Chapter Text
It was just supposed to be a normal training exercise. Shinsou had just been moved up to Class 1-A after the expulsion of Mineta and everyone, especially one Midoriya Izuku, was thrilled. Sure he wasn’t the most social, but Izuku would be damned if he didn’t at least try to be his friend. So when they were paired up, he knew he had to take this opportunity to get closer to him. The exercise went well, or at least Izuku thought it did. He and Shinsou had aced it, beating out Denki and Kirisima for a win for the heroes.
They returned to the boys’ locker room, quickly changing back into their uniforms as they were anxious to get back to their dorms. It was only Izuku and Shinou left in the locker room, and he knew he had to take this chance to start up a conversation.
“Great job Shinsou-kun!!” said an excited Izuku, “But I was thinking maybe next time your quirk could be used a little differently? Maybe instead of-”
“Oh will you just SHUT UP? For once?” yelled Shinsou.
“I’m so sorry! I was just-”
“Just what? Just about to tell me how my quirk isn’t heroic enough to be used out in the field” Or were you about to make fun of me for messing up during the exercise?”
“What no I would never-”
“You wouldn’t know what it's like,” Went on Shinsou, “Mr. Golden Boy of UA, born with the perfect quirk. I bet you never had to deal with a bully in your life. Your junior high must have put you on such a high pedestal you forget those like me with so called “villainous” quirks are ostracized and bullied before they even have a chance to prove their worth more than that and can be a hero despite the stereotypes. You were handed everything, I bet you never had to work a day in your life. For once in your life you need to understand that not everyone wants to be your friend. I don’t need your pity.”
Izuku was stunned. He knew Shinsou’s quirk was often viewed as villainous and he knew that it stemmed from unprocessed trauma and led to this outburst, but it hurt. He wondered if this is really how everyone at UA sees him. He struggled for where he is today, and for him to just be viewed as the perfect person with the perfect quirk was unthinkable to him. Izuku knew how bad kids with villainous quirks had it, but the absolute lowest of the low were the quirkless ones. They weren’t even worth being called a villain, they were so useless that they were viewed as not having a place in society at all. And Izuku knew that all too well.
“You actually think I never had to deal with a bully?” Izuku asks. “You know Shinsou, i don’t go around advertising it for obvious reasons, but i was born quirkless. I was a late bloomer by 15 years. You think it was bad with a “villainous” quirk? Try having none at all.”
“You know what. I don’t believe that. How can one not develop a quirk until you’re 15 conveniently-”
“ALL MIGHT’S QUIRK CAN BE PASSED DOWN.” Izuku breaks with tears in his eyes. “It was never my quirk, it’s his. I was born quirkless. I have the extra toe joint. I don’t know what else you want from me. I don’t know your story Shinsou, but whatever bullying you went through I assure you, I understand.”
Izuku proceeds to tell him an abriged story of All for One and One for All and after promising not to tell anyone and with a newfound respect for his fellow classmate, Shinsou leaves to go back to the dorms. Leaving Midorya in the locker room to process what just happened.
Unbeknownst to them, someone was eavesdropping. Someone who just happened to be Denki Kaminari. Someone who also happened to be the biggest gossip of class 1-A.
“Mina, you’re never gonna believe this…”
Word quickly spread around class 1-A that their star student wasn’t so perfect and apparently led to the downfall of the beloved Number 1 Hero. The class had varied reactions, varying from appalled and angry to somewhere near understanding, but there was one student who remained blissfully ignorant of the chaos unfolding throughout 1-A. Bakugou Katsuki. He was locked away in his dorm room since apparently he “doesn't hang out with no extras,” when he doesn’t have to.
Shinsou never meant for this to happen. He doesn’t know how the word got out and wished it never did. He now knows that Izuku was genuine in trying to be his friend. He now knows the horrors that he had to go through as a quirkless child. Shinsou Hitoshi wasn’t a monster, and Midoriya Izuku knew that. He could see past the quirk and past the gruff exterior. And somehow he had just ruined the closest thing he has to a friend.
Izuku returned to the dorms too late to notice the wavering stares thrown his way and the way his classmates wouldn’t go near him like he had some kind of disease. He didn’t notice the pitiful stares and the mournful air many held as if the preconceived notion they had of someone they viewed as so untouchable was shattered before their very eyes.
Class the next day was odd to say the least and everyone noticed. Even Aizawa noticed how the class seemed thrown off and the resident sunshine of the group had his sparkle dimmed.
Izuku didn’t know why no one would talk to him. Not even Uraraka would look in his direction. He didn’t understand. It was middle school all over again and Izuku didn’t know if he could go through that again. Some of his classmates began treating him like he was the dirt under their shoe and he just didn’t understand. He was so helpless to it all and began falling into his old habits of making himself as small as possible and avoiding everyone and everything in order to keep himself safe. Overhearing your classmates whispering about you was a standard for him, but not at UA, never at UA. Until now.
Bakugou knew something was wrong. No one would talk to the shitty nerd and while he didn’t care, he knew others did so he was wondering what the fuck is going on.
“Hey shitty hair, why is everyone ignoring the nerd?” asked Bakugou.
“Oh you didn’t hear?” said Kirishima, “Midoriya used to be quirkless and was responsible for the downfall of All Might.”
Bakugou picked him up by the collar. “Who. Told. You. That.”
“JEEZ, PUT ME DOWN, why do you wanna know?”
“WHO told you.”
“Okay okay it was Denki, he told the whole class!”
Putting Kirishima down he seethed, “What.”
Bakugou was pissed. That was an understatement. He was fucking furious. How could Denki do that to the light of everyone's day. The best part of class 1-A. How did he even find out.
He knew what he had to do.