Edit: Updated at 07.07.19

Thanks to RottedKarma for beta-ing this chapter. It's a lot more readable now ;-)

15th of May 20XX

10:34 a.m. in the Midoriya household

Midoriya Izuku was confused.

That by itself was not an uncommon occurrence. At the age of four, he had a naturally strong curiosity that frequently left him confused from day to day. This admittedly had brought him into trouble more than once, which was something Kacchan would point out at any available opportunity. Though to be fair, he did manage to get himself into some seriously stupid situations like that one time he wanted to test if bees could be tamed and leashed.

They couldn't.

But anyways, this confusion was special in the way that the subject of it was not something around him that had him confused. Rather, it was about …

"Mommy, I'm jelly!"

Midoriya Inko was crying.

That by itself was not an uncommon occurrence. As someone who naturally turned on the waterworks quite easily, she frequently found herself crying about things both sad and joyful from day to day.

But anyways, this crying was special in the way that the subject of it was not one she came across on a daily basis. After all, you don't find it every day that your child manifests his Quirk.

And the fact that her Izuku basically looked like an enormous gummy bear did little to damp her enthusiasm.

"Izukuuu! That's wonderful!" she cried. Her son looked up to her in puzzlement. His whole body was bright green and slightly translucent, though his clothes had stayed in their original state. Even his eyeballs had turned monochromatic, and he seemed on the verge of tears although his mother had reassured him (which was, avowedly, the same way she had reacted when her Quirk had manifested at the age of three).

"What's happening to me?" Even his voice seemed a bit jellylike, if that were even possible. "I feel strange."

Inko had to physically restrain herself from bursting into tears, just in case this substance reacted with water – Heaven forbid that she accidentally dissolved her Izuku out of joy.

"Everything's fine, sweetie." She crouched down and gently ran her fingers through his unruly curls. It definitely felt like jelly. "That has to be your Quirk!"

Seldom had the face of her boy lit up like it did now. "I… I have a Quirk!" he exclaimed.

Izuku was overhappy. He had a Quirk. He had a Quirk. He had a Quirk, and that meant … "I can be a hero!"

Izuku bounced up and down in excitement … and let go of the sweet in his palm he'd been holding while being in jelly-form. Instantly, the green color vanished, and Midoriya Izuku, default mode, flopped onto the floor – only for his skin to turn into bright, slightly grained wood. The very same wood, in fact, that said floor was made of.

Inko's eyes widened as she tried to process what just happened. That … "Iiizuukuu!" She plucked her son from the floor and whirled him around, the boy squealing in delight. "You know what, I'm booking an appointment with the doctor right now to find out exactly what you can do! You want that?"

Inko was beyond elated. She actually was relieved, too – Izuku apparently was a late bloomer; most children in his kindergarten had already discovered their Quirks. Her son finally activating his own was something she had wished for since the son of her long-time friend, Bakugo Mitsuki, had developed his Explosion Quirk.

Katsuki, according to both his own mother and Izuku, had become increasingly abrasive and haughty lately, viewing anyone else his age as inferior due to being weaker than him. Still, now that Izuku had a Quirk on his own, maybe they would grow closer again (and, though she felt a little abashed for the thought, she hoped that her son would be able to mellow his friend's somewhat explosive attitude).

Speaking of which, Izuku had grabbed the phone, obviously planning to tell "Kacchan" about his newfound Quirk.

"Izuku!" she called. Her son reluctantly tore his eyes away from the screen. "How about we go and visit Aunt Mitsuki and Kacchan?" she proposed. "Do you want to show them your Quirk in person?"

Izuku grinned from ear to ear.

11:13 a.m. in the living room of the Bakugo household

"… and if I let go of it, I instantly get back to normal!" Proudly, Izuku demonstrated his newfound ability. "I can do it in just a part of my body, too!"

"That's great!" Bakugo Katsuki's fiery eyes lit up. "Can you do that with anything? Like, you think you could transform into a diamond?"

Izuku hesitantly nodded. "Probably. So far I only did it with a WakuWaku and the floor. Oh, and the bag of course."

Said bag, consisting of dark colored cotton, currently laid in his arms. Izuku concentrated himself and awaited the tickling but not unpleasant sensation that came with the activation of his Quirk (he had practiced this the whole ride to the Bakugo household, giggling stupidly while becoming cotton and jelly again and again). A moment after, his arms had taken on the exact same dark brown of the bag they were holding.

"So, you copy the molecular makeup of the material you touch and then reproduce it in your body?" Mitsuki inquired. Izuku blinked. Sighing, she rephrased, "Your body becomes a copy of the material that you touch?"

The boy nodded excitedly. "I think so, Auntie. Well, I don't know if it's as strong as the original is, but …" He pulled at his left arm, and it stretched slightly. "I became cotton!"

Bakugo grinned. "Alright, Deku! Then you'll become my sidekick when I've got my own hero agency! If you carry a diamond with you constantly, you could rescue everyone out of a collapsing building while I kill the villains!"

"You won't kill anyone, brat!"

"Don't tell me what to do, old hag!"

"Not in this tone!"

"Shut your trap! I talk how I want to!"

Taken aback by the sudden change in the two Bakugos (with a resigned Bakugo Masaru trying to calm the bickering blondes) Izuku whispered, "Do you think they will ever change?"

"Well", Inko answered hesitantly, "I got to know Mitsuki at college, and she remained more or less the same over the years …"

"Anyway", Katsuki continued as if he hadn't just shouted at his mother, "I hereby demand you as my future sidekick, Deku! So from today on, we'll prepare for our hero routine!"

"Okay, Kacchan!" Izuku agreed, eyes sparkling.

"Boys …" Inko cautiously interrupted, "Don't you think it's a bit early to …"

"Oh, c'mon, Inko. Don't be such a spoilsport," Mitsuki exhorted. "Besides, it's not as if they'd listen to you right now."

True. Katsuki had already started to drag Izuku towards his room, announcing that they'd now think up "one hell of a training regimen - and don't be such a crybaby, Deku!" Inko, suddenly quite tired, rubbed her face. "I can't escape the feeling that this won't end well…" Masaru seemed inclined to agree with her.

"Ah, rubbish," Mitsuki said dismissively. "Don't cha remember the bee incident? They quickly stopped making leashes after Izuku came home looking like a bubonic plague sufferer, didn't they?" The blonde woman roared with laughter. "And besides, Katsuki's so fixated on being a hero, I'd be a fool to try and stop him."

"Yes, but Izuku … he discovered his Quirk barely an hour ago, and it seems so … fitting, a Quirk customized for hero work. And now he's already making plans for a training regimen. I know they're four and have somewhat naïve imaginations about how hero business works, but …"

"No." Mitsuki said in a tight voice. "Inko, they are young, okay. But – Katsuki's already starting to rebel against me, that much you've probably noticed. He's really dead set on becoming a hero, and really, why should I discourage him? I know you view the whole hero business somewhat skeptically, but at least in this regard you should try not to patronize Izuku. Let him make his own decisions."

Seeing Inko's hesitance, her expression softened somewhat. "I know you only want the best for Izuku, Inko. I'd never insinuate anything else. But, if it's his dream, then don't keep him off. No, support him in pursuing it! Push him, if he starts slacking off! Well, that's what I'd do anyways," she added thoughtfully. "And I saw that look on his face, too. Every time he starts rambling about heroes, he just looks so damn happy. Especially when he scrawls notes in that little notebook Katsuki bought him so he would 'stop plastering his room with these fucking post-it's'. I wonder where he gets that foul language from though …" Inko wisely kept her mouth shut, but Mitsuki did have a point with what she was saying.

"Anyway, I guess what I wanted to say is that if he sets his sights high, don't make him look at the ground. Buy him some climbing gear and encourage him with everything you've got." Mitsuki laughed. "Who'd have thought it? I actually made a metaphor. So stop being a sourpuss, and help yourself to some nachos!"

Inko glanced at the crisps bowl and took some, though she was careful to avoid the salsa. With Mitsuki's and Katsuki's tastes for spicy food, it'd probably be extract from some exotic chili ilk she was not inclined to try. Not that the precaution measure would have achieved anything, since poor Inko soon learned that the salsa was not the spicy component this time. The nachos were.

Upstairs, in Katsuki's room

"Alright, so at nine in the morning, we both meet at that big cherry tree near the woods," Katsuki summarized, scribbling a skewed timetable on his board. The blonde boy had donned a military cap and jet-black sunglasses, thoroughly enjoying his role as 'Sergeant K'. "We can take the two extras with us, Fingers and Wings, though they're hardly hero material. Maybe we should take in one of them as secretary later on." Katsuki laughed brashly.

"You know," Izuku objected tentatively, "they do have names."

"Do they?" said Katsuki. "I never bothered to learn them."

"Come on, Kacchan, that's mean."

"Oh, please," he drawled. "Fingers' got as much character as you'd expect from someone with a Quirk like his, and Wings would be much more interesting if he wasn't so fat that he can hardly fly. Now stop being such a deku, Deku."

With that topic resolved (in the typical Bakugo-esque fashion) they continued fine-tuning Katsuki's "HOMICIDAL EXCERSIZE PLAN OF EXPLOSION HELL" (as stated by the bold heading in fierce red) with Izuku vibrating in excitement.

Actually, excitement was an understatement; Izuku was deliriously happy. Not only did he get his Quirk (he still wanted to experiment on it but told himself that he'd have years to explore it, so he restrained himself), but it actually seemed really cool – converging his body to anything he touched was something he hadn't heard of before at all.

And, most importantly, his relationship with Kacchan was restored practically overnight! And he genuinely seemed interested in his Quirk – there was no sign of the conceited bully-like Bakugo; he was nearly acting like he did before his explosion Quirk manifested.

"… and after that, we also have to work on our Quirks," Katsuki announced, scrawling "Quirk training" in three of the six "afternoon" columns. "When's your doctor's appointment?"

"It shouldn't be long until it's due," Izuku explained while trying to remember what his mother said. "Tomorrow or in two days or something like that. Mommy said the doctor was curious about my Quirk, since it's 'mutated' as far as I remember."

"Alright, then tell me what you got from your appointment and we'll plan our Quirk training," Bakugo instructed. "But we'll start physical training tomorrow anyway, alright?" Izuku nodded fiercely. "Good, because we both want to go to U.A., don't we?" Bakugo proclaimed proudly.

"Yes!" Izuku squealed, on the brink of tears once more.

"But seriously, quit being such a crybaby; it's such a pain in the ass."

A/N: Alright, this is the first chapter of my first fanfiction. I've read stories of this fandom for a while now and decided to try and contribute something myself. I really hope I did the characters justice so far, and I'll try to keep anyone in character - of course, with some AU alterations. If you find grammar mistakes or typos, please alert (English is not my first language).

Constructive Criticism is welcome, flames aren't.

So that's it for today, and remember to go beyond ... PLUS ULTRA (sorry, I love that catchphrase)

Ramses

P.S. Thanks to ILiekFishes for pointing out the problem in the paragraph structure of the dialogue!