"If you wanna be a hero that badly, there's a quick way to do it," Bakugou barked. "Believe that you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life and take a swan dive off the roof!"

The words echoed through Izuku Midoriya's head gravely. He trudged past the oppressive buildings closing in on him as he entered an overpass, muttering into his charred notebook. His lack of awareness led him to quite the bad situation with a massive sludge monster.

... ... …

"Can I become a hero, even without a quirk?!" Midoriya shouted, tears pouring out of his eyes.

All Might stared at him with sunken eyes for a long while before sighing, "It's... It's impractical to be a hero without a quirk. There are just some situations that you need a quirk for. A quirkless hero would be a liability. So no, you can't become a hero without a quirk."

"A liability?" Midoriya's tears ceased. His mind went blank. He dropped to his knees. He couldn't breathe.

"I, uh... I need to head out now," All Might mumbled awkwardly, distressed at the boy's reaction, or lack thereof, "If you really want to make a difference, you can always consider becoming a police officer." He walked out the roof door.

Midoriya's mind suddenly surged and, unable to contain his emotions, he began crying freely again. He cried on the ground for an indeterminate amount of time before stumbling up and leaving the roof.

He filtered through the crowds of people rushing through the streets, walking slowly and aimlessly. "What now?" he thought to himself. "My idol, the number one hero, just told me that my dream was unattainable. That I can't do it. Even All Might thinks less of me for being quirkless. He even patronized me with the idea of becoming a police officer. Maybe Kacchan is right. Maybe I am just a useless waste of space. Maybe I don't deserve to be here. Why am I even here? I have nothing. No friends, no quirk, and no dream. I can't be a hero. Nothing I do will allow me to reach my goal. I've dedicated my life to heroes, just for it to be wiped away. 14 years of work, worthless. Like me." He began to cry again.

He didn't want to be seen crying in public like this. It wouldn't be the first time he's cried out in the open, but this was different. They weren't tears of excitement for new All Might merch in the store windows, or tears of pain from Bakugou's assaults. They were tears of despair, his bottled emotions that he isolated so as not to inhibit his quest to be a hero. He turned a corner and stood in an alley between two tall buildings. His mind replayed scenes that had occurred recently, causing his tears to flow even more. Certain phrases stuck out to him, piercing his mind.

"Quirkless loser.
Useless Deku.
A liability.
Nobody even likes you.
You can't become a hero without a quirk.
Take a swan dive off the roof!"

That last one particularly caught him. It played over and over in his head. He stared at the fire exit of the building in front of him. Without hesitation, he began climbing the stairs until he reached the roof of that building. It looked all too similar to the roof he met All Might on. The real All Might. The skeletal shell of the most famous hero to walk the planet, who crushed his dreams and ruined his life. What was left of them, anyways.

He approached the railing on the roof and peered over, looking down at the puny people so many stories below him, minding their own business. He followed the railing to the alley behind the building, noticing the dumpster there. "Nobody will miss me. That's where I belong anyway, in the trash. At least this way, I can go quietly. No one will have to know about this. I'll be a one-liner in the city news and everyone will forget about me. People might even cheer, or celebrate. 'There goes the quirkless kid, now I don't have to look at his dumb face anymore!' That's what they'll say."

He stood up on the railing and his vision tunneled on the dumpster below. Nothing else registered in his senses, not even the loud clanking of the fire exit behind him. He closed his eyes. His mother's face, the face of the only person who's ever cared about him, flashed behind his eyelids for a moment, a caring smile on her face. He took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, mom."

And jumped off.

... ... …

Tsuyu Asui was strolling through the city almost leisurely, if not for all the people. "Hm, I heard there were two villain attacks in this city today," she began to herself. "Not one, but two. That's awfully fascinating. I wish I had the chance to see them. Oh well. They'll probably be all over the news tomorrow, I'll just wait until then. There are probably articles or even videos about them online right now, but I can wait... Damn, what's with all these people? What's going on today? Maybe it's just the time. Rush hour?"

She looked around at all the people passing through the crowds. One boy in particular caught her eye, mostly due to his green hair. It's not often that you see people with green hair, as Asui quickly found out with how people looked at her. She watched his face as he walked in the opposite direction as her. "Huh, he seems... off. His eyes are completely unfocused, kinda blank and dead. He's hardly paying attention to what's happening around him. That's not a good sign. Did he have a bad day? Is... is he crying?" Suddenly she turned and began following him from a distance, the people forming a way that allowed her to observe him from afar without being creepy. "He is crying! Poor guy, he seems nice. Ordinary and sorta passive. Except for those eyes. They're so hollow. I just don't like the look he has in his... eyes, wait I've seen that look before. I've seen that look before! This is bad! I've gotta get to him now!" Asui entered a panic as she saw him turn the corner into the alley and make his way up the fire escape.

He had a huge head start, there were so many people in her way. She tried getting by them calmly to reach the alley, but to no avail. So she began getting forceful, pushing and shoving to get across. He was almost at the top by the time she reached the bottom. "I don't have much time, I don't have any time!" She stamped up the fire escape as fast as her legs could carry her up. She broke into a hop to help her move faster up the flights. She returned to her feet when she reached the top, the soles of her shoes clanking against the metal underneath. There he was. Standing on the edge. He seemed to mumble something tersely as his eyes shut. "A prayer maybe? Uh-oh..." Then he took a step forward and was no longer standing on the railing.

... ... …

He seemed to fall forever. The wind whipping on his face as he approached the ground felt lovely, like a serene summer breeze. He was reminded of a nostalgic breeze he loved when he was a kid. During the spring months, it blew through his window and on his face. He smiled gently, not opening his eyes as the ground approached.

So when he suddenly stopped outside the windows of the top floor, his mind began racing. "Did I hit the ground? Am I dead? I didn't feel any pain. What if I lived through this? I can feel my arms and legs, so they aren't mutilated like I'd expect after dropping this far. Wait, what if this is... my quirk?! What if I can fly?! Mom can levitate small objects, what if I can levitate myself!" He opened his eyes. "I did not hit the ground. I can't even kill myself right. What's this?" He noticed something wet and pink wrapped around his abdomen. "Is this what stopped my fall? That's odd. What is it? Where'd it come from?" He turned his head as he began to be pulled up and saw a young girl extending her tongue at him, holding him up. "Oh gross, this is her tongue! Who is she anyway? Is this her quirk? She looks like she's my age, huh?"

She pulled him up over the rail, and planted him back on his feet. He collapsed backwards immediately, still reeling from his fall.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Asui shouted at him, a bit louder than she intended. "Y-you could've...!" Tears welled up in her eyes.

"What... whoa, wait a minute," Midoriya's actions finally set in, "I just... I just tried to kill myself. I just tried to jump off a building. I feel sick. I really didn't think this through. I got so caught up in my feelings. I really thought that nobody would miss me. I could never do that to my mom. I'm… all she has left. I would just be putting her in the same situation that I'm in right now—alone. I can't do that to her. That's selfish. Wow..."

"I-I'm sorry..." he whispered.

"That's all you have to say for yourself?" Asui's tears started pouring down her cheeks.

"I-I-I didn't think about th-this, I-I, er, a-acted irrationally," Midoriya finally managed to work out everything leaving his lips. He watched as the girl struggled inside her mind, deeply disturbed by something. She was thinking about something else entirely. Did she even hear what he said?

"I can't!" Asui yelled as she covered her face to hide the tears, "I can't! Not again..."

"Hm? What's wrong?" Midoriya decided to divert the conversation into finding out why this girl was crying, in hopes of helping her.

"This isn't about me!" she snapped, pulling her hands away from her face and drawing them into fists at her sides. "This is about you trying to off yourself!"

"B-but you're crying. Are you ok?" Midoriya held his hand out to try and ease the tension. "Is it... b-because of me? I'm so sorry..."

"N-no!" her voice whined, "it's not you, it's just that... I... I, um... last year, my best friend, she uh, hanged herself. I saw the same look she had that day on your face. I... couldn't let another person go." Her tears intensified yet again as her voice went up in pitch, and cracked and squeaked as she struggled to work the words out. "I don't even know you! But I... I couldn't just stand there and watch you die..."

"She saved me..." Midoriya echoed in his own mind, "She saved me from myself. She saved my life. Because she couldn't bear the guilt of seeing another person take their own life. She was ready to blame my death on herself. I really am an awful person..."

Midoriya smiled lightly, "Thank you."

Asui looked up, "...huh...?"

"Thank you for saving my life," he beamed, "You're... you're my hero." An awkward silence hung in the air as she took in what he said.

She finally spoke up, wiping the tears from her eyes. "So... what... happened? What brought you to..." she couldn't finish. She didn't have to, Midoriya immediately understood. The tears welled up and poured down his face almost immediately, his smile not leaving. Asui was unnerved by this, "Oh! I'm sorry! You don't have to tell me if you don't w—"

"It's ok," he cut her off, chuckling dryly, "You saved me, you deserve to know." He was surprised that he had maintained his composure talking to someone that wasn't his mom for this long.

"I..." he couldn't continue. His smile grew as the tears became more intense, and his words became choked up, never to leave his throat. He kept trying to speak up, but each sound fizzled out and died before it could even leave his lips. He collapsed to his knees, leaned over and pounded the ground over and over. "I can't even speak correctly!" he screamed into the ground suddenly, his voice finding its way out.

As if on queue, the pair heard a loud explosion fire off somewhere close by. Midoriya looked up as he heard the commotion arise across the street. He got up and started running for the fire escape. "C-come on!" he stuttered out to Asui as she followed him down.

They made their way to the bottom and crossed the street, joining the crowd. Midoriya saw the sludge monster immediately, recognizing it from earlier. "Why is it back? I thought All Might got it? Unless... did I...? He had the bottle with the monster before he tried to leave, so did I... knock the bottle out of his pocket? He couldn't have lost it on his own, All Might is better than that... but I'm not. This is my fault. I'm unbelievable. I could never be a hero making dumb mistakes like this." Midoriya was crying again, staring on at his mistake. He tried to make out the figure trapped in the monster. It hit him like a truck. Without thought or hesitation, he rushed into the chaos.

Asui called after him, "What are you doing, stupid?!" He couldn't hear her. He couldn't hear anything, not even the pro heroes who stood ideally in the alley, yelling at him to get back. Only the pounding of his heart. In one swift motion, he slung his backpack off and it flew towards the monster. It opened mid-flight and Midoriya's school supplies launched towards the sludge. A pencil pierced it's eye, and he paused for a moment to wail in pain and cover his eye, giving Midoriya the opportunity to try and scrap the sludge off of Bakugou's face.

"What the fuck are you doing here?! You damn, useless Deku!" Bakugou was blasting the monster in hopes of driving it back.

"I couldn't just stand there and watch you die, Kacchan!" Midoriya bawled.

With the monster stunned, All Might rushed it. With one quick uppercut, the crowd watched the sludge fly off the boy and get whisked away into the sky. The crowd cheered for All Might as he quickly left the scene, leaving a quiet drizzle in his wake.

... ... …

Asui watched as the green-haired kid she just saved tried to die again. "What is he, an idiot? Why would he rush right into the action with such a dangerous villain on the loose? He's gonna get killed! I just hope the pros can save him." She was impressed with his resourcefulness, throwing his backpack and actually immobilizing the villain. Then she heard Bakugou. "Useless? Did he really just call him useless? Even after he stopped the villain like that? That's cold. They must know each other, huh? That guy in the sludge called him Deku, that must be his name. If they know each other, then why did that guy call him useless?" Then she heard Midoriya respond to him. "That's... what I said to him. Is that why he rushed out? To try and repay his debt to the world or something? Or maybe he's trying to prove himself. Prove himself to who? Maybe... to himself. I can't imagine him having very high self-esteem, since he y'know... but is rushing in with a death wish really gonna prove anything? I'm gonna have a talk with him when he's done. If he makes it out alive. I'll have to be careful not to be so blunt though, maybe I can help him feel better about himself if I congratulate him?"

... ... …

Once he was done getting reprimanded by the pros after the scene, Midoriya trudged back to Asui.

"So, um... Deku, was it?" she said a bit nervously.

"Huh?!" he immediately stepped back. Did she know about him? Was she gonna bully him too? And after saving his life... Midoriya calmed himself and tried not to jump to any conclusions. "Uh, n-not quite, that's my um... my nickname," he cringed slightly when he said that, which Asui picked up on. "My real name is Izuku Midoriya."

"Ah, well I'm Tsuyu Asui, you can call me Tsu," Asui tried to step away from the fact that she just got his name wrong. "Are you... ok?"

"Huh? I guess so. I've seen worse." Midoriya had seen a lot of intense villain battles studying heroes, but he was more referring to personal experience. Asui was shocked.

"Worse? How much worse can it get? Never mind that, I just wanted to say... that was pretty brave running out there."

"No, it was foolish. The pros are right, I could've gotten hurt, or worse... I just got in the way. I was just a liability..."

"What? No you weren't! You single-handedly incapacitated the monster! You weren't a liability, you were integral to the villain's takedown! You gave All Might the perfect opportunity to strike!"

Midoriya's eyes began to water slightly, "You don't think I'm a liability?"

"Hm? No, of course not, you acted like a real hero out there."

"Uh... T-Tsu, can I ask you a question?" Midoriya fumbled around with himself.

"Yeah, go for it."

"Do you think that... that someone quirkless can become a hero?" he shut his eyes tight and braced for impact.

"A quirkless hero? I suppose it wouldn't be that outlandish. Many heroes have quirks that aren't fit for battle, but they still get the job done pretty well. They'd have to work harder than anyone else though."

Midoriya beamed at her, a huge smile and streams of tears pouring down his cheeks, "You really think so?"

"Yeah, of course. I wouldn't have said that if I didn't mean it. Uh... are you ok?"

He continued smiling, "Never better!" His smile quickly faded as a more serious sense gripped him. "You see, I... I want to be a hero. More than anything. But I'm quirkless. All my life, other people have made fun of me for being quirkless, especially because I wanted to be a hero. That guy from the sludge monster? He's the worst of them all. He calls me degrading names and... and he assaults me with his quirk. And then... I met All Might today. He's been my favorite hero, my idol, for as long as I could remember. I asked him the same question but... he said that I couldn't be a hero. That I would only get in the way." His eyes were pouring. "That's why... that's why I jumped," the last word squeaked out of his mouth.

Asui was astounded. "This guy had spent his whole life aspiring to be a hero, and nobody believed in him. But he stayed the course until his idol crushed his dreams. And he was bullied too. Was, or is? I can't imagine he has too many friends either, if any. That'd contribute to his lack of self-esteem."

"He said that I was his hero. I saved him once, but he's not safe yet. I want to help him. He's a great guy with conviction and spirit like I've never seen before. But he's been dealt a bad hand. I want to be his hero. I want to save him again. He doesn't deserve this."

"I..." she began, not knowing what she was trying to say. "I'm sorry to hear that. That's... that's terrible. I'm so sorry." She wanted to check her suspicions. "Have you talked to your friends about this? Or..."

"Or do I not have any friends?" he finished. "You'd be right, there. Nobody wants to hang out with a quirkless piece of trash like me."

She smiled warmly at him, "I'll be your friend." He looked shocked. "You see, I wanna be a hero too. I'm gonna apply to UA and become a pro! You should apply there too."

He was quiet for a moment, unable to believe what was going on. He finally screwed his head on straight, "I-I was planning on applying to UA, actually. After today, I wasn't planning on applying to a hero school, but... I'm not gonna give up. I need to at least try. Thank you, Tsu."

She smiled, congratulating herself on the victory that was reinvigorating Midoriya's dream. They both looked up and noticed that it was getting late. She turned to him, "Hey, can I see your phone for a moment?" He complied, not wanting to upset his new friend. She tapped around for a bit, typed something, and gave it back. "There, I added my number to your phone. Text me when you get home. I gotta go too, and judging by your mom's text, you should probably head home as well," she smirked with that last comment.

Midoriya's face was burning red when he looked at his phone and saw Asui's contact information filled out, and it turned an even deeper shade when she mentioned his mom. He looked at his texts and saw that his mom had sent him, "Izuku honey? It's getting late, you should think about coming home, dinner will be ready soon". That was embarrassing.

He lifted his head from his phone, "Th-th-thanks Tsu! I'll text you when I get home!" And with that, they parted ways.

Midoriya knew that if he was quick, he could get home on time. But of course, when All Might had interrupted his walk home, he knew that he wouldn't be making it on time. But after what the number one hero said, and after the offer he received from his hero, he was ok with that.