"Mom! Mom! Mom!" Izuku bounced up and down eagerly, "The video! Look!"

Inko shook her head. "Oh, no!" She gasped, "I couldn't possibly watch! That video is way too scary for me! I don't know how you can watch it!"

Before she even finished, Izuku had already swiveled his chair back to the computer. Stars lit up his eyes as he stared at the Hero on screen, his smile matching their own for a brief moment.

"It is alright!" The man announced, laughing all the while, "Because I am here!"

His eyes were as wide as planets. "So cool…!"

At that moment, his mind was made up.

Izuku wanted to be just like All Might.

He wanted to save everyone with a smile, and make people feel safe just by seeing him! He wanted to have people cheer for him like they did in the video, and people to celebrate when he showed up.

Izuku wanted to be loved like him, too. He wanted people to cheer his name when they saw him, to give him high fives and hugs on the street and make him feel like he belonged among all the people around him.

"Mom!" He shouted eagerly, his tiny four-year-old body barely able to contain his energy, "Can I be a Hero, too?!"

She giggled at his enthusiasm. "Of course, Izuku!" His mother nodded, "You can be whatever you want!"

"Yay!" Izuku cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "Hooray! Yes! I'll be a great Hero one day!"

–

Yeah right.

"It's good to have dreams, but it's important to be realistic."

Those same words had been ringing in Izuku's ears every single time he thought about his broken, shattered dream now. All Might had tried to be gentle, but that was like holding back slightly when slamming a sledgehammer through a pane of glass. It still hurt like hell to think about that day on the rooftop, even over a year later.

But that didn't really matter. Izuku had no chance of passing any of UA's entrance exams, regardless of whether or not All Might crushed his dream. All the man did was finally drive the stake all the way through his heart - something that had been painstakingly carved into his chest for well over a decade by that point.

Which led him down the long and difficult road of finding a different high school - or, at least, a different high school that would accept him.

There weren't many. Between the sheer number of infractions on his records and the fact he was Quirkless, most of his applications weren't worth the paper they were written on.

He ended up with a single option (at least, a single option that wasn't just following most of his middle school classmates to the same school, but that wasn't happening for a lot of reasons).

Kuoh Academy. A formerly all-girls school that had recently opened up for boys, and was clearly desperate to even out its population if it was willing to interview Izuku of all people.

He couldn't really afford to fuck the meeting with the headmaster up.

And somehow, someway, he didn't. So now, he attended a school several towns over from his home, living alone in a cramped apartment that he used as an excuse to get away from his mother, with no friends, no connections, no plans for his shitty life, and no future.

It wasn't all bad, though.

The teachers were nicer than they were in Aldera (which was an admittedly low bar but still), for one, and it seemed like most of them didn't even care that he was Quirkless.

His classmates were also better. He didn't get beat up nearly as much, or even insulted to his face!

Sure, they were almost certainly all talking about him behind his back, and almost all guys also took pleasure in tripping him in crowded hallways and everyone tried their best to ignore his existence, but that was still an improvement (as pathetic as it was).

Part of that probably came from the fact that a lot of the guys were jealous of him, though. But it wasn't even a normal reason to be jealous of someone - it was just because girls didn't actively hunt him down and beat him up for being a perv, which was somehow more than what ninety-five of the male populace at his new school could accomplish.

Still, apparently that was enough of a reason to get his teeth kicked in every once in a while - even if he hadn't even talked to any of his female classmates yet, and probably wouldn't ever if he was being honest. What girl would want to talk to him?

Maybe it was because they couldn't beat up the actual object of the girls' affections…

"Kiba-chan~!"

Kiba Yuuto. The 'Prince of Kuoh', though Izuku had never heard the boy refer to himself as such. He was a second-year, and the apple of the vast majority of the female populace's eye - and the ire of all the males (minus Izuku). With thin blonde hair and bright blue eyes sitting atop a fit body and sharp features, it wasn't hard to see why women flocked to him.

Also, he was a gentleman. Girls couldn't get enough of him, especially because he always ended up leaving them wanting more.

As he passed Izuku, he waved to the crowd behind him. "Hello ladies," Kiba greeted, an easygoing smile on his face that made the ladies swoon, "I'm sorry, but I really must be going. I wish I could talk with each of you longer!"

They giggled like a sea of toddlers. "That's okay, Kiba-chan~!"

Once some of the fanclub dispersed, he turned to face Izuku. "Hello Midoriya-kun," Kiba greeted friendlily, "How are you on this fine day?"

Izuku tensed as he spoke. For some reason, Kiba always went out of his way to talk to him, uncaring of the weird looks he got when he did so. He figured he was popular enough to do as he pleased, but it was still weird.

And he didn't really like it. People didn't just want to be his friend. It was one of the constants of nature - fish swam, birds flew, and Izuku was a social pariah. It was how things always were, and how they would always be. There had to be something Kiba wanted from him. Or maybe this was another prank where someone pretended to be his friend until Izuku believed it and they suddenly crushed his heart.

It wouldn't be the first time.

"H-Hi, Kiba-san," he mumbled, shrinking away at the friendly look on his face. "I'm fine."

Izuku tried not to flinch too hard at the way Kiba slung an arm around his shoulder. "Cool!" He said happily, clearly pleased with the fact that Izuku had actually responded (most days he just muttered something incoherent and tried to slink away), "Say, have you given any thought to what club you might join?"

Ah, right. Because this school has clubs, and most of them were desperate to recruit males to get a second team and double the funding.

Kiba was the first one to outright ask him about it, but he'd gotten a few looks from the club captains he knew. They were probably just not yet desperate enough to ask the freak. It was a little ironic that they'd prefer perverts to him, but he got the memo by now - people just plain loathed him.

He didn't even know anyone here, and he still immediately became an outcast. If he didn't know better, Izuku would have been hurt by that fact.

Realizing Kiba was still waiting on an answer, he responded as quickly as he could. "N-Not really."

He hummed, smile as big as ever. "Well…" Kiba trailed off slowly, "The Occult Research Club is always recruiting new members! You're welcome to swing by sometime!"

"U-Uh… maybe… I g-gotta go…"

Izuku wormed his way away from the blonde and hurried down the hallway. He knew it was kind of rude, but he was more than a little uncomfortable with the attention they were getting.

Kiba watched his retreating form calmly. "Okay!" He waved happily. "See you around, Midoriya-kun!"

Hopefully not. Izuku didn't know what sort of game he was playing, but he wasn't dumb enough to fall for the nice guy act anymore.

He walked quickly, sticking to the edge of the mass of people around him and–

And had a door thrown open in his face. More specifically, a door handle was thrown into his nose.

Izuku stumbled backwards, wincing in pain (though nothing felt broken, thankfully) at the blow. He hissed as he touched his nose - that wasn't very fun.

"I'm very sorry about that," A soft voice apologized, "Are you okay?"

He blinked at the realization that the person who had walked out of the room was speaking to him. Usually when this happened the most he got was laughed at, or a brief moment of panic was had by the person who hit him before they realized that it was just the useless Quirkless first-year they had struck and not anybody important.

"I-I'm okay," he said quickly, not even bothering to look in the person's direction at first, "S-Sorry for getting in your way."

Izuku moved to quietly shuffle past whoever he'd just inconvenienced, but was stopped as they put a hand on his shoulder. He froze in horror at the feeling, suddenly reliving middle school with Bakugou all over again, and unconsciously winced as he prepared to get burned.

Hard.

"You don't need to apologize, it was my fault."

His eyes moved up to meet the person speaking to him (something that took more and more effort these days), and after seeing a brief flash of red he met the eyes of–

Holy shit it was Gremory Rias. The Queen of Kuoh Academy in all but name.

Izuku stammered out something unintelligible as his face slowly turned red, causing the red-haired beauty to raise an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're okay?"

He nodded extremely quickly, mind running a thousand miles a minute as he tried to figure out how to get out of this interaction without embarrassing himself or getting slapped. "Yes sorry for bothering you but I really have to go okay sorry bye!"

Hey, he never said it was a good plan. But his word-jumble gave the verdette the chance to run, so he took it - completely unaware and uncaring of the way the redhead's eyes stayed firmly on his fleeing form.

–

Izuku tried to ignore the way his tears were streaming down his face as he watched the video of All Might again.

He didn't like that doctor very much anymore. He had to be lying, right?

"Mom?" His voice was barely above a whisper, and he could feel her eyes trained on the back of his head. She would know what to say, right?

Her shaky voice made him nervous. "Yes, sweetie?"

Izuku turned to face her, and he really didn't like how sad she looked. "He gets to save people with a smile on his face," Izuku whispered, forcing a smile of his own, "Can… can I be a Hero too?"

His mom was silent. Maybe that meant she was figuring out how to tell him yes? How even without a Quirk, she still believed in him? After all, she said he could earlier! So what if Izuku didn't have a Quirk? He could still save people! As long as he did that, he could still become a Hero! And if he could become a Hero, he could still follow all of his dreams! He could still–

"I'm so sorry Izuku!" She cried, "I'm sorry!"

That was the day Izuku learned that some dreams weren't meant to be achieved.

Especially not his.

–

Izuku let out a heavy breath as he leant against the bridge's railing, staring out silently at the bright orange sunset. It was tough, and he had to deal with two separate conversations (two more than usual), but he was finally able to make it out of the school for the day.

It didn't take too long - even with Kiba sort of holding him up and Gremory throwing a door open in his face. Running away was the only thing he was good at, so it'd be pretty damn embarrassing for him to not even be able to do that right.

"E-Excuse me!" A sweet voice beckoned, shaking him out of his stupor, "Are you Izuku Midoriya?"

Izuku blinked. Was someone talking to him? A quick glance confirmed that yes, someone was, and that that someone was a very pretty girl.

The girl looked to be around his age, wearing the uniform of a school he wasn't quite familiar with that hugged her figure nicely. Her soft violet eyes were accompanied by long, silky black hair that nearly reached the ground they stood upon.

"Uh…"

She took his look of shock as a yes. "I'm Yuuma Amano!" The girl introduced, "It's nice to meet you!"

Izuku couldn't believe his luck. Another person wanted to talk to him today? Most days went by without him saying a single word to someone else, and now he had spoken to three people! And two of them were girls!

It was too good to be true.

"H-Hi," he greeted shakily, "U-Um, I'm M-Midoriya Izuku… b-but you already knew that…"

That was the first warning sign. How did she know his name?

Seeing his confused expression, she decided to continue. "I'm sure you're a little confused," Amano giggled, "Sorry. But I've actually been following you for a little bit! N-Nothing bad, I promise, but I saw you help out that old lady with crossing the street the other day, and I thought it was just the sweetest thing ever! My friend from Kuoh told me that she knew you when I asked, and I've been shocked by seeing just how kind and caring you are!"

He blinked slowly. Strike two was someone talking with him and not immediately belittling or bullying him, and this was even weirder than usual.

Someone… had been following him? It didn't seem like the worst thing in the world, all things considered, and he did know what she was talking about with helping a woman cross the street the other day, but it was kind of weird that something as minor as that would catch someone's attention in such a way. "T-Thanks…?"

Amano's smile was sweet enough to give him a cavity. "A-Anyways," she said shyly, slowly walking towards him, "Now that I've finally gotten the chance to talk to you, I was wondering if I could ask you something!"

"S-Sure?" Izuku replied confusedly, the word almost coming out as a question, "Uh, a-ask away…"

She grabbed his hands in her own. "Would you go out with me?"

…

…Oh. Strike three.

So that was what this was about.

A few passersby cooed at the picturesque scene he found himself in - but none of them truly understood the situation. Otherwise, they probably would have been laughing.

Amano seemed to notice the way his mood dipped immediately, her own smile faltering at the way he immediately tensed. "Is something wrong, Izuku?"

His frown deepened at the use of his given name. "P-Please let go of me," he said quickly, pulling his hands out of hers and making Amano gasp in shock, "I n-need to go."

"W-What?" The girl stammered, "But you didn't even answer my–"

"You got me g-good, haha," he said quickly, already starting to move away from her, "I don't know where your friends are hiding, b-but I'm not dumb enough to fall for this."

Again.

This sort of thing had happened back at Aldera more than enough times for Izuku to know better than to think anyone would ever ask him out, let alone like him.

"I don't–"

He tuned Amano out as he started to run, uncaring of the people he was pushing out of his way as he hurried back to his apartment. Her friends had probably gotten more than enough footage of him being humiliated as it was, and Izuku was already dreading hearing the whispers about this in the hallways of Kuoh Academy tomorrow.

Plenty of dirty looks were thrown his way as he practically sprinted away, with more than one person cursing him out for having the audacity to get in his way. Izuku didn't care. This was his normal.

And he hated it.

He fought to keep the tears pooling in his eyes from dripping out. Why did people have to be so cruel? What did he do to deserve to be treated like this?

Of course, he already knew the answer: he was born wrong. A single extra toe-joint ruined his life before he could have ever known. He deserved this. He deserved this for not knowing his place, for not ever understanding just how much of a useless Deku he truly was, and for being such an ungrateful and unlovable piece of trash that the world would never miss.

His mom deserved so much better than him.

And that thought was what finally caused him to lose the fight with his tears.

For what wasn't the first time, Izuku had some hard thoughts about his future when he finally made it home that night.

With every day that passed, Izuku took one step closer to the edge. One day, he'd finally conquer his cowardice and selfishness and do the world a favor.

How bad could a swan dive be?

—

A/N: I am not dead! Though I was very sick. For anyone here expecting another chapter of Straight Through the Mailbox… whoops! I got really sick right before New Years, then I went on vacation (where I did not write), then my flight was canceled so I got stuck on vacation for even longer, and then finally I read a bunch of MHA/DXD fics while on vacation and am now stuck on the idea of torturing our green-haired friend even more now. The next Mailbox update is on the way, but until then here's this abomination where I make Izuku's experiences there seem like heaven. RIP.

(Also I wanted to try and write a harem fic lol but that's neither here nor there).

We'll see where this goes - most chapters will be a lot longer than this one! But if it sucks I'll keep it like this forever, so let me know what you think! Thanks again to my beta Lugia for having to read this junk lol.

Hope you enjoyed it! See you next time!