Izuku yawned as he walked to school, eyes half opened and the bags under his eyes more prominent than ever and his hair an even worse mess than it usually was as he couldn't get rid of the conversation he and the other vestiges had after his nightmare.
"To the surprise of nobody, it looks like my brother fucked up again" First said while glaring at his older brother who pouted as he glared at the corner where they had told him to sit.
"In my defense, I had a small idea that adding my quirk would do something to our spirits but I didn't expect that it would work so well" Answered Hisashi sounding like a little kid who got scolded by his parents.
"No this is just great, I already had to deal with all of you so why not add a few thousand more that go feral at the thought of my own father" Izuku said, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he looked at the ceiling.
"Well…" Fifth sighed as he sat down in the chair (since he was like a ghost, he just phased through it) in front of his desk "right now, they can't do anything then just give you a few nightmares and give a push to your own feelings, it's nothing too bad" Izuku just let out a groan at this as he put his arm over his face.
Sure, he had dealt with nightmares longer than any healthy person ever should but the idea of having someone mess with your emotions was not something that he felt comfortable with in the slightest.
"Deku!" Izuku almost jumped out of his skin after hearing Bakugos voice scream at him forcing him to come back to the present.
He turned around to look at the explosive boy who looked at him with anger but after seeing the sorry state he was in that anger seemed to go out for a few second but just as quickly came back if only a little dimmer "You bastard, you think you can just punch me and walk away with your fucking hands intact!?" Bakugo threatened.
Izuku didn't get angry, really he just wanted a nap and not deal with this version of Bakugo since today was supposed to be about making advances with the other two kids so he just rubbed his eyes and said "Bakugo, could we not do this toda-" "Don't call me that!" Izuku was taken by surprise by the blonde's scream.
"Why are you calling me that!? What the hell happened to that stupid nickname huh!?" Izuku was really confused, was he referring to 'Kacchan'? That was what made him so angry?
Izuku just let out a tired sigh, maybe it was because he was so tired but his next words came out much colder than he wanted them to "Kacchan? That nickname? well I'm sorry to inform you but recently I realized that the person that name used to belong to doesn't exist anymore, I was blind to that fact for a long time, maybe it's time you open your eyes too" Izuku said leaving a stunned Bakugo behind him.
But he didn't get far as he heard the explosion behind him, his instincts that he had developed from years of fighting kicking in as he ducked, dodging Bakugo who flew over him, his hands sparking and his eyes filled with a mixture of emotions.
"What are you doing!?" Izuku asked as he turned around and took a step back dodging another hit from Bakugo.
"I'm trying to teach you a lesson!" He screamed sending a fist to Izuku who blocked it and moved back again making more distance between them "What are you going to do if this happens to you again huh!?" Bakugo continued between punches "You are a weak, quirkless kid, how the hell do you even plan to defend yourself!?" His punches and explosions continued one after another but Izuku never send one back only ever dodging and blocking his attacks, he knew his fighting style like the back of his hand and even more now since he barely had the base for it so his moves were easy to predict "Do you think that you can beat someone who could destroy a car with a flick of their hand with just your fists!?" Tears began to form in the corner of his eyes as he sent a right hook "You and your shitty dream of being a hero, did you even stop and think how we would feel if you got hurt!?"
Izuku's eyes widened in surprise but his body reacted first, he leaned away from the right hook and grabbed his arm as he pulled him down as he quickly used his leg to sweep his legs and throw him to the ground.
Both were panting, Izuku only stared at Bakugo who stayed on the ground, his chest going up and down as he took deep breaths, the only reason the blonde kid didn't stand back up was because of the surprise of him being defeated by the once weak Deku.
"Bakugo, you aren't as selfish as I thought, hearing you say that you worry about me makes me really happy but you should know better than anyone that I am not giving up on my dream" Izuku wiped the sweat on his forehead and fixed his uniform as he turned around from the stunned boy "I'll ask you the same question you did to me, when you thought about 'teaching me a lesson' did you ever stop and consider my own feelings? I hope you know that no matter what you do, I won't stop, so one day I'll show you that I am capable of becoming a hero and you'll have no other choice but to accept it"
With those words said, Izuku walked away ignoring the surprised looks of the people who had stopped and looked at their fight.
Bakugo stayed on the ground for a few more seconds until he finally slowly stood back up, he could only see Izuku's fading silhouette but he noticed the hundreds of ways he looked different from the boy he used to know.
He was taller, the same height as him at this point, his eyes seemed harder and if only a little dimmer, he filled his uniform better than before and the way he carried himself was much different, he exudes this dangerous and confident aura around him that one would need to spend years to make.
When did he change so much?
By the time Izuku arrived at school, things finally slowed down, he was scolded for getting late meanwhile Bakugo who arrived after him wasn't even given a glare.
For the rest of the day, neither of the two made any move at each other, this confused their classmates. Had something happened for Bakugo who always got mad at Izuku for even breathing near him to not even give him a glance? Since no one understood what was going on, they decided to trust their gut and not mess with Izuku so as to not get into the explosive blonde's bad side.
Even if Izuku had a good day in school his mind was still working overtime for his plans, giving him a headache.
His plan to get a better relationship with Bakugo early on has taken a different turn than expected, at the beginning he just wanted to get it done with words but he should've expected that it wouldn't work, he has always been a person who shows his emotions through actions than words, so he would need to make some changes to accommodate to it.
His next problem was what he heard the other night, Stain was in town and that made a perfect chance to take him down before he could cause any damage to his friends but then came the question, was he ready to fight him?
When he first fought Stain he was capable of using five percent in full cowl but now he could only use two percent after using a few strengthening quirks but on the other side, he now held the other quirks inside All For One and One For All but using them in the state he was in could end with horrible results.
"You'll be fiiiiine" said his father who only added to the pain "those healing quirks kept me alive after that blonde oaf bashed my skull in, so that Stain guy can't do anything to you"
"What we are worried about isn't what he can do, it's the possible crippling backlash that the quirks could have on his body" third said "unlike you, none of us had quirks to keep us in top health"
"Rip to you but I'm different" His father said, making first, second and third grunt but only confusing the others. When he noticed this he only shaked his head with a sad expression "I keep forgettin about the 200 year gap…"
Ignoring that strange comment, Izuku continued down his list of problems.
The next problem would be those other two kids, Toga and Shinsou, he had made great progress with Shinsou, getting him to feel comfortable with him so he didn't hide the bruises he got during the day but the problem was that he wasn't sure if they were close enough for him to talk about it and if he wanted his case to actually be looked into it he needed solid proof that something was happening and if the victim themselves denied the accusations than it would completely be dismissed.
His relationship with Toga had also reached a good level where she felt comfortable enough where she could take her mask off a little with him, she finally started to complain about her school with him but it was nothing of what they were looking for, mostly it was just stuff about homework or the teachers being too stiff, which took it off the list leaving only the possibility of something outside of it being the cause but that still left more than a few options.
But there was one thing he wanted to change in their next meeting:
Quirks.
Up until now the only thing they had not talked about was their quirks, he already knew about theirs but they were both things that had affected their lives greatly so he had hoped that they would bring it up since he was still supposed to be quirkless so it would be a little weird, he had shown his interest in them in subtle ways like by telling them on how he wants to be a pro hero and so he studies quirks but he never specifies that he has one.
Following his usual routine, he quickly walked down the street until he arrived at the familiar park he had been visiting. He looked around until he finally spotted Toga sitting in their usual meeting spot, a simple wooden bench that they liked to sit down and chat but today something about her fell off.
Her shoulders were stiff, her legs were bouncing up and down and under her eyes were the beginning of dark circles. This was the first time he had seen her like that, something must be wrong.
"Hey Toga" Izuku said as he walked next to her, she immediately sat up straight and looked at him with a surprised expression which quickly changed to relief with a sigh, he must have surprised her.
"Hi Izuku…" she said back, letting her fatigue show as she slumped in her seat, Izuku sat down next to her with a confused look on his face.
"Is everything okay? you seem… tired" He said trying to not sound mean but his question got a tired laugh out of her.
"Yeah, it's been a rough day but you don't look that good either" she shot back now with a smile on her face.
This was what their interactions had recently turned into, Izuku being his usual kind self and Toga revealing more of her teasing and fun side to him which he was more familiar with.
"Toga, you know that I really like quirks right?" He slowly started, this was going to be hard to approach.
"Yeah, why?" she answered a little confused.
"Well I was just wondering if you could… tellmeaboutyourquirk!'' Izuku hastily finished his sentence as he gave her the best puppy eyes he could make.
Toga was taking by surprise by his excitement, she knew about how much Izuku loved talking about quirks, he had told her about quirks from so many heroes, some in the top ten, some sidekicks and some she had never heard of and even then when the quirk was something simple and boring, he could go hours talking about it, about the thousands of uses it had and what it still could do, he looked at every quirk with wonder and with a wish to learn.
But what about hers?
Her quirk was not like the others, it was dark, gross , evil .
What if she told Izuku about it, would he think differently of her, would he still want to be friends with someone so unsightly like her, would he still be her friend?
She gulped down her fear and showed a shaky smiled as she looked away from him trying to hide the fear in them "N-no, it isn't interesting and it's really boring you wouldn't like it" she tried to convince him to stop but even then she knew how stubborn he was but he was a kind person so maybe he would stop asking when he saw her expression.
And he did, mostly because he knew that her reaction would not be good, but he hadn't expected the fear and panic in her eyes, that's when he realized that unlike Shinosou who was bullied by his quirk and grew a bitter anger to those who had more 'heroic' quirks, but Toga…
She was scared of it, she was scared of her own quirk.
Izuku moved a little giving the panicking girl her own space and took a deep breath, he had thought that she wouldn't easily tell him so he thought of an idea "since I also haven't told you about mine how about this, I tell you about my quirk and you tell me about yours?"
This was something that he had been planning from the beginning by not telling them about his supposed lack of quirk and then using it to get them comfortable with him.
A kind of equivalent exchange, quirks are seen as the main thing that makes an individual so a lot of people like to keep them to themselves so by offering this he was making her feel like he was putting the same amount on the table, making her lower her guard.
Toga seemed conflicted for a minute, she still felt scared of telling him but at the same time she was really curious about Izuku's quirk and to learn more about him, he never talked about it and yet he was so interested in them, you would think that he would have already made a libraries worth of books about his own, so while looking at the kind and soft expression in his eyes she nodded.
Izuku smiled and took a deep breath and said "I'm quirkless"
Her eyes widened in surprise at the statement and at how calmly he said it and, almost as if he had already said it countless times, yet in his eyes there was a shadow covering them as he waited for her answer looking as if he had given up hope.
He was quirkless.
He was quirkless.
This single line kept repeating in her head as she realised the weight of it.
He had told her how much he wanted to be a hero, to help others and face villains with a smile, and he was quirkless.
He had such large dreams and so little, almost nonexistent, power yet that didn't seem to stop him as he kept analysing quirks and looking forward to the future.
Not having a quirk is extremely rare nowadays and there has never been any quirkless heroes as the job has been seen as dangerous and only for those with powerful quirks so for most, seeing someone who had nothing to fight or defend themselves, it was like a joke.
Izuku must have gone through so much with a dream like that in his situation and he decided to trust her by telling her about it, he trusts her enough to tell him and yet she was scared of him judging her.
As Toga took a few seconds to answer, tears began to form at the edges of Izuku's eyes as a bitter smile formed in his face "I- I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that, I made things weird I-I'll leave-" Izuku quickly stood up and was ready to leave but was stopped by Toga grabbing his arm.
"N-no wait! sorry I was just… processing it" She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, she then looked back at Izuku fear now fully present in his eyes and tears ready to fall "I… thank you, it must have been hard to tell me that so… I'll tell you" Toga said with a new spark of determination in her chest and Izuku smiled brightly.
They both sat down once again, Izuku wiped the tears in his eyes as he listened to the nervous girl "My quirk… it's called transform, it allows me to change my appearance into another person, it's only their looks, I can't replicate their memories so that's a big downside" with that simple explanation Izuku's eyes already were shining as if filled with stars and she couldn't help the small smile that came to her but it quickly fell when the next words came "but for it to work… I need to consume that person's blood"
She didn't dare look at Izuku as she finally told him the truth, her hands in her lap nervously played with her skirt, her mind filling with the ways he could answer, guilt began to creep from her stomach all the way to her throat as the word of her family rang in her head.
"A normal girl doesn't like blood and dirty things like this"
"I can't believe my own daughter is a disgusting monster"
"Big sister is really weird, I don't want to play with her"
"I won't accept a monster like you as my daughter"
Weid
Monster
Unwanted
Those were words that had deeply ingrained themselves into her heart since they had come from her own family, the people she must trusted, she tried her best to be what they wanted from her, a normal girl, so she hid everything about her own quirk and her interest in blood all deep down inside of her and yet even now when they looked at her there were small traces of disgust.
Whenever they touched her, they were always fleeting touches as they almost took their hand off her as if she had burned them.
She hated it, she hated that part of herself but everyday, that small, ugly part would keep screaming for attention only growing louder everyday.
Until now she had done her best to ignore it but recently it had been hard, this seemingly endless hunger tormenting her at every hour of the day, today had been a bad day with it being stronger than usual and yet, when she talked about it with Izuku she felt as if a small weight had been taken off her shoulders but at the same time she might have just lost another she cared about.
"Toga that…" she closed her eyes as if it would do anything to soften the pain from the words that she knew were coming "that… is such a cool quirk!" Izuku replied excitedly, completely taking her off guard and making her eyes snap open as she turned to look at him in shock.
"You can do so many cool things with your quirk obviously the main one would be infiltration but there are so many more things, like you could do information gathering while you hide as someone else or maybe you could be a kind of wild card if when you change your appearance your strength also changes oh but what about people with mutation quirks, would you also gain the attributes that the quirk gives its user or would it be erased making you look like a normal pers…" as Izuku continued with his excited rambling Toga paid no attention to it as she was trying to understand the feelings that kept blooming in her chest, those words were ones that she had heard every day but never once had they been directed at her but the moment Izuku said them it was almost as if a missing piece of her puzzle finally found its place, she felt warm and… happy, happier than she had felt in almost her entire life.
Tears began to spill from her eyes, her lips formed into a trembling smile and then broke into a bright smile followed by an attack of giggles that she couldn't, no, didn't want to stop.
Izuku stopped his rambling when she lunged at him and wrapped his arms around him in a hug as she buried her head in his neck, tears falling from her face staining his clothes but she didn't care as she felt almost years worth of fears finally fall of her shoulders, she hung tightly to Izuku, to the one person in her life who had accepted her for who she was.
Izuku froze when Toga jumped on him almost fearing that she had finally snapped but when she wrapped her arms around him and he heard the sobs that came from her, he realized that almost this entire time he had been thinking and sometimes treating her like a dangerous object that could hurt him if he wasn't cautious when in truth, she is just scared, lonely kid who needed someone to be there for her.
He slowly wrapped his arms around her and traced circles on her back, something he used to do with Eri when she also cried, as she let out more of her tears.
By the time she had finally calmed down enough to talk again she apologized for staining his clothes and thanked him repeatedly before she left for her home looking better than before.
Izuku left with a smile and a warm feeling in his chest, he had forgotten how good it felt to help others.
