Chapter Text
“A pro is always laying their life on the line. So I just can’t bring myself to tell you you can do it even without a quirk.”
There is no villain to defeat, no way for Izuku to show that he has what it takes to be a hero, to inherit a miracle quirk. The green headed boy can’t do anything but to continue his life with his newly shattered dream.
The one good thing that comes out of it is that Izuku is left alone. Bakugou had tried to bully him out of applying to UA the following day but to his surprise the other boy had just sighed, “I know Kacchan… I won’t apply for the hero course.” That had shut the explosive boy up for a good while.
But where did that leave Izuku? He had been sticking to his dream of being a hero for longer than he could remember. The boy had never considered another dream nor even a job he would be adequate at.
Dejected, the boy trudged along the sidewalk down his usual route home. Suddenly however he stopped dead in his tracks, tears streaming down his face. Run-down the freckled boy dragged himself towards a bench planting himself down upon reaching it.
In truth even before shedding tears he hadn’t wanted to go home to his concerned mother. She had noticed how unusually meek he had been and started questioning him. Of course the gloomy teenager didn’t tell her and wasn’t planning on it either. Avoiding the person he lived with till he figured out a new life goal or a sufficient lie wouldn’t work very well but for today he would stay out until his worried mother went to work for her night shift.
As luck would have it, Izuku's school day had ended somewhat late which left him with about three or four hours of time to do something… Whenever he had time the aspiring hero would chase down fights to analyze quirks, it was his favorite pastime. Or had been. Now looking at heroes living his abandoned dream sounded more like pouring salt into already scorching wounds than an enjoyable way to pass time.
The boy sat there deep in thought for a while trying to come up with something to do but for nought. Luckily technology has the answers to all. After a quick google search there were three things he could spend a good chunk of time doing nearby: arcade, swimming and karaoke. Swimming wasn’t going to happen without swim trunks so that was off the list. Likewise Midoriya took the arcade off of his mental list knowing many classmates of his liked hanging around there. With that, going to karaoke was what he was going to do.
⋆˚☆˖°⋆｡° ✮˖ ࣪ ⊹⋆.˚⋆˚☆˖°⋆｡
Turns out the green haired boy was a natural at the whole karaoke thing. He had never really sung before, not even in music class at school. The quirkless boy, not wanting to give another reason for his peers to bully him, had always stuck to lip syncing lyrics. Currently he is starting to regret never giving it a go. Singing felt freeing in a way he had never felt before besides he even sounded good on top of that. After around two hours of singing his voice felt hoarse yet he hadn’t felt nearly as light in what felt like forever.
Izuku had found a new dream.
The thought of telling his mom felt awkward honestly. Like what would he even say, “Hey mom I’ve given up on my impossible goal of being a hero in favor of my ambiguous goal of becoming a singer!” Yeah Izuku didn’t exactly know how his mother would react to that piece of news. Though he knew she was against him becoming a hero seeing that she didn’t believe in him that it was dangerous, but would it disappoint her to know his next dream was rather irrational as well…
So the freckled boy had done what any reasonable teenager would do and avoided the issue till the bitter end.
❁✿❀❁✿❀❁✿❀❁✿❀
Inko wasn’t a dumb woman nor mother. She knew her son had been struggling and after she had tried to ask about it the boy had started avoiding her! On one hand as a retired teenager she knew it was hard sometimes and talking was often the last thing she had wanted to do at that age. On the other hand as a mother she was distressed about not knowing what was up with her own son.
Thus today is the day she confronts the elusive boy about what he has been up to these past couple of weeks. She planned to wait in front of her son’s room until the boy in question finally came home from god knows where. For all she knows he might be getting mixed up with villains!
Izuku had been coming home relatively late for a few weeks now and practically ran past her if she wasn’t at work. He usually shrugged off any questions she tried to throw his way and retreated into his room to hide from her. Today would be different. She was positioned in front of the door to her son’s room. There’d be no way to get into the room without moving her. Quite an uncivilised tactic in Inko’s honest opinion nevertheless she wouldn’t let the boy past her until he told her everything.
Eventually, the front door opened gingerly. If the green haired woman hadn’t been glaring at the door like it had personally offended her for the last half an hour, she might not have even noticed anyone entering the home at all. Clearly the poor boy hadn’t expected her to observe him entering. Once the teenager made out the silhouette of his mother staring fiercely at him he froze on his feet like a deer caught in headlights.
“Izuku we need to talk.”
“Uh.. H-hi mom.”
“I know you’ve been avoiding me.”
“Well I wouldn’t say—”
“We both know I’m right. I just want to know why. Are you doing something bad? You haven’t been mixed up in anything have you?”
To the comfort of Inko her son looked totally offended at the mere suggestion of any illegal activities.
“WHAT? Of course not mom! I’ve just you know…” He trailed off.
“I don’t know if you don’t tell me. It’s driving me crazy not knowing what is happening with you. Please, I can help if you just tell me.”
The boy started looking incredibly guilty. Inko’s heart almost stopped, thinking that her son had actually done something bad. But then he answered looking a mix of embarrassed and ashamed.
“I have- I HAVE BEEN GOING OUT TO SING KARAOKE!”
Inko almost laughed in relief—almost—she could read her son well enough to know he wouldn’t appreciate it. This was somehow hard to tell her and she couldn’t fathom why. Nonetheless her son continued speaking or more accurately muttering.
“And I’ve been thinking… Well it’s probably dumb I mean there are way more talented people then me and of course it’d be hard and everything and I don’t think that many people would even support me or…”
“Izuku son, I won't be disappointed in you. Just tell me.”
“I THINK I WANT TO BE A SINGER!!!!”
“What??”
That wasn’t really in the realm of possibilities she was considering. She never knew he liked singing and all her thoughts must’ve been showing on her face because the now flushed boy was avoiding eye contact and started muttering again.
“I’m sorry I just I know it’s kind of out of left field and it’s not exactly the easiest career path but I just discovered I liked it and I didn’t want you to be disappointed andI’lllookintosomethingelseIknewitwasdumband—”
Inko hugged her son tightly which in turn shut her boy up as he hugged her back.
“Of course I’m not disappointed, I was just surprised that is what you were keeping from me. I didn’t even know you liked singing. Do you want me to sign you up for some course?”
Izuku started laughing at her own muttering and the day ended with both mother and son smiling together researching possibilities.
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ₊ ⊹ ₊ . ݁ ⟡ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁
Izuku had felt a little hurt when he realized his mother had never asked him why he had abandoned his lifelong dream of being a hero. But now that he had had another splendid vocal lesson all of his thoughts had been replaced with pure bliss. His teacher Ms. Monroe—or as she had been asked to be called Sundae—even complimented him!
His mother had signed him up for vocal lessons with the overly friendly woman a few months ago and she was the best teacher he had ever had. The pink haired woman supported him more than any of his teachers had in the past and on top of that she often praised him. His confidence had been growing with every lesson likewise his singing sounded better each time. He was about to leave his weekly session when Sundae called out to him.
“Kid, wait just a moment!”
“Okay, Ms. Monroe?”
“Quit calling me miss, I'm not that old! But for real you said you were interested in a career in music right?”
“Yes! But I haven’t had time to research any school or anything. Do you have any suggestions for me?”
The pink haired woman smirked, proudly tilting her head up every so slightly while revealing her scheme.
“I have something even better for you! You should sign up for the Noise! Your vocals are astonishing, you've practically already won the whole thing!!”
She thrust an application form into the unsettled boy’s hands while grinning widely.
“Wha-what I-I’m not that good I mean and how do you expect me to win; can a fourteen year old even sign up for this and isn’t this like a sort of popularity contest I’m not that good at making people like me and—”
“Chill! See this is why the show would be good for you. You need more confidence and trust me people will love you! You just have had it tough with people being overly judgemental in the past.”
“Still I don’t think I could make it that far.”
“Well I THINK you should just go to try out. You know so many people apply for these things so even being chosen would mean you are greater than hundreds of other people. Plus if you don’t get chosen then no one will ever know no harm done! Anyhow, just give it some thought. See you next week!”
“Bye..?”
‧₊˚♪ ₊˚⊹‧₊♪ ₊˚⊹‧˚♪ ₊˚⊹‧₊˚♪ ₊˚⊹
He knew it had been stupid of him to go to the stupid audition even if all the people had seemed nice and the judges impressed. Yet here he was about to open the email he had gotten. Izuku was in a way hopeful he knew his teacher, though very nice, wouldn’t dish out as many compliments as she had if he truly didn’t have any talent. The thought of failing and having to tell his mom and Ms. Monroe felt immensely unpleasant. However could anyone expect a scrawny fourteen year old to be accepted for a famous tv show anyway? He needed to calm down. There would always be other opportunities if the whole thing failed. Holding his breath he opened the email…
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟 𓆝
“And last but not least our youngest contestant for this year, a fourteen-year-old boy! He impressed the judges with his voice though apparently he’s just a newbie having started training just earlier this year; can you believe that?! But without further delay, let’s welcome our little wildcard, Izuku Midoriya!”
“Hi everyone, I’ll do my very best to continue improving and proving myself!”
“What determination! Don’t tell anyone else but I’m rooting for you!”
The man gave him a wink before they continued with the interview.
⋆ 𐙚 ₊ ˚ ⊹ ♡ ⊹ ˚ ₊ 𐙚 ⋆
Honestly the show had been a huge point of growth for him. The once shy boy had grown out of his shell, had become more confident than ever. The whole show was a hit, trending every time a new episode came out. Moreover, true to his teacher’s words, people were believe it or not rooting for him. The boy felt on top of the world, people were being incredibly nice to him even after finding out about his quirklessness. He had even acquired a good following on his new socials that the show's manager had made him start up.
“It has come to the top 3. Today we have seen some astounding performances and it saddens my heart to eliminate one of you today.”
“Yes, all of us judges had a hard time naming who we think should get to continue to the finals.”
“Today’s criteria for a song were tough and while I think all of you nailed it there is one performance that didn't shine as brightly as it could’ve.”
A tense silence fell over the crowd no one dared to make a sound.
“Our third place winner is Izuku Midoriya!”
The contestants who had been holding hands hugged each other smiling and congratulating one another for making it this far.
“Thank you for the opportunity and support from everyone! I’ll definitely continue forward and use everything I learned here in the future! OH-! I especially want to thank my teacher Sundae Monroe for encouraging me to join this show in the first place and being the best teacher ever!”
The boy bowed deeply to the judges, the audience and lastly to the cameras in the room before leaving. It was sad being eliminated and all but at the same time he got to move back home fulltime now. The green haired boy had started to deeply miss his home, having needed to live close by to the recording studio for the duration of the show.
⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆ ｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ｡⋆
A few weeks after settling in at home once again Izuku started back up with catching up to all of his school work he had been putting off in favor of practice. Deep into his homework pile, he was disrupted by his mother squealing something about an offer. Turns out Izuku, freshly turned fifteen, had gotten an incredible record deal offer.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ ˗ˋˏ ★ ˎˊ˗ ˗ˋˏ ★ ˊˎ˗
Auntie Inko had invited them over to celebrate the nerd’s achievements or something. Bakugou wasn’t blind he had seen Deku on some weirdo show on tv and though he would never ever say it out loud the dumbass had been kind of good at the thing. WHICH WAS ANNOYING since Katsuki himself wanted to be the only one from their shitty school to make it big. Though the nerd wasn’t even trying to be a hero so did it even count? Whatever he still wanted to avoid going over. Maybe if he was quiet his parents would forget about him.
It was so annoying when his old hag dragged him along; it meant pretending to get along with the nerd and his dense dreams. He could never wrap his mind around how the other boy thought he could fight anyone off without a quirk. Felt like the useless Deku was trying to one up him; like he was trying to beat him in a knife fight except he didn’t even have a knife. Yet now the green haired boy had apparently changed his mind so Katsuki didn’t exactly know how to deal with him.
“COME ON KATSUKI YOU BETTER GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE OR I’LL COME DRAG YOU DOWN MYSELF!!"
“SHUT IT HAG! I’M COMING!!”
Tough luck. Not that he had been expecting anything else. The blond could count on one hand how many times his stubborn mother had let him weasel out of the get togethers. And to be fair Bakugou hadn’t seen the dork in a few months so who knew maybe he’d grown a backbone or something along those lines.
𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆ `♡´ ⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃
“You know how you treat me isn’t fair. Honestly I think your way of acting is more villainous than anything. You’d better quit while you’re ahead.”
Well apparently the timid boy had actually managed to get the aforementioned backbone. But now the little shit was using it on him.
The dinner had started off well enough, meaning that the explosive boy sat soundlessly picking at his food. He recalls his old hag gushing about the dumb-ass, something about the boy sounding marvelous on tv. That had made the nerd red in the face. Then they rattled on about him releasing some songs he wrote? Bakugou had quite frankly stoped listening halfway through.
The adults had decided to drink wine and consequently sent the two teenagers to Izuku’s room or the All Might cave as he had baptized it. Actually it was less All Mighty than the last time he had seen it. Some posters had been replaced and one cabinet, which had held figurines of the hero, had been cleared out.
He had remarked, “You idiot can’t be a hero so you start hating the man or what?”, while throwing himself onto the other boy's bed notably without the usual All Might sheets.
Deku got an uncanny look on his face and started bashing him. He was the best of the best, the future number one so of course he gets to do whatever he wants. The nerd telling him off was totally uncalled for.
“HUH!? WHERE DO YOU GET OFF CALLING ME A VILLAIN YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT?! I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT A REAL VILLAIN IS!!”
The dumb-ass had looked petrified—as he should—yet somehow he mustered up the courage to commence talking back to the explosive boy.
“Y-you know what? I genuinely didn’t want to bring it up. But for the time being I have way more popularity and supporters than you do. If I were to accuse you of bullying it’d go viral, you’d never escape the rumors, might even kill your career as a hero before it starts!”
“...”
“So yeah I don’t want to hear you yelling any insults at me.”
Katsuki sat up straight, opening his mouth to shout at the green haired boy but then he shut it and laid back down on the bed. What the other boy had said was true even if it felt sour to admit.
It was extremely awkward afterwards. The green haired boy had gone to practice guitar humming along to the tunes and quite pointedly ignoring the blond’s existence. So there Bakugou laid scowling at the ceiling, willing it to collapse. At long last his parents had come up to get him to go home.
God he hoped to never have to see the nerd again.
Too bad it seems god had other plans.
.𖥔 ݁ ˖𓂃.: ݁˖ ⋆.˚ .☘︎ ܁˖✶⋆.˚
“Congratulations on getting into the hero course!!”
The nerd and auntie Inko had come over to their house this time. They were all celebrating him getting into UA, the only one from their shitty school to ever get in by the way.
The dinner went ok. He had been forced to interact with the other people at the table via pointed questions. Deku himself, seemingly deciding to ignore their last interaction, had asked him about the other people he took the exam with, something about if he had been impressed by anyone. He had answered by grumpling something about him being the best and that was that. Turns out the aspiring singer had chosen the closest high school to where he lived. That had confused Katsuki enough to question why he hadn’t chosen some fancy musical academy for his music career. The response he got was his hag hitting him in the back of the head asking him if he had paid any attention at their last celebration dinner before explaining away.
“WELL if you had listened last time you’d know Izuku has already started opening for other artists, he’s going to have a concert of his own and soon enough he’ll be the darn best musician ever; going to a nearby school is going to save him time to focus on his career!”
“I don’t know about the best but my manager already started talking about scheduling a tour afterwards if the concert goes well!”
“Go you.” The blond uttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes, earning him another slap on the back of his head.
Both teenagers were once again ushered out of the room in favor of some “quiet wine drinking” and now they were standing in his room. Katsuki had been sketching hero costumes prior to the visit from the Midoriyas. Now the nerd was looking over his designs with judgemental eyes.
“WHAT!? Got something to say Deku??!”
The freckled boy's eyes trailed off the designs to stare into his fiery red eyes.
“Are you trying to look like a villain? These look like something a demon lord would wear.”
“Well they suit King Explosion Murder just fine.”
“That’s the hero name you’re going with???”
Deku had a horrified look on his face. It made the explosive boy cackle with glee, “Yea got a problem with it?” Bakugou held a smug air to him, daring the other boy to say anything.
“YES! It’s horrendous there is no way anyone will let you use that as a name!!! Secondly if someone were to come up to me in these costumes I’d assume it to be some villain and kick them in their balls! Is that what you want?”
“HUH!? YOU COME UP WITH SOMETHING BETTER THEN!!!”
“I WILL!!!”
It was truly the most fun he had had with Deku in years. They were drafting designs and names for his hero costume like they had done as kids expect now they weren’t making any for Izuku.
Some of the designs were clearly made to piss him off and one name suggestion had even been “the Aggressive Yapping Hero, Explosive Pomeranian”. It was annoying to be the butt of a joke but in all honesty the nerd's change in attitude made him SOMEWHAT tolerable.
Plus while he would never admit it it had been worthwhile making his hero costume look presentable with the other boy. The blond had claimed that only his designs were acceptable while already having his heart set on one of Izuku’s designs with some tweeks. If the nerd never ever realized it the better; Bakugou would not on any occasion want to admit having gotten any help.
“Once you become a hero I’ll make you a theme song.”
“Only if it’s cool enough for the name LORD EXPLOSION MURDER!!”
“Yeah that’s not any better.”
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