"I'm incredibly disappointed in all of you"

Aizawa scanned the four students from his class that failed the license exams. It was logical to assume that not all of his students would pass considering the low passing rate but in his heart of hearts Aizawa genuinely did believe that all of his students could pass the exam. All of them had been through so much since they arrived at UA High. They had to step in up in the face of death and they all became stronger because of it.

The events that happened during the license exams forcefully reminded him that they were still teens that let their emotions get the better of them at times. That's what happened during their bout with the other examinees. All four these students were more than capable of passing the exams. They just lost their cool and it cost them dearly. Aizawa knew that these four had to get with the program and not let their emotions destroy their concentration.

The teacher eyed the failing students meticulously and observed their body language. Uraraka and Aoyama were obviously crestfallen with their failures. He remembered overhearing Uraraka talking about wanting to be a hero to provide financial support for her family. It was a noble goal that often was ridiculed by the public since it wasn't "selfless enough". Luckily, her friends always assured her that becoming a hero for such reasons was just as valid as any other reason. Failing to get a provisional license was a huge bump in the road for the poor girl.

Aoyama faced a different problem. Aizawa saw through the flamboyant boy pretty easily. Everything he did was a carefully crafted charade in an attempt to masquerade as some self-assured hero in training. The truth was that Aoyama was horribly self-conscience. The guy probably felt more crippling social anxiety than Midoriya did when he first came to the school. Aoyama had a quirk sure, but without that belt of his, he wouldn't be able to fire a single shot without debilitating stomach pains. Aoyama hated that fact about himself and created his campy, indulgent character to convince others that he was just as capable as them.

Aoyama most likely felt a certain kinship with Midoriya as a result of all of this. Midoriya was the first person he met that also had a quirk with huge drawbacks. The French teen was probably giddy that he met someone who's quirked screwed him over even more than his own navel laser. The two were both unfit to walk the halls of UA high and yet they made it. The thought of someone like him comforted Aoyama.

That all changed when Midoriya started mastering his volatile quirk. The guy went from shattering his fists with every blow to taking on All Might with Bakugou. Midoriya's performance during the license exams showed everyone that he only getting better with his quirk. Midoriya was now fighting with an entirely new fighting style that made him look like a breakdancing pinball that would knock you out before you could see what's coming. It was such a sight to see, watching Midoriya demolish almost everyone he came across. Leaving UA didn't slow him or any of his classmates down a bit.

Midoriya's performance must have obliterated what little confidence Aoyama had left in him. He was truly worthless in his own eyes once again. That is what caused his failure during the exams. He sacrificed himself to assist who he saw as his superior classmates. It failed of course, the plan wasn't well thought out. Aoyama likely didn't account for the fact that he would be intercepted by someone faster than his self-propelled laser rocket.

While Uraraka and Aoyama were obviously in despair due to their failure; the other two students were just angry.

Bakugou and Ashido were standing next to Aoyama and Ashido respectively, as far from each other as possible. Aizawa actually had to be ready to use his quirk just in case they started fighting again. Failing the exam due to knowingly attacking your teammates never happened before. In fact, there was actually small debate whether or not to disqualify them on the spot since none of the rules mentioned anything about fighting teammates. Thankfully, he and Emi were able to convince everyone else that attacking one's teammate is a dick move and a new rule was made.

Aizawa sighed. Leave it to his students to find a way to get new rule written.

He remembered when Ashido and Bakugou were fairly amicable since they were in the same social circle. There's was one reason why they became incredibly hostile to each other.

That reason was Izuku Midoriya.

Bakugou was always fairly vitriolic towards Midoriya. Not many people knew the exact history between them but the hatred was one sided. Midoriya tried to be polite to the explosive teen and all his attempts were met with more hostility. Aizawa guessed that the next they met, Midoriya would show the same aggression that Bakugou showed him all the time. It would be interesting to see those two go at it at this point in their lives.

Ashido adored Midoriya ever since they started dating. Not so coincidentally, she also developed a burning hatred for Bakugou around the same time. Her friends were confused at her sudden sour disposition regarding Bakugou and whenever they asked her what happened between she would covertly glance at Midoriya before uttering "bastard knows what he did". After a while, her classmates gave up asking her and since Bakugou wouldn't spill anything they just dropped the subject all together.

After silently observing them for what seemed like ages, Aizawa finally spoke.

"Alright, Uraraka and Aoyama- you come with me"

The two students looked up before silently nodding their heads.

"Hey! What about us?"

Aizawa looked at the confused Bakugou before pinching the bridge of his nose "You kids follow me as well. I'm gonna let All Might talk to you two in a different room."

That wasn't a spontaneous decision. Aizawa knew that All Might shared a history with Midoriya and that meant there was a good chance that he shared a history with Bakugou as well. Besides, Midoriya was the driving force in Bakugou and Ashido's conflict and if anyone could sort those two, it would be the former number one hero.

After Aizawa directed Ashido and Bakugou to the room All Might was in he took the students under his charge to a completely separate office.

"Uraraka, wait outside. I'm going to be talking to Aoyama first."

"O-Okay…"

Aizawa stepped into the room with the blonde and instructed him to sit down.

"You understand why you're here, right?"

Aoyama's eyes darted to the floor. He couldn't even look his teacher in the eye.

"Oiu...My act of sacrifice was indeed in vain…"

Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose "Being willing to sacrifice yourself for the greater good is an admirable trait to have as a pro-hero but what you did was beyond stupid. You didn't even try to do anything else! What were you trying to accomplish?"

"My abilities were lacking Monsieur Aizawa...That's all I could have done"

Aizawa was disappointed that his notions of Aoyama were correct

"Listen...the drawbacks of your quirk...I know what it's like."

"You do?"

"Yeah...I get dry eye really fast and that puts a damper on things...My quirk is also useless against mutation type quirks so people like Asui and Ojiro could give me a lot of trouble. The thing is- if you give up as soon as something causes you any trouble than you are never going to get anywhere in life."

"Look at Midoriya! He couldn't throw a punch without breaking his arms and now after all his hard work he earned his provisional license! You could be just as good, Aoyama!"

"Merci Aizawa...Do you really believe I can achieve just as much as Midoriya?"

"I don't say anything just get someone's spirits up. If I thought you were an abject failure, you wouldn't be in my class right now."

"Uh...Okay" Aoyama's reply was more of a squeak.

"I'm going to make you work extra hard to control that quirk of yours. Are you up for the challenge?"

Aizawa's words of encouragement renewed Aoyama's vigor "Oiu! I can't believe someone as fabulous as me thought I was worthless not too long ago! Merci Aizawa! You have shown me the light! May it be as dazzling as my navel laser!"

"...Okay then. Can you tell Uraraka that it's her turn to speak with me when you leave?"

"Bien sûr"

Uraraka was surprised that Aoyama came out of the room looking as happy as can be. She assumed that Aizawa would harshly reprimand him but instead it looked like he had praised the blonde. She still asked him about what the talk was like.

"Did...did it go well?"

"Oiu Uraraka, Monsieur Aizawa told me exactly what I needed to hear!"

"That's good...So I guess it's my turn now?"

Aoyama simply nodded.

"Uraraka...sit down" Aizawa was looking through his phone as he said this.

Uraraka let out a surprised yelp, wondering how he noticed her without looking up

"You could have sent Midoriya flying easily...but you didn't. Mind telling me why?"

Uraraka noticed that he was still on his phone...how rude. She decided to confront him about it.

"You know you could at least look at me when you're bringing me down!"

Aizawa paid no heed to her words and just continued texting

"If you're not going to take being a pro hero seriously than why should I take you seriously?"

"W-Wha-?"

"You let Midoriya beat you because you have a crush on him."

"That's not true! He just wa-"

"That is true, Uraraka. You could lie to yourself all you want but lying to me is just a waste of time."

Uraraka didn't say anything in response

"Tell me Uraraka, why do you want to become a hero?"

"I want to make enough money so my parents don't have to worry about paying bills all the time."

"Ah...I see"

"I know it's not selfless at all but-"

"Is Midoriya more important than that?"

"What?"

"I asked you if Midoriya is more important than your own wellbeing. I assume he is considering you failed the license exam because of him. You can't be a hero without a license, you know…"

Uraraka mumbled what Aizawa assumed was "I know"

"If you do, then get with the program. You need to get over your infatuation with Midoriya or at least not let your feelings mess with your duties. Got it?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Alright...meet me in the lobby in twenty minutes. I will give you your make-up assignments."

As Uraraka was walking to the door Aizawa had one last thing to say

"I know I'm not supposed to care about who you kids are dating but Midoriya isn't the only guy on earth. Waiting for him to be single again isn't healthy…"

Uraraka didn't reply when she walked out of the door but she knew Aizawa was right. Maybe it was time to let go of her infatuation with Midoriya? All it ever gave her was heartache.

"I must say, I'm quite surprised that you two failed the exams! Being able to secrete acid and generate explosions are fine quirks!" All Might had no idea what to right now. Aizawa gave him these two students because of their close relationship with Midoriya and while he admits that logic Aizawa's was sound he still didn't know these kids like he knows Midoriya!

Young Ashido is Midoriya's girlfriend, right? Yes, he remembered being pleasantly surprised when his protégé bragged about dating one of his classmates after a training exercise. All Might was sincerely happy for the boy and was also proud of how much he grew in such a short span of time. The eighth holder of One for All told Midoriya not to tell Ashido the secret of his quirk, of course. While Ashido was nice lass she was still Midoriya's first girlfriend so blurting out all of his secrets was not an option. Midoriya was fine with the caveat All Might gave him.

But what if he told her before he went off to rescue young Bakugou? What if he thought he wasn't going to return and decided to come clean? Those were the thought that ran through Toshinori's head. Just how much did she know?

"We both know why we failed"

Bakugou's voice shook him away from his thoughts

"Yes! You two failed because you fought each other instead of the villains that you were assigned! Now that's a weird strategy! I don't think it worked as well as you'd hoped though…" All Might tried to add some levity to the situation.

Bakugou scoffed "Pfft...Whatever. I only failed because Raccoon Eyes tried to defend her boyfriend's honour or something…"

"Give me a freakin' break! Do you honestly think someone like you could become a hero? Yeah, you're smart and pretty damn strong, congratulations! But what will you do once you actually get a job? Do you think people will take your shit?"

All Might shrugged his shoulders and nodded a bit, as if to say "She kinda got a point" while Bakugou just became angrier, the vein on his temple popped out.

"What make you so damn sure?!"

"Are you serious?! You're a bully Bakugou. It's as simple as that. It's the reason why your best friend doesn't talk to you anymore."

At this point the vein on Bakugou's temple resembled a corpulent slug "The fuck do you know about shitty hair?"

"I told him"

"Told him what?!"

"Now kids, this is exactly the behavior that caused-" All Might was cut off by Ashido

"I told him how you treated Midoriya...how you treated him like shit for years, just because he didn't have a quirk. Do you think that a scumbag like you could ever be a hero?"

"Of course!"

"Of course what?!"

"It always comes back to that damn nerd! You know you were a lot less annoying before you started dating that loser! I'm sick of that pathetic wimp always trying to drag me down! I didn't give him shit because I wanted to be cruel; I gave him shit because he kept insulting me by implying he was better than me! Why should I try to be friendly to a guy who constantly mocks all my hard work?"

Mina looked at Bakugou as if he was speaking another language "Wow...despite knowing him since you were kids, you don't know Midoriya at all."

"And you do? You've been dating that guy for what? A couple months tops? Let me just tell you that nerd has some secrets!"

"Like what?"

Bakugou pointed at All Might "Why don't you ask him?"

All Might scratched the back of his neck nervously "I don't know what you're talking about Bakugou-"

"Don't try to trick me! Ever since we started school you and Midoriya have been close. You treat that loser like he's your own kid. It took me a while to piece together but that fight you had against that big bad guy made it clear- Deku's quirk has something to do with you!"

Mina was about to laugh at Bakugou for telling them his absurd conspiracy theory but then she noticed how All Might looked like a ghost.

"That explains it doesn't? I knew Deku since we were kids and never showed signs of that quirk of his! At first I thought he was hiding it all this time just to mock me but then I started taking notice. His limbs would break every time he tried to do anything and that meant he wasn't used to his quirk's power. That in turn meant that he just recently got it. The fact that his quirk makes him as strong as you were only cemented my theory"

"So...that cat's out of the bag…"

"I fucking knew it!"

"What?!"

All Might quietly shushed them before giving the two an ultimatum.

"I know that you kids have a lot of questions so I'm going to you the whole story. But, you must promise me that this story never leaves this room. Got it?"

They both nodded.

"I met Young Midoriya more than a year ago. I saved him from that sludge villain" All Might pointed to Bakugou "The same one that attacked you"

"After I saved him, he ended up clinging to my leg when I jumped on a rooftop. The kid looked goofy with his face flopping in the wind…" the resulting mental image made Mina giggle and Bakugou scoff in irritation.

"Back then I could only stay in my muscular for three hours and I tried to keep it a secret. As you can see, I can't really hide it anymore. Midoriya saw me and I made him promise not to tell anybody before recounting how I first fought All for One; who was the villain I recently defeated at the cost of all my strength."

Bakugou and Ashido instantly swamped with questions regarding All for One but All Might told them that he promised to tell them how Midoriya got his quirk and nothing more. While disappointed, they let him continue the story.

"Midoriya asked me if a "quirkless person like him" could be a hero." after he told the two that part of the story, the former number one hero bowed his head in shame.

"How did you encourage Izuku never to give up?" Mina asked with a small smile "He must have been so happy that his idol had faith in him!"

"I didn't"

Mina's smile disappeared "Y-You…w-wha?"

"I told him that a quirkless kid like him could never become a hero. I was just telling him the truth…"

At that point Mina interrupted the story to really lay it on him "How could you have done that?! You're supposed to be his hero and you just crushed his dream right then and there! How do you think it felt like to be Izuku?! To be bullied constantly because you were born unlucky and then have your hero, the man you idolized tell you not to bother?!" halfway through her rant, she realized she was yelling at freakin' All Might of all people but she was too angry to care

Bakugou stayed silent but clenched his fists. He hated Midoriya, he really did. But he knew how the both of them venerated All Might. To have fucking All Might of all people say that your dreams were unattainable? That must have agonizing…

"I know...It was what he needed to hear but I didn't realize just how insensitive my comment was until I finished saying it. That's why I left him as soon as possible…"

"Then the sludge villain attacked again, and this time it captured Bakugou. All the pro heroes on the scene could stop him and...Neither could I…"

"What are you talking about? You're the one who saved me!"

"No...I was at my limit and was merely watching you from the sidelines lamenting the fact that I could help…"

"You were watching me getting capture?!"

"Yes...I was ashamed at my own cowardice but I felt that there was nothing I could do. That is until young Midoriya risked his life to try to save you…right after I told him he could never become a hero."

"His courage and determination inspired me and so I went passed my limits to save you. I met him again afterwards and told him that he could become a hero. After some rigorous training, I gave him my quirk...I couldn't use it for much longer anyway…"

"Young Midoriya inspired me. He reminded me what it meant to be a true hero. The truth was I've been looking for someone to pass down my quirk and he was the perfect candidate...and he still is. He showed me that the limitations don't matter. The disappointments don't matter. What matters is that someone needs help and he was going to give it."

Mina held her hand over her mouth and was quietly choking back her sobs. Tears of pride and happiness were streaming down her face. She knew her boyfriend was wonderful but this was something else. "Izu...you're...the...best"

Bakugou was trembling. He remembered Midoriya attacking the sludge monster trying to save his life the same day he told him that he should kill himself. What he didn't know was that Midoriya was also told by All Might himself that he couldn't become a hero. If Bakugou felt a twinge of guilt before than now he was at full on self-loathing territory.

"I told you the story of Midoriya and I. Now you must promise me to stop antagonizing each other!"

Mina spoke up first "All Might, I won't let my feelings towards Bakugou get in the way of our work but with all due respect- I don't think I can ever be friends."

All Might sighed "That's perfectly understandable...how about you Bakugou?"

To both of their surprise, Bakugou was muttering to himself not unlike Midoriya. Once he noticed them staring at him he started speaking more clearly "uh, yeah...I promise not to let my feelings get the better of me anymore"

All Might smiled "Good! Now let's get to the lobby. Aizawa's is supposed to give you all the make-up exam right about now and it's going to be a doozy!

The four of them were in the lobby waiting for Aizawa. Ashido and Aoyama were quite happy with themselves. Aoyama was elated that Aizawa helped bring his confidence back while Mina was suppressing the urge to brag about how awesome her boyfriend was.

Uraraka looked dejected and Bakugou noticed...mostly because he was feeling as miserable as her right now.

"Hey Uraraka, what's up with you?"

"Hmm? Oh...Did ya ever reach the point where you really adore someone but you finally face the fact that it's never going to happen?"

Bakugou sighed "Believe it or not- I do know how that feels like"

"Oh? Never thought you got yer heart broken like that."

"Yeah...took me a while to realize it too."

"Hey! You'll find someone special! I don't think yer as bad as everyone says!"

Bakugou chuckled "Believe me Uraraka- I am. In fact, I think I'm worse than everyone says. I...I got to change that…"

Uraraka put a hand on his shoulder "Even though I still think yer being a little too hard on yourself I'm glad that yer trying to change for the better! I think it's gonna go great! Whenever you put yer all into something, you always succeed!"

"Thanks for the pep talk...though I am surprised that you're talking in your natural accent so close to the other extras…"

Uraraka blushed and slapped her hand over her mouth "Damn...you're right."

Aizawa arrived a while later telling them that to make up for their failure, the four of them would have to care for and instill some "heroic ideals" into a group of elementary school students. The four of them were surprisingly interested in the idea of doing that. They all learned so much in one day and they wanted to pass on that knowledge to a younger generation.

After bidding them farewell one final time, Aizawa and All Might dismissed the four.

As he walked home Bakugou took his phone out and texted a certain someone while praying that certain someone didn't delete his contact info.

"Kirishima? It's me Bakugou...I know you don't want to talk to and I don't blame you. But please hear me out- I need to talk...to all of you guys. Is there a way I could visit Shiketsu? This is really important"

*Aizawa was texting Emi on the phone

One more chapter left!*