Whew. This one was a DOOZY to write. Especially Izuku and All Might's conversation. I tried to keep everyone in character and make them reasonably sympathetic.
Enjoy!
Round Face hadn't touched him, but Katsuki still felt like he'd been punched in the gut.
Izuku Midoriya, Deku. His former friend, and former victim. Katsuki rarely thought about him anymore, yet whenever he did, he felt ashamed. When they were kids they'd been close friends, thick as thieves. They did everything together.
Then Katsuki got his quirk and Izuku didn't. Katsuki was told his quirk made him amazing, that he was superior than everyone else. Logically that made Quirkless little Deku inferior. When Izuku refused to give up his dream of being a Hero, to stop seeing Katsuki as an equal, Katsuki viewed it as an attack on his very self.
He responded the way he always did. Brutally and relentlessly.
For ten years, he bullied Izuku to break his dream. For ten years, Izuku held firm. Finally, after telling Izuku the cruelest thing he'd said before or since, Katsuki succeeded. Izuku's eyes lost their desperate fire, leaving only ash.
It was unnerving. Katsuki couldn't bring himself to speak to the nerd for the rest of the year. However, he always arrived at school early and left late to check the roof.
Just in case.
At UA, Katsuki felt the nerd's absence. He'd been an ever-present part of Katsuki's life for so long, it was weird for him to be gone. But he'd gone to a public High School, far away from Katsuki. Throughout that first year, as he met kids as strong as he was, Katsuki's self-image crumbled. Half'n'Half's demonstration in the Battle Trial, Eyebags' victory in the Sports Festival, Katsuki's failure in the exams, his kidnapping by the League, they all showed him how weak he was. He wasn't better than his classmates. In fact, in a lot of ways he was worse.
His childhood memories turned bitter as it slowly dawned what how he'd really been. By the time it sank all the way through, it was far too late for apologies.
"So," Round Face said, "You're Kacchan."
"I am," Katsuki said. "How do you know the nerd?"
Round Face shrugged. "We became friends after High School. Served together in the AMF."
AMF? Those assholes the Heroes out in wilderness areas always complain about?
Katsuki brushed the thought aside. "What did he tell you?"
"Enough" she said. "You bullied him."
"An understatement," Katsuki said. "I made his life a living hell. I refused to face my own weakness, and made him pay for it."
Saying it to himself was hard enough. Saying it out loud almost physically hurt. But it was the truth, and Katsuki refused to run from it.
Her eyes narrowed. "Do you regret it?"
Katsuki nodded. "I do."
Round Face had a thoughtful expression. "Did you ever apologize?"
Katsuki shook his head. "By the time, I realized how horrible I'd been, it'd been over a year since I'd spoken with him. It would just reopen old wounds. He doesn't deserve that."
The fire in Round Face's eyes faded. She sighed. "You're probably right. But!" She pointed a finger to his face. "If you two do ever speak again, at least consider it. He'd probably appreciate it."
Katsuki nodded. Noted. After a moment of hesitation, he said. "How is he?"
Round Face looked surprised. "He's fine. He's in a job he loves, and has purpose. He's happy now."
"Good," Katsuki said. "Between his dream-crushing handicap and the shit I put him through, he deserves that much."
Round Face gave Katsuki a disappointed look. "You still don't think he could've been a Hero, do you?"
"No," Katsuki said. "You need power to fight Villains. Without it you die. Even with quirks that happens."
Round Face folded her arms. "Plenty of other Heroes have quirks that are useless in combat and do just fine. It would have been an uphill fight, but Midori's capable of more than you think. Much more."
She turned and walked toward the door, then briefly stopped. "I won't hold it against you though. Everyone underestimated him."
She walked out.
Dr. Mifune packed the last of his notes. Before putting away the last notebook, he gave one final look at the various pages of loose pencil scrawls, notes in the margins, mathematical equations, and some brief insights in another, neater, set of handwriting.
He shoved the book into his bag and stood up. It was nearly time.
He stepped into the hallway, passing one of the guards they'd hired.
The Meta Liberation Army had been "kind" enough to lend him and X guards from their own personnel, even providing one of their warehouses as a hideout, but Mifune and X had other plans.
They discreetly moved their equipment to a property they'd procured ahead of time and hired an independent Villain to stand guard. When the MLA's plan went off the rails they could do nothing to stop it.
As Mifune walked toward the workroom, he pulled out his locket and opened it, peering at the picture within.
Sleep well my dear. They will pay for what they did to us.
Doctor," X said.
Mifune snapped the locket shut.
X grinned. "I'm doing the last check. We should be able to start tonight."
Mifune nodded. "Good." He stuffed the locket in his pocket and sat down to wait.
Izuku sat dead still as All Might eased himself onto the bench.
He couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he could barely think. He tried to go back reading, but the words became a blur. Memories danced through his mind, despite his best efforts to squash them.
"You've always been my favorite Hero!"
"Can I be a Hero without a quirk?"
"No, I should think not."
His eyes started to water. Why?
Why did this memory still hurt? He'd proven All Might wrong. He'd proven him wrong for seven years! He'd killed Gargantuas. He'd killed Kamacuras. Heck, he'd faced the King of the Monsters himself! He'd put his life on the line, survived, and saved who knows how many in the process. He'd done all the things All Might, no everyone said he couldn't do.
So why did that memory still hurt?
"Young man, are you alright?"
Izuku's eyes snapped open. He turned to All Might before hastily looking away. "Yeah. I'm fine."
"Have we…met before?"
Izuku stared at the ground, careful to avoid looking his former hero in the eyes. "Yes, but don't worry. You probably wouldn't remember."
It can't be…
Toshinori had written off the curly green hair as a coincidence, just his mind playing tricks. But the eyes, the freckles, nervous expression as he stared at the ground, Toshinori couldn't deny it anymore.
"It's you."
The boy's eyes briefly darted to Toshi, but refused to meet his eyes.
"That day with the Sludge Villain. The rooftop," Toshinori said.
The boy looked up. "So you do remember."
How could I not remember that?
The boy looked away again. "I mean, I get that I learned your secret and all, but nothing came of it and everyone found out a year later anyway. I guess figured you'd forget."
That was what he thought Toshinori would find notable? That the boy discovered his scrawny form? Not the way he'd cruelly snuffed out the boy's hope? The way he'd dismissed his pain? Did he really think Toshinori could do that and just treat it like another Tuesday?
"Young man I…," Toshinori said. "There's something I've been wanting to say to you for a long time." He took a deep breath. "I…"
The young man slowly looked up, finally met his eyes.
Toshinori took another breath and said what he'd been waiting to say for over ten years. "I'm sorry. For the way I spoke to you all those years ago. It was cruel of me to crush your dreams the way I did. I strove to bring hope to those in need, but on that day, I brought you only despair. Forgive me."
What.
Out of all the things All Might could have said…he never expected to hear those words. Part of him wanted to accept, to not hold a grudge, to still look up to All Might. But…
Even after so long, resentment still burned. Izuku wanted to let it go, to accept All Might's request…
But could he? "I…"
"You don't have to forgive me if you can't bring yourself to," All Might said. "My words must have hurt so much. You'd be well within your rights to hate me for it."
Izuku closed his fist. "That's just it. I didn't hate you. I was sad. Then empty. But I didn't resent you. Not back then. For a time I saw it as you helping me, telling me the hard truth I needed to learn."
All Might raised an eyebrow. "And that…changed?"
Izuku nodded. "Yeah. It did. A year or so later when…I guess I stopped believing you."
All Might looked confused.
"I stopped believing that it was impossible to be a Hero without a quirk. I began to believe that with the right combination of gear, training, and strategy even powerful opponents could be taken down. Don't get me wrong. I couldn't have been a Hero, I was a scrawny kid with no training or skills beyond some decent quirk analysis. I never would have gotten into UA."
Izuku closed his eyes, trying to keep water from forming. "But you didn't say that. You didn't talk about my actual weaknesses, my plans and lack thereof, you just heard I didn't have a quirk and stopped there!"
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what you said, or sorry for how you said it?!"
All Might sighed. "You know, my quirk came in when I was fourteen."
Izuku's eyes widened. He can't be saying…
"I was once much like you. I even wanted to be a Hero like you. But, if I hadn't gotten my quirk I never could have done it. As I said before, some foes can't be beaten without power-"
"And what happens when they can't be beaten with power?!" Izuku said. "Do the Heroes just run away?"
All Might faltered. "Young man? I'm afraid don't understand…"
For a moment, Izuku considered telling him, in excruciating detail, how thoroughly he'd disregarded All Might's advice. How dangerous his job was and how powerful his enemies were. But…that would be cruel.
If Izuku was going to tell All Might, he didn't want to do it like this. Especially since, if what All Might was saying was true, he wasn't just someone who just wrote Izuku off as weak. He was someone who'd been in the same situation and judged accordingly, however wrong he might have been.
"Forget it." Izuku leaned against a tree. "I don't want to hate you, you know. I know you sincerely believed I couldn't do it. I know you meant well. I know you're a good man but…"
"The resentment lingers?"
Izuku nodded. "Yeah, it does." He put his hands in his pocket and checked the time. "I have to go, I have work to do."
All Might's shoulders sagged. "I see."
As Izuku started to leave, All Might said, "Pardon, is that some kind of workplace joke?"
He pointed at the shirt Izuku wore beneath his Uravity Hoodie, the one that said, "Quirkless G-Force Member. Fighting Villains was "too dangerous" so instead I fight Godzilla!"
Izuku zipped up his hoodie. "Yeah, a joke." He began walking again, but stopped. "Just please All Might, next time a quirkless child comes up to you, don't crush his dreams. If you don't believe me that its possible, ask the AMF what they have to deal with without quirks. You'll find it surprising."
"I will remember that. By the way, what kind of work do you do?"
"Pest control. And right now there are some bugs that need to be exterminated."
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I did my best to make clear that while All Might and Bakugo DO feel bad for their callousness and cruelty respectively, they don't think Izuku could have been a Hero. They have reasons for it, and Izuku and Ochako disagree, but their beliefs are sincere.
I want them to be sympathetic in that regard even if we think they're wrong. Hope I conveyed that well.
I think you'll all like next chapter where I have ONE last character to introduce...
