"MY HERO SECRET"
A My Hero Academia fanfic by Nozomi888
Disclaimer: My Hero Academia is owned by Kōhei Horikoshi. I am a mere fangirl who isn't getting enough FemDeku/Kacchan, FemDeku/Todoroki stories, and so I've written my own. This is a FemDeku/Kacchan fic and is set before the Training Camp arc.
—o—o—o—o—o—
CHAPTER 3
They had been friends even before Kindergarten, when they first met in the public park in their neighborhood. They had been sitting nearby each other, playing by themselves with their hero dolls and they just naturally gravitated towards the other.
"All Might is my favorite hero!" the blonde-haired boy exclaimed as he made his action figure fly above him.
"Me too! I wanna be just like All Might!" Izuki had exclaimed happily, raising her doll to fly just like the blonde-haired boy.
"I'm Bakugo Katsuki", the blonde boy proclaimed.
"I'm Midoriya Izuki," she introduced herself, but a few firetrucks chose that time to drive by, drowning out the last two syllables.
"Huh? Izuku?" Katsuki yelled at her, puzzled, the firetrucks still making their way along the road. "Isn't that a boy's name?"
"What?" Izuki yelled back, straining to hear.
"Nevermind, I'll call you Zu-chan, and you can call me Kacchan!" he proclaimed, now able to hear himself speak as the sound of the sirens faded down the road.
"Ok Kacchan!"
They played that way often after that day, meeting up at the park, pretending to be All Might or some hero or some villain. They were both pleased to find that they were in the same class in Kindergarten, although Izuki and her mother had not noticed until the teacher made the class introductions that her name had been misspelled.
"This is Midoriya Izuku, say hello everyone," the teacher began. Izuki had been about to correct her when a familiar voice called out.
"Zu-chan!"
Izuki's thoughts of correcting her name disappeared as she heard the familiar voice and squealed in delight to find she knew someone in class. And anyway, it didn't really bother her whether her classmates knew her as Izuku or Izuki, because Kacchan called her Zu-chan anyway.
Bakugo was a natural ringleader in their class, because of his outgoing personality and cool demeanor. He made friends easily and Izuki found herself admiring this trait more and more as they spent time together. Kacchan was like an idol in her eyes. He became even more so as a source of awe and inspiration to her when they discovered he could create blasts of explosions from his hands, his Quirk activated way before anyone else in their level did. This made him the coolest kindergartner to be around, and everyone wanted to be around him.
There were so many followers and admirers, that Izuki found herself behind more and more, happy to let Kacchan gain so many new friends. After all, she still got to hang around him, didn't she? But as time passed, the time they spent together lessened, as Kacchan seemed to have preference towards his newfound friends with Quirks.
And then she was diagnosed as Quirkless.
While the whole class was trying out their newfound Quirks, learning how to use them and control them, she had been told that she had no Quirk, and therefore had no chance to be a hero. It shattered her world.
That same evening, after watching her favorite All Might video clip, she went to the bathroom to pee before tucking into bed. She sat down, staring blankly into space, feeling warm liquid splash on her thighs and down her leg.
Down her leg? The wetness felt wrong. It shook her out of her stupor long enough to look down into the toilet bowl.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Her mother came running into the bathroom. "What's wrong, Izuki?"
Izuki burst out, "Mommy, look!"
Her mother walked over to her, put on an incredulous face, and understanding dawned on them at the same time.
"I have a Quirk!" Izuki clapped her delight, bouncing up and down around the bathroom. "I have a Quirk!" she repeated. "The doctor was wrong! The toe joint doesn't matter!"
"Errm, well yes, it would seem that you do," her mother started tentatively, unsure how to handle the situation. "Do you know what it is?"
"What?" Izuki peered down. "No, what is it? Do I use it to shoot lasers?"
Her mother suddenly had a violent coughing fit. "Okaa-san, are you alright?" she asked worriedly.
"Y-yes, *ahem*, yes, thank you," her mother wheezed out. "Izuki, dear, I need to explain some… uhm… things."
Inko spent a very interesting evening teaching her kindergartener daughter about girl body parts and boy body parts.
The next day, Izuki had come bounding happily down the stairs wearing a light green shirt and green shorts, her hair flying wildly around her. Her mother did a double-take.
"Izuki, did you change into a boy?" she asked timidly. "Are you going out like that?"
"Hai, Okaa-san, I want to show Kacchan first! It's Saturday so I should find him at the park like always! I'm gonna show up as a boy to surprise him!"
"Uhmm… ok, have fun?"
"'kay! Bye!" Izuki cheerfully ran out of the house, smiling all the way to the park.
—o—o—o—o—o—
She wasn't smiling anymore as she faced Kacchan and two of his other Quirk-ed friends, her two fists up in front of her. She was facing off against Kacchan, who had hurt the unknown boy in the yellow shirt behind her. This boy also had not yet manifested any signs of a Quirk.
"That's mean, Kacchan. If you keep going, I-I-I'll never forgive you!" Izuki declared to him.
"Even though you're Quirkless," the boy on Kacchan's right said.
"Let's teach Deku a lesson," said the boy on Kacchan's left. Ah, they had remembered Kacchan's careless remark about the kanji in her misspelled name.
Kacchan was quiet for a few seconds before speaking.
"Stupid, I'll show you!" he sneered at her. Izuki's eyes widened. He had never spoken to her like this before, never heard the tone of this voice before. This was like a different Kacchan speaking to her now.
Kacchan and his two companions rushed Izuki, still in her boy form, and beat her mercilessly till she was lying down on the ground, defeated.
"Stupid Izuku," Kacchan said, leering over her, his head bowed. Under him, Izuki was staring up at the sky, feeling sore and numb at the same time. But she didn't really feel the physical pain anymore. Something else was bothering her.
Izuku… Kacchan had called her Izuku, not Zu-chan.
"Hey, let's leave him now, Katsuki!" said the boy on his right.
"Yeah, Quirkless Deku! De-ku! De-ku"!" the boy on his left taunted.
Izuki didn't correct the use of the masculine term "him", and neither did Kacchan. Instead, Kacchan repeated the insulting name on his mouth.
"Deku," he seemed to smirk her her. He gave her leg a small kick before turning to leave. "C'mon, let's go," he called to his companions, stuffing his fists in his pockets.
Izuki didn't know how long she stayed still on the ground. The boy she had saved from getting bullied by Kacchan was nowhere to be seen, probably having escaped while their attention was on her. It was just as well, she didn't want anyone to see her in this sorry state.
Her mother had been frantic when she had arrived home, taking in the dirt and disheveled appearance of her clothes, her hair, her face... Everything. Izuki told her what happened at the park (leaving out the fact that Kacchan had been part of it), and it broke Inko's heart to hear what her daughter had gone through that day. She learned too early how the world was unfair.
That evening, as Izuki watched a clip of All Might saving people, she asked her mother "Okaa-san, he saves everyone with a smile, no matter what trouble they're in. He's such a cool hero."
She turned her face to her mother, pools of tears threatening to fall down from her round eyes. She pointed shakily towards the screen.
"Can I… be a hero, too?"
Her mother came over to her and enveloped her in a tight hug and whispered over and over "I'm sorry, Izuki, I'm so sorry."
Izuki let the tears fall.
Minutes ticked past until silence fell upon them, Inko still holding on to Izuki. Suddenly, Inko felt a hand, Izuki's hand, gingerly rest at the back of her head.
"Okaa-san, don't tell anyone I can change into a boy. Tell everyone that I don't have a Quirk."
Her mother looked at her, not understanding, and watched as Izuki's girly facial features changed into that of a boy's.
"Izuki…?" she asked hesitantly.
"Mom, call me Izuku."
