Chapter Text
Midoriya Izuku was ecstatic. His fourth birthday was tomorrow, which meant that his quirk was soon to reveal itself. The small, green haired boy had always found quirks fascinating. Upon seeing a hero on TV for the first time, he had excitedly scribbled down rudimentary notes across the page he had been coloring on. That interest only grew and now he had a whole notebook dedicated to heroes and how awesome they were.
Kacchan, a slightly older boy and Izuku’s best friend, had already gotten his quirk, little explosions that popped off of his hands like fireworks. Together, they had theorized over what Izuku’s quirk could be. Would it be telepathy, like his mom? Or maybe fire breathing, like his dad? Or perhaps a combination of the two?
“Damn nerd, I’m sure your quirk will be almost as cool as mine.” Kacchan scoffed.
Izuku’s eyes widened, sparkling like the stars in the night sky, “Really?” ‘Cause Kacchan’s quirk was the coolest quirk there was, well, besides All Might’s but nobody could be cooler than All Might. That was just a fact.
“Tch, Zuku. Stop being such a stupid nerd. You’re thinking too much.”
As Izuku fell asleep that night, visions of potential quirks floated through his brain. He smiled, he would be sure to find his quirk and he and Kacchan could be the most amazing hero duo there ever was.
Midoriya Izuku was anxious. Today was his fifth birthday, and over the past year, there had been no signs of a quirk emerging. At night he could hear his parents arguing about it. They didn’t know he listened in. His mom was sure that his quirk just needed a little more time. His Dad was starting to think he was quirkless. He had cried when he first heard that word. The only thing he’d ever truly wanted was to have a cool quirk and be a hero. Could he even be a hero without a quirk? It sounded like his dad didn’t think so. And parents were right about everything, weren’t they?
Despite his doubts, he still held hope that he had a quirk. Somewhere, deep down, there was an instinctual knowledge that he did have more power than what he currently had. He just had to wait for it.
At school, the other students had started to notice. They began to whisper, avoid him. The teachers tried to stop it, but children are always afraid of those who are different. Izuku was the only kid in his grade to not have received a quirk… so he was different.
At least Kacchan was still his friend. He told Izuku to not listen to those “stupid extras” and encouraged him that his quirk would be coming in soon. It had to be, after all, they were going to be a hero duo when they grew up!
The day after Izuku’s 5th birthday, his mother took him to a quirk doctor to see why his quirk wasn’t in yet. They ran some tests with machines and weird pictures and then they were sitting in the office with the doctor.
“Midoriya-san, sometimes quirks just take a bit longer to come in. But I assure you, Midoriya-kun here does have a quirk.”
Mom looked like she might faint, “You’re certain?”
“Yes. You see, quirkless people have an extra joint in their pinky toe among other various biological changes, and your son does not have any of these characteristics.”
Izuku left the office with fresh hope. The doctor said that he had a quirk! So, obviously, he just had to be patient and wait for it to come in. Maybe it had a specific activation requirement. He’d just need to start testing things out.
Midoriya Izuku was itchy. He was five and a half. For the past few months, his back had been relentlessly itchy and he’d driven deep scratches into his back in an attempt to quell it. Nothing seemed to work.
Today though, the itch had begun to morph into burning pain. Kacchan seemed to notice and tried to ask him what was wrong, but he kept quiet. He was fine, he was sure of it. He didn’t wanna worry anybody.
The pain only grew over the day and Izuku immediately went to his room upon coming home, making an excuse about being tired and wanting to go to sleep. He tried to write in his hero notebook to distract himself but it didn’t work. Eventually, he made his way into bed and after a lot of tossing and turning, fell asleep.
Izuku woke in the middle of the night to screaming pain in his back. He burst into tears, but tried to keep them quiet. He didn’t want to bother his parents. He tried to take deep breaths, tried to focus on anything else but the stabbing, ripping pain in his back.
He wailed as he felt something tear through his skin in his upper back.
Midoriya Izuku was five when he’d gotten his quirk.
Midoriya Izuku was five when his life had fallen apart.