AN: Professor Donger: So I just want to warn you all now, Katsuki is a dick in this, we aren't bashing him, but anyone who knows us knows that we don't like him all that much. He will get development to be better, but he starts off terrible in this, just like he did in canon. Side note I am happy that you all enjoy this fic, and hope you guys continue to do so.

Damian: Also, I just wanna say, we pumped this out in one day, having started it the night before. I don't know what the fuck was in our food, but it resulted in you guys getting this pretty damn quickly after the last Flintlock chapter was posted.

Anyway, enjoy more crack and fluff!

Toshinori was careful with handling Izuku as he made his way down the hallway that made up the entrance to the apartment. Easier said than done when he had Inko Midoriya staring at the back of his head, daring him to bump her son's head on the wall or stray object.

"Erm," Toshinori cleared his throat as he approached some doors, "So which room is…" He trailed off as he spotted the All Might-themed name plate hanging from one of the doors. "Oh… of course. Okay, let me just-"

As he was about to shift Izuku in his arms so he could open the door, the doorknob turned and the door popped open on its own. He blinked in surprise and turned to Inko to see her with her hand making a few movements. "I've got the door, just put him on his bed and meet me in the living room," she said before taking a deep breath and walking off.

Toshinori quickly did as he was told, his boy on the bed before turning to leave.

He took a moment to glance around the room first, genuinely surprised by the amount of hero merch, and even the amount of All Might merch mixed in. He knew Izuku was a fan, but not to this degree.

"Wow, Mirai actually has some competition," he whispered to himself. He looked back to Izuku's sleeping form. "Alright, my boy, wish me luck and hope that your mother doesn't kill me."

Steeling himself for whatever confrontation he was in for, he left the room, softly closing the door behind him, and made his way toward the living room. Upon entering, the first thing he noticed was Inko pacing the floor, wringing her hands as she took a few calming breaths. He could hear her whispering something to herself over and over, and Toshinori swore it was "All Might's in my home, All Might's in my home, All Might's in my home… Why does he look like a skeleton?"

"Ahem," he cleared his throat to get her attention, snapping her out of it as she looked up and put her brave face back on.

"So…" He started awkwardly.

"So…" She continued as they stood across from each other.

She gestured to the table and encouraged him to sit, which he did without complaint. The two stayed quiet for a moment while Inko worked to make some tea, most likely to calm her nerves.

After a moment she placed the tea in front of him, her hands surprisingly not shaking, and she took her own tea cup and silently sat across from him. The two sipped their tea awkwardly, waiting for one of them to break the silence and just say something.

"So you know about One For All?"/"I know about One For All!" The two started after the silence became too much to bear.

"...Uhm," Toshinori cleared his throat again, "So I assume Young Midoriya told you about it." He nodded his head to himself, accepting this. Though he personally would have liked to keep the truth of One For All a secret, the quirk was Izuku's now, and if the young man wanted to tell his mother the truth about his sudden quirk then Toshinori had to respect it.

"Actually, he didn't," Inko replied matter-of-factly, making Toshinori's thought process grind to a halt.

"He… didn't?"

"No," Inko shook her head as she stared into her tea, "and that's the weird part. I mean, I had a feeling his quirk didn't just randomly show up, but I didn't know exactly how he got it. Then not too long ago I had a… ugh, it feels weird saying this. I had a vision of some kind."

Just like that, Toshinori's interest peaked. He leaned his arms on the table and gave Inko his full attention. "Please, explain. What did you see?"

"Well," she looked up as she tried to recall everything she had seen. "It was like a bunch of images flashing in my mind, all so fast I'm surprised I caught all of it, much less any of it. I saw Izuku at the UA exam, I saw him with his new friend, and…" She blinked before glaring at Toshinori. "I saw that day on the beach. 'Eat this'? Seriously?!"

Toshinori at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "In my defense…"

Inko crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"...I have no defense." Toshinori sighed. "It was honestly not the best way, but it involved the least amount of injury and it was the only one that wasn't completely gross. Young Midoriya needed to ingest a bit of my DNA, that is how One For All is transferred."

"Least amount of injury?" Inko questioned. "My baby came home and felt like he was on fire! I could barely put my hand on him! Was that supposed to happen?"

Toshinori looked confused. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Izuku came home from the beach that morning acting like he was sick," Inko told him. "He passed out in his bed the moment his head hit the pillow! He was out for a whole day!"

"That… That isn't how the transfer of One For All is supposed to happen, at least that's not how it was for me or my master. It's supposed to be a painless process!"

Inko started to look more worried. "It's not like some type of, I-I don't know, allergic reaction or something?"

Toshinori raised an eyebrow at her. "'Allergic reaction'?"

"Well, he was born quirkless, so it wasn't like his body was rejecting the quirk or something, was it?"

"That would be a pretty valid theory if it wasn't for one thing." Toshinori sighed. "I used to be quirkless too."

"You… you were?" Her eyes widened.

Toshinori hummed, rubbing his chin. "Yes, so any effects Izuku went through should have manifested within me, but they never did."

"Then what happened to Izuku?" Inko took a shuddering breath. "Is it gonna happen again?"

"I'm not sure," Toshinori figured it was best to be honest. "Though he's handling the quirk well from what I've seen, a bit inefficient in the way he channels the power, but nothing a bit of training and refinement of technique can't fix. Regardless, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any abnormalities. Clearly, there's more to One For All than even I knew about, despite having the quirk for a long time."

Inko tapped her hand on the table. "I, uh, don't suppose a side effect of One For All would be… changing the people around the holder?"

"I'm… sorry?" Toshinori blinked in confusion. "What do you mean by 'change'?"

"My quirk has always been pretty weak, though Izuku always thought the world of it." Inko chuckled before growing serious once more. "I could only pull small objects to myself, things about the size of a remote or a small toy back when Izuku was a small boy, now though…" She pointed a hand toward the couch and scrunched her face in concentration, the couch scraping across the floor as it tried to move to her command. She struggled with it for a few seconds before stopping with a sigh.

"That's…"

"Not normal. Before my quirk wouldn't have even affected the couch, much less move it a few inches across the floor." Inko deadpanned as she turned a hand toward the kitchen counter, causing a cast iron pan to fly into her hand. "A few weeks ago I wasn't even able to pull this towards me, but now I can do it with no problem." She put the pan down on the table, before reaching out back toward the living room, a handheld weight flew to her hand. "And that's not even mentioning this!"

He watched, expecting something to happen. When nothing happened he said, "Uhm, what about it?"

Inko didn't break eye contact as she held the weight away from herself and let it drop. The next thing Toshinori knew it was embedded into the floor as it broke through the wood. He quickly stuttered out "I-I'll pay for the damage for that, that way you won't get in trouble with your landlord."

Inko waved him off. "Don't bother, We own the building, but that's not important right now." She pointed at the dumbbell, "That thing weighs one hundred pounds and I held it like it was nothing.

Toshinori cleared his throat for what must have been the hundredth time by now. "Well, it's nice that you take your health so seriously."

"All Might, I've only been exercising with Izuku since after the Entrance Exam. I should not be able to hold that thing, let alone call it to myself! My quirk's weight limit before this was barely even five pounds!"

His eyes widened. "That's… that's impossible! I'm not trying to brag, but I consider myself an expert on these kinds of things, I made Izuku's workout regimen for the past ten months after all, and there's no way only a few weeks of working out should allow for that level of strength, even if you were working out your quirk, it still shouldn't have gotten so strong so quickly."

"Especially since I haven't been working out my quirk." Inko rubbed her fingers along her temple. "I actually stopped using it completely for a bit because it suddenly got so strong I started breaking things when I pulled them to me so fast. I just started getting used to its new strength!"

"That never happened to the people around me…" Toshinori got up and made his way around the table, he crouched down and pulled the weight out of the floor with a grunt. He glanced at the number on the side of the weight, it read one hundred and he frowned. He stood back up and carefully placed it on the table. "Over two hundred years and this quirk still holds its secrets close to its chest."

He turned to Inko. "Well, so far besides the odd 'illness' One For All hasn't had any other negative effects on Izuku. Like I said, I'll keep an eye out for anything wrong, and outside of a medical professional who knows about the quirk, you'll be the first person to know."

That seemed to mollify Inko for the moment and the atmosphere in the apartment seemed to lift a bit. "Thank you… and I'm sorry if I came off as a little…" Inko tried to think of the word.

"Scary?" Toshinori supplied.

Inko scoffed. "I wasn't scary."

"Ma'am, if there's one thing I learned to fear in my life, it's the wrath of a mother."

"...I wasn't being scary," Inko grumbled as she looked away with her arms crossed. "I'm just worried about Izuku."

"As am I, he's a good kid, and he'll be an amazing hero I just know it."

That got Inko to smile at him once again, and internally Toshinori let out a sigh of relief.

That was until Inko looked him up and down and frowned. "Do you eat enough?"

Toshinori rubbed the back of his head with a laugh. "I don't eat much, I am missing half of my stomach after all."

"That isn't an excuse!" Inko stated as she stood and walked to the kitchen with a purpose.

'Well… I suppose some food couldn't hurt.'

Later that night after Izuku had woken up, All Might had been gone and instead his mother was waiting for him with food on the table. As they ate she told him what had happened, how a "Mister Yagi" had dropped him off, and explained that he had passed out. He wasn't sure what excuse All Might had given her as to why he had passed out, but Izuku was grateful nonetheless.

He finished eating and had gotten a text from his mentor to meet back up on the beach for something important, which led to Izuku once more sprinting his way there.

"So why are we at the beach again, All Mi– erm, I mean, Mister Yagi?" Izuku looked up at his mentor, using his civilian name as they had discussed previously.

Toshinori chuckled, "What, my boy? Don't wanna spend some time with your dear old mentor?"

Izuku sputtered and quickly waved his hands. "No! No, that's not it! I just thought you'd be busy with UA and all that."

"Hm, well, you'd be right, but as my successor you take priority over refining a few future lesson plans." Toshinori looked around the beach to make sure no one was around, it was rather late so the chances of people seeing them would be small. It was perfect. "That being said, I wanted to talk about your utilization of your quirk."

Izuku frowned. "Am I doing something wrong? It didn't feel like I was during the exam."

Toshinori waved a hand. "No, young man, as far as first times go your usage of the quirk was excellent. However, I must be honest, it was rather inefficient."

"Inefficient?" Izuku tilted his head, notebook already out and pencil ready to take down notes. "Was my form off? Was I hitting the robots in the wrong places? Was I punching too hard? Moving too much?"

"Whoa, whoa!" Toshinori laughed as he held his hands out in front of him. "Young Midoriya, none of that, and even then I don't expect you to be a pro combatant so soon, that'll take time. No, what I was referring to was the way you channeled the energy of your quirk." He held up a finger. "Let me ask you something. When I 'buff up', as you put it once before, what parts of me are affected?"

Izuku nibbled on the end of his pencil as he thought about it. "Well, your whole body, but I don't see what…" His eyes widened as realization dawned on him. "Oh my god."

"Did the realization click?" Toshinori had a smirk on his face.

Izuku closed his notebook and smacked himself in the face with it. "Why didn't I think of that sooner?!"

Toshinori let out a laugh that was so joyful it reminded Izuku of his signature heroic laugh. "It's fine my boy, that's why we're here. This is a basic technique that you ought to know now rather than later." He reached forward and grabbed the notebook, removing it from Izuku's face. "Why don't you give it a shot?"

Izuku glanced around. "Now? Here?"

"I see no one around, and if anyone shows up I'll take care of it. You know, quirk training is allowed when under the supervision of a councilor, and of course as long as you don't cause property damage or harm to anyone."

"Uhm, okay…" Izuku stepped back and took a deep breath. He reached within himself and called on the energy of One For All and found it immediately, feeling as if it laid dormant just beneath his skin and waiting to be used, and by habit, he almost sent it straight to his arms. Instead, he stopped himself, took another deep breath, and coaxed the power to spread throughout his whole body.

It was… it was definitely an experience. It was warm, but not uncomfortably warm. He could feel the power coursing through his veins, power pulsing through his muscles in sync with his heartbeat. It felt… really good.

"Whoa," his eyes widened as lightning crackled just over his skin, like when he used One For All before, but this time instead of his arms it was happening throughout his whole body, power so overwhelming it was as if it couldn't be contained within him and had to get out. His veins glowed for all of a second as the energy of the stockpile within him awakened, before settling back down.

"Amazing," Toshinori said in awe from where he was standing by Izuku's side. He could almost feel the energy, the shift in the air around the young man as he allowed a fraction of the power contained within him to slip to the surface. It was a breathtaking sight indeed. "How are you feeling, my boy?"

Izuku gave a nervous, yet excited, smile. "Weird, but not bad." He held up his hands and watched the energy crackle along them, following the arcs of lightning as they danced all around his body, almost as if the power was coating him. "Not bad at all…"

Toshinori had a proud smile on his face as he buffed up and said, "I suppose it's time we gave it a test drive. Don't you?"

Ochako dreamed.

Though she didn't know that she was dreaming.

She was currently standing in a classroom that she didn't know, looking at a group of boys she didn't recognize, who were throwing a notebook that wasn't hers.

It confused her, as her body moved on instinct to try and get the notebook back, her hand reached out for it, but it wasn't her hand.

She recognized that hand, it was one of a pair of soft, kind hands that she had high-fived and shook many times in the past few weeks.

She glanced at the notebook, the letters foggy but just barely legible.

Hero Analysis For The Future Number 13. Property of Izuku Midoriya.

Were… were these the bastards that bullied Izuku?

Why was she seeing this?

Her confusion turned to anger as her brain started to process what they were saying to her friend, they were calling him useless, calling him a waste of space and a blight upon society.

But he didn't react to those insults, they washed off him and by proxy her, all he cared about was the notebook, about getting it back before…

A new voice entered Ochako's awareness, the notebook sailing away from the boys who had initiated the bullying into the arms of one who stood clouded by malice and hatred that made Izuku shudder.

She couldn't make out any of their faces and it was at that moment that she very much wished she could.

She strained her ears to listen, to memorize the voice of the one who dared hurt her friend the way this one had so obviously done.

She couldn't make out everything, and some of what was said was a repeat of what the others had said, but some of what she did hear caught her ear and lit her rage like a bonfire.

~ Don't even try and get into UA.~

~ Wish for a quirk in the next life.~

~ Take a swan dive off the roof.~

Ochako cried as the boy she admired left the school dejected, beaten but thankfully not broken, and when she woke up in the morning to the sound of her cheap alarm clock blaring at her, reminding her that she had promised to join Izuku on a run before school, she growled and crushed it with her fist as awareness returned to her.

As she got ready for her day, showering and brushing her teeth, she prayed that the bastard who hurt Izuku had made it into UA.

She was having distinctly unheroic thoughts about the whole thing.

She packed her gym bag with her school clothes and put on her backpack, before hefting the gym bag onto her shoulders. With that out of the way, she moved outside to begin making her way to Izuku's apartment, where they would start their run (a routine the two of them have been doing together since she moved) and then shower, change, and eat breakfast made by Inko (what a saint!) before heading to UA.

She ignored the thought in the back of her head that reminded her that she shouldn't have been able to crush the alarm clock like it was nothing.

She also ignored the voice telling her that revenge was very much not the Jedi way.

Instead, she focused on seeing Izuku again and making sure her boy was aware that he had a friend.

A friend who was perfectly willing to send people into the upper atmosphere for him.

"How are you able to run so much?!" Ochako wined as she trudged along, Izuku by her side walking slower so she could keep up as the two made the walk to UA from the train station...

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad!" Izuku laughed.

"That is a load of bullshit!" She side-eyed him. "If you're so 'unaffected' then maybe you should carry me, maybe you'll get an actual workout from it."

Izuku scoffed. "Please, you don't weigh anything."

"Oh yeah? Fine." Ochako stopped walking, letting Izuku get a few steps ahead of her.

"Hm? Ochako, what-" Just as he was about to turn to see if something was wrong, Ochako had run forward and threw herself onto his back, squishing his backpack and forcing him to use his arms to support her legs, completing the piggyback ride.

"Onward, chariot! Mush!" She pointed forward with a grin, careful to hold onto his shoulders with a closed fist so she wouldn't accidentally float him.

"Did you just mush me?" Izuku asked incredulously, though he was laughing, which caused Ochako to grin even more.

"Yes, man-slave, I did, mush!"

"I go from a chariot to a man-slave? What a demotion." Izuku grumbled but did as he was told, breaking out into a light jog, Ochako laughed joyously as he did so, her mood infectious as Izuku started laughing with her. Compared to carrying All Might on his back this was nothing.

They made their way to UA rather quickly after that, Izuku stopping at the gates to admire the building. He didn't think he'd ever get used to seeing it.

"Why'd we stop?" Ochako rested her chin on his shoulder, her voice right in his ear making Izuku blush a little.

"I just… I was just admiring the view, I can't believe I'm actually here."

Ochako smiled at that. "You deserve to be here after all your hard work." She then pouted. "But you know, just because we're at the gate doesn't mean we're in class. Onward!"

"I think you can walk from here."

"I can, but I won't. Forward, man-slave!"

"I'm about to start a slave revolt against the masters if you don't get off my back in three seconds."

"What happened to the shy but kind boy I met at the entrance exam? I bet he'd mush for me."

"He met a girl with the energy levels of a husky on caffeine that corrupted him with her personality and wit, now off." Izuku let go of her legs, and Ochako grumbled as she was forced to walk on the ground like a peasant.

"So," she said as they walked up to the entrance, "any idea where the classroom is?"

"It should be…" Izuku trailed off as they stepped into the busy entryway, students rushing around in every direction. "...somewhere."

Ochako sighed dramatically, "Ladies and gentlemen, Izuku Midoriya's wrinkly brain."

"Hey, it's not like we were given a map or anything."

The two playfully bickered like that for a while as they walked the halls of the school, before finally arriving at a large door labeled 1-A. They looked at each other and grinned, fist-bumping before Izuku moved to open the door.

The moment they did though the sound of an argument in progress turned their matching grins into a frown for Ochako, and a much more strained smile for Izuku.

Mainly because they both recognized one of the voices in the argument.

"Get your feet off that desk this instant! How shameful! How disrespectful! To sully a piece of sacred equipment in this institute of learning!" One of the voices, that Izuku vaguely recognized from the briefing at the entrance exam, tried to order, only to be met by scorn from a voice Izuku recognized all too well, and had hoped to not hear at UA this year, though he knew it was a futile hope.

After all, he had used all of his life's good karma by meeting All Might and Ochako, so everything had to be balanced out somehow.

"Don't fuckin' tell me what to do you extra. Where are you even from to try and order me around?" Katsuki Bakugou scowled from his lounged position, waiting for the other person to speak.

"Well, I'm from Soumei Junior High but –" Katsuki's mocking laughter cut him off.

"Soumei? That rich prep school? No wonder you've got a stick up your ass."

"Excuse me?!"

Izuku slowly closed the door, not noticing the way Ochako's eyes had zeroed in on Katsuki the moment he had spoken.

"We uh, must be at the wrong classroom, let's just –" He started to back up only to squeak as the door opened and the glasses guy stared back at them.

"Ah, fellow students! My name is Tenya Iida! Are you perhaps also members of Class 1A?"

Ochako leaned over to Izuku as she kept her eyes on Katsuki who was currently glaring balefully at her friend, "I think this is the right classroom."

Izuku cringed before saying, "Yaaaaay."

"Wait, I know you," Tenya said when he saw Izuku. "You're the one who was going to sabotage that one girl." He pointed accusingly at him, causing the class to look up and at the door in confusion. Izuku blushed while Ochako looked confused until Tenya pointed at her. "And you're that one girl!"

"Wait, sabotage?" Ochako looked at Izuku and crossed her arms, a playful smirk on her face. "You were gonna sabotage me? Izuku Midoriya, I thought I knew you."

"For the last time," Izuku frowned at Tenya, "I wasn't trying to sabotage her, I was trying to give her some moral support."

Before Tenya could respond, a loud bang caused everyone to flinch and turn back and look at the blond who had gotten up and slammed his smoking hands into the desk, glaring at Izuku so hard he probably could have killed him if he had a laser eye quirk.

"The fuck are you doing here? De –" But he was cut off as the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted him.

They turned back to the entrance, with Izuku and Ochako turning around to see a giant yellow caterpillar staring back at them. His face was bored and he was obviously wishing he was anywhere but where he was right now.

"If you came here to make friends, you've come to the wrong place, sit down and shut up." He waited for Izuku, Ochako, and Tenya to quickly find their seats before bouncing into the room behind the teacher's desk, he quickly shed his comfy caterpillar form and revealed himself to be a man in black with a white scarf. He blinked his tired eyes and sipped a jello pack before continuing.

"Welcome to UA, blah blah blah, I'm your homeroom teacher, call me Aizawa, or Aizawa-Sensei, I really don't care." Everyone raised an eyebrow at the scraggly man.

He just seemed so done with everything.

"Inside your desks, there are some gym uniforms, down the hall are some changing rooms, put them on and meet me out on the track field. You have ten minutes." With that the man wandered off, hands in his pockets.

After a moment of silence, one of their new classmates finally spoke up, a pink girl with yellow horns. "What the fuck just happened?!"

No one could answer her, but they quickly all quickly came to a realization.

He said they had ten minutes, he had specifically given them a time limit, which meant that they were most likely being graded.

That sent everyone into panic mode.

Izuku stepped out of the locker room and started to quickly make his way down the hall. He had been pretty quick while changing, so he had some time to spare before the unexpected time limit got anywhere close to zero.

Just as he was heading for the doors leading to the field, an all too familiar hand grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into a nearby wall. He grunted at the impact and looked forward, ready to defend himself, only to freeze as his gaze met the red, rage-filled eyes of Katsuki Bakugou.

Just like that, all the training with All Might, all the increased self-esteem from hanging out with Ochako, disappeared and was replaced once again with the timid boy he had been for nearly ten years.

"H-hey, Kacchan," he stuttered out, only to be pulled away and slammed into the wall again.

"Shut the fuck up, Deku," Katsuki growled. "I thought I fucking told you I didn't want to see your sorry ass at UA."

Ah, right, Katsuki had cornered Izuku one day during school after they had gotten their acceptance letters, demanding to know how Izuku had gotten into UA. Izuku said it was because he passed the exam, and Katsuki didn't exactly like that answer.

That hadn't been a good day.

"I-it's not like I chose to be in the same class," Izuku strained to talk.

Katsuki growled like a rabid animal and put more pressure on Izuku's chest. His saving grace came as more of their fellow students began to approach their position, causing Katsuki to ease up.

"First and only warning, stay out of my way, you useless piece of shit," he growled out lowly.

"Gentlemen!" Tenya chopped his arm at them as he power-walked towards them. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Nothing, just a friendly chat." Katsuki let Izuku go and continued towards the exit and out to the field. Izuku released a sigh of relief as he leaned slightly against the wall.

"That delinquent," Teyna shook his head. "First disrespecting school property, and now roughhousing in the hallways?"

"He's always been like that, don't worry." Izuku croaked out.

"Are you alright?" Tenya asked in concern.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm fine." Izuku nodded as he pushed himself off the wall. "He's just a bit too intense for me."

"Intense was one word for it," Tenya grumbled as he and Izuku made their way outside. The taller boy took that moment to say, "I wanted to apologize for earlier, by the way. I may have jumped to conclusions about your intent, but I couldn't have been more wrong. How could someone who had obtained so many rescue points be so morally tainted as to sabotage his fellow hero hopefuls? It simply made no sense."

Izuku blinked at him for a moment in confusion, causing Tenya to clarify.

"Our scores weren't exactly private. Our results were made known in the acceptance video when the scoreboard was shown at the end…" He trailed off as Izuku became more and more panicked.

"Wait, everyone saw that?"

Izuku felt a spike of panic hit his heart, and Ochako looked away from her conversation with one of the girls she had gotten along with in the changing room to glance over Izuku's way.

Tenya just nodded silently, causing Izuku to groan as he moved to stand next to Ochako, who was looking at him in concern.

If he hadn't been so freaked out he would have noticed her rigid stance or the way her eyes looked him up and down for injuries that weren't there.

She probably didn't even notice that she was doing it, but for some reason, the dream from that morning came back to her, and she felt her concern for Izuku spike.

She wanted to ask if he was okay, but for some reason in the back of her head, something whispered that that would be the wrong thing to ask, that Izuku wouldn't respond to that the way she wanted.

So instead she asked-

"Why do you look like someone ate all your mochi? And what took you so long, you're normally the first one changed after our runs."

"Oh, uhm, sorry, got held up," was all Izuku said nervously scratching the back of his head, briefly looking away from her before forcing his eyes back to hers.

Now, Ochako wasn't the smartest cookie in the bunch, she'd readily admit that.

But that didn't mean she was stupid.

Her family were a simple lot, they said what they meant and meant what they said. If Ochako said, "Izuku, you're my best friend" then there were no ulterior motives to the statement, it was an objective fact that Izuku Midoriya was Ochako Uraraka's best friend.

Her family didn't do well with deception, lying wasn't something that came easily to them, (Ochako found out that Santa wasn't real at the age of three because of this intrinsic family trait.)

But spotting lies? That was an Uraraka specialty. Her parents always knew when she was hiding something, which was why they found out about Izuku exactly two hours after her impromptu hang-out with him on Dagobah, just like she found out about Santa immediately after catching her father trying to sneak the presents under their tiny Christmas tree.

So the moment Izuku told her that he "got held up", while scratching at his head and looking away from her, briefly glancing toward the loud blond kid in concern, she picked up on the lie immediately.

She had been feeling an awful lot of animosity toward said blond kid since she saw him, she didn't like how he looked at Izuku, she didn't like the way his voice sounded, and she didn't know why.

But the brief look of concern and terror that flashed on Izuku's face as he lied to her was as good enough reason as any to loathe the boy.

That problem would have to solve itself later, as their teacher came walking up to the lined up students, bored look still plastered on his face, though this time he had a clipboard in hand, along with a whistle and stopwatch hanging off his scarfed neck.

He clicked the stopwatch as the last two students made their way to the line, he glanced at it briefly before looking up bored. "You all made it here on time, good for you." He let the stopwatch drop to his neck before continuing "Lesson one about being a hero, being late means people get killed, so don't be late."

'What a straightforward lesson,' the whole class thought as he pulled out a softball.

"We're going to have ourselves a little test, to set the standard you have to beat for the rest of the year." He continued, as bored as ever. "Think of it like your regular fitness test in Junior High, but this time you're actually allowed to use your quirks. We don't want our students hamstringing themselves after all." He turned to Izuku and threw the ball to him.

Izuku let out a squeak as he barely caught it, causing Ochako to chuckle and their teacher to roll his eyes at him.

"You had the number one score on the entrance exam." He glared at the students to get them to shut up as they started whispering, well most of them, the blond started growling. "What was your furthest throw in Middle School?"

Izuku nervously scuffed his feet against the ground. "Forty-one meters…" Ochako looked at her friend as he said that, he looked like he was waiting to be ridiculed for the score.

Judging by the blond's snickering he probably was.

Their teacher, however, nodded. "An average score for most people." He nodded to the pitcher's mound. "Try it with your quirk."

Ochako had to physically restrain herself from running over to the blond to throttle him when she heard him mumble. "Wonder how shitty Deku's going to lie his way past this one."

Instead, she watched, knowing her friend's actions would do the speaking for her.

Izuku meanwhile took his place at the mound, holding the softball in his hands and trying to calm himself down. He took a deep breath and called upon One For All, using his new technique to coat his body in his quirk's energy like he had done on the beach that one night.

Ochako felt the slight shift in the air, her and everyone else paying rapt attention.

For some reason, deep in Ochako's heart she felt like this moment was important. Like she was standing on the cusp of something as her friend wreathed himself in lightning, looking like some kind of demi-god straight out of an anime.

However, she also had to admit that the way Izuku was using his quirk was notably different compared to how he had used it during the entrance exam. Before his hands would glow red as if power was flowing through his blood. Now though, the slight glow of power was still there, however, it was a lot more subtle than it was before, but a more important detail than that was the fact that the lightning was everywhere rather than just his arms or legs. "That's new…"

"What the fuck?" She heard the blond asshole say, but she ignored him for now.

Izuku took his stance and got ready. Face set in determination, he threw the ball with all he had.

With a Crackboom! The ball went flying. Sailing through the sky so fast it left large holes in the clouds.

After a moment Aizawa turned his "stopwatch" to the class, showing that it was more than a stopwatch, it was a measuring device as well and it showed a very impressive score.

Eight Hundred Meters even, to be exact.

Ochako felt her face light up as Izuku's eyes widened at his score.

"Like I said, hamstringing yourself by not being allowed to use your quirks in public to train is illogical, so make sure to give it your all."

Most of the class started muttering amongst themselves, some of them exclaiming how awesome UA was and how much fun the test was going to be.

Ochako may or may not have been one of them.

The moment the words left the student's mouths though, the atmosphere changed, as if all joy had been sucked out of the room as their teacher turned his red-lined eyes to them and mumbled out a quiet.

"Fun? You think this will be fun?" Everyone shut up at that and he continued. "Natural disasters, murderers, kidnappers, and terrorists? Are those fun too?" He scoffed. "Get that juvenile shit out of your heads right now, this is the Hero Course." Then he grinned. "However, since you are all so determined to have fun, why don't I spice things up a little? Whoever gets the worst score on these tests is going home, and won't be coming back. And before any of you complain about unfairness, I have full control over this class and its lessons. If I feel you are unfit to be here at any point, I can choose to get rid of you."

That shut everyone up, well almost everyone, the blond was growling so much that he was smoking, literally. Ochako eyed him wearily as the teacher turned to usher Izuku off the field and looked at his list to call the next student to the ball throw.

The moment the teacher looked away, and the moment Izuku got relatively close to the line of students the blond kid struck, literally exploding out of line full tilt toward Izuku, murder in his eyes.

The teacher was quick, his eyes lighting up a startling red that seemed to stop the boy's explosive quirk in its track, he pulled on his scarf, causing it to shoot out toward the two, intent on stopping the conflict before it could even begin, but his trained eye knew that he wasn't going to be fast enough to prevent the blond kid from decking the green one without moving.

Luckily, someone else had moved before he did.

Faster than she thought she was capable of, Ochako didn't even think, she just moved, and in a flash of speed she didn't know she had in her, she bodily tackled Katsuki to the ground so hard that she knocked the wind out of him. She placed her left arm down on top of his right, while she grabbed his right arm and twisted it behind his back.

"Get the fuck off me you fucking extra!" Katsuki growled while Ochako just squeezed his arm more, putting more pressure on his back. "Gah, why the fuck are you so strong?!"

Ochako ignored his question, instead saying, "Armbars everywhere, bitch."

She saw Izuku flinch out of the corner of her eye, though at that moment she didn't care, she just felt white-hot anger course through her at the mere thought that this bastard was going to hurt her friend.

~Take a swan dive off the roof~ echoed through her head again, and she growled, Izuku flinched like he had heard the words himself.

She looked up to see her teacher looking down on her, his eyes still glowing red but his face more contemplative than angry or focused like it had been the moment Katsuki's charge started.

He nodded to her. "Nice hold. Good form," he paused. "It's not an armbar though," he blinked. "Right, let him up."

She did so without complaint, getting off of him and moving back to the line. Once the boy was up and glaring at Izuku the teacher spoke again.

"I don't have time for whatever petty bullshit this is." He gestured to Katsuki and Izuku. "Get back in line and wait for your throw, and stop acting up, you're giving me dry eye." Izuku nodded and moved to stand next to Ochako while Katsuki took a moment longer before turning on his heel and marching back to the line, glaring at Izuku and Ochako the entire time.

He stopped when the teacher called to him, using a student's name for the first time, surprising the whole class.

"And Bakugou." Katsuki turned to glare at the teacher who was glaring back just as hard. "This isn't some school for delinquents, keep it in check. You're here to be a hero, act like it, or I'll send you home, is that clear?"

Katsuki growled out a quiet "yes sir," and continued his march back to the line. Aizawa nodded before gesturing to Ochako.

"Alphabetical Order is for the weak. You impressed me with your quick intervention, let's see if that streak continues."

And so their first day at UA began.

The tests from that point on were pretty basic, all things considered. Of course, the highlight of it all was that the students were all allowed to use their quirks to help them achieve their highest scores. And since it was a bunch of fitness tests, it came as no surprise that Izuku, with the help of One For All boosting his physical abilities, excelled…

Well, his run-in with Katsuki had shaken him somewhat, and he very much wasn't trying his hardest in the one-hundred-meter dash, at least until Aizawa glared at him and told him to do it again and to try his hardest or he'd be expelled.

Don't let anyone claim that Izuku didn't try his hardest in all things when a fire was lit under his ass.

When he wasn't doing one of the activities though, he was watching his fellow students. He was fascinated by every single quirk he saw, and the ways they were used.

He also took great interest in the way Ochako used her quirk. Of course, there was her sending her softball to orbit, resulting in the unbeatable score of Infinity, but there was also the long jump where she removed her gravity and threw herself over the sand pit, clearing it… and also panicking when she couldn't stop. Luckily Izuku had her covered and had jumped up to grab her before she floated too high.

Speaking of Ochako, she honestly had expected herself to struggle with the fitness tests more than she did, but she was pleasantly surprised to note that other than breathing a little hard from the one-hundred-meter dash, she wasn't particularly winded.

Progress!

All in all though, the incident with Katsuki notwithstanding, the tests went great.

They were all lined up, each member of the class in varying states of wear as Aizawa gestured to a small screen that had been brought out.

"Right, here are your scores, Let's see who's going home." He didn't pause for dramatic effect or to torture the students like they thought he would, instead he just clicked the remote and showed the scores.

Momo, Izuku, Shouto, Katsuki, and Tenya were the top five, with Momo's quirk giving her such an unfair advantage in the events that she wasn't even winded.

Ochako was pleasantly surprised to find that she was number six.

At the very bottom of the list though, was Minoru Mineta, who let out an anguished wail.

Aizawa nodded, unbothered by the young man's anguish. "Well, pack your bags Mineta, you're going home…" He let the comment hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "Is what I would be saying, but you all actually have some potential, a surprise to be sure, but not an unwelcome one. That being said, you get to stay for now… yay."

"This is fucking bullshit! How the fuck did Deku get placed above me?!" Three guesses as to who yelled that.

Ochako rolled her eyes. "Sounds like a skill issue to me."

"What the fuck did you just say?!" Katsuki marched out of line and glared at her, his quirk not activating as Aizawa lazily walked past, eyes glowing red.

"Sounds to me like you need to git gud, kid, and try harder." Aizawa deadpanned. "Remember what I said earlier, all of you get changed and back to the classroom, your syllabi will be on your desks waiting for you, grab them and get the hell out of my sight. Today was an orientation day anyway so I'll see you tomorrow."

They didn't have to be told twice as the class rushed to get changed and away from their most likely deranged teacher.

In their rush, none of them really noticed the giant man in a horrendous yellow-striped suit watching from behind a tree.

"Whew! That was nerve-racking," Ochako sighed as she walked with Izuku to the front entrance.

"Yeah, it was, but we made it through our first day!" Izuku patted her on the back as they walked.

"Yeah, we did…" Ochako trailed off, and Izuku picked up on it immediately.

"What's up?"

She looked up at him with a frown. "Okay, be honest with me. What's Bakugou's deal with you?"

Izuku paled slightly. "W-what do you mean?"

"Come on, Izuku, I ain't blind." Ochako looked down at the ground. "I know something's up, he has a murder-boner for you so big you could see it from the moon. I'm not asking for your whole life story or anything if you don't wanna tell me it, but I just need to know if I need to kick his ass again to get him to leave you alone."

Izuku sighed "I… I can't bribe you with mochi to let the matter drop?"

"Nope, not this time, mister." Ochako bumped him with her shoulder, a smile on her face as she said, "Though the mochi would still be appreciated."

"How about we head to that one place we went to after the exam and we can talk –" He cut himself off as he noticed Tenya rapidly approaching the two of them.

"Ah! There you two are! I must say I was impressed with your dedication during the tests!" He turned to Izuku. "Your quirk is quite remarkable, if a little simple, and you!" He pointed to Ochako, causing her to squeak. "I would love to compare grappling techniques! That hold you did on that blond brute was a simple police hold was it not?"

Ochako chuckled nervously, poking her fingers together. "Well, my aunty is a police girl, so…"

"Excellent! It's always good to learn from your elders! But I am being rude!" He bowed, "I am Tenya Iida," he introduced himself again, "I am pleased to make your acquaintance. Would you perhaps like to accompany me to the train station? I… must admit that I don't know this area nearly as well as I should…" Tenya trailed off as he came up from his bow, causing Izuku and Ochako to chuckle.

"Sure, sure, where we're going is near the train station anyway, so we can walk ya'!" Ochako cheered while Izuku nodded. "I'm Ochako Uraraka. By the way!"

"Yeah, no problem! What do you think of our teacher?" Izuku asked as the three started making their way off campus. "Also, I'm Izuku Midoriya, it's nice to meet you properly this time."

The three talked as they made their way towards the station, seeing Tenya off before the duo made their way to the little place where they hung out the day of the Entrance Exam.

Grabbing some snacks and drinks, they sat down at the same table, and Ochako patiently waited for Izuku to speak.

The boy in question stared at his drink, conflicted and uncertain of how much to tell Ochako. Then, something in the back of his mind told him to look up, and he did to meet the kind yet worried eyes of his friend, waiting for him to open up to her.

And though Izuku wouldn't admit it, in that moment he just knew those eyes would be his weakness.

"Okay," he started. "So, long story short is that I grew up with Kacchan."

"Who?" She tilted her head.

"Uhm, Bakugou," Izuku clarified, sipping from his drink to calm his nerves.

"Oh… Why would you give such a cutesy nickname to such a piece of shit?" She gasped dramatically. "Are you gay!? Is he your abusive boyfriend!? Even more reason to kick his shit in!" She grinned to show that she was joking. "No judgment, but I'll still totally kick his ass for you though."

Izuku shot tea out of his nose, coughing as he desperately reached for a napkin to clean himself up. After coughing he managed to start talking again. "N-no I'm not…I – I'm not gay!" He squeaked. "I called him that when I was little! I couldn't pronounce Katsuki right, so I called him Kacchan…"

"I see… Why is that even more sad?"

"Probably because my best friend started hating me when we thought I'd be quirkless my whole life, and only got worse over time." Izuku didn't even realize he was talking when he said that. "Anyways, he still hates me, even now, so…"

Ochako sighed. "Kids are cruel, Jack."

Izuku snorted, "Who's Jack?"

"Dunno, I just heard the phrase a couple of times." Ochako shrugged. "But yeah, sounds to me like a straight-up asshole. I mean, who turns on their best friend just because he's quirkless? Especially when that guy turns out to be super awesome, no quirk needed!"

Izuku blushed at the compliment. "Thanks, but I guess that wasn't enough for him."

"You know," Ochako leaned forward and whispered, "I could throw him into the Sun for ya'."

Somehow, Izuku knew she 100% meant that. And somehow, that thought warmed his heart when it should terrify him. "Uhm, let's save solar immolation for at least Plan C."

"What's Plan B?"

"I throw him into the ocean." He smiled when she let out a surprised guffaw at that. "After all, that test showed that I can throw pretty far, maybe I can chuck him in from here if I'm motivated enough."

Ochako leaned forward across the table with a grin that Izuku, if he didn't know better, would have called seductive. "And what would I have to do to motivate you?"

Izuku saw his chance, he had been taught by his father at a young age to always shoot his shot, to take every opportunity he saw when they presented themselves.

With speed that Ochako didn't see coming, he shot his chopsticks out, and grabbed the last mochi off the plate, eating it quickly before she could do anything.

"Giving me the last mochi is a good start." he deadpanned, hoping his face wasn't beet red as she stared at him with wide eyes.

"Izuku Midoriya!"

"I am not sorry." He said as he got up to go buy more mochi.

"Yeah, that's right you better go get more! You fuckin' mochi thief!"

Izuku just laughed as he did as she wished, glad that he had a friend like her. In fact, nowadays he couldn't imagine her not being there in his life.

While he made his way to order Ochako's favorite Mochi, along with a new order of boba for the two of them, he failed to notice his friend watching his back with her concerned but happy eyes.

If he had he would have noticed the flash of pink lightning that lingered in them.

~You aren't alone anymore… You won't ever be alone again…~ He blinked, he didn't know why he thought that… and why the thought had sounded like Ochako's voice.

But as he turned to bring the mochi and drinks back to the table he couldn't find it in himself to disagree with his stray thought.

He had a feeling that it was correct, he'd never be alone again.