"Are you sure, Izu-chan? It's been your life-long dream, hasn't it?" Himiko asked curiously, perhaps a little sadly, over her friend's doubt.

"I don't…I don't know, Himiko," Izuku mumbled, unable to muster a smile for his friend. It had been a very long, very stressful day with the announcements about high school applications and his class predictably turning on him. Even though his teacher didn't outright look it, and the question seemed like a mindless curiosity, it was all too easy to catch the malevolent gleam in his eye as he called his name. His classmates had turned at the admission, deciding it was worth it to risk showing off their (admittedly weak) Quirks just to scare him into submission, but without the added fuel of Bakugou, there was no real threat.

That was, of course, what he thought before class had ended.

Bakugou, uncharacteristically, had backed off quite a bit ever since Himiko's harsh words months prior. He seemed to hesitate every time Izuku was around, like he was watching himself, wondering if he was worth the risk of not getting into U.A.

(He wasn't.)

Still, despite what Himiko had said, and how repulsed he seemed by the idea of now approaching Izuku, it didn't stop him from cornering him with his lackeys after school.

"…there actually might be another way…"

"..pray you'll be born with a Quirk in the next life.."

"...-and take a swan dive off the roof of the building."

His shoulder still throbbed with the memory.

Himiko frowned at him. "C'mon, Izu, you're always telling me about Heroes and all that." She flapped her hand absently at his look. "You know more about them than anyone; don't you think that you, a really smart guy, would know how to fight and all that stuff without a Quirk?" The question was innocent, and she didn't mean anything by it, but it still stung. The unspoken because you're worthless Quirkless hung heavily between them, no matter how long he held his breath.

"What are the chances, realistically, Himiko?" Izuku said instead of what he really wanted to say. "There's never been a Quirkless Hero before, what makes you think I stand a real chance?"

Himiko's frown turned into a smile, albeit forced, as they went under the overpass. "You're the smartest guy I know," she said, truthfully, in that earnest way about her. "If anyone can do it, you can. I've heard some of the things you and Mei talk about, I can barely keep up. The Hero isn't the Quirk, Izuku, it's the person."

The roar of cars above them was almost deafening in the silence that followed. Izuku stopped, there, in the middle of the path and fought the tears that threatened to fall.

She wouldn't get it—how could she?—but it still felt like a lie.

"You wouldn't understand," Izuku snapped, if only to fill the silence. It wasn't a shout, but it was a close thing. "I've been Quirkless my whole life, I know what it's like to be told every day that I'm some freak. Like I'm not even worth the air I breathe just because I'm missing something everyone else has. Just because I'm different." He spat the word out like bile on his tongue; Mom tried hard but all those pep talks were just words. They wouldn't—couldn't—help him. Every year the Quirkless suicide count went up; in just a few months, he would be nothing more than a statistic on a online webpage that most people wouldn't bother looking twice at-

His back met the walls of the overpass with a dull thud, and all the air was knocked from him. Himiko in front of him, her yellow cat eyes glowing with something he knew well.

"You listen to me, Izuku, because we're not as different as you think, and I sure as hell am not letting you join the unfortunate masses." The frustration and desperation were so heavy in her voice Izuku couldn't help but nod dumbly. "Those scars—on Hitoshi's wrists? You think he gave those to himself? No, he didn't. His aunt—she—she ties him up, sometimes," she whispered, eyes going glassy. "Those burns on Dabi… His dad put them there, you know. He…he pushed him too hard for too long. And Eri…" Himiko's voice hitched. "And my Quirk," she said, after a long moment of silence. Izuku was afraid she had forgotten how to speak, "I was forced to hide who I was because of my Quirk."

Izuku's eyes widened, realizing Himiko had never told him what her Quirk is. He had never asked.

"Himiko…?"

"...my name used to be Toga Himiko, Izuku," she finally said, hands sliding off his shoulders. She took a few steps back, like she was afraid she'd hurt him. Or rather, that he was afraid of her. "I hurt people because of my Quirk, Izuku. I didn't want to, but I couldn't help it. Mei—she's been helping me do research on Quirks, ones that alter a person's mind and influence their actions." She gave a little sardonic smile, like someone had just told a bad joke. "I've been called a freak and unnatural by my parents my whole life," she said, hands beginning to tremble, no matter how tight she clenched her fists. "So don't think you're alone, you hear? Every- everyone in our family has suffered. We may not all be blood, but we still fight for each other. We live for each other. We're living for you, too, now."

Rushing forward, Izuku hugged her tight, squeezing her close to him, silent reassurance that he wasn't going anywhere.

She let out a small gasp at the impact, but her arms instantly came up to hug him just as tight.

"So don't you dare go anywhere, okay?"

"Promise."

"Let's get back home, yeah?"

"Yeah, I could do with some rest after today." Izuku didn't mention how that's the first time Himiko's ever called it home before.

—

"Katsuki, wait! Slow down!"

Katsuki did not slow down. He was lost in his own head, thinking about what happened just a few hours ago. Their homeroom teacher had given them their high school application sheets just that morning, and with U.A. the only school listed on his application, he was mostly content with waiting for all the useless extras to put down their own schools. None of them dared to write down the top Hero school in the country, of course, so he knew he would be going unmatched. That is, until final period.

Homeroom-sensei handed them back their applications just a few minutes before the final bell of the day was supposed to ring, letting the students spring up conversations as they ran out the clock. Then he said something that even now had Katsuki stopping in his tracks.

"Katsuki, what-"

"Just pray that you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the roof of the building." It was cruel, even for him. It was Deku's face that really broke the illusion, though.

He had been so sure of himself in the moment, but maybe…

"Katsuki, look out!"

But he couldn't hear him.

"What the fuck is that?" Explosions set off in his hands out of reflex, singing the cuffs of his uniform.

Something green and sludge-like was creeping through the pothole, two glowing yellow eyes popping up like buoys in water. Jagged teeth sprung up in a gap forming in the sludge, making a mouth that closely resembled Joker's in terms of size and sheer madness.

Making noises of alarm and disgust, the three began backing away from whatever that thing was.

The sludge-like…person? instantly zeroed in on them—him—red pinpricks for pupils finding Katsuki and surging forward unexpectedly.

"A suitable meat-suit…" the thing said, the green slime wrapping around Katsuki's forearm and tugging him forward harshly. "I had no idea he was in town… Don't bother struggling, kid, it'll all be over soon-"

Fear and rage gripped Katsuki just as tightly as the Sludge Villain did, but his explosions did nothing—nothing—as he was quickly engulfed in the slime. It filled his mouth, his nose, and was creeping over his eyes—drowning drowning drowning—and he couldn't fucking breathe-

-but then he didn't even get the chance to try and release another explosion as an annoyingly familiar voice screamed, "Bakugou!"

Katsuki wasn't even able to turn and see Deku running towards them at full-speed before a body crashed into his, so sudden and jarring it pulled him right from the Sludge Villain's grasp, much to its endless fury.

"Izuku, hurry!" the blonde bitch screamed from somewhere behind him—he still couldn't breathe right, still couldn't hear—her eyes wide when Katsuki managed to wiggle from Deku's grasp. Her face had gone gray and she was staring at the Villain, already tugging on his arm, almost frantic. His lackeys were already long gone.

"Let go of me, you damn-"

"Shut the fuck up and let us help you, Bakugou!" Deku screamed in his face, replacing the blonde bitch, huge, green eyes tearful and desperate and already tugging him away from the Villain, away from his near-drowning. The three of them stumbled out of the alley, legs weak and breaths fast but running as fast as they could.

"What the- get back here, you stupid brats!" the Sludge Villain roared, but they were already long gone and around the corner before he could catch them.

Panting and gasping for air (but he could hardly hear it) Katsuki leaned up against the side of a building they had stumbled next to, hands shaking with minute tremors and shoulders tense. He felt drenched and disgusting where the Villain had touched him, and he promised himself to scrub his skin red the moment he got home. He could hardly breathe right.

"What-" he rasped, spitting out a glob of sludge that had made its way into his mouth, "what the fuck was that." His mouth tasted foul.

"It's called—called saving y- your life, you ungrateful baka," the blonde bitch wheezed, grip tight on Deku's arm like she was afraid he might go running off to save someone else.

He didn't save me, Katsuki thought bitterly. The sight pissed him off.

"Why the fuck would you do that, you fucking nerd?" he said instead of what he actually wanted to. "Your Quirkless ass is useless in a fight, but you just jumped right in. The fuck was that? Huh?" His tone lacked his usual bite, but he was too shaken to really care.

"Well my Quirkless ass just saved you from dying, B- Bakugou. If—if you had been under prop- properly, you would've been dead in min- minutes," Deku managed to stutter out, eyes glassy like he wasn't fully there. "So why d- don't you be grateful you aren't dead—dead right now, and we can all move on with our—our lives?"

Katsuki could only stare, dumbfounded, as Deku was hauled up by the blonde bitch, snagging his wrist as they passed, and started dragging him off with them. "What—what the hell are you doing?!" he snapped, his anger turning into energy.

"We gotta—gotta get you to a paramedic, Bakugou," Deku wheezed, the girl looking just as miffed as Katsuki by his side. "You got some of that gunk in your mouth, and we have no idea where that thing has been. You need to get it out."

"Don't fuckin' tell me what to do, Deku!" Katsuki yelled, trying in vain to tug his wrist free yet again, but Deku's hold was surprisingly strong. Deku even looked fucking amused by his struggles.

"A lot's changed in the past months, Bakugou. I'm not the same kid you used to pick on anymore," was all he said. It was then that Katsuki realized Deku had been calling him by his surname the whole time. Something inside him twinged, but he stubbornly ignored it.

Katsuki could only huff and begrudgingly follow after him, unaware of the angry, yellow eyes tracking them.