She looked in the mirror, putting the finishing touches on her makeup. The lashes were always the hardest, she either put too much glue on or not enough. She looked over her reflection one more time, looking from her smokey eye shadow to her lightly flushed cheeks to her lightly tinted lips. Satisfied with her final look she turned to the rack of clothes. Looks like this weeks theme was Fallen Angels. She picked out the leather corset and lace underwear set in a deep red and slipped it on. She slipped on her thigh high stiletto boots before fixing a pair of small black angel wings to her back. She put her long green curls in a high ponytail and looked in the mirror again. Thirty minutes ago she had been small innocent Midoriya Izuku. Looking back at her now was Destiny, one of the most highly requested strippers from Madam Yotsuba's Gentleman's Club.
She hadn't always been a stripper, but desperate times called for illegal measures. After her mom had died she had needed a job asap. The money her father sent over from America had only been enough to pay for the water, electric, and rent. School and food had to come from her. She had started out doing many under the table jobs which had barely been enough. But when she turned eleven she had accidentally become the guardian to a group of runaways.
The five children had been extremely young, ranging from six to nine. Three of them had run from a quirk trafficking ring and the other two were a set of twins who had abusive parnts. Mika was a 7 year old boy with raptor- like eyes and a quirk called Phoenix Tears that allowed him to heal any outter wound he cried on. His tears only lasted five minutes outside of his body and he had been taken for them. Taro was seven with curled rams horns sticking out of his curly white hair. His quirk Billy Goat gave him the strength and headbutting power of a goat, he had been grabbed because he wouldn't let go of his friend Teka. Teka was six and had the quirk Thumbelina. She could shrink herself down to the size of a door key and had been grabbed to open safes and other locked places. They were the only three to make it out.
The twins were Haru and Beru at nine. They had a twin quirk that worked best with each other. The two girls could astral project from their bodies, using each other as an anchor. Their quirk was nothing like their parents quirks and thus their parents started treating them as less than human. They had ran into the three other kids a week after running from home and they had formed a sort of survival group. Until one day Izuku had stumbled upon their little hiding place in the alley next to the abandoned movie theatre on her way home from one of her many jobs.
She had stared at the five small faces staring back at herbefore offering them the money she had just earned. She may be hungry but these kids were probably starving. When Taro grabbed the yen from her with distrustful eyes she waved before walking home. The next night saw the five kids following her home and stalking her for a week before approaching her again. She offered her apartment to the kids and since then they had stayed with her. But with five more mouths to feed she had to find a real job.
She had first been hired as the clubs maintenance and music worker. She was in charge of any repairs they needed (as long as it wasn't something they needed a specialist for) and setting up the music cet for each night. She would spend the nights backstage watching the dancers do their thing in between wardrobe repairs and track changes. And at twelve years old the Madam herself offered her a job on stage.
Was it illegal? Yes. Was it immoral? Also yes, but at twelve years old Izuku looked more like a petite eighteen year old than a twelve year old, and with a bit of makeup no one would question it. She started off on stage but after a few months she would end up working the private rooms. They made more money and with all the kids that would stop by for a hot meal or a night off the streets with no adults around, she needed the money.
She had held off for a while, even selling all her furniture and personal belongings to keep everyone healthy, but it wasn't enough. Especially when she helped re enrole the kids in schools so they could have better futures than just street rats. She ended up being very popular as many men with weak quirks loved the feeling of being above a quirkless whore. Like they were destined to lord over her. It had inspired her stage name of Destiny.
Life wasn't perfect, but it could be worse. The other tenants of the apartment complex slowly moved out, not wanting to live with the quirkless girl or her homeless vagrants, and since no one else would move in the apartments she showed the kids how to lock pick and let them use them. By the time she turned fourteen she had 18 kids under her care, all calling her Mama.
Breakbreakbreak
Today had been the second worst day of her life. Starting with the teacher reading her High School form out loud, to Bakugo suicide baiting her, to the sludge monster. Then when the day started looking up with All Might saving her, she gets told to give up on her dream of being a hero. Then Bakugo ends up trapped by the sludge villain and all the heroes on scene were just standing around. Except Backdraft and Kamui Woods who were trying to rescue the civilians that were in harms way. And even though she risked her life to save Bakugo, she got berated for being quirkless while Bakugo was praised for being a victim.
She sagged her shoulders and turned to head toward Takobah Elementary school to get her kids. A large shadow fell over her and she looked up in surprise to see All Might standing in front of her.
"Fear not my dear! Because I am he-!" he was cut off by a mouthful of blood as he deflated in front of her for the second time that day.
"W-what? Why are you…? Have you come to yell at me too?" she had started off confused but turned bitter toward the end with a scowl on her face.
"Not at all! I actually wanted to apologize my dear, I was wrong with what I'd said earlier. Tell me, what were you thinking when you saw that young man struggling?"
I can't really tell him I was thinking it was karma. "Nothing, I just moved."
"Precisely! Every great hero has one thing in common, they moved to save people without conscious thought. And so with that I say, Young Midoriya,"
Her eyes slowly were lighting up with every word he spoke.
"You too, can be a hero!" tears started falling from her eyes. "And I choose you to inherit my power!"
"What." Abruptly her tears stopped and her expression returned to neutral.
"I wish to give you my quirk. With my power you can-"
"I refuse."
"W-what? But my girl-" she cut him off again, anger entering her voice.
"So what you're saying is that without your quirk I can't be a hero?"
"The job of a hero is dangerous, even with a quirk. Without one it will be nearly impossible."
"Fuck you and your quirk!" she exploded at him. "I'll prove to you I don't need a quirk to save people! I'll be the first quirkless hero, so just watch me." and with a final glare she went to get her kids.
Breakbreakbreak
That night she had a double shift at the club and so she left at about seven and made it by thirty- five after. It took her till eight to get ready, only for the Madam to hand her a note.
"You've got a request first thing. Looks like you'll be in rooms all night." Madam yanked her collar towards her. "Don't disappoint me."
She gave a small nod and the Madam released her, pointing her to room 3. She took a moment to adjust herself before giving a light knock. She entered when she heard the voice on the other side.
The room itself was full of muted colors and a large bed. Laying on the bed was a young man with unkempt ashy blue hair and piercing red eyes. Ah, looks like she'll be with Master Shigaraki tonight. At least he paid fairly for everything he wanted, and he never asked for much. He liked being in control, but still having that defiance in her eyes, it made it interesting for him. In this room he was in control, and no one could tell him to stop. He never went too far either, unlike some of her clients.
As she stepped into the room she mentally prepared herself for the night.
Heading home that night, she was satisfied to know she had made double what she usually made. Seems like some of her clients had gotten a raise or a bonus. She might have enough to get the kids Beef bowl for dinner and still have enough for the next school year for all of them. She still had ten months to prepare for the UA entrance exams, and so she started planning what she had to do to prepare.
She was so lost in thought that she didn't realize someone was jogging towards her till they called out.
"Oi Deku! The fuck are you doing out here?!" She looked up into the familiar red eyes of Bakugo. Shigarakis were so much nicer, they at least didn't look at her as though she were a disgusting thing he had to interact with.
"I just got off work. I'm headed home to shower before class. Why do you care?"
He clicked his tongue. "thats a pretty shitty hob if you only work at night. What are you really doing Deku?"
"Yeah it is pretty shitty, but it pays well." She continued on to her apartment, ignoring Bakugos burning stare at her back.
School continued on as normal, and she ended up adding in some weight training by grabbing a few heavy objects from the local trash beach and slowly lifting, pushing, and dragging them until she could do it with relative ease. She already got stamina training from both her job and her bullies, and she was already ahead of her classes so she felt comfortable by the time the exam day came.
The written portion was a breeze, although she might have gotten some of the art history questions wrong. That was her least talented subject. The presentation about the practical from Present Mic was a nice surprise. She hadn't been able to listen to his radio show for a few years now so hearing his voice was a nice nostalgia trip for her, only ruined by the boy calling her out for "not paying attention or taking this test seriously" even though she was. After answering about the Zero Pointer they were sent to the locker rooms to change.
Her outfit for the day was a ratty t shirt that had been torn and tied to be tighter against her body and some faded blue sweatpants tucked into the combat boots she wore. They had been a splurge buy a year ago, but they were durable and had lasted a while. As she stretched before the gate to her exam site she reviewed the info they had been given.
The note about the Zero Pointer bothered her. Why have it if it had no bearing on the test scores? As she thought it over the gate slammed open and Present Mic yelled "START!" and before she could question it, she was off.