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All Might had called Izuku to meet about One for All. Their meetings weren’t anything out of the ordinary, usually talking about his progress so far. However, there was something in his gut that told him something was up.
Upon coming through the door, All Might greeted him at the table. “Ah, hello, Young Midoriya.”
“All Might!” Izuku smiled at him. “What’s going on about One for All? Is it Shigaraki again? All for One?”
All Might put his hand on the shoulder of the jittery boy. “Relax, there’s nothing to worry about as of right now, other than what I’ve already told you at least.”
“This, however, is just about you,” he said, pointing at the boy’s chest. “Young Midoriya, I believe it’s time we tell Aizawa about One for All.”
Izuku’s brain short-circuited. He wanted to what?
All Might had always been really stingy about telling others about One for All. Izuku hadn’t even told his mom. Sure, Bakugou knew, but it was accidental, and he wasn’t supposed to tell him.
Naturally, this surprised Izuku. He looked up at his mentor. “Wait, what? Really?”
“He’s your homeroom teacher, this is the kind of thing he needs to know about his students,” All Might explained to him.
“I didn’t know him at all at the beginning of the year. I had to know him more before I felt that I could trust him with this.”
The thought of telling Aizawa made Izuku a little uneasy. How would Aizawa even react? He would know that he’s quirkless. While Aizawa was the most amazing teacher he’s ever had, his other teachers hadn’t exactly treated him nicely for being quirkless.
Izuku tugged at his uniform cuffs. “He already knows how my quirk works and how I progress — it just seems like an unnecessary risk to tell him that I’ve inherited your quirk.”
“I doubt he’d think you’re unworthy of being my successor. And I can only help you so much. Aizawa is a much more qualified teacher, and you need his help.” All Might patted the boy’s back, unaware of his true concern. Bringing his hand to his chin, he muttered, “Besides, I’m pretty sure he’ll be more mad that I gave it to you the day of the entrance exam…”
“It’s not that I’m worried about.” Izuku mumbled.
“Wouldn’t telling him mean that he’d learn that I’m…” He bit his lip. “Quirkless?”
A look of understanding came upon All Might as he realized the young boy’s actual concerns. “Ah, so that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m not saying that Aizawa-sensei is necessarily quirkist or anything.” Izuku fiddled with the hem of his uniform. “It’s just that you can never be too careful, you know? Quirkless discrimination is the worst, even in the city, out of all the other types of quirk discrimination. Not to downplay other struggles, but at least they’re still considered legally human.”
All Might grimaced at the last comment. The quirkless faced heavy social and legal discrimination due to their small numbers. There was a legal distinction between being quirkless and not having a quirk. Those who simply didn’t have a quirk were usually elderly people who had degenerative quirklessness, which came with old age, as do things like Osteoporosis and Alzheimer's. Other cases might be injuring what allows you to use your quirk, like if Aizawa had gone blind.
On the other hand, being quirkless was genetic — a person is born with it. Those that were quirkless had traits that humans had evolved out of, such as the appendix, wisdom teeth, and, of course, the infamous toe joint. They were called unevolved. The quirkless were homosapien while everyone else was homosapien metasis. This allowed them to no longer be classified as legally human.
Getting Izuku to obtain his quirk status was a hell of a hassle because of his previous quirkless diagnosis. While changing your quirk’s name from one to another was no issue, going from quirkless to quirked was no easy feat, especially at Izuku’s age. He had to essentially prove that he was human in court despite his biological features that indicated otherwise. They had eventually won, but only because they had All Might’s best lawyers on the case. If not, he’d probably remained registered quirkless.
“Young Midoriya, I understand your concern.” All Might finally spoke up, placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder. He gave him a look of empathy, the kind where you know that the other truly understands what you’re going through.
“While All Might is the overpowered #1 hero, Toshinori Yagi is legally quirkless, so I’ve had my fair share of discrimination, especially as of later years, since my fight with All for One.”
“This world treats people like us like crap, but I assure you, Aizawa cares about you a lot, and I don’t think anything can change that, not even this.” His mentor reassured him.
“And in the event he turns out to be a piece of shit and gives you crap for it or tries to expel you, we have Nedzu on our side, okay?”
Izuku nodded. He knew that the man was right, which eased him a bit. “Thanks, All Might.”
The man ruffled his hair, “Of course, Young Midoriya.”
—
Izuku and All Might sat in Nedzu’s office with him as they waited for Aizawa. They decided to tell him with Nedzu just in case.
Izuku fidgeted with his tie. While All Might’s words reassured him, he was still antsy. Izuku could tell that All Might was the same as well, despite his attempts to hide it from the boy.
Quirkless discrimination ran deep. It’s the kind of stuff that you can never forget. While quirklessness was more common in All Might’s day, they were still heavily discriminated against compared to those who were quirked.
He knew that since All Might’s fight with All for One, he had taken on the identity of All Might’s assistant under his legal name. And since being All Might was his quirk, he had borne his old status as quirkless. Izuku wasn’t oblivious — he knew that All Might had to face that same discrimination all over again, except this time it was significantly worse than from his childhood.
Aizawa eventually arrived in Nedzu’s office. It was only a few minutes’ wait, but it felt like hours. He gave them looks of acknowledgement before sitting down.
“Hello Aizawa, thank you for coming. We wanted to discuss with you about Young Midoriya’s quirk.” All Might pulled out a few file folders.
Aizawa was intrigued but also skeptical, “What about it? His progress with his quirk is quite exemplary.”
“This isn’t about his progress or school,” All Might said. He took a deep breath. “This is about the nature and origins of his quirk.”
Aizawa looked at him with intrigue, gesturing to him to go on.
All Might looked straight in the eyes of the narcoleptic man. “What we tell you cannot be told to anyone else. This is a highly guarded government secret that’s been kept down for decades.”
“A government secret?” Aizawa was now mildly concerned, his body seemed to visibly tense up at this as he leaned forward. “How on Earth is Midoriya entangled in this?”
“It is crucial that this stays between us, Aizawa. Do you understand?”
“That’s a very big ask of me for something I don’t even know about,” Aizawa furrowed his brows at the man. “What if this secret means he’s in trouble? What if he gets hurt?”
“With how you’re describing whatever secret this is, I am beginning to feel extremely concerned for Midoriya right now. If something is harming my student, I will take the means necessary to protect them, and if keeping a secret gets in the way of that, I can’t guarantee just how much of a secret that could be.”
Nedzu spoke up from his desk. “I assure you that Midoriya is not in any trouble. While keeping this secret comes with risks, I trust that Midoriya will be safe.”
Aizawa seemed reassured by Nedzu’s words, he sighed, “I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
All Might turned to Izuku with a nod, signalling him to go on.
It was Izuku’s turn to speak up. “I wasn’t born with my quirk — it was given to me by All Might.”
There was a brief interval of silence as Aizawa seemed to process that information before he came to his senses, realizing how ludicrous the claim was.
“What? How is that even possible?” Aizawa was stunned. Transferring quirks was entirely unheard of, impossible, he’d say. The only thing he could possibly think of would be… “Nomu? Is this related to the Nomu?”
Aizawa wanted answers. He had to know if his own student was involved in dealing with the experiments of villains. If his student was in danger.
“No— Well, somewhat, I guess? It’s complicated,” Izuku started muttering. “But I assure you that my own quirk transfer was not related to the Nomu experimentations in any way.”
The two of them delved into the history of All for One and One for All, how One for All has been passed down generation by generation. Aizawa was still concerned about it all but seemed relieved that Midoriya hadn’t and isn’t currently in any danger. Eventually, they got to when Izuku came into the story.
“So then All Might gave me a strand of his hair and was like…”
Izuku put on his admittedly scarily accurate All Might face.
“Eat this!”
All Might slunk back into his chair as he sighed, “I’m never living that down, am I?”
“Not as much as giving me One for All the day of the entrance exam.”
“I’m sorry, All Might, you did what?”
Aizawa chewed him out for that, rightfully so. Though, to be fair, if he did get maimed, it was still ultimately on the school for having such a dangerous exam for untrained middle schoolers.
Eventually, Aizawa brought up the question that Izuku and All Might both dreaded.
“Midoriya, you never mentioned your actual quirk other than One for All, not training such is unnecessarily disadvantageous to you,” Aizawa pointed out. “Same goes with you, Yagi, why?”
Izuku took a deep breath. He’s told All Might earlier that he wanted to be the one to tell Aizawa. If the worst-case scenario occurred, he wanted to be the one to tell him, not anyone else.
“Right, so here’s the thing about that,” Izuku tugged on his tie anxiously. “I am, or well, we both are quirkless.
“Not as in like without a quirk, I mean genetically and biologically quirkless.”
All Might nodded. “Yeah, both of us have the toe joint, the quirkless IDs, and everything else,” All Might smiled sheepishly, but his voice sounded tense.
Aizawa’s expression softened not just at Izuku, but at All Might as well. Aizawa was well aware of the atrocious amount of discrimination the quirkless faced — Izuku must’ve been terrified to tell him in case he reacted poorly. He could see the worry in Izuku’s eyes, the same reflected in All Might’s.
“Look, Midoriya, this doesn’t change how I see you. You’re not lesser or incapable because of how you were born. You’re incredibly strong, not just because of your quirk but also your clever mind. All Might chose you for a reason,” Aizawa looked at the anxious boy, tapping him on the chest with his index finger. “Quirk or no quirk — you’ll always be my problem child, nothing can change that, got it?”
“And don’t think the same doesn’t go for you, Yagi,” Aizawa turned to the older man. “It wasn’t just One for All that made you the Symbol of Peace, it was also your heart.”
All Might smiled softly. He hadn’t expected any affirmation for the man. “Thank you, Aizawa.”
Izuku, on the other hand, was on the verge of tears. Scratch that — he was already bawling his eyes out. “Thank you, Aizawa-sensei!”
“I’ll work hard, and I’ll make you proud!” The boy exclaimed.
Aizawa sighed, “Come here, problem child.” He brought the young boy into a hug as he continued to bawl.
Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad after all.