Chapter 1: Izuku Midoriya
People aren't born equal.
It's a truth that Izuku Midoriya knew well for the first fourteen years of his life he was rendered powerless, inferior, subhuman or at least that's what he'd been called. Every day he was reminded of just how worthless he was by his peers and if he was being honest with himself, he put himself down. But it wasn't like they weren't right even now at UA he was so far behind everyone.
This quirk given to him may be his but he didn't have a quirk beforehand, sure All Might didn't either but he was All Might and Izuku was just Izuku.
But at least here it was easier to forget.
It was easier to bury the memories of burnt skin and bruises.
It was easy to keep his mouth shut every time the subject of the quirkless population was brought, easy to ignore his classmates' words about them. He could leave behind the unknowingly offensive statements made by some of them because it didn't apply to him anymore.
Accept it did, it always would apply to him, always follow him around like the shadow of his responsibilities.
But at least he could run rom it here among his friends…or so he thought.
He doesn't know how to feel after the Jakku raid, there were so many dead both heroes and civilians and, in the end, Shigaraki had escaped. He had felt it when the news came in that Midnight-Sensei had almost died.
She was a good hero he reasoned with himself, she was a good hero and that was why it had hit him so hard. He didn't think it was because she was the only teacher he'd ever had that had encouraged his skills in art. It wasn't because she like the other teachers in this school were the only ones who valued his opinions.
He himself wasn't exempt from injury. His arms ached constantly now, the amount of power he'd used in his rage at his quirks lifelong enemy pushing his body more than beyond it's limits. It was a miracle he could still feel them at all, but he guessed that he was used to feeling pain in his body. Not that he didn't deserve it of course, if he were better then he wouldn't have injured himself nor would he have been weak enough to let others bully him. For this reason, he gives his friends a smile he knows they see through but thankfully leave alone.
But the real issue that's been plaguing him is what happened to Kacchan…or rather what was taken from him.
He hadn't really fully registered it back then, the event was simply fuel to his fire, ammo to fuel his rage and push him forward but the fact that Kacchans quirk was taken from him permanently was something he couldn't avoid.
Kacchan was quirkless.
Kacchan who shone brighter than Izuku could ever hope to be is now the one without power, their childhood positions have been reversed but the thing that has truly been getting to Izuku is that Katsuki is still here. He's still in the 1A dorm in the hero course even if Izuku doesn't know how long that will last.
He is still attending classes and while they haven't done any practical assessments Kacchan is still here and Izuku is forced to confront something he's tried to bury within his mind every day.
Each one of their classmates obviously shows their support, Uraraka spars against him just as hard as she always has. She refuses to hold back and by the end there are usual bruises that last for days. Everyone else takes a que from the brunette and give their all against him as well and Izuku can see how frustrating it is for him to lose so often but of course he goes at it with all the fire he can muster.
He goes at it harder and harder with an increased fire as if to make up for the lack of it in his hands.
It says something about how he's started to grow compared to middle school, that he can stomach their support in any way says something about him doesn't it?
The ones closest to him treat him the same as they always do, Kirishima, Sero and Kaminari egging him on until he explodes at them and Izuku doesn't talk about Kacchans words to Ashido on one of the occasions she hangs out with them.
It's not just her of course, sometimes their other classmates would look at him with pity or concern that he quickly corrects.
"I'm not fucking fragile." Is what he says.
Izuku ignores the way his stomach churns into a knot and the way something inside him boils over. It was fine, he was used to keeping that down.
Despite all the support, eventually, someone has to ask the unasked question. Maybe Kacchan had already talked about it to his friends, but not to the class as a whole. So on a night that they're all gathered around to watch a movie it's Momo that bites the bullet
"Are you… still going to be a hero, even though you're quirkless now?"
Kacchan rolls his eyes. "I'm going to be the number one hero ponytail, It doesn't matter if I have a quirk or not."
Izuku ignores the looks he got when he stood up.
He ignored the look he got when he ignored his friends calling out to him.
He ignored the way the blood in his veins was pounding in his body as he made a beeline for his room because Kacchan was wrong .
He ignores the thought that the blonde doesn't have the right to be right.
"Hey, Midoriya. Do you have a minute to talk?"
That was Kirishima speaking to him through his dorm door, wasn't he supposed to be downstairs with everyone else? Something in his gut caused him to hesitate as he went to open the door and when he saw that look on Kirishimas face it increased tenfold.
"Is everything okay?"
The redhead shuffled in place, Izuku noted the slight sweat on his brow and the shifting of his eyes. He was nervous but why? He'd never been nervous when talking to Izuku before, did he do something wrong?
"I…" Kirishima rocks back and forth on his feet, his eyes on the floor as he tries to get his words out. "I'm just—we've noticed how weird around Bakugou—"
"Everyone's been acting weird around Kacchan."
Crap, he didn't mean for that to have such a bite to it.
"Yeah, at first sure but it's been weeks and it's pretty much just you now." Kirishima was frowning now and Izuku did not start to wilt at the glare that was forming. "I just can't figure it out. You're a good person Midoriya. I haven't seen you judge someone by their quirk before and you talk like every quirk is the best thing ever, even boring ones and yet the moment Bakugou doesn't have a quirk… it's like something is different!"
He balked. No , Kirishima wasn't suggesting that he was? No, that would be ridiculous right? He wouldn't just jump to that right? Not after everything they'd been through!
"You and Bakugou were starting to work through things! We all could see that and you've completely stopped talking to him and the only reason I can think of is because he doesn't have a quirk anymore!"
Izuku stared wide eyed at the red head who was now clenching his hands so hard that his quirk had involuntarily activated. Izuku took a step back, but it wasn't because he was afraid, he turned his head down because he could feel it now. Red hot and strong he could only bite his lips as he tried to form words to both explain to his friend the situation.
"I'm-trying." He said his form shaking, he was uncomfortable with this conversation. Kirishima would see that right? He was always so nice. "I just-it's not that simp—"
"I didn't think you'd have to try so hard to be a decent human being." Kirishima spits those words out and all of a sudden, it's like he's back in middle school.
Back in a place that had said such similar words to him, words that even Kacchan had said but he had expected Kirishima to be different. Expected all of them to be different. Logically he knew that Kirishima was angry and if he just explained he could clear this up-but why should he have to?
Why was he the bad guy all of a sudden? Because he didn't talk to Kacchan? Because he avoided Kacchan now? Why? Why was everyone turning on him now?
The anger was back again, it was so much hotter than it was just a few seconds ago that he couldn't put a lid on it when he snapped his head up and glared at his friend.
"Fuck you Kirishima." He spat out causing the redhead to balk. "I don't have to explain myself to you when it's none of your business."
"How is it not my business!? You're acting like Bakugou is someone to be avoided just because he's—"
"Oh, so quirkless people all of a sudden don't have to be protected now? You seemed to have a different opinion before Kacchan lost his."
He wanted to stop, he really did but he couldn't. His mouth wasn't listening to him, why wasn't it listening to him!?
"Midoriya—"
"No!" He cut him off. "You don't get to just barge in and accuse me of being—of being quirkist when most of you—"
He knew that wasn't fair-not actually it was wasn't it? But he couldn't do this anymore, he couldn't stare at Kirishima who looked at him in anger and hurt. Why was he hurt?! He was the one who had barged up here and accused him of something he's had to face since he was four years old!
Instead Izuku slammed the door in his face and returned to his desk, his hands gripping his head as he felt like throwing up, but not out of disgust. His emotions all swirl in a mix of rage, jealous sadness and hurt. They attack him and it's like he's feeling Shigaraki's decay spreading all throughout his body.
It's a close thing, but somehow, everything stays in . He chokes the sobs back on his hand, shoves up his sleeve so he can bury his nails in the already abused flesh of his arm to hold himself together.
But even then his mind just wouldn't leave him alone .
'It'll be fine.' He told himself. 'Tomorrow I'll apologize and everything will go back to normal. They'll understand. They're my friends, they'll understand.'
Except they wouldn't, he understood that fully when his friends began to avoid him.
She was frustrated.
She knew exactly why she was frustrated but that didn't exactly help Jirou in the slightest. The whole situation felt wrong to her and she knew exactly why.
'I can't picture Midoriya being like that.' She thought as she tapped her finger against her desk.
It had been one week since Kirishima had returned from his talk with Midoriya and it was hard to put the redheads words with the image she had of the resident cinnamon roll in her head. Well, maybe former cinnamon roll was more accurate given the way he was acting. She sent a glance Izukus way, she'd noticed the way he had drawn into himself more and more as the days went on. He stopped being enthusiastic in classes and she noticed how he flinched whenever one of the Bakusquad passed him.
He'd even stopped muttering.
Now normally one would think that with a quirk like hers something like Midoriyas constant muttering finally stopping would be a godsend. And if you had asked her at the beginning of the year she would have said yes. But she had grown more than used to it by this point, hell she even sometimes looked forward to it, the act helping her focus on something when she was frustrated or her mind wandered too far in class.
She also knew that his muttering was a big part of just who Midoriya Izuku was along with those notebooks that weren't ever far out of his reach…but both were gone now.
So here she was, tapping her finger to fill the silence as Aizawa explained their latest project to them. It would be a project done in groups of two, they were free to pick their partners just so long as they actually did the work assigned to them. She looked around at the usual groups forming up, Kirishima obviously went to Bakugou, Mina and Sero hooked up while Ida and Uraraka partnered up too.
But her gaze remained focused on Midoriya, no one was even looking his way as the groups were formed, heck he wasn't even attempting to try and find someone to group with. It was like he was resigned—no it was more like he was expecting everyone to avoid him. It made her feel guilty because she may not have been avoiding him but she wasn't exactly interacting with him a lot now was she?
And why? Because Kirishima had come down in a fit of anger and had basically told everyone that Midoriya was avoiding Bakugou because he was quirkist against people without quirks and that's why he was avoiding Bakugou?
"Hey Jirou, you want to partner up!?"
She jolted. "Jeez Kaminari I'm right here you don't need to yell!"
The blonde chuckled and offered an apology. "Sorry, sorry but you looked like you were spacing out, what were you looking at-oh."
The blonde frowned as his eyes landed on Midoriya.
"Did he do something to upset you?"
"What no he's just been…quiet."
Kaminari nodded. "I guess, but I'd be quiet too if people learned who I really was too."
But they already knew who Midoriya was. He was the guy that broke his bones to save them, the guy who'd fought and survived villains with them and the guy who nearly got himself killed trying to save boatloads of people before their first year at UA was up. Didn't he deserve the benefit of the doubt? Didn't he deserve to explain his side of things before everyone picked sides?
She thought back to the Cultural Festival, how the green haired boy looked so enamored and impressed with how she'd written out advice for the band. She knew she wasn't on par with how he took his notes, but his compliments had served to ease her worries nonetheless. The fact that he continued to help her organize it for everyone to understand leading up to her performance was a big help and when she'd learned that he'd fought a villain just so that she could perform the song she'd been working hard towards made her glad that they were friends.
Did that sound like the type of guy to avoid someone for their lack of a quirk? Yet nearly everyone had taken Kirishimas words and ran with it. They hadn't given Midoriya the time of day to explain himself and he just seemed so…so used to that.
Whatever Kaminari was saying was cut off as she stood up then, she stared down at her desk as she contemplated what she was about to do. She'd probably lose a few friends because of this…but she had to stick to what she thought was right.
"Hey Midoriya."
The boy looked up at her, his eyes widening slightly as he noticed the assignment paper held in her hands.
"Want to partner up for this?"
She could practically feel the surprised and hurt expression on Kaminaris face as the class got quieter.
"A-are you sure? Wouldn't you rather partner with someone else?"
"If I wanted to partner up with someone else then I would have asked someone else then wouldn't I?" She snarked as she sat atop his desk. "Come on, use that big brain of yours to help me get started on this thing."
He blinked for a moment before a small smile sprouted on his face before giving a nod, if Jirou noticed him wiping his sleeve a few times before the bell rang for lunch she didn't comment on it at all.
"Jirou what the heck!"
The punk girl sighed from her position on the couch. Looking up she saw Kaminari crowding around her and raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean Jamming Whey?"
"You know what I mean! Why'd you partner up with Midoriya!?"
"Am I not supposed to partner up with one of my friends?" She snapped now glaring at the blonde. "Why're you complaining you partnered up with Mineta didn't you?"
"Well yeah but-"
"Then there's nothing else to it Kaminari." She said turning back to the show she was watching.
"You can't partner with him he's—"
"My friend." She said making the blonde flinch. "Last I checked he was your friend too or did you just forget that?"
She didn't feel satisfied at the guilty look that crossed Kaminaris face, good. He should feel guilty, hell they all should feel guilty for how they were treating Midoriya but that didn't mean she enjoyed putting her friends down.
"Ease up Jirou." Kirishima said coming to his friends defense with a frown. "He's just worried about you, I thought we all agreed that we'd leave Midoriya alone from now on."
"No, you guys all agreed to do that, I never said a word when I should have when this first started." She said standing up. "It was stupid then and he's stupid now."
"You saw what he's been doing to Bakubro! He's basically bullying him!"
"What the heck do you think you're doing Kirishima!" She yelled at the shark toothed boy who looked like he'd been slapped.
"Wha—I'm not—"
"You are!" She hissed. "Both of you are, Kaminari you think I don't hear you talking behind Midoriyas back? Some friend you are and how manly do you think you are after isolating Midoriya from everyone Kirishima?"
"He was doing it to Bakugou!"
"One person does not equal nearly the entire class!" She threw up her hands in exasperation, she could hear the others start to pay more and more attention to the conversation.
"Bakugous going through a lot right now and Midoriya avoiding it is only adding to it!" Kaminari spoke up, trying desperately to make her understand. "We know they've had their issues but him avoiding Bakugou because he doesn't have a quirk is wrong. We're his friends we have too."
"You are not my friend."
She slapped a hand over her mouth as the words left her throat, she heard gasps reverberate around the room as Kaminari took a step back. She-she hadn't meant to say that out loud, she could see how much that had hurt Denki but…
"Midoriya is my friend," She spat out. "He was yours too and you all just abandoned him without even hearing him out. After everything he's done and been through...how is that fair? How is that right?"
The words felt like acid coming out of her mouth but they were true, she didn't have to look at Kaminari to know how he was feeling. Aside from Momo he was probably her closest friend in 1A and she knew what she was saying was going to sever that bond, possibly for good. But if he was going to keep acting like an idiot and go along with Kirishimas stupid idea then she wasn't-she couldn't stay his friend.
"I'm going to my room." She was done with her classmates for the day.
If she looked back she would have seen the small smile Tsuyu was sending her…and the contemplative look Momo was giving the floor.
