Chapter Text
When izuku was 4 he was taken to the doctor and diagnosed quirkless, due to him having an extra joint in his pinky toe. Why? Why was a stupid joint in his foot going to decide for him? It was unfair. The car ride home was silent and so was dinner, noone even spoke until he went to bed. After his parents had thought he was asleep they started talking that quickly turned into arguing
"He's quirkless! Shouted Hizashi
"He's your son!!" Inko yelled back
As Hizashi stormed out of the house Inko broke down crying and Izuku overheard everything. The next morning when he woke up his dad still wasn't back but now neither was his mom, but she was probably just at work. His dad however has never had to leave for work before 10am before and it was... 8... but he's probably just at the store! Right? Anyway it was time for his Saturday cartoons and his mommy wasn't here to make him breakfast so he'd have to make it himself! Just some cereal and milk right? That's not hard at all. We'll it turns out the milk is heavier than he thought and he spilled some on the floor and the cereal was too high to reach so he had to climb on a chair to get it, and he nearly fell off of it but he eventually got his mighty smacks cereal that he ate with cartoons that his parents never let him watch before. When he was done he started walking to school alone for the first time.
When he got to school his teacher made him stand in front of the class while he explained to the whole class that Izuku was quirkless and they needed to be gentle with him because he was more fragile than other kids, but Izuku wasn't fragile he was going to be a strong hero like Allmight! When he tried to say this however his teacher told he needed to be quiet during class then sent him back to his seat and continued teaching. At recess he tried to play with kacchan but kacchan made him be the the civilian in danger and wouldn't let him be a hero anymore. After recess they went back to class and after school was over his mom didn't come to pick him up, so he waited. After an hour of waiting his mom still wasn't here and the teacher made him leave, he said it was because the school was closing and everyone had to leave but he looked upset. When Izuku got home his dad still wasn't home but his mom was at home watching TV with a bottle of something Izuku didn't recognize, and she started yelling at him to go to his room. Izuku didn't know what he did wrong but she was yelling and it was scary so he ran to his room just to make her stop and he didn't come out all night. That night he had nightmares where his dad never came back and his mom always yelled and he woke up crying in the morning.
When he got out of bed there was again no mom or dad so he had to make his own breakfast, luckily he had left the cereal in his reach and the milk was less full so he didn't spill as much but since noone had cleaned up the spill yesterday he slipped trying to put the milk away. After he finally made his cereal he almost didn't want to watch cartoons but he turned them on anyway hoping they'd make him feel better. His mom and dad didn't come to walk him to school this morning either so he set off. Today he and kacchan were playing in the sand when kacchan saw his sand bucket
"Hey your bucket says deku on it! Is that because you're a Deku? Haha!"
Izuku tried to protest but again kacchan wouldn't listen and Izuku never heard him say his name again, only ever Deku. He wasn't useless, he wasn't! But noone would believe him and soon after kacchan started doing it so did everyone else. And once they started they never stopped. Again his mother didn't pick him up but this time Izuku barely even waited to see if she would. Again his mother was at home watching TV and began to yell as soon as he entered the room. Later that evening his dad finally came home and Izuku was so excited he ran out to hug his dad. That... was a bad idea. He had to stay up late to pull the glass out of his legs that night and nearly overslept the next morning. His days continued similarly well into his middle school years. The waking up making his own food, walking himself to school, walking himself home, constant anger from his mom and attacks from his dad occasionally his mom as well, what started out as teasing and grew to bullying first with words then with pushes then punches. Everyone called him Deku even his teachers until he almost gave up on having name and just being Deku instead. One day in class his teacher walked in and started talking
"Ok students now i could pass out these career aptitude tests, but that'd be a waste of time I already know that you all want to be heroes!" He exclaimed as he threw the papers up. The class erupted in cheers except for Izuku who was still and small as he could make himself. Bakugou lept up on his desk and began to yell,
"Hey teach! Don't lump me in with the rest of these losers! I'm the real deal! I'm gonna get into UA and become the number one hero! These guys will be lucky to end up as sidekicks to some busted D-lister!" Just then his teacher cut back in and Izuku swore the teacher just wanted to him get beat up.
"Oh yea midoriya didn't you also want to get into UA?" He mentioned it like it was a side comment but Izuku knew he was just provoking Kacchan on purpose because he hated Izuku. Why did everyone hate him? He hadn't done anything. Nevertheless Kacchan froze before turning to growl at Izuku.
"You think your better than me Deku? Why would UA want a quirkless freak like you when they could have me! Don't even try out for the entrance exam or I'll beat you to a pulp!"
"Of course not Kacchan I-I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that!" In another universe he would've argued back, in another universe he had some form of support somewhere. But here in this in he had been beaten down by everyone so many times he didn't even try anymore. After that class returned to normal and everyone acted like nothing happened. After class he was adding info into his hero analysis notebook when Kacchan came up and grabbed out of his hands exploding it and throwing it out the window without a word.
"You'll never be a hero Deku, so stop trying." And it was the calmest he's heard the blond since they were five years old. Deku tried to speak but his words caught in his throat and all that came out was a squeak. As Kacchan walked out of the classroom he stopped in the doorway and turned his head to look over his shoulder. "If you really want to be a hero that badly there actually might be another way. Just pray for a better quirk in your next life and take a swan dive off the roof of the building!" And with that bakugou and company left the room. After they were gone Izuku quietly walks out of the room and down to look for his notebook, and when he finds it it's in the pond outside where the koi fish are.
After he grabs his notebook out of the pond, he starts lamenting to himself about how he will have to transcribe the whole thing into a new notebook. While walking he travels under an overpass and he starts to hear gurgling from the sewer grate behind him, but by time he turns around it's too light and a villain that seems to be entirely made of sludge has started suffocating him. It's talking but his ears are covered with sludge, that plus the panic creates him hearing nothing but his heart beat and his own thoughts. As he desperately struggles to escape he loses oxygen even quicker and the world fades to black. After he doesn't know how long, he wakes up to a repeated tapping on his face, a loud deep voice saying something he can't make out, and a distinct lack of sludge in his throat. After he opens his eyes and they adjust he notices the voice and face in front of him are Allmight! He immediately starts looking for his notebook for Allmight to sign but when Allmight notices he just laughs loudly.
"Hahaha! Young man I already signed your notebook, sorry to get you caught up in my justicing but i am unfamiliar with this cities sewers. Now it was nice to meet you but I really must be off!" With that Almmight crouches ready to fly away not even listening to Izukus shouts, and so Izuku tried to grab him to get his attention but Allmight doesn't notice and takes off anyways. While in the air he notices an odd weight and looks down to see the kid on his leg. "Look now I love my fans but this is too much let go," He shouts as he tries to push Izuku off.
"But if I let go now, I'll die!" Izuku had to shout back just be heard of the wind.
"Now that's a good point just close your eyes and mouth while I find us somewhere to land safely." Allmight finds a nearby roof to land on and while Izuku catches his breath Allmight starts scolding him "That was very reckless young man you need to be more careful"
"Allmight i need to ask you a question," Allmight tries to argue but Izuku talks over him. "Can I be a hero like you if I'm quirkless?" However when Izuku finally looks up from the ground he sees a gaunt skinny man, not the larger than life hero he was speaking to a moment before. When Allmight shows him his injury and explains that he can't be a hero Izuku only hears a resounding "you could never be a hero so stop trying" in his head. After Allmight leaves Izuku stands there for awhile more. Then he sits and stays for another long while. The he pulls out his wet notebook and tries to write on the still soggy paper. He makes out a letter to his mom saying all the things she did to him to make it worse, and a letter to his father saying the same. He gets to Kacchan and thinks for a moment before leaving a letter about how he wish it would've gone for them instead. The he takes off his shoes and sets them on the papers next to his backpack and he sits near the edge of the roof.he steps over the railing, grabs it and leans, but doesn't quite let go. He hears explosions, kacchans explosions. It's kacchan he will be fine. He doesn't need Izuku, Izuky is just a stupid, worthless, Deku. He lets go.