Introductory Message:

Hello and welcome to this fic! I'd just like to inform you that this will be a two-shot story depicting Izuku Midoriya's start line had things gone a little bit differently in canon.

I'm planning on making a series about this premise and this is simply the beginning. I'm still not sure how THAT will go but hopefully, I get to fully explore this concept and milk it for all it's worth!

And with this, I conclude this introductory message! I hope you enjoy this fic!

Oh and if mentions of bullying (really extensive bullying in fact) trigger you, I don't really advise you to read this-

Now onto part 1!

Izuku Midoriya was barely 11 years old when he learned the second truth of this world.

'Life isn't fair.' Funny how such a small statement can have a huge impact on someone's life. From the moment he turned five, Izuku Midoriya knew he wasn't destined for much in his life. It was all everyone kept telling him almost relentlessly during his developmental years.

"Worthless!"

"Useless!"

"Honestly, you'll never amount to anything in your life-"

"You better give up now-"

"Spare us, and end yourself already it's not like anyone cares-"

"Haha! Worthless Quirkless Deku!"

For the most part, Izuku just turned a deaf ear to all the mockery. It's as they say, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.".

Except they did. No matter what anyone else said, words did hurt. The worst pain Izuku went through was before Middle School and by the time he reached Junior High he had become so completely numb to the taunts that his bullies had realized that they needed to get more… physical, with their approach to him.

Not only that, but they also had to get creative. Simple shoving or cornering wasn't cutting it out so why not have him conveniently trip down the stairs? It's not like he could get concussed or even break his neck.

How about tossing his things into the school pond? It could be attributed to carelessness on his part, barely, but they could get away with it. It's not like the school will take the word of a Quirkless Nobody over the word of the class delinquents.

Oh, and you know what would be better? Ambushing him after school hours and beating him black and blue until they get bored and wander off to the arcade or something.

After all, it's not like he has a worried mother back at home who'd fret over him even as he attempts to comfort her through her tears of devastation. It's not like he has a life outside of getting beaten up by a bunch of bigoted assholes that have nothing better to do with their time other than harassing a classmate.

And then one day, Izuku reached his breaking point. There, sitting innocently and mockingly on his desk was a vase full of flowers. And not just any flowers, oh no. Oh no, no.

It was a vase filled to the brim with Red Spider Lilies.

No one was speaking, all busy watching his reaction to the crimson little flowers sitting on his desk as though it was a particularly interesting soap opera. Distantly, Izuku thought he heard something shatter in the distance as his chest began to ache dully. It was as though a particularly nasty wound had been reopened and suddenly, he couldn't breathe past the burning ache in his chest.

Several nasty snickers rippled throughout the classroom as Izuku stood, rooted to his spot directly in front of his desk, and that was when the boy had an epiphany. He realized, with a simple type of clouded calm, that he couldn't take this lying down anymore and then he shakily, and seemingly mindlessly, pulled his phone out of his pocket, snapped a picture of the offending item and then proceeded to run.

He ran and ran and ran and ran and kept on running seemingly without a stop and he couldn't process anything through the blurry haze that was his thoughts and emotions other than that he wanted nothing more than to go home and collapse in his mother's loving arms.

And so, he simply ran his feet unknowingly carrying him towards his desired destination.

Inko Midoriya was a sweet woman. After her husband had left her and their son so coldly, all while having the audacity to claim that he was overseas, Inko had long since fallen into depression. She gained weight, her face gained some extra lines from the stress, and her eyes had lost some of their glow and it was all she could do to keep herself composed in front of her son.

Izuku was the light of her life in those difficult times and it was such a shame that he had taken so much after her. After all, her penchant for anxiety and social awkwardness had left a strong impression on the young child, and she soon found him falling into the same anti-social habits as herself.

It was both a blessing and a curse and Inko often finds herself wishing that her son had at least some of his father's confidence to compensate for his introverted tendencies. Unfortunately, his lack of a quirk made him meeker than she was his age.

Oh well, at least their similarities helped her deal with Izuku whenever he panicked a little too much. It also goes without mention that her son knew how to calm her down whenever the stress of life was drowning her like a, particularly horrible tsunami.

However, while her own anxiety and social awkwardness stem from her own personal issues and feelings, Izuku's issues stem from his treatment by others his age and the fact that he was never given the change to prosper and grow like most of his classmates through no fault of his own. Her son, sweet and kind as he is, was always the target of bullying and harassment and never once did he have anyone to stand up for him. Not even his childhood best friend

Inko wanted nothing more than to march up to the school and demand that they stop with the blatant negligence of her son's rights as a student but she had promised Izuku, who had pleaded with her almost desperately, not to interfere unless it got really bad.

The woman sighed as she finished preparing for work. Izuku should be in class by now, and he already texted her to let her know of his arrival at school, but she couldn't shake off the bad feeling that was pooling in her gut. Call her silly, but her mother's intuition was twinging with a type of urgency that wasn't there ever since Izuku had climbed that tree in their backyard when he was nine. The fact that Izuku had fallen out of the tree 3 minutes later only proved to her that her intuition was never wrong no matter how silly it was.

Just as Inko was about to leave the apartment she heard frantic knocking at the door and the almost hysterical tell-tale jiggle of a ring of keys being pulled out. Quickly moving, the woman pried the door open, forgetting to check who was at the door in her hurry, only to be hugged by a violently trembling figure only an inch or so taller than herself.

Three seconds had to have passed before she realized who exactly was attached to her and her eyes widened in shock.

"IZUKU?!"

Izuku sniffled slightly as his mother served him a cup of green tea. Already, the drink's calming aroma was proving highly effective in combating the last vestiges of his panic attack and as the boy settled back into the couch and tried to calm down his frazzled nerves, the warm beverage in his hand provided a comforting, and grounding, weight in his hands.

Izuku closed his eyes and sighed. 'So much for having a good day,' he thought bitterly as sipped a bit of his drink. Mm, sweet but not overbearingly so. His mother knew his preferences too well by now.

"...Izuku?" A familiar soft voice murmured across him.

"Hm?" Grunted Izuku as he opened his eyes. It was barely 9 AM and yet he was exhausted.

His mother sighed heavily as she gripped her work skirt, "Honey, shouldn't you be at school right now?" Inko questioned a bit sternly.

Izuku frowned as he slowly lowered his teacup, his eyes firmly on it. Gently, without looking his mother in the eye, Izuku pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. He was grateful to whatever made him take that photo impulsively because now he, 1) Had clear evidence of bullying, and 2) Didn't have to verbally tell his mom about what happened this morning.

Inko looked between the phone and her son warily, before she pursed her lips and grabbed the device. Izuku smiled grimly into his cup as he lifted it for another sip. He had no doubt that his mom would go for the photo gallery first. It was their little signal that something was wrong after all.

With the society they lived in such signals were necessary, unfortunately, and just as Izuku was going for another sip out of his aromatic beverage he heard his mother gasp in horror followed by the tell-tale clatter of something solid hitting the floor.

Silently setting his teacup on the coffee table between them, Izuku lifted his head to look at his mother. Inko was staring at the phone, which was now lying innocently on their plain carpet, as though it had committed some horrible crime. Her hands, which were clenched so tightly in her skirt that her knuckles turned white, were shaking minutely. Her eyes, which were usually sparkly with life and some measure of joy, were glimmering with so many tears and pain along with some unidentifiable emotion.

As much as Izuku wanted to approach his mother he couldn't help but be rooted in his spot. He was just so exhausted by now that he simply couldn't find it in himself to move. His eyes did sting though and it felt like hours before either of them made another sound or move, and in the end, it was Inko who broke the stillness in the air between them.

With quick and swift movements, which were scarily reminiscent of the time where he asked if he could still be a hero, his mother was suddenly hugging him. Izuku tensed as he felt tears soak his shoulder and licked his suddenly chapped lips.

"I'm so sorry," His mother gasped out through sobs, "I-I'm so s-sorry… Izuku-"

Izuku felt a shudder pass through his spine. It was as though someone had doused him with ice-cold water, and it was just like that night and suddenly he couldn't breathe through the tears that were clouding his vision-

His mother rubbed his back as he made a choked noise and squeezed his eyes shut. It just wasn't fair- Why was he always the one who got jeered at- why c-couldn't he just have a-a normal life? Was it t-t-too much to ask? It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair-

Inko sniffled slightly and pet her son's hair, "I know dear, I know," she reassured him as he let out another hiccupping sob, "I won't let them get away with this one. Enough is enough Izuku-" Her voice broke at the end and Izuku, despite everything, couldn't help but marvel at the fierceness that stuck to his mother's every word.

So he simply buried his face in her shoulder and mourned. He mourned his lost childhood, he mourned his kindness, and he mourned the part of him that society managed to shatter.

Life really wasn't fair at all, was it?

The next day saw Inko Midoriya marching into Aldera Elementary with her son in tow. Izuku was keeping his head down as he rubbed his left arm self-consciously. He had been begging his mom not to take this route for years now but... he couldn't deny that he needed this. Call him selfish, but the part of him that had been all but screaming for justice needed to see this.

The reason why he didn't want his mother to storm into school was that he knew that if she did, she'd do everything in her power to completely and utterly destroy the school. It didn't help that the woman worked in a law firm.

Izuku bit his lip. He didn't want this but his spirit, that same spirit that was relentlessly crushed day after day ever since his diagnoses, needed it if only for the peace of his mind. It was selfish and he hated himself for wanting that internal peace when others go through so much worse than him but well… he was only human in the end as much as he hated it.

He swallowed in a feeble attempt to alleviate the dryness from his throat. His mother had been on a warpath ever since yesterday morning, and he was in no position to stop her even if he wanted to, but damn how he wanted to pity the principal. Not that he does pity the man though, he had allowed for him to be bullied for years after all, but it was a damn close thing.

His mother didn't even hesitate to knock on the door with such force that it was a wonder it didn't break right then and there, and she never even gave the terrified secretary by the office door a glance. Izuku, on the other hand, did cast the shivering woman a look. If he remembered correctly the lady had an aura sensing Quirk. He gave her a wince of sympathy. He did not want to imagine the terrifying aura his mother gave off.

"Enter!" Cried a male voice from inside the room and Izuku found himself involuntarily jerking into reality as his mother grabbed his wrist and all but dragged him in. He managed to catch the secretary's eyes before the door closed and the terrified, almost hysterical, look in her eyes was suddenly a lot more relatable.

2 days after the meeting found Izuku at home browsing the internet. The meeting with the principal hadn't been fun at all. At one point he even got sent out so the man could talk to his mother 'privately', but judging by the loud voices that drifted out of the office 5 minutes later and secretary's tormented whimpering, he'd wager that the 'private talk' hadn't gone all that well.

Izuku sighed in frustration and rubbed his tired eyes. He could feel the migraine building up a mile away but that wasn't going to stop him from using the computer. God knows the amount of times he'd given himself a migraine from overusing the computer how was now any different now?

'Because you're running low on sleep and mental stability,' The little traitorous voice in his head supplied helpfully.

It wasn't wrong per see, but Izuku couldn't just do nothing. It was either that or sleep and with the way his dreamless sleep always shifted into something distorted, something horrifying, it sure seemed like sleep as no longer an option.

He saw the looks his mom gave him out of the corner of her eyes. He usually slept 8 hours a night, not wanting to lose his energy the way some kids do and affect his performance in school. Yes, Aldera was known for having lenient policies regarding a student's performance but that was usually reserved for normal kids who weren't Quirkless mistakes and a burden to society-

Izuku hadn't noticed the snarl that was tugging at his face until he caught his reflection on his phone's dark surface. The boy blinked as he let his facial expression relax. Weird, his thoughts weren't usually this venomous. As much as he hated to admit, maybe he did need sle-

PING!

Izuku jumped slightly at the noise, his instincts screaming at him to run and hide before his rational mind took over his frantic thought process. Taking deep calming breaths the boy gently covered his face. It was okay, it was nothing, he was safe, he was at home, and no one can hurt him here. Not without having his mom to answer to.

Gently exhaling one last time, Izuku checked the main source of his mini panic attack and almost fell off his chair in shock. Before his sleep deprivation-induced monologue, Izuku had been in the process of searching for and applying for local dojos. Naturally, almost all of them rejected him almost immediately, the general consensus being; 'Sorry but we cannot accept your admission due to your 'condition''.

It was blatantly discriminatory and it made his blood boil, but it's not like he can just go and blatantly attack those dojos. He should have known better than to try anyway.

Anyway, that wasn't the reason for his surprise. The loud 'PING!' that had come out of his computer was the customary notification that he had set for his email whenever messages arrived. And, not only has a message arrived at 2 in the morning, it was a message from the final and shabbiest dojo that he managed to find within his immediate area.

'Dear Izuku Midoriya,

I'm happy to inform you that your application is accepted.

Just be at this location tomorrow by 10 AM.

[Shinji's Dojo shared this location with you { }]

-Shinji's Dojo'

Izuku stared at the screen in numb shock for a few minutes. It was as though he hit an error blue screen because there was no way in hell that actually just happened. So he stared. He stared at the message on the screen, not really seeing, and he couldn't help the giddy feeling rising in his chest.

Whole body shaking as he read and reread the message on the screen over and over, Izuku blinked a bit as he started to register the words written in front of him, and then he promptly broke out in a huge grin. Letting out a loud whoop of delight, the 11-year-old boy smiled as tears prickled at his eyes.

It- It wasn't much, to be honest, but it was a start. Something to look forward to and work on until he reaches the level needed to be a hero.

And so, the boy laughed, loud and delightful with teary eyes and a bright smile on his face.

Maybe there was still some hope for the future after all.

A/N {16/4/2020}:

Whew! Writing this part alone took a few days out of me, but hey at least I managed to find a good place to stop!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Some information about this chapter:

1) In Japan, Red Spider Lilies (also known as Hinganbana) are plants normally associated with death and the afterlife and are often used in funerals. When a student dies a vase of these plants are placed on their desk out of respect for their soul. For a living person to receive these plants mean that the sender (in Izuku's case his entire class, save for Katsuki Bakugou, as they all pitched in to buy the flowers) wishes that they're dead.

(Tldr; receiving these flowers is the biggest fuck you go die Izuku can receive For now.)

2) Kacchan (otherwise known as Katsuki Bakugou) was very sick that day, and so didn't attend school. He didn't even know about the incident until much, much later.

3) The 'Inko Midoriya works at a law firm' headcanon is very much appreciated and used, and even though Inko is just as shy and timid as her son, she can (and will) try to destroy you if you hurt him.

4) I know from experience that green tea can be a very calming beverage, even the thing's aroma is enough to make you relax.

Welp! That's all for today I guess! Don't hesitate to correct me in regards to the first piece of info in case I got something wrong! For all the research I did regarding the Red Spider Lily's significance in Japan I can't be very sure that I didn't do something wrong.

Anyway, I'm rambling- again- hehe-

Peace, be safe, and do wash your hands (and disinfect) properly!

is officially out!