Life was unfair. That's what Izuku had concluded after much experimentation with his quirk. The other thing he came to conclude about life, is that inevitably it goes on.

Years passed, and Izuku's life fell into a steady rhythm. He went to school, he avoided Kacchan, he went home, stopped to watch a battle if there was one, spent time with his mother, and studied before going to bed.

A couple of things tended to break up the monotony. Izuku couldn't always avoid Kacchan of course, and he'd often end up being verbally or physically assaulted by his former friend after class. Heck, sometimes it happened during class. Thankfully Kacchan kept it to mean comments while there were lots of people around; Izuku would have hated for bystanders to get hurt from Kacchan fighting with him. The teachers sometimes tried to scold Kacchan for his words, but most of the time they let it slide. The staff seemed to have accepted long ago that nothing they did would change Kacchan's behavior.

Izuku didn't hold that against the teachers, not really. Kacchan could be both an unstoppable force and an immovable object depending on his mood. Besides, Izuku deserved every ounce of former friend's ire.

Izuku could not stand for it when Kacchan aimed his vitriol at other people though. He may have deserved Kacchan's abuse, but no one else had hurt him like Izuku had. Izuku stood in Kacchan's path when he started to hurt others, knowing that it would cause his attention to be put solely on Izuku himself.

Thankfully he didn't have to be a human shield for very long. Parents started calling the school, wanting to know if the student who hurt their child had been punished. After so many incidents the school threatened Kacchan with suspension if he didn't start holding himself back. Kacchan cared too much about going to UA after middle school to risk a suspension, so he went back to using Izuku as his punching bag. His own mom probably would have called the school as well, if he ever let her see the bruises.

The other thing that broke up routine was when Izuku occasionally came up with a new test for his quirk.

Those occurrences were much more rare compared to his clashes with Kacchan. After his original manic test period his ideas for what to do with his quirk began to dwindle, but he did manage to parse out a few more details.

For example, he discovered that he could only direct the replacement death to something that was within his sight. He tried placing his target bug out of sight and then using his 'hyper focus' on the memory of it, but he always failed to change anything. He did discover that any level of visual was enough though. He was able to direct the replacement death how he wanted when he used his phone to look around a corner at his target. It had to be live feed though, it wouldn't work with just a picture or past video.

One of the more disturbing aspects of his quirk came to light when he tried to use his hyper focus to kill the insect he'd brought back to life, rather than just touching it again like usual. He figured being able to stop replacement death from a distance could be useful if he ever accidentally used his ability on something other than bugs.

He expected the bug he'd touched to drop dead after he focused for a few seconds. But instead his vision grew dark and when it brightened again it was like he was looking through a kaleidoscope. There were multiple images of everything, and he was surrounded by the tallest plants he'd ever seen. The fractured images bounced around and then there was a bug as big as he was and it was biting him and there was a dull pain in his abdomen- and then he was back.

Izuku had blinked rapidly, making sure his eyes were working right. He realized he was still in his chosen alley with his experiment set up. The closest bug to the original had died, as usual. He set up the experiment again, and ended up with a very similar 'dream'. This one ended differently though, with enormous unseen pressure. Izuku spent quite a while puzzling over what exactly happened when he focused on the being he'd brought back. His best theory was that doing so allowed him to see their last few moments of life. The first bug had died in a fight with another insect, while second had been crushed.

He made a note of this in his journal and then did his best not to think about it.

There was one truly enjoyable thing that had come as the result of all his quirk testing, the creation of additional quirk journals. Despite having given up on being a hero himself, Izuku was still obsessed with quirks. He'd start mumbling to himself while watching heroes work and fight villains, trying to figure out precisely how different quirks worked and if they could be used in other ways. One day it occurred to him that he could start keeping journals like he did for his own quirk, rather than just jotting down his thoughts on whatever paper was nearby. Before long he had an entire collection of them taking up space on his bookshelf. He kept the one for his own quirk hidden behind them.

His quirk journals also inspired his new goal in life, partially at least. Izuku watched the news every night, which commonly featured villain attacks and interviews with pro heroes. He noticed that many heroes, be they well known or obscure, took a moment to thank everyone at their hero agency at the end of interviews. His curiosity peaked, Izuku decided to look into what kind of positions were offered at hero agencies. There were a lot more options than he realized.

He found a website that posted job openings at various hero agencies. A lot of the positions dealt with public relations, which he'd been expecting. Image was important to pro heroes, and someone had to schedule media appearances and such while the heroes were out fighting crime. But there were also positions that called for business classes, statistic analysis, data management and almost all of them cited 'Graduation from a hero school's Department of Management or General Studies' as a preferred trait for applicants to have.

In all his obsessing over becoming a hero and getting into UA, he'd never looked that closely at what all courses were available at the school. Izuku did so now, and he found that UA had both of those Departments. According to the UA official website, the entry to those departments was based solely on the written test performance and previous grades.

Izuku felt something bubble up in his chest the more he read. A warmth he hadn't felt since he'd accepted that he couldn't become a hero. His actions made him unsuitable to stand on the same level as people like All Might or Present Mic or Kamui Woods, but what if he shot for a few steps lower? If he couldn't become a hero himself, then he could still help people by helping the heroes, right? Izuku was great with numbers and data, not just recording but also extrapolating. His quirk journals were a testament to that. He could remember every single public fight All Might had been involved in, and had a good catalog of all the major villain fights in his lifetime and which heroes had participated in them.

This might actually be something he could do. This would be a way for him to still go to his dream school!

He told his Mom about what he'd discovered over dinner one night, eagerly explaining the various jobs one could get on the sidelines of the hero business. She frowned at first, which confused him until she said:

"Are you sure you don't want to be a hero anymore?"

Oh, that's right. He'd never actually told he wasn't aiming to be a hero anymore; he'd just stopped talking about it.

"I'm sure Mom. I guess I just realized I needed to start thinking realistically. I can't be a hero with my...quirk status, but I really think this is something I could do. Helping out the heroes would still be pretty cool, right?"

She smiled proudly at him. "That does sound pretty cool, and you are bound to make it amazing! A smart boy like you, any hero agency would be lucky to have you!"

Izuku blushed. He didn't think words would ever be able to describe how much his mother's support meant to him. "Thanks Mom."

She quickly stood up and moved to embrace Izuku. "But I think what matters most, is that you're doing something that makes you happy."

Izuku had felt lost after he gave up on his childhood dream, but coming up with this new goal gave him a tie to it. He could help people this way, even if it was by proxy. That's more than he'd hoped for recently, and it made him very happy indeed.

Kacchan, however, was not nearly as pleased to hear the news.

The teacher just had to go and bring up that Izuku was the other student in class who was planning to apply to UA. When Kacchan heard that, he whirled on Izuku so fast that the students sitting next to them barely had time to get out of the way.

"What?! I'm going to be the only kid from this shitty school going to UA! Were you bullshitting me when you said that you weren't trying to be a hero anymore?!" Kacchan snarled at him.

"No! I wasn't lying! I'm going to apply to UA for the General and Management departments. You'll still be the only one here going for the hero course! I'm not trying to go against you, honest!"

Thankfully the teacher intervened before the fight could go any further. Izuku knew that his old friend wouldn't let that be the end of it though, so he was hardly surprised when Kacchan and his friends/lackeys cornered him after class was let out.

"What the fuck were you going on about Deku?" Kacchan demanded.

"Huh?"

"That stuff about general department and management, the fuck was that?"

"O-oh, well, UA is most known for the hero classes of course, but they also have a General Department and a Management Department for people who want to work with heroes but not be one themselves. I was thinking, maybe, that if I graduated with classes from those departments then I could work at a hero agency." Izuku fiddled with the quirk journal still sitting on his desk. "I'm pretty good at making observations, at least I think I am, so I was thinking that if I got more training in that then maybe I could finally put them to some good use, and help heroes find new ways to fight villains, or at least help the agency help them-"

Izuku was getting dangerously close to 'extensive mumbling' territory, which Kacchan must have sensed because he cut Izuku off.

"Those fucking journals again?! You're even dumber than I thought Deku! Who the fuck would want to listen to the dumbass ideas of a quirkless loser? And where the hell do you get off thinking you could tell pro heroes what to do?!"

Izuku blinked in confusion. "What-but-I didn't mean it like-"

Kacchan snatched the journal out of Izuku's hands. He slapped it between his palms and activated his quirk, covering the journal with burns and reducing parts to ash. Izuku's heart stuttered seeing his hard work, and the results of his one talent, being destroyed. Before Izuku could move to stop him, Kacchan threw what was left of the journal out the window.

"That's what I think of your shitty observations Deku. Go ahead and try to show off at UA, you'll just end up embarrassing yourself." With that, Kacchan and his followers left.

Izuku waited just long enough to make sure the group was gone before barreling out of the room. He made his way down the stairs as fast as he could, making sure to take a round about way so he wouldn't run into Kacchan again, and found the area of the grounds his journal would have landed in. It was just his luck that it had landed halfway into a small pond.

'If I get it home quickly and dry it out, I should be able to salvage some of what I wrote.' Izuku thought to himself. He'd have to try and recreate the rest from memory.

Izuku tried not to let Kacchan's words affect him as he walked home. It's not like the boy's lack of support was anything new to Izuku, but he couldn't just make the words go away either. Maybe he really was being too prideful by thinking he had anything to offer to a hero agency. Wouldn't it make more sense for the heroes themselves to have already thought of everything he had? They were the ones who knew their own quirks best after all.

Izuku didn't have time to doubt himself further, because he was suddenly surrounded by a cruel voice and viscous substance. The slimy material was shoved into his mouth and nose, making breathing impossible. That didn't stop his body from trying though, and it's efforts made him suck in more of the disgusting fluid. His vision was dimming fast, and a distant, hysterical part of his brain wondered if his own quirk would be able to bring him back from the dead.

Izuku wasn't sure what happened next, but it felt like a small explosion had gone off. The next thing he knew he was free and gasping for air on the ground. Something turned him on his side, which allowed him to cough up whatever was clogging his lungs. Someone was rubbing back, and murmuring reassuringly to him. It felt like an hour before he was able to really breath again, but it was probably only a minute. The reassuring voice asked if he was okay, and Izuku managed to nod. The voice then told him to rest for a minute, until his breathing was back to normal. Izuku was too exhausted to think of doing anything else.

He tried to piece together what happened while his breathing evened out. The voice he heard earlier could have been a villain, so did that mean he had just been saved by a hero? Izuku heard movement behind him, meaning that the possible hero was still there. He should really thank them for saving him. Izuku turned over to do just that, and nearly had a heart attack.

All Might. All Might was here. He was here and he probably just saved Izuku's life and even stayed around afterward to make sure Izuku was okay because he was amazing like that. All Might was... crouched on the ground, looking through Izuku's damaged hero journal.

Self-consciousness spiked, and Izuku made himself sit up.

"Ah! Young man! Thank goodness you are alright! I had feared the worst when I caught you in the clutches of that viscous villain."

"I-yeah, it was-I couldn't-I thought- Thank you so much All Might!" 'Smooth Deku, real smooth.' Izuku thought with a wince.

"It was no trouble my boy! What's important is that you are safe. Do you feel you need any help getting home, or to a doctor?"

"N-no! I feel fine!" Izuku answered without really thinking about it. There had always been so much he wanted to say and ask All Might about if he ever got to meet him. Why wasn't any of it coming now?! "C-could you-can I h-have your-"

"Autograph? Already done!" All Might carefully opened the notebook and showed Izuku the last page. The paper was smudged and battered, but All Might's large signature was very clear.

"OH MY GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Izuku had to stop himself from actually squealing in delight.

"You're quite welcome! Oh, and don't worry about the scoundrel that attacked you. I have him safely contained!" All Might pulled out two large soda bottles filled with a greenish substance; one of them with eyes floating inside. Izuku had no idea how All Might had managed to stuff so much matter into such a small space so quickly, but he wouldn't put anything past the Number 1 Hero.

"That's awesome! You're so amazing All Might! Oh gosh...I always wanted to be a hero just like you when I was younger. I mean, I know I can't, but it's still an honor to meet you!"

All Might had just put the bottled villain in his pants pockets, and looked like he was about to say goodbye and bound away, but hesitated.

"Why can't you be a hero?"

"...because I'm quirkless." Izuku finally replied, guilt writhing in his gut over lying to his idol. All Might's smile stayed in place, but he seemed a bit subdued.

"Ah, I see. That is unfortunate for your dream. However! You should really consider joining the police force. It's just as noble a profession, even if they do get some flack. Plus, I saw some of what you had written in that journal, the police could really benefit from the mind behind those ideas."

Izuku gaped up at his personal hero.

"You...you really think so?" He asked reverently. "I was thinking about working at a hero agency..."

"Also an excellent option! I'll keep an eye out for you in the upcoming years young Midoriya!"

All Might saluted him, and then super jumped out of sight. Izuku continued to stare, even as the resulting wind made a mess of his hair and blew sand in his face.

All Might thought his journal was good. Even damaged, he'd thought it was good! He'd called him by his name too! How did All Might know his name? Oh yeah, it was on the front of his journal.

This was the most amazing day of his life! Izuku carefully gathered up his journal, knowing that he could never throw it out now. It was going to become one of his greatest treasures!

All Might had stayed longer than he should have. He'd known that his time was running out, but couldn't leave such a young fan on words like 'I can't be a hero'. Especially one that had just been attacked like that; it had been a much closer call than All Might would like to admit.

He couldn't regret taking a moment to try and encourage the boy. He knew the pain of being quirkless, and the prejudice had gotten worse as the number of quirkless people dwindled. Plus it had been a good opportunity to advertise his best friend's work. Tsukauchi often complained about the low number of people who applied to the police academy. And he hadn't been lying about the boy's talent; the bit he'd been able to read out of that 'quirk journal' had been impressive.

He could very much regret the fact that his quirk gave out while he was going in for his landing though. He flailed in the air and hit the rooftop rather painfully, but he made it in one piece. It wasn't until he found the roof exit, and made his way down the stairs, that he realized the bottles containing the villain were no longer in his pockets

Izuku felt like he was walking on air as he made his way home. His mood had been officially lifted after his meeting with All Might, and he couldn't wait to go home and tell his Mom all about it. Of course, when he noticed a villain fight going on he couldn't resist trying to get a closer look. He saw Kamui Woods and Desutegoro jumping around, and thought this would be a good opportunity to get some additional notes on them. He'd have to write in the margins of a school journal, so he didn't risk the one that All Might signed.

When Izuku finally made it to the front of the crowd he felt like he was going to have a heart attack yet again.

It was the slime villain that All Might had pulled off of him. He didn't know how it could be here, and for once he didn't speculate. He was too distracted over the fact that Kacchan was now the one struggling to breath. Izuku was used to seeing all sorts of expressions on Kacchan; they'd known each other for as long as he could remember. But Izuku had never seen him wear such a look of pure fear and desperation.

Someone had to save Kacchan, and they had to do it NOW. He couldn't last much longer, and Izuku knew that if he saw Kacchan's dead body, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from using his quirk.

He heard the heroes say they were going to wait until someone with a better quirk came along, and felt like he was going to explode. There was no time to wait! Kacchan was dying!

Still, he couldn't deny that what the heroes were trying hadn't been working.

'Think Izuku, think!' he urged himself 'It's the one thing you're good at, think!'

Izuku recalled everything he knew about the quirks available: Detsugoro- Strength Enhancement, Backdraft- Hydrokinesis, Kamui Woods- Lumber. He tore his focus away from Kacchan and onto the villain, quickly analyzing what he saw and what he remembered from All Might's intervention. He could see why Kamui Woods was hesitant to approach, with all the fire and explosions. Backdraft was busy with helping other civilians, and Detsugoro's punches wouldn't be very effective against this villain's body type...

'The eyes!' Izuku realized. Every other part of the villain's body constantly changed shape and density, but the eyes were always the same size wherever they ended up. They were even like that when the villain was trapped in the bottle. They could be a weak point!

Izuku shoved his way through the crowd, yelling at them to get out of his way. Izuku must have sounded pretty desperate himself, because most people actually did try to move.

"Detsugoro! Kamui Woods!" Izuku screamed when he finally made it to the barrier Backdraft had set up. They turned to look at him, and were annoyed when they saw who was speaking.

"Kid, you need to stay b-"

"The eyes are a weak spot!" Izuku interrupted Detsugoro.

"What?"

"The eyes are a weak spot! If you hit the villain there it might release Kacchan!"

"How do you know that?" Kamui Woods asked. He looked more intrigued than annoyed now.

Izuku hesitated. He didn't know for sure that the eyes would be a weak spot for this villain, but it was very likely they were. The heroes might not risk attacking based on a civilian's theory though, and if they didn't believe him then Kacchan...

"I saw a hero fighting this villain earlier, and he got him on the run by hitting his eyes!" Izuku yelled, for once not minding the lie. "Detsogoro, you can punch him in the eyes and Kamui, you can use your branches to pull Kacchan out while the villain is distracted!"

"We both want to help kid, but I'm not equipped to be around that much fire." Kamui argued reluctantly, and Detsugoro nodded.

"And I can't pull the kid out on my own if I'm busy wailing on him." The other hero answered.

"Please!" Izuku cried. "You have to try! You're quick Kamui, you can be in and out before the fire is a danger! And without Kacchan he won't be able to cause any more explosions! You can do it! I know you can! Because if you can't my classmate is going to die!"

Something Izuku said must have resonated with the heroes, because they actually looked like they were considering it.

"It might actually work, and we can't afford to wait much longer for back up." Kamui Woods admitted.

"I'm willing to give it one more shot if you are." Detsugoro replied.

With that the pair were off. Kamui Woods used his Lumber to swing around, avoiding the flames as best he could as he got closer. Detsugoro just made a beeline for the struggling pair. The villain saw Detsugoro, and laughed.

"Ha! You stupid? You can't touch me- AHHHHHH!"

The villain screamed as Detsugoro punched the villain hard in the eyes. The moment he did Kamui Woods found a flame free perch and shot his branches out to Kacchan. The wood plunged into the villain's body and started to wrap around Kacchan. The villain writhed and recoiled under Detsugoro's assault. This freed Kacchan's face and allowed him some precious mouthfuls of air, but it also pulled on Kamui Wood's branches. The hero extended his other arm and wrapped it around the street light he was standing on, anchoring himself. He continued to work his branches around Kacchan, then finally called them all back. With the combo of Kamui Wood's pulling and Detsugoro's assault the villains hold on Kacchan slipped, and he was pulled free.

Izuku breathed a deep sigh of relief, his legs almost failing as he watched Kacchan being carried over to the barrier in Kamui Wood's arms. Detsugoro was still fighting the villain on his own, but that was okay because Izuku could hear sirens. Police were approaching, and most likely a couple of heroes with them. Back up had finally arrived.

Kamui Woods placed Kacchan down within the barrier next to Izuku. Kacchan's eyes had widened when he saw his classmate, but before he could say anything Kamui Woods spoke up.

"Kid, the info was appreciated, and I gotta admit the plan worked well. Just don't make a habit of yelling advice during every villain battle, okay?"

Izuku nodded mutely. Kacchan kept looking back and forth between the two, not sure what to make of the interaction. Kamui Woods called Backdraft over to keep an eye on Kacchan till he could be checked out by paramedics, which the hero could now afford to do since police and additional heroes were helping with the civilians. Knowing that Kacchan was safe was enough for Izuku, so he took the opportunity to sneak away and out of the crowd. He didn't notice the skeletal blonde man watching him appreciatively as he went on his way.

Izuke was exhausted when he got home, but he couldn't sleep yet. All Might had complimented his journal today! And then he was actually able to help a couple of heroes save Kacchan! Izuku had never felt more sure about his decision to enter UA, and immediately went to his room to come up with a study plan for the rest of the year. He was going to do everything in his power to ace that entrance exam!

A.N.

Sorry it took so long to get this out. I can't guarantee that the next one will be produced faster, but I'll try. Thanks for reading!

Something I've been contemplating lately: What Hogwarts House would Izuku be sorted into? He's got enough bravery to be Gryfindor, enough ambition to be a Slytherin, his analytic mind and thirst for knowledge would fit well into Ravenclaw, and his loyal and uber helpful nature would also make him a great Hufflepuff. I'm curious to hear other people's thoughts on the subject, as well as any ideas on how other BnHA characters would be sorted.