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If there was one topic Izuku Midoriya worried about it was the quirkless. Besides the villain attacks, being in Class 1-A was a dream. For the first time in his life, he had a class full of people who liked him and treated him kindly. He didn’t fear them. He even had a teacher who treated them all fairly. Often, he wondered if they would be so kind if they knew the truth about him, that underneath his inherited power, he was a quirkless kid doing his best in a world of discrimination. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before his bubble of peace shattered.
It was the last day of awareness week, a week where the curriculum was dedicated to discussing different types of prejudice and discrimination. So far, they had covered sexism in the workforce, mutant quirks, “villainous quirks”, and corruption in the heroics. The last day had been saved for the strongest type of discrimination, discrimination against the quirkless. The morning before classes, Izuku had avoided everyone, rushing to class early enough to avoid any conversation. He had claimed he wanted to finish up an assignment. Inside, he wondered which of his classmates would be the first to laugh at the topic. He rolled the statistics inside his head, reminding himself that even if no one else cared, he would always remember them.
The last time he had been in a class with a presentation about quirkless discrimination, he had been used as an example. The teacher had used him to point out all the ways he was less evolved than his peers. At least here, where no one knew of his genetics, he was safe from that. The last time all the statistics had been skewed. They had been excused by “explaining” the quirkless had weaker mental strength, they were more susceptible to negative thoughts. None of those things were true of course. Izuku had remembered the real numbers he knew by heart and told himself he would not become another number on the chart. He would become a hero and change those statistics. Each time there was another suicide to add to the ongoing list, he made a point to write their name down, never to be forgotten.
Slowly, the class began to fill in as the time before class approached. He ignored them all filing in, feigning intense concentration on his notebook. When the bell rang, he avoided everyone’s gazes, carefully sliding his notebook into his bag. He prepared himself and raised his gaze to meet his teachers. A shield slid into place; his true emotions locked behind a calm façade.
He failed to notice Aizawa’s previous concerned gaze change into something careful.
“Today we will cover discrimination based on lack of quirk. With a show of hands, how many people know someone without a quirk?”
Izuku refused to look at his classmates as he raised his hand. If only they knew he and All Might were technically quirkless.
“Alright, now who can tell me how these people are treated in comparison to those with quirks?”
He nodded to someone.
“Those without quirks are treated as less.” Momo dutifully replied, like it was just another fact of life. As if it wasn’t a severe understatement.
“Okay, who can tell me why?”
Why? Because no one liked someone who couldn’t defend themselves. Because people were cruel.
“Because they are, less I mean.” Mineta’s words sent an ice-cold wave over Izuku. He fought to push down the anger beginning to surge inside of him.
“Excuse me. I think I must have heard you wrong.” That was Todoroki’s voice. It held a lot of icy anger.
“No, I mean it. How could someone without a quirk be useful? What even is their purpose anyway?”
“How dare you? My brother is quirkless and he is twice the man you’ll ever be.” Todoroki’s words unlocked something in Izuku’s mind that begged him to say something.
He stood suddenly, moving his gaze from the front of the room for the first time of the day.
He locked his gaze onto Mineta, “Do you know what a quirkless person is? A quirkless person’s job is to stay out of the way. And no one gives two shits who we are, beyond that.”
He glared at the trembling teen before grabbing his bag and booking it out of the classroom, ignoring the yells that resounded in his wake.
He barely made it into the nearest bathroom before he collapsed, his breathing ragged. How could he say that in front of his whole class? All his hard work keeping One for All a secret only for one class to rip open the truth.
Suddenly Aizawa was in front of him, taking his hand and placing it on his own chest, “Easy Midoriya, match my breathing.”
Together, they breathed until his breaths came easier.
“Now would you like to tell me what that was about?”
Izuku sighed, his head falling back to rest against the wall, “I’m quirkless, Sensei.”
“No, you’re not.”
“No, I really am. My quirk wasn’t originally mine. It has been passed down from user to user, I am the ninth wielder.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand how that is possible, Problem Child. Not that I don’t believe you.”
And so, Izuku told his teacher the story of two brothers.
Aizawa looked like his world was collapsing as he took in the story.
“Okay first thing, we are going to set up one on one quirk control lessons. No student of mine will learn about their quirk with no help. Secondly, after I expel Mineta, we are going to tell your class that you were a late bloomer. After that, you are all going to go to your next class so I can kill All Might’s ass for withholding important information about my students from me.”
Izuku looked at his teacher in awe, “Expel Mineta?”
Aizawa nodded, “There is no place in heroics for someone like that. Honestly, I’ve been itching to expel him for his perverted habits, but Nedzu made me wait because his parents are on the school board.”
Izuku flung himself at his favorite teacher who returned the hug fiercely, “Thank you Sensei.”
“Of course.”