He looked down from the roof he was standing on. Contemplating what just happened mere moments ago. It was getting dark; his mom would get mad if he came home late.
Actually, she'd get angry either way but he didn't have it in him to care anymore.
Today could be described as the best and worst day of his life.
He got to meet his idol, the man he looked up to his whole life. The only person he thought would look at him and see more than a fragile, quirkless boy.
Life wasn't fair, he had come to terms with that a long time ago. In a world where 80% of the population have special powers called quirks, Izuku was one of that 20 % that didn't. That 20 % were considered to be at the bottom of society, treated worse than villains for being born different than the majority.
Yeah… Izuku found out that life was unfair, a very long time ago.
All might had saved him from the sludge villain, only to later crush his dreams in a way that made him wish he hadn't been saved in the first place. Maybe he should follow Kacchan's advice. His old childhood friend had cornered him at school that day. As usual, Izuku could only ride it out and hope he wouldn't add more bruises to the ones he knew he would have to tend to when he got home. But this time was different. It didn't end with the beating, Kacchan had gone as far as to give him some friendly advice as to "take a swan dive off the roof and hope you'll get a quirk in your next life" Today couldn't get any better right?
Having his idol stand in front of him, Izuku couldn't help but ask the question he was yearning to ask ever since he was diagnosed as quirk less. However, the answer he got stung more than he wanted to admit.
"You can't be a hero "The number one hero had said. After that, any other words exchanged had gone on deaf ears. This sentence plays in a constant loop in his head. Of course, he couldn't be a hero. He was just a quirkless, worthless, Deku after all.
In fact, he couldn't believe he had hoped to hear otherwise, even for a second. All his life he was never more than a burden to others, looked down upon and bullied by everyone, even by his own best friend. Could he still call him that? No, that title was taken away a long time ago, 10 years ago to be precise. The moment he turned four and everyone got their quirks. Humanity evolved and he was left behind.
From that moment, his life took a turn for the worst. His dad left home claiming to have nothing to do with the abomination that his wife has given birth to. "I can't have a quirk less son, Inko. It's a disgrace to my family name and society…" While delicate wisps of smoke curled from his lips. "…and so, is the woman who birthed something, so useless." He snarled, his eyes never leaving Izuku, as if, each word dripping with disgust was meant for him and him only.
With that sentence hanging in space, Izuku woke up the next day. One person less in his house and one more broken heart. Nonetheless, life didn't stop there! Did it? Because of course, it won't, life was funny in a peculiar way.
Inko Midoriya loved her son. She really did. Her son was declared quirk less and therefore, took away both, her respectful reputation and her husband.
Hisashi left the house and left Inko to deal with the aberration that she had given birth to.
She tried at first, she really did try to act like nothing was wrong, as if this status wouldn't change the way she looked at her son. Meanwhile, every time she saw him she was reminded of what she had lost. She'd see her son smiling and she'd want to wipe that expression off his features. Because, what right did he have to smile when she was suffering? She would see him laughing and she would want to just snuff it out. How dare he laugh when she felt so miserable.
Inko Midoriya really did love her son. So much, that she showed him her love, by teaching him the ways of the world. Because life wasn't fair and she would teach him that, she would teach him that life was hard and he needed to be prepared right? He needed to be taught and if that lesson needed to be beaten into him, she would do it because what kind of a mother would she be, if she let her son go out into this world, unprepared.
Standing there on the roof Izuku couldn't help but consider it.
Ending it all.
He would normally push that train of thoughts out of his mind but in this particular moment, he didn't see the point: Because who would miss him? Who would miss the worthless loser?
As his mind went down in an endless self-deprecating spiral, he was snapped out of it by an explosion coming from a distance.
He decided it would be worth investigating, even though he was already late and already anticipating the harsh beating he would get. Either way, he opted to run towards it.
Once he arrived and made his way through the crowd, what he saw made his blood run cold. In front of him was none other than the sludge monster that had tried to kill him earlier that day. Did the bottle fall from All Might when he was hanging onto him? Was it his fault? His thoughts stuttered as he realized the sludge villain had a hostage. His eyes squinted to get a look at the person's face and were met with familiar spiky blond hair peeking out of the green sludge. The villain had Kacchan. The villain had Kacchan and it was all his fault. Scorching red eyes filled with fear met emerald green and before he even realized what he was doing Izuku was running at full speed towards the monster. Remembering his analyses on hero fights he opted to look for a weak point. Quickly taking advantage of the villain's vulnerable eyes and swinging his book bag at it. Everything that happened after that, went by in a blur.
All Might had shown up again and rescued the day as Izuku was about to be crushed. He got reprimanded for his reckless and stupid behavior. Because, obviously, a fragile quirkless kid like him, can't just run into a villain's fight! It's a job for the heroes. After a harsh lecture, Izuku left the scene as quickly as he could.
His mom would have seen the news. His stomach twisted at the thought of what awaited him back home. Nevertheless, he had to get there, just get it over with so he could finally sleep after this exhausting day.
He entered the house hesitantly, making sure to avoid making his presence known. Years of tip-toeing around the house, acting as invisible as he could have insured his survival on most days. Especially when Inko felt particularly pissed off. She would be set off by any action her son made.
Usually, He could manage to get to his room without any unpleasant encounters. However, luck wasn't on his side. For, the moment he slipped off his shoes he was met with his mothers' glare.
She was standing in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. The frown twisting her features promised nothing but pain.
Izuku's shoulder tensed as he tried to read his mom's mood. Trying to prepare himself for the inevitable punishment he would face, the severity of it. On normal days, she would greet him with the usual flurries of swear words and snide comments. If she was particularly in her moods, things would get violent. Today, however, he could practically feel the annoyance radiating off of her. She must have seen the news, he concluded.
"Out playing hero again? "The hiss was soft but sharper than a knife, digging and slicing away at his flesh until his panicking heart was exposed. "I thought I got it through that thick skull of yours that you would never be a hero."
The painful silence was his only response. The only thing that could be heard was the newscaster's voice coming from the living room TV.
"What? Got nothing to say brat?" The same angry tone met his ears as his mother took a step closer in his direction.
Izuku backed away slightly and spoke knowing that neither staying silent nor talking back would get him out of this.
"I'm sorry. Kacchan was in trouble… " His mumbled words were cut off by a sharp slap to the face.
"Oh! Was he in trouble now? And what? You thought a useless piece of shit like you could have done something to change that?" She snarled, her tone making Izuku tense even further.
"N- No" He replied slowly, making sure his voice had no trace of defiance in it.
"You know you were a bad child today Izu. And you know what happens to bad children right? "She smirked that ugly smile, a smile that had no place on a face that once held nothing but love towards him. It has been ten years since he'd seen any trace of fondness in his mother's expression. He sometimes doubts it was there in the first place.
"They- They g- get pun- punished" He mumbled, fear blooming in his forest green eyes, taking him over. Flight instinct screamed at him to run while he still could. But he couldn't. Running or fighting back never meant less pain. He had learned that the hard way
"What will it be I wonder? "She says cheerfully as if talking about a Christmas present she's about to open. "You did something really bad today Izu-kun! Not only did you come home late but you also managed to do the one thing I tell you to give up on! Maybe it's time for something else. It's been a while since you've been left alone to contemplate on your mistakes."
His eyes widened as he realized what she meant. "P-please don't! I-I promise I won't do it again! J-Just please don't-!" A vicious blow to his stomach sent him gasping for air, "Please, not again." he whispered, knowing full well that it was fruitless.
She tugged him down the stairs to the basement, each step one step closer to the hellhole she was dragging him to.
When he was seven his mom had decided that normal punishments just weren't enough for him to learn his lessons, so she got him the dark box. It consisted of an old refrigerator that she had installed in the basement. Every time she would get particularly pissed off at his hero-worshiping behavior she would drag him there. Lock him inside until she deemed it long enough for him to have learned his lesson. It once lasted three days. Izuku wished he'd die by the second day. He couldn't take the emptiness and darkness that he was being subjected to. Left alone to wallow in his self-deprecating thoughts, stomach empty and mouth dry as his tears never seemed to run out. It had been quite some time since he got locked up down there. Seeming as if he learned to hide his hero analyses hobbies from his mother, a long time ago.
His heart rate sped up, chest constricting painfully as less and less air made its way into his heaving lungs. The sound of a metal bolt unlatching followed by the low creak of old hinges filled the basement.
"Get in, brat" She hissed. Tone leaving no space for argument.
"P-please…" It was barely a whisper, almost hidden by his heaving sobs. He didn't fight back, having learned long ago that struggling only led to more anger, to more pain.
"Now Izuku. I'm only doing this because you deserve it. You disobeyed me and went against my wishes, we can't have that now, can we?" She pushed him inside, not caring about the way his head banged against the metal frame - He looked up watching as the light faded, as the door closed slowly. He heard the locks clicking, condemning him to the darkness. This void he was going to be stuck in for who knows how long.
Darkness. That's all he knew, all he felt, deep within him. It was like all of his senses were shut down. As he lay there, blind and deaf to the world around him. Everything except for his own ragged breathing, loud to his aching ears. He had no sense of time in the black box; he didn't know if it had been hours or days. He just wished it would end. If he was talking about this or life as he knew it, he did not know, nor did he care. He just wished it would end. One way or another.
Izuku closed his eyes. Praying he would find sleep. Praying he would find any kind of escape.
"Izu? Have you learned your lesson yet? "He didn't have the strengths to answer. What has it been 2 days? 3? It felt like a lifetime. A bright light accosted his senses as the refrigerator door was slowly opened. A gasp of clean air finally! A welcome blessing from the rancid air he'd had to breathe. Inko took one look at her son. Satisfied with the miserable state he was in, she quickly spun on her heels and left.
He got up with a tremendous effort, trying not to collapse from dehydration and hunger. He went up the stairs slowly making a beeline for his room afraid of trespassing once more, of getting punished again. He stopped, watching as his mother pulled up a chair at the table, food ready on the table.
God, how Izuku just wanted to devour every item in sight. Just looking at the dishes sent his mouth-watering, stomach growling at the tempting view. He knew that even touching a single plate would mean going back in there. That was something he wanted to avoid at all costs. It didn't stop him from yearning for it.
Gathering up whatever remained of his self-control, he painfully walked away to the bathroom for a shower he desperately needed.
His body moved on autopilot, mind barely registering his movements as he tried to regain some composure after this horrific experience. He barely noticed the tears slipping down his cheeks as he thought about not spending another moment in this godforsaken house. The water flowed, draining with it his deepest sorrows.
That night, he barely slept, fro the darkness was something he would come to fear with everything he had.
He woke up the next morning to a note saying that Inko would have friends over this weekend. That he would be smart to disappear for a couple of days. For the first time in what felt like a lifetime Izuku smiled. Sleeping alone in an empty park wasn't that bad. He had a whole weekend without the looming figure of his mother. A whole weekend without the constant fear of being beaten up for every little thing he did.
Izuku gingerly packs a small backpack with clothes and food he'd snatched from the fridge. He ran outside before his mother could come back and change her mind.
He walked the entire day, enjoying his freedom while he still could.
He walked through the park, watching as parents played with their children and enjoyed themselves. He knew parents didn't treat their children like his mother treated him. The days he used to spend at the Bakugo's showed him that. Even though they yelled a lot, he could see the respect and love they had for each other. Kacchan had once been painfully close to finding out about them. About the secrets that were kept behind their closed doors. The many bruises and cuts were enough for him to be suspicious, but Izuku always shrugged it off. Creating excuses and lies. They led him to not only be called quirkless and worthless, but clumsy too. He eventually learned to hide his scars under long sleeves and hurt under forced smiles. His mother too got better at hitting him in discreet places where it would be hard to notice. After one particularly concerning call from the neighbors saying that they had run into Izuku and that he seemed to be hurt.
Distracted by his thoughts he bumped into someone, sending them both tumbling to the ground. When he looked up green eyes met electric blue and his eyes widened as he realized he had just bumped into All Might, well the skeleton version of the number one hero.
He hastily got up and helped the taller man, a spiral of apologies flowing from his mouths as he panicked for what he had just done.
"It's okay my boy! I'm glad I finally found you! I've been searching for you everywhere, I wanted to talk to you the other day but you ran off so fast I couldn't find you! "The tall man said voice booming in excitement "Can we talk privately?"
"O- Okay." Izuku squeaked not knowing how to turn down his idol.
All Might, steered him to a secluded bench in an isolated part of the park. They both sat down, anxiety growing in Izuku's gut as the silence between them stretched.
"I'm sorry!" he blurted, knowing he couldn't stand it anymore, he had to get it off his chest
"What? What could you be sorry for my boy? "All Might asked with brows furrowing in confusion
"It was my fault the villain escaped. If I had just left you alone none of this would have happened!" He stood up and bowed as low as he could manage.
All might raised his hand to the boy's shoulder, missing the way Izuku flinched at his movement
"My boy, you are wrong. It was my fault the villain managed to escape, I was careless, I wanted to thank you Midorya-kun. Your brave and selfless actions that day pushed me to go beyond and save that boy. You showed me how a true hero needed to act! You! A quirkless boy ran into the fray with no regard to his own safety to save another person's life. Many stories are told about heroes who saved the day but do you know what they all had in common? Their legs moved on their own."
Izuku's breath caught in his throat as he heard the next words.
"You, Midoriya Izuku can be a hero "