Hello everyone and welcome to LIVE LAUGH LOVECRAFT by me Ckahte.
Without any further ado let's get into it.
PS there's a bit of bioshock involved but mostly Lovecraft concepts.
Chapter one: Abyss and smooth gentlemen
Izuku Midoriya had always been a loner. Even when he had "friends" he wasn't very outgoing. He'd always wanted to be a hero ever since he could express himself. It was one of the few things he was passionate about. It was that, music, and reading. But ever since he got his diagnosis at the age of 4 his passion has been dwindling. He lost everything that day. His hope, his sense of self worth, and his friends. All because of a few words on a piece of paper. In all fairness he was probably depressed. But that's nothing he would admit to anyone, not even himself.
"Who needs friends anyways?"
"I've got my books to keep me company."
This brings us to Izuku's 14th birthday.
He awoke from his slumber to his mother Inko stroking his chin softly. He opened his eyes and they met with hers. She smiled and pinched him a bit.
"How's my little birdsnest doing?" She said playfully.
Izuku smiled but didn't answer. Inko had a plate with breakfast in her lap. American pancakes. Something he only knew of because of All Might.
"Thanks mom."
"Hold on there's more!"
Inko handed him the plate before pulling out a present from under the bed. It was neatly wrapped in wrapping paper that looked to be Christmas themed.
They weren't the most well off family but they made do.
"Happy birthday green bean!"
Izuku let out a snort.
"The pot calling the kettle black much?"
"Does that take away from the fact that the kettle is still black?" She responded before flicking him on the nose.
"Now eat your breakfast Izuku, I spent a lot of time looking for maple syrup."
Izuku laughed a bit and went to eat. After he was done The pea and the pod stood up and opened his present. Izuku had already guessed what it was based on its rectangular shape and heavy weight. He pulled off the wrapping paper and saw the title of the hardback.
The Call Of Cthulhu it read.
"Aw thanks! I've been meaning to read this. I love you mom."
Inko heard the happiness in his voice and couldn't help but smile. It was something both of them struggled with nowadays.
"I love you more. I don't know what I would do without you."
The last part she said more to herself, Izuku heard it but chose not to say anything. He inspected the cover of his new book for a while before setting it down and hugging his mother. It came as a bit of a surprise to her but she embraced him.
…
"Honey, are you all packed for your field trip?" She asked as he let go.
Izuku nodded, "Don't need much anyways, we're only going to Kuroshima island. It's not like I'm staying the night."
He opened his bag and double checked his supplies. The regular school stuff was there, along with his pair of headphones and his notebook. He wanted to pack his new book but he was afraid that it would receive scorch marks like all his other things had. He looked at the book and then down in the dark opening of his bag. He decided that it wasn't worth it and zipped up his bag before making his way to the door.
"You have fun now." Inko said as she waved him goodbye from the kitchen.
When Izuku arrived at school nothing was out of the ordinary. He sat down in his seat in his homeroom class and waited for the teacher to begin. He looked out of the window next to him, sunlight blinded him a bit but he didn't mind. It was summer and the weather was growing more and more pleasant by the day. His serenity was broken by a paper ball to the back of his head. He didn't react much physically anymore. He let out a breath. Not like he expected this day to be different from any other. Izuku knew who threw the ball by process of elimination. It couldn't have been Kaccan because he wasn't there yet, and besides, Kaccan wasn't one for throwing paper, more nitroglycerin therapy. As he thought this he tugged at the frayed ends of his collard uniform. It also couldn't have been Shō. He was too fat to throw a paper ball with such accuracy. If only he'd lose weight, then maybe he'd be able to fly. If only he knew what he had. That left Hinata. Izuku turned to rest his head on the desk and as he did he gave Hinata a glance. The long fingered boy had a grin on his face. Izuku didn't mind, he'd been through worse, way way worse. Memories of him laying battered and bruised on the ground flashed before his eyes as the teacher started speaking.
"EAT SHIT AND DIE YOU QUIRKLESS LOSER!"
Pushes, punches, and kicks. Burns, dust in his eyes, and wedgies.
If he were being completely honest he sort of liked the pain.
"Maybe I should become a martial artist."
"No wait, definitely a hero. I could get hurt way worse there."
Izuku shut his eyes and started imagining his life as the number one hero. Saving people with a smile on his face.
After Homeroom everyone gathered outside near the bus stop to make their way to the fairy. Izuku handed his permission slip to his biology teacher who was going with them to the island. They were going there to observe the not so wild cows that live there.
On the bus Izuku observed the wildlife that was in his hometown of Musutafu. He watched people as they passed by, the occasional dog and even a herd of deer. They must've been lost or something because he'd never seen anything like it before. The deers probably don't know what lost means, but nonetheless Izuku was trapped thinking about what made them stray this far out of the forest.
"Wasn't it scary to be out this far?"
"Is there no food in the forest?"
Eventually he realised that he was in deep thought about deer philosophy so he willed himself to stop, instead choosing to put on his headphones. He'd been infatuated with pre quirk music for a while, things even his grandparents would think were ancient, if he'd ever met them. This got him contemplating how he and his mom only really had each other. This thinking was interrupted by a buzz in his pocket. It was a text from a contact named the bomb factory wishing him happy birthday with a few emojis. He'd been reminded that his mom had others but he didn't. This made him happy in a weird way. Knowing he burdened someone a little less. Izuku looked out of the bus window again and turned his volume all the way up. Soft drums and snares mixed with saxophone and bass soothed him. However, all good things must come to an end. This came when his headphones were violently ripped off his ears, the chord catching on his neck before splitting off.
"Oi Deku! My mom told me to wish you a happy birthday."
Izuku looked up at his aggressor with a worried frown.
The atomic blonde held Izuku's headphones by his face and grinned, a grin that quickly faltered when he didn't get a response from the greenette.
"Shitface! I'm talking to you. Don't you have any manners?" Bakugou yelled at the slumped form of Izuku.
"I'm sorry Kaccan." He said, cowering a bit.
"Atta boy. Now everyone! Why don't we wish the birthday boy a happy birthday by singing for him?"
Bakugou smiled as he looked around meeting the gazes of everyone else.
"C'mon I'll take the tone."
Izuku sat through an entire bus singing him happy birthday against his wishes. Like he'd object either way. He couldn't wait to get off the bus now. Luckily they were almost there. By the end Bakugou stopped singing and he leaned in close.
"Sorry for your headphones Deku. I'm doing you a service, all that music is clogging your ears." He said, venom in his voice, before throwing the broken pair in the trash. They had been a gift from his mom for Christmas last year, and he was not too pleased about having to let go of them so soon. Izuku grit his teeth and clenched his fists, something that the explosive next to him picked up on instantly.
"Whacha gonna do huh? Hit me?"
He scoffed when the boy in front of him didn't move a muscle.
"Thought so." He said and walked away.
When the bus arrived it was only a short walk to the ferry after they got on Izuku immediately walked to the upper deck to find a roomy spot to do absolutely nothing during the 2 and a half hour boat trip. Izuku found a homey spot near the captain's room on the upper deck where he could sit unnoticed by everyone.
It was going to be a long boat ride so he had plenty of time to put on his music and zone out. Alas, his headphones were broken, so instead of smooth jazz to comfort him he'd have to use his imagination. After a few minutes he felt the boat starting to move and as it did he acutely listened to the hum of the big engine pushing them forward. It wasn't a very comforting hum, very industrial and soulless. It was here, in a little crawl space that was not designed for humans to use, or to be used at all, that Izuku came to regret not bringing his new book.
As he sat he began to tune out the sound of the engine and instead listen to the waves and the splashing of water underneath him. Wasn't much soul to it but it sounded sort of pleasing. Izuku closed his eyes.
*THUMP
He shifted his head a bit at the noise, but wasn't too phased.
*THUMP THUMP THUMP
Izuku mouthed the words "what the fuck", he opened his eyes and looked to the side into a metal wall.
*THUMP THUMP STOMP STOMP STOMP
Izuku grew a bit scared at the loud footsteps approaching him. Suddenly a figure revealed itself in the entrance to the crawl space he was residing in.
At closer look Izuku realised that it was Shō, a kid on the heavier side with a wing quirk.
"Oh come on!" Izuku yelled surprisingly quietly. Hopefully Shō here was too fat to squeeze through and reach him.
"Lookie here, nest hair having deku is hiding from everyone." Shō said as he looked out and waved to someone. The very next second a hand with awfully long joints reached around the wall of the crevasse. Shō took a step back and let the Mr hands show himself. Mr Hands, who's real name was Hinata, peeked around the corner and locked eyes with Our green haired protagonist.
Hinata was quite the opposite of Shō, it was amazing they got along.
Slenderman turned back to diabetic Smaug and said, "What do ya say we give him a second happy birthday?"
Izuku peaked around Hinata's bone thin figure and looked at Shō, who was stroking his chin.
"Great idea Hinata! Get his ass."
Izuku gave a pleading look to his long-fingered classmate who just responded with a cruel smile. Elongated fingers wrapped around Izuku's ankles and started dragging him out from his hiding spot.
As Izuku was fully exposed the winged fat-man grabbed his arms, the two aggressors lifting him off the floor of the boat.
"Hey guys please stop, you've already wished me a happy birthday eheh." Izuku said, squirming a bit in their clutches.
"Don't worry Deku, we'll make it worth your time."
The pair started walking off with Izuku, swinging him side to side as they went, causing him to hit the railing and the wall. After a bit of strutting around Hinata yelled,"Hey Deku! Have you seen this view? With you being in that little hole all day." Hinata switched his grip from Izuku's ankles to his butt and underwear, making a swinging motion towards the sea at Shō, who promptly moved his hands further up Izuku's arms to his shoulders.
"Yeah Deku, you really oughta see it."
Shō said as the two manoeuvred to make Izuku face the ocean.
"Guys please, the weather isn't even that great, I mean with the clouds and everything."
It was true, the weather wasn't good and the view wasn't either.
"Please, we insist." They both said.
They hoisted Izuku back and forth, swinging him over the railing and back, making him hit the wall with a loud bang, which was probably his music player. Anyways, it really hurt his cheeks to be smashed into a wall. Each time his head flew over the railing it became less and less scary. Back and forth they went for a while until-
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THREE DOING!?"
Izuku, who was in the middle of being hoisted over the railing, looked to his right to see who was presumably the captain walking towards them with a pissed expression. Suddenly he felt the grip on his shoulder loosen and then let go, causing him to fall down on the railing which hit just below the ribs. Izuku looked back towards the writhing ocean below him as he slid further off the railing. At one point he felt a bit of a stop in his descent which was probably Hinata holding him by the pants, but Izuku slid out of those too. Izuku fell a few feet until his pant legs caught his shoes, and props to them, they held him for a good few seconds. Cursing that he'd always size up for comfort, Izuku fell further. He was in a head first fall towards the surface of the water. He tried with all his might to turn and contort his body in a futile attempt at grabbing the bottom deck railing, but alas, he didn't make it. As Izuku hit the water all the air in his lungs was removed. He spun around and around, hitting the sides of the boat and eventually something fast hit him really hard in the stomach and he lost all strength to keep trying to breach the surface again. After all, his swimming skills had been of no use this far. A hot, numbing pain spread from where he'd been hit last which was somewhat pleasant because of the cold water. He held his hands to the wound and felt his fingers warm up before anything else.
Was that the rudder that hit me? He thought to himself as he felt his stomach. There was for sure an opening and blood leaking out of it.
Gonna leave a sick scar at least. It doesn't even hurt that bad.
As he thought this his chest convulsed.
I'm in the ocean right, I can't breathe. Fuck, on my birthday too.
Izuku's chest convulsed violently and he felt extremely lightheaded. There were black rings around the already dark ocean around him. The rings grew thicker and a split second before everything turned pitch black he saw glowing red.
Hal 9000? Is that you?
…
Although Izuku in all honesty was dead 2 minutes after he took the plunge he was still conscious. He didn't feel hot or cold, neither sad nor happy. He felt the ocean swinging him around.
There wasn't much thinking done at this time. Izuku saw no need to. He had no conflicting emotions and was comfortable just drifting aimlessly through all eternity. This was until he started hearing things. By hearing things it wasn't water noises or maybe some aquatic animal. It started off with bass tones then after a while came the mids. Eventually he could make out whole instruments. There was no doubt about it, Izuku was hearing pre Vietnam war era music at the bottom of the ocean. This got him thinking.
Am I really dea-
"No the hell you're not son!"
Izuku's eyes fluttered open to a bright light hanging above him. Nothing like a hospital bulb which he was kind of expecting, but a warm light. It came into focus and it turned out to be a big golden chandelier. He felt a bit of tingling in his torso where he'd previously been torn open. This caused him to swiftly look down with strength he didn't know he had. Right on his stomach was some kind of sea slug squirming around.
A disgusted look grew on his face, but he made no attempt to remove it. Instead he looked around him. Izuku was laying spread eagle on a soaked red carpet. Swing was playing from what must've been 100 year old speakers above him. Before he had time to look at everything else, an anthropomorphic squid in a tuxedo peeked through a doorway. They locked eyes and for a split second Izuku got a splitting headache which caused him to twitch a bit.
"Are you okay mister?" It said as it came through fully.
"Dapper are we?" Izuku said. Which was probably some sort of trauma response to what he was witnessing.
"Thanks" it said before looking further down Izuku's body. "Not too shabby yourself."
Izuku looked down further than the slug and now realised that he was completely nude. For a moment he wished the rudder would've taken his genitalia.
"Do you have anything I can borrow?"
Now it felt a bit strange. Had he suddenly gained the ability to talk to people
"Of course, we've sorta been expecting you to come a bit worse for wear."
"Worse for wear?" After a second Izuku rationalised it and nodded his head a bit.
"But wait who are "we"? And how did you know I was going to come in the first place? I thought I was toast, in the ocean. Where am I even?"
The squid waved its arms a bit,"calm down a bit would ya. I'm not comfortable getting hassled by a nude teenager, especially these days, you were way nicer about it before." It did a motion that Izuku could only guess was a shrug and started slide-walking away, "follow me."
Izuku was taken aback at this.
"This must be hell or something."
He looked down one final time at himself and the slug that was suckling on him, considering not for a moment if he should take it off, before standing up swiftly and following the slime trail of the squid. He covered his junk with his hand, not like there was much to cover anyways, Izuku chose to blame this on the cold water in the ocean if anyone asked. He stepped swiftly after the trail of slime. Izuku walked past vases with flowers, paintings, gold adorned furniture among other things. It looked like he was in the most prestigious theatre in the world. He was in a long corridor that ended in a fork, the squid going to the right path. Once Izuku got there he turned to walk right but looked behind himself just to see what was on the other side. There was a gargantuan ballroom with glittering lights and amazing music. But that was not what caught Izuku dead in his tracks. In the ballroom there were 10 ish creatures by Izukus estimate, could have been more or less, they were so disturbing he got migraines by just looking at them. Not even migraines, it felt like he was viewing something that couldn't be viewed. Izuku squinted and shook a bit as the Lovecraftian creatures turned to look at him.
"BWAAAAHAA HAA!"
Izuku stood in shock at what he was hearing. They were laughing at him. There voices weren't even non human, they were deep for sure but nothing a battle hardened American lumberjack couldn't top. He cradled himself a bit in the air before taking a slow step forward, and then another, and another, another…
"Alright squid guy, where the hell am I? I think I'm going insane."
Izuku asked as he walked up to what looked like a changing room, hands still over his junk.
"My name is Alexander. Thank you for asking."
Izuku pointed at Alex and yelled,"You shut up! I'm so fucking scared right now. I can't handle sass. Are my clothes in there!?" He said, pointing towards a red velvet drape that covered a room.
"Yup."
"Thank you… Alexander."
Izuku quickly got in the changing room and saw what he had been loaned. In front of him hung a tuxedo, black with a white shirt and blue bow tie.
"Alright, I'm gonna skip the jacket and the bow tie."
He looked down at the slug and ripped it off like a bandaid, which hurt like a bitch. What was left was a big green open wound. It wasn't bleeding which confused the amazingly still conscious Izuku. He looked at himself in the mirror next to him.
"I look like a corpse."
Pale grey skin, green in some places.
He truly looked like he had just floated ashore after being lost in the ocean. Although his skin wasn't all swollen. Actually it was really clear.
"Right, I was just in the ocean."
"Alex, are you still there?"
…
"Yes."
"Where am I?"
"You're in rapture baby."
"And where is that?"
"North Atlantic Ocean. Somewhere between Greenland and Iceland if I'd guess."
"Say what?" Izuku was in the middle of putting his pants on.
"Yeah, tho you didn't just happen to float by, Cthulhu got you here with whatever he does, I don't know and I don't care for how he does it."
Izuku was warming up to the concept that he was speaking to some eldritch abomination.
"So wait, the guys from my books, written like 200 years ago, are real. And I'm going to, I don't even know, why am I here."
"Yup, Lovecraft wasn't a good writer, he just made some deal with another god and had visions of us."
Huh
Izuku was done putting on the clothes he'd been given and stepped out of the changing room.
"So Alex, how do I look?" He said, stretching out his arms to show the squid his fancy clothes.
"Presentable. Now follow me, they want to talk to you."
…
"We want to sponsor you boy, deal of a lifetime right there."
An impossibly big squid monster said as he tilted an equally impossibly big glass of wine towards Izuku.
The green haired boy was sitting at a normal sized table, with a normal sized glass of wine. He'd never drank alcohol before and he wasn't intending too now. His mother had also told him not to do business when you're drunk.
"And why exactly do you want to do that? I'm not exactly a devoted follower of yours."
The figures around him smiled, he could tell. This made him nervous so against his mothers advice, he took a swig from his glass.
"See boy,,, what's your name?"
"Izuku Midoriya sir."
"Izuku, we don't exactly care if you're a follower or not, we just want to have a little fun. You just happened to be on the verge of dying in me infested waters."
"So what we here are going to do is we're going to lend you a hand in your thus far miserable life. Think of it as a quirk, or whatever you wanna call it, meta ability, witchcraft. We want to see you reinvent yourself."
A tendril tapped Izuku on his chest as the creature spoke its last sentence.
"Hey, first off. My life wasn't miserable, I had it really good thank you."
Cthulhu raised an eyebrow which made all Izuku's built up confidence wither away.
"And secondly, um, am I not dead? Quirk? Are you going to bring me back?"
"Yeah we'll bring you back." One of them said with the casualty of a stoner.
Izuku's heart rate had been steadily climbing ever since he opened his eyes. His breathing was irregular.
Izuku raised his finger for the creature to wait.
"Hold on, I'll get back to you in a second, I think I'm having a panic attack."
Izuku started hyperventilating.
"Oh shit. Alexander! Cut the music, would ya!"
The music quieted down and Izuku's breathing calmed slightly. Suddenly he felt like he wasn't the smallest person in the universe, and everything felt sort of okay. He'd been looking down into the table and when he looked up the gargantuan Lovecraftian creatures suddenly looked people sized and sort of bloated. They had visible eyes, not just red orbs but whites and irises. They had gained colour. They actually looked sort of cute.
Now Izuku was too busy being confused to have a panic attack.
"Are you good bro?"
Yog asked with a sort of confused look.
"What the fuck is happening? Nothing makes sense!"
"We get it bro, but just calm down for a second. Everything will be okay."
Izuku nodded his head to reassure himself. "Yeah, I'll be fine."
"Why did y'all turn so cute all of a sudden?"
"You like this better?"
Izuku nodded.
…
"So what do I do when I get up? Do you want me to like, spread the message?"
"No dude, we really just want to watch what you do whatever. Get famous or something."
"Oh okay! I think I'm ready." Izuku was pumped after a bit of drinking and cheering from the others.
Cthulhu smiled.
"Then we shall get to it my boy."
He gestured for Izuku to stand up, which the greenette did with haste and only a little trouble. He was more than tipsy at this point.
"Now Izuku. There may be some side effects and even limitations to the powers you receive so brace, I guess."
"Wait, what powers am I going to get?"
The octopus monster looked at him and smiled a bit.
"Heh, I ain't tellin."
Then he smacked him on the ass and everything went black.
End of chapter 1
Jesus fucking Christ this took me ages to write. I'm a very slow writer in both what I write and how long it takes me to write it. I apologise for the bad pacing, I simply don't know how to effectively reach the point without my writing being forced. Another thing I'm sorry for is whatever the hell this is. Lovecraft, Bioshock some fucking sick and twisted mix I've been waisting my sleep time writing.
I'm sorry again. This has been Ckahte and I'll let you read chapter 2 now.