Chapter Text
Without power can one become a hero? No, I think not.”
Izuku's eyes widened, ten words, and his dreams shattered. He started to say something but the words got caught in his throat. His eyes stung as he tried to hold back tears. He barely heard the rest of what All Might said and before he knew it All Might was gone.
The only evidence that he'd ever been there was a notebook laying open with his signature written across the page.
After a few minutes Izuku took a deep breath, and stood up wiping the tears from his face. He walked over to the notebook—he wanted to leave it. He couldn't even bear to look at the signature, he wanted to rip it or burn it. Alas it had notes in it he'd rather not lose so he closed it and slid it into his bag.
He started wandering aimlessly after leaving the roof, not even sure what to do next, was there any point in continuing to try and be a hero when the symbol of peace himself said he couldn't.
Eventually he ended up in front of a cat cafe he frequents, he stood there for a minute before sighing and walking inside. Nothing like coffee and cats to take his mind off things.
He ordered a coffee. Once he got his coffee he turned around to find a seat and noticed it was unusually busy. As he walked around looking for a seat he realized the only open seat was across from a boy, around his age, with white and red hair and a large scar on the left side of his face. Izuku sighed, as he was moving to leave the red and white haired boy called him over.
“You can sit here,” he said, gesturing to the seat in front of him. His voice was flat but soft. “Wouldn’t want to deprive anyone of cats.” As if to emphasize his point he offered Izuku the calico cat he was holding. Izuku grabbed the cat and sat down.
“Thanks."
The boy had multiple cats rubbing against his left side, he scratched behind the ears of a ginger tabby and looked at Izuku.
“You look like you’ve been crying, bad day?” His almost monotone voice was hard to read but a hint of concern leaked in.
He nodded, not saying anything for a minute. "I had a bad run in with a hero, I really need some cats right now." Izuku said, petting the cat that now laid in his lap.
“Was it Endeavor?”
“No, though Endeavor isn’t the nicest. It was All Might,” Izuku responded quietly. The boy's eyes widened slightly.
“I agree with you regarding Endeavor. What happened? If you don’t mind sharing.”
Izuku was about to explain when doubt kicked in. What if he reacts the same as everyone else when he finds out I'm quirkless, he seems nice and he wanted to be able to talk to someone as equals, to not be berated and shunned for something he couldn't change. He shook off the thoughts and took a breath.
“Well to start off I’m quirkless." He paused, waiting for the other boy to say something, to tell him to leave. When he didn't, Izuku Continued. "I’ve always wanted to be a hero. When I ran into him I asked him if I could be a hero. He said no… Don’t know why I expected anything else.” He looked up at the boy, a strained smile on his face, expecting for the boy to decide he didn't want anything to do with him.
“I'm shocked he’d say something so inconsiderate, All Might doesn't seem like the type." Izuku looked at the boy, his mismatched eyes not holding even the smallest amount of disgust that Izuku had come to expect.
"Yea I didn't think he would either."
Silence stretched between them for a few minutes before Izuku made an awkward attempt to start a conversation.
The two of them talked for a bit longer before the boy looked down at his phone, a grimace crossing his face. "I have to go, but I come here pretty often so maybe I'll see you again."
"Oh, ok. Bye," Izuku responded, trying not to let disappointment seep into his voice.
The boy took a few steps before Izuku realized he never got his name. He put the cat that was on his lap down, and got up.
"Before you go, what's your name? I'm Izuku Midoriya"
He looked back at Izuku. "It's Shoto Todoroki," he said, turning around and leaving, the bell chiming with the opened door.
Izuku looked at the time and realized it was getting late and he should hurry home before his mom got worried.
______________
Izuku sat in his room, sprawled out on his bed, the cats made the day a tiny bit better. The nice boy at the cafe, Todoroki, helped a bit as well.
But his encounter with All Might still left a bad taste in his mouth.
He couldn't be a hero
After years of everyone saying that to him, his idol, the symbol of peace told him that. After all this time he had to accept it, didn’t he? Was there any more point in dreaming?
He sat up slowly and moved over to his desk. As he opened his laptop the light of the screen filled the dark room making Izuku groan.
he glanced at the time in the bottom corner
1:46 am
He mindlessly opened up some hero forms not really paying attention to which forms he was on. Jumping from site to site until he started typing, letting out all his feelings from his run in with All Might. Carefully leaving out any mention of All Might's injury.
He posted his rant, feeling a tiny bit better about the day, he would probably delete it in the morning, regretting the choice but for now he felt a bit better and its not like anybody would see it.
He closed his laptop and waited for sleep.
______________
Izuku rolled over in bed, shoving his face in his pillow as if that would somehow block out the sound of his Mom knocking at the door.
“Izuku. It's getting late and you've got school.”
He let out a groan. “Alright, I’ll be out in a minute.” He stumbled out of bed and left his room.
"Good morning Izuku. How did you sleep?"
"Good," he yawned.
"Breakfast is on the table." Inko continued to get ready for work, leaving Izuku alone with his breakfast.
On the table waiting for him was a bowl of rice. He started to eat, pulling out his phone. Seeing an email alerting him of a message on the site from the previous night. A spike of anxiety rose into his chest. He didn’t expect anyone to see the message much less respond to it. He logged on, opening his messages.
DustAndDestruction:
So you don't like All Might?
Izuku stared at the message for a couple minutes, confused. He expected a similar rant, maybe someone expressing some sort of pity or an angry All Might fanboy, but he couldn't tell what this person wanted.
NotMight: I feel like I made the fact that I'm not particularly fond of him pretty clear. Why, you one of his fans?
In reality his feelings were a bit more complicated than that. He didn't completely hate his former hero, but he certainly didn’t look up to anymore. And the longer he sat with it the more disdain and hate crept in and mixed with his feelings.
DustAndDestruction: I’m offended by that, I am definitely not.
I have an offer for you if you’re interested
DustAndDestruction: If you are, I'll send you where to meet.
Izuku considered ignoring the message. All of Izuku’s sense of preservation was screaming at him to turn them down.
Unfortunately he stopped listening to it a long time ago.
Curiosity getting the better of him he texted back saying he'd come in the afternoon and hear him out. After all, he didn't have much to lose.
Finishing his breakfast he went to his room and grabbed a pocket knife, because if he's going to do something stupid he's going to at least be prepared.
He said bye to his mom before heading off to school.
______________
Izuku went through the school day like normal, trying to seem invisible and avoiding Kachan.
When the final bell rang he quickly slipped out of class and took out his phone.
He checked the location, and went to find a subway heading in that direction, it wasn’t an area of the city he was super familiar with.
Once he got on the subway he moved his pocket knife from his bag to his pocket.
When he left the subway station he was in a fairly quiet end of town. He checked a map to make sure he knew where he was going. After a bit of walking he arrived at the building.
He ignored the small voice of doubt in the back of his mind, grabbing the cold metal of the door handle, turning it.
He went in and made his way to the second floor as he was told to. The paint on the walls was chipped, the first floor was practically empty, same with the stairwell. The steps creaked as he walked up. The entire area smelled faintly of alcohol.
Another door waited for him at the top of the stairs.
Izuku slowly reached towards the door, his other hand clutching his pocket knife hidden in his pocket.
He opened the door, the smell of alcohol getting stronger, revealing a bar. There was a person with purple and black mist in place of their head, and yellow slits for eyes behind the counter.
Over to the right was a man with severed hands on his body. Izuku's grip on the knife tightened.
He carefully walked forward, the man with the hands turning to look at him.
"Ah, our guest has arrived." He spread out his arms. "Take a seat."
Izuku took a seat a few seats away from the guy with the hands.
"I'm Shigaraki Tomura, that’s Kurogiri,” he jutted a thumb towards the man behind the counter. “What's your name?"
Izuku paused and thought for a second, it was unwise to give his real name out so he went with the first thing he thought of.. "You can call me Deku," Izuku said carefully.
"Fair enough. Like I said earlier I have an offer for you. How would you like to help me destroy All Might. We need more members of pur party and your disdain for him makes you perfect. " Izuku narrowed his eyes before shrugging.
He didn’t hate All Might that much but his curiosity once again got the better of him. And either way what did he have to lose, his dreams had been stomped on, and as things were right now he knew the statistics, he knew his life was heading nowhere fast. The only thing he had was his mother and at this rate he'd only be a disappointment, a burden, it would be better for him to disappear.
"Why not, but what do I get out of this?"
Shigaraki opened his mouth to say something then stopped for a second.
"Well obviously there's the satisfaction of taking down All Might and—" he was interrupted by the noise of a tv turning on.
Izuku's head turned towards the sound. The TV had the words "audio only" displayed on it. His eyes narrowed.
"If you prove yourself in a couple of missions I can offer you a quirk of your choice." The voice from the TV was deep, his voice commanded the room, holding everyone's attention without even being in the room.
"Hello Sensei, I didn't know you were listening."
"Of course. You seemed quite interested in your new recruit."
Izuku wasn't sure what to think of this sensei guy, he didn't think giving someone a quirk was even possible. The thought that he could have a quirk.
After all this time, if this sensei was telling the truth, he could have a quirk. A grin tugged at his lips.
"You've definitely caught my interest. What sort of missions would I be going on?"
"That depends, is there anything you're particularly good at?" Shigaraki asked.
Izuku tilted his head, thinking for a second before answering. "Well I'm good at quirk analysis, I don't have any of my notebooks with me but I can bring you some to look at at some point. I've also done a few types of martial arts in the past, since it's been a bit I might be a bit rusty but I train frequently at the gym so I can probably hold my own in a fight.” He tapped his fingers against his leg.
"Well then you'd probably be doing analysis related jobs and maybe some combat stuff if we needed you for it."
"Alright sounds good," Izuku said, getting up from his seat. "There any chance you could arrange somewhere for me to stay? Once I join whatever you hav3 going on here I don't want my mom catching on, or to get her tangled up in this." He really should ask more details but he couldn't bring himself to care. He wanted, needed, to know more about this sensei who could apparently give quirks. It's not like someone having a quirk that could do that is impossible, but he's certainly never heard about it. Perhaps a well kept secret among villains and heroes alike?
Before Shigaraki had a chance to say anything Kurogiri stepped in. "There are some rooms above the bar if you'd like to use one of those whenever it's convenient."
"That works for me. I'm going to head out now." Izuku left the bar, giving a quick goodbye as he left, and headed home.
______________
After his mom went to bed Izuku took his school bag and emptied it of all his school things, save for his pencil case, and put them in his closet, tucked away where they wouldn't immediately be discovered.
He grabbed a hoodie, a couple pairs of clothes, his phone charger, wallet, earbuds, his pocket knife, and a couple of his analysis note books. His bag was starting to get a bit full. He stared at it for a minute before moving his notebooks into a tote bag, he kicked the bag under the bed, out of sight. He put a couple extra pairs of clothes, leaving any of his hero merch.
The thought briefly crossed his mind to sell it but doing it online would take too much time and he didn’t have enough arms to carry all of it to sell it to local shops.
He slipped out of his room and started unplugging his switch from the TV. He stopped, realizing that Inko might notice if it was gone. He decided he'd grab it after she left for work.
Deku: I’ll be coming tomorrow morning with my analysis notebooks, and if it’s good with you I’d like to move into the mentioned room tomorrow.
Shigaraki: Yeah, that works.
______________
The next morning Izuku got ready as normal and waited till Inko was about to leave. “Izuku,” she called,” I'm leaving.”
“I'll come say bye,” he pushed open the door, going as fast as he could without seeming suspicious.
She pulled him into a hug, he hugged her back, holding just a bit tighter than he normally would. He held on as long as he could, he knew this would probably be the last time they got to see each other like this, setting his chin on her shoulder. After a few moments—too short of a time—Inko let go. Izuku followed suit with the briefest hesitance.
“Bye honey,” she said with a smile. “See you later.”
“Bye Mom,” Izuku forced a smile, “yeah I'll see you later.” That lie was the hardest thing yet. He watched her go, his smile morphing into the thin line of a frown.
He finished packing, grabbing his games, and triple checking everything. Izuku waited, letting minutes tick by until he was sure he wouldn't run into anyone from school. Only then did he set out.
When Izuku got to the bar, Shigaraki was sitting on the floor playing a game and Kurogiri was pouring himself a drink. It was arguably too early for a drink but what did Izuku know.
Shigaraki looked up from his game. He looked back down, the clicking of buttons filling the silence. After a minute he sat the game down. "You're back. You brought the notebooks?" Izuku nodded, taking the stack of notebooks out of the bag and dropping them on the bar counter, landing with a small thump.
Shigaraki walked over and grabbed a book. Kurogiri grabbed one as well and started reading, while Izuku sat in a chair and waited. There was an odd feeling in his stomach as he watched them read, not quite anxiety but certainly not pride either, he wanted to snatch back the notebooks, bury them where no one would see them.
He steadied his thoughts, tapping his fingertips against each other in an effort to keep his hands busy.
Not long after they started reading the tv that "Sensei" talked through flickered on, the vissle of static the only, brief, warning before he started talking.
"Hello, Deku I see your back with your quirk analysis notebooks. I'd like to read them if you don't mind."
"Yeah, if you want to, that is why I brought them. Some of them are a bit older but they should all be dated." He wondered how he planned on reading them without being in the room.
"Kurogiri, please send them over." Kurogiri created mist under the stacks of notebooks, a portal Izuku realized as they disappeared into the void below.
Silence consumed the room, only the occasional sound of turning pages and humming of the tv as they read.
At one point Shigaraki and Kurogiri exchanged books, all of the others having been sent to sensei.
"These are wonderfully done, Deku," sensei said.
“You really think so…thanks,” Izuku replied quietly.
“Of course I do, why wouldn’t I? You seemed a lot more confident about your analysis yesterday.”
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. “Well I’m not used to my analysis being acknowledged much less complemented, that's all.”
Sensei hummed in acknowledgment, “being humble isn't a bad thing, but your analysis is past the point of needing to be. It's a strength far different, and arguably better, than brute strength, be proud of it.”
Izuku gave a curt nod, smiling.
“I will send them back in a bit. I would like to take another look, they're quite interesting.”
“Deku, if you'd like, I can take you up to your room now,”Kurogiri offered. Izuku followed him behind the bar and up a set of stairs. There were two hallways branching off from the stairs, one directly in front and one going off to the right.
The two of them walked into the first hallway, there were four doors, one on the left, two on the right, and one directly ahead. The door on the left had a sign that said lounge on it.
Izuku assumed there were more rooms down the other hall.
"This will be your room here," Kurogiri said, gesturing to the first room on the right.
Izuku stepped into the room, followed by Kurogiri. "I'll let you unpack whatever you may have brought and do whatever else you need to do to get comfortable," Kurogiri said standing in the doorway.
"Thanks Kurogiri."
"Before I go, Yesterday you mentioned you've taken martial arts and go to the gym. If you want, we have a contact who might be willing to train with you if you're interested."
"Sure, I could use the practice."
Kurogiri nodded and left without saying anything else.
Izuku looked around the room, the only things in the room were a bed and a dresser, both of which were in the corner leaving the rest of the room empty.
He sat on the bed, letting himself sink into it, his bag falling to the floor.
He fell backwards, running his hand through his hair. Izuku knew that his analysis was useful, he knew, that’s why he started doing it. But hearing that from someone else. That was new.
A warm feeling welled up in him.
______________
Shinso grabbed his mask that was sitting on his dresser as he walked to his window. He unlocked the window, opened it, and slipped out. He put his mask on as he climbed the fire escape.
He reached the roof and stood there looking over the city. As he looked over the city he felt free, free from the prejudices stemming from his quirk. Out here his quirk was his strength and he didn’t have to be ashamed. He may have been doing this for a while but the feeling never got old.
A cold breeze snapped him out of his thoughts. He started running along the rooftops, an attempt to warm up, while also keeping an eye out for anyone who might need help. The night was still save for the sound of Shinso’s footsteps as he ran and jumped from building to building.
A scream stopped Shinso in his tracks.
He ran towards the source of the scream.
He took a second to survey the situation, there was a young man being cornered by a woman with scales on her arms and face and talons in place of finger nails, he jumped onto the fire escape before throwing himself to the ground, hitting the ground with a roll.
"What's going on here," Shinso called as he stood up.
The guy with scales turned to look at Shinso. "Huh. What does it look like-" he went silent, as Shinso activated his quirk.
Shinso grinned under his mask. "Turn around and put your hands behind you," Shinso instructed, quickly tying him up. Almost immediately after he tied him up Shinso saw movement and the shine of metal out of the corner of his eye.
He moved to the side, just barely fast enough as a knife flew past his face. He grabbed the person's extended arm, disarmed him and kicked him. He didn't see this person when he first through himself into the alley. He was tall but fairly skinny.
Shinso looked to the man. "Leave!" He yelled. He turned his attention back to his assailant, who was still on the ground.
As he finished tying him up he heard footsteps behind him and a voice before he had a chance to turn around.
"That was fast, kid."
"Hey, Eraserhead." Shinso similed, turning to face the hero. “You're just getting slow."
Eraserhead rolled his eyes, otherwise ignoring the jab and handcuffed the two men.
Police sirens wailed in the distance.
“You should get going,” Eraserhead said. Shinso curtly nodded, said a quick bye as he climbed back up the building, making his escape.