Chapter Text
Online forums were truly a thing to behold. A place where one can meet people with similar interests, argue opposing viewpoints, or just shitpost until the cows come home.
Izuku found himself on hero forums a lot. He never posted anything, but he would browse for hours. Posts like ‘My Theory on All Might’s Quirk’, and ‘Top 10 Best Pro Hero Quirks of all Time (in my opinion)’, and ‘You Won’t Believe What Midnight’s Hero Costume is Hiding From You’ held his rapt attention for as long as he could convince his mom to let him stay up.
He loved to see all of the analyses and theories that people were able to come up with, especially when they were centered around All Might. He had thought about posting some of his notes from his “For the Future” notebooks, but he felt that it probably wasn't the best idea to go blabbing on about some hero's weaknesses, real or perceived, on the internet for anyone to see.
His eyes landed on a post that seemed to just begging for Izuku’s attention. It was posted by ASPIRINGHERO1616, one of his personal favorite bloggers. “hey everybody, i was wondering waht you all think of this - All Might shows just how out of touch he is with tho…”
Izuku clicked on the link and was redirected to another tab. Briefly he was worried that he had just sent his computer to a dangerous ad and virus filled blog as he waited for it to load. Those worries were soon dispelled however as the site showed up on his monitor and he read the full title.
“All Might Shows Just How Out of Touch He is With Those of Us Who Don’t Have a Quirk in His Latest Interview” by Wondrous Ghoul. Izuku had a feeling he knew what interview the heading was referring to, the one that had aired a few weeks ago. Everything had been the perfectly perfect, borderline generic interview you would expect from the No. 1 Hero, that was until the host had decided to ask the one question that Izuku had always wanted to ask the symbol of peace himself.
Sure enough, as he scrolled down the page he was met with a link to a youtube video. ‘The part im referring to occurs at 13:49’. Izuku clicked it, went to the specified time, and braced himself for the heartbreaking words he knew were to come.
“So All Might,” the host started, “one of the most common questions we get for our Hero Interview segment is one I thought you should answer.” he turned to look directly at All Might’s beaming smile.
“I’m honored you think me worthy of such an important question. Fire away.”
“Well, we get many young quirkless students who call us and say they want to help people. Most want to know if you think it’s possible to become a hero without a quirk. Others want to know what they can do to help people without becoming a hero.”
All Might’s face took on a grim expression as he thought about what to say, he looked almost guilty to give his answer. “Well, I think it’s great that so many young people want to help those around them, but I have to say I think the answer is no. There are just too many criminals and villains that are difficult enough to fight with a quirk, that I just don’t know if it would be possible to be an effective hero without a quirk of your own.
“But I want to reiterate that I think it’s great that some kids want to help people even if it doesn't involve the glamour of being a hero. There are some great jobs out there that do some real good. Like being a nurse or a doctor. If you're looking to help stop criminals, becoming a police officer is a great way to do that. They get a lot of flack because the hero's catch most of the bad guys, but it's still a good job. In fact a close friend of mine is a cop.” All Might nodded, seemingly pleased with his answer, and brought the full force of his famous smile back onto his face.
They moved onto the next question so Izuku exited out of the tab and went back to the blog post. He was devastated when he first heard All Might say that. He hadn't come out of his room for the next few days. It was one thing for those word to come from Katsuki, it was another thing entirely to hear them from his idol. He had also heard the police officer line many times, the first time had been when his doctor told him he would never develop a quirk. Over the years Izuku started to hate that sentiment. Was that where Wondrous Ghoul was going with this blog post? That that seem to be the only advice people can give? Izuku started to read the post.
“I heard people tell me that all my life that being a police officer is just as good as being a hero for me. That since I wanted to be a hero to help people more than for the ‘glamour’, it was a fine substitute for quirkless me. And I listened. I joined the police force. And I can tell you it was the worst decision of my life. I wasted 3 years of my life just going to school. And when i got a job? I couldn’t do anything. They wouldn't let me do anything. At first I thought it was normal stuff, ya’ know. Hazing. But it went on, and on, and on. People who got into the school the same year I graduated got to go into the field before I did. I got grunt work and desk work, and that was it. And it was never anything important or difficult either, nothing i could mess up as long as my brain was still in my skull. And that’s how it has been for the last seven years of my life.
"So if you're quirkless and you are thinking about joining the police force, don't. You'll be treated like a child your whole career. Or worse, an unpaid intern. I just wish I could tell All Might that before he gets anymore kids to join in lieu of actually helping.”
Izuku quickly read the rest of the blog post, and then he read it again. Was that really what happened when you didn't have a quirk? Was that really what everyone had been pushing him towards?
Was this what the rest of his life would be like?
He shoved that thought from his brain and scrolled down to the comment section curious to see what other people had to say. There were a few comments that mirrored Izuku's thoughts, a couple skeptical of his story, but the vast majority of them were people sharing their own, both of being police officers and of other jobs. It seemed the consensus was that being quirkless made you appear virtually incapable of many things in the eyes of your peers.
Izuku looked some more of Wondrous Ghoul’s posts. He found he liked their prose and wanted to see what else they had to say.
His eyes landed on another post. It was slightly older than the one he’d just read, but had nearly seven times the views.
“Stain|Hero Killer: Do the Ends Justify the Means?”
Before he could click on it a knock came from his door, “Izuku, Honey, it’s time for bed. We’re going to see that movie in the morning, remember.”