Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya
Tile looked more and more detailed every time he stared holes into it. Taunts and scornful whispers filling the room as soon as he started to walk in. One voice stood out above the rest, one person held superiority in this hell hole.
Katsuki Bakugou, his best friend. If he could even be considered that anymore. His smirk stabbed his gut with fear.
Izuku remembers when it wasn't like this, though the memories are blurry around the edges. Ever since he was diagnosed as quirkless, he's been subject to the constant harassment of his peers. He really doubted he'd get away without a bruise or two.
Thankfully, he only got tripped on the way to his desk. A jolt of pain throbbed from a day-old bruise on his knee.
'It could have been worse, it can always be worse', he thought. Even if the teacher scolded him for disrupting the class, there was only a month or two left anyway.
Something was seriously wrong with him, more than the ache he constantly endured. A tingly feeling snuggled his nerves, urging him to do something. Yet he didn't know what this something was, or how to do it.
By the time the bell had rang he didn't remember a thing his teacher said. By the way his leaving classmates were glaring at him in disdain and disbelief, it was nothing good.
Bakugou had stayed behind with a few of his lackeys, a hostile aura surrounding them. Though behind his angry red eyes lied something else, hesitation perhaps? It didn't really matter, the end result remained the same.
"What the hell are you even trying to do, Deku?" He spat, stepping closer until Izuku was up against the wall. "Do you seriously think a quirkless freak like you can get into UA?" He held him tightly by the collar, his breath brushing against Izuku's cheek.
"T…There's no rule against Quirkless people applying…" He mumbled weakly, tensing up in preparation for raging burn marks and angry bruises. There was no reason for him to have spoken in the first place.
But he was let go, given mercy for the time being. He'd have to thank whatever God was out there for sparing him this once. And yet again, his luck ran out.
His analysis notebook now occupied his tormentor's hands, already smoking as he activated his Quirk. To think that he once found it amazing only made him bitter. Tears streamed down his face as he watched hours of work burn away into nothing. Thrown out the window like yesterday's trash.
Staring helplessly, he felt that static feeling erupt in the back of his mind, gripping him in its comfort. He watched in reservation as they walked away, and as his best friend stopped at the entryway. That cocky demeanor he always held taking hold of him again.
"If you really want to be a hero Deku," He taunted, face blurring at the edges, "then you should take a swan-dive off a roof and pray for a quirk in your next life."
He didn't remember walking into that underpass.
He didn't remember the feeling of his air being stripped away from him like everything else had.
Izuku Midoriya did not remember how he got onto that roof, in front of his idol. Yet even without his memory of actions prior, before him stood a deflated version of All Might.
All Might told him about his time limit, it's history. But even if it was confidential information, he didn't care because there was just something he had to know. A question he'd been yearning for an answer to since his diagnosis. Maybe that was selfish of him, but it couldn't wait another year, he might actually-
"Can I still be a hero, even without a quirk?" He asked, eyes already burning with unshed tears. This was what would prove the never ending insults wrong. This was what he dreamed about hearing every day for the last ten years.
While he could never reasonably tell them he met All Might and was told he could be a hero. He could still hold onto his hope for a better future.
Until it slipped from his grasp.
"I'm sorry my boy," All Might spoke, staring at him with pity.
'Why do people never stop staring'
"You can't be a hero without a quirk, it's just not realistic. Hero work is extremely dangerous and even with a quirk, people die. If you still want to go down that path, consider a career in ~~~"
The rest of All Might's words faded in one ear and out the other. Something about police work? It didn't matter, he couldn't be a hero. What qualified as realistic when he didn't have a quirk? Something that made him special?
The one thing he had left was a statistic that sat in the back of his mind. He'd only be another number of the many quirkless suicides. That was what Bakugou had implied wasn't it? All Might had vanished, there was no one to stop him now.
'I can't do that to mom, she'd be devastated.'
She'd be better off in the end
'No she wouldn't.'
She'd get over it.
His internal conflict was getting too loud, so he just ignored it. There wasn't even a real choice here. Not for him. No matter how much he tried to talk himself out of it, no other path was an option. He'd always just be Deku.
Whatever building he was on seemed taller from above, at least twenty stories if he counted. Tall enough to kill him without too much pain. At least, he hoped it would. His staple red shoes sat in front of the ledge he stood on. They were old and worn, but his mother would want to keep them. She was sentimental like that.
Thinking of his mother only brought a sinking feeling in his stomach. She was probably calling everyone they knew now to find him. Shame pooled in his gut as he stared at the drop he'd be taking. Backing out was probably still an option, he could take it back and return home to his ever-worried mom.
But could he really? She only worried because he was always so much trouble. This was for the best. It would only take one step. The static buzzed excitedly, urging him to step forward. He's always a follower.
So he free-falled to his "better future".
When Izuku Midoriya opened his eyes, he felt a familiar emptiness fill his entire being. Were he to have awoken in a hospital he would have understood his attempt failing. Someone who'd seen him fall called an ambulance and they'd arrived early. It made sense.
Instead, he sat up to find himself in a pool of his own blood that had splattered all over the side walk. Even his clothes were drenched in it.
In front of him was the same building he swore he jumped off of just a minute ago. Now Izuku wasn't stupid. He knew the odds that he survived that fall without medical help were next to nothing, that didn't change the fact he was alive and breathing. Something he wasn't supposed to be, that was his destiny, wasn't it?
So how the fuck was he still here?