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Izuku Midoriya has always been an odd kid. Odd in a way that is unnatural. Alarming even. His mother pays no attention to his oddness. She gives him love. Gives him food. Gives him shelter. Listens to his mumbly and exceptionally long rants. She stayed with him when no one else could. When no one else would. So, when she asks him to dye his hair green or cover up his multitude of freckles, he does so in a heartbeat. He has to be a good son after all.
Izuku Midoriya is an odd kid, but not an unapproachable one. He talks with strangers on the street and they listen to him. His smile is always full and bright. He offers a helping hand whenever he can. Whenever he sees a problem he works to correct it. If anyone was struggling he would be the first to notice. If an old man was having trouble weaving his way across the road he would offer to help him cross it. If someone lost their wallet Midoriya would be the first one trying to help find it. Whenever someone is feeling down he tries to turn their day around. It’s just the type of kid he is. Need a spare coin? Midoriya could help. Feel like you’re about to cry? Do you want a hug from Izuku? Someone to listen to you or debate with? Izuku Midoriya can help you with that. Selfless and kind to a fault.
Izuku Midoriya is odd and his peers know it very well. In middle and elementary school no one liked Izuku Midoriya. Izuku was quirkless. Underdeveloped. Weird. Useless in a quirk powered society. Odd. His peers told him so as much as they could. They told him over and over. They shoved him, attacked him, used their quirks on him. “May as well be useful in some way right Deku? Let us use you to train our quirks,” They said. Izuku likes being useful. He lets them. He comes home with bruises, cuts, burns and all other manner of injuries. He doesn’t mind they don’t hurt much anyways. He can be helpful to them. He can do this much at least. Then he can be friends with all of them. He can be friends with Kacchan at least. He was the one who called him the name Deku in the first place after all.
Katsuki Bakugou doesn’t like Izuku Midoriya. Deku is weird. Weird in ways any other kids couldn’t even compare to. Deku is smart in ways that Katsuki envied. But above it all, Deku is way too strong for his own good. Does he think that Katsuki doesn’t notice how he is always so unbothered even with everything happening to him? Deku thinks he is actually helping everyone the best that he can. He isn’t scared of being beat to a pulp if it will help someone else. Katsuki hates how small that makes him feel. He hates how it feels like Deku is better than him in more ways than he can count. It makes him angry. Angry. Angry. Angry. So, he joins in the torment of Deku if only to take out his anger on the kid. He becomes the boy’s main tormentor. He beats the boy silly day in and day out. Maybe he likes the feeling of power he has over the boy. Maybe it makes him feel above everyone else. He beats Deku. Does he regret it? Maybe. Deku doesn’t even know that being beat up everyday is wrong. Thats why he is a Deku. No awareness whatsoever. Katsuki claims the boy for himself so no one will be able to hurt Deku but him. He keeps beating the boy to keep up appearances but it is never as bad as what used to happen to the kid. He hates Deku but he can’t hide that deep down he knows this isn’t right. No it isn’t right at all but this is all he can do for now. All other extras can back off.
Izuku Midoriya worships Katsuki Bakugou. Kacchan is powerful. Powerful in ways that Izuku can never hope to be. Confident ins ways Izuku can only dream about. And above all he will definitely be a hero someday. So, he keeps notes. He starts writing down everything about Kacchan. He starts writing. Writing notes about every single encounter with a hero he has. Every quirk. Every small detail. He writes it all down. Maybe these notes can help even him be a hero someday. Maybe they can be useful! Kacchan is amazing. Everything is hurting a lot less now that he helps Kacchan more and the other kids less. Even the burns from Kacchan’s quirk are getting less and less painful. He must be improving pretty well. Izuku loves Kacchan very much. But he can’t help but think of what will happen if he can’t help Kacchan anymore. If Kacchan grows enough not to need him anymore. Would he go back to helping the other kids instead? Maybe. Maybe not.
Izuku Midoriya is an odd child and his teachers have noticed. They notice how this kid with no quirk somehow knows things he shouldn’t. They notice how he picks up on every subtle hint given to him. They notice his notes. His notes scare the teachers a lot. They notice the bruises, cuts, and blood but that isn’t their problem is it? If they help the boy they will be the ones in the crossfire. Who would want to help a quirkless kid anyway? Some would. People nobler than themselves.
Izuku Midoriya was hurting. The guilt weighs heavy on the shoulders of the educators as they turn a blind eye. The brilliant green boy is bright. He shines even when broken and bruised. He still smiles through the pain.The boy is blindingly bright. Surely someone else will save him right? They notice other odd details about Izuku over time. The teachers notice the little chirps at the ends of his sentences and how he goes silent every time that he is caught doing so. They tend to slip into his mumblings more easily than regular conversation. They notice him go quiet as if he had been caught like a deer in headlights. They notice how the boy seemingly knows how to make any of the other students lighten up instantly. Or when another student is especially down in the dumps. They notice every single time his pupils form little slits within their pool of green. Or when they look back and his eyes are normal yet again. They convince themselves that it hadn’t happened. The boy is quirkless after all. They notice every detail and do nothing. Nothing except turning away from the boy. Who would help a quirkless kid anyway? Especially one as odd as Midoriya? A bigger person than themselves. Idiots.
Izuku Midoriya wasn’t always this odd. He was once a normal-ish boy. He did regular boy things. People treated him just like any other kid. Well, they treated him just like any other quirkless kid. One day when he was six years old that all changed. That day Izuku woke up in a sterile white room instead of his bedroom. His head, back, and the ends of his limbs ached terribly. His bed was the same as before so how did it get in this room? The room had one window and on the other side stood his mother blank faced and cold. He thought it must be a dream. His mother would never look that lifeless would she? He has certainly never seen her this way before. He then shifted his attention to the door to the room. The room is bright. Blindingly so. The room smells of chemicals. Nauseatingly so.
Izuku Midoriya is an observant kid. He watched as a man in a white lab coat and medical gear stepped in to join him in the room. The man had a green syringe in his hand. Izuku had been unable to move as the man stuffed the needle into his arm, injecting the green liquid into his arms. It was then that he noticed the dozens of other injection sites littering his arms. They numbered almost as many as the freckles littering his arms. Just how long had he been in this room? Why is everything hurting so much? What is happening to him? Bile rose to his throat. It was horrible.
Izuku Midoriya was six. The man spoke a bunch of technical sciency words that his six year old brain couldn't remember. Except for a single word and a few numbers. “Project” and “926211121”. Then the boy’s back started aching with searing pain and his eyelids here getting much harder to keep open. It wasn’t long before whatever was in the syringe caused the boy to black out. All he could see on his way under was the image of his mom turning away from the window in tears. She looked away. He HURTS.
Izuku Midoriya was no longer a normal boy when he woke up. When he woke up he was back in his normal room. Nothing had changed there. When he woke up he heard the crying of his mother. She was worried about him. Worried he wouldn’t wake up maybe. Sad and guilty that he hadn’t manifested yet. Crying was something that he had gotten used to already. This morning though? Something felt different. He realized something was different. His back was heavier. His nails are sharper. His feet are more talon-like. Almost full talons. When he tried calling out to his mother a bird-like squawk came out of his mouth accompanying his words. She knelt in front of him, tears running down her cheeks. Mom looked angry, and sad, and angry. Very sad and angry.
“Momma, what happened?”
“Oh Izuku, I am so sorry. I let them go through with it. If I had known that they would turn you into one of their freaks I wouldn’t have let them. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry my sunshine. I only wanted you to be like the other kids. To actually have a chance in this world. I was wrong. This is wrong. I am so so so sorry baby. I love you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I made a mistake. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Yes, something had happened. Izuku has changed. Is that why his mom was upset? He doesn’t want to make his mom upset. If being like this is making her sad. This won’t do.
Izuku Midoriya has not always been an odd kid. His mother tells him to hide his oddness. She gives him love. Gives him food. Gives him shelter. Listens to his mumbly and exceptionally long rants. She stayed with him when no one else could. When no one else would. So, when she asks him to dye his hair green or cover up his multitude of freckles, he does so in a heartbeat. When she tells him to file his nails. To file his talons. To speak like a normal kid. To wrap up his wings and keep them close to his body even though they ache to be free. When she tells him to tell everyone he is quirkless even though they beat him up whenever they can. He does it all with no questions asked. He has to be a good son after all. When would mom ever hurt him? Never.