Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya stood on the roof, clutching the straps of his book bag. He clung to it, trying desperately to give himself hope. There was none. He felt so alone. He didn’t want to be here anymore. He didn’t want to be anywhere anymore.
“Sorry kid, a quirkless kid can’t be a hero. Maybe you could be a police officer though.” All Might had said to him, not realizing how badly that hurt.
“If you really want a quirk so badly, why don’t you take a swan dive off the roof, and hope for a quirk in your next life.” Yeah, he can hope for a next life. The angry blonde, eyes such a deep red, always narrowed down to glare at anyone who dared look him in the face, had said. He was so strong, a perfect quirk to do almost anything. An explosion quirk, with a personality that is perfectly suited with the quirk. Explosive is the best way to describe the boy.
Izuku had Katsuki Bakugo’s suggestion going on loop in his head as if it was the best song he ever heard. The greenette gripped the straps of his book bag even tighter, his knuckles given white.
All Might left him up here, left him to take in the words spoken to him. The number one pro hero, his idol, had been his final push, and the man didn’t even didn’t even know it. Besides, who would care if one more quirkless kid was lost to a suicide? People who were quirkless, and committed suicide was so common nowadays amongst children. Most of the quirkless population were the adults. They didn’t have it nearly as bad since being quirkless back then was more common. But for the children, it was basically putting a target for bullying on their back.
For years, the greenette had been tormented, had friends turn their backs on him, been shoved to the ground, burned, and had even been suicide baited a few times. All those letters left behind were adding to the curly haired boy’s temptation to slip off his shoes right now, and jump, plummeting to the ground, and eventually, being nothing more but broken bones and flesh in a pool of blood.
Izuku knew he was smart, but knew that smarts alone wouldn’t get him very far since nobody ever wanted to hire or talk to a quirkless person. His teachers never even addressed his smarts, accusing him of cheating all the time, and sometimes just giving him a failing grade simply because they could. Sometimes, it made Izuku question whether he even really was smart, or if it was just his mother trying to make him feel better.
Ah, his mother, the only person who would even try and give him affection. Did she even want to? She had made it pretty clear years ago that even she thought her son could never become a hero. She simply hugged him that night all those years ago, both crying as she repeated “I’m sorry” over and over again. But the boy still tried, trying to have some hope he could be as great as the number one himself. But even All Might thought it to be impossible.
Izuku wondered if his mother felt disgusted every time she hugged such a failure like him, who didn’t even want to look at the most obvious truth the world could offer. The world constantly shoved it into his face that it was impossible over and over again, even beating him to the ground to slam the message into his head. Yet here he had been for years, thinking that analyzing hero’s moves was enough to fulfill his former dream.
With a sigh, the boy started turning to the door, his legs shaking, and tears starting to pour out of his eyes. He stared at his feet, the bright red shoes on his feet begging to be taken off. Even if the boy was holding his yellow book bag as tight as he could, it still felt so loose, it too longing to be removed. Those dull green, analytical eyes surveyed his surroundings one last time before he quickly reached down, undoing his laces as he placed his book bag next to the building’s railing. Slipping the shoes off, he placed those shoes that had survived through so much next to the bag, and he swung his legs over the railing.
The ground was so far beneath him, wind blowing his green curls out of his face. The boy smiled at the scary peaceful he was provided, and swallowed down the fear of heights that had always haunted him since a young age, as it did many other people. And that was the last thing he did as his hands let go of the railing, and he tipped forward, and plunged to the ground. The air was loud as Izuku fell, but he wanted everyone to know he was happy with this final choice, and kept a small smile on his face as he landed on the ground, a sickening crack heard as his head met concrete. But the door to the building had opened at that exact moment, and the person who was opening the door was met with a face full of blood. The blonde man was covered from head to toe in the red stuff, and when he wiped it out of his eyes, and realized the body on the ground, he almost screamed. He realized the horrible mistake he made a few minutes ago, and he watched as the crowd’s attention was drawn to what just happened.
In the crowd, there were some screams, and a few people ran over to see if the boy may still be alive. To sum it up, he’s not. The small boy is on the ground, his own blood pooling around him, a small smile remaining on his face. All Might looked like a murderer, and although the crowd knew the boy just committed suicide, the symbol of peace sure felt like a murderer right now. Was being a hero really that important to the child?
----
Even though All Might was in pain, he finished up at the police station, giving his most trusted police detective, Naomasa Tsukauchi, the honest answer of what had happened on the roof after All Might was changed and clean. Tsukauchi just nodded, writing down what needed to be written down. When it was all done, All Might looked the man in the eyes, and said “May I tell the boy’s mother?”
“You sure? After what you just told me, I don’t think your emotionally up for a task like that.” Tsukauchi asks, looking up from his papers. He places the pen down, and looks the pro hero in the eyes, looking for an honest answer.
“Yes.” The symbol of peace answers. There was the slightest glint of determination, but his eyes just didn’t glow like they usually did after today’s events.
“Well I’ll go with you. C’mon, let’s go inform Midoriya’s mother.” Tsukauchi already has the child’s address written on the papers, so he typed the address into his phone, and man and detective walk to the detective’s car, and begun their drive. It was only ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity, All Might nervous to give the quirkless child’s mother this information. All Might has learned her name is Inko Midoriya, and has also learned that the father of the child, Hisashi Midoriya, was off on a business trip for years now, his only form of contact being through scarce calls and messages. So it is just the mother, all by herself to take in the information of her deceased child.
The two men walked up the stairs to the apartment’s door, and the detective gave a soft knock. There was a muffled “Coming!”, and within moments, the door opened, revealing a short, chubby woman. “Where’s Izuku?” She asks, noticing the detective.
“Ma’am, can we come in?” Tsukauchi asks. The woman nods, opening her door wider to let in both detective and pro hero. She gestures for them to take a seat on the couch, and so they do. She offers some tea, and they gratefully accept it, mentally preparing how to tell the mother about her child.
“Now where’s Izuku?” She asks as she takes a seat on a chair, facing the men.
“Ma’am, he jumped off of a building today, and immediately died. I was... on that roof with him. If I had known what kind of mental state he was in, I never would have left him standing there. I’m so sorry, Mrs. Midoriya.” All Might tells her. Inko’s eyes widen in disbelief, and she shakes her head, covering her mouth as her eyes well up with tears. “Y-you’re ly-lying to me! Izu-Izuku w-w-would never d-do something like t-th-that! He’s t-t-too pre-precious!”
“Ma’am, he-“ Tsukauchi starts before being interrupted by Inko, who screamed at the man. “IZUKU WOULD NEVER DO THAT! NOW GET OUT OF MY HOME, AND STOP SPITTING THOSE LIES! HE’LL BE HOME SOON!”
The woman’s declaration was filled with anger and sadness, and the two men scrambled out, not willing to deal with her wrath. She slammed the door behind them, waiting for a son to come home, one that would never come home again. As the door slammed shut, something else, clearly very loud as well, was heard only a few streets away. The men looked at each other, and ran towards the scene, coming across a crowd watching as pros struggled to free a middle school boy from the hands of a sludge villain, suffocating the blonde, who protected himself the best he could with explosions that came from the palms of his hand.
I won’t watch another child die today. Not again. All Might says to himself before, in a puff of smoke, he is in his muscular form, and saves the child from the grasps of the villain.
Izuku’s eyes fluttered open, and to him, everything was so blurry. As he took in a breath of air, it smelled so much like dogs, especially puppies. It was rather funny to him that he smelled dogs instead of hospitals. After all, he jumped off of a building. If he survived, he should be in a hospital bed, his mother probably crying or worried sick, pleading to his unconscious body that he wakes up. But he didn’t hear anyone, and it confused him.
He tried to sit up, but quickly plopped back onto the ground. Everything slowly started to become clearer, and he noticed how all of his surroundings were so big, and the ground was so soft. He seemed to be on a baby blue blanket, and surrounding him were a whole bunch of puppies, all the same size as him. It startled him, and he let out a soft whimper, surprising himself with his own voice. His movements were slow as he looked around, spotting a much larger dog poking their head in.
“Checking on your puppies?” A woman asks as she walks in with a basket full of blankets, a bowl of dog food resting on top of it. “Aw, one of them opened their eyes!”
Izuku squirmed around, trying to get up. The dog that the woman said was the mother walked over, licking the small boy’s face. Well, he’s now a puppy himself. Animals in the quirk era were frequently showing signs of quirk possibilities, and abnormalities with their appearance, so dogs could be much different colors nowadays. Izuku was covered in green fur, and as he looked around, he noticed that one other puppy also was adorned from head to toe in green fur. The others were white, curled up in balls as they slept.
Izuku is only a week old, so he shouldn’t be able to hear, but he can. Very faintly, but yes, he can hear. It confuses him, not that he isn’t confused enough.
“Koji, darling! Come see the puppies!” The woman called as she set down the basket, placing the food next to her Izuku supposed was his mother, who was currently licking him a lot before she moved over some of the other puppies, his siblings. He’s never had siblings before. He wonders if he’ll be able to speak to them, or if they just won’t understand him at all. Can dogs understand each other? It’s something Izuku supposes he’ll have to learn in due time.
A boy happily runs in, excited to see the puppies, his posture giving a hint that he was a usually nervous boy, but his expression showing pure excitement.
“Did one of them open their eyes yet, mom?” He asks, his voice soft as he walks towards Izuku and his siblings, still facing his mother.
“Just look.” Koji’s mother replies as she takes the blankets out of the basket. So the young puppy and teenage boy meet eyes, and the teenager’s face quickly lights up. He reaches to pet the mother dog, and then reaches to out to Izuku, carefully picking the pup up. Izuku took note of how gently he was picked up, and slowly starts to look around. It was a small room, and had the light from a setting sun pouring into the windows. It was filled with blankets and had some bowls filled with water and dog food sitting around. It seemed pretty cozy.
Koji began to carefully, and gently pet Izuku. He leaned into the affection, and quickly found himself beginning to doze off. When he awoke once more, it was to kisses from his mother. Too bad he realized it was just his mom helping him use the bathroom. Speak of embarrassing.
This schedule continued for awhile, and Izuku gradually found himself learning more and more about his capabilities. One day, when he was learning to scamper around, and trying to dodge his siblings, the front door opened to reveal someone new. He had big lips, and his dark hair was defying gravity by sticking straight up. He had a lot of muscle to him, and even through the appearance of someone intimidating, he had a soft smile that he presented towards Koji. Izuku stepped towards the teenagers, only to quickly be pulled down by one of his sisters biting his tail. He let out a high pitched yelp, and gave his sister a quick hit before trotting over.
“Wow, they’ve grown so much already, Koji!” The new boy says as he holds his hands out for Izuku. Izuku grins as he places both of his paws on one of the kid’s hands.
“Mhm. That one that’s with you now, we’ve been thinking of keeping him. He’s pretty calm compared to the others, and I wanted to fill out a form to have him as an animal sidekick.” Koji replies as he sits next to his friend.
“But don’t animal sidekicks usually need a quirk and plenty of professional training to meet the requirements to try out for being a sidekick to a pro? Besides, we still need to try out for the high school.” The other kid says as he gently scratches Izuku’s head.
“Yeah. But if we do make it in, I want to make sure he has enough training, and I can fill in a request by the second year if he hasn’t caught on quite enough in the first year. And dad is a professional trainer, and has trained plenty of other animals to sidekick with pros. I don’t think it’d be too difficult to train him for maybe eight months. There’s nine months until the exam, and by then, he’ll be almost full grown.” Koji says. Izuku didn’t know a lot about animal sidekicks since it wasn’t common, so this was interesting news to him. And if this really worked out, and he could fool everyone to believe he had a quirk, then he really could fulfill his life long dream.
“Right. And since he’ll be presented this training at such a young age, it’ll be a lot, easier, right? Especially since an animal’s intelligence is increased a lot just by the presence of a quirk.” Izuku smells something sweet, and his head turns towards it, realizing it’s the new kid’s hand. Izuku licks it, and tastes a lot of sugar. “Ah, I think he smells the cake I baked earlier. What do you plan on naming him?”
“I dunno. Izuku sounds like a nice name.” Izuku’s eyes widen, wondering if this was just some crazy coincidence or not. Like, what are the odds he’d be getting named the name he had in his past life?
“Yeah, Izuku. I think it fits the little guy.”
“Hey, Rikido-kun, I think the other puppies will be jealous if they don’t get any attention.” Koji says with a shaky grin. Today has been the most Izuku has ever seen Koji talk. It was a wonder with what just having a friend around could do. As Izuku began to grow, he was introduced to a lot of training, and he happily kept himself occupied it. He worked his hardest to memorize everything, and train his little limbs as best as he could. It surprised him how quickly he grew, and he supposed it made sense since his mother wasn’t exactly all that small. She was at Koji’s waist, so he should naturally have the genes to get tall as well.
Izuku wasn’t the only one training though. Rikido Sato frequently came over himself, and helped Koji physically train, and tried to help the boy gain more confidence to speak up. When Izuku wasn’t busy learning with Mr. Koda, he would be next to the two teens, encouraging them the best he could himself. Soon enough, after a visit to the vet, and some little IQ test, the doctors had deemed Izuku as having a quirk. When Koji’s dad asked about a form to get Izuku into U.A.’s hero course as Koji’s sidekick, they said it was something the parents would directly have to talk to the school about.
One day, Koji wrapped himself up in some warm clothes, tossing his backpack onto his shoulder. His mom walked over with tears in the corners of her eyes, and said “Koji darling, I believe in you. I trust you will do your best, and make your poor old mother proud.”
“I promise I will. And I’ll make sure Izuku gets a chance too! I’ll pass, and then me and Rikido-kun can get into the hero course together, become a team, and Izuku will always be by our side.” Koji declares in his soft tone, but making sure there was a serious and determined edge to his voice. Izuku barked in agreement, making the family giggle.
Izuku was the only puppy left between all his siblings, and it made him happy that he didn’t have to get used to some new environment, and could just be here with those who had helped take care of him since he was reborn. His mother usually just stayed outside, bathing in the warm sunlight. She didn’t take as much of an interest on the inside like Izuku did. It was probably because of all the other animals scattered around the house.
A few minutes after Koji left, Mr. Koda turned to Izuku, and said “You want to go outside for a walk?” The dog happily barked, and wagged his tail excitedly as the leach was placed on his collar. He pranced around outside, content with the feeling of the wind blowing through his fur. While he didn’t want to be outside literally all the time, it still felt nice to be out there. When they got back, Mr. Koda began his training again, and Izuku happily obliged to whatever needed to be done. In U.A., if Koji makes it, he’d have to go through a lot more serious training instead of just working up his stamina and learning commands.
“Alright, boy, you want a treat?” Mrs. Koda asks as both her and Izuku stand around in the kitchen, the amazing smell of cookies lingering in the air as they baked in the oven. The dog barks once, his tail wagging as he presented a big smile. The woman giggled before tossing a treat, which Izuku happily retrieved from the air. Izuku never I’m his life thought that he would find dog treats as such amazing delicacies to be given, but here he was, excited every time since that was definitely a treat. Would a dog treat be just as good to the human mouth, or was it just because Izuku was a dog that these were so good?
Mrs. Koda scratched underneath Izuku’s chin before the over started blaring, and Izuku barked at it once before the woman quickly walked over, opening it, which released an even stronger smell of cookies into the air. Izuku watched as the woman set the cookies onto a baking rack to cool down. His soft green eyes looked at them, wishing he could just have some as the smell reminded him off all the times his mother, Inko, not the dog, had walked around their small kitchen, making treats like cookies for Izuku to have after dinner or whenever he came home from school. Too bad he couldn’t have them now.
Mrs. Koda started to walk out, and pat her thigh to tell a Izuku to follow. The dog followed after, and watched as both husband and wife sat next to each other, impatiently watching the tv as they waited for their son to come home and talk about the U.A. entrance exams. Izuku tried to find interest in the show, but ended up getting bored and walked over to Koji’s room to grab his favorite dog toy from under the bed. Life as a dog was rather boring, Izuku had realized. There wasn’t too much to do, not many places he could go, nobody to fully interact with, and he couldn’t write down any of the villain fights he saw on television. He longed to write the detailed explanations he had in his head on each hero’s quirk, and he wanted to write about this situation he was in, and each of the Koda’s quirk. Not to mention Rikido’s, who’s he had heard a lot about as the boy frequently came over and the teens talked about their future plan as heroes.
Time passed, and Izuku impatiently watched the clock in the living room tick by, waiting for Koji to get home.
4:00. Izuku said in his head as the seconds hand hit the big number twelve, restarting the sixty long seconds in each minute. The seconds hand passed the minute hand as it began its cycle, and Izuku let out an impatient huff. Mr. Koda got up, and opened the back door for Izuku to run out, which the dog happily did to try and pass time. His mother, the dog one, quickly greeted him. The two ended up playing around for awhile, and when the back door started opening again, his mother looked towards the door as she held a Izuku down. Izuku tried to look around his mother, but she quickly turned her attention back to her son, tackling him once more.
“Sora! Get off Izuku, silly girl!” The familiar voice of Koji playfully demanded. Izuku’s mother quickly jumped off him, and pranced right over to Koji and Rikido, who stood in the doorway. Izuku got up, and ran right past his mother as he jumped over to Koji, accidentally knocking the boy over, who went into a fit of giggles. Rikido got Izuku off the boy, and softly gave Izuku a little shove to the left, another one to the right, trying to rile Izuku up to play fight. “Careful, Rikido, he has a tendency to bite a little hard when he gets caught up with playing.”
“I know, just trying to let him have some fun.” Rikido says with a smile, and Izuku quickly barks to get the boy back into playing. Playing with humans or another dog was so much more interesting than trying to occupy his time on his own. So, while Izuku felt silly trying to play around like he had a dog mindset his entire life, it kept him busy, and made everyone else laugh, but not at him, just the entertainment they got from silly things like chase and tag.
The teens and dogs ended up playing for awhile, and soon enough, the boys had to be called in for dinner. Izuku patiently just waited outside, laying next to his mother while the family and family friend ate their meal. Shortly after, Rikido went home, and Koji came outside to sit with both the dogs, trying to give both tired dogs equal attention.
“I think I did well, but we’ll just have to see. And if I get in, I’ll definitely try to get you in with me, Izuku. We can be pros together, and we can try to get Rikido in our team as well. How does that sound?” Koji softly asks. Izuku just leans more into Koji’s hand as his response, and it stays like that for a few minutes before the teen walks inside the house, Izuku trailing after as the boy starts to get ready for bed. Izuku crawls under the bed, but spots one of the usually angry cats, who started a low growl in the back of her throat, and Izuku quickly crawled out, backing up to get as far away from the cat as possible. He did not feel like having that cat’s angry claws going for his face again.
As soon as Koji walked back in, his pajamas on already, and as he crawled into his bed, Izuku jumps up, trying to curl in between Koji and the wall.
“‘Zukuuuu! What did we say about getting on the beeed!?” Koji playfully asks, trying to shove Izuku off. But as the cat walks out from under the bed, and once Koji spots her, he sighs, and lets Izuku just sit there.
A couple weeks later, an envelope comes in the mail, holding some weight to it, and the beautiful U.A. address in the top left corner. Mrs.Koda excitedly runs in, and hands her son his letter. He fumbles with the paper, trying to tear it open to reveal the contents inside, and out falls a little silver disk. As it falls onto the coffee table, it starts a projection, and all the curtains are quickly closed to let the room become as dim as possible. As All Might reveals himself, Izuku accidentally lets a small growl past his lips, resulting in brief curious glances from the humans in the room. But the dog watched the projection with anticipation, watching All Might give some sort of small speech.
“You’re in, Koji Koda. Welcome to your hero academia.” The Symbol of Peace says, holding his hand out towards the camera before the projection disappears. A single moment of silence before both the parents let out shouts of joy for their soft spoken son, who still stood there in bewilderment as his parents wrapped their arms around him, congratulating their son for his hard work and for getting into the school. Within a few minutes, Koji wrapped his arms around Izuku, burying his face in Izuku’s fluffy fur as he quietly says “I did it. We can be heroes together now, Izu.”
The warmth and wetness of tears soaks into Izuku’s fur, and he dies his bets to try and wrap his front arms around the boy too to congratulate him. This boy had done what Izuku had longed to do in his last life, and was gracious enough to let Izuku in on this adventure. Not long after the announcement, there was an excited knock at the door, and as the door opened to reveal Rikido, both boys wrapped their arms around each other in an excited hug once Rikido declares “I got in, Koji-kun! I got into U.A.!”
Now all that needed to happen for Izuku was to get permission granted for him to attend school with Koji. What he never expected was for it to happen in the day Mr. and Mrs.Koda ran out in a hurry, and came back with a shaken son a week into the school year. The teen wrapped his arms around Izuku, talking about an attack at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, a place located on school grounds to give students some rescue training in different environments. But the boy slowly walked over to his bag, pulled out a piece of paper with the four lettered signature spelling out “Nezu”, and said “But the school finally gave me permission to let Izuku in, especially after today’s attack.”
Izuku then walked over to the boy, who was sitting on the floor, and laid his head on the boy’s lap. Koji gave a soft smile before petting Izuku.
The moment he was told he could go to school with Koji, he thought it would be an exciting moment, one where he could happily run out of the house, barking happily at the news. While the excitement still bubbled in the back of his mind, the most important thing right now was to make sure Koji was okay. So the excitement could wait until the boy felt better after the attack.