Disclaimer: I do not own Boku No Hero Academia or any of Horikoshi's original characters, nor do I make any profit off of my writing.

The doctor slouched backward into the chair, the harsh lights that draped from the ceiling glinting off the man's horrible glasses. His entire demeanor screamed apathy and simply rubbed Inko the wrong way, but there wasn't much she could do about it now. The old man shrugged his shoulders helplessly before continuing on.

"Some quirks are just like this, as much as people wish to say they are purely advantageous and tools for our continued survival, some just.. aren't."

The mother looked to her side where her son was staring hollowly forward, his All Might figurine long since taking up residence on the floor of the examination room.

Another shrug.

"You should probably give up, kid."

He opened his mouth to say more when the boy didn't respond, but Inko had heard enough and was already corralling him out of the room and away from the doctor. He didn't need to hear any more of that man's words.

Not with his new condition.

He still didn't speak the entire way home, not a single word coming out of his mouth.

Then again, neither did she.

…

Inko sighed tiredly as she watched the video play another time. Her poor baby had been at it for a while now, since dinner at least, and it was already nearing bedtime but she didn't have the heart to pull him away from it. Especially not after the day he's had.

A quiet peel of laughter erupted from the old speakers that sat on either side of the desk as the image on the computer screen shifted to show a large figure.

"He's laughing!"

A bystander cried out somewhere in the background, the cheer followed shortly by a much quiet, far less enthusiastic one.

".. laughing.. "

Small tears beaded at the corner of the mother's eyes as she clasped her hands in front of her chest nervously, listening once again as All Might reassured the people on screen.

"It's fine now, why?"

Those pools of water only grew larger and larger as her little baby kept repeating that final word.

".. why.. why.. why?"

Inko didn't even bother to wait as the Symbol of Peace's famous catchphrase reverberated through the speakers, already rushing across the room to gather her son up in her arms and apologize for how she failed him. Yet, even as her tearful 'sorrys' bounced about the room, she was deaf to the echoes that came from her son's mouth as he too begged for forgiveness.

…

Izuku could only stare down at the ground with sad eyes as he fell forward, his emerald irises flicking back to the stone his shoes caught on.

Go figure.

All he could do was close his eyes and wait for the impact that never came.

The green-haired boy cracked an eyelid to find himself spinning helplessly through the air in a way he was fairly certain broke every law of the universe.

"Heh. Are you okay?"

His arms shot out to the side and pinwheeled for a second, waiting for his gravity to ultimately return so the universe could have another go at making fun of him, yet it never did. Soon enough, he'd calm down enough to glance over at the girl standing to his left and giggling quietly. Laughing at him certainly wasn't a new phenomenon, though he could definitely say nobody had ever seemed so kind when doing so.

He gave her a small, nervous nod accompanied by a shaky smile and a quiet 'okay.'

The kind girl gave off another peel of giggles as she plucked him out of the air and situated him on the ground.

"I stopped you with my quirk. I'm sorry I didn't ask first, but I figured you wouldn't mind me catching you."

Izuku blinked before nodding again.

".. wouldn't mind.. "

The girl paused and her brown eyes searched his own curiously before her smile grew wider and even brighter, though there was a tinge of nervousness hidden behind it that Izuku couldn't help but sympathize with. He really wasn't sure if he was going to be good enough for this entrance exam, he should be, he'd trained his quirk enough to make him a good candidate, he'd even started running and watching fighting tutorials online to train.

It was still daunting.

There was one thing he could never hope to train himself for.

And that was conversations.

Luckily enough, the kind girl seemed capable of carrying him through the motions without a problem.

"Isn't this all like way nerve-racking?"

Izuku nodded, because that was just about the only means of responding he had of his own volition, beside his echo of 'way nerve-racking' in agreement.

"Well, I guess I'll see you inside! Bye!"

".. "

".. "

".. bye."

Izuku had come a long way from the boy he'd been in that doctor's office. His situation hadn't improved all that much, really the only benefit he got from his quirk was that he couldn't mutter out his constant stream of thoughts.

He just wished that saved him from the criticisms.

Some people were nice enough, but that didn't stop them from making small statements they thought were innocent but felt like a knife stabbing into him every time. He didn't blame them; it was hard for him to express his discontent with things.

It wasn't like he didn't think his quirk was amazing, it was.

The side effect just sucks.

A quirk that rewires the brain to be perfect for mimicry. The quirk councilor had been right when she'd guessed it had a far greater purpose then making him a parrot. Quirk echoing. So long as he could hear the person, he could replicate their quirk. All quirks have a downside, whether it be Katsuki's recoil or his mother's weight limit. He just was one of the unlucky ones whose quirk impaired him far more.

A quirk that rewires the brain to be perfect for mimicry.

A quirk that requires the brain to only be for mimicry.

He could think on his own, control his movements and expressions, but that was it. He couldn't speak unless spoken to, he couldn't say words unless they were said to him first.

He was an echo, that's all he was.

It's what Katsuki said. What use would somebody be as a hero if all they could ever do was repeat what somebody else has done? All he could do was use somebody else's quirk and say somebody else's words.

It was true, and that's what hurt the most.

As a kid, he used to carry around a recording of All Might's voice, so that way when anybody got hurt he could play it and then repeat the words.

He stopped after it got destroyed one too many times.

He didn't have many friends in middle school and the years before. Some people would try and he appreciated it, but they eventually grew bored of somebody who could only repeat what they said. He tried to show his responses on his face, but it was never enough.

Naturally, because the world hated him, he couldn't even sign or write anything that weren't echoes from somebody else either. It didn't make sense to him how he could nod but not sign yes. It didn't make sense to him that he could think freely without inhibition, but he just wasn't allowed to communicate.

It was cruel. It felt like he was cursed by the gods for something he didn't do.

Why should he be bound to echoes while Katsuki was blessed the way he was?

Izuku shook his head as he entered the auditorium. He knew the answer to that question. He'd known it his entire life, even before he lost the ability to speak his mind. Even after his quirk developed it was what echoed the most, it was the only thing that made him feel normal.

Because everybody else said the exact same things, and who can pick out the echo among echoes?

Katsuki is great. Katsuki is the best.

Katsuki will be number one.

Katsuki can do no wrong.

He had repeated the words whenever they were uttered, just for the taste of being like everybody else. He believed them too, Katsuki was great, Katsuki was the best. It was a fact. A simple truth of the world. Even now, after years of torment from the boy, he still thought it to be true.

Not everybody was as bad as Katsuki. The girls in his classes typically were too busy picking fights with one another to really go after him, he even made a few friends even if they were just using him to rant to. He was good for that, for listening to their problems. He wasn't able to repeat a sentence unless it was immediately after it was said, it made him perfect for keeping secrets, and unless he was taking diligent notes as they spoke whatever they said would be lost to the world.

He'd remember, he remembered it all. Everything that was said to him echoed around his mind endlessly, but they'd never leave his lips.

That was fine. It was fine.

He was great at keeping secrets.

The boys didn't do the same thing, they preferred to see what words they could get him to repeat. At this point in life, his brain was essentially just a dictionary for colorful swears and slurs, words he would never repeat even if he wanted to.

And that was just another thing he had grown used to since his quirk manifested.

The slurs.

He'd heard just about every slur invented to insult somebody's mental capabilities. It wasn't like he was actually stupid; he was just stunted in some regards and his teachers didn't care enough to accommodate him. If they had he was certain he'd get top marks on the class exams.

Multiple choice? Simple enough to circle the correct answer.

True or false? Easy! Just echo the correct word and write it on the line provided.

Fill in the blank? Just more echoing from the word bank.

The problem was when the teachers started removing the word banks, claiming they simply made the examinations too easy. It didn't always mess him up though, he was clever. His emerald eyes would scour the entire exams for the words he needed written inside of other questions.

If that failed? Well, letters were echoable.

Izuku was smart and apparently that was unacceptable.

Echoing fill-in-the-blanks is easy enough with practice.

Echoing essays is not.

Honestly, at this point, he wouldn't care if he got in the hero course or not, so long as he attended Yueei. He could try again in the Sports Festival if that rumor was right, he just wanted to go to the first school that had ever bent over backward just to help him.

The written portion of the entrance exam was the first time he had ever been helped like he was. It wasn't even that much, almost zero extra work on the part of the school.

They just gave him a sheet containing all of the letters of the alphabet and different punctuation symbols.

That was it.

Just a list of letters.

That was all he needed and it was everything he was forbidden his entire life.

And all it took was to ask, his mother had to explain why he needed it, but that was it. Why couldn't his old teachers have done this for him? Sure, it wasn't convenient to have to keep glancing up at his letter bank to find the one he needed and write it, but it was easier at least.

They even gave him extra time! He didn't even ask for that!

He's going to this school no matter what.

He just hoped it was for heroics.

Which meant he should really pay attention to whatever Present Mic was saying on stage right now.

Or what mister Stiff and Proper was saying as he jabbed a finger toward him.

".. and you! You haven't been paying attention this entire time, do you even want to be a hero?"

What Izuku wanted to say was a combination of some of his more colorful curses along with a question asking how exactly the guy knew he wasn't paying attention when he sat several rows below. Instead, he just nodded his head again and voiced his confirmation to the question, "hero."

Katsuki snorted beside him, a deep voice rumbling from the boy's throat as he used a few choice words to insult Izuku.

Izuku didn't echo those.

They weren't very nice.

It wasn't much later that he was sitting on the bus, already looking around and taking stock of the possible quirks he would have access to at his testing site. Unfortunately, support gear wasn't allowed unless necessary so he wouldn't have some of the equipment he designed for his hero suit, but that was okay. The most important piece were the hearing aids, and he could make do without them.

His quirk worked through echoing mostly, he chalked up the communication difficulties to quirks being stupid (that was a lie, quirks were amazing and he loved them, but seriously, it doesn't make sense). As a result, any person he was able to hear he could copy the quirk of.

It was incredibly powerful.

And it would be even more so with the hearing aids. He wasn't hard at hearing by any means, though he was worried that Katsuki would eventually make him go deaf and he'd lose access to his quirk entirely. The devices would actually work to increase his range exponentially, most of the sounds would be picked up and then reduced to essentially white noise that would allow him to use any of the quirks in the area.

It was genius.

He had absolutely no clue if it would work. It's not like he could test it.

For now, though, he needed to figure out his options.

There was the guy with the belt, he didn't see any physical indicators for a mutation besides the belt so he assumed it was a support item. Of course, it was likely a necessity unless it was just a bold fashion statement, which meant the quirk probably was too unstable for him to use personally.

Moving on.

Nice girl. He knew she could do something with floating. Levitation? Telekinesis? Force negation? He couldn't say for certain, nor could he ask her, which seriously sucked. He should really just carry something around with him that says 'what is your quirk and how does it work.'

He saw her touch her fingers together before her quirk released; touch activation?

His emerald eyes flicked down to where her palms were laying in her lap, one pinky pointedly raised. He nodded, five-point activation. Uncontrollable too if she can't touch herself without it activating. If he were to borrow that then he should figure out what exactly it did and then go from there. If it was some form of force negation, he could probably use the robots as blunt weapons.

Hah. Take that Stiff and Proper-san, I was paying attention.

Nice girl's quirk truly was amazing, he'd definitely need to figure out a way to ask her about it. If they were in class together they probably would introduce their own.

He'd definitely need to figure out a way to introduce his own..

His eyes flicked around the other occupants on the bus. Luckily, most people want to go into heroics for the wrong reasons and we're more than willing to brag and show off their quirks and bask in their own greatness.

They're all so..

.. narcissistic.

He caught sight of a hydrokinesis quirk but couldn't quite tell how it worked. The girl was spinning the water through the air in what could only be described as a party trick. Was that all it did?

Only one way to find out.

Alright, her quirk is gross, but also so cool! A quirk that allows you to manipulate your body's sweat? Imagine if she and Katsuki had a kid! Bendable explosions!

Wow.

He needed to make sure she never met Katsuki if she got in.

On the bright side, there were so many things he could do with a quirk like that. Especially against robots. It may seem limited because her control exists only over her sweat, but during an exam where you're running around and exerting yourself? It was practically a godsend.

For most people, it may not be all that strong due to its reliance on sweat. Katsuki could get around that because the nitroglycerine in his sweat could pack a punch. However, with her quirk being limited to moving the water around, she would be hard-pressed to create enough to make a large difference.

Luckily, Izuku was a naturally sweaty person.

Checkmate anxiety.

There were several more interesting quirks on the bus.

Stiff and Proper-san had his calves exposed so everybody could see the exhausts decorating them. Another guy looked to have an enlarging arm (a quick probe proved it was actually just a large arm mutation, and only on one arm, how peculiar). There was a girl with wings. One guy whose quirk may very well just be propping the collar of his shirt up.

Oh hey, Izuku blinked at a guy sitting toward the front of the bus, that guy looks like the smoke guy from 'Fairy Tail.' Maybe he has a similar quirk?

Either way, he probably had a cool quirk.

Izuku allowed himself a small smile as he stepped off the bus, ready to take on the world.

…

To say Izuku killed the exam would be like saying the world was round.

It was just a scientific fact.

To say Izuku believed that he killed the exam would be like saying it was flat.

It was mostly just the unfounded speculation of a person with misplaced trust. Flat Earthers put too much trust in themselves, Izuku puts too much in everybody else.

So what if he used other people's quirks as well as they used their own? So what if he sometimes thought of even better ways for them to be used? So what if he didn't need a quirk at all to save the nice girl when she was trapped and everybody else ran?

That didn't mean anything.

Not when everybody else was saying he failed and all he could do was repeat their words.

On the bright side, apparently, another one of his classmates took the exam in secret. She thinks she failed too, but now Izuku gets to play therapy dog to her so she can rant about her problems.

Joy.

…

Izuku heard yelling before he ever even reached the door and couldn't help but sigh and slump as the two quirks triggered in his mind.

Engine and Explosion.

Stiff and Proper-san and Katsuki.

How they even managed to shout loud enough for the noise to make it through the door was beyond him. The thing looked like it belonged in a dwarven city, it was just way too big. He couldn't even hear anybody else in the room yet and they were clear as day.

With another heavy sigh, he shouldered the door open and braced himself for contact. Katsuki's reaction was immediate, a furious snarl stretching his lips as he glared hatefully at the newcomer. It was to be expected, as was the popping of minute explosions across the rough skin of his palms. Izuku startled easily, especially when Stiff and Proper-san rushed across the room at the fastest speed the school guide book would allow to introduce himself.

Izuku bowed in response and tapped his nametag when the other boy shot him a look.

"It is incredibly rude not to vocalize your greetings! We as heroes must be the pinnacle of– "

"Hey, jackass! Ever think he might not talk?"

Stiff and Proper whirled around to gawk at the purple-haired girl as she glared from across the room. Her furious expression only softening as Izuku shot her a grateful smile.

Katsuki, naturally, scoffed at the mere thought and ruined the nice moment.

"Echo can talk, he's just retarded."

Thanks, Katsuki.

Some boy with purple.. balls? on his head clasped a hand over his mouth to hide his laughter but he was either very bad at doing so or actually didn't care about hiding it.

There was a sharp inhale from behind that had Izuku turning to glance over his shoulder while everybody else was too distracted with their glaring and shouting to notice. He'd recognized the quirk that appeared as soon as he heard her, so he was already smiling as he met her eyes.

It's the nice girl!

Although, she didn't look very nice right now. She seemed rather pissed.

Her eyes darted away from his again as she glared toward the explosive blond.

Ah, that's right.

Honestly, he'd already forgotten what he'd said. It wasn't like it was anything new.

"Bakugou Katsuki."

Wow, that guy sounds tired.

Izuku glanced back again to see another angry expression pointed at the blond. What exactly is happening? Why is everybody so mad at Katsuki?

Katsuki is great. Katsuki is the best.

"Hah? What do you want?"

"You can report to Principal Nezu's office and argue your case for why you should remain at Yueei. If you convince him, you may try again at the Sports Festival."

"Hah?"

He looked like he was going to say something else, probably a string of expletives punctuated with explosions, but a white scarf wrapped around him and tossed him out of the room.

"Alright, put these on and meet me on the field."

Izuku blinked.

That was weird.

…

"Midoriya Izuku, you scored first place on the entrance exam. Toss this as far as you can, okay?"

Izuku smiled. It was a simple gesture, but it meant the world to him.

"Okay!"

He knew the perfect quirk for this too!

It was good that the nice girl was kind enough to hum a jovial song as he went up for his throw. She really is just a stream of positive emotions.

Hello ball, bye-bye gravity!

…

Izuku was back in his homeroom with his (now) seventeen classmates. Apparently, ableism and sexual harassment were both explusionary offenses. He found he quite liked that.

"Umm.. Midoriya?"

The echo quirk user glanced up and smiled at the nervous-looking nice girl. He nodded happily and repeated the word for her, "Midoriya."

"If you don't mind me asking, why can't you speak?"

He blinked before glancing around the room, finding everybody else was waiting for him to explain as well. His eyes met a pair of tired eyes bundled up in a sleeping bag before a small dry erase marker protruded from the shadowed folds of the yellow bag. He accepted it gratefully only to stare blankly at the board.

His sensei let out another sigh that was quickly becoming synonymous with him before standing and walking over to the podium, quickly writing out a cheat sheet of letters for Izuku to use.

Slowly but surely, the message was written out on the board.

'Hi! I'm Midoriya but most people call me Echo! My quirk is also echo! It means I can repeat the quirk of anybody I can hear! But it also means I can only repeat what I hear, the same goes for writing. If you say something I can repeat what you said but only if you don't keep talking. If I write something I need to look at it beforehand, like right now, Aizawa-sensei gave me a key of letters because I don't have mine! Sorry if you want to talk to me but I literally can't say anything on my own, that's why they call me Echo!'

Izuku turned around with a bright smile that was completely contradictory to the words on the board. For a moment, nobody spoke, simply digesting the downside of his quirk quietly.

"Does that make you sad?"

Izuku blinked before cocking his head to the side in confusion, "sad?"

Before, they probably would have thought he was asking what the word itself meant, but now they understood he was saying something similar to 'why would I be sad?'

"They were so mean to you! They called you an Echo like you didn't matter!"

He nodded seriously, "didn't matter."

That only seemed to make the pink girl more upset, though he didn't know why.

"That boy from before, he called you Echo. Doesn't that make you sad?"

Oh. That's what this is about.

He nodded seriously once again while spinning on his heel to face the whiteboard again. With a glance down at the sheet of paper in his left hand, he very carefully began scribing the message he's always echoed.

'Katsuki is great. Katsuki is the best.'

Now they would understand.

This was the way their story was meant to be, they just didn't get that yet. He was Echo and Katsuki was the best. The two were both cursed, one to never believe himself to be enough, and the other to be perfect. It was just the way things went.

Even after the two had both become heroes and made their mark on the world, eventually they would fade. Katsuki would leave his legacy, and Izuku would be there to echo it on and on until all that remained was the sound of his voice.

Fin.

I was reading the story Echo Chamber when I noticed the similarities between Echo and Narcissus and Deku and Bakugou. I thought I'd write a little one-shot to highlight just how similar their stories were (minus the failed romance).