Archive of Our Own

“Can someone without a quirk…become a hero like you?”

The question rang through his head with every step he took, resonating through his mind with each breath. He barely paid attention to the buildings he was walking past, grey things in his periphery, as he clutched his notebook to his chest. He knew he should be realistic, should think of other paths beside heroics… but the world wasn’t kind to quirkless people, and it was hard to face reality when statistics were so skewed out of your favor.  

Izuku looked up to the crowd his legs had brought him behind, and came to full awareness as he noticed the shouts and fire. He didn’t want to be here, watching the pros he’d been told he could never join, but sheer habit had him weaving his way to the front of the crowd to watch the fight and analyse the pros and their quirks.

It was strange that Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady were on the same scene considering the villain fight this morning, and both of them were at a bit of a disadvantage with the small, flaming street, but the other pros should be able to contain the fight. After all, they were heroes, trained to use their quirks to-

All of them trained to-

To-

He saw an explosion go off and could feel phantom burns on his skin answering. The heroes (who had quirks, who should be able to save people) moved around the scene as Bakugo  drowned in the same slime he had been trapped in that afternoon. None of them moved in to engage the villain. 

“It’s not wrong to dream, however…you need to be realistic, kid.”

His green eyes met terrified red. Maybe he didn’t want to be realistic. No, what Izuku wanted more than anything was to be a hero, and save people. 

He wasn’t surprised when his feet began to move on their own, drawing him closer to the sludge villain and Bakugo. He scrambled to think of a plan, searching madly for anything to use to his advantage. All the while his mind screamed at him for running into danger without a second thought. The heat from the flames was overwhelming here, the shouts of heroes and police officers battled with deafening explosions and crackling flame. 

“You again?” The sludge villain drew itself up, the barbed taunt spilling from a vicious smile over Bakugo’s face. 

Even if Izuku knew how to reply to that, his throat was too constricted to get anything out besides a choked grunt as he threw his backpack, heavy from the weight of textbooks, right into the villain’s eye. It didn’t recoil as far as he wanted, needed it to go, but it was enough that Bakugo could breathe again.  He couldn’t think of anything else to do apart from trying to claw the sludge away from Bakugo, even though he knew (from his observations, from his experience this afternoon) it wouldn’t do anything.

“Deku? What the fuck are you doing here?!” Of course Bakugo would spend his first clear breaths screaming at him. He could feel himself asking the same question: What was he doing here?

“I…” He finally locked eyes with his friend, his bully, and did his best to smile. “You looked like you needed saving.”

The sludge villain recovered from Izuku’s attack with a snarl, surging forward to cover Bakugo and grab at Izuku’s arms. The villain was saying something, Izuku was sure, but he couldn’t hear it past the heartbeat pounding in his ears. He refused to stop moving though, still trying to claw at the sludge as it began to envelop him once more. 

He could almost, almost grab Bakugo’s hand, when a big hand closed around both of their arms. Whipping his head around, he saw All Might’s lips moving, but only managed to catch the tail end of what he was saying. 

“-ready to risk his life.” 

Before Izuku could consider the context behind that phrase, All Might was throwing a punch, blowing the sludge villain away with its force. The changing air pressure robbed the fires of oxygen, extinguishing them; even if the wind hadn’t been enough to put them out, the resulting rain would have calmed the flames. For Izuku the rain was a relief against his singed hands and face, and he spent a moment just lying down where All Might had deposited them, getting his breathing under control.

That moment was short lived as the police and pro heroes crowded him and Bakugo, leading them away from the damaged street and the sections of sludge villain coating the concrete. 

And that’s where he found himself, kneeling as Death Arms lectured him. The other heroes were milling about, some helping assist the clean up. 

“There was absolutely no need to put yourself in danger! Seriously kid what were you planning on doing?” 

The question brought him back to his snap decision to run in without a plan. To a hero who told him that being a hero was simply too dangerous for someone without a quirk. To the question that had been circling in his head all afternoon, and had plagued him for years. So in his current state of probably-shock (where were the paramedics? He knew plenty of first aid but shouldn’t there be someone checking on Bakugo, who had just spent however long suffocating?) he asked Death Arms the same question. 

“ Can someone without a quirk…become a hero?” 

It was silent for a moment as the hero processed the question, before his scowl darkened. “Are you serious?” He paused, but only for a breath. “That was a stupid decision to run in there, but without a quirk as well? Are you suicidal or something? Forget being a hero, you need to get your head in order first!” 

Death Arms was more harsh than All Might had been, and a distant part of Izuku wanted to start sobbing at this awful day, but he couldn’t quite reach that part of himself.

“You’re lucky you didn’t end up dead and that All Might interfered when he did! Honestly, kids these days have no idea-”

The tail end of Death Arms’s statement slipped away from Izuku’s mind. Two heroes had told him he couldn’t be a hero because he was quirkless, but they were far from the only heroes on scene. Maybe one of the others would think differently?

...

They didn’t. Death Arms had been indignant when Izuku had stood up and walked away from him when he was still talking, and angry when he heard him ‘bothering the other pro heroes on scene’ with the same question. Backdraft had been nice about it, gently giving him a flat no, before suggesting joining the firefighters since he clearly hadn’t been afraid of the flames when rushing in to save Bakugo. Mt. Lady had raised an eyebrow and asked him if it was a trick question. Kamui Woods had given him a mild scolding for his actions and told him not to repeat them because no, someone quirkless couldn’t be a hero. The other heroes that had stuck around, along with a police officer who overheard his question had all agreed: Without a quirk, it was impossible to be a hero.

As a result of his questioning the sun had almost set by the time he was at his apartment; he probably could have made it there sooner, but the weight of the day had caused his feet to drag and his shoulders to slump for the whole journey. 

He only had to slightly jostle the doorknob before the door itself was thrown open, a disheveled Inko looking at him wide eyed before enveloping him in bone crushing hug. He didn’t have the energy to tell her that it really wasn’t helping him, nor the heart to as he heard her rant about how worried she had been.

Fingers digging into the material of her cardigan, he hugged her back, neither of them separating as they made their way further into the apartment. The television was playing in the background, a news report of a villain organisation in Chiba filling the gaps between Inko’s words, and a few ingredients were spread on the kitchen counter. Izuku felt guilty; she must have seen the report of the sludge villain while trying to decide what to make for dinner. He hated worrying her when she already worked so hard to look after him. So he did what he always did; he told her he was alright, a smile hazardously tacked on his face. There would be time to process everything later, but for now he would focus on helping his mum with dinner.

~

Inko was worried. Of course she was worried, she had seen her son involved in a villain attack on the news and hadn’t been able to reach him (apparently his phone had been damaged, she would need to get him a new one soon), but this was something else. He was home now, but she could tell Izuku wasn’t home ; sure he smiled and said he was fine, but his eyes were void of emotion. Midoriyas were notorious for their unstoppable tear ducts and after such a traumatic experience he should have some signs of tears, of fear, of relief that is was over, but Inko could find none.  

She had noticed that there were some days where Izuku came home with shaky smiles, but this was something that scared her even more than seeing the news report that he and Katsuki had been saved by All Might from an incredibly dangerous villain attack. He was always so alive, always doing something or rambling about this and that, but now he helped her cut vegetables almost robotically, only quietly replying when she spoke.

“It’s been a pretty tough day hasn’t it?” She offered, getting a nod in response. “Why don’t we watch an All Might movie with dinner?” 

And Izuku stiffened. His shoulders hunched, and Inko knew something was definitely, horribly wrong.

“I’m sure you’re sick of watching all of those!” He added a laugh, though it sounded brittle to Inko’s ears. “Why don’t you pick a movie this time?” And he looked to her and smiled. Soft and gentle.

If it weren’t for the hint of pain in his otherwise empty eyes, Inko might have bought it. 

But she wouldn’t push it, not now. There was no denying that there was more to that villain attack today than was what was on the news, and that her boy was suffering....If he was still the same in the morning, she would figure out something . But if he was determined to keep up the charade of being okay, she would follow him, at least for tonight.

~

He was drowning again. The sludge was up to his waist, one arm pinned at his side while the other struggled to fight against the sludge and pull himself up. 

His energy was flagging, and he was about to give up when he heard something muffled from beside him. When he turned his head, his eyes widened and his resignation turned to panic. Bakugo was there. So was his mum. So was auntie and uncle Bakugo, some of his classmates, his neighbours. They were all stuck, drowning like he was, and he couldn’t help them. He started thrashing harder, calling out to them, calling out for help, but nothing was working. The sludge was up to his neck, his free arm almost completely immobilised.

And he.

Couldn’t.

Do.

Anything.

It was at that point he felt hope, because above the sea of sludge he could see the colourful outfits of heroes. He tried calling out to them, but the first bit of sludge slipped into his mouth and left him coughing instead. But that was alright, because the heroes were almost within reach now-

“It’s too dangerous to be a hero without a quirk.”

Izuku froze at the icy tone. He couldn’t place which hero had said it, but more were joining the scene and doing nothing.

“Useless. Weak. Pathetic. Worthless.”

He couldn’t breathe, which meant that the other people in the sludge probably couldn’t either. But the only thing he could hear, could see, was every hero he had ever known and looked up to, staring down at him apathetically and telling him:

“You can never be a hero.”

~

After getting a glass of water to help the aftermath of his coughing fit, Izuku sat at his desk, staring at his walls and trying not to register All Might’s grinning face. He had been in his nightmare (cold, ridiculing) too. 

He’d asked seven heroes if someone without a quirk could be a hero yesterday. And they had all told him, with varying levels of scorn, that it was impossible.

But...he hadn’t asked most of the heroes in his nightmare. He hadn’t even seen most of them in person. 

With shaky hands he dug out a new notebook and booted up his computer. There were so many heroes in Japan, and if it took asking all of them to prove his nightmare wrong, that at least one believed someone without a quirk could be a hero, then he would do it.

Maybe it was a crazy, nightmare fueled two-in-the-morning idea, but Izuku could feel it digging its claws into his brain, his heart, grabbing onto the tiniest bit of hope he had left and holding on with a death grip.

The number one hero said he couldn’t be a hero?

Then he would just have to ask the number two hero.

He began researching Endeavor’s patrol routes.

~

He hadn’t gotten much sleep that night. It was less sleep and more pass-out-from-exhaustion anyway, but in the few hours between two and five he’d managed to put together a lot of information, which led him to where he was now. 

The first place that would come to mind if you wanted to meet a hero would be their agency, but with the celebrity-like status that many heroes enjoyed it had been declared illegal to loiter around hero agencies, as it would be considered impeding justice. Of course, members of the media could get exemptions to this, but Izuku could hardly fake that with his height and eternal baby-face. Besides, Endeavor was known for avoiding the media or being downright hostile, so posing as a journalist wouldn’t allow him to ask the man his question. So he did what he did best: he researched. He brought up reports of the areas Endeavor frequented (fairly regular when not working on a case), arrest reports, social media comments on when he spoke to fans, and by the end of it all had a rough estimate of the best places to intercept him, along with when he was most sociable. After that he had written down some basic information on the rest of the top ten heroes, knowing that someone as...gruff as Endeavor probably wouldn’t support his heroic ambition, so he’d need to be prepared to ask the next hero.

Waking up after sleeping at his desk had been awful, but three days later and he was at the edge of a fight that had just gone down between Endeavor and an unknown villain. His information suggested that the best time to talk to the number two would be after a fight, when he’d finished dealing with the media and press, but would still be geared towards talking instead of going back to patrolling straight away. 

Endeavor and the sidekick that was accompanying him (he couldn’t remember her name right now, he was sure he knew it, it had something to do with fire or burning) were finishing up their statement, so Izuku slipped passed other bystanders. He used his small stature to remain unnoticed as he cut towards a nearby alley he knew the heroes would pass through; they were on the tail end of their patrol and would be heading in the general direction of Endeavor’s agency. Passing through the alley would point them in that direction while allowing access to a populated street perfect for patrolling, while giving eager fans less chance to corral them for more information and autographs. 

Izuku ignored the part of himself that sounded a lot like his classmates telling him he was being creepy. They hadn’t been particularly kind after hearing he had tried to interfere in a villain attack; the bruises under his clothes gave him dull reminders of the fact when he crouched by a dumpster. He didn’t want to be noticed until he knew Endeavor hadn’t been followed by any fans, and then he could ask his question.

It took a couple of minutes, but soon he heard the sounds of footsteps over his racing heart. He watched the flame hero (without his sidekick, must still be dealing with the media) walk by his hiding spot, steeled his nerves and stood up.

“U-um, hello Endeavor, sorry to-” His apology was cut short by a burst of fire landing by his head, scorching the wall and singing the hairs on the side it has passed. He didn’t dare breathe as his wide eyes met the hero’s, hoping that Endeavor would realise he wasn’t a threat.

“What the hell kid, did no one ever teach you to not sneak up on heroes?!” Not good, Izuku knew this wouldn’t be the best experience, but he could tell Endeavor wasn’t just gruff now, he was irritated. 

Izuku quickly ducked into a bow, holding his position as he talked, “I apologise Endeavor! I-I wanted to ask you something so I thought it was better to wait until you got away from the media!” He looked up when he heard the scoff, the flame hero looking down at him before turning and continuing down the alley. 

“Wait! Please-”

“Leave a comment on my website, kid, or bother someone else.” Despite being known for his fire quirk, the glare Izuku got felt like being speared by an icicle. “Don’t pull something like this again, next time you might not be lucky enough to have a hero hold back.” With that, the hero continued walking.

Izuku wanted to listen and leave, but he needed to ask his question. So he looked imploringly at the back of the number two hero and asked.

“Do you think someone without a quirk can be a hero?”

He felt hopeful when Endeavor stopped walking (not that he would tell him he could be a hero, but that at least he would answer his question), but as the alley heated by the tiniest increments he started to feel fear. Because this was what it felt like when his classmates cornered him, when Bakugo decided he needed to strengthen his quirk on someone. 

“This is what you’re wasting my time on? You snuck up on a pro hero to ask them this rubbish?” Endeavor was facing Izuku now, and the flames surrounding him crackled; not in the comforting fireplace-like way Izuku had always mused, instead, they sounded like the cracking of ice before it shattered and plunged you into the freezing depths. It was all he could do to nod, eyes wide.

“People without quirks are nothing more than empty shells, blank spaces with no use to society. There is no way one of those could become a hero. Heroes are strong, unstoppable forces with quirks to match and even the weakest, most pathetic of villains would be a better hero than someone without a quirk, because at least they’d have some potential.” Endeavor’s scowl changed to a sneer, flames accentuating the harsh lines of his face. “Even if one of those worthless… people were to become a hero, they’d be nothing more than a useless, pathetic liability who wouldn’t even be worth the battle fodder.” The shadows of the alley flickered as the man took a step closer to Izuku, who didn’t dare breathe . “How dare you waste the time I could be working towards becoming the number one hero, saving lives, with this nonsense? There’s no such thing as a quirkless hero, and there never will be. The sooner they stop taking up resources the better.”

Izuku could feel his whole body trembling slightly, but was unable to move, to look away as the number two hero looked down at him one last time.

“So, if I haven’t made myself clear enough for someone with your affliction ,” Izuku flinched violently, “the answer is no.”

And with that he turned around and walked away, leaving Izuku frozen in the alley behind him.

The trembling progressed into shaking, forcing him to sit down and lean against the dumpster he had originally hidden behind. He’d known Endeavor would probably reject him but-

It felt different when it wasn’t his classmates saying it. 

Useless.

Endeavor was the number two hero, someone people respected.

Weak.

Someone he looked up to.

 Pathetic. 

Someone who thought he was-

Worthless.

Izuku could feel himself at the edge of a precipice, the wind stirred by his rapid, swirling thoughts threatening to knock him down. The number one and number two heroes had told him, in no uncertain terms that someone without a quirk, like him, could never be a hero. A handful of other heroes had also agreed. His classmates certainly didn’t believe he could do it. 

What his class would do if they found out what he’d been asking the heroes… They’d already spent his first day back since the villain incident jeering at him about it, telling him it’d be better if the villain had gotten him because if he had died, no one would miss the victim (and how close they were to what had almost happened not even an hour before Bakugo had been attacked). Bakugo hadn’t said anything, other than for people to fuck off and stop asking about it because of course he wasn’t scared, no, he had it handled . He hadn’t even looked in Izuku’s direction, refusing to acknowledge his existence even as his classmates had knocked him around.

He felt his bruises throb at the memory, and dug into them to try and stop his hands from shaking so much.

“It’s not wrong to dream, however…you need to be realistic, kid.”

But he didn’t dream. He’d just had the same nightmare since that day, that he was never enough, the heroes looking down at him as he drowned. And he knew that now would be the point of change. He could give in, break down into the sobbing mess he wanted to be. He could accept that he’d only ever be useless and hopeless and worthless and all the things people had told him. Or, he could prove his nightmare wrong. He was an analyst; there were so many heroes, so surely there was a chance that one of them would believe in him? Breathing in deeply, he pushed away the choking feeling in his chest and stood up. Just because the top two heroes didn’t believe in him, didn’t mean he should give up. Endeavor’s reaction was expected (it was worse, so, so much worse but still in the expected direction) so he had an outline of a plan ready to go for the next hero; he just had to keep working on it.

Tremors still wracked his body as he made it back onto the main street, but he noticed it with a sense of disconnect. Everything outside of getting home and planning was a bit fuzzy, just outside of his comprehension, but that was fine. 

He only paused his journey when he noticed he was passing Endeavor’s sidekick (Burnin, that was her name). She was waving goodbye to some people, presumably fans, and gave him a wild grin when she noticed that he was watching her. 

“Hey there, what can I do for you? Only it’s gotta be quick, crime doesn’t wait and I’ve got a patrol to complete!”

It must have taken him longer than normal to process her words, with the way her smile had faded, but he still managed to let out a muted, “Do you think someone without a quirk… could be a hero?”

Her laugh was a lot nicer than those of his classmates, but that was probably because she really did think he was joking, so it wasn’t a mocking laugh. 

She still thought it was a joke though.

So he kept walking. He picked up his bag from where he had stashed it outside of his school, and seeing a text from his mum, picked up some groceries on the way home. 

~

The wind was picking up, which didn’t inspire Izuku’s confidence from where he was perched at the edge of a building. Not quite a skyscraper, but definitely tall enough to trigger a fear of heights. The concrete was rough against his hands where they clenched with a death-like grip. If someone told the Izuku from two weeks ago that he would intentionally scale the fire escape of a building and wait with his legs dangling off the edge of the roof for over an hour for any sign of the number three hero, then he would probably quietly argue that his ‘hero stalking’ wasn’t that bad.  

Yet here he was, waiting for that flash of red that signalled Hawks was passing through the area.

Unlike the number two hero, Hawks was considered very personable. He signed autographs, took photos with fans, even helped with small tasks and errands between fighting villains. He was an amazing multitasker and for Izuku, that was a problem. According to hero forums and social media, there was no way to slow the pro hero down short of committing villainy, and even those incidents were quickly resolved; Izuku needed to be able to ask his question and get a genuine response, and for that he’d need to get Hawks to stop and focus on him for a minute. 

It’d taken him almost a week (six days to be precise, less if you removed time spent at school or sleeping) to figure out exactly how to grab the number three’s attention and get all the materials he needed, but he was confident that his plan would work. 

He had to be, considering that as the recogniseable red wings crossed the street across the street from where he was perched, he relaxed his grip and leaned forward over the edge.

There were only a few seconds of wind whipping at his face, of part of his mind screaming that this wasn’t going to work and that he was going to end up as a smear on the pavement below, before something was lifting him up and back onto the rooftop, a safe distance from the edge. If it weren’t for the fact that he felt like his heart was doing its best to beat its way out of his chest he could have danced for joy. While it would be more sensible to deposit someone who had jumped from a building onto the ground, the height of this one meant that Hawks had caught him close to the top, so it would be easier to lift him back up then carry him all the way to the ground. That calculation alone had taken him a few hours as he figured out exactly how fast Hawks could fly, what his reaction times were like, which buildings his patrol routes would take him past and which of those buildings would be the best height to jump from. He’d also had to research what heroic protocols were in place for dealing with these sorts of situations, as he didn’t want to be whisked away to the nearest mental hospital before he had a chance to talk to the hero.

That had led to a rather depressing dive into heroics regulations and where their responsibilities did and did not intersect with the police; while it was considered good press and morally correct to assist in issues such as attempted suicides, heroes didn’t actually have to act at all. Their job was broadly defined as ‘combatting villains’ and any non-villain related activity rarely fell into the category of things heroes legally had to assist with.

But after examining the number three’s movements and interactions, along with a few years worth of reported activities, Izuku had been pretty certain Hawks wouldn’t be the sort to stick to technicalities and ignore a situation he could help with, and that the hero would talk to him (however briefly) before alerting the appropriate authorities. 

He felt a bit bad for jumping off a building for attention, but as Hawks landed across from him and gave him his full attention, Izuku felt a bit of pride that so far, his plan had worked. Now, he just needed to pull off stage two. 

Bending into a perfect 90 degree bow, Izuku began speaking before Hawks could get a single word out.

“Sorry for getting your attention in such an extreme way, but I have important information to share with you in regards to villain activity that I needed to hand to you in person, and that was the only way I could figure out would get your attention for long enough for me to tell you this.”

“Jumping off a building does seem a bit extreme, yeah.” Hawks, to his credit, was doing quite well in keeping his expression schooled, and his voice even.

Straightening, Izuku, began walking to the opposite side of the roof to where he had stashed the folder that contained the information he had spent several near-sleepless nights collecting as he continued his explanation. “I just, police stations don’t have a great record of accepting and using public provided information, especially from minors, so handing the information directly to you seemed like a better option.”

Hawks watched on as Izuku grabbed a folder several notebooks thick, raising his eyebrows in mild surprise. “If you wanted to give it to a hero so bad you could have asked someone else, instead of taking a leap of faith and trusting that I’d catch you then stop for a chat.”

Izuku flinched at ‘leap of faith’, red eyes and crackling explosions flitting across his mind for a moment, before distancing himself from those memories again. “Well…” He trailed off, thinking of the best way to phrase his answer so he didn’t come off as creepy. “I’m an analyst, so it wasn’t so much faith as it was calculation. And I have a second motive.” 

He clutched the folder to his chest, taking a deep breath before locking eyes with Hawks.

“I wanted to ask you, specifically, a question, and needed you to stop for long enough to hear it and give me a proper answer. The jump got your attention and caused you to stop to make sure I wasn’t trying to… you know. And giving you this information gave me a chance to maintain your attention and ask my question.”

Hawks whistled, running a hand through his already wind-ruffled hair. “Geez kid that’s a lot of work for one question, I don’t think I could say no to hearing it out without my curiosity killing me now.”

He let the sounds of the city drift up to him for a moment, letting them ground him to reality while he distanced himself from his emotions in preparation for Hawks’s response.

“Do you… do you think someone without a quirk can be a hero?”

It was notably hard to get Hawks to slow down or stop, but faced with that question the number three hesitated, brows furrowed. 

Izuku waited patiently, refusing to get his hopes up. He could at least appreciate that the hero was putting thought into whatever his answer was going to be.

After a fair amount of deliberation, the hero left out a sigh, ruffling his wings in a sign of discomfort. The look he gave Izuku already held his answer.

“Look, you seem like a really smart kid - hell you managed to figure out how to slow me down in order to ask your question…but quirks are the center of the heroics industry. Powerful quirks are at the forefront of the heroics industry, they make up the bulk of it, and even weaker, non-combative quirks usually serve a purpose.” He turned to look over the city, that was slowly lighting up as the afternoon progressed into evening. “Plus there’s the whole marketing and publicity side; even if you could take down villains somehow, you’d always be in the lower ranks, probably underpaid and unrecognised. I’m sure with your analytical abilities you’d do great as a detective or something. I just don’t think you’d be able to make it in the heroics industry without one.”

Izuku couldn’t fault Hawks’s logic; he had, after all, been fast tracked by the Heroics Commission because of his powerful quirk (which seems...unethical, but he’d been too busy researching information to include in his folder to follow up on that particular bit of train of thought). So when Hawks looked back at him with a hint of sorrow, he did his best to smile and not reflect that sorrow back to him. 

“I’ll give you a lift down to the ground.” The hero gestured for Izuku to join him where he was walking to the rooftop’s edge. “Just promise me you won’t be jumping off any more rooftops to get some hero’s attention.”

Izuku chuckled awkwardly and nodded, not knowing how to react to the joke and the genuine concern that seemed to come with it. 

As he stood by the pro, he realised he was still clutching the folder and quickly held it out to the hero in offering. “Sorry, this is for you. It would be stupid of me to forget to give it to you after all this.”

Hawks looked at the extended folder with a raised eyebrow. “I thought that folder was fake? Like a prop.”

Izuku returned his look with confusion, whatever turbulent emotions he was experiencing pushed to the side for the moment. “Of course it isn’t fake. That would be obstruction of justice if I distracted you while you were working. I mean, I technically am distracting you, but I got enough information to hopefully make up for it. It’s the most I could do with,” he thought for a second, going through his week and his planning. After he’d decided he needed information to hand to Hawks in order to get the hero to pause, it had taken… “four days, but I made sure to include every detail possible. I’m uh, not as familiar with this area since I live in Musutafu, but I’ve cross referenced nearly everything in here to make sure it’s accurate.” 

The hero let out a little ‘huh’, before having one of his feathers retrieve the folder. Izuku watched it go with some level of pride; he’d had to do a lot of digging to make sure the information he was giving wasn’t information the police or Hawks’s agency already had. And now it was in the hands (well, technically feathers at the moment) of someone who might be able to do some good with it.

With the folder taken care of, the hero grabbed a hold of Izuku and flew them down the building, a few pedestrians looking up and calling out to the hero, who switched to using his feathers to hold Izuku so he could wave back. It was strange, to be held without being held; he could almost imagine he was flying along of his own accord. That was until the hero set him down on the pavement.

“Take care of yourself kid.” The hero left with a small finger salute, back to his patrol before Izuku could say goodbye. 

Walking down the busy evening sidewalks, he was glad he didn’t have to climb all the way down the building again; the fire escape didn’t have access to the top two floors, so he’d been lucky that the rough bricks and concrete embellishments had provided enough handholds for him to scale up that final stretch. He would have to think about working on his upper body strength in case a similar situation occurred with a different hero. Grip strength would be pretty easy to work on anyway, so he could start on that this evening. At least with better grip he wouldn’t risk falling two stories onto a fire escape on a random Sunday afternoon. 

Entering the train station, he began muttering about different workout regimes that could help in situations like this. He was only broken out of it for a moment when he realised he was holding up the line boarding the train, which left him spluttering apologies left and right until he was seated and on the way home. Being able to research pro heroes and their movements was useful, but it would hardly help in situations with active heroes with random patrol patterns. To meet with those pros he’d have to be more fit... Though learning to filter through website archives and access some sites through slightly less than legal means had helped him greatly in gathering information for Hawks (honestly he’d thought organised villain groups would be better at hiding their tracks on the internet). It was all a matter of finding balance between continuing his research and gaining more physical skills.

Well, he had a whole train ride ahead of him, more than enough time to research the best ways to approach exercise.

By the time he was back in Musutafu, he had a basic understanding of how to improve his stamina, which seemed to be the most relevant area to work on at the moment. After all, chasing after heroes wasn’t exactly a calm, relaxing activity. 

The employee at the register gave him a raised eyebrow as they processed his purchase of a few small weights and grip strengtheners, but Izuku thought that might have been over his incredibly flushed and out of breath state. He could barely get enough air to thank them. He knew he wasn’t the fittest person around but he didn’t expect his jog from the train station to the store to take so much out of him. Making a mental note to jog between places to improve his stamina, he continued home at a walk so as not to worry his mum by appearing at their doorstep half-dead. 

Honestly he needed to start carrying around a small notebook to keep track of things, his memory was good but he’d learned so much about heroics laws, patrol routes, pro hero public interaction statistics, hacking, the dark web and common building infrastructure this week and a half, and retaining that plus his school work was beginning to take a toll. 

It was only as he watched a few people mill about a pair of sidekicks (too crowded to bother with his question), taking photos and asking for autographs, that he remembered he too had a phone, which happened to have a notes app, which he could use instead of carrying around a notebook when he wasn’t researching at home.

Sometimes he felt like a complete idiot.

He managed to make it home without any problems, although he did almost walk into oncoming traffic twice as he dug through forums for information on Best Jeanist. The number four hero was incredibly popular, with his own successful fashion line along with his hero work, but he was also a bit of a cryptid. There was not a single recording of what the lower half of the man’s face was like. No photos, no videos, no reliable eyewitness accounts (though there were plenty of contradicting, baseless statements). Even after vicious villain confrontations he kept the lower half of his face covered, and avoided answering any related questions in interviews. It was both entertaining and frustrating for Izuku to try and find any viable information on the hero’s habits and sociability between the theories and arguments that filled any Best Jeanist based forum he went to.

Opening his front door, he let out a mumbled noise that might have been translated to ‘I’m home’, but he was too busy reading through a deep dive on the ‘Best Jeanist’ ranking, and whether or not it appeared before the hero rose to popularity, to notice that Inko was near the door. Which meant it was very easy for him to walk right into her, causing them both to let out small exclamations and take a few steps back. Izuku immediately began apologising, his phone forgotten. Inko merely laughed to brush it off, before examining his face.

“Dear are you alright? You look red.” 

Izuku felt a bit of embarrassment creep in, since he hadn’t really pushed himself on the final stretch home but was still apparently flushed. He didn’t know why he didn’t want to admit he was trying to exercise (yes he did, he feared her reaction, feared that once again she wouldn’t believe in him, like everyone else) so he just shuffled his feet a bit. “I didn’t realise how late it had gotten, so I may have run up the stairs.”

With a little ‘oh Izuku’, they both headed into the apartment, where dinner was waiting on the table.

“Don’t tell me you were waiting for me to get home before you ate.” Izuku questioned as Inko sat down.

“I knew you wouldn’t be too much later, it’s no big deal.”

Izuku let out a non-approving hum before sitting. “Well then you better let me do the dishes since I couldn’t help with making dinner.”

“Or, we could do them together and get it done faster.” 

The thought of having more time to do research, even if it were just a few minutes, appealed to Izuku, but he also wanted to help his mum. Despite how...disconnected he’d been feeling when not researching, time spent with her always felt real . She loved him, cared for him, and he would do his best to return that love. And that meant he would be the one doing the dishes.

They made meaningless small talk as they ate, Inko mentioning problems with the stove again that Izuku made a note to fix later that night, and when they were finished he managed to block her attempts to help him with the dishes, convincing her to sit down and relax. There was still so much he had to do, but sometimes he liked to stop and appreciate simple moments like this.

~

Best Jeanist was quite popular, and went on patrols often, so it hadn’t been too hard to intercept him. He’d only needed to research which areas were less trafficked, so he could ask the hero his question without onlookers. The answer was no, accompanied by a short speech about the responsibilities of heroes, and how it simply would be impossible to uphold all of them when powerless.

Tracking down the next hero was a nightmare in comparison; while Edgeshot was a high ranking hero and incredibly skilled and popular, he was surprisingly camera shy and difficult to track down. His quirk didn’t help the matter either, as he could flatten himself to escape situations involving the media. As a stealth based hero who utilized a lot of surprise attacks, finding his patrol routes had tested every one of Izuku’s newly acquired hacking skills, though he had ended up victorious and completely disappointed, as the hero had moved on from set patrol routes over a year ago. After 20 minutes of feeling frustrated, he’d gotten to work thinking of other ways to track down the hero.

He kept his promise to Hawks and didn’t jump off any more buildings, but if he happened to be very close when a villain organisation was taken down (and happened to have tipped off Edgeshot’s agency about the group and monitored activity from both the group and agency so he would be nearby when the bust happened) that was just a coincidence. After helping people nearby evacuate, safe routes memorised the day before, he was able to catch Edgeshot on the edge of the clean up effort. The hero had just shaken his head and told him to stay clear of the zone while clean up was in progress. The handful of heroes who had also stuck around the scene shared the same opinion.

After that he’d researched the legality of some of the stuff he was doing, because influencing heroics agencies for his own gain seemed like it was crossing a line (turns out his actions weren’t considered illegal, since they were non-villainous and unprecedented).

Finding and asking top heroes six to eight became a blur of sleepless nights, training and school, as exams and assignments had crept up on him, and he’d still wanted to continue with what he now believed to be the exercise regime from hell. 

They still said no.

Ryukyu was easy to find, but not easy to talk to alone. Due to her popularity and kind nature, she always had several interns, sidekicks, or other heroes around, not to mention fans if she was patrolling the streets. So, Izuku waited for her to leave her agency and make her way home, following her route from the rooftops (learning basic parkour had been painful at first but it had definitely shown its merits on that journey) until they reached a less populated part of town. Sure he could have followed her home, or even found out where she lived and saved himself the effort of tailing her, but there were limits he didn’t want to cross and that was one of them. She’d ended up being one of the most understanding heroes he’d talked to, recognising that many heroic traits and skills had nothing to do with quirks; but (there was always a but) being quirkless was a liability, and he would have nothing to fall back on if a situation became dire, so no, he couldn’t be a hero.

Now, he was down to the last of the top ten. Number ten, the Killer Whale Hero, Gang Orca. And he was surrounded by kids. He felt bad lying about his age (the tour group age limit being twelve), but the easiest place to encounter Gang Orca turned out to be when he lead tours for kids around the local aquarium. The hero was on the other side of the room, waiting patiently by a large tank filled with a variety of tropical looking fish and corals, while the children stared at him or whispered to each other. 

“He’s way too scary!”

“My mum said he’s a hero but he doesn’t look like one.”

“Where’s the real tour guide?”

Izuku couldn’t see a visible change in Gang Orca’s stance or expression as the children’s ‘whispers’ reached him, but he got the distinct impression that this wasn’t the first time a tour group had been scared based off of his appearance.

“I bet he’s actually a villain!” 

One of the older, more confident kids declared, setting the others on the edge of panic.

“That’s not right.” Izuku surprised the kids and himself by responding quietly.

“Oh yeah?” The outspoken one, a boy with glowing freckles, challenged. “How do you know?”

Part of Izuku wanted to snap back that he was an avid hero fan and had analysed Gang Orca, planned this day just so he could meet him, but he knew that wouldn’t calm down the other kids and fix the situation. “I have a poster of the top ten heroes, and have watched the official hero rankings for years. That’s Gang Orca, and he’s the number ten hero.” Now the kids were looking back and forth between him and the hero, as if trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not. “He’s so high on the rankings because not only does he have a powerful quirk that makes him really strong, along with other things, but because he’s great at teamwork. By helping others, and letting other people help him, he saves even more people!” He began adding more enthusiasm to his words to keep the attention of the younger kids. “He has a special move that can freeze his opponents, which makes him great at taking down villains even on his own. Sure he looks scary, but that’s to keep all the villains far away- whenever they see Gang Orca, they know to leave as soon as possible or get beaten! But do you know what the best part is?”

By now even the freckled kid was watching him, absorbing every word.

“What?” Asked a little girl, clutching the hand of another girl that appeared to be her sister.

“He knows so much about the ocean, and wants to share it by doing tours!” A few of the expressions he got let him know that a cool hero knowing ocean facts was not, in fact, the best part, but Izuku’s plan was almost complete. He switched his tone, letting it become monotonous and droning, and began reciting facts he could pick out on a nearby display. “The oceans hold about 96.5% of all of Earth’s water, and as a result, around 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans, but there’s also seas, lakes, rivers distributed across the land. The largest ocean on Earth is the Pacific Ocean, covering around 30% of the Earth’s surface, which means that the other four oceans share the 40% of coverage between them. The name “Pacific Ocean” comes from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum-”

“This is boring!” One of the kids whined, murmurs of agreement rising from the rest of the group.

“What, don’t you want me to do the tour?”

Izuku almost flinched at the collective ‘no’ that was shouted at him.

“Well, the only other person who can do the tour is Gang Orca…” He trailed off, hoping that he’d laid enough groundwork for the kids to trust, or at least be interested in, the pro hero.

Sure enough, after a few seconds of deliberation, the group approached Gang Orca, Izuku tailing along at the back and smiling when the hero introduced himself and began talking enthusiastically with the group. While some of the kids were still visibly uncomfortable, they followed along and listened to the tour. Izuku let the information flow around him, briefly viewed but not committed to memory. It was a nice change of pace from his intense researching or last minute school work.

By the time the tour was over, all of the children were asking questions and interacting with Gang Orca, fear long forgotten. They filtered out into the admittance area slowly, leaving him loitering around while Gang Orca saw the last of them off.

“How old are you?”

Izuku flinched at the question, not realising how close the hero had gotten. His first thought was to lie, but… if he wanted a truthful answer, he should offer the truth first. “Fourteen.” He answered, unable to meet the hero’s eyes. “I’m sorry for lying to the staff about my age to join this tour.”

“Hmm.” He could feel Gang Orca’s eyes on him, looking for what he didn’t know. Then, out of nowhere: “Thank you.”

“What?” He blinked up at him, manners and anxiety forgotten for the moment.

“Thank you. These tours often have attendance issues thanks to my… villainous appearance, but you spoke to those children, you made them more comfortable, you convinced them to give me a chance, and for that, I thank you. In return, I won’t tell the front desk about your lie.” and then Gang Orca winked at him. 

Izuku’s brain short circuited. 

When it reconnected he was left a stuttering, flustered mess because the number ten hero had just thanked him. He winked at him because he wasn’t going to tell in Izuku for lying, and that just felt too surreal when his brain was still absorbing aquatic related trivia.

Gang Orca chuckled at Izuku’s reaction, and it felt...different than when people usually laughed at him. Not malicious or mocking. It brought him back to the heroes who had laughed him off, and reminded him that he was at the aquarium for a reason. So, getting himself somewhat under control, he turned to Gang Orca and asked his question.

“Can someone without a quirk become a hero?”

After a few seconds of silence, Gang Orca did something that none of the other heroes had done; he asked a question back. “How many people have you already asked?” 

Izuku was surprised for a second at the reaction, but knew immediately he couldn’t admit the truth - that he had spent the past two months running around, tracking down the top ten heroes to ask them, along with any other heroes he met on the way. He would just come off crazy and obsessed (and maybe it was a bit obsessive, a bit crazy, but he didn’t have much else left to hold onto). 

He still didn’t want to lie, so he gave Gang Orca a different truth. “I don’t even have to ask anyone for them to tell me I can’t be a hero. If I mention heroes, or do something even slightly heroic, they’ll tell me that I could never be a pro hero.” He shrugged, trying to supress the emotions he could feel welling up at his admission. “I’m quirkless, and that’s all they’ll ever see me as.”

Gang Orca’s expression was hard to read with his mutation, but he certainly wasn’t chuckling anymore. He raised a hand and placed it gently on Izuku’s shoulder (and he didn’t flinch or wince. He usually would, his shoulders so often the targets of shoves and explosions, aching from his constant hellish workouts, but maybe because he was so used to recognising incoming pain he could notice a kind hand when it came, even if his body wanted to run at the sensation of being grabbed). “There are all kinds of heroes,” He began, and Izuku could tell how this speech would end, but he listened anyway, “doctors, police, even teachers who shape the younger generations, can be seen as heroes. Going into pro heroics might not be a possibility for you without a quirk, but that doesn’t mean being a hero is out of the question. You showed a great aptitude for working with those other kids today, perhaps look into a path involving that.”

Izuku couldn’t resent the hero, not when he meant well and smiled so softly at him. That didn’t, however, change the fact that when Gang Orca left he felt like crying enough to fill one of the aquarium’s tanks. He knew that other professions could be heroic, that those people made a difference in the world, but no one wants a quirkless person in those places (he had already looked into it, he had tried being realistic, but it hurt so much ); no one actually wanted quirkless people around.

He left the aquarium feeling hollow, since that was the last of the top ten heroes. 

And they had all told him that he could never be one of them.

~

It was almost sickening, how familiar the sensation was of drowning now. How used to feeling helpless he was. 

He still thrashed, managing to get both his arms free this time, just as the heroes appeared once more. Every hero he had ever seen, including the top ten, along with a few probably made up by his dreaming mind, ready to watch him drown along with the people he couldn’t save.

(Useless. Weak. Pathetic. Worthless. Useless. Weak. Pathetic. Worthless.)

Reaching out, he was just able to reach the shoes of a hero in a bright green costume, when something touched his head. He looked up, and there was Endeavor.

“People without quirks are nothing more than empty shells, blank spaces with no use to society.”

And then he shoved his head under the sludge.

 Izuku tried to cry out, but only got a lungful of sludge to show for his efforts. More hands were joining now, keeping him down, pushing him further. He could hear their voices echoing through the sludge, telling him to give up, that it was too dangerous.

(Useless. Weak. Pathetic. Worthless. Useless. Weak. Pathetic. Worthless. Useless. Weak. PatheTIC. WORTHLESS. USELESS. WEAK. PATHETIC. WORTHLESS.)

He wasn’t sure if it was the pressure of the hands or the sludge was crushing him; maybe it wasn’t them at all, but the weight of his own emotions, his own failure (what failure, being born without an extra ability and being dismissed for it?) that wanted to crush him before anything else had the opportunity.

~

When Izuku woke up, he felt a pressure behind his eyes and an ache in his throat. Despite that, he didn’t cry, he wasn’t even sure that he could if he wanted to. Like there was a glass wall preventing him from reaching out and touching his live-wire emotions. 

The top ten heroes, along with the handful of other heroes he’d asked, had told him he could never become a hero, not without a quirk, but with all of their powerful quirks it made sense they couldn’t believe in him. But there were so many other heroes in Japan alone, he was sure that, statistically, there would be someone with a different opinion.

He’d made a choice not to break down the day he met Endeavor. He’d chosen to keep asking, to put his analysis skills to use. 

He got out of bed, started up his computer, and pulled up a list of heroes 11 to 20.

~

Inko watched Izuku emerge from his room, muttering under his breath, retrieve a glass of water, and then disappear once more. They’d never been the type of people to always be in each other’s presence, often preferring to do their own thing after dinner or on weekends, but Izuku had grown a bit more distant in the past two and a half months. The day after the villain attack she’d kept a close eye on him, and while he’d had bags under his eyes they weren’t empty like they’d been when he returned home. In fact, they’d had more of a spark, a drive, than she’d seen in...a while. So she hadn’t pressured him about why he had seemed so empty the day before, just vowed to keep an eye on him to make sure he was recovering from the attack.

It’d been a bit more difficult to keep an eye on him, considering he’d taken to staying out later (stating it was for hero watching, or to study at the library, or other, trivial reasons) and had become more quiet and withdrawn, but he seemed more happy this way.

Maybe not happy , she thought, remembering the genuine smiles he used to give and the enthusiastic rants he would go on. She wasn’t sure when they had faded into pale copies, but if she knew how to bring them back she would. No, he might not be happy, but he no longer curled into himself, and he had a level of determination she hadn’t seen since he was young (that she hadn’t realised was missing until she saw him run out to save Katsuki when he was in danger). However…

“Dear?”

Izuku looked up from his breakfast the next morning, head tilted in question.

“If you’re going to be staying out later today, make sure you let me know. And you know you can tell me anything right?” She had no idea what his drive was tied to, and that worried her, since she’d seen him come home with bruises and scrapes that shouldn’t be there - not if he was just going to school and studying.

“Oh, okay.” He nodded, going back to his breakfast, leaving Inko slightly frustrated that he hadn’t had more of a reaction. 

She waited a minute, before trying to subtly ask him about one of her worries. “I’ve heard that vigilantes are getting a bit more popular, what do you think?” 

Izuku didn’t look up from his breakfast, but his brows did furrow in thought (if she had telepathy instead of telekinesis, she would have known that he was wondering if quirkless people could be vigilantes. Vigilantes were like heroes, but several were vigilantes because their quirks weren’t suited for heroics, though he’d have to hold out on researching since he had to find the number 26 hero tonight, and that required two trains to get to Chiba to intercept their route, and they’re notorious for moving about by jumping between buildings, so he’ll have to put his training to use to follow them, but that wasn’t the original question was it?). “I haven’t heard anything about a rise in popularity, although vigilante activity dropped a little while ago so maybe they’re starting up again? Which doesn’t make sense with All Might making more appearances in the area, unless he’s inspiring them to try and be more heroic?”

He seemed genuinely contemplative on his answer, so Inko figured she could cross ‘is my son becoming a vigilante’ off her list. There was definitely something going on (he was still distant, sometimes even when she asked a direct question), but once again she decided she was going to trust him to come to her if something was wrong.

~

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

Izuku froze. It was late, and he’d just managed to make it back to Musutafu after asking the number 30 hero Marauder if he could be a hero (the hero had spat at his feet, which was a new and unexpected reaction), and he’d taken a shortcut through a less trafficked part of the city.

Turning, knuckles white on his backpack straps, he saw a figure blocking the alleyway exit. 

“Can- can I help you?” He highly doubted that the figure was friendly, but Izuku was tired and wasn’t confident he could get out the other end of the alley fast enough. Except when the figure flinched, he realised they hadn’t been speaking to him at all. They turned, hooded face whipping around to meet Izuku’s eyes, and the person they were holding coming into view. 

Oh.

Izuku wasn’t sure what the best way to approach this situation was, but his feet were already moving, drawing him closer to the pair. “What are you doing?” He asked, eyes flicking around in an attempt to figure out a plan based on his surroundings, finding nothing but walls, old posters and a few bits of litter.

“Mind your own damn business!” The hooded figure growled, drawing themself up.

As he grew closer, he saw that the person they were holding (young, short, dark hair) was trying to get free of their captor’s grip, shouting and thrashing, but for some reason Izuku couldn’t hear their voice. It wasn’t hard for him to figure out silencing was part of the assailant’s quirk, but figuring out how it was activated (most likely touch, but could be eyesight, area, or another effect)  and the full effects (was it just silencing? It wasn’t affecting movement, and their victim was still trying to scream out so it wasn’t from lack of air) was something else. But that didn’t matter right now, because there was someone who was being held against their will, and Izuku was the only one around who could do something about it. 

“Let them go.” He managed to get out between gritted teeth.

The figure, almost within arm’s reach now, turned around fully to stand off against him, grip loosening in distraction. “Or what?”

Izuku took a deep breath.

And whipped his backpack around into the assailant’s face. 

He kept a hold on one of the straps, letting the bag trail behind him as he shoved himself in the newly created gap between the figure and their victim. “Run!” He shouted, grabbing onto some part of the person’s clothes to help drag them along. He wasn’t super familiar with this part of the city, but he knew there was a main road nearby and if they could make it there, their chances would improve vastly. 

There was loud cursing from somewhere behind them, but Izuku didn’t dare look back.

By the time they made it to the main road, Izuku was panting and the person he had dragged along was struggling to catch their breath, but the mad dash was worth it; the figure was nowhere to be seen.

“Are you,” He paused, taking in a deeper breath, “are you alright?”

They were doubled over taking heaving breaths, but the person gave him a shaky thumbs up regardless. 

For all he knew of first aid, there wasn’t much he could do for being out of breath, so he simply waited while the few passers-by gave them odd looks. He didn’t want to leave them alone after an experience like that until he knew they’d be fine, but he was cutting close to the time he’d promised to be home. Of course, he could run the rest of the way, but he was already tired, especially now with the adrenaline leaving his system, so he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t just collapse the moment he stepped through the door.

“You can...you can go...if you want.” The wheezing statement was quiet, but not too hard to pick up with the lack of traffic. 

“Are you sure? I just wanted to make sure you’re alright before I go.”

The stranger huffed a laugh. “What’re you, a hero? That dude’s long gone, and I’m sure you don’t want to stick...around this late.” 

Izuku hesitated, stuck between the idea of helping and the need to be home soon, but looking around there was enough foot traffic that he wouldn’t feel like he was completely abandoning the person to fend for themself. 

“I do need to get home, but stay safe, okay? You should probably also file a police report, to make sure they don’t try to grab anyone else.” 

The stranger nodded, straightening a bit to give Izuku a lopsided smile. Izuku returned it, before turning to head home, hoping that he would make it back in time.

It had taken him 30 top heroes to actually be involved with a crime scene or villain attack, if you didn’t count helping evacuate people. 

It would not be the last time.

A lot of the time, the victims didn’t stick around. It was almost funny, how similar it was to when he would stand up for other kids on the playground, and they would run off while he was beaten up. This wasn’t a kid’s playground though; this was real life, dealing with actual criminals and villains, who had the power to kill him.

After his second encounter, a criminal with a knife, he decided to add self defence to his ever-growing list of things to learn. After his fifth encounter, he was adding his own notes on how to improve the basic self defence routines he had learned from. Parkour training shifted to learning how to scale buildings no matter how little hand holds there were, an ability that saved him twice in one night. 

He couldn’t fight most of the villains he came across, considering he had no training and these villains were worthy of the top (20, 30, 40?) heroes’ attention, so he shifted his focus on stamina to speed. If he couldn’t fight and he wanted to escape bad situations, he’d have to be faster than the villain (or any heroes that showed up to the scene and could mistake him for a vigilante).

The only problem with that plan, however, was that he could never leave behind other people when they were in trouble. Those were the occasions when he’d come home hiding injuries, the price of buying more time for someone else to escape, as the little self defense he knew along with his analysis granted him a bit more of a chance than the victim. Sure he could barely throw a punch, but no one expected a kid to scale a vertical wall and drop a brick on them.

In fact, he’d ended up directly involved in a hero fight by pulling a similar maneuver. The 39th top ranking hero, Condenser, had been going against a three person villain team, which would have been manageable if not for the third villain working with his projectile-based quirk, which allowed whatever debris he picked up to be thrown with great velocity. Izuku hadn’t intended on getting involved, but then the villain had landed a nasty hit on the back of Condenser’s head, and Izuku had known that there was no way the hero could fight off two villains with a concussion while also worrying about more incoming projectiles. So, he’d jumped from the building he’d been watching from to a nearby one, and dropped his backpack onto the villain before he could get another shot in. Having just come from school, his backpack might as well have been a small slab of concrete with how packed it was, so the villain was immediately taken out of the fight. He’d managed to grab his bag and get far enough from the scene that he didn’t get caught, and was still able to ask Condenser his question before he left the area (“What was that kid? Nah, I don’t… yeah there’s no way that’d work out.”).

Those villains had a good strategy, as the long ranged attacks were unpredictable and broke up the hero’s focus, so Izuku began looking into long ranged weapons in case he got caught up in another villain fight when chasing after a hero.

He didn’t regret having to get up an hour earlier every morning to practice using a sling (not a slingshot, as those could be considered an illegal weapon, but a piece of material he could use to put more distance and force behind his throws) when he was able to distract a villain by throwing rocks, keeping them off a sidekick’s back until another hero could arrive to help.

He improved his reaction times, becoming used to the fact that if he messed up on this ridiculous quest, he could die. 

He missed his chance to ask hero 44 when he’d put his medical knowledge to use on the scene of a villain attack, after the collateral damage had grown to include a half a building. He’d managed to lead several people away before the building had collapsed, and sticking around to help treat basic injuries while they waited for police and paramedics to show up had seemed like the next logical step. 

Ectoplasm had arrived to help locate any people trapped in rubble and scan the area for the escaped accomplice, and Izuku had been able to ask him if he could be a hero. Ectoplasm had said no, and asked if Izuku needed medical attention. He’d managed to wave the hero off, not wanting to explain to someone that his shock wasn’t from the attack; it was from one of the people he’d treated calling him their hero. He didn’t know how he felt about the statement, didn’t know how he was supposed to feel, so he forced his mind back to his list of heroes and the next steps he would have to take.

~

Katsuki had no idea what was up with Deku. He’d been the one constant his entire life, always muttering in the background and following him around, obsessed with heroics, but something shifted ever since that villain attack. He didn’t mutter as much as usual but wrote more than ever, and Katsuki had no fucking clue what he’s writing about because the nerd was out the door at the bell. He just sat through class, taking notes and looking completely zoned out, and then disappeared to who knows where. 

He hated not knowing things, and that it was Deku of all people that was being unpredictable, so he decided to find out what the fuck was going on.

Instead of taking his time at the end of the day, he packed his shit up early, watching Deku wait until the last minute to do the same. When the bell went off, Deku was quick to get up and start moving between the desks, but Katsuki was faster. 

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

Their classmates watched as Deku froze, probably expecting to see Katsuki to grab him, but Katsuki was also frozen at the completely empty look Deku was giving him. As if he didn’t recognise who he was. 

Then that second ended, and Deku did a complete 180 and ran to the other side of the classroom.

“Oi you nerd, get back here!” Katsuki felt small explosions go off in his palms as he followed Deku at a more leisurely pace; after all, it wasn’t like he could run away, the only possible way out on that side of the room was to jump out one of the-

He felt ice in his veins as Deku opened one of the windows.

“What the hell are you doing!?” His shout was joined by other members of their class (the teacher had already tuned out, ignoring whatever happened after the bell went so long as they didn’t cause damage to the classroom), some crying out in surprise, others asking what the hell was going on like he had. He sped up, vaulting over one of the desks, but he could even get one more word in before the nerd threw himself through the window.

The class had erupted, people shouting and shoving their way to the windows so they could see what had happened. For once Katsuki let himself be jostled with their antics, suddenly blindsided by a memory.

“If you wanna be a hero so bad, I have a shortcut for you: take a leap of faith off of the school roof and hope for a quirk in your next life!”

There was no way he would actually…

Someone’s elbow rammed into his side, snapping him out of whatever the hell he had just been feeling. He growled and shoved his way to the front of the group, blocking out their chatter as he looked out the window. It took him a few moments to locate the nerd (not directly below, not sprawled in his own blood ), and he wasn’t even looking back at them. He was quickly walking to the school gates, as if he hadn’t jumped out a second story window.

Part of Katsuki was screaming at him to follow Deku and figure out what the fuck just happened, but the thought of asking him and geting nothing but that empty stare…Katsuki had no idea what the hell was going on with Deku, so he’d just have to sit back and watch to find out.

~

Izuku reloaded the hero association website, but when he checked the rankings page, the results were still the same. They’d shifted just a bit from yesterday’s, which were different from the day before. As soon as you passed the top 50 heroes (he was officially on 52, but he’d asked more heroes than just the ones he’d tracked down, a few sidekicks as well), rankings were a bit less stable, fluctuation based on public opinion and amount of resolved incidents. It was a good way to inspire productivity from heroes, but for someone who was meant to be working through the rankings, it was a nightmare. Izuku couldn’t risk missing a hero simply because they’d jumped up a few ranks and slipped past him while he was researching a different hero. 

He groaned, letting his head fall down to hit his desk. There was paper strewn all across his desk (and pinned to his walls, and some covering his bed, not to mention the state of the floor), so the impact wasn’t painful, but it was grounding. He waited a minute, then two, then took a deep breath and lifted his head back up, switching between pages on his laptop to the complete hero list page. While new heroes were added each year, they were fewer and fluctuated less, so if he wanted a steady list he would have to start tracking heroes down alphabetically. It took half an hour to rearrange his physical notes, research put away for future use and pins shifted on the cheap tourist maps he’d bought to find patterns in other cities, until he was finally ready to start from the top of the list once more.

~

Despite the amount of times he got rejected, despite how often he got hurt, he kept going.

The night he fell a full story and fractured his ribs, the Bright Hero: Lights Up told him he should go to the doctors to get his head checked for worms, since quirkless people barely existed anymore and there was no way one could be a hero. 

The weekend he lost the feeling in his hands and feet from training and running the length of the city, Cementoss gently let him know that most people failed even getting into hero courses, let alone getting full hero licenses, so being quirkless and getting into heroics was just unrealistic. 

The day he skipped school because of a fever, Spinning Top just looked him over, raised an eyebrow and laughed, leaving Izuku to return home to fever dreams of the whole world laughing at him.

Despite that, he kept going.

~

The train rocked rhythmically, making its way down the track unhindered. Izuku fidgeted with the straps of his backpack while he watched the scenery pass by, resisting the urge to check the news feed on his phone. Given the current overcast weather, it would be another twenty-ish minutes until the mountain collapsed, and forty minutes until he reached the closest stop to the town. 

He really hoped that his prediction was wrong, or that the heroes he’d reached out to and the town had used preventative measures to stop the impending landslide, but he’d been following social media surrounding the town closely for the past few days, and had heard nothing. Of course, he could be wrong, the mountain might not collapse, but given the colder-than-usually winter they’d had, combined with sudden torrential rain meant that it was near certain that the small cave systems dotting the mountain would face collapses. After being destabilised by a hero fight late last year, the cave systems had been blocked from public entry as they were deemed too risky to enter, but no other efforts had been made to reinforce the areas that those same cave systems supported. Their collapse would start a domino effect, resulting in a massive landslide that would decimate the nearby businesses and housing, and the recent weather conditions provided the perfect setup for erosion-based weakening.

He managed to waste another five minutes looking through the window, early morning light giving the world a slightly dreamy feel, and ran through first aid procedures in his head. Another five minutes passed when he couldn’t remember if he’d packed disinfectant, and had to rummage through the other medical supplies that he’d stuffed into his bag to look for it. 

Ten minutes from his stop and the news broke, heralded by an announcement over the train’s speaker system. Checking the news revealed the full extent of the damage; almost half of the mountainside had collapsed and slid down to the base, destroying any buildings that had been on or near the mountainside. Heroes and emergency services were rushing to the scene, residents encouraged to evacuate. Izuku felt a pang of regret and anger that he hadn’t been able to do more than get the word out of the mountain’s unstable state, and that no one had listened to him when he had tried to warn them. However, there was nothing that could be done about that now.

The train station was frantic when he got off, tourists rushing away from the site and residents looking for familiar faces, trying to contact loved ones in hopes they weren’t caught up in the land slide.

Izuku pushed past them all, making a beeline for the disaster zone; after all, the epicenter was only a few dozen meters away from where he predicted it’d be. He hadn’t expected to become so well educated in natural disasters such as landslides, but after realising predicting one was his best chance of meeting rescue heroes and asking them his question, he’d learned quite a lot. He could see a few heroes already milling around the base of the mountain, bringing people down to the medical tents that had been set up, but now was not the time to ask them if they thought he could be a hero. There would be time for that afterwards, for now, there were people that needed help.

Climbing up and down the collapsed mountainside was strenuous work, the uneven terrain shifting every now and then making the task of just walking difficult. Sweat rolled down Izuku’s back, and he was sure there were dirt stains and small rips all over his clothes at this point. He was losing count of the times he had walked up and down the landslide, his course often interrupted by helping people out from rubble, treating what injuries he could, then helping them back down the mountain. It was exhausting, but there was no way Izuku would have waited at the base of the mountain to ambush heroes with his question. He grit his teeth and thanked his past self for doing so much stamina training, moving back up the mountain to help whoever he could.

On the edge of a crater that used to be a building, Thirteen was directing several emergency workers who were carrying people away on stretchers. The scene was free from debris, so it was likely they’d used their quirk to clear the area and free any trapped people. Izuku nodded to some of the workers as they passed him, looking for any way he could be useful while he waited for everyone to leave. Once he’d switched to an alphabetical list, Thirteen had been at the top of the heroes due to their numerical name; unfortunately, they’d been out of the country at the time, so Izuku had been forced to move onto the next hero without asking them. Afterwards he had kept an eye on the rescue hero and their movements, and came to the conclusion that he’d have to be at a disaster scene to have a chance of meeting the space-themed hero. And here he was, helping someone splint a broken leg before they could be loaded onto a stretcher. 

Luckily, Thirteen stayed on the scene until everyone was leaving, giving Izuku the perfect opportunity to walk up to them as they coordinated with someone on the radio, probably trying to find out where they’d be needed next.

“Um, hello?” Izuku asked tentatively, not wanting to startle the hero while they made their way over the uneven terrain.

The hero looked over their shoulder, pausing when they realised it wasn’t one of the emergency workers talking to them. “Hello, how can I help you?”

“I have a question, if you don’t mind me asking…?” Izuku watched as they quickly looked around them, and down at their radio.

“Sure, just keep it short if you can, there’s still a lot to do here.”

Izuku thought that was a valid request, so he kept his question short and simple as it always was. “Can someone without a quirk become a hero?”

He was braced for the inevitable ‘no’, but what he got instead was-

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand the question.” Thirteen’s suit didn’t allow a lot of expression to come through, but their tone was clearly confused, not the babying, belittling tone he had from some of the other heroes he had asked.

“Oh.” He scrambled for a different way to phrase his question, wiping some of the sweat off of his forehead as he thought. “Do you think a quirkless person could become a certified pro hero?” 

“If they wanted to be a pro hero just for the fame and attention, probably not. For that you have to be marketable, and a big part of that is having a quirk to market. If they wanted to help people, however…” Thirteen paused, looking at Izuku’s dirt covered state. “Then they could help people the way you’re doing right now. Becoming part of emergency services, training to be a doctor, joining the police force, all these things help people, could give them the power to save people, without being a hero. So I guess no, I don’t think someone without a quirk can be a hero, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be helpful, or that you’ll save fewer people. Does that answer your question?”

Izuku nodded, not surprised with the answer, though glad that Thirteen was one of the heroes that were as kind as they seemed. 

“Are you alright? You look pretty tired.”

He hiked up his backpack, lighter than it had been at the start of the day, and shook his head. “There are still people that need help, I’ll be fine. Do you know where would be the best place to go next?”

Thirteen hesitated for a moment (this kid couldn’t be as young as he looked, if they let him join the rescue efforts, right?) before directing him east.

“Thanks.” He bowed, and trekked on, leaving the rescue hero behind.

He walked. He walked, over broken trees and crumbled rocks, around broken posts that had once been a human construction, and he spiraled. He wished that he waited in town to see if the landslide would happen, then maybe it could have buried him and he wouldn’t have to worry about this...whatever it was. A fear-induced 2:00 AM quest. 

Was he alright?

He sat down, leaning against a log for support that caused his backpack to dig painfully into his spine. He couldn’t find the energy to shift his position though, because what the hell was he doing? It had been around eight months since the sludge incident, since he started chasing down heroes, and he was still going despite being told no, over and over again. Statistically, there was a hero out there who would believe someone quirkless could be a hero, but he’d spoken to...he swallowed, pressure building up in his throat. He’d asked over 100 heroes by now, and all of them had told him that he couldn’t be a hero.

He squeezed his eyes shut, the pressure of impending tears building for the first time in months, reaching for the emotionless place he’d been existing in for the past few months. He didn’t want to acknowledge the swirling storm inside of him, the fear of reality and the horrific statistics he faced as a quirkless person. All he’d ever wanted to do was save people, to be a hero, and if he could prove statistics wrong on that front then maybe he could defy everything else he had ever been told ( Useless. Weak. Pathetic. Worthless) . A pang of fear, sadness and worry passed through him as he raised his walls back up, protecting himself from the storm of his own creation; all the time he’d spent away from himself and his emotions, present but disconnected, undone because someone cared enough to ask if he was alright. 

The mountainside was quiet aside from distant shouting and the gradual settling of the earth. Izuku took a deep breath, letting himself settle back into that quiet, detached place. There were still people that needed help, he could deal with this later. 

Getting back up, he continued his journey east, eventually stumbling on a couple who had been caught out hiking. The taller of the two women had a nasty gash on her arm and possibly had a concussion, but Izuku was able to disinfect and cover the gash with a bandage for the moment. It was difficult supporting the woman, who he learned was named Satsuki, with their height difference, but together with the help of Haru, who was doing her best to keep composed despite the tears running down her face, they managed to make it halfway down the mountain. 

“Hey, you there!” The call got their attention, though Satsuki’s delayed response was worrying.

Izuku shifted Satsuki’s grip on him so he could look around her at who was approaching, recognising them as the hero Kesagiriman. 

The hero pulled up in front of them. With his pristine outfit, it looked like he had just arrived, as even heroes with quirks that would help them in this situation were covered in dirt by this point.

“Is there anyone else left at the site you came from?” 

Haru shook her head. “I-it was j-just us up there.” She rasped out, her voice betraying her tough act. 

“Most of the most populated sites should have been cleared by now.” Izuku added. “I’ve just been looking for anyone that might’ve been trapped on their own, or giving assistance where I can.” He leaned slightly to better support Satsuki, only for his foot to slip and send him pitching forward. Before he could faceplant, Kesagiriman was there, holding him up and wrapping Satsuki’s arm around his own shoulders. 

“Why don’t you let me take these two back, I’ll be back up here once I’ve dropped them down at the medical tents to help search for other people.” 

Izuku wanted to argue with the hero, that he could help the couple fine on his own and there were more important places for a hero to be, but the thought of struggling with the rough, sloping terrain and being unable to support Satsuki properly had him holding back his response. She needed proper medical attention, and Kesagiriman would be able to get her that the fastest out of the two of them.

“Okay.” He said, nodding. He turned to Haru, giving her a smile that he hoped was less tired than it felt, and watched as they continued their slow descent with the hero. 

They had only gotten a few steps when Izuku remembered his question. “Hold on a moment!”

The three figures paused and turned their heads.

“Can someone without a quirk become a hero?” Usually he’d try to avoid having other people around when he asked, less chance of ridicule, but he was pretty sure the two women had more pressing things to worry about than insulting a teenager.

Kesagiriman turned back down the trail and kept walking. “An admirable goal, but they simply would not be able to keep up with the demands of being a pro hero.” He didn’t turn back, and after a few seconds, and a final look to Izuku, Haru followed. 

Izuku kept going.

It was getting later on in the day when he reached a shrine. There were people milling about, but from the way they were dressed and the way they were recklessly hauling rubble around, he could tell these weren’t professionals. The shrine itself looked like it had once been a decent sized building, but was now mostly collapsed, its colours faded by the dust the landslide had kicked up. 

“Hey!” He called out, getting the attention of the nearest victims. 

Most of the people kept working, but a few met him as he came closer. “Are you a hero?” They questioned, and Izuku thought they really must be desperate if they were hoping a small, dirty teenage boy with a backpack was a hero. 

“No, but I’ll do my best to help.”

Another person pushed forward suddenly and grabbed his shoulders. “Do you know first aid?” Their eyes were desperate, and all Izuku could do was nod before they were pulling him along to what must be the designated medical attention area. He was greeted by scrapes, bruises, gashes, breaks and concussions. “Please, help them.”

“I’ll do my best.” Was all he could offer, as he pulled off his backpack and got to work. 

Izuku wasn’t professionally trained, but soon all open wounds were patched to the best of his abilities, and he began helping direct the frantic group who hadn’t tried to descend the mountain due to people still being stuck under the crushed half of the shrine. The structure had provided enough protection that they hadn’t been immediately crushed, but they all knew it would only take a slight shift for the earth to break through their safe pocket. He brought up the need for supports, and soon enough the people who had been looking for suitable sticks to use for splints were also looking for logs that could help hold up the shrine if moving debris destabilised it. 

A few more people had made it out from under the shrine, immediately directed to Izuku to have any wounds treated with his (dwindling) medical supplies, and groups were organising themselves to make the trek down the mountain, when a call rang out.

“Lock on with these sparkling gazes! We've come to lend a paw and help!”

“Coming out of nowhere...Stingingly cute and catlike! Wild, Wild Pussycats!”

Izuku felt relief at the sight of Ragdoll and Pixiebob, heroes who would definitely be able to get the last victims out of the shrine.

Sure enough, Pixiebob got to work straight away, using her quirk to lift the dirt and rubble off of the shrine, while Ragdoll gave her directions to ensure the people underneath were safe. Everyone else seemed to share in his relief, worried mutterings turning into chatter, exclamations of how they were excited to get off the damn mountain.

He let the chatter become background noise, focusing on whoever he ended up working on. He was in the middle of wrapping a probably-sprained ankle when a hand touched his shoulder. 

“Hey kid, we’re getting everyone ready to go down now.” Izuku followed the hand on his shoulder up to Ragdoll. 

“I just need to finish wrapping this, I think it’s sprained.” Izuku explained, not waiting for the hero’s reaction before he went back to his work.

“What’s the holdup?”

“The kid’s wrapping their ankle, then that’s everyone ready for transport.”

When he finished and stood up, both Pussycats were waiting for him, Pixiebob guiding the person he’d just treated to an earth beast to help carry them down the mountainside. She seemed to have made a path as well, a twisting trail free of boulders and broken trees. 

“Good job on helping patch people up back there!” Ragdoll stated from beside him, her persona as bubbly as usual.

Izuku couldn’t exactly say that he’d predicted the event would happen so had brought along appropriate medical supplies and brushed up on his first aid knowledge, so he just made a non-committal sound. 

“You should head down with them, we’ve still got some cleaning up to do and you’re looking a bit worse for wear.” 

“But there are still people who need help!”

“Such energy!” Pixiebob rejoined them, leaning against Ragdoll while looking Izuku over. “Stuck in a landslide and you still want to help others! But don’t worry kitten, we’ve got this section handled. You’d be more help going down with the others and keeping an eye on them until they’re safe.”

It was a manipulation tactic, giving him a new goal which would make him do what they wanted, but it was a successful strategy to use in rescue situations when victims were distraught and still trying to figure out what was going on. Izuku himself had used it a couple of times today. There would be no use going against the heroes, they did have a valid point in that he could make sure the descent went smoothly, and he was tired. It was well into the afternoon, and he’d been doing this for nearly the entire day. 

“I’ll make sure they get medical attention when we reach the bottom.” 

“That’s the spirit!” Ragdoll ruffled his hair, both Pussycats giving him wide grins. 

“I just have one question before you go.” The Wild Wild Pussycats were fairly easy to find, but difficult to interact with since they primarily worked on rescue situations or appeared in crowded hero-based events, so he might as well make the most of this opportunity while he had it.

“Sure thing kitten!” They said at the same time, a brief look in the other’s direction betraying the fact that they hadn’t planned for that.

“Can someone without a quirk become a hero?”

Their energy immediately dropped, not a very noticeable amount, but for someone like Izuku who was looking for the slightest reaction, it was obvious.

“You have to understand, this job is very dangerous, as you’ve seen first hand today-” Ragdoll started.

“It would be nice to live out your dream and be a hero, but youth doesn’t mean you can do anything. We all have our limits.” Pixiebob finished. 

Less direct, but still a no.

So he said his goodbyes, and made his final descent down the collapsed mountainside, guiding the group to medical tents and paramedics, and avoiding those who asked him if he needed help.

By the time he was on the train home, the sun was setting, its orange glow lighting the world on fire. When he finally made it through his doorway he was bruised, covered in dirt and rubble, and exhausted. He barely had the energy to shower and make himself some food since Inko was working late. If he dragged himself to bed, injuries untreated because he simply had no first aid supplies left for himself, well. He didn’t have to tell anyone that.

~

Stepping back from the map of Musutafu he had tacked to the wall, Izuku tried to pick out a pattern. Multicolours pins dotted the surface of the map, all colour coded based on Eraserhead sightings, whether they were just a sighting or part of a hero fight, if it was from a confirmed source or just speculation, etc. For someone trying to figure out a pattern, there were a depressingly few number of pins. 

The underground hero was next on his list, and should have been relatively easy to track down considering he worked within Musutafu. Except he had no set patrol routes, didn’t appear in official media releases due to his underground hero status, and wasn’t tied to any agency which was near unheard of in modern heroics. Even powerful, loner type heroes still had agencies to help with financial management, legal issues and media releases.

Scrolling through forums was borderline useless, since the most comprehensive documentations of the hero he’d seen were on a underground hero fan page (verified information, but not a lot of it) and a forum dedicated to proving that Eraserhead wasn’t a hero and was, in fact, a modern cryptid (many more resources, a lot more random information to sort through). All official heroes had had a public profile, and he could have potentially used the information provided on Eraserhead’s quirk to search the quirk database (which was not meant to be accessible to the public, but he’d learned that just because something wasn’t meant to be accessible did not mean that it was impossible to find a way in), and find out his identity that way, but as an underground hero his quirk wasn’t listed in order to prevent villains from figuring out a way to counter the effects. He knew vaguely that the hero had a quirk nullification quirk, eyesight based if his goggles and fighting style were any indication, but without the official name there was no use looking for it. Izuku had dealt with underground heroes before, but none had been as difficult to track as Eraserhead.

Running through the streets at night and climbing up buildings didn’t work out, though he’d known the chance he stumble onto the hero was low. He had met a few heroes on night time patrol that way (they said no), and ran away from several villain fights that had broken out when he happened to be passing by. 

Now he was trying to put analytics to use, but Eraserhead had no patterns that he could pick out. If Izuku had access to police reports he could find out more on where and when Eraserhead detained villains, but police servers were still too tough for him to crack. 

He groaned and sat back down at his desk, hands hovering over his keyboard as he tried to think of what else he could do to find the elusive hero.

~

A day and a half of dead ends, and he finally got a lucky break. He’d created a small program that let his phone get updates from the hero network (full access was limited to his laptop since it had actually been patched into the network when he gave himself access to the supposedly hero-exclusive network), and had caught the tail end of Goliath’s agency requesting more recon or stealth based heroes to help with a bust. The team had wanted Eraserhead’s help, but the hero was, apparently, limited by school hours.

There was only one nearby school that had pro heroes as teachers.

Gaining access to full UA files would be impossible with their internal system, but there was basic information on every teacher on their public website. None of Izuku’s searches had managed to find Eraserhead’s hero name, but listed amongst UA’s staff was one Aizawa Shouta, whose appearance was the closest to the pictures of Eraserhead Izuku had been able to find. 

Searching for Aizawa Shouta had brought him few results, just the UA staff page and a few clips from old UA sports festivals, but watching the way he moved in those festivals left Izuku with no doubt that Aizawa Shouta was Eraserhead, and that Izuku’s best chance of asking the underground his question was to go to UA.

Unfortunately, UA’s grounds had incredibly complex defenses, so there would be no sneaking in. No, Izuku’s best chance was to enter the school as a student. 

He counted himself lucky once again when he saw that the entrance exam is just over a week away, giving him time to prepare for both written and physical portions of the exam. He’d done research before (would they even let a quirkless person enter the school?), but now he had the tools to discover exactly what happened in the physical portion, and what kind of unpredictable topics would be included in the written portion. He felt a slight sense of nostalgia, going over information he had read what seemed so long ago, but he couldn’t linger on the feeling for too long. Going to UA to become a hero was, is, could be, his dream, and he needed to focus if he was going to find Eraserhead and ask if he thought he could be a hero.

~

There was one day before the UA entrance exam, and Inko couldn’t stop pacing around. She wanted to be supportive of Izuku, but he was quirkless, facing against who knows what kind of quirks, and she knew he would be crushed when the rejection letter came. She didn’t know if she could handle seeing him without his drive; all that would be left were tacked on smiles and empty eyes, a sight that still haunted her 10 months after he had come home from that villain attack. He was doing better now, she thought, even if he was a bit distant and stayed out too late and came home with scrapes and bruises that he never explained, but he was doing better.

“Hey mum, do you know where I put my notebook? The red one.” His voice drifted down the hallway, and Inko forced herself to still. 

“It’s on the kitchen bench.” She answered, moving to intercept him as he went to retrieve it.

“Thanks!” 

When she rounded the corner, she was met with tousled green hair, Izuku’s face already buried in the notebook. For a moment, she feared they’d run right into each other, but Izuku (who used to be so clumsy, at least he told her so) danced around her without looking up.

“Izuku, could I ask you something?”

He stopped on his path back to his room, but didn’t lift his face up from the book. “Yeah?” 

She hesitated, hands fidgeting together. “Do you...really want to try for UA? It’s just so difficult, not to mention dangerous, and I don’t want to see you getting hurt.” She reached a hand out, wanting to hold him, wanting to show some sign of support even though she couldn’t bring herself to encourage him, but the action was aborted when he looked up from his notebook.

When did he get so tall?

The eyes she looked up into were filled with a determination that burned, a blaze that consumed the empty fields she’d glimpsed on occasion, lighting his green eyes from within.  

“I have to get in.”

And with that, he returned to his room, leaving Inko wondering once again what drove him, and what would happen when he failed.

~

Izuku was anxious, the kind that, even when repressing your swirling thoughts, still left you feeling nauseous and on edge. It’d been a while since he was this nervous, but this was UA, and his one shot of reaching Eraserhead.

He was distracted enough that he tripped only a few meters from the gates, muscle memory saving him from face planting as he came up from a roll and continued walking (completely missing the brown haired girl behind him, with her hand reaching out as if to stop his fall).

Seeing Present Mic doing the physical exam presentation kept him from looking over to Bakugo, who he was seated beside. He hadn’t had a chance to ask the voice hero his question, but he was known to be very sociable even if incredibly busy, which made sense given he was a hero, teacher and radio host. Maybe after the exams he’d be able to approach Mic. For now he had to focus on passing the exam, and decide what strategies he was going to use against the robots they’d be fighting. Looking through forums for removed posts, then restoring those posts, had let him learn what the physical portion would involve ahead of time; UA was an expert at hiding the details of their physical exam, but some data was impossible to destroy. 

Another student called him out for letting out a continuous muttered stream of plans, defensive and offensive strategies, and speculation on what materials he might have access to. He mumbled an apology, but by the time the presentation was over he had all of his strategies finalised. With a final goodbye and good luck to Bakugo (who hadn’t heard Deku speak in over a month, who’d forgotten he had wanted to take the UA entrance exam, and was slightly shocked at being addressed directly and without fear), he joined the outgoing students and loaded onto the bus that would take him to his testing area.

Several minutes into the exam, a few things had become apparent.

One, the robots were fairly easy to beat, all things considered. He destroyed them by ripping out wires, making them hit each other with ranged attacks, shoving metal shards between their defenses, tricking them into running into walls, dropping chunks of debris onto them from buildings and using a makeshift sling fashioned from a strip of his sweatshirt to disable the robots’ sensors and cameras. It was hard work, evidenced by his heavy breathing, the scrapes and bruises that had accumulated on his back, arms and legs, and the sweat running down his body, but it wasn’t impossible to bring the machines down.

Which brought him to his second observation: people relied on their quirks far too much. UA was known to be a tough school to get into, and heroics work was difficult and multi-faceted when it came to the skills needed to be a successful hero, but so many of the examinees he’d helped were trying to rely solely on their quirks, even if they were ill-suited for the exam.

He spent almost as much time helping other applicants as he did fighting robots himself. Watching another examinee rush off without thanking him, while he brushed over the place the hunk of concrete had collided with his arm instead of their head, he reminded himself that it was for the rescue points. He hadn’t been able to pinpoint how they were awarded, but he’d taken several hits meant for other applicants, helped others take down robots they were struggling with, and given pointers to those who were left virtually quirkless in a fight against a machine. Most of the latter had listened but not acted any further, resigned to their fate, though one purple haired boy had immediately started fighting back using a broken off pole, fire in his eyes and a snarl on his face. 

He shook his head and kept running. He still needed more points to be sure, and time was running out.

It was as he was prying off the head of another two-pointer that the world shook, and the zero pointer revealed itself.

Examinees ran from the scene, not willing to risk their wellbeing in a one-sided fight for zero points. Izuku could easily agree with some of the deleted comments he’d read online; the robot really was overkill. He finished removing the head of the two pointer and started heading away from the zero pointer in a steady jog, until he heard a faint cry. Spinning in place, he was just able to make out a figure lying in the wreckage from the zero pointer’s emergence, struggling to escape a hunk of concrete that was trapping their legs. Steadily approaching them was the zero pointer itself, the unbeatable monolith set on a course that would crush them.

Every fight Izuku had ever been in was one-sided, but that had never stopped him from intervening. 

There wasn’t enough time to take out each of its ‘eyes’, and there was no way he’d be able to rip out a few wires to take it down, so he had to think of another strategy. Spying several metal construction poles lying nearby, a plan formed in his mind.

Retrieving two of the poles, he sprinted over to the zero pointer, not daring to take his eyes off the machine as he assessed it for weak points. He just needed to find a way to slow it for a minute. As it extended its arm, he saw his opening; ideally he’d be able to target its legs, but they were too far away and with its slow moving pace the zero pointer’s arms were the more immediate threat. Skidding to a stop, he widened his stance, took aim, and let one pole loose, throwing it as if it were a javelin. He didn’t wait to see if it struck the machine’s elbow as he had planned, instead taking off once more to where the person was lying. 

“It’s going to be okay.” He assured, his experience helping civilians around villain fights and disaster zones kicking in. His voice was unsteady from exertion, but he knew how important communication was in these situations. “I’m going to get this stuff off you, but you need to be ready to move.” Receiving a nod in confirmation, he grunted, shoving the end of the remaining pole under the rubble in an attempt to lever it off of the girl’s legs. The zero pointer was making some worrying sounds behind him, but he forced himself to stay focused on the task on hand. 

“Look out!” The shout came from the trapped girl as he finally managed to pry the rubble off her, falling forward from the force of the action. It was probably that that saved him from severe head trauma. As he fell down, the girl pushed herself up, hand outstretched, and touched the large chunk of concrete that had been hurtling towards the pair at high velocity. It now floated harmlessly in their general direction, unaware of the pain it had almost caused. Izuku’s eyes flickered from the piece of rubble, to the zero pointer. It was still gaining on them, but the arm closest to them was limp from the elbow down, while the other continued to destroy the nearby buildings (probably where the concrete had come from).

The girl herself wasn’t looking too good, dust covered and shaking, hand covering her mouth.

“Can you walk?” He asked, picking himself up from where he fell and extending his hand to the girl, ignoring the new grazes on his palms. 

She looked up from her half-seated position, before slowly taking his hand, her pinky raised. Trying not to be too rough, he pulled her along with him as he set a quick pace away from the robot. They just needed to reach a sidestreet, and get outside of its damage radius; the robot probably wouldn’t follow them, and after that they could stop and Izuku could look the girl over for injuries. The girl (he had to get a name soon) stumbled, before stopping him with a strained, “Wait.”

He paused, keeping an eye out for danger as she brought her hands together, uttering ‘release’ as bits of debris and robots came crashing down. He only had a second to marvel at the strength and versatility of her quirk when Present Mic’s voice sounded around the cityscape, declaring the end of the exam.

Exhaustion trailed him like a predator with its prey in sight. His whole body ached, but he knew that was the price of the points he’d gathered. He just hoped it would be enough. 

His attention was drawn from his self-assessment when the girl doubled over, vomiting onto the concrete. 

“Are you alright?!” He was pretty sure this was a stress or quirk-overuse induced reaction, but that didn’t stop him from worrying as he hovered nearby, wishing he had water to offer her. 

“Oh dear, here’s some water.” The gentle voice came from just ahead of them, an old lady making her way through the few students that had remained nearby to watch the zero pointer. In one hand she held a syringe-like cane, while the other offered up a water bottle. 

“Thanks.” The girl croaked out, accepting the bottle.

Izuku managed to snap out of his quiet fanboying when Recovery Girl turned to him. “You look a little worse for wear.”

He let out a nervous huff of a laugh. Recovery Girl had such a rare and powerful quirk, and was a legend amongst heroes for the lives she had saved. There would never be a better time to ask her than now. Getting his breathing under control, he spoke, hoping he didn’t sound too exhausted and desperate. “I’ll be alright, but could I ask you something?” He waited a moment, and when no objection came, he continued, “Can someone without a quirk become a hero?”

She mulled over his answer. “Well, it’s very difficult to be a hero, dear.” 

She didn’t add anything else, but it was easy enough to find the no in the statement. “It’s very difficult to be a hero, so it would be impossible for someone without a quirk.” He’d heard it before.

“Let's heal you up, then you can think about heroics.” And with that, she planted a kiss on his forehead.

The exhaustion that has been trailing him pounced, and he felt his knees buckle before the world went black.

~

Ochako looked at the blood that was on her hand. The exam had pushed her to her limits, leaving her feeling bruised and battered, but it hadn’t made her bleed. The boy was gone now, taken away by robots and accompanied by Recovery Girl who assured he was fine, just exhausted, and had therefore passed out when she’d used her quirk; Ochako regretted not being able to thank him. She’d watched everyone run away from the zero pointer, some of them had even seen her, made eye contact, but they’d still chosen to run.

Everyone except the green haired boy, who appeared out of nowhere, who ran towards the zero pointer and did his best to help her, despite the danger. And he had asked someone else if someone quirkless (and had she seen him use a quirk?) could be a hero.

It didn’t matter what Recovery Girl had said on the matter; he was her hero. 

Closing her bloody hand, she decided she would thank him through action if she couldn’t tell him.

After getting changed and cleaned up, she walked to the staff offices.

“Hey there, what’re you doing out this way?” The call brought her attention to a newly opened door, where Present Mic stood leaning against the door frame.

“I’m sorry for intruding, but there was a boy at the exams, with curly hair and freckles.” She took a deep breath, knowing that this could cost her a place at the school. “Can I give home some of the points I earned?” After all, she wanted to be a hero for money - the world needed more heroes who would do their best to save anyone, no matter the cost. “That boy saved my life, and I want to give him at least as many points he gave up by saving me.”

Present Mic uncrossed his arms and stood up properly. “I'm afraid we can’t give him your points, but if he really is hero material he’ll be fine.”

Ochako frowned at the cryptic answer, before giving the hero a bow and saying goodbye. She hoped the boy got in, so she could thank him properly.

~

When his mum gave him the letter from UA, he took it silently, and retreated into his room. He knew that she would worry, and that he should just open it in the lounge room, but he didn’t want to see her face if he’d failed. Not without bracing himself, and preparing a response.

She’d been fretting ever since he told her he was going to take the exam, and he hadn’t made her any less worried by getting home so late afterwards. He’d had more injuries than Recovery Girl had accounted for, and that combined with his already low energy meant he’d spent the afternoon sleeping in the infirmary.

Now, he would see if the effort had been worth it. 

Gently, he opened the envelope, pulling out several folded pieces of paper and a holographics disk. As soon as he placed the disk on his desk, a display popped up. He barely listened to what Nedzu was saying, until the results appeared on screen.

Second place, with 41 villain points and 35 rescue points for a 76 point total, Midoriya Izuku.

He double checked the letters to make sure that the projection was correct, that he’d gotten in, before opening his door to a tearful Inko. Before she could ask him anything, he wrapped her in a hug. “I got in.”

He felt her tears start soaking his shirt as she began speaking, her words muffled. “Oh Izuku! Of course you got in, you’re so clever! My baby’s growing up, you’ve been working so hard and, you know what? I’m going to make katsudon for dinner to celebrate!”

He laughed at her ramblings, reminded of where he got the habit from, and held her tight. It’d been difficult, but now he would definitely be able to ask Eraserhead his question.

~

The class congratulated Bakugo on getting into UA’s heroic course. Their homeroom teacher even announced it, the day after the results came through. When seeing Izuku’s name, however, he paused, and brushed it off as a misprint.

Izuku didn’t correct him. He had other things to worry about, to plan, with his teachers being pro heroes he’d need to find a way to ask the heroes he hasn’t already met, without disturbing classes.

~

When Izuku opened the door to 1-A, he was greeted with shouting. He froze for a second, before recognising Bakugo, and the boy who’d reprimanded from for muttering. He tried to get through the door unnoticed, but the movement must have caught the blue haired boy’s attention, since he was suddenly approaching. 

“I’m from Somei Private Academy, my name is Iida Tenya!”

“I’m...Midoriya Izuku.” He answered quietly,  ignoring the confused shout of ‘Deku?’ from Bakugo.

“Midoriya…” He was prepared to hear a criticism, a remark about how he shouldn’t be here. What he wasn’t prepared for was Iida to begin monologuing. “You perceived the true nature of the exam while I did not. I misjudged you at the entrance exam, clearly you were the superior candidate.” 

Izuku backed away slightly from the intense boy. “What are you talking about?” 

“You recognised the importance of saving others, going to save that girl!”

“Oh, that was, I knew?” He paused, getting his frantic thoughts in order. “I knew about the rescue points.”

Iida looked down at him. “How is that so, finding information on the entrance exam is impossible.”

“Well, it's not impossible, just incredibly difficult as UA has several programs that scan all online mentions of the entrance exam for any information leaks, then delete those mentions, but just because something has been removed from viewing doesn’t mean it’s been permanently deleted. By going through different forums I was able to recover posts from around this time in previous years, and then find mentions of the physical exam that way. Of course, you might need to go through several pages of archived material to get even one useful bit of information, but I was able to learn about the basics of the exam and the rescue points after a day of work, other details I had to dig deeper for which is much more complex given-”

Before he could go more in depth he was interrupted.

“That curly hair, you got in!” Turning away from Iida’s perplexed expression, he was met with the girl from the entrance exam. “I wasn’t sure you’d get in, with Present Mic being so cryptic, but I’m glad you did!”

“Wait, what did Present Mic say about me?” He hadn’t spoken to the voice hero between now and the exam, had never interacted with him at all aside from listening to his radio show, so he had no idea how the man would have an opinion of him.

“Well, after you went to all the effort of saving me, I thought it would only be fair to give you some of my points, since you lost time by helping me.” She blushed slightly, rubbing the back of her neck. “I guess I didn’t need to bother though, with the rescue points and all.”

Izuku didn’t know how to respond. The cut off for UA was so high, and she’d been willing to give him some of her points, even if it jeopardized her own position. He must have been quiet for too long, because she started talking again to fill the silence.

“So we’ve got the entrance ceremony today, that’s pretty exciting! I wonder what our teacher will be like, apparently they’re all pro heroes, I hope we get a cool one.”

“If you’re here to socialise, get out, this is the hero course.” 

The girl cut off and stared at the sleeping bag behind her. The whole class grew quiet as it stood up, revealing none other than Eraserhead. He looked scruffy, hair unkempt, but it was undoubtedly him if the capture weapon around his neck was any indication.

Izuku resisted the urge to blurt out his question then and there, but he’d been doing this long enough to know when to hold back and wait. After all, this hero was going to be his homeroom teacher, surely he’d have a couple opportunities to ask him. He continued to let his thoughts wander as he took his gym clothes and headed to the changing rooms with the rest of the class. Maybe he could ask him at the end of the day, or arrive early tomorrow and ask him then. Of course, he could be the type of teacher who only showed up at the last minute, but that made sense with the night time patrol hours. He probably slept until the last possible minute, which seemed plausible considering he’d shown up to class in a sleeping bag. The unprofessionalism didn’t change the level of respect he held for the underground hero; he’d been going over the bits of information he’d managed to find, and had discovered the hero fought practically quirkless, especially against mutation type quirks whose effect he couldn’t nullify.

He didn’t acknowledge the few looks he got when changing, knowing people would be curious about the assortment of small scars he had covering his body. He’d had his fair share of marks before this year started, but actively hunting down heroes had brought him closer to danger than ever before, and he had paid for it on more than one occasion. He didn’t care what they thought though, he just had to get through today and ask Eraserhead his question, then it would all be worth it.

His hopes of getting through the day dropped when the quirk assessment test was announced.

Then Eraserhead declared whoever placed last would be expelled.

He balled his fists and took deep breaths. He was so close to his goal, and he wouldn’t let go so easily. He just needed to stay long enough to ask Eraserhead his question, then they could kick him out.

~

Aizawa Shouta was having a normal first day, his quirk assessment and threat of expulsion having become somewhat routine at the start of the year. He knew the other teachers had a bet going on how many kids he’d expel on the first day, but he wasn’t about to acknowledge that, let alone get involved.

The only difference to this quirk assessment, however, was that one of the students didn’t have a quirk. Midoriya Izuku, first quirkless student to be admitted to UA, and the second highest scorer on the entrance exam. 

Even though he fought quirkless, Shouta’s quirk still gave him the advantage of leveling the playing field between himself and his opponents. That, however, didn’t apply to robots, and he’d spent his first year at UA fighting tooth and nail to transfer into the heroics course after being overwhelmed at the entrance exam.

Shouta watched the boy closely, not wanting to miss how he responded to each test, in case the entrance exam had been a fluke (however unlikely that was; he’d looked over the footage, and the kid had been relentless). The 50 meter dash, sidesteps and endurance run were nothing to write home about, but he managed to find a way to improve his scores on almost all other tests. The grip strength test had him climbing up to a support beam in the gym, using his shoelaces to tie the grip test to the beam, then jumping down while holding onto it in order to add his body weight and the force of gravity to his base grip measurement. He then scaled back up the beam to get his test down, all before someone could question what he was doing. For the long jump he utilised loopholes, jumping first onto the robot meant to measure their jumping distance, then to the edge of the sandpit. As their jump was measured from the start of the sand pit to where they landed, his result was much higher than an average jump. He made use of tools once again in the softball throw, tearing his uniform to create a makeshift sling, allowing him to gain more distance (and Shouta knew from Snipe’s long winded discussions on projectile weapons that slings were harder to use than they looked, which meant the kid had practiced for some time). The upper body and seated toe touch tests didn’t bare any clever solutions, but he had to call an end to the upper body test instead of simply waiting for all students to eventually tire and stop. The kid had just kept going, making him wonder where the boy was storing that strength and stamina in such a small frame (the reality was that a fear of falling off buildings and plummeting to your death were powerful motivators when it came to working out).

Throughout it all, the first entrant, Bakugo Katsuki, watched him like a hawk. Midoriya didn’t seem to notice, and Bakugo didn’t do anything (compared to several other students, who complained that some of Midoriya’s strategies were cheating) aside from watch, body language tense. He made a note to keep an eye on that situation; competition was healthy, but it could quickly turn sour in a prestigious establishment such as UA.

Overall, he’d been impressed with this year’s students, even if a few had been lacking in the physical department (he’d seen the relief on the lowest scoring student, a boy named Shinsou who had a psychological quirk and apparently no physical training, when he’d revealed the expulsion threat was a fluke).

He wondered idly where the quirkless kid had learned to fight as he made his way back to the classroom, class dismissed for the day. Shouta had gotten into the heroics course after a hard fought first year sports festival, his quirk and physical abilities not enough to overcome the robots at the entrance exam, something he’d retained a distant bitterness for. While he still believed the entrance exam was biased toward big, flashy quirks, he could no longer say that it was impossible for those without ‘impressive’ quirks; after all, a quirkless kid had placed second. Anyone with a quirk, suited for the exam or otherwise, would never be able to use that as an excuse again.

When he opened the door to the classroom, ready to grab his sleeping bag and nap in the teacher’s lounge until the school day was officially over, he found Midoriya sitting at a desk staring blankly ahead until Shouta’s movement caught his eye. 

“Can I help you Midoriya?” He raised an eyebrow.

The kid stood up quickly, backpack in hand as he made his way over to where Shouta was standing with his arms crossed. There was a few seconds of silence before the kid raised his head to look him in the eyes.

“Eraserhead,” And of course, of course the quirkless kid knew which hero he was, “Can someone without a quirk become a hero?”

Despite having gotten into UA’s heroics course, one of the most prestigious and selective heroics courses in all of Japan, despite placing well on a quirk apprehension test when he didn’t have a quirk , despite surviving the day and not being expelled, this kid was asking Shouta, Eraserhead, if he thought he could be a hero. As if he wasn’t already on the path to becoming one.

And looking into those eyes, that had just the tiniest flicker of hope amongst an ocean’s worth of sadness and resignation, Shouta came to the understanding that maybe the kid didn’t realise. 

So he softened his expression and spoke gently.

~

Izuku broke down into sobs, backlit by the afternoon sun that was filtering through the classroom windows, as Aizawa ‘Eraserhead’ Shouta became the first person to tell him he could be a hero.