Chapter Text
We all have our time, time when we either shine or fall. Sometimes it happens at the worst possible times, times that we look back on and question why they happened when they did. For one named Izuku Midoriya, one of those times came when he was four years old, sitting in a doctor’s office across from a man that looked as though he was questioning all his life choices.
“Sorry kid, you may as well give it up.” He points to the x-ray of the child’s foot, pointing to the extra toe joint. “For reasons we have not been able to ever figure out, the existence of the 2nd pinky toe joint is an indicator of being quirkless and unfortunately, you have that extra joint. Sorry kid, but you’re quirkless.”
The doctor visibly flinches when he notices Izuku’s expression goes from hopeful, to shocked, then to sad. His mother’s expression went from hopeful to colder than an iceberg. The doctor immediately felt sorry for the kid, suspecting the worst possible situation just based on the mothers’ expressions. He had seen the look too many times before to not know what it meant. The kids’ life was about to become pure hell.
Izuku glances at the doctor for a moment, not yet noticing the look on his mothers face. “Even quirkless, can I still become a hero? I know I would have to work harder than others, but is there a chance?”
The doctor nods a moment. “There is always a chance, it’s just a matter of how badly you want it and what you are willing to do to make it happen. To say someone can or can’t be a hero just based on a quirk or lack of one would be presumptuous of me. I think you can do whatever you set your mind to. You just have to be willing to accept the consequences of your decisions. Not everyone is going to support you, many of them will try to get you to stop trying. If you want it badly enough, don’t listen to what others say or think. Just focus on what you need to do to make your own dreams a reality.” He turns his attention to Inko, noticing her grabbing her purse in preparation to leave.
Inko stands up, thanking the doctor for his time in a super icey tone, grabs her son by his arms, and starts pulling him out the door, grumbling the whole way about him being a waste of space and effort. It was clear she did not approve of the exchange between Izuku and the doctor and muttered under her breath about the stupidity behind his comments, thinking that even a quirkless nobody could possibly be a hero. To her, it was laughable, utterly absurd. Others felt the same way, that quirkless people were barely even human, being so low on the evolutionary scale, most of them didn’t even exist anymore. For anyone to be born quirkless nowadays was almost unheard of. She didn’t want to face the fact that the mother’s genetics was the deciding factor on if their offspring had a quirk. With her quirk being as weak as it was, it was a guarantee that any child of hers would be equally as weak as herself or quirkless.
All hell broke loose by the time they got home. Both went inside the house, the door was shut and locked, then a random heavy object was being hurled at Izuku’s head, knocking him against a wall in the process, a streak of blood following the path of his head as he slid to the floor.
“You little piece of shit!! You just had to go make me look like a fool, didn’t you? You’re a quirkless piece of shit and a total waste of space! I should have known you would pull this kind of shit on me. I am so done with you. As soon as I find a foster home that will actually take you, you are GONE! Get your pathetic ass in your room and start packing! I will not have a pathetic piece of garbage in my house any more!”
Inko didn’t care in the slightest that her son was crying, didn’t care that she had blamed him for something beyond his control, and didn’t care that his life would be pure hell after this. She wanted nothing to do with a quirkless brat. The moment his door shut, she was on the phone making calls to every foster home in the area.
It took almost a full year before Inko was able to find a foster home that was willing to take Izuku. In that time, she was spiteful, treating Izuku like he was worth nothing, being completely negligent and making him do his own cooking, cleaning, and schoolwork. He could hear his mother in the other room, griping about people refusing to take him because of his quirkless status. He was way smarter than most kids his age and because of that, he was already planning his next move. If his mother couldn’t find anyone to take him soon, he would leave on his own once she went to bed. It was just a matter now of waiting to see how things would turn out. He knew ways out of his room and out of the home even if his bedroom door was locked, so there was nothing fully hindering the plans brewing in his head.
Ever since the age of 3, Izuku had been interested in doing quirk analysis, able to simply watch a person use their quirk for a minute or so, and then could break it down into its base components. He could pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of each quirk in a short amount of time. Some of his analysis was speculation, but it was mostly spot on. Some people had questioned if he had an intelligence quirk, but after some testing, it was shown as negative. He was simply super smart. He would likely need to get a full IQ test done later to see how high his IQ actually was. The average intelligence quirk started at an IQ of 200 or 201, so even if he got close to that, it would be something at least. If nothing else, he would be labeled as a genius and able to do things that even people with quirks could do. The average IQ tests, however, were not done till the age of 10 or higher.
Having done some reading recently on quirkless stats, he noticed an unsettling pattern. Most quirkless people did not survive past the age of 7. If they reached 10, they were bullied severely. Suicide rates increased exponentially after that. Few quirkless people made it past the age of 18, having been coerced into suicide before that point. Why he had chosen to read up on the statistics, he was uncertain, but now he was glad he did. He was going to push through and make something of himself. He would aim to be a hero, even without a quirk. His intelligence had to count for something, right? If anything, he could create support items to use not only for the UA entrance exam tests, but also for if he managed to become a hero. He was already planning years in advance, hoping that his friend Katsuki would stick with him.
He jolts for a moment when he hears a loud yell of “FINALLY!” echo through the apartment from the living room, dread filling him instantly upon knowing what that could mean. His mother had succeeded in finding a foster home that would take him. He hated the sick feeling that flooded his mind and stomach, knowing that regardless of the foster home in question, it was not going to be a pleasant experience. Foster homes were cruel to the children they took care of, if you could even call it being taken care of. They were ignorant, rude, had ridiculous curfew times, and treated the kids like trash. From what he heard, foster home owners figured that if the parent’s didn’t want the kids, then obviously something was wrong with the kid and not worth being loved. They never got attached, never showed favoritism, rarely fed the kids the way they should be, and demanded that any money the kids earned to try to buy things for themselves, be handed over to the person running the home. They were not allowed to have any money of their own. Most foster kids wind up in the hospital from malnutrition because of that rule. If they couldn’t get any money of their own to buy their own food, they pretty much were stuck relying on any food the foster home provided, which was mediocre at best.
Izuku turns towards the door, hearing his mother talking to someone in the living room that sounded like Mitsuki Bakugou. What he was hearing did not sit well with him. Mitsuki was actually AGREEING with his mother on how a quirkless child should be treated. Mitsuki was already commenting that if Katsuki continued being friends with Izuku, she would make sure he regretted it. She had no issues with smacking the shit out of her son, already doing so on a regular basis as it was. She threatened her son daily as well, admitting it right there to Inko, stating that if Katsuki even so much as TRIED to tell anyone what went on behind closed doors, he would severely regret it.
Izuku grabs his phone, seeing a message from Kacchan on it and checks it. “Izuku, my mother is siding with yours. I already heard about your quirkless status. Just know this, I will stick by you no matter what happens to me. You’re my only real friend and I will not betray you just because my mother does not want me to be friends with you. We will find a way to train, to get ready for UA, hopefully without being caught. If I can manage to make it even a couple years, then I have a better chance of being adopted by someone who will be willing to help both of us. I have ideas on who to ask, but it will take time. Hide your phone, do not let your mother see these messages, delete them if you have to. I will try to keep in touch and we will figure this out.” Kacchan.
Izuku quickly deletes the messages after a quick reply of “Okay” and then hides his phone inside one of his suitcases along with the laptop his mother had bought for him that he had lied about having accidentally broken about a year prior. If she knew he still had it and that it worked, she would likely take it from him and either sell it or destroy it. Either way for him was unfavorable, so he made sure to hide it in the bag near the very bottom along with his hero analysis notebooks that he had been working on for the last 2 years. He was leaving nothing to chance, not wanting anything to ruin his fragile plans at this time.
A few minutes later, his mother was storming into the room, grabbing his suitcases and hauling them into the front room. She returns moments later and drags him out to the living room as well, pushing him onto the couch. “You sit right there! You move from that spot and I will beat the shit out of you! The people from the foster home will be here shortly to get you. You try giving them a hard time and they have full permission to treat you in whatever manner they wish.”
Izuku couldn’t help but shrink back into the couch cushions, trying to avoid the hostile woman with the mean expressions, a woman that up till now he had thought to be a loving mother to him. He took a quick look over to Katsuki, seeing he too was curled up in a seat, too scared by the threats his own mother had made to even say anything. Katsuki had already been told by his mother that if he continued to be friends with Izuku, he would be severely beaten, more so than he already was on a daily basis. His parents were abusive, leaving so many marks on him that he had to teach himself how to use makeup to cover them. They told him that if he revealed to anyone what was occurring behind closed doors, nobody would ever find his body. They would make it sound as though he had been kidnapped but instead, they would drag him off somewhere outside of city limits, kill him, and then get rid of his body by feeding it to local wildlife. The bears and other carnivorous animals outside city limits would make short work of his remains, leaving no traces of him behind. It was unsettling what his mother was willing to do to keep him from being friends with Izuku.
Within a half hour, the foster home owners arrived to pick up Izuku. They stood in the kitchen with Inko and started discussing the terms on which Izuku was being handed over to them.
Inko scowls towards Izuku a moment before looking at the foster home owner. “He’s quirkless, so he’s completely worthless to me. I don’t care how you treat him. Once you take him, he’s your problem. Even if by some miracle he manages to fulfill his idiotic dream of becoming a hero, I want nothing to do with him. I doubt any school will take him because of his quirkless status, so more than likely he will need to be homeschooled.”
The foster owner shakes their head. “Homeschooled? Fat chance of that. We don’t have time to be teaching these rejects anything. They’re lucky we even provide a roof over their heads, let alone anything else. If the parents don’t want them, why should we care what happens to them?”
Inko nods a moment. “I doubt you want to teach him yourselves, seeing as how you hate quirkless people as much as I do, it might be an idea to find a way for him to take online classes. Not sure if they will allow even that honestly. Most quirkless people aren’t even allowed to get a normal education because they are so far beneath others in the evolutionary process, their brains just can’t handle the strain.”
The foster owner leans on a chair as she thinks over the situation. “Most schools don’t provide online courses for quirkless kids. If he wants to learn anything at all, he’ll have to pray that the local library allows him entry. It’s doubtful though considering most businesses don’t allow quirkless people to step foot through their doors. The only way I can think of for him to get any kind of education is if someone local throws away some books they don’t want. Other than that, I don’t see any possibility of him getting anywhere in the education department.”
Inko grumbles slightly. “That’s all up to him then. Once he is outside my door, I am done with him. I already filed the needed papers over the last couple hours to have him disowned and placed into foster care. I was informed I would need to find the foster home to send him to, thus this meetup now. He’s all yours to deal with. He’ll have to abide by your rules and if he doesn’t, his punishment is at your discretion.”
The foster owner nods, already pondering how to deal with the quirkless brat. “Very well. We’ll take over from here then. We tend to be extremely strict with the kids under our roof. They aren’t even allowed money of their own. If they go out and find money somewhere or if they sell something for extra money, they have to hand it over to us. We’re the ones handling their basic needs, so what would they need money for? Last thing we need is for them to stockpile money and find a way out of the house. It’s basically our way of keeping them on a tight leash. If they can’t save money, they can’t leave, simple as that. The only way out for any of them is either adoption or death and personally, I don’t care either way which way it goes.”
The foster lady walks over to Izuku and looks him over, sneering in distaste at the boy. “Pathetic, scrawny, and looks totally weak. You won’t last long, thankfully.” She turns and grabs the bags and takes them out to the car before returning. She gives Izuku one look and shakes her head. “Get your scrawny ass out to the car now, and I better not hear one peep out of you.”
Izuku glances one more time at Katsuki who just gives him a small nod. He walks out the door towards the car and slips into the back seat, securing the belt once inside. The foster owners stay and talk with Inko another couple minutes before getting in the car as well and driving to the home. The drive took 20 minutes, the whole way of which was spent in silence. They never once looked at Izuku during the drive but did occasionally mumble to each other about what they could do to a quirkless kid that nobody would question. Things were about to get worse for Izuku, but he wasn’t aware yet of how much worse it would be.