Chapter Text
Izuku was done. Izuku was tired of waking up every day, just to do the same thing over and over again.
When Izuku woke up this morning he thought it would be a normal day. He thought he would only have to deal with the bullying from the kids and teachers, like normal. He thought he would be called useless, a waste of space, an idiot. He thought the teachers would push him down and bully him as well, the normal. And technically, Izuku was right.
What he didn’t think would happen was his fellow students going so far as to tell him to kill himself, for Kacchan to finally move on to physical violence with the rest of the kids, for the teachers to join in on the physical abuse.
He didn’t expect to be attacked by a villain. He didn’t expect to be saved by All Might, just for him to crush his dreams. He didn’t expect All Might to leave him on top of that building. And most importantly, Izuku didn’t expect to listen to his bullies today. Oh, how fast things can change.
Let me explain in more detail just what happened today.
It's the first day of Aldera Middle School. Twelve year old Izuku Midoriya rushes to get ready, quickly throwing on his uniform and doing the basics of daily hygiene. During all of this, he thought to himself. Maybe Aldera would be a new start for him, maybe the teachers will help him this time, or better yet, they won’t even need to help him in the first place because the other students won’t feel the need to harass him! Maybe, just maybe, Izuku could start off strong with a positive school experience!
Izuku yells out to his mother that he’s heading out the door. He doesn't hear anything in response, which is to be expected. Izuku does it anyway though, because if he doesn't, then he can look forward to a lost dinner and his mother’s raised voice for not letting her know where he was. He can’t afford that, dinner is the only meal he gets after all.
The walk to school is normal. No Villains, no Heroes, just your everyday civilians and one more piece of pollution. Izuku, of course.
Izuku finally made it to the school with only five minutes left to find his class. Luckily, he had memorized the school map in preparation. Izuku makes it to his home room with 2 minutes to spare, the perfect time frame. Not early enough for the bullying to fully start, not late enough for the teacher to mark him late.
Izuku looks around the room to scope out his future classmates. He sees a few new faces, but mainly sees the same faces from his elementary school. When he spots Kacchan, Izuku lets out a sigh of relief. While Kacchan can also be mean, he has never hurt him before, and on rare occasions will even stand in between him and a student that does plan to harm him. The bell rings and everyone focuses their attention on the teacher.
“Hello students, my name is Akushi Zankoku, you will call me Sensei Zankoku. We will start class today by going around and having everyone state their name, their Quirk, and one fun fact about themselves. We will start in the back and work our way up.” Izuku’s chest tightens with panic as the kids behind him proceed to do as told. Finally, it’s his turn.
“H-hi, my name is Izuku Midoriya. One fun fact about me is that I like to analyze Heroes’ Quirks and fighting styles. And, um, I-I’m Quirkless.” Izuku watches how the few new faces shift from boredom, to shock, only to settle on disgust. He watches Sensei Zankoku’s face shift to a look of shame, then how it quickly changes to a look of poorly concealed excitement when he sees everyone else's expressions shift.
Thankfully, the next kid only hesitated for a few seconds before she introduced herself to the class and Izuku was quickly ignored again. Eventually though, all things must come to an end and it was time for the next class.
The day continued on like this, each teacher asking everyone to state roughly the same things, and each teacher looking at him with disgust. Until finally we all went back to Sensei Zankoku’s class before being dismissed for the day.
“Midoriya, stay after class. I need to speak to you.” Izuku heard the other students snicker and felt that same panic rise up in him again. He also saw Kacchan laughing along, next to the same people he stood in between before so that they wouldn’t hurt him.
Once all the other students had left the room, Sensei Zankoku spoke up. “Midoriya, it says in your file that you have a tendency to act up and show major attention seeking behaviors. I want to nip this in the bud now, those behaviors will not pass with me. If I see you acting in these ways, I will not hesitate to punish you. I have no issue harming a Geneless like you, and I will not go light just because things like you are weak. Is that understood?”
Izuku felt his chest tighten and his heart drop. He had known that Sensei Zankoku wouldn’t like him, teachers never did, but it had never been this blatant before. And more importantly, it said that in his file? He’s never lied about anything to teachers before! So, Izuku tried to explain this to him.“B-but Sensei, I’ve never-”
Before Izuku could even finish his sentence he felt a sharp sting and then a dull throbbing on his cheek. Sensei Zankoku just slapped him.
“I will not have you trying to manipulate me! Are you saying that your past teachers are all liars? Because what it looks like to me is that some Unevolved is trying to gaslight me with blatant lies. Do that again and I will do more than that light tap I gave you.” Sensei Zankoku quickly covered up his smile with a glare at Izuku before pointing to the door. “I’ve said what I needed to say. Now get out of my class, Midoriya.” Izukui gave him a short bow before quickly doing as told.
When Izuku left the classroom he looked down each end of the hallway to see if any of his bullies were waiting for him. Once he confirmed that they are at least not in these halls, he started his walk out.
Izuku doesn't see any of his bullies until he steps outside of the school building. He finds his three main tormentors and Kacchan waiting outside for him and feels a wave of relief. Kacchan must have waited there so that when they try to hurt him again he can stop them! He must just be talking with them to get them to lower their guard. With a sense of safety in Izuku’s mind, he started to walk towards them, since they were standing where he needed to go.
Right as Izuku thought that he was going to walk past them without anything happening, he felt a hand grab his shoulder. Izuku followed the hand up to see the face of bully number one, Kenji Asahi.
“Now, you didn’t really think that we would just let you leave, did you, Deku?” Izuku feels Kenji’s nails dig into his skin and flinches from the pain. Before he can respond, bully number two, Akui Karai speaks up.
“He must really be an idiot if he thinks that we wouldn’t hurt him. After all, we had to go all break without our favorite punching bag. We have to train our quirks somehow!” Akui shakes his head as a grin fills his face. Panicked, Izuku looked to Kacchan for help, but he’s just standing there with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. Finally, he speaks up. Just not with words Izuku wanted to hear.
“I’m not going to waste my time protecting your useless ass anymore Deku. Why bother when we all know you would be better off gone. Hell, Auntie doesn’t even want you anymore. All she ever talks about is how much of a burden you are and how she wishes you would go already!” He felt his soul being crushed with every word out of Kacchan’s mouth, leaving Izuku with nothing. Finally, bully number three, Yami Mai says his bit.
“Maybe this will be enough of a push to motivate the Geneless freak to do what everyone always knew it would do. After all, it would be better for everyone if it took a swan dive off a roof. And hey! Maybe it’ll get a Quirk in its next life! But if we're being realistic here, it’ll probably be just as much of a waste there as it is here!”
And with those final words, the three start their attack. Izuku watches Kacchan stand back and laugh at every new bruise and cut, every new drop of blood taken from Izuku’s body, and even throw in the occasional punch or explosion here and there. When Izuku finally falls to the ground, they get their last few kicks in before they get tired of hurting him and decide to walk away. Not before spitting in his face and once again telling him he’s better off dead, like he doesn’t know that by now.
Izuku layed there for a few minutes before he was able to get up again. He reminded himself that if he is too late getting home mother will punish him. So Izuku stands and starts his walk home. Halfway through the walk back, Izuku steps on a manhole, which promptly explodes upward. From it emerges a gelatinous blob of sludge.
“Perfect! A medium sized skin suit! You’re my hero, kid. Now, this will only hurt for about forty seconds, and then you’ll be gone and I’ll have my freedom!” Izuku feels the sludge cover his airways, going so far as to enter his throat, clogging the airways even more. He tries to claw his hands through the muck, but it does nothing to free him. All Izuku can think is that at least everyone will be happy with him gone.
He won’t be a burden on his mother anymore, or Kacchan, or his teachers, or anyone else anymore.
Right as he felt the world start to fade away, his vision going even fuzzier than it already was from the slime, Izuku sees a massive form appear in front of him. With one quick motion from the figure, the sludge gets blown from his face and Izuku starts to cough up what bits of sludge and mud got caught in his lungs and throat.
“Woah there kid! Sorry about that, this villain was able to get away from me for a short bit of time! Thanks to you distracting him though, I was able to get him!” Izuku’s head shot up when he heard the man’s voice. It couldn’t be, no way. But it is! Standing right in front of him is All Might, the number one Hero.
“All Might! Oh my gosh I just got saved by All Might this is the best day of my life. I can't believe I get to meet All Mi-” All Might quickly raises his hand in the universal gesture of ‘shut up’ so Izuku closes his mouth.
“Calm down kid! My Quirk gives me super strength, not super hearing! What are you saying, my boy?” When All Might puts his hand down, Izuku immediately starts speaking again.
“Sorry All Might sir! I just got really excited seeing you! Oh, can you sign this for me?” Izuku grabs his notebook off the ground, where it seems the insides of his backpack went when he was grabbed by the sludge.
“Sure thing!” All Might grabs the notebook and a pen from the ground and signs his name across two of the pages. He hands back the book and Izuku stares at the signature like it's a gift from God.
“Thank you so much! Also, can I-” All Might quickly cuts him off again, this time with his own words.
“Now, I must deliver the villain to the police now! Thank you for your support, citizen! Farewell!” Once he finished speaking, All Might launches into the sky. Without even thinking, Izuku quickly grabs onto his ankle and holds on for dear life, literally.
“What are you doing boy? Let go of me!” All Might demands, lightly pushing on Izuku’s face.
“I-I can’t! If I do that I’ll die!” All Might’s face turns sheepish as he realizes that Izuku’s correct and he quickly lands on the roof of a ten story building. Izuku detaches from his leg as soon as they land.
“That was very foolish of you young man! Now, I must be off! If you bang on that door long enough I’m sure someone will hear you and open it for you!” Before he can jump away again Izuku speaks up.
“Wait! I have a question! I’ve always wanted to be a Hero, I’ve always dreamed of saving people with a smile just like you do! So my question is, do you think a Quirkless person could become a Hero?!” The entire time Izuku is speaking he has his head down, so he is very surprised when he raises his head to see a frail man with blood coming out of his mouth. “Y-You’re not All Might! You must be some kind of imposter!”
“Calm down, I am indeed All Might. The form the public sees me in is a front, like when people suck in their gut and flex their muscles at the beach. I look like this because of an injury I got five years ago.” He lifts up his shirt to show a massive scar to the kid. Before Izuku can say anything, All Might speaks again. “And to answer your question, no, I don’t think a Quirkless person can be a Hero. I mean, look at what happened to me, and I have a rather strong Quirk. It's admirable to want to help people, but you have to be more realistic. Maybe try being a police officer, or a doctor, but not a Hero.”
Izuku felt his heart plummet once again hearing those words. He takes a shaky breath before he speaks. “I understand, sir.”
All Might raises his hand to ruffle his hair. “ I’m sorry kid, I know it’s gotta be tough to hear the cold truth like that, wish I could do more. But for now, I must go deliver this villain to the police.” Izuku watches as he inflates. “Until next time, stay safe!” And with those final words, All Might is off.
Izuku stands on the roof and thinks to himself, and the more that he thinks, the more he feels firm in his decision. After all, he is just a waste of resources, and if no one wants him here, including himself if he is being honest, then why should he stay? He has a perfect opportunity right now after all.
Izuku rips out a page of his notebook and writes his goodbye to the world.
Thank you, to everyone who let me know where to go. Thank you to all the people that helped me come to this decision. Thank you, because without you all, I would still be living a painful life of daily beatings both at school and at home, would never be able to get help because who would listen to a Geneless freak? So, Thank you. I’m free now.
Maybe we will meet again, in another life where I’m not quite as useless.
Deku
Izuku takes his shoes off at the edge of the roof, slipping the piece of paper under them so it doesn't get blown away by the wind and sets his backpack next to them.
Izuku takes a deep breath, turning so that his back is to the empty air, and lets himself fall. He looks at the sky and feels a smile fill his face. His back meets the ground and his vision goes black, and quickly after his consciousness sinks far, far down.