If he had just been faster. Just a millisecond faster, and it wouldn't have happened. He would've been fine. He would've been sitting in the hospital listening to Recovery Girl chastising him about being more careful with his body.

But he wasn't fast enough. Now he was sitting on his bed; all of the All Might merchandise that had littered his walls piled in his closet. He didn't deserve to look at All Might after losing One for All. He let All Might down, big time.

Izuku stared numbly at his hand as he traced the scars littering it with his fingers. It was all that he had left now. He didn't feel the buzz of energy that One for All gave him underneath his skin. He didn't feel anything. It felt so...so empty. So much like before.

"Why?" Izuku whispered hoarsely. "Why did this have to happen?"

He curled in on himself on his empty bed mattress as he raked his hands through his green curls.

Worthless. Stupid. Useless. All the taunts from his middle school days came rushing back.

"It isn't fair."

Izuku let out a strangled sob.

"It isn't fair!" He shouted as he grabbed his notebook that happened to be within his reach and threw it.

It smashed into the wall, and papers flew out of the worn book as Izuku watched in silence. One particular paper landed next to the edge of his bed as the rest fluttered down to the carpeted floor.

Izuku sighed and picked it up as he wiped the tears from his face. His hands gripped the paper tightly as he skimmed over whatever it said. He stared at it for a minute before he crushed it in his hands and threw it in the trash.

Izuku slowly made his way off his bed and grabbed the rest of the papers without looking at them, discarding them in the trash as well. He was about to pick up the last remains of his worn notebook before he heard a knock on his door. He quickly threw the book underneath his bed before he jumped on the mattress and shoved his face into his pillow, not wanting to be seen with huge tear stains on his face.

"Yes?" He asked, voice muffled by the pillow.

"H-hey, Deku! It's me, Uraraka. Can I come in, please?"

A pause.

"Sure."

Izuku lifted his head out his pillow, tear stains not as noticeable, and watched as the door opened to reveal Uraraka holding a plate of cookies. As she scanned his dark and empty room, Izuku could see the sadness seeping into her usually joyful expression. He wanted to make her feel better, but he just couldn't. How was he supposed to make her happy if he couldn't even make himself feel anything but guilt?

Uraraka jumped when she noticed Izuku watching her.

"W-well, I was just wondering if you wanted to talk." She stammered out, not noticing that she had accidentally sent some cookies flying through the air with her quirk.

"Uh, Uraraka—" Izuku said softly, pointing at the floating cookies.

"Oh, stupid me! I should really pay more attention to my hands!" She muttered out as she jumped around the room, tapping every cookie she could reach, sending them tumbling back towards the floor.

Izuku watched silently as Uraraka scrambled to catch the falling cookies on her plate. He quirked a small smile when a cookie fell onto her head.

"Well, anyways! Would you like a cookie?" Uraraka asked as she held out the almost empty plate, oblivious to the cookie balancing on her head.

"Yeah, I'll have...that one." Izuku said, pointing to the cookie on her head, chuckling a little bit when her face twisted into a confused expression.

"Huh? There's no cookie—" Uraraka said, turning her head to look up.

The cookie tumbled off her head and Izuku jumped off his bed, hands outstretched to catch the cookie before it hit the floor. He watched in horror as it landed on the ground and broke in half.

Izuku stared at it numbly. He couldn't even save a cookie. He really was useless now.

"H-hey Deku, it's just one cookie. We have plenty more to choose from!" Uraraka chirped enthusiastically, noticing the change in his demeanor.

Izuku just continued to stare at the broken treat.

Worthless. Stupid. Useless.

"Hey. Izuku." Uraraka said softly.

He turned his dull gaze towards her when she used his first name.

"It's alright. Look at all the cookies I dropped!" She laughed awkwardly as she gestured to the multiple cookies littering the floor.

"Yeah..." Izuku trailed off, shaking his head.

Stupid. He was stupid to get so emotional over a cookie.

"Thanks, Uraraka." Izuku said, turning to look at her.

He wasn't prepared when she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed, hard. It felt so nice, to know that someone cared.

"Urara—"

"If you ever want to talk about it, I'll listen." She paused, obviously thinking through something. "I just wanted to let you know that."

And that was when Izuku hugged her back, gasping as tears streamed down his face. He felt Uraraka rub his back in soothing circles as he continued to sob.

"It's just so...so hard." He managed to choke out when he finally calmed down. "I just don't want it to be like—"

Izuku stopped abruptly. Nobody knew that he was originally quirkless, except for Bakugou. And if he told Uraraka that he was, she'd ask how he'd got his quirk and then he'd let down All Might even more than he already had.

"Like?" Uraraka asked softly, and Izuku felt the rubbing on his back stop.

"Like I never existed." Izuku mumbled out, pulling away from their embrace as the tears on his face dried.

"Why would you think that?" Uraraka asked, sadness dripping into her voice as she looked at him.

"Let's just say that I didn't have the best days in middle school."

"Oh..."

"Yeah." He smiled bitterly.

"I'm sor—" Uraraka started before being cut off.

"Don't! You didn't do anything wrong. Besides, that's in the past now."

"But you don't seem to be over it yet."

Izuku paused for a moment, rubbing the snot starting to drip from his nose on his sweater sleeve.

"Huh. I guess I'm not, am I?" He sniffled. "Well, that's something to work on then."

"Still looking for ways to improve, I see." Uraraka chuckled softly.

"What can I say?" Izuku shrugged sheepishly.

"That's the Deku I know!"

"Huh?"

"O-oh, well, it's just, when I heard what happened at the whole quirk erasure bullet incident, I wanted to see how you were doing, so I came right here, and when I opened the door, you just looked so sad. So...broken. I was scared that you wouldn't be the same." Uraraka rambled on. "But, obviously, you are still the same Deku I know!"

Oh. Did he really look that demoralized? He never realized. It dawned on him after hearing Uraraka's ramble that he was throwing himself a pity party and having her waste her time.

"Oh, I'm glad." He said with a strained smile.

He had to think of a way to get Uraraka to leave. She probably had much better things to do than talk with him. The last thing Izuku wanted to be right now was a burden.

"Uh, I'm going to go walk around outside a bit. Stretch my legs." The lie felt dirty on his tongue, and he wanted to spit it out as soon as possible.

Uraraka, who had gone to pick up the cookies strewn across the floor, perked up.

"Oh, would you like me—"

"I'd rather go alone."

"Oh, okay. I understand." Uraraka replied, somewhat dejectedly.

"Thanks." Izuku whispered.

Uraraka finished picking up the cookies and opened the door.

"See you around later?" She asked, turning her gaze to look at him.

"Yeah. Maybe."

And with that, Uraraka walked out into the hallway, closing the door behind her with a resounding thunk.

Izuku sighed and sat down on his bed, holding his head in his hands.

"What is wrong with me?" He whispered to no one.

He was useless enough as it was, loosing One for All so easily, but now he was worrying Uraraka? And he was sure that she had probably talked to Iida and made him stress for no reason too.

"Why can't I do anything right?"

It was funny, actually, how much loosing his quirk devastated him. Well, to be totally honest, it wasn't even his quirk to begin with! He had no right to be gallivanting around with it, let alone lose it!

Izuku broke out into hysterical laughter as he looked at his scarred fingers. He deserved those scars; what would he expect from using a quirk that wasn't his?

The thought quickly stopped Izuku's laughing and he furrowed his brow.

He thought back to the day he met All Might. What did he even do to earn his quirk? He threw a backpack. That was all he did. Plus, he was the reason the villain had gotten away in the first place, wasting All Might's precious time and pestering him with stupid questions.

Izuku groaned, clutching his sweater in a fist as he continued his downward spiral.

He had put Bakugou in danger because of his antics and all he did was throw a backpack. No wonder Bakugou hated him.

What was going through All Might's head when he decided to give up his quirk to some little, bothersome kid? Izuku wouldn't usually question All Might's judgement, but he couldn't fathom his reasoning. It didn't make sense, and Izuku would have rushed to ask him if he wasn't so terrified of coming into contact with the hero.

Izuku flopped backwards and stared at his ceiling, breathing deeply.

"What am I going to do now?" He asked himself after a while.

It was a loaded question that he'd rather not answer, but he knew he had to face it sometime. Since he didn't have a quirk, he couldn't partake in many of the aspects of class in the hero course. Not that he deserved to be in the hero course to begin with.

"Why, why..."

He didn't even know what he was asking anymore. Why did anything happen to him? Why didn't he remain quirkless in the first place? Why?

Izuku couldn't answer any of his questions, but he wasn't sure if he even wanted to know.

~o0o~

As Uraraka sat in the lobby of the dorms, she pondered over why Izuku had suddenly decided to go on a walk. Alone. Izuku wasn't one to openly reject someone, especially if it was for something as small as a walk.

It wasn't anything she had said, right? She couldn't think of anything that she had done to upset him. But she knew that something happened. Because he was starting to seem more like himself and then he just suddenly reverted back to how she had found him when she first stepped into his dark room.

Uraraka tugged at her hair as she bit her lip.

It was something she did, wasn't it? That was the only explanation. She had went in to cheer him up and ended up leaving him no better than how she found him. She was such a horrible friend.

Uraraka sighed and hid her face in her hands, slouching forwards on the couch.

"Hello, Uraraka!"

She pulled her face out of her hands and looked up to see Iida standing before her, a concerned frown gracing his features.

"How did it go with Midoriya?" He asked, sitting down next to her.

Uraraka took a shaky breath, blowing her bangs out of her eyes.

"It was going well, but then I must've done something and now...now he's lying to me!" She cried out, tears forming in her eyes.

"What?" Iida demanded. "When would Midoriya ever lie?"

"He said he was going t-to go on a walk, and I've been waiting here to see if he was coming down! B-but he never showed up!" Uraraka blubbered as tears rushed down her face.

"He could've—"

"No!" She cut him off. "This is the only way out! I must've done something to upset him! That's the only reason I can think of!"

"You don't know that for sure, Uraraka!" Iida yelled at an attempt to console the sobbing girl next to him.

It worked, surprisingly.

Uraraka's sobbing grew softer as she watched Iida bend down and pick something up. She didn't know what; she could barely see from the tears blurring her vision.

But when Iida straightened up and offered her a chocolate chip cookie on a eerily familiar plate, her tears came back full force.

"What? What did I do!" Iida cried out, clearly out of his element.

Uraraka just shook her head as she continued bawling. She looked at her failed attempt to cheer up Izuku and felt a wave of sadness pass over her. What had she done to make it all go south?

"Hey. O-ocha...Uraraka. I doubt you did anything to make Midoriya lie. He's doing it for personal reasons, not because of you." Iida managed to stutter out.

Uraraka's tears slowly came to a stop and she sniffled, looking up at him.

"You think?" She asked in a small voice.

Iida hesitated before saying, "Definitely."

"Oh...I guess I just thought..." Uraraka trailed off, giving him a watery smile.

"It's not your fault."

It's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not your fault. The words echoed in her skull and warmed her whole body. She had just assumed that it was something she had done, but if Iida, who looked at logic and cold hard facts, not at emotions, said that it wasn't her fault, she believed him.

"Thanks, Iida." She whispered as she crushed the bespectacled boy in a hug.

Iida let out a noise of surprise before relaxing into the embrace. Well, as much as he could anyways.

"It's no problem." He replied softly, patting her back.

They sat like that for a while, just the two of them together in a comfortable silence, before they both decided to call it a night.

~o0o~

Iida stared silently at his ceiling as he laid in his bed. He found it unusually hard to fall asleep tonight as he looked around at his blurry surroundings brought on by his lack of glasses.

He rubbed his face with his hand before sighing.

If what Uraraka said was true, then there was definitely something wrong with Izuku. Besides the absence of his quirk. Iida had known the boy long enough to know that he was a very candid person. There was no way he would lie for no reason. And that's the reason why Iida was worried. Why would he lie?

Well, if he was going to speak of lying, he was no saint either. He had told a tiny fib to Uraraka. He had said that she definitely had not done anything wrong. But how was he supposed to know? Exactly. He couldn't. But she had looked so impossibly sad that he couldn't help it. He let his emotions rule his actions over sound logic.

But Uraraka had looked so happy after he told her that, so he wasn't going to say anything. Besides, he doubted that she did anything to upset Izuku to that extent anyways.

Iida blinked and pushed his hand into his usually neat hair, which was now ruffled this way and that from the gesture.

What was Izuku going to do now? He didn't have a quirk; how was he supposed to participate in class now? They...wouldn't transfer him, would they?

Iida pushed his hands through his hair even more.

They couldn't! Izuku was the first kid to stick with him and be his friend no matter how much he acted like...a "teacher's pet". That's what his old classmates in middle school called him.

Izuku had seen past all that and stuck with him through thick and thin. Even during that time with Stain where he wasn't thinking the clearest. There was no way that they could transfer Izuku! He was the one who probably cared most about being a hero, seeing as he used his bone-breaking quirk without hesitation.

They couldn't just move him so easily! Iida wouldn't let them. He would fight and fight no matter how hard to keep his friend in his class, even if it meant bending the rules a bit.

The idea of going against the rules left a bitter taste in his mouth, but Iida stood his ground. Izuku probably had much more on his mind than worries about rules.

Iida nodded his head fervently in the darkness of his room. He was going to make sure that Izuku got to stay in Class 1-A. It was the least he could do, and his friend already had to deal with being quirkless, let alone being kicked out of class!

"Don't you worry about a thing, Midoriya..." He mumbled as he fell asleep with plans for the next day brewing in his head.

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I'd just like to thank you for taking the time to read my story, and I hoped you enjoyed it. I already have all the rough drafts typed out, so I promise that this fic will be finished! Again, thanks for stopping by!