Chapter Text
Season One:
Where it All Went Wrong
--
“Is it possible for someone like me, someone without a Quirk, to become a Hero like you?”
Midoriya Izuku was having a weird day.
This wasn't because of a Hero fight that wrecked a train station and almost made him late to school. He had sought out that Hero fight, heard it from several blocks away and diverted his course to be able to watch it, and it only made him almost late because he stuck around longer than he should’ve so that he could witness its conclusion.
It also wasn’t because of Kacchan, his classmate and childhood friend, who cornered him after class and told him that, if he really wanted to become a Hero, his best bet would be to “take a swan dive off the roof and pray for a Quirk in your next life.” While his ‘advice’ was harsher than usual, the bullying was par for the course, and had been their status quo for the past ten years of their lives, ever since Kacchan’s Quirk came in and Izuku’s… didn’t. In Kacchan’s eyes, that made Izuku useless. Worthless. An outdated weakling in a world where superpowers were the norm. And it pissed Kacchan off to no end that Izuku, despite being a pushover in every other way, refused to give up on his dream of becoming a Hero.
No, the moment Izuku’s day actually took a turn for the weird was when he was on his way home from school. He was walking under a bridge when a villain made entirely of sludge emerged from a manhole and tried suffocate him. Izuku had been absolutely terrified for about fifteen seconds, but thankfully that was all the time it took for a Hero to save him.
And it wasn’t just any Hero. It was All Might, the Number One Hero, the Symbol of Peace and Izuku’s idol. As All Might gave his trademark smile and autograph before storing the scattered sludge villain in a nearby bottle, Izuku realized that this was the perfect opportunity to get an answer to the most important question in his life from the person most qualified to answer it.
Except that, before Izuku could ask his question, All Might said he needed to move on to other people who might need saving. So Izuku panicked and grabbed onto the All Might’s pant leg, getting launched with him onto a nearby rooftop. After realizing what he had done, All Might scolded Izuku for his recklessness, but Izuku couldn’t find it in himself to feel guilty. After all, he still needed to know.
But before Izuku could ask his question, he was interrupted again, as All Might disappeared in a puff of smoke to reveal a lanky, emaciated figure. Izuku couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but the emaciated man explained that he was still All Might, and that the invincible Symbol of Peace was not as invincible as he had seemed. All Might took Izuku into his confidence, albeit somewhat unwillingly, and explained to him that he had been injured in a secret fight around five years ago that was starting to limit how long he could do Hero work for, and that, the rest of the time, this was what he looked like. As terrifying as it was to imagine a villain capable of seriously injuring All Might like that, Izuku couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride at being trusted with such an important secret.
But with All Might’s story told, Izuku realized that he finally had the chance to ask his question.
And All Might said no.
Well, he didn’t say no exactly, he said “I cannot simply say you can become a Hero without a Quirk,” or something equally diplomatic, but he meant no.
The worst thing was, Izuku wasn’t even surprised. After all, people had been telling him to give up on his dreams since he was five. Still, part of Izuku, a stupid, unrealistic, hopeful, desperate part of Izuku, had believed that this time would be different. All Might was his idol, his hero, a larger-than-life presence whose eternal optimism and unshakable smile had gotten Izuku through the darkest points in his life. Izuku had thought that if anyone could give him hope that he could achieve his dreams, it would be All Might. And yet, here he was, telling Izuku to give up on his dream, just like everyone else.
All Might continued speaking, trying to soften the blow by giving examples of other careers that Izuku could try if he wanted to help people, but Izuku had stopped listening. Eventually, All Might must’ve realized that his words weren’t helping, so he stopped. He picked up the bottled sludge villain, which must have fallen out of his pocket at some point, and walked away, with one final glance back at Izuku. “It’s good to have dreams, young man, but you have to make sure that they are realistic.” He then closed the door, leaving Izuku alone on the rooftop.
Once All Might was out of sight, Izuku crumpled to his knees, tears flowing freely. You knew this would happen. Everyone’s already told you it’s impossible, so why would All Might say anything different? It’s not like he could magically give you a Quirk. Izuku sat there for some time, trapped in his thoughts, before his eyes finally dried up and he was able to compose himself.
As he stood up and dusted himself off, his eyes wandered to edge of the rooftop, and Kacchan’s words from earlier in the day came back to him. He felt himself slowly inch towards the railing. As far as everyone else was concerned, not having a Quirk made him useless, so why not take the leap and try again?
Izuku quickly shook his head to clear those thoughts away. It had been a stupid idea when Kacchan said it, and it was still stupid now. Even if I can’t become a Hero, and the sobs threatened to return at just that thought, even then, I couldn’t do something like that. For Mom’s sake if nothing else. Even if she was the only person in the world who cared about him, she had been through enough pain and heartache. He couldn’t bear to put her through even more. Wait, crap, Mom! Izuku realized with a start it was starting to get late, and that his mom would start to get worried if he didn’t hurry home.
As he walked home, his thoughts stayed on that rooftop conversation, but he eventually found enough clarity about it to think that, if he needed another sign that he couldn’t be a Hero, that was it. Time to focus on a realistic future.
Izuku opened his front door to find his mom nervously sitting on the couch, practically staring at the door. “Izuku! There you are, are you okay? You’re home so late, and you look upset about something. Is everything all right?” She hurried over to him and put her hands on his shoulders reassuringly.
Izuku forced a weak smile. “I’m alright, Mom. I just… did some thinking today, and I realize it’s time for me to accept that I’m not going to become a Hero.”
He noticed a brief expression of relief on his mom’s face, and though she quickly tried to hide it, he felt another pang of bitterness at the reminder that she had never wanted him to be a Hero, never believed he could. “Are you sure, Izuku? I know how much this dream has meant to you.”
He nodded, but as strong as he was trying to be, he couldn’t stop a few tears from leaking out of his eyes. “I’m sure. I’m not giving up on my dream completely, I’m still going to help people, but I need to… I need to be realistic about it.”
Izuku noticed that his mom had started crying too. “Well, if you’re sure sweetie. If you need any help from me, I’m here for you. Okay?” He nodded again as she pulled him into a hug.
--
The next few weeks passed uneventfully. Once he realized that Izuku had given up on trying to become a Hero, Kacchan started to go a little easier on him, but even if he hadn’t, Izuku would have been too busy to pay the boy much mind. He had his whole future to plan out, after all.
Deciding to finally approach his future logically, Izuku gave himself two criteria:
1) What do I want to do?
2) What am I good at?
The answer to the first question that immediately came to Izuku’s mind was, unfortunately, “Be a Hero,” but after some thought, Izuku was able to modify it to “Help people.”
As for the second question, it took Izuku a lot longer to come up with an answer. He was Useless Deku after all, he wasn’t supposed to be good at anything. But then he thought of his notebooks, optimistically and foolishly titled ‘Hero Analysis for the Future.’ He was hesitant to call them anything more than a hobby, and most of his classmates thought that it was creepy of him to take notes on everyone’s Quirks like that, but Izuku was still proud of them. Maybe he could do Quirk analysis? Yeah, that made sense! Every news agency worth its salt had at least one Quirk analyst on their staff, and that sounded like it could be fun. And if Izuku allowed himself to dream, he could even do Quirk analysis for a Hero so that, even if he couldn’t become a Hero himself, he could help those who were.
With that path decided, Izuku was left with just one question. What’s the next step? What school should I apply for to prepare for this? He didn’t have to think long. There was, after all, only one correct answer. U.A.
--
Izuku spent the remaining months before U.A.’s entrance exam studying harder than he ever had before. He had always made good enough grades in school, second only to Kacchan, but U.A., even their General Studies program, was arguably the most prestigious school in Japan, so good enough wasn't going to be good enough. He also doubled down on his study of Heroes, because, as U.A. was primarily a Hero school, there was a Hero themed section of the written exam, testing applicants’ knowledge of things like Quirk science and Hero history. Izuku finished writing Hero Notebook No. 13, the one containing All Might's bittersweet signature, as well as starting and finishing three more notebooks in those nine months. Izuku even ended up branching out from just studying the Quirks of Heroes, and began looking into a few more disturbing developments in the Hero world, like the appearance of a Hero Killer named Stain. Between his regular studying and Hero research, Izuku frequently studied late into the night until his mom would have to practically force him to go to bed. Izuku also started working out, partly to give himself something to do with his remaining free time, but also because some of the careers he was considering entering would require him to be in shape.
Finally, the day of the exam arrived. Izuku prepared quickly, gave his mom a quick hug as she fretted over him, and went off to U.A. Once he reached the front gate, he paused, just taking in the view of the school. This is it. Even if it’s just the General Studies course, going to U.A. has always been my dream. It’s time to make it a reality. I can do this.
Izuku took a deep breath and crossed the threshold. He was struck immediately by how crowded it was, but he supposed that made sense. U.A. was the school everyone wanted to go to, and with the exams for all of the different courses on the same day, that would naturally lead to a massive crowd of students. Izuku tried to ignore the crowds and just focus on not embarrassing himself, a goal that he immediately failed as he tripped over his own two feet and began plummeting toward the ground. But as the ground rose up toward him, it suddenly stopped, as though Izuku were suddenly weightless.
It only took Izuku a moment to realize that this was due to someone’s Quirk, and looking over, he saw a brown-haired girl, clearly one of the other applicants, grab his shoulder before helping him to his feet before putting her fingers together and muttering “Release.” And just like that, Izuku felt his gravity return to normal. “Sorry about that. I probably should’ve asked before I used my Quirk on you, but it would’ve been bad luck if you fell!”
Unfortunately, between Izuku’s nerves about the exam, his surprise at falling, his fascination with the Quirk he had just witnessed, and just his usual social awkwardness, his ability to respond to her was severely limited, so it wasn’t long before the girl left him with one last shout of “Good Luck!” Izuku hoped the girl was aiming for the Hero Course. Just from that interaction, she seemed like she’d be a great Hero.
--
Once Izuku finally made it to his testing area, fortunately without further incident, he was immediately reminded of why he had wanted to go to U.A. so badly. Ectoplasm, the Ectoplasm, was proctoring their exam! Sure, he probably wasn’t the most well-known Hero, but he had a fascinating Quirk and amazing career as a Hero, so Izuku could barely contain his excitement at being in the same room as him. Ectoplasm gave a short speech, explaining the usual things like content, form, and time limits, before telling them all to go “Plus Ultra!” And then the exams began. The general exam was challenging, but Izuku didn’t feel overwhelmed by it. His months of studying had paid off, meaning that it was no harder than he had expected. The section on Heroes, on the other hand, was even easier than Izuku had anticipated. It seemed that, in his enthusiasm for Heroes, Izuku had over-prepared for that section. It wasn’t long before Izuku answered his final question, waited for time to end, and headed home.
His mom was waiting for him in the living room when he got home. “How did it go, Izuku?”
Izuku smiled wide. “I think it went well! I might’ve even over-prepared for the Hero portion of the exam.”
His mom walked over to him. “I just wanted to say, I’m really proud of you. I know this past year has been hard for you, having to give up on becoming a Hero, but you’ve done such a great job getting through it. And here you are, doing everything you can to still make your dreams come true. I can’t wait to see what you’ll do next!”
Tears started to roll down her cheeks as she spoke, and Izuku felt himself start to cry as well. “Thank you, Mom. I’ll make you proud.”
She patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sure you will. Anyways, to celebrate your awesome exam today, I’m making katsudon!”
Izuku cheered.
--
A week later, Izuku was watching a Hero fight, a recent villain takedown by Ingenium, on his laptop when his mom burst into his room holding an envelope. “Izuku! Your letter from U.A. came in!” Izuku practically jumped out of his seat. Taking the envelope from his mom, he moved over to the living room and sat down on the couch, gingerly placing his hand on the U.A. seal. As confident as Izuku felt about the entrance exam, he couldn’t help but feel a pit of nervousness form in his stomach as he stared at the envelope. All the work he had put himself through in the past year, his hope for a new and brighter future, all of it hung on this. What if I didn’t make it in? What if— Izuku stopped himself. There’s only one way to find out. Izuku swallowed his nervousness, tore open the letter, and began to read it out loud.
Dear Midoriya Izuku,
I’m sure you’re nervous about the results of your exam, so I’ll skip the pleasantries and just say: Congratulations! The General Studies Course of U.A. gladly accepts your application. With a more than satisfactory academic record and the highest recorded score in the Hero section of the entrance exam, we are excited to see what you do next. Thank you for choosing U.A, and we look forward to seeing you this spring.
Plus Ultra!
Principal Nezu
Izuku wasn’t able to make it through the whole letter in one attempt, as he started crying tears of joy as early as “Congratulations!” His mom started crying as well, so they ended up just sitting on the couch and crying together. Izuku read the letter to himself over and over again, relieved that he had managed to somewhat salvage his dream.
--
A few days later, Izuku was told to stay after class so that his teacher could congratulate him and Kacchan on getting into U.A. “Well, Bakugo, we always knew you were destined for greatness, but it is still nice to see that we were right about you. And Midoriya, I must say that getting into U.A., even just the General Studies program, is better than any of us could ever have hoped for you, so I suppose that congratulations are in order!”
As soon as they were dismissed, Kacchan grabbed Izuku by the arm and pulled him into an empty hallway. “What the fuck, Deku? This was supposed to be my moment! I was supposed to be the only one from our shitty middle school to make it into the big leagues.” Gripping Izuku by the front of his uniform, Kacchan shoved him into the wall, Izuku wincing at the impact. “Now I’ve got a Quirkless nerd tailing me, just like always!”
Izuku stared Kacchan down, trying desperately to fight back his fear. “I… I’m not trying to steal your glory, Kacchan. I know I can’t hope to stand in the same ring as you. I just…” He somehow found the courage to continue, grabbing the arm Kacchan was using to pin him to the wall as he glared at him, “I'm following my dream. And even you can’t stop me.”
Kacchan released Izuku in surprise, his angry glare fading for a moment before it returned in full force. “See if I care, Deku.” Then he stormed off, leaving both of them to wonder where that fire from Izuku had come from.