Alright, posting my 2nd story (this story is actually the first one I wrote)

The First Steps Upwards, is my main focus though so don't worry. This story isn't gonna have an update schedule as this one is more purely for fun than a plotted out story.

Just a slightly tweaked loose retell of the story with Izumi and Itsuka's observations about the other.

I just wanted to write a fun Izumi x Itsuka story basically

Disclaimer: I don't own BNHA

Midoriya:

The first time Izumi notices Itsuka Kendo she is still a quirkless middleschooler clinging onto her dreams of being a hero.

She had ducked into a cafe to escape from the constant bullying she faced as a part of her daily life. While she wasn't the most in shape kid she was quite good at getting around with little to no presence, a by product of being kicked down most of her life. She had settled into one of the corner tables at the back and quickly swiped at her eyes, erasing as much evidence as she could that she was crying, before opening up her most recent hero analysis notebook. She had sighed to herself as she poured over all the information she had in her current notebook.

Why? Just why did she keep going? She was quirkless, she and everyone else knew that and they made a point of reminding her of that fact everyday. So just why couldn't she seem to stop already. She had practically given up years ago, she knew deep down she was just chasing an unrealistic dream. Her eyes pricked with tears again and she quickly went to wipe at them before she had picked up on a conversation somewhere behind her.

"Kendo your parents are heroes right? So are you aiming to be a hero too cause of them?"

Izumi peered around silently and looked toward the girl in question. She had orange hair tied into a sidetail, kinda spiky, Izumi had noted. Teal eyes that gleamed with a quiet intelligence, once again something Izumi's brain had supplied her. She heard Kendo sigh in response to the question.

"Yeah my parents are heroes but that's not why I want to be one," she had replied simply.

"Really? But then why do you want to be one?"

Izumi could see Kendo's eyes burn with...something. Determination, resolve, whatever it was she swore she could feel just a little bit of her feelings.

"I'd be lying if I said that my parents being heroes didn't influence me but I want to be a hero to help people," Kendo responded easily, "I'm not going the hero route because of what my parents or anyone else says or wants. I'm just aiming to be a hero because it's part of what I want." She explained.

The rest of the conversation was a blur for Izumi since the two girls had gotten up to leave. Kendo wanted to be a hero to help people because it's what she wanted, not because anyone else expected her to be one or anything else. She waited there just a little while more before she left the cafe too. Maybe she would hold onto this fool's dream for just a while longer...

(And after the battle trial, she wouldn't seek out Bakugo because the part of her that believed she owed him an explanation had become smaller than the one that reasoned that she didn't.)

Kendo:

The first time Itsuka notices Izumi Midoriya she's sitting in a giant hall with many other students looking to get into UA.

Over, honestly more like beneath, Present Mic's explanations she can hear a faint whisper. It gets drowned out when the Voice Hero picks up talking again but it seems to remain during the gaps. It wasn't much of a bother to her but apparently it was to a tall boy with glasses and blue hair who calls out the source of the muttering.

All attention is directed to a small looking girl with curly green black hair that's kinda all over the place. She's a bit plain looking, big green eyes that dart about nervously and freckles that dot all over her cheeks. As the blue haired boy is calling her out Itsuka notices how the plain looking girl's eyes kind of zone out before focusing back in and repeating. The glasses wearing boy finally finishes being a jerk, in Itsuka's opinion, and allows Present Mic to continue on with his explanation.

She can feel her brow twitch with irritation as Present Mic gets back into the swing of things. First of all, the blonde hero wasn't finished with his speech when the blue haired boy had cut him off. Second, how the hell were you bothered by relatively quiet mumbling while multiple rows and seats down when seemingly no one around the green haired girl was distracted. Finally, calling someone out and embarrassing them in front of everyone when they were undoubtedly nervous already was just plain mean.

Itsuka spared a glance at the plain looking girl again and noted how she looked like she wanted to melt into the floor. However she also caught something else in her eyes. Briefly, her eyes had dulled and her face drooped before morphing back into the nervous expression that seemed to casually adorn her face. Itsuka sighed quietly, she hoped she would do alright.

Having moved to the practical part of the exam Itsuka was overall pretty satisfied with how she was performing. She had smashed apart plenty of the robots, though taking down more of them wouldn't hurt she reasoned as she passed other examinees who were moving about. At one point she passed the plain looking girl who was distressing over having no points and she frowned the entire time after that. Her nerves were probably too shot before the exam and being singled out on top of that surely didn't help her. It was sad but there wasn't anything she could really do.

Then the zero pointer came. She and all the others around her gaped at just how gigantic and imposing the robot was. Was this really necessary? Deciding it would be best to get away she followed suit and made a break for it like all the other examinees. Giving a look back once she felt she was a pretty good distance to observe she watched with wide eyes realizing that there was someone trapped just in front of the zero pointer. Then she became horrified as she watched the green haired girl make a mad dash towards the downed girl. Her terror soon turned to awe as she watched the dust from the rubble fly upward and saw as the plain looking girl with no points obliterated the machine with a single punch.

With that the exam had ended. Itsuka felt confident with her score and did her best to unwind from all the action. It was unfortunate that the green haired girl wouldn't pass considering she had no points. Itsuka shook her head, it just didn't feel right for a hero school to reject someone for being a hero.

(Itsuka would be pleasantly surprised, but relieved, when she passed by 1-A and saw the curly green haired girl scribbling about inside of a notebook.)

Izumi x Itsuka is my favorite pair. Also alongside this I'm gonna post some other starter stories just to see if people are interested, we'll see.

Anyways, like I mentioned this is pretty much only focused on Izumi and Itsuka. Just a heads up

Hope you enjoy!