Chapter Text
Hospitals are nerve wracking on a good day. The sterile stench, white walls so reflective they’re painful to look at, doctors who always wear the mask of stoicism, everything about medical establishments puts Inko on edge. But she’s not here for herself.
She smiles down at her son, so small and thoroughly swaddled in a blanket. “Oh, Izuku,” she whispers, bouncing him as gently as she can. “You have to be quiet now. If the doctors think you’re sick, then you’ll have to stay here.” She watches in adoration as her son opens his eyes and quiets down. His irises are green, their shape resembles her own more than his father’s, but the way he looks at her in wonder, like she’s the only thing in the universe, that’s all Hisashi.
Inko cuddles Izuku close with burning eyes, letting him snuggle against her cheek and mumble gibberish into her face. She wants nothing more than to shield him from it all. If he knew just how dangerous things are for them…
Inko loves her husband, it goes without question, but resentment nestles in the back of her mind for putting them in this situation. Guilt follows quickly after that, because she knows Hisashi can’t help what he is. It still doesn’t change the fact that they’re in uncharted territory in terms of Izuku’s health.
“He’ll be the first of his kind.” Hisashi had told her one night, rubbing her baby bump with a gentleness reserved only for her. “Oh, he’s going to love learning about this world. As much as I did, as much as I still do.” He kissed her then, full of a tenderness she only experienced in fleeting blips. “Inko, our baby is going to grow up happy.” He’d said it like it was the greatest gift anyone could be given. “You humans, you’re all so wonderfully different from each other. My race, we all have the same traits, but yours, yours can develop abilities mine can only dream of.” He leaned back, the very stars shining in his eyes. “Your planet is amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it. I hope our child gets the chance to see it all.”
Inko doesn't realize she’s crying until Izuku whimpers. “I’m sorry, baby,” she wipes her eyes and smiles wetly. “I just miss your father very much.” She continues to talk, and Izuku, not even a full day old, keeps his eyes on her general direction as she speaks. “You didn’t get the chance to meet him, but I know you’ll share his love of the stars.” She smiles like she’s sharing a secret, “It’s in your blood, after all.”
She brings him close again, whispering into his tufts of fluffy green hair — so different from his father’s scruffy mess of black. “He had to go back to space, but that’s okay, because he loved us very much when he was here. He’s not going to let some pesky thing like space travel get in the way of that.” It sounds more like a self-reassurance than a statement. “After we get you checked out, and I wipe the data about your blood test, we can go home and forget about this mean, mean hospital. How does that sound?”
Izuku coos.
“Yeah, I like that plan, too.”
Something touches her wrist, curling around it like a snake. She strokes the baby fluff of her son’s tail, letting him know she’s there. “Your father was always self conscious about his tail, you know.” She comments, “He kept it around his waist, like a belt. Not you, huh? You just wanna hold on and never let go.” Izuku yawns, his tail curls around her a bit tighter. “Sleep, baby. We’ll be home soon, I just have to get your birth certificate.” And plant the virus Hisashi — her incredible, brilliant, absent husband — gave her, but that’s for later. Right now, Inko is content to hold her son, watch the door with a hawk’s eye, and wait.
——
Izuku knows from the tender age of four that he isn’t like the other kids.
It’s not as obvious as some might think, just little things that add up over time. The doctors have his Quirk listed as “monkey tail”, a weak mutation Quirk where it’s name explains itself. But “monkey tail” doesn’t explain why he’s stronger than the other kids at school. Or how he’s tripped over himself at least twice as many times as the other students and yet only the hardest of falls leave scrapes. It’s certainly made PE class easier. For all the talk of his “useless” Quirk, he’s always the first picked for sports.
Mom always gets antsy around the full moon. They stay inside those nights, with the blackout curtains drawn tight as they watch silly movies. Izuku’s never asked about it because mom would tell him if it was something really important. Maybe she’s just scared of werewolves.
Izuku’s appetite is larger than anyone he’s ever met. Mom ends up taking him to buffets once every two weeks so he can eat a proper meal, and they always end up being asked to leave because he was “disrupting the other customers”.
All of that is strange in its own right, but in a world like theirs, it’s nothing truly out of the ordinary. Izuku had been content to leave it like that. Until today.
Recess starts like every other day, everybody sprinting out of the classroom like their life depends on it. Kids gravitate to their usual playground spaces. Izuku himself heads towards the monkey bars. They’re really fun to swing from, and it’s good practice for using his tail. He’s already gone back and forth three times when trouble walks onto the playground.
Bakugou Katsuki, a blond with an amazing Quirk and a hair-trigger temper. Izuku‘s made it a point to avoid him. Bakugou acts like his Quirk makes him better than everyone else, and he does mean things like make monkey sounds when Izuku’s nearby. To put it simply, Izuku doesn’t like him, but Bakugou never seeks him out during recess, he’s always busy ordering around the other kids, so it’s not all bad.
A family of songbirds made a nest in one of the trees a few weeks ago. Izuku loves to sit and listen to them sing. They’re very pretty, and very loud. It’s just a stroke of bad luck that they sing one of their louder tunes while Bakugou’s hanging out under the tree.
Izuku watches in rising dread as Bakugou stands up to glare at the nest. “Stupid birds.” He spots some rocks off to the side and grins. “Let’s shut ‘em up, eh?”
Izuku’s off of the monkey bars before he knows what he’s doing. He’s faster than his classmates, so he manages to put himself between them and the rocks before they can pick any up.
The kids shift, muttering between themselves. Izuku’s quiet, but they all know he’s strong. It’s not enough to get them to stop, but it makes them pause. All except for one.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Izuku stares Bakugou down. He can feel his tail twitching with the tension between them. “You can’t hurt the birds.” He says, clenching his fists stubbornly and jutting his chin out. “They didn’t do anything.”
“They’re annoying me.”
“That’s not a good reason. You can’t be mean just ‘cause you feel like it.”
Bakugou snarls, “Yeah?” There’s a rock at his feet, he picks it up and tosses it up a few times to test its weight. “Watch me.” He turns around and aims, but right as he makes to throw the rock, Izuku’s on him.
Pushing Bakugou’s arm is enough to make the rock fly harmlessly to the side, skidding to a stop near the hopscotch sidewalk. Izuku can only feel a brief moment of relief before someone grabs his tail and squeezes. The energy to keep standing abandons him, leaving him on his hands and knees.
Bakugou sounds venomous behind him. “Don’t you ever—“ he squeezes harder for emphasis, “get in my way like that again. Got it, loser?”
Bakugou’s friends are all around Izuku, pointing their fingers and laughing at him. Embarrassment scalds his insides, but he can’t say anything, he can’t even sob. Bakugou’s squeezing his tail and it hurts. It hurts it hurts it hurts it—
There’s a muffled crackle, Izuku’s mouth opens in a silent howl as the smell of burning fur stings his nose.
“How dare he.” A tiny, tiny voice whispers in his head. “He has no right. He hit you, hit him back.”
Bakugou’s let go of his tail now, back turned as he brags to his friends. “Hah! What a loser. Next time, try putting up and actual fight—“
“You wanna fight?” Izuku’s on his feet now. His tail, singed and smoking, lashes behind him. Fire’s burning in his veins, screaming at him to act. His hands are curled into fists, his nails digging into his palms. Somewhere in his mind, he knows this is wrong, that what he’s doing right now isn’t him and he needs to control himself, but then Bakugou turns around with that condescending smirk. He feels no remorse, no regret for using his Quirk on Izuku, and that is what makes the rational part of him go silent.
“Fight? You’re just a Deku—“
Izuku punches Bakugou in the stomach, right under the ribs. The force he puts behind the hit is more than he’s ever dared. The blond gags, stumbling back to clutch his stomach and dry heave. Izuku would’ve taken it further if the teacher hadn’t grabbed him from behind.
“Midoriya!” Ms. Kimi yells, staring at him with wide eyes— scared eyes. “What has gotten into you? Why would you hit Bakugou?”
Like that, the weight of his actions bare down on him. Izuku looks back to Bakugou, who’s on his hands and knees throwing up. There’s no satisfaction, instead, all there is is fear. “I— I didn’t meant to! I—!”
Mom’s told him to keep his strength in check. This is exactly what she’d been scared of, and now Izuku’s scared, too. That anger, the urge to hurt and maim and fight, that was him. He starts to cry big, fat tears. “Ms. Kimi, I didn’t— I didn’t—!”
There are other teachers coming now. They’re all going to Bakugou, checking to see if he’s alright. Izuku did that, he hurt Bakugou even though mom told him to be careful and now he’s terrified because it was him who did it but also not.
Izuku knows from the tender age of four that he isn’t like the other kids. Other kids sleep during the full moon, eat normal amounts of food, don’t have scary voices that tell them to hurt people. There’s nothing wrong with them, Izuku’s just a monster.
Izuku’s tail hangs limp behind him, still smoldering and sore. He cries into Ms. Kimi’s shoulder as she takes him to the principal.
——
Inko gets off at the bus stop closest to Izuku’s kindergarten. The streets are busier than usual for a weekday afternoon. Inko has to force her way through on more than one occasion, and while she normally would apologize for such rude behavior, she’s too worried to care.
Inko had gotten the call thirty minutes before her shift ended. The secretary had been monotone, only telling her the bare minimum: Izuku got into a fight, he and the other boy involved, Bakugou Katsuki, are sitting in the principal’s office. Inko’s mind runs rampant with possibilities of what went wrong.
When she enters the office, she sees Mrs. Bakugou sitting next to her son, Katsuki. Izuku’s sitting on the other side of the room, his cheeks red from crying. He looks up when she enters and wilts under her stare, his tail curled up in his lap. She can see singe marks on the coarse green fur.
“Ah,” The Principal says, standing from her seat to extent a hand. “good of you to make it—“
Inko ignores the principal and kneels to inspect her son’s tail. “What happened, honey?” She asks, running soft fingers around the area. She purses her lips when he winces.
“Bakugou wanted to hurt a bird.” He tells her, holding back tears. “I told him to stop, mama! But he grabbed my tail and— and everyone was laughing at me— and he exploded it.”
Exploded it? That hardly sounds good, but Inko has no idea what her son could mean by it. She looks at the other woman in the room for clarification.
“Katsuki’s Quirk is explosions. He just got it this week.” Mrs Bakugou sends a stern look to her son, who looks away with a huff. “We’re going to have a long talk about using our powers responsibly.” She assures.
The principal clears her throat, expression turned sour at being dismissed so easily. “Mrs. Midoriya, Mrs. Bakugou, you must understand that we won’t condone acts of violence like this—“
Inko’s heart flares with indignation. “What has my son done besides be injured by Bakugou Katsuki?”
Izuku curls into himself further, mumbling something unintelligible.
Inko looks at him, “What was that, honey?”
Izuku forces it out, “I got mad. And I...I punched him.”
“Izuku!” She holds his shoulders and shakes him gently. “You know that hitting people doesn’t solve anything!”
“I know!” Izuku’s cries, “I know you told me not to ‘cause— ‘cause I could really hurt someone. But I did, and—“ Izuku explodes into another round of tears.
Inko sighs, murmuring comfort as she draws her son into a hug. Looking over her shoulder, she makes eye contact with Mrs. Bakugou. “I’m so sorry for what Izuku did.” She says, “I promise, this isn’t going to happen again.”
Mrs. Bakugou waves the promise off with a hand, “You’ve got nothing to say sorry for. Katsuki’s the one who started it. Shouldn’t go pushing people if you don’t want them to push back.” She sends a look to her son, boring holes into the side of his head. “Apologize. Now.”
The younger blond scowls, but hops off of his chair. Inko stops hugging Izuku long enough for the two to stand face-to-face. “Sorry.” Bakugou sounds physically pained, “For exploding your tail ‘n throwin’ rocks at that dumb bird.”
“Sorry for punching you in the tummy.” Izuku replies, staring at his shoes.
There’s a beat of silence where all three adults watch in tension. Then the blond child smirks, “You know, you’re pretty strong. That punch woulda hurt, if I wasn’t me.”
Inko watches the sparkles reenter Izuku’s eyes, “Really?” Her heart throbs at the excitement in his voice.
Bakugou puts a thumb to his chest. “Duh! I’m, like, the strongest person ever!”
A blatant lie, but Izuku eats it up with excitement. “Wow!”
Inko and Mrs. Bakugou share a look. “Guess I should give you my contact info.” The blonde woman, smirking at the two boys and their antics.
Inko smiles, but her nerves make it wobbly at best. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
The principal sends them off once she realizes no one’s paying attention anymore. When they exit, Izuku and Katsuki are attached at the hip. Izuku’s tail waggles with delight as he hangs onto everything the young blond says. It’s definitely not the greatest — or healthiest, for that matter — start to a friendship, but it’s the only one Izuku has.
“You’ve got a good kid.” Mrs Bakugou tells her, coming up beside her. “He kept apologizing to me and Katsuki. Figured the kid doesn’t have the heart to hurt someone on purpose.”
Inko nods, “Izuku’s always been careful with everyone around him.” Right then, the stress of getting the call, seeing her son get out of trouble and make a new friend catches up with her. She puts a hand to her head, massaging it and sighing. “I need a drink.”
Mrs. Bakugou laughs, “Same here. Seems like every other week I’m getting a call about my little gremlin.” She puts hand on Inko’s shoulder, “Joking aside, we can meet up sometime and share a glass.” She eyes Inko up and down, evaluating, “You look like a wine person.”
“Vodka, actually.” Inko replies, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
Mrs. Bakugou laughs in surprise, “Well, look at you! Save your kid from suspension then take a shot when you get home. You’re an everyday supermom.”
Inko has no idea how to respond, so she remains quiet, watching her son in front of her and gripping her purse strap with both hands. She’s had her moments, lord knows she can’t be there every time Izuku gets in trouble, she wouldn’t have any time for herself. He’s a good boy, he’d give her the sun itself if he could, but even good children can have bad streaks.
“Hey,” Mrs. Bakugou stops both of them so she can put both hands on Inko’s shoulders. “You’re doing good with him. I haven’t even known you an hour and I can tell that much.” Her smile is teasing when it appears, “So, about those drinks...”
It catches Inko so off guard she laughs. “Mrs. Bakugou—“
“Call me Mitsuki.”
“Mistuki,” Inko corrects herself, “I think this is the start of a wonderful friendship.”
Mitsuki laughs again, “Hell yeah it is.”
——
Life goes on for years after that. With Bakugou going from bully to best friend in the span of a day, Izuku’s life got a whole lot busier. Bakugou likes to order their other friends around, but now that Izuku’s been deemed “cool”, he’s second in command. Some of the other kids even apologized for laughing at him when he was down.
The hours after school are filled with games. Bakugou — Kacchan, now — has a special place in his heart for “heroes vs villains”. He always makes Izuku be the villain, but he never complains. Having friends it greater than he thought it’d be.
Friends come and go over the years, but Kacchan remains constant. Every time Izuku is out sick, it’s certain that his friend will be there after school, scowling and politely asking mom where he is. They watch hero movies on the couch when monsoon season rolls around, cheering and calling out battle cries before the actors on screen can even open their mouths. For a while, Izuku’s able to forget about the scary voice in his head, and he’s thankful.
Two years pass without thought, and when his sixth birthday rolls around, Izuku learns something, something important.
At home, there’s a special safe in mom’s room, hidden in her closet and protected by three different locks. Izuku’s only seen it a handful of times, and each time mom hurries to get him out of the room.
Today, though, is different.
“This is very secret.” His mom tells him, entering in the combinations. “You can’t tell anyone, not even the Bakugous, Okay?”
Izuku‘s very good at keeping secrets, he tells his mom as much and she laughs.
“I know, baby. But this a super secret.” The safe opens with a creak, and she lifts the contents out to show him.
They‘re notebooks, ten of them. Each one at least two inches thick with yellowed pages and worn covers. Old paper smell stings Izuku’s nose. He leans forward, staring at the notebooks with interest. “What are these?”
His mom has a sad smile, “They’re from your father.” She says, “It’s all his research. He’s a very smart man.”
Izuku stares at the notebooks with wide eyes. “Wow...”
“Hold out your hands, Izuku.” He obeys without question, watching with wonder as his mom places the first notebook in his hands. “He wanted you to have them.” She says, “You’ll have to take special care of these, so I’m just giving you the first one for now. I’ll give you the next one on...your next birthday. How does that sound?”
Izuku’s too preoccupied with the notebook to care about how far away his next birthday is. He’s holding something from his father, the man he‘s only seen in pictures. “Yeah...” he looks up, “Why are you giving me this now?”
Mom sighs, “He said when you got older you might want to know about your heritage.”
Izuku frowns at the word, “What’sa ‘heritage’?”
“It means where you come from.” She explains, wiping her eyes with a smile.
“But mom, I’m from Japan.”
“Not just Japan, Izuku.” His mom tells him patiently, “Your father came from very far away.”
“How far?”
Inko shakes her head, “If you read the notebook, you’ll know.”
And Izuku does read the notebook. He reads the first one over and over until he can recite it in his sleep. Until space and stars and planets beyond imagination fill his dreams and he reads seven grade levels higher than everyone else in his class, even kacchan. The first notebook answered so many of his questions, why he has a tail, why mom won’t let him go out on a full moon, why things seem to break at the slightest touch for him.
Why he lost control that day he made friends with Kacchan.
Izuku isn’t human, not fully. He‘s part Saiyan, too.
The revelation changes a few things. He subscribes to alien conspiracy sites and reads through every post, every theory, no matter how outlandish. There’s nothing about Saiyans, but Izuku does take away one thing from his reading binge: if the government catches even a hint of what he is, he’ll be in deep trouble. Every conspiracy site, no matter how varied, had a section on government cover-ups and how they capture “extraterrestrials” to experiment on them. Izuku doesn’t know if any of those stories are real, but he resolves to avoid government figures when able to.
Beyond a newfound and healthy fear of authority, nothing changes. He still goes to school, eats with his mom, it’s still his old life.
Like right now, sitting in the forest with Kacchan. Bugs buzz between the trees, the sun burns down onto the earth, clouds float by without the threat of rain. Summer’s here, promising sweet ice cream, cold pools, and freedom to explore.
The grass tickles Izuku’s bare feet. He hums as his tail draws circles into the ground. A butterfly flutters past him. Izuku pokes Kacchan and points at it in excitement, “Look, Kacchan! What type of butterfly is that?”
The blond squints his eyes and sniffs. Scouting through the butterfly book in his lap, he emerges victorious with an answer. “Tailless Bushblue.”
“Tailless Bushblue.” Izuku mutters.
“Yeah,” Kacchan snorts, turning back to the book. “Kinda weird how even bugs don’t have tails, but you do.”
Izuku turns to his friend with a wide grin. His tail does a little dance as he says, “Well, can a bug do this?” He stands up in a flash, running over to the nearest tree and leaping as high as he can. His tail reaches out for the closest branch, wrapping around it in a firm grip. Gravity pulls him in a rocking motion as he swings from the tree, air whooshing past him.
Kacchan looks funny when Izuku watches him laugh upside-down. “You’re weird.” The blond says, but it’s in a good way, the kind of weird that fascinates kids like them. “Not a lotta people have tail Quirks, ya know.”
Izuku lets his momentum even out. He’s now hanging from the tree instead of swinging. “You think so?”
Kacchan makes the universal “I don’t know” sound. “I mean, we don’t see many of ‘em around school. There’s a few kids that have Quirks like each other, but not you.”
Izuku throws his weight behind him and uses it to flip off the branch. He lands in a crouch near Bakugou. “Well, no one else in school has a Quirk like yours, either.” He points out, shifting to sit down with his legs crossed.
“Yeah?” Kacchan asks, raising his eyebrows and baring his teeth in a grin. “That’s ‘cause you and I are the best! You’re pretty strong — not as strong as me, of course — but for a tail Quirk? You can pack a punch.” He forgoes sitting up to lay down on the grass, looking at the tree branches above. “You and I, if we became heroes,” he laughs, carefree and excited. “there’d be no stopping us!’
Becoming a hero...Izuku copies his friend and lays down. The grass is soft and the persistent buzz of bugs fills his ears, but it doesn’t lift his somber mood. Earth is very nice, he thinks, but he knows there are other planets out there, ones where he wouldn’t have to hide. “Do you wanna be a hero, Kacchan?”
“More than anything.” Kacchan says, “Just watch me. Imma get so strong,” he throws his hands over his head, proclaiming, “stronger than All Might!”
All Might...dad mentions him in the notebooks a few times. Mostly about how his power matches up to other members of the Saiyan race. His dad mentions “power levels”, but left no real way to measure them. Maybe he had a device that did it for him?
Either way, power levels weren’t all that helpful to Izuku. What he does know is that All Might is strong, stronger than anybody else in the world. Izuku wonders if he can get that strong without a Quirk. His genetics already give him higher base abilities than a regular human. His strength alone is enough for him to crack concrete. Combine that with his speed, dexterity, agility, and he’s already surpassing a good portion of the lower-level pro heroes. What would happen if he applied himself? What—
“—Izuku!”
He yelps when a small explosion gets set off a foot from his ear. Shooting up, he looks around and finds Kacchan scowling at him. Stunned, all he can say is a dumb “Wuh?”
Kacchan scoffs, “Dumbass, I was asking is you wanted to be a hero, too.”
“That’s a bad word, Kacchan.”
“Shove it and answer the question.”
Izuku looks back to the sky, thinking. What does he want, anyways? Fame? No, he’s happy the way he is. Money? He doesn’t have much use for it besides buying food. Helping people? He does like doing that, but he doesn’t have to be a hero to do it.
Izuku shrugs, “I guess I don’t really wanna be a hero.”
Kacchan sounds intrigued, “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, if you don’t wanna be a hero, what do you wanna do?”
A good question. Izuku never seems to run out of them. Earth is fun, but it’s pretty dangerous, too. His mind goes back to the few nights mom and him go to the roof to stare at the night sky. The light pollution makes it almost impossible to see anything, but the rush of excitement when he makes out a constellation is something he treasures.
“I want to see the stars for myself.” He reaches a hand out to the sky, grabbing for the worlds out of reach. “Just get on a spaceship and...” he puffs his cheeks out, making a ‘whoosh’ sound, “leave.”
Kacchan’s quiet for a moment, it leaves the birds to fill in the silence between them. When he does speak, he’s accusing. “And what if you do leave? Are you gonna leave your mom?”
Izuku reacts violently to the suggestion, “No! I’d take her with me!” Exploring space without his mom? Unthinkable. His dad did it, but Izuku would rather spend his whole life on Earth than abandon her like that.
“Well...” Kacchan’s voice is quiet, hesitant, “what about me? We’re best friends, you can’t go to space without me!”
The solution is pretty easy. “Then I’ll take mom and you!” Izuku thinks about sharing bunkbeds in a spaceship, the image has him laughing his next words out.” We’ll go on adventures and be heroes, in space.”
Kacchan cocks his head, considering it. “All Might’s never been to space.” He says, smiling like a loon, “Space heroes, huh? I like the sound of that.” He holds a hand out, his pinky finger extended, “Swear on it?”
Izuku wraps his finger around Kacchan’s. “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.” He recites with a serious expression.
Kacchan lets his excitement ruin the moment. “Fuck yeah!”
“Kacchan! Language!”
“Fuck you, Izuku, we’re gonna be space heroes!”
They spend the rest of the day running a round the forest, yelling cool hero names they could use traveling the galaxy. Izuku’s life is full of secrets, it’s the only thing keeping him alive, but in this moment, he feels the weight of the fibs slide away. He’s here, he’s playing with his best friend, and he was never meant to stay on Earth.
All three of these are undisputed facts.