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Chapter Text

Izuku didn't come from a 'happy home'. His mother was always drinking, and his father was always gone. On the rare occasions they were together at the same time, they would yell and throw things at each other. Izuku would never tell anyone, but he has a burn scar on his back from when his father yelled at him, and a scar on his arm from where he accidentally got in the way of a knife his mother threw. But that's OK. That's normal... right?
Hisashi had been gone a lot more often as Izuku turned 5. That's about the time Inko took the little boy the the quirk doctor. And the time when shit truly went down hill.

"He's quirkless"

That word. That one word, would shatter whatever semblance of peace he had.

Inko ignored him the entire time it took to get to the train station, and the entire time it took to get home. Even when the five year of sat next to a black haired man wearing a black jumpsuit. The little boy thought that that was odd, it was summer after all. The man didn't even have his thick, dark hair up either. Wasn't that too hot? Izuku got a bit too lost in his head, almost being left behind by his mother, and the boy missed the way the dark haired man watched with concern.
But it's OK right? She loves me. It'll be OK right? Wrong. Maybe things would've been OK if Izuku's father hadn't been home... but he was. Izuku stood in the doorway of his bedroom watching, listening to the venomous hate dripping from the mouths of the people who were supposed to love and protect him.

Izuku was young, people are supposed to notice young children who walk alone. However, Izuku's apartment was in a nasty part of town. Izuku knew people in the alleys, people that the police looked for, people who killed, but they would never hurt a child, and certainly not one as kind as Izuku. Yamashita Riku, for example. He had killed 4 men in a drug deal, but when he found Izuku sitting in the cold he had bought the small boy a hot chocolate. Sakai Daki beat some teenage punks who were harassing the small boy. These men were the ones who watched over Izuku during his night time wandering. Either way, whether he was protected outside the house or not, when Izuku gets home, He finds Inko passed out on the singed couch with bottles around her. Izuku is alone with his mother. He's a smart boy though. He'll survive.

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"He's fucking quirkless!!! You useless fucking woman!! Can't even give me a useful kid can you!"

If words could kill, Izuku would have been dead by his third birthday. Love; care; concern. None of these things were in Hisashi's vocabulary. But that was ok. Kacchan took care of him...

The next day, at the park while Inko sobbed to Mitsuki, telling the blond haired woman how her son was quirkless and her husband had left her because of it, Izuku told Katsuki what had happened. He was laying on the ground beneath a large oak while the red eyed boy sat against the tree waving a stick in the air like a fishing pole in the thoughtful quiet. Izuku had told Kacchan what had happened and was now laying in silence while Katsuki used one hand to play with his cousin's hair.

"why is the bottom of your hair white?" Asked the blond randomly.
"Mama doesn't like my hair, it looks like my dad's." He replied, sounding as though he was talking about something unimportant.
"tch, why the heck's that a problem nerd? Shouldn't auntie be happy that you look like your dad?"

"..."

You know, Izuku hadn't thought much of how his mother viewed him. Hisashi had had black hair as a child, but once he met Inko he found a person with a quirk to change his hair color genetically so people would stop asking if they were siblings. So Izuku was born with white hair with raven green strips. But after the man started cheating and abusing Inko, when izuku was about 2, she started to dye the boy's hair to match her own.

Izuku snapped out of his thoughts. And looked at Katsuki.
"Papa wasn't nice to Mama and I... She says it's bad if my hair looks like daddy's."
Katsuki stared at Izuku with a blank face.
"That's stupid."
Izuku couldn't help but laugh. This was Kacchan. His cousin. His best friend. And the only one he could ever tell about his life.
"Kacchan?"
"What?
"You really don't mind me not having a quirk?"
"Tch, 'coarse not stupid. I'm still gonna be the numbered one hero and you'll still be my sidekick!"
With a bright grin Izuku stood up and shouted,
"Come on Kacchan! I wanna play heroes and villains!"

If the boys had looked up, the would have seen the venomous look Inko gave her son, while Mitsuki had turned away to grab more tissues. In her mind, Inko thought,
You've ruined me, you little shit. This is all. your. fault.

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Izuku learned quickly over the next three months that acting like he normally did would only get him hurt. So he changed. In the past him and Katsuki would play pranks and school, and be chaotic at their homes, as young children do. But he couldn't do that anymore.

When he ran into Inko's room one morning, about a week after they had gone to the park, to tell her about 'the super cool villain fight' he saw on TV, she threw the hair straightener at him. It burned the carpet and she screamed at him for it for the next hour.

It scared Katsuki. He watched as his bright chaotic 'green' haired friend stopped being himself. He started being quiet, a crybaby, and not initiating the pranks they usually pulled.
It pissed him off. He started bullying Izuku. Trying to get him to act normal. To act like himself. It never worked, but sometimes the blond could see a flash of.. Something, in the smaller boys eyes. That little light pushed Katsuki to push Izuku harder.

They would still play games together. But less, much less, than they used to. In the sixth grade they started playing 'Legend of Zelda' and Katsuki actually laughed.

"Look at that nerd! It's you! Deku! Your hair always did look like a fuckin' tree!"

Katsuki actually got a smile from Izuku with this comment. A real smile. The snarky one, not the baby face one he had perfected lately.

"I guess I'm Deku then, huh Kyo?"

Izuku asked, teasing the blond.

"HA!? I'm Not Some Mopy Ass Cat-Boy!"

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A few years later

Izuku was 14 now. Kacchan had actually giving him a lemon cupcake for his birthday.  It made the smaller boy really happy, and he give the blond a smile he rarely made anymore. One where his eyes relaxed into narrower eyes and a smile that was more of a soft smirk. Katsuki smirked back and walked away, satisfied.

There were three months until summer break, and Izuku was really glad for it. he was tired of all these clown looking bitches harassing him. Katsuki had been in a worse mood lately, usually tailing behind his lackies and letting them be the jerks instead of him. Izuku was pondering that change over his note book pages when he heard the teacher, dumb ass, throw papers into the air and shout some crap about everyone wanting to be heroes.  How his classmates thought they could be heroes with quirks like stabby nose or extendo neck or stretchy eyeballs was above Izuku's understanding.

I mean, if they did combat training and had support items then they would probably do really well, but they wouldn't, most of them won't at least

"And I see Izuku wants to go to UA as well Bakugou!" the teacher looked at the two boys with glee and watched as the blond set off little explosions in his palms.

"Ha?? You still think you can be a hero shitty Deku?!"

To everyone else it sounded like a threat, but Izuku knew Katsuki, and he heard the surprise and excitement in the red eyed teen's eyes.

"i-i know I c-can if I t-try"

The ¿greenetts? eyes watered. he had thought Katsuki had given up on him. An explosive hand smashed onto the open notebook

This fucking dick..

After class was dismissed

Izuku packed his things into his bag as he heard Bakugou's lackies cackling. Shit...

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Izuku froze. Had.. Had Katsuki actually said that? They made eye contact as the blond walked out the door, and Izuku noticed how Katsuki's hand held the strap of his bag; tight, a hint of pain in those red eyes. Izuku looked at Katsuki's eyes again and nodded slightly, a silent apology and forgiveness passing unnoticed between the two boys.

Izuku walked passed the school koi pond, retrieving the notebook Kacchan had tossed out the window, because wouldn't he? Izuku could easily rewrite the notes with little to no effort. Izuku had to physically force himself not to laugh at a memory, remembering the first time his ruby eyed friend had seen his page in Izuku's notes, well, pages really. He had looked scared, looking at Izuku and told him, point blank, that if he ever became a villain Bakugou was not fighting against him. Told him, in a rare act of joking, that he was rather attached to his hands.

Izuku had laughed at him at the time but the idea was tempting now. He could fix so much as a villain, in more effective and immediate ways than a hero could. Izuku was shaken out of his thoughts by the sound of steps coming up behind him. Steady, deliberate, Katsuki.
"Hey Kacchan!" Izuku said, golden smile already fixed in place.
"Drop the act, dumbass." Katsuki says, oddly tame in lew of what he had said to the younger boy in the classroom.

Izuku lets his smile drop. "Do you need something Kyo?" a subtle smirk playing at the corners of his bottle green eyes.
"Ha?! The hell did you just call me?! I ain't some mopy ass cat boy!" Katsuki yelled.
Izuku just let out a grin. A real grin. Because only Mitsuki, Masaru, and Izuku himself knew that Katsuki reacts like a cat when he gets sprayed by a water.

"Whatever you say Kacchan. Wanna walk home with me?"

"Tch, why do you think I'm here 張 Haru. you Dumbass." The blond said with an eye roll.

Izuku smiled softly. A curl of something sickly thick and fluttery wrapped around his heart. He knew what kanji Katsuki would use to spell that. 張, to stretch or strain. The dusty blond knew.. he always knew.

"Would you still be my friend? even if.."

"Tch, you know I would stupid."

They walked beneath an underpass, letting their thoughts swim in their minds. A cold rush of adrenaline flooded Izuku as the sound of a moving grate cover reverberated around the space.

Fuck...

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Katsuki is scared. There is only one person in the world he will ever let know he's scared, and that person is currently trapped inside the sludge villain. Fuck.

"IZUKU!"

Katsuki might not be as smart as Izuku. He may never be able to analyze and break apart quirks like his cousin could. But, he has learned a few things from Izuku. Before he could really think the ash blond had exploded part of the road and was holding a hunk of asphalt aimed right at the creature's eye.

A screech shattered the air as the bit of road hit the villain in the eye. Time seemed to slow as it ripped through the cornea deep into the iris. The villain jerked back and Bakugou grabbed Izuku's hand as a blast of air whipped into the alley.

"SMAAASH!"

The sludge villain flew into pieces and the number one hero (All Might!!??) landed in the alley. He glanced at the boys before quickly dumping out 2 liters of soda on the ground and quickly put some of the slime into the bottles.

"HELLO YOUNG MEN! I'M GLAD YOU ARE BOTH ALRIGHT!"

Bakugou ignored the man and leaned over his friend. He quickly smacked the greenette's cheeks repetitively, until he opened his eyes.

"Stupid nerd.."

The blond rolled Izuku onto his side as he started to cough violently before looking back up at the Hero.

"Where is the damn ambulance?" Katsuki said to the man.

"AH WELL, SEEING AS YOU'RE BOTH FINE, THERE IS NO NEED! I'LL BE LEAVING NOW!"

"Like the fuck you will!"

Katsuki screamed as Izuku forced himself into a sitting position to look at the symbol of peace.

"C-Can a q-quirkless p-person b-become a H-Hero!??" Izuku forced out passed coughs.

All Might seemed to freeze. And his voice became quieter.

"No, I Do Not Believe A Quirkless Person Can Be A Hero, Im Sorry!"

And before the boys could blink he was gone.

That night was spent with Izuku in Katsuki's room, the blond monitoring him meticulously to make sure there would be no dry drowning, since inko couldn't be bothered to worry about her son's health.

"Kacchan?"

"Yeah, Nerd?"

"What do you think of the name Kairen?"

"... What kanji?"

"Destroy or break, and lotus."

"... Sounds alot like you."