Syntax:
{Future} - same narrator, but giving glimpses of the future/comments based on future events
The Symbol Of Peace: Deku.
The second hero to bear that title, taking up All Might's mantle after he retired.
At first, people were sceptical.
After all who could hope to match All Might?
So no-one was happy with a new 'Symbol Of Peace'.
That is until Deku showed that he was more than worthy of that title.
He went on to become a hero that some even say surpassed All Might.
But the power to rival All Might comes with its own price and its own hardship.
And Izuku Midoriya, the boy who grows up to become Deku, is no exception to that rule.
But he pushed through his hardships and paid that price.
This is the story of how Izuku Midoriya, seen as quirkless by almost everyone around him, became the world's greatest hero.
And it starts with Izuku as a 4-year-old.
Standing between an angry boy with spiky blond hair and ruby-red eyes and a small girl with black hair tied in a ponytail at the back and equally black eyes who is on the ground.
The other boy is much taller and stronger than Izuku, but even so, Izuku stands up to him.
"Oi Deku."
"Get out the way before I blow you up too."
A low guttural growl emanates from the blond boy as firecracker sized explosions go off in his palms.
Izuku's stance is shaky and he's scared.
He knows Kacchan will hurt him if he stands between him and his victim.
But he also knows that Kacchan will stop after hurting him and leave the other person alone.
Which means he'd be sacrificing himself in a way, and that was fine.
But that didn't mean Izuku liked being treated like a pebble on Bakugou's path.
He didn't like shaking like a tree in a storm whenever Bakugou directed that ruby glare on him or spoke in a growl or hiss.
'I wish I could act calmer when I stand up to Kacchan...'
A lone, stray wish.
{They do say to be careful what you wish for, with good reason too.
And Izuku would realise the truth of that statement soon enough.
Just not quite yet.}
Izuku stops shaking and straightens his posture.
Steels his gaze and looks directly into the blond's eyes.
The blond recoils slightly in surprise, not prepared for the usually meek and weak Izuku to suddenly look him in the eye as if he was challenging him.
"Leave her alone, Kacchan."
"If you want to be a hero shouldn't you act more like one?"
'WHAAAA?'
'What am I saying?'
'Kacchan is going to kill me'
Unfortunately, Izuku wasn't changing his emotions he was just masking them.
Pretending.
And the truths he kept away in his head, the things he would say to Kacchan if only he were more confident just began flowing out once they saw their golden opportunity.
"No-one will like a hero who used to be a bully."
Bakugou stares at Izuku blankly, completely frozen.
And he had been doing so since Izuku began speaking so uncharacteristically.
"Tch. Fine, play hero all you want, Deku."
The fight had left Bakugou, his usual sharp, explosive nature gone, his words strangely empty.
His brain was unable to compute this strange situation, his world too shaken up.
So he decided to retreat.
'AAAAaaaa, that was too close'
'That could've ended badly for me.'
Soon after Kacchan leaves Izuku starts shaking again.
And he shakes for a while afterwards, long after the fear and adrenaline jitters should have left.
He shook while helping the girl up.
He shook while she thanked him and said her goodbyes.
And he shook on his way home.
He didn't stop shaking until dinner.
{Izuku thought that helping the black-haired girl was just a one-off meeting, that he'd never see her again.
And he didn't mind that.
After all, he didn't actually know her.
But he couldn't have been more wrong.}
There was something else that didn't go away though.
That kept nagging him since that clash with Kacchan.
How had he done that?
How did he, shy and scared little Izuku manage to stand up to Kacchan?
Despite the explosions that sent shivers up and down his back.
Despite the glare that froze him to the bone.
Despite the thoughts that this boy was once his best friend.
How did he do that?
{He would soon piece it together, only to find that the pieces he has fitted together weren't the whole puzzle.
Oh no, no, no. They were just a section of the whole enigma.
Maybe quirkless, little Izuku wasn't so quirkless after all?
Maybe he wasn't as "powerless" and "useless" as Bakugou thought.
Maybe Deku could be the name of a hero.
It could.
It will be.
And then 'Kacchan' will be forced to take all he said back}
Let's skip forward a few days.
To when Izuku pieces together the evidence.
Following a few more of similar situations where he drew on confidence he didn't have or knowledge he shouldn't possess he came to a very sound conclusion.
This was his quirk.
He didn't fully understand it yet, but he had figured out that it is triggered with thoughts and wishes like that incident where he thought "I wish I could act calmer when I stand up to Kacchan..." and ended up standing up to Kacchan and getting him to leave.
He also realised that certain things he thought/wished for when using his quirk made him more tired than others but he didn't yet work out why that was.
Oh well, he could take his time figuring out his quirk. He wasn't in too much of a hurry, he still had many years before he could even begin training in any worthwhile manner.
Inko Midoriya had taken the news of his quirk well, likely partially due to the x-ray which proved that Izuku should have a quirk, however, Izuku didn't even bother telling the other kids or his teachers.
He saw what happened to other quirkless kids who did the same.
"Stop lying!"
"You don't have a quirk, you're useless!"
And such hurtful things were spat at them.
Izuku didn't need the approval of anyone.
He would become a hero no matter what. He promised his parents that.
He would make them proud, he would rise to the legacy of his father.
And no-one could stop him, certainly not Kacchan.
Treating himself as an outsider looking in made it easier for Izuku to notice things he wouldn't otherwise.
He started to see Kacchan for who he really was.
A bully seeking to fix his insecurities by hurting others.
The exact opposite of what any hero should be, but Izuku knew better than to label Bakugou a villain. Bakugou was determined, and his only goal was to become a hero like All Might. A hero who never loses, so that's what he'd become. Izuku had no doubts about that.
Fast Forward to Izuku part way through his first year of Junior High.
He spent most of his childhood crunching through book after book, with a clear bias toward mythology, history and science.
Although out of all of those he found mythology most...appealing? Intriguing? Attractive?
It was hard to describe, but it interested him the most, he just chalked it up to the ancient heroes in those stories being similar to modern heroes.
He was more well-read than anyone in his age group, maybe even most of the people in Junior High.
Not to mention his grades, he was planning to take the world by storm, not with his strength but with his wits. His quirk obviously wasn't very flashy or powerful, but with quick thinking and strong analysis, he could outshine other candidates.
Kacchan won't even know what hit him.
Speaking of Kacchan, the blond had mellowed out considerably...well. That's not the right way to put it, he stopped bothering Izuku after the green-haired boy stood up to him several times, he was still just as much of an asshole to others as he always was though.
Although Kacchan was less than thrilled when Izuku started getting better grades than him every single test or exam they ever sat. It infuriated him, but he left Izuku to his own devices for the most part.
'He's just a nerd, no matter how smart he gets it won't change the fact that he's a useless Deku.'
'He's still just a pebble in my fucking path, not an obstacle.'
'He won't ever become a hero.'
'So I'll watch him struggle in the mud as he tries to beat me.'
{Bakugou would soon look back on the things he said and thought with disgust.
His past actions only fueling on his path to become a great hero.
No longer in it just for shallow goals.
Over time he became more invested and self-aware. Realising he did wrong and that he should strive to right his mistakes.
And his first step was apologising to Izuku for everything he did.
A tough quest, but he managed.
After many false starts, curses and buckets full of frustration.
Izuku was so shaken he didn't even attempt to keep his composure, his arms flailing without any real purpose in front of him for a while after Bakugou's apology.
But that's in Izuku's future.
Well...his past.
Oh! You get what I mean.}
Izuku also started writing 'Hero Analysis' books, very in-depth and borderline professional comments and breakdowns of a hero's fighting style; their special moves; their quirk; their support items; their costume; their lifestyle and practically anything he could fit on those pages. Along with diagrams to help him understand how all of their gear worked.
He had at least filled three notebooks by now. Well...two, the third was on his own quirk and his own support gear. Early prototypes obviously, he still wasn't quite sure just what his quirk did or what it was.
He wasn't sure if he'd ever really figure it out, but it didn't matter as long as it helped him achieve his goal.
Speaking of his quirk.
Well, he realised it does more than just help him control his emotions or put up a facade.
It gives him a trait he wishes for at that moment, again, different traits drain him more and some he isn't even able of manifesting. He still hasn't figured out why that is and it has been driving him insane. But there was no point getting frustrated (to no end) over something he didn't have enough evidence to figure out.
He's decided to aim for the top, U.A's hero course.
It's indisputably the top hero course in Japan, having birthed many great pro heroes like Best Jeanist, Eraserhead, Present Mic and - the no.1 hero and Symbol Of Peace himself - All Might just to name a few.
And he's been trying hard to get in, making leaps and bounds in his academic and heroic knowledge alike, spending every possible moment on noting down anything he can that might help him. His illustrations have also gotten much better due to his constant practice that would be obvious enough to anyone who decided to flip through his books chronologically, a kaleidoscope of different styles, shading and notation.
He eventually settled on just sketching a vague outline of the pro-hero he was analysing putting more detail into their support gear and quirk-related body-parts, these sketches were surrounded top to bottom in neat, in-depth, handwritten notes.
"Izuku honey!" His mom called from the kitchen "Dinner's ready!"
"Coming!" he shouted back as he finished off his sketch and pushed himself away from the desk and towards the door letting the wheeled office chair take him there, notebook in hand.
He hops off the chair and dashes through his open bedroom door and toward the kitchen, the quick pattering of small feet reverberating through their small but homely flat.
"Izuku! Slow down before you hurt yourself!" an attempt (not the first) made in vain by his mother as he skids into the room which causes Inko to heave a sigh.
"Honestly, what am I going to do with you?"
"I dunno," Izuku responds with a smug smile to his mom "But I think the correct answer would be to 'put up with me'." that response earns Izuku a not-so-subtle eye roll from his mom.
"Is that one of your hero notebooks, Izuku?"
"Oh, this? Yeah, I wanted you to check up on some of the things I've written and drawn. Nothing too advanced, as usual, I'm not some genius scientist who can build his own gear or develop some new miracle material."
Inko takes her time looking through the new additions to her son's notebook taking in all the in-depth notations, nodding thoughtfully once in a while, and admiring the professional sketches.
"It doesn't seem unrealistic at all, Izuku," she says with a kind smile "You really should send some of these ideas directly to the pro heroes you know, they could really benefit from some of this gear."
"I-I-It's not that great, besides, they wouldn't take a teenager's doodles seriously."
"Izuku. They would be surprised to find out a teenager drew these," she says matter of factly "They'd expect some kind of professional or at least a very skilled adult."
Izuku goes a shade or two redder at the praise and mumbles "If you say so, mom." under his breath at which Inko smiles fondly.
And so go on the Midoriyas days for a while, not much changing apart from her son's knowledge on both modern and ancient heroes, what he knows of his quirk and how well he uses it and not to mention the obvious. He's getting older.
He's found that his quirk can actually give him some... interesting traits if he tries hard enough. For example, he could activate what was almost a 'radar' vision (which is incidentally what he had called it, Radar. Naming isn't his strong point {that never changed, the moves Deku uses all have oversimplified names, he tries to play it off but in reality that's just him covering up his lame naming one is perfect after all.})
Some other traits had also popped up, but he wasn't able to use them reliably yet nor identify what they were exactly.
His quirk still mystified him and his mom. Neither of them had ANY idea what it could be. But he didn't care all that much (is what he'd tell himself but he was still pissed that he couldn't work anything out) seeing as his quirk was slowly becoming more and more suitable for hero work.
He had also run into someone who seemed familiar but he could never quite grasp why she seemed familiar.
She had her hair done up in a spiky ponytail with one bang separated from the rest on the right side of her face, her eyes are black and despite seeming the same age as Izuku she is tall and mature in comparison to some of Izuku's classmates (some of which still resulted to burying him for his 'quirklessness' little do they know he could probably kick their ass at any moment...Well... That wasn't a given, some of them would still manage to beat him with their quirks. But quirkless, no-one in the school stood a chance against Izuku). She seemed reserved and quiet, always in a hurry. Izuku could swear he caught her tearing up or crying once or twice.
She never really paid Izuku much mind, but that wasn't her fault. If she was quiet then Izuku was a ghost, practically levitating from place to place; his presence totally hidden and unnoticed. He liked it that way. The less he got noticed the lower the chance of anyone bullying him. But his stealthy nature also let him gather information about others that they usually wouldn't show if they realised they weren't alone.
Through observing the girl he gathered that she likely had problems of her own, it could really be anything. Izuku didn't have much to go on but the reclusive, defensive behaviour she showed. He got to the conclusion that she was likely being hurt by someone saying or doing something, whether that someone was an abusive parent or (like in Izuku's case) some idiotic classmates.
His question was answered shortly.
He decided to follow her (although he'd insist he wasn't) for a while to see if maybe he could get to the bottom of who this strangely familiar person was. And by doing so, in part thanks to his lacking presence, he witnessed a group of teens all wearing the same uniform as the mysterious girl surrounding her. 'Bullies.' his inner voice uttered dripping with venom and hatred.
She had been cutting her way through the park and had been passing next to a little building (perhaps a maintenance shed or something?) when they sprung up on her effectively out of nowhere standing in a semi-circle against the wall of the building making sure to cut off her escape. Although they weren't exactly huddled up right next to the wall's edge so Izuku could easily sneak into their little circle. So he crept up to and around the building and flattened himself against the wall so that he could peek with one eye and see what they were doing. Prepared to step in as he would do eventually, he just needed to know what their reason for bullying her was to stop them more indefinitely.
"-ou think you're so great, don't you?" said one of the girls. 'Typical popular girl. Bit of a bitchy attitude too. God, I hate her already.'
"Yeah, constantly ignoring everyone like they aren't worth your time." said one of the boys, the shortest one there. Shorter than the girl they were bullying in fact. He seemed like your stereotypical jock, a complete dick who thought with the wrong head. Izuku has had his fair share of run-ins with that type of person. They were always such absolute fucking idiots it hurt to even think that they said some of the things they did.
"You know what?" the first girl, spoke again as she broke off from their formation "I've had enough of you!"
Her arm rose quickly.
Alarm bells went off in Izuku's ears...Well, they were all in his head, but they felt real. 'Have to step in, this is about to get physical
The world seemed to slow (or maybe it was Izuku getting faster?) as Izuku moved forward, faster than he should've without a quirk, to stop the incoming hit. Slap or punch didn't really matter. He'd just catch her hand at the wrist and push her back from their victim.
The girl with the black hair and the black eyes had her eyes scrunched up in preparation for the attack that was likely aimed for her face. But instead of the reverberating sound of flesh on flesh impact that had been expected, there was a much quieter impact as the bitch's wrist was caught by a smaller boy with green, curly, messy hair.
"Leave her alone," he said with his mouth set in a line, ice in his voice.
"What the fuck?" the bitch started talking again "Let me go!"
"As you wish." he deadpans "Anything to stop your nails-on-chalkboard screaming."
The girl falls unceremoniously on her backside with a loud, painful sounding thump due to Izuku letting her go while she was off balance and flailing in a desperate attempt to free herself of Izuku's grip.
"Oi, fuck did you do that for, creep?" said the jock.
"She told me to, so I listened," Izuku said with a lopsided, satisfied-looking grin. "Besides I hate bullies like you so I enjoyed doing it too."
The jock stepped forward.
'Oh? You really shouldn't. Bad choice, man.'
Just as the jock is about to step forward into striking distance Izuku speaks again "I really suggest you don't. I won't be holding back since I'm pretty pissed, so you could end up with a busted lip or maybe a broken nose."
"What makes you think you could even land a hit on me?"
"Well, let me think..." Izuku raises a hand to his chin in a thinking expression, then whispers to the girl behind him "Move away slowly, they're focused on me." which she listens to immediately.
"Ah!" Izuku exclaims, raising one finger up in a mock 'eureka' moment "I know why I think that." he smiles disturbingly at the jock "Because I can definitely fight better than you."
"Alright, if you say so!" A punch flies out aimed directly at Izuku's head, he ducks under it effortlessly.
"Nice shot, man! Better than I expected, to be honest!" Izuku chirps joyously "Now it's my turn!"
He delivers a strong jab right into the jock's stomach causing him to clutch it and keel in on himself in reaction, he then slams his knee into the guy's face. At this he joins his bitchy friend on the ground, his nose oozing blood, slowly he shuffles away from Izuku. "Anyone else wants to stand up to the plate?" Izuku says with a small, genuine, unnerving smile on his face "No?" he looks around all of the scared expressions "Too bad. Well... I'll give you three seconds to run before I use my quirk to finish you off." he says, keeping the same smile plastered on his face throughout his bluff. But the said bluff gets it's job done and causes them all to scram.
Izuku slowly shuffles back on to the wall and slides down it, his breathing heavy and quick and trembling slightly. "Aaaaa, I can't believe I did that!" he says, to himself, while slowly rocking back and forth "That was scaaary."
"You sounded like you were really enjoying the fight."
"Nononono, I don't like fighting, I'm just a really convincing act- WAIT. Why didn't you run when you had the chance?" he questions the girl he helped.
"Because I wanted to talk to you afterwards, considering this is the second time you've saved me from a bully."
"Wait. WHAT?" Izuku shouted in surprise as the girl, Momo, smiled at him smugly.
Thank you for reading.
The next few chapters will probably be Izuku and Momo getting to know each other and building their slightly/massively altered characters.
Izuku's quirk will be slowly revealed more and more until they realise just what it is and how powerful it could be.