How'd you feel if you made awesome tech but people still thought that you were weak?

12 year old Izuku wiped the sweat off his forehead. He had almost finished working on the Power Gauntlets. The Utility Belt was already done but he hadn't made the equipment that would be going on them.

He was lucky that word of his mechanical prowess spread after he helped the old man at the laundromat. Many of the other shops in the area had decided to give Izuku a chance since he was cheaper than the repair companies. He had surprisingly been successful at everything that had been thrown at him. At one point, he even fixed a generator that even the repair companies were having a hard time with. In return, he had been given money for his services. At first, Izuku was reluctant to take the money and tried to give it back but the owners wouldn't allow him to do so.

Finally, his father had to explain to Izuku that taking the money wasn't a bad thing since he was offering services, plus, he could use the money to build up his suit. Izuku had saved up the money but had not brought any parts with them yet. He could get most of the equipment from the dump at Dagobah beach and the machinery shops in his area that traded metals, wires, insulators and anything else he'd need in return for his services.

He tried on the gauntlet and tried to use one of its new features: a type of detachable chain that he hoped to use as both a grapple and an ensnare. The device worked perfectly and hit the door hook, attaching perfectly. Izuku grinned, happy with the fruits of his labour. Next, he lifted a slab of concrete on his desk. He had gotten it at Dagobah beach to test his gauntlets but Inko wasn't particularly happy with that.

Izuku grinned at the memory of him being forced to give the slab a bath. He took a step back and leaned back before moving in to punch the slab with the power gauntlets. The slab broke easily and fell into pieces on the floor. Izuku noted down the results. Ok, so the springs and hydraulics did allow a larger amount of momentum to be captured… Could be better though.

Now, all he had to do was test the last part of the gauntlet. It was the plasmic energy store in the gauntlets. He was certain that the plasmic energy storage would work perfectly but he was less sure about whether the gauntlets would be able to handle it. He had already put off on working on the utility belt because he didn't have the proper materials. Originally, he had also wanted to add a sound emitter/spin current on his utility belt. The theory he knew about was that when a sound barrier is emitted, it could be converted into an electromagnetic field via magnetic plating and electric signals. A perfect defense tool against emission type Quirks.

However, when Izuku had tried this out, there was only a loud boom for a second before the utility belt fell apart. He didn't have sturdy metals for it. Sure, Dagobah beach had most of what he required, but they were still scrap for a reason. Most of the metals couldn't handle high-end energy bursts like his sound barrier. What angered him most was that he had no way of knowing whether it was the metal's fault or whether he had made a mistake when he was creating the emitter.

Izuku sighed and looked at the gauntlets. Did he really want to risk it? He had already added in the ensnaring tool, the hydraulics and was halfway through adding an electric circuit to allow it to function as a taser as well. If the gauntlet failed to withstand the plasma burst, it would break down and he'd be set back.

Izuku groaned and fell on the bed, thinking about what to do.

"Something wrong?"

Izuku rotated his head to face his mother, "Kind of."

Inko smiled and sat down next to her son, ruffling his hair, "Why don't you tell me about it?"

Izuku smiled. He knew that his mother didn't understand much of what he said but the fact that she asked, just to make him happy was heartwarming, "Well, you know how I made a plasmic energy storage for my gauntlets to use as a propulsion system?"

"Mhm."

"Well, it would help me with my propulsion system by aiding my Rocket Shoes. Plus, I could shoot laser beams but I'm afraid I don't have proper materials for the gauntlet. What if it breaks apart like the utility belt? I'd be set back by at least a month." Izuku told his mother, venting his frustration.

Inko thought for a bit before extending her hand to Izuku, "I know it's not much," she handed him some money, "But maybe you can get something a bit better with this."

Izuku looked at the small sum of money Inko had given him and grinned, "Huh. Thanks mom.

This is more than enough when I add it with the money I saved."

Inko smiled at the excitement of her son, "I'm glad to know that. Will you be going out now?"

Izuku shook his head, "No, with this much money, I'm sure I can get something good from the bigger companies. I'll order online."

Inko nodded her head and left the room, happy that she had finally done something worthwhile to help Izuku with his dream rather than just sit there and tell him everything was going to be ok when she wasn't sure about it herself.

Meanwhile, Izuku was already looking at tech companies online. One in particular caught his eye.

"Hatsume Industries…" he mumbled to himself, "Good rating, seems to have cheaper but better materials and good customer reviews as well. I guess I'll go with them!" He told himself excitedly and added the materials he needed to his cart.

Once he pressed the shipping option, he put down the phone and stretched. The material would take some time to come but that gave him enough time to think about producing canisters for his utility belt like smoke grenades and knockout gases. He still needed to decide what type of pellets he wanted to produce to add to the gauntlet. He had already created a special compartment to load pellets which could be shot at speeds similar to that of a bullet.

"I need a break first," Izuku told himself and grabbed a packet of chips and soda before plopping down in front of his computer.

"Alfred.", Izuku called out to his personal A.I. assistant.

"Yes, Master Midoriya?", his A.I. responded.

"Did you manage to find the formulae needed for me to make my pellets?", the Quirkless inventor asked as he ate his chips. The A.I. was created by Izuku to help him with additional research, keep track of data, and, hopefully, the subroutines for his armored suit. Funny how easy it was to create your personal A.I. through simple websites.

"Data found.", the artificial assistant showed the list of formulas and chemicals for pellets in Izuku's Utility Belt. Still eating his chips and drinking his soda, he memorized the intrinsic details of each formula needed for his variety of pellets.

2 weeks later

Izuku, with his safety glasses, hummed as he held a torch, welding the 3D printed metal structure he bought for his Power Gauntlets. It was a gruelling experience that left him needing some bandages when latching the metal to the finger joints but it was worth it in the end. He had to weld the various parts outside of the apartment to avoid causing a fire.

The Utility Belt was a very different story. He had to find more scrap metal to help shape the structure along with the printed metal. So far, it wasn't much of an issue to handle.

After letting the metal cool down, he took the Gauntlets and Belt back inside, putting them on his crafting table. He then took off his glasses, his gloves and apron.

"Ok. I managed to complete structuring the Gauntlets and Belt.", he said, sitting on his bed as looks at the formula sheet in his notebook. "Now, all I have to do is complete the chemicals needed for my pellets." He took a trip to the kitchen and grabbed the variety of them before heading back to his work desk. He carefully worked on adding the proper measurements before converting them into small pellets.

It was a gruelling task but he was able to complete it.

After Izuku wiped his head, his phone vibrated.

He picked it up and saw the familiar number, answering. "Hey, dad."

"Hey, little man.", Hisashi answered.

The Quirkless Inventor blushed. "Dad~, I'm not little anymore."

Hisashi laughed at his son's embarrassment. "You'll always be little to me. So, how are your inventions going?"

"Amazing!" Izuku grinned, "I just finished making the pellets for my utility belt." "I see. What can they do?" Hisashi asked.

"Well I've made them to produce smokescreens, explosions, sticky traps and even a sleeping gas. I just have to test them out later but I'm positive they're perfect. Alfred is really reliable." Izuku said confidently.

"Who's Alfred?"

"Oh, right, I didn't tell you. He's my personal AI assistant."

Hisashi was silent for a while, shocked before laughing, "You really are brilliant Izuku. How did you manage to do that?"

"It was easy, really," Izuku said humbly, "There's tons of online websites that give you the base code and you just need to tweak it for personalization," Izuku waved it off like it was nothing.

"And what about your gauntlet? Did the parts arrive?"

"Yup, they came yesterday and I fixed them up before you called. I can't wait to show you everything I learned when you get here." Izuku said excitedly.

Hisashi sighed deeply, disappointed that he had to do this, "Yeah, about that Izuku… I can't make it."

There was silence for a while, "...But you promised that you'd come for my school talent show. I was going to show you what I worked on!"

"I-I know, Izuku," Hisashi stuttered, "But, the university decided that they're gonna hold exams now, and I can't leave." he explained. Izuku didn't reply, clearly upset with the turn of events, but he understood. Hisashi continued, "But your mom will be there! And she's gonna film it all and we'll watch it together online." Hisashi tried to make the best of things.

"Yeah, ok," Izuku sighed, his voice devoid of any emotions, "I'll talk to you later dad, I want to test out the gauntlet and pellets. I'll let Mom send the video of my performance through your phone." Izuku said and hung up.

On the other side of the world, Hisashi sighed sadly and put down his phone, staring at it intently. It broke his heart to do this. He knew that Izuku didn't really have any friends and that he must have been looking forward to his visit but there really wasn't anything he could do. He had to stay, otherwise he would get in trouble with the university.

He groaned unhappily, hopefully Izuku wouldn't be too upset.

Who was he kidding? He was probably greatly upset about this. He hopes that all the multiple overtime working should be worth the money afterwards with what he has planned for he and Izuku's trip.

Speaking of, he takes a mental note to contact I-Island again for that program that they held.

Honestly, if you were to ask Izuku, the talent was just window dressing. Sure, you get a few generic performances like the juggling trick or dancing, but the "real" performances were the kids who would basically show off their quirks outside on the stage that was set up in the school's field.

Because Aldera preferred to show their golden eggs first, Izuku took this time to make sure that his Rocket Shoes were in top condition before putting them on. He didn't really care that he was last because the best things never came first. So after seeing many of his lovely classmates doing their performances, many of whom still treat him lesser than trash, Kacchan came up next.

He walked past the waiting Izuku, giving him a stink eye. "Move out the fucking way, Deku. A real hero is about to steal the show."

"Knock 'em dead, Kacchan.", Izuku sarcastically remarked as he polished his shoes, not taking what he said seriously.

Kacchan glared at him before going up on stage when the teacher kissed his ass-er, I mean, hype him up. After a rather crass introduction, Kacchan started delivering his powerful explosions to propel himself before he went to destroy some wooden dummies that the teachers set up (Izuku recalled that the rules were that they couldn't help the students with their performances. Favoritism at its finest, he thought.) And with a massive explosion to turn the dummies to ash, the crowd roared in applause as the explosive boy gave a smug smirk before saying thanks to them.

He walked back behind the curtain, walking past Izuku.

"Try beating that, you worthless shithead.", Kacchan dared the Quirkless Inventor as he went back to his group of followers, who were busy sucking up to him. Izuku scoffed at the explosive jerk.

"What an amazing performance by our hero hopeful, Katsuki Bakugou!", one of the teachers exclaimed. Izuku just rolled his eyes at the constant pandering to his tormentor. "Up next, is our Quirkless, rebellious student, Izuku Midoriya." There was scattered applause and jeering but it was mostly just silence.

Izuku could hear the snickering and whispering in the back of him. He knew that most of his fellow students wanted to see him fail, especially Kacchan.

Time to surprise them, Izuku thought to himself as putted on his helmet and his sparklers walked onto the stage. The moment he got to the stage, he felt the many eyes on him. The eyes of people who didn't expect much from him.

It felt disheartening. But he notices the eyes of his mother and his aunt. They were warm and happy for him.

With a huge gulp of air, he clicked his heels and the shoes ignited, making Izuku slowly levitate into the air. The audience was starting to get intrigued by what was happening right now. He closes his eyes as he remembers how he practiced at the Takoba Beach. Slow propulsion at first and transition to more speed once I reach a certain height. He torqued his knees to allow himself to fly higher into the air.

As he reached 70 feet, he put the many sparklers near his propulsion and they were ignited, giving a magical grace as he spun around. He flew around the area, giving aileron rolls, barrel rolls, scissoring, before turning his shoes off, shocking the crowd as the Quirkless Inventor descended fastly to the ground.

But, he and his mother knew otherwise.

Suddenly, his rockets shot back to life and flew, only grazing the audience though no one was hurt.

Izuku took a sharp left turn and held his arm with the sparkler out. The sparks hit a checkpoint, a pole that had a fire attached to it, igniting the fuse but the Quirkless Izuku wasn't finished as he continued to hit the remaining three revealed checkpoints. After completing a whole quadrangle flight path around the amazed audience, he flew up into the with the fireworks before he stopped and posed as the fireworks went off.

The perfect synchronization allowed Izuku to look like an angel trying to reach the heavens, especially with the timing of the colorful, vibrant fireworks going off. With that amazing visual, the audience gave a massive applause.

Izuku flew back to the stage and descended down. With that, he bowed at the applauding crowd. He knew that by tomorrow they probably will never see him the way they did at this moment, but it was great to hear something that wasn't pity, insults, or belittlement to his intelligence. He looked to see his mom, teary-eyed and smiling, applauded at her little genius. It felt great…..

But it would've been better if his dad was here to see his performance.

He went backstage as the teacher, shocked, blinked twice before speaking into the microphone. "Th-that was Izuku Midoriya, everyone. I hope you enjoy the performance made by all of our students. Thank you all and have a good night."

Meanwhile, backstage, Izuku took his helmet off and hummed happily. He walked past the shocked students before an enraged Kacchan grabbed his shoulder, roughly.

"What the fuck was that, Deku?!", the explosive boy demanded from the inventive prodigy.

Izuku gave him a cold look. This was why he felt hesitant on showing his technological skills to his peers because in some shape or fashion, Kacchan will always take it as an insult and a way of him "trying to be better than him".

"That was me making up for my lack of a Quirk.", the Quirkless boy declared. "So get used to it, Kacchan."

Kacchan felt his empty hand, sparking. This motherfucker had the nerve to one up him?! "You must really wanna-"

"All students, please leave backstage. I repeat, all students must leave backstage." All the students heard the from the microphone outside.

Kacchan and Izuku glared at each other as the rest of the students started to leave. One sudden move and there was a high chance that a fight would break out between them. Izuku, despite feeling a little nervous, knew he had more combat skill then Kacchan, but he knew the explosive boy had been expanding on his Quirk.

Kacchan wasn't stupid, either. He knew that Deku wasn't the same that day when he knocked him out and everytime he tried to wring something out of this worthless piece of shit, he would have the audacity to fight back or disappear like a fucking ghost. If you were to ask him, Kacchan would feel inclined to show him who's boss and this moment right now felt good.

But…

There's a time and place. And now wasn't either of them, especially with his old hag of a mother texting him to come outside.

So Kacchan opted to let go of Deku's shoulder and looked like he was going to leave but not before hitting a cheap shot to his gut, knocking the wind out of the Quirkless inventor.

"You better be grateful that I can't beat the shit out of you right now." the explosive boy hissed down at the inventor, who was still gasping for his breath. "You may be able to create some stupid gadgets, but you're still a weak Deku and that's all you ever be." He walked away, grumbling to himself.

Izuku got up, holding his gut, the pain still there but slowly ebbing away. He should've kept his guard up.

"Just when I thought Kacchan would get better, he always surprises me with how much of an asshole he acts like.", he mumbled to himself. Dusting himself off, he got up and went to put on his normal shoes back on while the Rockets went back into his bag.

His phone vibrated and he got a text from his mom.

Your aunt wants us to join her, uncle Masaru and Bakugou out for some dinner. Is that ok with you, sweetie? - Mom

Kacchan did just hit him but he was feeling hungry and Aunt Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru always treated him like he was their second son.

With a huff, he texted back Yes before he left the backstage area in silence.

Inko was so proud of her little inventor. She recorded the whole thing and sent it to Hisashi. He was going to be excited.

"Honestly, that Midoriya kid's performance was good but you have to admit it was a bit dangerous to do that type of thing."

"Yeah, I mean flying up into the air with fireworks? That sounds too risky for someone like him."

"I know right? The parents must be really that careless."

"...How negligent….."

"...Who in their right minds would allow…."

What?

Are those people really to criticize her son and her parenting of him when they were applauding him just minutes ago?

Those parents had no right to knock down her son's hard work, they had no right to just say he was being reckless when she knew Izuku practiced as much as he could on his inventions and she was there supervising him and making sure that he took precautions.

Just when she was about to give those hypocrites a piece of her mind…

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Mitsuki did it for her. "You assholes disrespecting my nephew?"

The parents became nervous around the loud matriarch, trying to come up with explanations or just walk away from her before she got even more angry. Masaru, meanwhile, gave a comforting hand on Inko's shoulder, a silent gesture of him apologizing for the rude families.

Mistuski, after chewing them out, came back. "Sorry you had to deal with that. You alright, Inko?"

Inko huffed. "I will try to be."

"Those parents don't know what they're talking about, Inko.", Mitsuki sounded sympathetic to her childhood friend. "Izuku is a brilliant boy." She wasn't lying. She always heard from Inko of how smart Izuku is and tonight, he defied her expectations.

"I know, Mitsuki.", Inko said, her voice wavering as she wiped away the angry tears. "I'm just trying to stay strong for my son and I'm constantly doing my best not to start fights over the bigotry he deals with everyday." The gossip from her neighbors and even from the parents of the same students who mock Izuku for his lack of a Quirk was a constant battle for her.

Mitsuki grabbed her shoulders and her attention. "And you're doing a great job. Just know you have Hisashi and us too. We'll stay strong with you."

Inko nodded her head. She knew she had support from Mitsuki, Masaru, and Hisashi, especially, but she also knew that the first two are parents to Izuku's main tormentor. Not that she was blaming them for Bakugou's negative attitude, she knew it was mostly his peers and the various teachers that filled his ego. As much as Mitsuki promised, and they weren't empty ones, Inko couldn't take away the feeling that the explosive boy is going to go too far and do massive harm to her son.

"How about we all celebrate tonight?", Masaru suggested. "We all go and get something to eat and I'll pay for it."

"That sounds like a great idea, honey.", Mitsuki agreed. She looked at Inko, who looked conflicted. "Wanna come, Inko."

Inko stayed silent before she gave a response. "If that's what Izuku would like to do." Mitsuki accepted the answer before texting Bakugou to come out.

Inko texted Izuku to see if he was interested in going. After a moment, she turned to look at the backstage area to see Bakugou walking out, grumbling all the way to his parents. Her phone vibrated and she saw Izuku say yes.

She saw her son walking while also glaring at Bakugou like he wanted to hurt him badly.

Inko felt worried when she walked towards him. "Izuku, are you ok?"

He looked at his mom, like he wanted to say something but stopped himself. "I'll be fine, mom. I'm just taking this day to remind myself that I still have a long way to go before reaching my dream."

Inko still looked a bit unsure but she accepted the answer. "Oh, ok. Well, we better get going, honey. We don't wanna be far behind Mitsuki."

Izuku nodded and followed his mother to the car. I got a lot of receipts for you Kacchan. Maybe not today or tomorrow but someday, I'm going to cash them in on you. He glared at Kacchan, who noticed him and glared back with equal hatred. Today, you just added a couple more.

Tonight, Izuku learned another important lesson: Don't get too complacent because one way or another, someone or something is going to cost you to regress.

Inko knew it was the right choice to take separate cars to the restaurant rather than going with the Bakugous. She knew that Izuku liked Masaru and Mitsuki but she couldn't bear to force him to sit with Katsuki.

At present, they were sitting at a table, rifling through the menus to see what to order. The intense glares that were being thrown between the two kids did not go unnoticed by the adults.

"So, shall we order?" Masaru asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

Inko smiled, "I think I'll have Katsudon, what about you Izuku?" "Same," Izuku replied, not taking his eyes off of Kacchan.

Mitsuki elbowed her son slightly to knock it off, "And what will you be having?" she asked.

Katsuki reluctantly ended their staring contest, knowing it wouldn't be wise to explode in front of his mom, "I think I'll take the extra spicy chicken wings."

Masaru nodded and motioned to the waiter that they were ready to order. The waiter walked up to the table with a bright smile, "Hello, I am Takanashi and I'll be your waiter today. What will you be having?"

"Two Katsudon, Two Tofu and one extra spicy chicken wings,"

The waiter nodded and noted it down, "It will be right out."

"So, Izuku." Mitsuki smiled, attempting to start a conversation with him to try and calm things down, "Inko says you've been learning a new kung-fu style. What is it?"

"It's called Xing Yi Quan. Some people call it form-intention boxing." Izuku replied.

"Oh, boxing?" Mitsuki smiled, "You know, Bakugou here started boxing too. Maybe you two can be sparring partners?" She offered to try to foster a bond between the two.

"Yeah Deku, let's spar. You should see how strong I hit. I broke my punching bag and had to get a much stronger, custom-made one." Bakugou bragged.

"Not like you broke through a brick like me." Izuku retorted, "Any brawler can break a stupid punching bag."

"There's much more skill to fighting than just that. But of course you wouldn't know, Deku."

"Oh, I know plenty, Kacchan. Perhaps, we should 'spar' to see who is the better fighter." Izuku challenged him. The idea of beating Bakugou up sounded very fun.

"Oh yeah, hope you like losing."

"I can handle losing, can you?" Izuku asked. He knew that response stung his pride as a vein popped on the explosive boy's head.

Bakugou took a moment to process it and calmed down before smirking, "Of course, you can handle losing. You've been losing since you were born." he said.

"Katsuki!" Mitsuki yelled angrily, "Apologize, right now!" She had had enough of her son's attitude.

"Sorry." Kacchan said without any real remorse.

"I'm sorry too, Aunt Mitsuki." Izuku said, but only for the formality of doing so. He didn't want his mom to be judged for not telling him to apologize.

"Uh, here's your food." The waiter said nervously and put down the tray, "Are they alright?" The waiter asked with concern to Inko.

She waved it off with a tired smile, "It's complicated."

The rest of the meal had been mostly uneventful save for Izuku and Bakugou continuing their staredown and when Masaru tried one of the chicken wings and started panting at the spiciness. The two families had separated outside the restaurant and were heading home.

"Did you like the food Izuku?" Inko asked.

"Mhm," he replied shortly.

Inko sighed a bit, "I'm really proud of you. I expected you would start a fight with Katsuki but it's good to see you've matured."

"Yeah well, I intend to make him pay later. I still need to build up my strength," Izuku replied coldly. He knew his limits.

Inko didn't know what to say to that and moved to another topic, "I caught your performance on camera. Are you excited to see it with your father?"

"I'm tired, mom. Maybe we can see it tomorrow?" Izuku asked.

Inko nodded slowly. It was a perfectly normal thing to say but she could see that Izuku was still hurt at not having his father with him. Inko knew that Izuku's journey would be hard but she didn't expect it to be this difficult and straining on him. But what could she do, except keep on supporting him?

Hope you guys enjoyed!