Chapter 1: Fire Dragon Arts

In the failing days of march, a pair of teens stand locked in silent combat at the foot of the mountain. They are still as statues, save for the rise and fall of their shoulders and the strain of their ribs as they breathe. One is dressed traditionally, in a green and purple haori with loose brown pants, while his opponent has stripped down to a pair of black shorts.

The sky is bright and clear. The air between them is not. Killing intent pours off of the red one like heavy fog. His opponent has begun to boil and steam in the early morning sunlight, cutting through the fog as if the fire in his veins can cleanse the air between them.

Green moves first, as always. Red feels his approach before he sees it: a wave of heat precedes the arrival of the dragon like the first rays of morning sunlight. His eyes flicker between the two images of his opponent, one on either side, and red hesitates. Fear stabs his gut and rushes through him like a poison.

He steps back, draws his elbows up and lifts the blade towards the mirage on his left. Green's ankle brushes through his hair as the sword cuts down, left to right, then twists and rises. It swings past Green's knee as he pulls his leg back and twists into a jab. Red spins left and brings the sword down again.

They carve spirals into the clearing as they dance. Red bends and sways like a vine caught in the current; Green twists like a hurricane, striking and retreating like lightning. Slowly they take to the air, leaping over one another in search of blind spots.

Green realizes too late that his opponent has sheathed their blade. Red lands on his outstretched fist and flies backwards, landing on one of the boulders littering the edge of the clearing. He smirks as his hand settles on the hilt, and then he is gone.

Izuku blinks up at the sky as he tries to breathe.

"You lasted longer that time." Sabito says. He's already perched on another boulder, blade sheathed as if he'd never drawn it in the first place. Izuku coughs in response.

"Acting cool again Sabito?" The boys flinch as feminine laughter cuts the silence. Across the clearing, a young woman leaps over the boulders. She's dressed similarly to Sabito, in a pink and green haori with loose brown pants, though her hair is not the same burgundy red as her cousin. Her wavy black hair is cut just above her shoulders, showing off the red and purple fringe. Unlike Sabito's dichromatic red and purple eyes, her rosy pink eyes have cat-like pupils.

She smiles quickly, but it feels more like a way to show off her fangs.

"What do you want, Haru?" Sabito growls.

"Mom told me to come get you both," Haru grins as she offers Izuku a hand up. "You're causing a fuss again."

"It's training!" Sabito stalks past them, growling at the girl despite giving her a wide berth. "Midoriya needs to spar if he's going to get into the hero course."

"Sparring doesn't shake the whole forest!" Haru snaps, pulling a towel from the crimson obi around her waist so she can wipe off Izuku's back. "You two get so caught up in your heads that you don't realize what you're doing! Didn't uncle Tanjiro tell you not to fight with quirks anymore!"

"We aren't using quirks!" Sabito glares at his cousin form atop the boulders, pressing a hand against the hilt of his blade to keep from yelling too loud. He knows better than to engage his cousin, no matter how angry he gets. "It's just breathing!"

"He says that like it isn't his quirk," Haru huffs. Izuku trembles as she throws the towel over his shoulders and pulls at his elbow. "C'mon, Midori-kun, you've still got to help Uncle with the wood."

He's never quite gotten used to the Kamado family, even though they treat him more like family than a guest. The entire clan knows him and treat him well, even if he doesn't work for them. Sabito and Haru are closest to his age, though he's sparred with several of the younger and older fighters on the compound. Charcoal is a convenient excuse for keeping fit and running a business, apparently, but the Kamado family has been practicing swordplay and quirk training for a century or more.

Not that Izuku practices the sword. His quirk isn't suited for it, so he focuses on martial arts. Despite his disadvantage he makes a point of fighting anyone who will take him up on it. Everything is fuel for the fire, and there are almost a dozen different styles spread out among the Kamado company and their allies.

The Kamado home is a traditional Japanese mansion near the road, built onto the original home. Despite what Izuku had believed when he was young, the surrounding buildings aren't part of the Kamado Corp. (their charcoal factory is as far from the homes as it can be without leaving their compound) but the homes of their "allies"; homes of people with similar quirks, who have been closely linked with the Kamado clan for centuries.

Izuku's eyes widen when they arrive and find a massive bonfire burning in front of the Kamado home, and nearly everyone who lives nearby gathered beside it. Fires were a large part of their beliefs, their work and their quirks, but seeing so many large bonfires burning was unusual. Everyone is dressed in their training clothes, like Sabito and Haru, wearing their blades. Real blades, unlike the practice sword hanging from Sabito's obi.

"Ah, the men of the hour!" Tanjiro grins broadly when they reach the crowd. Izuku can't help getting nervous when the crowd cheers and parts for them. Only Haru's grip on his shoulder keeps him from shrinking beneath their stares or bolting entirely. "I thought I told you no quirk usage unless you have an observer?"

"We weren't using quirks!" Sabito growls. He ducks his head beneath his father's outstretched hand, but eventually Tanjiro succeeds in ruffling his son's hair despite the boy's protests. After fixing his hair and adjusting his robe, he frowns heavily and stares at the dirt. "At the very least, we were hardly pushing it."

"The forest was shaking pretty well," Tanjiro chuckles. "I guess you two need some kind of handicap from now on. Why don't you go change, Sabito?"

"Don't start without me!" Sabito snaps, looking back and forth between Izuku and Tanjiro as if they're plotting something. He grumbles as he jogs towards the house to change into his formal training garb, leaving Izuku half naked in front of the crowd. Izuku shifts nervously when Tanjiro's hand settles on the hilt of his sword and the man smirks.

"So… the hero course?"

Izuku nods. Tanjiro's smile is different now: he burns differently than Sabito, though the color is similar. Sabito burns with a mixture of wrath and indifference, mementos of his mother and his aunt, while Tanjiro burns like the sun. Few could compare to Tanjiro's infinite kindness and his ruthless training. As far as Izuku knows, only the rabid Hashibira-san and the ever tranquil Agatsuma-san, as well as the ones who'd trained them, had ever approached Tanjiro's skill with the blade.

"Do you think you passed the test?"

"I don't know, sensei…" Izuku mutters quietly, staring at the dirt with fists tight at his sides.

"What was holding you back?"

"People needed to be saved." Izuku says. "They… the exam was to beat giant robots. Not everyone was prepared."

"Eyes up!" Tanjiro snaps. Izuku's eyes rise quickly, staring straight through his teacher's chest. He only relaxes when Tanjiro takes a step forward and takes him by the shoulders, urging him to look further— to look past their training and see the pride in Tanjiro's eyes. "If you do not reach the Heroics course, they don't deserve you Izuku. No matter how much we need champions, you are a hero. You've been a hero for a long time, young man, and you'll be a hero no matter what the results are. We are proud of you, all of us…!"

Tanjiro spins him around, pulling Izuku into an embrace as they turn, looking through the smiling faces and the cheering friends who are gathered around them. When they turn back to the bonfire, Tanjiro lets him go and settles his hands in the folds of his haori.

"No one can be prouder than your mother, but I would like to believe that no one here is as proud of you as I am, Izuku. You know what it is to be kind. Never forget that." Tanjiro says. Izuku feels himself tearing up, and his best attempts at avoiding it are failing him. Sabito rejoins them, throwing a green sweatshirt and a pair of sweats at Izuku while he takes his place beside his father.

"Today," Tanjiro calls over the crowd, raising his hands as if he didn't already command their attention. "We celebrate the graduation of our family! We wish them luck in high school, at U.A.!"

Izuku thinks it's a bit excessive. Sabito will make the general course at U.A. easily, much like his cousins did, but Izuku has no idea if he made it into the Heroics course. No one cares whether he makes it in, though. Everyone crowds the two of them with cheers and congratulations when Tanjiro finishes his short declaration, and from there the afternoon is a whirl.

After two hours, Tanjiro finds Izuku sitting with the Agatsuma triplets and drags him away. Despite his sleight stature and his baggy clothing, Izuku knows that Tanjiro is probably the strongest person in the compound without quirks involved. Only the Stone style clans are stronger, and they reside in a different part of the country for religious purposes. Tanjiro drags Izuku through the crowd as if he's flying a kite: Izuku's feet hardly touch the ground and everyone who sees them cheers or falls over themselves laughing.

When Tanjiro sets him in front of the bonfire and waves a hand at the flames, Izuku's eyes widen.

"Your mother mentioned that you burned most of your reserves fighting some kind of monster robot," Tanjiro smiles broadly. "So I made you a special treat! You can't go into the heroics program without a full stomach!"

Tanjiro's fire is not something that Izuku eats often. It's like his mother's Katsudon: a treat, something they only make when he's accomplished something, and the gesture alone makes Izuku tear up dangerously.

"Whoa, whoa! You'll douse the flames!" Tanjiro laughs. "Go ahead, Izuku. Eat up."

"B-but…"

"Anything you eat," A familiar voice chimes in softly from Izuku's other side. "I will replace, Midoriya-kun."

It's rare to see Nezuko-san outside under the sunlight. Nezuko Agatsuma ne Kamado is a beautiful woman despite her sickness. She's taller than her brother, with a small horn growing out of her forehead and a pair of fangs hidden behind the sweet smile on her face. A kimono is wrapped tightly around her shoulders and Haru stands firmly at her side, just in case her mother's illness acts up.

Trapped between Tanjiro's infinite kindness and his sister's infinite patience, Izuku finds himself unable to refuse. He steps up to the edge of the bonfire, taking a moment to appreciate how large it is: Tanjiro built it using a few trees, and the flames have nearly reached the third floor of the Kamado estate.

He barely feels the heat at all. Rather, it feels comfortable. If he wants, he could reach in and scoop some of the fire into one hand, but that would risk his hoodie.

After his consideration, he lets out a breath and inhales, pulling with an instinct that has been ingrained in him since his birth. Somewhere between his lungs, the shift opens up a hunger that Izuku has been fighting off since the exam. Drinking fire feels like drinking alcohol or taking a pull from a cigarette- both things that Izuku has tested only because of his quirk, and never more than once.

The only difference is the depth, the strain that comes when Izuku inhales and pulls on the bonfire roaring before him. No one Izuku has met has ever understood the depth of Izuku's hunger. He plays it off and understates it, praying that no one sees the way he licks his lips when he sees an open flame.

What could he compare it to? Who could understand the hunger?

It feels like my stomach is rumbling, or the way your lungs burn when you're jogging… Izuku told his mother once. But it's both of them at the same time. Like there's a hole in my chest and I can feel the fire with my quirk whenever I get close to it. Getting close is like trying to breathe, but I have to pull first. I can feel the fire like air, but I can't do anything unless I want to. So it's something like being hungry and trying to breathe, knowing that you can't breathe without forcing yourself.

Neither of them really understood his explanation, though his mother understood the sense of object being within range of her quirk.

Quietly, in his own mind, Izuku compares his hunger to the emptiness of space. It sucks at every open flame he sees, desperately inhaling anything he let himself feast on like a vacuum sucking in oxygen and planets. Only the potential weight of Izuku's actions keep him from consuming every open flame he sees.

A roar accompanies the unhinging of his jaw. It isn't truly a sound so much as it is a vibration. The air hums and every living thing in earshot shudders violently as Izuku inhales.

The bonfire twitches uncertainly when he sets his eyes on it, then leaps toward him when he drinks it in. What starts as a trickle becomes a cyclone of red, orange and bright yellow. Embers swirl on the edges like fireflies trapped in the vortex. Before long the pull of Izuku's quirk has become a vortex as tall as the blaze itself, and the flame begins to sink instead of reaching upward. He stops when there's less flame than wood; his quirk can't eat the entire thing in one go, despite all his training (the spectators can't help thinking otherwise; Izuku's quirk sounds like a growling animal, if any animal on earth could shake the air with a breath).

Izuku coughs when he's drunk his fill, leaning on his knees. He feels tired and exhilarated all at once, like he's just come up for air after being underwater for too long, despite the tingling sensation running across his limbs.

"You're getting better! That was a ton, Izuku-kun." Tanjiro says. A few of the people nearby clap at his display, now that Izuku's quirk is not pulling at the air in their lungs.

Izuku looks up when Nezuko-san steps forward. Everyone does. Her quirk is special even by the Kamado family standards, and it's extremely rare to get a good look.

Kamado ne Agatsuma Nezuko grows taller with each step, reaching nearly 180 centimeters without pushing her quirk, and her horn grows until it is nearly the height of her skull. She lifts a hand, drawing her palm across the tip of her horn until an open gash bleeds freely in her palm. With a swipe of her hand, a thick tendril of blood is thrown into the bonfire. The logs of the fire are ashy and black near the roots and the shorn limbs with thick black cracks running the length of unburnt wood. When Nezuko's blood lands on the wood, it glows like molten metal before erupting in pink and crimson flames. Under the logs, the lazy orange flames leftover from Izuku's feast are quickly consumed by Nezuko's quirk.

The bonfire explodes as Nezuko makes a fist with her outstretched hand, purple coals turning rosy pink as the fire reaches taller than ever before. A rowdy cheer goes up when the nearby fires react to her quirk, filling the open field with ripples of pink, purple, orange and yellow. Despite the energy of the flames, it doesn't burn hotter: Izuku can feel the heat of the bonfire, and he knows that the new flames should be much more intense than before.

Nezuko's control keeps the flames tame. When she turns, they lock eyes and Izuku feels something turn over in his gut. It isn't the heated rivalry he feels with Bakugō or Sabito or the jealous admiration he feels for Haru. This isn't so much jealous as it is hungry.

"You've got such a nice quirk, Midoriya-kun," Nezuko becomes more human as she walks away from the fire. Her hand is already healed, and her slit pupils have all but disappeared into her pink irises. There is hardly any passion in her eyes when Izuku sees her. "I am sure you will save many people."

"Thank you, Agatsuma-dono…" Izuku murmurs. He can't shake the feeling that she's trying to tell him something. Without her quirk active there's no trace of pupil in her eyes. The color reminds him of sakura petals.

When she walks past him and returns to the crowd, Izuku thinks of All Might. His respect for Tanjiro and Nezuko is similar to the respect he holds for All Might… in fact, over the years, his respect for the Number One Hero has tempered while his respect for his teachers has only continued to grow.

I still have so far to go, Izuku blinks at the flames wearily.

-0-

-0-

Dagobah Beach is a strange place. It has a gravity all its own, a song that can only be found in the wind and waves. Humans are creatures of opportunity, and places like these are often the scene of crimes of opportunity. Curiosity brings people to the beach, but the beach pulls them back for better or worse.

Toshinori knows the pull of the beach all too well. He's only been here twice: the first time, an ignorant comment about his sensei's age forced him to run laps up and down the sand for hours. Foreign countries seemed to build cities like ant farms or sculptures; Japan built cities, sure, but more often than not they built homes. Only Japan could draw nature up out of the cracks and build their countryside into their cities as much as they built their cities into the countryside. During his prime, he'd thought of Dagobah only in passing. When he'd first moved into Musutafu almost a year ago, he'd visited the beach and left with a bone deep sense of regret.

What are we doing, He'd thought bitterly, if we allow places like this to disappear?

Now Toshinori stares at the beach with a thoughtful frown. He walks down the clean white sand and stares at the gazebo built onto the pier curiously. The stars twinkle mischievously overhead as he searches for answers.

"Excuse me," He coughs quietly into a handkerchief, smiling despite the mixed shock and distaste in the couple's expressions. "I remember this beach being a bit of a dump just over a year ago. Did something happen?"

"That's a nice way of saying it," The young man chuckles as he turns and points down the beach. "As far as I know, there wasn't a big effort or scheduled clean up. I think I saw one of the regulars down that way if you're really curious."

Further down the beach Toshinori finds his 'regular' staring at the horizon. He hesitates at first, either because they're awfully young to be out this late or because they seem deep in thought. The boy looks awfully small with his arms wrapped around his knees and a dark flu mask over his nose; if Toshinori had to guess, he may be in high school.

"Excuse me," The boy blinks at Toshinori owlishly when he calls out across the sand. "Do you know who cleaned up this beach?"

His question causes the boy to perk up but doesn't earn much of a response. Toshinori loves children, high schoolers especially, but recently he can't help being nervous. Being a "hero" is but a moment in the lives of civilians; being a teacher is a completely different beast.

"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you," He coughs, fighting the urge to cradle his side. Getting nervous now feels a bit like having something crawl out of his stomach and tickle the stitches in his guts. "I visited just over a year ago and it looks completely different now. Usually there's some kind of announcement or news coverage for something this size, so I must have missed it…"

"There wasn't anything like that," The boy says quietly. He's half-twisted to face Toshinori with his legs laid out on the sand, reclining with his hands dug into the sand underneath him. "Did you lose something important?"

"No, I was hoping to thank whoever cleaned it up," Toshinori replies. "My… an old friend brought me here once, and it looks better now than it ever did back then. Community service is a rare sight these days."

"People say it happened overnight." the boy sits up and curls around his legs again, running a single finger through the sand.

"How strange," Toshinori sighs. A breeze rolls over Dagobah, rustling Toshinori's coat and tugging at his bangs. "Did I disturb you, young man? You seem troubled."

"No, I'm fine…" The boy replies quickly. "I'm better than fine, actually. My high school acceptance letter came in earlier tonight. I needed some time to think… I think."

"Congratulations young man!" Toshinori can't help smiling. He nearly reaches out and slaps the boy's shoulder… but the boy's somber mood remains. "Your parents must be very proud."

"They are. We celebrated…" The boy replies. "Apparently I did well."

"Apparently?"

"Well, it's a national school," The boy glances up at Toshinori quickly, then waves his hands in time with his explanation. "And they- I mean, my score was good. But I was…"

He trails off midway, staring past his outstretched fingers at the stars on the horizon. After a moment, his hands fall onto his sneakers and his eyes fall to the sand.

"I wasn't fast enough." He murmurs.

Toshinori frowns. After years of putting his life on the line for others, the fear of academia feels incredibly silly. He nearly calls it ridiculous. But he remembers what it felt like then: that sense of impending doom, the curl of anxiety in his guts and the nerves that kept him up all through the night before an exam. U.A. stressed both academics and heroics, putting students through a physical and mental wringer unlike anything else in the country.

Unlike anything else in the world.

But didn't everyone feel that way at times? Weren't young people facing their hardships head on? Not everyone could place their life on the line to do their jobs. Toshinori had become a hero so that most people never needed to.

"I… am not a teacher…" He says it uncertainly, because this moment of honesty is unexpected and because he isn't as sure of 'what he wants to say' as he is how he wants to say it. "And it's been years since I graduated from school. But I believe that people must face the present with everything they have, and even if there is some kind of order in the way things happen, you'll never really be prepared for everything that comes your way."

Toshinori's wound squirms beneath his remaining ribs. He remembers the battle where he'd earned his scar as clearly as he tastes the blood in his mouth… and there is no doubt in his mind that he'd earned it. Giving his life would have been a small price to pay for defeating that villain. Strangely enough, survival feels heavier than death sometimes.

"If you're feeling guilt, young man, then maybe you could have done more… but doing things differently doesn't always mean doing them better. Can you feel proud of what you managed to do?" Toshinori coughs. After a moment, the boy nods. "Don't focus on the guilt so much that you lose sight of what you accomplished. As long as you can be proud of what you accomplished, you can learn from your experience and try again.

"Besides!" Toshinori grins, chuckling at the way their hair rustles in the breeze. "You succeeded, young man. Grades aren't everything, you know? Teachers don't give out grades for style."

"Style…?" The admiration in the boy's eyes shatters after a moment of thought, leaving the boy to keel over and groan. "I made a fool of myself in front of everyone…!"

"Well, you can learn from that too," Toshinori rasps. "Not everyone was born with as much style as All Might!"

"All Might…? Oh no, All Might…!" The boy buries his face in his hands, muttering something unintelligible.

"Come now, time to get up," Toshinori doesn't mind borrowing a bit of One for All as he extends a hand to the boy. He doesn't feel particularly strong tonight, but at the very least he can still manage this much. "Your parents might worry if you stay out all night being gloomy."

-0-

-0-

Everything about U.A. is massive. Izuku feels smaller than normal walking down the halls, and he can't help staring up at the door to class 1-A with a mix of healthy and unhealthy anxiety. When he finally opens the door, he finds the boy who'd scolded him during the entrance exam scolding Kacchan of all people. They both stop when they see the door close behind him, albeit for completely different reasons.

Bakugō swings himself out of his desk and approaches him slowly. It's a bit of a ritual at this point: the blonde keeps his hands in his pockets and slouches, as he always does at school, but Bakugō getting up and approaching is a sign of respect.

"Deku."

"Kacchan." Izuku keeps his hands wrapped around the straps of his backpack.

"Third place?" Bakugō narrows his eyes.

"Rescue points."

"We both know that's horse shit," Bakugō scoffs. "They may've let you in, but third place is as far as you get."

"You didn't get any rescue points." Izuku says. Bakugō doesn't say anything. The fact that he remains quiet in the face of the accusation proves Izuku's guess: his rival has already considered this.

"Excuse me!" The tall boy wearing glasses stalks past Bakugō with his arms locked at ninety-degree angles and extends his hand like a piston. Izuku spares him a glance before looking back at Bakugō: he remembers this person from the exam, and now that he's seen the boy scold Bakugō he can't help thinking that maybe there's no malice behind his actions. "I am Iida Tenya, from Somei academy…!"

"Don't interrupt, four eyes," Bakugō snarls.

"Speaking to a classmate that way is…!"

"Please, Iida-san." Izuku says quietly.

The entire room stills as they stare one another down. Izuku is shorter than Bakugō by a good bit. Bakugō's fake disregard for the dress code is new, and it adds a sense of danger to the situation that wasn't present back in middle school. From the outside, this may very well look like a delinquent shaking down easy prey.

There's a challenge in their silence.

"Hmmm? Oh, it's you!" A feminine voice speaks up, only to be quickly silenced by the oppressive atmosphere in the classroom. "What, what… oooooohhhh, it's that!"

"Fuckin extras…" Bakugō mutters, eyes darting to the bystanders surrounding them. "Remember your place, Deku."

Izuku doesn't respond to that. He bites his tongue and waits.

The door opens and their teacher emerges from his cocoon like some kind of degenerative butterfly, herding them towards the practice fields. Bakugō blows their test out of the water. Izuku takes fourth place overall, and their teacher stares at him with an unreadable look.

-0-

When they reach the locker rooms after Aizawa's tests, Izuku peels off his uniform and quietly inspects the fabric for damages. It slows him down enough that one of the others, a redhead with a sharp smile, approaches him as he pulls on his slacks.

"Hey, you're Midoriya right? Was something wrong with you uniform?" Kirishima asks.

"N-no, I was just…" Izuku pulls his pants up quickly, meeting the redhead's eyes once before he reaches for his undershirt. "I didn't want to damage it. My quirk can burn fabric if I'm not careful."

"That makes sense! Wait, you were holding back?" Kirishima's expression twists between 'insulted' and 'admiring' for a moment before he settles on the latter.

"No!" Izuku snaps. A bit of smoke rolls off his tongue at the outburst, surprising the people nearby. "I mean, I wasn't holding back, I was just… trying to be careful."

"Makes sense, I guess…" Kirishima frowns. "I thought you breathed fire?"

"I can," Izuku nods, buttoning his coat before reaching for his shoes. "I can eat fire too, but I've got a few ways to use it."

"That explains why you were so fast!" Kirishima grins broadly at that. They leave the locker room near the tail of the pack, just ahead of the first girls exiting their locker room, and Izuku lets Kirishima talk for the both of them. Before they can enter the classroom, Izuku sees Uraraka jogging to catch up to them.

"Midoriya! You're Midoriya right?" Uraraka's smile is even brighter than Kirishima's, if that's possible. "I never got to thank you for the entrance exam! You really saved me!"

"Oh, I didn't…" Izuku blushes when he remembers passing out in front of her. "Th-that—"

"Wait, wait!" Kirishima points back and forth between Izuku and Uraraka. "You saved her?"

"No, I really—"

"Hush!" Uraraka swipes at him with one hand and turns to Kirishima with a smile that should be criminal. "I got trapped under some rubble by that big robot, the Zero one, right? And then Midoriya comes running in, he kicks over the rock—!"

"But I didn't kick…"

"And he throws this javelin—!"

"It was just some rebar, I didn't…"

"And then WOOSH!" Uraraka finishes her tale with a shout and a jump, throwing her hands into the air with a demonstration that reminds Izuku of fireworks, not his Dragon's Breath. "Everything goes white! I swear it felt like someone set off a bomb or something!"

"It wasn't…" Izuku shrinks when Uraraka's energy infects Kirishima and the classmates who have stayed in the hall to watch.

"That was you Midoriya?!" Kirishima and Uraraka are both sparkling. "Dude! I saw that too!"

"He nearly took out the whole thing!" Uraraka's fists shoot upward for a moment, clearly caught up in her own mood to notice Izuku's nerves. "You were like a real hero!"

"B-but I mean, that, I didn't…!"

"Uraraka-kun is correct," Iida says from the door. He holds out some paperwork to the three of them, then pushes his glasses up his nose and turns to Izuku with a somber expression. "Your actions were those of a hero, and you were rewarded because of it. Third place is something to be proud of, Midoriya. And as for me…"

Iida bends sharply, then retreats and faces Izuku stiffly.

"I apologize for scolding you before the exam! It was rude of me to assume your intentions, especially when you'd done your best to consider everyone else."

"Y-you didn't do anything wrong, Iida-san," Izuku stammers. "You were right, really, but I didn't have a choice. My quirk tends to set normal clothes on fire…"

"Oh, that's why you were steaming!" Concern bubbles up in Uraraka's voice. "You were coughing up ashes and…"

"I'm fine now!" Izuku coughs, despite himself. He wishes he were fine: his voice is still a little strained if he talks too much and it had taken a week for his sense of taste to completely return. But no one here needs to know that. "Besides, I couldn't just…"

The look his classmates give him says it all. He could've run. They had.

-0-

-0-

Compared to their introduction, the first day at U.A. is mundane. Izuku only listens to his classmates' complaints with half a mind, switching back and forth between his hero notes and his classwork. Seeing pros up close and personal gives him a completely new insight into what he's previously put down, and before third period he's resigned to getting an entirely new set of notebooks.

Lunch is a busy affair; a bunch of Izuku's classmates have decided that Bakugō is fun to hound, and it creates three groups of students. Izuku isn't used to having people to sit with during lunch. The experience is nice, especially once they've gotten used to how little he actually speaks.

But even during lunch Izuku can't quite pay attention. They all have the same idea, after all, and gradually the energy in their classroom amps up as they approach the end of classes. For most students, eighth period spells the end of the school day, but for heroics…

Everyone goes wild when All Might walks in wearing his Silver Age uniform.

When All Might announces the battle trial, Izuku begins to steam.

Picking a hero outfit had been harder than Izuku first imagined. He'd wanted to bring in pieces of what he'd seen in his heroes: All Might's streamlined form, the Kamado training garb, and the materials used by the Endeavor hero agency. But there was no good way to combine everything, and he'd ended up planning out five or six different designs before his mother sat him down and helped him think it through.

He'd spent years honing his fighting style and training to make it work best for him. Best for his quirk, his mom reminded him. If he focused too much on making a costume that honored his heroes rather than honoring him, he would crash and burn before he ever got off the ground. The request made him nervous. Fireproof fabric is expensive (as opposed to fire resistant, which was much less difficult) and while a hero's costume was essential to their survival, he felt like requesting a suit of fireproof material was overstepping. After a quiet moment, his mother had suggested an alternative.

Izuku's hero outfit is a sleeveless black-and-green checkered vest over baggy dark green pants. He'd modeled his boots after the sneakers his father sent him every year: thick, fireproof red leather reaches past his ankles and adds a noticeable weight to his step. A loose white scarf decorated with black and green lines hangs around his neck, hiding a face mask-slash-mouthguard, and a pair of goggles sit snugly just beneath his hairline.

He leaves the vest open on the way to their battlefield. Kirishima is shirtless, after all, and Shoji- the only other student who constantly wears a mask- is dressed in a skintight sleeveless shirt. Izuku nods to him quietly as their classmates enter the tunnel and smiles when he receives a nod in return.

After years of being the odd one out, making friends so easily makes him a bit giddy.

It's not surprising that Izuku and Bakugō are paired up. They exchange a look when All Might holds up their matchup for the first round- definitely earlier than Izuku expected, but not impossible. Everyone else takes a step back with Bakugō's hands spark and the steam rising from Izuku's shoulders becomes noticeable.

"Hey, you and that Bakugō dude," Kaminari smiles awkwardly as he plays with the dial attached to his headset. "You guys know each other?"

"We went to the same middle school," Izuku replies.

"So what are we up against?" Kaminari frowns. Izuku lets out a breath and pushes his fingertips out just a bit further, stretching so far that Kaminari makes a face and covers his groin with his hands.

"Bakugō is going to come for me," Izuku glances at Kaminari as he stands up, then looks up at the building. Claiming that he can feel something from the building would be ridiculous… but Izuku can't shake the taste of bloodlust. He's developed a sense for these things. "You should try and get to the bomb."

"Shouldn't we stick together?" Kaminari's smile trembles a bit. "I mean, not too close— I don't want to fry you with my quirk or something, but if we stick together…"

"Kacchan is coming for me," Izuku says. He takes a deep breath and pushes down on the flickering heat nestled between his lungs. "We've got some unfinished business… and if you're with me, he'll go through you to get to me."

"Oh." Kaminari pales. "I'll take the octopus."

Izuku nods.

"Time is up. Hero team, you may infiltrate the hideout!"

Kaminari trails behind Izuku as they enter the building. Izuku doesn't doubt Kaminari's ability (Electricity is a strong counter to someone who needs to get close) but he refuses to believe that Bakugō hasn't already thought of a way around close quarters combat. Underestimating Bakugō is comparable to juggling a live grenade.

They make it to the second floor. Then the third, and the fourth. They're in a long hallway looking at the stairs to the fifth floor when Izuku catches the scent of something sweet.

Kaminari yelps when Izuku throws him to the floor. He screams as explosion blossoms in the air above his shoulders. The blast meant for Izuku tears into the ceiling, courtesy of Izuku's heel. Izuku stares up at Bakugō from the floor, one hand extending protectively over Kaminari's belt.

"Lucky guess," Bakugō says. "Are you gonna spend the entire fight running?"

Izuku shuffles to his feet, pulling Kaminari up from the floor and positioning himself between the two blondes. Bakugō watches them with cold eyes.

"H-hey Bakugō!" Kaminari's voice cracks. "We're all friends here, right…?"

The hallway shakes as Bakugō takes to the air. Izuku spins on the ball of his foot, curling up and launching down the hall. Kaminari scrambles towards the stairs and falls to the floor as Bakugō flies toward him. With one hero on either side, Bakugō falls- one arm outstretched to either side- and fires.

Izuku rolls to his feet further down the hall, fighting his rising panic as he searches the smoke-filled hallway for signs of his enemy. The moment he's got his feet under him, he pushes his quirk and leaps towards the wall. He bounces from wall to wall, gradually approaching the ceiling while he searches for the two blondes.

Bakugō is standing in a dead spot, staring down a sparking Kaminari while he juggles a pair of spheres. Izuku drops like a stone. His quirk pools in his hands and feet, trailing sparks in his wake

Fire Dragon's—!

His right kick smashes into Bakugō's outstretched gauntlet, knocking his counter off course. The gauntlet drags Bakugō off balance and turns him around, leaving his right side wide open, and the left kick slams into his chest ruthlessly.

— Wings!

Bakugō's face and shoulder hit the wall as Izuku hits the floor. Izuku's legs protest the move strongly, but not as strongly as the wall protests Bakugō's skull. He can see blood dripping from Bakugō's forehead as the boy staggers to his feet.

"Fuck…" Bakugō spits blood and works his jaw, leaning against the wall for support. "Cracked ribs."

Izuku stands up slowly, backing away as Bakugō pushes off the wall and glares at him.

"How long has it been since we fought?" Bakugō asks. His temper is restrained, now, but Izuku knows that he's angry.

"Two years." Izuku replies. A pop sounds as Bakugō twists his neck to either side.

"Never got to fight with quirks till now." Bakugō growls.

"We didn't have armor either," Izuku says quietly. "Or weapons."

"These aren't for you," Bakugō holds up his gauntlets with a sneer. "I'll beat you bloody with my bare hands."

"You haven't touched me yet." Izuku smirks.

"I've got a couple of reasons to fight back now," Bakugō drops into a light squat, hands outstretched on either side. "All Might would've stopped us if it was too one-sided."

"Too late for that!" Izuku takes a deep breath and opens up his quirk, unleashing a burst of steam and torched air.

Fire Dragon's Cloak and Lance.

Bakugō hesitates in the face of Izuku's illusion: the heat, combined with a burst of superhuman speed, disorient him and leave him seeing double. A pair of explosions tear through the illusion, biting into Izuku's left arm as Izuku's right fist slams into Bakugō's stomach.

Fire Dragon's Lash.

Izuku's ankle hits Bakugō's gauntlet hard. The impact shakes him to the bone and leaves him staggering backward while Bakugō coughs. He bounces on his foot once and hisses in pain when his ankle protests, switching his left foot back.

An explosion fills the air between them with smoke. Izuku retreats as Bakugō takes to the air and chases him with explosions aimed at Izuku's head; explosions that launch Bakugō higher with each attack. When he stumbles, a pair of canisters from Bakugō's belt land on either side of him, detonating with almost twice the force of Bakugō's usual attacks.

-0-

-0-

"Sparky should be fighting Octofucker by now," Katsuki coughs. "Hurry up and die, Deku."

His arm moves instinctively as something flies out of the smoke. The spent grenade sticks to his palm as he swings at the haze lingering in the hallway.

"Buying time? What a…"

The second grenade grazes his temple like a bullet, tearing through the headband tied around his eyes. He's stumbling backwards when he sees two streaks of green light cutting through the smoke. Deku breaks out of the cloud wreathed in green light and black ash, wearing a smile that glows yellow and orange.

Katsuki's left hand rises, glowing as he charges the largest explosion he can manage, and Deku twists like a snake. A kick redirects Katsuki's gauntlet to the right, crossing his left arm over his chest, and Deku takes to the air. With his right hand clenched around the spent grenade and his left arm twisted over his chest, Katsuki is powerless.

"Fire Dragon's Wings!"

-0-

AN: Alright, so, a lot went down. Izuku got to talk with his mentors, both of them(!), Izuku's classmates like him, he's got something with Bakugo, and he's got some moves! It's a bit over the top- normal people can't do a double wing kick in the air. In fact no one can, it's physically impossible, but I figure this is BNHA and he's got 1.25 times normal human strength by 'burning' his fuel source.
I hope y'all don't mind the obviously self indulgent ships for Demon Slayer, I can't resist Tanjiro and Kanao being married and honestly I like Zenitsu, so he can get the girl. Don't worry about the OCs too much, they won't be here much... just some chatter, and worldbuilding, and maybe a cameo if there's something going bump in the night.
Sorry for the cliffhanger, we'll be back in two weeks.