I do not own My Hero Academia or any of it's characters. This is a fanfiction. Pls don't sue me :)

CHAPTER 1

What It Takes to Be a Hero

Izuku Midoriya isn't quirkless. He's still a loner, still bullied, and still determined to become a hero who smiles.

"K-k-k-kacchan, stop! Y-you're hurting him!"

Izuku Midoriya was crying. That wasn't an uncommon sight to see for most of his classmates. He had a bit of a reputation for spilling tears at the slightest provocation. No, what was uncommon was that he wan't just sitting in a corner bawling his eyes out.

"Get out of the way, Deku."

Midoriya was standing, in a fighting position, between one of his fallen classmates and one of (if not the strongest) kindergartner in their school. Blue tears streamed down his face, a small ball of snot was slowly rearing its head from under his nose, and his legs were shaking like they were being constantly zapped with a tazer, but he was still standing. In Bakugo's way.

"W-why Kacchan! W-w-why are you d-doing this? H-he's hurt!" Deku sputtered out the words like a broken engine.

"This idiot told me his quirk was better than mine, Deku. I'm just trying to make him see how wrong he was." Bakugo smiled almost sadistically, a strange face to see on a prepubescent child.

"Now, I'm only gonna say this one more time, Deku. Get out. Of. My. Way."

Midoriya shuddered at the small snarl Bakugo had laced into his final few words, but stood his ground.

"N-n-n-n-no, K-k-k-kacchan! I-i w-w-won't let y-you hurt him!" Despite the tears and the stuttering, something in Midoriya's eyes seemed to solidify with his words.

Thankfully, all of his stuttering had given the fallen kid the chance to get up and run away. Bakugo just kept his eyes on Midoriya, staring him down.

"Fine. If you won't move, then DIE!"

Bakugo ran towards Midoriya, fingers popping and crackling with lights and flashes. Two of Bakugo's 'friends', who had stood behind him during the confrontation, followed his mark. As Midoriya lay down, feeling the hard toes of his classmates' shoes and the quick pangs of pain that came from Bakugo's hands, only one thought coursed through his mind.

'Away... need to...get away...home...'

Suddenly, Bakugo and his cronies ceased their assault. After hearing them take a few steps back, Midoriya slowly opened one hesitant eye. 'Green...' He thought, before everything slipped away.

Bakugo was pissed.

Scratch that, Bakugo was royally pissed.

Deku, of all people, Deku, had stood up to him. Looked down on him. Gotten in his way.

When he started kicking and punching him, burning him with his quirk, it felt good. Like the anger was somewhat alleviated. But he still felt something when he looked in the smaller kid's eyes just before he closed them. When he saw the fear in those emerald eyes. It was like a small weight in his stomach, something weighing him down and telling him to ease up a bit, just a bit. To hit less hard, to slow down his kicks. He hated it, so he just kept going, and going, and going, and-

"What the hell?"

Bakugo, fingers, and wings took slow steps back. Bakugo was wordless for once, but his friends didn't seem to notice. All they could focus on was the small greed cloud enveloping Deku. It whirled around him like he was the center of a storm. Bakugo swore he could see green sparks flying in the clouds, bright and vibrant. For a moment that seemed to last longer than possible, they stood frozen. Until Bakugo saw a single emerald eye open, pupil wide and dilated, staring right at him.

Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the cloud vanished. Along with Deku. All that was left was the imprint of his body in the sand and...his clothes?

"What the hell just happened?"

Inko Midoriya was having a fairly normal day.

She had just gotten home from her part-time job at a nearby convenience store, and was getting ready to head to her son's school to pick him up.

Although Izuku's father had moved out of country for work to support them both, and assured Inko repeatedly that she didn't need to work to provide for herself and Izuku, Inko waved it off and got a small job. She just didn't feel right, taking her husband's money without even helping to pay rent. It just didn't feel right to not help.

It was a normal, sunny day. She had taken the train home from work, picking up some groceries along the way, and even had a small phone call with her friend Mitsuki one the walk back into her apartment. After putting the groceries in the fridge (stacking a tub of butter, a slab of cheese, and a carton of milk like a total tetris pro), she turned to the kitchen counter to pick up her purse. Just as she was headed to the door, however, something caught her eye. Stopping in her tracks, she slowly turned around, unsure of what to expect from the small green cloud that had formed above the couch. What happened next was the least expected outcome in Inko's mind, and an event that would later become a story she would tell again and again at each and every family get-together and meeting, much to poor Izuku's dismay.

Inko's son, Izuku Midoriya, had suddenly appeared in the green cloud, several feet above their couch, naked as the day he was born. Izuku stayed in the air for what seemed like a full minute to the poor shocked mother, before dramatically crashing down into the couch, bouncing off said couch, and landing on the ground, rolling under the coffee table.

"IZUKU!"

Inko, never one to not overreact, immediately started crying and running over to her son. Noticing tears in his eyes, Inko began to fret in a way only a dotting mother could:

"Izuku, my baby, my sweet little baby boy, what happened? You fell out of the ceiling! Are you hurt? What was that? Are you okay? You don't have any broken bones, do you? That was a big fall! Was that someones quirk? Who do I need to talk to?"

Despite his mothers worried tone, Izuku only stared at the floor crying. Then he began to sob.

"I-Izuku? What's wrong?"

Inko gently placed her hands on her baby's cheeks and pulled his face up to look at her.

What she had mistaken for sobs, and for tears of sadness or pain, were deep and guttural laughs and tears of joy.

"M-m-mama... I-I think that... that... that I-I got m-my quirk!" Izuku choked out between happy sobs.

"Oh, Izuku!" Inko quickly followed suit, crying and hugging her son.

They stayed that way for a good five minutes, crying the way only Midoriyas truly could, until Izuku spoke up.

"Mama..."

"Yes honey?" Inko asked quietly.

"Where... Where are my clothes?"

If Izuku Midoriya could choose one word to describe the last few years of his life, it'd be: 'training'. If he could choose one more, it would be: 'obsessive'.

Ever since that fateful day he had gained his quirk, Midoriya worked hard to truly own it. To control it, and to keep his clothes on whenever he used it. Countless hours were spent 'blinking' (his preferred shorthand for teleporting) around his room until he managed to keep his pants on his legs, where they belonged. When that milestone was reached, he moved on to wearing his backpack and blinking, then wearing multiple shirts, then while holding several pencils in his hands, and so on. Midoriya, being the nerdy little sunshine child he was, began experimenting. Through his experimentation and training, he began to learn more and more about how his quirk worked, amassing a fairly large collection of notebooks filled to the brim with techniques and statistics about his quirk, along with possible future improvements and utilities for it.

Hero Notes for the Future! Vol. 1:

Name: Izuku Midoriya

Quirk: Blink

Quirk Type: Emitter, Warping

Allows the user to quickly teleport from place to place. The accuracy of any 'blink' is dependent on the users knowledge of the area they are attempting to reach, as well as a rough understanding of the required travel distance. Each 'blink' requires a short period of charging time to occur, said charging time growing proportionally with the distance traveled. The charging period is signified by the emission of a green gas and sparks around the users body, which are both quickly dispelled following the initiation of the performed 'blink'. The ability to 'blink' is dependent on the energy of the user, and successive 'blinks' will drain the users energy pool more quickly when performed successively with little-to-no break period. Successive 'blinks' can be more cost effective than longer 'blinks' based on the distance of said longer 'blink'.

Note 1: Quirk is extremely versatile and useful for various situations. Useful for situations as simple as grabbing objects and traveling distances, and as difficult as hostage situations and close combat.

Note 2: Quick bursts can be used to confuse opponent? Gas blinds, while blinks decrease opponents accuracy. Close combat? More info needed.

Note 3: Coffee, and likely most if not all other stimulants drugs similar to caffeine, has no effect on energy pool. It does, however, allow for easier recovery due to lessening the severity of exhaustion.

Note 4: Coffee works? Look into

Note 5: Caffeine still doesn't work. ?

Note 6: RAW SUGAR. Only helps slightly, but still interesting. Glucose? Glycogen? ATP? Look into.

Note 7: Raw sugar only helps up to a certain point. Helps with fatigue though. Also makes coffee taste better.

As he was walking to Aldera Middle School one morning, Midoriya caught himself once again thinking.

Hope I can find some good hero and villain fights to watch today! I heard on the news this morning that there were relatively few fights breaking out this week, which explains why I saw nothing yesterday, but I heard on the bus that that new hero Kamui Woods was spotted nearby! Wow, what I wouldn't give to see his Lacquered Chain Prison in action! Hero fights totally make these walks worth it, even though I could just blink to school. Speaking of which, I think my charging speed has increased again! It took a good half a second to charge for a ten meter jump last time I measured it, but I was from my room to my door in less than a third of a second! Thats more than twelve meters in a fraction of what it used to! Man, that stopwatch has really come in handy, even though using it accurately really tires out my fingers-

"Hey kid, can you keep it down a bit? I'm making an important phone call right now." An old business man inquired, obviously annoyed with how much muttering had managed to break through the various sounds of a bustling sidewalk.

"SORRY!" Midoriya yelled loudly, having been quickly pulled out of his thoughts, before immediately slapping his hands against his mouth, which itself was surrounded by the tomato-red skin of his own face. Thankfully, He wasn't the center of attention for long.

The lively flow of the sidewalk seemed to immediately freeze, as a huge man in a black vest suddenly appeared, having grown from the ground to an enormous height.

"Whoa, look at that!"

"That guy's huge!"

"What happened? Are there any heroes nearby?"

"Nah don't worry man, the police are saying he stole a purse and ran. He only grew when he got cornered."

"Aw man, a quirk like that and he's just a small-time purse snatcher? That's kinda lame."

All of this background noise passed through one of Midoriya's ears and out the other when he caught a glimpse of brown and deep blue on a nearby rooftop.

"HOLY WHOA, THATS KAMUI WOODS! He's a new hero on the scene, but he's quickly climbing the popularity charts at an unprecedented level! Oh man, his quirk 'Arbor' is so cool! It's so versatile in so many situations! His only weaknesses are flame based quirks, but when it comes to other quirks he's a really good matchup, especially for close range brawlers! I wonder what type of wood his attacks use? Is it a special wood only he can make, or is it similar to oak or ironwood? Wait, can he CHANGE the type of wood he uses? That would open up so many possibilities for search and rescue operatio-"

Midoriya's mutterings were drowned out by the crowd, only recorded by hand in his latest notebook volume, No. 14. His attention was turned from his endearingly nerdy hobby when Kamui Woods began yelling at the villain, having cornered him in an intersection.

"Wanted for petty theft and illegal quirk usage during rush hour traffic. You are truly the incarnation of evil! Special Move: Lacquered Chain Priso-"

"CANYON CANON!"

As Kamui Woods extended his woody appendages, a second giant body appeared, flying through the air. Kicking the villain square in the chest, knocking him out cold, the new hero slowly rose, giving a... detailed view of her tight costume.

Midoriya could stop traffic with that shade of red.

He quickly pulled himself out of his funk, opening his notebook to a new page to begin a new profile on this 'Mount Lady'.

Man, her quirk really is amazing. Increasing size and mass isn't a relatively rare quirk, but to that level? It might make rescue missions and operations in tight areas difficult to operate in, unless she has control over the size to which she grows? Man, that would be a total game changer for gigantification quirks. It definitely gives her the edge in combat situations, I'll give her that. She also has the looks and personality to become really popular with the media, alongside that flashy quirk! I should definitely keep an eye on her rankings.

"Geez kid, with all that muttering and notetaking, I think I know what you are!" An old man with kind eyes and star-like appendages growing out of his head smiled at Midoriya's enthusiasm.

"A fanboy!" At this, Midoriya's face turned a bright shade of vermilion.

"Wanna become a hero, dontcha kid? Well, I'll keep an eye out for your debut."

"T-thank you, sir!" Despite the redness, Midoriya couldn't help the smile growing on his face. That smile dissipated quickly when he realized the time.

"HOLY WHOA I'M GONNA BE LATE!"

The kind old man looked back to where that plain-looking kid had been standing earlier, only to see a strange faint puff of green smoke.

"So, now that you're in your last year of middle school, it's time for you all to really start thinking about what career path you want to take in high school."

The teacher paused for effect.

"But that all doesn't matter, I know you all want to get into the Hero course, right?" He exclaimed loudly and dramatically, throwing a stack of papers high into the air.

The class broke out in cheering and claps, students showing off their quirks left and right (including one kid who could stretch out his eyeballs for some reason? Why is he going into hero work?). Even Midoriya made a small show of blinking a few feet up above his desk and back into his chair.

"Now now, I know you all have impressive quirks, but remember that you cant use them in class." The teacher chided, half-heartedly.

A rough voice spoke out from the back of the classroom.

"Don't lump me in with this load of extras, teach. I'm the real deal. By the time I become the number one hero, all of these other nerds are gonna be stuck as a bunch of lame sidekicks!"

The class erupted in protest, but the teacher quickly silenced them.

"Bakugo Katsuki, you're planning on applying to the hero course at U.A., right?"

Silence.

Then, that silence was filled by murmurs and gossip.

"The number one hero school in the country?"

"All Might's alma mater?"

"Don't they have an acceptance rate of zero point zero one percent or something crazy?"

"Yeah man, its like impossible to get in!"

Bakugo struck a victorious smile, laying his head back into his hands and kicking his feet onto his desk.

"Oh yeah. Midoriya, you're applying to U.A. too?"

Silence.

But this time, that silence wasn't filled.

Midoriya gave a quick nod to the teacher, and he could almost feel the burning gaze boring holes into the back of his head from a certain back-row student.

Class had continued as normal after that, and before he knew it Midoriya was packing his bag and getting ready to leave.

But just as he was putting away his latest Hero Journal, disaster struck. A disaster named 'Bakugo'.

"The fuck is this? 'Hero Notes for the Future'? Volume thirteen?!" Bakugo cackled. "Man, you really are pathetic, aren't you, Deku? Taking notes on heroes and shit, that's so fucking creepy. Like a villain or something."

"K-k-k-kac-c-chan..." Midoriya began.

"Shut up. And stop calling me 'Kacchan', dumb ass. Listen." He began, staring Midoriya down. "I'm gonna be the first and only student from this dump school to get into U.A. Why? Because I'm the best. And the best can't be the best without making sure everyone else knows their place and stays there."

Midoriya nodded dumbly.

"Don't apply to U.A."

Gaping like a fish, Midoriya began to stutter like a broken wheel on asphalt.

"B-b-but K-ka- er, Bakugo, I- I'm not t-t-trying to c-c-challenge y-you or a-anything..." Midoriya visibly softened. "It's just..., it's always been my dream to go to U.A., it's the school that pumps out the best pro heroes."

"Did I stutter?" Bakugo interrupted. "N-n-no, you did." He mocked.

"Even though you'd never make it in with that weak-ass quirk of yours, I just wanna make sure there's no mishaps for... for the sake of my future. Got it?" He smiled, menacingly calm despite the audible anger in his voice.

"So quit the bullshit, stay away from U.A., and," His palms flared bright orange, burning up the outside cover of the notebook in his hands. "STAY OUT OF MY WAY."

With his last few words, Bakugo chucked the burnt notebook out of the open window next to Midoriya's desk, smirking when he turned back to find nothing in his way but a few wisps of green smoke.

"Ugh, good thing I got to it before it fell in that koi pond."

Midoriya inspected the blackened cover, frowning.

Thankfully the inside pages aren't damaged. Maybe I could get a different cover? Oh, maybe I could digitize these...? Nah, that'd make it harder to write stuff down on the fly...

Thinking as he walked, Midoriya pondered on whether or not to go through the application process to U.A.

Pro: I could, possibly, graduate from a school known for having tutored multiple top-tier pro's.

Con: Kacchan will kill me.

Pro: With a fresh start in U.A., I might actually have a chance of making friends before Kacchan drives them away.

Con: Kacchan will kill me and dance on my grave.

Pro: I'd be following in the footsteps of my Idol, the number one pro hero All Might!

Con: Kacchan will kill me, dance on my grave, and take a leak on my headstone.

He sighed heavily. He knew the right choice was the one he would go with, the one he knew he was going to go with since the day his quirk first manifested.

"No worries, it'll be fine! Just keep your head high, and smile and laugh like him! HA HA HA HA!"

Midoriya continued laughing in his slightly-too-high-pitched All Might impression as he walked his usual path home, through a small tunnel. He didn't notice the manhole cover in the middle of the road shifting until a wet sounding, guttural and creepy voice rang out in the dark.

"Ah, just what I needed! A medium sized flesh-suit! COME 'ERE, KID!"

The villain, made entirely of viscous slime save his yellow and red eyeballs, rushed towards Midoriya only to grab a hand(chunk? Slime?)-full of... green smoke?

The sentient blob only had but a moment to wonder where the hell that kid just went before another puff of smoke blinded him. Only this time, after the smoke cleared, he still found himself unable to see.

"WHAT THE-" The villain was cut off by the sound of Midoriya gagging behind him.

"Oh my god, is this what eyeballs are supposed to feel like? There's slime under my fingernails! Oh my god I'm gonna hurl!"

"YOU LITTLE PUNK!" The massive blob began to scream, rushing around to try and find the source of the icy pain burning in what used to be its eye sockets.

All Might was annoyed.

Well, more like slightly peeved.

One second he was picking up groceries in his 'small might' form, as Nezu had dubbed it, and the next second he found himself barreling down the city's sewer system in hot pursuit of what looked like a massive ball of phlegm given consciousness. When he finally tracked the villain down, however, he was surprised at what he saw: A small child, maybe a late middle schooler, holding what looked like two yellow-green baseballs, disappearing and reappearing in small puffs of smoke, dancing around the villain he had been chasing. After a moment of confusion, All Might shrugged and charged into action.

"DO NOT FEAR, CITIZEN! FOR I AM HERE!"

The villain, who All Might realized to be missing his eyeballs, hissed in terror and squirmed away from the sound of All Might's booming voice.

The kid, who All Might realized to be holding the villains eyeballs (yuck), looked in All Might's direction before promptly dropping the eyeballs and fainting.

"-ey kid! Hey, hey kid!"

"Five more minutes, All Might." Midoriya mumbled under his breath.

Then, his eyes shot open.

ALL MIGHT?!

"WHA- But, who? B-b-but... Wah?" Realizing his cheek was kinda sore from All Might's light slapping, Midoriya tried to stretch his mouth despite his shock and seemingly broken brain.

"Well geez, kid! You sure are a heavy sleeper!" All Might joked, his heroic voice seemingly rumbling the very Earth itself. "I almost thought we lost you for a second there! Of course we can't have that, after I caught you 'red handed', or should I say, 'red eyeballed'? HA HA HA HA!"

Shaking himself (mostly) out of his shocked state, Midoriya remembered how to breathe, stand, and speak all at the same time.

"A-a-all M-might... You're... w-wow... Wait, w-what happened? Where did you come from? Also, can you please sign my notebook?!"

"Well, kid, er- What's your name?"

"Izuku Midoriya." He answered before thinking, then mentally screaming because ALL MIGHT JUST ASKED FOR MY NAME HOLY WHOA-

"Well, young Midoriya, I was chasing this here villain,"All Might gestured to a few soda bottles (kinda?) secured in his green cargo pants. "when I came across you beating me to the punch! Dancing around him like a natural!"

Midoriya blushed harder than he had ever before, then having an absolute breakdown beCAUSE ALL MIGHT JUST COMPLIMENTED ME HOLY FU-

"When you- er, passed out, I managed to take the villain down with a single Detroit Smash! After that, I collected him up in these here bottles before making sure we didn't lose a little hero-in-the-making here! As for that signature you asked for, look in that notebook of yours!"

Midoriya, upon opening his notebook and nearly fainting a second time because of the giant signature spanning a whopping two pages, immediately began bowing and praising his idol. It was only due to the harsh vertical borderline hinge-like movement of his bowing that he didn't notice the small amount of steam escaping All Might like air escaping a balloon, or the small trickle of blood dripping from the corner of his idol's mouth.

"Well, young Midoriya, would you look at the time! I must be going now! Us Pro's have a busy schedule to keep up with! Stay safe now!"

In a flash, All Might was gone.

Wait.

ALL MIGHT WAS GONE.

NONONO! I had so much to ask him! About what Kacchan said! About U.A.!

Midoriya looked down at the small crater All Might had left in his wake.

If only I could get to him right now and ask him.

...

Wait.

Soaring through the sky was one of All Might's favorite things to do. He couldn't fly per say, but he sure as hell could jump. That feeling of weightlessness, the Earth leaving your feet, the wind bustling through your long blonde locks, the middle schooler holding onto your leg for dear life. All of it. Magnifice- Hold up.

How can it feel weightless if theres a middle schooler holding onto your leg for dear li- OH SHIT

"Hey, I love my fans but this is too much kid!"

"Imh sawhy awll mieght! Aih hadeh soh mush to afk yogh!" Midoriya attempted to respond, the wind pulling his face back and downward.

"Okay, okay! I'll try to find a nice rooftop for us to land on, kid. Hold on!"

Once they landed, All Might scolded the kid. You can't just teleport onto someones leg while they're flying, can you?

"B-but, A-all Might, I j-just need t-to a-ask you s-something." Midoriya spoke up.

Sighing, All Might inquired: "What do you need to know so badly, young Midoriya?"

As he spoke, he felt another trickle of blood find its way down the creases of his chin. The steam began to flow quicker.

Shit.

"Well, A-all Might," Midoriya started, staring down at the floor.

"Ever since I was a little kid, I've always wanted to be a pro hero. It's always been my dream, you see. From the moment I saw that video of you saving over a hundred people from that fire, I've always wanted to be a hero who saves people with a smile. Someone people can look to and feel... peace."

As he spoke, Midoriya failed to notice that his idol had become consumed by steam.

"I don't have many friends. Any, really. I get picked on, too. People tell me my quirk is bad, that it's only good for running away, that it's not the quirk of a hero. I guess... What I'm asking is..." Smiling at the ground, tears in his eyes, Midoriya began to look up.

"Can I be a hero like yo- AH!"

A skeleton. A literal skeleton. Blood pouring out of his mouth, eyes so gaunt you could barely make out their bright blue hue, and two blonde bangs laying flat against his forehead.

"Y-you're n-n-not All Might..." Midoriya stated, trembling in equal parts fear and shock.

"Don't worry kid. I can assure you, I am the real All Might." The skeleton spoke, wiping the blood off his chin.

And so, All Might told Young Midoriya of his wounds, his time limit, and his battle with All for One.

"Listen, kid, this is what the life of a hero is. Danger and pain are the challenges you face every day. If you think you can handle that, I'm sure you'll be a fine hero one day. From what I saw of that quirk of yours, you could easily make it one day. Just... remember that you're putting your life on the line."

Midoriya nodded slowly, thinking.

Good. If he wants to be a hero, he'll need to use that head of his.

"I'll be going now, kid. Gotta drop off this villain at the police station."

"T-thank you, All Might." Midoriya said. "For everything."

All Might smiled at the boy, and started down the stairwell.

It wasn't until he was halfway down that he noticed that his pockets were suspiciously lighter than they had been earlier.

Guilt. A-Fucking-Gain. Great.

You'd think Bakugo would've gotten used to it by now. With everything hes done to Deku. Laughing at him. Isolating him. Making his life a living hell.

Keeping people so far away from Deku that they started avoiding him too.

He's done so much, and yet he still calls him 'Kacchan'.

And the look in his eyes, when I burnt that stupid notebook...

What the hell is wrong with me?

Why am I so weak?

"F-FUCK!"

The clattering of the plastic bottle in the empty alleyway only made him realize how alone he was.

"F-uck." He whimpered.

He slumped against the wall, sliding down and laying his head against the cold bricks.

Fucking whimpering on the floor... like a fucking loser...

I am a fucking loser, aren't I?

A slimy voice cut the silence.

"What do we have here?"

As he walked home, Midoriya thought about what All Might had told him.

I knew that being a hero meant pain and sacrifice... I knew that, but...

Am I cut out for it?

Do I have what it takes to be a hero?

An explosion shocked him out of his thoughts.

What is it? A villain attack?

Midoriya rounded the corner, and saw a crowd of people surrounding what, from the large flames and loud explosions could tell him, seemed to be a villain attack. Out of the heroes there, he could spot Death Arms, Backdraft, and Kamui Woods.

Might as well go see it. Take some notes, I wonder how they're going to react to this attack? Kamui Woods is weak to fire, and I doubt Backdraft has the firepower to put out that kinda blaze. Maybe Death Arms could get in close, use his quirk? He's not exactly known for his speed so-

When he looked up from his notebook, a familiar shade of garbage green and a flash of red and yellow eyes caught his attention.

It's him!

Did All Might lose him? I thought he captured him! I saw the bottle he had, he showed it to me right before I- oh.

Oh no.

nononono I didn't meant to do this I-

What have I done?!

I must have dropped him In the air! Dammit, and right after making such a rookie mistake I lectured that kid on what it takes to be a hero? On being careful with his quirk? I was so preoccupied with my time limit that I let a villain slip right through my fingers! And now, people are getting hurt. Because of me. Number one hero? I can't even stop one villain.

Pathetic.

Midoriya was freaking out.

More than freaking out.

He felt pins and needles in his arms and legs, and his lungs never seemed to be full, no matter how many breaths he took. He felt like throwing up. He felt like running. He felt like blinking away. He overheard from the crowd that someone was being held hostage, and that only made his heart pound louder in his chest.

W-what have I done?

I did this.

I did this.

The hostage screamed, before they were muffled. The slime swirled and crawled, and it wasn't hard to tell that the hostage was being choked from the inside out. But when the slime moved from their head to their mouth, Midoriya caught a glimpse of a red eye and spiky blonde hair.

And suddenly he was on the road, staring down the hulking mass of sludge.

"Wha- Hey, it's you! That little brat who stole my eyes! Ha ha, what, here for round two?"

Without speaking, Midoriya disappeared in a cloud of green.

Where the hell is that little brat? Where'd he-"ARGH!"

Suddenly Midoriya's boot met the villains eye. While he screamed in pain, Midoriya clawed at the villains sludgy body, freeing Bakugo's face.

"D-Deku... What the hell are you d-doing?" Bakugo managed to ask before the slime covered his mouth.

"I'm sorry Kacchan, I couldn't just watch you die!"

Tears flooded his eyes as he pushed his arm through the muck.

"Grab my arm! Please! Bite my hand if you need to, just hold on! Please!"

The moment He felt something solid, with flesh and bones and fingernails, he began charging.

I've never moved a person before but... I need to try!

"Hold on! Hold on, and don't let go!"

He saw the slighted motion of Bakugo's head. A nod.

Then they were behind the crowd, away from the action, and their ears suddenly popped.

"DETROIT SMASH!"

After a lot of press, praise for their quirks, and a bit of scolding for Midoriya from the heroes, Bakugo and Midoriya managed to get away from the crowd and make their way home.

For what felt like hours, they walked in silence. Bakugo's eyes seemed glued to his shoes, and Midoriya shuffled along like a corpse given life. When they came to the intersection where their routes split, Bakugo stopped walking.

"Why, Deku?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you save me?"

"Why wouldn't I save you?"

"Don't give me that bullshit. You put yourself in danger because you saw me in pain. Why?"

"I... I don't know, Kacchan. My legs, they just... moved."

Midoriya stared at the pavement beneath his feet. Even then, he could hear the sound of teardrops hitting the ground. Slow at first, maybe once or twice every few seconds. Then they sped up.

"All the shit I've put you through, everything I've done to you... You had every reason to turn and run. You could've just 'blinked' away and would've never had to deal with my bullshit again..."

"Thank you, Deku."

Midoriya's gaze moved from the pavement, but he only saw the ending motions of a turn. He watched Bakugo walk away, with his slow, angry-sad walk, and wondered if he'd ever heard him say those words in all the years they had known each other. He began to walk down his route, only to have his hair pushed back by an unexpected shock wave.

"I AM HE-re."

All Might, appearing in his muscle form, immediately shrunk, spitting out a good bit of blood along with his words.

"A-all Might! W-why are you here? I-is it... is it because I caused the attack?"

"No, no. I'm not here for that Midoriya. It was my fault anyway, for letting that criminal slip through my fingers... well, pockets. But I am here to say..."

Midoriya tensed up at the silence.

"Thank you, young Midoriya. When I saw you jump into action, without any hesitation, I realized how much of a hypocrite I was. I preached to you about the dangers of being a hero, the cost it entailed, and yet I was unwilling to subject myself to those costs. I was scared. Scared of being hurt, of losing more of what I had already lost, and I attempted to justify it with an arbitrary time limit. You made me realize my faults. You saved that kid. You pushed me to act. Thank you."

Midoriya was prepared to cry when All Might had appeared, but for totally different reasons. Caught off guard, tears started flowing freely from his eyes and his knees hit the pavement of the road. He looked up, and saw his idol's smile.

"All the greatest heroes have had one thing in common, young Midoriya. In their youth, they had a moment. A moment where they didn't think. Where they let their heart think for them. Then they didn't think of consequences, and they didn't think of themselves. A moment where their body moved on its own."

"A-All Might..." Midoriya managed to choke out between happy sobs.

"Let me be frank. Young Midoriya, I believe you are worthy of being my successor. With work, I believe you have what it takes to be the next number one hero: the next symbol of peace!" He threw his arms out to emphasize his point. "Will you let me help you to do what I have done? To do it better? Do you accept?"

"I... I...Y-yes!" Now reduced to a sputtering mess of tears and erratic sobs laying on the ground, Midoriya managed to pull himself into a shape resembling a bow. "I-I'll do it!"

"Izuku Midoriya,"

"You are worthy of receiving my power!"

"... huh?"

AN: Yo! Just a quick note here. This is my first fanfic, so I know it's probably not that great (and a little bit messy), but I've just been going crazy sitting at home doing nothing. Sure, I have work, but since I only work part time, I still have a good 13-14 hrs of consciousness to spend by myself. Recently I've been reading lots of fanfics, so I just thought what the hell, ya know? Might as well try my hand at writing one.

Here are some answers to some questions you might have:

Q: How often are you going to write chapters?

A: Not sure. Every other day-ish? Probably more on weekends.

Q: What ships are gonna be in this fic?

A: Main ones are gonna be IzuOcha bc I'm a basic bitch and love my cinnamon rolls and KiriBaku bc I think they're cute together. Maybe some background ships like KamiJiro, IDK.

Q: What is the story gonna be like?

A: I think it's mainly gonna be like cannon, but with the added element of Deku using ofa and his own quirk in tandem. Also, I'm gonna make Uraraka confess to Deku way earlier than the manga or anime probably will, because I think they're cute and deserve to be together. Fight me.

Q: How long is the story gonna be?

A: Honestly, no idea. As long as my attention is on it, I guess. If I ever go inactive, or I just lose interest in this story, feel free to use the idea, or even just continue writing from the last point.

Q: Recommendations?

A: IzuOcha is my bread and butter, so I'd say anything by SevenRenny is great. Where Golden Flowers Bloom is a great story, and I can't wait for the whole thing to be uploaded. Green Tea Rescue by ss3dj is also a pretty good fic.

Allright! Well, that's all I have to say for now, so I guess... cya in the next chapter?