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There are two things that Izuku Midoriya knows by heart.
The first rule? Not all men are created equal. This ideal has always been just that- an ideal . Wishful thinking, a hopeful belief that never could come true, no matter how many wishes were made on stars. First it was skin color, then it was gender, then sexuality…and now Quirks. Not all men are created equal, because some are born with stars in their eyes, explosions in their palms and nitroglycerin in their blood.
And others are born without a Quirk at all.
Or perhaps they are born with a Quirk, luckier than the bottom of the barrel, but their Quirks are met with disdain. Too ‘ugly’, or perhaps too ‘villainous’, for society to love, those with less luck than those who shine are left to rot with the rest who have fallen behind, forced to be forgotten.
Yes, the first rule is that not all men are created equal.
The second, then, would be that those who have been scorned by this inequality are the only ones who truly recognize the first.
Because, sure, common sense may dictate that those at the top should notice the preferential treatment being offered to them, should notice the heartbreak of the broken, the beaten, the damned -
But they don't. Because they are the ones breaking the rest down, they are the ones shunning and scorning them.
And in the end, that is simply how it is. Those with luck stay at the top, oblivious to the pain those at the bottom face.
Because it is taboo, Izuku knows, to know just what is wrong with the system set in place. It is taboo for those who are hurt to speak out- no, they are simply expected to take it or lash out, a self-fulfilling prophecy made by cruelties to create more villains for those who shine to take out. It is uncommon to know what goes on in the shadows, because those cast into the dark do not want to share their secrets to those from the light.
It gives those at the top an ignorant bliss, Izuku knows, but he never finds his way to speak up.
And then he does.
It’s a normal day in class, Izuku knows- the normal he has gotten used to, that is, not the normal that was. Because Izuku gets the normal of the lucky, now, gets to see the stars and shine among them should he so please. And the shadowed part relishes it, this haven of luck, this broken dystopian utopia that All Might has offered him.
But it also hisses in the light, scorns its brightness. It’s terrifying in its unfamiliarity, even after so many months. Because Izuku may have One for All, may have mastered it, may even have a Provisional License in his name and saves to go with it, villains taken down with a broken smile.
But Izuku is a broken boy.
Izuku is a broken boy, and he is scared of the shadows that lurk in every room. Izuku is broken, and so he jumps when Katsuki lets loose an explosion too loud, even if the boy has apologized, even if the boy has found error in his ways. Izuku is shattered, so there are always what ifs lingering in his head, doubts and insecurities taking over rational thought, his mind skittering about, desperate for logic in a world of entropy.
Izuku is a boy that was cast into the darkness, and now that he is in the light, he is grateful, but he is scared.
And Izuku is informed .
He knows that this, too, is taboo- for a ‘golden Quirked’ boy like he is now to know the horrors of the world he once survived in. He knows this is why Shinsou is so leery of him, why the teachers without the ‘typical’ heroic Quirks brush off his trauma responses as anxiety, why his peers are so unable to see the toxicity that saturated every interaction Izuku had with Katsuki before their reconciliation. Because Izuku is a golden boy, now, bathed in sunlight and dancing in the stars, and golden boys do not know the horrors that hide in the night.
And then Aizawa makes them do an impromptu discussion. A classwide, on the spot conversation, perhaps more of a debate, if anything, about the topic Izuku knows he is not supposed to know, not as he is now.
It’s aimed at opening their eyes, Izuku knows, from the slightest gleam in the man’s gaze as he explains it.
A discussion on prejudice in the modern world. On how people are treated due to their Quirks. The stereotypes that hinder and harm and destroy .
One glance around the room is all that Izuku needs, to know who is being offered what point, today. Aizawa has a point to prove; there is something to be said about inequalities in the modern world. It is just like the first day, the Quirk Apprehension Test.
It is illogical to pretend that all are created equal. Acknowledgement is the mere beginning of progress.
But it is terrifying to acknowledge what has been, as if making it more real, and so Izuku does not begin to speak, not immediately. Not when he is himself, and not the boy he was.
No, Izuku instead chooses to look around, looking at his peers and taking them in. He categorizes them, hypothesizes on who this activity is geared to empower, and who it is supposed to enlighten.
Who Aizawa views as a shadow dweller, and who he sees in a spotlight of their own.
Shinsou, of course, is the thickest in the shadows. The boy wears his distrust openly, the only open emotion the hypnotist is willing to display. Shinsou is the most open and shut about his past, only making his mistreatment clear, but never the details. He’s new to 1-A, only a week in- undoubtedly, Shinsou has said something to Aizawa about how lucky the rest of 1-A is, as if none of them have worked hard to stay alive in this class.
But Izuku holds no judgment, because he understands the cynicism. He has always aimed to be an optimist, someone happy and bright even in the shadows, but Izuku knows that, had he not gained One for All, he would have only become bitter with time.
If Shinsou is the ringleader, Shouji is the second in command. Mutant Quirks are often treated unkindly, and Izuku has no doubt that there is a reason the boy wears his mask so resolutely.
Tokoyami comes third, sentient Quirks often met with intrigue or terror, and given the boy’s need for darkness…it only makes sense that the boy would be bathed in it.
Hagakure seems tinged in shadows, Izuku thinks, thinking back of how eerily quiet the girl can be when she thinks she is forgotten. She works hard to drag herself into the light, Izuku knows, but she’s trapped.
The same is true for Aoyama, his Quirk’s repercussions are too great for the boy to sparkle his way into the sun.
Not as broken, then, but bent. Hagakure and Aoyama fill this category well, this twilight dawn. Ashido, too, may fall under this category, a Quirk like hers with great potential to be targeted as villainous, but Izuku can’t be sure, her easygoing mannerisms so authentic that Izuku cannot trace their origins.
And then there are the rest.
And Izuku sees their confusion on the topic, and he knows. He knows that they were born with stars and sunlight, even if some had it dimmer than others. And for a moment, a single moment, that bitterness he feared takes over.
But then he looks Shinsou’s way, and he finds the insomniac giving him the same look.
He remembers himself, then. Averts his gaze, lets it fall.
He’s been brought into the light. This isn’t his fight. He should stay quiet and kind, pretend that he was unaware but is now enlighted.
And this plan works, as the shadowed sputter out explanations, failed startups that do not quite explain it. Little comments here and there, teasing, cruel jokes-
But Shinsou doesn’t speak, and neither do Shouji or Tokoyami. Not those who have seen the worst.
It is too taboo.
So everything falls apart, and Aizawa only seems more disappointed the longer that the children of the light are not enlightened.
And then Katsuki cuts in.
“You’re going to pretend it’s just some teasing , hah?” Katsuki asks, and then there are twenty pairs of eyes trained on him. “You’re going to act like a few comments are the worst of it? Really?!”
“What would you know?” Shinsou asks, voice edging with a warning, a sign that Katsuki needs to stop. But Katsuki hates being told what to do- and Katsuki knows, understands just what is wrong because Katsuki was the one doing wrong, and if Katsuki hates one thing?
It’s not being the best.
And so Katsuki snarls, and he sneers, and he slams his hands down and says, “Because I’m the fucking asshole who bullied him!”
The room falls, the atmosphere breaks.
Aizawa and Shinsou lean forward in sync.
Izuku feels his shadows sink in.
“What?” Shinsou asks, and it’s the most open his voice has ever been. “What- what did you do ?”
“We all did it,” Katsuki says, voice not shaking but still unsure in its certainty. “The entire school, encouraged by the teachers. We bullied him to hell and back, anything and everything. Shoving, hitting, notes in his locker, his shoes, on his desk.”
“What messages?” Aizawa asks, and Katsuki does not hesitate, but his eyes do fill with something.
Remorse.
“The kind that came with flowers.”
Izuku tries not to inhale too sharply, but Jirou still turns to look at him. She seems lost.
Everyone does.
“You’re a monster,” Shinsou snarls, and Katsuki-
Katsuki nods.
“I’m lucky he never listened,” Katsuki says, and he sounds so soft, so earnest. Izuku wants to cry. “He’s happier now.”
“How can you be sure of that?” Aizawa asks, voice dangerous, and Katsuki looks at Izuku, eyes pleading.
Pleading, begging for Izuku to reveal his shadows, to cast off some of the light he was offered.
And Izuku sees the shadows Katsuki has adopted in kind…and so he ducks his head and speaks up, for the first time in his life.
“When I was four,” Izuku starts, and then there are eyes on him, instead. “I was diagnosed as Quirkless.”
There are gasps, but only a handful are filled with understanding. Izuku swallows and carries on.
“It was wrong- I’m a late bloomer, as you can see, but we didn’t know that, then. And since my Quirk only stress-manifested during…during the Entrance Exam-”
“We had no clue,” Katsuki cuts in, and Izuku chances a look up. Aizawa is staring directly at him.
So is Shinsou.
They seem lost, Izuku notes.
And then he is speaking, words tumbling out in a way that they only can now that Izuku has been offered the warmth of the sun. He is not too cold from the shadows, not anymore, not when Katsuki has lifted some off of him.
He lets everything out.
Because both sides need to know.
“If you’re Quirkless, you’re the bottom of the barrel…”
Because all men may not be created equal, but Izuku will make sure that both sides know it, now.