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“Izuku. Son. Could you sit while I talk for a little bit?”
His father’s voice sounded solemn. Sad, even. Izuku didn’t know why -- his quirk had come in, even after the doctor said it wouldn’t! And wasn’t that something that was supposed to be celebrated? It was so cool, too! But it wasn’t his mother’s attraction or his father’s fire breathing. Maybe that was why? The child sat on the couch, idly swinging his legs. What was going on?
“You haven’t done anything wrong, but not everybody is going to see it that way. Many people will look at your quirk and see a monster.”
His father knelt in front of him, placing his hands on his shoulder. Izuku was confused. His quirk could be used to help so many people! If someone needed to learn how to use their quirk, he could show them! He could keep villains from hurting other people! Why would people think he was a monster?
“People will associate it with things I’ve done. Things that you’re too young to learn about.”
The young boy tilted his head a bit. What things? He didn’t understand, but Izuku was smart. He knew it wouldn’t help to ask. But still -- his dad was just an office worker. Right?
“Izuku, you’re as perfect as the wind and sky. But people will treat you like an outcast. Like you don’t belong.”
But why? Izuku was confused. Why would he be an outcast? He had a quirk, just like everyone else. Kacchan and the others wouldn’t call him a useless deku anymore! Or… or was that a bad thing? The teachers never seemed to mind his friend’s teasing. He quietly asked if he did something wrong.
“This world…” His father trailed off. “This world is unfair. The ones in charge play the part of judge, jury, and executioner.”
Izuku didn’t know what half those words meant, but he didn’t think they were good. But the heroes were supposed to protect everyone, right? They wouldn’t see him as a monster. His father rustled his hair.
“But we have a chance to fix things. Will you help me?”
Izuku nodded excitedly, the gravity of the conversation forgotten. He could help people! His father cracked a smile.
“Here’s what you can do…”
----
Izuku was not allowed to tell anyone about his quirk. To everyone other than his parents, he was supposed to remain the quirkless kid. The one that nobody truly cared about.
The bullying got worse. Taunts turned to shoving, which then turned to punches. The teachers did absolutely nothing to help him, and Izuku felt isolated from his peers. Still, he kept smiling. Every insult, every hit… all of them were met with a brilliant grin. Just like Dad told him to.
Dad said that it would be best to wait it out. He said that he would take care of things. And just as the teachers pretended not to see his suffering, he pretended not to know anything when the police showed up to ask about their whereabouts. After all, maybe they were “misinterpreting the situation”.
Izuku was always allowed to take his old teachers’ quirks. His favorite was the man who could make glyphs -- paired with the other quirks, it quickly became the most powerful weapon in his arsenal. Not that anyone would know that. After all, as far as they knew, he didn’t have a quirk in the first place.
He didn’t know what happened to the teachers afterwards. Izuku had always been curious, though. He had brought it up, once.
“Dad?” he had asked, one day. “What happens to them?” He didn’t think that they were just released back into society without quirks, even if it would be fitting. So where were they all? His father simply laughed and ruffled his hair.
“They’re getting what they deserve. And once that’s done, they’ll be more than willing to help you like they should.”
---
UA was everything Izuku had expected it to be. Everyone was just so nice! It was what he had always hoped for. Because despite everything, he was here. At the school of his dreams. Sure, he was in the General department. And yeah, he might have only been let in for diversity points. But he could still switch over! And he could prove that he deserved to be here, just like everyone else. The boy was still under strict instructions to not show his quirk, but that was okay. It just meant that people wouldn’t flock to him for being strong.
Like they had with Kacchan.
One of his classmates was a purple-haired boy with insomnia and a drive to succeed. Izuku was fairly certain that he wanted to become a hero out of spite, but hey. There were worse reasons to save people. And besides, his quirk was perfect for underground work. Izuku was excited to see how far he could go.
Shinsou was interesting. Because despite constantly trapping him with his quirk, he never made Izuku do anything. And even though Izuku was presumably quirkless, Shinsou still treated him with respect. It was a lot more courteous than anyone had ever been to him before. In fact, Izuku would dare to call him his friend.
Because Shinsou knows what it’s like to be the outcast. Izuku likes to think they have a bond -- panic attacks tend to bring people together, regardless of who’s having them.
Izuku doesn’t know what happened. One moment, he was happily talking to his classmate. The next, Shinsou was suddenly excusing himself. Izuku could tell that something was wrong -- whether it was from intuition or the empathy quirk he had taken a while back, he didn’t know (that was a lie, he did know, but he likes to think that he could have seen it without the quirk). What mattered was that the next time he saw his purple-haired friend, he had locked himself in the janitor’s closet.
Izuku had never dealt with another person’s panic before, so he did what his father always did. He talked softly to the other boy, assuring him over and over that things would be okay. That everything would be fine in the end. Eventually, Shinsou’s breathing evened out.
They never talk about it again.
---
“Izuku, do you have any friends in the Hero course?” his father had suddenly asked one day. Izuku looked up from the homework assignment he was doing and shook his head.
“No,” he said. “Shinsou thinks they’re all self-entitled pricks, and I haven’t really seen anything to prove otherwise. I mean, they let Kacchan in.” Dad laughed at that. “Why? Did you want me to make friends?” Aside from telling him to pretend to be quirkless, Dad had never tried to influence his actions. Still, if he wanted him to, Izuku could put up with the hero course students.
“No,” Dad chuckled. “I was just making sure there was no one to avoid.”
---
“I’ve learned a lot here, y’know?” Izuku had broken the comfortable silence that he and Shinsou often fell into. “Even if it’s not the hero course, I’m glad that I got to come to UA. That I got to meet you.” He knew he was blushing a bit, but there wasn’t anything he could do to change that.
Shinsou was taken off guard, Izuku could tell. But he wasn’t uncomfortable, so the green-haired boy had continued.
“I think… No, I know. You’re the first real friend I’ve ever had. Everyone else left after I was diagnosed as quirkless, but you didn’t let it bother you.”
“Basic human decency,” Shinsou had remarked, and Izuku laughed. Then, he looked towards the ground.
“It’s a lot harder to find than you would think. Hell, even my teachers ignored it. I guess it was easier to pretend that I was looking for attention than it was to punish an entire class.” It was okay, though. They wouldn’t be doing that to anyone else. “I guess… what I’m trying to say is thank you. For seeing me for me.” He looked up to meet Shinsou’s eyes, and noticed that the other one was blushing now as well. He gave a small smile.
“Any time,” came the reply, and Izuku didn’t need an empathy quirk to see how the other was feeling.
(“Hey, Mom?” His mother looked up from whatever paperwork she was currently doing, and Izuku continued. “How do I get a boy to like me?”)
---
“Despite everything, your school has decided to continue with the Sports Festival,” His father growled. “I swear, I should take you out right now,” he added under his breath. Izuku really hoped that was an empty threat. “Anyways, I just wanted to remind you -- there are going to be cameras everywhere. If you want to make a statement, now is the time to do it.”
“What kind of statement?” That a quirkless person could achieve these things? His father laughed, ruffling his hair.
“That’s for you to decide.”
---
There were many truths in this world. Not all men are created equal. Not everyone is going to like you.
Not all heroes are good.
That was the only possible explanation for the fear emanating from Todoroki Shouto at the sight of the number two hero. And the disappointment and hatred radiating back. Izuku almost asked if the boy was okay.
Almost. He had a feeling it might make things worse. Instead, he hardened as he thought of what Endeavor must have done. He thought of Kacchan, always let off the hook from his abuse because of how he would make a lovely hero.
If that was what a hero was, Izuku didn’t want to be one. Would he throw the match? Hell no. This match was going to be important.
He was going to make a statement.
He was going to show them all just how flawed their society truly was.
---
“You told me you were quirkless.” Shinsou practically spat venom, but Izuku could see the hurt his friend was feeling.
“I was told not to tell. That it wasn’t safe to show my quirk. And I agreed -- it’s not a very nice one.” Izuku braced himself.
“What the hell do you mean, ‘it’s not a very nice one’?! You have elemental glyphs -- strong ones, too! How can you say it’s not a good quirk when I’ve been branded as a villain for my whole life because of mine?! When I’m not even allowed to speak out loud in my own house?!” He was crying -- not much, but those were definitely tears.
“Because it’s not glyphs,” Izuku murmured, feeling tears well up in his own eyes.
“It’s not- Then what is it?!” Shinsou was confused, but Izuku could sense a bit of hope. That his friend wasn’t hiding for nothing.
“Shinsou.” Izuku looked the other boy directly in the eyes.
“I can steal other people’s quirks.”
---
The police had come shortly after his spectacle with the match. How had he slipped under the radar? Didn’t he know that that was illegal? They said he could get in a lot of trouble.
He laughed in their faces.
“ I’m going to be in trouble? What about every corrupt hero praised as a savior? What about every figure of authority that turns the other way while those at their lowest get beaten down even further? You all disgust me.”
That day, ten things went missing:
Two students from UA’s general education department…
...and the quirks of eight police officers.
---
The League of Villains was not like they had expected it to be.
Sure, it was full of volatile serial killers. But those volatile serial killers treated them like people. And even though Shigaraki was upset at the fact that his Sensei had a child and never told him, he still managed to treat them with respect.
It was a lot more than most heros ever did for them.
Shinsou Hitoshi and Midoriya Izuku quickly established themselves in the underworld as Conman and Kingpin. And yet somehow, despite the aliases, people still fell for their tricks.
Because apparently sitting in another person’s lap meant you weren’t a threat. And when you slipped your head under his chin to cover his throat, people took it as a sign of submission. But that was fine -- the more people underestimated them, the better.
Izuku closed his notebook.
“Hitochan,” he gently nudged his partner. “Did you ever think we’d get here?”
“Where,” Hitoshi grinned, “In an old bar with arrest warrants and two gremlins?” Izuku laughed. It was true -- if you told him two years ago that he’d be an A-ranked villain, well. He would have cried. Now, he just wondered how long it would take to figure out his quirk and promote him to S.
The children were even more unexpected.
Yes, Muscular was supposed to be their ally. But since the bastard was willing to murder a small child for fun, Izuku had decided to take advantage as his position as Sensei’s son and put him out of commission. Permanently.
Society was in an uproar over the loss of both Ragdoll’s quirk and Izumi Kota. For all they knew, the boy had been turned into a noumu for his powerful quirk. The heroes would never know that the boy was safe, sleeping peacefully in the lap of one of Japan’s most dangerous villains.
Then there was Eri.
Destroying the Eight Precepts of Death was an easy task -- taking Overhaul’s quirk had been a necessity if they were to revive Magne. And if Kingpin and Conman tracked down and destroyed the rest of the group, freeing a girl who only radiated fear, that was nobody’s business but theirs.
And the League's, but All for One seemed to enjoy spoiling his grandchildren so it wasn’t really a problem.
Izuku looked around the room. His mother, who had tagged along to keep Izuku and his father in line, was fussing over a flustered Shigaraki who very clearly had no idea what was going on. Dabi laughed, only to be scolded for it a moment later. Twice was filming the entire thing. Toga seemed to be teaching Eri how to braid hair, using Magne as a model. Compress and Kurogiri were discussing something, and Spinner was sitting nearby.
Izuku thought back to the conversation that led to all of this, and he smiled.