Chapter Text
Izuku sat in a park on a bench a block away from his house. He couldn't go home, not now, not after the day he had.
Today was not a good day; today was a very bad day indeed today was one of the worst days in Izuku's life. Today had no doubt been bad, but Izuku had been good. Izuku had always tried his best to be very good and when he wasn't, he would always do his best to rewrite his wrongs. Still, he cries in the setting sun of the park because, in this quiet neighborhood, no one can hear him as he weeps over his...very...bad...day.
But today would mark the day a good person who never knew true love and acceptance, who never knew what living life to the fullest meant, who never knew real friendship, would finally break and fall into temptation. Because even if today would be a very bad day, today would soon set the course for many good days to come, as Izuku showed everyone just why you never want a sweet soul to grow sour.
Kurogiri had been instructed by All For One to follow Izuku after his master saw a clip of the young boy on the news attempting to save a middle schooler. The boy played a crucial role in giving the other young man who was attacked, a few more moments of air until the number 1 hero arrived, to once again save the day. The boy named Izuku, was then berated by all the heroes and police alike on the scene while the other young man was praised for his bravery and powerful quirk. It also might be helpful to mention that the boy in question was quirkless and therefore his master thought him to be a potential villain recruit for the group he had instructed Kurogiri to help Shigaraki form.
His orders were simple. Approach the boy, if at all possible do it discreetly. Then ask him a few questions on how he feels about heroes, see if he has reason enough to become a villain, and if he agrees, instruct him to come to their hideout. Lastly, All For One will judge what role the kid might play in his plans for taking over Japan. Things like whether he should be given a quirk, how he might work with Shigaraki, and what he will then assign the three of them to do as their next mission if everything goes as planned will all be decided after he sees the boy.
Izuku sat on the bench alone in the park, crying over the loss of his dreams finally shattered by his idol. He sat there alone on the cold metal bench till he felt a separate presence next to him. A tall man stood before him with glowing yellow eyes, black mist floating around his face, wearing formal bartender attire one might see in movies and shows. Izuku stared up at the man not sure what to say or think as he simply blinked at him, wondering absently what might his quirk be.
"You're the boy from the news are you not?" the stranger asked.
"Um, I think so?" Izuku said. Not exactly sure where this was going or if this man was even referring to the sludge villain fight with Bakugou earlier. After all, there are so many villain attacks on TV every day, so why would this man be so interested in the one he happened to be involved in?
"Huh," the man nodded then his gaze dropped down to the notebook in Izuku's lap and Izuku instinctively pulled it closer as he noticed where the man's eyes were looking. "Hero notebook? Do you want to be a hero young man?"
And wasn't that the question, the million-dollar question in fact? Did Izuku want to be a hero? Well, everyone his whole life had told him "No", so naturally Izuku's always had the intense urge to save others as most had failed to save him. But did he want to be a hero?
He guessed for a time he did, he wanted to be just like All Might. All Might was cool, strong, and had an awesome quirk. He saved people with his Texas Smash and a smile on his face, so who wouldn't want to be like him? But today when Izuku got to meet his idol, his hero All Might failed to meet his expectations, he fell so short of the bar that it was laughable.
It takes a lot to disappoint Izuku to the point where he'll completely give up on someone. Izuku hadn't given up on Bakugou when he started to bully other kids, not even after Izuku stepped in and Bakugou began to bully him instead. Izuku didn't give up on his mother even though she had quite obviously given up on him. He didn't give up on All Might when he signed his notebook before he asked him to and before he even checked to see if he was alive and okay after being attacked by a villain. But he did give up today.
He gave up on Bakugou when he told him to take a swan dive off a roof, he gave up on All Might when he told him he couldn't be a hero, and he gave up on heroes altogether when he realized how helpless they could be after they ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, just because none of them "Had suitable quirks" to save Bakugou. Izuku gave up on heroes and most of society today, and Izuku gave up on himself.
"I used to," is what he decided to say after a long pause. The strange man's face seemed to screw up into one of curiosity as he looked down at him. Well, at least that's what it looked like he was feeling, Izuku couldn't be sure when there wasn't much of a face to gauge in the first place.
"I see, may I sit?" He asked. Izuku nodded and the man sat down next to him, he sighed slightly and clasped his hands in his lap, like a businessman might do, and then he leaned back into a comfortable position on the bench crossing his ankles in front of him.
It was slightly unnerving. This strange man approached Izuku asking him personal questions about himself, sitting down next to him and leaning back as if he had all the power. And yes, before you ask, Izuku has heard of stranger danger, but he was quite honestly too drained from the day he had and the crying he had just done to focus on minuscule things such as that.
"So, you don't want to be a hero anymore then. Why?" the man asked staring blankly forward into the setting sun that graced their faces with a comforting warmth as the evening chill began to set in.
"Um well I-I asked my idol...a hero," he clarifies. "If I could be a hero with my...specific circumstances. He told me no. I was also attacked by a villain today, then witnessed an attack myself where all of the heroes involved made crucial mistakes in both situations that could have gotten me, or the other boy easily killed." Izuku thinks a moment wondering if he should continue or not, but decides what the heck because what does really he have to lose at this point?
"I guess ever since I was young, I wanted to be a hero, but everyone told me it was impossible. I wanted to prove them wrong, I wanted to show them I wasn't useless but that I could be the best at something, that I could be good at something, and I wanted to be the best hero. Now however, I realize that no one will ever want my help, that no one will ever believe in me but myself, and that even if I make it to the top someone will always be there to try and diminish my achievements with cruel taunts and harsh criticisms." he finishes feeling slightly guilty for just trauma dumping on this kind stranger who he has yet to know the name of.
"Interesting. So, you wanted to be the best at something because everyone told you couldn't be anything?" He asked and Izuku guessed that was true. He did want to help people of course but there had always been a part of him that wanted to become the number 1 hero to show those that said he could never be anything more than worthless to eat their own words. To show those that even with quirks and his lack thereof he can still stand alongside them as equals.
"Yeah, I guess, I mean I wanted to help people, to help those that never got the help they need like I didn't. I wanted to show those who are the reason people need saving in this world that I'll save them too because everyone deserves a chance...but I also think I wanted to save others and become a hero out of spite. Everyone said I couldn't so I would. But most of all I wanted to be him, to be the man who inspired me my entire life, to keep going, to become a hero because anyone could become one with enough faith and hard work. So, I thought if I just pushed through the pain, I would eventually reap the rewards." He sighs and rubs a hand down his face. The other man doesn't look towards him but Izuku's pretty sure he's still listening even after his rambling.
As the words flowed from his mouth like a raging waterfall Izuku realized he was hearing his reasons for being a hero for the first time just as this man was. It's strange and foreign, the concept of doing something purely or almost purely out of spite for him. He had always been a good person, a momma's boy as he had been told. He was the kind of kid who picked up trash if he saw it and walked old ladies across the street even if it made him late to wherever he was heading to. So, the idea that for all that good there might be an alternative motive for it was strange.
Perhaps it was because he did so much good that he needed an escape, a place to show those he was more than just a momma's little poor defenseless boy who couldn't do anything. He needed to show them that they would eat their words. He needed to prove that they were wrong about him. He needed to prove to himself that what he was doing wasn't impossible, that he could be a hero, that he could be good at something, to be the best at something.
"But I can't be a hero, I know that now. I have been lying to myself my whole life and I know now that I will never be the number 1 hero." He adds on quickly.
"So, then what will you do now?" the man asked.
"I don't know. All Mi- the hero who said I couldn't be a hero" Izuku corrects, but the misstep didn't go unnoticed by Kurogiri. "A hero was all I ever thought to be but the man I asked said that I could instead be a doctor, or a police officer, even a detective but I can't. I don't have the grades to get into any high school let alone to be a doctor, I don't know if I can be a police officer now that I know just how our heroes act, and that goes the same for a detective as well. I wanted to be the best, I wanted to be the best, but I know I never will. I'll prove everything anyone has ever said about me right and I guess instead of them eating their words I'll be eating them instead. I guess that's what happens when you're a Deku like me."
"Or...you could still be the best at something, something else to make everyone who ever hurt you sorry," The stranger says and Izuku's head pops up at that to stare wide-eyed at him and the preposterous idea. "You could be a vigilante for instance, or you could be...a villain." He said and the word seemed to crash down like a gong being banded against the side of Izuku's head. Like a brilliant yet insanely stupid idea, one of the most stupid ideas he had ever heard.
Izuku replayed the words in his head as if trying the thought on for size to see how it fit him. A villain? Him? No surely not, even if he did want to become one, he would never be any good at it. Heck Izuku has never broken a law or rule in his life, well besides his questionable use and sites he enters on the internet but that was completely different than being a full-on villain. Like today, it wasn't like he meant to run and save Bakugou, he knew it was illegal, but his legs just moved without him thinking. So how would he, a quirkless loser, become a villain?
"I could never, I wouldn't be any good. It would also probably be just like being a hero, no one would ever except me, and quite honestly, I'm done constantly fighting for others' approval," Izuku replies.
"Why wouldn't others accept you?" Kurogiri asked even though he knew what Izuku had meant when he said it.
"Because I um." Izuku thought. Should he tell this stranger who could quite literally turn him into another quirkless statistic?
"I'm quirkless. No one likes the stupid quirkless loser." He says with a nervous smile, cupping his hands together as the weather grew nippy.
"Are you talking about vigilantism or villainy?" was all Kurogiri asked.
"Both?" He says more as a question than a statement.
"Well, I don't know much about vigilantes, but I believe as long as you don't mess with other vigilantes or their routes and districts of their patrols, they don't usually mess with you. But if you're talking about villainy then I would say you are sorely mistaken. Being a villain is to fight against the expectations of acceptance, it's to show those who wronged you how much of a mistake they truly made. Kid, you'd fit right in."
"I don't know." Izuku shrugs and the stranger finally looks at him as he does. "I don't think I would be any good, I'd probably turn myself in or something dumb like that. Nah I'll just apply to be a barista or something, I hear we can always use more of those. "He says with a chuckle.
"Well, maybe you can learn." The man says as he goes to stand up. "How about this, when you decide on what you want to do, and if that happens to make you in need of someone with knowledge on this kind of thing...find me and ask for Kurogiri." The stranger says as he faces Izuku still sitting on the bench. He pulls out a card from his pants front pocket and hands it to him.
Izuku takes it slowly "Are you a villain mister Kurogiri?" Izuku asks.
"I work for one, but I consider myself more of a henchman; if you will." Izuku looks back down at the address and then back up to ask the man one last question but when he does Kurogiri is already gone, and he is again left alone in the vacant park.
Izuku noticed at that moment just how much darker the park had grown since Kurogiri had first sat down with him. He could hear the crickets chirp as he made his way out of the park and down the sidewalk. Bugs swarmed around lampposts along the sidewalk of the quaint neighborhood he had grown up in. He wasn't in too much of a rush since he knew his mom was working a late shift at the hospital, so the walk home was slow even though his apartment was only a block away. The entire time he walked he stared down at the card in one hand while he thought about the notebook in the other. What did he want?
When Izuku got home he had finally decided. The next few hours consisted of him spending most of his time till he finally went to sleep around 4:00 AM scouring through the internet for all things villains. The first thing he searched for was the strange man Kurogiri, after a few minutes of searching he found him on the dark web where people spoke about a bartender in the redlight district who supposedly worked at the exact location he was given on the card. After some more digging, the place turned out to be a front for meeting with other villains, vigilantes, and anyone who wanted info or to make less-than-legal transactions.
He also found out that Kurogiri did work for someone higher up than him, but no one seemed to know the man's name. Word on the street was that the man he worked for was recruiting people for some major plan that was yet to be known. The only thing that was known about their intentions was that they wanted to recruit people hurt by the hero society to better the cause. Oh, and he also learned that there was another person who worked under this main boss guy.
His name was Shigaraki Tomura, he was the supposed son or protege of this boss guy. The opinions on this guy were less than savory. Reports of him acting childish and explosive with many saying that they turned down the group's invitation because they "didn't want to work under anyone as insufferable as him." Honestly, Izuku was intrigued to meet the man that this main villain guy put all his trust in.
The rest of the time Izuku sat in his room was spent gathering information on what it would be like to become a villain. Things like, what the types of villains there are, what type he might become, what his name and ideology might be, what his signature costume could look like, and the laws on vigilantism, which apparently, are also classified as villains. He looked into the sentences for each crime he may have to commit, and that alone almost steered him away from the idea altogether. But Izuku was so excited by how fun it sounded that he kind of brushed that tidbit aside for now.
By the end he was excited about something, for the first time in a long time he was happy about something other than heroics. He could only imagine how much fun it would be just to let loose, to give up on the society that never even gave him a chance, to be the best at something, maybe become someone's arch-nemesis in time.
And wouldn't that be something, to have an arch nemesis? Then he could come up with all types of evil plans that may or not be foiled by one hero, he could be captured yet always break free because no jail can ever hold him, he could spout about his backstory on live television, he could start a cult, he could even watch the world burn and laugh maniacally as it does atop the tallest building in the city.
By the end of his deep dive into the internet and the more questionable areas of it, Izuku rebranded all of his old hero notebooks to be called Heroes info 1-13 instead, because if Izuku knew one thing for certain it was that knowledge was power and right now he had that.
The last thing Izuku did was start a new notebook, which would mark the start of the next chapter in his life, the chapter that would teach him just how to become the ultimate villain.
Izuku's Guide to Becoming the Number 1 Villain vol1.