Chapter Text
To say that today was the worst day of his life was an understatement. Izuku was a small green haired 4 year old with four freckles in a diamond shape on each cheek. He had wanted to be a hero since before he knew how to talk, but to do that you need to have a quirk. A quirk was an 80% chance to get a super power essentially. All typically give the user the ability to do something unnatural for humans. Izuku’s father, for example, could breathe fire, at least before he left, his mother on the other hand had a weak telekinesis. Some gave animal characteristics, often characterized as zoan or mutant types, those like Izuku’s parents were characterized as emitters. Others were transformation types, these often were thought of as a subcategory of mutant or zoan types due to the fact that most, if not all, transformation quirks had animal features. Recently a new subtype has been found. Dubbed the logia type it was an emitter subtype that allowed the user to completely turn into whatever element they wielded. For example a man that was once thought to be a fire emitter found that he didn’t just emit or generate fire, he was fire.
Izuku however, had nothing. No power which society had begun to see as something that made you human. In addition, it was something that made the heroes, heroes. How was he supposed to fight villains without a quirk? The answer to that was something the four year old would have to figure out later. Now, he bawled until he couldn’t anymore. There were so many tears that if he hadn't just been told he had no quirk, most would think it was his quirk.
He sat on his All Might themed bed, head on his knees, crying. His mother, Inko Midoriya, did her best to console him. She was also crying, only able to get out “I’m sorry, Izuku!” While it did somewhat help the boy, it wasn’t what he wanted, no, needed to hear. What he needed was “You can still be a hero.” but in all honesty, how could someone truthfully say that?
Suddenly something came to Inko’s mind. “Hey, do you wanna go see Grandma and Grandpa?” Izuku lightened up for a second as he nodded excitedly. His grandparents were always great when he got to see them. Normally this was an annual thing, but recently with his father having left a little over a year ago, his mom hadn’t had the heart to return to them. After all, her parents didn’t exactly like Hisashi from the beginning. But if it meant helping Izuku she would definitely weather having to talk to them about him.
They took the next day or so to pack a little and let Izuku’s grandparent’s know about their coming, which of course they openly welcomed. Soon they were on a train towards Shikoku, where his grandparents lived. After a few train swaps and a cab ride, they arrived at the front of where they lived.
The building where Izuku’s grandparents lived looked like a dojo. He didn’t know it but his grandfather was a sensei at the dojo, and that it was actually a dojo. The reason that they had come, besides helping console Izuku and unbeknownst to the little boy, was said grandpa knew a long forgotten technique. One he often refused to teach, not because it was dangerous, though it could be if trained properly, but because most people weren’t 'strong-willed' enough to wield it.
As the two approached the dojo a loud boom could be heard along with a wild laugh which Izuku immediately recognized as his grandpa. “God dammit Garp! Will you stop with the battleship bags!! Our grandson and Inko are coming to visit!” Izuku heard his grandmother yell. Inko looked down with a deep sigh as she shook her head and walked up to the door and knocked. “Speaking of.” Could be heard from the same voice on the other side of the door.
An older woman opened the door and it almost looked like Inko had simply aged up if it weren’t for the few scars she had. Her and her husband used to be a part of emergency response teams, so they had their fair share of scars. Not that they cared about them, “H-hey mom,” Inko nervously greeted.
“Inko dear, how have you been!!” as she practically threw herself onto the younger woman to hug her. After a few seconds she broke the hug, which Inko had reciprocated, and turned to her grandson. She scooped him up into a big hug saying, “And how’s my favorite grandson?!” Izuku hugged back and smiled big. It was his first genuine smile that Inko had seen since the diagnosis.
“Where’s Hisashi?” Izuku’s grandfather questioned as he walked through the door taking off his wraps on his hands and forearms. Inko again looked down and quietly said, “He… he left.” An angry “I knew it.” could be heard from both grandparents as they went to console Inko. They were a lot more understanding rather than the “I told you so” she had been expecting.
Izuku’s grandmother piped up, “Well we will talk about that later, but for now why don’t we head inside and catch up?” She smiled as she said this, excited to see her daughter and grandson for the first time in over a year. They continued inside and caught up as Tsuru gave the adults some tea and Izuku some juice which he happily drank. They had a great day chatting away and after eating dinner Izuku got tired and they put him to bed.
“Alright, now that he’s in bed, what’s up?” Tsuru asked Inko.
“I-I suppose it’s 3 things. 1 We wanted to see you, it has been a while." Both parents nodded as Inko spoke, “Another was for me, like I said earlier Hisashi left and it’s been difficult.” Anger once again flared from the two, “and lastly, we went to check up on Izuku’s development and…” She paused, earning worried and expecting looks from Garp and Tsuru, “He’s quirkless.” Both of their faces dropped, they knew very well how much the boy had wanted to be a hero. They also knew how he would be treated once this got out to his peers. Garp had already begun to think about possibly teaching him his technique, but was a little worried. It had been much easier for him than it would be for Izuku. He was quirkless too, but at the time getting a quirk was a fifty-fifty shot, well statistically at least. Either way it had been more acceptable at the time to be quirkless, there were still those ‘quirk supremacists’ but they were far and few between compared to today. What Izuku would have to deal with, Garp could only imagine the nightmare ahead.
“You know,” both Midoriya women looked at the man, “if, and it's a big ‘if,’ Izuku can learn my technique, he could probably pass it off as a quirk.” the women in front of him looked down and pondered, “Of course, he would likely be stronger if he didn’t do that and was proud of the fact that he’s quirkless. However it's not unlikely that telling the truth and that he is quirkless will have the opposite effect.” once he finished Inko looked up and Tsuru decided to put in her two cents,
“I think it’s worth a shot, though whether he goes around claiming it’s his quirk should be up to him. Not to mention how strong he’ll have to become for it to even have visible effects.”
“L-Let’s figure that out tomorrow.” Inko finally answered.
The three nodded and continued their chat before going to bed. Inko was able to sleep a bit better thanks to her talk with her parent’s, but the fact that Izuku still had a chance of not being able to use her father’s technique worried her. Garp and Tsuru were in a similar situation, worried about what their grandson will have to face if he cannot learn Garp’s technique or if he decides to be honest and tell everyone that he is quirkless.
The next morning everything was decided. “Izuku?” Garp asked, much more tired and somber than normal as Izuku sat looking at the scenery behind the dojo, “Your mom told us last night about your doctor's visit.” Izuku looked down and tried his best to hold back his tears.
“I-I’m q-quirkless, I-I don’t even k-know if I can be a hero.” he said, mentally Garp was proud of him. Why? 1 he was able to say it, even if it was to someone he trusted, this was good. And 2, a spark of hope for the fact that he might be able to use the technique, he didn’t say it was impossible.
Garp nodded quietly, deep in thought, “Do you still want to try? I mean if you ask me first responders are still heroes just as much as the proper position.” He knew this would hurt him, but he had to test him. Just how strong willed was his grandson?
“I-I know.” He said sadly, “but I want to be a Hero and help as many people as possible. M-Maybe,” he said as a spark began to show in his eye, “maybe I can be like All Might but for people like us that are quirkless!” His sudden idea and burst of confidence brought a smile to the old man’s face. ‘Oh he’ll definitely be able to use it.’
“How about this then,” Izuku looked up at his grandfather, his short black hair and beard waving in the slight breeze, “During breaks and some weekends during school, you come up here and train with me. Of course you’ll also have training to do at home as well.” He said with a smirk that would normally scare just about anyone, but his grandson knew this smirk well and excitedly answered, “Yes please!!”
“Then let's go have breakfast, talk to your mom and get started.” Garp said with a big smile as he picked up the boy and put him on his back for a piggy back ride to the dining room. Izuku sat down with a big smile as he was served some bacon and eggs that Inko and Tsuru had been cooking while Garp went to go talk to him.
Upon seeing Izuku’s big smile the two women looked at Garp who gave them a silent nod, then broke the silence, “The current idea is we’ll train over the breaks and some weekends when school comes around. Of course I’ll give him things to do while he isn’t here. Does that sound alright to you, Inko?”
“I’ll have to figure out how to do work, but that’s fine with me!” she responded excitedly.
“If you like where you work then you can stay there and visit us once or twice every week during the summer,” Tsuru interjected, “Not that we don’t want to see you, but you’ll still need a job in Mustafu if Izuku is going to stay in school there.”
“That works!” She said, nodding in excitement.
“All done!!” Izuku said, only adding to the excitement.
“Woah be careful Izuku, eating too fast can cause problems!” Garp said with a chuckle, “Go change into your training clothes and meet me in the dojo.” Izuku quickly got up and put his dishes next to the sink and ran to his room to change.
“He sure is excited.” Tsuru said with a giggle as Inko also giggled.
“This is gonna be difficult!” Garp said with a devilish grin, “But after what he said earlier, I think he should be able to do it.”