Chapter 2

Both teens were sat down on a nearby wooden bench overlooking the shoreline. Their 'lost in the moment' mood was gone as they sat in relative silence once again. Izuku bit his lip as he desperately tried to think of something to talk about.

Shoko on the other hand, fidgeted slightly as the silence persisted. She didn't feel like commenting on it and settled on staring at the small waves that enveloped the shore before receding. Boys were supposed to take the initiative anyways right? At Least that's what she'd heard.

To his chagrin, Izuku's social anxiety was working overtime. He contemplated on whether he should ask the generic ice breaker questions like, "What's your favorite food?", or "You got any siblings?", but he just couldn't pull the courage in the end.

The two sat in horror as they realized the other wasn't going to take the initiative.

Izuku knew his social anxiety wasn't just going to disappear after befriending Todoroki-san but still, it was disappointing knowing he couldn't even ask his new friend a simple question without freezing up.

"I think i'm going to return home if that's okay Midoriya-san", Shoko said as she stood up. She brushed some dust off her skirt and turned to walk away.

"W-wait!"

Shoko turned around at the sudden outburst.

Izuku hesitated, "I'm s-sorry Todoroki-san". He lowered his eyes in shame, "I'm hopeless when it comes to this stuff. Even though i'm really bad at holding a conversation, y-you'll still be my friend right?"

Shoko felt a little sad at how genuinely upset Midoriya was at his social ineptitude. "You know it's okay Midoriya-san, I'm really not great with these situations either…", she said as she unconsciously stroked her hair that was resting on her shoulder. "And don't worry, I also want to be your friend Midoriya-san… y-you are my first after all". The heterochromic girl added, faintly blushing at how weird that sounded.

Izuku however didn't notice her slightly red tinged cheeks as he sighed in relief. Admittedly, hearing that somebody else wanted him to be their friend made him feel warm on the inside.

"Well, it was nice seeing you again so soon Midoriya-san, but I really should return home. I can't fall behind on academics and my own training before the new school year starts", Shoko said.

"Yeah i'll see you later Todoroki-san", Izuku replied, giving a little wave and feeling a little happier.

Shoko returned the gesture before walking away and disappearing around a corner.

The green haired teen however just collapsed back on the bench and stared at the shore with a tired smile. He wasn't sure how much his brain could have handle, this was more social interaction than he had throughout pretty much all of junior high. Being quirkless sure didn't give him any points on the popularity poll.

Checking his watch he noticed that it was going on three o'clock. All Might said he could have a day off. Maybe he did deserve the rest day after the extra work he'd secretly been doing. It was extremely tempting but repeating his dream in his head pumped him up again. He was going to become like All Might and save people with a fearless smile, so he had to work harder than everybody else, simple as that. Izuku clenched his fist in determination as he headed back towards the beach. There's no rest for the weary.

"Midoriya!"

"Y-yes sensei!?" Izuku stammered as he snapped to his feet. The class unanimously chuckled at the green haired boy. A boy one row ahead of Izuku with spiky blond hair sneered. His name was Bakugou Katsuki, or as Izuku liked to call, Kaa-chan.

"So Deku can't even pay attention in class huh?" Bakugou scoffed and sent a superior look over his shoulder. "That means you really aren't a nerd, you're just a loser!". The class erupted into more chuckles making Bakugou smirk.

"Alright pipe down Bakugou", the teacher called, already used to Bakugou's 'antics'. "Now Midoriya can you tell me what method i'd use for this problem?"

Izuku looked at the board and sighed in relief when he realized it was just basic trigonometry. "Ahh...you w-would use arc cosine sensei", he stuttered. He looked around as he took his seat, the class obviously wasn't happy that he actually knew the answer as they were still hungry for something to laugh at. Now fully awake, Izuku stared intently at the teacher determined not to zone out again. Last night had been arduous because he completely forgot about the homework packet he'd been ignoring in favor of training and had to do it all after dinner.

As he felt more confident that he wasn't going to zone out, he returned to squeezing the hand grip under his desk and very silently tapping his feet. Izuku didn't really like school. Ofcourse he liked learning new things and whatnot, but his top priority was to train to his absolute limits and school seemed to just be a bit of a waste of 7 hours of the day. As a compromise, he bought a hand grip exerciser and started to quietly tap his feet during class. This would let him write down what the teacher was saying with whatever hand was free since he was ambidextrous (didn't have a dominant hand) while exercising his forearm and shin muscles.

Izuku was just glad the school year was ending soon. The upcoming March 25th and the start of spring break would mark the end of of the third semester and he would finally be free. However he fully planned to spend those days of freedom to continue training for the U.A exams that would follow shortly after.

Suddenly, the bell rung interrupting the teacher mid sentence. "Stop packing up we're not finished writing the equation", the teacher commanded.

The class groaned and many kids had to fish through their bag to get their notebook back out. Some even shot the teacher some rude glares.

Izuku just frowned as he just wanted to get home for training. He was meeting All Might at the beach after school, the man even told him that today he was going to be given some special training. He quickly scribbled down the formula the teacher had written on the board and shoved his notebook into his bag. Now ready, the young boy then took off after getting a nod from the teacher gaining some envious looks from some students who were still flipping to the right page.

Izuku was hurrying home as he didn't like sticking around school after the last bell rung. Other than the extra time for studying and working out, he also wanted to avoid his old childhood friend. Katsuki was a complicated topic. He remembered as a child, Kaa-chan was still kind of rude and arrogant but he was still his friend. Now though, even though Izuku had reached out to be his friend, he could tell Katsuki didn't reciprocate his feelings. Nevertheless, Izuku Midoriya was determined to keep trying to be friends with him just like when they were younger.

Ever since the slime incident though, Katsuki hadn't been teasing or harassing Izuku near as much. Even though he still through a few verbal jabs here and there during class, he pretty much isolated Izuku. Izuku was actually happy with this result. It wasn't friendship, not even close, but this atleast allowed him to focus on what really mattered.

As Izuku neared his house he checked his watch and saw he arrived ten minutes before he usually did. Who could blame him, whatever All Might had in store for him had to be awesome.

He rushed inside the Midoriya residence and quickly took off his shoes. "Mom i'm home!" Izuku called out while rushing up the stairs. Once inside, he hastily shrugged off his school uniform and put on his tracksuit. He left his room and went to the kitchen to get the water bottle he left in the fridge overnight. "Mom i'm gonna head out to the beach to train!

"Alright honey stay safe!" his mom's voice called out from the laundry room.

After shouting a quik, "I will!" and putting on his running shoes, Izuku headed outside and took off towards the beach in a jog. As he ran he wondered what All Might meant when he said special training. Was All Might passing on one for all the him? No...there's no way, it's too early. Maybe he was going to teach him how to be strong mentally instead of just physically or something. He was interrupted from his musing however when he noticed that he was nearing the beach.

Izuku slowed down to a walk to catch his breath as he looked around. All Might was nowhere to be seen until, CRASH, his mentor came plummeting from the sky landing on the nearby pavement creating a shockwave in the ground. The boy stumbled back in surprise at the grand entrance and looked up at All Might in his muscle form. "A-all Might?"

All Might chuckled and brushed some of the dust off that got thrown up from his landing. "How'd you like my entrance young Midoriya, though in my prime that shockwave would have been ten times cooler looking."

"All might… that was really cool but, what are we gonna do about the mess?" Izuku asked as he looked at the uprooted cement that was now scattered across the ground.

"Teachers have to show off to their students sometimes you know, it's pretty much a universal rule in my book. He looked around at the cement that was not scattered across the empty parking lot and sweatdropped. "T-this is a bit more of a mess than what I was expecting, maybe the cement was super old or something… ehh whatever I have a good friend that owes me a favor who can easily clean this mess up, i'm sure he'll be able to run down here at some point." All Might said as he finally let his muscle form dissipate.

"Anyways young Midoriya, to get to the point, you've been doing excellently thus far. Your progress on cleaning up the beach has actually surpassed my estimations", All Might praised as he patted Izuku's back. "I can see you're already warmed up young man, follow me to the shore".

All Might walked down to sand without explaining further and turned to see Izuku stumbling after him. "So far most of what you've done is endurance and strength training. However most villains won't be taken down with just brute force. Today young Midoriya, i'm going to teach you how to fight", All Might said, getting into a basic fighting stance. He wasn't going to use muscle form for this training. Even if his young student had packed on some muscle, he was still an adult and had battled countless villains.

"Now, young man...hit me".

It took a few moment of processing before Izuku obeyed and nervously raised his fists. "B-but All Might, you're still in your normal form and I don't want to hurt you", Izuku said. He didn't want to hurt his teacher while he was in his weakened state, what if there was an emergency or something?

"Come now young Midoriya, you don't give me enough credit. Trust me, even in my normal form i'm stronger than I look", All Might replied.

Gulping, Izuku took a tentative step towards his mentor. All Might was right, he couldn't underestimate him. This was the number one pro hero he was going to fight. He took a few more steps closer realizing All Might wasn't going to make a move. What should he do? There's no way a straight attack would work. He had to test the waters first, he had no idea how strong All Might actually was in this form.

"Well young man? Wha-" However All Might was cut off as Izuku quickly advanced and threw a left jab. All Might moved his head back to evade the strike and saw a right haymaker flying towards his head. He quickly deflected it, sending the green haired boy off balance.

Izuku quickly backpedaled regaining his balance. All Might had dodged and deflected his punches. Maybe he wasn't strong enough to block attack? No he couldn't assume that, he needed more information.

"Don't overcommit to strikes you can't guarantee Midoriya, next time I won't let you escape that easily."

"Yes sensei!" Izuku called out while once again advancing towards All Might. He feinted a right punch and watched as All Might raised his arms to block with the blow. Now with the midsection opened, Izuku lunged forwards for a tackle. If he could take All Might to the ground, he could tip the scales in his favor.

However All Might wrapped his arms around Izuku's back and thrusted his legs behind him making Izuku buckle under the sudden weight on his back.

Izuku grunted as he was crushed into the sand under All Might. He tried to squirm out of his teacher's grip but to no avail. All Might then snaked his arms around Izuku's neck to form a choke hold.

The green haired teen sputtered and wheezed in panic as his exygon was cut off due to All Might roughly pressing his forearm into his larynx (Adam's Apple). He desperately clawed at All Might's arms in attempt to break free. It was only after another two seconds did All Might relent and release Izuku from the hold.

He was coughing while desperately trying to suck as much air back into his lungs as he stared at the sand on his hands and knees. The feeling of being choked out was...unpleasant to say the least. However what disappointed Izuku the most was how fast he panicked once his air flow was cut off. If that was a real villain, he very well could have died right then and there.

"Going in for a tackle wasn't the worst idea in theory young Midoriya, however you didn't have a plan if I countered it did you?" All Might glared like a school teacher would handing out a detention. "In the real world the consequences would be much more dire. Try to think ahead more young Midoriya, I know you have the brains for it."

"Also just for future reference, choke holds like the one I just used on you is a very efficient way to pacify a villain without having to knock them out the conventional way. Though you must be very careful for if applied incorrectly, you could seriously hurt someone", All Might added.

Izuku rubbed his neck and grimaced, he could definitely see why choking someone out would be an efficient way to incapacitate someone. Izuku shook his head to rid himself of the phantom pain of getting choked, he stood back up facing All Might with his fists clenched. "One more time please, All Might".

All Might laughed boisterously at the determination in Izuku's eyes. "Very well young Midoriya. Now come, i'm going to teach you how to correctly use that choke hold I just used."

The sun was setting below the horizon as Izuku Midoriya slowly walked home. He was so beaten that he couldn't find it within himself to jog home like he usually would. Who knew someone as frail as All Might did in his normal form could pack such a punch. Granted All Might was an adult, but still, Izuku had packed on some decent muscle since the start of his mentor's training regimen. Not to mention all the blood he spits out every once and awhile.

He was stirred from his thoughts however as he felt a vibration in his pocket. Taking out his phone he saw that his mom had texted him.

"Izuku while you're out, could you pick up a new bottle of ketchup and some eggs at the supermarket? I'll pay you back" The text read. He sighed as he sent a quick "sure mom" through his phone.

He always kept his wallet and his phone on him when he left the house. Inko Midoriya sometimes took advantage of this and had her son run an errand or two while he was out.

"See Izuku, this is why I had a child", Inko would say jokingly to her son.

It took Izuku about ten minutes to reach the supermarket. He located the baking aisle and picked out a carton of eggs. However he froze as he spotted spiky blonde hair that could only belong to one person. Standing behind him was Katsuki Bakugou, who was currently glaring at the price tag of a bag of flour.

Bakugou also froze as he noticed a certain loser staring at him. He scoffed, why'd the nerd have to be here. All he wanted to do was get these damn groceries in peace so his stupid mom could finally make dinner.

Izuku gulped, "h-hey Kaa-chan, how are y-you?"

"What's it to you nerd?" Bakugou spat.

"S-sorry for asking ahaha…" Izuku replied nervously as he slowly creeped away with eggs now in hand. There hadn't been any major incidents with Katsuki for a while now and he planned to keep it that way.

"Whatever loser", Bakugou said as he began to trudge away. "Now if only I could find the damn pizza sauce", he muttered to himself.

Overhearing the blond teen, Izuku called out. "Hey I saw the pizza sauce in aisle 4". He saw Katsuki change his course towards aisle 4 without acknowledging him. However Izuku was totally fine with that as he started to make his way towards where he knew the ketchup would be. All that mattered was that he managed to help out his childhood friend, even though he didn't get any thanks.

After paying the cashier about 940 yen, Izuku started his trek back home once again. He idly thought about the homework he was assigned for the weekend and wondered if he should do a little tonight to lessen the workload. In the end he decided against it, who did homework on a friday? He'd just do it tomorrow.