Chapter Text
Izuku was standing there, sketchbook in hand, ready for the day. He first asked his mom for a sketchbook to help him get better with his drawings of heroes for his hero analysis journals, and so he could draw edits to hero costumes, and it just grew into a hobby. While his true passion is his hero analysis notebooks, he really enjoys just drawing anything and everything.
He was waiting outside of the building that would soon host a hero convention. Hundreds of people, dozens of pros but no one noticed him, which was good. Izuku didn’t want the pro heroes to find out that their artist/vigilante friend was, in fact, a quirkless 15-year-old boy. Izuku took a deep breath before marching on, making sure his hair was well covered.
He wasn't an idiot; he knew green hair was not all that common, especially his deep forest curls that were the exact same shade as pine trees in early fall, and despite him hiding his true identity in his videos, he didn't want to risk chances. This was a hero convention, after all. It was likely that there would be clips released to the media just to keep them from storming the place. However, despite all that, Izuku had a mission he was supposed to be focusing on. He let his hand rest gently on the bag he had brought full of canvases.
He slipped into a stall to change into his costume and boot up the drone that his friend Hatsume made for him. He climbed up to the rafters, paintings now strapped to his back before starting up the drone‘s camera to film his Livestream. He takes a moment to make a mental note of thanking mei.
Izuku takes a deep breath and quietly begins speaking. "Hello, my lovely paint palette. This is GreenIsACreativeColor, and I'm here streaming me putting 4 lovely pieces of art, inspired by Bob Ross, of course, on Gang Orca's stand... without being noticed like the absolute badass I am."
He then proceeds to somehow drop the painting down from the rafters without being noticed. Midoriya then proceeds to lay down on his stomach and watch as Gang Orca finishes talking to a fan, before turning around and noticing the (very large) painting with the bunny signature in the bottom right corner. Gang Orca whips his head around the area, desperately trying to spot the artist, but they are nowhere to be found. Midoriya's view count begins to rise, slowly at first, but then shoots up. Midoriya quickly moves to a different hero's stand while Gang Orca's back is turned, and pulls out a few small papers from a pocket. Best Jeanist was talking to a small boy, and Midoriya could see from his spot in the rafters that the little boy wore a Best Jeanist Denim Backpack™️.
The boy seemed to be giving Best Jeanist his full attention, so Midoriya was able to get the drawings onto the table without much issue. The drone zoomed in on to the table as Midoriya sat on the rafters and looked through all the art he had to give away including... he snorted at the one he made of Endeavor. Izuku laughed quietly. "Okay... so we have a few more heroes left, starting from the hero I like most and going to the hero I like least. You all get to see my personally ranked heroes!" He stated quietly so as to not alert any heroes with sensitive hearing.
..apparently a ‘few’ meant eight in Izuku’s dictionary. He slipped away from the commotion at Best Jeanist’s stand. He knew that Eraserhead was here, a rare occurrence so he was going to make the most out of it, most likely near his husband’s stand. He smirked under his mask, it was incredibly fun to mess with/annoy his favorite hero. Midoriya knew he would have to be careful with the underground hero; Eraserhead had almost caught him a few more times than all of the other heroes, Combined. Though, with Nezu introduced to this game, the number might shift.
Unfortunately, said underground hero was not at his husband's stand. But, neither was his husband. Maybe they were walking around for a little bit? Who knows. Midoriya decided to wait, for now, mentioning to the camera that he wanted to see their reactions, but if they didn't show up at all he would have to move on. "I have more than one piece for one of these heroes, and I would really appreciate it if they showed up." He moved his head around, watching out for anyone else looking at him. No one on the ground had noticed the small figure in the darkness, but some heroes had given up the search for the secret artist and were admiring the pictures.
Ah! There! The Voice Hero and the totally unsuspicious man wearing an ash grey scarf by his side! Midoriya smirked under his mask. He took the largest painting with an analysis tied to it and waited for Eraserhead to look away so he could drop down the painting. He made sure to clarify that while he liked the voice hero, his favorite was the hero accompanying him, much to the confusion of his viewers, well, except the few viewers who were diehard underground hero fans.
Izuku muttered to the camera, "Yes, Present Mic is amazing, but his husband is infamous in the underground hero world. No. I will not be disclosing names, for his sake. What kind of hero would I be if I revealed the alter ego of another?" He noticed an opening and tried to move quickly, knowing that Eraserhead was more likely to jump at the sudden movement of something coming down than something from the side.
Midoriya managed to slide the painting under the table before scampering back up to the safety of the rafters and watching on, in interest. Eraserhead didn’t notice the painting at first, but nothing escaped the view of the underground hero for long. That is why he made sure to hide himself and the drone very well as to not be caught before he finished distributing out his paintings. Mainly the one of Endeavor with the infamous US President Trump’s hair, but he digresses.
Once Eraserhead noticed the artwork, Midoriya saw him slip away. It was only a matter of time before the hero used his weapon to get up to the rafters. He quickly dropped Present Mic's art and scampered to the next hero, watching out for Eraserhead the whole time. "I gotta make this quick, now. I still have four more artworks to drop off and the hero is going to come up here really quickly once he figures out that someone’s up here." The camera hummed quietly beside him, filming both Midoriya and the crowd below.
Izuku quickly got the 3 done and was now on to the last one. "And while he may be my least favorite hero, this is by far my favorite piece of art. You'll see why... oh shh-cheese sticks." He quickly dropped down, put the art onto Endeavor's stand, and jumped up to gather the equipment and started running, not caring if he was spotted anymore. Eraserhead was up on the rafters, and he was running. Midoriya dodged the incoming scarf and was quick jumping from stand to stand, running from Eraserhead. It was at this point he thanked his viewers for tuning in and ended the live stream, running outside and throwing himself into a hiding spot
Izuku knew he couldn't stay in the spot for very long because he knew Eraserhead would hunt up and down for him, so he quietly slipped into the back alley that was attached to the hiding spot. He stripped off his costume, shoved it into his bag before disappearing into the crowded streets, nothing more than just another civilian.
Izuku chuckled under his breath. "Mission accomplished. I'll have to see exactly how many views, likes, and comments I got when I get home," he mumbled quietly to himself. Luckily, the hero convention was only a 15-minute train ride from his apartment, so he was able to get back before too long. Once he got home, he flopped onto his bed and stayed like that for a few minutes. When he was done, he pulled out his laptop and opened up YouTube.
To Midorya’s shock, the video got.... let‘s say he more than tripled his estimated view count in likes. Like- holy crap, do these people really have nothing better to do with their time?! Izuku blinks a couple times and sees the numbers still increasing, but not as fast as before. He glances at the comment section and almost drops the laptop. The heroes that he gave the artwork to commented on his video! He started reading them and laughed out loud at Endeavor's. ‘That insolent brat will not go free ever again! I will catch him!' Good luck with that, Endeavor! Oh? Oh, this comment is absolutely golden! 'You're just salty that GreenIsACreativeColor gave you art of yourself with a previous American president's hairstyle on it. You look more like a carrot than that guy ever did, especially with your flames!' Izuku chuckled and liked the comment and responded with a "good luck on that!" to Endeavor. His Cheeto orange flames definitely complimented the hairstyle.
To his utter surprise, Nedzu left a comment. As in the principal of UA. Well. Things just got a lot more interesting. ‘Broadcasting your activities seems foolish Green. I look forward to our game.’
Midoriya was ultimately confused. Game? What game? And although he knew that live-streaming his activities was dangerous, he didn't expect heroes, no less Nezu to watch his streams. Was he really that troublesome? Either way, THE Nezu was interested, and Midoriya supposed he should take it as a compliment. But wouldn't he know if he was playing a game with the principal of the school he was going to test for in a couple of weeks?
Izuku stared at Nedzu's comment a little longer before sighing and trying to figure out what the hell his comment meant. Like, seriously! What the hell kinda game did he manage to get roped into? Izuku rubbed his face in exasperation and muttered, "I don't get paid enough for this..." He began typing and muttering what he was typing. "'Helllo, Princi-pal Nedzuu... I am glad to be no-ticed by youu... howeverrrrr I don't un-derstaand what you meant by game.' There! That should get the point across, right?"
When he sent it, he closed his laptop for a moment, before opening it back up, as if expecting the rat-mouse-bear-dog-thing to have replied within the second since he sent the message and he checked again. No response yet. As if the universe was trying to send him a message, his inbox lit up with a single notification.
Izuku quickly spam- clicked the message, hoping to see any kind of reply from the principal. to his disappointment, it was only another spam-mail ad trying to sell him someone’s car or something. He sighed and looked at the time before he stared at the clock in shock. "What the-? I'm sorry? How did me reading my comments manage to take 30 whole minutes away from my life? Like, holy shit! I swear that it was just 8:45." He closed the laptop for good and flopped onto his back and stared at the ceiling above his bed. "... I'm not getting any sleep tonight, am I?" He asked himself quietly after 30 seconds.
He could swear he heard someone say ‘probably not.’ Midoriya was also pretty sure that they were laughing at him. He sighed and shuffled over to his closet to finish a painting he was almost done with. He grabbed the crimson red paint, which wasn’t quite right; it was somewhere between cherry red and ruby red, from a small table, and squirted it out onto his palette. He only needed to finish the details on Hawk's wings. Dangit, why were they so big? Probably to torture him with. (Although in hindsight, in comparison to his body size they were relatively small). But he had of course done wide short of hawks standing on a roof, the city buzzing to life behind him with hundreds of shades of grey and yellow, his wings spreading almost from one end of the canvas to the other. Feathers detached and floating delicately in the air.
Izuku pondered and muttered while continuing the details. "How the hell are his wings this big? How does he even put clothing on? Like, what? Does he have an entirely hollow bone structure, like with birds, in order to fly? He telepathically controls the feathers, right? How does that happen? I wonder if..." he trailed off, his muttering becoming unintelligible. “but it’s also probable that he doesn't have hollow bones, considering that he’d be out of commission a lot. His wing structure is also interesting, it doesn’t seem to have the right shape for flight. maybe he uses each feather to...” he picked up his pace as he pondered hawks’ ability to fly. There, he was done with the painting. All he had to do was wait for it to dry then add a layer of gloss once it did dry.
Since he had all the time in the world, nevermind the fact that his clock read 12:30 am, he scooted over to his desk to plan out some other paintings while he waited for the Hawks one to dry. His sketchbook, covered in stickers from various cons before he got into the whole 'leaving anonymous art at hero's stands' thing, held plenty of possible plans, including three of Eraserhead, and plenty of sketches of All Might. And while he idolized the symbol of peace... Eraserhead had his respect. He was an underground hero and a teacher! The man obviously had a very fucked up sleep schedule, if any, just like Midoriya. Maybe he’d do all of UA‘s staff, he’s never really done two heroes in one painting before.
Continuing that thought! What two pro-heroes should have the first shared space? Maybe two that worked together really well? His mind drifted to the married couple he had partially interacted with earlier. They were recently wed, and since Midorya wasn’t able to leave anything at their wedding, why not now? Better late than never! Izuku chuckled. "Man, I would love to start it right now, but I have a couple last feathers to finish, and then putting my signature on it..."
As Midoriya put the finishing details on Hawks’s wings, he kept the idea for Mic's and Eraser's painting in mind. Something romantic, perhaps? Eraser seemed like he'd be an affectionate person in private, so maybe them hugging? He'd have to think about it some more. This was a wedding present, after all.
And done. Hawks’s painting was complete and he could already see the new pro squealing when he got it. it would be the 3rd piece he had given he winged pro and the first two had the man looking like an eight-year-old at a surprise birthday party. One where all the guests just left gifts and continued hiding but a surprise party nonetheless.
His mind wandered back to the project idea that had entered his thoughts just a few moments prior. He had to admit them hugging would be cute but it just didn't feel right. He tried to imagine some display of affection that would seem more real and be in character for the two. He then thought of what he knew about them. Teachers, pros, highschool friends, maybe even high school sweethearts. then it popped into his head like a lightbulb. the mental image was the two pros seated on a couch in casual clothing fingers interlaced as they read essays? books? he would need to decide that point. a soft smile on both of their faces
After a little bit, he decided for them to be reading over essays. Once he was sure on what he wanted, he set out the canvas and paints and he got to work. Izuku knew that Mic loved his other paintings, so he was sure he'd go crazy over this one. This would be the first of them both, and such a domestic and cute scene would have Mic smiling like a kid in a candy store.
Midoriya dug through his supplies to find the perfect canvas. When he found it, he quickly applied his draw guides and sketched out the base for what he was planning to paint over. By the time he finished, it was nearly morning. Midoriya glared at the sun but slipped into his bed to catch an hour of sleep before going to school and having to deal with Bakugo.
After an hour has passed (and an annoying alarm, but we aren't going to discuss the fact he broke another one), Izuku grumbled and stepped out of his room, clothed in the standard male gakuran for his school. He stepped into the kitchen and immediately headed over to the coffee machine to grab a cup of the deep roasted brown colored liquid. "Good morning, Sweetie. Did you stay up painting again?" He heard his mother ask.
Midoriya kinda grumbled out an incoherent reply, before drowning himself in his much-needed caffeinated drink. His mom just sighed and told him not to fall asleep in class again, the first time was enough.
He nodded and pulled on his shoes. As he set out for school he thought about what he'd have to do today. Izuku never wanted to deal with Bakugo, so he'd usually avoid him during lunch, eating it out on the roof.
Izuku sighed. He knows that avoiding him forever would be futile. The last time he tried, Bakugou literally followed him to a convenience store just to confront him. He was just trying to buy milk for his mom!
Midoriya sighed. He knew that he could defend himself against Bakugo, but he’d get in trouble for it. Best to go into school early and leave late.
Izuku was about to step out with his bookbag when he heard his mom. "Aren't you forgetting something?" He turned around to see his mom holding out lunch and a small breakfast. "Eat your breakfast, and you almost forgot your lunch." Izuku flushed what he could only assume was a shade of cerise in embarrassment and quickly grabbed the food, putting the lunch in the bookbag, and stepped outside with a "bye, Mom!" Izuku started heading to school while munching on his food.
Once Midorya got to school, he could tell that this wasn’t gonna be a good day if the teacher’s smirk was anything to go by. He gulped before sliding into his seat and trying to make himself as small as possible. Midoriya ignored the way that the words carved into the desk (he’s been blamed for those. they claimed he vandalized school property for ‘attention.’ As if! Attention meant worse bullying) scratched at his cheek. He stared at the clock as more of the students filtered in, cheerfully chattering to their friends.
Once homeroom got started, he knew why his teacher was smirking like that as soon as he spoke. "I'd pass out career sheets but I know you all want to be heroes!" Of course, Midoriya thought. Then Bakugo stood up, said some bit about how he was better than everyone else, and the next words to leave the teacher's mouth made Izuku flinch. "Bakugo, you wanted to go to UA, right? It looks like Midoriya applied to UA too."
Everyone turned to stare at Midoriya then laughed. Smirked, jeered, whatever they could do. ‘Idiots. I could beat you all with my hands tied behind my back.’ Midoriya glared at them, much to the amusement of several of his classmates. “Awww look at this, Wittle-Deku thinks he’s strong enough to stand up against his quirked classmates!” This prompted another round of laughter when Bakugo spoke up.
"You really think you could beat me, Deku?! A quirkless Deku like you would never be able to get into UA! You're even worse than the rest of these rejects!"
”T-they removed that rule...” Goddamnit. He couldn’t keep the stutter From his voice.
”You can’t get into UA by studying!” Midoriya blocked out the sounds of his classmates in favor of glaring at his hands like they murdered his puppy.
Bakugo slammed his hands on Izuku's desk, burning it as he set off explosions in his hands. He grabbed the collar of Izuku's gakuran, forcing the freckled boy to look at him.
Before Baka-go could say anything, Midorya interrupted him. “Don’t worry Bakugo” he flinched at that “I’m not going for the hero course. I‘ll leave that to you and your lack-friends.”
Bakugo glared at Izuku before shoving him away, causing him to fall out of his chair. But before Bakugo could do anything else, the teacher stopped him. Waving his hand, he said, "Bakugo, sit down. We still have classes to get through." The "you can continue later" part was silent, but they all still heard it. Bakugo backed off and Midoriya glares at him before picking himself up and sitting at his desk again.
The rest of the day went on too slow and too fast at the same time. He wasn't expecting Bakugo to corner him in the classroom, of all things, but maybe he was learning from all the times Midorya evaded him in the halls.
As the day went on, word had gotten around that Izuku wanted to go to UA, so today was worse in the fact that he was openly jeered at and mocked by everyone. "Ha! Quirkless wants to go to UA, does IT?"
"Quirkless won't make it to UA. UA only accepts quirks, and IT doesn't have any! HAHA!"
"I can't believe IT wants to go to UA. IT would be killed within the first day of school. Oh, wait! That would be a blessing to society!"
Midoriya grabbed his lunch and tried to shoulder his way past the crowds of leering students to get to the roof. Not that anyone let him, as they just shoved him down, spat on him, crushed his lunch. He sighed as he stared down at his destroyed lunch. Guess he's not eating today. At least if he could make it to the roof he'd be able to spend the lunch period in peace, maybe take a little nap.
He looked up at the crowd of students that had gotten bored of watching him suffer and were on their way to eat whatever food that they had brought with them. Midoriya went to the bathroom to clean himself off.
It took a little bit before he could get his gakuran clean (well, clean enough to be presentable) and some semblance of dry, so he walked out of the restroom, sighing. He seemed to do that a lot these days.
By then, lunch was over and he had to go back to class. Great. Midoriya kinda dragged himself there (wouldn’t it be great if he could skip?) and settled into his seat, waiting for his classmates to get to class.
His classmates threw him hostile glares as they walked in, but he did his best to ignore them. All throughout the rest of the day, paper balls and small bits of eraser were thrown at him, but he didn't bother to see who threw them. He couldn't tell the teacher, because obviously, he wouldn't care.
When the bell finally rang, Midorya was the last to go, hoping that by the time he left everyone would have left, and then he’d be safe. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Bakugo and his lackeys cornered him in the classroom when everyone else had left. Not that they’d stop whatever he was planning on doing.
He tried to gather his things quickly, hoping Bakugo wouldn't see his notebook. But luck wasn't on his side. (Was it ever?) Bakugo snatched the notebook from his hands as his lackeys leaned over his shoulder to read it, "Hero Analysis for the Future?"
Izuku winced at Bakugou's statement. Unfortunately, he wasn't discreet enough because Bakugou noticed. Bakugou started smiling maniacally and said, "Ha! See? Even you know how useless your dream is! Why even bother? I'm the only one in this shitty school who's supposed to go to UA!" He blew up the notebook and tossed it out the window, laughing at what seems to be tears of sadness in Izuku's eyes. However, they weren't tears of sadness. No, they are tears of anger. Tears that burned blood-red
What right did Bakugo have to be like this? He has a quirk, so what? That didn't make him more of a person than Izuku. Anger swelled up in Izuku's chest and he balled his fists. It wasn't right. It never has been and it never will.
He glared at the floor, he didn’t trust himself to look at Bakugo. Midoriya couldn’t afford another mark on his record, he had to get to UA. He could hear Bakugo and his lackeys start to leave the room. But, at Bakugo’s next statement, he snapped “Hey... if you wanna be a hero I know a way. Take a swan dive off the roof and hope you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life.”
Izuku jumped over the desks to tackle Bakugou. "How dare you! You know how many times I've been told similarly? Huh? Do you?! Consider yourselves lucky I am not planning on becoming a villain and killing your ass! You think you can beat me just because you have a quirk? Think again! I know all your weaknesses. That little notebook is written in code so nobody except me can understand what is in it. I. Know. Every. Single. Weakness. About. You." He stands up and walks around to get his bag and starts walking out. "Oh, and by the way? You tell me that again, and I will haunt your ass. Don't test me." Izuku turned and walked out to the pond to grab his notebook, leaving Bakugou and his frie-oops, I mean lackeys, behind.
Bakugo and his lackeys were gaping, opening and closing their mouths like fishes out of water. Any other day, Midorya would have laughed at the scene. As of now, he was too mad to care. He ran down to the pond where his burnt notebook was being eaten by koi. Midoriya blinked. “That’s not fish food.” He grabbed the edge and gently took his notebook back, the pages leaking of water, and thank god he hadn't gone over this notebook in pen yet.
Izuku grabbed the notebook and was holding it in hand for it to dry while walking. As he was walking, he decided to go down a different route, because he was just too angry to deal with Bakugou again after that little incident. Ugh. 'No doubt the teachers will see it and try to warp it to make it seem like I was trying to kill them...' Izuku thought. He went under a bridge and walked right past a manhole when the metal lid started shaking a little, instantly making Izuku bring his guard up and tense.
A large blob of- sewage? came out and lunged at him. Midoriya sidestepped the attack, fully knowing that once he got caught, it was all over.
"Ah, yes! A medium-sized meat shield for me to use! It only takes about 45 seconds to- hey! You're not supposed to dodge!" Izuku jumped back and started zigzagging while running, occasionally running along one side of the tunnel in order to avoid keeping a pattern. It seemed to be angering the sludge dude if the growls were anything to go by. He was almost out of the tunnel when a slime tendril wrapped around his leg, and he tripped.
Izuku held his hands out immediately to help break his fall, and when his hands hit the pavement, he started bending his elbows so he didn't break his arms. He was forcefully rolled over, and he clamped both hands over his nose and mouth so that the sludge villain couldn't go in. Unfortunately, he didn't count for the fact that the villain was going to slide through his fingers, so his hands were ripped away from his face. While the sludge villain was suffocating him, Izuku's mind started to wander. 'Well then... guess I'll be haunting Bakugou sooner than I thought. Goodbye, cruel world. It wasn't nice knowing you while it lasted.' Just as Izuku's world went dark, he heard, "I AM HERE!"
When Midoriya came to, bleary-eyed, he noticed that he was being awakened by- HOLY CRAP, WAS THAT ALL MIGHT?! He had to blink, slap himself, before he could confirm that, yes, he had been saved by the NUMBER ONE HERO. Midoriya scrambled to grab his notebook to ask for an autograph.
Izuku jumped up and took a step before coughing and hacking up a lung... oh, that's what it feels like. He was just coughing up sludge bits when WHAM! "URK!" Great. Now he was choking because All Might decided to try to help and slapped his back making him suddenly inhale. Izuku started miming for the Heimlich maneuver for All Might to see because seriously, what is that sludge made of? A quirked person? Oh wait, that's exactly what it was. Jeez, the guy felt like absolute garbage, like food that was way too greasy. Not cool!
Somehow, somehow, All Might got the hint and Izuku could FINALLY take the breath he needed to survive. He was so busy taking large gulps of the gas form of life he almost didn’t register All Might asking him if he was alright.
All Might looked at him and asked, "ARE YOU ALRIGHT, YOUNG...?" Izuku looked up at him and answered, "Midoriya, and no. I feel like someone who only has one functioning lung." Wait... why does All Might look uncomfortable? 'File it away for later analysis,' Izuku thought. Izuku walked over to his bag and checked over all of his stuff before looking around frantically. Where the hell was his notebook that he was carrying? "LOOKING FOR THIS, YOUNG MIDORIYA?!" All Might shoved a notebook with his signature to Izuku before starting to walk away. Izuku shoved the notebook into his book bag and started running after All Might. "WAIT! ALL MIGHT! I have a question to ask!" "NO TIME NOW! YOU CAN ASK IN A FORUM, AND I MIGHT ANSWER IT IN A LATER INTERVIEW!" Just as All Might jumped, Izuku did a stupid thing. He latched onto All Might's leg.
His stomach got left behind as All Might launched himself and his unsuspecting passenger into the sky, the wind whipping his hair and clothes around. Once All Might did notice him, he tried to pry him off of his leg. "Let go of me, Young Midoriya! I love my fans but this is a bit too much!" Oh yes, we're high up in the air and you want me to let go, he thought. "If I let go now I'll die!" He yelled over the wind.
All Might seemed to only realize this because Midorya had shouted it to let him know. great, I'm probably gonna die because the #1 hero has no sense of awareness- his thoughts were cut off by All Might saying something about landing on a rooftop and getting off there.
They landed and Izuku greedily sucked in air. "Oh my god, you can't just shove someone off of you when you are at least 5 stories up in the air!" He yelled at All Might, who at least had the decency to look ashamed.
A few moments of awkward silence passed as Izuku and All Might stared at each other. Izuku's mind began tumbling as he realized how... Rude he'd been to All Might. What was he thinking?! But then he remembered how he'd almost been dropped to his death, thanks to the Number One Hero, himself. His face morphed back into a slight glare. He looked All Might straight in the eye. Izuku saw the hero splutter. Izuku felt like a jerk again. Had he made All Might nervous? One part of Izuku was a little proud, while the other was confused and worried. Maybe Izuku should just leave. Then All Might's eyes widened, alerting Izuku that something was wrong. Before he could even react, though, a cloud of steam clouded his vision and hung there for a bit, before dissipating, revealing... Who was... that-? He was thin, almost like a skeleton. He had the same bright yellow-colored hair, except the tufts that normally peaked above his head hung down in front of his face. “All...Might?” Izuku finally got out. "Shit..." All Might said under his breath. He was so hoping this wouldn't happen... "AH! ALL MIGHT WHAT THE HELL!" Midoriya yelled, stumbling back. Why was All Might suddenly this twiggy looking little man who looked like a strong wind would break him in half? He looked so frail! "So..." All Might started, "You know how some guys suck in their stomachs at the pool, to look more buff? My quirk is kinda like that." He sat down against the railing of the building. Izuku blinked. "What?"
"H-how are you so small?! Why are you like this? What happened? Is this why you went away shortly after your fight with Toxic Chainsaw?!" All Might just blinked at Izuku. "Umm... good recollection of my fights..? I guess? It wasn't Toxic Chainsaw that did this, though. He couldn't lay a... chainsaw... on me. Anyway..." All Might lifted his shirt, making Izuku blurt out, like the smartass he is, "Hey! You can't just go around pulling up your shirt! Especially around minors! People might get the wrong idea! But, continue, it looks like you were gonna explain somethin'." All Might just stared at Izuku some more before sighing. "I got this scar from a fight that I specifically didn’t make public. The one who gave me this scar also made me lose my stomach and only have a single functioning lung-"
"oh, that's why you looked uncomfortable earlier! Oh, iamsosorrypleasecontinue!!" Izuku flushed in embarrassment.
All Might nodded once. "Ahem... there's nothing left to continue. He just left me majorly injured, and I also left him majorly injured. I think he's no longer around, though..."
"But you wanted to ask me something." oh right how did Izuku forget... scratch that he just found the number one hero was also an incredibly injured twig who forgot a 5 story drop could kill someone. He took a deep breath and he scanned all might. and the most startling thing to see was his ice-blue eyes, scratch that aqua eyes that were almost exactly the same color as Enji's. he pushed that aside to analyze later and jot down for possible art pieces.
He took a deep breath steadying his thoughts."c-can someone like me... someone quirkless become a hero?"
Despite being told this time and time again, Izuku did not expect the next words that came out of All Might’s- his idol’s mouth. “I simply cannot say that you can become a hero without a quirk”
Izuku didn't feel anything. It wasn't like when Kacchan had told him he was worthless or his classmates told him that he was dumb and stupid. He had felt sad and hurt. But this was his idol, someone he looked up to and one of the two people that kept him smiling. He didn't feel as hurt as he expected. He didn't feel sad. He didn't even feel angry. For the first time in his life, Izuku felt nothing. No forced happiness. No sad thoughts. No angry actions. Izuku stood there, staring at the floor. And he was blank.
he vaguely heard all might still talking, careers he could pursue. things he could do, but the word realistic was too loud. it twisted and writhed until it was the ugliest word Midoriya had ever heard, it became the eldritch horror of words to Izuku’s ears. it barely even registered when all might left. but there was something else nagging at his mind, olive green, olive green, why was olive green plaguing his mind. olive green, green slime, slime monster. The slime monster had been missing while they were on the roof. it wasn't in all might's pocket. it was loose.
Izuku gasped and went rushing to the door and yanking it open to rush downstairs to let All Might know. "Sir! SIR! Hey, was there a tall guy with bright bumblebee hair with hints flaxon and copper, but overall blonde right here just a second ago? I forgot to tell him something!" Izuku asked the receptionist in the building. The receptionist looked up at Izuku and answered, "Ummm... there was a specifically blonde tall man coming through here a second ago... he didn't have any of the other colors you listed in his hair." Izuku nodded and turned and ran out of the building, trying to not let all the colors no one else could see get to him. He was on a mission. Just then, he heard an explosion about a block away.
’what?’ A villain fight? But- Izuku whipped his head around, looking for any sign of All Might. None. he sighed but decided that if All Might was to be any place, the fight would be it. It made the most sense with the information he had, so Izuku ran. He sprinted up to the front of the crowd where he gasped at the sight before him.
"O-oh.. oh my god... t-that's... that's Bakugou!" And there he was. Bakugou Katsuki. He was in the horrible olive green slime, setting off bright scarlet and marmalade explosions like he always does. The swirls and colors were popping out at Izuku. it was a gorgeous spectacle even in the worst of times. He looked around his surroundings, only to see colors popping out at him. It might have been because of the intensity of the situation (or the fact that it was Bakugou in the slime, Izuku thought bitterly), but Izuku could barely see straight, and he knew the heroes weren’t doing anything to help.