1,549This story was inspired by many talented people, and I doubt I could name them all, but I will name the main inspirations of this story.
• The incredible creator of Boku no Hīrō Akademia himself, Kohei Horikoshi
• It Takes a Child to Teach a Village by Plantsandpaints on Archive of Our Own
• With Confidence by TimelessTears on Archive of Our Own
• the two sides of the coin (and still the same piece of metal) by razethedead on Archive of Our Own
• The Smallest Thing Can Unravel a Secret by LaffingPenguin on Archive of Our Own
I don't own the characters that appear in this story or Boku no Hīrō Akademia
Edit: Except for the ocs I made, I should have about 50% ownership on those.
Edit2: Guntherson962, the amazing person they are, was willing to edit over all fifty previous chapters so here's hoping that it will be better than before.
Edit3: I have a character key up on Ao3 now and its connected to story on Ao3 so it won't be that hard to find, I'd crosspost it but as its a list it wouldn't follow posting rules here, https archive of our works 49419613 this should work to help you if you search it the search bar.
Midoriya Izuku has had a very difficult life, ever since he was five and was brought to a Quirk-specialist, it seemed that one bad thing after another once he was confirmed quirkless, but he did his best to keep his little head held high and see every moment as a teachable moment.
When the doctor said he'd never develop a quirk he was crushed at first... Then he looked into how Heroes with non-physical quirks to see how they worked.
When his father, Hisashi stopped coming home after the 'Diagnosis' Izuku cried every day for a month... But he did what he could to cheer up his heartbroken Mother while trying to learn how to do things around the house like cooking and laundry so she wouldn't be as stressed out.
When people started to ostracize him for his lack of a quirk and avoiding him which made him feel lonely... Izuku spent all the free time he now had studying and adding to the notebooks he started using for hero analysis.
When his best friend in the world Kacchan started being mean and using his quirk on him he felt sad, guilty, and often very hurt... That didn't stop Izuku from trying to stop Kacchan from bullying others and he would do his best to walk off the pain.
When his classmates turned from ignoring him to physically bullying him, he lost count of how many times he limped home... But Izuku did his best to get through the day and patch himself up before his mother got home so she wouldn't worry or stress herself out over him.
From all of these things, Izuku did his best to find something (anything) to take from them or some bright side to the experiences.
From the Doctor, Izuku learned he'd have to find a way to be a hero that wouldn't rely on a quirk and discovered his favorite type of Heroes and his favorite hobbies.
(Izuku tried not to think of the doctor's words or his mother's apology that he didn't want to hear repeating on loop.)
Of his father's abandonment, he learned many life skills before he was ten that would be helpful later on in life while taking some of the burdens off of his mother.
(Izuku ignored the gaping hole in his chest when he heard his mother throw Hisashi out and pushed the nightmares of his mother abandoning him for not being useful or a burden as far as he could from his mind.)
The isolation of his peers gave him plenty of time to study and to work on his notebooks and the adults ignoring him taught him to be independent.
(Izuku pretended not to notice how the teachers would purposely separate them or actively discouraged them from playing with him because he was "fragile" or how his teachers always "forgot" about him when they passed out field trip waivers or treats so there was never enough.)
From Kacchan's cruel words and consistent bullying, Izuku learned to grit his teeth and gained a thick skin when it came to insults.
(Izuku quickly understood how the hateful words constantly spewed at him were so much worse when they came from someone you love than some stranger and were stuck playing on loop in his mind no matter how much he tried to drown them out.)
From the bullying, Izuku learned to bear with the pain and treated his injuries on his own, both would be a great skill for a hero.
(Izuku knew he shouldn't know how to stitch his body back together when his peers tore it apart or knew when his classmates had or hadn't broken one of his bones or be so familiar with the pain of forcing a limb back into its socket.)
For the next seven years, Izuku had made a routine that had served him well; In the mornings he would wake up, get ready for the day then have breakfast with his mom before heading to school, at school he'd do his best to keep his head down and avoid getting too injured from his classmates during school hours, after school had ended he'd try to run home to get away from his classmates which he failed at fifty percent of the time or he'd limp his way home if they already got to him, occasionally he would see a few Hero fights on the way home.
When he got home Izuku would clean himself up then patch up his wounds before making dinner then did his homework if he still had any, wait to eat, and talk with his mom, occasionally they would do something together if he felt well enough to for an hour before retreating to his room, he'd finish any homework he had left then would do his daily chores.
the few times he had spare time left after all that before bed Izuku would watch Herotube or research things so he could better understand how certain quirks work, all of this knowledge immediately was added to his notebooks, after that he'd double-checked his injuries would be okay for the night then get ready for bed and passed out.
On the weekends he'd use the large portion of his free time taking care of everything around the house he couldn't do the rest of the week, then take his notebooks to add to them and update or he'd look into theories he had about the quirks he listed, when the occasion arose that his mom had the day off they'd do something together and maybe if the stars aligned the two would enjoy a day out of the house.
Today, however, was one of those days.
He had just started Middle School at Aldera hoping that it would be better than the Elementary school of the same name and was sorely disappointed, being in a different building and area Izuku wasn't able to escape from Kacchan's wrath, the blond had caught him in a park, and he was subsequently beaten by Kacchan and his lackeys. In addition to using their quirks on Izuku, they beat him, verbally abused him, dragged him through some bushes, and dumped him in a puddle of mud they made before leaving.
Izuku waited until he knew they were gone to get to his feet and categorized his injuries starting with any cut or bruises he could see so he could treat himself when he got home, his body ached which was nothing new, he was as light-headed and confused as he usually was after Kacchan's beatings and while he was able to stand this time he noticed the shooting pain in his left ankle if he put weight on it, he was half sure his ankle was sprained, his ribs were probably bruised, and he knew his bottom lip was broken when he licked his dry lips and tasted copper in addition to mud.
Izuku felt like a mess and was sure he looked like it too, his new middle school uniform now had tears, burns from Kacchan's quirk, and muddy, Kacchan had been a bit more heavy-handed this time and had actually burned him through his clothes with his quirk. Izuku was already mentally dreaded having to fix his new uniform on the first day, but he had thankfully predicted this and had stocked up on replacement cloth the week before, but he would need to get home, clean, and patch himself up first before he could think about fixing his uniform.
Izuku stumbled when he took a step forward and collapsed to his knees with an "Oof!" Before his face hit the ground, this (sadly) was not uncommon for the eleven (soon to be twelve) year old and he repeatedly tried to get to his feet only to fall over when he attempted to move forward. When he could solidly walk a few shaky steps Izuku went to find his backpack since it had gotten lost in the bushes and started the trek home doing his best to ignore the pain from his ankle.
Kacchan and his lackeys had taken up more time than normal so while Izuku would still be home hours before his mom he despaired the realization he wouldn't have time to treat his injuries, cover them up and do his homework before making dinner, he sighed resigned to the fact and just tried to shuffle his way through the streets back to the apartment complex.
Izuku had been relatively lucky on his way only tripping four times (with only once from another person) and slipping one time while climbing the stairs, once he finally got to his door and not thinking clearly, he opened the door then entered planning on going straight to his room where his medical supplies were stashed away but he stopped halfway.
The door should not be unlocked, his mom shouldn't be home for three more hours and she always locked the door behind her and Izuku has had the only other house key for since he was ten. Concerns began to bubble up in Izuku's mind, overshadowing his current state.
*Had Mom accidentally left it unlocked? But she hasn't ever done that before because of her anxiety and she always triple checks before leaving. Or what if someone broke in?! We live in a quiet neighborhood, but Break-ins could happen anywhere... What if they broke the door latch when they broke in? That would cost so much time and money to get new locks-wait! Oh God, what if we were robbed!? There was no way we could afford to replace everything! Much less the damages to the- wait what was that sound!? OhgodohgodtheirstillhereI'mdeadI'mdeadI'm-*
Izuku's frenzied thoughts were caught off a soft warm familiar voice greeting him from the kitchen "Welcome home Izuku, did you have a great day at school?" Izuku jumped nearly falling over himself as confusion filled his head along with a new wave of panic "M-mom? What are you doing h-home?" He questioned feeling his guts already knotting up as reasons why sprung to the forefront of his mind.
*What day was it again? Monday? She should've been home by 8:30 today... Was she sent home early? Why would they do that? Did she start feeling unwell again? No, she got over that stomach bug already. She doesn't have any vacation days yet so she couldn't have called off either and she would have told me that beforehand. Then maybe she was in trouble at work? Why? Mom had a good relationship with her boss and she's a very good nurse. Did she get a new boss? Did they find out she has a quirkless son? Were they like his teachers?! Did they fire her for having a quirkless child!? Did she get fired because of me!?*
Izuku's mental anguish hadn't lasted long as his downward spiral was interrupted by a soft giggle from his mother "Nishi, the new scheduling nurse overbooked my unit today. Aito didn't have as many overtime hours, so Aki sent me home." She answered and Izuku immediately felt the weight of somehow getting his mother fired slip off his shoulders.
"You always work so hard; you do everything around the house. So, I thought that since I had the day off, I could surprise you with dinner this time!" Inko cheerfully proclaimed and Izuku couldn't help tearing up from her kindness, words often couldn't describe just how grateful he was for such a wonderful mother.
"I made your favorite!" She enthusiastically added and he could even smell the katsudon from the doorway, Izuku's mouth watered, and he subconsciously licked his lips only for his heart to stop as the filthy taste of copper brought him back to reality.
That he was standing in the entryway a tattered mess covered in mud and blood with his mother not ten feet away from him, Izuku flew into an absolute panic when he heard her moving towards him "I- I-I'm going t-to wash u-up-" he stuttered out as he desperately rushed to his room hoping by some miracle he could maybe get changed into something that could hide most of the damage but he froze when a dull thud came behind him.
He immediately turned around and saw his mom standing at the kitchen threshold with her hands over her mouth staring at him horrified, Izuku felt his heart drop as one of his worst nightmares come true.