Chapter Text
“You should probably give it up.” The doctor said bluntly, reclining casually in his chair. Akatani felt it like a bullet through his heart, even though he had already resigned himself to disappointment at the young age of four.
“That’s… Is there something wrong with him after all? Most of the other kindergarteners’ Quirks have already manifested…” His mother leaned forward, a concerned hand on his shoulder. “He’s the only one…”
“Well, normally, by the age of four, he would have manifested either your or the father’s Quirks, or some combination of the two. However…” The doctor turned towards an x-ray scan hung on the wall. “You can see by this x-ray that Akatani has two joints in his pinky toe. You are aware of the Quirk evolution theory, correct?” His mother nodded solemnly. “Well, the double joint is unusual to see these days, but that proves that, unfortunately, your son has no Quirk.”
Mikumo Akatani woke up in his bed, tired and confused about his dream. Why did he dream a memory from when he was four? He groggily got out of his bed, throwing on his uniform and heading down the stairs, not bothering to fix his bedhead.
“Ah, good morning, sweetie.” His mom greeted him with that sweet smile of hers, and handed him his phone. “You left this in the living room again.” Akatani scrolled through the notifications, not bothering to actually read the texts, or else he’d be there all day. 31 unread texts and 12 missed calls. Akatani sighed. There must have been a villain attack last night. He was glad he left his phone downstairs, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten any sleep. He pocketed the phone and grabbed his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder.
“Bye, mom. See you after school.”
“Have a good day, okay, hun?”
“I will.” Akatani headed out the door, heading to school. However, much to his disappointment, he only got a few blocks before being intercepted. As usual.
“Yaaaaaammmmiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” Akatani groaned as a well-built arm was slung over his shoulder. Akatani’s self-proclaimed best friend pouted, resting his chin on the shoulder that wasn’t covered by his own arm. “You didn’t respond to any of my texts!”
“I was asleep.”
“But there was a-”
“A villain attack?”
“Yeah…”
“I figured as much. Can we head to school now?” Akatani shrugged.
The head was lifted off of his shoulder and the blonde frowned. “There was a villain attack last night.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“And you didn’t go with me to see it.” The taller boy folded his arms, arching an eyebrow. “Sooooo…”
“Oh no, Katsuki-” Akatani was cut off as Katsuki grabbed his hand, dragging him off in the wrong direction. “We have school!”
“It’s okay! There’s a villain attack going on right now, we tell the teachers we got caught up in it; boom, perfect excuse! Now come on, it’s over at Tatooin Station!”
The two boys ran down the sidewalk, Katsuki bouncing excitedly whenever they had to pause. He raced passed the cherry trees, pulling Akatani along with him. He let out an excited gasp as they caught sight of the huge villain further ahead, and he ran faster, almost pulling Akatani’s arm out of its socket. They stopped at the back of the crowd, staring upwards as the villain roared and knocked over a telephone pole. A huge man jumped into the fray, catching the huge pole before it hit the ground.
“Oh, it’s Death Arms!” Someone in the crowd cheered. A policeman turned at the sudden jet of water that shot out in front of the crowd, solidifying and cutting off the crowd from heading any further forward.
“Everyone, this is dangerous. Please, stay back!” Cried Backdraft, who had arrived on the scene as well.
“Man, turning into a monster’s an amazing Quirk!” A man standing in front of Akatani and Katsuki turned to the man standing next to him. “What did he do?” Katsuki struggled to see past the crowd, still gripping Akatani’s hand tightly.
“He stole someone’s bag and went out of control when he was cornered.” The second man replied, not seeming to notice Katsuki dragging Akatani further up in the crowd.
“A Quirk like that, and he’s a bag snatcher?”
“I’m sorry, the train’s…” The duo passed by another man, this one on the phone. “Yes, I don’t know what time I will make it to work…”
“Told you it was a good excuse, Yamikumo.” Katsuki turned to grin at Akatani, before his attention was grabbed by something flying overhead, and a group of high schoolers suddenly squealing excitedly. The new superhero who had just arrived on the scene landed in front of the crowd before leaping up onto the bridge where the purse-snatcher was. He leaped again, dodging a massive hand that crashed down where he had just been a moment before. The thief screamed at him to get away, and Katsuki and Akatani finally made it to the front of the crowd. “Who’s fighting?” Katsuki shouted over the ruckus, excitedly shaking his fists up and down. The hero dodged another strike, extending his arm to wrap around nearby scaffolding and yank himself away.
“Ah.” Akatani looked up at the hero leaping through the sky. “That’s Kamui Woods. He’s a young and talented rising star, relatively new to the scene but still exceptional in skill.” The bald man standing next to Katsuki chuckled.
“You gave a perfect commentary there, kid. You’re a fanboy, aren’t you?” He pointed at Akatani, grinning.
“Ah- N-no! He just- He asked!” Akatani stammered out, visibly flustered. Meanwhile, Kamui Woods leaped up the purse-snatcher’s arm, extending his arm to wrap it around the thief’s wrist. He was violently flung away, and Kamui Woods landed gracefully on a nearby roof.
“Illegal use of powers during rush hour and robbery resulting in bodily injury.” He began to recite to the thief. “You are the incarnation of evil.”
“Ah yeah.” Akatani frowned. “He’s also very dramatic.”
“Yami, what do you think he’ll do next?” Katsuki leaned closer to Akatani, seemingly studying his face rather than the fight.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Akatani sighed. “Pre-emptive-”
“-Binding-”
“Lacquered Chain Prison!” Kamui shouted the word at the same moment Akatani muttered them unenthusiastically.
“Canyon Cannon!” Another voice shouted, and a woman even larger than the purse-snatcher appeared, kicking the thief straight in the chest, knocking him off of the bridge. Many nearby adults whipped out their cameras, snapping photos of the huge woman in the skintight bodysuit. She bent over, inspecting the unconscious purse snatcher. “Today is the day of my debut!” She smiled, turning just her head to face the crowd. “My name is Mt. Lady. Pleased to make your ass-quaintance.” She winked, sticking her rear end out further that it already was. The duo heard the crowd fill with even more sounds of photos being taken, and a single groan from a feminine-sounding voice. Katsuki pulled his phone out of his pocket as Mt. Lady shrunk down to human size, waving an reveling in the praise from the crowd. The thief was taken away, and Mt. Lady was surrounded by reporters.
“So, what do you think, Yami?” Katsuki grinned as they stood in front of the crater the purse-snatcher had made when he was knocked down. Akatani sighed.
“She looks like she’ll be popular.”
“And?” Katsuki quirked an eyebrow, and Akatani sighed again.
“... And it’s an amazing Quirk. It’s clearly gigantification, but thinking rationally, there’s destruction that that Quirk will cause to the city that is a definite drawback, so its use might be limited. But whether or not she can control her size factors in strongly to-”
“Hey, you two taking notes?” The bald man from earlier approached the duo. “You wanna be heroes? That’s great! You can do it!” The two turned, and Akatani paled.
“N-no, actually I’m-” Katsuki threw his arm in front of Akatani, grinning from ear to ear.
“Yes! We’ll do our best!”
“Since you’re all third years, it’s time for you to think seriously about your future.” The teacher began, his hands on his desk and leaning forward. “I’ll pass out handouts for your future plans now but…” Akatani glanced up as the teacher snatched up the handouts and gleefully tossed them in the air. “You’re all pretty much planning to go into the hero course, right?” The class cheered, each showing off their unique Quirks. “Yes, yes, you all have wonderful quirks! But using your powers at school is against the rules!” Akatani shielded his face as the girl in the seat next to him waved around a ball of fire.
“Teach!” A single voice called out, and Akatani groaned under his breath. He’s going to say something stupid again, isn’t he? “Are you sure everyone is going to the hero course? I mean, I’ve been working really hard, and I was just thinking that-”
“That’s uncalled for, Katsuki!” Someone shouted.
“Yeah! Are you saying we aren’t working hard, you jerk?” Another classmate yelled.
“What? What did I say?” Katsuki was clearly puzzled, unaware that his ‘innocent question’ had just insulted the entire class.
“Oh, if I remember correctly, you wanted to go to Yuuei, right, Bakugou?” The teacher asked, snapping Katsuki out of his confusion. The class immediately started whispering amongst themselves.
“Yuuei? That national school?!”
“It was in the top 0.2% this year, you know!”
“Their acceptance rate is always really low, too!”
“That’s exactly why I try my best!” He somehow managed to smile even wider than he already was. “I aced the mock test!” He bounced up, waving his arms excitedly. “I bet you guys all could too, if you just tried harder! Even Valiant’s level is reachable- I mean, he got there, didn’t he?”
“Oh yeah, Mikumo wanted to go to Yuuei too, right?” The teacher asked, casually looking through the papers on his desk. Akatani froze. The entire class swiveled their heads around to peer at him with cold, judgmental eyes. Then they laughed, and that was even worse that the silence.
“Huh? Mikumo? No way!” One of the students called out.
“You can’t get into the hero course just by studying!” Another one chimed in.
“N-no, you guys don’t understand. I didn’t-” A sudden explosion went off, silencing the entire class.
“What are you guys laughing about?” Katsuki shouted. He was angry. Really angry. “Me and Yami work harder than any of you jerks! You should all be ashamed!”
“No, wait, Katsuki!” Akatani grabbed onto his arm so he wouldn’t do any more damage. “This isn’t a competition! I’m not even-”
“This has been our goal ever since we were little.” Katsuki looked down, still fuming. “Don’t you… Don’t you want to go to Yuuei with me?” He looked up at Akatani, showing how big and wet his eyes had gotten. “Cuz, y’know… You won’t know unless you try…”
“What do you mean, ‘unless I try’?” This time, it was Akatani’s turn to have his eyes downcast. “It’s not like taking the test to get in is a leisurely activity. I… I can’t do anything , okay? I’m just… Quirkless.” He dropped his hand, letting go of Katsuki’s arm. “Let it go, okay?”
Meanwhile, in the same city, someone’s scream rang out in the street, as a worker ran out of a shop, yelling out,
“Thief!” He shouted at the escaping villain, who was made entirely out of slime and dashing away with the money from the shop. “Someone!”
“Catch me if you can!” The thief chuckled, part of his slime getting caught on a telephone pole and leafing behind a single yen note.
“Huh? There’s no hero around.” A bystander noted, standing outside a grocery store.
“Normally someone would come right away.” His friend commented.
“This guy’s taking advantage of the chaos from this morning.” The third member of the group concluded. “There are tons of people around who don’t know what to do with their Quirks.”
“There’s no end to them.” The first one sighed.
“There is an end.” The three bystanders turned and looked up in awe, as a huge man in a stunning cape stood on the roof behind them. He jumped down onto the sidewalk, approaching the street where the slime villain was still running. “Why?” The slime villain looked over, his eyes widening in terror. The hero smiled- or rather, smiled wider, as there had been a grin on his face this whole time.
“Because I am here!”
Students filed out of the classroom as Akatani browsed the news on his phone.
“The incident from this morning is all over the headlines…” He muttered softly. “Isn’t there any other news people could be posting about?” He sighed, putting his phone away. “I should hurry up and get home. Mom must be worried since I was late…” He jolted as a notebook was slammed down onto his desk, and he looked up at Katsuki, who was frowning for once, averting his eyes.
“Can we… Can we talk?” Katsuki asked softly, still not making eye contact with Akatani.
“Sure… What’s the notebook about?” He looked as Katsuki moved his hand away, reading the title. “Huh? ‘Hero Analysis for the Future’?” Akatani’s eyes widened. “Katsuki, is this-”
“I just… Let’s make a deal. Y-you just read this- these, and if you still don’t want to apply…” Katsuki looked down. “Then don’t. But just… Read it, okay?” Akatani stared down at the book, crude drawings of heroes on the cover, a barely legible title crossed out and replaced in Katsuki’s handwriting.
“Katsuki…”
“I don’t want to force you to apply. I just… I know it’ll make you happy. And I want you to be happy. So…” Akatani smiled. A real, genuine smile, the kind that only Katsuki and his own mother got to see.
“Katsuki… You kept this?”
Akatani remembered rain pouring, pattering against the window of his bedroom. He remembered staring down at a notebook that seemed just a little too big for his tiny hands filled with notes written in crayon. He remembered the soft blanket underneath him, not being used. He remembered his mother, standing at the door, her back turned to him. He remembered his small fists clenching around the thin pages of the book.
“Mom…” He remembered his voice, hoarse and croaky, spilling out from his throat. “Heroes always save people, no matter what trouble they’re in… Heroes are so cool…” He remembered his mother’s heartbroken face as she turned to look at him and saw the hot tears running down his face. “Can I… Be a hero, too?” He remembered his mother running to his side and throwing her arms around him.
“I’m sorry, Akatani!” He remembered her sobbing, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He remembered the book falling silently from his hands. That was it. Even… Even my own mother thinks I can’t.
Akatani sighed, putting his backpack down on his bed beside him. He stared down the journal in his lap. Just read them, huh. Not like it would change anything. He was still quirkless. No- he was still useless. He sighed again, flipping the journal open to the first page. It was filled with crude handwriting that he recognized as his own, all in green crayon. It was barely legible, nor was anything he saw as he flipped through the book, until he paused, staring down at a full two pages of notes on the number one hero. But what made him pause wasn’t the crayon drawing of Valiant, no, it was the neat ink writing all over the page, not in his own handwriting, but definitely his own words. He continued flipping through the pages as they filled up more and more with the black ink. He pulled out the other journals, and they were the same deal. He finally reached the last page of the tenth journal, which was entirely filled with only ink.
She looks like she’ll be popular, and it’s an amazing Quirk. It’s clearly gigantification, but thinking rationally, there’s destruction that that Quirk will cause to the city that is a definite drawback, so its use might be limited. But whether or not she can control her size factors in strongly to… something. I’m guessing Yami was going to say her successfulness as a hero or something like that.
The page only had that written on it, but Akatani recognized his words from that morning.
“Ah. I see.” Akatani smiled, clutching the book to his chest. “Thank you, Katsuki.”