Chapter Text
A croaky phone sounds an alarm at a crisp hour in the morning. It was Izuku’s. One of those older phones that only managed texting, calling, radio, and an alarm, His mother gifted it to him two years ago when she left so she could ‘call him everyday’, but he’s only ever heard from her on his birthday despite him messaging weekly.
Izuku woke up after his alarm had looped twice, as usual, rolled over, and wished the day away. Feeling as groggy as always he hurled himself up and out of bed. The boy’s morning routine had been the exact same since his mother left, get up, brush teeth, get dressed, and play Russian roulette with the fridge to see If he’d be eating breakfast that morning. He stared at the empty fridge before checking the cupboards, empty. Damn it. He’d have to go to the shops after school.
Aldera Junior high in Musutafu wasn’t too far of a walk from izuku’s shaky apartment complex, and one tired haze later he’d be there. As he stared up at the school gates he dreaded what the day would bring, something a classmate had said to him the day before came to mind
“Why do you even bother coming here Deku. You know your just asking to be beaten up, so don’t cry when it actually happens”
“I know” Izuku muttered to himself as he dragged his feet through the gates. The thing is, the boy truly didn’t know why he bothered, online school was an option, but for some reason he forced himself to this torture every single day. ‘Its because its what you deserve, Deku’ a sharp voice in his mind told him ‘its because each beating reminds you of what you truly are’. He couldn’t argue with his own logic, maybe it actually is because if he allowed himself to do online classes then he might forget what its like to be quirkless in the life outside of his apartment.
Almost immediately after his first step through the gate he was met with remarks flying at him, it was only the usual stuff he heard everyday so he’d grown desensitized to them at this point. He shook the words from his shoulders and made his way into the building and towards his locker. Before he made it there however he locked eyes with a familiar menacing face. It was kaccha Bakugou, the fiery blonde boy who’d been his biggest hater since childhood, and his followers. ‘Great’ Izuku thought to himself, ‘now your in for it’.
The small posse had no thought of hesitation before they started slithering up to the green haired boy. They were like giants compared to him, eyes darting down as if their stare alone could burn a hole straight through Izuku’s forehead.
“So, he shows his face here again” said one of Bakugou’s minions with a wolf-like grin on his face.
“Shal we teach him a quick lesson?” said another.
The question was certainly rhetorical because the two simply looked at each other with a slight glance before stepping further in to the defenceless kid’s personal space.
‘Just zone out Izuku, that way it will go faster and wont hurt as much till later’ . This wasn’t the first time the greenette had been beaten up, and he sure as hell knew it wouldn’t be the last time either; Because of this, the boy had learned that if he voluntarily turned on the static in his mind, then he wouldn’t feel it as much in the moment.
So there he was, at some point he was pushed on the floor, he continued to just sit there and take it as the older boys landed blow after blow on the poor kids stomach. Izuku allowed the hits to simmer throughout his body, feeling the pain evenly, but due to being in the shackles of his mind he only let out a small wince here and there as an indication that he was in pain.
“That’s probably enough extra’s” a confident voice said from behind the two older boys. “its obvious the dumb nerd isn’t even paying attention, probably wishing some hero to come and save him in that thick skull of his” .
“fine, I guess we’ve done enough.. for now” a minion said in response, shooting daggers at the boy he’d left crumpled on the ground.
“see you in class dickface” the other minion said, grinning at his own words.
With that the posse began they’re pride-ridden walk away from the younger boy, as if they hadn’t beaten him up in the first place.
Izuku came back to reality as they walked away, hearing the dregs of conversation grow further into the distance.
•••
“im surprised he didn’t throw up” said Extra1.
“yeah.. must’ve had nothing in there to throw up! Bet his mommy doesn’t want to waste money feeding that disappointment” replied Extra2.
Katsuki’s mind lingered on that last statement for a moment. ‘why would the nerd not have any breakfast’ thought the tall blonde ‘we all know he has that stupid dream of being a hero, so I cant see why he wouldn’t have any food’ . Katsuki pushed the thought away, he didn’t care about that damn nerd so there was no reason to be thinking about it.
Auntie Inko had always been kind to Katsuki. He had fond memories of the Midorya’s coming round to his house when they were younger. His parents and Deku’s parents had always been good friends. Deku and Katsuki had even been best friends too until he got his quirk and Deku didn’t. The blonde remembers the day Deku came into kindergarten with no emotion on his face the whole day, no one knew why; Later that evening he remembers his mom was on the phone with tears in her eyes as she comforted Auntie Inko. “Being quirkless isn’t the worst thing in the world, I’m sure he can still grow up to have a good life” The blonde’s mother said, her voice cracking as she made uncomfortable eye contact with her four-year-old son who was sat on the stairs.
From that point onwards, Katsuki and Deku were no longer friends, but enemies, even if Deku tried his hardest to be friends with the fiery blonde.
Sometimes when Katsuki lays in his bed at night, waiting for sleep to come, he remembers his childhood. He remembers the similarities between himself and the nerd, but also the unsettling differences. Some might say he even feels guilt about the way he has treated his ex-bestfriend over the years, but there’s no way the boy would admit that to himself, let alone think about the idea.
“fucking Deku” The teen muttered
His goons turned in surprise as the conversation about Deku had had been long over. They had also never heard Bakugou speak so quietly, which only added to their surprise.
“stop looking at me like that before I blast you into next week” Said Bakugou, now realising he had spoken out loud. He let off some minor explosions in his palm as an added threat.
The two who had been staring at their leader now looked straight ahead, not even daring to respond.
•••
Izuku lay on the ground for a moment, he knew getting up would hurt. However, he also didn’t want to be late for class as that would only inconvenience him more. The beaten-up boy sucked the air through his teeth in pain as he lifted himself up from the ground, his whole body shaking from the effort it took him and the fatigue that plagued his body. He brushed himself off lazily and forced one foot after the other, making his way to his homeroom. He wandered in, attempting to dodge the insults on his way to his desk. Slumping himself on his chair, he took a moment to eye the new graffiti that littered his desk.
“Useless”
“KYS”
“freak”
These words lay atop of other malicious comments left over the year. ‘do they not have anything better to do?’ Apparently not. ‘well its not like what they’re sayin’ is wrong is it?’ crept that same voice from earlier into Izuku’s mind. ‘true’ Izuku agreed. He had thought all those things to himself before, even the one about killing himself. It seemed that everyone he’s ever met thought the same things about the boy as he thought about himself. ‘maybe it would be better if I just-‘ but his thought was interrupted by his teacher slugging his way into the classroom. The greenette was just about to allow himself to go back into his mind when the teacher announced the days activity.
Oh shit.
“Since this is your last year, you should all start thinking seriously about your futures, so ill hand out printouts for your future plans” the teacher said with a significant amount of seriousness in his tone.
“but why bother! I know you all want to go into the hero track!” said the teacher with enthusiasm in his voice; The kind of enthusiasm that made the whole classroom burst into excitement.
“Hey teach” boomed the loud voice of confidence Izuku had gotten used to since his childhood. “don’t lump me in with these losers, I’m the only one from this dump who will actually make a name for myself. That’s why I’m headed for UA, I already aced the mock tests” Said Kacchan, his voice heavy with self-confidence.
“yes yes we know Bakugou, you have a very impressive quirk” spoke the teacher, with a hinted bit of sarcasm in his voice that seemed to piss the spikey-haired blonde off.
“oh yeah- Midorya, don’t you plan to go to UA”
Fuck.
Why did he have to go and say that.
The whole classroom burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
“Deku? there’s no way that quirkless freak will make it into UA”
“They probably wouldn’t even accept his application, let alone allow him to take the entrance exams”
Izuku could feel his chest constricting, regardless, he tried not to make his gasps for breath obvious. ‘Fuck fuck fuck, why would he say that, surely he knows everyone would bully me for it. Sensei must hate me the same way everyone else does. Everyone is out to crush my dreams. Maybe I should just let them. I mean its not like-‘ Izuku’s thought was cut short.
“Oi Deku”
shit.
“how could you even try to put yourself on my level” Bakugou yelled gritting his teeth. “you’re nothing, nothing but a quirkless wannabe”
“I’m sorry Kacchan!! I’m not trying to compete with you! Its just always been my dream! Even you know that! Plus quirkless people can be in the hero track, they got rid of the rule that stopped people like me! Sure there’s never actually been anyone who’s made it in without a quirk but you never know until you try! And-“
“and what? Don’t bother trying. Your useless” The blonde said, cutting off any remaining thought Izuku could add to his nervous ramble. Bakugou spoke again, this time with a kind of nonchalance “Actually there might be another way”
Izuku paused. The classroom went silent.
“Pray that you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life, and go take a swan dive off the roof of the building”
The whole class was stunned. Even Izuku. The greenette lingered on the words he had just heard for a moment, it felt like a knife in the chest. People told him to kill himself all the time, but no one had ever said it like that before; No one had ever been able to perfectly replicate Izuku’s own thoughts like that. Having a quirk in his next life was the main reason he contemplated suicide, but no one knew about this; it’s almost like Kacchan had read his mind out loud. Izuku buried his head in is arms, resting them apon the table, trying his hardest to ignore the stares he could feel setting him alight.
The poor boy could feel his brain begin to disassociate. He felt nothing after that. Even as he occasionally tuned into the words of the people around him, he couldn’t even bring himself to feel upset. He fell into a hole, then wished he would fall in further.
This was just the beginning of harsher bullying. Izuku knew this. Once his peers had found out about him wanting to go to UA, he knew they would try to crush any hope he had.
So this is how its gonna be huh?