[4/8] Izuku Midoriya: My Hero Academia

AN: I haven't been on FF for a couple of months but I've finally returned with a new story. That being said, I'd like to add that I haven't written fanfiction for quite a while so I may be a little rusty.

I decided to make this fic for the soul purpose of giving more limelight to some of the side characters. This will include the teachers, pro heroes and students from the other classes.

The story is, in fact, going to be canon divergent and will contain spoilers. Most of the chapters will be introspective, short stories or drabbles. They're all going to be connected and I plan to lead them somewhere though.

The numbers before the title are the dates I've uploaded/updated the chapter. Also I'd like to quickly mention this was inspired by an Assassination classroom fanfiction called Judecca. It's written by the user Adamant. You should check it out.

When I was four I was told that I would grow up apart the sparse few who did not possess a quirk. All the heroes I had admired on TV had quirks. Not a single one didn't. So naturally, after hearing of such a fate, I was horrified. I would grow up as an ordinary, quirkless boy, defenseless and vulnerable in a society that functioned on quirks.

Back then I was told that I couldn't be a hero. I was too weak and frail. I was someone who needed to be protected.

But I wanted to prove them wrong—I had to. So each day I trained longer, studied harder and did more than all my peers. After all, if I had put in enough effort, surely, I could become a hero. Right?

That however, wasn't the case when my mother hugged me on her knees, crying and repeating 'I'm sorry's. It wasn't the case when I asked if I could be just like All Might and was responded with only empty silence. It wasn't the case in Middle School where a classroom of students laughed at me for my dream.

So now it feels so surreal.

I was fed by society the idea that I could never possibly be a hero and that I would forever be one of society's burdens.

The sleeves of my uniform feel rough in my clenched hands. I feel like crying. The air is so hot and heavy. I want to peel my collar from my neck so all of my steaming anxiety can come billowing out.

All Might looks at my disbelief with something that could be indifference and heck, there's a part of me hoping it's indifference. I can't really tell though. I'm still not quite used to his 'true' form. His expressions are still hard to determine (the expressions of his hero form were also a hard one to work out but I eventually made do).

I'm still a bit weirded out by the whole fact that he's just so bony and frail in this form. It's just incredibly unlike the healthy and muscular superhero I've always seen on TV.

Tears are now beginning to well up in my eyes, and I can just see them smoothly glistening at the curve of my cheeks. My emotions stir within me, swirling so fast I begin to feel nauseous. They're confused, they're looking for direction.

My legs buckle and I fall onto my hands and knees. No. This just couldn't be true.

I tried so hard to become a hero but I was always told that my dreams were invalid. No matter how much I observed, how much I analysed, how much I tried, it was never enough. My dream was going to remain just as it was described as: a dream. Nothing more, nothing less.

"You can do it," I barely catch him say as a cool gust of wind plays at his blonde flair of hair. "You can become a hero"

Maybe there's regret in his voice, maybe this is some sort of joke, he probably doesn't mean it. Why would he mean it? He may be the number one hero but I am the number one reject. Ha ha ha—

From what little I can see of him, his face, despite me still struggling to read his expressions, is stone and firm. There isn't a flinch or the slightest change in it.

His words were sincere.

Why? I want to gasp out through all these tears. Why would you say such words to the likes of someone like me?

He's not apart of the voices that grasp onto me wherever I go. He's not apart of the 'you're worthless's or the 'you can't do it's or the 'I'm sorry's.

No. After all these long and painful years of discouragement and belittlement, someone finally told me, finally said...

I could do it. I could be a hero.

Despite all these tears, these humiliating tears that are the only thing I can ever successfully produce, I am happy. So utterly, completely happy. It's almost dizzying. And although I'm worthless and pathetic, I will continue to work hard for my dream. I will not fail All Might. I will not disappoint him. I will not disappoint the only person who believes in me.

Suddenly I feel like I can take on the world.

Leading up to Izuku's initial meeting with All Might, he's bound to have struggled immensely being quirkless in a society so heavily focused on quirks. I tried my best to convey that in this chapter but, hah, I'm not that excelled at writing. But practice makes perfect and that's what I'm doing. I guess.