Chapter Text
For Izuku’s eleventh birthday, his mother gives him a camera.
At first, he’s slightly put off by the gift, and wonders at the practicality of it- he has an old flip phone of his mother’s than can take pictures well enough, and he has never given any indication that he would like to pick up photography. In fact, he really had been hoping that his birthday gift would be the second latest All Might action figure set, which were all holiday themed. Not the latest set, of course- Izuku knew that would be too expensive.
All Izuku has ever needed for birthday gifts falls under an easy to fill spectrum- hero merchandise and pencils or pens, notebooks if he’s almost done his latest. The camera feels like a punch from someone other than Kacchan- unexpected, a bit painful, and even a little bit disgruntling- Kacchan is his friend, and its only okay if he punches Izuku.
(it isn’t okay if anyone punches him, but Izuku likes to hide away in his delusions.)
Regardless, the camera is a bit of a letdown. Its second hand, a bit scuffed, and bulky- there’s a neck strap provided, and Izuku thinks that if he wore it it would be a literal pain in the neck. He flits his green eyes up from the just opened present, and takes in his mother’s earnest gaze. She’s biting her lip in the way she only ever does when Izuku comes home with more than the average scuff, or a client’s case is not matching up to what she knows to be true. She’s practically trembling as she waits for Izuku’s reaction.
Izuku knows exactly what he has to do.
He smiles. “I love it mom!” The way she beams and dives in for an enthusiastic hug makes the weight in his stomach shrink, and the Katsudon and cake afterwards block out the rest of his inhibitions. Who needs more hero merch when his mom is just trying to reach outside the box to make him happy?
XXX
Izuku initially doesn’t plan to use the camera. It sits in its case on his shelf behind his multitude of hero action figures for over two weeks. It’s the arrival of a particularly sunny day that forces its unearthing.
“Izuku, honey, it’s wonderful outside! Why don’t you go take your camera out to the park? I’m sure it would be much more interesting to walk the trails if you were on the lookout for the perfect picture!” Inko exclaims.
For a moment, Izuku thinks of making an excuse- anything to not have to wear the monstrously large camera around his neck- but his mother’s eyes widen just so, and he knows it’s a lost cause.
“Sure, mom… I’ll be home for supper!”
The first few steps down the street are nerve racking for Izuku. He’s never liked to be under scrutiny, and the paranoia that comes with the bulky camera make all eyes that even graze his direction feel like bullets. By the time he’s almost to the park, he wishes he would have brought his backpack or the case, and just kept his camera in there- but it’s too late now.
The park in question isn’t really a park. There aren’t any spots for casual rest or relaxation, and it’s more of a holdout of nature against humanity than a conscious effort of the city to provide for the people. Izuku vaguely recalls hearing something about unstable soil, and weird water flows that prevented construction in this area, but that doesn’t matter quite so much as the result. The park is basically just a forest in the middle of nowhere with a few trails for the occasional lonely jogger, or a hideaway for teenagers.
Izuku somewhat understands what said teenagers get up to, and it makes him red in the face whenever he even considers it.
With fumbling hands, Izuku lifts the camera up from his neck. It takes some time for him to figure out the controls- being second hand, it didn’t come with instructions. As he idly begins his walk along one of the paths, Izuku is surprised to find himself having difficulty with the camera. It really doesn’t seem as simple as ‘aim and shoot’. A few tentative clicks of the trees, and even one of a bird flying, reveal that Izuku has no natural aptitude for the art. The bird looks like a grainy smudge, and the trees are too darkly contrasted with the surroundings.
It’s almost like a challenge.
With a huff, Izuku begins to take as many pictures as he can. Some of roots growing into the path, a few obligatory flower pictures, and frenzied shots of any animals that scamper into Izuku’s line of sight. The results start out terrible, just like the initial pictures. But the more that Izuku works with the camera, the more that he gets a feel for it. An hour long pause, sitting on the edge of the path to religiously explore the different settings, allows Izuku to finally get a handle on light contrast. The cherry on top is that just as he’s finally reached the end of the trail that spits out onto another section of town, he manages to whip an action shot of a robin descending towards its nest. It’s not the most interesting of pictures, but it’s clear and focused, and Izuku can’t help the bubble of pride he feels well up inside him.
The journey back home is different than the walk to the park. The camera doesn’t feel quite so bulky, and while it’s still embarrassing to lug around, Izuku just tries to act natural and blend with the crowds. He doesn’t get near as many stares now that he’s not emulating a turtle by hunching his shoulders to his ears.
All the while he continues to snap away as hours pass and he meanders. Already, his walk home is three times as long as his walk to the park. Izuku can’t think of the last time he was ever so interested in a street sign, but the stop sign’s stability seems to provide good reference for pictures of the street. Izuku tentatively begins to work with the zoom, and without his notice the faintest of smiles emerges on his face.
Then the street explodes.
Izuku is hurled backwards by the force. He reflexively tucks into a ball, and when he finally stops tumbling, he gives a quick glance to the camera pressed against his chest. His reflexes and the natural bulk of the camera mean that it isn’t damaged in the slightest, and Izuku himself only has a few scrapes. Any other injuries are drowned out by the rapid beat of his heart. Izuku scrambles to his feet, camera naturally rising into his hands as he attempts to analyze the situation.
It’s a villain, of course. They’re picking themselves out of the crater they had smashed into the middle of the street, and idly brushing concrete dust off their scaled arms as they rise.
“Mutant type,” Izuku whispers. “Narrowed face shape and enlarged nostrils, reptilian tail of approximately six feet in length- covered in scales. Likely impervious to most physical attacks.” Without even thinking about it, Izuku lifts his camera, and begins to take pictures.
Someone gives a tug on his arm, breaking Izuku from his trance. It’s an older woman with spots along her cheeks and vivid blue eyes, and she gives another tug on Izuku’s arm once she has his attention. “Boy, don’t just dawdle on the street,” she hisses. “That villain is going to start looking for hostages soon.” Izuku glances back towards the reptilian villain, who much like the woman predicted, is now scanning around them with a wicked grin that reveals their unnaturally large mouth which is filled to the brim with pointed teeth.
“Y-yes!” Izuku squeaks out. Together, they tuck in behind some flower planters on the edge of the street. It would probably have been safer to go into a store, but the distance would have been too great- the villain would have seen them before then. Izuku had to give a quick tug on the woman’s arm to pull her behind the planter, and luckily she was quick to understand. Together, they hunch behind the boxes as screams intertwining with the frenzied laughter of the villain flood the street.
“Stop fiend!” A new voice calls. “Unhand that woman, and turn yourself in quietly- you will be caught regardless!” Against his better nature, Izuku peaks around the edge of the planter, and his eyes widen at the sight before him. A hero!
Said hero’s back is to Izuku, and their orange cape rustles in the wind that always seems to emerge when heroes arrive. Izuku can’t see much besides that and their long black hair, but it is an imposing image. In the distance, the villain faces the hero head on with a struggling woman clenched in his arms.
“Hah!” the villain croaks out. He tightens his grip around the woman, who screams at the constriction. “As if I would turn myself in to some newbie like you- I’d like to see you try to stop me before I dig my teeth into this girls throat!” A shiver of fear trails up Izuku’s spine, but the hero gives no outward sign of panic at the villains words.
Before he knows what he is doing, Izuku takes a picture of the scene. And all the scenes to come.
The hero’s hands slam together above their head. A wave of blue light emanate from their contact, though it only fans out forwards from the hero. The villain screams once the wave reaches them, and lets go of the woman to hold their hands against their eyes. The woman scrambles out of the way, lurching on unsteady feet out of the way of the conflict.
The hero sprints forwards, and brings either hand down, snapping their fingers. Arced blades of green light shoot towards the villain, who is not idle. With eyes still pinched shut, the villain dives out of the way of the blades. The blades leave gouges in the street they pass before dissipating twenty meters from the hero.
Izuku watches the dance of the villain versus the enemy with wide eyes. “A multi-faceted emitter quirk,” he mumbles. “Two hands hitting each other make some form of visual weapon that blinds on contact, while single handed strikes make cuts. Wait… no, the villain tails was just grazed, and pushed out of the way- maybe a highly focused pressure wave? And that would mean that the two handed strike could really be pressured light that can’t be perceived by the human eye when struck, causing disorientation…”
“STUPID BOY!” Izuku is wrenched away from the planter, and just in time; the villain crashes through it, and surely would have crashed into Izuku if he had stayed where he was. Izuku reflexively takes another picture of the villain, who is closer now than he had been during the entire brawl.
Izuku would have taken a picture of the hero descending upon the reptile villain as well, but he is wrenched entirely out of the way again as the woman with the spotted cheeks drags him away from the fight entirely.
“Ack!- Wait, I can walk, please, ouch! I- I’m sorry, I was just-”
“Endangering your life!” she hisses. “With that camera in your hands, you’re just like a reckless hero- no regard for your own safety! Why, if you were my son, I would…”
Izuku can’t process the rest of the woman’s words. He is still stuck on her previous sentence. In a roundabout way, had she just compared him to a hero?
From the safety of the nearest shop, Izuku is able to see the rest of the fight wind down. It is once the hero, who proudly declares their name as ‘Shockwave’, has knocked out the villain that the press arrive. They huddle around the hero, crooning to them and snapping pictures of them in their glory now that the fight is over.
Izuku glances down at his camera. With shaky fingers, he opens up the memory and scrolls through the pictures he has managed to take in the ten minutes that the fight had progressed. Not all of them are great- many are blurred, and instantly deleted. But others… The villain, caught mid leap forwards and snarling. The hero, throwing their arms forwards to create pressure cuts to stop debris from flying into one of the shops, the civilians visible through the front window. And the best…
The first photo he took, of the hero’s defiant back as the villain held his hostage tightly.
“So cool…” Izuku whispers.
In his eyes, a spark emerges.