Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya was five years old when he properly encountered his first villain. Well to be entirely fair, Chizome Akaguro wasn’t quite a villain yet. He was more of a retired vigilante, now considering villainy.
Midoriya had heard about a hero fighting nearby where he lived and decided to venture out into the neighborhood to see it happen in action, rather than see it happen an hour later on some video from the internet. His mother probably would not have approved, but thankfully for Izuku, Inko had decided to take a quick nap before having to head out for her night shift. Izuku promised himself he’d be back before his mom woke up from her nap.
Izuku couldn’t believe his luck when he saw Best Jeanist taking down three bad guys with guns. Best Jeanist was still a somewhat younger hero, but he was quickly moving up the rankings. Izuku knew in his little fanboy heart that Best Jeanist would break into the top ten within the next few years.
Once the fight was over, the police began to disperse the crowd that had formed to watch the hero, which meant Izuku had to go home now. Before he could even think about heading home though, he pulled out his cassette recorder to immediately analyze the fight and Best Jeanist’s fighting style. He would have preferred to write down his analysis in his notebook, but his mom always told him not to write and walk because he walks into traffic way too often when he does. He didn’t quite mind it though, his thoughts and spoken words often were much faster than he was at writing. For now, he supposed, a recorder was okay.
As little Midoriya was walking and talking, his words had begun to slow down. He looked up more properly at the streets in front of him and quickly realized they did not look familiar. He was lost, and within seconds his eyes began to water at that fact.
His breathing became rushed as he spun around, trying to find a familiar landmark, but found nothing he recognized. “Mooomm…” A strained wine left his mouth, though it was barely louder than a whisper. “...m-momma.” He cried out again, but it was only slightly louder than his last call. He quickly turned around from his current path hoping to find his way back to where he last saw the police and Best Jeanist, but he was out of luck because still nothing looked remotely familiar to him. “Hello?”
“Woah kid, don’t you know it’s dangerous to be wandering these streets on your own? Where’s your mommy, or your daddy?”
“My daddy’s working overseas, and my mommy is at home taking a nap.”
“A nap? What does she let you just wander around all the time?”
“...No...It’s just…Well, my mom was taking a nap and I saw on the news that there was a-a hero fight, and um-uh…”
“You snuck out to watch the hero fight, didn’t ya?”
“Yeah, but please don’t tell my mommy! She’d get really sad if she knew that I went outside without her again.”
“Again? How many times have you gone out without her?”
“Mmm...this many times.” He held up six fingers.
“You sure are troublesome aren’t ya? You’re gonna give your mother a heart attack at this rate.”
“What’s a heart attack?’”
Stain chuckled “Nothing, nothing. Alright kid, how ‘bout I take ya to a police station so they can help you find your way back home?”
“No!” Izuku grabbed onto the man’s arm quickly. “They said last time if I get lost again they won’t take me back home. That way I can learn not to-to go outside anymore.”
“They said what??”
Izuku nodded “They said they’d let me sleep in the cage with the villains until my mommy comes and finds me.”
“Christ.” Chizome shook his head in frustration, he wouldn’t put it past the policemen around the area to say that. They probably thought it would scare the kid straight or something, but instead, it just made it so that he wouldn’t come to them for help whenever he got in trouble. It’s a stupid thing to do to an impressionable child. “Okay...okay then kid. Do you know your address or your mommy’s phone number?” Izuku shook his head. “Of course you don’t”
“...sorry."
Chizome ruffled the boy’s hair “It’s alright, it’s not your fault. Is there anything around where you live that might be familiar to you? Like a school or a train station?”
Izuku’s brows scrunched as he thought hard. “There’s...I think some big yellow trucks is breaking the street really close by. With orange signs all around it and old guys all wearing yellow. They’ve been here for a whole three days and my mommy doesn’t like it because it wakes her up in the morning.”
Chizome nodded his head in thought. “Right...right. I think I remember something about a construction zone near Nemak Way.” The older man sighed deeply to himself again
---
It was the beginning of the second week of his second year of school that Izuku knew he fucked up. Aizawa had just started class and was talking about villain psychology. Izuku would have normally loved to go more in-depth on the topic, if it wasn’t for the example Aizawa seemed to want to dissect.
“I’m sure most of you have heard of a popular child interviewer who was able to interview the hero-killer stain before he was, well, a hero-killer.”
Every single one of Izuku’s muscles tensed, and he cursed to himself in his head.
The class started an uproar, everyone talking over one another, yelling both for and against where the lesson was going. Even though Izuku was the mysterious child interviewer himself, he couldn't help but not be on the opposing side of this lesson.
“Enough!’ Aizawahad shouted out after having enough of the class going off. “I understand that there is some heavy debate that has been going around about this interview, but that is exactly why we need to be discussing it, and discussing what exactly it all means. Now-”
Uraraka was surprisingly the one who had the nerve to cut off the sensei, “But sir, this interview is just glorifying a killer! Whoever did this interview-if the interview is even real and not faked or something like that-is just making the Stain supporters act out even more. We really shouldn’t be encouraging that behavior by indulging in what’s clearly nothing more than a publicity stunt.”
Aizawa stared at her for a few seconds, in what Izuku could only assume was him taking time to internally groan. “What you say is true Uraraka, it is making his followers take bigger risks, and is even giving way to new followers, but-”
“Exactly!” Sero was the next to shout out “Why indulge them in considering even showing that killer any sympathy?”
“Yeah!” Mina was next to add to the conversation “Didn’t you know that his followers are trying to get him an appeal for a lighter sentence? Some of them are even trying to get him off scott-free!”
“Like that’ll ever happen.” Kacchan snorted to himself, but as always with Kacchan, it was loud enough for all to hear.
“But that’s the point baku-babe, the fact that his followers can even think of it as a possibility is because of that interview. It’s adding coal to their fire, and the more who sympathize, just add more coal!”
“That’s enough!" Aizawa once again had to shout out as the class all began spewing out their thoughts at the same time. “Did any of you stop to consider what today’s lesson is?”
The class fell silent, unsure if this was another one of his trick questions. Denki, of course, was the only one to risk asking “Isn’t the lesson about the hero killer Stain?” He asked though it seemed he was asking himself just as much as he was asking Aizawa.
Aizawa, expecting the answer, smirked slightly behind his scarf-capture weapon-sarf-capture-whatever the thing is. “I will be using the hero killer Stain as an example for today’s lesson. He is not though, what today’s lesson is about. Does anybody else want to tell me what I said today’s lesson was?” The class fell silent once again, most trying to think back to only ten minutes and what our teacher had said. “No, nobody?”
Izuku, ready to move on from the topic of his interview, shot his hand in the air and began speaking before Aizawa got the chance to call on him “Villain psychology, sir!”
“Thank you, Midoriya,” Aizawa nodded his way “though next time wait until you’re called on.” Izuku smiled nervously back at him in confirmation. “Now we will be listening to the interview today and will be discussing and dissecting it. Can anybody tell me why this interview would be worth dissecting when it comes to villain psychology?”
Izuku felt dread run up his body. The thought of having to listen to his younger self ask such silly questions to a well-known serial killer wasn’t exactly what he’d call fun.
Jiro was the first to raise her hand this time, albeit nervously. Aizawa nodded his head toward her, in permission to speak. “Is it, well, is it exactly appropriate to uh, discuss Stain, you know...considering…” Her head tilted towards the far back of the classroom, all eyes immediately went to Iida.
Murmurs began to fill the room as everybody finally seemed to remember what had happened to Iida’s older brother and the effect it had on their classmate. Izuku cursed himself again, having not even thought about how one of his closest friends might be feeling with this right now. Izuku wished he could just take down his interview, but at this point, it has circulated so many different sites, that there would be no point to it. You know what they say , Izuku thought wryly to himself, the internet is forever.
Iida stood stiffly-well more stiffly than usual, which is indeed somehow possible. The class slowly fell back into silence as they all waited to hear his opinion on the matter. “Thank you, Jiro, for your concern.” He hand-chopped in the direction of said girl, who blushed slightly in embarrassment “Thank you all for your concern,” he now looked in the general direction of the class, talking to everybody. “Aizawa-sensei and I have already discussed this topic in detail, the day school started. He already told me he was interested in making the interview a part of our lesson and has asked my permission to do so. I think…” Iida hesitated, the class held their breath. “I think it could be educational.” He nodded stiffly and sat back down in his seat.
The class was rather silent, some a little let down that Iida hadn’t made a bigger deal out of this, and some simply surprised at how well he was handling the topic.
“There’s your answer then.”Aizawa said, “Now moving on. We will be listening to the interview in parts. Every time we stop, we’ll analyze, dissect, and we will have a discussion and in some cases a debate over what we’ve listened to.”
“So you’re permitting us to argue with each other. Nice .”
This time Aizawa-sensei couldn’t help but audibly groan. “No, Kaminari. I said debate, not argue.”
“Same difference.”
Aizawa sighed heavily at the boy “No, Kaminari, it isn’t. A debate is a formal discussion. You will raise your hand to speak, anybody who wishes to speak will get their turn, and there will be no yelling. ” He emphasized the last part, looking straight in Kacchan’s direction.
Which Kacchan simply answered with his signature “Tch.”
“I mean it, Bakugo. This will be a debate, if you start getting out of hand, I’ll be forced to send you to Nezu’s office.”
Kacchan rolled his eyes. “What’s even the point of this all anyway? A villain is a villain, why try to dissect what they're doing? Our jobs are to beat them and turn ‘em in, that’s it. Why bother playing psychologist with the fuck ups?”
“Your perception of villains is exactly why we need this lesson, Bakugo-”
“Tch, what is a stupid interview gonna do? Listening to some shitty extra interviewing some shitty villain isn’t hero work or training for hero work, so what’s the point?”
“I’d tell you to mind your language, but I know that’d be a waste of breath.” Aizawa-sensei rubbed his temples slowly trying to massage out a growing headache. “Have you listened to this interview before Bakugo?”
“Why would I have? If it has nothing to do with hero work, then it’s pointless.”
Kirishima shouted out at this, “What? How have you not listened to it yet man? It’s been everywhere! The group has talked about it in front of you like a million times.”
Kaminari snorted “You think Kacchan listens to a word we have to say?”
“I told you to stop calling me that.”
“Then why do you let Midoriy-!”
“Can we get back on track now?” Aizawa shouted out. “Now I was under the impression everybody at this point had listened to this interview, which is my fault. So let’s talk about the basics of it. Two days before the start of school, the website: unintentionalundercoverreporter.com , popped up with a single voice recording. The website link was posted by its creator on many other websites such as Reddit, 4chan, Twitter, etcetera. Even though it’s just an audio-some that’s muffled at times, the website and recording quickly gained popularity. By the time school had started, it had already gained over two million hits. As of today, it has over nine million hits.” The class murmured to each other, none quite believing it had taken off so quickly.
Izuku on the other hand, was beginning to feel all of the blood drain from his body. He knew that his interview had gotten pretty popular these past few days, but he never imagined it had gotten this big. If Izuku was being honest, after he initially posted the recording and website to other platforms, he kind of...just forgot about it. He only put the recording of that ‘interview’ up online as a place to store it. It was an old recording that looked like it would break apart any second. He only posted it on other platforms because he figured some other people might get a kick out of it.
Izuku hadn’t even bothered setting up notifications on his website because he didn’t think there would be a point to it. Sure he had heard his friends briefly mention the interview, but he had figured they only knew about it because they were looking into Stain-related things and because it was hero-related, and it just snowballed to the rest of the class from there.
“Now the interview in question has sparked some controversy because of both who the interviewer is and who the interviewee is.”
“Obviously the interviewee is Stain and sure he made a splash a while back ago, but he’s not that big of a villain to make a fuss over.”
“That’s not exactly true Bakugo, Stain has made one of the biggest impacts in our society than any other villain has in quite a long time. Does anybody want to tell me how he’s managed to do that?”
Momo raised her hand straight into the air at the question, Aizawa nodded her way in permission to speak. “Just as Mina said earlier. The Hero Killer Stain has cultivated a fanbase, one that has come to be, due to his speech right before Endeavor had properly taken him down. He spread his ideology, and many people took it to heart, inspiring them into the life of criminality.”
“Precisely right, thank you Momo. Now like Momo just said, Stain has inspired a new age of criminals, some who have taken it to the extreme of joining in on The League of Villains.” The class grew silent at that, some tense. Aizawa pulled some type of controller out of his pocket and clicked a button, images now shown on the whiteboard behind him. “Toga Himiko, Spinner, and Dabi.” He took a momentary pause to let the class collect their thoughts. “All known Stain loyalists, and all members of the League of Villains.”
“I almost forgot about them…” A quiet mumble sounded off from somewhere in the classroom. Many other classmates wished they had the luxury of forgetting.
Aizawa continued “The League of Villains used their connection with Stain to gather more members. As far as we know, these are the only Stain loyalists who have migrated to the league, but who's to say there isn’t more we don’t know about-or more to join.”
“Okay so a bunch of fuck-ups, joined a group of even bigger fuck-ups. What’s this gotta do with taking down villains?”
Aizawa found himself sighing at the foul-mouthed boy, again. “It has nothing to do with taking them down perse, but it has everything to do with-”
“Exactly.” The explosive boy rioted, “We’re at UA to train to take down bad guys, not hear them talk about their mommy issues or some shit.”
“I will ask you to refrain from cutting me off Bakugou, don’t make me have to warn you again.” He sent a stern glare to the boy and was responded with a ‘tch’, which was apparently enough for Aizawa to continue “Like I was saying…Delving into villain psychology doesn’t have to do with taking down the villain, but understanding why they became a villain in the first place. In the hope that we can, we can make efforts in the future through outreach programs or the like to bring the villain rates down or be able to talk down active villains from causing any more chaos, and-”
“Tch. We’re heroes, no fucking psychologist.”
Aizawa glared at the blonde-headed boy, “One more interruption and I’ll be sending you out of class and giving you detention, do you understand me Bakugo?” The boy shifted in his seat in response, not uttering a word. “Now. Since we have a general idea of the lesson, I want you all to listen very carefully to the interview. Take notes, come up with ideas as you listen through, thoughts you have. Points you agree and don’t agree with from what both Stain and the interviewer make.”
Aizawa presses another button on his control and the pictures of villains change to an audio file. No interruptions until I say. We’ll be taking breaks throughout the interview to discuss. When we do discuss, I expect hands to be raised before permitted to speak.” Aizawa hits play, and the interview begins, much to Izuku’s mortification.
“What’s that you got in your hands kid?” Stain asks.
“It’s my recorder! It records things!” The voice of a young child answers.
“Oh really, is that what it does? I never would have guessed.” The villain responds sarcastically, though that fact goes over the child's head.
“Mhm, I use it when I wanna talk about the way heroes fight, so that way I can remember it for later!”
“That’s pretty neat. What type of things do you say about hero fights?”
“Mmm…just like the cool way they do things, and what quirks they have. I wanna have the heroes talk into them like they do on the news, but they never have time to.”
“Well I’m not exactly a hero anymore, but I do still fight crime. Want me to talk into it?”
“Would you really?” The child asks excitedly.
“Yeah, if a retired hero is good enough for you. I was an underground hero, so it’ll be my first and last interview as well. You’ll have the exclusive of a lifetime, kid.”
“Woah. So I can really record you and ask questions, and you’ll actually answer them?”
“Yeah, why not. We’ve got some time till we get to your home, it’ll help pass the time.”
“Okay-okay. Um…What’s your name?”
“Ooh that one's easy, the name is Chizome Akaguro.”
Little Izuku giggled, “No silly, your hero name.”
“Ah well when I was still a hero, I went by-”
“Why did you stop being a hero?”
“Too much red tape.”
“What does that mean?”
“...There’s a lot of rules. Rules that make it take too long to help the people that need it.”
“So if you still fight crime, then doesn’t that still make you a hero?”
“‘Fraid not, tike. When I fight the bad guys now, I don’t follow the rules, and if you don’t follow the rules, then you’re not a hero. In the eyes of the law, I’m a vigilante now.”
“What’s a viga-vigla-lante?”
“Technically?”
“I don’t know what tecn-nocly means.”
“The way the hero sees it: vigilantes are people who fight crime by breaking the law. The way vigilantes see it: we’re people who fight crime without having to deal with the red tape. The way the bad guys see it: we're a nuisance. The way the people we save see it: we’re heroes. Does that make sense kid?”
“Mmmm, what’s a nuisance?”
“Something annoying.”
“Like me!”
“I wouldn’t quite call you a nuisance, just…way too curious.”
“But K***** says I’m annoying.” A beep sounds, replacing the name the child says.
“Well, K***** sounds like a butt.”
Izuku giggled “If he heard you say that he’d ******* **** ****.” Multiple beeps sound in place of the child's words.
“Is that his quirk?”
“Yeah! Isn’t it so cool and strong?”
“Eh, I’ve seen better.”
“Nu-uh, no way. K***** is gonna grow up to be the best strongest hero ever.”
"Yeah? What about you?”
“I’m gonna be a hero too when I grow up, just like All Might!”
“Oh, an All Might fan huh?”
“Yeah! He’s my favorite hero!”
“Well I’ll be darned, he’s my favorite hero too. One of the few good heroes left.”
“Few means not a lot?”
“It does.”
“But there’s a lot of heroes. Not a few.”
“There’s a lot of heroes, but not a lot of good heroes. There are less and less good heroes nowadays.”
“There is?”
“Yup.”
“What makes a good hero?”
“That's a good question kid, but first: tell me, why do you want to be a hero?”
“Oh! Um…I wanna be like All Might.”
“Yes, but why.”
“Mmm… because, uh…”
“If you don’t know why you want to be a hero, kid, then being a hero isn’t for you.”
“No, no, I know why!”
“Okay, why?”
“Because…because All Might makes people feel good. He smiles and makes people feel better. That’s what I wanna do! I wanna smile and have everybody be okay because I smiled. I wanna make sure everyone is safe so that they can smile too.”
“That’s…a good reason kid.”
“It is?”
“Yeah, keep that reason close to your heart, and you’ll be the best hero there ever was.”
“Really? How about K*****?”
“Well, that depends, why does K*****, want to be a hero?”
“To fight bad guys and beat them up! He likes fighting!”
“Well then K*****, should find something else he wants to do when he grows up because that doesn’t sound like a good reason to be a hero.”
“Why not?”
“Because being a hero…hmm how do I put this in a way you’d understand…A good reason to want to be a hero is for the people. Bad reasons to be a hero are for yourself, for the villains, and for the cameras. Your little friend wants to be a hero for himself and for the villains, which means he wouldn’t make a good hero.”
“You’re wrong!”
“I am?”
“Yes. K***** will be the best hero ever, even better than All Might!”
“Okay, then. Tell me why I’m wrong.”
“Be-because. He’s strong and has a cool quirk. He‘s good at beating people up-and that means when he’s older he’ll be even better at beating up the villains.”
“That’s.. I- kid.”
“So, you’re wrong!”
“God I hope that K****** never becomes a hero, not with that attitude.”
“You’re mean.”
“Yeah, I’ve been told that.”
“I don’t like this anymore. Can we do other questions?”
“Yeah, sure thing, knock yourself out, kid. Ask me anything.”
“What’s your quirk?”
“Ah, I should have seen this one coming.”
“So?”
“I dunno kid, you might find it icky.”
“I won't. I'm sure it’ll be cool. All quirks are cool!”
“Okay…only if you promise not to get scared.”
“Pinky promise!”
“Okay, sure, pinky promise…so my quirk is, when I drink a person's blood, I can make them…freeze.”
“Blood?”
“Yeah. You know, that red stuff that comes outta ya when you hurt yourself.”
“I know what blood is…it’s just…”
“Scary?”
“No! No, no, no. I’m just thinking…”
“About?”
“How much blood do you have to drink of it? Just a little lick? Or a big lick? Or a whole cup? Do you take their blood when you punch them and they start bleeding? Or do you give them a shot and take their blood like at the doctor? Does this make you like a vampire? There are different types of blood, does it matter which type you drink? Or does it have to be specific? What do you mean by freeze? Like ice freeze? Or like freeze tag freeze? How long does it last? Or do they stay frozen until the blood leaves your mouth?”
“Um…wow you-I-you sure were thinking up a storm, huh kid?”
“Yeah, sorry. My mom says not to ask people questions like that anymore because it scares people, but your quirk is just so cool and strong I just had to ask.”
“Aw, thanks, kid. Okay, I can answer your questions, but give em to me one at a time. What’s your first question for me?”
“Mmm…doesn’t the blood taste bad?”
“Horrible. Like a penny, you found off of the street.”
“How do you know what a penny on the street tastes like?”
“I don’t, it’s just what I’d imagine one to taste like.”
“So they freeze like ice, or like freeze tag?”
“Mmm, more like a freeze tag, but they usually fall on the floor and stay there.”
“How do you get their blood?”
“I cut them with my sword, just small little cuts like a paper cut.”
“Paper cuts are the worst.”
“They are.”
“I got one yesterday and I had to put a bandaid on it even though it wasn’t bleeding because every time I touched it, it would hurt again.”
“Ouch.”
“How much blood do you need to eat?”
“Only a little lick. As much blood that would come out of a paper cut.”
“How long do they stay frozen?”
“Depends on their blood type. Some stray frozen longer than others. But it’s usually long enough for me to catch them and tie them up.”
“If you drink a cup of blood instead of a little lick, would they stay frozen longer?”
“Honestly, I don't know. That’s a good question. I’ve never tried it, and don’t think I ever will.”
“Why not?”
“Because I would have to hurt them pretty badly to get a whole cup full of their blood.”
“That’s true. Is it just blood, or can it be anything from a person? Like their spit or boogers?”
“Uh well, definitely not their spit, and uh-I can’t quite say if booger would work.”
“You haven’t tried?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Would you like to eat boogers off of strangers?”
Izuku made a face of disgust. “No…”
“Exactly.”
“I wouldn’t like it, but I'd still try if it means knowing everything about my quirk.”
“Well, you are a more dedicated guy than I am. I‘ll just stick with the blood."
“Do you have a Vigilante name?”
“Not one I’ve chosen, but people call me different things. Haven’t quite found one I like yet.”
“Really? What do people call you? How long have you been thinking about your name? Do you need help picking one, because I can help?”
“You wanna help me pick out my new name?”
“Yeah!”
“Hmm…sure, you’re a smart kid. If I like one, I’ll think about it. What type of names you got?”
“How about… The Paper Cut ?”
“Absolutely not.”
“The sword?”
“Nah.”
“Red?”
“Red, why red?”
“Because blood is red, and you can wear the color red on your suit so the blood doesn’t dirty your clothes.”
“Hmm, smart. I should wear some more red. But ixnay on the name-ay.”
“Hm...how about…”
“Watch out!” The sound of Stain's voice startled little Izuku out of concentration.
The audio stops, and the class watches as Aizawa makes his way in front of the class, pausing the audio. “Okay, finish up any notes you’re taking, and we can begin to discuss this section of the interview.”