Chapter Text
All men are not created equal. That’s a lesson Midoriya Izuku learned when he was four years old. Now, at fourteen, he remembers it.
All Might had just told him he couldn’t be a hero without a quirk. He’d just about given up on his dream when his useless legs walked him to a villain attack.
It was the sludge villain again. Except, it had another kid it was holding hostage, and as those frightened eyes opened, Izuku’s heart froze. It wasn’t just any other kid, It was Kacchan.
Something caught his attention in the corner of his sight, a throwing knife, left on the ground- perhaps a backup weapon for one the heroes on the scene? A plan formulated in his head almost immediately. He could throw his bag at the villain’s eye and risk missing, or he can throw the knife, run in, hope to god it hit the eye, throw the bag if it didn’t, and maybe it’d manage to distract him long enough to try to dig Kacchan out, or at least enough so he could breathe.
The second his finger touched the throwing knife, something changed. His posture went from clumsy and hopeful to precise and confident, his eyes narrowed as he calculated the throw with terms and thoughts he had never heard before, the knife twirled in and between his fingers as if he'd done it a thousand times before, and he threw.
The knife embedded itself deep in the sludge villain’s pupil but Izuku didn’t stand still to marvel at his accomplishment or wonder when the hell he’d gained that skill. He ran straight towards Kacchan and began digging at the sludge.
Katsuki was too busy gulping in precious air to yell at the ‘useless’ Deku who’d run into the fight, who’d pitied him, who’d, for some ungodly reason, thought he could handle what the pros couldn’t, but he tried his best to send the message over with the nastiest glare he could.
Toshinori hadn’t expected anything to happen He was expecting to wallow in self-pity while another preventable death happened right before him, to gain another death that’ll weigh on his conscience, when the young quirkless boy from before ran in. It’d given him the courage to follow through with what he’d preached about just moments before.
As All Might took care of the villain, Izuku’s mind began running a mile a second. Was that his quirk? What was his quirk? Could he test it? What were the limitations? What would the consequences be now?
As an officer came up to him, Izuku blurted out the first thing on his mind. “I think I just discovered my quirk?”
The officer blinked, confused. “...Just now?”
Izuku nodded.
“...Okay, I’ll take your statement of the events that happened here. Then, you can go home, tell your parents that you discovered your quirk, and register it, alright?” The officer softened his tone and Izuku nodded and compiled easily.
He didn’t even hear the heroes that were reprimanding him as he was getting checked over and walked back to his house in a daze.
When Bakugou ran after him to claim he didn’t need help, Izuku listened silently. “YOU’RE JUST A QUIRKLESS FAILURE WHO WOULDN’T-”
“I’m not Quirkless.” Izuku cut in, calm as he repeated the newfound truth. “That knife throw. That was my Quirk.”
Bakugou glared harder and began spouting more nonsense that Izuku quickly tuned out as he thought more about what he said. Was his quirk truly knife throwing? Wouldn’t there be more to it? How could he strengthen it further? Would that make him a support items based hero?
“STOP FUCKING MUMBLING YOU STUPID DEKU!” Bakugou yelled. “You are nothing! You will never be a hero, even if you do have a quirk now! You’re just a stepping stone on my path to becoming the number one hero.”
Izuku watched as Bakugou walked away, unperturbed. Bakugou could say whatever he wanted. He had a quirk. A quirk suited for combat, even. He analysed quirks for fun, so surely he can figure out how to use his quirk and become a pro-hero, just like-
“I AM HERE!” And Izuku screamed as he traded one loud blonde for another, the declaration effectively cutting off his train of thought.
“All Might? W-what are you doing here? Weren’t you just surrounded by reporters?” He asked as he tried to quickly calm his racing heart.
“Getting away from them was a piece of cake! Why? Because I am All Migh-!” Izuku pursed his lips shut and stifled a small scream that he couldn’t let anyone hear as All Might deflated yet again.
” Young man. I come with thanks, a correction, and a suggestion. If you hadn't been there...If you hadn't told me about your life...,I would've turned into a guy in a bodysuit who was all talk. Thank you.” Izuku blinked stupidly at him.
“T...Thank me? I’m the reason the villain got away from you at all..” He protested.
“Yes, but you’re also the reason I was inspired to get up and fight again.” All Might pointed out gently.
“I…” Izuku stumbled as his eyes widened.
“You know, each of the greats have a story about them from their school days. Most of them have something in common. Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think. It was the same for you, wasn’t it?”
Izuku looked down, trying to blink away the tears as he remembered his legs carrying him without his permission to the scene, how he reached for the knife without asking or thinking, tossed it, straight at a weak point, and moved. No matter how futile it seemed.
Izuku nodded, choking back sobs. He would not break down crying before he told his mom about his quirk. He would not!
“Young man… You can become a hero!”
Oh yes he will. He was absolutely about to break down crying before he told his mom about his quirk.
“I deem you worthy to inherit my power!”
...What?
“What?”
A quick explanation from All Might later, Izuku felt even more confused than before.
“So, will you take my offer?” All Might asked.
“All Might… I’m honored you’d see me as worthy, but truthfully, I think I just discovered my quirk today, with the throwing knife. I’m not sure I can give your quirk the place and focus it deserves while I’m studying and figuring out my own quirk.” It hurt Izuku to refuse, physically hurt him, but he had to refuse.
“I’ll take your secret to the grave, sir! Thank you for trusting me with it, I’m sorry I’m not the right fit!” Izuku bowed as his tears returned, worse than before.
“Hey, kid… Don’t worry about it.” Izuku looked up again as a large, warm hand was placed on his shoulder. “If that really was your quirk back there, then you’re going to need to improve physically to get into a good heroics course. I can probably make you a training regime based on that, if you’d like?”
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly ask that of you! I mean, that’d probably take up a lot of your time, and if I’m not going to be your successor, then-”
“Think of it as an apology, then.” All Might cut him off, giving him a soft look. “I was wrong saying that anyone should give up on their dream, and I’d like to apologize to you for that.”
“All Might…” Izuku’s tears hadn’t stopped, but the emotion behind them changed. “Thank you!”
Neither of them were aware of a third party, an eavesdropper, listening in from the shadows.
It was only after a very emotionally draining conversation with his mother that Izuku finally went to bed that night. If he’d ever had the illusion that his mother might’ve been more supportive of his dreams of becoming a hero if he’d been born with a quirk, it would have been dashed tonight.
“You.” A voice called from his window just as Izuku was going off to sleep and Izuku just barely held back from shrieking as a thin sword- was it a katana?- was placed at his neck. “You ran headfirst into that villain attack today. Why?”
“I couldn’t just stand by while Kacchan was being killed. He was scared, and I couldn’t turn my back on him.” Izuku answered, preparing himself mentally for his future, which had just been looking up, to be cut short. Quite literally. Blame the Midoriya family luck, he supposed.
“You saw those ‘heroes’ standing there, not doing anything. What made you think you could do better?” The lunatic asked.
“Nothing. I didn’t even know I had a quirk, I just knew I couldn’t stand there and be useless.” He whispered at the crazy person.
The katana was removed. The lunatic smiled. “You. You’re a threat to All Might, but you have the makings of a true hero. All Might is going to get you more physically fit, right? I’ll teach you about weapons.”
“...No offence, but why would I want to learn from some crazy person who just held a katana to my neck a second ago?” Annnd there went Izuku’s filter. Right down the drain with his common sense and self preservation.
The lunatic gave a cruel sounding chuckle at that. “Heh. I like you, kid. You can call me the Hero Killer: Stain. And you’ll want to learn from me, because I can teach you a whole lot better than any dojo. More than that, I can teach you how to survive.”
With that, Stain left as Izuku’s mind raced to process what had happened.
He went from a Quirkless nobody that nobody cared for, to a Quirked somebody who’s being trained by The Number One Hero… And the Hero Killer: Stain.
“What a day…” He murmured, trying desperately to keep his mind off of analyzing his quirk again. That would come tomorrow.