Chapter Text
It started off simple, things would be in one place but found high up in areas unreachable to the other occupant in the house. Inko Midoriya was a doting mother and would do anything for her son, if only she could figure out how he kept getting things on top of their fridge. It started out small, when she punished him for breaking a plate by taking away his tablet the next day she couldn’t find her phone. It was on top of the fridge, in a corner of the kitchen far away from anything Izuku could’ve climbed and too high for a 4 year old with a chair. When she got upset with him for wearing shoes in the house, hers were on the fridge the next day. It kept happening and no matter what, she couldn’t figure out why. Then she saw it. It was late, really late for her, almost 2:30 am when she woke to a crash. She’d just grounded her son again for almost flooding their apartment. She knew it was a genuine mistake but was too upset at the time, and decided that in the morning she would apologize to him and unground him. The punishment? No using faucets unsupervised. Pretty minor all things considered. But he was 4, and to him punishment was always unjust. What she came out of her room to was definitely scream worthy. Nobody could blame her for screaming when their entire water heater was, somehow, on top of the fridge. Teetering and tottering from each side like a seesaw. Her and her husband had deliberately chosen an apartment with its own water heater because of bad experiences in the past where they’d had to use cold water due to all of the hot water being used up. Back on track though, the apartment was flooding. She dryly thought that it wasn’t exactly a surprise that it would, before rushing to her sons room. He was still asleep when she got him and rushed out of the apartment. Being on the third floor with several gallons of water would definitely put the building integrity at risk, no reason to unnecessarily risk her or her sons safety.
Now that the start has been covered let’s look at what’s transpired since. Izuku was taken to a quirk doctor, Dr. Garaki, a profession that wasn’t well liked but still needed to identify and limit quirks. Dr. Garaki was one of 7 quirk doctors in Musutafu. Izuku has a really strong telekinesis quirk, but also nigh uncontrollable. The output it has is too high for his brain to handle, so he either uses it in small doses or uses it on everything in the general vicinity of what he wants to grab. It’s an emitter with a mutation to support it. He’s got a section of brain that shows signs of faster development in the prefrontal cortex. For the next few years Izuku is isolated from his peers, a ‘villain’ in the making. Inko has tried, she really has, but there’s an obvious disconnect. She works more and more, if she can’t help her son emotionally or physically then it’ll be done monetarily. Or that’s her logic anyway. But that’s not how he sees it. He’s shunned for an ability that he wanted to use to help people, and when he goes home to one of the only people he thought he could rely on, she wasn’t there. And when she was, it was like she was nothing but a substitute. Emotionally unavailable, he was forced to rely on himself. He had to grow up at the age of 6. Learn things he shouldn’t of had to, how to cook or clean or even budget his, admittedly generous, allowance.
We find Izuku sitting on the roof of his school building at the age of 14, scratch that on his 14th birthday. He almost forgot, then again no one really celebrates it anyways, when he hears it.
“Where are you, you little villainous freak!”
‘Katsuki Bakugou is here, how fantastic.’ Were the bitter thoughts of said “freak.” He wasn’t going to reveal himself though, oh no that’s just idiotic. Instead he would wait, he’s good at that. Maybe Bakugou would leave without searching the entire roof. Not likely but always hope for the best.
“There you are, villain. Why’re you hiding? Cops looking for ya? Or are you such a coward that you’re scared of your own shadow?”
sigh
”I’m not hiding, Bakugou. I’m enjoying the peace and quiet. There’s still a few minutes before I have to head to class. What’re you doing here?”
”What do ya think!? I’m making sure you’re not committing any crimes…”
Well, Izuku wasn’t entirely on his own.
They both stared at each other for a minute before suddenly laughing. It was something of an ongoing gag between them, Bakugou wasn't quirkless but his quirk hadn’t developed yet either, where Bakugou would ‘hunt down’ the freak and make sure he didn’t break any laws.
”When are you gonna come over, the hag won’t shut up about her adorable Izu?”
”Don’t call me that kacchan.”
”Yeah, yeah whatever. But seriously, she’s getting worried. Even if Auntie isn’t trying to, she’s been neglecting you for years. Come over play some video games, talk about All Might, eat some food, and leave for another few weeks before repeating the process.”
”She’s not neglecting me, Kats. She’s busy, especially after having to take out the loan for all of that water damage. She needs to pay it off, if anything it’s my fault.”
”It’s been almost a decade. How much did you cost Zuku? When mine awakens I won’t do nearly as much damage.”
There it was, that dangerous challenging tilt in his voice. They may be like brothers, but that just boosts the competitive nature both young men have. Izuku smirks.
”I agree, because it’ll be incredibly weak.”
”I’ll show you weak!”
Bakugou charged Midoriya but was stopped in his tracks. Before being lifted off of his feet by an unseen force.
”Give it up Kats. We have to go to final period anyway, so either stop and go willingly or I can walk you like a balloon.”
”You wouldn’t dare!”
Bakugou practically growled the last sentence, coated in fake hatred. They both knew Midoriya wouldn’t actually, he’d probably get expelled for using his quirk like that on the ‘most heroic student in the class’ or at least the one with the most potential.
”Mhm, but I can just leave you there.”
”Fine, I’ll stop just put me down. On the roof, if you put me on the sidewalk again nothing will stop me from kicking your ass. Not even your quirk.”
And so both students, hero and villain, went on to their last class of the day.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY IZUKU!”
Midoriya Izuku was not expecting a surprise birthday party when he walked into the Bakugou residence. Even so he wasn’t surprised that his mother wasn’t there, she would be on a work trip until the 20th. Going through the pleasantries he worked his way towards his godmother.
”You know, you didn’t have to do this Aunt Mitsuki.”
She smiled at him sadly before pulling him into a hug.
”Izu, you’re a child. You should have these kinds of things, even as an adult. Besides when was the last time you even celebrated your birthday, let alone had a party?”
Well, fuck. That was a good question. Despite his best efforts Midoriya was drawing blanks. Mitsuki seemed to catch on to that though.
”Don’t worry about it kiddo, just enjoy your time. And remember,”
”My choices matter more than any quirk.”
”Exactly. If only Katsuki would think more about his actions than his potential quirk. That’s why you’re my favorite, now go on. I know you hate being the center of attention. Besides it’s mostly just people from my family who wanted free cake and a day off, no need to worry about being rude.”
He did just that, not noticing the heavy-hearted smile that followed him up the stairs.
He plopped himself down on Katsuki’s bean bag chair, accepting a gaming controller from him.
”So, how far can you go before your control slips and you crush everything in a kilometer radius?”
Midoriya wanted to sigh again, he really does. But he fought it off.
”Not nearly enough. Lifting you is pushing it. And you know it’s not actually a kilometer right? That’s way too much.”
Katsuki looked at him incredulously.
”Semantics. But, you still did it? What would’ve happened if that didn’t work?”
”I probably would’ve turned the school into a giant boulder.”
Again, Katsuki just stared.
”Yeah, we need to work on that, because if I die from something so stupid I will haunt your ass.”
Their laughter filled the rest of the night.
“Alright, sit down and shut up. There’s still another 25 minutes of class before break starts, and until then you’re my problem.”
Typically, their teacher wasn’t so… blunt? Rude might be the better adjective. But hey, even teachers are human. They can get fed up just as easily. This was one of the only nice teachers Izuku has ever had.
When they finally did get to leave, him and Katsuki were walking together before splitting up. Katsuki to go to the arcade and Izuku to go to Takoba and practice his quirk on the junk. They’d separated almost 15 minutes ago, when he heard it. An explosion nearby, of course who was he if he didn’t investigate? The scene he arrived to left him shocked. Katsuki Bakugou was in a sludge thing and he was… he was the one exploding? But he wasn’t being injured, how odd. His quirk perhaps. But why explosions? And why were they getting bigger? Why was Katsuki getting bigger? Oh wait no, he’s getting closer. Wait, he’s getting CLOSER! WHY?!? Before he knew it, he was sending a stop sign into the villains face. In a split second decision that could’ve ended horribly, he used his quirk to yank Katsuki out of the sludge. But before anything else could be done, the villain… spoke. How did that work? He clearly didn’t have vocal cords. Damnit focus.
”Why did you do that brat!?! We’ve both got quirks! We’re on the same team!”
”You’re a villain, you’ve got no right to say we’re the same. I’m gonna be a hero, one of the very few who can show the rest that having a quirk doesn’t decide your fate.”
”You’re incredibly naive! I’ll spare you from reality, by ripping you limb from limb!”
Dodging the first tendril, he set up a barrier to stop the second. It hurt, bad. But he could do it, he could fight this thing without even getting hit! He wasn’t in any danger! With Katsuki though, he was having something of a harder time, he couldn’t stop his quirk. And the heat from the explosions was making them bigger, perhaps his sweat was what was exploding.
Before they could escalate anymore he was sprayed with water from the water hero Backdraft. With a hydrification system set up to pull moisture from the area and spray it at incredible pressure he had revolutionized the water hero agency. There were different agencies for different fields, water ones worked under the agency that had patents for every piece of water based hero tech. Fire ones were similarly structured. Same with physical enhancing ones, using exoskeletons to boost performance. The amount of agencies is vast, and the amount of tech they had access to even more so. Enough nerding out, back to the fight.
While Izuku was distracted the villain tried once again to lunge for Katsuki, seeing as he had a barrier the villain assumed he couldn’t get him. But without the hostage the heroes were quick to step in. Backdraft sprayed him with water, if he was made of sludge then spraying him with water would, well, water him down so to speak. If he wasn’t made of water that likely meant that it had to be a certain makeup or viscosity, water would damage both. So with the villain weakened they somehow manage to arrest him. And just when Izuku and Katsuki are riding the highs of their actions, they’re interrupted by the loud sound of someone clearing their throat.
“What you did was incredibly reckless, especially with how strict quirk laws are. The only reason you’re not in cuffs is because of you being a minor. We're going to be calling your parents or guardians so they can properly punish the both of you. Speaking of which,”
Now he turned to the explosive boy.
”next time you’re taken hostage, don’t use your quirk like that. It just makes the heroes’ jobs harder.”
Katsuki looked downright murderous at the insinuation he’d ever be in the position of a victim again, but calmed himself enough to respond.
”My quirk just awakened, if I had it before he never would’ve gotten me.”
That at least seemed to temper the rising hero, Death Arms had just debuted using a new form of arm sleeves that focused a large mechanical force in leveraging areas like elbows with supports set up throughout the rest of the arms so they didn’t snap under pressure, before he responded.
”Okay, we’ll still be calling your parents but get that under control and we likely won’t have any more problems.”
Oh, Katsuki planned on it.
”And greenie, get your head looked at. I don’t know if that’s a side effect or if you got hit, but your nose is gushing like a fountain.”
Well, sue him. Because he already tried that, and was denied service. Something about how quirked people hurting themselves wasn’t anybody else’s problem.
Inko and Mitsuki both weren’t too happy about the ordeal but at least they weren’t punished. Next time Izuku and Katsuki met, the spent an afternoon planning physical and quirk workouts. They’d get into the most prestigious school, no matter what.