He sat silently, nervousness filling his body as he watched the camera. The former Number One speaking with the biggest bad in here.. The animosity between the two was instantly felt the moment All Might entered the room. If looks alone could kill, the entire prison would've been obliterated in seconds.

"Finally have come to talk have we?" The villain chuckled. "What, afraid your frail body would turn to dust if someone like me breathed on you?"

"No, I'm just making sure you don't even have a single ounce of wiggle room. Must get pretty itchy with all those chains wrapped around you."

"Oh desperately so. You'd think infamy would get you a back scratcher. But nope, just turrets in the face … those are turrets right? Heat sensor doesn't do perfect representations."

"Yes, who would've thought centuries worth of murder and maniuplation would've lead to such a position."

"I know, back in my day you could have gotten away with that sort of thing … but then you bastards turned that power on me and my family."

"Like you give a single rat's ass about what your family thinks of you. The moment your brother didn't agree with you, you locked him away like a dog. If you can't use anybody, you throw them away like trash." All Might approached the glass. "Where is he? Where's Tomura Shigaraki?"

"You know, I gave him that name myself. 'To mourn', because the poor lad just lost all his family and no one was there to help him." The bastard smirked. "And Shigiraki because, well, I've always dreamed of having my own son."

"Because biologically speaking that would be impossible with that face."

"Never been interested, Mr Celebrity hero." He was afraid to comment on anything these two were saying, interrupting felt like an immediate death sentence. "My successor is much like yours in a way, except I trust him to make his own decisions. I have no idea where Tomura is, but I assure you, he'll become something truly to fear when you see him again."

"I trust my successor more than you ever could. I entrusted him with a legacy … something you obviously didn't, given those respirators still shouldn't be capable of giving you life."

"Yet you're still here, because even if I'm chained up, even if all my arms and legs were chopped off, even if the other half of my face was to be sent flying, you can't help but worry that I've still gotten away with something. Do you know what that is, Toshinori? It's fear. My reign of fear will outlast your 'symbol of peace'."

"I guess we'll just have to see won't we." The hero stood up. "I'm done here." He gave the signal, the guard buzzing the door, feeling seconds away from death if he didn't comply. How was it that both men were twice as scary when they were quirkless and restrained respectively?

"Nice going runt, I knew you could do it." She spoke on the phone. She just got down with a full day of patrolling when her Kit suddenly called. Apparently his class got their provisional licenses, which meant he was free to kick butt if he got in trouble, which was a 80-20 chance with him.

"Thanks! I figured you should know since you taught me so much about fighting. I even came up with another kick while fighting Killer whale guy."

"Oh, Gang Orca." She nodded. "Make sense he played a villain, started as a joke but then he got a taste for it. How hard did you hit him?"

"I charged my leg with thirty spoonfuls, but I got a new thing with my quirk that allows me to add another thirty to forty spoonfuls for a few seconds without hurting myself." More power was always a plus. "Was gonna call it leftovers, but people said it was stupid."

"Then you have some pretty smart friends." Seriously, this kid needed to layoff the food metaphors. "In all seriousness, how's dorm life treating you? You're still not sleeping in a tent outside?"

"No, they gave me a bed." As they should. "But I kept dreaming about ghosts, so I tried to throw it away." Not good. "Other than that, it's the best sleep I've gotten in years, and I don't have to worry about my jobs anymore. I mean, I still do them, but much less now. Now all the money's for me, and Lunch Rush feeds me whenever I ask him."

"That man has a death wish." She wished the pro well. "Just make sure to call me if any other villains decide to get too grabby with you if you can't kick their ass. I'll send them over the moon before they hurt you."

"Yeah, I will." He got quiet for a second. "I..I never thanked you or the others fully for rescuing me from All Forty One. You broke me out of the cell and you tried fighting him and got your leg crushed…"

"Hey now, don't start feeling guilty or some shit on me. My leg feels better than ever." She ignored the throb. Shut up, leg, his guilt was on the line. "Now you just focus on being a hero, kicking ass, and taking names."

"Understood Rabbit-sama! Oh, i've gotta go, we're partying to celebrate the licenses. Later!" He sounded really happy, probably had something to do with no longer living with those bastards that didn't deserve to be called parents. She should probably call Nedzu or something to see if there was anything being done with that.

Now that her Kit was licensed provisionally, there wasn't anything stopping her from making him her sidekick…when were internships again?

Yaoyorozu took another bite out of the cake. Sato's sweets were really good. Now that they were living together, they had more opportunities to indulge in his baking a little more than usual. "Thanks Sato! You're cake's the best!" The baker was in a kind enough mood tonight to make Iruma his own cake as well as one for the rest of the class.

"Still jealous you two can eat all that without gaining a pound." Mina sighed. "Why can't my acid use fats!?" The girl shouted to the high heavens.

"Maybe you can just use Iruma's technique." Ochako stated, the boy himself shoveled plate after plate as he defied the conservation of mass on malnutrition and metabolism alone.

"No one should do what he's able to do." Kyouka rolled her eyes. "Still crazy, only one of the Powerhouse trio passed. Then again, the one who did never acted like an asshole at all…no offense, Todoroki."

"None taken Jiro." The boy has stopped with his profanities, going back to eating his meal. "Thank you for the meal Bakugo, you make soba quite well."

"Piss off." The boy spoke, none of the usual venom there. Luckily he hasn't gone full circle and said actual names, so they were safe…relatively speaking. "I'm heading to bed." Well, the fact he stayed for this long was a miracle in itself.

"Night!" Iruma was the only one who waved him goodnight, which was probably the wrong thing to say, because the explosive boy was heading towards his direction. "Was there something you wanted…" He stopped, Bakugo quietly saying something she couldn't catch, before heading to his room.

"What was that about?" Toru asked her crush.

"I don't know… said something about my quirk." Todoroki looked like he was choking when Iruma said that. "Eh, we'll talk about it later." The boy waved off. "Right now there's food."

"Dude, no one is going to take your food, relax. We're more worried you're gonna take our food." Denki reassured him. "If we took your food, you'd get feral on us."

"Since when do I go feral?" Even for someone as dense as he was, Momo expected him to know better than to say something so ridiculous.

"Occasionally I see you looking outside the balcony looking at the squirrels like you're going to chase them up a tree." Tsu stated.

"Of course not … they claimed Bakugo their defender, and it's way too hard to beat him for a squirrel." Somehow, that was the best they were going to get, wasn't it?

"This is a pretty far walk from the dorms Bakugo, what's up?" Dodger asked him. The idiot was wise enough to not make a scene about it, although if the situation was what Bakugo KNEW it was, then this was probably the only thing Dodger took seriously.

"Shut up and keep walking." Not that he cared if anyone listened in, but he needed as much space away from everyone else as much as possible, because his classmates and teachers would stop him immediately if he knew Bakugo wanted a fight.

He finally stopped when they came to training ground Gamma. "Okay, now do we talk? Or are we doing late night training or something?

"Do you remember this place?" He pointed to the building they were in front of. "This is where we had our first hero class, our first fight." Where everything started going to shit for him. "Where I first lost. And ever since then, I've kept losing." He growled.

"Kept losing?" The boy blinked. "We've won a lot together. We won at the USJ, we won at escaping from the League, we won the Finals … well most of us. We won against Metal Mask." Dodger listed off one after another.

"Yeah, that's when WE did something. I'm supposed to be the strongest hero, the next number one!" Bakugo shouted. "I'm supposed to win all on my own! Yet whenever something big comes up, I fall short, I'm not strong enough to win!"

"All Might needs help too." Dodger added in, making him growl. "You helped him at the USJ with a gauntlet, he got help from other heroes against All Forty One-"

"Because he gave you his quirk, right?" Dodger finally shut up. "The big boss's power is to steal quirks, right? That means it's possible to give them away. It's so damn obvious I feel like an idiot for not seeing the signs." He looked at the blue haired bastard, almost daring him to lie.

"Yeah, he did." Didn't even try to deny it. "So what about it?"

"Why …" His hands began to spark as he inched forward. "Why would he pick someone like you?" He went to throw a blast.

"What…what are you doing!?" Dodger yelled, using that damn evasion skill he always uses.

"We're going to fight this out until I win!" He tried to bombard him with more explosions. "You barely know what's going on half the time, you don't even want to be a hero, yet you keep winning, keep beating me, keep getting in my way!" Bakugo blasted the ground, blinding Dodger with debri before charging forward. "Why would he pick someone like you!?"

"Maybe it's because I don't always try to fight people every five minutes!" Looks like Dodger learned how to talk back intentionally. "So what if my quirk used to belong to Bunny-sensei? It's my power now, and it's none of your business!"

"It's my business because it's ALL MIGHT'S! The greatest hero in the world is backing you, and you don't give a damn about it!"

"Of course not! All Might was a person. If he gave me five Yen it wouldn't be a big deal. He gave me a quirk and it's not a big deal." Five fucking yen for a quirk!?

"Stop acting like you would have been fine quirkless!"

"What's wrong with that!? I've been quirkless for fourteen years, and I've been able to live just fine without it! I don't need this quirk to live, I don't even need it to fight villains!" Dodger kept spouting bullshit. "I didn't use my quirk once during our first fight, and I still beat you!"

"Shut the fuck up!" He let out a bigger explosion. "Shut up! Shut up! If you're quirkless, you're weak, you're worthless, you need others to protect you, you shouldn't try being a hero!"

"No, YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!"...It was so unnatural hearing those words out of Dodger. "I get it, I look like someone you hate, but that's them, not me! You don't decide what I'm worth! And..and fighting you is just stupid." He turned to walk away.

"Don't you turn away from me again DEKU!" The kid was stupid enough to turn his back away from him…

"I'M NOT DEKU!" Dodger turned around and grabbed Bakugo by the arms, raising him over his head before slamming his back against the ground. "I'm not whatever problem you have, I'm not whatever friend you're looking for, I'm not whatever thing you need to fight! I'm Iruma!" The boy shouted. "If you wanna talk to Deku, I'm leaving."

"I'm not done here …" Bakugo got up. "...Not until I know why I was wrong!" Water began to fill up in his eyes. "Because if I'm wrong about you…then I was wrong about Deku….I pushed him away….I drove him away…." He didn't care that tears were hitting the ground. "Why…why did I have to be the one that ended All Might!? Why did I end up a fucking villain!" Why,...why did he ruin everything good in his life! "Please…please don't go…don't leave…"

Iruma watched as he saw probably the toughest guy in class cry for probably the first and only time he would, and he didn't really know how to take it. Yeah, it sounded like he was going through a lot, but he was trying to get involved in something that was none of his business.

But this was also the only time Bakugo has ever said please, the only time he's ever seen him ask for help. Even ignoring the fact saying no would make him throw up, it didn't feel right to leave him all alone. "Alright, but tell me, who is this Deku you keep bringing up?"

"... His name was Midoriya." The boy started, taking a seat. Iruma followed and waited for him to finish. "We … hung out in our childhood."

"So he was your friend?"

"No! Yes, I…I don't know." Bakugo stammered. "Our mom's were friends for years and we both liked heroes. The first time we were ever on the same page was when we got the same All Might trading card at the same time." Sounded like a good memory. "He was pathetic back then, he always had trouble doing things for himself, so I had to help him alot."

"Is that why you always sound angry at him? Because you didn't want to help him?"

"Stop putting words in my mouth and let me finish." Bakugo didn't yell, but the calm sternness of his voice made him shut up all the same. "Still, we both wanted to be like All Might. I wanted to be a hero that always won, and he wanted to save people with a smile."

Saving people with a smile. "It sounds like a nice goal to have."

"And then we turned four. My quirk came in, the best one out of anyone at the time." He looked at them. "I was gonna be one of the strongest heroes around, gonna be the number one … Midoriya might have been my sidekick." That was probably the highest praise he's ever given someone. "But his quirk never came, and we waited, and waited…until it was revealed he was quirkless. He'd never have power."

"And you just hated him for that?"

The boy stared at the building in front of them for a minute or two. "No, it wasn't that. Sure he'd never be a hero or have power, but we still hung out. We mocked him for it, but at that point it was just how everything worked, and he never paid attention to it anyways." Bakugo sighed. "Then one day we walked over a creek and I fell in. I was fine, but Midoriya jumped in and reached out his hand and asked if I was okay." Bakugo's expression got dark.

"It was the most infuriating day of my life … I was strong, he was weak. I didn't need help from him. His eyes looked down on me. It was humiliating …"

That…sounds stupid. "So you don't know the difference between helping and pity?"

"There is no difference. The strong help the weak. That's why heroes are strong."

"But that just implies most people are weak."

"They are." He growled. "I've been told all my life that I'm strong, smart, far beyond everyone. That's what would make me a hero."

"Well I've been told all my life the only thing I'll ever do is make money for my parents, and look where I am now."

"You're here because All Might gave you his quirk."

"No, I'm here because I choose to be here. Because I'm happy being here. Bunny-sensei helped me with muscles and stuff, but I'm here because of me and me alone." He sighed. "Why aren't you talking about this with Midoriya? Sounds like all you need is a decent conversation with him."

"Because the last time I talked to him I told him to take a swan dive off a roof and hope for a quirk in the next life." … Oh. "Then he vanished, with my only lead being a bastard in prison and the one horned guy from the League."

"I'm not going to lie…I don't know how you'd go about fixing that." Iruma shook his head. "But if you're looking for a fight, you're not going to find it here. Two heroes fighting each other over something like this is stupid."

"He has a certain point." Who came up to…oh Bunny-sensei was here. "You two have amazing potential. It would be a waste for you to fight it out over this."

"... Why did you give it to him? Out of everyone on the planet?"

"Regardless of everything he's been through, of how he acts or thinks, he has the kindest heart I've seen in anybody, even if he was quirkless. I thought someone like that deserved a chance in the ring."

"Come on, even Quirkless I could have been a hero. I just didn't know they made money at the time." The boy smiled, even if they were looking at him weirdly.

"Young Bakugo, I hope you recognize the importance of what you know now." All Might bowed his head. "It's a secret that's been held by few for over a hundred years. I…"

"Cram it All Might, I'm not going to say anything." Bakugo growled. "Nobody else knows, right?"

"Oh, well Bunny-sensei, Recovery-nurse, Rat-principal, Detective-man, two other people Bunny-sensei knows, Shoto, you … and Toru!" The boy listed off.

"Wait, you told Young Hagakure?"

"No, she's right behind you." The two other males blinked, looking at the spot behind Bunny-sensei.

"Wanted to make sure you wouldn't outright kill Iruma-kun … listened too WAY too much for my comfort … I'm half tempted to stab and hug you simultaneously."

"When you wanted to expand the inner circle, I didn't imagine it would be like this." Bunny-sensei groaned. "Young Hagakure…"

"Don't worry, All Might, I'll do anything to protect Iruma-kun, so you don't have to worry about anything!" Toru gave a head tilt. "They're not in trouble right?" Wait, they could get in trouble!?

"From me? No." Oh, nice, for a second he was worried. "But Aizawa wanted me to bring them to him."...shit.

"So glad you two have so much energy after the exams…." All Might was helpless to watch Aizawa strangle the two boys with his scarf.

"Well honestly I'm still kinda tired, I had to drink some energy juice I kept in a pack because of how late it was." Now wasn't the time for jokes, Young Suzuki!

"Does it look like I'm playing around? What the hell were you two doing out so late at night!?" Aizawa demanded, tightening his grip.

"Aizawa, wait, this isn't entirely their fault." All Might tried to alleviate the situation. "Young Bakugo's one sided rivalry went completely unaddressed because Young Suzuki never acknowledged it."

"Petty rivalry, no matter how one sided, shouldn't lead to situations like this. You're lucky I didn't expel you both here and now." That was a bluff, they were still targets of the League and it took a lot of effort to get Suzuki away from his family. "Alright, who threw the first punch?" As if it wasn't obvious.

"I did." Bakugo relented after a few seconds of struggling in the tape. "I tried to start a fight. Dodger completely avoided attacking until it became self-defense."

"..." Aizawa glared at the two. "Clean up duty, both of you. Three days for Bakugo, two days for Suzuki. You're not allowed to leave the dorms until then. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir!" Suzuki shouted loudly, Bakugo less enthusiastically.

"And one day for Hagakure, for seeing this and not doing anything to stop or report it."

"Yes sir." For a second, he thought the girl left them, then again, she was infatuated with Young Suzuki.

"Now get out of here and head to bed before I extend it to a week." They all nodded, rushing off to do their jobs. He sighed in frustration. "Why did I indulge you?"

"It was the best way for them to work out their problems, and there wasn't nearly as much property damage as I expected." Probably because, again, Suzuki never intended to fight at all.

"Yeah, Bakugo was more compliant than I thought he would be. Maybe he'll actually learn something from the Provisional exams." Hopefully.