Chapter Text
As soon as Izuku had been old enough to understand the concept of being a hero, he knew that was exactly what he would be.
Izuku quickly became fascinated with the Quirks around him, the things that he believed to be the very thing that made a hero. He had started documenting them pretty much the second he had somewhat of a control over a pencil, and from there, a certainty was built into those pages filled with messy handwriting that only Izuku could decipher.
He used to flip through the pages he made for his mother and father, wondering and hoping what Quirk he could possibly get. Katsuki had theorized that with Inko’s ability to pull small objects towards her and Hisashi’s fire-breathing, Izuku would get a pyrokinetic Quirk. This led to a lot of late nights for the two boys, both hunched over a notebook, trying to find out ways that they could use Izuku’s future Quirk to fight by Katsuki’s side. Get out you rat
It all changed at the age of four.
A tiny four-year-old Izuku was sobbing. Even as he buried his face into his arms, the tears continued falling from his eyes. He was hidden away in a secluded bush, away from the rest of the people in the park. His breath shook violently as the same words that had been echoing in his mind since Monday’s appointment replayed yet again: “It’s not going to happen, kid.”
You know that feeling when you’re excited for certain plans, only to have them cancelled at the last minute, and you’re left with an empty schedule and a sense of disappointment? That was the best way to describe how Izuku felt, but instead of just one day, it was his entire life.
Izuku was a smart kid. He didn’t miss the pamphlets that had been handed to Inko for grief counselling, he didn’t miss his parents arguing, and he certainly didn’t miss the snickers behind his back. Izuku’s life was now an empty schedule, and as far as the people around him were concerned, that was how it would stay.
Izuku let out a small, blubbering sound as his tears continued to fall, but he suddenly froze as he heard the familiar stomping of feet approaching the bush he was hiding in. The leaves rustled, and a boy with spiky blond hair, wearing red shorts and a navy blue shirt, emerged triumphantly.
“Found you, Deku-” Came a voice filled with pride. Izuku could tell it was Katsuki without even looking at him. He felt Katsuki plop down beside him in the bush, and Izuku finally looked up at him, wiping the tears from his eyes but remaining silent.
Katsuki stared at Izuku so intensely that people who didn’t know the two boys well enough would assume Katsuki was glaring at Izuku instead of trying to gather his thoughts before he spoke to avoid saying something hurtful.
“All Might is the best hero, right?” Katsuki asked the question as if it were a statement, not even giving Izuku the choice to disagree because, to the two of them, that was the only possible answer. Izuku sniffled before his big green eyes looked up at Katsuki, and he gave a small nod.
Katsuki smirked at that before adding “And we’re going to both be just like 'em, right?”
Izuku hesitated before giving a small shake of his head. There was only one thing that echoed in his mind: “It’s not going to happen, kid”.
“I can’t anymore, I don’t have a Quirk.” Izuku sniffled, his voice small and hoarse from all the crying.
That earned an eye roll from Katsuki, sending a pang through Izuku’s heart. It hurt coming from the person Izuku looked up to. The person Izuku aspired to be. All of that hurt immediately vanished with Katsuki’s next words.
“Dumb-dumb, you’ve said it yourself before, the thing that makes All Might the bestest and the strongest are two things: he saves people with a smile, and he always wins! Neither of those things needs a Quirk, so stop failing at the first one and come out to play!” Katsuki’s voice sounded absolutely certain, and at that moment, Izuku was certain too.
Izuku wiped the dirt off of his pants, glancing up at the hand that was extended towards him. It was absent of the sparks Katsuki had been so proud to show off and Izuku gave him a small smile as he grabbed hold of it and stood up. Izuku wiped off his face with his arm, getting rid of the last traces of the tears that had been present. He looked forward to where Katsuki was and chased after him, scampering out of the bushes.
Katsuki wasn’t stupid.
As stormed off from Aldera Junior High, he couldn’t shake off the image of Izuku’s horrified face. The words he had said to him just minutes before echoed in his mind, playing on a constant loop that he couldn’t stop from repeating again and again.
“Someone like you would never make it into UA, why are you even trying with the dumb notebook? Are you hoping that if you stalk enough people with cool Quirks that you’ll suddenly gain one?”
“If you really want to 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.”
Katsuki had said it without hesitation. He had said it to hurt Izuku because he knew it would and there was no justifying it.
Something had been going on with Izuku for the longest time. Katsuki saw it when Izuku nodded off in class. He noticed the bags underneath his eyes that were larger than usual. Izuku had a history of getting into trouble, but this was excessive, even for him.
It wasn’t like Katsuki could just go up to him and demand answers either; he’d lost that privilege two years ago when he’d decided to stop talking to Izuku. Besides, how could he come back from all he had said to Izuku?
So he was stuck watching.
When his thoughts returned to where he was going, he found himself in an alleyway. It was a route he took home from time to time when he needed to think. It gave him the chance to cool down so he wouldn’t completely blow up at the hag.
Something brushed his shoe and once he looked down at the alleyway floor, it became obvious that some sort of animal had gotten into a trash can.
Without even thinking about it, Katsuki kicked an old can up into the air and then shot off a small blast to launch it into the brick wall. It felt good to let out some of the explosive energy he’d been storing all day, so he continued.
It became a repetitive motion.
Kick up.
Blast.
Clatter.
Kick up.
Blast.
Clatter.
Kick up.
Blast.
Cold.
Katsuki was a second too late to react and move out of the way.
It cost him.
A low chuckle that almost sounded like a gurgle emanated from the green substance that now encased him, consuming his limbs. He could feel the cold enter his body through his mouth and nose, blocking the air from getting to his lungs. His eyes widely moved, searching for a way out, only to make eye contact with yellow tinted eyes that contained small, red pupils. His body wanted to cough, but he couldn’t. It was like the life was slowly being squeezed out of him.
In the panic that was rapidly creeping up on Katsuki, there was only thought that echoed in his mind.
I can’t breathe.
Yelling was something he had always done. It was his way of communicating with almost everyone, but for the first time in his life, he couldn’t. His hands made their way up to his face and he began to desperately claw at the cold that was suffocating him.
Suddenly he was moving, sliding down the street without having taken a step. The sludge was consuming him and he couldn’t breathe. He was pulled onto a large street, violently trying to shake off the grip the sludge had on him. Katsuki grew more desperate. He sent off strong explosions that did nothing to take off any of the strain his aching lungs were under.
Just as he let out another strangled shout, he found the edges of his vision turning fuzzy. The golden glow of the flames and destruction he had caused gave off a faint warmth that was quickly fading. The embers singed the parts of Katsuki that weren’t consumed by the sludge.
There were people. Weren’t there? He could hear the faint voices over the buzzing present in his ears. They weren’t helping. Why? Katsuki tried to convince himself it was because they knew he was strong enough to deal with the villain on his own.
Izuku had been wandering down the street. His hands carefully tried to flip through his soaking wet notebook. It was a slow and difficult process to avoid tearing the pages. He flipped through it the best he could, only being met with blurred ink that bleed across the pages.
BOOM!
Izuku’s head jolted up, accidentally tugging too hard on one of the pages and tearing it. He absentmindedly acknowledged that fact, but he knew that he could try to tape it together once he returned to the apartment. His eyes scanned the areas around him.
Smoke began to rise from behind a building just a few blocks down and before Izuku could even process what he was doing, he was already running towards it.
He didn’t know why he was running. There was no point in going to watch a hero fight if he didn’t get to analyse and overcomplicate every single move by writing it down in his notebook. He always took notes when he learned and whenever he didn’t get to take them, Izuku felt like he didn’t learn anything. They were his way of studying, keeping it fresh in his mind and learning how to do better himself.
He ran through alleyways with practiced ease, not slowing down for a second to hesitate before jumping over dumpsters or weaving between pipes. His breaths came in short and even, his strides steady and controlled.
Just as he was approaching the edge of where he guessed the smoke was coming from, he was able to make out the sounds of screams and the dim glow of various flames that licked the streets. The heat radiating off of the street hit Izuku like a smack to the face as he burst out of the alleyway and into the crowd that had gathered around the scene.
The scene that greeted him was terrifying.
There was fire everywhere. It was consuming the street around him. The once warmly coloured brick buildings were now either glowing with the fire or dark with the burnt destruction that had already come.
Izuku didn’t even notice it at first, too busy scanning the streets and watching for the heroes that he expected to arrive at any moment to help save the day. That was when his eyes trailed to the center of the chaos, locking onto a pair of red ones that shone with an unrecognisable emotion.
Kacchan.
All around those familiar eyes was the same green sludge that made Izuku sick just thinking about it. There was no way. It shouldn’t have been possible. That had happened over a year ago and yet here the situation was. Katsuki was stuck in the same suffocating situation that Izuku had found himself in.
Izuku’s eyes desperately searched the crowd. There had to be heroes on their way. People who were both trained and paid to help the citizens who celebrated their heroic acts.
For a moment, relief filled Izuku’s heart. He could see the giant figure of Mount Lady approaching the scene. Then he realised she had stopped. From what he could tell, she didn’t have enough room to get to Katsuki without causing more damage, but that shouldn’t matter. Someone needed to be saved and she was just standing there.
His eyes frantically searched around him. Kamui Woods, Deatharms and Backdraft. They were all here.
Why were the heroes just standing there?
Why are the very same people who are paid to save people not even moving?
Izuku could feel the familiar weight in his pocket. For the first time in his life, his feet were planted on the ground, heavy with the weight of the situation.
Then he made eye contact with Katsuki at the center of it all once again and he finally figured out what the unrecognisable emotion was.
It was fear.
Katsuki was scared. It was unnatural to see his red eyes wide, his eyebrows knitted together and the paleness that allowed the sick green colour to reflect off of his skin. A pain filled Izuku's chest. It was hurting him to stay back. How could he when Katsuki looked so terrified?
He had managed to avoid attention all his life. He had learned to keep his head down while keeping his chin up, but now it was different. He could help. He wasn’t the useless “Deku” that everyone assumed he was.
How can I sit there and do nothing when I can help?
Izuku realised that he was already moving. He shoved his way through the crowd without mercy, no longer just trying to squeeze by without being noticed, but desperately pushing to make it through.
People yelled at Izuku, or at least that's what he thought they were doing. He couldn't hear any of it with the familiar adrenaline filled buzzing that played in his ears. He could feel his heart racing. It was beating in a frantic rhythm that had become familiar to him.
As he ran, he reached into his pocket to grab what he now kept on him at all times. It was something that had become an automatic movement over the past few months.
The fire was reflected in the shiny surface. His thumb rested on the base of the hilt while the rest of his fingers gripped on so tight that his knuckles turned white. The blade faced outwards and away from Izuku’s body as he ran.
For a moment it seemed like some sort of hero would try to stop Izuku. A familiar man with large arms and blue hair reached to grab him and Izuku couldn’t blame him for it. That didn’t stop Izuku from wrenching his arm out of the grip without hesitation.
The smoke grew thicker as Izuku continued to rush past everything in his way. Abandoned cars littered the sickeningly hot streets. It was as if an entire street had turned into an oven, with the colourful cars that littered the street absorbing the warmth of the scattered flames.
The looming figure of dripping green sludge did nothing to shade the street due to how bright the flames were. Izuku had all of ten seconds to analyse the giant teeth and big ugly yellow coloured eyes with red pupils before he made his move.
Izuku leapt into the air, the arm with the knife lifted above his head. His eyes locked onto the stared into the face of the very same villain who had attacked him back when he couldn’t defend himself. He couldn’t understand how this had happened. All Might himself had dealt with that villain all those months ago. How in the world was it here now?
Thinking back on it, Izuku came to the realization that he must’ve distracted All Might so much with his stupid question, that the number one hero hadn’t noticed the bottle in which the villain was trapped had fallen out. Most alleyways in Musutafu were left unclean with bits of trash scattered around. With the idea of the bottle falling into a deserted alleyway left for all those months, it became increasingly clear that the Sludge villain must’ve been desperate and had gone for the very first person they could once they had been freed.
The idea of anyone going through the same, suffocating experience that Izuku had gone through did something to Izuku. He needed to save Katsuki. He needed to prevent anyone else from going through the same fear and pain that he had gone through.
Izuku brought the knife down with one strong arm. The blade went straight for the eye.
There was a sickening squishing noise as the knife was driven directly into the center of the villain’s pupil. It was as if a balloon had burst, spewing bits and pieces everywhere. Unsurprisingly instead of the regular red liquid that would pool and drip, green sludge began to spew out. For just a second the Sludge Villain let out a shudder of pain and with that single moment of distraction, Izuku was able to grab onto Katsuki’s arm and pull him from the depths of the sludge.
Without missing a beat Izuku began to run back the way he came. Izuku didn’t let go of Katsuki, he refused to let go as he dragged the boy who was gasping for air through the fire. He ignored the sludge that Katsuki continuously coughed up as his sole focus was on weaving through the ever growing flames.
Now that Katsuki was out of the way due to Izuku’s idiotic decision, the heroes were finally spurred into action. Immediately the firefighter hero Backdraft began to put out the fires that were consuming the street with the massive spouts of water that escaped his hose like hands.
The second Izuku and Katsuki had made it back to safety, Katsuki was whisked off by a random hero to receive medical attention for the sludge that was likely still in his body. Izuku on the other hand was forced to stare up at the looming figure of the prohero Death Arms. The bulky hero was practically glaring at Izuku and he took that as his cue to scramble to hide the sludge covered knife behind his back, flashing a smile at the hero.
“Can I get an autograph…?” Izuku asked quietly, not daring to meet the eyes of the Prohero.
Being able to tell when someone was lying to you was actually more of a curse rather than a blessing; it was something Tsukauchi had learned almost immediately after developing his Quirk.
His Quirk wasn’t particularly powerful, as it only worked if someone was talking directly to him. It worked great for interrogations, and paired with his natural observation skills, it led to Tsukauchi having a very successful career as an interrogator and detective.
Somedays it got tiring or slow with the repetitive paperwork, but Tsukauchi overall enjoyed the work he did, so of course he’d end up with a thirteen year old boy sitting across from him. He took a moment to observe the nervous demeanor of the boy and how his hands fidgeted.
“I’m going to need you to explain what exactly happened.” Tsukauchi firmly said, his gaze focused on the kid in front of him. Tsukauchi saw as the green haired boy glanced up at him hesitantly before he finally spoke up.
“I saw my friend in trouble, so I jumped in to save him.”
True.
The detective had to hold back a sigh at that one. “Why’d you do it when there were countless heroes nearby?” He asked, his tone neutral.
“Well… because none of them were doing anything.”
True.
“You understand that using a Quirk to interfere in hero work is highly illegal, correct?” Tsukauchi informed Izuku, his hands moving to fold on top of the table in front of him. That earned him a weird look from the kid sitting in front of him.
“I don’t have a Quirk.”
True.
Tsukauchi’s eyebrows shot up for a moment in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting that. The kid had told him the truth. He quickly moved his hands and glanced back down on the files containing Izuku’s information.
Name: Izuku Surname: Midoriya
Parents/Guardians: Hisashi Midoriya and Inko Midoriya
Birthday: July 15th Age: 13
Address: .
School: Aldera middle school
Quirk Status: Quirkless
So Izuku really was Quirkless. His record was clean and Tsukauchi knew just how hard it would be for a boy like Izuku to have any sort of future, let alone one if he had a criminal record.
“You got any plans for the future?”
Izuku paused in his fidgeting and thought for a moment, as if wondering if he should tell the detective.
“I want to get into UA and become a hero so I can save people with a smile.” he said. There was something different in his tone compared to how he had been speaking before, as if there was a deep determination fueling those words.
Tsukauchi regarded the kid thoughtfully. He hadn’t been expecting that answer, but he honestly shouldn’t have been surprised considering the whole reason the kid had been dragged to the station by Death Arms in the first place.
He was well aware of the statistics surrounding the Quirkless population. The violent crimes against them, the unemployment rates, and the suicides were higher than the Quirked population by a significant amount. To have a child who is facing all those challenges and was still able to have that spark of determination in their eyes? It was unique for sure.
Was it really worth it to ruin a kid's entire future over a dumb decision that had actually paid off? Tsukauchi didn't have the time or heart to do it, not with the other stuff he had on his plate.
He had other stuff to worry about right now. The amount of criminals that had ended up randomly tied up in an alleyway was getting concerning. There had been so many break-ins and other minor crimes put to a stop, but when the time came for whichever hero who dealt with them to complete the paperwork necessary to receive the adequate pay for the job? No one had stepped up to claim the job as their own. This behaviour pattern had been exhibited for months at this point, and had only been escalating, now and it was beginning to worry Tsukauchi that they had a vigilante on their hands.
A sigh escaped Tsukauchi. He wouldn’t take away a kid's dream for an offence as minor as this.
“You’re lucky that the villain you stabbed has regeneration abilities. Your record is clean and I’d like to keep it that way for you. You’re off the hook, but you need to understand why you can’t ever do something like that again.” Tsukauchi stated firmly, giving Izuku a stern look to ensure the message came across clearly.
“...I understand.”
The car ride with Inko was dead silent. It was surprising Inko had even come to pick him up in their beat up old car, as half the time she was too drunk or hung over to even think about stepping behind the wheel.
He had been scared the second she pulled up to the station to pick him up Inko would be taken in for inebriated driving, but it seemed as if she had gotten a lot better since the letters from Hisashi had gotten more frequent. Izuku was glad, but he wished that Inko would let him read the letters. He would never stop hoping that one day Hisashi would write to him.
His eyes remained straight ahead on the road so he wouldn’t have to look at Inko and see that uncaring stare again. He was scared. Izuku hated the silence. Inko’s silence was the worst of them all.
She seemed to have come to some sort of decision, but if she really had, she clearly wasn’t going to tell Izuku what exactly was running through her head at the moment.
Finally the silence was broken by one simple question.
“You’ll never give up on being a hero, will you.”
It was a statement and not a question, so Izuku didn’t reply because he knew replying would only lead to an argument. There was something that remained in the air of the car that Izuku couldn’t shake. Something was going through Inko’s head and Izuku hadn’t had access to any of her thoughts in years, so he was left in the unbearable silence as always.