Bakugou prided himself on that fact that he wasn't easily intimidated. Why would he ever give that kind of control over himself to someone else? He was a future pro hero, the best in his school. He had no reason to be afraid, because no matter what happened, no matter what kind of trouble he found himself in, he wouldn't lose.

That being said, the look Aizawa gave him from across the lone table in the warehouse made his skin crawl.

His first impression of the pro hero had been right, it seemed. The scruffiness that Bakugou had assumed had been a result of the fight Aizawa had been in along with the severe concussion remained, the dark circles lining his eyes just as dark. Scarves that Bakugou had last seen wrapped tightly around the villain who had kidnapped him were draped loosely around his shoulders.

All in all, he didn't look like much. Surely not like the image of pro heroes Bakugou had created in his head over the years. Heroes like All Might or Endeavor who wore their strength for the world to see. So why did Bakugou want Aizawa do something, say something, anything other than continue to stare at him, eyes narrowed, from across the table? Why did he feel frozen in his seat under the pro hero's icy gaze?

"I asked you to come here because Midoriya said he promised you an explanation, and I owed you an apology for your involvement with those villains." Bakugou wished he could say he didn't start at the sound of Aizawa's voice. "But you have reminded me of another issue that needs to be addressed."

Bakugou huffed. Of course Deku would somehow manage to ruin his opportunity to talk to a pro hero one on one. There were so many things he wanted to ask- about training, and Yuuei, and what it was like to be a pro- and here they were talking about Deku. Fucking typical.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Aizawa asked, an eyebrow lifting at the question.

Bakugou shook his head quickly.

Aizawa leaned back in his chair, arms crossed in front of him. "You don't understand why I agreed to train Midoriya, do you?" He asked.

"He's quirkless." Bakugou answered, swallowing the insults that threatened to slip out. No matter what else Bakugou thought of his classmate, the fact that Deku didn't have a quirk should have been explanation enough. No matter how much time Aizawa wasted on him, no matter how much training Deku got, he would never be better than Bakugou. He would never be able to become a pro hero.

Deku spent so much of his time hunched over those stupid notebooks of his, writing down every single thing he could about quirks, deluding himself into thinking that he could make up for what he lacked in physical abilities if he was smart enough. It was ridiculous to think otherwise. If Deku were to really try to be a hero without a quirk he would alway be struggling to keep up, putting out ten times the energy as someone with a quirk to accomplish the same thing and still falling short of their results every single time.

Bakugou couldn't understand why a pro hero would waste his time humoring a useless student who was doomed to fail before they even started.

"Hm. Bakugou had you heard of my work before this incident?" Aizawa asked, his blank expression unchanging.

Thrown by the question, Bakugou answered without thinking. "No. I hadn't."

"And do you know why that is?" Aizawa reach up to pull on the goggles that hung around his neck. "Because I don't want them to. My quirk erases the effects of other people's quirks, but only while I'm looking at them. In order to be an effective hero, I have to maintain a low profile. Rely on skills other than just my quirk. And Midoriya Izuku noticed that."

What was Aizawa saying, so what Deku noticed him? Noticed how he fought? Bakugou could feel the tell-tale tingling on the palms of his hands, the start of an explosion waiting to spark, and he struggled to pull his quirk back under control, seething. "What does that have to do with Deku?"

Aizawa's mouth twitched at the word, but he continued without comment. "It matters because Midoriya was right when he said that I essentially fight without a quirk. I can stop them from using their abilities, but at that point it becomes a matter of who the better fighter is without their quirks. Midoriya may not have a quirk, but he that doesn't mean that he doesn't have the potential to be a hero. He notices things about people that no one else does, and he has an analytical mind unlike any other student I have ever taught."

As Aizawa spoke, Bakugou burned. How did he not understand? He was a pro hero! He shouldn't be saying this! Of course Deku's potential as a hero was zero. Everything that happened at the warehouse with Rave and Asahi flashed to the forefront of his thoughts. Sure Deku had managed to take out Asahi, but the villain hadn't even used his quirk then. He had just been talking, and Deku had taken advantage of that. That didn't mean he could be a hero, fighting against villains with quirks a hundred times more dangerous than a stupid gas that put people to sleep.

"In a fight with a real villain, Deku wouldn't stand a chance!" Bakugou snapped, his chair tumbling to the ground behind him with a crash as he stood. "No matter how much he trains, he won't ever be a hero. It's not possible!"

Bakugou expected some kind of reaction from the pro. A change in his expression, anger, maybe to say that everything had been a joke, that he had just been messing with Deku this whole time by acting like the other boy's dream was something achievable. Instead Aizawa looked from Bakugou's smoking hands to the chair on the floor and sighed.

"Do you want to spar, Bakugou?"

Once again the words were so expected, delivered in such a bland tone, that Bakugou's anger slipped in his surprise. "What?"

"I pulled your records, kid. You aren't an idiot. Do. You want. To. Spar?"

He had never backed down from a challenge before, least of all a challenge for a fight, but something about the wide eyed grin that replaced Aizawa's blank stare at the question almost made him hesitate.

"You're on, old man." Bakugou said, returning Aizawa's frightening grin with one of his own.

"I'm only twenty-eight, brat. Get to the mats."

When they reached the mats Aizawa stood in front of him, hands at his side, an air of indifference in his every movement. "Whenever you're ready, Bakugou."

He moved before the words were finished, closing the distance between them in seconds. Bakugou's hands sparked, an explosion roaring to life, just as Aizawa's eyes flashed red. The explosion fizzled out.

"I told you about my quirk. That's not going to work."

Aizawa was in his face before he could respond, his eyes glowing. Bakugou took a step back, his foot meeting a stand of the pro's scarves, and the world tilted as he tripped, stumbling as Aizawa pulled the band out from under him. The mats did nothing to stop the breath from being knocked out of him when he landed hard on his back.

Scrambling, Bakugou pulled himself to his feet, anger and embarrassment coloring his cheeks in equal measure. Aizawa stood at the other end of the mats again, looking just as uninterested as before. "If all you rely on is your quirk, you're in for a rude awakening one day, Bakugou Katsuki. Quirks are not all there is to being a hero."

The words were delivered flat, matter of fact, and Bakugou saw red.

Quirks were everything to being a hero! You couldn't be a hero without a strong quirk like Bakugou's, a quirk that meant he was destined to be a hero. If quirks weren't the most important thing, then what was?

"Then train me!" Bakugou burst out. "You said you pulled my record. You know how great my quirk is. I have so much more potential to be a hero than Deku!"

Aizawa's eyes flashed red again. "You aren't listening to me. I'm not going to train you. Not now."

"Why not?" He would train Deku, but not him? What could stupid Deku have that Bakugou didn't? He would show him. Convince him that the only student he needed was standing right in front of him.

"I don-"

Bakugou lunged, right arm swinging. He was the best. Everyone had told him so ever since his quirk manifested. All he had to do was prove it and-Aizawa caught his fist and twisted, spinning Bakugou around and pinning his arm to his back.

"I'm not saying this to hurt you," Aizawa said behind him as Bakugou struggled to wrench his arm free. "Or because I like to beat of kids in my spare time. I'm sorry that you got dragged into that villain fight. That doesn't mean that either Midoriya or I have to justify his training to you."

Aizawa let him go and Bakugou stumbled at the loss of support, turning to face the pro, eyes wide.

"You think that Midoriya can't be a hero because he doesn't have a quirk?" Aizawa asked, the anger twisting his expression into something so unlike the blank look Bakugou had become used to. "You want to call him useless every chance you get? He can last almost five minutes at the same level I just fought you."

The words hurt like a physical blow. "But-"

"You have potential, Bakugou," he said, and the sudden gentleness in his voice stung almost as much as the anger. "You can be a great hero one day. But you need to learn that quirks aren't everything. They're abilities just like anything else, and they aren't infallible. You're quirk gives you an edge, but it also comes with a level of responsibility that you don't seem to understand."

Aizawa sighed. "Midoriya hasn't told me a lot about his relationship with you, but it was enough that I can connect the dots. Despite all of the bullying he's endured at your hand over the years, he still cares about. And that's why I'm going to offer you this advice. You have a year and a half until the Yuuei entrance exam. Use this time to think about what it means to be a hero. You've had power over Midoriya since you were five years old. I want to to think about how you've used it."

When Izuku opened the door to Aizawa, he didn't know what to expect. It wasn't their usual training day, but Aizawa hadn't mention anything about going to the warehouse. Apparently his homeroom had been cancelled? Aizawa hadn't offered any details, and Izuku hadn't asked, but given what Nedzu had told him he had a feeling he knew what happened. He wasn't sure that made him more nervous to continue training or less.

"Would you like something to drink, Aizawa-san?" Inko asked, coming up behind Izuku. "I was just about to make tea if you have time for a cup."

Aizawa ducked his head. "Midoriya and I have an appointment to keep, Inko-san. But I appreciate the offer."

"And appointment?" Izuku asked. This was the first he had heard of any appointment. What kind of training were they doing then?

"It's a surprise," Aizawa responded, and Inko smiled softly looking between the two. She had been worried that, despite the new official status of their mentorship, Aizawa would react to the kidnapping by trying to push Izuku away. Inko hadn't known the pro hero long, but enough time had passed for her to have learned that he didn't always know how to handle emotional situations. Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case.

"Well, I'll expect you to stay for dinner then. Yamada-san has already said yes." Once again her tone left no room for arguments. Izuku's chuckle cut off as Aizawa glanced his way.

Inko waved them off, and the door closed behind them leaving Aizawa with the feeling that his young student was more like his mother than he realized.

They were out of the building before Izuku spoke again. "H-How did your talk with Kacchan go?"

"I think I got through to him in the end." Bakugou had heard him, at least. When Aizawa finished speaking, the boy had grumbled under his breath but hadn't outright argued. Aizawa had sent him home with the promise that if Bakugou continued his treatment of Midoriya he would hear about it.

And that Bakugou had too much potential to waste because he refused to grow up.

He hadn't been happy about it, but he had left without another word, and Aizawa had to hope that his words had some effect-both for Bakugou's sake as well as Midoriya's

Aizawa glanced at his young student. Izuku was looking away from him, hands in his pockets as he frowned.

"Did you do the homework I asked you for, Midoriya?" Aizawa asked, breaking through Izuku's musing before his thoughts could drag him under.

"Of course!" Izuku responded immediately.

"And what did you find?" They turned the corner at the end of Izuku's block and started down the next street.

"The versions I found were all fragmented, conflicting storylines that didn't add up."

"But?"

"I'm still not sure why these comics are so hard to find. The ones without any kind of powers, sure, but plenty of the heroes had some kind of ability like a quirk. Those were definitely the easiest ones to track down, although those stories don't match up either. I wonder if they were rebooted often? That would explain why different stories I had had different characters or powers. Or, I guess it could be that I'm just not reading it in the right order. There's so much missing, and the records aren't well preserved. Even the so called experts don't have a full understanding of the complete storyline."

The corner of Aizawa's mouth twitched.

"While I couldn't find a lot of information on the quirkless heroes, luckily there were a good number of the team up arcs saved, and I was able to piece some things together from that. Some of the weapons aren't possible, of course." Izuku continued, not seeing the smile his mentor struggled to hide as he rambled. "But even those gave me some ideas that might work outside of fiction."

"Good. And the second part?"

"I looked into the other courses that Yuuei offers. Besides Gen Ed, both the business and support courses are extremely important after graduation. And Gen Ed students aren't stuck in that course once they are accepted. Plenty of students have moved from one that course to the others. Even the hero course, although that's only happened four times since Yuuei was founded. In all of those cases they had quirks that were great for hero work but weren't really compatible with the entrance exam's format. I wrote all of it down, and I can give it to you before you leave tonight."

"It sounds like you spent a lot of time on it."

Izuku bounced in place next to Aizawa as they stopped at a crosswalk, the count down flashing at them from across the street. "I know you said it's a surprise, but can't you give me a hint? Does it have to do with that assignment? Are we-"

"Midoriya," Aizawa interrupted. "Let this be a surprise. Trust me."

Turning to his mentor, Izuku's smile once again reminded Aizawa of a certain pro hero.

"Whatever you say, Aizawa-sensei!"

They continued to walk, Izuku chattering happily about the comics he had read about, the characters he wished he could have found more information on. "Especially the one in black and blue! I saw him in a team up I found, but his name was never mentioned."

Aizawa stopped in from of a small, brick building in the middle of the street and Midoriya, still rambling, didn't notice until Aizawa grabbed his arm and pulled him back. The building was old, and there was no sign outside marking its purpose. Izuku stared it at in awe. The outside might have looked rundown, but if they were there instead of training than there had to be more to the building than there appeared.

"This is where our appointment is?" He asked.

Aizawa nodded, heading up the stairs, and Izuku hurried to follow him. "We're meeting with a Yuuei alum. She graduated from the support course top of her class."

"The support course!" All that research Aizawa had made him do on the comics and the other courses, surely they weren't here for…The door swung open and they stepped inside. The interior looked just as dated as the exterior, but every available surface seemed to be covered in different appliances and projects. Replicas of support items used by current pro heroes hung from the ceiling, and the walls were lined with photos of the same woman smiling as she handed off gear to a bemused hero.

Suddenly a pair of neon green eyes peered out at him from a bronze face. Izuku screamed, tripping over his own feet as he tried to move away, and only Aizawa's arm kept him from crashing into the display behind him.

"Hatsume-san. Do you have to do that every time I come by?" Aizawa asked, sighing into his hand.

"Ah, but Shouta!" The bronze masked stranger said laughing. "I've never managed to get you! And look! He's such an easy target!"

"Hatsume-san. We have an appointment."

"Fine, fine," came the reply as Izuku attempted to breathe normally again. The mask lifted, and Izuku was faced with a woman who appeared to be the same age as his mother. Her bright pink hair was piled into a messy bun on her head, and her eyes flashed at him as she smiled, hand on hip.

"I'm Hatsume Natsumi. Welcome to my shop, little Hero-in-Training-kun."

AN: Up Next Week: Hatsume Natsumi and Izuku's new toys

Thanks to everyone who commented last chapter!