Work Text:
Potential
Izuku threw the ball, expecting to feel the pain of his arm splintering into pieces, but instead… he was fine. His Quirk hadn't activated at all, and he'd apparently thrown the ball normally. It bounced twice and rolled a short distance, but Izuku knew it was over for him. The ball throw was his one chance at catching up to his classmates, and Izuku felt despair crashing through him. Had he come so far just to fail so quickly? Why hadn't his Quirk worked?
He glanced over at his teacher in resignation, but gasped instead at what he saw. Aizawa-sensei's odd scarf thing was floating, and his long dark hair was flowing weightlessly above him. Izuku recognized him!
"That entrance exam definitely wasn't rational enough." Aizawa said coldly, holding one loop of his scarf tightly in hand. "If even a kid like you was accepted."
"You Erased my Quirk." Izuku couldn't help but say. The scarf had moved enough for Izuku to see Eraserhead's signature bright yellow goggles nestled around his neck. "Of course! You can Erase other people's Quirks with your Quirk just by looking at them! The Erasure Hero: Eraserhead…"
"Eraser?" One of Izuku's classmates said, and tilted his head in confusion. "I don't know him."
"I've heard of him." Another said quietly, "He's an Underground Hero."
Izuku was tempted to explain who Eraserhead was and why he was cool, maybe rant about his Quirk or how much he hated the spotlight and the page Izuku had dedicated to him in his notebook, but he didn't have time to even open his mouth before he noticed the wicked glare Aizawa had fixed on him.
"From what I can tell, you can't control your Quirk, can you?" Aizawa asked flatly, "Do you intend to become incapacitated again and have someone save you?"
"Of course not!" Izuku was surprised by his sudden anger, but he didn't have time to backpedal because suddenly he was snagged in Eraserhead's surprisingly tough scarf. It wrapped around him and pulled him forward with seeming ease and completely restrained him, which was honestly super cool–
"Whatever your intention, I'm saying that's what those around you will be forced to do." Aizawa leaned in, forcing Izuku's attention directly on him, and Izuku stared into Aizawa's glowing golden eyes. It was extremely intimidating. "In the past, there was an oppressively passionate Hero who saved over a thousand people by himself and created a legend. Even if you have the same reckless valour, you'll just be decked and turned into a useless doll after saving one person."
Izuku resisted flinching at Aizawa's harsh words. That phrase was one Izuku was immensely familiar with. Deku. A useless doll. Except Izuku wasn't useless anymore, and he was going to prove it.
"Midoriya Izuku." Aizawa continued, "With your power, you cannot become a Hero." Izuku felt that flare of anger again, but this time he didn't bother smothering it.
"That's funny, I was told for years that I couldn't be a Hero without power." Izuku glared, "So which is it? Because I spent fourteen years being told I'd never be a Hero because I was Quirkless, only for you to tell me I can't be a Hero even with this Quirk. So tell me, how do I become a Hero Aizawa-sensei? You think I want to shatter my bones like that? I nearly blew my limbs off! Just say the word and I'll never use it again, as long as you promise to teach me how to be a Hero without it. Tell me how, because I'm willing to do whatever it takes to become a Hero, Quirk or no."
Izuku stared at his teacher unflinchingly. He'd spent his entire life being knocked down and smothered and chastised for wanting the same things everyone else did. He was beaten down for believing in himself, and he wasn't going to stand for it anymore. Not from his classmates, not from his teacher, and not even from a Pro Hero.
"You're not Quirkless." Izuku resisted frowning at the lacklustre response of his stoic teacher.
"Obviously." Izuku replied, "I was up until the entrance exam though. It was my first time using that Quirk."
"That's impossible." Aizawa denied, and Izuku sighed.
"Kacchan knows I was Quirkless, we grew up together. He doesn't even know I have one yet." Izuku glanced over Aizawa's shoulder to the class, who was watching in curious horror. They couldn't hear Izuku, but they could see his predicament. Even so, Kacchan looked mad as usual. "Also, ask All Might. He's who I got the Quirk from."
"What?!" Aizawa's Quirk dropped, and he whipped his head to the side. Izuku could've sworn he caught sight of a flash of yellow and brown when he followed Aizawa's gaze to the stone wall of the school, but it was gone too quickly for Izuku to be sure.
"Seriously, ask him if you don't believe me." Izuku said, looking back at his teacher. Aizawa looked pissed, and it momentarily threw Izuku off. "Uh, yeah. Anyway, he gave it to me the day of the entrance exam, because he's injured and everything?" Did Aizawa know about that? Izuku wasn't sure. Crap…
"How do you know about that?" The scarf tightened around Izuku, and he squeaked at the pressure.
"He told me!" Izuku exclaimed, "He told me that he was hurt five years ago by a really powerful Villain and he's only got a few hours all All Might-y before he goes Small Might-y and—"
"That's enough." Aizawa said sharply, and Izuku fell silent. Aizawa slowly unwrapped Izuku, and the scarf rewrapped around his neck to settle back around his shoulders. He then cleared his throat and stepped back. "Midoriya, you're sitting out the rest of the test."
"What?!" Izuku barely resisted screaming about how unfair that was. If he was being expelled for being Quirkless or useless even with his Quirk, Aizawa should at least have the decency to let him finish the test with everyone else!
"You can't control your Quirk, you'll need Quirk counselling before you'll be allowed to use it." Aizawa said roughly, "We'll discuss the arrangements after class." Izuku blinked, and his anger faded as he processed Aizawa's words. He wasn't being expelled…? Oh, he just couldn't participate because his Quirk was so new.
"Oh." Izuku said slowly, "Alright then."
"Whoever's next, get up here." Aizawa shoved his hands in his pockets, "We're wasting time."
Izuku walked towards the class, separate but nearby, and plopped down on the ground. He had some thinking to do. Aizawa was clearly confused, but he believed Izuku enough to let it lie until the end of class. He'd no doubt grill Izuku about One For All after the assessments, so Izuku would probably have to find All Might to help him explain. Making him sit out seemed unfair at first, but the longer Izuku sat and pondered, he started to understand.
It seemed odd to Izuku, but maybe Aizawa meant well. He seemed cold and calculating for sure, blunt and a little harsh too, but maybe he just wanted the best for his students. He didn't want Izuku to break himself to become a Hero. Izuku hadn't ever had a teacher who cared like that before. All Might cared that Izuku didn't break himself, but he wasn't a teacher. It was still so odd to Izuku that he'd be working at UA this year.
Anyway, Izuku refocused on his original train of thought. Aizawa clearly took his work seriously, which meant Izuku might have a real shot at learning something at UA. Usually his teachers ignored him or actively worked against him, letting Kacchan do whatever he wanted in class. Maybe… maybe Aizawa would be different. Izuku could only hope that was true.
"Young Midoriya." Izuku looked up, and he saw All Might standing in front of him in that same god-awful yellow suit with brown stripes.
"All Might!" Izuku scrambled to his feet, looking around to make sure no one saw them. Luckily, the class had gone and moved on to the next tests. Crap, how long had it been? Izuku hadn't been paying attention. "I didn't know you were working today."
"Technically I'm supposed to be looking through the lesson plans and the student files, but, ah, I saw you had Aizawa as a teacher and came to watch you." All Might then paused, and looked at Izuku closely. "What did you say to him that made him have you sit out? He's not expelling you, is he?"
"Oh, I told him I didn't know how to control my Quirk." Izuku said, "He already knew that, of course, but I confirmed it. I told him that you gave me this Quirk at the entrance exam and I didn't know how it worked. He says I can't keep breaking my bones like I did, and honestly I agree."
"You told him!?" All Might leaned in as he spoke, and Izuku nodded.
"Was I not supposed to?" All Might told him it was a secret, which was why Izuku hadn't mentioned it to his mom, but he didn't think telling Aizawa was that big of a deal. "He's a Pro Hero, and your coworker. I figured he already knew."
"Midoriya, he does not know about One For All." All Might said solemnly, "He knows about my injury, and my time limit, but not my Quirk."
"Oh." Izuku frowned, and didn't know if he was supposed to apologise or something. It wasn't like he could take it back, not that he would anyway. Izuku knew most kids went to Quirk counselling, but Izuku had never been. He hadn't ever had a reason to; but now he did, and Aizawa was going to do something about that. Either way, Izuku didn't regret telling Aizawa.
"Since he is indeed a Pro Hero, and a trusted one at that, I'll let it go this time." All Might said with a sigh, but then he straightened and raised a chiding finger in warning. "But please do not do it again."
"How was it wrong of me to tell my teacher the truth?" Izuku asked suddenly, "How is he supposed to teach me if he doesn't know I'm behind everyone else? If I'm going to catch up to everyone else, I'm going to need his help."
"I am all the help you need." All Might smiled, and Izuku resisted looking up at him sceptically. "My boy, please think carefully about what it means to have this power." All Might added, "If the word gets out, it is clear that the world would be teeming with those trying to steal that power from you. This secret should be kept to prevent both chaos in society, and for your own safety."
"But Aizawa-sensei said he was going to help me." Izuku frowned, "I shouldn't lie to a teacher, should I? Especially not about something this important."
"You are right, Midoriya." Izuku turned around in surprise, and he saw his teacher walking up with the class a ways behind him. They looked exhausted, probably from the endurance run.
"Aizawa! It's nice of you to join us." All Might exclaimed brightly, "I was just talking to Young Midoriya here about why he was sitting out–"
"Spare me your excuses." Aizawa drawled, looking at all Might passively. "I'll deal with you in a minute. First, I have a class to address."
Izuku watched as Aizawa headed for the crowd of Izuku's classmates, and he briefly wondered why they hadn't noticed All Might. They should be freaking out about seeing him, right? Izuku turned to ask All Might, but then he blinked in surprise. He was gone!
"Okay, I'll quickly tell you the results." Aizawa said, catching Izuku's distracted attention. "The total is simply the marks you got from each test. It's a waste of time to explain verbally, so I'll show you the results all at once."
Aizawa pulled out his phone a moment later and pressed a button that activated a holographic screen to appear, displaying a ranking list. Each class member was on the board, a score and a placement next to each name. Izuku scanned the list, but his name wasn't on the board at all. He tried not to let that bother him, especially since he sort of trusted Aizawa to keep his word about helping Izuku.
Surprisingly, Kacchan was third. He did not look happy about that, and Izuku winced. When he decided to take out that anger on someone it wasn't gonna be pretty. Izuku just hoped it wasn't him.
"By the way, I was lying about the expulsion." Aizawa said to no one in particular. "It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your Quirks!" The grin he displayed was crazed, reminiscent of the one he gave them in challenge at the beginning of the assessment. The class exploded, of course.
"Of course that was a lie." A girl spoke up, looking at her classmates with a small disapproving frown at their exclamations. "It should've been obvious if you just thought it through." Her words, though condescending, did stop the panicking and swapped it with embarrassed chatter about how nerve-wracking it had been.
"With that, we're done here." Aizawa waved the class away back towards the building. "There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom so when you get back, look at them." He remained in place, as did Izuku, until they had wandered off.
"Um, sir?" Izuku spoke up nervously, "All Might–" He was interrupted.
"–Is over there. Come on." Aizawa started walking away, but he beckoned Izuku with one hand without looking. "He has some serious explaining to do." Izuku felt like Aizawa didn't expect him to say anything in response, so he followed Aizawa dutifully without a word.
All Might was hiding around the corner, and Izuku realised what he'd seen Aizawa looking at earlier had been the same corner! All Might must've been watching from around the corner, and that's why he was close enough to see and confront Izuku about the conversation he had with Aizawa.
"All Might." Aizawa said blandly, "You have some explaining to do. Why did Midoriya insinuate you were planning on making him lie to me?"
"Aizawa, I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding." All Might laughed nervously, "Young Midoriya misspoke is all–"
"No, I didn't." Izuku cut in, frowning. Izuku felt kind of bad, interrupting him, but he didn't want his new teacher thinking he was a liar. He liked Aizawa. "You didn't want me to tell anyone about One For All. That's what you said."
"What's One For All?" Aizawa asked sharply, looking between the two of them carefully. "All Might, what are you hiding?"
"That's what his Quirk is called." Izuku answered when All Might didn't. "It's been passed down for generations from one Hero to the next, like a tradition."
"And you passed it to him?" Aizawa looked at All Might accusingly, and Izuku wondered if that was meant to be an insult to Izuku. "He's fifteen years old, and he's never experienced using a Quirk before. He could've died! What were you thinking?" Oh, not an insult. Concern. Izuku hadn't expected that.
"Aizawa, it seems we have a lot to discuss, and most of it should be done in private." All Might looked nervous again as he lowered his voice, "As for why I chose Young Midoriya, well, there are many reasons. Midoriya Izuku has such determination I haven't seen in anyone before, and he has the heart of a true Hero."
"Having the 'heart of a Hero' doesn't mean a damn if he blows himself up before graduation!" Aizawa snapped, glaring daggers at All Might. "I saw what happened at the entrance exam. Don't lie to me, did you know that would happen when you gave him that Quirk? Midoriya says you gave it to him the morning of the entrance exam!"
"Well, I knew there was a possibility it might be too strong for his body." All Might admitted sheepishly, "But I never imagined the damage would be so severe! I mean, it never did that for me."
"All Might, I've seen pictures and videos of you from your UA days. You were a tank before you were sixteen, and only continued to grow until you were taller than anyone else your age." Aizawa pressed a hand to his forehead and rubbed his brow, exhaling roughly in frustration. "Why on earth did you risk giving it to him if you thought there was even a possibility of injury?"
"... Because he wants to become a Hero." All Might said softly. "He reminds me of how I was, and I knew he was the only person worthy to carry this power."
"You reckless idiot." Aizawa muttered, and then he turned to Izuku, who had previously been trying to melt into the background because he felt faintly like he shouldn't be hearing their argument. "Midoriya, you're dismissed."
"Oh, alright!" Izuku nodded.
"Go to my office after school tomorrow and we'll talk." Aizawa said with a sigh, "First of all, I'll be assigning you a Quirk counsellor. Second, you'll be training with me every day after school for two hours so I can help you find a way to manage that power of yours without you ending up dead or incapacitated." He sent All Might a sharp look as he said it.
"Yes, Aizawa-sensei." Izuku acknowledged, and he bowed a little before walking away as quickly as possible without running. As he was leaving, he heard Aizawa dragging all Might off, ranting about confronting Nezu (the intelligence Hero and principal of UA!!) about One For All.
Izuku wasn't sure what he was expecting from the Hero Course at UA, but it definitely wasn't meeting a teacher actually willing to help him, outing his Quirk predicament to said teacher, and getting the Number One Hero in trouble in the process, all in the span of one day.
Despite the odd circumstances, Izuku smiled as he left the school. He still had a lot to learn, and Aizawa was going to be a tough teacher, but maybe, just maybe, he could catch up to his classmates and become the Hero he'd always wanted to be.