"I'm at U.A…" Izuku muttered quietly when he came to again, having only passed out for a minute out of shock. "I'm at…"
"Yes, U.A., though that does the beg the question if you don't mind us asking… Why exactly are you here? You're too young to be a student." Aizawa dived right into the heart of the matter, getting a light smack from Recovery Girl for it.
"Oh… well…" At the boy's nervous look, Midnight gave her most comforting smile she could manage, sitting at the edge of his bed.
"It's ok, Kid, no one will be mad at you. You're not in trouble or anything." She reassured calmly, patting his knee gently. The scruffy pro behind her just rolled his eyes. For someone with a history of being inappropriate, she had always been surprisingly good with kids.
"O-Ok… well…" Midoriya swallowed, eased by her presence. "I came here with my friends… I didn't think it was a good idea but the others were teasing me and I didn't want Kacchan to think I was scared-"
The greenette suddenly froze up and didn't continue, eyes flashing with fear as if he'd said something wrong. It didn't help Aizawa's growing sense of unease that something wasn't quite right with the kid's life.
"Midoriya, who's Kacchan?" Nezu asked, having been informed by the teachers already of the boy's dream. The child didn't answer straight away, before opening his mouth.
His answer was short and simple…
"My f-friend."
And a complete lie. Maybe the greenette himself didn't realize it, but Midnight had been a teacher long enough to spot the more subtle tells that people didn't learn to hide. The slight flinch, the hesitation, the worry just bringing him up that flashed by his face.
She gently reached forward and waited to see how he reacted. When he gave no negative response, she set her hand on his head and met his eyes with a kind smile.
"Midoriya, you appreciate us pro's right?" She asked, and he nodded. Ruffling his hair slightly, she gave him a slightly more pointed look. "And you know you should tell us the truth always, so we can help right?"
"B-but I'm not lying-"
"Oh dear, of course not." She said, removing her hand. She then pointed to his arm. "But… I'm afraid you already revealed a bit about this Kacchan kid in your sleep."
The greenette paled at that.
"No one will be mad. We just want to help, ok?" She continued to reassure, and the other teachers waited patiently. "Just tell us everything, ok? We're on your side…"
"Everyone says that." The greenette blurted out bitterly before his eyes went wide. "I'm sorry!"
"Kid, it's ok." Aizawa spoke up again, grasping at his capture tape instantly understanding the implication behind what he said. "We're not most people, we're pro's and we want to help."
"But…" The greenette bit his lip, clearly hesitant to continue at all. Finally, he spoke up quietly. "No one ever means it. They always take Kacchan's side because he's the one with the strong power."
"We won't do that, ok?" Midnight reassured, stroking his leg. The child finally seemed to be opening up, a look of hope and yet apprehension on his face.
"When we were kids…. Me and Kacchan… we wanted to be heroes. We still do." The boy explained, and the teachers nodded.
"I assume that's why you take notes? Preparing." Aizawa hazarded a guess, and the greenette nodded. "Smart thinking. Mean's your actually serious about this as well."
"But… when we were four…. Kacchan's quirk finally came through." Izuku said sombrely, grabbing everyone's attention.
"And what quirk is that?" Nezu questioned.
"Explosion. His sweat can be ignited and creating small sparks to massive explosions." Izuku explained, causing Midnight to pale and Aizawa to quietly growl, because an explosion would definitely explain the burn. "I think it's like nitro-glycerine."
"That's what the quirk was reported as?"
"No, it's just the closest thing I can think of that's similar. Same level of volatility and similar smell." The greenette explained, causing yet another wave of surprise among the pro's. The greenette certainly must have had a knack for analysis if he could figure that out. "But… when he got his power…"
The boy stopped, and Midnight placed a hand over the child, rubbing her thumb over his hand. "It's ok, keep going. Just be honest."
"When he got his power, everyone started focusing on him and him alone." He explained, flinching at how pathetic it sounded. Like he was some attention seeking child. "It went to his head I think. Everyone told him he was the best, even me… and he doesn't like anyone suggesting otherwise…"
"Oh god…" Aizawa muttered, irritated as he could already see where this was going. There was a quick way to confirm it as well, and maybe help the boy relax a bit in the process. "Kid, why do you want to be a hero anyways? What's your motivation?"
The standard answer from a kid one always expected was simple. Because they were cool, because people liked them, because they made lots of money (even though that last one wasn't actually that true if you didn't get particularly famous.)
You could tell a lot about a potential future hero by their initial motivations…
"I just want to help people." The greenette revealed, slightly surprising the scruffy pro. The greenette gave the brightest and most genuine smile he had so far, causing Midnight to let out a little squeal. "I want people to feel safe, and happy. To know no matter what someone will always help them."
Silence rung out, and the greenette's smile faltered.
"Did I say something wrong?" He asked worried and Nezu quickly shook his head, clapping his paws together.
"Not at all, mister Midoriya. I don't believe I've ever heard a more pure motive to be a hero." The principal said happily. The idea that people like Izuku existed was what kept the hybrid creature from letting his bitterness for human take over, because there were kind souls like the boy before him.
"And, you try to help everyone you can?"
"Yes!" The boy nodded, and the other three then cottoned on to what Aizawa was driving at.
"This Kacchan kid, you tried to help him as well?" Recovery Girl asked the question they were all wondering as she checked him over and the boy's mood deflated once more.
"Y-yeah… a few times. Like there was this one time… he fell into a river. It was a long fall so I thought his knees might hurt…. I went down to just help him back up…" He explained, unconsciously grasping at his chest.
"How did he respond to that?" Midnight asked, and got no answer. "Midoriya… please…"
The greenette shook his head, seeming to be arguing with himself.
"He's a good person." He suddenly muttered, catching them all of guard. "He doesn't mean it."
The teachers shared looks at that. They knew were this was going. Aizawa sighed, deciding on his next course of action.
"Midoriya, no one is going to get in trouble, ok? Just tell us the truth. Your friend will be fine."
Well, a little white lie was alright once in a while, right?
"….Promise?" Midoriya asked, causing the man to grimace. The last thing he wanted to do with a child like this was make a promise he intended to break, but for the kid's own sake he took the bait.
"Promise."
"…He punched me." The greenette revealed. "He used his quirk so it would hurt more."
Aizawa's nails dug into his own skin as he gripped his leg in anger.
"And… he did that anytime someone helped him. One kid… he tried to play the hero in a game at the park. Kacchan didn't like it, thinking he was trying to act better than him." Midoriya explained quietly. "I tried to stand up for him but… Kacchan and his other friends were to strong."
"…And were these the… only incidents?" Aizawa asked through gritted teeth, sucking in a breathe when the greenette shook his head.
"Kacchan… he picks on me the most. Especially when I bring up heroes. He doesn't want me to be a hero…" He revealed, face contorted into confusion as he never understood exactly why the blonde was so against Midoriya being a hero. "Any time I mention being a hero, Kacchan always attacks me…"
"And… do your teachers not put a stop to this at all?" Nezu pondered with a frown. The greenette's earlier bitter comment returned to their minds, leaving them worried about the answer.
"No. None of the teachers care. Only two have ever tried to get Kacchan in trouble. He first one stopped because he was scared of Kacchan…" Midoriya revealed and the teachers shared a look.
"And... the other teacher?"
"She didn't let him scare her but… she was fired for making 'false claims.'" The greenette revealed, causing Midnight to gasp.
"What do they mean false claims?!"
"The school didn't want anything bad on Kacchan's record. They know he could be a really powerful hero and they didn't want to ruin that, because they could get more publicity that way if people knew where he came from."
"Midoriya…" Recovery girl began quietly, having noticed something else while doing a check-up of the rest of his body quietly the whole time. "What exactly is your quirk."
The boy still had two joints in his pinky toe. She had felt them. It wasn't impossible he might have had something but….
The boy went deadly quiet and looked away, a look of hurt in his eyes. The words he spoke next were heart-breaking.
"I don't have one…. I'm just a weakling…"
Suddenly, everything clicked into place for Aizawa, everything made sense. Why people would let such a young kid be so relentlessly bullied, why no one would help and instead favour some kid with a powerful quirk.
"And you… still want to be a hero?" Midnight asked surprised. Everyone felt their hearts constrict.
Because now they were in an unbelievably precarious position.
A kid who had been wrong by everyone around him, one who didn't see the problem with people literally burning him and who was only barely trusting them.
A kid who wanted to be a hero.
A kid who couldn't be a hero.
Aizawa knew that instantly, he knew he couldn't let an impossible dream fester. The heartbreak would be too much.
But he couldn't take that from the kid… not now, not after everything he just learned.
Finally, Midoriya answered.
"Yes. I want to be a hero, even though I'm quirkless. I want to help others." Actual tears started to form in the kids eyes, making it all the harder for anyone to think what to say. "I want to… to be there for people like me."
If there was any chance of them objecting in that moment before, it was absolutely gone now. There was nothing they could say back to that, nothing that would lead to anything good anyways.
So Midnight just asked another question. "And, just out of curiosity, why do you want to be a hero over, say, a doctor. They help people as well."
"I'd be a bad doctor." The greenette shook his head. "If I get too nervous, my hands get shaky. If my hands get shaky doing an operation I could kill someone. Someone suggested police work once but they don't do much more than the bulk of pro paperwork nowadays. They can only get involved if a criminal isn't using their quirk but if they're already committing a crime anyways then they will almost always be using their quirk. The only way I can help people in the way I really want to help them is hero work…"
And the kid still had to have that damn good logical reasoning. Aizawa would be impressed if he wasn't god damn frustrated. So, he turned to his colleague.
"Midnight, you should probably go explain to that after school class where you are by the way." He lied through his teeth, before turning to Nezu. "We should probably try to contact Midoriya's parents as well."
"It's just my mom." The boy piped up, fishing through his pockets and pulling out a phone that had fortunately survived, giving it to them. "My dad left when he found out…"
Midnight decided in that moment god did exist.
He existed and he was an asshole and the second she got herself up there she was going to kick his ass for hurting this kid in so many ways.
"Well, we still need to call from a school phone." Aizawa lied. "Besides, Recovery girl might need to ask you some personal questions. We'll be back soon."
With that, the scruffy pro left the room, dragging the other two teachers behind him.
Inside the room, Recovery Girl cursed the man for leaving her with such a situation. Having no idea what else to do, she turned to the kid.
"So you said you took notes on pro's?"
"Oh, yeah! Actually my current notebook has a page on you and miss Midnight, do you want to see?" He asked, with that innocent excitement that the nurse just couldn't say no to.
"Of course, we can even update them a bit!" She laughed.
Nezu split off from Aizawa and Midnight along the way to contact miss Midoriya, meanwhile the two teachers were making their way straight towards the teachers' lounge, though Midnight would be separating to go deal with the… other issue.
As he walked, Aizawa was having an internal crisis.
Could a powerless child be a superhero?
The logical and obvious answer was no.
And yet Aizawa just couldn't bring himself to say it just yet. The more emotional part of him argued that the man himself would be a hypocrite, pointing out how he was essentially a quirkless hero against mutants.
The logical part of his brain replied that he didn't fight mutants as often as emitters and transformation types, it also pointed out he had years of training with his capture scarf and combat skills. The emotional part argued right back Midoriya could learn to utilize similar skills.
It was like a war was raging in his body. He did know however he was a terrible person to make decisions about people. He could read them fine enough and converse just fine thanks to his role as a teacher but he could easily make mistakes when it came to people.
A perfect example being his expulsion threats. He always threatened his first year classes at the start of the year, with the idea of expulsion. He no longer meant it, knowing he couldn't gauge them so soon now but a younger Aizawa had yet to see the flaw of his strategy.
It had been the birth of two different villains, and while a lesser man might have used it as proof they were right, Aizawa was willing to admit he was partially at fault for their turns to villainy.
And that's why, as he stormed into the lounge he had everyone assembled quickly.
"Important question, need everyone's real honest opinions now." He explained quickly, confusing everyone as he walked to the centre of the room.
"Everything alright, Shota?" Vlad king, a muscular man with grey hair and fangs questioned as he walked up to the man. Behind him, the pro heroes thirteen, snipe, ectoplasm and power loader followed.
"YEAH, YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'VE RAN A MARATHON!" A voice screamed and the pro scowled as he turned and saw the blonde voice hero Present Mic coming over, tailed by Lunch Rush and Cementoss. At the mans glare, he realized he'd gone back to using his quirk and silently readjusted. "Sorry."
"In the infirmary right now, there's a kid." Aizawa wasted no time, walking to be able to face all his colleagues. Powerloader groaned.
"One of my students didn't blow themselves up again did they?" He questioned and the underground pro shook his head.
"No, I mean an actual kid. Can't be any older than nine or ten. Villains hit him with a car outside." At that reveal, all the teachers immediately straightened up in surprise. "He's alright physically now… but… I'm just going to ask this question straight with no context, and then give you context after your answers."
"Well… alright?" Thirteen nodded their head, confused.
"Could a quirkless kid ever become a hero?"
Silence fell over the room at that, no one having been expecting that question. The first person to speak up had been Snipe.
"Well, of course not pardner. I don't know about ya'll but seems darn obvious to me. This job is just too dangerous without."
"I mean… yeah this job is dangerous, but is it really that different from what the police used to be, before quirks? Speaking realistically about this, it's not like you're that much more safe without a gun in hand, Snipe." Thirteen pointed out, turning to Present Mic. "You have a quirkless niece right, Hizashi? Would you ever let her be a hero?"
"Dang…. That's a tough one. The protective part of me wants to say no but… If she did have a quirk I'd be actively advocating for her to go into hero work, she'd be amazing for it from every other standpoint."
Power loader remained quiet, in thought when Aizawa sighed.
"I think the general consensus will be no, Eraser." Vlad shrugged, before eyeing him suspiciously. "You did tell the kid no, right?"
The scruffy pro shook his head.
"No, I didn't."
"What? Why not?! You can't go giving him false hope-"
Aizawa held up a hand, stopping the muscular teachers potential rant, sighing.
"It's not that I don't agree… I do, but… This isn't an easy situation. This kid has been… hell I'll just say it, the kid doesn't realize it but he's been practically abused all his life." The scruffy pro revealed, causing saddened looks to appear on the other teachers faces. "His father left him, his 'friends' attack him for his dream, with no teachers ever on his side and then there's this one damn brat that-!... this kid… do you know why he wants to be a hero?"
Silence, as they waited for the answer.
"His whole motivation is just because he wants to help others. He wants there to be someone there… for people like him." He explained simply. "Midnight tried seeing his reaction to other careers as well, he can argue his way out of them far to well. This isn't some flight of fancy like most kids, this kid genuinely well and truly wants nothing more than to be a hero to help other people, and no matter what…. I can't find a way to say no, even when I should."
"….Shit…" Vlad King muttered as he sat down. The other teachers followed, trying to think of a solution to that, only to come up empty. "So… your choices are to tell him it's ok, and potentially crush him in the future or get him killed…"
"Or crush his dreams now, and maybe kill his trust in anyone at all from now on." Aizawa nodded. Finally, powerloader spoke up.
"How long is the kid going to be here?" He pondered, and Aizawa thought for a moment.
"Probably about a week, based on the last time I saw someone get hurt like this. She'll want to keep an eye on him for a while in case there's anything she missed."
"Then that gives us a week to figure it out." Powerloader said with a shrug of his shoulders. "So why don't you let us meet the kid across the course of the week. See what we all think after meeting him. If nothing else, could be a good way to apologise when you have to say to no."
"…Maybe." Aizawa frowned, before smirking slightly. "Though, I think we'll all be inundated with request for autographs and that once the kid actually fully realizes the face he's surrounded by heroes. He seems like kind of a fanboy."
"Well, I'll prepare one ahead of time." Present Mic said with a thumbs up. "Quirkless or not, little listeners always deserve my amazing signature."
Aizawa just shook his head at his friends antics.