Izuku I
"Sorry, kid. It's not happening," Dr. Tsubasa said bluntly. He had been so casual, so nonchalant as he destroyed Izuku's hopes and dreams.
This can't be true. This can't be true. This can't be true.
He barely listened as the man continued to explain things to his mother. There were X-rays pulled up, showing his toes. The cruel doctor, at least cruel in Izuku's eyes, said something about how his toes meant he would never have a Quirk. But then a voice cut through the room.
"Couldn't I check to be safe, doctor? Give them some more certainty?"
The speaker was a young man with very tan skin, who had on a labcoat over a pink t-shirt and beige slacks. He had a sympathetic expression, looking at Izuku and his mother as he fidgeted with his clipboard.
"It's not your job to question me in front of my patients, intern," the doctor barked back. His irritation was clear, even to Izuku. Like it was a common problem between the two.
Izuku looked at his mother, who cleared her throat and leaned forward. "What does he mean by checking to be safe?"
The doctor sighed. "This is one of my interns. He thinks his quirk can disprove my findings and theories."
That had young Izuku sit up a little more. Anything that gave him a chance sounded good to him. It meant a chance to have a quirk, a chance for all of Dr. Tsubasa's blunt dream-crushing to have been a lie.
The young man frowned. "N-no, sir! As I have said before, I just think it could verify it more concretely. At least a little more."
"Intern, you should speak only wh—"
"What is your quirk?" Mrs. Midoriya asked, interrupting the doctor.
"Oh for f— Fine. Intern, you get to wrap up here. Knock yourself out, I have other patients to see," the bald man griped, standing up and marching out of the room. Izuku was glad he left, and his mother seemed so too. The intern, a bit meekly, stepped forward to take the man's seat.
"H-hello, ma'am. My name is Junji," he said, "I'm an intern from the University of Okinawa. To answer your question, my quirk lets me analyze people's DNA. I see it all, your exact genetic code. Which means I can also see what traits are expressed, unexpressed, active or dormant. So I may be able to see if any of the quirks young Izuku here could have inherited are there, just waiting to be manifested."
Inko nodded. "So you can confirm if my son will ever get a quirk?" Her voice was a half-step from calm, a slightly desperate edge creeping in.
"Yes, ma'am. Mind you, in cases of unique quirks arising from spontaneous mutation, I wouldn't know what to look for. Those can appear randomly, at random places of the gene sequence. But I should be able to verify with 71% accuracy whether or not your son will inherit a quirk, even a mutated form, from either of his parents."
Please, please, please. He'll prove it wrong! Then I'll get a quirk and Kacchan and I will be heroes someday!
"Only 71%?" Inko asked, her brow furrowing.
Junji rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm still an intern. And my sample size is admittedly low in the grand scheme. Still that's at least a little more assurance, right? It won't be anything too invasive or dangerous to do. And since I'm an intern, I don't think we'll charge for it," he offered nervously.
Inko looked at Izuku, who nodded fervently back at her. This was his chance. His youthful energy had returned as hope creeped back into him. Taking a deep breath, Inko looked at the young man. "Well, there's no harm, I suppose."
Junji smiled widely, revealing his teeth. One canine was missing, and it made him look even more youthful than he already was. The intern leaned down closer to Izuku. "Alright, Izuku. I need you to be brave for me and just hold out your arm for me. I'm going to have to use a needle to access your blood, but it won't hurt a bit, OK? Less than shot would, I promise."
I don't care! Make it a hundred shots!
Izuku jammed his arm out, almost punching the intern. Chuckling a little, Junji put his left hand under Izuku's elbow to support his arm. His right hand made an odd gesture. Three fingers pointed up a little while his middle finger angled down. As Junji's thumb touched the bottom joint of his middle finger, a hypodermic needle extended out. It came straight from Junji's finger. With a breath to steady him, Junji pressed the tip of his needle into a vein in Izuku's arm. The boy tried not to flinch. It wasn't awful, but it still hurt a little. The intern's eyes shut and he went still. Izuku just stared, eyes moving from his arm to the needle to Junji and then back to the needle.
Junji just held the pose. At first he was calm, then the intern was confused, then back to being calm. Still they just held the pose, with Izuku growing anxious. After what felt like an eternity to the young boy, Junji retracted his needle. He seemed at a loss for words.
Inko was about to speak when Izuku's young voice suddenly cut through the air. "Well?!" he shouted, "What quirk am I getting?! WHAT DID YOU SEE?"
His mother leaned in and tried to calm the green-haired child. Dropping Izuku's arm, the intern just let out a sigh. "I… I'm real sorry, kid. But as far as I can see, neither alleles for your parents' quirks are going to ever be expressed, nor any other form of them. I don't even see any major unidentifiable code for a unique quirk. You're quirkless as quirkless can be."
That was the first time Midoriya Izuku wanted to die.
Junji I / Izuku II
The kid, Izuku, left with his mother in a daze. It felt cruel to tell him twice that he was quirkless, to twice give him hope and twice dash it. But that was the job. Junji stood up and left the room, eager to get his report to Dr. Tsubasa submitted quickly. Junji loathed working with the man. They clashed commonly, and Tsubasa resented being forced to take Junji on against his own wishes. Yet it was a small blessing that the doctor was so eager to get away, and that he was so lazy he never could be bothered to think of busy work to assign Junji.
Even as Junji walked past the man's office, his nature was apparent. The office was locked and empty, Tsubasa having left early to do whatever it was he did.
Well that suits me just fine.
Junji slammed his clipboard and notes into the mail-holder on the doctor's door and left. He walked through the hospital at a calm pace, attracting as little attention as he could. He waited until the main hallways were clear before he took stairs down into the basement, only to take another set of stairs down even deeper, then again. The sub-basement was dusty and dark, a cement floor filled with broken stretchers, wheelchairs, and other chucked equipment. It had begun during a remodeling of the building, temporary storage of outdated equipment. Then it just never got cleaned up even ten years after that.
We dwell in the dirt to hide the shine of our brilliance. Ugh, the lunatic is rubbing off on me.
A number of old doors hung ajar, but one was securely shut, a dim red light on over it the thick metal doorway. The room was sealed, with a keypad beside it. Junji entered the passcode, and waited for the hiss of the hydraulic locks before the door fully loosened and he could pull it open. Beyond was Lab 303, perhaps the only active experimental laboratory in the hospital. Not that anyone officially knew about it.
Junji sighed as he smelled something horrid. "Sir? I'm back. Tsubasa clocked out early so I've done all I can."
The man on the other side of the room, continued to work, before some kind of autopsy on the body of a man with a rhino's head. "And? Your progress today?"
Ah shit… Better just get this over with.
Junji shrugged even though the other man wasn't facing him. "Not much. Tsubasa has been getting more hostile. Hard to convince parents to let me use my quirk on their kids when their usual physician is opposing me."
"Stop evading what I want to know. How many was it today?"
Please don't kill me.
"Four in total."
The sound of tools tinkering away paused. The man sighed. "Four? You were only able to attempt it on four patients? You disappoint me. You understand how unpopular you are at this hospital, don't you? You're arrogant and brash, and you're foreign. No one will bat an eyelash if you disappear. One phone call and I can have you sent back home to Honolulu. Is that what you want Mr. Yonagawa?"
You bastard… Eh, he's just leveraging me. Those racist fucks upstairs are the ones giving him that leverage.
"Sir, it was Tsubasa, he—"
"Tsubasa is lazy. You could have easily spoken with the families once he left the room. He might scold you if he found out but he has no real power in this hospital."
Got me there.
"I… Yes, sir. I'm sorry sir. I let my nerves get in my way. I'm used to dealing with addicts and the terminally diseased. Since you moved me to pediatrics I'm a bit uneasy. Never been good with kids and the parents can be difficult to convince; if they file a complaint about me, the plan is a bust."
Phew… Believable excuse, right?
But really they're just kids… Hard to forget that when it's time to work. Hard not to think of what I might be doing.
"This is far more valuable work," the doctor replied. "Alterations on youths tracked over a longer period of time will allow us to learn more than working with large scale gambles on invalids and degenerates."
He's right. As always. Doesn't change how shit my sleep has been over this.
"Now, tell me of these four."
Junji nodded and took a seat on a small stool. "Three males, one female, all roughly around 5 years of age. Two of the boys were dealing with Quirk Manifestation and being examined in detail, while the girl was here for a routine check-up for a Congenital Quirk. The last boy was here for a thorough physical to determine if he was Quirkless or suffering from a simple case of Manifestation Latency."
"That last one, what was the determination?"
"Quirkless. Almost textbook, no development of any kind. No dormancy, no de facto ineffectuality, just no Quirks at all."
Poor kid. If anyone could be getting actual good from this, it'd be him. Shame it was a dud.
"Fascinating. Continue. Start with the Quirkless boy first. It catches my interest," the doctor said as he began sewing up the cadaver before him.
I really shouldn't ask what the fuck he's doing. Just focus on that Izuku kid and try not to think about the corpse too much.
"Yeah. Like I said, textbook case..."
The koi fish nibbled at the notebook in the fountain. Izuku wanted to hate that fish. But he couldn't. It was just doing what fish did. Like how Kacchan was just doing what he did. People with power, their nature was to wield that power. And for people who were weak like him, it was their nature to be abused. It had been almost a decade since he'd first learned that.
All men are not created equal.
He snatched the notebook from the surface of the water. It was wet, the corner was frayed by the fish, and singe marks covered the front and back cover. The book, however, was in better condition than Izuku's spirits. He started walking, but as he did, he glanced up.
It was an apartment complex. He could see the roof access from where he was standing.
"Odd for a fifth generation, but there he was. Maternal and Paternal were both Emitter-types. Maternal is some kind of gravitational pull. Low weight limit, requires continuous motion. Paternal is breathing fire. Not sure if chemical or non-chemical combustion."
Entering the building was easy. As he approached the door, he pretended to fumble around for a keycard. An older woman inside opened it for him with her Quirk, her wrist stretching all the way from where she sat in the lobby, reading a book. Izuku thanked her with a nod.
I wonder if she'll regret that. I feel bad but… I needed someone to let me in. I'm sorry it was you, stretch-arm lady.
"Regardless, the kid had nothing active in his code. I was certainly interested. I had to push Tsubasa into storming out of the room, but I couldn't pass up actually trying something out on a Quirkless. I tried an activation. Low success rate, but it made the most sense."
It took him a second to find the stairwell. It was situated rather oddly in the building, but thankfully it didn't require a keycard to use.
Up he went, taking each step slowly but purposefully. It was silent except for his own echoing steps. He began to second guess himself. Maybe he should just go home. His mother would kill him herself if she knew what he was doing.
His mom… She was always so supportive. But not then. Not in that crucial moment of existential dread no kindergartener is prepared to handle. Izuku knew she was just being honest. That was the worst part. Kacchan called him worthless to be mean, told him he could never be a hero and Izuku could write it off as taunting. The same went for everyone else. Even his teachers and the guidance counselor could be written off as just not understanding him well enough. But his mother did know him. She was rarely wrong, either.
She had apologized back then. Like it was her fault he was Quirkless. Then she had felt guilty about it all. He wasn't blind. He saw her stress eat, saw her stop going out. His Quirklessness was hurting her.
Without me… she'd be happier, wouldn't she?
Kacchan's words bounced in his head. Reincarnating with a quirk. It was a nice thought. He'd be happier in that life than this one, certainly.
"And the results?" the doctor asked.
Junji sighed. "It failed completely."
Izuku was on the roof now. He stared out at the city. Everything felt calm. Fear was creeping in, but he was starting to feel some… acceptance too. There was a small chair, plastic and dirty, someone had left by the door. Izuku sat down, taking out a pen, and began to write, flipping to the last page of his notebook. He took his time, writing formally. While he wasn't any good at calligraphy, he did his best to have neat handwriting, composing the message vertically. He even pulled out his ruler to make clear dividing lines.
Sensei called my handwriting mediocre last week. Maybe this will change his mind. Even if it did take me way too long to write.
When he was done, he took off his shoes. He set them down by his bag, and used the toes to hold his book open on the right page even as the wind blew. Then Izuku went to the railing of the building and swung one leg over, and then the other.
For a moment he sat there, admiring the city. Then he made the mistake of looking down. He felt intense fear, and nauseating vertigo, with his hands reaching out to grip the railing tight, knuckles white. That made him slip. His feet braced against the lip of the building's edge, and his hands clung on desperately.
Oh god… Oh god what am I doing?! What am I doing?! I need to pull myself back in. I can do it… I can do it… Then I'll just go home and…
Go home and go back to my life. Fail the UA exam. Become a laughing stock for trying. Become some depressed, half-crazy salaryman. Work for a support-tech company like my dad, just so I can be closer to heroes. Like any girl would ever want to date such a loser, or marry one. A pitiful lonely life is all I can see ahead of me.
"What did you do next?"
"I didn't know what to do. Versatility mod was a bust: no Plus Alpha to alter. Nothing to intensify either. Or de-intensify. Nothing to work with for a more tailored mod."
"What do you believe hindered the activation? Normally there are confounding factors, yes?"
"I believe the activation failed entirely because his body, unlike someone with an existing quirk, is more resistant to modification. Almost like my Quirk just had nothing to grab hold of."
"But it should be theoretically possible, yes? To activate a quirk in the genes of the Quirkless?"
"In theory. But I'll need a lot more data to know for sure. It may just be impossible for my abilities to trigger activation in a body that isn't expressing some kind of quirk already. While it's a promising idea, curing Quirklessness, I just don't know if I can do it. Unfortunately, for that kid, for Midoriya Izuku… It's just a lost cause."
Izuku let go.
As his fingers glided on the steel of the railing, his mind rushed. He imagined his life. He imagined going to high school. Maybe as a general studies student at UA, or at Shiketsu. He imagined making friends who were like him, Quirkless or weak-quirked but still obsessing over heroes.
In this daydream, one was a girl. She was pretty. He couldn't picture her face, but he imagined it to be pretty. She was nice to him. She laughed at his weird habits. He kissed her. She kissed him. He graduated. There was work at the same company as his dad, but in the Musutafu or Hamamatsu office. He visited his dad in America. Then there was a wedding, beers with co-workers, earning a license as a Quirk Analyst, working in the office levels of a Hero Agency. A lot of images blurred together, some of it didn't add up or the timings contradicted.
But he could see it. A happy life. Was it likely? No. But it was possible for him to have one, even if he didn't have his greatest dream. That was when the panic set in, as his fingers stopped touching the railing at all. It was too late. Now that life, that fictional unlikely life, had gone from barely possible to impossible. Because in a few seconds, he wasn't going to have a life at all.
Tears ran down his face as he fell. The velocity was far more than he expected. The building seemed both taller than he imagined, and yet shorter as the street grew closer. He braced for the impact.
But it never came.
He felt himself brought to a stop, slowing down as he felt a strange wetness engulfing his body. Then came the smell of rancid sewage, followed by a voice in his ear.
"Well kid, if you're not happy with it, I'll gladly take this meat suit off your hands, haha! Just gotta keep it in one piece! Now hold still!"
[A/N]: And here we are, the other of the fics I've been working on. Very excited for this one. To explain this chapter simply, Junji is an OC that can read (and attempt to alter) genetic code. I've introduced him to the story to aid in some canon divergence. While a minor initial change, Izuku had an even worse day in his childhood. Which means the next day was a little roughter too, his mind a little more on edge, until we ripple effect to him having proper depression by the time he's out of middle school.
I understand if the formatting here is a little confusing, bouncing between present-day Izuku's POV, and 9 Years Ago Junji's POV. This is going to happen in several upcoming chapters, as Junji's conversation with the doctor continues and we flash forward from that point. I considered putting Junji's sections in bold. Do you all think that would be better? Or should I leave it as it is?
Please feel free to leave reviews, you have no idea how much they help motivate me to write. Knowing the fic has fans makes me want to give you more.