Chapter Text
A swan with a short neck is nothing but an ugly duck.
The words ring through your mind as you glide gracefully through the room. Your hands come up above you before you launch yourself up and forward into a perfectly executed front flip, landing with inaudible taps on your feet.
You continue the routine as practiced, every flip, every turn, every movement of your body more beautiful than the last. Your leotard clings to the body you had meticulously trained and honed for years, showing off your body in a graceful way, the skirt swaying with every movement.
You control your expression, the piano score of the music sadly accentuated by a voice that sang a story you did your best to emote to.
The class watches you mesmerized, some proud of your skill, some in awe of it, and others jealous of it.
The routine ends, and you hold your last pose until the music fades completely the claps around you entering ears that choose to ignore them. Your mind still ringing with that phrase as if you had heard it yesterday, as if those critical pair of eyes were still on you now, disapproving and unamused.
Since your childhood, you have been dancing. Ballet, hip-hop, modern, and lyrical. Now in your early twenties, you continued to dance on a professional level, your name well known in the industry as a master of the art of dance. Many of the companies who scouted you out wanted you to dance ballet but you had declined, wanting instead to focus on your preferred styles of lyrical and contemporary, enrolling in a studio that excelled in them, a decision which at this moment, you regretted.
The routine you had just danced was a lyrical piece the choreographer had insisted you would perform best. The song and dance tell the story of a child whose quirk had gone haywire. And so, desperately you moved as if trying to reel in that quirk yourself. Which, to you, was laughable since you had no quirk to gather real experience from.
Again the words taunt you. A swan with no neck is nothing but an ugly duck.
"Y/N?" You're pulled out of your reverie. The shuffling and chattering around you finally come to reality again. The class was over and it was time to go.
"What? Oh, sorry Mina, I zoned out." You say apologetically to the very pink girl beside you.
She had joined the class only a couple of months ago, but the two of you had quickly become good friends. Unlike some of the other dancers who were intimidated by you, Mina was someone who you could tell was confident and bold, her light not content to stand in anyone's shadow, not even yours. And it showed as she was one of the best dancers in the class, her hip hop and breakdance experience easily lending itself to the way she caught on to even more complex moves.
And her quirk, it wasn't one that she relied on to improve her dancing and that in itself made you feel better being around her.
On top of all that, she was a hero. Often she would be gone without notice to the class, her hero duties coming first always. Unfortunately, this meant she could never publicly perform since at a moment's notice she could be called away to help in the event of a crisis. But that didn't seem to bother her. She just liked to dance.
The pink girl with just as pink hair just smiles, her golden eyes a stark contrast to their black background. Her overall look was a little surprising at first but in a world filled with quirk mutations, you easily became accustomed to it, finding her to be incredibly pretty.
You smile to return hers relieved she wasn't upset at the way you had spaced out, as she bumps your shoulders together from your spot on the ground as you gather your things.
"I was saying that you should come with me to meet my friends tonight."
Hero friends, you thought, uneasiness filling you. Heroes often forgot that there were people born quirkless, after all the people they tended to be close with were other quirk users, and when they found out that pity they showed you crushed you every time. Mina had been a nice exception her smile not faltering when you had confessed your genetic impairment and quickly moved on to a different subject.
"You said it was going to be a karaoke bar?"
"Yeah! We do this really cool thing where we rent out the place. It's usually just my high school hero class, but every now and then, people bring guests, and I want you to be mine this year!"
"Are you sure I wouldn't be intruding?" You tentatively ask, not wanting to push yourself into a space you aren't welcome.
"Not at all! The female-to-male ratio is always off, and I have a couple of guys in mind I'd think you'd hit it off great with."
You hesitate at this. You had told Mina you were single and mingling, but you hadn't thought she would try to set you up with her friends. Moreover, you had never imagined yourself with a person whose profession involved their quirk.
But, against your unease, you nod, deciding it could just be a fun night of drinking and nothing more.
And so you agree to drop by, and in response she thrusts her hands in the air, cheering, you smile widely feeling undeserving of her friendship.
The two of you walk out of class shoulders close while she recounts stories of her high school days.
You laugh at her warning of some of the guys starting to feel excited about the night.
****
Midoriya wasn't sure if he was excited for or dreading the night to come. The "get-together" which was really just a party between his high school friends, was always a fun time but with his other pro-hero friends, the night could easily spiral into a chaotic event.
He notices an older lady across the street struggling with grabbing something and he zips over quickly helping the woman who pinches his freckled cheeks as if he was a kid.
A scream is heard a couple of blocks away and he's there instantly saving a toddler from getting hit by a car then after setting the child down goes to stop the car with a popped tire as it was swerving around dangerously.
His day continues like that, his thoughts of the party getting pushed to the side as he performs his duties offering a big somewhat misshapen smile for everyone he helped. He notices the odd smiles they return and he rubs his lower jaw wondering if he is still imitating All Might's smile too closely.
Every smile he gets in return fills him with joy, he is living out his dream, and everything he had been working towards since his childhood was coming to fruition. He was a hero, and while there were difficulties, each and every one of them had been worth it.
Every now and then he stretches his sore body, even having graduated from academia he is still growing, his body, abundant with muscle was also tall, giving him a nice ratio of muscle all around his body.
Still, Midoriya thinks, I should train harder, or I'll never reach the level All Might was in his prime. Maybe I should start eating more or maybe increase the weight I lift while decreasing my reps...
His cell phone begins ringing stopping his internal monologue and he looks at the screen a picture of soba noodles popping up.
It's Todoroki, "Hi Todoroki, what's up?" Midoriya says with a grin.
"Midoriya, are you going to tonight?"
"Todoroki! It's courteous to say hello first!" Midoriya hears Iida yell from the background.
"...Hello."
Midoriya chuckles. "Hello."
"Are you going to the gathering tonight?" He poses more carefully, Midoriya can nearly see Iida now, watching over Todoroki's shoulder and listening to their interaction.
"I'll be there. What about you?"
"Mina said she'd shave my head if I didn't go."
Midoriya's smile remains but his eyebrows come down a bit in concern, "That sounds like Mina."
"...Okay bye." That's it?!
The green-haired male struggles to keep from laughing aloud, as more shouting ensues on the other end listening to shuffling and some miffed muttering from Todoroki before Iida speaks clearly on the line, "Greetings Midoriya I wanted to talk to you briefly first."
"Hey Iida, what is it?"
"It's about the killer case me and Todoroki have been working on." His voice drops an octave, conveying he is serious.
Midoriya feels his body wracked with tension ready to act within a second of hearing what Iida had to say. "Yes?"
"Ah, don't worry, there haven't been any more bodies but..."
Midoriya swallows attempting to calm his nerves, "What is it?"
"We found a notebook filled with disturbing ramblings and, unfortunately, it's exactly as you thought... They're going after the quirkless of society." Iida delivers the news with dread, he had been on this case with Todoroki and a few other heroes trying to piece details of the case together Midoriya is not an official part of the case but was ready to act when they needed him.
Midoriya clenches his fist tightly to his side careful to hold his phone lightly so it didn't shatter under his grip.
There had been multiple bodies found in various areas of Japan, all hideously mangled showing signs of brutality and struggle. Soon heroes noticed similarities in the cases and decided there was a serial killer at work. Of course, it only took one look for Midoriya to notice the very specific thing missing from their public information. Their quirk classifications were all empty, just like he had been for so long.
Iida, unable to possibly know how much this confirmation gutted Midoriya continues, "With what we read in that notebook, and their actions. It's clear now that their modus operandi fits in perfectly with someone wanting to improve Japan's gene pool, and doing that by riding the nation of any quirkless."
The once quirkless man feels the blood in his veins chill, the muscles in his arms constricting in fury. "I see." He whispers and the people around him walk a little farther away seeing his expression of intense concentration and that glow in his green eyes that screamed danger.
"Don't get so worked up. The last thing we need is for them to find out they're being pursued by the nation's top hero. They've made a few mistakes and I have a feeling we're getting close."
Midoriya takes a deep breath blowing the air out of his nose and feeling the tension in him settle slightly, "Okay."
"I just thought to keep you updated."
"I appreciate it, Iida."
"Other than that, I'll see you later tonight. I have a feeling I wouldn't look good with a buzzcut."
And Midoriya breathes easier a small smile making its way onto his lips. "I don't know, you have the head shape for it."
He scoffs, "If anyone out of us needs a haircut, it's you Midoriya."
Midoriya's lips jut out his eyes look up as his hand goes up to pinch a strand of his green hair that stubbornly defied gravity.
I guess it has gotten longer than usual.
"Midoriya's hair looks nice as it is. Like broccoli." He hears Todoroki's comment, not at all meant to be teasing or making fun of him but it makes him determined to get a haircut soon.
They all say their goodbyes then, and Midoriya becomes sullen as he continues forward his mind running through the details of the case carefully until another cry for help distracts him and makes him bound back into action.