Be Careful What You Wish For

Declaration

Izuku stared into All Might's eyes, and realized something important. Something no one could understand but him.

"This man, this evil... I'm sure you too will have to fight him one day," All Might had said, something akin to shame and regret in his eyes. "It's what it means to be a wielder of One for All. It's true purpose, to defeat the greatest evil of mankind."

All Might chose him. The strongest hero put his faith in a quirkless boy, because he believed in him. And Izuku realized then, that out the billions of people on earth, there was no better choice. No one a more perfect vessel to wield One for All and defeat the greatest villain to exist, than him. Every hero and heroine that had come before him had failed, but Izuku knew, with a one hundred percent certainty, that All for One would end with him.

Because Midoriya Izuku couldn't fail.

Because Midoriya Izuku couldn't die.

---

The end-of-the-term test was approaching, and the fact that it had only been three months since Izuku entered the gates of U.A., donning his school uniform for the first time, hit him like a sack of bricks. It felt like a lifetime ago now—actually, make that several. The Midoriya Izuku from back then was little more than a fading memory by this point, and the first fourteen years of his life was like viewing a video filmed with a camera out of focus, only consisting of featureless and blurry swathes of color. They might as well belong to someone else. Only key parts of his childhood could still be made out clearly, and most of them, he'd rather not remember at all.

Mustering up energy to study was a challenge. Homework seemed much less important when you've watched yourself and everyone around you die a hundred times over, but Izuku didn't want his quirk to affect his life any more than it already had. Let's not add a failed written exam to the top of my problems.

There was a practical part as well, but he didn't have enough information about it to worry about it properly. He just had to handle it as it came, like with so many things these days it seemed.

He had been mumbling to himself, but grew quiet when he heard his name called. It was in a sneering tone that was all too familiar to him, and the screeching noise of chair legs scraping against the floor stung his ear drums as Uraraka and Iida rose from their seats as one, looking at Bakugou like vipers, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Kacchan was glaring at Izuku, but made no move to approach. And ah—the blonde boy must have been talking about something, but Izuku had been too wrapped up in his thoughts to catch any of it. Thankfully, it didn't look like the hot blooded teen expected an answer, as he opened his mouth once more and spoke, loud enough for anyone to hear.

"I dunno what the fuck is wrong with you," he began, red eyes boring into Izuku as if he was trying to solve a very frustrating puzzle, and failing to boot. "You've been acting even creepier than usual, but it doesn't matter. You're still an annoying shitrag, and you always will be. No matter what weird shit you've been up to, I'm still gonna beat your score into the fucking ground on the end term exam. You hear that?!" He flung an accusing finger toward Todoroki, who had been observing the exchange in silence up to this point. "You too, asshole! Both of you are fucking dead!"

And with that declaration, he stomped out of the classroom, kicking chairs and desks along the way. Iida and Uraraka watched like hawks, all the way until Kacchan slammed the door shut behind him with a bang, and they relaxed.

"Oh man, I feel like I haven't seen that Bakugou for a while," Kirishima commented, rubbing the back of his skull and looking uncomfortable.

"Really?" Izuku wondered, looking curiously to the classroom exit. "Seems like the usual Kacchan to me." He paused for a second, thinking. Then, in a moment of liberating boldness, proclaimed, "He's wrong though. Because I'm gonna beat him."