Hello, everyone! This is my first story in the My Hero Academia series, so I hope you enjoy!

As with another one of my stories, this will follow the series, which means it's going to follow the events in My Hero Academia with only a few or several differences. The first difference being that Tsuyu has known Izuku and Katsuki since they were kids.

I'm not very good at writing a lot, so don't really expect a ton of updates for the next maybe year or so. Or maybe expect a lot? Sometimes, I can't stop myself from writing and updating chapters.

I do not own My Hero Academia as it belongs to Kōhei Horikoshi and whomever else owns it.

"Come on, Midoriya, let's just go play heroes somewhere else."

The girl, Asui Tsuyu, tried to console the kneeling boy who had been teased and insulted by another group of boys. The boys laughed at the two as they played from afar. They were all children around the age of 4 and one of the games they all liked to do was to pretend they were heroes capturing bad guys.

The boy, Midoriya Izuku, had wanted to play a bit differently. He wanted a scenario where they would rescue others, however, it was an unpopular choice because it had little to no fighting involved, which caused him to be ostracized.

She was the only one who had wanted to join him, but now it was only the two of them.

"Sorry, Asui ..." Izuku sniffled, wiped his tears away, and stood up with her help, "Everyone ... kinda left. If you want to play with them, that's fine ..."

"No, I like your idea better." she smiled comfortingly at him, "I would rather help people than fight them."

Tsuyu didn't want to leave the boy by himself after being bullied. It already weighed on her conscious that she didn't stand up for him, but the least she could do was provide some company.

"Really?" the boy's expression brightened, "I'll let you be All Might then! What kind of thing are you saving me from?!"

They walked to a different part of the playground. Izuku was beaming with excitement, while Tsuyu was relieved that he had cheered up.

"It's alright. I'll be a different hero!"

"Eh?!" the boy shouted in shock, "Who wouldn't want to be All Might?!"

"I'll be Froppy!" she exclaimed, her cheeks slightly red from embarrassment.

"Froppy? I've never heard of that hero before!"

"That's because she's not a hero, yet. That's the hero name I came up with!" it was hard to present her desired hero persona, "It ... might sound a little weird-"

"It's not super awesome, like All Might," the boy murmured, getting a disappointed look from his companion, " but ... it's cute!" the first person to recognize her and her dream gave her an approving smile, "I think it's a good name, Asui!"

She had told a few other kids, as well as her family, but she could tell they didn't take her seriously. The kids had laughed at how silly the name was, and the adults passed it off as a phase that every kid goes through.

" ... Call me Tsuyu."

" ... Eh?"

"I'll call you Izuku, alright ... ?" she turned away, not being able to face the boy with flushed cheeks.

"A-Ah ... alright ..."

"Stay away from Deku, Asui!"

" … What are you talking about, Katsuki?"

The boy, Bakugou Katsuki, was confronting Tsuyu about her playing with the other boy. Katsuki was the leader of the little band of boys that had excluded Izuku from their group.

She and Izuku had been almost inseparable for several weeks, and the other boy seemed bothered by it.

"Deku's useless at everything. You should join my group from now on. Unlike him, you're useful."

"Who's Deku, Katsuki? I hope you're not talking about Izuku."

"He's Deku!" a few, minor explosions erupted from the boy's palms, "He's going to drag you down! If you stick with me, you'll become a great hero!"

"I hope you don't mean sidekick, Katsuki. I don't mind being used, but I've got my own dreams and goals." she didn't understand why he acted this way, but it was beginning to upset the young girl, "Also, stop calling Izuku "Deku". It's insulting."

"You're going to regret this, you idiot! You'll see how bad it is to stay with that useless Deku!" the boy shouted in frustration, explosions continually coming from his palms before he ran off. People that had been in the area were surprised when he ran by them, smoke coming from his hands.

Tsuyu sighed as she watched him leave the park area to go back home. There weren't any kids around that knew her, so she didn't really have a reason to stay.

She thought that Katsuki would have been a bit friendlier than this when he had invited her out today, but it was disappointing that he was being unreasonable.

Tsuyu was making her way home from the park when she spotted a bunch of kids gathering at the edge of the river. They were a year younger than her, old enough to begin walking, so they might have not known to play away from the river without supervision.

"Don't stand so close to the river!" calling out to them, she made her way to their spot, "It's dangerous if you fall in-"

Getting closer, she could see that her warning came too late. There was a kid struggling near the center, and there was someone else with him.

With the child was her friend, Izuku.

Tsuyu jumped into the water, and swimming towards the two, she was able to see underwater that the younger kid had gotten his foot trapped in some rocks and something that someone had thrown into the river.

It was a rather messy situation. The kid had somehow gotten wrapped up in the debris, which made it much harder to leave. Izuku must have tried to free him, but the water either hurt his eyes or he couldn't see how to get the boy out, and instead he focused on keeping the boy's head above the water.

With the help of her tongue, she was able to unravel the trash from the boy's legs, and Izuku managed to get him up onto land. The young girl couldn't leave the trash in the river, so she carried it out. Emerging from the water onto the river bank, she saw that it was the remains of a bicycle.

As she got out, the boys started thanking her profusely. Another kid arrived with what seemed like the child's mother, and Tsuyu was thanked by her as well.

The children and mother left, and the two kids were left alone. Tsuyu dried off her clothes as much as she could, but the water didn't bother her. It was a little cold, but since they lived nearby, she could deal with the elements for twenty minutes.

"Thanks again, Tsuyu!" Izuku bashfully rubbed his head as they walked home together, "I was really worried about them when they were playing so fast near the river. They were lucky you were around!"

"I didn't really do much. They were going to be okay since one of the kids went to get an adult, and that you were there."

"Ah .. no, I wasn't really needed ..."

She looked at his downtrodden expression and sighed.

"You helped. I had an advantage due to my Frog-Form."

"... I know. It's just that, I wonder what my quirk's going to be … and when I'll get it."

"Knowing your mom, it'll be pretty cool." Tsuyu smiled at her friend, who was calming down, "From what I've heard about your dad, you'll also have some sort of fire thing."

"Maybe ..." Izuku thought for a few seconds before wrapping something warm around her shoulders.

"Wha- this is?"

He had wrapped his jacket around her shoulders. Turning to him, she saw that he was facing away from her.

"I ... took my jacket off before I went into the water. I … I thought it might be a little cold out so-"

" ... Thanks, Izuku ..." the frog girl snuggled deeper into the jacket and leaned against him, stopping their walking pace.

"T-Tsuyu …?!"

"It's warm ..." Tsuyu could could feel his heartbeat through the jacket and their wet clothes, " Thanks for being here, Izuku. This helps a lot!" she happily croaked a few times, and each time she did so, Izuku would tense up.

"N-N-No p-p-pro pr-pro ..." not being able to speak, he decided to quit speaking, so as to not let her know he was embarrassed. His reaction was very amusing to Tsuyu as his body warmed her.

Looking around, Izuku finally realized that he and Tsuyu were standing still on the side of the road as people walked around and watched the two.

Tsuyu croaked, listening to his increasing heart rate.

"Thanks for walking me this far ..." whispering in his ear, she slowly left his side, "I'll return your jacket later, okay?"

Tsuyu stared at Izuku, who stood stock still with his face bright red, and croaked.

"Meet you after the weekend!"

"Hey, didja hear?! Midoriya's got no quirk!"

"He's so weird! How can anyone be quirkless?!"

"Kids! Please, behave yourselves!" the teachers for the school struggled to reign in the rambunctious kids as they ran by Tsuyu.

The girl was shocked, and searched for her friend.

He was sitting down, staring at a wall with bloodshot eyes while the other kids incessantly chattered next to him, as if he wasn't there.

Making her way to him, she was stopped by a group of kids.

"You hear that, Asui?" Katsuki told her with a grin, "Deku's the most useless one!"

Impatience flooded through her body as he continued to stand in her way, his cronies surrounding her.

"Not now, Katsuki!" the boy was blocking her way, and she couldn't see Izuku, "Something like that doesn't matter!"

"Why do you always hang out with him?!" by now, Katsuki was shouting and explosions from his uncontrolled quirk were starting to erupt, "What's so good about him anyway?! Do you like him or some-?!"

Throughout the room, a loud smack was heard, and Katsuki fell to the ground, staring at the girl who had hit him.

After that, the group of kids were put in different rooms to calm down. Eventually, when Tsuyu was able to leave, Izuku was already gone.

"Hold it, Asui."

Katsuki and his cronies had decided to wait to get revenge, until they were out of sight from the school. The group of kids around Katsuki had blocked off Tsuyu's path as they stood in a tiny alleyway in the residential zone.

"It's not fair that you get to hit me, so I'm going to hit you!"

"I'm not playing games with you, Katsuki! Leave me alone!" Tsuyu was close to hitting him again, but she needed to find Izuku.

"This isn't a game!" Katsuki glared at her while he clenched his fists, "You should have listened to me when I told you to stay away from Deku!"

"Don't call him that!" she extended her tongue, trying to hit him again, but he punched at it, letting off an explosion.

When her tongue was burned by the explosion, Tsuyu let out a short scream. She fell and withdrew her tongue to look at the burn while the other kids nervously backed off.

"H-Hey, Kachan, let's just go, alright?!"

"N-No!" the boy was sweating heavily, realizing what he had done, "She started this! This is her fault!"

The other kids stared at Tsuyu, who had a few tears streaming down her face from the pain.

"Come on, A-Asui!" Katsuki yelled at the kneeling girl, taking a few steps towards her, "Get up! W-We're fighting!"

"I don't like this!" one of the kids ran off.

"Hey, don't leave!" another kid followed, and soon, Katsuki was alone with Tsuyu.

"W-What the hell … ?! What a b-bunch of cowards!" the boy rose his fist towards Tsuyu, and she backed away as much as she could.

"Come on! Fight!" Katsuki was visibly panicking, sweat dripping off of him onto the ground, letting off tiny explosions. Tsuyu was starting to regain her composure, but knew that the boy wouldn't let her go so easily.

"I … I don't have time for you right now, Katsuki!" standing up, she glared at the other boy.

"You don't have a choice! I'm not going to let you leave until we settle this!"

He ran at her, his right fist cocked back as she ducked down. The explosion went off above her head as she moved past him, whacking him in shins with her tongue. The boy was able to withstand the attack, and grimacing, he backhanded her head, letting off another explosion.

Tsuyu fell, her ears ringing as her head hit the wall. Katsuki stood above the girl, panting while he glared at her.

"I win … Asui!" letting a triumphant grin form on his face, he knelt down to her, "Don't hang around Deku anymore, got it?! If you don't join my group, this is gonna happen aga-!"

"What the hell are you doing?!" one of his teachers had grabbed his ear, sharply yanking him away from Tsuyu, "Bakugou! You've gone too far this time!"

The frog girl took this chance to scamper off, leaving Katsuki to face the wrath of the school on his own while she could look for Izuku.

It had taken her some time, and some stumbling around, but she finally made it to Izuku's apartment. Knocking on the door, she wiped away some of the blood that had come from a cut in her mouth while she waited.

"Izuku?!" instead of her friend, it was his mother who answered the door.

"Sorry, Mrs. Midoriya."

"Tsuyu?! What happened to your face?!" Izuku's mother knelt down to the child, looking over her head at the scrapes and the black mark on the side of her head.

" … I got into a fight, but I'm alright. I wanted to see Izuku …"

"Ah … I'm sorry about that. My son hasn't come home yet," His mother took the girl's hands, "But if you would like, you can wait for him here and I'll help you clean up!"

Tsuyu paused, but nodded a second later and the two went into the apartment.

It was a clean sort of place, where All Might posters could be seen on some of the walls and pictures of Izuku's family as well as pictures of All Might littered the top of tables, but there were places where Izuku had settled down and worked in his notebooks.

Izuku's mother guided her to the dining table while she went to get a first aid kit. Paraphernalia of heroes other than All Might were scarce, and there were plenty of drawings lying around the table that weren't of All Might.

Taking a look at one of the pictures, it was a list of names that Izuku had come up with, but they were obviously inspired by All Might.

One of the pictures caught her interest. It had two characters on it, drawn as well as a four year old kid could draw, and one of them had "Froppy" printed above it. The other figure, however, was completely crossed out by someone in extreme distress.

"Here we go!" Smiling widely, Izuku's mother came back, a small white box in her hands, "Let's take a look at your head, Tsuyu!"

The girl sat still as the older woman took a look at her head, sometimes wincing as the lady gasped as she cleaned up the wounds. Izuku's mother's eyes were red, and the area around them was dark.

"I'm … I'm really glad that Izuku has a friend like you, Tsuyu …" a damp cotton swab was applied to her head, clearing up the soot, "It's … it's been a rough couple of days …"

"Is this about Izuku being quirkless?"

Izuku's mother gasped, although she continued to clean the girl's head and hair.

" … Yes. It's very … it's been difficult for Izuku and me these past couple of days. We only found out on Saturday about Izuku's … condition, and … and … !"

A choked sob surprised Tsuyu, and she saw that tears were falling down the mother's face.

"I … I'm sorry!" she tried to wipe her eyes with her wrists, due to holding the swabs in her hands, "I really am … ! It's just that … ! Even though Izuku … he really wanted to be a hero!"

"Mrs. Midoriya …" Tsuyu hesitantly touched the mother's shoulder.

"I … ! I couldn't tell him … !" The woman let her tears freely flow as she became smaller, seemingly becoming shorter than the little girl, "I couldn't even say … ! That he … ! That he could become … a hero!"

Tsuyu didn't even know how much pain her friend and his mother had been going through. Knowing the caring lady, she might have blamed herself for Izuku's situation.

" … It'll be alright, Mrs. Midoriya." The little girl slowly wrapped her arms around the woman's neck, although she had to stand on the tips of her toes.

Izuku's mother continued to cry, eventually accepting the hug from the girl.

The two stayed that way for some time.

"Are … are you sure you're going now? Izuku … he might show up soon …"

"It's alright, Mrs. Midoriya. I'll see him tomorrow at school."

"Ah, okay then … stay safe, Tsuyu!"

The little girl made her way home, going through a long and distant detour in an attempt to find her friend.

It was a few hours later, and the sun was about to set when she finally found Izuku.

He was being beaten by a furious Katsuki. The boy was on the ground and the other one was on top of him, hitting him repeatedly in the face, letting off explosions as he did so.

"It's all your fault, Deku …!" Katsuki grabbed Izuku's neck and hit him solidly in the head with his other hand, "D-Damn it! Shit! You … you shit muncher, Deku! Why can't anything go right-?!"

Something wrapped around Katsuki's neck, pulling his upper body away from the other boy, causing him to reach for whatever had started to choke him.

A powerful blow sent him flying to the side, but he was released from the mystery object. As he righted himself, he saw Tsuyu glaring at him.

"Gah … do you want to be beaten aga-?!"

Her tongue flew out at him again, and he tried to grab it, but it bent down towards his knees, wrapped around one of his shins, and she pulled. He fell backwards, but catching himself, he was going to send an explosion her way, until her foot collided with his head.

After he fell to the floor, she continued to stomp on his head, only stopping when he stopped flailing his arms.

She saw a little blood coming from his head, and she lifted his head up and checked if he was seriously hurt.

Even though there was a small cut on his head, it seemed he had lost conscience, which was good enough for her. She slowly set his head down, in a way where it wasn't uncomfortable and made her way to Izuku.

He was staring up into the sky listlessly and she frowned upon seeing his current condition.

" … It might be a little late in saying this, but here's your jacket …"

She had been wearing the jacket since she left the school. It had taken a hit from Katsuki, so it was a little burned and scuffed up from when she fell onto the ground.

Folding it as neatly as she could, Tsuyu knelt down and put the jacket on her lap, and set Izuku's head on top of it.

" … I'm sorry I wasn't able to find you, Izuku!" smiling, she looked down into his eyes, "I wish I found you sooner. I've wanted to talk to you."

" … I'm so sorry, Tsuyu …" she could see the tears starting to form in his eyes before they spilled like waterfalls onto her lap.

"W-What do you mean?" still trying to keep the smile on her face, Tsuyu struggled when she watched him continue, "You didn't do anything wrong!"

"I'm … I'm quirkless … !" sniffling, it didn't seem like he would stop, "Can you b-can you believe it?! I didn't eve-even think that was p-possible!"

"Some-Something like that doesn't matter … !" Izuku's tears were beginning to affect her, "Alright?! Everything will be fine-!"

"T-Then even without a quirk, can I b-be-?!"

Tsuyu knew what he was going to ask, yet, she wanted him to stop. She didn't want him to ask her, and she never wanted to answer a question like that. Desperately, she tried to force herself to ready a "yes!" for him, but her mind was going blank.

"-a hero … ?" he choked it out, and it was barely above a whisper.

The boy felt fragile on her legs. If she moved a muscle, it felt as if he would shatter into a million pieces. She didn't think her heart could take much more of this sort of stress.

Struggling, she tried to say the words she wanted him to hear. Something, or anything to make him feel good, or right again.

The sound that came out of her throat was half a hiccup and half a croak.

It wasn't what she wanted to do, and it certainly wasn't a word. She thought to herself that it was just one word, and all she had to do was say it.

That dreadful noise was the only thing that came out of her throat.

Repeatedly, that sound was the only thing that she could muster. Repeatedly, she tried to tell him "Yes! You can be a hero!".

But she couldn't. Crying, she leaned her head down into his chest and only cried.

" … It's not fair …" Izuku sobbed, and Tsuyu felt a part of him break.

" … I'll wait … !"

Izuku was startled when she shouted into his chest.

" I'll help you! I'll make you stronger! I'll do whatever it takes, so please … ! Please don't give up … !"

Grabbing his head softly, she pulled her head away from his chest so she could look him in the eyes.

"I … Froppy can't fight crimes alone, you know … ? And … and there's no one else she would want … b-but …"

Forcing a smile, she tried her best to save her friend. Lying wasn't her nature, and she didn't know what to say in this situation, but she didn't want to watch him fall and not do anything to stop it.

"I …" he sniffed loudly, but didn't turn away from her, even if her face was extremely close to his, "I … I want to be a hero … !"

The two tried to smile at each other, but it felt a little fake. If for only a little while, Tsuyu had given him a little hope for the future.

Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think!

It may or may not be romance heavy later on, but I don't think it'll reach a romantic relationship kind of thing. If it continues, that is. It might be obvious that I'm a heavy Izuku/Tsuyu, actually a Tsuyu/Izuku, kind of person, but this story is meant to focus more on Tsuyu than Izuku.