doesn't seem like you've trained at all."

Izuku sighed and tightened his grip on the straps of his backpack, contemplating what the older was saying, "I… I've never really thought about that..."

"That's okay," Pan assured. "That's why I lead you out here!"

"Huh?"

It was then that Midoriya noticed that during their conversation, they'd veered off from the path he usually took to get home. "Wait this is…" he continued, looking around at all the garbage. "This is Dagobah Municipal Beach; It used to be a popular place for families before people began to illegally dump trash in the water."

"That's right. Instead of actually doing anything about it though, everyone ignored the problem until it got so bad that the area became inaccessible. People these days usually leave the dirty work to the heroes, but if it won't get them much screen time then the heroes don't bother with it." Pan explained as he led Midoriya down the concrete steps. "That's why I think this will be the perfect spot to help you build some muscle. You're going to make this entire beach trash free again!"

"THE ENTIRE BEACH!" Izuku exclaimed animatedly, "There are things out here three times bigger than I am."

Pan turned around to the smaller green haired youth, smiling encouragingly. "Right, but I didn't say I wouldn't help out too. You'll see, by the time the entrance exam comes around you'll be ready for it, what do you say?"

Midoriya contemplated the offer, not finding too much to argue with at that point. Finally, he agreed to the idea and they began cleaning up the beach that evening, starting with smaller items that he could more easily move.

After a couple of hours, they sat together on a bench and Izuku scribbled down a makeshift training schedule out of the ideas and thoughts Pan offered. He was nervous about the sheer amount of effort he'd need to put in to make this work, but couldn't deny that it was better than giving up.

As the sun began to set Pan stood up. "Let's get you home," he stated. "Meet me here tomorrow after school and we'll start for real."

The next week of school progressed just like any other, everyone ignoring his presence while he did his best to not incur Bakugo's wrath. Each time the bell rang, he'd already have his backpack packed and would head to the exit, hoping to make it out without any problems. Unfortunately, Katsuki had noticed Izuku's behavior. His hands sparked and crackled with unspoken anger and suspicion, though he never asked what the 'little nerd' was up to.

Midoriya had already told his mother that he would be hanging out with a new friend after school from now on, so he headed straight for the beach. He knew she was thrilled to hear that he'd found himself a friend, so much so that she didn't really question why he'd started to come home painfully exhausted. All he'd had to say was that they were teaching him how to defend himself and she'd trusted him.

Izuku ran along the sidewalk, a smile breaking out as he caught sight of a familiar trench coat wearing figure leaning against the sandbar railing. "H-hey!" he called, slowing as he approached the elder teen.

"You made it," Pan said with a casual smile as he stood up and ruffled Midoriya's hair, earning himself a look of frustration from the younger teen. He laughed heartily, combing his fingers through the wild curls once more. "Shall we get started?"

I hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think!
I've got a lot planned for this fic and I'll hopefully post regularly!
Thank you for reading!