Chapter Text
:::::001:::::
When Izuku was four, he did not get a quirk. The doctors were baffled but told him and his mother (but mostly just his mom) to just wait it out. That some were just late bloomers and- worse comes to worse- that the required circumstance for it to "awaken" was just too unlikely that it might as well not happen. But they didn't need to worry about that until Izuku was 10.
Also, Kacchan got his very cool quirk and they weren't friends anymore.
All of these were normal. Not all can have quirks and discrimimation of the quirkless was not a new thing.
Under different circumstances, however, all of these were not normal.
Quirks were not a thing of evolution and Izuku was not "quirkless".
:::::002:::::
It was Izuku's 3rd day of being absent. His mom called the school to inform them that Izuku got the flu and it seems that he'll be out for a couple more days. Izuku was given gross medicine by the doctor to take which he did with much grumbling and four-year-old complaining but he wasn't getting any better. He guessed it was fake medicine.
He was dieing, he knew it. He told his mom so but she just laughed and told Izuku to rest. He told her the shinigami was already here to take him and pointed at someplace behind her, just above her shoulder. She told him to rest, more sternly this time, before leaving the room with a small frown.
It was like Natsu all over again.
(Natsu was his friend and he was not imaginary.)
Izuku narrowed his eyes, as squinty as he could make it without actually closing it. The shadow floating by his night stand did not disappear. It didn't do anything at all, just remained where it was, being floaty and shadowy.
:::::003:::::
He first saw the shadow the first day he got sick. It was why he knew he was dieing. Shadows don't just appear out of nowhere, he knew this because it was what happened to Itsuki in the cartoon. Cartoons were always right.
He was playing with Kacchan and the other kids after school and the boy was being a little rough with Izuku, pushing and pulling him around because Kacchan got to be the hero again. Izuku was fine with that because Kacchan promised that he'd be All Might first when they played later at Izuku's.
But Kacchan pushed just a little too hard and the next second, Izuku was lying on his back and seeing stars. And then it was cold and dark and Kacchan was nowhere. He tried calling and reaching out but his throat felt clogged and his limbs were heavy like giant rocks. It felt like someone draped a freezing futon over him and layed over it. Over him. His ears were ringing and his head was going to burst. It hurt so much. Help, pleASE HELP!
Then it was gone. Kacchan was looming over him with a worried/annoyed furrow to his brows while Izuku tried to catch his breath. He was shaking all over-both from shock and the cold-and the whole time Kacchan was yelling at him.
"Sorry, Kacchan," he said shakily. It was still freezing so he caught Kacchan's hand and held it, trying to channel the boy's warmth into him.
"Oi, Deku," Kacchan called out, and made Izuku look at him. He did and that's when he saw it. A shadow was floating above Kacchan's head.
"Kacchan watch out!" He tried pushing Kacchan out of the way but ended up just drapping himself all over the boys lap. Kacchan sputtered and yelled and pushed him away. The shadow just floated and floated and Izuku felt then as if it was about as confused as he was.
:::::004:::::
On the way home, Izuku tried telling Kacchan about the shadow and what Izuku thought it tried to do to him. Kacchan won't hear any of it.
"Shut up, Deku," he shouted and pushed Izuku's face away from his.
Izuku had to make him understand that it was real, though, because the shadow was following them. "But it's really there, look," he pointed behind him and yelped when the shadow reached out and tried to eat his finger.
"Shut up, Deku!" Kacchan pushed him harder, making him stumble and find purchase on a wall. "You're just seeing things. Get in there and sleep before you go crazy, again!"
"I'm not crazy! Natsu's real!" Izuku shouted back, trying to ignore the shadow floating back and forth between him and Kacchan. "He's real and the shadow is real!"
"It's not real! You're stupid!" Kacchan stomped his foot with finality, turned around and walked away. Izuku tried calling out to him, worried that the shadow would follow his friend home and try to kill him instead. It didn't. It was still with Izuku and when he realized this, he ran as fast as he could inside his house and called out to his mom. She would believe him and she'll know what to do.
:::::005:::::
She didn't believe him and she took him to the doctor's. Izuku felt betrayed.
When the doctor asked how he felt he told them that he was cold and his head was achy. He didn't tell them about the shadow. There was about a 0% chance of people believing him when he told them things like this unless they were Kacchan and mom.
(Kacchan believed him about Natsu when he first told him even though Kacchan can't see him. He even tried talking to Izuku's other friend. He stopped when the adults told them they were cute for sharing the same imaginary friend.)
(His mom told him to eat his vegetables so he won't get sick and still be able to play with Natsu more. Izuku made a face and Natsu laughed.)
He was poked and prodded and told to open his mouth about a hundred times (only twice in reality) but the doctors can't find anything wrong with him other than his headache and his shaking. They gave his mom medicine and told her he might be coming down with the flu and to visit again if it gets worse.
(Izuku only knew of three sickness-the Cold, the Fever and the Flu. His nose was not runny and his temperature was okay so he must have the Flu. The shinigami was going to kill him with the Flu.)
That was two days ago.
:::::006:::::
On Izuku's fifth day of being 'sick', his mom gave up on giving him the gross medicine and just told him to go sit down and watch tv. She'd be out to shop with Kacchan's mom and Izuku knew it would take them years to finish. Moms were like that.
He wasn't too scared of being alone anymore, unlike the first few times when his mom left him at home with the shadow. It was still there, floating all over the house as if it was looking at their things. Izuku almost had a heart attack when it got too close to his Almight poster but it didn't even stop to look at it and then Izuku felt insulted (All Might was the best).
There hasn't been anymore incident after the first attack. The shadow seemed to be content with just fleeting about the house and hovering curiously over things. It did try floating as close as possible to Izuku a few times, during which his headache got worse-as worse as the first time- but seemed to give up as soon as Izuku's lower lip started trembling.
Now it just sat on the kitchen counter, wispy tendrils forming shapes that sometimes looked like arms and legs then turning back to nothing at all.
That was also the thing, the shadow's gradual change from...shadow to something else. Sometimes Izuku can almost see eyes as red as blood, other times he can almost feel the touch of fingers as warm as fire. Everytime it happened Izuku could feel a sudden lurch in his tummy. It was as if he was on a roller coaster and his gut was already anticipating the fall long before he can see the plunge. The feeling was getting stronger and stronger the longer he stayed close to the shadow.
He didn't want to feel like this anymore.
*What would Kacchan do?*, he thought. Surely Kacchan would have already dealt with the problem. He was a Badass. But Kacchan was not here. He wouldn't even believe Izuku when he told him. Izuku was the only one who can see it, so he would deal with it himself.
He was four. He wasn't a baby.
:::::007:::::
In the end, it was a simple plan cooked up by a simple mind.
If you want someone - or something, as this case was - to go away, you tell it to go away. It was how Kacchan dealt with people who annoyed him, albeit with about 80% more violence than how Izuku planned to execute this plan.
He was going to do it tonight because all plans were best done after dark. It was always like that on tv. He was going to ask the shadow -very politely- to leave him alone and go away. It's been a week since Izuku had acquired his unwanted company and if it really was the shinigami then it wasn't a good one, he figured. Izuku was still alive. Thank goodness for that.
His mom finally finished fussing over his blanket and comforters and gave him one final kiss goodnight. Izuku's answering smile was wobbly but the only light on was that of his desk lamp so it remained unseen. Oblivious to his son's growing panic, his mom left his room with a wave and a click of finality as his door closed.
Izuku took a deep breath. The shadow, intrigued, and most likely feeling the tension in the room, pulled it's mostly spectral hand away from his computer. It dissolved back into the shadow and Izuku felt as if it was waiting for his first move.
It was now or never.
It took a lot more effort for him to untangle himself from the coccoon his mom trapped him in. After much kicking and flailing about, he was finally facing the shadow, legs tucked under him in a seiza and trying to convey through his eyes the utmost seriousness of what he was going to say.
"Mr. Shadow," he gulped, "please...please go away."
Izuku felt his limbs lock in anticipation. The feeling in his gut was back and it was worse than ever. He can feel some kind of energy trying to escape out of his tummy. Something hot was flowing from his stomach all over his body. His heart was beating fast.
The shadow was frozen, too. All of its tendrils, ussually moving around as though swaying from a wind of its own making, was uncharacteristically still. Izuku was scared.
"Please, l-leave me alone." No answer.
"Why're you fo...following me?" A breath, then a sob. "Please don't kill me."
This seemed to snap the shadow out of it's state. Slowly, it floated towards Izuku and the boy yelped. He tried muffling his sobs wuth his shaking hands. He must have angered the shinigami and he was going to die!
Like all the other times before, upon hearing Izuku's cry, the shadow stopped it's approach. It was floating from side to side as though agitated, and through the 'ba-bump-ba-bump' of his heart in his ears, Izuku heard it.
"...-n't cry, chi-..." it said.
Something broke and from the cracks, it slowly flowed out.
The shadow moved closer.
"...intention t-...-pe your tea-..."
*What* Izuku blinked. Flaming red hair flowed over broad shoulders. A hand reached out- it was warm and almost familiar- and patted Izuku's fluffy hair.
"I would have loved to spend more time figuring out your mystery, little one, but it seems I've troubled you enough." His red -red, red- eyes crinkled. "Farewell, young Izuku."
A whisper, a blink and he was gone.
Izuku was alone.
:::::008:::::
The next day, Saturday, Izuku stayed in bed for almost half the day. He only left his room when his mother asked him to. He knew she was worried even when he told her he was fine- more than fine. The headache was gone and he wasn't cold anymore.
The shadow was gone, too.
It seemed his plan worked.
The feeling in his tummy wasn't gone. It was not completely there, too. He can feel it but only when he tried really hard. And when he did, he could swear there was something resting on his mom's shoulder, something small and mouse-like that glowed whenever his mom used her quirk.
Izuku feared he was really going crazy.
:::::009:::::
By Monday, his mother deemed him fit to go to school. She sent him off with much reluctance and a lot of "tell your teacher if you're not feeling well again" and "don't play too much with Katsuki". He almost didn't want to go to school to spare his mother too much worry.
But he wanted to go to school. He wanted to tell Kacchan everything.
When he got to his classroom, he noticed it was a little more crowded. He had a hard time finding Kacchan with all the people-parents? Wait is that a dog? -that he almost didn't notice him at the back. He was surrounded by their classmates and the teacher.
He smiled and called out and two pairs of red eyes met his. He gasped and ran.
" Kacchan, watch out!" He exclaimed, shoving the other kids out of the way and tackling Kacchan to the ground. There were cries of outrage and Kacchan was pushing him away but Izuku was going to protect Kacchan! Why was it here?! Why was it with Kacchan?!
"...child-."
"Go away, DEKU!" Kacchan shouted. When Izuku was pushed again, it was with much more force than Kacchan ussually used. There was heat and explosion that left Izuku momentarily blind. He sat on his butt, holding his smarting cheek and looked, confused, at the sparks coming from Kacchan's palms. He looked up and saw red hair swaying violently in time with the explosions going off of Kacchan's hands. The red-haired man's eyes were sad.
Izuku was confused.
"...what."