Midoriya Izuku was told that he couldn't be a hero by the hero of Japan, rushed into danger for no good reason to save someone who hated him, and got scolded and yelled at for it by both the Pro-Heroes and the person he tried to save.

He sighed, trudging through his house, and quickly found his room when he returned home. He shut the door and locked it after him. He couldn't bring himself to walk forward anymore. His knees buckled before his back met his wall and he slid to the ground.

Midoriya put his head in his hands, "Damn it…" He shook his head, tears welling up in his eyes, "How frustrating…"

"It's not bad to dream. But you also have to consider what's realistic."

As All-Might's words bounced around inside his head, "What's realistic, huh…?" He leaned back, and his head hit the wall. "Ow…"

There was a knock on his door and his mother's voice spoke, "Izuku?"

Midoriya blinked, rubbing his eyes, "Y-Yeah, mom?"

She asked, "Did you send in your high school application, yet?"

He got up from the ground, "N-No… Not yet."

She reminded him, "Well, be sure to send it in soon!"

He nodded to the door, "Y-Yeah… I will…"

His mom spoke once more, "Well, I'll get to work on dinner."

He nodded to the door… again, "Yeah, I'll be there soon."

Midoriya scratched the back of his head, "High school…" He reached into his bag and pulled out the application sheet, "I have to be realistic… right…?" His mind wandered as he grabbed a pencil and sat at his desk, "I just want to help people… I… I thought…" His hand moved on his own and his pencil made its marks as he thought absentmindedly, "I thought I could become a hero—no… I wanted to be a hero… Even if it was unrealistic…"

His mother's voice cut through his thoughts, "Izuku! Come help with dinner!"

He pushed away from his desk, standing, "O-Okay, mom!" He didn't look at the application—he didn't realize that he had, without thinking, written Yuuei High School for his application.

XXX

Their homeroom teacher brought Midoriya and Bakugo into the teacher's office to talk about applications, "Ah, you seem to have been allowed to test for Yuuei as well, Midoriya." The teacher held out the Yuuei card for the entrance exams for the courses at Yuuei.

Midoriya blinked at the card, "W-What?"

The teacher shrugged, "Yeah, I guess they'll even give Quirkless kids a chance."

Bakugo growled at Midoriya as he pinned him against the wall, "What the hell, Deku?!"

Midoriya raised his hands, "K-Kacchan, I-I…" All-Might's voice rung through my head, "-what's realistic…" He bit his tongue and struggled to say it, but it came out eventually, "I… I won't be applying for the Hero Course…"

Bakugo relaxed slightly, "What?"

Midoriya paused for a moment before speaking, "I'll be applying for the…" He thought for a moment, "-Support Course, I think… that way my notebooks wouldn't have been a waste of time…"

Bakugo sucked his teeth, "Tch…" He shook his head, "Fine… Just make sure you don't get in my way, Deku." He shoved off the wall with a small explosion from his palm.

Midoriya waited for Bakugo to walk off before he slowly slid to the ground. The explosion shook him to the core—way too close for comfort.

Once his heart had calmed, he thought to himself, "Support Course, huh…? I should probably do more research into that…" He got up, dusting off the dirt on his slacks before walking home, "At least, I'll be able to help someone with some gear, I guess…"

XXX

The next six months came and went in a blur. Midoriya had spent his time studying for the Support Course's entrance exam. The Support Course definitely involved some heavy-lifting, so Midoriya had begun a simple exercising regime to build muscle mass. He also, within those six months, studied everything he could about engineering and programming.

Midoriya was many things: Quirkless, useless, but something he was proud of was his title as a quick study. Learning coding was painful, and the burns he got from soldering were another type of painful. He bared it, and his mother was worried sick because of all of his new-found scars.

Midoriya trudged through the front gates of Yuuei High School. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, "I was way too nervous last night…"

A familiar voice growled, "Oi, Deku, what's wrong with you?"

Midoriya turned to meet the eyes of his old bully, "I-I… I just couldn't sleep last night. I've been having trouble sleeping lately." He didn't notice the fact that he and Bakugo walked alongside each other without any negative air between them for the first time in a very—very long time. "From what I understand, I have to make a useful piece of tech in some time limit." He shook his head, "But I don't know what could make… I have… I have too many ideas."

Bakugo rolled his eyes, "Just focus on what a Hero could use, you idiot. Stop overthinking it."

Midoriya nodded, yawning at the same time.

They walked into the school and towards a folded-out table with a seemingly normal lady acting as a receptionist. She smiled politely, "Which courses are you applying for?"

Bakugo nodded, "Hero."

Midoriya spoke, "S…" He trailed off for a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Support."

She gestured as she gave directions, "The Hero Course is off to the left and the Support Course is to the right and down that hall."

Midoriya bowed politely, "Thank you," as Bakugo just walked off.

They had walked ahead on their separate paths. Midoriya stopped before turning to Bakugo, "H-Hey, Kacchan?"

Bakugo turned, irritation on his tongue, "What?"

Midoriya smiled, "G-" He paused, "Saying 'Good luck' would just piss him off…" He, instead, raised his fist, beaming at his childhood friend, "Show them who you are, and make sure they don't forget it."

Bakugo turned away from his childhood victim, "Hmph…" He turned to Midoriya, the faintest of smirks on his lips, "Obviously."

For a while—a long while, that was the last time the childhood friends saw each other.

Midoriya walked into a large lecture room of some kind. He looked around, noticing a, surprisingly, small number of students spaced out across the students. He found a seat next with only a singular person nearby—she was out cold. Students slowly filed in, but not enough to fill the entire room.

Midoriya looked around as the doors to the room shut, "I guess not that many people wanted to join the Support Course…"

A short hero wearing yellow, mechanical gear on his head, "So, this is who we have?"

Midoriya's eyes glittered and blinked, "Power-Loader…! The Excavation Hero…!" He beamed, "Of course, Yuuei would be run by heroes…!" He let out, "W-Wow…"

The teacher nodded, "Yo, I'm Maijima Higari. If you make it into the Course, I'll be your main teacher." He scratched the back of his neck, "So, the principal wanted me to give you the standard written exam and then hit you with the practical." He grinned, "But, I don't want you guys to fail just cuz' you don't know which bubble to fill in, so…" What he said next changed the entire atmosphere of the room.

"-if you pass the practical exam in the top twenty—then I'll exempt the written."

XXX

The written exam was a blur, and, for the practical exam, the students were moved to a large workshop with more than enough stations for the students. Students rushed to their stations and quickly began to work and build. But not Midoriya.

He turned to the short teacher, "Um, Power-Loader?"

Maijima nodded, "Yeah, kid?"

Midoriya looked around, "Are we sharing this space with the other years?"

He shook his head, waving his hand, "Nah, there are separate workshops depending on their year." He pointed at an empty station, "Now, get to work! You have till sunset to finish!" He watched Midoriya rush off towards a station before shrugging, "If you need that time"

Power-Loader patrolled around the workshop, watching his possible students work. His eyes landed on a grey-haired student before walking up to the student and putting a hand on his shoulder, "Oi, kid."

The student turned, "Y-Yes?"

Power-Loader frowned, "Your station's a mess. It's dangerous for you and the rest of your classmates—fix it or I'll remove you."

The student looked panicked before quickly nodding, "Y-Yes, sir!"

Power-Loader turned and walked on, "A little bit of pressure is a good way to test their endurance… What makes or breaks a Support…? Grace under pressure… If they can't handle that, they should build themselves before they reapply…"

A student caught the teacher's eyes, spotting a student with pink hair and yellow eyes. She was at hard work with a welder, laughing manically. He could hear her beaming about her 'babies'. There was a sudden puff of smoke and she put her work aside for a moment before going back to work.

His eyes narrowed at her, "You seem like trouble…" He grinned, "A passionate student… How fun…"

Power-Loader turned and spotted a green-haired student. The student was still planning the device he was going to make. He was muttering to himself, but all of it was drowned out by the students' tools. The teacher watched the student plan and plan. He had even turned his attention away and made a full round about the workshop before student finally picked up a tool.

Power-Loader looked at the student once more, "Meticulously planning until every detail is just right… A good quality, overall… But everyone in Yuuei needs that ability to make spur-in-the-moment decisions… Eraserhead would probably say you don't have the potential to adapt…" The teacher turned away and walked away, "I'll wait… and we'll see…"

XXX

Midoriya looked over his creation one last time. Mostly everyone had left and turning in the gear they made. Power-Loader had graded the students bluntly and on the spot. The practical exam wasn't based on points but was pass or fail. His heart squeezed every time he heard a harsh and blunt fail.

Midoriya put his back to his creation, strapping himself into place around his arms and legs before buckling it with a belt across his chest. He slipped his fingers into metal-tipped armatures and flexing his fingers. He hit the center button of the chest-buckle and the exo-skeleton came to life. The exo-skeleton was bulky and not at all comfortable.

He thought to himself, "But does it work…?"

He turned and walked up to an abandoned sheet of metal. It was heavy when he used a sheet earlier, but now with his index finger and his thumb, he could pick it up easily. He looked around, spotting car that was used for scraps—all that was left was its frame.

He jogged over to it, "It should be around 156 kilograms…" He lowered his body, gripping its front bumper, "If I can lift it… Then I've truly done it…!" The exo-skeleton hissed and its internal machinery whirled.

Midoriya put all of his strength into lifting the car—all most forgetting the exo-skeleton's enhancement of his strength. He lifted the car easily, but the force he put behind his arms kept pushing it upward. The car frame went flying into the wall behind it—not only cracking the wall but crushing the frame into a pancake against the wall.

Midoriya blinked, "Ah…"

Power-Loader walked over to Midoriya as the frame fell back to the ground, "Oi-oi-oi-oi-oi…"

The student turned to him, "I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to…" He stopped apologizing when he saw the grin on Power-Loader's face.

Power-Loader walked up to the frame before putting his foot on it and turning to the student, "Kid?" He chuckled, "You're pretty amazing."

Midoriya's cheeks flushed as a goofy grin grew on his face, "R-Really?"

Power-Loader nodded, "That's some crazy strength in that thing." He crossed his arms, "How did you do it?"

Midoriya explained, "O-Oh, um, the joints, arm-braces, and leg-braces have hydraulic-based supports."

Power-Loader rubbed his chin, "High-power hydraulics, huh?" He chuckled once more, putting his hands on his lips, "Well done, kid. Pass"

Midoriya beamed before bowing before the teacher, "T-Thank you, Power-Loader!"

The Hero waved off the gesture, "Head home, but uh, leave the suit at your station." Midoriya raised a brow and Power-Loader smirked, "It'll be here when you get back."

The freckled student beamed once more, "Yes, sir!"

Midoriya left the workshop and Power-Loader took one last look at the pancaked frame, "This kid…" He chuckled, "Ah, man, a novice making something like this?" He shook his head, grinning, "Crazy."

X|X|X

AN: Howdy! I have returned after a long nonexistence! And I'm entering a community who has no idea who I am! Great start, right? So, I want to do this story right. I wanna do it well. I'm a few chapters ahead of this one, and I'd thought I'd introduce it before posting the rest. Now, this story will follow the U.S.J. Arc and the Sports Festival Arc very closely, but in between and after, we'll be free from constrictions of canon.

The conflict with All for One will be untouched in this story because I wouldn't want to approach that part of the story without the full picture, the actual story of the anime and manga finished. So, I'll eventually walk my own path with Rogue's Galleries for 1-A, and so on and so forth. So, just to ease stuff for later on. All for One was defeated by All-Might and this story contains an All-Might who is still dying and is looking for a successor still. Nomu and the League of Villains have a passing relationship with All for One which will be elaborated upon once we reach that point.

So, criticize away, leave all your thoughts and opinions in a review, and thank you for reading!