Over the blinding white sun, a puff of smoke evaporated into the sweltering summer.

The neighborhood was as decrepit and abandoned as ever.

Things had changed little in this part of southern Detroit since the comet sailed over the globe and gave people quirks. The weeds still poked over the cracked sidewalks with kudzu invading the overgrown lawns littered with used needles and shards of cracked glass. Old buildings laden in brick that were previously corner stores were abandoned with weed smoke billowing out of the broken window. Not a single car drove over the pothole-riddled concrete like bullets wedged into the facade of the abandoned store.

Behind a chain link fence with razors on the top of the frame, the smoke continued to sift through the window. Traversing upward, the smoke trickled over the walls of the cracked brick towards the single sun spot that beamed down on the creator of the smoke. A young man with coconut brown hair, neatly styled over his white dress shirt and green pants, blew out another cloud as he leaned his back on the wall.

"I just thought it was a little overrated, that's all," the boy said in a calm, even tone. "Steinbeck's easy to read, but it doesn't amount to much."

"Amount to much?" a chirpy voice responded. "The entire point of the book was to reflect, well, the...the world we live in now, I guess. One of poverty. Mindless hedonism. What desperate people do at desperate times."

"Okay, but that's almost every book ever," he said to the girl next to him pointing the joint at her. "I mean, the theme is about as generic as it gets."

"It's not my fault they want us to read it. I mean, you wanna talk about random," the girl took a swig of her water bottle. "We had to start Murakami in World Lit yesterday."

"Murakami is good," he said.

"Look, if I wanted to read about some lonely middle-aged guys sexual fantasies with his high school friends, I'd just read some fanfiction," the girl said.

The boy laughed right as the alarm on his phone went off. He grabbed it by his foot and switched the noise off. The girl straightened out her hair and then took out a small makeup compact from her green backpack. She flipped it open and tugged on a strand of her blonde hair that she tied into a ponytail. Her deep emerald eyes looked back at her heart-shaped face, and she padded away a bead of sweat with the foundation sponge. When she saw her face was spotless save for the freckles over her nose and cheeks, she closed the mirror and brushed away some of the silt on her green school uniform.

"Well, I can walk you over to Saint Barts' today. I'm ditching the rest of the day."

The boy next to the girl got up and wedged the joint into his mouth. It hung from the corner of his dry lips when he reached a hand down to her. She grabbed it and lifted herself up with his strength.

"You ditched last week to go see that dumb Deku movie," she said. "You're gonna get kicked out."

"Please," he took out his joint and extended it to her. "That place is a diploma mill. I could stab someone and probably still graduate. By the way, you want a hit."

"No. Thanks."

"C'mon. Just one. You never had, Lynn."

"I don't need it," Lynn Taylor shrugged her pink backpack over her pink blazer that she wore over her school uniform. "Besides, one of those nuns will smell it on me."

"They'll already smell it on you."

"Yeah, but not on my breath." Lynn said.

"It's just weed, Lynn. You act like I'm doing crack or something."

"Are you?"

"Okay, forget I asked," he said. " Let's go."

The pair skipped over the broken glass and toppled display cases towards the ramshackle wooden door. The boy kicked it open, and Lynn slipped through the crack to exit into the quiet block. The blazing sun battered over her thick uniform as the cicadas chirped uninterrupted within the thistles of the wild grass. Her black boots brushed through the rough terrain before she hopped over the smashed concrete step back onto the empty sidewalk. Behind her, the boy shut the door.

"What are you gonna do all day?" Lynn asked.

"I don't know. Wait till you get out or something?"

"Okay, Jason," Lynn said as the boy started to walk with her down the road. She squinted at him with the bright sun casting a harsh glow on the street. "You can't just hang out by the school. Someone will think you're cutting."

"I am."

"Cutting from my school," Lynn said. "Then, they bring you in. Then, they find out you're at the wrong school, then they call your parents. Then, you die."

"They don't care that much," Jason said.

Lynn sighed and looked over at her best friend. She pursed her lips as a bead of sweat dripped down to the rim of his glasses. At first glance, Jason seemed to be the typical nerdy kid. In a way, he was. His grades were always top-notch, and he aced any test that was thrown his way. Yet, he was as combative as a heavyweight boxer when it came to his teachers and authority. Based on the bruise blooming under the collar of his shirt, he had been in yet another fight at the rundown excuse of a school he routinely left to see her.

Meanwhile, Lynn was in some ways the opposite. She looked as much the pristine, dressed-up popular girl that one would imagine in a teenage high school comedy. A longtime leader on the cheerleading squad for the private school about a mile north of Jason's, she was expected to keep up with the latest breaking story on the gossip mill and fan the flames of such rumors to her friends. Yet, she was as intrigued with intellectual discussions on popular culture and artistic theories as Jason had been when they first met on that playground all those years ago. Therefore, this meeting of the minds in an abandoned gas station halfway between their schools was a near daily occurrence at this point.

"You can get into my school, y'know," Lynn said.

"You know I won't fit in."

"Who cares, Jason," Lynn said. "I mean, it's a Catholic private school. The only one that would really fit in with all the rules is like Jesus or something."

"I don't even fit in at my own school."

"Because it's a drug den. You said it yourself. You're smarter than them. You're better."

"My folks couldn't afford it."

"There's help."

"I'm not Catholic."

"Just pretend," Lynn said. "Stand when everyone else does. Eat the communion. Do the sign of the cross. You're good to go!"

"I wouldn't know what to say at Mass."

"I don't know what to say at Mass!" Lynn grabbed Jason's thin arm and stopped him at an intersection. "And I'm Catholic! You just mumble along to what everyone else says. Easy."

"Well, the school year is almost over," Jason said. "And I'm already signed up at Wiseau High across town. You can come over if you want. Unless you want to spend the next four years getting smacked with a yardstick."

Lynn let go of his arm. With a slight blush, she hugged herself and gazed down at a sewage grate covered in moss. Then, she leaned on the crooked stop sign riddled with graffiti.

"I'm not going there next year."

Jason frowned. He stepped towards her as she tried to avoid his gaze.

"You...you moving?"

"No, I...well," Lynn said. "I'm signing up for the new school they announced last week. The one Deku will be teaching at."

Jason pushed up his glasses and cocked his head to the side in a curious amusement. "That new school. The United States Academy of Whatever, right?"

Lynn scoffed. "Yeah. That school. They just announced openings for it, and they're requiring half the students be in state. And I applied for the merit-based spots they had."

"Well," Jason said. "Your parents should have no problem affording it if you can't get in like that."

Lynn looked up at Jason who turned away from her towards the street. He placed the joint back in his mouth to take a drag. Lynn frowned and snatched the joint out of his mouth and threw it on the ground. She stomped on it and scrubbed in into the hot asphalt.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lynn asked.

"What?"

"If I can't get in like that? You're saying my grades aren't good enough?"

"No, I'm just saying," Jason said. "It seems like you got this figured out, so don't let me stop you."

"Don't you want to come?" Lynn asked. "You can make it in, too. If I get in, then you definitely could."

"I'm not going," Jason said.

"Why not?" Lynn asked. "I want you there. At an actual school. And they're building dorms, so you can stay there instead of at home! Stay with me."

"I told you why I can't," Jason said. "What I want to do. You're the one that wants to be a Pro-Hero. Not me. I mean, my quirk is reading really fast. Lynn, you can do all of the crazy bending and moving stuff. All the saving the day stuff. Me...I'm not even a support guy. I'm some...background character. Y'know?"

The boy looked out onto the empty road. A road that stretched for miles into the warm blur of the summer afternoon. Lynn stared out with him when she heard keys jangling behind her.

"Imagine the car keys to that Gran Torino on here, Lynn? And I can drive anywhere I want. Alaska. Mexico. Wherever I want. And my grandparents promised they'd give it to me for my sixteenth birthday. I officially asked them the other day. And when I get that car, Lynn. I'm driving. And I'm not coming back."

"Why not?" Lynn asked.

"What do I got to come back for?"

"Me." Lynn said. "I kinda thought you'd want to be here for me."

Jason sighed and pocketed his keys. Lynn stared down at the sidewalk and blinked away the saline that stung at her eyes. She kept her arms clung around her voluptuous frame with her gaze averting Jason's eyes that bore into her soul. A long silence suffocated the two, and Lynn could only hear the sound of her wheezing nostrils trying to capture the thick air that boiled in the shadeless concrete sea.

Then, Lynn's gaze was invaded by the ragged, torn and scuffed cream shoes of Jason who loomed over her. A hand reached over and quirked her chin upward. Jason was just a few inches away with his eyes lidded.

"Kiss me, then."

Lynn's breath hitched as she took a minuscule step back.

"What?"

"Kiss me. We've never done that before, right?"

"Yeah because...because we haven't. What the hell?"

"So let's do it," Jason said. "If we both feel something, then I'll stay."

"Feel something?" Lynn asked. "What am I supposed to feel?"

"I guess we're gonna find out, right?" Jason said with the ghost of a smile on his face.

Lynn leaned forward just slightly. Her mouth dropped agape with the edges pursued in a subconscious anticipation. As close and as handsome as her friend was, she had never considered doing anything like this with him. Well, maybe once during a conversation with some of the cheerleading girl's at school, but she slapped herself to forget of the notion. Their bond was supposed to be different; more sacred than just the petty pleasures of making out.

And yet...

She had to admit she was curious as well. While she had certainly had her share of late night parties with the more popular members of the school, Jason was the reprieve to all of those pressures. A hidden oasis of calm and intellect that she could escape to when keeping up with her clique was too draining on her soul. In fact, the entire time she had known him, he had always been the constant. On top of that, despite her ability to basically pick whoever she wanted from the football team, Jason had the cute nerdy look down, and his lips appeared to be surprisingly pliable.

With the sound of a revving engine crescendoing down the street, she tillted her head and lifted herself up on her tiptoes. Then, she used her quirk to bend her feet further. She decreased the density of her bones in her feet and increased it in her toes. The extra strength allowed her to lift up even higher to be eye-level with Jason. His soft, curled hair was in reach, and Lynn placed a hand within the feathery locks.

"Are you using your quirk right now?"

"Yes," Lynn said. "Now shut up."

Brrrrr.

She leaned in closer. Jason closed his eyes.

Brrrrr.

Then, she did the same.

Brrrrr.

They leaned in closer. Closer. Closer. All they could hear was their own breath tickling one another's face.

BRRRRRRRRR.

And the engine charging right at them!

Lynn opened her eyes in time to see the sedan spinning off the road right towards them on the intersection!

With a huff, she grabbed Jason by the shoulders and threw him out of the way. The side of the car rocketed towards her with smoke screeching from the tires. Lynn planted her feet and stretched out her hands towards the black sedan that roared at her. It bumped over the curb and swiped up onto the sidewalk. Hunched over, Lynn felt the strange vibration warp over her body as she activated her quirk again. Her hands became as heavy as cinderblocks with the car about to impact her.

She let out a quick yell and opened up her palms at the car. The bone within her hands burled with strength as her fingers flexed together to enhance the support. Her hands now extraordinary dense with nearly unbreakable bone, she closed her eyes and looked away.

BANG!

The car stopped on a dime and rocked in its spot. The windows shattered outward with a deep dent bashed into the side. The doors broke inward off their hinges with plastic trim flying off the body.

Lynn shouted and flew backwards a few feet. However, she released the density form her hands and flipped over in mid-air. With her feet now parallel to the ground, she blasted the density into her feet. The change in weight distribution caused her to snap down onto the ground.

SLAM! Lynn landed onto the sidewalk with a small crater broken into the concrete. The cracks emanated over the entire walkway down the street. Lynn steadied her upper body, and she stood stalwart like a statue in front of the car.

Jason, who had rolled onto the grassy patch next to the sidewalk, looked up and found his head inches away from the smoking grill of the vehicle. He gasped out and squeaked with trepidation at the car. Then, he pushed himself back and sat right by the chainlink fence feet from the parked and destroyed car.

"You okay?" Lynn stood up straight and nodded at Jason.

Jason creaked out a response with a dumb nod.

Then, the driver's side door open. Well, the driver attempted to open it. However, at the pull of the handle, the entire door popped off the hinge and collapsed onto the ground. It rocked and wiggled on its axis. Instead, frozen in the seat with his fist extended, was the driver of the vehicle. A certain green-haired man wearing a familiar Pro-Hero outfit.

On the plane, Izuku's head lolled forward like a dead doll. His eyes shut, he snored with his entire body about to fall onto the seat in front of him.

Hawks, next to the tired hero, shook his shoulder.

"Hey, Deku."

With a quick snore, Izuku perked up and forced his eyes wide open. THey were bloodshot with his face pale and sunken from the long night. He shot a panicked glance to Hawks and let out a terse yelp.

"I'm okay!"

Hawks chuckled. "Calm down. We're landing in like ten minutes."

Izuku blew out a deep breath. He clutched his chest and spied the skyline of Detroit as the plane descended.

"You're really tired today," Hawks said. "I thought you'd be used to jet lag by now."

Izuku rubbed his eyes. "No, it's not that. I just had a bad dream last night."

Hawks raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

With a sharp glance, Izuku stared straight ahead. His eyes quivered at the recollection of the shocking scenes the previous night.

"Sorry," Izuku said. "I won't let it get in the way of anything."

"It's not in the way," Hawks said. "Go ahead. I wanna know. As long as it's not about me. I once had a fan said she dreamed about me, and then I made the mistake of asking her what happened in it. Biggest mistake of my life."

"No, nothing like that," Izuku said. "It was about someone...I couldn't save."

"You mean in real life? Or in the Digital Universe?"

"Really, both," Izuku said. "I consider it both."

"Like...memories?"

"No," Izuku said. "No, I had one of them...one of my old students in the Digital Universe...it was a dream where he was in the same hotel room I was in. Like...I was in bed. And I remember it being very cold. And the window was open. So I tried to close it, and...he was there."

"Who?"

"Blake," Izuku said. "You know Blake Marseilles?"

"Oh, right," Hawks said. "The chatterbox with those batshit parents."

"But he felt real, Hawks," Izuku said. He stared down at his red shoes and clutched his throat. "It seemed like he was really there. Sounded like it, too. His voice was exactly how I remembered. His hair was how I remembered. And he spoke to me."

"What did he say?"

Izuku blinked a few times. He was hesitant to go further into what was said to Hawks. As much as he appreciated Hawks being there, he was unsure if he wanted to share something so personal with him yet. So, Izuku shook his head with his eyes wide and confused.

"Nothing," he said. "I think it was just 'hello' or something. But it seemed so real. And I know it isn't. But...I just thought that I was getting better at this. Not thinking about Robyn and Leo and even Kacchan. The people I could have saved if I had just...if I had just made the right move. And ever since my class graduated...I just replay it a lot more. And I wonder a lot more. What was the right move? What could I have done better? I...I could have saved them all somehow. I...I could have better. I could've..."

Izuku shrugged at a fail for words. Hawks, seeing his mental impasse, leaned back and put his headphones on. He glanced up at the ceiling and turned on the air vent. The soft breeze tickle at Izuku's shoulder.

"Well, you can talk to me whenever you want," Hawks said. "And look, I can shout till I'm blue in the face about how you shouldn't feel guilty or how you did you're best, but I know that's not good enough. But, Deku, there's one thing I've learned in all of this. Regret...regret is ghost will haunt you forever. If you let it. So, don't give it a chance. Okay?"

Izuku saw Hawks smile at him from the corner of his eye. However, the young man shook his head and thought back to the scene the previous night. The long moments that felt like hours. The words said. The way Blake's face still appeared to be right in front of him, as if he was standing right there.

"I'm not sure," Izuku said. "If I'll have much of a choice."

Izuku, still in the driver's seat, blinked while staring out at Lynn. She gaped at the man and covered her mouth in shock at what just happened.

The group examined one another. All of them afraid to make the first move. The car hissed with the occasional pop of a destroyed gasket causing them to flinch. Oil leaked out from the bottom of the vehicle leaving a dark puddle that was absorbed by the thirsty concrete below. Smoke wafted from the brakes and the engine block that was now destroyed along with the crumpled body.

Silence.

Then, a throat cleared.

"Do either of you have directions," Izuku said. "To International Island?"

Merlynn "Lynn" Taylor - Half-Blood In Hiding (voiced by Sydney Sweeney)

I was going to add more to this chapter but I thought it was best to just get out what I had then wait for an extra 3k words. I'm sure you're okay with it.

SO ANOTHER OC! Tell me your thoughts. This chapter felt like a whole short film in a way. I just had an idea and went with it. Tell me what you think!

And I am STILL OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS. TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR PARENTS. But don't get upset if they are disappointed in you. Cause that may be likely if you are telling your sixty year old dad to submit to an SYOC for a fanfic.

Thank you so much! Please any comments or suggestions are appreciated. I won't update until I get 6-9 reviews at least! So please keep going! And join the Discord!

Thank you. See you soon!