Chapter Text
Every breath burned in his throat, the sand under his feet was cold and sharp, every muscle in his body ached. Midoriya Izuku had less than an hour before his ten months of training were finally up. He had been chosen by the number one hero, All Might, to be his successor, and for ten months he had been training like hell. Ten months ago, All Might had bestowed to him the knowledge behind his Quirk, One For All; that it was like a torch to be passed down from each user and this was his chance to be that successor. He hadn’t been sure of himself, he almost never was, but he also knew he would never get a chance like this again in his entire life.
He could still remember that day as clearly as if it were still happening in front of him again.
He fell to his knees, barely able to contain his tears. There stood his personal idol, telling him the one thing he had been waiting his entire life to hear, “Young man, you too can become a hero,” All Might declared. He was barely more than skin and bones, but Izuku still saw the hero he had loved since he was a kid. The man he wished he could be.
Midoriya clutched his chest and wailed into the evening, his pain finally releasing from his chest. The pain of never believing he could be what he truly wanted to be. He didn’t even notice how high pitched his voice was becoming as he cried, barely conscious of the moment. All he could feel was the flood of emotions pouring out of him and the constricting feeling against his chest.
“I deem you worthy of my Quirk, my power is yours to inherit.”
That’s when Izuku’s life was turned completely upside down. All Might began to train him in order to prepare his body for One For All. It had started on this very beach, once covered in trash and debris, now only a small pile remaining. The task seemed impossible at first, mountains of refuse to sift through and move. Huge pieces of discarded furniture, appliances, and vehicles were common sights.
“You will restore the coastline for this section of the beach. That is the first step on your path, young man, towards being a hero,” All Might dictated, looking up to him from the fridge he had simply crushed with his bare hand.
Izuku’s blood ran cold, eyes wide as he looked at the mountains, peaks, and valleys of garbage around him. How the hell was his scrawny body going to move any of these pieces of junk even a foot?
He simply smiled contently at the memory as he began pulling the last fridge off of the beach.
“All this?” he despaired, “But, there’s so much! That’s impossible!”
“Young Midoryia, you want to go to UA University, right?” All Might rhetorically asked as he stood up, the rising sun slowly creeping up from behind him and framing his now large frame in light.
“Well yeah, of course! You went there, so it must be the best school around, right?” He clenched his fist in front of his chest in determination, “It’s a long shot, but still I’m going to shoot for the moon. UA.”
“You got a lotta spirit, fanboy!” bellowed the towering superhero, “But, as I mentioned before, heroing isn’t easy to do without a Quirk. It’s not fair, but that’s the reality, and UA is the hardest to get into. So that means…” he paused, waiting for his new apprentice to finish the thought.
“That I have to prepare my body for your Quirk really fast! UA’s exam is in ten months!” Izuku exclaimed, already feeling the anxiety take hold of him.
“Not to worry, kid! I’ve got you covered! With the help of my handy ‘Aim To Pass American Dream Plan’!” All Might dramatically revealed a stack of printed paper. It was a detailed daily and weekly schedule that charted Izuku’s every minute. It had dedicated work out, class, study, dinner, and even sleeping times for each day, meal plans, and even recommended study materials. “This plan was designed specifically for you, with your body in mind! Follow this to the letter and the beach should be cleaned up in no time!”
Looking it over, Izuku felt a cold dread creep up his spine. It was intense, more than anything he had ever pushed himself to. He had always been sharp mentally, even if he had the tendency to massively overthink everything, but he never imagined pushing his body to these kinds of limits.
There was one thing that immediately bothered him about this plan, “All Might, sir?”
The massive man looked down to his pupil, “What is it Young Midoriya? Daunted? Scared? Ready to back out?” He was teasing him, attempting to get him to suddenly buck up in courage and declare himself ready to follow the plan, but that wasn’t Izuku’s problem.
“It’s just… you said that this plan was designed with my body in mind, but there’s something that I haven’t told you about me,” he cast his eyes down in shame, not even knowing how to tell his idol about this. He held the papers out to All Might, who took them without a word, being oddly quiet. He took a deep breath and decided he’d simply show him, gripping the bottom of his ‘ALL M’ tshirt and pulling it up and over his head. He was flushed with embarrassment taking his shirt off in front of All Might of all people, but he’d already committed. Letting the shirt simply dangle from his hand as his arms went back down to his sides.
What he had been wearing under his shirt was a black compression top, one that cut off at his abdomen. He wished he didn’t have to wear it, that he could afford the surgery that wouldn’t make it necessary anymore. That was Izuku’s life in a nutshell though, born without a Quirk, born with the wrong parts, just born wrong. He had to bite his lip and clench his fists to keep himself from crying, a task that was nigh impossible at the best of times.
All Might hadn’t said anything yet, tilting his head at the smaller man, “You wear compression tops?” he asked, seemingly oblivious to the meaning of the article.
Izuku could barely sputter out a response, “No! I mean, yes! I mean, it’s not just wearing it, it’s-” he stopped and took a breath, he knew he had to get this explanation right and couldn’t afford to ramble as much as he normally did. He summoned all the courage and mental strength he could, “I have to wear it, it helps me feel like me. I wasn’t born in any way that I wanted; I had no Quirk and I was…” he bit back a sob, just barely holding it back, “I was born a girl.”
All Might’s darkened eyes went wide, finally realizing what his protege was telling him.
“I always looked up to you, wanted to be like you, in every way!” Izuku continued, already feeling the tears welling in his eyes, “I knew since I was little that I wanted to be a hero like you, a man like you!” He had already said parts of this to All Might before, but he hadn’t revealed his assigned gender yet. Stupid, he had thought to himself, Stupid to think I could ever live up to all that he is. Nothing about me is right. I should just go now so he can find a better successor.
Just as he was turning to leave, eyes still downcast not wanting to look at his hero, a boney and rough hand gripped his shoulder. Finally looking up, he saw his mentor, now ragged and skinny again, with a serious expression on his face. Still Izuku ran his mouth, “I’ll get out of your hair All Might, you can find a successor that isn’t living a lie,” he began spouting many of the hurtful things that Bakugou Katsuki had drilled into his head over the many years.
He was cut off by All Might, “What are you talking about kid? You aren’t living any kind of lie.”
The assurance shouldn’t have thrown him off, especially coming from the greatest hero in the world, but he had been so used to Bakugou and the other students’ taunts that he still was surprised by it. He looked up to his mentor’s eyes, seeing a compassion in those darkened blue eyes he’d not felt from almost anyone in his eighteen years.
“Young man, you are as real as any single one of us. I put up a front, pretend to be something I’m not anymore. Whenever I’m out heroing, it’s nothing but a farce, a ruse to make everyone believe that the number one hero isn’t faltering. When I go home, I’m no longer All Might, I’m simply Yagi Toshinori again.” He reached out with his other hand, now gripping both of Izuku’s shoulders, “You are Midoriya Izuku. You are him when you’re here, when you go to school, when you go home at night. You never stop being Izuku, because that is who you are!” He gave the younger man a warm smile, not the plastered on one he used when he was bulked up, but one that conveyed he truly meant what he had said.
It was all too much for Izuku, never in all his life had someone other than his mother validated him like that. She was supportive, of course, one of the only things keeping him stable throughout his transition. His doctors were always disinterested at best, dismissive at worst. They always got him out the door as quickly as possible, if he wasn’t as analytical as he was, he was sure their fast instructions would have been lost before he had even hit the sidewalk outside. His entire school knew, he had been going to school in the same district for his entire life after all. Most people didn’t know him beyond that, even if they called him by his name he often heard the rumors surrounding him and his existence. Katsuki knew, they had been “friends” since kindergarten, and his taunts and teases were always shouted as loudly as he could, making sure everyone could hear him. Even his own father had abandoned him when he began to question his identity, he was barely a kid at that stage and now disowned by one of his parents.
Already the waterworks were on overdrive, he couldn’t stop them no matter what. Tears streamed down his face, dropping into the dry sand below. He didn’t even think about what happened next, but he suddenly rushed forth and closed the distance between him and his mentor. He threw his arms around All Might, not even knowing if they were at a stage where a hug was acceptable, but he didn’t care at this moment. He was sobbing and wailing, yet another pent up block of emotion suddenly and swiftly obliterated by his hero.
To his surprise, All Might returned his hug, giving him plenty of time to work through his emotions. This was far more delicate than simply breaking his body into shape, and Toshinori wasn’t going to break this. Inside his scarred chest, he knew in his heart that this kid who had worked against every odd in his life to get to where he was now deserved to carry One For All. He was going to make doubly sure that he would reach his potential, he knew he’d make Izuku reach the potential of the man he wanted to become.
Finally pulling apart, Izuku sniffled and attempted to wipe away his tears, All Might clapped him on his shoulder. “You don’t need me to become the man you already are, kid,” he explained to his student, “but I’m going to be doing everything to set you on the path to becoming the hero you know you can be. It won’t be easy, and I won’t coddle you. Think you’re up for it?”
Wiping his face with his shirt, Izuku looked into All Might’s eyes again, now with determination, “I am!”
Nodding at him, All Might then looked at his printed out schedule, “I’ll do a bit of research tonight, revise the plan for you so that it takes into account everything. I’ll make sure that it’s the-” suddenly in a puff of steam, the jacked version of All Might was before Izuku again, “true Aim To Pass American Dream Plan fit just for you, Midoriya Izuku!”
The memory of his first day on this beach sustained Izuku through the last few hauls he had to do. He had long since started to let himself get lost in thought when he was out here on his own, slowly picking away at the enormous task. It helped him not think as much about the long hours of body aching workout he was doing on a near daily basis and pass the time before his alarm let him know it was time to stop for the day.
Reaching the zenith of his collected mountain of trash just off the beach, Izuku dumped the last piece down in a heap. Looking out to the beach in front of him, he saw nothing but clear sand being gently lapped at by the waves slowly crashing in. The sun was just about to peak up over the horizon. In his mind’s eye, he could see the mess that had been there when All Might had first taken him here, and to see the complete change that he had brought on with nothing but his own strength and willpower, he felt pride rising up within himself. He’d never felt as proud in his own actions in his entire life. Not of his vast collection of All Might merchandise, not of his array of notebooks filled to the brim with hero knowledge, not even of his final grades in high school.
He had made a real difference here, one that people could see with their own eyes, one that people could enjoy the fruits of his labor with. Another feeling was bubbling up inside of him, one that was fit to burst out of his chest. Subconsciously he’d heard the sound of a car approaching, but his thoughts were far from the junk pile he stood on.
He let out a scream, a primal scream from deep within his psyche. He screamed in victory, he screamed at all of those people who doubted him. He’d never admit it, but he screamed against the taunts that Katsuki hurled at him every day. “Dickless Deku!” he’d shout at him in front of everyone. He’d show his “friend” how far he’d come now, how far he’d gone to have a chance to become a real hero.
Another scream ripped through him, his chest straining against his compression top. Would his ribs give out first or his lungs? It mattered little to his primally surging brain as he let out all the pent up emotion out in his last scream.
He could feel the sun’s warmth beginning to travel up his body. Just as it was beginning to warm his bare midriff, he felt his body collapse forward, finally giving into all the exhaustion. He could feel himself falling, he’d probably break his body against the sand, but there was little his limp body could do about it.
Though that impact never came, instead he felt himself caught by very large and calloused hands. He could barely focus on anything, but he could see the blur of blonde hair that looked down at him.
“Excellent work!” All Might congratulated him, his booming voice enough to pull Izuku from the claws of unconsciousness.
“I finished everything, All Might, I did it,” his hoarse voice whispered up to his mentor, “Do you think I’m ready now?”
“Yeah, you did good kid. I gotta say, I’m impressed!” the hero replied as he gently set him back down onto his feet.
Izuku tentatively put weight back into his feet, feeling just enough of his strength returning to keep standing as he looked up at his mentor.
“I knew you had it in you, but this is beyond!” All Might dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone, opening it up to a picture of Midoriya, “Look at this.”
Barely able to focus on anything, he strained his vision to make out the details of what he was being shown. It was a picture of him laying in the sand crying, “Um…” he didn’t know what to say to seeing something like that.
“It’s you crying, ten months ago!” The heroic smile on his face warmed as he gestured to the young man in front of him, “Look how far you’ve come!”
It was impossible to deny; the Izuku in that picture ten months ago was scrawny, and looking down at himself now, he saw muscular arms, calloused hands, even a row of abs on his stomach. He’d have been more in awe of the stark differences had his mind not felt like it still wanted to collapse here on the sand for the next week, though that was scarcely an option today.
“There’s still a long road ahead of you before you can inherit my full power set.” All Might threw his hands wide in a dramatic gesture, “But it’s starting to look like you can do it!”
Raising his hand up, barely enough strength left to close it fully, “All Might, do I deserve this?” Even after all that he’d been through, all that he’d been told by his hero, there was always room for doubt in his mind. Right now, he couldn’t help but let out all the emotions on his mind. Tears began streaming down his face yet again, “You put so much time and energy into helping me. How did I end up so lucky?”
All Might simply laughed and clapped him on the back, though he paused before answering his pupil’s question. “It was your hard work that did this, not mine!” he declared reassuringly, “Now, for your reward, Midoriya Izuku…”
“Yes sir!” he belted, confidence and strength radiating back into his body, even as he still sniffled and tears still coated his face.
The blonde hero reached up to the spiked hair at the front of his forehead, plucking a strand from it, “Someone told me this once; there’s a difference between being lucky and deserving! One’s an accident, the other a reward! Never get the two confused!” he gave his rousing speech with his superhero cadence, “Take that to heart, young man. This gift, you earned it with your own valiant efforts.” He reached his hand out to Izuku, the golden strand of hair shining in the peaks of orange light that washed over them. “Eat this!”
The statement halted Izuku in his tracks, a sound of surprise dying hoarsely in his throat. Was he serious?
Suddenly overcome with an awkwardness that the green haired man was all too familiar with, All Might attempted to explain, “To inherit my power, you have to ingest some part of my DNA, that’s how it works!” he was rubbing the back of his neck, it’d have almost been comical seeing the normally confident hero so uncharacteristically embarrassed.
“This isn’t exactly how I imagined it!” shouted Izuku, the shock of this revelation waking him up fully from his bout of exhaustion, like dunking his head in ice water.
“There’s no time, you’ll be late for the exam!” All Might shouted, shoving the piece of hair into Midoriya’s hand, “Eat! Eat! EAT!”
Considerably freaking out, Izuku shoved the strand of hair into his mouth, doing his best to make sure he actually swallowed it. The fact that this was supposed to be how One For All was passed down didn’t make the act feel any more natural.
“Good! You swallowed it, yes?”
Just barely being able to process the fact that he just had to swallow someone else’s hair, Izuku looked down at his hands expectantly, as if his powers would suddenly start shooting out from them. “Yeah, but I don’t feel like anything’s different yet.”
A laugh bellowed out of the towering hero, “Well of course not! Your body has to process it first.” He turned towards a sign nearby that displayed the time, a digital clock reading 6:15, “It should kick in after two, maybe three hours.”
Izuku internally sighed at the time, realizing how early it still was and how long he’d been up finishing the final say of the work out plan. Outwardly he groaned, “Ugh, my stomach’s in knots and I still need to shower and eat something before the exam.” He looked down at his chest, attempting to roll his shoulders. He immediately felt the same tight constriction he’d been feeling all night, his body had gotten bigger than he realized. Running his fingers under the bottom of his compression top only made him realize just how tight it was on him now, plus it was dirty and ripped in many places now. “I should try and see if I can pick up a new top on my way home too.”
All Might looked back to him, “Oh right, that reminds me,” he beckoned the green haired man to follow him as he turned back towards the parking lot. Izuku falling in behind him, unsure of what his hero was taking him to. Once they arrived at All Might’s rather plain looking truck, he opened the passenger side door and retrieved a shopping bag from inside. Turning back to Midoriya, he held it out, somehow his heroic visage taking on a sheepish look.
Taking the bag from his mentor, he looked inside of it to see what it was. His eyes nearly bugged out of his skull when he saw the contents. It was at least four brand new compression tops, “Wha- All Might? You didn’t have to buy me these.”
A confident laugh again belted out of him, “Don’t be silly Young Midoriya! My pupil deserves only the best support equipment he can get! I also noticed you’d started having difficulty moving around in your old one and I figured you could use an upgrade!” Looking down to his student, he gave him his signature heroic smile, “Think of it as a reward for a job well done with the training, if you must.”
As usual, Izuku was having a hard time keeping his tears from flowing. The gesture was so simple, getting some clothing, and All Might probably had plenty of money so it wasn’t a financial burden for him to buy these. Yet still his heart swelled at yet again being recognized and respected by his idol. Looking up at All Might through the tears streaming down his face, “Thank you!” he blurted out.
Throwing the young man a thumbs up, “You can thank me properly by giving it your all in the exam today!” They nodded at each other, Izuku beaming with pride in himself for getting this far.
“Yes sir! I won’t let you down!”
It was barely an hour and a half later and Izuku was in front of the UA University campus. He slowed his run to a walk, taking a second to catch his breath, “Made it just in time,” he muttered to himself. It had been a stressful eighty-five minutes, having to get home as fast as possible, grab breakfast and shower only to have to book it as fast as he could here. The one silver lining was that the new tops All Might had given him were a much better fit for him. He was nervous, which wasn’t something new for him but he had so much riding on this one exam. It was only compacted by the fact that not only did he not have any time to actually test out the new power, he wasn’t even sure if it had even taken effect yet. “I may have swallowed the hair but I I don’t feel like anything great has happened to me yet,” he muttered again to himself.
“Stupid Deku,” came a familiar voice from behind him.
His anxiety levels already rising, he slowly turned to see its owner; a much taller man with spiky blonde hair and intense red eyes. Bakugou Katsuki. “Kacchan?” the childhood nickname fell too easily from Izuku’s mouth, the name he gave him back when one could consider their friendship as “normal”.
“Get out of my way now before I set you on fire!” Bakugou growled at him as he approached.
Izuku felt his entire body freeze. He was already far enough to the side of Bakugou’s path that he’d just walk right past him anyways. Part of him wanted to finally stand up to his “friend”, to not let himself be kicked around anymore, but he didn’t push his luck. Instead he felt his jaw lock up along with his shaking, frozen body as the blonde walked past, neither of them saying another word. Mentally, Izuku sighed. Honestly that was a mild threat coming from Kacchan, at least he didn’t call me by my old name, he thought to himself, He seems to have been pulling his punches more ever since that day with the sludge villain.
The tension left his body once Bakugou was far enough away from him, letting his shoulders slump. I guess I was just scared out of habit . Shaking off the downer feeling, he straightened up, looking back towards the school. I gotta remember all the work it took to get here. Before All Might decided to take me under his wing, coming here was just a pipe dream. He resumed walking towards the school, still focused on his thoughts. Kacchan’s had nearly fourteen years to practice with his Quirk. I've only had mine for less than two hours, I need to pick my battles and play it as safe as possible.
Almost as if on queue with his thoughts, one of his shoelaces caught underneath his stride and he suddenly felt the rush of falling forwards. Or I’ll just die, was his last thought as his face plummeted towards the brick walkway.
Practically waiting for the ground to meet him, Izuku was suddenly pulled from his fall by a hand grabbing onto the collar of his jacket. The sudden stop of momentum caused him to gag as the front of his collar dug into his throat.
“Whoa there green guy, up you get!” came a femminine voice as he was suddenly yanked up back to his feet. He made quite the undignified noise as he was dragged up by his collar, causing him to cough and hack for a few seconds once he was standing again.
Getting his bearings now that he was fully upright and his throat stopped bothering him, he looked towards his savior, as it were. Standing before him was a pink-skinned woman with a head of messy hair that reminded him of his own hair but pink. Not counting the yellow antenne-link horns on her head, she was only slightly shorter than him. Once he looked into her eyes, he was surprised by the stark contrast of her yellow irises surrounded by black sclera. Once again he felt his body freeze as his nerves began to flare again.
“You alright there? Woulda been a nasty fall there,” she gave him a warm smile.
Still shaking from his nerves, Izuku attempted to say something, anything to her. Unfortunately all that came out was unintelligible mumbling. He’d never tried talking to a girl since elementary school, especially since he’d started going by Izuku. He was suddenly pulled from his brain fog when a pink hand was knocking against his forehead.
“Hello? Earth to Greeny!” the pink girl exclaimed, trying to get his attention, “You in there bud?” She crossed her arms and seemed to be scrutinizing him, looking him up and down, only making him more nervous. “Are you mute?” she asked, only to then have her black and yellow eyes nearly bulge out of her head once she had, “Oh my god, if you are I’m so sorry!” she hurriedly apologized and bowed rather awkwardly.
Izuku swallowed, he could feel the eyes on them now. He had to summon the same courage that got him through All Might’s training. All he had to do was say something to assure her she hadn’t just offended him. “N-No, it’s alright,” his voice nearly cracked in his nervousness, “I’m alright, I was just startled is all.”
“Oh that’s good!” she exclaimed happily as she shot up, her previous shame suddenly forgotten. “Name’s Ashido Mina, by the way,” she winked at him, which made his heart skip a beat. This cute girl was talking to him of all people, he just had to not screw it up and lock up again.
“I’m Midoriya Izu- Izuku,” he managed to get out, just as he was getting control of his shaking legs again.
She gave him a cheeky grin, “Izuizuku, huh?”
He could feel the blush creeping up into his cheeks already, “No, it’s just Izuku, sorry, I’m kind of a mess of nerves right now,” he tried to awkwardly laugh it off.
Waving off his apology, “Aw don’t sweat it Greeny, you don’t gotta apologize to me, I’m the one who saved you after all!” She poked him in the shoulder, “Consider yourself the first official rescue for this up and coming heroine!” She turned back towards UA, waving back to him as she walked off, “Catch you on the flipside, Midoriya!”
Being left there, Izuku was stunned by the interaction that just took place. Realization hit him as yet another rush of accomplishment soared through him, Holy crap, I just talked to a girl!
He even talked back to her this time.