#'oh aizawa would have trained izuku to be quirkless'

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

You know what annoys me most about the entire Yagi and Inko bashing? Canonically EVERY adult has failed Izuku, every single one of them, (even Aizawa, especially Aizawa). However it's only Yagi and Inko who realized their own mistakes and tried to make amends and yet it's them who get most hated meanwhile Aizawa did fuck all for Izuku and yet the fandom treats him like a sagely perfect teacher because muhmuhm he expels kids to give them fear of death

[cyber-phobia]

articulation [scrapped fic outline]

Shigaraki and Izuku meet at a young age. "Can I at least be a hero you would be proud of?" "I'll stay right here in Musutafu and protect everyone here! I won't leave anyone behind.”

[middle school] Shrapnel from a hero fights injures Izuku and paralyzes his legs. Shigaraki visits Izuku in the hospital.

Overwhelmed, Tomura runs away after learning the extent of the injuries

Izuku meets Kurogiri for the first time in the hospital.

"Have we not met before?" "Once. When you were little." Shigaraki: "He's still pretty little."

Tomura goes on walks with Izuku in his wheelchair. Izuku convinces him to ride the chair with him down a hill. It breaks the tension that Tomura had inadvertently not let go from the injury.

Tomura and Kurogiri are reported by nursing staff to authorities behind scenes

Naomasa, Aizawa and All Might question Izuku.

"I'm not sure how much I can help you. Everything I know is just… personal things. Not where he's going next." "Anything you can give us would be very helpful." "I'm not sure knowing his favorite foods is very good information."

"Did you notice him beginning to act strangely before the USJ?" "He was… more talkative I think? He's gotten quieter since I was injured. It was nice."

"Has he ever shown signs of aggression towards you?" "No. (Pause) Tomura has always hated heroes. I've always loved them, so of course we disagreed on that matter. But never more than that."

Tomura returns to the hospital to find Izuku's room empty

Izuku and Inko are taken into protective custody at UA. "No offense, but UA has already been attacked, is this really a good idea?" "The security was upgraded. Your only other option is Tartarus." "Right."

"I used to work so hard to get here." "You wanted to go to UA?" Aizawa makes an odd face "Right. I'm quirkless. Honestly that's insulting coming from you. You fight quirkless. Your quirk doesn't enhance your strength or improve your fighting at all. You had to train your body like anybody else with a decent gym membership."

"Even now I could technically still try to be a hero. There are many heroes that use prosthetics."

Hatsume persistently offers to make prosthetics, which Izuku refuses, sounding very put off by the suggestion

Mirio finds Izuku in the halls. "Are you lost?" "No. I'm looking for an elevator." "Have you found one?" "Obviously not." "Then doesn't that mean you're lost?" "I feel like you would be infuriating if you weren't so genuine." "Haha!"

"I'm going to Nezu's office." "Oh that's right up here!" "Elevator?" "Down there. I could help you!"

Mirio carries Izuku (still in the wheelchair) up the stairs. "Were you showing off?" "A little bit!"

Nezu "It wouldn't be fair to keep you here with nothing to do, so I've decided to give you access to our educational material during your stay here."

“That sounds like a roundabout way to say that you’re making me go to school without actually enrolling me.”

Mirio "replaces" Tomura's role in Izuku's life unintentionally. Izuku is perturbed when he notices.

[doodlegirl1998]

Oh my god...

I just realized something about how some characters are treated, so I'm gonna quote Joshscorcher from one of his fails videos

"You aren't a person, you ARE a disability! You're not a human, you ARE a skin color! You're not alive, you ARE a checkbox!"

Doesn't that just fit some of the characters in BNHA to a T?

We got the crazy yandere! The hotheaded rival! The hardass teacher with a heart of gold! The black guy!

And of course! The disabled kid who magically gets cured to be like everyone else!

Hori seems to believe that if he just adds pieces of representation or tropes that people like, they will just eat it up without question.

Not even considering or bothering to think about actual backstory, personality, goals, likes or dislikes.

You know, things that make a character an actual character!

Hi @theloganator101 👋,

This fits how MHA treats it's characters to a T or at the very least they develop from Nuanced characters to a stereotype which is never what you want from a series. Also Hori even fails at fitting these characters into the cookie cutter molds he tries to contort them into at times.

Let's give a few examples based on what you have said above:

"Crazy Yandere and Token Bi" = Toga (which the LGBTQ fans of MHA should be offended by, because having a Yandere who is coded very creepily (yet also not condemned for her creepy behavior in general or how she groped Uraraka without consent) as prominent representation is not good...

"Sweet generic shonen love interest" = Uraraka (well this is what Hori intends for her with IzuOcha endgame even with how weakly its built in the series. And Uraraka herself denying her feelings for Izu and freely simping for Toga. I feel so sorry for Ocha fans, how she has been written with Toga is a complete mess.)

"Hardass Teacher with a heart of gold" = Aizawa (or this is what Hori intends for him realistically a lot of his actions under a critical lense read as malice at worse and negligence at best but go off about how he cares about his kids, Hori. Despite dropping a building on them and making them believe their parents are kidnapped by villains. Or the fact that he expelled tonnes of other students prior to 1A without a care - what makes 1A so special?)

"Hot headhead rival" = Bakugou... (Well this is meant to be him, narratively speaking, but rivals are meant to inspire and respect each other. Bakugou doesn't respect Izuku, Bakugou abuses Izuku and acts as his parasite. Bakugou brings Izuku down at every opportunity.)

"The 'token black/ blasian' characters" = Rumi and Rock Lock. (While I'd say Rock Lock is good black representation. Rumi... She's not my favourite. I like strong female characters but the way she's so aggressive and violence hungry as a hero - that rubs me the wrong way. Realistically, I could see her killing a villain by accident through use of excessive force. And I can't ignore that she's used as a stick for Hori's gore porn fetish which isn't a great look as one of Hori's few Blasian characters.)

"The disabled kid who gets magically cured to be like everyone else." - Midoriya Izuku. (You could say this is the case for All Might and Aoyama too but Izuku is the most prominent example as the main protagonist.) Izuku's story and the lack of how his backstory is touched on is one of the one that's the most upsetting parts of MHA to me. Personally, I have a disability and mine can't be fixed, while I accept and embrace it now, I didn't when I was Izuku's age. I would daydream about getting "fixed" and being like everyone else so I could fit in. As an adult, I have now achieved many things that I was told that I could not hope to ever be able to do - and I didn't need to be "fixed/ made normal" to do it. Instead, I worked my ass off to achieve those things.

Izuku's story would have been way more powerful if he trained relentlessly with All Might, stayed quirkless and achieved as much as his quirked peers.

OR, if he had to gain OFA, the cognitive dissonance between how he was treated then in his backstory vs now should heavily influence him. Either way, he should have grown out of "Kacchan" and told Bakugou, his bully and abuser, to fuck right off.

The fact that Izuku isn't allowed to think of his backstory or one negative thought of Kacchan severely limits him. And it's one of the things that has stunted him as a character. All Izuku is now is OFA 'generic shonen protagonist' who will save Shig and destroy All for One. What a waste.

TLDR - developing good characters is like nurturing a particularly fussy plant, you can put down the right soil (backstory) to get readers hooked but if you get lazy and don't water it regularly (develop plot points, think through what is in character rather than what you as the Author want them to do, have them show up regularly) it (the characters) will never grow.

[redrobin-detective]

So while I was raking leaves today I was thinking that as much as Bakugou bullying Izuku and later redeeming himself is an integral part of canon, it could be improved upon. I’ve always been a fan of AUs where Bakugou is exactly the same personality wise but he stayed friends with Izuku and is his biggest supporter.

Basically baby Katsuki looked between his best friend in the whole wide world who just got diagnosed as quirkless and the prejudices of society and took Izuku’s side. And because this boy doesn’t do anything by halves he is so ride or die. Izuku trains his mind and body, he and Katsuki hang out constantly and make plans for their future agency, they spar together until they’re both formidable fighters. You can obviously insert canon in here which would be the same only Izuku a) starts out buff b) has a bit more confidence/self worth and c) All Might has to deal with an angry Pomeranian barking at him not to hurt Izuku 24/7. Aizawa clocks them as the class’s disaster duo within 5 seconds of meeting them and he’s not wrong but he underestimates the trouble they can get into.

Me, being me, I was playing with it today in my quirkless verse. They both get into Yuuei, Bakugou in Heroics and Izuku in Gen Ed. Katsuki would be hissing and sneering at his classmates for “stealing Deku’s spot” and it’s annoying but also kind of cute. They hear a lot about this Deku person, he’s tactically brilliant and a dirty fighter and doesn’t need a quirk to pound Katsuki into the ground. They’re shaking, imaging like a 7′ demonic beast. Only one day, the door to 1-A opens and its this sweet boy with curls and freckles and the friendliest smile like “Kacchan, you left your school books at my house again :)” And they collectively lose their shit that THIS is Deku. Then they watch him and Bakugou spar and its like, oh okay then, I am Afraid again.

Anyway, point being, I still think we could have had a compelling, interesting story if Bakugou was still his kind of douchey self but at the same time was Izuku’s best friend and biggest hype man.

[shadowofroses]

Little Explosions

My Hero Academia

Pairing: Reader x Bakugo Katsuki

Warnings: Bakugo is his own warning, crushes, uncontrolled explosions, Ghost quirk Reader, (Surprise cross over), Transfered from American Hero Academy, language

Summery: Cute short of how I imagined Bakugo losing his shit over a cute reader and being unable to control his quirk around them.

Story:

It hadn’t been long since you transferred into UA from another Hero school due to a recommendation. Moving into Mr. Aizawa’s Hero class. 1A. You remember your first day as if it was yesterday. This class has been in the media lately. You knocked gently on the door. You were welcomed in, and you introduced yourself. 

“I’m (Last name) (First name), transferred from the American Hero Academy, my quirk is Phantom. Nice to meet everyone.” 

You took a bow, and everyone blinked in your direction saying “Hi.” 

“Take a seat beside Bakugo. He’s the grumpy one.” Aizawa muttered.

“HEY!” 

You giggled as you realized the one who said ‘hey’ was Bakugo, You went to sit down not noticing his eyes were on you with each step. The moment you got closer, you heard small explosions that startled you into going into a ghostly form.

“Bakuko, don’t be showing off to the New Student.” You blinked looking over to your partner as you shook yourself to solidify your body again. 

“Whatever…” Bakugo grunted, looking off to the side with a blush on his face. Truth was it was unintentional. He actually felt nervous when you got closer to him. When he was nervous, he sweat, nervous accidentally set off little explosions from his fingertips. It was more or less like the firework snaps that they gave kids to play with. 

Training wasn’t too difficult, you could phase through people, and most things. The most dangerous you could be was to force someone to have a heart attack. 

You mainly hung out with your new group of friends. When you laughed, Izuku realized Bakugo set off minor explosions. Uraraka pointed out that everything you did cute really. You seemed to be clueless, Bakugo would be irritated by his own reactions, and how they always seemed to be focused around you. 

Then one day Bakugo had you pinned against the lockers and you stared at him with big wide eyes, small snap explosions at the tips of his fingertips of his free hand. “I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO ME BUT I NEED YOU TO STOP IT!”

You didn’t bother phasing, but that was mainly because you overused your quirk too much today. But you were honestly confused, “Heh?”

“I know you have a second quirk that is fucking around with me!” Bakugo growled out, shoving you against the lockers even harder. “Making my heart race! Making me Nervous! Making me sweat and not control my damn explosions!” Your heart raced, and you lightly blushed, he set off more explosions, “LIKE THAT! HOW ARE YOU DOING IT?!”

You sweat dropped at that, “Dude…I think you’re crushing on me…”

Bakugo blinked, once, twice, three times, “HEH?! YOU FUCKING WISH I DID!” you catching him blushing, and more mini explosions. 

You deadpanned, “I only have Phantom. My dad had Phantom due to an experiment and my mother is quirkless, how am I going to have a second quirk Lord Explosion Murder?!” 

“OH YEAH?! WHO IS YOUR DAD ANYWAY? LET ME LOOK IT UP TO MAKE SURE!”

You twitched, “Danny Phantom…” he paused for a moment. “Him and my mother didn’t want me under the Phantom last name so they gave me a normal name. You won’t find my information connected to him, so that no one can use me to get an advantage over him. See? Only one fucking Quirk.”

Bakugo pushed himself off of you and looked down crossing his arms, “...are you sure?” 

You sighed, “Yeah I’m pretty sure you have a crush, Pretty Explosion Boy.”

Bakugo blushed again his heart raced, “NO THAT YOU DON’T HAVE ANOTHER QUIRK?!”

“I do not have another quirk that messes with people’s emotions. I’d never use it if I did.”

He frowned at that, “Why not?” 

You shrugged, “Playing with other people’s emotions is rather a fucked up thing in my opinion. No way in hell I’d use it if I had it, but I don’t. Just ghost abilities.”

“Why didn’t you phase through me then?” 

“Cause I wanted to see what you had to say.” you shrugged again. 

Later that year, the two of you chilled out, Bakugo no longer fired off mini explosions. He started to become relaxed around you. 

Minus times when someone asked you out, or someone suggested you to date someone. 

Then he realized what you said that day was true.                                                                                       

“Hey (Name).”

You blinked back giving him a smile, “What’s up?” 

“We’re going out to dinner. six be ready.” 

You blinked and tilted your head cutely placing a finger on your chin, “Like a date?”

Bakugo twitched, pink in the face and set off mini explosions from his fingers, and he flexed them into a fist, “YES LIKE A DATE!” 

You giggled, “Alright, I’ll be there~” 

[pocketramblr]

So your Quirkless Aizawa AU... I have an idea... the idea is Grandpa Might. Or DadMight because I refuse to believe Yagi doesn't mentally adopt Aizawa or something in solidarity for quirklessness. Yagi shows up to the agency opening with coffee and snacks and Mic knows him as the nice blonde man who I can speak English to, Midnight sees tall chisled cutie and Oboro is like "why the fuck is All Might here and Aizawa is like "coffee! My hero!" Let Izu know Yagi before All Might.

Oh I definitely see Toshinori staying in Aizawa's life after they meet- I don't know about mentally adopting, because Aizawa Does Not Particularly Want another dad, but Toshi fully credits Aizawa and Shirakumo with being the reason he was able to kill AfO and not the other way around. So he does check in on them and wants them to do well, encouraging. Shirakumo utterly loves it, Aizawa doesn't mind as much as he bristles but he does threaten to never speak to Shirakumo if he says the words "We should totally scam All Might into adopting us" again.

But yeah, checks in a lot, and that's why he was comfortable asking Aizawa about taking OfA, and why Aizawa was comfortable enough to just say "hell no" and not like disappear to another country for a week to avoid him.

So when Izuku does roll up to the agency, All Might gets texts from all three of them like "hey jsyk we're training a kid now" and All Might is like "ah I understand,,,,, you'll be busier now and perhaps we should cancel our monthly lunch catch-ups,,, let me know if the kid would like anything I'll send it over right away" and then gets three more texts like "absolutely not you have better still be at lunch, he'll be so excited to meet you." And All Might is happy but he was expecting like a UA intern, not a whole child! So yeah as proud as Toshinori is of the young heroes, Izuku is the baby and will be absolutely spoiled to the best of his abilities

[natariikireinaa]

Play to Graduate: MHA AU

The students are quirkless, normal students, keeping their same appearance. UA is no longer a hero school. On their first year, they are told shocking news:

You are required to join a sport to graduate. Better yet....

The school will pay for your college if the UA teams win all the way.

This AU Switches POVs a lot to keep the reader entertained. My OC: Natarii Kireina, is also included.

And of course, people do date. They're kids. Kids date. I'm sorry if you don't like my matchups, but they are just my personal opinion. And yes. There is cussing.

DISCLAIMER:

• I do not own, "My Hero Acadamia", it's characters, the school, and most of the settings.

• The only person I own is Natarii.

• I have minimal research on all of these sports. Forgive me.

☆☆☆ Nezu

UA High School, the school where children grow, train, and fight to become great heroes. Every child tries to come here to succeed and have the best chance in being their childhood dream.

Not anymore.

Nezu stood in front of the sea of hopeful children, knowing that this news would shock them. It almost hurt a bit. He knew what it was like to lose all hope, to think that your dreams in life are impossible to reach... but it wasn't his decision. Priorities have changed over the years. It was disappointing and illogical.

"UA High has changed their priorities. We are now a school that focuses solely on sports."

A rumble of disappointment, confusion, and annoyance.

"We provide basketball (girls and boys), baseball, softball," He started to need to raise his voice over the crowd, "Volleyball, cheerleading, soccer, tennis, track... and there is a potential that we will provide swimming and badminton."

The crowd got louder, and Nezu was forced to almost shout. He saw Nemuri cringe. She told him they would react like that.

"You will not graduate if you do not join a sport. I don't care how good your grades are."

☆☆☆ Ochako Uraraka

Silence.

A... sport?

Ochako's pupils constricted. She wasn't really athletic... she thought she would be a hero. Now she had to join a sport.... for what?? She knew she could never do some of the hard-core sports. Maybe track? Hell no. Ochako could never, she would die. She could try volleyball?

☆☆☆ Izuku Midoriya

Oh man, I really thought I was coming here to be a hero... now I have to play sports? Maybe they aren't as I think. The thought makes me queasy. I'm going to fail school. I look over, and Kacchan is smirking. Of course he doesn't mind, he's strong enough to pass easily. What if the team I'm playing for fails because of me?

☆☆☆ Katsuki Bakugo

This will be easy. I'm going for Baseball. Soccer is for pussies. Deku would probably play soccer. He's sweating, and he looks like he's about to cry. I can't help but smirk at him. He is so screwed.

◇ First Day ◇

☆☆☆ Shota Aizawa

Fuck this shit.

I want to go home and sleep.

But no, I have to condition these kids for sports. Fun. I don't understand the point of making UA a sport school... it's irrational. And stupid. I drink my third cup of coffee this morning, watching the kids file in. I count them off in my head:

Denki Kaminari

Ejiro Kirishima

Fumikage Tokoyami

Hanta Sero

Izuku Midoriya

Koji Koda

Kyoka Jiro...

On and on and on, until finally the last students filed on. Oh my god. They are going to fail.

◇ LMK if you want me to continue this!! ◇

[fxcf]

Holy Shit, why does the majority of this Fandom have the IQ of a wet Potato Chip?

Howdy folks, it's me! The guy with a mask who may or may not be stealing your kneecaps sometime within the timeframe of last week.

So, MHA. That funky little manga and anime that is basically the foundation of my entire Online Prescience. I very much so enjoy it.

But the fandom, on the other hand, god damn can it be dumb. And I'mma talk about the things that fans think is Religious Text that is, in actuality, dumb as all flying Fuck.

So, let us begin!

~Part 1: The Hate of All Might.

I hate the fandom's treatment of All Might. A annoying Majority on AO3 have the accursed Anti-Might Tags, such as "All Might is a Bad Teacher", and "All Might is a Idiot". These tags are fucking stupid.

Yagi Toshiorni is a damn fine teacher when it doesn't come to OFA, and you can't blame him on his failures at teaching OFA to Izuku due to his Own form of training from Gran Torino being mostly, quite abusive. Effective, but we'll get to that later on (:

Now, the fandom has a big issue with another "issue" involving All Might, that being him "Crushing" Izuku's dreams.

Ah, Ba-ba-ba-Bullshit.

Izuku's dream was already crushed, and had been for fucking Years. If anything, All Might let Izuku down softer than even his own goddamn Mother! He was looking out for a kid who had no special bullshit power in a world where the average person has the power to either crush a building with their Mind, ignite someone from half a kilometer away, or even something mundane as a 8 hour erection, and said world also having a unnaturally high Crime Rate from hell.

And need I break out the List Of Deaths I made a long time ago, using the potentiality of who in 1-A would end up dead if Izuku never got OFA and got into UA? If Izuku tried being a Quirkless Hero, he'd either never get far, or end up Dead. And don't bring the "Give him a gun lol" argument, he's 15 and lives in a country where guns are so damn restricted, that getting one would require getting down on his knees and praying to the Gods above for permission from the HPCS, and Good Fucking Luck doing that as a Quirkless Kid who doesn't have a ounce of muscle to him

~Part 2: Aizawa FUCKING Shota.~ (Warning for mentions of Suicide)

Oh, what to say, what, to, say... Let's start with his failures as a Teacher.

I have done a little research into Japanese Teaching, and from what little I do know, a Homeroom Teacher is meant to be someone that monitors a Student's Clubs, Classes, and other such things. Being a Homeroom Teacher requires the Teacher to be trustworthy and approachable by their students, someone they can trust to bring their issues up to, to do things such as signing up for, hmmm, let's say Counseling.

Well, to put it bluntly, I'd rather trust a Thermonuclear Bomb, The Demon Core, and a Doomsday Cultist in a room more than I would Aizawa.

He is the worst teacher in UA, and I'm not even sure he IS a Teacher! Anyone got any confirmation on if he has a Teaching Permit? Nonetheless, He's not trustworthy around kids, mostly because of his "Expulsion Policy". Oh, Mama, I've got something to say about That.

See, It's a little known fact that Expulsion in Japan is a Very Very Very Bad Thing. Being expelled from even a basic school no-one's ever heard of can condemn you to a life of being jobless, being hated by your family, and being considered a Failure by society at large. It is one of the Many issues that result in Japan's depressingly high Suicide Rates, alongside it's unhealthy family dynamics and work ethics.

Now, imagine being expelled from Japan's best Hero School. Imagine the Black Mark that would get you, especially on the first fucking day! And yes, I know he doesn't fully expel them, but imagine how they feel going home. What if they went home, feeling as if nothing was left for them in life. They couldn't go anywhere, they couldn't get a good job. It's brought up well in MadMystic's Consequences Of Expulsion, where Three Students end their lives due to Aizawa's Expulsion Game.

Aizawa is also a horrific person to have around 15 year olds. He's snide, sarcastic, and a massive Cunt. Also, a serious idiot, seeing as he says that "Bakugou not holding back is a sign of respect", while Bakugou was beating Uraraka black and blue. That is not respect, that is Sociopathy with a dash of Sadism.

Really, the fight should have been called when Uraraka started falling over the first time.

Aizawa is also a idiot in Heroics. During the USJ, he Should have stayed with the kids, instead leaving them to protect themselves and also with 13, who is a rescue hero.

Who isn't dedicated to fighting.

while there was a Teleporter in the area.

Need I say more????

~Part 3: Dadzawa VS Dad Might.~

Oh I'mma get heated...

Dadzawa, as pointed out fairly above, is Bullshit. He's a spiteful dick who hasn't gone to therapy for well over 10 years for a severe loss that molded his entire personality since he was 15, and lets it influence his decisions all the way to the current arc of the Manga. If he were a father, he'd be pretty shit at it. Now, Yagi, on the other hand, would be deadass the best choice for Dad-Of-The-Year of MHA.

For one, he's incredibly caring and noticing, puts other's issues before his own, even when it hurts him, and LOOK at this man and tell me he wouldn't make a dad joke whenever he could.

Folks, if ANY of you use the "Yagi Toshinori | All Might is a bad parent" tag, I hope you step on a Lego for the rest of Time.

~~~~

Well, that's all I got for now. Of course, in due time, I'll make a Part Two, where I discuss Gran Torino's frankly abusive training methods, All Might's mental state, Bakugou being a failure of a human being, and people thinking Izuku is weak and Kochako being a good ship.

Pray (:

[fan-love-ang-shortstoryprompts]

Prompts that got taken down on AO3 #8

Izuku becomes a busboy of sorts at PYHU Radio (Put Your Hands Up), he takes papers, coffee, notes, messages, etc. He doesn't realize that the long haired blonde guy that drives him home every night and that gave him the job is actually present mic, since he has his hair down (but up in a low bun kinda like Aizawa), casual clothes on, and regular glasses and shoes and jacket. His hero/work costume is in his duffel, along with his directional speaker.

Kacchan doesn't believe him when he tells him excitedly that he has a job at PYHU.

He starts working there unofficially at age 8 or 9, under the table so that he can help support Inko's 3-ish jobs she has in order to pay for his quirkless medical expenses and clothes and shoes.

The reason it was allowed is that he gave Mic adorable watery sad puppy eyes, and smiled like he'd been given the world when Mic voiced that he'd consider it or ask his boss.

Then he was like, "oh shit this kid is adorable and needs to be protected at all costs"

Mic also realizes that if HE doesn't give him a job at a safe, well defended, reputable place with good pay, labour rules, and no discrimination allowed, Izu would probably find a job elsewhere where someone might hurt or exploit him.

Mic helps him get into UA, he and Shouta train him, first quirkless hero, etc

You can decide what friends he has, more hijinks, add a little bit more of a dash of light angst, and tweak some things, but generally I would like this prompt in particular to have a Happy Ending.

[aria-allium]

what has happened in bnha lore wise. <-guy who was out of the fandom in 2019 (aka around overhaul arc?? with eri)

ok i will be so for real right now my understanding of the current plot is mainly what i get through skimming some of the more recent chapters/season 7 episodes and reading fanfic so i'm. not super well versed on details but from what i understand:

1) there were two war arcs, apparently: the paranormal liberation war arc and the one that just wrapped up, the final war arc. i say "apparently" bc before i got back into it i thought those were the same thing, lmfao. but essentially in the paranormal liberation war arc, various pro heroes + class 1a (or maybe all of ua? i'm kind of unclear on that) are fighting against the league of villains + the paranormal liberation front. don't really know much about motivations, but i do know that that's the arc where aizawa loses his leg and his eye, and also the arc where katsuki takes a hit from shigaraki/afo (i'll explain that in a sec) for izuku. the final war arc, on the other hand, honestly do not know a lot about that either outside of how it affects izuku and katsuki specifically. like i know that they're fighting just the league + afo, and i know that the members of the league that are still alive are slowly killed off (or at least defeated if not killed) until it gets to the final fight with shigaraki/afo and Mainly izuku, but others step in along the way too i'm pretty sure. major thing that happens this arc is that this is where the leaks of katsuki lying dead on the ground came from, but don't worry! he got better! he comes back a while later to help fight shigaraki alongside izuku, says some pretty homosexual shit while doing so (such as calling himself "kacchan" to afo's face at one point), and then the final stretch happens where all of class 1a pushes izuku forward to finally defeat shigaraki/afo. yippee!! where the story's gonna go from here i have no idea, but. there's that.

2) i did find out also that the traitor to ua that got hinted at a few times was revealed: it turned out to be aoyama. basically his whole deal is that it turns out he was also quirkless, but his parents, out of fear of him being looked at differently, made a deal with afo to give their son a quirk, hence him having navel laser at the start of the show. i'm pretty sure his parents weren't aware afo was a villain at the time, they just heard rumors of a guy that could give people quirks and were like "oh sweet, our son is saved!" but in exchange for giving aoyama navel laser, afo had him leak information about ua such as where the class would be for festivals/training during his time there so that the lov could attack. fucked up stuff honestly 😭 i'm not 100% sure how that gets resolved but i do know that him and his parents were taken into custody, his parents i think for colluding w afo and aoyama was taken in mainly to ensure that he wouldn't be a danger to ua anymore (as in like. they wanted to make sure afo didn't do anything to him to make him a ticking time bomb. lol!)

3) ok the whole shigaraki sort of being afo thing i will admit i think i know how that actually happened. i'm pretty sure that after the my villain academia arc, shigaraki is modified by dr. garaki (i think that's his name but the same guy that diagnosed izuku quirkless in the beginning) to basically be a new host for afo. so for a while shigaraki, and by extension the league (i think), are out of commission, and then once shigaraki wakes up and is succesfully made the host of afo, they get back out there and do crime, lol. for a while shigaraki acts pretty much the same as he always did with afo's voice in his head in a similar way to the previous ofa users in izuku's head, and then there's a turning point in the paranormal liberation war arc where afo straight up hijacks shigaraki's body, lol, so that's cool. i think he controls shigaraki fully up until the last few chapters of the final war arc too, although i might be wrong abt that.

4) the most recent chapter leaks i did fully read through, so i know what goes down there! basically it takes place one week after the final war, and the first half is dedicated to explaining how recovery efforts are going. not too much major stuff going on there, just mainly people saying they're glad it's over and that people having quirks makes the recovery process easier, but not necessarily better. second half of the chapter is katsuki and izuku in the hospital! they're in separate rooms, katsuki with his parents and a doctor, and izuku in another that he shares w all might (who is alive after all of that btw - i honestly thought he died). katsuki gets told that his right arm might never recover and that he'd be better off with a prosthetic, but he shuts that down and says that he'll kick recovery's ass, lmao. then it switches to izuku and all might talking, with a major thing there being that, in order to defeat shigaraki, izuku had to transfer ofa to him, meaning that all he has left are the embers of ofa, and soon he will be rendered quirkless again (don't ask me why the transfer had to happen btw i have no idea). this is where katsuki bursts in, and upon hearing that izuku only has the embers left he reflects on how he bullied izuku in the past and starts crying, bc he's upset that they won't be able to compete for the number one spot together anymore (this fucked me up btw God). izuku tells him not to worry, all might says some stuff abt both of them being the greatest heroes, they both smile, and then the chapter ends w izuku and his fuckass haircut looking up at ua being rebuilt.

i think that's most of what i know!! sorry i went on for so long, lol, i said i didn't know much at the start but the more i typed the more i realized i actually did know 😂 at some point i might go back and pick up the manga where i left off, bc i am very much intrigued, but idk when that'll happen, so. yeah!!

[weirdfishy]

BNHA/My Hero Academia

Discussion in Trust

Class A has to write abt what they'd do if not pro hero work; Izuku's is concerning, so Aizawa n Izu have a chat, Dadzawa; All Might bashing, mentions of suicide baiting, usual stuff that surrounds the heavier takes on this topic

Never Enough / Better: Pt. 1

Izuku wants to help people, and he thinks doing it as a Pro-hero is off the table; incomplete

Letters Until it Gets Better

Fuyumi and Touya exchange letters in secret, until they don’t have to. Little brothers with spite are a force to be reckoned with.

Open up; we’re right here

A Todoroki Shouto centric and eventual Todokami multichaptered fic that uses the opportunity an opened door affords life’s path; incomplete

Another Square for 2021 Bingo

Mido and Baku get dropped into the year of this fucking nightmare, 2021, via quirk stuff, right in the middle of your living room. They can understand you, so that's a win. Kind of crack and kind of taking care of teenagers who really just need a break. shenanigans. incomplete

Underground

“Both of them made their choices, and had their alliances, so they would follow through. Himiko only hoped that Ocha wouldn’t try to distract her or fight her herself.” Ochako/Toga, song fic

OrAnGeY jUiCeEe

“Chec- check the class chat, pfft- Mina is soooo sick, oh my gods.” A few curious souls pulled out their phones, and had just about the same reaction as Kaminari. crack

Kiri Cuddles w/ his bff/qpp

exactly as the title says, really. reader insert

Yakuza Leader Kiri

Quirkless Yakuza AU; reader is an adoptive family member to Kiri, and was trained to basically be his assassin/ does most of his dirty work. reader insert

At what cost?

Within the scope of the Quirkless Yakuza AU above, a small insight to the ending :)

full fic list

. my ko-fi 💛

[rayshippouuchiha]

Oh gods this means team 7 is back as Aizawa, Izuku, Shoto, and Yaomomo. That's such a scary fucking combo and it works So Good!

Sakura had a lifetime of Med-Nin experiance and frontline combat as well. This time around Yaomomo is going to know exactly what foods are the best for her, exactly what's needed to make enough weapons for the team, and how to be a whole fucking badass.

Sasuke is motherhenning his new family but just you wait. Him with a much better mastery of the quirk and all his weapons training going into ua is low-key terrifying ngl. All I can see is him and naruto fucking up Stain in the worst ways and taking one of his katana as a fucking trophy and a blatant message not to fuck with His People.

Naruto coming into this world and getting OFA from someone who mirrors the ideals Jiraiya had one upon a time and fucking running with it. Naruto has Experiance with unstable and Volitile powers OFA is no different. He would probably be in much better shape physically than izuku as a kid before getting OFA, his energy had to have some outlet. I can also see how naruto could shift his focus from struggling to keep up physically like his first life onto honing his battle strategy even further for this life.

Oh they are going to be absolutely terrifying. Just, within a week the entirety of the staff of UA knows they're staring at the next Big 3 of UA and probably the next 3 Top Heroes overall.

No one is expecting them to have the type of versatility they show in combat either but they do.

Yaomomo is fucking strong and she's dropping poisons and med equipment without blinking. She's in excellent shape and even if she has a fondness for creating all of her items with sakura motifs etched onto them no one can fault her because she's flawless.

Shouto obviously has a fuck off strong quirk too so no one is expecting the goddamn hand-to-hand skills or the fact that he can use a fucking sword??? Also dude has the ultimate resting serial killer face anytime Izuku isn't within sight or if he has to interact with anyone that isn't a literal child, so he's extra intimidating.

Izuku's quirk is a nightmare to think about and the power output he's capable of is unsettling. But this Izuku's also been doing Toad Style Taijutsu since he was a toddler so his fighting style is goddamn wild. And yeah his younger years were pretty lonely just like last time but he's fine with it because he might not have had friends his age (the quirkless title is still a burden and, honestly, a lot of the kids are high-key terrified of him) but he had Kurama from the start and a mom this time that he is still kind of unsure what to do with. So he keeps himself busy and he's mentally older now with decades and decades of experience being Hokage behind him so school isn't a challenge for him this time around because he figured out how he learns ages ago and he absorbs everything pretty quickly.

[quirkless-accident]

Heroics teacher Danny somehow hears Izuku was formerly quirkless and is new to his quirk. Rips all might once again and goes to have a heart to heart talk/training with izuku.

It had just started as a rumor.

He's not sure where it originated, but the whispers of Izuku Midoriya being born quirkless ran rampant through the hero course like wildfire. Fortunately, it had stopped just as quickly as it began thanks to the strict gossip policy the school had. And it seems that Midoriya himself hadn't heard the rumors, but...Well, Danny wouldn't be much of a hero if he didn't notice the shoes.

After all, he had a pair himself.

He had his theories, of course. He knew it was possible for a quirkless kid to stumble their way into power. He was, after all, Exhibit A. And, well, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Midoriya didn't really know how to use his quirk. Not in the way that he should, if he had had it his whole life. If he had his quirk for more than a few months then he wouldn't be breaking his limbs at any given chance from the sheer force of it.

It also didn't take a genius to figure out that his quirk was a little like All Might's. Sure, the number one hero didn't glow with green electricity, but the actual strength part was basically the same. Hell, even Midoriya's smashes were similar to All Might's. Plus, with how often they had lunch together-and All Might didn't offer that to any other student-there was obviously something going on.

Danny intended to find out what.

-----------

It had been an accident. Sure, he was digging for answers, but he hadn't meant to actually eavesdrop on the two.

"Now that you've inherited my quirk, you need to learn on controlling it better," All Might was saying. Danny's brow furrowed as he stopped in his tracks right outside the teacher's lounge. Curse his supernatural hearing, because now he couldn't bring himself to keep moving.

"I know. I'm trying, but my body can't handle more than one percent right now," Midoriya replied. He sounded upset, though if it was at himself or All Might he couldn't tell. "Maybe...Maybe we should tell Aizawa? Since he oversees most of out training he would be able to help me get better control of it. I can't keep breaking my limbs, after all."

"I think, for now, we should keep this between us," All Might said in a grave tone. "The less people know, the better. If this secret got out, they could get hurt."

"Oh-of-of course," Midoriya stuttered out. He sounded absolutely ashamed, and he's not sure why, but Danny saw red.

Because all of his theories were confirmed.

That Midoriya hadn't had his quirk long. That All Might had something to do with it. That All Might was actively keeping Midoriya from getting the help he needed. All Might sure as hell wasn't doing his part in training the kid-not enough, anyway. He was letting this teenager bumble around and figure things out on his own.

Danny was not going to have any of it.

Midoriya had gotten seriously injured during the battle trials because of All Might's incompetency. He wasn't going to stand idly by and let it keep happening.

He phased through the door, and Midoriya and All Might looked at him, surprised. Midoriya was hunched, as if he was trying to make himself smaller, while All Might in his small form stood quickly.

"Phantom? Can I help you with something?" He asked. He sounded nervous.

Good.

"Midoriya," Phantom said as gently as he could. "I need to speak with All Might. Could you please excuse us for a moment?"

Midoriya nodded and got the hell out of dodge. Danny turned his glare onto All Might.

"If his homeroom teacher has the power to help him control his-his-quirk, then you have no right to prevent him from asking for help," Danny said. There was a dangerous edge to his voice, and he could see the frost building on the edge of the tea cups that were sitting on the table beside All Might. "He's a kid who doesn't know how to use his quirk. And considering it literally shatters his bones, it would be detrimental to turn him away from asking for help.

"And, All Might, I know you're dense. It's no big surprise. But even a moron like you should have enough sense to let him ask for help."

"You have no right to listen in on our conversations-"

"-I have every right to listen in if it involves the safety of another student," Danny hissed. The lights above them flickered dangerously as Danny's anger spiked. He stepped forward, inches away from All Might's narrow face. "Instead of forcing him to isolate himself and only go to you, he should be branching out and getting all the help that he feels like he needs. He doesn't need your ignorant words infecting his own thought process."

"And for the record, I don't care about your quirk. I don't care how he got it from you. I care that it hurts him, and you're only putting him in an environment that hurts him more. It is his quirk, All Might, and he deserves to tell whoever he wants."

Frost was coating his clothes and the table and the furniture, and Danny knew that he had to reign it in before somebody barged in on them. He wanted to yell at All Might more. He wanted to yell at Nezu, because he knew for a fact that there's no way the rat god didn't know about this.

But Midoriya had looked so upset when he scurried out of the room. He had to make sure he was okay. He had to make sure he knew Danny was going to be there for him, no matter what.

He had to go after him.

----------

He found Midoriya in an empty classroom that was rarely ever used.

His shoulders were up to his ears as he hunched in on himself, physically making himself smaller. Danny recognized the signs-he used to do it himself, before he got into his accident. Midoriya's fists were clenched in his lap, and he was trying desperately not to sob.

Danny, not wanting to scare the poor kid, gently knocked on the door frame. Midoriya's head snapped up. His eyes were wide and shined with unshed tears. He looked absolutely miserable.

"Can I come in?" Danny asked. Midoriya gave him a nod, and he walked over. He leaned against the teacher's desk, and slouched his shoulders so he didn't look as scary. He knew he looked intimidating on his best days, and Midoriya really didn't need that right now.

"So-you-you know?" Midoriya asked. Danny sighed and nodded.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop," he told Midoriya. "I'm sorry for invading your privacy like that. But I couldn't just stand there and let him manipulate you like that."

"He-he wasn't," Midoriya defended, but the words sounded weak to even him. "He's just trying to l-look out for me."

"If he was truly doing that he would have allowed you to ask for help from other teachers. Not to say his heart isn't in the right place, but his line of thinking is outdated."

"B-but-I...I'm scared," Midoriya admitted. Tears were finally making their way down his freckled cheeks, and it made Danny's heart fucking break. "None of my other teachers ever liked me 'cause I was quirk-quirkless."

"So you're worried that they'll think of you differently?" Danny asked. Midoriya stiffly nodded. Danny gave him a small smile, and hoped it came off as comforting. "I won't think differently of you. Quirk or no quirk."

"But why?" Midoriya asked, his face twisted in confusion. Danny just shrugged.

"I'm probably the only other guy in the world who could understand what you're going through," he told the teenager. At Midoriya's growing confusion, Danny figured a demonstration would probably be better at explaining than his words ever could. So he let the two white rings wash over him, turning him from Phantom to Fenton.

Midoriya's eyes sparkled with unasked questions.

And then they flicked down to his shoes.

The were bright red, with black laces and white soles. On the heel was an embroidered Q.

They were the same shoes Midoriya was wearing.

Understanding dawned on his face, and Danny had the pleasure of watching his face go through an emotional roller coaster akin to a soap opera.

"But how?" He asked.

"My parents were overzealous scientists that specialized in the supernatural," Danny answered. "I got into a lab accident and died. Er, half died, I guess. Don't try it at home, kid, I don't recommend it."

"I have...So many questions," Midoriya breathed. He was practically vibrating in his seat from his excitement, and Danny couldn't help the fond smile on his face.

"And I'll answer them eventually," Danny replied as he changed back from Fenton to Phantom. "But in the mean time, do you still wanna go tell Aizawa?"

Midoriya seemed to clam up again at the thought. "What if-what if he doesn't want to teach me anymore? What if he expels me?"

"What if he thinks of you differently?" Danny asked him, getting to the true root of the problem. Midoriya nodded, and Danny lifted himself off the desk. He walked over and placed a hand on Midoriya's shoulder.

"He knows about my secret," he told Midoriya. "Actually, he was there when it happened. And he was friends with me when I was just some quirkless kid. He won't care about any of that superficial stuff."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"O-okay," Midoriya said. He physically steeled his resolve, putting on a brave face and slapping his cheeks a couple of times. He quickly wiped his tears away and looked at Danny with nothing but determination.

"Let's go."

[itzz-phoenixxx]

Why I don't like All Might: An Analysis.

Don't get me wrong, he was a GOOD hero, but he has a FUCK ton of shortcomings and I'm sick of everyone looking over them. So I'm breaking things down in somewhat chronological order because he's the ONE character in MHA I absolutely cannot stand

His and Izuku's first meeting.

There was no way to know that he had been told to kill himself only hours earlier, but still. Jesus christ dude.

The entire interaction with the sludge villain. He didn't do ANYTHING to make sure Izuku was okay except for smack tf out of him to wake him up. I don't know how shit works in that world, but I think at the very LEAST if someone is attacked by a villain, you should notify authorities and maybe, idk, make sure the kid gets checked out by medical professionals.

He tried to push Izuku off his leg in mid-air. You could argue its for comedic relief, but if you're a pro hero in your late 50's (he's been a OFA holder for 40 years, and I'm assuming he got it when he was about as old as Izuku) you should know better.

Crushing Izuku's dream and leaving what could be a suicidal kid by himself where ANYTHING could've happened. Like what if he had done something??

OH not to mention, he's a pro hero ffs, telling him to "be more reasonable" is terrible. You could argue that Aizawa said the same, but Aizawa also guided Izuku during the first training exercise. Yeah, he told him he should never be a hero, but he also gav3 his quirk back and gave Izuku a chance to prove him wrong, and several times now Izuku has.

The passing of OFA

For One, he completely backtracked. Like he didn't even consider Izuku's feelings before tossing the "You can be hero and here's how" bomb on him. I fully believe he took advantage of Izuku's vulnerability in that moment.

It seemed like he put Izuku in a position where he couldn't say no. All Might asking Iuzku to take his quirk, would be like your favorite artist asking you to perform in a show with them because they liked your voice. You just can't pass up that apportunity.

He failed to inform Izuku about the baggage thay came with OFA. Not only the bone breakage in the first episode, but about All For One, his fated enemy. He didn't give Izuku the option to back out or change his mind, because I feel as though Izuku would've DEFINITELY reconsidered if he knew (but I'm in no way saying he wouldn't take the quirk regardless)

He took advantage of Izuku's adoration of him, as well as his dreams in order to pass along his quirk. Of course, he also saw potential in him, I won't argue about that. He wasn't wrong about the kind of person Izuku was/is, but the fact fhat he just so happened to run into his biggest fan (who was quirkless and dreamed of being a hero) you can't tell me he didn't take advantage of that.

He's a horrible teacher.

It's not only Izuku who has realized this. Most of 1A as well as the staff at UA have realized this. He had flashcards ffs. You could argue that he's brand new to teaching, but he also had time to put lessons together. Even Tsu pointed out during the first training exercise that they had no prior combat training.

He wasn't able to properly teach Izuku how to wield OFA. Everything he learned he picked up from Gran Torino, and the other staff at UA. It took him 2 seasons to regulate OFA, and an additional season to realize he had legs. The only good teaching moment he had was introducing the concept of Air Force.

His blatant and obvious favoritism of Izuku has put the other students in danger too many times.

Seriously, he puts so much faith in Izuku in crisis situations, that he doesn't even worry about the other kids who aren't as capable.

MANGA SPOILER!!! -He fully supported Izuku's vigilante era, knowing it was unsafe. He also followed the boy around and in his state could've been a liability. Even on the brink of death, AM said "here's lunch, good luck." And wasn't involved in bringing him back, even if he would've had the most influence.

That is all for now, thank you!

[owlf45]

For the ask game: Whenever Izuku Midoriya goes to sleep he dreams of himself as a different person. Maybe it’s because his own life is so boring. By day he is a Quirkless middle schooler, hoping to get into UA. At night however, he is Tomura Shigaraki, budding villain-in-training with a powerful and interesting quirk, something he always wanted. Things take a strange turn after the sludge villain incident however. What if his dream isn’t really a dream?

oh boy you really had to get my gears turning huh 

USJ. 

Midoriya’s eyes were trained on the familiar face. His classmates’ worried chatter escaped him, drowned out by the roar of a million thoughts rushing through one after the other. 

He knew this man. 

Aizawa leapt into the swarms of criminals armed to the teeth, and Midoriya wanted to call out to him, to warn him—his quirk. The man’s quirk. 

He knew what it was. Intimately. He’d used it himself, once.

But he didn’t call out in time. Aizawa was gone, off to face the man with the familiar face. 

------------------------------------------------------------

Midoriya had scars on his neck. 

Sores always appeared and always ached. No matter what he did, he’d always wake up with a few more. 

It must have been an unconscious thing he did in his sleep, he decided. He couldn’t stop what was out of his control. 

------------------------------------------------------------

In middle school, Midoriya’s teacher was overly fond of the idea that no one was entirely the sum of their experiences. 

“Most of who we are comes from the amalgamation of others’ thoughts and experiences,” he’d said repeatedly. “Think critically of yourself—how much are you truly your raw self?” 

Midoriya thought it was foolish. 

(At first.)

------------------------------------------------------------

The sludge villain attack changed everything. 

Midoriya watched as the hooded figure disappeared from the street, white hair peeking out from underneath. 

“Found you,” he’d said, smiling, red eyes gleaming, and then the sludge disappeared into a pile of ash, empty, unmoving. 

Unnaturally still. 

Midoriya felt nauseous.  

“Have you ever dreamed of killing someone before?” one of Midoriya’s classmates asked the day after. 

------------------------------------------------------------

He had. 

Once. 

------------------------------------------------------------

USJ. 

Midoriya stood protectively in front of his bleeding teacher. The Nomu hovered right in front of him, the threat of death on its reared fists, paused in action. 

The man with the familiar face had called off the Nomu’s attack. 

Midoriya knew him by name. Knew his goals. Knew his ally, Kurogiri, and the grim presence of the man he called ‘sensei’. Knew of the quirk he had been forced to use. 

Once. 

Every night, he’d taken the name and role of this man, had experienced the world through the eyes of the villain, had lived the life he would have never otherwise lived. 

“Dreams have untold ramifications, Tomura,” Sensei had told Midoriya once, when he was twelve, when he was once again in the wrong body. “It would be best if you tread lightly.”

The man with the familiar face’s eyes were blazing. He scratched at his neck angrily. Bloody sores identical to Midoriya’s own littered his dry, flaky skin. 

The name Shigaraki hovered on Midoriya’s tongue. 

There were so many things he wished to say. 

I know who you are.

You don’t have to do this. 

I can help you. 

Sensei can’t control you forever. 

Shigaraki only said one: 

“You.” 

------------------------------------------------------------

Midoriya had never been exclusively himself. 

[five-rivers]

Danger First

Chapter 2

Heya @pocketramblr. I have no self-control.

.

Izuku expected his anxiety to subside, one way or another, once the exam was over.

As always, the universe set out to prove him wrong.

Home was more or less okay. But, for some reason, minor household repair issues started to bother him so much he spent the rest of weekend working on them

Then there was school, which was even more hellish than usual, despite being exactly the same as it had been since the sludge incident. Izuku was way too aware of how much of a threat everyone there was to him, specifically. Especially the teachers.

His hypervigilante state did keep him from getting poked (smacked) quite so much by the teachers, or cornered by 'fellow' students quite as much as usual, but it also led him to hide in the library storage room. He'd never be able to look at the librarian the same way again. Not knowing she kept multiple copies of books by anti-quirkless hate groups on hand.

And all through the week, he got nothing but silence from All Might.

But the end of the week came, and with it a letter from UA, which told him-

.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, FIRST PLACE?"

.

"I don't know, Nana, Banjo makes a good point."

"Don't take his side just because he was your predecessor. You all know a One for All holder would never resort to such devious- Yoichi, why are you making that face?"

"In an unjust world, bribery can be a tool for justice. I'm sure Eighth didn't have to, though."

"That's it, I'm not talking to any of you anymore."

.

"Anyway," said All Might, wiping blood from his mouth and glancing nervously at the other beachgoers. "Congratulations, young Midoriya."

Izuku felt his lip wobble. "You're not mad that I couldn't use One for All?"

"Not at all! Actually, in some ways this might be better. We'll have some time to experiment privately. And if you're in school when it finally turns on... well, we'll just say you're a late bloomer, alright?"

"Okay," sniffed Izuku, rubbing his eyes. "I just... I couldn't use it. What if-"

"Hey, hey, it's alright, my boy. No need to cry. You passed the entrance exam without using a quirk at all! You should be proud. Even with a quirk, it's an incredible accomplishment. Also, just so you know, I had nothing to do with the selection process. Just in case you were worried about favoritism."

Izuku sniffed and nodded.

.

"What a strangely specific denial."

"Uh, Banjo, usually I'd be reveling in the chaos, but I think Nana is seriously considering ghost murder right now. Maybe you shouldn't insult her kid anymore?"

"You and Hikage would protect me, right?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I'd sell you to Satan for one corn chip."

"So would I; it's been way too long since I've eaten. As long as it is Satan and not All for One, you've got my blessing."

.

"You certainly proved this old man wrong."

"You aren't old," protested Izuku.

"We'll have to agree to disagree on that," said All Might. "Here, sit down with me," he said, settling on the sand.

Izuku hurried to follow suit, and for a while, they both just watched the ocean. It was nice, today.

"I owe you an apology, young Midoriya."

"H-huh?"

"For what I said on that roof," said All Might, "and for what I... implied later."

"You already apologized for the roof, though?" said Izuku, confused. "I mean, that day..."

"That's what I'm talking about," said All Might. "I shouldn't have- The way I apologized, when I offered you One for All... It was like saying that you couldn't do it without a quirk, that you needed a quirk to 'fix' yourself and... well, obviously I was wrong. Quirk or not, you're going to be an amazing hero."

.

"Oh," said Banjo, "I can already tell this is going to be a problem once he finds out about Danger Sense. Gonna blow a hole right through his confidence."

"Maybe he won't find out?" suggested Nana, who'd wrestled her murderous impulses into submission. Temporarily. "Danger Sense is pretty low key."

"I feel like I should be offended..." said Hikage. "But if I got offended, that would be offensive to people who don't have quirks..."

"I don't know," said En. "If someone insulted your legs by saying they were so skinny it was like they weren't even there, would you being offended be offensive to people who don't have legs? Or would the original statement be the offensive one?"

"Somehow, I feel more offended after that."

.

"Oh," said Izuku. He felt himself crying again. "Are you, um. You're not going to- Are you- Do you want it back?" he whispered. "One for All?"

"No, no, of course not. You... There's no one I'd rather have it. I'm just... even if you didn't, you could be a hero. But I'm hoping... I'm hoping you'll keep it."

Izuku swallowed and nodded. All Might awkwardly raised his arm.

"Do you mind if I...?"

"Sure?" said Izuku, not entirely sure what he was asking.

All Might put his arm around Izuku and gave him a sort of sideways hug. Izuku leaned into it. It was the safest he'd felt since the entrance exam.

Because, surprise, surprise, that anxiety hadn't gone away.

"What did you say?"

"Oh! Uh... it isn't important, it's nothing."

"It didn't sound like nothing," said All Might, concerned.

"I, well, I, ever since the entrance exam... maybe even a little bit before? I've been really... jumpy? About everything. I think it's just because I'm a wreck, but..."

"Huh. Well, you know, that could be a facet of One for All."

"R-really?"

"After I got One for All, it seemed like it was easier for me to tell when people were in danger and needed help," said All Might. "S- A friend who knew about One for All used to joke it was my original quirk. But it was subtle and intermittent, not constant."

"Huh," said Izuku. "So... it might have been One for All all along? Trying to get me to help people?" He picked at his lower lip. "Maybe... I noticed a bunch of stuff I usually don't... I'm not sure I would have seen all the people in trouble during the exam."

.

"So much for not noticing-"

"His confidence... let him have it for at least a little while..."

"He seems to be taking it alright," said Yoichi, hopefully.

.

"I'm sure you would have helped them if you did notice, regardless," said All Might, "and that's what was really being measured, so my earlier point still stands."

Izuku nodded. "It would be really strange for a quirk to have two completely different applications like that."

"Yes, but One for All is a rather strange quirk, and I've seen odder split quirks." He fell silent for a moment. "I can't think of a way to test for it, though. Speaking of which, we should find some time to try and work on One for All before the school year starts. How do you feel about coming to UA after school?"

.

"Th-thank you for helping us with this, Recovery Girl!"

"It's no trouble, dear," said Recovery Girl. "I'd be here at this time, anyway. You wouldn't believe the amount of paperwork I have to go through. Just try not to break too many bones."

Izuku nodded vigorously, still somewhat in awe of being in the presence of not one but two incredible pro heroes. And at UA.

It was like living in a dream.

Except for the highly suspicious mostly-hidden wall panels and the very intense feeling of being watched through camera by an incredibly threatening being. It was fine.

"Alright, young Midoriya! Are you ready?"

"Y-yeah!"

"Then come at me, you zygote!"

.

Nana stared at her (former) student in despair. "Toshi... why... out of all the people..."

"So, you admit he can make bad decisions-"

"Bad and immoral are two different things."

"I think calling people zygotes is pretty immoral, actually..."

Silently, Nana agreed.

.

Izuku blinked at All Might- not because of the zygote thing!

... Okay, partially because of the zygote thing.

But mostly because he was still in his skinny, prone-to-coughing-up-blood form.

"Are you sure?" Izuku asked. "What if I..." he trailed off, blushing. What he was about to say sounded so stupid, and more than a little conceited, but...

"Hey, even like this, I'm much tougher than I look, young Midori- Ahem, I mean, zygote!"

"Toshinori, don't you think role-playing as Gran Torino is a little much?" asked Recovery Girl.

"Ah, do you think so?"

Recovery Girl shot All Might a truly terrifying look, but Izuku's mind was on something completely different.

"Is- is Toshinori your name?" he asked, awed.

Blood drained out of All Might's face, making him look more skeletal than usual. Should Izuku not have asked? Was it supposed to be secret? Oh no...

"Please tell me you haven't been training this boy for most of a year without him even knowing your name."

"Oops?" said All Might, faintly.

.

"He did do that, didn't he?" asked Yoichi, his eyebrows almost touching his hairline. "Nana, your boy is a disaster."

"All of us were disasters. We're still disasters."

"I'm not."

"Hikage, you spent most of your adult life living in the woods, completely isolated from humanity."

"I know, it was great."

"Unbelievable."

.

"Back to what we were talking about before," said Mr. Yagi (Mr. Yagi! Izuku knew All Might's name! And had permission to use it!) after Recovery Girl was done scolding him. "Focus on actually hitting me before worrying about accidentally hurting me. Today, I just want to get a baseline. Next time, we can work on basic punches and throws."

"So, do I just-?"

"Yep, just come right at me!"

.

The next hour consisted mainly of Izuku being thrown bodily into various padded surfaces. Despits this, according to Mr. Yagi, he was much better at dodging than expected. As a bonus, although he certainly felt sore and bruised, he didn't break any bones.

He also didn't manage to activate One for All. Not even a little bit.

Nor did he on any of the other days leading up to his first day as a student at UA.

.

Aizawa Shouta, down two nights of sleep and dreading the new batch of bright eyed hero hopefuls he'd be teaching- and crushing the dreams of- next week, glared blearily at a computer screen. Currently, it displayed a student's name, a quirk name, and the single least helpful quirk description he'd ever seen. Which was saying something, because he'd seen Hizashi's original quirk description.

Midoriya Izuku

Quirk: undetermined

Description: None.

I am either too tired or too sober to deal with this, decided Shouta. However, sleep simply wasn't on the table, and getting drunk was illogical. In that case, simply not dealing with it was the only option.

Nevertheless, he picked up his phone and called Nezu.

"Good evening, Aizawa!" said the internally chipper maybe-rodent. "Or should I say good morning?"

"Midoriya Izuku."

"Ah, you're browsing your class list, I see. Any thoughts about their potential?"

"Illogical." It would be, to make a call about a student's potential without meeting them first.

"Quite so!"

"Midoriya. Quirk," grunted Shouta, reminding him why he was calling.

"Ah, yes, he is a strange case. He's listed as quirkless in the registry."

That woke Shouta up, just a little. He'd seen a handful of documents for the quirkless over the years. If Midoriya was quirkless, his file should read N/A, not undetermined.

"What?"

"I have reason to believe that he might have been diagnosed in error," said Nezu. "I am still investigating. In the meantime, I would appreciate it if you kept an eye on him. Assuming, of course, that he isn't expelled!"

Shouta grunted and hung up. He minimized the window on his computer and pawed through his files until he found the entrance exam video for Midoriya.

A kid who passed the UA hero course practical entrance exam either entirely quirkless or with a subtle, stubborn, or invisible quirk on rescue points alone. A kid who seemed to run straight for danger on purpose (mostly on purpose, Shouta amended after seeing him collide with the invisible girl, coincidentally pushing her out of the way of some sort of water pressure quirk. There was just no way he could have known she was there). A kid who had almost certainly faced brutal quirk harassment since the time he was four and most likely possessed the self-confidence and trauma to match.

"Least he's good at dodging..." muttered Shouta. He rubbed at one grainy-feeling eye and pulled his sleeping bag closer around his shoulders. Kid wasn't all that bad at falling, either. Some light martial arts instruction, maybe?

He paused the video and reopened Midoriya's file, flipping to school and admission records and exam results. He usually didn't look closely at this part of the file, it was enough for him that the students passed, but, exceptions...

Speaking of exceptions, Midoriya's file was a mass of contradictions. Unusually high written test score that didn't correspond with middle school grades. Dozens of citations and black marks on his disciplinary record that should have kept him from even being invited to take the exam, but a letter of recommendation from All Might.

He frowned at the last one. There was no way...

He shook his head, and clicked on the link at the bottom of the file. It brought him to a herotube video about a year old. A hostage situation with a vaguely familiar middle schooler and slime-like villain. Also, a bunch of heroes, but none of them seemed to be addressing the suffocating child. Shouta felt his lips curl. Even if this was in the past...

Then Midoriya Izuku ran into the frame and tried to pull the other boy free, just seconds before All Might arrived and punched the villain so hard it started to rain. Then the video ended.

Alright, then.

Shouta's admittedly currently-less-than-razor-sharp mind presented him with two possibilities. One, Midoriya was All Might's secret child and All Might had bribed Nezu into letting him take the exams despite his less-than-stellar records. Two, this child had, with bloody fingernails, managed to claw a single spark of luck out of an otherwise bleak existence by impressing All Might enough that he got Nezu to ignore the otherwise damning records.

If the first, well, he had still passed the practical without use of any obvious quirk. He probably had some potential.

If the second... Shouta had been a hero long enough to recognize the circumstances that drove people to desperate, and sometimes unforgivable, acts. Dangling a single hope in front of someone only to snatch it away at the last minute...

Forget the maybe-quirk. This was the real conundrum of Midoriya Izuku.

The rat knew he wouldn't expel Midoriya with these stakes. It would be the height of irrationality.

(Even if he did turn out to be All Might's kid.)

What a pain.

He flipped through a few more profiles, quickly reviewing 1-B as well, before hitting redial on his phone.

"Calling again so soon?" asked Nezu with a squeaky chuckle.

"I want Monoma." He paused. "In my class," he elaborated.

"Oh? Whatever for?"

"If I'm going to have to figure out Midoriya's mystery quirk, I want to make it as easy for myself as possible."

There was silence on the other end of the like, and Shouta checked to see whether or not he'd hung up accidentally. He hadn't.

"I must say," said Nezu, finally, "I had not considered that solution. Depending on the mechanics of Monoma's quirk... I cannot think of any reason to deny your request."

That was a strange way of phrasing it.

"We'll exchange him with Bakugo, in that case."

"Not that I'm complaining," said Shouta, "but why him? Why not..." He racked his memory. "Mineta. He's got one of those body part quirks Kan likes."

Nezu chuckled again. "Normally, I would pick Mineta, but, by my calculations, a classroom that contained both Monoma and Bakugo would be demolished within thirty minutes of their arrival."

Shouta groaned. Why did they even let people like that in?

No, wait, he had an answer to that, actually.

"Forget a mouse, a dog, or a bear," said Shouta. "You're a sadist."

"Some certainly think so! But one thing's for sure! I'm the principal!"

.

The door to class 1-A sure was big... and intimidating... and radiating a faint sense of malaise. But, then, Izuku's middle school classroom had done far worse, so...

He opened the door. No Kacchan. Thank goodness. He must be in the class B, then, because there was no way he'd let Izuku beat him to school.

The strict boy from the entrance exam was there, though, and, oh, dear, he'd noticed Izuku and was coming right for him.

(Oh, gosh, and the invisible girl was here, too. He felt himself blushing furiously.)

Still better than Kacchan.

"Hello!" he said, rather loudly. "I'm from Somei Private Academy! My name is Iida Tenya!"

"Oh, uh, I- I'm from Aldera Middle School..." said Izuku. Was stating the name of your middle school a normal thing? He hadn't read about this in any manga... "I'm Midoriya Izuku."

"Pleased to meet you!" He moved his arm in a rather robotic fashion, taking a deep breath.

Oh, no, was he about to yell at Izuku again?

.

"Danger Sense isn't even going off right now, Izuku," said Yoichi, despairingly. "Why are you still so nervous?"

"Maybe we never really gave him Danger Sense after all, and it was his natural anxiety the whole time."

"Please stop denigrating my quirk."

.

"Midoriya... you... you perceived the true nature of the practical exam. Meanwhile, I was blind! I misjudged you! I hate to admit it, but you were the superior candidate."

Oh, that was nice, but... "I didn't perceive anything, though. I had no idea rescue points were a thing. I was mostly just trying not to die."

"Ah! That curly hair! It's Midoriya!"

"Oh! Um, Uraraka?" Please, please, let him have remembered her name right.

"Yeah!" said Uraraka, smiling brightly.

Augh! Too cute!

"I'm so glad you're in my class! I was so worried I wouldn't know anyone here."

"Y-yeah. T-this is Iida, by the way," said Izuku, trying to get attention off of himself.

"Nice to meet you, Iida."

"It's nice to meet you as well, Uraraka!"

"Yeah! So, we've got the entrance ceremony and guidance sessions today, right? I wonder who our teacher will be- They're all supposed to be pro heroes, right?"

"Um," started Izuku, "that-"

"If you're here to socialize, then get out."

.

"That's a teacher, huh," said Yoichi.

"Why are you saying that like you've never seen one before?" asked Banjo.

"I've seen teachers before," said Yoichi. "I've seen all of your teachers. The ones you've had while you had One for All."

"Okay, now you're saying that like you've never had teachers."

"Yeah, that is kind of strange, Yoichi," said Nana.

"I had professors," said Yoichi.

"Still weird."

"I went to college. And med school."

"Did you graduate?" asked En, interested.

"No."

"Why not?"

"My brother kidnapped me, kept me in a vault for a while, and then I died."

"I didn't know what I expected," said En, shaking his head.

"Wait, weren't there several years between the vault and the whole dying thing."

"Yeah, but I'm ignoring them."

"Because?" Banjo hooked his thumb over his shoulder at Second and Third.

"Yep," said Yoichi.

.

"Todoroki. You were the highest scorer on the Recommendation Exam. See how far you can throw this ball with your quirk. Stay in the circle. Anything else goes."

A boy with white and red hair stepped forward, scowling faintly. He took the ball and stared at it.

"Time is valuable, Todoroki."

And then there was a glacier.

Izuku felt his jaw drop. How was he supposed to compete with that?

.

"My name is Monoma," said a blonde boy, offering his hand.

Izuku stared at it a moment before remembering handshakes were a thing.

"Midoriya," he said.

Monoma then offered his hand to Uraraka and Iida as well. "I look forward to experiencing UA's superior brand of education with you," he said.

Izuku laughed nervously. "You're confident," he said, glancing at the track where two others students were doing sprints. It would be their turn soon.

"But of course!" Monoma struck a sort of pose, fingers splayed out on his chest. "I welcome this sort of challenge, this opportunity to prove myself! It just goes to show, UA only accepts the best of the best!"

Monoma was called away to the starting line a moment later. "Two good, one dud," he mumbled under his breath.

What did that mean?

Then Monoma was at the starting line, and he was using Iida's quirk. Did he have a copy quirk? That was so cool!

... Is that what he meant by good and dud? Did he... did he see that Izuku didn't have a quirk? Oh, no... What if he told everyone? Even if people were being nice to him now...

"What's wrong?" asked Uraraka.

"U-um," said Izuku. "Nothing?"

.

"Oh, gosh," said Yoichi, crying. "I just want to wrap him up in a warm blanket. You deserve friends."

"Yeah, kid, it'll be okay," said Banjo. "Bakugo's just a freak. And so was your whole school. Place gave me MLA flashbacks."

"Sure glad they aren't around anymore," agreed En.

.

All in all... Izuku didn't do terribly. Especially given that he didn't actually have a quirk, and this was a quirk assessment. At least, he didn't think he did. At least, he hadn't tripped or hurt himself.

It had, in fact, been a rather good day. No Kacchan. No bullies. The teacher had clear standards and requirements, and he stated them up front.

He had been getting... bad vibes... from the short, purple-haired kid, and he'd noticed other people frowning at him, especially the girls. But he hadn't been able to put his finger on why, even though he had been watching him carefully during his turns.

Other than that...

UA really was the best.

"By the way, no one's getting expelled. It was a logical ruse."

Monoma raised his hand.

"What is it?"

"I must object!" said Monoma.

"You... want someone to be expelled?"

"In fact, I insist! To allow this to continue would blemish the reputation of the school."

"Well said, Monoma!" exclaimed Iida. "Living up to the reputation of UA and all the alumni who have come before us is a duty of us students! But what blemish are you talking about? Surely, as Mr. Aizawa said, we all went plus ultra!"

"Maybe so, but my concern has more to do with moral standards!"

"If you kids keep going like this, I'm just going to go to sleep. You're giving me a headache."

Izuku caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and a wave of unease went through him. He turned to see-

"Hey! What are you doing?" he demanded, shocked and more than a little horrified.

Once again, he was mortally embarrassed on behalf of the invisible girl.

"I wasn't doing anything!" said the small purple boy.

"You were looking up her skirt!"

"It isn't like there's anything to see!"

The invisible girl gasped and quickly moved away. "Gross!" she said. "That's terrible!"

"See? See?" said Monoma, wildly. "This is what I'm talking about!"

"Next time," said Aizawa, "get to the point faster. Time is valuable. Mineta."

"What?"

"You're expelled."

"What? You can't do that!"

"Go complain to Nezu."

UA really was the best.

"Midoriya."

Okay, never mind. He was doomed. Completely doomed.

"Monoma. I want to talk to you after class. The rest of you are dismissed."

Midoriya stood nervously as Uraraka and Iida bid him goodbye. Was this it? Was Aizawa going to expel him after all? At least it wasn't in front of absolutely everyone... But what was Monoma doing here?

Speaking of which, Monoma looked nervous, too... Was he okay? Surely, Aizawa wasn't going to expel him, too.

"Is this about me using other people's quirks?" demanded Monoma. "Because you said anything goes! I wasn't cheating. You can't expel me!"

Oh. There was some trauma there. Izuku could tell. Did people make fun of him for his quirk?

"I'm not going to expel you," said Aizawa, looking up at them from where he laid in his sleeping bag in the grass. He almost looked like he was praying for patience. "I need to ask you some questions about your quirk. For future reference and to better serve your needs as a student. I know how tricky meta quirks can be."

"Oh," said Monoma, slightly deflating. Then he sent a curious glance at Midoriya. "Is he-?"

"His matter is slightly more sensitive. If you would like me to send him away while we talk, I can do that."

"No, no, it's fine." Monoma sniffed, his eyes suspiciously wet. "What's the question?"

"You copy quirks through DNA contact. Do you decide when to activate passive quirks you copy, or can you choose?"

"I can choose, as long as it's within my time limit."

"When you first make contact, can you tell what quirk a person has?"

Monoma shook his head. "No, sir, I have to activate it to do that, so I can get duds- oh, that is to say, quirks I can't use because I don't have the proper activation conditions, like Midoriya's. He's got some kind of stockpile. I can get duds without realizing it. But I can tell whether or not someone has a quirk."

"Were you able to test all your classmates' quirks today?"

"Not everyone, yet," said Monoma. "I usually try to avoid more extreme mutation quirks outside of controlled conditions."

Aizawa's head bobbed up and down minutely. "Great. That should be enough for now. You're dismissed."

"Yes, sir! I look forward to seeing your superior lesson plans tomorrow!" He paused. "Midoriya."

"H-have a good day, Monoma."

Monoma had felt One for All! What a relief. Izuku had been half worried he'd lost it somehow.

But why did Aizawa want him?

"Um, sir?" he asked. Sort of asked. 'Sir' alone wasn't a question, even if it was said in an inquisitive tone.

Aizawa's eyes turned red, and his hair started floating. Izuku felt... Huh. Calmer, somehow? He was no longer vaguely aware of how the light post over there could fall on him, or any of the other many minor dangers surround him and oh, gosh, he was no longer aware of the dangers! How was he supposed to stay safe like this, when he felt like he'd been blindfolded?

Aizawa blinked. Everything came back.

"Wow," said Izuku. "That was so cool! Was that your quirk? Is it an emotional quirk? It made me feel calmer at first, but then I was, I don't know, too calm, and it made me anxious, but then-"

"Problem child," said Aizawa, and Izuku froze at the reprimand. "What I just did was erase your quirk."

Erase?

His quirk?

"Oh my gosh! You're Eraserhead! I'm a huge fan!"

Aizawa closed his eyes. Was he counting? No? Did he fall asleep?

"You do know you're listed as quirkless, right?"

"Yes?"

"But you just had a reaction to my quirk that a quirkless person definitely should not have."

"O-oh?"

"Combined with Monoma's ability to sense your quirk, I'd say you are not, in fact, quirkless."

"But I have the toe joint?" Izuku wasn't sure why he'd said that. He shouldn't be arguing against this, because, as Aizawa had said, he did have a quirk. It just wasn't exactly his.

"Yeah, that's an old wives' tale."

"Really?"

"As real as my quirk counselor license. Whoever diagnosed you was a quack."

"O-oh."

"My initial impression from your entrance exam video is that you might have a sensory quirk of some kind. On the other hand, we should take Monoma's assessment into account, and consider stockpiles. Either way, I would like to schedule some time to test things out with you."

"You- You'd do that? For me? I mean, I don't want to be a bother-"

"This is literally my job."

"It... yeah, I guess so." His previous teachers would have considered it a bother. Except Mr. Yagi, but Mr. Yagi wasn't really a teacher. He was more of a... a mentor.

(Or a dad.)

(Oh, no, he did not just think that. Bad. Bad brain. Bad brain that read too much All Might RPF as a pre-teen.)

"Besides, even if your quirk doesn't have many applications in hero work, it will be useful for you to know what it is and how it affects you." Aizawa yawned. "Also, don't tell your class that I'm Eraserhead."

"O-okay," said Izuku. "Of course, sir, but... why?"

"I have two full time jobs. I get my entertainment where I can. You can go now. We'll schedule tomorrow."

Izuku nodded, and Aizawa just... zipped his sleeping bag the rest of the way closed and rolled over.

Was... was he just going to go to sleep here? In the middle of the field.

"Um? Mr. Aizawa?"

A grunt came from the sleeping bag.

"This is... isn't this kind of a dangerous place to sleep?"

"Go home, problem child."

"... okay."