Chapter Text
Izuku hadn’t actually finished with all the interviews the first day. He’d somehow only gotten through a little more than half, and it wasn’t like he had a lot of classwork from the previous day to catch up on. He went to UA a second day in a row, this time armed with a button camera because he totally had to show his mom what this place looked like, even if cameras on campus weren’t exactly allowed.
If he mayyyyybe wanted to leave a small giftbasket by Todoroki Shouto’s locker (and also a larger one in the teachers’ lounge), that was another story. Carrying the darn things with crutches had been a royal bitch.
Let it be known that Izuku was not exactly a stealth kind of villain. At least, not in broad daylight. Shuuzenji-sensei had caught him on the way into the teachers’ lounge. She didn’t look much like she had in her prime, but Izuku still recognized Recovery Girl in an instant, and internally fanboyed appropriately.
“Oh, aren’t you just a sweetheart?” she said, holding the door open for him. “I think I saw you out and about yesterday too, didn’t I?”
“Er – yes, ma’am! I’m doing a research project, and Class A offered to help me out. I guess I just wanted to say ‘thank you for letting me traipse around’, and Mom said this would work out…”
“Your mother’s got a good head on her shoulders. I love strawberries. Are those chocolate-covered?”
“Uh-huh,” Izuku said.
“Ooh, dibsies.” She snatched one. “So,” she said around bites, “how’d that happen?” She gestured to his ankle with her cane.
“Uh, that? I, uh… tripped. Well, I might’ve jumped down from something I shouldn’t have and landed funny like an idiot, but that’s embarrassing to say.”
She totally was laughing at him. “Well, one way or another, I know what a pain in the rear it is to deal with walking aids and carry stuff at the same time. Lean down for me?”
Izuku wasn’t sure what she’d want him to do that for, but complied.
She gave him a quick smooch on the cheek, and he suddenly felt all the aches and pains of the last week evaporate. The pain in his ankle, the throbbing on the back of his head (hidden by hair), and the sting every time his shirt sleeve brushed up against the slice in his shoulder. All of it gone, including an abstract headache he hadn’t even officially noticed yet.
“I- wow! Oh my… thank you!” He tested his weight on his newly-fixed leg, grinning like a loon.
“Oh, you’re welcome, sonny. Can’t just let a kid be in pain when I’m in a position to fix it, now can I?” She studied him, squinting suddenly. “Hey… I don’t know you from somewhere, do I? Like, outside of yesterday?”
Izuku paled slightly. She couldn’t. There was no way-
“Oh! I remember! Didn’t you apply to UA a few months back? I’m on the selection committee, you know.”
Izuku felt a mix of relieved and disappointed. She might not have known he was Deku, but she must have been one of the people who rejected him in the first place.
He scratched the back of his head. “Well… kinda, yeah. I’d always wanted to go here. But… I guess they didn’t want any Quirkless running around.” He said it like a curse. “I can sort of understand their logic. Wouldn’t want anybody being reckless with their own lives – really, I get it.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Shuuzenji-sensei asked, looking at him like he was a bit dim.
“Y-you sent back my application unopened. There was a letter in with it saying UA didn’t take any Quirkless applicants,” Izuku said. He had to fight the keep the accusation out of his voice.
She shook her head slowly. “No… I was on the selection committee when your application came up. We put you through! Your academics were exemplary, and with the kind of guts it took to apply even without a Quirk, we decided UA might be a good fit for you. We approved you for the preliminary stages, and you were supposed to be invited back for the written exam and the practical. I was a little disappointed I never saw you there,” she said.
Izuku froze, eyes huge. “W-what…?” he whispered, voice so tiny that Shuuzenji-sensei assumed he hadn’t really been talking to her. “But…”
He stared into nothing, heart pounding in his ears.
That couldn’t be right.
He… got accepted?
He’d had the letter in his hands. The one that said he wasn’t good enough, wasn’t welcome as a hero. He’d cried over it until the ink was smudged beyond the point of being legible. Then he’d set it on fire in his bathtub (safety first) with bitterness in his heart.
It made no sense, though.
She knew his face.
If his application had never been opened as the unbroken seal on it had implied, she shouldn’t have seen his picture at any point, selection committee or not. She couldn’t have recognized him if his application hadn’t been opened.
Someone had found his application, re-sealed it, and faked an official letter from UA telling him to go fuck himself.
He knew exactly who.
The room spun. He half-fell into one of the chairs, only peripherally hearing Shuuzenji-sensei ask him if he was feeling quite all right.
He wasn’t.
-One Year Earlier-
Izuku had just been walking home, trying to piece together the crumbling bits of his life. Just walking under a short tunnel trying to get home. He hadn’t asked for a big goddamn villain goop monster to ooze out of nowhere and try to force itself down his throat. He wished he could scream, or at least fight back somehow, but nothing worked. Tears fell down Izuku’s face as he writhed, fighting for air as a low voice kept whispering that he should just shut up and let it happen.
This couldn’t be how it ended. He wasn’t going to die like this. Except he 100% was, and everyone in his class would say he got what was coming to him for ever thinking he could handle life as a hero.
Izuku’s hands began to fall by his sides.
Nah, fuck it. He was going to go down kicking and screaming, or not at all. Better that than to see the smug satisfaction on anyone’s face. His hands went back to his bag, grabbing a lighter he’d stolen off one of Kacchan’s gross friends (the guy was a dick, but he really needed to stop smoking, and if Izuku had to steal every last one of his lighters for the guy to quit, he would) and immediately started trying to set the Ooze on fire.
“What the fuck? That’s not going to work, pissant. Gonna make it hurt more for pyro freaks like you.”
Oh God, he was being torn apart. His lungs were fading fast, and the tiny burst of energy sheer bitterness had given him was fading with it.
“Let me help with that.”
The voice echoed eerily in the damp tunnel, and then the sound of hands clapping once filled the air.
The Ooze burst into blue flames.
It seemed like it honestly took the villain a second or two to figure out what had just happened before the pain set it. He began screaming, a tortured wail that would stay with Izuku for the rest of his life. God, it just kept going. Black, foul-smelling smoke filled the air, and Izuku kicked as best he could at the Ooze, trying to extricate the last bit of slime from his lungs. If he didn’t get away quickly enough, he might get… burned… too.
Hey, wait a minute.
The flames weren’t hurting him.
The Ooze was still literally inside him, and somehow it seemed even that was on fire. But not Izuku. It just felt a little too warm for comfort, not burning. Like bathwater you needed to leave alone for a minute or two so you didn’t come out looking like a lobster.
What an amazing Quirk.
A shame that Izuku passed out from oxygen deprivation before he saw the finale.
When he came to, his mouth tasted profoundly of ass. Burnt ass. Whatever that tasted like. A cold plastic bottle was pressed to his forehead, the condensation rolling off onto his skin.
“I… what happened?” he mumbled.
A face entered his field of vision. Well, sort of. The sun was right behind the guy’s head, so his face was little more than a silhouette, but still.
“You held your own for quite a bit. I’m impressed.”
“…Huh?”
“I was out on an errand. Had to pick up a few medical supplies. On my way back, I couldn’t help but notice your… predicament. It’s not every day you see a Quirkless child trying to beat a full-grown villain.”
Izuku frowned and grabbed the water bottle, draining a third of it. “So? Listen, thank you for saving me; I really do appreciate it. But please don’t laugh at me for trying to survive.”
“I wasn’t.”
Izuku was somewhat unconvinced.
“Oh, don’t make that face. I really was serious. After that long a time without air, most would have given up and waited for death. You, though… you kept your wits. Went for a weapon that could do damage even against that type of Quirk. Ruthless and efficient, which is exactly what you needed. There’s little I value more than clear thinking even in times of crisis.”
He looked down, blushing. He’d just assumed the man was mocking him, like pretty much everyone else he’d ever met. “I… sorry I jumped to conclusions there.”
The man smiled slightly. “I take it that mockery is an on-going problem?”
“That’s one way of putting it, yeah.”
“And how many of these idiots have done what you’ve done?” he asked, disdain lacing his voice.
“…None. I’m pretty sure.”
“There you go. All bark, no bite. Worthless.”
Izuku ended up finishing the bottle of water, waiting for his strength to return. His mother would surely start to worry, and he had no idea how long he’d been unconscious. “…Really, thank you. I don’t think too many people would have jumped in for me like that. Or stayed with me while I was out. You were pretty amazing.”
He chuckled. “Well, you weren’t too shabby yourself, but you’re welcome.”
“Um… I’m Izuku. Good to meet you,” he said, holding out a hand.
The man hesitated for a second, then held out his own. “I’m Sato, but please, call me Sensei. It’s what I’m used to.”
Their friendship was an odd one. It was fairly rare for them to see one another, since they lived in very different parts of town, but once in a while Izuku would get an invitation to coffee and they’d just talk about whatever. He’d found out that Sensei was so used to being called as such because he used to train black-ops agents for various governmental organizations and private companies. He’d pried for more details, but Sensei waved him off and said the whole affair was classified. Made sense. And Sensei had found out Izuku’s dream of going to UA and becoming a pro hero. Somewhere along the line, Sensei had the great idea to write up a training menu for Izuku, a little reminiscent of what he’d give to his own trainees, before the entrance examinations came up. Izuku had been very excited and promised to follow it to the letter.
“Oh, and before you get started,” Sensei had said, “make sure you take one of these each night before bed.” He’d held up a small unmarked prescription bottle full of tiny 25 mg pills.
“What are they?” Izuku had asked.
“They’re not steroidal, or anything ridiculous like that. They’re largely proteins, vitamins, and other compounds that are supposed to help with rebuilding muscle tissues. It’ll make your recovery period between workouts shorter so you can get more work done. Side effects include headaches and tingling hands and feet, so don’t be too worried about that. Nausea’s a thing that can happen too, but I find avoiding anything too salty in your diet curbs that effect nicely.”
Izuku had nodded along and done exactly as Sensei said. He’d never steered Izuku wrongly before.
It really was incredible how quickly he’d gotten into fighting shape. Some part of him had always wondered just what the hell was really in those pills, but he wasn’t complaining. He had been feeling so confident, so excited for the UA entrance exams. He’d been practically vibrating in his seat when he told Sensei that Kacchan had gotten his preliminary approval notice in the mail the previous day, so surely his own was en route and would be arriving any day now.
And then he’d gotten the crushing news the next day that he would never be accepted at UA.
Never.
Nobody wanted someone like him.
…What had it all been for? What had he been doing with his life all this time? Wishing on stars and wasting his own time, and his mother’s time, and Sensei’s time. Getting his hopes up over pipe dreams.
When Sensei called him up to ask how it went, Izuku’s voice had been dead and listless. Sensei had taken a deep breath and expressed his sympathies.
“Listen Sensei, I really appreciate all you’ve done for me… but I don’t think it’s ever going to matter in the long run.”
“…Why do you say that?”
“What? I-I’m sorry, did you… did you hear anything these last ten minutes? They rejected me. There isn’t really another hero school anywhere near here that’s worth a quarter of what UA is! The Hero Association doesn’t take applicants who haven’t gone to a UA-level school! I’m… forgive me for the language Sensei, but I’m fucked.”
“Only if you want to play by their rules.”
Izuku had been silent for a moment, confused. “Whose rules should I be playing by, then?”
“Yours. When I met you, I did not figure you for a quitter. You are not a nihilist, my boy, and it doesn’t suit you. When you have a moment free, let me know and we’ll schedule a meeting. There’s something I need to show you.”
Izuku had swallowed around the lump in his throat, and nodded. And a second later, realized like an idiot that they were talking on the phone and Sensei couldn’t hear him nod. “Y-yeah. Okay. See you then.”
A week later, Izuku’s world changed.
The text said to be at a run-down looking brick building in Shibuya, so there he was, dressed like he’d been run over by a truck last week and hadn’t bothered to change clothing since. Sensei always dressed rather nicely, so Izuku wondered vaguely what the upstanding man would be doing in a shit-hole like this.
“Ah, so pleased you could make it, Izuku.” Sensei’s face was shrouded in shadow as he opened the door and beckoned Izuku inside.
“Yeah, sure. No problem. Uh… what is this place?”
“It’s just a property I own. I hadn’t figured out what to do with it after the last renters moved out. Nonetheless, it might make a good fit for what I have in mind.”
“Which is…?”
Sensei didn’t answer, but rather held up his hands and clapped them once. A candle on a small coffee table in the middle of the room ignited with a blue flame. “Do you remember this?”
“Yeah. It’s your Quirk.”
“Not quite.” Sensei swept his arm out in front of him, and the candle was thrown back against the far wall so fast, Izuku’s eyes couldn’t catch it. The fire was gone, blown out, and the candle holder was embedded in the wall an inch deep. Izuku stopped breathing for a minute.
“H-holy… I… Wow. But how can you have-?”
“How can I have two Quirks?”
Izuku swallowed. “Yeah.”
“I have far more than two, Izuku. Far more than I need at my age. And my boy… I want you to have them.”
He explained the whole thing. He was born with one Quirk, called All For One, which allowed him to take Quirks for his own. He’d lived so long and somehow still looked so healthy from the side-effect of one of those Quirks, which kept him youthful long after his family had aged and passed away. But he was tiring of the whole thing, and even if his looks were still young, his body was failing. He needed constant medical procedures and specialized equipment to stay mobile. Over the long years, he had learned that it was possible using transfusions to grant Quirks to a third party. He had been looking for someone to inherit all the Quirks he had gained over the years before he died.
And he’d chosen Izuku.
The pills he’d been taking over the last few months? Contained primers for those transfusions that were now permanently part of his body. The dosage had been upped slowly until Izuku was the perfect receiving vessel.
“You can still do everything you ever wanted. You’re intelligent, driven, and efficient. All you need is power. I can give you that,” he said, hands wrapped around Izuku’s arms so tightly it hurt. Izuku hadn’t noticed, just stared into the man’s eyes and felt like this had to be the answer. This was the bigger picture the universe had had in mind when UA rejected him.
So Izuku said yes.
-Present Day-
From the beginning.
From the beginning Sensei had planned it all. God knows what he had really been trying to achieve, but it was all part of some plan too complex to discern.
He’d told Sensei he was expecting a response from UA.
One turned up.
Sensei called suspiciously quickly once it had been delivered.
He knew it was there.
The application would have been in the hands of UA at the time.
Only a small handful of people might have the skills necessary to waltz into UA uninvited and steal paperwork.
Sensei had given him the primer pills without telling him what they really did.
Sensei had urged him to break society’s rules and become a (sort of) villain.
Sensei had manipulated him from the first moment they met.
Sensei lied.
Izuku, ignoring Shuuzenji-sensei, turned on his heel and ran straight out of UA. He had business to take care of.