Mei was an anomaly in the purest sense of the word. Izuku would often describe her as a butterfly, an extremely hyperactive butterfly. She would flutter from invention to invention, always working and completing something new. Often he would get dragged into her experiments, whether he be a helping hand or her crash test dummy was still a gamble.

Despite all this, he saw a mad beauty in her. What had once been a small spark of ingenuity now formed into a raging inferno of all thing support items, It was awe-inspiring. What he liked about her the most, however, was that she was always changing, switching between her babies at a rate that would leave the average person out of breath just by watching her.

There was still a method to her madness, though, even if it remained just out of sight. She would flutter about in a random direction before quickly moving back towards her original design. When she would work, any ideas that she had during her project would always be created by the time she finished her original project.

He liked that about her, though.

He loved to watch her work to achieve. He would offer a bit of information here and there, but for the most part, all the credit went to her. He never minded, though. Seeing her smile was always enough.

He smiled gently as they worked together on her latest invention. "Force Amplifiers" as she liked to call it. The idea of it was simple, gauntlets that would increase the force behind a blow. It was thought up after watching the "Punching Hero: Death Arms" fight a villain who was able to match him blow for blow in pure physical power.

Designing it, though? That was a lot harder to achieve. Pistons made from a hollow titanium tube were intended to allow Death Arms to strike an opponent, then let the piston push forward to hit the villain with equal force. Putting this on an active repeat would create a continuous set of blows towards the villains.

It sounded simple to them on paper, but it would not be practical in the field. It weighed too much to be used in real combat, and once the pistons started, it was difficult to make them stop. They would continuously run until being forced to stop by pulling multiple levers, or until they burned out.

"Wait!" Oh, this should be good. "What if we copied those gauntlets from that one show we watched?" Mei's excited gaze turned towards him. "Gauntlets? What are you talking about?" Izuku stared at her in confusion.

"You know, the ones the blonde girl used! The shotgun gauntlets!" Now he was incredibly confused. 'Shotgun Gauntlets? What is she talking about? I don't remember watching anythi...' "Mei, are you talking about Rwby?"

"Yea! Remember the blonde girl that kept punching shotgun shells." Izuku gave a rough sigh. "Mei. Those would be even less practical. Remember? The only reason those worked was that of their aura. Also, how would you build them? You would have to build some sort of dampener to reduce strain on the user's arm, and." Izuku was back in mumble mode.

Mei always liked it when he mumbled. It allowed him to find the gaps in her designs. Finding ways to make her babies work. That was why he was the best partner.

'Oh, he's almost done.' As if on queue, Izuku stopped his mumbling, and judging by the look on his face, he had found a way to make it work. "Sooo? What did you come up with?" She spun in her chair to face him, giving him her full attention.

"It- It may just work. If we were to put padding within the gauntlets and then make the trigger a pressure system, then we may be able to shoot out the pellets every time he throws a punch." Mei grinned; she knew she could count on him to make this work. "But, shotgun pellets would be dangerous. We would need to find an alternative for ammo."

This was how the days passed between them. Continually talking about all the gear and adjustments they needed to make. Most of the ideas had to be put off for a later date, they didn't have the funds or equipment to pull off most of them.

Even so, they enjoyed every moment of it, and with the end of their summer break and their last year of middle school, coming up fast, they needed to make the most of it.

School started up quicker than either of them wanted to. His school was eternal hell, and her school mind-numbingly dull. No one in their school understood them, and that was fine, to a certain point.

Mei was regularly made fun of for wanting to go into the support course instead of being a hero. She took it better than Midoriya ever did, though, seemingly blissfully unaware that her classmates mocked her. Izuku, on the other hand, he was hyper-aware of the things people said.

Mei only had fun when she was with Izuku and Midoriya was only ever comfortable when she was with him. A constant round-about when it came to the two of them. They never minded, though, it was more fun that way.

Mei still waited outside his school every day so they could walk home together. It only raised the mocking more, but neither of them minded.

In his classroom, though, that was different. He was alone in class. No one paid him any mind most of the time, choosing to ignore the hero wannabe in favor of praising their resident atom bomb. He was sure they did it by force of habit by now.

Sitting alone wasn't all that bad, actually. When Izuku was alone, no one mocked him or tried to blow him up. They were content to leave him be so long as he stayed out of their way and remained docile. Still, there were always days where something called attention to him.

Today, unfortunately, was one of those days.

He knew it was going to be different when, on his way to school, he passed by a purse snatcher trying to get away from a few pro heroes.

He stopped to take notes on the heroes that had come to the area, mainly death arms, to glean some information on how he and Mei should continue with there "Shot Punch" as she so affectionately named it.

He was content to sit there and watch from the sidelines, of course, he changed his mind once the pro hero "Kamui Woods" showed up on the scene. At this point, he started pushing forward through the crowd, trying to get a better angle in which to observe the wood themed hero.

Finally, he was able o observe the debut of the new hero "Mt. Lady" and her rather... flirtatious way of dealing with the crowd. Watching in mild pity as she stole all the attention from Kamui Woods due to two rather large "Mountains" that she had hidden in her hero suit.

Still, there was some use in her power.

"So long as she stays away from narrow streets, she would have an edge in a fight against most villains, plus having a gigantification quirk does help gain you some attention from the media. I imagine with how her body looks, she'll reach the top ten in the "Most Attractive Heroes" poll, and that's always good for publicity..." And he would continue on like this until a passing citizen tore him from his stupor.

Sitting right behind your personal bully had a tendency to lead to problems. Namely a constant stream of abuse on the victim's part. Izuku knew this from experience. He was sure that he was always set behind Kacchan so that the explosive teen could have an outlet for his more violent behavior.

He walked into the classroom shutting the door behind him as slowly and quietly as he could. He turned to see an ash blonde leaning back in his chair nonchalantly, talking with a group of kids. 'Great, Kacchan's already here.' He tried to pass by him unnoticed. Surprisingly Bakugo seemed content to let him sit in his seat so long as he remained quiet.

The day continued on in its typical fashion, the teachers came in taught in their normal unenthusiastic tones, then they would go to lunch. Chatter filled the cafeteria while he sat alone. The occasional insult and leftovers were thrown at him whenever they thought they could get away with it.

Finally, the students would attend their final class, "Career Advisement," they called it. It was really just an excuse to weed out the students who had no potential as future heroes. Offering "advice" to students who didn't have the right quirks for heroics. It was one of the few classes that he didn't feel excluded from.

Today was different, however. That became apparent when the teacher actually had energy, rather than his usual expressionless appearance. He seemed excited as he read out the list of students for roll call.

"Since you're all third years, its time to think seriously about your future." The teacher said his voice resonating throughout the room. "I'll pass out handouts for your future plans now, but..." And here it comes.

"You're all..." The students began to activate their quirks. Izuku observed a few of the more interesting ones, subconsciously scratching a few of his scars.

The teacher twirled and threw the papers. There was always a reason behind this.

His scratching increased in speed.

"...Pretty much planning to go into the hero course, right?"

The class exploded with a loud "YES!" Everyone showing off their quirks except Izuku and Bakugo. Even a few of the more reserved students showed off their powers, albeit in a more contained manner.

"Yes, yes, you all have wonderful quirks," Izuku swore he heard a muttered "except for Midoriya" from the teacher. "But using your powers at school is against the rules!"

"Hey, teach," Bakugo spoke up at this point, drawing as much attention as he could, "don't lump us all in the same group." Midoriya's scratching reached an all-time high at this point.

"I'm not gonna be stuck at the bottom with the rest of these rejects!"

The class exploded once again this time in outrage. "That was uncalled for, Katsuki!" A few cries of "Yeah!" accompanied it.

"You should all just shut up like the extras you are!"

"Oh, if I remember correctly, you wanted to go to U.A. High, right, Bakugo?" It was said more as a statement than an actual question, it was probably his way of calming down the class.

There were a few gasps, and people looked on in shock at Bakugo. A few displaced mutters about how prestigious U.A. was reached Midoriya's ears, but he didn't care at this point.

"That's exactly why you guys are just extras!" At this point, Midoriya was starting to tune him out in favor of coming up with ideas for the gauntlets he and Mei were building.

"Oh yeah, Midoriya wanted to go to U.A., too, right?" He looked up quickly before burying his head in his arms. So that was the teacher's goal. This was why he seemed so excited. He had heard the teacher laugh about how funny it was to see the boy bullied by his peers. Using the excuse of that, it would just build more character.

The students turned toward him, a long awkward pause drifted through the room, before the erupted into laughter.

"Midoriya! In U.A.!"

"It's impossible to get in with just studying!"

"You don't even have that great of a power!"

The teacher looked on in barely contained amusement. Izuku found himself shrinking in, trying to escape from all of the stares and mocking. He couldn't escape from the explosion that tore his desk into so many chared splinters, though.

"Hey, Deku!" Standing above him and snarling viciously was none other than Katsuki Bakugo. "You're below even these rejects! You might as well be quirkless! How can you even stand in the same ring as me?!" Midoriya panicked, scooting back and subconsciously holding his scarred wrist.

"No, Wait, Kacchan! It's not like I'm trying to compete with you or anything! Believe me! It's just that it's been my goal ever since I was little. And well... I won't know unless I try.." He shouldn't have said that. Now Bakugo looked pissed, well more so than usual.

"Whaddaya mean unless you try! Are you taking the test for fun?!" Bakugo and the entire class leaned over him menacingly. "What the hell can you do?! You're useless!" Midoriya looked down at his feet, as Bakugo stormed back to his seat. Seemingly waiting to continue his "lesson" after school.

At the same time, in the same city, crime was taking place.

A tall, lanky villain ran past a few down passbyers. The store's owner ran behind, shouting for the thief to stop.

"Catch me if you can, heroes!" The thief ran by dropping a few thousand yen in the process. The citizens on the side of the street looked on in mild concern, a few asking where the heroes were.

"Uhg. There's no end to them." They failed to notice the hunched over man suddenly expand and grow into a towering form. "Yes, there is!" The citizens turned and gawked at what they saw. "Why?" They started cheering, and the thief looked back, his eyes widening in disbelief at his luck. "Because I am here!"

...

Midoriya began to gather his belongings, putting them into his bag in a neat fashion. A few students around him talking about their various plans for the rest of the day.

He checked his phone, looking at the news headline of the fight from this morning. "I should hurry up and go to Mei's so we can write this down in our notebook." Speaking of said notebook, he found it ripped from his hand. One very ticked off Bakugo looming over him.

"We're not done talking yet, Deku." His two "friends" trailed behind him. "Hey, Katsuki, what's that?" The "friend" with the long finger quirk asked, approaching the two of them with a wide grin.

Bakugo turned the notebook around, giving an uncaring gestor for them to read the title. "Huh? "Hero Analisis For The Future." Volume twenty-nine! Jesus, dude, how many of these things do you have?!" His friend laughed behind him, finding endless amusement in making Izuku's life hell.

"Midoriya..." The other "friend" scratched the back of his head in what almost seemed like pity. "I-Its f-fine isn't i-it? S-So give it b-back." Bakugo instead slapped it in between his hands, causing an explosion to burn the notebook. 'There goes more of our research.' Midoriya thought. He couldn't even care enough to react anymore, they had destroyed far too many of them for him to cry out about it.

They seemed displeased by his lack of a reaction if the scowls on their faces were any indication.

"K-Kacchan, p-please stop. M-Me and Mei work really hard on those." Even with all the anger he felt, he could never bring himself to yell at Bakugo. The two lackies snorted at the display, their boredom finally fulfilled by his reaction.

'You need to remain calm. Breath and think logically. You can still salvage the notes if you stay calm.' It was working for a little bit, that is until Bakugo threw the notebook out the window.

"That's mean Kacchan; Mei and I..." He was cut off halfway through his sentence by the loud yell of his once childhood friend. "I don't give a fuck about your shitty ass girlfriend Deku!"

He took a breath, calming down as much as the walking definition of anger issues could.

"Listen, Deku, Most top-ten heroes have stories about them from when they were in school. I want the shine of being able to be called the only student to make it to U.A. from this mediocre junior high school. I mean, I'm a perfectionist."

"He's so petty" was the collective thought throughout the room.

"So anyway, don't apply to U.A. nerd." He clasped his hand around Medoriya's shoulder, letting off a series of explosions, tearing a hole in his suit, he would have that burn scar for the rest of his life.

They started leaving after that, one of Bakugo's "friends" turning around and offering the slightest bit of mercy in the situation. "You should at least say something back." It was small, but the message was there.

"Don't say that. He's pathetic. He still can't face reality."

Bakugo stopped at the door, a malice grin on his face. "If you wanna be a hero that badly, there's a quick way to do it." He already knew what was coming; he had heard it all before.

"Believe you'll have a quirk in the next life and take a swan dive off the roof." Midoriya didn't even react, choosing to stand there instead, one of his hand hanging limply in his pocket. Bakugo gave one last sneer at his reaction before leaving.

The room stayed quiet for a long agonizing minute.

"I guess Mei was right. It really was a good idea to bring you along with me." He pulled out a small, silver tape recorder, smiling ever so slightly. "At least this way U.A. will be a little different."

He left after that, stopping by the nurse for some burn ointment and reclaiming his ruined notebook. He hated how the nurse merely shoed him away when she was done applying the salve. She didn't want to waste any more of her precious time on him.

Checking his phone, he frowned at the text he had received from Mei.

The wannabe Tony Stark: He Izu, Sorry I can't walk with you today :(

The wannabe Tony Stark: This morning's villain attack destroyed the train.

He sighed, at least she told him in advance.

Small Might: Yea, I figured as much. I'll be a little late. I got held up by Kacchan.

Knowing her, she wouldn't reply for at least another hour or so. So he walked on heading towards their regular meet up spot. Her garage.

He was still determined to be a hero, no matter what it took. Mei believed in him, and that was enough. He even had hope, hope that he could be like All Might.

He trained. Nothing serious, but it was still training. He invented and studied. He remained kind, even when others kept pushing him around. He always had the heart of a hero. All because of a video that he and his best friend still watched to this day.

The video of All Might's debut.

He always did love watching that video when he was younger. Mei did too from what she told him. He smiled at the memories of them crowding around his computer, watching and cheering when he rescued citizen after citizen from the burning background. All while proudly saying, "I AM HERE!"

They would cheer and holler until his mom came in and told them to keep it down, they still had neighbors after all. Then they would cheer quietly and rewind the video, watching in awe no matter how many times they saw it.

They still did that sometimes, and he loved every minute of it.

It was moments like those that allowed him to push forward, to stop hurting himself and look towards the future, and even if he wasn't entirely over his depression, he was far better than he was before meeting her.

Now he just walked, head held high, and shaking a fist in defiance. He had made a promise to become a hero, and he was going to fulfill it. His heroic spirit would never die because he had a goal, he, he...

He was grabbed from behind before he could even register it.

Green slime like liquid flooded his throat. He couldn't breathe. He was suffocating, or would this count as drowning? It's weird what you ponder when you're on the verge of death.

He clawed at the slime, trying desperately to get it out of his mouth. 'So this is it, huh? This is how I die.' His hands fell limp at his sides, no longer able to even support their own weight. He saw the sludge villain speak, but the words were lost on him. His hearing fading his eyesight blurry.

He felt sleepy, his eyes starting to close. 'Death by asphyxia, what a way to go.'

"Fear not young man!" What was that? The words sounded so muddled, and he couldn't see who said it. "For I AM HERE!" it didn't matter if he couldn't see him, Izuku knew deep down who it was that came to save him.

"You!" The sludge villain roared in a mixture of fear and anger. "TEXAS SMASH!" He had to be a good fifteen meters from the villain, but sheer wind pressure alone was enough to blow away the monster.

Izuku's body flew out of the grasp of the villain, and time seemed to slow down around him. Through hazy eyes, he saw the man he had always looked up to and dreamed of becoming.

The number one hero.

The symbol of peace.

All Might.

"Hey, young man. Young man! Young... Oh, you're awake! I'm glad to see you weren't hurt during my hunt for this villain." Midoriya tried to scramble back away from the pro hero, too amazed by the sight of his hero.

All Might gave off a laugh, seemingly trying to make light of the situation. "I don't usually make mistakes like this, but I was in high spirits on my day off in a new place. You were a big help. Thanks! I managed to capture him safely!" All Might held up two bottles, each holding some of the sludge villains body.

Izuku's eyes turned into swirls as he stared at him. 'The number one hero... All Might... H-He's the real thing... He looks completely different in person!'

"Oh, right! An a-autograph! Where should I?" He unzipped his backpack to find his notebook already opened and signed. "He already did!"

He continuously bowed towards the blonde hero. Failing to notice the desperate look that briefly flashed across All Might's face. "Now then, young man, I must be off! Places to go and heroics to do!"

"You're leaving already?" All Might began to stretch, limbering up his body to jump away. "Pros are constantly fighting enemies and time. Now then, I'm counting on your continued support!" With that, the pro jumped off.

Failing to notice the boy still clinging to his pants leg.

"Wait." All Might looked back at his feet, finally taking realizing that Izuku had grabbed onto his pants. "Let go of me! Your fanaticism is too much!"

"Are you crazy! If I let go from this height, I'll die!" He seemed to stop trying to push the boy off, letting out an "Oh, that's right," as if it was just becoming clear to him.

"All right, I get it; just close your eyes and mouth!" He looked around for a place to land, one of his hands coming up to wipe off a small stream of blood that was forming at his lips.

'Shit.'

Midoriya let out a shuddering breath as soon as they landed. "Th-That was really s-scary." All Might turned towards him now, his eyes narrowing at the boy.

"That was a very reckless thing to do, young man. You could have been seriously hurt. Good grief. If you talk to the people downstairs, I'm sure they'll let you down."

The hero began walking toward the edge of the building, intent on leaving the boy alone on the roof. "Wait! Um..." All Might kept walking, refusing to turn towards the boy. "No! I'm sorry, but I really am out of time, I must go!"

"Can someone be a hero even if they're practically quirkless!?" The question was screamed more than it was asked. Suddenly All Might paused, looking over his shoulder at the boy for the first time since they landed.

He watched as the boy lowered his head, his next words cut deep into his heart like daggers.

"Can even someone useless become like you!? Even if my quirk isn't strong, can I still be a hero?" His voice was much more somber now, sounding more like a pleading whimper than an actual question.

All Might couldn't stop himself from looking back at the boy and asking his next question.

"What do you mean practically quirkless?" Then his face contorted as his time limit finally kicked in. Steam began to erupt from his body as he doubled over, trying desperately to keep his true form under raps.

It didn't help that the boy had gone into a quiet rant about why he wanted to be a hero, finally looking up after he finished... only to see the skeletal-like figure of All Might's base form.

"Eeeeehhhhhhhh!"

In a dark alley in the Tatooin shopping district, a bottle filled with a thick green soup-like liquid began to shake as it's occupant slowly started to open his eyes.

"WH-Where am I...? What happened...? Oh, right that bastard. If it weren't for him." His eyes began to focus on the environment around him as he unscrewed the cap from inside the bottle.

In front of him were three oblivious fools who just happened to walk into the wrong alley. Perfect three medium-sized meat bags... Any one of them will do.

He slid out of the bottle, grabbing hold of the blond one. Just his luck, too, this kid had a powerful quirk.

"Yea, you'll do just fine."

Midoriya stood there quivering as he looked at the deflated hero. "Fake. A fake! You're so skinny!" All Might grimaced; the last thing he needed was for some kid to discover his secret too.

"I am All Might..." Blood erupted from his mouth as he spoke. "You know those guys at the pool who puff up their chest to look big... I'm like that."

"There's no way!"

He slumped down into a seated position against the railing. "Five years ago an enemy did this to me," he lifted his shirt to show the mangled twist of flesh that made up his left side. "My respiratory system was nearly destroyed, and my stomach had to be removed. I can only do hero work for about three hours a day, what you see is how I look the rest of the time."

He stared incredulously at the child. "You asked if it was possible to be a hero without power. A hero is always ready to risk their lives. Without a powerful quirk, can one become a hero? I would have to say No. It's not a bad thing to dream young man. Just make sure you keep them realistic."

All Might stood up content to leave the boy like that, though he did spare one last glance and advice.

"You don't have to be a hero to save someone, you could be a police officer. It's a fine profession."

And with that, he left, leaving behind broken dreams and a shattered heart.

Midoriya still stood on the roof, looking out from over the edge, the tape recorder from before in his hand as he replayed the words over and over.

The longer he stared though, the more tempting the drop was.

Thoughts flooded his head, one he was sure most people had at one point in their life.

'Would anyone really miss me?'

'Would it make a difference?'

'Was there really an afterlife?'

He stared for just a little longer before he slapped the sides of his face. "No, I made a promise to Mei that I wouldn't think like this anymore.

Let it be known though that his razor blade was still clutched in his hands.

"I need to be heading home soon, Mei is probably worried as it is."

He walked oblivious and dead to the world. He didn't notice the smoke ahead of him, he didn't hear the hushed whispers of people around him, and he certainly didn't see the crowd around the alleyway.

He stopped when he reached it, though. Something about all this seemed familiar. The smoke, the fire, the sound of explosions... Wait... Explosions?

He turned, and his body froze. There in the alley was Bakugo, Restrained and suffocating on the slime villain from before.

He didn't know when he started running, he didn't even know why he was. Any sane person would have left the bully to his fate. Who was he kidding? He hung out with Mei, of course, he wasn't sane.

He sprinted as fast as he could, ignoring the civilians mulling about, ignoring then heroes, and ignoring the figure of All Might who was hiding in the crowd.

"You! You had your chance now get lost.!" The sludge villain yelled at the charging student. A tendril shooting out in an attempt to fling the student away.

The boy grunted as he dodged under it, launching his backpack at the villain as he did so.

It didn't do much but make the sludge monster recoil. It was enough though, Bakugo's mouth was free, if only for a second.

"The hell are you doing here, Deku!" The boy flinched reflexively at his voice before answering. His voice must have cracked a million times, and he had eyes filled with so much fear, but still, he answered.

"I don't know my legs just moved on there own, but still, you looked like you were calling for help!" The world froze around them. Everyone looked at this boy in shock. The heroes who chose to do nothing, the civilians who only stood by and watched, and All Might who hid within the crowd apologizing for not being able to do more, but most of all, the childhood bully in which he was trying to save.

And then the villain reclaimed the explosive teen, using his quirk to blow the boy back. It was the opening he was looking for as he shot one last tendril at the annoying student who kept popping up out of nowhere.

That would have been the end if a muscular arm didn't block the blow. "I really am pathetic. I spent all that time telling you what a hero should be, but I wasn't even following my own words." All Might was back in his muscle form, and with it, One For All roared with power as he punched the villain.

The blow echoed throughout the alleyway. Citizen and hero alike recoiling at the sheer force of the punch.

Midoriya was on his way home, deciding to skip on Mei's for today. He walked in a half-dead state, after all, most people would if you had just been yelled at by a bunch of pros.

"O.I.! Shitty Deku, wait up!" He knew that voice, he was not looking forward to this.

He turned to face the ash blonde, more than prepared to be exploded for the fifth time that day.

To his surprise, however, Bakugo just yelled. "I didn't need your fucking help, okay! I would have been just fine on my own! You hear me you, shitty nerd! You didn't do a damn thing!" And with that, he was gone walking in the opposite direction.

Well, that could have gone worse.

Slowly he slid his hand into his pocket, pulling out the tape recorder. He stared at the small, silver object for a moment, before bringing back his arm to throw it. Content to smash it on the ground.

He paused, lowering his arm. People didn't change that quickly, he shouldn't be naive about that. He slid it back into his pocket, letting it sit there in case he needed it later.

He sighed once more before continuing on his way. Only to be stopped again. At least this time, it was by All Might.

All Might stood there going into a small monolog about how he got away from the reporters, it would have been cool if he didn't deflate halfway through and cough up blood.

He spoke once more; this time, his voice much more serious.

"Back then, you were the only one to act. You, the shy, powerless fan-boy, were the only one to jump in to save someone."

"But… All Might… I… I still couldn't do anything."

"No. You interfered and risked your life. For most heroes, they always have something in common when it comes to rescuing others: their bodies move before they could think."

"That was what happened to you, wasn't it?"

Tears freely flowed from his eyes as he said his next words. "…yes…"

All Might stared down at him, a soft, proud smile on his face.

"Izuku Midoriya, you can become a hero."

Izuku dropped to his knees, openly sobbing at the words of the number one hero. Flashbacks of scenes in his life where everyone tried to force him down freely ran through his mind.

All he ever needed was for someone to believe, to support him.

To say he could be a hero.

"Izuku Midoriya, I deem you worthy to inherit my power!"

One moment passed... Then another... And another...

"Eh?"

Perhaps that was the only correct response.