Energy (D.P./M.H.A.)

. 5 1 .

Midoriya was used to feeling powerless.

The society he grew up in measured a lot of a person's worth on something he didn't have when he was small. The world looked up to heroes, the ones with the power, skill, and maybe some good pr-skills. Heroes had become a beacon of hope, of light, that were there when times got hard. How could one not look at someone with a smile on their face, who made the bad things go away, who protected you and everything and everyone you loved, and say, "Yeah. That one is a hero."

Midoriya adored heroes. Any word less than love, idolize, or treasure would not do his devotion justice. The notebooks he kept since he was 6 were a testament to that. Every single power and move every hero worth noting had was precisely cataloged and studied. Costumes were broken down and fight strategies were written out. He'd even designed a costume for himself for when he was older.

Not that he'd ever get to use it.

Because he didn't have it.

The very thing that was his reason to keep going, the thing that was what most of the kids in his class wanted, his dream... He didn't have it. While the other kids were given these incredible powers, those gateways to that life of rescue and hope, he was locked behind a door to which he didn't have a key. His mother's guilt was drowning when she so ferociously apologized to his teary face. She felt that she'd failed him, but it wasn't true. It wasn't his fault, either. He wasn't quite sure who or what failed him.

On the other side of that spectrum of emotions was Bakugou. His classmate didn't take too kindly to having been friends with someone who now wasn't worth his time and attention. He had tried everything to keep Midoriya away. Cussing him out, letting him get beat up, all kinds of things just to keep him at a distance.

But Midoriya didn't give up on his childhood friend or dreams.

Because what he knew, years later down that path of hunched shoulders and ducking away from harsh words, was that despite it all, he would not give up hope.

Because he could still be a hero.

UA was still offered general studies, support courses, and other extracurriculars. He wouldn't be on the front lines dealing punches to bad guys, but he'd help analyze from a distance. Help heroes plan attacks. Coordinate missions. Design support gear. From far away, in a safe place. He could still help.

But then he saw All Might up close.

Very close, in fact, when the hero saved him from falling into the hands of the slimy villain that tried to take him. Midoriya had never felt more vulnerable and violated as he had then, with slime covering everything and worse. He'd woken up feeling dehydrated and aching, but at least he was alive.

Because of a hero. 

That tiny, treacherous sliver of hope was rearing its head again. Could he still be one of them? Saving people, defeating villains, creating hope? Desperate for an answer, he'd thrown himself at his hero and forced him to answer the question. On the rooftop of a building in the city center, with beautiful clouds hanging overhead, he shouted it out.

All Might told him no, and his world shattered again.

He could never be a hero.

And then Bakugou nearly died.

Standing rooted to the spot between heroes and adults alike, they were all as helpless as Bakugou was, getting sucked up by that living goo. They couldn't do anything, being either not powerful enough to make a difference in the situation or unsuited for attacking while a hostage was in the way.