Izuku woke up on Monday feeling refreshed. He put on his uniform with enthusiasm and tied his tie with a smile. He finally found his comb, which had somehow gotten stuck in between his sheets, and combed out all the unruly knots, restoring his hair back to its usual bounce. He put on his shoes and ran out of his room, ready to start the day.

"Uraraka, Iida!" He called, waving to his friends as they stood by the sidewalk.

They waved back, giving him smiles as he ran towards them.

"Good morning, Midoriya!" Iida greeted.

"Good morning!" Izuku replied, falling into step with them as they walked.

"What are you doing today?" Uraraka asked.

"I'm going to do the same thing I've been doing for the past week." He said dejectedly, kicking a stone across the sidewalk.

He had told them about the research sessions with Mirio over the weekend. To say they were a little surprised would be an understatement.

"It's not that bad, is it?" Iida asked, concern taking over his features.

"Not really, but it just weighs me down when I can't find a scrap of information."

"I guess that makes sense." Uraraka replied.

They watched as a hero, who Izuku assumed had either just debuted or was currently debuting by the look of nervousness on their face, chased down a villain that had a large bag of money slung over their shoulder.

"Oh!" Izuku exclaimed, digging through his backpack. "I need to write down what their quirk is in my..."

He trailed off, remembering that he had torn apart his notebook. Why did he do that again? Now he had nothing to document the quirks he came across in.

"Midoriya? What's wrong?" Iida asked, seeing the slump in his shoulders.

"It's just that I kinda...wrecked my notebook." He replied sheepishly before sighing. "I don't have anything to take notes on quirks in anymore."

"Oh..." Uraraka whispered quietly.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Iida said as he adjusted his glasses.

They walked through the doors to U.A. and started down the hall that led to their classroom.

"Don't you have to go somewhere else?" Iida asked when Izuku continued to follow them.

"Yeah, I just need to do something."

"Okay then." Uraraka replied slowly, the suspicion in her voice palpable.

When they made it to the entrance of the classroom, Izuku stopped, taking a deep breath before stepping in. He almost forgot just how loud his classmates were. It didn't help that Bakugou was part of the class either.

He waved goodbye to Uraraka and Iida as he tried to discreetly make it over to Aizawa.

"Hey!" He heard Aoyama shout above the noise. "Look! It's Deku!"

The noise immediately ceased and Izuku felt all the attention turn to him. He turned around and smiled.

"Hi guys."

"Dekuuuu! I missed you!" Ashido cried, running up to give him a hug.

All the girls in his class did the same. With the exception of Momo. She just gave him a friendly handshake with a 'glad to see you're doing alright'.

"Where'd you go?" Someone, Izuku wasn't sure who, asked.

"Yeah, where the fuck did you disappear to, you damn nerd? And can we send you back?" Bakugou added, leaning forward on his desk as he narrowed his eyes at Izuku.

"Uh, I went—" He cut himself off.

He couldn't tell them where he went! Then they would ask why and he'd have to tell them he was quirkless and then they would ditc—

No they wouldn't! They were his friends! Well, most of them anyways. And he had to start believing in them more.

Izuku cleared his throat before answering.

"I lost my quirk, so I had—"

"Wait! You lost your quirk?" Kirishima gasped.

"Yes. I'm quirkless. So I've been working with Mirio this past week to see if there was a way to reverse it." He explained, before adding on more. "I really wasn't in the greatest state of mind that week, so I'm sorry if I was a jerk to you."

"Oh Deku!" Hagakure cooed. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that! You were never a jerk, either. We were mostly worried about you, right guys?"

The whole class gave murmurs of agreement. Izuku felt his heart swell.

"Well I wasn't worried at all! I thought it was quite nice to be free of his incessant murmuring for once!" Bakugou shouted.

"Don't listen to him." Kirishima whispered. "He was just as worried as the rest of us."

"No I wasn't!"

Izuku smiled. He shouldn't have been worried about telling them at all. Nothing changed. Nobody ditched him. The only one causing problems was himself for believing all the stuff his brain made up.

He was reminded why he came to the room in the first place when his gaze landed on Aizawa.

"Oh, Sensei!" He exclaimed. "I wanted to ask you something."

"And that is?" Came the raspy reply.

"Would it be alright if I transferred to support?"

He watched as Aizawa stilled. It had taken Izuku a while to decide that switching to support would be the best option for him. He'd still be able to see his friends and he would get to analyze quirks the whole day, which was what he was already doing anyways.

"You want to transfer?" Aizawa asked, turning around to face him.

"If it would be possible, yes." Izuku replied, rocking back on his heels as he waited for the reply.

"If that's what you want, sure."

He saw his classmates' shocked expressions and laughed.

"C'mon guys, I can't stay here without a quirk. Besides, I'll only be down the hallway."

He heard the bell ring and jumped. He had to go.

"Well, bye!" He said rushing out the door and off to room 223.

He had to go tell Mirio that he joined support and was going to stop coming to the...meetings? Izuku wasn't exactly sure what to call the time he spent with Mirio.

He arrived at the room to see the door shut. Huh. It was always open before.

"Mirio? Are you there?"

Izuku knocked on the door, surprised when it opened slowly. He poked his head inside. It was dark. Really dark. He flicked on the lights to see Mirio asleep on the ground.

Izuku made his way over to the older boy, careful not to step on any of the papers scattered on the floor. When he reached Mirio, he lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

He jolted awake, eyes droopy as he looked this way and that.

"Izuku? Is that you?" He asked sleepily.

"Yeah. Mirio, I'm right here." Izuku replied, eyes wide. "What were you doing on the ground?"

"I was tired, and I wanted to take a little nap."

Mirio stood up and stretched, yawning as he did so.

"Ready for another day of hard work?" He asked. "I'm sure we'll find something today."

Izuku looked down, threading his hands together.

"H-hey Mirio. Did you ever think that maybe we won't find anything? Maybe this is just a—"

"Don't finish that sentence."

Izuku looked up, shocked.

"W-what?"

"Let's just get started already! We don't have all day." Mirio said brightly as he sat down at the table, ready to sort through more paperwork. "Get over here!"

Izuku didn't like how Mirio was acting. It was strange, and he felt the need to put his guard up. He didn't want to. He wanted to trust the older boy. But he couldn't if he was acting like that.

Izuku slowly made his way to the chair next to Mirio, sitting down when he did. He let out a shaky breath as he grabbed a paper, his hands trembling.

"I honestly don't think we're going to find anything. I think it's time we stop and just wait for Eri..." He trailed off as he watched Mirio still.

"Mirio?"

"Don't you get it?" Came Mirio's soft reply.

"Get what?"

"If we give up, it's all over. It's the end."

What? What on earth was he talking about? They would just have to wait until Eri was ready. That was all.

"No it's no—"

"Yes, it is!" Mirio burst out, smacking his hand on the table. "I can't wait for Eri! I'm going to graduate soon! What's going to happen if I don't have my quirk by then?"

Izuku froze. So that was what was keeping Mirio going for so long. He was afraid of a future without his quirk. But what he was doing now wasn't going to help him.

Izuku glanced at him, taking note of the dark bags under his eyes. What he was doing now was hurting himself.

"I can't just give up! What else am I going to do?"

Mirio clenched his fists before grabbing a stack of paper.

"First Amajiki, now you!" He cried, pointing at him. "Both of you gave up so quickly! I can't be around you anymore!"

And with that, Mirio ran out of the room, leaving a trail of paper in his wake.

~o0o~

Nejire closed her eyes as she fantasied about lunch. She had made it through classes and was finally at the best part of the day. The part where you got to eat like there was no tomorrow. She bet that it was everybody's favorite time of day too. Well, maybe not that kid in 1-A with the glasses.

Her fantasies were cut short, however, when she saw Mirio run past her, loose papers flying out behind him. Her instincts told her to run after him, and that's exactly what she did.

Nejire had noticed something was off with Mirio a couple weeks back. She had questioned Amajiki about it, and he too had sensed something strange. But neither of them knew what to do. Amajiki had already tried to talking to Mirio, but he had ignored him. Nejire could only hope that he would listen to her.

She dashed after him, only stopping a few times when a stray paper would hit her in the face. When she finally caught up to him, she found him sitting on a bench outside, the stack of papers he had been carrying cast aside.

Nejire sat next to him. He didn't move or even acknowledge her presence. She watched him silently, waiting for him to say something.

"What are you doing here?" He finally said.

"I wanted to see if you were alright."

"I a—"

"Which you obviously are not." She cut him off, tired of his lies.

They weren't helping anyone. Especially not him.

Mirio sighed, his shoulders sagging.

"Are you here to tell me to give up too?"

"No. I'm here to tell you that you have to stop." Nejire paused for a moment. "There's a difference between giving up, and realizing when it has to end. This obsession isn't healthy."

Mirio stayed silent.

"Look at you!" She cried, throwing her hands out. "Your hair's all messed up, you can barely keep your eyes open, and where on earth did your tie go?"

Mirio hunched his shoulders at the sharpness of her voice. But Nejire didn't care. He needed a wake up call. And if that's what she had to do to wake him up, then so be it.

"You're not acting like the person I befriended all those years ago. I can barely recognize you! Both inside and out! The Mirio I know wouldn't let losing his quirk destroy his resolve to be a hero! He wouldn't be sitting here silently as I yell at him! Who are you? Because you surely aren't him." Nejire yelled at him, hoping to get a reaction.

"You don't know how it feels." Came the mumbled reply.

"What?"

"You don't know how it feels." He repeated louder.

Nejire blinked, taken aback. This wasn't the response she wanted.

"Well?" Mirio asked, glaring at her. "Do you know how it feels to get your quirk ripped away from you? Do you? You have no right to be telling me what I should be feeling!"

Nejire sucked in a breath, her cheeks puffing as she felt a spark of anger burn in her chest.

"Maybe I don't!" She shouted at him, clenching her fists. "But that doesn't give you the right to act like a jerk to me! Like I'm below you!"

Mirio's eyes widened, before a deep set darkness shown within them. Nejire saw his whole figure slump as he turned his face away from her. Did she go too far?

"I'm the one who's below you. I'm quirkless. You're not."

Nejire felt the rage inside her completely disappear as she processed what he said.

"No. Just because you're quirkless doesn't mean you matter any less than me." She replied softly, hoping to get through to him. "Why would you say that?"

Mirio stayed silent.

"Why would you say that!"

Nejire grabbed him roughly by the shoulders, forcing him to look at her.

"Because it's true. You can become a hero." He gulped, his mouth twitching into a small smile. "I'm glad you can. I can't. Do the best for the both of us, would you?"

Nejire felt the rage again, and before she could stop herself, she slapped Mirio on the face. Hard.

"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!" She cried, tears streaming down her face as she glared at Mirio. "You're lying! You wanted to be a hero the most out of all of us! Just because you're quirkless doesn't mean that you have to give up on that dream! You just have to find a healthy way to pursue it!"

Mirio stared at her, his hand cupping the cheek that she had slapped, which Nejire noticed had started turning red. She stared at her hand, her guilt taking over her anger.

"Ah...Mirio." She hung her head, hunching her shoulders. "I... shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."

She really did it now. There was no way that Mirio would listen to her now that she smacked him in the face. Their friendship was as good as dead. She shouldn't have done that. Why did she do that? Why, why, why—

"Don't be."

The response was soft and Nejire thought she had imagined it before she felt Mirio pat her on the head. She looked up, expecting to see the defeat that would be in Mirio's eyes.

But what she saw was much more different. He had the same glimmer of passion in his eyes that she remembered when she first met him.

"I've been a total idiot lately. I'm sorry."

"Yeah. You have been." Nejire replied with a small smile. "Though you should be telling that to Amajiki. He was worried sick! Like actually sick. Like, I'm gonna puke in the toilet every day kinda sick."

"You're absolutely right. I'll talk to him tonight." Mirio said with a smile of his own. "I wouldn't let something like losing my quirk stop me from becoming a hero! I didn't let my strange quirk stop me back then, and I won't stop now! I just need to change my path, that's all."

"There's the Mirio I know. Now, let's get to lunch. I won't forgive you if I miss it!"

"I know you won't."

Nejire pushed herself up from the bench and extended her hand towards Mirio. He smiled up at her and took it, and with that she yanked him towards the cafeteria, promising to get him an ice pack for his cheek.

Nejire paused for a second, turning around just in time to see the papers Mirio had carried to the bench fly away in the wind. She felt a small smile tug at her lips.

"Everything alright?" Mirio asked, noticing that she had stopped.

"No." She replied, turning back around to continue their walk to the cafeteria. "It's better than alright."

~o0o~

All Might sat at his desk, staring out the window as he tapped his fingers on the hard wood. He hadn't seen Izuku in a week. He knew that didn't sound long, but for Izuku, that was an extremely long time. The boy had visited him almost every day, but the visits had suddenly stopped a week ago.

And that worried him. Was the kid alright? Was something stopping him from visiting, or did he just decide that he didn't want to talk with him anymore? All Might felt himself frown. He liked Izuku's company. But if Izuku didn't want to visit him anymore, he couldn't force him to.

All Might sighed. Now that he was officially retired, he didn't do much except teach class and sit at his desk. It was pretty boring, if he had to be totally honest. But the talks with Izuku added something to his now mundane lifestyle. At least they did.

It was hard for All Might to sit back and relax as he watched the other heroes around him doing hero stuff. It made him restless. His hands itched as they sat still, doing nothing. He needed to do something. Anything.

He tugged at the collar of his shirt, it was going to take him a while to get used to wearing clothing that was his actual size.

He tapped his fingers on his desk again, staring at the empty room. Now what? All Might spun around in his swivel chair, closing his eyes.

"What to do, what to do." He murmured to himself.

He glanced at the clock. One thirty. He had lots of time to blow. Fantastic.

He hummed to himself as he hopped out of his chair and made his way out of the room. Maybe he could pay 1-A a visit. If Izuku didn't want to visit him, he would just visit the boy instead.

So All Might did just that, making his way to the classroom, a smile on his face when he came across the door. Izuku couldn't ignore him anymore, could he?

He opened the door, immediately greeted by Aizawa's annoyed gaze.

"Why hello class 1-A!" He bellowed, ignoring the sound of Aizawa's sighing in the background.

"All Might!" The class greeted, their faces lighting up at the sight of the retired hero.

He glanced around the room, surprised when he didn't see Izuku's face among them.

"He's not here." Bakugou growled, noticing where All Might was staring. "The damn idiot transferred to support."

All Might felt the smile he was wearing falter.

What? The kid transferred? To support?

But Izuku wanted to be a hero. He wanted to be a hero so badly that he had clung onto the hope, even when he was quirkless and beat down. Izuku had reminded All Might of how he was back all those years ago. So he couldn't imagine why Izuku would transfer of all things.

"Do you have any idea why young Midoriya would transfer?" He asked hesitantly, worried about what the answer would be.

"Haven't you heard?" Tsuyu piped up, continuing when All Might shook his head. "Deku lost his quirk."

He felt his mouth run dry at the statement. The quirk that was passed down for years upon years, gone? And Izuku lost it?

"Oh. I see." All Might replied after a while, smiling again. "Well, I hope you guys will be good for a few minutes, I'm going to have a little chat with Aizawa."

"Oh?" Aizawa looked at him questioningly .

"When we meet again!" All Might shouted to the class, grasping Aizawa by the arm and yanking him into the hallway.

He closed the door behind him, taking a deep breath.

"Now. Do you want to tell me why I have to learn about young Midoriya's situation from the class, and not by...hmm...I don't know, a teacher?"

All Might watched as Aizawa straightened his posture and stared at him head on. Damn, Aizawa meant business. But so did he.

"I told Uraraka and Iida the day it happened. Y—" Aizawa began, before being cut off by All Might.

"You told them before me! Wouldn't it make more sense to tell me first?"

Aizawa glared at him.

"If you'd let me finish, maybe you'd know."

All Might stayed silent as Aizawa stared at him. He'd just wait it out. He wondered what kind of explanation Aizawa had for leaving him out of the loop. Aizawa should've known that he could talk to Izuku too!

"So anyways, as I was saying. Izuku took a bullet for me. He lost his quirk due to it. I decided to tell his friends because he was extremely distraught at the moment, and I'm pretty sure that you were the last person he wanted to see."

Oh. Izuku was scared. Scared of him. Because he lost One for All. But he had no reason to be! Didn't Izuku know that if he knew the circumstances, he wouldn't be upset? In fact, All Might felt proud. Izuku had sacrificed his quirk in order to help Aizawa. And All Might knew just how much that quirk meant to Izuku. How could he ever be mad at him?

"I'm going to head back." Aizawa said, turning the knob on the door.

"Wait!" All Might burst out, moving so that he was between Aizawa and the door. "Does Nezu know?"

Aizawa sighed, letting go of the door.

"Yes. He said that he trusts me to do the right thing for Izuku's future here."

All Might slid away from the door, allowing Aizawa to open it and go back into the class. As the door opened, All Might could hear the chaos within. Yikes, poor Aizawa had a long year ahead of him, didn't he?

All Might decided that his next best step of action was to go to support and talk with Izuku, to tell him that it was okay. He was sure that Izuku wasn't doing well, based on what he heard from Aizawa.

"Don't worry, my boy. You're more of hero now than you ever were before." All Might whispered, making his way down the hall before he realized he had no idea where the support classroom was.

:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:—:

I'm so sorry that I was late! I was very busy last night and couldn't find the time to upload this chapter; hopefully I made up for it with the length of this one! Anyways, thanks for reading, and have a good rest of your day :)