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What makes a hero? It’s a question that has been asked by people the world over since the beginning of time. The ancient Greeks thought that to be a hero one must be strong enough to pit their will against the world. Cold-War era Americans thought that to be a hero one must stand up for their beliefs no matter how hard it is. And now in an age of quirks; all one needs to be a hero is to stand brightly as a shining example towards a better future, beaming brightly for the world to see.
Not all of these are entirely correct; if a hero is only someone who is strong, then what happens if the hero were to lose that strength? If a hero is someone who stands up for their ideals, then what happens if one were to cling to their ideals to the detriment of themselves and others? And if a hero is someone who is to inspire others to make a better tomorrow, then what if that hero has enough skeletons in their closet to fill a cemetery?
The truth is that there is no catch all definition of hero, no one set of guidelines that you can point to and say “Yes that’s a hero,” and be satisfied one-hundred-percent of the time, however if there’s one thing everyone can agree upon it’s that heroes can come from anywhere.
Izuku Midoriya was not having a good day. It started when he woke up ten minutes late and had to run to school with only a piece of toast and some orange juice in his stomach.
Izuku’s first class of the day was homeroom with Mr. Tanaka, his least favorite class. As he sat in the back trying to draw the attention of Kacchan and his friends, that was when the day went from merely ‘bad’ to ‘miserable’.
“One last thing, class.” Mr. Tanaka said, bringing Izuku out of his slump. “Today is your last day
to fill out your university application forms. Most of you have handed them in but there are a few of you who still haven’t. I may know that most of you want to apply to hero schools, but the pencil pushers in the office don’t.”
“I don’t know why any of you extras bother,” interrupted Katsuki Bakugou. -a.k.a Kacchan, Izuku’s ‘friend’ and chief bully- “None of you have quirks anywhere close to mine, you're just even smaller fish in an even larger ocean.” Nobody there seemed to like Kacchan’s comment very much, judging by how most of the people that weren’t his friends gave him looks with almost murderous intentions.
Mr. Tanaka, clearly wanting to defuse the tension in the room, looked around, and made eye contact with Izuku for just a second before saying. “Oh I don’t think anyone here will have any trouble,” he gave a little smile, one that Izuku knew as the one he only used on people he perceived as weaker than himself, “after all, if a top hero school such as UA is willing to accept a quirkless loser such as Midoriya, then they’ll probably accept anyone.”
And with that the class already riled up and now that they smelled blood in the water everyone in the class forgot about Bakugou and focused on Izuku. Luckily the bell rang signaling the five minute break before english. Luckily Ms. Kubo was strict about arriving on time, the only teacher that didn’t give Izuku a bad time for being quirkless and the one of the only ones to stand up to Kacchan and his friends, and thus Izuku’s favorite class. Unfortunately English couldn’t last forever and after science with Ms. Sone, which was largely unremarkable apart from Ms. Sone treating him like he was fragile, came lunch.
To say Izuku hated lunch was an understatement. He had long ago given up trying to eat lunch with his peers. Everyone either bullied him or was afraid that by hanging out with him they’d get bullied and thus nobody let him sit at any of the tables leaving two options: the floor, or finding an empty classroom somewhere. And with the floor being a prime spot to either get himself or his food stepped on that meant he had to find an empty classroom. And sitting alone away from the watchful eyes of teachers meant that he had to eat fast before Kacchan and his friends inevitably came looking for him and delivered the worst of their bullying.
“Oi Deku!” Kacchan yelled from the doorway. Izuku had long since finished the katsudon his mother had made for him and was flipping through his ‘hero analysis for the future #13’ journal when he arrived, two of his friends standing behind him, and popping his quirk for intimidation. “Why do you think it’s ok to try for UA? Didn’t you get the memo that I’ll be the first, last and only person from this shitty school to go there?”
“K-K-Kacchan, you see there’s no rules against quirkless people applying to UA so I thought...” But what Izuku thought would never be said as Kacchan grabbed his journal and said. “You had the nerve to think you're better than me. You must've forgotten your place Deku, maybe this will remind you.” And with that he used his quirk to propel his journal out the open window and into one of the puddles from last-night’s rainfall. “Deku, remember this, when we’re old and gray and, I’ll be remembered as the #1 hero King Explosion Murder and you’ll just be a quirkless waste of space. So why don’t you do everyone a favor and go throw yourself off the roof so you can stop wasting the oxygen.” And with that, Kacchan left the room.
Once Kacchan and his friends left, Izuku waited a few moments to put some distance between him and them before making a mad dash for his journal. He had been working on it for the past six months and he’d be damned if he didn’t try to save it. Luckily it seemed like things were finally going his way for once, until he noticed that it was time for class and he arrived five minutes late to gym.
The rest of school passed by in a blur to Izuku and what felt like five minutes, but more like three hours, Izuku found himself outside the school in a daze, as he stood there watching the traffic go by, he heard something behind him that broke him out of his stupor. “Ha guess the nerd didn’t have it in him to jump after all.” He turned around and saw Kacchan and his friends all discussing him killing himself as casually as if they were talking about the weather.
Kacchan spoke next. “Guess that’s what happens if you let a deku like him forget his place.” And Izuku finally lost it. He spun around, walked up to Kacchan and started yelling. “That is it Kacchan! You’ve been treating me like I’m scum of the Earth all this time, ever since I’ve been diagnosed quirkless, and you know what? I don’t know if my old friend is even there anymore because ever since your quirk came in you’ve been nothing but an asshole.” Izuku took a second to breathe and kept going. “Don’t you see, Kacchan, I haven't ever looked down on you, if anything you're the one looking down on yourself because most people don’t have to constantly remind themselves that they’re number one, or pick on those weaker than them to show their strength, or tell people to kill themselves for heaven's sake. So tell me Kacchan, ask yourself why do you think I’m looking down on you?” And with that Izuku walked away, head held high and heart racing a mile a minute.
As Izuku walked home, flipping through the pages of his destroyed journal, he couldn’t help but feel a bit depressed. His and Kacchan- no Bakugou’s relationship had been growing apart for many years now and Bakugou telling him to kill himself felt like the final nail in the coffin. It felt odd in a way, yelling at Bakugou, yet oddly cathartic. But no matter how good it made Izuku feel he couldn't help but think that maybe Bakugou was right, that he should throw himself off of the roof. Fortunately Izuku didn’t have the time to follow this train of thought further. Unfortunately it was because he was attacked by a villain.
The villain had a mutant quirk that made Him(?) into a viscous green slimy substance, the only parts Izuku could see that weren’t made of slime were shiny yellow eyeballs and sharp jagged teeth that looked like they hadn’t seen a dentist in many years.
“Ah, a medium sized skin suit, perfect. Now if you could just hold still for a couple minutes and make this painless for both of us, that would be appreciated.” the villain said in a predatory tone that drove a primal fear into Izuku. The villain jumped towards him, trying to put his body inside Izuku’s lungs. Izuku tried to struggle, thrashing as hard as he could against the villain, but his fluid nature made it impossible for Izuku to do anything more than annoy him.
Finally, when Izuku had run out of energy and was just about to back out, he heard the sound of metal against metal and a boisterous voice that Izuku could recognise anywhere. “Unhand that boy, villain! For I am here!” And that was the last thing Izuku heard before blacking out.
The first thing that Izuku noticed when he woke up was that his head hurt. The second thing he noticed was a silhouette, no, not just any silhouette no it had to be, “All Might?” Izuku mumbled, mostly sure this was just a dream, that he’d wake up any minute now in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors. “Yes it is indeed me, my boy!”
Izuku sat up, and sure as day standing right there in front of him was All Might in a white muscle shirt and dark green cargo pants holding a two-liter soda bottle with what Izuku thought was the sludge villain in his pocket and signing his journal. Izuku waited a moment for his head to stop spinning and asked, “how long was I out?”
“About twenty seconds. Now I’m sorry for running off so fast but I need to get this guy-” he held up the bottle- “to the police station.” Just as he bent his knees to jump, Izuku, partially because he wanted to thank All Might for the autograph and partially because of fanboy instinct, jumped onto All Might’s leg and held on for dear life, because next thing Izuku knew, he and All Might were flying through the air at highway speeds before landing on a nondescript rooftop with All Might.
“Why did you do that?” All Might asked, holding his hand up to his head, something that looked like steam coming from his body. Was this an aspect of his quirk that Izuku didn't know about? But then why didn’t anybody see it before now? “Kid?” Izuku’s mind was brought back down to Earth by All Might speaking, and Izuku blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Uhh All Might sir, you're steaming!” And just like that, in a puff of steam that engulfed the rooftop.
It took a moment for the steam to clear, and when it did All Might was nowhere to be seen. In his place Izuku saw a man who was tall like All Might, he had All Might’s piercing blue eyes, and the same golden locks of hair, but that was where the similarities end. Where All Might had muscles for days, this man was gaunt. Where All Might had a constant smile, this man had something closer to a scowl with something that looked like blood coming out of his mouth, and while All Might’s hair stuck up in two signature tufts like antennae, this man's hair was long and limp. In short, the man looked like a bootleg All Might impersonator you could get at your kids birthday party for 20,000 yen.
Izuku, for his part, did what anybody would do if they saw their childhood hero disappear in a puff of steam, and panicked. “Who are you and what did you do to All Might?” Izuku screamed.
The man sighed, and in a deep, gruff world weary voice said, “I’m still All Might.” He lifted his shirt, revealing a large scar just below where his left lung would be. “What you see now is the result of a battle six years ago.” Izuku, now convinced that the man in front of him was All Might, went into one of his mumble-storms to try and deduce when he got the injury.
“Sixyearsago?Maybeit’stheRoitwingfight,butnoyoumodeledinthe22xxheroesagainstcancercharityswimsuitcalendarandyouwereperfectlyfine.WhataboutyourbatlleagainstShadyMonkey,noyoubeathiminonepunch.Wait a minute.Toxic Chainsaw!”
All Might for his part was a bit taken aback that a kid not even old enough to be in university knew of events that happened when he was, what? thirteen? fourteen? Toxic Chainsaw he could understand; you could hardly go ten minutes without finding something or someone singing his praises, -online or real life-. But Riotwing? Shady Monkey? He had almost forgotten he’d been called into those. And this kid knew them like it was his job. But All Might wasn’t the UA class of 21xx poker champion three years in a row for nothing, and he managed to keep most of his composure.
“No, not any of them.” All Might said, wiping the blood from his face with the back of his hand. “I got it from a villain so bad it would make any villain in the public records look like a joke.” He shook his head. “I’ve kept it a secret all these years because if villains heard about it,” he gestured to the wound on his side, “there would be chaos in the streets. So could you please keep it a secret?” Izuku understood the gravity of what All Might was asking him. He knew that if villains were to learn of the #1 hero’s injury, it would mean more deaths than any incident since the Sky Egg. But still Izuku had one more thing he wanted to ask All Might
“I’ll do it sir,” Izuku said feeling less sure than he did five seconds ago, “If you can answer a question for me.” All Might's mouth moved into something closer to a frown, and for a second Izuku thought that All Might would say no and force Izuku into so many NDAs that he would be lucky to talk about heroes in general again. All Might opened his mouth and said, ”One question. And if I say I can't talk about it any more you drop it.”
“It’s a deal Sir.” Izuku said, tears running down his cheeks, he took a deep breath in, and asked, “Can a quirkless person be a hero All Might?”
The pro hero gave Izuku a once-over, brilliant blue eyes meeting shimmering green before speaking. “Kid, what have you been doing to prepare for UA, or whatever school you’re aiming for? Have you been taking martial arts lessons? Doing parkour or other sports? Working out? Building support gear?”
With every question asked Izuku felt more and more like a pit had opened up in his stomach and he ended up answering with a halfhearted, “no.”
All Might leaned down, gave him a deep stare and spoke. “Kid, I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer it to the best of your abilities. What do I mean when I say ‘anyone can be a hero’?”
Izuku thought long and hard about this before answering, “I guess it means that anyone, no matter their past can be a hero.”
All Might let out a world weary sigh. “Close but not quite. Let me tell you what it means. It doesn’t mean that anyone can walk into a hero school and leave with a license in hand. It doesn't mean that everyone has the ability or drive it takes to get a license. It simply means that a hero can come from any background. They can come from an ivory tower like Hawks or Wash, they can come from the slums like Miruko or Endeavour, they can come from a bloodline of heroes like the Ingeniums, They can be Unknowns like Kamui Woods, they can start out as civilians, vigilantes, hell I’ve even seen villains change their stripes. I’ve met heroes with strong quirks, weak quirks, strange quirks, I even once met a hero with an eye-color change quirk that they mostly use as a party trick. And though it hasn’t happened yet, I see no reason why a quirkless person can’t be a hero. Just not you as you currently are, you couldn’t even take the entrance exam. You’re timid, can’t think fast in times of crisis, and a particularly strong breeze could blow you away. You'd just be a liability on the field and another corpse in the morgue.”
He broke eye contact and started walking towards the door. “If you want to be a hero kid, make it a goal. Dreams don’t come true in real life without hard work and a strong will.” He opened the door, went down a step, paused, scribbled something in Izuku’s journal and without ever looking back said. “Want to prove me wrong? Be the first quirkless hero. I’ll be teaching at UA this year, waiting for you to come make me eat my words, I’ll bring the hot sauce.” As one last parting gift before leaving, he tossed Izuku’s journal towards him, closing the door and leaving Izuku with nothing but his thoughts and his new ‘Hero analysis for right now!’ journal.