By the time Izuku entered his third and final year of middle school, he had a fairly good grasp on how to handle all sort of weapons. 

Asuga hadn't put him on them right away, instead taking him and running drill after drill after drill. He had thought she pushed him harder than everyone else before, but now it was like she was trying to kill him on the daily. 

As a result he had to cut back on his jobs even more. And that wasn't good, it meant he wouldn't be able to pay his sensei. 

A week before school started he was trying a kick and kept messing up, just because his head was in a rush of trying to figure out how to change his time so he could still get money. His sensei stopped him, grabbing his ankle and holding it in the air. 

"Izu, what's going on with you recently. The past week you've been really out of it." Her warm dark eyes glittered in concern, muscles tense to prepare herself for an answer. 

"It's nothing Sensei, just a bit . . . out of it." He used her own words, trying to take his ankle back. 

"It's not nothing if it's distracting you." 

"I just . . ." He cut himself off and sighed. "With the extra training I can't work as much as usual, and I'm starting school next week which means I have to cut back even more. Especially since this year has all these exams to do, it's the last year of middle school. I want to get into UA, and that's hard enough when you have the best grades and an amazing quirk. But I'm quirkless! And I just am so-so . . . So . . . desperate. I want this, I want to keep this up I want to be a hero but I'm running on about four hours of sleep on average. And Sensei . . . I don't think I can do this. Maybe they were all right, maybe I should give up." 

Asuga squared her jaw, crossing her arms as she looked over the boy in front of her. 

"This simply won't do." She said. Izuku looked up at her, eyes wide and questioning. "Izuku, you are no longer allowed to pay for your lessons with me." Her pupil gasped and tried to tell her he didn't want that-but she cut him off. "You will, as soon as school starts, bring your homework and other things here after you get out for the day. You will study and train at the same time, save some time and gain some more." She walked over to where they had set their water bottles, tossing Izuku's over her shoulder. He caught it mid-air only to hold it and not drink at all. 

"Next, yes. You are quirkless." She turned him, eyes burning with passion and determination. "You have no special power, or cheat code to help with any of this." She waved her had to encompass the world as a whole. "But here's what you aren't truly getting." Asuga paused to take a long drink from her purple bottle. 

"You don't need a fucking quirk, Izuku." His sensei hissed, not at him, she wasn't mad at him. She was mad about the situation. Her glare cut through him, to his soul, words spilling over the cracks and edges, smoothing and healing. "You have more brains than anyone I've ever met, could probably go toe-to-toe with that damned principle you talk about so much and come out on top. You have more guts than any one of those "heroes" everyone talks about all the time, and the drive to top even fucking All Might." 

Asuga stood right in front of him as she growled out the last words of her rant. "I don't want you to say one more goddamned self-destructive thing. If you say it you'll start to believe that bullshit. Izuku, you are the best kid I've ever seen or heard about. You have everything you need to be a hero. The drive, attitude, heart, guts, instincts, and soul. All of it." She gripped his chin and made him meet her eyes, even if he hadn't been locked on them already. "You don't need a quirk, and you certainly will not be giving up if I have one goddamned word to say about anything!" 

Izuku stared at her, green eyes sparkling with love and affection. In his gut the tiny flicker of a candle roared back into the inferno he had been born with. 

"Do you understand, pupil?" Asuga demanded. 

"Yes, Sensei!" He cried. 

"Good, now-kick the damn bag." 

And kick he did. 

He trained with all sorts of weapons; the kusarigama, kunai, shuriken, yawara, bo staff, tonfa, naginata, fans, nunchaku, and even sai. And those were only the Japanese ones his teacher pulled out there's also were the ones from her mother's homeland; jian, gun, ji, and chain whips. Plus more western ones were thrown in every once-in-awhile. 

Thanks to his sensei, though, Izuku could now practice things in his room. For over the years, on his birthday, she would get him different things that helped him out. His first year of training, when he turned thirteen she got him a set of weights and a yoga mat. The next year it was a simple bo-staff of his own with a pair of tonfa he could now use. So going into his third year of middle school Izuku was well on his way to being a hero. And eagerly awaiting whatever training tool she would get him come July. 

He'd wake up at five am, do yoga, eat breakfast, jog a few miles, get home to take a shower and get ready, run to school, then get through that. Afterwards, he'd run home, eat a snack with his mom to talk to her about his day before getting ready to head to the dojo. At the dojo his sensei had him spend thirty minutes on his homework before running drills. After a set of drills he took ten more minutes on his work, and that kept up until the end of their lessons. 

By the time he got home the sun was almost set, meaning he ate dinner before setting off to any job offers he had gotten. He had a whole email account dedicated to keeping track of what his neighbors needed. Izuku would take care of that, while finishing off any homework if he had any left, then head back home. 

His mom and him would sit on the couch together and chat after that, him writing down notes on quirks he had made throughout the day on the notepad he had taken to keeping on his person at all times and her watching the television passively. 

It was very chaotic, but it worked for him. 

Katsuki was still a thorn in his side, picking on people and calling him names. But with his sensei behind him, and his loving mother-Izuku knew he could do it. 

One day, after a particularly unfriendly meeting with Kacchan, where the angry pomeranian of a blonde had told him to jump off the roof, Izuku was walking through the tunnel he always did. He was going over his newest entry to his hero journal, one that Kacchan had tried to blow up however Izuku managed to get it away with a few simple maneuvers,  when he heard a weird sound. 

The green haired boy paused, looking over his shoulder. He saw the slime bubbling out of the sewer, knew that it meant trouble. Izuku didn't have any weapons on him expect a set of brass knuckles he kept in his pocket, he had gotten them with his extra funds since he didn't pay Sensei anymore. He couldn't fight slime. 

So, he took off, running to the end of the tunnel before turning back and slipping into a fighting stance. 

"Oh lookie here! A little on the short side, but he'll do!" The slime villain fully formed and rushed at Izuku. 

The greenette only had a spilt second to come up with a plan. 

Slime. 

But-

Eyes. 

Izuku couldn't just let this villain take him, or possibly anyone else. So the boy slipped his brass knuckles on before feigning to the low right, like he would run past the villain, changing at the last second to propel himself up and kick the slime in the eye. The villain cried out, trying to pull back, but Izuku used the villain's face to jump back up into the air, turning to push off the ceiling of the tunnel and punch the other eye. 

He jumped back, taking stock of the situation again, while the villain reared back. 

That's when a newcomer entered the scene. 

"Have no fear, you're safe. Now that I am here that is!" A familiar voice called out, The slime villain turned to face the new guy who had also come out of the sewer. Izuku only let his eyes glance to him, and that glance was all he needed too. He would recognizing that voice anywhere.

All Might. 

Izuku jumped out of the way, ducking behind the outside of the tunnel as All Might let his fist fly. 

The slime villain went everywhere, knocked out in some sort of way that he could be. 

All Might grinned from where he stood, emptying two soda bottles and starting to capture the villain. 

"Thank you for your help, Young Man." He said, finally turning to Izuku, who was taking his barrings again and slipping his knuckles back into his pockets. "Thanks to you I was able to catch up and detain the villain." 

Midoriya was speechless. Yes he could fight, yes he was smarter than his whole class, but first and foremost Izuku Midoriya was a fanboy. "Oh my god you're All might." He breathed. He grabbed his notebook off the ground and held it and a pen out to the number one hero. "Can I have your autograph?" 

All Might laughed, smiling as he signed the front of the book. "Now, Young Man, I must go." He made to jump away. 

A small part of Izuku wanted to grab on to him, to ask a question that burned in his soul everyday. 

But . . . 

He didn't. 

Because he heard his sensei's voice in his head. 

If he ever met All Might again, maybe he'd ask him then. If he had the opportunity, but he didn't need to. 

And so Izuku set out to walk again. He was running behind now, so instead of stopping at home he just sent his mom a text about grabbing a snack on the way to the dojo, and started a light jog. 

It wasn't much more than a few minutes after grabbing a snack from a tiny connivance store that his phone went off. Breaking news. 

Slime Villain. 

Oh no. 

His feet sped up, the fight was on his way anyway. Trying to make sense of it, All Might had the villain, what possibly could have happened? 

He skid to a halt in front of the crowd. The green haired boy shoved his way forward. 

The heroes weren't doing anything. 

No wonder, a part of his brain started, none of their powers work with this type of thing. Plus it seems it had a hostage, Izuku squinted. 

It-it had . . . It had Katsuki. 

His feet were moving before he could even fully process it. 

The only thought going around his head was that he had to help. He had to help because something was wrong and no one else could with all the fire from Kacchan's quirk. 

Izuku opened his backpack, taking out the books and one-by-one chucking them at the villain. Each one of them hit their target, blinding the slime guy and letting Katsuki get air. When he ran out of books Izuku shoved his knuckles back on and grabbed Katsuki by the shoulders. A few well placed tugs, some cursing on Katsuki's part, and Izuku hooking a leg over a nearby lamppost for some leverage, and the blonde boy was free. 

That didn't mean he was safe. 

Izuku roared for him to just run, run, run! Shoving the blonde in the back and pushing him forward, away from the recovering villain and towards the heroes that were starting to work now that the hostage was gone. 

All Might appeared and sent a punch out that subdued the villain and put out the fires. 

What happened next was a jumble for Izuku, heroes scolding him and praising him at the same time, Katsuki being praised before the blonde chewed out his childhood friend saying he didn't need help from a quirkless loser, questions from reporters and police alike. 

Then there was his sensei, pushing her way through the crowd. 

Even out of her training gear she was terrifying. Her black, short-sleeved, turtle-neck with matching black, ripped, skinny jeans, a purple flannel tied around her waist, a wallet chain hanging from her belt loop to her pocket, and combat boots, made for a stunning image to those around her as she dragged Izuku off by his ear. 

"Don't think just because you're the hero of the day means you can blow off training." Asuga scolded. But Izuku could see the bright glint to her eyes, the sharp upward tilt of the corner of her mouth, and chin tilted up as the cameras took pictures of them together and heading to her dojo. She was proud of him. 

And that fact warmed his heart, calmed his mind, and made the fire in his gut flare up yet again.