Chapter Text
Chatter filled the air as groups of teens walked back and forth, each of them in their own clicks. A girl giggled as she pushed her friend playfully as they walked past, their words bleeding into the noise of the crowd. Someone else road in on their skateboard, pulling up to a group of guys and doing a little kickflip with his board. The three laughed and smiled at the display, one of them wrapping an arm over his shoulder as they walked onto the school grounds even pulling him in to give him a little noogie as a sign of affection.
As more and more people walked past it became painfully obvious that many of these people grew up with each other. They all had inside jokes and ways to make each other smile, they knew what to say and how to say it. This route was normal for them, just another Monday morning of classes and activities.
But for one kid this was so much more intimidating. A new place full of new people and unknown faces.
Izuku Midoriya stood at the front gate of the school as people walked past. He fidgeted with the straps on his backpack, his eyes looking up to meet someone's face before immediately looking back at the ground again. Midoriya had always been a little small for his age, so skinny and weak looking even at first glance. People at his old school used to joke and taunt him for it, saying that if he was a dog he would be the runt of the litter. People at his old school used to say a lot of things about him...
He was dressed in an all black uniform, something new that he has yet to get used to wearing. It was a little big for his tiny frame. Parts of it were too long for him, the entire thing looking haphazardly thrown together and foreign on his body. He honestly spent a little to long this morning staring at himself in the mirror and frowning.
The green bush of hair on his head slowly swayed in the wind. Anxiously combed a thousand times but it still came out a cluttered mess.
Fidgeting a little in place he blushed, looking up to meet the face of his mother, Inko Midoriya. She was, ironically, even shorter then he was. His mother was not always so round and on the chubby side...there was a point in time of her youth where she was even a model. Anxieties about him at a young age and worrying over the law suit of Aldera seemed to have taken care of that.
Stress eating is a hell of a thing...
Letting out an exasperated sigh he gestured out with his hand. "Moooommm, please. I-I'm going to be late for my first day!"
She was hovering over him, again. She seemed to do that a lot now days. He watched as his mother opened her arms, pulling him in for the third hug of the day. Feeling her pull him down into her bosom he blushed when he heard some laughter. She didn't seem to take notice however, simply stroking his curly hair as she cooed at him.
"Ohhhh, are you sure you're ready? So soon after Aldera? We, we can wait a little longer if you want. You're already joining partly into the year, what's a few more days!"
His face was bright red as he attempted to pry himself out of her arms, struggling against her. How was such a tiny round woman so strong!?
"M-mom please! We already told the principal today would be my first day! J-just let me do this, I'll be fine!"
There was a pause before she reluctantly let him go. Freeing him of the embarrassing mom cocoon.
Looking him up and down with a nervous smile she fiddled with her dress before letting out a tired sigh. "I know I know. I shouldn't baby you so much. My little man is growing up so fast...I remember not long ago when we used to play hero and you would save me in your lil All Might pajamas."
A snort of a laugh somewhere from behind him made him flinch, not daring to look over his shoulder to see who actually heard that. He would rather not know at this point, there's no coming back from something so embarrassing like that at his age.
All he could really do was run a hand through his hair and groan at her, the deep crimson blush on his face refusing to go down. "Mommmmm."
"Don't mom me young man. Let me have this!" She huffed at him, looking him over one last time before leaning in to straighten out his tie. Smiling gently up at him she sighed. "Hurry home early tonight. Can't be late to your first self defense class."
Nodding he returned the smile, muttering softly down at her. "Ok."
"I'm going to let you go now...but you have to promise me something. Promise me that from now on you won't just take things lying down. I don't even want to know how long you kept the bullying hidden from me..."
He winced at that. Yeah not his best moment. Whether she noticed or not she didn't say, simply continued on. "You are such a kind and wonderful boy Izuku, anyone that can't see that can fuck off."
He sputtered at that, staring wide eyed at his mother like she grew a second head. She NEVER cursed before. "M-mom!?"
She let out a laugh, smiling gently at him before getting serious. "Promise me Izuku."
Looking down at his mother he could see the faint hint of tears starting to form. He always hated the sight of his mother crying...it always made him want to cry too. Blinking back his own tears he smiled through it.
"Ok, I promise."
She pulled him in for another hug but this time he didn't fight her, simply wrapping his arms around her and welcoming her deep embrace. She whispered in his ear, like telling a secret only he could know.
"That's my boy. I love you, very much Izuku."
"I love you too mom."
If only for a single span of time, wrapped in his mothers warm embrace, Midoriya felt his anxieties fade away. At that moment even If the entire school was laughing at him he would not have cared. All that mattered at that moment was his mom...
If he was a few minutes late to his first day back to school he's sure it wouldn't be that big of a deal.
Taking a seat in her normal spot Kyouka Jirou let out a small groan. It was way too early to be dealing with being awake. Raising a hand she rubbed at her temple, her eyes squinting against the far to bright light of the morning class. All around her people chatted amongst themselves, talking about what they did last weekend or just doing small talk. Placing an earbud into her ear she scrolled through some songs on her phone, trying to find something to drowned out the noise.
Hey, this was a good one.
Pressing play she closed her eyes, gently tapping her foot to the beat.
Ever since her quirk came in at a young age Jirou was able to hear everything around her, whether she wanted to or not. Every whisper, every snide remark or cruel joke. It became increasingly hard for people to lie or keep things from her. There was even a time where her folks couldn't talk about birthday or Christmas presents in the house without her hearing it. In a weird way she knew everything that went on around her...which made her childhood increasingly hard. Things like Santa, the Easter bunny or the Tooth fairy were discovered to be lies early on. Which was devastating for younger her. She weirdly enough found herself being the center of attention growing up, surrounded by people who loved to gossip and talk about people behind their back. There was always someone trying to find out if their crush had a crush on them or if someone in their group was lying. It was completely exhausting.
The commotion died down around her telling her that class was about to start, taking her earphones out she set them back into the case just in time to see her teacher walk in.
Mr. Hiro was a soft spoken portly man that Jirou knew pretty well. He was the main teacher she went to to learn Math from. She had no idea what he was talking about most of the time but there was just something about how his eyes sparkled and how his mustache turned upward when he talked about fractions that made her want to listen to him talk forever. The man was maybe a little too kind and a little too smart for the type of school he was in.
Turning to watch the portly man walk into the room she noticed someone else walked behind him. The kid was small...well not smaller then her but most people weren't as small as she was. He walked with a lack of confidence, his back was hunched and his shoulders raised. His backpack was so big compared to his body that it was comical. He reminded her of a small green turtle that she once saw at the aquarium with her parents. He had a wavy patch of green hair on his head that made her think of the bushes she sometimes walks past on her way to school and cute little freckles dotted in a star pattern over what she dare say were very pinchable cheeks. He was kind of cute...in a lost puppy kind of way.
Her jacks wiggled when she heard some faint laughter from behind her making her frown. Oh great, new kid is already getting bad attention. The kid's been here for a whole five minutes and someone was already making fun of him. Swallowing the uncomfortable feeling back down she continued to face forward.
Ignore them, ignore the mean words and harsh tones...at the end of the day it's non of her business. She had always stayed afloat by staying out of people's drama and hiding in the background. Now was not going to be any different.
Mr. Hiro cleared his throat before speaking, gently patting the new kid on the back. "Listen up everyone, this here is Mr. Midoriya. Mr. Midoriya just transferred here from a different school...please treat him with all of the respect you'd give to your other classmates. I will not tolerate bullying or harassment of any type both in here and out of class, do I make myself clear?"
Raising an eyebrow Jirou heard a chorus of dismissal yesses around her.
Mr. Hiro was never strict like that before. There wasn't a single hint of the jovial tone she usually heard when he spoke. For whatever reason he was super protective of this kid.
Taking a step back Mr. Hiro gestured with his hand for the Midoriya kid to say something. Watching him take a step forward she could practically hear the beat of his heart from here, a quick moving piston beating frantic and erratic. Despite this Midoriya stood straight, a bright smile spreading across his face. She almost had to squint against the vibrancy of his smile.
"H-Hello, my name is Izuku Midoriya. I like comics and learning about q-quirks!" He bent down to bow to them, his green shaggy hair covering his face. "P-please take good care of me!"
Walking along the street Izuku's red shoes scrapped against the concrete. Looking up he scanned the buildings, his gaze drifting down to a piece of paper held within his hands before looking back up at the buildings again.
1977 Yavin dr...1977 Yavin dr.
Muttering softly to himself his green eyes jumped from number to number. There's 1970 Yavin...1972 Yavin...ah 1977 Yavin.
Pausing his steps he looked up at the building with a raised eyebrow before looking down at the flyer again. The front of the flyer being an illustration of an orange closed fist raised to the sky, the text reading Kendo family dojo. Looking back up at the building he tilted his head slightly.
Staring back at him was a two story building in between two separate apartment complexes. A rocky path snaked down the center of the walkway, grass lining both sides. The front of the building was a big sliding door with the same fist logo illustrated onto it with orange paint. The logo looked old and faded, like it desperately needed a touch up. He could see steps to the far right that looked like they wound around and went up to the second floor. Four big pillars sat at each corner of the building, the same painted orange as the logo. The building wasn't run down per say...just a little on the dirty side. The windows were slightly dusty and there wasn't a single person in sight...if he was honest the place seemed more like a home then a dojo.
Standing in front of the "door" he raised a hand to knock but paused. Was this really the place his mom want's him to learn self defense at?
A loud bang made him jump almost a foot into the air, whiping around quickly to see the source of the noise. Coming down the steps to his right was a washing machine. Shifting from side to side down a handful of steps. He could hear the faint sound of grunts as it went down. It looked like someone was trying to move it but that was crazy, who would try to move a washing machine by themself? As he watched it move along he saw arms wrapped around it and the faint glimpse of orange hair peeking up from up top. Eyes widening a little he dropped his bags, quickly jogging up to help them. Running up to the other side he bent down, sliding his hands under it.
"H-hey! Do you need help?"
He couldn't see the person but from the sound of her voice she sounded relieved. "Oh! Yes please! I'll get one side if you get the other"
Giving a nod he shifted his weight, bending at the knees in a strained attempt to help her move the heavy metal box. How in the world was she moving this on her own? He was struggling when it was just the two of them!
Slowly but steadily they walked it down the steps, one step at a time. Leading it down they pulled it onto the grass, Izuku's lack of muscles flexing under the strain until they set it back down.
Oh thank god.
Rubbing at his arms he practically collapsed against the grass with a groan. Staring up at the blue sky he panted, muttering under his ragged breath. "Finally...now I can die."
"Common, it wasn't that bad you big baby" the stranger spoke.
Turning his head he finally got a glimpse of who the voice belonged to. Staring down at him with pretty teal eyes was a girl about his age. She had bright orange hair tied into a ponytail, a black tank top covered in some kind of grime and a bandage placed on her right cheek. Speckles of dirt covered her face as she smirked at him.
Opening his mouth he closed it again as she stared back at him...oh no. He's never talked to a girl before. His mind was racing, trying to think of something...anything to say. It had gotten to a point where he was starting to panic. Say something you fool!
"G-girl..."
Not like that! Say something smarter!
Snorting she smirked down at him, placing her hands on her hips. "Uh yeah, last time I checked I was still a girl."
Shaking her head her ponytail swayed from side to side before she reached a hand down to help him up, a hand he quickly grabbed. "You ok dude? You didn't hit your head or something lifting that did you?"
Izuku couldn't help but blush as she pulled him back to his feet, gently patting his shoulders. He heard many stories about how soft girl hands were, hell his own mother would drill into his head at a young age how he had to be gentle with girls. How they were quote "dainty creatures" and how he needed to always be a gentlemen to them...but her hands felt so rough and calloused. He had no doubt this girl could beat him up.
"N-no I'm ok! I'm always like this...I MEAN! Not always always, only sometimes always." Great he was rambling again...
The girl let him ramble a little too long, simply shifting her weight as she watched the train wreck of this one way conversation. It was probably really entertaining to look at...like a man fumbling a ball only to catch it and then fumble it again.
"Are you done? Or should I give you a few more minutes?"
"...I'm done now"
Slapping her hands together she gave him a crocked smirk. "Great! So what brings you here?"
Choking on his words he couldn't help but blush, simply nodding as he handed her the crumbled flyer in his hand. Taking it from him she looked it over before smiling genuinely at him.
"You must be Midoriya! Your mom called ahead to let us know that you were coming. She did say you were a little on the skittish side."
Turning she walked up to the front door, grabbing onto the big handle, her arm flexing as she pulled it open. A low rust covered scrapping sound came from the door as it slowly grinded open. Not really giving him a chance to scamp after her as she walked inside.
The entrance gave way to a mat covered floor leading into a narrow hallway. On the dirt floor before the mat were many groups of shoes of all shapes and sizes. Bending down he started to take off his shoes before realizing that his guide didn't even bother, simply walking straight onto the mat flooring with her shoes still on. She didn't even look over her shoulder to see if he was still following her. Frantically taking his red shoes off he practically flung them with the others before chasing after her,
As he followed after her he could hear her voice as they walked, her back to him the entire time. Her walk was so much stronger and more confident compared to his own. "You're a little early but I'll let it slide for the first day. You're in luck, we're supposed to have a good group today!"
Heading down a winding hallway he scanned the environment, his gaze flickering to framed pictures lining the walls. They looked to be pictures of the Kendo family, pictures of big groups of people and happy smiles. Looking them over his gaze stopped at a single frame in the back. It was of a taller buff looking man with long orange red hair. He looked to be surrounded by other family, even having his guides head in a headlock and giving her a noogie...but weirdly enough his face was scratched out. His face was the only one scratched out?
Jolting at the sound of his guides voice he realized that he stopped walking, quickly running after her. "Name's Itsuka Kendo but in this dojo you can call me Itsuka."
Sputter at what she said he shook his head. "I-I can't do that!?"
Stopping at a sliding door she turned to look back at him before laughing. "Trust me...it's going to be really confusing otherwise." Before he could question what she meant she already swung the door open.
Almost immediately he was assaulted by noise. There was so much of it it was hard to pin point what it all was. This must've been the living part of the dojo.
It was chaos.
As they made their way down some steps the hall made way to the living room.
An older man sat in a rocking chair, absentmindedly watching an old black and white samurai movie. To the right of the living room there was a kitchen connected to the same room. An older woman seemed to be cutting something. She gently smiled down at the food as she chopped away with a level of skill he's never seen with a knife before. She looked almost identical to Itsuka...she must've been Itsuka's mom. That or her older sister. The sink next to her was going off and pouring an endless stream of water into the sink. In the distance he could hear the sound of a dog barking in the backyard.
Following Itsuka farther into the room he jumped back as two younger twins ran past with fake swords, screaming loudly as they stabbed at each other. They had to be only ten at least.
Itsuka turned to smile at them as they ran past, playfully calling after them. "Hey you two, no playing swords in the house! If you two break another vase there's no saving you from mom!"
"Is that Itsuka I hear?" The new voice could be heard in a branching hallway away from the living room. An older slightly chubbier man looking to be in his thirties coming out of it with a smile. Heading for them he shouted at them. "Itsuka did you see what happened to the washing machine? It's broken and I was planning on taking it out front to fix it."
Looking back at him smugly she smirked "Way ahead of you old man. I just took it out front."
"By yourself? And who you calling old man!? I remember when I was your age not long ago."
"Twenty years ago maybe."
"What? No! It wasn't THAT long ago."
Watching these two fire off at each other back and forth Midoriya found himself unable to join the conversation, only able to turn to the person talking. Turning to look at him the older man smiled, reaching a hand out to shake his.
"How's it going! Names Matsuo Kendo! I'm Itsuka's uncle. Nice of Itsuka to finally bring a boyfriend along!"
Blushing deeply he attempted to stutter out a response before watching Itsuka jump into the conversation. "God please! Can you not say that to every boy you see me with! Just ignore him Midoriya, he thinks he's funny."
Looking between the two with their smirky smiles he could definitely see the resemblance.
"A-ah hello! My name is Izuku Midoriya! It's nice to meet you Ken...er Matsuo sir!"
It was at the moment Izuku realized what Itsuka meant when they first walked into the room...he can't call her Kendo because everyone here was a Kendo.
Patting him roughly on the shoulders Matsuo barked out a laugh. "A little on the skittish side ain't ya? Don't worry! A little time in our family will fix that!"
Itsuka pulled him along before he could say more. He was thrust before another person and another person...and another person. People came and went from this living room so much his head span. It's not that they weren't nice, there was just so many of them! How they all managed to live in this tiny building was beyond him.
If he remembers it all right. Itsuka Kendo has a dad, a mom, an uncle, two younger siblings, two cousins and a dog named Kojo.
There was no way he was going to remember all of their names the first time he met them...it was easy to remember the dogs name though.
Until finally after all of the introductions, after what felt like forever, he was slid into a chair next to the old man watching the samurai movie.
The old man continued to watch the movie, the image of a man getting sliced and falling off of a bridge appearing on the screen.
"Why are you here Mr. Midoriya?" His voice was harsh and grainy, worn down over the years by age.
"U-um I'm here for my self defense classes? I-im sorry for being early I just wanted to make sure I could find the pla..."
Cutting him off the older man turned to him with a harsh gaze. "No. Not that. Tell me why I should teach you, Midoriya. Why do you want to get stronger?"
Why does he want to get stronger? The question made him blink. Staring at the movie play he sat in thought.
Why DID he want to get stronger?
He was out of Aldera...they couldn't hurt him anymore. He was free of the jeering. Free of Bakugo and his lackies beating him up every day. He should be happy to be out of that environment but he's not...
Looking down at his hand he clenched it.
He thought of his mother's crying face when his father left, the face that she tried to hide behind closed doors.
He thought about Bakugo pushing himself. Constantly breaking his body when he was sure no one was looking.
There was a time years ago where he really looked up to Bakugo. People always praised his quirk but Izuku always found that Bakugo's dedication and drive was something more worth praising then his power. But his rage controlled his actions his power more akin to a volcano then a man.
What was the point of strength if all it did was create people like Bakugo? People who aren't afraid to abuse the weak just because they view them as lesser. Maybe it's true that power corrupts absolutely...
A flash of a memory. He thought of All Might pulling people from a wreckage with a smile on his face. That's right...there was a person not corrupted by power. Someone he looked up to above everyone else.
Looking over at the old man he gave him the most serious look he could. He had made a decision, all he had to do now is let the man know. "As I am now...I'm not strong enough. I can't even protect myself...let alone the important people in my life."
"I need to be better."
The entire family watched the interaction from a far. Kendo's mom and dad were smiling at them. Her cousin had stopped rough housing to stare. Even the dog had stopped barking.
Itsuka Kendo smiling a little more genuinely at the small boy, a faint hint of red dusted her cheeks.
Two samurais stood on a hill staring each other down as tense music played from the TV screen.
The old man looked him over with eyes full of experience and wisdom. Smiling he took his walking cane before getting up from the couch, reaching a hand out to take his.
"I'm sure you will be Mr. Midoriya. Welcome to the Kendo family dojo."