Archive of Our Own ^beta

Izuku was the first kid in his class to get a computer. He did not know what his quirk was yet and had gone to the library to research possibilities so many times that his mom finally caved and bought a laptop for his room.

He loved it. Not only could he find all the information on quirks and heroes, there were endless lists of hero videos and villain fights. His mom actively had to drag him out of his room to keep him from becoming shut in. The only real reason he still went outside was to play with Kacchan. His explosive quirk was so cool and Izuku really hoped he would get something on the same level of sheer awesomeness.

His mom was taking him to a specialist in a few weeks to check it out. He could not wait.

~*~

His life shattered.

~*~

All his friends had abandoned him and he only had his computer left. It did not care that he was quirkless. It helped him out, even if he just wanted to browse quirklessness statistics for hours on end. It was estimated twenty percent of the global population was quirkless, but that number was heavily skewed on geography and age. In Japan it was just under 2 percent for children. That was about the chance of guessing a random card from a deck of cards. It sounded impossible.

Deku was just unlucky that way.

He joined an online community for quirkless people, but it was shut down in just a few days because of DDoS attacks and harassment from trolls. He tried to find some contact information on the users to talk to them outside of their web forum, but it had a pretty strict privacy policy that kept everyone anonymous. From all the reactions it was clear this was not unusual.

Instead, Deku stalked the hero fan forums obsessively. He finally signed on using the handle Small Might to gush about his favourite heroes. In the introduction it was customary to talk about the user’s quirk and how the user would utilise it to be a hero. It was the reason Deku had not been able to join while Kacchan could. Deku had still been waiting to properly introduce himself.

The wait was over now. He had considered outright lying, but that did not sit easy with him either. So he just made his introductory post. And he said he would follow All Might’s footsteps and become the Number 1 hero. And just like him, he would keep the details of his quirk a secret.

You’ll just have to see it in action.

~*~

Deku had a lot of trouble setting up his rig. It was just a budget web camera, with some sheets hung up over chairs making the background. He really was not sure why he was even doing this. He doubted anyone seriously wanted to hear his thoughts on anything. But some of the other users had encouraged him. And it did sound like fun, even if it was just for him.

He spent all Saturday recording and all Sunday editing. He had to do so many reshoots where the lighting had changed too dramatically or where the sheets had slipped down too far. It was really frustrating, but all worth it once it started to come together.

As soon as he was finally finished, he published it.

~*~

“Watashi ga kita!” A young boy’s voice yelled out as an All Might puppet appeared on screen. “Here to explain the joke All Might made in his latest interview for all those fans that missed the reference.”

It cut to the interview, where All Might was covered in goo yet still smiling heavily. Dozens of women surrounded him, thanking him for all his efforts.

“You probably should have brought some spare clothes.”

The hero rubbed the back of his head. “I don’t think that would be appropriate.”

It was just a ten minute video, ranting about the evolution of All Might’s costumes. A lot of images flashed by the screen from the American days, where All Might tried out bringing spare costumes with him that could be compact enough to fit under his regular costume. It had not gone well.

“Of course the most famous example was in New York, where a man spontaneously developed a bloody nose from staring at All Might’s bare chest from the more revealing back-up costume. I’m not quite sure if it’s a side-effect of our main hero’s quirk or something, but All Might has made sure to cover up most of his skin ever since. Anyway, that’s all from me. Small Might signing off!”

~*~

Izuku was amazed at how much attention his video had gotten. It had been shared across multiple platforms and it prompted his online friends to urge him to make a Twitter account. The forums usually liked his notes on quirks, but he had never guessed talking about the same topics would be even more popular.

So it easily became a weekly thing. He would do his homework every Friday as soon as he got home, then make a script from ideas he had collected throughout the week. Saturday was film day and if it was straightforward enough, he managed to upload the very same day.

His weeks were not always fun. School was horrible. So he spent all of his time he could on his phone and on computers. He even had a reputation online as the boy who never slept. He was often the first to comment and he was always ready to answer questions or look up information.

His fanart of the different heroes was not very good, but still he got encouragement from other artists telling him a habit of making art was the most important thing. He usually tried to compensate the crummy pictures with larger descriptions. Which turned into mini-fics. Which turned into fanfiction supported by his art.

At least it helped pass the time. Whenever his classmates bullied him and told him he would never be a hero, he could go online and play pretend with people who were only positive about him.

~*~

“Watashi ga kita!” Small Might spoke happily into the camera. “Hey there boys, gals and nonbinary pals! With the entrance exam of UA coming up, I thought I’d take the time to answer the most frequently asked question this time of year. How do you get accepted to UA?”

There were shots of the big building, of the sports festival in previous years, and then of course of All Might at an alumni meeting with other former graduates.

“Nobody knows!” Small Might said, before mimicking the hearty All Might laugh. “Not only is the exam itself different each year, the teenagers accepted into UA have to sign confidentiality agreements. Still, nothing is a complete secret and I’m here to guide you through everything we do know.”

~*~

Iida watched the clip for the third time and still did not manage to take notes on all the information quickly enough. There was just so much that could help him prepare. From the subjects more likely to appear on the tests, to the physical skills they were most likely to select on.

When he had gathered everything up, he went straight to his parents. He had forgotten to change out of his Small might pyjamas, which would not work well for his argument, but he did not want to waste any more time.

“Mother, father, I would like to step up my strength training.”

They looked at each other before sighing. “We’ve been over this, Tenya. Your speed will suffer.”

“I am aware. But it was brought to my attention that it would help with the UA exams to have a secondary skill.” He took out the figures Small Might had provided and that he had second checked.

His parents were surprised, but agreed in the end.

Iida could not be happier as he went back to the computer and shot the boy a message thanking him profusely. He had been a fan since the Ingenium fan story where a prolific rescue mission was written from the point of view of his big brother. Iida wished him the best of luck getting into UA.

You’re welcome, young StampingLegs63-kun! If there is any other content I could help with, please don’t hesitate to ask.

He wanted to ask for contact information so he could chat more, but he thought that was too forward of him. He wanted to tell him he was applying for UA as well and that they might even be classmates, but how presumptuous of him. Small Might was a popular YouTube star and Tenya was just a wannabe hero. He doubted he would even be a bleep on the boy’s radar.

~*~

Mina squeeled with her friends as the little doll came on screen. She had her very own Small Might plush that she had with her when new videos came out. There were a ton of good tips and she was so happy she was following this boy. She sure hoped this would help her get into UA and become a hero. And if that meant she could become friends with the adorable fanboy Small Might had proven to be, that was just a bonus.

She was not the first to leave a comment, like she usually was (stupid schoolwork distracting her), so she had to make it up with extra positivity.

~*~

Izuku cried himself to sleep. They were happy tears for a change. He had gotten so many positive reactions to his video. He sometimes wondered if he could not just drop out from school and run his media channels fulltime. There were some celebrities in America that did that.

His spike with the AU video had gotten him close to popular enough to consider it. But how long would these new followers keep up with him? And he still needed to become a hero. He needed to study and get into a good school to become a hero, and dropping out kind of ruined that plan.

Did not stop him from wondering and fantasising about it. His days filled with the nice internet people instead of his bullying classmates. Just talking to people who had no idea he was quirkless. It had to be better than what his life currently was.

~*~

Izuku stared at the screen, blinking. His mind had faltered. He had to be going insane. That was the only explanation.

Dear Small Might,

I am writing an article about the newcomer Kamui Woods and would like to base it mostly on your latest video essay. Could you please share the scripts to your video with me at your earliest convenience together with your sources, and share payment information. I am sure it was just an oversight, but I did not find anything on any of your profiles. I am confident we can agree on compensation you will find appropriate.

Yomiuri Takumi,

Journalist from the Yomiuri Shimbun

“Mom!” Izuku yelled, unable to move quite yet.

Inko rushed over, looking worried. “What is it, sweetie?”

“I think I need a manager…”

~*~

Meeting All Might was the best and worst moment of his life. He had just been almost choked to death by a villain, but he had gotten a signature of the number one hero out of it. He had been told he would never be a hero, but had found his resolve saving Kacchan. He had then almost died again from the same slime villain, but had survived and been offered a quirk.

His life was forever changed and he was so grateful. But there was no way to talk about it on his channel. He had never felt the urge to share his personal life with his followers, but nothing this big had ever happened to him.

Instead, he dusted off an old script that he had been writing ever since the first video. Something he had never dared to finish for fear of the backlash. Something he would still get slack for, but at least now he would have a quirk to back himself up. He would be privileged and it would be up to him to use that platform for good.

“Watashi ga kite!” Small Might said, standing proudly on the screen. It was a little weirder to use the puppet now that he had seen the real deal. Now that he was being trained by the number one hero. He hoped to god All Might would never find out about the videos. “On this channel, we talk a lot about quirks and how to use them to be more heroic. It is such a central part of this society and an unspoken assumption for most of us. It is also fabricated and harmful to those living outside of the usual norms.”

Izuku swallowed. The emotional shift was felt in Small Might’s pause. “We sometimes forget that being a hero is more about who you are, than what you can do. It is not about your quirk, but about that desire inside of you to protect. It is about the unwavering loyalty to justice. It’s about your willingness to do the right thing. What does a quirk have to do with that? Nothing.”

On the screen appeared a collage of old comic book heroes. Batman, Iron Man, Black Widow, Shang-Chi and many others. “Today I want to talk about how anyone can be a hero. Whether people mock and laugh at you for your quirk, or you don’t even have a quirk at all.”

~*~

Hitoshi stared at the screen, tears running down his eyes. He had never once been told he could be a hero. Nobody had ever told him it was possible. Until Small Might.

~*~

It was hard to juggle training for One For All with his media presence. It helped that it was still his main way of relaxing. If he was not strengthening muscles or working on his stamina, he was writing scripts or recording something. His manager had found him a freelance video editor that he could send his material to if he was pressed for time. Which was all the time now.

And for the rest, it was just a matter of being creative.

“Unread DM 1 of 202. How would you train an electricity quirk, Small Might?” His phone read out from nearby.

He hoisted a few metal bars from the garbage heap and carried them aside for his pile.

“Dictate reply. It depends a lot on the nature of the quirk. For generating electricity, it can be useful to power your own appliances whenever you can. For redirecting it, you’ll want to work a lot with batteries. There’s a few Italian studies that you’d find interesting and they were recently featured in the Hero Compendium Magazine. I think the February issue. I did a video on Electoplant last month that mentioned the precise source. If you want to share more details on your quirk, I can give a more specific answer.”

He checked his phone and then confirmed the tweet. Work went a little slower like this, but it also forced him to pace himself. He lasted hours longer and found the time going by a lot quicker. He was worried at first that people would run out of questions to ask him, but that hardly seemed to be a problem.

“Read next DM.”

“Unread DM 1 of 209. After All Might, who is the best hero?”

“Dicate reply. It’s All Might again. My top 20 is All Might. Honestly, all other heroes are so far behind him it’s not even funny. All Might is our Symbol of hope and there is no hero that comes close. Send reply. Read next.”

“Unread DM 1 of 211. Are you quirkless?”

Izuku paused just a moment, before grabbing the next piece of trash. “Skip DM and read next.”

~*~

Shoto was disappointed to see that it was another short video this week. Ever since a few weeks earlier, Small Might had switched formats. He apologised for the change on Twitter and his accounts, but it was a real bummer. Sundays were extra hard training days and Shoto liked nothing more than to isolate himself in his room and spitefully watch something his father would hate.

He used to watch videos of All Might and wonder what it would have been like to have him as a father instead of Endeaver.

And then Small Might was recommended to him and he was instantly hooked. Not only was the little puppet adorable and something his father would loathe, one of the first videos he watched was about Small Might’s definition of a hero. And he kept mentioning Endeaver. And he kept using him as a bad example.

“Here is Endeaver fighting against the Godzilla villain. He got the job done and looked cool doing it, sure, but just look at all the collateral damage. Look at all the heroes he refused to work with because he preferred to solve it alone. He’s a perfect example of someone manipulating the system to get on top, while flying against all the principles underlying the creation of that system.”

~*~

“Watashi wa kite.” Small Might said, softer than he usually did. The sheet behind him had been put up haphazardly and nothing of the video showed the usual care that Small Might put in his videos. “I’ve gotten a lot of questions about this and wanted to answer publicly. Well, I did participate in the UA selections and there is very little I am allowed to say about that. It was all harder than I thought it would be and I do feel silly having made my advice videos. You see, I failed my exam and did not get in. For the practical portion, I did not score a single point.”

Small Might trembled, as it became harder to control the puppet. There was soft sobbing from off-screen. “Th-thanks for all your support. I will be looking into fall-back schools shortly.”

~*~

One week later Sunday came and went. It was the first time in years that Small Might skipped an upload.

~*~

Izuku found it hard enough to keep to his training schedule. He would not be going to UA, but All Might had still given him his quirk and he needed to become stronger for it. He had a responsibility. So he ate what his diet prescribed, even if he had no taste in his mouth. He ran outside even if he would rather spend all day in his bed. And he lifted weights even when his arms felt as tired as his mind.

He did not check his phone. He did not answer calls from his manager or his editor. His mom asked him if he was all right and he nodded. And then he went back to sleep, hours earlier than he normally would, because nothing he could do while awake would bring him enjoyment.

And then he got the letter that changed everything. He saw All Might large on a screen and he finally felt alive again.

He opens up his phone to say he was alive and had just gotten an acceptance letter. But he was too hyped up to sit still and make a script or record anything. He told his mom the good news and then put on his running shoes. For the first time in days, he wanted to go running just for the joy of it.

~*~

It was weird being in class and surrounded by all the vibrant people. It was even more weird that they seemed to kind of like him. He actually had people who wanted to sit with him at lunch and who were asking him about his life outside of school with interest.

“I’m going to an amusement park with my parents this weekend.” Ochaco said. “What about you, Deku?”

“Staying in. I was actually wondering about something… but never mind. It’s stupid.”

“What is it?”

“Well, I sometimes make small videos and I was wondering if I could do a hero spotlight on you, maybe?”

“That sounds interesting. Anything I might have seen?”

“Probably not. It’s just something I do for fun. I probably shouldn’t even have bothered you with it. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be silly, Deku. I’d love it. What do you need from me?”

Deku smiled bright, taking out his notebook. “I just have need some background for an introduction to the video, but I mainly focus on quirks. And I have loads of questions about yours.”

~*~

Ochaco was chopping vegetables when she heard her phone go off. Her mom gave her permission, so she put down the knife and stepped out of the kitchen.

“Moshi moshi.”

“Hello, Uraraka-san.” Iida said from the other end. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“I was just helping my mom for Sunday night dinner. Is something wrong?”

“Not particularly. I just wanted to know if you were aware of a local Youtuber called Small Might.”

“I think I’ve hear of him from some classmates. Why?”

“It appears he has made a video featuring you and it contains some personal information. Did you provide that to him?”

“I don’t think so. I mean I only talked to…” Her eyes went wide in realisation. “Y-yeah. I think I gave him my info.”

Iida gasped in some air. “I had fifteen messages on my phone when the video launched, all from classmates trying to get your phone number so they could ask you the identity of Small Might. Is it someone in our class? Did he get into UA after all?”

She giggled. “Are you a fan, Iida-kun?”

“Well, I… uhm…”

“I’ll ask him. But first I’m going to have dinner and watch the video myself.”

“Please, Uraraka-san.”

“Bye, Iida-kun.”

Just as she expected, she had a message from Deku saying he had posted the video and sharing the link with her. Just in case she maybe wanted to watch it. That silly boy. Of course she did.

~*~

She stared at the screen with wide eyes, her parents looking over her shoulder.

“That boy knows a lot about you, hun.”

“I gave him the information.” She said, even if that was only half true. She had given the name of her high school and Deku had found the article she appeared in when a journalist talked to people with aims to go to UA. She had told him where she grew up and he had pictures of the area to narrate her background.

“Uraraka’s quirk is Zero Gravity and it allows her to make something weightless. Not only is this the perfect quirk for a fighting hero as it lets her incapacitate villains without doing any harm, it has so much potential for rescue missions and special effects.”

The puppet on screen raved about all kinds of different uses for her quirk, often cutting to recent problematic hero rescues and illustrating how having a hero with her quirk present would have solved everything.

“The sports festival is still a ways off, but trust me when I say that Uraraka is someone to watch out for. She’s going to be big.”

Ochaco had never seen something so supportive of her. Nobody who had told her in these uncertain terms that she would be a great hero. She had to rub tears from her eyes.

“I’m going to thank the classmate who made it.” Ochaco said, even when her parents were already taking out their phones and texting every single family member to go watch an online video about their little girl right that instant.

~*~

Izuku was running, listening to All Might as he detailed some extra training exercises for the upcoming week. His phone vibrated, but the comment notifications could wait until he was done running. Then they could wait while he showered. And then they could wait as he changed into his pyjamas and fell asleep. His phone always tended to explode after he posted a video. His editor would filter out the inevitable vitriol after he posted about a female hero.

He liked Ochaco and did not want to see the hate. He would go through some of it after the worst was deleted.

~*~

He did not bother looking at his phone the next morning and went right to the internet. There were a lot of supportive comments. Surprisingly, the number one question on people’s mind was how he had gotten access to a UA student.

He was sure he told his followers he had gotten in. Hadn’t he?

None of his fans had descended to clear the confusion which was a pretty clear sign that he had not. When he thought about it, he had not mentioned being Ochaco’s classmate in the video itself. It had not seemed relevant.

He replied cryptically to some fans to fan the flames. He would clear it up in his next video.

~*~

He was early in class and had out his notebooks when she came over to him.

“Why didn’t you pick up your phone, Deku?”

He panicked immediately, looking at his phone and seeing the missed messages. We need to talk about the video.

Had he done something wrong with it? He had not seen the final product after giving the material to his editor, but he always left detailed instructions. If something was wrong, it had to be the script.

“I’m so sorry. I can take it down if you don’t like it.”

“What are you talking about? I loved it. I didn’t realise you were going to put so much effort into it. I’ve gotten calls from managers asking to represent me. I have internship offers. It’s not even the sports festival yet!”

He rubbed the back of his head. “It really wasn’t anything more than I usually do and I really enjoyed making it.”

More people were entering the room, searching out Ochaco. And as they got close to her, they picked up the conversation.

“I was so surprised you got photos of me as a little girl though. Where did you get them?”

“I just googled your name and it came up on your aunt’s facebook page. She posts everything publicly. Should I take them out?”

She shook her head. “It was a little embarrassing, but that just means you’ll have to invite me to your place one time to show little Deku pictures.”

“Hey, Deku?” Kirishima said. “Does this mean you’re Small Might?”

“How do you know my internet handle?”

There were gasps all around him. The kids were whispering to each other and looking at him with big eyes.

Kirishima just grinned. “I’m like, one of your biggest fans. You make the manliest videos. Do you think you could give me an autograph?”

The boy tried to get some paper and pen out of his backpack, but Deku stood up and backed away. All these kids had actually seen his work? It was just supposed to be something fun for his free time. Being silly to let off steam.

“Hey, you okay?”

Deku became white as a sheet. All these classmates had seen Small Might. Had seen the hand puppet. Had seen him talk about his more private thoughts. Why did they even enjoy it? It was just him babbling.

“Deku?” Ochaco asked.

“Excuse me.” Deku ran out of the classroom and to the nearest bathroom. He got into a stall and put his head between his legs, trying to stop hyperventilating. His phone started vibrating and he had to turn it off to keep it from suffocating him.

He could not let himself think about it. Because when he thought about it, he remembered the video he did on the top 10 sexiest heroes when he was ten, where it was just All Might in different costumes. Or the follow-up because his fans had demanded a version for female heroes where he had depicted the ten most heroic saves by female heroes.

Because nothing’s sexier than saving people.

Had they seen that? Did they know about it? Had they read his hero fantasy fiction? Did they know about the bullying videos?

“Deku? You okay?” Iida was inside the bathroom now, getting closer.

“I’m fine.” Deku said through his tears, his voice trembling.

“You don’t sound it.” The class president leaned against the stall. “Is this about the Small Might video?”

Izuku let out a sob. “It’s embarrassing.”

“I don’t think it is. You run a successful media account. That’s something to be proud of.”

“But… but nobody’s supposed to know.”

“It’s a popular account. Surely you must have realised some of us would know about it.”

“It’s… it’s anonymous for a reason.” Izuku said. “I wanted to share it with Ochaco because she’s my friend. Like you. But I haven’t actually been friends with people who know about it before. I thought I’d take it slow.”

“I see. I’m afraid there’s little we can do about it now. Why does it scare you if your classmates know about it?”

“I used to be bullied in school.” Deku said.

“You think we’d bully you?”

“Of course not. It’s just… we thought I was quirkless when I was younger. I started the channel because it allowed me to be someone anonymous. Someone with a quirk. I was always so scared my classmates would find out about it.”

“You’re not quirkless anymore, Deku. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Did you know I’ve been following SmallMight for ages now?”

“You have?”

“Ever since your story about Ingenium. God, I must have read it dozens of times when it first came out. And countless times since then. I loved it.”

“I enjoyed making it. Your brother’s pretty amazing.”

“I wanted to message you, but I figured a big star like you would have plenty of friends. I was embarrassed. I can’t speak for all of your followers, but I know I would have supported you even if you had come out as quirkless.”

Izuku slowly straightened himself. “Really?” He got up and opened the stall. “Thanks, Iida. I guess I should go back and talk to everyone.”

“Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you while you’re still alone.” The class representative shuffled a bit in place nervously. “I was really impressed by your video on Ochaco and I don’t want to presume anything, but she said you liked making it and I was wondering if maybe you’d consider doing one for me as well? I’d be willing to pay you of course!”

Izuku had to choke back a laugh. “I wouldn’t charge you!” He started back to the classroom, Tenya next to him. “I haven’t really gotten close enough to interview any heroes for a spotlight video before. I’d do one on everyone in class if they’d let me. You think they’d go for something like that?”

The class president let out a laugh. “They’ll be begging you for it.”

And when they got back to the classroom, Iida turned out to be right.

~*~

“Watashi wa kite!” Small Might yelled out. “You might be wondering what I’m doing updating outside of my regular schedule, but there were some questions from the previous video that I wanted to address and some other things that I did not want to wait to talk about.”

The puppet disappeared for a moment, and then brought out the UA uniform. “I have indeed been accepted into UA! How that happened is a long and mostly confidential story, so you’ll have to do without. Suffice to say, I have been very busy with homework, hero training, and making new friends. That’s something that hasn’t always been true for me…”

Small Might dipped under the screen again and there was a longer pause. Before Izuku appeared on the screen himself, looking flustered and wearing an All Might t-shirt. “It’s uncomfortable exposing myself like this. For years Small Might has been an escape for me. A way for me to interact with all of you without being looked down on or ridiculed. I never wanted someone from real life to find my videos and expose my biggest secret to you.”

He looked right into the camera, looking desperate. “I have never admitted this to anyone before, but I’m a huge All Might fanboy.”

He pulled away at the sheet behind him, revealing his bedroom, every inch covered in posters and memorabilia.

“I know, none of you could have ever expected such a thing. It must come as a shock to many of you.”

He took a moment to look around him. “Seriously though, I’ve been deadly afraid someone would recognise my voice. That someone would see this room and figure out that it’s me behind the account. There’s been a lot of questions about my quirk over the years and I’ve always avoided answering. Not because I was ashamed of the answer, but because I was afraid. For most of my life, I thought I was quirkless.”

Deku let it sink in.

“I only recently discovered my quirk. It’s too powerful for my body to handle and it appears my body had to block it for my safety for most of my life. And you know me, as much as I would like to ramble on about quirk theory, there is something else I want to talk about. Quirkless bullying had me hiding everything about myself online out of desperation to fit in somewhere. Quirkless bullying kept me afraid from getting to know my best online friends outside of the internet and from becoming my friends and from enjoying my compony. Which is apparently awesome, according to all of you.”

He smiled. “I’ve been making friends at UA, and it is something new for me. And today at UA I realised something. I thought they were becoming friends with me because I have a quirk now. But that wasn’t it. My current classmates are going to be heroes. I told you guys to watch out for Ochaco in the next Sports festival because she’s going to be a real hero and over the next weeks I’ll show you many more amazing people. Not because of their quirks. But because that’s just the way they are.”

“Real heroes would never bully a child for being quirkless. I’ve never been the problem. My bullies were the problem. The teachers that tolerated them and the adults that ignored them. Joke’s on them. I’m going to be a hero. I’m going to prove everyone wrong that has ever doubted me. I’m being taught by the actual All Might and I’m going to learn to be just as awesome as he is. Because I’m done hiding. Because I have something to prove. And because I will fight to become the kind of hero that my classmates have inspired me to be. When the sports festival comes around, watch out for me. I’m Midoriya Izuku and I will be number one.”