Tumblr Prompt: Midoriya Izuku is born with a Quirk. He can read any book by laying a hand on it and absorbing its knowledge, which he always remembers. He'll never fail a test, but it's not exactly a useful superpower for a hero. Or is it?
At first, he didn't realize he was special. Knowledge flowed into his mind like air into his lungs, and Izuku just assumed this happened for everyone else, too. After all, the other kids in school did the same thing he did: they picked up their books and they learned what was in them. Nothing special about it.
When he is four his mother takes him to the doctor. "I don't know," she says. "It doesn't seem like a Quirk has manifested. Is he alright?"
The doctor frowns and points at an x-ray of Izuku's foot and says, "He is missing the toe joint found in Quirkless individuals. By all rights he should have a Quirk. Perhaps you haven't looked hard enough?"
And Izuku, eyes wide with the possibility of some hidden, amazing power, tries everything he can think of to get it to manifest. But he cannot breath fire, like his father, or pull items to his hand like his mother.
He can't do anything.
He is six years old when his teacher pulls his mother aside after school. "He's very bright," she says. "He knows more than any six-year-old should." She holds out a paper and Inko takes it. It's a science worksheet, with rudimentary chemistry questions, but Izuku has filled the margins with complicated formulas and equations that to her knowledge he has never learned. It's remarkable, and Inko can do nothing but stare.
"This took him ten minutes," says the teacher, and taps a finger on a childish diagram of the molecular structure of sodium. "What has he been doing?"
Inko frowns softly. "He reads a lot," she offers, but even as she says it she knows it's a poor explanation.
It just doesn't make sense. The next day, Izuku is bumped up two grade levels.
He is nine when they finally realize. Inko has been watching him for years, but nothing has seemed wholly remarkable. Izuku is like every other child: he goes to school, he plays with his friends, he comes home and reads. He loves heroes and he loves to learn and he is frighteningly intelligent, and Inko doesn't know what to make of it.
She comes home from work one day to find him in the kitchen. He doesn't notice her at first, and so Inko ducks behind the wall and peeks around the corner. She's not sure why she's hiding, other than the instinct that says she may find answers, and so she waits.
Izuku is awfully battered. There's a few minor scrapes on his arms and face, and some ugly looking bruises cover his shins. It takes her a moment, but soon Inko notices the awkward twist of his ankle and her heart jumps to her throat. She's a heartbeat away from moving when Izuku reaches out to a book lying closed on the table.
It's a medical book, one of hers, on basic treatments that can be done at home. He's trying to treat himself, and Inko's heart cries to think that he hadn't thought to call her.
Inko steps into the doorway and opens her mouth, but Izuku is already bandaging his ankle. His movements are clean and efficient, and the pattern of the wrapping is expertly done.
The book is still closed on the table. All he'd done was touch it.
"Oh," says Inko, and he jumps. The next few minutes are full of fussing and questions, and then they're driving to the urgent care center, but later that night she asks him about the book. He shrugs with curious eyes and says, "I read it."
"No," says Inko. "It was closed."
Izuku frowns, bandaid on his cheek pulling skin taut with the movement. "But what does that have to do with it?"
"Izuku," says Inko. "Books have to be open for you to read them."
Izuku's eyes go wide.
And that's how they find out about Izuku's Quirk.
Izuku does not have a combat Quirk. But that's okay; he doesn't need one to be a hero. No matter how Kacchan jeers, no matter how the other children laugh, Izuku knows his Quirk is enough.
So maybe he doesn't have super speed. So maybe he can't fly. But Izuku can learn, and learn he does.
He's been to the library more times than he can count. He doesn't even need to read the books; all it takes is a touch and all of their knowledge is his. That doesn't stop him from taking them in piles to carefully study, using them for reference as he adds page after page to his notes. He studies biology, and chemistry, and physics; he studies astronomy and astrology, cooking and calculus. He is fluent in eight different languages and can passably understand nine more.
But more than anything, Izuku studies heroes, and he studies combat.
He studies martial arts. He studies fencing. He studies boxing. He studies riflery. He studies the science behind Quirks, and the mechanics behind weaponry. He knows more than he could ever possibly need to know, and then he goes to the dojo down the street and he practices. The owner had looked at him funny when he first asked to use the floor in between classes, but Izuku's freckled cheeks and wide green eyes are enough to win anyone over.
When he meets All Might on the rooftop, he already half-knows the truth behind the hero's smile. He's read enough biographies and studied enough police reports to figure out the man is weakening.
When Kacchan is captured by a villain with wild eyes and suffocating strength, Izuku knows exactly what to do.
When All Might offers him his power, Izuku knows he will become a hero. He knows it like he's known everything else, knows it in his soul. He knows because this is the only piece he's been missing; strength of body, to match the strength of his mind.
UA is a challenge, he soon discovers. Aizawa is tough as nails and One For All does not fit his body quite yet. Izuku has a lot to learn and all he can think is that he's grateful.
He's grateful because for the first time in a long time, he has something new to learn. He's grateful because it's been an eternity since he's had a real challenge.
Izuku sets his books aside and curls his hands into fists.
It's time to become the hero he's always known he could be.