Chapter Text
Midoriya Izuku was sitting in the chair next to his mother in Doctor Tsubasa’s office. He was looking at the floor, tears streaming down his face. He was just told that he wouldn’t get a quirk. His mother was angry he could sense it. His mama thanked the doctor and dragged him roughly out of the building. He was thrown into the back of the car and made to fend for himself as his mother drove like a maniac back to their home.
His mama grabbed him by his upper arm and again dragged him into the house, tossing him into his room and locking him inside. He tries his hardest to open the door, banging and twisting and turning the handle with all the might a five-year-old could have. As he suspected it did nothing to help him get out so he instead settled for crawling under his bed and curling up with his All Might blanket.
The next day his door is unlocked before his mother leaves for the day. He only finds this out because he had to use the restroom badly and decided to try his luck. He fumbles through trying to use the bathroom and washing his hands getting water everywhere in the process. Once he’s finished he goes and plays in the living room and watches TV until his mother comes home at almost midnight smashed out of her mind.
When she finds him asleep on the couch instead of his room she drags him off the couch by his hair and to his room, kicking and screaming all the way there. She locks him in for the night again. His mama just barely remembers to unlock the door before leaving again. This time he’s awake when she does it so when he hears the front door open and close he goes out and tries to make himself something to eat.
He manages to make himself a bowl of cereal. It's sloppy and he spills a fair bit of milk but he cleans it up right after. He does the same thing as yesterday but this time he’s in his room before his mother gets home. His mama still comes in drunk off her rocker and gives him a few harsh smacks.
This cycle goes on until he turns ten when he realizes he’s been seeing less and less of Inko over the past few months. He thinks he’s seen her once this week. He doesn’t care but he thinks it would have been nice to at least catch a glimpse of her.
When he’s twelve he comes home from school to find the house empty except for his room which looks like it hasn’t been touched since he was eight. He grabs his other bag fills it with his notebooks and puts two pairs of pants, two shirts, and two pairs of socks in his school bag. He leaves and doesn’t turn back.
One year later he’s sitting in an alley having burned the backpack that had his notebooks in it months ago. He's shivering in the cold of winter and tries to curl up tighter to keep some warmth but it doesn’t work and he just shivers harder. He gets up and walks to the clothing store just around the block. It’s the dead of night so no one’s around to see him pick the lock and steal a heavy jacket and some other clothes.
Izuku finishes reminiscing and he gets up from the roof's edge. He’ll need to get some new clothes soon. He stopped going to school when it started getting too expensive for his low income. He works for a little less than minimum wage at Paws and Coffee Cafe and makes up for the lost money doing odd jobs in his free time. He makes enough for food and rent in the red-light district.
His apartment consists of one bedroom, one small bathroom, a kitchenette a small living space, and a washer and dryer stacked on top of each other in the closet in the hall. He’s content with his little apartment and doesn’t plan on moving anytime soon.
His walk to work was bland. There were no heroes out nor were there any villains to run from. He makes it on time for once and he gets changed into his uniform. He works the register and busses a few tables in the downtime. He’s just finished with the final customer of the day and is getting ready to switch shifts when a man comes in his quirk firing off from his hands.
The man walks up to the register where Izuku is and tells him to empty the register and put all the money in the bag he’s put on the table. Izuku complies not wanting to get hit with an unknown light quirk. The other customer spots him looking his way and shushes him, and Izuku goes back to pulling cash out of the register and putting it in the bag.
The man calmly and quietly walks up behind the man and wraps him in the scarf he's wearing. Izuku starts putting the money he put in the bag back in the cash register and closing it then walking around the counter to thank the man.
Izuku bows and says, “Thank you for helping sir.”
“It's no problem kid but where’s your manager I want to speak with him for a moment.”
“Oh he’s out of town for a few weeks and the assistant manager won’t be here for a few days because he’s using some vacation days. So all you got.”
“Alright then, well would you mind a detective friend of mine taking a look at the security camera footage and using it as evidence?”
“Not at all but we’re switching shifts in a few minutes and I have to go soon.”
“Hell be here very soon, two minutes tops then we can get the footage and leave.”
“Alright.” Izuku nods and rounds the counter again to grab a freebie from the display case, it’s a chocolate croissant, and he eats it quickly, once the detective arrives he and the detective go to get the security cam footage and then they all leave and go their separate ways. Izuku goes to his apartment and sees a sign on his door.
“This is an eviction notice if you do not pay the amount due on the bottom of the page in three days you will be forcibly removed from the premises.”
Izuku reads how much is due and enters the apartment. He starts packing a bag of six shirts, five pairs of pants, six pairs of socks, and two notebooks that are filled with hero analysis. One is for daylight and the other is for underground.
He puts his shoes back on, leaves the keys on the doormat, turns around, and doesn’t look back.