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Izuku stood frozen in shock. His mind, usually running a thousand miles an hour, had come to a screeching halt. All sound had turned to static and the world around him suddenly felt unreachable, as if he had been yanked into another plane of existence and made an outsider unable to do more than observe the world around him. He felt numb. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
Here on a street corner he had suddenly run into All Might for the second, technically third, time that day. The first meeting had not been an pleasant experience, having his dream be crushed by his idol, the last person he had dared to hope would support his desperate dream of becoming a hero, and left alone heartbroken on an random office rooftop on the same day he had been told commit suicide by “to take a swan dive off a roof an hope for a quirk in his next life”. If it hadn’t been for the random salaryman showing up for a smoke break, Izuku would have probably ended up going through with it. After all it was not as if he was worth anything. All Might might have said to be realistic and aim for a different profession where he would be able to help people. But what All Might failed to understand that there was no other profession that would accept him. His status as quirkless barred him from most professions. He was considered disabled by society even though he was in reality just baseline human. The police force would never accept him, believing that he and all other quirkless be far too fragile to be of use on the force, not even as a traffic guide. The same reasons would also bar him from becoming a firefighter. He would never be able to get into medical school as the application vetting process was very selective and known to be highly discriminatory towards marginalised minorities. It was the same for all other professions. In this quirk-centric society there was simply no where to go if it was the sole component you lacked.
He had seen the quirkless statistics and they foretold a grim future. By the most optimistic metrics he was projected to survive until the ripe old age of 26. Not live, survive. If a random villain attack or hate crime didn’t kill him first, then the constant onslaughter of hate, distain, isolation and abuse would drive him to finish the job himself once he could bare it no more. 26 was a very generous and optimistic projection. Most on the few hidden online forums agreed that the far more realistic estimate was 16. Izuku was less than 2 years to go, and he had already figured that he would not be able to hold out for that long. This day had only sought to prove him right.
As he had been shuffling home, he had come across a crowed gathering and the sounds of explosions. It was the slim villain that had assaulted him earlier and tried to asphyxiate him just an hour and a half earlier. It seemed that All Might hadn’t succeeded in keeping him contained. Within the villains grasp in the middle of being asphyxiated was none other than Kacchan. He was trying desperately and viciously to get free by causing as many explosions as possible hoping to hit the villain. It was inefficient to say the least. The sludge villain was simply redirection the explosions to the area around them, effectively using them to keep the heroes on site at a distance. Izuku moving closer had heard the heroes state that there was nothing they could do as none of their quirks were useful in this situation. They were just going to stand there watching a teenager die because their quirks weren’t useful!?
‘If I die doing this, at least I gave Kacchan the chance to breath and survive, and my life might not have been an absolute waste.’ ‘At least mom won’t have to find my corpse.’ Those were the last thoughts that went through Izuku’s head before he charged in to save his childhood friend.
And he had succeeded. He had given Kacchan the opportunity to breath and make it until All Might showed up out of nowhere and defeated the sludge villain once more. The only downside was that he had survived as well. All Might had quickly disappeared again and the other heroes on site had been quick to berate him the moment they learned from Kacchan that he was quirkless. He was too tired to deal with them, and just shrugged despondently as he continued on home.
Suddenly All Might was there again ambushing him on a street corner as the sun was setting over Musutafu. Izuku was bruised and battered, adrenaline still coursing through his veins and the vile aftertaste of the sludge villain clinging to his tongue making him want to throw up. He didn’t have the energy to listen to his former idol berating him as well. But that wasn’t what All Might did. No he did something far worse.
“What did you just say?” Izuku barely managed to question the large form of All Might, wishing ardently that he had just misheard the hero.
“If you inherit my power, you too can become a hero!” The now once more deflated and gaunt looking All Might had proudly stated, ignorant to the inner turmoil he had unleashed inside Izuku.
The man that just a couple of hours ago had told him to be realistic. The hero that had finally pushed him over the suicidal edge. The man who had sealed his fate, made him give up the last thing left in Pandoras box. And yet here was All might now offering to make him a hero, because of Izuku’s alleged heroic and selfless act. But, and wasn’t there always a but, he wasn’t good enough as he was. Even though he had just demonstrated his intellect, quick problem-solving skills and willingness to put himself in harm’s way to save someone the far better trained and equipped heroes on site had given up on until reinforcements arrived, he was still not good enough unless he was given a quirk by All Might. He wasn’t good enough and no amount of support equipment would apparently make up for his “disability” in the eyes of All Might. Only with a quirk would Izuku be worth anything.
‘How dare he!’ Izuku seethed internally. He had always wanted to be a hero much like every other child, but over time the reason for his obsession with the profession had morphed and shifted. He still held the somewhat childish desire to help others with a smile, but deep down he wanted to be a hero so that he could save himself and others like him. He wanted to become someone that would prove to the world that the quirkless were not less, that they should not be treated as if they were a dying inferior evolutionary breed. Yes, they were baseline human, so what? How was being baseline so different from being born with a quirk that could change your eye colour. In practice it would never be more that a party game at most, so how was that better? They deserved to be treated just the same as everyone else and if a quirkless person could become a hero, the highest valued members of society, then that would be prof. Izuku loved quirks and analysing them, but he was quirkless and wanted to be someone who those like him could look up to, not just another dime-a-dozen hero.
“How dare you!” Izuku was trembling in anger as he hissed at All Might. “How dare you get my hopes up only to destroy them once more. I want to be a quirkless hero. Show the world that we are not useless, fragile and a waste of space. Yet you proudly state that I can only become a hero if I gain your quirk?! The very quirk that is slowly making you unable to help anyone, quirklessly or not!?” His fists were clenched along his sides and his muscles tense and jaw clenched impossibly tight.
“Now now my boy, no need too...” All Might tried to placate Izuku and diffuse the situation, but Izuku was having none of it.
“Leave.” He demanded through gritted teeth, his eyes blazing with fury. “I don’t need you or your quirk. I don’t need you to look down upon me like the rest of society already does. I won’t compromise my values for the sake of validation. I refuse to become a part of the problem, so leave.” He began to walk past the hero shocked hero who was hacking up a concerning amount of blood. It was none of Izuku’s business. He did not have enough regard left for the number one hero to aid him. Instead he kept on walking.
“I will make it without you, even if I will have to do it through spite alone, fighting the entire way. Uncompromising. I will make it.” was the last thing he said to the hero as he left him alone in the street against the setting sun.