Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya was smarter than people gave him credit for.
he knew his grades were tampered with if he actually achieved over the school average in tests, so he started to actively answer wrong on most tests to avoid repercussions.
he knew the treatment he suffered from his peers was not right, that it was bullying and that his teachers should not encourage it, so he learned to avoid situations which would leave him vulnerable to such punishments.
he knew that his mother was always worried about him, and that it was affecting her health, so he stopped asking for her help in treating his wounds, even if he knew she kept silently refilling the first aid kit at home. even if it still hurt to support him, she would try to support him being a hero.
and he knew (oh boy did he knew) just why it was that all of this happened without society giving a damn.
a few generations ago, a glowing baby was born, no one knew the reason why, nor that it was the beacon of change, but that day... the world changed
humans gaining superpowers, or "quirks" as they were starting to be called, slowly became the new normal, wars and bloodshed, families torn apart, all of this started with a single glowing baby, but eventually, peace started again
Sadly humanity has a tendency to fear and alienate that which is different, resorting to violence most of the time it happens, be it gender, skin or preference in your partners, any single topic that might make you different would make you a target, to the point color coded gangs still happened around the world, and in case someone's colors and the other don't mix? The gonna bash it up.
But he was not a gang member, nor his tendencies were violent, in a world of superpowers, where a baby might accidentally kill you with eye lasers was a bit of a rule of thumb. What would happen if you didn't have one superpower?.
What would happen if you were "Quirkless"?
Izuku had outgrown his desire for a quirk at age 10, knowing that his main abusers would find ways to target him unless his quirk was powerful enough to guarantee teachers approval, since they disregarded anyone that wasn't flashy.
But he still dreamed, he dreamed of becoming a hero, of going past this society desire to snuff his hopes, of showing everyone that quirkless didn't mean useless.
Of showing Bakugo that he wasn't just a Dekunobo, and he was sure that this chance with all might would prove his point
"Im sorry kid, but without a quirk, you can't be a hero"
Those were the words of the world finest hero, of his lifetime long idol, of someone whose words he considered truthful...
Of a bigger hypocrite than even their muscles were.
He walked down the stairs in a daze, thankful that the old smoker found him and shook him out of the stupor that the supposed number 1 hero put him in by breaking his dreams, of going back from his eternal mantra of "anyone can be a hero".
Not only was the Hero an hypocrite, but also disconnected from reality, izuku knew his options, and his DNA had cursed him to a lifetime of suffering even after graduating school, no college would accept him, the security forces would reject him, even the city dump would say no to him, all because of being born different, his only option was to tough it out,maybe get lucky and work illegally since quirkless weren't even allowed to own a business.
Walking out of the last service stair from the accursed building, he started to think again about his abusers words, thinking that just maybe...just maybe they were right.
That he should take a swan dive off the roof and pray for better luck in his next life.
Those were his thoughts before a foul smell took him back to earth, finding himself face to face with the one that had caused him to meet all might, the same sludge villain that supposedly had been caught by All Might, which once again proved to be less than the best hero he had ever known...
If he survived this, maybe he could look into commissioning some eraserhead merchandise, he was sure the underground was a better hero compared to this.
"Over there!! He got out through that manhole"
This was just perfect... Not only our only lead on the case had brought us to the sewers of this city in the country of the rising sun, but the only proof we could find had been stolen by what appeared to be a pungent slimy individual on the run from authorities, considering he was dashing by while muttering about "pesky heroes and skinsuits" not even minding our presence here.
Not even my partners screaming stole his focus from his mad escape, but his sticky hide had caught the suitcase containing the proof of a certain scientist that tied him to our case, a personal one that had kept our contact, my partner and me awake for at least a decade.
"Throw me up, pretty sure i can tear his eyeballs out"
"You shouldn't do that Max, we will have quite a while bathing in tomato sauce as it is, and he stinks more than these sewers, something i didn't think was possible"
Despite my rebuttal, i threw him up the manhole and then climbed out myself, coming face to face with the returning face of this villain, and while Max didn't notice it, i did detect a civilian behind us, which was why i didn't berate Max on his tendency to pulling his trusty pistol out despite the gun laws in this country.
In fact i pulled my own revolver from my jacket and joined in the impromptu standoff, this is what we lived for, tense situations of unknown solving, probably just a stupid but funny answer while stopping the less conventional but equally dangerous villains the heroes didn't deal with.
Because this was our life, one we made by ourselves despite humanity turning on us at the start of our lives, because that's what our contact gave us, a chance to live as-
"Stop right there! Freelance police, you are under arrest