Chapter Text
Izuku was well aware that he wasn’t a normal kid.
Sure, most would argue that the glaring problem with him would be his quirklessness but Izuku knew it was because he tended to think about things a bit…differently.
He found joy in using his freetime to learn new things, study different quirk sciences, and entertain himself by breaking down different hero fights that he found (re: researched and raced towards).
He also found himself with quite a bit of free time because of his mother’s job as a travel nurse. Most of the time, she stayed relatively close to home and was content with that but a few times, she liked to spread out and travel around Japan when Izuku had breaks from school.
He would never complain about being able to see different pro-heroes in action and it’s not like he had any friends to miss when they went somewhere new.
So that’s how he spent the majority of his time.
He researched the cities that they’d be staying in for a month or so during his school breaks, made sure he was careful enough while walking around in the foreign cities, and went to catch hero fights whenever he could.
He loved being able to watch his hometown heroes but there was something so interesting about being able to see new moves and different fights to Izuku.
Hawks was one of his favorite heroes to watch, mostly because the fights would go by so quickly and to get a good seat, Izuku had to climb up fire escapes to watch him from the rooftops.
A few times, he thought that Hawks had noticed him practicing moves on the rooftops since he seemed to slow down and telegraphed the move Izuku was practicing and sent out random thumbs-up after Izuku mastered a move, but he was smart enough to understand that that would never happen.
Izuku was plain and fitted into the background of people’s minds more often than not.
Even during the fights that Izuku got more or less involved in (especially with Miruko - the villains she fought tended to enjoy property damages - same with Endeavor), but the heroes never seemed to notice or care that he was getting in their way.
Granted, Izuku took him time to memorize their fighting style and how that might spur the villain to react, so he did his best to grab civilians that were in the way and pull them away.
And while he called into Present Mic’s show, Izuku couldn’t help his excitement when he noticed the hero subtly answering his questions with clues over the phone calls that they had, inspiring Izuku’s mind to work harder at deciphering their conversation that didn’t seem to be coded to the naked eye.
Present Mic was a fantastic and respectful conversationalist, and the first hero he had given a nickname to (with the help of his mother - she didn’t want him to be called Deku over the radio).
Even while he hung out on hero forums and debated his analysis and other quirk theories with like-minded people, he knew the only reason people were interested in what he had to say was because he never went by his real name and prevented anyone too curious to look into his account.
(he always feared someone evil would try to get him or his mother ever since she sat him down and explained just how helpful his analysis was - he still had a hard time believing it but he would trust his mother.)
His mother also loved to research and talk about other cultures, religions, and mythologies. That was her personal hyperfixation, just like Izuku’s was breaking down quirks and important historical figures.
So she tended to gift him endearing and mildly embarrassing nicknames at times, which made it easier for him to create aliases for people to know him by and prevent anyone from finding him or his mother.
Granted, a few people have given him nicknames he could seriously live without but others were very understanding and kind.
There was a man he had helped get away from a few other men one night who had looked down and whispered, “Yasashii ” to himself.
It seemed to stick, since that’s what he was called anytime he aided others when they were being mugged, or harassed, or targeted at night while he was just walking around.
It made him happy that there were kind people in the world, even if Izuku was undeserving of such fond nicknames being directed towards him.
Even in the police station (which he’s been inside too many times for his taste - but they were all relatively nice and respectful) they called him either Midori or Yasashii, which made him smile just a bit brighter when he spoke with them.
He found joy in his talks with the Twilight Hero, Ms. Joke.
She was also one of his favorites since she tried to keep the happiness and excitement of everyday life alive and fresh, even for the victims she was saving. She wasn’t rude or mean to him, even after finding out that he was quirkless. And she still seemed determined to try and make him care about himself as he walked around at night.
(Izuku was not a vigilante, no matter what she or the police thought - he couldn’t be one in the eyes of the law - and he didn’t even have a patrol route or anything - he just wandered around the same parts he usually did.)
And he almost freaked out when Sir Nighteye showed up at his doorstep, asking about who lived in his household and what their jobs were.
Izuku won’t lie, he fought the amusement that was threatening to show on his face during the interaction and he snickered to himself quietly after he saw the hero groan in his hands when he walked back towards his car afterwards.
Izuku didn’t know that they had been looking into his analyst email account but he knew there was no reason for it.
His mother had actually been the one to suggest sending them and Izuku wanted them to take the words seriously, so he created another alias. That way, his heroes would (hopefully) be more inclined to listen and take his suggestions seriously.
And then he met All Might and began training with the man on the beach.
He couldn’t really go looking for too many hero fights during this time, and he was usually so exhausted from discovering many new muscles afterwards that he didn’t go outside during the nights as often as he would’ve liked.
Once he got into UA and their rescue training had been attacked, he promptly panicked as he saw Detective True Man walk over to Izuku and All Might in his civilian form.
After an awkward ten minutes of re-introducing Izuku and the detective, they were finally able to give their statements and leave.
He did have to explain how he knew the detective to All Might afterwards but his mentor seemed to just smile and nod with a fond look in his eyes as Izuku sheepishly told him about all of the late-night confrontations he’d been a part of over the years (he was not a vigilante - just don’t tell his mother about it).
Even with all of these interactions in mind, Izuku still couldn’t understand what was happening right now.
Aizawa-sensei had turned on the projector and showed off just how many internships Izuku and his classmates had been offered.
And the only thing he could accurately guess was that his number was wrong.
“What?” Izuku couldn't help but voice his questions as he continued to stare at the board, sounding a bit more choked up than he meant to.
It’s just - well - there had to be something wrong with the numbers.
He knew for a fact there would be no reason for him to have this many internship offers after his terrible attempt to prove to All Might that he would show the world he was here for them.
He acted impulsively throughout the entire event, going so far as to break his fingers during the first one v one fight he had and broke his hand and arms over and over just to make a point to Todoroki during his other one v one fight.
He broke himself every damn time he used All Might’s quirk and proved to Japan that he didn’t know what he was doing.
So why?
Why and how did he have more offers than Todoroki and Kacchan combined?
Aizawa-sensei legitimately rolled his eyes at Izuku’s question and lazily glanced at him before answering. “Midoriya, you are aware that the heroes know you, right?”
Izuku couldn’t even care that Kacchan looked three seconds away from blowing Izuku sky-high for some answers. Izuku wanted some answers too!
So he asked, “ What?! ” one more time, just to see if Aizawa-sensei was messing with him and this was all just a logical ruse for whatever reason.
But no. Aizawa-sensei just hummed questionably and responded. “Midoriya, stay after class and we’ll talk. The rest of you, these internships will open up more doors for you in the future…”
Izuku didn’t have it in him to listen to the rest of Aizawa-sensei’s lecture.
He was reeling from what he had just learned. The heroes noticed him. Was that a good thing? They wouldn’t have sent him so many offers if it was a bad thing, right? Also, why did he have so many? He knows he hadn’t run around to that many hero fights when he was younger.
All too soon, class ended.
Even though his classmates looked like they wanted answers, they all seemed to be able to tell that Izuku didn’t have them, so they quickly packed up their things as Izuku sat with his head down, staring wide-eyed at his desk as though it’ll tell him what happened.
“Midoriya,” Aizawa-sensei called out after everyone had left.
Izuku lifted his head and his teacher seemed to take pity on him as his eyes softened. “Many of us are aware that you’re Rousseau. And everyone in the district had listened to your talks with Present Mic, who had bragged about knowing you in real life after the two of you met. Not to mention the amount of hero fights you frequent with the Daylights.”
Izuku couldn’t stop opening and closing his mouth. Words wanted to escape him and deny it all but Aizawa-sensei didn’t lie. He deceived them and played a ridiculous amount of logical ruses but he hadn’t outright lied to them. So he was left to stew in his confusion at his teacher’s admission.
“But - why would they notice me? ” Izuku whispered, trying to understand.
Everything that he had done out there was done quirkless and no matter how many people wanted to play nice, he knew that they thought he wasn’t much because of it.
He had grown up to be plain his entire life, with only his mother advocating differently.
“Why wouldn’t they, Midoriya?” Aizawa-sensei countered as he slid into Kacchan’s seat to be directly in front of Izuku.
“I-I’m not s-someone they should pay attention to, I guess,” Izuku responded, slowly working around his awe and confusion. “I’ve always been plain.”
Aizawa-sensei furrowed his eyebrows. “I think the heroes that offered you an internship would beg to differ. There’s not anything that could be considered plain about you, Midoriya.”
Izuku let his eyes widen as he looked back to his teacher, who was ducking the lower half of his face inside his capture weapon, making it harder for Izuku to read his facial expressions.
That almost sounded like a compliment though Izuku couldn’t be too sure with it coming from Aizawa-sensei.
Eventually, Aizawa-sensei just huffed and grabbed a large stack of papers and dropped them onto his desk. “Pick one and ask them, Problem Child. I think they’ll surprise you.”
Izuku absentmindedly nodded his head and looked down at the daunting pile of offers he had to sift through later that night with his mother.
Dear gods, he thinks the only internship offer he didn’t get was from All Might.