Chapter Text
The late afternoon sky shimmered with a pink and orange glow as the sun sank beyond the horizon, and the polluted atmosphere distorted the perceived wavelengths of its light. The pink glow changed to violet as nighttime approached, and the violet shifted to indigo, and the orange vanished completely. Blue- deep blue- overtook the sky, and the lights of the city turned it to black. Only the brightest of stars could be seen at this time, the rest being obscured by the light of the earth itself, and all was quiet.
Midoriya Izuku, sitting beneath this sky, did not see it due to the roof over his head. He saw neither the trees shifting in the breeze, nor the stray cats wandering between wood and stone as though they'd known the area their whole lives, and he also did not see the slim silhouette of his mother coming home from a long day of work. Instead, within his red and white and yellow bedroom, Izuku saw only the homework he had to finish for school, just as it had always been.
"Tadaima! Izuku honey, I'm home!"
The sound of the front door closing broke through the silence of Izuku's room, and he lifted his head to call back, "Okaerinasai! Welcome home, Mom!"
Footsteps echoed gently through their home, and Izuku gave one final glance to his unfinished homework, before standing up and leaving his bedroom. He listened to the sounds of his mother's presence, and made his way into the kitchen to prepare a cup of tea for her- a ginseng and chamomile blend, to encourage relaxation and good health. This had been a part of their daily routine for a good few years, and by now, Izuku had long since become a master of making his mother's favored tea.
"Oh, Izuku, you wouldn't believe the day I've had! So much excitement, and it all started when Takahara tried flirting with one of my clients-"
A part of their routine that had existed since Izuku was eight years old was that they'd share how their days had been, with Inko starting the process, and Izuku ending it. Sometimes he wondered how it'd be if his dad was around, but that was something that could never be... the man had died shortly before Izuku was born, so he'd never know what life could've been like if Hisashi was alive.
That was okay, though. Izuku was the man of the house, and he could take care of Inko where Hisashi couldn't. He could clean the house and make her tea when she got home, and he could listen to her worries and calm her down when she started to panic, and he could support her in every way he knew how to. She did more than that for him, of course, but he was still young. He could catch up more as he got older, and once he was a hero, he could give her the comfortable lifestyle that she deserved...
"-and then he said, 'Of course, that makes sense. I've heard that the most beautiful flowers grow in the desert,' and she ate it right up! Mind you, this was occurring all throughout the day- he'd just drop by while we were in the middle of discussing her contracts and various affairs, and drop a one-liner before vanishing again! I swear, that man has no lack of confidence-"
...even if she didn't want him to be a hero. She wanted him to have a job like hers- she worked as a lawyer in a hero agency, and had won a surprising amount of cases over the past few years, with her specialty being domestic issues- and although she never directly pushed him or flat out ordered him to go for it, she did give him enough hints to figure it out. Of course, she was also fine with him showing interest in other careers as well, as long as they weren't related to fighting of any kind.
Anything that had him performing physical labor or getting into danger of any kind wasn't a good job for him, apparently. After all, he was quirkless, and quirkless people were at great risk for simply existing. His mother knew the numbers, and had taught him to protect himself by outsmarting everyone else, so he'd have a better chance at surviving. Never fighting, never letting his fist connect with another being's flesh, but letting others fight for him.
She was incredibly clever for teaching him like this, and it might've actually worked. If there had only been people his age willing to fight for him, then he would've likely abandoned his dreams of heroism and moved on to new ones, but that path just wasn't meant to be. It certainly didn't help Inko's argument that his entire family worked in heroics in some manner either, including her...
Well, he'd just have to fight for it, then. He'd train his brain by analyzing all the quirks he could see, and he'd study hard enough to get into Yuuei like they all did, and then he'd become a hero.
That was the plan, at least.
It was six in the morning.
At twelve years old, Izuku pulled his first all-nighter to make his science project absolutely perfect, tweaking the finer details to ever-so-subtly flatter his teacher's point of view. He'd found that his teachers gave him better grades if he did so, which was stupid, very stupid, but it worked out well for him. There was also the added benefit of them protecting him from his bullies, meaning that he'd have a peaceful lunch sometimes, and that his notes got torn up or blasted to bits much less often.
Of course, they weren't supposed to allow that in the first place, but he was quirkless. Nobody cared about quirkless people unless they made themselves tremendously useful, and so, that was what Izuku was doing. He was weak, and the rest of the world was strong, so he needed to get protection from stronger beings in order to survive. It was a symbiotic relationship, as were many survival-based relationships in the wild.
Izuku was going to survive. He was not going to be pushed to the bottom of the pile, and left there to rot. He was weak at this time, but he'd grow stronger by leeching the power from others, bit by tiny bit. This project on the genetic inheritance of quirks was just one strand of his ever-growing web, upon which he sat and waited to catch his prey. They were strong, and he was weak... but no matter how strong a person is, they can still be controlled.
Tsuburame-sensei would love this project. Izuku had used the man's favorite science books and journals as his references, and even if there were incorrect pieces of information in them, he didn't care. He knew what the right information was, and the man wouldn't care either way, because one of his students was 'cultured' enough to read the same things he did. He'd be sure to give the greenette extra marks for good taste, even if the boy was quirkless, because he was the only one of all these other snot-nosed brats to appreciate him. And thus, the man would be caught within his web, with every additional word spoken and assignment turned in being another strand to entangle him...
'Okaaay, time to stop sounding like a Machiavellian sociopath. Chill out Izuku, you're fine. Check the time now, see if you have enough time to sleep before school.'
Izuku lightly slapped his cheeks, gave himself a mental pep talk, and glanced towards the clock. To his mild dismay, he noted that he didn't have any time to sleep, and that he'd have to truly go two full days without sleep. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad though? He didn't feel physically tired at all, just the emotional exhaustion he usually felt these days, so he might be fine.
Taking a deep breath, the greenette stood up from his desk and began to prepare for the day ahead, his body lightly vibrating with anxious energy.
Standing on the school roof, Izuku stared down at the ground below, through the metal mesh of the chain link fence around it. He'd been there for hours, dazed after the events of the day, and it was getting late. Why hadn't anyone come to tell him to go home? It wasn't like he was hiding or anything- he could be seen by literally anyone who wandered by the front of the school- but nobody had looked up to see him yet.
Nor had they responded to his shouting, waving, or other attempts to grab attention. He was probably too quiet, being up here and not having a particularly strong voice, but he would've thought that someone would've noticed him by now. Instead, he'd been stuck up here since school let out, because Kacchan and his lackeys had locked the door on their way down.
He was going to have to climb down now, if he wanted to get home before his mom did. That was over two stories of climbing, with no fire escapes to rely on. If he fell and got hurt, or even died, they'd probably think it was a suicide. Over eighty percent of quirkless people died before reaching their thirties, and of that eighty percent, forty-two percent of those deaths were due to suicide. Apparently being repeatedly told that they were useless really wore down on their psyches.
If it had been six weeks ago, he would've included himself among them. But see, he wasn't quirkless. Or maybe he was, and his body was just very weird, but he could definitely do something that nobody else could. Even though he had the extra toe joint, he had found his kosei, his individuality...
Midoriya Izuku could live a completely normal life without needing to sleep. Ever.
That was it. Izuku could forego sleep without any noticeable differences to his physical or mental health. After pulling several all-nighters in a row and experiencing zero negative effects, he'd given in to his curiosity and had decided to stay up for as long as he possibly could before passing out. To pass the nighttime, he'd browse the internet and analyze whatever caught his interest, and that was that. It'd been six weeks since he'd begun, and he hadn't experienced any hallucinations or mood swings or anything else that was supposed to come with lack of sleep, so he definitely had something special.
The only thing that made him question whether or not it was a quirk was the fact that his x-ray had shown that he had the extra toe joint that quirkless people had. So, was he quirkless, or was he just weird? He didn't know. All he knew was that he didn't belong in any category now, and it hurt, but it was better than truly being powerless.
As greenette pushed his thoughts on his maybe-a-quirk to the back of his mind, he began contemplating whether he wanted to throw his backpack over the top or if he wanted to climb down with it on his back. It would probably be safer to climb down without it, but it was a limited edition All Might backpack from the last Hero Con, so it was still pretty new...
Making the decision that he was willing to die for his merch, Izuku approached the fence and began to climb, his backpack firmly hanging from his shoulders.
From what he'd heard about physical activities that have some form of inherent risk, it was important for the person performing those activities to be confident in their movements. Uncle Shouta specifically had mentioned that being overly anxious negatively impacted a person's physical capabilities, making them more rigid and shaky, and more likely to make a mistake. Izuku was always anxious, always, so he couldn't exactly go all zen and clear his mind for this admittedly very dangerous activity, but the fact that he was always afraid in some form also meant that he was more used to it. So, while he couldn't completely relax, he could work with his fear rather than letting it hinder him.
As Izuku slowly climbed down the other side of the fence, and rested a foot on the concrete edge of the building that dropped off to poorly-kept brick walls and wide window frames, he was not confident in his ability to climb down safely. He was, however, confident in his ability to pretend that he was confident in his own ability, so his movements weren't overly tense. This was a trick he often used to get around his anxiety, it having been recommended to him on a hero forum one time, and it worked out alright. Hey, as long as he kept it up, he might actually be able to get down the side of the building without dying!
And then, because Murphy's Law was a dick, Izuku slipped.
A terrified squeak escaped the greenette's lips as he scrambled for something to hold onto, the weight of his backpack pulling his upper body away from the wall and thus away from anything he could hold onto. He couldn't push off with his legs because then he'd be pushed even further away from the wall, but he couldn't get closer no matter what he did, so he had to do something-
He managed to maneuver his arms in front of and behind his head, before landing harshly on his back, a sharp pain zinging up his spine upon impact. With a quiet scream muffled by the arm in front of his face, the greenette rolled over onto his side in an instinctive retreat from the highly unpleasant sensation, and a hand went down to feel his behind. His tailbone hurt like a bitch- it could very well be broken, fuck- but he was hoping that it was just bruised. Of course, he had no way of knowing whether it was broken or bruised, so feeling it was pretty much a useless and stupid action... oh, whatever!
Izuku whispered profanities under his breath in an ever-flowing chain of creativity that would impress even Kacchan, as he laid on the ground for several minutes, trying to muster up the willpower to move.
'It's only pain... It's only pain... I can do this... It's only pain... I can get up, and I can stop being a useless fucking meat sack on the ground, and I can get home... It's only pain, I experience the exact same thing almost every day... Oh fuck, tomorrow's gonna be hell.'
As a streetlight turned on, and the sun began to set, Izuku finally pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He shouldered most of his backpack's weight on his upper back, wanting to avoid any of it resting on his tailbone, and slowly got into a standing position.
Now, was it more important for him to not be late, or did he want to be careful not to further aggravate what could be a broken tailbone? If he was late, he'd have to hide his pain and think of an excuse at the same time as to why he'd have gone out in his school uniform and his backpack, and his Mom would go all lawyer on him. However, if he was on time, he'd risk further injury and maybe further complications...
'Oh, fuck it. What are the odds that I'll get bone marrow in my blood and die of a heart attack at twelve years old? Fuck it. I'll survive just fine. I always do.'
Taking a deep breath, the greenette began to run home, with tears flowing down his cheeks the whole way.
He arrived half an hour before his mother did, and by the time she walked through the door, Izuku had found one of those cushions for pregnant women that were meant to keep their tailbones from touching their seats. Or were they meant for babies, to help them sit up? He didn't know. Either way, Izuku was able to sit on it at his desk without much trouble, so it worked for what he wanted it to. He did have to hide the gaudy yellow color of it with a blanket though, because he was sure that Inko would recognize it the second she saw it, and he didn't want to answer any questions.
After the two Midoriyas went through their evening routine and ate dinner, Izuku retreated to his room, and climbed into bed. He wanted to sleep to avoid the pain, but also because he didn't think he'd done a good job pretending that he was fine, so his Mom was likely to check in on him. If she caught him awake at ass o'clock in the morning, she'd definitely be upset, and he couldn't tell her that he had a quirk for not needing sleep. There was hard evidence that he didn't and never would have a quirk, so she wouldn't believe him, and nobody else would either...
Pulling his blankets over his shoulders, carefully curled up on his side to avoid aggravating his injury of unknown extent, Izuku closed his eyes. He'd just... continue on with his life, like he always did, once the morning came. Nothing would change, and he'd be fine again, like he always was.
Nothing would change... for now.