Chapter 2: Some Might Call it a 'Degree'

Summary:

Izuku and his rapidly expanding repertoire of chemistry knowledge

Today's chemical formula: Trinitroxypropane

Art is an explosion.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Mommmmmmmmmmm! I need another chemistry book, I already went through this one." Izuku had voraciously destroyed the collection of books his mother possessed, his quirk had lit a fire under the boy. He wanted, no NEEDED knowledge, he would prove to the world how useful his quirk was.

Inko Midoriya looked at the solid block of gold sitting in her living room, she'd wanted to try and sell it at first but their family wasn't really hurting for money and it was the moment her son discovered his gift. The sentimental value the object possessed caused her to keep it, it was her son's first real creation, in the week since, he'd been reading book after book trying to discover every scientific formula under the sun. "Oh? Has the little chemist moved past plastic? Or should I say Polyethylene?"

"Yeah Mom I'm working on glyceryl trinitrate!" The woman's confused gaze stopped him. "Sorry Mom I meant Nitroglycerine! Kacchan was bragging that I couldn't make explosions like he could and I wanted to prove him wrong." A smug smile appeared on the child.

Inko paled. "Izuku you are not making explosives in the house. Do I make myself clear?"

"But Mommmmm, if I combine Polyethylene and Glyceryl Trinitrate I can make grenades by casing the Nitroglycerine inside the plastic object. If I do that I can make grenades like Kacchan, he's gonna be so jealous." The boy giddly explained.

"Izuku dear, you have an amazing quirk, but ... EXPLOSIVES ARE NOT ALLOWED IN MY HOUSE! Do I make myself clear?" Inko glared at her child causing him to wilt.

"Yes mama." Izuku weakly replied.

Seeing his distressed look Inko sighed. "Look Izu you're gonna be an amazing hero okay? But why don't we take this outside to test it and I want you to make as little as possible of your new formula, okay?" Inko paused trying to indulge her child. "Speaking of, what's the formula for it?"

Izuku brightened instantly. "Oh oh! It's C3H5(NO3)3! I made sure to look it up first for Kacchan!" However, as the boy spoke in his enthusiasm he created a small amount of the small oily substance in his palm. "Um Mom?"

"Yes Izu?"

"I k-know you said no e-explosives in the h-house Mom but um." Izuku weakly stammered out.

Inko turned to her son seeing his dilemma and almost panicked but managed to control herself. "Okay Izuku, I want you to calmly listen to me okay?"

Izuku nodded doing his best not to move his hands, he'd read about the sugary smelling substance and about how any quick movement could cause it to go off.

"We're going to gently and I mean gently pour it into this glass okay?" Inko cooed towards her son. "There's nothing to be scared of." She smiled brightly at the boy making sure he wouldn't panic, that was the last thing they needed at the moment. The substance was carefully moved into the glass she had brought over and then was set down on a nearby table before she pulled her son in for a hug. "Look it's okay, I'm not mad. You messed up Izu, that's okay, we all do."

Izuku was almost crying like a Midoriya would but his mother stopped him. "R-really? I almost blew something u-up."

"Izuku nothing was hurt, but more importantly you weren't, however you should take this as a lesson. Do you realize why making something like that is as dangerous as it is?" Inko asked her child.

"I do and I'm sorry for doing it. As soon as I saw it I got so s-scared."

"Good, now who wants katsudon? You were such a good boy today, and you've been studying a lot. I think you deserve it."

"I-i would." Izuku gently whispered back.

"Good, then I'll get started right away."

As the woman left Izuku stared at the substance, no matter how hard he'd tried organic compounds were something he could just not create but he'd managed to make Nitroglycerin which was an organic nitrate. A nitrate which is a compound derived from the use of HNO3. This made Izuku further question what exactly his quirk allowed and did not allow him to make. Carbon is a prerequisite in order to make an organic compound but not everything containing Carbon was inherently organic.

Izuku realized then and there just how much of a challenge his quirk was going to be and sighed. "Mom, I don't suppose I could take online classes for chemistry could I?"

Inko had been busy getting the chicken ready only for her son's yell to disturb her. "What brought this on Izu?"

"I just really wanna make sure I don't hurt anyone with my quirk. What if I accidentally make something dangerous again because I was studying."

Honestly, in the week since her son's quirk had made itself known Inko had never realized just how intelligent her son was. He was a four year old for crying out loud and yet here he was trying to get an education on chemistry of all things. They had money to spare and Hisashi believed in her son just as much as she did, he'd made it clear over the phone when Inko had told him about Izuku's quirk. How could she do any less? "Okay Izu, after lunch we'll get it taken care of, and don't forget you got a playdate with lil Katsuki later."

Izuku just smiled brightly at the woman. "Of course I didn't Mom, I can't wait to tell him!"


"KACCCHAAAANNNNN!" Izuku screamed as he made his way over to the boy and his two lackeys.

Bakugo just tcched as the boy approached. "Sup Deku, haven't seen you in like what, a week, whatcha been doing?"

"Lots of stuff watch!" Deku excitedly created a plastic shaped grenade, using some of the lipids from the food he just consumed.

"Woah that's sweet Deku, not just shitting out gold blocks anymore?" Bakugo laughed a bit, watching auntie Inko panic and faint had been hilarious to him.

"Mama and Papa said I shouldn't do that ... something about breaking the global economy?" Izuku shrugged, he didn't really get what that meant but he loved his parents so he'd listen to them.

"The fuck?"

"No idea but check this out!" Izuku created a small amount of the stuff he showed his Mom earlier.

"What is it?" Bakugo looked at the oily substance in Deku's hands, shitty wings, and long fingers also peered at it.

"Looks like some stupid glob." Long Fingers commented.

Bakugo took offense to that. "Hey Long Fingers, I'm the only one who can insult Deku, got it?" Small sparks came from his hands.

The boy visibly gulped. "G-got it!"

"It's glyceryl trinitrate!" Deku loudly exclaimed, their confused faces made him speak up again. "Sorry its a bomb!"

The three children suddenly backed away before in panic Bakugo started screaming. "WHAT THE FUCK DEKU, DON'T PUT THAT SHIT IN OUR FACE!"

"Relax it's only a small amount, it couldn't do any real damage, like how you create tiny sparks in your hand but now we match Kacchan!" Deku smiled brightly at him.

"Heh copying my style, I can respect that Deku, well let's see it, blow some shit up." Bakugo smirked.

"Well this won't be enough but I read that glyceryl trinitrate explodes if shook violently enough so I got an idea." Deku used his other hand to make a plastic circle with a hole in it, then created a cap.

Bakugo watched curiously as the boy took the stuff he created and poured it into the container while making more. "What are you making now?"

"A grenade!" Deku responded without looking back at him.

"Deku I think I like your quirk, Shitty Wings you might've just been dethroned." Bakugo grinned ferally, this was someone who could rival him, someone who might actually not just be another stepping stone.

Deku finished his work before capping the object. "Who wants to throw it?"

Bakugo was already walking over by the time Deku asked. "Give me that shit Deku."

Izuku jumped back as the boy snatched the object off the ground. "Kacchan be careful! If you shake it too much it'll explode!"

"It's fine I can literally create explosives from my hand." Bakugo accidentally let go of the object as he'd been waving it around and it went flying towards the slide at the playground.

Deku had already run over and grabbed the boy before he shoved them both to the ground, the loud boom followed by the rain of shrapnel confirmed the fact that the concoction had indeed detonated. Izuku could only hear ringing as Kacchan was yelling something from below him, he tried to get up but the explosive had shaken him and he could only wobbly fall over. It was another 10 seconds or so before the ringing stopped and Izuku could finally hear what people were saying. His Mom was definitely right, he was not making that stuff inside the house ever again.

Kacchan was now standing above him with his hand outstretched. "Holy shit Deku that was awesome! Look what you did!"

Of course Kacchan would be happy about blowing something up, he took the hand before examining his work. The slide was completely destroyed, nothing of it remained, metal bits lined the area surrounding the crater.

Bakugo whistled as he approached. "I think you completely destroyed the entire thing, that's hard for even me at max power."

The two lackeys were just staring in disbelief, 'DEKU CAN DO THAT?!'

"We might wanna run Kacchan, someone definitely heard that and we'll probably get in trouble in someone sees what we just did..." Izuku let out shakily.

"You're probably right Deku, we're going to the forest though, we definitely gotta blow up some more stuff!" The grin on the boy's face scared the creation user a bit.

Izuku's stomach started growling. "Sorry Kacchan I think I used up too much body fat, I'm getting kinda hungry."

"Tch Deku don't overuse your quirk like an idiot, if I go over it's dangerous, I'm sure the same shit applies to you." Bakugo explained. "Fuck it we're gonna see the hag, I'm kind of hungry too. Hey you two we're leaving, cya later." Bakugo dismissed the pair, which they looked kind of angry about.

"Kacchan I thought you said you were gonna be nicer..." Izuku let out weakly.

"Yeah to you, cause from here on out were rivals, I can respect you, those two? Psssh fuck nah, they can't even stand up to me, how can I trust them to ever have my back, but you, you got balls Deku." Bakugo clasped him strongly on the shoulder. "We're gonna make some bombass heroes Deku."

Izuku just smiled back. "Yeah lets do it Kacchan!"


The duo arrived back at the other's house before walking in and approaching the dinner table. "Hey Hag I brought Deku, make us some food."

Auntie Mitsuki appeared before glaring at her son. "What did I say about you calling me that Katsuki, and hey little Izu! How've you been? You and Inko went dark after that whole gold block incident."

"Oh well she took me to a quirk counselor, but the guy kind of creeped her out when he kept looking at me weirdly and demanding I go into the back room with him. We changed Doctors after that and Mom made sure to take all of our files with us. Mom wouldn't tell me why though."

Fucking pedophile from what it sounds like Mitsuki thought, she watched as a lightbulb went off in the boy's head. "Oh! That reminds me! Here you go Auntie Mitsuki!" Izuku shouted before another gold block plopped out of him followed by his stomach loudly growling.

Kacchan hit him on the back. "Deku stop overusing your quirk, who knows what'll happen if you use it when you run out of fat!"

"Let's get you some food Izu, we can't have you hurting yourself now can we, but may I ask why you made this for me?" Mitsuki looked confusedly at the boy while putting her apron on.

"Mama said you guys were struggling ... what was the word ..." He paused as he thought before finally shouting out. "Financially! So I figured you could sell this for money, I heard gold was worth a lot of money, at least I think it is."

Izuku did this for her? Also why did Inko tell him about that? Sure she was between jobs at the moment and her husband had his hours cut but they weren't doing that badly, not yet at least. Also if the woman remembered correctly gold was roughly 1,600 dollars an ounce, that block was probably worth at least a hundred thousand dollars ... pawning something like that would draw a ton of attention to their family. If people found out that lil Izu could shit money they'd probably try and kidnap him, she couldn't risk that... "I'm sorry Izu but I can't possibly sell something like this, it's way too big."

Izuku's smile dimmed a bit. "Not even a little? I just wanted to help..." He looked down as he said that.

"Oi Deku, we'll be fine okay, we're not charity cases, right mom?" Bakugo turned to his mother.

Mitsuki was happy to see her son use her that title but wanted to make lil Izu happy too. "Okay, we'll use a little bit Izuku, but we're keeping the rest as a gift, it is kind of pretty when you look at it."

"Yay!" Deku jumped a little bit, he was happy he could help his friend's family out.

"Normally I'd make something spicy for everyone." She cooed the boy's name which caused him to grumble. "But today's gonna be a special day, you get to try my homemade Katsudon Izuku, and don't worry brat I'll make yours separately."

Bakugo nodded approvingly. "C'mon Deku here's an apple while we wait, let's go play in my room."

"Thanks Auntie Mitsuki!" The creator said as they left, katsudon twice in one day? What a steal.

"Hey Deku, you can make anything that's not living right?" Bakugo asked with a strange look on his face.

"Yes?"

"If I asked you to make me something, would you swear not to tell a soul?"

"Uh, sure Kacchan, whaddya want?" Izuku asked curiously.

"Wait till were in my room." They walked a bit longer before Bakugo finally opened his door and pushed Izuku in before shutting it and locking it.

"I want you to make a gift for my Mom, I want to give her a plushie of me." The explosion user's face turned beet red as he asked.

"Kacchan that's so adorable." Izuku teased lightly.

"SHUT UP YOU DAMNED NERD!" Bakugo roared in fake anger.

They both heard a shout from downstairs. "OI BRAT, WHAT'D I SAY ABOUT YELLING INSIDE!"

"SORRY MOM!" He panicly yelled back.

Which caused Izuku to collapse on the floor laughing.

Bakugo just lightly fumed in place, slight part annoyance, slight part embarrassment. "So can you do it or not?"

"Of course Kacchan, what do you want me to make it out of? Also can we wait till after I've eaten, I need to research what synthetic material would be best for this, I'm thinking Polyamide." Izuku tapped his head, he didn't have a phone so he needed some form of internet access.

"Polyamide?" Bakugo questioningly looked.

"Oh sorry C12H20N2O2." Deku spouted out loud.

"Deku you stupid nerd speak in words, not whatever the fuck you're saying." Bakugo had no idea what the nerd ever meant when he went off on chemistry talk.

"Uhhhhhhhhh." Izuku visibly struggled to remember the word. "Right, Nylon!"

"The shit they put in ropes? Isn't that shit like super rough and slippery?" Bakugo asked.

"Yeah but if I make an entire plushie out of it, it should be fine, plus it's the only formula I have on hand." Izuku focused really hard on exactly what he wanted, as he took bites off the apple Kacchan gave him. Seconds later the object dropped from him, and thus Kacchan the nylon plushie was born. "Wow you're kinda adorable in plushie form Kacchan." Izuku inspected it, it had the boy's signature hair and Izuku gave him a feral grin while explosions were being released from both of his hands.

"First off never call me adorable, second off holy shit I look awesome!" Kacchan screamed as he snatched the plushie up. "Deku your quirk is fucking rad."

"Hehe, praise me more Kacchan, behold my greatness." Izuku smirked as the two play wrestled before being called for dinner, Izuku thought it was a pretty good day.

Notes:

Not going to lie, researching all these chemical bonds is kind of rough but I want to explore the quirk from an angle I don't think I've ever seen someone do before.