Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“What the hell, Deku, did you kill it?” 

Children huddle around the body of their class hamster, Kumo. His fluffy, gray form lifeless. Izuku gently pokes the rodent, hoping that it may revive the poor creature. His efforts, in vain. 

A girl begins to cry. 

Why did this happen? He was softly petting the hamster until someone bumped him from behind. He must’ve squeezed out of reflex. Still, being able to squeeze the life out of something so easily, no matter how fragile Kumo may have been, was not normal. 

More children begin to cry at the sight, some rushing to pick up the furry hamster and shake him awake.

Bakugo was trying to get his attention. Izuku wanted to listen but a sharp ringing in his ear prevented him. He glanced up to see one of his classmates running out of the room, most likely to find a teacher. 

Was that kid always this loud?

Bakugo started shaking him. Finally managing to look at his friend, hands covering his ears to block out the painful noises still assailing him, his eyes widened in horror. Images of his friend's skeletal structure flashed before his eyes. He whips his head around, startling Bakugo.

He’s still yelling something. 

Izuku couldn’t focus on his friend right now since he was currently staring at his school’s playground. Which was strange because he was positive that he should be staring at his classroom wall. 

“DEKU!! WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH YOU!” 

Izuku winces in pain and quickly curls in on himself. That hurt! Kacchan was always loud but this time his voice almost blew his eardrums out. It’s still hard to make out everything going on around him. Rough pats on his back by Bakugo barely registering in his mind, all he wanted was for it all to stop.

“Izuku, what’s wrong?!” 

The sound of his teacher’s voice was like music to his ears. He slowly raises his head toward the adult only to see a mass of muscle fibers and internal organs. 

Maybe he should just shut his eyes real tight instead. 

“Izuku, are you okay?” she asks softly. 

Izuku said nothing, only curling in on himself further to attempt to block out the rest of the world. Even his teacher’s soothing voice sounded like gunshots to him. 

Finally, after regaining her composure when a crying child came to her saying something was dead, she took in the scene before her. A group of girls were crying over the motionless body of Kumo, gently cradling the small rodent in their hands. While it was sad that their class pet had perished, in their super powered society, at least it was not one of the kids. A small group of children stayed clear of the dead body and the supposed murderer by isolating themselves into a far corner of the room. Then there was Izuku and Katsuki. The rough pats had developed into full on punches by Katsuki attempting to get his friends attention. Under normal circumstances, one would immediately separate the two and check on Izuku for injuries. But at second glance, the green haired boy didn’t even seem to acknowledge the blows at all. 

In short, it was absolute chaos.

“I’ll call your mom to come pick you up.”

Izuku stared at the skeleton sitting in a comfortable looking office chair. It was almost amusing seeing it point at charts and moving without the conventional muscles and skin. A noise snaps him away from the sight. A doctor from the next room over fumbled with a tray of syringes that were now strewn across the floor. Strange, he was sure there was a wall there when he walked in. 

“I’m not sure I quite understand,” the voice of Inko Midoriya says. Izuku turns away from the mishap next door and focuses on his mother. Or the muscle structure of his mother. 

“It is a bit much to understand, I’m a bit surprised he developed a quirk at all considering he’s almost six years old” the doctor said, flipping through some papers on his clipboard, “Could you remind me what you and your husband’s quirks were?”

“Of course, I’m able to pull small objects towards me and my husband can breathe fire.” Inko replies.

“I see,” the doctor brings a finger up to his chin, “Regarding you and your husband’s quirks, we might have one theory as to what his quirk might be.” 

He gingerly takes a sheet of paper from his clipboard and hangs it up where both Izuku and Inko can see. It looked like red discs to Izuku.

“Using the blood samples we collected from little Izuku here, we discovered that his body is carrying an extraordinary amount of energy and-”

“Will it hurt him?” Inko interrupts.

“No, his body is handling it just fine!” the doctor reassured, “In fact, he’s probably one of the healthiest young boys I’ve ever seen!”

A sigh of relief escapes Inko’s lips.

“As to why his body is capable of storing this energy, one of my coworkers proposed a theory of what your son’s quirk might be.” 

Inko and Izuku lean in. 

“Based on your ability to attract small objects to you and your husband’s ability to breathe fire, we believe that Izuku’s quirk allows him to absorb solar energy and store it for later use.”

Inko looked a little lost, “But that doesn’t explain the new things he’s hearing or seeing. How do these symptoms relate to his quirk?”

“To be completely honest, Mrs. Midoriya.” The doctor gave a small shrug. “We’re still not completely sure why your son has developed these new symptoms. It’s entirely possible that his quirk is changing his body by providing an output for this stored energy resulting in his current symptoms.”

“But why now, and why to this degree?”  

The doctor scratched his head, “Perhaps Izuku has had his quirk longer than you suspected and was slowly storing energy from the sun. It’s entirely possible that he developed his quirk at four years old like most children but it was so subtle no one could tell. Now that he’s been absorbing and storing sunlight for close to two years, his body might be changing in order to compensate for this energy.”

Inko looked at Izuku, slightly worried. “And what changes has happened to him so far?” 

The doctor flips through his notes before pulling out a page and handing it to her and Izuku. 

“From what we could gather from eyewitness accounts and from Izuku himself, Izuku seems to possess a myriad of different abilities. According to him, he could see people’s skeletal, muscle, and internal organ structures as well as see people and things through solid walls. This suggests that he possesses some type of X-ray vision.” 

Izuku scooted closer to his mom. That sounded really cool. It would also be really cool if he could have read it himself instead of seeing another patient turning their head and coughing for a doctor a floor below them. 

“He also mentioned something about his hearing, saying that a classmate running out the room was as loud as thunder, and that his friend shouting next to him was akin to a gunshot. This leads us to believe he has some form of enhanced hearing. We get quite a few of those. My best advice for him is to try and focus on the things he wants to hear and try as best he can to filter out all background noise.” 

Izuku would have to practice that when he got home. 

“You mentioned that his teacher witnessed him being hit by his friend to get his attention, but Izuku didn’t seem to react to them at all. It’s too soon to tell, but, with some further testing, we could deduce whether or not he has enhanced durability.” 

Inko looked like she was about to faint. Her baby boy was so strong!

“Let’s see… Lastly, there was an incident mentioned where he was holding the class hamster and he-”

“Maybe we should skip this one.” Inko interrupted. 

The doctor raised an eyebrow. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the little boy’s face fall at the mention of Kumo.

“Ah, of course,” he apologized, “Regardless, he seems to show an abnormal amount of strength for a child his age.” 

That perked Izuku up a little bit. Maybe he would be as strong as All Might someday. 

“What does this mean for Izuku’s future? Do you think that this could hurt him when he gets older?” 

The doctor shook his head. “Judging from his test results, his quirk shouldn’t pose any risk to his health later in life. On the contrary, the older he gets and the more time he spends in the sun, the stronger he will get. Who knows, he might develop a few more abilities as he gets older to compensate for all that stored energy.”

Izuku was practically vibrating in his seat. “Does this mean I can be a hero like All Might, mister?” 

The doctor smiled and ruffled his hair. “With enough time and training, I think you could be a great hero in the future.” 

Izuku beamed at the praise.

The doctor turned back to Inko, “Now, I’d like to recommend some courses that can help little Izuku adjust to his new powers. If he’s diligent and patient, these should help him return to his somewhat normal but happy life.” 

Inko smiled and gave the doctor a small bow, “That sounds wonderful, thank you so much for your help.”

The doctor smiled back, “It’s no problem at all, feel free to come back if you have any other questions or concerns.” 

Izuku was elated. He barely registered the gentle touch of his mother’s hand as she led him out. He finally had a quirk and it was super strong! He could be an awesome hero just like All Might!

An image of Kumo’s lifeless body in his hands flashed in his mind. 

Oh right, that. 

He looked down at his hand. Another wave of guilt washed over him. It was almost as if he could still feel the fluffiness of Kumo’s fur. The small movements he made when held in his hand. The soft beating of his heart. 

Gone in an instant.

He shakes his head, trying to rid himself of those thoughts. 

He was going to be a hero.

Something like that will never happen again.

Chapter Text

Izuku wasn’t sure how to feel about this. 

Word quickly got out about his quirk awakening. Despite the fact he had sent the class’ fuzzy little friend to the afterlife, his classmates flocked to him. Being popular was inevitable, he had finally developed a powerful quirk. But did they really care about him? These were the same classmates that pointed and teased him the most for his supposed lack of a quirk. Of course now that he wasn’t the “quirkless weirdo,” they finally decided to give him the time of day. 

Unbelievable

Best to stick with Bakugo and his crew for now. Despite their constant teasing of him before he got his quirk, they at least hung out with him. 

“Let’s play heroes and villains!” Bakugo exclaimed from atop the jungle gym at their favorite park.

The other children cheered. Izuku beamed. He loved playing heroes and villains! Maybe this time Kacchan will finally-

“Deku, you play the villain!”

Why was he not surprised? 

“Come on, Kacchan, you always make me play the villain…” he whines. 

Bakugo scoffs, “Yeah, well, only villains kill people, and you’ve already got one kill under your belt.”

“It was an accident…” He was never going to live that down. 

“And you, Takane, you also play a villain!” 

The small, somewhat portly, spiky, crimson haired young boy looked down, dejectedly, at his feet. 

“I don’t wanna play the villain…” he whispered, barely out of earshot for everyone bar Izuku. “Kacchan’s always too rough…” 

“Tsubasa and Tesaki can be my sidekicks!” A portly kid with wings and a lanky kid who had really long fingers stood next to the explosive boy, mischievous grins on their faces. 

“Ready…Set…GO!”

Tsubasa was the first to act. His red, draconic wings unfolded from his back and carried him towards the two boys. Izuku and Takane took off in separate directions. 

“Tesaki! You and Tsubasa go after Deku! I’ll get the extra!” 

Tsubasa and Tesaki took a sharp turn and went after Izuku. The green-haired boy nervously glances over his shoulder just in time to see Tsubasa diving for him. With all the strength his small body could muster, he leaped. He was pretty high, easily clearing two stories with such a jump. The playground seemed so small from his point of view, and his friends, even smaller. He could still clearly see the shocked faces of the two other boys using his enhanced vision though. 

Is this what being cool felt like?

“Oof!” Izuku exhaled as he landed on his back. 

Nevermind.

“Get him!” 

He desperately struggles to get to his feet, his little maneuver hadn’t distracted the two for long. He barely managed to start running before extended fingers grabbed his ankle, letting him kiss the dirt once again. Izuku lifts his face up, spitting out bits of dirt and grass. Sure didn’t taste good, at least it didn’t hurt. More extended fingers wrapped around his head and yanked him back. One set of fingers wrapped around his arms and another around the back of his head, forcing him to look up at a hovering Tsubasa. The flying boy rained down a flurry of kicks onto the green-haired boy, both kids snickering at him the whole time. If anyone passing by were to witness their little team up, it would seem cruel, unfair even.

But the real cruelty is that even two against one is child’s play for Izuku.

With minimal effort, he flexed and forced his arms out of the fingers holding him in place. Reaching back, he grabbed the arm holding his head in place and threw. 

“Whoa, what the-!” Tesaki exclaimed, flying through the air as if he were a baseball. 

“Ow!” Tsubasa cried as his friend collided with him, throwing the portly boy off course and sending both of them tumbling to the ground. 

“Jerks.” Izuku muttered. He dusts himself off and runs in the direction that Takane and Bakugo went. He spots the two near the edge of the park’s playground. Takane is on the ground crying, gently cradling his burnt arm. He looks scared, inching away from an enthusiastic Bakugo whose palms danced with miniature explosions. 

Izuku rushes in front of Takane with his arms spread wide. Bakugo looks shocked. His small face twists into a glare. 

“Well, well, well, looks like the villains are ganging up on me!” he says, punching his palm and detonating a small explosion, “Guess I’ll have to beat you both myself!” 

Izuku scrunches his face into a frown, “C’mon, Kacchan, why are you being so mean?! You’re making him cry!” 

“Who cares?!” His voice makes Izuku flinch a bit. This was a bit far, even for him. “He’s a villain! It’s a hero’s job to always win against villains!”

“It’s just a game, Kacchan! You already won so leave him alone!” 

“Not quite.” The calmness in his voice was alarming. “YO, FINGERS! WINGS!

Tsubasa and Tesaki, having recovered from their scuffle with Izuku, assembled closely behind Bakugo, confident smirks on their faces. 

“Let’s teach this villain a lesson!” Izuku gulps and spreads his arms even wider. 

Bakugo is first to make a move, jumping into the air with his palms smoking in anticipation. Tesaki is close behind, stretching his fingers in an attempt to ensnare Izuku again. Tsubasa takes to the sky, hanging back a bit, most likely crafting some sort of aerial attack. The fingers grab Izuku around the waist and drag him forward. Right into the path of Bakugo’s incoming palm.

Izuku closes his eyes, bracing himself. Bakugo brings his hand down and lets loose the biggest explosion his tiny six year old body could muster. There’s a lot of smoke. Bakugo sneers, ignoring the slight ache in his palms, even if Deku was tough, there’s no way he’d be able to take that. Now to finish off the other extra.

“Ow, hey!” 

Bakugo turns to see Tesaki wincing in pain and massaging his hand. 

“Walk it off, Fingers! Don’t tell me you’re as weak as that pansy little-” 

“Sorry about the hand, Tesaki.”

Izuku bursts through the dissipating smoke cloud with not so much as a scratch on his face. Before anyone can react, Izuku gives Bakugo a rough shove, sending him tumbling across the playground. Tesaki and Tsubasa both turn their heads, Bakugo struggling to get to his feet. 

“Don’t worry, Kacchan! I’ll get Deku for ya!” Tsubasa yells, his powerful wings carrying his chubby body as fast as he can go. He cocks his tiny fist back and swings as hard as he possibly can, landing a clean shot to Izuku’s cheek. 

His head barely moves.

Tsubasa’s expression grims. He had put everything he had into that punch and Izuku didn’t even react. A tight grip on his wrist snaps him out of his thoughts. Izuku effortlessly picks the chubby boy off the ground and flings him away. 

Tesaki, still nursing his sore hand after being pried open by Izuku, looked up just in time to see a careening Tsubasa heading right towards him. 

“Not again…” he barely manages to mutter before he’s crushed under the weight of the winged boy.  

“DEKUUUU!!” Izuku’s head snapped in the direction of the rage filled yell. A dusty and slightly scratched up Bakugo charges at him with both hands ablaze. 

“DIIIIEEE!” 

Bakugo brought both palms down and unloaded as much firepower as he could muster on Izuku. Ignoring the increasing feeling of numbness as he unloaded blow after blow on the green-haired six year old. A sharp pain in his palms halted his assault. He looked down at his palms. They were shaking uncontrollably, most likely from quirk overuse, and with all the torn off skin, they were practically raw. He made an attempt to close his hand into a fist. Bad idea. Shit that hurt! A small sniffle catches his attention. The extra he was beating up is slowly backing into a tree, sniffling like a little baby. He’s lucky Deku took his place or else his sorry ass would be dea-

A cough from the thick, billowing smoke cloud snapped him out of his thoughts. With a single, powerful swipe, the cloud parted and there stood Izuku. His shirt was tattered and barely staying on his small body. His face and body were covered in some pretty nasty burns that were already slowly healing. 

His eyes stared at his childhood friend. Long gone were the kind, caring green orbs that screamed innocence, the eyes of someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly. 

Now, they were as fiery red as his own. 

“Stop being so mean, Kacchan! If you wanna keep on hurting him.” His eyes almost looked like they were glowing. 

Wait, were they?

“Then I’ll stop you myself!” 

Two solid red beams of light shot out of Izuku’s eyes right near Bakugo’s feet, drawing a clear line in the dirt. It only lasted for a second but that’s all it took to scare the bullies shitless. Bakugo took a step back. What was happening? He was supposed to be the greatest! The hero that took down all the villains and always came out on top! 

But here was Deku. The annoying little kid that always followed him around, the one always lagging behind, standing up to him. Deku was supposed to be nothing. A small, annoying pebble in his path to becoming the greatest hero of all time! Then he got himself a quirk. A quirk that, even though he hated to admit it, might even be stronger than his own. When did he get so far ahead? Why did he feel so weak? He clenched his fists, but a sharp pain stopped him. Oh yeah, his hands. Whatever, he’ll let Deku off the hook today, but next time, he was going down. 

“Fine! I’ll leave the little extra alone!” Izuku relaxed, the glowing red light in his eyes fading.

“But this isn’t over! Enjoy your win, Deku, it’s never gonna happen again!” With a huff, he spun around and stormed off, Tesaki and Tsubasa close behind.

“Y-yeah, this ain’t over!”

“Kacchan will get you back for sure!” 

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief the second they left his sight, small tears welling up in his eyes. He had done it, he won, against Kacchan of all people. He quickly tried to wipe away the tears and turned to Takane, the kid was probably scared out of his mind. 

And he was gone. 

He must have gone home when they were fighting, not that he blamed him, he didn’t have any reason to stick around. Probably thought Kacchan beat the snot out of him. He may have a quirk now, but, according to his classmates, Bakugo was still top dog. 

He glanced down at his body, the small burns Kacchan had inflicted on him were almost finished healing. Guess he was lucky today was really sunny. 

“Truly fascinating…” 

A plastic cup melted into a puddle as two red beams of light hit it. Izuku blinked, so far, it seemed like the easiest way to cancel his newest power. 

Inko almost had a heart attack when he told her the news. Maybe it was the fighting part or the new ability. He couldn’t really blame her. It had been a bit of a learning experience going from being a normal, quirkless kid to being able to crush a door handle if he wasn’t paying attention. His super strength, super durability, super hearing, and x-ray vision had already been a lot to deal with for her, and now he had heat vision. 

Thankfully, his doctor had recommended a great program dedicated to helping kids who’ve recently had a quirk awakening control their new gifts. Their testing rooms leave much to be desired though. So white and sterile, reminds him too much of a hospital. At least Mom was here. 

“And can you tell me when this recent development began?” an examiner asked the green-haired woman. 

“Today, actually, Izuku told me…” 

While the adults were talking, Izuku let his mind wander. He was already pretty strong and, according to his doctor, he would only get stronger with more sunlight as he got older. He also remembered something about getting more abilities the more energy he stored. He had been playing outside with Kacchan and the neighborhood kids a lot these past couple months. Being strong was really nice, after all, All Might’s the strongest hero there is, but this new ability could really hurt someone. 

Kumo’s dead body flashes in his mind. 

Izuku feels a pit form in his stomach, his breaths become heavy. What if that were a person? What if he had accidentally pushed Kacchan too hard and-

The thought made him shudder. 

His hands felt really sweaty. He could have seriously hurt Tsubasa and Tesaki back there. He could have broken Tesaki’s fingers clean off, he could’ve thrown Tsubasa too hard and split his head open. Was it getting hot in here?

“Izuku, honey, are you feeling okay?”

His mother was next to him, must’ve finished talking with the examiner. Her kind, gentle expression always helped whenever he was feeling down. “Sweetie? What’s wrong? Is it about your fight with Kacchan and the others?” 

Wow. Hit the nail right on the head. Guess that’s mother’s intuition for ya.

He gave a small nod. “I could have really hurt someone…” He hung his head lower, trying to avoid her gaze, tears dripping down his face. “I’m scared, mommy. Scared that something like Kumo could happen again. Scared that I might k-k-ki-” 

“Oh, honey.” She gently wraps the small child into a gentle hug. “Now, I’m not exactly happy to hear you’ve been fighting with Kacchan and the other kids.” Izuku flinched slightly in her arms. “But I know you’d never try to hurt someone badly, and I know that you won’t in the future. You’re such a smart kid, Izuku and I’m confident that you’ll figure out a way to keep yourself under control.”

She pulls away and lifts his face to look at her. He’s trying to hold in his tears but it’s a futile effort. She takes her thumb and gently wipes away a few falling tears. “So, don’t be scared, my little super hero. I know you’ll get through this.” 

Man, Mom always knows just what to say. Izuku rubs the remaining tears from his eyes, finally able to look in his mother’s eyes with some confidence. He had no reason to be scared of his quirk. He loved quirks! What happened with Kumo had been an unfortunate accident, his quirk had just appeared at the wrong place and the wrong time. Should he just resent his quirk, a part of himself, for such a trivial reason?

No he shouldn’t. 

But he wouldn’t just forget it. Perhaps it would be better for the memory to serve as a driving force. To control his power, and whatever powers come after, and become a hero just as great as All Might! 

Chapter Text

It’s not every day that you wake up with an up close view of your own ceiling.

Izuku reaches out and lightly pushes himself away from the dusty surface, softly floating in the air. It’s a bit surprising but not too unexpected. He’s been steadily gaining new abilities ever since his fight with Bakugo.  

Guess he can add flight to that list. 

Izuku turns to his wall. He can see his mom in the kitchen making them breakfast. From her muttering, it sounded like breakfast was still going to be a bit. Should be enough time to test his new flight out. 

He floats over to his bedroom window, gingerly opening it as quietly as possible and slipping out. 

The feeling of flying is amazing. The wind flowing through his air, the way his stomach drops when he takes a dive, but most of all, the unfettered feeling of being able to let himself loose after years of holding himself back.

He feels: free. 

He flies higher into the sky. It’s surprisingly easy to control. Just think about going higher, lower, faster, slower, shouldn’t take too long to learn  how to do it subconsciously. 

But how was he doing this? His other powers he could understand, they all seemed to be supercharged extensions of his body. But flight, this was different. Perhaps it’s similar to Air Jet’s jetpack where he takes in sunlight as fuel and propels himself through the air. If not that, maybe it’s some sort of gravity manipulation where he’s subconsciously using his energy to-

“Izuku, sweetie, breakfast is ready!” 

Well, he probably should be heading back anyway, he wouldn’t want to be late for his first day of junior high now would he? 

He quickly descends, trying his best to stay out of sight of anyone passing by, and floats through his window and into his computer chair just as his mother opens his bedroom door. 

“Izuku, breakfast is ready, sweetie.” She takes a closer look at him.

“Your hair and clothes are a mess! What happened to you?” 

“Mom, I got a new power this morning.” 

“Let’s start with introductions, everybody!” A balding teacher shouts, rapping his attendance book against his desk. Small, idle conversations come to a halt, their attention now fully on their homeroom teacher. 

“Okay, let’s see here…” 

Izuku glances around the room from his seat by the window. No Bakugo or any of his cronies. Great! Maybe this year would actually be peaceful for a change. But knowing Bakugo, he would probably go out of his way to come to his class to bother him. He’d have to leave early if he wanted to avoid him. Putting that aside, his new classmates look nice. He doesn’t recognize anyone from any of his previous classes, and some of them look like they have really interesting quirks. 

Maybe this was his big chance to start fresh. No one knew what his quirk was. Maybe he could finally make some real friends here. And they could hang out after school or text each other about heroes or study and do homework together or-

“Next, Midoriya Izuku.” 

“Oh!” Izuku scrambles out of his chair, standing up straight. 

From an observer’s perspective, it was somewhat amusing seeing their almost six foot tall classmate squeak and race to get to his feet.

“I’m Midoriya Izuku! Nice to meet all of you!”

“And would you mind telling us something about yourself and a brief explanation of your quirk?”

And there it was. Well, guess he can kiss any chance of having real, genuine friendships with no attachment to his quirk goodbye. He likes his quirk and all but sometimes it’s a pain in the ass. 

“I guess I like to take notes on heroes and work out in my spare time. And my quirk is called Solar Battery. Basically, it lets me absorb sunlight and store the energy to use later.” 

A few ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ echoed through the classroom as he sat down. While he did feel a bit bad for intentionally omitting what exactly he could do with said stored energy, maybe he could make some friends this way. 

Lunchtime rolls around. As Izuku is taking out his lunch, a lunchbox is roughly slammed on top of his desk. He looks up to see a girl with fiery red hair and auburn eyes- no wait, they’re golden- smiling at him as she sits across from his desk. 

“Hey! You’re Midoriya, right?” she asks, leaning in a bit too close for comfort.

“Um, yes?” 

“Cool! Name’s Taiyo! You said your quirk had something to do with the sun?” 

“Y-yeah,” Izuku says, giving her a small smile. 

“Awesome! So does mine!” She gently takes a handful of her scarlet hair and holds it out into the dimming afternoon sunlight. Her hair begins to glow with life, letting off a nice, cozy warmth. 

“Whoa.” 

“Like it? I call it Solar Hair. When I’m in direct sunlight, my hair absorbs the energy and turns it into heat and electricity.” she says, flipping her hair back into place. “I don’t output a lot of energy though, just enough to turn on a lightbulb or keep a person warm.” 

“That’s so interesting!” Izuku exclaims. “Your quirk is essentially a clean, reliable source of energy! Do you have a limit of how long you can generate energy? Do you overheat? What’s the wattage and voltage of the electricity you produce? Can you control your hair when it’s in sunlight? Can-” 

“Whoa, remember to breathe, Battery Boy!” she teased. “I’m flattered that you think my quirk is so interesting, but you never properly explained what your quirk could do!”

He almost dropped his chopsticks. Huh? Had he really been found out day one? 

Taiyo flashes a cocky smirk. “C’mon, my quirk also revolves around sunlight! So, of course I know a thing or two about converting sunlight into energy!” 

Izuku stuffs a piece of chicken in his mouth and looks away. 

“You’re hidin’ something aren’t ya?” Her chopsticks pointed at him accusingly, “That half-ass explanation might be enough to fool everyone else, but you and I both know that that sunlight you store has to be used somehow. You can’t just build up all that energy and it not be used somehow. Plus, you never explained HOW you use that stored energy. And, to be honest, I’m a little nosy since we’re sun quirk buddies.”

She slams her hands on the desk, leaning in close and forcing the green-haired boy to stare into her auburn orbs. “So spill.” 

Izuku’s eyes darted around nervously. His mind muddled and fuzzy. It seemed like it was almost impossible to get his mind together. Maybe it was because someone new was talking to him. Maybe it’s because he’s talking to a girl. Maybe it’s because this could be his chance to make his first real genuine friend since Bakugo and his cronies. Did they even count as friends? I guess Bakugo did. Oh, she’s still staring at him. How long has she been staring at him? He should probably come up with a good excuse. Hmmm. I got nothing…

What good was super speed processing if he couldn’t even come up with a decent answer in a fraction of a second?

Oh, what the hell. Might as well just tell her the truth. Not like he could hide it from her for long anyway.

Izuku slumps in his chair, “Yeah, you got me.” Taiyo does a small fist pump. 

“So what’s the energy do?” 

Izuku turns his head, scanning the room for anyone that might be hearing or listening. 

“Geez, is it something so embarrassing that you don’t want anyone else hearing about it?” 

“Not exactly.” Izuku answers, sitting down and continues eating his lunch. “I’d just prefer keeping my quirk a secret from everyone for now.” 

“So why are you telling me?” she asks, taking another bite of her lunch. 

“Not sure.” He says, finishing the last of his lunch, “Maybe because you’d pester me about it for the rest of junior high if I didn’t tell you.” 

“Rude.” Taiyo pouts teasingly. 

“And because I think I can trust you to not treat me any differently when I do.” he says. Taiyo freezes and looks up at him. She seems shocked and maybe a bit flattered? Before he can discern what it is, she quickly assumes a snarky expression.

“Big praise considering we only met 15 minutes ago.”

“You know what, maybe I shouldn’t tell you yet. I mean, we really should get to know each other better first-” 

“No! C’mon just tell me already!” she whines. Izuku chuckles, how long has it been since he’d been able to just joke with someone. 

“Fine, fine, I’ll tell you.” Taiyo leans forward resting her elbows on his desk in anticipation. 

“Because my quirk is so good at absorbing and storing sunlight, my body mutated in order to output the energy in some way. So, because of that, I have super strength, super speed, invulnerability, x-ray vision, super hearing, heat vision, and, recently, flight.” 

Taiyo’s eyes were like dinner plates, her smug expression nowhere to be seen. Izuku leans back in his seat with his arms crossed. Not a new reaction, but definitely one of the quietest ones. 

“Bullshit.” She now has a prominent frown on her face. “If you didn’t want to tell me you should have just said so-”

“So, you don’t like bell peppers.”

“Huh?” 

“In your bento, you ate everything except your bell peppers.” He points.

She looks down, her bento box had been covered for awhile now. How did he know she didn’t eat her bell peppers?

“You could’ve seen the inside of the box before I closed it! That doesn’t prove anything!” she exclaims. She got him. If he didn’t want to tell her then she could at least call him out on-

“Is that really not your natural eye color?” 

Taiyo froze. No one at school should know about that. She had her contacts in, right? She quickly turns away from him and opens the camera app on her phone. They were still there. But how did he-

She turns back to him. “What are they saying over there?” She points toward a couple girls chatting with each other outside the classroom. 

“It’s a bit rude to eavesdrop, don't you think?” 

“Just do it, boy scout.” 

Izuku rolls his eyes. “They’re talking about the release of Uwabami’s newest product next month. Some kind of hair spray or something.” 

Taiyo shot up from her seat and made her way towards the two girls. After a brief almost confrontational conversation, the girl makes her way back to her chair, a shocked look on her face. She slumps into her chair and looks back up at Izuku. 

“You mentioned something about being able to fly?” 

“Your quirk is bullshit.” Taiyo says as she watches Izuku balance a car on his pinky finger. “What’s the heaviest thing you’ve ever lifted?” 

Izuku puts a finger to his chin as he gently sets the car down. “Uhh, One time I saw a cat trapped under an abandoned building so I just…” He makes a lifting motion with his arms.

“You lifted an entire building?!” 

“Just a small one.” Izuku shrugged, “Probably only a little over 300,000 kilograms. I’m pretty sure I can lift a lot more now.”

“Can’t believe you’re brushing off an All Might level feat like lifting up a freaking building as just another Tuesday.” 

“Oh, I’m probably nowhere as strong as All Might! He’s the best hero in the world, my strength can’t even hold a candle to him!” 

“Your modesty is pissing me off.” She says, socking him in the arm. 

A small chuckle escapes his lips. She’s fun to be around. It’s still a bit too early to tell, but this might be the first person in years to see him beyond his quirk. Maybe even be his first real frie-

“Alright, I gotta go this way, dude!” 

“Huh?” He looks up and sees they’re at a crossroads. Looks like they’re going in different directions. Shame, he wanted to hang out with her a bit longer. This is possibly his first real friend in years and he has to leave already?

“Here.” she holds a piece of paper to him, “It’s my number, make sure to text me when you get home, kay?”

“Uhh.” Izuku robotically takes the piece of paper out of her hands and stares at it. A pretty girl just gave him her phone number. He looks up at her and back at the paper. 

Is this really happening right now?

“Gosh, you’re such a dork!” her punch to his arm barely registering in his mind. 

“See you tomorrow, Midoriya!” she yells waving at him as she runs home. 

Izuku gives a small wave back, his mind still racing. His lips formed into a small smile. 

He couldn’t wait to go to school tomorrow.

Chapter Text

“Whoa, who’s that? A new hero?” Taiyo’s hands settle on Izuku’s broad, muscular shoulders. 

“Yeah, her name’s Mt. Lady, I saw her debut this morning.” 

“‘Her gigantification is powerful but may cause property damage and can be hard to use in small spaces depending on whether or not she can control her size. Could use her sex appeal to distract villains in a fight? Izuku, you pervert! Didn’t know you were such a horndog” A teasing smirk creeping on her face. 

“Shut up, Akarui.” He pulls her off him and gently sets her on the desk next to him. “It’s a legitimate strategy for some heroes, acknowledging it doesn’t make me some kind of pervert.” 

“Yeah, whatever.” She takes a second look at his notes. “What’s this about her ass being her most distracting feature?”

A loud crunching sound echoed through the room. Some students were forced to cover their ears because of the invasive sound. All eyes turned toward Izuku. His face was bright red and his hands had a vice like grip on his now destroyed desk. 

“W-WHAT?! I didn’t write that down, did I?” He fumbles with his notebook, scanning the page. “I’m almost a hundred percent sure that I kept that part to myself! I-”

“Midoriya! Did you break your desk again?!” his teacher’s voice shouted. 

“Uh, s-sorry, Sensei. Um I was just- uh…” Taiyo was doing everything in her power to hold back her laughter. There was also a low growl heard across the room by only Izuku but he chose to ignore it. 

“Whatever, we’ll get you a new one as soon as homeroom’s over.” he let out a tired sigh. 

“Anyway, now that you’re all third years you should seriously start thinking about your futures!” 

He took a stack of papers on his desk and shuffled them around. “You know, I could pass out these future career forms…”

He takes the stack of papers and tosses them into the air. “But I know you all want to be heroes!” 

The room explodes with excitement. Students of every shape and size show off their unique quirks. Izuku looks around the room. One guy is pulling his eyeballs out of his sockets. A girl sitting a few rows above him is making her utensils float. Even Tesaki is showing off his long fingers. He almost wished he could join in. 

But he knew if he did, there’d be no more school to show off in. Unless he lifted the entire school, but that was overkill.

“Yes, I know all of you have wonderful quirks. But you know it’s against school rules to use them! So cut it out!”

“Hey, Sensei!” A voice rings out through the chaos. “Don’t compare me with these weak ass losers!” All eyes turn to a teenage boy with spiky ash blonde hair. His feet are resting on top of his desk and he’s leaning back in his chair. He sneers, his expression turning into one of confidence, “As if I had anything like their crappy quirks!” 

The room erupts with jeers and insults to the teen. He seems to be reveling in the attention, challenging any of them to be man enough and shut him up. 

“Katsuki Bakugo, yes, looks like you’re aiming for U.A. High School.” 

The insults stop. Instead, the class weighs his chances of getting accepted into the national ranked school. 

Izuku, on the other hand, rolls his eyes and decides to tune him out. He was fortunate enough to avoid Bakugo his past two years of middle school, but of course he had to deal with him his last year. It was bad enough that Bakugo made sure to confront and insult him whenever possible ever since their fight as kids, now he had to listen to him brag about himself all year about his U.A. application. 

“Izuku.” a voice whispered, inaudible for anyone but him. He turned to see Taiyo looking at him. She made a funny face and started mimicking things Bakugo would do in an over the top, hilarious way. 

Izuku had to clamp his hand over his mouth to contain his giggles. 

“Speaking of U.A., you’re also applying there too, right, Midoriya?” 

Izuku froze.

He turned. The entire class was staring at him now. He hadn’t bothered to hide the true nature of his quirk this year. Bakugo would’ve probably called him out on it anyway. Plus, he didn’t really need any other friends. Akarui was enough. She was the only one genuinely interested in him before she knew about his quirk. 

“Yeah, Midoriya’s a shoo-in!” A voice exclaimed, snapping him from his thoughts.

“He’s got good grades and an awesome quirk! There’s no way U.A. won’t take him!” 

The class cheers for him but the praise just rolls over the green-haired teen. He scans the room out of habit. When did Bakugo get on top of his desk? Oh, he was facing him. 

Bakugo jumps off his desk and stalks towards Izuku’s desk, small explosions crackling in the palm of his hand. He could see what was coming from a mile away. He had every opportunity to stop him a thousand times over. But he needed to get a new desk anyway, who cares if it gets roughed up a little more. 

Bakugo’s palm slams into Izuku’s desk, an explosion following soon after destroying whatever was left of it. 

Izuku didn’t even flinch. He knew Bakugo couldn’t hurt him. No one could. It would take someone like All Might to even tickle him at this point. 

His last journey to space to test his limits cemented it.

“You think you’re better than me with that fancy ass quirk of yours, Deku?” 

Silence. 

“Say something, you freak!” 

“You know you’d be a lot more intimidating if he wasn’t 18 cm taller than you! You’d need a step stool to even stand face to face with Izuku!” Taiyo jeered. 

Izuku let out a very audible “Phfft!” before it evolved into full blown laughter. A few giggles emerged from the other kids. Soon, the entire class was laughing at Taiyo’s roast, Bakugo turning redder by the second. 

“Shut it, you red haired bitch!” 

“Real creative insult, Dynamite boy.” Taiyos shoots back.

“Alright, alright, settle down everyone. Midoriya, I’ll go get you another desk.” 

Bakugo lets out a sound of disapproval and trudges back to his desk, Taiyo sticking her tongue out and making funny faces at him when his back is turned. And the chaos that was homeroom is finally over and normal lessons can begin. 

“Wanna stop by WcDonald’s on the way home?” Taiyo asks, watching Izuku pack his things. 

“I would but I promised my neighbor that I’d help install their new washer and dryer today.” 

“You’re such a damn boyscout.” 

“And I’m very proud of that, thank you very much.” 

Izuku reaches for his notebook before it’s snatched from his desk. Bakugo’s standing over him with a scowl on his face. His cronies stay a couple of steps back from him. They may follow him and all but even they knew better than to mess with the guy who could snap their necks like it was a twig. Not that they would think he would do that, but the thought still lingered

“We ain’t done here, Deku.”

“He’s not signing autographs right now, Bomb boy.” Taiyo glares at the blonde. 

Izuku slowly stood up out of his desk, towering over the others at an impressive 190 cm of pure muscle. The two cronies took a step back, but Bakugo remained undeterred. Whether it be through stupidity or stubbornness, he took any challenge head on. 

Izuku held out his hand, “Come on, give it back, Bakugo.”

The explosion user responded with a palm sized explosion to the hero notebook. 

Or so he thought. 

As the smoke dissipated, he saw Izuku holding his still perfectly intact notebook, waving it tauntingly in front of his face before stuffing it into his bag. 

“Tch! Fucking cheater ass Deku. Let’s go.” Bakugo walked off with his cronies close behind. 

“Sorry, Midoriya…” Tesaki mumbled as he passed by the green-haired teen. 

“Why’re you still hanging out with him, Tesaki? You know he’s not really your friend.” 

The finger extending boy paused, “He’s strong. If I stick with him, he won’t go after me.” 

“But you’re willing to go against me? Knowing what I can do?”

“No offense, man, you may be strong and break a lot of stuff, but you’d never intentionally hurt someone. Bakugo would.”

“Come on, Fingers!” 

“See ya, man.” he said as he ran off to catch up with the others. 

Izuku just stood there. His whole life he’d been holding himself back, making sure that he wouldn’t hurt anyone. The world was like cardboard to him, the people like glass. Now he’s hearing that even though he has all this strength, all this power, he couldn’t even be taken more seriously than Bakugo. 

“He’s kind of right, you know.” Taiyo’s hand gently clamps onto his shoulder. A bit of a challenge considering they were more than 30 cm apart in height. 

“I don’t call you a boy scout for nothing. You’re a nice guy and you always see the best in people. But it makes you look like a bit of a pushover.” 

“Thanks, I guess?” 

“Don’t mention it. Now get out of here, Superman, you got a washer and dryer to save!” 

Izuku rolls his eyes as he walks out of class with his best friend.

Superman, he kinda liked that…

Man, that guy was gross. Izuku brushes off any residual slime on his uniform. A slime villain had tried to attack him on his route home. Now he was just a stain on the sides of the overpass he was going through. 

There was still something coming from the sewers though. It sounded a bit bigger than the slime villain had been, maybe an accomplice. He heard a laugh. Wait, he’s heard that laugh before. Could it be?

“Dont worry, kid!” A booming voice proclaimed, sewer grate flying into the air.

“I AM HER- huh?”

The newcomer took in the scene before him. The villain was splattered all over the walls of the overpass and the kid- could he even be called that he was almost as buff as him and only 30 cm shorter than him- he had planned on saving was completely unharmed. He honestly looked like he was freaking out. 

“Young man, are you alri-”

“YOU’RE ALL MIGHT!!” Izuku yelled, covering the distance between them in an instant. “Ohmygoshyou’remyabsolutefavoriteheroofalltime.Ican’tbelieveI’mmeetingyouand-”

“Whoa, slow down there, fanboy!” All Might placed a large hand on his shoulder. It was honestly a little amusing, seeing this tall, buff teenager geek out like a little kid just meeting him. 

“Sorry, I’m just a really big fan. Would you mind signing my notebook?” 

“Why certainly, you did get caught up in the middle of my villain hunt after all. It’s the least I could do!” He boomed, happily accepting the extended stationary. He flipped the book open and scanned the page. Whoa, there’s some really good stuff in here. He flipped to an empty page, catching glimpses of some notes along the way, and gave him a nice, bold All Might signature. 

“Here you go, young man!” 

“Thank you so much! I’ll make sure to treasure this forever! It’ll be a family heirloom!” 

“You’re welcome. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to contain this villain and bring him to the authorities!” All Might took a bottle of soda out of a plastic bag. How had he missed that? He opened it up and began to chug the bottle down. 

“Oh! Let me help!” Izuku exclaimed, turning into a blur. By the time All Might finished the bottle of soda, Izuku had scraped the villain off every surface of the overpass and presented it to the hero. 

“Thank you, young- uh. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name…” 

“Midroiya Izuku, All Might, sir.”

“Thank you for your help, young Midoriya!” He funneled the villain into the now empty bottle and shoved it into his pants pocket. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I must be on my way!”

Wait, already? But Izuku still had so many questions to ask him. He was the only person who could talk about this, no one else would understand. He reached out to the hero. 

“Wait, please, I still have so much to ask you!” 

“Sorry, but I can’t! Pros not only battle enemies but also time!” He performed a few stretches and prepared to take off. 

“Until next time!” With a mighty leap, he took off like a rocket into the sky. “Thanks for your continued support!” 

“Wait!” Izuku shouted, calling on his ability of flight and took off after the number one hero. 

“That was a reckless, and honestly, stupid thing to do!” All Might scolded Izuku after landing on a nearby rooftop. 

“It’s not like it’s anything new…” he mumbled. 

The number one hero shook his head in disbelief, “Try the door over there and see if you can get down. Now, I have to be on my way!” 

“Wait, please!”

“No! I will not!”

“But!” 

All Might was at the railing of the building. This was his last chance. Who knew if he would ever see All Might again after this. Images flashed in his mind. Kumo’s dead body. His fight with Bakugo. The dreams of a destroyed Musutafu city and the bodies of countless innocents on his hands. His mother, dead in his arms from a hug. Taiyo, killed by his out of control heat vision. 

No. 

“I need your help! You’re the only person in the world that can help me control my quirk! Everyone else would just get hurt!” 

“Your quirk?” A sharp pain stabbed All Might in his side. He’s out of time for today. Steam pours off the body of the number one hero. 

“A-All Might! What’s wrong?!” 

The steam dissipates revealing a thin, sickly looking figure, almost resembling a skeleton. He’s just as tall as the number one hero and his hair is similar too, but why did he look like this? 

“All Might… What’s happened to you?” 

The man sighs, plopping onto the ground in defeat. “No use in hiding it. This is the real me, kid. Just don’t go writing about this on the internet, okay?” 

He carefully lifts up the hem of his shirt and reveals a nasty looking scar on his torso. Izuku gasps, tempted to throw up.

“Gross, right? A villain gave me this five years ago. My entire respiratory system was nearly destroyed, and they had to remove my stomach. Because of this, I’m only able to do hero work for around three hours a day.” 

“No way…” Someone did that to the number one hero? “Was it your fight against Toxic Chainsaw?” 

All Might looks surprised, “Wow, you sure know your stuff. But no, that could never do this to me.” 

He took a deep, ragged breath and stared into the sky, “This fight and my condition was never made public, and I’d like to keep it that way. The Symbol of Peace has to look fearless and strong, someone that will never succumb to evil.” 

“I understand, I won’t tell.” 

“Thanks, kid.” All Might shakily gets to his feet, “So, you mentioned something about your quirk. Let’s hear it.”

“Wait, really?” 

“Yeah, sure. But let’s walk and talk. Still gotta get this guy to the station.” he said, patting the bottle in his pants pocket. 

“Okay,” Izuku replied, the two heading to a door leading to the main staircase in the building. 

“The effects of my quirk came in late, the doctors say my actual quirk probably came in when I was four but I never showed any signs until later.” 

“Wait, so that jump you made wasn’t your quirk?” All Might asked.

“Flying, technically.” Izuku corrected, “And, no, not really.” 

“Hmmm.” He had All Might’s attention. He’d never heard of a quirk like this. Well, he knew of one quirk that was similar. But He was dead. No way they had any relation. 

“So, my quirk is called Solar Battery. It lets me absorb sunlight and store it in my cells to use later.” 

“Sounds like a fine quirk, young Midoriya, but I’m failing to understand what your concern is.” 

“I’m getting to that part.” Izuku says solemnly, “In order for my body to handle the massive amount of energy I was storing everyday, it had to change. When I was six, I developed super human senses, invulnerability, and… super strength. Apparently, my body had been absorbing sunlight for two whole years before it decided it needed to change. And my class’ pet hamster paid the price for it. I-I crushed him in the palm of my hand like it was nothing. I still feel bad about it.”

All Might laid a comforting hand on the teen’s shoulder, “I’m sure it wasn’t your fault, kid. Lots of kids have trouble with their quirks when they first come in.” 

“Maybe, but it got me thinking: what if that had been one of the other kids? What if I lost control and ripped off their hand? What if I killed one of them? It only got worse as I got older.” 

“What do you mean?”

“The older I got, the stronger I got. I started getting new powers and I had to constantly hold myself back. Afraid I could break something… or someone. What if it never stops? What if I keep getting more power to the point where I can’t control it?” 

“Young Midoriya,” All Might understood. When he received his quirk, he couldn’t believe the amount of power that was stored in it. He had to basically relearn how to do everything with his quirk active so he wouldn’t kill someone if he tried to rescue them. He had been anxious about that when he first started hero school. But through the guidance of his teachers and mentors, he learned to control his quirk and now uses it to help people. 

The answer was so clear.

“Young Midoriya,” Izuku looked up at the sickly looking hero, “Do you want to become a hero?” 

“Of course, it’s my dream.” 

“Do you want to help others with your powers, to protect and serve the community even at the cost of your life? To run headfirst into danger to save someone without even thinking?”

“Yes!” 

All Might’s lips formed into a wide smile, “Then you have no reason to be afraid of your power, young Midoriya. While it is important to acknowledge what your quirk can do, as long as you’re not afraid of it, you will remain in control.” All Might reaches out and taps Izuku’s forehead, “Remember that this is your most dangerous weapon, not your quirk. But this ” He points at Izuku’s heart, “Is what will guide you and keep you on the right path.” 

Izuku felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest. For so long he’d been plagued with the fear of the destruction his quirk could cause that he’d essentially been its prisoner. 

No more.

All Might was right. He didn’t have any reason to be scared of his quirk. It’s blessed him with so much. Maybe he should focus those blessings into helping others rather than hiding them away like he was ashamed of them. Gosh he’s such a hypocrite. Always seeing the beauty in everyone else’s quirks but never his own. 

“Thanks, All Might. That was a big help.” Izuku said. 

“You’re welcome, young Midoriya. To be honest, you remind me a lot of myself when I was younger.” 

“Really?”

“Really. When my quirk came in I had a lot of the same thoughts you did, it was only because of the people around me that I was able to become the symbol that I am today.” 

Wow, he’s so amazing, even now. Just reminds him how far he still has to go to become a hero like him. But now, it feels like nothing can stop him! His drive to be a hero stronger than ever before!

“Well, I’ve really gotta drop this guy off at the station.”

Izuku looked around. When did they get outside? Had his mind really been that preoccupied? He’d have to work on that. And the muttering, that was bad too. 

“It was great meeting you, young Midoriya. I wish you luck in your heroics career.” He stuck out his hand. Izuku ecstatically took his hand and shook it. 

Had he found the one? Perhaps, but it was still too soon to tell. Maybe he should stick around, give the kid a few more pointers about controlling his quirk. Keep an eye on him and see if he’s a good candidate for One for All. 

“Can I see your phone for a second, Midoriya?” 

“Uh, sure, All Might.” Izuku dug his phone out of his pocket and handed it to him. After a couple of seconds of button pressing, he hands it back. 

“Here, this is my personal number. If you have any more questions you want to ask, just text me.” 

Izuku felt like he was going to explode with excitement. He had All Might’s phone number! How many people could claim that they had that?! This was the best day of his life!

“ThankyousomuchAllMightsir.Thisisthebestdayofmylife,IcantbelieveIhaveAllMights number-”

“Creeping me out, kid.” All Might said, stopping Izuku mid-sentence. 

Man that muttering is embarrassing. He really had to get control of that. If he didn’t he’d drive his seat neighbors crazy before-

Wait, neighbors. He slapped a hand to his forehead, startling All Might. He forgot about his promise to install his neighbor’s washer and dryer!

“Thanks for everything, All Might!” Izuku said, giving the hero a wave as he started on his way home, “I gotta go now, but when I get home I need to ask you some questions about my journey to space! See you later!” 

All Might gave a small wave back. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and made his way to the nearest police station. Midoriya Izuku huh? He’s a good kid, plenty of drive, plenty of heart. He’s got the makings of a great hero. 

All Might froze in the middle of the sidewalk. 

Did he say space?

Chapter Text

“You want me to what?!” 

“It’s exactly as I said, Young Midoriya.” 

The once pristine Dagobah beach had been turned into a trash heap. A mixture of the currents carrying things on shore and locals dumping their garbage caused the trash to pile up. Now, no one dares go near the beach for fear of getting squashed by an unsteady garbage pile or the chance at tetanus. 

A perfect place for Izuku and Toshinori’s private conversation. 

“What exactly are you saying?” Izuku walked across the littered beach holding a broken down truck over his head. Toshinori pitched the idea to him to try and clean up Dagobah beach without excessively using his powers in order to practice better control. But he wasn’t expecting this.

“I’m asking if you would like to inherit my quirk.” Toshinori said nonchalantly. 

“Is that even possible?” 

“Look, I may keep a lot of secrets, but have I ever lied to you, young Midoriya?” 

I guess that’s true. Toshinori has been nothing but helpful to him ever since they met. He answered all his questions, he organized this training he was doing, and, sometimes, he sparred with him so he could let off a little steam. Earlier in their mentorship, whenever a question about his quirk or identity was raised, he’d always deflect or give as little information as possible, never lie.

But giving a quirk to another person, especially one as important and powerful as One For All, he couldn’t. He had his own quirk to control. One that was getting stronger every day. But it was such a huge honor to even be considered by the greatest hero in the world. 

Izuku set the automobile down in a pile bound for the dump. “All Might, I’m honored that you think I’m worthy of such an opportunity.” Izuku twiddled his thumbs together, looking down at the sandy floor. “But I don’t think I should take it.”

“Why not, my boy?”

“I mean, I’m not even properly trained and yet I win most of our spars through brute force alone. I don’t think I could control even more power even if I wanted it.” 

“Damn. With as much as a fanboy you are, I thought you’d jump at the opportunity to inherit my quirk.” Toshinori sighed.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine, I understand.” It was a bit of a setback but he still had a little bit of time to find a successor before his inevitable retirement. His time limit was down to about 3 hours nowadays, and it would only get worse the longer he took. Maybe it was about time he looked into this candidate that his old sidekick proposed to him awhile back. Couldn’t hurt to at least meet the kid. 

“Whoops.” Toshinori turned, Izuku was standing next to a completely flattened fridge standing straight up. 

“Alright, you know the drill, take a lap around Earth!” The hero yelled. He still couldn’t believe he was saying that with a straight face.  

“Yes, sir!” With a mighty boom, Izuku activated his flight ability, entering the stratosphere in seconds. Izuku took in the view below. No matter how many times he flew around it, the Earth was always beautiful to look at. He positioned his arms out in front of him and began to speed up. Running out of air wasn’t the issue, he found that he could hold his breath for an entire week and be fine. It wouldn’t be much of a punishment if he took his time and didn’t fly as fast as he could. 

If anyone ever bothered to go near the trash filled beach, they would see the occasional colossal splash made whenever Izuku landed back on Earth. 

“A bit slower than usual, what was the hold up?” Toshinori yelled as Izuku trudged back onto dry land. 

Izuku shrugged, “The Earth just looked nice today.”

“I think I’m gonna try to get into U.A.” 

Izuku paused the movie they were watching and stared at his friend. Hanging out at one another’s houses had become the norm ever since he and Taiyo became friends. From studying for tests, watching movies, playing video games, or even the occasional deep talk, they just enjoyed each other’s company. But Izuku never thought that she would drop this kind of news during one of their hangouts. He always thought she would tell him in the classroom or on the way to school in some sort of extraneous conversation. He knew she had been on the fence about what high school to go to for months. 

But U.A.? 

“I know that dumb face you’re making. It’s your overthinking face.” She snickered. 

His overthinking face wasn’t that dumb was it?

“I’m not applying to the hero course if that’s what you’re wondering. Not really my thing.” She fidgets with her nails, hugging her knees closer to her chest. “I’ve been thinking a lot recently. About me and about my future. I’m not really sure what it is that I want yet. But I know that studying at the best high school in the nation would be an incredible opportunity for me. Even if it’s only General Studies.” 

“That’s great news, Akarui!” Her cheeks slightly tinted pink at her friend’s praise. 

“Aw, thanks! But it’s just choosing a high school! It’s not that big of a deal!” 

“I guess so.” Izuku would never admit how much he thought of how their friendship would

be affected by going to different high schools. Sure he might make new friends at U.A. -and he’s almost positive they’d be real friends since they’d all have amazing quirks- but right now, she was the only friend he had. And he really didn’t want to lose another friend again. 

“And speaking of a big deal, let’s start studying for exams!” 

What? Was this really Taiyo Akarui? She hated anything to do with studying! 

“Well if I’m gonna get into U.A., I’m gonna have to pass their entrance exams! And you’ve seen my grades!” She held up a recent test with a red “35” on it. 

Izuku put a hand up to his face and rubbed his temples. He had tried tutoring Akarui before at her request. It had gone horribly. She was practically incapable of focusing on the work in front of her. And any information she did retain was gone the next morning. 

This was gonna be a lot of work…

“What a view.” Toshinori and Izuku stood on the pristine, white sand of the beach, staring into the beautiful morning sunrise peeking over the crystal clear water. There was not a speck of trash left on the once littered beach.

It was beautiful. 

“And it’s through your own efforts that we get to witness such a majestic sunrise.” Toshinori placed a hand on the teen’s shoulder. 

“Thanks, All Might.” He may have gotten to know the man better these past ten months, but the fanboy part of him still slightly geeked out whenever he was complimented by the hero. 

“Your exam is tomorrow, right?” Toshinori asks. 

Izuku nodded. 

“Nervous?” 

Another nod. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

Izuku shakes his head, “I think it’ll just make me feel worse.” 

“Well, just remember that you worked hard for this. You’ve prepared as much as you could and you have just as much of a chance as anyone else going into that exam. My advice, get a good night’s sleep tonight and eat a hearty breakfast tomorrow. You’ll feel like a million bucks.”

“Or sick to my stomach.” 

Toshinori chopped the green-haired teen on the head, “Stop overthinking things, kid. You won’t get anywhere by worrying. It’s fine to be nervous, maybe a little scared, but stressing too much and overthinking things will just psych yourself out and you’ll perform worse.” 

Izuku looks down at the ground. Toshinori's lips formed a small smile, “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off. Just go and do whatever teenagers do for fun nowadays, take your mind off the exam tomorrow?” 

That sounded good. Izuku knew just the place that would calm him down. “Thanks for the advice, All Might. I’ll try to take it easy.” 

“Good to hear. Now get out of here already!” 

“Right, see ya, All Might!”

Izuku flies off like a rocket and soon disappears into the bright, blue sky. Toshinori stares at the vacant space where his student once stood for a moment before heading to his truck. 

“Call me crazy, but I don’t think teenagers nowadays take a trip to space for fun.”

Izuku stared up at the massive building that was U.A. high. Its size seemed intimidating as it loomed over the boy. 

This was it. His fingers tightly gripped the straps of his backpack. A small, nervous smile was plastered on his face. He was okay, he had studied, he practiced with All Might, he worked hard to get here, he could do this. He started to take a step forward.

“Outta my way, Deku!” 

Great, just what he needed. 

“Stay outta my way or you’re dead.” Bakugo said. The blonde boy tried to shoulder check him but immediately regretted it, walking away from the scene rubbing his shoulder gently. Serves him right. 

A gentle, at least for him, shove in the back shook him out of his thoughts. He turned to see his best friend giving him an awkward hug from behind. 

“Can’t believe you didn’t even wear a coat today. It’s freezing out!” Taiyo said, snuggling deeper into his uniform. 

Izuku rolled his eyes and picked her up by her coat hood before setting her down next to him. Talking with her always helped calm him down. 

“Don’t need to. If I can handle space, then a little cool air is a walk in the park.” 

“Show off.” she pouts, lightly punching him in the arm. 

Izuku lets out a small chuckle. His stress and anxiety over the exam seemingly melting away.

Maybe U.A.’s exam wouldn’t be so nervewracking after all. 

The written exam had been pretty challenging. Even with his super speed processing, it had taken until the final minutes provided to solve every question proficiently. No wonder U.A. was considered the best nationally in heroics AND academics. 

He quietly follows the sea of potential hero students into the auditorium where the practical was set to start. Izuku scans the room with his super vision and finds his seat across the room next to, ugh, Bakugo. 

Of course it had to be organized by school.

He made his way over to his seat, Bakugo giving him a sound of disapproval once he arrived. A quick glare from Izuku told him that the feeling was mutual.

As soon as everyone is seated, the auditorium lights dim. The plethora of voices fade into silence as they all focus on a single spotlight where a man with sunglasses, spiked hair, and a leather jacket stands behind a raised podium.

“HEY! What’s up all you hero hopefuls!” The man yells, his voice clearly being broadcast throughout the auditorium despite having no microphone. “Let me hear you say ‘HEY!’” 

Silence. As much as Izuku wanted to not leave one of his favorite heroes, Present Mic, hanging, it’s probably best that he stay quiet. 

“So you’re playin’ it cool, huh? I get it! Anyways, I’m the one who’s gonna give you the inside scoop on your practical, you dig?” Mic pulls out a small remote from his jacket pocket and presses it. The screen behind it comes to life and showcases three different kinds of robots. 

“If you check your pamphlets, you’ll see there are three types of villain bots, each of them with a different point value!” 

Izuku looked down at his sheet. Weird, there were four listed here. 

“Points are given after defeating one of these types of bots!” Mic continues, “Use your quirks to destroy bots and earn points! That’s the goal, little listeners! Any questions?” 

“Yes, I have one!” a boy with glasses and well kept hair stands up. 

“On the hand outs you provided us it lists four villain bots, not three! If this is a mistake then it is very unbecoming of such a prestigious institution such as U.A.!” 

“Thanks for the question, listener!” Mic says striking a pose, “That guy there’s not worth anything. Best idea is to avoid it as much as possible! Anyone else?” 

Another moment if silence. 

“Well then, that’s all from me! Time to get this show on the road! Break a leg, everyone!” 

“It’s like an entire city!” one examinee exclaimed. After a short bus ride to his exam site, Izuku was put in front of a mock cityscape with over 100 other examinees. 

Now dressed in a tight tank top that showed off his godly physique and some track pants, he resorted to analyzing other people’s quirks to calm his nerves. They were all so cool and interesting. A boy with a flashy belt around his waist seemed to sparkle, A guy even taller than him had bones sticking out of his elbows, and that guy that asked Present Mic a question had engines coming out of his calves. 

Speaking of that guy, best to stay away from him for now. He seemed a little intense. 

He continued to analyze the quirks around him with mild muttering before freezing and glancing at a large tower overlooking the test sites. 

He heard footsteps. The exam was about to start. 

Taking a deep breath, Izuku made his way to the front of the gate. 

“What’s that kid doing?” One of the examinees asked, pointing at Izuku standing directly in front of the gate. 

“Probably trying to get a leg up on us.” Another examinee answered, “But the test hasn’t even started yet! We’ll just trample him over him during the countdow-” 

“OKAY, START!!” 

A deafening boom resounded through the testing site, startling the other examinees. They looked to see where the green-haired boy stood only to see a small cloud of dust and broken concrete. 

“What’s wrong?! Real life has no countdowns! That kid has the right idea! So, run, run, RUN!” 

By the time the other examinees had gotten their act together, Izuku had already managed to bulldoze through a horde of two pointers, racking up ten points.

Izuku’s main strategy is to use a combination of his super hearing and x-ray vision to find bots and pick them off as fast as possible. Which for him is pretty damn fast. 

Izuku takes to the sky and finds a group of three pointers. He dives down and punches the ground, sending out a shockwave and destroying four three pointers. 

A volley of rubber bullet rounds hit him in the back. He turns to see seven one pointers coming toward him, the guns on their arms pelting him with rubber rounds. His eyes glow red and two beams of intense heat cut through the bots like butter. 

Izuku keeps going like that for a while. Trying his best to control his output around the other examinees so he doesn’t get blamed for attacking someone else. He also uses his time to help a few students in trouble. He catches a girl falling from a tall building, melted a bot that was trying to sneak attack the glasses guy, and takes out a bunch of bots that were ganging up on the sparkly guy with the belt. 

Izuku blows away 2 3 pointers with his super breath. He thinks he’s doing good. He lost count of the amount of points he had a while ago but he had destroyed a lot of robots so far. He yanks the head off a 2 pointer that was trying to sneak up on him and throws it through a group of one pointers. 

Then the earth shook. 

“Looks like a pretty good crop this year!” Midnight exclaimed as she scanned the vast amount of screens in their observation room. 

“It’s still too soon to tell,” a cheery voice rang out, “But we seem to have an influx of flashy quirks this year.” 

“Especially that one.” Vlad King added, pointing at one of the monitors. All the observers zero in on the biggest monitor, which shows Izuku picking up a 3 pointer and tossing it like a softball at a one pointer on top of a nearby building. 

“Seems a bit reckless.” a tired voice critiqued, “Someone could have been on that roof.” 

“On the contrary, Aizawa,” Principal Nezu interjects, “According to his quirk registry, he has x-ray vision. I suspect he used it to make sure the area was safe before acting.”

“He has that along with super strength?!” Cementoss exclaimed, “How’s that possible, those two abilities aren’t related in any way.” 

“And much more it seems.” Nezu pulled up his file on a separate screen. 

“What an incredible quirk.” Midnight awed as she read through his quirk’s description. 

“Indeed, I assume you want to take him, Aizawa?” 

The man glared at the screen, watching carefully as the boy lifted a destroyed robot off another kid. He may be a brute that’s coasting on his strength like that fool All Might, but at least he was putting it to good use. “I’ll take him.” 

Nezu nodded, “Now then, Snipe, I believe it was your turn to push the button this year!” 

Even though he was wearing a mask, everyone could tell that the gunslinger was ecstatic as he pushed the big, red button. 

This would tell them everything they needed to know about this year’s crop.

That was the Zero pointer? 

The gargantuan machine emerged from behind a skyscraper. Its massive hand latching onto the side of a building and crushing it as if it were paper mache. 

Panic soon set in among the examinees. 

With only two minutes left in the exam, most of the kids focus more on staying away from that thing than getting points. For some, it’s completely overwhelming. 

Izuku could only stare at the machine as he floated in the air. How was U.A. able to get the funding for something like this? And why on Earth would they allow something like that around middle schoolers? 

“O-ow…” 

It was faint for everyone except him.

In the path of the Zero pointer, a girl with chestnut brown hair and rosy cheeks lay on her stomach, her leg trapped underneath some fallen debris. She looked like she was about to throw up as she struggled to her feet. She glanced behind her. The metal arm of the bot loomed over her, slowly descending onto her vulnerable form. Was she really going to die here? Before she could give her parents the life they deserve? She braced herself. 

Then all of a sudden, the robot was gone. 

She hesitantly opened her eyes. Her jaw dropped. The Zero pointer that was running rampant throughout the city was in the air, flailing about. Her eyes landed upon her savior, holding the massive machine over his head as if it were nothing while floating in the air. 

With a deafening sonic boom, him and the machine disappeared into the sky. 

The only thing that could be heard was the sound of Present Mic signaling the end of the exam. But the examinees at Izuku’s test site weren’t focused on that.

“D-did you see that?!” 

“What the hell was that?!” 

“He just picked it up and flew away with it.” 

“Who was that guy?!” 

“Look!” 

Through the harsh sunlight, the floating form of Izuku slowly descended until he was kneeling in front of the trapped girl. He carefully lifted the debris on her leg and gave her a bright, calming smile.

“Are you okay?” 

The girl gently caressed her ankle. Nothing seemed to be broken but it was a bit sore. She looked up to see her green-haired savior holding out his hand to her. 

“I’m fine,” she said taking the outstretched hand, “My ankle’s just a little sore.” 

“Okay, hold on tight.” Izuku gently shifted her into a princess carry and floated his way down the decimated street.

“Recovery Girl is tending to students on the other side of the facility. Let’s head over there and get you fixed up.” he said.

“Okay, thank you.” She squirmed slightly in his arms as she looked down as they passed over buildings, streets, and other examinees. She was no stranger to being up in the air because of her quirk, but never this high. But, considering that she was just about to die a few minutes ago, this wasn’t so bad. Something didn't add up though. 

She turned to her rescuer, “Hey,” he turned to look at her, “You carried the Zero Pointer off somewhere, right? Where’d you take it?” 

Izuku flashed her a small smile.

“Oh, I threw it into the sun.”

Chapter Text

“The scores for the practical are out. This year’s a total mess.” Present Mic groaned. 

“Tell me about it.” Vlad King sighed, “That Midoriya kid got so many villain points off the bat that there were barely any left for the other kids. How are we going to accurately grade the others in his test site?” 

“Should we just take the ones with the next highest scores in his test site instead?” Midnight suggested. 

“There were plenty others in different test sites that scored higher than them and we’re supposed to just let them through because one student took all the points?” Aizawa snapped. 

“Perhaps we should have a retest for that site only. With the exception of Midoriya, of course. I think it’s safe to say that he’s a shoo-in at this point.” Cementoss chimed in.

“Perhaps that would be for the best.” Nezu sipped his tea. “This is unprecedented, never in all my years of overseeing this institution have we encountered a dilemma such as this.” 

“You can say that again.” Power Loader piped up, “And we still don’t know what happened to our Zero Pointer after the exam! Yeah the point is to take it down, but we can probably still use scrap metal and parts from it if it were destroyed. Did you ever get a statement from him of where it went?”

“A little listener came up to me after the exam and asked to give some of her points to the Midoriya kid. When I asked her about it, she said he made a joke about throwing it into the sun.” 

A violent cough echoed through the meeting room. All eyes turned towards U.A.’s newest teacher, Toshinori Yagi, wiping blood from his mouth with a handkerchief. 

“Is something wrong, All Might?” Aizawa asked, callously. 

“I apologize, but I have reason to believe that what she was said is not a joke.” 

Silence. 

“Would you be so kind as to explain, Yagi?” Nezu asks, putting his paws together. 

“Well,” Yagi tugged at the collar of his dress shirt, “I met Young Midoriya almost a year before the entrance exams. As you know, his quirk is a bit of a special case. I tasked him with cleaning up Dagobah beach in order to better control his quirk, and every time he lost it, I had him take a lap around the Earth.” 

Another round of silence. 

“So you’re telling me that I’m never going to see that Zero pointer again cause this kid literally threw it into the sun?” 

Toshinori nods. 

“I need a nap.” Aizawa groaned, rubbing his temples. 

“So we’re all in agreement that we should give the students in that exam site a retest of the practical to better judge their potential?” Ectoplasm asked the room. 

“I’m against doing a retest.” Aizawa interjected, “Why should these kids get a second opportunity over the rest? It’s illogical.” 

“We’ll never truly know if we’ve enrolled the best of the best into our institution if we don’t give these kids a chance to prove themselves, Aizawa.” Nezu argued. “The only quirk we were able to fully see utilized in that test site was Midoriya’s.”

“What about the Uraraka girl? She managed to accumulate 11 villain points during the exam, but should we award her some rescue points for offering to give her points to Midoriya?” 

Nezu gave it some thought. From Mic’s description, she was willing to give away all her points in order for Midoriya to pass. That kind of self sacrifice was something that this institution needed. Too many have been able to coast through because of strong, flashy quirks and not because they represented the ideals of the word “Hero.” The second place examinee was proof of that. 77 villain points and not a single rescue point to his name. He had potential but displayed no desire to help anyone and was antagonistic to anyone who got close to him. But against the odds and with almost no chance of getting into the hero course, she still  wanted to help someone else even at the cost of her spot.

“Yes, I believe Ms. Uraraka is due some rescue points for her noble act. We’ll vote on the amount later.” 

Aizawa rolled his eyes. What a waste of time. 

“Now, let’s discuss when to schedule this retest.”

“Congrats on getting in, kid.” Toshinori held out his hand for a high five. 

“Thanks,” Izuku said, accepting the high five. “It was kind of surprising finding out that you’re gonna be teaching at U.A. though.” 

The two, once again, stood on the sands of their usual beach spot. The only difference was there were actually people there now. Apparently, a newspaper picked up the story of the restoration of Dagobah beach. They still had no idea that either of them were involved, but now that this was a good spot for dates, they had to keep their conversations more on the down low. 

And Izuku shouting out All Might’s name as soon as he sees him was probably not the greatest idea.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you, but I figured it’d be best to keep it under wraps until it was announced to the public.” Toshinori said. “I figured I’d take the job in order to find a successor.” 

“How’s that going? Find anyone yet?” 

The hero sighed, “It’s slow. I’ve met with a young man who would seem like a good fit, but I’m still not sure.”

“You have to choose someone soon, All Might.” 

“I know, young Midoriya. But I want to make sure that the choice of who I give my quirk to is my own.” 

A comfortable silence falls over the two. All Might, a man so secretive that the public didn’t even know his true name, enjoyed this. It felt like he was achieving some sort of new meaning in his life. Teaching the next generation of heroes was an important job after all. Maybe he should give that “Teaching for Dummies” book he got from Chiyo a read. 

Izuku, a boy so consumed by the weight of his own power that he kept others at an arms distance, was happy. He was spending time with his all time favorite hero as if they were friends. He felt like the hero was the only person in the world that could truly understand the burden of the power he carries. And soon, it would help him become the best hero he could be. 

Toshinori placed a hand on Izuku’s back, “Come on, I’ll drive you home. It’s getting a bit late, and I’m sure you have friends and family that want to celebrate you getting into U.A.” 

“That sounds great, All Might, thanks.” 

The hero gives him another pat on the back as they walk to his pick up truck.

The new school year couldn’t start soon enough. 

Man, this place was huge! And confusing. Him and Taiyo walked to U.A. together and he had just dropped her off at her General Studies classroom. But now, he had run around the entire building using his super speed and he still couldn’t find his classroom. 

“1-A… 1-A…” Izuku murmured as he jogged through the hall. He couldn’t be late on the first day, what kind of an impression would that make? 

After a couple more minutes of searching, he finally finds his classroom closer to the entrance than he thought it would be. Must have missed it on his way in. 

With a gulp, he slides the massive door open to find:

“Could you please remove your feet from that desk? You are desecrating the fine people who came before us and the craftsmen who made that desk!” The glasses guy from the entrance exam yelled. 

“Like I care. What middle school put a stick up your ass, extra?!” Bakugo snapped. 

“My name is Iida Tenya and I went to Somei Private Academy!” 

“So you’re from Somei! Bet you think you’re so much better than us, huh! Get out of my face before I blow it up!” 

“Do you really want to be a hero?” 

Oh great, these guys. Maybe he could sneak to his seat and-

“You!” Iida exclaimed.

Shit. 

“You’re the one that stole all the points at our exam site! While I must admit you were the superior candidate, do you know how embarrassed I was when I had to show up and take a retest?” Iida said as he confronted the green-haired boy. 

What, retest? Had he really taken out that many robots? Wow, now he felt kinda bad. 

“O-oh, sorry. I didn’t know you guys had to retake the exam because of me. Maybe I should have held back a little more…” 

“Nonsense!” Iida interjected, “We’re all trying to be heroes. Asking you to limit yourself would be unbecoming of me as a future hero!” 

“T-thanks, I guess? I’m Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you, Iida.” Izuku hesitantly held out his hand. 

Iida shook it eagerly, “Yes! It’s an honor to meet you, Midoriya!” 

“Tch!” 

Izuku’s eyes zeroed in on the source of the noise. Bakugo. He hadn’t taken the exam results well. He went so far as to corner him behind their middle school after classes ended and tried to pressure him into dropping out. Izuku ignored him of course. 

Izuku slumps into his desk chair. Now he had to deal with his shitty attitude for the rest of high school. Lovely. 

“Oh! You’re that flying guy from the exam!” 

Izuku turned to see the girl with brown hair he saved at the entrance exam. 

“You made it in! Makes sense though, you lifted that zero pointer like it was nothing! I’m Uraraka Ochako by the way!” 

The entire class’ ears perked up at the mention of the zero pointer. Many of them had seen the mechanical monster during their exam. It seemed impossible to stop, like a force of nature. But this kid stopped it effortlessly? Yeah, right. 

The sound of the first bell rings throughout the school. The girl quickly mouths Izuku a small apology for talking for so long before sprinting to her seat. Some students are still talking though. I guess it makes sense, their teacher hasn’t arrived yet. 

Then, he hears it. The faint sound of something sliding across the floor. He peeks over his new classmate’s heads and spots the source of the sound. 

A caterpillar with the face of a sleep deprived, scruffy man laying outside of the class doorway. Izuku blinks. Why was he just laying there? Had a homeless person found their way on campus and crashed right in front of their classroom. 

Then the caterpillar spoke. 

“If you’re here to socialize, you can leave now.” 

All eyes turn towards the voice. The caterpillar rights itself and pulls down a zipper in the front before stepping out of what can now be identified as a sleeping bag. The man that steps out is a complete wreck. His eyes are bloodshot and have huge bags underneath them. His hair is unkempt, and scruffy, it almost looks like it hasn’t been washed in days. And his clothes are completely wrinkled and solid black. 

All in all, he didn’t look like a teacher, let alone a pro hero. 

“It took you all seven seconds to quiet down. Time is important and we don’t have any to waste.” the man says. 

The class stays dead silent, hoping to not irritate the  man any further. “Good. My name is Aizawa Shota and I’m your homeroom teacher this year.” Without another word, he reaches into the sleeping bag he’d been in a few moments prior and pulls out a blue and white tracksuit. 

“Take these and meet me at the school grounds. Don’t waste my time.” With that said, he leaves the tracksuits at the door and trudges out of the classroom. 

Maybe this year was going to be weirder than they thought. 

“A quirk test?” The entire class exclaimed. All of Class 1-A stood in a courtyard behind the school wearing their tracksuits. 

“But what about the opening ceremony?!” Uraraka exclaimed. 

“A waste of time if you want to become heroes.” Aizawa answered with a yawn. “The Department of Education is insistent that the gym tests you take as middle schoolers are best done without the use of your quirks. Something about messing up the averages. They’re all irrational.” He turns toward the students and zeros in on Izuku. 

“Midoriya, how far could you throw a softball in middle school?” All eyes turn towards the teen. He almost wishes he wasn’t the tallest kid in class so he could make himself appear smaller. 

“Uh, they were never able to record my throws, sir.” Izuku answers nervously. 

The class looks confused but Aizawa just nods and tosses him a softball. “Try it with your quirk, you can do whatever you want as long as you don’t leave the circle or use your super strength.” 

“Huh?” 

“You heard me.” Aizawa glared, “I already know what you can do with your strength. So, hurry up and show me something new.” 

Izuku nods, then looks at the softball in his hand. He closed his eyes, trying to block out the whispers of his classmates behind him. There must be a reason for his teacher’s constraint. Maybe it was to force him to use his quirk more creatively instead of brute forcing his way through. If Mr. Aizawa wanted to see something new then he’d show him something new. 

He lightly tossed the ball in the air, slightly above his eyeline. He sucked in a hearty gulp of air and then blew. The force of his breath nearly knocked Aizawa and the other students off their feet. The power was incredible, as if they were caught in the winds of a hurricane. 

After a couple of seconds, Izuku ceased his super breath. That shouldn’t be coming back down at all. His classmates seemed impressed if their whispers were anything to go by. 

A beep came from a device in Aizawa’s hand. 

“It’s important for you to know your limits,” he said showing the class Izuku’s score, “That’s essential for becoming the heroes you want to be.” 

“Whoa! Infinity?! No way!” A kid with a lightning bolt in his hair exclaimed. 

“This looks like so much fun!” a girl with pink skin shouts. 

“And we get to use our quirks however we want! U.A.’s the best!” came from a guy with weird elbows. 

“‘Looks like fun ?’” Aizawa quoted, his hair falling over his eyes. “Do you think that these tests are just games? Are you even taking this seriously?” 

The students go silent almost immediately. 

“How’s this for fun?” Aizawa continues glaring at the group of teens, “Whoever comes in last by the end of my tests gets expelled.” 

“But that’s not fair!” an invisible girl shouts. 

Aizawa scoffs, “What about natural disasters and villains? Are those fair? The world is full of unfair things. And it’s our job as heroes to correct that unfairness. If you can’t even do that, you might as well leave my class right now.” 

The students all stare at Aizawa. This was U.A. after all. They didn’t produce some of the greatest heroes in Japan by coddling them. They put them through the wringer. That’s Plus Ultra. 

“Now, let’s get started.”

He’s pretty fast. Izuku watched as Iida passed the 50 meter line with a time of 3.04 seconds. A girl with the attributes of a frog coming in an also impressive time of 5.58 seconds. Everyone had such interesting quirks! He saw a girl using her vines to run instead of her legs, a guy using his belly button laser to propel himself, and a girl secreting some kind of liquid out of her feet and skating on it. 

Now it was his turn. 

He and Bakugo approached the starting line, the latter glaring at him the entire time. As soon as the starting gun is heard, Izuku bursts forward. 

“.1500 seconds!” a robotic voice calls out. To the others it looks like he teleported, but he just ran like everyone else. 

“Explosive Speed!” Bakugo shouts as he crosses the line with a respectable time of 4.13 seconds. 

“Dammit!” Bakugo yelled, stomping back towards the group. 

Aizawa shook his head. Bakugo had talent but that attitude of his was absolutely abysmal. In Aizawa’s mind, egos have no place in the world of heroics. He’d have to work on that. 

Next up was the grip strength test. Aizawa made the decision to exempt Izuku from this test so that he wouldn’t have to pay for another grip tester out of his salary. Izuku notices the two scores that stand out the most were a guy with multiple arms and a girl with a spiky ponytail. 

After the grip test was the standing long jump test. There were multiple winners of this test. Izuku easily cleared the sand pit by floating over it. Bakugo uses his explosions to propel himself over, the belly button guy makes use of his laser to clear the pit, and the frog girl just jumps over it. 

Repeated side steps is next. Izuku is a blur to the others and apparently the machine because it was unable to track his score. The only one who got close to his score was a short kid with purple balls for hair. 

For the ball throw, Aizawa exempt Izuku from doing the test again. Uraraka was the only other one able to match his score of infinity by removing the gravity of the ball and chucking it into space. 

The other tests go by without much fuss. In sit-ups Izuku was unmatched. In the seated toe touch, the pinked skin girl took the win, displaying her amazing flexibility. And for the long distance run, Izuku, Iida, and the girl with the spiky ponytail kept going until Aizawa cut them off. 

Everyone is lined up in front of Aizawa. He pushes a button on his device and a hologram with their placements appears. 

“These are the results of your tests, but you should know where you stand.” 

Izuku quickly picks out his name at the top of the list. He hears a lot of sighs of relief from his classmates as they pick out their name on the chart. 

“NOOOO!” All eyes turn to see the short boy with balls for hair, now known as Mineta Minoru, falls to his knees with tears in his eyes. Some felt bad for the boy, even going as far as to comfort him. 

“Oh, and I was lying about expelling someone.” 

“Huh?” the class blurted out. 

“It was all a rational deception to bring out the best out of all of you.” 

“WHHHAAAATT?!” the entire class yelled, forcing a girl with weird earlobes, Jiro Kyoka he thinks her name was, to cover her ears in pain. She must have some sort of hearing quirk like him. Maybe he’d give her some pointers on drowning out sound later. 

“Of course it was a lie.” The girl with a spiky ponytail, Yaoyorozu Momo, says, “It wasn’t difficult to figure out.” 

“But don’t get complacent.” Aizawa snaps, “If any one of you slack off, I will not hesitate to kick you to the curb.”

A few students gulp at their teacher’s words. 

“Anyway, we’re done here.” the teacher sighs as he starts to walk away, “Your curriculum and any other documents about your time here are in the classroom. Make sure to give those a look when you get back.” 

And with that, Class 1-A’s first day of class had ended. Something told them that this was gonna be a loooong year.

Chapter Text

Izuku never thought that classes taught by pro heroes could be so… normal. 

Present Mic, a man known for his upbeat, popular radio show was calmly standing at the front of a classroom teaching English. 

“Can anyone tell me which of the following English sentences is incorrect?” The normally loud hero said, pointing to the board. 

‘So normal…’ was the collective thought that echoed throughout the room. 

As if he could sense the boredom in the room, Present Mic tried to get the students a bit more invested. 

“Come on! Put those hands up! Show me some spirit!” 

Those were the extent of their normal classes. Taught by pro heroes, but relatively normal school classes. Their art history class with Midnight had been the only class that had been any sort of exciting. Maybe it was because she was so passionate about the subject or maybe it was because of… something else. 

After hours of regular lessons, lunchtime finally rolled around. Izuku took his meal from Lunch Rush -after getting an autograph of course- and scanned the cafeteria. He knew she was around here somewhere. Something bumps into him and almost causes him to drop his tray. 

“Lookin’ for someone, hero?” Izuku turns to see Taiyo holding her own tray and giving him a mischievous smile. 

“Just you, you doofus.” Izuku shot back as the two searched for an empty table. “How was your first day of classes?” 

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” she groaned, “You would think that classes taught by heroes would have a bit more pizzazz, you know?” 

“I know what you mean,” the two taking a seat at a table near the window. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Present Mic that listless before! He’s usually so energetic and pumped up, especially on his radio show! I remember yesterday’s episode where he-”

His rambling is cut off by a slice of bell pepper being shoved into his mouth, Taiyo smirking at him from across the table. 

“Whoa, slow down there, Izuku. I can only take so much nerd talk at once.” she teased. 

He chews the food in his mouth and swallows, “Even though we’re in high school now, you still can’t eat bell peppers?”

Taiyo’s cheeks glow red and she glances away from her friend, “Sh-Shut up… They’re just so bitter…” Izuku lets out a small laugh, the girl glaring at him even harder. 

“Excuse me, Midoriya?” 

Izuku turns to see Iida and a few of his classmates standing over their table. 

“I apologize for interrupting your conversation, but I wanted to ask if we may sit at your table?”  Iida asked, ever respectful. 

Izuku gave Taiyo a knowing look. During their middle school days, they fought off the waves of bottom feeders who only wanted to befriend the teen because of his quirk. Some even had the courage to try and get cozy with Taiyo so they could get closer to Izuku. 

But they were at a hero school now. This time it felt different. Like a genuine attempt was being made to get to know him better and become a trusted ally rather than someone to hide behind because they were tough. Taiyo nods her head and smiles brightly at the group. 

“Yeah, you’re cool. I wanted to meet Izuku’s classmates anyway.” 

“Thank you very much!” Iida exclaimed with a perfect 90 degree angle bow. 

“You’re so serious, Iida.” Uraraka commented, taking a seat next to Taiyo. 

“Yeah, you should loosen up a little” the pink skinned girl, Ashido Mina, agreed as she took a seat a chair down from Izuku. “If you frown like that all the time, you’re gonna get all wrinkly by the time you turn 30!” 

Iida looked somewhat offended, “How dare you!” he interjected, setting his tray down next to Izuku’s “I believe that adopting a serious attitude is important for being a hero!”

“But keeping it up all the time makes you a little annoying, kero.” The frog girl, Asui Tsuyu, comments, sitting next to Uraraka. 

“Come on guys, cut him some slack.” a boy with brown hair that could gyrate his body parts, Kaibara Sen, said, trying to mediate between them. 

“Alright, but frog girl’s got a point, you’re a little uptight.” Taiyo chimed in. 

“You can just call me Tsuyu.” 

“I see…” Iida despondently hung his head, “Being too serious could be counterproductive to working with others in the future. I will try my best to let up a little!” 

“The spirit’s there, but the execution is a little off, kero.” 

Izuku chuckles and continues to eat his katsudon. 

“Hey! Since we didn’t get the chance to do it yesterday because of Mr. Aizawa’s tests, let’s get to know each other!” Ashido suggested. 

“A splendid idea, Ashido!” Iida agrees. 

Izuku subtly pulls out his notebook. If they’re going to be introducing themselves, that means they’re going to talk about their quirks. And Izuku would be lying if he said their quirks weren’t interesting.

“I’ll go first! I’m Ashido Mina, my quirk’s called Acid which lets me make an acid-like liquid from my skin. I also really like to dance!” 

A couple of oohs and ahhs echo around the table, the pink girl puffing out her chest at the praise. “Who’s next?” 

“I guess I’ll go,” Kaibara volunteers. “I’m Kaibara Sen, my quirk’s called Gyrate, I can spin any part of my body really quickly. I also think cameras are really cool.” he said scratching the back of his head. 

“My name is Asui Tsuyu, just call me Tsuyu, kero. My quirk is called Frog and I can do whatever a frog can do. I really like rainy days and jelly, kero.” 

“I’m Uraraka Ochako, nice to meet you! My quirk is Zero Gravity, I can remove the gravity of something if I touch it with all five of my fingers. I can also release it by putting my fingers together. I love starry skies and space!” she said with a sweet smile. 

“My name is Iida Tenya, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance! My quirk is called Engine, I have engines on my calves that grants me enhanced speed. My favorite hobby is studying.” 

“So serious!” Taiyo blurted, causing the others to giggle. “Anyway, I’m Taiyo Akarui, nice to meet ya. My quirk’s called Solar Hair, in direct sunlight, my hair absorbs the energy and turns it into energy. I like trying different kinds of fast food.” 

Izuku was frantically taking down notes. So many cool quirks, so many different applications! Could Tsuyu develop abilities like the poison dart frog? Could Kaibara rotate his entire body and become an entire drill? Did Uraraka’s quirk simply remove gravity or did it have some sort of an inverse gravity effect? Could Iida- 

A hand gently clamped him on the shoulder, “Midoriya, I believe it is your turn to introduce yourself.” 

“Oh, thanks, Iida.” Izuku smiled back, putting down his notebook. “Hey, I’m Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet everyone! My quirk is called Solar Battery, I can absorb sunlight and store it in my cells to use later. I really like taking notes about heroes.”

“Wait, I thought you had some sort of super strength quirk.” Ashido pointed out, “Didn’t you use it for the ball throw and the sit ups.”

“He has a flight quirk, doesn’t he?” Uraraka interjected, “He used it during the entrance exam and the standing long jump!” 

“But that does not explain the speed he displayed during the 50 meter dash test and the side steps test!” Iida added. 

“Maybe you should just let Midoriya explain it himself instead of debating about it, kero.” 

All eyes turned toward Izuku, making the tall teen a bit embarrassed to be the center of attention. 

“W-well, the more sunlight I store up, the more my body has to change to accommodate it. Because I had so much stored, I started getting powers like my super strength and super speed. I’ve also obtained other powers such as flight, invulnerability, heat vision, super breath, and super senses.” 

“WHHHAAATTT?!” the table erupted. 

“That’s, like, actually insane, Midoriya!” Ashido exclaimed, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him in excitement. 

Uraraka’s eyes were wide open and was pointing a shaky finger at the teen. 

“S-s-so when you said you ‘threw the zero pointer into the sun’ did you-”

“YeAeAeAeAss.” Izuku replied, still being shaken by the pink ball of energy. 

“Ashido! Stop shaking him! This is not appropriate!” Iida manages to separate the two and Ashido, begrudgingly, returns to her seat.

“So does that mean you’ve been to space?” Kaibara asks, childlike wonder in his eyes.

Izuku straightens his tie and pats out any wrinkles made from Ashido’s enthusiasm. “Yeah, it’s actually the place I go to whenever I’m feeling down.” 

“Awesome.” 

Taiyo leaned back in her chair, a smug look on her face, “Yep! He’s a real super man isn’t he?” 

“Super man? What’s that, kero?” Asui questioned, putting a finger to her chin. 

“Just a dumb nickname she gave me in middle school,” Izuku answers. 

“But it works doesn’t it?” Taiyo points a finger at him, “You want to be a SUPER hero and you’re a MAN aintcha?” 

“Well, yeah, I guess but-”

“So, Superman it is!” 

A groan escaped Izuku’s lips. Well, at least his new friends seemed to get a kick out of his misery if the laughing was anything to go by. A small smile formed on his lips. 

He couldn’t wait to spend more time with these guys. 

After lunch, afternoon classes could finally begin. Every student was practically brimming with excitement. Why? 

It was time for their first Heroics Class. Very little information was given about this class in their schedules. There had been rumors of All Might becoming a teacher, but many assumed he would be spending time with the third years. At the very worst, their class would be taught by Aizawa and they would be threatened with expulsion again. 

“I AM…” 

Ears perked up at that voice. There’s no way. Could it be?

“Coming through the door like a normal person!” All Might exclaimed, coming through the door very much NOT like a normal person.

“No way! All Might’s teaching us?!” 

“U.A.’s the best!” 

“Now, now, let’s settle down, everyone!” All Might laughed. “I’ll be teaching Hero Basic Training this year! This class will put you through a variety of special trainings to teach you the basics of being a hero! Now, let’s get down to business!” 

All Might struck a flashy pose, discretely reaching into his belt and grabbing something. “Today’s activity will be…” He whips out a card with the word “Battle” printed on it. “Battle Training!” 

Bakugo’s face lit up the second he saw the card. This was his chance to prove himself. To show everyone that he was better than that cheater ass Deku! 

“But before that, you need these!” All Might pointed at a random corner of the room. 

Suddenly, sections of the wall began to protrude out, revealing numbered cases sitting inside glass containers. 

“These were made based on your quirk registration and request forms you sent in before the semester began. Ladies and Gentleman, your very own-” 

“COSTUMES!” the class cried out. 

“After you’ve changed, meet me at Ground Beta!” 

“Yes, sir!” 

All Might stood outside a large mock cityscape, looking straight down a hallway leading to the changing rooms. Truth be told, he was nervous. He had taken that “Teaching for Dummies” book Chiyo gifted him and read it cover to cover to prepare himself as much as possible for the classes ahead. He had planned to go into this teaching job with the sole purpose of finding a successor. But that had been narrow minded of him. Raising up the next generation of heroes to take over after his inevitable retirement was just as important. Who knows, his successor might be a part of this new generation. 

But it was still too soon to tell. 

The sound of footsteps snapped him from his thoughts. The students emerged from the dark hallway clothed in outfits of varying styles, colors, and complexity. Damn they looked good!

“Looking good is very important, ladies and gentlemen! Look alive, because from now on, you’re heroes!” 

“Why are you so interested in this, it’s not even your costume.” Izuku says, watching his best friend pace the floor. 

“Why aren’t you more interested? Your design is due this week!” Taiyo snaps. “And we both know you have shitty taste in style.” 

“Hey, I like those gag T-shirts.” Izuku defended. “They get the point across and make people smile.” 

Taiyo’s eyes lit up when he said that. “That’s it! Give me your pencil!” She practically shoves Izuku away from his notebook and scribbles over his rough costume design. She doesn’t touch the notes about the material needing to be virtually indestructible and able to handle high speed flight. That was important. 

“Done!” She stuffs the pencil in her hair and puts her hands on her hips. Izuku peeks over her shoulder and takes his first look at her new design for him. 

“You suck at drawing.” he says, earning him a slap to the noggin. But it wasn’t bad, solid design, nice colors, the cape might be a bit much.

Wait, what the hell was that?

“What the hell is that?” Izuku pointed at the center of the costume’s chest. 

“Oh, the ‘S’ it’s for your hero name!” 

“What hero name?”

Y’know, Superman!” 

Izuku facepalms. Sure, the nickname was cute the first few times but now it was the only nickname she ever used. And she used it way too often. Now this?

“Take it off. I haven’t even picked out my Hero name yet. Maybe I’ll think of something better. The ‘S’ would just be-” 

“It would get the point across!” Taiyo interrupted, “Everyone will know what it stands for! And when they see it, who wouldn’t want to smile knowing Superman’s coming to save them!” 

Izuku put a finger to his chin. His eyes glanced back at the drawing. He would have to redraw it and maybe he’d add a few touches of his own before sending it off to the school. But she might be right. It would be a symbol, a beacon of hope and a reminder of the kind of hero he wanted to be. He took one last look at the “S” on the chest of the costume and smiled. 

Ah, whatever, the “S” stays. 

All Might scanned the class, they were still missing a student. 

One last set of footsteps echoed through the hallway, all eyes zeroed in on the straggler. 

As soon as Izuku stepped into the light, jaws dropped. He wore a skintight blue one piece suit with white highlights that showed off his muscular figure. A long, crimson cape rested on his shoulders that nearly dragged along the ground. Red, leather boots that clicked with every single powerful step he took. A golden belt wrapped around his waist that added a nice splash of color to the costume. But the most eye catching detail was the red “S” inscribed in a yellow shield emblazoned across his chest. 

Now THAT was a hero costume. 

“Whoa, Midoriya, that's a sick costume, dude!” the kid with the lightning bolt in his hair, Kaminari Denki, exclaimed. 

“So manly!” the kid with spiky, red hair, Kirishima Eijiro blurted,a single tear falling down his cheek. 

“Indeed, truly a costume befitting of a hero” Yaoyorozu agreed, “But if I may ask, what does the ‘S’ stand for?” 

Everyone’s ears perked up at her question, even All Might. It was the first question they thought of when he emerged from the changing rooms. 

Izuku looks down at his chest and smiles lightly, “It’s supposed to be a symbol, to represent my hero name.” 

Yaoyorozu looked a bit surprised. Maybe she hadn't expected him to have a hero name yet this early in the year. “And what would that be?” 

Izuku let out a small sigh. He still wasn’t used to the name, but from now on, he would wear it with pride. 

“Superman.” 

A cough from All Might snapped them back to attention. Right, class. “Now that you all look the part,” He struck a power pose and smiled even brighter, “Are you ready, you bunch of zygotes?! Cause it’s time for your battle training!” 

“Sir!” Iida, who was clad in white, shining armor, raised his hand, “We seem to be in the center used for the entrance exam. Are we going to conduct urban battles again?” 

“Good question, Young Iida!” All Might remarked. “But no! We’ll be moving up a step! Indoor battle training!” 

All Might crossed his arms, “A lot of the villain fights you see on the news take place outdoors. But statistically, the most heinous crimes are committed indoors!” 

The class looked shocked. 

“From hostage situations, black market deals, to house arrest, in this super hero society of ours, the most intelligent villains hide in the shadows!” All Might continued. “For this class, you’ll be split into villain and hero teams and face off in two-on-two indoor battles!” 

“What about basic training?” Asui asked.

“The best way to learn the basics is through practical experience!” All Might answered. “Any other questions?” 

There were a few more questions among the students, all of which All Might answered fairly easily. He then went over the objectives of each team and the criteria it would take for either team to pass. And all without a cheat sheet! He had stuffed one in his pocket in case he needed it, but it looks like all that studying was paying off!

“The teams and opponents will be decided by…” All Might picked up a nearby box that had the word “Lots” printed on it, “By drawing lots!” 

“Is this really the most effective way?!” Iida blurted.

“Pros sometimes have to team up with whoever's available during an emergency. Sometimes you won’t get the luxury of choice.” Izuku argued. 

“I see, please excuse my rudeness!” Iida bowed. 

“It’s fine!” All Might reassured the boy, “Now, let’s get to picking!” 

One by one students took a small ball out of the box with a letter on it. Izuku was ecstatic as he reached into the box for his letter. He got an “F.” He scans his classmates as he walks back. Just as he was about to call out for his partner, he felt a small tap on his shoulder. He turns around to see an outstretched vine in front of his face. 

“I believe we have been brought together for this exercise.” the girl with vines for hair, Shiozaki Ibara, says, holding up another ball with the letter ”F” on it. He was honestly kind of glad he wasn’t paired up with any of the other girls. He didn’t think his heart could take it. 

Thankfully, Shiozaki’s hero costume consisted of a pure white robe, similar to a toga, and brown boots. It reminded him of an angel. 

“Great!” Izuku replied, putting on a cheerful smile. “I’m Midoriya Izuku. I’ll be counting on you!” 

The thorny girl flashed him a small smile. “Yes, may God’s favor shine upon us and help us achieve victory.” she said with her hands in a praying pose. 

Izuku only nodded. Religion may not be his thing, but as long as she was nice and they could work together, he didn’t mind. 

“Moving on!” All Might’s voice boomed. His hands hovered over two boxes labeled “Hero” and “Villain.” 

“The first teams to fight will be…” he pulled out a ball from the Hero box labeled “F” and a ball from the Villain box labeled “I.” “these guys!” All Might exclaimed. 

Izuku and Shiozaki glanced over at their opponents on Team I, Yaoyorozu and the belly button laser guy, Aoyama Yuga. This would be tough. Yaoyorozu proved herself to be very resourceful and intelligent during Aizawa’s quirk test, while Aoyama’s quirk granted him a decent amount of firepower. 

“Team F will be the heroes and Team I will be the villains. Everyone else, head toward the monitor room with me!” 

“Yes, sir!” The class rang out as they left the two teams by themselves. 

Izuku clenched his fist tightly and stared down his opponents. 

Bring on the indoor battle training! 

Chapter Text

“These building blueprints, they’re like a maze.” Izuku commented, sitting on a railing next to his partner, Shiozaki. The villain team had already entered the building, both teams were given ten minutes to prepare for the challenge ahead. 

“Yes, we must take this opportunity given to us and formulate a plan against our dastardly foes.” Shiozaki agreed. 

“You’re really getting into the role of the hero aren’t you?” Izuku asked, giving the green-haired girl a smile. 

She flashed a small smile back, “Yes, I believe that in order to gain the most from this exercise, we must adopt the mentality of the roles we must play. I’m sure our opponents are doing the same.” 

“Not a bad idea. So, if we’re going to treat this like a real-life situation…” Izuku pointed at his eyes and zeroed in on the building, scanning it up and down. 

Shiozaki looked a little lost. If they were to completely adopt the role of the hero, they would need a plan in order to achieve victory. But her teammate was seemingly staring off into space. 

“Forgive my lack of faith, but may I ask why we are not planning? Surely our opponents have one to defend their weapon, but are you planning to go in with nothing at all?” 

“They’ve placed the weapon on the fifth floor in the farthest corner of the building. Yaoyorozu seems to be setting up traps as they walk through the building. They’re in almost every room. Greased floors and stairs, flashbangs triggered by opening doors, you name it. If we somehow make it to the room where the bomb is, they plan to ambush us. Yaoyorozu will take me and Aoyama will take you. He has some sort of sprayer on his waist. Probably some sort of chemical to counter your quirk.” Izuku rambled. 

 Shiozaki was stunned. Izuku looked at his partner and pointed at himself, “X-ray vision and super hearing. Gotta use every little thing to our advantage, right?” 

“I was not aware you had those abilities.” Shiozaki voiced after a second of silence, “I was led to believe that you possessed a physical enhancement quirk.”

“It’s kind of a long story, I’ll explain it to you later if you’re still interested. But you were right about coming up with a plan. It would be stupid to go in without one.” 

“We do not have much time left to plan, Midoriya. We have to think of something.” 

“Hmm…” 

“Heroes! You may now enter the building! Your fifteen minutes start now!” 

Yaoyorozu steeled herself. She had been prepared for Midoriya to enter the building, guns blazing. From what she had seen of her classmate, he appeared to have extraordinary strength and speed. She also overheard rumors of him possessing the ability to fly but she couldn’t be sure. But she had a secret weapon for him, eyeing a cloth covered item in the middle of the room.

And then there was his teammate. She displayed incredible control with her quirk during Aizawa’s quirk test. Able to control each strand of her hair individually along with the ability to grow and detach her hair made her a formidable foe. It was a good thing she equipped her teammate with a powerful plant killing spray. It would be useful if they were forced into a fight. 

Speaking of her teammate. He had yet to be of any significant help. He seemed to be more interested in admiring his sparkly cape than strategizing with her. At least he just went along with any idea she presented. 

But it was too quiet. 

Three minutes had already passed and none of her traps had been triggered yet. Had they even entered the building? 

“Perhaps it would be best to go on the attack, non ? With my magnifique Navel Laser and your Creation, defeating the heroes would be a slice of cake, would it not?!” Aoyama said, dramatically posing to showcase his cape. 

“Our opponents should not be underestimated,” Yaoyorozu objected, “We need to stick to the plan and stall them until time runs out. That’s our best chance at victory.” 

Then she heard it. Small  echoed downstairs, from the sound of it, they came from the first floor. 

“They’ve entered the building.” 

“But it sounds like they have no idea where we are, non? They must be scurrying about the building checking every room they stumble across.” Aoyama sighed, “Ah, a foolish attempt indeed.” 

Indeed it would be, even if the two split up they wouldn’t have enough to cover the whole building with the amount of time remaining. But something felt wrong. Even though her interactions with both of her opponents had been slim to none, she knew they weren’t stupid. 

As if on cue, another trap went off. Then another, and another, and another. 

Pretty soon, she was being alerted that multiple traps on different floors were being set off simultaneously. 

“What is going on down there, mon ami ?!

It shouldn’t have been possible. Even with Midoriya’s speed and Shiozaki’s help, they shouldn’t be able to set off that many traps while avoiding the slippery and sticky trapped stairways. 

A soft creaking sound pulled her from her thoughts. 

Without warning, Shiozaki’s vines burst through the side wall. 

“Aoyama, cover your face!” Yaoyorozu shouted, a gas mask forming from her chest and picking up her own sprayer. “Take this, you hero scum!” She aims the nozzle at the approaching vines and shoots. The high potency spray burns through the thorny appendages and they reel back, almost as if they were in some type of pain. Yaoyorozu took a deep breath. Their location may have been discovered, but they only had a few minutes left in the exercise. As long as they could stall Shiozaki’s quirk before Midoriya arrived, they had a good chance of winning. 

A distressed scream from Aoyama rang out. Yaoyorozu whipped her head around to see the armored boy frantically spraying another wave of vines coming in through the doorway. 

“Protect the weapon!” Yaoyorozu exclaimed, putting herself between the vines and the weapon, the thorny tendrils creeping ever closer. 

“I apologize, mademoiselle Yaoyorozu.” Aoyama was almost completely enveloped in the green plants, “But I’m afraid that this is the end for me. Au Revoir!” 

“Aoyama!” Yaoyorozu cried out as she watched his cocooned body being dragged out of sight. 

“Aoyama has been captured!” All Might’s announced over their comlinks. 

Yaoyorozu sprayed another set of approaching vines. She had miscalculated. Perhaps it was because she never knew the full extent of Shiozaki’s quirk, but it was still a sloppy mistake on her part. She stomps on a group of tendrils snaking their way towards her. 

Could things get any worse?

The wall next to her is ripped open. Yaoyorozu watches in terror as a floating Izuku comes in through the newly made hole holding a chunk of the wall like it was a baseball. He casually tosses the debris over his shoulder and smiles at Yaoyorozu.

“S-Sorry to let myself in, the elevator was broken.” Izuku nervously quipped. “Now, I’m gonna have to ask that you surrender, villain.” 

Instead of the expected response of surrender, Momo smiled. “Thank you for being so defenseless, hero!” She grabbed hold of the cloth covering her secret weapon and whipped it off. 

It was a freaking cannon. 

“Say your goodbyes, hero!” she laughed as she hit a switch, launching the cannonball straight at Izuku’s chest. 

Only for the metal to fold like tinfoil the second it makes contact with his body. 

The smushed cannonball drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Yaoyorozu’s jaw drops. Even All Might wouldn’t be able to tank a cannonball to the chest! So he had strength, speed, flight, and invulnerability? Most intriguing. 

Izuku kicked the hunk of metal to the side as if it didn’t weigh almost fifteen kilograms. “If you don’t mind, I’ll be taking that weapon now.” Izuku said, walking towards her. 

“This isn’t over!” Yaoyorozu yelled, forming a titanium bo staff in her right palm. With a grunt of effort, she swung the staff at his head only for it to bend against him on impact. 

“Excuse me.” Izuku says, gently moving Yaoyorozu to the side and touching the fake weapon. 

“The weapon is secured! Hero team wins!” All Might announces. 

Yaoyorozu fell to her knees. Izuku turned and immediately rushed to her side and started fussing over her. 

“What’s wrong? Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I? Do you need a medic or something? I can fly you to Recovery Girl if you-” 

“I’m fine, Midoriya.” Yaoyorozu reassured the frantic boy, “Thank you for worrying about me.” 

He might be indestructible but he was still a dork. 

“I guess I’m just a bit disappointed in myself.” she said with a solemn look on her face, “I pride myself on my intellect and planning, and then to have it all dismantled so easily. It’s a bit disheartening.” 

Izuku flashed her a small smile and offered her his hand. She graciously accepted it, and Izuku floated them both to their feet. 

“Well, if it makes you feel any better…” Izuku said, nervously scratching the back of his head, “The only real reason we were able to pick apart your plan so easily was because I used my x-ray vision and super hearing to listen in on it and counter it with Shiozaki’s quirk.” 

He was met with silence. Then some light punches in the arm from a pouting Yaoyorozu. 

“How dare you! You spied on us?! No wonder my plan fell apart so easily!” Izuku let out a small laugh as he tried to calm the girl down. 

“Your quirk is fascinating though, Midoriya. Would it be alright to ask you a few questions about it after class?” Yaoyorozu asked as they began their descent downstairs. 

“Of course, I’d be happy to! I have a few questions and theories about your quirk too!”

The two continued to walk down the flights of stairs chatting and discussing theories about their quirks. Izuku smiled brightly. He never had anyone that he could bounce ideas off of and nerd out with. Taiyo wasn’t exactly the scholarly type. But Yaoyorozu seemed delighted to have someone to talk with. She was practically bouncing with enthusiasm. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship. 

“You four performed extremely well in spite of it being your first heroics class,” All Might said proudly, “The hero team was able to overwhelm the villain team through clever use of misdirection and calculative force. They treated this exercise like a real-life situation and used every resource available to their advantage, picking off the villains one at a time and avoiding damage to the weapon. The villains were no slouches either! Young Yaoyorozu and young Aoyama used many traps and tricks in an attempt to confuse the heroes, and fully adopted the persona of the villain.” 

All Might turned to his class, “But in terms of the MVP, I would have to give it to Young Yaoyorozu!” 

“Wha-” The rich girl almost shouted in disbelief but managed to compose herself. 

“Why not Midoriya or Shiozaki? They were the ones who won.” Asui commented. 

“An excellent question, indeed!” All Might mused, “Can anyone tell me why?” 

“I will try, All Might, sir!” Iida exclaimed, raising his hand eagerly, “While Midoriya and Shiozaki were able to obtain victory, they were still careless in their approach. Both of them caused unnecessary destruction to the building and had numerous opportunities to neutralize the weapon! Aoyama was too distracted by his costume and panicked when pressured. Yaoyorozu had countermeasures for both of their quirks and set numerous distractions to waste the heroes’ time. She protected the weapon until the very end, and her only fault was the lack of information on Midoriya’s true abilities. Therefore, I believe she deserves the MVP award!” 

The class applauded. Yaoyorozu was shocked, but gracefully bowed in acceptance. 

All Might nodded along, “Mhm, good observations, young Iida! I would like to add that young Shiozaki’s destruction of the building was understandable. Breaking down a wall is a great way to catch your opponent off guard, and her only knowledge of where to navigate the traps and villains was information given by young Midoriya. But other than that, you’re correct!” 

“Thank you very much, All Might, sir! I apologize for my ignorance!” Iida bowed. 

“Don’t sweat it! You’re here to learn after all!” All Might gave him a thumbs up, “Now, Team D will be the villains, and Team C will be the heroes!” Izuku pulled out his notebook from…somewhere. He couldn’t wait to see all his classmates' quirks in a combat setting!

The matches that followed were, while not as exciting, still a head turner. 

The villains of Team D, Sero and Uraraka, were able to stall the heroes of Team C, Asui and Iida by using Sero’s tape to stop Iida from using his engines, and Uraraka was able to keep Asui busy by throwing weightless debris at the frog girl and cornering her into a web of tape. 

The match between the hero Team A, Tokoyami and Ashido, and villain Team G, Koda and Shoji had been horrifying. Koda had managed to gather an army of rats and with the help of Shoji’s quirk, instructed them to stall the unsuspecting heroes. Tokoyami and Ashido concurred that it might be safer to just surrender than fight off rats for the rest of their time. 

The heroes of Team D, Bakugo and Hagakure, were seconds away from losing to their villain opponents on Team B, Kaminari and Kirishima. Bakugo had refused to work with the invisible girl and ordered her to “stay out of his way,” resulting in a stalemate match between him and Kirishima where the red-head tanked his explosions and counterattacked whenever the blonde got too close. Meanwhile, Hagakure searched throughout the building and found the room where Kaminari was guarding the weapon with a small field of electricity along the floor. After removing her boots and gloves, she trudged through the electrified floor and managed to touch the weapon seconds before the time ran out. Bakugo was absolutely livid at the fact that he had been so useless against “shitty hair.” 

The last match was, by far, the fastest. The villain Team J, Jiro and Mineta, had set up multiple traps, courtesy of Mineta’s Pop Off quirk, but it proved useless when Todoroki asked Kaibara to stay outside as he froze the entire building. With the soles of their feet frozen to the floor, the Half Cold, Half Hot user easily secured the weapon. Bakugo had become uncharacteristically silent after that match.

“Well done, everyone!” All Might exclaimed, “No serious injuries and I saw some great teamwork out there! You all performed spectacularly for your first training exercise! Change out of your costumes and head back to the classroom!” With that said, the number one hero took off down the hall, clearly having somewhere to be. 

“All Might’s so amazing!” Kaminari exclaimed. 

“But what was he in such a hurry for?” Kaibara asked.

“I dunno, but that’s so cool.” Mineta awed. 

The class agreed, watching his retreating form.

As soon as school let out, the blonde had packed his things as quickly as possible and left, looking like he was in a daze. 

How? How had HE almost lost! He had wasted so much time on that shitty hair extra that the Invisible bitch had to carry him to get the victory. He’d been almost useless in that exercise. Useless, HIM? It had to be a fluke, there’s no way these extras were that good! He was the greatest! They were just stepping stones in his goal to be number one!

Then that Ponytail girl absolutely ripped into him. She called him irrational, arrogant, and foolish. That he was the reason they almost lost their match. That if they had adopted a stealthier option, they could’ve won much quicker if they teamed up on Sparky. 

She was right, and he hated that. 

Then the ice bastard won his match. 

He had done it so quickly, so effortlessly. He was strong. Could he even beat that guy? Was he not the best? Was he just an extra to that guy?

His mind lingered on those thoughts for the rest of the day, afternoon classes barely even registering to him. When classes were over, he mechanically packed his bag, ignoring anyone who tried to talk with him, and walked out the building. He had almost made it to the front gate, when a strong gust of wind hit him. 

Now Deku was in front of him. The shitty, cheater Deku who didn’t get his quirk until he was six. The Deku that followed him and his lackeys all around the neighborhood, but stood up to him when they were putting an extra in his place. The same Deku that kicked their asses and could now eat cannonballs to the chest for breakfast. 

Could that icy bastard even beat Deku? And if he couldn’t even beat the ice guy, what did that make him? He angrily bit his lip. Ponytail said it herself: foolish… arrogant… weak… 

He clenched his pocketed fists. 

“What do you want, Deku?” Bakugo growled.

Izuku crossed his arms, making sure to look Bakugo directly in the eyes, “So, what did you think of our classmates? Are they the extras you thought they’d be?” 

Bakugo’s eyes widened before furrowing into his signature glare, “Is that all you wanted to say? Get out of my way, Deku.” 

“Todoroki has an interesting quirk, he seems strong.” 

Bakugo froze. 

“Kirishima’s quirk’s also cool. He’d be really tough to take down.”

Bakugo grit his teeth. 

“And Hagakure, her quirk’s really good for stealth, it’d be really good for sneaking in and disarming-”

“Shut up!” Bakugo screamed, “What? Are you trying to make a fool out of me?” 

“I’m trying to help you. Ever since you got your quirk, you’ve looked down on others, thought of them as lackeys, extras. Even me, even now, you still think I’m somehow a cheater.” 

He clenched his fists tighter. 

“But this is U.A., the most prestigious hero school in the nation. Everyone in our class earned their spot here and they’re starting from the bottom, same as us. Everything that our old teachers told us, it doesn’t matter. We’re not that special here.” 

“I know that, okay?!” Bakugo bursts, “I got carried by that fucking invisible girl when I couldn’t beat shitty hair! When I saw that icy bastard I knew I couldn’t beat him! And I even agreed with what that ponytail girl said! Dammit!” 

Bakugo’s red eyes met Izuku’s green, “And you too…Deku!” he yelled, tears welling up in his eyes, “You haven’t seen anything yet! I’m gonna get stronger and then I’ll surpass them and then I’ll surpass you! From here on… I’m gonna beat you all!”

He quickly tried to wipe away any tears threatening to fall and shoved past his former friend. 

“You’ll see! I’m never gonna lose to any of you again!” 

Once he was out of sight, Izuku smiled. Bakugo’s fuse had been lit, now seeing his classmates as real threats. He was still a loudmouth and a cocky asshole, but it was a start. 

Izuku let out a small sigh. Today had been the start of his hero journey, and he still had a lot to learn. 

Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough. 

Izuku was sure of it now, he hated the media. His bump in with them at the school gate had been less than pleasant. Shouting at him, shoving microphone and cameras in his face, and overall harassment towards him. Made him crack a smile when the U.A. barrier slammed in their stupid faces. 

The bell rang and Aizawa walked into the classroom, a stack of papers in his hand. 

“Good work with yesterday’s heroic course.” Aizawa said, “I’ve gone over your grades and evaluations. Bakugo.” 

The teen flinched at his name being spoken, “You only managed to win thanks to your teammate. Stop wasting your talent and grow up already.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“Todoroki, make a better effort to work with your partner. Because being a lone wolf in my class won’t cut it.” 

“Understood.” the heterochromatic teen answered stoically. 

“And Midoriya, you’re way too careless. I understand that you’re invulnerable but you need to exercise more caution, especially when dangerous weapons are involved.”

“Yes, sir!” he replied earnestly. 

Aizawa nodded. “Now onto homeroom. Sorry it’s a bit late notice but today you’ll be…”

The class steeled themselves for another test of some kind. 

“Picking a class president.” 

Oh, so just a normal school thing. 

Chaos ensued as every student in the class frantically raised their hands, aiming for the position. 

“Everyone, stop!” Iida’s voice rang out through the chaos. “This position is a heavy responsibility. It is not just a job for anyone! Therefore, if we want to solve this democratically, I propose that our president should be chosen through election!” 

“Your hand is raised the highest!” the class exclaimed. 

“But we barely know each other, we haven’t had the time to build trust with anyone.” Asui commented. 

“Yeah, won’t everyone just vote for themselves?” Kirishima agreed. 

“That’s why the person who does receive multiple votes will be the best candidate for the job!” Iida replied. He turned to their homeroom teacher who had wrapped himself in his trusty, yellow sleeping bag. “What do you think, Mr. Aizawa?”

“I don’t care, just get it over with quickly.” 

“I can’t believe I got four votes…” Izuku said, looking at his katsudon. “It feels a little unreal…”

“Why’s that? You wanted it didn’t ya?” Taiyo said, putting a bell pepper on his tray. 

“Of course I wanted it, but I’m worried about whether or not I’m qualified for the job.” 

“You should have a bit more confidence in yourself, Midoriya.” Iida replied. “Your analysis and planning in the battle trial showed that you would be the perfect candidate for the position. That’s why I voted for you at least.” 

“Same here.” Kaibara agreed from across the table. 

“It’s a bummer I didn’t win, but I could get behind Midroiya being our president.” Ashido commented. 

“I agree,” Yaoyorozu said, she and Jiro had decided to join them for lunch today, “While it is a shame that I did not win, I look forward to working with you as your Vice President.”

Everyone nodded. Izuku looked around the table and smiled. Everyone here believed in him. He would do his best not to let them down. Things were looking up for him. 

Then the alarms went off. 

Panicked students raced towards the exit, pushing, shoving, and trampling over anyone that might be in the way.

While Iida was asking an upperclassman about the situation, Izuku froze.

His head whipped around. He heard something. Something was wrong. He didn’t recognize these voices. 

Without another word, he ran against the crowd and down the maze of hallways until he reached one of the many teacher’s lounges. 

There, a young man with pale, dry skin and sickly looking grayish blue hair wearing all black clothing, and a dark purple ominous looking portal. The man was holding a folder with four of his fingers, similar to how Uraraka did when she didn’t want to use her quirk. 

His green eyes met the man’s angry scarlet eyes as the portal began to close around him. 

“Hey, stop!” Izuku rushed forward but the void closed before he could grab the trespassers. 

Izuku stood there, stunned. There’s no way this was happening. 

Someone had infiltrated U.A.

Chapter Text

“Help! Someone please help!” a woman yelled. 

Izuku’s ears perked up at the cry and rushed in to help, “What seems to be the problem, miss?” 

“It’s my cat, Squeakers! He won’t come down!” 

Izuku looked up to see a calico cat sitting on top of a lightpost. It looked down at the two of them and let out a small yawn. 

“No problem, miss. I’ll get him down in a flash!” Izuku said with a smile. 

He floated up to the height of the lightpost and gently took the cat in his hands. He lands and places the feline in the hands of its owner. 

“Thank you so much, young man! Squeakers say thank you too!” 

The cat turned to face him and the face of the man that had broken into U.A. was all he saw. Izuku reeled back. The scarlet, hate-filled eyes staring at him past the long, shaggy strands of grayish blue hair that went past his nose. Izuku wanted to run. He wanted to get away from him, but he was frozen in place. Something about the man screamed “dangerous.” The man reached his hand out, his five fingers hovering just above the surface of his face. The man slowly placed his thumb on Izuku’s face. Then another finger, then another, and another. Finally, only his pinky finger remained. Izuku’s heart hammered in his chest, his brow drenched in sweat and his legs shaky. The appendage slowly descended over his eye, and just as he thought it was all over-

“The morning is here! The morning is here!”

Izuku shot upright out of bed, bringing his hand down on his All Might themed alarm clock, smashing it to pieces. And his nightstand. 

His breath was ragged, sweat seeping into the sheets of his bed. Why was he so afraid? He was invulnerable! He could take hits from All Might and walk it off! 

But there was something about that face he saw radiated pure evil. 

His fingers clung to the fabric of his shirt, hoping that it could calm his rapidly beating heart. He was fine. No one could hurt him. It was only a nightmare, he’s had plenty of those before. His breaths softened and his heart slowed. He took one final deep breath before slumping against his bed’s headrest. 

What a way to start the day.

For today’s basic hero training,” Aizawa stood at the front of the classroom, “You’ll be supervised by All Might, me, and one other person.” 

“What exactly are we going to be doing?” Sero asked with a raised hand.  

Aizawa reached into his costume and held out a card with the word “Rescue” printed on it. “You’ll be learning how to deal with disaster relief, fires, floods, and everything in between. It’s Rescue Training.” 

The class stirred with excitement, some of the students chatting with one another about the upcoming exercise. 

“Quiet down, I’m not done.” 

The class went still. 

“It’s up to you whether or not you wear your costumes. Some of them are ill-suited for this training. The training site we’ll be headed to is a bit remote, so we’ll be going by bus. That’s all, hurry up and get ready.” 

Soon after, the class had changed into their costumes and filed into the bus, with the help of Izuku and Yaoyorozu, and were on their way to their training site. 

“This cape keeps getting in the way.” Izuku shifts around in his seat, straightening his cape and sitting back down. “Sorry if I’m bothering you Asui, you too, Kaibara.” 

“Call me Tsuyu. And it’s alright Midoriya, kero.” the frog girl said. 

“Yeah, man, it’s cool.” The Gyrate user assured him. 

“Midoriya, I generally say what’s on my mind, and I’ve been wondering about something, kero.” Asui said. 

“What’s up?” Izuku asked. 

“Do you really get stronger the more you stay in the sunlight?” 

“Yeah, but it’s not immediate. It usually takes a couple of years before there’s any significant change.” Izuku answers. 

“Whoa, that’s really cool!” Kirishima exclaimed “You could stand out a lot with a quirk like that! My Hardening is great for a fight, but it’s a little boring.”

“I think it’s a great quirk, it’s definitely more than enough to go pro!” Izuku assured. 

“Thanks, man!” Kirishima said, “While we’re on the subject of strong and cool quirks, we gotta talk about Bakugo and Todoroki’s!” 

A few of them turned to see Bakugo glaring out the window and Todoroki fast asleep. 

“Bakugo’s always angry. He’d never be popular.” Asui said bluntly.

“What’d you say, Frog face!” Bakugo exploded. 

“See.” 

“We’re here, stop messing around.” Aizawa snapped. 

“Yes, sir!” 

This day officially sucked. 

In the middle of Thirteen’s insightful speech, explaining the dangers of their quirks to other people, something unexpected happened. Near the fountain of the USJ, a familiar dark purple swirling mass appeared. It expanded until it was big enough for a bunch of individuals to come through and swarm the plaza. One of them Izuku recognized. He was covered in disembodied hands, but he’d recognize that hair and those eyes anywhere. There was also one more that stood out. It was tall, probably taller than All Might. It’s brain exposed, a beak-like face with sharp, jagged teeth. He was trouble.  

“Everyone! Stay together and don’t move!” Aizawa yelled, putting on his goggles and slipping into a battle stance. “Those are villains!” 

The mist formed into a rough head with yellow eyes and began to speak “Thirteen and Eraserhead? The schedule we received the other day said that All Might was supposed to be here.” 

Aizawa grit his teeth, “These must be the guys that Midoriya told us he saw stealing from the teacher’s lounge.” 

A sigh escaped the young man covered in hands, “Where is he? We’ve come all this way, and brought so many playmates. Yet he’s not here.” 

He cranes his head to look at the students, his manic eyes peeking through the hand on his face.        

“I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here.” 

Aizawa’s scarf flared to life. “Thirteen begin evacuating the students! The alarms haven’t gone off so one of them must be jamming it with their quirk. Kaminari, try to get in touch with the school!”

“G-Got it!” the blonde teen replied. 

Aizawa nodded before jumping down the set of stairs leading to the entrance into the fray of villains. 

“Come on, kids. We need to go!” The space hero exclaimed, rounding up all the students and making their way to the exit.

“I’m afraid I cannot allow that.” 

The mist villain formed in front of them, blocking the exit. 

“Greetings. We are the League of Villains. Forgive our uninvited appearance but we have come to U.A., the peak of heroic education, to end the life of the Symbol of Peace, All Might. 

Gasps rang throughout the class. Izuku’s mind was racing. Kill All Might? He couldn’t just stand by and watch. He needed to act. He looked at the villain in front of him. Was he made entirely of mist or did he have some sort of body under there? Subtly activating his x-ray vision, he was shocked to see a metal neck brace and an elegant suit underneath. So there was a body. Now he just had to stop him from warping.

“We were under the impression that he would be here today. Perhaps there was a last minute change to the schedule? No matter.” 

The mist surrounding him expanded, threatening to swallow the group whole. Thirteen discreetly uncapped one of her finger caps on her suit.  

“My role remains unchanged.” 

In a fraction of a second, Izuku lunged at the villain, grabbing him by his neckbrace and slamming him into the ground. 

“Wha- How did you-”

“Make even the slightest move and you’ll lose your neck.” he threatened, tightening his grip on the brace, slightly bending the metal. 

“So, this is U.A.’s golden eggs this year. They’ve really outdone themselves.” 

“Midoriya!” Thirteen shouted, Izuku turned to look at the hero “Get away from him!” 

“Begone.” 

In an instant, the mist surrounding the man expanded, engulfing Izuku and anyone near. 

As the darkness fades,  Izuku opens his eyes and finds himself in a collapsed building. Villains perk up at seeing his new arrival.

“Deku?” Izuku turned to see Bakugo and Kirishima standing next to him, “What the hell are you doing here?” 

They must have ended up in the same zone since they were the closest together. 

“What do you think, genius? We were teleported here.” he replied, turning towards the ill-tempered teen. A villain, seeing his opening to attack, let loose a punch to the back of the green-hair teen’s head. Only for his wrist to snap like a twig when it made contact. 

He screamed. Izuku turned around to see the villain holding his wrist and screaming like a banshee. He rolled his eyes and pushed the villain into a wall, knocking him out. 

“Come on guys,” Kirishima blocked a punch from a villain with his hardened arms. “Is this really the time for this?!” 

“It’s shitty Deku’s fault!” Bakugo yelled as he let loose an explosion on a villain’s face, “He’s the one who made it worse by attacking that mist guy! If it were me, I would of killed him before he had the chance to teleport us!”

“Yeah, because that’s sooo heroic.” Izuku snapped back, letting a knife shatter against his skin before picking up a villain with a chameleon-like quirk by the throat and tossing him aside. 

“That’s one thing I hate the most about you!” Bakugo blasted himself onto the ceiling and rocketed himself into an ogre-like villain, blasting him in the face. “You think you’re better than me! Always looking down on me! Like I’m some extra!” 

Izuku grabbed two villains shooting him with energy projectiles and knocked their heads together, “You know what, maybe I do!” he said, blocking a punch from a masked villain and flicking his forehead. “Maybe I do look down on others! Because you’re right, I am better than you! You could train for a thousand years and still never be able to even tickle me! At least I don’t lord my strength over every person I meet and treat them like a side character! At least I’m not some egotistical douchebag who gets off on bullying the weak!” 

“Well at least I’M not a murderer!”

Izuku’s eyes widened. Faster than you could blink, Izuku appeared in front of the blonde, his movements blowing any villain nearby through the building’s concrete walls. He loomed over his former friend, his brow furrowed and his fists clenched, his eyes glowing red with power. 

“You and I both know that was an accident.” 

Bakugo craned his neck upward, sneering at the taller teen, “You know for someone who said he doesn’t like lording his power over others, you’re sure doing a lot of it now.” 

The two glared at each other, teeth gnashing, fists clenching, it almost looked like they would start fighting any second. 

“Guys! Chill out!” Kirishima rushed in between the two, “There could still be villains nearby, we gotta focus on-”

“All the villains here are taken out, I don’t hear or see anyone else.” Izuku interjected, not peeling his eyes away from Bakugo. 

“Then we should get back to the plaza! Mr. Aizawa’s fighting all those villains by himself! He could need our help!” 

The two glared at each other for a few more seconds, if looks could kill, they’d both be dead, before Izuku backed off. “Fine, let’s go.” 

“Tch!” Bakugo voiced, facing away from the two. 

“It’ll be faster if I fly us there, then we can assess the situation and help if we’re needed.” Izuku said, offering his hands to the two.

“Yeah, sounds good.” Kirishima said, grabbing onto the outstretched arm. 

“I don’t need your damn help, I can get to the plaza myself.” Bakugo spat, his palm letting off small sparks. 

Izuku rolled his eyes before floating off the ground. “Hang on tight, Kirishima!” 

The red-haired teen gripped tightly, going as far as to activate his quirk for good measure. As Izuku took off toward the plaza, Bakugo following relatively closely behind, Kirishima looked like he was having the time of his life. 

“Whoa, this is awesome! You can do this whenever you want?!” he exclaimed as he dangled his feet in the air. 

Thankful for the nice distraction, Izuku smiled, “Yeah, no matter how many times I do it, it never gets old.” 

He looked down at the plaza below and saw Aizawa. He looked a little tired and his elbow was bloody and cracked, but he was still fighting off the hired help villains. 

“Mr. Aizawa’s still fighting below, let’s drop in and give him a hand.” 

“Alright!” Kirishima exclaimed.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Bakugo snapped as the three dove toward the ground. 

“And by the way hero,” the hand villain spoke, his voice raspy, yet menacing. “I’m not the final-” A loud crash interrupted the villain. Both men turned to see the three students emerging from the dust, ready for a fight. 

“I really hate NPCs getting in the way of my mission.” the hand villain murmured, “Nomu, take care of these brats.” 

The large, bird-like creature surged forward faster than anyone could track and threw a punch toward Bakugo. A violent gale soon followed, kicking up dust and threatening to blow anyone close away. 

A small sound of satisfaction slipped out of the villain’s mouth.

“Bakugo! Midoriya! Kirishima!” Aizawa yelled. 

As the dust settled, both their eyes widened in shock.

Izuku held the Nomu’s outstretched fist in his palm, making it look almost effortless. With a soft grunt of effort, Izuku cocked back his fist and buried it into the midsection of the creature, sending it flying across the plaza. 

“But-But how!” The man screamed, “He’s supposed to be stronger than All Might, the bioengineered Anti-Symbol of Peace! How’s he losing to a brat in a cape!” 

A small snort escaped Aizawa’s lips, “Problem child.” 

“You handle the rest of the villains, I got the big guy.” Izuku said, cracking his knuckles. 

“You got it, Midobro!” 

“Stop telling me what to do!” 

Izuku rocketed toward the creature, who was pulling himself out of the fountain, and beat it back into the ground. This thing was tough. It was taking some of his stronger punches like it was nothing, maybe some sort of durability quirk or shock absorption quirk. The Nomu lashed out and struck Izuku in the face, staggering him. Izuku looked stunned, rubbing his cheek. That actually kind of hurt. A blow to the back snapped him out of his thoughts, sending him skidding across the floor. Izuku’s lips formed into a small smile. This guy could take a hit and do some damage? Looks like he could let loose just a little bit. 

In a flash, he flew towards the beast, grabbing its head and dragging it along the pavement. With a grunt, he threw the creature across the plaza. In an amazing burst of speed, almost as if he teleported, he tailed the flying monstrosity and, with a mighty punch, sent the creature rocketing into the pavement below. 

The hand villain could only watch as his pet was beat down again and again. He dodged another strike from Aizawa. “No, no, no, NO! He’s cheating!” he growled, making a sloppy attempt to grab the Erasure Hero, which was easily countered by a kick to the ribs. 

The villain hissed in pain, holding a hand on his probably bruised rib, and created a bit of distance away from the hero. 

“Tomura Shigaraki,” a swirling portal appeared next to the now named villain before materializing into the mist villain. 

“This better’d be some good news, Kurogiri.” 

Kurogiri seemed to flinch at the words, “Thirteen is down but there were some students I could not warp away. And… one of them escaped.” 

After a moment of silence, Shigaraki began furiously scratching at his neck. “Kurogiri, if you weren’t our way out of here, I’d turn you to dust! We won’t stand a chance against that many pros. Especially with that guy around!” A finger pointed. 

Kurogiri turned in the direction of the finger and saw Izuku landing a flurry of blows on the Nomu with the creature only managing to land a few on him. This looked bad. 

“I’m really starting to hate that kid, and that stupid ‘S’ on his chest.” Shigaraki growled. “Looks like it’s game over for us.” 

Shigaraki turned slowly to see Kirishima with his back turned, fighting off a fodder villain. 

“But I’ll be sure to leave one dead kid to wound the Symbol of Peace’ pride!” 

Aizawa and Izuku’s eyes widened at the statement.

Shigaraki rushed towards the red-haired teen, his hand reaching out. Aizawa sprung into action, activating his quirk and shooting his scarf out to capture the villain. A portal opens up in front of him, materializing into Kurogiri, blocking his sight from the Decay user. 

“I’m afraid I cannot let you pass.” the Warp Gate user says.

“Shit.” Aizawa curses, trying to get past the misty man only to be cut off at every attempt. “Kirishima!” 

“Huh?” The red-haired boy turns around just in time to see Shigaraki’s hand looming over his face. 

“Shitty Hair!” Bakugo exclaimed, blasting towards the boy. 

Izuku, in a fit of panic from seeing Shigaraki running toward his friend, punches a hole through the Nomu and rushes toward the two. 

Just as the deadly fingertips of the villain brush against the boy’s face, Izuku gently pushes Kirishima out of the way and takes the contact himself. 

“AGH!” Izuku wailed as he felt the skin on his back decaying away. He squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth, invulnerability, honestly, made it way worse. He could feel the pain of his impenetrable skin being peeled away layer by layer, yet cracks had barely begun to form on his skin. 

Kirishima and Bakugo watched in horror as their classmate screamed in agony as Shigaraki grabbed his neck with his other hand. Fighting through the pain, Izuku grabbed the arm that was holding his neck and squeezed. Shigaraki howled as his arm was crushed like an eggshell, staggering back and holding his broken arm. Izuku pushed the villain away from him, sending him careening across the hard floor of the USJ. 

“Shigaraki!” Kurogiri exclaimed, leaving the Erasure hero and rushing to his ally. Aizawa sprinted toward his downed student. His skin wasn’t as cracked and decayed as his but it was clear that it had been a lot more painful than his elbow. The young man let out a couple coughs still hunched over in pain. 

Right before he could reach the boy, the Nomu blitzed into him and sent him flying into the mountain zone, shaking the entire zone. He let out another cough. Didn’t he put a hole in this thing’s stomach? How was it still alive? Maybe a regeneration quirk?

As Izuku started to pull himself out of the crater he created, the Nomu followed up with a couple of punches to the face before grabbing his ankle and throwing him back to the central plaza. Izuku bounced along the floor, completely destroying the pavement, before receiving a kick sending him rocketing into the air. 

He landed roughly on the ground, his ribs tingling from that last hit. The Nomu landed on top of him and started raining blow after blow, shockwaves echoing through the facility with every hit.

Aizawa, Bakugo, and Kirishima could only look on as the green-haired teen took on the monster.

“Damn, Deku, get up already.” Bakugo mumbled, fist clenched.

“Isn’t there anything we can do, Mr. Aizawa?” Kirishima pleaded, watching as Izuku took another hit, “At this rate, Midoriya’s gonna die.” 

Aizawa grit his teeth. He had to do something. His student was in danger, how could he stand idly by while he risked his life for them? As his teacher, he wouldn’t allow it. 

“Stay here,” The hero told the two teens. “I’ll give him some assistance.”

“It’s useless.” 

They all turned to see Shigiraki clutching his broken arm and laughing, “Nomu was created to beat All Might. That cheater might’ve gotten a few lucky shots in, but it doesn’t matter. He’s got shock absorption, hyper regeneration, and the strength and speed comparable to All Might. It’s game over for him.” 

“Shigaraki, you’re injured. The heroes will be here any minute, we need to leave.” Kurogiri said. 

“NO!” Shigaraki snapped, “I need to see him suffer, slowly, as Nomu beats his face until his skull caves in. Then I’ll be the one to deliver the final blow decaying him slowly until he begs for death, and when he screams I’ll-” 

A loud screech of pain interrupted the villain. All heads turned to see the Nomu being assailed by two red beams of intense heat, burning through skin, muscle, and bone alike. The Nomu was forced to take a step back, attempting to shield itself with its arms. 

But it was futile.

The beam cut through both of the creature’s arms, completely dismembering it. In a flash, it was grabbed by the neck and taken up in the air with a sonic boom. Izuku lightly tossed the Nomu into the air before delivering a heavy blow to it on the way down. 

When the beast landed, the impact shattered the ground and everything around it, shaking the entire facility. Those watching were forced to close their eyes, the wind pressure threatening to blow them away. Shigaraki gaped in horror as Izuku landed heavily in front of the Nomu, its arms now regenerated, and took a punch to the face like it was nothing. This wasn’t what he had planned for. It was supposed to be simple, kill all the kids to break the Symbol of Peace, and then use Nomu to kill him. But this kid…

He watched Izuku block another punch from his pet and deliver an uppercut to the Nomu’s jaw, tearing its arm off in the process. 

He began to scratch his neck with his unbroken hand. There shouldn’t have been a secret boss here! He hated secret bosses! All the leveling up, party assembly, and cleared missions, pointless! 

And that “S” 

Something about it made his blood boil. Was it because the brat annoyed him so much? Or was it something else? His hatred for him felt oddly familiar yet different. He couldn’t pinpoint it, not right now. 

All he knew was that he wanted to kill this kid as much as All Might.

A loud BOOM rang out through the facility. Shigaraki angrily scratched his neck as he stared at the giant hole where the green-haired teen had thrown his Nomu out of the facility to who knows where. 

“He cheated! HE CHEATED!” he screamed, blood starting to draw and stick to his fingers. 

“Shigaraki, we must leave, now!” Kurogiri exclaimed, conjuring a portal around the young man. 

Shigaraki took one last look at Izuku, his green eyes glaring daggers at him. Undeterred, Shigaraki returned his glare as the portal began to close. “This isn’t over! I may have failed to kill the Symbol of Peace! But the next time we meet, brat, I won’t fail to kill you!”

Izuku slipped into a stance, ready to chase after the villains until a hand gripped his shoulder. He turned to see Aizawa looking at him, shaking his head. “I understand your feeling, but as your teacher, I have a responsibility for you. I can’t have you running off after villains and risk putting yourself in danger.” 

Izuku’s face dropped, he turned his head to see the last remnants of the portal shrinking into nothing. He let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. They may have gotten away, but it was still a valuable lesson for him. The dangers the pros face, the people they have to go up against. It may have been a bit too soon, but it was just a glimpse into the real world of heroics. 

All Might arrived shortly after. He had run into Iida on his way to the USJ and been informed of the situation. He bursts in through the doors, expecting to see a myriad of villains wreaking havoc throughout the facility, but was met with his students patching up Thirteen and making their way to the entrance. 

Things had been pretty hectic after that. The police arrived, hauling off the downed criminals and checking on the students. Overall, everyone besides Thirteen was mostly uninjured, just a few light scratches or bruises. Thirteen was expected to make a full recovery though with, hopefully, no permanent damage. 

They also managed to obtain the Nomu that Izuku had launched out of the facility. A whole 900 meters away, in fact! 

Even though it had been a scary experience, no one could deny that it had been an insightful one. But they couldn’t afford to rest easy.

Their next challenge was right around the corner.

Chapter Text

“Oww.”

Shigaraki moaned as he was placed on the hard wooden floor of a bar in Kamino Ward, Yokohama. He cradled his broken appendage, the adrenaline finally starting to wear off. 

“My arm’s broken, I can feel cuts and bruises all over my body. We got crushed.” Shigaraki grit his teeth. “He got Nomu too. Those other kids were also strong, they took down the cannon fodder in a flash. We got total party wiped.”

“All Might appears to be stronger than I thought.” A voice came from the monitor on the bar counter. “We underestimated him, for now we-”

“No, master, All Might wasn’t even there!” Shigaraki screamed.

“What? Explain.” The voice turned stern, leaving no room for argument. 

“He was fast, almost as fast as All Might. And strong too. He tanked Nomu’s punches like they were nothing! He could fly and some sort of lasers came out of his eyes.” Shigaraki clenched his fist, “If he wasn’t there, we could’ve done so much more. But that kid, that brat!” 

“... It appears we need to gather stronger troops as quickly as possible.” The voice answered, sounding a bit tense, “If what you’re saying is true, we will have to move quickly, or else we will have another Symbol of Peace to dispose of, one even stronger than All Might.”

“I hope you enjoyed your day off.” Aizawa said, “Because your fight is far from over.” 

The class flinched a bit at his words. Would they be fighting more villains like at the USJ?

“The U.A. Sports Festival is drawing near.” 

“That’s so ordinary!” everyone exclaimed. 

“Is it really a good idea to hold the festival so soon after a villain attack?” Jiro questioned. 

“Yeah, what if they attack us again?!” Mineta exclaimed, shivering in his seat. 

“Apparently, U.A. thinks  having it now is necessary to demonstrate that their crisis management system is sound.” Aizawa continued, “Security will be strengthened to five times that of previous years. And above all, our sports festival is the greatest opportunity you’ll ever get. It’s not an event to be cancelled because of a few villains.” 

A few nervous whispers echoed through the classroom, some were still unsure about the idea. 

“Our Sports Festival is one of Japan’s biggest events!” the Erausre hero exclaimed, “The Olympics were once the world’s sports festival, but over time, the tradition faded and it’s shrunk in scale to a shell of its former glory. And for Japan, what has taken place of the Olympics, is the U.A. Sports Festival!” 

Some excited murmurs could be heard among the class. 

“Of course, you’ll get more experience and popularity if you get picked up by a big-name pro, but time is limited. If you show the pros what you’re made of here, you’ll make futures for yourselves.” 

Determined expressions made their way onto all the student’s faces. 

“One chance per year, three chances total, no aspiring heroes can afford to miss this chance! If you understand that, I expect you not to slack off in your preparations!” 

“Yes, sir!” the class rang out. 

Four periods of classes fly by, the excitement of the sports festival still fresh in their minds. Once the lunch bell rang and Cementoss had exited the room, the class exploded with excitement. 

“I’m so excited!” Kirishima shouted. 

“I know, right!” Sero agreed, “If we show our stuff here, we’re one step closer to becoming a pro!” 

“Man, everyone’s so excited…” Izuku muttered, watching the entire class chat about the incoming sports festival in two weeks. 

“And you’re not?” Iida asked, performing his usual, unusual hand motions. “This is our chance to add our names to the ranks of pro heroes! It’s perfectly normal to get fired up!” he exclaimed, wiggling tensely. 

“You sure have a weird way of showing it.” Asui commented. 

“I’m a bit surprised, Midoriya.” Yaoyorozu commented, “For such an avid hero enthusiast, I expected you to be a bit more excited for the sports festival.” 

“Of course I’m excited!” Izuku argued, “I watched the sports fest every year before I got to U.A.! It’s just that-”

“Everyone.” 

Their heads turned to see Uraraka with a very determined expression on her face. “Let’s do our best at the sports festival!” 

“What’s with that face?!” Ashido exclaimed, “You’re not looking very uraraka, Uraraka.”

“I’m gonna do my best!” Uraraka shouted with her fist pumped into the air.

“Yeah…” a chorus of awkward agreement rang out from the class. 

Izuku awkwardly smiled, still unsure about the festival. The recent villain attack still playing through his mind on loop. If only he’d been better, faster, refusing to hesitate, he could’ve stopped everything before it even happened. Thirteen never would’ve gotten hurt, everyone could’ve worked together to fight off the villains, and the most dangerous villains would probably be behind bars now. 

He looked down at his hands. His power. Always contained, always controlled, never allowing himself a chance to lose himself or someone could die. But when it mattered most, he held back and it nearly cost him Kirishima’s life. If he had just ended it sooner, they never would’ve even been in that situation. He squeezed his hand into a fist. 

Maybe at the sports festival, he would stop holding back so much. 

“Your time limit shrunk?!” 

Toshinori nodded from the couch across from Izuku. The number one hero had invited the green-haired teen to a teacher’s lounge for lunch under the guise of thanking him for his help at the USJ. His friends found it pretty amusing the way the giant of the man asked him like an innocent schoolgirl would, bento and all. Taiyo would probably tease him about it for weeks.

“Yes, I pushed it a little too hard the other day trying to make it to the USJ.” the blonde sighed as he handed the student a cup of tea. “It’s not a huge chunk. I can still maintain my muscle form for about two and a half hours, but it’s still getting shorter by the day…”

“Sorry,” Izuku looked down at his feet, “If I had known that you were straining yourself I could have-” 

“Don’t apologize, Young Midoriya! We’re so alike you and I!” Toshinori exclaimed. 

The lanky man crossed his arms and leaned forward in his seat, “I really wanted to talk about One For All and its future. Are you still absolutely sure that you cannot accept it? The offer’s still open, you know?” 

“Ah,” Izuku responded, “Sorry but I still don’t think that’s a good idea” 

He stared down at his clenched fist. “I’m still struggling to use my own power. I made a lot of mistakes at the USJ and someone could’ve gotten hurt. And to add One For All to the mix would be an absolute disaster, especially since I’m getting stronger everyday. I know that you want me to succeed you, but to accept your power right now would not only be bad for my own development, but irresponsible and disrespectful to your legacy.” 

Toshinori leaned back on the comfy sofa, “It’s a shame, but it’s your decision.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, “I need to find someone soon, though the time I’ve got left as the Symbol of Peace is running out.” 

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Izuku blurted, “About the Symbol of Peace part, I mean. Even though I can’t take your power, maybe I can still take your place until you pass it on.” 

Toshinori quirked an eyebrow at the idea. 

“With the sports festival coming up, everyone in the country will be watching.” Izuku continued, “So I need to step up. Stop hesitating. So that I can proclaim to the world that even when All Might is gone, Superman will be able to keep them safe!” 

Toshinori smiled, a look of pride on his face. Maybe he couldn’t give the young man his quirk, but until he found someone else, he could trust him to keep Japan safe. 

“What’s going on here?!” Uraraka exclaimed. 

Classes were over for the day and most of Class 1-A were starting to head out of their classroom. Only to see a large crowd of people loitering outside of their classroom door, blocking their exit. Most were content with just standing in the way and staring, but some of them had their phones out and were taking pictures or videos of the class. 

“What business do you have with our class?” Iida demanded. 

“Yeah! We can’t get out now!” Mineta agreed, raising his fist, “Why’re you even here?!” 

“They’re scoping out the competition, small fry.” Bakugo said, walking up to the crowd. “We survived a villain attack. Makes sense that they want to take a look before the festival.”

Bakugo glared at the kids in front, “No point in doing that though. Out of the way, extras.”

Izuku bumped the blonde in the shoulder, “Stop calling everyone, extras, asshole. You’re making us look bad.” 

“Tch.” 

“I came to see what the famous Class A was like, but you seem pretty arrogant.” came a voice from the crowd. A fairly tall kid with messy, lavender colored hair and large bags under his eyes pushed his way to the front. “Are all the kids in the Hero course like this one?” 

Bakugo’s face contorted into a frown. 

“Gotta say, I’m a little disappointed if this is U.A.’s best and brightest.” 

A few Class A students’ brows furrowed at that comment. 

“There’s quite a few of us that tried to enroll in the Hero course but got thrown into General Studies and the other tracks. Did you know that?” he continued. “But, the school has left those of us with a chance. Depending on our results in the sports festival, they might consider transferring us into the Hero course.” 

He takes a hard look at everyone in the classroom, “The reverse is also possible for you.” A few flinch at that. They never knew that their spot in the Hero course could be compromised based on the results of the sports festival. 

“Scoping out the competition?” his lips forming into a small smirk, “This is a declaration of war. You better watch your back or I’ll sweep your feet out from under you.” 

The room was silent for a moment, no one daring to say a word after such a bold speech. Izuku, his brow furrowed, took the next step toward the crowd. His 190 cm height must have seemed intimidating to them since a few of them backed away. He stopped directly in front of the lavender haired teen and held out his hand.

“Good luck.” 

“Huh?” 

“I said, good luck. Because I’m aiming for the top too, and if any of you want to take my seat or any of my classmate’s, you better bring your A-game. Because none of us plan on just giving it away.” 

“That was a pretty manly speech, I’ll give you that Class A!” A voice from the crowd yelled. 

The boy in front of Izuku stared at the outstretched hand for a moment. He gave him a good look up and down before smirking and shaking his hand, “Maybe you’re not all that bad. Name’s Shinso Hitoshi.”

Izuku gave him a sincere smile back, “Midoriya Izuku and I accept your challenge.” 

“Don’t ignore me, you extras! And get out of my way!” 

Izuku nervously twiddled his fingers. There were only two weeks left until the U.A. sports festival. But he was sure that everyone had already started getting ready, so he should too.

That’s why he was sitting on the moon staring at the magnificent yellow star that granted him his powers. It was beautiful. A golden, radiant beacon that provides warmth and comfort to billions around the Earth. A bright, dazzling celestial ball of gas that is the source of life for every living thing on the planet below. The key to his growth. 

He looked down at his feet. He had to get stronger. He had been afraid of his power for far too long. That feeling caused him to hesitate at the USJ. No more. He wouldn’t run from his strength anymore. He had friends, teachers he really liked, and future people to protect. He wouldn’t let them die because of his shortcomings. 

A sharp slap with the palms of his hands to his cheeks psyched him up for what he was about to do. He stripped himself nude, neatly folding his clothes and placing them in a crater. In a flash of speed, his feet left the surface of the moon, soaring past Earth and on a direct course to the sun. He held his arms out in front of him, he had never flown this fast before. The feeling was liberating. Stars became a blur to him, leaving him in nothing but the inky blackness of space, with his only source of light the fiery golden orb he was trying to reach. It was lonely. It felt like he and the sun were the only two things left in the universe. Like they were destined for each other at this exact moment. 

As he neared his goal, the heat started licking at his body, radiation washing over his skin. He stared straight into the ball of light. Normal people would go blind if they stared at the sun for too long, but for Izuku, it was like putting on glasses. His body felt like it was on fire, brimming with limitless energy. 

Izuku halted his flight just before reaching the star. He spread his arms out and let its beautiful rays flow over him. His cells were screaming. He felt like his body could explode at any second with the amount of energy contained in his body, but he would endure. His screams were soundless in the cold vacuum of space. Every muscle in his body flexing in an attempt to feel something other than the pain. He grit his teeth and looked up into the inky black void. Would he be able to return home? What would his mom think if he never came home? What would his friends think? With an astronomical amount of effort, he forced himself to stare into the sun once again. 

He would not give in. Quitting now would mean running away forever. 

Another silent scream escaped his lips as his eyes glowed red, shooting his red beams of light into the void of space. 

 After what felt like an eternity, the pain subsided. He began to relax, the energy inside him calming. It felt amazing. So much power radiating beneath his skin, like he was discovering his quirk for a second time. He closed his eyes and bathed in the star’s rays, letting them wash over him like water. 

He would give it his all, no holding back. 

Time passed in the blink of an eye, and before anyone knew it, the day of the sports festival was upon them. 

Idle conversation echoed through Class 1-A’s waiting room.

“I really wanted to wear my costume…” Ashido pouted, tugging at her U.A. tracksuit. 

“In order to preserve the interest of fairness, we cannot, unfortunately.” Shiozaki commented. 

The door opened and their green-haired class president walked in, “Hey, guys, they’re almost ready for us. Only a few more minutes.” 

Everyone began going through their little rituals to calm their nerves. Izuku took a deep breath. Despite his training, he was still nervous. Who wouldn’t be? This was the chance of a lifetime. He clenched his fist, this was it. Today, he would prove himself to Japan and the entire world that he would be there!

“Midoriya.” 

All eyes turned to the source of the voice, the ever stoic Half-Cold, Half-Hot user, Todoroki Shoto. The son of an Endeavor walked up to Izuku, having to slightly look up because of their 24 cm height difference. 

“Something I can help you with, Todoroki?” Izuku asked. 

“Objectively speaking, you’re definitely stronger than me.” the heterochromatic teen continued, “But All Might has his eye on you.” 

Izuku flinched a bit at the statement. 

“I won’t pry into why that is, but just know, I will beat you.” 

The class was silent for a moment.

“Whoa!” Kaminari calls from a few tables over, “A challenge from the second strongest in the class to the strongest?” 

Kirishima quickly comes in between the two of them, grabbing the scarred teen’s shoulder. 

“Come on, man. Picking a fight right before we go out?”

“I don’t really care. I’m not here to make friends.” Todoroki said, shoving the Hardening user away. 

“Todoroki,” all eyes then turned to their class president, “Every one here is aiming for the top, even kids from other courses. And I refuse to fall behind.” 

Izuku crosses his arms, staring down the scarred teen. “So I accept your challenge. And I’ll give it everything I got to win!”

The cheers for their class were deafening when they walked out of the tunnel and into the giant stadium. The hype over their class was so much bigger than any of them had been expecting. But I guess it made sense, they were the class that survived a villain attack after all. 

The cheers for the other classes were a lot more muted and presented a bit more lacklusterly than their class much to the disappointment of the other students. 

A crack of a whip captured everyone’s attention. The beautiful form of Midnight stood atop a small podium, “Time for the athlete’s oath!” 

The stands, and even the students, blushed at the sight. Some excited about the fact that the R-Rated Hero was refereeing the first years, some concerned of what she was wearing in the presence of highschoolers. 

“Quite down, everyone!” she announced, another crack of her whip cutting the chatter. “Your student representative is from Class 1-A, Midoriya Izuku!” 

Izuku nodded and began walking up to the podium. Some of the teachers had given him a heads up that he might be making some sort of speech at the sports fest since he was the top scorer in the entrance exam. He had prepared for this, but it didn’t make him any less nervous.

He gave a slight bow to Midnight as he walked by her on the podium, standing in front of the provided mic. He took a deep breath, puffing out his chest, and spoke, “I pledge to go beyond my limits. To give my all to win. And to show the world that I will become a hero that will bring hope and keep people safe just like the many brave heroes that came before me!” 

There was a moment of silence. Then the stadium erupted. The cheers were almost deafening, it felt like the entire stadium was shaking. Even a few of the General Studies and Class B students were clapping for him. He managed to pick out Taiyo jumping up and down cheering for him. Kirishima gives him a hearty slap on the back and a few words of praise. 

“What a magnificent speech! It gives me tingles!” Midnight exclaimed, “Now, let’s get the first event underway!” 

A giant hologram appeared behind the R-Rated Hero, the screen had a graph that made it look like it was shuffling through different events. “These are the qualifiers! Every year, many are sent home crying at this stage! And the first event this year will be…” 

The graph continued to spin for a few seconds before stopping on… 

“An obstacle course race!” She exclaimed, the crowd cheering at the result. “All eleven classes will be participating in this race! The course is one lap around the stadium- about four kilometers! Our school prides itself on freedom!” she licks her lips mischievously, “As long as you stay on the course, it doesn’t matter what you do!” 

She points to a red starting gate with three glowing green lights on it and a narrow tunnel that leads outside the stadium, “Now, take your places everyone!” 

One light went out.

Izuku gathers around the gate with the other students, ending up in the back of the group. But it didn’t matter. This was it. The first event of the sports festival, his starting point. He began to float off the ground, catching the attention of some of the nearby students who looked up at him in awe. 

The second light went out. 

This is where he proved himself. That he could keep the people of Japan - no - the entire world safe. That villains everywhere should think twice before committing a crime just from the sound of his name. 

‘So watch me.’ 

The third light went out. 

“START!” Midnight shouted.

Less than a second later, a sonic boom was heard throughout the stadium, kicking up an astronomical amount of wind. In an instant, he flew over the heads of the other competitors and through the tunnel. After emerging from the tunnel, he took a hard left turn before coming face to face with the villains bots from the entrance exam, including an army of zero pointers. 

The zero pointer’s robotic hand seemed to move towards him in slow motion as he flew straight toward it. 

“You’re in my way.” Izuku muttered, flying straight through the chest of one of the zero pointers and emerging completely unscathed before speeding away. 

“W-What’s this?” Present Mic’s voice came over the stadium, “The race has barely started but Midoriya Izuku from Class 1-A has already passed the first obstacle! Seriously, Eraser, what’s up with this kid?” 

“His quirk is a unique one.” Aizawa commented, “Allowing him to absorb sunlight in his cells and granting him numerous powers such as flight. Looks like he’s taking this event seriously.” 

At the speed he was going, Izuku had already passed the second obstacle by the time Present Mic and Aizawa announced his placing. The second obstacle had been a piece of cake. It was just a massive gorge with several rocky plateaus scattered throughout it. Wires connected the small platforms together, giving the students a chance to cross, but one slip meant failure. 

An obstacle completely useless against someone that could fly. 

And so was the third obstacle, a mine field. Izuku was starting to believe that they hadn’t taken someone who could fly into account when designing this course. With another sonic boom, he shot like a bullet over the minefield and through the gate leading back to the stadium. 

“A-Absolutely incredible! In a record smashing time, the first one back to the stadium is Midoriya Izuku!” 

The stadium roared in applause for the floating teen. Izuku gave a wide smile and a small wave to the crowd. The students who were still shoving and clambering to get into the narrow tunnel jaws dropped. In mere seconds, a Class A student had passed all of them, and gone through three obstacles before they could even get out the gate. This year's hero course students were no joke. 

“With the first event of the sports festival wrapped up, let’s move on to the second!” Midnight announced, “Only the top 42 from the previous round will move on so let’s see what the next event is!” 

The hologram appeared behind her again and began cycling through options again. 

“Dying in suspense? Well, the next event will be…

The graph continued cycling through until it landed on. 

“A Ring Out Battle!” 

A few confused mutters came from the crowd of 42. 

“Hush! I’m getting ready to explain!” Midnight snapped, flipping her spiky hair. “Paticipants will form their own teams, at least two people per team! The rules are the same as an ordinary ringout competition, you push someone out of bounds, you get points! But with one exception…” 

The students looked at her, confused. 

“Each of you has been assigned a point value based on your placement in the last event!” she continued. “Last place will have five points, 42nd will have ten, and so on!” 

Izuku quickly did the math in his head. That means he’d have 210 points, talk about putting a target on his back! 

“But the point value assigned to 1st place is Ten Million!” 

All eyes turned towards the green-haired teen. And he’d thought he had a target on his back before. Izuku met all their gazes with a confident one of his own. 

Midnight continued her explanation, “Now then, to explain the rules of the Ring Out Battle! The time limit will be 15 minutes. Each team is worth the total of its member’s points! To score points, you must knock other competitors out of bounds. But, if even one of your teammates ends up out of bounds, your whole team will lose all their points and will be given to the team that pushed them out!” 

“WHAT?!” all the students shouted. Izuku looked down at the ground. The point of this event is to be able to work as a team. It would be all too easy to avoid a ringout by himself, but now he had to watch his teammate’s backs to avoid losing all their points. 

“But if you’re pushed out of bounds and lose all your points, it’s not over til it’s over!” Midnight explained. 

“So the best solution is…” Yaoyorozu mused. 

“To form a team of two.” Shiozaki finished, “Which means there will be about 21 teams on the field the whole time!” 

“But wait,” Mina said with her finger to her chin, “Doesn’t that mean you don’t have to worry if your points are temporarily stolen? You could just get them right back, yeah?” 

“Maybe but it will be kind of hard to tell who’s on whose team unless you’re paying attention, kero.” Asui stated. 

Another crack of Midnight’s whip ceased their chattering, “Quirks will be allowed during this event, so it’ll be a brutal battle! But it’s still a ring out competition, so attacking another team without the intent to force them out of bounds will result in an immediate disqualification!” 

She raised her whip and pointed it towards the students, “You have 15 minutes, time to form your teams!” 

Izuku crossed his arms and started to think. Obviously, the most optimal strategy for this event would be to pick one teammate and have him protect them for the entire event. He doesn’t need to worry about getting points, just avoiding everyone else. He still needed to find someone who was willing to-

“Hey, Midoriya! Team up with me!” Kaibara shouted. 

Huh?

“No way! He’s teaming up with me!” Ashido pouted. 

Wait…

“I wouldn’t mind teaming up with you again, Midoriya. We make a great team after all.” Shiozaki offered. 

Izuku looked around him. Tons of his classmates and kids from different classes were asking to team up with him! At first he thought people would be put off by the ridiculously high number, but factoring in his quirk, teaming up with him was the smartest choice! 

Now he had a decision to make. As much as he wanted to team up with everyone who asked, he should probably stick to one or two other teammates. And he also had to take into account everyone’s quirks and how they would impact their chances on being thrown out. He had a few ideas but right now he was looking for someone- oh! There he was!

After giving a small apology to the crowd of people around him, he headed over towards…

“Iida!” 

The Engine user turned to see his green-haired friend floating towards him. 

“I have a plan to win this event!” Izuku started, “I can carry us into the sky and we can run away the whole time! If it gets too bad in the sky, then we can just use our super speed to-” 

“I’m sorry, Midoriya.” Iida interrupted, “I knew you would have a plan ready to win, I expect no less of you. But I’m sorry, I must refuse.”

Izuku’s face dropped a little. 

“Ever since the entrance exam, I’ve been losing to you. It’s because you’re such a great friend that I cannot follow you now.” Iida walked away from him, “Bakugo and Todoroki aren’t the only ones who see you as a rival.” 

He stops next to Uraraka, “I too, wish to surpass you!” 

Uraraka looked down at her feet, “Sorry, Midoriya, but I agree with Iida. I’ve been lagging behind you ever since the entrance exam! But, I wanna take my own step forward!” 

Izuku could do nothing but nod and wish them luck. But he had to find a partner soon. He was running out of time. He took another look around. Almost everyone had decided on their teams by now. 

“Hey, Midoriya!” a voice called out to him. He turns to see Ashido running towards him. 

“Thought you could get away from me, huh?” she smirks, “Come on, let’s team up!” 

Izuku smiled, this could work. Ashido was very athletic and had great mobility using her quirk. Now all they needed to do now was run aw-

“Hey, Mr. First Place, team up with me!” A girl with pink dreads and golden eyes with cross-haired irises exclaimed, appearing right in front of Izuku’s face. 

“Whoa, too close! Who are you?!” Izuku yelled.

“I’m Hatsume Mei from the Support course!” she said, “I don’t know you, but let me use your position!” 

Well at least she was honest.

“Joining you means that I’ll inevitably be in the spotlight, right?” She took a step closer, “Which means everyone will be able to see my super cute babies!” Another step, “Which means that big companies will take notice of me and my babies, right?” 

“Hold on a second! Babies? Company?” Izuku stammered, trying to increase the distance between him and the pink-haired inventor. 

“I’m glad you asked, First Place!” She said, taking another step towards him. “You see, I…”

Izuku half-listened as she rambled on, more focused on the event ahead. Hatsume had a lot of gear that could help her get away and stay in bounds. And Ashido had great control over her quirk as well as decent offensive power if need be. All he had to do was cover them and make sure they didn’t get tossed out of the ring. 

Izuku grinned, they could definitely win this one!