One day, near the beginning of April, Boss pulled Izuku aside.

"Hey…" Boss looked nervous and Izuku instantly knew something was wrong. Boss was never nervous. Alibaba—Boss's kid, though she still hadn't told him her real name yet—had mentioned once that he was unshakeable. "Since you spend so much time here, I figured I might as well give you a warning."

"A… warning?"

"Starting next week, there's going to be a lodger living above the café. He's in high school, only a few years older than you, and… the reason I'm taking him in is because he's on probation." Izuku froze; a criminal would be living with Boss and Alibaba? Well, above the café, but that allowed the stranger to hurt Boss in his place of work! He could steal the coffee beans, or burn down the café, or…

Izuku bit his lip to keep his concerns from leaking out. The last thing Boss needed was him to flip out on him. "What did he do?"

Sakura sighed and the frown lines on his face seemed deeper than ever. "He was arrested for assault."

He looked away. He had to choose his words carefully… "If… if Boss is sure he should live here, I won't have any problem with it. But I… I don't think I want to talk to him. At least not right away."

Boss didn't look disappointed, but solemn. "And that's your right. Do you want me to ask him not to talk to you?"

Izuku shook his head. "No. I don't…" He didn't want the boy to get mad if he learned Izuku knew he was on probation. "I'll just avoid him. It'll be fine, Boss! Don't worry about me."

Sakura made a noise that clearly meant he didn't believe him, but left Izuku to his own business. Izuku tightened his shaking fingers around his pen. It wasn't like this person could treat him any worse than the people at school, right? If Izuku didn't tell him anything, if they never spoke, then they could just pass by each other, two strangers completely ignorant of what the other is doing.

Unless the boy tried to hurt Boss or Alibaba.

Hiding his phone underneath the counter, Izuku shot a quick text at Alibaba.

Izuku: You'll tell me if the boy Boss is taking in
does something, right?

Her response was immediate.

Alibaba: What boy?

Izuku: Check the café audio from the last few minutes.

It was two minutes before he got a reply.

Alibaba: What!? Sojiro never told me about this!

Izuku: Maybe he was trying to protect you?

Alibaba: More like he's the one who needs to
be protected! (ロ)

His lips twitched into a smile. At least Alibaba would take care of Boss… With that out of the way, his attention returned to his notebook.

At the beginning of each Hero Analysis for the Future, Izuku always left a few pages blank for his own quirk, even when he hasn't discovered anything new about Baton Pass in over five years.

Baton Pass was a deceptively simple quirk on paper; he could pass his own energy to another for a quick power up. It's able to enhance a person's strength or their quirk and disperses back to him once they use their quirk. But it's so much more complex than that. For instance, if he passes his energy to one person, and that person tries to pass it to a third, then their energy is added to the "pass" and the attack gets even stronger. It can even be passed back to Izuku, increasing his physical strength (though he can't pass it to another person until he uses the power up). His energy naturally wanted to be passed, resulting in a lot of accidents when he was a kid, and a lot of effort to make sure he only baton passed when he wanted to. Even the amount of energy could be altered, though he had a hard limit; his quirk wouldn't let him pass more energy than it took to stay awake, and since it was returned near instantly there wasn't much to worry about.

The last thing he knew about his quirk, that he discovered five years ago with his brother, is that just as he can give energy, he can steal it away from other people. The hard limit differed from person to person, dependent on their stamina level, but it was so scary seeing Nii-san collapse in exhaustion that Izuku swore to never use it against someone.

It wasn't a hero quirk. A sidekick's quirk, definitely, all his classmates and teachers had told him that, with Kaachan laughing loudly how he could only give a sub-par hero a power up and stand by while someone else defeats the villains. It's not an offensive quirk. What the fuck do you think you could do? Kaachan once asked when they were still in elementary school, make villains even more powerful? Stupid Deku, leave the hero work to those that can do something.

And what's worse is that he wasn't wrong. Izuku knew that, if he wanted to be a hero, it would have to be without a quirk. This thought stuck with him after he went home and when he went to school the next day. Almost like fate, he was attacked by a slime villain on the way home and All Might saved him. Izuku was about to ask his question when All Might took off again, this time with Izuku attached to his foot.

They landed and Izuku learned one of All Might's secrets. It was then that he asked "Can I be a hero without using my quirk?"

And All Might said, "No."

After their conversation and All Might left the roof, Izuku considered giving up. If even the number one hero thought he couldn't be a hero, then why continue trying. But something, one small spark of rebellion kept burning in his heart. So Izuku walked down those stairs and onto the street, only to noticed smoke in the distance.

Like the hero he was, Izuku investigated. He saved Kaachan's life from the slime villain. And the rest, Izuku would tell Aizawa with a small smile in UA's north-most interrogation room, was between him and All Might. If Aizawa wanted to know, he'd have to ask the man himself.