"I'm afraid there's no chance of your son having a quirk, Mrs. Midorya."
"I'm so sorry, Izuku! I'm sorry...I'm so sorry!"
"You're even lower than dirt! you're quirkless!"
"What were you thinking, running in like that?! Leve the hero work to the heroes!"
"It's good to have dreams...but you should accept the reality of your situation."
"If you wanna be a hero so bad...take a swan-dive off the roof! Maybe you'll be born with a quirk in your next life!"
"I'm sorry...but you can't become a hero."
All the words told to Izuku Midorya since he was four years old, all the way up to when his idol, the number one hero and the symbol of peace himself, All Might, echoed in his brain over and over, unyielding in their torment on the green-haired boy.
After charging in to save his friend turned tormentor from the sludge villain that tried to take him earlier that day, he had been lectured by nearly every hero present for his foolhardy actions. He was now dragging his feet as he lifelessly made his way home, with a lost, distant look in his eye.
Izuku was so lost in his unrelenting thoughts, he didn't realise that he'd taken a wrong turn, and wound up at a stray convenience store. The green-haired boy rummaged in his pockets for his lunch money...at least what money he had left after Bakugo took most of it. He supposed he deserved a little snack after what had to be the worst day of his life. That, and he wanted his Mum to know that he had eaten that day...to a degree, at least.
He found a few spared coins at the bottom of his uniform slacks, only for one of them to slip out of his grasp and start rolling away. He chased after it, running around the corner to where the dumpsters, where the garbage dumpsters would be found. As soon as he did, he immediately hid behind one of the large rusty containers as he took in the sight of two figures before him.
One of them was a man who was as skinny as a twig with ash grey hair, was held up and pinned to the wall by the scruff of his dark grey blazer, wearing a pink shirt, and a gold chain around his neck. The second was a much larger man with a sharply pointed pompadour, wearing a yellow and black unitard, with high-tech gauntlets on his hands, currently holding the skinny man in place, and a pair of goggles over his eyes.
Izuku, being the hero nerd he was, instantly knew who this guy was. Mister Blaster; a pro hero with the power to fire blinding flashes from his palms. He was known to be quite arrogant and impulsive, favouring his quirk whenever engaging villains, and always loved to be the centre of the media's attention.
The green-haired boy wondered how Bakugo could choose to look up to All Might instead of him was even possible. They were pretty much the same person!
"Well, well, well..." Blaster smirked as he brought his face closer to the simpering twig in his grasp. "What do we have here? A two-bit crook? Planning on robbin this place, maybe?"
"Y-You got me all wrong!" The skinny man whimpered. "I-I was just grabbing some snacks for me and my pals!"
"Oh, yeah, sure." Blaster rolled his eyes. "Tell you what. How's about you and me take a trip downtown, and we'll see if your story checks out?"
The threat of being dragged to the cops spooked the skinny man. Falling back to desperation, he raised his arm, where a small set of razor blades popped out of his wrist. The skinny man began flailing his free arm around, eyes shut tight and on the verge of crying as he tried to get a lucky shot in on the hero holding him.
The blasting hero dodged the skinny man's surprise attack, smirking to himself at the twig's pitiful attempt to fight back. "Ah-hah! Attempting to harm a hero on the job, huh? You just earned yourself a nice cosy jail cell. And don't worry about your pals. I'll make sure they join you soon!"
He then took one of his hands from the skinny man, a bright light beginning to build in his palm, causing his goggles to flash in its light. "But before that...I think you need some softening up!"
"Noooo!" The skinny man wailed, still putting up his pitiful attempt to fight back.
Izuku was still crouched down hiding behind the dumpster, unable to take his eyes off of the sight of a hero abusing his power, on a supposed criminal who hasn't committed any crime. All of a sudden, the image before him started to change, morphing into a sight that was all too familiar to him.
A green-haired boy, with freckles dotting his cheeks, pinned to the wall with his hands up for protection. And a blonde-haired boy the same age as him, wearing a cruel, superior smirk on his face, as he held the other by his collar with one hand, and sparks flying from his other threateningly.
For the second time that day, what Izuku Midorya did next was out of pure, utter instinct.
"THE GOGGLES!"
Both men looked to where the outcry came from. The green-haired boy had jumped out from behind the dumpster, his knees shaking, his eyes close to tears, but his teeth grit in determination. "Go for the goggles! He'll blind himself with his own quirk if he doesn't have them!"
"What the heck are you doing, kid?!" Blaster barked, leaving himself wide open for the skinny man, who in a fit of desperation, follow the boy's advice, and sliced the goggles off of the blasting hero's head.
Blaster shook himself from the attack, looking back at the twig in his grasp with a snarl. "Why, you little...!"
Midorya's body suddenly acted on its own, running toward the musclebound hero, and grabbing hold of his free hand. With as much strength as he could muster, he shoved the glowing palm into Blaster's unguarded face, where a flash of light exploded from the hero's palm.
"AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!" The blasting hero cried out as he let go of the skinny man, who fell to the ground with a thud and brought his hands to his face. "MY EYES! MY EYES!"
Izuku was frozen stiff as he watched the hero flail in agony, his eyes wide with shock. He was taken out of his shock when the skinny man grabbed him by his hand. "Let's get out of here!"
Izuku let the man lead him away from the scene, the two of them running as far as their legs could carry them. When they reached a good distance away from the store, the two turned down a dark alleyway. Once out of sight from any bystanders, the skinny man let go of Midorya, the two taking a moment to catch their breath.
"I...think...we lost him..." The skinny man heaved. "We'll be safe here..."
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
Izuku's only answer was letting out a long, shrill scream of horror. "I attacked a hero! Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh! My life is over! I'm gonna be hunted down! The police will come after me! HEROES will come after me! And my Mum...oh my gosh, MY MOM! She's gonna kill me! No, this is gonna kill her first, and then she's gonna kill me! WHAT HAVE I DONE?!"
"You saved me..."
Izuku turned to the skinny man, who looked to be as much on the verge of tears as he was. The man then took his hand and began shaking it wildly with gratitude. "You saved me! I thought my life was over! And then you came out and risked your neck for me! I owe you big time, kid! You're my hero!"
That last comment shook Izuku to his core. "I'm... I'm you're what...?"
"Man, that was some quick-thinking, telling me to go for his goggles like that!" The skinny man remarked. "You must some kind of awesome mind quirk or something!"
"I...I don't...have one..." The green-haired boy, caught in a stupor from what the man was saying, began speaking without much thought.
The skinny man grew confused about what the boy was saying. "Huh?"
"I don't...have a quirk..." Izuku braced himself for the predictable reaction and ridicule he'd receive whenever someone found out the worst thing about him. "I'm...quirkless."
Silence.
"...That's amazing!"
Of all things, the green-haired boy was not prepared to hear that. "...What?"
"You knew Blaster's greatest weakness and used it against him, and you didn't even need a quirk to do it! That's incredible!" The skinny man praised, having no idea how much of an impact his words were having on the frail boy's inner self.
Izuku found himself stupified once again. He reached up and clutched at his now aching chest, his eyes coming close to overflowing with tears. Oh, how he wanted to hear these words from someone, anyone, for so long! This couldn't be real...was he dreaming?
"Hey, kid! you alright?" The skinny man shook the green-haired boy by his shoulder.
Izuku snapped out of himself and came back to reality. "U-uh, yeah! Yeah, I'm...I'm okay."
"Can I ask you something?" The skinny man inquired. "How'd you know to go for Blaster's goggles like that?"
Huh?...Oh!" Izuku pulled off his backpack and began rummaging inside it until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out his notebook...the one Bakugo set on fire before throwing out the window...and handed it to the skinny man. "S-Since I don't have a quirk, I like to research other people's quirks! It's kind of a hobby..."
Izuku didn't know why he was letting a possible criminal take a look at his work. But for some reason, he just couldn't help himself. It felt so good to have someone say something positive about him, he guessed he didn't want to let that feeling slip away, and do anything to keep it.
The skinny man skimmed through the notebook, his eyes growing wider and wider with each page. "Holy cow...this is some hardcore research! You did all this?"
"K-Kind of..." Izuku admitted, bashfully scratching the back of his head.
The skinny man looked between the kid and the book until a lightbulb went off in his head. "Hey... you know who else would love to see these notes of yours...my pals!"
"Uh..." The green-haired boy was at a loss for words as the skinny man wrapped an arm around his shoulders, leading him down deeper into the dark alley.
"Don't worry! My pals are real nice guys! They'll treat you right, promise!" The skinny man chuckled friendly. "What's your name, kid?"
"I-Izuku...Izuku Midorya..." The boy answered, caught in a state of numbness as the skinny man led him away from public eyes.
"Izuku, I think this is the beginning of something special!" The skinny man smiled as the two disappeared into the shadows.
And that was the last anyone saw of Izuku Midorya.
"…And once again, thanks to the heroic actions of All Might, the sludge villain was easily thwarted, and the young student, Katsuki Bakugo, was rescued by the symbol of peace himself."
"Well, haven't you had the most special day, huh? Saved by your favourite hero, and being seen on TV!"
"Shut it, you old hag!" Katsuki Bakugo blasted at his mother from his side of the dining table.
This was the most humiliating day of his life. First, that sludge villain grabs him from out of nowhere and takes him hostage. None of the heroes nearby had the guts to come and save him when it's their freaking job to do just that. And All Might had taken his sweet time to show up and save him when he clearly needed saving! If you're supposed to be the number one hero, then be where you need to be, dang it!
But the one thing that made the whole thing worse for him to deal with?
…'Deku'.
That stupid, quirkless, useless, quirkless, pitiful, quirkless weakling, was the only one to come rushing in to save him! HIM! Katsuki Bakugo! He didn't need saving from that nobody! Yet he was the only one to come rushing in like that, and pull him out of that sludge freak!
A smirk came to his face. At least he got torn a new one by all the heroes around. Too bad All Might didn't let him have it as well. Having his favourite hero tell him what he did was stupid would have put the final nail in the coffin of that loser's dream once and for all.
The sound of the phone ringing broke Bakugo out of his thoughts. Choosing to ignore it, he went back to eating his dinner.
"Hey, Kachi, get the phone, will you?" Mitsuki, his mother, asked as she helped herself to a mouthful of food.
"You get it, you lazy bat!" Katsuki growled back. This earned him a smack behind the head from his now furious mother.
"Is that any way to talk to your mother, you little turd?!" She roared in his face.
"Is that any way to treat your own kid, you old bag?!" The boy pushed back just as viciously.
"Cmon, guys, not at the table," Masaru asked politely, whilst also making ready to duck under the table if he needed to.
Mother and son snarled at each other in a staring contest, while the phone continued to ring. Mitsuki finally gave a tired sigh and got up. "I'll get it."
"HA!" Katsuki rubbed in his victory as he scarfed down the rest of his meal.
Mitsuki picked up the phone and brought it to her ear. "Hello, Bakugo residence."
The Bakugo mother instantly recognized the trembling voice on the other line. "Hey, Inko! Long time, no talk!"
Bakugo couldn't help but eavesdrop as he ate, but then instantly regretted it. It was that useless 'Deku's' Mum. If that little chicken decided to tell her about how he'd been picking on him at school, he was going to be in for a world of hurt!
"How's it going?" Mitsuki brightly asked, until her face began to slowly fall into an expression of worry. "Inko, is something wrong?…No, Izuku isn't here, why…Oh, no…Inko! It's gonna be okay! Okay?… I'm coming over!"
Mitsuki slammed the phone onto its holder and ran past the dinner table. Bakugo stopped eating when the conversation started getting tense. He and his father got out of their seats and ran to see the mother fetching her coat out of the cupboard.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Masaru asked, showing a rare moment of strong authority.
"Izuku's gone missing!" Was the woman's answer as she pulled her coat on. "I'm heading over to Inko's right now to see what's up. You wanna come with, Katsuki?"
The boy shot his head up at the question. There was a time when he and 'Deku' were once friends, but when he got his quirk and 'Deku' didn't, their friendship became nullified. "Heck no! I don't want anything to do with that quirkless nobody!"
A hand grabbing hold of his collar and pulling him close to the seething face of his mother made him instantly regret his answer. Mitsuki knew the reason why her son stopped hanging out with Izuku was that the poor boy didn't have a quirk, and it was garbage like this that she couldn't stand coming out of her son's mouth.
As much as Mitsuki wanted to let her spoiled brat of a son have it, she had more important things to do. She took a deep breath to calm herself before speaking once more. "I haven't got time for this. We'll talk later." She let the boy go and dashed for the door, slamming it shut.
Bakugo stood in the hallway stunned by the look in his mother's eyes. She had never looked at him like that before. Katsuki turned toward his father, who just looked at him with nothing but disappointment. He turned back toward the dinner table and continued with his meal.
Katsuki was astounded by how he was being treated. There was only one thing he could do when times like this arose in his life…
Blame 'Deku'.
It was all his fault for disappearing in the first place. Why was he getting punished? That stupid little crybaby always did get everyone's attention more than him.
Well, wherever the little nobody had run off to, he'd better do himself a favour and stay there. Because if 'Deku' ever showed his face again, he was going to get it.
Izuku Midorya never returned home that night.
Or the next one.
Or the one after that.
Inko and Mitsuki contacted the authorities, who put out a missing person alert for the boy. Days turned to weeks, but there was no sign of Izuku anywhere to be found. Local heroes were notified of the boy's disappearance, promising to keep a lookout for him. But even with the heroes' help, Izuku Midorya was never found, as if he had vanished into thin air.
As for Katsuki, he couldn't care less.
The bomb boy wouldn't dare to admit it out loud, but he was glad to be rid of the useless broccoli-headed dork. He couldn't fathom why his parents were making such a big deal out of the green-haired nobody in the first place. He also couldn't understand why the loser's mom was so torn up about his disappearance either. The guy was quirkless, what good could he do, other than steal his air?
Whatever, it didn't matter. Now that Deku was long gone, it just helped Bakugo to focus on getting into U.A, not that it was going to be any sort of challenge for him. With his quirk, the world was his oyster. An all-you-can-eat buffet laid out just for him, and he was ready to dig in!
Who on earth could possibly stop him?
Midnight had heard a lot of jokes about her being out at midnight. And she had never thought any of them were funny.
The rated-R heroine was making her nightly patrol around the city, riding her personalized motorcycle. But so far, there had been no word of any bad boys misbehaving. She pouted at that thought. She got herself all dolled up for some fun, and had no one to play with. Wasn't there anyone out there that wanted to try to top the dom?
Her earpiece crackled to life before speaking. "Dispatch to all hands. We've got a break-in at the south street bank. Suspects are considered armed and dangerous. Any authority or heroes, please respond?"
Midnight placed her finger on the piece. "This is Midnight. I'm two blocks away from the location. Be there in the crack of a whip!"
"R-Roger that, Midnight. Good hunting." The agent on the other end stammered. Midnight just loved messing with people. Revving her engines, she raced toward the disruption, licking her lips in anticipation. When she arrived, she could easily see four men already inside, hacking into one of the ATM's with a hardwired phone, completely unaware of her arrival.
Midnight almost felt sorry for these boys…almost.
She kicked her cycle onto its stand, then made her way inside the bank. She peeled off the sleeve of her outfit, letting her Quirk, Somnambulist, drift off her skin and begin clouding the closed-off room. "Well, well, well. What do I spy? A few naughty boys stealing from someone else's piggy bank."
The thugs turned around to see Midnight standing there, in a confident and domineering pose. However, her confidence halted a little, when she spotted that all four of the crooks were wearing gas masks. Why would a bunch of small-time, petty criminals be wearing gas masks of all things, to a bank heist? Unless…
"Oh, shoot, the kid was right! She really came!" One of the thugs cried out.
Midnight was caught off guard. There was no way a pack of two-bit crooks could have predicted her showing up, and being ready for her powers like this. How could they have known? Did they plan this? They sure didn't seem the type to formulate such a trap.
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when an enormous fist struck her in the back of her head. The R-rated heroine fell to the ground, her vision shaken and blurred from the thug's sucker punch.
"Holy cow!" A thug with a red button shirt spoke up. "We did it! We actually beat a hero!"
As the gang took a moment to celebrate their victory, Midnight struggled to regain her senses.
"So, now what'a we do?" A thug with a yellow bandana questioned.
The large thug who clocked Midnight from behind smirked as he cracked his gigantic knuckles. "I say we put her down for good! Make sure she can't come after us later!"
Midnight managed to hear that in her daze, and she did not like it.
"No."
The singular voice silenced all others present. A blurred figure appeared and started coming her way. The thugs parted out of the stranger's way, allowing him to walk up to the downed heroine. The sleep-gas girl managed to get her sight straightened out, just in time to get a look at the figure before her.
What surprised her the most about the likely leader of the gang, was just how young he appeared to be. The boy didn't seem like much to look at, much like every other no-name punk on the street. He wore a dark green hoodie with a yellow backpack on his shoulders, a pair of black jeans, red sneakers, and the lower half of his face was obstructed by the gas mask he wore.
But what she did manage to see of his face were his eyes. A pair of strained, sagging, unstable mint green eyes, which she could have sworn were staring right through her.
"What'a you mean 'no'?" The brute barked back.
The boy went about retrieving the handcuffs from Midnight's utility belt. "If we kill a hero, will have more heat on us than being plain old bank robbers." He then locked the woman's wrists to a metal railing nearby. "Do you really want every hero in the area on our tail for taking out of their own? Or worse, All Might himself?!"
The crooks break out into a cold sweat at the mention of the symbol of peace. No way did they want a piece of him.
Seeing that his words had sunken into their heads, the boy stood back on his feet, leaving Midnight restrained on the floor."Grab what you can, and let's go. The cops will be here soon enough."
"R-Right!" The crew of crooks got back to work, raiding each of the ATM's for all the cats they had in stock. All Midnight could do was watch, defeat hanging heavy over her. How could this have happened to her? How did these guys know that she'd be the one to show up? How could they have been so prepared to deal with her and her quirk this whole time?
It was at that moment, that it clicked for her. "It's you, isn't it?"
The boy turned back slightly when he heard her. Glad to have gotten the boys' attention. "There have been reports of a villain who's been able to analyze heroes and decipher the weaknesses of their powers. And that's you, isn't it?"
The boy turned back to face her and began to slowly walk toward her.
"Is that your quirk?" Midnight inquired. "To recognize people's quirks, and the weaknesses they have?"
The boy knelt down to look the dom heroine in the eyes, his ragged own piercing into hers. "No, it isn't."
The dom heroine felt a flutter of nervousness pass through her body but forgot all about it in an instant when the boy began to reach up to his mask. "As a matter of fact..."
He removed the mask, and revealed a small button nose, a pair of cheeks pecked with freckles…
And the most terrifying smile that Midnight had ever seen on a human face.
"I don't have a quirk."
The R-rated heroine was stunned silent at the sight of such an unhinged grin.
"I hope you're not too hurt, Ms. Midnight," The young mastermind's smile shrunk from its demented size, yet still held its unhinged nature. "I'm actually quite a big fan of yours."
The honk of a horn caught both their attention, the boy turning back with his smile still in place. "Guess it's time to go. Wish I could stick around. I would have loved to get your autograph."
The boy then stood up and made his way toward the door.
"Wait!" The woman cried out, managing to stop him for a moment. She just couldn't let him go without taking one more question. "Who...Who are you?"
The boy turned back slightly to look her in the eye once more. He placed his mask back upon his face before giving her an answer.
"Deku."