Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

3. Izuku Midoriya: Origin

"THE MORNING IS HERE! THE MORNING IS HERE! THE MOR-"

Beep

With a small groan of tiredness, a fourteen year old Izuku Midoriya blindly threw his hand out, hoping that luck was on his side and he could turn off his alarm clock in one hit, and let out a sigh of relief that it only took him two more tries after the initial miss to hit the snooze button. Once his hand pressed down on top of the alarm and pressed the button on the top, the All Might alarm clock on his bedside table went silent, and Izuku let out another groan as he flopped back down, face first, into his pillow.

He wished he could just roll back over and fall back asleep, the allure of sleeping in tempting him - he had made the mistake of getting distracted last night when two new heroes debuted right after he brushed his teeth, making him sit down at his desk, his notebook flipped open to a new page, and getting to work writing any details he noticed watching their interviews and footage of them fighting villains, until it was finally one o'clock in the morning and he panicked, shutting off his desk lamp hastily and quickly going to bed. Alas, as tempting as it was to close his eyes and go back to sleep, he remembered what had happened the last time he almost slept in, and he would rather Taiyo not have to come over and shake him away (an act that Izuku suspected his neighbor enjoyed immensely), so he let out another tired groan as he raised his head from his soft pillow and grumpily opened his eyes.

Seeing small streaks of sunlight begin to push gently into his window, and looking at his alarm clock, Izuku managed to rub some of the gunk out of his eyes to see that it was currently six thirty two. Letting out an open mouthed yawn, Izuku raised himself from where he had been sleeping, face down on his sheets, and moved his legs to put his feet down on the ground, slowly lifting himself up and wobbling as he smacked his lips, disliking the current taste in his mouth as he forced himself to begin moving.

As tired as he was, he knew he had to get ready soon - Ochako tended to swing by around seven-ish, once she was sure her parents were back from the night shift, so he needed to shower and be ready to go by the time she got here. Besides, he could already hear his mom moving around the kitchen, meaning that she was probably getting breakfast ready.

Tucking his school uniform underneath his arm to change in the bathroom, Izuku opened his door and walked out of his room towards the bathroom, his eyes continuing to feel heavy as he slumbered forward like a zombie. Wincing at the bright light of the bathroom as he laid out a towel, Izuku got out of his pajamas, turned on the shower, and waited for it to heat up enough to step in. Once he stepped under the warm water, Izuku sighed a bit as he enjoyed a hot shower right and early in the morning, hoping that this would be enough to wake him up and get him ready for the day.

Once he finally stepped out of the shower, having managed to clean himself up, Izuku brushed his teeth and got dressed into his school uniform, putting on the black gakuran uniform and buttoning up the yellow buttons of his shirt. As he did so, however, he glanced at his reflection in the mirror, wincing slightly at the purple marks under his eyes, and then trailed down to his hands. Feeling his face fall, Izuku opened them, showing the red electrical scars on his palms and fingers. Taking a moment to stare at them, Izuku let out another soft sigh, and shook his head, putting his hands down to turn around and head back out of the bathroom and into the apartment.

As he opened the door, he could make out the sound of his mom chatting with someone in a low voice, meaning that she must've arrived while he was showering, and quickly hurried his pace.

Entering the kitchen, Izuku let out a sigh of relief at the smell of bread already being toasted, seeing his mom buttering it at the kitchen counter while humming, giving him a smile once he stepped around the corner. And sitting at the table, resting her head on her arms and letting out a groan of tiredness, was Ochako, looking just as exhausted as he felt. Izuku had to stifle a small laugh at her appearance - her hair hadn't been combed yet, meaning that it was sticking up in places while she pouted at him, her brown eyes narrowing at his suppressed laughter.

"Shut up," She mumbled, making Izuku chuckle some as he took the seat next to her.

"Good morning, Izuku!" Inko happily greeted her son, moving around the counter to put both plates of toast down for the two middle schoolers, "You know, I was just telling Ochako about how I still heard you up and about at one in the morning last night - although I'm sure you have a perfectly good explanation for that."

For his part, Izuku winced a bit, feeling Ochako giving him a skeptical look while Inko's smile was a lot more stiff than usual, which made him sigh as he hunched over his breakfast.

"Er - sorry, Mom," He apologized, accepting his plate from her and trying not to glance at the compression sleeve she wore on her upper arm to cover her own burn, "I was, uh - I was going to bed last night when two new heroes debuted, and I - I lost track of time. There aren't really any better excuses than that, I just - you know, one minute it was ten and the next it was one. I'm sorry."

Inko shook her head, but still patted his hair and moved away to get started on some of the dishes she hadn't washed last night.

"Huh," Ochako smirked a bit, lifting the toast to her mouth while giving Izuku a side-ways look, "I was gonna say, Deku, I was thinking you were looking like crap. More so than usual."

"Says the person who hasn't combed their hair yet," Izuku shot back good-naturedly, also beginning to dig into his breakfast.

"I was going to wait until we walked to school!" She defended herself, not wasting anymore time and taking a bite of her toast coated with peanut butter, "Mah perensh only 'ame 'ome den mimush ago."

"... I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Mm - shrry -'' Ochako made sure to swallow her food, blushing a bit in embarrassment, "- I said, my parents only came back from the night shift like - ten minutes ago. I've been up since five getting my lunch and theirs ready for when they wake up later."

"Do you know how it went?" He inquired, feeling concerned as he took a bite of his own breakfast, "The job last night, I mean - Miwa had been worried about it before they left."

"I'm assuming it went pretty well," Ochako smiled a bit, "they came back happy, at least. Just ... you know … dead tired."

Izuku hummed at that, and raised his own toast to his mouth to start eating. Admittedly he had felt concerned for Taiyo and Miwa when they left for the job last night - usually pulling an all nighter was good for business, using their crew to take down sets for hero interviews and the such (the kind of job that Inko had encouraged them to try, knowing that they could make some side money rather than compete with other construction crews over hero cleanup), but it always resulted in them coming home exhausted, and it was always a sad sight to see. Izuku knew that it weighed Ochako down as well, although she said nothing - it was good for business and made them money, so she pushed down her feelings over seeing them staggering to bed absolutely exhausted and quietly talked about it to Izuku if she needed to.

But at least they made money last night, and that meant that everyone was probably going to be in a good mood for dinner tonight - at least they would have some energy.

"Anyway," Inko reminded them as she passed by the table to gather up their plates, pausing to smooth out the pointed parts of Ochako's hair, "if you two were going to be leaving early, you'd better think about going soon - I'm not sure when traffic is going to pick up."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked in confusion, looking around at his best friend as she nodded and stuffed the rest of her breakfast into her mouth, picking up the other slice to eat on the way and letting Inko pick it up to go wash. "We're leaving early? Is there something we have to do at school?"

"I do, at least," She said as soon as she gulped down the mouthful of toast, picking up her backpack from beside her chair, "I just gotta drop off my high school application list, I told my homeroom teacher I'd give it to her before class started, and I'd rather not have an audience for that, y'know?"

"Oh," Izuku's eyes widened a bit, imitating her and standing up, grabbing his yellow backpack from where he had left it on the table last night and lifting it up. "You picked out what high school you wanted to go to?"

"Yep! I got kinda distracted by all those tests last week, but I have my main pick decided," Ochako nodded, smiling to herself as she held her backpack with both hands. "UA."

Once she had said the name of the school, she had turned away to slip her backpack over her shoulders, careful to mind the toast in her hand - so she didn't notice Izuku's face fall at the mention of UA, glancing back down at the table briefly before he let out a small sigh and stood up as well. He knew that his mom caught the look on his face, due to the way her own face fell and she put Ochako's plate down on the counter, but he was quick to shake his head and replace the frown with a small smile as he turned to look at his best friend.

"W-well anyway, I might as well come with you too - I can find something to do before class starts, I might just sit at my desk and write in my notebook."

Ochako smiled at that, albeit figuring that he would want to come with her rather than walking to school by himself. They both waved bye to Inko as the woman got to work on the dishes, thanking her for making them breakfast, and together, they trooped out the front door, closing it quietly.

Once Izuku was sure the door was closed behind them, Izuku not bothering to lock it since Inko would probably be going over to the Urarakas to check on them in a bit, they both turned in the breezeway, making their way over to the elevator to head downstairs -

"Hol' up now, kids."

Both Izuku and Ochako jumped at the sound of the deep, tired voice coming from the Uraraka's door, and both looked around, Ochako's eyes widening in indignation, to see Taiyo poking his head out. Izuku winced in sympathy at the sight of the older man - he looked absolutely exhausted, swaying back and forth, eyes bleary and suppressing a yawn, as though he were about five seconds from keeling backwards and passing out on the floor.

"D-Daddy!" Ochako gasped, looking up in shock and a bit of anger at her father. "You're supposed to be sleeping right now! You've been up all night!"

"I know, I know," Taiyo shook his head, "and I'm gonna go back to bed righ' after this, but I - *yawn* - I forgot that I got somethin' for Izuku last night. Here ya go, kiddo."

Blinking in confusion and a bit of curiosity, Izuku reached out to take the piece of paper from Ochako's dad while she fumed beside him, the Danger Pout in full force today as though she were trying to force her father to sleep with a glare, but he couldn't focus on that when Izuku unfolded the piece of paper to look at the contents, and let out a small gasp of surprise and delight.

"This is -!"

"Fat Gum's autograph," Taiyo nodded, satisfied by the huge smile on Izuku's face. "Got a chance to grab it last night while we were takin' down, though' I'd get it to give it to ya. Happy early birthday, kid."

"Thank you, Taiyo!"

"Yeah, yeah, thank you so much," Ochako pouted, "now close the door and go back to sleep!"

"Okay, okay, I'm goin'," Taiyo chuckled, turning back around and closing the door, "have a - *yawn* - have a good day at school, kids. See you tonight."

The two middle school students waved to the Uraraka patriarch as he shut the door behind him with his own wave, while Ochako pouted and crossed her arms in anger.

"Seriously," She huffed in indignation, "he staggers into the apartment all exhausted and barely able to look where he's going because he can't keep his eyes open, and he just gets up to give you a stupid autograph."

"I thought you've made it pretty clear that you think your dad's kind of an idiot?" Izuku was too busy smiling at the autograph given to him to really pay much attention as they walked down the hall to wait for the elevator, Ochako pressing the button a bit harder than she usually would. "That's what you're always saying, anyway."

"Yeah! But it always makes me angry when I remember how much of an idiot he is!"

Chuckling a bit, Izuku let her fume and darkly mutter herself into silence between her eating the other slice of toast as they stepped into the arriving elevator, Izuku pressing the button to the lower floor while she continued to grump under her breath at her father. It was a pretty occurring sight for Izuku, seeing Ochako grumble and growl about her parents putting their health aside in favor of helping others - while casually ignoring whenever she did the exact same. To her, it wasn't the same, since she was young and stupid while they were older and should've known better.

Of course, Izuku was really no better in that department, not really having any moral superiority to call her out - in the ten years they've known each other, Izuku knew that he had a hard time staying out of trouble himself, and it was usually Ochako's job to drag him out of it. There had been times that she understood, like when Izuku, despite every part of him telling not to, tried to step in between a bully and his victim (usually she scared them off, although the bullied kid never bothered to thank them); and then there were times she definitely did not, like when Izuku had jumped off a bridge to get a kid's toy that she had dropped, and Ochako had happily waved the little boy and his toy away before turning around and pretty much screaming every curse word she knew at the very wet and embarrassed boy, before dragging him by the collar back home so that his mom could properly ground him.

But that was what Ochako signed on for, she had admitted to him - ever since that day at the park, the two had become inseparable best friends, it being possible to count the days they didn't hang out together on one hand. It didn't matter that everyone in school mocked Izuku and called him a villain for what he had done to Katsuki, Tsubasa and Yubi that day, and referred to her as his accomplice - when Izuku dared to even mutter the possibility that she'd be able to gain more friends if she didn't spend time with him, Ochako usually responded by giving him a headnuggie and patiently explaining that she wouldn't want to be friends with them even if they didn't make fun of her.

Besides that, though, their friendship only grew stronger as the years went on - no pointless arguments, fights, or fun poking could ever shake that.

Although, as Ochako suddenly remembered, frowning as they stepped out of the elevator and across the parking lot to begin moving down the street towards school, ignoring the playground beside them as they always did so Izuku didn't have to think about it, there was another problem that seemed to be arising that she really couldn't push aside.

"So," Ochako started in a quiet voice, drawing Izuku's attention to her as she turned her gaze to the pavement, "what, um ... sorry Deku, but I just remembered that I haven't heard you say anything about your applications for high school either. Do - do you have anywhere in mind?"

"O-oh," Izuku faltered at that question, glancing away and knowing what Ochako was probably about to ask. "I, uh ... well ... I didn't have anything picked out just yet ..."

"A-ah." She nodded, glancing away as they walked down the street, passing by a few people on their way to work.

"I was, uh ..." Izuku glanced away, trying to think of an answer that would satisfy her - and then his shoulders slumped in defeat. "I ... I'm not gonna lie, Occhan, I don't really know."

"You don't - like, you don't know what you wanna do?" Ochako looked around at him, adjusting her backpack on her shoulders as she saw her best friend sigh and shake his head.

"Yeah ... it's just ... I don't know," He glanced away again, "nothing really ... appeals to me, you know? I guess I could attend any high school, for whatever long term careers - like what my dad does, or learning how to sell things, I could probably easily do that and make a lot of money - my grades are pretty good, so I shouldn't be worried about any entrance exams."

"Is that right …"

"Yeah," He nodded, raising a hand to thank a driver for letting them cross the street. "The problem is … well … I don't know, I could probably easily do a lot of those jobs, but I'm not - I don't know - not a lot of those careers the teachers recommended really appeal to me, you know? Honestly, I'm kinda weighing the pros and cons of just asking Taiyo and Miwa for a job after high school, I'm sure they'd employ me."

"Oh, don't even try, Deku," Ochako giggled a bit, "my dad would probably find a way to trick you into working for him for free - it's happened before, you know."

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?" Izuku chuckled despite himself as they stopped their walking to wait for the light to turn green.

"Deku, you helped him put up a brick wall for an entire afternoon, and he had to be the one to remind you that he needed to pay you! And you still turned down the money!"

"Honestly, Miwa's never scared me like that ever," He shuddered a bit at the memory of the warm woman's sudden coldness when he turned down the payment, "I think she was actually going to throw me across the living room if I didn't take the money."

Ochako shook her head and smiled as the light turned green, and continued to move across the street, knowing that they were about ten minutes away from school.

Still though … she knew that their nice waltz down memory lane distracted them from what they had been really talking about, and something that she needed to say to him. With a soft sigh, she opened her mouth to continue what they had been talking about, about what he was going to do once high school finally came around for both of them -

- and that was the time something else distracted them, that drove the conversation entirely from their minds.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Both middle school students jumped about a mile high at the sound of a loud bellow of rage and panic, quickly looking around in shock at the sound of the voice. They could make out a crowd of people also looking around in alarm, and moving down the street to take a look at whoever or whatever was shouting, and they could already see a crowd starting to form.

Ochako blinked for a moment, watching as several people raised their phones to record whatever was going on - and then felt her eyebrow twitch when hse heard Izuku shuffling a bit behind her. She wasn't too surprised when she turned around to see Izuku fidgeting, a curious look on his face as he glanced at her nervously.

"... you wanna go over there to see what's going on, don't you?"

"It - it might be a villain! And - and if it is, heroes will probably show up to stop them!" He excitedly told her, clearly a bit hopeful - and then his face fell.

"Oh, wait ... wait, we can't, you have to go to school early. Crap, sorry Occhan, I -"

"Deku," She giggled, tapping his forehead with her finger, "we've still got loads of time to get there - school doesn't start for another hour and a bit. We got time to go over and see what's going on. C'mon!"

Sure she would've probably liked to have gotten to school extra early to avoid any of her bullies trying to start stuff with her, as they always did at Aldera Junior High, but it was worth it to see Izuku's face brightening up in happiness - she usually had to be the one to drag Izuku away from hero and villain fights, seeing as he was the one who really liked to get up and close to the action for his notes, but she couldn't resist the puppy eyes.

With both of them laughing a bit, they were quick to jog across the street to join the people moving around the corner to join the crowd in whatever was going on, careful not to drop any of their stuff as Izuku pulled his notebook out of nowhere, getting ready to write all the notes he could about what they were about to see. It didn't take long for them to round the corner, coming across the massive crowd gathering and staring up at the train tracks - and looking up, it didn't take very long to figure out why.

"Whoa - that's a big villain!" Izuku gasped, while Ochako let out a tiny sigh and shook her head slightly at the sight of the giant villain on the traintracks.

"Figures it was a guy with a gigantification quirk, that yell was freaking loud. That's going to delay the train for so many people - thank god we walk to school. So Deku, do you wanna -"

"Let's move closer!" Izuku excitedly interrupted her, making Ochako giggle and shake her head again. "I think I see Death Arms and Backdraft at the front, they must be handling the crowd!"

Letting out a small sigh but indulging her best friend, Ochako followed Izuku closely as they moved forwards to join the crowd, looking for a way to get closer to the front and observe the action. They saw their small opening in the mass of people, and crept forward, thankful that they were small enough not to disturb anyone as they snuck in.

"Man, turning into a monster's an amazing quirk," One observer in a suit shook his head ruefully, "what'd he do?"

"He stole someone's bag and went out of control when he was cornered by the heroes." The man beside him explained as Izuku and Ochako slid into the crowd, trying to get to the front to watch the action better.

"A quirk like that, and he's just a purse snatcher. What a shame."

Thankfully for the two students, it didn't take long for them to get to the front of the crowd, dodging in front of people calling into work and apologizing for the delay, and soon enough they got a better look at the fight that was beginning to unfold in front of them, and the new heroes rushing onto the scene to take care of him. Izuku began pretty much quivering with excitement as they watched the heroes move around the villain on top of the tracks, wondering who would be making the first move as Death Arms threw away a piece of metal that the villain had knocked down, and Backdraft kept the crowd back - and then a shadow fell across them.

"You can do it, Kamui!" A gaggle of women fangirled as a man in a blue suit and wooden arms, legs and a helmet leapt over the crowd and began racing towards the monster on the tracks.

"He's literally made of wood," Ochako groaned as she ducked through a few people, shaking her head, "how does he have fangirls?"

"He's an up and coming hero!" Izuku responded, finally getting to the front while she rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that all the newcomers have loads of fangirls. Although … actually, don't ask me how he has fangirls, I don't know."

"Hm," Ochako thought for a moment, smirking, "probably has to do with him being as hard as wood all the time, right, Deku?"

"..."

"..."

"... don't wait for a response to that, because I'm not gonna give you one." Izuku said in a deadpan voice, letting Ochako giggle to herself as he raised his notebook to his face, preparing to write notes on what he was about to observe.

As they reached the front of the crowd, they watched as the giant villain let out a defiant roar and threw his arm out to smash the acrobatic hero to pieces, but luckily Kamui Woods saw it coming from a mile away, leaping out of the way by wrapping one of his wooden arms around a pole to whirl around and out of the giant's range.

"GET AWAY!" The villain bellowed in rage, making Ochako wince a bit.

"So loud …"

"Wow, look at that!" Izuku gasped, watching the fight eagerly as Kamui extended his arm to wrap around a trainpost, spinning him away from the villain. "No wonder everyone calls him a young and talented rising star!"

"Heh, I know that look from anywhere," A man observing the sight beside Izuku chuckled, the two teenagers looking around at the man with the stars on his head as he gave them a cheeky grin and pointed at the green-haired boy. "You're a fanboy, aren't ya?"

"Uh ... well ..." Izuku sheepishly blushed, glancing away while Ochako giggled beside him and nodded.

"Yes, he is. A big one, too."

"Guh - Occhan!"

Sticking her tongue out at him while he pouted at her, Ochako's gaze returned to the fight, seeing Kamui running up the villain's arm and throwing out another arm to wrap around the villain's neck, and when the villain instinctively threw up his arm to block the blow and threw it back, Kamui was carried along with him, eventually letting go and landing on the roof of the train's stop, glaring at the villain as though he had murdered hundreds rather than just holding up traffic, and saying something that couldn't be heard from the loud crowd.

"Oh! Here it comes!" Izuku gasped excitedly, pointing as Kamui threw out his arm, the wood bending and extending into several large branches.

"Show us something flashy, tree-man!" The star-man called out.

"PRE-EMPTIVE BINDING LACQUERED CHAIN PRISON!" Kamui shouted, throwing out the branches to wrap around the villain as he threw an arm up -

"CANYON CANNON!"

BAM

Izuku and Ochako blinked in shock. The star-man beside them blinked in shock. Kamui blinked in shock. The entire crowd blinked in shock.

As the villain was sent falling onto the evacuated street from his spot on the train tracks, groaning after being kicked hard in the face unexpectedly, the giant woman who had just completely and utterly stolen Kamui's thunder rose up from where she had landed, smirking a bit as she bent herself into an angle.

"Here it is, here it is, here it is," The men behind them muttered, making Ochako groan in exasperation and raise a hand to hold over her eyes at the sound of several camera shutters going off.

"Today is the day of my debut!" The new heroine smiled provocatively, winking. "My name is Mt. Lady. A pleasure to make your ass -quaintence."

Ochako groaned louder while Izuku chuckled a bit despite himself, shaking his head as Mt. Lady winked and flaunted for the cameras - which only made the brown-haired girl look around at him with a glare, making him balk.

"It - it was a good pun!"

"That pun was atrocious, Deku." Ochako deadpanned as more cameramen began snapping pictures with disturbing speeds as the men in the crowd smiled stupidly at the gigantic heroine while the women didn't look very impressed.

"Oh, and your 'hard' pun wasn't?"

"My pun was clever! 'Ass -quaintence' took ten years off my lifespan."

As Izuku raised his notebook to continue taking new notes of the debuting hero, Ochako returned her gaze to the scene before them, seeing Mt. Lady wave to the cheering crowd in happiness, eagerly soaking up the attention as she shrunk down to her regular size. She almost swore that she saw a shit-eating grin briefly appear on the blonde woman's face before it transformed back into a grateful smile, while Kamui Woods sank to his hands and knees from where he had gotten his victory stolen from him above them, staring down in despair as the villain was swiftly apprehended by the police, and strapped into capture gear to be taken away.

Taking the time to check her phone as the crowd began to disperse, Ochako let out a sigh of relief at the time - the fight had wrapped up pretty quickly, which meant that they still had plenty of time to get to school, knowing that it wouldn't take long for her best friend to wrap up as Izuku continued to write in his notebook, staring at the small crater that the villain had landed in.

"She looks like she'll be popular, and it is an amazing quirk," Izuku muttered as he scribbled, making Ochako shake her head but grin a bit as she moved her backpack around her shoulder to look for something to drink, only to sigh in disappointment when she spotted a few empty bottles at the bottom of her bag, "but thinking about the damage to the city that'll go in hand with a gigantification quirk, its use might be limited? No, whether or not she could control the size should probably be taken into account as well."

"I'd hate to have a quirk like that," Ochako shook her head as she watched Mt. Lady give an interview a bit away from the crater, "it seems useful, but -"

"Hey, wait, you takin' notes over there?" The star-man suddenly cut in with a grin, pointing at Izuku again in a teasing manner as the two teenagers looked around. "You wanna be a hero, huh? That's great! You can do it!"

He had said that in a tone that indicated approval, flashing the boy before him a thumbs up as he closed his eyes - but he didn't have a good look at his face, not noticing Izuku's curious and intrigued look immediately fall. Ochako herself felt herself falter when she saw the face, wincing slightly at the reminder of what she had been thinking of this morning while Izuku stared ahead blankly for a moment - and then he let out a quiet sigh.

"... thank you, sir," Izuku muttered, glancing away while Ochako gave him a worried look.

With that, Izuku closed the notebook, glancing at Ochako and trying his best to smile at her as he gestured with his head.

"C-come on, Occhan - we gotta get to school."

"Huh? O-oh, right."

With that, the two students bowed to the star-man while he waved them off, wanting to get back to his store before anyone realized he was gone, and together, Izuku and Ochako began moving back down the street towards school. This, however, was in silence, with Ochako flashing her best friend a worried look as he put his notebook back into his yellow backpack, his previous good mood completely evaporated - and she knew exactly why.

It had been years since that day at the playground, and even then, Izuku hadn't used his quirk at all. All that she knew about it was that his hands would occasionally spark against his will if he felt some strong emotion or felt spooked, and that was usually when he would close his hands tightly, or put them in his pockets and hurry away. She didn't have to know him well to know what he thought of his quirk - which always made her feel sad.

She wasn't really informed or all knowing about what people considered heroic quirks, and what exactly heroes look for when taking on sidekicks, but even someone like her knew that electric types were pretty rare in heroics, and highly desired. If Izuku became a hero someday, he'd probably become pretty popular, since his quirk had a lot of destructive force and was something to be reckoned for.

But that was the problem.

Izuku made it clear throughout the years that he wasn't going to be a hero. That was something he had made clear from the beginning of their friendship - he didn't mind helping her improve her quirk, going with her to her dad's construction yard and giving her helpful tips when she tried to lift something, or spotting her when she used her quirk for practice on something beyond her limit, and held her hair back when she inevitably hurled from going over her weight capacity.

He fully supported her, and liked to nerd out over heroes. He loved heroes.

It was just ... whenever the topic of him becoming a hero came up ...

... he always shut it down. Laughing awkwardly and denying that he wanted to be one while trying to change the subject.

And it always hurt Ochako, she frowned as they walked down the street towards the school - because she knew exactly how he could go from loving everything heroes one moment, and awkwardly glancing away from them the next. Their talk this morning about Izuku not knowing what he wanted to do in the future, she had held her tongue, but she knew what career he clearly wanted, and knew that bringing it up would only result in him shutting it down and walking sadly down the road - like he was doing right now.

He was terrified of his quirk, and what it could do. Ever since that day at the park, injuring four people and putting them in the hospital, and being mocked by their classmates, calling him a villain -

- he hadn't used it since.

And that meant that he tried as hard as he could to deny that he wanted to be a hero. Despite how obvious it was to her that he wanted to be one more than anything.

---

"Alright," The teacher in the front sighed as he returned to the podium at the front of the class, not caring if his students were still talking and laughing amongst themselves, "since you're all third years, it's time for you to seriously think about your futures."

Izuku let out a small sigh as he sat back down at his desk, hearing everyone finally start to quiet down as their teacher walked to the front of the room with a weary sigh. He had just returned from lunch, having hung out with Ochako at their spot on the roof that they usually ate, until the first bell had rung and they had to hurry to their classes. It was admittedly a bit harder this year, Izuku thought glumly, being sorted into different classes for their last year, but Izuku put up with it knowing that the moment the bell rung she was going to hurry over as quickly as she could, not wanting to be left alone in the mass of unfriendly faces that would surround her.

And since he didn't want to be either, he knew he could put up with it and patiently wait for her at the end of the day.

"I've gotten back nearly all the handouts I passed out last week for your future plans," The teacher slumped over his podium, staring down at the stack of papers that he had gotten back this morning before school started, "and you know what they all have in common?"

There was a long pause in the classroom, where everyone stared up at their droll teacher as he stared down at the stack of forms - and then without warning, he suddenly swept his arm back, sending all of their handouts flying up into the air, completely nonchalant with a large and doopy grin on his face.

"You all plan to go for the hero course!"

Everyone let out a loud cheer, and as one, the entire class activated their quirks as though waiting for the chance to begin showing off what they had no matter how freaky it looked or how disruptive it was. Izuku let out a tiny sigh as he slumped forward onto his desk, trying not to be hit by the girl beside him with her hand transformed into fire, and studied the wooden surface as everyone laughed and cheered about how they would all become heroes.

No one bothered to notice that Izuku was one of the two boys in the class not using their quirks at the moment - although Izuku's was simply because he didn't want to use it. The blonde boy sitting a desk to the right in front of him, however, probably had a much different reason as to why he wasn't showing off to the rest of the class.

"Yes, yes, you all have such wonderful quirks!" The teacher laughed a bit at the enthusiastic response. "But using your powers while we're at school is against the rules! Come on now, let's quiet down a bit!"

"Oi, teach!"

Everyone blinked at the sudden voice that interrupted their teacher, and looked around to see the blonde boy smirking and putting his feet up onto his desk. Izuku let out a tiny sigh and closed his eyes when he saw Katsuki's confident grin, leaning back in his chair and basking in the sudden attention on him.

"Don't go lumping us all in the same group," He sneered, rolling his arm slightly, "I'm not going to be stuck at the bottom with the rest of these rejects!"

And as par the course, a few angry voices began yelling at him.

"That was uncalled for, Katsuki!"

"Yeah!"

"Shut your pie hole!"

"You all should shut up like the worthless extras you are!" Katsuki cackled, a shit-eating grin on his face as he leaned his chair back on two legs.

"Oh, that's right." Their teacher remembered, reaching up into the air and somehow snagging Katsuki's application, reading it over to look over his preferred high schools and only finding the one, "I'd almost forgotten, Bakugou - you put your only option as UA High."

"UA?!" One of the students gasped out.

"Wait, the national school?!"

"That was in the top 0.2.% this year, you know!"

"Their acceptance rate is also really low, too!"

"That's exactly why you guys are just extras!" Katsuki sneered confidently, and suddenly leapt up without warning. Izuku blinked a bit and looked up from where he had hunched over on his desk as Katsuki jumped onto his own, and stood up straight so everyone's eye was on him as he pointed straight at his chest. "I aced the mock exam! I'm the only one who could possibly get into UA! I'll be the one to finally surpass All Might and become the top hero!"

Throwing his fist into the air, Katsuki went off on his tangent about how he would be the most successful and rich hero in the world, while Izuku looked at his old friend with a weary look, and everyone stared up at him in awe. Honestly, Izuku had heard this all before, and let out a small sigh as he continued to hunch over on his desk, waiting for him to be done so that class could finally get back to work.

"My name will be inscribed on the list of top earners! The story of my success starts here, as the only one in this nowhere school that makes it to UA!"

"Hm," The teacher suddenly remembered again, flipping his clipboard to confirm, "actually, I believe Uraraka from 3B also was applying for UA as well."

While Katsuki froze in place on top of his desk with a twitch in his eye at the mention of the girl he hated the most, his thunder somewhat stolen, the other students in the class glanced amongst each other while Izuku sat up a bit, feeling a sudden spike of worry when he heard the sound of snorts and giggles.

"Uraraka? The villain sympathizer is applying for UA?"

"I mean ... her quirk is kinda handy ..."

"Yeah, for floating garbage! Seriously, I saw her practicing one time, she was puking her insides out by the end of it."

"Yeah, no way she's passing the exam."

"She'll probably get crushed by -"

"She'll get in!"

The class's muttering and sniggering about Ochako ceased almost entirely the moment Izuku spoke up, making everyone look around at the green-haired boy standing up at his desk and looking a bit cross at the people who doubted his best friend's abilities.

However, the moment Izuku realized that he said that out loud, and realized that the attention was now entirely on him, Izuku let out a small squeak, and quickly sat back down, already knowing where this was about to go and slowly closing his eyes. As he glanced back down at his desk, he let out a tiny shudder at the sound of his classmates beginning to mutter again, this time about him as Katuski looked around at him from where he had been standing on his desk and giving him a glare.

"Heh, of course the villain would stick up for his groupie."

"Yeah, not surprising at all. I bet he'll be cheering her on while he electrocutes someone in an alley somewhere"

"Ha! They'll both fail and drop out of school, giving them the perfect excuse to go around and hurt people."

"Murder a few more people for looking at them weird."

"Put them in the hospital!"

"Deku and Round Face! The scourges of the underworld!"

While the class laughed at him, Izuku shrank back into his seat, already regretting opening his mouth. He couldn't just shrink down and pretend he didn't say anything, however, due to the fact that a shadow had suddenly fallen over him, and Izuku barely had any time to look up before Katsuki's balled fist came down hard on his desk. Letting out a yelp, Izuku threw himself back in his seat, nearly toppling over and shivering at the sight of his former friend's heated gaze, not even bothering to hide the obvious disgust on his face at the sight of the green-haired boy.

"Deku," Katsuki growled while glaring at him right in the eye, leaning forward and watching as Izuku squirmed a bit in nervousness, "your little round faced bitch isn't going to UA. You're going to be making sure she doesn't, right?"

"I -" Izuku faltered, feeling a bit of indignation return to him as he tried to sit forward again, "- Kacchan -"

"Do you get me?" Katsuki leaned in, gritting his teeth and making Izuku subtly shake as he heard the telltale sign of his hands letting out tiny puffs of fire, "After all the shit you put me through, I at least deserve my spotlight, don't I? And I think we both know that I'm not going to be sharing it with her. You understand me?"

"Alright, alright," The teacher said in a dismissive tone from the front, not sounding all that concerned over the fact that his favorite student was blatantly threatening the loser of the school, "let's settle down, I have to get classes resumed."

Katsuki took another second to glare into Izuku's eyes before straightening up.

"Convince her, Deku," He spat, "or I will. And you won't like how I do it."

Throwing Izuku one last dirty look, Katsuki turned around and returned to his desk, picking up the chair that he had knocked to the ground when he had jumped onto the wooden surface, and retook his seat. Izuku let out another shaky sigh as he managed to sit forward again, trying hard to ignore the sniggers and whispers of his classmates as they threw more smirks and sneers at him, before class finally resumed. Thankfully, most of their gazes eventually moved away from the green-haired boy, letting him lean against his desk and sigh again.

As one could easily predict, the relationship between Izuku and Katsuki did not improve after he returned from the hospital after what had happened that day on the playground. In fact … well, it got worse than Izuku could probably imagine. Strangely, Katsuki didn't join in on all of the new bullying material, never referring to him as a villain like the rest of his friends, but he did have a reaction when Izuku had told them, in a way to defend himself, that he didn't want to be a hero or a villain. That … definitely got a reaction out of Katsuki.

From there, he treated Izuku with utter scorn and disgust, still referring to him as Deku and talking down on him whenever he could, although he didn't go out of his way to do so like when they were younger. Izuku really didn't know why, or why Katsuki would be so upset that Izuku didn't want to be a hero despite his insistence he would be the only one from this school that would become one - but at the end of the day, it didn't really matter. The damage was done, Katsuki would shove Izuku aside if the situation demanded it, would probably get in his face and growl at him on his bad days, and would send him a glowering glare whenever Izuku went on one of his hero sprees (which was only really in the presence of Ochako - without her, the other classmates mocking him would quickly put an end to his tangents).

Speaking of Ochako, Katsuki's treatment of Izuku really only made whatever fragile relationship between them worse. Izuku was pretty sure that Katsuki was the only person in the world that Ochako hated with a passion, and it didn't matter how many times Izuku tried to play peacemaker, it was clear that it wasn't going to change anytime soon. They'd gotten off to a bad start before Izuku's quirk manifested, and after that the animosity only grew - Ochako did her best to ignore his entire existence while only acknowledging him when Katsuki tried to push Izuku around, while the blonde boy gritted his teeth every time she stood up to him and called him out on his bullshit.

Izuku, of course, learned very quickly that he shouldn't be the one to mend bridges with the two of them - Katsuki made what he thought of Ochako and Izuku clear, and Ochako made it clear that she would rather die than become friends with him. So Izuku dropped the case pretty quickly.

Although … if he was telling the truth, he couldn't be too upset with Ochako. While it wasn't as bad as Izuku's situation, she still dealt with her own fairshare of bullies, mocking her as Izuku's groupie, and she put up with it a lot better than Izuku usually did. Instead, she devoted her attention into defending Izuku, threatening to float people into the sky when they mocked or threatened him, and had done so since she enrolled in the same preschool as he and Katsuki. And Izuku in turn tried his best to defend her as well - not a lot of people were really scared of him, after all, despite how they mocked him and called him a villain.

It was probably because they knew that he wouldn't dare use his quirk against any of them - knowing that he was too scared of it to even consider it, and giving them more ammunition for the onslaught of bullying and mockery while Katsuki ignored his existence when it affected him or he was in a bad mood.

Those were the dark and depressing thoughts that Izuku dwelled on for the rest of the school day, absently writing down notes on what the teacher was putting on the black board in his dull monologue that put everyone to sleep, until at long last the final bell rung, signifying the end of the day. As everyone got up to either go home, get to their clubs, or study, Izuku sighed as he closed his school notebook, taking a moment to close his eyes - and then jumped when the teacher addressed him directly.

"Midoriya," The teacher said in a cold voice, addressing the green haired boy in a manner different from what he would use with other students, "you're the only one who hasn't handed in their handout for their future plans. Get it to me by tomorrow morning, no excuses."

"O-oh, uh - y-yes, sir!"

Shaking his head while giving him a dirty look, the teacher walked out, letting Izuku sigh a bit and slump back down on the desk. He stared blankly at nothing for a moment, before finally sighing and reaching into his backpack to pull out his hero analysis, flipping it onto the page he left off on this morning and getting back to work, unaware of Katsuki standing near the door to the classroom and waiting with his two latest cronies, glaring at Izuku and crossing his arms.

Try as he might to take his mind off of things, however, Izuku couldn't help but frown as he put the tip of his pencil down on his notebook. He didn't lie to Ochako this morning - he really had no idea what he was going to do once high school rolled around, or what he even wanted to go for. Nothing he had seen or done research for really appealed to him - he saw applications for schools that could theoretically teach him a lot, but nothing really piqued his interest.

He supposed that, if he really ran out of options, he could go to a school that specialized in teaching, learn how to become the type of teacher that specializes in helping kids with their quirks - his hero analysis might help him there. Or maybe he could take after his dad and land a job that went overseas - that made plenty of money. Or he could go into IT, or - well, it wasn't really ideal, but he could become a customer service representative, work a desk job for the rest of his life. Heck, he had joked about it earlier, but he knew that if he asked Taiyo and Miwa, they wouldn't hesitate to give him a job with their construction company.

It was just ...

Izuku couldn't help but feel his frown deepen, letting out a small sigh as he finished sketching Mt. Lady's picture, having looked up her costume on his phone and absently doodled it. As much as he tried to put down those feelings every day, no matter how much he tried to deny it to Ochako, no matter how many times he tried to crush that dream himself … heroes seemed to just call to him.

He studied them, drew them, kept up on all the new debuts and interviews, and had been more excited than anyone when Ochako wanted to become one, supporting her one hundred percent and going with her all the time to practice her quirk. He felt drawn to them … but he knew, no matter how much he might've wanted or dreamed, he knew that he couldn't be one. Not with the destructive quirk he had, the one that his classmates and the entire school called villainous.

The power to control lightning and blast it out of his hands - and destroy anything it hit. He wasn't fooled, of course, knowing that deep down this was just a … just a quirk, but he couldn't help but feel afraid of it, and what would happen if what happened at the playground happened again.

Since that horrible day he hurt Katsuki and his mom, he hadn't used his quirk at all, and tried to pretend like it just flat out didn't even exist. It was difficult, of course - quirks were a part of one's body, it couldn't just be turned off no matter how much he wished it could. There were times that some static electricity came out a bit stronger from him and shocked people, or when there were times that he got angry and couldn't stop a few sparks from emerging from his hands - and in both of those instances, he would panic and immediately stuff his hands in his pockets, apologizing and running off to whoever saw his quirk. Ochako had frequently told him that it was okay, and encouraged him to try and practice with his own quirk when they went to her family's construction lot and used her quirk to practice on some of the things there, but he always refused - no need for him to risk a repeat accident, especially with Ochako, Taiyo and Miwa there to get hurt.

The park beside his house, the one he had melted down and destroyed by accident, hadn't been rebuilt at all by the city since there, only being wrapped up in yellow tape and forbidden for anyone to go on it - and Izuku was fine with that. He was fine with a large, physical reminder of why he shouldn't become a hero right outside his door every day as a reminder.

And just as he let out another sigh and tried to refocus, trying to take his mind off of his funk, he heard the sound of footsteps running down the hall towards his class.

Everyone who was still lingering in the classroom, chatting and laughing amongst themselves, were very quick to aim looks of scorn and distaste at the door as the footsteps stopped outside the back door, and then Ochako threw open the door, immediately snapping her gaze to Izuku still sitting at his desk and smiling widely. It was a smile that was returned by Izuku, who leaned back in his seat as she entered the classroom - and his bad mood from the entire afternoon faded away. It really only took one smile from her that brightened his day up.

"Hi!" She greeted her best friend, walking into the classroom and ignoring the pointed glares, mutterings and sniggering from the other students. "Sorry that I'm running a little late, Deku, I had to finish up some homework and hand it in. What're you doing?"

"I was just adding Mt. Lady's addition to my hero analysis," He smiled up at her as he closed his phone and put it back down on his desk, letting her look over his shoulder at what he was doing as he put his pencil back in his bag, "if you just wanna give me a minute, I can finish up her page and we can go -"

"Hey," Ochako suddenly interrupted him, Izuku blinking at the sudden seriousness in her voice as her smile faded from her face and she pointed at a paragraph on the page. "What's this about 'sexiness'?"

"Eek!" Izuku squeaked, jumping a bit.

"Deku," Ochako turned her suddenly cold gaze back to him, narrowing her eyes somewhat suspiciously, "I thought you were just writing about her quirk this morning - does this mean that you were checking her out with all those other perverts?"

"N-no! O-Occhan, you got it all wrong! That's not it at all!" Izuku quickly waved his hands in protest, going very red very fast. "I'm just - it's important to note specific heroes that can use their looks for b-better brand deals! I swear, Occhan, you know that I'd never put something like that in my notebooks. Some heroes like - like her might have brand deals and will act as models - you know, like Midnight."

"You're trying to assure me weren't thinking of anything perverted, and you decide to use Midnight as an example?" Ochako raised an eyebrow while Izuku winced.

"Er ... yeaaaah ... she's ... not a good example to use, is she?"

"Nope," She giggled at that at least, leaning against his shoulder and giving him a teasing grin, "not at all. And I get it, Deku, you aren't thinking anything perverted - I'm just pulling your leg. I swear, ever since I found your little Pussycat magazine underneath your mattress, you've been so defensive."

"W-we do not mention the Pussycat magazine!" Izuku's panicked face continued to burn while Ochako sniggered. "That was - that was for research! I - I was reading the articles!"

"Articles, huh?"

"Y-yes!"

"Oh, Deku, you act like I was born yesterday. One day, I'm gonna find out which one of the Pussycats you're -"

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Round Face?"

Both teenagers stopped their little back and forth at the sound of the gruff voice right behind them, and looked around, Ochako rolling her eyes, to see Katsuki storming up to them, flanked by Yubi and the latest lackey to attach himself to the blonde boy like a parasite. Izuku felt himself gulp a bit as he automatically stood up, wanting to avoid conflict with his old friend as much as possible as Ochako leaned against his desk and fixed Katsuki with a glare.

"What do you want?"

"I heard you're applying to UA," Katsuki grunted as he stopped just short of her, glaring down at the brunette girl while she refused to back down - thanks to them hitting puberty pretty recently, he had a growth spurt, standing a good head over top her as he looked down on her.

"I am," Ochako crossed her arms, making what she thought of the boy and what he was going to say clear as she continued to lean against Izuku's desk. "Why do you care?"

"I wanna know," Katsuki's glare intensified as he crossed his arms, "why the fuck you're doing that? You know what I've fucking said before - I'm the only one who's going to get in there from here. That's going to be a part of my origin story - 'the first student from his school to get into UA'."

Ignoring Ochako rolling her eyes pointedly, Katsuki leaned against his own desk while his two cronies smirked at them, flanking him although it was completely unnecessary. "Most top first-string heroes have stories about them from their school days. I want the shine of being able to be called the only student to make it into UA from this mediocre city junior high school. I mean," He was unable to suppress his own smirk at his abilities, "I am a perfectionist. I want them to realize that I'm legit, the next big thing. And that's not just ego talking, I know I'm that good."

Ego, Izuku and Ochako thought internally, with Ochako almost rolling her eyes into the back of her skull.

Total ego, Katsuki's cronies were unable to stop themselves from thinking.

"But that's not important," Katsuki lifted himself off the desk, moving to stand right in front of Ochako and sneering down at her, while Ochako continued to fix her with a glare. "I wanna give you a little advice, Round Cheeks -"

He suddenly leaned in, dropping his smirk and giving her a cold glare to show how serious he was.

"- don't even think of applying to UA. Or else."

Ochako said nothing to that at first, continuing to glare up at Katsuki as he waited for a response or any kind of confirmation that she was magically going to do what he said - and then she answered, with a smirk on her face, "Sounding kind of anxious there, Kacchan - scared I'll make it in and ruin your perfectly good backstory?"

"Don't - call me - Kacchan." He growled between gritted teeth, clenching his fists and letting some smoke rise up from his fists to intimidate her. "Or I'm going to wipe that fucking smirk off your face and give you something to cry about."

"K-Kacchan!" Izuku finally managed to squeak out, unable to take it anymore and trying to separate them before a fight inevitably broke out, raising his hands, "Come on, you've made your point, you don't have to -"

"What about you, nerd?" Katsuki turned his attention over to the green haired boy, ignoring Ochako as she clenched her own fists, probably ready to fight in case this turned ugly. "You've got something to say to your little bestie here, don't you? Remember? What we discussed."

"I - what?" Izuku blinked, taken aback.

"I told you to discourage her, didn't I?" Katsuki knew that he had Izuku trapped here, putting his hands back in his pockets and smirking again as he glanced at Ochako's reaction out of the corner of her eye. "So go ahead. Tell her she shouldn't apply for UA. Go on."

Ochako blinked at that, and looked around at Izuku. The boy stood frozen for a second, unable to respond, while Katsuki subtly leaned in.

"Come on, Deku," He taunted, "tell Occhan here that she shouldn't apply for UA. Shouldn't be too hard for you to come up with an excuse why she shouldn't do it, right? Since you gave up a long time ago. C'mon, quitter, say something."

Izuku continued to stare blankly at Katsuki, a silence settling in the classroom as they were the last ones there - until he sagged down, staring at his feet while his mouth thinned into a wobbly line, tears beginning to build in his eyes. While Ochako's face fell as well, Katsuki snorted and adjusted his bag on his shoulder, feeling like he'd made his point, turning around to leave with his friends while they sneered at the two students.

"Come on," Katsuki's latest 'friend' snorted, smirking at the boy shaking a bit, "you could at least say something back."

"Oh, don't be like that," Yubi snarked, "he's pathetic. I bet he wishes he was still quirkless."

Izuku continued to study the ground as his hands subtly shook, not looking at anyone as Katsuki stood by the door, pausing for a moment to look over his shoulder at the green-haired boy.

"You know, I'm glad that you probably won't apply for UA, Deku," Katsuki scoffed, turning back to the door, feeling his smirk fall and glaring at nothing, "not that you would get in anyway. A school for heroes doesn't take cowards."

With that, Katsuki moved through the door, letting his cronies laugh at them while shutting it behind them. For a moment, Izuku continued to stare at the floor, shaking a bit while clenching his fists and unable to look up at his best friend as they stayed silent for a moment. He had no idea what he could say to her at the moment, seeing her also staring at the floor while guilt coursed through him.

And then Ochako sighed, making him quickly look up at her as she shook her head, and tried to give him a shaky smile.

"C'mon, Deku, let's - let's go home. Mom and Dad were supposed to make supper tonight, we should get back to your apartment so I can help."

"O-oh, uh - r-right," Izuku nodded quickly, glancing away and moving to gather up his stuff. Ochako waited patiently as he put his notebooks and pencils into his backpack, and soon, they left the classroom, the last ones to leave as they walked down the hall, down the stairs, and out of the junior high while any stragglers giggled and pointed and muttered at them.

During their walk out of the school, neither of them spoke to the other, instead silently moving down the street towards their path back home. Neither of them looked at the other, instead staring at the pavement as they made their way back to the apartment.

And then, when the silence got too unbearable for him to take, Izuku let out a shuddering breath, feeling himself tear up again as he wrung his hands together.

"... I'm sorry, Occhan."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, feeling herself jolt out of her own bad mood as she looked around at her best friend. "S-sorry? For what?"

"For - for not standing up for you," He said miserably, looking away again as they moved down the sidewalk, "Kacchan - earlier when everyone had heard you were applying to UA, he told me to discourage you, and - and I wasn't going to, you - you know. But - but I should've stood up to him for you then. I - I froze up. I'm -"

"No, no, Deku, it's okay!" She assured him quickly, reaching up to hold his shoulder one pinkie up to calm him down, "I get it, I'm not angry at you for that. Not at all! I know that you weren't going to turn on me like that. Of course not!"

"I know," He muttered, "but I still should've …"

"Deku," She interrupted him, giving him a pointed look, "I'm not angry at you. I'm more angry at him than anything, okay? I just -" She let out her own shuddered breath, and looked away, scowling, "- I'm really tired of him, y'know? How he always tries to get under our skin."

"I know," He nodded, still looking downcast as they walked into the tunnel they always used, "it's just ... I should've stuck up for you. He was right, I was being a coward."

Before he could walk any further and continue that line of thought, though, he faltered when Ochako suddenly reached down and grabbed his hand, bringing him to a stop and making him look around in surprise, seeing the look of hurt on his best friend's face, before it was replaced by absolute certainty.

"Deku, you aren't a coward." She made sure to emphasize what she was saying, staring up at him while squeezing his hand. "You - you not - you not using your quirk doesn't make you a coward. You're freaking awesome. I don't care how many times I have to beat that into your head, but it's true. We both know that he was just trying to get a rise out of you, because - because he's never gotten what he wanted."

Turning her glare back down to the sidewalk, she continued to lead him down the tunnel slowly. "He's mad that he never got a round two to prove that he's better than you. He just wants to - to prove that he could beat you after what happened at - at the playground that day. He thinks you're a coward because he's never got the chance to hurt you again. Just - don't listen to him, okay? You aren't a coward because you don't want to fight him."

"I …" Izuku hesitated again when she turned back to fix him with a pout, and he let out a small sigh as he nodded and smiled a little bit, squeezing her hand back, "... okay, Occhan, I - okay."

"Good," She smiled at that, giving his hand one more squeeze as she finally let it go, both of them beginning to move towards the exit of the tunnel, until Ochako glanced back at Izuku's face and let out a tiny sigh as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders.

"... hey, Deku?"

"Yeah?"

"I was -" Ochako faltered for a moment, not really sure how to phrase this as she turned her gaze back to the ground, letting out a sigh. "- I was just … wondering ..."

"Er ... yeah?" Izuku looked around at her, confused.

"... your plan for the future," She muttered, "you're - you're sure you don't know what you wanna do?"

Izuku faltered at that, looking back around at his best friend as they slowed to a stop near the end of the tunnel, not paying much attention to anyone but each other - and being completely unaware of the sound of something moving out of the sewer cover behind them.

"I ... er ... why do you ask?"

"I just ..." She paused again, continuing to study the ground, and then let out a small shudder, trying to summon her courage, and finally just asked, "... Deku, are you sure you don't wanna apply for a hero school? Not - not even UA, just - anywhere?"

Izuku's breath caught in his throat at this question, staring down at his best friend as she unsurely glanced back up at him, knowing how sensitive this topic was. For a moment, Izuku continued to stare at her, trying to think of something to answer with that would leave her satisfied - and then he let out a small sigh and turned away, glumly staring at the ground while adjusting his backpack on his shoulders.

"Occhan, I -" Izuku hesitated again, and then, in a small, defeated tone as he absently pulled out his notebook, not even noticing as he did it, "- I told you, I - I don't want to be a hero."

"I - I know that," Ochako was quick to assure him, even though both of them knew that he was lying through his teeth, "and I won't - I'm not going to pressure you into doing something you - you don't wanna do. It's just - you know, I was thinking, and - and if we do end up having to go to different high schools, we -"

"Well, well, well … what do we have here?"

Izuku and Ochako immediately froze, staring blankly at each other at the sound of a voice behind them - and not a friendly one at that. It sounded warbled, sinister and … wobbly. As though it were gargling on something.

Slowly, they both turned their heads to look over their shoulders - and felt themselves shudder, eyes widening in horror. Staring down at them was what could only be described as a giant blob of green, mud-like liquid. It It towered over them easily, its back almost reaching the roof of the tunnel as the mass shifted before them, and then a pair of big, yellowish eyes emerged to glare down at them, a wide grin of sharp teeth appearing from the mass to smile evilly down at the two teenagers as they stared up at him in terror.

"A medium sized invisibility cloak ..." He grinned sinisterly down at them, the grin growing wider, "... yeah ... you'll make the perfect skinsuit for me to hide in!"

With that, the sludge villain charged towards them, laughing mockingly as he leapt at them. Ochako stared up in horror as the villain spread his arms, intending to open his mouth wide and devour her whole -

- but before he could envelop her, Izuku acted without thinking, letting out a yell as he shoved Ochako away, allowing the green sludge to slam into him and completely cover him.

"Ah!" Ochako cried out, slamming down against the ground hard and hitting her shoulder against the tunnel's wall, noticing out of the corner of her eye as Izuku's notebook hit the ground and flipped open to a random page. Letting out another groan, Ochako managed to get up onto her hands and knees, knowing that she was getting her leggings and school uniform dirty, and then became aware of the sound of someone … gagging.

She was quick to look back around to where Izuku was - and then she felt her eyes widen once again in horror.

"Don't worry," The sludge villain falsely assured Izuku as he pushed a tendril of slime into the boy's mouth, Izuku's eyes widening in pain and terror as the villain attempted to shove himself down his throat, "I'm just going to take over your body. Calm down, calm down, it's only gonna hurt for about forty-five more seconds. You'll be feeling a lot better soon."

The brown haired girl on the ground continued to stare up in utter horror at the scene before her, seeing the sharp mouth of the villain continue to snigger and mock Izuku as he shoved more and more of his fluids into his mouth and blocked his nose, laughing in a mocking tone as Izuku tried to grab at the sludge, unable to form a grasp and trying as hard as he could to breathe through the layer of slime blocking his nose and mouth.

"You can't grab me," The villain taunted with a sneer, "I'm made of fluid! Ah, thanks so much for your help, kid. And hey, for what it's worth - I don't agree with what you said before. You're my hero."

"Let him go," Ochako whispered, taking one more moment to stare at the horrifying scene before her - and then she completely snapped, leaping to her feet and sprinting straight towards the villain, slipping her backpack off her shoulders to use as a weapon as she screamed, "LET HIM GO!"

Instead of being intimidated by the small girl before him, however, the sludge villain only laughed as her pink backpack sank into his body, and he threw out a tendril. Slamming straight into Ochako's stomach and chest, the girl let out a shout as she was thrown off her feet and slammed by the tentacle into the wall, crying out in pain as she hit the concrete wall.

Izuku's eyes, which had been watering in pain and terror, immediately snapped to her the moment he heard her crying out, feeling them widen under the mass of sludge that was forcing itself down his throat, and felt himself shudder in terror as Ochako was pinned to the wall.

"Oh, don't worry, sweetie, this'll only take a few more seconds," The sludge villain sneered, and then studied her with a sudden interest.

"Hey ... actually ... now that I'm looking at you, you're actually pretty, aren't you? Hm … maybe instead of boring and plain here ..."

As Ochako strained against the substance, kicking out and groaning in pain, Izuku stared in horror at what the sludge villain was implying - and then felt his fists clench.

"I didn't think that he of all people would come to this city. So I'll wrap this guy up quickly, take you somewhere private ... and then I can do a little switching up, can't I …?"

Izuku knew that he should be more worried about how he couldn't breathe, that the air in his lungs had left a long time ago, replaced by the unpleasant slime pushing down his throat. He knew that his strength was leaving him, that he might even be dying, that he should be worrying about that. He knew that.

But the moment the sludge villain had turned his gaze to his best friend, Izuku felt a tight anger in his chest, and clenched his fists tight, ignoring the tears in his eyes as he glared at the sludge villain trying to kill him.

Not her. Not her. Not her!

Unknown to the three of them, a spark emerged from Izuku, a flicker of electricity running up his arm -

BAM

Before anyone else could make a move, however, the manhole cover that the sludge villain had emerged from was suddenly sent flying into the air, colliding hard with the ceiling before coming down to crash against the ground, drawing the attention of the three other occupants of the tunnel. The sludge villain peaked over his shoulder with a smirk, before quickly snapping up, whipping around with wide, horrified eyes. Izuku could only squint as someone else rose up from the manhole, and Ochako stole a small glance out of the corner of her eyes -

- before her eyes widened, and she whipped her head around as she let out a small gasp at the appearance of a large man with two tufts of blonde hair that stuck up above his head.

"Have no fear, young ones, you're safe," The man holding the bag of groceries assured them, stomping his foot down hard on the ground and raising the dust from the concrete, before moving into a crouched position, grinning widely at the villain in challenge. "Because I am here!"

With a panicked shout, the sludge villain abandoned his formerly smug attitude and flung out the hand not holding Ochako down to strike All Might directly in the face, but the pro hero was even quicker, ducking underneath with the same brave smile on his face as he charged forward towards the villain with his two hostages. Ochako watched in awe as the villain tried one last feeble attack, only for All Might to dodge the second strike and wound his fist back.

"TEXAAAAAS… SMASH!"

Throwing his fist forward, All Might struck out, and Ochako felt her hair, and even some of the skin on her face, blow back from the sudden hard torrent of wind slamming straight into the sludge villain, making him strain in pain and horror as the blast of wind struck him dead centre.

"Wind ... pressure?! I can't… hold… together!"

With a small explosion of green mud, the sludge villain blew completely apart, the fluid body completely and utterly scattered, and both Izuku and Ochako were freed from his grasp as the two middle school students were sent flying out of the tunnel. Ochako let out a squeak of shock as she realized that she was about to slam face first down into the ground, squeezing her eyes shut and getting ready for the pain, and hoping she didn't break her nose -

- that was, until a massive arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, stopping her from kissing the ground and holding her up into the air.

"Ah! Easy there, young miss - I can't exactly have you hit the pavement, now can I?"

Letting out a humored laugh at that, All Might straightened up, grinning down at Ochako as she strained her neck to look around and up at the pro hero, eyes wide and jaw dropped. She could see Izuku draped over All Might's shoulder as the pro hero held both of them up, having absolutely no problem apparently holding the weight of two middle school students while he casually strolled out of the tunnel and back onto the street, Ochako wincing somewhat when they stepped into the sunlight but too busy being completely and utter flabbergasted at what was happening.

"Y-you're - you - you - you're - you're -"

"All Might!" The pro hero grinned at her, and Ochako could have sworn that sunlight was shining off his teeth, giving them an apparent shine. "Are you alright, young lady? Did he do anything to hurt you?"

"N-no, I'm fine, but - I - Deku!" Ochako gasped, remembering what had been happening and quickly looking up at her best friend still draped over the pro hero's shoulder. "He - that villain was - he was trying to possess him! Is he okay?!"

"Hmmm ..." All Might was sure to put Ochako back down on her feet, letting her back up some as he knelt down to gently lay the prone boy against the pavement. Ochako felt tears build in her eyes in fear and panic as she immediately went down to her knees, staring in horror as Izuku remained unconscious in the middle of the street. Thankfully he was still breathing, his chest moving up and down while he had his eyes closed.

"He seems to be alright, albeit passed out," All Might straightened up a bit, picking up Izuku's discarded notebook and flipping the pages open, looking at them with interest. Ochako wasn't quite assured by that, however, bending over to shake Izuku's shoulders and pretty much threatening to cry tears of terror at the sight of her best friend unconscious on the ground.

"Aren't - aren't you going to do something?!"

"Of course I am, young miss! But before I can, I need to make sure the villain won't try to escape - I've been chasing him all afternoon, he's a slippery one! Once I'm certain he won't be able to escape, I'll quickly attend to your friend."

Before she could say anything to that, All Might reached into his grocery bag with one hand, having put the notebook down safely beside Izuku's head, and pulled out the bottles of soda that he apparently bought, grinning widely.

"Young miss!" He held out the pop bottle. "Would you like a drink of this?"

"H-huh?!" Ochako looked down at the offered beverage in bewilderment. "I - what? But - but why?"

"I need something to seal this villain away - and I do not want to be too wasteful! I would have to dump the contents of this bottle in order to imprison him, and -"

"W-wait, you'd just - you'd dump a bottle of perfectly good soda?!" Ochako gasped in horror, the frugal creature that lived in her brain depending on coupons screeching to the high heavens as she stared up at the Symbol of Peace as though he had crawled out of a sewer - which, technically, he did.

"You - you didn't even take a sip! N-no, don't dump it, I - hold on! I have a few empty water bottles in my bag, I can - I can fill them up with your soda."

"Ah, excellent! I was going to say, that'd be an awful waste of my 1000 yen! Ha, ha, ha!"

As Ochako scrambled to grab her pink backpack from where it had landed, the sludge villain behind them let out a small groan, trying hard to resemble his bits and pieces and refocus. He knew that he was in serious trouble right now - the Symbol of Peace, who had been chasing him for the last hour, had finally caught up to him and was about ten seconds from being apprehended. He was still feeling fuzzy from the blast of wind, but he knew he had to get out of there and back into the sewers immediately.

Letting out a small grunt of terror, he began summoning his body parts over to his head, desperate to form some kind of escape route and maybe crawl into the manhole that All Might had emerged from to try and slip away -

- until a large hand grabbed his head, making the sludge villain freeze as his large eye glanced up at the pro hero before him.

"My apologies for the delay - I had to empty out what we're going to consider your transportation to the police." All Might laughed a bit, and the sludge villain shivered at the almost sadistic look in the Symbol of Peace's dark eyes as he lowered the two empty bottles of soda. "Now, then - while I'm getting you in here, why don't you tell me about what you were about to do with these young children?"

While the sludge villain tried to stammer out an explanation as All Might put him into the uncomfortably small bottles, Ochako gulped a bit as she put down the six empty water bottles she had been carrying around in her backpack, now filled to the brim with the soda All Might had bought, and returned her gaze to Izuku.

Now that - whatever that was that just happened - was out of the way, she could concentrate on the fact that her best friend still hadn't regained consciousness at all. Feeling herself shake, Ochako moved to kneel down on the ground, not caring if she got her leggings dirty, as she looked over Izuku, checking for any injuries and relieved when she found none, just a bit of sludge around his mouth which she wiped away with her sleeve.

"Deku ..." She asked quietly, gently taking his shoulders and giving him a small shake to try and wake him up. It didn't do much good, however, as he continued to quietly slumber.

Before she could think of what to do here to wake him up, however, she heard a small laugh and the sound of footsteps on the asphalt approaching the two teenagers again.

"My apologies for the delay, but I've managed to seal him completely away!" All Might chuckled at his rhyme, patting his pockets where he had the sludge villain stuffed into the not-so-empty pop bottles. "Now then - your young friend."

"Er - y-yeah," Ochako nodded quickly, glancing at the six water bottles and pointing to them. "And - and you can take back your drinks now, I'm sorry for -"

"Oh, no, I insist you keep them, young lady!" All Might gently assured her, smiling down at the brown haired girl as she tried to protest. "I'm going to be having my hands full with our little sludge friend here anyway, and I know that you definitely won't waste them. And no need to fight me on this, I can simply go buy some more later - you don't exactly have to worry about soda drinks when you're the Number One Hero! Ah, but we're getting distracted now. Let's tend to your friend now."

"Y-yeah," Ochako nodded quickly, deciding to drop the matter of who exactly owned the drinks now as she returned her gaze to Izuku. "He's - he's breathing, but - but I can't wake him up."

"Ah, not to worry! I know what to do in these types of situations."

"Y-you do?" Shaking a bit, Ochako looked up hopefully as All Might began to bend down as well, aiming his dark but assuring stare to the young man unconscious on the ground.

"Stand back, young miss!" He gave her a small grin as he bent over, lowering a hand, "I know the perfect way to rouse your friend."

Ochako watched as All Might reached down to Izuku's face, wondering briefly if he knew some kind of technique to help him wake up - and then blinked when All Might, without a moment of hesitation, began lightly patting his cheek in a gentle but insistent manner.

PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT

"Hey! Hey! He- oh."

Before she could wonder how on earth the Symbol of Peace thought slapping a kid awake was a good idea, Ochako let out a small gasp as Izuku let out a tiny groan, evidently wondering what was tapping on his face and speaking in a subdued but enthusiastic voice, and slowly opened his eyes. Staring up at the sky for a moment, he turned his gaze see Ochako hovering above him, seeing her face filling with both relief and terror as tears leaked out of her eyes.

"D-Deku! Are you okay?! Can you breathe?!"

"I -" Izuku tried to say, and then coughed, feeling some of the sludge that had been shoved down his throat earlier spit out. As Ochako reached into her bag to grab her handkerchief and wipe away the sludge on his chin, while also trying to wipe her own eyes away now that she knew he was okay, the hand that had been smacking his cheek stopped and moved away, making him wrinkle his brow in confusion and turn his head -

- to see All Might himself smiling down at him, dark eyes widening in relief and delight when he saw that he had been successfully roused, and quickly moved his hand from where he had been smacking Izuku's cheek to give him a salute in greeting.

"Thank goodness! I was starting to think that we had lost you there."

For exactly one moment, Izuku stared up in confusion at the hero standing above him while Ochako bent over to inspect him, trying to see if there were some injuries she hadn't seen before upon a closer look. And then he realized exactly who he was looking up at.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" As quickly as he could, he moved back, making Ochako jump a bit in surprise and whirl around as Izuku scrambled down the road, continuing to stare up at the pro hero in surprise, awe and horror as All Might leaned back up to straighten his back, putting his hands on his hips as he gave the screaming fanboy and his very confused friend assuring grins.

"I'm glad you're okay!" All Might nodded happily. "Sorry about getting you both caught up in my heroing. I don't usually make mistakes like this," He shrugged, and then raised a hand to his head to chuckle at himself, "but I was in high spirits on my day off in a new city! Ha, ha, ha!"

Izuku, meanwhile, continued to melt into a puddle of fanboy shock and awe at the sight of his hero, not minding Ochako as she crawled after him and closely inspected him as he had his meltdown.

"Still! You two were a great help! Thank you!" With enthusiasm, All Might grabbed the two bottles of sludge villain from his pockets, threw them briefly in the air and let them spin before catching them, and dramatically held both bottles up, smiling widely. "I've safely captured the villain!"

For a few more seconds, Izuku stared up at him in shock while Ochako wiped his mouth again with her handkerchief, the boy not even noticing his best friend fretting around him - and then he let out a small gasp.

"A - an autograph," He stammered, quickly moving to check his pockets for his notebook. "I - I have to - where should I - where did I -"

"D-Deku." Ochako gulped, realizing that he was slowly transitioning into a panic attack and pointing out to the discarded notebook on the ground beside them - All Might had put it there when he had been helping her pour the soda into her water bottles. Thankfully, Izuku spotted it without having her tell him, nodding quickly.

"P-please sign my notebook!" Izuku grabbed the book from where it had been laying beside his head, ripping it open to a random page - and then screaming again when he saw the large 'ALL MIGHT' already signed in large English letters on two pages with his own squiggly picture. "Ah! He already did!"

"When did he have time to do that?" Ochako wondered out loud in wonder, but was soon distracted when Izuku sprung up onto his feet like a springboard, and began bowing so quickly and fast he looked like he was blurring in the air.

"AAAAAH! T-thank you very much!" He shrieked. "This will be a heirloom! A family treasure passed down for generations to come!"

Ochako rolled her eyes in exasperation while All Might flashed another grin and a thumbs up.

"Well, now that I know you two are alright," All Might patted the bottles of sludge as he put them back into his pockets, "I need to take this guy to the police. You two stay out of trouble now! And see you again on the other side of the screen!"

"O-of course, sir!" Ochako immediately hopped up from where she had been kneeling so that she could sink into her own bow while Izuku continued to stare in awe, his eyes never leaving the back of his hero as the Number One bent over to stretch, getting ready to jump. "Thank you so much!"

"W-wait, you're -" Izuku stuttered, "you're - you're already leaving?"

"Of course - pros are constantly fighting time as well as enemies!"

For some reason, Izuku faltered when he realized that All Might was leaving, not noticing Ochako as she continued to bow in thanks to the hero in front of them for saving them. There was a part of him that told him that it made sense, that All Might couldn't exactly stay around and hang out when he had a villain he needed to bring to the police - but there was another part of him that was making him hesitate.

"You know, I'm glad that you probably won't apply for UA, Deku - not that you would get in anyway. A school for heroes doesn't take cowards."

Remembering Katsuki's words made him shake a bit, staring at the pro hero as he bent down to stretch - and then he felt himself shudder.

He told Ochako that he didn't want to become a pro hero, but …

… but maybe …

"Well, then -" All Might grinned a bit as he took a deep breath - and then, using his strength to jump up, launched himself into the air, causing a large gust of wind that knocked Ochako's hair back and made her take a few steps backwards as he flew into the air. "I'm counting on your continued suppoooooort!"

"W-wow, he's really fast," Ochako laughed a bit breathlessly, feeling a bit excited and gleeful at the thought of seeing her best friend geeking out about meeting his favorite hero. "So Deku, you wanna hear about how he got that villain into … those … bottles …?"

The reason she trailed off, of course, was due to the fact that all of a sudden, her best friend was nowhere in sight. Blinking in confusion, Ochako looked left and right, wondering where on earth he could have possibly gone - and then she stopped.

Slowly, she returned her eyes to the sky, seeing the pro hero flying away above her - and to her horror, seeing someone wrapped tightly around All Might's leg as he soared into the blue sky. Someone very, very familiar.

"D-" Ochako choked on her own words briefly, eyes bulging out of her sockets as she stared at the unusual sight flying away from her, until, raising her hands to grab fistfuls of her hair, screamed at the top of her voice: "DEKU!"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" All Might panicked as well at the sight of the young man clinging to his leg, and immediately reached down to dislodge the arms he had wrapped around the pro hero's leg, grunting in surprise at the tight grip the boy had on him. "Let go of me! Your fanaticism is too much!"

"N-no way!" Izuku protested as best he could, his face flapping around at the wind blowing directly into it, giving him a demented and distorted appearance. "We're flying! If I let go now, I'll die!"

All Might froze for a moment at that protest, blinking, and then fidgeted a bit in embarrassment. "Er - right. That's a good point."

"I - have -" Izuku tried to say through his blubbering, feeling his eyes begin to sting from the skin around them being pushed back. "- a lot of things - I want to - ask you directly! P-please, you're my - my favourite - hero -"

"Okay, okay!" All Might nodded quickly, "I got it, so close your eyes and mouth! You're freaking me out, kid!"

Managing to get control of himself, Izuku did as All Might instructed and closed his eyes and mouth, throwing his head down to embrace the leg that was currently the only thing preventing him from falling to his death, as the reality of what he just did finally settled in and made him stiffen up. At least All Might helped out by grabbing the back of his school uniform to prevent him from slipping off, letting out a small sigh as he began looking around for a place to land -

- and unknown to Izuku, raised a hand to cough a bit, wincing at the taste of blood in his mouth.

"... shit."

---

With a loud crash that sounded throughout the neighborhood, All Might landed hard on the top of an apartment building, not even one minute after the pro hero had initially taken off. Thanking every god above, Izuku slowly slid off of his hero's leg, and fell to his knees, grabbing his legs tightly while trying to summon his soul back into his body from where he had left it on the ground.

"T-that - that was terrifying ..."

"Good grief," All Might huffed, shaking his head in disapproval as he put his fists down on his hips, "that was utterly reckless, young man. I would encourage you never to do something dangerous like that again! Now then, if you knock on the door for a little bit, someone will let you in so you can go back down to the street. I am seriously out of time, so I have to get going."

Izuku jolted at that last little proclamation, looking up in panic as All Might waved at him behind his shoulder as he walked away. "W-wait, I still -"

"I'm sorry, but I have to go!"

"B-but -!"

"- I told you, I - I don't want to be a hero."

Suddenly remembering what he had said only a few minutes ago, Izuku felt himself falter, his hand left outstretched as he stared at the back of his hero, and the words that had been plaguing his mind for years came bubbling to the surface.

"Get back, or he'll electrocute you too!"

"Villain!"

He felt his hand slowly lower back to his side.

"I don't have the specifics of how powerful it is or how it works, but it's clear that Izuku's quirk can be dangerous if not used correctly, if yesterday's demonstration is anything to say."

"I hurt people. I - I hurt Kacchan. I hurt my mom! I'm a villain! Only villains hurt people with their quirks!"

He felt his eyes begin to mist up.

"... a school for heroes doesn't take cowards."

"He's pathetic. I bet he wishes he was still quirkless."

But as All Might reached the edge of the rooftop, putting his hand on the railing in order to launch himself over and take off again, Izuku remembered Ochako's words, from all those years ago when he was huddled in his bed, traumatized by what he had done and the little girl had embraced him.

"And - and you said you'd be a hero! A - a hero that makes people smile! You said that! So let's be heroes together!"

He felt himself let out a shuddered breath - and then he spoke up.

"Even if my quirk is dangerous - can I still become a hero?!"

That, thankfully, made All Might pause, standing at the railing and resting his hand on it as he stared ahead.

"I ..." Izuku muttered, tears welling in his eyes, "... I hurt people with my quirk the first time I ever used it ... and ... and because of that, I vowed to never use it again ... but ..."

Squeezing his eyes shut, he asked, in as loud a voice as he could, "... is it possible to become a hero with the quirk of a villain?!"

Izuku didn't know, since he had his eyes squeezed shut getting himself ready for a denial from the pro hero that he could be a hero, but All Might stayed at his spot on the rooftop, staring off into the city. The pro hero quietly mulled over what was just asked of him, and slowly turned his head to look at the boy he had just dropped off, who he had passed off as a kid he had just saved and got a little enthusiastic - and looked at him in a new light, a bit curious.

"The quirk of a villain ...?" He repeated quietly, about to look around properly and ask for a little more information from Izuku -

- but then a sudden shot of pain streaked through him.

Letting out a small gasp, All Might felt himself lose some of his strength, eyes widening and the smile wiped from his face as he realized what was happening, steam beginning to rise off of him.

"Oh, no ..." He grunted, grabbing his shirt tightly with one hand, "... not now ... shit ... goddammit ..."

Not noticing All Might's sudden predicament, Izuku stole a small glance at the ground, letting out a small sigh.

"I - I realize that you probably don't really care about something like this," He admitted, "I - I'm pretty sure you've come across a lot of people with quirks that - that can be dangerous if they're not used correctly ... but I just ..."

Letting out another sigh, he felt his shoulders slump, "... when I was a kid ... my quirk developed a bit later than the other kids in my class, and - and it was a mutation, not like - not anything like my parents' quirks. I can - I can throw lightning from my hands," He paused to raise up his palms, staring at the scarred palms dejectedly, "and when one of my friends lunged at me one day, wanting to hurt me and another friend of mine, I - I lashed out, and I used it to destroy a playground. And - and because I wasn't careful and used my quirk without thinking, I put him in the hospital, with a few other of our friends. And I - I hurt my mom."

Wringing his hands together and glancing away, Izuku continued to explain in a quiet voice. "The kids at my school … they always make fun of me, and - and call me a villain, or accuse me of getting ready to go on a massacre. The only one who sticks up for me is Occhan - t-the girl we were just with. And I ... I always feel so bad when she does stand up for me, because … because I know that if she didn't always stand up for me, she'd be … she'd probably have better friends, or she'd be able to go to school without them mocking her. But - but she believes that I - I can become a hero with this quirk no matter how scared I am of it.

"And there's a part of me ... there's a part of me that can't deny that I'm drawn to heroes no matter how much I try to deny it, or try to downplay it," He was unable to stop the soft smile from crossing his face. "That's why I ... I don't know ..." He shook his head slightly, looking a bit more cheered up as he tried to hype himself up a bit, "... I think saving people is cool. It's what I - what I thought for a long time. Saving people with a fearless smile ... deep down, that's what I want to do. No matter what I tell myself to dissuade it. I want to save people - just like yooooooooooooooooou ..."

The reason he faltered, however, was due to the fact that he finally looked back up at the pro hero before him, finally summoning the courage to glance up and gauge his reaction - and All Might was gone.

In his place was …

"... huh?" Izuku stared at the man before him for one moment - and then his eyes bulged out of his head, and screamed out, "WHAT THE HECK?!"

Standing exactly where All Might had been a minute ago was a very, very skinny man, wincing slightly and glancing away with a cringed expression. He had long, thin limbs, a sharp, angular face with a chin that looked like it could stab people, and blue eyes staring away with dark scalea. He was wearing the same white shirt and green jeans that All Might had been wearing, but they were baggy, as though meant for someone twice his weight.

But … but the long blonde hair, wearing the same clothes that looked like … like they were supposed to be …

That meant ... wait, did that mean ...

"Wha -?! Who -?! You -?! Huh?!" Izuku threw himself back, staring in horror and shock at the emancipated man before him. "Y-you - you - you deflated?! Wait - you - are you a fake?!" In terror, he pointed an accusing finger at the man before him, denial immediately settling in. "You're so skinny!"

Letting out a small sigh of exasperation, the man before him straightened up, trying to look seriously at the young man before him (even though inside he was also freaking out a bit at his secret being outed), and said, "I assure you, young man, I am All Migh bluuugh!"

Izuku let out another high-pitched scream at the blood that suddenly burst out of the man's mouth, while All Might cringed a bit more while hastily covering it up with his large hand. "IMPOSSIBLE!"

Letting out another sigh, All Might raised a hand to wipe at his mouth, in order to get the blood cleared away so the green-haired boy would finally calm down. "You know how guys at the pool are constantly flexing and posturing to show off their abs and stuff? It's kinda similar to that."

"No way ...!" Izuku protested, feeling like his entire world was shattering as he weakly pumped one of his fists. "You - you're - All Might is ... he's fearless ... he saves everyone with a - a fearless smile ...!"

All Might stared at him for a moment, lowering his hand from his mouth as he quietly debated something with himself - and then let out one more sigh, putting his hand behind him on the railing and guided himself slowly to the ground to have a seat - honestly, he was kind of exhausted.

"A fearless smile, huh?" He quietly repeated, shaking his head slightly as he glanced back up at the middle schooler before him. "Now that you've seen me in this form, young man, I'll have to ask that you keep it to yourself. Don't write about it online, don't tell your friends - er, sorry, I mean your friend - ugh, sorry about that, kid, that was insensitive."

"Uh -" Izuku stammered, still having his mind blown as All Might shook his head.

"Anyway, I'm trusting you to keep your mouth quiet about what I'm about to show you."

Izuku faltered at that, staring at the emancipated man as All Might reached down to pull his shirt up - and then Izuku gasped, and quickly moved his hands to his mouth, feeling revolted at what he was seeing.

"Not pretty to look at, right?" All Might asked as he showed the large, gnarly scar on his left side, a huge closed up hole that spread across his torso like a spider-web. "It's an injury I got from a villain about five years ago. Half of my respiratory organs were destroyed in the blow, and I lost my entire stomach. The reason I look like this is because I became emaciated from all the surgeries and their after effects. Truth is, kid ..."

Letting out another defeated sigh, All Might let the shirt drop back down, covering the scar as he looked to the ground himself, "... I can only work as a hero for about three hours a day. And then I'm stuck like this until I recover enough strength to buff up again."

"What ...?" Izuku gasped, feeling himself tear up slightly at this. "That - that can't be true. Five years ago - w-wait, was that - was that when you fought Toxic Chainsaw?"

"You know your stuff," All Might chuckled despite himself, "but no. A punk like that couldn't land a hit like this. This fight ... it wasn't made public to the world, because I wanted to make sure it wasn't." With a small frown, All Might turned his gaze back to Izuku. "I will save people with a fearless smile. You got that right. The Symbol of Peace cannot be daunted by evil. People everywhere have to think that I'm never afraid, but honestly … I smile to trick the fear inside me. It's just a brave face I put on when the pressure's high. After all … this job isn't easy."

Izuku couldn't help but hang on every word All Might said, feeling his eyes widen and tears build up as his hero, the man with the fearless smile, admitted that he was just as afraid as anyone else when it came to heroics.

"Pro heroes are always risking their lives," All Might explained, frowning, "so normally, young man, I'd be telling you to not pursue this career. But I don't think that's what you're asking here, is it?"

"I -"

"You said that you have a lightning quirk, right? One that lets you generate electricity."

"I -" Izuku stammered, and then quickly nodded. "- y-yes."

"That sounds pretty powerful," All Might gave him, giving him a serious look, "I imagine that with that ability, and proper training, you could become a great hero."

Izuku felt his breath leave him at that, staring at All Might in shock as he felt a bit of hope begin to rise in his chest -

"But I don't think that's the answer you really want."

And that hope was immediately dashed when All Might said that, the pro hero letting out a small grunt as he began to rise to his feet, bracing himself against the railing. Izuku faltered, staring at All Might in confusion as he continued to stare at him seriously.

"You are able to become a hero with your power … I have a feeling that you already knew that." He said shortly, "You know that you can become a hero with your power. Anyone could become a hero with your quirk. It doesn't matter how destructive or evil you think it is, you could probably easily slide into the Top 10 rankings, if you train your quirk well enough and become popular. But if I'm being honest? What you need from me, young man, isn't assurance."

With another sigh, All Might moved away from where he had sat and left Izuku standing there, moving to the roof access door of the apartment and testing the doorknob. Satisfied when he felt it twist and opening it up, he looked back at Izuku, giving him a stern, albeit understanding look as the boy looked at him in confusion and a bit of emotion.

"I don't think the question you need to ask is 'can I become a hero'." He explained as he stepped through the door, "I think the question you should be asking is, 'should I become a hero?'. And that, young man, is a question only you yourself can answer."

With that, All Might moved through the door, and quietly closed it behind him, leaving Izuku alone on the rooftop.

For a moment, the green-haired boy stared blankly at the spot that All Might had been in, slowly mulling over what the pro hero had explained to him - and then he felt himself sag, letting out a small sigh as he turned his gaze to the ground again and quietly unclenched his fists, which he had no idea he had even squeezed closed.

Before he could even think about what All Might had told him, however, he suddenly became dimly aware of the feeling of his phone buzzing in his pocket - something, he realized, that had been going on for the last few minutes, unnoticed due to the shocking revelation of All Might's weakness he had unwittingly stumbled upon. Wrinkling his brow somewhat in confusion, Izuku numbly reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and glancing at the screen -

- and immediately cringed.

OCCHAN

DEKU

DEKU ANSWER THE GODDAMN PHONE

DEKU I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND KICK YOUR ASS

DEKU

Unable to stop himself from gulping a bit in nervousness, it was only then that Izuku remembered the state he had been in when he had last seen his best friend - clinging to the leg of a pro hero that had just jumped in the air. Realizing that he should probably give her a call before she kept her word and hunted him down, he quickly dialed her number and pressed the green button before raising it to his ear, bracing himself for the cursing.

It didn't even ring once before she answered the phone.

"Izuku Midoriya, I am going to murder you!"

"Eek!" Izuku squeaked a bit, jumping as Ochako's venomous voice filled his ear, but soon settled down and sighed - he probably - no, definitely deserved that. But before he could say anything to defend himself, Ochako went on a tangent, and as a construction worker's daughter, she had a very colorful vocabulary to get through before he would be able to get a word in, so he sighed and subjected himself to what was probably going to be an entire minute of uncomfortableness.

"You dumbass, fucking piece of shit, garbage! Ya fuckin' green-haired asshole! Ya piece 'a shit, mutterin', microscopic, rot-brained, fuckin' -"

Oh, and there went her nice voice, Izuku slowly nodded, realizing that she just slipped into her Mie accent. That meant she was really angry.

"- ya fuckwit, goddamn -"

"Mm-hm."

"- piece a' human excrement, shitty-faced, dickheaded, shit fer brains -"

"Yeah."

"- DENSE MOTHERFUCKER!"

"..."

"..."

"... Occhan? Are you still there?"

"Yeah. I was just takin' a breath, I think I got everythin' out of my system."

At the very least, she sounded a little calmer, although her voice was still frosty as she addressed him. "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I - I'm okay. I ..." Izuku glanced around, realizing he was on the roof of a building, and sighed a bit, "... I don't know where I am, All Might dropped me off on some rooftop before he ... before he took off. I - I'll have to get back down to street level before I text you the street name."

"Okay - okay, fine, you do that. But the moment you find out where you are, text me. I'll come find you, and then I'm going to wring your neck."

"I - yeah, okay, Occhan. I - sorry."

"... Deku, are you okay?" Izuku blinked when he heard her frosty voice suddenly vanish, replaced by a quiet and concerned inquiry. "You sound …"

"I - I'm fine," He sighed again, unable to stop a soft smile from gracing his lips, "I'll see you soon."

Hearing her make an affirmative noise, Izuku lowered the phone from his ear, pressing the red button and disconnecting the call, and then letting out a small, defeated sigh. He didn't even notice the loud roar of an explosion in the distance, but for now, all he could think about was what All Might had asked him, repeating them in his mind over and over as he slowly turned towards the roof access door, opening it, and stepping through to begin going down the stairs back to the street.

"I don't think the question you need to ask is 'can I become a hero'. I think the question you should be asking is, 'should I become a hero?'."

Honestly … for a few seconds, Izuku had to seriously think about what All Might was exactly talking about and what he meant. He wasn't sure what exactly the difference was supposed to be between 'can I be a hero' and 'should I be a hero'. But, slowly but surely, the small gears in Izuku's mind began to turn, and he found himself frowning.

All Might … even with the shocking revelation he had explained to him, it was the last few words that he couldn't get out of his mind. And Izuku knew why.

Because deep down, he knew that All Might was right.

For years, Izuku had been so afraid of his quirk, he squashed his childhood dreams of becoming a hero. He had pushed aside every small insistence or recommendation of him entering the hero business, always weakly laughing off Ochako's quiet questions and Taiyo and Miwa and his mother's suggestions. But the truth was …

… yes, he wanted to be a hero. He wanted to be a hero more than anything, Izuku sighed to himself as he finally made it down the stairs and moved towards the door leading out to the street. Keeping track of heroes and their special moves, writing about new debuts late at night, analyzing their quirks and how they could improve them, eagerly helping Ochako train her own quirk so that she could become a hero … deep down, he knew that this was the life he wanted, more than anything.

What All Might had been trying to say … it was obvious, Izuku thought as he spotted a street sign, taking out his phone to text Ochako. The pro hero had pointed out that Izuku knew that he could become a hero with his quirk, no matter how dangerous it was - and he had been right. Electricity quirks in the hero business were rare, and hard to master, but if he tried hard, he could become successful.

But … All Might had been right. He knew that already. It was just … it wasn't a question of 'can I?'. It was a question of 'should I?'.

And …

… and he didn't know.

Izuku felt himself tear up slightly as he roughly wiped it away, texting Ochako the street name and then beginning to aimlessly walk. Should he become a hero? His quirk was dangerous. It was destructive. The one time he had meant to use it - even though he didn't know what was happening - it had horrifying consequences. He had been plagued with nightmares for years of electrocuting Katsuki and his mom. He had nightmares of accidentally shocking Ochako, sending her falling through the skies unconscious towards the ground. He had nightmares that he would eventually get angry enough that he wouldn't care anymore, go inside his school and …

… and that was why he thought he shouldn't become a hero, he realized.

He didn't trust himself. He didn't trust his quirk. He was scared of it, so how could he use it without those horrible thoughts?

How could he -

"Oof!"

Izuku let out a small gasp as he unintentionally walked into someone standing on the street, blinking in shock as he took a few steps back. Realizing what he did, he let out a small gulp as he quickly bowed in apology.

"I - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to -"

"Why aren't the heroes doing anything?"

Stuttering to a stop, Izuku felt his apology fade away, due to the fact that, upon glancing up, the man he had bumped into hadn't even looked at him at all, as though Izuku hadn't even bumped into him. Or - you know, even acknowledged his presence. Instead, the man was looking anxious, trying to peek over the head of …

… wait, what? There was a whole crowd here, looking into a plaza that Izuku hadn't realized he even walked towards. Wrinkling his brow in confusion and curiosity, his previously glum thoughts fading to the back of his mind, Izuku moved around the crowd to stand on his tippy-toes, trying to see what exactly everyone was looking at -

- and then he felt his eyes widen.

It was … it was the sludge villain! Izuku let out a shocked gasp at the sight of the amorphous form of the villain that had been choking him to death only twenty minutes ago, laughing evilly as he towered over the heroes. Izuku felt himself shiver when he caught the sight of a hand in the mass of sludge, flailing around before being dragged back into the fluid. Flames surrounded him from all sides, and he threw a hand forward, an explosion of fire ripping away from it and slamming into another building. Izuku could make out Kamui Woods, Death Arms and Backdraft attempting to hold back the fire and rescue any civilians left behind, but doing absolutely nothing to halt the villain at all, letting him add to the damage by throwing out another explosion to strike at one of the stores.

And the crowd was beginning to murmur amongst themselves.

"Why aren't they doing anything?" One of the civilians grumbled, "He's got a hostage - just jump in and save him."

"Overheard that they can't even fight him! There's no hero on the scene that can take care of it. They're waiting for another hero with a more suitable quirk!"

"Oh, come on, really?! That thing is busting up my shop! No way my insurance covers that!"

As the crowd continued to mutter and the three heroes on the ground backed up to join the cops holding them back, however, Izuku only continued to stare at the villain, confusion and terror beating in his heart.

How ... how did he get away from All Might?! That should have been impossible, there was no way All Might would have lost him! He had put the villain in those bottles, and put them in his -

- in his -

- his pockets.

In the pant leg that Izuku had ...

... oh, no.

Izuku felt what little breath he had completely leave his lungs, staring horrified at the villain as he threw another blast of fire at another building, making the crowd gasp and scream in terror. This was … this was all his fault. If he hadn't grabbed onto All Might's leg … to ask that stupid question … then … then the villain would have been apprehended. And … and he wouldn't be here. Causing carnage and destroying everything in sight, with no one to stop him. And -

- and the heroes were waiting for a hero with a suitable quirk to arrive. The reason they weren't fighting the villain right now - it had to do with their quirks being a bad matchup with this villain. Someone like All Might would …

"... I can only work as a hero for about three hours a day. And then I'm stuck like this until I recover enough strength to buff up again."

… oh god.

All Might was out of time. That was what he - that's what he implied, right? That he used up those - those precious three hours. Because of Izuku, All Might didn't have the strength to stop the sludge villain. That meant …

"Why aren't the heroes doing anything to help the hostage?" One of the spectators grumbled.

"God, it's not like anyone's stopping them from just jumping out there. Just screw the kid and take down the villain."

"Heh, no way. That's bad publicity."

Izuku felt his heart quicken at that factoid, that so many people were already writing off the hostage that he had taken. Izuku felt himself shudder, raising a hand to his mouth. The memory of the pain, the way he couldn't breathe as the villain shoved itself down his throat … did that mean someone else was experiencing that right now? Bearing that - that horrible suffocation? He felt his breath come out jittered as the crowd continued to murmur. He thought he would've died after a few seconds of that, and there was someone suffering through that right before his eyes?

"Hey, actually … wasn't that the villain All Might was chasing around earlier?"

"All Might?! No way. He's here?"

"Yeah, saw him chasing that guy downtown before they went down into the sewers."

"Seriously?! Then this guy got away from All Might?!"

As the crowd continued to turn on the heroes both present and absent, Izuku squeezed his eyes shut briefly, looking down at the ground in despair. There was a part of him that wanted to take the blame, shout to the heavens that this was all his fault, but his mouth was shut tight, as though unable to open even if he tried. He wanted to accept the blame, tell them that it was his fault All Might couldn't stop this guy, that he couldn't stop this villain. And the hostage …

… no. No, someone would have to come, Izuku rationalized as he looked back at the sludge villain. Someone not perfect, but someone with a more suitable quirk. Someone that would help.

Someone. Anyone.

Izuku stared at the villain, wincing when the arm of the hostage began sinking into the sludge.

Anyone …

The villain's head turned to sneer at the heroes gathered around, and Izuku got a better view of the hostage writhing within him. He felt tears continue to build in his eyes at the sight of -

- wait.

That blonde, spiky hair.

The explosions around him, created by the villain.

The red eyes, looking around pleadingly.

That ... that was ...

... and then Izuku moved.

Only that it wasn't just his feet that moved.

It took surprisingly little effort to shove his way through the crowd, bursting out at the front and ducking underneath Death Arm's extended hand, bursting out of the gathered crowd and barrelling straight towards the villain, letting out a few squeaks of terror as he sprinted past the heroes, not hearing their shocked gasps, nor the sound of the crowd screaming in shock at what was happening.

"You idiot!" Death Arms barked, throwing out a hand but not moving from his spot. "Stop! Stop!"

As the attention of the sludge villain immediately snapped to Izuku, his eyes widening in recognition and glee as he stretched an arm back, intending to blast Izuku back, the boy kept his eyes on Katsuki as the bully looked weakly at him - and then Izuku felt his arms tense.

Sparks popped out of his palms, tingling and numbing his arms, but Izuku didn't notice. Fear and terror slammed in his heart, but he didn't even notice it as he threw his hands backwards towards the ground, feeling the familiar sting and pain of lightning beginning to pour down his arms, ready to fire. It didn't matter that this was only the second time he would have actually used his quirk, Izuku knew it well. And at the moment, Izuku didn't care, locking his eyes on Katsuki's wide eyes staring at him in shock.

Get him out of there! Izuku screamed at himself. Save him!

And without warning, the lightning in his palms blasted out, striking the ground just behind Izuku as he ran in a loud explosion of sound and light that made the heroes and civilians watching wince in pain.

Izuku felt his feet leave the ground as he was pushed up into the air, letting out a small shriek of panic as he was sent flying towards the sludge villain, his backpack ripping off his shoulders from the force and speed, and sending his things flying everywhere. The villain, instead of striking out and swatting him out of the air, recoiled in surprise as Izuku blasted through the air towards him, his hand outstretched as he grabbed onto Katsuki's free hand and pulled.

However, Katsuki was stuck pretty deep within the sludge, so Izuku strained as hard as he could as he landed on the sludge villain, one foot sinking in as he tried to pull his former friend free.

"You - you little -!" The sludge villain growled, getting over his shock at what Izuku had done, and threw an arm back, its palm beginning to smoke from the explosion he was about to unleash. "Die!"

Izuku's eyes widened at the realization of what was about to happen - and then without hesitation, he threw his arm forward, pointing palm up at the sludge villain's face as his arm tingled.

BOOM

The sludge villain let out a shriek of pain as the blast of lightning from Izuku's palm slammed directly into his eye, throwing his head back and roaring to the heavens as it smoked and shocked him. That, at least, distracted him from keeping a hold on Katsuki, releasing his face and letting the blonde boy cough in pain and relief.

"Kacchan!" Izuku yelled, "Grab my hand!"

"Why are - *cough* - why are you here?!" Katsuki demanded, completely confused and taken aback by what the loser of his class was even doing.

"I don't know!" Izuku shook his head, grabbing Katsuki's wrist and pulling as hard as he could. "I - my legs - they moved on their own! I just -"

Before he could do anything else, however, the sludge around Katsuki's face surged, and Izuku panicked as the blonde boy was once again enveloped by the villain, trying to shove the sludge down Katsuki's throat.

"You - you little shit!" The sludge villain bellowed in rage, his eye still burning from Izuku's lightning strike as he threw his arm out again, glaring down at the suddenly frozen boy. "I'm going to kill you, and wear your pathetic little meatsuit like a coat! Do you hear me?!"

"He'll die in vain!" Death Arms shouted, finally moving forward with the rest of the heroes and stretching out an arm. "Is he suicidal?!"

Izuku let out a small gasp as the arm threw itself down, intending to strike Izuku dead and make him nothing more than a smear on the side of a building, and with nowhere to go and one foot stuck in the villain, Izuku knew he couldn't run. Squeezing his eyes shut, Izuku threw his arms up, feeling them continue to spark and tremble with electricity -

- but then a muscular arm intercepted the sludge villain's attack, making sure the sludge wrapped around it and diverted the explosion. Izuku flinched at the loud explosion behind him - but felt himself blink when he realized that it didn't hit him.

"Now, now," A familiar voice drawed, making Izuku's eyes widen, "I believe we've already had this discussion, haven't we?"

Izuku's gaze whipped back up, and he let out a gasp at the sight that greeted him. Standing overtop him was All Might, smiling widely although there was a noticeable shaking, and preventing the sludge villain from striking him as he protected Izuku from him.

"A-All Might ..." Izuku's eyes widened, remembering their conversation. "But ...?"

"I really am pathetic," The pro hero shook his head at himself. "Someone recently kicked me in the butt for not living up to my own ideals ... and even now, I struggle!"

With a fierce grunt, he ripped his arm free of the sludge villain's grasp, and reached out to grab the back of Katsuki's school uniform.

"Pros are always risking their lives!" All Might proclaimed, throwing his other arm back and ignoring the blood escaping his mouth. "That's the true test of a hero!"

"Damn you, All Might ...!"

"DETROIT ... SMASH!"

Admittedly, what happened after that, Izuku had no idea.

One moment All Might had thrown his fist forward, unleashing a blast of wind that completely eviscerated the sludge villain and freed Katsuki from its grasp - and the next he was staring blankly up at the sky, wincing a bit when drops of rain appeared out of nowhere to shower them.

Letting out a small groan, Izuku tried to raise a hand to rub his eyes, but winced at the sudden pain in his palms, making him gasp out. Letting out a small groan, Izuku rolled onto his sides, and blinked at the sight of All Might standing proudly, raising a fist into the sky as the crowd cheered for him. There was a shuffling near him, and Izuku looked around to see Katsuki managing to sit up, groaning lowly as he coughed up some sludge from before.

Grunting, Izuku managed to sit up, wincing again as he put his palms on the ground to help him up, and then glanced at them - and then froze at the sight of red lines on his palms, suddenly remembering what he had done.

He … he used his quirk. For the second time in his life he used his quirk on purpose. And it - did he use it to save Katsuki?

… no. No, he - he only used it to blast his way to the sludge villain, and - and then blast him in the eye. He … All Might saved them. He overcame the pain and saved the two boys. Izuku felt himself frown as he stared down at his palms.

He didn't … he didn't do anything.

It didn't take too long for the other pro heroes to gather around, scooping up the remains of the sludge villain that All Might had blasted apart into trash bags to escort off to prison, and All Might found himself distracted by the onslaught of reporters that came out of nowhere to interview him, the pro hero laughing bombastically as he answered all of their questions. And every so often, the Number One Hero would glance behind his shoulder, looking at Izuku on the ground staring at his palms, and wincing as the two heroes above him read him the riot act.

"You utter idiot!" Kamui Woods reprimanded him, glowering down at him as he crossed his wooden arms across his chest. "There has to be a limit to how rash you can be!"

"There was absolutely no reason for you to put yourself in danger!" Death Arms snarled. "All Might was clearly on the way! You needlessly put yourself at risk of death, and for what?! A little attention?!"

"N-no, sir," Izuku mumbled, continuing to stare at his hands while Katsuki glowered beside him, being praised for absolutely no reason by the one hero in the white spandex and yellow cape, ignoring the three reporters circling around him - and no one being aware of a brown haired girl pushing her way through the cheering crowd, unable to take the sight of her best friend being scolded anymore, and running over.

"Even if you thought your quirk would give you an advantage, you were clearly in over your head! I'm thinking that some legal action should be -"

"Stop it!"

Izuku jolted at the familiar voice above him, but before he could look up, a pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders. Looking around, Izuku blinked at the sight of Ochako, the girl glowering and meeting Death Arms' glare tit-for-tat as she held her best friend close.

"I heard the people in tha' crowd! He was th' only one who did anythin' while you were standin' around!" She snarled, her Mie accent out in full force today. "He wen' and did yer job while you stood there and whined, until All Might showed up and stole yer thunder! So stop crappin' on him and leave 'im the fuck alone!"

"Now listen here, young lady," Death Arms crossed his arms, or did the best he could with his black and yellow striped wrist-guards, "you don't get to -"

"While I don't quite share the language, I do believe she has a point."

The group that had been getting ready for a fight jumped a bit and looked around as All Might strolled forward, raising one hand to put a pause to the reporters' questions so that he could smile at the group on the ground, not noticing Katsuki's eyes snap to him as he addressed Kamui and Death Arms.

"I believe that you both have made your point," He evenly said to the two heroes, "the boy has been reprimanded. No need to drag this out now! I believe that this young man has learned his lesson."

"Perhaps," Kamui said frostily, "but now that you're here, All Might, the boy should also apologize to you for -"

"An apology is not necessary," All Might held up his hand to shush his junior, giving Izuku and Ochako an assuring grin, "I'm just relieved that everything turned out alright - or 'All Might', I should say! Ha, ha, ha! You two can head home now."

Izuku stared up at All Might for a moment, seeing him give the young boy an assuring nod, but he was soon distracted by Ochako tugging on his sleeve. Being pulled to his feet by his best friend, Izuku did nothing to resist Ochako as she gently took his wrist, careful of his hand since it was still somewhat tingling with electricity and sparks, and began to pull him away from the pro heroes, leaving Katsuki on the ground glaring after them.

Thankfully, All Might grabbed the attention of the reporters again, preventing them from going after the two middle-school students to ask questions, and letting the green-haired boy leave the plaza. As they walked away, Ochako pulled out her cell phone to call home and explain what had happened, and Izuku didn't even think to grab his things that had been thrown from him when he had launched himself at the sludge villain, as they moved around the corner and out of sight.

Of course, no one noticed, or were aware, of the man leaning against the wall of the plaza, studying the scene carefully before raising a phone to his ear as he hid away from the pro heroes.

"Hey."

...

"Already on the news, huh? Yeah, I'm there right now - no one can see me, though. I saw the fight too, the boss was right. The sludge guy was talking out of his ass, All Might wiped the floor with him."

...

"Yeah, I'm on my way back now before anyone spots me. Tell the leader we gotta start recruiting again."

...

"Sounds good. Heh, you can tell the boss I saw something funny at the fight, none of those reporters were talkin' about it - some kid broke off from the crowd to get in a fight with old Sludgie. Actually put up a decent show before All Might stepped in. Used a quirk similar to the one he's bein' refitted with."

...

"Yep. Save a cigar for me."

---

... oh, god, this was awkward.

Izuku couldn't help but gulp a bit as he walked down the road with Ochako towards home, his hands, thankfully no longer sparking, secured in his pockets as the sun began to set in the distance. He stayed quiet as he stole glances at his best friend - although his attempts to meet her eyes were entirely one-sided.

For one, Ochako was moving a bit quicker than he was, pretty much a step ahead of him and walking much faster than her best friend. Secondly, she hadn't looked back at him at all since they had left the square, leaving behind All Might and the reporters. They had been halfway back to the apartment when Izuku realized that he didn't have his backpack or any of his things, making him shrink up a bit as he realized he left his notebooks behind, but he decided not to bring it up when Ochako had hung up her phone call to the Midoriya's explaining what had happened.

Mostly, he could only really concentrate on the coldness emulating from his best friend, and how she wasn't looking back at him at all.

"Uh ..." Izuku coughed quietly, glancing away awkwardly, "... so ... you, uh ... were you in the crowd earlier? Did, uh - did you see what happened?"

"..."

"... n-no, probably not, I - I probably would've seen you. You - you must've heard what happened, though?"

"..."

"... er. Uh … Occh-"

"Deku!"

Izuku and Ochako faltered in their step at the sound of the rough voice behind them, and they both looked around. Running straight towards them was Katsuki, panting a bit as he skidded to a stop just a few feet away from them, taking a few moments to catch his breath as he glared at Izuku. Ochako, meanwhile, only slightly turned her head, fixing the blonde boy with a cold glare as though unvocally daring him to do anything.

"I ..." Izuku blinked, taken aback by Katsuki's appearance, and turned around to give him a concerned look, "Kaccha-"

"I never asked for your help! And you didn't help me!" Katsuki suddenly barked, clenching his fists and snarling at the boy. Ochako only raised an eyebrow at him, while Izuku blinked again in surprise.

"You got that?! I was fine by myself! I don't need you looking down on me all the time!" Katsuki ranted, shaking a bit in rage. "You get one good hit on me when we were kids and you think you're better than me?! Fuck off! I owe you jack shit!"

He whipped back around, storming down the road with an awkward walk, and yelling over his shoulder, "Don't look down on me, you damned nerd!"

Izuku felt himself sweat a little bit, chuckling weakly while Ochako slowly turned her head to look back down the road, not looking back.

"I, uh ... I guess that happened," He said in a small voice, looking back around at Ochako as she started walking back down the path, as though there hadn't been an interruption.

However, there was something in the way she walked, and didn't look back at Izuku at all, that finally made him break, jogging forward a bit to grab her wrist and bring her to a stop.

"Occhan, are you angry at me?"

At that question, Ochako finally slowed to a stop, staring straight ahead while Izuku stared at the back of her head. For a moment they were silent, with Izuku feeling his heart hammer in his chest and a slight pain from his numb hands holding her wrist - and then Ochako let out a soft sigh.

"... kinda."

Izuku winced at that - it always did hurt to hear his closest (and let's be honest, only) friend admit that she was angry at him. However, before he could apologize, she looked around, and he felt himself tear up at the look of anger, frustration and sadness on her face - an expression she must've had since they left the plaza ten minutes ago.

"You … I'm not gonna lie, you scared the hell out of me today, Deku," She admitted quietly, glancing at the ground as she slowly slid her wrist out of his grasp and letting him stand back. "First we get attacked by that sludge villain, and - and I had to watch him try to shove himself down your throat. Then I had to watch you latch yourself to All Might's leg when he took off - I thought you were going to fall off and - and then I had to find out that you got in a fight with that exact same villain!"

"I ... I know." Izuku nodded, looking down as Ochako got herself more and more worked up.

"And this isn't even the first time! Sure, it was - this time was definitely the worst, but I always have to drag you away from this kind of stuff!" She turned fully around, giving him a look of anger and desperation as she tried her hardest to explain this. "Watching villain fights and heroes being thrown around while you take notes, and - and -!"

Izuku felt a bit hurt at that, glancing down at his feet in guilt while his best friend continued to rant.

"And you just -!" For the second time that day, Ochako raised her hands to her hair, grabbing two fistfuls and looking thunderous for a moment - and then she let out a sigh, glancing away while lowering her hands, and muttered, "... Deku, you scared the hell out of me. I thought that I was - there were times today that I thought I was going to have to watch you die."

"..."

"And I -" She shook her head, and glanced up at him, making him falter at the sight of tears in her eyes, "- I'm not an idiot, Deku. I know that I can't convince you - I can't convince you to apply for UA if you don't want to. I know your reasons, and I - I understand them, and I respect them. But Deku, if we go to different high schools … I can't watch over you anymore."

"H-huh?"

"Deku, I don't - I know I was complaining about it just now, but I don't mind when you go - when you want to go watch hero and villain fights, and - and take notes. But if we … if we go to different high schools …" She sniffled, glancing away again, "... then I can't make sure you don't get hurt. And … and today was just a reminder of that. That - that if you're on your own when this kind of thing happens …" She raised a hand to wipe away a tear, "... then I can't stop you from getting hurt."

Oh … oh, boy. That hit him like a blow in the stomach. Izuku felt his gaze lower to the ground again, tears stinging his eyes at the reminder that, yes, it was more than likely that they weren't going to be able to spend much time together once high school started next year. Ochako was training to be a pro hero - there was no way that she could be distracted from the hard work load. And … and he knew that she was right.

This time next year … she might not be able to look after him anymore.

For a moment, the two of them were silent, not looking at each other while they silently teared up, and then Ochako took a deep breath.

"... okay. Time for a hug."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking back up at her as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You scared me to death today. That means I deserve a hug, at least."

"I ..." Izuku hesitated, and then sighed and nodded, unable to stop himself from smiling softly, "... okay."

With that confirmed, Ochako walked over, putting her backpack down on the ground, and throwing her arms around his neck. Izuku blinked a bit in surprise at how she latched onto him, going a bit red despite himself - of course, they'd hugged plenty of times over the years, since Ochako was a very physically affectionate person that expressed herself through hugs and the such, but there was something … different about this hug that made his cheeks feel a bit hot.

But still, he knew that he had frightened her with his various acts of stupidity today, so that at least meant that he needed to make up for it. And that he did, wrapping his arms around her back and squeezing back gently.

"I am sorry," He muttered into her shoulder, hearing Ochako take a deep breath with his hands on her back, and feeling her shake a bit.

"I know," She whispered, "and ... yeah. I know."

They stood like that for about a minute, holding each other while gently swaying, until Ochako finally separated from him, finally smiling a little bit, and moved to pick back up her backpack so that they could go home.

"Look," she said quietly to him as they started walking again, this time side by side, "I ... I'm sorry for losing my temper with you."

"It's not like I didn't deserve it," Izuku gently shook his head, "I was, uh - I'll be honest, I don't know what today even was."

"W-well, in any case," She grimaced slightly, "it's just - you need to be more careful, okay? I know that today was freaking nuts, but - but I don't want a repeat of that - at least, not without me being there to back you up."

"I know," Izuku nodded, feeling a bit downcast at the reminder, "and ... yeah. I know that us - us hanging out together once high school starts ..."

Ochako winced at that little reminder, although she shook her head and put her arm around his shoulder, drawing him in to give him a one armed hug.

"Let's ... let's not think about it right now," She muttered, continuing to walk forward towards the apartment, "let's just go home and unwind from today, okay? We got a whole year before we even have to worry about that sort of thing."

"I ... okay."

Izuku let out a soft sigh, but still smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist, returning the hug while she smiled gently back. He felt a bit thankful that she had managed to get over her anger at him, although it had been well deserved - but at least she was smiling again, so that was all that mattered.

Of course, if he had thought Ochako's reaction to his idiocy was bad, he hadn't thought of his own mother's reaction.

"IZUKUUUUUU!"

Izuku let out a squeak five minutes later, due to the fact that the moment he opened his apartment door, Inko immediately launched herself on him, grabbing him in a tight hug and squeezing the life out of him. His eyes bulged out of his head like a stress toy while she sobbed loudly, with Ochako blinking but recovering from her shock quickly, shaking her head while Izuku weakly patted his mom's shoulder. Behind Inko, Taiyo and Miwa were also giving the boy the 'disappointed parents' look, making him wince at the sight of the wet patches on their clothing from where Inko had been obviously crying on them when Ochako had called home to tell them what had happened.

"I was so worried!" Inko sobbed, not noticing her son's predicament as Izuku continued to weakly pat her shoulder in order to get free from her bone-breaking embrace. "What on earth were you thinking?! It was bad enough to hear that you got attacked by a villain by Ochako, but then to hear that you went and jumped in a fight?! What were you thinking?!"

"M-Mom! I - I can't - I can't breathe!"

"Oh!" Inko gasped in shock, and immediately let him go, letting Izuku take a deep breath and cough for a bit as she instead grabbed his arms, "I'm so sorry, Izuku - I'm just -"

"I know," He nodded a bit in guilt, letting out a defeated sigh and moving to hold his mom's unscarred arm, giving her an apologetic look, "and - and I'm sorry for worrying you. I really am. I just ... I moved without thinking. I know that's not really an excuse, but ..."

Inko stared up at him for a moment, and then sighed, wiping her eyes and glancing down.

"Well - well, at least you're okay," She managed to say, letting out another shuddered breath, "you are, aren't you? Or do we need to -"

"N-no, I'm fine," He assured her, "just - kinda shaken up. I'm ... grounded though, aren't I?"

"Oh, of course you are," Inko couldn't help but giggle at that, seeing her son wince a bit while Taiyo and Miwa shook their heads, "just for the week. I'm sure Ochako won't mind giving you the silent treatment until the weekend."

"Nope," Ochako shook her head, smiling a bit at Izuku's look of betrayal, "I'll just keep him company during breakfast and lunch, and after that he's on his own."

"Great," Izuku grumbled, "betrayed by my best friend. Again."

"You need to let that go, Deku."

"You poured wine on the carpet and blamed me. I'm never letting that go."

"We were eight!"

The small group laughed a bit at the back and forth, and Inko sighed as she finally stepped back, wiping her eyes again.

"W-well, anyway," She gestured with her head towards the inside of the apartment, "I'm sure you both had a long day, so let's go inside and -"

"Pardon me, young man."

The group blinked at the sound of a deep voice on their right, and turned to look around - and while the Urarakas and Inko blinked in surprise, Izuku felt his eyes bulge out of his head once again, this time without the assistance of his mother's hug.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you this evening," All Might sheepishly chuckled as he approached them in his emancipated form, holding a familiar yellow backpack in both of his hands, "but I had been at the scene of the - well, the villain fight, and saw that your son threw this at the villain, scattering his things. Due to the heroes yelling at him right afterwards, he didn't have time to collect his stuff, so - er, I had thought to get his notebooks and everything. You don't need to worry, young man, everything's inside."

Feeling himself shake, Izuku hesitantly reached out to the offered backpack, glancing down and feeling its familiar weight. While Ochako looked up at the man with an unreadable look of confusion, Inko managed to get over her shock of the man appearing before them.

"O-oh, that's - that's kind of you, sir," She said kindly to the tall man before them, aware of Taiyo and Miwa being taken aback by his unhealthy appearance, "Izuku, you can - you can say thank you, can't you?"

"Oh! Uh -" Izuku gasped, and quickly moved to bow. "- t-thank you, All M- uh, I-I mean, sir."

"It's no problem," All Might shook his head, raising a hand to rub through his hair. "Although … there was something I was - er -"

Izuku blinked, and glanced back up to see All Might awkwardly glancing at the others, before shaking his head and trying his best to smile.

"Young man, as - as repayment for gathering your things, do you mind walking me back down to my vehicle? I'm just down in the parking lot," He gestured with his hand towards the railing, where his truck presumably was, and coughed a bit. "I know that you probably would like a chance to unwind and relax, but, uh - well, I'm honestly feeling a bit, uh -"

"O-oh!" Inko suddenly gasped, catching something that Izuku must not have. "I - yes, Izuku, why don't you help - er -"

"Yagi, ma'am." All Might bowed a bit, unaware of the small woman's eyes going to the blood on his chin from where he had coughed.

"Y-yes - Izuku, why don't you help Mr. Yagi to his truck, he must - well, it'd be good manners for him coming all this way to give back your backpack."

"Uh - er - right," Izuku nodded stiffly, and All Might sagged a bit in relief. Once Taiyo and Miwa gave the blonde man a polite nod, and together, Izuku and All Might turned around to begin walking down the breezeway towards the elevator, while Ochako continued to look after All Might with a confused look on her face.

"Oh, dear, did you see the blood on his chin when he coughed?" Inko fretted, raising a hand to her cheek, "He must be sick. That poor man … should we have invited him in?"

"I'm not sure," Miwa shook her head, looking after them herself, "but should we be sending Izuku off with him like that? We don't really know him, after all."

"Don' worry, dear," Taiyo put his hand on her shoulder, "that guy's a twig. All else fails, I can take 'im."

While Miwa elbowed her husband in the ribs while Inko shook her head at the Uraraka patriarch, Ochako continued to watch as Izuku and the stranger stopped at the elevator, not talking at all while they waited for it to arrive while Inko, Miwa and Taiyo stepped back into the Midoriya apartment to get supper ready, with Miwa taking her daughter's backpack from her to put down.

Ochako wasn't worried - well, that would be a lie, she was a little worried. But she knew that Izuku wouldn't just waltz off with a stranger - he might've done a few dumb things today, but if he thought he was in trouble, he'd run back in and get her or her dad. She chose to pointedly ignore all the times she had to drag him away from danger, and just - trust him on this.

She knew at the end of the day, as much as she didn't like it, her dad had a point - this Yagi guy was just a twig. If he caused trouble, Ochako sighed as she began to step through the door, Izuku could probably take him, seeing as Izuku was an able-bodied teenager, and he was just a tall thin guy in a white, baggy t-shirt and oversized green jeans and -

- wait.

Wait.

Wait a goddamn minute.

Blinking, Ochako's eyes widened, and she quickly looked back out the door for the man who brought Izuku his backpack - but he was already gone down the elevator with him. She suddenly panicked, trying to remember what exactly he had been wearing as she tried to peek over the railing to see if he was down there, and make a comparison in her mind - but before she could, she heard her mom calling for her.

"Ochako? Why do you have six water bottles full of pop in your backpack?"

"H-huh?" Ochako looked quickly around, realizing what she was talking about and stammering. "Uh - w-well - er - you see - uh -"

Continuing to stammer as she rushed back in the apartment, Ochako felt the mental dots that she had been connecting between the skinny man and the pro hero that had saved them today be pushed to the back of her mind - for now.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Izuku gulped as he followed All Might out of the elevator, walking a bit stiffly as the pro hero led him out of the apartment and towards the parking lot. Looking up at the tall man, Izuku cleared his throat a little, suddenly feeling a bit shy.

"Er … All Might?"

"Yes, young man?" All Might asked as he glanced behind him.

"Are you, uh … are you okay? You said that - er - that you only had three hours, right? That must've -"

"It did take a lot out of me," All Might answered for him, but gave him an assuring smile, "but yes, young man, I'm alright. Well - you know, as fine as I can be, considering. I would've put this off for a bit, but there was something I needed to follow up with you on, and it couldn't really wait."

"I -" Izuku started, but then faltered, realizing something. "- wait, were you following Occhan and me? How - how did you know where I lived?"

"Well … a guess, mostly, and … perhaps a little following," All Might admittedly, looking sheepish as he scratched his hair, "let me tell you, it was hard to follow those reporters, but it's fine! I stand for justice, not soundbites!"

Izuku at least chuckled a bit at that, "W-well, I was just surprised, that's all. I think I would've noticed someone in a truck following us, but -"

"Oh, no, young man, I didn't drive here," All Might laughed, "I jumped! I let go of my form once I caught sight of you and followed you all back."

"I - wait, you don't have a truck here?"

"Nope! I have a truck, but it's at home."

"Then - then how are you going to get home?"

There was a pause while All Might stared blankly ahead, and Izuku gulped a bit when he realized that All Might had accidentally stranded himself, before the Symbol of Peace sighed a bit.

"I … suppose I'm going to have to call a taxi," He shook his head, but then his smile fell. "But that can wait until later - we're here."

Izuku faltered, looking around to where All Might had led him - and then felt himself freeze as All Might lifted the yellow police tape up to go into the playground, feeling himself stop in his tracks and his eyes widened a bit as All Might walked towards a bench.

"Once I had some time to myself after getting away from those reporters, and managed to find you," All Might explained as he moved into the playground, noticing out of the corner of his eye as Izuku stood stiffly behind the yellow line but deciding not to point it out, "I decided to do a bit of research on my phone. And I found out about this from an old news report several years ago," He gestured with his hand to the melted playground, looking back at the young man behind him, "about an incident where a child lashed out with his recently developed quirk, injuring four people and putting them in the hospital."

Izuku's gaze fell to the ground, while All Might gave him a sympathetic look.

"It didn't take a detective to figure out that between what you told me and where you live, young man, that that child was you."

"..."

"..."

"... yeah," He muttered, still staring at the ground, "it was me."

All Might nodded a bit, and put his hands in his pockets, sighing.

"I ... believe that I owe you an apology," He admitted, "I had told you on that rooftop that every quirk can be used to become a great hero, and that you already knew the answer to the question you asked. I had dismissed you because I thought you were asking me if it was possible to become a hero with your power, and I told you that you needed to answer that yourself."

"I - no, you - you don't need to apologize, All Might." Izuku shook his head, feeling some tears in his eyes yet again, "you - you were right. I - I already knew that answer to the question. I was just … I wanted some gratification. I was just -"

"Young man, I wasn't finished."

Izuku faltered, glancing back up at the tall man before him as All Might approached him yet again.

"At that square today, when no other hero acted, you did. When everyone was hesitating to jump in to save that boy, including myself - and yes, young man, I really was a part of that crowd - you leapt in without a second thought. You told me you were afraid of your power, but in that moment you acted without hesitation, to try and save that boy's life. And had I not intervened, you were willing to give your life to save another."

All Might slowed to a stop before him, staring down at the boy and looking more serious than Izuku ever expected out of the man with the fearless smile. "I'll … admit that when I was following you back to your home after I got away from those reporters, I caught what that boy said to you. That boy … he wasn't exactly what you would call a friend, was he?"

"... no, All Might," Izuku muttered. "He was … he was the boy I injured here. The one I hurt. Everything he said - it was right."

"He wasn't your friend," All Might glanced to the ground, "and yet, you still jumped in to save him. Even when I was hesitating. And I shouldn't be hesitating to go beyond my own limits. I told you the traits that make a great champion, and even I have a hard time following my own ideals."

"O-oh no, All Might, please!" Izuku protested as he waved his hands, looking a bit stricken for a moment, "I just - you don't have to say that, I was the one who messed up. I shouldn't have -"

"Young man, you did not mess up," All Might shook his head, moving around to sit down at the bench near the entrance of the closed park, letting Izuku stay behind the yellow line, "You did what many top heroes have done when they began their careers - your body moved before you could think."

Izuku felt his breath catch in his throat, staring down at his hero as the older man looked up at him, smiling gently as he leaned forward a bit to look into Izuku's eyes.

"On the rooftop this afternoon," He reminded the young man, "you asked me if you could be 'a hero with the quirk of a villain'. You told me that everyone, except your family and your best friend, believes you have the quirk of a villain. And from how you spoke, and how you looked at your hands after you used it today, you believe that as well."

"..."

"Well, young man, I believe that's hogwash. Quirks cannot make you good or evil," He leaned back on the bench, "that is for you to decide."

"H-huh?"

"Power is power. It's neither good nor evil, wrong nor right. It's simply power." All Might explained patiently. "What matters most of all is intent and action. What you do with the power you are gifted, that determines whether or not you - not your power, you - are bad or good. And from what I saw of it today? Your quirk is not bad, because you yourself are not bad. Your quirk is dangerous, yes, it is destructive. I won't lie about that. But should you learn to harness it? Grow from it? Use it? You could become a hero."

Izuku stared at All Might blankly for a moment, feeling his breath catch in his throat - and then he looked down, feeling tears sting his eyes.

"Young man, I said today that the question shouldn't be 'can I', it should be 'should I'," All Might raised an eyebrow, "because I believe, sincerely, that under the right training, you can be a hero. So I am going to ask you, here and now, young man - should you be a hero?"

For a moment, Izuku stared at All Might, continuing to tear up as he glanced down at his shoes, feeling his tears begin to flow down his cheeks. He remembered what he had thought this afternoon after the pro hero had left him on that rooftop, about how terrified he was of his quirk if he chose to experiment with it, of who he could hurt if he wasn't careful … and yet, he felt his eyes close.

"I …"

"..."

"... yes." Izuku cried, turning away a bit as he trembled, "I … I want to be a hero, All Might."

All Might smiled gently, leaning forward again to reach out and pat Izuku's arm.

"In that case, young man, that's what you should be. A hero."

For a few minutes, All Might let Izuku quietly cry to himself, giving the green-haired boy a chance to calm down as he shivered and shook. Finally, Izuku raised a hand to wipe his eyes, and looked back up at the pro hero seated on the bench, trying his best to give him a good smile through the tears and snot on his face.

"I … thank you, All Might. I - thank you."

"For what?" All Might chuckled good-naturedly, patting his arm again, "You answered the question yourself, young man - I just gave you a few pokes so you could get there. There's no need to thank me for that."

Izuku let out a small laugh at that - wiping his eyes and straightening up -

"Even if you thought your quirk would give you an advantage, you were clearly in over your head!"

Izuku faltered at the memory of what Kamui Woods had said, and then blinked. With that reminder, Izuku remembered something important, and felt himself sag a bit, the smile on his face slowly fading away as All Might blinked up at him.

"Young man?"

"I … thank you, All Might, for - for saying that I should be a hero. I - I really needed to hear that. It's just …"

"Hm?" All Might wrinkled his brow, leaning forward again, "What is it?"

"... today, at the plaza," He muttered, "I just … I just jumped into that fight to save Kacchan, but I - I failed. I only managed to get over to him and grab him, but - but that villain was going to kill me. I know how to blast out, but it - it hurt me." He took his hands out of his pockets, staring at the red lines from earlier today and years ago and frowned, "I have no idea how my quirk even works, and I - if you hadn't stepped in, I probably would be dead. There's - there's no way I can safely practice my quirk anywhere. I - I want to be a hero, but I have no idea how to use my quirk safely."

All Might stayed silent at that for a moment, realizing Izuku just made a pretty good point - he had the firepower, of course, but no experience with it. If Izuku wanted to become a hero, he couldn't just blast himself around and shoot people with no way to tone it down. He needed practice, someone to guide him, someone to -

- to -

- damn.

All Might realized what needed to happen, and let out a small sigh as he stood up from the bench. This was going to make things complicated, even more so with Mirai continuing to blow up his phone demanding him to reconsider his choice - but he knew that he couldn't just leave this young man out to dry. He needed guidance, a safe place to practice his quirk - and more than that, from what he described earlier today, an environment with someone there to support him.

And he had all three of those things.

So he didn't really have much choice, did he?

"... young man," All Might said in a low voice, nodding to himself, "I have a proposition for you."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking back up and seeing All Might scratch the back of his neck.

"You don't understand how your quirk works," All Might summed up, "and you were moving because you wanted to save that boy today, not because you knew how."

"I … yeah?"

"Well … I admit, young man, I do see a part of myself in you," All Might admitted, making Izuku squeak and quickly glance away as his face went a bit red, "I … also had trouble with harnessing my quirk when I was a young man. I was actually around your age when it first … manifested."

"Wh - really?" Izuku gasped, looking up at the pro hero in shock.

"It's true! It was because of the guidance of my own master that I was able to perfect my quirk … and become the hero I am today. And …" All Might sighed, realizing that once he said this there would be no going back, and shook his head as he straightened up, "... and I would like to offer you the same opportunity, young man."

"..."

"..."

"... eh?" Izuku felt his eyes widen in shock, taking a step backwards as his face went pale, "Are - are you - are you saying that you want to train me?!"

"I … well, I suppose I am!" All Might laughed a bit, wiping a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth as he looked down on the green-haired boy. "I admit, young man, you have potential, and a lot of it. But you're right as well. You were able to shoot electricity out of your hands, but you don't show a lot of control over where you aim and how much energy you pour out. You're right that training your quirk can be dangerous, to you and other people around you."

Izuku winced at that - but before he could apologize, All Might shook his head.

"So in that instance - it would be foolish of me to simply leave you on your own!" He shook his head, crossing his arms proudly. "Young man, with your permission, I would like to train you on how to use your quirk! Before you say anything, though, know this - I am not going to be babying you. This will be extremely difficult, and I won't just be training your quirk - I will be training you. I'll be having you follow a tough schedule, and it'll be difficult to have a life outside it."

Izuku faltered at that, seeing All Might grimacing slightly.

"I apologize, but it's the same schedule my own master had me follow, and look where I am now - er, not currently, but - you know. But anyway, if you want to learn how to control your quirk, know the ins and outs of your abilities, and learn how to master it … I think that what I have in mind for you would serve you well. But again, it's entirely up to you! So what do you say?"

Izuku stared up at All Might for a moment, still feeling some of his tears from earlier return in his eyes as he realized that this wasn't a dream, and All Might really was offering to train him … and then quickly raised his hand to roughly wipe his eyes.

This was - he had no reason to even be hesitating now. All Might had encouraged him, and was giving him an opportunity to master his quirk. He knew that, if he really did want to become a hero, it would need to be trained, and he knew that it was dangerous - so why would he turn down the opportunity to have the world's greatest hero oversee its training? There was absolutely no reason to turn him down!

Wiping the rest of his tears away with his sleeve, Izuku took a deep breath to steady himself, and then, feeling determination flow through him, nodded.

"I'll accept your help!"

"Absolutely no hesitation," All Might smirked to himself. "I thought so. Now then, I do have something cooked up, but I still need to put the finishing touches on it. For now, let's exchange contact information, young man, and I'll text you when - actually," He realized, blinking a bit, "perhaps introductions are necessary before that."

Raising his hand for a handshake, All Might grinned down at the middle-school student, "My name is Toshinori Yagi, young man. If you want, you can still call me All Might."

"I -" Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then returned the grin as best he could as he took his idol's hand, pumping it up and down. "I-Izuku Midoriya, sir."

"Well then, Young Midoriya," All Might nodded, "let's get along."

"Y-yes sir!"

"Good! Now then - I think it's time I called my taxi. You should get back inside, I imagine your mother's wondering where you went."

"I - ah! You're right! Crap!"

ONce contact information was quickly exchanged and All Might promised to text him once he had something concrete planned (and Izuku's grounding was over), the two men parted, with All Might walking him back to the parking lot and letting Izuku run back upstairs, waving to him before turning around and walking away from the apartment. Thankfully, Inko and the Urarakas were more relieved that Izuku was okay, and Taiyo admitted that he had watched the two at the playground debating with himself to storm down and beat the skinny man to a pulp if things got out of hand, although Miwa did poke him in the funny bone for admitting that out loud. Still, Izuku was relieved that everything seemed to finally calm down, although Ochako did send him a small, concerned look.

Once Izuku had washed up, dinner got properly started, with Izuku confused why they were drinking pop out of water bottles but not questioning it as they dug in, instead telling his mom and the Urarakas about his day before the incident, with Taiyo shaking his head at Izuku distracting himself while going to school with a hero and villain fight while Miwa frowned when Ochako told them about their confrontation with Katsuki. Once their dinner was finished, and the adults stepped up to wash the dishes, Izuku headed into his room, pulling out the piece of paper from his backpack given back to him by All Might with a determined look in his eyes, and grabbed a pencil.

As he wrote down the name on the piece of paper, he suddenly heard the sound of knocking on his door, and looked around to see Ochako poking her head in.

"Hey, Deku," She said quietly, "I was just wondering if I could talk to you real quick about that guy -" She faltered, however, when she saw what Izuku was doing, and wrinkled her brow.

"Hey, what's - what's that?"

"Hm?" Izuku glanced back down, and then nodded, looking back up to give her a smile. "It's, uh - it's my high school application form. I've made my decision."

"Wha - really?" Ochako gasped, blinking a bit. The small pit of worry in her stomach that had started forming this morning about this suddenly clenched, and she felt herself shrink a bit as she stepped into her best friend's room. "I - uh - t-that's great! It's - it's great that you finally made a decision."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, "lifting the piece of paper up, "and it's going to be my only option. I'm not worried, though, I'm pretty sure I can get in."

"W-well, let's have a look!" Ochako tried to maintain her smile, walking over to look over his shoulder, "I - I guess I should know where -"

It was then that she caught a glimpse of the name of the high school Izuku wanted to go to, however, and she felt herself blink at what she saw.

TOP SELECTION: UA High School

There was about ten seconds of silence, with Izuku waiting for Ochako's reaction expectantly. Finally, Ochako slowly turned her gaze from the paper to Izuku, blinking a bit in shock, and he finally gave her a more natural grin.

"I … honestly, thank you, Occhan. You never - you never doubted me, and - and you were right. It just … you know, took me a bit of a kick in the butt to get there." He raised his hand to pat her shoulder, "You aren't getting rid of me that easily."

There was another pause - and then Ochako practically launched herself at him, making him yelp as she pretty much tackled him out of his chair in a hug and sent them both falling to the floor. The adults, blinking at the sudden crash, walked over to his room to peek in, shaking their heads at the sight of their children rolling around onto their backs, clutching the back of their heads and groaning in pain - but the smiles they sent to each other more than made up for that.

---

It had taken All Might three days to contact Izuku again, and the boy had been grateful it came right at the end of his grounding. He had been with Ochako at school, eating lunch on the roof while she did homework, when the pro hero had texted him a time and location, and advised him to wear a tracksuit for training. Izuku had gulped at the early hour and the distance from his house (from the looks of things, it was about an hour away on foot), but still sent the pro hero an enthusiastic text back, more than ready to begin training with the Number One Hero.

Once Sunday morning finally rolled around, with no school to look forward to, Izuku left the apartment early in the morning at 5:00 am, with a map on his phone and a sweatsuit on, to walk to the beach where the pro hero was waiting. It admittedly took a while and he only got lost once, but he managed to make it to Dagobah Municipal Beach Park in time, seeing All Might pulling up with his truck, the only car in the parking lot. Jogging over, Izuku saw All Might park and exit the vehicle in his shrunken form, wearing a loose dark t-shirt and track pants. Izuku glanced over at the beach itself, and gulped at the literal mountains of garbage that covered the entire beach, not a trace of sand in sight.

That's ... a lot of trash.

"Good morning, Young Midoriya!" All Might waved to him as he approached, being sure to lock his truck with his key, "I hope that you found this place okay?"

"Er - yeah, I did, I just - well, I got turned around once or twice, but - but here I am," Izuku chuckled, glancing at the garbage again before looking back to the pro hero before him. "Er ... so All Might, um ... what exactly are we doing here? Is this where we're training?"

"You would be correct!" He nodded, moving to go around to the back of the truck to open the tailgate, with a curious Izuku following him. "This will be our primary location for training, Young Midoriya. I do have a plan, so you don't need to worry! We can start by -"

"Wait - so I'm cleaning garbage?" Izuku looked interested at least, glancing into the truck bed and seeing several thick layers of rope. "As in - you know, cleaning up the beach? I'm cleaning up trash to - to train my body?"

"Correct," All Might nodded, leaning against the truck a bit and smiling knowingly, "I imagine it's not exactly what you had in mind?"

"Er - no, that's fine! Picking up trash can - you know - it can help me train my body, I know that," Izuku glanced at the nearest trashpile again, gulping a bit. "It's just ... I'm not sure how exactly this will help me train my quirk. My body, yeah, but -?"

"Ah, but this is only a part of it!" All Might assured him, reaching out to pat his shoulder. "Don't worry, Young Midoriya - I will be helping you to both train your body and use your quirk safely. But cleaning up trash is equally as important! I did some research on the internet yesterday, and I found out that the coast of this beach has been like this for years now."

"I, uh - yeah, I know," Izuku nodded, glancing around. "I think Occhan's dad used to pass by here on the way to work a few years ago - he said that he always wanted to visit, but he never had the time. I guess that was before … you know … all this piled up."

"Mm-hm. Because of the currents, objects tend to trend here a lot, and various dumpers take advantage of that to drop off their stuff, both legal and illegal." The pro hero shook his head. "Because of that, the local residents don't come here anymore, and this place became a junkyard. Which is a shame - I was told this used to be a popular spot."

"I-it was. I remember passing by here once on a trip with Occhan's family - it looked really nice."

"Well, as luck would have it, here we are again! You see, Young Midoriya, I've noticed a little trend over the last few years - heroes these days tend to be after all that showy stuff, catching flashy villains and such. Like Mt. Lady a few days ago - swooping in and taking out a villain as dramatically as she could to get everyone talking about her. Well, I know I'm one to talk about dramatics, but things were different before quirks. Originally, being a hero meant doing volunteer service, even if people called it boring. One cannot waver from those roots!"

"I see ..." Izuku realized, feeling a small smile come to his face, "so as part of my training, I'm going to be cleaning up the beach - helping out the environment."

"Partly! There's still a bit we need to cover for training all around, but part of it will include cleaning up this beach."

"Oh, wow!" Izuku looked around happily, balling his fists in excitement. "I can't wait to get started!"

"Now hold on a sec, Young Midoriya," All Might raised a hand, "we're still waiting for -"

"But All Might, this is my first step towards being a hero!" Izuku looked around at the tall man, seeing All Might raise his eyebrow but looking down in intrigue at the boy. "I've done nothing but sit around and hope for something like this! If I'm going to get into UA, I need to get started at once!"

Ordinarily All Might would've insisted Izuku have a little patience - they were still waiting, after all, she wasn't here yet - but there was something in Izuku's voice, the energy and enthusiasm to get started on something as potentially boring as garbage cleaning, that infected All Might. Without meaning to, the pro hero swelled up to his muscle form, returning Izuku's shaky grin with his own confident one.

"Ah, you convinced me, you no-good go-getter!" All Might laughed heartily. "Very well! We can get started right now. Grab those ropes from my truck! I'll show you how to wrap them around a fridge, and you can get started by pulling one across the beach to the parking lot!"

"I - okay! Sounds good!" Izuku nodded, feeling determined as he moved to grab the ropes from the truck. He knew, deep down, that this was probably going to be monumentally difficult, but he knew that he could handle it.

As it turned out, though, pulling a fridge across the beach turned out to be harder than he thought. Although to be fair, All Might didn't mention that he would be climbing on top of the fridge to add to the weight, making Izuku strain as he tried his hardest to pull the fridge even an inch across the junkyard with his eyes squeezed shut, using the ropes wrapped around him to pull as hard as he could as he tried to move the fridge - but alas, it was in vain.

"Hey, hey, hey!" All Might called out teasingly, "I don't know about you, but this is a pretty comfy fridge to sit on! Be pretty nice if it moved, though!"

With a yelp, Izuku felt his foot slip, and let out a shout as he flopped down onto the sandy ground face first, groaning.

"If you could move it even a little, it would be a lot easier," All Might called from his perch, making Izuku grumble. "People move these things every day you know, and that's without super strength!"

"W-well, yeah," He tried to get back up, putting his hands on the ground to lift himself up, "but it's a lot harder when there's an added 274 kilograms on it, right?"

"Oh, I actually lost weight! I'm down to only 255 kilograms. In this form, at least."

"Oh," Izuku groaned, "that's great."

"Well, don't let it get to you - as I mentioned earlier, this is only part of your training. This is actually for - ah!" All Might's voice suddenly brightened up, making Izuku blink a bit when his voice got louder and more enthusiastic, "Speaking of that, there you are! I was just wondering when you'd get here."

Izuku felt himself jump a bit when he realized that All Might wasn't talking to him anymore, and suddenly became aware of a second pair of feet approaching them. Looking around, he blinked at the sight of a pair of cyan running shoes coming to a stop before him, and he was quick to look up at the new arrival, a bit confused and taken aback by this unexpected third party but ready to say hello at the very least (awkward as he was, he knew his manners). But the moment he finally looked up at the newcomer's face, he felt himself freeze in a mixture of surprise and horror.

That's - that's a girl. A very pretty - a very pretty girl!

The girl standing in front of him, looking down in a mixture of concern and confusion, looked at least as tall as him, dressed in a crop top that exposed her surprisingly toned stomach, and arms that, while still feminine looking, held a lot more muscle mass than his own thin and dangly ones. A training bracelet was on her right wrist, coloured black and white, and she wore a pair of shorts that went down to her mid-thigh, exposing her strong legs. Her orange hair was tied up in a ponytail on the left side of her head, bang hanging off her forehead and some of her hair sticking up.

She was - Izuku felt himself go very red - she was very beautiful, teal eyes looking down at him with a slim face that held confusion at his presence, but at least she wasn't looking at him as though he were trash. She was holding a black backpack in one hand, although she put it down once she saw him lying face down in the dirt.

"I - yeah, hello, All Might, but - hey, are you okay?" She knelt down beside him and Izuku froze up even more, blood pumping to his face as she slid the straps of rope off his shoulders, and offered him a hand to help him sit up. When he didn't respond at all, she glanced at his face in confusion, blinking.

"Are you okay?" she repeated, looking up at the hero standing up on the fridge with her brow wrinkled. "All Might, why were you making him drag that refrigerator? I - heck, why is he here? I thought you and I were going to get started on training this morning?"

"We are!" All Might nodded in confirmation, jumping down from the fridge with surprising ease and grace. "We were just passing the time to wait for you to get here - but just to clarify beforehand, Young Midoriya here will also be training with us. Not for the same reason as we discussed yesterday, Young Kendou, but there was a matter with his quirk that I couldn't leave alone. I'll explain more in a second."

Wrinkling her brow, the girl let out a sigh, and without thinking too much, raised her hand in the air. Before Izuku could unfreeze himself, he blinked as her hand suddenly began growing, bigger and bigger until it was large enough to wrap around his torso - which was exactly what she did, reaching down and wrapping her enlarged hand around him.

Unable to stop himself from letting out a small yelp, Izuku felt himself be lifted off the ground as the girl stood up, and then put him down on his feet. Once she was sure he wasn't going to topple over, the girl let him go and shrunk her hand back down, and Izuku looked at her in surprise as All Might walked around him, putting his own large hand on her shoulder.

"This, Young Midoriya," All Might happily introduced the girl before him, "is Itsuka Kendou. My successor, and your training partner."