Chapter Text
Midoriya was five when his quirk appeared for the first time.
He had always wondered what his quirk would be. He had watched his classmates, his friends, and everyone else around him gain their quirks, and he couldn’t wait for his own to manifest.
Sometimes, he’d sit and daydream about what his quirk could possibly be. He had seen Kacchan’s quirk—so cool!—and he imagined having explosions too. They would be such a useful tool for fighting villains.
His mom had always told him that he could be a hero no matter what quirk he had. But still, a powerful one certainly wouldn’t hurt, right?
As his classmates manifested their quirks one by one, Midoriya began to worry. Could he be quirkless? No, it couldn’t be. Maybe he was just a late bloomer, and his quirk would appear any day now. That’s what his mother, his teacher, and even Kacchan had told him.
In another world, perhaps Midoriya’s fears would be the case. In this world, however, Midoriya’s fears were unfounded.
Bakugo stared at Midoriya, who was sitting in front of him. Boredom had long overtaken Bakugo’s senses. His math teacher was droning on about addition, the teacher’s fingers dancing across the chalkboard. Addition was the last thing Bakugo cared about. He was going to use his quirk to become a hero, save people, defeat villains, and surpass everyone—just like All Might!
He only wished that Midoriya would develop his own quirk sooner. Maybe they could work as partners? Midoriya could make a great hero, if only his stupid quirk could come in.
Then Bakugo saw something that made him blink in disbelief. Midoriya’s entire body seemed to flicker with a blue color, as if a second skin of glowing blue energy had momentarily covered him.
Did I see that? Bakugo mentally muttered It couldn’t have been…right?
But when he saw Midoriya's reaction—looking around in shock and staring at his forearm to make sure it wasn’t his imagination—Bakugo's suspicion grew.
Then, it happened again, this time the blue energy coating Midoriya’s skin lasting long enough for Bakugo to be certain that it wasn’t a construct created of his mind.
Other children in the classroom seemed to notice this as well, and murmurs spread across the room, much to the teacher’s annoyance.
Just as the teacher turned around from the chalkboard to scold the class, Midoriya’s shield of blue energy surrounding his skin flared on again, this time staying firmly in place.
“Woah! What’s going on with you? Why are you blue?” Bakugo shouted, his mind mentally examining what appeared to be a full body shield. The shield appeared to be comprised of a form of energy, coating Midoriya’s body like a second skin.
“I don’t know!” Midoriya answered, incredulity in his voice. “Is this my quirk?”
The teacher, recovering from his shock, nodded. “Yes, Midoriya. It seems your quirk has manifested. I’ll call your mother to pick you up and take you for a quirk analysis to register it in the HSPC database.”
As Inko arrived and led Midoriya away, his blue shield still shimmering around his body, Bakugo couldn’t help but wonder what Midoriya’s quirk could be.
A durability quirk? That would synchronize well with his explosions, making them a duo of a sword and a shield, defense and offense. A durability quirk seemed to be the only logical explanation for Midoriya’s coating, unless he was somehow able to weaponize his blue energy.
Midoriya sat down in a small chair within a pristine white hospital room. His mom smiled reassuringly at him from a observation room behind a large glass window. His quirk specialist, a middle aged man with strange gold rimmed glasses with green lenses sat on a chair facing him.
“Izuku Midoriya? That is your name, correct?” The doctor asked.
Midoriya nodded. The doctor smiled reassuringly, looking down at his clipboard.
“Our first test will to see if you can turn off your quirk. Could you try that for me?”
Midoriya focused hard, and his blue shield flickered off without much effort. He then focused on turning it on, and he felt the strange sensation of his quirk powering on once more.
The doctor nodded. “Thank you very much. It seems like you can control your quirk’s activation status. As your grow older, you will become much more grateful for that ability. Now, let us see what your quirk does.”
White coated assistants brought in a small machine, which the doctor adjusted and inserted a small piece of rubber into.
“We will now test to see if your quirk is a form of a durability enhancement. We will shoot a small chunk of rubber rubber at your chest, at a low, safe speed, to see how your ‘shield’ will react to the impact.” The doctor kindly informed him. “After I shoot the dart, let me know if you feel anything.”
Izuku nodded.
Behind the glass of the observation room, Inko sat in worry as assistants attempted to convince her her that the rubber would be completely safe to Midoriya.
Midoriya heard a spring release as a the machine projected it’s payload towards him. The dart, no larger than a eraser, sailed gracefully though the air, before coming to a dead stop the instant it touched the blue energy.
The point of impact glowed brighter for a instant upon impact, then the dart fell onto Midoriya’s lap.
“Did you feel anything?”
Midoriya shook his head at the doctor.
The doctor noted his observations on his clipboard. “Now, regulations state that the dart I just shot at you was the largest and fastest we can legally shoot at a five-year old. Let’s run some more tests.”
Throughout the day, other factors were thrown against Midoriya’s shield. Sound, heat, wind, kinetics, none of them were capable of making it through the shield coating his skin.
The doctor was about to conclude that Midoriya had an exceptionally versatile durability quirk, when something strange caught his eye. In the pictures taken during the tests, Midoriya’s shield seemed to glow brighter after each trial, as though it was absorbing energy from whatever had been thrown against it.
If Midoriya Izuku’s quirk could absorb energy, could it also release it?
Midoriya was brought into a room made of steel-reinforced concrete to test what he could release. Within the room sat a beat-up training dummy, evidently having seen the brunt end of a fair few destructive quirks.
“Now, Izuku, I want you to point a open palm at the dummy and focus. Imagine releasing energy from your body, pushing something out.”
Midoriya wasn’t sure what he could release. Hopefully it wasn’t just a simple explosion like Kacchan’s—he didn’t want to copy his best friend, as helpful as that would be.
As he focused, some energy from his shield seemed to consolidate on his open palm. It glowed brighter, before a small explosion sound was heard. A blue-tinted wave erupted from his palm, slamming into the training dummy, knocking it over and sending it into the wall.
The doctor seemed utterly fascinated. “Wonderful! It appears that you can also release some form of energy. Perhaps kinetic energy? We shall do some more tests”
After much more testing - Midoriya begged his mother to allow him to fully understand his quirk - the doctor presented Izuku and Inko with his results.
“Mrs. Midoriya, your son has an extraordinary quirk. The primary part of this quirk is the semi-translucent shield that coats his skin. He can absorb any type of energy—thermal, sound, kinetic, etc.— that is exerted upon his shield, which is then converted into kinetic energy and stored in his shield. He can release this stored energy from any part of his body, at whatever spread or speed he desires. It’s highly customizable.”
The doctor paused, studying his notes. “As more energy accumulates in his shield, it grows brighter. There’s likely an upper limit to how much energy he can store, but it's so high that our tests can’t give us a clear estimate.”
Inko smiled with pride. “Do you hear that, Izuku? You have a quirk! You’re going to become a Hero!”
"I am sure that he will. Now, Izuku, there is one final thing to do." Continued the doctor, with a kind expression on his face. "What do you want to name your quirk?"
Izuku didn't have to think very hard. He already knew what he wanted. Smiling at his mother, Izuku told the doctor the name he desired.
"I want to name it, Kinetic Reflect!"