Chapter Text
All men are not created equal.
That was a fundamental lesson Izuku Midoryia learned at a very, very young age. Izuku understood there were many things he did and didn’t know. He understood that his mother loved him with all her heart, but he didn’t understand why his father never looked at him with the same kindness. He didn’t understand why his father left for days at a time, and would never tuck him into bed or read him stories or any of the things his mother did. He didn’t understand why his quirk hadn’t come yet, but Kacchan’s had. He decided to ask Kacchan at school the next day. Kacchan knew everything! He even had a really, really cool quirk and everyone knew he’d be a great hero. He might even be on All Might’s level one day, but Izuku (privately) doubted that. No one was better than All Might!
“It’s because you aren’t eating your veggies Deku! The old Hag says my quirk came faster because I ate all mine and all you eat is Katsudon!” Kacchan said when Izuku asked him the next day during recess, miniature explosions followed, as if to prove his point about veggies was absolute fact.
Izuku wasn’t convinced, but when he saw how brightly Kacchan’s eyes shone with confidence, he couldn’t help but smile for his friend.
“Okay! You’re always right Kacchan! I should ask mom if I could eat more veggies. Then my quirk will come!” Izuku said with the confidence of All Might himself. “Wonder what I’ll get… my mom can bring small objects to her, and I think she said dad has a fire-breathing quirk… maybe one of those? Or it could deviate, it’s not uncommon... or it could be a combination of the two… a combination could potentially be useful for both mobility and offence, but that would depend on how it would work…” Izuku mumbled, getting more and more lost in thought. He could soon feel eyes burning into his back, glaring at the young boy mumbling to himself, while his only friend wandered off to boast his quirk to literally anyone who would listen.
Izuku stopped mumbling when he heard someone calling his name, looking around rather confused as to where his friend had gone and who was calling for him. Looking towards the source, he once again heard his name being called by the teacher. Embarrassed that pretty much the whole playground had heard, he sheepishly made his way towards her. He heard someone snickering to themselves as he passed his classmates.
“Quirkless Deku is in trouble!”
Izuku could feel hot tears threatening to fall; shame, fear and confusion all bubbling up and pouring out when he responded with “I’m not quirkless!”, which came out much meeker than he wanted it too. As he entered the building with his teacher, he knew the tears were falling.
What he didn’t see, however, was the Young Bakugou searching for the culprit who made Deku cry.
When he finally found them, some boy who had a mutation quirk, it wasn’t pretty. The young Bakugou was out for blood, and the grass around him was singed from the explosions he’d caused until one of the other kids ousted the culprit. An angry Bakugou was a Bakugou no one wanted to mess with, especially if Midoryia wasn’t around. “Listen here brat! No one calls Deku, deku but me! He isn’t quirkless! He just hasn’t had enough veggies yet! So, shout your goddamn mouth and keep to yourself! I bet his quirk will be way better than whatever yours is you dumb Extra!