In another lifetime a newly diagnosed-quirkless Izuku would have trailed Katsuki into the woods, offered him his hand, and sparked to life a long growing superiority complex that would have burned between them for the next ten years.

This was not that life.

Deku was impossible to find.

If pressed, Katsuki would be unable to tell you just why he was putting so much effort into someone he had dubbed 'useless'. Maybe because he had never needed to look before. Deku was always just there, trailing behind him with that stupid grin and that stupid green hair.

It was starting to drizzle and Katsuki growled angrily, letting a series of little firecracker explosions burst in his hands. If he went through all this and then it turned out that Deku had got bored and gone back to Auntie Inko's house then Katsuki was going to explode him right in his stupid round face.

The rain was falling harder now and Katsuki glared up at is as he slipped across the river-bank mud and struggled to stay on his feet. He had just about decided to give up and leave Deku to it when he caught sight of a tell-tale flash of green on the bridge.

He scowled, shoving his wet fringe out of his eyes and stomping round to the steps.

"Oi, Deku!" He yelled, clearing the last step with what would have been a very impressive jump had anyone been paying attention.

Deku was perched on the bridge's railing, his back towards the water and his eyes vacant as they gazed off into the middle distance. His hands were bone white where they gripped the railing and he didn't even flinch when Katsuki came stomping over into his space.

Unlike Katsuki, Deku hadn't bought a waterproof out with him, so his small body was swamped in his too-large shirt and short combo that had already soaked through.

"…What are you doing out here?" Katsuki asked, squinting through the rain at Deku.

Deku didn't seem to have heard but after a moment Katsuki just managed to catch his mumbled 'nothing' before it was washed away by the rain.

"right." Katsuki crossed his arms and tilted his head back, ignoring the way that the movement dripped water into his eyes. "You sulking 'cause you're quirk hasn't come in yet? You know it doen't matter what you get right? It's never gonna be as awesome as mine."

"My quirk came in." Deku said. His voice didn't change. Neither did his face. There was none of the quirk-mad enthusiasm that Katsuki had come to expect from the other boy. He hadn't even turned to look at Katsuki yet, was still just staring blankly away.

"Well," Katsuki shuffled round so that he could lean against the rail next to Deku. "What'? wrong with it?"

"Nothing." Deku said, still distant. Still dead-eyed. "Quirk; analyse, it's an intelligence quirk."

Katsuki scrunched his face up. "That's lame…Better than no quirk at all though." Comforting did not come naturally to Katsuki, and the comment fell flat.

"It's not the quirk." Deku said.

Katsuki glared. Deku still wouldn't look at him and Operation; Face Explosion was looking more and more tempting by the minute. Katsuki was better than some stupid spot of air anyway.

"What is it then?" He demanded.

Deku's breath hitched and, for the first time, Izuku gave Katsuki his undivided attention. Katsuki froze. There was something in those eyes far, far older then their four years. Something sad, and grieving and lost. If Katsuki, at that age, had known the word Hiraeth he would have use it then. A homesickness for a place that had never been, or, would maybe never be again.

Izuku swayed on the railing and, for one long moment Katsuki thought he was going to fall. Thought that he would let himself tumble backward in the water and never be seen again. Then Katsuki's hand closed around his wrist.

"What are you doing?" He choked out. There was a tight knot in his throat that Katsuki would eternally deny feeling but that the more honest part of his brain would identify as fear. "What is wrong with you?"

Deku tilted his head up to the sky. His gaze locked onto one specific point, far, far in the distance. Further than any human could yet reach. Green eyes focussed with pinpoint accuracy not a set of coordinates that Katsuki would never identify if he heard them. A set of coordinated that Deku would never forget.

"It's quiet." Deku said eventually. His voice was perfectly even and unbearably small. The rain on his face could have been tears. "It's too quiet. I'm alone."

Katsuki didn't understand. He hated not understanding. But he stayed with Deku until the rain stopped. And then he stayed ten minutes more, until the water on Deku's face had dried.

The next day one of his random tag-alongs – the one with wings, Katsuki forgot the name – tried to make fun of Deku for his useless quirk.

Katsuki punched him in the face.

There was a door in the Midoriya's apartment that they never opened. When guests visited their eyes would skate right over, Katsuki had certainly never noticed it on one of his visits to 'Auntie Inko's' house. But the Midoriyas know that it is there. They always know that it is there.

They aren't really Midoriya's of course. He isn't Izuku. She isn't Inko. On the planet they were born on names were important, and they keep the ones their parents gave them close to their hearts.

Izuku is the name his mother gave him, shortly before choosing Inko for herself, only she wasn't his mother then, not yet, she was still his oldest sister who thought she knew everything and always got tasked with watching over the little ones.

She was the only one of them old enough to have chosen a name. Protector. Mother used to say that he had chosen too soon. Father used to say that she might as well have called herself 'The Babysitter' and been done with it. But it was the name she chose and she wore it well.

His other sister had never chosen. Neither had his brothers. They had been too young when they had burned with Gallifrey's fields. He barely remembered them. A flash of dark skin. The feel of long hair beneath his fingertips. Laughter and a woman crying. The taste of alkenan fruit, sharp and bitter on his tongue. The youngest had hated it. She had always had the sweetest tooth of all of them.

Names were important. The name you were given, the link to the past, and the name you chose, the link to the future you wanted to bring. They were a gift and a choice all at once, a self and a promise. The person you were and the person you wanted to be.

Izuku was named thrice over; Djed'an, Izuku and Deku. The parent, the sister, the friend.

But he had never chosen.

Names were important. Deciding which of his species' traits to pass off as his quirk had been a far easier choice to make.