Midoriya Izuku is three years old when he breathes fire for the first time.
From that day on, he is obsessed with his quirk. Others as well: it's a well-known fact that Izuku is a quirk nerd, but the speed at which he picks things up is a bit overwhelming. He only slows down when his grade-school teachers call him out for his muttering, mostly for the telltale smoke plumes. Getting caught ignoring the lecture does little to help things, especially when it's his own fault.
Eventually he takes to wearing a face mask, which gradually fixes the issue.
His friend Bakugo is known for being picked on for his intellect and his attitude, which gets them into trouble constantly. One day, when the two are seven years old, they're attacked by some bullies from fifth grade. Normally Bakugo would take care of things, but they have the foresight to douse him in water first.
Ten minutes later the three older boys run away, limping and crying, from a seething Midoriya. When the police come, he's already calmed down enough to explain that it was accidental. Bakugo is startlingly quiet during the debriefing.
Izuku and Katsuki spend the rest of grade school avoiding one another.
Everyone asks questions: Midoriya and Bakugo were as close as family the day before, and now they're noticeably different. The questions only irritate Bakugo, who then blows up the offenders. Kids avoid Midoriya from that day on, feeding on rumors until the incident is blown completely out of proportion. It marks a noticeable trend in each boy's life: Midoriya becomes a quiet, brooding preteen with a quirk straight out of Pandora's box while Bakugo is the only deviant in the district with a spotless record. Midoriya fades from existence while Bakugo becomes too loud to ignore.
Dagobah Beach is a lonely place. The waves leave trash and driftwood in their wake rather than quietly scraping against the beach. Stray pieces of junk and driftwood gradually roll into hills and mountains of trash. In the daytime people avoid the beach; the salt in the breeze doesn't mix well with rotten seaweed and baked garbage. Lately several of the old folk have started warning people against dumping on the beach. Old gods were born this way, they growl. If you don't stop, they'll make sure you can't ever do it again!
Fortunately, or unfortunately, lonely places attract lonely people.
Midoriya Izuku is a lonely person. When he first reaches the beach, dripping sweat and struggling to breathe, he looks the part. He's dressed in a mud stained black school uniform that reeks of sewage. The uniform, and his massive yellow backpack, make him look somewhat thin and frail; the medical mask over his nose does not help the illusion. Carefully, with surprising grace, the boy picks his way through the mountains of garbage and finds his way to a shallow cove of cleared sand. After a few moments his backpack hits the sand, followed by his jacket, shirt and his shoes.
Beneath the uniform, Izuku is lean and powerful. Tan skin and scars are wrapped tightly over a solid foundation of muscle. His hair is bushy, darker than usual because of the mud, and his eyes are locked on the sunset burning against the horizon.
In the smoldering rays of twilight, Midoriya Izuku takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. Despite how brief the encounter with All Might had been, he'd gotten a good enough look. All Might wasn't exactly hiding anything when he threw that Texas Smash, and his shirt had made the technique painfully clear.
Izuku's feet settle in the sand as he draws his arm back. Embers of his quirk feed into his blood as he exhales. Dagobah is unnaturally warm this far in, but the heat and the stench don't bother Izuku when he's focused. Compared to the well of flame nestled beneath Izuku's lungs, the rotten heat of the beach and the fading light of the day are matches beside a pool of lava.
His punch feels awkward. Even though he'd expected it, it bothers him more than he thought it would. All Might's movements were powerful. One punch had the force of a hurricane. Izuku's movement feel… lacking.
After staring at his fist for a moment, he settles back into the stance and tries again. He continues, over and over, until he can throw the punch without wanting to fall over… or, rather, until throwing the punch doesn't throw off his balance. It's later than usual, and he's had a long day. His smile is sharp and bright as he crawls out of the rotten beach. All Might has already forgotten the brief encounter with the boy, but it will be something that Izuku never forgets.
Izuku is eight when he meets the woodcutter.
He has plenty of reasons: his quirk allows him to eat fire, but there's no good way to produce lots of fire in his apartment. Candles taste funny, and his mother banned him from eating their flames after he got a little loopy one afternoon. Gas fires taste horrible. Once he'd tried eating a bit of a campfire, which had been okay, but not good.
Online research has pointed him towards a small family run charcoal business at the foot of Mount Fuji. He's curious what they know, considering they've been cutting charcoal for generations, and there's an article about something called the "Dance of the Fire God" that runs through their familial beliefs.
Going isn't an issue, until he reaches the small country road that leads towards his destination. A kind old man finds him standing there at the bus stop, staring up the hill, and scratches his forehead.
"Are ya lost, kid?"
"No," Izuku shakes his head, looking at the ground beneath his feet. "I want to go up the mountain."
"What're you doin', goin' up the mountain alone?" The man scoffs.
"I wanted to buy some charcoal." Izuku says, pulling out some bills from his allowance. When the man's eyebrows rise even further up his head, Izuku quickly shoves his money back in his pocket and trembles. "Th-the internet said, it said that they… they make good charcoal, and I wanted…"
"No need to start cryin', sheesh…" The old man groans, looking up and down the street. "I don't need the people round here to catch me makin' kids cry. Look, if yer lookin' for the Kamado company, I can give ya a lift."
Izuku stares up at the old man curiously, watching him blush and scratch at the brim of his hat. Eventually the old man leaves, driving back towards the bus stop in a rickety old pick-up truck, and Izuku decides that he's going to trust him. They pass the old man's house on the way, which explains half of the old man's reasoning, but Izuku remains close to the door of the cab.
Kamado Company is a small group of houses in the foothills of Mount Fuji, close to the conservational lines. Izuku has seen the maps: the Kamado family has lived since before the original government, so they retained their section of the forest despite the drawing of conservational lines. There's a lot of history that he doesn't quite understand, but he's still learning his katakana and his mom hadn't wanted to explain all the legal things before bed.
When they arrive, a small army of people spew out of the house. Several are kids Izuku's age, though most are young adults and workers. Among them is a pair of people that Izuku recognizes from the website: a man with dark red hair and eyes, and a woman with purple eyes who wears a butterfly pin in her black hair.
Kamado Tanjiro and his wife, Kamado ne Tsuyuri Kanao.
"Sorry for the trouble, Tanjiro!" The old man waves from his truck as Izuku steps out and runs around the side, staring at the crowd with a healthy amount of caution (it isn't healthy: Tanjiro's sister's family have pyromantic quirks, and lately Katsuki has been… rude). "This little brat wanted to come see you about some charcoal."
"Oh? Are you running errands?" The crowd parts for Tanjiro easily, and Izuku is left shaking near the headlights of the old man's pick-up truck while he tries to overcome his uncertainty. "I'd be happy to offer you some charcoal young man!"
"I… I wanted…" A bit of smoke bleeds from his lips, and Izuku slaps his hands over his mouth. The crowd doesn't seem impressed or worried; they simply stare. "I wanted to ask you about fire… if that's okay…"
"Of course, little one," Tanjiro grins widely, then reaches out and grasps the hands leaning from the old pick-up truck. "I'll take care of him from here, ji-chan. Thank you for bringing him all this way."
"s'no trouble, not since you done so much for us," The old man grumbles. "Take care, kid. Don't stay too long and worry your parents."
Izuku isn't certain about being left here, but Tanjiro radiates calm in a way that sets everyone at ease. Everyone goes back to work as the pick-up truck heads back down the mountain, and Izuku follows them towards the house.
"My name is Kamado Tanjiro, and this is my wife Kanao," Tanjiro sets a cup of tea down on the table, settling down with his own steaming cup and a warm smile. "I don't believe we've heard you name, little one."
"M-Midoriya Izuku…"
"It's nice to meet you! We have the same hair," Tanjiro chuckles, pulling at one of the curls on his head. Izuku's eyes flit to the strange crimson scar on his forehead, but he bites his tongue. "You had questions about fire? Do you have a fire quirk?"
"Y-yes…" Izuku cups his hands and blows a small flame into them, cradling it gently as he looks up at Tanjiro and Kanao. "My quirk lets me breathe fire, but I have to eat it first."
"Oh!" Tanjiro drops a fist into one hand, grinning broadly. "You want to taste our charcoal!"
The Kamado family refuses his money, claiming that a fire is the least they can offer their guests. Kanao seems amused by the event, almost as if she's expected this from her husband, and she watches Izuku carefully as they move about. Eventually a child close to Izuku's age comes and helps his father with the charcoal, but Izuku doesn't say anything to the boy.
Before they make the fire, Izuku watches Tanjiro take up a hatchet and cut firewood for them. He watches with rapt attention, because the way Tanjiro moves speaks of endless practice with the axe and hidden power. When they start the fire, everyone stares at it appreciatively before Tanjiro smiles at Izuku and crouches beside him.
"Enjoy the meal, Midoriya-kun!"
"Thank you for the food…!" Izuku gasps. He takes a deep breath, pulling at the fire until it billows towards him. When he's inhaled half of the flame he bites down and chews, watching the orange cloud snap back into place and crackle with much less fervor than before. The fire pours down his throat like ice water and settles in a place between his lungs.
"Well? How did it taste?"
"It's good!" Izuku stares at the fire with wide eyes. Tanjiro's flame tastes like mint and snow and warm marshmallows, with a bit of spice lingering on his tongue. "It's really really good!"
"I'm glad!" Tanjiro laughs when Izuku takes another bite of the flame and sighs contentedly. "Are you going to finish?"
"I can't…" Izuku mutters, staring at his feet as he twists his hands. "That wouldn't leave any fire for everyone else."
Izuku blushes when Tanjiro and Kanao laugh. He doesn't know what to think at first, but when Tanjiro claps him on the shoulder and smiles at him it leaves him feeling as if he's just swallowed a whole bonfire.
"You're a good boy, aren't you Midoriya-kun!"
"Don't tease him, Tanjiro, look at him," Kanao chides, kneeling beside Izuku so that she can look him in the eye. "My husband means that you're a kind person, Midoriya-kun. May I ask how the fire tastes?"
Five minutes later, after explaining all different types of tastes, Izuku blushes and slaps his hands over his mouth again. Tanjiro and Kanao both laugh at him fondly. When they find that he wants to be a hero, they share a look and offer to teach him how to make charcoal. It would be training, Tanjiro says. Kamado-kun, their son, gets upset when they offer to train Izuku, but Izuku can understand why. He's a stranger.
Soon after that, he heads back home and asks his mother if she'll meet the Kamado family. The rest is history.
Looking up at the gates of U.A. make them seem larger than life, as if they were built solely to outlive the dreams of aspiring heroes. Izuku stands with one hand on the edge of the gate, watching people stream by with awe and nausea warring in his stomach. With his black uniform, his dark green hair, and his dark green mask, he almost looks like he's trying to hide.
After the written exam and the briefing, they're funneled to the changing rooms, then onto busses. Izuku's leg has been bouncing up and down since the written exam, but now he finds himself rubbing his hands over his face. Without his mask he's nervous: accidentally blowing smoke on the bus will definitely get him in trouble. Now both legs are jumping up and down, and the person beside him gives him a sideways glance.
"Nervous?" The blonde asks. Izuku nods and tries to smile apologetically. His fear has him nearly grinding his teeth, but the boy beside him laughs casually. "Yeah, I get that. I don't mind if I don't make the cut but I'm still really nervous."
"I'm sure you'll…" Izuku yelps when a tiny puff of smoke rolls over his tongue. His neighbor's eyes and smile both widen, and suddenly he's laughing hard enough that he needs to lean against the window of the bus.
"W-wait, is that why you're nervous…?" The boy laughs harder when Izuku nods, covering his mouth with both hands. "Sorry, I'm sorry! That's just… I can't…!"
After a few minutes to calm down, the boy wheezes and gives Izuku a light push.
"Being nervous makes it hard to keep your quirk under control, huh? I get that! Sorry for laughing, but that was so unexpected!"
The two of them sit in lighthearted silence for the remainder of the short ride. When they get off, the boy waves to Izuku and drifts into the crowd. Izuku takes a deep breath and drifts the other way, keeping his distance from the others. Ahead of them is a massive door to what can only be a small ghost town full of robots and empty buildings.
Izuku swallows a bit when he thinks of how much will be destroyed.
Will that be part of the grading? He has to assume as much.
He doesn't think about tying his jacket around his waist, doesn't pay much attention to the crowd when he starts stretching. Instead his mind is running through possible exam components, questioning how many points he needs to pass. Roughly halfway through his stretch, a tall boy with glasses storms over.
"Excuse me! What are you doing without a shirt!" The tall boy uses his hands energetically. Izuku sits up from his toe touches, blushing when he realizes how many people are staring at him. A puff of smoke escapes him when he first opens his mouth, forcing him to cough and bite back his fire before he can reply.
"I, um… it's for my quirk?"
"You should have come prepared for that!" The boy shouts. "Heroes must be prepared for anything! Public indecency is inexcusable!"
"Well…" Izuku's knees curl towards his chest reflexively. He can feel himself getting warmer by the minute with the way he's blushing. "I c-couldn't afford much more than the shorts, actually…"
The tall boy shuts up promptly at that. Izuku stands and takes another deep breath. Steam starts rising from his body as he presses down on the star tucked in his chest, wordlessly explaining the situation. Before either of them can say anything more, Present Mic's voice cuts through the air like an anvil.
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The crowds blink up at the tower wordlessly for a moment before the hero responds. "What, you think life gives you a countdown? Go go go!"
Izuku and the boy both take off towards the opening gates, and suddenly Izuku doesn't have time to be nervous. For a few moments, he keeps pace with the stranger in blue. They share a glance, then veer off down different streets.
The first robot Izuku sees is a One Pointer wheeling towards him at high speeds. Behind it, a Two Pointer is crawling into the intersection at the end of the block. Izuku takes a deep breath and pushes down on his quirk a little more.
He leaps off the pavement, curling one foot back as he soars towards the machine.
Toshinori chuckles as he watches the chaos. U.A.'s entrance exam is a treat for the staff, and the equipment for observing potential students is top of the line. Everyone insists it's for safety, but watching kids mindlessly tear through machines beats daytime television. Some of them jump out at Toshinori for their skill, others for their power; one leaps from robot to robot setting off explosions while grinning like a demon. His power and instinct are shockingly on point, but it reminds Toshinori too much of Endeavor.
"Oh? Look at that."
Toshinori glances towards another screen and hums appreciatively. One of the students from site beta, a boy wearing only shorts, is sprinting down a street. It doesn't take a trained eye to realize he's moving a bit too fast, or to see smoke trailing behind him, but Toshinori can appreciate a well-trained youth.
His eyes widen when the boy jumps and soars over the pavement. All the villain bots are larger than a person, but the One Pointers are roughly average height when they're moving forward. There's barely enough time for the machine to look up and slow down before the head is removed from the frame. When he lands, the boy rolls and comes up under an attack from the Two Pointer's front leg… then uses the offending leg as a platform to vault over the robot, stomping on the head for good measure.
Someone, Toshinori isn't sure who, rewinds the tape to see exactly what happens. The boy on the tape is plain looking, well built for someone of average height but somewhat small. If he weren't shirtless and barefoot, he'd be completely unremarkable.
Somehow the boy covers several meters with a running leap. The frame by frame motion makes it clear that he's moving just fast enough to give Power Loader's cameras trouble. Large gaps open up as the boy jumps, but the slowed footage is enough to give them an idea of his form.
Just before the One Pointer's head is axed, a burst of orange light colors the screen. Toshinori notices it absentmindedly and puts a pin in it. Everyone watches silently as the boy rolls, jumps, plants a foot on the metal plate and vaults the top, slamming his feet down on the head before leaping across and away.
"Damn strength quirks always stealing the spotlight," Midnight grumbles.
Toshinori blinks when the drone scrolls down the street, revealing a pair of busted Three Pointers before it cruises towards the more concentrated destruction.
"Look out…!" Izuku's teeth snap as he throws himself in front of an attacking robot. For a moment, the One Pointer pushes forward and grinds Izuku's heels into the pavement. Steam erupts from his body as he pushes back, slowing to a stop and gaining ground. He twists, throwing it to the ground so that he can stomp the chest to ruins, then turns back to the stunned student. "Are you okay?"
The street running through the middle of site Beta is a nightmare. Rabid teenagers tear through robots like feral dogs off the leash. A few are running or hiding from blows; the machines pack a concerning amount of force, enough to tear through concrete, but there's a distinct lack of dead students to match. Counting this one, Izuku has saved four students… if it can really be called saving. U.A. wouldn't design the robots to do much worse than knock someone out, or worst case, break a bone… right?
Izuku has to keep telling himself that.
Unfortunately, his detours have left him with only twenty points to his name. His quirk is pushing his body past his limits, and he's visibly steaming now… If he pushes any further, he's bound to end up in a hospital.
For a moment he wonders if meeting Recovery Girl is worth the backlash. He shakes his head and forces himself to take a deep breath. Meeting Recovery Girl is absolutely worth overusing his quirk, but first he needs to get his head on straight. No point in meeting her if he's going to fail the exam.
The ground shakes beneath his feet, knocking him from his reverie. Students storm past him, fleeing towards the gates as a behemoth rises from the streets near the back. Before Izuku can run away, he hears someone call for help.
At the base of the robot's treads is a girl trapped under a pile of rubble.
Izuku pushes down on his quirk, flooding his system with molten iron. Flames erupt from his hands and feet as smoke trails from his lips. He darts through the crowd, twisting and rolling out of what collisions he can't avoid. The concrete rolls off her ankle easily, but the robot's hand is creeping towards them like a death sentence. Before he can really think about it, he's swiped up a rod of metal debris and gives the girl a nervous smile.
"Cover your eyes!" He spins and hurls the makeshift javelin upwards, aiming for the center of the hand. Agony erupts in his limbs as his quirk fails him. The spear barely manages to pierce the armor. For the first time in years, Izuku takes a deep breath and pulls.
Ochako can't think straight. Her leg is throbbing, and the machine lumbering towards her is so large that for the first time in her life she thinks maybe this is the end. Even if these things are supposed to be safe, what if they aren't? What if this is some terrible coincidence and the machine is rampaging?
She's about to call for help again when she notices someone racing back towards her. The boy isn't familiar… in a way, she finds herself a little disappointed that she doesn't recognize him. Everyone else is running, leaving her to her fate… everyone except for him.
He's running towards her like a hero.
The stranger is standing over her before she can blink. One hand rolls the concrete off her leg as the other hefts a length of twisted rebar. His smile is blinding as he steps over her, spinning around to look her in the eye.
"Cover your eyes!"
Ochako doesn't cover her eyes. She stares as he spins, hurling the javelin at the Hand of Death. Each movement is etched into her memory: the tension rippling through his core, his swollen arm, the steam and embers pouring off his body…
The spear embeds itself in the machine, though it hardly does anything to stop it. Ochako is about to force herself up when the boy takes a deep breath… and everything goes white. She screams, curling up and covering her head with her hands to protect herself from the white-hot flames. All she can feel is the scream in her lungs and searing heat against the back of her hands.
She squeaks when she hears groaning metal and curls in on herself even more as something heavy falls. Fear of the Hand, and the dragon who'd come to save her, drive her to coil tighter and tighter against the pavement. The heat dissipates for a moment before something explodes, blowing more hot air across her back.
When she finally uncurls and rolls over, her vision is blurry and white. She blinks the static from her eyes, staring at the destruction laid out before her. Her hero is barely standing; his body shudders as he tries to breathe through the smoke and embers pouring out of his lips. Overhead, the Zero Pointer lumbers backwards, minus an arm. Giant pieces of the arm are scattered across the street or buried in the buildings on either side of them.
Ochako startles as the boy in front of her takes a step, then falls to a knee. She can't move when he forces himself to his feet, arms dangling uselessly by his sides, and turns around. His lips are badly chapped, and blood is pouring down across his right eye, effectively blinding him.
"Are you okay? C-can you move- walk?" He stammers, taking a few slow steps her way. Ochako nods, then blinks when he lifts a shaking hand and holds it out to her. "H-here… let me help…"
"I'm fine! Ah… I'm," Ochako jumps to her feet, wincing at the pain in her leg briefly before she's reaching out to the boy. They pass one another on the way: she stands there nursing her sprained ankle as the boy falls to the ground, completely unconscious.
Toshinori stares with rapt attention as the green haired boy throws himself in the way of yet another robot. He's sure that he's the only one paying attention to the boy, and maybe it's a bit much to be looking for him on the rolling feed but something about the boy is familiar. Even if the boy hadn't caught Toshinori's eye, he'd be paying attention; not many students are throwing themselves in to save others.
By the time the boy has saved his third victim, Toshinori is grinning openly. There's a process that shows openly on the boy's face: the shock when he notices the soon-to-be victim, the hesitation as he considers his position… bargaining, defeat, acceptance. Eventually the boy is racing to step in, and then he's ushering the victims off towards the gates. He hasn't obtained many points of his own because he loses time caught between his wants and the need to save people.
A desperate need, if Toshinori is seeing it right.
Despite the earlier comments about "strength quirks", Toshinori can see something else in the boy's movements. Whenever he finds himself up against the larger robots, his body seems to pierce the armor too easily. From this distance, he can't tell; Toshinori can only trust his gut and wonder if the concrete is steaming because of the robots, or if that's the boy's quirk.
When the Zero is released, Toshinori wonders what this boy will do. He watches site Beta as carefully as possible, looking for a flash of green in the crowds. The green blur he finds is racing against the current, something that terrifies Toshinori and stokes the embers of One for All within his chest.
There's a girl trapped beneath some rubble, so maybe…
Not enough time, Toshinori blinks, frowning as the boy shoves the concrete off the girl's ankle. He needs to…
A flash of white turns the screen to static. One by one the drones turn to look at the scene of the attack. The Zero is lurching, trying to pull back despite the rapidly heating metal. It turns red, then orange and yellow before the machine groans and comes apart at the shoulder.
"Holy SH—"
"What just happened!"
"The kid leapt in to save someone!"
"What kind of quirk was that…?"
Toshinori holds his breath until the dust settles and he catches his first glimpse of the students: the green haired boy, who is coughing up smoke, and the girl whom he's just saved. His fifth rescue, and from truly unbeatable circumstances…
When the boy falls to the ground, Toshinori has to stop himself from rushing to his side. The girl is fussing over him and Recovery Girl is on her way to the fields; there would be no point in causing a scene. But he was right about the boy's quirk, and he can't help thinking that this boy is exactly what he's looking for in a successor: Someone with plenty of time to grow, someone with a quirk that is both flashy and nuanced, someone who is willing to sacrifice themselves for others,.
Someone who cannot resist the call of "Plus Ultra".