Izuku Midoriya was not born lucky. He was born quirkless in a society where having a quirk, especially a powerful quirk, was practically everything. He'd refused to let the doctors' words telling him he was quirkless break his spirit though, and he refused to let his old childhood friend's bullying break him. He'd help people no matter what it took. The thing that kept him going? A collection of silly old comics his Aunt and Mother had found detailing a dark knight and an iron protector who were only normal humans. Their only real powers were their intelligence and determination to always prevail no matter the odds. Oh, they were also ridiculously rich, but not having money literally falling out of his clothes wasn't going to stop Izuku. He'd study, and he'd learn everything he could about support items and how they were made before he tried to make anything himself.
He reminded himself of his own refusal to give up as he woke up early one Saturday morning to head to the dump. Pulling on a pair of cargo pants and a tank top, Izuku yawned as he stood up. Grabbing his phone and a flashdrive out of his PC to hook into his laptop he left at the Bakugos', Izuku walked quietly towards his and his mother's kitchen to grab a breakfast bar. He ran his fingers along the slick countertop as he left the kitchen, quietly avoiding the table in the middle of the apartment as he headed towards the front door. Izuku slipped on a pair of scuffed up steel toed boots and quietly snuck out the door, running a hand through his unruly hair as he walked out of the apartment complex and towards the city's dumping ground. People were always throwing out things that were useful for him to practice tinkering with. Putting in a pair of headphones, he turned on the rock music he usually listened to as he made his way towards the dump. The dump's trash piles were bigger than some houses and the smell could be awful, but Izuku didn't mind. There were some real treasures to be found for his projects.
Smiling at the haul he'd gotten. Izuku started to make his way out of the dump. People had thrown out so many nearly pristine electronics that he was sure to have a busy weekend in the Bakugos' garage. He just hoped that Kaachan wasn't there, last time he'd broken the one thing Izuku had ever made that had worked. Not that Izuku could go work on his inventions anywhere else… he was lucky that he had Aunt Mitsuki there for him and his mom, if it wasn't for her then he wouldn't even be able to tinker with his gadgets at all.
He dragged the things he'd pilfered from the dump behind him: electronics, metal, wiring, anything he could practice with, really. He didn't want to worry his mother with getting him anything for practice. He wouldn't actually ask her to get him anything that he could work on until he was sure that he could make something functional. If he could turn scrap into something that worked, he was sure he could make great support items. All he needed was some practice. He was sure he could make something that worked eventually. Sweat coated his clothing as he dragged the scrap towards the Bakugos' house, his "aunt" Mitsuki letting him use their garage as a workshop of sorts. Peeling apart a discarded computer, he started searching for components he could use, his mind already racing at the ideas he had for support items All Might, and other heroes, could benefit from.
Izuku was writing down the idea for a new invention in his notebook along with several sketches for a hero outfit; he might not actually be able to be a hero but he wasn't going to let that stop him from at least pretending that he could. He ignored his teacher for the most part since it was homeroom. He knew their teacher liked to go on and on about his plans for the weekend on Fridays. Sighing as he reached into his backpack, he pulled out one of the gauntlets he was working on for his demonstration at the UA support course entrance exam. Izuku tightened a screw on one of the wrist plates. This was his current magnum opus, armored enough to get run over by a car and not even crack, light enough for him to wear without even noticing it.
The gauntlet was reinforced with enough padding so that he barely felt it when he punched a stone wall. It had several energy projection functions; sure they consumed a ton of power and that meant that he kept having to swap out the power sources, but that was easy enough to do. It needed more work before it was suited for actual hero work, but it should be more than enough along with his other gauntlet to get him into UA. He'd spent a year perfecting it, and he was super proud of it. He slid it on and flexed it to make sure it still fit properly. If he was being honest, he probably wouldn't make another copy of this gauntlet. It was pretty rough for even him to operate with how many functions he had managed to cobble together in it.
"So who is applying for the UA course out of this class? This is your last year at middle school, so you all need to start thinking about your futures whether you want to be heroes or not! Oh who am I kidding, you all want to be heroes, right?" Their teacher jokingly asked. The class let out a cheer as everyone looked around to see who raised their hands.
Izuku didn't mean to raise his hand, not even a little, it was just instinct when he heard UA. He was trying out for the support course after all. He glanced up at everyone staring at him with raised eyebrows before laughing. He took in a deep breath realizing his mistake, well their mistake since they assumed he meant the UA course, as they started their usual mocking of him.
"SHITTY DEKU THINKS HE CAN GET INTO UA!" Bakugo shouted. Izuku clenched his fist. Ever since Mitsuki had found out that Bakugo had destroyed Izuku's first invention, Katsuki had been banned from the Bakugo garage. It was literally the only place Izuku could work on his inventions until a support course accepted his application and he got in. He was pretty sure he could get into UA just with his one gauntlet, but he had a few other inventions he was going to take with him as well just in case, as well as blueprints for things he was pretty sure he could make but that he didn't have the resources for right now. His current gauntlet had taken him years to make but that was because he only bought the things he could never scavenge from the dump.
Izuku endured the usual "Quirkless loser" and "Wannabe inventor". He lowered his head and squeezed his armored fist before taking in a deep shaky breath. There was nothing special about most of his classmates, hell, he could make half his classmates' quirks out of gadgets in his sleep. Oooh that guy can stretch his eyeballs, that girl had hands that could set themselves on fire, one guy had a stake for a face!
He was pretty sure he could even mimic the school's poster boy Bakugo's quirk. Explosions, whoopie, how flashy. For the hundredth time since Bakugo declared he was going to be the number one hero, Izuku wondered if he even looked at his competition. The youngest top ten pro was Hawks and he was leagues and leagues ahead of his peers in terms of crimes stopped and villains apprehended. Endeavor was even further ahead of Hawks; he'd broken records every year for the number of villains defeated. Then there was All Might who not only still retained a large number of villains stopped quarterly, but also the highest number of people saved as well. Number one? Not for the next decade at least, not with a quirk that would have trouble saving people. He looked up as the jeering died down, his gaze a practiced icey one.
"How many of you have even thought about where you're going or what you're going to specialize in? I've applied to eleven support courses and it's only the beginning of our last year in middle school. Of course I want to go to UA, they have the highest budget per support student and they offer plenty of grants for researching support items. But I'm not going to be so arrogant as to think I'll get in without much effort or that my place is assured there." Izuku fired back. His words silenced all of them, most of them actually seeming to realize this was their last year of middle school and they hadn't put much thought into their future. Even Bakugo sat back down and stared straight ahead. Tapping his finger against his notebook and continuing to write down ideas before homeroom concluded, Izuku already felt like this was going to be a bad year.
Izuku had already had enough of this crappy school for the year as he pushed his things into his backpack. What upset him even more was that if he did get into UA's support course, it would just boost this school's reputation. He looked up to see his notebook missing from his desk. As he panicked and looked around, his eyes narrowed as he saw Bakugo looking through it near a window with his followers. Pulling his sleeve down so his gauntlet blended into the black of his school uniform, Izuku stood up and pulled his backpack on before walking up to Bakugo and his cronies.
"Give me back my journal, Kaachan." Izuku said, hoping that using his old moniker for his childhood friend would make the bombastic blonde have some sympathy. Fat chance.
"Why would a real hero need a grappling hook you shitty Deku? Also, are these hero outfits? You can't be a hero with just support items you fucking idiot. Here let me help you out by destroying this thing, then you can start over and remember your place!" Izuku's eyes shot open as Bakugo's quirk activated and blew up his journal. Izuku's eyes twitched further and he clenched his fist as Bakugo threw it over his shoulder out the window. He had spent months rewriting down his achievable support items into that new journal, revising old ideas and workarounds.
"Remember my place?" Izuku asked. His vision flashed red as he felt tears burn in his eyes. Swinging his fist up in an uppercut, Izuku didn't really expect to hit the blonde, but when he felt the cushioning in his gauntlet pad his knuckles and Bakugo fall to the ground holding his chin, his cronies backing away from the enraged Izuku. Well, Izuku couldn't help but feel a sense of superiority.
"I CAN MAKE YOUR QUIRK BAKUGO! OOOH EXPLOSIONS WHOOPIE YOU'LL BEAT UP SO MANY PEOPLE I'M SURE, BUT HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL YOU ACTUALLY SAVE?! AT LEAST I CAN MAKE THINGS TO HELP PEOPLE YOU GIANT JACKASS!" Izuku screamed. Tears ran down his cheeks before he ran out of the school ignoring the staring teachers and students, hoping that his journal wasn't so damaged he couldn't recover his notes.
Reaching the koi pond, Izuku wiped his eyes as he reached into the water and pulled out his notebook before the fish could damage it. Taking in a deep breath and wiping his eyes again, he flipped through the book. It wasn't too damaged; he could still read all his notes though he had to squint on some of them. Hugging the notebook against his chest, he stood up and started to walk home. Running a hand through his hair, Izuku sighed as he finally felt his eyes stop burning.
"Stupid Bakugo, stupid school, stupid quirkless me," he mumbled. He heard metal sliding against concrete roughly behind him. He spun around and his eyes shot open at a sludge mass moving at him. Dropping his notebook and trying to jump away, he felt the mass surround him and start to force its way into his mouth.
"Oh thank god, a kid! The perfect cover to get away from that moron All Might! Don't worry kid, I know it hurts right now but soon you won't feel anything ever again, isn't that great?!" the villain asked. Feeling tears burning in his eyes as his windpipe closed up, Izuku grabbed at the creature, pulling on it to no avail.
'I'm going to die.' Izuku would have laughed if his mouth wasn't currently full of that villain.
Feeling darkness starting to take over his vision as his lungs burned, begging for air, Izuku kept trying to pull the creature out of him before he saw a glint off his hand. His gauntlet! He was still wearing it! Flexing his hand into an open palm strike position, he pointed the glove at the creature's head(?) and fired a concussive blast. Thankfully his vision faded as the creature flew off him, though, he was pretty sure he was still going to die as it pulled itself together before he heard a loud laugh that reminded him of… All Might! His vision faded to black as the number one hero looked down at him with his smile faded and replaced with a look of concern.
Toshinori was flipping through the notebook of an unconscious kid, Izuku Midoriya according to the notebook. In addition to detailed analysis of several heroes, including All Might himself, blueprints and ideas cluttered the notebook. The ideas in here were… well, normally Toshinori would call them crazy, but despite his degree in physics, he could tell they weren't pipe dreams. Especially after he saw what that kid did with the gauntlet he was wearing right as Toshi had shown up. Speaking of, he finally found the page with the details of said gauntlet. It looked like it was the opposite of another gauntlet the kid was working on, according to the notebook. Toshi looked away from the notebook to cough before continuing his research.
"All functions require a large amount of power, I need to find a different sustainable power source." Toshi read. Flexing his arm, it instantly lit up with the power of One For All sparking off his bicep. He pondered whether the kid could make him something like his gauntlet. It'd certainly lessen the strain on his body when fighting villains.
Smiling at the unconscious teen, Toshi sincerely hoped he was enrolling in some kind of support course; the ideas in this notebook could be of great help to heroes. Flipping through the notebook, skimming the pages, Toshinori felt his heart drop at the words written on one of the pages. Support Hero Izuku Midoriya Costume Ideas. Ideas for an armored suit with support items almost falling off each iteration filled the next four pages.
"Hmm, so he's quirkless… this kid doesn't have an intelligence quirk and he made a portable energy cannon that fits on his arm." Toshi looked back at the kid. Lowering his head and closing his eyes, he tried to quiet the instinct to try and take this kid under his wing. Raising his hand in front of him before quietly making a fist, he shook his head. He had to be sure whoever he picked would make a good symbol, while this kid was trying his best, Toshi couldn't just pick a random kid on the street to be his successor.
Flinching as he heard the boy rustle and groggily run his hands through his hair, Toshi instantly buffed up into his hero form. He grunted under his breath as he felt his injury flare up, the pain flaring out from his side as he forced himself to stand, quickly flipping back to the page dedicated to himself and signing it as the young man woke up. Letting out his iconic laugh, ignoring the pain in his lungs, he felt a genuine smile spread across his face as Young Midoriya spun around with his own massive smile.
"All Might! Did you save me?" Midoriya asked. Toshinori blinked rapidly, surprised that the kid didn't remember saving himself. Sure the slime villain retreated after Toshinori had shown up, but the kid had been the one to get it off himself, stopping the thing from… doing whatever it had been going to do to this young man. Toshi forced himself to keep his smile and not make a fist at the thought of a villain attacking a youth like the young man standing in front of him.
"NOT QUITE YOUNG MAN, YOU SAVED YOURSELF! I MERELY SCARED THE VILLAIN OFF; THOUGH NOW THAT YOU'RE AWAKE, I NEED TO CONTINUE MY SEARCH FOR THE VILLAIN!" Toshinori said. He felt his heart clench as the kid's face fell, that was the way a lot of people, especially his fans, looked when he told them he had to leave. Walking up to the young man and placing a hand on his shoulder, Toshinori glanced into the young man's emerald eyes.
"Young man, while I waited for you to awaken, I had a chance to take a look at your notebook. Seeking to help others with your inventions is admirable, and I saw a few that could even help me!" Toshi said. The young man seemed to brighten up just a bit at his words. Toshi stood up and turned away from the young man. He had to hurry, time was almost up for today!
"I'm off!" he shouted. Leaping up, Toshinori felt his side clench up, turned out time was already up. Hitting the ground hard, thankfully able to aim for an alley, Toshinori managed to roll onto the ground as his legs gave out. Sliding across the ground, thankfully a dumpster stopped him before he crashed through a wall. He sat up, coughing up a storm as he held his side and tears blurred his vision. Forcing himself to his feet and looking at his shaking hands, he ran a hand across his eyelids to dry his tears. Walking slowly out of the trash covered alley, making a mental note to send an email to a sanitation department about this part of town, Toshi rubbed the remnants of tears out of his eyes.
'No tears. You're the symbol of peace Toshinori, you can't let her down even now.' Walking through the streets, he could still find the villain and force his body into his hero form to fight them. He could feel his waning strength flare up at the thought of people in danger, before faltering and forcing him to have another coughing fit. Avoiding the eye contact of everyone on the street, he heard a massive explosion up ahead. Civilians around him started running towards the explosion, wanting to see the villain that was surely causing a situation.
'Only a few short years since his departure and already people have forgotten what real villains were like, nothing at all like the common thugs found on the streets today.' Toshi reflected as he reached the epicenter of the rising smoke, the sirens behind him wailing loudly. He clenched his jaw as he saw that villain once again trying to force its way into another host, this time a young blond boy. Toshi saw the bombastic youth's hands spark before massive explosions went off, catching even more of the alleyway on fire. It was obvious to him what had happened: the boy had tried to fight off the villain after it had come after him but had only made the situation rough for the heroes that could deal with the liquid villain.
'Kamui Woods, Death Arms, and Mt. Lady are all bad matchups for this villain. Backdraft could easily weaken the villain for capture if he wasn't busy fighting fires! Toshi you idiot, you comforted one boy only to leave another vulnerable to a villain!' he chided himself. Grasping a light pole and trying to force his transformation, blood spewed out of his mouth leaving him with another coughing fit as a reminder of his current situation. He felt real anger flood through him at the heroes' words around him, complaining that they were a bad matchup for this villain, that they should wait for a better suited hero to come to deal with him.
'They need to go beyond and save this child! Bad matchups? A real hero would… Not that I have room to talk about what a "real" hero would do.' He closed his eyes, if only he could—
"Hey what's that kid doing?!" Toshinori spotted another youth… NO! Young Midoriya was running towards the villain!
Izuku had no idea what he was doing. Ignoring the people and pro heroes around him telling him to stay back. He was running into fire, fire that he was pretty sure Bakugo caused, to save the guy who had just tried to roast his blueprints and gadget ideas for the future? He shook his head, he had to focus. Dropping his backpack, he pulled a small lever on the gauntlet, chastising himself for not having reloaded earlier as the custom battery flew out behind him. He reached into his pocket and slid in another one quickly as he jumped onto and off of a table to dodge the creature's flailing slime.
'Close range worked earlier, I'll have to get close enough to hit it and avoid blasting Bakugo as well or it'll all be for nothing!' He slid underneath another flailing tentacle of slime before blasting the ground behind him to launch him back on his feet, sprinting towards the creature. He took aim as he slid onto a knee, closely dodging a tentacle slamming into the ground, flinching as he heard the ground crack.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Izuku shouted. Activating the gauntlet with a loud whir before the blast went off again, the flames behind the thing went out from the shockwave released as the slime flew off of Bakugo. Izuku caught Bakugo, who looked like he was barely conscious, as the bombastic blonde coughed loudly, slime spewing onto the ground in front of both boys.
"Nice trick kid! BUT IT WON'T WORK TWICE!" Izuku pushed Bakugo onto the ground as he saw a tentacle of slime rip through the brick walls heading towards him, he tried to activate the energy shield on his gauntlet but it just flared up briefly before sputtering out, the battery dead… again. Izuku closed his eyes and held his arms up expecting death once again, only to hear a strange calm for a moment.
"EVERYTHING IS FINE!BECAUSE! I! AM! HERE!" Izuku opened his eyes to see All Might, blood pouring down his chin as he held back the creature's tentacle with a bright smile on his face. Izuku felt weightless for a moment as All Might grabbed ahold of him and Bakugo, yanking both boys behind him.
"DETROIT SMASH!" All Might shouted as he swung his fist forward and up. The villain splattered apart as the force from All Might's punch sent a gust of wind in either direction out of the alleyway and parted the clouds above. Izuku blinked as it started to rain and glanced up at All Might, expecting anger in the pro's eyes, only to feel confused as he found them shining with pride as he glanced at him out of the corner of his own bright blue eyes. Though, as he glanced back at the pros walking towards them, he was surprised to see them also looking impressed with him, that is, till he told them he was quirkless.
All Might finally let his smile drop as the last of the reporters, police, and civilians walked away from the battle zone. Coughing into his fist, he looked at the heroes behind him. Walking towards them, he had heard everything they'd said while he was being interviewed, or at least he'd caught the gist of it.
"COLLEAGUES." He said simply. Death Arms, Kamui Woods, Mountain Lady, and Backdraft all smiled at him, though they admittedly looked a little confused to see him without his normal smile.
"SO...WHY DID YOU ALL PRAISE SOMEONE WHO CAUSED ALL THIS PROPERTY DAMAGE AND CHASTISE A YOUNG MAN WHO SPRUNG INTO ACTION WITHOUT THINKING, SOMETHING THAT ALL OF YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE AS WELL? A BAD MATCHUP? A YOUNG MAN WAS IN TROUBLE! A REAL HERO WOULD HAVE FOUND A WAY TO PREVAIL!" All Might chastised. Shaking his head, they all looked shocked before dropping their heads in shame. Inwardly, he too, felt shame that he hadn't simply forced himself to save that young man before Young Midoriya had to jump into the fray.
"WHILE I APPLAUD THE VICTIM FOR HOLDING OUT AS LONG AS HE DID, HE CAUSED A MAJORITY OF THE PROBLEMS MOST OF YOU HAD IN DEALING WITH THE SITUATION! WHILE I CAN ACCEPT THAT MOST OF YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A LOT OF TROUBLE SAVING THE YOUNG MAN, I CAN'T ACCEPT THAT YOU JUST GAVE UP AND WANTED TO WAIT FOR SOMEONE WITH A MORE "SUITABLE" QUIRK TO FIGHT THE VILLAIN!
"I HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT I HAVE TO ATTEND TO, HOWEVER EXPECT A STERN EMAIL TO BE SENT INTO EACH OF YOUR AGENCIES, IF YOU ARE THE HEAD OF AN AGENCY THEN I WILL BE SENDING AN EMAIL DIRECTLY TO THE HERO COMMISION REGARDING THE OUTCOME OF THIS SITUATION." Ignoring their shocked expressions, he took off running. He had to find that young man. Had to give him an offer that might change everything for the young man.
Izuku was walking home, tinkering with his gauntlet. At least they hadn't thought to take that from him. He shrugged his shoulders, adjusting his grip. He'd always known he couldn't be a hero, the pros had just reaffirmed that thought. Flexing his fingers in the gauntlet, he took in a deep breath. He couldn't even figure out how to make this thing work with the power sources he currently had available.
"HEY!" Izuku turned around to see Bakugo glaring at him. Blinking in surprise, Izuku completely turned around, taking in the way the setting sun made the houses around them seem to glow a crimson shade.
"WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? I DIDN'T NEED YOUR HELP SHITTY DEKU! TRYING TO MAKE ME OWE YOU ONE? WELL IT WON'T WORK, I DON'T OWE YOU ANYTHING!" Bakugo shouted before turning to walk away. Shaking his head, Izuku turned back around and started walking home again. Why even track him down just to tell him something he already knew? Izuku shook his head, Bakugo was obviously trying to reassure himself that a shitty quirkless person couldn't possibly help him.
"YOUNG MAN!" Izuku flinched as All Might slid to a stop in front of him. Izuku's day instantly felt brighter again, just like it had earlier even though Izuku had almost died!
"All Might! Um, not that I'm not happy to see you but, were you looking for me?" Izuku asked, confusion suddenly filling his thoughts. Why would All Might be seeking him out? Izuku flinched as All Might coughed, blood splattering across his fist before he shrunk in front of Izuku. Izuku held a hand up to his mouth, horror filling his eyes as All Might stood in front of him, a ghost of the man he'd been a moment ago.
"A-All Might are you okay?" Izuku asked. All Might let out a sad chuckle shaking his head. The symbol of peace took in a deep breath before letting it out shakily.
"No Young man, I am not. That's why I had to follow you. Your notes said your gauntlet requires a power source right? Like this?" He said as he flexed his arm, it buffed up even bigger than his previous forms arm, electricity seeming to pour off it before All Might coughed again and it faltered. The blonde man in front of him looked disheveled but determined, his eyes just as bright as his muscular form.
"Y-yes. W-why do you want me to make you one? I'd love to but it'll probably take awhile because it took me forever to make this one and—" Izuku stopped as All Might started laughing again. Stopping and looking at Izuku with a massive smile that reached his eyes, the hero swung his arms open.
"No. I don't want you to make me one. I want to give you the chance to be more than just someone who makes support items for heroes. Young Midoriya, I want to give you the opportunity to be a hero!"