Chapter Text
Izuku sometimes wondered if life would have been easier quirkless. Granted, his quirk provided him with some extraordinary opportunities and a wonderful friend… but it also brought Him into Izuku’s life. He had struck Izuku as funny when they first met; the entity seemed to tear convention apart by simply existing, and he’d say things Izuku didn’t understand but found himself laughing at. As Izuku grew, he counted himself lucky that Nana was the first spirit he’d found, rather than man he’d come to know as Beetlejuice. Looking back on it, Izuku was surprised his quirk’s manifestation didn’t take a more sinister turn when it came in.
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Izuku was walking home, hand in hand with Kacchan, laughing at something the blonde child had said when he saw something that caught his eye, causing him to let go of the other boy’s hand; Across the street was a muscular man who seemed to go about his day, and in his shadow was a woman, crying softly as she reached out towards the man. She looked like she wanted to say something, but the man was gone before she could open her mouth. Izuku didn’t know what drove him to move, but the next thing he knew, Kacchan was calling out for him as he darted across the street and to the crying woman’s side.
“Are you okay, miss? Why are you crying?”
The lady jumped in surprise, turning to face Izuku with a look of confusion and, hidden deeply in her eyes, hope. She knelt down to look Izuku in the eyes before speaking, hesitantly reaching out towards him.
“Can you see me?”
Izuku tilted his head in confusion before nodding. Izuku went to take the lady’s hand, hoping to help her, only to find his hand pass through her own and he could see her biting back a sob as his warm hand passed through her own icy hold. Kacchan was behind him now, yelling at him but he couldn’t hear the words the other boy was saying. Something inside of him was telling him to help the woman; to give her something that resembled the warmth of life… to give her some hope Izuku reached out towards her hand once more and this time, he did so with every intention of touching her, and helping her.
The moment his hand made contact with hers, Izuku blacked out. On the outside, his eyes glossed over and, for a moment, a stronger gaze took place underneath it. The spirit in Izuku’s place flexed their little fingers and tried activating their quirk, wanting to rocket towards the sky and return to Toshinori’s side… but they only managed to wobble uncertainly in the air as the spikey blonde watched in awe before laughing giddily.
“Deku, your quirk! Your quirk is here!”
The spirit looked at him in confusion… Her names wasn’t “Deku” … how did she get so small again? She’d been following Toshinori ever since the day she died and abandoned the Netherworld… and not once did anyone see her… so how did that little boy see her? What happened to that little boy? The spirit turned to a nearby window and felt disgusted with herself as she saw her own gaze looking back through young emerald eyes, that were glossily looking at her underneath a mop of green, messy hair. She willed the little body to return to the ground and forced herself to leave the little boy. Instantaneously, she was once again her old self and the boy crumbled to the ground. The spirit felt horrible at the sight as the blonde yelled and ran over to the little boy. She decided Toshinori could survive with out her lurking in his shadow for a while… she had done this (whatever this was) to this little boy; the least she could do was stay with him to get some answers… if he saw her, then there was no telling what other spirits would target him for their own personal gains.
Nana stayed with the boys as the blonde screamed at the passed-out boy until he woke up and blinked silently before looking around in confusion.
“Kacchan, what happened?”
The blonde helped the other up before pushing him angrily.
“Stupid Deku! You shouldn’t have run off without me! What would’ve happened if I wasn’t here when your quirk activated? You’d be passed out and any villain coulda grabbed you!”
The green haired boy looked at his friend in confusion before his eyes grew wide with excitement.
“My quirk?! What happened Kacchan?!”
Kacchan smiled as he brought the boy away from the window and towards their original destination.
“You got all weird eyes and floated! It’s not as cool as mine, but we can work with it!”
The greenette smiled before pausing and frowning.
“Kacchan, what about the lady?”
“What lady?”
“The crying lady! She was crying and I ran over to see if she needed help, and then my hand got really, really cold when I tried to help her and it passed through her… Is she okay?”
Kacchan frowned before crossing his little arms.
“There’s no crying lady Deku. You ran over to an empty sidewalk!”
The boy frowned, looking around for a moment before his eyes landed on the spirit.
“Kacchan, she’s right there!”
He spoke and pointed at the woman, but the blonde only scowled and shook his head.
“There’s no one there Deku!”
“Yes, there is! She’s right there!!”
“You hit your head or something… let’s just go home, okay?”
Izuku sighed and nodded glumly, taking the blonde’s hand once more and looking back over his shoulder to the spirit.
“You can come with me if you want… I think you need a friend.”
The spirit laughed and walked to the boy’s side, easily keeping pace with the two boys. After a while, they reached an apartment complex and the blonde opened the door with a loud bang before the yelling came.
“Katsuki, don’t slam the door, brat!”
To the spirit’s surprise, the little boy yelled back.
“Can it, you hag!”
The spirit watched as the greenette sighed in embarrassment as a carbon copy of the boy came storming up to them and put her hands on her hips.
“I’ll can it once you explain why you and Izu-kun were late today! What kind of fight did you get into today?”
Kacchan was about to respond when Izuku stepped forwards, his head hung low.
“I-It was my fault Auntie… Kacchan said my quirk came in, but I can’t remember it… he had to wake me up before we got home…”
The woman was taken aback for a moment before sighing and smiling gently.
“It’s okay Izu-kun. Katsuki, go tell your father to make some Katsudon, okay? I’ll call Inko to let her know to make an appointment.”
Izuku tilted his head in confusion.
“Is momma sick?”
The woman laughed lightly.
“No, your momma’s fine. The appointment is for you, Squirt. I’ll tell her the quirk doctor I took Katsuki to; she’ll be able to tell you what your quirk is and how it works.”
“Oh… Okay!”
“C’mon Deku! We’ll play heroes! You can be All Might today!”
The spirit noticed how the boy’s eyes sparkled at the mention of All Might and watched with fond eyes as the two ran off. It was… nice, she decided. The boy was nice, even if his friend seemed a bit rough around the edges, it was easy to see where he got it from… She wondered if the boy had forgotten about her as he played. It was after the family and friend ate dinner and Izuku was sent home to a joyfully crying mother when the spirit found Izuku staring at her in the privacy of his little bedroom.
“Miss… What’s your name?”
She smiled and pulled the covers to his bad back, letting him crawl in bed (she distantly questioned how she was able to do this, while not being able to touch people…)
“Nana Shimura, at your service Kiddo.”
“Kacchan said I floated… that was you, wasn’t it?”
“I believe so, though I’m unsure how it happened.”
“Are you my quirk?”
“I’m not sure Kiddo. Maybe that doctor can help us out.”
“Oh… okay. Why were you crying behind that man?”
Nana sighed and sat at the foot of his bed, rubbing her neck for a moment before responding.
“In my day, I knew him... he was so much younger back then, and had so much light in his eyes… I decided to follow and watch over him.”
“Like an angel!”
Nana laughed at the boy’s innocence before covering him with his bedding and smiling softly.
“Nana… are you dead?”
Nana nodded quietly.
“Maybe that’s my quirk then! I can see angels and angels help me, like when I floated!”
Nana smiled softly.
“We’ll find out tomorrow Kiddo. Get some rest, okay?”
The boy turned to look Nana in the eyes.
“Are you gonna be here when I wake up? Will your friend miss you?”
Nana started to brush the boy’s hair out of his face, but stopped herself at the memory at the last interaction they had, settling on standing and nodding calmly.
“He misses me every day, but he's never seen me... not like this… I think you need me a bit more than he does right now. Go to sleep kiddo.”
“Okay… Good night, Nana.”
As the boy slept, another entity stepped into the room, where Nana was keeping silent watch.
“So… this little punk is the one who can see us? Cute kid.”
Nana reached out and shoved the demon away from the sleeping boy, to his momentary surprise.
“Oh, Shimura didn’t see you there! I never took you for the possession type! Why don’t you leave that to the professionals, hm?”
“Leave.”
“I just got here! C’mon, I think the kid and I’d be a perfect fit, eh?”
“Leave. This. Home. I know who you are, and you are not going to posses this little boy, Beetlejuice.”
The demon laughed and wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye.
“Oh man, you’re a hoot! Trust me, Granny; one way or another, this kid will say my name. it’s been so long since I had a bit of fun!”
“Leave.”
The temperature of the room was dropping, and Beetlejuice knew it’ be dangerous to his new friend… he’d have to come back when her back was turned.
“Okay, okay; I get it already! I’m goin! Hope the kid sleeps well, since most of the spirit world knows he got Sappy Shimura to abandon her stupid prodigy. See ya ‘round.”