"It's that time of year. Let me guess. You all want to be heros?"

Cheers. An amalgamation of quirks, mutant superpowers that everyone now has as a birthright. Everyone but him.

"You extra's got nothing on me. I'm going to show you all who the number one hero will be, just fucking see."

Fear. Respect. Grudging acceptance. Awe.

"Oh Izuku, it says here you want to apply to U.A too?"

Ridicule. From everyone. Even his teacher.

The look he got from Kaachan promised death.

-DT-

Izuku glanced up nervously from his desk as Kaachan - 'No, it's Bakugo I can't keep making the same mistake' - stalked towards him. Small explosions ricketed off Katsuki's pale, gnarled hands as he hovered threateningly in front of Izuku, flanked by his two flunkies. His ash blonde hair framed his ruby eyes as they glinted cruelly.

"What the fuck do you mean that you're gonna apply to U.A, you useless Deku? Didn't you hear me say I'll be the only one from this crap school to get in? I'll beat the shit out of you if you even think about applying and ruining my origin story you damn mongrel."

-DT-

Katsuki Bakugo was arrogant, self serving, and all around unpleasant. He hated being looked down upon, hated losing, and above all hated villains. It's surprising to know that there is the redeeming quality of hating villians in him, kept well hidden behind a wall of bullying behavior. To Katsuki, villains were nothing but disgusting weak creatures to be destroyed and climbed past. He had yet to distinguish that weak creatures were not necessarily villainous.

To have useless Deku, Izuku Midorya, the weakest person he knew, who he felt actively looked down on him, apply to the same school to be a hero, was nothing short of sacrilegious.

-DT-

"Kach - B-Bakugo I'm not competing with you, I'm just looking to f-fufill my own dream. Please don't interrupt it differently - we can both apply!"

Katuski replied by grabbing the notebook still left on Deku's desk, exploding it with excessive force, and chucking it behind him all in one swift athletic motion.

The chubby flunky with the frumpy wings chuckled and added "You quirkless loser, you don't even deserve to breathe Katsuki's air" prompting the other rake thin, plain looking bully to flex and then menacingly stretch his elastic fingers towards Izuku.

Izuku closed his eyes and resigned himself to the coming chokehold and inability to breathe, probably to be followed by a beating that would hurt his soul more than it would ever hurt his bones. It had always been like this. His life goal of being a hero like All Might was at best regarded as something to pity, a quirkless kid's imaginary dream. But at worst, it was seen as a challenge, something to stomp out and spit on.

"All men aren't created equal." This universal truth was ingrained into young Izuku's head at the tender age of four. 'The strong shall devour the weak' he thought as he vainly clawed at his tormentors fingers as they tightened around his throat. Izuku saw stars as his vision wavered and stuttered, his emerald eyes dimming, cheek flushing too much, close to losing consciousness when he recalled what Kal would say in response.

"No Izuku, the strong devour the meek."

A sudden crunch, followed by a crackling like cooling campfire embers from a summer's night. Curses from frumpy wings. A howl of pain and terror from stretchy fingers.

Izuku was dropped unceremoniously from the second thug's grip. Massaging his throat and taking a couple deep breaths, he looked up to see messy grayscale for hair, dark caramel skin, and furious blazing red-sunset orbs. Izuku's face, despite the circumstances, scrunched up in an involuntary, soft, smile.

'Speak of the devil'.

- DT-

Kal Ryoshu was not having the best of days. It was just too much. All of it. Keeping up with the classes, the care, and the children. He reminded himself, as he hadn't to do in a long time, that the kid's disappointment was inevitable. He was only human. Damn, he was only fifteen. He couldn't take them to a hero-villain fight every single day and keep teaching them to better their quirks. He can't keep buying them ice-cream while shepherding them from school back to the orphanage. And he sure as hell did not have time to be tolerating Inanue's insistent demand that she go 'flying now'. And since Inanue's quirk allowed her to speak directly into his mind from any distance, while not limited by enunciation time, a truly monumental amount of 'flying now's were around in pounding his skull.

"Inanue I swear if you ask me to take you flying one more time, I'm knocking you out and hanging you by your feet like a bat all the way back home!"

Small face, threatening tears. Inanue was dark-brown-skinned and had golden eyes just like him. Her hair was more ash-gray than salt and pepper like his, but still his heart softened. They definitely would pass as real siblings.

Kal sighed and smiled as he concentrated. Inanue started laughing excitedly as she floated through the air in slow loops around him.

"Let's get the rest of your brat friends and get going okay?"

Inanue pouted as she was softly set down on the ground. "Okay but ice-cream tooo..." was the last thing Kal heard as Inanue turned past the corner to the elementary school building to get everyone else from class.

Kal put up a hand to his red-gold eyes to block the bright sunlight as he looked across to where their foster-home was. He could carry himself and all the kids straight home ever since he turned fifteen. What used to be a struggle to just lift a pebble was now a comfortable ability to fly him and all six children (and one non-child) in a straight bee-line to their home across the streets, saving twenty minutes of walking through traffic. It brought a bittersweet smile to his face. What would the world think when they found out quirkless Izuku was the first one to figure out how his ability worked. Sure, he had refined it and strengthened it beyond what was thought possible those around him, but who had first corrected his false assumption? Getting his curious and strong-quirked kids to accept that Izuku was not only kind and gentle, but also possessed his own power and strength had been a challenge.

Speaking of his curly green-haired best friend, Kal frowned. It was well past the time their alarm had rang and Izuku was supposed to meet up with him and the non-child Liamina for today's quirk lesson with the kiddos. He wasn't usually this late.

-DT-

Bakugo turned around swiftly to see Kal's furious expression and outstretched hand that seemed to be gripping something invisible. The unsettlingly steady hand closed a little tighter as thin thug two cried out. His overly stretched fingers twisted and flexed around each other like rope. Kal's expression hardened further as he caught a glance of Izuku's scorched book on the floor near the front of the classroom. He flexed his other hand up and expanded it in a swift motion that saw the winged boy lift up off the ground further smash into the chalkboard with more than enough force to bruise.

'Tsk of course he'd come here to save Deku.' Bakugo turned around and faced Kal with hands sparkling with explosions and laughed maliciously.

"Kal-Gomi is here to save you Deku. Your hero. How pathetic is it for someone like you to protect someone like him Gomi."

Bakugo hated a lot of things. He hated Deku and villains, and losing. But at times he hated one thing so much it drowned out the rest. Kal fucking Ryoshu. The one bastard with the strength to challenge his otherwise undisputed power over the school. Bakugo beneath all his rage and hatred also respected Ryoshu. He had an amazing quirk that was versatile and well suited to be a hero. Even if he didn't have the same raw power as Bakugo, Ryoshu was still a force to be reckoned with. Which made it all the more fucking worse that the the damn bastard had chosen to be friends with Midorya over him all those years ago.

"I've already asked Liamina to start recording this incident. If you don't want evidence of you bullying and attacking other students to be sent to U.A admissions I'd suggest you back off and take your goons with you."

"Tsk, you stupid pussy. You think worthless Deku is worth going through all this trouble? I know you don't make it public, but you wanna be a hero don't you? I actually want you to apply to U.A. Once I destroy you and kill your score completely in the test and make it in while you don't, I'll prove how much better I fucking am than you!"

Bakugo stalked out of the room followed by the thin goon clutching his stretched and bent fingers and wings walking out for once, having hurt his back in the slam against the wall.

-DT-

Kal looked at the winged shaped outline of chalk on the board as he bent down to pick up Izuku's burnt journal. He dusted off the exploded cover while concentrating to float the desks and chairs in the classroom that were moved around in the fighting and explosions to their proper place.

Kal took a deep breath as he walked over to Izuku. "It's okay Liamina, Izuku and I will join you downstairs soon!" he yelled as soon as he got to where Izuku was standing up sheepishly. A twinkle seemed to evaporate from the room as Liamina deactivated her recording quirk. It allowed her to record a several minute long video unto any digital system from any and all angles as long as the area was within a couple dozen meters of her. Another product of Izuku's brilliant quirk deduction. He had helped her both refine how to use it and find out the activation conditions. Thanks to him, Liamina had graduated recently from highschool and went straight into a film production company, comfortably supporting Kal and all the kids they'd taken on from the orphanage they'd grown up in.

It was Liamina, who had cameras for eye's and micro ports for fingers that had helped Kal come up with what they had dubbed Kal's MD or Midoriya Detection. Kal could physically sense the area and state of mind Izuku was in just from being in the same building as him. It was weird and didn't really translate to any other portions of his telekinesis, as it required sight to activate in regular conditions. But not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Kal had come to terms with it a long time ago, and didn't pay much mind. Not that Izuku cared.

-DT-

Izuku was gushing as he walked down the stairs to where Liamina and the kids were waiting.

"I can't believe you could tell that I had been grabbed by the throat! That's some incredible sensing! You even knew to target his fingers from behind without direct line of sight!" Izuku kept on rambling and mumbling under his breath about how his sensing was improving and all the reasons it could be linked to him.

Kal sighed. He was sighing a lot today. His best friend would never change. Ever since that fateful day, they had been basically attached at the hip. And Kal had no issues with it. But when Izuku muttered for two minutes straight ignoring the reason he had been attacked by Bakugo in the first place he was no longer as amused.

Izuku stopped muttering as he suddenly floated in the air 3 meters high.

"Kal? Why are you picking me up randomly".

Kal stood at the bottom of the steps and turned around to face him.

"Izuku, how many more times are you just going to let Bakugo walk all over you? You never stand up to him and tell him mind his own damn business. You are incredibly talented and aware. I know you know his quirks weaknesses way better than I do. Yet you never douse him in water and beat him up or fight back in any way. It's getting on my nerves. Eleven years of the same shit. You still call him Kaa-chan in your head don't you, you asshole"

Izuku blushed, embarrassed as Kal gently let him down and ruffled his curly hair. "You'll never stop seeing the best in people will you bud."

Izuku swatted away Kal's hands and smirked. Even though Bakugo brought out the meek in him, Kal's long friendship and earnest kindness had changed him for the better. He wasn't as much of a coward or shy as he was early in elementary school. Kal's confidence in him and their mutual escapades had given him a light that won't be put as easily by a rough past or a brush with Ka-Bakugo.

"I won't stop seeing the best in people, because I'm gonna be a hero just like All Might who saves everyone with a smile!" Izuku confidently states.

Kal add's "And I'll kick bakugo's ass and be a better hero than he ever could dream of being."

Izuku laughs and puts his hand around Kal's back and says "Okay that too, though I don't know if the chances of me kicking his butt are high anytime soon".

Kal also laughs but quickly stops and frowns. Izuku stops and frowns as well.

"What's wrong Kal aren't we gonna meet the kids and Liamina?"

Kal grimaces. "Apparently Inanue isn't feeling too well, and threw up. She keeps replaying the sensation of throwing up in my head. Damn I knew I shouldn't have twirled her around so much".

"Change of plan, I'm just gonna tell Liamina to take everyone else home and get Inanue to a doc just in case. We can do quirk training tomorrow."

Izuku offered his apologies to Inanue and walked off in a different direction as Kal flew off, thinking about how he could repair his burnt hero journal and goal of being a hero, even if he had no concrete plan of getting into U.A yet. Kal might have lifted his spirits, but the logical part of Izuku knew Bakugo had a point. How could he even stand on the same stage as his old friends with no power at all? Yet the answer to all his problems was in the tunnel right around the corner.

If only it had been less disgusting and painful to receive it.

A.N

Hey! Just having fun writing a new story inserting a new character into the dynamic with Bakugo and Midorya. I've always felt that a character that was a balance between them could be a whole lot of fun to write, and it also lets me continue with an interesting plot idea I have that involves adding Shinso to the 1-A class, balancing him out with Kal as an OC and taking the story from there. This first chapter is a bit Kal centric since he's an OC, but the story balances out between a couple of people's perspectives (primarily Izuku/Kal/Bakugo ofc).

Thanks to everyone for reading!

P.S - Unbeta'ed excuse any and all errors, my apologies

-EVILKC