Chapter Text
"You... cannot be a hero. It's not bad to dream." The skeleton form of All Might turned away from the young boy, towards the door. It would be better to tell him now than to let the cruel world hurt him when he found out himself. All Might was doing the boy a favor.
"But you have to consider what's realistic, young man. Perhaps you can become a police officer. Even if the profession is not as well respected as a hero's, they are no less noble." Perhaps these weren’t the words of All Might, but rather of Yagi Toshinori. In this form, he didn’t have to keep up the facade of invincibility. He was a wounded man, and he didn’t want this young boy to get hurt too.
His next words were almost a whisper. “I’m sorry…” He closed the door to the rooftop behind him as he descended the stairs.
As All Might left, Izuku Midoriya was thinking a mile a minute.
My idol just told me to be realistic. He just told me to give up on my dream. He doesn’t believe in me. All Might doesn’t believe in me. They were right, I really can’t be a hero. I really am just a useless, worthless Deku.
Izuku stepped toward the edge of the building.
No one believes in me. Nobody cares about me. Nobody except-
Izuku froze. His mother loved him more than anything in the world. He knew she loved him. He ran towards the door into the building, slamming it open.
God, what was I thinking? What was I just about to do?
Once down the first set of stairs, a thought occurs to Yagi that stops him in his tracks. Maybe it wasn’t so wise to tell a quirkless boy to throw away his dreams on top of a 15 story building. However, his worries are quelled when he hears the door reopen behind him. I really need to be more careful about what I say.
Izuku felt tears in his eyes as he looked down at the skinny form of All Might. What was he thinking? He just crushed a quirkless kid’s dreams then left him alone on a roof. What if I hadn’t gotten a hold of myself in time? His mind froze. He didn’t think he wanted the answer to that question.
Yagi watched as the boy ran down the steps, and tried to reach for him. “Kid, I’m sorry-” But before he could finish, the young man was already gone. Yagi sighed, and continued down the steps as his side ached. He needed to get home.
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As Izuku ran out of the building, he heard the telltale sounds of a villain attack, explosions ringing out from down the street. The noise stopped him for a moment, as he tried to catch his breath, but he continued walking on his way home, away from the fight.
There’s no use in going to watch anymore. Not like I’ll use my notes anymore.
Once he made it home, he heard his mother come up to him asking why he was late. Everything seemed glossed over, and he barely registered her words. He walked past her to go and shower.
Once he was done, he went back to the living room and sat on the couch. The news was on. A young lady was reporting the villain attack he had heard on his way home.
“-And even though the situation seemed dire, these three heroes pulled together to save the Slime Villain’s hostage. Pro heroes Kamui Woods, Death Arms, and Backdraft proved the strength of heroes around Japan. As Kamui Woods used his quirk to blind the villain, targeting his solid eyes, Backdraft used his quirk to make sure that Kamui Woods would not be harmed by the hostage’s explosions. While the villain was distracted, Death Arms ran in to pull out the hostage. Once the hostage was freed, however, the Slime Villain escaped into the sewers below and is currently still at large. In other news- “
Izuku’s focus drifted away from the background noise of the tv, and turned towards himself. What would he do now? Since he was a kid, all he wanted to do was be a hero. It was stupid, he knew that now. He hadn’t even thought of a back up plan. He was smart- he knew that. But he didn’t have any passion other than heroes. The thirteen notebooks about them in his room was proof of that. So maybe he could still work with heroes. Even if he couldn’t be one, there were people who worked close with them. Managers, consultants, quirk scientists, support engineers- there were a hundred jobs that worked side by side with heroes. Hell, you didn’t even need to be a hero to start your own agency. He just needed a license. And he could get one at UA.
At the thought of UA, his thoughts darkened. Kacchan was going to UA. He was going to get in, there was no doubting it- but he was going to have to tell Kaccha- no, he would have to tell Bakugou that he was right. That he wasn’t going to try and be a hero anymore.That he’d been right to treat him like trash, like the stupid worthless Deku he is, that he should’VE JUST THROWN HIMSEL-
“IZUKU!” Inko walked into the living room from the kitchen. “You should know not to come back late! This has happened too many times! We’ve talked about this. I’m glad you gave up your silly dreams about running into danger, but you still can’t be going out to watch all these fights!” At this point, she was standing above Izuku as he sat on the couch shrinking in on himself. “You don’t have anything to protect yourself with, you know that. Now go to your room! I’m not letting you run into danger at every chance you get. When I ask you something, I expect you to at least do it right.”
Izuku rolled to the side then got up, facing away from his mother. “I-I know. I’m s-so s-sorry.” he trudged into his room, tears falling from his eyes as his hunched back faced the woman behind him.
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Izuku was stuck in his room for the weekend. He came out for food, but he and Inko only ate in silence. It was… strange. It hurt in a different way then when he was ignored at school. It was shattering. And the fact that this was just an amped up version of how she had always been certainly didn’t help.
His room had gone through a major makeover though, so that was something good. All the All Might merch had come down, leaving the walls nearly bare. The desk and shelves were much less cluttered without it all taking up space. He didn’t take down all his hero merch though, leaving up some merch of the other top ranked heroes and lesser known but very likable rescue heroes. Everything that was All Might was gone though. Stuffed in boxes and protective casings, taped shut. Some of it was limited edition, so many he could sell it some time.
Other than that, there wasn’t much. He had a laptop on his desk, along with a number of writing and drawing utensils.
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The day for applications had come and gone. When the teacher had told the whole class that he was going into UA’s management course, Bakugou had been uncharacteristically silent even as the class laughed at him. Afterall, how could that Useless Deku get into any sort of prestigious high school? He left Izuku alone at school after that.
He had taken extra time to study after the All Might incident. He had looked into sales, marketing, management, economics, anything it would take to get into UA’s management course. Even if he wasn’t using it to become a hero, Izuku still had a great work ethic and an analytical mind. He absorbed all the information he could, rocketing up his class’s rankings. He easily took Bakugou’s top spot, but the explosive blond was strangely quiet about it. Getting top marks was surprisingly easy when Izuku could focus all his time into schoolwork, and not heroes.
Heroes. The thought of them still stung, reminding him of his failure of a dream, but it wouldn’t stop him now. Even if this new direction his life was taking wasn’t exactly as fulfilling, running a dependable hero agency would be a great help to the public. Even if Izuku wasn’t the one actually helping.
During his break before entrance exams, he had very little to actually do. He still studied, but that couldn’t take up his whole day. He even picked up doing light exercise in the mornings, doing stretches, pushups, situps, anything he could do in the “safety” of the room he was trapped in. That wasn’t enough either. So he went back to studying quirks and heroes. Even though his notebooks weren’t going to be used to become a hero, Izuku could most certainly use them to help heroes. His analysis skills would be important when he was scouting for heroes-to-be when he formed an agency, and it would be a nice hobby to pick back up. An outlet for his muttering, too.
The only problem was that he wanted to go back to actually seeing heroes. Sure there were videos and news reports. But that couldn’t compare to how he had studied heroes in person before. Actually being on the scene as battles took place, or as rescue efforts were made. So, whenever Inko was out at work or shopping and he heard of a nearby villain attack, Izuku snuck out. He felt terrible about it at first, but it was the only time that he could get out of the house. And the notes he got out of it! They were a thousand times better than anything he could ever get from some shaky phone recording. He got used to it. But when he got caught because Inko had gotten home early from work, it was ruined. She got a new alarm for the front door, and Izuku setting it off would sentence him to at least 2 years in his room. So he learned to go out his window instead.
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Gloves, check. Face mask, check. Gloves, check. NOT my red high tops, check. Hoodie, check. New notebook, check. Pen, check. Izuku stood as he took a mental catalogue of his items. He was careful to not make any noise as he gathered the items, and put them on or in his bag. This was the first time he was going out to find heroes to study at night. Not like I’m getting any sleep anyways. He checked that his door was locked. If Inko tried to check in on him in the middle of the night, then he didn’t want her coming in to find he wasn’t there. And if she was mad about it… it twisted Izuku’s stomach in a knot, but it wasn’t like their relationship could get any worse.
He unlocked his window, pushing it open. He stuck his head out, and looked down. A one story drop. He had put a small ladder in the bushes the day before, but he couldn’t keep it standing up with the risk of someone taking it away. The plan was to use it to climb back up in the morning, then to hide it again when he went to school.
But first he had to get down. Maybe if I roll, it’ll help break the fall? Maybe if I just just hang off the edge of the window I can land on my feet. He sat on the edge of his window, wondering what to do. Then he heard a noise behind him.
Fuck it. He jumped down, landing in the bushes below. Right on his back. He wheezed as the breath was knocked out of him. “Ow…” He crawled out from the bushes, and stood on the sidewalk. He looked left, then right. The coast was clear.
Alright.
Now where do I go?
After wandering around the neighborhood for a bit, Izuku realized there probably wouldn’t be any hero action anywhere near here. The worst that had happened in this area was some harassment and the odd purse snatcher. Just as he was about to head towards the less… pretty areas of the city, he heard a voice start yelling around the corner.
“GOD DAMN IT, WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL THE BAD GUYS! IT’S MY FIRST DAY!” The voice was distinctly feminine, probably belonging to a young woman.
He jogged around the corner fast enough to get a face full of the lady’s chest. He fell backwards, looking up.
“Oh, jeez kid you came outta nowhere.” The lady reached down to help him up. A utility belt crossed her waist, and she wore dark grey tights. She was wearing a tight black jacket that had heavy looking straps around the arms. Black fur lined the collar, and the lower half of her face was covered by a grey mask. Violet eyes wandered his frame. “You alright?”
Izuku sat there, dumbfounded. Well, guess it was easier to find a hero than I thought. After a moment he took her hand, and she helped him up. “Yeah, I’m alright. Are you a hero?” Surprisingly, his voice didn’t hold it’s usual stutter.
The lady looked down at her outfit, then back up at him. “What, you don’t think villains where gear like heroes do?”
Izuku froze at the idea, but only for a second. He remembered what she had yelled before he rounded the corner. “Sorry, I just didn’t think villains would be going around looking for other bad guys on their first day.” Kami, where is all this confidence coming from?
“Well, you got me there. Underground Hero, Viserly, at your service.” She gave a dramatic bow, an object falling out of one of her pouches. She caught it, fumbling a little before sticking it back in its place.
“An underground hero? Like Erasurehead?” Although Izuku had heard the term before, the things he heard about them were few and far between. He was lucky to even know of the erasure hero, even though he was one of the most high profile among them.
“Right on the money, kid. I’m surprised you know about him, he hates the media almost as much as he hates being awake.”
Mood. “Well, I am a bit of a hero nerd. Actually, that’s what I’m out for tonight. I wanted to observe some hero action now, since I can’t during the day.”
“That’s pretty dangerous, y’know? I doubt you’ll even see much action in the night. Only underground heroes really work at night, and they don’t really like making a scene.”
“You screaming in the middle of the street would be a testament against that.” Since when can I give this much sass!? And why is it so fun!?
Viserly gave a chuckle at that. “Well, you’re not wrong. I just don’t know where to patrol, it’s been frustrating. Hey, do you live around here?”
I probably shouldn’t tell her too much. “Near here, yeah.”
“You know where the action is?”
Well she’s a bit straightforward. “Yeah, actually. I was about to head there to see if I could watch some of it.”
“You said you’re a hero nerd, right? How about, if you can lead me there, then I’ll tell you a bit about my quirk?”
“Deal.” Izuku started walking, Viserly a few steps behind. “So, you say it’s your first day, but it seems like you don’t know the area. Did you move here for work?”
“No, quite the opposite actually. Before I switched jobs I worked in Tokyo, and they required me to stay on site. I live closer to this area myself.”
“What were you before?”
“A private hero.” Her answer was devoid of the playful tone it had before. It seemed empty.
“I’ve never heard of private heroes. What are they?”
“If I told you I’d have to kill you.” She stopped walking. Izuku looked to her to see the problem, but as soon as he did he couldn’t breathe. It was like the air was being sucked out of his lungs. She looked at her, saw her smile. But there was something wrong with it. It didn’t reach her now glowing, violet eyes. She had been serious. He clawed at his throat, trying to get something in his lungs, anything. And suddenly, he could breathe again.
Izuku fell onto the road, gasping. “That's your quirk?”
She gave a smirk. “Good to know you can take a joke! I would say I was impressed if I was. Keep walking and I’ll tell you about it.”
Izuku stood, wobbled for a second, then continued on his way. “Well?” At this point, his voice conveyed his irritation. And Izuku didn’t bother to wonder why he wasn’t afraid to hide it.
“Well, it’s called vacuum.” Izuku pulled out his pen and notebook. “It allows me to telekinetically remove the gasses from a certain area.”
After a moment, Izuku glanced up from his notebook. “Well keep going. That’s barely anything. Distance, volume, time limits, if you can hold multiple areas at once, effect on different gasses, there's a thousand things you’re not telling me.”
Her smirk grew into a full grin. She put her finger to her lip and started speaking. “Well I’m not about to go spewing all my strengths and weaknesses to some quirkless kid I just met on the street, now am I?”
Izuku sputtered out, “W- h-how’d you know I was quirkless?”
“Oh, I didn’t. But now I do.”
Damn it. I’m gonna have to be really careful around this lady, even if she’s a hero. She’s dangerous.
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