Chapter Text
Izuku squirmed impatiently as he sat in the chair in the doctor’s office. He was here a few months after his fourth birthday, with no sign of his quirk. The very last of his classmates received their quirk a month ago, and now it was just Izuku left. His mom had decided to schedule an appointment with a quirk doctor just in case.
“As you can see, Mrs. Midoriya, in this X-ray, Izuku’s foot is completely normal.” The doctor told his mom.
“But what does that have to do with Izuku’s quirk?” His mom asked, confused, running a soothing hand over Izuku’s hair.
“Quirkless people have different biology than quirked people. The quirkless possess many traits that have evolved, including a double joint in the pinky toe.” The doctor explained.
“…But Izuku doesn’t have that.” His mom said, still looking at his X-rays, confused.
“Exactly.” The doctor nodded, “Your son does possess a quirk. Most likely, it is just coming in a little late. But unfortunately, there is a possibility that his quirk might require special circumstances or conditions to be met to activate. We simply won’t know until it happens.”
His mom wrung her hands together as she thought. “...What if he never gets his quirk?”
Izuku zoned out the rest of the conversation as his head spun and his ears rang.
What if he never gets his quirk?
Would he still be able to become a hero?
The ride home was quiet, devoid of the usual enthusiastic chattering of Izuku.
…
Izuku breathed out as hard as he could onto the small pile of sticks he assembled on the playground.
He huffed out again and again until he felt like he was going to pass out before sitting down, light-headed.
When he felt better, he reached out a hand and tried to will one of the sticks towards his palm.
He stared at the stick and tried pulling with everything inside of himself.
The stick seemed to come into focus, the dull brown becoming more vibrant as he focused on it.
But it didn’t move.
“Just give up, Deku,” Kacchan said as he stood there watching Izuku try to replicate his parents' quirks.
“Kacchan,” Izuku whined. “I just felt something happen. Maybe I really do have Mama’s quirk.”
“Yeah, right,” Kacchan teased. “If you really had Auntie’s quirk, you would have moved those stupid sticks already.”
“I swear I felt something change, Kacchan.” Izuku pleaded.
Kacchan and the other boys have been teasing him for not having his quirk yet.
Kacchan glared down at the sticks. “Tch.”
He looked back at Izuku before tilting his head in confusion. “Weren’t your eyes green?”
“Yeah?” Izuku questioned, confused.
“Why are they brown?” Kacchan asked, staring at him.
“My eyes aren’t brown,” Izuku stated.
“Yeah, they are,” Kacchan said, annoyed.
Izuku paused and thought about it.
He really did feel something change.
He ran off towards the park bathroom and looked in the mirror.
His eyes really were brown.
He looked at the pale blue wall of the bathroom and focused on it, trying to do the same thing he did with the stick before looking back at the mirror.
His eyes were blue!
Izuku finally got his quirk!
He ran back out. “Kacchan! Kacchan! I got my quirk! I can change the color of my eyes!”
He looked Kacchan in the eyes and focused on the red color.
“What the hell?” Kacchan said quietly as he saw the color change before shaking himself out of it. “How can you be a hero with a quirk like changing the color of your eyes? You really are a useless Deku.”
Izuku started tearing up. “I am not!”
Izuku ran out of the wooded area to where his mom was talking with Auntie Mitsuki.
“Mom! Mom! I got my quirk!” Izuku shouted.
His mom blinked in surprise and asked cautiously. “You did, baby?”
Izuku nodded excitedly. “Yeah! Look at my eyes!”
He pointed at his eyes and focused on the color of Auntie Mitsuki’s purple shirt.
“Oh!” His mom exclaimed in surprise. “You really got your quirk! I’m happy for you, baby.”
Izuku nodded excitedly.
Like Kacchan said, there was no such thing as a quirkless hero; none had ever existed before, but he had a quirk now.
He could be a hero like Kacchan!
…
Izuku opened a new notebook.
He had been analyzing other people’s quirks since he had that doctor’s appointment in hopes of trying to figure out his own, and now he really had a quirk.
He wrote down what he knew so far.
I can change the color of my eyes to an object I am focusing on
Okay, it’s not much, but it’s a start.
First up, did he need an object to focus on?
Izuku looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror and noted his green eyes.
His eyes seemed to return to green as their natural state.
Next, he closed his eyes and imagined Kacchan’s eyes—their fiery red.
He felt something shift slightly, opened his eyes, and saw they were now red.
“Yes!” He exclaimed excitedly. So he doesn’t need an object.
But he had changed his eyes to that color before…
Next test, he needed to try a color he hadn’t tried before.
He closed his eyes again and thought about what to try.
Again, he thought of Kacchan. His blonde hair.
He opened his eyes, and they were a pale yellow.
He touched his reflection, smiling. “So cool…”
He ran out of the bathroom, back to his room, and grabbed his crayons.
He sorted out the colors and wrote down his next question.
Can he change the color of other objects?
He grabbed the red crayon and tried to turn it green.
The color just became a brighter red.
He jumped up. “I did something!”
“Izuku, baby, what happened?” His mom asked, looking into the room, confused.
“Mama! Mama!” Izuku grabbed another crayon and ran over to her. “I changed the color of my crayon! Look, Mama!”
Izuku held up the crayon, a purple one this time, and focused on it.
“Look, it became more purple!” He held it up to her proudly, only to pause as she still seemed confused.
“Izuku, I didn’t see anything happen,” Mama explained softly. “Only the color of your eyes changed.”
“But it really did change,” Izuku muttered, looking down at the crayon. It was definitely a more vibrant purple.
“I believe you, honey.” Mama stroked his hair. “Maybe your eyes are different because of your quirk. Maybe you can see things differently.”
Izuku looked up to his Mama with shining eyes. “You're so smart, Mama!”
His mom giggled at that. “Tell you what, how about I schedule an appointment with an eye doctor to see what they say.”
…
The eye doctor was a kind-looking woman who was looking at Izuku with sadness.
Izuku had been chattering on about how his quirk might let him see better the entire time.
“I’m sorry, but while your son does have very good vision for his age, it isn’t to the point of being quirk-enhanced. His vision is normal.” The woman explained.
Izuku swallowed his disappointment as his mom thanked the doctor and they went home.
“Mama?” Izuku called softly after they entered the house. “Can I be a hero with a quirk like mine?”
Mama’s eyes welled up with tears as she rushed to hug him. “I’m sorry Izuku. I’m so sorry.”
That wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
…
Izuku had been feeling really down recently.
His classmates had been teasing him even more since his quirk came in, calling him useless.
That weekend, his mom had decided to take him to an All Might exhibit at a local museum that was hosting it that month to try to cheer him up.
His eyes were constantly shifting from red to blue to black to gold as he looked at all of the hero’s costume iterations.
In his excitement, he doesn’t notice leaving his mom’s side as he wanders to a new wing of the exhibit.
“Mama, look, it’s All Might’s real cape from his young age costume!” His eyes went from the color burgundy to azure blue as he studied the cape.
After a few moments of no response, Izuku looked up.
“Mama?” He looked around before trying again, a little louder. “Mama?”
He started to tear up. “Mama, where are you?”
“Are you lost?” A man’s voice startled Izuku, causing him to jump.
He turned to look at the man, only for his eyes to widen.
He was covered head to toe in All Might merch and was holding an All Might-themed teddy bear the size of the man’s torso.
“Uh,” Izuku hesitated before continuing. “Yeah, I don’t know where my mama is.”
Izuku looked around, but the building was only getting more packed as the event went on, and he couldn’t see around all of the people.
“I see.” The man said straight-faced. “That is not a desired outcome.”
The man was weird. But he was also a little familiar to Izuku, despite Izuku being sure he had never met the man before.
The man had green hair with yellow strips in it, with yellow eyes behind his glasses.
Suddenly, as the man was walking toward him, realization dawned on him. “Wait! You’re Sir Ni-”
A hand covered Izuku’s mouth as the pro hero shushed him, looking around to see if anyone had heard. “Yes, I am. But I’m not here as a hero right now and don’t want to be recognized.”
“Are you undercover?” Izuku whispered excitedly as soon as the pro stepped back.
This was Sir Nighteye! All Might's former sidekick! He must be on a super important mission right now.
“...Yes. That’s right. I’m undercover.” The hero looked away, pushing his glasses up as he adjusted his grip on the teddy bear.
“So cool!” Izuku exclaimed under his breath.
“Let’s find your mom, kid.” The hero held out a hand. “I’m sure the information desk will be happy to do an announcement.”
Izuku took his hand, nearly shaking out of his skin with excitement as he gazed up at the hero.
The hero’s green hair became more vibrant as Izuku’s eyes shifted to green, and then he got an idea.
“Sir! I can help look for my mom! My quirk lets me see colors better, so I can find her by her hair.” Izuku exclaimed.
Sir Nighteye blinked in surprise. “Yeah, I guess that could make looking for things easier. And call me Mirai.”
Izuku preened under the words before looking around.
He couldn’t see very far because of all the people. Maybe if he got higher.
Then walked to a life-sized All Might statue and started to try to climb it.
“Wait! Kid!” Sir Nighteye steadied the statue as it started to rock under Izuku’s movement before grabbing Izuku. “What are you doing?”
“Sorry,” Izuku apologized bashfully. “I just thought I could see more people’s hair if I were higher up.”
The hero sighed before lifting Izuku and placing him on top of the hero’s shoulders.
Izuku gaped in surprise down at the hero before starting his task of scanning everyone as the hero walked.
As they turned a corner, Izuku immediately spotted the green of his mama’s hair as she looked around frantically on the opposite side of the room. “Mama!”
Her head whipped toward the sound of his voice, eyes wide before narrowing as she saw her son sitting on a random man’s shoulders.
She shoved her way through the crowd, hand raised toward them as she used her quirk to pull…something from Sir Nighteye’s mouth.
“You put my son down now!” His mama yelled. Izuku had never seen her so angry before. She was even angrier than Auntie Mitzuki.
As she raised her hand again, Izuku shouted. “Wait, Mama! He helped me find you!”
Mama glared at the man suspiciously, but did put her hand down as she completed her trek toward them.
Sir Nighteye set him down gently, although Izuku did feel his hands shaking.
Did his mom scare Sir Nighteye? His mama was so cool!
Izuku ran to hug his mom. “Mama! Mama, it was really scary. I looked up to see you weren’t there, and then, and then, he found me and started to take me back to you. And Mama!”
Izuku looked around at everyone who was looking at them. They had kind of caused a scene.
Izuku gestured to his mom to lean closer to him so he could whisper in her ear.
His mom glared at Sir Nighteye for another moment before leaning over.
“That’s Sir Nighteye! He’s on a secret mission.” He whispered to her.
His mom's eyes widened in surprise, looking over the hero’s face again before paling.
His mom must have just recognized him. She had watched all of the All Might documentaries with Izuku after all, and listened to him talk about Sir Nighteye.
“I’m so sorry.” His mom apologized, bowing lowly before holding out an open hand. “I just-I had thought-”
“That's fine.” Sir Nighteye interrupted, taking- was that a tooth?- out of his mom’s hand. “I should have known what that would look like to a panicking mother.”
Blood dripped from his mouth as he talked.
What happened? Izuku looked at him, confused.
“I really am so sorry.” His mom apologized again.
“It’s alright. I should be going now anyway.” Nighteye stated, before looking down at the tooth. “I have a doctor’s appointment, apparently.”