Izuku

"My intuition's been acting up." I inform Aizawa, sprawled out on the armchair in our living room.

"Any idea why?"

"No. It's being annoyingly vague." I complain. He gives me an odd look. "What? I'm not omniscient."

"Could have fooled me. You're impossible to surprise."

"Not impossible, just very hard to." I grumble, It's not like I want to know half the stuff I do. "Besides, it usually gets vague like this when it's not entirely sure what it's warning against. You can only predict free will and chance to a certain extent, all I know is something I probably won't enjoy is going to happen today."

"If you had to guess?"

"That's easy." I scoff, "Bakugou."

"I was worried you'd say that."

"I HAVE COME THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" All Might bellows, slamming open the door, and sliding through. My fellow classmates too caught up in their hero worship to appreciate just how weird that was.

"TODAY YOU WILL TAKE YOUR FIRST STEPS TO BECOMING A HERO! BATTLE TRAINING!"

He pushes a button on a remote and cases pop out of the wall. My classmates excitedly rush to grab their costume only paying the minimum amount of attention to All Might who watches on with amusement. It's a mad dash to the locker room where they are oohing and awing over each other's costume. Mine appears rather simple, a well tailored black suit with a cloak and bracers on my forearms and shins, if you didn't count the multitude of hidden weapons that is. I also had the tech department recreate the contacts and headphones Spanner had made to the best of their ability. The contacts aren't perfect, but they are still usable. I had considered going for something more flashy, but ultimately decided to stay with what I'm most familiar with.

Fastening the cloak around my shoulders I try to settle my nerves, I can't afford to react out of reflex. At this point only Shoto has any chance of keeping up with them, and even then only just. I could really hurt someone if I'm not careful.

Everyone is excitedly commenting on each other's costumes.

"Your costume is so cool!" One of the girls gushes

"Thanks I like yours too" I smile "Your Ochako Uraraka right?"

"Yeah" She beams at me. "It came out a bit tighter than I would have liked, but it's not that big a deal. Your name is Deku?"

My eyebrow twitches in annoyance. Seems like Bakugou's been busy. "No, that's an insult people used to call me. I'm Midoriya Izuku."

"Ah I'm so sorry!" She frantically apologizes, "I didn't mean to make fun of you."

"No worries, you didn't mean anything by it." I assure her.

"ARE WE ALL HERE? Everyone is looking good in their costumes! It's time to start battle training!"

"Sensei! Will we be going over basic maneuvers today?" Ida, who is decked out in full body armour, asks.

"The best way to learn is to experience it yourself, where do you think you are most likely to encounter a villain?"

"Outside?"

"Good answer, but not quite. Anyone else? What about you Young Midoriya?"

"You're more likely to find small-time villains or someone looking for their 15 minutes of fame on the street. For villains who are more dangerous or are working together in a group, you'll most likely find them inside. That's not to say you won't find a high level villain just walking around."

"Correct! So today we are going to do an indoor battle. You will be split up into teams of two, one will be designated as hero and the other villain. The villain will be guarding a bomb, while the heroes have a limited amount of time to disarm it."

"What are the victory conditions?" Yoarorazu questions. "And how will we determine teams?"

"You will be drawing lots to determine your teams and if you're the hero or villain."

"Is that the best way to do it?" Ida asks.

"You don't always get to choose who you work with." I sigh, thinking of how much easier life would be if I could just refuse to work with Endeavor. "You may hate the person, but you still have to be able to work with them."

"I see! I hadn't thought of that, my apologies!"

"As for victory conditions, for the villain team, you need to be able to protect the bomb for five minutes, for the heros, you need to either capture the villains using the capture tape I'll be distributing, or secure the bomb by touching it. Any questions?"

"GREAT! THEN LET'S DRAW TEAMS!"

"Look Midoriya-kun! we're on the same team!" Uraraka excitedly bounces next to me holding the A ball with both hands close to her chest.

"I look forward to working with you." I smile fondly.

"Now for our first match, THE HERO TEAM A AND THE VILLAIN TEAM D!"

I glance around looking for team D and my heart drops when I see them. Of course. Of course it would be Bakugou's group.

"Sensei, I don't think this is a good idea." Shoto says hesitantly.

"NONSENSE! It will be fine, I'll be sure to step in if things get too heated."

"But-"

"I have to do this Shoto." I whisper. He doesn't look very happy about it but doesn't protest anymore.

All Might sends Ida and Bakugou into the building and guides the rest of my classmates to the viewing platform with the instructions to begin when the timer starts and the layout of the building.

Knowing I'm going to-need to- face off against Bakugou, brings a stomach churning anxiety I haven't felt in a while. I know I need this. Even without my intuition's prodding, I know I can't leave the situation with Bakugou like this much longer. But need to and want to are two very different things.

And I can't tell if I'm lucky or not to have plentiful experience in doing things I never wanted to do.

So I shove that part of me that hates confrontations into a box in the back of my mind and resign myself to the situation.

"What's your quirk?"

"Zero Gravity, I can make things float."

"Mine is sky flames, fire, with a mental component."

"That's so cool!"

"Can you make yourself float?"

"I can, but it makes me sick."

"I see." I narrow my eyes in thought. "If we can, I'd like to avoid Bakugou. His explosions are not something to mess with are definitely not safe to go against inside. He's liable to bring the entire building down on our heads."

"Then what should we do?"

"Well I can tell you Ida is the one who will be guarding the weapon, Bakugou just doesn't have the patience. If we do come across him, he'll probably ignore you and focus on me, I can handle him if it comes to that so just continue without me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"TIME STARTS NOW!"

"Ida's on the top floor, Bakugou's on the second." I report, focusing my intuition. "If I can get us above the roof, can you help with the landing?"

"No problem. I might be a little queasy though."

"That's fine, I only need you to slow me down for a few seconds, I haven't flown carrying someone my size before so I want you to soften the landing just in case."

"I can do that."

"Get on and hold on tight." I crouch down, and she climbs on firmly wrapping her arms and legs around me. I build up flames in my palms and just before releasing them warn her. "Brace yourself and keep your mouth closed."

She lets out a startled squeak and tightens her grip as we rapidly accelerate high above the building. We start to fall towards the roof.

"Activate your quirk in 3...2...1...NOW." Thankfully she still has her wits and I weightlessly desenced the last few feet to the roof.

"You ok?" She slides off my back with a dazed look.

"Yeah… that was, I don't know what that was."

"Well you didn't scream, and we landed safely, so I think that went really well."

"Do you think they noticed."

"I don't think so." I head to the roof door, "Come on."

"It's locked."

"Not for long." I pull out a lock pick.

"How do you know how to pick a lock?"

"It's a handy skill to know." The door clicks "It's open now. I'll go first."

"Right."

We silently make our way down the stairs stopping just outside the room where Ida is guarding the bomb.

"Looks like he cleared the area of debri." I murmur

"What I'm I going to do then?"

I reach back and pull out a knife. "Here, use this as back up. I can take out this wall safely, it's not load bearing. The second I do go for the bomb, I'll keep Ida busy to the best of my ability. Bakugou's moved up to the fourth floor, so try to get to it before he gets here."

She nods.

"Ready? In 3…" I build up flames in my fist, as she braces herself "2...1!" I let my fist fly and shatter the wall into pieces.

Ida startles badly at the sudden intrusion. Uraraka sprints through the hole straight for the bomb, touching bits of rubble on her way. Ida recovers quickly and goes to stop her, but with a quick burst of flames I intercept him. He's just barely able to stop himself from running into me and change course.

He's faster than I am, but to turn, he has to pretty much stop. I'm able to keep up with him, using my intuition to predict where he'll go. So far he's been able to keep both of us from the bomb. Uraraka is just about to reach the bomb, when my intuition goes off. Assured that Ida will be fine with his armour, I tackle Uraraka to the ground and throw up a quick shield.

"Wait don't-" Ida yells as another wall explodes violently, large pieces of wall slamming into the barrier Bakugou making his entrance into the fight.

"DEKU!" He screams enraged.

"Go." I drop the shield." Be careful."

"You too."

"You really haven't changed," I sigh. "I hoped you would."

He attacks indiscriminately, I'm mostly successful in keeping him away from the other two.

"You were just laughing at me weren't you." He growls. "You had a quirk this whole time."

"I'm flattered you think so highly of my 4 year old self to be able to trick everyone, including my mother and several doctors. I didn't have one the entire time we were friends. By the time I did get it, I wanted nothing to do with you."

I maneuver myself behind him, when he turns to punch me again I sway out of the way looping the capture tape around his wrist and flip him onto the floor.

"Bakugou has been captured!"

"I don't owe you anything." I look down at him. "Quit acting like I do."

I distantly hear All Might screaming for Bakugou to stop at the same time my intuition blares in my mind. But, it's already too late to do anything, Bakugou has already pulled the pin. I can't dodge, If I do, Ida and Uraraka will be badly injured. I have just enough time to throw up a hasty shield in front of me to take the brunt of the attack.

It's not enough.

the explosion barrels right into me, my flames instinctively rising to protect my vitals. White overtakes my vision when I slam into the wall behind me and drop to the ground. Dazed, I sit there for a moment before everything tilts around me. I give into unconsciousness to the sound of someone screaming.

Am I dreaming? I wonder.

Because nothing makes sense, I don't know where I am or how I got here. The world is distorted around the edges, everything's splitting into double and back again, my eyes unable to focus on anything. I can't hear anything past the ringing in my ears drowning everything out.

"Iz-"

A flicker of movement catches my eye and I strain to focus on it. A person, or at least I think it is. They're getting closer, they've seen me, I know they have. They bend over me, applying pressure to my stomach. I recognize them, but for the life of me I can't remember their name. They're screaming now. Desperately. I can't understand it. I don't like it though, I can't recall their name or who they are, but they shouldn't look like they are about to cry. It doesn't suit them. sad dream. I think wistfully, completely ignorant to the fire raging around us or the shrapnel buried in my body. I let my eyes finally drift close and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I w

So, with herculean effort I reach up to touch his face, leaving streaks of stark red behind.

"Don't cry." I manage to choke out, a warm metallic taste filling my mouth. "Smile."

"-Ku!"

He manages a tearful smile and clutches my hand with an aching tenderness. A cold I hadn't noticed before starts to slip in, it's starting to get harder to keep my eyes open. He's screaming again. I give a self-deprecating smile. I wish I could remember his name.

"Izuku!"

The name finally rips me from the dream. No. The memory. Shakily I try to sit up, only to have someone gently push me back down. There's burning pain everywhere. The back of my head and my ribs intensely throbbing.

"Careful young Midoriya. You took quite the hit." It's All might, my hazy mind supplies. He's hovering above me keeping my head still. He's kind of blurry, and with the ringing in my ears it hurts my head to hear him speak.

"Wha-"

"You got caught up in Bakugou's explosion." Another voice comes from my other side. I try to look at him the best I can, red and white hair fade together.

"Shoto?"

"Yeah." He squeezes my hand. I didn't realize he was holding it, it's nice and warm though.

"-the hell were you thinking!" Huh. Weird, when did Recovery Girl get here? I groan in pain, why does she have to be so loud?

"Sorry dearie," She apologizes, diverting her attention to me when she hears me. "I'll have you fixed up in no time." She plants a gentle kiss on my cheek. The pain throughout my body starts to fade. I'm so tired. Maybe I can just rest my eyes for a second. Yeah… I think as I drift off. Just one second.