Chapter Text
It had been one month since Izuku’s dream was crushed. The air was warm as it whipped around him, the streets still noisy, even at night. His mother believed him to be asleep in his room, not on the roof of a tall building in the city. Numbly, he made his way to the edge, Katsuki’s words echoing in his mind, “Just take a swan dive off the roof, Deku!”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket to text her a goodbye, but decided to put it away. He didn’t want to bother her. She only pretended to care, but he knew she didn’t want to have a quirkless kid in her care. Who would? His feet were on the edge now, and he was ready to jump. Ready to finally be free of this pain. Ready to be happy.
“What do you think you’re doing, kid?
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Shouta didn’t expect to see a child on the roof tonight. He was doing his nightly patrols from an aerial view like normal when he spotted a small, plain looking boy standing on the edge. Several red flags were waving in his head. Quickly, he made his way over to the building, landing quietly behind the boy. “What do you think you’re doing, kid?” The boy swiftly turned around to face Shouta, stuttering. Clearly he didn’t expect to see anyone else on the rooftop tonight.
“I-I” The kid didn’t finish his sentence, eyes glossy and threatening with tears.
Shouta did his best to keep his emotions in check. He worked on this! Calmly, he asked, “What’s going on? Do you need help?” The boy looked away, refusing eye contact. He stepped forward and lowered his voice. “Please, step away from the ledge.'' The boy shook his head, stepping back and causing Shouta’s heart to beat faster.
“‘M sorry.” A quiet apology before the boy disappeared from sight.
The color drained from Shouta’s face as he yelled for the kid, jumping into action.
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This was it. Izuku would finally be free. He wouldn’t have to deal with the bullying every day, or the discrimination he faced back at home. Everyone he knew, his own foster siblings, told him to die. It was only a matter of time before he snapped. Falling, which should have taken no more than a handful of seconds, felt like an eternity. He looked up to see the man staring at him in disbelief. The air was harsh against his burnt uniform, loud enough to block out everything but his own thoughts.
Izuku closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate.
God had other plans.
He suddenly felt some type of cloth surround him tightly, stopping him from hitting the ground. He looked up immediately at the man, only to see that he used his scarf to save him. Izuku was correct in his previous assumption. The man who stopped his death was none other than Eraserhead, the pro hero.
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Shouta’s heart was beating insanely fast as he caught the kid. If he missed, if he had been half a second later, that boy would be dead. He signed up for herowork and teaching, not saving suicidal teenagers. He pulled the kid back up to the top of the building, and kept him bound in his capture weapon. He looked at the street below, and surprisingly no one had noticed what just happened. He turned his attention to the kid, angry. He stopped himself before he yelled at his recklessness and changed his tone to be softer. He couldn’t mess this up.
He looked at the kid who was now crying. Sobbing is the better word. Shouta wasn’t the best at comforting people, but he tried his best. He released the kid from his capture weapon and pulled him into a hug. The boy stopped for a moment, but quickly wrapped his arms around Shouta and gripped his shirt, sobbing into his chest. This was extremely awkward, but on some distant level he knew this had to happen.
After a few minutes, the boy pulled away, wiping his red, puffy eyes. He looked up at Shouta.
“W-why would you save me? You didn’t even know what I was going to do.”
“There is always a point, no matter who you are. I saved you because you deserve to live.”
“You’re just saying that. Kinda cruel to give empty platitudes, right?” his smile was resigned to some fate Shouta didn’t know. Oh- Wow.
It was a lot for Shouta to maintain composure. He empathized with the boy. He knew what rock bottom felt like. “I’m not lying to you, I promise you that. Won’t your parents be wondering where you are?” A strange expression crossed the kid's face. Was it pain? Envy? He couldn’t identify what it was.
“My parents won’t be wondering. If anything, it would be a blessing to them if I didn’t come back,” the kid said while looking away. He was aware that some parents weren’t as loving as others, sure, but for him to think they wouldn’t care was something else.
Wait. He didn’t know this kid’s name.
“What’s your name kid? I think it’s best I get you home as soon as I can.”
“Izuku. Midoriya Izuku. You can drop me off at the first floor, I know my way home.”
“Midoriya, I’ll be honest. I don’t trust you to stay here after this, and you need to get your ankle looked at. Saving you from that height wasn’t a little feat. I’m going to take you home, one way or another. Either I pull you to the station and have your parents come pick you up, or you direct me to your house and I’ll drop you off.”
The kid didn’t seem to mind. After a long moment of silence, “You’ll really take me to the station if I don’t go with you?” He sighed.
“Yeah, basically. So how do you want this to go?” Without much hesitation, Midoriya opted for the second option.
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Izuku would rather just walk with Eraserhead to his house than wake his foster parents up. He’d give anything to not hear their angry, sharp words directed at him. He hoped that if he succeeded, then his parents would be happy. Finally, he would have done something right to make them happy.
It was extremely awkward, walking in silence. Eraserhead didn’t talk much after they got off of the roof. He heard him muttering to himself, but Izuku decided to ignore it. He should be overjoyed; he’s walking with one of his favorite pro heroes. Before All Might had… well, crushed him, Eraser was easily his second favorite. His stealth was amazing, the capture weapon iconic, and his quirk is extremely useful. He basically fights quirkless, so what’s not to love!
“So you know who I am?” Eraser said quietly, but it was enough to break Izuku out of his stupor. Then he realized that he was muttering about Eraserhead. He’s going to know how creepy he is. He was going to hate him. He knew it was pointless to save Izuku. What a let down. Tears pricked at his eyes, but he forced them away.
Izuku flinched when he saw Eraserhead’s hand move toward him. His hand stopped right before he made contact with Izuku’s shoulder. “I, uh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, I just wanted to calm you down.”
Oh. “That’s not needed.” He forced a neutral expression onto his face, trying to convince himself and the hero both.
Eraser stared at him with a frown. “You were hyperventilating. That’s enough to worry me.” Oh. He had no idea that he was hyperventilating. Thankfully, they reached the front of his house before he could say anything more. He rushed in, taking one last glance at Eraser, before quietly shutting the door behind him and ran to his room.
The only reason Izuku had his own room was to stop him from spending more time with his foster siblings. Whatever the reason may be, he was grateful for the privacy. It was small and cramped, but Izuku was happy to have his own space. He quietly acted as though he hated being alone, to fool his parents into thinking it was a punishment. Even with the craziness of what just happened, he tried to sleep. He had another day of hell waiting for him, after all.
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Shouta watched as Midoriya disappeared into the house. The name plate didn’t say Midoriya, though, it said Ishida. It was strange, because Midoriya had the house key and didn’t look like an intruder. He would have to do more investigating later.
He turned his comms back on, “Hizashi? You still there?”
Hisashi’s iconic voice came through, “How’s the kid? Did he get home safe?” Hizashi may be loud to the public most of the time, but when he wasn’t busy announcing things he kept his yelling to a minimum. Well, he tried to. He knew when to be serious and when to be quiet; it’s how he is now.
“Yeah, I’m going to look into this Midoriya kid when I’m done with my patrol. He said his name’s Midoriya but the nameplate on the house is Ishida. I’ll talk to you more when I’m home.”
“I hear you loud and clear, Shou.”
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Izuku didn’t get too much sleep, but sometime in the night he fell asleep. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. His room wasn’t too decorated because of how small it was, but the few decorations he had were of All Might. When his foster parents noticed everything All Might was gone, they seemed happy. “You’ve finally gotten over your hero phase!” They said to him.
The room was bare now, with his notebooks filling up his shelves. His uniform was hanging on the front of his wardrobe, which sandwiched his desk between the wall. He laid there, reminiscing on last night. His thoughts were soon interrupted as he heard his mother’s footsteps make their way up the stairs. He rushed to get up and fix his bed as he checked the time. Shit, it was 8:00. They were going to kill him.
The door burst open as Izuku’s foster mom, Izumi Ishida, yelled at him. “Izuku! What are you doing still in bed? It’s 8:00! You should be dressed and eating breakfast downstairs with your siblings! Jesus, I’m grateful they know how to act properly.” He nodded quickly before she slammed the door shut on her way out. It truly was a shame that parents dealt with their kids this way, but he’s sure that other kids don’t get as scared as he does. He’s just weak, right?
He got dressed for school and walked downstairs to get breakfast. He didn’t eat much, just yogurt. As he was leaving, he heard his mother on the phone with someone, “Yes, he’s leaving for school. No, not at all.” She glanced at Izuku with a strange look in her eyes before turning her attention back to the phone. He left as she continued her call.
Izuku was hoping to avoid Katsuki and his lackeys today, his heart really wasn’t in it for getting verbally degraded. Of course, he knew he deserved it and that it was selfish to avoid it, but that’s why Izuku is a bad person. Apparently, he wasn’t lucky enough as he bumped into Katsuki while walking. He had spent so much time worrying about running into them that he literally ran into Katsuki.
Katsuki reared his head, eyeing Izuku up and down. “Watch where you’re going you useless fuck!” Before Izuku could say anything one of Katsuki’s friends shoved him into the ground. They scoffed, “Stay outta his way, useless bastard.”
Getting shoved into the ground forcefully hurts, but he’d take that over getting burned by his quirk. He met Katsuki when they were kids. Izuku was 4 when his parents gave him up to the system.
He moved from somewhere in the Kanto region to Musutafu. Katsuki’s mother wanted them to meet, not knowing why he was in the system in the first place. When they went to the park, Katsuki and his foster mom were talking. That’s when he showed off his quirk. He caused little explosions from the palms of his hands and showed off to the other kids. Then he approached Izuku.
With a mischievous grin, “What’s your quirk, Izuku? I bet it won’t be as awesome as mine!”
Izuku smiled brightly and said with confidence, “I’m quirkless!” That was a mistake. Katsuki looked at him, no, looked down on him. He looked at him with disgust, called him worthless, and left. That was the first time he had ever been hurt by Katsuki.
It didn’t take him long to figure out why his parents left him. Everyone he met that knew he had no quirk treated him differently. His siblings didn’t interact with him like when he first arrived. Life was different from then on. He knew that his birth parents abandoned him because he was a quirkless, worthless deku.
And that’s all he’ll ever be.