Disclaimer: My Hero Academia is the property of Kohei Horikoshi and various production companies.

Key:

Normal Speech: "Sup my dude."

Screaming: "WHERE THE HELL DID IT GO!"

All Might: "Midoriya my boy!"

Thoughts: 'This was a horrible decision.'

"We aren't born equal."

That was the first lesson Izuku Midoriya had ever learned. It was one lesson he would never forget. How could he? Everyday he was surrounded by reminders.

His next door neighbor had telescopic vision. The elderly woman down the street could bench press his home. Even now as he walked to school, he saw a group of children playing tag, just thirty feet in the air.

The reminders weren't just skin deep either. Out of habit, Izuku scratched at the many dozens of small cuts and burns that spread over his arms and legs like spots on a dalmation. Everyday, Izuku went to school and sat next to the very person that taught him this all encompassing lesson, and gave him those scars.

Katsuki Bakugou, the only friend Izuku had ever had, but that felt so long ago. It was before Izuku had learned his lesson, back when they were both equal. But that was a lie.

Izuku sighed as he entered the gates to his middle school. The truth of the matter was that he had never been Bakugou's equal. He was just a lackey to the boy with every talent known to man. For as long as he could remember, Bakugou had succeeded in everything he'd ever wanted to, and even some of what he didn't.

Nothing had really changed when Bakugou got his quirk, their dynamic was the same thing it always was. A useless Deku, and the incredible Kaa-chan. It made no difference to whether him was beaten with words or weapons, he was powerless. This was just his lot in life, right?

"Oi, watch where you're walkin, Deku," the words were said from behind Izuku, and he jumped in surprise.

"M-morning Kaa-chan," Izuku shook like a leaf under his 'friends' glare.

"You're still in my way dumbass," the blonde's red eyes were set in deep apathy instead of rage, but it was far to early in the morning to get violent.

Izuku scuttered over to the side of hallway, and Katsuki rolled by. A pack of his new lackeys trailed behind him, all wearing the same smug look.

Izuku could never really hate Katsuki, because despite his… unique personality, Katsuki had always shared Izuku's dream. To become a hero. Sure, he bullied Izuku, and he intimidated the other students, but he never crossed the line.

But his cronies, Izuku hated them with a passion. They used their status as Bakugou's 'pals' to get away with a lot at school. Bakugou was the sort to do as he liked, but he never set out with the intention to hurt someone. These guys were different. Hurting people was how they got their kicks, and it burned Izuku to the core.

But it stung a lot more to know that he still couldn't do anything about it. Even against schoolyard jerks like those, he was powerless.

Keeping his head low enough to have his shaggy green hair shade his eyes, Izuku took the long way around to class. It was simpler to avoid them and let the day pass as fast as possible. So he walked to class, and sat down before the bell rang. Katsuki came in alone, having his crew go to their own classes, but it was more than likely that they just went to smoke behind the school.

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. It was the last class of the day, and he'd been enjoying some incredible luck. For the whole day, save a brief interaction in the morning, Katsuki had left him alone. It was a welcomed respite from his usual torture sessions, and Izuku had taken the time to scribble some more notes into his prized journal.

"Kamui Wood doesn't normally go after high end targets on his own," he whispered to himself, "But that's because his quirk is better suited for capturing large groups of weaker enemies."

Tapping the pen of his temple Izuku hummed, "But that doesn't mean he's never attempted any high profile solo missions. There was that one time with-"

"Hey, Midoriya," Izuku looked up from his book to see his teacher standing with his arms crossed and his foot tapping. "Don't get so lost in your thoughts, the bell rang a while ago."

The jade junior looked around and saw that his classmates had indeed vacated the area. In fact, the entire building was eerily silent.

"Oh," Izuku scratched his neck, "My mistake."

The teacher chuckled before waving him off, "Just get home safely, Izuku."

As the teacher left the room, Izuku packed up his things and started to leave. Descending a flight of stairs, Izuku was thrown for a loop when he heard what sounded like ragged breathing.

He scratched his head, as the lower he went the worse it began to sound. He began to worry, and he picked up the pace. Then a sharp yelp cut through the rhythm of moans and Izuku started to breath faster.

By leaps and bounds he raced down the staircase. All the while he kept his footsteps light as to listen in on the sounds. Finally he reached the foot of the stairs, and heard nothing. Izuku closed his eyes and listened closely. He couldn't have imagined those sounds, someone was down here and hurt. He slowed his breathing to a halt, and heard a single gasp.

He turned on his heel. The sound had been behind him, under the staircase. Izuku approached slowly. The first thing he saw was a foot sticking out from the shadows, next were the pants of the school uniform, and that made him breath in relief.

It was just someone napping under the stairs, They had probably skipped their last class and nodded off under there. Kaa-chan's groupies did it often enough, but they normally rolled as a pack of two or three. This one seemed to be by himself.

Oh, well. Izuku would just wake him up and leave.

As he went to do so, Izuku paused again. Now that his jacket was in view, it looked ruined. Rumpled and dusty. So did his shirt. Peering into the shadow of the staircase, Izuku held back the rising need to vomit.

The student was looked awful. His face was swollen over with welts and bruises. He looked more like a rotten blueberry than one of Izuku's classmates. There was a dried trail of blood the cracked over his nose and dripped onto his shirt leaving to substantially sized stains.

Izuku searched the boy's face to no avail. It was so badly beaten that he couldn't recognize him. He had some distinguished gills on the sides of his neck, but they were covered with more dust.

Izuku dropped down next to him and lightly shook him.

"H-Hey," he spoke softly. "Are you- I mean. What happened?"

The student's chest, which hardly moved before, violently jerked forward. He would have fallen over if Izuku hadn't shot his hand forward to catch him by the chest.

Izuku cringed as he felt his classmate's ribs move in an unnatural way, possibly shattered.

"K-Kua," the child struggled to speak. He opened his eyes to the best of his ability, and Izuku could make out some vaguely brown irises under dusty black hair.

"Don't try to talk," Izuku insisted, leaning the boy back against the wall. "The nurse doesn't leave until 4 and she knows me. I can be back here with her in a few minutes."

"Kuabichi," the boy sputtered. "...and Lavi."

Izuku nodded in understanding, two of the thugs that hung off of Katsuki's shoulder's like coats. They were bad, but Izuku had never seen something like this.

"I'll make sure they don't get away with this," Izuku proclaimed before he ran towards the west facing side of the school.

'Nurse Kirigai, she's always here until she can file away all student injuries. I know she can help," Izuku thought of everything he might need to grab from the nurses office if she wasn't there. So far he hadn't seen anyone in the halls not even teachers. It was a blessing not seeing those two, but a pain not to have a teacher around.

Izuku turned the corner and nearly slammed head first into someone else. They were wearing the school uniform too, and Izuku grimaced. Expecting to see either one of the two offenders, he was, in equal parts, relieved and shocked to see Bakugou. Before he could stutter an apology, he remembered there was an heavily injured student that need immediate medical attention.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Deku?" Bakugou sneered at Izuku, but he didn't get a response.

Izuku jumped to the side and ran faster towards the nurse's office. Surprised at the lack of response, Bakugou reached towards Izuku's shoulder and yanked him backwards. Izuku was taken off his feet and roughly shoved into a locker while a glowing hand began to burn dangerously close to his face.

"Don't ignore me, ever," Bakugou let a few small blasts bubble off from his hands, singing Izuku's eyebrows in the process. "What are you doing here, Shithead?"

Seeing that he wasn't going anywhere with Bakugou gripping his shoulder so tightly, Izuku squeaked, "There's someone really hurt under the staircase. If I don't get to the nurse then I don't know what'll happen."

"Pffft," Bakugou peeled Izuku off the locker and let him stumble to the ground. "Is that all? What a fuckin' waste." The explosive blonde stuffed his hands in his pockets before pacing down the hallway. "I only come back for my phone, not some dumbass."

'But you stopped me?' Izuku didn't really care to vocalize that though however, and decided to be thankful that Katsuki just let him go. He picked up the paced towards the nurses office.

He knocked on the door frantically, listening as feet shuffled towards the door.

"I'm sorry but I'm just about to leave- Oh, Izuku. Are you hurt again?" Nurse Kirigai pulled her brown hair back into a bun as she spoke. She looked a bit more serious as she saw Izuku's body language.

"A student's dying under the staircase!"

A long paused filled the air, and Izuku slapped himself. He didn't mean to put it so… morbidly. Then again, there wasn't any time for niceties.

Kirigai stood for a moment, Izuku's words dawning on her slowly. She put her hand over her mouth before she dodged back into her room. It took just under a second for her to exit with a large kit hooked under her arm, racing down the hallway at a runner's pace.

"Which hallway?!" she screamed back, not slowing down for an instant.

"Science wing!" he yelled back. The nurse picked up the pace and turned the corner, leaving Izuku behind.

Feeling a little better about the situation, Izuku closed the door which had been left a jar by Kirigai's rush. As he pulled his hand away, he noticed that all the dust on the boy's shirt had clung to his hand.

Except it felt wrong. Rather than curl or crumble or do anything that dust did, it smeared on the door's handle. Izuku turned his palm and saw that his hand was covered in the grey mess.

Izuku lifted his hand to his face, trembling as he began to suspect what it might be. He put his palm over his nose, and took a whiff. It smelled like nothing, but Izuku could tell there was a familiarity to that. It was burnt, it was ash.

The boy's shirt was covered in ash. Bakugou hadn't left the building, yet. Izuku started to sprint towards the exit Katsuki had been walking towards.

Izuku caught up with the blonde bomber just as he was leaving the school. Katsuki nonchalantly strolled out the gates, and Izuku felt his little spike in adrenaline overcome his fear.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Izuku screamed at his childhood friend, who just looked startled at the unexpected outburst.

"Deku?" Katsuki laughed in disbelief. "Who the fuck do you think you're talking too you little shit?"

"A bastard," the answer had caught them both off surprise but Izuklu was rolling with the heat in his chest. He raised an open palm to Katsuki and glared."Why did you hurt that kid. What could he have done to deserve almost beating him to death?"

Now Katsuki was narrowing his eyes, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't play dumb you jackass," Izuku took a step forward, as did Katsuki. "This ash came off his shirt, he's dying under the staircase, and I can't even say his name because his face is swollen shut!"

Katsuki's body relaxed, and he tilted his head back as he asked, "You're talking about the one with the gills, aren't ya?"

Izuku fummmed in silence, and Katsuki scoffed.

"Tch," the blonde rolled his eyes before stepping forward to Izuku. "It was one hit, cause they kept annoying me in class."

"Bullshit you hit him once," Izuku snapped.

Suddenly he was lifted of the ground, he shirt's collar held by Katsuki. "I did, and you're gonna learn to watch who you called a liar, Deku," He glared darkly as he tossed Izuku back a few feet. "Whatever else happened was probably Lavi and what's-his-face, Kua-something."

"Did you tell them to?" Izuku sounded deathly serious, but Katsuki just looked offended.

"The fuck would I care for? I got mine, what they do is their business."

"How can you say that," Izuku could hear his heart in his ears. "How can you let them get away with all of this crap! Don't you care that they're using your name to do it? Do you care that they're hurting people."

Izuku stood under Katsuki's smoldering gaze unflinching. There was a moment when Katsuki's expression flickered, it might have been regret, but it could have been disgust too. Izuku would never know, it was too brief. He had no time to think on it either, because Katsuki broke the silence with a vicious sneered.

"I told you Deku," the blonde stuffed his pockets and rolled his neck, "I don't care."

"Why not!?" Izuku screamed it at the taller boy. "Don't you want to be a hero? Don't you want to help people?"

Katsuki snickered at the desperation in Izuku's voice, shaking his head.

"Don't be stupid. You think people look up to All Might because he saves so many people, or because of that dopey smile?" Katsuki raised his palms and let loose a flourish of fire and dust. "It's because he never lost. It's because he never fails. Someone always dies as collateral but All Might never fails."

"You're wrong," Izuku asserted.

"I'm not." Katsuki snarled at Midoriya, "A hero is someone that never loses. A hero is an unbreakable pillar that everyone wants to climb. Not some loser that jets it for the nearest papercut."

"You're wrong!" Izuku shouted. "Hero's defend people. They put their lives on the line to defend everyone else! They-"

Katsuki lifted his shoe and slammed it into Izuku's gut. Aside from knocking the wind out of Izuku, it had definitely bruised a few ribs. Before he could crumple to the ground, Izuku was caught by the hair, being yanked up to face Katsuki.

"No one would give a damn about All Might if he ever lost a fight, and neither would you!" Izuku winced at those words, "If you ever told yourself different then you aren't just useless, you're a liar."

"A-All Might...never let someone get...h-hurt if he could help it."

Katsuki scoffed before letting Izuku fall on his face. "You live in a fucking fairy tale, I'm here in reality, where power makes the difference. Now, apologize."

Izuku felt a fire light in his stomach. He ignored the hollow ache in his stomach to look at his former friend.

"Why."

"For wasting my time." Katsuki counted off a finger. "For accusing me of something stupid, for being a dumbass. Better yet, for being yourself."

Every word set Izuku to an even deeper anger. So much of hm wanted to lay into Katsuki, but even more wanted to lay into himself. Katsuki always had his problems, but Izuku couldn't remember a time when someone said victory and he didn't think of his old friend. Why hadn't he ever considered the price for that victory?

How could he have been so wrong? This guy was the opposite of All Might, he was basically a villain already. But the world wouldn't see that when he donned the mantle of hero. They wouldn't see the hateful little monster underneath, because Katsuki had been right.

All Might was the best because he never lost. Izuku idealized Katsuki because he never lost. The world would only ever know the victories, and not the real victors.

But that wasn't true. It couldn't have been. There were dozens of heroes that never lost, but there was a reason why All Might was at the top. And it wasn't the power, it was the smile. It was the desire the defend that he seemed to exude with every step.

Izuku will never have the power, but he will have the smile.

"Well?" Izuku looked up to see Katsuki looking annoyed. "Anytime you're ready to say it, Deku."

Izuku couldn't find the bubbling anger that had been beneath him before. It was replaced with something else, pity.

"Someone like you…" Izuku felt a swell of tears burn at the back of his eyes, "Can't be a hero."

A long silence filled the shrinking space between Katsuki and Izuku, as the former marched toward the latter with black smoke billowing off his hands.

"If you're feeling brave," Katsuki dropped his backpack on the ground. "Repeat that."

Izuku felt his heart race, and every muscle, every cell, wanted to run away. Midoriya didn't move. He didn't blink. He clenched his hand, feeling the smooth soot spread across his palm, and remembered the boy under the staircase, possibly dying because of the boy before him.

Bakugou wasn't the one to brutalize him, but he would have let it happen anyway. He had the choice to stop it, and he didn't even care. He had the power, but it didn't mean anything.

"You're the strongest person I know," Izuku smiled sadly, "But being a hero isn't just about strength. You can't just pluck someone out of danger, you have to defend their hearts. But that's beneath you."

In the time it took for a heart to beat, Katsuki had shot forward, catching Izuku's face in his palms. He squeezed the smaller boy's head in his hands, and set of an explosion.

The full and direct force should have rocked Izuku to the ground, but Katsuki held him up by his grip, screaming into into his still ringing ears.

"Who the fuck are you giving me advice!? As if some quirkless shit knows fuck about being a hero!" He let off another explosion, and the wheezing gasps of pain the weakly left Midoriya's mouth let him know he hadn't killed his classmate, if he even cared at this point. "I got power, I got talent, I put in the work! I deserve to be a hero, you deserve to be fish bait to some guppy!"

Katsuki loosened his grip on Izuku's face, letting him fall. But before he reached the ground, he punched Izuku across the cheek, sending him towards the Earth even faster.

"Don't ever open your mouth around me again." Katsuki yelled at the younger of the two, who could only barely open his eyes to look back. "You're wrong dammit. You're a fucking dumbass!"

Not giving him a second look, Bakugou turned around to pick up his bag, not knowing that Izuku was still watching him as his mind faded to black. Not knowing that as he leaned forward to pick up his bag, Izuku could see the small trail running from his eyes and dripping off of his nose.

Katsuki didn't think Izuku could here him sniffle, but he did. Katsuki walked away as quickly as he could, not knowing that Izuku heard ever tear drop hit the ground as he left.

'Why?' Izuku's last thoughts began to drift away from him, like smoke threw a net. 'Why are you crying, if you really think I'm wrong?'

And then he slept.

And that's chapter one of the rewrite. Let's see how long that took.

"4 weeks," author looks rightfully ashamed. *Following this realization, Moon uttered a string of profanities and vulgarities so violently unsettling that he isn't allowed to every repeat them. But the general message was, "I'm a freaking idiot." *

I'm very sorry to everyone I kept waiting, but I hope you enjoy and comment. Chapter 2 is already underway.