Chapter 4: Into The Swing Of Things

Now that Izuku was all in on becoming Spider-Man, he needed to buckle down and prepare himself from multiple different angles. Normally he would have been weary of completely ripping off something as important as an entire hero identity, even if it was fiction. But considering that not even the biggest nerd he knew recognized his new red and blue friend, he would let it slide for now.

I really hope no one ends up recognizing me, I wouldn't wanna get sued or something…

However, soon the super-powered teen shook himself out of the silly thought as he found the page he was looking for.

It was currently very early Saturday morning, the day after he made his awe inspiring decision that he could in fact become a hero. And right now specifically, he was standing on the ceiling in his room re-reading Amazing Fantasy #15.

"There it is, found it." He mumbled, biting his thumb gently as he read the panels over multiple times. The specific page he was on showed Peter Parker constructing some kind of support item for his wrists, his so-called "Web-Shooters."

"Ugh," Izuku grunted, allowing his bare feet to unstick from the ceiling and landing on his floor softly. He had already read through the page a couple times, and nowhere in any of the panels were any parts or ingredients mentioned.

"Oh well, I figured the comic books wouldn't have all the answers. I guess I'm gonna have to use my brain for this part."

While it was true that Izuku was no slouch when it came to his intellect and grades, placing second in his middle school class right behind Bakugo. He knew that it wouldn't be sufficient for the kind of things he was planning.

Speaking modestly, his grades were completely unmatched in English, Japanese and History. But in order to create such a complex mechanism, as well as the chemical formula to produce the ammunition, his already hurting Math, Physics, and Chemistry grades were gonna have to make a total one eighty…

"Ugh, of course all three of my worst subjects are part of the things I'm missing. I'm gonna have to ask some of my teachers if they're willing to teach me extra after school."

The green haired boy was no doubt gonna dread that specific part of his plan. Especially when he was sure his quirkless status was gonna affect the answers of some teachers. But such a small obstacle was not about to stop him, not now after he finally had some confidence in himself.

I'll do it! It'll be worth it in the end, and I know I can pull it off if I study hard enough. Watch out Kacchan! I'm coming for your number one seat!

Just as Izuku was getting pumped up at the thought of the brand new challenge, another idea popped into his mind. One that he could start even sooner than monday! Maybe he could go to a bookstore and buy some college textbooks! He was planning on going out today to test his powers fully anyway, he could easily make a couple stops along the way.

Hurrying to pick up his wallet, the green haired boy checked it with hope in his heart that he would have some spare change lying around, but to no avail… He was severely lacking funds…

"Damn, why did I have to buy that new All Might figurine last month," he said with a sigh.

Looking around his room and seeing all of his symbol of piece memorabilia, Izuku couldn't help but feel a little bit awkward about it. It wasn't that it made him mad to have to stare at it all the time or anything, but he would be lying if he said that it didn't feel kinda wrong.

Do… Do I really not like All Might anymore?

Pondering the question more deeply, Izuku did his best to take out his bias. At the end of the day, All Might probably didn't mean to be as cruel as he felt when he said those words to him. The number one hero was just looking out for his safety, and that was that, right?

Well, yes… But also no.

Sure, to All Might, that might have been the right thing to say. But to Izuku, no matter how good his intentions were, it didn't make it hurt any less. And now that he ended up with powers and a chance to prove the man wrong, worshiping him like this just didn't feel right.

Reaching out gently to one of his more expensive All Might figurines, Izuku took it off of his shelf and looked at it's perfect condition. It was still in the box, the very same box that it was put in when it was made. He was standing in his signature victory pose, as well as wearing his iconic silver age costume. It was a product that truly lived up to the name limited edition.

Dancing circles inside of his brain, Izuku was at an impasse. He knew for a fact that he could very easily sell this thing at the comic shop for at least ¥50,000, which would easily be enough for some good quality textbooks and then some.

But now the only question was, should he do it? He remembered exactly when he got this figurine. It was from his mother back on his tenth birthday, which made it undoubtedly one of his most prized possessions.

Shutting his eyes tight and clenching his teeth, Izuku fought back the tears he knew were coming. He needed to be strong, he wanted to be a hero now, no more fairy tales! He finally had the opportunity to become everything he ever wanted, as well as the backing of someone that would always be with him; himself!

That's right! He believed in himself! And he had made a commitment! He'd be damned if he broke it on the very first day!

Winning the battle against his threatening tears, the super-powered teen grabbed his backpack and placed the All Might figurine inside of it, along with a brand new hero notebook labeled #14.

With that, he got dressed and collected his things once again before walking out the door to his room. He had an agenda and he was gonna stick to it, even if it killed him.


"Alright then, hero analysis journal for the future #14, entry one: Spider-Man" Izuku mumbled what he wrote as he began his first entry in his new notebook. It was actually pretty handy not having to come up with a hero name. Without Spider-Man, he probably would've ended up naming himself some kind of lame variation of All Might's name.

Last night he had also begun his rough sketch of his hero costume. Which was also rather effortless considering he didn't want to change up the comic version too much, it was really starting to grow on him. One thing he did want to change though, was the color scheme, but he was still undecided on what shade of green he should use.

Oh well, I can always think about that later, right now I should get to why I came here.

At the moment, Izuku was standing in a huge pile of garbage at his town's very own local junkyard. And by junkyard, he meant the hideous Dagobah Beach. Apparently this place had gone from a popular tourist attraction, to a garbage dump in the matter of just a few years from people littering.

But this was the last thing on the green haired boy's mind as he stretched his body and prepared himself for what was to come. He was here for one reason, and one reason only; to find out the limit to his enhanced strength.

The sun was almost fully out over the horizon when Izuku finished his little warm up. And so not wanting to waste anymore time, the boy leapt off his pile of trash and landed on the biggest appliance he could find.

Inspecting what looked to be a giant security safe, the super-powered teen nodded in satisfaction and prepared to lift it. It was at least four times his size and looked dense as hell, so he was a bit more careful with this one. But much like his encounter with the dumpster, it was still pretty easy for him to lift off the ground.

"Hmm," Izuku thought as he looked around the ruined beach, the safe still comfortably in his hands. When his eyes found what they were looking for, he didn't hesitate to jump over to it with the safe on his back.

"Perfect!" Izuku said happily, placing the safe on top of a scrapped up car. It was missing all four of it's wheels and looked like it hadn't moved from this spot in years. But to the green haired boy's pleasant surprise, it still had a motor, which was visible due to the fact that it was lacking a hood to cover it.

Nice! With the motor inside of it, it should be close to it's full weight! Which I'm guessing is around 1800kg, along with the safe, which should be another 500 or so kg. Now, assuming that the logic in the comics is sound, then the super strength comes from being able to lift multiple times my body weight, just like a spider can. And I read online that most spiders can lift between 150 to 200 times their own body weight, so let's just settle on 175 for the sake of balance.

Now, last night when I was doing my research, I also weighed myself for the first time since I got my powers. And I gained a considerable amount of weight, going from 48 kg to a whopping 60! So knowing that, all I have to do is multiply that by 175 and I have a rough estimate of my weight limit...

Ugh, I can see why I'm gonna need to get better at math now, this is so hard!

Little did Izuku know that he had been mumbling that entire time, much to the amusement of a blonde-haired, blue eyed individual that was now watching him on top of a pile of trash.

Rather than interrupting his train of thought however, the blonde merely sat back and watched as Izuku worked out the problem in his head and came to his solution.

"Got it! If my math is right, then my limit should be right around ten thousand kilograms!"

"Wow, that's pretty impressive!"

"Huh!?" Izuku jumped and turned, the new voice scaring the daylights out of him.

"Oh, sorry about that! I didn't mean to scare you!"

The super-powered teen looked the newcomer up and down, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar. He had blonde hair combed back neatly, and blue beady eyes that came off as very friendly to Izuku. It was also obvious that the boy was physically strong, he had a presence about him that somehow just oozed confidence.

"Uh, no! It's fine! I just didn't expect anyone to be out here this early," Izuku started. "I guess I-I just space out sometimes when I'm deep in thought.

"Haha! I understand what you mean, and I honestly didn't expect to see anyone out here either. I'm actually a little early for my regular training.

That caught Izuku's attention. "Huh? Training? What do you mean?"

All of a sudden, the blonde teen paled as though he had just given something crucial away. But he was fast to recover and respond to the super-powered teen. "Oh uh, it's just this training program that I started a few days ago. Which reminds me, my uh, personal trainer is gonna be here soon, and he's pretty strict about not wasting time, so if it's not too much trouble, do you think you wrap up what you're doing? I really don't wanna disappoint him."

The green haired teen listened on with curiosity, pausing for a moment at the odd request that he was given. He knew that he didn't have to comply with it if he didn't want to, this was a public beach after all. But this boy had come off pleasant enough as far as he could tell, so he didn't mind humoring him.

"Oh, uh, sure, I don't mind. But do you think you could give a couple minutes? I really wanted to experiment with something at least once so I could get some data to work with."

The blonde boy visibly relaxed at the response he got, once again putting on his wide smile and shooting Izuku a big thumbs up. "You got it! I won't lie, I was wondering what all those numbers you were mumbling were about anyways. So lets see it? Is there any way I could help?"

Smiling at how kind the boy was, Izuku shook his head gently. "Heh, yeah, sorry again about my mumbling. And no, I think I've got it all worked out now. I was calculating a ballpark estimate for my uhh, q-quirk's strength limit, and if all the math is right, then it should be about ten thousand kilos." The boy stuttered, still not used to lying about his powers.

"Oh wow! That's amazing!" The blonde sprung up from his seat, genuine happiness written on his face.

"Yeah, I guess it's pretty awesome. But now I have to test it. This car with this military safe on top of it should be somewhere in the range of two thousand kilos, which would be about one fifth of my supposed max. So now I'm gonna lift it up and see if it feels that way."

"Wow! You were running all those numbers in your head without a calculator!? You must be really smart… Uh…"

Realizing that the boy was waiting for his name, Izuku spoke up. "Izuku, Izuku Midoriya."

"Haha! Well then, nice to meet you Midorya-san! Mirio Togata at your service!"

Izuku's face remained blank as once again a bell rang in his head about the boy after hearing his name. But he quickly shook it off and responded as to not seem rude to the boy. "O-of course, likewise Togata-san."

"I meant what I said though, you sure are smart! It would have taken me years to run those calculations in my head. And the way you're testing your max is smart too! I would have just run up to big objects at random until I couldn't lift one anymore, hahaha!"

The green haired teen managed a small chuckle at Togata's playful banter, but before long, he got back to work. Opening up his notebook and preparing to mark down if his theory was right or not based on the coming results.

"Alright, here we go," Izuku said, stepping up to the car and crouching down into a power position.

Togata watched on with curiosity as well. While the boy was many times smaller than the object in front of him, it was obvious that he had some sort of strength quirk to make up for that. Either that, or he had just been blowing hot air this entire time.

But much to the blonde's surprise, after a few seconds of waiting, Izuku did in fact lift up the weight placed in front of him. And rather easily at that. Togata almost couldn't believe how effortlessly the boy transferred the weight onto his back, now holding all of it up above his shoulders and pressing it up over his head.

It was truly a bizarre picture, that was for sure.

But what Togata couldn't see, was what Izuku was feeling on the inside. And as much as he hated to admit it, the weight he was currently holding wasn't as light as it looked in his hands.

Wow, it's not really that easy anymore, but this definitely isn't my limit. I'd say that my ballpark estimate of 10,000kg is pretty accurate, and that's just what I can lift! I'm sure I could handle even more if all I had to do was hold it.

After a few more seconds of grunts and general discomfort for the green haired boy, he slowly brought the weight down before gently placing it onto the ground.

"Phew! Wow, that was awesome!" Izuku shouted in excitement. He just lifted a car! How cool was that!?

"Heck yeah it was! How was the weight? To me it looked like you barely even felt it!"

Izuku nodded, explaining the conclusion that he had already come to. "It felt good! It definitely wasn't easy by any means, but I'm sure I could go way higher, especially under stress. I'd say my original calculations are right on target."

Togata smiled, this had been an odd, but welcome start to his normally painful and rigorous mornings. And this boy was quite the character as well, he wanted to know more about him already! The blonde was just about to open his mouth to ask the green haired teen exactly what his quirk was, but suddenly, he felt a buzzing in his pocket, and dread filled his head in the matter of moments.

Taking out his cell phone, Togata opened the text message, already knowing who it was from.

I'm five minutes away, you better be there already warmed up.

The blank expression he was giving dropped like a stone, and it was obvious too, because even Izuku seemed somewhat worried.

"Uhh, Togata-san? Are you alright?" He asked, concern etched all over his face.

"Huh!? Oh yeah! I'm great! But uh, that was my trainer. He said he's on his way, and I need to be ready when he gets here. I'm sorry for doing this to you. I didnt wanna impede your training or anything…"

"Oh, don't worry about it, I got what I came here for," Izuku stated, happily picking up his notebook and collecting his backpack. "I can record the data once I'm out of your hair."

Togata's smile shined brightly, once more back at one hundred percent. "Thank you so much Midoriya-san! It was a pleasure meeting you! I hope we get to cross paths again some day!"

Izuku matched the boy's smile wholeheartedly, nodding in agreement. "Same to you Togata-san, and thanks for being so cool about letting me use my quirk too. I know some people are nitpicky about the law and stuff like that."

"Haha! Of course! Believe me, I find myself using mine when I can too."

If not for the time constraint that he was under, Izuku would have asked the boy what his quirk was in a heartbeat. But now was obviously not the time for that, he needed to show this boy the same kindness he had been shown. So for now, it was time to go.

Hooking his backpack around his shoulders and holding onto his notebook tightly, Izuku bent his knees and sprung up off the sand, easily clearing the beach and clinging onto the side of a building. Once he was secure, he began climbing up steadily, disappearing at the top once he reached it.

"Wow! What a cool guy! I really hope I run into him again! What a versatile quirk!"


Izuku couldn't seem to stop smiling as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop on his way to the comic book shop. Not only did he just have a successful social interaction, but he also just lifted up a freaking car!

Oh yeah, I should write down what I learned! I can't still can't believe my limit is 10,000 kilos! That's insane! The superpowered teen thought proudly as he stopped on a rooftop and opened his notebook. He doubted he would ever forget such crucial information as this, but it was still a good idea to have everything documented

While the green haired boy wrote down his newfound information, his mind wandered to the other thing that he was excited about for some reason. To most people, having a normal and fluid social interaction was just as easy as breathing. To him it obviously wasn't, but that still didn't make it worth celebrating over, right?

Finishing up his writing, Izuku closed his new notebook and put it down, instead bringing his focus onto his open palm. The more he thought about it, the more it confused him. He was absolutely sure that if he had met Togata-san just a few days ago, he would have been a stuttering mess.

So what was the difference now? He felt like he was in control of himself completely that whole conversation. Sure, he was caught off guard when the guy showed up out of nowhere, but he recovered almost immediately.

Did my powers somehow give me more confidence? Izuku thought as he squeezed his hand into a fist. Sure, he had joked about it the other day when he was just thinking about defending himself from Kacchan, but that was just in theory, he would never actually fight back right?

Right?

He had even said it himself, one good day doesn't cancel out a million bad ones.

Or does it? Especially if that one good day is really really good.

Oh well, there was no point in wasting time thinking about it. It wasn't like he would all of a sudden turn into a social extrovert overnight. Not that he wanted to in the first place. Being too timid may have had its downsides, but it was still who he was, and he liked that. He could afford to grow out of it a little of course, but he didnt wanna go too overboard and lose himself at the same time.

I guess it's just human nature to gain a little confidence when you get stronger. The teen shrugged off as he collected his notebook and leapt off the building once again.

Throughout all of these self esteem related thoughts, there was one thing Izuku was one hundred percent sure of.

If he was a sputtering mess after talking to a girl for the first time, even with superpowers. He did not wanna think about what it would've been like without them.


Electrical, civil, structural… Mechanical! There it is! The teen thought ecstatically, grabbing the textbook from the shelf and looking it over.

"Here it is! A college level mechanical engineering textbook. That should be everything."

Satisfied with what he saw, Izuku placed the book on top of his already existing stack and went to pay.

Waiting his turn in line, the boy couldn't help but bubble over at all the things he was gonna learn over the next year. He had no doubt that strengthening these subjects would really balance him out as a student. He was already well above average, but he wanted to be better, for multiple reasons.

Wow, I'm actually excited to learn about math and science for once. Izuku thought playfully, knowing full well that his new hero related interest in the subjects would only push him to master them that much more.

"Next in line please."

Stepping up, and placing his stack consisting of math, physics, chemistry and mechanical engineering onto the counter, the green haired teen pulled out his newly filled wallet and grinned widely at its contents.

As it turned out, that specific silver age All Might figurine had become quite rare in the last few years. So rare in fact, that its value had nearly doubled, giving Izuku the crazy payout of ¥85,000. And after hearing a number like that, it was pretty easy to let go of his small remaining attachment to it.

"Um, sir?" The lady behind the counter spoke up, getting the teen's attention. "Are you sure you want these specific textbooks? You look pretty young, and these are meant for college students that are studying just one of them for a focused degree. Are you sure you want all four?"

Never wavering for a second, Izuku only smiled and nodded his head. "Yes ma'am, I'm sure, thank you for your concern though. I know it won't be easy, but I know I can learn all this stuff!"

Ten months, that's how long I have. I'm way behind on both my brain, and my powers, but I'm devoted now, and I believe in myself! So watch out U.A, Spider-Man is coming for you!


"Ughhh," Izuku moaned groggily, doing his best to wipe the fatigue from his eyes as he worked in one of the textbooks.

It had been a solid first week so far from when he first purchased said textbooks. He had been working in each one of them diligently, solving every problem that each textbook presented him with, or at least trying to. Sometimes when a problem was too advanced, he would consult the internet on how to work it out. Which he felt was like every other problem in the physics and chemistry textbook. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to add letters to math!?

Either way, he was still just as committed as when he first started, so he would persevere. Even if that meant losing a few hours of sleep everyday.

At least Tanto-sensei agreed to give me some more physics and chemistry lessons after school everyday. Maybe I can even ask him about all the stuff that confuses me in the textbook too!

Izuku shut his eyes again and yawned, satisfied with that thought. He would definitely be asking a lot of questions until he got the hang of things as far as science went. He was already lucky enough that even accepted his request in the first place. His math teacher had denied him before he could even finish his pitch.

He would be lying if he said he didn't see that one coming though. Math class was typically where he got picked on the most, be it by Kacchan or anyone else. He had a feeling that his math teacher had it out for him.

Oh well, at least I'm getting help in both of my sciences, that's where I struggle the most anyway.

But just like any hero, Izuku couldn't grow complacent by just working on his mind, which is why he had begun going back to Dagobah beach in the afternoons for his own version of training.

He made sure that he wasn't interrupting Togata-san's training by checking one morning. And just as he expected, the boy was there. It seemed that his training consisted of cleaning all of the heavy junk off of the beach. As well as having his unusually skinny looking personal trainer chew him out when he was getting tired.

Izuku's training however, was a fair bit different… As well as more relaxed seeing as how he was all by himself. Which was honestly starting to seem more and more like a good thing. Sure, things got lonely sometimes, but he was never a social person anyway, so he was used to it.

His "Hero Training" as he liked to call it, was both, milking as much information as he could out of his comic books, and doing his best to replicate it.

Some days he would work on agility and acrobatics while moving. Which was interesting to say the least. He was no gymnast of course, but he was very much baffled when he found out how easy it was to do a flip once you got over the fear.

Other days, he would attempt to teach himself how to fight

Which he wouldn't lie, was kinda hard by himself.

He was sure that to a more trained eye his punches and kicks looked sloppy at best, but the way he saw things, he could make up for bad form with raw power behind his blows.

Which brought him to yet another setback, his own strength.

After wildly throwing punches and managing to accidentally destroy a metal washing machine with a single punch, Izuku quickly figured out that he was gonna have to hold back to avoid accidentally killing someone.

Maybe it wouldn't end up mattering much when he went up against a villain, but he certainly didn't wanna accidentally mess up another student when he got into U.A.

The boy found himself smiling at the way his brain was working now. He really did it, he truly believed in himself now. His first thought about something happening at U.A was when he got in, not if.

Patience and commitment, there wasn't anything a man couldn't do if he had both of those. He was ready, nothing was gonna stop him.

"Aw man, I still need to find time to go give that girl a visit don't I?" He complained softly, already putting that event off and throwing it to the back of his mind.

Pretty soon, the days started to bleed together for Izuku as he fell into a new schedule. Everyday was essentially the same, but he didnt care. He knew with every passing day that he was getting closer and closer to his dream.

6AM: Wake Up

6AM-7AM: Read Comics

7AM-3PM: School

3PM-5PM: Science Tutoring With Tanto-sensei

5PM-8PM: Spider Training At Dagobah Beach

8PM-12AM: Textbook Work

Day in and day out Izuku pushed himself as hard as he could. Doing everything he could to both increase his brain power, and get caught up on getting used to his "quirk." And after only a couple of months into his grind, both of those goals were seeing major improvements.

On the physical side, the green haired boy was starting to feel a lot more comfortable in his own skin so to say. He now had complete control over his setules, priding himself on how fast he could crawl in any direction now. He had even begun working on steadying himself on a wall with just his feet in hopes of being able to run up vertical surfaces too, but he still had ways to go until he had that much control.

On the side of his studies, he really felt like he was making significant progress everyday. It really felt like everything he was learning was tying into his hero work. He couldn't count how many times he'd found himself getting all excited just for making a quick and correct inference when solving a problem just like Peter would. It sure was a great motivator.

On top of that, his tutoring at school couldn't have been going better. Not only was Tanto-sensei nice enough to help him with the parts of his textbooks that confused him, but he was just plain nice in general.

"Wait, hold on. So the weight placed on a pendulum bob has no effect on swing speed?" Izuku asked, scratching his head in confusion as he waited for to answer.

"Correct, speed and acceleration are not dependent on weight when it comes to something swinging. However, it does heavily affect momentum, so don't forget to factor that into your calculation."

"Momentum! That's what it was! Thank you Tanto-Sensei!" The boy exclaimed ecstatically as he scribbled something down.

The older man couldn't help but smile warmly at the boy. In a way, he reminded him of himself when he was younger. "Haha, of course Midoriya-san, but I do believe that will be it for today. Time sure does manage to get away from us doesn't it?"

Izuku abruptly stopped his note taking to glance up at the clock, a small trace of a frown displaying on his lips. "W-what!? I could've sworn that we just got here!"

"Haha! That's what happens when you're passionate about learning Midoriya-san. I'm so glad you took initiative and decided to try and fix your grade in my class. You really are a natural sponge my boy, soaking up everything I throw at you."

Smiling at the praise from the older man, Izuku rubbed his fingers together nervously. In all honesty, he had been waiting for an opportunity to speak with the man and show him some basic schematics for some web-shooters that he had drawn up. The man had already gone above and beyond as far as physics and chemistry tutoring went. He sometimes even went as far as to explain how to read blueprints when he mentioned he was studying mechanical engineering.

"Um, Tanto-sensei? Do you mind if I show you something? It's kinda personal, but I thought you might have some helpful advice."

The grey haired man adjusted his glasses and looked at his student oddly. "Oh, well, I wouldn't say that I give the best personal advice Midoriya-san, I'm more of a facts and logic kind of guy. I'm not too good with feelings and emotions."

"That's perfect!" Izuku exclaimed, flipping to a specific page in his hero notebook and walking up to the teacher's desk. "Sorry, I guess I didn't really mean it's personal, it's just hero related. I've been working on this support item for a while now. I used what you taught me about blueprints and made a pretty good plan for a prototype. Do you think you could take a look at it for me?"

"Oh, good, if that's all it is, then of course Midoriya-san." said politely, taking the notebook and looking the open page over. After just a few seconds of examining the impromptu blueprint, the older man widened his eyes at the design. Not only was it thoroughly detailed, but it also seemed practical and doable in a way. Although it certainly wouldn't be easy, that much was for sure.

"Oh wow…"

"So, um, what do you think?"

Looking back up at his student with still wide eyes, gave the boy his feedback. "What do I think? Midoriya-san, this is incredible! How did you come up with this!?"

"Oh, uh, y'know, just some Ideas I've had, gotta think outside the box! Heh."

"Hmm, a web-shooter? It's certainly weird, I'll tell you that much, but also very creative. You've got something big here Midoriya-san. If you ever need any help at all or have any questions when you get to manufacturing them, please let me know and I'll help out all I can."

"R-really!? Wow! Thank you so much Tanto-sensei! That would be incredible!"

"Haha! It's no problem son, just keep studying hard and I'll help you out with anything you need."

This is perfect! With Tanto-sensei's advice and help! I could probably start working on a prototype somewhat soon! He's right though, I can't slack off just because I caught a break, I've gotta keep studying hard and keep learning all I can!


The more the boy developed his mind, the more clearly certain answers were coming to him. And by the time a couple more months rolled around, he had begun to do some tinkering in his room.

"I think I got it! Finally!"

With very tired, yet very happy eyes, the super-powered teen placed a bracelet-like object onto his wrist and clicked it into place, letting it settle in as his excitement boiled over.

"This is so awesome! I finally finished the prototype! Now I just need to make the ammo!"

Without wasting another second, Izuku pressed his middle and ring finger into his palm, aiming the device on his wrist to a spot in his room where he had set up some empty soda cans. The cartridge that was currently loaded into the prototype web-shooter was filled to the brim with water as a substitute since he was still working out the formula for his fluid, but it would do for now.

*Click*

"Huh?" Izuku questioned, looking down at the device and pressing the mechanism again with a little bit more force.

*Crack*

In the blink of an eye, the boy watched as a month of work went down the drain as water exploded from the cartridge and the main firing mechanism fell apart.

"No!" He yelled, taking the device off and inspecting it more closely.

No! The spinneret nozzle jammed up! I must not have made it wide enough! I was so focused on making it vacuum sealed that I completely forgot about fixing the custom adjuster!

Izuku groaned in frustration as he tossed the prototype gently back onto his workbench. Great, there goes another ¥30,000 thrown in the dumpster. Looks like it's back to the drawing board, I better let Tanto-sensei know that the first test was a failure. The boy thought to himself, glancing around the room and trying to locate what he would sell next.

Man, now that I look at it, this place has lost a lot of color…

For better or worse, this was a fact that really couldn't be avoided anymore. Gone was the red white and blue themed room that this place was just four months ago. Now it looked more like a workshop with a few All Might nick nacks here and there.

But hey, whatever paid the bills right? Experimenting was expensive!


"Next in line please."

"Uh, right."

The cashier looked curiously at the young man as he placed his peculiar items onto the counter. This was certainly interesting to say the least. And it only became even more so when the boy wouldn't look him in the eyes.

"Look kid, don't take this the wrong way, but why on earth would someone your age need… Liquid cement? Salicylic acid? Methanol? These are some serious chemicals you've got here. Are… Are you making drugs?"

"W-what!? No! Of course not! I-I… It's for hero stuff man! C'mon!"

Another couple of months had passed, and Izuku was still stuck on figuring out the mechanics of making a working web shooter prototype. So he figured he would move on to making the web fluid so he could get the easier part out of the way and tackle the harder part later.

But so far, things were not going so well…

"You've gotta believe me sir! I'm trying to manufacture my own support item, and this is the stuff I need. And… Wait a second, this is a chemistry emporium, pretty much everything in here can be made into drugs!"

The man behind the counter looked instantly surprised at the teen's rather bold response. And after seeing that he wasn't backing down or apologizing, he began scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh, uhhh, good point there kid, uhhhh, I'm sorry, that was out of line. That'll be twenty five thousand yen."

What! Twenty five thousand!? I'm already down to my last fifty! And I sold my last All Might poster yesterday! Crap! Izuku thought bitterly to himself, not even noticing that he just stood his ground and got his way purely from his confidence and wit.

Instead all the boy could think about as he reluctantly forked over the money was that U.A better cover all support item related fees…


"Ok, you can do this, deep breath…"

Two more months had gone by for the boy since then, leaving only two more until the U.A entrance exam. And the super-powered teen's journey had now brought him to one of the tallest buildings he could find in his area.

Which granted, was only like, eight stories tall, but still, it was definitely enough for a fatal fall.

One I would definitely not like to experience, so please work.

Izuku looked down at his wrists, they were locked and loaded with his brand new and shiny web-shooters, along with web cartridges filled to the brim with one hundred meters of web fluid each. They were a bit bigger than the ones from his comics, taking up a lot more space on his wrists than he would've preferred, but they did the job all the same. They almost looked more like gauntlets than support attachments.

Getting to the point though, his new web shooters were why he was here standing on the edge of a building and looking out towards the sunrise.

Obviously he had tested if they worked or not before coming up here. He made sure that they passed lots of different durability and stress tests before he even thought about risking his life like this. But now, he felt this was appropriate, he was more than satisfied with the results he got.

The web fluid was sturdy, and had already proven to be more than capable of handling much more than what he weighed.

And the shooters themselves were anything but fragile. Like he said before, they came out bulkier and heavier than he imagined, but this also gave them some extra strength and durability as well.

All in all, this was truly an amazing feat of intellect for the boy. With little more than a visual representation, he created something straight from a comic book in real life after eight months of work.

"Alright, here goes nothing," Izuku breathed, closing his eyes before falling forward off of the building.

He needed to be quick with this test, the last thing he needed was for someone to see him and for a hero to get involved. So after falling for about a second, Izuku threw his arm out and performed Spider-Man's signature pose, hearing the satisfying click of the spinneret nozzle opening and releasing the web fluid.

The moment that the white substance came in contact with the oxygen in the atmosphere, it quickly expanded and hardened all at the same time. Turing completely from a liquid, into a solid line of adhesive webbing.

"Yes! It worked!" Izuku shouted at the top of his lungs. As much as he didn't want to draw attention, the rush he was feeling right now was simply too great. He had never felt something so exciting and relaxing at the same time before. But something about the way the wind hit his face just brought utter joy to the boy's soul.

Before long, Izuku's web line clung onto the side of a building, stopping his descent immediately and pulling him in another direction.

Had he been a regular and non super-powered person, his arm might have ripped itself completely out of its socket from the force of the webline…

But he wasn't a regular person by any means.

"Woohoo! I'm Spider-Man! I'm really Spider-Man!" He screamed proudly, getting the attention of a few passersby as he swung close to the ground.

Lifting up his other arm and shooting another web line, Izuku couldn't stop smiling if he tried. Before long, he began wandering around aimlessly, and it was then that he heard a shrill scream come from behind him.

"Listen lady, it's too early for all this loud screaming crap. Just hand over the bag, and no one gets hurt, alright!? C'mon, hurry up!"

A mugging? In the middle of the street? In broad daylight? This guy wasn't very bright was he? This was a scenario straight out of a comic book.

And I get to be the hero.

Without even thinking about it, Izuku felt his body shoot down into a nosedive heading straight for the street. This was a perfect opportunity to test just how sticky the adhesive in his webbing was.

*Thwip*

Landing with a small tumble roll to brace his fall, Izuku wasted no time in taking aim and firing both of his web-shooters at the unarmed man. Making sure to only hold the trigger for a second on each hand so a ball would fire out instead of a line.

When the pair of gooey projectiles pushed the mugger back against a building and stuck him there in place, the super-powered teen grinned as he crouched down into a fighting stance, preparing for anything that could come next.

But after a few seconds of not hearing his spider sense ringing in his head like he expected, he relaxed a bit and looked at the webbed up man on the wall.

To his surprise, the mugger seemed to be freaking out.

"Oh crap! Please, dont hurt me man! I-I, I just wanted a few quick bucks alright!? Please! I won't resist! Hell, I can't even move! I'm quirkless, please!"

After hearing that, Izuku dropped his guard without a second thought. That was something he didn't expect, but at least it did prove one thing.

Nice! It looks like I didn't have to sacrifice too much strength for more elasticity after all! If a normal quirkless person can't even move inside of them, then even someone more athletic like a villain should at least be slowed down!

The green haired boy would have happily continued his mumbling if not for the sudden sound of sirens in the distance ringing in his ears.

Police! Someone must have called them! I bet they'll have at least one pro hero with them too!

Standing and holding his place in thought for a moment, Izuku considered his options carefully. Technically speaking, he never broke the law, since he acted out of self defense for someone else, but he knew just as well as anyone that the definition of self defense and acting heroically without a licence had a very inconsistent grey area between them.

On top of that, he had on some unregistered support items, as well as solid proof right on the adjacent wall that he had used them…

I Can't risk them taking these away, not after I finally perfected them for the U.A entrance exam!

While it was true that making a prototype was the hardest part since he had to pave the way himself without any kind of guide to work with, he still didn't want to waste his resources on making another pair of these. He had the final blueprints copied down in great detail back at home, but making them again would also surely cost him a solid chunk of change.

Which was something he simply could not afford right now.

Now recovered from her panic, the woman who was on the receiving end of the failed mugging attempt stood up and walked over to the deep in thought boy slowly. She could practically see the dilemma written all over his face as the police sirens got closer and closer.

"Thank you so much for your help young man, but you should get going."

The boy was broken out of his thoughts by the woman's statement, not sure how to react as she continued.

"You saved me and I'm grateful for that, now go, I wouldn't want you getting into any trouble for quirk usage on my account. Lord knows the laws are already strict enough."

Izuku was baffled as he looked at the older woman, should he do it? Should he take his chance and run?

"B-but ma'am, what will you tell the police? I'm sure they'll ask you what happened right?"

"Oh, don't worry so much, I'll just tell them exactly what happened. A brave young man stepped in and saved me with his quirk. Although, I'm not sure if my memory will cooperate with me if they ask me anything further. I believe the boy had red hair if I'm not mistaken. But who knows? I am getting old after all."

Instead of trying to speak, Izuku just took a moment to process everything he just heard before finally understanding what she was talking about.

Brave? Me? But all I did was test my web-shooters. My body moved on it's own for the rest… Would she really lie to the police just to cover for me?

"B-but, what about him? They're gonna question him too," the green haired boy pointed out, directing his finger to the terrified man stuck to the wall.

"Quit your worrying young man, who are they gonna believe, the victim of the crime, or the criminal himself? You're overthinking this, just go before they get here."

"Oh, uh, right!"

"Hey buddy, wait!"

Izuku paused his quick escape in order to look back over towards the webbed up criminal.

"This stuff! It feels weird! It's like it's sticking to my skin more and more! How do I get out of this!"

"Oh, yeah, I designed it like that so it would get tighter the more you struggled, it's just the elasticity and the adhesion having good chemical compatibility."

"Uh… What?"

The green haired boy chuckled, rolling his eyes and jumping up into the air before releasing a new line of web to begin takeoff.

"Don't worry! It dissolves by itself in an hour!"


Izuku walked up to the incredible building shakily, his nerves getting the better of him, forcing him to just stand there and watch.

Wow… U.A… It's so much cooler in person!

It was exactly one week to the day before the entrance exams began, and Izuku was here for a very critical step in his plan. One that was almost crucial for success.

He was here to register his web-shooters for the entrance exam.

It was standard procedure, but it still made him nervous as hell. Especially when he found out that he would be getting told in person whether or not the school accepted his use of support items.

He understood that most heroes only used support items out in the field, which was why they were barred from things like the entrance exam, the sports festival, and even regular classes. But he really hoped that they allowed him to use his web-shooters with the registry permit he applied for. It was really the only way to use them officially outside of the field. The school had to decide ahead of time if the support item in question was crucial enough to go without or not.

Walking straight into the main office on the first floor, Izuku timidly looked around for anyone that could help him. "Um, hello? Is anyone here?"

"I'm here dear, how can I help you?"

Izuku's widened as the new voice appeared around the corner. And if it weren't for the fact that he wasn't trying to stop an immense amount of blood from running to his cheeks, he would totally be geeking out right now.

"M-Midnight! Oh wow! It's really you! Um, I uh, sorry, let me start over, uh."

The R rated hero giggled lightly at the boy's obviously nervousness. She was used to this kind of reaction from pretty much anyone she met for the first time, so it was no big deal to her.

"Relax honey, it's fine, now what brings you to U.A? Here to sign up for the entrance exam? If you are, I'm afraid you're too late, we closed off registration yesterday."

"N-no, that's not why I'm here ma'am. I've actually already registered. What I haven't registered is my support item, I sent out an application last week and they told me to come in for the final verdict."

"Ahh, you must be Midoriya then! We've been wondering when you'd show up. Follow me sweetie."

"Oh, uh, right."

Together, they walked behind the front desk and deeper into the room, going into a more private office that Izuku assumed belonged to Midnight.

Before long, the skimpy dressed hero began looking through some folders trying to find his name. Izuku took advantage of this silence to indulge his curiosity about something.

"So, uh, how did you know who I was right off the bat? Are there that few people that registered support items?"

Licking her lips when she found his name, Midnight opened the boy's file and answered casually. "You and one other boy were the only requests we got. His was a no brainer, we approved his immediately since he couldn't control his quirk without it. But you on the other hand, web-shooters? Why do you need those?"

"Oh, um… I just feel more comfortable using my quirk with them, and they compliment it really well."

"Hmm, Izuku Midoriya, quirk: Spider. I suppose it does make sense. Does everything a spider can. But it says here your quirk is listed as a mutant type, that can't be right, you look just like a normal human to me."

Izuku did his best to hide the smile that tried to escape him at the woman's words. His idea on how to hide the fact that his quirk wasn't actually a quirk was one of his best ones yet.

"Oh yeah, about that, I guess I just got lucky with the rest of my body, but look," he said as he opened his palm and motioned gently for the woman to come closer. "If you look really closely at my fingertips, you'll see I have sets of scopulae just like spiders have on their legs. They're what let me cling to anything too, like a spider."

This seemed to be enough to convince the heroine, because as soon as he wrapped up his small demonstration, she nodded and brought her blue orbs back to his file.

"I see… Still, you're perfectly capable of using your quirk without these web-shooters of yours. And I don't want you to have an unfair advantage over other students just because you went and bought some fancy gadget from a support company. I'm sorry but-"

"Wait no! You've got it all wrong ma'am! I made these myself!"

"Wait, what!? Are you serious?" She asked in a mildly impressed tone. Show me, prove it."

All of the sudden, Izuku was really glad he decided to bring his two prized contraptions, along with his notebook where he drew the specs of the prototype in great detail.

After showing the black haired beauty everything he could about the pair of web-shooters, and even demonstrating how they worked, Izuku held his breath as Midnight scribbled something down in his file before looking back down at him at last.

"Alright… Given that you constructed these items yourself, along with the fact that they match the theme of the hero you're going for, I will allow you to register these items into our system. Please sign here."

"Wait, seriously!? That's amazing! Thank you so much Midnight!"

"Yeah yeah kid, whatever, just sign the paper so I can debrief you."

"Huh? Debrief me?"

"Yes, it's about using support items outside of designated areas, same as quirks. I'm required to give you this information now, so listen up. You are only allowed to have your support items out during the practical portion of the entrance exam. If you happen to pass the entrance exam and get into U.A, the same rules apply. Keep it out of sight and out of use unless class allows quirk usage, that's your green light, you got that?"

Izuku didn't hesitate to sign the sheet of paper and hand it back to her, listening carefully to what she was saying. "Ok, that makes perfect sense."

"Good, now take this, it's your proof of registration," she said, handing the boy a small slip of paper. "Show that to any teacher that questions your support item. If you lose it, come to the office and we can get you another one. And if you manage to get into U.A, come back here so we can stamp it again. Any questions?"

"Uhh, no, I think I'm good. Thank you Midnight."

"Alright, thanks for coming in today Midoriya-san. You've impressed me with your creativity, I wish you good luck in next week's test." She said with a wink as she walked out of the office with a little too much sway in her hips.

That was the last thing Izuku was paying attention to though, he was way too excited right now about being able to use all of his powers and tricks to do the very best he could.

One more week, just one more week!