It's a story that's been told any number of times, in any number of ways, across the infinity of the multiverse. Often, that story begins with the same six words this one does.

"You should probably just give up."

The doctor's spiel about an extra joint in Izuku's toe had long been established as an unreliable benchmark for quirklessness; while everyone without a quirk did have that trait, even conservative estimates put the amount of the quirked population with the joint at five to ten percent. Of course, Midoriya Izuku was only four years old at the time, so he had no idea, and though she'd married a scientist, his mother, Inko, would only become aware of that fact later on, herself. Unfortunately, statistics aside, the doctor would ultimately prove right about Izuku specifically. The boy's quirk never did come.

In most universes, it would be over a decade before anyone told him he could be a hero.

In this one, he only needed to wait three years.

It was another incident that played out much as it often did at this point in the timeline. A seven-year-old Izuku standing up to his childhood friend turned bully, Bakugou Katsuki, in defense of another kid on the playground. Katsuki was well-known at school for his powerful quirk, one that would make him a great hero if his attitude ever shaped up. Of course, no one ever seemed to call him out on that attitude, and so, here he was with his cronies, picking on some poor kid with a less-than-impressive quirk. Izuku, do-gooder at heart that he was, was the only one to stand up to Bakugou, and for his efforts, he took the brunt of the bullies' punishment. In most timelines, he was left alone in the dirt to stew in his defeat.

In this one, a hand reached out to him.

"You alright there, Broccoli Head?"

She was a few years older than him - eleven, he'd learn later. She wore a black tanktop over tan cargo shorts, a navy blue jacket with orange accents tied around her waist. Her brown, shoulder-length hair was tied up in a high ponytail, and her matching brown eyes locked with Izuku's as she leaned forward, one hand on her knee, the other extended to help him to his feet. He wasn't quite at the point where he simply expected the sort of treatment Bakugou gave him from the rest of the world, but for a moment, he just stared, not sure what the catch was.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, if that's what you're worried about."

Quietly, he took her hand, still nervous in spite of the reassurance, and she pulled him up with an ease he didn't quite expect. She must have been super strong! Either that, or he was just that small. Now that he was back on his feet, and saw that she was indeed a solid thirty centimeters taller than him, it was probably at least a little bit of both. Having not yet mastered talking to girls at this age, he let her continue to take the lead in the conversation. "You shouldn't listen to those losers, y'know. You'll be a great hero."

Wait, what? Did she know what she was saying? Him? Midoriya Izuku? He believed he could be, no doubt, but - wait, losers? Did she mean Kacchan? But Kacchan was so cool! And he had such an amazing quirk, with so many uses! He was gonna be a great hero one day!

"So? He's still a loser."

...He'd been mumbling again, hadn't he? He looked up to see the girl with a disappointed frown on her face.

"You know what a hero is, Broccoli Head? Like, what a hero really is?" She straightened her posture, placing her hands on her hips. "Because it's not a job you can just do for a living. A real hero is someone who stands up for people who can't help themselves! It's not about being the strongest, or the best, or whatever that Kacchan guy thinks it's about. It's about standing up for the little guy, no matter how bad the odds look for you!"

And then, her serious expression gave way to the brightest, most genuine smile he'd ever seen to that point, and he'd seen plenty of All Might videos. "The way I see it, you're already a hero."

Slowly, tears began to form in Izuku's eyes. "Y-you really think I c-can be a hero? E-even without a quirk?"

Her eyes narrowed, and she proceeded to reach out and flick his forehead.

"What did I just say?"

"T-that I'm already a hero?"

The grin returned to her face, a little more smug this time. "Attaboy."

The dam proceeded to open fully, and the girl wondered if he didn't actually have a quirk that produced tears infinitely. She sighed, kneeling down in front of him and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Easy there, you're gonna flood the playground." The two locked eyes for a good, long moment. "You got a name, crybaby?"

"...M-midoriya Izuku."

"Midoriya, huh?" she smirked. "I like it. Matches that shrub you got growin' on your head." She stood back up, practically hopping to her feet. "I'm guessing you don't wanna just be a hero to that one kid, right?"

"Yeah!" he shouted, his face immediately brightening. "I wanna be a hero like All Might, who always saves the day with a smile!"

She chuckled. "Well, there's really only one All Might, but I don't see why you can't do that. You're just gonna have to work a lot harder at it. You got a phone?"

Luckily, this was a Sunday. He didn't usually bring it to school. He drew it from his pocket, to find a crack in the screen that wasn't there this morning. He frowned at that for a second, before placing it into her extended hand. She took it, tapped at it for a few seconds, then gave it back. "That's my number. You ever wanna train with me, feel free to shoot me a text," she smirked. "I could use a sidekick when I go pro."

Izuku checked his contacts, finding the name that hadn't previously been there - Matsuda Tatsuki.

Would it be weird if he called her Tacchan? It would probably be weird.

"I gotta head home before my parents get worried, but I could walk you back to your place first, if you want."

Izuku tried to calm his nerves at the thought of a pretty girl walking him home, but being seven, he didn't exactly have the self-control to keep his face from going red as a beet. Unable to bring himself to answer verbally, he nodded, probably a little too excitedly. Judging from her sly expression, Tacchan had noticed.

Hm. Maybe it wasn't that weird? He'd have to get back to you on that.

"C'mon, let's go. What's your address?"

"U-um... 1662, 92nd Street?"

"...Bespin Apartments?"

"Y-you know it?"

Tacchan's smile widened again, the same bright smile she'd shown him earlier. "What do ya know? We're going to the same place, neighbor!"

That was the day Izuku made his second - and for a long time, closest - childhood friend, the day he'd met his first crush, and the day his life started to take a turn for the better. It still wasn't perfect, but Tacchan made things just a little bit easier.

Well, except during training. She was not kidding about having to work hard.


It would take another turn nearly six years later, when he was thirteen. His thirteenth birthday, in fact. His dad had finally gotten some vacation time away from I-Island, so he was coming home to celebrate this time! He'd been trying for years to get one of Izuku's birthdays off, and finally, he'd managed to make it happen! The boy was so excited, he didn't even stop to consider what might have been different this time!

Right now, he was taking a break from researching possible support equipment - as well as Tacchan's training had worked to get him into shape, he was going to need some kind of edge to be a hero without a quirk, and that was where his combat suit idea came in. Maybe he could pull off being the next Iron Man; it'd be more expensive than they could handle right now, but if he could figure something out to get him started, he'd be able to build off that down the line. A blueprint sat open on his computer, an existing design he'd made some modifications to, as he snacked on a chicken katsu sandwich he'd picked up at Circle Q on his morning run. He was still trying to figure out some of the mechanics of the suit's original use, which was kind of exhausting just to think about. There was a slot with what looked to be some sort of miniaturized particle converter, which shouldn't even be remotely feasible at that scale, in a configuration that implied something was meant to be plugged into it. He'd wondered if it had anything to do with the particle research he'd found alongside it, but honestly, that was its own can of worms, flying in the face of the law of conservation of mass itself. The data seemed remarkably consistent as presented, but the premise was absolutely bonkers. It hurt his head to think about.

So, he distracted himself from those thoughts in the best way he knew how. In his free hand, his phone played the latest hero footage posted to YoTube - a new rookie named Ryukyu with what Izuku thought was easily one of the coolest transformation quirks he'd ever seen. Seriously, a dragon! How awesome was that?

About halfway through the video, his phone buzzed, and a text alert appeared at the top of his screen.

Tacchan • 16:32

yoooo birthday boiiii

[ ]

He smiled at that. Tacchan had been a constant in his life since they'd met; aside from helping to train him to become a hero, she'd become his mom's go-to choice to babysit in those early years, and even though they were four years apart in age, they'd bonded in almost no time. She wasn't quirkless like he was, but her quirk didn't give her any obvious physical advantages like the most visible pros, so she had some idea what it was like to be picked on for "reaching too high," as she phrased it. He knew from experience how much meaner others tended to put it. He also knew, though, just how ridiculously useful her quirk really was, and that she'd be a fixture in the top ten for as long as she could stay in fighting shape.

He also knew that she'd tracked down Kacchan after that first meeting. He'd never know what exactly happened between the two of them, but Kacchan walked with a limp for a good few days afterward, and his bullying never rose above the level of growls and sharp glares anymore. He still flinched whenever Izuku mentioned Tacchan by name, too.

Me • 16:33

hey! I got your present!

Tacchan • 16:33

nice

so? whatcha think?

Me • 16:34

oh. um

i haven't opened it yet?

i was gonna do it after dinner. my dad's gonna be here any minute, remember?

Tacchan • 16:36

OH! right! i do now lmao

yeah obvs, that's the big thing today

how long you say it's been?

Me • 16:37

10 years, i think? before i met you for sure

Tacchan • 16:37

jesus, ten years without a vacation?

Me • 16:38

i mean, he gets time off. it's getting cleared to travel that's the problem

you know, you should come over! he'd like to meet you i bet

Tacchan • 16:39

i would, but if that's him at your door, it looks like he already brought company

Me • 16:40

?

He didn't have time to think about that last message before there were three quick, firm taps on the door. He hopped up from his chair, setting the phone on his desk, and bolted out of his room to greet his father in person for the first time in a decade. Sure enough, his mom was already there to open up for him, and when she did, three people stood there. At the front, wasting no time leaning forward to kiss his wife, stood Midoriya Hisashi. Flecks of gray had begun to take hold in his dark hair since he'd last been home, but otherwise, he hadn't changed a bit. When the hello kiss broke apart, he stood to his full height, turned to the man behind him, and said, in English, "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that."

"Ten years, two months, twelve days. I might be off by a couple hours, though."

"...Okay, you know exactly how long I've been waiting to do that."

Behind both of them, leaning against the door to her apartment across the hall, phone in hand, was Tacchan, wearing denim cutoff shorts and a t-shirt with the word "T-shirt" printed on the front which, frankly, Izuku still thought was the funniest thing ever, and he still needed to ask where she got it. She'd gotten a haircut last month, trimming it down to a pixie cut, a pink streak dyed into her bangs. She smiled wordlessly, shooting him a two-fingered wave. Hormonal thirteen-year-old that he was, that simple gesture was enough to severely weaken his knees.

The man with his dad was... actually, Izuku had no idea who he was. He was older, fifty, maybe, his hair mostly gray, with only a few stray hints of brown remaining, with a goatee to match. Average height, average build, a westerner, going off his appearance. The accent sounded American, maybe, but Izuku hadn't yet picked up the nuances of accents in foreign languages. He couldn't get a read on the man's expression, but he didn't have time to before he was pulled from his thoughts by his father lifting him from the ground in a bone-crunching hug. Possibly literally so, had he not been working out as much as he had.

"THERE'S my birthday boy! Ohhh, I missed you so much!"

"Hrk! Dad... can't breathe..."

Something in Hisashi's expression changed, and he released his vicegrip on his son. He leaned down, squeezing his son's bicep with one hand. "Holy... Inko, what on earth are you feeding our boy? He's absolutely jacked!"

"Oh, you can probably thank her for that," she answered with a chuckle, pointing back to Tacchan, whose eyes suddenly went wide at being put on the spot.

Hisashi's eyes narrowed at the girl. "...Ah." Slowly, he walked toward her, betraying no emotion as he approached. Tacchan's posture straightened, and as fearless as she always seemed to be, she gulped at the elder Midoriya's sheer physical presence. He didn't necessarily tower over her, granted - she was pretty tall for a girl - but she still had to tilt her head back that slightest bit to meet his eyes, and he could be intimidating when he really wanted to be. "So," he said to her, in his best 'overprotective dad' voice, "you must be this 'Tacchan' my boy won't stop talking about."

"Um." Clearly, nerves had gotten the better of the older teen. Izuku hadn't known she could get nervous. "Yes? Hi, um, I'm Matsuda Tatsuk- OOF!"

While Izuku knew the 'intimidating dad' thing was just an act, something his father liked to practice in the mirror in case he ever got to use it, Tacchan didn't get that message until the man gave her the same, powerful hug he'd just given his son.

"Thank you," he told her, "for being there for my kid when I couldn't. You don't know how much that means." He released her and pulled back, showing her the exact same smile she'd seen a thousand times on his son's face.

"Heh, what can I say?" she said, allowing her own smile to show through. "Saw a little bit of myself in him."

"I'd invite you to join us for dinner, but my boss here only has the one day free, and he sort of... insisted on coming," Hisashi said, shooting an aside glance at the man in question, who, for his part, just gave a polite shrug. "I've got the whole week, though, so we are gonna have to make time to have you over, you hear?"

"Sure," she answered fondly. "That'd be great."

"In the meantime," he said, turning back to his family, "let's head inside, Hank. Not everyday my boy turns thirteen!"

"Don't I know it," the man said, in better Japanese than Izuku expected. "Nadia's a couple weeks from it herself."

The group gathered inside the Midoriya residence, closing the door behind them, before Hisashi facilitated the introductions. "Hank, this is my wife, Inko, and my son, Izuku. Inko, Izuku, this is my boss, Dr. Hank Pym."

Wait. Wait. Hank Pym? The Hank Pym? As in the former Avenger, Ant-Man?! Oh, gosh, this was so cool! He was meeting an actual Avenger on his birthday! The... the same Avenger whose suit's blueprints sat open on Izuku's computer at this very moment. Blueprints Izuku stole. No, borrowed, he was borrowing it. So he could improve his chances of success as a hero!

Who was he kidding, he hacked the I-Island servers, that was totally stealing.

Whatever array of emotions Izuku's face had just cycled through, Dr. Pym simply answered them with a knowing smirk.


Dinner was not tense at all to start off, if you'd asked anyone but Izuku. The adults engaged in some casual conversation that he quietly nodded along with. His parents noted his apprehension a few times with concerned glances, but it wasn't either of them who called attention to it first.

"Everything alright there, kiddo?" Dr. Pym asked. "You've barely touched your katsudon. Which, by the way, Mrs. Midoriya, absolutely delicious. I could eat this every day."

Inko offered a polite chuckle. "Well, so could Izuku, most days. I did make it because it's his favorite, after all." She gave him the concerned mother look, that she knew to be his greatest weakness. "Is everything alright, sweetie?"

"Fine!" Izuku exclaimed, a little too loudly. "Everything's fine, really! I just, y'know, I've never eaten dinner with an actual hero before. I guess I'm nervous."

"I know what you mean," the doctor responded after swallowing his food. "I've been dealing with my own nerves recently. Not for the same reason, obviously-"

"Heeeere we go," Hisashi interrupted, seemingly expecting this. "Great segue, Hank."

"-but when someone gets through the cyber defenses at I-Island, well, it's hard not to be nervous."

Immediately, Izuku went stiff as a board, eyes wide as saucers. His father, meanwhile, butted in once more. "Look, you two don't have to answer any questions you don't want to-"

"Of course, we were able to trace the security breach to this address, so I'd be remiss if I didn't at least ask."

Inko shot the man a deeply offended glare. "Dr. Pym, I'm not sure what you're trying to imply, but if you think anyone in this-"

"I'M SORRY!" Izuku blurted out. Both his parents turned to look at him incredulously, while Dr. Pym simply sighed.

"Yeah, I had a feeling."

"I-I-I... I just really want to be a hero, but, well... there's only so much I can do without a quirk, s-so I just was looking for ideas for support equipment, you know? Just to give me an extra edge. And I mean, I knew my dad worked with Ant-Man, and everyone knows you're, like, a super genius, so I figure you'd have, like, some kind of tech I could replicate, or modify, or something, and I found the specs for this suit-"

"My Ant-Man suit."

"Y-yeah, that. I-I couldn't figure out what exactly it did, but I found this research paper in the same folder, which didn't make a whole lot of logical sense, but it looked like you were trying to replicate your quirk through particle physics?"

"Hold on," the doctor interrupted. "You read the paper?"

"Y-yes?"

"The whole thing?"

"F-front to back."

"And you understood it?"

"I mean, the math checked out..."

Hank glanced back to the boy's parents. "Are you two sure this kid's only thirteen?"

"Very sure," Inko answered.

Hisashi replied with a shrug. "I did say the kid was special."

Dr. Pym inhaled deeply, then turned back to Izuku. "How serious are you about being a hero?"

For once, Izuku was firm in his response. "It's the only thing I've ever wanted. I can't imagine doing anything else."

"And you're positive? I get the sense you've got a future in your old man's footsteps."

"Losing battle, Hank," Hisashi chimed in with a wistful smile. "Trust me, I've tried."

Hank just sighed at that, placing a hand on Izuku's shoulder. He blinked in surprise, giving it a squeeze. "Well, you're definitely in better shape than I was at that age." He looked back to Inko and Hisashi one more time. "What I'm about to say doesn't leave this apartment. That goes for everyone here, understand?"

The whole family nodded.

"What do you think my quirk is, Izuku?"

"I mean, that's obvious, right? You're able to shrink down to the size of an ant. Like, it's not often a married couple both have the same quirk, and then both become pro heroes together, so Ant-Man and the Wasp stand out, naturally."

"Yeah, we kind of let people think that, didn't we?"

"...Huh?"

"You know the Wasp's stinger blasts? That's... that was Janet's quirk. Hard light projections from her palms. Mine is nothing nearly so impressive. I can communicate telepathically with ants. That's really it."

Izuku's mind boggled at that statement. It made no sense. "B-but... how? That would make no sense, unless... unless..."

And then it hit him. The research paper.

The Pym Particle wasn't an attempt to replicate his quirk. It was what allowed him to shrink the entire time.

"...it wasn't just hypothetical."

"Now he's getting it," Dr. Pym grinned.

"I'm sorry," Inko asked hesitantly, "but I'm not sure I'm getting it."

"Oh! It's this really cool thing where this particle can change the distance between molecules! That's how Ant-Man and the Wasp were able to shrink! Although I'm still not sure how it's able to proportionately alter mass, too. That's the one thing I couldn't wrap my head around."

"Believe me, kid, I've been working on the answer to that question for thirty years now." By the tone of his voice, the fact that he didn't know either genuinely annoyed the man, though his expression soon turned to something more curious. "That said, how did you get into our servers, anyway? I'm not even mad, I'm just impressed."

"O-oh, um..." Izuku looked nervously at his father. "I, um, I may have embedded a trojan in those pictures we sent you from Golden Week?"

"You what?!" Inko shouted, visibly mortified. Hisashi simply sipped his Coke, looking at a suddenly very interesting corner of the ceiling.

"Where... where did you even dig up a program capable of that?"

"Um. I wrote the code myself?"

There was a brief moment of silence, before Hank spoke up.

"...Hisashi, I'm hiring your son. Right now."

"Hank."


Dinner had livened up considerably after that. There was, of course, a cake for dessert; Hisashi used his breath to light the candles, just like he had when Izuku was little, though there were a lot more to blow out than the last time he'd done it. Dr. Pym promised to stay in touch; he wanted to be sure Izuku was "capable of using the Ant-Man suit to its full potential" before just handing the thing off to a thirteen-year-old he'd just met, which, fair, but the fact that he was considering it at all had made this by far the best birthday he'd ever had. Before he turned in for the night, though, he glanced over to his desk. Tacchan's present was still there.

He almost wanted to leave it for tomorrow. Give himself time to come down from his excitement, so he could really appreciate whatever it was she'd gotten him.

But that wouldn't be fair to her.

And so, he tore the paper away, revealing... a framed selfie. In and of itself, a weird choice, but it was the contents that made it really count. The photo was of Tacchan, with an American man in his mid-twenties, his arm slung over her shoulder, both of them smiling. The man sported a pair of sunglasses, and a distinctive tanktop - black, with a stylized red "W" running from his shoulders to his beltline. In addition, the picture itself had a message written on it, accompanied by a signature.

His second brush with the Avengers, all in one day.

To Izuku Midoriya,

Happy birthday to a future hero. See you when you get here!

- Simon Williams


Tatsuki was staring at the ceiling of her empty apartment, eating a bowl of cereal in the middle of the night, when her phone dinged with a new text. She cracked her neck, then stood up and walked to the coffee table. Across from the couch, the news played at a low volume, for nothing more than the white noise. Roughly, she grabbed the old Samsung from the table, checking her unread messages. Most of it was from her classmates; superficial social relationships she didn't care about, and that wouldn't matter this time next year.

Most, but for one. The one thing that still motivated her anymore to be a better person. The one positive she felt like she'd contributed to the world up until now.

Broccoli Head • 22:51

YOU GOT ME WONDER MAN'S AUTOGRAPH?!

THANK YOU? OMG

The one thing that still made her smile. And smile Tatsuki did.