Chapter Text
“I’m so sorry, Izuku!” His mom cried as she latched onto him, his heart breaking further as his fears grew even deeper.
Four year old Midoriya Izuku was Quirkless. He’d never be a Hero. It was the only thought in his head as he stared at the video of All Might saving people. How could he ever be like All Might? How could he ever save anyone?
The boy had lost track of time, but at some point, his mom had let go of him and left the room. He only just realized it was dark now. He was only snapped from his trance as his mother turned off the computer. “I-I think that’s enough, Izuku.” She said, gingerly, placing some paper in front of him. “Why don’t you draw a picture instead? I’m going to go make dinner... I’ll make your favorite, okay?”
The boy looked down at the paper and pencil, scowling. It... it’s not fair! Kacchan has his stupid Quirk! Why don’t I have a Quirk?! He’s... he’s a big meanie!
Angrily, he took the pencil and began scribbling. Before he knew it, he had drawn a crude, stick figure version of himself and Bakugou, with his stick figure punching Bakugou’s in the face. He was so mad, that he just wished for nothing more for that picture to be reality.
POOF!
Midoriya Izuku jumped back, startled. The paper he had been drawing on was... gone! It was all gone! Instead, the two crude stick figures had come to life, and were on his desk. Stick figure Izuku was punching stick figure Katsuki, while the two made little... gibberish noises.
Equal parts thrilled and TERRIFIED, Izuku screamed. “MOM! MOM GET IN HERE!”
-------
The next day at preschool, Midoriya was thrilled to show his classmates his Quirk. A small group of children were gathered around a table as little stick figures and vegetables with faces danced along the table speaking in gibberish.
“That’s so neat!” A girl with curly green hair and sharp teeth, Tokage Setsuna, cheered from the other side of the table. “Can you draw me a T-Rex, Midoriya?”
“Okay!” Midioriya cried happily. This was the most anyone at his daycare had talked or played with him. Usually Kacchan ran anyone off, but today the ashen blonde was in the timeout corner for blowing up the class gerbil anyway. Midoriya scribbled the best T-Rex he could for a four year old, and with a poof, a six-inch monochromatic dinosaur appeared on the table. It let out a squeaky roar and ate one of the stick figures. “The doctor says it’s called Amination. No wait. Animation!”
The whole table of children laughed.
“It’s so vicious, I love it!” Tokage laughed. “Thanks, freckles!”
Midoriya blushed as the cartoonish T-Rex began chasing his other drawings around the table. “Y-you’re welcome, Tokage. My mom said she’s going to put me in Art classes to help me with my Quirk.”
“Then you can draw me BETTER dinosaurs!” The girl gushed.
The class assistant, a woman with short red hair, walked over to the table and shook her head. “Erase that before it breaks something, Midoriya.”
“Ooookay,” he replied, as the other children groaned. He poked the T-rex with the pencil eraser, and it turned back into a sheet of paper. He turned to a little girl who had been watching, next to him, with silver hair. “Do you want me to draw you anything, Yanagi?”
Yanagi Reiko turned and looked at him, her arms tucked to her side like she was a little ghost. “Oh... nothing particular comes to mind.”
The class assistant couldn’t be put off at how... sophisticated this four year old talked.
Midoriya paused. Then, tongue poking out of his mouth slightly as he drew, he scribbled a little ghost. It poofed off the page and floated over to Yanagi. The ghost went, “OOoooOOOoooOOOh.”
The silver hair girl smiled faintly. “That is exquisite, Midoriya. Thank you.”
The boy blushed. Even if his Quirk was a little silly, it was really good at making people smile. “I’m glad you like it!”
Usually the kids at the daycare weren’t mean, but he was so unused to being the center of attention. But the best part of it was just how happy everyone was!
-------
Six Years Later
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“Give me that stupid notebook, Deku!” Bakugou screamed at the boy. “Your Quirk is hecking stupid!”
Ten year old Midoriya’ fear rose up in his heart. He grabbed his sketchbook (which was not a notebook, but he drew in a lot of those too) and turned, running as fast as he could away from Bakugou and his friends.
As his feet pounded against the pavement, Midoriya realized he was running out of playground to use to escape.
It was now or never.
He jumped onto the waist-high fence and sprang forward, landing on the school’s window sill. He bounced off of it, upwards, and grabbed the ledge to the second story, pulling himself up.
Parkour! He thought, relieved as he heard Bakugou and yelling angrily from the ground.
“Get back here you stupid Deku!” Bakugou yelled impotently from down below. “Stop climbing things you wuss!”
“How’d he get so good, he used to always fall,” grumbled one of the other boys.
Izuku pulled out his notebook and scribbled some water balloons, which he materialized. He stood up and began whipping them down below at Bakugou and his cronies. “LEAVE ME ALONE, KACCHAN!”
As the water splashed from the balloons, Bakugou growled. It was so much harder to use his Quirk when wet. “I’m gonna get you after class you hecking nerd!”
------
Later that night, when he returned home dirty and with singed clothes, his mom was shocked. “Izuku, what happened?!”
“K-Kacchan was being mean about my Quirk again.” Izuku admitted, trying to hold back the dam of tears in his eyes. “B-but I climbed up the school and threw water balloons at him... then they got to me after school.”
Inko frowned. “I’ll have to call your Aunt Mitsuki. And I’m enrolling you in martial arts classes! I’m tired of you having to just climb up things and you coming back home as that boys target practice...” Her face softened. “And the school keeps calling about ending up on the roof.”
“Martial arts sounds fun!” Izuku perked up. “I’m going to go draw some kung fu guys!”
“No bringing things to life young man, I almost tripped over one of those stick figures yesterday!”
“Ooookaaaay moooom,” he replied in a sing-song voice. Maybe he’d just animate one and erase it really quick.
Maybe two.
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Four Years Later
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All Might coughed as he finished his explanation of why he looked... well, skeletal was the nicest word that always came to mind. But he hadn’t expected the young man he’d just saved to cling to his pants as he jumped away.
“Yeesh, for a fanboy, you sure are dedicated!” All Might sighed. “Now, what was it you wanted to ask me?”
“I just...” Midoriya sighed. “Do you think someone like me, with a weak Quirk, could ever be a Hero?”
“Well, there are lots of Heroes out there whose Quirks seem weak at first glance,” All Might admitted. “No one took Best Jeanist very seriously when he first started until they saw just how dangerous that Quirk could be when applied creatively. What’s your Quirk, young man?”
“Oh! Let me show you!” Midoriya said, excitedly, before opening up the slightly burned notebook All Might had signed earlier.
The Symbol of Peace waited as the boy scribbled on a page furiously, set it down and closed his eyes.
In a second, the page went, “POOF,” and a small version of All Might appeared. It looked just like the real thing, except in black and white and only about half a meter tall. It was even three-dimensional. “I am here!” It said in a squeaky little voice.
“Anything I can draw, I can make real!” Midoriya replied, trying to sound proud. “It’s a little harder to make things 3-D, but I can manage it.”
All Might chuckled as he looked down at the little drawing. “Well... how long do they last?”
“Up to a day,” Midoriya replied. “Unless I touch them with a pencil eraser. Like...” he tapped the mini All Might and it poofed back into a piece of paper. “That. And once I do that, I can’t bring it back. I need to draw something else.”
All Might rubbed his chin. “To be honest, it’s not terribly practical for combat if only because of how long it takes ... but I think this could have good rescue potential. With some training it might even be versatile enough to overcome it’s shortcomings. It’s a fine Quirk.”
“Y-you really think so!?” Midoriya cried, excitedly. “Th-thank you All Might!” I’ll keep training!”
“You need to ask me that?” All Might asked. “You seem so sure of yourself. There’s nothing wrong with your Quirk, young man.”
“Oh... w-well some of my classmates say it’s weak...” Midoriya replied, quietly. He opted not to mention that Bakugou had told him to, literally, swan dive off a roof and hope for a better Quirk in the next life.
“Well, even the roughest Quirks need work,” All Might laughed. “Keep at it!”
-------
WHY IS MY BODY MOVING ON IT’S OWN?! Midoriya’s mind screamed to him as he dodged some Sludge and threw his backpack into the villain’s eye. The Sludge Villain, the same one he had encountered earlier in the day - and had accidentally freed from All /Might’s pockets - was attacking Bakugou. And here Midoriya was, trying to help his tormentor out by chucking his backpack at the Sludge Villain.
As his backpack hit the villain in the eye, his notebook and pencil fell out. He grabbed it as quickly as he could and began to scribble something.
“That hurt you little - OH MY GOD!” The Sludge Villain screamed as Izuku shoved a medieval spear into his eye. “YOU LITTLE SHIT WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!”
Izuku furiously scribbled a container of liquid nitrogen to try and freeze the villain. From several feet away, All Might watched, shocked to see the same boy he spoke to earlier risking his life. And here I am doing nothing. No. NOT TODAY!
As Midoriya was about to finish the drawing, sludge splashed all over his notebook. “CRAP!”
“NOW I GOT YOU!” The Sludge Villain cried, with only one eye.
“OH NO YOU DON’T! FOR I AM HERE!” All Might cried as he landed. “AGAIN!”
-------
“I didn’t need your help today, Deku!” Bakugou growled, before stomping off.
Jeez, what was that all about? Midoriya rolled his eyes. He looked down at his sketchbook and sighed at the mess it was in. “I just bought this one too...”
He found that the quality of his animations depended on the type of paper he used. If it was just notebook paper, they would be crude, small versions. If he used a sketchbook, his Quirk animations were more... life-like in properties.
“HERE YOUNG MAN!” Came a booming voice from the bushes. “I BOUGHT YOU A NEW ONE!”
Midoriya nearly jumped out of his skin as All Might burst forth from the shrubbery near his apartment complex. “OHMYGODDON’TKILLM - HOLY CRAP IT’S ALL MIGHT!”
“YES, I AM H-AUGH!” All Might began, but in a poof of smoke, he shrank down into his smaller form, coughing up blood. “... here. Sorry, I pushed myself a bit too hard today.”
“Are you okay?” Midoriya asked. “I can run in and get you a towel.”
“No, I’m okay.” All Might straightened himself up. “I was thinking a lot about what you did today.”
“Y-yeah... to be honest, my body just kind of moved on it’s own.” Midoriya admitted. “I guess that was kind of stupid, considering what you said about my Quirk and combat...”
“On the contrary,” All Might chuckled. “It reminded me of what happened to me when I first started training to be a Hero. That’s why I came looking for you. First, to thank you for inspiring me to push myself to save your... well, bully, I guess.”
“Y-you don't need to thank me, All Might!” Midoriya replied, earnestly. “You’ve been an inspiration to me my whole life!”
All Might’s face softened. “That’s too kind, Midoriya. That brings me to the second thing... What if I were to say... offer you a hand in becoming a Hero?”
Izuku’s jaw dropped. “W-what do you mean?”
All Might handed Izuku a piece of paper with an address on it. “I want you to meet me somewhere. You look like a sturdy young man, but you need some formal training.”
“Like martial arts? I’ve been doing that for a few -”
“No, this is different. Meet me here tomorrow at 6am.”
Midoriya nodded, practically shaking with excitement as he took the paper from his idol. “I-”I’ll be there, All Might!” He took off running back to his apartment, too eager to tell his mother about what had happened.
“YOUNG MIDORIYA, YOU FORGOT YOUR NEW SKETCHBOOK!”
-------
Over the next few months, Midoriya trained with All Might, removing the trash from Dagobah Beach. All Might used the exercise as a guise of strength and conditioning training for the young man, not telling him it was also a test. A test to see if the young man could handle the awesome power of One for All.
He never expected the young man to complete the cleanup two months before schedule.
“HOLY FREAKING SUPER CRAP, YOUNG MIDORIYA!” All Might boomed happily. “You’ve exceeded all my expectations!”
Izuku wiped the sweat off of his brow as he shoved the trashed mini-fridge onto All Might’s truck. “Y-yeah... well, I guess all the free-running classes and martial arts I’ve been doing paid off.”
“Even still, look at you now,” the Symbol of Peace chuckled. “You weren’t exactly scrawny when we started, but now you’re downright swole!”
Izuku laughed and blushed, suddenly feeling the need to put his shirt back on in embarrassment. “I um... don’t know about that. But the entrance exam for UA isn’t for two more months. What do we do?”
“This is perfect though!” All Might crowed. “Now you can train with my Quirk.”
“Oh... okay. That makes...” Midoriya began, not quite digesting the words. “Wait, what?”
All Might reverted back to his smaller form in a fit of coughs. “There was another reason I wanted you to do this, Young Midoriya. You see, my Quirk... can be passed on to someone!”
Before All Might could even blink, Midoriya had pulled out a Hero Analysis notebook, where he made sketches of Pros in action, and was taking notes. “PASSED DOWN?! Is that even possible?! I’ve never heard of anything so crazy! It...”
“Hey, no time for muttering!” All Might laughed. “My Quirk is called One for All! Now...”
Midoriya listened intently as All Might explained how One for All worked. He felt like he had to be dreaming. To have two Quirks? And be trained by his mentor and hero?
“...now, if you accept, all you have to do...” All Might beefed back up into his heroic form. “IS EAT THIS!”
Midoriya raised an eyebrow at the long blonde strand of hair being held out to him. “... you’re kidding.”
“I WOULD NEVER KID ABOUT THIS, YOUNG MIDORIYA!” All Might chuckled. “YOU HAVE TO INGEST SOME OF MY DNA TO INHERIT MY QUIRK! AND THIS IS BY FAR THE LEAST GROSS WAY OF DOING IT.”
“W-well... okay.”
Midoriya quickly took the hair and put it in his mouth, and then washed it down with a long swig of water from his water bottle. Once he was sure it was down, he touched his stomach lightly. “I um... don’t feel anything.”
All Might coughed and turned back to his normal form. “It takes some time to activate, unfortunately. Meet me back here tomorrow afternoon and we’ll try to make use of One for All!”
“Okay!”
-------
Middle school was no walk in the park for Midoriya Izuku. It wasn’t that no one liked him; he was one of the friendliest and most helpful kids in his class. He was usually the first to volunteer to help anyone study or pitch in on a project.
It was just that no one wanted to get close enough to be his friend, because then they were put on Bakugou’s shit-list.
He’d had a few friends in elementary school - though he couldn’t remember their names as they moved away about half way through, and Bakugou made sure that had never happened again.
But he was plenty popular in his art and martial arts classes, which is just where Bakugou’s influence couldn’t reach.
Still, all the struggles of the day were no match to the excitement he had in meeting All Might after school. He ran as fast as he could down to the beach, where his mentor and the Number One Hero was waiting.
“There you are, Young Midoriya!” All Might laughed. “So? Do you feel it? The power coursing through your veins?”
“Um... maybe?” Midoriya answered, earnestly. “I thought maybe I just had a gas bubble. My stomach has been kind of gurgly today. Is that how you felt on the first day?”
“Oh, it was so long ago, I don’t remember?”
“Really? How long ago was it?” Midoriya asked, curious to learn more about his hero.
All Might cleared his throat. “Um, anyway, we should have you test it out. Punch towards the ocean!”
Midoriya raised an eyebrow and faced the water. He half-heartedly swung his right arm in front of him and went, “Ha?”
“No no no!” All Might groaned. “You’ve got to FEEL THAT POWER, YOUNG MIDORIYA! SET A FIRE IN YOUR CHEST! CLENCH YOUR BUTTCHEEKS TOGETHER!”
Why didn’t you say that the first time? Midoriya wondered. He tried to summon as much anger as he could, and clenched his whole body. Including his bum. He swung again with his left arm. Two things happened; the first was an explosion of air bursting from his left hand, cutting through the water momentarily parting the sea itself.
The second was that Midoriya’s arm broke from fingers to shoulder. The two men stared at his bruised and limp arm for about three seconds before it - and the pain Midoriya registered - finally kicked in.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA -OOOOOOOW!” Midoriya howled.
“OH GOD WHAT HAPPENED?!” All Might freaked out.
“What do you mean what happened?!” Midoriya freaked. “It’s your Quirk!!!!”
“It... It never did that to me!” All Might half-shouted. “Stay right here, I’m going to call someone.”
“I’m not going anywhere!” Midoriya freaked out. “My arm is shattered!”
Midoriya sat down on the beach in agony, trying really hard to ignore the shooting pain up and down his arm for what seemed like hours. All Might returned with a very tiny, old woman. But Midoriya recognized her instantly.
“Recovery Girl!” He cried, as excitedly as he could possibly be with an arm that looked like a purple noodle.
The ancient healer took one look at Midoriya's arm, turned, and swatted All Might in the knee. “Toshinori, what were you thinking?!”
“This sort of thing never happened to me!” All Might cried defensively. It was a bit shocking for Midoriya to see the Symbol of Peace put in his place by an old woman who was barely waist high. “I never got injured using my Quirk.”
“Alright, hold still dearie,” Recovery Girl sighed, giving Midoriya’s arm a smooch that healed it most of the way.
Midoriya stared at his arm in amazement as he was able to wiggle his fingers. It still stung, slightly, but it was better than having the whole thing being completely shattered. “Whoa!” Then his eyes drooped and he nearly fell asleep. “Whooooaaaaa....”
“Yes, the effects of my Quirk can make you quite tired,” Recovery Girl sighed, before she turned and rounded on All Might once more. “And you! You don’t have him use that Quirk again until you’ve thought of a good training regimen!”
“But there’s two months until the entrance exam!” All Might cried, defensively.
“Then you better think quickly!” The senior citizen huffed, walking off. “Good for nothing kids these days...”
As she left, Midoriya and All Might exchanged some rather awkward eye contact.
“Well then...” All Might sighed. “I think I have a phone call to make. I have someone who may be able to help us... he had trained me, actually.”
“Someone trained you?!” Midoriya asked, excitedly pulling out his notebook and forgetting all the pain he had felt mere minutes ago. “Who was it?! I’ve never heard about you being trained.”
All Might couldn’t help but chuckle at the boy’s enthusiasm. “Just... hold tight until you hear from me again. And try not to break anything.”
Midoriya nodded, and put his notebook away a bit disappointed. “Okay, okay.”
-------
That night, Izuku couldn’t shake the feeling of disappointment as he sat in his room and looked down at his still-sensitive left arm. Guess it’s lucky it wasn’t my drawing hand, he thought.
Things never seem to go quite right for me, he thought, pulling out his sketchbook to work on some doodles. First I get made fun of for not having a Quirk. Then my Quirk isn’t cool enough for Kacchan and his jerk friends. Then I’m supposed to get trained by All Might and my stupid body can’t even handle his Quirk. It’s going to take me forever to be a hero.
Frustrated, the boy drew a turtle, crudely, a reflection of his feelings about his progress. But as he tapped it to bring it life... something was different.
He felt the same release of energy he had as when he tried to punch the ocean earlier today. And instead of a monochromatic, crude turtle sitting on his desk... there was a fully-covered, incredibly detailed, REALLY LARGE turtle on his desk. The legs of the desk groaned under the weight, and Midoriya jumped backwards as the animal tried to snap at him.
“WHOA!” He yelled out.
“Izuku, honey, is something wrong?” His mom cried, before opening the door to his room and screaming, “OH MY GOD HOW DID THAT THING GET IN HERE!!!”
Carefully, Izuku tapped the turtle’s shell with his eraser, and it changed back into the drawing. “Holy crap...” he muttered to himself.
Can One for All... supercharge my own Quirk?
“How did you do that, honey?!” Inko asked, shocked.
“I uh... just been training my Quirk with my trainer, mom,” he answered. It wasn’t technically a lie, he figured. I need to tell All Might about this...
-------
That next weekend, All Might had Midoriya meet him back on the beach. To the teen’s surprise, another senior citizen was with him. Though this was an older gentleman who was dressed like a yellow Mega Man and leaning on a cane, which was a little different. But after the year he had, nothing surprised Midoriya much anymore,
“All Might!” Midoriya said, cheerfully, “Guess what I learned about One for All?!”
All Might tilted his head quizzically at the boy. “What’s that?”
“Check this out,” the boy replied, excitedly. As he did, All Might and the old man exchanged confused looks. He knelt down on the ground and took out his sketchbook and drew the roughest sketch of a dog. He held it up to show them.
“Great job, I’ll hang it on my fridge,” the old man huffed sarcastically.
“No, but that’s the thing!” Midoriya explained, eagerly. “If I tried to bring this to life, it would just be a crude little black and white stick figure or something. But if I use One for All...”
Midoriya tapped on the paper, and with a POOF, a large, brown dog appeared, tackling Midoriya to the ground and licking him. “GAH! Down boy! I should have done a turtle again.”
The dog barked and circled the three males excitedly.
All Might’s jaw drop. “You used... One for All to do that? That’s actually rather incredible that it was able to beef up your Quirk like that.”
“Yup!” Midoriya said, proudly. He jumped in front of the dog and booped its nose with his eraser, turning it back into the crude drawing.
All Might looked to the old man. “Have you ever heard of One for All being used like that, Gran Torino?”
The old man, who Midoriya gathered was Gran Torino, rubbed his chin and grinned. “I must say... that’s news to me.” The old man took a step further towards the teen. “The name’s Gran Torino, son. I used to train this lunk back when he first took on One for All.”
Miodoriya sprang up and bowed politely. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Oh, this one has manners,” the elderly man laughed. “Well then. Toshinori tells me you’ve got some martial arts training.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” The old man threw his cane aside. “This will be fun.”