Having All Might as a teacher was surreal. Everything about the man seemed larger than life, his confidence and booming laughter and reassuring smile was everything the headlines had promised.

His first lesson had certainly left a strong impact. From the moment he'd entered the classroom, famous smile fixed in place, everything about him had screamed 'Hero!'.

Bakugo, like most of the class, had hardly been able to wait for All Might's lessons. It was hard not to- he was famous, he was known for doing the impossible, he was the best.

All Might didn't disappoint. He was just as colourful, just as charismatic and just as cool in person.

(And if briefly, ever so briefly, Bakugo's hands had trembled and he'd thought of a long lost friend, with large eyes, scraped knees and would always, always have an All Might action figure clenched in a small, bruised fist, well... He was fairly sure no one noticed.)

So Bakugo was hardly surprised when they were whisked away for a lesson where they'd be required to fight.

Putting his costume for the first time felt like a commitment. It was strange and heavy and so different from anything he'd worn before. It felt like a uniform, because it meant he had a duty now, to be the one to run out, to be the one to save people. It meant that he'd be the one who'd run into danger, would offer his hand to help people.

So he wore it with pride.

"Oh man, that's so cool!" One of his classmates squealed as he joined the small group of students waiting to start the training exercise.

"Thanks," Bakugo muttered, staring the boy in front of him- red, spiky hair and an awkward, friendly smile that reminded him too much of Izuku- and completely failed to recall his name. "Sorry, I can't remember your name." He admitted after an awkward pause.

The boy laughed, seeming relieved. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who knows like, maybe two names. I'm Eijiro Kirishima!"

For a moment, he thought about not trying. Just laughing or lashing out, because he would inevitably slip up. He could try and try, but he'd always be rough around the edges and harsh. He'd swear and scream and argue, but he tried, and he'd always managed to maintain friendships through effort (and being able to apologise) and understanding.

But seeing All Might had dragged up memories of shadowed green eyes, filled with hurt and heartbreak- emotions that should have raised alarm bells, emotions that he'd caused- and it reminded him why it was always, always worth it to try.

Instead of lauging, Bakugo snorted. "I'm Katsuki Bakugo." Then he blinked, and stared at the Kirishima's costume. "Is your costume inspired by Crimson Riot?" He asked before he could stop himself. At his old school, nearly everyone had been a hero nerd, although some had tried to hide it, and Kirishima was clearly proud of his admiration of the old hero, because the boy beamed.

"Yep! I want to be the same type of hero as him- he's so manly!" Kirishima explained excitedly. And then, as more and more students, all wearing bright colours full of hopes and heroics, came to join the small waiting crowd, Kirishimra began to explain exactly why Crimson Riot was such a source of inspiration. Once, Bakugo might have just zoned out, or even told him to just shut up, but instead, he listened, and decided that he was definitely going to be friends with the boy who trusted the world with the heart he wore on his sleeve.

Because Bakugo had learnt to value friendship. He'd learnt how to care and how to show that he cared... And he'd learnt how to value that trait in others, so he'd already decided that Kirishima was going to be a great friend.

And knowing that there were people he could become friends with, people he could work towards his goal with, made everything just that little bit easier to handle.


Bakugo had hoped that he'd end up partnered with Kirishima when All Might announced the random pairings for the training exercise. The other teen was easy to get along with and had a strong quirk.

But the reality of heroics would be this: they could be called into combat at any time, they could end up working with anyone against anything. They wouldn't always know who they'd be working with, they wouldn't aways like them. But in they end, they'd have to work together, they'd have to adapt. Because they had to recognise that saving people was more important.

Still, Hagakure Tooru was proving rather easy to get along with... Even if she was a little overwhelming.

"Hi! I'm Tooru, you must be Bakugo, right? Cool costume! What's your quirk?"

"Explosion." Bakugo grunted, more focused on trying to keep up with the enthusiastic gestures the pair of floating gloves were making.

"That sounds powerful! My quirk is Invisibility. I guess you can see that... Well, not see, but you know what I mean!" The gloves paused and then fidgeted nervously. "Do we need to make a plan? I mean we don't know what they'll do, or even what their quirks are..."

Bakugo paused, then smirked. "I'm pretty sure if we work together, we'll be able to handle whatever Ponytail and Ears come up with. I'm pretty strong, and you look pretty sneaky."

Tooru's gloves froze. "Ears... Shoot! I think her quirk is superhearing. So if she can hear me moving, I won't be sneaky at all."

"Shit." Bakugo muttered. Then he smirked. "I wonder if she'll be able to hear you over the sound of explosions?"

Tooru giggled. "I like that idea. We're totally going to win this!"

And so when All Might gave the command, Bakugo stormed into the buidling, explosions making the walls rattle, and Tooru slipped off her gloves and vanished in all the smoke and confusion.

"I haven't found them yet." She reported. "So I think they might be on the floor above us."

"Sounds good." Bakguo stomped up the stairs, his arms beginning to ache from the force of exlosions he'd been constantly firing off.

Thankfully, it appeared his search was over, because after turning the first corner, he found a door boarded shut with metal.

"Found them. You were right." He yelled, which warranted a yelp from Tooru. Right. He'd forgotten about the earpieces.

He fired an explosion at the door. It didn't work, and once the smoke cleared, the metal was stubbornly intact.

Briefly, he looked down at his gauntlets.

They could work. They'd definitely pack enough of a punch to tear the metal away. But... He had no idea if Ponytail and Ears would be in the room, and whether or not the debris would hit them, or even Tooru, because he had no idea where she was.

If this was real, he hoped that he'd be better. The situation was awful. He didn't want to hurt his classmates, and he had no idea where his ally was. He didn't want to be the type of hero who refused help or couldn't save people due to pride.

If this was real, he wanted to be able to do more than just use multiple explosions and hope that the others would realise what he was doing and get out of the way before they were hurt.

And if this was real, he'd have no pity for the villains. Because he'd felt awful, and he'd ruined someone's life, and the consequences still stayed with him, and always would. But villains hurt people and broke them and they didn't care, and kept on doing it. They'd deserve his full strength. Because by defeating a villain, he'd be helping someone else, and stopping them from hurting.

The match ended quickly after that. He burst through the doors, shrouded by smoke and his arms stinging.

And he immediately stared aghast at the sight that greeted him. Ears was collapsed near the fake bomb, clutching her ears and shaking, and Ponytail was standing guard over her and the bomb, a spear held so tightly that her knuckles had turned white, and she was trembling.

For a moment, they just stared at him, and he glanced back and forth between them and his hands, and swore to do better, because his quirk was meant to help, not harm. There was a tense silence, and the silence seemed more deafening than the explosions from mere seconds before.

They were both so distracted that none of them noticed the tape appearing to wrap itself around the bomb, until All Might's broke throught the silence.

"Hero team wins!"

Tooru cleared her throat. "Hi?"


It took a while for Ears to recover, but she reassured them that she was fine, yes really, and she'd had worse. She seemed embarrased by the whole thing. Her cheeks were flushed with humiliation.

She'd also just shrugged when both Bakugo and Ponytail had apologised. Bakguo had felt like a villain, seeing her collapsed because of his quirk, and an ugly mixture of guilt and shame had coiled in his stomach and sat there like poison.

Ponytail had apparently tried to create something that could muffle the noise, and had come close, but failed, as she didn't know the precise mechanisms well enough. So she'd been shaken and helpless as her partner collapsed from the pain.

Ears just shrugged though, with a small smirk. "I've had worse, so don't worry so much. Really."

By the time they reached their classmates, Ears seemed to have completely recovered.

All Might's expression was unreadable for a moment, then he smiled. "That was a good start. Now, who can tell me how things could have gone better?"

And for the next five minutes, the boy with the glasses explained everything Bakugo had already realised.

He might have been angry once. He'd failed, he'd backed himself into a corner. If it was real, then he wouldn't have saved anyone... Instead, he stood there, and forced his hands to stop shaking, and slowly worked his way through the steps that helped him cope with his anger.

He'd do better next time. And he'd keep doing better until one day, he'd be good enough. That was learning, that was moving forwards.

So when the boy with the glasses stopped talking and All Might asked if anyone had any questions, Bakugo raised his hand, and pointed at Ears and Ponytail.

"Sorry... But what are your names again?"

He was pleasantly surprised to hear Kirishima burst into laughter from the back of the crowd.


Bakugo felt much better about his own efforts after watching his classmates try the same training exercise. Everyone else struggled with communication, but the team that really struggled was Monoma and Todoroki. They were the villains in their particular exercise, and Bakugo watched as they argued in silence.

He would've blinked and missed the enitre building suddenly becoming coated in a shimmering shield of ice.

Apparently Monoma wasn't too happy about Todoroki's plan, because he shoved the other boy angrily, face still twisted with anger. Whatever he said didn't sit well with Todoroki, because they were yelling again.

Bakugo wondered what they were saying.

Meanwhile, the heroes had gone pale upon seeing the building become coated in ice. Then, Uraraka had shrugged, and turned to Kirishima.

She must have had a quirk that could manipulate gravity, because a second later, they were floating above the building. She gave him a slight push so he was hovering over the room the ice had spread from. Krishima's quirk activated and a second later he was falling.

There was no way for him to know that at the very same time he'd dropped, that Todoroki and Monoma had turned on each other, with Monoma's left side bursting into light- bright and brutal and burning.

And the flames so clearly illuminated the horror, the anger and the fear on Todoroki's pale face.

So Kirishima and Uraraka were the only ones surprised when everything exploded. All of the cameras jolted to only show static, and there was a long moment of silence, before everyone was moving at once, all intent on helping their injured classmates.

And even later, when Bakugo was waiting for Kirishima to finish his check-up with Recovery Girl, Todoroki's face haunted him. For that one moment, the boy had looked close to crying or screaming or just plain breaking.

He'd looked like he'd just lost everything.


Izuku had caught up to Tenko, right before he left, just to wish him luck. He was still dressed in the suit he'd wear when he'd help Kurogiri serve customers- there had been far more villains gathering at the bar recently, so Kurogiri had been a little overwhelmed- and he had clearly ran to catch up with Tenko, because his face was flushed and he'd skidded to a halt roughly three seconds before he would've run into Tenko and sent them both flying.

For a second, Tenko's mind drifted back to a time when he'd come back from missons, battered and bleeding, to see Izuku waiting for him, perched on a stool with wide eyes.

Then he blinked, and Izuku wishing him luck, with earnest eyes and a calm smile.

"You probably don't need any luck, though! I'm sure you'll do great!"

Tenko managed a shaky smile. This was all on him. It was the first step towards the bigger plan. He couldn't mess this up.

He couldn't. Because everything depended on it. Without the information he needed to steal from UA, nothing could move forwards.

He only had one shot, and there was so much that could go wrong... He couldn't afford the slightest slip up- he had to get everyone clamouring for information on All Might into the school and then he had to be quick. And if he couldn't get close, everything would be ruined. And if he attracted too much attention, everthing would be ruined. And-

And Izuku caught his hands as they had slowly moved towards his neck, intent on clawing at his growing panic and the memory of not being able to breathe.

"Right, sorry." Tenko shuddered, and Izuku gave him a concerned look.

That look of concern jolted him out of his fear more than anything else. Because Izuku was the person he would protect, and he couldn't do that if he was scared. He would create a better world for everyone, and he couldn't do that if he was scared. He needed to be the one to take the first step, and to do that, he needed to be brave.

So he grinned at Izuku. "I'll be back before you know it."

Then he turned and walked away, and this time, he didn't even need to look back.