It had been a week since the Sludge Villian Incident, and Izuku had finally recovered sufficiently to go home. The nurse had done a final check and declared him mostly recovered. His mom was signing some paperwork while he waited in his room for her to come get him.

Suddenly the door opened and Kacchan walked in. For a moment the two just stared at each other. Neither one was sure how to move forward after the last week. Words had been said that were difficult to take back or even apologize for. And they needed to be addressed. Maybe if Izuku had still been Quirkless, perhaps if he hadn't risked his life to successfully rescue his friend... maybe then it would have been avoided. But as it has been said before... this is not that story.

"Why."

Kacchan remained silent for a time. He knew what Izuku was asking. Why aren't we friends any more. Why did you treat me that way... Why did you tell me to kill myself. The young angry blonde had no answer for the last one. 'It was a stupid, shitty thing to say. And that makes a fucking stupid, shitty person and-'

"-I fucking hate that!"

Izuku just stared at Kacchan, unsure what he was referring to. They might have been good friends once upon a time. They might even know each other pretty well. But if they could understand each other that well, none of this would have happened. "I can't read minds Kacchan."

"I know that, shitty Deku! Damn it all, give me a second. This- gah, fuck it! I'm sorry!" At Izuku's disbelieving expression he scoffed. "Hey, I might be better as a hero than you, but that doesn't make me perfect! I'm shit at all this feelings crap."

"Boy isn't that the truth-" "The fuck you say?!" "Calm down Kacchan!" Izuku took a calming breath as he tried to organize his own thoughts.

"I understand that you don't like doing this sort of thing. And I know we haven't exactly been close for years. But that still doesn't excuse what you said. Everything else over the years kind of made sense... from a certain point of view-"

"You and your stupid references to old shit." Izuku blushed but continued.

"I'm gonna channel you a bit for this. What the hell were you thinking telling me to take a swan dive?!"

"I wasn't thinking, alright! I just didn't want to watch you die." Izuku couldn't have looked more startled if you told him All Might was secretly the villain. "Look, you've been chasing this idea of being a hero for years. Didn't matter how many times I gave you a reality check you still held on to that stupid idea about being a hero!"

"I can be a hero! I could even if I didn't have a quirk. Even All Might said so!"

"But you never put in the work!" At this point Izuku could tell Kacchan was getting genuinely angry. "We would fight all the time, but I never saw you trying to get better. You didn't try to learn a fighting style like some of those shitty underground heroes are supposed to use. You didn't try to build armor or get good at using even a basic weapon. You didn't even train! And yet you wanted to go out and save people. Well news flash, heroes die all the time and they have quirks to help them!"

Izuku stared at him for a while as his breathing slowed. "So I figured if you insisted on being so dumb and trying to die on us I might as well get used to the idea. And I wanted you to hurt the same you thinking about you dying hurts. So I told you to take a swan dive."

Izuku stared at him for a while before doing probably the last thing Kacchan could have expected from him. He smiled. "I'm sorry. And I forgive you." "The fuck?!"

"I- I think I'm starting to understand some of what you were doing better over these past few years. I'm sorry that I hurt you like that. I still hate that you choose to bully people with your quirk, but I can forgive you for being so angry at me." Was it a healthy reaction? Maybe not, but Izuku didn't care. He had wanted to reconcile with Kacchan for years, and this could be the start of helping his friend become the great hero Izuku always believed he could be.

"Stupid weaklings shouldn't get in my way if they don't want me to bother them." Kacchan still had a long way to go, but Izuku had a pretty good idea for how to get him to start thinking about it. Instead of trying to force Kacchan to be like him, he would simply use real life to refute what his friend was saying.

"I'll bet that's exactly what the Sludge Villain thought before I punched him." Katsuki turned to look at Izuku, seeming to dare him to keep talking. Izuku never did have very strong survival instincts. "Villains... they take what they want until someone strong enough stops them. Isn't that true? That's why everyone loves All Might. He can stop those people every time. Don't you want to be like All Might?"

"No! I want to be number one! Being like All Might is dumb when I can't fight the same way he can."

"You'll still have to beat him unless you want to wait until he retires." Both boys turned to the voice at the door. A short old man with wide feet stood there with a neutral expression. "I guess you could just wait for him and Endeavor and all the other Pros to retire. You could win because everyone else just gave up. Probably be right up your alley, eh blondie?"

"The fuck do you know, shitty geezer! I'll be number one even if All Might doesn't retire! Just watch me!"

"Hmph! Little zygotes need to learn some respect for their elders. You're forty years too early to think about even getting into the top ten, much less being number one!"

"Who exactly are you, Elder-san? You speak like you have some experience, but I do not recognize you."

Kacchan snorted, earning narrowed eyes from the man. "The hell is so funny, blondie?"

"Izuku is pretty educated about Pro Heroes, even the obscure ones. If he doesn't know who you are, I doubt anyone does. It's a low key burn when he says it, and that's funny as shit because-"

"I'm so sorry, sir! I never meant any insult, but the way you spoke seemed pretty authoritative and I wasn't familiarwithyouwhichmademeconfusedsoI-" A karate chop from Katsuki stopped his vomited stream of consciousness. "Fez."

"Fucking references!" To himself, the blonde muttered. "The only thing worse is that I get a lot of them."

The man huffed. "Obviously you don't research dead, retired or semi retired heroes much."

"There isn't a lot of info out there about the time before All Might, and I'm pretty sure you're from before his time." Izuku shrugged. "I'm usually pretty good about knowing people in the game. I even knew a lot of the old fictional heroes from before Quirks pretty well."

"I keep forgetting the HPSC likes to sensor stuff that makes them look like they're in less control of Japan, even when it's true." The man focused his gaze on them. "I am Gran Torino, semi-retired Pro Hero."

"So are you here to help Izuku train?" At Torino's raised eyebrow, he scoffed. "I might not be the mumbling wonder over there, but I'm not stupid. You wouldn't be here for now reason, and don't even try to play that you were just passing through. You wouldn't have interrupted if you weren't already coming in."

"You make a lot of assumptions, zygote. It's kind of impressive that they're so accurate. You're right, I'm here because myself and Midoriya-san have agreed that young Midoriya needs training to ensure that he is capable of safely using his quirk. Since he also-"

"It isn't my quirk!" The old man's deadpan look had him blushing. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but I do not wish to resume my friendship with Kacchan with a lie. That power was not my quirk."

"...I'm not sure what drugs they gave you, Deku, but you obviously shouldn't be going home yet."

"I'm not lying! There- there was a voice in my head." Kacchan's smirk was one for the ages. "Shut up, Kacchan! I'm serious here. It was a voice - more than one actually - and they told me they would lend me the power, just this once, to save Kacchan."

"Why would they give you the power, shitty Deku? Why not give it to me so I could just get out of there myself?!"

"Because they couldn't." Both boys turned to look at Torino as he spoke.

'Time to lie my ass off and see if it sticks.' "Look, you said they would give you the power, just this once. Well, who's to say that isn't your power? Sentient quirks are a thing. All of the doctors agree that it's a miracle you didn't die from using it. What if, when they said 'just this once', they meant that you needed to be more ready before they would let you use it again. They might just be trying to keep you safe."

Izuku's mind went blank. "Huh, you know I never thought about it that way. I just assumed that it couldn't be mine. I mean... I'm Quirkless. I always have been. It was literally what defined me, more than anything else about myself, for the last ten years."

Meanwhile, Kacchan was muttering to hemself in a manner he would find familiar. "Stupid shitty Deku with stupid shitty theories about getting extra Quirks. Should have known it wouldn't happen that way."

"I see the muttering is actually contageous rather than genetic-" "THE FUCK YOU SAY?!" "Moving on. I was contacted by an associate" "coughAllMightcough" "WHAT?!" "-AHEM!"

Torino and Katsuki glared at each other while Izuku watched nervously.

"Feh, whatever."

"As I was saying. You're going to be training. It's going to be intense, definitely more so than anything you've done before. Blondie was spot on when he said you weren't trying very hard to achieve your dream."

"I did try." Both of the others looked him up and down in disbelief. "Look, I couldn't really do too much. Kaasan always got nervous when I brought up trying to get training at a dojo, so I usually had to go by myself to ask. The few that would even think about letting me go without approval usually turned me away after asking what my quirk was."

"And what about hitting the gym?"

"Most of the research I came across online said that intensive training before you hit puberty could stunt your growth, so I mostly focused on cardio. I didn't have anyone I could ask on how far to go - it was the same problem as the dojos - so I tried to play it safe."

"Huh." Both of the others spoke simultaneously. Torino continued first. "I apologize for questioning your dedication."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. You're still a shitty Deku."

"Apology accepted."

"Well, I guess that's everything I wanted to say. Training starts next Monday. Be there after school. We don't have a lot of time if we want to get you in shape for the UA entrance exam."

"HEY! Izuku can't be going to UA. I'm the only one at my school that's going to get in! None of the other extras at my school are gonna make it!"

"Ho ho hoooo? Does the little zygote not think he can handle a little competition for Number One? I guess he is right to be scared."

"I'm not scared of shit! I'll beat Deku's ass to the top, no problem."

"Then he shouldn't be a problem for you to beat even if he makes it in. Don't whine to me about not having anyone else from your school make it in. I doubt you even know where All Might went to school before UA." Torino's grin was positively devilish as he watched Kacchan grit his teeth. He knew All Might had kept his backstory as a tightly held secret. "Besides, every Number One needs a rival. Even All Might has Endeavor."

"Grrr, GAH, whatever shitty geezer. I'll see you and Deku on Monday."

"Does the shitty zygote think he was invited?"

"I'm not about to let Deku think he's gonna get ahead of me!" He turned to look at Izuku. " You hear? You better belive I'll take you on and beat you no problem!"

"Do you want me to... believe it?"

"THAT'S THE FUCKING DUB AND YOU KNOW IT!" **SLAM** With that they heard Kacchan's voice moving down the hall as he muttered angrily... until a familar nurse interrupted. "This is a hospital! Keep your voice down!"

"...Yes ma'am."

Izuku looked at Torino with fearful eyes. "...Recovery Girl must be really scary."

The man looked back, shuddering even as he smiled. "You have no idea."

As he walked out, the old Pro heard his future student shout in shock, "I'm gonna be trained by ALL MIGHT?!"

"Keep it down! This is a hospital!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Torino shook his head. "This is gonna be a headache, but those two will be hilarious. I can't wait."

A/N: I'm not dead! I'm really sorry about being gone so long. Life has been pretty discouraging and I have a hard time pulling myself out of a funk. Fortunately, things are looking up!

But wait there's more! I am also an entertainer! On my profile there is a poll. I'm going to try and use this to create an obligation to write. Every two weeks I will be checking the poll to see what people want to read. That will get me to my computer and guilt should do the rest.

I will have the winning story updated before the next poll ends. I might end up putting the story on a one month rotation, but we'll see.

Healthy? not even remotely! But that's what going to the gym and occasionally eating my feelings is for! So if you want to see more of my work, use the poll... would you kindly?

P.S. I'm sure I butchered Izuku's title for Torino. I regret nothing XP Using the various honorifics helps indicate tonal shifts in extensive dialogue.