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Children were such dreadfully cruel creatures. Sometimes, All For One thought they might be even crueller than he was.
Watching a bunch of kindergarteners in the park, all banded together to bully one pathetically sobbing boy, was only reinforcing that idea.
Why was the scourge of the underworld in the park, you might ask? Well, you see, the good doctor was running low on quirks to experiment with. But he hadn't managed to figure out how not to break them beyond recognition yet, and All For One wasn't much keen on losing even more perfectly good quirks to his machinations.
So here he was: window shopping for some disposable quirks.
The long fingers was boring, the exploding palms less so but All For One was curious to see where the boy would take it in a few years, the wings he'd be taking later, and the sobbing boy-
"-quirkless! Just a useless deku!"
Well. All For One was just so terribly bored...
And he was holding on to Decay while Tomura was grounded, instructed to think about what he had done wrong. Wouldn't it be fun to see how another child might handle such a destructive quirk while starting from real zero?
Getting to his feet, All For One made his way over to the brats, the shadow of his towering form grabbing their attention where his footsteps hadn't.
"The hell you want?" Exploding Palms asked, just as hostile to a strange adult as he was to his class' weakest link. The other kids seemed to have a healthy dose of apprehension towards him.
Leaning down, All For One brought his face level with the boy's, staring at him intensely. The boy glared back, unflinching.
Okay, this wasn't going great. Usually people would have already started running away by now. Had All For One forgotten to turn on his Evil Aura quirk? No, that one seemed to be fine.
Now, how to salvage this situation after such an awkward moment-
Wings kicked the Quirkless, drawing out a pained groan and All For One got momentarily confused about what year it was, holding the large boy against a nearby tree with a forearm against his throat.
He usually preferred to take quirks away in private, but if the brat insisted-
Something tugged on his elbow. The familiarity of it had his confused brain expect to see Yoichi's gaunt face, but instead-
It was the Quirkless kid. Begging All For One to release his bully, cadence so similar to that of his brother's-
All For One stepped back, letting the boy fall and scramble away. The three bullies ran without looking back, leaving their target alone with him.
He couldn't quite bring himself to care, right then. Stumbling over to a bench, he settled down heavily, breathing in and trying to recalibrate.
His brother was dead. He was All For One. He had his associates, his minions, his plans-
“Are you okay?" the Quirkless kid asked, sitting next to All For One and daring to pat his arm comfortingly.
Who asked if you were okay after they had just seen you almost strangle a kid??
“I'm giving you a quirk," All For One announced, shrugging off the little hand and pressing a palm against the kid's forehead. “Good luck.”
He'd certainly need it.
The kid blinked. “What kinda quirk?" He asked.
“Figure it out," All For One closed his eyes, rubbing his temple. There was a migraine coming, he could feel it. Maybe committing to observing the chaos of Decay in unsuspecting hands wasn't the best idea.
“Actually-" he started, but when he looked at where the boy sat, he wasn't there anymore.
All For One blinked. Glanced around the empty park. Bent down to check under the bench. The boy was gone.
Ah, well. That's what he got for being distracted. That's exactly why he kept his earliest memories locked away in a mental vault, not letting them mess with his villain persona.
It wasn't a big problem. Tomura could stew in his punishment, and All For One could track the quirk down soon enough. He just had to wait for the news of a freak accident to spread, and pick it up from the traumatized child.
Because of course that's how giving a kid Decay would end.
***
Except… That didn't happen.
***
To be quite honest, All For One had forgotten all about the quirk mishap. He didn't really see Tomura all that often, leaving his upbringing to Kurogiri.
And speaking of the Nomu-
“Yes?" All For One prompted after it became clear that Kurogiri wouldn't speak up first, despite being the one to seek him out.
“May I enquire about Young Tomura's quirk?"
Ah. Yes. That happened. “I lost it,” he shrugged. “He'll just have to do without."
The Nomu accepted it with a nod, disappearing in one of his portals.
All For One had a weird feeling about it, but there were too many other things for him to do. He'd worry about it when he next needed Tomura for his anti-OFA plan.
***
“What do you mean he's gone?!”
***
TEN YEARS LATER.
***
“What is your quirk?"
Izuku straightened out from his stretches to look at the blonde kid who was going through all the non-mutant students in their group, asking them all the same question.
He’s been biding his time, expecting the boy to ask him, too. Izuku had theories about the purpose of it, each sounding more exciting than the last.
“Guess," he challenged with a smile.
The blonde narrowed his eyes at him. “Emitter, five-point touch activation. Dangerous or highly annoying to deal with, or you wouldn't be wearing the gloves. Your skin's visibly moisturized- Something to do with drying out, flaking. Destructive. Convenient for this exam, isn't it?"
Izuku's smile sharpened. Finally, finally-
“Emitter as well. Any touch works. Doesn't work with mutant quirks. Judging by the watches, it has a short time-span and can hold three powers at once. You can copy quirks, can't you?"
Now that got the boy's attention.
Izuku outstretched his gloved hand. “Midoriya Izuku," he said. “Quirk: Deconstruction. I can turn anything I touch into dust."
“Monoma Neito," the boy accepted his touch. They looked each other in the eye, the same thought passing through both their minds. The touch was a test in itself, and they both passed. “Quirk: Copy. I can copy up to four quirks with a single touch, and access them for the following five minutes."
“That's so cool," Izuku told him, starry-eyed. “Do you wanna go somewhere after we're done with the exam? I have so many questions."
Monoma didn't have time to respond, not with the horn choosing that moment to sound, marking the official start of their exam.
Without wasting a second, Izuku grabbed Monoma's arm, pulling him along as he ran towards the fake city.
They were the first ones inside, the teacher overseeing the exam commented on it.
Izuku let Monoma go once the robots appeared, ducking and decaying strategic parts to conserve time and energy.
In the back of his head, he kept track of time. Once they passed the four minutes mark, he drifted closer to Monoma, making it easier for the other boy to replenish his quirk.
To Monoma's audible surprise.
“I like seeing you work with my quirk," Izuku grinned with a shrug. It was true, too. So many people thought it was a “villainous” quirk, but Izuku never did. And it was refreshing to see someone on the same page as him for once.
“Also," Monoma dropped the topic of the quirk for now, but Izuku had a feeling they'd cover it later. “Why aren't you destroying the bots fully?"
So he noticed that. Izuku was impressed and even more determined to make friends with Monoma.
“Many reasons," he spoke in short bursts as he danced around the bots. “First inside, meant for recon, the second wave can handle weakened enemies. Saving time and energy. Sharing points with others. My quirk gives me an unfair advantage, not everyone has that."
“Thanks for that!” A purple-haired student called to him, whacking one of the damaged bots with another's torn out tail until it was officially disabled.
Izuku offered a salute - he didn't miss the bot aiming at him before the other student's interference - before focusing back on the fully mobile bots.
“You are the least competitive and most cooperative person I have ever met,” Monoma told him, voice incredulous. He did switch to leaving some of the bots half-dead, though.
“Being a hero, the way I see it, is meant to be all about teamwork. Competitiveness and the hostile atmosphere the hero ranking creates is one of the biggest issues in modern heroics-"
“Might wanna save the lecture for after the exam," the purple-haired boy said dryly, taking initiative on a fresh bot Izuku had turned away from in his excitement.
“Do you wanna come with us to talk about it?” Izuku offered instantly. The guy's seen him dust bots left and right, he knew what he was getting into.
He took a couple steps back, looking at Izuku warily as he spoke. “My quirk lets me brainwash people."
“Oh-my-god-this-exam-is-so-unfair-to-you!" Izuku rushed out, instantly outraged. He took that anger out onto the closest bots, accidentally overdoing it and making one disappear completely. “If we had human opponents, you would have been able to show off your skills so much better!"
Izuku thought he saw Monoma swing by the purple student, offering a quick “Yeah, he's just like that,” but he didn't have the time to get distracted.
The end of the exam was approaching fast.
Which was, of course, when the teachers released the zero-pointer.
Whatever Izuku had been expecting, a giant bot the size of godzilla was not it.
“RETREAT!" He called out, glad to see the other students already doing so. A good hero had to know when to step back. “FALL BACK!”
Their trio took point on the attack, so there shouldn't have been anyone ahead-
“HELP!"
-but of course, there was.
Izuku rushed forward, flanked by Monoma and the other kid whose name he really wanted to know. Ahead of them was a brown-haired girl, one of her legs stuck under rubble.
With a glancing touch against Monoma, the two of them attacked the rubble, the purple guy kneeling to help the girl.
But her leg was clearly broken, and even with the three of them, they couldn't possibly clear the street before the bot arrived-
“There's a slight emotional component,” Izuku rushed to say. “The madder we are, the stronger and faster Deconstruction is going to work. Purple guy-"
“Shinsou," he interrupted, accompanied by Monoma's snort.
“Shinsou, can your quirk make us mad?"
“Yes."
Time was running out. Izuku stood, Monoma pressed against him. He removed his remaining glove, their hands outstretched towards the approaching hunk of metal. Shinsou shuffled forwards, trying to minimize the space he and the girl took up while shielding her. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to delay, but instead- “I need you to answer me verbally, okay?"
“Okay," Izuku chorused alongside Monoma and then-
He was so angry.
The fogginess that overcome his brain left as abruptly as it appeared, moments before the bot would make contact, leaving only the quickly waning anger behind.
It was enough. Just barely - if the bot's foot wasn't hollow inside, it might not have been enough - but they made it.
The bell signalling the end of the exam rang, and the bot shuddered to a stop.
…With them still inside of it.
It was too dark to glance at each other, so Izuku reached in the direction of the foot's side, managing to create a small opening. Just enough to see what they were doing, so they didn't hurt each other.
“Well, this is inconvenient,” Shinsou deadpanned.
“We should ask UA to pay for our lunch," Monoma suggested. “As compensation for emotional trauma."
Izuku tried imagining that conversation, dissolving into giggles. The others followed soon after and, for the first time in his life, Izuku felt like he was a part of a friends group.
***
The girl's name was Uraraka, they learned as they Deconstructed their way out of the zero pointer's foot. Her quirk let her affect the gravity of other objects and people, and Izuku found himself with thousands of questions.
Which reminded him that he still had thousands of questions to ask about Monoma's and Shinsou's quirks, too.
By the time they managed to escape the metal trap - they were tired, coming down from an adrenaline rush and the hole they had to make was bigger - the teachers were already waiting for them, Recovery Girl at the front.
“Oh, thank god you're all okay," Present Mic exhaled dramatically, slumping as he grabbed his heart. “What were you thinking, lil’ listeners?"
“Nothing," Shinsou said instantly.
“Wasn't enough time to think," Monoma agreed.
“Mostly that Uraraka would have been squashed, otherwise." Izuku offered.
“You can't take risks like that,” Recovery Girl tutted in disappointment, kneeling to examine Uraraka. “A wrong call could mean the death of you all-"
“Heroes exist to put their lives on the line," Monoma protested. “They have the power to protect people. What's the point if they don't do that?”
“Also, the risk wasn't that big," Izuku added. “Our quirks gave us the perfect combo to get through this scenario relatively unharmed. The chances of death were acceptably small, especially considering that this is just an exam.”
“Speaking of which," Shinsou picked up the thread. “Weren't there supposed to be safety precautions? What would have happened if we didn't step in?"
“The bot would have stopped before reaching her," another hero said, approaching swiftly. The sight of him made Shinsou snap his teeth closed, staring in wonder. “I decided to let it keep going," the hero grinned, the expression unhinged. “Wanted to see how you'd handle it."
Izuku dearly hoped they wouldn't have this guy as their heroics teacher.
***
UA did end up paying for their lunch. Eraserhead insisted on it the moment Shinsou proposed they go to a cat cafe.
Izuku had a feeling the hero liked cats. Just a hunch.
The four of them settled at a corner table, discussing their orders.
Izuku had decided on his choice early, and he prodded Monoma into doing the same. He wanted to see whether Copy would be able to handle the same precision with his quirk as Izuku could manage, and there was no better time than the present.
When the server approached to take their order - just as Izuku demonstrated the difference between gradual and instant use of Deconstruction - and seemed to have a panic attack upon seeing the dust that used to be a napkin, Izuku considered the virtue of patience.
“I'm sorry," he said, pulling on the gloves to hopefully make the server feel better. “It only works when I touch something with all five fingers, I won't hurt you-"
“You have it," the server - Tenko, the name tag said - gasped out, somewhat nonsensically. “I thought… But how? How did you get it?!"
Izuku's back straightened in alarm. That almost sounded like…
“Would I be right to assume we have a mutual acquaintance?" He asked carefully. “White hair, red eyes, large hands…?”
Tenko nodded. “Sensei." Then, his eyes turned distant. “That explains… But why you? Why did he want to punish you?"
“This quirk isn't a punishment," Izuku said gently, mindful of the audience. They were friendly, but he didn't know how much he could push them, right now. The story of getting a quirk from a random stranger in the park might be a touch too far. “A lot of people called it villainous, but it's not. No quirk is; They're tools, you can't assign morality to them. It's how you use them that matters."
Izuku chanced a glance at his friends. Shinsou had his eyes scrunched closed, as if trying not to cry. Monoma stared at him, expression open, and Uraraka offered a soft smile.
Tenko visibly gathered himself back together. “Better you than me," he said, pressing a pen to a notepad. “Now. What can I get you?"
