Work Text:
Izuku Midoriya always felt so strongly.
When he was little, he felt so strongly about his love of All Might.
When he was in middle school, he felt so strongly about his despair over being bullied.
Now, during high school, he felt so strongly about his happiness for finally accomplishing his dreams.
But not once, in his entire life, has he ever felt strongly about anger.
Maybe this was finally his time to do so.
~~~
Now in his third year, he was a part of the big three of the school. It felt amazing to go from a lonely, bullied boy to someone people look up to.
He, Kacchan, and Todoroki presented work studies to the first years, just like how Togata, Hado, and Amajiki did for them.
Izuku, as the number one, proceeded to do what Togata did and fight the first years. The last one left was a girl with orangey-red hair tied back in a bun at the top of her head with piercing green eyes and brown freckles dotting all across her face.
She was average-sized with prominent muscle, though not as much as some other people, with no noticeable quirk.
She lasted five minutes longer than everyone else and showed prolific knowledge of martial arts.
Once Izuku knocked her down, he quickly walked over to her with a charming smile and helped her up.
“That was impressive! You lasted longer than everyone else! What’s your name?” He used the voice he used when dealing with people he wasn’t familiar with, i.e., professional yet friendly.
The girl smiled, showcasing her bright white teeth.
“I’m Yukihara Hana! I’m going to be ‘The Quirkless Hero: Hope!”
Izuku felt everything freeze.
He silently took a sharp breath as he plastered on the fake smile he used to trick everyone for years.
“That’s great! I wish you luck!” To everyone else, his voice was like it usually was; determined and kind.
Yet to his ears, he couldn’t recognize himself with that bitter tone.
As he walked away, he walked past Kacchan. The blond was looking at the ginger with a contemplative look. He held his chin in between two fingers as he was thinking.
Soon, he whispered something that made something in Izuku flare.
“Hm. She has potential.”
The green-haired boy forced himself to smile back at the blond, though he knew that Katsuki wouldn’t fall for it.
“Yeah!”
~~~
The following week, Izuku thought the sentence in his head over and over and over and over again.
“She has potential.”
“She has potential.”
“
You don’t have potential.
”
He spent that time avoiding the blond. He didn’t pair up with him like usual, and he avoided his gaze whenever red eyes tried to meet his.
Everyone else could easily see that something was wrong. They didn’t ask him about it, though, as they didn’t know if he was comfortable talking about it. He silently thanked them as he was not ready to talk about why he felt this way.
It all came to a head when he went down to the gym. He couldn’t describe it, but he felt so much rage when he thought about what he said.
“She has potential.”
Every time he thought about it, he just felt angrier and punched harder.
“She has potential.”
He broke his fifth sandbag when he heard the door open. He assumed it was just someone who wanted to use the gym, so he silently bent down to pick up the broken bag.
“She has potential.”
“Deku.”
He froze.
“
You don’t have potential.
”
~~~
Katsuki stared at the bent-down body of the green-haired boy.
“Deku.”
He watched as the boy froze before standing up mechanically, refusing to face him.
“Look at me,” he was uncharacteristically calm. His voice was quiet and rough from how he forced himself not to shout. This was a delicate situation, one he’d never dealt with before.
He didn’t know how to describe how he felt when Deku smiled at him in the way he did back in middle school. That fake way of his fooled everyone that wasn’t him. Deku then spent the next week ignoring him, something he’d never done before.
He had a feeling about what this was about, but he didn’t know how Deku felt, something that he’d always had an easy time knowing.
“Katsuki.”
Deku’s voice was monotone, not the usual happiness when he talked to the blond or the quiet, sad way he did back in middle school. No, he spoke with no emotion. No silly childhood nickname. Just a cold, stiff greeting.
Katsuki took a deep breath, remembering what his therapist told him as he counted in for eight seconds before breathing out for four.
“Talk to me.”
The greenette let out a scoff.
“Like you ever want to talk,” he whispered bitterly.
Katsuki felt himself blink at the tone, one he’d never heard from the boy before him. He wanted to yell and create pops with his hands, but he quelled the urge and took more deep breaths.
“I do. Just talk to me.”
“You want to talk? Fine, I’ll talk.”
Deku turned around, and his face twisted in a way Katsuki had only seen when he fought villains.
“Do you remember that first year? Yukihara?” His tone was calm yet had an undertone of danger.
Katsuki had always ignored signs of danger.
“Yeah.”
“What do you think of her?”
It took a few moments for Katsuki to think. He knew he couldn’t lie. Deku knew him too well for that.
“She has potential. She’ll make a fine hero.”
“Do you remember her quirk status?”
“I do.”
Something in Deku’s eyes broke.
~~~
Lightning danced across his skin as he spun around with an angered cry, kicking the metal stand the once hanging sandbag was on across the floor. He turned back around to look at the shocked-looking blond.
“HOW COULD YOU?!”
He felt tears prickle the edge of his eyes.
“HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?! DESPITE EVERYTHING YOU’VE DONE TO ME!”
Katsuki looked confused.
That just made him angrier.
“YOU SAY SHE HAS POTENTIAL?! YOU SAY SHE’LL BE A GREAT HERO?!”
Izuku started pacing, teeth-gritting together as he seethed.
“HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT ABOUT A GIRL YOU HADN’T KNOW FOR FIVE MINUTES WHEN YOU COULDN’T SAY THAT ABOUT ME?!”
Wide red met feral green.
“HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT ABOUT A STRANGER WHEN YOU COULDN’T SAY THAT ABOUT SOMEONE YOU’VE KNOWN FOR YOUR WHOLE FUCKING LIFE?!” He spread his arms out to the side in anger as he glared.
Katsuki’s eyes widened even further as he heard the swear come from the boy’s mouth. Deku never swore, despite growing up with him. Izuku paid him no mind and continued ranting.
“FOR YEARS, YOU BULLIED ME! YEARS! FOR SOMETHING I COULDN’T CONTROL! YET HERE YOU ARE SAYING SOMEONE HAS POTENTIAL DESPITE HAVING THE EXACT REASON YOU BULLIED ME?!”
“WHY?!” He looked at Katsuki, asking for an answer now.
“Why what…?” His voice was quiet, too shocked by the outburst to speak any louder.
“WHY DO YOU BELIEVE IN HER BUT NOT ME?!” Tears spilled from his eyes, reminiscent of the way Katsuki spilled tears three years ago during their fight at ground beta, except this time they weren’t fighting, and Izuku had no shame in spilling tears.
“I TRIED FOR SO MANY YEARS TO GET YOU TO SAY THAT TO ME! FOR YOU TO BELIEVE IN ME THE WAY, I BELIEVE IN YOU! TO HAVE YOU SAY I COULD DO IT!”
“BUT YOU DIDN’T! YOU NEVER DID! IT TOOK ME GETTING A FUCKING QUIRK TO GET YOU TO STOP BULLYING ME!” He was screeching. He knew shouting would wreck his voice in the morning, but he didn’t care. He needed to get this out of his system.
“WHAT DOES SHE HAVE THAT I DON’T, HUH?! WHY DID YOU BELIEVE IN HER WHEN YOU DIDN’T FOR ME?! WHY ARE WE DIFFERENT?! WHAT MADE YOU TORMENT ME FOR YEARS ONLY FOR YOU TO BELIEVE IN HER?!” He held himself as he closed his eyes and screamed. He didn’t want to look at the other. He couldn’t.
“YOU TOLD ME TO KILL MYSELF!”
He felt the way Katsuki’s breath hitched, but he didn’t care.
“YOU NEVER EVEN APOLOGIZED TO ME!” He opened his eyes and stared right back into red ones. He felt tears flow down his face as his hunched-over form breathed heavily.
“You never even apologized…” He whispered, voice shaking as he started to sob.
“I tried...so hard to get you to believe in me...and you never did.”
“What does she have that I don’t?” He was quiet, his voice carried by the wind into Katsuki’s hearing aids.
Katsuki took a shuddering breath, feeling his own set of tears prickle the back of his eyes. He blinked them back, forcing himself to prioritize someone else for once in his life.
“When...When I watched her, I saw you.”
The greenette froze then blinked, looking at the blond in confusion as a tear slipped down his cheek.
“Huh?”
“When I watched her say she was going to be the first quirkless hero, I couldn’t help but see you, standing there in our dumb middle school uniform as you scratched away at slime like a dumbass. I couldn’t help but think, “I’m going to help this time.” I won’t make the same mistake again. I deprived the world of the first quirkless hero; I think it’s only right I helped make the second.”
~~~
His knees felt weak before they gave out under him, forcing him to cover his face with his hands as his shoulders shook with the force of his cries.
The blond stood over him, a regretful look on his face as he watched the greenette breakdown.
“And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. For the bullying, for the abandonment, for the-the suicide baiting …For everything. I hope this can be my way to atone. I hope that helping make the first quirkless hero can be how I give back to you. I hope that when you see “The Quirkless Hero: Hope” in the top ten, you’ll be able to forgive me.”
“Kacchan,” he keened, looking up and raising his arms. He wrapped them around the blond’s waist before feeling as Katsuki kneeled to his level, allowing him to wrap his arms around his torso and hide his face in his neck.
He felt hesitant hands wrap around his body before nuzzling deeper into the neck he was hiding in, murmuring a small “Kacchan.”
“Speak of this, and I will kill you.”
He couldn’t help but snort before looking back up with a giggle and a sniffle.
“Of course.”
~~~
A black-haired man watched the two hug on the gym floor before turning the screen off with a sigh. He rolled his shoulders before leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling.
“Problem children…”