Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Get out of this house now. I don’t want you here if you're going to act like that!” Inko had yelled at Izuku. Using her quirk to squeeze his arm tightly. It would definitely bruise later; it defeated the whole purpose of why she was yelling at him.

Midoriya looked at his mother with surprise, she had never said anything like this before, and it was all because he said that he would rather not share why he had gotten that bruise today. She was pestering him about it ever since he got back from school. Which was extremely annoying because sometimes he’s all bloody when he gets home, and she doesn’t even bat an eye.

Midoriya gave one more glance at his mother before going to his room and packing a couple pairs of clothing into his yellow school bag. He should get a new one sometime soon, this one was starting to tear up. Without saying bye to his mother, Midoriya walked out of the apartment, making sure to hide all emotion from his face.

He only started slowing down when the building was almost out of sight. It was almost 8 P.M. and he was going to the closest place he knew that would have him over for some time. The Bakugou’s. Izuku obviously knew that Katsuki hated him, but the same couldn’t be said about his parents. Since it was only a few blocks away from his apartment, he decided that it would be pointless to listen to music.

Izuku made his way up the steps to the Bakugou’s door, knocking a few times before hearing some yelling inside. It was easy to decipher that it was about who was getting the door. Sooner or later, the door was slammed open by Mitsuki, she had a glare on her face, but it softened as soon as she made eye contact with Izuku.

“Hey Izuku. What brings you here?” She asked politely. Looking at him for any signs of injuries.

“My mom said that I should come here for a couple of days until she gets back from a small trip.” Izuku easily lied. He was sure that it would be good enough at the time. They had been best friends, but after Izuku was diagnosed as quirkless, their friendship started drifting apart. But, he knew that they would help him just as much as Inko would help Bakugou.

“Katsuki, get down here and help Izuku to the guest room!” She yelled to the inside of the house. Katsuki then came into view moments later and glared at Izuku with a disbelieving look. He made his way into the house and took off his shoes and put on some disposable slippers, which were used for guests if they happen to come over. The two made their way up stairs and to the bedrooms.

“Why the fuck are you here, Deku?” Kacchan practically growled, leading him to the guest bedroom.

“Mom kicked me out.” Izuku replied after some thinking. He knew that Kacchan wouldn’t tell his parents anything that he shared with him. He stopped as he was just about to run into Bakugou, who was standing still. He didn’t make any motion to continue.

“She kicked you out?” He said in a doubtful tone. Thinking, hoping, that it wasn’t true. It is true that Bakugou has not seen the real Inko. Only the times when he was over for some kind of thing.

“Yeah?” Midoriya almost stuttered. He didn’t understand why it would be such a big deal. Bakugou turned around fast, crossing his arms and leaning on the wall. He made a gesture urging Izuku to explain.

“Uh, IhadgottenabruisefromsomekidatschoolandIdidntwanthertoworrysoIkindadidnttellherwhereitcamefromandnowsheismadatme.” Izuku mumbled, speaking way too quickly for words to be decipherable.

“Could you repeat that?” Bakugou said with a raise of his eyebrow. He still sounded upset and mad, but it wasn’t overly directed at Izuku anymore.

“I had gotten a bruise from some kid at school and I didn’t want her to worry so I kinda didn’t tell her where it came from and now she’s mad at me.” Izuku said, taking a deep breath. He said it at a much slower pace, but still spoke quietly. “Please don’t tell anyone.”

Bakugou nodded solemnly and gestured Izuku to the guest room. It was basically his room from how many times he used to come over.

“If anything like that happens again, tell me.” He then walked out, slamming the door. Now this confused Izuku. Katsuki hated him, why would he say that? Would he really want to listen to his problems with his mom? He thought while starting to unpack some of the things that he had brought with him. He honestly didn’t know how long he would have to stay, but he hoped it wouldn’t be too long. He laid down on the bed and went on to his phone. He saw that he had multiple messages from one person. His mother.

Where are you?

You better not be ignoring my texts?

Why aren’t you answering?

Why don’t you go to the store while you’re out?

And several more like that. Why did his mother act like this? Did she not remember that she just kicked him out? He just left the messenger app and went to some old game and just played that for a while. Eventually he got too tired and just went to bed. He hoped that once he returned home, she wouldn’t do something worse.

—-------

Izuku woke up with a start. Not from anything in particular, but just because it happens sometimes. He checked his phone on the nightstand and saw that it was almost 3. Damn, why did he always have to wake up this early? He stretched, stopping when his back popped. He got up and put on a sweatshirt, grabbed his phone and earbuds, and made his way outside. From the window obviously since he didn’t want to wake anyone up.

He knew that being outside at this time was dangerous, but he really didn’t care. Being outside when ‘no one’ else is, was extremely peaceful. It felt like you owned the world. But he was also somewhat looking for crime that he could help with since he was bored, and it made him feel like he was in some T.V. show about heroes. He had been walking around for an hour or so when he heard something, or someone, scream.

He turned the music down and took an earbud out of his ear. He made his way to where the noise came from, only to find someone that was wearing some kind of black tracksuit, they also had some kind of scarf and goggles covering their face, tackling some other dude. As he looked closer, he could see a woman in the corner, shaking and trembling, scared for her life. Izuku assumed that the man who was beating up the other man was some sort of underground hero, so he didn’t intervene.

Izuku put on a mask, the reason for the mask was incase he wanted to go to the store and not be recognized by any of his classmates if they were there as well. He quietly made his way over to the woman but made sure that she saw him before asking if she was okay. He said that he wasn’t there to harm her and that he didn’t want her to get hurt from the fight that was close to them. She eventually agreed when Izuku told her that he was just a student helping a hero out.

He led her out of the alleyway and asked her if she would like to make a statement to the police. She nodded and started saying what happened. He grabbed the small notebook that he always carried around with him and wrote down the words that the woman said.

“Are you hurt?” Izuku asked, wanting to make sure that she wasn’t hiding any injuries.

“Just a little shaken up, other than that I think I’m fine.” She answered. He offered to walk her home, which she agreed to. She told him the directions of her house.

They made it to the woman's house and Izuku let her be, staying around a little longer making sure that she got into her home safely. But before she went inside, she turned around and asked Izuku what his name was. He didn’t know how to answer that so he just thought about some random names, he looked at his sweatshirt and saw a rabbit on it.

“Call me Coney.” He finally said. The woman nodded then finished her way into her house. As soon as she was in the comfort of her home, Izuku ran towards the alleyway he found her in, but before he could get too far, he heard sirens and saw flashing red and blue lights. He sighed and rubbed his hand across his face. He did not want to talk to the police today so he decided to turn the other way. Suddenly he remembered the statement that he wrote. Fuck, why did things have to be so difficut.

He turned around again and began walking towards the scene, taking off his sweatshirt and tying around his waist. He took his phone out and turned his music back on, making it look like he was just some random person going home from work after a long shift. He walked by the police cars and looked at the alleyway before dropping the note into the passenger seat of the car. He hoped that he looked curious. He walked off after the deed was done. He turned a couple corners and then made his way back to the Bakugou’s residence. He opened the almost closed window and crawled his way back in.

He took off the sweatshirt and got his school uniform out of his bag. He wanted to make sure that it wasn’t too wrinkled by the time Aldera started. He plugged in his phone seeing that it was a little after 6 and he wanted to start getting ready. The room that he was staying in had a bathroom attached to it so he decided that he was going to take a quick shower.

Izuku finished and got into some bed clothes. He grabbed his mini notebook from the sweatshirt and looked through it. He wrote about the incident that happened earlier, analyzing parts of it and trying to figure out which underground hero was there. He knew a little bit about some underground heroes, but it was hard to find a lot of information on them since they were underground. He wrote until he smelled something cooking from downstairs. He shut the notebook and put it in his bag before making his way to the kitchen, wondering if there was anything he could help with.

“Good morning Auntie. Is there anything I could help you with?” Izuku asked, upon entering the kitchen and seeing that Mitsuki was cooking something.

“Good Morning Izuku, If you want to, you could clean the rice and start that.” She replied, continuing her task of frying some eggs and vegetables. He washed his hands thoroughly and then went to the container of rice and put a couple of cups into a bowl before getting the strainer. He added some water to the bowl and washed it before dumping it into the strainer. He did a couple more times, seeing that it was fully clean. He then cooked it in the rice cooker. It took some time, but by the time it was done, Mitsuki was done with her task.

“Masaru, Katsuki! Breakfast is ready.” She yelled from the bottom of the stairs. He was setting the table for four when they finally came downstairs. Bakugou saw him and glared his way before sitting down, Mitsuki and Masaru following suit leaving the seat next to Bakugou. He sat down hoping that he wasn’t angering the blonde boy. They said ‘itadakimasu’ before eating. Nothing was really said while they were eating, just some talk about school related topics and some other random things. They finished their meals before they all got ready to go to work/school.

Izuku quickly got dressed and did his regular morning routine, doing other hygienic things and trying to brush out the bush on top of his head. He was thinking about getting a haircut soon though. He said bye to Mitsuki and Masaru before leaving the house. He wanted to leave before anything could be said to him, especially since he didn’t want to walk with Bakugou. He ran to school so he could get his morning run in. He was trying to get stronger for U.A. and he has been working out for the past year to gain some muscles. And so far, he could see a difference. He made it to school in record time.

—-------

He almost had a normal day, but of course his last teacher had to ruin everything.

“I would hand out these future career forms,” His teacher started before throwing the papers. Izuku couldn’t understand what the point of that was, he was just making a huge mess. “But I assume you ALL want to be heroes.”

Most of the students started using their quirks and cheered. Izuku hated that the teacher said these things, he knew several students in his class wanted a different profession that wasn’t hero related.

“Yes, you all have wonderful quirks, but you should know that it's against the rules to use them in school.” The teacher barely threatened, it obviously didn't matter what the kids did since the only person who actually got marks was Izuku.

“Don’t lump me in with these extras, they could never make it past me.” Bakugou loudly exclaimed. It earned him a couple boos and people defending themselves.

“Oh, that's right Bakugou. You signed up for U.A.” The teacher declared. Looking at the faces of students that were talking about how hard it would be to get into U.A. “And it looks like Midoriya is going for U.A. too.” The class went quiet as everyone looked at him. Another reason to hate his teacher was added to his mental list.

Izuku looked up from where he was drawing to see that the teacher had a smirk on his face. Suddenly the class erupted in chants about him being quirkless and how would probably die during the entrance examination. He ignored those comments and instead focused on the problem at hand. Bakugou.

Izuku looked for those familiar glaring red eyes, but he couldn't find them anywhere. He looked at his seat and saw that Bakugou was just sitting there. He didn’t look back or anything. No comment, no Deku, nothing. He decided that he would focus back on what was happening around him and chose not to give the teacher the satisfaction of responding. He went back to drawing when things started calming down. He couldn’t get his mind off of the fact that Kacchan didn’t say or do anything when him going to U.A. was announced.

The bell rang and he packed his stuff quickly before running out of school. He didn’t want any after school encounters with Bakugou. Just his luck, that some kids did block his way out.

“Where are you trying to go in such a hurry?” One of his classmates asked him, reaching for his bag. Izuku moved his bag away from them and proceeded to back away. He kept his head up and looked them in the eyes. Relief flooded him when he didn’t see Bakugou anywhere.

“I’m trying to go where everyone else goes after school.” Izuku made a snarky reply. He wasn’t scared of any of his classmates and since Bakugou wasn’t here, he could say anything back to them.

“Is that so?” A different kid asked. Izuku rolled his eyes at the question.

“Yeah, actually I am. Now if you would move so I can go.” He tried to make his way through the group of kids. But none of them budged.

“Do you, a weak, quirkless, useless idiot, really think you’ll make it to U.A.?” Some of them giggled like middle school girls, speaking as some of them were.

“I have a better chance than all of you guys combined.” Izuku said matter of factly. And, it was true, he probably was stronger since most of his classmates would rely on their quirks too much.

“You…” Apparently, his response angered them more than he thought it would. He was quick to dodge the sloppy punch aimed his way. The guy was back to his feet in a few seconds, trying to lessen his embarrassed red face. He crossed his arms and looked back at Izuku.

“You know, you will never make it. Maybe if you killed yourself, you could have a chance in your next life.” The girls in the group started squealing like some kind of wild animal. Izuku didn’t mind the suicide baiting, he gets it a lot as it already is. He was looking at his surroundings, when he felt a slight breeze, he looked for the source and found that one of the windows was opened. He looked back at the group and saw that most of them were still laughing at the ‘joke.’ Izuku chose this time to run towards the window and try to jump out.

He knew that he was on the fourth floor of the school, but long days and nights of practicing parkour were helpful. Right as he hit the ground, he tucked and rolled. He looked back up at the window and saw some of the classmates were standing there, a look of worry and concern planted on their faces.

He was now ready to get his stuff from the Bakugou’s place and make his way home, he was sure that if he stayed for another night, he would get yelled at again.

Izuku was making his way through an underpass when he heard something pop and fall with a clunk. He turned around, almost getting whiplash from it. What he saw though, was some sort of sludge or slime creature.

“You’d make a perfect medium sized meat shield, now if you don’t mind, I’ll be taking over your body now.” The thing said before shooting out a tendril right towards his mouth. He tried to block it, but the sludge went right over his arm. It was already too late to realize that he would suffocate on the stuff. He tried ripping the slime out of his mouth, but his hands would pass right through.

“I never thought that he protroled in this town. Calm down, it will hurt less if you stop moving.” He heard the first part being mumbled, who was he talking about? He could feel his body getting weaker and he couldn’t move as well as before. He was trying to think of ways out of the situation, but his head was getting fogger each second. Right before he passed out, he heard someone shout.

—-------

“Hey wake up, please tell me you aren’t dead.” Izuku woke up to someone slapping his face rather hard. He smacked the hand away before the person spoke again.

“Oh hello there young citizen. Mistakes like that aren't exactly my style, but my success here is all thanks to you.” He was able to open his eyes a bit, and soon was able to sit up. He looked at the person who was talking and realized that it was All Might. He groaned. It wasn’t that he hated the guy, he respected the guy for being able to do a good job, but it was just that he was loud and could be quite annoying. And, maybe his method of waking someone up was completely unnecessary.

“Thank you, All Might.” Izuku said. He noticed that the symbol of peace gave a look to that.

“I must be going now, I have to get this guy to the police station.” All Might boomed, he showed Izuku the two bottles that the villain was kept in. He didn’t know why he decided to ask the hero to wait, he must have felt that it was needed.

“Can I ask you a really quick question?” Izuku cringed at his words, he already asked a question by asking a question. The hero turned back to him.

“Sure but make it quick.” All Might replied. Izuku inhaled and exhaled before asking it.

“Do you think that someone quirkless can become a hero like you?” Izuku questioned. He closed his eyes as he waited for the answer.

“Throughout my years as a hero, I have gained quite a lot of extreme injuries. A pro should always be ready to risk their life. Without power, can one become a hero? No. I should think not. If you want to help people, you can become a police officer. Many are often mocked, but it is still admirable work.” All Might was getting into a jumping position. “It’s not wrong to dream, but make sure they are realistic.” Then he was gone.

Izuku looked at the dust cloud that was left behind. He didn’t know what to think with the information he was just given. His eyes started watering but he refused to let them leave. He has been told his whole life that he couldn’t be a hero, so why did it now hurt. Was it because it was the number one hero, the symbol of peace? He grabbed his things and put them into his bag, most of them were scattered around from the fight. He whipped his eyes and started his journey home again.

‘I will become a hero and no one will stop me.’ Izuku thought over and over again. Trying to not let other negative thoughts enter his head. He made it to the Bakugou’s place in a matter of minutes, Katsuki had already made it home and was working on today's homework. Upon entering the room, he was given a harsh glare. He didn’t want to deal with anybody right now, especially after the talk with All Might. He went up to the guest room, took a shower to get rid of the sewer smell he had, and started working on his homework. He wasn’t going to let some emotions affect his grades.

It had only taken twentyish minutes to complete the homework, so Izuku planned on making something, he didn’t know what, but just something to keep his hands busy. He got up from his spot, and went downstairs. He noticed that Katsuki was still working on homework and Mitsuki was in the kitchen. As he was leaving, he saw that Bakugou was staring at him. Izuku just shrugged to him and left the home, running once he closed the door. He’d rather not be followed by anyone.

Izuku was determined to go home and collect a couple of his tools. The thing was what if his mother was there. He was not in the mood to talk to her whatsoever. He considered going through the window in his room, but how would he be able to climb that high without hurting himself. He decided that he would just enter through the door, and if his mother was there, he’d say something about a friend inviting him over or something along the lines.

To his dismay, his mother wasn’t home. He sighed in relief. He was quick to enter and make a bee-line to his room. He gathered some of his more used tools and packed them into a different bag. He also grabbed a couple of other things including his wallet that he had forgotten the first time. He was in and out in a matter of minutes. He made sure that he ran back to where he was staying to get some extra exercise, slowing down when the house came into view.

He entered the home, put the slippers on, said hi to Mitsuki since she was now sitting on the couch, and went back to the guest room. He made sure to close the door upon entering and set his stuff down on the floor. He took out the thing he had been working on for a while, taking the tools that would help him work on it. The thing that he had been working on for so long was a mask that covered his face fully.

It was made with some kevlar material that he had bought, he was planning on making something else out of it, but ultimately decided on making a mask. It was dark and had some goggles for the eyes. He had found those at a thrift shop and fixed them up. He even added his own programming in them so he had thermal and night vision. And even though he didn’t have to, he chose to add some rabbit ears on top. Right now, he was working on a button that could help the mask stay on his face.

Another thing he had brought with him was an extendable bo staff. It was one of his first designs that he made and it was still intact after all of this time, he had only brought it with him to make some upgrades and repaint it. So, for the time it took till super, he was working on them.

Izuku heard a yell from the stairs, and put his stuff down. He made sure to wash his hands before going downstairs. He saw that everyone else was already seated and that they were just waiting on him. He apologized before sitting down. They all ate after saying ‘itadakimasu.’ And, just like the morning, the table was filled with some small talk.

“How long is your mom going to be gone?” Mitsuki had asked. Izuku really wished that it wouldn’t be brought up in the conversations, but there was no going back now.

“I think she said for another night or so.” He responded. Katsuki gave a look towards him with his never ending glare.

“Did she tell you where she was going?” Masura had requested.

“She had to go to a different city for work related things.” Izuku replied quickly. He finished up his food and stayed there until everyone was done. He got up and took his dishes to the sink, he started washing them before Mitsuki came up from behind him.

“You know I can take care of that.” She said, taking the dish from his hands.

“Thank you?” Izuku questioned. He didn’t know how to reply to that, so he just said thank you a couple more times and made his way up to the guest room. He had forgotten about his

School uniform and how it was covered in the sludge from earlier that day. He picked it up and went to where he remembered the laundry room was. He made sure that he walked extremely quiet when passing Katsuki’s room. But apparently he wasn’t as quiet as he thought, cause the next thing he knew, the door was being slammed open. They glanced at each other before Izuku continued walking towards the laundry room. He was surprised to see that Bakugou was following him. He made it to the room and put his clothes in the washing machine, putting in the right amount of cleaner for the small amount of clothing. He pushed the buttons and the machine started. All while he was doing it, Bakugou was watching.

“Do you need something?” Izuku finally asked, looking up towards the blonde, which glared back at him.

“How long has it been going on?” Bakugou interrogated, crossing his arms and blocking the only exit.

“How long has what been?” Izuku snarked back. He had absolutely no idea what Bakugou was talking about.

“How long has Inko been treating you like this?” Now that confused Izuku. Why would he care? But, now that he thought about it, how long has his mother been acting like that?

“Probably ever since dad left, why?” He answered. Bakugou’s face changed into some sort of unknown emotion before immediately changing back, it was so quick that it could have been an illusion. His eyes weren’t looking at Izuku’s face anymore, but they seemed focused on his arm. His eyes followed where the red ones were, and soon he focused on the hand shaped bruise on his arm. Izuku quickly put his hand behind his back, knowing that it wouldn’t help the fact that Bakugou saw it.

“You do know that THAT is abuse, right?” Bakugou then asked, confusing Izuku even more. Was it abuse? The only other thing that was somewhat big, was being slapped once his father left. Would that really be counted as abuse?

“Is it?” Izuku questioned, looking Bakugou in the eyes to see if it would intimate him, even just a little. It did.

“Abuse is either any act including confinement, isolation, verbal assault, humiliation, or any other treatment which may diminish your sense of identity, dignity, and self-worth, or cruel and violent treatment of a person or animal. I don't know about you, but what she does to you sounds a lot like abuse to me.” Bakugou defined. This made Izuku think a little. Was it bad enough to get a case put against her?

“Maybe, but I’ll come talk to you if she does anything like this again. She might have been a little mad from work.” Izuku heard a small beep from the washing machine, he opened the little door and put it into the dryer.

Bakugou gave a nod of approval before leaving him alone in the laundry room, with his thoughts.

Would he ever actually give a statement to the police? Would it ever even get that bad? These types of thought accompanied him as his uniform dried. He brought the clothing back into the guest room, hung it up, and went back to work on his mask and bo staff. He was debating on if he should go out tonight or not. He decided that if he finished his things that he would just try them out. Maybe he could work on his parkour while he was at it.

As night got closer, and the house got more and more quiet, it was when Izuku finished. He looked at his work, praising himself for getting it done so soon. He looked at the time and saw that it was a little after 12 A.M. He thought that it would be the perfect time to go out and try his things out. He put the rabbit sweater over his shirt and put on a pair of black cargo shorts.

Izuku made sure that he grabbed his fully charged phone, and plugged in his earbuds. He put on his mask and adjusted it until it sat comfortably on his face. He tried out the bo staff and it was able to extend perfectly. He grabbed his extra pair of black shoes and crawled out the window. Making sure that it was almost closed before he left the neighborhood. He turned on some music from the pre quirk era and put his phone in a zip up pocket. He made sure that the music was low enough that he could hear the world around him.

It had been around an hour before he started hearing some yelling not too far away. He made sure to turn his music completely off before heading into the situation. He put his bo staff close to him, in a way that could be used as a surprise attack. He hid behind a couple of trash cans and listened to the conversation.

“Why are you late? You should have been here five minutes ago!” A man shouts. Izuku looked over the lids to see if he could make out what the situation was. So far, it looked to be some strong muscly man yelling at some person that couldn’t be older than twenty five. The younger man was holding a suitcase.

“Do you at least have the stuff?” The muscled man sighed. The other man nodded before showing him the suitcase. Muscles snatched the case and opened it. He grinned and closed it, pulling out a gun and pointing it right at the man's head. The younger man looked utterly terrified and started backing away from the man.

“We can’t have anyone knowing this little secret, even you.” Muscles pulled the trigger. Watching for an impact. Lucky for the younger man, Izuku had gotten close enough and ran in front of the man just as the shot was being fired. It had skimmed Izuku in the thigh but with the adrenaline, it had just felt like an extra hard punch. Izuku had used this time to hit the shocked man in the head as hard as he could with his staff.

The man fell with a thud and Izuku kicked the gun away. He looked back at the young man behind him, only to find him gone. Too bad he couldn’t get any information now. He looked back at the unconscious man and saw some spikes on his back. He must have a mutation quirk. Maybe a pufferfish kind of mutation.

Izuku took out his mini notebook and made some notes about the fight. He made sure that the villain was tied up and the suitcase was by the villain with the little piece of paper attached to the handle before making his way to an open payphone. He put a couple of quarters in it and called the police. He put on his best scared and crying voice and told the police that he heard a gunshot and someone scream. He told them the address and left the scene.

Izuku made his slow way back limping and trying to make sure no blood leaks onto the ground. He decided against playing some music, and proceeded to walk in silence. Suddenly he heard some footsteps from behind him. He turned around and looked at the intruder. It was a tall man in some kind of black tracksuit, he had a long scarf wrapped around his neck, and was wearing overly yellow goggles that were over his eyes. He recognized the man as the underground hero Eraserhead.

“What are you doing out here, this late kid?” The man asked. Looking over the boy that was in front of him. Izuku immediately moved his bleeding leg out of view. He'd rather not have any late night trips to the hospital.

“How would you know if I was a kid or not? I’m not by the way.” Izuku defended himself. Eraserhead pulled his goggles down and rolled his eyes.

“Sure you are, what adult would run around at night with a rabbit mask?” The man said walking over to Izuku. He made sure to keep his leg unseen.

“Hey I’m just a new underground hero.” Izuku snarked back. He regretted what he said as soon as it was out of his mouth. It was obviously the dumbest excuse he could ever give. Next thing he knew, Eraserhead was going to ask for his hero name or serial number.

“Is that so? Ok then what is your serial code?” The man was now right in front of Izuku, bending down a bit since he was extremely short. And just as he was thinking, he just had to ask that.

“Uh… 72 42 63?” Izuku replied with a shrug. The hero just snorted and stood back to his full height.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought. Come on child, I'll walk you home.” The hero then gave Izuku a look that motioned him to walk in the direction of his home. Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. He chose to voice his thoughts.

“Well actually that would be extremely weird for someone to see some random man following a ‘child’ home wouldn’t it? And also I don’t need you to know my address.” Izuku announced this matter of factly. He put his hands on his hip and gave the hero a sassy look.

“I don’t really care, because I could either walk you home, or take you to the police and have your identity be seen by everyone there.” The hero looked through the goggles and Izuku chose to give up. He knew that he wouldn’t get to the hero this way, so he chose to lead the hero somewhere that definitely wasn’t anywhere near either home that he was staying at, which was some random abandoned apartment building that he passes on his morning runs.

But luck is ‘always’ on his side, and the hero just had to notice the limp that was slowing both of them down.

“Why are you limping?” Eraserhead had demanded. Izuku couldn’t make eye contact with the man, which was easy since he was wearing goggles.

“Oh that. Uh… I just fell and my ankle got twisted a little.” Izuku decided to play dumb and turned so the hero would have a hard time seeing the drying blood on his leg. Suddenly, he was pulled towards the hero by the scarf, and his leg was lifted up. He had to hold back a scream.

“OW. You oven baked sausage, that fucking hurts.” Izuku cursed out the hero, he was trying to hold back his language during this whole encounter, so he thinks he deserves to say something now. With the sudden movement, the wound on his leg started bleeding worse.

“What happened?” The pro asked, concern lacing his words. He grabbed a rag from his pocket and placed it against the wound.

“It’s not even that bad, it feels like a cat scratch.” The gun wound did not in fact feel like a cat scratch at all, Izuku was just lying to himself and trying to get out of this situation sooner.

“This is bad you brat, why didn’t you go to a hospital or something?” The hero sounded annoyed as he grabbed his phone and started dialing a number. Izuku wasn’t having any of that, He took the man's phone and used his free hand to punch the man. He felt extremely bad for punching him, but he needed to get away.

“I’m sorry, I really don’t like hospitals and by going to one it would reveal my identity. Anyways I could just patch this up somewhere else.” Izuku yelled as he started running as fast as he could. He needed to get away from the hero before he would be sent to the police.

He made multiple turns before sprinting to Bakugou’s house. He quickly made his way inside and took his shoes off right away, next were his pants and mask, he assured that they were both covered by the blankets. He took off his sweater, then shirt before grabbing some of his dirty clothes and using it to try and stop the blood flow. He was trying to keep his breathing down so he wouldn’t wake anyone up.

“Why are you up at this time!” A voice whispered yelled as the bedroom door opened. Izuku looked that way and saw Bakugou standing there. He was glaring at him. Both of them froze as they made their own observations. Bakugou seeing the blood and skin of his ex childhood best friend. Izuku seeing Bakugou’s face contort into one filled with horror and concen. Bakugou quickly walked to where Izuku was sitting.

“What the fuck happened?” Kacchan asked, going into the guest bathroom and grabbing some hydrogen peroxide, some rags, and a large amount of wrapping bandages. He started by taking the shirt that Izuku had pressed on and checked to see if the bleeding had mostly stopped, which it had. He then grabbed a wet towel and started cleaning the surface. Pouring out the hydrogen peroxide onto some different towels, not even caring if some of it poured on the ground. He placed the towel on the wound, and Izuku had to hide a wince.

“I was just walking around since I was bored and fell.” Izuku lied, he knew by the look Katsuki gave him that it didn’t work.

“Fine, I was shot trying to protect someone.” Izuku gave in and looked away from the one cleaning his wounds. “But it only skimmed my leg so it’s not like a big deal or anything.”

The blonde looked offended by his answer. He didn’t talk the rest of the time his leg was getting wrapped.

“You were shot and thought not to go to a fucking hospital?” Bakugou almost yelled, finishing wrapping the injured leg. He started putting away the items he used and kept scolding Izuku about how dumb he must be. Izuku decided that he was just going to get dressed since he didn’t want the angry boy seeing his other scars, cuts, and bruises that had yet to fade away.

“I know it was a dumb desion, I have no idea why I was in someone elses business when I knew I shouldn’t have been.” Izuku retorted. He was starting to get annoyed by the same things being said, just using different words.

“Well I’m going back to bed, don’t do anything stuipid.” Bakugou said after he was finished scolding the greenete. He then left the room and did the same as slamnig the door, but quietly.

Izuku sighed as he took the things out from under the covers and put them in his other bag. Looks like he needs a little bit more experience when fighting, because as soon as he goes out, he gets shot. Would that count as karma? And if so, from what? He chose to just lie down and try to get some sleep. He’ll complain about being in pain later. He fell asleep without too much effort.

—-------

Izuku woke up from his alarm, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and sitting up. He tried to get out of bed, but was reminded of the wound he got earlier. He hid the wince everytime he limped. He went to the guest bathroom and thought about taking a shower. It would be quick and hopefully clean his wound a little bit more. He sat down on the bathtub and started unwrapping the tight bandages around his leg. He made sure that all the bloody wrapping was thrown in the trash and buried by some napkins. He turned on the shower and finished getting undressed. He ensured that he washed the wound with some soap and rinsed it with warm water.

Getting the shower over with, he used some hydrogen peroxide and wrapped up his wound tightly.Then Izuku started working on brushing his hair out. It had taken about how long his shower took for it to look reasonable. He’ll just get it cut later today. He brushed his teeth and left the bathroom. He grabbed a white shirt and some black sweatpants and packed his clothing from last night. He might as well go back home tonight and see how things will turn out. Izuku went downstairs and started helping with breakfast. He told Mitsuki that his mother called and that he was going to go home today.

Breakfast was finished and eaten. Izuku changed into his school uniform, making sure that it didn’t smell like sewer water. He grabbed his stuff and packed it up into his other bag and cleaned the guest bedroom. He took out the trash, made the bed, and washed up some other things. He grabbed the trash bag and his school bag and left the house. He planned on not walking with Bakugou, but as soon as he threw away his trash, the blonde came walking out.

“I’m walking with you today and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” He said, falling in step with Izuku.

“Ok?” Izuku replied. He had no idea what was going on so he decided to just go with it.

They were about half way to school, when someone finally spoke up.

“I wanna spar with you.” Bakugou demanded, leaving the greenete in shock.

“What? Why me?” Izuku sputtered. Who randomly asks someone to spar with them, worse with it being someone that hates you?

“I saw you last night, it seems that you’ve worked out a lot. And what perfect way to see how strong you really are is to spar with me.” He had said in a cocky tone. “But that can’t happen until your dumbass heals.”

“Uh… okay?” Izuku agreed, if it was a fight that Katsuki wanted, then he will give it to him.

They walked the rest of the way to school in silence.

—-------

The school day had been like any other day. Nothing big really happened at all. Izuku had made sure that he hid his limp though, he didn’t want anyone knowing that he was weaker and that he could be an easy target now that he was injured. He had left as soon as the bell rang without any after school encounters. He grabbed his stuff from the Bakugou’s and made his way home. He was going to go to Takoba Municipal Beach Park, which is practically a dump, and start cleaning it. It was on his mental list of things to do for a while now, he just hadn’t found the right time to do it. And yeah, he was going to start it with his wound. He needed to gain a high pain tolerance for things like that in the future.

His apartment building finally came into view. He grabbed the key to the room and unlocked the door quickly. He didn’t lock it back up since he would be leaving soon anyways. He went to his room and unpacked his stuff, making sure that his mask was laid on his desk so he could remember to work on it later. He changed out of his uniform and put on some crappy workout clothing that he wouldn’t mind getting dirty.

Izuku left his room and went to the kitchen. He got out his favorite water bottle and filled it up. Locking the door on his way out, he started his journey to the beach. He ran around a little bit first, so he could get his morning run in before running to his destination. He set up a little spot to put his stuff at. Looking at all of the trash he was going to pick up made him even more determined to finish it. He was planning on getting at least a small section done.

—-------

“Whatcha doing here kid?” Some voice said behind him. And if anyone said that he jumped three feet into the air, he would have to deny it. Izuku turned around so fast that it almost gave him whiplash. He saw a man with some sort of mask on. It looked like a skull wanna be. The man was wearing a red dressing shirt with a black vest over it, he had on a tall, black, top hat, he carried a cane with him and was twirling a marble around his fingers.

Chapter Text

“Umm… cleaning the beach?” Izuku answered, questioning the man.

“Why?” The man asked. “The whole place is a dump, and it will take you forever.”

“I’m cleaning it to help gain some muscles for the U.A. entrance exam.” Izuku said with pride, looking at the man with his head held high. “Why are you here?”

“Me? I was on my way somewhere.” The man replied, putting his marbles in his pocket. “Speaking of which, I must be going or I'll be late.” he turned away and started speed walking away.

‘Hmm what a weird conversation.’ Izuku thought, going back to the trash. He started working picking up the smaller things before moving to things like chairs and baskets. His wound would definitely make cleaning a lot worse since he could only lift things half his weight without the injury flaring up.

—————

Izuku left the beach all exhausted and sweaty. He thought about running home, but decided against it since he’d rather not see his mother yet. And, his legs were extremely sore and in pain. It would be embarrassing to give out in the middle of running. He made sure that he grabbed everything that he brought with him, and some small pieces of metal as well, and made his journey home.

He unlocked the door, waiting to see if he’d get yelled at as soon as he walked in. There was silence. Izuku walked in and took off his shoes as he closed and locked the door. Still nothing. He looked at the shoe rack and saw that his mother’s usual pair of shoes were gone.

‘Is she not home?’ Izuku asked himself. He went into the living room and saw that everything was there just as it had been before. Next was the kitchen and, just like the living room, it was untouched. He grabbed out his phone and checked to see if he had any more messages and he had one from his mother.

‘Had to go on a business trip, won’t be back for a month or so.’

It was just his luck. He had used the same excuse for being kicked out. Damn nothing he can do about it now. He’ll just have to live on his own for a while then. Izuku went to his room and looked at his mask. He will definitely make some changes to it.

First, he grabbed out his designing notebook and flipped through to find a blank page. Next, he turned on some music to help him think of some ideas. Upon finding a non-used page, he started drawing different types of the same design he already had. He still wanted to keep the ears, but maybe he could make them more pointed. He wanted to have the same look as a rabbit, so he chose to make the mask part, a skull. The outfit would mostly stay the same though.

Izuku finally decided on a design, he went to work on it right away. He made sure to get some kind of energy drink before he started. When he gets motivated, he doesn’t stop until he finishes. The only exceptions are getting more Monster or Redbull, and going to the bathroom.

—————

It had been about a full day when he finally finished. He looked at his newly designed mask and felt a flood of pride fill his heart. He tried it on and looked through the eye holes. It was perfect.

He got up from where he was sitting and stretched his body. Feeling his injury ache, he chose to get ready to take a shower and clean it. His hair was also pretty greasy as well. He grabbed some clean clothes to put on after his shower, and headed to the bathroom. He sat on the toilet lid, and unwrapped his wound carefully, looking to see if it had started to scab over. It had. He grabbed a rag and put some hydrogen peroxide on it and softly cleaned it. Afterwards, he undressed and took his much needed shower.

Feeling fresh, Izuku finished his shower and got dressed in some comfy clothes. He was planning on just going for a walk today and maybe look for some job hirings.

Izuku was walking around the cafe chain, when he finally found a small sign in a window with information about hiring. He took a quick picture of it, and continued walking. He’d look at it later. Turning at the corner, he started his way home. Upon arriving at his apartment, he took out his phone and looked at the few pictures he got. People these days would prefer that you do the applications online. It was just less complicated.

Finding one for a cat cafe, Izuku read through the information. It was fairly easy to fill out some of the forms, he just needed some things to be signed by others to help with seeing if he was qualified for working at the place. He’d probably fake his mother’s signature on it. After applying, he got a message saying that someone would email him in a week or two and tell him if he got hired or not. And hopefully, he’d get a work uniform if he does get the job.

He made a mental plan for the week and went to bed. It was only a bit after lunch, but he knew that he’d sleep until school started the next day.

—————

Izuku woke up as his alarm went off. He made sure that it was extremely loud, even though he was a light sleeper. It would help him wake up quicker. Turning it off, he got up and started getting dressed for his morning run.

Once he got home, he took a quick shower, cleaning his injury as well, and then put on his uniform for school. He made himself a small, healthy breakfast and ate it quickly. He put on his red shoes and started his run to school.

Now you may be wondering why Izuku has two runs in the morning. If not, then I don’t care. Anyways, he has two runs in the morning because I write so and it helps him get stronger and have better stamina.

Arriving at school, Izuku carried his bag in front of him. Making sure that no one could grab or put anything in it. He went into his home room class and started writing ideas for his nightly activities in his notebook. He put it away once school officially started.

————

Another regular day at school, Izuku ran back home, and got ready to go to the beach and continue cleaning it. Once again, the strange man was walking by and made small talk with him.

Izuku continued his days pretty accordingly.

————

It has been a little bit over a month. Izuku had made a noticeable dent at the beach. It was about one eighth done. He had grown used to the man (now knowing that he preferred to be called Mr. Compress) walking by when Izuku gets there each time.

His wound has been healed for a while, and he was dying to know when he and Bakugou could spar. He worked really hard to do extra exercises to make sure he could get a good fight out of each other. He also hadn’t gone out on his little night journeys and was excited to start them up again. He had been getting happier over these past few weeks since it seemed that Bakugou and him are starting to have some kind of friendship again. They have kept in contact when Inko kicked him out He hoped that it would strengthen and last unlike the first time.

The bad news was that Inko was supposed to be coming back soon. Izuku still didn’t want to be near his mother after what she had done and said to him. He hoped that she wouldn’t really mention it, but knowing her, she would.

The good news was that he had gotten the job. He now works as a Barista at a cat cafe. He was glad that he had gotten the job since the people there gave big tips, since his pay is partly from the amount of money he gets from tips. He had even seen a couple of underground pro heroes there.

Izuku was just finishing up cleaning up as much trash as he could for the day, when he got a text from Bakugou asking if ‘he was healed all the way and if he was still up to spar or that he chickened out since no one could be him.’

Izuku replied with a ‘yes he had finally healed all the way and that he was still up for sparring,’ and ‘when they should meet up to spar.’

He was giving a time and place for when they would, which was in a couple of days, during the weekend. It was good for Izuku since it was his break day.

He gathered his stuff and started making his way home. Taking all the time he wanted, in case Inko had showed up. His longer than normal hair blew in his face, but it wasn’t as bad as before since instead of cutting it, he just tied it back.

He got to the apartment complex sooner than he wanted to. He slowly climbed the stairs and went to the room that his mother paid for. He took out his key and slid it into the lock and turned it, waiting to hear the door unlock. Hearing the quiet click, he jiggled the doorknob and opened the door, immediately looking at the shoe rack. He saw that one of the shoe places had been taken up and obviously it was his mother’s. He slipped his shoes off and entered quietly.

“Hey, Izuku. I missed you.” Izuku heard a voice from the living room. It was in fact his mother’s.

“Hi, mom. I missed you too?” Izuku questioned himself. Did he really miss her? He didn’t want to be disrespectful to his mother, so he went into the room so they could see each other.

“Wow, have you been working out? You look like you have gained some muscle.” Ouch, that kinda hurt. Izuku had been working out for a long time, since the beginning of last school year. If his mother just now realized, then what other really noticeable things has she missed.

“Yeah, I have been for a while now.” Izuku replied, scratching at the back of his neck out of nervousness. This was not the conversation he was expecting. He was thinking more like she was going to yell at him for getting kicked out.

Thinking about that, he did a quick body check to make sure that he didn’t have any types of injuries that were out in the open. Seeing none, he sighed in relief.

“Well if you need me, I’ll be in my room.” Izuku ended what he knew would be a long conversation about what Inko did during her trip. He walked to his room and shut the door as soon as he got inside. He changed into some night clothing and started working on his homework. He could have easily done it during school, but he was too busy writing down his night schedule since he was going to start it back up.

The homework was easy, he was able to finish it in ten minutes. He went to his snack drawer, and got out a protein bar, also grabbing an eight ounce Redbull from his mini fridge. He’ll have to stock back up on drinks soon though. He got on to his phone, and randomly searched up something. It was something he liked to do when he was bored. He knew that it would waste time, but sometimes he found out new information and found some rabbit whole to dig himself into. Plus, he could randomly spurt out facts if someone mentions what he looks up.

It felt like minutes passed, but once Izuku finally came back to reality, it had been several hours. He listened to see if he could hear if Inko was still up, it sounded like she wasn’t. Good. He got up and cleaned up his space a little. He was going to try out his stuff tonight, and hopefully not get shot this time. And maybe, he could find Eraserhead and apologize for punching him. That would be nice.

Putting on his new mask and his outfit, Izuku looked at himself in the mirror. He was extremely happy that everything looked absolutely perfect. He even added some new things that would definitely be needed. A small first-aid kit, some zip ties, a burner phone, several different weapons (including his bo staff), and a couple of notebooks and pens. He was sure that he had everything he needed. He put on his black shoes and went to the window. He wanted to practice his climbing, so he somewhat jumped out and felt for any gripping. Luckily he found some. He crawled up to the top of the apartment and stood on the roof, taking in the ‘beauty’ around him.

Izuku started stretching a little, getting ready to jump to the building next to him. Running and leaping over the small gap. He had been planning on traveling by roof, but if there was some kind of disturbance that was further, it would take him a while longer, than if he just walked. So Izuku made his way to the escape exit and felt his feet hit the alleyway ground.

Now, all he had to do was walk/run around until he heard that someone might need his help.

Around half an hour later, Izuku finally heard some kind of yelling in the distance, he ran as the yelling continued.

Arriving at the scene, he saw two men punching each other out in the open, a bar wasn’t too far, so Izuku assumed that both of the men were drunk and something was said to piss the other one off. He started walking towards them.

“Hey, what seems to be the problem?” He asked them. They stopped and looked at him.

“Hiro said that there are more doors than wheels in the world.” The speaker pointed at the other, who was now known as Hiro. Hiro gasped and made an offended face.

“Have you even thought of how much buildings there are?!” Hiro yelled, trying to go for the man again. Eventually landing a sloppy punch to the man’s shoulder.

‘Damn,’ Izuku thought ‘grown, drunk men fighting like a bunch of children over something extremely stupid.’ He grabbed the other man and pulled him off Hiro.

“Do I need to call the police?” Izuku asked as he held the weakly struggling man. “Or can you both just go your separate ways?” He knew how to get to drunk people, his mom is an alcoholic after all.

They both looked at each other before turning around and stumbling the other way. Izuku chose to follow Hiro, since he was more beat up, until he made it to his home. Once he finally made it to some nice looking house, Izuku turned around and continued looking for other kinds of night trouble.

It was only after he stopped some sort of mugging, did Izuku see Eraserhead in the distance. He finished writing something up and put it on the villain’s head before running to the hero.

“Hey. Remember me, I punched you in the face not too long ago?” Izuku started. He hoped that by this approach, Eraserhead wouldn’t think he was just some random person talking to him, since he has changed his mask since their first and last encounter.

The hero turned at the sudden voice, getting into a fighting position. It caused Izuku to take a couple of steps back and hold his arms up in ‘surrender.’

“Who are you?” The man questioned, not moving from his fighting stance.

“Gurly, I already told you. I was the ‘kid’ that you tried to take to the hospital, but I punched you instead. C’mon you should remember this.” Izuku said an obviously fake offended tone, putting one hand to his heart and the other was wiping non-existing tears from his face.

“Oh yeah. How could I forget someone as stupid as you.” Eraserhead said in a sarcastic way, finally somewhat calming down. Izuku gasped loudly.

“Excuse you. Who are you calling stupid?” Izuku asked, getting ‘defensive.’

“You, who else?” Was the deadpanned answer he got back.

“Wow.” Izuku stated before turning around. “I can not believe you.”

You see this is already an extremely weird interaction. Either one knew each other and it was only their second conversation. So by means, Izuku was leaving off a ‘great’ impression.

“Why are you here, I have work to do?” Eraserhead sighed, rubbing a hand across his face.

“Sheesh. I just wanted to apologize for punching you.” Izuku claimed as he turned back around. “Anyways, do you like my new mask?”

“Apologies accepted I guess, and your mask almost gave me a heart attack so I have no words for your question.” The tired man replied. “I’m going to go back to my job, and you should go back home.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. Like I’m actually going to do that.” Izuku waved off. The hero gave him an annoyed glare. “Fine, I’ll be on my way too, bye Eraserhead.”

Izuku waved to the slightly surprised man, before doing a couple of flips and disappearing.

—————

Shouta Aizawa watched as the child flipped away. He gave another aspirated sigh, getting back to work. He’ll complain about it to his colleague when he finds another villain to turn in.

Seconds after thinking that, Shouta heard some screaming not too far away from him. He ran to where the disturbance was and fixed the issue by taking down some man. He sent his location to the police, and talked to the other man from a panic attack. Once they arrived, the man was taken into an ambulance and asked questions, while the other one was put into a police car.

“It’s a quiet night.” Shouta turned to the voice and saw his colleague, and acquaintance. Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa, he was a tall man, well an inch shorter than Shouta himself. He had a slight stubble growing, not too much different from his. Pretty much, the man looked like Shouta, minus the long hair.

“Sure. I only have a couple minutes of my patrol left, so I’m just going to go back to the station with you, help with some paperwork, you know the usual.” The man said.

“Ok.” Tsukauchi replied. They finished up with things and rode back to the station. Once they got into the detective’s private office, did they talk again.

“I meet the most annoying kid ever.” Shouta exasperated. “He’s the same one that punched me after I saw that he was injured. I mean, I guess he said that he just wanted to apologize, but either way, he is exhausting to talk to.” He sat down on the other side of the detective’s large desk, grabbing several sheets before starting to work on them.

“I’m sure he’s a vigilante, but I can’t confirm it yet since I haven’t seen him do anything illegal.” Aizawa added.

“I mean it could be the one that keeps leaving notes by the zip tied villains. Some of the notes help though, but if you are correct, then we should try getting him off the streets and into some sort of schooling that can help him with his abilities.” Tsukauchi said. And truly, he was right.

“I’ll try talking him out of vigilantism so maybe he won't ruin his life at such a young age.” Shouta comprised. The detective agreed with him.

—-------

Izuku decided that it was finally time to go back to his apartment when he saw that it was a little after five. He wanted to get ‘some’ sleep. Climbing the emergency stairs outside of the building next his room, he got ready to jump across.

Making it back into his room safely, Izuku took off his costume and put them in his closet. He got into some more comfortable clothing and went to bed, knowing that he would be awakened by his alarm clock in an hour.

And right as the time hit six, his alarm rang on his nightstand. And like any other day, Izuku got up and went for his daily run. Today was the day that he would finally spar with Bakugou, and he was excited to test out how strong he had gotten. He’d make sure that he’d eat something small and have some sort of energy booster.

He ran back to the apartment and noticed that Inko was also up, which was surprising because he was sure that he had seen many alcohol cans sitting around. And getting up with a hangover was probably extremely annoying. He made his way to the kitchen and grabbed one of his favorite protein bars and a 5-hour energy© from the fridge. He diverted his attention away from his mother the whole time.

It was surprising that she didn’t say anything, and it seemed like she was also ignoring Izuku. A good and bad thing in his book. He finished up his breakfast and told his mother where he was going and quickly left the small home. He texted Bakugou that he was making his way to their planned meeting area. Getting a reply with a simple ‘ok.’

Izuku made it to the large dirt area, looking around for a place to set some of his things down. He turned on some music while he waited for the blonde to arrive.

Several songs later, he finally saw Bakugou enter his vision. He turned his phone off and stood up to let the other know that he was there.

“You ready to get your ass thrown in the dirt?” The angry looking boy asked excitedly.

“Like that would happen because I will beat you.” Izuku snarked back.

“Just know I’m not holding back.” Bakugou said maliciously.

“I won’t either.” Izuku commented.

They both did a couple stretches before getting into fighting positions. He analyzed the way that his opponent was moving, looking for his starting right hook. And once he started his move, Izuku jumped out of the way and made a punch of his own, which happened to get dodged.

Izuku moved out of the way quickly as a kick was coming for his stomach, but unfortunately he didn’t move fast enough and got the air knocked out of his lungs. He backed away to get some breath in and kicked right towards his opponent’s side. Getting him back. He had to look away when the other let out a small explosion, knowing that the spar was getting to be a lot more serious.

Soon, the fight got a bit more bloody as they kicked and punched each other. It ended with Bakugou pinning Izuku down, making any of his moves entirely useless. It wasn’t until he said that he surrendered did the other finally get off of him. Even though there was no extra weight on top of him, Izuku was still completely out of breath. He chose to lay in the dirt for a few more minutes, before getting up.

“Told you I would win.” The blonde declared, handing Izuku his water bottle. He got a quiet thanks for the gesture.

“I’m sure that it was a better spar than any others you’ve had?” Izuku sarcastically asked after taking huge gulps of water.

“Fuck yeah. You’re the only dumbass I think that is almost comparable to me. Obviously, I’m still and will always be higher than you.” Bakugou went on with his god complex.

“The same could be said about you too. I know you said it, but you didn’t hold back at all.” Izuku commented. He was glad that he had a good fight.

“It wouldn’t be a fair fight otherwise.” Bakugou spoke, finishing off his water. He then made a conflicted face. Izuku left him to think while he tried finishing off his water.

“Could we spar like a couple times a month?” The blonde asked, surprisingly politely. Izuku thought for a moment before deciding.

“It could work, that way we can help each other get stronger for U.A.” He almost flinched back once he said the words, but to his surprise, Bakugou just got up and reached his hand out.

“May the best win.” Izuku got his idea and grabbed his wrist and shook it with a tight hold, the same was happening to his wrist.

“Sure. Also I wanted to let you know, I’m cleaning the beach, and I was wondering if you wanted to help maybe. Obviously you don’t have to if you don’t…” Izuku was cut off with a ‘quit blubbering’ from Bakugou.

“Maybe I’ll fucking try it out. I can try to come by tomorrow.” The blonde said after a moment, reaching for his bottle that he left on the ground.

“Ok.” Izuku replied, also grabbing his stuff from off the ground and wiping the dirt off of them. They both left after the conversation, but even though their homes were in the same direction, they walked their separate ways.

—-------

Finally, the beach was fully cleaned. Izuku had spent the last eight or so months cleaning it up, Bakugou helping a couple of times a week. Not a lot happened during the time, but he was sure that he and Bakugou were on good tracks. They haven’t argued in forever, they’ve been sparing once a week and they both knew that they were getting stronger.

Izuku grabbed his gym bag while the blonde, who was with him, grabbed his. They gave each other a small high five as they looked at the setting sun, and the clean sand. They had a couple of days until the U.A. entrance exam, and they were sure that they would get in.

One of the good things that happened over the months was that Inko acted like everything was completely normal. They mostly didn’t talk and when they did it was just asking where something was. It makes Izuku glad that he wouldn’t have to worry about getting yelled at.

Also, during his nightly activities, he found out that Eraserhead had been trying to catch him and turn him in. He choose to play dumb but in a smart way. He’d walk up to the hero and ask him some random ass question and then leave before the hero could even glance his way. Other times when he would get caught by Eraser, he’d wait until they were close to the police station before escaping the scarf.

He and Mr. Compress talk quite a lot too. Izuku told him where he worked, and now he sees the man as a regular at the cat cafe. He had finally seen the man’s full face and found that he looked completely normal. He thought that the man might have some kind of scar or some other kind of feature that he didn’t like about his face and that was why he wore the mask. But, he looked like a regular middle aged man with longish curly hair. Not too much different from Izuku’s himself.

He even figured out the man’s quirk and it was really cool. The marbles could basically compress anything he wanted as long as he was touching the thing, it even worked on living things too. They often talk while Izuku is working and they both know a lot about each other. The man was beginning to become somewhat of a father figure to Izuku. Not like he would tell anyone though.

Izuku and Bakugou had planned to meet up at the latter’s house to finish up the U.A. application form. They just needed to have a couple of things signed and that would be it. They later discussed hero costumes when, not if, when they made it in. First, Bakugou’s costume was around the same as when he was younger. It had a tight black top with an orange x in the middle. His pants were somewhat oversized and loose on his legs, but they could hold many small grenades. One of the major things on his costume was the gauntlets on his wrist. He said that they were there to help his wrist so they won’t get as strained when he fired off big blasts, but they could also store his sweat and when he pulled the pin, it would create a monster explosion that could probably kill someone if they were too close to it.

On the other hand, Izuku couldn’t decide on a costume. He had wanted to use the same design as his vigilante costume, but if someone were to recognize him, it could have him end up in jail. He also wanted to make sure that if he were to use some of the same design, like the rabbit ears, that they looked completely different than the other ones. What he knew he wanted on his costume for sure, was some sort of skull mask. And if anyone asked him why a skull, he’d answer something along the lines of thinking that they were cool. He didn’t know what kind of skull design yet, but his options so far were; cat, deer, or a barn owl. And so far his mind was going for the owl. Whatever mask he chooses, will decide the rest of his costume. He still had quite a bit of time until U.A. would start up anyways.

Mitsuki called them down for supper, and Izuku packed his things before going down after Bakugou.

They had a nice, chill supper and Izuku said that he’d better get going so he won’t worry his mother. Not like she would worry in the first place. He grabbed his bag from Bakugou’s room and left shortly after. He couldn’t go home just yet, for he had to go to work for several hours. Meaning that his shift would end around twelve.

He liked that small cafe a lot since it, first of all, had cats. A lot of them. Second, he loved that heroes would come in. And third, none of his coworkers cared that he was quirkless. They all treated each other like family.

Arriving at his job, Izuku strolled right inside through the back doors. He quickly changed into his work outfit and put on his name tag. He greeted the few in the back, and went to work on cleaning up some dishes. Not a lot of people worked there, just four other people. And the place was never too busy either. Bye now, he knew all of the regulars, Mr. Compress included, and made small talk to them.

Izuku was in the middle of talking to Mr. Compress, who happened to be there that night, when the door opened to three pro heroes. One of them being Eraserhead, while the others being Present Mic and Midnight. He couldn’t believe it, he had to stop himself from going up to them and asking them question after question. He told the man he was talking to that he had some orders to take, and went over to the register.

“Good evening, what could I get for you today?” Izuku asked as they reached the counter. He watched as the two louder heroes talked to the tired man in the middle.

“Could I get a black coffee, no sugar or milk please.” Eraserhead asked first. Looking clearly annoyed at the people around him. Izuku smirked a little as he heard a weird comment from Midnight.

“Can I please get a cortado with two shots of ristretto?” The female hero asked next. The order wasn’t too complicated, but sounded a little unappetizing.

“Can I get a regular salted caramel mocha frappuccino with five pumps of frap roast, four pumps of caramel sauce, four pumps of caramel syrup, three pumps of mocha, three pumps of toffee nut syrup, double blended with extra whipped cream please?” Present Mic asked lastly. The other two looked at him like he was insane. Good thing Izuku wrote quickly from years of hero analysis, so he didn’t miss a single word that was said. He repeated the orders and asked if that was all. They all answered with a yes. He told them the price, and they paid. Izuku then went and started making their orders while the heroes sat down at a table. He almost laughed out loud when the table was swarmed by cats right away.

All together, Izuku finished the orders in three minutes. He made sure that they were correct before taking them out. He walked over to the table and gave them the orders, listening as they said their thanks. He walked away from the table and started cleaning up, making his way over to Compress and started another conversation with him. He watched as a cat crawled on top of the man’s head and sat perfectly still. The cats at this place were weird.

He looked at the other customers and saw that the heroes were finishing up and were petting the cats that were laying on the table. Ironically, he found that the cats that were there were named after the heroes. The one that he named after Eraserhead was curled around the hero’s neck. He saw them finish up their drinks.

“Is there anything else I can get you guys tonight?” Izuku asked as he walked up to the table to get their trash.

“Yeah, could we get some coffee cake on the go?” The voice hero asked, nudging the tired hero next to him.

“Sure, it'll be a couple of minutes if that’s alright with you.” Izuku announced. The hero said it was fine. He walked off to the kitchen area and got some out of the warm pan. He started putting the toppings on and put them in a to go box. He came out of the kitchen with the box and handed it to the over. He looked at them and watched as Eraserhead put some money into his tip jar. The thing at his job was that they had the name tags and a jar out with the worker’s name taped to it. If someone wanted to give them a tip, which usually happened, they would see the name tag and the worker’s jar and put it in that jar. It was to help with making things easier.

He couldn’t see how much money the hero put in, but it looked like a lot. Izuku would have to see it after his shift is over, which would be around an hour. He watched as the heroes left, talking somewhat loudly for Izuku to hear a couple of names be said. He guessed that they were their names.

He went back to cleaning, getting a couple more customers while at it. It finally hit his time, he grabbed the money from his tip jar, pet most of the cats, took off his work clothes and put on his regular clothes, said his goodbyes to his coworkers, and left the cafe. He had planned to not go out tonight and try to get some sleep. After all, U.A.'s entrance exams were tomorrow.

He made the short journey back to the apartment. Making sure to climb in through his window instead of going through the door. Who knows what his mother would do if she found out he had a job that worked late night shifts. Even if it was technically against the law to keep a child at work for more than three hours, Izuku had signed up for them. He crawled through the window and closed it as soon as he got inside, suddenly his door slammed open.

“Why are you home so late, have you been sneaking out?” Inko yelled. Her speech slurred, it was obvious that she was extremely drunk. He’d have to lock the door so when he goes to bed she won’t crawl under his covers with him. It was weird and gross, and it started happening when his dad left. He just had hoped that she wouldn’t be sober enough to use her quirk to unlock his door.

“What? I’m not late, I’ve been here the whole time.” Izuku replied, hoping that he would get off easily. But when good things happen, bad things always come right after.

“No you weren’t, I asked for you to do the dishes a long time ago, and you didn’t.” Inko shouted, walking into Izuku’s room a bit more, getting closer to her son.

“Ok. I’ll do them now.” He said nicely. He started walking towards the doorway when he was partially pulled back.

“I don't need you to give me that attitude. It's disrespectful.” Inko said in an ‘intimidating’ voice.

“I wasn’t giving you attitude, but whatever.” Izuku whispered to himself, hoping that it was loud enough for his mother to hear. He really didn’t want to deal with her now, and these types of discussions were annoying.

“What did you say? Tell it to my face.” Inko practically screamed. Pulling Izuku closer to her.

“I didn’t say anything.” Izuku lied. Sometimes annoying her too much will make her go away so if he just did it a little more she might leave him alone. He hoped that it would be one of those times.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll break your wrist.” Izuku could now feel a painful pull on his right wrist, like if the bone was being moved and cracked. He had to hold back a wince.

“I’m telling the truth, I really didn’t say anything.” Izuku lied politely, despite the pain he was currently in. He was not going to give in to Inko since it would make her more mad for whatever reason.

“Are you really going to leave me no choice? I really don’t want to do this.” Inko said with fake consideration. The slurring in her voice is getting worse. She looked like she was about to pass out.

“Please don’t.” Izuku begged, making tears come to his eyes to make it look and sound more realistic. Once he saw the look in her eyes though, he knew that she was going through with the original plan. He clasped his teeth as hard as he could and prepared for the break.

Suddenly feeling the sharp pain come to his wrist. It took everything inside him to not yell out from it. He watched with fluttering eyes Inko fall to the ground. He couldn’t have her passed out in his room. He bit his lip enough to make it bleed, and used his good arm to pick the woman up. It wasn’t exactly hard, but with one arm in extreme pain, it was painful. He took her to the closest soft area to drop her from, which happened to be the couch. As soon as he got her on it, he quickly went back to his room. He got out his clean reusable bandages and a ruler and started wrapping his arm up. It was already growing a dark purple.

After he finished up, he took some strong pain reliever and swallowed it dry. Even though it could make the situation worse, he started pacing his room, until the drug kicked in. He could feel the dizziness start up, so he laid down on his bed, making sure his bad arm wasn’t under any pressure. Soon enough, his pain went down to feeling like a deep cut, and he could feel himself get tired. His eyes fluttered shut completely and he went to sleep.

—-------

Waking up in entraining pain wasn’t normal for Izuku, but once he saw his bandaged arm, the things from last night came back to him. ‘What was wrong with Inko?’ He asked himself. He took the strong pain relievers and downed them with a monster. He checked the time and saw that it was after seven. Only an hour until he had to take the exam. He saw a text from Bakugou and replied. Getting dressed was a struggle with one straight arm, but at least the pain was down a bit, but any movement would feel like a punch.

Walking out of his room, Izuku saw that Inko was still in the same spot that he placed her in, sleeping quietly. He walked past her and left the apartment quietly after grabbing his bag. Once he shut the door, he looked through his bag to make sure he had everything including the weapons that he emailed U.A. if he could use them. His phone was in his pocket and a bottle of pain reliever pills in the other.

He walked to the meeting spot and waited for Bakugou to show up. It didn't take too long. Nobody talked until the blonde noticed his arm.

“What the fuck happened?” He yelled, stopping in his tracks and trying to get a better look of the arm without actually grabbing it.

Izuku spilled out what happened the night before in bare detail. After finishing his story, he looked at the pissed off Bakugou.

“Why didn’t you fucking text me when it happened? I could have called the police to come over and arrest that bitch.” He said, quiet enough for the passersby to not hear.

“It was more of the blink of the moment type of thing. I couldn’t even think straight until I woke up this morning.” Izuku said back.

“Whatever, for all I know, you are not doing the fucking physical exam in taht condition. I will demand someone with a healing quirk to heal you up and I’m not taking no as an answer.” Bakugou finished. They made their way inside of a subway cart. Not talking for the rest of the way to the school.

Once they arrived in front of the gate, they quickly used their temporary student I.D.s to get inside. Bakugou led Izuku inside of the school and went to go find a staff member to help them find a nurse.

It didn’t take too long for them to find one.

“Hey, could you help this dumbass to a nurse, his wrist is broken and it obviously wouldn’t be very beneficial for the physical exam.” Bakugou stated as he looked the teacher in the eyes. But it wasn’t just any ordinary teacher, it was famous pro hero Snipe. He looked confused for a moment before seeing Izuku’s bandaged arm.

“Sure, follow me.” The hero led them through the halls of U.A. until that finally reached a room labeled ‘nurses office.’ Snipe knocked on the door. It opened after the second knock, revealing the heroine Recovery Girl. Izuku was about to explode with questions, stopping himself when he was pushed in by Bakugou.

“What do we have here?” Recovery Girl asked, looking over the two boys before her eyes landed on Izuku’s arm. “Hurry over. And start bandaging it please.”

Izuku walked over to the bed that the nurse pointed at. He slowly started unwrapping his broken wrist, seeing that the gun hero was still in the room. Bakugou was staring at it intently, waiting to see what damage he could see. Once it was fully unwrapped, Recovery Girl looked back at him.

“Oh dear, what happened?” She asked quietly as she walked over to get a better look at the injured arm. Izuku chose not to answer her since he was thinking that her words weren’t meant to be heard by him. He got a huge kiss to his shoulder and rather quickly the purple on his arm started fading back into a normal skin color. Almost instantly, he felt drowsy.

“Here take these energy gummies, it won’t exactly make you feel completely energized, but it’ll give you enough for a couple hours.” Izuku took the gummies that he was given, thanked Recovery Girl for her kindness, and left the room with Bakugou. He ate them as they followed Snipe back to the examining area. The first was the written portion. Izuku thanked Snipe for helping him, and went into the testing area. He sat in one of the back desks and watched as several more people came in. Soon the tests were handed out and they were given an hour to complete them.

Izuku felt like he was flying through. He was already pretty good at math and science. He excelled in history since everything he learned was just interesting. He knew some English, but not all of it. He could hold a conversation with it. Lastly, there was some for quirk analysis. It was optional, but he chose to do it. The instructions were clear. Think of a hero, he thought of Rabbit Hero: Mirko, their quirk, write down their strengths, weaknesses, what field they would do good in, what things they could work on, and maybe some extra things you know about them. They gave around two pages for it, so Izuku took the time to make all of his words fit in.

After making both of the pages filled with information, Izuku looked through his packet, making sure that he answered everything to his best ability. He looked to see how much time he had left, and saw that had a little over five minutes left. He went through the packet one more time and handed it in to an Ectoplasm clone. He didn’t have to wait long before the alarm signaled the end of the written portion.

Izuku walked out of the room, and met up with Bakugou. They made their way to the practical part and would have to listen to the instructions. They got inside, made their way to two empty seats, and got ready for the instructions. Sooner than later, when all of the students were sitting among the chairs, Present Mic, the same one that ordered one of the most complicated orders in his cafe, came out and asked for a yeah. Nobody did it. Izuku kind of felt bad, but he’d make it up another time.

“So this is how the test will go, my listeners. You’ll be experiencing ten-minute long ‘mock city maneuvers.’” The voice started. “After this presentation, you’ll each head to your assigned testing location.” Izuku held out his card for Bakugou to see which arena he would be in.

“Damn, I got City C, they probably did that so kids from the same middle school can’t work together.” Bakugou stated.

“Each site is filled with three different kinds of faux villains. Points are awarded for defeating each according to their respective difficulty levels. Use your quirks to disable these fake villains, and earn points. That's the goal. And of course, playing the antihero and attacking other examinees is prohibited.” Present Mic yelled.

“May I ask a question?” Some random kid shouted and stood up. He didn’t let anyone say anything before he continued. “There appear to me no fewer than four varieties of fake villains on this handout. Such a blatant error, if it is one, is highly unbecoming for U.A, Japan's top academy. We’re all here today in the hope of being molded into model heroes.” The boy with blue hair finished.

“Someone left him with a stick up his ass.” Bakugou whispered to Izuku, causing him to snort quietly. Then the guy looked at them.

“And you two, you’ve been talking this whole time, it’s extremely distracting. If this is some sort of game to you, then please leave.” The blue hair dude pointed out.

“Huh, did someone leave a stick up your ass, or were you born with it. And the only reason we're talking is because we’re discussing things about the exam. Also, if you didn’t interrupt the speaker, he would have told us about the last thing.” Bakugou launched out. They watched as the boy looked embarrassed and sat down. The whole auditorium filled with quiet snickering. Bakugou looked proud of himself.

“Alright, alright. The fourth faux villain, as examinee 7111 pointed out, gets you no points. It’s more of an obstacle than anything. There is no need to defeat it. Anyways that’s all for me. I’ll leave my listeners with our school motto. The great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said ‘ True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life.’ PLUS ULTRA!!” Present Mic finished completely and left the stage. As all of the students left, they changed into more comfortable clothing, and then they started going into their assigned buses.

Most of the ride there, there was just some quiet chatter from the other examinees. Most of the talk was just them being scared and anxious for what was coming up. The whole time, Izuku was making sure that all of his support items were with him. They arrived at the fake city and exited the bus.

Izuku tied up his hair so it wouldn’t blow into his face while he was running around. He moved around to see if he could get a better view of the opening, when he was stopped in his tracks.

“Were you really going to interrupt that girl’s meditation?” The tall boy from earlier asked. Izuku looked up at him and glared.

“No, I was actually seeing if I could get a better view of the city before you so kindly stopped me.” Izuku said angrily. He turned back around and went back to looking at the city surroundings.

“GO!” Once Izuku heard the word come from the voice hero’s mouth, he sprinted through the opening.

“In a real battle, there are no countdowns. So get to it your time has started.” Present Mic yelled out.

Chapter Text

Running into the false city, Izuku turned many corners and made his way to the outskirts of the city. He was assuming that a lot of the robots would come out of an area that U.A. kept them at. And low and behold, he saw a lot of robots. He chose to try and take out one area so the other examiners could get points. 

Izuku took out the bo-staff from his pocket, and clicked a button to expand it. He went straight to a one-pointer and stabbed the robot in the head, effectively taking it out. He could feel a painful ache from his healed broken wrist. Looks like Recovery Girl wasn’t able to heal it all in one go. He’ll have to suck up the pain for now. Looking at the other robots, he tightened his grip on his staff.

He’s got this. 

Izuku ran up to several different robots, using his staff to take them all out. He wandered around and helped multiple people along the way. He couldn’t help it, it was just instinct by now. Some of the people thanked him, but a lot of others yelled at him about not needing his help. He could partly understand why he got yelled at by the ones that yelled at him, he did just technically take the points they could have gotten. 

A good thing was that he was able to give some advice to some of them about how they could use their surroundings to help them. A tall,  lanky, purple haired, teen looked extremely relieved when he offered that he could use small poles as weapons against the robots. He would have given him one of the support items he held with him, but he didn’t want him to be accused of cheating. 

He made a mental note of how many points he had. He was sure that he had around 46 by now, including all of the ones that should technically not be his. Hearing that they had a couple of minutes left, Izuku guessed that he would probably have enough points to get in, maybe he’ll get some more on the way to the entrance gate. 

Suddenly, the whole entire ground started quaking. Scaring Izuku and several other examiners as well. He scanned for the source and found a huge ass robot with a giant zero painted on the back of its head. He heard multiple contestants yell out about U.A. trying to kill them, but he ignored it. He wanted to get a better look at the robot, since it looked amusing to watch. And maybe for his own reason of finding ways he could take it down if he were supposed to, or come into contact with something similar in the future.

Upon arrival, Izuku watched as the thing took down the tops of fake buildings. The debris was falling everywhere. He was hoping that U.A. made them out of light material, in case of any accidents with the concrete falling on examiners. He saw the teens running for their lives in the opposite direction of the oversized robot, good decision. 

He scaled up one of the buildings that was behind it. He was looking at all of the destruction the robot was causing, and was about to create, when he saw something moving in the distance. It looked like a person, but he wasn’t too sure. He decided to get down from his perching spot and find a way to see what was ahead of the robot. Keeping himself in the alleyways, Izuku ran to where he remembered might be a human being. 

Finally reaching ahead of the robot by around four blocks, Izuku looked into the debris for any movement. There it was again, but this time, he could tell that it was in fact an examiner. He ran up to the person. From what he could see, it was a girl. She had a brown bob cut with some longer pieces in the front of her face.

“Hey, do you know how to get this off of you?” Izuku asked. He started moving some smaller pieces out of the way. His wrist ached so much, but he had to deal with it until the girl got the help she needed. Speaking of the girl in front of him, it looked like she was about to vomit. 

“Shit, Sorry. Just let me try and get this off of you then I’ll make a run for it.” Silently urging her to not talk, or open her mouth, if she was about to vomit. He was assuming that it was from quirk exhaustion. But she answered him regardless.

“I might be able to use my quirk one more time.” She said in a pained voice. Izuku then thought that she might have a broken or sprained ankle or maybe bruised a rib. The girl reached out for the concrete around her and touched it with all of her fingers. He watched as it started floating around her. He wondered what her quirk was, already thinking of many possibilities.

Now was not the time for quirk questions though, so as soon as the concrete was high enough, Izuku picked the girl up and carried her in his arms. She put her fingers together and Izuku could faintly hear a release come from the girl’s mouth. The concrete started falling around them. He looked back at the girl, before she promptly threw up all over him, then passing out.

Izuku waved it off as he started running for the gate, getting there as an alarm went off, signaling the end of the physical portion of the entrance exam. He softly laid the girl down and used his hand as a pillow for her head. A small crowd started forming around them, just watching to see what would happen next. 

Next thing you know, a short woman, that he had already met a couple hours before, started making her way through the crowd. 

“Here take these gummies. Some for all of you.” Recovery Girl handed out the same kind of gummies he had gotten earlier to the examiners, more to the kids that were scraped up or looked sick with quirk exhaustion.

“What happened here, dears?” She asked Izuku as she started looking them both over.

“She was stuck under some concrete. I’m sure that she sprained or maybe broke her ankle, and she seems to be sick from extreme quirk exhaustion.” He gave out a small explanation, watching as the nurse gave the injured girl a kiss with her extended lips. She whispered on about how idiotic U.A. was for making these mock exams so dangerous.

“She’ll probably have to stay here until she wakes up.” Recovery Girl announced to herself. She looked back at Izuku. “And I need to check over your wrist and you need to clean yourself up.” 

Some small robots put the girl on a stretcher and carried her to what would probably be the nurses office. Izuku followed after when he got a small shove from the small woman’s cane.

“Is anyone else injured?” Was asked as he left. He was planning to stay until the girl woke up so he could make sure that she was all right. But before he continued his journey back to the nurses office, he went into the gym's large locker room, and changed into a pair of extra clothes that he brought. He left after grabbing his gym bag. 

Izuku found Bakugou waiting at where they said they’d meet up after the exams. He went up to him and told the blonde that he had to go back to the nurses office.

“Why the fuck do you have to go back there? You’re not even injured.” Bakugou glared harder. Some of the leaving students gave them weird looks as they passed.

“Well, Recovery Girl wanted to check my wrist and there was this other person.” Izuku trailed off. It earned him an over dramatic groan, but the blonde followed him anyways.

They walked in silence as they made their way back to the nurses office. Izuku knocked on the door quietly, before it opened. He stepped inside, Bakugou following after him. 

“There you are, I thought you ran as soon as you heard you had to come back here.” Recovery Girl was already there. She had a clipboard in her hand and seemed to be writing down some notes. She pointed to a non-occupied bed for Izuku to sit on, while the blonde with him sat in an empty chair that was off to the side. 

“Can you show me your arm again?” She asked. Izuku pulled up his sleeve for her to see. Even though there was no purple when he started the physical exam, using it almost spontaneously after it was healed caused it to start bruising again. 

She gave him a kiss on the shoulder again, but this time she told him that he’d have to rest so he wouldn't overwork himself. He laid down and waited for Recovery Girl to leave the room before sitting back up. He didn’t feel comfortable sleeping in a place like this. He chose to talk with Bakugou until the other girl in the room woke up, or he was dismissed and had to leave. The nurse would come every now and then, but wouldn’t really say anything, just come in, grab a few things, then leave.

Around an hour or so later, the girl finally woke up. Izuku looked her way.

“Are you okay? It seemed that quirk exhaustion hit you pretty hard.” Izuku asked once the girl noticed them both in the room. Recovery Girl hadn’t come back yet, but there was a button to call her down. He pressed it while the girl answered. She seemed to remember something.

“Oh it’s you. I’m sorry for throwing up all over you, I shouldn’t have pushed myself so hard.” The girl apologized, her face reddening from embarrassment. He waved it off saying that it’s fine.

“I’m Midoriya Izuku by the way.” Izuku felt like a complete idiot for being so forgetful. 

“I am Uraraka Ochako, it’s nice to officially meet you, Midoriya.” Uraraka said. Recovery Girl came back into the room. 

“You two can leave, I need to check up on you.” She gestured for Izuku and Bakugou to leave while going up to check on Uraraka. They waved their goodbyes to each other, wishing for each other to get in. 

They made their way through the long halls of U.A. and walked outside, making their way back to their homes.

“Have you decided on a good fucking costume yet?” The red eyed boy asked, walking just a little bit in front of the other.

“Yeah. I was thinking about the barn owl one. I think it would look cool, and it’s also mysterious. Have you decided on a better name than King Explosion Murder, or whatever it was?” Izuku chose to get on his nerves a little, plus the name was just extremely dumb sounding and not catchy at all. Bakugou glared hard at the question.

“Actually yeah I’m changing it to: Great Explosion Murder God Dynamite!!” The blonde yelled, apparently not caring who hears as several people that were probably on a nice relaxing walk were traumatized by the sudden outburst with the awful name.

“That name will never stick. A lot of people will probably think that it’s a joke too.” Izuku complied. He got another glare in return. “If you want something similar, or catchier just make it Dynamite.” 

Bakugou chose not to talk for the rest of the way back, instead keeping his soon-to-be-natural glare and pouting.

They said their goodbyes, well at least Izuku did, Bakugou was still sulking from the comment, before they went their separate ways to their own homes. 

Izuku decided on taking as much time as he wanted to walk the rest of the way, because he really didn’t want to see Inko. He knew that she probably wouldn’t remember anything that happened the night before, but it still didn’t change the fact that he did not want to be around her. 

Feeling like he arrived too soon, Izuku slouched up the stairs to where he knew the apartment was, getting his key ready. He unlocked the door and locked it again upon walking inside. He took his shoes off and headed towards the kitchen. Grabbing a couple of 5-hours, he rushed to his room, putting both of them in his mini fridge. He didn’t happen to see his mother so he assumed that she was either still at work, or somewhere.

He got the clothes from inside the gym bag and put them in his dirty laundry basket, he took it to the laundry room and began the machine. While waiting, he went back to his room and started the finishing touches on his hero costume. Once he gets the letter saying that he got in, he’ll have to send the design in so the support department can start working on them. Which he really didn’t need to happen since he could make his own. 

Izuku waited for his clothes to finish washing and put them in the dryer. He’ll probably get some sleep once they finish drying. But during the meantime, he’ll just clean up his area a little and probably prepare some things. 

———

Two weeks passed fairly slowly. But once Izuku checked the mail and saw that a letter had been addressed to him from U.A. he grabbed his phone and texted Bakugou. 

Midoriya: I just got my letter from U.A.

Bakugou: I got mine a little while ago. So hurry the fuck up and get over here so we can see each other get in.

Midoriya: k, be there in 2.

Izuku grabbed his jacket and put his phone and letter in his pockets. He left the apartment and started his small journey to the Bakugou’s residence. And just like he said, he arrived in two minutes, exactly. 

“Are you ready?” The blonde asked upon opening the door to greet Izuku. He gave a confident nod and went inside. Taking off his shoes, he walked up the stairs and into Bakugou’s room and sat down on the bed. Bakugou followed his lead.

“Do you want to open yours first?” Izuku asked kindly. He never got an answer as Bakugou opened it as soon as the words left his mouth. They were confused as a small disc landed on the sheets. Suddenly an overly bright projection popped up and All Might’s voice was heard as the hero entered the screen.

“I AM HERE!, to congratulate you on your outstanding performance in the U.A. entrance exams.” The hero that Izuku somewhat disliked after meeting him, started. 

“You passed the written portion with flying colors, and got 77 villain points. Which is way past the limit to get in and getting you the second place spot. This is your hero academia Young Bakugou.” The projection came to a stop and shut off. Bakugou was almost growling.

“Who the absolute fuck got first place? Once I find out, I’m going to plummet their ass all the way to the fucking sun!” The blonde practically screeched, small explosions coming out of his hands. ‘Wouldn’t want to be the cause of that.’ Izuku thought to himself. He decided to open his letter before things got too out of hand.

“I AM HERE, as a projection. You did really good Young Midoriya on the written portion, getting a 96% which is the second highest anyone going to U.A. has gotten. And on the practical exam you got 51 villain points. Enough to get in. Now watch this little clip.” The screen changed to a video recording of Uraraka. What was she doing? The video played.

“Um, excuse me. There was this guy named Midoriya, you know he has curly hair, kinda plain looking. He saved me from the zero pointer and I was wondering if I could give him some of my points.” She finished. The person she was talking to said something about not worrying, then the clip ended. And god damn they should have put a jumpscare warning since the next clip was All Might’s face extremely close to the camera.

“But, U.A. wouldn’t let someone down that was actually doing good, that’s why we have rescue points. And you, Young Midoriya had gotten 64 rescue points leaving your final score at 115 points, almost surpassing my score of 137, and getting you the first place spot. All of the staff was surprised since someone like you was able to get the closest score to me. This is your hero academia.” The projection shut off. Bakugou slowly turned to look at Izuku, his glare wasn’t even present. His face was just emotionless, which is a lot scarier than any villain.

Bakugou suddenly started smiling, lifting his hand to ‘kindly’ pat Izuku on the back. Each one getting more painful to bare.

“Great job Deku.” He said through clenched teeth. “Getting first place I mean.” Izuku chose to say some really smart words.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that I’m perhaps better than you?” The next thing he knew, he was being tackled to the ground. 

Izuku dodged a couple of punches. Using his legs, he was able to grab Bakugou’s legs and turn him over. He quickly took his arms and put them behind his back, making sure that his palms were facing the opposite direction of him. The blonde under him yelled, muffled by the carpeted floor.

“I yield fuckwad.” Bakugou said as his body went limp. Izuku let go of him and got off. He watched Bakugou get up and sit on his bed all angry. Izuku sat down after him. It stayed quiet for a while.

“The fuck did All Might mean by ‘someone like you?’” Bakugou asked. Izuku thought back to the projection and remembered the hero saying that. 

“Maybe it’s because I’m Quirkless?” Izuku offered. He knew that was what it meant, why else would the number one hero say that.

“Well if it is, then he could go fuck himself. I bet you could easily beat  him with your brain. You’d probably find some weakness of his and some how use it against him, like the sadist fucker you are.” That somewhat cheered Izuku up, and now that he thought about it, maybe he might. He’ll find every bit of information on the man and use it against him.

Izuku shrugged.

-—-—-—-—-—

Izuku stayed for supper, and left feeling good. He had gotten into U.A. for god sake. Why wouldn’t he feel great?

He walked home while humming a song that was stuck in his head. All he had to do now was send in his hero costume and pay for the uniform. He should have more than enough to pay for it himself because of his job. Speaking of his job, he has seen the same hero trio come in more and more on the days he worked. And obviously, he wasn’t mad, it was just kind of odd.

He walked to his apartment complex and made it to his home. While walking inside, he happened to notice some empty beer bottles and cans on the ground. He looked in Inko’s room and found her passed out on her bed, a couple of bottles by her bedside. 

Izuku sighed. He went back into the other room and started cleaning up. He knew he didn’t have too, but it wouldn’t be good for them if someone just decided to do a surprise visit. Not like it would happen though, since his mother lost a lot of friends when he was diagnosed quirkless. He felt guilty for being the cause of her losses. Sighing again, he went to his room.

He grabbed his sheets and put them in an envelope. All he had to do was mail in his costume and some money for his uniform. He put a stamp on it before going outside and putting it in the apartment’s PO box. Suddenly, he heard some yelling and laughter. He went to look for the source and found some school students kicking and laughing at someone that was curled up on the ground, in an alleyway.

“Can you believe it guys? The villain wants to be a hero.” One of the guys said. It caused the few girls there to giggle. He kicked the person on the ground. “Believe me Shinsou, you will never be a hero with a quirk like that.”

“Excuse me, don’t you have anything better to do than this?” Izuku butted in. He was not gonna let anyone get hurt under his watch, unless it was a villain that was trying to kill him. 

“Fuck off, this isn’t about you.” The guy yelled looking back at the speaker.

Izuku didn’t give the guy a warning before walking towards the group of people. He got into a fighting position while the others started using their quirks.

“Yeah, I know.” One of the guys used his quirk. A emitter quirk that allows the user to elongate their nails?, Izuku thought. The nails almost scratched him before he grabbed the wrists and threw the guy over his head and onto the concrete. The dude hit his back pretty hard and it seemed that he wouldn’t be able to get back up too soon. Izuku turned to face the other students. 

One of the girls ran towards him, quickly growing a horn on her face. A transformation quirk that allowed her to grow horns. Probably a rhinoceros type. Izuku was able to kick the girl in the head and she fell, sliding on the ground below him and stopping when she ran into the alley wall. The rest of the students looked at him like he was some psycho. He probably was.

“I’d suggest you leave.” Izuku said while standing there. The other’s grabbed the ones that were knocked down and quickly left the scene. He walked over to the teen that was lying on the ground. He recognized the hair from the entrance exams.

“Are you all right?” Izuku asked even though it was clearly obvious that the boy on the ground was in fact not all right. He helped him up and started looking for any open wounds that were visible. Finding none, he looked back at the boy’s face and found hidden shock on his face.

“I remember you. You helped me with the entrance exams. I’m Shinsou Hitoshi by the way.” Shinsou remarked. He did honestly look thankful. 

“Oh, I’m Midoriya Izuku, are you all right?” He asked again. “It looked like you were beaten pretty badly.” 

“I’m fine. I could handle worse.” Shinsou replied, a little annoyance starting to creep into his voice. 

“Well, you shouldn’t have to handle worse. But, if you won’t let me help, then I’ll be on my way” Izuku said after some thought. He wanted to respect Shinsou’s privacy and not push the boy too much since it was something that he wouldn’t want to happen to him. He did write his phone number on some paper and hand it to him, though.

Shinsou gave him a somewhat grateful some-what smile. And took the paper. He probably wouldn’t ever call or text it, but if he did, then Midoriya should expect many late night texts. They left and went to their separate homes. Izuku was wondering if Shinsou had gotten in, he’ll figure it out when he goes to U.A. in a couple of days. He didn’t have to travel far as his home was really close to the PO box in which was his original destination before he got caught up in any of whatever that was. 

Izuku climbed up the steps and went back to the apartment. He hoped that none of the commotion had caused Inko to wake up. He quickly listened for any movement in the room before sighing in relief since he didn’t hear a single thing. He went back to his room and chose to go to bed after changing into some sleeping clothing.