A/n: Happy Fourth of July! Decided to update just for the holiday. Not much for loud noises, so I tucked in and wrote. A longish chapter ahead… Hope you guys like it!

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Fateful Choices

Izuku worked for nearly twenty-four straight hours at the beach. He didn't sleep and he only took breaks when his body absolutely demanded it. Either his mom or Kacchan brought him food every few hours, but when they saw how close he was to achieving the utterly impossible neither of them could bring themselves to tell him to stop. Because the beach… It was finally clean!

The latest moving truck All Might had parked in the parking lot was completely packed full by this point, so Izuku had to pile up the last of the trash and junk next to it on the boardwalk, but the sand… The sand didn't have a speck of trash left on it!

Izuku stood on this pile of trash, the sun breaking the horizon. The water glittered as the golden orange and pink light danced on the surface of the waves. The sound of the surf rushed in and out. And for as far as the eye could see, the sand stretched pristine in either direction. The wind was cold and clean, carrying the scent of salt. It was absolutely beautiful.

Tears streamed down Izuku's face unbidden. He was exhausted to the point of fainting, but he felt so incredibly proud he couldn't contain it. Throwing his head back, he let out a scream of triumph. "AHHHHH!" Heart thundering, adrenaline and joy filling him to the point of bursting, he let out another soul-deep scream of defiance and victory. "AHHHHHHHHHH!"

The world spun, his head grew faint, and he lost his balance. He fell off the boardwalk wall and dropped nearly fifteen feet to the sand of the beach, but something caught him. He looked up, dizzy and grinning, at All Might in his hero form. The man cradled him in his arms easily.

"Hey, hey, holy crap, kid! Holy… stinking… SUPER CRAP!"

"I did it, All Might," Izuku rasped, tears falling from his eyes. "I cleaned the beach."

All Might grinned down at him and cradled Izuku closer. "Excellent work, young man. Seriously, there's not a single speck of trash left. Only a few minutes to spare, but you exceeded my expectations!"

Izuku was set on his feet. He wobbled a bit, but he found his balance. All Might held out his phone with a photo pulled up. Izuku looked at it. It was him from ten months ago - scrawny and struggling to move a large tv. Now Izuku could easily haul that tv up on his shoulder and pick up other things along the way.

"Look at this! It's you from ten months ago!" Then All Might snapped a new picture and showed it to Izuku.

The difference was startling. Izuku didn't have a shirt on, so in the picture you could see his squared off pecs, his six-pack abs, the muscles of his biceps. Even his neck and shoulder joints looked more muscular. Izuku's lips trembled, overwhelmed. It didn't feel like this was real. Was that really him?

"Look at you! Such improvement!" All Might put his hands on his hips, smiling widely as he looked down at Izuku. "I gotta say I'm impressed. I knew you had it in you, but this is beyond! You even cleaned up outside the area I told you to! Izuku Midoriya, I have found you WORTHY of a very special gift!"

"All Might…" Izuku waved his hands frantically in denial. "No! You've already done so much! You put so much time and energy into helping me! I can't accept anything more!"

All Might held out his hand to stop him. "It was your hard work that did this, not mine! Someone told me this once: there's a difference between being lucky and deserving. One is an accident, the other a reward. Never get the two confused! Take that to heart, young man."

Izuku stared with his mouth open, choked up with tears again.

All Might gentled his voice, his expression kind as he reached forward and put his large, warm hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Now, for your reward." He stared so solemnly that Izuku held his breath. "Young Midoriya, I offer you the chance to inherit my power!"

Izuku blinked. "…What?"

All Might deflated back into his skeletal form and absently wiped at a trail of blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. "Journalists have called my quirk 'super strength' or a 'boost', but I'm sure you're aware I've never officially explained what my quirk actually does. I always make a joke or dodge the question. My quirk isn't super strength. It's an accumulation quirk that can be passed on to others. Someone else passed this quirk on to me like a sacred torch just as I am passing it on to you. It is called: One For All!"

Izuku swayed. "… Passed it on to you? One for all?… But quirks are inherited from your parents… Right?"

"Not this one," Toshinori said softly. "In fact, I was quirkless just like you. One For All is unique, and its secret must be kept at all cost, Midoriya. I hope you can appreciate how important that really is. If evil were to learn that this power could be taken, then that would be the end of this quirk forever."

Izuku shivered at the tone in his mentor's voice. He swallowed hard. "I… I swear… I won't tell anyone…"

Toshinori smiled and ruffled Izuku's hair. "I believe you. You could have alerted the world at any time these last few months of my true condition, or told a friend who would have done so, but no rumor has gotten out. You have proven yourself trustworthy."

Izuku smiled at the praise.

"The truth is this: One For All is a powerful and precious ability." Toshinori clenched a fist in front of him. "One person cultivates the power and passes it on to another who also cultivates it and passes it on again and again, and each time the quirk becomes stronger. Each punch you wield has the power of all the predecessors who've wielded One For All behind you. Every blow you receive is received with the endurance cultivated by those same heroes who've endured great hardships in the name of justice. The true heart of this quirk is the need to help others, to stop evil, and it will grant you unimaginable strength to answer those cries for help."

Izuku blinked, legs and hands trembling. He felt his legs fold and knelt in the sand. He stared up at his mentor, green eyes wide with shock. "And… you want… to pass it on to me?… Why?"

Toshinori sighed and sat next to him on the clean sand. "Young Midoriya, without a quirk you fought hard against that slime villain. You defended yourself just long enough for me to get there, never giving in to fear or despair. Then you acted more heroically than the official heroes who were standing nearby when that slime monster almost killed your friend. It inspired me! I saw that you were special, and I decided to test you.

"Over the past ten months, you never once slacked during my difficult training! Every time I upped the ante, every time I made it harder, you never backed down or complained. Your goal was to get stronger so you could save people and you were willing to suffer and work hard in order to make that happen. You even pushed yourself to collapse several times!" Toshinori swept his arm out dramatically to indicate the beautiful view of sand and surf. "And you exceeded my expectations by clearing the entire beach!" Blue eyes met his own. "Trust me, Izuku Midoriya. You are worthy of this power. Inside you is the spirit of a true hero!"

Izuku was crying again. His secret burned in his mind - the secret of his quirk - but he quailed at the thought of telling All Might that he wasn't really quirkless, not after all that All Might even be impressed with him if he learned Izuku actually had a quirk all this time? (Never tell anyone about your quirk! - his mother's voice, low and strident and frightening.) So his voice shook and trembled as he asked, "All Might, do I deserve this? Are you sure?"

Toshinori smiled kindly. He put a gentle hand on Izuku's shoulder. "This is a gift you've earned with your own valiant efforts, but are you willing to accept it?" His expression became more grim and his free hand hovered subconsciously over his near-fatal wound. "Think carefully, Midoriya. Truly. Because this power will change your life and maybe not for the better. If you accept, you will be obligated to constantly risk your life in the service of others. It will be a painful road, Midoriya."

Toshinori pulled his hand away from Izuku's shoulder and told him gravely. "I must be honest with you. You've worked hard. You've really given it your all, and I am sincerely impressed or I wouldn't have made this offer. I know I told you that I would help you be a hero, but I made that promise knowing I might make you this offer."

His mentor sighed. "The truth is, even with all the progress you've made, it is not likely that you will be accepted into UA or even become the type of hero you envision without a quirk. The world of heroes is a dangerous and brutal place. In fact, you will live a much more peaceful and pain-free life if you refuse. However, if you accept, you will come face to face with evil. You will know fear and pain. You will know loss. But I can guarantee you will become a world-renowned hero. You will even surpass me."

Toshinori stared into Izuku's eyes and it felt like the whole world had come to a stop. Sounds were muted, the feel of the cold wind off the ocean faded, the smell of salt disappeared - all that existed were his mentor's piercing blue eyes. In them, Izuku could see the remarkable strength of will that All Might possessed. He could see pain but also triumph. They were the eyes of a hero.

"You have to be really sure what path you want to take, Midoriya," his mentor said gravely. "Will you accept the burden of One For All… or will you continue as you are?"

Izuku's hands twisted in front of him as he bit his lip nervously. "Y-you have to be quirkless to accept? I mean… you were quirkless, too? A-And I've never heard of someone having t-two quirks…"

"No. One For All is unique. It can be passed to anyone regardless of their quirk or lack there of." Toshinori gripped Izuku's shoulder tighter. "I know you love to study quirks, Midoriya, but we can go over the finer details of One For All later. You will be late for the exam soon. I need your answer. Will you accept this power?"

Izuku's breathing came harsh and ragged. His mind whirled, but the answer was bright and clear inside him. He held All Might's piercing gaze. He understood this was dangerous, understood he'd have to go through really scary things, but he also knew this meant he'd get to finally stand at Kacchan's side as an equal, that he'd get to make the world a better place just like All Might had!

"Yes…" he said firmly. "I mean, if you're sure… Yes, All Might, I accept your power!"

Toshinori expanded into his hero form. His laugh was a boom in the silence. "I really do admire that fearless spirit, young Midoriya! Very well!" He reached up to his head and pulled out a strand of golden hair. "Eat this!"

Izuku accepted the hair automatically, but he stared at in confusion. "…. what?"

"To inherit my power, you have to consume my DNA! Come on, there's no time. You'll be late for the exam! Now… EAT!"

Eyes wide at the shouted command, Izuku opened his mouth, put the hair inside and swallowed. It didn't go down at first. His eyes watered and he screwed up his face as his tongue tried to help push it down. Eventually he had enough spit to actually swallow the thing. Gasping, he stared up at All Might and gave a shaky thumbs up.

All Might smiled down at him. "It should kick in after about three hours. Should you need to use it during the exam, just clench all your muscles and scream 'SMASH' at the top of your lungs. It will come to you."

"Th-Thank you, All Might!" Izuku flung himself forward and hugged All Might around the waist. "I won't let you down!"

With an almost sad smile, All Might gently pushed him toward the stairs. "Go, Midoriya. You really will be late."

Izuku nodded and ran up the stairs on numb legs. He got to the top, turned, and waved.

Once more in his skeletal form, Toshinori waved back at him from the pristine sand.

…

Katsuki looked up to see Izuku running toward him. He'd gotten Izuku's text that he was running late after a meeting with All Might, so he'd told Katsuki not to wait for him and instead meet him at UA's gate, but this was ridiculous. They had ten minutes to find their exam room and the place was fucking huge!

"The hell, Deku?" he snarled, falling into step with Izuku.

Together they jogged through the three massive arches that stood over the wide brick path that was laid down past the front gate of the enormous school. The school had four glass and metal sky-scrapers that towered thirteen stories tall. These towers were built on top of the first floor of the building, a white, concrete structure that served as the towers' foundation. A glass and metal hallway connected each of the four towers so that no matter which side of the building you were looking at, the school looked like a gleaming capital letter H. It was a marvel of architecture and just looking at it you knew you were entering a marvel of technology.

"Sorry for making you wait," Izuku gasped, panting, but he didn't slow. His face was flushed with excitement. "I did it, Kacchan! I finished the beach! Toshinori-sensei was really proud. I have so much to tell you!"

Katsuki flashed his friend a grin and slammed his hand onto his back. "Good job, Izu."

Izuku grinned back, barely staggering under the blow, which was a huge change from ten months ago when that blow would have knocked him off his feet. "Thanks!"

They found their room assignment and sprinted to the correct classroom. They made it with barely five second to spare and were just slipping into their assigned seats when the bell rang. A bored looking teacher in a suit sat up from his position leaning against the chalkboard. His hair writhed, elongating. Like octopus arms, it grabbed stacks of paper and placed them on the front row desks.

"Welcome to hell, applicants. Anyone who scores under a ninety percent on this entrance exam will be shown the door. Begin. You have exactly three hours."

Katsuki cut a glance at Izuku. The green-haired boy took the test packet, his face set in determination. Katsuki grinned. No way was he going to let that nerd score higher than him. He opened his booklet and got to work.

Three hours later:

Their scantrons were collected and fed into a computer for grading. Ten minutes after the end of the test, those who had passed had their score and name posted on a huge electronic board in the center of the lobby. Already the three thousand applicants had gotten reduced to a tiny fifteen hundred and fifty-six! And they still had the practical exam to go!

"Oh man! I barely passed," Izuku cried, eyes wide, face pale as they left the digital score board. He'd scored a ninety-three.

Katsuki gave him a smirk. He'd scored a ninety-six. "It was fucking easy. Quit complaining."

Izuku smiled, star-struck by his boyfriend. "You're brilliant, Kacchan. Of course you thought it was easy!"

Katsuki linked his fingers in front of his chest and bent them back, cracking the lowest joint. "I can't wait to start the practical." He gave a sharp grin. "A little exercise will feel great after sitting for so fucking long."

"Y-yeah," Izuku answered, clearly nervous. He ducked his head so his wavy green hair obscured his face. His freckles seemed darker than normal on his pale cheeks.

Katsuki's smile fell. For a second he'd forgotten that it was the practical that might block Izu from becoming a hero. He cast Izuku a worried look, but Izu gave him a nervous smile and shook his head.

Katsuki wore a dark scowl as they followed the stream of remaining applicants into one of the schools auditoriums and found their assigned seats. Once everyone was seated, the lights clicked off and a spotlight was placed on the stage. Katsuki made use of the cover of darkness to slide his hand over to cover Izuku's. Izuku glanced over, blushing faintly, his body relaxing.

"Welcome, listeners!" a loud voice boomed.

Katsuki looked to see the Loud-Mouthed hero step centerstage. He had silver headphones, sunglasses, and long blond hair that stood up like a troll doll's. He wore a big grin and gave the audience a few energetic poses.

"It's Present Mic," Izuku practically gushed. "I listen to his radio show every weekend!" He cried as if Katsuki didn't already know that. "Can you believe UA has a staff of all pro heroes! It's so exciting! I wonder who else we'll see."

"I'm here to tell you about the practical exam! Are you ready to rock?"

Katsuki sighed, leaning his chin into the palm of his free-hand, his elbow propped on the desk. He wanted to get this thing started, but it looked like he'd have to sit through a lot of blah blah blah first.

"Okaaaaay. Well, today's test consists of a point-based system of combat in an urban setting. That's right, listeners! You'll have to defeat fake foes in order to advance to the next round!"

"Looks like they don't want us helping each other." Katsuki flashed Izuku his card.

"You're right. Even though our numbers are sequential, they have us in different testing groups." Izuku frowned. He tilted his cared this way and that and Katsuki could see the word quirkless printed on it. "We have to prove ourselves without help from friends, which makes sense. Not that many of the strongest contenders would even want help."

Like you, Izu, Katsuki thought wryly to himself, and he frowned as the rules were practically screamed at them. They were simple and straightforward. It wasn't impossible for Izuku to make a good showing. Izu was smart. He could figure something out to rack up some points, but Katsuki was worried about the other applicants. With the right quirks, they'd be more effective and efficient. It might leave very few openings for Izuku to make a move.

"What a douche bag," Katsuki growled irritably as a kid in glasses interrupted the spiel to criticize the presentation and ask a stupid question. Then that same asshole turned around and called Izuku out on talking during the intructions, which was a fucking laugh! Glasses had interrupt the whole damn thing unlike Izuku who had bothered no one but him!

"Sorry!" Izuku cried and slouched in his seat.

"Don't apologize to that asshole," Katsuki said coldly, glaring at the kid in glasses. He didn't bother to lower his voice. "You weren't doing anything wrong."

"Thank you for calling in, but there is a fourth foe," Present Mic interrupted their stare off. "It is worth zero points. I recommend you avoid it instead of engaging as there is no benefit in doing so. Now… Are you ready?" He struck a dramatic, rockstar pose. "Then let me leave you with these words of wisdom from the hero Napoleon Bonaparte. True heroism consists of being superior to the ills of life, in whatever shape they may challenge us. So with that, I leave you! Good luck and go beyond. PLUS ULTRA!"

"I hope that fucker's in my group," Katsuki muttered, glaring at Glasses until he disappeared in the crowd.

"Don't worry about him. Let's just do our best," Izuku suggested, always the peacemaker.

Katsuki ignored that advice. If he saw a chance to put that asshole in his place, he would! Then he saw the sign for his group pointing left. Izuku had to go right. He met Izuku's eyes. "Good luck, Deku. Show these fuckers what you're made of."

Izuku gave him a brave grin. "You, too, Kacchan. Kill it out there!"

They bumped fists and Katsuki stormed off. He popped his knuckles again, a fierce grin stretching his face. Oh, he was going to show them what he was made of alright. This was going to be fun!

…

Izuku was funneled into a locker room. He was given a number and inside that locker was the gym bag he'd brought. He quickly changed into his teal jogging pants and matching windbreaker. His battered red sneakers went on his feet. His heart beat like a drum in his chest and he took a deep breath trying to calm it.

Outside they were led across a field to the high walls of an urban arena. He could see the tops of buildings just over the lip. It looked like a miniature city.

This was it.

This was the moment that would decide his fate.

All that training, all the work All Might had put in, all of Kacchan and his mother's support… This was the moment he proved it was worth it. The pressure felt like a ton of bricks sitting in his stomach, and it made Izuku feel nauseous.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a girl with thick brown hair that fell just short of her shoulders. Her bangs were a little longer parted on either side to frame her round face. She had big brown eyes and rosy cheeks. She was on the shorter side, a little shorter than Izuku. She was lifting her arms and breathing in, dropping her arms as she breathed out. It was a yoga move.

Feeling a kindred spirit, Izuku made is way toward her until a very heavy hand landed on his shoulder, turning him around. A tall teen with short, dark hair and glasses stared sternly down at him.

"You're that boy from the auditorium. What were you going to do just now? She looks like she is trying to concentrate. Distracting her right now would be very unsportsmanlike!"

Izuku blushed as he felt the stares of everyone around him and his back straightened. He'd learned long ago not to let others walk all over him. Not if he wanted to be someone dependable that people looked up to. So he gently knocked the boy's hand off his shoulder and made firm eye contact.

"I'm not sure you know how you come across," Izuku began, keeping his voice light and informative. "But thinking you know my intensions is very presumptuous and offensive. You haven't even introduced yourself and touched me without permission." He gave the boy gaping back at him a neutral smile. "My name is Izuku Midoriya, by the way. As for the girl, I noticed that she was doing a breathing exercise. I was going to ask her about it as I also practice yoga."

Izuku didn't get a chance to hear the boy's response. Present Mic appeared on a tall tower near the gate.

"What are you waiting for, listeners? There are no countdowns in battle! You have ten minutes! Go GO GOOOO!"

Izuku blinked and turned around to see the gates had opened soundlessly and his whole group was already bolting inside. He was the only one standing there like an idiot. Eyes wide in alarm, Izuku sprinted after them. The streets were narrow - only one car would be able to pass down them. The buildings were two to five stories high. There were a lot of windows in all of them. There weren't other props though, just buildings. No cars or bikes or people. No shopping stands or merchandise. The buildings were completely empty.

A green metal robot came skidding around the corner. It was as tall as a one-story house. It moved like a tank. It had grasping arms and red glass balls that looked like eyes in it's square head. A robotic voice said, "Target acquired. I'll kill you now." Before Izuku had a chance to move or strategize, a beam of white light came from a side street. The robot was flung to its side off its wheels, a hole in it's armor. It went still, smoking.

"That's what I call teamwork! Thank you for distracting it, mon ami!" A blond boy with a french accent called cheerfully. He had a belt with a glass circle at the front about belly level. He had his hands over his head and his stomach thrust out, which had been the source of the laser. Then he dropped his arms and ran.

Izuku raced to the nearest building and ran up the stairs. He stood on the roof, looking out. The buildings weren't that far apart. He jogged backwards and then sprinted. He cleared the distance and landed on the next roof. He looked desperately for another robot.

A metal pole sat at the edge of the roof. He grabbed it up. It was longer than a baseball bat, but not quite as long as a staff. It was solid steel. He could do some damage with it. He leapt over to the next building, rolling to his feet. Below was a two point robot.

Izuku jumped, steel bar in hand, but before he could strike the soft spot where the neck had many wires exposed, the boy with glasses from earlier came flying out of an alley. His legs were smoking and making a rumbling sound like an engine. His kick dented the robot's head and it toppled over, smoking. Then he was sprinting off at inhuman speeds.

Izuku bit his lip and got up from the ground. It had been a hard landing - he'd expected to land on the robot to break his fall - but he didn't have time to whine about it. He went running down the street, looking for another robot.

No matter where he looked he found robots already torn to pieces and smoking. They were being destroyed faster than Izuku could find them! He began to panic as Present Mic called a time warning. He had to hurry! The kids around him were calling out their points… twenty, forty-three, thirteen… Izuku had none!

"Come on… Think!" he hissed to himself.

Then suddenly the ground began to shake. It felt like an earthquake and his heart leapt into his throat even as his arms went out for balance. A huge dust cloud obscured the street, but towering over it, a good ten stories tall, stood an enormous green robot. It put its massive hand on one of the building tops and leaned down before punching the street with his other hand.

The wind force knocked several students over. Izuku raised his arms in front of his face to protect it. A huge crater sat in the middle of the street. Debris from broken buildings fell with huge thumps that shook the ground. Kids were running away. It was the zero point robot! There was no point in fighting it.

Izuku turned to follow them when something caught his eye. The girl from before with the large brown eyes… Her leg was trapped under rubble! She looked exhausted and dirty. She reached down toward her trapped leg, but winced and collapsed before reaching it. Izuku looked up. The robot was gearing up for another punch and she was right below it!

He was moving before he even thought about it. Anger pumped strong in his veins. UA was a great school, three thousand kids from around the world had come to tryout, but this was too much! She could get killed! No entrance exam was worth that!

Power surged in his body. He could feel it burning like lava under his skin and he let out a hoarse scream through clenched teeth. With an enormous spring, he leapt into the air, and before he knew it, he was right at the robot's face!

Izuku brought his fist back and let it slam forward with a screamed, "SMASH!" His fist impacted the metal surface of the robot's square head. In a dream-like state, Izuku saw the huge dent in the metal, saw the enormous thing tilt backward. Explosions erupted down its neck and into its body. As it fell, so did Izuku.

He looked down. The ground was coming up at an alarming rate, but piercing agony had him looking over to see his arm (his windbreaker sleeve had been torn off somehow), already black and blue, flapping brokenly in the wind. It looked like a ribbon being held out a car window. Nausea made his stomach roll; pain nearly blinded him. He clutched at the shoulder of his shattered arm, almost willing to rip it off to stop the pain. The ground was nearly in his face!

He let go of his arm, screaming with the agony, and prepared another punch. Anything to save himself… SLAP! Izuku bit back another scream of pain as he was suddenly floating in midair. The girl was lying on a broken robot head, floating fifteen feet off the ground. With an expression of great strain, she put her fingertips together and said, "Release."

As Izuku's body impacted the street, he let out a pathetic scream of pain. He lifted his head, lying on his stomach. One minute left. Tears burned down his cheeks as he realized he couldn't move his legs, both shattered as horrifically as his arm. Gritting his teeth against the excruciating pain, he used his good arm to crawl forward.

He'd failed. He knew he'd failed, but he wanted at least one point! One point to show to the people who had given so much to help him! "Please… Just one point…" he gasped, begging.

"TIME!"

Izuku's heart broke at the announcement. With nothing to hold it back, the agony of his shattered limbs became so intense that he blacked out.

…

Katsuki stalked through the school to the infirmary. Yeah, this school didn't have a nurses office; it had a whole fucking infirmary! Just what you'd expect from UA. He was still in his gym clothes: a stretched out black tank-top and dark green sweatpants. He was dirty and grimy, soot coating his skin. The scowl on his face was so fierce that no one tried to stop him or ask him questions.

He flung open the infirmary door and looked around, zeroing in on Izuku's mop of wavy green hair. Izuku looked over at the sound of the door banging open. He gave a wan smile, looking utterly exhausted and defeated. Katsuki's heart sank, his fists clenched. Fuck.

"Are you injured, lad?"

An old lady approached. She was tiny and had a huge bun on her head. Of all things, a syringe stuck up out of it. She had a walking cane, a lab coat, and protective lab glasses. Recovery Girl - she possessed one of the most powerful healing quirks around. That made Katsuki's shoulders relax some and his scowl lessen into a mild glare.

"What the fuck's wrong with him?" he asked, striding over to his friend.

The old lady followed him, seemingly unbothered by his attitude. "I'm afraid patient confidentiality…"

"It's okay," Izuku told her, his voice completely flat and empty. He refused to meet Katsuki's eyes. "Both legs and my right arm were shattered."

Katsuki bit back a snarl of rage. The fuck? The robots were programed to actually hurt them? What kind of fucking test was that?

"I see. He's a friend." Recovery Girl moved to stand on the other side of Izuku's bed. She smiled across at Katsuki. "I healed him with my quirk. His bones and tendons will be sore for about a week, but he'll make a full recovery. Please remind him to take it easy for the full seven days and to get lots of rest. My quirk accelerates the body's natural healing, so it uses his reserves of energy to fuel it. I understand he lives locally, about three miles from here? If he takes it slow, he's strong enough now to make it home, especially if you help him along."

"We can manage," Katsuki assured her.

"Well, then!" She gave him a sweet smile. "Have a great day! And take these gummies! I'm giving you seven. Have him take one a day to help speed up his recovery!"

Katsuki got Izuku's bare arm over his shoulder, the sleeve of his windbreaker completely torn away, and helped him stand. They didn't say much as they went back to the locker rooms to get their bags. Katsuki put both bags on his free shoulder and wrapped the other arm around Izu's waist. They weren't even past UA's gates when he heard Izuku start crying.

"I d-didn't even g-get one p-point," Izuku whimpered sadly.

"Fuck." Katsuki hefted Izu a little higher up on his shoulder. That made Izuku's head roll closer to him and Katsuki bumped his forehead gently against Izuku's temple. "Defeating stupid robots does not prove anything, Deku. You know that. And with all those wannabes crowding up the place… That test was shit! No real life situation is like that."

"I bet you did amazing," came Izuku's soft reply. "How many points did you get?"

Katsuki felt a surge of pride even as he felt a bit queasy for doing so much better than Izu. "Seventy-seven," he stated as evenly as he could.

Izuku turned his head, his nose brushing Katsuki's cheek. "I knew it," he said, tears in his voice but he was also smiling. "I bet the judges were amazed!" A wet chuckle. "I almost feel bad for whoever was in your group. Did you leave any robots for them?"

"That's their problem," Katsuki said carelessly, completely unrepentant.

"I really… I really let Toshinori-sensei down…"

"Deku…" Katsuki snapped, glaring, but his friend cut him off.

"You don't understand…" and in a soft whisper Izuku told him about accepting One For All and what really happened with the zero point robot.

Katsuki's steps slowed. As he listened, he grew more and more furious. By the end, he'd come to a complete stop. Izuku's arm slid off his shoulders and the green-eyed boy stared up at him, tears falling down his pale face with anxiety painted across his features. Katsuki hardly noticed. He was so mad he could hardly breathe through it!

"Why do you have to be so reckless?" he demanded, voice low and slow, the storm brewing inside him. "You didn't even know what that quirk would do, or if you could even handle it…"

"That girl…" Izuku whimpered.

"Would have been fucking fine!" Katsuki yelled, anger exploding. "It was just a fucking test! UA wasn't going to kill her, and they have fucking Recovery Girl on staff! You're the only one who got broken to bits, and you apparently did it to your own goddamn self! I can't believe your damn sensei didn't warn you what could happen! I mean, what the hell! You could have died from that fall! Punching the ground before hitting it…"

Katsuki shook his head hard, trying to eject the image of what Izuku had probably looked like in that moment - terrified, broken, falling. "That's fucking insane! You know how long it took me to get the right impact and trajectories with my quirk! What the hell do you think would have happened if you gave an All Might punch wildly at the ground like that? You'd have been flung sideways into a building or something crazy! You definitely wouldn't have landed soft as a fucking feather!"

"I'm sorry!" Izuku cried, stumbling forward to wrap his arms around Kacchan's neck. "I'm sorry, Kacchan! I messed up! I got ahead of myself thinking I could be like All Might if I had his quirk, that I could stand at your side, but I fucked it all up! I'm so sorry! Please don't be mad; I'm begging you. Please."

Katsuki pushed him off. "Don't, Izuku. You can't get out of this by crying. Not this time," he said, still coldly furious. "Because it's not even that you used a new quirk without even thinking about it. It's the fact that you fucking accepted it in the first place! You worked so fucking hard to show the world that you can be a hero even without a flashy quirk, just to, what?, agree with everyone in the end and upgrade?"

Unable to contain the anger, he shoved Izuku in the chest. It wasn't a hard blow, but in Izuku's current condition it made him stagger back several steps. "You almost killed yourself! You fucking broke your body to pieces… For what, Deku? To be like All Might? To be like me? Why can't you fucking see that you're good enough as you are?"

"But I'm not!" Izuku wept, standing on the sidewalk, completely heartbroken and forsaken. "I d-didn't get i-in even with all of s-sensei's help! I f-failed, Kacchan. I'll n-never be a h-hero. A-And s-sensei will r-regret e-ever believing i-in m-me."

Katsuki flung Izuku's bag off his shoulder at the other boy's feet. "You don't fucking get it, Deku," he spat, voice hard. "So what if UA doesn't fucking accept you? There are other hero courses! You don't need a fucking quirk or UA to be a hero! And right now I don't fucking care about your stupid Toshinori-sensei," he hissed the name with utter disgust. "I hope he's fucking miserable, that asshole!"

Glaring murder, hands popping he was so upset, Katsuki pointed at Izuku. "You want to be a fucking hero so badly? Well, think about this, genius. How many people will you save if you're fucking dead, Izuku? Huh? How fucking many?"

Izuku stood there crying, his green eyes wide and hurt, and it was clear he didn't understand.

"FUCK!" Katsuki screamed and thrust his hand above his head, letting a small blast erupt into the air. He couldn't take it. It was like talking to a wall. Glaring at the other boy, he hissed warningly, "Go home, Deku. I can't even look at you right now." Slamming his hands into his pockets, Katsuki turned and stomped off, leaving Izuku behind.

He was still steaming mad when he burst through the door to his house and slammed it behind him. He caught his dad in the hallway. He'd been rolling his sleeves up and had been about to turn into the kitchen, likely to start dinner.

"Katsuki?" He pushed his glasses up his nose. "Are you okay? You're filthy."

Katsuki flashed his teeth and tried to storm past the man, but his dad's voice stopped him.

"Did something happen?"

Katsuki whirled. "Like you fucking care, old man," he snarled, voice low and dangerous. "You can stop pretending, you know. Mom told me weeks ago that you're not my father."

Masaru paled. "Katsuki…" he said, voice faint. "Don't."

"Don't?" Katsuki laughed. "That's all you've got to say? Don't?"

In a sudden flash of temper, Masaru stepped closer, his expression tightening into a glare. "What happened was horrific and terrible. It effected all of us, not just you."

Katsuki couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I'm sorry… How did it effect you?… I mean, besides having to raise a monster's child, pretending it's yours." He sneered. "Not that you did a very good job at pretending."

Katsuki saw the slap coming, but he didn't even try to dodge. The palm of Masaru's hand hit his face, making his cheek burn hot, but it hardly even rocked his head to the side. Katsuki sneered in contempt at the man. Masaru stared back, face red with emotion.

"Don't you dare make light of this. Your mother lost everyone that night, her entire family! And her body was violated! Only I was left to put her back together again. You have no idea what it was like. How close it came to breaking both of us."

His voice softened, the anger draining out. With a jerky gesture, he pulled his glasses off his face. "When we found out she was pregnant…" He sighed. "That monster had taken too much away from us, so we thought maybe it was only fitting he give back, too. We got married and decided to try to start over, to build from the ashes, but the pregnancy was very difficult. So many times Mitsuki had these terrible panic attacks, and we worried that we made the wrong choice."

Katsuki turned to flee. He couldn't hear this. Hear how much he'd been a burden and unwanted, but Masaru grabbed his arm, pulling him around to face him.

"I cried the day you were born," he told his son thickly. "You were so small and beautiful. We named you Katsuki because you were our victory over the past, and we knew as soon as we saw your tiny face we'd made the right choice. Those first four years of your life were the happiest we'd had in so long. It was like a dream."

Katsuki stood there breathing hard, fists and jaw clenched. He didn't want to hear this. It was killing him, but he was rooted to the spot.

"The day of your quirk manifesting…" Masaru looked away, guilt in his expression. "You have to understand, Katsuki. Your birth father… He truly was evil… We wanted to prevent you from walking down that dark and painful road. We wanted to raise you with the knowledge of right and wrong…" His eyes came up and met his son's. "I was afraid, Katsuki, afraid of what such a violent quirk would do to both you and your mother… I knew Mitsuki was going too far… but I was blinded by her fear and pain and was unable to see yours."

He stepped close enough to put his hands on Katsuki's shoulders. "But all of that is in the past. We can't make up for what happened. We can only make today and tomorrow better, and it has been better, hasn't it? Your mother loves you, Katsuki, more than you will ever know. She only wanted to protect you, to help you."

Katsuki knocked Masaru's hands aside. "She beat me," he rasped, voice raw, tears falling down his cheeks. It was the first time he'd said it out loud. The first time he acknowledged the truth of what had happened. "I was only four goddamn years old and for a year she stripped me naked and kept the house freezing cold. There wasn't ever a time I wasn't shivering when I was home. My teeth chattering would wake me up at night until I got used to it."

He was gasping for air, blind to his father standing in front of him, voicing truths he'd long kept locked away. "And she'd make me put my fucking hands on the wall while I stood naked and afraid. And she'd beat me with a belt until I couldn't take it and fell sobbing at her feet. She beat me for years until Izuku stopped her. And she'd tell me again and again that I was a villain. I was a murderer. I was a monster."

Masaru stepped back, away from Katsuki. His head shook side to side in denial. When he answered, his voice shook and trembled. "She may have gone about it the wrong way, but you are a strong and good boy, Katsuki. You aim to be a hero."

Katsuki grabbed Masaru's shirt in a tight fist, preventing him from retreating. "You think that's because of her? Is that what you're fucking telling yourself? Her voice still lives in my head! Telling me I can't do anything good. That all I can do is hurt people. It's been beaten into my body! So don't fucking tell me it's better now. Not when she's still in my fucking face telling me I'm trash and all my quirk is good for is hurting people! To give up on being a hero because I'm not fucking cut out for it! Throwing this shit about my real father in my face, using it to hurt me, like she always fucking does! It's not fucking better! I feel fucking sick every time I see her fucking face! Every time! And when I look in her eyes, all I see is judgment and hate! So don't tell me she loves me!"

"She's hurting, Katsuki!" Masaru cried, desperately. "Can't you find some sympathy in your heart for her suffering? Can't you feel compassion for how hard this is for her?"

"CAN'T YOU FEEL SOME FUCKING COMPASSION FOR ME?" Katsuki roared back. He shoved Masaru away from him and stood panting, furious beyond measure.

Masaru caught his balance and ran his hands shakily through his hair. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, pained. "If it's so bad still, explain how you're doing so well? You're even applying to UA."

"Because I have other voices in my head, too!" Katsuki screamed. "Izuku's telling me I'm a fucking hero already and that I have an amazing quirk. His voice goes as far back as Mom's! And I have my four-year-old voice still echoing in my head chanting over and over after every time I'd been beaten that I will be a hero just to prove that old hag wrong!"

Katsuki took a threatening step forward. His ruby eyes glittered with malice. "But you know whose voice I don't have rattling around in my fucking head? Yours! You're fucking silent as you've been my whole fucking life! It's too late to change that now, so shut the fuck up and get out of my fucking face before I do something we both regret!"

His hands popped and flashed loudly, miniature explosions in his palms, and Masaru flinched violently. With a vicious sneer, Katsuki turned and ran up the stairs two at a time and slammed his door so hard he heard the wood frame crack.

He screamed, furious and frustrated, and flung himself on the bed. He screamed again, not bothering with a pillow. He wanted to explode the whole room! He wanted to burn the house down! He wanted to run and run and run… Instead, he screamed his rage out. He screamed until his throat tore and he couldn't scream any more.

End -

A/n: … So… Yeah… The boys are having their first real fight! (cringes) I hate it! And poor Katsuki is just having the worst time… Sorry about that…

This chapter had quite a few moments a lot of you asked about, so PLEASE let me know what your think. Did I write it the way you were hoping?