Chapter Text
If there was one single day that Izuku Midoriya would never forget for the rest of his life, it was the day that he first received his quirk. He could recall it all-in crystal-clear clarity, the surprise, the shock, the immediate pandemonium. It had all started out a not so unordinary day. Izuku was getting ready for school, and for once he was up nice and early, and had just finished up his breakfast. With some free time to kill Izuku had picked up his Ipod (All Might themed of course), and as not to bother his mother with his admittedly rather loud music he slipped in a pair of ear bugs, and turned up the volume, closing his eyes and dancing along to the music.
The song was very old, almost ancient, bordering on two centuries but Inko had always been a stickler for the classics. It was called Some Like it hot, by a pre quirk,,, boy-band he believed his mother had called them, called SPYAIR. The song was endlessly catchy, and though the lyrics were a little bit sad in places, it had a real ‘You can do it’ vibe to the music.
It was just as the song ended that it finally happened. Dancing along to the music, Izuku snapped his fingers, and suddenly felt his entire body lurch upwards, a sudden feeling of weightlessness overtaking him. Panicking Izukus eyes snapped open, but everything looked off.
The entire world seemed to be covered in a rainbow coloured film over it, it was so bright. IT only lasted for a second however, as the world then returned to normal and Izuku suddenly realised that he was three meters off the ground.
“Wooooooahhh!” Izuku shouted as he plummeted back down towards the ground very quickly.
Inko who was reading the news on her phone looked up to see her baby suddenly fall from the ceiling and land with a particularly loud thud on the cork floor of their kitchen. Immediately she was on her feet and rushed over to her baby expecting tears and a screaming toddler.
While she did get both she was not expecting to see tears of joy, and a massive smile on her babys face as he beamed up at her, squealing happily at the top of his lungs.
“I got my Quirk mama I got my quirk!” he yelled, blood trickling down his nose.
Once Inko had stopped fussing and panicking over Izukus injury, the weight of his words finally landed. Her little baby had a quirk. She quickly wrapped him in a warm hug, holding her little boy in her arms as he giggled happily.
A quick call to his school later, and both Izuku and his mother were driving down the freeway towards the nearest Quirk clinic, Inko doing her best to keep the already excitable four year old to keep still.
Izuku could hardly contain his excitement, practically vibrating in his chair as he sat in the clinic waiting room. It had finally come, it had finally come! He may have been the last one to develop his quirk, but it had finally come. Though he did wish that he hadn’t have to nearly break his nose to figure it out. He could barely stand waiting any longer, he’d been waiting his entire life for this moment, and it was finally happening.
He just wanted to find out what it was and show Kachan and the others.
“Um Dr. Friedman for an,,, Izuku Midoriya?” a rather tall bespectacled man called.
“That’s me!” Izuku hollered, jumping up form his seat, and eliciting some annoyed looked from the other patients. After some silent apologising from Inko the two Midoriya’s followed the man into a vacant room. As the Midoriyas sat down Izuku got a good look at the doctor. He was younger than most doctors he’d seen. Probably just a few years shy of his mother. He had clean flawless skin, a thin wispy beard, bright blue eyes and a bright smile. Izuku liked him immediately, the man just seemed trustworthy.
“Alrighty then, Izuku I hear you’ve just developed your quirk, you must be quite excited.” He grinned, looking down at the young boy who looked like he was about two seconds away from flying out of his seat. “Yeah, of course, it was so cool, it made my fly up into the air and,,,!” He was quickly shushed by his mother who nodded apologetically. “Izuku not now, I’m so sorry doctor.” She said, a pink hue to her cheeks. Dr. Friedman however simply laughed and waved off her apology. “Oh, it’s no bother, I’m actually quite giddy myself, it’s always fascinating to see what the next generation is bringing to the table.” He said his smile growing even wider.
“My own for example, Analyst, assists me in observing and understanding any situation or phenomena within my sightline.” He explained, turning back to Izuku. “Now young Midoriya, can you explain to me what you were doing when your quirk activated, any information would be extremely helpful.” The doctor said, whipping out a notebook, seemingly from nowhere.
“W-well I was just dancing around the living room and listening to some music, but I was using earbuds, I also had my eyes closed.” Izuku began, also pulling out his own notebook, again seemingly from thin air. Both the doctor and Izuku wrote at lightning speed, not a single detail left to spare. “Hmm, maybe an audible catalyst is needed, we’ll need to check for that later,,, and did you notice anything else?” “Then I snapped my fingers, and it felt like I was moving really fast, and when I opened my eyes I was in the air, and everything looked rainbow coloured, and there were a bunch of red lines everywhere.” That last detail seemed to grab the doctors attention, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“Now that’s a new one even for me.” He admitted, scratching his beard.
“And was the music still playing when you were falling?”
“No the song had just finished.” Izuku replied, again eliciting another long pause.
After a minute of pondering the doctor stood up, with his signature grin. “Well, I have a few ideas, but I’d like to test them out first, granted your both ok with it?” he asked, looking between the two verdanettes. Inko was slightly hesitant, but upon seeing Izuku’s beaming face, she couldn’t find it in herself to say no. He’d been waiting so long for this, she could let him indulge a little bit. “Alright, but nothing dangerous, one injury was enough for today.” She said finally. Dr. Friedman looked over joyed, jumping up from his seat and quickly moving towards the door.
“Fantastic, if you’ll just follow me, we have a room perfect for the testing we’ll be doing.” He said, motioning the Midoriyas to follow him.
Soon they found themselves in a large, padded room, about the size of their apartment. There was a small track with marked distances, and far away were a row of paper targets. “Welcome to testing field Alpha, I selected this one just in case Young Midoriya takes another tumble.” Friedman explained once again pulling out his notebook. “Now, Young Midoriya, I want you to put on a song, and but this time don’t put in your headphones.” Dr. Friedman said, gesturing to Izuku’s ipod.
Nodding quickly Izuku did just that, selecting the same song as before. The doctor frowned when he didn’t recognize the song, but aside from that nothing happened. Izuku felt a small pull, but aside from that, nothing.
Then he plugged in his earbuds and was transported to a different world. “W-whoa, its just like before, everything looks rainbow coloured, and the red lines are all around me.” Izuku squealed, jumping happily.
“Ah, so it requires an concentrated audible catalyst, alright, is it like it was before, is anything different?”
“Ummm, there are more red lines when one of us is talking, also, you all sound weird, like I can hear exactly what you’re saying but the music is still drowning you out.” Izuku said, tilting his head to one side.
“Absolutely fascinating, oh I’m so glad I came to work this morning!” The doctor said, writing like a madman.
“Ok, and now for another test, try snapping your finger, see what happens.” Nodding, Izuku looked at the track in front of him, took a deep breath, and snapped his fingers.
SNAP
Izuku felt the weightless feeling overtake him again, small lurching feeling overtaking him before he came to a sudden halt. Looking around himself Izuku was still on the ground, but not where he had been standing. He stood at least seven meters down the track. “Amazing, that was near instantaneous, but it’s not quite teleportation, Analysis is telling me that it’s a little more complicated than that. I believe your moving at supersonic speeds, the gust of wind and popping sound that his make when using your quirk implies that he’s moving at incredible speeds.” The doctor muttered to himself. Looking towards the baffled Inko, who was staring proudly at her little boy.
“And what did it feel like when you were moving young Midoriya, was there any wind or tingling?”
“I, uh,,, felt like I was moving, but I didn’t feel any wind anything, I just felt like I was moving forward.” Izuku said, scratching the back of his head. He didn’t quite know the words to explain what he was feeling. Though doctor Friedman still seemed enraptured.
“Ooooh, perhaps it gives you immunity to air friction whilst using your quirk, or maybe a form of enhanced durability?”
Midoriya didn’t quite understand what he meant by that, but it still sounded awesome.
“Ok, now there’s one more test I want you to complete.” Dr. Friedman said gesturing to the large practice dummy in the center of the room. It was one of those ones you’d seen a children’s dojo, with a rounded bottom, or what amounted to a large bowling pin. “I’d like you to use your quirk to punch this dummy, shoot over to it, and wind up a punch while you’re moving, I’d like to test another theory.”
Pausing his song Izuku followed him towards the dummy and set himself up, carefully, winding back his arm. He overheard a worried whisper from his mother asking if he was going to be alright. The doctor said he was going to be fine, the dummy is nice and padded, and highly shock absorbent, so it shouldn’t do to much damage to either of them.
With that in mind Midoriya gave them a thumbs up, turned on the music, and snapped his fingers, raising his free hand into a fist as he did so. Again, Izuku flew through the rainbow vortex, and swung his fist, impacting something soft, and leathery. But whatever he hit it wasn’t very strong, he barely felt any resistance at all. He must have missed. Sheepishly Izuku turned around, scratching the back of his head. “Oh um, sorry, I guessed I must have missed it, I can try again.”
“Um, Izuku sweety,” Inko began pointing to something behind him, a slight sweat forming on her brow.
“You didn’t miss.”
Confused Izuku turned around and saw the training dummy, or at least what was left of it. It now resided in several pieces scattered across the training room. Izuku was speechless, had he done that? A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. It’s really happening I finally have a quirk, real power. I can finally become a hero, like All might, a hero who can save everyone with a smile.
“W-well, that was, certainly unexpected.” Dr. Friedman said coughing slightly. “That dummy was stress tested to about 10,000 newtons of force, most impressive, young Midoriya.” The silence that followed was almost palpable as the room digested that tidbit of information. It was honestly a little frightening to see such a startling amount of power held within such a small boy.
“S-so doctor, what exactly is his quirk?” Inko finally asked breaking the rather uncomfortable silence. That seemed to switch him back on as the Dr. Friedman was quickly back to his normal energetic self.
“Oh of course, well I can say for certain that this one is quite a doosey.” He said, looking back between the Midoriya’s.
“It appears that Izukus quirk allows him to travel at supersonic speeds through sound waves. The only rules surrounding this seems to be that he must be wearing headphones or some kind of auditory device to activate it, that and it seems he must create a sound of his own to travel through.” The doctor said, scribbling down more notes as he went on, Izuku practically mirroring him as he went on.
“Now its definitely an emitter type quirk, and a mutation given the lack of similarities with your mother or fathers quirks, so all that’s left to do now is name your quirk kiddo.”
“Oh, a name ummm, how about Cannon ball, since I can shoot myself around like a cannon ball.” Izuku said snapping his fingers, thankfully this time he didn’t fly away.
“I like the sound of that Young Midoriya, now I believe that’s everything for the moment unless either of you have any more questions?”
Inko finally managed to shake herself out of her stupor and shook her head. “No thankyou doctor, but you’ve been most helpful thank you so much.” She said shaking Dr. Friedmans hand, as Izuku bounced over to them.
“Oh it’s my pleasure, and please take my card, and give me a call if you discover anything new so we can update his quirk profile.”
“Of course, now come on Izuku we need to get you to school and remember to thank Dr. Friedman.”
“Ok Mum, Thank you again DR. Freidman.” Izuku said, waving goodbye as he walked over to his mother only to stop and turn around.
“Um Dr’ Friedman, can I ask you one last question?” Izuku said, a hint of nervousness to his voice.
“Of course, Young Midoriya, what is it?”
“Do you think that I could become a hero with my quirk?”
There it was, the question that Izuku so desperately needed to know. His mother had always told him that once he got his quirk that he would become a great hero. But he needed to hear it from someone else. For a moment the Doctor said nothing before chuckling.
“Of course you can be a hero, with a quirk like yours I’d be more surprised if you didn’t become one.”
And just like that Izukus day became even greater. His little chest swelled with pride, and he had to steel himself to not start crying out with pure joy. He’d been so scared that he wouldn’t get a strong quirk, or even any quirk at all. Those had been the worlds he so desperately needed to hear.
“Thank you very much Doctor!” Izuku half shouted, following his mother out of the testing room, his beaming smile never leaving his lips.
It was just coming up to lunch time when Izuku arrived at Aldera Elementary. His mother had dropped him off, telling him they were having Katsudon for dinner as a special treat. She also told him not to show off too much, he wasn’t a hero yet afterall. Though the latter had honestly fallen on deaf ears. He wanted to show Kachan as quickly as he could, show him and the others just how cool his quirk was, that he wasn’t Deku anymore. Waving goodbye to his mother Izuku went off to explore the playground just outside his schools gates. They weren’t technically supposed to be there, but that had never stopped anyone from playing there during their breaks.
Tearing down the path Izuku followed the sound of Kachans very distinct voice (angry and commanding). But as the playground finally came into view Izuku found his feet grinding to a stop. Standing not too far away from him was Kacchan and two of the other boys he regularly hung out with. Though he’d never really learnt their names, he’d only ever heard Bakugou call them Wings and Fingers.
All three boys stood over another student, he was new and had only just transferred into their school a few days ago. He was a small, pale, white-haired boy, who had rather timidly referred to himself as Art.
Izuku didn’t really know much about Art. They hadn’t really spoken aside from when they’d played ice breakers earlier that week. However now he was panicked, bruises adorning his face, and tears in his eyes, as Bakugous lackeys held him down, while the firecracker himself stared rabbidly down Art, small explosions crackling off his hands.
“Kacchan? What are you doing?”
Kacchan slowly turned to look over at Izuku. “Oh, it’s just you Deku. Just stay over there, I’m gonna teach this extra a lesson.” He said, cracking his knuckles, smoke rising from his hands after every pop.
“The quirkless freak here kept on running his mouth. Told me I’d never be a hero.” He smirked, turning his gaze back to Art, a cruel spark making itself at home in the blonde boys eyes.
“B-but wait Kacchan, that’s no -reason to beat him up, and besides he’s not quirkless, he’s probably just a few days a way from getting his.” Izuku stuttered, choosing his words carefully. Kacchan had been quick to anger recently and he wasn’t keen on attracting his ire.
“Hah, shows what you know stupid Deku, I heard the teachers say that he went to the doctors this morning.” Kacchan said, his words making the white haired boy whimper.
“Apparently this little bug has an extra toe joint, it means he’ll never get a quirk, he’ll always be a quirkless loser!” He cackled, fingers and wings Laughing along with him.
Having said his piece Kacchan wound up his arm, sparks crackling across his open palm. But he never made contact, as suddenly he was thrown clear across the park, landing roughly on the pavement, and skidding to a halt. Growling he looked back towards where he had been standing only to see Deku, with his fists clenched, headphones in, and a determined look that the young blonde had never seen before.
Everyone was stunned, none of them had seen him move, none of them had heard anything. And yet somehow he had managed to throw Katsuki a full six meters.
“T-that’s, enough Kacchan.” He said, his voice still skittish and wobbly. He was scared, Katsuki though, hissing as he got up to his feet, ignoring the scraped skin on his hand and elbow.
“So, Deku.” He smirked, his red eyes falling onto the young verdanette. “You finally get a quirk and you think you’re hot shit, huh?”
“N-no, I don’t, but I know that this is wrong, a hero wouldn’t do this Kacchan!” Izuku said, standing his ground and squaring his shoulders as he’d seen many a hero do. “Doing this, you’re no better than a villain.”
The moment the words left his mouth Izuku knew he’d fucked up. The spark in Kacchans eyes ignited into a roaring blaze, pure fury flowing into the explosive four year old. “Oh, Deku, Deku, Deku.” He growled, cold hard stare replacing his sadistic grin, as he made his way back towards Izuku.
“You’re fucking dead!” he roared, launching himself at Izuku. Before he could even react an explosive powered punch slammed into his gut sending him sprawling. Quickly Izuku staggered to his feet, his vision swimming as he snapped his fingers, only for nothing to happen. Looking down Izuku saw the remains of his headphone cords, blasted beyond repair.
“Hah, like I thought, I’ve never seen you wear those before, you must need them to use your useless quirk.” Kacchan said, motioning to his two cronies. Immediately they dropped the white haired boy and grabbed Izuku holding him in a not too unfamiliar manner to what they had done to Art earlier.
“Now Deku, let me show you just how useless you and your shitty quirk are!” He roared, pummeling Izuku in the face over and over again. Izuku watched as Art got up and ran away back towards the school, no doubt happy to be free of Bakugous torment.
‘Good.’ Izuku thought to himself as another explosive punch brought him to his knees.
‘At least he was able to get away.’
After a minute they Kacchan and the boys dropped him running away from the playground and disappeared into the nearby tree line. Confused Izuku looked around to find Art and one of his teachers rushing towards him. He vaguely remembered being picked up and brought to the nurses office, and briefly being questioned about what happened once he was rested enough to answer.
He was visited personally by the principal, a balding man with a silver hairline and a smile that never quite reached his eyes.
“Ah hello Midoriya, I’m sorry to trouble you, but I was wondering if you could answer some questions.” The way he said it didn’t make it sound like a question.
“Y-yes sir.” Izuku said stiffly, not sure why he suddenly felt so tense.
“Well first of all, I’d like to know why you attacked Katsuki Bakugou?”
The silence that followed was almost palpable as Izuku just stared up at the principal. What was he talking about? He just threw him away from Art. “I-I didn’t attack Kacchan, I just threw him away from Art, he was hurting him.” Izuku explained, receiving a cocked eyebrow from the principal.
“With your quirk?”
“Y-yes but,,,” Izuku tried to explain.
“No buts Midoriya, quirk usage like that is Illegal, especially against another person.”
“But Kacchan,,,”
“Defended himself after you attacked him, which is perfectly reasonable given the situation.”
Izuku flinched slightly at his response, still feeling the bruises and aches of his injuries. That was reasonable? “But I was helping Art Kacchan was hurting Art and,,,”
“We have confirmed both from Bakugou and Art that what was happening was nothing short of simple rough housing, something you took to far.”
Art who had accompanied Izuku into the nurse’s office squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. Clearly, he wasn’t happy about this answer. “Is there something you’d like to add Art?” The principal asked, his eyes narrowing.
“N-no sir!” He yelped, his eyes falling to his shoes.
“Very good, I wouldn’t want to call the director, now would I?”
“N-no sir.” Art replied dejectedly.
“Good, now I expect to hear the truth from the both of you when I come back, I have some calls to make.” The principal muttered, flinging the door closed behind him.
Wincing Izuku turned towards the small white-haired boy who’d refused to leave his side ever since they’d arrived back at school. He’d been quiet, simply sitting in a chair next to Izukus bed, watching him. He looked like he wanted to say something, occasionally opening his mouth, but closing it again after a few moments.
“Are you hurt?” Izuku asked weakly. His question eliciting a surprised nod from the small boy. “Y-yes I’m unharmed.” Art replied, a mirthless smile creeping onto his lips. “It was just a few,,, wait why are you asking me that?”
Izuku winced slightly as he attempted to smile, suddenly reminding himself why he was in the nurse’s office in the first place. “Y-you saved me, and you got hurt s-so badly because of m-me.” He stuttered, scrunching his hands up tightly, as he began to sob.
“I-if I had a quirk, I could have helped you, but, but I couldn’t I was too weak.”
“B-but you did help.” Izuku said, making Art stop at stare at the young Verdanette like he was insane.
“B-but I ran away, that’s not what a hero would do.”
“Y-you ran to get help, that made them run away.” Izuku struggled, propping himself up on his elbows.
“You’re a hero to me.” He said, giving Art his best smile.
Slowly Art whipped the tears from his eyes looking over to Izuku a ghost of his own smile making its way onto his lips.
“T-thanks Deku.” He muttered, finally meeting Izukus eyes.
Izuku flinched slightly at the name. “T-that’s actually just a nickname Kacchan gave me, i-it means useless.”
Arts eyes widened as he realised his mistake. “I-I’m so sorry, I thought it meant you can do it, l-like Dekuru.” He spluttered, waving his hands in front of him.
“No, no, Its alright you didn’t know.” Izuku told him, sighing wistfully.
“Then can I call you Dekiru instead?”
Izuku tilted his head in confusion. “Hm?”
“Can I call you Dekiru instead, i-it means ‘You can do it’ right? I think it works a bit better than Deku as a nickname, and ummm,,,”
“Yeah, I’d actually really like that, thanks Art.” Izuku grinned, eliciting a nervous chuckle from Art.
“Don’t mention it.” There was another, pregnant pause as the two boys sat in silence, Izuku not really sure what to say and Art nervously fidgeting with his fingers.
“Hey um, do you want to be friends with me?” Art asked nervously, rubbing the back of his head. “I-I know it won’t be fun to hang out with a quirkless kid like me but,,,”
“I’d love to. Oh do you like playing heroes and villains, I know a really nice park near my house?” Izuku replied, grinning with as much effort as he could muster.
Again Art was stunned at Izuku’s answer and just smiled, this time with a big toothy grin.
“Yeah, that sounds great!”