Eltaphor: Thank you! And this fic is already completed, so I guarantee it won't go on hiatus or anything!

"No way," Sabo said, staring up at dragon Ace, in his backyard.

"Wanna go flying?" Ace asked with a grin, exposing all of the sharp teeth. He was the color of the sky so nobody would see him from below. He couldn't make himself invisible, he learned that a long time ago. Sabo hesitated, before he agreed, getting a rope from the shed. He tied it around Ace's neck and climbed on. He was brave.

Sabo didn't live in the city, he lived right on the outskirts, and his property was really big. So nobody would see them taking off. "I won't let you fall."

"If you do I'll kill you." Ace laughed and rose into the air, Sabo screaming immediately. But once they were in the air, high enough for Ace to just look like the sky, he flew at a slow speed, straight and level. Sabo was shaking on his back, but absolutely amazed. They flew over the countryside and then over the city, the streets and people bustling below.

Ace assumed his eyes were wide in shock, as he was silent. "This is incredible. I'm jealous, now." But he didn't say it in a negative voice. Ace said maybe he could make the clouds fluffy enough to sit on. "That's not how clouds work."

"Well, it's a quirk, right? There are limits that you may not have passed, yet, right?" Ace reasoned.

"Why do you act so mature? I've always been the mature one," Sabo complained. Then they flew over the ocean. Sabo went silent as they flew over the deep blue below, but not too far out to sea. Sabo trusted him completely to not crash or drop him. After a good half hour of flying, he returned to Sabo's home and landed.

Sabo was amazed, and Ace changed back into his true body. "We have to do that more often," Sabo said firmly. Ace grinned and nodded. Maybe he could even go pick him up when they went to UA, avoiding the train or traffic. "Hell yeah! Going to school everyday on the back of a dragon would be amazing!"

Ace definitely agreed with that. He thought that he might actually be popular. The teen wasn't desperate for friends or anything, or to be popular, but maybe he could make more friends in high school. He and Sabo already vowed to go to the same school, even if it wasn't UA. Though they were both hopeful they'd make it. Even if Sabo's quirk wasn't good on attacking, he was still adept at using it.

They had a sleep over, making a tent in the backyard to camp out in. Ace wished he lived in a place with a backyard, but an apartment was already empty and lonely enough as it was. He didn't want a big house to live all by himself in. That just wasn't something he would want. He lived fine as he did now.

When Ace got home, he found people were moving in next door. A man and two children. The guy was really tall, with a curvy white mustache and blonde hair. His kids were Ace's age. At the moment, he was in his female form he used for outings. One boy was blonde with a goofy smile, and the other had shaggy brown hair and a scar on his face that actually looked like it had been a bad wound.

Ace went inside, and locked the door behind him. New neighbors, ones his own age, and they'd never know it. He flopped onto the couch, wondering what it was like to have a brother and a father. It sounded nice. He'd been homeless for years before he finally decided to put his quirk to good use.

Dumped at a young age, attending elementary school after bouncing from shelter to shelter. Never had any family. Well, he shoved that thought out of his head to move on and play some videogames with Sabo over the headset.

-x-

On the last day of school, Ace did as he promised, and showed off his quirk to his classmates. They were all on the baseball field, and a mob were gathered. Finally knowing the quirk Ace had hidden his whole school life, and everyone was interested. Maybe to make fun of him if it wasn't as great as they thought, as the more bratty students were watching, too.

"Okay, what do you want me to turn into?" he asked. Someone suggested a tiger. Ace did so, into a white tiger. He asked what they wanted next.

"A lizard!" Ace did that. Then a butterfly, then a snake, and then they started to choose mythical creatures. Again, like with Sabo, they were most amazed with the dragon. He made it extra large and threatening, not the same appearance as the one he'd been with with Sabo.

The blonde bragged that Ace had taken him flying multiple times. They pestered him to fly, but he declined. He saw Bakugo looking shocked and angry from a ways away. Midoriya was amazed, and started writing in his notebook, mumbling to himself. He did that a lot with the kids who used their quirks the most often.

Ace shifted back when the teacher started to yell at him about using his quirk on campus. They didn't enforce that rule much, though, letting Bakugo use it all the time on campus. But Ace didn't argue about it.

When they headed back in, there was a fervor about Ace's quirk, and what kind of hero he could be with one so versatile. "You know you could totally kill people easily, right? Turning into a snake or spider alone."

"Jeez, what the hell, man?" Sabo asked Maki, a girl who rarely talked in class. It was weird to have her around them. The group looked at her in almost worry. Ace lightly said he wanted to be a hero, and was sure that killing wasn't the best way to become one. She looked awkward and embarrassed, as if she hadn't meant for the words to come out. Midoriya asked if he could turn into things that didn't exist, too. Like, things Ace could make up on his own. He'd been hanging out with Ace and Sabo more often at school, and seemed so happy to have supportive friends.

Ace regretted not being friends with him sooner, since they might not go to the same high school. "Yeah, I've made up creatures myself. They always end up kind of weird, though," he laughed. Sabo snickered and said he'd seen some weird ones. Midoriya asked if he could see one. The shape shifter thought, coming up with something random. A cat body with bird wings and a face that looked like a bunny with a horn.

"Whoa. You're quirk is way too overpowered," Nick said. "Are there any side effects? Negative ones?"

"Not that I remember. I do use it all the time, so maybe I just got over them." He was asked why he used it so much. Ace lied easily. He already had this response premade. "I just like to be an animal sometimes at home. Sleeping or hanging out with a small body on a big bed, watching TV would be like going to the movie theater at home. Weird stuff like that. It's fun," he finished simply.

"I wish my quirk was that convenient."

"Me, too."

"Well, I'm sure yours can be useful too if you work at it," Ace said encouragingly. They went back to class, and the school year concluded. Ace would never see many of these people ever again. Four people in their class applied to UA and three in the other classes applied, too. So, they said goodbye, signing year books at the last minute, and parted ways.

Ace offered to fly Midoriya home just this one time. He was hesitant to try, but Sabo pointed out they'd gone flying plenty of times. "O-okay," the shortest agreed. They went to behind the school, and Ace changed into the sky colored one. Sabo held his backpack and they both climbed on. Ace creatures fronds from his shoulderblades as reigns for both of them to hang on.

He ascended, Midoriya screaming bloody murder, Sabo laughing, until they were at a good height, and Ace flew their newest friend's home. He'd been to his place before. It was bigger than Ace's apartment, with three bedrooms. He flew him home, and then landed on the roof, with Midoriya going down the stairwell to get inside.

"That was scary but really cool," he said with a smile. "I'll have to write it all down!"

Ace nodded, still in dragon form. "Can we hang out over summer?" he asked timidly. Ace and Sabo agreed. They were friends, of course they could hang out. But there was one condition to being their close friend, and that was to not ask Ace about his home life. "Okay, I promise I won't," he vowed, and Ace believed him.

He flew Sabo to his place, and they spent the whole day together.

-x-

Ace paced back and forth. The entrance exam was two days from then, and Ace had studied as much as he could with practice tests that were available on the school website, but that wasn't what he was pacing about. Ace loved Sabo like a brother. More than a best friend. He was family, and every day, Ace felt worse about keeping everything a secret.

Maybe Sabo would be supportive, and Ace wouldn't be so alone. But maybe he'd be really mad about Ace keeping all of this a secret for so long. Ace was betting on the first option. But he was still scared. There was a knock on the front door, and he looked in the peep hole to see it was the kid from next door. The one with blonde hair.

Ace had never really spoken to him besides when they passed each other at the mailbox. He changed into his adult woman form and opened the door. "Hello," he said lightly. "Can I help you?"

"Ah, hi. We made a bunch of sweets for a party but have way too much. Would you like some? We're bringing them to the neighbors' places." Ace took it with a smile, and thanked him. Then he closed the door and turned back into a boy. He wouldn't be eating them. He didn't know them well enough.

Might be a bit too suspicious, but he wasn't going to eat food made by a stranger. He put them in the trash, feeling bad but also not wanting to be rude and decline. He sighed and sat against the wall, putting his hair in his hands, back to thinking about Sabo. He finally stopped thinking about it and took a nap.

But when he got back, the problem was there again. He finally couldn't deal with it anymore. He called Sabo instead of texting, which was different. He sounded concerned. "I have to tell you some stuff," he said immediately.

"Oh. Okay, what is it?" Ace deliberated, but couldn't pull out now. He had to tell him. He explained everything. How he was homeless for a long time, and three years ago started living on his own in a big lie to the rest of the world. He had a job as an artist and paid for everything personally.

There was silence on the other end until he said, "Wow. I… didn't expect that to be your secret. I'm sorry you have to live that way." Ace didn't know what he meant. "You don't have any family. I won't tell anybody about it, promise."

"You're not angry I kept it all secret for so long?" he asked slowly, hope building in his chest. That things were fine like this. That Sabo accepted his weird way of living, and all the lies and avoidance over the years.

Sabo said, "I'm not angry at you. It's a really big secret; important, too. I'm not mad, I'm just glad you told me." He had a smile in his voice. Ace had one creep onto his face and let out a relieved sigh. "You're my best friend, whether you parade around as a woman or not." He laughed at the end.

Ace snickered, too. "Well, it was weird at first, but now I'm used to it. Being a boy is better. Boobs are heavy." Sabo burst into laughter, but then asked if they wouldn't talk about that again. "Ha, okay," Ace agreed. He was so relieved in happy that he was in a wonderful mood.

"But I can't believe you draw porn for a living," Sabo admitted.

"I don't really like it, but it makes a lot of money," Ace admitted, face red in embarrassment. "I never draw them fully naked, even if I have any figure pose I want."

"Gross."

"Grown men are disgusting. Some of the comments are just the worst," Ace said with a huff. Sabo could see that being very true. They talked for a long time over the phone, just enjoying talking. Ace never really had phone conversations, preferring texting more, but he had to admit that it was nice to just talk.

Sabo was his best friend, the best one he could ask for to be honest. He got lucky with him for sure. "So, what are the bills like?"

"They're payed for automatically. So it's fine," Ace said. He didn't want to talk about that anymore, and instead offered to draw Sabo something. Anything that wasn't NSFW. He wanted to be drawing himself riding Ace as a dragon. He grinned and promised to do that. "Please don't look at my , okay?"

"I won't," Sabo said with a laugh. Ace was embarrassed of the account, and had no personal information about himself on it. What would people think of him, a fourteen year old, drawing pretty much pornographic pictures? They'd think badly of him for sure. He hung up the phone, put on some music, and drew something he wanted to for once.

Sabo was amazed by it, and Ace felt good. Maybe he'd start doing commissions as well. Though he might only get asked to draw porn. That would suck big time. He drew, glad to not have any homework, and just enjoyed the process, thankful he was a good artist and could support himself this way. He couldn't get a full time job for real, and a part time might not pay enough. He wasn't sure.

Plus, he didn't want to be in the woman form unless it was necessary.

Ace went to bed that night feeling happier than he had in a long time. He had to make sure he went to the school with Sabo. They would stick together. Ace just hoped Midoriya could make it somehow, too.

When the day came, Ace wore a tank top and some exercise shorts, running shoes as well. He ate a good breakfast, a smoothie, and then left. He went out the window, opening it and flying to UA as a bird, where he would meet up with Sabo and Midoriya. He landed there first, waiting by the entrance. Sabo arrived quickly, but Midoriya was pretty late.

Go ahead without me, I'll meet you inside.

This was weird, but Ace could see him wanting to be alone to prepare, possibly. Ace looked at Sabo and shrugged, both of them heading into the building. It was very large, the whole campus was huge. So many places to go, and plenty of room, it seemed, for Ace to get very big. He and Sabo were both excited for the practical exam, knowing there was one, but not what it was.

But first was the written exam. Sabo was very smart, so he would pass no problem. Ace felt he'd studied enough and should pass, though maybe not with flying colors. When they went inside, it was first to the written exam, and they sat in a huge room with hundreds of other students, if not thousands.

Both focused on the door, as when it closed, no one would be accepted. Ace let out a breath of relief when Midoriya hurried in. Ace waved him over, and he sat next to him. "Where were you?" Ace asked.

"There was a huge car crash on our way here," Midoriya said. Wow, that was really unlucky. The test was distributed, along with pencils and erasers. Phones were all put in a locker with the rest of their things, backpacks and such. The test took Ace and hour and five minutes, while Sabo finished at 45 minutes.

Ace went over his answers four times. He hoped he did okay. He didn't think he failed, but wasn't confident enough to self-grade. He just had to hope he passed. He glanced at Midoriya, who looked calm. So he wasn't having too much trouble with the test. Ace wondered what his plan was about the practical exam, whatever it was.

After two hours, the test time was over. Ace drew a whole sketch of Sabo and Midoriya smiling in front of the building. After it was over, Ace folded up the drawing on the spare paper, and stuck it in his backpack. The students were all stiff and stretched, some looking excited, others terrified. Ace and Sabo were excited if not a little apprehensive. Midoriya was downright terrified. Ace looped his arm through Midoriya's but said nothing.

The huge crowd entered and auditorium, surprisingly quiet. Like they didn't want to be too loud, or didn't want to call attention to themselves. The three went up to the highest row, and Ace saw Bakugo glaring at them. He'd come alone. He was forced to sit only a few seats away. He didn't speak to them or anything.

Ace looked around at all the kids there, seeing if he recognized any. He did, two from his old school but not his class, and the blonde neighbor was there. He was alone. Ace wanted to go say hi, but then remembered he didn't know who he was. He only knew Ace's alias, and barely at that. He wondered what his quirk was.

His attention was brought back to the situation when a loud guy with his long blonde hair in a single spike, and what looked like a speaker around his neck. Midoriya murmured it was "Present Mic". Of course he knew, he was obsessed with heroes. Though his room was decked out in All Might merchandise. Ace's room was much less personalized than his. He had wondered if his home had any personality at all.

After that, he'd gone shopping for posters of any kind. It still didn't feel homey.

The task was simple. Defeat robots to gain points. The more points you get, the more likely you will pass. Robots would be easy for Ace to destroy. He could just crush them or throw them around. Ace looked to the left, and saw Sabo grinning. "Do you have a plan?"

"Yup. Robots are machines. Clouds are water," he said with a confident look. Ace nodded, smiling at him before his smile dropped to look at Midoriya, who had his hands clenched tightly. How would he pass this? Even regular quirks would have trouble at doing this. Not all promising quirks were good for attacks, right?

"Do you have a plan?" Ace asked him. The three did not have the same arena. Ace wished he had his with Sabo, but that wasn't how it ended up. Midoriya simply said he'd wing it. Ace sighed and nodded, but gave him an encouraging expression. He stood and stretched when the auditorium was dismissed, the many students filtering out at a slow pace, and following signs outside to the buses for each arena. Ace went to bus 3, while Sabo had 1 and Midoriya had 6. Bakugo didn't share an arena with any of them, which was good. He would just be annoying or unhelpful.

Ace got onto the bus in the front, and sat down in the first seat. The boy from his complex sat next to him, and leaned back against the seat, looking up. Ace looked out the window and assumed his brother wasn't applying here since he hadn't seen him. "I wonder how it's gonna go," the blonde mused.

"It'll suck for a lot of people," Ace said back, unsure if the guy was just talking to himself. He looked up, so Ace wondered if he had been talking to himself.

"I agree. Some powerful quirks won't be good with brute strength." Then he grinned. "But I'll be fine." Ace nodded, agreeing that he felt he'd do well, as well. "My name is Marco."

"Ace," the freckled teen replied. They didn't talk again as they drove down the long road and to their area. This place was even bigger than Ace thought before. It had to be many square miles just based on what he'd seen so far. Plenty of room to fly around at. He really hoped he and his friends were accepted.

Ace worried about Midoriya's chances. And his mental health if he didn't make it. Ace liked to have faith in his friends, but he had no clue how the darker haired friend would pass considering the way he was now. Would smarts help him in this? He was good at planning, but was also nervous and disadvantaged.

When they pulled up to the walled mini city, they all got out of the bus and stood at the gates. When they opened, Ace didn't wait for a count down, running forward. Everyone followed, as nobody told them to wait. Ace turned into a bird, the fastest bird he knew, and went to the first bot.

He turned into his massive dragon form and slammed it with his tail, making it blow up. To give everyone else chances, he went to the further bots, and devastated them. He saw another flying quirk on the other side of the city, glowing a bright blue. It was really pretty. Some sort of bird? It kept diving, and Ace couldn't see what it did, but he paid more attention to wrecking the bots. He wanted to show he could do more than the dragon, and turned into a cheetah to get around. He then turned into a dinosaur and crushed them. He shifted between speed and powerful animals as he got as many bots as he could.

He got to the last bot in the area, having devastated 45 or so, but four the blue bird was already there. They raced for the last bot, but the blue bird got it first. Ace huffed and changed back into human form. The bird was beautiful. He landed on the smoking bot and transformed. It was Marco!

"That sure is a useful quirk you got," he said casually, though both of them were sweaty. Ace said his was pretty. "Heh, there's more to it than flying. But that's a secret. Well, when we both make it, then you'll find out." He laughed and then flew off. Ace blinked a few times, thinking he was a cheerful guy.

And his flaming bird was very beautiful. Looked like a phoenix. But blue, he'd only seen red ones. The bell rang, and the loud commotion echoing round the area stopped. He changed into a bird and flew back. There were still many bots that hadn't been destroyed, and many were not smashed.

A handful had purple balls clogging them, and another had been dissolved. But more were destroyed in some sort of way, broken and dead. Ace landed next to Marco. Neither had gotten in the way of anybody since they never reached the places that the two destroyed bots. Many probably didn't know just how many they'd taken out, as Ace knew Marco had defeated a lot based on the way he was keeping up with Ace and they got to the end at the same time.

Everyone looked tired, some more than others. The boy who Ace assumed used the purple balls was bleeding from the head. Ace was had no side effects for his quirk that he ever noticed. Using it daily for the last many years was good practice in the long run. Sabo's made him dehydrated if he used too much. He hoped he did okay, and he hoped Midoriya didn't get zero points.

They went back to the bus, Marco walking next to Ace. "Did you come with your friends?" he asked casually. Ace nodded, and said he'd come with his two close friends. "How do you think they did?"

The students were back on the bus now, and Ace frowned. "I think Sabo had to have done okay, since he had a plan. But my other friend is quirkless, and I have no idea what he did." Marco was surprised by a quirkless student coming. "I hope he didn't fail and will be very upset." The blonde teen nodded, looking thoughtful.

When they got back to the main area, Ace ran off, wishing Marco good luck on his score, to go find Sabo and Midoriya. He found Sabo first, guzzling a huge bottle of water. "Sabo! How'd you do?" he asked in worry. Ace would never say it, but he'd rather have Sabo getting more than Midoriya, though he really wanted both to pass.

"I got a lot of them! I assume you got a lot, too. I thought so. But damn I'm thirsty," he said as he refilled the bottle, drinking almost aggressively. "Hah! My plan worked. I got moisture through the cracks of them and the shorted out. I met some cool people, too. A really nice girl that can pause time for things. She did that for many, so they all were immobilized."

Ace was interested in the diverse quirks everyone had, never being around very interesting quirks. Those from his previous classes were never overly special. Ace talked about Marco the flaming, blue bird, and Sabo thought that was awesome. They hurried around, looking for Midoriya. But they couldn't find him. Did he leave already?

They searched for a long time before they went inside to get their things and found their friend's stuff gone. He'd booked it already. That didn't bode well at all. They got their things, Sabo drinking even more water, and exited the building. Ace messaged his friend, but he didn't answer, even if he saw the message.

And we met Marco! He's a main character through the rest of the story. Such bromance between him and Ace later lol. Best boys.