Chapter Text
T.W- blood, gore, bullying, foul language, suicide baiting, DARK AU. Read at your own risk.
Note — this first chapter might feel rushed. I'm focusing on the more impactful parts. I'm writing this because most of the details are already in canon. This first chapter is just background and might seem too fast, so please bear with me.
A normal day for Izuku Midoriya, one of the only quirkless kids in the city, was waking up at midnight to nightmares and staying up until sunrise, going to school, getting beaten up, and running back to his room to bandage his wounds before Inko saw them.
This was one of those brutal days. He arrived at school and was immediately hit with crumpled paper balls in the face as he entered the classroom. He picked it up and hesitantly opened it to see "k## yourself!" It was normal to him by now
He walked over to his seat as people teased him and whispered. He didn't like it but was used to it. That's when the teacher (same one from canon) walked in. Brown suit, crappy hair, and a look that screamed "I wanna go home"
"Good morning, class, sit down," in his flat-out monotone voice.
"Good morning," everyone else said, annoyed, tired, like every other class.
"Today, I will be handing out your career choice forms for what you want to be in the future." He said, taking out a stack of papers and flipping through them
"But let's be honest, you all probably don't need them cuz it's obvious what you all want to be, isn't it?" Voice unusually cheerful now as he threw the papers up and said
"Ofc you all wanna go to UA high and be heroes!"
The class erupted in laughter and excitement. It was their final year of middle school at Aldera Junior High. In a world full of quirk users, only 20% are quirkless.
Izuku Midoriya was one of them. Even tho he aspired to be a hero like the symbol of peace, the all might, he couldn't do that without any special abilities.
Just then, one of the kids got up and started to speak.
"Honestly, it's kinda dumb that all of you think you can be heroes. Everyone here will be lucky to end up as sidekicks to some busted garbage. Meanwhile, I'm the real deal."
Some rolled their eyes while some watched. "I have one of the most powerful quirk of all, the highest grade in this school, and have the most potential. There's no doubt I'll be the 1st one in Aldera Junior to go to UA."
Izuku midoriya watched in awe, the kid was right. Katsuki Bakugo was known as a prodigy, and everyone knew he'd be one of the top heroes.
Katsuki sat back down as the teacher asked "what about you Midoriya? Don't you wanna be a hero too?" He asked, condescendingly
Midoriya put his head down knowing what's coming.. pure humiliation
The class watched in silence for a moment and erupted in laughter and started mocking him. Just then, katsuki got up and punched his hands together as he mockingly said
"Are you kidding? There's no way he'll be a hero without a quirk. He'll get nowhere in life by just being ordinary. Isn't that right? Deku?" he laughed as midoriya put his head down even further
After class? He was gathering his things when katsuki grabbed his book and threw it out. He then said while walking out
"Ya know, there might be another way for you to get yourself another quirk. Just pray you'll be born with a quirk in your next life and take a swan dive off a building"
Deku had enough, he turned around and instantly got punched in the face and fell to the ground as his head hit the table. He tried to sit up straight as he saw one of katsuki's friends towering over him. He looked at the door, bakugo was gone
He'd already left. The taste of rusty iron and blood filled up his throat. He was used to it but today was particularly bad
He final managed to get away and ran to the pond where his book was floating with fish biting off tiny bits of paper, his black ink bleeding into the water a bit. He grabbed his book and just walked slowly with blood lightly dripping from the side of his head.
Things are just like they were in canon (the original story in the manga) except things are way darker and went sideways after izuku tries to save bakugo on the street from the slug villain
Before that, Izuku was walking to the pharmacy to get bandages, he went into this dark underbridge (you will know if you've seen the manga or anime) where he's attacked by this green slug villain
He stopped dead in his tracks as he heard the villain speak behind him. Things are the same as they were in canon. He desperately tried to break free but eventually stops.. he didn't have the strength to fight back anymore
And like in the OG story, he's saved by all might. The all might, the symbol of peace. He woke up to see all might smacking his face. He froze... Is this real?
He went on the rant like in canon. He opened his book to find it already signed. He started bowing to all might saying "this will be passed down in my family for generations to come!"
All might laughed, amused by this kid. He then asked "how bad was the attack? Your head is bleeding, we need to get you to a hospital" in his animated, deep voice meant to entertain people and make them smile
"Oh.. i had this before the villain attack..." Izuku explained, his excitement replaced with shame and embarrassment
All might froze.. he asked the kid "who did this to you?" Confused and concerned
"It's nothing, just a few students at school" he tried to sugarcoat, trying to make it seem less bad than it already was
All might was stunned... A few middle school bullies could really be that brutal?
All might then asked "well you should get to a hospital" his time was running out. He was going to transform back any minute
"I'll do that, thank you for saving me but I have a qu-" too late, all might was abt to fly off
Without thinking izuku grabbed onto his leg and flew up w him. All might had to land on a roof because of this, dropping the slug villain...
"Are you crazy? You could've died" he said but before izuku can reply all might deflated into his skinny form. Izuku was stunned
He went on to explain he isn't that muscular in real life and that he's had an injury 5 years ago. He showed the hole in his stomach and said he can only maintain his form for 3 hours.
After the canon conversation, izuku asked the question he was dreading to ask
"U were about to ask something?" All might asked
"Yea... I was wondering... if..."
"Spit it out kid"
"If it's possible to be a hero without a quirk..."
.
.
.
"No.." all might said, flatly
Izuku looked up, feeling heartbroken. There's this awkward silence that felt like forever. He knew he'd hear this answer but still couldn't accept it
"You should just pick a normal office job kid. Being a hero isn't for the quirkless.. it's too dangerous..." he said before walking off, leaving Izuku on that roof
Things might seem boring, it's the same story at first but keep reading, you won't regret it
Izuku went back home that night and locked himself like he usually does. He felt more useless than ever. The next day was a blur of the same thing, getting bullied, beaten up and walking back home
But on his way, he saw his childhood friend, his now bully getting attacked by the same villain. Even all might was there, ofc no one could recognise him.
And just like in canon, Izuku ran in without thinking, leaving everyone speechless. All might was mortified. This quirkless kid was trying to save his bully?
And like you would expect, all might finally stepped in, saving both boys from getting eaten by that slug villain.
Now this is where things turn, instead of being left off with a warning like in canon. The police chief took Izuku into custody and arrested the kid
Izuku, who was already scared was now terrified. The police chief looked *mad*. He aggressively put cuffs on the kid's hands and said "your under arrest for tampering with a hero's official duty"
The place seemed to have stopped in time. Izuku took a moment to process what he'd just heard. He'd never heard a law like this.
All might was helping Katsuki up when he noticed Izuku being cuffed. He walked over, confused and asked "why is he being arrested? He tried to save this young man"
"He interrupted and interfered with a villain and a crime. That's a felony all might" he said, dismissively
"But it's a kid, no damage was done and it's his first offense if I'm not mistaken. And I've never heard of a law like this" he argued
"I'm sorry all might, but he put another kid's life at risk too"
Even katsuki thought it was messed up. He still couldn't swallow his pride and stayed quiet. He usually wouldn't care and would've even smirked but he didn't.. he was already feeling like he'd gone too far yesterday with the swan dive comment so this hit him *hard*
All might continued to argue with the chief and kept getting turned down. He helplessly watched as this kid with a good heart was getting arrested for something to that should be called noble.
Izuku was interrogated and during the questioning, the chief discovered that izuku was the reason all might accidentally dropped the slug villain. He ordered juvenile, charged with 6 months of juvenile detention away from family
All might, when he heard this felt knots growing in his stomach. To him? This kid was the one who reminded him of what a hero is supposed to do. Without izuku, he would've never been able to save katsuki but that didn't matter anymore. He even thought of making this kid the 9th user of one for all...
So hearing this kid was getting punished, he was appalled. Angry even. He was starting to feel a bit guilty for forgetting his own quirkless status when he was younger