Chapter Text
Izuku’s school gets a new principal after that. The bullying gets better, with the teachers finally actually stepping in when they see it. The other kids don’t get to use their Quirks so much anymore, against Izuku or otherwise, which is nice. It definitely makes learning easier, when he’s not constantly distracted by other kids doing stuff.
When he’s ten years old and nearing the end of his elementary school career, he ends up late for school. Not by very much - the shower had broken that morning, and he’d wasted an hour trying to fix the water pressure before just admitting to his mom what had happened. She, far more reasonably, had just called maintenance instead of trying to fix it herself. Izuku had wasted that hour, and so now he’s nearly twenty minutes late already, and he’s stuck at a stupid red light. There are no cars. Just a red, red light that’s telling him he’s not allowed to cross the street.
Izuku looks down the street. Still nothing. His eyes narrow in frustration, and he glances at his watch. Twenty- one minutes late, now. He can hear cars in the distance, slowly approaching, from so far away that surely he has enough time, this is ridiculous.
The light blares bright, angry red.
Izuku huffs through his nose and steps out into the intersection. He starts walking, treading quickly across the asphalt. He can hear the cars getting closer, but still far enough away that surely he’s in no danger.
He gets halfway across the street before a car does get alarmingly close. His eyes widen and he looks up to see the next pack of cars approaching in a group, one of the cars faster than the rest, speeding right at him.
Izuku puts a fire under his heels and starts running, but it’s too late. The car is crossing the intersection and he’s right in the way-
A plastic bag flutters through the air before a gust of wind suddenly grips it. It slams into the windshield of the car, which promptly shrieks on its breaks, the car twisting and tumbling. It starts rolling, right at Izuku, who freezes with wide, terrified eyes.
The car rolls to a foot away from him. It bounces cleanly into the air, brushing just over his hair, and landing again just behind him. It rolls twice more.
Izuku turns to stare, dumbfounded, at the car now stopped a few feet away, smoking and hissing angrily. Another screech has him looking at the other cars again, and his eyes widen impossibly more. Three more cars are twisting, trying to stop before they hit him or the fallen car. They slide and screech, none of them flipping like the others - but when one car manages to stop, another immediately slams into it, screeching it forward.
Izuku just stands there, absolutely stunned, as fourteen cars pile up around him, all crashed into each other. All stalling and smoking idly.
One by one, the confused drivers start to climb out. Even the one who’d rolled is fine, dragging himself out of the ruined car with a dizzy expression but zero bruises.
Izuku, dead center in the middle of it all, slowly blinks.
He’s an hour late to class that day.
Things get a bit easier when they start middle school. It starts off getting way harder, with the bullying seeming to double almost overnight. Even the teachers join in, making comments that set him up for more bullying, or grading his papers poorly.
Izuku had tolerated most of it. The grading his papers thing, though, had pissed him off. He’d seen proof of it on their first English test, when he compared his results to Kacchan’s, and found himself with way more wrong answers when they were answered the same.
Izuku had taken both papers to his mother.
His principal had quickly lost their job, and teaching license. When Hisashi found out, the man might’ve lost his Quirk, too. It’d serve him right, for being prejudiced against the Quirkless to begin with. (Izuku never did find out what happened to Tsubasa after the stair pushing incident…)
After that, middle school turns out to not be very different from elementary. The other students are mean, but they aren’t allowed to use their Quirks after a subtle reminder from a ‘randomly visiting’ police officer. (Izuku suspects his Mom’s behind that, too.)
He gets good grades, almost the top of his class in every class! It’s amazing, and Inko’s very proud, and so is Hisashi when Izuku gets to talk to him over the phone.
The man has yet to return even for a five second visit. He knows Inko never forgets.
So Izuku’s life goes on, and everything’s great! He still plans on applying to UA soon, he still plans on becoming a hero, and Kacchan rolls his eyes but doesn’t try to tell him he can’t do it anymore. Not after the last time he said it in front of Inko and one of his last baby teeth started wiggling.
One day, when he’s thirteen, he’s walking home from watching a villain fight - he’d had an air manipulation Quirk had it had been cool watching him fight Endeavors flames with it. He’s scribbling his final thoughts over it into his journal when he passes a darkened alley - and is promptly grabbed. Hands wrap around biceps, yanking him into the shadows, and Izuku yelps as he goes.
“H-hey!” he drops his journal, turning to look, and finds a knife shoved in his face. The man holding him pushes him back against the alley wall, the knife pressing to his throat.
“Give me your money or I’ll-”
Izuku never hears the rest. There’s a rush of air, a weird flapping sound and a squawk, and then a heavy body slams full force into the mugger from above.
The hands and knife vanish, and Izuku blinks rapidly as he stands there, trying to figure out what happened. There’s a man - a hero- ohmygodthat’s Hawks!! - on top of the collapsed form of his would-be mugger.
Izuku gapes at the feathery winged man as he sits up, blinking wide eyes. "Whoa, headrush!" He says, climbing to his feet after a second. He looks down at the mugger, absently noticing the knife and kicking it away, then looks at Izuku. He blinks, then brushes some dust off his costume. “Phew! What a landing, huh? That was crazy, a gust of wind just went and yoinked me right out of the air!” Hawks says laughingly, reaching up to rub the back of his head. His free hand fishes out his cell phone, already texting away.
“And I landed right on that guy, too, what luck! Who are you, kid?” Hawks asks as Izuku continues gaping.
He takes a second to close his mouth, then opens and closes it twice more, then tries a third time. “Y-you’re H-Hawks,”
“Yep!” Hawks chirps brightly, tucking his phone away. “Cops are on the way! You hurt anywhere?”
“Um, n-no,” Izuku shifts, reaching up to adjust the strap of his backpack. “No, but- hey, my journal,” Izuku crouches down and Hawks steps back to give him space to pick up the fallen object. He brushes the mud off on his pant leg - eh, who cares, it’s just his school uniform - and then flips through the pages to make sure they’re unharmed even though it landed in a puddle. They are, how lucky again! Izuku smiles, pleased, and tucks the journal away.
“Hey, shouldn’t you be more shaken up that you almost died?”
“Oh, I didn’t,” Izuku says confidently and Hawks tilts his head slightly. “Almost die, I mean. I never do.” Then he rethinks that, and frowns. “Well, I always almost die, but I never actually do. Something was going to stop him.” Izuku says with a shrug and Hawks just kind of slowly blinks at him.
“That’s some wild logic there, kid. What makes you so sure something would’ve happened?”
“Something always does,” Izuku shrugs again. Behind them, the would-be mugger gives a small groan. He doesn’t move.
“What, are you just really lucky?” Hawks asks curiously and Izuku nods.
“I guess.”
“Huh. Well, that’s cool, I guess.” Hawks lifts a hand to stifle a yawn, eyes crinkling at the corners. “I wonder where that wind came from. It’s not even breezy today!” Hawks muses, looking around. Sure enough, even his feathers are barely moving in the wind, it’s so gentle. “Well, mystery for another day.” Sirens start in the distance and Hawks fluffs his wings, pleased by the quick response. “You, like, traumatized or anything?”
“Nope!” Izuku confirms brightly, smiling, and Hawks smiles back.
“Cool! Well, I should get out of here before they make me do paperwork,” he says with a small cringe. One wing twitches slightly at the thought. “Eugh. Alright, well, tell them I had an emergency or something, right?”
“Totally,” Izuku promises to cover for him and Hawks flashes him a thumbs up and bright smile before he launches in the air. One second he’s there, and the next he’s gone, a single feather fluttering to the ground to serve as proof he’d ever been there.
Izuku gazes after him, fingers itching for a pen. He wants to write all about the hero’s ridiculous speed. When the police arrive moments later, he recites everything that had happened - and then dutifully lies that he’d definitely heard a scream after, and that’s why Hawks abandoned him to the police.
Eventually they’re satisfied and Izuku gets to go home. When his mother asks why he’s late, he just shrugs.
It had been an odd day, but not really odder than was normal for him.
When Izuku’s fourteen, the Sludge Incident happens.
Or well, what once upon a time might’ve been a Sludge Incident happens. It starts with him casually walking down a tunnel on his way home from school, only to get smothered by a pile of slime. Izuku chokes on it, startled and, after a moment without oxygen, crazed. He reaches up to claw at the slime over his mouth, but it doesn’t budge, not until he blindly reaches a little higher and his hand closes around something.
It feels stuck. The villain squawks when he grabs it, saying something about being a bad meat suit, and Izuku grabs hold and yanks.
He rips the object free and the slime vanishes from him, letting him collapse forward and gasp for breath. The thing in his hand feels as slimy as, well, the slime, but more solid. The villain is screaming something Izuku can’t hear over the roaring in his ears.
He eventually looks down at his hand.
There’s an eyeball clutched in it.
Izuku vomits, and then belatedly drops the eye. The slime villain snatches it up the second it touches the ground, placing it back in his slime, but he doesn’t approach Izuku. He just glares at the kid from a safe distance. “Who just grabs eyeballs? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“You tried to kill me!” Izuku defends breathlessly.
“Yeah, because fucking All Might- ” is as far as the villain gets before All Might’s fist punches his eyeball right back off his face. The slime starts collapsing again, like it needs its eye to retain proper shape, and gropes for the item as it rolls away.
All Might is quick to empty a soda bottle - all over the tunnel, that’ll be a feast for the ants - and scoops the eye up in it, and then the slime’s teeth follow suit. After a while, he gets it all bundled up, capping it off quickly. Then, he finally turns to Izuku, a thumb held up and a smile on his face. “Never fear! I am here!”
“I know!” Izuku absolutely blubbers, weeping his face off he’s crying so hard. “You’re All Might! You’re the best hero ever and I love you!”
“Aw,” All Might’s smile becomes fond for a moment. He pats Izuku on the head, and Izuku almost melts into a mess just like the slime did without its teeth and eyes.
Izuku belatedly grabs for his journal. “Please sign-” he opens it up, and almost faints when he finds it’s
already signed.
“Ohmygodyou’reamazing,” Izuku sobs, clutching it to his chest.
“Right! Well, I have to get this evil doer to the police station, before anything else happens!” All Might booms, patting his head once more.
“W-wait,” Izuku says urgently and All Might pauses. “Can I ask you- can-” he pauses, taking a breath and looking at All Might hopefully. “Can I become a hero like you without a Quirk?”
All Might blinks slowly. He peers at Izuku intently for a moment, his head tilting slightly, before he opens his mouth to speak-
And blood sprays.
Izuku gasps in shock as dust explodes around All Might. “Ah!” He chokes out in alarm, reaching forward as the dust fades, exposing… a very skinny man where All Might just stood. “IMPOSTER!” Izuku thinks (screams) immediately, eyes widening in alarm. All Might has an imposter? But it looked so real! The things the imposter could do to his reputation!
“Kid, I am All Might,” the skinny man grunts and Izuku stares at him with wide eyes. “As for becoming a hero like me?” All Might sighs heavily. “Even I can get my ass kicked, kid. And I did. That’s why I look like this, now. I wouldn’t say a Quirkless kid could ever be a hero like me,” he admits, and Izuku’s stomach sinks, because he’s heard this from strangers but never from someone who mattered. All Might brightens, then, distracting him. “But how many heroes really can be expected to be like me? Quirkless or not - you can be a hero,” All Might promises, offering another thumbs up.
Izuku stares at him for a moment, face slowly crumpling, All Might’s own smile wavering - before bursting into tears and hugging the skinny man tightly.
“Thank you!” Izuku wails, clutching to the man, who chuckles and pats him on the back.
Trapped in his soda bottle, the Sludge Villain wishes they’d just take him to the police already.
When Izuku’s fifteen and it’s his second day at UA, as their first ever Quirkless Hero Class student, he has a practical lesson against Bakugou. Nothing about it seems particularly eventful, and Izuku’s almost forgotten the lesson ever happened by the next day.
Up until his new teacher, Aizawa, pulls him aside. They go to his office, where Aizawa sits and turns the computer screen to face Izuku. He presses play.
The video is of the practical, showing Bakugou relentlessly exploding things around Izuku. Izuku sees nothing of note - he doesn’t even get hurt! The rubble just flies around him, always landing at least a foot away, never closer.
“On your admissions paperwork, you put yourself down as Quirkless.” Aizawa says in a perfectly level tone of voice. Izuku nods slowly, wondering where this is going. When there’s a moment of silence, he starts to get nervous.
“I was… diagnosed at four?” he offers slowly.
Aizawa’s eyes narrow. He presses play again. This time, it’s showing Bakugou collapsing a tunnel over Izuku’s head. None of the debris hit him, again.
“You came out of this practical completely unharmed.” Aizawa says bluntly.
Izuku smiles. “Yeah, I got lucky,” he admits, nodding. “I’m pretty good at dodging.” he adds, a touch braggingly.
On the screen, it shows a large chunk of debris tumbling towards Izuku’s head. Just before it would’ve struck, it suddenly rotates in the air like it had been hit by wind, and glances harmlessly off him. “You think that counts as dodging?” Aizawa asks flatly, eyes narrowed to slits now.
Izuku hesitates. “...nnno?” he asks, figuring it’s the safe answer.
Aizawa’s fingertips very slowly tap against his desktop. “...You have no idea why you’re here, do you.” Aizawa determines and Izuku awkwardly clears his throat.
“Not the slimmest,” he admits. Aizawa sighs through his nose.
He presses play again. It shows Bakugou about to land a brutal blow to Izuku’s face - only to trip at the absolute last second and explode the wall next to him instead.
Izuku watches the clip, then looks at Aizawa nervously.
Aizawa looks particularly frustrated. “None of this jumps out as odd?”
“...No?”
“Midoriya.” Aizawa says in a tight, stressed tone of voice, like he’s trying to keep himself calm. “There’s absolutely no way you do not have a Quirk.”
Izuku blinks.
Oh.
Izuku’s still fifteen years old when he gets kidnapped right out of the Pussycats’ forest camp. Bakugou’s with him, a blessing in disguise, and the blonde is quick to shut down any discussions from the League of Villains about them joining them. Izuku, on his part, just furiously nods along with Bakugou’s snarls and screamed insults.
Eventually, Shigaraki gets sick of it and calls in the big guns - which leads to a faceless man in a suit appearing in the bar, in a flood of smelly brown fluid. The fluid fades but he remains, hands outstretched as if in welcome.
“Hello. I am All For One. Together, we could-”
“Fuck you!” Bakugou snarls. “We’re not joining you assholes, we’re going to be heroes!”
All For One tilts his head slightly, looking at Izuku, who again nods along quickly. “Yes, he’s right - I can’t be a villain, my mom made me promise,” Izuku explains, quite seriously, and even Bakugou nods along seriously.
“Auntie’d rip out our fuckin’ teeth,” he admits.
All For One, for his part, actually hesitates. “But surely if we presented a strong enough argument-” he attempts to cajole the green haired boy, who quickly shakes his head.
“No, no, bad idea. Mom doesn’t respond well to things like arguments,” Izuku says urgently.
“I know, she was always like that,” All For One heaves a sigh. Izuku’s brow twitches upwards. “But what if we perhaps came at the topic
together -
a two pronged approach, if you will-”
“Wait a minute,” Izuku squints suddenly, and All For One pauses. He doesn’t notice most of his underlings looking confused.
Izuku narrows his eyes suspiciously.
“...Dad?”