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Izuku isn’t like other kids. At least, that’s what he’s told.
He’s fragile.
The words the doctor tells his mother as tears well up in his eyes.
They live in a world where supernatural abilities are what is now seen as normal, while those like him aren’t evolved.
Quirkless.
That word diminishes over time as people like him start to fade away. He is just one of the few that isn’t lucky, at all.
At home, his mom started to make his favorite food, katsudon, to cheer him up. Sitting in his All Might onesie as he waited, Izuku replayed the same video of All Might, over and over again.
“Fear not citizens, hope has arrived! Because I am here!” The recording plays on the computer as Inko walks into the room.
“See that, Mom?” Izuku asks, still watching the recording.
“There’s always a smile on his face, no matter how bad things get.” He pauses, still looking at the video.
“Even when things seem impossible, he never gives up.” Izuku whispers, just loud enough that she can hear him as he turns the chair towards her.
“Do you think I can be a hero, too?”
“I’m sorry, Izuku!” She cries, grasping him in a tight hug as tears roll down his face.
It isn’t what he wanted to hear. He wanted her to believe in him. He wanted to be strong, just like All Might.
He didn’t go to school the next day, his mom by his side as he continued to watch and analyze videos of different heroes. It was the only thing he could do. The quirkless couldn’t do anything but watch.
His mother puts a warm hand on his back as the tears drip down onto his notebook. She rubs her hand up and down his back as his tears start to let loose, ruining the pen ink on the paper.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t good enough to get a quirk, Mom.” He wailed through his tears, hiccuping in between each word.
Inko continued to console him, wrapping him in a warm embrace. Snot and tears soaked into her blouse, but she didn’t care. He was her son.
His mother was the only one who ever stuck with him, especially after everyone left him for being quirkless. She was the world to him, and he was her joy.
Izuku still wanted to be a hero, though.
That’s what truly scared his mother.
She tried to cling onto her baby as much as she could. Keeping him inside, away from others. All so he wouldn’t get hurt. But as he grew, he began to change.
Izuku was taunted and harassed every single day. He could always hide it from his mother, all to hope for a dream that felt impossible.
He wouldn’t dare let her see the burn marks that were left across his body from his former childhood friend, or the scars on his legs that he’d inflict on himself as he wished for a quirk.
She couldn’t know about the spider lilies left on his desk in the mornings, or the words engraved into his desk. Not the name ‘deku’ either.
He let it build up, over and over again.
So now, it was early on into his third year of middle school. He had woken up to his alarm beeping the same high pitched noise. Once he turned it off, it was silent.
He got ready for school like usual, keeping an ear out for his mother. She’d often play music in the morning as she cooked, singing along to it.
He hopped into the shower, letting the water run through his unruly curls. He stared around at the tile, trying not to stare off into the scars across his body.
His hair was hard to manage, the thick curls twisting all different ways. His mother tried to help him care for it, buying all sorts of products and watching different videos; but she never could get it right. He just left it alone, too tired to manage it.
Once he had finished getting ready, he grabbed his backpack with his hero analysis notes sitting in it. He walked out of his room, towards the kitchen.
Something felt off
The lights were still off, there wasn’t music on, and his mother was nowhere to be found. Izuku tried to keep calm and search the house, but once he entered the kitchen, he knew something was wrong.
A letter sat on the dining table, signed by his mother. Izuku set his bag down onto the chairs, opening the thick envelope before him.
A wad of cash fell out before him onto the table. Izuku ignored it, pulling out the letter hastily.
Izuku,
I’m sorry.
I just couldn’t take it anymore.
Your dreams of becoming a hero terrifies me, my heart just can’t take it. I know I couldn’t stop you, my baby.
I left you 150,000 yen. It’s a lot, I know. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. This should cover next month’s rent and whatever other expenses you have. I know they made it so the quirkless can work younger than 15.
Please, take care of yourself Izuku. I wish I could be a better mother.
-Inko
Tears stung Izuku’s eyes as the page came to an end. He shoved the money into a hidden part in his backpack, wiping his tears and leaving the letter there as he exited the apartment.
He walked slowly, dreading the day to come at Aldera Middle School. His feet dragged on the sidewalk, and his eyes lingered on the street as his thoughts overwhelmed his mind.
He didn’t bother to watch the heroes fight a supervillain, he couldn’t do anything. He was in shock.
Once he had made it to his classroom, he opened the door to see spider lilies piled on top of his desk and new burn marks scuffed into the side.
He moped his way over, brushing the flowers into his bags as he set down his stuff. He was dead center of the classroom, judging eyes staring at him intently.
Izuku kept his head on the desk, trying to make himself as small as possible. The class started, but no matter how many times the teacher called him out he couldn’t bother to lift his head. The teacher stopped calling out to him after the 3rd time, but Izuku continued to feel eyes on him.
“So, as third year students it’s time to start thinking seriously about your futures and what you want to do with your lives.” The teacher began, leaning onto his stand.
”I could pass out some career aptitude tests, but why bother?” He said, flinging the the papers towards the class
“I know you all want to go to the hero track!” He laughed, turning towards the chalkboard.
“Yes yes, you’ve got some very impressive quirks. But no power usage allowed at school! Get a hold of yourselves!” He yelled over the cheering among the class.
“Hey teach, don’t lump me in with this bunch of losers. I’m the real deal, but these guys will be lucky to end up sidekicks to some busted D-Lister.” Bakugo sneered, feet up on the desk as he talked.
”YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN US KATSUKI? The class yelled at his remark, fuming.
”LETS GO! I’ll take you all on!” He replied back.
”Huh.. you’ve got impressive test results.. maybe you will get into UA High.” The teacher replied.
The class muttered around him, about how impossible it would be for him to get there.
”That’s exactly why it’s the only place worthy of me. I aced all the mock tests, I’m the only person at this school who stands a chance at getting in. I’ll end up more popular than All Might himself, and be the richest hero of all time! People all across the world will know who I am, and it all starts with UA High!” Bakugo insisted, going on a tangent on how he’s the best
”Oh yeah, Midoriya, don’t you wanna go to UA too?” The teacher remarked as Izuku hid himself.
The whole class laughed in his face, crowds of people sneered and taunted him about being quirkless. Izuku got up, tired, and tried to deflect but Bakugo exploded his desk.
”Listen up, Deku! You’re even worse than the rest of these damn rejects, you quirkless wannabe! You really think they’d like someone like you in when they could have me?” Bakugo hollered, backing Izuku into the corner of the room.
”What? You’ve got it all wrong! Really!! I’m not trying to compete against you! You gotta believe me! It’s just, I’ve wanted to be a hero since I was little. I may not have a quirk, but I can still try my hardest, can’t I?” Izuku insisted, further trying to back up.
“You’d never be able to hang with the best of the best! You’d die in the exams! Defenseless Izuku, this schools already crappy. You really wanna embarrass it more by failing so hard?” Bakugo laughed, the entire class giggling around them.
As school ended, students began to trickle out of the classroom. Izuku was still packing up when Bakugo and his friends walked towards him.
”I don’t know what you think you’re doing, Deku, but we’re not done.” Bakugo said, picking up Izuku’s hero analysis notebooks, exploding them before his eyes.
”I think he gets it. He’ll never be a hero, better to find out now instead of later, I guess.” One of the boys said, exiting the room and Izuku fumed.
“You know if you really wanna be a hero that badly, there actually might be another way. Just pray that you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the roof of the building. Bakugo sneered, laughing as they began to exit the room.
His hands were balled into fists, grasping onto the desk below him. Izuku was furious. He seethed and he tried to keep calm. He wanted to say something, to yell and act out but when he turned around he was struck with fear. Bakugo’s cold eyes looked at Izuku and he left the room.
When Izuku had recollected himself, he walked out of the building, going off to the side to grab his notebook. He was so upset, but he couldn’t express into words how he felt. He was just so tired.
Taking his time, he began to walk the long way towards his apartment. He was walking under an overpass, laughing to himself. Behind him came a villain, thick, disgusting, sludge.
“You’ll make a perfect skin suit for me to hide in, kid!” The villain laughed, pouncing onto Izuku.
He engulfed the boy in the sludge, laughing as it filled his lungs. Izuku couldn’t breathe, he tried to grab at it and rip it off his body, but he couldn’t. Fear ran throughout his veins as he lost his breath. He thought he was going to die. He was drowning and nobody was there to save him. Tears rolled down his face as he kicked and grabbed, but there was no use.
“Have no fear, you are safe, because I am here!” A voice recognizable by everyone announced. All Might was here to save him.
He punched the sludge villain away, capturing him as Izuku’s consciousness faded away. The poor boy was terrified. All Might tapped the boy's face until he woke up, the small boy jolting up quickly.
"You're up! Are you feeling okay?" All Might asked, shooting a thumbs up at Izuku.
Izuku nodded slowly, trying to recollect himself as he became aware of his surroundings. He blinked slowly as he picked up his backpack and his notebook. Looking into it, All Might signed across the two pages in the back of his notebook.
"All Might! I've got so many questions to ask you! I know you're busy and all because you're a hero, but I need to ask you something really important!" Izuku rambled, talking mostly to himself.
"Young Man, I must go, I've got hero work to do!" The man urged, preparing himself to jump into the air.
Before he knew it, Izuku latched on to the man, flying into the air with him as he tried to flee. The man tried to push him off, quickly realizing how far up they were in the air before he decided to land onto the roof of one of the tall city buildings.
Izuku needed to ask the question he'd always long to ask. After sending the same exact question in All Might's fan inbox over the years, he's finally got the chance to ask it to his face.
"Can someone without a quirk be a hero like you?"
The once strong looking man deflated into a stick and Izuku couldn't believe his eyes. The man the world has idolized, and who has been his biggest role model upheld an idea much larger than him. In reality, All Might was a tired man who had too many battle to fight on his own. Hidden behind his fearless smile was dread for what was to come, and once could see it in his sunken in face. The man explained how he had become like this, and how it affected him. That's when Izuku heard his answer.
"No, honestly I don't believe you can become a hero without a quirk."
It broke Izuku.
It was the last sliver of hope he had, and it was broken into a million pieces.
The man left him there on that roof, and all Izuku could do was sit.
That's exactly what he did.
He sat for hours on that roof, legs between the fencing. The day went away into darkness, the sun fading into cotton candy skies. He couldn't help but dream of a world where he wasn't quirkless, where he could be a hero, where he was supposed to be alive. He wanted to see his mother and watch a movie with her just one more time. He knew he couldn't. Not unless he did it in the next life.
Unwanted thoughts flooded his mind, full of negativity and self hatred. A brewing pit of melancholy started in his stomach, engulfing him in sorrow. He just wanted to feel normal. He didn't want to feel these things, or think these thoughts.
He took off his shoes, the ones that pointed his status out to so many people. The shoes that were specifically made for the quirkless. They were left sitting on the balcony behind him. Izuku was careful, moving each foot carefully over the fence as he continued to grip onto it with his hands. His elbows were wrapped around the fencing and his feet just barely were on the ledge.
The cold breeze hit his face, reddening his cheeks. He looked below himself, cars driving quickly down the multi lane roads. His grip loosened on the bars and he began to fall.
Fast.
He was only filled with regret.
He couldn't save himself, Bakugo was right about him being defenseless.
Izuku thought he had accepted his fate, but he wasn't ready to die.
He didn't truly want to die.
Tears erupted from his eyes as time passed slower than molasses.
He felt the wind knock out of him, a tight band wrapped around his waist.
The view from halfway down wasn't as beautiful as he thought it would be.
He was lowered down to the ground, barefoot, looking for who saved him.
Out of the corner of his watery eyes, Izuku could see a man, he held onto the other end of the capture weapon. Izuku stared down at the fabric and back towards the yellow goggles the man wore. He approached Izuku slowly, loosening his hold on him. Once they had gotten to a reasonable distance, the man began to speak.
"I'm the Pro-Hero, Eraserhead. Are you okay?" Eraserhead asked, concern heard all throughout his voice.
Izuku knew exactly who this man was, his hero analysis notes filled to the brim with every piece of info he could find on Eraser.
"Um.. Eraserhead, do you think that someone without a quirk could be a hero?" Izuku asked, his voice shaking. Izuku already knew to prepare himself for the worst, that he couldn't be one.
"I don't see why not, kid." The man replied, completely letting go of him with the capture weapon.
Tears came to Izuku's eyes once again, he had always been a crier. This time though, he was finally crying tears of happiness