Chapter 3: F-F-Friends?

The school day was uncharacteristically boring without that Deku here muttering in front of him. In its own way, that nerd not being here actually made it more difficult to focus in lessons.

Tch! Even when that bastard's not here he's finding ways to piss me off.

It's not like he wasn't paying attention to his lessons, of course he was. He needed to pay attention to get good grades and he needed good grades to get into UA and he needed to get into UA to become the greatest hero ever, just like All Might!

But doing that without the familiarity of that nerd's unkempt hair and incessant murmuring nade focusing just a little bit harder.

And why wasn't he here? Did it have something to do with him being on his phone all day a couple days ago? Probably not. Then what?

Maybe he was a little too rough on him yesterday.

…Nah. That Deku's taken worse than that. He'll just get back up from it again.

But then why wasn't he here? Had he taken worse than that before?

Even if he hadn't, he'd still get back up. That's his thing, the quirkless prick doesn't know when to quit.

THEN WHY WASN'T HE HERE?

That one Bakugo couldn't answer. The way he saw it, there were two options: either Deku would be here, having gotten over the beat-down like usual and sat in front of him…

Or he'd be dead in an alley.

Despite trying to cast the thought from his mind, Katsuki couldn't focus for the rest of the school day.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Izuku, are you ready to go?" Inko called from the other side of the door.

And her voice promptly encouraged Izuku to close the tab he was on. It wasn't anything risqué, it was just more of his futile effort to find anything on this Kyudai Garaki. It was like the man had never existed. Even finding out about him through his Quirk Singularity Theory was fruitless.

But enough about that, right now he was ready to leave, having places he needed to be and dressed formally in his best clothes.

Moving to the door, Izuku opened it up to find his mother in a similar state, dressed up properly for the occasion. "I'm ready!"

"Then let's get going. We don't want to miss the train."

One train ride later and the Midoriyas were at Rozaryu Middle School, strolling up to the front gates ready to get him put into the school. Inko had already made plenty of phone calls, and now all that was needed was a face-to-face meeting to get him admitted.

"I'm sorry you'll have to take the train here and back every day but this is the only school I could get you into in such short notice."

"I-It's fine, Mom. I'm sorry for making you have to pay for the train from now on." Like mother, like son.

"Don't be, Sweetie. Consider it my apology for not getting you out of Aldera and away from those rotten teachers earlier."

They smiled, they hugged and they even apologised a bit more, but at least they didn't cry, and on that, they headed in.

The pair were immediately ushered to the principal's office, and after a couple minutes of waiting outside were let in. "Ah, the Midoriyas, take a seat, I assure you this won't take too long."

It didn't. The principal went through what Izuki imagined was the usual routine of getting put into a new school. It felt odd, not being judged solely on his quirk status. The principal even told him they'd be honoured to have someone with grades like his graduate from their school, so it wasn't something normal for him, but he expected to enjoy his time here if that was any indication of the future.

With the meeting coming to a close, Izuku was officially admitted in and handed his timetable, so only one thing remained.

"Alright, just one thing's left and then I can let you two get going." A sheet was pulled from the principal's desk, being promptly handed to Izuku along with a pen. "You just need to put down where you aim to go after graduation."

Oh. This. Izuku remembered signing the same sheet at Aldera Junior High. Then, he'd only put in a single answer: the UA hero course, but then felt like ages ago. He still wanted to go, but what if he didn't get in? He was only quirkless after all. …I-I've been staring at the paper for too long.

After scribbling down his answers, he handed the sheet back. In the top slot: the UA hero course, obviously, but in case that didn't work: the general studies course, just as a backup plan.

The principal's eyes looked a little surprised at seeing where Izuku wanted to go, but he'd expected that, and didn't blame them for it.

After that, the two were free to go, and Izuku would be starting come the start of the next week.

Surprisingly, for the first time in years, he was looking forward to school.

"Alright then Izuku, before we head back, whaddya say we go and get you your uniform and all the stuff you'll be needing?"

As of the last couple days, Bakugo had been… antsy. It wasn't his fault the nerd's disappearance was making him curious… and nervous.

What if he was dead? On one hand, it would do Auntie Inko a favour to not have to deal with the human equivalent of a ball and chain anymore, but on the other, when he'd last seen him he was barely breathing and covered in explosions.

If that bastard dies on me…

He didn't hide that he despised the boy - he hadn't told him to throw himself off of a building for nothing - but he didn't want him dead either, just out of his way where he belongs.

So it was for that reason that the boy headed back to the same alley where it happened, just to check if Izuku was still there.

And to his great relief, he wasn't. All that remained was ash and blood… Quite a lot of blood, actually.

One thing the booming bully also recognised was that, if Deku died, what would that mean for him? A corpse covered in bruises and explosions? It wouldn't take a genius to link it back to him, and he'd never be able to get into UA with that on his record!

Either way, the blood here was in a pattern leading out of the alleyway. So see! The brat escaped! He left on his own two feet!

…Or in a body bag.

Katsuki felt sick.

Meanwhile, many miles away, Izuku was feeling the same. He was as ready as he'd ever be to take on the school day, but still he had his doubts as he watched all the students around him bustling into the building.

What if all these students treated him the same way Bakugo did?

No. He shook his head and marched forward. T-Today'll be better. Mom said that they don't tolerate quirkism here, and that's good enough for me!

He was confident, he was ready, and he was tripping on his own shoelaces!

Before he knew it, the boy was falling face-first downwards, and all his conviction died as he flailed helplessly, his face ready to get well-acquainted with the stone floor…

Only, the impact never came.

"Sorry I used my quirk on you. I'd usually ask first but I doubt you could've answered me with a face full of floor." A feminine voice said from his side as Izuku floated in place at an odd angle.

It took his mind a second for Izuku to comprehend what was happening, and when it did, he tried foolishly to reorient himself. He failed, embarrassing himself in the process.

"Wait! Let me help." The mystery girl grabbed him, and helpfully, she placed him back on his two feet like he weighed nothing, putting her fingertips together once she was done and saying "Release!"

Gravity returned to Izuku, with him adjusting to it quickly and finally turning to look at his saviour. The girl who looked back at him put a blush on his cheeks. She was pretty, with short, brown hair and distinctive blush marks on each of her cheeks.

Considering this was the first girl Izuku had talked to in what must've been years, his attempt to thank her failed mistakenly. "Th-Th-Th-" But then his eyes drifted down, seeing her playing with her fingers and spotting the missable pads at the end of each one. Wait, she just used her quirk on me, a quirk that can negate gravity! The stuttering stopped, and instead of the blushing mess he was, Izuku straightened up, his voice clear as he spoke. "W-Was that your quirk? You can make things negate gravity just by touching them? That's amazing!"

"Oh…" Now it was her turn to blush, a hand reaching up to brush her hair back nervously. "It's nothing much, just as ordinary as any other quirk."

"No, it's amazing! It-"

RI-I-I-I-I-ING!

The bell cut him off, blaring loudly from inside the school, a place they were not. Their heads snapped towards the building together, and their time came to an end.

The unnamed girl spoke first, her voice seeming a tad let down. "I guess we should be getting to our classes then."

Nervously, Izuku pulled a timetable out of his bag and held it to her. "Actually, it's my first day, w-would you mind showing me where my class is?" He couldn't look her in the eye as he spoke, his embarrassment returning to him with a vengeance.

She didn't mind though. "Of course! I'd be happy to help, um…"

"M-Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya."

"Ochako Uraraka. A pleasure to meet you Midoriya!" With a wide smile on her face, Ochako held her hand out with the pinky off to the side.

Her quirk involves all five fingers touching… After staring at it for too long, Izuku put his nervous, sweaty hand in hers and shook it. "A-A pleasure to meet you too."

"Then how about we get you to your class then, Midoriya? Later you can tell me all about how great my quirk is!" She moved in front of him, practically bouncing with plenty of pepp in her step.

"Sure! I-I'd be happy to." With that, the two strolled into the school together, both happy but Izuku happier, him having a feeling this school was going to be a lot better than his old one.

And it was! The quirkless boy didn't chat to many other people after Uraraka, but everyone he did chat to was nice. That might've been because he never brought up his quirk status, but at least there weren't any more condescending glares from his classmates.

Regardless, his morning lessons were actually enjoyable, and for the first time, Izuku actually felt like an equal!

When they came to an end, it was time for lunch, and on heading into the cafeteria with his packed lunch in his bag, Midoriya expected to have to eat alone like he always did at Aldera. However, he was in for another pleasant surprise.

"Hey Midoriya! Over here!" From an empty table Ochako was waving at him, and Izuku didn't hesitate to take her up on her invitation. It felt odd to get to sit next to someone at lunch, but he was having to get used to a lot of odd things recently.

Sitting down and unpacking his lunch from his bag however, there was one thing on Izuku's mind. "Um, Uraraka, wh-why did you want to sit with me and not any of your friends?" A moment passed, then he realised what he'd said, and then he regretted it. "N-N-Not that I don't want to sit with you! I-It's j-just that, y-you seem so nice I thought… y'know…"

A giggle from the girl shut him up, making his face burn even more. "I, uh…" As she went to answer though, Ochako's own face turned red, and she very bashfully admitted "I don't really have any other friends…"

Izuku couldn't believe it, literally. "Wh-What? How come? You've been so nice to me…"

"Well… I only transferred to this school recently too."

"Really?" That caught Izuku's attention (more than the rest of her words did, anyway). Had she also been being bullied?

"Yeah." She saw his face and waves her hands placatingly. "Don't worry, not for any troubling reasons. I just had to live closer to be able to travel to the school I want to get into." It was a bit preemptive, but a gamble that would hopefully pay off eventually.

"Oh really? What school?"

"Well… Um…" She avoided his eyes, clearly embarrassed, and Izuku was about to tell her to not tell him until she answered. "…UA."

Again, Izuku couldn't believe it. She wants to be a hero too?! He couldn't let himself get excited yet; he didn't even know what course she was in. "Um… Wh-What course?"

Embarrassed again, she played with her fingers again, swirling the pads on the tips of them around each other before answering. "I, uh… I know it's a bit of a common dream but… I wanna be a hero."

"Really?" If he had a tail, it'd be wagging behind him right now. Izuku was overjoyed, another hero wannabe? He was sure she'd be a great one! In the excitement of it all, he couldn't stop himself as the words left his mouth. "M-Me too!"

"Wait, really?"

There was no turning back now. "Yeah, I-I've always wanted to be a hero, ever since I was young."

"Well, most people do, I imagine. What's your quirk then?"

That was it. The question that ruined his life. Instantly, the wind left his sails and his metaphorical tail drooped like a puppet with its strings cut. His shoulders tensed too, and Izuku even felt tears threatening to well up in his eyes.

Ochako noticed the change. It was unmissable. "M-Midoriya, if you don't wanna tell me, that's fine."

"No, i-it's just…" Here we go, she's gonna hate me after this… "I'm quirkless."

She froze for a second. Then she picked up some food and put it in her mouth. "Huh. I've never met a quirkless person before. So you wanna be a quirkless hero?"

…What?

The most confused he'd ever felt, Izuku's eyes moved up to her, trying to tell if she was pulling some sort of prank. But no. In her eyes was a sincerity he'd never seen before, one that didn't even think he'd said anything too unordinary. If anything, she seemed a bit surprised that that was it and not something grander.

"Y-Y-You aren't gonna tell me I can't do it? O-Or that it's suicide or something else?"

Ochako wasn't blind, she could tell this meant a lot to him, a whole lot if him being on the verge of tears meant anything, so she chose her words carefully. Not that carefully though. "Yeah, I reckon you could be a hero. I mean… I don't think there's ever been a quirkless hero before, but there's always a first for something, right?"

Uraraka hoped she hadn't just made her new friend cry, but nothing could stop the dam that was a Midoriya's tear ducts. They poured down his face, and as he pointlessly tried stopping them, the happy tears just kept coming.

"Oh my gosh! Midoriya! I'm so sorry! Did I say something wrong?" She rushed over to hand him a napkin, but he politely declined it, seeming to get a hold over himself.

"I'm sorry, it's just… No one's ever told me they thought I could be a hero before." He hadn't expected words like that to affect him so much, but it wasn't like he could've been prepared for them.

"Oh… Really? No one?"

"W-Well it makes a lot of sense. Being quirkless does make me kind of… weak." He wasn't wrong, it was a disability that put him way behind everyone else.

"Only if you see it that way. The way I see it, you could use it to your advantage! Make people underestimate you before you kick their butt, y'know?"

Izuku should've moved schools years ago, Ochako's unstoppable optimism made him realise that. "Y-Yeah. Thank you, I-I'm sorry for bringing the mood down a bit. We were being so cheerful earlier and everything."

"It's alright, Midoriya. If you ever wanna talk about it though, I'm always here, got it?"

He hadn't even known her for a day, he'd barely known her for hours, and yet that smile she gave him instantly made him agree with her. "Okay then!"

"Good. So then Midoriya, uhh… Where are you from?"

Their conversation went on like that. With Izuku wanting his new friend to think of him as something other than a crybaby, they started talking all about their lives, and after he skipped over some of the more upsetting details of his own past, the atmosphere was as soon bubbly and enjoyable as it had been before.

"I just… I still can't get over how you met All Might!" Ochako was clearly wowed by such a thing. Looking back on it, Izuku knew he must've been the same back then, if not much more of a devoted fanboy, but looking back now, meeting the man didn't seem all that special. "And, I mean, if All Might says you can be a quirkless hero, I'd believe him."

"Y-Yeah. H-H-He did say that." That was a lie, obviously, and though it felt terrible to lie to his closest friend, Izuku felt it was better this way than any other. And on the bright side, the odds of her ever meeting All Might to get it disproven were slim to none, so that was good too!

Wait. Lying to his closest friend? Was that what they were now? Though a part of him was nervous to ask if they were friends or not, another couldn't let himself not ask, so he just decided to pop the question. "Hey… Uraraka?"

Looking up from stuffing the last of her food into her mouth, Ochako replied "Yeah Midoriya?"

"I… Um… I wanted to ask…" She's gonna think I sound so pathetic for asking this… "Are we friends?"

A tense second passed for Izuku as she registered the question, and then- "Of course we are! Why? Do you not want to be or something?"

"N-No, I'm just…" He was still baffled that his life had gotten so much better than before so quickly, not that he'd tell her that. "I'm just happy that we're friends, is all."

"Oh! Well I am too!" Leaning over, she lowered her voice. "Seriously, I've spent the last couple months here barely talking to anyone but my parents over the phone."

Light chuckling was shared between them, another nice moment soon to be ruined by the-

RI-I-I-I-I-ING!

Around them, the cafeteria started packing up, with their fellow students finishing their conversations and saying sayonara to their friends as they parted ways. Obviously, all of them were unbothered by this, however our two protagonists were visibly a little saddened.

"Lunch is over already? Damn." Ochako had been enjoying their time together more than they thought they would. Izuku made for great company, and it was great to have a friend again, but now she wouldn't get to interact with him until possibly tomorrow's lunch.

And her quirkless friend felt the same way. To be with Uraraka, to eat and chat and laugh with an equal, it was amazing, and for the first time he was looking forward to school tomorrow.

Ochako meanwhile had a better idea, red dusting her cheeks as her eyes couldn't meet his. "Hey, Midoriya, do you maybe wanna… exchange phone numbers? Y'know, in case we aren't in any lessons together later."

"S-S-Sure thing!" The two were blushing messes, but one of them was doing much worse than the other, her looking like an embarrassed girl and him looking like a tomato.

After numbers were exchanged and goodbyes were said, they were soon separated to head off to their classes. Now, he didn't even need to look forward to tomorrow to chat with her again.

Ding!

Looking at his phone, Izuku smiled at the message from an unknown number.

'Hey Midorya! I hope I didn't get your number rong :)'

'*wrong'

He went to text her back. Despite lying about what happened on the day of the sludge villain, when it came to Uraraka, he had no regrets, not even about forgetting to-

I FORGOT TO ASK HER ABOUT HER QUIRK!

Later that night Izuku was pacing in his bedroom.

The rest of the day passed without issue. It was a shame Izuku didn't end up in any of Ochako's classes, but on the bright side, he could chat with her whenever he wanted to now!

That was what plagued his mind however.

He wanted to delude himself into thinking that maybe there was one more lead with Dr Garaki to follow, but no, not only was there nothing, but his mind couldn't focus on the task anyway, not when knowing that Uraraka was only one message away!

So he paced, staring at one of the few names in his contact list.

Would it be weird to text her already? Would it come off as too clingy? Or if I wait to text her, would it seem like I don't like talking with her? Having friends was turning out to be more stressful than he'd expected. If he had more, would it just be worse?

Before he fell down that rabbit hole, he just decided to hurry up and go for it. He barely knew Uraraka, but he doubted she'd suddenly think of him negatively from a single text.

Instead of doubting himself any more, Izuku typed 'H-Hey Uraraka! I just remembered we never got to talk more about your quirk. If you don't want to, that's f-fine too.' and sent it.

Many miles away, over in the Mie prefecture in a small, single-person apartment, Ochako was on her bed too. Lying back in casual clothes, she was smiling up at her phone. She could practically hear the boy's voice through his text, noticing he typed exactly how he spoke. How do you stutter over text though?

It didn't matter, either way she was happy to hear about her quirk and happier to get to talk to him again.

'Yeah! I'd be happy to tell you all about my quirk, Midorya! What do you wanna know about it?'

Immediately, she followed the message up with another. 'Honestly, I was planning on messaging you first but I was worried about coming across as overbearing or something'

Reading and rereading the message, Izuku couldn't help but chuckle knowing that she'd been thinking the same thing he has. He decided not to correct her on the spelling of his name, and as he typed up a response, went to sit on the edge of his bed.

'Well, everything you're willing to tell me. I love hearing about quirks and their uses and limitations!' There was an irony there that Midoriya neglected to acknowledge. His quirk obsession actually started around when he found out he was quirkless… Now isn't the time for that!

Ignoring that useless revelation, he looked down at the new message from Uraraka, and his eyes lit up as he read through it. 'Got it! So, my quirk is called Zero Gravity, and it lets me remove the effect of gravity on anything that all the fingerpads on one hand touch at a time, and then release that by touching my fingerpads together and saying "release!" I can lift around three tons, but whenever I make things float fr too long I start to feel sick. The same thing happens if I float myself for too long too. It sucks'

It was a treasure trove of potential and Izuku's mind started racing thanks to it, but as it did, his fingers raced too to get it all down. 'That's an amazing quirk, especially for a hero! It has so much potential, Uraraka! If you wanted to use it offensively all you'd have to do is get close to someone once and you'd be able to make them go flying (you'd probably have to be indoors for that though) or you could make objects weightless to throw them at villains, and I bet there are millions of different quirk combinations you could do with other heroes. And that's just offensively, you have even more potential as a support hero! You could use it to reposition heroes when preparing for an attack, you could use it to move wounded people easily without them getting hurt, and with that amazing three ton limit, you could even move things like supplies with fewer people being needed to transport them! And if you got rid of that limit or increased the weight amount or even reduced its strain on you with nausea pills or something, the possibilities are near-endless! You could even attack from range by just dropping a building on a villain! I bet there are some other possibilities I've even not thought of too, so the list of possible uses your quirk has keeps going!'

When he was done, Izuku hit send automatically and had to put his phone down to soothe the cramping in his thumbs. It was worth it though, he loved talking about quirks, even if that wasn't 'talking'. He just hoped he hadn't overdone it; it was quite the lengthy paragraph he'd put down…

Meanwhile, back in Ochako's apartment a great distance away, she was reading every last word of said lengthy paragraph, drinking it all in. And when she was done, she stared at the massive essay on her quirk and could only say one word: "Woah."

She had far more potential as a hero than she'd thought. She'd only wanted to be a hero because of all the money they got, but if her quirk would really be this helpful in all those situations he'd mentioned, then she was only further incentivised to devote her life to it.

I might have to write this down. Midoriya had already helped her far more than the quirk doctors when she was younger had. Could he help her more? If he was this good with quirks, could he help her improve her quirk more?

There was no time like the present to ask, but as she thought about all he'd put, Izuku had typed out another message.

'S-Sorry about the rambling. I do it when I see or hear about a quirk I really like, a-and yours is really cool.'

Ochako wanted to blush, but another part wanted to ease his worries. What he'd done wasn't an inconvenience, it was incredible! 'No! Midorya! That's amazing! You could come up with all that stuff just knowing about my quirk? That's awesome!'

'Y-Y-You think so?'

A girly giggle escaped her, both from the virtual stuttering and his antics. 'Of course! That's super helpful to know for heroing and stuff! I bet people would pay tons for that kind of thing!' Of course her mind went to money before anything, but that was just the way her brain worked, she couldn't help it.

'Th-Thank you. W-Well I also have some ideas for how you could improve your quirk, if you want to hear them.'

Midoriya, that quirkless kid she'd thoughtlessly stopped from tripping up only earlier today, had turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Ochako Uraraka. 'Yes! Absolutely! That'd be great!'

To her delight, she received the message back only moments later. 'O-Oh, well you could do more obvious things like keep your quirk activated on yourself continuously to increase your tolerance for it, and you could work your way up by lifting heavier and heavier things over time, but I do have some other ideas. You could keep smaller things constantly floating until you're able to handle it without issue, you could wildly move things you're floating to see if that has any effect over your nausea, and you could also repeatedly use your quirk and deactivate your quirk on the same item to see if the act of activating it adds to your nausea or not, maybe meaning you should limit how often you use your quirk as often as possible.'

He'd met All Might, he wanted to be a hero, he was fun to be around, he was pretty cute and - best of all - he was a genius with quirks. So far, 'Midorya' hadn't failed to impress, and Ochako was thrilled at the fact. 'That's perfect! That should help so much! Thank you so much, Midorya!'

'A-Anytime. I'm happy to help!'

And he was a pretty great friend too. I really hit the jackpot on getting my first friend, huh?

All this talk about her quirk did get her thinking though: she'd get to work on all of this as soon as she could, she needed to if she wanted to be a hero, but what was Izuku going to do? He didn't have a quirk to train.

Instead of debating it, she just decided to ask him.

'I've been wondering though Midorya, I'm going to be training my quirk with this for whatever the UA entrance exam is, but I don't know what you're doing. Since you don't have a quirk are you gonna be training your muscles or something?'

He'd helped her, now she wanted to help him. And back on his bed in his own home in Shizuoka, after he'd gone through it, Midoriya thought about it.

'How had he been preparing for UA?'

It was a good question. No, it was a very good question, and one he was baffled he hadn't considered before. What had he been doing to prepare for UA?

He'd been searching up that mad doctor in the hopes of somehow getting a quirk, but that was the extent of it. There was nothing else he'd been doing to prepare to be a hero.

As the question echoed in his mind, Izuku got up off the bed and took a good look at his body. He was just the same as any other skinny teenager! There weren't any muscles on any parts of his body, and his arms were like twigs.

He was no better than that shrunken version of All Might!

…Okay, maybe he was a tiny bit more muscular than that skeleton of a man, but that wasn't saying much.

He had great grades too, but that wasn't enough to get him into the hero course. He needed to start exercising and getting stronger, now. But before he could start thinking about that, he'd finish his conversation with his newest friend. He couldn't just abandon her now.

'Yes. I-I've not exercised much at all, but I'll need to if I want any chances of getting into UA. I'll try starting soon!'

That gave Ochako an idea on how to pay him back for helping her, and she was proud to say it was a good one. Eagerly, she typed it down. 'Hey, we both need to prepare to get into the hero course so what if we practised together? That way we could hang out and coach each other as we get stronger! We could give each other tips too!'

Before Midoriya could respond, she was already typing up another message. 'I already have some exercising equipment. If you came over here, I could practise my quirk and then join you to do some weightlifting and running and stuff!' The exercise equipment was a birthday present from her parents to help support her dream hero dream. She'd appreciated the gift like she appreciated everything they got her, but they'd never seen much action. Maybe that could change right now!

She was excited for the plan, and couldn't see any flaws with it, but Midoriya could.

He wanted to, the idea was great, but he couldn't afford that. Getting strong was more than working out and going on jogs, it also required strict dieting, he knew that much, and he won't just be able to rely on Uraraka's stuff, he'd need to get some of his own too.

He could do more research on how to diet himself and how to exercise efficiently later, but the money problems were unavoidable, and he would inevitably be confronted by them if he was going to keep buying and making his own food.

One thing he could do was sell all his All Might merchandise that he wasn't attached to anymore, but that wouldn't be a consistent source of income.

Unfortunately, Izuku needed a job, and that was impossible.

No job would ever accept him. A quirkless minor? Even if he wasn't so young, he'd never be hired. Companies were looking for people with convenient quirks, and he had nothing unique to offer.

Disappointed, the boy finally typed in his reply. 'Sorry Uraraka, I don't'-

But then he stopped. Did he have anything unique to offer? He might not have a quirk, but that didn't mean he didn't have any special skills.

He scrolled back to an earlier message, and his eyes locked on what she'd put: '-I bet people would pay tons for that kind of thing!-'

Would they? Izuku knew that where there was demand, there was profit, and if people would be willing to pay him to analyse their quirks…

With a myriad of possibilities running through his head, Midoriya finally typed out his reply: 'I'll have to think about it Uraraka, but it sounds like a really good idea!'

It wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no. He'd have to make sure first, but for the first time in his life he felt like finally he could do something nobody else could, almost like his own quirk.

Rather than jotting the enticing idea down like he wanted to, Midoriya kept texting with Uraraka. He could wait to do that, but he didn't want to make her have to.

And he didn't. The night continued with both in bed, happily messaging back and forth with smiles on their faces the entire time. Izuku's face did fall when Ochako claimed she only wanted to be a hero for the money, but after the explanation, he only came to appreciate her even more (even if he still thinks she should've worded it better).

Regardless, they enjoyed virtually conversing far more than they'd expected to, and by the time they were done for the night, they'd already run out of things to talk about. Both of them were sure more conversation topics would come to them over time, but still found it incredible they'd been able to go through so much so soon.

When they placed their phones down for the final time of the night, both were already looking forward to seeing each other tomorrow.

But Izuku tried not to think about Ochako for too much longer, he had something else to do that couldn't wait.

Getting up from his bed, with pitch blackness now outside his bedroom, he made his way over to his wardrobe and scanned the notebooks. Reaching for the charred, burnt one, his hand stopped. This was a new chapter of his life, and he wanted to treat it as such.

With a fresh new notebook in tow, Midoriya plopped himself down at his desk, and after turning the lamp on, he picked up a pen and got to work on planning out a plan he was sure he could make work if he tried hard enough.

He named it: The Quirk Analyst, and got to writing.

Author's Notes:

No matter how long I spend between uploads - weeks, months, etc - I refuse to abandon this fic, so if I stop uploading for a while, don't think this fic is abandoned.