Chapter II

Midoriya Izuku had not had the best life in his, admittedly, small number of years. He was a 13-year-old quirkless kid in his second to last year of junior high with lofty dreams to be a hero. A dream that society, his peers, and his "best friend" routinely laughed at him for.

The laughter and mockery hurt more than any explosion powered punch said "best friend" could throw. It was constant, mental, and perpetual. He could treat the bruises and burns as he had done countless times with salves and bandages, but it was hard to heal his mind and mentality.

Regardless, he hadn't broken. When his own mother didn't believe in him, he didn't break. He'd bent plenty, but never broke and he refused to break until he made his dreams a reality. He would be a hero. He just needed to hold out until then.

Little did he know the universe had just given him a saving grace.

LINEBREAK

Midoriya was scribbling in another one of his Hero Analysis notebooks again. Much like society and his peers ignored his existence, he was ignoring the mocking and pitying looks his classmates gave him.

And he was trying his best to ignore the hate filled glare that one Bakugo Katsuki had fixed on him for what seemed to be the millionth day in a row.

Bakugo Katsuki or "Kaachan" seemed to hate the idea that he would even try to become a hero without a quirk. As if Midoriya's dream personally insulted him. Midoriya wasn't sure he would ever understand it, but before he got the chance to even try and before Bakugo got the chance to march over to him, the teacher entered.

"Alright class! Settle down!" the teacher yelled over the noise of hyperactive preteens.

"Now, it's still close to the start of the year so it shouldn't be too much trouble, but we have a new student joining us," he said and the class, minus Bakugo and Midoriya began to murmur to one another.

"You may come in now," the teacher spoke up to the door and it opened.

The boy who entered was rather tall for their age, standing at 171 cm, and had deeply tanned skin reminiscent of a fisherman. He clearly wasn't fully Japanese, but Midoriya couldn't exactly pinpoint his ethnicity either.

His hair was raven black and long, styled into a bun with, oddly enough, three bells braided into and had sea-green eyes that seemingly shifted like they housed the tides themselves. At a second glance, Midoriya noticed a single streak of silver in his hair and wondered if he dyed it before he took note of the hanafuda earrings with whirlpool motifs that adorned his ears. His facial features, Midoriya imagined, could be called regal with high cheekbones and a strong jawline.

The girls in the class had increased their whispering and some stray giggles escaped their mouths.

But the thing that Midoriya noticed the most about the new kid was his posture and demeanor. On the surface, it came off as lazy and uncaring, but there was minute tension present. His posture combined with the way his eyes seemed to routinely flit across the room and everyone in it in an analytical, almost strategic way, reminded Midoriya of a seasoned hero.

'No. There's an underlying danger present. A warrior,' Midoriya mentally corrected himself.

Midoriya caught his half-lidded gaze for a brief moment and felt like all of his secrets had been revealed from the unexpected piercing gaze alone. The gaze didn't seem intentional though which made him just slightly more uncomfortable.

He wondered what kind of quirk he had.

"Introduce yourself," the teacher told him and he gave a small, lackadaisical wave with a lopsided grin on his face that made most of the girls blush.

"Yo. I'm Jackson-Kamado Perseus, but you all can call me 'Percy'."

'American? But his looks are more Mediterranean,' Midoriya thought internally after the reveal of the new kid's family name.

"Now, are there any questions for Percy-kun?" the teacher asked the class and several hands shot up, mostly girls.

"Yes?" Percy said with his hands in his pockets as he gestured to one of the students whose quirk wasn't distinguishable by sight alone.

"Are you single?" she asked with a noticeable blush. Percy was rather uncomfortable with the question, but didn't visibly show it. He understood well enough that he was physically the same age as the class, but he was many years their senior mentally.

It was an unfortunate byproduct of Tartarus - the real one; not the prison the mortals had created for the worst villains - that time flowed differently there. What seemed to be 12 days to his loved ones on the surface was in reality 12 years for Annabeth and him.

Even if the age gap between girls his physical age and his own mental one didn't deter him (the relationships of his godly family hadn't exactly conformed to societal norms for millennia), and he had accepted his lost love with Annabeth, the thought of dating someone, especially one so young and naive to the truths of the world, was cringeworthy at best. At least at that point; he had promised his hime he would move on to find happiness in his life without her.

He guessed that he should've expected the question though. He knew that he wasn't an unattractive guy by any means (Annabeth had told him as much), but he also never cared for that sort of thing anyways. As such, he gave her a small, slightly strained smile that most of the class was too oblivious to notice and answered.

"I am, but I don't plan on pursuing anything like that for quite a while." It was best to be polite lest his mother find a way across the dimensional gap and kick his ass.

Percy went through a few more questions about why he had transferred instead of starting at the beginning of the year and where he was from originally before an ash blonde haired boy in the front spoke up.

"Oi extra!" he shouted and Percy raised an amused eyebrow at the ruby-eyed kid, figuring he'd play the arrogant kid's game. He reminded Percy too much of Cousin Ares and his brood and they were fun to tease.

"Yes, Pomeranian-kun?" Percy replied in a mocking tone. The class was relatively silent with a few quiet snickers mixed in. No one had ever talked to Bakugo so casually or even dared to tease him like Percy had.

"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME?!" Bakugo roared and leapt on top of his desk. The entire scene was so hilarious to Percy that he let out a genuine chuckle.

"Well, you gave me a cute nickname so I figured I'd do the same," Percy replied and then noticed how the boy's palms began popping in agitation.

'Some kind of explosion quirk then. I can feel the sweat on his palms; that must be the trigger,' Percy mused.

"Although with those little sparklers in your hands, I guess Firecracker-kun would be more appropriate, ne?"

The class couldn't contain their laughter anymore after that. The braver ones openly laughed while the girls giggled into their hands and guys snickered under their breaths.

Midoriya even cracked a small smile at the jab.

Bakugo, on the other hand, nearly went ballistic before the teacher cleared his throat. Reigning in his temper and clicking his teeth, Bakugo asked his question.

"What's your damn quirk?"

Midoriya perked up at the question and opened to a new page in his notebook. He was already curious before the new kid started to tease Bakugo of all people and he leaned forward to get ready to write.

"My quirk? I don't really know why that matters, but it's called 'Umiko'," Percy said with a shrug of his shoulders, but purposely didn't elaborate to mess with the volatile brat.

"Tch. What's it fuckin' do?" Bakugo asked through his clenched teeth. It was clear to Percy, despite having just met the kid, that he was trying to ascertain if Percy was a threat. Whether a physical threat to Bakugo's being, or merely a threat to the status quo he'd developed in the class remained to be seen. Percy was still fairly confident that it was the latter.

"Stuff and things," Percy replied in a slightly amused tone as he flippantly waved his hand in dismissal. Neither Bakugo nor Midoriya missed the mischievous, teasing twinkle in Percy's half lidded eyes.

Percy chuckled again. The kid reminded him entirely too much of Clarisse before they started to… get along in their own unique way.

'This'll be a fun two years,' Percy mused as Bakugo actually growled much like a Pomeranian.

"Mah~. Mah~. Down boy~. My quirk lets me manipulate water down to the molecular level amongst other things," Percy said with a lazy smirk and a subtle challenging look in his eyes. A look that practically screamed "That's just scratching the surface" to those who were more aware.

LINEBREAK

'He can manipulate water down to the molecular level?! That's crazy strong! That means he can probably manipulate solid and gas phases of water like steam, mist, fog, and ice! How much can he control? What distance can he control it at? Can he make it take any shape? Can he *mumble mumble*,' were Midoriya's thoughts that he unfortunately hadn't realized began to spill from his mouth at a low volume as his hand scrambled across the page of his notebook.

He was so caught up in his musings, that he didn't hear the teacher or notice that the class turned to look at him again.

"-Oriya! Midoriya!" the teacher's voice cut through his muttering and he let out an extremely nervous "eep!"

"That's alright, sensei," Percy said with a kind chuckle. "I think I can figure out who I'm supposed to sit next to."

Midoriya flushed in embarrassment as the class snickered and Percy walked over to sit in the desk next to him. Immediately after sitting down, Percy turned to the green-haired boy and gave him a genuine lopsided smile.

"Nice to meet ya, Shrub Head. Call me Percy."

Midoriya didn't really know what to do. It was the first time in admittedly a long time that someone his own age genuinely interacted with him and was friendly to boot. Even as his mouth hung open slightly and he didn't reply, Percy just continued to smile patiently at the obviously nervous boy.

'Gods. It's just like Grover all over again,' Percy thought in thorough amusement. Eventually, Midoriya got his wits about him.

"N-Nice to meet y-you, Percy-kun," he said back and Percy's lips adopted a kind yet faint smile, but his eyes seemed to smile too even though they were closed. It was bizarre.

With the introductions done, class got underway, but Midoriya's thoughts were primarily focused on the new nice boy next to him. It really put his quirklessness into perspective since a virtual stranger had been nicer to him just a few minutes than anyone else had been to him (save his mother) since he was four.

It was a pleasant feeling. He didn't feel useless or inferior or even judged. He felt rather relaxed and safe in Percy's presence and it shaped the day up to be one of the better ones; better than he'd had in a long time anyway. That was until his negative thoughts broke through to the surface again.

'He doesn't know your quirkless. He'll avoid you just like everyone else has,' his thoughts told him and dampened his mood again. He didn't notice, but Percy picked up on it and chose to observe more before he acted.

They both were just trying to get through the day for entirely different reasons.

LINEBREAK

The last bell of the day finally rang out and jolted Percy's consciousness a little bit. He hadn't fallen asleep, but he certainly wasn't at full bars during the last half of the final class.

Now more awake than earlier, Percy leaned back in his seat and stared at the ceiling, cursing Rat Satan (an apt nickname he'd developed for the sadistic chimera) in English, Greek, Japanese, and Latin all in his head for effectively sending him back to school even if he would've likely gone back without the chimera's input. It would probably be more troublesome if he didn't at least try to maintain a cover.

His first middle school experience had been a nightmare and he wasn't holding out hope that it was going to change a second time around. At least he had another Grover for two more years. He smiled wistfully at the thought of his first and oldest friend other than his mother.

With another sigh, he rose from his desk and packed up his bag. There were a few others in the room, but he decided to wait for Midoriya. He had heard most of the kid's muttering about his "quirk" and wanted to ask him about the notebook.

"Hey Shrub He-," "OI! DEKU!" the pomeranian shouted, making the boy flinch harshly.

"K-Kaachan," Midoriya said fearfully and Percy felt a twinge of pity for the boy. However, he remembered standing up for Grover the first time around and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of his life, so why not do it again?

"LIST-," Bakugo started whatever he needed to say, but Percy got Midoriya's attention instead.

"Ne, Shrub Head? What was that notebook I saw you writing in earlier today?" Percy asked and the kid turned bashful again.

"O-Oh! It's my Hero Analysis notebook! I-I take notes on heroes and quirks I find interesting and t-try to figure out their limits and weaknesses and what not," Midoriya told him and Percy gave him another smile. Before he could continue the conversation, Bakugo interrupted again, but towards Percy this time.

"Oi extra! Why are you talking to a useless shitty Deku?!" he roared and Percy tilted his head in confusion.

"Deku?" he asked, noticing the person in question flinch, but he didn't comment.

"Ya! That worthless nerd is quirkless! He's below you and all the other extras!" Bakugo smirked viciously in victory, only to have the wind pulled from his sails moments later.

"And?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow. Internally enjoying the confusion and shock on both Bakugo's and Midoriya's respective faces.

"Wha-," Bakugo tried to voice, but Percy cut him off.

"Why does it matter? Quirks are bullshit anyways. If they were as important as you believe they are then you would be nothing more than a terrorist. After all, when people think of explosions they think of death and destruction. Those aren't exactly all that heroic, ne?" Percy asked in a tone that held the bare traces of mockery.

"HAAA?!" Bakugo exclaimed as his palms began popping once more in erratic agitation.

Percy just shrugged lazily before he said, "Humanity got along just fine before quirks came along - made some pretty impressive and innovative things too. All without the need for a quirk. I'd hardly call that useless."

Percy quickly learned that Bakugo's default emotion was anger as the boy growled again.

"Who gives a shit about before quirks! They were a bunch of fuckin' useless extras that were lower than the dirt I walk on JUST LIKE SHITTY DEKU!" Bakugo screamed and would've left Percy's ears ringing had he not used water to plug them.

Midoriya during the entire exchange had been torn between disbelief that someone had been defending him of all people and depression at Bakugo's words. Each one slowly twisted the knife in his heart further and further.

Percy noticed how the shrub headed boy was flinching and wilting in on himself further and further as Bakugo continued to run his mouth, but put a dull expression on his face as he let the silence after Bakugo's little rant fester.

"So you're a quirksist bastard then," Percy deadpanned.

Midoriya's head snapped up to Percy so fast that his neck popped, but Percy didn't pay him any mind. Instead, he started to walk slowly toward Bakugo.

"I don't associate with quirksist assholes. If you would kindly leave me and Bush Head to our conversation, I would appreciate it," Percy said in a sickly sweet voice; far too sweetly for anyone to think he was genuinely asking and tilted his head to the side with a closed-eye smile.

Bakugo's vicious smirk morphed into a scowl of hatred at the "extra" who was talking back to him and his hands started popping with explosions.

Percy noticed immediately and returned his head to neutral with another lazy, teasing smirk present as his eyes became half-lidded with a glint of challenge in them once more. The tone that carried from his mouth was as uncaring and bored as it had been all day, yet held an undertone of severe warning.

"If you're going to start something Firecracker-kun, then you better hope you can finish it."

The two had a stare down for several beats of silence before Bakugo clicked his teeth and left, muttering "whatever" under his breath. Percy muttered "troublesome" in return before chuckling a little about the exchange.

LINEBREAK

Midoriya couldn't believe what he just witnessed. First, someone actually stood up to Bakugo. Second, Bakugo actually backed off without a fight, and finally, said person was defending him. Even after he heard that he was quirkless!

He was so awed by the events that just occurred that he didn't notice Percy trying to get his attention until Percy flicked his forehead.

"Ow," Midoriya murmured and Percy chuckled a bit when he rubbed the spot on his forehead.

"Sorry about that Bush Head. I thought I'd lost you there," Percy said with a smile, one that Midoriya returned with more enthusiasm than earlier that day.

"Bush Head?" Midoriya asked with a visible question mark above his head and Percy chuckled again.

"Yeah. Your hair looks like a bush or a shrub and I figured it's a better nickname than what the pomeranian came up with. 'Extra'? He's not very creative, is he?" Percy asked with a smile and got one in return from Midoriya.

Midoriya finished packing up his things and the two left together. Neither of them said a word until they got to the gates of the school; some of the last people to leave for the day.

If it was an awkward silence, neither of them commented on it, but Percy figured it would be best to not force the kid into conversation.

"Err. Thank you, Percy-kun," Midoriya said softly, but Percy waved him off.

"Don't mention it. I don't like bullies or racists. Or quirksists. He's got it out for you pretty badly though. Why's that?" Percy asked and Midoriya retreated in on himself again, making Percy raise an eyebrow.

"K-Kacchan is," he started to say but Percy cut him off by gently chopping his head before laying a strong, comforting hand on his shoulder. Midoriya was forced to raise his head to meet his eyes after rubbing his head. Midoriya would be ashamed to admit he got lost in the kind and sincere, yet serious orbs briefly before Percy spoke.

"First, raise your head when you're speaking to me. I am not above you or better than you; we're just two human beings. We're equal. Second, don't give that asshole a nickname. If he treats you like that, then you aren't friends and only friends get nicknames," Percy told him firmly. It wasn't an unkind tone, but it commanded respect. Hopefully, if Percy spoke that way to the greenette, then he would realize (if only subconsciously) that he needed to respect himself before worrying about others.

It also wasn't entirely the truth as Percy was only half human - realistically, probably closer to a quarter - but the point remained that Midoriya shouldn't think anything less of himself for something as trivial as a quirk.

'Equals?' Midoriya thought and started to hope that he had finally found a friend.

"K-Kacc- I mean B-Bakugo and I have known e-each other since we were in d-diapers. When he got his q-quirk and I-I didn't, h-he… I still want to be a hero, but he and e-everyone else," Midoriya stuttered through his explanation, but trailed off and looked down before looking at Percy again.

"They say I can't be a hero without a quirk," he finally said and Percy hummed.

"Well that's stupid."

The blunt delivery made Midoriya flinch and look down at his shoes again as he felt tears gathering in his eyes. He felt stupid. He had hoped that the first person to defend him since his diagnosis would say the words he so desperately wanted to-

"Of course you don't need a quirk to be a hero."

Midoriya's head snapped up to Percy for the second time that day as his mouth hung open in disbelief.

'D-Did I hear that right?' he questioned himself.

"You'd have to work at least 10 times harder than everyone else, but it's possible," Percy said with a hand on his chin as if he was thinking about it himself and the tears started to flow down Midoriya's cheeks. Of course while Percy was technically quirkless, he had his birthright abilities that made him a special case.

Percy did truly believe that a quirk wasn't necessary to be a hero. It was just that he wasn't remotely thinking of himself as an example, but his hime. Annabeth had no special abilities. She couldn't control the weather or summon the dead like he or his cousins. She couldn't heal like Apollo's children or charmspeak like Aphrodite's. All she had was her training and her mind.

In fact, Midoriya reminded him of Annabeth a fair amount. The analytical notes the kid took spoke of vast intelligence; it was certainly wired differently than Annabeth's, but it was a vast intelligence nonetheless. While Percy was trapped in his own reminiscent thoughts, he idly noticed Midoriya's disbelief.

Midoriya couldn't believe it. Everyone, even his own mother, hadn't believed in him. They all told him to give up. They all told him that it was impossible; that he'd just get in the way.

But a single person he had known for a single school day did the opposite. He couldn't help but to cry; they just weren't tears of sadness that time.

"But if you're going to be a hero, we're going to have to start training," Percy told him bluntly and he blanched in confusion.

"H-Huh?"

"Well yeah. No offense Shrub Head, but you've known you're quirkless since you were four and still wanted to be a hero. You've known you'd be at a disadvantage for a long time, but you haven't even tried to prepare for it; to train your body or learn to fight," Percy said bluntly and Midoriya started to fold in on himself again.

"Don't worry though. We have about two years before the U.A. Entrance Exams. That's plenty of time to fix both of those mistakes, but it's going to be incredibly hard, so are you sure you're up for it?" Percy said and laid a hand firmly on Midoriya's shoulder once more. Midoriya looked up to see absolute seriousness in Percy's eyes.

There was no pity, disgust, or any indication that he was lying. In fact, the previously lazy look Percy had on his face all day was completely absent. Steeling his resolve, Midoriya clenched his fist tightly, his eyes burning with determination, and nodded firmly.

"Yes. I'll do whatever it takes."

Percy looked him in the eyes for a moment longer to make sure that he didn't waver. When he didn't Percy nodded and patted his shoulder.

"Good," Percy told him and then grinned ferally at the shrub head, making him swallow thickly.

"Because hell starts tomorrow after school."

LINEBREAK

Percy had discovered Takoba Municipal Beach Park later the day he had met Midoriya after hearing about it from the boy himself and had Aizawa (read: Nezu since Aizawa was too lazy) schedule dumpsters to be dropped off and picked up once a week so Midoriya could clean the beach as the core of his strength training.

It also helped that Percy gave Midoriya a frightening and passionate speech about the environment and ocean pollution as a means of motivating him further to use the dump as an improvised training ground. One that made Midoriya pity the poor fools that Percy caught littering in the future.

For the first few months, Percy had Midoriya focus solely on cleaning four days a week (due to school) to build a base level of strength in his body and paired it with routine body weight exercises that slowly increased as time went on, along with a better diet. As much as Percy knew that technique and strategy would best strength 9/10 times, he needed Midoriya to establish some strength first before he began to train him in combat.

Once combat training began, Percy immediately recognized that Midoriya's build was similar to his own but somehow shorter and a little more lanky. As such, he recommended that Midoriya focus on kicks more than punches, but still taught him everything he learned from both his mother's training when he was a boy and the small tips from sparring with Aizawa.

Percy had started Midoriya off with the basics of the Streaming Water, Crushing Rock Dragon Fist, but ensured that Midoriya knew it was imperative that he tweak the style to suit his own needs. The last thing Midoriya needed was to try and become someone else by emulating their fighting style entirely.

He even offered to train Midoriya in the basics of swordsmanship, but Midoriya declined rapidly and wholeheartedly. The shrub head was terrified of wielding a "weapon" and accidentally hurting someone as if quirks weren't effectively the same thing. Percy found his naivety amusing.

On weekends, Midoriya would spend half of the day cleaning to build strength and the other half of the day working on his combat. It was more hellish than Midoriya had anticipated. Everyday his muscles would burn and ache in pain, but he never gave up. Even if he later noticed on the particularly bad days, Percy would use his "quirk" to heal him a little to recover and build strength just a little bit faster.

As time went on, combat training became more of a priority than the cleaning, but the cleaning was done at a steady enough pace to build more strength while still allowing him to train in combat effectively. Midoriya even continued to increase the body weight exercises he'd do himself, going so far as to add weights to his runs, and used some of his downtime to clean the beach further.

Of course, this didn't mean that Percy was slacking off in his own training. He continued to spar with Aizawa and pushed to regain the same level of control over his abilities he once had while also increasing their limits. He often trained alongside Midoriya when the kid was cleaning the beach, or dove under the waves to work under the extreme pressures, but only far enough so that he could still sense his student while he trained.

It was both entertaining and frightening the first time Percy told Midoriya about his quirk in detail and the hero fanboy easily filled up a dozen pages in his notebook on him and his quirk alone.

Flashback

"Percy?" Midoriya asked while the two were taking a small break in their training. Midoriya had several questions about just what Percy could do with his quirk since a lot of it didn't exactly make sense. Percy just hummed in acknowledgment from his place next to Midoriya as he was meditating. Midoriya idly noticed that the tides were synchronized with his friend's breathing.

"Your quirk is called 'Umiko' and you can manipulate water down to the molecular level, but what exactly can you do?" Midoriya asked and subtly (at least he thought so) prepared a blank page in his notebook.

"Hmm. My quirk is pretty unique to my knowledge, more so than other elemental quirks. It's an Emitter-Mutation hybrid," Percy told Midoriya and waited patiently for him to finish his first notes before he'd ask several more questions.

And more than several questions came. So rapidly too, that Percy only cracked one of his eyes open and stared at Midoriya until he got the hint. The kid was getting better at slowing his thoughts down and limiting his muttering after several months. Midoriya blushed in embarrassment and quieted down, allowing Percy to go back to his meditation while he answered.

"How? Well, that's easy. My mother had a Mutation-Transformation hybrid quirk called 'Darwin'. At its base, the mutant portion put her body into the peak human condition; not super strength but stronger than average. Her organs, brain functions, etc. all at optimal capacity, higher bone density, more muscle fibers - all of them fast oxidative so they were capable of more power and don't fatigue as quickly," Percy explained the lie the Fates had crafted for him to blend in before he continued.

"The transformation portion allowed her to transform her body to adapt to the environment and maintain the peak condition, like Darwin's Theory of Evolution hence the quirk's name. If she moved to a cold environment, then her body would adapt to thrive there. If she moved to a higher altitude where there was limited oxygen, then her body would adapt. I'm sure you get the idea," Percy finished the summary of his mothers "quirk" and found the rapid muttering of his student to be calming after months of growing used to it.

He picked up the several "such a useful quirk" and "you could be such a great hero" exclamations from Midoriya as he did with every quirk. Literally every quirk Midoriya heard about and took notes on was a useful quirk to him; it was rather endearing if still a little naive for Percy's tastes. Percy was cynical to an extent certainly, but even if he wasn't, how is detaching one's eyeballs for about a foot outside of their eye sockets like the kid in their class useful for anything other than peeking around a corner or working in a haunted house?

After some time, Midoriya had finished his notes and asked about Percy's father.

"I never met him," Percy lied and noticed the gaze full of compassion from his friend. Percy's lips twitched into a smile at his friend's heart of gold, even though it was slightly misplaced.

"He left before I was born, but my mother told me his quirk was an emitter type that allowed him to manipulate the weather. Like him, I can make it rain or snow or hail. I can form a hurricane or a tornado or a lightning storm or even cause an earthquake," Percy told him and wasn't surprised in the slightest at the absolutely gobsmacked look on Midoriya's face. He was so surprised that he didn't even move to take notes.

"W-What?! T-That's insane! If that's the case how can you control water like that?!" Midoriya exclaimed and Percy chuckled gently.

"Easy. Through training and meditation to fully understand my quirk, I awakened it further. The weather manipulation became elemental manipulation. Water, wind, lightning; I can now even send the seismic energy from an earthquake through other mediums such as the air," Percy said and demonstrated by holding a fist up to Midoriya.

Midoriya noticed how Percy's fist became encased in a white translucent bubble before Percy threw a quick but weak jab out to the sea.

CRACK

The air itself shattered like glass and a shockwave blew several dozen meters off the coast, displacing the water as it traveled.

"Wow," Midoriya murmured in awe. Percy smiled faintly before continuing.

"The mutant portion of my own quirk doesn't keep me at peak condition. It still gives me higher bone density, more muscle fibers - fast oxidative as well -, heightened senses and the like. But instead of optimizing organ function and such, it altered my lungs. Since water is the element I'm most connected to and my strongest, my lungs changed so I can breathe underwater just as I'm breathing now," Percy told Midoriya and the boy nodded because such a combination made sense to him. He also wasn't a geneticist.

'Maybe I'll tell him the truth someday,' Percy mused with a small smile while Midoriya went to town on his notebook about Percy's quirk.

The silence between the two was occupied for a while by Midoriya's scribbling and quiet muttering until he finally finished and Percy stood up.

"Come on. Back to training, Bush Head," Percy said and began to walk toward his own area to train and watch over Midoriya. He didn't miss the look of confusion and skepticism on Midoriya's face as he rapidly skimmed over the notes on Percy's "quirk".

'A problem for another time,' Percy mused.

"R-Right!" Midoriya exclaimed and did the same before a question popped into his head.

"Percy?" He got a hum of acknowledgement again.

"Is your mom a hero?" Midoriya asked and Percy halted but just for a moment.

"Mom died in a villain attack two years ago, Shrub Head. I live with an underground hero who's my legal guardian now," Percy told him and didn't miss the flinch from Midoriya for what the kid believed to be an insensitive question.

"O-Oh! Percy I-I-," Midoriya started to say but Percy cut him off with a chuckle.

"It was a valid question, Green. No harm no foul," Percy told him and offered a small smile over his shoulder, putting Midoriya at ease.

"Now, back to training."

Flashback End

After that talk, the two friends and aspiring heroes continued to push themselves even further and grow even stronger, bringing them close together to the point they saw each other as brothers. Percy being the older and Izuku the younger. When Izuku asked why he was the younger, Percy just gave him a deadpanned look and reminded him of how he wouldn't stop pestering Percy about the hero that was his legal guardian.

Izuku blushed something fierce, but stopped asking after that.

Percy even became a regular at the Midoriya household for dinner a couple times a week and met Midoriya Inko. She was a sweet woman that reminded Percy of his own mother a bit, but she had a rather frustrating habit of crying in excess (luckily he could evaporate the water easily) and treating Izuku like he was made of glass.

Percy understood it to some extent. She, similar to his own mother, had a child with a man that abandoned them. To Percy, it didn't matter if his own mother knew that his father could never be with them because he was a god. And while he never blamed his father either because he truly did understand, it was still abandonment.

But Inko (Auntie Inko as she insisted Percy called her) expected Izuku's father to be with them. The man was her husband and Izuku his son, but once the quirkless diagnosis came out, even Izuku, who Percy knew was a little naive, could recognize that his father hadn't really put any effort into returning home.

Inko was stuck raising a quirkless child with dreams of being a hero on her own. So Percy truly did understand her wanting to keep her only son - her entire world - safe and away from harm. It was something that she wouldn't be able to do if Izuku became a hero, but she couldn't just crush her only child's dreams either.

Luckily, the decision, while difficult, was obvious for her to make. Inko hasn't seen her son so happy since the diagnosis. Percy came into Izuku's and later her life and brought her son's spark back to him. Not to mention that he was learning to defend himself, so even if heroics didn't work out, she could at least take solace in the fact that her baby could defend himself. It even inspired Inko to start taking better care of herself and get back into shape.

Percy and Inko's favorite side effect of the training and brotherhood with Percy was the pleasant increase in Midoriya's self confidence. He hardly stuttered after months of training unless he was talking to girls (Percy found it hilarious) and most of the former bullies had backed off.

Whenever Bakugo tried to get involved with him (only when Percy wasn't around after Percy had broken Bakugo's arm his second day at Aldera. It was ruled as self-defense.) Midoriya would just roll his eyes since he picked up some of Percy's sarcasm and sass (he wasn't daring enough to openly tease Bakugo yet), and if things got physical, Midoriya would continually dodge around Bakugo's telegraphed attacks until he was out of school grounds. Apparently, Bakugo had a brain after all since he realized how much trouble he could get in without the safety net the school gave him.

Percy himself continued to train on his own to take his control to further heights than he had in his own world and both test and push the limits of his power. He didn't wish to do so in front of Izuku for several reasons, but the main ones being that he didn't want to clue Izuku in that he was more than he seemed more than he already had, and he didn't want to discourage Izuku any further. The amount of power Percy had at his disposal would be frightening to most, so he didn't find it logical to openly display it to a quirkless kid training to become a hero alongside him.

Percy utilized the U.S.J. facility to push those limits and Nezu would blacklist it from use at those times so that he would be completely alone save for Aizawa if he wished to join that day and Nezu watching on the cameras. He even found some secret underwater caves in the Shipwreck Zone that he would frequent with vapor travel when he needed a space to himself. Or to hide from one of the staff members after he pulled a harmless prank on them, usually with Midnight and Present Mic as accomplices.

That was Izuku's and Percy's routine as their second year ended and third year fast forwarded by them, continually getting stronger, faster, and better. Midoriya had about half of the beach cleaned with the bulkier pieces of garbage remaining (by Percy's design) and Percy had long since surpassed his level of strength from the first time he was 14 in his world, but neither slowed down. He had learned the hard way to always be prepared even in "peaceful" times; hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

But Fate had already been set in motion. To nobody's knowledge, it was set a long time ago yet Percy's arrival added several tweaks - beneficial tweaks.

And for Midoriya Izuku, Fate seemed to make itself known on the last day of Aldera Junior High. The day his hero journey truly began.

Chapter II End