Shota didn't bother to knock as he entered the principal's office.

"Come in, Aizawa. Take a seat." Nedzu continued to sort through paperwork, not even batting an eye.

This was a common occurrence, after all.

Aizawa sighed, before sitting down across from the rodent principal.

Nedzu laid his paperwork down, turning his attention to Aizawa.

"So, is this about the Katsuki Bakugo incident? My calculations gave a 41 percent chance you would immediately expel him."

"I haven't expelled him."

Nedzu nodded. "Since I know you would not allow him to continue without punishment I assume you gave him a final warning."

Aizawa gave a noise of agreement.

"Well then, are you here for the 37 percent chance Katsuki Bakugo would immediately take an action that would have you expel him or the 58 percent chance that that he will not seek help?"

"Neither, I just got an email from Inui, Bakugo came to see him, they have another session scheduled for next Monday."

Nedzu placed his paws together. "So, if you are not expelling Katsuki Bakugo, why did you come to see me?"

"Costumes."

"Costumes?"

Aizawa nodded. "Or more accurately, the costume designers who work for U.A."

"What is the problem with the designers?"

"They appear to be taking certain liberties with the design of costumes."

Aizawa placed an image on Nedzu's desk, a professionally produced piece of concept art. It showed a different version of Yaoyorozu's costume, complete with shorts and a thinner window in the torso.

"This is what Yaoyorozu submitted to the design agency. This is what she received."

Aizawa added a second image, concept art of the costume the girl had worn earlier that day.

Nedzu studied the two images. "Hmm, this is troubling."

"Yaoyorozu's costume has been altered to show the maximum amount of skin allowed for a pro hero."

"But Yaoyorozu isn't a pro hero yet, as she is still a minor she is subject to different regulations. Her draft costume was already showing the maximum allowed skin for a minor."

Aizawa sighed. "This isn't the only example."

Another pair of images landed on Nedzu's desk.

"Uraraka, costume changed to be skin tight."

Two more sets joined them.

"Ashido and Asui, skin tight costumes again, with the same designer as Yaoyorozu."

More images.

"Hagakure, literally a pair of gloves and boots."

"Tokoyami, just a black cape and boots."

"Jiro and Kaminari, same designer, almost identical costumes barring support items.

Aizawa drew one final image, handing it directly to Nedzu.

"And possibly the most egregious, apart from Yaoyorozu's, is Minoru Mineta's costume."

Nedzu stared at the image.

"Is that a diaper, themed after a fruit bowl?"

Aizawa inclined his head, with a small sigh.

"I assume this is not what Minoru Mineta requested." Nedzu placed the picture down, joining the others.

"It isn't, I looked at his request, that diaper bowl should be a pair of white shorts, over the rest of the costume."

"Hmm, ah yes, as a homage to a fictional pre-quirk hero."

Aizawa shrugged, he'd never bothered much about fictional heroes from before superpowers were a reality, it always seemed too unrealistic for each hero to have four or five separate powers.

Then again, Aizawa had to admit it was a bit more realistic now he had a quirk like Midoriya's in his class.

Nedzu sighed. "It seems the design agencies must be taken in hand. Inappropriate, mocking and lazy costumes not only undermine our integrity as an educator of heroes, but the integrity of these future heroes."

"What course of action do you want to take?" Aizawa questioned.

A worryingly maniacal laugh slipped from Nedzu's lips.

"I will handle the agencies by myself. I will also send a request to Power Loader to alter Yaoyorozu's costume."

Aizawa shrugged and stood. "Fine, I'll inform the rest of class that they are allowed to wear their gym uniforms for now if they want."

Nedzu nodded. "An excellent idea, have a good evening, Aizawa."

Katsuki pushed the door to the 3-G Support Workshop open, deafening noise greeting him.

This was where Dogface had said Deku's costume was sent to be repaired.

"Oi, where's Deku's costume?!"

Katsuki's yell was lost to the droning of machines, the banging of hammers and the grinding of metal.

"Deaf fucks." Katsuki watched as the support students went on with their building, forging and tinkering.

He could see at least two sets of powered armor, three flamethrowers, countless grapple guns and what looked like a 10ft tall armored robot.

Finding the emergency stop on the wall, Katsuki pressed it.

Instantly the sound of the workshop went dead, replaced with shouts of disbelief and anger.

"What the hell did you do that for, newbie?!"

Katsuki ground his teeth together, forcing himself to stay on topic instead of raging at the stupid extra.

"You thick skulled extras couldn't hear me over your stupid toys!"

"Did he just call us extras!"

"Thick skulled?!"

"These aren't toys, you fucking-"

Katsuki released a small explosion. "I don't care what you shitstains have to say, I'm just looking for the costume from 1-A that got wrecked!"

One of the support students stepped forward. "Oh, that piece of crap, we trashed, all it was good for was junk."

Katsuki's fists tightened.

"You fucking dick bags!"

Another student joined the first. "Was it yours, newbie? Did your mummy make it for you?!"

Katsuki growled, his palms dancing with weak explosions.

"Stop being dicks to the kid."

A tall student, dressed in oil stained overalls, stepped in between Katsuki and the other students, his pale red hair smudged with grime.

"No wonder all the other classes don't like us when you guys go round acting like this."

The first student rolled his eyes. "Tch, whatever."

Katsuki frowned.

With that, the machines restarted, the support students going back to their work.

"Follow me." The red-haired student set off towards a side room.

Katsuki shrugged. "Why should I listen to an extra like you?"

"Follow me."

Katsuki's clothes lurched, dragging him off, after the student.

"What the fuck?!"

"My quirk, Limited Fibrokinesis, allows me small-scale control over fabric and its fibers, it's the perfect Support quirk." The red-haired student glanced over his shoulder. "I'm Matsuro Sen."

"Matsuro Sen, sounds like dumb fucking name!"

Sen laughed. "You must be Katsuki Bakugo then, the whole of U.A. is abuzz with what happened today."

Katsuki sighed. "Great."

Sen released his hold on Katsuki as they entered the side room, the door dulling the racket from the workshop.

"I saw those clowns throwing that jumpsuit away." Sen moved over to a workbench. "So I took it, to give it back to the kid it belongs to."

Katsuki stepped forward, seeing Deku's jumpsuit on the workbench, each scrap of cloth laid back in its correct place.

"Could you repair it?"

It was barely a whisper, the words forced from Katsuki's lips with all his might.

Sen glanced over at Katsuki. "Huh, what did ya say?"

Katsuki growled. "I said could you fix this stupid jumpsuit!"

Sen chuckled. "No need to shout, kid."

"Don't call me that!"

"Sure thing, kid."

Katsuki's eye twitched. "Can you do it or not?"

Sen shrugged. "Sure, why not."

Holding out the first two fingers of his left hand, Sen moved them in line with the tear of the mask.

Fibers from each half reached out, reconnecting and joining the mask together seamlessly.

As if Katsuki had never blown it apart.

Sen moved on, repairing each tear and rip until the jumpsuit was whole once again.

"Here you are, it may look like whatever happened to it never happened, but it's still pretty weak. The kid will need a new one, made here with better materials."

Sen folded up the jumpsuit.

"I can tell this was made with a lot of love." Sen held the jumpsuit out to Katsuki. "Make sure it gets back to the Midoriya kid safely."

Katsuki grunted, stuffing the jumpsuit in his bag. "Thanks or whatever."

Sen sighed, before smiling. "Good luck, hero-in-training kid."

Katsuki snarled.

Izuku stared at the wrecked fridge-freezer in front of him.

Even after all the work he'd put into cleaning up the beach junk kept on washing up from the sea.

But that just meant Izuku wouldn't stop, after all the hard work he'd put into this beach, he wasn't going to let it slide back into being a dump now.

It also gave him plenty of chances to work on his quirks.

And right now, he was focusing on his newest quirk.

Slingshot.

Reaching out with his hand, Izuku pulled on the fridge, receiving only a slight wobble for his effort.

"Too heavy, how about..."

Holding his hand out again, Izuku activated two of Slingshot's strands.

The fridge rocked and fell over.

"Then this should work."

Using all four strands, Izuku latched them onto the fridge and lifted it into the air.

Grunting at the exertion, Izuku realised this was the same effort it required him to carry the fridge to this spot in the first place.

That was it, the weight limit of Slingshot was not a combination of the two quirks' weight limits, but the force he could produce with his limbs.

94kg.

Exactly half of what Izuku's could bench comfortably, when using two of his limbs.

That meant that by increasing his strength and muscle mass the weight limit for Slingshot would increase.

Just like how One For All would become less harmful to his body with greater strength and muscle mass.

The fridge dropped into the sand.

But that wasn't to say Slingshot didn't come with disadvantages of its own.

Izuku had quickly found he couldn't alter Slingshot at all, any attempts to even manipulate the inner workings of the quirk had threatened to denature it.

While Slingshot was now a single quirk, it still took up the quirkspace of its constituent parts. Similarly, any attempts he had made to recopy Attraction from his mom had failed.

The last, and most annoying, limitation of the new quirk was its lack of effect on people and animals. Attraction had held a similar limitation, but Izuku had hoped it would take after Zero Gravity in that respect.

But at least the nausea from Zero Gravity had vanished when the two quirks had merged.

"You're mumbling again, Young Midoriya!"

Izuku was shaken from his thoughts, raising his head to the sight of All Might standing in front of him, in his true form.

"All M-"

Izuku cut himself off.

"I mean, Mr.-"

It was at that point Izuku realised he didn't know what to call the man.

"Yagi."

Izuku stared at astonishment at his idol, his worries about All Might's fear of his quirk momentarily forgotten.

All Might had told him his name, well, just his surname. But it wasn't any less amazing, All Might's identity was a closely guarded secret, no one knew it.

Just like One For All.

"R-Right."

All Might nodded. "I thought I might find you here."

Izuku shrugged nervously. "That pass to train with my quirks you gave me is still valid until next week, I thought I'd get some practice with Slingshot before it ran out."

All Might guided Izuku over to a bench, the two taking a seat.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that quirk, if you don't mind."

"S-Sure."

All Might smiled. "I was just curious where you got it from. I have an idea but I didn't want to be presumptuous."

Izuku's thoughts turned negative for a few seconds, before he forced himself to banish them.

"I created it, during the fight, I merged my mom's and Uraraka's quirks."

All Might hummed in agreement. "As I thought."

"I never knew it was possible, it was a bit of Hail Mary." Izuku paused. "But now I've seen what a merged quirk looks like, I've realised something."

"One For All is a two-in-one quirk."

Izuku's head snapped round to look at his mentor. "Y-You knew?"

All Might sighed. "I did, the only reason I chose not to tell you was because I didn't want to burden you with One For All's history."

"One For All's history?"

"It's not a pleasant one." All Might ran a hand through his hair. "As you know, you and I are the eighth and ninth holders of this quirk."

"The first holder wasn't born with One For All, but one of the two quirks that formed it. The ability to pass on his own quirk, he was believed to be quirkless."

Izuku nodded, listening intently, enraptured by the story.

"The first holder, he had a brother."

All Might's voice caught in his throat.

"His name was All For One."

"All For One?" Izuku frowned, surely no-one would inflict their child with a name like that.

"It's an alias, after his quirk, his real name has been lost to time, more than one holder of our quirk has been forced to choose a successor during battle. Doesn't exactly leave much time for training or learning its history."

All Might stopped, giving Izuku time to process what he'd just said, well aware of the sombre tone he'd set for the conversation.

"One For All is derived from All For One, a quirk that can steal the quirks of others and make them the holder's. But it can also give quirks as well."

"All For One, everything for one person."

All Might nodded in agreement.

"This all happened at the dawn of quirks, before society collapsed. The law and order of that era could not adapt to cover the quirks that began to appear. Progress ceased and decay set in."

Izuku followed All Might's eye line up the moon, hanging in the twilight sky.

"'If superpowers had never appeared, then humans would be taking interstellar holidays by now.' I remember hearing that once, on the TV."

"That's true. In that age of chaos, All For One united many of the quirked peoples, promising them a future without discrimination, freedom from the quirkless." All Might lowered his gaze.

Izuku's eyes widened. "The First Demon, I thought that was just a myth."

All Might shook his head. "I'm afraid it isn't, All For One, he stole the quirks of any who stood in his way, even from those who didn't, and sometimes just because he wanted one that interested him."

"He offered the quirkless of that era, those who wished to be quirked, the power they wanted, in exchange for servitude, and so he built an army. He ruled Japan, he had sights set on the rest of the world as well."

"Until he made a mistake." All Might looked to his protege. "He forced a quirk onto his brother, he was ashamed of someone as almighty as himself having such a weakling for a sibling, a sibling that resisted his rule."

"So that created One For All?"

"Yes, the quirk All For One forced on the first holder allowed the user to stockpile power, it merged with his natural quirk to become One For All, far weaker then, but still a potent force, stronger than most quirks of that era."

"So One For All is kind of like a compound quirk. Like Todoroki has."

All Might nodded. "Exactly like that. Compound quirks are rare, a union of both of the parents' quirks. All compound quirks have one commonality, they have dual functions, like Young Todoroki's ice and fire."

Izuku frowned. "But Slingshot only has one function, I can manipulate a maximum of four objects with my mind."

"Perhaps you just haven't found it's second function yet." All Might offered reassuringly. "But back on topic."

All Might laced his hands together. "Many quirks All For One passed on mutated or were influenced by natural quirks, harmonising with them. But, One For All was the first time, and until today, the only time two quirks have become one."

Izuku looked down at his hands, thinking back to the muscle damage he'd caused by activating One For All inside his quirkspace, right as Zero Gravity and Attraction began to denature.

"Then that makes sense."

All Might raised an eyebrow at his successor's words.

"When I tried to merge those quirks today, I was failing, they were falling apart, I activated One For All in the hope I could stop it."

"So that's how they merged." All Might tapped a finger against his chin. "One For All's power was the source, it provided the energy."

"C-Could it be?" Izuku stopped, worried to continue.

"You can say it, Young Midoriya."

"Could it be that your description of the first holder's original quirk is wrong?"

"Very possibly, what do you have in mind?"

Izuku paused. "You said his quirk could pass itself on, but what if it had another dimension to it."

All Might realised what Izuku was thinking. "The ability to merge quirks."

Izuku nodded. "Y-Yeah."

"Or maybe it was just because the power you used from One For All has the signature of a merged quirk."

Izuku started, thinking over his mentor's words. "A template for Slingshot to work from, it could be."

All Might shrugged. "Maybe, I'll leave the deep quirk analysis up to you, it was never my strong suit."

A silence fell over the mentor and mentee, heavy and cold, freezing Izuku's lungs.

All these weeks of seeing the distrust in All Might's eyes, now Izuku knew why.

"You think my quirk is like All For One's, don't you?"

All Might flinched.

"Young Midoriya-"

"Why? Why would you fear my quirk just because it's similar to his?!"

Izuku's outburst took All Might by surprise, the boy was surprisingly loud when he wanted to be.

"I'm not afraid of your quirk, Young Midoriya."

"Then what else is it? You trusted me with One For All, then as soon as you find out about my quirk you shut down, I can see it in your eyes."

All Might stayed silent.

"That's it, isn't it? You think I'm related to him, to All For One!"

Izuku's hand tightened, gathering fistfuls of his tracksuit pants.

"Just because All For One may have been one of my ancestors, why does that mean I can't be trusted? Because of a man who's been dead for decades!"

All Might spoke. "I killed All For One six years ago, the same day he gave me that injury."

Izuku felt the world drop out from below him.

Six years ago.

It was six years ago, that day when Izuku had gone to bed and woke up to find his dad was gone.

Whenever he'd asked his mom where he was she'd just cry and tell him that his dad got a job overseas.

Izuku collapsed forward onto the sand, on all fours.

"No, that's impossible."

"All For One stole a longevity quirk during his reign of terror, he used it to remain unaging." All Might placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder.

"Don't say it."

"I hoped it wouldn't come to this, that I would be wrong." All Might paused. "I'm sorry, Izuku, but your father was All For One."

"No!"

Izuku slammed his fist down, spraying up sand, mixing with the tears streaming down his face.

"Young Midoriya, it's okay to be angry."

"Angry, this isn't angry." Izuku stopped, his arm hanging limp. "Angry is what happens when you get punched by a bully, angry is what happens when you get told to kill yourself for being quirkless."

Izuku pushed himself to his feet. "My dad is kind, he loves me, I know that."

All Might reached out to his protégé.

Izuku slapped his hand away. "If what you say is true, then I'll never get to see him again, because you killed him."

Before All Might could react the boy was gone, racing away from him as fast as he legs could carry him.

Toshinori sighed, seeming to deflate even more than he already had.

"Well, that was a fine mess, wasn't it?"

Toshinori froze.

That voice.

The same voice he'd heard every time before he had his ass handed to him when he was still in training.

"Gran Torino."

A short, grey haired man with a cane walked down the stairs and onto the beach.

"We meet again. It's been a long time, hasn't it."

Toshinori nodded glumly as Torino hopped onto the bench next to him.

Torino chuckled. "The circle is now complete. When we last met you were but the learner. Now, you are the master."

"The master of screwing up, you mean."

Torino rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic Toshinori, some of the arguments we had during your training were far worse than that."

Toshinori looked at his former mentor questioningly. "I just told him I killed his father, that seems to be a bit more than an argument."

"He's a teenager, he'll get over it." Torino paused. "Besides, if you're right, and his father is All For One, he's going to need your support."

The two men fell into a companionable silence, Toshinori could almost believe the last thirty years hadn't happened, that he and Torino were just taking a break from his training.

Toshinori's wound ached, reminding him that wasn't so. Those days were gone, and they were never coming back. Since he'd finished his training with Torino, Toshinori had seen him maybe five or six times, only ever in a professional setting, one of those being that day.

"Funny to think this place used to be a dump."

Toshinori nodded in agreement.

"Six years, feels like longer since we fought All For One on this beach."

"It's why I chose this as Midoriya's project." Toshinori looked down at his hand. "Not just to make him a suitable vessel for One For All, but to change the place I got this injury into something else."

Toshinori closed his hand into a fist. "Something better. Hopeful."

Torino chuckled. "You're still the same idealistic idiot I used to beat up, aren't you."

Toshinori started.

"Good." Torino paused. "Don't ever lose that."

A small smile crept onto Toshinori's face. "I promise."

"Quirkless!"

BANG!

"What a freak."

BANG!

"No wonder his parents abandoned him, he's less than nothing."

BANG!

Mikumo slammed the hammer down harder, trying to drown out those words.

The words he heard every day, the words that threatened to shatter his hope, his ambitions.

Mikumo couldn't let them.

BANG!

He had been hesitant at first, partnering with Hatsume, but already Mikumo knew it had been the right choice.

With her insane building speed and his eye for design flaws, together they had managed to design a 3D model for a set of armor.

It was only for a prototype, but it was the next step on Mikumo's path to being a hero.

Hatsume had left to go home, but Mikumo had stayed, starting work on the first piece of the armor, a new set of gauntlets.

Each was equipped with grapple units, upgraded shock absorption and multiple repulsors along the back of the forearm.

They would boost both his punching power against villains and his lifting strength for rescue work.

Mikumo lowered his hammer, the metal plating for between each of the fingers was now bent over to meet the palm of the gauntlet.

Moving over to the welding station, Mikumo secured each metal strip to the palm.

Mikumo would rather be here, working on his project, than go back to that place. For long as possible.

Filing the excess metal on the joints down, Mikumo returned to his workstation, slotting the hand section of the gauntlet into the rest. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Mikumo smiled, creating this kind of stuff was how he felt at home.

Hammers didn't mock you. 3D printers wouldn't tell you to jump off the roof. Plasma cutters didn't wish you'd never been born.

Here, in his work, Mikumo was safe.

Mikumo twitched, someone was in the workshop.

Spinning around, Mikumo scanned the semi-lit room, but there was nothing to be seen.

A chair moved minutely, someone without Mikumo's years of watching out for the fists of his tormentors would never have seen it.

"I-I know you're here!"

Nothing.

Something in Mikumo's mind clicked.

"You're that invisible girl from 1-A, I heard the others talking about you guys."

"Ah, jeez."

The voice came from the left of Mikumo, making him jump.

"I was hoping you wouldn't notice me."

Mikumo's face flushed at the realisation of what the girl's lack of corporeal form meant. "W-Why's that?"

"I'm training, with my quirk being a stealth hero is my only option and I can't really train with people who know I'm there."

Mikumo rubbed the back of his head. "I guess that's true."

"Huh, you kinda remind me of someone in my class."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah, you're not Midoriya's brother or something, are you?"

"What?!"

"Does that mean you're not, cause guys practically look like twins, except the eyes, his are more innocent."

Mikumo sighed. "I only met Midoriya yesterday."

And he's already made such an impression on me.

"So that's not a no then?"

Mikumo started, going to react, before coming to realisation.

Was he related to Midoriya?

But Mikumo couldn't imagine someone as caring as Midoriya's mother dumping a child on the streets.

Even then, he'd seen the looks she was giving last night. Almost like she knew there was a chance he existed and seeing him had just been confirmation.

Could he and Midoriya share a father?

The main lights of the workshop came to life, illuminating Mikumo's surroundings and making him blink rapidly.

"You still in here, kid?"

Mikumo turned, it was Power Loader, sans costume.

"M-Mr. Power Loader, I w-was just putting a bit of extra work on mine and Hatsume's project."

Power Loader's eyebrows quirked. "It's seven-thirty, don't you have a home to go to?"

Mikumo didn't respond, but Power Loader could see he'd hit a sore spot.

Power Loader changed the subject. "You here by yourself then? Hatsume gone home?"

"Y-Yeah, she did." Mikumo nodded. "But I'm not alone, I was talking to-"

Mikumo's eyes widened.

"Sorry, I didn't ask your name."

There was no response from the invisible girl.

Mikumo tilted his head. "Hey, are you still here?"

Power Loader frowned. "You talking to yourself, kid?"

Shaking his head, Mikumo pointed to the left of himself. "The invisible girl from Class 1-A, I was talking to her."

Power Loader opened his phone, scrolling to the right app. "Hagakure left campus hours ago, her ID logged it on her way out the gate."

Mikumo was at a loss, he knew he'd been talking to her.

"You must be pretty tired if you're imagining things like that."

I can't really train with people who know I'm there.

Mikumo's eyes widened, before he nodded, deciding to let the matter drop.

Power Loader moved over to Mikumo's workbench. "Damn, you and Hatsume designed this in an afternoon, and you've already started building it! I couldn't have done that at your age, hell, I don't think I could do this now."

Mikumo nodded mutely, taken aback by Power Loader's sudden change in behavior.

Power Loader picked up the designs. "These are pretty impressive, I don't get many first-year students who can come up with this sort of stuff."

"Hatsume came up with most of the ideas, I just made sure that they were possible." Mikumo activated the screen built into his workstation and pressed a button.

A hologram made from blue light appeared above the workbench, showing a 3D model of the prototype suit.

Power Loader whistled in appreciation. "Designed for both combat and rescue work, that's a lofty goal if I've ever seen one."

Mikumo shrugged awkwardly.

Power Loader straightened up. "So, kid, you guys got a name for this thing?"

Nodding, Mikumo stared at the 3D model. "Yeah, I've come up with one."

"Quirkless!"

"The armor, I call it-"

"Die already, you waste of space!"

Mikumo's fists tightened.

"Shatterproof."