Izuku Midoriya: Age 7

The 15th Annual Junior Gadgeteer Convention was taking place in Hosu this year, inside a local school gymnasium. The venue was buzzing with excitement and curiosity, as engineers and fans of engines and gears admired the inventions and experiments filling the rows of tables. There were robots, rockets, radios and radars, lasers, lightbulbs, locomotives and lithographs, and even some things that started with different letters.

It was Izuku's second year here as a contestant in the under 10s category. His entry had been confirmed following a glowing recommendation from his engineering tutor. After being gifted his grandfather's manuals two years before, he had fallen head over heels for learning new things and making his own inventions. But his mother had eventually given him an ultimatum: Either he got all the scrap metal out of the living room, or he found a better place to work on his projects. That better place ended up being a nearby community college. Izuku would have been the only person under 16 on the course, if not for a young girl who showed just as much promise.

"Hi Ithuku!" shouted Mei Hatsume from among the crowd. She was dressed for the occasion in a slightly oversized white lab coat and a pair of goggles which looked enormous on her pink-haired head. She was carrying a canvas bag that seemed to be filled with tools and spare parts, and she smiled at him with a gap toothed grin.

"Oh hi Mei!" Izuku replied happily. Mei's friendship had done a lot for Izuku's confidence as a person. His weak quirk had made it hard for him to make friends at elementary school, but Mei was more interested in machines than quirks. Come to think of it, Izuku couldn't even remember if Mei had ever actually asked what his quirk was.

"Where'th your thubmithon to the thienth fair?!" Mei lisped, still grinning with excitement. She bounced up and down on her toes, eager to see what Izuku had come up with this year.

"Aw Mei, did you lose a tooth?" Inko laughed and covered her mouth. She couldn't help liking Mei, Izuku always had funny stories to tell her after their classes about Mei accidentally blowing something up or creating skynet. She liked her, but she was incredibly glad she was someone else's daughter. She wouldn't be able to take the pressure.

"Uh huh! It'th okay though, I can ththill thpeak."

"I can see that," Inko chuckled.

"She was building a drone that flies back to you when you call it. I told her to make sure there was a 5ft perimeter around the user but nooo, 'I know better' she said." Mei's mother sighed, looking at her daughter with exasperation and affection.

"Thometimeth a lotht tooth ith the prith to pay for greatneth." Mei said stoically, holding a hand over her heart and looking skyward.

Izuku held up the large cardboard box he was carrying that contained this year's project. He'd spent weeks working on it and he couldn't wait to show everyone. Of course he hoped it would impress the judges, maybe even win a prize, but truth be told the only person he was trying to make proud this year was his mom. Ever since his quirk diagnosis she'd been nothing but supportive of his dreams, urging him forward at every step, even when they seemed impossible or dangerous."I've got my project right here!" Izuku excitedly told Mei. "It's a secret though, you have to wait for the presentation."

"Oh come on, Ithuku! You can't keep me in thuthpenth like that!" Mei whined, trying to peek inside the box. "Jutht give me a hint! Ith it a jetpack? A lather cannon?!"

"Nope and nope!" Izuku teased, holding the box away from her. "You'll have to be patient and find out later!"

"Fine," Mei pouted, crossing her arms. "It'th not another robot doggy though ith it? All the latht one did wath bark and do a backflip…" she complained, remembering how disappointed she'd been with Izuku's previous project.

Izuku tried his best to convince his friend how awesome Robopup was. Despite the fact almost the second he brought it home after the fair it's head sprang off and it leaked oil all over the living room couch. His mom had said it was worse than having an actual dog. "N-no! And my robot doggy was great, he could fetch a bone!" He nervously defended his invention.

"Only becauth the bone had a magnet attathed!" Mei pointed out, making a face.

"Y-yeah well my project this year is super awesome… What did you bring? Come on lemme see!" He tried to see inside the bag Mei was carrying but she kept spinning to prevent him from seeing inside.

"O-hohoho! Thith year Hatthume induthtries hath a thpectacular-" She started, before her mother cut her off.

"Mei if you say anymore S words I might have a hernia. She's built a pair of shoes that can walk up walls." Her mother unceremoniously revealed. She had a mix of pride and complete exasperation in her voice.

"Aw I wanted to introduth it…" She pouted.

Izuku was just as excited as Mei hoped he would be, balling up his fists and widening his eyes with excitement "Like Wallace and Gromit?!" he shouted.

"I knew you'd get it!" The two kids jumped up and down with glee.

The two of them calmed down as quickly as they'd gotten all amped up, but Izuku couldn't help wondering what sort of competition they'd have this year. "Have you gone to see any of the other entries yet Mei?"

"Um, yeah…there are a lot of volcanoth… And one kid brought in a wooden toy aeroplane…" she rolled her eyes, completely unimpressed by the lack of creativity. At least this year there was an aeroplane. Last year the most exciting project another kid brought along was titled 'The Wonders of Mud'. He had just sprayed a hose on some dirt and brought that in a plastic tub. It looked especially stupid next to the universal translator Mei had designed.

"Oh. Hah! Same as last year. It'll be between the two of us, Mei Hatsume! May the best gadgeteer win!" Izuku declared enthusiastically.

"You're on, Ithuku Midoriya!" She accepted the challenge gladly, smiling brightly.

—

Izuku Midoriya, age 11.

Izuku sat hunched over the workbench he'd eventually convinced his mom to let him have in his cosy bedroom, following a lengthy negotiation over what kind of experiments were acceptable in the house. They had agreed on three fundamental rules: Nothing that explodes, nothing that leaks and nothing that smells. That suited Izuku fine, since most of his homemade gadgets were intended for cleaning purposes - he didn't want his ingenious window-washer to leave oil stains everywhere after all.

Around him on the walls and shelves were various snapshots of him and his mom, smiling and hugging at various science fairs throughout the years. They were next to photos of him and his best friend Mei, rejoicing over their triumphs, or laughing at Mei's soot-covered face, or running away from one of her unpredictable inventions.

Scattered among them were his trophies and medals he had earned, most of them were gold or silver, but he didn't care much about the rank. He just loved making things that could help people. Next to him lay a pile of manuals and engineering magazines, along with the sketches and blueprints of his ideas. In a prominent place, hanging framed on his bedroom wall, was the first of his Grandfather's unfinished blueprints that he had completed - a handheld weapon that could draw in moisture from the air, crystallise it, and fire it as a tiny projectile. It remained his proudest achievement and a tribute to his Grandfather's legacy.

He gave the screwdriver one last twist and admired his creation with satisfaction. It was a modest idea he was working on, but he hoped it'd make his mother feel more confident. It was a small scanner that could automatically display the mass and weight of whichever object it was pointed at, so she could know if her attraction quirk was compatible with it without straining her abilities. Mostly Izuku worked on "real" problems for his neighbours, fixing television signals or boosting WiFi. It was usually quite boring and didn't challenge his talents very much, but it gave him a nice bit of pocket money to work on personal projects.

Just then Izuku's phone buzzed, he looked down to see a news alert on the lockscreen "Breaking: Villain attack in Downtown Musutafu. Heroes on the scene." Feeling a rush of excitement, he grabbed his backpack and notebook and ran out of his room, passing by the various household gadgets he'd built in the past. They were, in his mind, relatively simple ideas, such as his dirt-seeking vacuum cleaner and the mop that could adjust its wetness depending on the floor type. But they made his mom happy and that was good enough for him.

"Mom, I'm going out for a while!" he shouted as he reached the door to the apartment.

"Okay, honey, be safe and don't go too far!" Inko replied from the kitchen. She'd gotten used to Izuku's excursions in recent years and had stopped being so frightened about him being out in the world. She still worried about him, but had convinced herself that even if he did have a strong quirk he wouldn't be able to use it properly at this age anyway, so really what difference did it make? Not to mention every time he went out he was always near pro heroes, who weren't going to let anything bad happen to an eleven year old.

"Thanks, mom! Love you!" Izuku shouted behind him as he opened the door and ran down the stairs, he couldn't miss this opportunity.

Sprinting through the streets and weaving his way through crowds of people who were either fleeing or gawking at the scene, he dodged cars and bikes ignoring the honks and curses that followed him. Eventually he reached the cordoned off area where the police had set up a perimeter, just in time to see a man dressed as a crocodile get punched in the face by a man in a red and gold suit.

The crocodile man roared unimpressively and flexed his body, causing two 1ft long spikes to emerge from his shoulders and pierce through his costume. Izuku rolled his eyes and started writing in his notebook, "Oh, it's just Spiky. D grade villain at best." He titled the page 'Support Item Ideas for Pros' and looked up to check which hero was here

"You'll never succeed, vile fiend!" the hero dramatically said in a faux-british accent. He charged up another punch and his fist transformed into the shape of a lion's roaring head, driving its way into the villain's face once more.

"Oh cool, Kingsguard!" Izuku exclaimed as he began filling in notes. "Small scale transformation quirk, seems to only affect his hands. Punching is his primary form of combat, meaning he neglects his legs and feet. If he can't use his hands he's pretty much screwed, maybe some kind of leg braces or steel boots, looks like energy glows around his fist when he transforms them, could energy be redistributed…" he mumbled to himself as he scribbled as quickly as he could before the fight was over. Soon enough, Spiky lay dazed in a heap and Kingsguard was monologuing over his beaten foe.

"Let this act stand as a lesson to all ne'er do wells! Crime doesn't pay!" Kingsguard stood as dramatically as he spoke, with one hand on his hip and the other on his heart. The media lost their minds at this, photographing and documenting his every movement. He was a new hero on the scene, barely two months out of a sidekick role, and he was lapping it up. Absolutely perfect for what Izuku needed.

"Mr Kingsguard! Mr Kingsguard!" Izuku waved his arm at him eagerly, pushing his way through the crowd of civilians to the police barricade. He hoped the hero would notice him among the sea of faces and cameras.

Kingsguard was well aware that it looked great in newspapers when a hero was nice to kids, so Izuku was the first face he approached. He flashed a dazzling smile and said in a booming voice, "Ah my young ward, did thee enjoy the bout? Perhaps an autograph is in order-"

Izuku scribbled down one last thing, tore the page out of his notebook and handed it to Kingsguard, "Actually I have something for you." He smiled up at the hero, who looked quizzically at the note that had been thrust into his hand. It was a list of ideas of improving his support gear and fighting style, based on Izuku's observations, alongside a rough sketch of some new gear.

His expression changed ever so slightly from confused to intrigued. He scanned the paper with interest, despite the clicking of cameras and reporters calling him for statements. Realising in time that this young boy had an astute eye for detail and a brilliant mind for design, he dropped the persona he'd been cultivating and turned to Izuku with genuine curiosity.

"You just came up with all this just now?" he asked, still looking at the paper. "I mean, obviously I've tried the steel boots thing, just didn't fit with my fighting style, but this idea you've had for redistributing the energy from my lion hand technique… This actually looks like it could work." He leant down on one knee to be more on Izuku's level. "You sure I can take this, kid?"

Izuku beamed at the hero with excitement and admiration, he'd always dreamed of meeting his idols and helping them with support gear ideas and he'd finally managed to get face to face with one. "Of course! Just let everyone know the name Izuku Midoriya, future number one support gear supplier!"

—

Izuku Midoriya: Age 14

"And if you press this button here…" Izuku announced proudly as he held up a small device in his hand. With a click, a thin tether shot across the classroom like a bullet, flying directly down the middle aisle. The wire had a deceptively strong claw at the end, which embedded itself into the brick wall at the opposite end with a loud thud. The students gasped and ducked as the tether whizzed past their heads. "Now if I press this button…" Izuku continued, oblivious to the commotion. With another click, a small chunk of wall came loose as the wire retracted its way back to Izuku. He caught the claw and the brick in his hand, which would have looked impressive if he hadn't just caused minor property damage. He looked apologetic at the teacher, who was staring at him with a frown "Oh s-sorry I didn't think it would, I-I thought the wall would be stronger!"

The teacher tutted from his seat at the front of the class. "Yes Midoriya, another interesting display…" He said in a monotone voice, clearly bored with the entire affair. "You can go back to your desk now, but I'll remind you that the assignment was to show us something you discovered about your quirk, not…Whatever that was." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Oh actually I have my extra classes at Aldera College today so I have to…" He pointed to the door as he started to clear his desk and pack his bag. The teacher wordlessly gestured to him to leave, not particularly caring about his explanation. On his way out, Izuku tripped over another student's bag that was left in the centre of the aisle, and stumbled dropping his device, which made a loud beep. He quickly picked it up hoping nothing had broken and rushed to the exit. As he left, he heard some whispers from his classmates.

"I heard his dad is Nezu, you know the little hamster guy?" One said.

As one person exclaimed "He's not a hamster, he's a bear! Besides I heard his dad is Power Loader." Izuku felt perplexed about how such a rumour could have started. Shaking his head, he hurried down the corridor to leave the school, hearing the loud explosions caused by one of his fellow classmates. Catboy or something, they'd never spoken.

Izuku quickly got his phone out and sent a brief text to Mei saying he'd be there soon and was on the way to get the bus, but panicked when he saw the time and realised the next bus was only 10 minutes away. He'd have to take a shortcut through one of the back-alleys, a dark and dingy place that he ordinarily hated going down because of the shady characters and potential dangers that lurked there, but needs must.

Around five minutes later Izuku decided to himself that needs did not must, as the gelatinous form of a sludgy villain tried to pour himself down Izuku's throat. Gasping for breath and thinking to himself what a disgusting way this was to die, he tried to press the button on his tether device to attempt an escape. The wire shot out through the villain's goopy interiors and wrapped itself around a lamppost. With another click of the button, Izuku would be free! Or he would be, if the retract function would work. He clicked it again, and again, and nothing. "Great," he thought to himself. "I never got to…build a jetpack…" He felt a wave of nausea and despair as he struggled in vain.

"FEAR NOT YOUNG ONE, FOR I AM HERE!" The enormous frame of a beloved media mascot burst from a sewer grate to Izuku's great shock and delight. "TEXAS SMAAAAAAASH!" With one mighty punch, the sludge villain was obliterated. Green gunky chunks rained from the sky as Izuku hyperventilated.

"A-all…All Muhmuhmuh" He attempted, before passing out from the shock and exhaustion.

Several moments later, Izuku regained consciousness to find All Muhmuhmuh still there in his heroic glory, shining like a beacon of hope, collecting what remained of the monster into soda bottles. "All Might! Wow, I can't believe you're here!" Izuku shouted with awe and admiration, feeling a surge of excitement in his chest.

"Hahaha!" All Might chortled, "I am always here!" he said, posing with his winning smile and trademark confidence.

"Will you sign my-" Suddenly Izuku found one of his support gear notebooks in his hands, the words ALL MIGHT scrawled across two pages, and a little smiley face with a question mark next to an idea for a backpack hang glider. "Thank you so much!" Izuku emphatically bowed to his hero as All Might bid him farewell and leapt into the air with a powerful jump that shook the ground.

At the low point of a bow Izuku noticed the tether he had fired to try and escape the sludge villain, unravelling at a rapid pace. He then noticed the other end wrapped firmly around his ankle.

"Oh. That isn't good." was his last thought before being lifted off the ground and carried through the air behind All Might like a kite in the wind, screaming and flailing as he flew over the city.

—

"I know it's hard, kid, but you need to calm down and breathe slowly." All Might said in a soothing voice as he watched Izuku grip the railing of the building with trembling hands, his skin losing its colour. "You just went through a terrifying ordeal." All Might turned his head away and coughed up a mouthful of blood on the concrete floor.

"I-I appreciate it… All Might…" Izuku stammered, feeling awkward to address this frail man by his hero name, but he had no doubt it was him. He'd witnessed the shocking change with his own eyes. Izuku's mind was split with two conflicting thoughts: one was trying to process the unbelievable truth about the hero's condition, the other half was buzzing with ideas for something he could build to help the symbol of peace stay in one symbol of piece. Realistically he knew that All Might must have access to the best medical care and support available, but he still felt a strong urge to contribute in some way.

"Can you manage to go down the stairs by yourself? I really need to hurry up before this food defrosts." He pointed to the shopping bags he was carrying, which Izuku had somehow failed to notice until now.

"I think I'll be okay… Thank you so much, All Might. Oh and don't worry! I won't tell anyone about this, you have my word!"

"Thanks kid." All Might turned to head down the fire escape, but Izuku still had something to ask him

"All Might…can I ask you one last thing?"

All Might stopped, and sighed. "What is it kid?"

"Do you… Do you think someone like me… Could ever help heroes in any way?"

All Might looked at him with pity. "Kid… This is a dangerous job. I'm sorry to say that without a strong quirk, there's no chance you could be a he-"

"No! No, that's not what I meant at all!" Izuku interrupted him as All Might spat out some more blood. "I don't want to be a hero who fights! Today was the most terrifying experience of my whole life, I never want to repeat that ever again!" He flailed his arms wildly trying to clarify his point, "I mean, do you think I could be a good support for the other heroes? You saw my notebook…"

All Might's brow furrowed and he grunted slightly. "I don't see why not."

Izuku's face lit up with a huge smile as All Might left the rooftop, and he took out his phone to call Mei. "Mei, it's me. I've made up my mind! I'm going to apply to UA! …What? …Oh, you were going to force me to apply anyway? Okay, cool."