It was around ten o'clock at night when the 26-year-old Izuku Midoriya returned home from his long day of patrolling from his hero agency. The number three hero walked through the door with a tired sigh, as he walked straight into his bathroom to clean up before shoving a ready-made meal in the microwave, turning to face the Tv as he hopped channels to watch his favourite show 'heroes through time'.

With his tv remote in his hand and his dinner sat steaming on the table beside him, he flicked through the channels with a yawn as he stumbled across a news channel where the bright wide headline caught his eye.

'Dynamite Accused of past severe quirkless bullying - The effect on his hero ratings.'

Izukus fingers froze over the buttons on his remote as his eyes repeatedly read over the shocking words on the screen, the voice of the new anchor chanting in the background.

'...Accusations of quickless abuse including suicide baiting have been brought to light against pro-hero: Dynamite! Anonymous sources have told us that during his middle school years Dynamite was more of a villain than a hero, terrorizing a quirkless classmate. These accusations have been proven to be reliable and have brought new concerns to light about the anti-quirk discrimination project. A non-profit organization created to tackle quirkless discrimination and quirk romanticism, which both pro hero's Dynamite and new top ten heroes Deku have been funding. More news will be shared as the story unfolds.''

He stares at the screen in disbelief, as images obviously taken of Kacchan and himself from a charity event they had held recently flash onto the screen, while quickly reaching for his phone to dial his friend.

"God damn it, Kacchan.."

Izuku cursed as his ringtone called out around the room as he dialed Bakugou, the tone looping constantly until someone with an irritated voice on the other end of the line decided to pick up the phone.

"What do you want? I'm a little bit busy right now.."

Kacchans ruff voice growled through the phone, apparently having not read who was calling him, as Izuku listened into the chaos which he could hear running around in the background of what he could only assume was Bakugou's agency; his PR team already on full alert and ready to tackle whatever the press would throw at him.

"Hey Kacchan, it's Izuku. Have you seen the news?!"

The tone of voice calmed down and let out a sigh of relief at the recognition of Izuku's voice.

"Yea nerd, what do you think I'm rushing around like an idiot for hu?"

Izuku turned back to the TV, the reporters currently talking about Bakugous behavior towards civilians and other pro heroes.

His silent pause made it obvious to anyone who was listening to what he was listening to.

"...What are you gonna do about this Kacchan?"

There was a moment of silence before Bakugou replied.

"I... I've really got no idea, Deku... Some people at my agency have set up a press conference tomorrow evening for me to explain but..."

Izuku listened worriedly as Bakugou continued talking.

"I've gotten backlash for things in the past, like when that stupid villain tried to sue, but this? This is different, Izuku. They're talking about what I said to you..."

Izuku grimaced into the phone, remembering how bad some of the things he had said to him all those years ago were.

There was a reason why he was the only hero in the top 50 without their public quirk record freely available.

It was all forgiven and forgotten now, but being reminded still hurt him more than it should have. This was serious and he knew how lost Katsuki was just from the use of his first name.

Izuku sighed, taking a deep breath before replying.

"Kacchan... if you want I could come with you? We both partnered with the anti-quirk discrimination project, so it wouldn't be too odd. Let me explain what happened, the public knows we've been friends for a while but they don't know we went to the same middle school. I could explain what happened and clear things up."

Izuku could hear the sharp intake of breath from the other side of the phone call, Bakugou fully understanding where he was going with his suggestion.

"But your quirk... how would you ever get around explaining that..."

Izuku grimaced at the idea of One for All getting out into the public, the defeat of All for One was still so fresh in everyone's minds, and with the fall of All Might, society was finally only now starting to get back up on its feet and walk steadily on its own again.

Japan needed a symbol to follow, but making One for All public knowledge wasn't the way to do it, he didn't want to reveal such a secret for the rest of the world to know.

"... I'll figure out a way around it, I'm sure. You are still going to have to apologize publicly, you know? They won't just let it go even if I do explain."

Izuku took a deep breath before continuing. "I don't know who overheard you say- that back then, apart from your two old friends. This really isn't looking good at the moment, Kacchan, but I'll try and help you the best that I can..."

A shuddering breath could be heard down the line. "... you are a good hero, Izuku. "

Izuku smiled slightly knowing how much that probably burnt Bakugou's ego just to say.

"Well, I'm just as involved in this scandal as you." Izuku began with a light-hearted chuckle, "Even if only we know about it."

Izuku could almost hear the tension surrounding Bakugou down the phone lift if only just a little bit, as he heard a small sigh down the line.

"...You know, nerd, your reputation might go down from this. I know you're good at deflecting questions during tv talk shows when they go asking about it but this will be live on the news... Are you sure you want to risk your place in the top ten for that?"

Ahh, Kacchan. Always worrying about the hero billboards.

Izuku smiled an unseen smile down the phone.

"What kind of hero would I be if I didn't risk myself for other people? Besides, you know I didn't want to become a hero for fame..!"

There was silence down the other end of the phone line.

"... you're crazy, you know that?"

Izuku laughed aloud, the tension from the topic defusing in an instant.

"You're welcome, Kacchan!"

The controversy flooded the news overnight like a storm, with almost every trustworthy news source covering the story like rabid animals trying to get the next piece of information.

Izukus agency had been flooded with hundreds upon thousands of angry emails and phone calls from saddened fans, greedy press, and worried friends; his PR team and sidekicks having to work together to keep up with the growing backlog.

He could only wonder how bad it must be for Bakugou's agency.

Early in the morning, he had woken up to his apartment building surrounded by people demanding answers, making it almost impossible to leave the building without getting mobbed to death, giving Izuku no other choice but to take the day off.

Thankfully, thanks to the quick work of Bakugou's PR team, the press conference was set for that afternoon; leaving only a few hours for Izuku to decide what he was going to say to the angry crowd.

He had done press conferences before, from reports on drug busts and kidnapping cases, but this was the first time he had been part of one solely for a controversy of a close friend; let alone a controversy which included himself.

Izuku sighed aloud, rubbing the exhaustion from his face from being woken up so early, as he planned out what he was going to say and what he was going to reveal.

The fear and anxiety were starting to build as his mind subconsciously imagined the headlines of tomorrow as he wrote.

Pro-Hero: Dekus past a sham! Quirkless past revealed!

Lies about Dekus past - What is true about his past?

The thoughts of someone possibly even connecting his late quirk manifestation with All for One terrified him to his core, even if he knew that it was just his mind scare mongering him.

Thankfully, his day had been filled from phone calls to his personal phone to distract him from the unnecessary scares his mind was supplying him with.

Ochako and Shouto were his only other friends who he had entrusted with the secret of One for All and his difficult childhood too. It hadn't taken either of them to call him asking questions, both of them unable to visit his apartment from the large crowd surrounding his building; still mulling about way into the afternoon.

It hadn't taken them long to figure out who the quirkless child that Bakugou had bullied was him.

Izuku had reluctantly admitted that they were right.

At least both his friends were supportive and encouraging to him.

Later into the night, before he was about to leave for the conference, he got a call from Kirishima and Kaminari asking if the accusations and bullying were true; having known the pair of them have both attended the same middle school.

The shock and disappointment in their voice as once again Izuku admitted it was true made him feel uncomfortable as he kept the part of him being the victim a secret a little longer

There was no point in lying to anyone about the truth, they would just have to wait a little longer to learn the full story.

When Izuku arrived at the place the conference was gonna take place, he quickly went up and asked if the television cameras were going to be live during the conference. The camera crews looked at each other with a confused expression before nodding at him making his sigh in relief, at least he wouldn't have to worry about his words not reaching the public.

One of the main reasons why Bakugou and he had begun working with the anti quirk discrimination project together was because of the cuts the TV stations had made on his words when explaining his own problems with his quirk and his beliefs of giving the quirkless a fair chance in life.

Whether they thought so or not, he needed the country to hear his words.

Izuku took his place in front of the large rowdy crowd, screaming questions being launched at him in a wide verbal assault.

"Where is Dynamite!"

"We want answers from him, not you!"

"Don't do that dirt heroes work for him! Bring him out here himself..!"

He looked around the room and saw the few television cameras sitting in the corners of the room, each one locked onto him, with thousands of people watching live at home.

Izuku felt himself gulp down his nerves as he moved to seat himself before the crowd, tensing himself to hide the anxiety he felt inside.

Thankfully, his position in the top ten heroes proved useful as everyone quietened down at the sound of the number 8 hero, Deku, clearing his throat.

As the murmurs settled in the crowd, Izuku looked around the room as he took a deep breath in, sighing aloud before looking up as confidently as he could towards the crowd.

"...We are here today to talk about the controversy surrounding the accusations of suicide baiting made against Kacchan, the pro-hero Dynamite, and his involvement in the anti quirk discrimination project our agencies have been collaborating on."

Izuku paused to allow time for the information to sink in.

"Dynamite will be up here to talk to you all later, however, as the leader of the group, the anti quirk discrimination project, I've come up here to enlighten everyone a little you all further into the situation to hopefully make sure everyone understands."

Izuku looked down and took a deep breath before looking up towards the crowd, completely serious.

"One thing both k- Dynamite and I haven't mentioned before is that I, pro-hero Deku, used to attend the same middle school as him."

Some people around the room started to speak up and ask questions, Izuku quickly shut them up as he continued talking so they could hear what he had to say.

"And I had the joys of being around him during those years when the reports of the bullying occurred."

Izuku could feel the glares of the crowd of people looking almost straight into his soul as he continued.

"I will be the first to say now, that during that time, Dynamite's behaviour was not that of a hero and if he were to still act that way today he wouldn't be a hero.

However, I can contest that his behaviour and attitude today, reflect nothing on what it used to be back then. In his years at UA and after he has worked very hard on improving himself as a hero and person, and has already repaid enough to make up for the insults he made all those years ago."

The crowd began to murmur again as he paused, a few brave souls deciding now was a good time to ask for a question as Izuku paused his words. Giving the people time for his message to go through.

"How do you know he has repaid the person he harmed enough to be forgiven? Such bullying shouldn't be repaid lightly or forgiven easily!"

As the reporter's words filtered above the rest, Izuku held back a grimace as he mentally prepared himself for the next few words he was about to say.

"I'm sure many of you know by now, that my quirk records aren't public."

A few snaps of cameras fluttered through the air, as Izuku kept his attention tight on the camera ahead of him.

"That is because I currently hold the record for the latest quirk awakening in the country..! I didn't awaken my quirk until a few months after my 15th birthday."

A few subtle gasps and widened eyes could be stopped around the room as his words began to spark realization into the minds of the people around him. He felt words weaken and die off at the end of his sentence, lowering his head in shame as he revealed one of his most well-kept secrets to the world.

"The classmate who Dynamite suicide baited during middle school was me..!"

Silence flooded the room as people allowed the information to sink in, the thousands upon thousands of people living around the country pausing their daily lives to listen to his speech in silence.

As the eternity of silenced shock began, soon enough, the press in the room was shouting and demanding answers. Izuku silently sat in his chair motionless as he waited for the crowd to calm down.

Their screams and shouts would only deafen the words he was determined to say before he ultimately began crying.

Once the room returned to a low murmur, Izuku carried on speaking.

"The society we live in is flawed." He began honestly, looking back up at the crowd weakening as they clung to his words. " I've spent far too long living without a quirk to know our society raises our child to believe quirkless people are less than human, to make them believe they are worth nothing... And that, quite frankly, isn't true..." Izuku said, emphasizing his last words with a stern, serious look.

"When I first started out as a pro-hero, people would always ask me what my quirk was and the first thing I would always say is how I was quirkless for the first fourteen years of my life. Unfortunately, each time, the tv stations would cut out that fact; waving it off as unimportant or seemingly trying to protect my image as the perfect hero, born into this world destined to be a hero from the moment I could breathe."

He shifted in his seat as he leaned forward closer to the mic.

"After that, I gave up and started avoiding the question altogether, emphasizing on more important things such as the heroic work and projects the people around me have been working on."

He let out a defeated sigh as he looked down at the table below him, his tone of voice lowering as he continued telling the people of Japan the story that could ultimately break him.

"It used to make me feel ashamed of who I was, hiding parts of my past... I am not perfect, I don't want my image protected for my own self-benefit when I could be helping so many other people. I became a hero to help save everyone."

The crowd sat in stunned silence. The thousands of people watching at home sat in shock and surprise.

A few quirkless children, teenagers cried quietly.

Izuku pushed on, the tv camera slowly zooming in closer to his face giving the viewers at home a clear view of the stress and anxiety looming over him.

"It's unfortunate that Dynamite was born into this world and taught from the second he awakened his quirk that he would become the perfect hero, that he would become the best because of his quirk.

This is the foundation of where everything in society goes wrong, Quirk discrimination. Villains, Heroes, and everyone else. The paths people choose all stem from what quirks they have or don't have. To me, none of that has ever mattered. I've always believed that anyone, anyone, quirk or not, can become a hero with hard work and perseverance."

Camera shutters filled the room as he leaned close to the mic, emphasizing his words to the thousands of people watching him at that moment.

"It is this stigma around 'villainous quirks' or 'weak quirks' that the pair of us have been trying to break with only minimal luck because unfortunately the education needed to tackle the problem isn't available for everyone yet. It's these stigmas that create arrogance, anger, pain, and self-deprecation, things which can all be avoided if the stigmas of the past could be left where they came from.

Dynamite has already paid many times in the past for his mistakes and has apologized to me thousands of times in the past for his actions. Each of which I have accepted. Please, don't make him suffer more for his actions that he was taught was acceptable" Izuku said angrily, his eyebrows furrowed angrily as if to ward off anyone who would oppose him.

He took a deep breath and took a moment to calm himself down.

"It was after a television interview that I had done with Dynamite that he approached me with the idea of making the anti quirk discrimination project." he began almost softly as only the words from his mouth could now be heard, the crowd around him forgetting there work as they listened just as intensely as the people at home.

"He saw how upset I was because of people brushing off my concerns about the quirkless and was angry about what had happened on the show. He wanted to help me get my story heard and he helped me build what is now known as the AQD project which aims to help everyone and anyone, quirk or no quirk no matter what."

Izuku sighed deeply.

"I don't expect you all to believe what I've just said, very few people do when I tell them I got my quirk when I was 15 so I brought my quirk registry form and a class picture from middle school with both me and ground Zero in it."

Two images flashed up onto the screen behind him. One was an official quirk registration document with the date and age of an Izuku Midoriya. The other, a picture of a class of people's faces blurred out apart from 2 faces. One was a grumpy-looking Bakugou Katsuki, and the other a smiling yet slightly solemn looking, skinny Izuku Midoriya.

Flashes of cameras could be heard all over the room as they took photos of the screen. The tv cameras in the back of the room slowly rolling up to look at the pictures on the screen for the many thousands of people at home.

After a while everyone turned their attention back to Izuku, all on the edge of their seats, all expecting some kind of tragic backstory to feed off of and put on the news. Yet Izuku didn't have one to give them.

"I know most of you came here expecting a formal apology in writing and given to the public for our past mistakes. However, I don't believe it's the AQDs, mine, or even Dynamite who should be apologizing to the citizens of japan for the way the foundations of this country have been set.

If we truly want to move forward and learn from our mistakes, we all need to change the way we see quirks and the quirkless in our society. That is all I came here to say, thank you for listening."

With that, Izuku quickly walked off the stage, as people all screamed at him demanding answers for the revelations he had just dropped.

He ignored them all as he made his way backstage where Kacchan was standing and watching him, shocked to his core with his draw dropped. He was surrounded by people from both his own and Izuku's hero agencies, among other people from the AQD all of which were shocked at the secret Midoriya had kept hidden and locked away inside of himself for the last twenty-two years of his life.

"Deku..." Bakugou said in complete shock at what he had just seen on the backstage tv.

Izuku smiled weakly at his friend's shock, a rare sight to see Kacchan speechless.

"Kacchan, you can go up and talk to them if you want but I don't think you have to," He said with a soft smile.

Izuku watched as Bakugou's jaw slowly closed, the hero slowly approaching him as he pulled his friend into a hug.

"You saved my ass again. What did I do to deserve you as a friend? You bastard..."

Izuku laughed at his friend's lighthearted comment and hugged the hero back.

"No problem Kacchan. I'd do it again any day... "

Because that's what friends do.

AQDofficalpage

5:33pm

(Image of Pro heroes Deku and ground zero hugging backstage)

- We would like to thank everyone who watched the press conference on live television tonight and thank you all for your continued support in making this country a better place, quirks or no quirks alike. We will continue to work to the best of our abilities as we move forward from this event. We hope this day brings changes in Japan from here on out!

[Link: Pro-Hero Dekus press conference]

Replies:

Dekuissocoolowo 5:34pm

Omg, the power in which he says those words when he defends his friend, even though what he had said to him in the past. Deku really is the best hero!

Thisbitchisempty 5:35pm

I cried watching this when it was live on tv. He was really brave for saying what he did in front of the whole country. The picture of him in middle school and the way he talked about how the tv studios used to cut out parts of what he wanted to say made him upset. It really does prove that #Heroes-are-human !

Imstillapieceofgarbage 5:36pm

As a fellow quirkless person, I know what it's like to try and live a normal life without a quirk, especially through middle school. Life can get really tough but hearing my idol say I've always believed that anyone, anyone, quirk or not, can become a hero with hard work and perseverance. It made me cry. I know Deku has always been kind to quirkless people, encouraging them and even making sure to hire them at his agency, but I never realized he too was quirkless till he was nearly 15. He really is the best hero! #Dekus-not-perfect #neither-are-we

Dynamite-for-no1 5:38pm

The picture was taken just after the conference, it really shows how even though all the troubles there were with the UA attacks and villains they still managed to come through it all together as friends. #Dynamite-getting-hugs #holy-shit-he-has-a-soft-side

After that conference, Deku's hero popularity skyrocketed. News outlets continued to not talk about him being quirkless for over half of his life and carried on talking about how much of a perfect hero he was for talking about quirkless people, making it seem as if he pitied them.

However, after some major backlash from the public and with many people who had seen the original conference asking for them to stop making him seem like a hypocrite, asking for them to reveal the truth, they finally gave in. Hundreds of thousands of people from around the country listened to what Deku had to say and it was finally the push the AQD needed to get off the ground. Many heroes around the country joined in with the cause to help improve society's outlook.

It took a long time, but soon a wave of change around the country had been started, and by the end of the year suicide rates of young quirkless teens had dramatically dropped. Laws were much harder enforced to prevent teachers, parents, and workers from the discrimination of peoples' quirks and quirkless people.

By the time the next Billboard charts came around. Deku was ranked number one for his hard work, determination, and perseverance. Izuku cried floods of happiness.

During his celebratory speech, he spoke about a change he had always wanted to make in this world.

He spoke about how as a child everything felt like a distant unachievable dream, yet now, he was standing in front of them accepting something he didn't feel like he deserved, no matter how grateful he was; the wide smile of gratitude beaming brightly from his face.

Izuku Midoryia had never felt so happy in his life, and his smile was sure to continue on as the symbol Japan needed.