Midoriya Izuku had a feeling that the day wasn't going to be a good one as soon as he fell out of his bed at the sound of his alarm going off. Landing on his side which had a fresh installation of bruises and burns from a certain someone and his gang of lackeys, he let out a yelp and checked to make sure that none of the bandages had been moved.

The apartment was quiet when he finally stumbled out of his room with a wrinkled white collared shirt and his blazer only hanging on from one side. The skinny boy quickly put some bread in the toaster and filled a glass of water before turning on the TV to check if there was any hero news.

He wasn't sure when he dropped the glass after seeing the headline in large black letters, but he must have at some point.

ALL MIGHT DIES IN FIGHT VERSUS JAPAN'S TOP VILLAIN!

Huh?

Midoriya tries to spell out the letters to make sure what he is reading make sense. After about the third attempt he slowly swallows the emotions he feels rising up and backs away from the TV. He can vaguely hear the voices of the reporters at an abandoned warehouse on the TV while he slinks back into his room and crawls into his bed.

Maybe this is all a dream?

After going back and forth in his mind on whether he would ever get out of bed again, he was rudely interrupted by the smell of burning toast and a smoke alarm going off.

This just really isn't my day.

~Revelations~

Aldera Middle School is more quiet than usual when Izuku arrives. He makes sure to get there early to avoid as many people as possible and slides into his chair while taking out his phone to try to read more about what the hell was going on now.

ALL MIGHT GONE! JAPAN MOURNS A TRUE HERO!

HPSC ANNOUNCES THEY WILL NAME NEW NUMBER ONE

RANKING THE TOP ALL MIGHT MOMENTS

WILL THERE BE ANOTHER ALL MIGHT? WHO WILL REPLACE THE FALLEN ICON?

Tch. None of these articles are about him! They're all just trying to get clicks!

It takes about 15 minutes to find anything of substance on his death, which he learns is from blood loss and currently the HPSC wasn't saying anything about the villain that killed him. Who the hell could have been the guy to kill All Might? He can't help but shutter at the question and hope that the man is wont be able cause anymore damage than he already had.

It takes another 10 minutes before Izuku hears the shuffling of footsteps from the kids in his class that had gathered throughout the school to probably discuss All Might's death. He even hears one or two kids crying which he supposes is fair considering the circumstances. He might have been crying himself if he didn't feel so empty inside.

Which stage of grief is this?

Izuku makes sure to keep his eyes on his desk and not at the door when he senses Bakugou Katsuki slowly walk in and slides into his seat. Considering the boy didn't even make a sound, Midoriya can surmise that he must also be shocked about All Might.

The teacher starts with a few words about the news and mentions if any student feels like they would prefer some time to themselves to deal with their emotions, they could go to the councilor's office. After the impromptu speech the rest of the class starts, and things start to feel normal again.

At lunch, Izuku makes a bolt for the roof where he knows he will have peace and quiet for when he eats the bento that his mom made for him before she left for work. There are a few loners that also find solace in the spot, but none make any attempt to get him to leave, so Izuku figures they must not hate him being up there.

The boy was so busy continuing to read articles regarding the news that he failed to notice the sound of the door to the roof opening again and the snickering that was coming from the new guests. It wasn't until a large shadow loomed over the boy that he finally glanced up and found himself surrounded.

Izuku tries to take a deep breath to fight back the panic attack that is rising in him and looks for any of the loners to help him out. It turns out that everyone on the roof had left once the new group arrived.

Ah, so the loners did hate me after all huh?

Clenching his fist, Izuku fights his fears and looks into the eyes of Bakugou.

"What do you want Kacchan?"

The boy doesn't reply and simply continues staring at Midoriya sitting on the floor.

"Is there something that I can-"

"Shut up Deku"

Izuku swallows and looks back down at the floor. It seems that looking at him in the eyes is the wrong choice.

"Why weren't you crying with the rest of those extras?"

"About All Might?"

"Yeah, you cry all the time. So why aren't you crying now?"

"Oh well, I mean, I am sad! I just don't really think it hit me yet that he's actually gone you know? I just feel kind of numb."

This time it Tsubasa who chimes in, "Why because you're a quirkless idiot?"

The rest of the lackey's snicker. Izuku clenches his fist again.

"Did you really even care about All Might, Deku? Or was that all some sort of act?"

This catches Izuku by surprise, "Huh? Of course, I loved All Might, Kacchan! You know that I always wanted to be like him when I grew up!"

This time it's Kacchan who closes his fist, "Like him, huh? How the fuck could you be him like him?"

Izuku realizes that he can start to feel the rising tension in the air and tries to defuse the situation.

"I m-mean, it's not like I'll be just like him! I just wanted to save people like him Kacchan! I just wanted people to know that everything was going to be okay!"

This must not have been the answer Bakugou was looking for.

Before he can even let out a yelp, Izuku is yanked up from the ground and slammed into the chain-link fence behind him.

"You can't be like him DEKU! How many times do I have do I have to tell you? A quirkless insect like yourself will never be like All Might! He could knock over a building with one punch and you can barely carry a fucking textbook! You are the weakest of the weak, literally the bottom of the barrel! Yet you still think you can be like him? Still think you can be like the best hero Japan has ever seen?! I know you're quirkless but are you retarded as well?!"

At that statement Izuku's eyes widen in anger and he finally looks back up into his tormentor's face and freezes. The words he was going to say to the blonde die in his throat. The rest of the lackeys are a few feet away and behind Bakugou so they can't see the face he's making.

They can't see the tears in his eyes.

Izuku racks his brain to try to think of something comforting to say to the boy but is interrupted by a low growl from the blonde.

"Don't fucking look at me like that Deku."

Izuku take a long breath and then says, "All Might was the best Kacchan you're right, I probably can't be like him.

Katsuki's eyes widen at the statement and the tears start to fall faster from his face.

"You're right, he was the best." Bakugou is now gripping on to Izuku shoulder hard enough to hurt. Izuku suspect he's doing this to make sure it doesn't look like his own shoulders are shaking.

Katsuki looked back down at the ground and then whispered, "So how did he fucking lose? How is he fucking dead?"

Izuku slowly lifts an arm and places it on Bakugou's shoulder.

"Kacchan its alright to feel-"

Bakugou's head darts back up and instead of despair, his red eyes are now filled with rage.

"I SAID DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT DEKU!"

With a quick swing, Bakugou landed his closed fist near Midoriya's ribs and let go of an explosion.

The boys did know it had been a hot day. Most July days in Nagoya were hot. But neither of the boys had noticed the overwhelming scent of nitroglycerin in the air as Bakugou punched Midoriya. The boys also hadn't noticed that the blondes sweat had built up on an All Might sweatband that Bakugou had secretly worn to school that day under his normal blazer as a tribute to the hero.

All these facts led to the inevitable explosion that sent Midoriya flying along the side of the chain-link fence. It was one of the biggest explosions Bakugou had ever released and one he certainly hadn't anticipated.

Somehow the explosion wasn't even the worst part of the incident.

As Midoriya was in the air, his cheekbone became caught on a spare link of the fence that had been disconnected. The metal gauged him under his right eye and then preceded to tear open the skin across his nose and far left eyebrow before it was finally removed. Izuku landed with a thud and immediately began to scream out in pain and raise a hand to his face to try to stop the bleeding.

If the lackeys weren't behind him at that very moment, they would have seen a horrified look grace Bakugou Katsuki's face. If Bakugou had one ounce of humility in his body he would have rushed to Izuku's side to check on him. He would have brought up the fact that he didn't mean to make an explosion that big, and this was all from him feeling miserable about the death of his idol. He would have said the truth. That he didn't mean to hurt him that bad.

Unfortunately, Bakugou was a boy that simply had too much pride to make a move like that. To bow and grovel at his friends' feet. So instead, he put on his best pissed off face and turned back to his lackeys.

He uttered, "Tch. What a pussy" and then left the roof with the rest of his shocked posse in tow. He tried his best to ignore the sobs of the boy that used to be his best friend and with one shaky breath closed the door to the roof leaving Izuku alone.

Izuku continued to sob and wail for help, for someone to save him but no one comes. Because no one is there for him.

At this point Izuku isn't exactly sure what he is crying about as he slowly passes out on the roof.

~Revelations~

Midoriya awoke in the nurse's office with his mom looking at him with a horrified expression. His whole face feels numb at this point and he's pretty sure that one of his eyes is swollen shut.

"Who did this to you?" Inko lets out in a whisper.

Izuku isn't sure how to answer the question. He knows who exactly was the one was that sent him flying in the air. But was it only Katsuki's fault? How about the lackeys that stood there and watched? How about the loners who abandoned him on the roof? What about the teachers who had never voiced any concerns or punishments over quirkist bullying? He could even mention Auntie Mitsuki, who clearly wasn't doing a good enough job at raising her son, with his only way to deal with any sort of emotion was through violence.

When Izuku considered the question, the answer that he concluded was 'Everyone'.

But he didn't feel like an answer like that would calm his mom. He knew that she had to slave away at work in order to put food on the table. That she was stuck doing jobs other people didn't want because of her weak quirk that wasn't applicable to any high-level jobs. He knew his mom also suffered from the world that they lived in.

So Izuku simply shrugged his shoulders at the question and slowly got out of the chair that he was laying in.

"Let's just go home."

Inko just lets out a long sigh before following after him.

The car ride home is a silent one. Izuku was finally able to see his face in the mirror and grimaces at the sight. Inko had mentioned that they needed 25 stitches to fix the gash on his face and that it would leave a permanent scar. Somehow none of his ribs are broken from the initial punch, which the boy considers a win in his book.

Izuku glances at his mother who has a worn down and tired look. There was a hint of utter misery in her eyes so Izuku reaches over and places his hand on top of hers. When she looks back at him he tries to give his best smile and whispers, "I'm really alright mom, no need to be sad over this."

Inko's eyes widen and then she quickly turns back to the road with a sniffle, "I know baby. It just hurts me to see you hurt, and then with the other news today.." she trails off with another sigh and a forlorn look.

Izuku nods, "Yeah I can't believe he's gone."

Inko stare blankly ahead, "I always chose to believe he was a good man. That his intentions were pure, but sometimes I just couldn't fully wrap my head around what he'd show me…"

Izuku's eyes widen, "Wait, you knew All Might?"

Inko's grasp on the wheel tightens, "Huh? Was I mumbling again sweetie?"

Izuku is about to pry for more answers but see's the hint of desperation in Inko's eyes to drop it. So, he concedes and looks back out of the window.

The rest of the ride home is quiet.

~Revelations~

After arriving home Izuku first goes to the bathroom to reapply the bandaging around his chest and then trudges to his room. Inko lets him know that she's making Katsudon that should be ready in the next half an hour. Izuku makes a lazy waving gesture to his mother that he understands and then closes the door to the bedroom and lets out a long sigh. With his back against the door, he slowly slides down and ends up on the floor, hugging his knees.

Fresh tears sting his one open eye as he grips his legs harder in frustration. Frustration for how he's treated. Frustration in how his mom is treated. Frustration in how Bakugou and his lackeys are treated.

Why?! Why does it have to be like this?!

After taking another shuttering breath, Izuku finally lifts his head and surveys the room. His eyes quickly catch something foreign lying on his desk. Something he was sure that wasn't there earlier. The boy slowly climbs to his feet and stumbles over to his chair. After falling into the seat, he swivels to the desk and glances at the object in front of him. An eggshell white envelope stares back at him with "Izuku" written in cursive. Izuku is almost too shocked to move at first but slowly raises his arm and grabs the envelope and slowly tears it open. In the envelope he finds two pages of lined papers and more cursive. He takes a deep breath and then begins to read.

Izuku,

If you are reading this then I am dead. I know this might not come as a shock or trigger any emotion from you since you hardly remember me, but I needed to write to you in order to inform you of a few things. The first thing that I wanted to say was that I am sorry. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you or your mother through your struggles, but it was a necessary evil to make sure things happen the way that they are supposed to. The second thing that I wanted to say is that I do in fact love you, my son. I love you more than anything in the world, and everything I have done is for you. I know you might not see the whole picture today, or maybe a few years from now, but I hope one day you can at least understand my actions and why I have done what I have done. The third and final thing I wanted to inform you about is that you do in fact have a quirk.

Izuku stops at this point and chokes on the spit in his mouth. He puts a hand to his face and recognizes that he is crying but isn't sure when he started. He never knew his father so why is he writing to him now? What does he mean, making things happen the way they are supposed to? How did his father die? What does he mean by having a quirk? Izuku takes a slow breath to try to calm himself before he continues to read.

I'm sorry your quirk has been hidden from you, but I ensure you that my reasons for hiding it are legitimate and I only wanted what is best for you. Your quirk is called Overhaul and it allows you to deconstruct and reconstruct matter at a molecular level. I was worried how a quirk like this would affect you and wanted to wait until you were older with a more mature brain to fully unlock it. I am sure you are angry with me but again you need to trust that I had your best interests in mind. I'm sure you are desperate to use it for the first time so I will instruct you through the letter on how to properly manifest it.

Izuku at this point is more shocked than anything else. He can feel tears still falling from his face and his lips trembling. 'All this time? All this time I've been treated like garbage and I've had a quirk the whole time? What kind of sick joke is that? '

Again, I know you are angry at me my son, but I hope one day you understand the choices that I have made. To use the quirk grab something small that you could hold in your hand.

Izuku looked around and found a small All Might action figure sitting on his desk. He slowly reaches for the toy with a trembling hand it brought it closer to himself.

Now that you have the object, you will need to focus on it through your hand. Your hands are the key to the quirk, so you must concentrate on the object through them instead of from your brain or eyes. Feel the object in your grasp and you will begin to feel the individual pieces of what you hold.

Izuku took a deep breath and began to focus. At first, he felt absolutely nothing. The All Might toy felt cold in his grasp. He tried to squeeze harder, but nothing happened. However, when he began to loosen his grip, he finally picked something up. It was almost like object felt more like a Lego sculpture in his hand. Like there were tiny pieces that were all connected that kept the objects shape. Through his hand he was able to reach inside the object and finally understand what he was meant to do. With a slight twitch of the hand, Izuku pulled and suddenly the toy broke into several smaller pieces.

Izuku couldn't suppress a gasp as he looked at the first confirmation of him having a quirk. He then begins to turn to yell to his mother but is stopped by a sharp pain behind his eyes. He quickly presses a hand up to try to dull the pain, but it only gets sharper. As Izuku finally opens his mouth to yell in agony, he feels the sensation pull him and he quickly finds himself in darkness.

8 years ago

Izuku grabs tighter on the soft grass underneath him as his nose fills with a metallic scent. He coughs again and looks with bleary eyes at his surroundings. He is on his hands and knees in what looks like a compound of some sort. The building in front of him almost looks like a small fortress and is covered in a dark green finish. It has at least three levels and seems to go a considerable length back as well. It was one of the biggest houses he had ever seen.

His eyes widen as he notices the scenery behind the house. Over the wall that surrounds the property he can see Mount Fuji looming in the distance with miles of forest between the house and the snow covered peak.

He then notices several cherry blossom trees nearby, which seem to cover a koi pond to the right of him. He thinks the can make out a smokey figure sleeping under one of the trees, but his vision seems to be continually moving from in to out of focus. He suppresses another gag as finally straightens himself up and gazes at the man in front of him.

The man smiles widely and the suit he wears flaps in the breeze. His white hair seems to be thick enough to remain in place when the winds try to push him back.

The stranger slowly walks forward and drops to one knee. Izuku is met with one sharp red eye and one violet eye that seems to be getting increasingly brighter.

"I suppose it's for the best that you took more of Inko's looks, Izuku. How do you feel?"

Izuku tries to speak but his mouth is dry, and he can only let out a croak.

"Ahh, the transfer seems to have dried you out." The man then turns to the dozing smokey figure lying down on a bench, "Kurogiri, could you get some water for Izuku?"

The figure jolts immediately and practically falls from the bench. He then smoothly recovers and waves his hand in confirmation before beginning to walk inside.

The man lets out a chuckle while looking at the figure before turning his gaze back to Izuku and smiles again, "You look so much like your mother Izuku."

He stopped for a moment to glance around at the estate, "I wish we could have been spent a vacation or two up here, but I simply don't have the time for leisure. Everything needs to be set. Everything needs to be perfect."

The man pauses for moment and his grin grows larger, "Izuku, I know you won't remember this now, but I know one day you will understand everything that's been laid out in front of you. All the pieces that you will have at your disposal. All your loyal friends who would do anything for you. All of you enemies who will quake at the sight of you!"

At this point, Izuku notices that the violet iris has somehow become even brighter and appears to be pulsing in the man's eye as he continues while getting increasingly more manic.

"Izuku! This will be all for you! To become the man that you need to be! To become the leader that you are meant to be! To become the king that you will HAVE TO BE! IZUKU, THIS PATH YOU WALK WILL BE FILLED WITH DESPAIR AND AGONY AT TIMES BUT YOU MOST NOT STRAY FROM IT!"

The man's grip on Izuku's shoulders tighten as the little boy looks at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, unable to comprehend the words he is saying.

"YOU WILL USE THIS PATH TO RISE ABOVE IT ALL! YOU WILL USE THIS PATH TO TEAR THIS CRUEL WORLD TO THE GROUND! YOU WILL USE THIS PATH TO CREATE SOMETHING EVEN GREATER FROM THE RUBBLE! ONCE YOU MASTER ALL OF YOUR POWERS YOU WILL TRULY BECOME-"

"Sir!" A smokey hand grips the man's shoulder and rips him away from a still wide eyed Izuku.

The man with white hair tumbles to the ground and quickly shakes his head. He then takes a few shaky breaths and cups his hand, covering his violet eye while whispering to himself.

Izuku can't make out of all the words he is saying but definitely hears the sentence, 'Revy you know he isn't ready yet, you need to calm down.'

The figure covered in purple smoke looks at him for a moment and then offers Izuku the glass filled with water.

"Forgive him, Izuku. His quirk seems to act out from time to time."

Izuku can only nod numbly at the figure still having absolutely no idea what is going on and slowly drinks from the glass.

The man finally seems to be done whispering and slowly picks himself off the ground and walks back over to Izuku.

"I'm sorry if I scared you Izuku. Sometimes we get so excited about plans coming together we can barely contain ourselves!"

With water finally healing his dried throat, Izuku opens his mouth and asks, "Who are you? What do you mean by we? Where am I? What have you done to me?"

The man smiles at Izuku and slowly raises a hand to brush a stray green hair out of his face, "I'm afraid it would be pointless to answer those questions since I'll be wiping your memory of this moment anyways. You might see this again in the future but by then I'm sure you will be smart enough to answer some of those questions yourself."

Izuku notices the man's hand remains on his head and he suddenly feels a sharp zap as if he was shocked by electricity.

Before he can ask another question, the world begins to shift sideways, and he falls into the man's arms. His eye lids become increasingly heavy as the scenery seems to fade away into darkness.

As Izuku struggles to stay conscious and his eyes become shut, he hears the man whisper, "Good luck my son."

And then everything fades to black.

Present Day

Izuku awoke with a jolt from the bedroom floor he had collapsed on. Before even beginning to think about what he just seen, he stumbles to the waste bin by his desk and coughs up the bento lunch that he had earlier.

He then moves to sit with his back against the desk and gazes down at his shaky hands. A light layer of sweat appears to cover most of his body and his breath is in shaky gulps.

Was that a dream?

Izuku knows the answer to the question but doesn't want to think about it. He doesn't want to think about the truth of what he had just seen, of what he had just felt.

That was a memory.

Izuku looks around the room and his eyes lock back into the letter that is now spread out on the floor. For a moment he considers throwing the letter away. Throwing away this 'path' that his father built and just living his life the way that he wanted. But what did he want? Did he truly want to continue with this life he was living? To suffer for the sake of not having power?

Reluctantly, Izuku crawled over to the letter and picked it back up.

Overhaul is an incredibly complicated quirk, and it will take years for you to master. In this time while you work hard, do not forget how it felt to be weak. Do not forget how people looked at you for something that was out of your control. Do not forget the cruelty of the world that you live in.

Most importantly do not forget who you are and the purpose that you have in your life.

Izuku, I love you and will always be with you on this journey that you will go on. I understand you have more questions than answers, but at this time you must begin to figure out some of these questions on your own. I have attached a list of reading material that I think will get you started in understanding the big picture of it all.

Good luck my son,

Midoriya Hisashi

Izuku finally dropped the letter again and took a shaky breath. He wiped his face of the fresh tears and inspected the list that seemed attached to the letter and found three bullet points.

A History of the Hero Public Safety Commission

Meta Liberation Army – An Autobiography of Destro

A Researched Analysis of The Quirk Singularity Theory

Izuku had heard of the Meta Liberation Army book before and had also heard about the 'Doomsday' singularity theory in the news before but had never paid much attention to either. Now he scanned the list again and realized what he would do with his recovery time off from school.

He failed to notice his hand twitching excitedly by his side.

One Week Later

Bakugou wouldn't say that he had missed Deku. He also wouldn't say he had been sleeping well since the incident that occurred on the roof.

Was it an incident? Or was it assault?

Katsuki shook his head and ignored the tiny voice that seemed to have been speaking to him more as of late. If the stupid Deku wanted to look at him in that pathetic way, thinking that he was better than Katsuki, thinking he has the right to help Katsuki, than he deserved being blasted away.

Bakugou sighed and looked back down at his hands. He hadn't gotten much training since that lunch and it almost felt like his quirk ached for use. He had read before that those with hand quirks tend to develop twitching fingers when going for a period without usage and he was beginning to see the truth in the statement. He quickly shoved the hands deep in his pockets and took a glance out of the window before finally hearing the door slide open.

It looked like that empty seat would be finally filled today after a week.

Bakugou didn't want to give Deku the satisfaction of looking at him so chose to ignore the boy as he slowly walked to his seat. It was hard however to ignore the whispers that the rest of the class was voicing. Words like 'scar' and 'scary' seemed to float through the now thick and rather oppressive atmosphere in the classroom.

The teacher seemed to have finally had enough of the whispers and voiced, "Midoriya, nice to finally see you again. Now please stop distracting the other students and have a seat."

Midoriya seemed to make no acknowledgement towards the teacher and proceeded to sit down without uttering a word in response. Bakugou narrowed his eyes at the boy noticing the slight change in attitude but shook it off as a strange coincidence.

For the rest of class Katsuki would steal occasional glances toward Deku and found the boy either looking at the window or reading a book he had hidden behind his regular notebook to avoid being chewed out by the professor. After the bell finally rang for lunch, Midoriya was out the door before the teacher had even dismissed him and Bakugou had a good idea of where to find him.

The blonde could feel the presence of Tsubasa and the other lackeys begin to converge on him as he slowly got up from his desk and made his way to the door. Once he was a few feet out of the classroom he turned back to the group with a snarl and uttered, "Fuck off ".

The group began to scamper away like mice, making their way to the cafeteria which was in the opposite direction of where he was heading.

Tch, pathetic.

When Bakugou finally reached his destination of choice he took one last deep breath before opening the heavy door of the roof and making his way out into the sunlight. He had to blink a few times to get his bearing but found Deku playing with some small All Might toy on a bench. He recognized it from when he would use to go over to the boy's house but hadn't ever expected to see Deku playing with it at Middle School.

"What the hell are you doing?"

To Deku's credit, the flinch he gave off was substantially smaller than usual and the boy slowly turned his gaze from the toy to the explosive quirk user.

He chose not to answer but gave a small demonstration by lifting the toy up to Bakugou's eye level and then seemingly breaking it apart to smaller pieces. He then began picking the pieces back up and putting them back together as if it was a large Lego set.

Katsuki felt his jaw drop as he understood the point of the demonstration, "You have a fucking quirk?!"

Izuku didn't meet his eye level as he continued to stare down at the now assembled toy, "Apparently I always had one but my dad somehow messed with my memory and locked it from me."

"Your dad did that?"

Izuku nodded slowly and spoke in a hollow tone, "Yeah. I got a letter from him when I was recovering, he said if I was reading the letter than he was dead, so I guess it was some sort of last words for me."

Bakugou slowly closed his mouth and considers what Deku said. He remembered that Deku's dad had pretty much never been around and that he worked abroad somewhere to support Auntie Inko. Neither Deku nor his mom ever mentioned the guy so why the hell was he writing to the nerd now? And why the hell would he suppress his own son's quirk?

Katsuki decided at that moment that he had done enough thinking about Deku for one day and came to ask the question that drove him up to the roof in the first place.

"Why didn't you report me?"

He heard Deku suppress a slight chuckle at the question and finally looked up to meet Bakugou's eye. The scar was now his defining feature over the freckles and zagged like an angry red line across Midoriya's face. The scar started out thin under the right eye and gradually got thicker as it passed the bridge of his nose and then slowly got narrower again as it reached its destination at Deku's opposite eyebrow.

If Katsuki was friends with Deku he might have told him the scar looked kind of badass.

But he wasn't his friend anymore and he knew that all responsibility lies on him for the disfigurement of his face. Katsuki tried to hide a wince at the thought and looked back at the ground.

"I knew that you didn't mean to do it on purpose."

Bakugou grits his teeth. Of course, the fucker would know exactly what happened. That he would know about the armband that he was trying to hide.

He huffed and crossed his arms, "What about the other times? Those were all on purpose."

Izuku nodded slowly and looked up to a cloud that was floating along lazily overhead, "Oh, I reported you for most of those."

Huh?

Katsuki nearly choked on his spit. At first, he felt white hot rage. That nerd reported him? That nerd fucked up his perfect record? That nerd fucked his future?

But then a different thought seemed to float in his head. What did you expect was going to happen when you beat him everyday you fucking idiot?

Yeah, that was also true. Bakugou wasn't quite sure why he picked and bullied Izuku when he first started but he knew it was partially due to the nerds meek and pathetic nature. Katsuki always wanted a challenge. He wanted to be challenged by something in this world that seemed to give him everything he wanted and more. He just wanted one person to tell him that he wasn't perfect.

He thought it might have been his old friend, but he seemed just as bad as the other lackeys at most times. Following him around like he was the messiah. As much as Katsuki wanted to believe that he was the best thing to ever happen to the earth he knew that was false.

All Might was the best thing to happen to this Earth. And All Might had failed.

So where did that leave Katsuki? If his idol, the one person he thought could never lose lost, how the fuck was he going to never fail?

It sure as hell wasn't going to be from getting everything on a silver spoon like he did in this shit hole of a school. If he hadn't been so focused on his origin story and coming up from some no name education center, he probably wouldn't even be here right now. He thought that going to a school like Aldera would be a challenge, that it would help him grow stronger for when he enrolled at UA University.

What a fucking joke.

And now to hear that the spineless nerd had been at least trying to challenge him for years and nothing was done pissed him off.

"So, the teachers just refused to do anything about it huh?"

Izuku nodded, "Yeah they are probably looking at one of those grants."

Katsuki narrowed his eyes, "What grants?"

"Ministry of Education announced a partnership with the HPSC with grants being given to schools that have alumni that become heroes of a certain ranking. The higher the hero ends up the more money the school gets."

Katsuki sighed, "So they're just trying to get money out of me? They're not reporting me because me not ending up a hero could hurt them?"

Izuku shrugged, "I mean that's the reasoning I came up with for never getting any help or sympathy from this place. It's built to protect you and disregard me."

Katsuki couldn't deny the truth in the statement that Izuku gave. It left a bad taste in his mouth.

He decided to change the subject, "So what does your shitty quirk do anyways?"

Izuku glanced back down the All Might toy, "It gives me the disassemble and reassemble things. But I can only do it with small items and I can't seem to control the size of the pieces."

Bakugou snickered, "That's a shitty quirk for a hero."

Deku didn't say anything and continued to look down at the toy. Glancing at his face again Katsuki was able to notice other slight difference that might have been more visible if he didn't have the huge scar.

It seemed like his eyes were a darker emerald color now. They seemed sharper and smaller than before. The nerd seemed to have lost the stupid wide-eyed expression he always seemed to have when talking to Katsuki. There also seemed to be slight bags under the eyes as well.

Bakugou wasn't the fucker's mom, so he decided to not ask about them.

"I don't think I want to be a hero anymore, Bakugou."

For the third time since he had walked onto the roof, Katsuki had to try to hide the gasp of surprise he wanted to give off. He wasn't sure what he was more surprised about. Izuku not wanting to be a hero or not hearing that dumb nickname come from the nerd's mouth.

He tried to recollect himself but all he could spit out was, "Huh?!"

Izuku smirked at his old friends dumbfounded look, "Your right about the quirk. It probably isn't great for being a hero. I still want to help but I think I could be more of use in other ways."

Katsuki narrowed his eyes not believing him, "And how are you going to help?"

Deku met his eyes and Bakugou saw the light of determination flicker in his green irises, "I want to change how people are treated here. Become a lawyer or maybe try to work in the government. Try to change the problems from the inside."

"What problems?"

Deku sighed again, "It's probably hard for you to see. Everything in this country is about division. Separating the weak from the strong, quirked and the quirkless, mutants and non-mutants. Glorifying people like you with quirks that are heroic and demonizing those with anything else."

Katsuki considered the statement, "It's not my fault I get treated this way."

"No, it's clearly not since you have been trying to fight against the treatment in your own way for nine years now by acting out. But that also doesn't excuse the fact that you still beat, burnt, and hurt me for like seven of those years."

Izuku paused for a moment and looked down to his twitching hands, "Maybe instead of looking for societies moral compass, you should have been looking for your own."

Katsuki swallows the bile that's in his throat.

So, this is what it like to be called out for my shit. Feels worse than I thought it would.

Deku took a deep breath and picked up the toy, "We should head back inside. Lunch is probably almost over."

Bakugou nods numbly at the statement and turns to the door to walk in step with Midoriya.

He stuck his hands further in his pockets as he mumbled, "The scar doesn't look that bad you know".

Izuku paused for a moment with his had extended for the door, "Um, t-thanks I guess."

The green haired boy then pulled the door open and began to make his way back to the classroom leaving the blonde at the top of the stairs deep in thought.

Maybe the nerd isn't so bad after all.

It was impossible to mend everything between the boys in one meeting, but it was the first positive step made in the relationship in almost a decade.

~Revelations~

If Bakugou could change one thing about the meeting looking back on it, he wished he would've asked more about Izuku's dad.

Knowing more about the man could have changed how things played out.

Knowing more about the man would have helped Katsuki gain a better understanding of the war he would eventually find himself thrown into.

KEY PLAYER LOG

Midoriya Izuku and Bakugou Katsuki. Age: 13.

Midoriya Inko. Age: 40.

Author Notes:

- Tried to give some more depth to Bakugou, yeah he's still an asshole but some of how he acts can't be blamed on him

- Story has some heavy AoT inspiration which I'm sure can be seen in the flashback moment

- Thanks for reading! Next update will be posted here next week!