"Not everyone is created equal." This is a truth I learned the hard way at the young age of four, when I went to find out what my quirk was and learned I wouldn't get one. Ever since, all people did was apologize to me - well, the ones who weren't relentlessly bullying me and beating me up. My dream was to be a hero, but my simple lack of a quirk (the superpowers that 80% of the population had) left everyone thinking that was impossible. Unfortunately, my closest friend, the one I'd known since birth, was the leader of those who constantly assaulted me. At least that's what it would look like to anyone else, but I knew the truth. Even though he beat me within an inch of my life and tormented me on a daily basis, only pretending to act civil around our parents, I never held it against him. Because the Katsuki Bakugo standing in front of me was not my Kacchan. My Kacchan would never do anything like he was doing. I finally realized that after a particularly bad day in first grade, and things were never the same. I still trailed after him, of course, and the beatings only got worse, but I didn't stop, couldn't stop.
Things finally came to a head seven years later. I had long since started referring to him as 'Katsuki' rather than 'Kacchan', and in our second-to-last year of middle school, he finally confronted me about it. I laughed, becoming almost hysterical before calming down. It was one of the rare occasions that he didn't have his lackeys with him, so there was no one to hear our conversation. "You want to know what happened to the nickname? It's still there, of course, just not for you. I will never, ever call you Kacchan, Katsuki. Do you want to know why? It's really quite simple. You are not my Kacchan. He would never do anything you've done, what you're still doing. He's much to kind for that. You, on the other hand, are not. You took him, and I'm still waiting for you to give him back." Katsuki only stared. "Then why do you keep following me around?" he shakily asked. I laughed again, a loud, short sound. "Follow you? Are you stupid? You really think I was following you? Get this through your thick skull, Katsuki. I will tail you for the rest of my days if I have to, because Kacchan goes where you go. I follow him, and I will continue doing so until the end of time. You've taken him, but I know he's still there, and I am not giving up on him. So keep that in mind next time you start to get annoyed about me tailing you. If you want me to stop, give him back and go away. Good day, Katsuki." I walked away, leaving Katsuki frozen behind me as I headed home for the day.
Bakugo stood frozen in shock after Deku's rant. As the other boy walked away, his mind sluggishly processed what had just happened. He left the school building and slowly walked home before locking himself in his room to think about what Deku had said. He thought about it while he did his homework, and while he ate the food he had brought to his room for dinner, and when he went to sleep. By the time he woke up the next morning, he had come to a decision. Deku was right, and he was going to do something about it.
Over the next few months, Katsuki's bullying only grew worse. He was rougher and harsher in both his words and his actions. One day, one of the days that would stick in both Izuku and Bakugo's minds forever, he finally said something Izuku had hoped to never hear from him. "Take a swan dive off the roof of the building!" Izuku's body went cold. So, Katsuki really would go that far. It's fine, he reassured himself. That's not Kacchan. Kacchan would never. It's not Kacchan. On the way home from school, Izuku was attacked by the sludge villain. After nearly dying again, this time from an actual villain rather than the one that had taken his friend, All Might saved him and gave him his autograph. Izuku then made one of the biggest mistakes of his life - he grabbed onto All Might's leg as he took off instead of grabbing his arm or shoulder while they were still on the ground. All Might deflated as soon as they reached a roof, and had to explain his condition to the boy that had, unbeknownst to either of them, accidentally knocked the sludge villain out of All Might's pocket. All Might decided to crush Izuku's dreams of being a hero and then made the bad decision of leaving him on a roof, of all places. Izuku looked at the edge, wondering if he should. After all, even the number one hero, his idol, had said he couldn't be a hero. He shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts. Kacchan would kill him if he knew he was even thinking about it.
An explosion rang out in the distance. Grateful for the distraction and realizing it was another villain fight, he raced down the stairs and towards the disturbance. He froze upon seeing who the villain was and realized that he had caused this. All Might had captured the villain, but it had escaped thanks to his interference. This was all his fault, and now someone was suffering because of him. He looked around, taking in the scene. Backdraft was busy putting out the fires, but why were Kamui Woods, Death Arms, and Mountain Lady just standing there? Why weren't they doing something? Sure, they were making sure the spectators stayed safe, but one of them should help the victim! Speaking of the victim, another explosion rang out, and Izuku's blood ran cold. He knew that sound. Slipping to the front of the crowd to get a better look, his fears were confirmed when he saw Katsuki trapped in the villain's grasp.
As soon as he saw Katsuki's face, his body moved without his consent and he started running towards the villain - no, towards Katsuki. Brain working overtime, he threw his backpack at the villain's eyes, prompting it to let go of Katsuki's face. Coughing, the blonde opened his eyes and immediately demanded to know why Deku was there. His reply was simple. "Katsuki, I might hate you, but if you die, he goes with you." Clawing at the sludge and trying to pull Katsuki out, he said, "I can't let that happen. I won't." With Katsuki still trapped in its hold, the villain reared back to attack Izuku. He braced himself to try and dodge, but suddenly the villain was splattered across the ground as All Might punched it so hard he changed the weather. Seeing that Katsuki was safe, Izuku finally relaxed. Unfortunately, the heroes decided to chew him out for rushing into danger like that since he easily could have gotten himself killed. Feeling a momentary surge of strength, Izuku stood up. "If Kacchan's safe, I don't regret it," he said icily before walking away. The strength drained from his body as Katsuki came up from behind him to also yell at him, because the great Katsuki would never need help from a useless weakling like Deku.
Trying and failing to ignore Katsuki's words, Izuku headed home and collapsed on his bed, reviewing the day in his head. The bullying had reached an all-time high and Katsuki had suicide baited him, of all things; All Might was in a severely weakened state most of the time and had told him he couldn't be a hero; and he had thought about actually jumping. He sighed as he thought about it, realizing that it might finally be time to accept the possibility that Kacchan was buried too deep inside Katsuki for Izuku to reach. He decided to wait a day before giving up, just to be sure.
Katsuki was just as bad the next day, if not even more aggressive thanks to being angry about Izuku helping him the day before. With everything that had happened and Katsuki on him about every little thing, it was all just too much. It had been too much for a long time, but he had held onto the flickering hope that he could get Kacchan back and they could be heroes together. But now, with All Might's words and the way Katsuki was acting, he finally, finally gave up. Sorry, Kacchan. I tried for as long as I could. It was time to do something he'd wanted to do for a while.
Bakugo walked out of the school building, scowling. His lackeys had left early so he was walking home alone, not that he needed anyone to walk with. As he walked, he thought about the past few months. After the confrontation with Deku, he had realized that the only way to stop all of this was to separate himself into two sides, Kacchan and Katsuki. So far it was mostly working - they weren't fully separated yet - but that came with a side effect he didn't think about. Even though they were still somewhat merged, the fact that Kacchan was pulling back to try and separate the two meant that Katsuki was still mostly in control of his body, and had actually grown harsher since as the process continued, he was less and less tempered by Kacchan. That meant that Katsuki's bullying had reached an all-time high and he had actually suicide baited Deku multiple times, something that had absolutely horrified Kacchan, but he didn't have enough control to stop it.
Bakugo was interrupted when he noticed a figure standing on the roof of the school. Looking closer, the two sides of himself had very different reactions. Katsuki laughed gleefully, still in control of his body, while Kacchan was absolutely horrified but couldn't do anything. His panic only grew as the figure stepped off the edge and started falling. Kacchan's desperation of 'I can't lose him' surged forward like a tsunami, and apparently it was enough for control of his body to switch from mostly Katsuki to mostly Kacchan. Suddenly he was running forwards, frantically coming up with a plan. For this to work, he would need to time and control this perfectly.
When Deku was the right distance away and close to the ground, Bakugo let loose a medium-sized, very controlled explosion. The resulting blast created enough force to slow Deku's fall but not cause too much property damage, and he ran the second he saw the boy would be safe. After all, Katsuki was still partially in control and even if he wasn't, Kacchan couldn't face him quite yet.
The wind whipped past him as he fell closer to the ground, each second taking him closer to the moment he would be free from the nightmare he was trapped in. Izuku thought about his backpack left on the roof, with the notes to his mom and Kacchan tucked inside. He thought about his conversation with All Might the day before and how his idol had told him that no, he couldn't be a hero. He thought about how he had failed to get Kacchan back, even after eight years of trying. Yes, it was finally time to give up. He had failed, and Katsuki had won.
A second later, a large sound rang out beneath him. He knew that sound; he had heard it almost every day for ten whole years. That was Bakugo's quirk. Time seemed to slow down as he felt himself be pushed upwards, the explosion stopping his fall. His back exploded in pain as he fell the last ten feet to the ground and lay there, his brain slowly trying to catch up to what had just happened. He'd been saved? By… Katsuki? No, that couldn't be right. He was the one that had told him to do this in the first place, and even if he hadn't, he would never save the worthless, quirkless Deku. He hated him too much for that. But that only meant one thing, right? If Explosion saved him, and Katsuki would never, then that meant…
Izuku's face split into a wide grin, and he laughed, the purest, happiest laugh anyone had heard from him in ten years. He didn't know how, but Kacchan had saved him. Kacchan was still within his reach, now all Izuku had to do was keep trying. He could barely feel the burning pain in his back as he trudged upstairs to retrieve his backpack and then home to his mother.
Inko waited for her son to come home, as she did every day since Izuku started making the trip to and from school on his own. She always greeted him with a hug and a snack, then treated the wounds that always seemed to follow him home now. She was very concerned about where they came from, but she couldn't do anything since Izuku refused to tell her what was happening. She did have her suspicions, however tight-lipped he was being.
Her train of thought was interrupted when her son entered the apartment with the skin practically burnt off his entire back, but wearing the largest smile she'd seen him have since before his quirkless diagnosis. Being the worried mother she was, especially after the sludge villain incident the day before, she instantly ran over to him and started to fret about his injury. "Mom, it's fine," he said. "It doesn't even hurt that much."
She just shook her head, moving him to the couch and grabbing her supplies to treat the wound. Luckily she had a medical background, so she knew what she was doing. "Where did you even get this," she sighed. She didn't really expect him to answer her, so she was surprised when Izuku said, "I did something really stupid, but Kacchan saved me! He's going to make a great hero!" He refused to tell her anything more about the "stupid thing" he had done, but she decided to drop it, seeing as this was the happiest she had seen him in years.
Two hours later, Inko and the now bandaged-up Izuku sat down to eat the katsudon she had made for dinner. After seeing how happy Izuku was coming home, she had decided to make his favorite food instead of the chicken and rice she had originally planned to make that night. She knew she had made the correct decision when her son shot her a blinding smile and thanked her for the delicious meal.
A few days later, Izuku was heading home from school when All Might landed in front of him. Startled, he yelped as the hero deflated and approached him. "I'm glad I finally managed to find you, young Midoriya. I meant to talk to you again after you saved that boy a few days ago, but I couldn't find you after I finished with the reporters."
Gathering his courage, Izuku asked what the hero wanted, and was shocked by the answer. "After watching you save your friend, I believe I was wrong about what I said on the roof, and wish to apologize for it. I said what I did because not everyone has the heart of a hero the way you do. Most people wouldn't have the conviction and drive it would take to become a quirkless hero. But you are different. Even without a quirk, you rushed in to save young Bakugo. Every true hero's origin story has one thing in common - their body moved on its own in order to save someone. I can say with 100% certainty that you saved that boy. I may have delivered the final blow, but I was at my limit. Seeing you act inspired me to go Plus Ultra and surpass that limit."
"Y-You think I can really be a hero without a quirk?" Izuku stammered, hardly believing what he was hearing. All Might, the number one hero, really believed he could do it?
"Yes, I do. Now, onto the other reason I'm here. Though I do believe you could be a quirkless hero, it would be much more difficult than if you had a quirk. I wish to give you aid in that matter, as I believe you are the perfect person to become my successor." All Might then proceeded to explain how he wanted to pass his quirk to Izuku, the person who had a true hero's heart and the conviction to act on it despite seemingly lacking the ability to do so. "You would be an excellent quirkless hero, but you would be able to go farther and take on more dangerous threats with this power. Will you agree to take it?"
The next morning, Izuku met All Might at Dagoba Beach. "Before you receive this power, you must train your body to be able to handle it. This quirk is dangerous, and must be inherited by someone with a strong body as well as the strength of spirit you already possess. We have ten months to get you ready for the UA entrance exam. In that time, you must build up your body by cleaning this entire beach!"