Izuku makes a decision for...his benefit? Katsuki has a grand old time. Himiko has an existential crisis. And Ochako finds out she was a hidden badass...Or will be, once she figures out how to use it right.

After dinner that evening, where Izuku had been given the rather concerning news about Tsubasa's sudden disappearance, Izuku had just settled down to finish up some homework when he was startled by his bedroom door slamming open. Taking a couple quick breaths to calm his now racing heartbeat, he glared half-heartedly at Katsuki as the blonde strode in and plopped on Izuku's bed without a care in the world.

"I found us some training partners," Katsuki began with zero preamble.

"What?"

"Two transfer students came in today. Ochako Uraraka and Himiko Toga. Teach had me showing them about. Turns out they came here to apply to UA. Got to talking and they seemed pretty badass, so I invited them to our training. Since we're gonna have to pick it the fuck up, gotta get your quirk in working order and shit."

"Oh for fucks sake Kacchan!" Izuku growled. He didn't have time for this, he needed to finish his homework. He spun back around to face his desk, putting his back to his best friend.

"Look, you need to use your damned quirk. They need some fucking practice. I need more practice. We all get shit out of this, so it makes perfect sense."

"Kacchan…I'm not going to UA. Can't you just respect that?"

Katsuki stood up and crossed the room. Ignoring Izuku's protests, he sat on the desk and looked down at the seated green-haired boy. "Then what the fuck are you gonna do?"

"I don't know. I have time to figure it out, it's not a big deal."

"Bullshit. You're gonna delay until the last second and then just grab something out of a hat, because you don't fucking care. There's one fucking thing you give a shit about and it's heroes! So just be a hero!"

Izuku slammed his hand on his desk, leaping to his feet and storming over to his bed, away from Katsuki. He dove into it, burying his head in his pillow to try and drown out the other boy's voice. Muffled, he replied. "Murderers don't get to be heroes, Kacchan."

"I'm not going to argue with you about that stupid shit again, Zu. But I am going to remind you that you have to practice with that quirk or someone else will get hurt. You remember what the doc said, right? You're gonna have more leaks. Isn't it better to practice now and avoid that shit?"

"You're exhausting."

"Besides, the girls could use more training partners. You're not gonna make the transfer students upset, are you?"

"Oh get the fuck out of here with that Kacchan. I don't need more pity or being treated like I'm made of glass."

"...They don't know about your past. I asked them not to look into it, or to ask about it. All they know is you don't like your quirk."

Izuku scoffed. "Understatement of the century," he muttered.

Katsuki hopped off the desk and walked to the door, hands stuffed in his pockets. Without turning around, he walked out with one final comment. "Just think about it. A fresh start, Izuku. Maybe you'll surprise yourself." The door closed behind him.

"Hi! I'm Ochako Uraraka! You must be Midoriya, yeah?" the bubbly brunette said, sticking her hand out as Izuku stared blankly at the literal personification of sunshine in front of him. A nudge in his side from Katsuki broke him out of it, him taking her hand with a sheepish smile. A second later, she was shoved gently out of the way by a blonde girl with her hair up in buns.

"And I'm Himiko Toga! Hiya!" she exclaimed, her smile wide. Izuku had the odd thought that the grin she sported was somehow both dangerous and adorable at the same time. He shook his head out of that line of thought and took her hand as well.

"Izuku Midoriya, but seems you knew that."

Uraraka shrugged. "Bakugo talks about you a lot."

Izuku gave the side-eye to his friend, who stood there with a shit-eating grin. "All good things, I hope."

"Depends on if you consider 'dumbass' a good thing when he says it," Himiko chimed in, snickering at the glare the brunette sent her.

"Coming from him that's high praise," came Izuku's dry response.

"Whatever nerd. Anyways, kicking it back into training tonight, right?"

Izuku narrowed his eyes at Katsuki, the two glaring at each other for a few moments before Izuku let out a deep sigh that just screamed 'done with it all'. "Fine, you explosive pomeranian, we'll train. Just to get you off my back. But I'm still not-"

"'Applying to UA', I know I know. Ugh, you're a fucking broken record Zu."

"You're one to talk Kacchan."

"I thought you said you're both going to UA too," Uraraka asked, a little bit confused by the interactions so far.

"He is. I'm not," Izuku replied.

"Oh he absolutely is going to UA, once he gets his head out of his ass. We just need to find the right proctologist since it's been stuck there for fourteen fucking years."

"I swear to every god in existence I will end you, Katsuki Bakugo."

"Best bring your A-Game then tonight Izuku, because I'm gonna end you!" Katsuki shot back, teeth bared in a terrifying grin.

A giggle from Himiko broke the tension as both boys turned to glance at her. "Oh you two are funny. I can't wait to see what you guys can do."

"Tch. That's my line, Vamp. Hope you can keep up!"

"Oh you're so on, 'Kacchan'," she shot back.

"Sorry Toga, but I am first in line to kick his ass tonight," Izuku broke in, feeling a little bit more comfortable with the banter as he got more used to the two new students.

"I'm fine with that. And…Himiko, please. I don't…don't like my last name much," she trailed off, looking away from the green haired boy.

Well, Izuku had seen enough emotional minefields (most of them his own) to know when not to ask questions. He just gave a sharp nod. "Sure, Himiko. You can call me Izuku then, if you want."

"Um, if we're doing that, you can call me Ochako! Himi already does so if we're going to be spending time together, might as well!" Uraraka chimed in with another sunshine smile that made Katsuki and Izuku wish they had a pair of sunglasses for.

"Call me Izuku too, then," he offered.

"Katsuki," he grunted, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I'm glad the four of you are getting along, but it's time for class," their teacher announced as he walked into the room, heading to his desk. The four now suitably chastised students quickly went to their desks and gave the teacher sheepish grins (save Katsuki who just smirked).

"So what kinda training do you two do, anyways?" Himiko asked as she took a drink from a thermos, the four enjoying the nice weather on the roof..

"Depends on the day and what we have to work on. Split pretty evenly between cardio and weights when it comes to workout days, but also some quirkless sparring. Quirk training twice a week for Kacchan, I just take notes and help him get better at aiming."

"Quirk training that you will be taking part in now," Katsuki drawled. As Ochako noted Izuku's fist clenching and him opening his mouth to retort, she tried to interject to stop another brewing argument.

"Is that all you guys do? Or do you have other hobbies?"

Katsuki slurped at his noodles before responding. "Course we do. Zu here analyzes quirks like you wouldn't fucking believe. Takes a ton of notes about them and draws people in those notebooks. He's really good at it. As for myself, I like to cook. And we had all those other hobby classes Mom shoved us into to keep us from destroying the house."

"Like what?" Ochako asked.

"We did dance for what, a couple of years or some shit like that?"

"Yeah. And you took drum lessons while I was doing guitar."

"Oh, and the fucking singing lessons."

"You're still upset about that? You sound great!"

"Yeah and you sound like a fucking angel, it's annoying."

"Yes, but I still can't cook nearly as well as you do."

"Don't sell yourself short, you cook just fine. What you can't do is fix an engine to save your goddamned life."

"I don't know why you're so obsessed with motorcycles anyways. You don't even have one!"

"Cause the hag won't let me get my license till we're set for uni, but you best fucking believe once we're in UA I'm getting my goddamned ride. And it's because they look fucking badass, thats why!"

"Kacchan, you can fly with your quirk! You don't need a motorcycle!"

"I don't need to drown my food in fucking ghost peppers but that hasn't stopped me yet! Besides, you got all that computer geek shit going on in your head."

"It's not 'computer geek shit', it's just knowing how to use them correctly and a little bit of software engineering. Besides, you're an actual model."

"If I'm a model so are you, Mom's put you in a few ads too!"

"Not nearly as many as you, especially as I can't do any of the shirtless ones."

"You could, if you weren't a cowa-...shit. Sorry," Katsuki cut himself off as he set his empty bowl down. Izuku looked down at his food with now trembling hands, silence falling over the group as quickly as the back and forth between the two men had escalated. Himiko and Ochaka shared a look at how quickly their banter went downhill, souring the entire mood in moments.

"...you two sure like to argue, don't you?" Himiko asked after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. Katsuki let out an indelicate snort as Izuku gave a sad smile.

"Yeah, that's the main reason Auntie kept forcing us into all those classes, to keep us 'occupied' as she put it. Said we needed to get all that excess energy out somewhere."

"Also because she claimed we needed to be 'Renaissance Men" or some shit."

"Well, it's your only redeeming quality soooo," Izuku drawled as his attitude seemed to bounce back, getting a playful shove to his shoulder from Katsuki in response. He smirked. "Besides, you were quite happy during those dance classes when you realized how much it made the other guys drool over youuuuu-"

"Oh shut up you fuckwad, I will end you," Katsuki shot back with a growl, although the supposed anger was belied by the flush on his cheeks.

"Is that why you learned to cook? I've always heard the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," Himiko teased.

"Shove off Vamp, I'll rip your fangs out," he mockingly snarled at her.

"Kinky!"

Izuku and Ochako both choked on their drinks at Himiko's reply as Katsuki burst into guffaws. The blonde girl just kept her cheshire cat grin plastered on her face, yellow eyes glinting in the sunlight.

'Okay. Okay Izuku, you can do this,' he said to himself as he stared in the mirror. The girls had agreed to meet the boys down at Dagobah Beach, where they tended to do Kacchan's quirk training since no one cared what happened down there. Kacchan had gotten changed and dashed off before Izuku could comment, excited for some reason Izuku still couldn't fathom. Izuku though, he'd had to take a few minutes to steady himself.

Ever since their conversation the night before, Izuku was…off. No, if he was honest with himself, he'd been off since the day with the sludge villain. He hadn't really had time to sit down and process it all. Between learning what he did about All Might, using his Quirk to its actual potential for the first time since he was four, and then Dr. Kirishima's reveals about both his internal mutations and the fact his Quirk would keep causing issues if he didn't get a proper handle on it, he was swamped in emotions he hadn't really processed.

And now, Kacchan had just up and dragged two more people into his goddamn business! A part of Izuku was furious about what Kacchan was doing. It didn't take a genius to see that he was trying to push Izuku out of his comfort zone with people who didn't know anything about what he'd done.

But he couldn't ignore the other part of him that was just happy to talk to someone who didn't know. Someone who really wasn't judging him based on his past, like all his peers had. They'd never judged him harshly, but on some level, the pity felt worse. At least if they'd been cruel it would merely match the thoughts in his own mind, but instead they just…pitied him.

He never wanted pity! He wanted…he wanted…fuck. He didn't know what he wanted! Izuku stared at himself in the mirror, emerald eyes reflected off the surface before him, unable to really comprehend something so incredibly simple. He let out a rueful chuckle at his own foolishness. He hated the pitying stares, but it wasn't like he wanted anger either. He wasn't even sure if he wanted them to like him. He really had lived fourteen years and never once thought about what he did want…only what he didn't want.

Maybe…maybe Kacchan had a point. All Might had even told him anyone could be a hero, even someone who'd made mistakes in the past. And it wasn't like he never considered it. Hell, he considered it all the time. Hard not to when constantly around someone who was more hyped about it than a yapping puppy dog was about treats. He just didn't know how to reconcile it! People had died because of him and his Quirk. So many had died. Even if he wasn't held legally liable, the villain who called down the bolt was the one who the police said was responsible, it didn't change what he'd done.

Then again, maybe…maybe if he saved enough people, it'd even up his crimes. Well, not even it up, but just balance it out a little. But how many is enough? He doubted there were enough out there, since lives weren't some one to one commodity you could trade. Although…what if he just…kept saving people? He'd just keep saving people. He always wanted to help people after all. And if he died doing it, well, that was okay. That'd be penance for his crimes…he'd serve the world until he could no longer serve. Okay. He could do that!

Izuku looked up at his reflection with a resolved glare, and then grinned. A bright, wide smile on his face, ready to face the world and repay it for what he'd done! He took a deep, bracing breath and exited the bathroom, heading down the stairs to meet his friends.

"Um…aren't you going to be hot in that?" Ochako asked Izuku as she stared at him in the long-sleeved compression shirt he wore. Unlike him, the other three were all wearing tank tops and shorts, yet he was in both a long-sleeve shirt and jeans. Plus the green gloves.

"I don't really get bothered by extremes in temperature,' Izuku replied with a shrug. "And it's better I don't have too much exposed skin."

"Take off the gloves, dipshit. Else they are just gonna be ruined again. Besides, if you use your Quirk it'll drain so you need to absorb more anyways!"

Izuku reached out and grabbed Katsuki's arm. "Kacchan, can we speak alone for a moment?"

"Huh? The fuck for?"

"Just…please?"

Katsuki looked over at Izuku's face, meeting the other boy's gaze for a good ten seconds before nodding. "Alright. We'll be right back, feel free to break shit if you want. It's all trash anyways." Izuku smiled distractedly at the two girls before pulling Katsuki away, the blonde swearing as he nearly faceplanted into the sand from the unexpectedly strong tug on his arm. After they were far enough away they couldn't be overheard, he ripped his arm away from Izuku's. "Okay, the fuck is this about?"

Izuku took a deep, bracing breath. "I don't think I should practice today." As he saw Katsuki's eyes narrow and his mouth open, Izuku hurriedly interrupted. "I'm not backing down! I, look. Just…hear me out?" Katsuki's mouth snapped shut as he gave Izuku an appraising glance. Izuku took another deep breath. "I think…maybe you were right. And maybe I should take my future seriously. And learn how my Quirk works."

"Fucking finally," Katsuki exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "Took you long enough to get your head out of your ass! For fucks sake! Perfect, let's fucking get started!"

"Not yet!" Izuku hissed, bringing the blonde's attention back to him. "At least…not today. Look, we don't know what I can do with my Quirk besides…you know, the thing. So I think I should take a day or two to, you know…take some notes. On it. On me. On what I do know. And um…I mean…the girls just got here, and we haven't seen their Quirks either and-"

"Oh my fucking god you dork, you just want to geek out over their Quirk's don't you?"

"I'm not wrong about my Quirk and you know it!"

"But you're not denying what I said," Katsuki smirked.

Izuku glared, but the effect was somewhat muted by the red staining his cheeks. "Fuck you Kacchan."

"Nah, you're not my type."

Izuku rolled his eyes. "I hope you realize the day you find a boyfriend is the day I embarrass the ever loving hell out of you with all the baby pictures Auntie has."

"You wouldn't dare," Katsuki hissed.

"Fucking try me," Izuku shot back.

Katsuki sighed. "Oi, stop trying to change the goddamned subject. Going back to the whole Quirk business…fine. But next time we train Quirks, you train yours too. For your own safety."

"...yeah. I will. I mean it, Kacchan. I'll try. And umm…about the whole hero thing…I'm…considering it."

Katsuki's eyes widened. "You are? What changed your mind?"

"I thought you'd be happy?"

"I am! I just didn't expect it."

Izuku gave a shrug. "I don't know if I can put it into words. I mean…you weren't wrong about it being the thing I cared about the most. I guess I just…figure helping people is more important than my hang ups about it, you know?"

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at Izuku appraisingly, as if he was trying to solve a puzzle. He tilted his head to the left, then back to the right, scanning over the greenette's body language and expression. But Izuku had spent over a decade figuring out how to keep his tells away from the surprisingly perceptive Katsuki, and knew his comment would pass muster. It wasn't like it was untrue. He just was leaving part of it out.

Katsuki shrugged. "Alright Izu, if you say so. Good enough reason I guess. Let's stop keeping the girls waiting though. It's fucking rude." Izuku snorted at Katsuki saying something about being rude, but chose not to comment as they walked back over. They approached while the two girls were apparently stretching, Ochako rolling her shoulders and Himiko currently leaning to one side to stretch out her legs.

"Alright, so dumbass here hasn't done enough studying on his Quirk to use it today, so we'll be working on his later in the week. I don't wanna tell you what to do with your own Quirks, but Izu here is pretty damned good at analysis, so if you wanna sit and chat with him about it you might find some new shit. I'm gonna be working on precision explosions, so just ignore the sounds coming around the bend." Katsuki finished speaking and wandered off without waiting for a reply from the other three. Both girls just blinked at his abrupt exit while Izuku sighed at his mannerisms.

"That's just how he is, don't worry about it. But…if you'd be up to it, I really do like doing Quirk analysis? So…can I ask some questions?" Izuku gave a sheepish smile as he glanced away from the two in front of him, rubbing the back of his neck.

Himiko shrugged. "Sure, but my Quirk's really not that interesting."

"Of course it is!" Izuku practically shouted back at her, making the blonde jump back in surprise. Seeing her reaction his blush returned full force and he hurriedly began to apologize. "Oh my god I'm so sorry I didn't mean to raise my voice I just think it's a super cool quirk and youreallyshouldn'ttalkdownaboutitand-"

"Breathe you damn nerd!" came the shout from the other side of the nearest trash pile, cutting Izuku off from his rapid-fire speech. Izuku jolted for a moment, before taking a deep breath and glaring off in the general direction of the voice. He turned back to the two girls before him.

"A-anyways, I just mean, everyone's Quirks are interesting! You shouldn't look down on it!"

Himiko tilted her head to the side curiously. "Don't you look down on yours?" Ochako hissed at her and swatted at her shoulder as Izuku froze for a moment, looking away.

"It's…a long story. But I shouldn't be a hypocrite about it, you're right," Izuku replied sullenly. He perked up in an instant though, throwing a blindingly bright grin at the two of them. "Luckily my Quirk will be excellent for serving people once I get a hang of it!"

The two girls shared a glance at the sudden shift in attitude and strange wording, but shrugged it off. Izuku had been nothing if not strange, but it wasn't like it was that odd.

"Well, guess I could talk about it. So, my Quirk allows me to transform into-"

Ochako wondered if she could ever look at her hands the same way again. Much less at her roommate/friend/something Himiko, who looked as shell-shocked as the day her adoption went through. Within a half hour of the two of them explaining their Quirks and Izuku writing down notes on them on a notebook she still didn't know where he pulled it from, he'd somehow come up with an entire Quirk training regimen for the both of them.

Which would have been fine, if A), he hadn't completely flipped her understanding of her Quirk on it's head (she wasn't negating gravity so much as matching it's effect), and B), hadn't been right! She tried one of his suggestions and found out she could add gravity onto something! She'd actually completely crushed an entire washing machine with her Quirk within seconds! Sure, it made her vomit and terrified her when she thought about that happening to a person, but he assured her she could easily figure out how to moderate how much she added.

And Himiko, Izuku was absolutely convinced she could figure out how to call upon her transformed targets Quirk. Though she'd not succeeded at it when she copied Ochako's form (and no, she was not elaborating on how Himiko already had her blood), Izuku already had an entire regimen setup for her to practice.

Although Ochako was pretty sure what freaked Himiko out the most was entirely how nonchalant Izuku had been when he suggested she try his blood out so he could witness the mechanism. Not only did his expression not remotely change when she latched onto his right arm, he was taking notes with his left hand! When asked, he offhandedly said he'd taught himself to be ambidextrous for note-taking when his right was occupied. The entire time he just watched as Himiko literally was sucking his blood and not once did he falter, completely focused on his note-taking.

Ochako and Himiko's adopted father had been the only two people in her life who hadn't flinched at least a little at her when she used those fangs. Even when Katsuki came back around the corner, sweating but looking pleased with himself, he didn't react at all to the sight nor to the blood spilling from Himiko's lips when she released Izuku's arm. He just looked at her with a studied curiosity, blinking only when she shifted into Izuku's form. He shrugged and said he was headed home, giving both girls a wide, toothy grin at the shell shocked expressions. He clapped them on the back and said he'd see them tomorrow, gripped Izuku's shoulder and told him he'd catch up with him at home, and then just began jogging off.

Ochako glanced over at Himiko as she dropped Izuku's form, Izuku immediately touching the gray sludge and muttering about what kind of substance it had to be. She coughed lightly. "Maybe we should head home too? It's getting a bit late."

"Oh, oh I'm so sorry, didn't mean to hold you up!" he replied, looking away from them and rubbing the back of his neck again.

"No no, it's fine! You gave us a lot to think about!" she replied, waving her hands quickly at the embarrassed boy before her.

"Well…I'm glad I could help a bit," he replied, smiling and looking up through his bangs at her.

"Yep! Thanks a bunch Izu!" Himiko interjected, grabbing Ochako by the hand and waving at him with her other one with frantic energy. "We'll see you in class tomorrow! Bye!" and began to drag Ochako away, the brunette sputtering a bit before waving back at the now somewhat confused green-haired boy. He shrugged and turned around, following the same path Katsuki had.

"The hell was that?" Ochako hissed at Himiko, trying to get Himiko to slow down and stop dragging her.

"Who the hell is he 'Chako? Like…I've never seen you do that before! How did no one figure that out before him?!"

"Well, to be fair, it's not like we could afford to go to a professional counselor besides the school appointed one. And you know he wasn't an expert, just a low level guy."

"Yeah but I have been to one, and he didn't think I could use other people's Quirk's either."

Ochako shrugged. "You haven't yet, so maybe he's wrong."

"He seemed real sure I could."

"Just cause he was sure doesn't mean he's right. He got mine right but that doesn't mean he's right about everything."

Himiko hunched her shoulders a little as she refused to look over at Ochako. "I know, but…something about the way he looked at me, it felt like he was so sure. And…something about how he said it, I just get this feeling he's right. I can't explain it, but it feels like I could do it."

Ochako hummed as they approached their apartment, a small one situated on the ground floor of the building they were in. Taking out her key, she unlocked the door and let Himiko walk ahead of her. "Maybe it's his Quirk? We don't actually know how it works. Katsuki said it was 'more complicated' than just absorbing and storing energy."

"That seems like a stretch," Himiko replied, taking off her shoes as they walked in.

"Well I don't know, you're the one freaking out!"

"I'm not freaking out, I just…he kinda…scares me. But in a good way?"

Ochako snickered. "Scared in a good way? Are we watching a horror movie now?"

Himiko gave a playful snarl, showing her fangs. "I am a horror movie, 'Chako."

Ochako rolled her eyes. She strode off to the kitchen, calling back. "So, we have instant ramen, instant ramen, or instant ramen for dinner? What do you want?"

"Well obviously instant ramen. Can't believe you forgot about that one!" Himiko replied as she walked into their shared bedroom to get changed.

"Of course, silly me." Ochako bent over to grab a pot from under the counter, hissing slightly as she did so.

"What's wrong?" Himiko asked, walking into their little kitchenette.

"I think I slept wrong, my shoulders have been killing me all day," Ochako replied, frowning as she rotated her shoulder.

"Want a massage?"

"You just want to touch me with my shirt off."

"Guilty!" Himiko sang out with no shame. Her expression turned pensive a moment later as. "But I also don't like you hurting."

Ochako flushed slightly, hunching her shoulders as she turned away from Himiko. "Well…maybe later. I'm okay for now."

"Okay…then tell me, whatcha think about the boys, hmm?"

Ochako arched an eyebrow. "Whaddya mean?"

"Think they're cute?" Himiko smiled as she did, fangs glinting in the sunlight.

"Eh. Katsuki isn't my type. And based on what the boys were saying earlier, pretty sure we're not his type either."

"And Izuku?"

Ochako flushed a little. "I mean…he was kinda cute when he got so excited."

"I thought so too!" Himiko practically shouted, clapping her hands gleefully. "Also, if that shirt was any indication, boy be built."

"Katsuki did say they train together, and he's pretty fit too. It makes sense for Izuku to be as well."

"Mmmhmm."

Ochako sighed. "Himi, you're not gonna hit on him when we see him next are you?"

"Next time? Nah. But maybe after a while we can see?"

Ochako turned away from the stove, glancing over at her blonde roommate's grin. "Why did you say it like that?"

"Well, obviously I'm not doing anything unless you approve too, duh."

Ochako flushed again, feeling the blood rushing to her cheeks and turned back to the stove, mixing in the flavor packet to the noodles. "Himi, I'm still not sure it's the right time, with the exam coming up and all."

Himiko stepped up behind Ochako and hugged her softly from behind, resting her head on the brunette's shoulder. "I know. It's kinda hard with exams and what we have to work with. But that's okay. I can wait."

"You're too good to me," Ochako muttered.

"Nope, none of that. You helped save me, Ochako. You're the one who's too darned good."

Ochako rolled her eyes, her blush fading as she stirred the noodles once more, turning the heat off. "Okay Himi. Come on, lemme go, let's eat."