It was an accident.

One might even say it was the fault of the people Izuku grew up around. Their neighbours, the teachers and his former classmates. Surprisingly, this was the one thing that Kacchan never used against him, the one thing that was too far over the line that it was never crossed. Kacchan didn't bring Midoriya Inko into their fights. Nor did he let others in his hearing do so.

It started with the fact that Izuku didn't have a father.

There were no pictures in the house, he didn't remember any male persons existing in his life alongside his mother and there was no one he called, 'tou-san'. Midoriya Inoko was very obviously a single mother raising her Quirkless son. There was a reaction from Izuku's Quirkless status that affected her too. After all, what kind of man did she marry that produced a son such as hers? Was one of her parents Quirkless? Was her husband Quirkless?

Some gossiped that this 'Midoriya Hisashi' was simply made up. After all, Midoriya Inoko moved into the neighbourhood while she was still pregnant. For all they knew, 'Midoriya' had always been Inoko's maiden name. Granted, Bakugou Mitsuki said she was great friends with Inoko and knew she was married, but several people had mentioned that Mitsuki could be remembered saying she had never once met her friend's husband.

Everyone agreed that was suspicious. Everyone who cared.

Some simply dropped the subject and let sleeping dogs lie. It wasn't any of their business after all. Who cared if Midoriya Inoko was married or not? If her husband was dead or alive? What did it matter?

But there are always those people who must insert themselves into a situation they have no business being in. There are always those who delight in telling others of the misfortunes of others and if what they spread isn't the truth, who's to know? After all, that woman won't tell them anything. What are they supposed to think?

The rumors spread about Izuku's father, if he was Inoko's husband or not, if he was dead or alive, if he left them or she left him, if her son was the result of a youthful indiscretion, ect. Most had an opinion and weren't ashamed to share it.

Likewise, most were wise enough to keep their discussions away from the woman in question as Bakugou Katsuki clearly inherited his temper from his mother, even if hers was on a much longer fuse. Mitsuki wasn't afraid to verbally attack anyone she heard spreading tales about her friend either.

Izuku was fair game though. He never told his mother of the abuse he endured. Of what was said and what wasn't. There was no one to help, no one that cared enough besides his mother and Izuku didn't want to involve her in something that was his fault. Inoko suspected the bullying, with all the bruises and scrapes he had when he came home. His stained uniforms and torn notebooks, the way he looked for exits and escape routes when they left the house.

She did her best, but Izuku wouldn't tell her anything and eventually she learned to drop it. Still, Inoko made sure to hug him, to let him know that she loved him and would support him not matter what. Izuku always smiled up at her and returned the hug that usually accompanied such declarations of affection.

Sometimes she worried over the lack of a father in his life. The lack of friends and support from someone other than her. Her son didn't even have a father figure in his life to talk to.

In fact, the only male role model he looked up to was All Might. From what he saw of him on the television or on his computer screen. Far away and untouchable for her son.

Granted, there were other heros he loved and cheered for, but it was All Might who was Izuku's hero, All Might who would also be his hero, even if he never met him.

Izuku however, wasn't aware of an absence of something most everyone else had, beyond his non-existent Quirk.

It's fine now. Why? For I am here!

All Might was the hero who gave hope, the Symbol of Peace, the one who never gave up and never gave in. The hero who always smiled through all the chaos and destruction of villains and natural disasters. All Might was the hero Izuku aspired to be like.

When he was told he was worthless, useless, and knocked to the floor and kicked and beat down over and over again, it was All Might's smile in his head as he stood up and endured. When Kacchan told him to go take a leap of faith from the roof, when teachers ignored as students tore his homework up and poured drinks over his head and threw food on him, even through all of that, Izuku kept going.

He was going to be a hero.

Maybe.

He was Quirkless, after all. So there was always doubt in his heart, but he kept on until the day he could meet All Might. Until he could ask him that one question that burned in his mind.

Can I be a hero even though I'm Quirkless?

All Might says no.

Izuku is devastated. He accepts it though. Maybe. He hasn't decided, but All Might said no. He doesn't know what he's going to do, but there are tears in his eyes and it hurts. He accepts what All Might says because the reason why wasn't because Izuku was worthless, but because he was going to get hurt. All Might said no because he was afraid for Izuku's life.

The thought eases the pain, makes it bearable and he understands, he does. But- Well. He heads home thinking that'll be the end of it. He can make one final decision in the morning. He gives himself time to decide even though- even though the answer is on the tip of his tongue.

But then- then the Sludge Villain gets a hold of Kacchan because Izuku distracted All Might enough that he got free. The heroes are all standing around and watching. They do nothing. They're useless and hey, Izuku is Quirkless and useless too but-

But his feet move on their own and Izuku sprints towards Kacchan.

It shouldn't work, but it does. He almost dies again, by the same villain. The Pro-Heroes scream at him, call him stupid and reckless, ask if he wanted to die. He can hear them praising Kacchan just a few feet away, talking about his quirk and potential, asking him to apprentice under them when he goes to make it big.

It's infuriating. They were Pro-Heroes, and yet, he was the one that acted. He, the quirkless kid, was the only one that did anything, but they're yelling at him. Still...All Might had said he'd get hurt being a Pro without a quirk, and...well. Izuku may have acted, but his hands had done nothing to the sludge, sure enough.

Still…

He saves Kacchan and All Might saves both of them and then- and then-

All Might says yes.

The training is hard and that hurts too, but All Might is there and he chose Izuku and that means something.

All Might says he can do it so Izuku does.

He's so happy but there's always that shadow of doubt he can't get rid of but he's good at ignoring it. All Might is there and everything is okay and Izuku can do this.

He's going to be a hero and it doesn't matter what Kacchan calls him or tells him or what everyone else is saying because he's going to become a hero.

And he does.

He takes the U.A. Exam and there are robots and he doesn't get any points but he saved someone. He took out the no pointer and broke three out of four limbs, but he saved someone.

He gets accepted. Kacchan does too. They're in the same class. But Aizawa-sensei doesn't allow Kacchan to lay a single finger on him.

He makes friends. There's no one to stop him.

Uraraka Ochako.

Iida Tenya.

There's a Quirk Apprehension Test and- and he passes. He's not expelled. He breaks his finger and it hurts, but he's used to pain and he's going to be a hero. This is his chance and he's going to take it. He'll work hard to be a hero, to make his mentor proud, he declares and All Might smiles at him and agrees.

They go to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint to train for rescue missions with Thirteen-sensei and Aizawa-sensei but-

Villains attack. People get hurt. People he cares about almost die. His classmates. Aizawa-sensei. All Might. Things…

...things change.

He makes another friend. She says, call me Tsu-chan, Midori-chan.

He's so happy. Even if he dreams of his new friend crumbling to dust in front of his eyes. If he wakes with the taste of blood in his mouth and the screams of Noumu echoing in his ears.

It's the U.A. Sports Festival and Izuku comes in first on the obstacle course.

It's the U.A. Sports Festival and Izuku, Uraraka, Mei and Tokoyami finish in fourth in the human calvrary.

It's the U.A. Sports Festival and Todoroki-kun pulls him aside to talk to him.

They stand there in silence as Izuku stutters and tries to move things along because there's cold creeping up his spine. Also he's hungry and his stomach might growl at any second. When he speaks, Todoroki-kun asks a single question that leads to every thought fleeing from his mind.

"Are you All Might's illegitimate child?"

Izuku can feel all the emotion leave his expression in absolute shock for a solid five seconds before Todoroki-kun demands an answer. He can barely hear him though. The fear comes first because his connection to All Might is a secret that he cannot tell. The anger is not surprising because he can still hear the whispers ringing in his ears that he's never forgotten-

"Is Midoriya-san really married?"

"Is that Quirkless child just a result of a youthful indiscretion?"

"Did her husband leave them?"

"Was it the Quirkless boy's fault?

"Was she unfaithful?"

"My! An affair with a married man!"

One For All ignites and dies in an instant with the briefest crackle of green lightning and his eyes shine even against the glare of the sun. Izuku takes a single step forward and ignores the way Todoroki-kun stiffens and his hands spasm in a way that says he's reading him as a threat.

For once, Izuku doesn't care.

"I," Izuku says imagining All Might standing against Noumu even though he was injured, even though his time limit had already been reached, because he was protecting them, "am not," he takes another step and stares up into wide eyes of two different colors and says the next word perfectly calmly even with the edge in his voice, "illegitimate."

"My mother," Izuku says and ignores the way his voice almost wobbles, "married my father. Don't speak about what you don't know."

Silence falls and he's still staring at Todoroki-kun and- and- he relaxes. Izuku is almost startled but he takes a quick step away and averts his gaze, unclenching his fists and coughing at the dryness in his throat. He misses the look of understanding followed by acceptance, and the glint of envy that's in Todoroki's gaze. It's gone when he looks back, replaced by cold hard determination, and he is none the wiser.

"I won't demand you tell me your connection to All Might," Todoroki begins before he pauses for a moment to make sure Izuku is focused on him.

"Endeavor is my old man. You are aware that he's the number two hero. You are connected to the number one hero and thus I have even more reason to beat you."

Izuku is drawn in by what he's being told. About Endeavor's rise to his current position, his rivalry with All Might, but it isn't until Todoroki really begins to talk about himself that Izuku feels horror and anger, and honest fear because what world does Todoroki live in?

I am the product of a Quirk Marriage, Todoroki Shouto says.

My mother poured hot water over the left side of my face because I looked like my father, Todoroki Shouto says with a hand over the scar it caused.

My father beats me into the ground and calls it training and has done so since my Quirk manifested, Todoroki Shouto doesn't quite say, but Izuku hears anyway.

I despise my father to such an extent that I am willing to reject the fire side of my Quirk, Todoroki Shouto snarls in his explanation.

Izuku mentally removes Endeavor from his list of heroes. Izuku has battle plans already playing out in his head and he's put together a rough outline of how to fix this before he realizes that trauma doesn't just fade away even when the origin is removed.

This can't just stop at Endeavor. Which means there are others aware of Endeavor's crimes and they have done nothing. Todoroki is suffering and no one who notices cares enough to stop it.

Research is needed. Statistics and charts, diagrams, everything.

Izuku is only fourteen, a student, not even a pro-hero, he doesn't have enough resources, influence or evidence to do anything. He stares at Todoroki Shouto and silently asks, what can he do?

In my memories, my mother is always crying.

"No matter what you are to All Might, I will rise above you with just my right side," he says flatly and his voice dips lower as the intensity leaves his expression. "Sorry for wasting your time."

Izuku watches as Todoroki-kun walks away and doesn't know what he can do. What is there to say? What is he supposed to do to help? He doesn't know but he feet move on their own and before he realizes it, he's already calling out.

"I am here because of the people supporting me. Saving people with a fearless smile, the greatest hero- All Might. I want to be like him," he says quietly, staring at his hand before raising his gaze, "In order to do that, I need to be strong enough to become number one."

As Todoroki turns, Izuku's voice raises, gaining strength as he speaks.

"My motivation may seem trivial to yours, but I can't lose either. I have to live up to the hopes of those who have supported me."

His mother. All Might. Izuku thinks of them and there's something like understanding in Todoroki's hard gaze even as he pauses for a moment before forging ahead.

"The declaration of war you gave me- I'll return it. I'll beat you as well!"

Izuku stares resolutely with his fist clenched tightly in front of him and meets Todoroki's eyes, trying to project the determination he feels. He doesn't know if he succeeds, as his classmate simply turns away after a moment and continues his path. Izuku watches him letting the seconds tick past before he lets his fist drop and his brain kicks into high gear.

He pivots sharply on his heel and grits his teeth.

He needs to buy a new notebook. He needs to pull up every single video the internet has of Endeavor fighting. All his moves, his combat style, everything. He needs to pull up every single interview the man has ever given. He needs information and he's going to get it.

He doesn't notice as walks off, he doesn't notice as a shadow shifts in the darkness at the end of the tunnel. He doesn't hear the harsh exhale of breath nor the slam of flesh on concrete before there are footsteps that grow fainter by the second- Izuku doesn't notice.

But Bakugou Katsuki will never forget this moment as long as he lives. He won't forget the curl of something like regret and shame in his chest before he shoves it down. Deku has been lying, just not about what Katsuki thought he was.

They fight.

Izuku doesn't win. But he doesn't lose either.

No, Izuku feels a bit like he won anyway, because Todoroki used his fire and smiled while he did it. Izuku didn't come in first, but he helped someone who needed it, and isn't that really what Izuku has always wanted to do? It isn't fixed. Izuku knows it's not, and when Todoroki refuses to use his fire on Kacchan Izuku finds that thought proven true, but…

Todoroki was going to, before he stopped, had reached for his fire in a way he hadn't before. It's a step in the right direction, and Izuku is already making and discarding plans to deal with the Endeavor Problem.

It's not going to be an easy fix. Endeavor is ranked Number Two, and he has the pull and influence that comes with that, so proving anything is going to be difficult. The evidence will need to be ironclad for it to work. Undeniable. Especially since, as Izuku has already realized, there are people who know but are either not saying anything, or can't say anything.

(Izuku hates his mind sometimes, as he wonders if Endeavor was threatening family members of some of the people who are hiding what he's done to Todoroki. Perhaps it's not that they don't care, but that they've been shoved against a wall faced with a flaming fist-)

Izuku has never been this angry before.

He'd noticed that Endeavor was rather...intense in his interviews- the ones he remembered- had noticed that he was rather harsh, but Izuku had never, not for a moment, thought it was anything like this. He needed to get home and watch everything he could dig up with a notebook so he could write his observations down.

Perhaps he'd talk to All Might. He wouldn't bring up what he now knew Endeavor was doing from talking to Todoroki. Not yet, but perhaps All Might could help shed some light on the subject. Izuku needed more information before he brought everything up to an adult he trusted to do something. He knew All Might would, even right now, just on his word alone but…

Izuku knew, no matter how much he hated it, that the world needed Endeavor to be Number Two right now. The world needed him to be out fighting crime while All Might taught the next generation. While All Might was...in his current condition. Izuku had to have ironclad evidence for that reason. So he could bring it up, and have it dealt with quickly enough that a power vacuum wasn't created.

It would be good for the world if they could just...make Endeavor disappear. If everything could be done in such a way that it was dealt with and done before anyone knew to question.

Izuku clenched his fists.

That didn't mean he didn't want to United States of Smash Todoroki Enji to the moon- or maybe the sun? Surely his Fire Quirk didn't prevent him from burning all the same?

He couldn't of course. But he would settle for a mountain side.

If he had to.

The Stain incident only solidified Izuku's plans. It also required some changes to one or two.

Todoroki came to him when he called for help. He had nothing to go on but a location, and still he had come. And he'd saved Izuku and Iida both. Izuku had seen it then, the sort of hero Todoroki could be. He'd reached for both sides of his Quirk without hesitation and he'd stood well under the pressure of The Hero Killer. Even as Stain threw his old man into his face about exactly what kind of hero he was going to be- just like your father.

Without Todoroki-kun, Izuku isn't sure how facing Stain would have turned out (that's a lie, he knows perfectly well Stain would have killed Native, Iida and left him alive with that failure-). Endeavor will be by sometime to collect his son and at the moment, there is still nothing Izuku can do. Nothing Deku can do. He refuses to leave Todoroki with Endeavor forever, refuses to see that light, that drive, in Todoroki be tarnished. He will set this strait. Will have this dealt with.

"Todoroki-kun."

Shouto's head jerks up from Stain's still form.

"What, Midoriya?"

Izuku finds the energy to muster up a smile. Surprisingly he does and the next words out of his mouth are heavy with disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Todoroki-kun, but we're going to have to cross a couple plans off of the Kill Endeavor List," Deku says sadly.

Iida swings around from tending to Native's unconscious body, shock and disbelief painted across his face and unnoticed, Stain's eyes crack open. There's a moment of non-comprehension before Shouto's eyes widen and he stares blankly before the faintest edges of amusement lighten his features. His mouth tugs down into a concerned frown, but his eyes shine.

"Should- should I call the old man here? I mean, we're first year students. There's no way we could have brought him down by ourselves, right?. We could just..."

Todoroki's voice trails off as he gestures weakly towards Stain only to be interrupted as Iida lurches forward.

"You two! This is not the time nor the place for such- such jokes! I don't- Todoroki-kun?"

Iida is appalled as his gaze switches between his classmates entirely serious looking faces. There is concern on his own face because- what is this? Surely, surely this is some kind of- of bizarre coping technique? Why would Midoriya be going along with it? And Todoroki had never seemed like he would joke about something like this, so why-?

There's the unmistakable sound of rapidly approaching footsteps and everyone automatically shifts into defensive positions. There is tension in everyone's frames, but it soon eases as recognizable faces appear and Izuku inwardly sobs. He's so tired, he can feel his thoughts slipping and he doesn't want to think about what would have happened if his last plan had failed. He maybe loses track of time for an instant and the next thing he's vividly aware of is when the Noumu swoops down, grabs him and takes off into the sky.

He can hear the screams of his name, but he's already worn out, his thoughts are blank in his head and he doesn't know how he's going to get out of this-

There's a hand clutching the back of his costume and a swift drop before he's set down on the ground, limbs trembling and breath short.

It's Stain. He's speaking about fake heroes and the undeserving and a better world, but Izuku, no Deku is told-

"You, you are worth more alive."

Things progress to terrifying from then, as an unseen pressure slams down on all of them. It's suffocating and there's a phantom blade at his throat and he can barely breathe.

Stain falls silent though, slipping into unconsciousness while still standing and honestly, Izuku is not far behind.

Much later, when the injured are safely delivered to a hospital and their wounds are treated. Later, when the fires are put out and the clean up begins, later, a college student returns home and plugs in his phone to the computer to upload a video. The sheer number of hits is astonishing, but soon the new media picks it up and it's not long before hundreds of thousands of people watch as the Hero Killer saves the life of the boy who won eighth place in the recent U.A. Sport's Festival and declares him to be worthy…

...well then. People take notice.

North: Here we go again. In a completely different fandom. This was supposed to be a one-shot, but neither of us will stop at just one chapter. I do confess though...this time, it's my fault entirely. But I don't think I'll have to apologize for this. *smiles*

Wolf: No, not in this case. I love Boku no Hero okay. Intensely. I however, did not expect North to pull me away from Memories to rant at me. And yet, here we are. On that note: WHO IS AS EXCITED AS ME ABOUT SEASON THREE? (Edit: THE BOYS ARE DORKS AND I LOVE THEM GOOD LORD.)

North: AS EXCITED AS WE YOU MEAN. BECAUSE I AM CURRENT ON ALL THE MANGA AND I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS NEXT ARC TO BE ANIMATED. Anyway, there will be continuations of this chapter, in this timeline, but there will also be little AUs set in the universe. Like we have two different Stain Arcs planned.

Wolf: It's crazy and I love it.

North: What Wolfy said.