Izuku knew it was going to be a big deal, but he hadn't expected it to be this big. Sure, the UA sportsfestival was broadcast all over the world, it was the quirk based sports event of the year, he knew that. He also knew that being quirkless was being less. Less powerful, less evolved. But the sportsfest was only for the best, wasn't it? Yeah, Izuku once again failed to gauge the impact of his decisions, facing the consequences of his own actions as he saw his own face plastered on various magazines and news sites.

Izuku could feel people stare at him on the train as he made his way to school, could hear them whisper and gossip. It had been days already, but the media storm hadn't died down at all. His shared third place, combined with his two successive wins in the preliminary rounds, forced people to question their world views. The internet was going crazy over it, too. Forums, news sites, hero fandoms- Every place where quirks seemed so important was being questioned. This whole ordeal even sparked an ages old sensitive question without a clear answer to rise again, bolder than it ever was before.

What makes someone a hero?

Being strong? Being capable? Being smart? Kind? Reliable? People's opinions differed. Some said one had to be the best, like All Might. Others said they just had to be strong and radiant, showy and flashy. Izuku hadn't strayed from his personal definition though, not even after all these years. To him, a hero was someone who meddled even if it wasn't their business. Someone who stepped in when they saw something wasn't right, who voiced their beliefs loud and proud and followed through. That was the kind of hero Izuku had always wanted to become.

Which meant he wasn't a hero. Not anymore, not in this timeline. Izuku wasn't going to even try and get involved, wasn't going to meddle or speak up. He was simply going to stand on the sidelines and watch as everything unfolded. Like a bystander, a perfect role for his quirkless self to fulfill without disturbing society as he knew it. Guess it was too late for that one, though...

"Hey, uhm, Midoriya-kun, right?"

Izuku blinked, looking up at a woman who was standing next to him on the train. She was holding onto a little boy, trying to steady him whenever the train made a turn or stopped at a station. The boy was holding onto her leg, peeking up from under his cap, only to quickly hide away again once he noticed Izuku looking.

"I saw you in the sportsfestival," she continued, seeming a little nervous. "I... I'm sorry to bother you like this, but I... I just wanted to thank you."

"Tha... Thank me? For what?" Izuku sputtered.

"My son, Kato, he's..." she trailed off, but Izuku knew what she wanted to say without finishing her sentence. "When we saw you perform on tv and the commentator said you were quirkless, it... It made Kato really happy, you know? Seeing someone like him doing such amazing things. And I, god, this is kinda awkward, isn't it? Uhm, could you maybe give him your autograph? It would really mean a lot to him."

His... His autograph..? Izuku glanced down at the boy again, who was still shying away behind his mom's legs. Was his confidence already broken..? The train shook a bit and he stumbled forward, but Izuku caught him before he could fall. Some reflexes just never went away, did they? Izuku's body was still urging him to save everyone within his reach, even now.

"Of course, I'd love to!" Izuku smiled, shimming down to Kato's level, being mindful of the passengers around them. Most of them were staring at the interaction and Izuku was sure one or two would be filming the whole thing. He didn't mind, though. All that was important right now was for Kato to feel safe and okay talking to him. "So you're like me, huh? Bad luck in the quirk lottery?"

Kato didn't look at him when he nodded, and Izuku didn't blame him.

"That's okay," Izuku smiled, carefully reaching out to him. "Some people are just lucky, and others are not. It's part of life and it just means we have to work harder for what we want."

Izuku carefully lifted the boy's cap, making him look up.

"Quirks aren't everything," Izuku said as he took out a pen from his bag. "Sure, they're cool and flashy and commonplace, but they're not all that if you stop to think about it. Because you know what? I bet you're crazy talented too, even without one. We don't need quirks to make us strong."

With that he signed the cap, writing his autograph on the inside of the harder part so rain wouldn't wash it away. But also because every time he'd hide away, he'd be able to see it, to be reminded.

"Never forget that, okay?"

"Okay," he nodded, showing him a small smile. The train shuddered to another stop and Izuku glanced up, realizing this was where he got off.

"It was nice meeting you, Kato-san," Izuku said, getting up again, saying goodbye to his mother too before hurrying off the train.

//\\
\\//

"If it isn't mister popular."

Izuku rolled his eyes when he passed Shinsou in the bathrooms during lunch, still smiling at the greeting. He knew Hitoshi didn't mean any harm in calling him teasing names like that, unlike Monoma, who'd been rather annoying to him this morning.

"What happened to being a reckless psychopath?" Izuku asked, raising a brow.

"Guess that changed to reckless, but surprisingly popular, sociopath," Shinsou hummed, leaning against the radiator next to him as Izuku washed his hands. "Saw that clip of you on the train. You know, the one where you're talking to that quirkless kid?"

"Oh, that's going around already huh?" Izuku sighed. He hadn't expected it to get a lot of traction in such a short amount of time, but what do you know? He really shouldn't keep underestimating the power of social media... "Why bring it up? Want an autograph?"

"Nah, I'm good," he chuckled. "I actually want something else from you."

"Friendship?" Izuku teased, having Shinsou roll his eyes at him this time around.

"A support item."

Now that got Izuku's attention. I mean, he could already guess what kind of item he was looking for- He'd seen his voice changer at least a thousand times over the course of his past lifetimes- But why did he need it? Unless...

"Oh my god," Izuku gasped. "They're letting you try out for the hero course?! I'm so happy for you, Shinsou-kun!"

"Shush! Not so loud!" Hitoshi whisper hissed, slapping his hand over Izuku's mouth. "But yeah, the board is considering my transfer. But that's only if I pass their test, which involves training with actual hero course students. So I really need something to boost my range if I want to make it in."

"You can count on me," Izuku told him, pushing his hand away. "Oh, this is so exciting! My first official request!"

"What? Seriously?" Shinsou asked. "I thought you'd be the most popular support course kid by now. I mean, there's gotta be something wrong with those hero course students if they don't request you after the sportsfestival."

"Their revisions haven't actually come in yet," Izuku explained as they left the bathroom. "And they mostly come in big batches, like after their internships or right before the practical exams, so it's not like they change up their gear that often. Not enough for me to be requested, anyway."

"Well, happy to be your first, then," Shinsou chuckled. "Meet up after school to go over the details?"

"Sounds good."

//\\
\\//

"Uh..."

When Shinsou had asked to meet up after school, Izuku hadn't expected them to end up in a cat cafe down the block. But here he was, having an orange cat on his lap while Shinsou tried to gain the attention of a cute black cat with little white socks on. Absolutely adorable.

"So, uh, about your support item," Izuku started, tentatively petting the cat, not knowing what to do with his hands otherwise. "I was thinking something along the lines of an amplifier combined with an alternator, so you can increase your sound range in multiple ways."

"An alternator? Like, different voices?" Shinsou asked. "I didn't know you'd be able to do something like that."

"It's complicated, for both the engineer and the user," Izuku explained. "But once you learn to work with it, you could basically recreate anyone's voice with it. That way, you can make people think they're responding to someone else, tricking them into your brainwash even if they already know they can't answer you."

"That's-"

"Oh, and I have another idea to make the design sturdier so everything stays in place!" Izuku continued. "The mechanism is going to be elaborate and needs high precision so if things move out of place due to a blow or a fall or any external pressure at all it would be a pain in the ass. But then again you'd still need flexibility since it's gonna be on your face and otherwise your jaw is seriously gonna hurt after a while, so I was thinking about lining it with a softer material shaped to-"

"Midoriya," Shinsou interrupted, making Izuku shut up. He'd been muttering, hadn't he? And that after he promised himself not to go full on nerd mode on Shinsou! "That all sounds amazing, but uh, could you slow down for me?"

"Of course, sorry," Izuku said, a little embarrassed. "I tend to get carried away when talking about things like this. Uh, I have a visual aid, too! But I don't know whether it's a good idea to put it out with, uh, these guys around."

He motioned to the cat on his lap, which hadn't moved since they sat down. Apparently that was quite impressive, since that cat didn't seem to like anyone. And so their conversation drifted away from the actual topic. They ended up talking about all kinds of stuff, and Izuku had to make sure to keep his childhood stories and memories restricted to this timeline while doing so. All in all, it was a nice afternoon with good company, tasty snacks and fluffy cats. They didn't actually talk about the support item all that much, but Izuku was sure Shinsou would be happy with what he cooked up either way, he knew him better than he realized, after all.

Kacchan, on the other hand...

"Oi, you dating that purple fucker or what?"

Izuku choked on his own spit.

"What?!"

This was not how he expected his morning to turn out. He and Kacchan always traveled from and to school together, so he expected to be interrogated about why he had to cancel on him, not for Kacchan to straight up ask him about his love life. He seemed deadly serious about it, too.

"You think I'm dating Shinsou-kun?!"

"Well? Are you?" Katsuki scoffed.

"Wha- No!" Izuku exclaimed, hoping he wasn't furiously blushing. Izuku had never thought about Shinsou that way, and he was really happy for him and Denki, too! But they weren't together yet, were they? And Izuku supposed he was rather close with Shinsou, closer than he was supposed to be at this point in time. Still, that didn't have to mean anything! Besides, his one and only real serious relationship had been with- Yep, Izuku's face was definitely heating up.

"So that wasn't a date yesterday?"

"No, it wasn't- Wait, how do you know I hung out with Shinsou yesterday?" Izuku asked.

"Guess I just know, don't I?" Katsuki told him. Ah, that was fair... "But seriously, why the hell did the two of you go to a damn cat cafe if it wasn't a date?"

"Shinsou asked me to design a support item for him since they're considering him for the hero course," Izuku sighed. "Don't tell anyone I told you, it's not official yet so I don't-"

"And you had to do that in a cat cafe, of all places?" Katsuki asked, still pissed about it for some reason.

"Why does it matter? Why do you care so much about how I spend my-" Izuku complained, realizing mid sentence that Kacchan was jealous. He was jealous! Oh my- Of course! How could Izuku forget?! Kacchan developed feelings for him way before Izuku ever picked up on them, so why would this timeline be any different? They didn't even have their rough patch in middle school this time around, so maybe... Maybe Kacchan had developed his feelings even sooner this time around..? "Are you... Are you jealous, Kacchan?"

"Tch, the hell? No."

"You're jealous!" Izuku laughed, watching the edges of his ears turn pink. "You're blushing!"

"I'm not blushing! Shut the fuck up!"

"You're blushing~!" Izuku continued to tease, poking Kacchan's side. He dodged the explosion that was thrown his way, still smiling when he ended up in front of the blonde. "There's no need to be jealous, Kacchan.You'll always be my favorite."

Izuku wasn't planning on starting anything with Kacchan in this timeline, not this soon anyway. He didn't want to risk getting too involved, didn't want to risk influencing things. He was supposed to be standing at the sidelines this time, even if he'd been meddling more than he should've lately... And he hadn't faced any bad consequences yet, so maybe... He quickly grabbed onto Kacchan's jacket, pulling himself onto his lips. A quick peck was all it was, really, but it was more than enough to convey what needed to be said.

"So, uh, no need to worry, okay?" Izuku said, voicing it more like a question than anything else. He didn't want to force Kacchan into this if he wasn't ready for it. Turns out he didn't have to worry about moving too fast, because Katsuki seemingly mindlessly slipped his hand inside of his. His clammy hands told Izuku he was nervous about it, though.

"Yeah, whatever," he mumbled, playing it off cool. "Come on or we're gonna miss our train."