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Chapter Text

Izukus mom is not weak. I pity anyone who makes the mistake to think so.

Midoriya Inko. Kind hearted, emotional, soft spoken, and loving in nature, is not weak. Her best friend was Mitsuki Bakugo and she was a single mom left to raise a child on her own, if that wasn’t reason enough to believe she wasn’t weak there was one thing left that proved it to Izuku with no room for doubt.

He’d always known it, but now as they stood shell shocked in the child’s quirk counseling center after a long day of quirk development scares, alone after the doctor had screamed in terror and ran out of the door leaving them with the quirk registration papers with nothing but ‘ Monster’ as the quirk description, his mom squared her shoulders and began to help him fill the rest of it out with a brave face of determination. It was then that his moms strength, and unconditional love for him became a staple to his view of her.

She was strong. She stayed bold and proud when her 4 year old developed traits of a quirk so deeply unsettling even the quirk counselor refused to help them beyond registering the quirk.

She always tried to make sure he never saw her flinch when he’d appear behind her, so silent she never heard him. She never said anything about the way his face seemed to shift from her sweet little boy to a mask covering some dark horror in the corner of her eyes when he walked into her peripherals. She’d suppress the screams that climbed up her throat when he unknowingly shocked a year off her life just from standing behind her as she looked up into the mirror, seeing her sons piercing green eyes glowing in the dark behind her, simply staring and sending cold chills through her skin. She never complained at the constant freezing temperatures that followed him wherever he went, or the nightmares and paranoid fears that edged at her sanity every night after a long shift when she’d come home.

She never stopped loving him, defending him, and believing in him as much as she could.

Izuku was not strong like his mother. He was weak, and it only made it hurt more. 

He was not strong enough to keep the tears from falling the first night he realized he wouldn’t be a flashy and inspiring hero like All Might or even Kacchan.

He was not a hero, he was a monster. 

Since the age of 4, Midoriya Izuku has been different. Everyone knew it. Including him. And it was this truth that lead to our beloved green haired aspiring hero, Izuku, to hesitate as he stood at the gates of the most prestigious hero school in all of Japan.

But lets start from the beginning. From the very start, the moment he got his quirk at age 4. 

Light. Beautiful, white, early morning light filtering through the curtains drifting softly in the breeze coming in through the cracked window. I jumped up from bed with excitement pumping through my veins.

I'd finally be getting my quirk today!

I didn’t waste any time throwing on my day clothes for school and hurrying to the bathroom to try and tame my wild curls. Today was the most important day of my life, I at least wanted my hair to look somewhat presentable when I told the class about my quirk. Fire breathing? Telekinesis? Fire Telekinesis?? Maybe a mutation of both or either? I tested my hands to see if they felt any different. They didn’t just cold. Maybe an ice quirk?

I pulled out the stool under my bathroom sink and climbed up to duck my head into the sink and get it wet, closing my eyes as I thought about what would come today as I let the warm water run over my hair.

Me and Kacchan would be the best heroes. He was gonna be the number one hero, and I’d get to be his sidekick! The joy it brought me almost made me want to cry. I’d been waiting for this my whole life, with all 32 hero quirk analysis for the future notebooks I’d filled to the brim on anything and everything I possibly could, I was certain I was prepared. I was ready to get my quirk!

I’d finally be able to turn my talent for analysis to my own quirk instead of my classmates, Kacchan, and pro heroes. Not that I minded analyzing them, obviously I loved it, but I’d finally have something worth analyzing. I’d finally be more than ‘little izuku’ to everyone. I’d be more than just the nerdy, shy, scrawny kid in the back of the classroom who spent his days writing about quirks and heroes muttering his creepy analysis and interrogating anyone who used their quirk in front of him. 

I might even get a greater quirk than Kacchan.

It was unlikely, maybe impossible. Kacchans quirk was amazing. But I couldn’t help but secretly relish in the hope I could be more than Kacchans sidekick… more than his shadow…

I shook my head of those selfish thoughts and reached up to turn the faucet off, keeping my eyes closed so the water wouldn’t run into my eyes. Blindly grabbing for a towel, I wiped my face and dabbed my hair, setting the towel to the side to see what I had to work with. It was easiest to manage my hair when it was wet, so by running it under the sink I could brush it and maybe tame it for today. 

But as I looked up into the mirror to brush my hair my heart stopped with fear. The lights in the bathroom where on, I was certain of it- I hadn't turned them off, but the room was completely pitch black besides the sickening glow of two piercing green orbs staring at me through the mirror. 

I was frozen still in fear, unable to move, unable to breath as I stared at the inhuman thing in the mirror. It was staring at me with my face, dimly lit with the green glow, but it wasn’t me. The skin sat almost like plastic over its face, stretched and unnaturally pale as its mouth mocked my horrified gasp. The freckles on its cheeks almost looked like mine but if they had been too perfectly placed into the diamond shape on its face. It almost looked like a mask, the skin stopping just too short of where it should around my eyes leaving a sliver of some type of black rotten flesh under the eyes. And the eyes… They were so wide. Staring straight at me, following my every tremble with sharp percisness, and those awful, awful, green glowing irises circling barely distinguishable pinprick pupils.

As I stared at the… thing, it stared unblinkly and statue still. A bone deep creeping cold climbed up my spine and into my lungs. I wanted to look away. To run, or scream for help but all I could do was stare as the black ooze prickled up from its too wide eyes and streamed down its face dripping all the way down to its pale cheeks and neck. Crying.

I didn’t realize how cold the room had gotten until I noticed the fog each panicked breath let out as I stumbled back off the stool, never taking my eyes off the creature. It moved back, still acting like my reflection but its grotesque thin sinewy arms and sickeningly long sharp fingers weren’t mine. The sound of my mom knocking on my bedroom door startled me, making me flinch violently to the door frame.

”’Zu’Zu! Come down for your birthday breakfast! I made crepes!” She called, mumbling about the strangely cold temperature as she walked back downstairs. 

I watched as the creature stared at me, shakily raising it’s hands to wipe at its face as I did. I wiped at my tears, it wiped at its black ooze. It was a horrifying imitation of my petrified expression with wide blown eyes and pale white skin.

Finally having had enough of this horror movie I risked turning my back to the demon in the mirror and sprinted out of my bedroom bathroom and down to the kitchen, my hair still wet and unbrushed. 

Mom startled as she turned around to me, having not heard as I ran down to the kitchen. 

“Zuku, sweetie, you scared me! Did you need help with your hair?” She asked as she smiled and took the brush from my hand to begin trying to tame my damp curls. As she looked closer at me, she gasped and startled back, concern dripping from her shocked frown. 

“Izuku? What’s wrong? Why are you so pale and is that ink on your cheeks?” She asked as she kneeled down to my height to better look into my face, wiping her thumb over my cheeks to clean the black liquid from under my eyes. Her frown grew deeper as she touched my cheek again. 

“Izuku your freezing! What’s going on?”

I was trembling, my mouth open with the failed attempt to speak, fear of what I had seen still thick in my bones. 

“M-m-monster! T-there’s a monster in my mirror!” I whispered hoping my mom would comprehend the absolute horror I had seen. 

She pursed her lips as if about to dismiss my terror as a childish fear getting scared by an overactive imagination but with a sympathetic and loving nod she took my hand and lead me to the bathroom. 

“I’ll check to make sure there are no monsters in your mirror, ok? Theres nothing of be afraid of, and then you can tell me why your so cold and covered in pen ink on your face.”

I followed her up the stairs, my mind was too far into shock to comprehend the black ooze on my cheeks before we walked into my bathroom. I hesitated but followed my moms as she looked at the mirror. 

“Hm, izuku honey there’s nothing in your mirror. But there’s more of this black ink on the tiles. What is this? And its no wonder your so cold, your room is freezing!” She said, beginning to wipe the black ooze off the floor with a folded toilet paper square. 

I timidly stepped into the bathroom and looked up into the mirror screaming as my reflection morphed the same horrific awful imitation of me. My mom flinched as I screamed and she quickly stood up to look at the mirror, stumbling back with a pale expression as her gaze found my reflection.

Her heart was pounding so loud it was as if I could feel it within my own body as she slowly ripped her eyes off the mirror to me, her breathing stopped. 

“I-I-“ She stuttered in horror. I looked at her with confusion breaking through the fear. 

“M-mom whats happening?” I sobbed, my tears running thick again. I moved my hands to try and wipe them away to clear my blurry vision, but as I pulled my hands from my face I felt my stomach drop. The tears I had wiped away where black. 

“I- I think we need to go to a quirk counselor? O-or maybe a doctor?…” My moms breathy whisper trembled out as she leaned closer to me, setting her brows as she took my hands. 

The drive was quiet, filled with my silent sobs and the sounds of tissues rustling as I tried to catch all of my inky tears from staining the car seat. Mom was pale but still smiled shakily at me every time I caught her eyes looking into the rear view mirror to check on me. 

I felt cold. It was brittle and numbing. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it would fly out of my chest. The cold was eating at me from deep inside me, clawing around my heart slowly inching closer. 

“M-mom, I-I’m scared.” I whimpered as I hunched forward as the cold clawed tighter at my heart. 

“It’ll be ok Izuku, I’m taking us to the doctor who can help figure out what your quirk is and whats happening. We’re almost there, j-just keep being a brave hero for me, ok?” She spoke softly, reaching a hand off the wheel to comfort me. I grasped at it like a lifeline, noticing the way her arm shivered as our skin touched.

As the car pulled up to the hospital my mom hurried to my door and helped me out, but I was shivering so badly I could barely walk. My boots dragged in the wet rain puddles as we shuffled closer to the hospital, staff from inside must have noticed as they hurried out with a stretcher but before they could reach the parking lot I gasped. 

Hunching over I froze, stunned as my heart completely stopped beating. 

“Izuku? Izuku!” Mom panicked as her hands hovered over my shoulders. I looked up at her with wide eyes, watching the way she tensed and her heartbeat raised. It was so loud in the absence of my own. It was like her heartbeat was filling and echoing around in my rib cage. I could feel the faint thuds from the racing hearts of the nurses getting closer in my chest too. One loud drum, and three small drums getting bigger and bigger filling me like a march. 

What was happening? Before I could spiral into panic the nurses where quick to lift me on the stretcher and bring me and my mom to an emergency room, hooking me up to multiple screens and panicking as one started as a straight flat line. 

“H-his heart isn’t beating?” A nurse whispered in disbelief as the monitor continued to read flat.

”We need to get a doctor here and resuscitate him immediately, ma’am could you explain what happened before you got here?” The lead nurse asked as she took charge and guided the other nurses. 

Mom was in shock but quickly nodded. “It’s his fourth birthday, we were going to go to his doctor to do a quirk test before he started to cry black tears a-and he was so cold and his appearance.. i-its changed.” My mom explained, holding my hand tightly. Her skin was so hot against mine.

The nurses slowed as the urgency was dampened. 

“This is a quirk related emergency?” The lead nurse pondered as she looked over at me, still crying but sitting in the medical bed, other wise fine, and looked back at the flat lining monitor. 

“I’ll go get the quirk specialist. We can’t continue until we know more, if this is a quirk development we could cause further damage by trying to restart his heart, and it seems like he’s doing… fine at the moment..” she decided, standing uncomfortably as she stared at me longer. 

Soon a tall man with short black hair and a grey coat walked in with urgent steps. 

“I was told to come here on the grounds of a quirk emergency?” He asked the head nurse. My crying had started to slow as the cold I had felt earlier was becoming less and less intense, but the loud pounding sensation of everyone’s hearts thundering around in my chest and up into my head was becoming overwhelming. 

Mom talked to the doctor and filled out our personal information, further explaining the events of the morning. After he had been told the full story he sat beside me with a clipboard and a box of tissues, handing them to me with a strained smile. 

I took them and wiped my eyes, blowing my stuffy nose, trying not to linger on the unsettling facts my tears where staining the white tissues black.

“I’m Dr. Yamashi, my quirk allows me to detect what type of quirk a person has as long as its activated. Can I use it to get more information on your condition?” He asked calmly. I nodded and watched with interest as the doctor reached out and placed a glowing hand on my arm. My hands itched to write my theories on how his quirk worked but I was quick to redirect my focus. Now was not the time to get lost into my analysis.

After a second the doctor took his hand back and began to write on the clip board.

”It would seem that your quirk is still developing so I can’t say for sure what type of quirk you have, but as of now, I suspect it will be a transformative mutation quirk, with capability’s to develops emitter aspects. I also am inclined to believe it will be an extremely rare legend quirk.”

My eyes widened. “A legend quirk? You mean a magic, fantasy, or paranormal based quirk? There are only 3% of humans in the whole world with legend quirks!” I gushed as I sat up and leaned forward with excitement in my eyes, the urge to write growing and drying my tears. The prospect of me having such a rare quirk easily distracted me from my fear and uncertainty.

The doctor chuckled but shifted back from me slightly uncomfortably. 

“Yes, with what I have gathered so far, your quirk is the cause of your heart stopping, and by the looks of it you wont be needing it to be restarted. I’ll give you two the reports and send you off. I suggest keeping an eye out for the last stages of development and in a few hours head to a quirk counseling center to get it registered.” He explained as he handed mom the reports. 

Back at home I immediately went to my room to start writing in a new notebook, labeling it ‘izuku Midoriya- quirk analysis.’ I wasn’t as afraid of my reflection in the mirror as I was before, with what I now knew wasn't a demon thing- but me.

My slightly off appearance, with too many teeth, glowing eyes in the dark, and mask like face had slowly begun to grow on me. It was less frightening and more intriguing as I analyzed my new traits and examined the second row of sharp teeth in my mouth. But uncertainty dimmed my new found fascination some as my appearance and constant aura of cold affected my mom. Every time during my brain storm pacing session that I passed the top of the stairs and into my moms line of sight she would tense. 

I decided to close the door. 

I didn’t know what my quirk was, but I spent the entire Saturday afternoon experimenting and examining, writing it all into my notebook. 

I discovered by the late afternoon that along with lack of a beating heart, I also didn't  feel hungry. 

It was as I was prodding and studying the strange sliver of blackness that seemed to be underneath the mask of my skin and made me look so inhuman, that I hunched in pain. 

The gruesome sound of tearing skin and breaking bones filled my room. 

I groaned from the throbbing pain aching through my body after the stretching stopped. Looking up I saw my reflection and stared wide-eyed at what stared back. In the mirror I saw my elongated thin bod. Skeletal and pitch black like rotten wood and flesh. My limbs where thin, to long with the stringy tendons of muscle clinging to what I could only guess were my bones, looking rotten and sinewy- bending at the joints too sharply to be normal. The strangeness of my body only emphasized the mask like skin that clung to the dark tendon flesh that was my face. I could see the lining between the skin mask around my eyes and mouth, and knew underneath was just a dark winding web of my muscle around charcoal black bone.

This was my quirk. Some horrifying monstrosity.

I didn’t know how long I stared at myself for before I felt the drumming of a slightly nervous heart beat in my chest growing with the simultaneous footsteps of my mom approaching my room. 

Too quick for me to register, the leather like pale skin of my face spidered across my whole form, shrinking it back into my regular portioned body and hiding the terrifying flesh that lied underneath, only the small flaw of my skin meeting my eyes giving away that I was anything but a regular boy. Like some creature wearing the skin of a four year old boy like a costume. 

“Are you ready to go to the quirk counselor?” Mom asked, as she peaked in the room and smiled at me. I nodded and smiled at her reassuringly, hiding the quiver in my voice as I nodded. 

“Yeah! Let’s go,”

Chapter Text

There were three things I’d learned over the years. First being, fear can drive people to do awfully cruel things. 

It was the day after registering my quirk and I still had a lot to analyze. I couldn’t begin to train my quirk if I didn’t know what I could do. Mom was helpful, with her continuous and never ending words of encouragement. She believed I could be a hero. That was all I needed to keep the flame of hope alive. 

I grabbed my jacket and shoes, calling out to mom in the kitchen. 

“I’ll be back later mom! I’m going to the park to meet with Kacchan!” I said, smiling widely. 

She leaned around the kitchen counter and blew me a kiss. 

“Be safe Izuku, don’t stay out past dark, and have fun!”

The park me and Kacchan had claimed as ours was only a block away from the apartment. And by taking a secret route through the alleys I could get there within 10 minutes of walking. The park was surprisingly empty with the warmer weather so it was easy to tell Kacchan wasn’t here yet. 

Sitting in the hidden patch of soft grass behind a bush, the area me and Kacchan had found after spending so much time at the park, I pulled my analysis book out and continued where I had left off on my last entry. 

“-My quirks ability to sense(feel and hear) the heart beats of anyone nearby in panic could be a defense mechanism to detect danger by other people's fear? Or it could be a predatory trait and be giving me an extra sense for other people. As even seeing me in my human form seems to trigger discomfort in most people I have encountered since the development of my quirk. But maybe there’s more to it then that-“

“zuku!” 

My head snapped up as I heard Kacchans yell. I jumped up and ran over to him, a wide smile breaking across my face.

”Kacchan! Kacchan!” I waved as we got closer, opening my arms to hug him. His family had been gone on a camping trip all week so he had missed my birthday and my quirk. Kacchan was holding a box wrapped in All Might wrapping paper and my smile grew as I recognized it as his birthday present to me.

“Zuku guess what! I got to fight a bear while I was camping.” He said proudly as he crushed me into a tight hug. I laughed and shook my head.

”Oh, tch. The hag made me get you a birthday gift, so here.” He said gruffly as he shoved the box into my hands, hiding his smile behind a poorly done scowl. I took it gratefully but my excitement couldn’t wait any longer as the news burst from me.

”Kacchan you won't believe it! I got my quirk!” I said, feeling a bit nervous but smiling. Kacchan stepped back from our hug with a smile of his own.

”We’re gonna be the best heroes in all of Japan. what is your quirk?” He asked.

“It’s a legend quirk, they called it Nightmare!” I started to explain before I stopped. I could feel a drum, beating quicker in my chest. Why was Kacchan afraid?

—

Katsuki stepped back for a few reasons. At first he had only noticed how pale Zuku was when he saw him muttering to himself in the park, but then it was how cold he was when they hugged. Katsuki wasn’t easy to scare. Hell, he wasn’t sure he actually was afraid of anything. But the subtle way Izukus mouth stretched into a rigid and too sharp to be kind smile with too many teeth- struck a cord deep inside Katsukis mind, like some primal instinct to fear that clicked into place. Something was wrong.

Izuku, noticing his hesitance had stopped his rambling and his manquen-esque smile dropped into a look of concern so fast it was like a switch being turned off.

“K-Kacchan? Don’t be afraid I know I look a little bit.. off but it’s just my quirk!” He assured, reaching out to grab Katsukis hand. 

Katsuki flinched back and stared at Izuku. His quirk? He had just said it was called Nightmare so maybe that was why he felt so… deeply unsettled as he looked into the endless tunnels in Izukus eyes but… his heart was beating so fast, as if pleading for him to run, screaming something was wrong, something was dangerous about his life long best friend infront of him.

Katsuki raised a shaking hand and squared his shoulders. He wasn’t afraid of anything. He was going to be a number one hero, he couldn’t be trembling just because of some- some quirk. He let a warning blast crackle on his palm aimed at Izuku, keeping him from coming closer.

”Stay back! I don’t care what your quirk is! Y-you- you freak!.”

Katsuki yelled, stepping back from Izuku. Katsuki knew that if he were thinking more logically, that Izuku wouldn’t hurt him just because he had a new and scary quirk, but Katsuki didn’t like this feeling. Not at all. The way his heart hammered rapidly in his chest, making his skin cold with sweat, and his hair raised. It wasn’t a childish fear of something like spiders or ghost, it was instinctual and drove any resignation of hurting his friend to the forgotten corners of his mind as he let a large blast explode from his hand.

”what? No Kacchan, it's me! It’s Izuku! Please! It’s me! Ah!”

Katsuki stood in horror as Izuku fell with a piercing cry and his voice seemed to split like multiple people screeching at once. Katsuki didn’t know if he had meant for his blast to be that powerful but the way it had scorched the entire left side of Izuku's body made his stomach roll nauseatingly. 

Kastuki tripped back as Izuku looked up at him, black tears flowing thickly from his pained and uncanny eyes, rattling sobs scratching from each heaving breath Izuku took. 

The blast had ripped the leather like skin in jagged pieces off of Izuku's lower chin, left side of his neck, and left shoulder exposing a black web of striated tendons and muscle beneath.

Katsukis eyes widened and his breath hitched as Izuku's pale plastic like skin began to grow, pulling itself back together over the gaping hole until it had closed over without evidence it had been there at all. 

Without giving a second more for Izuku to recover, Katsuki turned and ran back home, not stopping until he was in his room with the door locked and the lights all on, flashes of the haunting look of betrayal Izuku had given him tormenting him throughout the night.

—

The second thing I learned was that when people tell you to ‘be yourself’ they actually mean ‘be a version of yourself other people can like.’

 Luckily I figured this out pretty quickly. Me, my mom, and that poor quirk counselor were the only people who had seen my true form, Bakugo had seen a sliver of it. My mom had taken it pretty well, even though I could feel her heart pounding from shock and fear. The quirk counselor had run out screaming barely registering my quirk at all before he bolted, and I’m pretty sure quitting his job.

I knew after that I had to keep my true form a secret if I didn’t want people to think I was more of a monster than they already thought. It had been hard to make friends before Kacchan, but now I had no one. And at school the day after Kacchan had attacked me, I walked into the class staring at me whispering and I knew it wouldn’t end well.

—

If Noaki Tonoke could describe himself in one word, it would be a sheep. And he hated it. Every day of elementary school should have been fun and filled with learning and ambitions for his future, but instead he had gotten roped up into following other classmates making a future for themselves to be great, instead of making one for himself. 

He didn’t like being mean, he hardly liked the boy he followed around and laughed with, Bakugou Katsuki. But he liked feeling important, because he was so easily forgotten, he was just a forgettable boy with an enhanced vision quirk. So he had just gone along with whatever the abrasive boy and his other friends did to give himself a purpose. Value.

But today, as he walked into class and heard the rumors of his desk partner, Midoriya Izuku, having some type of monster quirk, Tonoke decided he’d ignore the rumors and treat the kind boy as he normally would instead of the whispering and staring. 

 Tonoke sat at his desk, seeing Midoriya was already there, writing in his notebook as usual. 

“How was your weekend Midoriya?” He asked, smiling kindly. But his smile quickly fell as Midoriya looked up at him and smiled back.

”It was good!” Midoriya said, cheerfully.

Tonoke was used to being able to see things other people didn’t notice and he was quick to notice the small subtleties in peoples mannerisms. Today, something was off. The reserved, quiet and shy Midoriya usually had a faint constant blush of embarrassment on his face and freckles scattered across his cheeks. His eyes would dart everywhere with nervous anxiety. Tonoke knew Midoriya was a very shy kid compared to his friend Bakugou, but as Tonoke looked at Midoriya smiling up at him at his desk, he immediately realized the cause of the rumors.

It was subtle, but the lack of imperfections or blemishes that would typically appear on someone’s face were erased on his classmates' unusually pale and symmetrical skin. His eyes didn’t stray once from the intense eye contact he stared at him with. His smile was rigid and still, so much like a statue it startled Tonoke when it fell from the smile to a hollow frown.

Tonoke broke out into a cold sweat as he jumped out of his desk, trembling and pointing at Midoriya.

“W-what the hell are you?! Get away from me you freak!” He screamed, running to the teacher, and grabbing their attention frantically. The teacher had stood up alarmed and tense as Tonoke pulled at their sleeve, distressed.

“Sensei! Midoriya- his face! He looks like some twisted monster wearing human skin! He’s a monster!”

The teacher glared at Midoriya when he looked up and saw him staring at the two, holding Tonoke close as he cried. 

“Midoriya, please step out of the classroom, scaring your classmates is unacceptable behavior.” 

Tonoke watched through his tears as Midoriya picked his bag and notebook up, walking through the quiet class room, students flinching back as he passed them.

It would be many years later, that Detective Tonoke would sit at his desk, working on a specific case about a young girl turned villain for quirk discrimination and think back to this moment that he might have been the catalyst in the beginning of the kind boy's torturous elementary and middle school life, similar to the girl in his case. 

With all the students either terrified of him and avoiding him at every chance they could or joining Bakugo as they heroically ‘beat the monster away.’ The teachers had never done anything to stop them, sometimes joining in the discrimination. Tonoke wondered what had become of his old school mate.

________________

And finally, the third and last thing I had learned over the few years after I got my quirk was that as much as fear is a weakness, it can also be a weapon.

Relief washed over me as I broke free of the confining walls of skin, letting my limbs stretch and elongate to their comfortable length and letting the plastic leather recede away and only keep a mask over my face. I knew my true form was too scary for the other kids so I never changed in front of anyone, but my human form could get so uncomfortable. It was really only in the comfort of my bedroom that I could shed my outer disguise without bothering anyone because as much as mom insisted she wasn’t scared or bothered by it, I could feel the way her heart would race the first times I had transformed. 

There was so much to get used to with my quirk, the obvious ones being technically not alive and not needing to eat or breath or even sleep, having to shrink and fit into a too tight human disguise everywhere I went, and the not so obvious one being able to feel other people's heart beats. I always knew if someone was near if they were pumped on adrenaline from fear, anger, or any emotional stress, they’re hearts would tell me. Fear was the strongest, it was like my own personal siren song calling me to the individual's distress. 

If it was strong enough and I was familiar enough with the person, I could even feel it from miles away. The specific time my mom had a panic attack at her work when she feared for a patient she had been nursing. I had been sitting at home, reading a hero book when I felt the barely noticeable but familiar faint drumming of my moms heart when I knew she was far away at work. 

As much as it was a chore to get used to the changes, but it came with benefits of having a quirk I was determined to use on my way to being a hero. 

I had been walking to the grocery store for my mom, she had been so packed busy with work shifts she hadn’t even gotten the chance to go out and restock the fridge or pantry. So after school, homework and hours chores, I readorned my self in my human form and went out to ease some of her stresses. 

The sun was setting and there weren’t many people out on the streets, just the occasional late business worker commuting back home from a late shift and a few shady figures lurking the shadows of alleys and corners. 

In the store, I was quick to find what I needed, already having a list prepared of what we needed more of. Some milk, bread, rice, lettuce and tuna. I smiled politely at the cashier, feeling a bit guilty as they shuddered and began to scan my groceries with anew haste to their movement. 

I left the store enjoying the silence, my senses gliding calmly as they attuned to the faintest fluctuations of heart beats from the few people still out on the streets, most of the racing Hearst coming from the people who passed me and looked long enough to become unsettled as they noticed me passing by. 

It was sudden and sharp when I felt a new, rapid and panicked beat in my chest, coming close from the darkness of a near alley way. It was a type of fear I’d never felt before, a fear with a distinct flavor of real danger.

My head snapped down the alley and I was quick to set my grocery bags down and run towards the distressed signal, searching for the panicked source. As I turned the corner I froze at the sight of a young woman begging held against the wall by a villain with tentacles writhing from his back. 

“What a tasty little snack you are, I can’t wait to take my sweet time with you bitch. You’ll regret using that pepper spray after I’m done with you,” the man cackled, wrapping his tentacles around the woman’s waist causing her to cry out in pain. 

Anger flared under my skin as I ran forward and kicked the man’s side with as much force as I could. He was sent into the opposing alley wall with more power than I knew I was capable of.

I quickly turned over my shoulder and looked at the woman. She was crumpled on the ground against the alley wall and shaking in fear. 

“Ma’am! Are you alright?” I asked urgently. She nodded, still in shock as she hugged herself tightly. 

I nodded and risked turning to her to help her up. “You need to call the police and run, now!” I urged her, watching as she turned and ran out to the street, pulling her phone out as she ran.

I turned back to the villain in time to see as he groaned and glared at me.

“What the fuck do you think your doing you little shit!” The villain growled, wiping blood off his chin and he heaved himself up and stared threateningly at me. 

I didn’t have time to run while he was down and I was sure I wouldn’t have a chance against him. He was an adult, I was ten. But I could feel the sliver of fear within his adrenaline fueled rage in his pounding heart, and I had to choose to fight and use what I had to my advantage or

die trying.

“I don’t normally kill kids, but your being a real pain in the ass, little fucker.” He snarled as he launched a tentacle at me. I didn’t have the time to dodge before it was knocking into me, almost crushing me beneath its force if I hadn’t managed to catch it before, with the same unexplainable strength from earlier.

The tentacle villain yelled in fury as he sent all eight of the tentacles at me. I closed my eyes and braced for a painful impact to end me, but after a second too long of nothing hitting me I opened my eyes in shock to see I had sprouted 16 long spindly arms from my back, catching all the tentacles and easily holding them back despite the misleading spidery and brittle appearance of each arm. 

I didn’t have time to think further about the development as I grappled for control over the new arms and picked the villain up and hurled him into the alley wall, knocking him out cold. 

I stood stock still as I processed what had happened. As I stared in awe at the villain's unconscious frame, the arms sunk back into my hidden form with a crackling and ripping squelch, leaving a hole in my human skin from where the arms had ripped through out of my natural form. 

I grimaced at the torn tarpish hide as it began to pull itself back together. I was always exhausted after too much flesh damage. It never hurt, and it healed quickly but it sapped my energy fast, and with not sleeping anymore- a power nap wasn’t on the table as a quick fix. I’d have to wait the night in my natural form and ration my stamina to feel energized again. 

Usually my hide would automatically pull away and make way for my natural form to pull through but I guessed in the spur of the moment it didn’t have time to.

I shook the analysis running through my head away and grabbed my groceries hurrying home. Now was not the time to nerd out and I didn’t want to be caught in an interrogation and asked questions I couldn’t answer as I saw the flashing lights nearing the scene.

Chapter Text

“Alright students, today I’ll be going over Highschool registration with you all. Each of you should have turned in a paper of the school or schools you're interested in applying to after you graduate. I wrote feedback on each of your forms to help prepare you all. I’ll hand them back out and expect you all to read over the feedback and fix any mistakes that I marked.” The teacher explained to the excited class. 

Every day that passed, the other kids became more and more anxious to graduate. I wasn’t an exception. I had started preparing at the beginning of the year because I knew if I wanted to make it into UA, I’d have to be the best of the best. Especially with the set back of having a villainous quirk like mine. 

I watched the teacher stop by each student and hand them their form, commenting and occasionally complementing the student, feeling the cold hand of dread creep up my spine.

“ah, and it’s no surprise our best student applied to UA. I didn’t find any corrections to be made on your form, exceptional as usual Bakugou.” He commented as he handed the form to Bakugou who smirked smugly. 

“Ah, Midoriya. I see you applied to UA, I don’t believe that's the right school for you. UA only accepts students with the potential to be heroes, not…um… well I’m sure you’d find a more suitable career to your… skill set elsewhere. Maybe you should look into new options.” The teacher said coldly, dropping the form on my desk as the class got deathly quiet. 

I felt my stomach drop, certain the sensei had called me out on purpose, the sadistic bastard. Kacchans explosions were quick to fire and heat the air, as within a second he was throwing me into the wall. 

“What the hell do you think you're doing applying to UA, shitty Deku!? You will never be a hero! You're just a freak and a villain! Don’t you dare even try to get into UA.” He growled, purposefully burning the skin on my neck as he held me down. 

I stared angrily up at him, holding back the urge to throw him off me. It’d just be another bad mark on my record if I fought back, it always was. Over the years, Katsuki had gotten a bit better at hiding his fear, but I could always tell it was just an act, only kept from my grasp by my own hesitance to abuse my ability to sense it. 

Katsuki had developed an oversized ego and god complex as teachers praised him for simply having a powerful quirk, and it only got worse after he would get praised for treating me like a villain. We both knew he had known I wanted to be a hero, but perhaps the threat of applying to the same school as a ‘freak’ had triggered some illogical mindset that I was trying to one-up him. 

I didn’t flinch as a smoking smell of burning flesh filled the air and my skin over my neck began to crumble into ash. It didn’t hurt physically, it never did. It was always the mental pain of knowing my closest friend could hurt me the way he did. The way any connection that might have been between us was so completely gone. 

I could feel the increasing heat radiating off of Katsukis palm wrapped tight around my neck at the lack of reaction from me, determined to see me break like the worthless deku he deemed me as. But I just didn’t have it in me to back down like I usually did, the stress of the upcoming UA entrance exams had put me on edge and pushed me to hold his gaze.

Katsuki flinched at my stare but quickly hid it behind a cold smirk. 

“If you want to be a hero so badly, take a swan dive off the roof and hope you won't be a monstrous freak in the next life.” He sneered, taking his hand away and grimacing in disgust at the mess of burnt skin that flaked away from the black muscle on my neck before slowly inching back together. 

The class was silent as Bakugou's words hung in the air. I swallowed the lump in my throat and resigned with letting my cold glare send ice up Bakugou's spine, relishing in the way his heart accelerated and hiding the small pinpricks of inky black tears that threatened to spill over. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how much his words cut so much deeper than any physical pain ever could. 

 The teacher cleared his throat and began to continue the lesson, only waving Bakugou back to his desk as he went on like nothing had happened. 

Bakugou scowled at me , 

“This isn’t over yet Deku.”

He threatened as he turned and walked to his desk, grumbling at the other students that complemented his heroism and bravery.

I stood up and sat back at my desk, holding my breath so I wouldn’t begin to hyperventilate and get in trouble for breathing too loud.

Monstrous freak.

I had nine months till the entrance exam. I had made sure to study and train my body and quirk so I would have a chance at UA and become a hero.

Nothing but a villainous deku.

Sure I didn’t look like I had exercised a day in my life, since I didn’t build any muscle, but my muscle had built in strength and endurance 20 times more than it had been, rather than build in size.

Weak. Pathetic. Useless.

I had even mastered controlling and forming extra limbs from my natural form, being able to sprout 20 of them before it was too much to control. 

Take a swan dive off th-

I stood up abruptly, cutting the teacher off from whatever lecture they had been going over before I quickly walked out of the class and into the bathroom, closing the stall and pulling my legs up to my chest, rattling breaths racking my frame and squeezing my hollow lungs painfully.

It felt like years passed before I could finally breath through the hurricane of suffocating flashes of torment and torture that flashed over my wide eyes staring back at my self in the steel stall doors reflection. I watched as a thin stream of black tears streaked across my cheek and I slowly raised my hand up to my pale skin and grazed it over the fake disguise of humanity, smearing the tears under my fingers.

It always came back to that. It always came down to the truth that no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I trained or studied, I would always be a monster. 

My hand curdled into a claw as I gripped the leathery flesh of my cheek. 

Why couldn’t I have gotten a normal quirk like all my classmates? At this point it hardly felt like a quirk anymore with how the skin I wore was more foreign that the skeletal abomination I called my true form. No matter what semblance of humanity the husk I disguised myself as might have had, it was all fake. It was simply that, a disguise to hide the grotesque nightmare I really was.

I watched my reflection in morbid fascination as I pushed my fingers into the skin on my cheek, tearing the skin. I pulled and relished in the sickening tearing that echoed in the tiled bathroom. I continued to rip and tear until all that was left was my cold unnatural eyes and a skeletal horror made of black muscle and the glinting white of my sharp teeth. 

My true form. It was truly monstrous. 

I was startled from my grim trance as I felt a familiar fluttering of panic in my chest. It was my mom. The skin I had torn away snapped back into place with a speed I hadn’t seen before and 

 I quickly pulled my phone out, surprised by the number of missed calls I had from my mom. I noticed the time and swore as I saw school had ended half an hour ago. But why was mom home so early to realize my absence?

I quickly answered another call that popped up onto my phone screen.

”Mom? Is everything alright? I’m walking home from school right now.” I spoke softly, gathering my backpack and making my way out of the empty school. 

“Izuku! Oh my god, oh Izuku, are you alright? Where are you? Why aren’t you home?” She rambled frantically. 

“Mom, calm down! I’m alright! I just took the long way home. How come you're home so early?” I asked, kicking a rock as I walked along the sidewalk, looking up at the red and pink clouds painted across the sky from the setting sun.

“I forgot some paperwork at the house and had to run home to grab it. I was so scared when you weren’t there! Next time text me if you're taking a different way home! You almost gave me a heart attack!” She scolded caringly. I smiled and listened to her endearing worry. 

“Ok, sorry it won't happen again mom! I promise.” I huffed and laughed with her.

”You better not! I’ll be home late again tonight, but I was thinking, only if you want to, that we could watch a movie like old times?”

”That sounds great! ‘K, by mom! Love you!”

”I love you too Izuku! Be safe on your way home!”

I sighed as I pocketed my phone again. My mom had always believed in me. She never called me a monster, or flinched when I would do something unnatural. She was a constant beacon of light in the darkness that followed me everywhere I went.

I couldn’t let myself give up when my mom was giving everything she could just to help me get to my dream.

As I kicked the rock with every step I thought more about my goal to become a hero. UA was known for its anti discrimination regulations, but even with rules put in place, the Hero Commision made sure that they chose the flashy and strong quirks. I was not flashy. But even if I didn’t make it into the hero course through the entrance exam, I could get in through the sports festival. Regardless of how, I knew I had to become a hero. If not for me, for my mom.

I remembered the first time I had saved someone so many years ago. I was only ten then and had beaten the tentacle villain easily. I knew my quirk was strong and it scared me. I shook my head and kicked the rock again watching as it bounded into the shadows of the overpass as I walked. After the villain incident, I had been terrified the police would come knocking at our door and arrest me for vigilantism, but little ten year old me didn’t realize at the time that the police hardly had anything to track me by and the incident hadn’t even been put on the news.

As I walked under the underpass my steps faltered at the sudden feeling of a racing heart that seemed to be coming from under the ground. Adrenaline-filled thrill and a sliver of fear that was getting closer. I looked around, confused at the emotions I was sensing but couldn’t pin the source of. 

My eyes widened as I whipped around to the clattering of a manhole cover being thrown and a large green mountain of slime began to crawl out of it. Two large and crazed eyes landed on me and a floating mouth grinned hungrily, it must have been some sort of slime mutation quirk, but what was that person doing in the sewers?

”A perfect medium sized flesh suit to borrow! Don’t run kid, this won't hurt at all!” It seethed as it lunged at me, quickly reminding me not to get distracted by analysis and to run.

I turned and ran but was quickly caught at the ankle in sickly warm sludge, a cruel cackle rang out as the slime person began to wrap around my leg. I grabbed uselessly and I tried to pull it off but only managed to get the gross goop on my hands as the putrid smell of sewer and mildew climbed up and into my nose and forced its way through my clenched teeth and down my lungs. I didn’t feel the need for air as my lungs were filled, which made sense as my heart hadn’t beaten since I was 4 and and didn't need to pump oxygen through my body, but the feeling of the sludge writhing inside me was nauseating. 

“What is this? This meat suit is all decayed and black?!” The villain yelped in a gurgled voice once he had fully covered my body and filled my lungs. My eyes darted to any weak point I could find as I struggled to stop the natural instinct to inhale just to pull in more slime. The only thing that wasn’t slime was the eyes and mouth, if I could form another arm and grab the eye maybe I’d be able to distract him enough to escape.

I shot a black spindly arm out from my back and through the slime to claw at the eye. As my fingers closed around the soft squishy eyeball and squeezed, I focused on my rib cage and used all my control to contract my lungs and ribs to expel the sludge. I coughed and finally felt the last remnants of the slime leave my lungs. Now was the matter of getting the slime off from around me, before I could act further I felt a blast of wind punch into me, nearly knocking me down to my knees. 

The wind had blown the slime off me and I quickly regained my awareness and stood, adrenaline keeping me on high alert as I scanned around myself and formed five more claw-like arms from my back only to stop in shock.

”I am here!” All Might began before looking at me and blanching back with a jerk. I quickly reigned the clawed arms back and stumbled against the wall, using it to hold my weight. 

“A-All Might!” I gasped, reaching into my slime dampened book bag for my notebook, but with a spike of dread I couldn’t find it. Suddenly it was in front of me, All Might holding out to me from where it must have been flung across the street when I’d been attacked.

I grabbed it thankfully and began to flip to a page to ask for his autograph when I was completely awestruck as it was already signed. 

“You seem well young lad, but I must be off and turn this villain into the police!” He said with his usual bravo, holding a soda bottle with the sludge villain inside it and latching it onto his belt. Wasn’t he going to make sure I was ok? I was a civilian just attacked by a villain and if it weren’t for me already being dead, I would have been suffocated. But that didn’t matter, this was the only opportunity I’d get to dispel any doubt I had. Just one question that if the greatest hero of all time answered I would finally know for certain what the truth was.

“But- wait All Might!” I started to call, reaching towards the incredible hero before I was suddenly launched into the air along with All Might as he flew into the sky above the skyscrapers. 

“Young man! That was extremely irresponsible and dangerous!” All Might chastised after quickly landing on a nearby roof, moving to fly away again seeming frantic as if he was in a hurry.

”Wait! Please I just need to know if I can become a hero even with a villainous quirk!” I yelled again, pushing myself up from my knees. All Might hunched over as his body was wracked with coughs and a large cloud of smoke burst out from him, billowing out over the roof in a dense wave as it unfurled in a fluid like motion before slowly fading and dissolving into the air. Once the smoke had cleared, I gasped at the sight of All Might's gaunt frame. 

He coughed and wiped blood from his chin as he turned to me and paused. All Might's eyes scanned me hesitantly, taking in my unsettling features and glancing towards my back where he had seen the writhing mass of spider-like arms sprout from my back under the overpass when he had helped me from the sludge villain. 

“Young man,” He began, moving to sit beside the roof rails with exhaustion etching his eyes.

“..I can’t say I know what your quirk is, but being a hero is not just about having a powerful quirk or noble intentions, although it's all good and well, it isn’t enough to just to be strong and noble.”

I held my breath with anxiety and anticipation, uncertainty rolling in my stomach. 

”but with a quirk like yours, it would be an uphill battle.” He continued, his tone turning serious and grim.

”Heroes need to inspire hope and trust in the people, and unfortunately, your quirk may instill fear into the hearts of those who need help instead.”

I felt a lump in my throat and a pit weighing heavily in my stomach, but I couldn’t find the words to argue his point. It was the truth. 

All Might cleared his throat awkwardly to break the silence that had stretched tension over the roof.

“This is the aftermath of heroics, my boy. The number one hero reduced down to three hours a day from a single fight. I am glad to have made it out with my life.” He said, lifting his shirt and gesturing to a large scar over his stomach and chest.

“It is not for the light of heart and takes strength, physical and mental. You could still help people in a different profession. Doctors save lives everyday.” He suggested, glancing at my slender and boyish frame with a slight grimace.

That wasn’t fair. I couldn’t build muscle regardless of how much weights I lifted because of my quirk practically making me a walking corpse, why was it fair for him to base my potential off of something as shallow as how I looked. And I wouldn’t be accepted as a doctor if my quirk terrified all the patients and didn’t provide any use in that situation. 

All Might sighed at my lack of response and pushed himself up off the roof ground, smiling at me regrettably.

”Well, I must go. I wish you luck, my boy.” He said, poofing back into his muscled form and leaping off into the sky.

Time stretched as I stood motionlessly staring at the rooftop rails, feeling a cold emptiness spreading through my limbs and over my mind. All Mights words echoed in my mind as a heavy weight pressed down on me, accompanied by a sense of profound isolation.

Only after the sun had disappeared beyond the horizon did I finally muster the strength to gather my bag and tear myself away from the ledge and to the rooftop door. I quickly made my way down the building stairs and out back onto the familiar path home. I didn’t want to cause mom any more worry and she had sounded so hopeful for the movie night. 

I didn’t look back up at the roof even as All Might and Bakugou's words clung toxically to every thought I had. I couldn’t give up, if not for myself I would keep fighting for my mom.

Chapter Text

Inko laid comfortably with her arm wrapped tightly around Izuku's shoulder, her hand lightly brushing through his bouncy green curls as they watched All Mights debut on the tv. It was a rare moment for Inko to be able to just relax and spend time with her son, amidst their busy schedules- her work being so busy and Izuku being occupied by school and studying. 

She quickly sent a concerned glance at Izuku. He was leaning into her side with a blanket in between the two so she wouldn’t get too cold while they watched the movie together. The scene was relatively normal, even heart warming with the similarities to their movie nights back when he was just a baby, but the way he stared unseeingly at the TV with an expression devoid of his usual liveliness while he sat so still, Inko was certain he wasn’t even breathing made her anxious with worry. The heaviness in Izuku's aura weighed painfully on her heart.

She knew he was struggling. He was selfless to a fault, always burying his own turmoil and pain beneath a facade of assurance and empty smiles, switching one mask for his school off just to switch to another for her. It pained her to see him retreat into himself, hiding it all behind a brave face and stoicism. It was like being stabbed by a knife every time she saw him slink off to his room because he didn’t want to bother her with the nature of his quirk. 

As the movie played on, Inko couldn’t shake the feeling of slowly having become a stranger to the son she had used to be able to read like an open book. She missed her little Izuku.Wasn’t it so ridiculous? Inko could almost laugh. Even though they lived in the same house, she missed her son.

She missed listening to his rants and mumbles musing the air as he got lost into something he was interested in, and sure, the mumbles might have been like ghostly whispers against the shell of her ears, but they where his ghostly whispers and she loved them and could only watch in pain as they become quieter and quieter until she only heard them late at night through the walls when he thought she was asleep and wouldn’t hear. 

Inko ached with the desire to reach out to him and hug away the weariness on his shoulders. She wished she knew how to grab ahold of the words that eluded her, and find the right way to say she wasn’t scared of him. Just because her heart beat faster from the instinctual reaction she had to his quirk didn’t mean she was afraid.

She had only seen the shape her little boy hid underneath a few times and as much as Izuku apologized for even daring to exist in such a way infront of her, she wished he would more. Inko thought it was beautiful in an ethereal-eldritch type of way and she knew he was more comfortable that way. He should be allowed to be comfortable in his own home, she wanted him to be, but he hid away. She wanted to see more of her son, get to know each and every trait and habit she knew he had but suppressed around every one. 

She fondly remembered a late night she had gotten out of bed to get water and was surprised to see Izuku at the table engrossed in his studies that he hadn’t noticed her. It was a glimpse into the buried and suppressed parts of him she rarely saw. She knew the moment he realized she was there, he would slink away, so worried his presence was bothering her he’d apologize for every minuscule thing that didn’t need apologizing for, so ensuring her heart beat stayed steady and calm to keep him from noticing her, she crept to the pantry for a water bottle and watched her son work. 

It was amazing how much she had never gotten to see when he was meticulously pruning his personality to be as invisible as possible, to blend into the background as if he wasn’t even there. As he wrote, he mumbled and the warped and haunting whispers created an almost comforting white noise against the quiet evening. He worked with an entrancing efficiency she could only dream of accomplishing, the way his multiple arms held his book, wrote, typed away on the laptop and navigated through his diagrams, it was a wonder how his eyes could read through all the material at once. 

He had been  sitting almost perched on the chair with his knees pulled to his chest as he shuffled through the books and notes he went through. Inko had almost giggled aloud when she heard the subtle clicking that rattled from his chest like the rustling of leaves and purring of a cat made of skeleton. She was so startled and surprised by the eerily endearing and seemingly unintentional sound that she almost missed the transfixing way his form seemed to ripple and shift just slightly enough to be unnatural and his eyes would glint brighter when he became particularly absorbed into a video or article. She would have given the world to have that night last forever, just to watch the proof that her son was still a kid with dreams and hope and childish joy and life.

There was so much she didn’t know about her own son, it hurt. She worried for him constantly. He trained so hard, leaving to run and exercise early in the morning just to stay up all night to study. She was sure she had seen him reading through UA’s entrance exam test manual at least three times and that was just the books she recognized. she wouldn’t be surprised if he had gotten ahold of UA’s entire curriculum and read through it all. And all while he was still in a school she knew was his own personal hell. 

She couldn’t speculate all that happened at school to him, but she always had a suspicion that when the teachers told her they where vigilant to keep bullying and discrimination from occurring, they might have been in on it as well.

The only thing that got through Izukus placating mask he put on for her was his cold, tired look that seemed to sink deep into the depths of his eyes when he’d leave for school. That was one thing that truly terrified Inko. The only thing that proved he was actually alive was the life in his eyes, so when it got dimmer and dimmer after every day that passed, it held her heart in a squeezing, iron clad fist. 

Today had been the worst of them all. Even now as their movie came to an end, Inko couldn’t ignore the palpable tension radiating off him. She desperately wanted to reach out, to ask what was wrong, to reassure him she loved him unconditionally, but she was so scared to shake the already fragile relationship between them. She couldn’t bear the thought of him becoming more distant. With a heavy heart she waved Izuku goodnight and walk to bed, staring at the ceiling as she hoped letting him choose when to come to her would be the right answer.

_________________________________

It had been a in the moment-spontaneous ambition fueled by the anxiety of the nearing UA exams and a little bit of self hate that had pushed me to do it. I stood proudly and a bit sheepish at the sight of glistening white sand and clear beach. Dagobah Beach, a landfill long discarded and buried beneath years of public waste, now turned anew after I had been possessed by an unholy urge to clean during my 12:00am run as I passed the beach. 

I hadn’t expected to finish the same night I started, hell I hadn’t even planned on finishing it at all. I had wanted to tidy up a bit where I could, but as I had started slowly chipping away at the trash, pile by pile, moving faster than I realized I could, using my multitude of extra limbs to unbury the beach and before the sun had even cast the sky a light blue I had finished.

I had removed a broken truck down to the smallest shard of glass not leaving a single piece I could spot. I stared out at the quiet waves glistening under the setting moon, letting the soft rumble of pride rattle its shaky purr in my chest before whipping around quickly to make eye contact with a shadowy figure standing by the corner of a nearby apartment building. I tensed, cursing myself for getting too comfortable thinking I was alone. 

The man in question simply stared at me with an unreadable expression.

I titled my head to the side as I considered the stranger. How long had the man been there for? How long had he been watching? Did he see my quirk? Did he think I was a villain? Was that why he was staring at me? Did cleaning the beach count as improper quirk use? Was I going to get an Improper Quirk Use citation? I realized I had been staring at the man and blinked my eyes, knowing it made people uncomfortable or creeped out when I didn’t blink after long enough, but to my surprise the stranger hadn’t flinched or even looked away during the unintentional staring contest, just staring back me with a matched curiosity and inspection.

He wasn’t afraid. Who was this person?

I didn’t call out to them. If they weren’t afraid of me… that was new territory. I had no idea what to expect. 

Nearly 18 minutes passed of the staring, neither of us breaking eye contact as the sky turned from the inky black to a deep navy blue before the man took a step forward and spoke. 

“It’s quite the feat to clean the whole beach in one night.” He stepped closer, finally out of the shadows. I quickly scanned him, he had shabby long black hair, red tired eyes and a baggy black outfit that looked scuffed and dirty. He was probably a homeless person.

Still, I tensed and stared at him, not responding as he raised an eyebrow expectantly, waiting for my response.

The homeless man’s words hung in the air, and I crouched low to the ground ready to run at any moment the man showed signs of hostility or threat. If he wasn’t afraid, either he didn’t have any self preservation or he had an advantage. 

After a long break of silence the homeless man sighed softly, seeming to sense my weariness as he slunked down onto the curb. 

“Calm down, kid. I’m not gonna do anything.”

My pupils contracted as I studied him sharply. Despite his words, I couldn’t shake the feeling of uncertainty. 

“Who are you?” I finally asked, my voice low and warped with the soft breeze, seeming to split into multiple different voices at once.

He offered an amused huff and smirked.

“Just someone who appreciates what you’ve done here,” he replied cryptically. 

My lips pulled down into an unsatisfied frown at the homeless man’s answer. Sure it’d make sense homeless people might like having somewhere to camp that wasn’t covered in trash but I couldn’t place the strange sense of recognition that tickled the back of my mind as I looked at the man.

“Why were you watching me?” I pressed, keeping my guard up and unable to shake the discomfort of not knowing where I recognized this seemingly homeless man from. 

He shrugged nonchalantly,

“Curiosity, I suppose. Not every day you pass a, what- 10 year old? start cleaning a land-filled beach, which is really dangerous by the way, and then suddenly sprout spider legs from their back and heave a 5000 pound truck over their head.”

“I’m 13.” I glowered.

He snickered, the sound echoing in the quiet night air as my frown grew deeper with embarrassment and defiance.

“Well anyhow, not just anyone can clean a beach with such efficiency. Still impressive even for a 13 year old, especially with how small you look.”

I regarded him warily. Still unsure what his motives were and why he seemed so familiar. But something about his demeanor put me at ease, if only slightly. Even though he looked rough and didn’t smile beyond smirking in amusement and scoffing at me, he seemed genuine. 

“What do you want?” I asked, standing but still staying cautious. 

The man’s gaze swept over the beach before he responded. 

“I was planning to intervene and send you home. This is not a time for kids to be out doing public service, but you seemed to have it under control. I was just monitoring that the spider boy wouldn’t get crushed beneath a pile of trash.”

I nodded slowly, taking in his words. Despite his gruff demeanor, it seemed he had some level of concern for my safety. 

“Thank you for the concern,” I replied a bit begrudgingly, 

“but I’m fine. I’m going to be a hero one day, UA. I wouldn’t let myself get crushed by trash before I could reach my goal.” I added jestingly. But it was sobering to think, it really would have been a cruel joke from the universe to torture me for a near impossible goal just to kill me off right when it was within grasp.

The homeless man shrugged and rising to his feet from the curb, brushing sand off his pants.

“Well good luck with that, kid. You’ve got the potential,”

He cast one more glance my way, his eyes lingering on the unnatural way I knew my skin framed my eyes but not revealing any signs of fear or disgust at what he saw.

“Go home. It’s late. You probably have school tomorrow.” He grumbled, walking back toward the alley he’d come from. 

“Thank you, sir.” I murmured softly, not understanding why some random homeless person's words had affected me so much, bringing inky tears to my lashes and a tremble to my hands.  

Someone believed in me. Actually, two people now believed in me, my mom, and a homeless man. Not a great track record but more than I probably deserved. I'd take it. 

I finished my run home and dressed for school, a new lightness to my step, not like a burden had been removed but like another pair of hands had come and helped ease its weight, if only a bit, off my heart. 

Chapter Text

“Oh my little boy grew up so fast! I can’t believe you’ll be in Hero school so soon!” 

As mom wrapped her arms around me tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks, I couldn’t help but feel a lump form in my throat. Her familiar scent of cinnamon and coffee enveloped me like a second hug.

“Mom, you’re gonna make me cry too,” I chuckled, swallowing back against the rising tears. Mom pulled back, holding my face in her hands with a loving gaze as a huge smile split across my face.

”There's that smile I love,” She whispered adoringly. 

I normally hid my genuine smile but my mom had a way of drawing it out of me.

”Moooommmmm!” I complained as tears pricked my eyes.

She laughed and wiped at her tears,

“I know, I know, I’m sorry it’s just that-“ her voice caught as she struggled to find the words.

“My little ‘Zuku’s gonna be a hero!” She squeaked happily amidst the tears.

I shook my head as I smiled softly and picked my bag up and headed towards the door.

”Mom, we don’t know that for sure yet. I have to make it into UA first. Don’t jinx me,” I teased as her tears began to slow.

Her hand rested gently on my shoulder, her eyes filled with unwavering belief.

”I believe in you, Izuku. Do your best, and please for the love of god be safe.” 

With a final bone-crushing hug, she ushered me towards the door, wiping away her tears.

“I love you mom!” I called back as I descended down the apartment stairs.

“I love you too, Izuku!” She called back, waving and blowing a kiss from the door, her smile proud and radiant despite the new tears that erupted from them.

Walking to the train station, I felt content and light with each step, moms hugs always seemed to squeeze the anxiety out of me. I couldn’t help the excitement that coursed through me, I would be testing at UA, I’d get to walk inside UA!

With as much funding as they got, I knew it was going to be incredible even just to see it.

Boarding the train, I settled in a seat nearest to the doors, pulling out my notes for yet another review before the exams.

 I was confident in how much I’d prepared for the written exams. Though for the entrance exams, well I couldn’t be certain because it was different every year. But I had trained and grown much stronger, sharpened my control over my quirk, being able to use 20 extra arms efficiently, and nearly perfected my reflexes and coordination. All I could do now was review and hope everything I had done was enough to get in.

As passengers began to pool into the train, I noticed a pregnant woman with two young children struggling to find a seat. Without hesitations, I offered my seat to her, 

”Please, take my seat!” I said, smiling kindly.

“Oh thank you!” She gratefully accepted but as she guided her children to the seat, I noticed the subtle glance of unease she sent me.

I was pretty familiar with it, her reaction in particular being more subdued than others I’d had to deal with before. Back when it was still new and foreign to me, I had analyzed the reaction and discovered it was the emitter trait of my quirk along with a constant cold that surrounded me. I had started labeling it as the uncanny factor, figuring the actual uncanny affect my appearance had was simply enhanced by my quirk to cause an involuntary fear reaction in people near me or looking at me. 

With a pang of guilt, I gave them some space and found an empty spot to stand next to a pole. But as I stood beside them, I couldn’t help but observe the quirk traits in the children. They both had blue tinted cheeks and lips, and as they whispered to each other, tiny snowflakes danced in the air from their breath before melting. 

An Ice quirk of some sort? I wondered if it was specifically produced by their breath, like ice breathing? Did it affect their lungs, maybe cause a form of quirk induced asthma? What type of effect would an ice quirk like that do to their blood circulation and coordination. I pondered the possibilities, momentarily lost in thought.

Lost in my speculation, I didn’t notice as I began to mutter, and when the children noticed my gaze the youngest quickly began to cry and hide in her mothers side. The boy's eyes widened fearfully as he shrunk back into his mom and held his sister's hand tightly.

Guilt wracked through me as I snapped my jaw closed to stop my muttering, stepping back apologetically and raising my hands.

”I'm so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare them.” I apologized to the woman, who was comforting her crying daughter and scared son.

“It's alright,” The mother reassured me with a strained smile, her voice carrying hints of unease and sympathy. “They’re just not used to… more unique quirks, that's all. It's no problem, please don’t feel bad.”

Despiste her attempts to calm the situation, I could feel her own discomfort with my appearance, her heart beating like the wings of a hummingbird in my chest as my quirk picked up the growing adrenaline of fear in her and her children. I nodded understandingly, smiling weakly as I felt a small sense of sadness fill me, I really should have been used to it by now.

 I looked at the children who had begun to calm and I offered a closed mouth smile to be less frightening, hoping to move past the initial fear they had.

”I’m sorry I scared you guys. I don't mean to be scary, but it happens sometimes because of my quirk. Your quirks look super cool, I think the snowflakes are very pretty.” I spoke softly to them, hoping to ease their fears.

But as I addressed them, they shrunk back and hid their faces into their mom.

”It’s okay,” She sighed, smiling at me sympathetically, her look of discomfort seemed to have changed into pity. ”They'll be alright, thank you for your kindness.”

My stop came soon and I quickly left the train station, keeping my head down as I made my way to UA.

Walking up to the giant UA doors was surreal. Like walking through a dream. My steps hesitated as I reached the gate, gulping in uncertainty as everything I ever hoped for came down to one exam, or- well two counting the written and the entrance physical portion, but still. With a shaky breath, I shook the nerves from my head and took a determined step over the gates. 

 Walking into the crowd of students gathered at the front of the school, I looked around with wide eyes at the different quirks already being displayed. A girl with rubber-like limbs stepped over the line in an impressive display of mobility, passing a pair of twins who seemed to share a hydra body. I was so absorbed in looking at the variety of students and quirks that when a scuffle between two other examiners nearby me caused me to be shoved forward I didn’t react fast enough as the ground was approaching me. But as fast as I had been shoved, I felt a hand slap my arm and I was floating. 

Looking up I made eye contact with another student, a girl with brown short hair and bright natural blush, who startled back and released the quirk they had suspended me in the air with as our eyes met, dropping me to the ground. 

I caught myself quickly and looked back up to the student.

”Thank you for catching me.” I said sheepishly with a kind smile, noticing the circular pads on her fingers. A five point activation quirk that seemed to be some sort of suspension or levitation? Maybe weightlessness?

The girl didn't respond to my thanks and when I looked up from her hands I had been speculating her quirk I noticed why. She was almost leaning forward as she stared at my face, as if trying to find something or waiting for it to change and jump at her like a jump scare.

”A-are you ok?” I asked, stepping around her towards the UA doors with an uncomfortable tension filling the air between us. I didn’t really know how to interact with other kids my age, or really people in general with how long I’d resigned to blending into the background to avoid the students and teachers back in Aldera.

I had no clue how I was supposed to react to another person if they weren't screaming at me in fear, or chasing me away and screaming I was a monstrous freak. So I stood silently staring back at the girl, titling my head curiously at her.

The girl shook her head, as if shaking herself from a trance and blushed embarrassed. 

”Ah! I’m sorry I didn’t mean to stare. My name is Uraraka Ochacko! Sorry I used my quirk without asking you before but you know it's bad luck to fall before the exam!”  She said, sticking her hand out to shake mine.

I stared at her, completely dumb struck, was this how interactions that didn’t involve screaming or angry mobs usually went? It was only after a minute of my shocked silence that she raised her eyebrow confused at my lack of reaction and I startled and shook her hand quickly.

”oh-um I’m Midoriya Izuku, thank you for catching me and uh-it’s nice to meet you?” I said more like a question as she giggled at me. 

“This might come off as rude and I really don’t mean to be but I’m curious about your quirk.” Uraraka burst out suddenly with a guilty expression.

”I was staring earlier because.. well when I looked at your face, it was like looking at those really creepy old paintings that eyes seem to follow you when you move and- like, you want to look away because it’s scary but it’s also strangely entrancingly eerie? If that makes sense? I don't mean to be rude though!” She spoke quickly, holding her hands over her mouth in embarrassment.

My eyes widened at her bluntness but I couldn’t stop the teasing grin that snaked onto my expression as I raised my eyebrow at her. 

“I look like a creepy old painting?” I laughed as she hid her embarrassed blush behind her hands.

“No! Just- well- its that you- you just look really creepy!” She stuttered, making me laugh more. 

“Um, yeah its my quirk. Is your quirk levitation?” I asked, enjoying the strange lightness between their exchange, almost friendly? 

She shook her head, finally lowering her hands as she looked back up at me. The steady pounding of her heart I had been feeling since she stared at me was beginning to calm into a slower and more rhythmic pace. 

“No, it’s anti gravity!” She began to explain before jumping up and looking around at the emptying crowd in panic.

”Oh shoot! We’re gonna be late!” She cried. I looked at the time and frantically ran to the entrance with her.

”Maybe I’ll see you later, creepy guy! Bye!” She waved with a wide smile as she ran to her written exam sector. I couldn’t help the wide smile I returned to her as I waved back, running to my own sector for the written exam feeling light with the hope of having made a new friend after years of hardly talking to any one. It was nice, but quickly flitted to the back of my mind as I took my seat and determinedly looked down on the thick packet of test papers in front of me.

“Pencils up, anddd begin!” The teacher called out to the students in the exam room. I confidently flipped through each page, my smile returning to my face as I flew through the questions answering them with ease as I recognized each one from my studies. 

I was the second person to stand and turn in the complete test packet, nerves and pride radiating off me at the prospect, I could only hope I had done as well as I felt I did. 

—————————————————————-

Sitting in the auditorium I couldn’t hold back my star struck excitement as The Voice Hero: Present Mic took the stage to explain the entrance exam rules to them. 4 different robots with points of 1, 2, and 3, and don’t harm other students. Easy enough. Hopefully. 

I thought over my hero analysis notes as Present Mic announced the exam, my hand was itching for my note book. I had been enthralled with present mic, he was my fifth favorite hero, now fourth that All Might wasn’t the #1 on my list anymore, and I knew almost everything I could about him. It was incredible to be able to see his famous directional speaker in person and hear it in person! 

That speaker had been personally designed and made by the founder of Hatsume Inventions, Hatsume Saru, one of Japan's most influential inventors and figures in the hero support gear industry. I knew that directional speaker just had to have so many little details added to it. I wonder if the material in the speaker kept the sound waves from reflecting back at the wearer or if that would even be a concern. How is it powered- that is if it even needs to be powered considering the power of Present Mics own voice could probably be converted into an energy source that powered the speaker. Now that would be cool. Does the speaker not get in the way of his mobility? I wonder if his movements are restricted by that huge speaker being around his neck, maybe-

“Present Mic, Sir! It’s extremely unprofessional of this institution to have missed that you said there were 4 robots but only explained 3! And you!” 

I startled, snapping my mouth shut, cutting off the broken warped whispers of my mumbles. I hadn't realized I was thinking out loud but the blue haired boy who had been sitting beside me stood and pointed down at me aggressively glaring. Once I was snapped out of my analysis fixation, I noticed the pacing hearts of many of the students around me, raised and quickened by the discomfort they felt from me.

”We are here to be heroes! If you're not going to take that seriously and disrupt and disturb the students around you, leave!” His voice echoed through the hushed room.

 I stood up and glared at the boy, embarrassed and slightly frustrated. He could have just asked me discreetly to stop mumbling, I hadn’t even noticed! The boy opened his mouth to say something but I stopped him with an icy glare that made him stumble back.

“At least I’m not stopping the entire announcement by yelling at the top of my lungs like you're doing now. If I’m being disruptive, you're being downright disrespectful!” I defended, not caring how my voice shook and warped. Who did this kid think he was? Interrupting Pro hero Present Mic just to complain about some mumbling. 

With a huff, I sat back down, glaring at the blue haired boy who stood shocked and seemed taken aback by my response, embarrassed before quickly sitting down as well.

Present Mic cleared his throat and began announcing again.

“Ahem! To answer your question, applicant, you're right! I didn’t mention the 4th one because it is zero points! You get nothing for it so it's best to avoid it! And with that, follow the doors to the testing arena!” Present Mic cheered as the students began to file out to a gated area.

The students were squished together and crowded tightly by the gate. I kept from being shoved around by the other students by sending glares at anyone too close to me and increasing the cold aura around myself. I analyzed the gated area carefully. I had no idea what was behind the gate but I had to be prepared and avoid getting trampled by the other students when the gates opened. 

I began to move closer to the front and keep close to the side wall before a hand grabbed my shoulder. I turned around and held back a groan as I saw it was the blue haired boy, again.

“Was your distraction during the introduction not enough? Can’t you see that she’s focusing? It's appalling that you would stoop so low as to sabotage others just to put yourself at advantage, it’s hardly heroic but you don’t seem to be the hero type anyway, with such an … unconventional quirk.” He lectured, looking at me with an expression of anger and disturbed disgust. I stared at him outraged and confused seeing that he thought I was going to go talk to the girl I had met before who was in my line of movement towards the wall. 

I scoffed and wretched his hand off me, stalking away from him and towards the wall I was originally going to. 

“Alright listeners! Do your best, Plus Ultra! GOOOO!” Present Mic shouted from the presenters booth. The students hesitated as they waited unsure what to do, but once I noticed the gates had begun to open I immediately ran into the arena, hearing the shouts and yells of students before Mic called out again.

The arena was a huge mock city. Skyscrapers and buildings placed close together with abandoned cars and shops making it look realistic. I knew they had good funding, but for an arena this size? And they had to have multiple of these arenas to test all the students!?

”There's no such thing as a countdown in the real world! GO!” Mic shouted, the other students quickly began to flood in through the gates.

I instantly spotted my first robots, two small circular shaped robots with two guns on their arms. These were the one pointers. I grunted as I quickly formed six black long and sharp arms on my back that I used to climb up the side of the building, dodging the net that shot out from one of the robots arms and a barrage of… paint filled sand bags? Once I was above the robots, I let go of the wall and positioned my arms to spear into the top of their heads, electricity sparking before the robots shut down. 

Two points down. Many, many more to go. 

I traveled through the alley ways, drowning out the pounding hearts filled with adrenaline from all the students around me by my own determination and focus, hearing their yells and explosions in the distance. I took the one pointers I passed down just as quickly as the first and came across two and three pointers. 

The two pointers were bigger, shaped more humanoid with legs on wheels, a chest with a cannon, and gun arms. The two pointers where better at aiming and shooting faster, but using my arms to increases my speed I darted between the nets and bullets until I was close enough that with a swift motion, I stabbed my arm through the chest of the two pointer and rip the wires out in a tangled and sparking web. 

Three pointers were a much larger challenge, with the armored tank-like robot towering over me and armed in heavy artillery with cannons on both hands, on their chest, and a laser shooting eye. I dodged the sandbag bullets that shot at me with force, quickly finding high ground as I analyzed the three pointers. They traveled in groups of three, seeming far more intelligent than the one and two pointers, able to communicate through their blinking lights and beeping sounds, quickly gathering beneath me, and aiming up at my place on the side of the city building. 

I turned and jumped back, flipping backwards and landing behind the robots moments before all three of their lasers went off where I had been. I quickly scaled up the metal frame back of the middle robot with acorbatic ease, using my arms to pull me up quickly with spider-like agility. I ducked as the robot's arms began to spin wildly in an attempt to get me off. 

Before the other two three pointers could aim their cannons at me I climbed up to the middle robots central control panel and peeled the metal door off, reaching inside to delicately begin to separate the main body from the battery and the lazer head, which was much easier than I had anticipated. After the wires were situated I grinned manically and pulled the head off the body of the robot, the cords and battery coming up with the head like a mechanical spinal cord.

Using my extra arms like a backpack to hold the large robot battery, I was soon sporting the robot's head like a laser gun, shooting the other robots down with the lazer. I began to run down the alley ways, aiming for all the robots I could find. 

Soon the time was down to two minutes. I guessed I had around 68 points now and the robots were starting to run out, with other contestants starting to battle each other over the remaining few robots. 

I tossed the robot head to the side of the street, deciding if I came across any more robots I could take them down easily without the lazer and I began to scan the area, moving deeper into the fake city. As I got deeper into the shadows of the city with the distant echoes of battle I felt the urge to shift into my natural form, desperate to creep through the serene dark without restriction. But I shook the urge from my head, knowing that there were cameras around the entire city. If any one saw, I was certain they wouldn’t let me pass. Who would let a monster into a hero school?

I was snapped out of my rhythmic run through the dark alleys as I felt the ground shake and my senses picked up the increase of fear flowing thickly through the fake city from the students. I quickly scaled the nearest building to get a better view of what was happening. I was shocked when I saw a behemoth giant robot stomping through the city, crushing everything in its way. 

The Zero Pointer.

The thick cloud of fear that radiated from the students that ran from the Zero Pointer made my bones itch with a foreign instinct to run towards the chaos. I jumped high up over the buildings, using my arms to throw myself farther than I’d be able to leap, quickly moving towards the robot, feeling stronger the closer I got to the wreckage and panicking students.

I felt the heat on my face as my eyes began to burn a fiery green, the screams and pure panic filling me, all their hearts beating together in a large thundering drum filling my chest, with each pound making me feel as if I was alive, their adrenaline almost seeming as if it were pumping through my veins. I wanted to go faster, pushing my arms to move faster to reach the robot but it wasn’t fast enough. The instinct that was growing with the second began to take over, pulling my arms back into the black flesh of my back but changing as I was in the air, mid jump.

I breathed exhilarated as I felt the tarp-ish skin that made me humanoid form pull and stretch over the crackling sound of my bones breaking and reshaping as I landed on the next building's roof. I gasped as I looked down to see I was running on paws, thick dark black moss like fur coating my body and muscular but thin legs pushing me faster than I had ever ran before. 

A loud cry rang out through the screams and crumbling rubble of the city and my gaze zoned in on the brown haired girl I had met earlier, Uraraka, trapped beneath a slab of concrete in the path of the oncoming Zero Pointer. 

With a determined growl I darted over the roofs of the buildings and jumped into the air at the last one, calling back my humanoid form before I landed with a roll beside her.

”Uraraka!” I called urgently, as I ran up to her. She flinched back at my sudden appearance and groaned in pain as whatever was crushed beneath the concrete moved with her.

“Don’t move! What’s trapped?” I asked, circling the concrete slab quickly as the robot thundered closer. I searched for a point where I could heave the rubble off her without further injuring her.

”ughh- It's my ankle, it’s crushed under the concrete, I can’t use my quirk, I'm already over my limit.” She groaned in pain. I nodded and crouched down, called to the new surge of energy and strength flowing through my body like blood and lifted the massive concrete up, forming an arm to pull Uraraka out from under the rubble. 

I looked up at the massive robot only three steps away from us, shaking the ground with each one it got closer. I kneeled beside Uraraka,

”Grab onto me, around my neck, I’ll take us to the front.” I instructed as I pulled my skin back into the wolf shape I had taken earlier, smiling excitedly as it worked and I was once again covered in dark thick fur and on four legs. 

Uraraka looked at me with a horrified expression shaking her head as she grabbed around my neck and pulled herself onto my back.

”You might just have gotten even more terrifying than before like this. Do you always smile like you're about to eat a child?” She asked exasperatedly. 

I barked out a laugh as I sprinted out from underneath the robot's massive foot before it could crush us, taking us back to the front as the speakers called out the end of the exam. I shifted back into my human form as I handed Uraraka over to a medical bots stretcher, feeling more confident in my new found ability.

”Thanks for saving me, Midoriya! You may be absolutely horrifying but I hope to see you in UA!” She called to me, before leaning over and throwing up as the bots carried her away.

I laughed slightly concerned as I waved back,

”Me too!”

I smiled softly to myself as I walked into UA’s waiting room where they would hand out the results to contestants who were not in need of medical assistance. I was pleased to find that even with the occasional attack I didn’t doge from the robots and rubble, and the breaking of my skin from transforming into a wolf, which still- what?!? I CAN SHAPE SHIFT?!?- that I wasn’t drained or exhausted, if anything I felt rejuvenated as if I had gotten the best sleep I had in my life. Which wasn’t the case since I didn’t sleep, but I knew as I sat down to wait for the results I had a lot more to analyze about my quirk now.

I sat and opened my notebook, smiling down at the title, Hero Analysis Notes for the Future #65. I began to write about my exam experience, biting down on my tongue as I’d rather look like an idiot sticking my tongue out than mumble and get berated by the other students in the waiting room.

Chapter Text

Nezu enthusiastically delegated the exam duties to each teacher, being the organizer for each group of students and where they would go. Aizawa, however, was too sleep deprived for this. Why couldn’t the students just brawl it out on UA’s lawn and call it good. Why did he need to be here when he was partially asleep throughout all of Nezus meetings- that was until Nezu addressed him specifically to give him instructions.

“Aizawa and Yamada, you’ll supervise group M to Z in the North arena for the physical exams. Ensure none of them are fatally injured or killed! I’ll be stopping by at the last minute to release the Zero pointer, and Chiyo will be there at the end as well to manage the injured. Any questions?” Nezu finished cheerfully.

“None from me!” Yamada affirmed with a volume too loud to be appropriate for any indoor situation but not loud enough to cancel out with his quirk. It always made Aizawa wonder why they were friends.
“Got any questions, Shou?’ Yamada poked his shoulder, checking he was still awake. Aizawa wished he wasn’t.
”No.”
“Great! Let’s get to it!”

Aizawa didn’t have the energy to complain as he was dragged out of the meeting room with Yamada, but he was fortunately able to send a well fueled glare at Nezu who only smiled and sipped his tea in response. Damn rat.

Aizawa took a seat backstage while Yamada enthusiastically tried to get the students excited in a painfully futile attempt. After Yamada explained the physical exam point system, Aizawa trudged towards the northern arena presenter box where he would try not to get a migraine. A fruitless endeavor.

It was really unfortunate his expelling privileges had been reduced to five students per year after he expelled his entire class last year. They had it coming, none of them had an ounce of potential in them. It was honestly disappointing how unfit for heroics each student was. So, reasonably, like any other person, he expelled them all and sent them to the generals course so that if they really did have what it took to be a hero they’d work their way up. None of them had.

He really needed to look into the middle school that sent that group of kids. It was honestly concerning how ill-prepared for even basic adult responsibilities they where, displaying entitlement and naive arrogance. Aizawa sighed and slouched into his seat as Yamada kicked off the exam with far too much enthusiasm than what the job called for.

At least after the introduction and while he was in the presenters booth for the physical exam, he could get an idea for how the school year would look like. But as he glanced down at the cameras, Aizawa immediately regret that thought process and began mentally listing kids he definitely would not take as students if they miraculously somehow passed the exams. Did they really think fighting each other and massive property damage was a trait they were looking for in future heroes? Really?

Shaking his head and sighing, Aizawa continued to scan the students until a familiar head of dark green hair caught his eyes. Oh, it was the spider boy from the beach. The boy, Midoriya Izuku according to the files, was darting through the rubbles filled alleyways and efficiently gathering points as he ripped the wires out of the robot's chest with ease.

Aizawa would be lying in saying he wasn’t intrigued by the boy, with such a powerful quirk that he could easily be rampaging through the city and pilling points up like the other more destructive testers, but as Aizawa watched the boy skillfully dart to robot from robot, he was impressed by the care and precision used in taking the robots down without damaging them beyond necessity or damaging any of the city. The spider boy moved with precise accuracy, his strategy and technique raging in contrast to the careless destruction of the other testers.

Yamada leaned over his shoulder as he watched the camera on Midoriya.
“That was the kid …mumbling? In the introduction.” Yamada noticed, shuddering at the memory, thinking it sounded more like a conjuring of demons.
“It was like fingernails against a chalkboard. Really unsettling, he didn’t have those creepy arms earlier either.”

Aizawa shook his head, knowing Yamada, it was just his entomophobia projecting onto the kid.
”I’ve seen this kid, well- met him. sort of, while I was out on patrol by the landfill dagobah beach. He cleaned the whole beach in under four hours.”

Yamada shuddered again and pulled a chair next to him to watch the camera screens.
“How are you not creeped out by him? Are we watching the same kid ruthlessly gut robots in one hit? Like is this not slightly disconcerting- oh my god. He just ripped the head off that one and, are you seriously grinning at that Shou? You can’t hide it, I see you smiling.” Yamada accused exasperatedly.

Aziawa shrugged, hiding his grin behind his scarf as they watched the kid begin to shoot the robots down with the robot laser head.
”Its very innovative of him, we’ve never had a applicant utilize the robots weapons like that before.”

As the exam came closer to the last minute, Nezu walked into the presenters booth.
”How’s it going so far?” He asked in his usual cheerful tone. As he noticed both of their gazes focused on one screen, he looked over to see.
“Ah! Midoriya Izuku, a legend quirk filed as Nightmare and severely lacking in-depth descriptions on the quirk registers part! How is he faring? His middle school records claim he’s quiet the destructive student.”

Aizawa raised his eyebrow up at Nezu,
”Midoriya seems far from destructive in nature. He’s been nothing but precise and efficient.-“

”Shou! He dropped the robot head, where is he going? AHHHHH!” Yamada screeched, falling backward out of his chair. Aizawa sighed and quickly canceled out Yamadas quirk with a glare.

“Why are you screaming?” Aizawa droned irritated. Yamada sheepishly sat back in his chair.
”He stared directly into the camera, like he knew we where watching. It felt like he was looking at me through the camera. It caught me off guard…” He whined. Aizawa groaned and Nezu laughed, drawing their attention back to him.

”Well its about time I let the Zero Pointer loose, no?” He said, grinning with sharp teeth and a malicious glint in his eyes as he began to start the robot up. This was the sadistic rat's favorite part, and Aizawa was more unsettled by the principal's subtle blood lust than he felt comfortable admitting.

They watched as the students began to run from the zero pointer, Aizawas attention still on the green haired student.

“Oh it’s always a shame when they run.” Nezu sighed. Yamada shifted away from him.

“They’re not all running away.” Aizawa spoke up, nodding towards the screen he’d been watching, as the green haired applicant began to jump roof to roof, launching himself forward with his extra arms.

As Nezu looked at the screen his eyes sparkled dangerously. The room was silent as they watched the boy stretch and tear into a warped, too thin and long wolf in mid air right before their eyes and begin to run even faster towards the robot.

“Well that certainly wasn’t in his quirk description!” Nezu commented, breaking the silence with a delighted trill.

Aizawa leaned forward towards the camera, tapping the screen to zoom closer to the scene.
“He’s rescuing another student who got stuck beneath rubble. But the Zero Pointers right there, they won’t have time to get her out before the robot crushes them. Nezu stop the Zero Pointer.” Aizawa spoke urgently, standing as the Robot continued to march closer to the students as the boy circled the concrete hopelessly looking for a way to free the girl.

Nezu continued to watch silently, a mad grin splitting his face as the Robot continued to move, only a few steps away from the students now.
“I want to see what they do when faced with prevalent danger.”

The boy moved towards the concrete and began to push against it.
“He won’t be able to lift it, that thing weighs at least 9,000 pounds!” Yamada panicked, watching as the robot grew closer and Nezu continued to watch without stopping it.

The boy heaved the concrete up, pulled the girl out from underneath with another arm, and quickly shifted into a wolf, running towards the front gates before the robot crushed where they had been seconds ago.

Nezus tail wagged and his whiskers twitched in a telltale sign of his suppressed enjoyment.
“I can’t wait to have him as my student.” He said calmly, barely containing his ravenous smile.

Yamada shuddered and Aizawa sighed and rubbed his temples, already feeling the enormous amounts of headaches he’d have to suffer through this year.
“Please fire me before that ever happens.” He groaned, feeling pity for himself as the rat just cackled.
_______________________________________

Waiting for the results was a new and cruel form of torture I never wanted to experience again. Ever.

Despite most students opting to have their result mailed to their homes, I was determined to get my results as soon as I could at UA. While I waited, I replayed the entrance exam over again in my mind, analyzing and flipping each detail inside out to find places I could improve or choose a better strategy.

Though I had tried to keep from muttering while I absorbed myself into my notes, it was only an amount of time later that it would inevitably creep out again. It was at the half hour mark that applicants, pushed to their limit with the ear scratching muttering and anxiety of waiting for their results left and chose to have their results mailed.

I didn’t know if it was in an attempt to get me out of there sooner for the sake of everyone else, or if my results had just gone fast that they brought me my letter first of all the students waiting.

I left the building, anxious to get home to my mom to see the results, shoving the letter I had been clutching tightly into my pocket without opening it as I caught a train home. Sitting and watching the city pass by in a blur through the window, I itched as every passing second felt like an eternity with the unopened letter burning a hole in my pocket. I had wanted to open it with my mom, but as I thought further about it, what would I do if I didn’t get in? I couldn’t disappoint my mom like that. If I opened it now…. I could prepare to see her with whatever results I got.

Finally with a deep breath, I pulled the envelope out and began to tenderly unfold and open it, my eyes widening as a silver disk fell from the envelope and into my lap. I picked it up and investigated the cold and smooth surface, spotting a start, pause, and rewind button lined next to a headphone port. I pulled my headphones out from my bag and plugged them in, hesitantly hitting the start button and flinching as a hologram of All Might appeared before me.

“It is I, All Might! Speaking to you through a holographic recording and a new teacher at UA as of this year! Congratulations, Midoriya Izuku! You’ve been accepted into the UA Hero Course!”

I was accepted. I made it into UA. I was going to be a hero!! My mind raced as the hologram flickered and continued to speak, but the words were lost to my shock and rush of disbelief and elation that threatened to fly me away.

“You’ve been accepted into the UA Hero Course,”

Those words, as unfortunate as it was that they were spoken by All Might, still echoed in my head and made my hands tremble and I rushed to restart the recording.

“You’ve been accepted into the UA Hero Course! You scored 97 on the written exam, and 73 robot points on the entrance exam! With 270 points in total, UA is proud to accept you into the Hero course!” All Might explained, referring to a holographic point board with my results.

I had 45 points from three pointers, 22 from two pointers, and 6 from one pointers. 73 robot points added to 97 on the written exam, that was only 170. Where did the 100 points come from? I unpaused the recording and focused back to the rest of the explanation.

“A secret portion of UA’s entrance exam that's not explicitly advertised to the applicants are the RAC points! Rescue and Care points are given when a student performs a heroic deed and saves another applicant during the exam that earns them 50 Rescue points, and the Care points that are rewarded to applicants that refrain from damaging the property or other applicants! You were the only applicant to earn rescue points, and one of three to earn Care points!

You placed first in the entrance exams 270 points! And if it were allowed, you would have earned more as the applicant you saved came to the UA staff directly to request her entrance exam points be transferred to you for your heroic deed!” All Mights hologram flickers away and Uraraka flickered in his place.

“U-um.. I just wanted to give him my points. It’s not fair he lost time for points saving me. If anyone deserves to be a hero, it’s him.” She said to someone off camera stoically. My breath caught at the sincerity she spoke with, she probably had no idea I’d even get to see her own willingness to such a just sacrifice. The hologram flickered back to All Might after the clipped finished.

“Further information regarding school uniforms, policies, and schedules will be emailed within three to four business days! Welcome to your Hero Academia! PLUS ULTRA!” The hologram flicked off, leaving me in shocked silence on the train, my stop quickly arriving.

I was partially relieved as the hologram All Might flicked away, his presence even through just a recording, was overbearing and I would have to process how I’d deal with him as my teacher later when I wasn’t celebrating making it into UA. I needed to get home to tell mom! She would be so proud of me, probably say something along the lines of having known I would make it all along. Maybe she'd take off work the next day to celebrate!

I hurried off the train, holding my bag above my head as it began to rain. I ran the familiar path home, thinking over everything that had led me to this day. I trained myself to death for a year, studied like my life depended on it, and held on to the thin frail string of hope I had left that I could even become a hero. And now I've done it. I was in hero school.

I had my mom to thank for that mostly. If she hadn’t believed in me the whole way, well then no one would have. Oh, and that homeless guy too. And I guess Uraraka now. The numbers were growing.

I didn’t hold back the smile that split my face as I ran, the joy was too much to hold back, and why should I? I had done it! But my excitement didn’t last as I turned the corner and stopped.

Fire. The entire apartment complex was burning in a raging fire quickly withering under the rain, leaving the building nothing more than a smoking, black, charred, pile of rubble. Smoke filled the air and stung my nostrils and the heat burned my face as I began to run towards the paramedics, firefighters and police that surrounded the ruined building with yellow tape. They were moving slowly, as if the urgency had already passed and they were simply cleaning the situation up by now.

I ran up to the tape, panic flaring inside me like a raging fire of its own, but I was abruptly stopped by the arm of an officer standing by the tape.

“Only authorized personnel are allowed beyond this point.” He said sternly. The officer was broad, seeming to have a muscle enhancing quirk, as he looked up at me his eyebrows furrowed and he frowned in discomfort.

“I need to get in there! My mom, she- she was- she could still be in there!” I pleaded frantically, a cold hand of dread had begun to climb up my spine and constrict around my throat as I watched firemen go in, and come out with nothing but salvageable belongings that survived the fire. The sight of ambulances parked next to the wreckage with white tarps covering stretchers sent a jolt of nauseatingly, overwhelming panic through me.

“Sir, I’m sorry but your not authorized beyond this point. You need to back up-“ the officer began to say, but I grabbed his arm blocking me and looked up at him, panic, dread and pure terror etched within my eyes as I begged.

“Please, I need to know if there are any survivors, please.” I whispered, my voice cracking with emotion. The officer pulled his arm away from me, and whether in sympathy or intimidation he gruffly turned and cleared his throat, resuming a professional posture as he looked away from me and spoke.

“There… were no survivors. Belongings and.. victims are currently being retrieved. If you need further information contact the police department.” As he spoke, paramedics and firemen exited the burnt ruins of the apartment with a stretcher covered in a white tarp, from my section of the apartment complex before it was burnt to a mere pile of ash and fallen walls. My breath caught as I shoved past the officer and under the tape, running up to the stretcher, deaf to his shouts.

The paramedics backed away, giving me space as I lifted the tarp slowly with a trembling hand. A choked sob wracked through me accompanied by fat inky black tears that streamed down my face as I pulled the tarp back. Moms dark green hair was strewn across her lifeless face, peacefully still and blank, pink with blisters and black coal smeared across her soft skin. She didn’t look burned, but she had likely suffocated on the fumes and smoke. I bit my quivering lip, softly brushing the hair away from her face, a pained choking cry escaping my lungs as I gently wrapped her limp hand in mine. We were too similar now. Both our hearts were still. But even in death, her cheeks were rosey, emanating more life than I would ever be capable of.

I fell to my knees clinging to my moms still warm hand, a strangled cry ripping from my lungs, cutting into the air like a serrated blade. The paramedics covered their ears at the grating and ringing wail, but looked on at me with sympathetic pitying expressions as I grieved.

I flinched as a medic kneeled beside me and gently held my shoulder, looking at me compassionately with nervous but caring eyes.
“You know this person? Can you identify them for us?” She asked gently, speaking softly and not moving back as I heaved a rattling gasp for air through my tears.

“Midoriya Inko. My mother,” I whispered, aguishly exhaling a tormented sign into my hands. The medic nodded softly and stood, talking hushed to the other nurses as they wrote into a clip board.

“I’m so sorry, mom. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. I made it, I got into UA today, I’m going to be a hero for you. I love you.” I whispered into her hand before saying good by for the last time and standing up and away from the body.

The medics rolled her body away into the ambulance, where she would get transported to the morgue and then buried. I gave them information for any salvaged belongings and for funeral arrangements.

With a slightly apprehensive expression the officer approached me again, eyeing me distrustfully but I couldn’t find it in me to care what I looked like, tears recklessly streaming across my pale and cold face, my eyes feeling more empty than they ever have before.

“Mr. Midoriya, I thought it would be appropriate to explain what we suspect started the fire. We believe, because the apartment complex is mostly occupied by elderly tenants, that there was a kitchen accident in the northern building. It then spread through the entire complex, too fast to be stopped because of the older building structure. Due to the circumstances, you're eligible to file for emancipation or be referred into foster care. It’s your choice but to finalize either you’ll need to contact this number.” He said handing me a sheet of paper with the information on it. I nodded and thanked him, knowing I really only had one option. What foster care would take me? I turned around and began to walk away from the place I could no longer call home.

Everything I’d ever known, burned to ash within a single day. I didn’t have a single thing left of my mom. It was all burnt. Using the money in our shared account, I rented a cheap apartment studio and began to walk to where it was. 250$ a month, not bad at all but I knew not to set my expectations of the quality high.

Once I had reached the building, deteriorated and ran down with debris floating in the stale clammy back alley air and shadows stretching long across each corner, I sighed and went inside to grab the key. The receptionist seemed surprised to see someone so young walk in but as I came closer she tensed and was rigid throughout the entire exchange. I couldn’t be surprised though as I still had black tears staining my cheeks making for a gaunt appearance.

The room wasn’t awful, but it was empty. The front door had a sturdy set of four deadbolt locks, each one with a different key on the key set the receptionist gave me, which was… nice, I guess. And a thin layer of dust and dirt coated nearly all the surfaces of the main living room that mashed together with a small kitchen, then a small bedroom connected to a smaller bathroom. There was one window over the kitchen sink that looked out over the city that was now shrouded in a dark and rainy night.

I set my backpack down in the middle of the empty bedroom and followed after it. A heavy boulder sized black hole had filled my chest, pushing all other emotions down into a dark corner so all I could feel was a hollow, cold, numbness. I couldn’t cry as I thought over what I had lost.

Why couldn’t it have been me? It should have been me, my mother was a goddess, all she ever brought to the world was light and kindness. Why did the universe take her? How could I… what would I do without her?

I wasn’t a materialistic person. I’d survive without my 65# analysis notebooks, all of them but the most recent burned to the ground. I’d survive without my clothes, they were easily replaceable. I knew mom kept all the valuable documents in a metal safe, those would likely be sent to my new location after they’d been retrieved by the scene scouters, but I could live without them. I could survive with nothing but my backpack and the items it carried, but how would I survive without her?

I was certain the pain hadn’t really hit yet, I must still be in shock. Because when it did it would be the thing that permanently kills me, finishes the job the quirk couldn’t do.

I couldn’t stand just laying in the empty apartment, but I didn’t have the drive to start looking for a job or cheap housing furniture, or even clothes. So I pushed myself up, and ran to dagobah beach. It’s perfectly white beach mocked me as I sat on a rock near the shore and watched as the turbulent seas crashed into the sand and pulled back into the ocean.

I had brought mom the day after I cleaned the beach. She was so proud, she started crying then she got ice cream and we sat together on the beach and watched the sun set. She told me this was now her favorite beach. There was a grave site nearby, I’d have to find a spot there to… bury mom…

I was tempted to walk into the crashing waves and let them swallow me whole, but only the thought of how disappointed mom would be if I did, and the eyes of the old man from last that I could feel watching me from a distance stopped me.

It was going to be a long summer.

Chapter Text

The funeral was quiet. I didn’t want it drawn out, of course I felt bad that my mom wasn’t properly mourned by all the people she might have known but it wasn’t like I had a way to contact them really, with everything being burned, and I definitely wasn’t inviting the Bakugous to her funeral. They hadn’t been over since, well since I got my quirk. 

I had picked a burial lot facing the ocean, it was in a small city owned grave site on the ocean cliff side, so it looked over the ocean but was placed in a small clearing of trees in the forest. It was beautiful, just like mom would have wanted. After the funeral service workers buried her and left, I sat beside the grave and watched the waves crash into the shores below.

I didn’t speak, not wanting to break the peaceful silence and not having any words that could convey what I felt. I didn’t know how to grieve. Or, at least I didn’t know how other people did it in a way that made the pain easier or made them accept that someone who had meant everything to them was never coming back. 

All I could feel was a tight grip of loneliness around my heart. I’d never wake up to the smell of sweet rice porridge she would make every breakfast, or her cinnamon coffee brewing. I’d never get to hear her laugh at her favorite radio show, hear her humming her favorite song while she cleaned. Mom would never crush me in her bone tight hugs again, never gently detangle my curls with caring hands when they got too unmanageable for me. I’d never see her blindingly bright smile as she wished me a good day at school, or see the way her eyes would sparkle when she watched the sun set. 

There was so much I never got to say, I never got to do. She never got to see me make it into my hero school. 

I sighed shudderingly, lowering my head into my knees and holding back the waves of heavy sadness that mixed into exhaustion.

I’d be all alone without her. 

Suddenly I heard a twig snap in the forage behind me. Whipping around I met the eyes of a doe. She had a dark russet coat and was rustling around in a berry bush with a little fawn, it’s dappled fur contrasting to the dark green of the bushes as it wandered curiously, seemingly not afraid of my close proximity.

Curious and distracted from my grief, I gingerly stood and closed my eyes. I hadn’t practiced my shapeshifting from the entrance exam, so I didn’t know the extent of it, but quirks were generally instinctual, so I recalled the feeling of stretching and bending my bones to become a wolf I focused the same way to bend into the shape of the doe in front of me.

The tearing and breaking that came from my transformation startled the mother as she raised her head quickly and grunted softly to her offspring, nudging the little deer closer to her. I quickly opened my eyes once the stretching stopped and as I moved to take another step to her, it was with hooves instead of feet. 

I moved cautiously, taking slow and deliberate steps towards her with my head lowered. Once she was close enough to me, I stopped and waited for her to react. The fawn wobbled up to me, sniffing my hooves leg before head butting my leg and running off to play in the bush. The mother bent forward and began to nuzzle the fur on my neck, making small huffing sounds through her nose before she started to groom me. She thought I was another fawn!

As surprised as I was, I felt a warmth in my chest as I lowered myself into the grass to watch the fawn as the mother went back to foraging. The young deer chased a butterfly, jumping into the bushes and back out, snorting as it ran about beneath the doe’s feet. 

Soon the sun began to set and the small family of deer left the clearing. I walked back to moms grave and sat beside it, watching the sun turn from blue to a soft pink and orange.

The first month of summer consisted mostly of getting settled on my own, training my quirk, and studying investments to make some money to keep afloat without digging into the savings too much. The belongings salvaged from the fire were seldom, but enough that with the money I had, I started making the apartment more of a home. 

It wasn’t too difficult to find cheap or nearly free necessities online if I ignored the quality. I had purchased a cheap old couch, a desk and giant bookshelf, a kitchen table with three chairs that came for free, and an old weight set from the website, saving what I was sure would have been hundreds if I had bought them elsewhere. 

Not needing to sleep or eat made home shopping pretty simple, and with summer garage sales, I had gotten a safe collection of clothes.

I still had the things in my backpack, like multiple notebooks, and my laptop.

Today was a restless type of day, where despite my best efforts, I couldn’t get myself to focus on my studies. I had refrained from leaving the house as much as I could, really only going out at night for a run and training. It was just easier for me to stay home where I could be in my natural form and away from other people. I had found that while in my natural form, I picked up on the fear of everyone else in the apartment or around the streets more than in my human form. It also happened to be that the increase of external emotion helped drown out my own internal turmoil. 

But today, I found that the heightened sense of adrenaline and fear fueled heartbeats was becoming a distraction. The girl in the apartment floor beneath me kept a constant anxiety pumping through her, probably worrying over something trivial, the man smoking in the lobby had a fluctuating heart beat of paranoia maybe from drug use or something else, and then that goddamn guy who kept having panic attacks outside the building in the alleyway nearly every night for the past week.

At this point it was getting ridiculous and concerning. The man, who looked around slightley older than me from the short glances I’d gotten walking in and out of the building the past weeks, must have been homeless, because he had been camping out in that alley way in ratty torn clothes and using bags of his belongings as pillows for the ground. Every time I tried to study, I’d lose my place as a sharp beat of panic would suddenly flutter in my chest, the man’s fear starting up again. It must have been night terrors causing the attacks, with them only occurring during the night.

This time, I was trying to read Hero Law, Volume 3 and memorize a map of Hosu city and the heroes that patrolled the area when for the fourth time I lost my spot as a quick and loud thundering of panic started in my chest. I slammed my book closed in frustration. I had to do something about this, it was getting out of hand. So I stood up, quickly pulling my human skin-form on as I kicked through my door and down into the lobby.

Stomping out of the apartment complex and down the street to the alleyway near the building I stopped in front of the guy, hunched into himself and thrashing in his sleep on the ground of the alley way. From this angle, it was pretty obvious he was homeless, he looked around 17 or 18.

He had black hair and his skin was badly burned, dark red and purple patches of scarred skin across his body, but looked like it had been slowly healing. He had his arms wrapped tightly around his knees and his body was smoking slightly. A quirk of some sort?

A pang of guilt and sympathy ran through me as the man didn’t even notice me standing next to him as he panicked in his sleep. I guessed it was pretty unfair of me to be pissed off about this, considering it’s not like he wanted to be suffering from nightmares every night. I softly cleared my throat to wake him up, causing him to flinch awake and jump into a defensive stance, staring at me, panic still in his eyes but slowly becoming aware.

“Um… hey..” I started awkwardly, not having a clue how to go about this encounter with him. Did I tell him to leave? Ask if he’s alright? Offer him tea???? I just realized I hadn’t actually talked to another person besides the apartment receptionist since the entrance exams. And even before then I’d never really interacted with people outside of mom if they weren't harassing me.

“Are you alright?” I decided on, blinking slowly as I watched him become more aware and ease out of his panic, dropping his fist to his side and leaning against the wall more casually as he realized he wasn’t in danger. His expressions flickered through too many emotions at once to read before they quickly settled on a pissed rage and glared at me with bright teal eyes.

“What the hell do you want?” He spat out venomously. I stepped back and raised my hands in surrender. 

“………you keep having nightmares outside my apartment and it’s distracting..?” I offered, realizing I hadn’t planned what to do beyond confronting him.  

He furrowed his brows and looked at me with a confused scowl before scoffing incredulously, pushing himself up off the ground and beginning to walk away with his bag of belongings.

“Wait!”

He turned back to me, raising his eyebrows critically.

”What.” He deadpanned.

I sighed and looked away hesitantly.

”Are… you homeless? Like, do you need a place to stay?” I asked the guy. Sure, he was a little sketchy looking, covered in burn scars and his first instinct on waking up was to fight me, but I would have been in the same situation as him if my mom didn’t have a savings in place.

I owed it to the universe to give the kindness back. And it wasn’t like it was good for me to stay isolated in my apartment all summer, I at least needed a little bit of social exposure if I wanted to survive UA. Maybe a roommate wouldn’t be too awful?

The guy seemed to get the wrong impression though, his scowl deepened and he scoffed.

“I don’t need your pity. Fuck off, it’s one thing to kick me out of a fucking alleyway, it’s another to humiliate me.” He spat.

As I started to recoil, feeling the familiar urge to shrink away like I used to in Aldera when I was chastised or bullied, I paused. Inhaling deeply, I straightened up and reigned my confidence in. I wasn’t in middle school anymore, I was going to be a hero and that meant helping people who needed it. That wasn’t pity, it was justice.

”Listen, it would be helping us both out. I would get a discount on rent and some company, and you would get a place to stay. You could pay me back if you really don’t want to accept my help for free, but the streets around here aren't very safe, please, let me help!” I argued, hoping my smile was as assuring as I meant for it to be. 

He was silent as he stared at the ground, before scoffing again but raising his hand out to me.

“Call me.. Taro. Can’t say it's a pleasure to meet you broccoli head, but I’ll take your offer.” 

I smiled brightly and shook his hand energetically, feeling a spark of excitement I hadn’t felt since the entrance exam. Even if his name was the most generic fake name someone could come up with, at least he trusted me enough to accept my help.

”I’m Midoriya Izuku! I’ll show you to my place. It only has one bedroom, but I don’t mind staying in the living room since I don’t really sleep.” I explained as I led him to the apartment. 

Taro rolled his eyes and pulled his hand away from mine quickly. 

“You don't sleep? Like you're an insomniac or something? Also why do you feel like your negative 30 degrees cold? Built like a fucking ice cube.” He grumbled. 

“Oh…. Right. I guess before you actually decide whether you want to stay with me I should probably tell you my quirk.” I hesitated. Taro seemed nice, if a little bit grumpy but some people just had resting bitch personalities, it wasn’t like I could be picky about new friend options. So I didn’t want to watch this one crumble so quickly, but I had to tell him and show him the basics if we were going to be roommates

”Alright. so technically I’m dead, My quirks name is Nightmare. Like I don’t need to eat, sleep, or breath. It’s got a lot of details that aren’t important. If your still ok with staying with me, well, I generally prefer to be in my natural form while at home… so you’d see it a lot.” I mumbled, rambling about my quirk and hoping he wasn’t already walking away by the time I looked up. 

When I finished my ramble and tentatively lifted my head, my hair falling in front of my eyes, I was surprised to see Taro simply shrug.

”Sounds fine, or whatever. I guess, just show me what you usually look like.” He gestured at me to change. My eyes opened wide and I quickly looking around to ensure no one else was there. I had almost never willingly shown anyone my natural form. But as quickly as I could, not to draw out the sickening tearing that sounded from the skin over my body being stretched and pulled, I revealed my true form, with my abnormally long and stretched blackened limbs and sinewy mossy looking muscles, spider-webbing tightly across the rigid frame of my skeleton. I revealed everything but my face, leaving the skin mask of my human form on to at least ease the shock of my transformation a little for him.

Taro stared wide eyed at me and with a shocked and horrified expression.

“Holy hell. So your whole teenage look is just a get up?” He asked, still looking at me in a petrified awe.

I shrugged, shifting back into my human form.

”Ehh sorta but also no. I AM a teenager, 14, and this is what I’d look like if it weren't for my quirk, but because of my quirk it’s sorta just a mask to me now. So I’d understand if its too much or if you're not comfortable-“ I began to ramble before he cut me off.

”I wont lie, thats creepy as fuck. But as long as you're not going to kill me in my sleep or something, it's fine.” He shuddered, shaking his head and running his hand through his hair.

”What?” He asked, glaring at my stunned expression.

“I.. I just didn’t expect you to be fine with it?” I faltered, cocking my head to the side as I stared at him, trying to find a hidden disgust or anger at me. Surely he had to be upset that I was so monstrous? Maybe he wasn’t understanding that's what I actually looked like, that my true core was a hideous freak of nature.

“I already said I was. It’s late and just because you may not need to sleep, I do. So lead the way, and don’t look at me like that. It’s freaky.” He snapped, heaving his bag of belongings over his shoulder and marching past me. I quickly shook my head and held back the smile that threatened to leak through.

”I live this way!”

—————

Slinking through the shadows and following the memorized patrol route that Endeavour always took at this time, a group of people crowded around a store window caught his eye. Even in the rain they huddled together to watch the TVs broadcasting hero news, that bastard was on the screen, going on about rising in ranks or something, but as the camera panned over, what he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.

A young boy, no older than 14, standing beside the flaming asshole, being paraded around like Endeavor's new prized toy. And it wasn’t just the way he was being dragged alongside the hero, but it was the dead, hopeless look in the boy's eyes that made his vision start to blur.

Suddenly, Toya was back, back in the training dojo. Back with Him, back in the burning flames.

No matter what he did, it was all he could see. That fiery yet ice cold glare, staring down at him as he burned. It hurt everywhere, everything burned. He didn’t want to be here, he just wanted to prove his worth, prove he could be what his father wanted him to be- so why was this happening? Toya was on fire. But then he wasn't. Suddenly he was sitting against a damp, concrete alley wall in the rain. How did he get here? He stared at the wet ground as he tried to piece together what was happening.

He had been looking at his little brother, sweet little Shoto, looking so dead inside it made him wonder what could have happened. Toya knew that home was awful, father practically killed him for fucks sake, but he just never thought that he would ever see Shoto so empty before. No matter how much that bastard of a father hurt either of them, as long as they were together they kept staying strong, keeping hope they could live in a world without fear, together. But things can change fast in ten months, and with that time, it took the light and life from his little brother's eyes.

Toya grit his teeth and clenched his fist, kicking at the bins and boxes piled against the alleyway building in rage. What right did that monster have to take everything he had from him, bring him down to nothing but fucking ashes, throw his perceived dead body into the woods and just leave him there to rot, and then move onto do the same fucking thing with his little brother like they where just toys for him to break. 

It had been ten months since Todoroki Toya had been pronounced dead at the young age of 17, killed by his own quirk during a tragic training accident, leaving the Todoroki family and number two hero devastated at the loss. But Toya knew that wasn’t the real story. This wasn’t a tragic accident, it was murder, and he might not really be dead but to everyone else he was. 

Endeavour took his mothers sanity, he took his life and freedom, and now he had taken his brother. Toya already knew he was going to rip that man down to nothing but the ashes he had burned in when Endeavour killed him. He had been gathering evidence to his crimes as a hero while living on the streets, but seeing his brother like that had only solidified the urgency to gather more before Shoto suffered the same fate as Toya. 

The faster he could get that asshole away from shoto, the better. But he needed more than just petty casualties and property damage to incriminate his father. He needed so much evidence it would be impossible for Ejiro to buy his way out of it. Not just of being an awful hero, but of being an awful father. And he needed the right connections to see it through.

Suddenly, Toya heard the crowds get loude. He needed to stay focused. Sliding back into the shadows, he began to follow the number 2 hero as he made his way down the street, patrolling the city as usual, glaring at the fans who tried to get autographs. 

Toya kept his cheap burner phone recording the heroes every move, following him at a distance. He was bound to make a mistake, no matter how little, they would build up and eventually it would be too much for the public to ignore, too much for the police to be brought off. Eventually it would be enough.

Soon He passed the crowds and entered into the less populated area of the neighborhood, following the small street back around until the hero was alerted by a cry for help. Endeavor ran towards the noise, Toya keeping close behind, recording all the while as the hero turned the corner and was faced with an elderly man being held against the wall by a villain with sharp bladed arms.

”Back down and turn yourself in, villain.” Endevor demanded, pulling a quirk canceling cuff off his belt. The villain cackled and brought a bladed hand up to the man’s neck threateningly.

”Take another step, even try to shoot your fire at me, and the raisin gets it.” The villain sneered.

“This doesn’t concern a big shot hero like you, save yourself the trouble and leave. This fucker deserves it anyway.” 

“Please! Tanaka, just listen to the hero and no one needs to get hurt! I know you don’t want to do this, your not a bad kid!” The man pleaded, desperately trying to calm his grandson down.

“Shut up. The moment you kicked me and mom out, you lost the right to call me that name. If you really cared about me, you would have let us stay.”

The man’s bladed arms glinted as he sharpened them. 

“Mom’s dead. After you kicked us out, and disowned your own daughter she killed herself. And now I’m going to kill you.” He grinned manically, stabbing his arm into his grandfathers stomach just as Endeavour yelled and sent a blast of flames at the villain. 

The flames exploded into a rage as the building caught fire and the villain and elder man screamed in pain. Toya continued to film, tempted to call the police but he couldn’t lose the footage or risk being discovered. 

Luckily, Endevor called them instead, but the fire had already begun to ravage the building and was spreading fast, the flames taller than the building itself. Waves of blistering heat radiated from the fire making the surrounding areas shimmer and distort, thick plumes of black smoke billowed up and filled the air with a choking smog.

 The screams of the villain, elder man, and other residents in the building were drowned out by the crackling and burning timber of the flames licking hungrily at the wooden structure. Occasional explosions ringing out as the gas lines and electrical systems were swallowed by the fire.

By the time the distant wails of sirens signaled the arriving firefighters and police, the fire had already started to calm, dwindling down to a low smoldering burn, casting a faint red glow in the remaining charred ruins. Thick columns of smoke still curled lazily into the gray sky, a light rain putting out the remaining flickers of fire.

 Toya focused his camera on Endeavour as he quickly talked to a police officer, discreetly passing something off between the two and hastily leaving the scene.

He was disgusted, too appalled by what he had just caught to follow the hero any longer. His father wasn’t just an abuser, but a down right murderer.

Walking away from the scene, he organized the file on his phone and saved it to his online storage so it couldn’t be lost if the phone broke. This would be a crucial evidence point. A piercing and unnatural cry sliced through the air in the distance from the fire scene, fitting the dread that sat heavily over the rainy evening.

 Toya made his way to a dark alley a distance away and set up camp there, hiding his small bag of belongings behind a stack of wooden pallets. He had to move areas frequently since living on the streets, and as the night began to fall, he decided this place would work best. He laid out his bedding and fell into a restless sleep, as always, waking up in a cold sweat and panic pumping through his veins from the constant night terrors.

It was a few weeks later that Toya would be woken up mid nightmare of his father burning him during training, by an unusually pale and uncanny in appearance, green haired teenager who looked around the same age as Shoto. 

It wouldn’t hurt to have a place to stay, and then he could focus on gathering evidence against his father rather than focusing on surviving. But as he was led into the apartment by Midoriya, he realized it wouldn’t be that easy.

“You have no food in here.” He stated. Raising his eyebrow skeptically, closing the fridge and turning back to Midoriya, who, despite saying he was more comfortable in his natural form, was still the pale faced, short teen he had been introduced to.

The boy shrugged, sitting down on the couch in his far too clean apartment. It was so clean in fact, Toya questioned if this was actually his house. The books, maps, notebooks and laptop organized neatly on the kitchen table and the rusty weight equipment stacked away underneath the living room table where the only things that indicated the apartment wasn’t entirely unused. 

“I don’t eat. But I can stock up tomorrow, do you have any allergies or preferences?” He asked, tilting his head cat-like as he stared intently at me. It was unsettling. Did he even blink?

“No, anything’s fine.” He answered, walking into the only other room in the apartment, a devastatingly empty bedroom with a thin mattress leaned up against the far wall and maybe five or seven items in total in the closet. Suddenly it hit Toya. This boy, 14 years old, was living alone and barely had anything. What would he think if this was Shoto? Toyas older brother instincts flared and he groaned to himself as he realized he was going to need to help the kid. So much for focusing on evidence.

”Alright, so I had no intention on prying into anything about you, since I couldn’t care less, but where the fuck are your parents? How do you even have the money to live here?” He demanded, walking out of the bedroom and facing the boy. 

Toya watched as the light cheerful smile fell from greenie's face and left a blank expression in its place, making him completely unreadable, looking like a mannequin with how still he was.

”I don’t have parents, they had a bit of money saved up that I’ve been investing to stay afloat. I start UA after the summer ends.” He replied, looking away from him.

Toya raised his eyebrow and stared at the boy. It was too late into the night to deal with this. Sleep fixes everything, or at least that’s what Toya was going by for now.

“Tomorrow, I’ll go with you to get food, since I have a bit of cash, and we’re gonna fix this whole ‘staying at home all day and night with nothing but hero school notes and training to fill the void.’ 

Listen, I’m only four years older than you but I've been living on the streets for months now, and I know from first hand experience that hiding from your issues won’t fix them. You're going to be a hero right? I can help train you. Don’t ask how, but I’m pretty skilled in hand to hand combat and in return for letting me stay here, I’ll help train you and keep you from rotting away in here.” 

He didn’t wait for a response before turning back around into the bedroom and laying the mattress down to set his bedding up. God it had been so long since he slept on a proper bed under a roof. After 20 ish minutes of laying on the mattress in the dark and waiting for sleep to come, listening to the muffled sounds of pages flipping and a keyboard typing away, an inhuman and strangely comforting soft rhythmic clicking sound filled the empty silence, sounding like muffled chirps of a mouse mixed with a rustic rustling of dry leaves. As strange as the sound was, the rhythmic rumble to it eventually lulled him to sleep.

Chapter Text

Katsuki didn’t think he’d ever see Deku again after middle school. He had been relieved, happy even to finally be able to move on past the guilt and the fear that followed him everywhere. It loomed over his shoulders every time after he would burn the nerd, after he would call him a worthless, Deku, a freak. He cared for the nerd, despite what he said and did, it wasn’t like Katsuki was heartless. They had been best friends once, so obviously he cared about him. So was it so wrong of him to hate the quirk that had taken his friend away in the first place? Things would have been better if Izuku had never gotten a quirk at all. Then Katsuki wouldn’t have to treat him the way he did, like a monster.

But he could move past it all, move on past all his regrets and finally start fresh.

Or so he thought.

Katsuki had been lazily walking with the hag as she took way too long to get the books and supplies listed for UA,
”We need to make sure you have quality supplies so that they aren't ash by the second week,” she had justified, when he found his bored gaze drawn across the aisle to a tall and heavily scarred, black haired guy next to a ghostly pale, green haired Deku.

He felt himself freeze, his body quick to react to the familiar fear that always felt like it was suffocating him whenever the freak was around. He watched as the two walked down the aisle looking from a list to the shelves. As Deku read the pricing and inspected the product, the intimidating man beside him, seemingly bored, would send spontaneous and randomized punches and kicks at Deku only to be met with a quick hand catching or deflecting each attack, with effortless dodges they were almost too quick to catch.

The man didn’t seem violent in his attacks but rather like he was testing Deku and trying but failing to catch him off guard. The way they moved beside each other was friendly and made Katsuki even more curious to who the man was, and how they knew each other. The nerd never had friends as far as he had known about. They were both in dingy and far too used clothes, the man who had to be around 18 years old, was in a black hoodie that was singed and burnt at the cuffs with scuffs of dirt on the sleeves and Deku was wearing clothes Katsuki had never seen before and in a style that didn’t fit the freaks persona at all. Worn out black cargos and a faded sage green camo flannel with a black and barely holding on backpack.

As Deku picked up the item, running shoes, and started to continue down the aisle, reading from the list in his hand, the man stuck his foot out in front of his legs, attempting to trip Deku but was disappointed again as the nerd simply paused displaying an abnormal skill of balance and control as he smirked with an eerily sharp glint at the black haired man and continued forward, the black haired man didn’t seem fazed at all beyond slight irritation at failing to trip him.
”Really, Taro, you’ll have to do better than that! How am I supposed to learn anything from you if you don’t even give me a challenge?” He snarked to the man, even the sound of the freaks' voice after half the summer of not hearing it grated on Katsukis ears like metal to a cheese grater.

“Maybe instead I’ll teach you how to shut the fuck up at night so I can actually sleep.” He responded, walking beside Deku with his hands casually in his pockets and a bored expression on his face.

“Don’t pretend like you don't fall asleep ten times faster when I’m making background noise in the kitchen. I can tell when you're awake you know.” He chuckled at the tall man beside him as he glowered.

“Whatever, damn weirdo.” He grumbled back.

Katsuki bristled as they slowly made they’re way closer to the aisle he was with his mom. He did not want to have to pretend to be nice to the freak in front of her, or be anywhere close to the scarred man.

”Hag, I’m going to go check the next aisle for notebooks or shit.” He grunted, already walking away and not hearing whatever irritated response his mom retorted with. Katsuki walked down to the aisle the freak was currently looking at textbooks on, with the man bouncing a kids bouncy ball off the wall as he leaned lazily against the shelf.

“Fucking Deku, what the hell are you doing here.” He growled out as he ripped the book from his hand and looked at the cover.

“UA Hero’s Catalogue? The fuck do you need this for. It’s not like UA would ever accept a villainous freak like you.” He scoffed, tossing it back on the shelf. The smile fell from Dekus face as he turned to Katsuki, picking the book back up. The sudden cold glare that he sent made a chill run through Katsukis vienes.

”Actually, Bakugou, UA did accept me. And just like you, I’m here to get the supplies I need. I don’t want to fight you, let's just drop this ok?” He asked, speaking in a neutral tone that didn’t reveal anything about what he was feeling. The man with the black hair had been watching their interaction and his eyes narrowed as Katsuki glowered at Deku.

”Like hell I’ll just let this go! UA let a fucking freak into their school and you want me to act like everything is still sunshine and rainbows? What do I need to do to get it through your thick fucking skull, your a villanous, mosnterous, fucking freak deku and no one’s ever gonna accept you as a hero, no one will ever care about you beyond their own interest and your just wasting space for another hero who’d actually have potential.” He said with a venomous low growl, his anger growing fiery to drown the guilt and fear that still rolled in his stomach like a heavy pit.

Deku sighed, as if he had been expecting this and went to respond, still wearing a calm expression without a hint to what he might be thinking- that pissed Katsuki off more than he already was. Before Deku could respond, Katsuki kept going.

”Haven’t you realized that you're not just wasting space, you’ll be ruining things for everyone else too. It’s a wonder your mom even keeps a freakish reject like you around. Auntie Inko must be fucking sick of having to live with your nightmarish ass everyday. You’d be doing everyone a favor if you fucking disappeared. You’ll never understand how much you hurt me when you turned into a freak. You were my friend, we could have been heroes together, but now you're just a monster!” He is voice wavered as he began raising his hand to grab Deku, his palms sizzling from the growing heat, fear and anger flaring as the calm expression finally fell from Dekus face and into a hard and cold mask, but before he could make contact, Katsuki was stopped. An even hotter hand gripping his wrist tightly as the man with black hair leaned forward, glaring at Katsuki with a menacing threat.

”Don’t. You. Fucking. Dare.” He hissed, smoke seeping from the hand wrapped tightly around his wrist as the man scowled and shoved him back, releasing his hand and turning back from Katsuki to Deku.
”Let’s go, we can get the rest later.” He said casually, leading Deku away by his shoulder.

Katsuki sent one last glare, tears pricking at his eyes before he quickly wiped them away, scowling at Deku and walking away back to mom.

“Katsuki, where the hell have you been? I’ve been searching for you everywhere, try this tie on.” Mom said, tying the red fabric around his neck before being swatted away.
”Fuck off hag.” He growled, glaring at the ground.
“Brat!” She sighed, turning back to the shelves to keep picking.
_________________

Toya glanced at Izuku as they exited the store, his hands tightly clutching the bag of school supplies they had picked with careful precision to spare as much of their funds as they could. A dense icy silence hung over them both, palpable enough that even passerby’s instinctively avoided them, intimidated by both Toya’s and Izukus appearance.

“He was a real piece of work.” Toya said flatly, breaking the heavy silence. He turned to look at Izuku, noticing the vacant, expressionless mask he wore. The rude encounter with the blonde must have really affected him. Since sharing a studio apartment with Izuku, Toya had grown to like the little enigma. Izuku was witty, observant, and incredibly determined. Despite the cramped space, they had developed a decent system to coexist peacefully.

When Toya was out gathering evidence against Endeavor, Izuku would clean, train and study at the house. Conversely, when Toya was home resting, Izuku went out and trained some more. They'd even spar together occasionally, though Izuku's combat skills had far exceeded Toyas expectations for a kid who hasn’t had any professional training.

When it came to combat, there wasn’t much Toya could teach him that he didn’t know beyond small details in technique and specific skills. When He first sparred with Izuku to see his skill level, Toya hadn’t expected him to be able to keep up for as long as he did. He beat him in the end. Toya would have been disappointed if the years and years of being forced to push past his limit and train to literal death by his father weren't enough to beat a 14 year old in a spar, but Izkukus skill was evident.

“How’d you get good at combat? You haven’t even started hero school.” He had asked, helping Izuku up from the ground where he’d been knocked down during they’re spar.

He had smile happily at the compliment and jumped back up with ease,
“I spent years studying online videos and books, teaching myself how to fight quirkless. I had a lot of free time when I was younger..”

“Hm. Fucking nerd.” Toya had smirked, ruffling his hair into a mess and deftly dodging his playful retaliation.

Toya shook his head at the memory, the kid hadn’t even gotten tired until three hours later of fighting, and it was only after they had started practicing with his quirk. That was one thing Toya planned on helping Izuku train with, his quirk. He had great control over those freaky spider-like arms he could form but when it came to the other aspects, Toya was shocked he wasn’t more invested in developing them. Izuku had told him he had only used his shapeshifting twice, twice!

He could have limitless potential with shapeshifting but had just pushed it to the side to study the upcoming UA curriculum, even though he was so dedicated to improving everything else. It reminded Toya of his brother Shotos disdain towards his own quirk. Toya remembered watching his brother become more and more detesful towards his fire as Father trained him and pushed him farther than any kid should be pushed.

Toya couldn’t help but see the parallels between them. Despite not knowing much about Izukus past, his hesitancy to fully embrace his abilities hinted at a deeper story. Toya didn’t know much about how Izuku had gotten where he was, orphaned and alone surviving on the minimum, but it must have something to do with the way he seemed shocked when Toya wouldn't react when he saw him in his natural form, or when Toya encouraged him to utilize his uncanny effect and shapeshifting abilities, when He would glare jealousy at Izuku's multiple arms, not needing to sleep, impossibly high pain tolerance and healing abilities.

Toya wouldn’t let a kid with so much resemblance to his brother hold himself down regardless of the reason, he would do everything he could to make sure Izuku could become his best without being pushed to death like Toya had been and not holding himself back like Shoto did. Toya couldn’t undo the pain his family endured, he couldn’t save his brother from their father, and he couldn’t even find the courage to go back and face Endeavor again- but he could at least save this kid from hurting his future. He had a second goal now. First- take the number two flame hero down and reunite with his family. Second- help the determined kid to his dream.

When they reached the apartment, Toya opted to give the kid some space to calm down from the conflict they had earlier with the blonde kid at the store. He was still curious about how Izuku knew him, and why he hadn’t done anything when he was almost attacked with a quirk.

“Hey, I’m headed out. Call me if you need anything, got it?” Toyas voice broke through Izukus silence as he stood by the door, bag in hand. Izukus gaze remained fixed forward, his expression carefully neutral— a shield Toya had come to recognize as Izuku's way of masking his emotions. As He raised his eyebrow for a response, Toya received a swift nod from Izuku, his eyes darting towards him briefly.

“Sure.” He responded, his voice devoid of any emotion, mirroring his expression. Toya let out a sigh but turned out of the door, heading towards Endeavors usual patrol route where he planned to track the hero for the evening.

As He followed the pro hero stealthily from a distance, recording his move in case any evidence worth catching popped up, he couldn’t help but feel distracted with worry. The shit the blonde kid had said had cut deep, leaving a lingering unease that distracted Toya from his surveillance.

It was only after Toya realized he had missed a turn following the hero from getting so lost in thought that he knew he needed to ease his anxieties if he wanted to get anything done. He packed up his camera and headed back to the apartment, his steps quickening as the worry’s hold tightened around his chest.

The fucker better be alright or Toya swore he would kill him.

_______________________________________

I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry everything out until there was nothing, to claw my eyes out and let it all just wash away. It wasn’t fair. I didn't choose this.

“You’ll never understand how much you hurt me when you turned into a freak”

I never quite knew why Bakugou hated me after my quirk. I knew he was afraid, I thought maybe he felt threatened by me, I thought maybe I understood his fear and insecurity, but to know that he really felt like my quirk had taken his best friend away and turned into a monster hurt. It hurt because to Bakugou, it was true. All he could see was a freak. And I couldn’t do anything to bring the old me back, to fix it.

My thoughts spiraled, dragging me deeper into a pit of self loathing and sorrow as I began to wonder if my mom ever felt cheated out of raising a normal son. She was always supportive and loving but what if she felt like my quirk stole her perfectly normal son from her and I was just a constant reminder she would never have a normal mother and son relationship.

“It’s a wonder your mom even keeps a freakish reject like you around. Auntie Inko must be fucking sick of having to live with your nightmarish ass everyday.”

Bakugou's words stung like poison in my brain. I pulled at my hair. My mom would never say something like that…but did she think it? When she looked at me, did she just see a constant reminder of the son she lost? Did she die wishing she could see her son one more time? My fingers sunk into the skin of my neck, tearing at the fake disguise that hid my monstrosity. It didn’t hurt, it never really did. But I wish it would.

It wasn’t fair a monster like me, that just seemed to cause pain to everyone else, could barely feel pain itself. It was like being drowned in an ocean of candle wax, surrounded by the thick heat that numbed and muffled the world around me but the heat still burned inside, growing unbearable with a relentless ache that no amount of tears I shed could soothe.

The tears ran down my face and stained my shirt. I was a stain on the world. With each tear, I ripped the skin from my shoulders, my chest, anywhere I could reach, ripping through my flannel and tearing it over again each time it healed until the porcelain leather was only moving to pull itself back together at a slow crawl. The frayed slashes in my tarpish-skin was a macabre reminder of the day Bakugo and All Might revealed the truth of my monstrosity to me.

I took a shuddery breath that rattled as my lungs shook. Was this my true nature? That anyone I kept close would inevitably be hurt by me?

My eyes snapped open as I felt a warm hand against my shoulder. Looking up, my eyes met Taros' bright teal ones, filled with concern and panic.

”Izuku what the fuck? Why- what the hell?” He panted out, sounding like he had ran all the way back. I leaned back and stood up, calling for my skin to regenerate and pull back to normal but was instead hit with a wave of exhaustion and stumbled back down onto the couch.

“I- um. I’m fine, it’ll heal.” I reassured with a shallow smile. Taro shook his head, sitting across from me on the couch, his eyes quickly darting over the harm I had done.

“I shouldn’t have left- why did you do this?” He asked with a panicked and concerned voice I hadn’t heard from him before as he gingerly reached out to inspect the damage, watching as it slowly creeped back together.

“..It's not like it actually hurts me, I- I barely feel it and it will heal completely by tomorrow. I was.. just overwhelmed,” I shrugged, watching as he let the panic drain from his eyes as he saw it slowly healing.

Taro ran his scarred hand through his ashe black hair, his eyes glancing at me before he sighed and fell back into the couch, looking at the ceiling with a frown as we sat silently.

“You remind me of my brother.” He confessed, still looking at the ceiling.
“He would always hide what he was feeling with a mask of apathy when he was upset. I hated it. I’d never know what he was feeling, so I couldn’t help him. Maybe he was scared of being vulnerable, our father was a massive a dick so the chances of him getting punished for being upset were pretty high. Or maybe he didn’t want me to worry about him? Maybe he was just trying to be strong?” Taro pondered.

I chewed my cheek and gingerly wiped away the tears on my face before quietly asking,
“Do you still see your brother?”

Taro shook his head, closing his eyes as he sighed.
“No. It’s been almost a year since I left home, well- legally I’m dead. Killed in a ‘quirk accident,’” He air quoted, referring to the dark red burn scars that covered his body.

I had never pried into Taros scars, just assuming if he wanted me to know he would say. But curiosity always lingered, the burns spoke of a painful past.
“It wasn’t a quirk accident.. was it.” I answered.

Taro sat up and after a minute of thought turned to me with a serious gaze.
“I’m about to tell you something, but you can’t tell anyone.” He said lowly. I nodded and leaned forward.

“..my name isn’t actually Taro.”

I snorted and raised my eyebrow,
“I could have guessed that,” before he interrupted with a glare.

“I’m not done.” He continued, taking a deep breath.
“My father is Endeavor. I'm Todoroki Toya, but it has to stay a secret.” He said quickly.

I blink slowly at him before my thoughts begin to grind. He’s a Todoroki?? He’s they’re long lost prodigy! The star son that was killed too young before he could show the world his potential?
“We have to get you back to them. They’d be ecstatic to know that you're still alive,” I thought aloud, exhaustion muffled my excitement and disbelief intertwining but prevalent nonetheless.

Taro- or Toya- shook his head.
“No. There’s a reason I haven’t yet. One thing you should know, Izuku, is that Endeavor is not a hero. Todoroki Enji is not a father, he’s an abuser. And I won’t go back until he’s gone. It’s what I’ve been collecting evidence for. To incriminate him for what he’s done and finally free my family of his cruelty. He was the reason I ‘died.’ He's the reason I have these scars. I won’t go back until he’s brought to justice.” Toya explained grimly.

“I’m so sorry.. How come you don’t just come out and tell the news all the awful things he did? If the news gets spread and people believe it, shouldn't that be enough?” I questioned.

“No. It could ruin his potential as a hero at best but the commission wouldn’t let him get put in jail if they have any say. And they’d do everything to keep his image clean and reputation good so they can still have him as they’re hero puppet. Chances would be that they’d take me back but say I’d gone mad and was spewing crazy lies. No, the only way to make sure he gets what he deserves is to have enough legal proof and the right connections that he can’t buy his way out of prison for life.” Toya declared with a dark resolve.

I nodded and stayed quietly, rubbing my torn shoulder as I thought over all of it. Toya turned to me after some time and laid his hand comfortingly on my shoulder.

“Listen, you can’t hurt yourself like this anymore. It doesn’t matter that you don’t feel or if it’ll heal. you're still tearing yourself apart, literally.” He said quietly, breaking the silence and looking over at me as I hugged my knees to my chest.
“Think about someone you care about, deeply care about, and then imagine them in your situation.
It’s like proving the depression that you're ok with being a punching bag for the world. It’s reinforcing that everything anyone’s ever said to hurt you, is true. But it’s not.”

He leaned forward, resting his arms against his knees as he gestured to the slowly closing gap of my torn skin.
“The damage might fade, but the memory of why you inflicted it won’t. It’s just making it easier to justify others shit treatment and your own self destructive hate. You don’t want to become numb to your own pain, emotional or physical. That’s a dangerous road to walk, trust me, one that only leads to you losing sight of who you are.

If you justify that your own suffering and pain is fine, if you justify being treated like shit- then what makes other people’s suffering anymore important? Why should it matter if they suffer if you’ve accepted your own suffering without resistance? It’s like saying your well-being doesn’t matter, which pretty much devalues the well-being of others. It just makes a stupid mindset where suffering abuse is normalized, which is fucked up.

You're a hero. You need to stand up against abuse and refuse to accept mistreatment. You need to uphold the principle that everyone who is suffering, including yourself, deserves to be saved and to be cared about.” He finished his lecture and stood up from the couch, looking down at me softly before walking to his laptop on the coffee table.

Relief washed over me when he didn’t press for a response. I needed some time to think, but like most things I needed to process- I decided to push it into the depths of my mind and instead sate my curiosity and see what Toya was doing.

“What are you doing?” I asked, peering over his shoulder at the multitude of scattered files across his monitor as he meticulously edited a video clip.

“This,” Toya replied without looking up, “is the evidence I’v been compiling against Endeavor.”

I watched as he deftly navigated through the videos, categorizing them and adding detailed descriptions.
“So this is what you do when you leave the apartment? I thought you were job hunting, but I guess you can’t do that very easily while legally dead..” I mused aloud.

Toya continued to organize the recordings, each click of his mouse weaving a tighter net around Endeavor. As he sorted through old recordings, classifying them by crime type, one video caught my eye.

“Wait! Stop on that one.” I exclaimed, pointing to the video. Toya arched an eyebrow before clicking on it.

“This is one of the truly evil crimes I’ve caught. He caused countless innocent deaths due to his reckless handling of a villain attack, then bought off the police to get off scotch free.” He spat, his voice heavy with disgust.

“He killed my mom.” I whispered, stunned.
“What?” Toya blanched, his face mirroring my shock as the gravity of my words sunk it. I turned to him with wide eyes as a surge of memories forced themselves to the surface of my mind, the firey images of my home engulfed in red embers clawing at my mind. A cold claw of despair twisted my stomach as I realized this was the second hero that had turned out to be no more than a jerk, and a villain at worst. Why were they all turning out to be fake heroes?

“That video, it’s of my old apartment complex. The day my mom died in that fire, they said it was a cooking accident. But it was Endeavor all along..” I hissed through clenched teeth, a bitter hate filling my veins. “She’d still be here if it weren’t for him.”

Toyas expression shifted from shock to concern, not expecting the sudden flood of rage that burned in my eyes.

“I’ll help you bury that villain in the depths of Tartarus where he belongs. He deserves a life time of torture for what he’s done.” I snarled, my voice carrying a chilling intensity, fracturing into layers of scratchy and intimidating echoes.

“He’ll pay for what he did to both of us. I’ll make sure of it.” I swore, feeling a cold but determined rage settle within me.

Chapter Text

“He was found and arrested at the small town's local grocery store with the victims dismembered remains stored in black trash bag in his truck” The true crime podcast played like background noise in Urarakas headphones as she walked down the sidewalk towards the train, twirling her new backpacks strings between her fingers. 

Normally her podcast would calm her down easily, but today- the nerves were too high to reign in. The first day of her dream school and an uncomfortably new backpack that rested stiffly against her back only made the nerves worse. Her parents had insisted on getting her a new bag, even after she assured them the one she had worked perfectly just as it had all the five years before. 

Uraraka sat in the empty seat towards the back of the train closing her eyes as she tried to focus on her podcast but her thoughts were too occupied with worries of what the first day could include. An orientation most likely, introduction stuff. That would be the case if this was a normal school, but as she walked up to the giant door of her assigned class 1-A with  loud screaming ruckus seeping through, she had a creeping suspicion it would be anything but normal.

Taking a deep breath and pushing the door open, the sound hit her like a wave as she walked into see a loud blonde boy screaming profanities at a blue haired boy desperately trying to get the blonde to put his feet off the table while a pink haired girl and a purple grape looking haired boy where fist fighting and wrestling on the floor in the front of the class all the while the few other students either sat at their desk unbothered, or cheering them on, or attempting to deescalate both situations but only adding to the screaming. 

Uraraka watched the ruckus before shrugging and walking to her desk, deciding to listen to her podcast and watch the clouds out the window.

“Killers are rarely born, they’re made. This was the case for a young girl in the countryside when her father-“

Uraraka was distracted from her podcast when she felt a tap at her desk. Looking up she met eyes with a short haired girl with cords seeming to come from her ear lobes.

“Hey, sorry to bother you, I don’t mean to pry or anything but are you listening to the True Crime Cuties podcast?” The girl asked a bit sheepishly, blushing as she looked at the desk.

Uraraka smiled brightly and nodded. She had no clue how the girl knew what she was listening to but she’d never met someone in person who even knew of her favorite podcast.

“I am! They’re great, aren’t they? I love how true to the facts they are while also delving into the psychology and gore of it all! Do you like true crime? Oh! Haha I’m Uraraka by the way!” She rambled, her legs bouncing as she leaned forward to hear the girl. She had silky dark purple hair that framed her dark eyes like a portrait.

“I’m Jiro-“

The girl began before being cut off by a loud blast sounding across the classroom. Both girls whipped they’re heads over to see what caused it. The loud blond boy looked shocked and furious and was smoking slightly as the shorter blonde with a black lighting strike in his hair apologized profusely.

“What the fuck do you think your doing?! Did you electrocute me?!” 

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know you’d explode like that Bakugo! I was just trying to ease the tension with a harmless joke!” 

As they argued the blue haired boy began to chime in.

“Using your quirk on another student without consent and inside the classroom is strictly forbidden!!!”

“Can it four eyes! It’s was your fucking nagging that made everyone freak out anyway! I was perfectly fine and not bothering anyone!”

“You can’t have your feet on the desk!”

“Guys can we just try to solve this without so much yelling?”

“Fuck you! You set me on fire!”

“IM SORRY!!!”

Uraraka and Jiro watched as the class began to spiral more and more into chaos, the main three’s screaming getting louder and other students adding to the ruckus. Uraraka didn’t know whether to gasp in shock or laugh as the blonde kid she’d heard people calling Bakugou raised a chair above his head seemingly in an attempt to hit the blue haired student, Ilda. 

The screaming seemed to reach its peak as the chair sailed through the air before the door swung open and everything became strikingly silent. A wave of icey cold filled the room and an odd feeling of fear sent goose bumps up Uraraka’s arms causing her eyes to sparkle in recognition.

The chair fell to the ground in a clatter as all the students' heads turned towards the door.

“Uh… hi?”

_________IZUKU POV

I stood nervously at the gates of UA, already a few minutes late. Training with Toya had taken more time than we had anticipated, and with all the factors to take into shapeshifting- my mind had been very occupied. The whole train ride to UA had been torture. Every possibility of how everything could go wrong was circling through my head, and then the overwhelmingly heavy depression of wondering if any of it would matter because….  mom would never get to see it anyway. 

The last months of summer break were filled with training and studying and more training. Any second I wasn’t growing my quirk and combat skills with Toya, I was compiling evidence against Endeavor and brainstorming plots to take him down. Even when I wasn’t doing that I was always doing something, running, rereading UA study guides, there wasn’t a second of my time I could put to waste. I didn’t want any space to think. To feel. 

I knew if I let myself feel I’d be consumed. I was almost relieved for school to occupy my mind if I weren't also paralyzingly nervous. I felt my self bristle with a icy chill as I looked down at the paper with my class number on it and walked to the door, hesitating at the loud screaming and yelling muffled through the door. 

I could do this, I’d be ok. It was just one class, how hard could it be to socialize for the first time in years?? This would be my first time really interacting with people since aldera. And I hoped with every undead bone in my body that it wouldn’t turn out like it did in aldera.

Maybe Uraraka would be in this class. I had been glad to find out she had made it into UA too, she was the only person I could really consider a friend here. I guess besides bakugou, who was not a friend in the slightest. Thinking of bakugo made my stomach drop immediately and I held back a groan as I remembered he’d be in this school too. 

If he ever saw me he’d make sure to make my life hell and make sure everyone else did too. I couldn’t survive aldera again, not without my mom, not when I was all alone in life with nothing but a fragile glimpse of determination and hope keeping me as alive as I could be. I couldn't give up yet. I still needed to avenge my mom and make her proud, and to do that I needed to be strong enough to take on even Endeavor himself, and I needed to be a good hero my mom could be proud of. But I didn’t know if I could do that if UA was just an aldera repeat. I didn’t know if I could stay strong through that again.

After a deep breath I pushed the classroom door open and prayed to any god out there that bakugou at least wouldn’t be in my class, because with my luck he would be in the desk directly beside me.

As I opened the door a tidal wave of sound crashed into me before stopping immediately as every set of eyes snapped towards me and a chair sailed in the air crashing loudly in the new silence. 

I could feel the adrenaline pumping in each student's heart as they took in my appearance. Ghostly pale, naturally disheveled dark hair, and wide unsettling eyes. Maybe they would look past my appearance and at least get to know me if I made a good impression? Anything had to be better than what they were doing. Fighting and recklessly mucking around on the first day of hero school in the most prestigious university in all of Japan.

“Uh….. hi?” I waved tentatively, trying not to shrink into my self as they’re eyes all snapped to me. I quickly scanned the students and felt every nerve in my body on the brink of walking out as I saw Bakugou's wide shocked and enraged eyes staring at me. But before I could even move, I was being crushed in a bone tight hug.

“Izuku!” Uraraka cheered as she jumped up to hug me, shuddering as her skin met the icy touch of mine but not letting go of her hug.

“You made it! And you got into the same class as me too!! That’s literally perfect, I barely know anyone here. Come! Your desk is beside mine and Jiros!!” She rambled as she dragged me through the still stock stilled class to a desk in the left back row. 

“Hey Uraraka. How have you been?” I asked a bit robotically. I didn’t feel nearly as uncomfortable with her as I did with other people but I was realizing that everything that had happened between the exams and now had made me feel like there was a vast desert of space between what I once knew. 

“I've been good! It’s been such a shift lately getting into UA! We’re gonna be the best hero’s, I can feel it!” She raved, starting to go into how she spent the rest of her summer after the exams delving into the occult and satanic rituals and how I would have to join her next time for one. My eyes wandered over to Bakugou who had gone back to his seat like many of the other students had, though his eyes never left his desk as he scowled a venomous glare into the wood. The ruckus had settled down into a subdued murmur of chatting as the minutes got closer to the start of class. 

It was just my luck I got put into the same class as Bakugou. Maybe he had matured a little bit and wouldn’t vilify me in a goddamn hero school but I knew that was too good to hope for. At least I had Uraraka. She wouldn’t care if bakugo told her I was a monstrous freak, because for some reason she liked I was different like that. I turned back to her and listened as she meticulously described the steps to perform a demon summon and how she had done it wrong once and accidentally cursed her neighborhood. 

“You’ve gotta make sure you use black candles for the portal and white candles for protection! You know? And when I was telling my mom why I had to borrow her vanilla candles she freaked out for some reason! I guess it was warranted though since it did end up horribly. You wouldn’t happen to want a demon in a jar by chance?” she rambled animatedly. I chuckled and shook my head, already feeling the tension in my shoulders ease some.

“Um, not particularly, but I’ll let you know for sure later.” 

I smiled as she rambled on about it. If only I had a friend like this in aldera, someone to have fun being weird with. Someone to feel normal with. But I knew what friends lead to. Pain and betrayal. I can’t trust anyone. Not truely. Not entirely. Because it always leads to the fact that I will always be a monster to everyone else. My smile faltered slightly but I turned away to hide it as Uraraka began to talk to jiro about a vocaloid metal band.

With my mind out of my thoughts I noticed there was no sign of the profesor anywhere. I worried that maybe there had been an incident. Or maybe we all got expelled just for the ruckus they had indulged in before I came. I had heard about classes getting expelled all at once before. It wasn’t a foreign fear here. But as my thoughts started to dip into my anxieties, causing the air to grow brittle with cold and the lights to flicker, I noticed a yellow slug shaped sleeping bag with a person inching inch by inch into the class.

I seemed to be the only person aware of the intruder and just as I started to question it the person stopped and scanned the classroom, meeting my eyes and motioning shush. But as our eyes met- mine widened in recognition, as the homeless man I had met on the beach was in a sleeping bag, crawling on the floor of UA’s hero class 1-A.

Only this wasn’t a homeless man I had seen before. I finally realized why he had been so familiar back at the beach. 

“It’s been five minutes and all but one of you have noticed my presence.” The one and only pro underground hero Eraserhead said as he emerged from the sleeping bag and glared at the class.

I was shaking with excitement as I watched my favorite hero scold them. He was just as cool as I remembered reading about. How didn’t I notice it was him on the beach?! My eyes sparkled with pure awe, I didn't even notice the way another student with purple ball hair leaned away from me with a grimace and a viable shudder.

This was the pro hero eraser head!! Teaching my home room!!!!

“As heroes in training it is crucial you all become aware of your surroundings and any signs of danger or threats to be perceived. It could be the most important difference between life and death in a dangerous situation.” He lectured, looking at me once more, holding my gaze for a second longer before turning back to another student. He must have recognized me from the beach!

“In the box are your gym uniforms. Grab them, change, and meet me on the pitching field.” He said flatly, grabbing a clip board and walking out. The class sat in shock at the bluntness of the introduction but I was quick to jump up with excitement and grab my uniform, heading to the locker room and waving at Uraraka.

In the locker room I found my locker and changed, hearing the chatting of my classmates following behind. I was quick to find Bakugou's voice in the muddle, he was talking to a red haired boy named Kirishima from what I could hear.

“Dude I saw your quirk at the exams and your so manly!! I heard you got the second highest score out of the whole school!

“Get the fuck away from me shitty hair.” Bakugou growled as he stomped towards me but was deftly intercepted by the blue haired student again as he turned to talk to me.

“Midoriya Izuku! I am apologizing for my unbecoming behavior during the entrance exams! I was out of line to barrate you and interrupt the exam speech, and clearly you knew about the secret exam points which was a well deserved advantage. Nonetheless, I apologize for my actions!” Ilda bowed. 

I shrugged and half smiled as I held my hand out to shake. 

“Hey, no hard feelings! It was nothing huge and didn’t hurt anybody, we good?” I offered my truce as I held my hand out but my friendly smile fell as I saw him flinch back from my hand. Ilda cleared his throat and straightened his collar as he looked away.

“Right, no hard feelings.” He nodded, looking uncomfortable. I let my hand drop as I watched the way his eyes darted towards me and away like I was just some creepy spider that was getting to close.

“Right.” I said, feeling a dark cloud of anger and disappointment rumbled inside me as Ilda walked back to his locker without any more interaction, seeming glad to have distance between us.

I watched him walk away and shudder as he reach his locker, it was a snarky scoff that drew my eyes away from Ilda and towards Bakugou. He was glaring at me and sneering ruefully.

“He thinks you deserved your entrance exam results? Ha. That’s a fucking joke. You don’t deserve shit. You shouldn’t be here and they never should have let a fucking villain into their school. You're a freak, you know it and he knows it, and I’ll make sure everyone learns the truth and kicks your ass out.” 

I stared unblinkingly at him and narrowed my eyes, channeling the anger and irritation I was feeling into a chilling cold that constricted and wrapped around him. I watched as he shuddered and stepped back, speaking louder and gathering the attention of the other boys.

“They’ll all see what you really are, and then it’ll just be time before you're kicked out.” He snarled, turning back to his locker and leaving the changing rooms in an uncomfortable silence.

I sighed and finished changing, walking towards the field. Two speeches today already, and neither were relatively pleasant. I wasn’t here to fight Bakugou, hell I didn’t care about him. I felt bad, he thought he lost his friend to my quirk, but that wasn’t my fault. I didn’t deserve his hostility. And the most troubling of Bakugous threat was that it had weight to it. Already Ilda clearly was uncomfortable with me and I had noticed almost every student beside Uraraka and strangely enough, Jiro, the girl she talked to flinched and shuddered when I got too close. 

I could already tell the type of person they were just by the small ways they reacted to me, and I had a dreadful feeling that I wouldn’t have many friends. But I had to at least try. It’s not like I wanted to be lonely, and maybe some of them were like Uraraka, and even though they flinched and were scared they would still talk to me and treat me normally. It was wishful thinking but I could have a little bit of hope. My life has been a little too hopeless recently. 

Walking out onto the pitching field I shook my arms out and let the overwhelming thoughts plaguing my mind shake out with it. 

Eraserhead was standing by the pitch and marking on a clip board as the rest of the students speckled into the feild. Once they where all there he looked up and set his clip board to the side.

“Alright everyone, line up. We’re doing a quirk assessment test.” He said bored. The students groaned or sighed heavily as they heard the news of a test already and sluggishly made their way in a line. I stood beside Uraraka and ignored the extra distance around me in the line.

“But what about orientation or like an introduction?!” Uraraka asked as she nervously wrung her hands.

“A test on the very first day?” She whispered to herself.

“I’m your teacher, call me Aizawa sensei. There’s your introduction. In real life, you won’t get a neat and organized intro. It’ll be unexpected and messy and you all need to be prepared for it. You're not kids anymore, your hero’s so I’m going to treat you like heroes. Today we’re going to test where you all are at, your starting point to build off of.” Aizawa said strictly, looking at the class sternly. 

“Today, you will show me your potential.”

Chapter Text

“Today, you will show me your potential.” Aizawa said with a serious stare at each student.

When his eyes landed on the boy from the beach, who he now knew was Midoriya Izuku, he felt a small spark of pride that the boy had really made it into UA like he had pledged to at the beach. 

And there was no coincidence that he ended up in Aizawas class, with a quick flash-back to the selection of students for classes and Shouta discretely claimed midoriya from any of the other teachers and into his class without any other negotiation, even with vlads complaints.

“Midoriya, you had the highest entrance exam score. What was your farthest distance throw of the soft ball when you were in junior high?” He asked. The boy startled and seemed to hesitate before answering meekly,

“I was… not allowed to participate in the physical entrance exams.” He answered, his eyes falling to the ground being the only indicator that whatever he was thinking about was unpleasant. Regardless of the concern rising from the response, Aizawa continued.

“Disappointing, try doing it with your quirk then.” He said, handing him the soft ball as Midoriya stepped up to the plate.

“Anything goes, just stay in the circle” he grumbled, stepping back and readying his clipboard and distance meter. Midoriya tossed the ball lightly between his hands, testing the weight of it, stepping to look back at the other students with an unreadable expression on his mannequinesk face. He sighed and stepped back, stretching and aiming for some spot in the distance before his arm flicked forward so fast it was as if it hadn’t even moved and sent the ball far past and over the fence and neighboring buildings.

The students watched in shock and awed at the distance as Aizawa held up the meter reading.

“Holy- 987.9 meters!? Are you kidding me? That's inhuman.” Kaminari gasped, mouth agape as he stared at the meter. Midoriya looked away and smiled nervously, the look slightly off from the lack of blush or facial color at all, but bashful all the same as he quickly made his way back in line.

“I wanna go! That looks fun!” Ashido jumped up, shoving into Bakugo who strangely enough looked more angry at Midoriya rather than the pink haired girl elbowing him in the face.

Aizawas eyes narrowed at the class, riled up and excited from the throw. He responded flatly and watched satisfied as the severity of the test weighed over them. It was too bad he could only threaten to expel a minimum of 5 students this year, he had to savor those five measly passes of keeping his class as the long reigning best heroes produced. So he decided on expeling only one, if any of them where below the bar of zero potential.

“Fun? This is not supposed to be fun. If you think being a hero will be easy and fun, you are wrong. There are five physical tests today, whoever comes in last will be deemed as hopeless and expelled.” He threatened. 

The classes rouckus grew loud again, protest and disbelief coating their faces. Good. They needed a taste of reality. 

Aizawa knew he had gotten the majority of the more problematic students, the ones with difficult and destructive quirks, but these where his kids- eh ahem. Students. These where his students now and he would do anything to ensure they where prepared.

__________Izuku

I nodded as it clicked in my mind, so he had been the one who expelled his whole class last year then. That just meant I really did have to give it my all, but… if I could help it I’d at least try to hide the intricacies of my quirk from the class.  

I looked over at Mineta, his name I had learned from hearing him get berated by Mina for being inappropriate, and was looking extremely panicked at the threat now attached to the quirk test.

“You can’t expel us! We just got here, that's not fair!” He whined. I held back from responding, it’s not like I wanted more attention than I had already garnered from the throw, but this kid seemed way too childish to be here in the first place. Already bothering the girls, and now complaining in front of the teacher, a pro hero. Luckily I didn’t need to speak up though, as Aizawa sensei did.

“Not fair? Ha. You better fix that mindset now, the world is unfair. It’s your job as future hero’s to overcome that, to fight and be the force of justice. For the next three years, you will face challenges that only your own strength can determine the outcome. Show me it’s no mistake that you're here, plus ultra or something like that.”

 Aizawa sighed and motioned for bakugou to come to the bat. “Your next, you know the rules. Dont hold back.” 

I watched as bakugou stomped onto the plate and sent a glare at me, which would have stung more if I couldn’t almost read his exact thoughts. He was pissed I did so well and was going to try to show me up. Because in his oh so wise logic, ‘how dare I do better than him’. 

I scoffed to my self, rolling my eyes at him. I just couldn’t understand why, after all this time he still couldn’t mature. It frustrated me more that it hurt me, I had always been there for him, yet he thought I abandoned him.

Bakugou wound his arm up and rubbed his hands together, gathering sweat between his palms and reeled back throwing the ball with an ear splitting explosion.

“705.2 meters” Aizawa read out, motioning another student to the plate. It was an impressive score, regardless of my own. Bakugou must have been training during the summer too, with his explosions being far more strong and controlled than I last knew them to be.

Bakugou looked furious but walked back to line quickly, swatting away Kirishima's praise, 

“That's so manly Bakugou! You and Midoriya have to be the strongest in the class!!”

“Fuck off. It was a shit throw”

The rest of the test went well, I reigned it back a bit for the test, not wanting to go overboard but still make enough points to stay ahead of the competition and decided to focus more on analyzing the other students. 

They all had potential, but some of them could use advice on how to properly utilize it. I made a mental list, keeping my mumbling in check on the analysis I made. Aoyama was completely neglecting his quirks ability to go airborne, Hagakure should be using the light reflecting components of her quirk for heat and advantages over competitors, Todoroki wasn’t even using his fire, Tomoyami needed to practice his control over his quirk, and mineta…. Well he just needed to actually use his quirk for anything besides sticking things. 

It’d be one thing if his quirk was just a glue quirk, but his sticky hair quirk could be used for so much more than what he was doing with them. They where bouncy, strong and durable- plenty of traits to utilize. He had so many other applications of his quirk that he was neglecting to use properly. Maybe I’d have to hint to sensei to help mentor mineta. He obviously wouldn’t take my advice with how openly hostile he had been the whole class.

It was shallow base level analysis but I doubted any of them would really be open to in-depth criticism from me of all people. So if I even told them my thoughts it would be simple and short or I’d just let Aizawa sensei know.

When the running test came up, I thought about the best shape to shift to to gain the most speed. I had hesitated to using it, Better not to freak the class out during a test that could affect their entire future in heroism, but I also wanted to utilize the full extent of my quirk. I opted to run as my wolf, seeing as some people had already seen it and it’d increase my speed and strength. 

When we lined up for the 50- meter run, I transformed, cringing internally at the expressions of Yaoyorozu who was closest to me and mineta who openly gaped and looked at me disgusted and horrified at the stretching, tearing, and cracking that was over faster than it had started. 

“What the hell? That can’t be allowed!” He complained, drawing the attention of the other students. Aizawa waved him off, looking too bored to care. 

I breathed exhilarated as I smelt the crisp scents of the air through a new and stronger nose, my ears flicked towards the clock Aizawa had, the moment it clicked- the run would start. 

I noticed the interested and slightly startled look Koda gave me, nudging Ojiro and Sero and speaking quietly to them but my ears caught the whispers.

“Did you guys know he could do that?” Koda asked, clearly intrigued in his soft and gentle voice.

“No, I wonder if he can turn into any animal he thinks of, think of how rad that’d be.” Sero said, looking a bit jealously at me.

“He doesn’t look like a normal wolf though. Too… creepy and well- mossy.” Ojiro and Sero huffed a laugh and focused back in the race, Koda looked at me pensively once more before focusing along with them.

I didn’t look at them, I didn’t want them to know I could hear, but I figured at least Koda knew, from the side glances he had given me.

Readying my paws, I bolted the moment the start sound and kept a good pace alongside Ashido on her acid slide and Shoji, behind Ilda, bakugou, todoroki, and Yaoyarorzu.

I wasn’t using even half of my full speed. I could feel the desire to move rippling beneath the thick fur coat and in the solid muscle I had, begging to sprint with everything, to feel the speed bursting through me. But I held back, I wasn’t sure entirely why. It felt sort of like cheating though. I wasn’t even technically human, wouldn’t it be unfair to make anyone lose because of that?

I watched as Sero used his tape to be pulled along with Ilda. Ojiro was pogo jumping with his tail, Shoji was using his pure unfiltered strength to bulldoze through the track.

This school was like everything I had ever know flipped upside down. All these students, while sure some of them weren’t very open to me, weren't focused on proving I was nothing. They weren’t trying to demean me, bully or mock me, or even ignore me. They where just trying there hardest.

Uraraka, though behind some, was running with her quirk in effect on herself, saving stamina with a clever use of her quirk. She waved and cheered me on, 

“Woohooo! Go smile dog- go!” She laughed along with Jirou, running beside her. I shook my head exasperatedly. Of course she would know the smile dog creepy pasta. Of course, she was Uraraka after all.

I was gaining some, moving up the line, now beside Todoroki on his ice slide and bakugou blasting on explosions. Ilda and Yaoyorozu were the furthest ahead though, Ilda with his engines and Yaoyorozu on a motorcycle I had seen her make at the start line. 

All the students here really like a whole new slice of the world. They were all so… different. Sure Sato had been uncomfortable beside him earlier in class, but he still smiled at me and waved kindly. Hagakure was from an entirely different species of life than me, the way she was so extroverted and loud like Ashido. 

I thought maybe I’d try to make a friend of Tokoyami, the way he had seemed like he wanted to talk to me earlier, but walked off- muttering something about how it wasn’t the right time to indulge in the darkness, too early.

I laughed at the memory, ignoring to side eye from Todoroki as we ran.

 I was a little worried when I saw mineta falling far behind, still lacking to utilize his quirk but my concern turned to anger when I saw him miraculously throw a sticky ball into the wheel of Yaoyorozu’s motorcycle. How he even threw it that far was beyond me, let alone land perfectly.

I glared at the sticky purple orb in the wheel as Yaoyorozu began to swerve and panic at the intrusion.

Sure it wasn’t against the rules but it also wasn’t a part of the objection. The race wasn’t inherently to win against the other students but a race against time, with the ticking stopwatch Aizawa held. Sabotaging other students wouldn’t help him at all, but I guessed at least he was finally using his quirk. 

My eyes widened as I noticed the ball get lodged into the gears, making the wheels skid and spark, Yaoyorozu yelled and looked like she was about to lean down and pull it out. 

A millisecond passed as the spark flung towards the gas tank and suddenly i was sprinting ahead of everyone now side by side yaoyorozu and Ilda, the speed I had been holding back came out full force as I was quickly jumping and pushing her off the bike into the grass just as the gas caught and a loud blast erupted from the explosion drowning out my pained cry.

The heat immediately hit me, burning my eyes and burning my fur down to the bone, as I tumbled and rolled into the grass. When the momentum slowed and the ringing in my ears quieted down and the sound of shouts of panic melted back into my ears I rolled over, groaning as I transformed back into my human form. 

I blinked blearily up to see the class panicking and staring at me with horrified eyes. 

I shoved myself forward and sat up, lifting my hand to cradle my pounding headache but stopping as I saw the pale skin of my hand melting off my bone and dripping along with the black ooze of my blood. My chest, stomach and arms were badly torn and a slow ooze of black ink seeped out onto the spots that were nothing but bone. My shirt was burnt and torn, revealing my rib cage and a deep stabbing ache radiated from my chest.

Aizawa sprinted to me, jumping and sliding to me on his knees, pulling a first aid kit out and quickly trying to find anything to help. He wore a serious expression even in such a intense and shocking crisis as all he could see was black bone and blood soaking my barely salvaged clothes and melting skin. 

I shook my head, feeling dizzy and in a hot blazing pain as if every rib exposed to the sun was boiling and overwhelmed by the panic led heart beats filling my head and pounding my ears. 

“Midoriya! Stay with me! Focus on my voice, ok? Im going to get you to help.” He panted, deciding to hold off on how and where to even begin patching me up with the gaping hole in my stomach. But before I could reassure him that I was ok, it hurt- but the briefing was becoming more of a deep aching than a radiating pain as it was slowly lessening- he gently but sturdily hoisted me over his shoulder, careful of my exposed ribs and began to run to the school infirmary. 

“Class. Stay here. Help anyone who's hurt. Ilda, run anyone severely injured to recovery girl with me.” 

Ilda nodded and quickly helped a limping and paralyzed in shock Yaoyorozu up and relayed the same instructions to the other shocked students. 

Once Aizawa ran to the infirmary, he sat me gently on a bed. Everything was moving so fast that I didn’t have time to think about the fact that a teacher had jumped to help me, let alone run me to the nurse. Teachers had never even made an attempt to look like they cared if I was hurt in the past. 

I was immediately jumped by a recovery girl- who was so cool to watch in person as she worked. It wasn’t just her quirk either, she clearly had years of medical experience as she went through the process of attempting to fix the damage. But as she looked at my arms, chest and stomach, bone exposed and oozing with black blood, she stared dumbfounded at how to even proceed.

“Midoriya- your blood is black? And your skin has quite literally melted off and your entire abdomen is open, and empty.” She said softly with a terrified tone. Aizawa had stepped back clearly just as lost at how I was sitting up and looking bashful in a moment like this as she was. I almost laughed as I raised my hand to calm them.

“Don’t worry! It’s just my quirk-“ I started to explain motioning to all the melted and torn areas.

“I'm technically dead, so my blood, bone, and skin aren't normal.” 

Aizawa sighed and put his hand over his mouth, clearly stressed.

“We know that problem child but the fact still stays the same that your entire stomach is torn open. How do we help you? It doesn’t look like bandages or stitches could even begin to fix this.” 

Recovery girl lifted her hand and used her quirk, both of us flinched back. I gasped and a choked grunt left my mouth as I hunched over from a stabbing and tearing jolt of pain in my heart the moment she activated her quirk. She stepped back and rubbed her forehead, the moment she stopped I could feel my breath cone back to me and it seemed like whatever her quirk tried to do only caused us both pain.

I rolled back into the bed, groaning and clutching my chest as my ribs slowly released from it’s tense spasm like cram.

“Ughhhh-I was explaining that my quirk will heal itself. Look- the skin is already healing back. I don’t think a healing quirk or medical equipment will really do anything.” I said, holding my arm out so they could see the tarpish skin begin to pull itself back over the bone, but still drenched in blood. 

Both the teachers watched, recovery girl seemed disturbed and slightly uncomfortable while Aizawa looked away and seemed to be feeling guilty? It wasn’t the expression I expected to see, so I must have been reading it wrong. But it wasn’t long until Ilda had brought Yaoyorozu into the infirmary and on a bed, recovery girl quickly moving to heal her twisted ankle, and the rest of the class huddled outside the door.

“Is anyone else hurt?” Aizawa asked, stepping in front of their view of me and saving me from the embarrassment and humiliation of being seen like this. Aizawa scanned the other students and sighed when no one was injured. 

Uraraka was crying along with a very worried Jiro. But the rest of the class either looked shocked or horrified. 

There are too many eyes on me.

Once Yaoyorozu was healed and I had regenerated enough that my ribs weren’t completely exposed, Aizawa allowed me to leave the bed, and we all walked back to the testing grounds. The motorcycle was smoking but the fire had been put out and one of the UA staff was cleaning the debris, scorch marks and… my blood off the track. 

Aizawa sighed and had the students gather around.

“First of all, I applaud your reactions to the crisis and I thank you all for keeping a leveled head as we dealt with the incident. Second, I still have to continue with the results of the test and who came in last place.” He said, pulling up a holographic chart of the results. I placed first, the second was Yaoyorozu, Ilda, Bakugou, Uraraka and so on, with mineta at the very last. Everyone’s eyes turned to him, with looks of worry and contemplation.

“There was an explosion! Surely you're not gonna expel anyone after that happened right?” Mineta panicked after seeing the results.

“Luckily no one was…. Too irreversibly injured, and as for the explosion. Mineta, I'm extremely disappointed in your lack of foresight to see the consequences your actions have. And as for being in last place, and displaying unacceptable behavior towards your female classmates, you're expelled. 

You can finalize the general ed class you will be moved to at the principal's office. There’s always the chance of moving back up into the hero course through the sports festival, but you’ll have to reevaluate what type of hero you want to be, and show that through your efforts.” Aizawa explained, watching mineta as he began to sob.

“B-but- but- this isn’t fair! I-it was that monster's fault anyway! I wouldn’t have placed so low if he wasn’t freakishly powerful! You can’t let him steal my spot as a hero! He’s a villain! Look at him, he’s horrifying!” Mineta screamed, pointing at me.

I pursed my lips and looked away from the class's gaze. I was still, strangely enough, soaking wet from my own blood and in an uncomfortably aching pain, standing in a puddle of the black ink, as it dripped from my healing arms that had taken the brunt of the explosion besides the stomach, which I had healed the fastest. I prepared for Aizawa sensei to take mineta’s side and expel me instead but was surprised when he sharply reprimanded mineta.

“Don't you dare put your mistakes and shortcomings onto another student, let alone when his quirk spared you from more dire consequences. Midoriya saved Yaoyorozu, who could've sustained far more devastating injuries otherwise at your expense. He has already displayed incredibly heroic qualities from today alone. This school does not condone quirk discrimination or bullying. You are dismissed. I expect better from you in the future, Mineta.” He said with a cold finality to it. 

The class had watched in a cold tension as mineta bawled and ran back into the school, turning back to Aizawa sensei as a chilly silence held in the air. 

“Learn from today’s class, I will not tolerate negligence or recklessness from any of you. I expect you all to give me your best as my students. You're all dismissed, please grab the curriculum sheets on your desk on your way out. Midoriya and Yaoyorozu stay behind please.”  He said, catching my eye as I nodded and stood beside Yaoyorozu. 

As Aizawa talked to some of the students before they left I turned to her.

“Yaoyorozu, how’s your ankle?” I asked softly, keeping a slight distance when I noticed goose bumps raising on her arms. 

“It’s ok, only sore now…. Thank you Midoriya, and please just call me Momo, Yaoyorozu is a mouthful.” She chuckled softly, still seeming a bit shaken from all of today. 

“Ok Momo,” I smiled, feeling a bit warmer knowing at least she wasn’t resentful towards me for shoving her off the bike, even if otherwise she would have been hit by the explosion.

“Are you ok Midoriya? You…. You took the full force of the explosion. And your soaked. I can make you a towel?” She offered, gesturing to my still dripping arms. Today was probably the most damage I’d ever sustained before, but it was a good quirk test that would definitely need to be analyzed later. Apparently with too much damage, my blood would seep out onto the wound until the skin was healed.

“Oh, uh thank you but no. haha this is just how my quirk heals me, i'm glad I took the damage rather than it being you. I can’t begin to imagine what would happen if you had been in the way of the blast.” I said, frowning as I thought about the possibilities. Yeah no, I was definitely glad I got hit instead. 

“Thank you, again, for saving me. I… haven’t been all that friendly since the start of class and I'm sorry for that. You don’t deserve to be treated so unfairly, and you're incredibly skilled might I add! I have no idea how you reached me in time. But I’m grateful, so thank you, and I hope we can be friends!” She smiled, leaning forward to hug me, freezing me to the spot.

I hugged her back shortly, still whiplashed from the unexpected kindness.

“O-of course! I just moved without thinking, you know? Heh. Um, yeah! I hope we can be friends too!” I said, smiling genuinely as we both turned to Aizawa as he addressed us.

“You're both alright?” He asked, his eyes lingering on the blood that dropped from my arms but seeming immensely more relieved that my stomach cavity wasn’t complete torn open anymore.

“Yeah!”

“Yup”

“Ok, good. Good reaction time Midoriya, though I'm sorry you both had to get hurt like that under my watch. I hope you both heal up well. I’ll see you two tomorrow. Contact me if you need anything.” He said, turning away and rubbing his forehead, muttering something about problem children and. Ever ending migraines.

After going to the changing rooms and grabbing my clothes, I decided to just carry them instead of soaking a second pair of clothes in my blood, and I made my way home still reeling from the whole day. 

______Bakugou

Bakugou kicked the door to his bedroom open and slammed it shut, ignoring the yells from his mom down the hall. 

That fucking freak. 

He thought he could just waltz into his hero class and upshow him with that villainous quirk. How hadn’t Sensei expelled him on the spot after seeing how horrific Deku looked after getting blown up? The way his wolf face had contorted in pain and the way his skin was torn away leaving nothing but a gaping hole of bone and blood- Katsukis breath caught and he shook his head. 

It didn’t make sense. This whole school was completely flipped upside down compared to what he was used to. Hardly anyone even commented on the freak and when one did they got expelled.

It had left an uncomfortable feeling weighing on him at the thought of how easily that cry baby had been expelled. After all it took to get into the hero class, it could all get stripped away in a second. 

Katsuki huffed as he thought about the fact that the freak had already made more friends than him on the first day. Obviously Katsuki didn’t care about friends, even though it was strange that not a single student or teacher, besides the redhead in his class, had praised him on his obvious skill. But still! Deku shouldn’t have more than him! He shouldn't have any friends at all. He shouldn’t be as skilled at the quirk test as he was either. He shouldn’t have been first in the entrance exam at that! 

It was all wrong. The world was getting all mixed upside down. Katsuki was supposed to be at the top, he was supposed to be the best… but it already felt like he was so far behind just from the first day seeing his other classmates' quirks and skills. 

It was like one day he was the most important thing to everyone, and then the next he was forgotten. It was suffocating, the feeling of worthlessness eating away at him.

Whatever. It didn’t matter. He’d catch up, and he’d surpass them all including that monstrous freak. He didn’t need praise, attention, friends. Hell, he didn't need anyone! He was fine alone, he always had been.

He looked up as the door to his bedroom creaked open and dad peaked in.

“Hey kats, everything alright? How was the first day of UA?” He asked, he always had a way with calming both him and his moms explosive sides down. 

Katsuki sighed and glared at the wall.

“It was shit, a motorcycle one student made exploded and a kid got expelled.” He said, shrugging and chewing at his thumb. By now it was scarred with how often he did it. His dad looked at him concerned and nodded.

“That sounds like it was a rough day, your mom made dinner though. It’s your favorite, come on down whenever you're ready.” He smiled softly and closed the door again. 

The gentleness only pissed Katsuki off more, they treated him like he was fragile, he was anything but fragile. He stopped biting on his thumb when he felt a familiar stab and warmth spill from it. He sighed and whipped the blood on the cuff of his sleeve and laid back into his bed.

He wasn’t hungry. Didnt have an appetite for anything anyways. He sent a quick text to his mom, asking her to put left overs in the fridge for him, that he’d probably pretend to eat later but really just throw it away in the outside garbage.

He missed how things used to be, when he didn't feel so angry… guilty…….. lonely………..hopeless.  Everything was changing now. Whatever. He’d just have to change with it. That’s what a hero would do. And Katsuki was going to be a hero. He’d get revenge. The universe owed it to him to get revenge, why else would it torment him with constant flashes of Deku crying in pain as a kid. Looking at him with betrayal and anger as he and his friend mocked him…. Told him to die. 

The universe owed him his friend back, it was the universe that stole him from Katsuki to start with.

He sighed and rolled over, pulling his phone and and scrolling through some music, settling for something dark and angry, so at least he didn’t feel so alone in his emotions. 

He laid like that until his alarm went off for him to be waking up, but he hadn’t even gone to sleep.

Chapter Text

Toya sighed as he tossed a crumbled newspaper ball up into the air, catching it, throwing it again before ultimately burning it into a puff of smoke. His investigations on endeavor had halted to a painful stop since UA started and it had left Toya with too much time to think. With shoto in school now endeavors public presence had become almost entirely nonexistent and that meant no more evidence.

Toya had turned to training, compiling evidence, and online investigations but that could only occupy him for so long. And all that added with the absence of Izuku meant Toya was bored. 

Getting up from the couch and throwing his shoes on, Toya walked the streets, looking around for anything. He could check up on his mom or siblings, but that was always risky. Maybe he could go into the underground market and see if he could find any useful tools or weapons? That seemed like a safe idea, so Toya slinked away from the morning business crowds and into the back alleys, finding the entrance to the abandoned subways and making his way down them.

The dimly lit and rusted tunnels were bustling with hooded and masked figures, the sound of people talking and merchants making and selling their less than socially accepted trade rumbled and reverberated off the walls of the tunnel and comfortably filled the space. The underground market was alive today, and in a good mood too if the boisterous yelling and voices of customers were anything to go by. The market wasn’t enherintly exclusive for villains and criminals solely, but a majority of its visitors and inhibitors were not well received in the eyes of the upper grounds of society.

Toya walked through comfortably, pulling his hood up and putting his hands in his pockets. Usually the market was his supplier of gear when he broke a camera or needed something specific in his endeavor tracking. But today he was hoping to come across anything to spark his interest, whether it was knowledge or supplies, he just needed something to fill this boring day with.

As Toya scanned the crowds, his eyes were drawn to two people in a dark corner, trying to stay hidden. One looked like an average merchant, usually in meetings like those exchanging info, but it was the other figure that caught his eyes. He was slightly taller than the merchant and wore a long cloak with an odd shape bulging from his back. Toyas curiosity peaked when a glint of red flicked to the ground from the cloak as the two figures noticed his stare and quickly fled. 

Going over to the corner he looked at the ground and picked up a vibrant red feather, pocketing it with furrowed brows. What business could he have here?

Suddenly a loud ruckus of yelling and a girls cry came from the merchant booth just two ahead of Toya, ripping his thoughts away from the feather and to the noise. 

A young girl, who looked too small to be in a place like this had been shoved to the ground and was being threatened and berated by the vendor.

“You little leech! Your kind isn’t welcome here!! The last time a blood quirk came to my booth I was robbed blind!! You're all the same, no self respect to be more than the low life scum of this town. Your kinds’ the worst type of rodents. Scram brat! I won’t sell you nothin!” The vendor finished with a disgusted spit and stormed back into the booth, slamming the window closed.

Toya watched as the girl huffed and grabbed her spilled belongings from the ground, stuffing them into a stuffed animal bear backpack as other market shoppers walked around her, some curious and others resentfully smug. 

Toya couldn’t help the sigh that escaped him as he walked over to the girl. Even in a space made entirely of rejects and outcasts they still couldn’t coexist to some degree, and to a child too. It was disappointing. Toya approached her and took her appearance in.

She was just as young as he had guessed, looking around 14 with ash-blond hair in twin buns and bright yellow eyes and thin slit pupils looking around her warily. She was wearing a school uniform to some middle school and had a small bear backpack that had been dirt stained from her fall.

“Are you ok?” He asked neutrally, offering her a kind hand. She took his hand and jumped up, she was smiling but he could see the way she regarded him cautiously and strangely enough a hint of recognition for a minute before taking his hand and standing up. 

“Pfft. Like that ugly old fart could offend me. I'm too cute to be bothered, honestly! But I guess I’ll have to find a different blood vendor.” She said, sighing with a shrug as she looked Toya up and down.

“Where ya headed? I’m Himiko Toga by the way! Call me Toga, isn’t it a pretty name? Well nice to officially meet you!” She shook his hand, a Cheshire smile already across her face. 

“Officially meet me? What do you mean.” He demanded suspiciously. She was quiet for a moment as if considering whether to answer or not.

”Ive seen you around a lot actually. You wouldn’t recognize me, I never look the same when our paths crossed but I was always curious every time I passed you in the alleys.” She said, shrugging and waving her hands dismissively.

”Any ways, we can introduce our selfs formally now! And imma need to find another blood vendor.” She mused.

Toya would have to ask more about how she new him, if it was just recognition or something to be wary of,

“Your looking for a different blood vendor? I know of one not too far down the west tunnels. I’m… Taro.” He said, beginning to walk in the direction of the booth. Toya had expected the kind gesture to be a quiet and easy detour but Toga didn’t seem to like quite very much.

“Taro? Hm. That’s not a super cute name, can I call you Tar tar? How about ro’ro?  That’s much cuter!” 

“No.” He said flatly, glaring at her as she skipped beside him. 

“I have a blood quirk, that’s why I need blood! I need it to survive, but my parents thought it was super evil. What were your parents like ro’ro? They must have been pretty! You seem pretty, I mean obviously besides the burn scars, those are kinda ugly. Not to be mean of course, you’ve been so nice to me already!” She rambled on and on, reminding Toya of a certain green haired cryptic back at home. 

“What?-” Toya began to ask confused and annoyed at her chatter before she cut him off with wide eyes and a bigger smile.

“The blood merchant! Your amazing Toya!” She cheered, running up to the vendor and quickly buying two jars of the dark red liquid.

“Wha-how the fuck do you know my n-“ Toya began to ask defensively only to be cut off again as Toga skipped up to him and shoved the jars along with his wallet with his drivers license out in his arms. He sighed and pocketed his wallet quickly.

“Alright! Where are we going now? I’m kinda in the mood for boba! Hmmmm strawberry!!” She giggle as she skipped ahead of me.

“We? I didn’t mind helping you with your blood shit but I’m not going to frolic around town with you all day. I've got shit to do, I don’t have time and I don’t even know you.” Toya grumbled as they walked out of the tunnel system, setting the jars of blood down on a ledge. 

She gasped and held her hand over her heart, faking offense.

“You do too know me! I just introduced my self and Ive been like a guardian angle with how much we’ve crossed paths! And I know you! Your Toya todo-“ she bagan before getting stopped by Toyas hand over her mouth.

“Shut it! You weren't supposed to know that, let alone shout it out for the world.” He scowled, looking at her in disgust as she licked his hand to escape.

“What the fuck, that’s disgusting.”

“Well you shouldn’t have shushed me. And it’s not like I care who you are. You're a dead man walking, we have a lot more in common than you might think and we could help each other out! Common, just let me tag along with you, I've got nothing better to do! And…. No where to go..hehe. I can be useful! Iv got lots of talents.” She argued, grabbing her blood jars and putting them in her bag, getting ready to follow him. 

He sighed and leaned against the alley wall. She must have been homeless like he was if she had seen him multiple times on his nightly walks. It was starting to feel like a the type of situation, where you feed a stray once and it never leaves you alone after. He wanted to investigate what he saw in the market early, the red feather in his pocket burning with the secrets it held. But did they have room for another person at the apartment? And could Toga be trusted with either of their business? She might be able to help him take down endeavor but would Izuku get mad? For all Toya knew this girl was a criminal, and Izuku was training to be a hero, that didn’t seem like the best mix up. 

But then again, Toya was technically a criminal, and Izuku accepted him…

“You can come with me, in the condition that you do what I say, and if my roommate doesn’t like you, you leave. Deal?” He asked? Raising his hand to her. 

Toga hesitated, seeming hesitant at the ‘do what I say’ bit but took his hand after a second of thought and shook it.

“Deal! And you feed me!” She nodded.

“You added that after the deal, doesn’t count. You can have my blood, and though I’m sure my roommate would let you, I don’t think his blood is edible anyway.” He said, shuddering.

“Anything edible if you try hard enough!” She shrugged, smiling as she skipped along beside him.

“No. No it is not.” Toya sighed and began to walk them back for the apartment. As they walked he turned to her and watched the way her eyes scanned the people they walked past, as if memorizing their appearance with a predators glint in her eye.

“So what are those talents you said you’ve got?” He questioned.

Toga smiled and thought as she slowed from a skip to a walk.

“Well, my quirk allows me to shapeshift into the person whose blood I drink. I’m very good at imitating people… hmmmmmm oh! And I am good with knives!!” She adds on excitedly, pulling four box cutters from some hidden pocket and brandishing them proudly.

Toya quickly lowered her hands and glared at her.

“Are you trying to get us arrested, or worse killed? Did you forget we are walking in broad daylight along a civilian road?? Heroes are ruthless, especially in this area.” He said grimly, looking around at the subtle and nearly unnoticeable signs that only some one who knew where to look would find them. Small corners of alleyways charred and burnt, dead patches of land and plants burnt to black charcoal, cracked cement from heat damage. 

Toga looked at him curiously, chewing her cheeks as she thought to her self. Not missing the action Toya snapped at her.

“What.” He demanded, his irritation still writhing just from thinking about him.

Toga sighed and looked away.

“Wellllll it’s just that… I've told you my secret, but you haven’t even told me what you would have me help with. Clearly a certain flame hero is involved but I wanna know the deets!!” She whined, throwing her head back and bumping into toyas side as she walked blindly.

“No. Not here, not right now. Stop whining, it’s getting on my nerve.” He responded, sighing as he saw the building he had started to call home come into sight.

“Now come on. We’re almost there, then I’ll get you a place and we’ll wait till my roommate gets home. He should be back in three or four hours.” Toya said, grabbing Togas sleeve and pulling her along with him. He didn’t know how it kept happening but he seemed to have adopted another annoying trouble magnet child within a single summer. Well, technically he had been adopted by one and now was adopting another..? Maybe mentally rationalizing it as adopting was a bad idea. Recruiting. Yeah, he had recruited another freak into the team. A team of rejected outcast. Yayyyyyyy. 

Toya sighed and mentally face palmed as he thought about Izuku coming home and the events to come. He had the experience to know a headache was in the making.

Once they were in the apartment and toga had her fill of snooping around and asking too many questions they both settled down to watch the news, Toga sipping from her jar with a pink curly straw and Toya lounging in the couch with his laptop scrolling through some more hero news.

About two hours had passed when they both looked up to the sound of keys in the door. Toga nervously sunk into the soft cushions of the couch and timidly chewed her straw, twisting a fluffy pastel ribbon around her bag through her fingers.

Toya took a deep breath as he prepared for any situation this could lead to, but he couldn’t have been prepared for what happened the moment the door opened. Izuku stood in the door way complete drenched in his own black inky blood looking exhausted and tired before his eyes landed on toga and within barely a second he had her pinned in place against the couch with a sharp and threatening spindly arm reaching impossibly far across the whole room, against her throat.

“What are you doing in my house” he demanded with a warped and threatening voice, his eyes contracting into thin pin points and staring her down.

Toga gulped nervously and looked at him with a wobbly smile, slowly pushing the spider-like appendage away from her throat and waving tentatively.

“Uh hi! I'm Toga, your roommate kinda helped me earlier, but um- please don’t kill me?”

A long beat of silence weighed before Izuku turned to look at Toya with a expression that said- ‘are fucking kidding me?’ And sighed as he threw his hands up, retracting his spider like arm and turned around to the bathroom. 

“Yeah no. Future izuku's problem, i'm going to get cleaned up. Don't break anything.” He demanded as he slammed the door behind him. 

“Do you think I made a good first impression?” Toga asked jokingly, trying to break the tension.

“Cuz I think I did pretty good…. Heh”

_______Izuku

I walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind me, leaning into it as I sighed and closed my eyes. My body was exhausted and worn out. My recovery time had been decreasing since training with Toya but today was a lot of physical and mental exertion. I walked to the mirror and looked at my face, still as mask-like as ever but stained with dried obsidian black blood that streaked across my skin and matted my hair. 

Mom would have been horrified if she saw the state I was in. 

 I turned away from the mirror, feeling a nauseating knot in my stomach from looking at the monster I was for too long. I hopped into the shower, turning the water to the hottest setting, relaxing under the stream as I tried to forget the stress of today and let the depricative thoughts fade into the back of my mind.

The first day of school and already so much had happened.

I was bullied, not nearly to the extent I thought I’d be though, I was almost torn in half, and now there was a stranger in my house. It was moments like these where I missed being able to sleep. To disappear into unconsciousness and forget about life.

I leaned against the wall and watched my blood swirl down the drain and off my skin. Raising my arm and turning it around I saw the skin was completely healed and seemed to have stopped bleeding. It took almost 3 hours. But considering the damage done it was pretty fast.

I finished my shower and dressed into a thick black sweater and some grey sweats, preparing for whatever chaos was about to ensue as I walked into the living room.

Toya and the new girl, Toga, were playing a game of cards, and Toya was losing miserably. 

“Ha! Straight flush- your pair of 10 are abolished.” She cheered, grabbing a pile of rocks from the middle of the table. 

Toga seemed about my age, in a middle school uniform so likely just barely younger. She had bright yellow eyes and a sharp smile and she wore fuzzy pastel pink leg warmers, a teddy bear backpack, and twin buns tied with a big pink lace ribbon with white stars and sparkles. 

So Toya had found her, and brought her here. As if we had enough resources for another person. Toya didn't have a job and I only got enough income for the apartment from investments. Even if Toga really was worth keeping around, I didn’t know if I’d be able to support both of them.

I sat down at the living room table drawing their attention. 

“Toga, it’s nice to meet you, I'm Midoriya Izuku, but just call me Izuku.” I said, smiling kindly at her, watching the way she blushed and nodded, looking a bit uncomfortable at my intent stare and uncanny appearance- but also strangely entranced. 

“Thanks for giving me a chance, I don’t believe someone as kind as you is really a hero student. You definitely don’t look like one.” She commented, resting her head in her palms as she pulled her legs up to her chest.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. But what do you mean someone as nice as me could be a hero student? You know what heroes are right? They’re kinda supposed to be nice, and like, save people for their job.” I frowned. Obviously not all heroes were good, but she seemed to think they were all awful.

“Well yeah, that's because they’re all awful.” She answered my thoughts, scoffing and shaking her head.

“Hero’s like to pretend like they’re the good guys, but good guys wouldn’t have let my parents do everything that they did to me. I went to them countless times, begging for help but they all either ridiculed me or ignored me. Just because of some ‘villainous quirk’. As if they’re perfect.” She said coldly, looking at the table with a distant and angry glint.

I watched her silently, so she had a villainous quirk too. It couldn’t have been easy growing up. She sat silently for a second more before sighing and speaking softly.

“Normally, I wouldn’t trust you, or really even try to get you guys to let me stay here. But it’s harder everyday out there and something about you makes me trust you. Maybe it’s because you look so different from what I’ve learned not to trust. 

Something about you makes me feel like you know what it’s like to be stepped on for nothing but how you were born. I trust you because of that, I guess I should probably try to get the same trust in return though, if I want to stay here.” She laughed softly, smirking to herself.

I sighed and ran my hand over my face as I considered what to do.

“Toga… I understand you’ve probably had a really hard time before now… but I don’t know if we can let you stay here- I really would like to but they’re are other factors in play here. I don’t know you. You could be far more dangerous than I can risk, I barely have enough resources to support me and Toya. If you were to stay here, you would have to promise to stop all your criminal or villainous behaviors and be willing to help us.

You're right that not all heroes are good, but not all heroes are bad. And even if all that was fine, how would I know if you even have the abilities to help us? You're a middle school student aren’t you?” I explained, the whole conversation was making me feel tired and old. Like a parent having to consider the logistics of an action before acting impulsively.

“I could start bringing in some money to help support us. Wouldn’t be hard, just haven’t really needed to before.” Toya shrugged.

“Even though she’s annoying and weird, I think she could be helpful towards taking down endeavor, and she’s got some tricks up her sleeve too. She nacked my wallet off me earlier in less than a second without me even noticing a thing and I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg. You gave me a chance Izuku, what’s one more?” 

I looked at Toya sternly, what he said was fair, but… finding the trust to trust wasn’t coming easily. I rested my hand over my mouth and stared out the window. What would I have given to get even a moment of acknowledgment from someone back in middle school? To be accepted and wanted. To have somewhere safe? Was I thinking too hard about this? Was it really that dangerous to trust her? She looked like the most innocent girl in the world, but her sharp canines and piercing cat eyes spoke other wise- 

I was such a hypocrite to be judging on appearances. If I want to make the world a better place that accepts people's flaws and differences, I’d have to take the first step and trust.

“What’s your quirk, what’s your story?” I asked, a last ditch attempt at changing my mind.

Toga looked up at Toya gratefully for his support and bit her lip, a slimmer of hope still held her eyes to mine.

“My quirk is called Transform. I can physically shapeshift into someone after I consume their blood. I dropped out of school six months ago. After my parents stopped letting me leave the house because they were afraid of what I would do, I ran away to live on the streets. 

I've been getting stronger though, I keep improving my skills and my quirk too! I… know I’ve done some really bad things but never out of bloodlust, I just want a world that will let me live my normal. I guess I understand your thing about heroes, but I don't trust their judgment on justice. 

I want the world to accept me, I don’t want to be evil, but that’s how everyone sees me, even though I only have love for other people. But they just love differently than I do.” She said, looking away in embarrassment from being so vulnerable. 

I felt a pain in my chest at how much I could relate to her. 

“Alright, Toya, go get a job. Toga, your going to need to make a bed of some sort, or you can sleep on the couch. We’ll have more food for you soon.” I said, smiling softly at the girl's grateful smile.

Toya choked on the water he was sipping on and stared at me.

“What? Why do I have to get a job?!” He complained.

“Because you just said you’d bring in money to help and I banned criminal activity the moment I let you in so a job is the only other option and you're the only one here old enough to. And with Toga's help we won’t have to spend all day tracking endeavor. You brought her in so you can help support her. The money you earn will go to you and her, I won’t need any.” I said, standing up and grabbing my bag beside me. 

“Now that we’ve got this figured out, i'm going out.” 

Toya raised a brow at me.

“Out where? You just got back from school and it’s going to be dark soon. And with the damage you have you should be resting.”

“I'm going to patrol. Good practice for school and might give us some leverage on the endeavor case. I’ll get a close up on his agency.” I pulled a hood over my head and slung the backpack over my shoulders.

Yoya looked at me with a unreadable expression but didn’t comment further. Toga waved me goodby as I left.

Once on the street I stuck to the alleys as I made my way to the area I knew endeavors agency was. Thinking about the fire hero engintied a feeling that embers had been smoldering in me since I discovered what he’d done.

I was going to avenge my mom, if it was the last thing I did. It didn’t matter how, when or what it took. I’d burn him to death if it’s what it came to. Being a hero was second to taking him down. 

With the flames at full rage and the setting sun casting the city into its dark night, I lept to the roofs. Using my arms to swing between buildings I kept my eyes on the tall building with red lights beaming up the building. 

Chapter Text

Enji exhaled sharply, eyes sweeping the mess of papers strewn across his desk. Reports, patrol logs, requests- none of which he had the patients for. He should have been patrolling, or better yet, at home. Shoto had started school that morning and he still hadn’t heard a word of how it went- how he had performed. His son, his project. His prized possession that would succeed where he had failed. 

He pushed away from the desk, irritation prickling beneath his skin. The receptionist could sort this out; thats what she was paid for. But as he strode towards the door, a sudden chill ripped up his spine like a cold and deliberate hand pressing against his neck. 

The hum of the office became unnaturally still, the buzzing of the ac, the buzz of the lights, even the distant noise of traffic ceased. A heavy and unnatural silence settled over the office. Enji froze mid-step, instincts flaring.

He turned towards the windows. The city beyond was darker than it should’ve been. The overhead lights flickered once.. than twice.. and for the first time in years, the seasoned hero felt something close to dread curl in his chest.

“Someone has to fix these worthless lights.” He muttered, irritation biting through his voice. It was just exhaustion, he decided. Long day, too many meetings and nagging trivial problems. Nothing more.

But as he stepped into the hall, the office door slammed shut behind him with a violent crack that echoed through the empty corridor sending a breeze against him from the force. 

Enji spun around, fire instinctively igniting along his shoulders.

“Whose there!?” His voice thundered through the silence- only met with silence. Enji shoved the office door open, scanning for an intruder. No co-worker or pranks. Just stillness.

He huffed and turned back into the hallway. Just a draft he told himself. It must’ve been a draft.

Turning back towards the hall, the most ion-sensor lights flickered to life as he moved. One light- two- then nothing. The third light leading toward the elevator stayed dark. 

“What’s wrong with this dam building?” He growled, waving an arm to trigger the sensor. Nothing. Behind him the lights began to clock off- one by one- plunging him into darkness.

He clenched his jaw, flames flaring brighter as he stomped toward the elevator. The button glowed red beneath his palm when he hit it, hard enough to dent the casing. He crossed his arms, tapping his foot, the heat from his. Doy fighting off the unnatural cold settling on the building floor. 

The dread wouldn’t leave him, it clung like smoke in his lungs. But the agency was always quiet at this time of night…

His gaze drifted back to the dark hallway. Empty. But his instincts screamed otherwise.

“The lights, a draft, and now the damn ac?” He grumbled, forcing a scoff as he pulled out his phone- anything to ignore the urge to look again, to check the shadows looming behind his back. 

The elevator dinged, the repetitive sound filling the stifling quite. One, twice, ten. It was only when the elevator dinged for a 13th time and still didn’t open for him, that he frowned. He had been waiting for too long. 

“Don't tell me the elevators are broken too!” He barked, slamming his boot into the metal doors. The sound should’ve echoed- but it didn’t. The clang was smothered in the air, swallowed by the silence pressing in on every side.

But the elevator kept dinging. The dinging- climbing floors over and over, then faster, raising- in pitch and speed until the steady chime warped into a shrill, continuous ring that screeched from the speaker.

 It all stopped at once with a resounding silence. 

A heartbeat later, the elevator doors creaked open, releasing a gust of cold, stale air. Enji frowned- and froze. There was no lift inside. Just a black yawning drop into nothing.

He stepped back, fire flickering along his skin, as a deep, metallic grind echoed up the shaft. The sound was climbing fast- closer and closer- bringing with it a humid, icy draft that brushed his face like a breath. Enji slammed the button to close the doors, watching the panels crawl together with a maddening slowness.

The grinding hit the top with a violent thud just as the doors sealed close.

His flames smoked furiously. Enough of this. He turned on his heel and stormed towards the stairwell.

The door opened to a pitch black. With a flick of the light switch the stairwell was brought with a weak orange flicker, dying every few seconds. 

“Perfect.” He muttered, voice low with annoyance. 

He descended the stairwell, boot echoing against the enclosing walls. The lights sputtered, timing themselves cruelly- dark whenever he stepped down, blinking back just long enough to show the next few stairs. By the third floor they barely lit at all.

Then, mid-step, the lights flickered back on. Two flight below, something crouched in the corner- a writhing, tar-dark shape clinging to the wall. 

Enji froze. 

The lights died again.

A sound like claws scraping against the concrete walls rushed towards him. 

He didn’t think, blindly reacting, flames erupted from his hands, roaring through the stairwell as he hurled a blast towards the noise. The darkness swallowed the light, then fell silent. 

When the orange light flickered on, only a scorch mark marred the wall. 

Enji dragged a hand through his hair, heart hammering. He quickly continued through the rest of the way. 

He reached the lobby, pulse still too fast. The receptionist- an older woman with lavender skin and smoke hair wrapped up into a loose bun- looked up from her desk, smiling faintly. 

“Hello endeavor. Long day?” 

He ignored the question and dropped a stack of papers onto her counter.

“File these. And call a technician. The lights are dead and the elevators broken.”

He turned to leave but the fire alarm blared overhead- shrill and sudden. His heart lurched in his chest. 

“For fucks sake what now!?” He snapped, yelling over the boring alarm. Leaning over the receptionist desk towards the monitors. 

The security feeds flashed, the hall lights strobing in erratic burst- but there was no fire anywhere.

The alarms weren’t supposed to trigger without real heat. Not unless something had burned through the walls themselves. 

It would have to be noticeable.

He sank into the couch, running a hand over his face. “Waste of time,”he muttered, trying to steady his breathing to regulate his erratic heart beat.

 He’d have to wait for the firemen to come and rule the fire as a fluke. 

In the corner of his eyes, the shadows seemed to shift- stretching, twitching- but every time he turned, there was nothing. The receptionist fidgeted with her glasses, hands trembling slightly. 

When the firefighters finally arrived they combed through the upper floors. One returning with something small and blackened. 

When the firemen came, they came back down with a burnt photo frame from his office.

“This was in your office,” the man said, holding out a burnt photo. “Guess it caught a spark.”

Enji frowned, taking it. The picture was burnt almost too charred to make out, edges curled to ash- but what remained froze him. A shot of his back talking to a police officer. The blurred outline of a ruined apartment behind him.

He’d never seen this photo before, but he recognized it. His hands tightened around the frame, the last fragment of the image showing the faint glint of his own hero insignia-standing before the building he had quietly paid to bury from the records. 

Someone knew.

On the drive home, he turned the photo over in his hand. It was only one photo picture- something the commission could easily silence if it leaked. But the thought lingered like the chill along his neck.

If they knew this… what else did they know?

_____________________________________

Returning home, I swung from the lamppost and landed on the roof with practiced skill, heading to the entrance I installed specifically for roof access- little to the landlord's knowledge. 

I had snagged a binder full of Endeavours reports- the ones he was desperately trying to hide. It would make a solid addition to our growing pile of evidence. We might get lucky enough to catch the commission's fingerprints on some of as well. But that could wait. I set the binder on the coffee table next to the laptop. First thing first: I needed to get ready for school tomorrow. 

In the living room, I glanced at the makeshift bedding Toga had cobbled together on the couch. Almost 3am, and she was out cold, a notebook of doodles fallen to the floor beside her, probably dropped mid yawn. 

I padded past her and peaked into the bedroom, catching Toya staring at his phone.

“What are you doing up? Don't you have to look for a job tomorrow?” I asked quietly, 

He titled the phone towards me. It was an ID: Sakuma Toma- his face slightly edited to fit the fake. 

“Makin a fake ID, can’t apply anywhere with the real one.” He huffed, working on his phone again.

I nodded thoughtfully.

“Thanks for doing this Toya- training me, tracking Endeavor, and just …not giving up.” I said, leaning against the door frame.

He paused, scoffing.

“Whatever. I'm not doing this just for you, you know. But yeah… your welcome I guess. How’d your ‘patrol’ go?” He said the last part with heavy air quotes.

“Good. Got a binder of some of his reports- mostly property damage, but other stuff too. We'll go over it later. For now, I’m off to hit the books.” 

Toya sat up straight, eyes wide. 

“Wait… you got a binder of reports?” 

“From his office. How else?” I shrugged, keeping a neutral expression.

“You broke into his agency?!” He whispered, his voice dripping in disbelief.

“Yep! Gave him a good scare too. It was awesome. Anyway, I'm out- see ya tommorrow!” I laughed softly watching hin half yell- half whisper at me in disbelief.

In the kitchen, I pulled my note book out, staring at a list of classmates- minus one, thanks to Mineta’s expulsion. Uraraka, maybe Jiro, maybe Momo… definite friends. The “maybe” pile was bigger, and the "don't like me” pile quite possibly the biggest? I wasn’t sure, my tendency to over think was more noticeable at a second glance.

I paused, realizing obsessively listing potential friends wasn’t exactly a be-friendable trait. With a sigh, I tossed it into the trash.

Still, a small warmth had been growing in me since the first day- a flicker of hope I hadn’t felt in a long time. It was different from anything else I had experienced, a welcome change from the depression and anger I’d been avoiding. 

As the sun rose, I put my notes away, dressed for school, and stepped outside, enjoying the mornings cool air. Dusk had always been a favorite of mine- the lingering scent of moms coffee, the sounds of her getting ready- just the repetitive but comforting hustle… Maybe I’d have time for a quick stop at her favorite cafe before classes..

By the time I reached the classroom, it was almost empty, except for Ilda at his desk, buried a book. I waved, and he gave a small polite nod in return. I didn’t want to disturb him, so I slinked to my seat and began to scroll through hero news. One article caught my eye: grave robberies, suspicions of illegal research using stolen bodies. It was grim, sparse on details- mostly political speculation- but enough to make me frown. 

Slowly, the class began filling up, louder than before but far more subdued than the chaos of the first day. Uraraka arrived soon after, her presence warm and optimistic as always. 

“How are you recovering, Midoriya?” She asked, pulling out a chair to sit beside me.

“Im doing much better, how are you?” I replied.

“Im good! It scared me so badly when you got hurt yesterday. How did you recover so fast?” 

Jiro had walked over, listening in, headphones dangling from one ear. 

“I'm curious too. What’s your quirk, exactly?” 

I hesitated, shrugging. “It’s… hard to explain. It’s called Nightmare. I don’t get hurt like normal. Pain doesn’t really affect me so there’s nothing to worry about now.” I mumbled out a vague explanation.

“Well it’s badass, don’t even worry about it!” A pink-haired girl said enthusiastically, leaning into the conversation as she took a snack Jiro offered the two. Confused but flattered, I smiled. She looked at my confusion and laughed.

“Mina Ashido!” She said, extending her hand.

“It’s nice to properly meet you, I’m-“

“I already know you.” She said, smiling wittily, not letting me finish my own introduction before she forcefully grabbed my hand and shook it.

 “Dude, you don’t know how many people are talking about you! Everyone's heard about the entrance exams and I swear somehow everyone knows you were blown up- AND SURVIVED!” She spoke animatedly.

Uraraka laughed at my bewildered expression as Mina continued.

“Woah! Your hand is like- negative zero. Are you good?” She pressed a hand against my forehead and shivered. 

“Bro you're freezing- you might actually not be okay.”

I blinked, overwhelmed, and cut in. 

“Dont you think I’m… like, a freak? A monster or something?”

“Huh? What!? No way! Are people calling you a freak? Tell me who- I’ll make them regret it. I hate bullies. But no, Mido’, you're cool. You’re underlyingly terrifying, maybe, but not a freak.” She said, Uraraka and Jiro nodded.

“Midoriya, being creepy is cool! You're kinda like Tommy Taffy! But like not in the bad way” Uraraka added sheepishly.

 “Tommy Taffy? Whose that?” Mina asked, intrigued.

“It’s a creepy pasta,” Jiro explained.

“But Midoriya’s not like Tommy Taffy- the only similarities are that they don’t die, and, uh, he looks kinda waxy. No offense, Midoriya.” Jiro added quickly, turning back into the explanation, telling Mina the story while Uraraka chimed in with little quips.

I shook my head as they talked, relieved the  attention had drifted away from me. I wasn’t used to this- friends, or even a friend group of this size. As I looked up and saw Momo approaching with another student behind her, I realized it was only getting bigger. 

“Hey, Momo! How’s your ankle?” I asked, glancing  at the small cast around it. She waved at the group, they’re conversation on which cryptid I was most like pausing momentarily to wave at her before they continued.

“It’s doing ok! Just a little sore today, thank you for asking!” She said with a warm smile as she sat at a nearby desk. 

“How about you? You're looking much better today,”

“Yeah dude, you looked mangled yesterday,” Kaminari chimed in, leaning against the wall beside her.

“Kaminari, right? And yeah, sorry about that.” I rubbed the back of my neck.

“I know it probably wasn’t pleasant to see…” 

He blinked, then chuckled, “Oh sorry haha, I never properly introduced myself- Denki Kaminari. I think we sat next to each other during the entrance exam orientation.” 

A pit formed in my stomach. That orientation. I suddenly remembered he’d been one of the people I disturbed with my demented muttering that day. As the temperature dropped and a mortified expression played on my eyes. If it was possible I would have gotten paler than I already was.

Kaminari noticed immediately. “It’s not a big deal! Seriously, I just thought it was funny.”

I groaned, pressing a hand to my face. “Sorry about that. It’s… kind of a bad habit.” 

He laughed. “No, it was great! Ilda was so insane. Standing in front of an entire auditorium to call you out like that. But, uh, I was kinda curious- how’d you make your voice sound doubled and ghostly like that? And why does it feel like and icebox whenever your around?” 

I paused, startled by how casually he had asked. No disgust, no fear- just curiosity. Uraraka and Mina were laughing behind us, exhaling little clouds of frosty breath, awed by the sudden temperature drop.  

A hesitant warmth built in my chest. 

“Yeah, I’m not sure the exact range, but  it’s about a foot around me. It’s a constant chill but has a tendency to get colder the more emotional I am.” I admitted sheepishly.

Momo perked up at that, immediately theorizing with Kaminari about the mechanics of my “cold factor.” I watched them chatter, my chest feeling tight, but light.

The class was nearly full now- Kirishima and Sero talking loudly with Bakugo, the rest scattered in groups or at their desk. Uraraka and Momo, who were closest to me, were visibly shivering, but smiling all the same. Despite the chill, the instinctual discomfort, and despite the unease that still lingered in my eyes, this didn't feel wrong. 

For once, it felt normal. 

They eventually drifted back to their seats as Aizawa sensei shuffled in, his hair the typical tangled curtain over his face.. 

“Class,” he said dully, “today we have a few things to go over. First, you’ll all need to choose a class president. I don’t care how you do it, as long as you have one by the end of the period. And try to do it quietly.” 

With that, zipped himself into his sleeping bag and lay down behind the podium.

The silence lasted about theee seconds before Ilda stood up and declared, “I volunteer as the class president.” 

Chaos erupted immediately.

“No way! Momo should totally be class president!”

“Hah. You extras- obviously I’m going to be the best hero, I’ll lead.”

“You're joking, right?”

Uraraka stepped up onto her desk, exasperated. “GUYS- let’s just do a vote!”

Everyone muttered agreement. Soon papers where being passed around, pencils scratching, a bowl set out for votes. 

Once they were all in, Uraraka began counting.

“Okay! One vote for Bakugo- did you vote for yourself?”

“Shut it extra!!”

 “Right… two for- oh! Two votes for me! four for Ilda, six for Momo, and… six for Midoriya!” 

I froze. What? My eyes darted to the board, then around the room. Who voted for me- and why?! I could guess Uraraka and Jiro, maybe Mina- the rest? 

“I think Momo should be president,” I said quickly, standing up. “And Ilda as vice president.” The thought of being responsible for decisions that could change the outlook of everyone in the class about me was stomach 

Ilda turned sharply, chopping his hand through the air. “Midoriya, you received more votes than I did. If we’re electing a vice president, you deserve the position.” 

A few classmates nodded in agreement.

“But-“ I began to protest, but Uraraka's cheerful announcement drowned out my defense.

“Then it’s settled! Mono will be our class president and Midoriya will be our vice president! Any objections?” She grinned, waving us up to the front.

I stood slowly, unsure whether to be proud or terrified. My fingers fidgeted, cold and brittle, but my eyes sparkled with a new warmth.

They actually wanted me here.

Bakugo's inevitable explosion of rage were lost beneath the classes cheers.

“Speech! Speech! Speech!” Mina chanted, joined by Kaminari, Kirishima, and Sero.

Momo bowed regally,

“Thank you for voting for me. I’ll do my best to be a reliable leader!” She turned to me expectantly, I frowned, awkwardly bowing in turn.

“Um.. I guess since you all voted, I’ll be vice president… um…” I trailed off, mentally spiraling, how did I get myself into this mess?

“Woohoo! Great speech!” Uraraka laughed and clapped loudly. I sighed and shuffled back to my seat, feeling as if I carried the weight of 18 students' eyes. My anxiety chilled the air, a few students shivering as I walked past- but most looked genuinely happy.

Aizawa sensei rose from his sleeping bag, as if he’d been awake the whole time. 

“You chose your class officers,” his voice voted but not unkind.

“They’ll be handing out your schedules and one other paper you’ll need for tomorrow.”

Passing the papers out, Aizawa continued,

“The paper is a rubric for your hero costume designs and provisional hero names. Bring them tomorrow, completed.” The bell rang, marking the end of the period.

 As I shuffled the papers into my bag, I glanced at the next class on the chart.

English with Present Mic.

Math with Ectoplasm.

Literature with Cementoss.

Lunch period.

Art with Midnight.

Heroics with-

I froze.

All Might.

Off all people.

What would he think, seeing the kid he’d told couldn’t be a hero sitting in his heroics class of all places?

Uraraka’s voice pulled me back to reality as we walked down the halls together.

“That was so a fun! Everyone’s so nice- I feel like I have so many friends already!” 

I smiled at her enthusiasm.

“You could say that again. You must be having the time of your life indoctrinating everyone into your cryptic cult.” 

She gasped dramatically. “It’s not a cult- yet. But now that I’ve got our oh-so-powerful vice president, recruitment should skyrocket.” Her grin was mischievous as she cackled.

“You voted for me as vice president just for the numbers?!” I feigned shock.

“Hey! You were first place in the entrance exam. Who else was I supposed to vote for?!” 

“It’s still betrayal.” I grumbled but her laughter made it impossible to sound serious.

By the time we reached English class, I’d forgotten my nerves- until Present Mic burst in like a nuclear bomb.

“HEYYYYYYY CLASSS!!!!” 

The next forty minutes were a blur of volume and verbal conjunctions. By the end I staggered out with a blinding headache and surprisingly detailed notes.

Math with Ectoplasm and literature with Cementosss were quieter- thankfully.

When lunch finally rolled around, I collapsed at the table surrounded by my new friends.

“They have to have sound proofed that classroom,” Kaminari said, shaking his head. “Otherwise there’s no way the other teacher wouldn’t have filed noise complaints.” 

“I think it’s charming!” Uraraka argued. “His ‘Hey’ is iconic! I listen to his podcast and there’s never a dull moment!” 

I laughed and did my best impression of Present Mic teaching class.

“OKAY CLASS!! Please turn to page 13 and fill out your notes!:)” 

My tone was perfect, boisterously pitched and rhymed spot-on. Expecting laughter, I froze when the table was dead silent. 

“Midoriya… what the heck.” Mina breathed, “how did you do that?”

“Uh, I just imitated him?”

“No,” Uraraka said, leaning in. “That was exactly his voice. Like, recording-level exact.”

 “Try another one,” Momo urged, “maybe…me?”

I hesitated, then gave it a shot. “I find this meal delightful.” I said, mimicking her calm, precise tone.

Kaminari nearly fell off his chair. “WHAT THE HECK, DUDE?!”

“That really is remarkable, it’s so uncanny. I don’t think I’d be able to tell the difference between you and momo if I couldn’t see you.” Jiro puffed.

Uraraka's eyes gleamed. “We have to try this.”

Ten minutes later, I found myself crouched behind Present Mic's classroom door, the drumming of my friends' hearts hammering in my chest, feeling as if they were ricocheting off the walls of my rib cage with a jittery excitement.

I inhaled, thought of Aizawa's monotone drawl, and said softly,

“Present Mic” 

The silence that followed was electric. Then, from inside-

“Shota? Aren’t you supposed to be in the teachers lounge?” 

Kaminari snorted into his palm.

I repeated, perfectly, “Present Mic.”

We barely had time to scatter before the door slid open. Present Mic stepped into the hall, scanning left and right until his eyes landed  on us.

“Excuse me, little listeners- was your Aizawa sensei out here looking for me?” He asked, still peering around suspiciously.

Momo was the picture of composure. “We haven’t seen him pass this hallway all lunch, sir,” she said, raising a polite hand to hide her grin.

I bit back my own laugh. Even while causing mischief, Momo managed to sound like royalty. 

We watched as Present Mic frowned, muttering about hearing things again, before heading back into his classroom.

The moment the door shut, our group huddled together, voices low but bursting with excitement.

“Midoriya, that's incredible.” Uraraka whispered, eyes sparkling. “It’s gotta be part of your quirk- no one can copy voices like that!” 

I couldn’t help the grin that split across my face. Their hearts thudded in rhythm- fast, light, and full of adrenaline. It filled me with energy as my eyes glowed a riveting green.

I’d have expected this sort of prank from Uraraka, Mina, or Kaminari but seeing Jiro and especially Momo swept up in it made me laugh quietly.

Momo brushed her hair behind her ear, her smile becoming strategic. “We should get back to the lunchroom before we actually do get in trouble.” 

“Into any trouble for what?” 

Aizawa's voice sliced through the air like a whip, standing behind us like a menacing shadow looming over the lot of us.

Uraraka jump a foot and we all snapped to attention, faces stuff with guilt. 

Momo cleared her throat, cheeks pink.

“I just got a message,” Aizawa said flatly, eyes narrowing. “Apparently, Present Mic heard me calling for him outside his door- while I was on the other side of campus- Anyone want to explain?” He asked, raising a tired eyebrow at us.

Aizawa POV __________________________________

The five students lined up in front of him, looking like culprits caught red handed.

They bonded quickly- something Aizawa had been quietly relieved about. Midoriya’s quirk had made isolation a real concern, but the kid had found his circle fast. Still, with this particular mix of personalities, chaos was inevitable. 

 If Hizashi hadn’t begged him to come all the way across campus to verify the voice himself, Aizawa wouldn’t have cared. But no- apparently a pro hero couldn’t handle a phantom call without dragging him across the building. 

He sighed, rubbing his temple. “Well?”

All eyes flicked to Midoriya. The boy had a complete blank expression. Entirely empty and devoid even a hint of him being conscious. His glowing eyes stared straight at him though. Huh.

“Um… we were quirk training?” he offered, the lie collapsing on itself half way out of his mouth.

Aizawa's patients was thinning, but before he could respond, Uraraka blurted, “Aizawa sensei, you won’t believe how good Midoriya is at copying voices! It’s like- exact! It sounded identical to you.”

That caught his attention. His brow lifted, skepticism overtaking irritation.

“Is that so? Midoriya, demonstrate.” Aizawa pressed, curiously indulging in the kid's eagerness.

The boy hesitated, then-

“YOO! Shota! What’s up!?”

Hizashi’s -exact- voice filled the hallways, perfect down to the inflection and rasp. Only the lack of a quirked volume stood as evidence it wasn’t really Hizashi.

From his classroom, the real Present Mic leaned out, eyes wide. Hearing his own voice echo from Midoriya’s mouth sent a shiver down his spine.

 Aizawa said nothing, just stared at the kid with a hard processing glare. Midoriya was rigid under the silence.

“Again.” Aizawa said, voice unteadable.

Midoriya swallowed. “Whose voice?”

“Mine.”

 The boy was thoughtful for a second- then spoke.

And Aizawa heard himself. Every tired note, every dry undertone- reflected back through Midoriya’s voice like a mirror.

“That’s…interesting,” he muttered at last. Unsettling-uncanny- if he were honest. From the moment he’d met the boy, he’d sensed that aura- something strange, something other. It’d never affected him to the extent it seemed to others, but it was undeniable. 

 “How long have you been able to do that? It’s not in your quirk registration.”