Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lets just get started by saying Izuku is the epitome of stress right now. Here he is, standing in front of the school of his dreams, about to take a test to become the hero of his dreams. Everything could go wrong in these next few minutes, and worse for the next half an hour after that. He has every reason to stop and freeze from the anxiety of it all.

But he won't. Izuku's here for a reason, well a few reasons, and no amount of fear is keeping him back. Not even Kacchan's borderline villainous threats of violence upon his very soul. Okay, well, maybe some of them are getting to him now, but that just makes him want to prove them wrong even more. 

Speaking of Kacchan, he's here and he's telling Izuku to get out of his way. Of course he jumps out of habit and stutters out something you could maybe mistake for words. Already off to a great start. Izuku starts to wonder how next he's gonna make a fool of himself.

Kacchan walks ahead into the school without another acknowledgement directed Izuku's way, and he breathes a sigh of relief. He doesn't actually care what Izuku has to say and he's not gonna do anything. 

Kacchan hasn't done anything since 10 months ago with the Sludge villain attack. Izuku isn't gonna look a gift horse in it's mouth, but something about him saving Kacchan must have mellowed him out. 

Consider this, he was a 14 year old, with no battle experience, and only half of clue of what he was doing. He rushed into that fight to save him like nothing else mattered. He supposes nothing else did matter, not even his hero telling him that he couldn't be a hero. He proved him wrong. And he intends to prove everyone else wrong too. He will be a hero, a great one.

First step on his journey to greatness is right in front of Izuku. He takes that step and immediately trips. At least the fall will look great. That's a bonus of being a laughingstock his whole life.

Izuku never hits the ground. He just floats there and kicks as he tries to straighten out. It does not happen until someone else adjusts him. 

"Sorry about that, I just thought tripping on your first day would be bad luck. I should've asked first but I think you'll agree this is better."

Izuku stares at the very nice, very cute girl in awe. He has never talked to a girl his own age, much less one that didn't think Izuku was the biggest loser in the whole world. Also, she's very kind and he's under prepared for this kind of socialisation. 

"Wow, this is totally nerve-wracking, are you as stressed as I am?"

Izuku probably stares a little too long but she doesn't even notice. 

"Anyway, good luck on the exam. I hope I see you in class."

She skips away towards the building. Izuku silently celebrates having talked to a girl for the first time. 
Once inside Izuku is seated beside Kacchan, normal, and Present Mic starts explaining the rules, not normal.

Present Mic is the voice hero and has a radio show, it's called "Put your hands up radio" and Izuku listens to it everyday. Every Friday he plays non-stop music and-

"Would you shut up?"

Izuku stop in his tracks. Seems like he was muttering his thoughts out loud and other people are staring. Izuku apologizes and covers his head, blushing from the negative attention. 

Present Mic explains the rules of 3 robots, 1 point, 2 points, and 3 points. Somebody stands up to ask a question and a spotlight shines on them.

"According to this program you handed out there are 4 types of robots. If this was a printing mistake then it is quite unbecoming for a prestigious school such as U.A. and should be fixed immediately. Also, you there, with the unkempt hair!"

"Me?" Izuku wonders.

"You have been muttering non-stop this entire time, I suggest you take this seriously or at the very least, stop distracting those who came here to succeed."
Izuku sinks down in his seat. He hates being called out in a group setting. That's never ended well.

Present Mic thanks the student for pointing out the discrepancy and points us towards the screen again. A fourth robot appears worth 0 points. He explains it's just a distraction and really there's no reason to bother with it. 

They change and wait for the exam to begin. Izuku's in the same area as the strict guy and the nice girl. There are a few other odd characters but he doesn't have time to worry about them. Izuku needs to figure out how to deal with the robots and get enough points to pass.

Considering they have no idea how many of these robots there are, they'll have a hard time knowing how many points to go for. The best case is to just attack whatever they see, but for non-physical quirks, or a lack of quirk, that might be difficult. Obviously the exam prioritizes flashy, damage dealing quirks. 

It's a hero exam though. Do they really think there aren't kids who want to be rescue heroes or would be better suited for rescue? Is there a portion of the exam they just didn't mention to keep us on our toes or to test if we have the heroic instinct? That would be strange. 

"Hey, green kid?"

Izuku startles. He was muttering again. He quickly whips around to the kid that called him. It's a guy with heavy eye bags and purple hair. He's tall as well and not very muscular.

Before Izuku could apologize he interrupts him, "Did you just imply there's another portion to the exam?"
Huh? He was listening and he's interested in Izuku's ramblings? 

"That'd be the perfect thing because I don't have a physical quirk."

Oh. Yeah that would be perfect. Still, though, there's got to be a way to take down the robots. Everything has a weak point. Izuku bets if they worked together they could take some down and still score some of these "rescue expertise" points.

"You want to work together? You don't even know me or my quirk. For all you know, I'd just get in your way, stop you from passing. Are you sure?"

Izuku sticks out his hand. This is a gamble to be honest, but working with whoever's nearby without much information to go on is a part of being a hero.

"I'm Midoriya Izuku, and I want to work together."

"You're sure, wow. Alright, well we better plan fast, we don't have much time."

He takes Izuku's hand to shake it. They lean in close so they can whisper to each other. Their plan is finalized in only a few minutes.

Chapter Text

Izuku's new teammate's name is Shinsou Hitoshi. He has a quirk called brainwashing and if someone responds to him, he can control their body. They use this to their advantage to make multiple stall randomly. He activated it on multiple people but each one prior would deactivate and everyone ended up running into each other. 

This was the first stage of their plan. The next part would be going up high. The mock city had plenty of tall buildings and they'd have a good view of the robots up there. They could find a weak spot if they had the high ground. 

The only part of the plan Izuku was hesitant about was brainwashing the nice girl. She helped him out so it felt wrong to do that to her. Instead of brainwashing they just made sure she got ahead of the rest of the group but was still behind them. She looked a bit confused when she glanced behind and saw everyone stumbling around like they weren't sure what they were doing, but she got over it quickly.

Climbing a building was no problem for Izuku, he had practice from climbing trash heaps these last 10 months and knew what to look for. Of course he had to explain the process to Shinsou and he took to the lesson fast. Izuku did have to stop him from falling to his death once, near the top, but he was good at the act of climbing. This is why you use special equipment, kids.

The view from above is nice. And they could see most of the robots. The team traveled to the next roof by jumping and Shinsou seemed to be on the verge of vomiting or perhaps collapsing. The robot below them is worth 3 points. 

Izuku's first thought was jump down onto it. He did that and grabbed hold of the robot's head so he didn't tumble off. Shinsou had a better, but still questionably good idea, and slid down the side of the building. He jumped off of it and landed on a fake garbage bag. 

"I'm good! Look, I have a metal pipe now! This could help! I think."

Izuku beckons him over. Shinsou tosses the pipe up. He snatches it out of the air. It's lightweight for iron. Izuku jabs the pipe into the robot's head. The most he does is reveal some internal structure.

Wiring. Wait, don't people hot-wire cars? To turn them on. Maybe he could reverse the process. But he knows nothing about machinery. Izuku could just pull one out. Oh. Metal pipe to wires. And cut.

The whole machine stops moving and immediately crashes to the ground. Izuku jumps off and tries to roll. The rolling part happens but he scrapes his elbow. 

"We need something more effective than that."

Izuku agrees. What could they do? They could take turns luring the robots to lower level rooftops or just jump out of height appropriate windows. Still dangerous but much more effective than what they just went through.

"I'll lure this next one so Shinsou can destroy this robot although I should show him how I took it down. Wait. The robot should have wiring throughout it. We could just hit it on the ground. New plan!"

Izuku races to the nearest 2 point robot and throws rocks at it. It turns its attention to him and spiders after him. Maybe scorpions is a better verb here? It does look like one. Regardless it's charging after him.

Izuku turns onto Shinsou's street and he jabs the pipe into the approaching creature's leg. That stops the creature but no obvious wiring to tear. It turns its attention to Shinsou. He sprints into an alley, which the robot will not fit in. Izuku picks up the fallen pipe.

Izuku shoves the pipe into the underside of the robot. He doesn't have time because Shinsou is about to be shot so he tears the wires with his hands. The robot trembles and falls down on top of him. Or it would if Shinsou didn't launch himself at Izuku and get them both out of harm's way. 

The boys tumble away and land a few feet from the wreckage they made. It's always nice to watch something break from afar. Of course, they don't have much time to watch, they have an exam to finish. 

The rest of the exam goes just as you'd expect. It's like a routine for them and they've gotten better at stabbing robots. Although, at some point they realized they should've been counting their points. Additionally, Shinsou would brainwash anyone who looked like they might steal their robot. It's very easy once you're used to it.

Nearing the end of the exam, the big robot finally came out. Of course, everyone's plan is to ignore it. But damn, that thing was huge. It looked like it could squash anyone flat. U.A. may be a prestigious school but this was just too much money. And every zone had one of these.

The plan was going just fine. Everyone ran from it of course. And then someone cried out for help. The nice girl form earlier, caught underneath rubble, about to be crushed. Izuku rushed in without thinking.

Izuku thinks back to 10 months ago, with the Sludge villain. He rushed in there without his brain's permission. His body moved on its own because someone he cared about needed help. Someone he never saw look so scared, never pleaded so hard, just for help. Just to be saved this one time. He had to.

In this moment, he knows why he's trying to save her. He knows why, because there isn't any question about why. She's important to Izuku, even though he doesn't even know her name. Because she showed him a kindness he doesn't normally experience. That's why.

Izuku tries his best to shove the rubble away. Thankfully, the trash heap training gave him a bit more physical advantage in this situation. Someone has rushed up nearby. Izuku startles when he sees it's Shinsou. What's he doing?

"I'm helping you save her! Get her out of here, I've got the big guy!"

Shinsou impales the robot in it's very large leg. The other leg is lifting slowly. It's gonna come down soon. Izuku frees the nice girl. She can't possibly walk right now. He lifts her up, wow she's light, and run towards an alley. If that thing comes down, it'll be safe here.

"Thanks for saving me," the girl let's out weakly.

Izuku nod and make sure her ankle isn't bleeding. Thankfully, no blood, but probably sprained. She can't finish the exam properly. Damnit. She's gonna miss out on so many points. 

Shinsou!

Izuku got so caught up in worrying about the girl that he forgot he's still in danger. Izuku has to help him.

"Let me help, here," the nice girl touches me and negates my gravity.

Izuku nods his thanks and pushes off of a wall. Hurtling towards Shinsou, Izuku adjusts himself so he can easily shove him out of the way. He regains gravity just as they connect and just before he gets crushed to death. They go tumbling once again and everything falls down around them.

Once Izuku's vision has focused, by the way do not fling yourself at superspeed towards any solid object, he found himself staring directly at Shinsou's chest. He had landed on top of him, obviously, but he had unintentionally nestled into his chest. It was a first for him of course.

Izuku rolled off of him. He could smell something weird. Blood? Oh no. Shinsou must have hit his head too hard. He probably has a concussion.

Shinsou sat up with a groan. He grasped his head and then winced. He pulled his hand away from his head and shook it. Another groan escaped his lips as he blinked rapidly.

"Not dead yet," he muttered.

Izuku pulls off his sweat suit jacket and bundles it up. Shinsou mutters something similar to a curse when he presses the bundle to the back of his head. He takes the holding the bundle job from Izuku and waves him off. Izuku helps Shinsou up because he refuses to let him do it on his own, although he should really stay seated.

Izuku help him over to where the nice girl is puking up rainbow sparkles. Shinsou appears to be on the verge of copying her. Izuku turns him around so he doesn't have to see rainbow vomit any longer. He crouches down next to her.

Izuku wants to know if she's okay. She doesn't appear to be really sick, just quirk overuse. 

"Thanks for the help, Shinsou could've had a worse injury then a brewing concussion if you hadn't helped."

"Well, that was just me paying you back for saving me. I- hang on," she turns to throw up again.

Izuku helped her because she saved him from falling on his face. Technically her helping him again means he has to help her again to even the score.

"No, you don't have to! We can just be friends instead of trying to even the board. We'll help each other regardless."

Izuku likes that idea. Unfortunately, he still hasn't learned the nice girl's name. Oh, and the exam ended. Thankfully, that means they're getting medical treatment.

U.A. school nurse, Recovery Girl the youthful heroine, gives the nice girl a gummy for nausea. Shinsou receives a kiss to heal him. Izuku gets a bandaid for his scraped elbow. Then, they just go get changed. 

Outside the school once more, of course, he runs into Kacchan. He can't possibly hide because he's out here and oh, he's already seen him.

"You should've just gone home, Nerd. Why waste your time trying to be a hero when you can't? I mean, you probably couldn't even put a dent in those robots."

Kacchan, as always, rude until the end. Jokes on him though, Izuku got tons of points! Why is he glaring at him so harshly now? Did he say that out loud then?

"They shouldn't let you in off of the fact you'd just be a damn liability, Deku! Can't even stand up for yourself against me, what're you gonna do against a real villain? Whine until I come rescue you? You're still just a quirkless loser!"

What? Kacchan suddenly concerned for his safety. To be fair, Izuku did get injured, but he also managed to take down a bunch of bots. Most villains don't work with more than one or two people. He'll really only need to do one on one combat most of the time. 

"I'd say he's got himself covered, you on the other hand should watch your mouth before someone rearanges your teeth," Shinsou threatened from behind me.

Kacchan's glare flicked from Izuku to Shinsou and settled on his new target.

"Yeah, and who the hell are you to," Kacchan cut off as Shinsou's brainwashing took hold. 

Shinsou laughed as Kacchan's face blanked completely. Izuku didn't want Shinsou to get hurt once he released Kacchan from this state.

"Forget about him for now and just go home."

Kacchan began to walk away. It was obvious Shinsou had released him right after because he stalled and had a confused look plastered to his face. He shook it off and left without another word directed at either of them.

"Woah, who was that?"

The nice girl was finally outside. Izuku still hasn't caught her name. 

Shinsou answered for him, "An asshole who thinks he's tough shit because he has a destructive quirk."

Izuku doesn't remember telling Shinsou that but he must've seen it when Kacchan was insulting him. It was a habit of his. Anytime he'd get mad he would activate his quirk. It was a fear tactic.

"Oh, I hate when people act like that! Are you okay, uh Deku?"

Ah, the nickname. He must've jumped though cause both of them looked worried.

Izuku shook his head. See Deku is just a nickname Kacchan uses to insult him. His actual name is Midoriya Izuku. 

"Oh, really? Well, I'm sorry. Deku is kind of cute though, and I think it'd make a great hero name."

Izuku is inclined to believe her. Deku the hero. Shinsou gives him an odd look, he's not really sure what it means right now. Deku it is, he supposes.

"Oh, right, proper introductions! I'm Uraraka Ochaco, it's nice to meet you!"

Shinsou properly introduces himself to her as well. The 3 all trade numbers and wave goodbye, wishing each other a good luck. Uraraka adds an "I can't wait to see you two in class," and they part ways.

Chapter Text

It's official, Izuku has the worst luck in the world. All he wanted was to have normal classmates, well as normal as super-powered people can be, and maybe a few could be very nice. Just overall decent people to spend the next 3 years with. That's the basic desire of any teenager.

Instead, he walks into his classroom, class 1-A, and there's Mr. Stiff from the entrance exam and Kacchan. The two people he wanted to see the least. They're arguing because Kacchan respects no one and has his feet on the desk. Mr. Stiff has a problem with that because it's inherently disrespectful and going to such a prestigious school means you have to employ a certain conduct representative of the institute. His words, not Izuku's.

Mr. Stiff's actual name is Iida Tenya, which is ringing Izuku's red flag bell but he can't place it so he is just ignoring it for now. He went to Somei, which is the equivalent of a private middle school to our public middle school. You know, rich and smart compared to poor and dumb.

Kacchan continues to insult the man, Izuku feels really bad for Iida, before moving his gaze to the right. He's noticed Izuku. Iida has also noticed Izuku and is approaching. Oh, he's trying to introduce himself, but he already caught his name. "

I'm Midoriya and I have no idea what else to say."

"Midoriya, you divined the real nature of the practical exam, didn't you? I-," Iida appears to be swallowing a rock covered in molasses as he speaks.

"I was blind to it, and I completely misread you! I hate to admit it, but you were the better man!"

Izuku only technically figured it out, and probably wouldn't have noticed he'd been onto something if not for Shinsou. Speaking of Shinsou, is he here? They all knew they got into U.A. but they have no idea what class one another's in. Mostly because Izuku promised if they weren't in the same class he'd fight the teachers to change it. Can't do that if it's already the first day. It's too late to change it now.

"I know that hair! Deku, we're in the same class!"

Uraraka! Yes, that's two of the three of them! Oh, she looks adorable in her uniform.

"I wonder what orientation will be like. Oh, and the teachers! I can't wait to meet all of them!"

"If you're just here to make friends, you can leave now," A deep, tired voice calls out from below and behind Uraraka.

Both Uraraka and Izuku stare at the very scruffy, very yellow caterpillar-man on the floor. 

"This is the hero course," he says as he pulls out a pouch of apple sauce.

They continue to stare as he drinks it, stands up while still in yellow caterpillar form, and unzips his outer flesh. Surprisingly, there's a human body underneath.

"It took you 8 seconds to quiet down. You students are lacking in rationality. That won't cut it in the real world."

To be here, this strange guy must be a pro hero, but Izuku can't even think of what pro hero. He's not recognizable immediately, so he could be out of costume. No, that weird scarf doesn't look like it's for cold weather and he's wearing a proper bodysuit for fighting. So he's definitely in costume, which means he's likely underground. There's over 200 of these guys so he'll be impossible to pin down.

"I'm Aizawa Shouta, your homeroom teacher."

Homeroom teacher? Isn't that unhygienic? He looks like he hasn't slept in 8 months, and bathed in even longer.

Aizawa-sensei reaches into his caterpillar skin and pulls out a U.A. gym uniform. He hands it to Izuku and tells him to put it on. Everyone else is also handed one and they're all wondering how the hell he fit 20 of those in there with him. 

Once outside Izuku can see effectively who exactly he's sharing a class with. Shinsou is here, thankfully. There are some other weirdos, including a guy with half and half everything and someone who dyed his hair and eyebrows red. 

Aizawa-sensei explains they'll be doing a quirk apprehension test. Now, if you've made it this far you'll know Izuku can't do that because he doesn't have a quirk. He knew he was going to have a disadvantage at school, but he didn't think it'd start on the first day. This seems like prejudice. Izuku thought U.A. was supposed to be a model school? Sorry, more of Iida's words are infecting him. 

Of course Kacchan is being called up as an example, he's such a model student. Izuku might've said that out loud because Shinsou is snickering and Kacchan is glaring at him like he wants him dead. Not that either of those are new, just in this circumstance, it makes the most sense.

Aizawa-sensei asks Kacchan his farthest throw in middle school. It's 67 meters, which Izuku knows from being in middle school with him. He's not a stalker, you guys assume too much. 

Aizawa-sensei intends for Kacchan to throw the ball using his quirk. Izuku can see how this might work. If you put enough of an explosive blast behind an object it will soar through the sky. That will at least double or triple his current distance, more if he fires off a strong enough blast. 

"Anything goes, just stay within the circle," with those few words from Aizawa-sensei, Kacchan gets ready to throw.

"DIE!"

Izuku hears an appalled gasp, likely from Iida, as the ball is blasted away. Once it lands a beep sounds from Aizawa-sensei's device and he turns to show all of them the score.

"Before anything else, one must know their capabilities. This is a rational metric that will form the basis of your hero foundation."

The distance he launched the ball is 705.2 meters. That's far more than Izuku calculated as a base. That's 10 times the distance he threw in middle school.

Most of the class is yelling in excitement. Someone, a masculine voice, says it looks fun. Izuku supposes he could see where he's coming from, but he just doomed them all.

"It looks fun? So you were planning to spend your time here having fun? What happened to you becoming heroes? New rule, the student that ranks last overall will be deemed having no potential and be expelled."

That will end up being Izuku or Shinsou because Izuku has no quirk and Shinsou's quirk won't be that helpful in this scenario. He could brainwash the other's to ruin their scores. Can he brainwash someone to use their quirk? They need to test these things.

Of course no one's happy with this idea, Izuku included, but the world isn't happy. That's what we heroes are meant to do, make the world's suffering ease just a bit. This is the truth of the hero course according to Aizawa-sensei. 

The first test is the 50 meter dash. Izuku has never been good at running. It activates some problem with his lungs and he's unable to breath for a few seconds to a few minutes. It's not because it's exercise though, it's just because it's running. 

Izuku will ask Shinsou for help. They will make a plan. Aizawa-sensei didn't say they couldn't help each other. And he can just argue heroes always have to be ready to help each other. This argument isn't well thought out yet. Izuku hopes he doesn't have you use it.

"Midoriya, you're insane. You know I can't lift you."

Of course he'd assume that. The truth is Izuku wants to throw him. But, first he wants him to brainwash Uraraka to negate his gravity so he can just launch himself, or he can have Shinsou throw him. Then Izuku will throw Shinsou, without Uraraka's gravity Negation, that'd be too mean. That way they'd have decent scores. 

"Okay. I'll go get Uraraka, seeing as you two are up next."

Because it's based on seat number, Izuku is with Kacchan. Shinsou is up right after them with one of the girls. Izuku needs to learn his classmates' names.

"Shinsou said you needed a little luck. So, just know I'm cheering you on!"

How sweet. But he hasn't brainwashed her yet? Can he not make someone use their quirk in the brainwashed state?

"Uraraka, will you cheer me on too?"

"Of course!"

As soon as Uraraka finished speaking her features blanked and her body went still. Shinsou gave the command and Uraraka activated her quirk on Izuku. For obvious reasons, Shinsou held Izuku down. As soon as it was time for him to run, he braced his legs on Shinsou and launched himself forward. He swam right over the ending line, faster than even Kacchan's "Blast Rush."

Shinsou released Uraraka so she could put Izuku down and told him off for how mean that was. She's not even a hundred percent on how Shinsou's quirk works. Also, he's really good at deceiving people and should use this tactic when he goes pro. All-in-all, she forgives him.

Now that it's Shinsou's turn, Izuku fakes like he's fallen for his brainwashing. He picks him up and as soon as the robot says start, he throws him as hard as he can. 

Shinsou sails over the track and hits the ground hard 2/3 of the way in. He finishes the run only about 1.7 seconds behind Izuku. He has long legs, which are made for running.

Shinsou meets Izuku at the starting line and high-fives him. Kacchan is glaring and a few students look jealous. Someone with yellow hair asks if any of what they just did is allowed. Aizawa-sensei says yes and moves all of them to the next test.

Test number two, grip strength. What plan could he possibly cook up out of this? Oh! Ice kid. Let's just get Shinsou to make some ice and if we press that against the grip testers it'll show as more force. Perfect.

Shinsou asks Ice kid's name; Todoroki Shouto, he's the weirdo with half and half everything. Shinsou easily gets him to make a few ice pieces and then releases him once they've picked out the most effective pieces. Todoroki looks very confused but doesn't say anything. 

Izuku has been convincing him that he needs to trick everyone on the activation. He's convinced both Uraraka and Iida on it being based on a hand-shake, and Todoroki is about to become apart of that belief group. It's funnier, because it's a much more western thing to do so it stands out and they'll definitely take the bait.

Their third test is the standing long jump. Izuku knows it's cruel to use her again, but he only knows one option that could work here. This time he'll just ask Uraraka. She'll definitely agree.

She agreed. Izuku is very glad. He gets to hop like a rabbit up and forward and she'll release him so he can touch the ground on the other side of the sand pit. 

Shinsou asked Uraraka if he could brainwash her, just for appearances. She agreed and he also hopped to the other side but made her release her quirk by order. It really adds to the whole scheme. 

The 4th test is repeated side steps which are kind of difficult regardless. Technically Izuku could afford to do this naturally because every other test has been good, but he'd like to save the natural for another test. 

All Izuku is going to say is poor Todoroki. Izuku hopes he forgive him and Shinsou for taking advantage of an icy, rounded, slippery, disability aid. If you think that's dramatic, being quirkless or not having a quirk that could help in this test, is a disability. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't believe prejudice is real and does more harm than good.

Izuku should explain what they did here. Besides Shinsou brainwashing Todoroki, they got a curved, ice platform for them to stand on. If you step on the raised edge of one, it'll slip you to the other side and then back the other way. This will repeat for awhile and it's very easy to reset. They got much higher scores than they would've based on their own physical ability.

The blond from earlier looks like he's about to either cry or punch Izuku in the face. Maybe he's jealous? Izuku feels nothing for his pain, he has an emitter type quirk, which means he's suited for combat. Specifically, it's lightning. Can you believe this guy?

That was a lie. Izuku feels a little bad, but he just needs to work on befriending people or tricking them if he wants this kind of thing. 

Their fifth test, is the example test. Ball throwing. Izuku's got the perfect idea and it involves Kacchan and Uraraka. Uraraka is for him. He's just having her negate the ball's gravity. This lands him an equal infinity to her. Shinsou is going to brainwash Kacchan to throw the ball for him.

Obviously, this plan worked out perfectly. Izuku got an infinity, which confirms he's set. Shinsou got Kacchan to throw the ball, which got a better score than Kacchan's personal throw. He's been using his quirk and exercising, which means he's generated more sweat and has gotten used to doing this. It seems all well until blond lightning kid speaks up.

"Okay, there's no way that's allowed! Forget green guy using someone else's quirk, purple guy just made someone else do his test!"

Uh-oh. Will we be punished for using a disability aid? Shinsou has to use his quirk either like this or like Izuku did, and regardless, someone else's quirk is being taken advantage of.

"Shinsou stayed within the circle and used his quirk in the way that would aid in his victory the most. He has not broken a rule. As for Midoriya, he doesn't have many options either as this is a quirk apprehension test, and the only quirk he can use, is his ability to come up with creative solutions in the moment."

Aizawa-sensei just told everyone Izuku is quirkless. Now their opinion of him will shift and everyone aside from Shinsou and Uraraka will hate him and say he doesn't deserve to be in the hero course.

Well, he supposes he might as well make them all hate him for other reasons so it's not prejudice anymore. Maybe he can use lightning in the next test. Really make him despise him.

It turns out he cannot. The next test is a distance run. Just to see how far you can go before getting tired. Izuku got 10 feet before his lungs decided it's time to not breathe. The tall girl with the ponytail gave him something called an inhaler. She helped him use it and surprisingly, he could breathe easier. Aizawa-sensei let him redo because Izuku almost died on the track due to "lack of support." Although, he had no idea what support he was lacking. 

The one Izuku wanted to do naturally is next. The seated toe touch. His arch nemesis from middle school. Izuku has a short torso and short arms and low flexibility. He was not made for the seated toe touch. And this time he would prove he was better than in middle school. 

Izuku failed. He proved his flexibility is the same and he has gained no improvement in this category. Why did he ever think he could be good at this? Why was he cursed with being short and inflexible? 

"You're being over dramatic."

Shinsou, someone Izuku called a friend. Tossing aside his emotions because he doesn't understand. He has the flexibility of a cat and can easily reach past his toes. Why has he forsaken Izuku? Why did he trick him and make him trust him?

"Deku, are you okay?"

Uraraka hasn't betrayed him at least. She, too, struggles with this exercise. Her torso is shorter than Izuku's and she has..... Certain body parts in the way of reaching her toes at an even plane. Maybe it's time to drop this topic and get on with the final test.

The final test is sit-ups. Very easy for Izuku. He likes sit-ups. Shinsou is physically weaker than him, so he wouldn't do as well as him. Enter stage right; Brainwashing. Shinsou simply has Uraraka erase his gravity and can easily pull himself up and down repeatedly. Most straight forward test.

Aizawa-sensei gathered us all up at the end. Standing in that large group, it's hard to tell who Kacchan is glaring daggers at. It's either Izuku or Shinsou and he gets why he's upset. But wow does he really not want to be his punching bag. If Izuku didn't know better he'd think he'd want him dead. Or Shinsou. 

Aizawa-sensei presents the final scores. Izuku slid nicely into 12th place. That's fine. Uraraka and Shinsou tied for 10th place. Izuku is proud of them. The one in last place is Hagakure Toru. Based on the panicking, that's the invisible girl. 

Aizawa-sensei smiles as he delivers the next piece of info, "No one is being expelled. That was just a rational deception to make sure you all tried your hardest."

Izuku swears on All Might he's going to collapse, and not from iron deficiency like last time. Aizawa-sensei sure had them fooled. Most of the other kids seemed to be as relieved about the whole thing as him, especially Hagakure. What they don't get is, if he was last place, he's sure he would've been expelled immediately.

Aizawa-sensei tells them to grab a syllabus before they head home and that's the end of their first day. Shinsou is in serious need of some migraine medication because this was the most he's ever used his quirk in a single day. Izuku should invite him over for dinner as thanks for helping him.

He's taking the train with Shinsou, Uraraka, and Iida. He never imagined he'd have 4 whole friends on day one of school. Maybe things aren't so awful at all.

Chapter Text

It's already their second day of U.A's hero course and their first day of real classes. Izuku has never seen so many people excited about the same thing. Even Kacchan's normal "I don't give a flip" demeanor is a bit different. He's hungry for heroic lessons. You can't see it externally, but it's there. 

They start their day with normal, required classes. Present Mic teaches them English, which Izuku finds very exciting. Next, at noon, they have lunch. All grades and courses are piled in here at once. The food is basically gourmet but super cost effective. It's perfect. And after lunch is their Foundational Hero Studies. This is the class everyone's been waiting for.
Who is best to teach the class? Well, honestly probably a top pro hero. Which is exactly who is teaching them. There's a small problem though. It's All Might. 

The hero that told Izuku he couldn't be a hero without a quirk. The hero that tried to give him his quirk. The hero that happens to be every child's favorite and every villain's least favorite hero.

"That's his silver age costume," Izuku thinks the girl named Asui points out.

All Might excitedly shows them a card he's holding that reads battle. They'll be starting with combat training. Kacchan's favorite. Izuku happens to be dreading this.

Of course, one of the most important aspects of being heroes, is wearing the right costume. They all had to send in design requests for this, something to match their fighting styles and quirks. They sent in their measurements as well. 

Izuku's costume is different than most. He had one planned out years in advance so it still, well, looks like what he had in mind. Being just like All Might. It looks like him. Well, it looks like a green version of him. He's hoping no one notices.

Izuku's mother made the base suit for it. She saw his sketch and well, she wanted to do something nice for him to let him know she's in his corner. Izuku found it very touching and almost cried on the spot. He might still cry on the spot, thinking about it.

Along with the base suit and hood, there's also some knee and elbow braces over the suit. He added a red utility belt to match his shoes and to carry various medical supplies. There's also a mouth guard that looks like a smile and a pair of gloves to keep his hands safe. 

Everyone's costume looks so cool. Kacchan's is very explosive and Asui's is clearly made for swimming. Someone is wearing an entire suit of armor. Actually it reminds Izuku of the turbo hero; Ingenium. Someone else must be a fan of him.

"Oh wow, Deku, your costume is so cute! And super practical, I love it!"

Uraraka. Oh. OH! Look anywhere else. Anywhere besides her chest. Why? Just why hero course? 

"I wish I'd been more specific with mine, I really don't like tight clothing," she laughs nervously.

Izuku nods both out of awkward acknowledgement and understanding. Look, Izuku can get she'll end up in the air and she needs to be aerodynamic but fitted doesn't mean shows off every available inch of skin as if there isn't cloth on her body. 

"He looks like a rabbit," Shinsou points out.

Izuku turn towards Shinsou. Unsurprisingly, he's wearing dark colors. He intends to blend in with the dark. Additionally, he's got some sort of mask with weirdly shaped teeth. Does it project his voice?

"Oh, your right! He does look like a rabbit! Deku the rabbit hero, hehe."

Izuku is not an expert at recognizing genuine versus joking commentary, but being compared to a rabbit rather than All Might isn't so bad. He's actually a big fan of the rabbit thing because rabbits are fast and pretty good at leading their predators through circles as they try to catch them. It's good imagery.

Unfortunately, Mirko is currently the rabbit hero so that name's off limits. He could be the bunny hero or maybe the domesticated hare hero. Perhaps something else of similar shape and speed.
Before further deliberation can occur, All Might compliments them all on our costumes, although his gaze lingers on Izuku's a bit too long. He knows!

The next one to speak up is Iida, he's in the suit of armor. He asks about their battleground, which appears to be the mock city of the entrance exam. 
All Might explains how the battle trial will be indoors. Statistically the worst villains are found indoors and underground. They'll be simulating that by splitting into teams of two, each assigned hero or villain team. 

Soon everyone starts asking questions about the simulated battle, mostly about how the whole scenario will work. About 8 people at once and All Might immediately gets overwhelmed. He pulls out a piece of paper and reads the rules from it.

The villains are guarding a nuclear weapon. The heroes must sneak in to capture the villains or the weapon. If time runs out and the villains are free or they capture the heroes they win. Very straight forward and Golden age of heroes esc. And teams are being decided by lots. 

Iida questions the lottery teams. It makes sense though, heroes have to work together on the fly and don't always have time to choose who to work with. You never know who's in the area when you need them.

Drawing lots lands Izuku on a team with Uraraka. That's awesome. Shinsou ended up with Yaoyorozu. That's the tall girl with a ponytail. See, Izuku figured out who everyone is. Iida is with Kacchan. That's a disaster waiting to happen. Just as long as Izuku is not against Kacchan, it's all good.

All Might draws from two boxes labelled "hero" and "villain." The hero box is team A, OchaDeku's team. They're up first. The villain box is team D, Kacchan's team. Izuku has the worst luck ever, huh?

The other students are sent to an observation area while the villains are sent indoors. Uraraka and Izuku are given the floor plan of the building while they wait for preparation time to end. 

Izuku is not ready for this. Uraraka can see his nervousness. She asks him what's wrong. Then recalls Kacchan is the one who makes fun of him. Yes, he still does. Kind of, anyway. This will be their first real fight, where he stands up to him and shows him he's not the Deku that gets pushed around. Izuku is the Deku that always does his best. He will make Kacchan see that.

"Wow, I'm all fired up! This must be a fated battle between rivals!"

"Of course, you don't have to join!"

Izuku can't believe he got Uraraka involved in his childhood situationship.

"Nonsense, we're a team! And we're gonna win this!"

Uraraka's smile is almost as large as Izuku's nervous energy. 

Starting off, counter strategy. The smart plan will be for Iida to come meet them and stop them. He's the fastest of everyone present. If one of their anti-gravity team remains higher up, like say on the ceiling, then it'd be harder for him to grab them.

"If I use my quirk on myself for too long I'll get a stomach ache."

Izuku give Uraraka a piece of his equipment. You didn't think he'd show up empty handed? Izuku ordered support weapons. This beauty he's given Uraraka is something he asked for to scale buildings easier, but he's nothing if not efficient. She'll erase Izuku's gravity so he can propel off of walls quickly and she'll use these sticky pads to stay attached to the ceiling.

The best he has right now is for her to sneak ahead, above everyone else, while Izuku is low to the ground and ready to jump at a moment's notice. Attention will fall to Izuku first as well, if Uraraka is even noticed.

Hi, future Izuku here, their plan doesn't go how they wanted it to. Okay back to the present, the monkey wrench in their plans is approaching.

As soon as Izuku turned a corner, he got Kacchan. He went straight for Izuku so he propelled himself away. Izuku mutters into the earpiece given to them for Uraraka to continue sneaking away from there and try to find the weapon. Izuku could handle Kacchan on his own for now.

Obviously, they aren't working together because Kacchan came here alone. Iida is guarding the weapon which shouldn't be much trouble. Now, let's look at the problem in front of them. Izuku can't join Uraraka until he deals with Kacchan, thankfully, he's been watching him fight for years. Again, not a stalker.

The great thing about Izuku's gloves are, he requested for a bracing aspect. He figured he'd be falling down and didn't want to snap his wrists or Izuku would punch and didn't want his hand to break. Regardless, they're very useful in this circumstance, because Izuku is bouncing off of walls like Mario. 

Kacchan is yelling obscenities and for Izuku to stop running away. Izuku is leading him away from the stairs so he can keep him far from that point. He can't go help his teammate, but neither can Izuku.

After reaching a window Izuku asks Uraraka to cancel her quirk. Kacchan still has some distance to go to catch up with him. Izuku might've actually lost him. Izuku regains gravity and prepares himself. Izuku makes himself look like he might run, but he's truly prepared to fight.

Kacchan approaches him. He's angrier than usual, well his more recent usual. It's back to Kacchan pre-Sludge Villain attitude problems. He's here to take his issues out on Izuku.

"Damn, Deku! You can't run away now. I've got you cornered, you damn nerd!"

Izuku uses the bracing aspect of his gloves by bracing his hands on the window sill. Kacchan steps closer and Izuku swings a kick at his chest. His reaction time is phenomenal, which is exactly what Izuku wanted. He wraps his leg around the arm he used to block him and pushes himself forward, leaning his knee into his chest. Kacchan smacks the ground hard. 

Kacchan let's out a gasp, trying hard to breathe. Izuku brings out the capture tape, but gets launched to the side. He covers his head and rolls away from the wall he just hit. Only arm and torso, so no concussion risk. 

"What makes you think you can beat me? You're still just a quirkless wannabe who needs to rely on others to save his skin!"

Kacchan is standing up now so Izuku runs at him and then ducks under his counter attack. He reacts quickly, blasting down at him, but he wraps the tape around his arm and pulls back. 

Kacchan jerks back so he doesn't fall down and Izuku sweeps at his leg to knock him on his back again. He tries to catch himself, but Izuku shoves him so he can't and he blasts at him while he goes down. 

"None of your tricks are going to work on me!"

"Kacchan, I know all of your moves! That same punch you tried to counter attack with, I'd seen so many times. A kick I know is coming, I can block that too. You're is right hand dominant so you automatically start attacking with that side first. Except when kicking, then you kick with your left because your balance is better on your right foot!"

"The fuck?"

Oops. Said too much. Whatever, Izuku watched him fight, he knows all of his moves, and he refuses to lose.

"You're going to lose, it doesn't fucking matter how much you've stalked me, Deku!"

Not stalking. They hung out when they were younger and he used to hit him with that right hook. Izuku thinks Kacchan is just being overdramatic.

Kacchan aims a blast right near Izuku's head and he rolls to the side. Damnit. He wrecked his mask. Fine. Izuku'll just get a new one, but that's so mean. Another blast!

Izuku jumps back towards the window sill. Something clicks. Kacchan's gauntlet glows red for a moment. A pit in his stomach has officially grown. 

"Since you've been stalking me for so long, you should know exactly how my quirk works," Kacchan grins at Izuku.

Whatever his next move is, Izuku won't be ready for it.
Uraraka should go down a floor and try to enter through a window. That should be sneaky enough. Trick Iida by announcing her approach to Izuku.

Uraraka in the earpiece says loudly, "I'm on the way, Deku! Hang in there!"

Kacchan's still talking about his quirk, which is just explosive sweat. Of course those horrid gauntlet things accumulate his sweat. That makes sense considering how his brain works.

All Might over the earpiece tells Kacchan not to fire off one of those blasts because it will kill Izuku. He's not wrong but wow. Izuku knows Kacchan wants to be a hero as badly as him but does he have a villainous attitude right now.

"He won't die as long as he dodges it!"

Kacchan pulls the pin and Izuku rolls.

The blast zone actually goes through the entire wall where he was. The window is no longer a window. Izuku stares at where another piece of his costume came off and realizes one of his legs is horribly burned from the explosion. Shouldn't that hurt?

Izuku stands up and immediately crashes to the ground. Yeah. It does hurt. It took a second to register.

That blast must've alerted the other two as well. If Iida is distracted then Uraraka has a chance to go in. Unfortunately, Izuku is incapacitated for now. Is Kacchan still around the corner?

Izuku slowly drags himself further away. There's a bit of blood building up from his wounds. Nothing new for him. Izuku can easily treat it with what he has in his utility belt, he just needs to make sure he has enough space inbetween him and Kacchan. 

Nevermind. Uraraka just announced she secured the weapon. That means it's over and Izuku should go straight to Recovery Girl. 

Kacchan is standing frozen. Izuku thinks he meant to chase after him, but the knowledge he's just lost must've gotten to him. Izuku won't be able to walk back by himself though. 

Cute paramedic robots carry Izuku in a stretcher. It's getting harder to keep his eyes open. His leg is searing from the burns and wind brushing the opening where he's bleeding from. Also, Izuku thinks he just developed a headache as well. He hopes Uraraka and Shinsou don't worry too much. He probably should have done first aid on himself.

Chapter Text

Katsuki expected to win in their first combat training. He expected Deku to still be a sniveling coward and weak. He expected Deku to cry and plead for Kacchan to calm down. He expected to finally have a chance to knock him back down without those extras to step in and protect Deku.

It didn't go anything like he expected. Deku was prepared to face him. Prepared to fight him head on. He had him running in circles. He was chasing after Deku the whole match. 

Katsuki used his gauntlet against Deku. He assumed Deku would be able to dodge, but afterward would be frozen in fear. He'd know the power gap between them is still great. He'd cower away in a corner and Katsuki would still be winning. 

Instead Deku fucking took half of the blast. His costume got ripped and he was bleeding and burned. Katsuki did all of that to Deku and it wasn't even a point blank strike. It really said how weak Deku is, but he didn't dodge the hit like Katsuki expected.

Not only did Deku look fucked up, but he managed to continue to run away. He dragged himself across the ground like a lame dog. Katsuki could only watch in horror as he did this. He wasn't even fazed by the injury. Deku's never been fazed by injuries.

Deku passed out after their match was called. He fucking beat Katsuki. Him and one of those extras in his "protection squad" fucking beat Katsuki. They won but ended up looking the worst. Katsuki lost to Deku. He fucking lost to the weakest person around and the squishiest girl that thinks he hung the god damn Sun!

To rub salt in the wound, the fucking extra he refused to work with ended up mvp. Katsuki understood entirely why it wasn't him. He was too reckless and he should've actually worked with him, but he was too pissed at Deku to do so. 

And then the ice kid's match right after his. He fucking beat his damn opponents in five seconds flat! It took nothing to do so. Katsuki is losing against all of them. All of these damn hero kids are better than Katsuki and it's not fair!

Everyone! Everyone lied to him growing up! He's supposed to be the best! Everyone said Katsuki is the best! Even Deku said he's the best! Was this a trick of Deku's to pull the rug out from under him? No, wait, he couldn't orchestrate something like this. He's useless.

Not anymore. Deku can do things now. He's not as useless as Katsuki thought. He's still weak though. He's a goddamn liability. He's too weak against Katsuki's explosions and a villain would easily win against him. So how did Katsuki lose to him?

It doesn't fucking matter! Katsuki will get so much stronger and prove that first match was fucking luck! It was a one time thing! He's beating fucking Deku from now on! He wins and Deku loses! That's how it always should be and how it always will be!

Katsuki is thinking through all of this in the rest of his classes and at the end of the day before heading home. As soon as classes ended Deku's "protection squad" ran for the damn infirmary. If he never has to talk to those extras again, he'll be glad. They're all so fucking annoying. 

Katsuki will be better than everyone in this damn school. He'll win where everyone else fails. He'll be the number one hero and surpass even fucking All Might. Deku won't know what hit him. Deku will just be a grain of sand. Just a memory everyone will have forgotten by the time Katsuki graduates. Nothing more than a pebble on the side of the damn road!

Katsuki is stopped by the red head. He doesn't give a shit about this kid or whatever his name is. He doesn't want to be here any longer.

"What the fuck do you want?"

Katsuki's gritting his teeth. If this kid doesn't leave him alone he will start biting.

"Your moves were pretty awesome! You did great during your match."

This loser is in awe of Katsuki's abilities? Fine, at least some things are still the same. But he doesn't care what this guy says. He needs to get better. He needs to prove no one can beat him.

"That was nothing. You'll see my real power soon enough."

Katsuki leaves before he can get sucked into a longer conversation with this guy. He's still not asking for his name because he doesn't matter. Just like Deku doesn't matter. Or his dumb followers don't matter. None of them matter.

Katsuki's only concern is how to be victorious. What he needs to do to win. Deku is an obstacle now so he needs to crush him. No matter what, he will crush him. Katsuki will crush everyone and be victorious and the world will be right again. 

He may have lost this time, but it will never happen again. He'll crush that purple bastard that protects Deku too while he's at it. Those two will go down. They'll be at the very bottom drowning while Katsuki is soaring above. No one able to even reach the pedestal he stands on.

Katsuki stops and looks over his shoulder at U.A. behind him. No one in this school will know what hit them. Katsuki will reign above while everyone else is struggling to stay afloat. That is a promise.

Chapter Text

Izuku's dear friends are standing above him in the infirmary. How sweet of them. Actually, there's only one person standing; Shinsou. Iida is sitting stiffly and Uraraka is kneeling beside the bed. Looks like he did worry them.

"Deku! We were so worried! All we saw was you being carried away with a super injured leg! I should've actually gone down to help you!"

"Midoriya, how didn't you scream out in pain? That looked like the kind of injury they cut off in wartime."

"Midoriya, you've worried multiple of your fellow classmates, myself included! You shouldn't have fought Bakugo on your own. You know he has no self-restraint, as I'm told you grew up with him."

Wow. Too much to respond to. Izuku s head feels a bit light though. Maybe he should get some more rest?

"Alright, alright. Back up. The boy needs his space. And I need to check on my patient."

The three friends apologize and step away from Izuku's bed. Shinsou leans against the wall while Iida continues to sit stiffly, just with his chair pushed back farther. Uraraka stands beside Shinsou instead of kneeling on the ground.

Recovery Girl does a check of any current symptoms Izuku still has. The pain has left and he can move his leg just fine. Izuku wiggles it to check. His head still feels light, but that will go away once he eats something. Probably.

Recovery Girl gives Izuku a nutrition bar, the perfect fuel after losing blood, and clears him to leave. Izuku thanks her and stands up to leave. Big mistake.

Once he has stood up, the light headedness switches to very heavy and he needs to grab onto whatever's nearest. The nearest thing is Shinsou who isn't expecting to hold up half Izuku's weight. Both of them lose their footing.

They float in the air for a few seconds before realizing what just happened. Iida straightens them out and Uraraka returns their gravity, both breathing a sigh of relief. Izuku gives both of them a thumbs up while his blood readjusts to standing position again.

As the four of them are walking toward their class, Izuku remembers he's missed most of the afternoon ones. Maybe all of the afternoon classes if these three can afford to come watch over him. Izuzu actually wanted to go to a full day of class!

"Don't worry, Midoriya! Any classwork you missed, I'm happy to fill you in on! I have all of the notes right here!"

Iida is a blessing. Also, his notes are perfectly organized so they'll be easy to read. Hopefully, during their next training, Izuku won't get injured so bad he has to sleep for 2 or more hours. It's only because he was facing Kacchan. Normal people know how to hold back.

Most of their class is inside the classroom. 4 no 5 people immediately crowd Izuku at the door, introducing themselves. His face heats at the attention. He doesn't even know how to respond. 

One of the kids, Kirishima, said he thought Izuku was cool for fighting off Kacchan and Izuku thought he could float off to the sun at that moment. Also, he's right in his face while talking and his hair and eyes are his favorite color; red. His teeth are pretty sharp and his smile is crooked and Izuku is overwhelmed right now.

Izuku interrupts with a question before anyone else can continue shouting their love of his fighting. He needs to know where Kacchan is because he's not in the classroom. He's probably crushed from his defeat at Izuku's hands, even though Uraraka is the one who captured the weapon. She played a major role in all of this. If Izuku was teamed with anyone else, it wouldn't have gone as well as it did. 

It's not to gloat or even apologize, Izuku just wants to know he's okay. Well, as okay as he can be considering he'll be pissed off regardless of what Izuku does. Just as long as Izuku's here, he'll be angry. Izuku just wants him to know... Yeah, he has no idea what he's going to say to him. Maybe he just shouldn't talk?

Oh, Izuku's already caught up to him. Should he call out to him? He's still stomping away. He's not moving particularly fast so he's not in a hurry. Maybe his defeat against them wasn't as bad as he thought? He has mellowed out some since last year. Oh, he's stopped walking.

"Shut the hell up, Deku!"

Eep! Maybe Izuku should check if he's saying these thoughts out loud. Well, at least he can properly gauge his headspace this way. If he yells at him, he tends to reveal how he's feeling. 

"You don't need to rub it in, Deku! I know I lost to you!"

That's not even close to what he meant. Is Kacchan....crying?

"And that ice kid? Did you see him, he...he's way better than me! And ponytail girl, she was right! That attack was too reckless!"

Some complimentary swears thrown into a breakdown as Kacchan's body convulses. They're still technically on school property, so he could use his quirk, but it doesn't seem like that'll happen right now. Right now, he's more focused on shouting his feelings. Izuku didn't think he'd feel this bad.

"Deku, listen here!"

Izuku is always listening.

"From here on out! You hear me? From here on out, I'm gonna be number one!"

Kacchan turns around and shouts one more thing, "And don't you dare think you'll ever beat me again!"

Kacchan is stalking away. And then All Might swoops in to stop him. Izuku has no need to continue this, so he's just gonna sneak back inside. Kacchan's posture says he wants to hit All Might right now. Izuku isn't far enough away before Kacchan screams again.

"I'm gonna surpass you too! I'm gonna be top hero! Just watch me!"

All Might must be feeling the emotional charge of Kacchan's fuse being relit. Izuku would like to think he did that, but no. Kacchan does what Kacchan wants. No one else could ever change his mind. Not even All Might. 

"Midoriya, what were you two discussing?"

Eegh! Right, he didn't escape. Does he even want to answer this? Izuku could just tell him it's personal. Technically, you can't pry into that, even if you're a teacher. 

In the end, Izuku gave in and told him all of it. It's not his fault All Might is trustworthy. It's not like he'll blab about it considering he's got his own secret. Besides, it's only fair considering Izuku knows about something far more important than his relationship with Kacchan. 

"So, you saw all of the matches, what did you think?"

Izuku was shown the recordings before he was allowed to leave the building. Thankfully, two were very quick because he couldn't imagine any sort of long drawn out fight if your opponent is Shinsou or Todoroki. Although, there was something off about the latter. He seemed sort of sad when he was speaking to tail guy and invisible girl. Like he didn't like what he was saying.

Izuku doesn't have particularly strong opinions on most of them. They did their best with their limited knowledge of each other's quirks. Most of them did pretty well. Some were more suited to the exercise than others, and it's fine for the ones who weren't. It was their first battle training after all. They did relatively average. Much better than him and Uraraka or Kacchan and Iida.

All Might accepts Izuku's answer and let's him go. Izuku says goodbye to All Might before heading back inside to grab his backpack. He makes bad decisions when he's in a hurry, so he forgot it. He then meets up with his 3 best friends, Izuku can call them that right? They head home on the train together, ending an exciting day.

Izuku has a notebook dedicated to analyzing everyone's quirks, fighting styles, and overall abilities. Each page is devoted to a classmate of his. He's even written down some of the obvious quirk support functions of their costumes. It's really exciting stuff and he swears he isn't stalking his classmates. Although, he does have their weaknesses listed as well so it could look like he's trying to take them down.

"Hey, Midoriya," Izuku is whisper-shouted at. 

It should be pointed out they're in the lunch room, so there's no need to be even a little quiet. Besides, why whisper-shout at someone since you planned to stand up and walk over. All you need to do is tap the table in front of him.

"I was wondering, seeing as you've got a notebook analyzing us, could you come up with some ways for me to strengthen my quirk," Kirishima asks, "I'll do something in return for you of course! I don't expect you to do something with no reward, that wouldn't be fair to you and wouldn't be very manly of me."

Is now a good time to panic? How much of what Izuku's written has he read? Does he think he's creepy? What if he tells everyone about this? Will he have no more friends? Will they all call him a stalker and never want to be around him?

Shinsou leans over and whispers in my ear, "Calm down, he only knows about the notebook analysis because you keep muttering while writing. Anyone sitting near you could tell you're analyzing us and unfortunately, they all talk about it because they're more social than us."

Izuku can't shake off the nerves as he flips to his Kirishima page. Quirk: Hardening. He hardens his skin. Izuku has personally noticed he's slower if he hardens his whole body, but he's more of an immovable object like that. He probably noticed too.

"I did notice.... I wanted to ask if there's a way to be faster too, but I figured that would've been too much to ask of you. I have to figure some things out on my own!"

Does he have to be cute? Izuku can feel his face heat up. He did not think that. And if he did, he'll just ignore it for the next 6 months. He has more important things to focus on!

Kirishima should be focusing on strengthening his hardening. If he gets hit a ton that should strengthen his quirk but it'd need to be pretty powerful like Kacchan's explosion, Sato's sugar rush, or Todoroki's fire. Speaking of his fire, he doesn't use it in combat training unless he's melting his ice. Waah! 

Another option could just be the force of something heavy smacking him over and over. Like the force you might get if you jumped off of something high up. Solid metal and concrete would be the best so maybe Cementoss could help him? He's one of the teachers here.

A look of understanding crosses Kirishima's face, "Got it! So I just need to have someone hit me really hard or to jump off of a building with my quirk activated! Thanks Midoriya!"

Oh no. Izuku can only give a weakly "your welcome" before he runs back to his table. Shinsou is laughing at Izuku's misery and Uraraka is patting his shoulder in sympathy. Iida is distracted with yelling at Kirishima to stop running in the lunch room. Izuku covers his face with his hands.

This should be mentioned, Iida is their class rep, decided a few days ago. When originally they were choosing they went a democracy route, Iida's idea. Izuku had gotten the most votes, 4 to be exact. He didn't vote for himself, he voted for Yaoyorozu. She got the second most and landed the position of vice rep. 

There was a break-in during lunch of that day, and everyone panicked. Iida showed how he could easily think under pressure and got everyone's attention during the crisis. He calmed all of the students down and everyone evacuated peacefully. 

When they returned to class, Izuku gave his position to Iida and had almost everyone's support in the matter. Kacchan wanted to set him on fire for it, but Izuku can't be bothered to care what he thinks anymore. 

Of course the first of the supporters of Izuku's decision was Kirishima and he thinks he might've blushed again during that. Izuku has always known he's... He can't even think it to himself. But Kirishima's probably not. Well, everyone, Izuku included, has seen him around Ashido. Those two are peas in a pod and definitely get along better than Izuku would with Kirishima. 

Maybe his heart will have 5 minutes of peace sometime soon. He swears he's developing a crush on all 5 of his closest friends. Well, 4 actually. Izuku has already had that crush for awhile and ummm..... They're not really close friends anymore. You can't even say for certain they were before. 

Tormenting emotions aside, they have a special training today! Rescue Training! The excitement in the class is unmatched. Well, Shinsou's not particularly excited, but it's only cause his quirk isn't good for rescue. He does want to save people, but he's probably best in hostage situations. 

The class has to travel to a facility outside the school grounds. Oh, and they're all allowed to wear their hero costumes. Unfortunately, Izuku's got trashed in his fight with Kacchan and it hasn't been fixed yet. But he still has his equipment. 

Also, Izuku just checked, but, he finally got the last of his gear. It hadn't come in on the first few days. Now that it's been a bit more time, he must've finally gotten clearance. It makes sense considering these items are guns but they aren't filled with bullets.

They're called marble guns. Most of the time, they're homemade and for self-defense only. These ones are official so they work smoother than one Izuku could make and they're less likely to break. He's got three of them, two in pistol version and one in rifle version. Long range shots will probably be easier for him because he's used to focusing on things farther away.

Of course, he has holsters added to hold them. They'll look better once he wears his actual costume, but for now they'll just have to match the blue athletic uniform. Which they kind of do because Izuku wanted them to match with his shoes and utility belt, and those are red.

Now, of course, he'll have proper gun lessons with Snipe, another U.A. teacher and pro hero. He'll teach him to shoot straight, and likely also shoot in non-lethal areas of the body. Just because marbles aren't bullets, doesn't mean they can't kill people. No facial shots even if it's an emergency situation. Unless you will die otherwise and you don't have time to aim, but that will rarely happen so Izuku can get away with never needing to do that.

For clarification reasons, they are taking a bus to the facility. Iida tried to line everyone up, he's really into his role, but the bus isn't designed that way. He seems to be really disappointed because of that fact.  

Izuku's thinking about when they officially arrive there and he can't help but feel this is a Chekhov's gun situation in a more literal sense. He has a gun and he talked about his gun. He also set his firing boundaries. Izuku has this bad feeling as though he may have to use it soon and using it may cross his gun boundaries.

Just nonsense worrying. Perhaps he should focus on trying his best to get ready for the training ahead. Besides, what rescue scenario would require the use of his gun? Unless, they have fake villains there. They could totally do that. 

Kacchan's only bringing one gauntlet so maybe he's expecting there to be no fighting or less fighting. Is he expecting fighting? That's hard for Izuku to figure out. Piecing out Kacchan's thoughts is hard. 

Ultimately, it doesn't matter. Izuku only needs to focus on himself. If no one tells him not to bring the guns, it's fine. Aizawa-sensei would never let him get away with this if it were truly inappropriate for their training. He said they could bring whatever parts of their hero costumes they feel is necessary

. He just needs to stop doubting himself. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy. 

Chapter Text

Izuku should stop thinking negative thoughts because they immediately manifest. The most notable negative thought manifesting, is having a reason for his guns to be used. Actually, he should back up and explain a bit better. To a conversation on their bus ride.

So Tsu asked Izuku what it's like growing up quirkless. He did not want to open that can of worms. He still did answer though because she was just trying to understand him. The answer isn't nice.

Izuku avoided the details pretty well. As well as someone can when multiple people are listening in and asking questions. He ended it with just like anyone else would with a quirk unsuited to heroics.

That got them into a whole discussion on quirks suited for heroics. Kirishima lamented how boring his hardening looks. Izuku didn't say anything, but he disagrees. Kirishima's hardening looks really cool!

Izuku has picked up everyone's names. He swears it. Aoyama and Ashido joined the conversation. Eventually it came around to Todoroki and Kacchan's quirks. Big mistake there. Tsu said something that set Kacchan off; "With his attitude means he'll never be popular."

Kacchan yelled at her in response. He's really good at proving other peoples' points. Kaminari had a whole paragraph to say to drag him. Shinsou laughed at Kacchan's response to Kaminari. It was an entire mess. And Izuku is actually a little pleased that Kacchan got teased for once.

Obviously, that's not so bad. The worst part was when they were all questioning his quirk less childhood. So what could Izuku possibly have cursed himself with? They're almost at that point.

So, once their bus had stopped, they were greeted by 13, a rescue hero. They introduced them all to the USJ; the unforseen simulation joint. They stopped Aizawa-sensei right before explaining, but no one could hear what they were saying. 

Moving on, 13 explained what their objective in this training is supposed to be. They've already seen how their quirks can hurt people, for the ones who have a quirk, and now they get to see how they can help people. It's a great explanation and Izuku may or may not have been fanboying the entire time.

Before they could properly start, a purple mist looking thing appeared. It brought with it villains. See, this is why Izuku shouldn't think because he ends up cursing himself. Or maybe his anxiety just gives him prophetic visions? 

Regardless, the purple mist approached them, asking about All Might. He introduced himself and explained how the schedule they stole said he'd be here. Well, to answer Kurogiri's question, All Might ran out of time. No one is actually answering him.

Izuku learned about All Might's time limit when he met him last year. On the rooftop, he explained it. It was because of a villain he fought. He couldn't be in his buff form for very long. Aizawa-sensei and 13 were most likely discussing him using up all of his time limit earlier in the day.

That's not the end of Izuku's introduction though. The children are supposed to be evacuating. They are stopped by Kurogiri. 13 is trying to handle him, but Kacchan and Kirishima jump in to attack. Good on them for not hesitating, but they screwed everyone over. Kurogiri warps all of the students to different parts of the USJ.

Great, caught up? Good. Izuku is plummeting to his death into the depths below. He hits the freezing water and clamps his teeth shut. If his lungs hate him when he runs, then holding his breath must be the equivalent of someone going out of their way to destroy your entire bloodline. That much hatred is the equivalent of the pain of being unable to breath.

Not to worry though, Izuku's felt this kind of pain before. The Sludge Villain. The whole reason he met All Might. Everything is so intertwined. And now because some villains want All Might dead, he's going to die.

Or not. Tsu to the rescue! She even kicked a villain in the face to save him. Izuku has a good friend. He should invite her to hang out with the rest of his group.

Tsu sets him gently on the deck of a ship. Shinsou is set down beside him. She climbs aboard afterwards. They're all equally soaked. Shinsou's hair sticks to his face, blocking his eyes. He no longer has a forehead.

"Okay, so what should we do? We're surrounded, these guys are all built for the water somehow. And two of us are physically inept."

Shinsou can speak for himself. Just because Izuku can't run, doesn't mean he can't throw a rock pretty hard. Although, his marble guns may be out of commission for some time. So Izuku is pretty useless right now. Maybe the original definition of Deku still fits him.

They should figure out all of each other's skills. 

"I can do anything a frog can. I have my tongue which stretches pretty far. I can remove my own stomach to clean it. And I can secrete this sticky mucus that stings a little."

Kind of gross, but also cool in theory. Not helpful in this situation. 

"You know what I can do, but it has to be one at a time which we probably won't have the capacity for. We'd die first."

"Your brainwashing requires touch right?"

Izuku and Shinsou share a look. Technically, their teammate here should know, but she might tell someone else they are tricking. This is meant to be hidden for future reference.

"Actually, it's eye contact. I use physical contact to throw people off. Could you not mention it to anyone?"

Tsu agrees even though that is also a lie. 

"So, your guns. Are they functional?"

Not unless Izuku can dry them. To fire them, he requires a certain alcohol-based spray to coat the inside of his guns. He can't spray that or have it ignite if it's wet. And because he was dropped in the water, there's no hope. So, they'll have to rely on Shinsou and Tsu.

The villains surrounding them are spread out. No one should be able to knock another out of brainwashing if Shinsou gets to them in time. Anyone who notices can just be distracted by someone else. Bait? Yes, Izuku or Tsu can be bait.

"I'm a pretty strong swimmer. Are you sure this is the best idea though?"

It'll have to be. They don't have many options. Shinsou will have to take care of the villains while Izuku and Tsu distract them. And then they can all leave and not in a body bag. 

Shinsou approaches the side of the ship farther from land. He clears his throat. He'll probably say something stupid.

"Would any of you mind lending a hand? I think I broke one of mine!"

Tsu crouches on the edge of the boat. Izuku follows suit. The responses they give don't matter so long as their vocal cords are in use. They could even just laugh. Laughing is good. Someone is laughing. 

Some of the villains on Izuku and Tsu's side are getting antsy. They want this over with. They may attack. Once it's quiet on Shinsou's end, he rushes over. He whispers something to Tsu and turns to the villains below.

"If water rains down and fire burns up, does that mean earth rocks back and air blows forward?"

Izuku is giving Shinsou some credit here. He's good at what he does. Whether that's meant to be a pun or a philosophical debate of some kind can wait. It gets the villains to respond. Once all of them are misty-eyed and still, Shinsou orders them all to swim to the edge of the dome.

Tsu scoops Izuku and Shinsou up with her tongue. She jumps off the boat over to shallow water near land. The center area is ahead of them as is the bulk of the villains.

They go to check to see how Aizawa-sensei is faring. He's doing alright on his own. The main villain though, the scraggly-looking white-haired guy, is just watching. In fact, he's counting. He's counting the intervals between when Aizawa-sensei's hair falls down. 

The three children all stare in horror as the main villain grabs Aizawa-sensei's elbow and it crumbles away. Just the skin because he soon erases the villain's quirk. It's still horrifying enough to leave them all with nightmares for life. 

The main villain says he's not the boss here. That's far too confusing at first. But then this horrifying big guy, with his brain on full display, comes out of the woodwork to play. And by play, we mean attack. It attacks Aizawa-sensei.

"Meet the anti-symbol of peace, the bioengineered Nomu."

Even though the villain's face is covered, you can tell he's smiling. His voice is super scratchy though, like he's dehydrated severely. Maybe he should get dropped in the shipwreck zone. That might fix what's wrong with him.

"Nomu" has Aizawa-sensei pinned to the ground. An audible snap can be heard from where the three teenagers sit. His arm just broke. His arm was just twisted like a pretzel and it broke. That Nomu thing is freakishly strong. A strength-enhancer type quirk?

Wait, no. He's bioengineered so this is pure raw power. His physical capabilities are beyond human and he must have some other quirk. What could that be? His horrifying appearance? No, that's unlike what any mutant quirk would do to someone.

They're all still in the water. They're all frozen in shock and horror at the scene in front of them. They can't move or do anything.

Nomu slams Aizawa-sensei into the ground. Kurogiri approaches. If he's meeting with the other main villains then that means he's finishes what he set out to do. 

"Shigaraki Tomura."

That's the white-haired villain's name. 

"Kurogiri, is 13 dead?"

Bad news, 13 is "incapacitated." Good news, a student escaped and help should be on the way. Worse news, Shigaraki is throwing a fit because this puts a wrinkle in their plans. In Izuku's experience, pissing off the guy with power in the situation leads to the one without power getting hurt. Yeah, that's absolutely what's about to happen.

Or not. He said they're leaving.

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

Izuku knows what Tsu means. To do all this and just leave over one wrinkle in their plan? They're not very dedicated in that case. Or they're pulling the wool over their eyes for a surprise attack of some kind. 

"Before we do that, let's kill a few kids, to wound the pride of the Symbol of Peace!"

Shigaraki rushes at the three of them. Izuku recalls the crumbling of Aizawa-sensei's elbow. His head turns slowly as Shigaraki's left hand meets Tsu's face. Is she crumbling?

No. No, she's fine. Why is nothing happening? Aizawa-sensei! He erased the villain's quirk.

Shigaraki is mumbling something to himself. Tsu grabs onto Shigaraki's arm to push him away. Nomu smashes Aizawa-sensei's face into the ground. Tsu is still in danger!

She needs to run away! Izuku doesn't have much to offer here. The gun! The pistol version anyway. It should be dry now! Yes, good. Not enough time... Fire!

This is exactly what Izuku should have expected. Izuku didn't expect he'd have to fire at a person during their rescue training and he immediately cursed himself to do so. He didn't have time to aim so that marble will likely hit that guy in the head. That's what level it was at. He's not supposed to hit people in the head. He didn't want to.

Izuku betrayed his own firing boundaries for Tsu's sake. Hopefully, she's okay. She needs to get out of there. Shinsou is on her other side. He needs to get out too. If they aren't safe, then what's the point? What's the point of being a hero if he can't save the people right in front of him?

Izuku freezes. That Nomu thing is in his path. Wasn't it over there with Aizawa-sensei? When did it move? What about Shigaraki? Wasn't he shot?

No, he wasn't. The marble is inside Nomu's side. Its stomach area. And then the marble pops out and it heals. Like Izuku's attack didn't faze it.

So it has a healing quirk? Some sort of self-regeneration. And it took the blow for Shigaraki. Then Tsu and Shinsou are still in danger!

Nomu grabs onto Izuku's right arm, his firing arm. He has a strong grip and Izuku has no chance of getting free. Tsu is reaching for him and Shigaraki and is aiming for her and Shinsou. They're all going to die here. Aizawa-sensei can't move anymore. All 4 of them will die.

A resounding boom from the entrance. Announcing of his presence. All Might has arrived. They're saved. None of them will die. 

Shigaraki is as thrilled about All Might's arrival as Izuku is. He modified Nomu for this purpose, right? To kill All Might. Will they be able to make it out? All Might isn't smiling. Is the situation that bad to him?

Izuku! Focus. Your friends! Tsu and Shinsou... Huh? All Might just rescued all 4 of them. 

"Aizawa is unconscious. You should hurry."

All Might hands Aizawa-sensei to Izuku. He's angry. This isn't like All Might. Everytime he's ever been on tv in a disaster, he's always had his trademark smile. So why not now? These villains must be as bad as whoever gave All Might that injury.

Shigaraki has become more unstable. His face cover was knocked off. It's a hand? Are all of those things on him hands? That's creepy and unsanitary! Tsu will need to clean her face severely after that guy touched her.

Shinsou has to pull Izuku along. He has their teacher and he's standing there dazed. They need to escape, now. They can't just wait around. There are people that need to be saved. This is his part to play in being a hero. He's done this before, he can do it again. Save Aizawa-sensei.

The three of them have to go slowly. If they were to jar Aizawa-sensei too much, he might bleed out faster. They don't want that to happen. So, they're left along to walk slowly. And think.

"Midoriya, Nomu healed when you shot it. But Shigaraki told All Might that it has Shock Absorbtion. Do you think he's lying?"

Tsu raises a good question. Nomu having multiple quirks would explain how Shigaraki managed to gear something specific for killing All Might. That's still a scary thought. As for the truth of the matter, they'd have to wait and see. Absorbing the shock of hits would make it hard to put a dent in it. Even the very small wound made by the marble was completely absorbed. It should've gone through more than a layer of skin. 

"So, if it really does have multiple quirks, how is All Might supposed to win? It doesn't seem like he even has a chance."

Izuku isn't one to fall into pessimism, but Shinsou seems right. Especially now. All Might is losing. Nomu is digging its fingers into All Might's wound. The very bad one he got from a villain and used as the basis for his reasoning why someone quirkless can't be a hero. He's going to die at this rate!

Izuku passes Aizawa-sensei off to Shinsou and Tsu completely. He's the only one here who knows. He needs to help! What's supposed to happen is Izuku shows All Might he can be a hero without a quirk and he acknowledges that and everything is good! All Might isn't supposed to die! He can't yet! There's so much he still needs to see, to do! There are people he hasn't saved yet that need him!

All Might is halfway through Kurogiri's warp gate. They intend to cut him in half! That'd be more gruesome than witnessing him crumble to dust. That can't happen! He needs to rest up inside the teacher's lounge with a cup of tea and tell the students how brave they were when the villains attacked. 

Izuku isn't going to make it in time! He could try to shoot. Shoot what? It doesn't work against Nomu. Does the warp gate have a body? He has a metal brace. There must be a body inside! He needs to aim though.

"Get the hell out of the way!"

Chapter Text

Izuku falls back in surprise. Kacchan popped out of nowhere! What woodwork did he crawl out of? And he's not alone; Kirishima and Todoroki are with him too.

While Kacchan takes down Kurogiri, Todoroki freezes Nomu. Kirishima goes to launch an attack at Shigaraki, which he dodges. Izuku wants to warn him to step away from him. Shigaraki's quirk is touch-based and Kirishima is close range. The only person there right now who should fight him is Todoroki.

All Might pulls himself free from Nomu's grip. If there weren't villains right in front of them, he might cry in relief. But there are villains. And Izuku doesn't have time to be crying right now. Although, he didn't help this time. Those three did, but not him. It's fine, All Might was saved.

"You've pinned down our way out... Well, this is a problem."

Shigaraki's a bit muted when he speaks. It's almost like this hasn't set in as an actual problem for him. Can you claim someone like him being in shock?

Kacchan starts to run his mouth. He always runs his mouth. But especially runs it when he's winning. He's almost always winning.

"You slipped up, you bastard! And it's just like I thought! The parts you can turn into that foggy warp gate are limited! And you're using that misty shit to hide your real body, yeah? Am I right?"

Kacchan's normally right, he's only asking for validation. Woah, slow down there brain, that's rude. Not that Izuku's brain is wrong, but he tends to say his thoughts out loud and he'd rather not piss off Kacchan when Shinsou isn't nearby or when a villain is being pinned by him. Kacchan needs to focus on that or All Might could die!

Kurogiri attempts to move and Kacchan fires off a few warning explosions. That's gotta hurt. Izuku knows it's no fun from experience. Especially, being that close to the face.

"If you make a wrong move I'll blow your ass up so hard they'll be piecing you back together for weeks!"

So violent. Also, so very Kacchan. 

"Woah, man, that doesn't sound very heroic."

Kirishima you are putting yourself in danger with these two! Why are you threatening the fragile balance in Kacchan and Shigaraki? Are you trying to die young? You're too pretty to die young!

Izuku shakes his head from crazy thoughts. Focus time.

Shigaraki stands with his hands clasped and resting in front of him, completely I bothered by everything. Someone losing wouldn't be this calm. He's got other plans.

"Not only have you beaten our level, but you're all at full health too. Kids today really are something... Our League of Villains should be ashamed! Nomu take out that blond explosive brat. We need our escape route back."

Nomu drags itself out of Todoroki's ice, splitting itself in half. His right half of his body immediately begins to regenerate, starting as twists of muscle. That muscle soon builds into real limbs. All Might tells the teens to get back and questions Shigaraki. He's only aware of Shock Absorbtion.

Izuku shot Nomu before though. He could see the second quirk. He knew of regeneration, but nothing this extreme. How do you beat something that can tear itself apart and still get up fine?

Kacchan is still pinning Kurogiri. He's not paying the other villains any mind. He isn't moving. He's going to get killed! Kacchan!!

Kacchan is beside Izuku. When did he dodge? He's completely unharmed. How did he do that? 

"I didn't dodge that, shut the fuck up."

Oh, is Izuku speaking his thoughts again? At least Kacchan didn't try to hit him. And he seemed less angry than usual. 

"That guy doesn't know how to hold back," All Might calls out from where he stands. 

Shigaraki responds calmly, "Anything to save a comrade, right? Just like earlier when, uh that one, the plain one, tried to shoot me."

Izuku did do that. He tried to shoot Shigaraki with a marble gun. Of course, he's not going to say it wasn't a metal bullet because he doesn't want to give away details about his gear. This is a villain and they should always be surprised. If Izuku weren't so shaken up about almost losing Kacchan he'd fire a warning shot into Shigaraki right now.

"But violence in the name of saving others is admirable, right hero?"

Shigaraki descends into a manic state, all semblance of calm forgotten.

"You know what All Might, that pisses me off! Heroes and Villains both thrive on violence but we're still categorized as "good" or "evil!" That's how it is in our society! "Symbol of Peace?" Give me a break! You're just a tool of violence society uses to oppress us! And violence always breeds more violence. I'll show the world that by killing you!"

All Might shuts down Shigaraki's words quickly.

"What a load of baloney, you don't truly believe that. You just want violence for violence's sake. Idealistic criminals have a fire in their eyes!"

Izuku mentally writes a note for later to ask All Might what the fire looks like in a villain. It seems like the kind of thing he should look out for. People fighting for their ideals tend to be stronger, and Izuku may come across that. He needs to be prepared. 

All four of the boys have managed to stand in a line together. Kacchan still looks a bit dazed, however. Near death experiences will do that to you. He probably just hasn't figured out how to move on from that. Just live Izuku's life and you will.

Izuku's half joking, he would never wish that sort of life on anyone. No, not even the cause of his life. That's unnecessarily cruel. He can't be cruel as a hero. Yes, the one that caused the cruelty is still becoming a hero. But it's because he's always been destined for heroism. Izuku always has to work harder for what he wants. It's a fact of life.

They're all going to help All Might in this fight! No, they aren't! All Might wants them to leave. Todoroki even tries to argue the fact that All Might would have died if he hadn't stepped in. 

"Right you are, Young-Todoroki! So thanks for that! But watch, now, how a pro gets serious!"

All Might meets Nomu head on. Each fist he throws is a blast of his full power. Izuku can't help, but be amazed. He's looked up to him for so long and seeing him fight in person is truly magical. But he's also terrified because All Might is spitting up blood as he's attacking. He's running against the clock.

"A hero's always ready to smash through trouble! Tell me, villain, do you know the meaning of Plus Ultra?"

All Might launches Nomu into the air with a final punch. It breaks through the dome and flies away. It's gone from sight within a few seconds.

All four boys stand in shock at the scene before them. That was All Might not pulling a single punch. This was the first time any of them had seen such a scene. The first time a serious villain fight had occurred right in front of them. Last April was nothing for Kacchan and Izuku compared to this moment. 

This isn't the end of the fight though. All Might is at the end of his limit. The other people present aren't aware of that. Shigaraki isn't aware of that. Only All Might and Izuku know he's at the end of his limit. And All Might is trying to bluff his way through.

"Midoriya, we outta just hang back for now. Rush in and they might take you hostage or something."

Kirishima can tell half of what Izuku's thinking. But he can't tell that All Might is bluffing. All Might won't be able to handle another attack. He'll die. And Izuku is the only one who knows. What should he do? He can't tell them about something he shouldn't have even learned. But he can't just let the villains win. Is there a middle ground?

"All Might will take care of the villains. We should go help the others."

Kurogiri is harder to handle than Shigaraki. That much is clear. If he attacks, All Might won't be able to make it out. Shigaraki can be dealt with. He's not good at taking hits. When Aizawa-sensei elbowed him it stopped him for a few seconds. That would be enough for survival. All Might could probably dodge him in his small form. Even without his quirk. But not Kurogiri.

They're going in for the kill! It doesn't matter anymore! Izuku is going in! Why does running have to burn his lungs? He can't stop, he needs to make it over in time! All Might has to see tomorrow, no matter what! Forget what anyone here might be feeling about him! Forget what Izuku feels! The world still needs their Symbol of Peace until a new one can step up! 

Izuku crosses the distance much faster than he expected. But now he's standing in-between two homicidal villains and their target and they aren't slowing down! And Shigaraki is reaching for him. His hand is so cold! And a bullet fires into his hand. He draws back.

A bullet? That has to be Snipe-sensei! The teachers are here? All Might will be safe. A few more bullets are shot towards Shigaraki and Kurogiri as they retreat. Izuku turns around to see if All Might's okay.

He is. He's okay. He's alive and aside from what Nomu did earlier, he's unharmed. The villains didn't get him. They still have their Symbol of Peace. What a relief.

Izuku collapses onto the ground and let's loose the tears that have built up over the course of the day. Too much stress for such a small person. 

"Young-Midoriya, that was extremely reckless and you got yourself hurt!"

Izuku looks down at the arm Shigaraki grabbed. His left arm. He is injured. How hadn't he realized? Some mix of adrenaline and a high pain tolerance probably. Although, he can see his muscles now and that's weird. He's just like Aizawa-sensei! 

Izuku apologizes. He hadn't meant to get hurt. He just couldn't bear the thought of All Might dying.

"You can't die yet. There's still so much..."

There's still so much he needs to see. He needs to see that Izuku can be a hero without a quirk. He needs to see all of them graduate. He needs to see a new Symbol of Peace take the stage, regardless of who that might be. He needs to see Japan's countryside at least one more time before he's gone. 

"Young-Midoriya, thank you. It was entirely too reckless, but you saved me. I'm not dead yet because of you and for that, you have my gratitude."

Izuku died and was reborn in an alternate universe where his hero thanks him for saving him. That's the only explanation for this moment. This is something out of his wildest fantasies. That's the only explanation.

Izuku doesn't have long to consider that, because someone with a heart too big for their body and a smile to rival the Sun is rushing towards him. He's worried about him. And Izuku is near All Might in his small form. Which no one is supposed to know about.

Izuku scurries away from All Might as a cement wall goes up. He's had enough of All Might for now anyway. All Might's secret is to be protected and it'll be super sus if he hides behind it. Not that it's any less suspicious when it's just All Might. But the heroes can handle that explanation.

Anyway, the person rushing over is Kirishima if the description Izuku thought up wasn't enough to understand. He's just in time to watch Izuku finally register the pain of his skin being decayed and his muscle tissue reacting to fresh air. It's not a pretty sight. Imagine a thousand needles stabbing into you at once. Now imagine half of them were heated beforehand and so they're burning you as well. And now imagine the other half were chilling in ice water beforehand. That's what it feels like. 

For whatever reason, he hadn't started to bleed until the pain kicked in. Maybe Shigaraki's quirk prevents you from bleeding from the damage it causes. Or maybe he destroyed the blood that would have been there and now his body has finally caught up and forced his blood to move to this section of him.

"Midoriya, your arm! Come on, I'll help you get to the front. You can lean on me if you'd like."

Actually, Izuku would prefer to be princess carried by Kirishima. But leaning on him is a nice alternative. If he does end up tripping like that he'll bring Kirishima down with him. That'd be embarrassing.

Kirishima lifts Izuku up. Princess carry style. He said that thought out loud. He also has the time to look at his phone. Search "can you die of embarrassment" because he thinks he might.

You can die of embarrassment. Izuku could die of embarrassment. Seeing as he's still alive it's not severe enough. But there's still potential! How to prevent embarrassment? That's just shame with more red.

Izuku shouldn't be ashamed for requesting something different! Whether he meant to or not is irrelevant! This is a good thing and his classmate would have said no if he didn't want to do it! Izuku should relax now.

New problem. Izuku instinctively curls into the chest of anyone carrying him. That's not always a problem. It's easier for the person carrying him too. It's not even a problem that it's one of his crushes carrying him. Well, that's a part of the actual problem.

The real problem is Kirishima's hero costume. He doesn't have a shirt on. Which means Izuku is curling into the bare chest of a guy he likes and literally everyone will see him like this. There is no explanation that doesn't immediately out him as either a baby or...... Or that. He's doomed.

Izuku is no longer filled with shame. Now he's filled with an unhealthy level of fear. Although, it's very difficult to remain scared of something when you have the sound of someone's heartbeat in your ear. It's a soothing sound, especially to Izuku. If he falls asleep, it won't be so bad. Although, that might look a little weirder.

Izuku sometimes has good plans, and other times he has bad plans. Right now, he's debating on a bad plan. Make himself look like he fell asleep. The only person who could call him out on pretending to sleep is Kacchan and he won't care. Besides, it's not like Kirishima will be holding him forever. Just long enough to take him to Recovery Girl. This is such a bad plan.

Izuku's arm has switched from burning from hot needles to burning from ice. This is what freezer burn feels like. He has never experienced it before, but he's certain. Also, the muscle that isn't exposed to the air is throbbing. And his nerves are playing a game of "pass it along" with it being pain and the other participants being the nerves throughout his left arm and hand. 

Pretend to be asleep when even slight jarring causes his whole arm to light up like a bonfire. Good idea, Izuku. Totally thought this one through, Izuku. You can do it, Izuku! Just get over yourself and get over this fear you have. If everyone hates you because of who you might have attraction for, then that's on them. You know at least Shinsou and Uraraka will still be by your side. 

Izuku doesn't actually know that. They seem like they will and are his first friends, but it feels like he may lose them if they know. Besides, those two are also two of his crushes! Even if him holding attraction for Kirishima is accepted, people will lose friends if they find out their friend has a crush on them and they're like him. 

Izuku would like to go back to worrying about someone else dying or him dying. Worrying about how others react to your feelings is too much for him. He needs something most people worry about to be his main focus. It's so much easier to explain his stress. And it doesn't leave him with the fear of losing his friends over something he totally has control over. 

Speaking of his friends, there they are. Iida, Uraraka, and Shinsou all standing together. Tsu is with them too. She's definitely his friend now. No question about it. Why do they look so stressed seeing him? Shouldn't they be relieved?

Oh, right, Izuku's arm. Maybe do something to calm them down? Nope! Moving hurts too much and Izuku just grimaced from the pain. Okay, mission fail.

"Deku! What happened to your arm?"

Should he say?

"Midoriya rushed in to help All Might. He took a hit from Shigaraki. He's pretty manly for doing all that!"

Manly? Compliment. Yes, Kirishima is complimenting Izuku. Whatever it's supposed to mean, it makes him feel all gooey, like the chocolate in chocolate chip cookies. And warm too, but he could also be warm because he's a bit embarrassed at his situation. At least no one's pointing it out.

"Kirishima, you should get him to Recovery Girl. Can you hold him while we're on the bus," Shinsou asks him.

Kirishima affirms that he can and moves along.

Izuku is very glad his friends didn't mention anything. They probably thought nothing of it. Shinsou, at least, wouldn't think anything of it. He's carried him princess style before. And they've landed on top of one another. That's a little awkward. 

Iida doesn't make assumptions. He'd assume it's just Kirishima being nice and Izuku resting in his arms comfortably. Yeah, totally. Anything to calm down. What if the other students assume something else. That's a horrible way to find out about your friends identity, from someone else.

Izuku can stop freaking out. No one pays the two of them any mind. Well, someone does ask what happened considering his arm is very obviously injured, but no one mentions Kirishima holding Izuku even on the bus back to school where everyone can see. And he sets him gently on a bed, and with a little urging from Recovery Girl, leaves him alone in the infirmary. 

Recovery girl treats his wound gently; she grimaces when he flinches in pain. She wraps it up and finishes with one of her healing kisses. Her quirk is lovely. And it saps stamina. So Izuku is tired. Too tired to stress about anything. Too tired to keep his eyes open for much longer. Too tired to...