Disclaimer: I do not own Boku No Hero Academia or any of Horikoshi's original characters, nor do I make any profit off of my writing.

Izuku would never say he disliked his quirk because that would be a lie. He loved it to the moon and back, he thought the world of his quirk.

It was perfect for the work of a hero, even if it was difficult to master.

Luckily, analyzing quirks was super fun to him and although it was harder, at first, to apply the techniques he always used on other people's quirks to break down his own, it worked out in the end.

There were lots of connotations with his quirk (and how it made him look), so he'd dealt with a lot of people forming opinions of him before they ever go to know him. It was annoying, but he dealt with it.

Most of the time it just annoyed him that everybody gave him the benefit of the doubt and worshipped the ground he walked on.

He felt like Katsuki, who he could now admit was not exactly a good person to keep in his life. It had taken him far too long to notice that (he blamed his quirk for that too). He found himself forgiving people for far more than he should, always believing them to be redeemable.

There wasn't much he could say in support of his childhood friend when he found him cornering a quirkless girl and telling them to kill themselves in the last year of middle school.

He tried to rationalize it, he just couldn't.

It wasn't all that uncommon of a thing, quirklessness not the bullying.

Actually, neither were all that uncommon.

The quirkless made up twenty percent of the population, and it was lowering with every generation. Sure, a large majority of the quirkless were in the older generations already due to the higher birthrates back then, but with the hate crimes toward them, the population was pretty even across the different age cohorts.

So, it wasn't surprising that there were more than a few quirkless kids in their school.

Three, if he remembered correctly.

Twenty percent is twenty percent no matter which way you look at it.

He didn't have high hopes for Katsuki's redemption after that point. It was still possible, but the boy needed a serious awakening.

Or therapy.

Probably therapy.

None of that mattered now though (not that quirkless hate crime didn't matter, he was mostly referring to his beef with Katsuki) because he was standing in the center of a stadium ready to compete in Yuuei's annual 'Sports Festival!'

He was so excited.

Except he could feel somebody staring at him.

Sure, that sounds weird considering where he was standing, surrounded by a stadium full of people, but they were staring at him.

Also, they were like three meters behind him.

He spared a glance over his shoulder to see a head of.. are those vines?

That's an amazing quirk! Think of all the different uses they would have? Whips! Capture! Transport! Walls! Building support! Flood water retention! Do they absorb water? Are their thorns on them? Can she change their thickness?

And most importantly: why the heck was she staring at him!

He didn't fully understand until the first bout of fights in the third round of the tournament.

When she prayed to God (big 'G'), had some kind of holy light show, and made some heavy eye contact with him from his place in the stands.

His classmates shot him more than a few concerned looks as he slammed his face down into his hands and screamed; all while he slowly slipped further and further into his seat, hiding from the girl's piercing stare.

She wasn't even paying attention to Kaminari-kun! She was just watching him as she mercilessly bound the short-circuited boy in vines!

The white wings that sprouted from his back just before his fourth birthday fidgeted nervously under the attention and he really just wished he could never be seen again. It wouldn't be all that atypical of real angels, where the hell did they go anyways? Surely one of his 'brethren' would be kind enough to journey on down from Heaven to help him out and get this girl's attention off of him.

No such luck.

Gabriel was apparently not in the mood.

Such was the curse of his quirk (if you could count people believing you to be a messenger from heaven as a curse, he knew he did).

So, what if he had a pair of white, feathery, somewhat angel-like wings. That doesn't make him one!

And, sure, he has a golden halo that always hovers above his head and, yes, if he wanted to he could glow with divine light.

That doesn't make him an angel!

It wasn't long after her crushing victory over his electrical classmate that her gaze pierced through his back from the entrance to their viewing area. He must have been too obvious about his discomfort as Uraraka was already turning around to look at the person behind him.

And, in the natural Uraraka fashion, did she scare her off so he could be comfortable and live his life in peace? Nope! He wouldn't have been more surprised if she somehow managed to procure a kettle of tea to serve their visitor from their sister class.

"Hey! Momo! Could you make us some tea?"

Izuku bit his cheek to keep himself from screaming as their vice-president enthusiastically agreed, disappearing without another word to get things started.

Just. Perfect.

"So, what's your name?"

She was directly beside him now, her face feeling as if it were mere centimeters from his own.

No way out now!

"Midoriya Izuku."

"Shiozaki Ibara. Please call me Ibara, your holiness."

It was at times like these he wished he didn't have wings so he could throw himself over the edge of their viewing booth. The stupid things practically came with training wheels and never let him hit the ground.

At least if he died, he could give a few archangels a piece of his mind on the sick joke they call his life. Seriously, who designed this thing?

His quirk was great, it really was. He could fly, fight, heal. It could do anything and everything he could ever hope for.

Except make him look like anything other than a symbol from a religion he's not even a part of!

So yeah, he had a few complaints for upper management.

The first one being his new worshipper and her wonderfully smelling perfume.

The last thing he needed was to get a crush on a potential stalker.

He glanced over into her eyes and groaned at how nice they were to look at it. It was like mother earth herself claimed the girl as her champion and gave her the gift of the planet.

Not. Fair.

…

It was amazing how often you could see somebody around campus when you actively tried avoiding them.

Sixteen times.

He saw Ibara sixteen times since the day they met at the festival.

They hadn't even gone on their internships yet.

How was that even possible!

It was like she waiting around every single corner of the building.

Luckily, there was no possible way she was taking the same train as him so he could ride to Gran Torino's in peace and focus on not freaking out about how much All Might was freaking out about the hero.

Oh Kami it was already happening! He must be some massive, behemoth of a man with sharp teeth and sharp claws and–

"Hello again."

Huh.

He takes it back. He'd much prefer freaking out to this.

"Hello, Ibara."

"How are you doing, Izuku-sama?"

He really wished she would stop calling him that. Wasn't that reserved for royalty and gods? Last he checked he was neither.

"Angels are the closest to the children of God that we can get besides Jesus himself."

Fantastic. I said that out loud.

"Yes, you did."

He was going to cut his tongue out before long if he couldn't curb this habit.

"Please don't, I quite like listening to you talk."

He sighed and slumped into this uncomfortable seat in the nearly empty train car. How the world had gone so long with quirks and never once updated public transportation from cheap plastic seats he'll never understand.

Now wonder villainy was so prominent.

His wings were in a whole different world of discomfort and Ibara sat down next to him. Her hands were tucked neatly into her lap as she fidgeted nervously in place.

"H- how are you, sir?"

Great, so I'm a sir now.

Izuku heaved a deep sigh, his shirt rippling slightly as he breathed down his body, "I'm quite alright, a bit nervous about my internship, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get the strength aspect of my quirk into a position where I can use it without needing to heal myself right after."

"Please do, it's not fun to watch."

Izuku chuckled with his fellow verdette as they left the cityscape of the Musutafu prefecture behind, "what about you, hero-in-training Vine? Are you excited about your internship?"

She hummed in thought briefly before nodding, "yes. I believe Kamui Woods will be a good fit for me."

Izuku blinked.

"Your internship is with Kamui Woods?"

"Yes."

"The Kamui Woods who's agency is based out of Musutafu."

"The very one."

"The Musutafu we just left?"

"Why yes, it– oh."

His halo thrummed with agitation as he groaned. Leave it to the religious nut to get on his train and travel to an entirely different city just so she could talk to him.

"Now arriving at.. Yamanashi Prefecture."

Izuku shook his head as he stood up, grabbing Ibara's hand to drag her out of the train as soon as the doors slid open. He didn't stop moving until he had a return ticket in hand and was shoving her into the next train back the way they came.

He didn't even pause to say goodbye before shaking his head and turning toward the station exit.

Still, he couldn't help but smile and chuckle to himself as he left.

Maybe it wasn't so bad to speak with her instead of worrying over this 'Gran Torino' person.

…

Izuku walked up to his group of friends and he wasn't even surprised to see a familiar walking botanical garden among them.

Honestly, he was more surprised she didn't manage to take the final exam with him instead of Bakugou. Different classes be damned, she would have found a way, she was persistent like that.

"Izuku!"

Ah.

Right. That was a somewhat new development.

Of course, he didn't ask her to call him by his given name because he maybe liked her back.

Not at all.

It was just preferable to any alternative she could call him. He thoroughly disliked being called 'angel,' especially in public. So, what if it was the name of his quirk, it was awkward as all hell, and practically a couple's pet name (maybe it wasn't so bad) he didn't want the embarrassment that came with it.

That was the only reason.

He definitely wasn't blushing as he jogged over to her side.

Or smiling.

He wasn't doing that either.

Nor was he happy that she managed to send all of his friends away so they could spend time together alone.

Nor was he happy that she was dragging him into a bookstore.

No, actually on that last one.

He really did not want to go to the bookstore with her.

There was only one reason Ibara would ever be caught dead in a bookstore, and that was for a bible. Why she thought she needed a new one every week, he would never understand. It's not like they changed anything in them. Those people have been dead for a long time, if anybody is rewriting the bible in today's day and age then he'd have a few choice words for them.

Also, she always tried to buy him one.

Which like, he didn't want. Like at all.

He read it once. Not a fan.

Sure, it gave him some fantastic ideas for super moves (who knew he could replicate a lot of the stuff the angels did in the book, certainly not him).

Now that he thinks about it.

Maybe he could replicate what the archangel Lucifer did?

As if sensing heresy in her general location, Ibara whipped around and glared at him, daring him to continue whatever horrible thought he was thinking.

He didn't, she was kind of scary.

You have no idea how long it takes to get plant debris out of feathers. Not fun at all.

It's the main reason he stopped test-flying around forests. At least in grassy fields, the damage was minimal (grass stains at least washed out, sticks did not).

Izuku gave her an apologetic smile before explaining he needed to run to the bathroom.

No, he wasn't avoiding the glaringly obvious 'Religious' sign at the end of the aisle, not at all.

He would much rather be where he was as soon as he stepped out of the store.

With a hand around his neck.

Awesome.

Why do bad things always happen to him after leaving Ibara's side?

First that whole thing in Hosu, then fighting All Might as a final exam, now this?

The next thing he knows he's going to get lost in the woods during their training camp and villains are going to attack.

Ha ha.

…

Sometimes he hated his big fat brain with its big fat surface area because of all of its big fat wrinkles. It sucked being right all of the time.

He was never leaving Ibara's side again if it meant no fighting muscle-bound wackjobs with a hard-on for liquefying children with their fists. He ducked under a poorly telegraphed left straight from the villain and threw his body forward, diving behind him.

His fingers latched around the rim of his golden halo and he whipped it through the air toward the.. unmuscley.. that didn't sound right.. toward the back of Muscular's head.

Naturally, it didn't do anything.

He blames it on Ibara not being here.

He swears her faith in the divine literally boosts his power level.

Honestly, not that he really thought about it, that is very likely. He could just be fueled by the faith of people in a higher power.

Thoughts for later, he should probably focus on the fist hurtling toward his face.

"5% Detroit Smash!"

Yeah, he probably should have known that wouldn't work.

It's because Vine wasn't here.

Well, if she wasn't going to be here to support him then she certainly wasn't going to be here to see him break his promise and wreak havoc over his body.

He grinned as white light sprung to life around his body, thrumming with hidden power as it grew in intensity. He could feel his entire body groaning in protest, bones cracking before resealing themselves, and his wings – my god his wings. He was fairly certain One For All had a personal vendetta against them as it was actively trying to tear them from his back.

Couldn't say he enjoyed it.

4/10 at best.

His halo circled his body at a rapid pace, a soft light glowing from its rim as well as it continuously repositioned itself to heal whatever was in the most danger of collapsing. Helpful.

He could safely say that this man right here was beyond redemption, which was nice because his quirk typically liked to fight back when he needed to attack somebody. A little cumbersome considering the job he's training for, but it tended to ease up a little bit if the person was particularly bad.

Now seems like a good time to slap a bodybuilder into next year. Hopefully, Kouta looks away.

"One million percent! Delaware! Detroit! Smash!"

Was he just pulling shit out of his ass to impress the child behind him? Absolutely. An angel quirk doesn't exactly free somebody from the dangers of vanity.

Or sarcasm, his mother always complained that he was too sarcastic.

He turned around and gave the kid a chipper smile, ignoring the way his arms were broke to shit and he most definitely did not have enough energy to heal them. Not when Katsuki was being targeted.

Ibara was going to kill him.

…

"I'm not going to kill you."

Oh, sweet merciful Ibara you beautiful, beautiful woman.

It was a good thing she decided to spare him, even if it was her fault for his inability to defend himself in the first place. She had been the one to ask Recovery Girl for a few minutes alone before she used her quirk on him to fix his arms. He would have been able to run if he wasn't bogged down by these giant casts he could have bolted.

Sure, he probably would have just passed out if he'd been healed first, but he would've had a chance.

Not his fault he was banned from using his quirk to heal himself, something or other about 'quirk exhaustion' and 'no medical training.'

He didn't really understand it either.

"I have another offer for you to make it up to him."

She could ask for his soul and he'd give it to her at this point. Whatever she wanted, just so long as it wasn't buying him a bible.

Or being baptized.

Anything but those two.

And maybe no kids yet, he didn't want to give his mom a heart attack.

So, three things were off-limits.

Bibles. Baptisms. Babies.

The three 'Bs'.

"To earn my forgiveness, you must.. "

Pleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebeeasypleasebe–

".. take me out on a date."

Thank the–

Wait, what?

Izuku blinked before smiling and nodding, he could do that.

He was really just happy he wasn't getting stuck with a baby. He always imagined himself adopting a sweet little girl, maybe around seven or eight years old, she'd have silver hair and rubellite eyes and was simply the sweetest!

It was a weird dream, sure, but he liked it.

…

He liked the dream a little bit less right about now.

Coincidentally, he also liked his quirk a little bit less too. The stupid thing wouldn't let him murder Overhaul. The traitor.

He was also fairly certain he had the gift of prophecy because that was most certainly the adopted daughter he imagined, and she was almost certainly wrapped up in bandages. And scared. And quivering.

And he was going to kill Overhaul.

His halo ducked out of the way of his hand as he reached up for him and he found himself scowling because honestly what criteria did it need for him to be permitted to smite the villain as he walked away.

The halo vibrated and hummed in a way that sounded eerily similar to 'proof.'

Stupid halos and their stupid moral compasses.

He's selling it as part of a ring toss set the next chance he gets.

But first, he needs to talk with his girlfriend about her feelings about adopting at the age of sixteen.

Oh, he should probably talk to Sir Nighteye too. That might be a good thing to do.

Ibara, first. Then, Sir Nighteye.