Chapter Text
“He keeps smiling… no matter what. Mom, even without a Quirk… do you think I could become like him…?”
Inko Midoriya stared down at her 4 year son as tears streamed down his cheeks and around that smile he had forced onto his face. He had been diagnosed Quirkless, his dream had been crushed and he had secluded himself to this old computer as he watched that video of his idol on repeat.
She had no choice… she had a responsibility… she couldn’t let her son pursue something as dangerous as heroics while having no Quirk to protect himself.
It would hurt him, but it would be for the best. She knelt down, embraced him, and, “Of course you can sweetie.” She said softly, tears rolling down her face. Izuku didn’t say anything, he just buried his face in his mom’s shoulder, wrapped his arms around her, and quietly sobbed.
“Kacchan… you need to stop…” Izuku’s lip trembled as he stood between his downed classmate and his former friend, backed by a pair of lackeys with wings and extendable fingers.
“What, trying to play Hero again? Get real Deku, you don’t stand a chance without a Quirk.” Katsuki Bakugou, nicknamed ‘Kacchan’ by Izuku, put his fist into his palm and created a small explosion as a means of intimidation.
When he saw that Izuku refused to back down, he nodded at his goons and let them go first, allowing them to soften Izuku up a bit before he had his fun.
Katsuki stared, more than a little flabbergasted at the green haired boy’s stubbornness as he forced himself to his feet once more.
“I thought I told you, you can’t be a hero without a Quirk!” Izuku barely managed to shield the side of his head with his arm before another explosion sent him sprawling.
Before Izuku could stand again, the winged goon stepped on his back, using his body weight to keep Izuku in place.
“Even without a Quirk… I’m going to become a hero Kacchan… just you see… one day… I’ll catch up to you…” Groaned Izuku, looking at his friend bully through the corner of his eye from his position on the ground.
Bakugou stared down at him quietly for about five seconds before growling. Izuku barely had time to notice the incoming foot before the world went dark.
“Izuku honey what happened to you!?” Izuku winced in pain. The river of tears coming from his mom’s eyes were effective at washing the grime and dirt off, but he had a few open cuts that were getting a bunch of unnecessary salt into them.
“N… nothing, mom… just trying to protect a classmate from some bullies. I just… was too weak…” He explained quietly as he stared at the floor.
His mom sniffled, tears still in the corners of her eyes as she hugged her son. “It’s good that you stood up for a classmate, but you’re still only one boy, you can’t just try to fight off bullies on your own, that’s for your teachers to deal with, do you know the names of who it was?” She asked softly.
Izuku blinked up at his mom, opening his mouth and closing it. “…no, I don’t.” He replied softly. He didn’t want Kacchan to get in trouble.
Inko took a turn to be quiet before responding. “Alright sweetie, if you say so.”
“Hey, mom?” Asked Izuku.
“Yes Sweetie?”
“Can I… use the computer again tonight? I want to watch All Might.”
Inko sighed. “Okay Sweetie, I suppose you could use it after the day you’ve had.” She smiled softly. “I’ll make some Katsudon for you too, how does that sound?”
Izuku’s smile was like looking into the sun. “Yeah! Your Katsudon is the best mom!”
“III… AAAM… HEEERE!” Declared All Might on the monitor. Izuku beamed as he watched his idol. He loved watching his debut video. As Izuku moved the mouse to play it again, he wound up accidentally clicking on another video. Blinking in confusion, Izuku watched as some anime from the Pre-Quirk era began to play. It seemed this channel liked re-uploading stuff like that.
“Why don’t you just give up, you don’t have any magic and you never will, you were born a loser!” Laughed some strange guy who seemed to have a Quirk(?) that let him summon chains, which he was using to pin down a boy with a black headband and hair that was a similar color to Kacchan’s.
The boy growled. “Give up…? I’ve had people tell me that my entire life, but let me tell you something… My Magic… is never giving up!” Izuku’s eyes widened at the display of perseverance from the boy on the screen. His 4 year old brain was able to sort of piece together what was going on. The boy must’ve been Quirkless like him, and that guy was a villain, but even so he still refused to give up, he was just like Izuku. And if he refused to give up then Izuku would do the same.
Izuku continued to watch, learning about the Magicless boy named Asta. Born in a world without powers where power was everything, the two of them were alike. Though his personality also reminded him a lot of Kacchan and he couldn’t help but laugh.
He also saw another show, one that had heroes, though none of these Heroes were real and it seemed the logic of this world was very… odd. But he learned through it about a man named Saitama, someone who wanted more than anything to be a hero so he trained every day until he was strong. Stronger than anyone else!
“One Hundred Push ups, One Hundred Sit Ups, One Hundred Squats, and a 10 Kilometer Run…” Izuku mumbled to himself as he wrote down the workout routine.
If he was going to be a Hero then he’d need to do that sort of training too!
He barely got to his fifth push up before his arms gave out and he was left face down panting on the floor.
Clearly he was going to need some practice…
After his mother recovered from the heart attack she got from her son randomly just leaving the house and he managed to explain that he wanted to try running so that way he could train to become a hero, she decided to make him promise to only go on runs with her so that way she could make sure nothing bad happened to him.
Izuku happily promised, he was excited to get to spend more time with his mom while also training to be a hero. Inko Midoriya was truly blessed to have such a sweet son, even if he sometimes scared the living daylights out of her by acting first and thinking second.
She also knew that she had started putting on a few pounds the last couple years, so she figured that going on the occasional run would be good for her. Even if her first run with her son barely lasted half a kilometer before the boy was already wheezing and out of breath.
Baby steps for her baby boy.
Less than a week after Izuku turned nine, something happened that would change the dynamic between him and Bakugou.
For once it was just the two of them, no cronies backing Kacchan up to help hold Izuku down and let him get cheap shots in. Of course that didn’t mean he was gonna tuck tail and run, he didn’t need any help showing this Quirkless loser his pla-
Bakugou’s train of thought came to a halt as he felt Izuku’s fist in his stomach.
Gritting his teeth, he flailed his arm to blast Izuku’s face with his Quirk, who in turn managed to block it with his other arm, though the force was enough to make him stagger back a few steps.
“Where the hell did you learn to punch like that?”
Truly he was Mitsuki Bakugou’s son, not even in the double digits and already slinging curses the same way he throws out explosions.
Izuku hissed as he rubbed his forearm, singed from the blast. He looked over at Katsuki. “Your Quirk is getting stronger Kacchan, helps that you’ve got me to use as a test dummy…” He said. “But I still refuse to stop chasing after you, I’ll chase you for the rest of my life if I have to!” He pointed at Bakugou as he put on the most serious expression he could for a nine year old boy. “Because my Quirk is never giving up!” Bakugou stared at him, dumbstruck by his words before gritting his teeth and charging at the green head.
“Don’t you dare look down on my DEKUUU!”
“KACCHAAAN!” Shouted Izuku in response as swinging fist met exploding palm.
Izuku’s body was exhausted, and his blood felt like it was boiling as he stared at the sky while lying on his back.
“How…” Came the voice of the boy next to him. “How could I lose to a Quirkless Extra like you…?”
“I don’t think I really won that fight…” Groaned Izuku in response.
“If I didn’t win then I lost. Especially against someone like you. Why are you so damn stubborn!?”
“…Isn’t it obvious, Kacchan…?” Izuku didn’t even have the energy to turn his head to face Katsuki, simply staring at the sky instead. “You’re my Rival. I want to be the number one hero, but that can’t happen unless I surpass you.”
“Like that’s ever gonna happen. Get real Deku, there’s no way you’ll ever beat me again. I’m gonna make sure my Quirk is strong enough to blow you away in one shot the next time I have to fight an extra like you.” Grumbled Katsuki.
Despite his everything hurting, Izuku couldn’t help but laugh. “You laughing at me!?” Demanded Katsuki.
“No, I’m just so happy! Let’s keep making each other stronger Kacchan! Then we’ll become the strongest heroes one day!”
“Yeah right, like that’ll ever happen Deku…” Refusing to let Izuku have the last word, Katsuki forced his bruised body to its feet and started staggering home.
Izuku sighed as he continued lying there. “Guess it was my loss after all…” He said to himself quietly.
Years passed further from there, and Izuku steadily improved. By the time he reached middle school he was able to do 50 Push ups, Sit ups, and Squats before going on a 5k run with his mom every three days.
He insisted that if she let him exercise every day he’d already be at Saitama’s level but his mom had to explain to him how muscles worked and that if he tried replicating Saitama’s routine to the letter then he’d just hurt himself.
Even then Izuku remained stubborn so his mom had to fib a little and suggest that Saitama must have a Quirk that lets his muscles heal fast enough each night to be ready the next day. Izuku wasn’t entirely sure if he bought that but ultimately relented.
Besides, if he couldn’t exercise every day, then he’d just use those off days to study. He had long since realized that he had a talent for analyzing Quirks. People always were fascinated by the things they couldn’t have after all, and Izuku was no different. He had a shelf dedicated to his notebooks that he filled with drawings and details about just about every limelight hero out there, even a few underground ones.
Inko was almost afraid to ask where he learned what he had about Heroes who specialized in secrecy. Her son could be spooky sometimes, she still shuddered at the memory of the conversation they had when he brought up that her Quirk could be used on a person’s eyes and several of their internal organs. The imagery was graphic to say the least.
Things had changed between Izuku and Katsuki as well. There was no more bullying, no more fights between them both. It seemed like Bakugou refused to face Izuku, both figuratively and literally, until he was strong enough to win. One of Bakugou’s cronies was dumb enough to imply that the two of them had become friends and that resulted in a thirty minute rant about how, “that Quirkless loser,” was not his friend and never would be. Izuku was flattered that he cared so much. As for his other classmates, while they weren’t willing to physically pick on Izuku without their ringleader to back them up, they weren’t against throwing taunts and causing general trouble for Izuku, something that the teachers clearly couldn’t care less about. Why would they? He was Quirkless after all. But Izuku didn’t particularly care how they treated him, because he could just smile and keep moving forward.
This new normal continued all the way through Middle School, until the day came that would change Izuku’s life forever…