Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

A soft blue hue illuminated a small room, glowing from its place on the bed side table. A scrawny teenager occupied the room, curled up on his small bed. As light started to filter into his room by another product other than his lamp, the boy looked up with a start. Izuku squinted at the offending early morning rays that were forcefully entering through his curtains. He shifted on his bed, crossed his legs, and sighed.

Izuku had spent nearly all night reading up on his new book about insects found in Japan. He was reading up about spiders when he felt a hairy limb caress his clenched hand. Coincidently, a spider climbed over his book and onto his hand. He carefully placed the open book on his lap and stared at his hand in surprise. Izuku observed the large spider that took up most, if not all, of his 14-year-old hand. He carefully placed both of his hands together and watched as the spider ran across the digits of his fingers before running back. Izuku observed the eight-legged creature that was currently running a marathon across his hands. He let a huff escape from his dry lips, reminding him that he needed water, and slowly got up from his bed. His bones cracked as they clicked into a new place, having not moved for most of the night, and stretched, his eyes lazily scanning his room.

His room wasn’t big by any means, not like the rest of classmates. They all had big bedrooms with lots of windows and room. He only had one. It was smack bang in the middle in his wall opposite the door with moth eaten curtains hanging about a few centimetres above the floor. His wallpaper was blank, an off white, reminding him somewhat of a hospital. It sure felt like it anyway.

Izuku grumbled as he balanced the spider on one of his freckled hands. It was a small room that housed a single bed in the corner against the wall. The bed itself had one worn out pillow and a few thin sheets, and the mattress was not comfortable, at all. A small beside table, with no draws, was placed next to the bed and his desk was parallel to the bed. Even though he had a bookshelf flush against the desk, it was almost empty besides a small aquarium for his amagaeru (Japanese tree frog) and one shelf full of books about animals. The one other thing that occupied his bookshelf was his hero analysis books that were neatly stacked into a pile, and a bottle of dead insects for frog food.

Instead of having a wardrobe, or actual draws to put his clothes in, he simply had a chest at the foot of his bed. It was mostly empty; he only had the essential clothing. He hardly had anything in his room that would describe his ‘character’, but he didn’t mind. He was, after all, just starting to collect plants after becoming the president for the middle school green thumb club. They hosted meetings at the park or the gardening centre down the road from his school. Izuku took a glance at the door covered in locks of all kinds before sighing. Better get ready before she decides to come up here.

He carefully placed the brown spider on his bed. Looks like a Huntsman he mused as his brain supplied him the name. He moved the little creature up on top of his shelf before deciding to grab his stuff and get ready for hell school. Izuku fought back a groan, tying not to irritate the burn on hos shoulder. As he sluggishly got dressed, he took a glance at the spider sitting on his self, noticing that the arachnid was staring at him. Izuku blinked before he tilted his head and smiled when the spider shifted in response.

He’s had a few animals respond to him with gestures before. Even though his Mother put down that he was quirkless when he ‘showed no signs of developing a quirk at age 4’, the doctors put down that he had a stronger form of her telekinesis. But after age 5 he noticed he had a, and as cheesy as it sounds, connection with animals, and some things that were… not quite animals. Ever since he was young he had the ability to see people that ‘weren’t there’ or visible to other people, but everyone just chalked up the idea that he had imaginary friends. He can still see them, just out of the corner of his eye, a brief flicker on the edge of his consciousness, but he can hear them. Having conversations with them from time to time, often going through the different drawings he drew when he was younger, trying to imagine what they would look like.

He frowned, lost in thought, “You know what?” He asked the spider that was still watching him with its eight eyes. “Imma call you Hunter.”

The spider eyed him as he waved goodbye and exited his room, dread pooling in his stomach. “This is going to be a long day, isn’t it?” Izuku turned to his bedroom door before closing his eyes and sighing. He cleared his mind, raising his hand and placing it against the door. He was just able to hear the quick clicks of the locks snapping shut and stopping anyone from entering through the door. Unless they climb through the window or break it down. Thankfully, his Mother wasn’t able to enter his room after locking it. Even though her quirk was all about moving small objects, she is only able to pull them towards her and not move them away or in a certain direction.

He yawned, covering his mouth quickly as he walked into the living room like he was the living dead. He spotted his Mother making some coffee when he went to exit the building. Quickly chucking on his shoes, and going for the handle, he was about to exit the building when she suddenly called out for him to wait, begging him to give her a second. His eye twitched in irritation but turned to face her anyway.

“Izuku! Have you got everything?” She hurriedly made her way towards him, holding out a packet of tissues for him to take. He rolled his eyes, already having some but took them anyway. “You have tissues, right? Do you need more? Have you got pepper spray? Your pocket knife? Remember what you can’t be right?”

Izuku gave her a fake smile, one that she believed, and was celebrating in his mind when she gave a hesitant smile back. “Of course, the world is a dangerous place after all. No place for someone who doesn’t have a quirk. So, no, I can’t be a hero.” He continued to smile as his Mother processed the sentence, looking for a hidden meaning that she won’t ever find. She was too easy to fool, surprisingly even she knew that.

She nodded excitedly when her mind caught up with his reasoning, thankful that he ‘believes’ her, and reached up to pat his shoulder. “That’s right. The world is a danger-” She cut herself off by shrieking and grabbing her wrist, pulling it away from him. Izuku frowned when she pointed at his shoulder. “Dangerous! There’s something dangerous on your shoulder!” She quickly looked around, afraid that whatever was on his shoulder could also be somewhere else at the same time.

Izuku went to touch his shoulder when he surprisingly felt a skinny hairy stick poke his cheek. He blinked before shutting his eye as it made its way up the side of his neck. Izuku carefully titled his head and held his hand out flat next to his cheek. He almost laughed at what he discovered had made his Mother freak out. Sitting in his palm was none other than Hunter. He laughed and cupped his hands together to hold the arachnid better, watching as he settled into his hand.

“You sneaky little thing! Were you trying to hitch hike on my shoulder?” He balanced the spider on his hands. He looked up to see his Mother roll up a newspaper and aim it at his hand. Quickly covering Hunter, after the spider curled up to fit in his palm, he held it above his head and glared at her. “He’s not dangerous.” His Mother glared right back and pointed the newspaper at him, warning him that he was about to be told off again. Izuku glared, not backing down.

“It’s a spider! Izuku get rid of it! It’s poisonous!” While his Mother was frantically trying to convince him, he opened his hand up just enough so that Hunter could slip up the sleeve of his blazer. When his Mother warned him, threatening to lock him in his room, he opened his hands to reveal that he wasn’t holding a spider. While she shrieked and looked around in alarm, wondering where the spider went, Izuku made a stealthy escape and ran out the door and down a few streets before he slowed down.

He breathed out, having held his breath the entire time, and smiled when he felt Hunter shift in his hair. “I guess my hair is more of a spider nest then a bird’s nest.” He mused as he walked to school, feeling lighter than he had when he got ready. Izuku’s way to school wasn’t a normal one per se. Instead of following the main roads and meeting up with friends along the way, he took back alleys and dodged drug dealers and criminals. Though, after years of constantly seeing an 11-year-old walk through the streets to and from his way to school, they let him be and in turn Izuku didn’t step in. After years of taking this route, he never called the police on any of them. Of course, after finding him beaten up when he made his way back home, they got a little protective of him. When they found out that he liked bugs and insects, they started giving him books and fun facts as he walked by. Izuku smiled as a few recognisable faces waved to him. He waved back, giving them all a friendly smile as he made his way to school.

“Hey, kid!”

Izuku turned and smiled when a middle-aged man with a cigar and scarf that looked worryingly like intestines, walked up to him. “Hey Giran. How are you?”

The broker gave him a smile, a cigar already in between his teeth. “You know me kid, depends on the customer.” Izuku nodded as Giran gave the top of his head a closer look. “Jesus kid, you have a spider in your hair. Didn’t know that you could hide anything other than birds in there.” Izuku laughed and held out his hand and showed Giran Hunter as the spider crawled onto his open palm. Giran whistled, intrigued. “Damn kid, nice little friend you got there. Venomous?”

“Nope! Can give you a bite, but that’s about it. This is Hunter. He’s a Huntsman spider.” Giran ruffled his hair and pushed him towards another alleyway. “See you later, Giran!” He called out at he let Hunter settle into his hair again.

As he made his way towards the next alley, Giran called out to him again. “Watch out for yourself, brat. By the way, someone spotted a weasel somewhere in the alley way down to the left. Has a food packaging on its head. Thought you might want to know since you’d probably adopt it!”

Izuku waved and followed the back alleys, avoiding the main street, he almost laughed when he saw the weasel Giran had mentioned walking around with a Chinese noodle takeaway container on its head. The weasel spotted him from under the cardboard flap and watched him closely, wondering if he was going to attack, before quickly making a run for it. Izuku swung his bag around onto his front and fished out a chip packet. After opening it up, he set it down beside the nearby dumpster and turned away. When he heard a rustle and crunching of chips, he looked over his shoulder to see the weasel chewing at the chips inside. When the weasel noticed it was being watched it dropped the packet and hid out of view. Izuku smiled at the display of awkwardness and continued his path to school.

~~~

Izuku flinched when he saw Bakugou walk past one of the windows in his homeroom. He sighed, feeling Hunter settle into his hair and made his way through the school halls. He cringed at the stares he received when he opened the classroom door and sighed when Bakugou turned to face him. Ah shit. Izuku carefully took his place at his seat and flinched when multiple of his peers stared at him with disgust. Hunter shifted in his hair again, Izuku praying that nobody spotted him, and turned towards Bakugou. Izuku could practically feel that Hunter felt threatened by Bakugou and Izuku really hoped that he wouldn’t do anything to stupid.

His homeroom teacher walked in with a stack of papers under his arm and Izuku immediately knew what was about to happen. “You guys are all third years now! It’s time to start thinking seriously about your futures!” Izuku pretended to scratch his head as he moved his hair to cover Hunter a little bit more. He felt really anxious and wished nothing more to curl up into a ball and sleep. “I would hand out these future career forms, but…I assume you all want to be heroes!” Izuku rolled his eyes when the teacher spun his back towards them and threw the papers everywhere. Everyone immediately began showing off their quirks. He carefully raised his hand, nobody noticing him like always, as the teacher began yelling at everyone. “Yes, you all have wonderful quirks. But you know it’s against the rules to use them in school!”

“Sensei! Don’t lump me in with these losers!” Izuku flinched when his voice rang out in the now silent classroom. Why does he always have to be so loud? The class stared at the shouting boy and waited for the ‘future hero’ to continue. “As if I had anything…like their crappy quirks! Heh.” Bakugou. Fucking. Katsuki. Izuku glared daggers at him, thankfully Bakugou was in front of him so he couldn’t see him.

“Get over yourself Katsuki!” Izuku watched silently as his classmates began yelling at him, the one with the rocky hair seemingly leading the charge.

“Extras should act like extras!”

“Ah Bakugou,” The teacher ruffled through some papers on his desk in search of something. “You, of course, must be aiming for U.A. high school.” Oh shit. Izuku buried his head in his arms as his classmates started chattering about the national school. That’s where I’m going. He felt Hunter shift in his hair, deciding onto climb the hand that was tangled in green locks.

“Ah, the stupid chattering of extras! I ACED the mock exam! I’M THE ONLY ONE HERE WITH THE STUFF FOR U.A.!” Explosions went off in his hands and Izuku visibly flinched as Bakugou jumped up on top of his desk and started yelling even louder, announcing his plan to everyone in the school. “I’LL EVEN SURPASS ALL MIGHT AND BECOME THE BEST HERO OUT THERE! NOT TO MENTION I’LL BE ONE OF THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!”

“Oh,” Izuku flinched as the teacher seemed surprised at what he found written on another piece of paper. “You’re also going for U.A. aren’t you Midoriya?” The teacher grinned at him as everyone in the class turned towards him and stared. Izuku tried not to cry as everyone howled with laughter and started calling him out saying stuff like ‘No way! Him?’ and ‘Good grades alone can’t get you into the hero program!’

Izuku stood up annoyed, “T-That’s not necessarily true! Sure, there’s no precedent but…” Izuku was cut off with Bakugou slamming his palm down on his desk and exploding him along with it. Izuku quickly grabbed Hunter and hid him in his palms.

“Come on Deku!” Izuku flinched when Bakugou cornered him against the wall. “Forget the crappy quirks! YOU’RE TOTALLY QUIRKLESS!” Bakugou grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pinned him against the wall. “Do you really think you can rub shoulders with me?!” Bakugou growled as Izuku curled up on himself.

He squeaked, fear of his Mother keeping him from correcting Bakugou about his quirk. “Wa…Wait, no, Kacchan!” Izuku backed himself further into the wall, trying to get away from the very dangerous being in front of him. “I wasn’t saying I could compete with you at all. I mean it!” Izuku went to put his hand up only to see Hunter crawling up Bakugou’s shoulder. “It’s just…been my dream since I was little. And well…” He slowly stood up, flinching when Bakugou shoved his hands against him shoulders, pushing him back. “There’s no harm in trying.”

Izuku flinched when Bakugou let off explosions and the whole class sneered. “Try?! Try what?! The entrance exam?! You’re going to take the exam just to try?! What can you even do?” Izuku breathed out in relief when Hunter landed in his hair, seemingly upset from parting with it, but froze when Bakugou flinched back. He stayed as still as a statue when Hunter began crawling down his forehead and covering his face. “Shit!” Bakugou cursed and took multiple steps back. “Deku, don’t you dare move a muscle.” Izuku stared in confusion and slowly reached up to grab Hunter off his face. The whole class watched in horror as he grabbed the spider in his hands and placed him back on his head.

“What the fuck!”

~~~

That was a long day. Izuku exhaled after the bell had chimed, signalling the end of the day. He moved from his desk and grabbed his books, swinging his bag over his shoulder. He looked over his classmate’s shoulder to see his phone. Apparently, there was a new heroine called Mt. Lady. She had taken down a massive villain but, upon watching a few seconds of a video about it that his classmate clicked on, it seems that Kamui Woods was handling it with next to no property damage before she arrived. That’s going to leave a mark on her wages.

Izuku jotted down a few notes in his Analysis book only for it to be violently snatched away from him. He flinched at the sound of tearing paper and looked up to see Bakugou waving his book back and forth with a sneer on his face.

Oh shit.

“We ain’t done here Deku.” As his other lacky’s approached, Izuku was figuring out a way to escape.

“What’s that Katsuki?” The one with mutant fingers asked. Izuku shot him a glare. He knows that his fingers can extend out pretty far and that if he breaks his fingers just before the first knuckles then his quirk wouldn’t work. He clenched his fists when Bakugou turned the book the lackies way. “‘For our Future’? Seriously?! This guy, Midoriya…” Jerk face. Izuku stood on guard, watching each of the lacky’s carefully.

Izuku recoiled when Hunter made a few gestures, standing on his back legs, still in his hair. “C-Come on give it back.” Curse stuttering. He reached out only for it to be slammed in between Bakugou’s hands and blown up. Izuku went numb. He could hear Hunter making noises and the lackies laugh in his face.

“The best heroes out there, well…they show signs of greatness even as students. I’ll be the first and only hero from this crappy public middle school! The first to win the honour of becoming a student at U.A. high school. Guess I’m just a perfectionist.” Bakugou let out a huff, seeing that Izuku wasn’t going to put up a fight, and he threw the notebook out the window like it was nothing but breadcrumbs. He’s so vain. Bakugou grabbed his shoulder, activating his explosive quirk and burning the already damaged material of his school uniform. Izuku knew that when he got home he was going to have to sew the uniform back together. “In other words, don’t you dare get into U.A. nerd!” Bakugou lent in and smirked.

“Jeez…typical. C’mon say something…”

“He can’t say anything. He’s so lame. Even as a third year, he still can’t face reality.”

“Oh,” Bakugou let him go and was about to start walking away when he lent back in, giving him a ‘friendly smile’. “You wanna to be a hero so bad? I’ve got a time saving idea for you. If you think you’ll have a quirk in your next life… go, take a swan dive off the roof!” Abruptly, Hunter jumped from Izuku’s head to Bakugou’s and landed on his face. The other lacky’s flinched back in surprise and Bakugou let out a shout of pain, covering his nose. Izuku quickly wacked the side of Bakugou’s head, missing Hunter entirely, and scooped his spider into his hands.

As Izuku was making a dash for the door, in the back of his mind he knew that he was going to cop it tomorrow.

~~~

Izuku couldn’t help but laugh when he made him way to the side of the building. “Oh my god, Hunter! You could have died!” Hunter jumped up and down on his hand before swaying back and forth. “I’m guessing you’re doing a victory dance.” Izuku rolled his eyes and went to search for his book only to find it sitting at the feet of a weasel.

He blinked in surprise when he saw that it was the same weasel from before, if the Chinese noodle packaging on its head was a hint, now holding his packet of chips from earlier. “Oh, hello.” Izuku crouched down and smiled at the mammal. The weasel altered its position, standing up on his hind legs and holding the burnt notebook out to him. Izuku reached out slowly, so he didn’t startle the weasel, and carefully took the notebook from it. “Thank you very much.”

The weasel stood there for a few seconds before scampering off to who knows where.

Izuku raised his eyebrows in disbelief, gaping at the spot the weasel had been. “Huh.” Was all that left his mouth when he finally did move, shoving his book into his bag and starting the trail to work, plugging his earplugs in. As he came to an under pass, he sent out a few seismic waves to protect himself just in case, having a few run ins with criminals when he was younger.

Izuku barely heard over his music a sloshing sound that echoed behind him. He turned slightly to see a sewage like quirk user reaching out towards him.

“A medium sized body to hide in.”

Izuku raised an eyebrow as he launched forward and went to grab him, only to find that he couldn’t. The criminal stopped to see a good meter between himself and his target and frowned. Izuku seemingly grasped air and the sludge villain cried out in alarm when he was picked up from the ground, suspended above the ground. The sludge villain watched in confusion when he started spinning and was rolled around like dough until he was shaped into ball, around the size of a blow-up beachball. Since his body was made out of liquid he didn’t feel any pain and could take the shape of any container. Izuku nodded memorising this fact as he looked around for something to hold the villain in, absentmindedly removing the hundreds of yen notes that were littered throughout his form. Izuku’s eyes searched the area and sighed in annoyance. I really don’t want to have to use my drink bottle…

He went to grab his bottle from his bag before raising his hand at the object that was about to hit him in the face. A manhole cover? “Fear not, kid! For I am here!”

Izuku raised an eyebrow when the super built guy that seemingly appeared out of nowhere paused, looking around to see that there was no one in danger, and saw that the villain he had been chasing down was squished up into a ball and floating in the air in front of him.

“Uh…” The male straightened himself out, brushing off any dirt he had on him than strolled over to Izuku. “Thanks a lot kid!”

Izuku stared at him, suspicion in his eyes. “Who are you?”

The guy looked shocked and downright offended. “I’m sorry?”

“Who are you?” Izuku asked again. Still confused who was standing in front of him.

“Why, surely you’ve heard of me!” The guy tried to save some dignity. “I’m All Might!” But then he lost the dignity by posing, looking something akin to a Superman pose.

“Never heard of you. Are you some kind of hero?”

All Might - what kind of a hero name is that? - stood up straight and coughed, covering his mouth. “I’m the no.1 hero in the world? Symbol of Peace…?...Ring any bells, perhaps?”

Izuku nodded his head slowly. “I’ve heard of the Symbol of Peace. I don’t have a phone or any electronics, sorry sir. That and I’m forbidden to talk about heroes and quirks at home. I’d be lucky if I get any food after that conversation.”

The hero looked concerned at that. “Does this happen on a regular occurrence?”

Izuku nodded again. “It just depends on the subject matter. For example, this morning I got a new pet,” he pulled Hunter out of his hair, showing the hero who looked scared of him, before settling him on his shoulder. “She freaked out and went to hit Hunter, the spider,” Izuku tried not to laugh as Hunter began crawling up the side of his face to get back to his hair. “And I hid him. After she was distracted, I ran for it. I have one other pet, but Kero is an amagaeru so as long as Kero doesn’t end up outside of my room, she’s fine.”

“I see…” All Might frowned, nodding his head. “Have you ever talked to someone about it?”

“No. Everyone thinks I’m quirkless because my Mother won’t allow me to correct them. She wants me to be quirkless and we all know what happens to quirkless kids…”

As the two chatted, Izuku split the criminal, who was now the size of a basketball, into two 2 litre bottles and placed the money in a grocery bag that All Might had been carrying.

“Thank you young man, you have been a great help. I’m sure you would like to become a hero, yes?” Izuku looked up at the man who was signing his notebook, at Izuku’s request to give to someone which All Might had responded with a “Well of course young Midoriya!” Izuku watched as he scribbled on the next available page and carefully gave it back to him. “Apologies for getting caught up in my villain hunt! Mistakes like that aren’t my style but…this is a strange land to me. And besides, I’m off camera!” He did a dramatic pose and waited for Izuku to respond.

Izuku gave him a sad smile. “Yeah, it’s all I ever wanted, to become a hero. I take up any and all types of self-defence I can find. Most of them I started paying for myself since I have a job at the local library and Garden and Greenhouse centre. That and I also do a bit of gymnastics to improve my flexibility.” All Might looked as if he were about to say something when Izuku cut him off, “that’s assuming that I won’t die as soon as I get home this afternoon.”

All Might frowned as Izuku grabbed his bag and started walking away. “Kid-“

“Thank you, Sir, I best be going. I have to start work soon and it’s on the other side of town.” Izuku turned slightly, waving goodbye. “Take care of yourself, okay? Congrats on capturing the villain.”

“But my success here is all thanks to you! I have contained the villain! Now I must bring this fellow to the authorities!” All Might gave a hesitant wave, unsure of what else to say. But he knew something bad was going to happen. Is this kid going to be okay?

~~~

The once bustling and main streets were almost bare and quiet when Izuku had finally made his way to the Library. That single fact alone was enough for Izuku to turn, look around, and second guess himself and his sense of direction. When he did spot the tranquil Library down the unoccupied road, he did a double take at the almost empty streets and frowned. Somethings not right here. Ignoring his instincts, Izuku sighed as he made his way towards the local library, Hunter calmly sitting in his hair. “Do you think I should have given him my address or something? Maybe to actually get me out of that house?” He asked Hunter who came to sit on his shoulder. The spider gazed at him, not answering. “I mean, I know it seems stupid to dream but…maybe? Maybe I could’ve escaped? And found myself a home… a home which people like talking about quirks and heroes. A place that likes bugs and animals…” Izuku shook himself out of his toxic thoughts that his Mother warned him about. “Yeah…no use thinking about that stuff now.” Hunter shifted in response.

He stared at the Library that was now in front of him and took a deep breath in and sighed. After Izuku had calmed down he reached out and grasped the round handle, opening the Library door and smiling at the peacefulness. Just as he was about to enter the Library a loud explosion rocked him to the side, slamming against the side of the building. Izuku looked around in alarm trying to see what had happened when he saw smoke billowing out of a nearby shopping district looking like dark curtains hanging above the buildings. There was another explosion, multiple people running by and Izuku quickly hid Hunter in his bag, chucking the bag through the Library doors and running to the sounds of commotion. Izuku saw many things. Heroes running by with civilians hurt, glass and debris everywhere, a group of bystanders blocking anyone from entering and doing nothing to help but watch. He then spotted what was causing the commotion and couldn’t help but stare in shock at what was happening in front of him.

The mud-like sludge villain was back and had been released into the middle of the, now destroyed, shopping district, All Might was nowhere to be seen too. From what Izuku could overhear, he had caught someone and was using them against the heroes. Izuku looked around at the said heroes, trying to figure out if they had a plan, but they were just standing back, watching and observing, not doing anything to help or capture the criminal. Why aren’t they doing anything- Another explosion cut off his wave of thinking and Izuku, covered his mouth, almost crying at what he saw.

Bakugou.

Bakugou was trapped in the sludge villain, struggling to breathe, he was crying-

Without any warning whatsoever, Izuku pushed past the bystanders and rushed forward, dodging and weaving between the heroes and debris. As he started running at the villain with no plan at all, fear blossomed into his eyes. He knew the punishment he was going to receive. Sure, the heroes would scold him, but he knew that his Mother would find out, she always did. He knew he was going to get no food for the next week, he knew that. There were cameras and reporters everywhere amongst the crowd. So why was he running? Why was he running to save him? Save his bully? His pain in the ass since Kindergarten. And when Bakugou looked at him and Izuku stared right back, he had his answer.

He’s scared. Just like I am every day of my life.

Izuku skidded to a stop, standing before the chaos and grinned up at death, staring into the villains eyes. Just be cool. Breathe. “Yo slime freak! Remember me?!” Not what I had in mind but-

“You!”

Ah, so he does remember me.

“Aim at his eyes!” Izuku pointed at the oversized eyes that the sludge villain had. Bakugou pulled against the restraints, annoyed that Deku gave him orders, before aiming a blast at the guys eyes. The sludge guy cried out in pain, leaning back in shock, and subsequently released Bakugou, throwing him in Izuku’s general direction. Izuku swayed on his feet but reached out, holding his hands out and made a grabbing motion, holding Bakugou in mid-air.

Izuku then hurled him towards the heroes, yelling “Yeet!”, the heroes caught him in confusion and settled him down carefully. Izuku twisted his body and jumped, narrowly dodging a blow from the villain in front of him. He landed, shifted his stance and smirked at him. Izuku took a running charge at the villain and spotted a pole sticking out of the side of one of the nearby buildings, getting an idea. Quickly jumping on a platform made by debris he grabbed onto the pole and swung his body up, building up momentum, then let go. His foot connected with one of the eyes, making the villain scream in pain. Izuku rolled away from the chaos and clutched his head in pain. Fucking migraines.

“Deku! Watch out!” Izuku looked up to see that Bakugou was being restrained by the heroes and when he took a glance behind him, he knew he was royally fucked. The villain was now towering over him and growled as he grabbed him, encasing him with his own body-ewewewew. Izuku managed to raise his hands above his head, holding his breath as the villain tried to take over his body and focused.

The he was moving.

Activating his quirk, he pushed himself out of the villain, separating him from the inside-out, and launched out of the top of his head. Izuku flipped his body, watching the villain turn around so he was standing behind him. Izuku then closed him eyes, the seismic waves telling him that the villain was charging at him and he smiled. Izuku’s eyes snapped opened and jumped, lifting himself above the ground so that he was at least floating meter higher than his actual height. He smiled at the villain, their heights now equal and both rushing forward.

“Why can’t you just die already?!”

Suddenly a black haired women pushed him out of the way. “Bean sprout! Do that move that you did before! Come on! Think!”

The sludge villain went to grab him and Izuku dodged it, taking the women’s advice, and pressing his palm against the villains head. The villain thrashed around as he was once again lifted into the air and shaped into a ball, trying to struggle against the hold. Izuku took a deep breath in and held it, and shaking, and watched as he slowly passed out of exhaustion and lack of air, Izuku having pulled the surrounding oxygen away from him so that he was unable to breathe for a brief moment of time.

Izuku carefully dropped to the ground, the sludge villain suspended in the air, and struggled to stand upright. As he turned towards the public, he smiled, his hands shaking before raising his fist above his head, showing victory. His victory was met with cheers and clapping of applause. He got were words of encouragement and praise, something Izuku had never gotten from anyone, and he smiled wider, tears in his eyes.

The crowd cheered louder as the police came and apprehended the villain from him, Izuku casually making his way towards the Library when he was bombarded with reporters. Izuku blinked rapidly with alarm, unsure of what to do with so many questions being thrown at him.

“Don’t crowd the kid, he just saved your asses from having an early retirement!” A middle aged bald man with black goggles tried to shoo away some of the heroes that were approaching him.

Izuku turned to some of the heroes that were staring at him in…anger? Why would they be angry at him? Then Kamui Woods walked up to him, giving Izuku a pat on the shoulder. “Nice work, young man. If you ever think of going pro, it would be an honour to work with you.”

Izuku blushed and rubbed the back of his head, smiling. “Thank you, sir. I will look forward to it.”

~~~

Izuku sighed when he was finally in the clear. After getting himself checked for injuries and answering some of the reporters’ questions, he was allowed to leave. He was unable to find the black-haired women and other man as he left, but he promised when he did see them that he would thank them. He collected Hunter and apologised for the sudden departure. He quickly changed, Hunter content to stay in a pocket in his shirt for his shift, and after apologising to his manager, started working. He doesn’t do a lot at the Library, but he also does a lot at the same time. Going from serving at the front desk to rearranging books to reading to kids.

As Izuku was putting away some books away in the animal section, he felt a tug on the hem of his shirt, startling him out of his limbo of putting books on the shelves. “Hey mister!” Izuku blinked and turned around to see a small girl standing in front of him with a book in her hands. The child looked no older than five and was probably the same height as Izuku’s hip. She was wearing a green top with a picture of a frog face printed on it for the design, her hair tied back into two green piggy tails. Izuku knelt down so they were at similar heights and gave her a smile.

“What can I do for you today, mam?”

The child stared at him for a long while, seemingly studying him, then she hesitantly held out her book. “Can I borrow this one?”

Izuku took a glance at the title and grinned, eyes lighting up with recognition. It was a book about garden insects and flowers found throughout Japan in each of the seasons. Izuku had read the book that the girl was holding at least a dozen times and had memorized a lot of facts about the different plants and animals. He gave her a small smile and gently pried the book out of the girl’s hands. He flicked through it absently, facts coming to his brain as he read a few key words here and there. He nodded, making the occasional humming noise before stopping at a certain page and taking a quick skim over the text. “Mhmm. I don’t know…there might be a problem…” He frowned, apparently discovering something that the girl had not.

The child looked horrified at that. “No! What’s wrong with it?” The girl came around to his side and held onto his arm, trying to see.

“Well, it’s just…there are a lot of creepy crawlies in here…I don’t know if you’ll be able to handle it.” Izuku put on a fake sad face, shaking his head. The girl looked horrified at the audacity of her not being able to handle it.

“No! I want this book! I’m brave enough to handle it.” She stood proud, tilting her chin up to show that she was able to ‘handle it’. Izuku gave her a smile as she proclaimed, “I love creepy crawlies!”

“Is that so?” He asked and slowly pulled Hunter out of his shirt pocket. “Can you handle spiders?”

“Yep!”

Izuku carefully handled Hunter on his palms and showed the little girl in front of him. Her eyes went wide and instead of screaming she mouthed ‘woah’ and reached out to touch it. She gave Izuku a glance and he nodded, giving her the A-OK to touch him. She hesitantly poked Hunter before giving the Huntsman a few strokes and giggling.

“Feels hairy.”

Izuku grinned, patting her shoulder, in agreeance. “I guess I have no choice then since you passed the test…to the front desk!” He pointed towards the front counter, doing a pose with Hunter in his other hand, and the girl squealed in excitement. Then she quickly coughed, putting on a brave face, and copied the pose that Izuku was doing.

“To the front desk!” She called out in agreement.

As Izuku placed Hunter in his pocket, the girl quickly started to make her way to the front desk, occasionally bouncing around in excitement. When Izuku made it to the front desk, she makde grabbing motions with her hands as he scanned the book as borrowed. “Now,” Izuku turned to the girl. “Whose brave soul shall I hand the book to?”

“Me!” The girl pointed to herself, giving her best smile to him.

“Of course, but I need a name to seal the book under the brave soul who dare to read it.”

The girl blinked before quickly realizing what he meant. “My name! My name is Satsuki Asui!”

As Izuku typed in the borrower, he handed the book to Satsuki. “This book is now borrowed to the brave Satsuki Asui. You must protect the book. Will you protect it till you must return it?”

Satsuki saluted. “Sir yes sir! I will protect the book till its due date!”

Izuku ruffled her hair then handed her the book. “Good luck, brave soul.”

As she walked away, the book clutched close to her chest, his manager walked up to him with a smile on her face. “You’re way to good with kids.” His manager was a middle aged women with brown hair, styled in a pixie cut, and green eyes. She normally wore male clothing because ‘Fuck gender normalities’ as she said on a daily basis.

Izuku smiled at her. “Sorry Miss Nozomi.”

“I told you to call me Kei. None of this miss or Nozomi stuff. I’m thankful you work here, kid. Buisness has been great since you started. A lot of the kids that come here always ask for you or what book you would recommend. Since technology has improved so much barely anyone reads books these days.” Kei shook her head and sighed. “Anyway, don’t over work yourself, got it?”

“Yes Miss. How’s Hana doing?”

“I told you to call me Kei, but she’s great. Her and her little girlfriend decided to finally tie the knot. They’re getting married in April next year.”

“That’s great Miss Nozomi.”

“Kei.”

“Sorry Miss Kei.”

“That’s as good as it’s going to get, isn’t it?”

“Probably.”

“Brat.” She ruffled his hair and shooed him away, pushing him back towards his work. Izuku yawned, doing a bit of research on All Might and noticed a decline of work over the years. When Izuku did look up at the clock to see that he had half an hour left of work before he finished up. He smiled when he saw a new group of people walked in, greeting them with a smile. Looks like Uni kids. Izuku thought absentmindedly. After shutting off the computer and sorting through a few more books that made it to the front desk, his workday was over. Four hours of work done already. He yawned and headed out the door, waving goodbye to Kei and making his way towards his house.

Hunter was sitting on his head again as he made his way down a street, heading towards a back alley. He went to turn into the alleyway when All Might suddenly appeared in front of him in his signature pose. “I am here!” Izuku stood up straight in alarm, his eyes wide and alert and even Hunter was surprised. He supposed he looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“All Might?” Izuku frowned, shifting his bag on his back. “Where’d you go? Why was the sludge villain out in the streets?”

“You’ve got a point there! He slipped out of my pockets when I was leaping through the sky. I managed to hand in all the money back, but I was unable to recapture the villain. Luckily you stepped in or- “All Might cut himself off by coughing and spewing up blood before going up in smoke.

“All Might…?” Izuku asked in confusion when the smoke dissipated and revealed a skeleton like man staring back at him. “Oh! Is your quirk a transformation type? If so, that explains why you only show up for a few hours at a time. I was able to look at the Library computers during my shift and noticed that.”

All Might coughed into his sleeve, nodding. “Yeah something like that.” Izuku blinked when he saw a few other people appear behind him, if only briefly, and was about to ask when All Might spoke up. “Kid. I’ve come to thank you and I also have a…proposal.”

“Proposal?” Izuku asked, tilting his head to get a better look at the people behind him.

“Without you…” All Might sighed and Izuku knew the conversation turned serious. “That boy might not have been here, and that villain might have seriously hurt other people. So, thank you!”

Izuku shook his head quickly. “That…no…That was just pure luck that I happened to be there. Someone else would have shown up, I’m sure.”

“That’s the thing, kid!” Now that got Izuku’s attention. “Of all the people on the scene…it was only you, identifying as quirkless to many, who acted with a quirk!” Izuku watched in awe as All Might smiled, holding his hand out to him. “You gave me inspiration and hope!”

The woman behind All Might smiled, shaking her head. “Copying my words, are we Toshi?”

Toshi?

“Most of the top heroes show signs of greatness even as children…many of them claim that…their bodies simply moved before they could think!”

Izuku’s eyes went wide with hope as All Might pointed at him knowingly.

“That’s what happened to you back there, yes?!”

Izuku nodded and smiling up at All Might with hope. All Might grinned and said the sentence that Izuku wanted to hear all his life.

“Yes! You can be a hero!”

“Of course, the brat can become a hero! He had killer moves when he took out that villain!” The goggles guy was back but was being shushed by another male with two red markings, possibly scars, going from around his right supraorbital ridge to his left lower lip.

Izuku beamed at him, the other guy catching notice of where he was looking, tears in his eyes, and pulled Hunter out of his hair, holding him in his palms. “You hear that, buddy? I can be a hero.” Hunter jumped up and down on his hands, doing his interpretation of a victory dance.

“I believe you’re worthy of inheriting my power!”

Izuku stared at Hunter then glanced up in confusion. “Huh?” His voice must have gotten the point across because All Might threw his head back and laughed.

“What’s that face for?! It’s a proposal!! The real work begins here. Listen, my boy…”

Izuku stared at him as if he were waiting for a prank to end.

“I’m asking you…” All Might pointed at him while puking up blood, “If you want to try accepting my power! This concerns my quirk, kid.” All Might clarified when Izuku gave him a blank stare. “The tabloids like to guess that it’s ‘super strength’ or ‘boost power’. I avoid the question in interviews by making jokes.” Izuku nodded in understanding. “Because All Might, the ‘Symbol of Peace’ has to come off as a natural born hero. But my quirk was passed down to me. Like the Olympic torch.”

“Huh.” Izuku nodded, letting Hunter sit back in his hair. “I’ve never heard of a quirk being passed down before, but quirks are still a mystery to humankind, so it wouldn’t be that strange for a quirk to be passed down.”

“You really doubt me that much?! Nonsense!” Izuku started to reply to apologise only for All Might to cut him off again. “I have many secrets, but I never lie!” All Might waved him off. “I have the ability to transfer power, that’s the quirk I inherited. It is called…ONE FOR ALL!”

“One for All?” Izuku nodded slowly, memorising the name. “Oh, I get it. So, it’s a power used for heroism because you, being the one, are giving to all. Right?”

All Might stared at him, unsure of what to say from his guess on the name of the quirk. “Uh, sure…” He coughed, trying to remember his train of thought. “The first person cultivates the power and then passes it on to another. The next refines it and passes it on again. Those crying out to be saved and those with brave and true hearts link to form a crystalline network of power!”

“But all this, why…why me?” It was a scary question that Izuku had to ask.

“I’ve been searching for a successor for a while now and I believe you are worthy. I might be a hero but back there you were more heroic than anyone else! But of course, this depends on you! So, what do you say?”

Izuku stared at him for a while, unsure. What would he get out of this? Sure, he might get another quirk and become strong, but what’s to say that his Mother would even let him go? Hell, he might not even be around to be one. I want to save people. I want people to be safe when I wasn’t able to be.

“Is the kid okay?” The goggles guy whispered to one of the other people behind All Might. A guy with black hair shrugged, unsure of his answer.

“Give the bean sprout some time. He’s probably processing it all.”

Izuku stared at the people behind him. He wants to know who they are and why All Might hasn’t responded to them. He wants to be a hero. With a deep breath and a heavy heart, he gave a small smile to All Might and nodded. “Yes, I accept.”

All Might grinned. “A thoughtful answer. I expected nothing less.”

Izuku had to ask All Might one thing first. “You have money, right?”

All Might blinked in confusion. “Yes, I suppose I do, why?”

Izuku took a deep breath in and looked him straight in the eyes. “Can you give me a home?”