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Chapter Text

Izuku was five years old when he first encountered the creature.

It had been a chilly late autumn day, and the earthy smell of rain permeated the air. A gray sky stretched imposingly, impossibly high over his head. His mother had sent him out to play while she got dinner ready. He had been following behind Katsuki and his friends, but had been forgotten (left behind, a voice in his mind supplied) in an unfamiliar part of town. He knew that he was not too far from home, but could not for the life of him remember the right direction to go, and the towering fences and scattered greenery confused him, turning him around and causing all his attempts to find his way home to circle back uselessly on themselves.

As he passed the same overturned white stone for the umpteenth time, it began to drizzle, merely adding to his hastening frustration (and, he dimly thought but tried to ignore, fear). The sky had begun to darken and the rain was making it no easier to see, merely adding to his despair. He soon felt the familiar feeling of tears pricking his eyes, but he attempted to stem them, still walking aimlessly in the general direction he believed his home to be in. He searched around, trying to remember exactly where he was and find the proper path, but as he stepped forward, he found himself unbalanced as he slipped on the thin but slippery film of mud characteristic of light rainstorms and fell flat on his back.

The fall did not particularly hurt, but his swelling fear and childish embarrassment with his own foolish self was the final straw. That was when the tears came, in a steady stream down his face, mingling with the rain pelting his face, and he screwed his eyes shut, blaming the downpour. After a moment, he rolled over on his side, digging his arm into the mud for balance as he sat up. As he pushed himself up, sniffling and wiping his face with a muddy arm, he stumbled again, barely catching himself and narrowly avoiding a fresh painting of mud. He gripped a metal fence to steady himself, and stood there for a moment, sniffling and crying quietly, his fear overwhelming him as he stood in a foreign place covered in mud and shivering. His mother would be worried that he hadn’t come home yet, which was a thought that only made him cry harder and feel even more useless. His situation made him think about how, if he only had a quirk, he wouldn’t be so helpless. If he had any number of amazing quirks, he would have been able to find his way home, would still be playing with Kacchan, would not even be in this situation in the first place. He wouldn’t be such a useless Deku. He would actually be able to do something, instead of just standing here, crying pathetically in the rain.

His tears slowed, however, when something caught his eye. Through the wall of rain, he saw something move. It was dark, darker than its surroundings. He squinted, trying to see through his tears and the droplets falling through the air, seemingly doing their best to impede his vision. He stared for a long time, long enough that he began to think he hadn’t seen anything at all and had begun to sniffle once again, when he saw it again, but clearer. From the distance he was at, it looked like a shadow of some sort. It was smaller than him, and it seemed to be approaching him. As it got close, he began to make out more details on it. Upon closer inspection, he could see that it was some sort of animal. It had certain strange, very distinct features. As it walked, it hobbled slightly yet somehow gracefully on four thin legs. A tail stretched behind it, curled slightly over it’s back in a confident, almost cocky manner. It had a strange look about it, seeming somehow wrong in its surroundings, like a badly cropped image photoshopped into reality, but not in a frightening way. Perhaps most perturbing, however, were it’s two glowing white eyes that appeared to be watching him, not merely looking at him but almost through him. The creature was unsettling, but familiar in a way he couldn’t place. Izuku shivered slightly, though not from the cold, suddenly feeling very exposed.

Abruptly, it stopped walking towards him and sat down, still watching him. It cocked its head slightly, blinking slowly at him as it did so, its tail waving lazily behind it in a way slightly reminiscent of the stray cats he would occasionally see around the town.

They stared at each other for a time, and Izuku could not shake off the very peculiar feeling that he had seen this creature before, but could not remember from where. He racked his brain, trying to grab ahold of the tug of familiarity, but it slipped through his fingers like sand. He was startled from his thoughts when the animal got up and began to walk away. He watched it go, but was surprised when it did not go far before turning back to him, stopping expectantly, almost like it wanted him follow it. He took a hesitant step forward, not too keen to follow a mysterious animal from who knows where. For all he knew, it could be some villain’s quirk or a trap of some sort. At the same time though, he couldn’t help the feeling that he should do what it wanted, and after a moment of inner turmoil, he gave in and fell into step a few meters behind it.

The strange creature, which he still could not make out properly through the unceasing torrent of falling water droplets, kept a steady pace, and he had to walk quite quickly to keep up. It led him past trees and around corners, through areas of the city he had never seen before, and he began to think he had made the wrong decision in following it, until he recognized one of the streets they turned down. The houses on this block were extremely nice, much too expensive to be his neighborhood, but he recalled passing through here once or twice with Kacchan and his friends. As he began to identify his surroundings, the creature picked up its pace until he was running to keep up with it. Suddenly, he turned a corner and found himself in a very familiar area.

“—zuku—! IZUKU!” a woman with dark green hair was frantically calling from in front of a tall gray building he recognized as his apartment, her voice caught up in the rising wind and pattering of rain.

“Mom!” he shouted in return, and the woman whipped around. He couldn’t see her face through the rain, but by the way she sprinted towards him faster than he had seen her run before, he could tell how upset she was. He could feel his own crying starting up once more, though this time he weeped tears of relief at having made it back home.

“Izuku!” His mother caught him and pulled him into a fierce embrace. He could feel her shaking as she held him close, or perhaps that was him. Relief washed over him, warming him up and making him feel safe. The two stood there for a moment, crying together as the wind and rain swirled around them, but they could not feel it, too caught up in each other’s comfort.

Eventually, his mother released her iron-grip, though she did not put him down, and attempted to wipe her face with her arm (a largely hopeless endeavor, as neither the deluge of tears nor the rain had subsided at all) and began to walk back towards the apartments. She began badgering him with questions almost as soon as they were inside, holding him tightly as a stream of words flowed from her mouth, scolding him gently for being late, and asking where he had been. He did his best to answer all her questions, just as shaken as she was, feeling hungry and more than a little exhausted. He told her the entire story, of how he had gotten lost (not forgotten, he reminded himself) and how he had fallen (that was why he was so dirty). He also told her about the the strange creature he saw, and how it had led him back home. His mother was understandably worried at first, but was reassured when she heard how the animal had helped him find his way back to her (“It saved me, mom!”). As he was speaking, he realized that he hadn’t seen the creature after catching sight of his mother, and dimly wondered where it could have gone, but this thought was pushed aside as they entered their apartment and his mother set a bowl of katsudon before him, slightly cold now but every bit as delicious, which he practically inhaled before receiving a warm bath and being tucked into bed with a goodnight kiss.

He fell asleep almost immediately, the day’s exhaustion finally catching up with him, but his dreams were filled with flitting shadows and strange familiarity, chasing echoes of rain and the afterimage of glowing white eyes.

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It had been almost two years since Izuku had been led home on that chilly fall evening by that strange creature, and the incident had been mostly forgotten. Spring was fast approaching, breathing new life into the earth and bringing with it a flood of green growth that sprouted through the boughs of dead trees and in the rich soil. 

Izuku was excited to finally be able to play outside under the warm sun again. Not that he had anything against winter, but after awhile, even he had to admit that the biting cold and short, dark days got old eventually. That morning, he had woken up jumping excitedly and begged his mother to take him to the park. Chuckling at his antics, his mother had finally relented and said she would see if the Bakugous wanted to join them on their outing (“It will be nice to catch up with Mitsuki, I haven’t seen her in ages...”) and the two had set out after eating a quick breakfast.

Izuku was practically buzzing with excitement as they made their way to the park, a little thing with monkey bars and a swing not far from their apartment. On the way, he rambled to his mother about the latest hero-related news, which she listened to with no small amusement. A new hero named Mirage had been in the news recently, and he was absolutely intrigued by her quirk. He was in the middle of debating certain fan theories he had heard about how exactly she created her illusions when suddenly a scream rang out behind them.

He jerked around to see what it was, but before he could pinpoint the source of the sound, he was suddenly moving through the air at a breakneck speed. He squeezed his eyes shut as the air whipped at them and could feel a strange weight around his neck before he jolted to a stop. The sudden change from speeding to utterly motionless caused him to whip forward, but the weight around his neck restrained him, cutting off his airflow momentarily as his stomach lurched dangerously.

Izuku was momentarily disoriented, but he could hear shouts and voices blending together around him. Blearily blinking his eyes open, he tried to take in his surroundings but everything was fuzzy. He attempted to struggle away from whoever was holding him, but then they leaned down and a raspy voice that sent shivers down his spine spoke directly into his ear.

“Move and you’re dead, kid.”

Izuku’s breath caught in his throat and he immediately froze. His heart was beating a mile a minute and his surroundings were blurring together into a kaleidoscope of colour, but he could vaguely recognize that he seemed to be in the middle of a street, and there was a crowd of people surrounding him, though he could not recognize any of them nor locate his mom amongst them.

He gasped. Mom! Where was she? He scanned the crowd as best as he could without moving his head, blinking to clear his vision. There! He could see her back on the sidewalk where he had been walking near her moments ago. To his relief, she appeared uninjured, though she was holding her hand over her mouth and trembling as she stared at him. He widened his eyes at her, trying to convey he was uninjured, but she didn’t seem to notice. Belatedly, he began to register what the villain gripping him in a chokehold was saying.

“Nobody move, or the kid gets it!” he was threatening. It seemed it was working, as no one in the crowd stepped forward or made any motion to try to help, which Izuku was thankful for. He could see a few smaller time heroes in the crowd, clearly trying to reason with the villain but unable to approach without putting Izuku himself in more danger in the process. They were attempting to stall the villain long enough for a hero with a better-suited quirk to arrive.

Izuku desperately scanned his surroundings, analyzing the situation, trying to find a way out of it, but came up empty. He swallowed back his panic, trying to suppress his fearful trembling but not entirely succeeding. His eyes trailed over the crowd around him. There had to be something. Someone, anyone!

His eyes locked onto two familiar empty white sockets in the crowd. There, between the legs of the frightened civilians, was the strange creature he had seen all those months ago. It stared at him with a detached interest, and he could feel its gaze boring deep into his own, eyes searing into his brain. A strange feeling built up in his head. It felt like his head was slowly being filled with molten lava, burning him from the inside out. Unable to bear the feeling anymore, Izuku wrenched his gaze away and screwed his eyes shut.

And then, in the span of a few seconds, multiple things happened.

The villain holding Izuku’s grip around his neck tightened, obstructing his breathing once more, and Izuku reflexively brought his hands up to where the older man’s arm was wrapped around his neck. As he made contact with the villain’s arm, the grip around his neck suddenly disappeared, as did the presence behind him, and Izuku stumbled forward, falling to the ground, the tension in his skull releasing and turning into a slight jab in his brain. It felt like what a grain of sand must feel to an oyster, more of an irritation than anything else. Then, just as suddenly, the villain was back, looking extremely disoriented, and the feeling was gone. A moment later Izuku was whisked out of the way as the heroes swarmed the villain.

His mother rushed forward and grabbed him, holding him tightly to her chest and on the verge of tears, but Izuku could barely focus on that through the sharp pain attacking his head at the moment. The next few minutes was comprised of paramedics checking him and asking him over and over if he was ok and then the same treatment from his own mother before he was deemed uninjured and released to return home. It seemed that in the time it took him to be looked over, the heroes had wrapped up the fight and turned the villain in to the police. He was apparently known as Hijack and had been responsible for quite a few thefts and break ins in the past few weeks, and the authorities seemed glad to be able to finally lock him up.

After wrapping up their overwhelming morning, Izuku and his mother decided to skip the park for the day and return home. Both were tired and in need of a break from all the excitement, so Inko called Mitsuki asking if they could reschedule, and then the Midoriyas found themselves silently making their way back to their apartment.

The quiet of the walk home gave Izuku time to think about what had happened. He recalled seeing the strange animal once more, and the peculiar pressure that had built up behind his eyes, and the even stranger momentary disappearance of his capturer and the pounding headache he still had. Try as he might, he could not come up with any plausible explanation for the events that had taken place earlier. Well, except one.

One thought had occurred to him, but with it came the inevitable hope that he had been holding onto. He was not ready to state with certainty that this was in fact the answer, but he had to find out.

He hardly dared to hope, but if there was a chance, any chance that he was right, he had to take it. No matter what.

Chapter Text

Izuku did not sleep well those next weeks. His dreams were plagued with memories of an arm around his throat and white, endless eyes, and more often than not he woke up with a crushing headache. At a certain point he had had enough, and decided that he had to do something about these nightmares, although what, he was not sure.

It wasn't as though he hadn't been trying. He had watched and rewatched every recording of the incident, had written down every minute detail so he wouldn't forget it. It seemed, however, that no matter what he did, he could not explain the events that had taken place. The villain’s disappearance and then just as sudden reappearance could not be explained by any circumstances he could think of. There was no hero at the scene with a quirk like that, and he could find no other information on any abilities similar to what he had experienced.

He had one single lead, however. The strange creature he had seen, the one that had helped him home all those months ago, had been there. He knew with the utmost certainty (a feeling he could not exactly place, but that he once again felt with crushing familiarity) that the creature was involved with this. It had the answers he seeked, he knew it did. He just had to find it.

Easier said than done, he supposed. Sighing, Izuku collapsed onto his All Might themed bedsheets. Yeah right , he thought miserably. How was he supposed to find a creature that small in Musutafu? He, a quirkless kid searching for a tiny animal that could literally be anywhere, let alone actually finding it? What a joke.

Then again, the creature had seemed to recognize him, as though it was searching for him in particular. And he had already seen it twice. How likely was that to happen if they only met by chance? Perhaps, if he was lucky, it would find him itself.

In that case, all he had to do was wait.

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It was an unlikely bet to make, that the creature would attempt to find him on his own if he waited long enough. However, Izuku's idea miraculously paid off a few months later.

Izuku had been hoping against hope that his assertion was correct, that he wasn't merely delusional and the creature's appearances near him were purely coincidental. As time passed, though, he began to lose his previous unwavering determination. He knew it was ridiculous. After all, after seeing the animal the first time, it had taken half a year for their paths to cross once more. Of course, there was also the fact that a third encounter with the creature was improbable at best. As he thought more and more about It, he realized how silly it was for him to believe that the creature had been looking for him. What was so special about Izuku that a shadowy creature would seek him out specifically? Nothing that he could think of, at least.

That was why it was all the more surprising when one evening, while he was sitting on his couch drawing in his hero notebook (his first official one that his mother had given him for his birthday, complete with his name and an All Might inspired pattern on the cover, so cool ) he felt a peculiar tug in his chest. He paused, squinting as he turned his head to look out the window.

He heard his mother shuffle into the room, but ignored it when he felt the feeling again. He put his down his red coloured pencil and found himself scrutinizing the sky through the window. The sun was slowly sinking in the sky. Izuku felt another pang and grabbed his shirt, twisting it against his chest. 

“Izuku dear, is everything ok?” his mother asked, concern lacing her tone. Izuku stood up slowly, still facing the window. Suddenly, he jerked around and ran past her to the entrance, grabbing his shoes from the doorstep.

“I’m going out for a bit!” he called, stumbling a little in his haste to pull his red sneakers on. His mother rounded the corner, looking slightly disheveled as he finish tying the laces and pulled open the door.

“Where are you…” she sighed, pausing mid sentence. “Never mind. Just… don’t stay out too long, please? It’s going to get dark soon.” Izuku could hear the slight pleading note in her voice and knew she was worried about him. Turning to face her, he gave her his most reassuring smile.

“I won’t be gone long!” he said, and closed the door behind him, taking off down the street. He felt slightly bad as he ran from his apartment in the direction of the beach, but he had no time to think about it as he felt the tug in his chest again. Bolting down the sidewalk, he could feel his heart pounding and pressure building beneath his ribcage.

He took a hard right and skidded as the terrain beneath his feet changed suddenly from cracked cement to tan sand, and he was greeted with the sight of mountains of trash heaped higher than some of the surrounding buildings. He was attacked by the smell of rotting garbage and pulled his shirt over his nose to block it out, wondering why the heck he was there, when he caught sight of something flick behind a trash mound. Steeling himself, he plunged into the maze of bursting plastic bags and rusted out corpses of old electronics.

He stepped carefully around broken glass and nasty looking metal pipes that stuck out like broken bones around the junk. He reached a blockade of rubbish and went to look for a way around before spotting something slipping between the dirty tires. Sighing heavily, he squeezed between the shreds of the torn and filthy rubber. Clawing his way through the grime, he found himself in a clearing. And there, sitting above him on an old battered refrigerator, was the creature.

It sat elegantly, facing away from him as it stared into the distance at a sight he could not see from his vantage point, it’s small and twisted figure perched upon the broken electronic with surprising poise. It did not turn to look at him, but he knew that it could sense his presence behind him.

“ You have finally arrived, ” it spoke with the voice of a dying star. “ I have been waiting, Izuku. ” Izuku was in awe of the majesty of the creature before him. It had a certain regality to it that he could not place, but felt imposing all the same and emitted an aura that would make even the strongest of men fall to their knees.

“Wh-what are you?” Izuku asked at last, finally finding his voice though not succeeding in keeping it fully even.

“ I am everything and nothing. In a simpler sense, I suppose I am what humans would call an anomaly, of sorts. ” The creature remained motionless as it spoke, save for the slight rippling effect on its body caused by the gusts of sea breeze blowing calmly past.

“What do you mean? How do you know my name? Have you been watching me? Maybe that’s why you seem so familiar, like I’ve seen you before I mean I obviously saw you at the villain attack and a few months ago but I feel like I’ve seen you before then too and—“ Izuku could not help the steady stream of thoughts rushing through his head and began to mutter. It didn’t help that his nerves were already shot by the intimidating aura emitted from the creature.

The creature (anomaly? Izuku was slightly confused) sat silently, having turned its head to face him and watching him with something akin to clinical curiosity. After a moment of his thoughts streaming through the air as he spoke them aloud due to his apparent lack of brain-to-mouth filter, Izuku cut himself off, slapping his hand over his mouth as he noticed what he had done and looking away, clearly embarrassed. 

“I’m, uh, sorry…” he trailed off, but the creature before him didn’t seem particularly irritated. Instead, it had turned its small head back towards the distance. It sat in peaceful contemplation for awhile, long enough that Izuku began to wonder if it had forgotten about him.

“ You must have many questions, ” it spoke suddenly, and Izuku startled at its voice, looking up at it. “ I promise to answer them all as best as I can. However, before we continue, I suppose I should introduce myself. ”

It stood up and stretched in much the same manner as a house cat after a long nap, and Izuku once again felt himself intrigued at the strange way it seemed to contrast with the world around it. Even the way the wind brushed past it seemed almost otherworldly in a way he couldn’t quite place, yet at the same time maddeningly familiar.

“ I am called Yugen. We have met twice before, as I have no doubt you remember. As for what I am, well, perhaps anomaly is a wrong word, ” here it (Yugen, it had said was its name) paused, as if it was trying to find the right word. “ I suppose I am what you would call your ‘Quirk’. ”

Izuku froze, stunned. Yugen, this mysterious shadow creature, with void white eyes that seemed to hold entire universes within, was his quirk ?

“B-but that can’t… I’m… I’m quirkless ! How— how can you—?” he stammered out, barely able to believe what he was hearing. 

“ I understand that it is a lot to grasp, ” Yugen made a noise that Izuku almost believed to be a sigh, although a strangely garbled one at that, before hopping gently down from the trashed fridge and standing across the clearing from Izuku. “ What I can tell you at this moment is that this is not truly the main aspect of your quirk. I am merely an addition, if you will. ”

Izuku was still gaping like a fish, confusion and excitement battling in his mind as he struggled to grasp the events occurring around him. Yugen seemed to catch onto his hesitation, and began to walk towards him.

“ I believe that a discussion is due. However, there are certainly better places to conduct one. If I recall correctly, you are expected home early, are you not? ” Izuku was surprised that Yugen knew something like that, but acknowledged that this was far from the strangest thing he had heard that day. He turned to see that Yugen had walked past him and back through the trash towards the street once more. Resigning himself, he made to follow but remembered something. Spinning around once more to where the busted refrigerator was resting upright, he scrambled up to its side, stepping on a broken television and various other artifacts. Steadying himself using the fridge, he stood on his toes, just barely able to get his eye level above it, and a breathtaking sight greeted him.

He could see the ocean, stretching far towards the horizon, untouched by the piles of trash towering above him, and above it, the golden light of the setting sun washed over his face. The sky was a watercolour painting of rosy yellow and orange, blending together above the water and casting a faint reflection on the waves. The clouds were pink paintbrush strokes in the sky, and the sun itself was almost red. It was one of the most beautiful things Izuku had ever seen, and he basked in its calming radiance for a few more seconds before remembering where he was and hopping down from the old appliances he had been precariously balanced upon.

He made his way back towards the street where Yugen was awaiting him, sitting peacefully on a slab of broken cement. It said nothing to him as he caught up to it, just bowing its head in greeting before leaping gracefully from the rubble and heading off down the path towards Izuku’s apartment.

Izuku jogged slightly to keep up but stayed quiet, not wanting to shatter the peaceful silence washing pleasantly over the two of them. At a certain point, though, his curiosity got the best of him and he opened his mouth, intending to strike up another conversation.

“ You saw the sunset, I presume? ” Yugen spoke before Izuku managed to get a word out, and his voice caught in his throat, a funny expression flashing across his face at the strange question. He was surprised because that was exactly what he was about to ask about, intending to break the ice. “ You are easy to read, Izuku, ” Yugen offered as an explanation, at Izuku’s bewilderment.

“Ah, um, yeah,” Izuku stammered, caught slightly off guard by the shadow creature’s perceptiveness. “It was really pretty, huh?”

“ I am incapable of understanding the human concept of ‘beauty’, ” Yugen said in a toneless voice.

“O-oh…” Izuku said awkwardly, unsure of how to continue after such a flat response. “B-but you were looking at it, right?”

“ Indeed. It is my knowledge that such view-altering statements such as those I shared with you are traditionally spoken in a dramatic and meaningful place, and with stoic expression to stimulate an emotional response, ” Yugen said as they turned a corner. “ Was I incorrect in this belief? ” 

“Oh, uh, no.” Izuku couldn’t help thinking that this sounded like a movie cliche of some sort, and that Yugen didn’t understand emotions all too well. He wondered where Yugen had gotten such knowledge. He decided not to question it and followed the creature the rest of the way to his apartment building in silence. The setting sun cast long shadows on the street, giving the whole scene an oddly enigmatic feeling. The two reached Izuku’s home undisturbed and Izuku stopped, expecting Yugen to do the same. He blanched when it began to walk up the stairs. “Wait! You’re j-just going in?” he blurted out, and Yugen paused where it was.

“ Of course. This is your home, after all, and now that proper introductions have occurred, I shall be staying with you. ” Izuku was slightly concerned that Yugen was merely inviting itself inside.

“But my mom will have a lot of questions if she sees you,” Izuku said, and the creature before him tilted its head questioningly to the side.

“ Is there something wrong with my appearance? ” it queried. Izuku took in it’s small figure, it’s otherworldly feeling, it’s vacant white eyes.

“Well, I mean, you don’t e-exactly look, uh, n-normal?” he squeaked. Yugen took a moment to examine itself.

“ Ah, I suppose I do look slightly out of place in this reality, ” it decided. “ All right. I shall remedy this quandary. ” And then, before Izuku’s very eyes, it began to change.

Izuku watched, mouth slightly agape as Yugen’s body shifted before him. It grew slightly, pelt grew soft and furry, its ears taking on an elegant pointed shape and its large eyes taking on a bluish tint and shrinking as its form changed. When the transformation was complete, a black cat sat inconspicuously before Izuku, tail folded neatly over its paws and looking for all the world as though it had been born and raised on the planet earth. It fixed him with an intelligent glare, and Izuku could still see the void swirling just below the surface of its still pupiless eyes, perhaps the only defining characteristic remaining on its body.

“ I believe this solves our problem, yes? ” Even Yugen’s voice had changed. While before, it had rang with an ethereal essence, it now had taken on a soft cadence, somewhere between a rumbling purr and a meow. It was still recognizably Yugen’s voice, but at the same time it was fundamentally different in a way Izuku couldn’t describe. He wondered how exactly it had managed to change its appearance so drastically. Could it be a side effect of his Quirk? Was this what it had meant when it said he had a different power than this? Perhaps—

Quickly, Izuku caught his thoughts before they strayed too far and he started rambling again. He realized that Yugen was still awaiting a response to its question, and nodded quickly. It looked appeased, and without further thought, it bounded up the stairs. Izuku followed close behind, taking the stairs two at a time to keep up.

 They reached Izuku’s floor and walked to his door. Izuku noticed that the sun was almost fully down, and realized that this was it. After this, there would be no going back. He hesitated for a moment, looking down at the cat sitting expectantly at his feet, before bending down and scooping it up. Yugen seemed momentarily alarmed, but relaxed after a moment, merely taken by surprise, Taking a deep breath, Izuku calmed himself, before putting his hand on the handle and slowly opening the front door. 

“I’m home!” he called.

“Welcome home!” his mother walked around the corner, looking relieved. “Dinner is ready, dear. Oh, what do you have there?” Her gaze was on the furred creature in his arms.

“It’s a cat,” Izuku began, making a split second decision. “I found it— uh, him in an alley. His name is Yugen.”

His mother looked at the cat carefully. Yugen stared back cooly, blinking slowly. His mother, apparently satisfied with her analysis, smiled,

“Well, bring him in, and please close the door behind you, Izuku. We don't want any bugs getting in.” She turned back around and went to the kitchen, presumably to finish up the meal. “Could you set the table please, honey?”

Izuku shut the door, looking down at the cat in his arms. “I guess she approves of you,” he said, smiling widely. He bent down to let Yugen down, quickly removing his sneakers and dashed to the kitchen. “Coming, Mom!”

The cat was left sitting in the entranceway as the two humans started up a friendly chatter. The sounds of the clinking of plates and warm voices filled the air as they prepared to eat. Curious , thought the creature of shadow, Very curious .

This was certainly going to be interesting.

Chapter Text

It had taken some convincing, but after a thorough examination and, much to Yugen's displeasure, a bath (imposed on it by Inko, of course) the cat was deemed safe and was allowed to sleep with Izuku for the night. Izuku was, of course, elated, as he had many questions for the shadowy creature. As soon as his mother bade him goodnight and left his room, flicking on his All Might nightlight and shutting the door with a soft click, he was up.

“Yugen!” he whispered. The cat, who had been curled up at the foot of his bed, much like a real one to Izuku's amusement, flicked its ear and blinked open one bright blue eye. Seeing the excitable green boy practically bouncing up and down on his comforter, it yawned widely and sat up, stretching slightly before speaking in its regular flat voice. 

“ It is quite late for you, is it not? ” Izuku deflated slightly. It was indeed much past his bedtime, almost 9:30, but he didn't think he would be able to sleep with all the thoughts racing through his head. He needed answers from Yugen about everything it had told him earlier that day. How could it expect him to fall asleep when he had just learned that he actually did have a quirk?

Yugen seemed to read his thoughts, as it squinted before standing up fully and walking towards Izuku, picking a careful route through the maze of wrinkles in the blanket until it was sitting directly in front of the boy.

“ Now is as good a time as any other, I suppose, and if you do not plan to sleep anyway, we may as well make use of the hours until the morrow, ” it said, and Izuku immediately brightened. Was it finally going to tell him about his Quirk?

“ To begin, ” it continued, “ I believe… yes, this is the best course of action. ”  Suddenly, Yugen lunged towards him. Izuku, caught by surprise, recoiled backwards, hitting his head on the back of his bed. 

“Owww,” he winced, rubbing the back of his head. “What the heck, Yugen…” But as he looked up, he trailed off. The cat was sitting directly before him, except it wasn’t a cat anymore. It had reverted back to its shadowy form, and Izuku was looking right into its cosmic white eyes. As he stared into its gaze, he could feel pressure building up behind his skull once more, but he could not pull his eyes away even as his vision started to go dark from the throbbing in his head. He felt as though he was being swallowed up in the endless depths and found that he couldn’t move under the crushing intensity. He could feel himself falling endlessly down, down, down … 

Then everything went black, and he was gone.

___________________

When Izuku came to, it was with a wave of pain crashing over his head. He groaned and sat up, trying to open his eyes and but closing them again when a spell of dizziness overtook him. He sat still for a moment, trying to regain his bearings and hopefully lessen his headache. When he felt slightly better, he sat up and attempted to open his eyes once more, which thankfully succeeded the second time.

“ Nice of you to join us, ” came a curt voice from his right, and Izuku turned his head, trying to locate the speaker. His hazy eyes locked onto a strange looking figure sitting next to him, and he was hit with a pang of recognition.

“ Yugen? ” he slurred, startling slightly at the sound of his voice. It had taken on the same otherworldly note as Yugen’s had had when they had first met, but was still identifiable as his own. The shadow creature next to him dipped his head in acknowledgment as Izuku blinked confusedly. Now that he was looking around, Yugen seemed to be the only familiar part of his surroundings. In fact, it seemed as though he had no surroundings at all. It looked as though he and Yugen were sitting in an empty black void. As he stared at the space around him, his head began to pound more angrily and he quickly shifted his gaze back to the small creature still sitting quietly at his side.

“ H-how lo-ong have I b-bee-n out? ” he stammered, still unused to the sound of his voice in this strange place.

“ Not too long, ” came Yugen’s cool response. “ Although I suppose time works slightly differently here. ” Needless to say, this response did nothing to allay Izuku’s growing confusion, nor his headache.

“ W-where are we-e? Wha-at-t is this-s place? Why i-is it so dark-k? It can’t b-be my room, it’s too big… And my voice sounds different, but kind of l-like yours, so is this maybe where you came from or a place you know? If it is and you are my quirk then does that mean this place has something to do with— “ Izuku rambled nervously, slowly getting accustomed to his voice as he spoke. As always, Yugen was silent as Izuku muttered, not interrupting or rushing him. Izuku quickly caught himself and snapped his mouth shut. “ Sorry. You should really stop me if I go off like that. ”

Yugen shrugged, unperturbed. “ If that is your preference. It does not affect me either way. But come, we have much to see. ” It stood up and began to walk away through the empty space, and Izuku quickly got up to follow. He staggered a bit as his vision swam and his head throbbed, but it passed after a moment and Izuku took a few tentative steps. After (thankfully) finding what felt like solid ground beneath his feet, he jogged to catch up with Yugen as it padded into the looming abyss. 

The two walked in utter silence. Even the sound of their footsteps was swallowed up by the infinite darkness surrounding them, giving the atmosphere an uncanny feeling, but at the same time Izuku could not shake off the same strange deja vu he felt with everything associated with Yugen, as though he had been in this place before.

“ So, I know I kind of asked before, but what is this place? ” Izuku asked, desperate to fill the crushing quiet. Yugen cast a short glance over its shoulder before turning back as it led Izuku deeper into the dark.

“ It is, in a sense, a space between worlds, ” it began, somewhat hesitantly, as though it were trying to pick out the right words. “ It is a dimensional plane of enormous, likely infinite proportions. It is… hard to describe in human words. ”

“ But why is it so empty? ” Izuku asked him, looking around at the seemingly empty darkness surrounding them.

“ No human could enter this place without some sort of barrier. Your mind would combust from merely seeing it, and even if you survived that, the creatures it contains would rip you apart faster than the time it would take for the sight of it to travel from your eyes to your brain. ” He said this in much the same tone as one would use when discussing something mundane like the weather and not the hypothetical situation of Izuku facing a gruesome end at the hands of the horrifying shadow creatures that lurked just beyond the darkness around him. “ Of course, travel through here could not have been prevented, so I created a tunnel, of sorts, to allow us to reach our destination unharmed. “ 

Looking around, Izuku thought that this seemed much too big to be a tunnel, but he did not say so. Of course, Yugen likely knew what he was thinking anyway, and if it wanted to comment, it would have.

“ Ah, here, ” came Yugen’s voice from in front of him. Turning his head, Izuku saw that the shadow was sitting before what looked like an embellished wooden door. The intricately carved mahogany was covered in symbols and strange runes that seemed to swim before his eyes and stuck out from the darkness like a sore thumb. Izuku found himself oddly drawn to it, a strange sensation that made him feel like it was calling to him. Almost without thinking, he reached out to brush the dark wood. As his hand made contact with it, it felt as though something in his mind clicked into place, as though something had awoken inside him that he had always had but didn’t realize it until now, but it was such a fundamental part of him that living without it seemed almost impossible now that he was aware of it. There was a loud creaking sound and Izuku gasped as the wood split down the middle. The symbols carved on the door lit up and began to snake around in a hypnotic dance, looking almost alive as they swam away from the center of the door, forming a strange border along the edges of the portal. A hissing sound echoed through the tunnel and the light slowly faded as the two halves of the door slowly parted.

Izuku stood before the imposing entrance as the doors disappeared and gaped at what they had contained. It was an empty room.

“ What is this? ” Izuku asked, confused as he peered curiously into the space, trying to find anything of interest hidden in the corners or something of the sort, but it appeared to be a normal empty room, save for the strange swirling shadows that made up the walls and the dim light of which he could find no discernible source.

“ This is your quirk, ” Yugen said casually as it sauntered into the room. Izuku hesitated momentarily before following his companion into the space. Stepping in, he could see that it was slightly larger than it had appeared from outside, but did not seem to contain anything of value (or anything at all, for that matter). He began to speak but was interrupted by whooshing sound from behind him and turned around to the entrance only to find that it had disappeared. Izuku let out a panicked sound somewhere between a screech and a whimper and ran to the now-blank wall.

“ W-wait! Come back! ” he shouted, horror filling him as he pounded the wall. His small fists had no effect, though the swirling patterns drifting below the surface of the wall like koi fish rippled slightly as they drifted closer to his hands. Feeling quite frightened, Izuku whirled around to face Yugen.

“ Where did the door go? ” he asked, panic lacing his tone. “ How are we going to get out? You led me here, you must have some way to get out. Oh, but I opened the door, didn’t I? Then there must be some sort of mechanism or something that will let us out. But there doesn’t seem to be any— “

“ Izuku, ” Yugen interrupted him, and Izuku shut his mouth. “ Please, calm yourself. There is no use in fear and worry. I ask you to remember that it is merely a waste of time and valuable energy. ” Izuku closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to compose himself before opening them once more and looking at the creature once more. 

“ Very good, ” Yugen said. “ For the next part… Izuku, do you remember that time with the villain? ” Izuku nodded, shaking a little as he thought of the terror of that moment, the feeling of being on the edge of death. “ I want you to think of what happened that moment when it felt like the villain disappeared, the feeling you got, and try to get it back. ”

The green haired boy could indeed remember that moment. When it felt like he was charged with some kind of energy and the pressure had built up in his head. He shut his eyes and tried to regain that sensation in his mind once more. There it was. The feeling was similar to a static charge dancing across his skin. He mentally reached out to grab ahold of it and felt his head fill with pressure like the time with the villain.

It was the same feeling as that time, only it hurt less. The throb had become a storm that swirled through his head, desperately seeking escape from the confines of his skull, and Izuku, eyes still shut tight, struggled to reign it in.

Suddenly, there was a sound like the crack of thunder but many times louder. The storm broke free and shot out in all directions. Izuku felt like he was being torn apart, could feel himself disintegrate into the void as he opened his mouth to scream into the roiling shadows, shouting for Yugen, but the sound was swallowed by the immense darkness and once again he was falling but thistimeitwassomuchworseandhecouldntbreathecouldntseecouldnthearneededto breathehecouldntbreathehewasfallingfallling fallingfalling --

Izuku blinked and he was back in his room, exactly where he had been before entering the dark tunnel with Yugen. He raised his hands to look at them and was shocked to see the same symbols he had seen in that room wriggling below the surface of his skin like snakes. As he watched, they slowly drifted deeper and deeper until they were gone, presumably into his bloodstream. He shivered and pushed the creepy thought away. Pushing himself to a sitting position, he took a moment to check himself over and was relieved to find that his head barely ached at all, a relief after the crushing pain that had followed his previous usage of his quirk.

His quirk. It was so amazing to think. As confusing and strange as it was, he, Izuku Midoriya, had a quirk. He wasn't just a useless deku as he had believed. A small smile made its way onto his face and he felt his eyes fill with tears.

“ Wonderful, absolutely wonderful, ” came a voice behind him and he jumped. He had almost forgotten about Yugen in his emotion and turned quickly to to face the shadow, disguised once more as an elegant feline. It spoke kind words by its voice was as devoid of emotion as ever. “ I must admit, I was surprised that you managed such a feat so quickly after entering the Irregularity. It really does react differently to its owner. But of course, that was to be expected. It is just quite astounding to witness oneself. However, ” it cut itself off, abruptly speaking to Izuku. “ that is not all. We must make sure it worked properly. Give me your hand. ” 

Slightly off put by the sheer number of words coming from the cat's mouth, Izuku held out his arm to it. It padded over to him, examining the offered limb very carefully before hopping off the bed and onto his desk. It searched momentarily for something before grabbing what it had found from his drawer and staring back to where he was waiting. It dropped one of his All Might figurines in his outstretched hand before sitting in front of him.

“ If the connection worked correctly, you should be able to send things back to that room if you so please. Try it, ” Yugen demanded and Izuku glanced down at the figurine. The hero's smiling face looked up at him as if to say “You can do it!”.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Izuku clenched his fist around the figurine and focused on finding the feeling once more. It was much easier to summon his Quirk this time, and he soon felt the soft thrum of energy beneath his skin and the slight tension in his head. He could sense the energy attempting to escape once more and made an effort to control it's output. There was a strange sensation and then the weight in his hand disappeared along with the energy filling his body, and was replaced with the same slight prodding sensation in his head that he felt when he had first used his quirk the first time. Opening his eyes, he found that the figurine was gone and his empty hand was once more covered in strange, glowing runes. Even as he stared in wonder, the prodding feeling in his mind slowly intensified to a stabbing pain and, with a gasp, Izuku felt it slip away and in a blink the figurine was once more in his hand. 

Izuku dropped it onto his bed, panting and clutching his throbbing head. Vaguely, he could hear Yugen's impressed praise but he could feel his consciousness slipping away. Despite himself, he smiled before he felt himself enveloped the awaiting darkness one final time.

Chapter Text

“ You cannot tell her. ” Izuku looked up at the cat in surprise. Yugen was sitting on his bed, looking down at him, and it had a more serious expression than he had ever seen on its face.

“What?” he asked. 

“ Your quirk. You cannot tell her yet, ” it repeated. Izuku put down his pencil. After the night before, he had been eager to use his quirk more. He had woken late in the day and had found that his mother was still asleep. He knew she was tired from picking up the late shift at work and hadn’t wanted to wake her, so he decided to stay in his room and decided to write in his hero notebook.

“My mother? Why not?”

“ I am not completely sure as of yet, but I believe that your quirk may have some dangerous effects that we have yet to understand. It would be wise to wait to reveal this information to anyone until you have a greater understanding and control of your power, ” it explained.

Izuku could understand, even if he was a bit bummed that he couldn’t show off his quirk yet. It wouldn’t do to go wild using it before he fully knew its limitations and dangers. 

“ However, that means you will need to practice, which will require, obviously, using it, ” Yugen continued. “ I suggest we lay out a plan and discuss how to maintain it. We will need to find a place usually devoid of people. We will also need a daily time, preferably a consistent one. ”

Izuku deflated slightly. This sounded like much more work than he was expecting when he was first introduced to his quirk. Of course, he trusted Yugen and knew it was trying to make the best logical decision, but he whole thing sounded so complicated. Honestly, Izuku just wanted to start using his quirk like everyone else, not keep it hidden or create convoluted schemes to practice it secretly.

He was about to open his mouth to suggest some practice places to the cat, resigned to use its plan, when he heard some shuffling in his mother’s room. He heard her door open and her footsteps down the hall.

“Oh my, I can’t believe I slept in this late! Izuku, how are you doing, are you hungry or…” As his mother stepped into his door frame and caught sight of him, she trailed off. She paused for a moment, staring at him intently, and Izuku felt slightly uncomfortable.

“Uh…” he began, but his mother quickly snapped out of it and shook herself.

“Sorry dear, I thought I saw… Nevermind.” Just like that, the concern was gone from her face and she was back to her smiling self. “Are you hungry? I was thinking of starting breakfast. Or, lunch, really.” She chuckled, looking at Izuku’s All Might themed digital clock which said 12:37 in big red numbers. “Do you want anything in particular?”

“No, anything’s fine!” Izuku responded quickly, not wanting to make his mother work harder than she had to. His mother nodded and made to step out of the room before noticing the black cat sitting calmly on Izuku’s bed.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” she said. “How is Yugen? I was reading about stray cats and it said some are abandoned house cats and are microchipped, so we should get him checked. I was thinking of taking him to the vet soon anyway.”

“It’s— he’s fine,” Izuku stumbled out. He had almost forgotten about the vet. He had known his mother would want to take Yugen, but he was worried. Yugen’s feline form looked completely real from the outside, but Izuku didn’t know how accurate it was internally. If something strange was detected, they would have to think of a good explanation or come clean, both of which seemed like bad ideas. 

“Well, I’m glad. He seems well behaved,” his mother said. “Ok, I’m going to get some food started!” Izuku smiled at her as she left, and when he heard her footsteps retreat and the water start running in the kitchen, he spun around to face the cat.

“We have to tell my mom,” he said, expecting an outright refusal and mentally preparing an argument. As much as he just wanted to tell someone about his quirk, he had also realized that his mother not knowing could pose some problems in the future. He was ready to fight Yugen on this, but when he looked at it, he saw that the cat seemed to be in deep thought. After a moment of pondering, it looked him straight in the eye.

“ I shall not attempt to stop you. I will warn you, however. this may not have the exact effect you intend, ” Yugen said enigmatically. Izuku did not know exactly what it meant by that, but decided perhaps it was better not to.

Now all he had to do was figure out what to say to his mother.

______________________

“Mom?” Izuku’s mother was at the stove and turned to look at Izuku at the sound of his voice.

 “What’s the matter, Izuku?” she asked, seeing the nervous expression on his face. Izuku set Yugen down and steeled himself, excited but anxious at how his mother would respond.

“I have to tell you something,” he said. His mother looked puzzled but beckoned him over.

“What’s the matter, dear?” she asked, sitting them both at the table. Yugen made its way over and made itself comfortable in the seat next to Izuku. It fixed its intelligent stare onto Inko.

“Ok, well…” Izuku struggled to think of where to start. He wanted to be tactful and not startle his mother too much, maybe build up to the revelation of his quirk. “I… IjustdiscoveredthatIhaveaquirk,” be burst out, before cursing his inability to refrain from rushing into things like this.

His mother looked surprised but stayed silent, which was out of character for her. Even more worried at his mother’s odd response, Izuku continued.

“I-it.. uh, you, you know Y-Yugen?” he asked hesitantly, and continued as his mother nodded patiently. “Well, it— it has something to do with it.”

“ Indeed, Mrs. Midoriya. ” Yugen spoke up suddenly, startling both Inko and Izuku. “ I ask that you allow Izuku to explain fully before you ask any questions. ”

Izuku looked at his mother to gauge her response. She was still silent but seemed slightly alarmed. At his pause, she shifted her attention to him. Taking that as his cue, Izuku launched into a less than concise description of everything that had occurred since the first time he met Yugen. He tried to include everything he could think of besides this visit to the Irregularity, which his companion suggested they keep quiet about for now lest it worry his mother more than need be. He watched as his mother’s face switched through a series of unreadable emotions as he sped his way through the story, his nerves catching up to him quickly as he spoke. After a good fifteen minutes of nervous ramblings interspersed with bits of important information and him occasionally tripping over his own tongue, he finally finished his energetic retelling of the discovery of his quirk from start to finish.

“So that's everything,” he concluded, wincing internally at the lie.

His mother sat silently, a thoughtful expression on her face as she absorbed his words. Truth be told, Izuku was absolutely terrified about how she would respond. He knew that his fears were irrational. When had he ever had reason to doubt his mother? She was always on his side, always fully supportive, always an encouraging voice of reason at his side. And yet, he couldn’t shake off a nagging feeling that maybe this time she wouldn’t believe him, or she would be upset for some inexplicable reason that he didn’t dare to think of.

After what felt like years but in reality was only a few minutes, Inko signed and closed her eyes. Izuku tensed, expecting the worst. When had he become so afraid of rejection?

“This is… a lot,” his mother began hesitantly. 

“I—I know, but—“ Izuku began, only to be cut off when his mother raised her hand wearily.

“Please, let me finish.” Izuku snapped his mouth shut with a click. “Izuku and… Yugen. I hope you can understand, it will take me awhile to fully grasp this situation. For the past year and a half, I have believed that my son is quirkless, and something like this, sprung so suddenly… it is a lot to take in all at once.”

Izuku could understand. It had been a lot for him as well, it still was. He was absolutely relieved that his mother was at least not upset (although why she would be in the first place anyway, he didn’t know) and he was honestly excited to be able to share his quirk with someone.

“ If I may make a suggestion, ” Yugen began, keeping a respectfully empty tone, “ perhaps a demonstration of the quirk in question is in order? ”

“Ah! Right!” Izuku had almost forgotten in the moment, but he had been meaning to show his ability to his mother. He hastily looked around for something small that he could demonstrate with and was surprised to find a pencil in his hand. Looking down, he realized that Yugen had set it in his open palm. Izuku had to commend its amazing ability to think ahead. His mother looked very interested to see the ability firsthand. She shifted slightly in her seat, leaning forward to see better.

Inhaling deeply, Izuku closed his eyes and concentrated deeply. He once more attempted to call the feeling he had summoned the night before. He felt energy blossom under his skin, throughout his entire body, making him feel like a charged wire. Focusing on his hand, he felt the pencil slip away to be replaced by a slight prodding sensation in his head again. When he opened his eyes, he found his mother staring at him in utter shock and smiled at her.

“Your eyes , Izuku—“ his mother choked out, and Izuku’s smile disappeared. His mother didn’t look excited like he was. She looked frightened.  

Izuku snapped his power off faster than he ever had before and felt a rebound of pain thunder dangerously in his skull. The pencil reappeared in his hand and clattered to the ground, but he ignored it. Jumping to his feet, Izuku reached his hand out to his mother, only to freeze as she flinched back.

“M-Mom?” he asked quietly, voice trembling. His mother stared at him for another moment, wide eyed. She stood up so quickly that her chair fell over, and the clatter caused a slight sob to choke itself out of Izuku’s throat. At the sound, Inko’s eyes filled up with tears, and suddenly his mother was back again. Seeing the distraught state he was in, she rounded the table and grabbed Izuku, pulling him close to her as he quivered and shook, tears rolling down his face, pathetic, strangled sobs escaping the small boy as Inko rocked him back and forth comfortingly, muttering calming words even as Izuku felt her own tears dripping onto his head.

“Shh, shhh , it’s ok, everything is ok.” Inko repeated these words like a mantra over and over as she ran her hands through Izuku’s soft, curly hair, the feeling calming, and Izuku relaxed enough that he eventually stopped crying. As his tears slowed, his mother pulled away and got up.

“I'll finish lunch,” she said, voice shaking almost undetectably. Still, she gave him a big smile and a kiss on the forehead, leaving Izuku at the table with his silent, stoic companion.

Chapter Text

“ Izuku. ” No response. 

“ Izuku. ” Still nothing .

“ Izuku. ” At the harsh voice, the boy spun around, anger written on his face.

“What do you want ?” he hissed. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”

“ I do not understand your reaction, ” Yugen said, voice devoid of emotion. “ I warned you of the effects telling anyone about your quirk could have. ” 

“No you didn’t! You just said it could have a ‘different outcome than intended’!” Izuku spat, throwing up sarcastic air quotes around the words. “You didn’t tell me anything important!”

“ You did not ask me to elaborate, ” Yugen replied calmly, causing Izuku trip over his words slightly.

“Y— Well, if you knew then you should have told me anyway!” 

“ Why? ” Yugen asked. “ Would you have listened? Why would I offer information you did not explicitly ask me for? ”

“But— You—Ugh!” Izuku exclaimed, pulling his hair angrily. “You just should have told me! It should be obvious!”

At this, Yugen sat up. Its posture barely changed, but even the slight shift in demeanor caused the atmosphere in the room to suddenly change. Izuku could feel a chill that had not been there moments again and shivered.

“ It seems to me, ” Yugen said, a strange note in its voice, “ that you are doing your very best to shrug the blame onto others. Could it be that you do not want to take responsibility for your actions and face the consequences? That is an unhealthy mindset, Izuku.”

“Why do you even care?” Izuku shot back, eliciting an almost amused trill from the cat. Somehow, it was one of the most grating sounds Izuku had ever heard. 

“ Seeing as you are not denying it, I suppose you know that I am correct, ” Yugen said in what could almost be described as a disgustingly self-satisfied tone.. “ You are blaming me for your mother’s negative reaction when in the end, it was you who decided to tell her of your quirk despite my warnings. You had full control over your actions at the time, as you do currently and always will. ”

Izuku shrank back at its tone. He didn’t like the way Yugen was talking to him, he didn’t like what it was saying, he didn’t like that it was right . He blinked back angry tears as he glared at the ground, refusing to look at the shadowy creature before him and acknowledge that its words were merely voicing what he already knew.

“ Izuku, ” The tension in the room dispersed as suddenly as it had appeared, and Yugen let out a long-suffering sigh. “ I do not wish to argue. I merely wish to help you. I know you are smart enough to realize the verity in my statements. It is my job to mentor you and teach you how to manage your powerful ability, but also to help you grow as a person. Perhaps my harsh methods require adjustment for your maturity level. However, I will not apologize for what occurred. The first thing I expect you to learn is responsibility, and I believe this will be an important first step in fully understanding what that entails. That is all. ”

Izuku sniffled but did not look up, laying down on his bed and facing the wall. He felt a weight land on the sheets at his feet as the mattress dipped slightly from Yugen’s weight. Izuku screwed his eyes shut as the cat made itself comfortable at the foot of the bed. It did not speak again. 

________________________

After the incident with his mother, Izuku stopped talking about his quirk. Yugen had been right, he decided. Sharing his newly awakened ability with anyone would only lead to trouble. As much as he wanted to tell everyone that he finally had a quirk, that he wasn’t useless anymore, that he could finally be a hero , he decided that it was too risky. If his mother had reacted so negatively, he could only imagine what others would say.

As for Inko herself, surprisingly nothing notable in their relationship had changed. Funnily enough, the biggest change in their lives had been Yugen’s presence, and even this Inko had adapted to quite quickly. At first, when the cat would speak to her, she would practically jump out of her skin. After a little while though, she became accustomed to it and even grew quite fond of the shadowy feline, to Izuku’s amazement. He would often find her and the cat sitting comfortably on the couch having odd, philosophical discussions about a variety of topics including current world events and even the existence of alternate universes.

Inko did not bring up Izuku’s quirk again, and honestly, he was perfectly okay with that. After the utter failure that had been his demonstration of his quirk, he was not too keen to relive the experience. While they did not directly mention it, his mother began to act slightly differently, as though she wanted to show him that she was not bothered by his quirk and that she accepted it as a part of him, and even welcomed it.

She never explicitly stated it, but he also thought that his mother felt bad about how she had reacted. He noticed that she made katsudon a few extra times and gave him even more affection than usual, which was saying a lot because she was already a very affectionate person.

Seeing his mother go out of her way to make him happy made him feel kind of bad, especially since he held no resentment towards her for how she had reacted. He couldn’t just say that, of course, but in his actions, he tried to make it clear that he had already forgiven her.

Thus, the Midoriya household fell into an easy routine, and Izuku was happy.

______________________

Yugen took up training with Izuku. It was to be expected, of course, but as excited as Izuku was to practice, he couldn’t help the apprehension that filled him the first time he and the cat returned to Dagobah beach. The two had decided that it was one of the safest places to train, as no one ever approached the enormous mounds of trash and even if they had, the piles of waste stacked high created a barrier that would block them from prying eyes.

Izuku had been avoiding all thought of his quirk recently, and he knew Yugen had noticed. As they climbed their way through the mountains of garbage, Yugen with all the grace expected of its lithe feline form and Izuku carefully picking his way through the tetanus-filled metal bits scattered about, he found himself thinking about everything that had occurred since that night years ago when he had first encountered the shadowy creature on a rainy fall evening. It was hard to believe that he had spoken to Yugen for the first time only a few days ago, and already so much had changed. He was thankful, he truly was, but after seeing the terror in his mother’s eyes and the tears spilling down her face that he caused, even after she had wordlessly apologized through kind actions and seemed unbothered by it, he had trouble seeing the ability in the same positive light as before.

Perhaps he had stood still for too long, staring at the waves lapping against rusted metal wires and the impressive assortment of shattered glass, for Izuku was jolted out of his thoughts by a voice in his ear.

“ You are hesitant. ” It wasn’t a question, so Izuku didn’t answer. “ Why? ”

Izuku ran his hand through his curly hair, sighing. “I don’t know,” he began. “I guess… after I saw how my mom reacted... I was so excited before, and now, it feels like…”

Yugen seemed to understand and picked up from where he trailed off. “ You are only just beginning to understand the true weight of the ability you have taken on. You are still young, and you have much more to learn. It will not be easy. ”

“I know,” Izuku said, and he did. “I just don’t know if I’m ready for all of— this . I thought getting a quirk would be so amazing and everything would be great, but it’s so much more complicated.”

“ It is, ” Yugen agreed.

“Y-Yugen, I—“ Izuku paused, trying to find the right words. “What if I was a mistake?”

“ Pardon? What exactly do you mean, Izuku? ” Izuku cringed, realizing that he had stumbled over his words again.

“I-I mean, what if all of this ” here he waved his arms vaguely, gesturing to nothing in particular “all of this, you giving me this quirk, everything… What if it was a mistake? What if it wasn’t meant for me, and it was supposed to be given to someone else and I’m not good enough for this power? There are so many other people that would do better with this than me and—“ 

“ Izuku, ” Yugen said, it’s commanding voice causing Izuku’s words to catch in his throat. “ Are you saying you do not want this power? ”

“No! That’s not what I meant at all!” Izuku said quickly, aghast as he realized how ungrateful his words must have sounded.

“ Then I do not understand your worry, ” Yugen continued before Izuku had a chance to speak again. “ I did not make a mistake, of that I can assure you, for I did not give you this power. Your quirk is an ability you had within you the whole time. I merely allowed you to awaken it. A power like this cannot be gifted so freely, unlike many others in this world. You have this responsibility because you were worthy of it, no other reason, and there is nothing else to it. ”

Izuku stared at the cat, mouth agape, as it casually dismissed every one of his countless worries and simultaneously shifted his entire self-image with no inflection in its unwavering tone, as though what it was saying was common knowledge and he had been ridiculous for ever doubting his own potential.

“ Now, I suggest we get started, ” Yugen continued, not missing a beat. “ I would like you to practice sending small objects to the Irregularity, and we shall work our way up from there. ”

_________________________

“Yugen?” Izuku asked quietly as they sat watching the sun go down. The exhaustion from working his quirk so intensely was palpable from his voice, the strain from using the ability surprising but not upsetting. Yugen made a soft noise in response, prompting Izuku to continue. “Why was my mom scared when she saw my quirk?”

Whatever Yugen had been expecting to hear, this was apparently not it. It was silent for a moment, as though perplexed by the question, and Izuku felt a small hint of satisfaction at finally having caught his companion off guard that was quickly overshadowed once more by anxiety.

“ I suppose, ” Yugen began after a moment, “ human beings are, in the end, simple creatures. They, like every other evolved animal on the planet, fear the unknown and what they do not understand. It is a fundamental part of life. ”

Izuku did not know exactly what Yugen meant, but he thought maybe he understood just a little bit better. He leaned back on his arms, watching a lone seabird circling lazily in the sky high above them.

“Everything is about to change, isn’t it?” The statement hung heavily in the air between them as the golden sun sank below the waves in the distance, the same way it had on the day Izuku had first met Yugen.

“ Perhaps, ” Yugen replied thoughtfully. “ But change is not always a bad thing. ” 

And sitting on top of the broken fridge, legs dangling over the gentle waves shining in the golden light of the sunset, breeze ruffling through his hair like a soft caress and the sound of seagulls high overhead retreating for the night, Izuku couldn’t help but agree.

Chapter Text

The soft sounds of idle chatter rang through the air, punctured every once in awhile by the scrape of a desk chair or thud of a book hitting the floor. Small groups of students were scattered around the room, using up their extra time to socialize before the bell signifying the start of class rang. 

Izuku lay alone at his desk, dozing off in the back of the room where he sat every day, letting the familiar sounds of a school morning lull him to sleep. He was just drifting off when he heard a hiss of frustration from nearby.

“ Fuck! ” There was a soft clatter and a rustling sound, followed by another swear. “Can I borrow a pencil, Saito?”

Another voice said something else, but Izuku had since stopped listening and had shifted slightly to face away from the commotion, annoyed at being awoken. Just as he had gotten comfortable again and was getting ready to steal a few more winks of sleep before the start of school, a voice came from in front of him. 

“Hey, Midoriya.”

Izuku blinked his eyes open and fixed his classmate with an empty stare, not bothering to lift his head from where it was nestled comfortable on his arms. The speaker was a lanky boy with orange hair and some kind of mutation quirk that gave him blunt spikes on sections of his body, useless for anything other than cosmetic purposes and perhaps a light defensive ability in certain situations. Izuku couldn’t quite recall his name. Takahashi? Tanaka? Either way, he was looking distinctly uncomfortable, a sight that Izuku may have found slightly humorous, seeing as the boy was probably twice his height.

“Could I borrow a pencil?” Ta-something asked cautiously. Izuku watched the boy with a blank look on his face until his classmate started to fidget uneasily and looked like he was about to chicken out and just ask someone else. Sighing, Izuku hoisted himself up to free his arms and in one smooth motion summoned a red pencil to his hand and tossed it to the boy. The redhead fumbled to catch it before nodding awkwardly and ambling back to his friends, who were sniggering in the corner. Izuku guessed that they had probably told Tanaka (or whatever his name was) to ask him instead of just lending the redhead a writing utensil themselves just to see what would happen. No one ever approached Izuku unless it was to make fun of him or to beat him up, not that he cared much anyway. He laid his head back down on his arms and closed his eyes again, ready to get back to his nap.

Of course, seeing as the universe apparently hated him, his plans were immediately foiled by his teacher walking in just as the bell went off to begin class. Miffed at having been interrupted from his rest again, Izuku just glared silently as the teacher struggled to calm the rowdy class and finally began the day’s lesson.

Annoyed as he was at being disturbed from his rest, once class began Izuku was anything but distracted. He took diligent notes with enough precision that his mother had once joked that if heroing didn’t work out for him, he could probably find a lucrative career as a court reporter. Izuku had argued that his detail-oriented mindset was a very useful thing for a pro hero to possess for many reasons, which he had then gone on to list and detail in his usual rambling fashion.

The first half of the day passed as usual, with no significant incidents. The same was true for the lunch period, which found Izuku sitting alone at his desk to eat the bento he had stored in the Irregularity along with his other school supplies. Lunch was boring enough that Izuku found himself watching the hands of the clock tick down the minutes until the next class, writing down some notes about some new hero’s quirk (her name was Mount Lady and she had just made her debut that morning). All in all, a peaceful morning.

Needless to say, Izuku was dreading his last class. 

He had learned from experience that when something was going too well, that was a sure sign that everything was about to go wrong. His fears were inevitably proven right when the teacher walked through the classroom door at the end of lunch period carrying a stack of papers.

“You’re all third years,” the teacher said as conversation in the class petered out. “It’s time to start thinking seriously about your futures.” 

Izuku realized what exactly the forms that the teacher was holding were and, despite himself, found a feeling of dread slink it’s way into his stomach. 

“Alright, settle down, settle down,” the teacher was saying as the students all started chattering excitedly once more, but he was drowned out by a loud shout.

“Oy you fucking extras, shut the fuck up about your dumbass future plans. None of you could possibly measure up to me!” Izuku cringed at the pompous blond’s inciting statement, laying his head down on his desk as an indignant response rose from a few of his other classmates.

“Ah, Bakugou, you’re trying out for UA High School next year, right?” the teacher asked, squinting at the papers he was holding. There were a few gasps from the students, although most were unsurprised. The explosive blond had always made it clear that he saw those around him as inferior to him, and it was true to his nature to want to go to the flashiest, most prominent high school so he could rise above the best.

“Actually…” the teacher’s voice cut through the classroom din like a knife, and Izuku felt the full brunt of the blade, knowing exactly what was about to come next.

Please shut up, please please please shut up, he pleaded internally, face as devoid of emotion as ever despite the tumultuous storm raging in his gut. The teacher was rifling through pages until he found the one he was looking for and held it up in front of him, as if he was a town crier about to read a royal decree for Izuku’s public execution. Just stop, shut up, shut up, shut up …  

“Midoriya, aren’t you trying out for UA next year, too?”

An uneasy silence descended upon the classroom and Izuku felt his stomach sink as roughly 25 pairs of eyes all turned to stare directly at him. He didn’t look up for a moment, composing himself, before slowly lifting his head up, fixing his peers with a dead eyed glare, and saying, in the driest voice he could muster, “Surprise.”

The classroom practically exploded as whispers spread through the students like wildfire, but one enraged (and wholly expected voice) drowned out the rest.

“WHAT THE FUCK, DEKU?” Katsuki shouted loud enough to make Izuku wince. There was a loud bang as the angry boy slammed his hand down on Izuku’s desk, flinging his school supplies to the floor. Izuku blinked up at the blond towering over his desk, white hot fury in his scarlet eyes, trying to keep his face as devoid of emotion as possible. Izuku knew Katsuki wouldn’t try anything too drastic in front of a teacher, but after so many years of cowering, he still had trouble keeping his hands steady as his childhood friend stared at him.

“WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TRYING TO GET INTO FUCKING UA? YOU THINK YOU CAN BE A HERO? WHY THE FUCK WOULD THEY LET A CREEP LIKE YOU IN?” A few snickers came from the surrounding students, enjoying the spectacle. Izuku did his best to hold the explosive boy’s glare, but found himself unable to maintain eye contact and fixed his gaze to a point on the ceiling behind Katsuki’s head. He made a noncommittal noise, shrugging, which only managed to infuriate the other boy more. He looked like he was about to shout again and possibly do something worse when the teacher interrupted, an annoyed look on his face.

“If you are quite finished, boys, I would love to start class now,” he said, looking only slightly inconvenienced at the violent exchange. Growling, Katsuki shoved Izuku’s desk, sending it toppling over, before stalking back to his own seat. Izuku scrambled to pick up his things and right his desk, the teacher’s stern glare boring a hole into his back and the scornful voices of his classmates as they exchanged mocking whispers. As Izuku settled back into his seat, the teacher huffed irritably before turning back to the board and beginning to write, continuing with the lesson as though nothing had happened.

Izuku kept his head down for the rest of class, not even bothering with his usual note taking. As much as he wanted to say Katsuki's words didn’t bother him, all he could think as he stared blankly at his open notebook, trying to keep up with the teacher’s lecture, was what Katsuki had said, clinging to his mind like a leech.

Eventually he gave up trying to pay attention and laid his head down, staring out the window. He did his best to stay at least semi-functional, but keeping his eyes open was getting increasingly more difficult. After too long battling with himself to stay conscious, Izuku couldn’t stay awake any longer and finally allowed the gentle ticking of the clock and the teacher’s droning voice to lull him to sleep. Just a moment of rest, he promised himself. Just a few minutes.  

He was awoken by a loud explosion near his ear and reeled back out of his seat, only to be caught by two strong arms with unnaturally long fingers. Still dazed from sleep, Izuku attempted to struggle out of the tight grip but they held firm, squeezing painfully around his upper arm.

Vaguely, he registered the angry blond standing in front of him and the other boy’s cronies still holding him down. His sleepy brain was still functioning at sub-optimal capacity and a little slow on the uptake. This was not helped by the ringing in his ears that had still not subsided, muting his hearing and making him feel like he was underwater. Katsuki was saying something and smirking, but Izuku couldn’t quite make it out nor did he much care to. He just wanted to get this over with and go home, preferably as quickly as possible. He had already screwed up by staying after the bell and stupidly allowing himself to be caught.

His train of thought was suddenly derailed by another explosion, this time close enough to his face that he could feel the dangerous heat. Glancing up, he saw a marginally-more-infuriated-and-volatile Katsuki looming over him.

“Oi, shitty Deku, are you even fucking listening to me?” he growled, and Izuku felt a very misplaced wave of irritation rise within him.

“I don’t know, Katsuki , maybe I would be able to hear you better if you didn’t keep blasting my damn eardrums.” 

There was a stunned silence, and it was at that moment Izuku realized he had fucked up.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Katsuki hissed quietly, dangerously. His sneering friends were utterly silent for the first time, and Izuku could feel the nervousness emanating from them. For once, he understood it completely. Izuku was quiet, eyes drilling into the floor as his shoulders hunched forward protectively, as ready for a blow as he could be with his arms restrained.

But none came. Instead, Izuku was wrenched forward by his collar and pulled up until he was staring directly into blazing crimson eyes, and felt himself let out an involuntary shudder at the sheer hatred he saw burning within.

“Listen to me, you fucking weirdo, because I’m only going to say this once. Don’t try out for UA,” his childhood friend said darkly, and for the first time Izuku was truly hit with the realization that this cold, hateful person was no longer the Kacchan he had known all those years ago. “You’re never going to be anything. You fucking hear me? You’re always just going to be a weird, creepy side character sucking the life out of everything and everyone you meet. With a quirk like that, there’s no way you’ll ever be a hero. You’d be better off a villain. You’d be better off fucking dead. ” 

Izuku’s breath caught in his throat, and he felt a strange prickle behind his eyes, something he hadn’t felt in years. He turned his head away, unable to look into those loathing eyes anymore. Katsuki scoffed and released him, thrusting Izuku away from him as though he were something particularly disgusting that he didn’t want to touch for longer than necessary. Izuku fell to the floor hard, cracking his knee against the linoleum but barely feeling the pain.

He registered Katsuki and the other boys leaving the classroom but his brain analyzed this and released the information only out of habit. It did the same with every image and sound around him, and his senses felt both magnified and faded at once, as though he were experiencing everything through a fogged window. A haze of numbness had washed over him, clearing him of thoughts and emotions.

He had an urge to go to the Irregularity and close himself in there completely, immersing himself in the familiar swirling darkness and gentle silence. Instead, he slowly got up, picking up his fallen notebook and pencil and sending them to the dark room without thinking twice.

“ Izuku, ” Yugen greeted him as he turned toward the classroom door. It didn’t startle him, The cat would usually materialize once he was alone, and even when it wasn’t visible, he knew it was there, just beyond the borders of human comprehension.

His shadowy familiar did not say anything, merely taking its usual spot on his shoulder, and the two of them made their way out of the classroom and down the school hallways. Izuku drifted like a ghost through the empty hallways and through the school entrance. He haunted side streets and alleys, staying far from large groups of people, mind thankfully blank as he allowed his feet to lead him the usual way home.

Most of the walk was wholly uneventful, if not quieter than usual. Izuku was grateful that Yugen seemed to understand that he really could not speak at the moment and remained mercifully silent.

Just as Izuku was passing under the bridge (this was his favorite shortcut and allowed for a nice view than just city streets and concrete buildings) Yugen tensed, making him freeze. 

The thing was, Yugen was a (probably) immortal hyper intelligent shadow entity from another dimension that had seen some of the worst things the world had to offer and regarded them with apathetic curiosity stemming from its inability to experience human emotions. It didn’t do happy or sad or scared. So when Izuku felt the cat on his shoulder tense, as though something bad was about to happen, he knew that he was in trouble.

A clatter from behind him made him spin around. There, rising out of the sewer, was what looked like an enormous sentient blob of slime. Two bulbous eyes shifted in the place where it’s face should be and fixed him with a hungry stare. It’s ugly mouth curled into a disturbing smile. 

“A medium sized disguise” it said in a slick voice. “Perfect.” And then it flung itself towards Izuku. It grabbed him with slimy limbs and forced its way down his throat, up his nose, every place it could. 

“Don’t worry,” the villain said as it (he?) attacked. “This will only hurt for 45 seconds.”

Izuku didn’t need to ask what would happen after that. Instead, he allowed his body to go limp. The villain seemed to think he was giving up and its efforts to invade his body and presumably steal his skin increased. Izuku made no move to stop it and instead, he shut his eyes tightly, reaching for the power he knew so well. He allowed the energy to spill free and fill his entire body before opening his eyes and unleashing the full power of his quirk onto the unsuspecting villain.

There was a panicked shriek as the slime holding him down loosened. The villain was trying desperately to pull back as the places where its gelatinous body was touching Izuku’s bare skin was absorbed, but it was too late. The main part of the villain’s body tore itself away from the rest of it and fell to the ground, about a quarter of the its previous size as the rest of its body disappeared.

The villain was staring at Izuku in horror as he straightened up, no sign on slime left on him. The boy, runes still roiling under his skin like angry snakes and eyes still glowing infinitely white, made a show of dusting himself off as he kept his eyes affixed to the terrified villain. Slowly, he allowed his quirk to die down and the green returned once more to his eyes. His head was aching slightly from the strain of overusing his quirk but he didn’t let it show.

“Well,” he said calmly even as the small villain sat frozen before him. “This was fun, but I really need to get home.” A weight made itself known on his shoulder and he knew Yugen had appeared once more.

Suddenly, for the second time that day, the sewer lid clattered and Izuku side eyed it warily. Not another villain? Instead, something large shot out and landed on the pavement. 

“NOT TO WORRY,” shouted the new person with a very familiar voice, and Izuku’s eyes widened. “WHY? BECAUSE I AM HERE!”

There, standing in all his glory in civilian clothes and carrying a few shopping bags, was All Might, the Symbol of Peace.

Izuku watched as the pro hero took processed what he was seeing, realizing he must be making quite the scene as a smaller than average junior high student with a black cat on his shoulder standing before a quarter-sized cowering slime villain. The hero seemed to be at a loss, so Izuku took it upon himself to initiate conversation. 

“Hi,” he said, and the awkward silence was over. The villain suddenly lunged for the sewer, trying to make his escape, but All Might stopped him with a well-placed blow, spattering his body all over the tunnel. Izuku watched in fascination as the hero crouched and pulled out some soda bottles and poured them out and beginning to scoop up the villain’s bits. It seemed that even in so many pieces the slime villain was still alive, though unable to move, something that intrigued Izuku endlessly. He picked up one of the bottles and funneled his quirk to his hand so that the rest of his body was mostly unaffected and deposited the slime he had managed to contain in the Irregularity. Just as All Might was finishing up, Izuku held the bottle out to him and the hero looked at him in surprise.

“Ah! Thank you very much, young man,” All Might said, taking the bottle. “I must say, the way you apprehended that villain was quite impressive, although unauthorized quirk use is illegal! Do not worry though, I won’t tell anyone this time, seeing as you helped me quite a bit!” Here he let out a booming laugh. “Anyway, I truly must be going! I must turn this villain in to the police and then all the paperwork, you understand! Thank you once again! You would make a great hero, I think!” 

Izuku was left open mouthed, cut off before he could speak as the hero shot away, cracking the sidewalk and creating an enormous gust of displaced air. Then the hero’s words hit him. You would make a great hero. All Might, the Number One Hero in the world, the Symbol of Peace, had just said he could be a good hero. A great one, even.

Izuku had always wanted to be a hero. Ever since he was a kid, he had idolized those that society called pros, those that dedicated their lives to saving others. As he had grown, he had learnt that not everything was as black and white as it seemed. The world was a cruel and unfair place, and often people who did not truly deserve such titles were held in the highest regard. He had wanted to become a hero himself still, of course, but his dream had been stained with spite for those who told him he couldn’t be just because of his quirk. But hearing those words from his childhood idol had rekindled something within him. A spark that he thought he had long since lost, the inspiration that had originally driven him to pursue his dreams.

As he set off once more towards home, he couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, the universe didn’t hate him quite as much as he thought.

Chapter Text

Being slammed into a brick wall at 40 miles an hour was apparently a good way to make you rethink all life decisions leading up to that moment. As Izuku flew through the air, he couldn’t help but think that this was by far one of the dumbest things he had ever done.

It was pure coincidence that he had been walking past the alley when he had heard a muffled shout. What kind of madman must one be to willingly search out a mugging just for combat practice? Not Izuku, that’s for sure. Mostly because Yugen wouldn’t let him.

Either way, Izuku was a man of action with a reckless disregard for his own safety so the moment he heard that sound, he was running down the alley, Yugen clinging to his shoulder. Turning the corner, he had seen a man pinned against the wall, a hand gripping his throat and what looked like a large rose wrapped around his leg. At the sound of his steps, the assailant turned her head towards him.

“What's this?” she asked, voice slicker than oil. “A preteen with a hero complex?”

There was a flash of red and Izuku felt a sharp pain in his leg. Looking down, he saw a rose grabbing his leg, sharp thorns  ripping the fabric of his pants.

“ Shit. ”

The stem moved like a whip, slinging him through the air. He hit the trash cans along the wall at the speed of a small car, knocking them over like bowling pins. The clatter of crushed aluminum ringing through his skull, along with the ache throughout his body, served to daze him momentarily. He faintly registered Yugen scolding him, telling him to stay down and wait for the heroes, but he ignored it and slowly pulled himself up, mind going a mile a minute as he frantically tried to find a way out of the situation. The man from before had fallen on the ground and looked like he was trying to blend in with the shadows, clinging fearfully to the walls. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily, that was still debatable) the villain was no longer paying attention to him and had instead turned her full focus to Izuku.

“Maybe not completely useless,” she mused, and Izuku barely had a moment to dodge out of the way of a barrage of blood red bullets. Petals exploded outwards, obscuring his view of the villain momentarily, but he quickly activated his quirk and with a wave of his hand made most of them disappear. Flower stems grew from the ground and began wrapping around his legs but disappeared as they made contact with the bare skin on his legs. They were replaced with more and more, faster than he could get rid of them and wrapping around his limbs, slowing his movements and cutting into his flesh.

Izuku closed his eyes, letting himself melt into the darkness, and found himself in a familiar dark room, arms free from their bindings and rose petals covering the floor. Spinning wildly, he reached out and grabbed the first thing that he saw which just so happened to be his 600 page world history textbook. Definitely pretty useless against a plant-growth quirk, but it was the best he had. Blinking again, he was back in the alley, a very confused scarlet haired villain and shivering civilian staring at him as he materialized just a foot off his previous spot, a moderately sized school book in his hand.

“There’s always time for education,” he shrugged casually, before leaping forward and bringing the book down on the stunned villain’s head—

Only to find himself stopped by a woven bed of roses. Through the leaves, he could make out the woman’s sick smile.

“Guess it’s time I taught you a little lesson, then.”

_________________________

“Listen kid, I appreciate the effort. But next time, let’s just let the pros handle it, huh?” The policeman finished wrapping up the bandages on Izuku’s arms before standing up and patting him on the shoulder. “Now, let’s get you home. What’s your name?”

Izuku couldn’t believe this. The police had arrived on the scene by the time Rosy Bitch was already mostly incapacitated and had really only put her in quirk-suppressing handcuffs and taken her away. He had literally taken on a villain (grabted, a weak one, but still) and basically won, and here he was being patronized by some low-ranking officer.

He replied with a curt “I can take myself home, thanks.”

Apparently though, the officer wasn’t having any of that and insisted on escorting Izuku and his ”little friend” by car the few blocks down to his apartment.

Speaking of the cat, Yugen seemed quite… well, not angry. Yugen couldn’t really feel anger in that sense. It hadn’t spoken a word to him since the event, though, a matter which was slightly concerning considering its usual more talkative disposition. It wasn’t even admonishing him for being reckless and stupid. It just sat silently next to him as they drove to the apartment.

The officer stopped the car in front of his apartment building. “This it?”

Izuku made a noncommittal noise that the man seemed to interpret as a yes because he started walking up the stairs. Izuku trailed behind morosely. It had already gotten dark and his mother was definitely going to be pretty pissed when she saw her son arrive home late, especially when he showed up with a police officer.

The officer stopped in front of the door and knocked. There was a shuffling sound, a light crash, and a muffled “Coming!” before the lock was undone and the door swung open to reveal a very tired looking Inko.

“Izuku, where have you been? You know I get—“ she cut herself off abruptly as she noticed the officer standing alongside her son and the bandages wrapping his arms, and her eyes widened.

“Pardon me,” the policeman said politely. “You must be Mrs. Midoriya. Your son was in an accident an hour or so ago and we wanted to make sure he got home safely.”

“An accident?” Izuku’s mom asked, taking one of Izuku's wrapped arms and gently looking it over.

“Just some scratches,” Izuku mumbled quietly.

“Nothing too serious, ma’am, just a mugging he happened to get involved in.”

“Ah, so he was just passing by,” Inko said skeptically, raising her eyebrow at Izuku in a we’ll-talk-about-this-later kind of way. He let out an involuntary shiver.

“Yes indeed. We just wanted to assure his safety and let his legal guardian know about the situation.”

Inko smiled. “Well, thank you very much. I am very sorry for any trouble he caused.”

“Oh, it was no trouble at all!” Inko made a disbelieving sound but the officer didn’t seem to hear.

“Have a good evening,” she said as the man made to head back to the patrol car.

“You as well, and stay safe!” Then the officer was gone, driving away into the night, and Inko rounded on Izuku and Yugen.

“You two have a lot of explaining to do.” Izuku sighed. Yeah, he figured.

As he followed her into the apartment, Yugen said quietly, “One would think that you had learnt by now not to engage in such stupid activities.”

He couldn’t help but agree.

__________________________

That night, just as so many other nights, found Izuku wide awake.

“ You should go to sleep, ” Yugen said.

Izuku rolled over. “Believe me, I would if I could.”

There was a moment of silence before Yugen spoke again. “ What you did today was extremely reckless. ”

“I know.”

“ You could have gotten injured. Or, more than you already did, ” Yugen pressed.

“I know.”

“ If this is how you are going to behave then I cannot, in good conscience, allow you to-- ”

“I know! ” Izuku burst out, sitting up. “I know I fucked up, Yugen. I know that! If that villain had been stronger or more bloodthirsty, I could be dead right now. When I go to UA I'll probably face much worse than that. You don’t want me to take the exam in two weeks because of the danger. Because I can’t handle it. You were going to say that, weren't you?”

Yugen did not react to Izuku’s outburst. He was suddenly overtaken with anger at his companion for always being so empty, so damn unaffected by everything. He closed his eyes, trying to compose himself.

“I just… I need a minute,” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Don't follow me.”

He let his eyes fall shut and, breathing deeply and summoning a familiar energy, let himself fall into the darkness. When he blinked his eyes open, he was in a different place, sitting on the floor of the dimensional room. Glowing symbols swirled lazily on the walls around him, pulsing brighter in greeting.

The familiar sight served to calm him and he laid down on his back, feeling his worries melt away as he spread out on the floor of the Irregularity. His own skin glowed in response to those swimming underneath him like luminescent fish under a barrier of ice. He felt his racing heartbeat slow until it was beating in time to the gentle throbbing of the runes surrounding him.

This was at it should be, he thought. This was as he should be. Peaceful. Unaffected. Empty. This way, no one could hurt him. This way, he could hurt no one.

This was the ideal state of existence. Emotions were fickle, often useless things that merely got in the way of action. Anger, sadness, happiness… They were all survival strategies formed from centuries of evolution. Meaningless and trivial things created for the sole purpose of continuing a species. He had no need for them.

That wasn’t to say he didn’t feel them. For one thing, he loved his mother. Of that, he was sure. And, loathe as he was to admit it, fear was far from a foreign feeling to him. The fact of the matter was, he was human, or better or worse, and he could never fully become what Yugen wanted of him. But he could try.

Sighing, Izuku turned over, curling into a fetal position. He would have to return to his bedroom before the morning, he knew, but for now he just wanted to lay here a little longer in the comforting embrace of the darkness.

As thoughts drifted through his mind like passing ships, one stuck out to him more than the rest.

My history textbook.

He had lost it in the commotion earlier and forgotten about it until that moment.

Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Chapter Text

The next two weeks passed in a flash of intense training and studying. Yugen did not bring up Izuku's outburst, nor did he comment on the boy's more reserved behavior. His mother seemed slightly more concerned when they passed another dinner in utter silence, but apparently chalked it up to pre-test jitters because she didn’t mention it either.

Before he knew it, the exam was upon him. Izuku's mother kissed him on the cheek before he left, wishing him good luck.

“You'll do great,” she had assured him, as if that was what he was worried about.  He still appreciated it.

The walk to the school was largely uneventful, but Izuku still spent most of it tensely glancing over his shoulder and muttering anxiously. Years of ambushes from Katsuki and his cronies had taught him to always be wary of his surroundings, and he was especially anxious today when presumably, the blond would be walking the same way to UA for the exam. He found himself ducking into thicker groups of pedestrians and taking multiple shady shortcuts. He hated himself for it. He knew it was completely irrational to expect an attack at any moment, but he couldn't keep himself. Thankfully, he was saved from further embarrassment as Yugen kept mostly to itself, knowing by now not to comment on Izuku's odd habits.

Despite his multiple detours, he managed to reach UA in record time, a full fifteen minutes before the start of the exams. He followed the steady stream of students heading through the gates and into the school, slightly on edge from the sheer number of people surrounding him. He hoped that the physical exam itself wasn't this condensed or it would be impossible to do anything.

“ Watch out, ” came Yugen's sudden warning in his ear just as his foot caught on one of the steps leading up to the entrance.

As he fell forward, he had a split second to realize how stupid he was and berate himself for being distracted before he hit the ground.

Or, he should have, theoretically. Instead, he found himself hovering about a foot off the ground, staring straight down at his would-be fate.

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry!” came an unfamiliar voice from behind him and before he knew it, he was being righted and then a few moments later felt his feet hit the ground again. Slightly confused, he turned around and found himself staring right at a brown-haired, bubbly girl smiling brightly up at him. “I didn't mean to use my quirk on you! I just thought it would be bad luck to fall before the exam, right?”

Izuku blinked blankly at her before registering that she was, indeed, talking to him.

“Oh,” he said. “Thank you.”

“No problem!” she smiled even brighter, if that was possible. “Anyway, I have to go inside, but good luck on your test! Also, your cat is really cute!”

Then she was off, leaving Izuku feeling a little lost. “She called you cute.” he said confusedly.

“ It appears that way, ” Yugen replied. “ But come. If you wish to be on time, I suggest we go in. ”

________________________

Izuku breezed through the written portion of the exam. It wasn't anything too complicated, really just like any other test he had taken at school, but he couldn't help the slightest feeling of pride. It also helped to make him less anxious about the people around him, a small blessing he was grateful for.

Yugen had disappeared for this part (to avoid cheating, it had said, but Izuku was pretty sure it just wanted to scope out the location.)

Afterwards, all the examinees filtered out and were seated in an enormous lecture hall. Izuku had met up once more with Yugen and managed to snag a seat near the back and at a safe distance from Katsuki.

“ How did it go? ” Yugen asked, more out of necessity than true interest.

“It was ok,” Izuku responded casually, and the two lapsed into silence as they waited for the demonstration to begin. The dull roar of chatter echoing through the room began to quiet as an extravagant-looking man walked into the room.

“Oh, that's Present Mic,” Izuku realized aloud to Yugen, faint surprise registering in his voice. Indeed, the Pro Hero himself was standing at the podium, staring at all the students with a wide smile. Izuku may not have been the hero otaku he had been as a child, but he still respected and even admired some heroes (those worth admiring, at any rate) and as far as he knew, Present Mic was one that deserved his status.

“ Mumbling, ” Yugen reminded him, and he snapped his mouth shut as a shout rang out through the lecture hall.

“WELCOME, LISTENERS!” Present Mic shouted and, yep, he was definitely as loud as he sounded on TV. Probably even louder, honestly. “EVERYBODY SAY HEEEEEEEY!!”

Silence. Unperturbed, the excitable hero went right on with his demonstration. He began explaining the rules for the practical, the point system, three different robots, etc. It was all very predictable, but Izuku still made sure to pay attention, so as to not be rude.

At the end of the presentation, the projector turned off with a click. “ANY QUESTIONS, LISTENERS?” Present Mic asked rather unnecessarily loudly. As if on cute, a single arm went up and a tall boy stood up rigidly.

“Excuse me,” he said stiffly, “but you mentioned three types of robots. However, in the pamphlet given to us, it clearly states that there are no less than four types of robots. Such a mistake is highly unbecoming of such a prestigious institution as UA.” Then he spun around and pointed sharply at Izuku. “And you!”

Izuku leaned back in his seat, uncomfortable as the stared of hundreds of students focused directly on him. He looked at the people around him slowly before turning back the boy and questioningly gesturing toward himself.

“Yes, you!” the boy responded, clearly not understanding the concept of sarcasm. “Throughout this entire presentation, you have been muttering to your cat and distracting those around you and speaking of your cat, ” here he paused suspiciously. “Are pets even permitted on campus?”

Izuku felt a jab of annoyance and all his anxiety left him at once. Who did this guy think he was? He glanced the boy over, taking note of the engines in his legs. A speed quirk, perhaps? And his posture showed that he was definitely some kind of spoiled brat.

He met the boy's glare with a cool gaze. “It's a part of my quirk.”

The boy continued to glare as though he were trying to find some sign of dishonesty, some kind of tell that he could exploit, but Izuku didn't waver. This he could handle easily. Intimidation was nothing to him.

“ASTUTE OBSERVATION, YOUNG LISTENER!” Present Mic shouted, dispersing the tension in the room, and Izuku’s eyes flashed victoriously as the other boy tore his gaze away to look back at the hero.

“You see, there are actually FOUR kinds of robots! The last one is worth ZERO POINTS and serves as an obstacle! You don't have to worry about that one! Just try to avoid it!!”

The boy nodded and sat down again, seemingly appeased with this information. Izuku, though, had a few things to say, too, mainly about how this so-called practical exam was completely skewed against mental quirks. He decided to keep is mouth shut for now, though.

Thus, the presentation ended and the students filed out to go to the testing grounds. Izuku studied his paper carefully. Testing Ground B, huh? Not a very creative name, he thought blandly.

Ah well. All he really had to worry about was whether or not Katsuki was put in the same area, and he likely wasn't. It would make sense for the school to try to separate people from the same school to avoid them working together.

The mere thought of the blond wanting to work with him, let alone anywhere near him, was enough to make him snort derisively, a sound that made a few nearby examinees stare at him oddly for a moment, not that he gave a damn at this point.

The testing ground, as it turned out, was not very aptly named. The words implied some kind of field or colosseum-esque arena, which was definitely not what he was looking at right now.

“That's UA for ya!” some kid shouted, and Izuku took a moment to glare at him. Because right now, the examinees were standing in front of a city. Not a scale model. Not a few scattered buildings. A full, honest-to-god, literal city. Honestly, this seemed like overkill, even for UA.

“ Well, ” Yugen said as plainly as ever, “ this is quite impressive. ”

Izuku though, who had quickly gotten over the novelty of the city, was now scanning the students around them, analyzing them as best as possible. There were a good number of mutation quirks, as well as a few others with no particularly stand-out features clueing into their quirks, including a short black hair and a blond boy that appeared to be… sparkling?

Then he noticed someone familiar standing a little ways away from him. It was the nice girl from earlier, the one who had saved him from certain embarrassment earlier in front of the school. He contemplated walking over to her, remembering her quirk. It was levitation, if he was not mistaken, or something similar. Anti-gravity, perhaps? If so, he could think of quite a few uses it could have. It would be very interesting to question her about it and learn the specifics—

“Excuse me,” a commanding voice interrupted his muttering. Izuku rolled his eyes, turning reluctantly to face the speaker. Of course, he was unlucky enough to have the blue-haired brat in the same testing area. “That girl appears to be trying to focus! Are you, possibly, thinking of distracting her?”

“As a matter of fact, I wasn't,” Izuku said curtly. The other boy seemed to be taken off guard by the abrupt response, but as he opened his mouth (likely to berate Izuku for being rude or something of the sort) he was cut off by a shout.

“GO!” Izuku spun around and saw the group of examinees standing around, looking quite bewildered.

“ Go, ” Yugen repeated in his ear, and without a second thought, Izuku was past the other students and sprinting into the city.

He vaguely heard Present Mic shout something about there being no countdown in real life but it was merely a passing sound as he heard a crash and came face to face with a robot. Without a second thought, his quirk activated and a sledgehammer materialised in his hand. He wasted no time in beating the robot's metal head in with one fell swoop and a dull clang.

“Two points,” he muttered.

Yugen hummed. “ Quite tasteless, I would say. ”

Izuku shrugged, slinging his weapon over his shoulder. “Got the job done.”

“ I suppose, but this is not an opportune time to discuss hammering technique. ”

“I couldn't agree more. Shall we?” Izuku swung the sledgehammer around, crushing a one-pointer that had snuck up behind him, before plunging headfirst into the next wave of robots.

______________________

“What do you think of the examinees? Any catch your attention?” Toshinori startled at the principal's voice, still unused to the creature’s uncanny habit of sneaking up on people.

“Well,” he began, taking a closer look at the live footage. “There are a few.”

Nedzu made an interested sound, prompting him to continue. “The young man demolishing Ground A,” Toshinori said, gesturing towards the small screen, where a very angry-looking blond boy was destroying everything in sight with what appeared to be explosions. A powerful quirk, He thought to himself. Perhaps…

“Anyone else?” Nedzu pressed, and Toshinori tore his eyes away, scanning the other screens.

“That young lady there, with the vines.” Nedzu leaned forward, watching as she took down three robots at once with her remarkable quirk. “And the one with the hardening quirk, that black haired young man.”

“What about that kid?” Nemuri asked suddenly, loud enough for Aizawa to glance up from where he had been watching a bird-headed boy with some kind of shadow quirk. Toshinori followed her finger to the screen it was pointing at.

“Which one?” he asked, puzzled as he tried to identify which examinee had caught her interest.

She strode up to the screen, jabbing her finger right in the center. “That one right there! With the sledgehammer!”

At the word ‘sledgehammer’ every teacher turned to look at where she was pointing. It took a moment but Toshinori finally managed to spot a small boy standing in Ground B who was indeed carrying a sledgehammer.

“Is that permitted?” Toshinori asked, squinting in concern as a storm of shrapnel shot from a well-placed swing.

“Technically, he seems to have summoned it using his quirk, and he hasn't hurt anyone else,” Aizawa said, watching tiredly as the small green boy shot away from another robot, after turning it to scrap metal with a few hard hits. “So, as far as rules go, yes.”

“How many points is he at right now?” Ishimiya asked curiously. At this, Aizawa glanced over at the scores before and sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Too many,” he muttered.

“29, to be precise,” Nedzu piped up, smiling brightly. “Oh, my mistake. Make that 32.”

Toshinori watched in awe as the boy efficiently dispatched robot after robot, slowly gathering points. The longer he watched, the more strange things he noticed about the boy. For one thing, there was a black cat on his shoulder. A cat. And somehow, it had not gotten displaced at all in any of the commotion surrounding it. It seemed quite content, as a matter of fact. And then there was the matter of the strange patterns on the boy’s skin. From the distance, Toshinori couldn’t quite make them out, but something about them was unsettling in a way he could not pinpoint.

Slightly unnerved, Toshinori looked away from the boy and directed his attention to another screen just as the principal stood up.

“Well now!” Nedzu announced, clapping his… paws. “I think it’s about time we added a little more excitement into the mix, don’t you?”

_____________________________

Izuku leapt off the two-pointer’s metal corpse as it fell, landing cleanly on the ground.

“Thirty-six,” he panted. “That's not enough.”

Yugen seemed like it was about to add something (probably some witty retort or something), but suddenly it froze. Izuku tensed as well, having a terrible flashback to when he had been attacked by the slime monster.

“ There is… something, ” Yugen began, but it didn’t get a chance to finish because right at that moment, the ground itself trembled beneath Izuku’s feet, knocking him off balance momentarily.

“What the hell was that?” he exclaimed as the ground shook again. He got his answer as an enormous shadow fell over him. Looking up in shock, he saw a giant robot with a large white circle painted on it.

“No. Fucking. Way,” he breathed. Because that 10 story colossus towering over the false city, whose movements caused the very ground to tremble? That was the zero-point “obstacle” that Present Mic had mentioned before the test.

“ I believe it would be wise to steer clear of that behemoth, ” Yugen said, quite unnecessarily in Izuku's opinion, as he was already running in the exact opposite direction with the crowd of terrified examinees.

It wasn't that he was particularly scared. UA obviously wouldn't let a student die in the entrance exam but that didn't mean he couldn't get injured and, contrary to popular belief, Izuku was not a masochist. As far as he knew.

Either way, he was not going to stick around and find out. He could still get some more points before the end of the test, as long as he steered clear of the zero-pointer. At least, that was his plan until he heard the shout. He slid to a stop, hammer in hand as he turned around, looking for the source of the sound.

“ Over there, ” Yugen said as another tremor shook the ground. Izuku followed his gaze and spotted the girl who had called out. It was the same one from outside the school. With a sudden sinking feeling, Izuku realized that she was trapped under a huge chunk of rubble. And the zero-pointer was bearing down on her. Fast.

“ Shit, ” he hissed between his teeth. All the other examinees were still running past him. He was the only one who had noticed the girl.

By the time he had processed this, he was already running.

_______________________

Toshinori was trying to watch all the screens. He had to find a successor this year, he knew that, and that involved looking at all the possible candidates. He just couldn’t help the fact that his gaze kept getting drawn to the odd green haired boy with the sledgehammer. There was something about him that he couldn’t describe, and every time he looked at the kid, he felt a prickle of something similar to recognition.

He was watching as the hordes of examinees frantically moved in the opposite direction from the zero-pointer, scrambling to avoid flying rubble and get a few more points before the end of the exam, when he happened to glance up again at the camera broadcasting Ground B. His eyes locked onto the spot where the green-haired boy was running— toward the zero-pointer?

“Oho, how interesting!” Nedzu exclaimed, a strange glint in his eye. “What about that one, Toshinori-san?” he added in a quieter voice.

“He seems reckless…” Toshinori began, but he trailed off when he noticed where the boy seemed to be running.

Nedzu grinned. “I would think that the number one hero should be able to notice when someone is in trouble.”

Toshinori didn’t respond, eyes glued to the screen which showed a very tense scene as the green-haired boy sprinted towards the zero-pointer where another examinee was trapped under a large piece of rubble.

That boy…

________________________

“Hey there,” Izuku said, skidding to a stop next to the girl as debris rained down around him. The girl looked up at him, relief washing over her face. “You seem to be a bit stuck.”

The girl tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. “Just a bit.”

“Righty-o,” Izuku. “Let’s see here…”

He looked over the cement pinning her down.

“ It’s big, ” Yugen whispered in his ear, and Izuku groaned.

“I know that,” he said loudly, much to the girl’s confusion. “But I have to move it if we are going to get out of here in time. UA probably wouldn’t purposefully let a student die, too many lawsuits, but they might not be able to stop the robot in time, and even if they did, it’s momentum could make it crush us anyway, unless they had a quirk for that which, I mean, does a quirk like that even exist? Let’s be real. And then there’s the matter of whether or not she can walk— By the way, is your leg broken or fractured or can you not tell? Do you think you’ll be able to walk if I get this off of you? And your quirk, can you just not reach or is it overuse or are you just tired—“

“ Mumbling.” Yugen hit him across the head, knocking his train of thought off course, and Izuku quickly shut up.” And none of your plans will work anyway if you can’t Store the boulder. ”

The girl was watching the exchange in utter bewilderment, all fear forgotten. “Uh—“

“Okay, here’s the plan,” Izuku cut in. “I’m going to get rid of this boulder, and then you’re going to get up and hopefully, we avoid a gruesome death from being crushed under a giant robot. Sound good?”

The girl looked over at where the machine was closing in and nodded frantically, but Izuku had already activated his quirk, Storing the sledgehammer in his hand and closing his eyes. He focused very carefully on his connection with the Irregularity and amplified it, ignoring the sharp pang in his head and opening his eyes. He ignored the girl’s small gasp and rested his hand on the rubble, letting it melt away under his opened palm and feeling new weight throughout his body as it disappeared.

The girl, now free, grabbed his still outstretched hand and he snapped his quirk off, recoiling slightly from the rebound but pulling her up. He followed, still dazed and unaccustomed to the heavier feeling in his limbs, as she pulled him behind her. His head was aching and the world was spinning, but he managed to regain his footing and catch up until he was running next to her and away from the very real danger that was still gaining on them.

“Watch out!”

He was suddenly yanked to the side and he felt Yugen dislodge from his shoulder as a large metal beam landed exactly where he had been standing moments ago. He had no time to thank the girl, however, because a millisecond later, another much louder shout rang out through the entire testing ground.

“TIIIIIIIIIME’S UUUUP!!!”

The robot stopped advancing.

Everything went quiet.

And then the girl in front of him keeled over and threw up all over the ground.

Chapter Text

“IZUKU! IZUKU!!”

The boy in question looked up from where he had been laying on the couch, staring absently at the ceiling (a surprisingly calming habit he had developed that was, admittedly, kind of weird) to see his mother slide around the corner, an important-looking envelope in her hand.

“It's here,” she said breathlessly, handing him the letter. He took it from her hand, flipped it over, and was greeted by the UA logo stamped elegantly across the paper. His face remained passive but he felt his heart speed up in his chest. Yugen leaned over his shoulder to get a better look. His mother seated herself next to him, holding his arm with barely contained excitement. “Are you going to open it?”

Izuku carefully tore open the envelope and turned it over in his hand, sliding the letter out. As he did so, a small disk clattered out and fell on the coffee table, the unexpected sound making him startle. His mother put a gentle hand on his shoulder but then jumped herself as a booming voice spoke. The disk had revealed itself as a small projector and there, standing in front of a blank video screen, was a holographic projection of All Might.

“Hello there, Young Midoriya!” he said, the characteristic voice sounding just as impressive, even in the recording. “I am All Might!”

Izuku snorted. “No fucking kidding.”

“ Language, ” Yugen scolded, but Inko shushed them both.

“-- a good 36 points, a very impressive feat!” All Might was saying. “Just barely enough, on their own. However! Combat was not the only thing this exam was judging!”

Izuku lifted an eyebrow while his mother's grip on his arm tightened, sparing a glance at Yugen. The cat was looking emotionlessly at the video, but it had that knowing expression that it got every once in awhile, meaning it already knew exactly what was about to happen.

“You see, UA's job is to find and train people who would be best suited to be heroes, so how could we deny someone who did the right thing?

“So what am I getting at? WELL! IS wasn't just looking at villain points, Young Midoriya! We were also looking at rescue points!”

The screen lit up behind the hero and Izuku and his mother watched as the very scene from a week ago played out on it. There he was, running to the trapped girl before making the boulder disappear and helping her up. Izuku was hit with how… determined he looked. It was almost like watching a different person on the screen, but in a weird way still knowing it was him.

“Thus! I am very pleased to award you 35 rescue points!”

Izuku's eyes snapped back to the hero. That was 71 points. 71 fucking points. There was definitely some kind of mistake.

“Welcome to UA! This is your hero academia!”

The light whirring of the projector stopped as it clicked off, the image of All Might disappearing and leaving the Midoriya household in complete silence once more.

Izuku felt his heart skip. He had done it. He was in. A giddy sort of excitement the like of which he hadn't felt in years filled his chest.

“Izuku,” his mother breathed excitedly.

“I’m in,” he said softly. He picked up the letter that had fallen to the ground in the excitement, unfolding it and reading what was written on it.

His mother leaned over his shoulder to see as well, happy tears spilling down her face (she had always been very emotional). “What does it say?” she asked, sniffing slightly.

“A supplies list, instructions for costume design submissions, and— oh,” he brought the paper closer to his face, “I’m in Class 1-A”

Inko stood up. “Well! I think this calls for a celebration! How does katsudon sound tonight?”

Izuku nodded and looked at the paper again, scanning it a bit more, taking note of the important information, when his mother’s hand landed on his shoulder again.

“Izuku.” she said, and the seriousness in her tone took him by surprise. He looked at her. “I’m so, so proud of you. I really am.”

He felt a small but genuine smile form on his face. “I know.”

____________________

“Congratulations to the two students from our school who successfully got into UA: Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya!”

There was a scattered applause after the announcement, probably for Katsuki. The other students kept sending Izuku bewildered glances, as though they still couldn’t believe he of all people had made it into the most exclusive hero school in Japan, and they probably couldn’t. Izuku was still having trouble wrapping his mind around it, which was strange as he had always known he’d had it in the bag from the start. Perhaps excitement was contagious.

Everyone sat down again as the teacher began class, and Izuku reluctantly pulled his thoughts away from UA and began his diligent note taking. Most people left him alone throughout the day, and he wasn’t even made fun of as far as he knew, which was pretty nice.

There was only one pair of fiery red eyes that kept looking at him all day, threatening some kind of retribution later.

____________________

“ Deku. ” Izuku heard the hiss of Katsuki’s voice and felt himself wrenched violently to the side. A strong hand pinned him to the wall and a tall shadow was  standing over him, trapping him there.

“How did you do it,” Katsuki said, less of a question than a threat.

“Same as everyone else,” Izuku said calmly. “I earned it.”

“BULLSHIT!” Katsuki roared, letting off a few explosions to punctuate his words and singeing Izuku’s collar.

“I’m going to ask you again,” he hissed dangerously, “because there’s no way a fucking creep like you was allowed into UA without some kind of trick. What strings did you pull, huh? Who’s dick did you suck?”

As much as he wanted to retort with a stinging comment, Izuku kept his mouth shut. It wouldn’t do to inflame Katsuki any more than he already was.

Angry crimson eyes scrutinized him closely, daring him to talk back. Finally, the blond scoffed. “Coward.”

He shoved Izuku roughly to the side, almost knocking him over, and stalked off. Izuku steadied himself and patted himself down, glancing at the burn marks on his uniform. How annoying.

“ Why must you insist on letting him beat you around like that? ”

Izuku sighed. He and Yugen had had this conversation many times. He knew that he caused the cat endless irritation with his insistence on leaving Katsuki be and not even trying to do anything to stop him. “I just don't see a reason to. He's never hurt me that badly and really, it doesn't matter.”

He said it in such a tone that suggested the conversation was over, and it was. And yet, Izuku couldn't erase the doubt that had wriggled into his mind. He didn't know what exactly caused it or why it was there, but he decided to ignore it.

School was coming up, and he had more important things to focus on.

Chapter Text

Hey guys, I have sad news. I’m discontinuing this fic. I’m sorry.

I don’t know for how long this will last, but by the looks of things it won’t be coming back anytime soon. 

Writing this fic has been really good for me, and I’ve enjoyed it so much as well as seeing all your amazing comments and views (I mean seriously, over 100 bookmarks? Almost 500 kudos?? Wow) but I just can’t keep it up. It’s a combination of me becoming disillusioned with bnha and moving on to other interests as well as stress/my own problems that I need to work out.  I really, really appreciate all the support I’ve gotten from you all and you are all so amazing. This was a difficult decision to make but I think it was the best one.

I’m not good with writing this kind of stuff so I’ll end it with this. Thank you so much for supporting me and my writing and I have loved every moment of this, regardless of how quickly it ended.

Best wishes to all of you,

Nick xo