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Chapter Text

"Run!" His mother screamed, pushing Izuku as she collapsed to the floor, fire spreading across her skin.

The twelve-year-old looked between his burning mother and his father, whose mouth was leaking flames as he cursed.

His father- no, Hisashi, he refused to call him that anymore- growled and yelled, slapping his mother. Izuku looked between them once more, before meeting his mother’s pleading eyes, and running. He ran into his bedroom, and quickly closed, locked, and blocked the door, like his mother had taught him a couple years ago. He was eight when Hisashi finally came to terms with the fact that Izuku wasn't going to naturally develop a quirk and had taken to trying to beat one out of him.

To help protect him, his mother had packed 'safety bags', which contained some imperishable foods and water bottles, along with clothes and travel sized soaps. There was also a good bit of money, along with other necessities. They kept it in a little hidden cubby in his closet, one they built in while his dad was at work.

Then she taught him the rules. If he was ever in danger, and she was being hurt, he had to go to his room and lock the door. He was told to block the door with whatever he could find, and to never touch the metal door knobs. If his mother was being hurt very badly, and she told him to go, he would climb out his window to the fire escape, where he would run as far as he could.

The original plan was to just go to the Bakugo's, but Izuku didn't get along with their family anymore, not after he got his diagnosis. Then the plan was to go to the police, or a hero, but they never listened. Whenever Inko went to them with bruises, they wrote it off as a clumsy wife trying to get money or attention. Hisashi being such a gentleman in public only solidified their assumptions and made it worse for Inko and Izuku.

They had then planned a location to meet up if Inko could get away, but as Hisashi grew worse and worse, the plan changed once more, so it became that Izuku would just run, and get out. This plan was the one he followed, because the night it had to go into action, Inko was unable to go with him.

Izuku ran through Musutafu, all the way from their apartment building to the red-light district before he finally slowed, panting as he found an abandoned building to rest in. He put down his heavy bag, slumping down on the rotting wooden floor inside, the sun setting outside with the last of its rays leaking into the broken window.

He looked at his phone, which he always kept with him, and realized that it was going to die soon. He needed to charge it, but first he needed to eat and sleep. His stomach was growling, but he was so tired he might just go to sleep. Actually, that sounded like a plan.

Searching through his bag, Izuku found a small sleeping bag. He was always a small child, thin from both running from bullies, and from the lack of food, as his father rarely let him eat. However, this sleeping bag was meant for his eight-year-old self, meaning that if he kept it zipped up, it would only go to his shoulders.

It was warm enough that he didn't need to be inside of it though, and so he unzipped it and laid on it, his feet coming off of it as he used his bag as a pillow. It was a bit hard, but he didn't want to take anything out of it.

Izuku soon fell into a dreamless sleep, the last he would have for a while.

When he awoke it was early morning. He had turned off his phone to save the battery through the night, and when he turned it on it was only at ten percent. The time was 6:30 a.m., and the growling of his stomach lured him off his back and onto his feet. Izuku rifled through his bag, finding a granola bar. A quick check of the date showed him it expired a month ago, but it seemed to be good when he opened it. He ate it before counting his money, he had about 100,000 yen (about 700 US dollars), but it wouldn't last forever. His mother was trying to make it to 1000 dollars, and then hopefully Izuku would've been able to get a job. It'll be hard for him to find a job on account of his quirklessness and now homelessness.

Shaking his head, he decided to deal with one thing at a time. He needed to charge his phone. He needed somewhere to spend his nights.

He tucked everything into his backpack, the dark green thing looking comically large on his small frame. Izuku walked out the door of the building, and back into town. There was a small cafe with free Wi-Fi his mother took him to a couple times, far enough from his apartment and where his dad worked.

Upon noticing some stares, something such a plain looking boy like himself never received unless they knew his status, he put the hood on his hoodie up. Either they recognized the meaning of his red shoes, or someone was looking for him.

Once he made it to the cafe, he chose a booth in the middle and plugged in his phone. A waitress came up to him, and he ordered a cheap drink to down as his phone charged. After she left to go make it, he pulled out a notebook from his backpack.

He had 13 analysis notebooks, but his bag only had the newest one. The rest were hidden in the apartment building in a fireproof safe.

He wanted them back.

It would have to wait, however, as he didn't know the state of the building, nor Hisashi. He could be waiting for Izuku to appear so he kill him too.

Kill him too. Well, that leads to a rabbit hole of thoughts, doesn't it? He hasn't really thought about the fact that his mother is probably dead. It would be very surprising if she lived with those burns though, and who knew what Hisashi did to her after he ran?

Izuku hurriedly scrubbed the tears off his face as the waitress brought him his drink. She looked concerned, but didn't say anything, which he was thankful for. He would probably trauma dump on her if she asked if he was okay, and explaining how his dad killed his mom and then he ran away would probably get him sent to the police station then foster care where they don't treat the quirkless well and Hisashi would find him and kill him too-

Okay, well, get away from that train of thought. He peaked over at the waitress from under his hood, and realized she was on the phone. Instantly suspicious, he tried to listen, but could barely hear. She laughed quietly, her back was turned, but when a customer arrived and she looked towards the door, there was a smile on her face. Must not be about him then.

The customer had purple hair that poofed up, seemingly defying gravity. He sat in a booth in the very back, and he must have been a regular because the waitress never asked for his order, just brought him a drink and a paw print cookie.

Realizing he was staring at unimportant things, Izuku opened his notebook, and started researching.

First, he needed some place to stay. Preferably with electricity and running water. He also didn't have a job yet, so he would need to ration his money as much as possible. Izuku wasn't sure when he would be able to get a job-- if he would be able to get a job.

He didn't find a cheap apartment, but after watching a few videos, he figured he could run electricity and water to the one he spent the night in. If not that one, then there might be others that are fine enough for him to stay in.

The second thing was to find a job. He browsed a few listings online before just deciding to go around the edges of the red-light district asking. Those areas would be bad enough they might want a quirkless kid, but okay enough that he wouldn't be in too much danger working there.

He brushed that away for now. He could focus on that later, since it requires going out. For now, he was going to take notes on plumbing and running electricity. He knew that becoming a hero is too high of a goal for him, as most schools had rules against the quirkless-- except Yuuei. He would never get in there though, with their extremely biased entrance exam. He might be able to pass the written exam, he always got perfect marks on his tests, but that wouldn't be enough. In fact, his elementary school had messed up his grades the past few years, and although he got perfect marks on his tests, his final grades were always lower than Bakugo's, or sometimes the teacher would make him retake tests to make sure he wasn't cheating. It got worse when they started giving him tests meant for middle schoolers.

He had planned on going online for school this year, as Hisashi worked at an office so he wouldn't be home anyway, but plans may have to change because of his current situation. He could try for a library, but he might have to pay for a library card. He still had a few weeks left of summer before he had to go to public school, but he should've signed up by now. With online school he gets more leeway, so he can find free classes to take, and work through them quickly.

Izuku didn't realize he was muttering until the purple-haired boy walked up to him, drink in hand. He slid into the other side of the booth and took a long sip of his drink.

"You mutter a lot."

Izuku turned red, looking reminiscent of a strawberry with his green hair and freckles.

"Sorry about that, I'm sure you came here to eat in peace." He quietly said, just above the volume of his mutter.

"Eh, don't worry about it. You seem to be doing something important." The boy tilted his head, as if he was asking a question.

Izuku took his statement as such, and responded, "Yeah, I've had some stuff happen lately, and need to figure stuff out. Y'know. Stuff."

"Okay. Stuff." Lilac, as Izuku now referred to him in his mind- because of the hair- responded, giving a look that seemed to mean, 'No I do not know, but okay.' "So Greenie," He made a face, like he wasn't sure how to say something. Flailing his hand around uselessly, he said, "Never seen you here before."

He seemed to be avoiding questions. This made the gears in Izuku's mind shift, and he blurted out, "Are you not asking questions because it's related to your quirk? Is it some sort of response based mental quirk?"

Lilac looked at him in shock, mouth agape. Izuku, whose blush was dying down, flared up even redder this time, the blush reaching his ears.

"Sorry, that was rude, it's habit, you don't have to answer that."

"Mind control."

"What?"

The boy looked almost bored, but Izuku could see the fear in his eyes. Y'know, one traumatized kid to another.

"Mind control. If you respond to one of my questions, I can control you." He suddenly looked angry, and stood up to leave, "Are you happy now?"

"Thank you for telling me, you don't have to leave."

Lilac suddenly looked very confused, and paused, "You just responded to me."

"I did."

"I just told you-"

"You just told me your quirk, but you didn't use it on me. In fact, during our entire conversation you were trying not to use it until I pointed it out. I have no reason to dislike you, so sit back down and finish your drink, Lilac." Izuku burst with a newfound confidence. That confidence fell when he saw the smirk on the boy's face.

"Lilac?"

"Oh, shut up, you called me Greenie."

The boys talked a little more, exchanging names as the boy, who Izuku learned is named Shinsou, downed the rest of his drink. They then exchanged numbers, as Shinsou had to leave.

"Bye Akatani."

"B-bye Shinsou."

Oh yeah, and he gave Shinsou a fake name. He was technically missing, after all.

Chapter Text

After Shinsou was out of sight, Izuku got up to leave too. He still had a lot of work to get done, and the twelve-year-old didn't have anyone to help him.

As he walked out the door, his phone pinged, signaling a message. It was from Shinsou, who he had put into his phone under 'Lilac.'

It was a picture of a cat in an alley.

A message came in right after: I have you in my phone as greenie btw

Izuku responded with a smile: thats nice, i have you as lilac.

He continued his way home, and it wasn't until he passed the trash-covered Dagobah Beach that he realized he was going to the wrong place.

Izuku could see his old apartment building from here.

Their apartment was in the middle of the building, and the fire didn't spread enough to completely ruin the building. It probably wasn't the most structurally sound, but Izuku wanted his notebooks.

The outside of the apartments seemed okay, if a bit scorched. The windows in the middle of the building were broken, and there was yellow tape blocking it off. There were too many people around, and since the fire just happened last night, there were some police officers milling about. Happy for his plain looks, he got close enough to hear their conversations.

"...-kid missing?" The first officer said. He had the head of a cat, and Izuku wondered if he had the animal instincts of one.

"Yeah. I wish we would've known last night; we could've kept an eye out for him." The second said. He was wearing a tan trench coat and was probably more of a detective than an officer.

"Well, spread this picture around, and the others can help keep an eye out for him. He probably isn't far; he'll turn up eventually."

"I know, I'm just worried-..."

Izuku walked away before he could hear anymore. He would hide nearby until nightfall, and under the cover of darkness he'd sneak into the building. There would be less people then, and hopefully the police would be done whatever they were doing.

What were they doing anyway? The fire had taken place early yesterday evening, but the police don't usually take that long to respond, and the smoke would warn the neighbors that something was wrong. It looked like they caught the fire before it could spread too much, and they seemed to be finishing up when Izuku saw them earlier, so what-

"Midoriya!"

He jumped at the call, turning around and peeking out of the alley he was hiding in. The green-haired boy caught a glimpse of the police uniform and hid again, before silently running to a new place. He didn't go far when he heard them call again.

"Midoriya Izuku, are you here? We are here to help!"

He kept running through the alleys.

He stopped in a 100-yen store and decided to see what they had. He hadn't eaten anything since this morning, and it was getting to be evening so he was starting to feel hungry. He found a container with some onigiri and bought that and a bottle of cold water. They were getting warm in his bag, and it made them taste a bit gross.

Izuku sat down to eat on the curb outside, slowly picking at his meal to make it last. By the time he finished eating, the sun was setting, and it was time to go.

He made his way back to his old apartment building. The police were gone, but he still was getting the weird sense that he was being watched. Izuku quickly made his way under the yellow tape, and into the building, his footsteps quiet.

No one else was in the building, which made sense since it was literally a smoky crime scene, but it still unnerved him. He made his way up four flights of stairs to where his apartment was. The door was propped open, and Izuku carefully entered, ducking under the caution tape.

His mom was killed in the kitchen. He entered the room and gagged at the lingering smell of burning flesh. There was a bit of blood on the floor, and the sight of it made Izuku pause. He knew his mom had died, but he hadn't looked too hard at her injuries before he ran. The blood made it seem a whole lot more real.

Izuku still needed to grab his analysis notebooks, so he fled the scene, and headed to his room.

In his closet cubby, where he had kept his bag, he also kept his fireproof safe. He lifted it out, pulling the keys out of his backpack, and unlocking it.

The notebooks were safe. All twelve of them.

He breathed out a sigh of relief, closing and locking the safe once more. It was too big to fit in his book bag, so he had to carry the bulky thing all the way to his new residence. This shouldn't be too hard, although he was heading to the red-light district, where people wouldn't hesitate to rob him.

Okay, so this may be harder than he thought.

It was the safe that's so bulky, the notebooks only took up about half of it. Izuku took the notebooks out of the safe, dropping the keys inside of it and putting the safe back into the cubby. Then he shuffled things around to put the notebooks into his bag. Not all of them would fit, so in order to not damage them he carried four of them, the newest ones.

Then there was a thump at the window.

Izuku quickly turned to look out and saw red glowing eyes. The only thing he could think of were the smoldering embers that his father left when he burned their family down, and Izuku didn't think twice before turning to run. Notebooks in hand, he left the apartment, unaware of the figure chasing him through the rooftops as he ran to the edges of town.

Although he didn't know he was being chased, Izuku was still paranoid after being spotted. He weaved through alleys, doubling around the block in order to try to shake his tail. Eventually he continued home, still taking some winding paths just in case.

Home. He keeps referring to his new residence as that, and he guesses it works. May not really be home, but it's certainly easier than calling it 'his new residence'. And maybe it was becoming his home, or like, his home base. Izuku was planning on fixing things up a bit, trying to run electric and water to at least one room, so then it will be a bit better.

He arrived home to his run-down apartment building, and quickly entered, heading to the back corner to set down his bag and notebooks. Izuku would need to find somewhere to hide everything, where animals and people wouldn't be able to get to it. First things first, though, he needed to sleep, then he would work on things in the morning.

Chapter Text

He was adjusting his capture weapon around his neck before patrol when he received the call. Pulling his buzzing phone from his pocket, he checked the caller ID and saw that it was the detective.

Shouta quickly answered with a sigh, "What do you need, Tsukauchi?"

"Hey Eraserhead. I have a case for you, just something for you to keep an eye on," The detective's voice crackled in his ear.

Sighing again, Shouta responded, "What is it?"

"Missing persons case. Stop by the station and I'll brief you on it." Tsukauchi was used to him by now, taking no offense to his bluntness.

"Alright, on my way."

Hanging up his phone Shouta secured it in his pocket, before using his capture weapon to launch himself up into the air and onto the rooftops. Gliding across the rooftops was his preferred method of travel, as it was fast and it gave him a better vantage point for the crime below. It wasn't quite night yet, and he adjusted his signature yellow goggles over his eyes to function as sort-of sunglasses, as the setting sun was bright in his dry eyes.

Not ten minutes later he was at the station. He was greeted by Sansa, one of the few officers he liked here, and not just because he was a cat.

"Hello Eraser. Tsukauchi's in his office." Sansa informed him.

"Thank you, Sansa." He gave a slight bow of his head, which the officer returned, before making his way to the offices in the back.

Tsukauchi was sitting at his desk with a mess of manila folders and papers, taking a drink from a cup of coffee. He motioned to his right, where there was another cup sitting on top of a filing cabinet, the only somewhat bare surface. Thanking him, Shouta picked it up and took a swig from the coffee. Black with a hint of cinnamon. Good.

"I wish I could say I only called you here to drink bad coffee, but there's more to it than that." The detective sighed, looking down at the mess on his desk.

"What do we have?"

"Well, seems to be just an angry husband with a fire-breathing quirk that he used to burn his wife to death, but a background search on them and a search of their apartment showed that they had a twelve-year-old kid." Tsukauchi placed papers in front of Shouta, each paper depicting a different Midoriya. "The boy is missing, and the father isn't talking. The only thing he said is that 'she deserved it for bringing that quirkless thing into the world.'"

"Quirkless?" Aizawa continued looking over the paper, eyes traveling back to the top where he found the quirk status. Instead of being printed in black ink, it was in red, and in all caps.

"Other officers have been losing interest as soon as they find out the quirk status. I can't do much against blatant quirk discrimination because it's views that the higher-ups also share. I know that with your past you don't take discrimination lightly, so I was hoping you would search for him. At least keep an eye out."

Eyes flashing red in a moment of anger, Shouta stated, "I'll keep an eye on the kid."

With a faint smile, Tsukauchi handed him a folder, "Thank you."

Aizawa just nodded in return, before leaving to start his patrol.

The sun was fully set when he exited the station, and he immediately scaled the nearest building to start his walk. The best place to start would probably be the apartment, then he could circle out from there. Flying from rooftop to rooftop, he soon landed on the roof of the apartment building across from the Midoriya's.

Damage was mostly internal, apart from the blown-out windows caused by the heat of the flames. He was too focused on this; he almost missed the small figure carrying a large bag into the building.

Almost.

Aizawa soundlessly leaped into the air, swinging from his capture weapon onto the fire escape of the Midoriya's apartment. The fire was worse in the front of the apartment than the back, as when the father-- Hisashi Midoriya-- was being detained he had breathed some last-minute flames in an attempt to get away. This still left the back of the apartment safe from harm, if a little smoky. The bedroom window was still intact.

Through it he could see a small figure, reaching into the closet and into a cubby that the police hadn’t searched. Aizawa knew the police hadn't searched it because the boy pulled out a bulky safe and then reached into his bag, producing a key. The dark-haired boy started pulling something that looked like notebooks from the safe, making a pile on the floor of about twelve of them before pulling a thirteenth one from his backpack. The boy seemed to be having a dilemma of what to do with the safe and notebooks, before he ended up just putting many in his bag, carrying about four.

Shouta removed his goggles to get a better look at the boy, and when he did, they lightly thumped against the window. Instinctively, Aizawa's eyes flared red as the boy whipped his head around to look at him, before bolting out the door.

With a curse, Aizawa scaled the building, jumping from rooftop to rooftop once again, this time in an attempt to keep up with the kid. The problem child was fast, and it almost made Shouta doubt that it was the kid he was sent to watch for. But no, the green hair gave it away, and the boy's hood fell as he quickly turned down an alley. This boy was quirkless, and the running he had to do all his life from quirkest bastards probably allowed him to gain this speed and endurance.

The boy kept making last minute turns, or acting like he was but going the opposite way. He never looked up to Aizawa, nor gave any indication that he knew he was being followed other than the path he was taking. He kept circling around the city, leading Shouta to believe that he was staying somewhere close by.

Then the boy took another turn, and Shouta cursed as he hurried to keep up. The alley he thought the kid scurried into was a dead end, and there was no one in sight.

Problem child.

There was a notebook, however, sitting on the ground. The cover read ' Hero Analysis 10' in a big messy scrawl, and Shouta was curious. So, he opened the book, and started reading in the light of a streetlamp.

The first few pages were messy ramblings, and he caught the name of a hero mentioned a couple times. The next page after that had a detailed picture of the hero, and some of their main stats. The notebook went on like this until all of the pages were full.

The pictures and diagrams were very well drawn, and the notes were very detailed. Did the kid do this? This analysis rivaled some done by professionals-- where did the kid learn this?

Before he could get too wrapped up about it, he tucked the notebook into his capture scarf for safekeeping and started to head back home. He had some calls to make.

Chapter Text

Izuku woke up to his phone's alarm, having set one so that he would have time to get everything done today. He had a lot to do, needing to set up water and electricity, along with finding somewhere to store his belongings.

Speaking of his belongings.

He looked at his pile beside him, at his bag and the small stack of notebooks that wouldn't fit in it.

There were only three.

Didn't he leave four out? Well, it was night, and maybe he put one more in his bag and forgot about it, since there was the incident with the glowing eyes in the window. Izuku unzipped his backpack and started taking all of the notebooks out, stacking them up on the ground next to his small stack. He pulled out nine of them and made two separate piles.

"Okay. Nine and three only add up to twelve. Where is my thirteenth one?"

He then started putting them in number order. He may have had only twelve notebooks, but that didn't mean he lost his thirteenth. If he could figure out which one was gone it would be a whole lot easier to find it, in his opinion.

He was missing number ten.

Number ten was around the time he started labeling them just 'Hero Analysis' instead of 'Hero Analysis For The Future.' Izuku didn't think he started coding them until after that, so that meant that it was written entirely in plain Japanese. Perfectly readable information, that if a villain was to find could allow them to possibly kill multiple heroes.

Great.

So, in the early morning, with the sun just now rising in the sky, Izuku started to run back to the apartment building. As he did so he decided that if he was going to have to do so much running, he might as well learn parkour so he could take it to the less-populated rooftops. Self-defense would be nice to learn too, because of him living in a dangerous area and all.

He made it to the apartment and was happy to find that there were little people nearby. The hype of a recent fire had died down, especially since the police weren't investigating today. Izuku quickly ran into the apartment, his plain looks hiding him enough since he left his bulky backpack back in the other building.

Izuku searched everywhere he had been, and then some. He didn't find the notebook anywhere.

It was gone.

'I might've dropped it somewhere.' Izuku tried to reason with himself, 'I just have to backtrack.'

But he had run in circles yesterday to escape those red eyes that had spotted him through the window. Even with his excellent memory he couldn't remember all the winding paths he took. The probability of him finding it was low, and he didn't have time to spend all day looking for it. He was getting hungry, and food required money, which required him to get a job, and in order to get a job he needed water to clean himself. There was too much to do and too little time.

So Izuku started to head back home. The notebook had information on some more obscure heroes, but he had used videos online to do his analysis. He could always redo it, and this time he could go more in depth, and code it. Although he'll miss having all his analysis, in order to show his improvement, it was his fault for dropping it, and Izuku could only hope that nothing bad comes of this.

When he arrived home, he instantly went to go check on his belongings, sighing in relief when he realized they were all there. It was almost noon by now, so he grabbed another granola bar from his bag to munch on as he pulled out the notes he took at the café. Izuku also grabbed his phone, thanking it for its long-lasting battery as he pulled up the bookmarked videos on electric and plumbing.

Without Wi-Fi, the videos wouldn't work too well. He still had data on his phone, which would last until the end of the month. Then Izuku would have to pay for that too, adding that to his expenses. At this rate he won't even be able to last a month, with the cost for food and bills and materials- wait.

Materials. Dagobah Beach. Sure, it was mostly trash, but he knows people would sometimes throw larger things like refrigerators and microwaves, heck, he even saw one of those big shipping containers there. He could use those materials, helping him complete those projects, and clearing the beach would give him strength training while also just being a good deed.

His mother used to take him to that beach before his diagnosis.

But let's not unpack all of that right now!

Right now, he would have to focus on exactly how to clean the beach. Gloves would be nice, and he would need bags and a dumpster. There are some businesses nearby that he could guilt-trip and/or appeal to them in order to get their help. He could use their dumpsters. Gloves and bags cost money, but if he could find a nearby place that buys junk-- the place his mom sold their microwave to! The last time they got a new microwave, their old one was still in working condition, so they sold it to a scrap place. Izuku might be able to sell them some stuff.

It was three o'clock in the afternoon by the time Izuku quit muttering and writing in his notebook. He checked his phone for the time, and saw he had some messages from Shinsou.

Hey

Sorry

Do you still wanna talk or no?

I understand if you dont

I'll stop texting you now

The last one was sent about ten minutes ago, and each message was five minutes apart. He probably thought Izuku didn't want to text because he hadn't since the first day. Izuku never really had friends though, other than the disaster that was Bakugou Katsuki, so he didn't really know how to talk to them.

That being said, he enjoyed Shinsou's company at the cafe, and he wanted to keep their friendship so he would make an attempt to talk a bit more.

And so, he texted back: Sorry! I still wanna talk!!

The three dots signaling an incoming text popped up, and Izuku held his breath.

Oh good

I was hoping you did

Didnt wanna bother you tho

Letting go of his breath, shoulders sagging in relief, Izuku quickly typed back: u dont bother me!! i just dont really text ppl so i dont know what to say.

Shinsou texted back: Dont you text your friends?

The three bubbles immediately popped up again, as Shinsou sent: Wait nevermind you don't have to answer that.

Izuku froze for a second before chuckling, sending back: welp u discovered my secret

u actually are my first friend.

A full nerve-racking minute passed before Shinsou finally sent his response: You're my first friend too.

Both were silent for a bit after that, constructing texts only to delete them after as the pending bubbles popped on and off the screen. Finally, Izuku said: I still don't know what to say.

Shinsou quickly responded with: Proper punctuation?? and grammer?? from Akatani??

Izuku paused, remembering about giving Shinsou a fake name. Should he just rip the metaphorical band-aid off and say that he lied, or hide it for the foreseeable future?

As he pondered this, Shinsou asked: That is how you spell your name right? you said it so quickly i thought i might have misheard it.

Welp, rip the band-aid.

So I may have lied to you. Just a bit.

It was marked as read, but Shinsou didn't respond.

Izuku hurried and typed: My name isn't Akatani. It's Midoriya.

He held his breath as he waited for a reply. The one he got a couple minutes later was not what he was expecting.

You have to be shitting me.

You have to be

Midoriya??

MIDORI??

GREENIE??

no, don't believe it.

Izuku gave a small laugh, looking at the clock and realized that it was already four-thirty and he had spent more time talking to Shinsou than he wanted.

Hey, gtg, have some stuff to do. talk later!!

Shinsou quickly sent back: k, talk later.

Izuku quickly pocketed his phone, recognizing that it was only at ten percent and that if he used it too much it would die soon. Maybe he could go back to that cafe with the cat-themed treats, they were pretty cheap and had free Wi-Fi and chargers.

His bookbag was a little emptier now that he's eaten a couple granola bars and drank a couple bottles of water. He had tossed the disposable bottles, since he could easily gather more if he needed them, and he had a good-sized metal water bottle in his bag too, although it was empty. Izuku used a couple of his plastic bottles to fill it before fitting the last three notebooks into his backpack. It was getting late, and he didn't want to leave his stuff here overnight just in case he didn't come back from the beach.

The beach was a mess, but thankfully it was mostly metal rather than rotting food, so the stench wasn't that bad. In fact, it was mostly overpowered by the salty smell coming from the water. Izuku stumbled his way down the steps to the sand, dodging piles of garbage. Alright, down here it stunk a little-- okay, a lot more, but hey, training, materials, and money, right?

Setting down his bag, he looked around.

Yeah, this was going to be a lot more work than he thought.

Chapter Text

Izuku started by looking for that one shipping container he once saw on the beach. When he found it it wasn't too buried or anything; in fact, there was hardly anything in front of it to block his path. The doors were all messed up and couldn’t  close due to how the dents that littered them. There were even some holes that suspiciously resembled the shape of bullets.

Maybe he should get a gu - no. Let’s cut that line of thought out right away!

The sun was getting low in the sky, reflecting pinks and oranges onto the water, so Izuku brushed a little dirt away from the corner, kicking all the trash away– not that there was much in the container– before setting down his bag and grabbing his latest notebook and a pencil. He needed to go check if any nearby stores had gloves and trash bags or would let him use their dumpsters.

The only places nearby were a small shop and a gardening store. The recycle place where Izuku planned on selling scrap metal was about a block away, so not too far but he might have wanted to find a wagon or a similar tool in the long run.

A problem for future Izuku.

Right now though, he simply needed a dumpster, so he went to the garden shop first. It was called ' Pick Me Flowers' , although ironically it sold more than just flowers. Izuku walked in, a small bell softly chiming as he did. Behind the counter was an older lady sweeping up dirt, and upon the chime she stopped to wave at him.

"Hello, dearie. How can I help you today?" She kindly asked, not even batting an eye at the teenager wearing a dark hoodie and mask.

"H-hello ma'am. I just wanted to ask if I could possibly use your dumpster? Y-you see, I wanted to maybe clean up the beach? I just need the materials," he stuttered out.

"Oh, of course! I never fill up the entire thing, you're welcome to use it," she smiled "It will be nice to see that beach all cleaned up. I remember when I first set up my shop here how people used to play there all the time. It was beautiful back then, I tell ya!"

Izuku gave a slight smile back, "Y-yeah, my mom used to t-take me there when I was really little."

"Well, if you ever need a break from cleaning, don't be afraid to stop by. I might put you to work here, but at least the air is cooler. And I have lemonade," the lady grinned with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

"I might t-take you up on that offer," Izuku beamed, looking at the time on his phone, which was really about to die now, before telling her, "I have to go, I have another place I need to b-be.  Would you mind if I charged my phone here? I'll be back in a bit to pick it up."

"Of course sweetie, I don't mind at all." She led him behind the counter where there were a couple outlets, and he pulled the cord out of his hoodie pocket to plug in his charger. "Just make sure you don't forget it!"

"I won't, t-thank you ma'am."

"Oh please, dearie, call me Nanami," she waved her hand. "Ma'am makes me sound old, and I'm only 72."

"Then you can call me Midoriya."

She laughed before pushing him out the door, "Alrighty Midori-kun, you should get going. You said you have places to be."

"See you later Nanami-san!"

Izuku left the garden shop feeling a little lighter, the little bell ringing as the door opened and shut, and made his way to the scrap metal shop a block away. As he looked up at the darkening sky, he started to feel guilty for asking to charge his phone there because he didn't know when it closed. Izuku picked up his pace and walked slightly faster, taking a shortcut through an alley to get to the salvage shop.

He was thankful the shop was still open and quickly entered, noting in the back of his mind that no bell went off here. There was no one else there, other than a girl– about his age– with pink dreadlocks ending just slightly above her shoulders. She was behind the counter tinkering with something and didn't look up when Izuku walked up to her.

"H-hello?" Izuku quietly interrupted. When she didn't respond, he repeated it louder. "Hello? I have a question?"

"Oh, hello!" she jumped up, dropping whatever she was working on to the ground. "How can I help you?"

"Oh- uh- I was wondering if I could sell some scrap here?"

"Sure! What do you have? Anything good?" the girl smiled. 

"W-well, I don't have anything with me, but I'm planning on cleaning Dagobah beach?" 

"Really? I've snagged some great things there for my babies!"

"B-babies?" Izuku was shocked. He did not expect her to say that without batting an eye.

"Ah- yeah, my moms said I need to explain things more. Sorry! Babies are what I call my inventions!"

Oh. Okay, that made a little more sense.

"So, I'm good to bring stuff in?"

"Yeah! My moms are usually running this place, though they had to step out for tonight. Oh! And here's my card. I'm Hatsume Mei, future CEO of Hatsume Industries. It’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance!" She held her hand out for a handshake, and when Izuku accepted the invitation, she just about took his arm off with how firm her grip was.

"Nice to m-meet you too!" Izuku gave a shy grin as she let go of him. "I'm Midoriya Izuku. N-now, I have to get going, so I'll see you soon!"

"Okay! Bye!"

Izuku walked out of the shop, again feeling a little lighter– if a bit dazed– as he made his way back to the flower shop to pick up his phone.

He barely even realized he had given Hatsume his real name until he was halfway to the flower shop. Though, he figured it had been a few days, and once they found out he was quirkless the police and heroes wouldn't care anymore. No, Izuku was fine with giving people his real name; it was easier to keep track of that way, since he wouldn’t have a whole bunch of aliases. 

It was nearly nine when he made it back to the flower shop. There was a note taped to the door, and Izuku quickly skimmed it.

Midori-kun,

Please let yourself in!

The key is with your phone, just lock up when you leave. You can slip the key through the mail-slot on the door. You seemed like such a responsible young man; I hope you don't mind. If you need anything, I'm in the apartment above the shop!

-Namani Ume

Izuku snagged the note off the door, letting himself in like her instructions said, before making his way over to the counter to search for a pen. He wrote a note back, thanking her for helping him, and left it where his phone was, taking the key to lock the door. Carefully, he turned the key, locking the door before slipping it through the slot for her to grab in the morning. He then made his way back to the beach and the shipping container he was spending the night in. It was warm during the day but cool at night, and when he laid down on the metal floor he shivered, even with the sleeping bag laid out on the floor.

He would eventually need to get more blankets…

Chapter Text

Izuku jolted awake, distantly noting his clammy hands and racing heartbeat. It was only early morning– the sun wasn’t even up– but he doubted whatever dream had haunted him would let him fall back asleep. Nightmares have been occuring every night since... Well, since that night. Izuku had grown a bit apathetic to it, but after a dream like tonight it was hard to think about it. He couldn’t remember the dreams in their entirety, but the screams of his mother rang in his ears.

But he didn't have to think about it, because he had a to-do list to drown himself in to check off. Last night, it was getting late so he didn't stop by the store for gloves and bags like he wanted to. He figured that was the perfect place to start.

He quickly changed into an extra pair of clothes as he hadn't done so since his departure. He was beginning to look and smell... not good.

On his way, he passed the flower shop just as the sun rose. He stopped to help at the sight of Namani-san struggling to lift a rather large flower pot.

"Do you need some help?" Izuku jogged towards her.

"Yes please! Oh Midori-kun, I knew you were a nice young man."

The pot wasn't too heavy, and Izuku was able to take it from her. He walked inside and set it down where she directed him.

"Okay,I b-better get going. I plan on starting the beach clean-up today, and I need to buy some bags and gloves."

"Oh dearie! Wait a second." She left, heading into the back room for a minute before returning with an old squeaky wheelbarrow and a worn pair of gardening gloves. "These should help you a bit. This way, you won't have to lug all those bags to the dumpster one by one."

Izuku beamed at her. "Thank you! I really appreciate this. Are you sure I can have these?"

"Why, of course. I haven't used that wheelbarrow in years, and I have tons of gloves. It's the least I can do to help you clean that beach. I can't wait to see it clean again!" She winked. 

He smiled at her, thanking her once more before heading to the store a little down the road. Just as he entered, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Pulling it out, he read a text from Shinsou, who really was the only one he expected messages from. Bakugou had his number from when Izuku still thought there was friendship between the two. 

How naive he was.

Izuku skimmed the message, and saw it was just him asking to hang out. He might've changed his clothes this morning, but he still didn't smell right. He had some travel-sized soaps, so maybe if he could get into a gym shower... he also needed a library card to use the computers…

Alright, so maybe he wouldn’t clean the beach today. He would still stop by the store to buy his supplies, then drop off his belongings at the beach before grabbing money and soaps and going to the closest gym. Then the library.

It would be fine.

Probably.

Izuku walked a little faster to the store. It was still quite early, and he didn't know why he was up, but Shinsou didn't have to know he read it. For all Shinsou knew, Izuku was still asleep. So, if Izuku hurried his tasks for the day, all would be fine.

It took twenty minutes to get to the gym. He had found a plastic bag at the beach to store all his stuff in for now, and carried that in.

The first gym he found happened to be a public gym. There wasn't much equipment there, but earlier in the week he saw flyers for cheap gymnastic lessons. So, he took a slip with the number for the instructor before walking up to one of the employees.

"Ex-excuse me, do you g-guys have a shower here?"

Surprisingly, they did and although it wasn't the best, it did an okay job at no cost. The water was very weak as it trickled down, just enough to clean himself with. There were also only two showers, with a see-through curtain separating them. Izuku decided that it was better than nothing, and hoped that he would never have to be in here with someone. 

He quickly finished his shower, getting dressed in record time as he ran out and thanked the employee as he made his way out the door. Izuku wanted to stop by the library, then he would text Shinsou back from there.

The library was farther away, and it took him a good minute to get there. Once he arrived, he immediately ran up to the counter, talking to the librarian.

"Hello Shizuko-san!" Izuku was quite familiar with this library as it was somewhere his mother used to take him to read. Izuku always had a thirst for knowledge, after all. It helped with his analysis. 

"Hello Midoriya-kun! How's your mother?" Ah… It might not have been a good idea to go here. Unfortunately, it was the only one close enough to go to with how often he would need access to computers.

"S-she's okay, just busy at work. Sorry we hadn't been in for a while, I was busy with school." The lies fell easily from his tongue, and he sincerely hoped that she wouldn't call out his bluff because that would only bring up more questions.

"Ah that is fine. I'm assuming you need a new library card?'

"Y-yes, please."

She got to work, filling out the information. Izuku gave her his phone number for the card and handed her money to pay for it. It wasn't much and was mostly used to cover the cost of using the computers and Wi-Fi. He could get a free card, but that was just used for books.

"Alright, all set. Make sure to return all your books on time, I remember that one you turned in a day late; I'm watching you," the woman playfully threatened with a wink.

Izuku chucked, answering her with a small 'I will' before moving to look at the books. He didn't end up checking anything out this time, choosing to just sit down and enjoy free Wi-Fi and electrical sockets to charge his phone. While he sat, he remembered Shinsou was waiting for a text response..

Yeah we can hang out!

do u have anything planned??

Shinsou texted back a few minutes later: Wanna go back to that cafe?

The one we met at

Izuku responded with : sure!1 what time??

Shinsou responded: in an hour? does that work?

Izuku texted back confirmation before preparing to leave. He would sign up for the online classes tomorrow, today was just a relaxing day. He could start cleaning up after his meet-up with Shinsou.

The cafe was about half an hour away, so Izuku dropped off his stuff back at the beach before walking there. It was warm today, and Izuku enjoyed the comforting sun on his face as he continued on his way.

He arrived at the cafe about fifteen minutes early, and he could see Shinsou through the window sitting at a booth.

Izuku couldn't wait to go inside. He loved having friends.

The only problem was that he never told Shinsou that he was quirkless. He could only hope that it wouldn't be a problem.

While he had already gotten used to having a friend, he could always be on his own again.

After all, no one ever stayed for the worthless Deku.

Chapter Text

Izuku walked into the cafe, heading over to the booth he saw Shinsou in before. He slid into the seat across from him, smiling at his friend.

"Hello Shinsou!" Izuku greeted him.

"Hello Greenie." Shinsou replied back, a grin on his face.

"Okay, rude, I didn't call you Lilac. Did you forget my name already?" Izuku put his hand on his chest, pouting, "I'm wounded. Really, I'm bleeding out."

"No, I didn't forget your name. I just didn't know which one you wanted to go by."

"Oh. Yeah. Just call me Midoriya. I just kinda panicked the first time."

"Sure. Anyway, I didn't know what you wanted, so I didn't order yet."

"Okay, let's go order then!"

They both stood up, heading over to the counter to order. Izuku made a mental count of his money- the shower at the gym was free, and the library card didn't cost too much, so he should be just fine getting a drink and a cookie-

"Midori, tell her what you want." Shinsou's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Oh um- chocolate milk and a strawberry cookie please."

Shinsou snorted beside him. Izuku didn't look over, instead reaching into his pocket for his money. The waitress rattled off a number that was bigger than Izuku expected, and he looked up at her to see Shinsou pay for both their orders.

"Shinsou! You didn't have to." Izuku protested.

"I invited you here, so I pay. That's the rule." Shinsou replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, it's a stupid rule." Izuku responded. They sat down at their table, and a minute later the waitress brought them their food and drinks. He beamed as he saw the tall glass of chocolate milk and the big strawberry cookie being sat down.

"You look so happy with your 'chockie milk'." Shinsou said, smirking at him.

"Hey- you leave my chockie milk out of this! And what did you get- a hot coffee on a day like today?"

"It's a black coffee- first of all- and I have a slice of cinnamon crumb cake, where you have a strawberry cookie- what are you, a child?" He joked back.

"Yes, I am! And I am proud! Not my fault you didn't have a childhood and had to grow up early!"

They both paused, and Shinsou just responded with, "Okay, wow. That's a little on the mark. Next you'll tell me who my parents are."

"No- no. I didn't stalk you or anything- that's always the first thing people suspect when I deduce something about them- or they think I have an analysis quirk for some reason? I'm not that smart, I don't know- I can just read people really well, and you just seem really mature and like you've had it rough for a while- which I can understand! It's not that bad-"

"Alright shut up." Shinsou cut into Izuku's rambles, "It's fine. I told you my quirk, Brainwashing. Many people think it to be a villain's quirk and avoid or even bully me because of it. I grew up in foster care, so that didn't help. I have it better now, I've been officially adopted by a nice family, and they've actually been working to improve my life instead of ignoring the problems."

Izuku let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, "That's good. I'm happy things are getting better for you. I wish we could've met sooner, then neither of us would've been alone." Alright, here goes nothing– "I'm quirkless. Not as many people were scared of me, mostly just disgusted thinking they could catch my 'disease', or they looked down on me because they think I'm worthless. Just a useless Deku."

Wiping his eyes, Izuku looked up from the table, and met Shinsou's eyes. ``Things got worse, but are a bit better. I'm going to be doing online classes to graduate, and although I'm not sure what to do after that, I'll work things out. But never mind that, let's enjoy our time here."

Shinsou nodded, letting go of the topic and taking the first bite of his cake while Izuku took a drink of his milk. When Izuku put his cup down and looked at him, Shinsou started laughing.
"You got a lil’ something on your face," He chuckled, motioning to his mouth.

Izuku quickly wiped off his milk-mustache with a grin, and Shinsou smiled into his coffee. They talked a bit more before Shinsou's phone buzzed, and he sighed.

"Hey, my dad just texted me saying to come home soon, so I should start heading out. " Frowning, Shinsou stood up, and Izuku followed suit.

"That's okay, it was nice hanging out! Next time we go somewhere, I-I'll pay."

"Y'know, I was telling my dads about you, and they want to meet you. Maybe if you're up for it, we can hang out at my place next time? No pressure though." Shinsou looked away, as if he was getting ready to run out the door if Izuku said no. Lucky for him, Izuku had other plans.

"I would love to! And I'm happy you asked. That's only like- the second question you asked me today, when you could've asked so many more but instead phrased them as statements. "

"Yeah, I'll try to ask more since you're really comfortable with it. My dads have been working on it with me, but I still forget I actually can." Shinsou said softly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, stop forgetting. O-oh! you said you had to go; you should probably do that!" Izuku glanced at the time on his phone, seeing that they had been at the cafe for a while, and it was past one o'clock.

"Yeah, I'll see you later Midori," Shinsou waved as he walked out the door.

"See you later Shinsou."

They both went separate ways, Izuku back to the garbage-covered beach, and Shinsou back to his home. Izuku figured since he had a bit of time left in the day, he could get started on cleaning the beach.

Before he went to the gym, he had picked up some heavy-duty bags at the store, so he could start picking up some stuff, along with filling up his wheelbarrow with recyclable materials to sell. With how covered the beach was, it was going to take months to clean, but hey, if you ignored the smell, it actually wouldn't be that bad of a place to stay for a bit. It was closer to the shops than the abandoned apartment he found, and he wouldn't have to worry about running electric, because he could use the nearby library for internet and charging things. The gym was nearby, so he could exercise and shower there. Things would work out better.

Everything would be fine!

Chapter Text

When Izuku arrived back at the beach he immediately ran to his makeshift house to grab his wheelbarrow and trash bags. His plan was to make a path, a sort of winding one, by shifting large objects out of the way, picking up the usable scrap and putting it in his wheelbarrow and putting the other trash in bags. Izuku could leave the trash bags on the path once filled, and then after selling the scrap he could come back for them to take them to the dumpster.

It was a pretty solid plan, if he did say so himself.

Because he didn't have too much time today, and he only wanted to work until sundown at most because he didn't see what time the scrap place closed tonight, Izuku decided to only do a little bit around his container shelter. That way he would have a clearing to do stuff in. He also didn't want to risk cutting himself in the dark. Izuku donned the old garden gloves he was given and placed the box of big thick trash bags in the squeaky wheelbarrow, at the front for easy access.

Quickly getting to work, he realized that most stuff wouldn't be usable, and what was usable could be used for him. He found a pot, one that was relatively clean, although he was going to wash it of course. There were a couple of flowerpots which he could clean up and give to Nanami-san for her flower shop. Izuku set these things to the side, his wagon gaining only a little bit of scrap, although by the time the sun was setting and a little clearing, about big enough for him to lie down in any direction, although he was under five-foot.

Three trash bags were filled, the rest of the box placed inside his shelter. Although the wagon only had a little bit of scrap in it, at least he wouldn't need to worry about anything falling out on his way to the Hatsume's Scrap Shop, which was the official name of the place. Izuku started to head on over, the wheelbarrow’s wheels squeaking like mice as the metals inside rattled and banged against each other. The walk over wasn't the smoothest, but due to him not having much, nothing fell out.

This time when he entered the shop, a bell did go off, a Ding! going off as Izuku rolled his wagon in, causing him to look up at the contraption above the door. He was able to get out of the way just in time as it fell down, landing in his wagon with a loud CLANG!. The lady at the counter had hair similar to the Hatsume he met, only it was a slightly darker pink, more of a magenta. She must be her mom.

The lady looked up at him, a fond look in her eyes as she let out an exasperated sigh, "Mei... I'm sorry about that. She was trying to test a new invention."

"Hehe... Yeah she s-seemed really invested in one when I st-topped by a c-couple nights ago."

"Oh, so you're the young man. I'm glad to see she didn't scare you off!" The lady laughed. "I'm her mom. What can I do for you?"

"Well, I was hoping to s-sell some of this scrap. You s-see, I'm cleaning Dagobah Beach?"

"Oh, yeah we can definitely buy this off ya. Let's see what you have," Hatsume-san motioned for him to roll the wagon over to the side of the counter, where there was a scale, "So what we do here is we weigh everything, then take the scrap out to weigh the container. We do the math to get just the metals by themselves, and we pay 200 yen per pound."

They quickly got to weighing, her explaining everything as they worked. She seemed really proud when Izuku was able to do the math in his head. He was top of his class- well, when the teachers didn't 'lose' his homework or just fail him for being quirkless.

"Alright, so 200 yen a pound, this is about 10 pounds, we round up, so you get 2000 yen!" 

Hatsume-san handed two 1000 yen notes, which Izuku took with a smile. This could feed him for the next couple days, and since he still had a bit of yen left, he could buy some blankets and pillows for when it got colder at night.

Things were looking up.

Izuku stopped at a store and bought himself some onigiri and a blanket. It was the best he could do for now, and although the blanket was thin it would work for now. Although it was a bit chilly at night, the blanket would work fine until it got colder. Then he would buy more.

As soon as he got back to the beach and wrapped up in his new blanket, he was out like a light. Tomorrow he would go back to the library to sign up for classes, as he didn't want to put it off too long, and the sooner he got it done the sooner he could graduate.

He was still in middle school after all, though he might be able to go to high school early if he worked fast enough and during summers. Izuku still wanted to be a hero, even if they weren't fast enough to help him.

But let's not think about that now!

Thinking about heroes always led him back to his dead mother and terrible father, both things he would rather avoid thinking about. So, he slept, and didn't think about them, instead having dreams of him and Kachaan- no, Bakugou- being friends again. He used to want to give anything for that, but when the Bakugou in the park turned into Shinsou in the cafe, Izuku didn't complain, enjoying the calm dream.

Chapter Text

Hey everyone.

I believe I might be fully discontinuing this work.

It seems that every time I get the motivation to write again, something comes up and I lose the time. Right now, that's stress and being overworked with college, and the loss of my pet. I just don't feel comfortable knowing that I keep trying and failing to get this fic done, and I don't want to give you guys false hope that new chapters will be posted.

So, if anyone wants to continue this fic, go ahead. Please just note that it was inspired by this one so that this can get some credit, but I would love to see what you all think this fic starter could do.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed what I have written, and I look forward to what you all can do with it.