Izuku never really had a way with words when growing up. He was timid, quiet and too much of a hero fanboy for his own good at times. Could you blame him? in his words, heroes were the pinnacle of awesome. He studied each and everyone of them from the few moments he had before school started, to the dying moments of the night right before he heard his mother's footsteps skuttle over to his room. He wanted to be a hero. It's all he could ever think about for the longest time.
Somehow, he manged to find someone just like him, Katsuki Bakugo. He was his first ever friend. He had an even greater desire, no— need to become a hero. Izuku admired that. Although at first their friendship bloomed like no other, Izuku would soon begin to feel as if he was getting left behind, like a shadow, unable to muster the same desire he envied in Katsuki.
Katsuki would recieve his quirk, and like a shadow Izuku would recieve his just a day later. While Katsuki gained a phenomenal quirk, fit for that of a top hero: the ability to shoot out explosion out of his palms, Izuku woke up one day with a flimsy cord attatched to his chest.
"Seriously? It doesn't even do anything!" Katsuki blared one day. "You're basically quirkless!"
Izuku's hands would shake as he clasped his cord. He pulled desperatly at it, wishing it would do something, anything to get the solemn expression off his only friends face.
"Its okay!" Izuku said, "We… we can still become heroes together right, Kacchan?"
Without another word spoken, Katsuki looked at him like he'd just uttered something unthinkable.
"What? So you can pull me down to your level?"
Izuku would open his mouth to say something, but nothing would come out. Instead, Izuku would watch as his only friend walk out of his life.
Like a shadow, he grew smaller and smaller. At moments he would try to ease up his sorrow by delving through video upon video of his favorite heroes, saving the day, enstilling hope in others. Each and everysingle time he heard All might, his idol, yell with burning conviction during any seemingly impossible fight, he'd jump out of his chair yelling and pulling at his cord. Though, nothing ever happened. All he ever got was an empty feeling in his chest.
One day, after getting beaten up by Katsuki and his other friends at the playground for defending a quirkless kid, Izuku stared teary eyed into the sky. He felt so weak, so defensless, the farthest thing from a hero.
"Hey,"
He jolted up from a tap to his head to see a half charred kid lending him a hand up.
"T-thanks for um," The girl grumbled. "Thank you! You were awesome!"
Izuku's mouth went wide the moment she uttered those words.
"Me?…"
"Y-yeah! You saved me!" The girl laughed.
Izuku looked her up and down with a confused expression.
"But you're hurt!" He shook his head. "really, really hurt!"
"So are you!" The girl smiled. "You took half of my hurt, though… I think thats super cool!"
Izuku took in an exasperated breath and took her hand.
"I'm really sorry for being so weak…" Izuku mumbled whilst grasping his chord.
"You are so negative! But you know, you kinda of reminded me of a super cool All might video!"
Izuku shifted his eyes.
"You know the one with the uh… chainsaw weirdo!"
"Toxic chainsaw!" Izuku yelled, covering his mouth moments later.
The girl laughed even harder than before. "Yeah! When All might was getting super beat up…. you were just like him!"
For the first time in a while, Izuku felt as if the whole in his chest fill up. He looked towards her with a warbly smile.
"R-really?"
She nodded her head, her rosy cheeks flaring up in excitement. "By the way, my names Ami! Whats yours?"
3 years later, Izuku would celebrate his 7th birthday with Ami at that same park that they'd met.
"C'mon, you can't tell me you think Eraserhead would win against crust! He's number 5, y'know!" Ami blared. "How's he gonna survive crust's ultimate move?!"
"How's he going to use his ultimate move if he doesn't have a quirk!?" Izuku replied with a mouth full of candy and an exasperated face.
"What!? You can't just take his quirk out like that!"
"Eraserhead can!"
"You made that up!"
"No I didn't! I have his quirk in my notes!"
"That doesn't prove anything, idiot!"
"Idiot!?" Izuku's face went red as he and Ami began to butt heads. In a moment of realization, the two would burst into laughter.
"Tell your mom she's super awesome for me by the way," Ami said. "These sweets are the best thing thats happened since the invention of chocolate and rock music!"
Izuku rubbed his neck, "Sure, though my mom hates rock music so I might leave that out!"
"Seriously!?" Ami would yell, splattering half the candy in her mouth into Izuku's face. "Uh-oh.."
Red faced, again, Izuku would wipe off the splatter and give her a look she'd come to learn as the "Run away as soon as possible" look. She turned her head and booked it right into the woods next to the playground, sticking her out at Izuku as she made her way.
Izuku would follow suite, his heart pounding and a smile stretching from ear to ear. He would yell out to Ami and she would yell back at him, calling him names.
"Come and get me, Dorkmight!"
"Come on Ami, you're gonna regret that!" Izuku would yell inbetween a chuckle.
This back and forth would go on for a little bit longer, until Izuku was the only person shouting in the woods.
"Ami! just give up already!"
…
"Ami!"
…
"Okay, you can quit this joke now okay Ami! It's not funny anymore!"
…
"Ami! where are you? Ami!"
Finally, Izuku would see an exist out of the woods, one that that led into a log that bridged over a deep river onto another forest. Below the log, he heard splashing and muffled yells. He rushed towards the log and peered down.
His breath quickened as he spotted Ami holding onto a rock, trying her hardest to kep herself from being pulled away by the vicious stream.
"Ami!"
"Izuku!" She yelled with a stream of tears. "Help!"
Izuku looked around and then back at her. There was no way of reaching her without getting himself in danger. He didn't pull his cord. He knew it was useless. He looked back up and screamed as loud as he could.
"HELP!" He took another deep breath. "SOMEONE! HELP! ALL MIGHT! ANYONE!"
Izuku watched as Ami's grip loosened over the rock. His heart tightened. Time stood stil. Atleast he wish it did. Before he knew it, Ami's grip released and barreled further down stream, leaving no trace of her behind.
7 years later Izuku found himself wating with a poignant breath as he stared into a hellish inferno that ate up anything its path in musutafu. He looked over at the window, spotting the face of a little girl trying to get the attention of the heroes.
In the heat of a villain fight, nobody was paying any attention to her. Izuku thought calling out to them would be the best bet, but there was no way he was going to get through to them with all this chaos.
As the fire grew larger, Izuku's hand traced over his chest. He rushed towards the burning building with out a second thought. For the first time in years, Izuku pulled the cord, expecting it to do nothing. He pulled it to feel as brave as All might, to have the courage he never had before to save Ami.
In that moment, Izuku's conviction burned hotter than the embers that enveloped him. From the depths of his heart, a deep viceral sound tore its way out from the depths of his body.
brum-brum-brum-brum-brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Izuku leaped off the log and into the river to save his friend, even if he didn't have any power, because that's what heroes do.