Chapter 1: Change
Izuku Midoriya was legally quirkless, despite his lack of a toe joint in his x-rays, his quirk never really manifested.
During the first couple of years Izuku assumed he was simply a late bloomer and that his quirk would come in anytime now, maybe his quirk was really powerful and that's why it needed more time to develop, but it never appeared. Despite the long wait he remained hopeful, after all the doctor did say some quirks have specific requirements for them to become active, he just had to figure out what it was … but he never did and the way people treated him because of that didn't make it any easier.
His former best friend always had a brash attitude and that got worse with the years specially when Izuku's quirk never manifested. "If you are supposed to have a quirk and you can't even manifest it then you must really be a useless Deku!" Izuku remembered how the blonde laughed when he said that, he awkwardly laughed with him despite how much those words hurt him … it was Kacchan, his best friend, he could be a little mean at times but Izuku knew he never really meant it or that's what he tells himself at least, it makes living the way he does easier.
His mom was as hopeful as he was when they told him his quirk was coming but it never really did, she always told him that when his quirk came he would become a great hero just like All Might. She kept repeating that over the years, although she started saying it less and less until she stopped, sure she would say it again when Izuku asked her if he could be a hero but he could see the look in her eyes, she didn't mean it and she didn't believe his quirk would come anymore. He stopped asking at some point, it didn't matter how much he wanted to be reassured about his quirk coming, seeing that broken look in his mom's eyes wasn't worth it.
As it was to be expected he was bullied for not having a quirk, a rumor started to spread that he made up the whole late bloomer thing, that he did have a toe joint and that he truly was quirkless and was still in denial. Midoriya had the x-rays to prove his story, but he didn't bother trying to prove it, no one would believe him anyways they would just say he made things up again, the best thing he could do was lower his head and try to make sure no one noticed he was there.
But Kacchan noticed, he always did. Sometimes he thought the blonde had it out for him and he couldn't really understand why, he did his best to stay out of his way and yet it felt like the teen made an effort to find him just so he could hurt him for fun. Izuku shook his head, that couldn't be right, Kacchan was going to be a great hero and heroes didn't hurt people for fun, he just annoyed him with his mumbling or something.
Right now he was in class and his teacher was talking about what schools they wanted to apply to and what careers they would choose, soon enough he threw all applications into the air. "Oh who cares! We know you are all aiming to be heroes!" All the students cheered displaying their quirks in excitement, Izuku just shrank in his seat, he can just stay quiet and finish the day and go home. "Midoriya, you are aiming for UA too right?" Izuku didn't move, he could feel Kacchan's glare on him and he just knew things would go wrong once class was over.
"Oi?! What the fuck do you think you are doing Deku?! I'm the only one applying to UA!" The greenette couldn't stop himself from flinching at the sound of explosions, as always his teacher did nothing to stop the future number one hero from throwing a tantrum.
"Now, now, calm down. We still have a class to finish." The teen is already dreading the end of the class, he sighed knowing he would come home to hide bruises and burns from his mom again.
When the bell rang Izuku tried to put everything in his backpack to rush out of the class, as always he simply wasn't fast enough. "You in a hurry Deku?" Izuku held onto his notebook like his life depended on it.
"N-No, just you know, mom worries a lot if I'm late." He saw the blonde roll his eyes, as if he cared about why Deku is in a rush.
"You are applying to UA? You think you are better than me?!" Izuku stepped back while Kacchan stepped forwards.
"No! O-of course not Kacchan! I just thought there was no harm in trying." His little outburst became quieter the longer he spoke, he isn't better than Kacchan, no one is better than Kacchan.
"You are just going to make UA waste their time! Why would they ever allow a quirkless freak into the hero course?!" The blonde snatched his notebook putting it between his two hands before blowing it up. "Get this through your thick skull Deku! You will never become a hero!" After saying that he threw the notebook out the window, Izuku rushed to the window trying to catch it but Katsuki stopped him putting a hand on his shoulder, he could already feel the heath through his uniform. "You want to be a hero that badly? Then take a swan dive of the roof and pray you get an actual quirk in your next life!" The new starburst mark on his shoulder was burning, but he could only feel frozen at Kacchan's words.
The blond left with his lackeys but Izuku remained frozen on the spot, Kacchan was going to be a hero, Kacchan was supposed to be his best friend … best friends and heroes don't tell you to kill yourself. There is no way Kacchan actually meant that right? Doesn't he have any idea in how much trouble he could get if he actually did that? … Would he even cared if he actually jumped? Izuku shook his head trying to get those thoughts out of his head, he should go fetch his notebook.
He sighed when he saw that his notebook fell in the pond, being nibbled on by a few koi fish, he carefully took it trying to dry it off. "I can salvage it … maybe." He put it back in his backpack and started to walk home, taking a different route so he wouldn't bump into Kacchan again. He stopped for a moment when he felt something fall on his head, he looked up to see dark clouds on the sky alongside droplets that were starting to fall. He quickly rushed to take cover under a bridge. "This day can't get any worse." Just as he said that the cover of the sewer began to move, he just had to jinx it didn't he?
A villain made of sludge came out of the sewer and quickly latched onto him covering his mouth and nose trying to push it's way into him. "You will do just fine as a meat suit! Stop struggling and I'll make it quick kid!" Izuku tried to claw the sludge off his face but he could barely move, the goo making it's way into his mouth was disgusting and he so desperately wanted it to stop but he couldn't, he couldn't breathe, he was drowning and there was nothing he could do about it. Black dots started to appear in his vision, he blacked out just as he saw a silhouette approaching.
Small taps on his face brought him back to the world of the living. "Are you alright my boy?!"
Midoriya was so confused. "Wha-?" His vision started to clear up and there before him was none other than the number one hero. "A-ALL MIGHT?!" The number one hero stood in all his glory.
"Glad to see you are okay citizen! I have to take care of this villain now!" He said lifting up a soda bottle that had sludge and a pair of eyes inside.
"Wait! Cou-Could you sign my-" He rushed looking for his notebook, to his surprise it was already signed.
"I already took care of that! If you are okay then I must leave!" He can't let All Might leave, this is his only chance to ask!
"All Might wait! I really need to ask you something!" The hero walked out of the bridge and readied himself to leap away, Izuku not having time to think things through grabbed onto All Might leg, shrieking loudly when the hero took off.
"What are you doing?! Let go!" The hero tried to nudge him off but he held on tighter, his life quite literally depended on it.
"If I let go I'll die!" The hero had to agree with him, quickly finding a place to land on top a tall building.
"That was very irresponsible of you young man!" The hero scolded.
He closed his eyes as he gripped the chest of his uniform trying to even his breathing after that adrenaline shot. "I'm sorry! But this is really important! All of my life I've want nothing but to become a hero All Might! So I must know! Can one become a hero even without a quirk?!"
When Izuku opened his eyes there was no hero in sight, just a skeleton of a man. "A-All Might?" The man coughed into his hand trying to hide the blood from the teen, at least the rain was helping him cover that up.
"Now that you've seen me like this young man, I need you to know you can't spread this online." The hero said sitting on the roof, Izuku nodded slightly still in shock. "Five years ago a villain did this to me." He said lifting up his shirt, Izuku gasped at the sight of the scar. "I lost a lung and my whole stomach, that's why I look like this now. Due to my condition I can only be a hero for three hours a day."
Izuku gulped still taking in well, everything. "five years ago? Was it toxic chain saw?" All Might looked slightly impressed.
"You know your stuff kid, but no he couldn't have done this even if he tried. I asked for that fight to remain under wraps." With that being said the hero supported himself on the building railing before pulling himself up. "This happened to me with a quirk as strong as mine, imagine what would happen to someone that doesn't have one. So no, I don't think someone without a quirk can be a hero." The hero began to walk towards the door. "If you still want to help you can become a police officer or a firefighter, they are not as recognized but they still help others … dreams are nice kid, but you need to be realistic." With that the hero left him alone on the roof.
Izuku didn't know where his tears ended and where the rain began, but he didn't want to figure it out. Eventually he got down from the roof, walking home with his head down, until he heard explosions that is. Logically he knows he shouldn't go look and he shouldn't go closer but his curiosity won, as he approached the scene he could see a bunch of people under their umbrellas mumbling amongst each other about what was happening.
When he raised his head he froze, it was the villain that attacked him earlier, but that couldn't be right All Might caught him … but he got in the way, did he cause this? He didn't have much time to dwell on it because soon enough his eyes connected to the ones trapped within the sludge, Kacchan.
He looked so scared, Izuku looked around there were a few heroes but none of them were doing anything because their quirks weren't suited for this. The sludge kept growing in size due to the rain and Kacchan kept firing explosions in an attempt to free himself, nothing was catching on fire but his explosions were strong enough to create debris whenever he fired. His former best friend is suffocating, drowning in disgusting waste and no one is doing anything to help, someone has to help.
His feet moved before his mind could process it, the sky crackling with lightning with every step he took.
A lightning bolt struck him and Izuku felt his body change.
The lightning blinded everyone near by including the heroes and the villain. When everyone recovered they saw the villain reforming himself with the debris his hostage caused and the endless supply of rain water. "Where is my new meat suit?!" Behind the villain some sort of black cocoon could be seen, no one was quite sure what happened and no one was willing to move before they figured it out. The heroes tensed when they saw the cocoon move, something else had joined the fight and they had no way of telling whether it was good or bad.
The cocoon began to open up rather than break open, what they originally thought was a cocoon spread into a wing and another one followed soon after. A beast with black scales stood up from the ground standing over the hostage, that was heaving and coughing up the sludge, without stepping on him in a protective manner. The beast looked at the villain it's eyes turning into slit pupils before baring it's teeth, the sky roared with lightning just as the beast roared at the sludge. "I don't care what you are! You will pay for ruining this!" A whip of sludge was directed towards the beast, that thing growled again before firing something at the sludge making the whip explode, after that he looked at the villain growling again, as if he was challenging him to try again
"That won't stop me!" Another sludge tentacle tried to reach him only for it to be exploded again, this happened a few more times before someone in the crowd spoke up. "The kid isn't a hostage anymore! What are you waiting for?! Do something!" That seemed to be enough to break the heroes from their shock and engage into battle, the beast remained over the blonde boy, blasting away any sludge that tried to come close. It was a matter of time before the heroes could subdue the sludge villain, that only left them with one thing to address, the hostage and the beast.
They tried to approach him, but stood still when the beast growled at them still baring it's teeth, up til now they believed this was someone from the crowd playing hero but for all they know this could be a different villain trying to assert dominance, display their power or looking for an easy hostage. They saw how easily that thing blasted the sludge into bits, they stood completely still hoping not to trigger another fire round. The beast looked at them for a few seconds, they saw it's pupils dilate and becoming rounder much like a cat's would, the creature stopped baring his teeth and started looking somewhat relaxed, he stepped off the teen and sat beside him.
The heroes heard that thing grumble or maybe even purr before it shut it's mouth looking slightly confused, since talking wasn't an option Izuku settled for looking down at Kacchan, then at the heroes and then back at Kacchan hoping they could get the message. Death arms was the first one to move approaching slowly. "Stay calm … thing, we just want to help the boy, okay? Can you let us do that?" To his surprise the beast nodded at him before lowering his head to nudge Kacchan, the teen pushed his head away with one hand. "Do-don't touch me, I didn't need your help." Katsuki wanted to scream but his throat wouldn't allow it.
Izuku didn't like how scared the heroes or the crowd looked at him, as if he was about to do something bad, so he decided to lay down hopefully that would make him seem less threatening. He isn't exactly sure what happened but he knows he doesn't look like the lanky teenager he is, he sure doesn't feel like it at least. His actions did seem to work because when he laid down the other heroes moved as well to check up on Kacchan, making sure he wasn't injured. Tentatively Mt. Lady put a hand on his head petting him, he let out an involuntary purr. "Aww, you aren't big and scary are you? You are just a softy trying to defend a kid, you did so well." If he purred a little loudly at the praise he didn't care, he never gets praised for anything let him have this.
"Careful Mt. Lady, we still don't know what or who that is, it doesn't seem related to the hostage's quirk." Said Kamui woods, the heroine ignored him.
"Oh shut it, it's harmless now if this thing wanted to blast us it would've done it already!" The heroine wasn't wrong, Izuku was never a threat not to the heroes at least. An ambulance came to check on Kacchan, the police arrived shortly after gathering statements from everyone, a man in a brown coat approached him or maybe he was approaching Mt. Lady, yeah that seemed more logical.
"Mount Lady, I'm detective Tsukauchi, could you please explain what happened and what that is?" A lot of eye witnesses had already said a lightning bolt blinded them and then the beast appeared, none of them were lying but it still seemed odd.
"First we heard explosions and we came to find a kid being held hostage by that sludge thing, we couldn't really do much since our quirks weren't fit for the job, that's when this big guy comes in!" She scratched just below his chin and Izuku melted, he was even wagging his tail a bit … wait he has a tail now??
"There was a bolt of lighting and when we recovered the villain didn't have the kid anymore and this guy was standing over him, protecting him. They were very helpful to us fending off the villain while we captured it … was a bit hostile to us at first, but when it realized we meant no harm it just moved to the side and let us do our job." The detective took note of everything before addressing the big reptile.
"While we appreciate the help, I assume you don't have a heroes license, this was an act of vigintalism I can't ignore." Whatever bliss he felt from the heroine's petting banished, he stood up walking towards the detective with distressed grumbles but he just can't communicate like this.
"Hey, hey easy." The heroine tried to calm him down but her pets didn't work anymore, despite being distressed he wasn't hostile and thankfully the heroes recognized this. "I can't understand you!" The detective said backing up a bit, Izuku did the only thing he could think of, he gave the detective the biggest puppy eyes he could, maybe this will help him understand he didn't want to do anything wrong on purpose.
"Look at that face Tsukauchi, I'm sure this was a one time thing, the adrenaline of the moment. Can you just give it a warning?" Mount Lady pleaded.
The detective sighed. "No, that's not how the law works. This would be easier if you just transformed back or do something to reduce your mutations." Izuku didn't know how to do that! He stared at the detective for a few seconds before tilting his head to the side, maybe he can understand Izuku is confused and has no idea what just happened.
"Do you … not know how to switch back or control this?" Izuku shook his head, well at least they are communicating. "Oh my god, okay. You won't fit into a police car so some officers will walk you there okay? Can you follow the officers?" He did not like being talked to like he was stupid, then again the detective has no way of knowing how smart this new version of him is, he nodded in response. "Okay, great. Officer Sansa, please help guide this uh lizard? Back to the station, I will meet you there shortly." The cat headed officer didn't look thrilled but he followed the detective's command, while the officer guided him away he could hear the detective talking on the phone. "Eraser? I need a favor."
Izuku was led to the police station but he couldn't quite walk in, sure the doors where wide enough for his new body but well they where to many desks and he wasn't exactly small enough to squeeze through, that and he couldn't quite control how his tail moved yet, he is sorry for anything he dropped. Getting him into an interrogation room was even harder because those doors were not made for him, he did what he could to help even walking on two legs despite how wrong it felt to do it like this, eventually they managed to get him one of the rooms and just left him there for a while, Izuku just laid down, not like he could do anything else.
He has no idea how long he spent alone in there, his head perked up when heard the door open. "Hello, I'm detective Tsukauchi. You remember me right?" He nodded, Izuku also noted the other man, he look tired and like he was homeless. "Great, this here is Eraserhead, he is a pro hero and maybe he can help us switch you back or control this. Is that Alright?" Izuku nodded eagerly, it's not like he didn't like this bigger stronger body but he did like you know being able to speak. "Good, Eraser if you could?" The hero rolled his eyes before activating his quirk looking at the overgrown weird lizard, immediately Izuku felt his body shifting back into a more human shape it was surprisingly painless.
Tsukauchi did not know what he was expecting, but a dragon child wasn't it. The kid instinctively covered himself with his wings. "Thank you Eraser, kid could you tell us your name?"
Izuku was still you know processing he was human again but not quite, he could still feel wings and a tail, claws and even some scales, hell there was still something at the sides of his head where his ears should be. "Mi-Midoriya Izuku." Truth. "Um, detective before we continue could you um get me a blanket or something? I-I had my uniform before this whole thing happened and um I don't anymore?" Truth.
"Right sorry, we'll get you that before continuing." He could hear Aizawa mumble something along the lines of 'not another Togata' before rubbing his temple.
A borrowed and cut pair of sweatpants to accommodate his new tail and his requested blanket later, the detective could finally get the kids statement. "Okay, please state your name and age."
Izuku swallowed before answering. "Midoriya Izuku, 14."
God damn it, it was really just a kid which means a parent should be present … then again this isn't an interrogation, he is just getting a statement. "Midoriya, before we continue you should know you are allowed to have a parent or a tutor here with you. Do you still want to continue or would you rather wait?"
Izuku looked on edge, nervous, he had good intentions but what he did was still illegal. "You should call my mom, she must be really worried I'm not home yet but I can continue."
"Very well, Midoriya can you tell me what happened?" The kid nodded.
"Yeah uh, that villain attacked me first actually and All Might saved me! But I latched onto him and I think that's how the villain got away, sorry." Truth.
"That's alright Midoriya, please continue." The kid is tapping his claws against the desk nervously.
"Right! All Might makes sure I'm somewhere safe and I start walking home but I hear explosions and I just really like watching and analyzing a hero fight. Besides today wasn't great, so I thought seeing a hero win could cheer me up." Truth. "But then I saw Kacchan, he was stuck there like I was but no one was helping him. I know how … suffocating that feels and suddenly I started running at him, I just wanted to help." Truth. "The rest is kind of blurry to be honest, I remember running then something hit me and then … nothing. The next thing I remember is the heroes looking at me like I was going to hurt them, which I would never do! Then the ambulance and you arrived." Truth.
The detective sighed. "While what you did was helpful, it wasn't legal. Using your quirk to engage with villains, you committed vigintalism Midoriya, do you understand how serious that is?" The kid is this close to letting the waterworks lose.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know this would happen, I didn't even have a quirk until all of this." Truth.
Tsukauchi stops himself for a moment, why did his quirk registered that as truth? The kid struggled with switching sure but by what he heard he knew how to use his quirk. "Could you explain that to me?"
Izuku bit his lips fidgeting with his hands. "The doctor said I had a quirk, that maybe I was just a late bloomer but it never really came." Truth. "Then he said some quirks need specific requirements and I never knew what mine was so, until this I was quirkless … legally at least." Truth. Tsukauchi took a deep breath, this changes everything.
"You are lucky then, since this was the first time your quirk manifested we can't really get you in trouble. After all you didn't have any intentions to break the law, it was out of your control. Don't let it happen again you hear me?" Tsukauchi warned.
Izuku nodded. "Yes detective."
"This time you get a little scolding for putting yourself in danger, next time you will be in big trouble. About your quirk you might need a bit of help considering how unstable it is right know." The detective said looking at the one way glass, oh Aizawa was going to hate him fro this one. "But that can wait until your mom gets here okay kid? I'm gonna go call her, would you like anything to eat or drink while you wait?"
Izuku kept his eyes on his lap. "Some water please, thank you." Tsukauchi nodded before walking out of the room.
"I expelled a whole class and somehow I still end up dealing with a problem child." The kid can't shift at will, if he gets stuck only Eraser can help him back, he already knows Tsukauchi will ask him to assist with the kid's quirk counseling and considering how dangerous that quirk can get specially because the kid does not even remember attacking the villain. He will be forced to say yes, great.
Chapter 2: Bonding I guess
Tsukauchi decided to moved the teen into the interrogation room made for children, sure the kid wasn't in the age range the room was designed for but it was better than leaving him in a normal interrogation room especially considering how anxious the kid was. He and Eraserhead watched from the other side of the glass, the kid kept glancing around the room, fidgeting with his hands, his tail was curled up around his ankles and his wings well the kid didn't really know what to do with them. "So, was he honest about everything?" The hero asked,
Tsukauchi nodded in response. "It's certainly odd, I've heard of late bloomers before but the kid is 14. I'm pretty sure that's a world record."
"Do we know what triggered his quirk?" Aizawa asked.
Tsukauchi hesitated for a moment before answering. "Well I thought it could've been due to the stress of the situation, you heard him when he said that villain attacked him first. Plus he seemed to personally know the other victim, stress manifesting is not that uncommon."
Aizawa hummed in response. "But he mentioned something hitting him before he transformed didn't he?" There was a lot of debris on the scene but the kid didn't have a scratch on him so that couldn't be it.
"… Well, the witnesses said the were blinded by a lightning bolt but the kid never mentioned that." The detective pointed out.
Aizawa did not like the implication of that, people had all kinds of powers nowadays but they were still human, someone with the kid's physique should've died if struck by lightning. "We should really get a paramedic to check his vitals, he may seem fine but he was really struck by lightning something could be wrong."
They saw the kid get up only to sit down on the floor closer to the table in the room that had a few sheets of paper, color pencils and crayons. The kid hesitantly reached for a piece of paper and the black color pencil before he started to write something, they saw the kid look at his tail before going back to the paper, the same happened when he made a pause to stretch his wing taking a good look at it before turning his attention back to the paper. "What do you think he is doing?" Asked the hero while the kid kept looking at the new parts of himself before going back to writing.
"No clue." Was Tsukauchi's response.
"Detective Tsukauchi, we have a problem, the press is here looking for the mystery hero that saved the kid." The detective and the hero groaned at the mention of the press, neither of them liked dealing with them.
"I'm coming, Eraser could you keep an eye on the kid? Unless you would like to go deal with the press." Tsukauchi said in a slightly playful manner.
Aizawa rolled his eyes. "I'll deal with the kid, you can handle those vultures." With that the detective left, Aizawa stared at the kid through the glass for a few more minutes before stepping in. "How are you feeling?" Eraser noticed how the kid's tail curled around himself again now that he wasn't alone.
"Uh fine? A bit nervous I guess? Mom must be really worried about me and my phone was in my backpack but I think I lost it with my uniform when um I was in that other form, so I can't really tell her that I'm okay and uh yeah." The kid mumbles a lot, he uses his new mutant aspects to have some sort of shield or comfort, Aizawa is picking up a few red flags from this child that he isn't liking.
"What are you working on?" Aizawa tried to glance and the piece of paper, the kid quickly try to cover it.
"Oh it's nothing important really, I just always like to analyze quirks since I never got mine but now that I got it I wanted to see what I could understand. I normally have a notebook for this but it got … ruined at school and I think the rain might've finished the job."
Aizawa raised an eyebrow with mild interest. "Can I see?"
The kid seemed hesitant but eventually agreed. "Okay … it's not much really and it's all over the place, sometimes my mumbling passes onto my writing sorry if that's annoying." The kid handed him the piece of paper and now Aizawa looked actually impressed.
The kid has been conscious of his quirk 15 minutes at best and he already has a rundown of basic aspects of his quirk. First the kid tried to define what category his quirk was, mutation was noted considering his new features but he also added a note on transformation because what he deemed as 'full form' was no longer his human body with certain add-ons it was a completely different thing. There were sketches of his tail and wings, notes on how they were probably made to allow him to fly even under the rain, since the tissue would make it easier for the water to slip off of him rather than weight him down. There were notes of his throat being itchy and how a heroine mentioned 'blast us' which led him to believe he could breathe fire or shoot something explosive from his mouth, there were even questions about whether that 'blast' could be used in both forms or just in his full form. The kid was right, his notes were all over the place but his notes weren't wrong in his guesses at least.
"Not bad kid." The teen perked up at that, his tail lightly thumping against the ground.
"You are a hero right? Your quirk is the one that helped me switch back." He made a pause to look at his new appendages. "Mostly at least, can I ask what your quirk is?" The kids thumping slowed down at Eraserhead's silence, his tail quickly curling around him again. "Never mind, you look like a pro hero that's been working for a while but since I haven't heard much of you then you must be an underground hero, of course you wouldn't go around telling people what your quirk is." The kid lowered his head to avoid eye contact.
Aizawa will forever deny he has a soft spot for children. "My quirk is called Erasure, I can erase anyone's quirk if I look at them."
Izuku raised his head slightly at that, he was unsure how much the hero was willing to go along with his questioning but well, he isn't wasting a chance like this! "Can you use it on me again?" Aizawa raised and eyebrow but did as requested, he saw the kid moving his tail and wings, he looked very uncoordinated but that was to be expected. "Oh, it doesn't work on mutations. But you did turn me back into a human which means my quirk falls into both categories then!" He took the paper with his quirk notes and started writing again
If you blinked you would miss Aizawa smirking for just a moment. "Clever." The kid figured out one of the aspects of his quirk while also clearing out any doubts of his own, the kid is smart hopefully he will be smart enough not to run into a villain fight again, not without the proper training at least.
"Are those for your quirk?" The kid asked pointing at his googles.
"Yes." He answered and decided not to elaborate much on it just to see what the kid could do without much information.
"They don't look like they have glass, isn't that counterproductive?" Aizawa raised an eyebrow, before signaling for him to continue. "Well, your quirk depends on sight. I assume the googles are so other people can't tell where you are looking, but they won't really protect you from dust, debris or even the wind which would make you blink and you know stop using your quirk. Glass may not be a better option since if it breaks the shards could get directly into your eyes, that's assuming your quirk works through objects. But if that was the case and you could find a strong enough see through alloy it would offer you extra protection, plus a system could be added for them to fill up the googles once they are on with saline solution so your eyes don't dry out. Although that might affect your perception or make your vision blurrier considering it's still a liquid you would be trying to see through."
That was a lot to process and if he doesn't stop the kid he will keep going for a while, although his idea isn't entirely bad, Aizawa may just upgrade his googles with something to protect him from dust. "I never mentioned I had dry eye."
The kid shut up looking nervous. "O-oh … I just- It seemed logical? Not blinking for a while can dry the eye and since your quirk needs that I thought …"
Ah, the kid's anxiety got worse. "Relax, you are right. You are smart kid, we could use more heroes like that out there."
The kid looked at him as if he had just hung the moon. "… You think I can be a hero?"
"You have the brain and the spirit, you need to develop a survival instinct but other than that yes, I think you can be a hero." For a moment there was silence and then the kid began crying, fuck, Aizawa is not made to deal with crying children.
"Tha-Thank you." Considering the kid was sobbing that's not was the hero was expecting to hear. "No one told me I can be a hero before so, thank you." Izuku said between sniffles, Aizawa looked at the kid with pity, he had grown up as someone quirkless of course no one told him he can become a hero.
By the time Izuku managed to calm down, the detective had returned with his mother. "This way miss Midoriya." Is all he heard before the door opened and his mom came in, the woman wanted to hug him but she stopped dead in her tracks stunned by her son's appearance. "Izuku, baby, what happened to you? They told me you were in a villain attack and now you look so … different."
Izuku stood up, stumbling with his own tail while walking towards his mom. "I finally got my quirk mom."
His mom reached a hand out to cup his cheek. "Are you sure? Are you okay? Does any of this hurt?"
Izuku shook his head slightly. "It's okay mom nothing hurts! It's a bit heavy but I can manage!" After the initial shock Inko finally pulled her boy into a hug.
"Don't scare me like that ever again!" Izuku hugged her back, his tail loudly thumping against the ground. "Sorry mom."
His mom was asked to bring him some clothes considering his got shredded in the transformation, however, Izuku seemed upset at the realization that he would have to cut all of his All Might merchandise if he wanted to use it again, otherwise his wings would just break through it. "Well … I'll find a way to make it work honey, I promise." That was a little comforting but not enough, once he was done changing the detective gave him his backpack, the straps were broken.
"We found this at the scene but no one claimed it, we assumed it was yours." Izuku opened the backpack, just like he thought his notebooks and school books were soaked, so was his phone but that could probably be fixed.
"It's okay baby, I'm sure the school will understand considering what happened." Aizawa did not miss the way the kid's expression soured at the mention of his school being understanding.
"Miss Midoriya, before you leave we have two things we would like to discuss. First I suggest you take your son for a general check up, to be sure he is totally fine after the attack and to see if anything has changed with the manifestation of his quirk." Inko was already planning on doing that, sure her Izuku says everything is alright but this was something serious. "Second we would like to discuss his quirk counseling, your son's quirk was strong enough to protect a civilian and fight off a villain, but since we have no idea what triggered it, it could be unstable. On top of that he was unable to shift back at will from his other form and he has no memory of fighting the villain, this memory lapse happened when he was aggressive towards the villain that's why we think he needs some more specialized counseling." Inko seemed nervous at that, she did not have enough money for specialized counseling like that and she would have to modify or change her son's whole wardrobe to fit his new form and that's not taking into account if Izuku needs a different diet because of his mutations.
"Miss Midoriya, I would be happy to offer some support for your kid's counseling. My quirk will help him turn back until he can figure it out and I do have experience as a teacher, I also happen to be a pro hero so in the case he suffers a violent outburst I'm more than equipped to get him under control." Izuku seemed thrilled at the idea of having a pro hero as a teacher, especially a hero that didn't complain about his rambling and called him smart for it.
"I … appreciate that but, I can't afford all this special help he needs, specially the help of a pro hero." Inko knows they aren't poor by any means, but this sounds above their budget.
"No worries, I'll do this free of charge. Call it an exchange for your kid giving me very helpful advice about improving my hero costume." Tsukauchi was surprised by Aizawa's words, he expected him to be more reluctant about this.
"I- Thank you so much mister?" Inko said hoping to get the hero's name.
"Aizawa." The hero replied as monotonous as always.
"Right, thank you mister Aizawa." She bowed and her son copied her soon after.
"We will keep in contact with you to help you both figure this out considering the unusual circumstances. Sansa, please escort them through the backdoor, the last thing they need is to be swarmed by the press." The cat officer nodded and followed the order, being stopped by the hero.
"Forgetting something problem child?" Aizawa said with Izuku's analysis sheet on hand.
"Oh! Right! Thanks Aizawa-san, I'll um see you soon?" The hero simply nodded before letting Sansa guide the Midoriya's away.
"You know Eraser, if I didn't know you. I would say you actually like the kid." Tsukauchi said.
Aizawa simply shrugged his shoulders. "The kid, despite his late start, has potential. You know I don't let potential go to waste." With that the hero left.
When he got home the first thing Izuku did was look at himself in the mirror, the first thing he noticed was the black nubs? Antenna? Sprouting from the side of his head where his ears used to be, well technically they still are they just look a little different. He noticed his canines were a bit sharper and longer, but he is a dragon now or so he thinks, so that checks. Then they were his eyes, they were still green but his iris was gone instead his sclera was completely green and his pupils had gotten wider or maybe his iris was covering the entirety of the sclera like it happens with cats? He isn't sure.
His wings were big, he was still making the conscious effort to keep his wings up rather than letting them flop behind him and they still managed to reach the floor … then again Izuku isn't particularly tall so that could be playing a role too. He already had a good look at his tail a pair of wings or well more like fins at the start of his tail and another pair at the end, they are probably to help him change directions while he flies or if he can fly, that's not something he can quite test yet. Seeing himself like this was odd but not bad, his quirk was finally here and it was strong, it already helped him defeat a villain.
He can and he will become a hero.
Chapter 3: New me
Despite the police department's best efforts Izuku's name and relation to the sludge attack was released to the vultures, they still don't know who leaked that information but the damage is already done. Articles started coming out one after the other about the late bloomer whose quirk manifested just at the right time to save a life, about the brave bystander who jumped into action despite the disadvantage only to prove more helpful than the heroes on the scene. Articles questioning whether or not this should be counted as an act of vigintalism considering the quirk's sudden manifestation but mostly it was praise about how his actions may be the only reason the victim was still alive, the name of Izuku Midoriya was spreading like wildfire on the internet and that meant the vultures were fighting each other to get an exclusive interview with the man of the hour. The best way to achieve that? Well find his address and surround his house until the kid comes out of course!
"… Mom, why are there so many people out of our house?" He said looking through the window, quickly closing the blinds again once he started seeing flashes of cameras.
"Well, what happened made you a bit of a celebrity." Izuku just stared at his mom for a while because what do you mean he is a celebrity??
"But, how? No one knew that was me until I was in the police station, we even got out through the back so nobody saw us!" Izuku said already sounding stressed about this situation.
His mom shrugged. "I don't know baby, I'm just as confused about this as you are." Izuku grabbed the remote to turn the TV on, the news was talking about the case that took the internet by storm, there was even a picture of him on the news, well a picture of him before he changed that is.
"This is Izuku Midoriya, according to our sources this young man was believed to be quirkless. Imagine everyone's surprise when the kid ran into a villain attack and suddenly his quirk manifested! Turning out to be a perfect counter for the villain the other heroes were unable to deal with!" Footage appeared on screen that captured him running before the lightning bolt struck him, there was a commotion from all the bystanders by the sudden shock. The news reporter kept narrating all that had happened but Izuku was just stuck in his mind, lightning struck him and then his quirk manifested, the requirement for his quirk activation was getting struck by lightning? Would any electrical charge of that capacity be enough to make his quirk manifest or did it have to be specifically lightning? … Shouldn't that have killed him? I mean if that was the requirement them maybe he had some resistance to electricity, but he didn't seem affected by any of it at all. He wanted to believe his quirk had some similarity to the one of Ryukyu but his seemed to be completely different.
"If it weren't for the actions of this young man it his likely that the hostage from the attack, Bakugou Katsuki, could've ended in a critical condition or even worse. The world is praising Midoriya for his actions, with a quirk that powerful and with a heart so courageous many believe we are witnessing the rise of the next number one hero!" After that the news moved on, but Izuku was starting to dread the reporters words. They painted Kacchan as a helpless victim he jumped in to save, they claimed his quirk was strong enough to become number one some day.
Kacchan is going to murder him on sight.
"Honey are you feeling okay? You look a bit pale." His mom asked putting a hand on his shoulder bringing him back to reality.
"Ye-Yeah mom! This is just a lot you know? I've always just passed by and this just a lot of attention, don't worry about it." Izuku knew he had today off from school considering all that happened, how he needed to recover and get that check up done, but a day could only last so long and Kacchan was going to go straight for him when he actually showed up at aldera. The blonde already targeted him when he tried to stay out of his way, he doesn't even want to imagine the rage he is accumulating for making him seem like a helpless victim on the news, Izuku just got his quirk he isn't ready to die yet!
"If you say so, maybe you should rest a bit more before going to your check up. Hopefully they might be tired of waiting by then." She said looking at the window, while she was so happy for her Izuku for getting his quirk and proud of how brave he was, she did not like the way this people thought it was okay to just camp out of their house just to see her son.
"Maybe … think my phone will be working now?" They decided to do the most basic of tricks, put the wet phone in rice and hope it would get all the humidity out. "You can check it out, but it's been there all night I think it will be fine by now."
To his surprise his phone was functional again, when he turned it on it was filled with messages from his classmates telling him just how cool he is, how glad they are to have him in class, how awesome it is for him to be on the news. Izuku should like this, this is what he always wanted after all, to have friends to hang with and people that appreciate him but … this is fake, he knows that and he can't just ignore that to live in blissful ignorance. They didn't suddenly have a change of heart and decided they should be friends, they either wanted their 15 minutes of fame or they just wanted the benefit of hanging around someone strong, just like they did with Kacchan.
Needless to say he didn't reply to anyone, this people didn't know him they just knew the version of him that was shown in the news and the version of him they could benefit from, Izuku won't give himself false hope about having a normal school life, that ship sailed a while ago. "Mom, do you think they will go away if I talk to them?" He asked looking at the window again, those people wanted something from him and as soon as they got it they would leave, right?
"I'm not sure honey, reporters are never really satisfied." Izuku took a deep breath heading towards the door, his hand lingering on the doorknob for just a moment before actually opening the door. He was immediately swarmed by cameras and microphones, all of them asking something different, his nubs flattened to the side of his head at the overload of noise.
"One at a time or I won't answer anything!" He has no idea where the confidence for that little outburst came from but it was pretty effective. For once the press was quiet as if expecting something from him. "Um you first!" He said pointing at a random reporter.
"Yes! Midoriya, is it true that until yesterday you were quirkless?" The reporter asked shoving the mic a bit too close to his face.
"Yes that's true, my quirk did not manifest until yesterday, so I was essentially quirkless." After that he pointed to a different reporter.
"From Musutafu news! Will you be pursuing a hero career now that your quirk has manifested?" Well that reporter wasted his question. "I was going to pursue a hero career whether or not I got my quirk." Before he could pick a different reporter the same one spoke up. "Could you elaborate on that? How would you become a hero if you didn't have a quirk?"
Izuku didn't really know, sure he was planning to apply to UA and use the general studies course as a fallback in case he didn't pass the exam, but the question really wasn't about what his plan was but more about how someone quirkless can even become a hero. He knows All Might, the number one hero and his idol agrees with that, quirkless people can't be heroes, but Izuku disagrees. No matter how many people told him he couldn't become a hero, he still kept trying. "Being a hero isn't about having the strongest or flashiest quirk, it's about doing what you can to save people. Anyone can do that if they try hard enough, quirk or not. Next!" The reporters seemed stunned by his answer but they recovered fast enough.
"Here from hero forms! Why did you jump into action when you didn't have your quirk? Weren't you scared?" Oh Izuku was terrified, he had no idea what he was going to do to save Kacchan or how he was going to do it, the only thing he knew is that he had to do something because no one else would.
"To be honest, I didn't think before I rushed in." He said rubbing his arm, whatever confident outburst he had was dying down. "My feet started moving before I could think and yes I was scared, very scared actually … I didn't have a plan, I just saw someone that needed help and no one else willing to help." After that the reporters began to swarm again, firing questions too fast for him to understand.
"I won't be answering anything else, please clear my front door soon, I have an appointment I don't want to be late for." He turned around to get back in the house, many questions still being fired his way but only one made him stop from closing the door.
"Midoriya! Is there a message you would like to send to the people?"
Izuku thought about it for a moment, what message would he want to give to the world? The answer was simple, he would tell the world what he wished someone had told him. "It doesn't matter what people think of your quirk or if you even have one at all, if you have the will to keep pushing forwards no matter how hard things get and the desire to help and make others feels safe. Then you can be a hero." With that he closed the door, letting his back rest against it before sliding down until he was sitting on the floor, despite not answering that many questions he felt exhausted.
"Izuku are you okay?! Do you feel faint?! Can I-" Inko has always been overprotective of her son, specially after his quirk failed to appear. The world was cruel and she wanted to protect her helpless baby from it, although he isn't as helpless anymore is he?
"I'm fine mom, that was just a bit overwhelming. I just need a minute." Hopefully by the time he recovers the press will be gone.
The press was in fact not gone and tried to swarm him and his mom the moment they stepped outside, however, his massive wings proved to be very useful, creating an area that forced the press away while also protect his mom from the cameras. Some of them tried to follow them, but eventually they gave up the chase, at the very least they had useful footage of him, hopefully that would be enough for them to not bother him again.
Doctor Tsubasa wasn't an option, the old man had retired the last Inko heard of him, so they had to go with a new doctor. Izuku and his mom sat down in the waiting room until the secretary finally called out his name. "Izuku Midoriya?" The Midoriya's looked at the lady. "Doctor Ito will see you now." He nodded standing up heading towards the doctor's office, his mom close behind him.
When they entered they were greeted by a woman in her late twenties, her brown hair tied into a bun. "Hello Midoriya, please take a seat. Your mother informed me about why you are here, but I would like for you to tell me yourself. You are my patient after all plus there's something she could've missed because she did not experience this change."
Despite his recent talk with the press, Izuku was not good when it came to talking with new people. "Oh, um well I just got my quirk, I'm a bit of a late bloomer." The doctor simply nodded. "And um, it made me develop some mutations and I don't really know how they affect me so I would like to know that. There's also a transformation aspect? But it's a bit dangerous because I can't control that, maybe that's more for my quirk counseling instead of a check up."
The doctor smiled softly at him. "It's quite alright, any information can be useful, let's start with some basics okay?"
The doctor measured his stature, to Izuku's surprise he didn't grow one bit despite his transformation being quite big. His blood pressure seemed to be fine, but his temperature was higher than it should be, for an average human that is. "Interesting, it seems your temperature has risen without affecting you, this normally happens with fire based quirks so you might want to bring that up at your quirk counseling." Izuku nodded, he already suspected this considering the whole blast thing the full form can do, at least he has a way to confirm it.
The doctor also checked his reflexes, his human parts seemed to react normally, checking the reflexes of his tail and wings proved to be more difficult, the doctor had dealt with some bird like mutations in the past but his wings weren't that similar to a bird's. Ito prodded one particular spot that made Izuku smack her in the face with his wings, the dragonling immediately cocooned himself. "I'm so sorry! I swear I didn't mean to do that!"
The doctor simply laughed it off. "It's quite alright, you would be surprised how many times something like that happens."
After that the doctor moved to check out his eyes, his teeth and his new ear like nubs. "I will be honest with you, I have never seen mutations like this on ears. Don't worry, it's not a bad thing, the change doesn't seem to affect your hearing maybe it has even improved it, have you noticed any changes like that?" Izuku shook his head, he hadn't really had a lot of time to test all the new things his body had, but he will take note of this for future reference. "Well, just keep that in mind alright? If your senses improve it's very likely that sound, smell or light can overwhelm you until you get used to the change. Your teeth seem sharper, I do think you would benefit from a more carnivorous diet, but you shouldn't have trouble eating fruits and vegetables whenever you want." She typed all that information down on her tablet before continuing.
"Midoriya do me a favor, close your eyes please." Izuku simply obliged, his hears moving slightly at the sound of a click. "You can open them again." The room looked different, the lights were off but Izuku could still somewhat see without much issue. "Are you able to see anything?"
Izuku looked around, still being able to see his mom, the doctor and her desk among other things. "I think so yeah." It's not like the night vision goggles one can see in movies but he can still see.
"I suspected as much, close your eyes again. The sudden switch of light could give you a headache if I'm right about higher senses." Midoriya simply obeyed her.
"Okay, I would like to get some blood tests done and maybe a few X-rays, if his wings allow him to fly it's very likely that his bones are hollow now, the X-rays are just to confirm that." She said sitting back at her desk typing more information into her tablet. "Well good news, despite the changes your son seems to be in perfect health miss Midoriya. We don't have exact parameters for average for people like him, dragon like quirks are not very common. So I have to used other mutations as reference like birds, lizard and even cats, your son is something new so it's very likely he will discover more things along the way but for now everything is okay." Inko let out a breath of relief at that, her baby had changed a lot in so little time, but he was still her baby.
After getting the blood sample and the x-rays done they were finally allowed to leave, Izuku was already itching to write down more possibilities for his quirk on his notebook but that would have to wait for a quick stop at Aldera to get his new uniform, thankfully his mom dealt with that. Once he was finally home he went to his room and grabbed his brand new notebook to make more notes on his quirk, when he reached the notes of his full form he stopped, he didn't know much about that. He knows it was meant to be quadrupedal and not bipedal considering how uncomfortable it was to walk on two feet, but beyond that he knew nothing about it, not even how he looked that way, maybe Aizawa would remember what he looked like or even better he will allow him to transform and take reference pictures for him.
He stopped his brainstorming when his mom called him for dinner, they ate in silence but it wasn't very awkward Izuku knew just how worried his mom must be about a quirk so strange an unique manifesting but that's okay, he will show her there's nothing to worry about once he gets the hang of it.
Izuku did not sleep that night, he knew he had to got to school tomorrow and that meant facing a very angry Kacchan, he could try and avoid him sure. But that never really worked out for him did it?
In the morning he tried to hide his nervousness, hopefully his mother bought that. When he arrived to school he wanted to lay low, that was his best bet, however, it was hard to go unnoticed when you have a pair of massive wings beside you and a tail to match. "Hey! It's Midoriya!" And just like that everyone swarmed him talking to him as if they were best friends, Izuku didn't even know half of who this people were, he did his best to part his way through them claiming he didn't want to be late for class, when he arrived to class Kacchan was already there glaring at him.
The blonde waited until Izuku sat down in his place before slamming a hand onto the desk. "What the fuck is this Deku?! You've been hiding this from me?! You think you are better than me because of this shitty new quirk you got?!"
Kacchan set off an explosion on his desk, that was nothing new to be honest, what was new was the teacher's reaction. "Bakugou! You can't harass your classmates and you can't destroy school property! Sit down and don't let it happen again or it will go on your record!"
Everyone stood in stunned silence, no one had ever scolded Bakugou for displaying his quirk or using it on others, no one had stopped him from harassing or bullying others because he was the great Bakugou Katsuki, who would there get in the way of the next number 1 hero? But that was the thing wasn't it? Someone else had taken that place, Bakugou was still strong enough that staying in his good graces was worth it as long as he wasn't picking a fight with the new favorite … oh this was going to end badly for him.
"Uh?! What did you just say?!" The teacher stood there with his arms crossed.
"You heard me, pull another stunt like that and it will be on your record!" Izuku did his best to sink into his chair, his wings huddling around him as if hiding him from sight will fix anything. "And stop calling Midoriya such an awful name! He saved your life you should be more thankful!" That just hammered the last nail in his coffin, if Kacchan didn't have enough reasons to kill him before he has them now, all for implying he should be thankful about getting help.
Katsuki almost dug his nails on the nerd's desk, if it wasn't for the threat of his record getting stained he would've already blown that useless fucker up. "This isn't over Deku." He growled before heading back to his seat.
Bakugou tried to corner him alone during lunch, emphasis on try because the sea of extras just wouldn't leave Deku's side, endlessly talking about whatever bullshit they had in mind, it was annoying. Those extras are supposed to flock to him, be HIS followers because they know he is the best, no one has ever beat him and yet they were all trailing after Deku like lost fucking puppies.
Izuku knew Kacchan was trailing him after school and he made no attempt to lose him, mostly because his wings and tail still were a bit to heavy for him to handle without tripping. "Stop running Deku." Against his better judgement he obeyed, the more he delays this the angrier Kacchan gets. "All this time you were hiding this powerful quirk from me uh? Pretending to be a quirkless useless Deku?"
He turned around to face the blond, his expression was murderous. "I-I wasn't hiding anything Kacchan! You knew it was a dormant quirk factor-" Izuku shut up when his former best friend set up an explosion on his hand.
"Bullshit! No one does what you did with a new quirk! Was it fun Deku? Pretending to be weak only to make me look weak on tv?!" Izuku's tail curled around his ankles, this wasn't right, he never wanted to make Kacchan look weak.
"I wasn't pretending! I didn't want to make you look weak either Kacchan! I can't make you look weak because you are the strongest!" His instinct acted faster than what his brain could register, his wings covering him before Kacchan's explosion could reach him, he could feel the heat on his wings, but for the first time in his life the explosions didn't burn him.
"Don't be a coward an actually face me Deku! Stop hiding behind your stupid wings!" He felt the heat of another explosion push him back, but once again he didn't feel burnt.
"Kacchan stop!" If someone saw this Kacchan could get in a lot of trouble.
"Not until you give me answers Deku! How did you hide this for so long?! Why wait until you could humiliate me with it?! Making fun of me behind my back knowing the quirk you had!" Another explosion hit him before he spread his wings smacking Kacchan away.
"WHY WON'T YOU FUCKING LISTEN?! I DIDN'T KNOW I HAD THIS QUIRK!" He didn't mean to yell, he was pretty sure a more primal part of him wanted to roar as well. "Why can't you understand that everything I do doesn't revolve around you? Why is it so hard for you to believe that I'm telling the truth?" Izuku didn't know his slit pupils were staring at Bakugou, his wings still spread open trying to make him look bigger.
"I wasn't hiding anything! Do you think I would hide this when a quirk is everything I ever wanted?! When a quirk was the only thing that would stop people from hurting me everyday?!" He was tearing up, but still he did his best not to breakdown. "When I jumped in to save you I wasn't thinking this is the perfect moment to humiliate the great Bakugou Katsuki! I jumped in because my best friend was dying and the heroes that were supposed to help were going to let you die!" He could not stop the tears from coming but he did wipe them away as fast as he could.
"I didn't need the help from a fucking useless Deku like you." Something in Izuku snapped.
"The only reason you are alive is because after everything you've done to me, the useless Deku decided to help you." That was enough to struck a nerve because Katsuki threw another explosion at him, forcing Izuku to shield himself again.
"Shut up! I don't fucking need help! Let alone from you Deku! Next time stay out of my way!" Finally Bakugou was walking away.
A part of Izuku wanted to believe that now that he got his quirk things could be like when they were kids, back when Kacchan would smile at him saying how they would become a hero duo that would be better than All Might. Izuku wanted desperately to believe that the Kacchan that used to be his friend was still buried under all that pride an anger, but for all he knows that Kacchan never existed, that Kacchan was nothing more than a figment of his imagination. "Fine! Next time you can drown for all I care!" Bakugou stood still when he heard that, he never expect Deku to say something like that.
Izuku didn't wait to see his reaction he simply walked away trying to calm down his own anger, trying to smile by the time he got home, but his mom noticed something was amiss. "Baby are you okay? Did the reporters bother you again?"
Izuku shook his head. "No mom it's …" He trailed off, he wanted to say it was nothing but this actually bothered him, all he did was help, he saved his life and Kacchan still antagonized him for it just like he did his whole life for every minor inconvenience. "Kacchan … Bakugou and I are no longer friends mom, that's it."
His mom seemed shocked, they had been best friends since they were born, there has to be a mistake. "I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding, let me call Mitsuki and we'll have this figured out in no time." Izuku held his mother's arm gently to stop her.
"Don't, this isn't something you or auntie can fix mom … there's a lot I haven't told you." It was finally time to have a talk that was long overdue.