Fanfic / Breathe In, Breathe Out

Breathe In, Breathe Out.
Those are the words that kept wringing in his head. It has helped him through in multiple instances and it will keep on helping him now. The advice that his mother gave him will always be of use to him. With a Quirk of his own to help him reach his goals, nothing will stop him.

— FanFiction.Net summary.

A My Hero Academia story by Shadeking666 in which Izuku has a Gravity Master Quirk rather than One For All.

Can be read here on Archive of Our Own or here on FanFiction.Net.

Has not updated since February 18th, 2022. Word of God said the reason is due to getting increasingly burned by canon material to the point of abandoning MHA altogether.

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This fic contains examples of the following tropes, in addition to those already present in the source material:

• Adaptation Deviation: While the fic follows the canon as closely as possible considering the number of divergences present in it, the major divergence happens in chapter 31. Instead of heading towards Hosu City and fighting against the Hero Killer, as 99.99% of all fics do, the story decides to take an original route. Ryukyu, Miruko, and their interns raid a possible human trafficking operation. Arriving there, however, they find an abandoned League facility, with a flawed High-End Nomu prototype left behind. A fight happens, and when all hope seems lost, Nejire shows up and destroys the Nomu with a major blast. Word of God has declared that after the Kamino arc, there's going to be one or two more arcs (implied to be original content) before the final battle.
• Adaptation Name Change: Lady Nagant's civilian name is Haruka Dangan instead of Kaina Tsutsumi. It's justified in that the story was started before her canon name was revealed.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Katsuki and Izuku are actual rivals due to Izuku having his own Quirk since childhood.
  • Izuku and Toshinori barely know each other, only meeting for the first time during the Sports Festival.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • In canon, Yui is fairly skilled but doesn't particularly stand out. Here, she utterly demolishes most enemies through creative uses of her Quirk, such as growing parts of the ground to form barriers or creating concussive blasts by rapidly expanding the air around her enemy.
  • Nagant advises Kaminari to concentrate his electricity in a single spot rather than let it all out at once, preventing him from succumbing to his Heroic RRoD during a fight. He shows this at full efficiency during the USJ Siege, knocking out a couple of villains with electric punches.
  • Through training with Izuku, Momo discovers she can do the reverse of creation. She can absorb things and convert them into her lipids, greatly reducing one of the biggest drawbacks to her Quirk. She manages to put up an incredible fight against Izuku.
  • Nejire, by virtue of having One For All. In fact, by the time of the Internship Arc, she can use One For All at 60% of its capacity.
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • Class 1-B is introduced during the first Heroics Class rather than the Sports Festival.
  • As the homeroom teacher of Class 1-A, Lady Nagant makes her first appearance roughly a year earlier in-universe.
  • Ryukyu, Lock Rock, and Miruko are first seen watching the Sports Festival, rather than after All Might's retirement.
  • Pixie-Bob and Ragdoll of the Wild, Wild Pussycats, introduced during the Summer Training Camp arc also make an appearance during the Sports Festival, helping Cementoss during the Dungeon Crawl event.
  • Eri is found by Izuku after the end of the Sports Festival arc.
  • Nejire is introduced during the Internship Arc.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Shinso. Since his quirk relies heavily on I Shall Taunt You tactics, getting on his opponents' nerves would inevitably make him one. However, he takes a step too far during his fight with Izuku when not only does he accuse him of getting things on life easy because of his quirk but also insults Ochako, Tetsutesu, and Itsuka, the very people who helped Shinso pass to the One-on-One fights by teaming with him during the Dungeon Crawl event. Izuku and his friends are justifiably pissed.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Zigzagged with Bakugo. At first it does seem he is still the same arrogant and proud Jerkass he was in early canon, and he still holds much of his "I am going to be best in the world, and everyone else is a side character" mentality that drove him for most of the start of the series. However, when it's revealed that with Izuku having a quirk, he started to not only stand up against Bakugo at school but also surpass him in almost everything. His father's death also led to Bakugo toning down his aggressive behavior, not becoming the unhinged bully he was back in school.
  • Played Straight with Endeavor. Since All Might revealed his condition one year prior to the story start, his Heel Realization happens before the Hideout Raid arc, and he is sincerely concerned about Shoto handicapping himself by using only his right side, fearing he could have the same fate as Toya.
• Adaptational Superpower Change:
  • Izuku is a Gravity Master rather than possessing One For All.
  • Itsuka's Quirk is no longer just enlarging her fists. Spectral Body allows her to shift either her entire body or parts of it into a spectral form, during which she can manipulate her size as well.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Momo is mortified at what her parents did to show their support for her during the Sports Festival. It includes, among other things, waving a large flag with "All Hail Princess Momo" on it. Her friends are never gonna let her live it down.
• An Arm and a Leg: Shigaraki's right arm is shot off at the elbow by Nagant during his attack on the USJ.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • From Izuku to Shinso after he defeats the other at the Sports Festival, calling him out for accusing everyone else of succeeding due to luck and ignoring all the training they've done.
    Izuku: You said that you didn’t believe me when I told you I struggled to get here. That in the end, I still gained a powerful quirk. But I did work myself off to get here. I wore myself down to the bone to get to this point. We’re more than just our quirks. Some of my friends don’t even have quirks suited for combat! So let me ask you this: Where's your effort?
  • Izuku delivers another one to Todoroki (who lost to Kodai during his match) in order to make him stop handicapping himself:
    Izuku: Todoroki, you're an idiot. Your father is right, the path you're taking would cost a lot more than just some frostbite. People could die because of you. Is that what you want? For people to die because you couldn't bear to use your own quirk?! To tell the families that lost their parents and children that you couldn't save them because you weren't willing to use your flames?!
  • To keep the ball rolling, Endeavor also delivers one to his son:
    Endeavor: You probably won’t believe me, but I have long let go of my ambition. So please Shoto, let go of your grudge as well. It will bring nothing but ruin to you as it did to me. Do you really want to be a hero like me? Someone that makes mistakes at the cost of the people around them, is that the kind of hero that you want to be?!
• Atrocious Alias: The name-picking exercise evolves into a competition of this, with Yui starting with "Size Queen." After her, Sero comes up "Tape Hero: Bondage Man", Kaibara with "The Drill That Will Pierce The Heavens" and Todoroki with "Frosted Hero: Snowjob", although as it turns out, this one was a prank from Kaminari and Sero.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Class 1-B is more recurring than in canon since Nagant and Vlad King want to create a Friendly Rivalry dynamic between both classes.
  • In canon Yui is a fairly minor character in Class 1-B. Here she's Izuku's first love interest and later girlfriend.
  • Lady Nagant is Class 1-A's homeroom teacher due to an incident in the past where Nezu hired her.
  • Izuku ends up interning with Miruko when in canon, she makes small appearances occasionally.
• Badass Adorable: Nagant fits this criteria perfectly. Badass? She is THE best sniper in the world and one of the Top 20 Pro Heroes. Adorable? When Izuku and her were talking during an exercise, he couldn't help but think how cute she looks. Look at her picture in the characters section.
• Berserk Button:
  • For Nagant, it's simple: Threaten or harm her students and she will blow your brains out. The only reason the Nomu from the USJ did not die after she saw it almost killing Izuku was its super regeneration quirk.
  • For Izuku is to insult or mistreat his colleagues. When Shinso badmouths Itsuka, Uraraka, and Tetsutesu during their match, Izuku lets his anger get the best of him and ends up brainwashed. After breaking free and winning their fight, Izuku subtly threatens Shinso to never again insult any of his friends.
• Big Damn Kiss: Yui and Izuku kiss in Chapter 22 before her match against Todoroki.
• Boom, Headshot!: Attempted. Nagant tries to shoot Shigaraki in the head at the USJ but Todoroki's ice accidentally deflects her shot.
• Break the Haughty: A more subdued version compared to his canon counterpart but still existent happens to Bakugo. While nicer in comparison to the version of him was at this point, Bakugo still sees himself as the absolute best while others are simply extras. Then the Sports Festival happens, and Yui, someone he considers a second-rate knocks him out of his high horse on his first and only fight. After this, Izuku manages to get him to believe in himself and get back on his feet.
• Bridal Carry: Yui makes Izuku carry her like a bride during their joint training exercise.
• Broken Tears: Both Shoto and Endeavor break into tears after Shoto uses his flames for the first time in years.
• Brutal Honesty: Yui could give Tsu a ride for her money. She doesn't pull punches on what she says, whether is calling Todoroki a hypocrite for not using his full power, or admitting to Ryukyu and Miruko that she is dating Izuku and Momo while interning with them.
• Chick Magnet: A lot of girls his age and older are attracted to Izuku. Yui outright declares her intention to have sex with him and Tokage agrees and wants in.
• Cool Teacher: Nagant does her best to engage her students and ensure they know they can come to her with their problems.
• The Comically Serious: Yui could also give Shoto a ride for his money on the matter of saying the most absurd things with a straight face. Like when she pretty much calls dibs on Izuku's virginity during the sports festival or when she suggests Size Queen as her hero name.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Since they did not fight like in canon, Izuku has a different approach to make Todoroki use his fire: Punch him in the face and call him an idiot, saying that limiting his strength will be putting not only himself, but innocents at risk, then delivering an Armor-Piercing Question (see above).
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Yui versus Bakugo in the sports festival. He does his best but Yui completely demolishes him.
• Deadly Upgrade: Subverted. One for All's property of killing Quirked bearers is kept, but, after it was transferred to Nejire, something amazing happened. Though it started out killing her, it turns out One for All and Wave Motion are highly compatible Quirks. After a very rough start, the two Quirks merged, and Nejire not only recovered, it was like she was never dying in the first place.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Hizashi Midoriya died in a villain attack when Izuku was ten years old.
  • Masaru, Katsuki's father, died when he was younger.
  • Without Iida interning at Hosu, Native is killed by Stain.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • All Might doesn't make a single appearance until the Sports Festival and as a spectator at that.
  • Stain only appears in video footage of his capture during the Internship Arc.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Izuku's Quirk, Orbit, requires careful control over both his breathing and his energy output. When he was young, he could barely move a pebble, but by the time he enrolled in U.A., he had one of the most powerful and versatile Quirks in his class.
• Eating the Eye Candy:
  • Before the Dungeon Crawl event at the Sports Festival, Yui claims to team up with Izuku to watch out for his ass. And then...she proceeds to shamelessly stare at his butt before declaring: "Perfection", much to his embarrassment and Tokoyami as well as Dark Shadow's amusement.
  • Setsuna joins the thirst train and stares at Izuku's six-pack during their beach trip after the Sports Festival.
  • During the training session with Momo, Ryukyu, and Mirko, Yui makes no effort to look away from the attractive girls.
• Everyone Has Standards: While Izuku can't deny the girls from 1-A and 1-B look attractive in their cheerleader outfits, he is livid with rage when he sees Mineta, well aware the short idiot boy was the one who put the girls in such an embarrassing situation and punishes him by tossing Mineta into the teacher's booth at the other side of the arena.
• Friendly Sniper: Nagant is the best sniper in the world and is a remarkably friendly and approachable teacher towards her students.
• Gravity Master: The details of Izuku's Quirk haven't been fully explained, but he uses his breathing and an internal energy reserve to manipulate gravity around him. He's used it to fly, create shields, push or pull objects away from him, create explosions, and boost his speed.
• Harem Seeker: Yui is one by proxy, not minding at all that Izuku expresses interest in other girls and how they express interest in him.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Yui's ability to rapidly alter the size of anything she touches isn't limited to just solids. She utterly destroys Bakugo in the Sports Festival by rapidly expanding and shrinking the air around them, creating concussive blasts that the boy can't answer.
• Hidden Depths:
  • For all that she's a Friendly Sniper and Cool Teacher, Nagant still doesn't hesitate to go for headshots against villains, something that shocks her students.
  • Miruko's more insightful than she appears, attempting to gauge Izuku's abilities and her experience developing an ability to analyze some quirks.
• Humiliation Conga: Bakugo goes through one at the Sports Festival. Not only does he not manage to land a single hit on Yui, but she swiftly defeats him with one of her new moves, Break Rule, a massive shockwave explosion. To rub salt in the wound, Yui is the one to declare Bakugo can't continue to fight, not even bothering to give him a second look after seeing him defeated.
• Hypocrite: For all Shinso insisted others only succeeded due to their powerful Quirks, he always tried to coast by on just his Quirk, never putting in any work to actually improve himself.
• Knight of Cerebus: The Vine Nomu, aka High-End Zero. While the fic follows the My Hero Academia canon as closely as possible, considering the number of divergences on it, the trope namer is introduced on Chapter 31. Izuku, Momo, Yui, Miruko and Ryukyu head to raid a possible human trafficking operation. There, they find the High-End Zero, and this becomes one of the closest calls for the students since the USJ. The entire chapter evolves into a nightmare situation, with the five main characters barely making out of the battle alive and the High-End Zero not taking any damage despite their best efforts. It takes Nejire, the current wielder of One for All here, to kill the thing before it can finish off the heroes and students with a single strike. Word of God commented that if a High-End was able to almost kill Endeavor in canon, there is no way two heroes and couple of students would stand a chance against it, even if it was a Flawed Prototype.
• Not So Above It All: Even though Itsuka is very kindhearted and sweet, she can't help but yell at the top of her lungs for Izuku to kick Shinso's ass during their fight after the brainwasher insulted her, Jiro and Ochako.
• Oh, Crap!: When Sero comments on Izuku mentioning his mother is watching the Sports Festival live, Izuku is terrified at realizing his mother heard him cursing at Bakugo on national television.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: After Mineta's prank against the girls during the Sports Festival, Izuku grabs him by the face and tosses him all the way across the Arena into the teacher's booth, where he is greeted by a very angry Vlad King. Needless to say, this earns Izuku extra points with the girls of both classes.
• Point of Divergence:
  • Because Izuku has a Quirk, he and Katsuki are more rivals rather than their toxic canon relationship.
  • Something happened that caused Nezu to hire Lady Nagant as a teacher.
  • Izuku's Gravity Master Quirk lets him stop Kurogiri from scattering the class at the USJ, resulting in the ensuing battle being more akin to a siege.
  • With his showing attracting much more interest and wanting to figure out a way to control external applications of his quirk better, he interns with Miruko.
  • Nagant prevents Iida's revenge quest against Stain after noticing he will intern in Hosu City. Without Iida there, Stain manages to kill Native before being captured.
• Polyamory: It's an Izuku harem fic, so it's to be expected. Currently, the polycule consists of Izuku, Yui, and Momo, while Miruko, Ochaco, Itsuka, Setsuna, Nejire, Nagant, and Kyoka are all implied to be interested in him.
• Properly Paranoid: Nagant warns Izuku about not accepting any offers from the HPSC, her explaining the HPSC's shadier side, saying they'll likely turn Izuku into a killer like her. Sure enough, when Izuku arrives home he finds an agent from the Commission waiting, offering him a sponsorship.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Izuku gives a lighter, well-meaning variation to Shinso after their match, calling the other boy out on over-relying on his Quirk while doing no training or exercise for situations where his Quirk wouldn't help.
• Refuge in Audacity: While signing Izuku's notebook, Miruko notices that his entry on her describes her costume as "sexy and practical." Izuku is embarrassed, but then smugly says "I mean, am I wrong though"? Miruko loves it.
• The Reveal: Chapter 31 reveals Nejire is the new holder of One for All.
• Saying Too Much: When Shigaraki escapes the USJ, Lady Nagant accidentally lets slip that she was trying to kill him, not just incapacitate him, something that horrifies several of her students.
• Shout-Out:
  • The fic's name could be one to the opening of Machinehead.
  • Chapter 29 has Momo, Izuku, Yui, Miruko, and Ryukyu watch Getter Robo Armageddon.
• Teacher/Student Romance:
  • Izuku and Nagant are implied to be developing romantic feelings for each other.
  • Miruko and Ryukyu, the two pro heroines that Izuku worked with during his internship both develop feelings for Izuku.
• There Was a Door: Miruko apparently has a habit of going through Ryukyu's window, to the latter's annoyance. It happens so often that Ryukyu installed a button on her desk that opens all the windows in her office for whenever Miruko visits.
  Ryukyu: You know the front door exists for a reason right?
  Miruko: Yeah but this way is far more fun.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Miruko is the Tomboy to Ryukyu's Girly Girl amongst the Top 10. On the U.A. side, Midnight is the Girly Girl to Nagant's Tomboy, even though Nagant also has long blue and pink hair styled in a ponytail.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • By his own admission, Izuku's Quirk used to be incredibly weak, but a decade of training made him one of the strongest members of his class.
  • Yui with Izuku's insight goes from merely changing the size of things to manipulating air to devastating effect.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Bakugo's first action on the day after the Sports Festival is to bow down and apologize to his class for being such a jerk. Of course, he gets annoyed by their stunned expressions and angrily wonders why they did not accept it immediately, but it is major progress since the narration points out that "I'm sorry" does not count on Bakugo's vocabulary.
• Tsundere: Bakugo is a tsun-tsun rival/friend example. He recognizes Izuku's strength and appreciates the fact that he still watches over him after their friendship falls apart. Not that he would ever say it out loud.
• Troll: Seeing how much Izuku and Yui are enjoying the Marshmallow Hell treatment they are receiving from Nagant back in school, Bakugo decides to ruin their fun by revealing that they fought a Nomu during their internship.
• Underestimating Badassery: Like canon, Todoroki declares Izuku as the strongest opponent from 1-A and promises to defeat him at the Sports Festival, dismissing all of his classmates. Unlike canon, however, the class does not take lightly the way Todoroki ignores their strength, and they give him a declaration of war of their own.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Yui holds a grudge against Bakugo for injuring Izuku during their fight at the Battle Royale arc, and decides to take him out during their fight at the Sports Festival, where she utterly trashes him with no effort. She understands that makes her look petty, but goes along anyway.
• Wham Line: After Toshinori's first actual scene with Izuku, he contemplates how the boy would make a good successor under different circumstances.
  After all, One For All was no longer his to pass on.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After Nagant shows the darker side of herself at the USJ by trying to kill Shigaraki, she worries her students will fear her. Izuku stays after class the next day to tell her he doesn't blame her and is sure the others will come around.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: This is almost verbatim Midnight's response to Yui trying to use the hero name "Size Queen".

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