Man, diving into 'Izuku and Ochako childhood bond' fics feels like a whole subgenre unto itself. I used to think most were just fluffy meet-cute stuff, but then I stumbled across this one called 'We Were Kids' on AO3 that reframed everything. It wasn't about them meeting at U.A. or as toddlers; it was about Ochako's family moving into Izuku's apartment complex when they were like seven. The author nailed that weird, unspoken pact kids have, where they just know the other is having a rough time without talking about it. They'd trade snacks and build blanket forts and promise to be each other's heroes way before the word 'quirk' even mattered. The real gut-punch was seeing how that foundation crumbled a bit when they finally got to U.A.—suddenly they had to navigate being classmates and heroes-in-training, and that old, simple bond got all complicated. It made their canon dynamic in the show feel heavier, like there was this whole secret history under it.
I'm also a sucker for the ones that play with the 'what if' of them both being quirkless, or Izuku having a totally different quirk. There's a WIP called 'Gravity of a Smile' that explores them as childhood friends who both got rejected from hero schools and end up supporting each other through a vigilante path. The bond isn't just sweet; it's gritty and desperate and fuels their resolve. It's less about the romance blooming and more about this shared, stubborn defiance becoming the core of who they are. Sometimes those alternate power stories feel gimmicky, but when the author uses the changed circumstances to really deepen their understanding of each other from day one, it hits different.