Not everyone is born equal.

Izuku first realized this when he was four and was told he was born without a quirk.

It was cemented into his mind at seven, when his father left because he didn't want a quirkless child. (And Izuku's mind screamed finally, despite the pain his father's biting words caused, because, well, it's not like he wasn't used to that pain. And, after all, it was better than the alternative)

Every day for the past 8 years, it was burned into him as his once best friend told him just how useless he was.

Now, at the age of fourteen, he realized that he was unable to change his position in life as his hero's words brought his dreams crashing down on him.

Really, he thought, staring at the ground far below him, it's a wonder I haven't done this before now.

Izuku didn't mean to find the villain on his way to school. Really, he hadn't.

Izuku had been late many times before for that reason, but not this time! Today he was determined to make it to school on time for once! Izuku even purposely avoided the fight he could hear going on downtown. It seemed really exciting, and he had to focus to make sure he didn't accidentally wander off towards it. Judging by the sounds of destruction-mostly crushing sounds, like a building crumbling, which was really the only thing he'd be able to hear from this far away-the fight was between people with powerful, flashy quirks that Izuku would have loved to analyze, perhaps gigantification quirks, those were rare, especially two of them in the same place, and they had a lot of benefits. It was definitely a great quirk for a hero, but factoring in the damage to the city, there could be a hefty cost for buildings repairs and there could be limitations to the use of such a quirk. Of course, that sort of thing could be fixed by whether or not the hero could control their size. As for the villain, assuming he was also contributing to the destruction, they likely had a less admirable enlargement quirk, such as one that turned them into a monster. That said, there was Ryukyu, who literally turned into a dragon, the embodiment of a monster and she was the No. 9 hero.… Assuming there were even people with growth quirks fighting, he'd have to go to check… But he wasn't going to! He was going to be on time to school for once!

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Which really, Izuku knew how bad his luck was (his entire life was just a series of unlucky things, one after another). He should've realized there was no chance of things working out for him.

The one time he's not actively looking for a villain is the time that one decides to approach him underneath the bridge on his way to school. He hadn't even noticed it at first, wrapped up in his internal struggle to not check the fight out. But the villains words had broken through his thoughts, interrupting them.

"A medium sized invisibility cloak. Don't worry kid, it won't hurt for long."

Izuku didn't have time to turn before the villain was covering his mouth. He struggle as much as he could, attempting to get out of the villains grasp. But its hold was tight as the cold sludge surrounded his body, restraining most of his limbs.

"Don't worry, I'm just hijacking you're body. It'll only hurt for about five seconds."' The villain began forcing its way into Izuku's body, covering his mouth and forcing his jaws open as it oozed its way down his throat.

"Thanks, kid. You're my hero."

Izuku tried to shout through the thick sludge. His heart was beating wildly as he struggled for air. That's not the sort of hero he wanted to be!

Izuku began to cry as he clawed at the slimy mass. His fingers just slide through the liquid, doing nothing. Vaguely, Izuku could hear the villain cackling at his plight. He's useless, even when it comes to saving himself. Izuku refused to give up, and continued grabbing uselessly at the liquid as his lungs begin seizing up and blackness creeps around the edge of his vision.

But. He. Still. Suffocated.

⸚⸔⸖⸰⸱⸲₍⁝͓͐͛":;=_ Ā̬̦͛n͍̍d '.:=̗͑ ⁛⁝⁞⁜⌆⌇

⸚⁘ ⁖⁚ ⁛⁝ ⁞⸕⸔⸖⸰⸱⸲₍₎

⸔⸖⸰⸱⸲₍₎ ̗Ḥ̵̹e⸚⁘⸔⸖⸰⸱⸲₍₎⁖⁚⁛⁝⁞

⸚⁘⁖⁚₎ ⁛ ⁝⁞⁜

⌯⌭⍨⍼ ⁘⁖⁚Is …̬̪̃͆͂⌆⌇

⌌⌖⌣⌮⌯⌭⸚⁘ ⁖⁚ ⁛⁝ ⍨⏦⏕

⸚⁘⁖⁚⁛⁝⁞ Uš͚̯̏ẹ͎̏̌les̥͆s . ⁘⸔⸖⸰⸱⸲₍₎⁖⁚

For a moment, Izuku wondered if it would really matter if he died. There's one person who cared about him, and wouldn't his mom be better off without the burden he caused her? (Izuku relaxed his grip as asphyxiation set in and his lungs seized up. The burning was fading, and he was more numb than anything else.) It was pointless, and things would be better for a lot of people when he's gone. As his vision faded entirely to black, there was one regret on Izuku's mind– he was helping a villain.

Diluted panic moved through him hazily, because what if people were hurt because of him, what if they died because of him? Why did he have to be such a Deku? But it was too late already and Izuku was dying and he was going to help a villain and his time was up— except, it wasn't, because the sewer lid flew off and something came out and it is all Izuku could do to reach out weakly and hope that they'd be able to save him and-

Through his hazy vision, Izuku vaguely recognized a familiar silhouette and the shouted words he'd always admired.

Izuku slipped into darkness, smiling softly. Because everything would be okay.

He was gonna be late for school wasn't he?

"It's fine now! Why? Because I am here!"

…

Slowly consciousness seeped back into Izuku, followed by the gentle slapping of his cheek. Izuku moaned quietly. His head was pounding, opening his eyes was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Just five more minutes" Izuku mumbled quietly, trying to snuggle into his covers, only to meet hard concrete. Odd, but it was warm and heated by the sun, so really, it wasn't that bad. In fact, maybe he could sleep on concrete more often? It could bring back issues, but really, the warmth was enjoyable and comforting. He wouldn't need the sheets that so often snagged on his legs and lead to him jolting awake, fearing the restraint— but then again, sleeping outside was probably a bad idea. Oh well, not his problem at the moment.

"Come on, Kid. You've gotta get up. You're on your way to school, right?"

Izuku's eyes shot open as his memory returned. He stared blankly at All Might as he tried to process everything, his mind running a million miles a minute. All Might's tanned face grinned brightly at him, noticing that his eyes were open.

"Ah! I'm glad to see you're alright, young man! I was worried when you began muttering about sleeping on concrete! Concussions can be an issue, and it's good to see you don't have one!"

Izuku stared blankly up, trying to figure out if this was real. Because there was no way— no way!— that his idol, his hero, stood in front of him. Was this good karma for trying to be a normal student for once? Maybe if he continued to avoid villains and get to school on time, he could meet more heroes?

All Might still smiled down at him, although Izuku felt like he looked confused, even through the ever present smile.

"You are alright, yes?"

Izuku's eyes widened, mind finally acknowledging that yes, this was happening. All Might jerked back quickly to avoid being slammed in the head as Izuku shot up into a sitting position.

"A-A-ALL MIGHT?!" He screeched, incredulously.

All Might laughed boisterously at Izuku's shock, amused by his enthusiasm.

"Yes, it is I! I apologize for letting the villain escape. It's my first day in a new town, and I'm afraid I let my guard down! I'm glad it caused no permanent damage!"

Izuku stared up at all might, starry eyed. This was shaping up to be a great day. The chances of running into a villain were very low on their own, and All Might activity had lessened lately, so the chance of All Might being the one to take on the villain was even lower. Then of course that factors in that apparently it had been his first day in the town, so any other day All Might wouldn't have been there to save him, and if he hadn't then Izuku probably would have died then and there and-

"You are alright, yes?" All Might was looking down at him, a slightly unnerved tilt to his smile. Izuku slammed a hand over his mouth as he realized he'd been muttering.

"I'm so sorry All Might, sir! It's a bad habit of mine and-" All Might cut him off before he could restart a tangent.

"It's alright, my boy! My success here is all due to you! I've safely contained the villain!" All Might held out several soda bottles with some eyes floating in them. Izuku stared up stunned at All Might before suddenly turning around and scrambling for his notebook.

"An autograph, something to sign, I'm sure it's here somewhere, ah my notebook!" He opened it up only to find All Might's signature scrawled across two pages. "He already signed it!" Izuku turned to All Might thanking him profusely, but All laughed and smiled.

"Anything for a fan! But I must be going now, this villain has to be put under custody!"

"Wait!" Izuku called instinctively. All Might paused before turning around.

"Yes, young man?" Izuku took a deep breath before beginning to explain.

"Maybe it's because I've always been bullied, but i think it's a really cool thing to save people!"

"That's wonderful, young man. I take it you wish to become a hero?" Izuku looked up at him, feeling a small heat cover his face as he grinned shyly.

"Yes! I've always wanted to be a hero, smiling widely and reassuring everybody that everything is going to be alright! I've always wanted to be the strongest hero that saves people with a fearless smile, just like you!" Izuku, paused, looking down at his intertwined hands. "But is it possible for someone like me, someone without a quirk to become a hero?"

A heavy hand landed on his shoulder. Izuku looked up, heart filled with a light, fluttery hope of seeing a reassuring smile, but all Might's smile had slipped a little, looking tight and forced. Izuku could feel his heart sinking even before All Might opened his mouth.

"Young man, it's a admirable goal. But I'm without power, can you be a hero? I should think not. It's simply unattainable."

Izuku's heart clenched tightly and his throat burned as he struggled not to cry. Izuku swallowed past the knot in his throat. "Did you know that the rates of quirkless people has dropped in recent generations? Around 20% of the population is quirkless, but 90% of those people are over fifty. Many specialized high schools don't accept quirkless applicants. A lot of businesses don't like hiring people without quirks, they treat it as a mental disorder." Izuku didn't exactly like being so cold to his idol, but it was all he could do to not break into tears. "I always hoped heroics might be different, that people would tell me I don't need a quirk to help people."

"I'm sorry, my boy. You can't become a hero."

And All Might left him there under the bridge. As soon as he was out of sight, Izuku turned around numbly and walked back through the dirty underpass, not even noticing the hot tears running down his face.

Izuku was numb throughout the entire school day. He processed nothing as he stared at his notebook, 'Hero Analysis for the future, No. 13.' He glared darkly at it, attracting a few stares. He only looked up when his teacher started shouting loudly.

"You're all third years now, so it's time to start thinking about you futures! I'd pass out the forms, but you're all pretty much aiming to be heroes, right?!"

The teacher threw the papers into the air as Izuku's classmates began demonstrating all of their quirks. Izuku stared unblinkingly at them. He wished he had one, anyone whatsoever. He wouldn't even care if all he was able to do was pull his eyes out of his sockets because at least it wouldn't mean he was quirkless and-

Izuku really, really didn't want to think about heroes at that moment. He knew where this was heading.

The teacher lightly berated them for the use of their quirks, but as always, didn't do anything about it. Izuku winced as a familiar voice called out.

"Sensei! Don't lump me in with the rest of these losers." Izuku hunched his shoulders more. He knew exactly where this was heading. "I don't have a loser quirk like the rest of these rejects!" The class shouted out in indignation, but he just laughed. "You're all just extras- act like it!"

The teacher shuffled through his papers at the front of the room. "Ah, that's right. Bakugou, you of course, are aiming for U. School." The class looked at him in shock, muttering how low the acceptance rate was. Kaachan crowed at them, proclaiming how well he'd done on the mock exam. Izuku looked down at his desk, the remains of Sharpie insults faded, but still readable. The teacher was still shuffling through his papers.

"You're trying for U.A. as well, Midoriya?" Kacchan froze, and, along with the rest of the class, slowly turned around to face him. Izuku didn't bother looking up from his desk as the entire class broke into laughter.

"What, Midoriya? No way!"

"You can't be a hero!"

"Good grades aren't enough to get into the hero program!"

"What an idiot!"

"How delusional can you get?"

The words swarmed around him. Any other day, and he would have denied them, listed the facts, that they'd taken away that rule, that there was no problem trying. Today though, well, he didn't even think he'd bother trying anyway. An explosion slammed onto the desk in front of him, throwing him off his seat and onto the floor.

"DEKU!" Kacchan glared down at Izuku. "Forget the crappy quirks, you don't even have one. You honestly think you can be a hero? You'll just die in the first four minutes!"

Izuku remained silent on the floor

"Haa?! You gonna ignore me, you useless Deku?" Izuku felt tears welling up, but he didn't respond. He couldn't admit just yet that he had given up.

He looked away from Kacchan and down toward the floor. Kacchan 'tsk'ed glaring at him. Izuku could feel the heat of the glare on the back of his neck.

The teacher cleared his throat, calling attention back to him. "Enough with that m then! Onto the rest of the class."

Izuku tried really hard, he really did, but he couldn't ignore his classmates parting comments of how useless he was and how he couldn't even defend his dreams.

"What a loser."

"Quirkless freak."

"How lame, you're not even gonna defend yourself, huh?"

"What can you even do?"

Kacchan remained silent, but Izuku could feel his gaze on the top of his head as he refused to move from his position against the wall, still silent.

How could he explain that he'd already given up?

AN: Honestly, this first chapter was really bad, writing wise. I'm still awkward writing these characters and I'm not quite sure how to portray all of this stuff happening. Hopefully I'll get better at it as we go along. No matter what though, I suppose Izuku will always be a bit OOC because the plot of this entire fic doesn't exactly fit him, and he's honestly a really tough character to write.

It's also fairly short. The first few chapters will probably be around 2,000 words simply due to dramatic timing conveniences and fairly weak plot, but they'll eventually get longer.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed!