I was originally going to make this the first chapter but then I got multiple ideas for Izuku's childhood before the series and wanted something more chronological. It takes place the evening of the scene where Kacchan and his lackeys beat up Izuku in the opening scene. I use elements from other points in the series as well. Some are more obvious than others.

Not All Men are Born Equal

Izuku quietly limped home, and despite the burns and bruises that proved it had happened, Izuku still couldn't comprehend that Kacchan and the others had attacked him when he protected the kid they were bullying. Insults, yeah, he knew he'd get those but for them to use their quirks on him like that…

Izuku frowned as he stared at the front door.

Mom had to be home. Izuku knew that.

Izuku didn't want her to see him like this. She was already so sad whenever she saw him, even if she tried to hide it. He didn't want to make her sadder.

Izuku silently opened the door before closing it behind him as gently as possible, not wanting to make any noise. Listening to his mom in the kitchen, he snuck down the hall and into his room, closing the door behind him.

She must not have heard him because she didn't come out to greet him. He might have a little while before she realized he was there. He was usually out later, hanging out with Kacchan and the others.

Kacchan, why?

He sat on his bed and quietly wept. Not over his injuries, even if they still hurt. He already cried over them earlier after his…Kachan and his friends finished with him and left him curled up on the ground. He wasn't even crying over what they had done… well, it was that but not just that.

No, he was remembering how things were before the appointment, the one where that doctor had told him he was quirkless. He didn't like the doctor even before he said anything. There was something scary about him. It was in his eyes. Izuku didn't know how else to say it.

Izuku had been right because he was scary enough to change everything for Izuku in a few seconds.

Everyone had been so friendly. Mom had been happy. Kacchan had been excited for Izuku to be his sidekick someday.

If he had gotten his mom's or his dad's quirk, he would've been a good one, too. Izuku remembered talking about how it would be cool if Kacchan could share his sweat somehow. Then, if Izuku got his mom's quirk he could have something to pull a trigger to spark the sweat and if he had his dad's, he could just blow a spark and 'Tada!' instant lighter! Wouldn't that be so cool? He wouldn't even need a strong quirk to help save people at Kacchan's side!

Izuku shook his head as if it might shake the memory from his head. There was no point thinking about stuff like that. He wasn't getting either of those. Kacchan was right, he was a Deku.

Still, even if Kacchan was angry that he wasn't getting a useful sidekick, he'd still let Izuku follow him around. Except, after a week ago, when he fell into the creek and Izuku had checked that he was okay. Since then, he'd been getting meaner and meaner. Calling him Deku more and reminding him how weak he was over and over again. He would also leave places without calling out to let Izuku know. He'd started pushing other kids around, too.

And then, today he'd attacked Izuku. Him and the others. It was like all the time they spent together meant nothing. Like he was nothing and Kacchan actually thought that, rather than just saying it to tease him.

And Izuku hadn't been able to do anything about it.

As he was looking around the room, his eye caught on his dresser. He walked over and opened the top drawer, where he kept his hero things that he couldn't just leave out. The first thing to catch his attention was the All Might Onesie.

Izuku and mom hadn't played heroes since before the appointment, either.

He felt his chin tremble as he sucked in air in a way that whispered weirdly between his lips. Somehow, he knew that they never would again. He knew he'd been getting a little old for it before but now, they weren't stopping because he was too big. It was because it made Mommy sad.

Pulling it out carefully, Izuku stared down at it as it all sank in. The sight blurred as his eyes filled with tears.

Tomorrow, Izuku would go back to school and everyone would keep being mean to him. He'd get hurt more, now because Kacchan and the others weren't gonna stop. He'd come home and mom would keep being sad.

All because he didn't have a quirk. Because he was weaker than them.

It wasn't fair!

He wasn't the only one who had weaknesses. They all did!

What made his weakness so special?

His eye fell to the book. Maybe if he told them, they'd stop. Reminded them that just because he was quirkless didn't mean he couldn't keep up with them.

…that he couldn't hurt them just as easily

Suddenly, his hand was reaching to the other corner of the drawer, where his second notebook sat. He pulled it out and grabbed a pen. He started with Kacchan's sweat, how in the river that day, it had been easily washed off and that's all it would take to stop him in a fight. Or to do something to his hands, themselves. Or his joints, since they needed to be able to take the explosions. They were getting big enough for Izuku to notice that and he knew it would only be more important as Explosion got stronger.

Izuku wrote about extended, thin, breakable fingers and easy to ruin wing membranes. He wrote more things. He could see things happening in his head as he wrote them, barely paying attention as his tears smudged some of the things he wrote.

His chest started to burn in an angry way.

"Izuku?"

Izuku looked up, realizing at the sound of his mother's voice that he had been sobbing as he wrote.

"Izuku…baby, what happened?!"

It was only then that Izuku realized what he'd been imagining and how bad it was. He dropped his pen, ran to his mom, and started crying loudly as she wrapped her arms around him.

"It's okay. Shh, shh. It's all right, baby." she said as she knelt over him, one hand stroking his hair as he buried his head into her chest and hugged her tighter.

"I want it to go back to how it was before! I want grown-ups to stop talking to me differently. I want Kacchan and the others to stop hating me because I can't do anything. I want you to be happy again. I want it back!"

She hugged him tighter and he could feel tears fall on him, too. "I know. I wish I could change it back too. But it's not your fault."

"Then why is it me that's getting treated bad? I just want everything to be good again! I want to be happy again." He sobbed. "I'm sad all the time. And mad…very mad! Sometimes, I want them all to hurt, too. But I don't wanna want it. I don't like it, 'cause it hurts, too." It burns his heart like Kacchan's explosion against his skin. "And it's bad to think like that."

Inko took a shuddering breath and stroked his hair. "I…." she paused for a moment before finally saying, "It's normal to be angry."

"But the bad stuff…"

She cut him off midsentence by stating, "Everyone thinks mean things when they're angry."

That made him pause, trying to wrap his mind around the idea. "Everyone?"

"Yeah."

"But I thought it was bad."

"We tell you it's bad because we know it'll probably happen, eventually. So, you need to know what's right when you do. We don't like saying that though because we hope you learn about it when your older, when it's alright for you to know that for yourself."

Izuku fell silent, trying to think about it. Was he bad for having them now? But before he could ask that, a much more important question popped in his head. "But you don't have them, do you, mom?"

For a moment, she looked at him quietly, thinking about something before finally saying, "Even I have them, sometimes." She admitted, adding, "I 've been thinking mean things about Dr. Tsubasa."

"Wait, is that the doctor's name?" He pictured his…Kacchan's friend, Tsubasa opening his wings and wondered if he was related to the mean old Doctor.

She nodded.

Izuku guessed he could see his mom being angry at that man. Weirdly, it made him feel a little better. 'Cause if she was angry at him, it means that he shouldn't have done what he did. But what part of it was bad? Didn't the doctor have to tell them?

"He didn't have to do it that way," she said. "There are nicer ways he could have said it."

Izuku realized he must have been mumbling. It was something he'd always done a little bit but had taken to doing it more now. "So, having bad ideas in your head when your angry is normal."

She sighed and said, "Yes. People get angry and think of terrible things all the time. What makes us different from bad guys is how we act after thinking about it."

"Like not doing the bad things?" Izuku asked.

She nodded, "yes, but that doesn't mean we can't do things to make us feel better. I won't do anything bad, but I also don't have to do nothing. I actually found a new doctor for you and we won't ever have to see that one again."

"There's other doctors for kids?" Izuku asked, amazed.

"Lots of them. And no matter who suggested that doctor, I'm never taking you to him again."

Izuku smiled a little, comforted by the thought that he will never have to see that doctor again. "It still hurts though."

Well, why don't we do something together to help you feel better."

"Like what?"

Maybe…having dessert before dinner. I think the ice cream shop we go to on Saturdays is still open right now."

Izuku looked up and sniffled glancing out the window at the sunny evening before he asked, "Really? Even though it's not the weekend?"

Mom smiled through her tears. "Sure, how about I look over your cuts and scrapes and then we can get ready to go right after?"

Izuku nodded, moving to rub everything off his face with his arm when he remembered how mom didn't like that and instead reached for the tissues she had gotten for his room.

And, although it wouldn't make his problems go away, Izuku found that the walk to the ice cream store made him feel better. By the time they were heading back, he was playing a game with mom, seeing who could find the most people using their quirks.

Izuku had so much fun that he only half-finished his ice cream before he had to throw it away because it all ran off his cone and onto his wrist.

After his mom had him take a bath, and they had dinner, Izuku went back to his room. Only feeling the slightest twinge at the sight of his own open notebook before flipping it shut and going back to his bed.

He felt better, but he was tired, too.

Maybe he could go out and try to find more quirks if he got angry like that again. He'd asked mom if they could have ice cream every time, too but he'd known better even before she said "no."

Over time, Izuku would not only accept his mother's words but become familiar with the things she said. Things would never go back to how they were before, no matter how much they wanted it to.

People would continue to look down on him.

Kacchan would try to chase him off and beat him down many more times.

And, even though his mom would try to hide it, she would still be sad because of him. Even if she said it wasn't.

And the anger and sadness kept coming. Worse, he found that after that evening, he didn't even have to be angry to think about people's weaknesses. It was like in his anger, he had forced opened a door and must have done it so hard that it wouldn't close right again.

But, he also remembered that it wasn't just about feeling things and thinking things. It's what he did about those thoughts and feelings. Some people would do bad things because of it and become villains. Others tried to distract themselves, with games and ice cream.

Speaking of ice cream, he was worried because his mom was eating more and more. But he didn't feel like he could do anything to help her. It made him feel even more useless. But he didn't know what to do.

There were lots of things he saw that he couldn't do much about and that made him feel worse than anything Kacchan did to him. So, he did something to help others whenever he could, even if it meant something happened to him and he'd have to write things out in his notebook to feel better later.

I knew this was going to be serious but I didn't want to start this series of one-shots on a completely negative note. And I knew Inko would be comforting him, so I worked to make that part more fluffy.