Chapter Text
It was the same old, same old. Wake up, school, train, eat and sleep again. It was a autonomous routine at this point, one that Izuku did without even thinking. He had done this routine since All Might had started it.
He was a cruelling mentor, one that Izuku was starting to resent. Especially with the chronic ache that never seemed to leave his hands now. Or the night he’d wake up nearly in tears from the pains in his arms. Sometimes he swore he could still feel the bone breaking or blood leaking from the scars.
He didn’t tell anyone though. There was no point. Who was there to tell?
All Might had successfully isolated him from the people that mattered most to him. His mum barely spoke to him now. Every time she looked at him this glassy look would come over her eyes. Izuku had come to realise the look was a mixture of disappoint and regret. Maybe shame too, who knew at this point?
Kacchan barely even spared him a thought if it wasn’t for training or to berate him. Izuku had decided that this would be the year he would try and break out of that friendship with him, what good was it doing him? Plus All Might already expressed how disappointed he had been that Kacchan had found out about One for All.
Izuku had somehow managed to make friends at the start of UA but hadn’t managed to spend anytime with them since. They had kept inviting him out, sending him texts and trying to work around him. But every time he told All Might that he was thinking of spending a Saturday with Uraraka, Iida and Todoroki, he started going on about how he needs to grow stronger as the successor to The Symbol of Peace.
Izuku was tired of it, although that didn’t even begin to come close to his actual feelings. It felt like a bone deep ache when it came to the thought of training and being a hero now. The dream he once had, had become hollow and blurred with the reality.
If this was what his future years was to look like, Izuku wouldn’t survive. Whether it be death from villains or something much closer…
Izuku sighed, stopping the rep of sit ups he was doing. The burn in his core was beginning to feel more like an inferno at this point. There was sweat dripping into his eyes, making them sting. Resting his arms on his knees, Izuku closed his eyes, breathing in deeply.
This was starting to be a regular thing, thinking of how he could somehow just leave this world without having to worry too much about it. An accidental villain attack that he couldn’t win seemed to be the contender at this point.
“Young Midoriya, why have you stopped?” All Might’s voice echoed around the empty gym room. Izuku flinched at the sound, his whole body suddenly rigid with a feeling he had come to associate as a mixture of resentment and hate.
He liked the idea of All Might, this hero that saved people with a smile. A figure that people relied on and looked up too, someone who inspired hope for civilians and heroes a like. That was what Izuku had wanted at one point. Now…
Now he knew the real All Might, he realised how wrong images and the media were. They say never meet you heroes.
“Sorry, All Might,” Izuku said, his voice held no emotion in it. “I don’t think I’m in the right mindset to train today. Do you think we could pick this up tomorrow? I Just really want to go back to the dorms.”
All Might let out a huff, walking over to stand in front of Izuku. “My boy, you know you can’t slack off now. You still aren’t progressing enough; you need to try harder.”
Izuku had heard this all before. Not Enough. Try harder. The words were tattooed on his brain at this point. He had heard them so many times. All Might liked to remind Izuku that he wasn’t quite good enough yet to wield One for All, how there was still a long road ahead.
He was well aware of this. He was the one that had broken his body, his mind for the quirk. He was the one who had to deal with the pain of the quirk, feeling like he was burning alive when he powered it up too much. He was the one who had to deal with the constant buzzing he had since the sports festival, when the vestiges came through.
The quirk wasn’t what All Might had, it seemed to have evolved into something more, something bigger and Izuku was almost regretting taking it. Almost. Because if he was being honest, having the quirk was better than being quirkless at this point.
He never forget where he came from but by god was he happy he wasn’t in that place anymore. He knew at this point in time he would be another statistic on the downfalls of being quirkless.
Yet here he was, complaining about the quirk. Izuku wanted to laugh. Or scream. He wasn’t sure at this point.
“It’s Friday night All Might,” Izuku started, looking up at his supposed mentor. The mans stare had once been a comfort for Izuku, now it was like staring at the devil. Izuku found it funny that he had somehow compared their situation to selling his soul to the devil for this quirk. “I was hoping to hang out with friends. We already had training today for three periods.”
“Your friends don’t need to train like you do, Young Midoriya,” All Might’s voice was hard and low. “There’s nothing wrong with training more. They say exercise helps with low moods, it’ll do you good.”
“I’m really now in the right mindset All Might, Aizawa-sensei always says we shouldn’t train if we can’t concentrate, it’s how we get hurt.”
“It doesn’t matter what Aizawa says, he isn’t your mentor. I am. He doesn’t know what’s best for you, he doesn’t know what’s best for One for All.”
Izuku was a calm person normally. He had put up with a lot of shit throughout his life. Being Quirkless, having a negligent mother, bullying, having no friends, having a quirk that was hell bent on destroying you, villains always around the corner. Throughout all of those situations Izuku had prided himself for keeping himself together enough to keep going through life.
But each event, each moment had stored up. It fuelled a fire that had been burning for a long time inside Izuku and it was beginning to be too much for him to keep inside. All Might recently had been the one that had been fuelling the fire.
There had to be a breaking point. A point where it would explode.
There was a crack of thunder, the gym room shrouded in a green light that emitted from the lightening that surrounded Izuku’s body. There was a thrum in the air from the power that had gathered under Izuku’s skin.
He wasn’t sure when he stood up, but Izuku found himself standing in front of All Might, suddenly feeling taller than he had ever felt before. He registered the almost scared look that crossed All Might’s face before the man shifted into his muscle form.
“Stand down, Young Midoriya. There is no need to be like this, I haven’t said anything wrong.”
That was it though, wasn’t it? All Might would never be wrong in his eyes. He would never be the one that messed up. It was all Izuku’s fault. He was sure of Izuku could’ve told people, such as Aizawa then his time at UA would’ve gone a lot smoother, hell he might’ve had more control on his quirk by this point.
He had seen how Aizawa had helped the others. How he had trained Shinsou with hand to hand combat. How he had given pointers to Kaminari about how to use his electricity better and to not over work himself. How he had helped Momo get on a better diet that suited her quirk better.
But he had never helped Izuku. Never helped because All Might was always there spouting some utter nonsense about clenching and just using the damn quirk. Izuku wanted to shout, wanted to scream. He wanted All Might to know how he had messed up.
“My boy, let stop this right now.”
My boy. My. Boy.
“I am not your anything All Might,” Izuku growled, his voice dangerously low. The green lightening cracked again as All Might tried to step forward. “I’m not your boy. I’m not your student. I’m not your successor at this point. You have put me down so much even after I have been trying so hard to get this right.”
“Midoriya.”
“I ache All Might. I hurt! This quirk had broken me to the point where I can barely use my arms or my hands without being in pain. I have been working myself to death for you, yet it isn’t enough. It will never be enough for you will it? What do I have to do? Break my arms even more? Break my legs? What more do you want from me?”
“Midoriya!”
“I am so done! I am so tired of this bullshit you call training. I am falling behind in class because I am constantly here training with you. I don’t get to see my friends either! Don’t even mention my mum, she doesn’t even see me as her son anymore. She’s one more incident away from disowning me! It’s all because of you negligence. I am a child All Might! A fucking child and you have put the weight of the world on my shoulders. That was never something I wanted!”
“Izuku!”
“You continue to forget that I am a person, All Might, and each time you forget, I start to believe it a little more.”
By this point there was cracks in the wall from the way the green lightening was thrashing about. Izuku was shrouded in the green light. He could barely feel anything now, the power had completely numbed him, he wasn’t sure how he was even standing at this point.
Izuku never saw it coming, the way All Might had started vibrating from anger and something else, something close to shame, not that Izuku knew. Izuku could barely see through the tears that was falling from his eyes.
All Might stepped forward raising his fist when the doors to the gym flew open and in stepped a group of teachers, prepared for anything. Aizawa was leading them, his eyes already red as he threw open the door.
Instantly the green lightening stopped, the thrum of power in the air vanished like it was never there. All Might shrunk in his form, coughing, blood dribbling from his lip. His fist was still raised towards Izuku, it was enough for the teachers to rush in and act.
Snipe was already there, pushing All Might back, along with Present Mic and Midnight.
Izuku fell to his knees, his whole-body tingling. He was still numb, his ears ringing from the power that had flowed through his body unchecked. It was a hundred percent that he had used. He should be proud, happy that he had somehow managed to use the power without damaging his bones.
But Izuku feared he had damaged something else entirely. Something he wasn’t sure Recovery girl could fix. Something that maybe he couldn’t even fix himself.
“Problem child?” Distantly he could hear someone trying to call to him. He was somewhat aware of someone gently lying him down on the ground, his head laying on something soft. “Kid?”
Izuku hummed in response. Words weren’t coming out right now. His body wasn’t his own right now, it was like he was floating somewhere else entirely.
“Come on kid, you gotta stay awake until Recovery Girl gets here,” the voice spoke again. The more Izuku listened the more he recognised the low and gruff voice of Aizawa-sensei.
Aizawa was a weird one. He was a good hero, great actually. He was a really good teacher as well, despite the fact that he seemed unapproachable and rough around the edges. Izuku had seen the man’s softer side ever since they had moved into the dorm and he had become a parental figure to most.
Izuku wished he had spent more time with Aizawa. He wished Aizawa was the one to train him. Maybe it wouldn’t have come to this.
Izuku was wondering if he was dying. If his body had finally given up, but somewhere deep inside he knew it hadn’t. There was this feeling, this knowing that washed over him. Something had changed about his quirk, something was different. A good different.
“She’s nearly here now kid, come on, stay awake,” Aizawa’s voice broke through the fog that was settling. It wasn’t enough to stop him from fully succumbing to the sleep that seemed to be creeping up over him but it was enough for him to say what he wanted to.
“Aizawa,” Izuku’s words were slurred and quiet. “Please help me.”