Chapter 3

Disclaimer: My Hero Academia is the property of Kohei Horikoshi and various production companies.

Key:

Normal Speech: "Sup my dude."

Screaming: "WHERE THE HELL DID IT GO!"

All Might: "Midoriya my boy!"

Thoughts: 'This was a horrible decision.'

The average school day was nothing special, and when the world became a place of incredible new abilities and powers with the emergence of quirks, students around the world were remiss to say that school was as bland and uneventful as ever.

Despite the fact that school fights had become marginally more interesting, students today passed time the same way they had, and would continue to do, for generations to come: gossiping. Today's juicy news was the cause of much confusion, as well as relief, for many young adults. Apparently, Bakugou had blown up (not literally) at one of his many cronies, and not long after that the same student was arrested for a nearly lethal assault on a second year student..

Speculation on the connection between those two events had followed Katsuki down the halls in the form of hushed whispers. Of course he already knew what everyone was saying. He just couldn't care less. God forbid the day any one of their opinions mattered, and to him of all people? No, he hadn't stopped to correct or threaten a single person this morning. He was looking for someone.

He was on the lookout for Deku. You see, there was more than one rumor making the rounds today. Apparently, the infamously die-hard hero otaku was seen going into the counselor's office and hadn't come out. Katsuki himself didn't see him at any of their shared classes, and that worried him. No matter what Deku had said to him the night before, he was still a coward through and through. He would never had the stomach to rat on his oldest friend, but then again he might not have to.

He walked with a longer stride than normal through the sea of students trying to make it to the next period ut when he remembered the heat of the moment. It was unbearable, like heart was burning, like his arms would have ripped themselves apart if he didn't act, and it exploded out of him. When he lunged for Izuku's face he hadn't been thinking, and when he left the boy on the ground he hadn't stopped to examine his handiwork.

Bakugou licked his dry lips as he neared a solid brown corridor in the middle of a quickly emptying hallway. He'd never been in the councilor's office, he never needed to be, and this wasn't how he pictured his first visit. He was sure Izuku was on the other side of this door, his face a broken mess, and the councilor grilling him as to what happened.

'He'll spill on the night before,' Katsuki lamented, 'It'll be my ass in jail because that shitty Deku had to run his goddamn mouth! No hero career, no chance to prove myself, just a six-by-eight and that fucker on the other side laughing at me!'

His boiling anger didn't take away from the cold pit forming in his stomach. He stood staring at the doorknob in front of him, unable to open the door. His arm refused his commands to move, his legs growing weaker by the second. His heart trembled at the thought that the other side of this door could be the end of his future. He'd thrown it any, and for what? To rise to the taunts of his obviously jealous inferior.

Yes, that was the only reason that starry eye quirk otaku would ever say something like that to him of all people. Izuku

Bakugou shook himself out of that line of thought. His hand was still shaking as he grabbed the doorknob, He ignored the feeling of his stomach hitting the ground as he opened the door. To his relief, he saw no guards waiting with handcuffs. The office only held two people; Izuku and their guidance counselor. To Bakugou's surprise, Izuku looked totally normal. He blinked to correct his vision, because as sure as the ground lay beneath his feet he had not held back on the boy, but nothing changed. Izuku was without so much as a blemish, though it looked like he was in pain. Izuku's brow was twitching ever so often, something the counselor was apparently unaware off.

It seemed neither of them had heard Katsuki enter as the conversation, one sided as it was, continued as normal. Izuku sat quietly as the balding man excitedly patted him on the shoulder.

"I so glad for you Izuku. I know I've already said it," the man face was akin to a vet giving a dog a shot, "But I'm sure you know now how unrealistic it was for you to want to be a hero. I was so worried that you'd one day come to school in a cast from trying to play vigilante, you know?"

Izuku quietly nodded, stoically staring at his counselor. His sharp breathing and tense shoulders spoke more to his quiet anger than he would allow on his face.

"Well, why don't we talk about some career choices. Your grades have always been stellar, so there's no limit to what you could do. Have you given it any thought?"

Izuku's impassive silence offered no obvious answer, but the man didn't seem concerned.

"There are some very top notch Universities in Tokyo, and their majors and course work range from medicine to law, and even bio-engineering. Why don't you take a look at-"

"I want to study criminal justice," Izuku broke his silence to interrupt the man. "I'm not changing my mind."

Slightly surprised that the always timid boy would interrupt him, the counselor rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"I know you, you um… You've been insistent on that," the man laughed humorlessly," But could you at least discuss it with me? Not to belittle the occupation but there is just so much more you could be doing. You incredibly intelligent!"

"Oh, so you have a problem belittling occupations and not people?" Izuku whispered to himself.

"Hm?" the man raised his brow, not making out the snide remark.

"I want to help people, that hasn't changed," Izuku affirmed, "I don't want to do anything else."

"Yes but you have a nearly year before you enter high school much less college. Why don't you give it some time and…"

"No. Thank you," Izuku more growled than spoke, shocking both the counselor and his classmate who remained unseen.

"Mr. Midoriya," he started while scratching the side of his neck, "You've been a bit strange this morning. From the moment you walked in I'm not unconfident to say that you're behavior has departed from your norm. Is something wrong? Did anything happen?"

'Shit,' Katsuki felt a wave of panic. 'Deku's gonna fuckin' say isn't he?'

"Yeah, I guess something happened," Izuku leaned back into his chair, playing with his hair.

Bakugou started to step forward, thinking of someway to stop this conversation. It was at that moment that Izuku turned his head, making eye contact with the blond.

It was a frame of time that went against every law of the universe. Bakugou felt as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and Izuku could see it. For the first time, Izuku could see Katsuki without his menace or his arrogance. Similarly, Katsuki saw Izuku differently as well. He wasn't flinching at the mere sight of him, but instead glaring at him. Daring him to act.

"Do you think you could tell me?" the counselor asked.

Izuku smiled, or rather he smirked, still looking Katsuki dead in the straights. Katsuki's uncertainty became shame, and that shame quickly turned to rage.

'You little shit,' he began to pour smoke out the palms of his hands. 'Don't you fucking test me!'

"Yeah," Izuku turned away from the counselor, "Last night, something happened after school."

Bakugou struggled not to burst in and burn the scrawny twit to his bones. His glare was intense enough to do it anyway.

"I was going to go home after I found my classmate under the stairs. I was going to go home after the ambulance got there," Izuku paused long enough to see if he could hear the pulsing blood vessels in Katsuki's neck, "Then I ran into someone at the gate. They hadn't let school yet."

"Someone else was hurt?" he asked.

"No, he was fine," Izuku waved off, "I asked him what he was doing here so late, but he was in a real bad mood. He really blew up at me."

Katsuki couldn't suppress the grunt that escaped his mouth. The counselor looked to the source of the noise and was greeted to a ghostly pale blond looking like a deer in headlights.

"Oh, hey Katsuki," Izuku satisfaction couldn't be hidden, "Did you need to talk to the counselor too. We're pretty much wrapped up here."

"Yes, Mr. Katsuki," the older man greeted warmly, "I don't think you've ever come to my office. Why don't you have a seat and we can discuss applying to schools with good hero programs. You know I've heard great things about you, some teachers have even said you're U.A. ready."

Bakugou didn't answer as his eyes were transfixed on the daring challenge in Izuku's features.

'You just played with me,' he realized, seething as Izuku turned away from him and started to gather his things.

"Oh, are you leaving, Midoriya?" he noticed.

"Going to class," and without another word, he left.

As the distance closed between the two of them, Katsuki expected a passing remark. For Izuku to gloat over his little victory against him. Katsuki just glared down at him ready to bite back, but as Izuku continued forward, he didn't look Katsuki in the eye. He didn't look at Katsuki at all. Dismissively, Izuku walked past him, as if he weren't even there.

Katsuki was stunned. He was so shocked that he didn't notice the door closing behind him, or the counselor calling out his name.

"Excuse me," the man tried to catch the middle schooler's eye. "Would you please sit down."

Still ignoring the man, Katsuki turned on his heel and followed Izuku out into the hallway. Izuku turned the corner and Katsuki broke into a run following him.

As he step into the open he prepared to grab Izuku by his neck, but he saw nothing. In the half frame of time that he'd lost sight of the green haired boy, Izuku had disappeared.

Before he could growl in frustration he felt the air leave his lungs as a thin frame with a head of green hair heaved all of its weight into his stomach just below his ribs. Izuku had waited around the corner and ducked down, below Katsuki's line of sight, and laid in wait. Once he determined that Bakugou was close enough, he launched himself, digging his shoulder into the larger boy's solar plexus.

As quickly as he'd come, Izuku jumped out of range. It was a good thing he had, as Katsuki clawed right where he'd been standing on instinct, a small but intensely bright explosion bursting from his palms. Izuku couldn't dream of mustering the strength to knock his stronger classmate down, but he felt satisfied as he watched Katsuki try to exude menance while gasping for oxygen.

"What's the matter?" Bakugou rasped, slightly hunched forward, "You didn't lose enough blood last night? Cause you're about to fucking die!"

"Good, I want to see you try, faker!" Izuku spat back, "I want to see you stop pretending to be a hero. Show everyone else who you really are."

"Watch your mouth, Deku!" Bakugou glared down at Izuku, returning to his full height.

"Don't call me that!" Izuku's body shook while he took a stance against his former friend.

HIs head low and his arms locked in front of him, Izuku's body language sent a clear message: There is no alternative. Years of fear and anger and rejection had cracked his shell, and in a rare display of defiance and spite, Izuku's repressed anger was peaking through. Katsuki had rarely if ever seen the boy be anything other than a quivering mess, but he wasn't anymore keen to this Izuku than he was the old one..

"Deku, Deku, Deku!" he challenged, "You're still worthless, and don't think that dirty tricks change that. I hope you enjoyed the first and last hit you'll ever get on me, because it's over for you."

Quickly, the air around Katsuki's hand began to shimmer with an intense heat. Izuku didn't miss the telltale tension rising in his opponent, preparing to launch himself forward, or worse, throw out another explosion. One that wouldn't miss.

Izuku should have backed down, but he couldn't. The heat that radiated off Katsuki was nothing compared to the overpowering fire in his own head. It was clouding his judgement, telling him to dash forward and swing with abandon.

Katsuki placed one leg behind him, ready to spring forward as he had the night before, and Izuku responded in kind.

Neither looked at the other with anything more than ferocity and determination. The atmosphere dropped, and the air was still. It was like the hallway had created a vacuum, and the only two things that existed where two fighters, one willing to kill, and another willing to die..

Then the bell rang, and the hallway flooded with students eager to leave their classrooms, if only go towards another equally boring class. But neither of the two boys moved. Frozen in time, they waited poised to strike like two sculptures, and the other students noticed.

Typically, this would be the moment for someone to yell fight, and a ring of students would close the two in but the circumstances were different. They were just too damned bizarre. The well known weakest person around, even by quirkless standards, squaring off against the unquestionably strongest boy in the school. Even stranger was the intensity of the strongest boy's glare at the swcrany Deku, as if he regarded him as a real threat.

The hallway froze, transfixed as David and Goliath stared each other down. It wasn't meant to happen it seemed, as the glimmer around the taller boy's hand faded, and the anger in his eyes shifted to disgust.

Bakugou huffed, lowering his arms and turning away from his obvious inferior.

"You almost fooled me into thinking you were worth something," he laughed, "It won't happen again."

Katsuki left, and the small gathering of students realized that they too should be going. Izuku began to simmer down now that the object of his aggression had disappeared, though he wasn't totally free of the anger. It sat on his shoulders while he dragged his feet to sixth hours, all the while he did his best to ignore the passing glances he was catching. When he looked around people would look away, always whispering amongst themselves.

That was the start of the day's third, and most interesting, rumor. The good boy going bad, and the bomber backed down from a fight.

Izuku liked the beaten gravel path that outlined the park. It was quiet, and it was mostly forgotten by the denizens of the neighborhoods that it snaked through the outskirts of. He often took this path home, because while it was a bit longer of a walk it was peaceful. He could ponder the mysteries of life or even more intimidating, fifth period geometry while he listened to the birds chirp or watched the clouds roll by.

It was perfect on a day like this, when he'd needed all the space and clarity the universe could afford. It needed to be able to hold both his crippling anxiety and endless second guesses.

"What did I do?" he sighed to himself.

It was an honest enough question. After all, when he walked into the counselor's office, he'd meant to discuss schools and course work that he would need in order to become an attorney that could help put villains away. He'd accepted that he couldn't be a hero, but he was resolved to still help people nonetheless. His counselor was just too happy about the first half of that statement. The man had been a patronizing ass the entire time, and then he saw Katsuki just standing there in the corner, spying on him. He wasn't sure if he was angry about the night before or at the man he'd spent the morning with, but Izuku had sensed an opportunity. For once, he would make Katsuki sweat.

He didn't even plan to, but the counselor just asked the most perfect questions, and Izuku could hardly contain his giddy warmth to the confident grin that Katsuki had seen. When it was over he planned to go to his class and collect the homework he'd missed, but then Katsuki had followed him.

A flicker of fear came over him in that moment, but it was drowned by overwhelming fury. Everything he'd done had been on instinct, and his confidence was floating on his untamed emotion, but after it ended, and Izuku had wound down, he was even sure what he felt.

Proud? Not even close. Vindicated? Not by a long shot. Was he ashamed? Maybe a little, but not because he thought he'd been cruel. Bakugou deserved everything, without exception. Izuku just felt so strange. His didn't feel like his actions matched his heart, yet they felt so natural.

He took in a deep breath, and blew it out evenly.

'I don't like being called Deku,' he decided, 'And I don't like being called worthless either.'

Izuku thought back to what Kyle, the owner of the strange gym he'd visited last night, had said to him as she kicked him out.

'I don't train liars.'

'I don't like being called a liar," he continued, 'I don't like being called weak. I don't like anything right now.'

Izuku looked up from his thoughts and into the treeline, buzzing with bugs and birds and squirrels jumping through the branches. He'd been walked along these paths his whole life, and sometimes he would wander inside. The park didn't close off on all sides, it fed into a larger untamed forest. Brimming with wildlife and unique flora, it stretched on, only giving way to the ocean.

Of course that was just something that Izuku had read on the park's many markers and posts. He'd never gone deeper than when the grass became glades and the thin trees became thick trunks and the leaves blotted out the sky.

Even now, he was just cruising the edges. Right in front of him was a small park that cut into one of the parks corners. He could see from here the many children and their parents that were sprawled about, playing on the swings and teetering on the saws, and Izuku spotted a bench right on the edge, overlooking it all.

Walking right up to it, he collapsed in the seat. He licked his lips, and rummaged through his backpack for a bottle of water. Instead, he felt his fingers brush against the woven binding to his newest notebook. He'd been so lost in his own mind today day that he totally forgot about it.

Looking at it now, the book seemed dull and flimsy. It contained the hours of careful thought and imagination, innovation, all transcribed onto the paper. It was the sole physical proof of Izuku's former hopes of becoming a hero. How appropriate that it turn out to be a waste of time.

Izuku must have had a dozen or more notepads or journals just like it. All covered from the margins to the edges with his own written plans of detailed diagrams. Of course it was all worthless. By sheer force of will, he'd spent the last 15 years fooling himself into thinking he could do anything in those books without some kind of quirk.

Hell, even rudimentary training would have helped, but he'd never done anything of the sort. No amount of gadgets or equipment would made up for his weak body, but instead of accept that, he had gone on with the illusion.

Determined not to waste anymore, Izuku tossed it toward a garbage can.

The next thing he'd heard was a wet slap ring through the air as a long pink rope snapped right in front of him, snatching his notebook in mid air. Confused as to where it could have come from, Izuku twisted in his seat to look at its source. That source happened to be a young woman sitting on top of the bench's back, practically hovering over his own head.

No one could blame Izuku for being surprised, though they would be hard pressed to say his next actions weren't a bit overly dramatic.

Izuku, in an impressive display of coward strength, could have clear a few yards with the jump he used to escape his proximity to whomever was on the bench. Unfortunately for him, there was a low hanging branch right behind him, and he was hooked onto it by the chin. The rest of him continued on, but with his neck acting like an anchor, Izuku's feet simply flung upwards.

Once he was perfectly vertical, and upside down, Izuku continued to move forward, slamming right into the branch's tree. Comically slapped against the trunk of the tree, Izuku opened his eyes to better analyse the girl he was fleeing from.

She was around his age he thought, assessing both her short stature and school uniform. She now held his notebook in her comically large hands. She could have easily surrounded his waist with her fingers. The next disproportionately large things he noticed where her eyes, which happened to be coal black and quizzically staring at him.

Well, he assumed that it was in a curious sense as the rest of her face, framed by long black hair that had a lush green tint, was totally flat. She was intensely expressionless besides her eyes, although Izuku did his best to analyse.

He soon realized that his endeavor might go easier had he not been upside down and falling off of the tree. Izuku couldn't prevent the painful impact of his nose on a gnarled root poking out of the ground or his stomach slamming down onto an unluckily placed road post.

Izuku rolled over with his eyes closed. Through the pain of his face and stomach, he was thankful that there was no laughter from the girl to add to his shame, but when he opened his eyes he could see why.

Izuku rose and hurriedly tried to snatch his notebook out of the girl's hands as she tried to open it. She held it out of his reach and looked him in the eye with the same impassive expression as before.

"Do you mind?" Izuku asked heatedly, "How about you don't poke through that."

"Why?" she asked without much of a tone, though it almost sounded like she was croaking, "Is this important?"

"No," he responded hastily.

"They why do you want me to give it back?" she pressed.

"So I can throw it away," Izuku reached again, only for the girl to toss it over his head and catch it with her other hand.

"If you're going to throw it away and it's not important," she casually hopped over Izuku as he dived for the book again, "Then why can't I have it?"

"Because," Izuku growled groaned in frustration," Just because."

"Hm," she looked at Izuku, pressing her index finger onto her lower lip, "Nope, I don't think that's a good reason."

Izuku snapped, "I don't need a good reason to take something back if it's mine."

Uncaring of the boy's growingly heated demeanor, she persisted to say, "Well I think that it means something to you then, and that means you care, so which is it. Do you care, or do you not?"

"What do you care?" Izuku fired back, falling back into his seat, though with a good bit of distance between him and the girl, "It's not like that notebook is anything special to you."

"Do that means it's special to someone else?" she inquired, "You, maybe?"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Izuku answered, "It was a waste of time and I just want to forget it."

"That's dumb," she concluded, unfazed by the glare Izuku flicked towards her. "If you forget about it then you don't learn anything from it. Wouldn't you rather keep this and remember it?"

"I've learned that I should walk to the trash can instead of throwing things, and I won't be forgetting this conversation," Izuku's sarcasm didn't seem to bother her either, "Can I have the book back?"

"No, I think there's a lesson in here that you need to learn, unless all you wrote about was proper garbage disposal," she clarified, "Something that you shouldn't just forget about."

"I'm going to try and forget about this as soon as I get my book back," Izuku retorted.

"You're kind of rude," she remarked, as if noticing his behavior for the first time, "Are you always like this? How do your friends deal with it?"

"Honestly, no," Izuku answered, "You just annoy me, and I wouldn't know how they feel about it, I don't have any."

"Is it because you're rude?" she asked.

"How do your friends feel about you butting into things that no one else cares about," Izuku tried to get a rise out of her, half hoping she would leave quicker, and half getting too frustrated not to.

"I think this is something you care about, and I wouldn't know about that first part," she admitted, again touching the corner of her mouth with her index finger, "I only have one friend, and our conversations are usually about other things."

"Why do you care?" Izuku made no attempts to hide his frustrations, now openly glaring at her.

"I guess it's because…" she thought on her words, looking away from him, "You looked really sad when you sat down."

Izuku blinked. A strangled nose escaped his lips as he tried and failed to appropriately respond to what she just said. This stranger that he had very plainly been a dick to wasn't maliouscious. She was nosy sure, but she was trying to be nice to him? Well, that just made him feel like an ass. Properly blushing with shame, Izuku cleared his throat and sighed.

"I'm sorry for… being a jerk," he whispered.

"Huh, I wasn't really bothered by you being a jerk. I just thought you were being rude," she finished while meeting his eye.

"I'm sorry for forgetting my manners then," he stood up, and bowed to her modestly, "I'm Izuku Midoriya."

She nodded back, "Tsuyu Asui is my name, but you can just call me Tsuyu like my other friend."

"Are you sure you want to be friends with someone as 'rude' as me," he snorted.

"Well if we weren't friends, then why would you be telling me about what's bothering you," she stated as if it were the most obviously thing in the world.

"I...haven't done that," Izuku wondered if she wasn't just a crazy person after all.

"Yeah, but that's what you're going to do if you want this book back," she clarified, securing Izuku's notebook under the arm opposite of him as he sat back down.

"Are you always like this?" Izuku huffed.

"Yes," she answered, "Now could you start talking? Once my friend gets here I need to catch a bus."

Izuku contemplated the pros and cons of spilling his personal baggage to whom was mostly still stranger, but his his desire to get his book back and destroy it as well as his need for some form of outlet made his decision for him.

"I guess this starts with a friend of mine, though he isn't much of a friend now," Midoriya began.

"What happened?" Tsuyu interrupted.

"He blew up my face and left me for dead in the school courtyard after class," Izuku said stiffly.

"Oh," Tsuyu said surprised, sounding unsure of how to approached the topic, "I'm sure he felt bad about it after he had time to calm down. Did you ever give him a chance to apologize?"

"It happened last night," Izuku noted Tsuyu's shock, "And he threatened me again this morning. I don't foresee any apologies in my future."

"You look pretty good for someone that got blown up," Tsuyu pointed out.

"I got healed by someone," Izuku held up his hand before Tsuyu could try to positively spin it, "But after she healed him, she hit me."

"What was she doing at your school after hours?" she wondered

"She wasn't," Izuku corrected, "I woke up in some gym."

"How'd did you get to a gym?" she asked even more confused.

"Someone else found me and carried me there," Izuku said.

"Well why were they at your school that late?" Tsuyu felt the story made less and less sense as he continued, "Why didn't they call an ambulance? Why specifically a gym?"

"Are you going to interrupt me the whole time, or are you going to let me finish?" Izuku sharply replied.

Tsuyu glanced to the side, "I'll stop asking questions when this starts making sense."

"Yujiro brought me to the gym because he works there and it was close," Izuku slumped in his seat, "And I don't know all the details, I was trying to leave as quick as possible."

"Was there something weird about the gym?"

"They were just…" Izuku rubbed his temples, "Yujiro was really insistent on me staying and joining them."

"That's weird. All of that was weird," Tsuyu concluded, "Everything you've said so far was weird and I don't understand it."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, a bit relieved that she agreed, "I sorta thought it was a cult thing until Kylie kicked me out."

Tsuyu hummed, "And she is…?"

"The owner of the gym," Izuku finished, "And a jerk. She kicked me out into the cold and called me a liar for saying I wanted to join."

"So you did want to join?" Tsuyu half smiled, "I think your a bit of a tsundere."

"Wha-," Izuku stood up with a dusted red on his cheeks, "What's that supposed to mean!?"

Tsuyu laid her hands flat beside her and shook her head, "Well you say you don't care about the book but you're here telling me your story so you can get it back, and now you're calling the gym weird but really you wanted to join it."

Izuku waved her off and regained his composure, "I was a little interested. Everyone in the gym looked really strong, and for a second I thought…"

Tsuyu picked up on Izuku's drifting gaze, and guessed what he might be thinking.

"You thought you might be able to get strong too," she concluded.

Izuku flinched, finding that there was a lump in his throat he couldn't swallow. She was right, but she was wrong too. He wanted to be strong, but he thought he could get something even more out of that place. He wanted to be a fighter. He wanted to get the skills he would need to take down a villain the way a pro could, but Izuku nipped the idea in the bud as quickly as he could.

He wouldn't be conquered by anymore illusions of grandeur. He was quirkless, as far as this world was concerned, he was lunch meat.

"It was another pipe dream," Izuku said aloud, "Just like that book. I want to forget them both so I can move on with my life."

Izuku felt that after talking about what ailed him, he should have felt lighter. Like his burdens should have seemed a little less. But his body felt as heavy as before, if not more. That's why it felt like bricks were piling into his open hand, extended to accept the book back from Tsuyu.

She made no move to give it back. She made no move at all. Izuku thought she might have been preparing to give him some feel good speech about not giving up or trying again, but he didn't the patience for it.

"Please, just let me throw it away," he choked, surprising himself with his own fragility, "I just want this day to end."

More silence, and more rocks to drag his hand down. There was a visible strain on his face, but it wasn't from his imaginary trial. Izuku knew that this was the outpouring of all his pain, loosened by his confessions, but released by his need to escape.

Why, goddammit why did he feel like crying now of all times? The hard part was over, he let go of his fantasy, didn't he? He let go of his dream. He confronted Katsuki for god's sake.

'I'm ready to walk forward, aren't I?'

"Nope," Tsuyu broke the silence with her flat tone and impassive face as always. "You can't have the book back."

"What?" he cried, "But that was the deal."

"I changed my mind," she huffed, "If you're just going to let it go to waste then I'm going to put it to use."

Quietly she started to pack up her things while Izuku choked on his unwept tears. She took the book from under her arm and stared at it. Izuku wanted to snatch it out of her hand, but he could hardly breathe. Something was squeezing the life out of him,

"I don't think you want to give up," Tsuyu said, "But my mom said there's a time in everyone's life when they have to choose between what they really want to do and what they think they should do. I think this is that time for you, Izuku. So, good luck, okay?"

She stood up, and with quick nod, she smiled at him. It was a odd thing to see, and Izuku was sure it took a tremendous effort on her part to make it so visible on her features, but she did it. The corners of her lips turned ever so slightly, while her eyes took on a softer light to them, and Izuku couldn't look away.

How could he be angry with her in this moment, while she wore the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen.

She walked away, no doubt to meet up with the friend that she told izuku about, but not before she spare him a last glance.

"If I ever see you again, I hope I can give you this book back," she rushed before Izuku lost sight of her, "And maybe you can listen to some of my problems too."

And just like that, Izuku was alone. He felt so confused and this suffocating vice was worming it's way around his neck. A second later a drop of rain hit his hand. And then another. And after a dozen or so more he looked up and say a dry park emptying of its other residents. Another dozen after that, Izuku realized that it wasn't raining. No sound escaped his lips while he let loose a steady stream of tears.

For minutes he sat like that, staring off into the empty space. Totally still, and totally silent, he felt like he had disappeared. Like all the weight he felt had finally buried him into the dirt and this was the endless nothingness after death. It was an oddly numbing feeling, to not be able to feel yourself cry, but to still feel your shaking heartbeat in your chest.

He laughed. The weight disappeared and he laughed, some more. He had to clutch at his contorting stomach while he tried to stop his chuckles from ripping through the air. He covered his mouth but it did nothing to stop the viciously jaunting bellows that were shaking him now. Absolutely nothing was funny about today, but Izuku didn't care.

Who was that random girl to come and tell him what his life was? Better yet, how dare she be one hundred percent, totally, undoubtedly right. She had known him for a minute, and she had seen crystal clear what he had not.

He wasn't ready to give up, even if it truly was a pipe dream. He wasn't ready to let go off a fifteen year long dream that had since motivated his every step.

Izuku stood up, marvelling at how light he felt after bawling his eyes out. Perhaps he was just waterlogged? It didn't matter, he had somewhere to be. A certain gym owner needed talking to.

Izuku grabbed his bag and began to jog towards his destination.

It's amazing how 10 minutes of jogging, or rather three minutes of jogging and seven of pained limping past confused city goers, could put into perspective how out of shape one could be.

Izuku was actually appreciating that fact as he leaned his sweaty body against the gym's door. It was apparently called Kylie's if the bold print on the sign was to be believed. Something Izuku had not learned the previous night.

"I...have…" Izuku sputtered between long gasps of life giving oxygen, "..not taken care….of my body."

He pushed the door open, seeing once again the many residents of the gym in the swing of things. Sparring matches here there and everywhere else, weights lining the walls, and two familiar faces arguing not a meter away from the door.

"YOU THREW ME AT A WALL!" Kaito screamed at his partner.

"YOU SURPRISED ME!" Niko defended herself heatedly..

Holding his hands in front of him Kaito looked all to confused, "SO YOUR RESPONSE WAS TO THROW ME AT A WALL?"

"FUCK OFF, YOU DROPPED FROM THE RAFTERS," she retorted.

"Hi," Izuku waved from beside the two, trying to draw their attention.

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING UP THERE?!" Niko screamed.

"DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!"

"Um," Izuku scratched his head, "Hello? Do you know I'm here?"

"Change the subject?" she jabbed Kaito with her index finger, "That is the subject you asshole!"

"Oh really, I thought the subject was you throwing me at a brick wall!"

"Well, since neither of you are listening, I'm just gonna go ahead and say that you both seem pretty screwed up," Midoriya calmly said, "And the fact that you can casually throw someone at a wall is cool."

"Who keeps interrupting-" Kaito stopped, "You look familiar."

"Hey, it's you," Niko greeted, patting him on the shoulder, "Izuku, right? Why are you drenched when it's not raining outside?"

"I ran here, this is sweat," Niko quickly pulled her arm back.

Kaito scoffed, "Like you don't sweat buckets during a match?"

"Next time you could hit the glass and not the wall, Kaito," she threatened, before sweetly leaning down to Izuku's level as she was rather tall, "What are you doing back here, little man?"

Izuku gulped, looking her in the eye, "I came here to join the gym," he sounded resolute, confident, and still slightly winded from his run.

Niko and Kaito's eyes bulged, and they shared a look of deep pity for the younger boy. Kaito left and Niko kneeled down, fiddling with her hair which was drawn into a neat ponytail.

"Are you sure about this?" she firmly gripped his shoulders, "Even I had experience fighting before I came to this place, so I have to ask. How badly do you want this?"

"I don't wanted it," Izuku admitted, "But I have something I want to do, and I need this. I'm doing this."

Izuku was hard pressed not to grin when Niko looked back down on him with a smidge of pride behind her anxious eyes.

"Alright," Niko presented to Izuku one of many hairbands, "Tie your hair back, I'm gonna make sure you look half presentable before Kylie gets back. Did you bring a spare change of clothes?"

"I have a T-shirt under my school uniform," Izuku said while he pulled his unruly mess of green hair into a ponytail.

"Okay strip down to that and-"

Kaito rusheed forward, "She's outside, I got Yujiro to come in first! Okay good, you took care of the hair."

Kaito passed a black strip of cloth and they grabbed a wrist each, forming a small wrap on Izuku's forearms.

"Okay, all new members get about the same first day, but the gym closes in a couple hours, so she's gonna rush you," Kaito tugged on the straps to test their strength.

"Is that bad?" Izuku whimpered.

Izuku was answered with winces and sympathy. Yujiro walked through the door and saw what they were doing. Excitedly he hopped over and smiled at Izuku.

"I so happy you came back, and so sorry about what she's going to do when she sees you," he ignored Izuku's look, "Remember, show no fear when she sees you. She's gonna be ultra pissed, but the key is to not let her psyche you out. When she says leave, buckle down."

Izuku nodded, and then a cold feeling washed over the room. The sparring matches stopped, and everyone looked towards the side. Standing in the entrance was Kylie with a death glare planted firmly at Izuku's heart.

'No fear,' Izuku thought. 'Buckle up. No! Shit, buckle down. Buckle down. Buckle down, she is getting closer.'

Kylie was quick to close the distance between the two of them, looking down on Izuku. She examined Izuku, now with his hair in a rough ponytail, and a thin T-shirt to cover his chest. Her predatory smirk made him all too aware of how thin and wiry his frame was.

"Well raggedy Andy, you look half prepared," she mocked appraised him with a bored look, "And the hair's a minor improvement, but I'm still going to ask that you piss off."

"No."

With that single word, the room dropped 10 degrees. Celsius. Kylie's expression hadn't changed, but her walk did. If before it was predatory, this was outright hostile. She closed the distance between the two of them, but whether it was his false confidence or paralyzing fear, Izuku remained still.

"No?" She repeated, scowling over him, "No, as in you aren't leaving, no?"

Izuku nodded, "I came here to train."

"You came here to piss me off," she snapped back, "And you did, so before I beat the shit out of you,walk out that door."

"Make me."

The room collectively shivered. Izuku saw people huddling away in the corner of his eye, grouping together in an attempt to weather a coming storm. Said storm was about to wreak havoc on him.

"Well look who's balls just dropped," the pulsing vein in her neck betrayed her level voice, "Let's make a bet. You and me get in that ring. I'll knock you around for a few minutes, and if you beg, and I mean really beg, I'll pay for your taxi home, or to the hospital."

"Fine," Izuku glared back, "We'll just consider it my first lesson."

Kylie stepped around the ropes while the two previous occupants scurried out of it. She tossed a loose pair piece of headgear at the boy and tapped her foot.

"Lace up, Luigi," she wore a wolfish smirk while she rubbed her wrists, "This is the last time you come and disrespect my gym."

I've discovered that schedules are especially stupid when you have to balance college work and an admittedly baren social life, plus making time for my girlfriend. I'm not gonna lie, every single thing I've just said comes before writing this story, but I'm not going to keep you guys hanging all the time.

Hope you enjoy, thanks if you left a comment, and I appreciate constructive criticism. No one's been an outright dick in the comments and I appreciate that.