Starting Lines and Bonds:

Chun-Li-sensei had brought someone over today. She did that, sometimes. But today was different. It was someone she vaguely recognized - having seen him a time or two at different tournaments or social gatherings with the Masters over the years. Today, she brought over someone about Momo's age, with bright golden eyes, tan skin and shortish charcoal hair tied into a small, messy ponytail. He was taller than she was, which was something she rarely saw due to her own genetics. He also didn't talk much, nor did he seem particularly keen on changing that, but in those rare moments where he offered her some words of advice or a simple greeting, he did so with a calm, pleasant air.

She makes a face at him when he looks in her direction. It's a small, practiced smile of formality. The boy doesn't return one, which makes Momo dampen just a little. He lifts his head ever so slightly to respond to whatever Chun-Li-sensei had told him and Momo notes the small, awkward shift in his stance. She listened to him talk for a moment, his voice somewhat crooning over simple answers as he responded to the various things coming from her trainer and housekeepers. She thought he would've made mention of seeing her, but he didn't. When coming to the topic of heroics, he made a face and avoided the topic. He didn't seem to like that very much. Like he somehow didn't like heroes. Or he didn't want to be one.

Either way, Momo resolves herself. Chun-Li-sensei had told her that she should try to be his friend and try, she shall.

"Chun-Li-sensei." Momo calls in a small voice as several members of her staff take the boy elsewhere. "Who is that boy?" She had already recognized his face, obviously. She knew he was a fighter and that he'd apparently some connection to the Masters family. What she was looking for right now was his name.

"That's Ryoya-kun." Chun-Li says easily, looking in the direction he and the staff had gone. A small smile graces her face before it fades. "Work is starting to pick up these days and I figured now would be a good time to introduce you to a new friend."

Momo frowns but nods in understanding. Chun-Li's job as a detective did take up a lot of time, however her family's money was able to supplement the vacation time needed for training. However, it seemed like money was no longer a good enough incentive and she was needed more in the field. Instead of lingering on that, Momo pivots. "Why is he here, if you don't mind me asking? Surely it's just not for a play-date. Does he not have any other obligations than being here?"

Chun-Li opens her mouth to respond, then closes it. "He has… hobbies. But I'll hardly call art classes an obligation."

Art classes? Momo makes a mental note of that. "I see." Perhaps he was one of those into the finer arts. Picasso, Van Gogh, Munch. She could bring up one of those to him when she got the chance.

Chun-Li can see the girl processing the information in real time and giggles behind her hand. "You're thinking too much, girl. He's much more simple than you seem to imagine him to be. He - I brought him here so you," the older woman taps the girl on the nose. " - can have some friends and a new training partner. And he agreed to come here in between his own training sessions. Understand, dear?"

Momo nods. "Yes, sensei. I understand." She makes another mental note. He's simple? What does that mean? Only one way to figure it out.

After a few more moments with her sensei - recounting her training and various things to work on in her absence - Momo stalks the halls of her, sometimes annoyingly, large manor. The last she'd seen of him, he was being escorted somewhere by her housekeepers, so he could be anywhere. Anywhere, but hopefully somewhere close. Her first guess is the kitchen due to its proximity and to her surprise, he's there with a few of her chefs.

They're cleaning crabs that they had apparently caught this morning, cooled from the initial boil. It's messy work, so they're packed around one of the larger sinks while they crack them, pick them of meat, rinse them with fresh water and toss the shells away.

"Should we add the stock at the same time?" He asks, diligently monitoring his work.

"We could," one of the older chefs says easily, and with a small smile at how serious the boy seemed to be. "But then we'd just be making rice."

"I see."

Being friends with this boy would be easier said than done. The first obstacle was, weirdly enough, the housekeepers themselves. They were easy enough to handle - a simple clearing of her throat was enough to get their attention.

"Excuse me, Eleanor-san. Can I borrow our guest for a moment?"

"Of course, young mistress. We were just teaching him some of the more complex recipes and how to prepare some dishes. The young man seems to have quite the talent for cooking."

The boy turns his head to awkwardly cough to the side. "I wouldn't go that far… I just enjoy it, that's all."

The woman nods sagely. "Of course. 'Just enjoy it.' Nothing more."

Ryoya raises a brow at the tone, but Momo cuts in.

"Quite. Mother always said it was rude to ignore guests, after all."

Ryoya looks at her and his expression betrays the smallest hint of amusement. "You're not my guest, though."

Whatever Momo was expecting, it certainly wasn't that. His eyes locked with hers and for a second, the deep gold gave her a pause. It reminded her of some of her parents' more expensive jewelry. But these shades of gold weren't cold. They were warm and full of life. She had to be staring longer than she thought, since when she blinks, he's standing directly in front of her. "Lead the way."

She has to tilt her head up slightly to meet his eyes, but nods with a small smile and a light tinge of pink on her cheeks. "Of course." She says calmly, but is internally panicking. She has no idea where to begin with him.

Ochako had a small sliver of hope that the cute, green-haired boy with freckles would come back one day, but she hadn't particularly expected him to. It was probably just a coincidence that he ended up there in the first place that morning. While she was happy that he seemed nice and reacted to her rather… embarrassing moment with light laughter instead of judgment, she knew there was a chance he found her somewhat creepy and or crazy for being at a junkyard at the crack of dawn. So while Ochako hoped he came back, she wasn't going to hold her breath.

So, imagine her surprise, when he came the very next day and wanted to talk to her. And then the next. And then the next. She certainly wasn't expecting it, but she'd be lying if she didn't come to look forward to seeing him in the morning.

Even a week later, Ochako still found it a bit incredulous that this nice boy would take the time out of his mornings to come here, willingly. He only stopped by for fleeting moments, taking a few minutes to talk to her before going to the far end of the beach to practice his hado-something. The first day he came back, he'd been a bit more nervous and apologized for interrupting her training. But she laughed him off, instead thanking him for the small graces of those breaks.

It was slow progress at first, but slowly they started to say more each day. She knew his name, his middle school, and a vague idea of his training and martial arts while she'd share mostly the same as him, only leaving out the small detail of who she was training with and why. He'd even offered her his number, which she took. She just waited until he left before pulling out her flip phone and putting the number in.

And then, near the middle of the second week, something interesting happened.

It was early in the morning just before Midoriya usually came. A fair bit of a small section of beach had been cleared and Ochako had just finished moving a particularly heavy piece of machinery. Seriously, even after salvaging pieces of that old washing machine, it was still heavy! How'd that even get here!?

Her annoyed confusion was interrupted when Midoriya showed up, right on schedule. He seemed to be as he usually was - high spirits and with a small smile on his face - but today was a bit different. Most notably, the bandages around his forearms and the black eye. She nearly drops the weight she isn't holding.

"Midoriya!?"

Izuku waves at her as though nothing was out of the ordinary. "Good morning."

His air of casualness nearly makes Ochako stumble. Was she imagining the injuries? Surely not. She was tired, but not that tired. And he did seem to show some discomfort by scratching at one of the bandages.

"Are you okay?"

Izuku flinches as though expecting to be struck. Then he relaxed. "Y - yeah. I'm good. Just had uh, some serious training."

Ochako couldn't believe her ears. "That's the result of training? Did you fight a bear!?"

"No - no. Just a uh - my best friend and his trainer came over today and uh, things got a bit rough. I'm fine though! Really!" He says with a thumbs up, before wincing at a jolt of pain in his arms. "I've had worse."

The brunette levels a flat look at him. "That's not exactly a good thing, Midoriya."

"Er, well - no. But still!"

Ochako readies herself to give him an earful, but before she could -

"I am here with croissants!"

At the sound of the very deep, joyful voice behind them, the words died in her throat while Izuku seemed to perk up. It wasn't due to Midoriya seemingly being fine with whatever training he was going through, no. It was because of a voice. A very familiar voice.

Izuku turns with a wide smile, injuries long forgotten to see a tall, buff man strolling down the stairs towards the beach with a large box in his hand, beaming happily as he always did while looking around to take inventory of the piles of trash. He seemed blissfully unaware of the green haired teenager and his protege whipping around at the sound of his voice - Izuku with stars in his eyes and his body nearly vibrating with excitement while Ochako feels the color drain from her face.

"Aha! Another all right breakfast to start the day!" All Might laughed at his own joke before turning and looking for his apprentice. "I thought since you'd been doing much better as of late, I'd surprise you with an early snack before brunch! Young Uraraka! Come here and wash up so we… -"

All Might stopped when his gaze finally fell on the two teenagers, one of whom he was training and the other who was not supposed to be there. Like the professional he was, he managed to keep his smile locked on his face while the boy beamed at him while jittering a bit faster than what should be healthy. At once, he froze and he and Uraraka made eye contact, his smile not once leaving his face despite his whole body going stiff.

"Well…" All Might managed to say without moving his mouth. Somehow. "Crap baskets."

Izuku's excitement completely glossed over any rational thought, since he didn't seem to notice that All Might was looking at him as though he were holding a bomb.

"All Might, in the flesh. Right in front of me! Seeing him in person…!" Izuku muttered with his fanboyish gaze locked seemingly onto the man's very soul.

Thinking quickly to try to salvage something even remotely resembling control over the situation, All Might cleared his throat. "Er… I know you! You're the one boy who young Uraraka - I mean, this young lady was talking about over the last few days." Then his eyes widened as his mind caught up to what he'd just said. "Um - I mean, I don't know this person. What're you both doing out here? Shouldn't you both be in school?" All Might looks down at his watch before realizing yet another mistake, but continues on like the pro he is. "I mean, er, shouldn't you both be in bed? It's the middle of the week and class doesn't start for a few hours so it's best to get a full All Night's rest! Aha!"

"You're training Uraraka." Izuku says out loud. Bold. "You're the one telling her to clean this beach!"

All Might starts sweating.

After the single most unbelievable morning he'd ever had, Izuku couldn't contain himself in school. He practically trembled all day, floating along from class to class in his own world. People are talking about something, but he pays them no mind. They hadn't directly bothered him since the start of the year due to how small, but noticeable growth spurt he went through, and the amount of muscle he put on. He still didn't exactly have friends, but he didn't really have enemies either. On some days, he didn't even eat alone.

Now, towards the end of the school day and at the start of the last class, he starts to slow down. But it's short lived.

"Now then," His teacher - an old balding man with narrow eyes and a sharp nose - starts slowly. "You're all third-years now. It's time to seriously start thinking about your futures." He says with a smirk, giving the whole class a once over. "I was considering handing out the career forms but," he pauses for dramatic effect before slamming the papers on his desk. "I'm sure you all want to be heroes!"

The chaos eruption was as immediate as it was loud and jarring. It was loud enough that Izuku covered his ears and hissed under his breath. Ki's benefits weren't always benefits. Hands flew up and quirks were activated all around. Bakugou stayed quiet and threw his feet on the desk. "Yes, yes. Calm down kids. You all have wonderful quirks but it's against the rules to use them in school!"

"Sensei!" Bakugou shouts with a smug, small grin on his face. "Don't lump me in with these losers! As if I have anything close to their crappy quirks."

His words were immediately met with vitriol. "Get over yourself, Bakugou!" A kid with rocks for hair yells.

"Shut up! You extras should just act like extras!"

"Ah, Bakugou. You, of course, must be aiming for U.A High." The teacher cuts in. Izuku remains silent as Bakugou puffs out his chest.

"The national school? The cut off this year is 79, right?"

"I hear they barely accept anyone."

It was then that Izuku put his head down somewhat. He knew what was coming and didn't particularly like it. More and more people started to murmur until Bakugou had enough.

"Shut up, extras!" The blond shouts while jumping to stand on his desk. "I aced the mock exam! I'm the only one here with the stuff for U.A!" His boasts are complimented with hard stomps on his desk. "I'll even surpass All Might and become the new number one hero! Not to mention that I'll be rich as fu -"

"Oh." The teacher cuts off, and Izuku sighs internally. Here it comes. "You're also going for U.A, aren't you Midoriya?"

Silence. Then everyone turned to him, and to his surprise, only a few started laughing.

"Huh? Midoriya!? No way!"

"I don't know, man. I've seen Midoriya fight and dude's an animal."

"So? Good grades and punching some boards ain't enough to be a hero!"

"I know," Izuku shoots back smoothly. "I've been training for a while and I can do more than punch some boards. I'll be fine."

Izuku pauses to let his words marinate, and to his surprise once more, he hears some support in his favor. It's minor and all but shuts up at the smallest of push back, but it's there. There are people who, for a second, believed in him.

Just then, Bakugo lunges from his desk and, on reflex alone, Izuku lets some ki coat his face on the off chance Katsuki dares to strike him here. He doesn't, but an explosion slams into his desk that blows his hair back and nothing more. Izuku remains perfectly still, which unnerves the blond ever so slightly.

"Come on, Deku!" He sneers. "Forget the crappy quirks, you're totally quirkless! And you think you can rub shoulders with me!?"

Izuku sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. Then he stands up and grabs his bag. To Katsuki's surprise, Izuku was now looking at him eye to eye.

'Since when did the brat get taller?'

"Can I be excused to the bathroom, please?"

The teacher and the class go quiet and Katsuki seethes, but there is something in Izuku's tone that keeps him from shouting.

"Sure, whatever. Just don't be late for dismissal."

The green-haired teen nods and makes his way towards the door, but Katsuki is faster and gets in his way. Their shoulders collide but it's Katsuki who nearly falls. Izuku stops and gives him a look. "Are you okay, Kacchan?"

The withering look he receives could've turned lesser men to stone. Katsuki is about to blow and Izuku can see it, so he makes haste towards the door before anything else could happen.

But he can't help but the small smirk that appeared on his face at the look on Kacchan's face when he nearly hit the ground.

The rest of the day went on rather uneventfully up until the final bell. Everyone dashed out of the class; with the only few who remained were Izuku and a few others, him having missed the bell. There was an incident later in the morning with All Might apparently on the scene, so he was buried in his phone. So much so that he didn't notice when Bakugou walked up and snatched the notebook from his desk.

"What's that Katsuki?" The boy with elongating fingers asked with an evil smirk.

"'For my Future'? Seriously, Midoriya?! This guy..."

Bakugo said nothing as he placed the book between his hands and smashed them together with an audible boom. Only to look down in confusion when the book wasn't in his hand anymore. ' When the fuck did he...?'

"I would appreciate it if you didn't destroy my stuff, Kacchan." Izuku said calmly. Training in martial arts for as long as he has, he's learned to control his emotions much better than he did in the past. Sure, he was still emotional and would cry at the drop of a hat, he was a Midoriya after all, but he could still remain calm and level-headed in such situations.

Bakugou gave him a dirty look. "Listen to me, Deku. The best heroes, out there... well," He paused and moved to snatch Izuku's notebook again, but Izuku was way too experienced to be caught off guard. He reflexively side-stepped and Bakugo nearly fell over. Nearly. The blond growled. "They showed signs of greatness even as students. I'll be the first and only student from this shitty middle school. The first to win the honor of becoming a U.A student. Guess I'm just a perfectionist."

'So vain...' His cronies thought in unison.

"In other words," Bakugou sneered at him. Annoyingly, Deku grew quite a bit in the past few years, so they were the same height, but it didn't matter. "Don't you dare even bother trying to get into U.A nerd." He placed a smoking hand on Midoriya's shoulder in an intimidation attempt. But Izuku had spent the last few years acutely aware of fire and heat in general. Bakugou's palm was nothing compared to Ken-sensei's heat.

Izuku hid his shaking well. On the outside, he had an unamused expression, while internally, he had yet to fully defeat his mental demon that was Kacchan . He roughly shrugged the blond's hand from his shoulder. Bakugou glared at him with contempt before he and his 'friends' started to leave.

"Jeez, typical Deku. C'mon, say something..." One of the boys jeered.

"He can't say anything." Long fingers added. "He's so lame, even as a third-year student, he still can't face reality."

Bakugo laughed at that. "You wanna be a hero so bad? I've got a time saving idea for you." He turned half-way to side eye Izuku. "Take a swan dive off the roof and pray for a quirk in the next life!"

Izuku froze.

Bakugo looked positively villainous as he sneered and raised a sparking hand. "Yeah? What?"

And then, like lightning, Izuku struck.

SNAP!

Bakugo fell back holding his bloodied nose with tears already coming to his eyes. "Really, Kacchan? You're gonna tell me that?" Izuku shook while frustrated tears fell down his face. "I don't even know why you hate me so much. All I ever wanted was to be your friend! But it looks like I was wrong. The Kacchan I knew was my brother in everything but blood. You're just some bully!" With that, Izuku stormed out of the room, not even trying to hide his crying.

When Izuku finally stopped running, he rubbed his eyes to clear the tears. 'Stupid Kacchan. If I really jumped, he'd be charged with bullying me to suicide. That idiot. Well, I don't care what he says. I have friends who believe in me. My mother believes in me. My sensei believes in me. I don't need him.'

In the midst of his distress, he failed to notice the malicious ki signature as he walked near a manhole cover and didn't notice when a massive amount of sludge poured out of the holes and took a vaguely humanoid shape. "A pretty strong body to hide in... plain face to blend in..." The sludge villain gurgled out before throwing himself at Izuku. Years of training took over in an instant and Izuku dodged by jumping quickly to the right.

"A villain!?"

"Sheesh, kid. Stand still." The villain lunged again, but Izuku dodged. "I'm just hijacking your body. It'll only hurt for about forty-five seconds. Then it'll be all over." He lunged again, but this time, Izuku was prepared to counter.

Mind's Eye activated nearly by itself and his hand snapped up to swat away the pile of goo. The man(?) snarled and tried again, but Izuku jumped backward with his hands near his hip with his wrists locked together and palms wide open.'Charge as much as possible and aim for a weak spot!' He thought before punching the attack forward. "Hadoken!" In an instant, the ball of compressed ki shoots ahead quicker than the man can react and slams into his face causing him to yell out in pain. He fell to the floor in a puddle and Izuku exhaled. "Whew, that was close."

"Fear not citizen!" The manhole cover suddenly flew upwards. "For I am... here?" All Might met quite the weird sight. There was a green haired teen, simply standing there looking at him with wide eyes while the villain he was chasing earlier was a puddle of groaning goop on the floor. Not just that, he knew that teen. "Oh. Young Midoriya! I wasn't expecting you to be here!"

"All Might!"

"Haha! It is I yes! Anyway, thank you for taking out this troublemaker for me! He was a slippery one!"

Izuku starts to jitter again. "Oh - oh, no! Don't thank me, sir! He just attacked me and - and I just defended myself! I'm sure you could've handled it no problem!"

All Might strikes a pose. "Of course, young whippersnapper! But no good deed should go unappreciated! And before you ask, no. You aren't in trouble for using your quirk."

"Quirk? I'm, er, actually quirkless, All Might."

That made the hero raise a brow. "Oh, is that so?"

"Yes, sir. Have my ID to prove it if you don't believe me!"

The hero did believe him - really and truly. But he would be lying if he said there wasn't some amount of curiosity. From young Uraraka's secondhand report, young Midoriya had been capable of some truly impressive feats of strength. He hadn't helped her much at the beach - which was good. All Might didn't want him to - but on the rare occasion he lended a hand, young Uraraka had said he had to have had a strength quirk. Something to make note of for later.

"Ah, that's no problem, young man. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking this evil doer to the authorities!" Faster than the teen could follow, All Might gathered up the mutant in a bottle and tightened the lid. "Now, I'll be off. May you see me again on TV! Er, or at the beach! Whatever happens first!"

"Goodbye, All Might!" Izuku says as the man takes off like a rocket. He watches him vanish into the distance before letting out a happy sigh. Today ended well after a few ups and downs, and he was happy about that. There was still time in the day, so it was possible that he could call someone, most likely Ryoya, for some training before heading home.

Izuku takes out his phone and starts walking, completely failing to notice how a blond, spikey haired teen had witnessed the entire exchange.

A/N: Ochako started her training sooner than Izuku. There's a reason for that. Things are progressing nicely. Thanks for reading.

Monster King: Thank you!