Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“My name is Izuku Midoriya, I’m smart, I'm determined, I’m strong… mentally… I’m handsome… to someone… My name is Izuku Midoriya.” Izuku says the affirmations half-heartedly to himself in the bathroom mirror.

Getting ready for another day of school… god, school sucked—

… no…

School isn’t…

ideal …. 

…Right. Now.

…But he’s going to make the most of it! Each day is only what you make of it, Izuku. If you want to have a good day, you're going to fight for it! You're going to keep smiling, no matter what happens, there’s a silver lining to everything, everything is an opportunity to learn! Your day depends on you.

With a splash of cold water to the face and a smile in the mirror, Izuku Midoriya is determined to have a good day. 

Chapter Text

Has Izuku ever done a cartwheel before, no. Is he gonna try? Absolutely.

The green haired boy saw the empty dirt path and took the opportunity. Putting his arms above his head , one foot in front of the other , , taking a deep breath before lunging forward, his hands reaching for the ground. His legs weren’t very straight but they swung over his head and landed down on the ground, the loose dirt flying in the air before settling onto his red shoes and the ankles of his uniform pants.

“… Haha, oh my god! That was so stupid!” He said putting his face into his hands as he laughed at himself . He couldn’t help but laugh. The randomness of spinning his body in such a way , knowing it probably looked so silly with his big backpack on. His freckled cheeks are rosy from his laughter , the smile previously forced , now real and content as he walked towards the school.

The joy was short lived as soon as izuku stepped into the classroom his peers began to release suppressed laughter like the hiss of a soda being opened. He looked over to his desk. A small bouquet of spider Lillie’s and a picture of him printed onto some cheap black and white printer paper. The photo was from his first year in junior high school when he had the worst acne breakout ever, right before picture day too. His face was covered in nodules, and cyst. The anxious smile stares back at him as the hissing soda of a classroom finally pops, their laughter is loud and obnoxious as he puts the flowers in his bag and crumples the photo, tossing it in the trash before taking a seat at his desk.

In front of him sat Bakugo , or to him Katsuki, teasingly kacchan. He's known him since they were babies , and their mothers were blasting some raunchy American rap song that for some reason soothed their tears. 

Kacchan isn’t bad, not as bad as everyone else at least. He would insult him, push him around, make a joke that everyone would laugh at. Which is definitely cruel in its own right, but he wouldn’t make a mocking shrine for him as if he were dead. 

Even when he does make jokes about him. when the class laughs too loud , to him the joke seems to no longer be funny. When the class adds on to the joke , suddenly Kacchans as uninterested as a moth to a light that’s gone out. In short, Izuku knows Kacchan doesn’t truly hate him. It's a facade , and izuku understands he's not a desirable person to be around, he’s weird, he’s quirkless… he’s Deku. 

But at the end of the day, if Kacchan isn’t with his friends, he’ll walk 10 feet in front of him on the way to school, waiting to see him coming down the street before starting to walk.

The School day had ended as soon as it started. Homeroom, Writing , Math, lunch ,History, science,after school cleaning. But the mostly good day ended when some kids got bored. 

Outside the school's cafeteria in the alley way that stores the school's garbage bins. Izuku is cornered as a trio of boys in his class begin to push and shove him against the brick , spinning him around and taking the bag off his back. 

“Aw come on Deku , you're not completely useless, as long as you took your notes today, you might actually be worth something!” One of the boys says dumping the school supplies from his bag into the dirt , as the other two press his face into the concrete of the schools wall, Izuku can feel the small scratches on his cheek forming as the boys tear through his things , ripping out pages of notes from his notebook , breaking pens and pencils , but they still pocket his cool all-Might one. 

When they get what they're looking for , instead of stopping they begin to push the smaller boy around in a circle, when the dizziness causes him to fall ,  they begin to use their feet to kick him around. Hitting his stomach, chest, face,and legs. As Izuku felt himself begin to cough as the wind got knocked out of him, he heard the sound of crackling explosions . 

“Kacchan…” the green haired boy whimpered out from his position on the floor holding his stomach, and attempting to shelter his face with the other. 

Katsuki looked down at the scene… debating his words. “You're gonna knock him out, idiots… you’ll be charged with attempted murder if he goes unconscious.” 

Izuku, though still in the dirt , is listening, that’s not true. This is assault at most… he’s just trying to scare the boys off. The idea puts a gentle smile on his face. He still cares...

The bullies stare at Izuku for a moment before walking off , taking the notes they had ripped out and stuffing them into their pockets. Now it’s just Katsuki and Izuku in the alley. 

Izuku stands dusting himself off , still catching his breath from the previous afflictions. he picks up the ruin of his stuff.  throwing it out , if salvageable, putting it back in his bag. He turns to the nostalgic memory of a friend who’s walking slightly in front of him. 

Izuku speed walks till he’s next to him and stutters out “… t-thanks, Kacchan."

The blonde boy turned , grabbing the younger's face tightly in his warm hand, squeezing the soft face to the point the bone of his jaw ached.  

“Stop calling me that.” He said looking down on the shorter , face contorted in anger.

…

“… b-but you're my friend, ka-.”

“I’m not your friend!” The muscles in his arm flex , Izuku can tell it took all of his strength to not let the explosions manifest from his hands. 

“… I’m not your friend,  I pity you! I pity your mom. you can’t even defend yourself against a bunch of freaks , and you want to be a hero!? … you are not a hero. you're not anything. you're just Deku… got it? You can’t do this.”

… 

Izuku couldn’t stop the tears from welling in his eyes , not from the pain of the hold, but from the hold the words now had on him , and his mind… with a shuddering breath he finally spoke.

 “…got it.” 

Izuku walked home , a pain behind his eyes he couldn’t get rid of ,  a constant threat of tears waiting , for anything ,anyone, to give them a reason to break the dam. He approached the same empty dirt path from the morning, he froze still… putting his hands above his ears , he lunged down putting his hands to the ground, pushing his feet off. They swung above his head then back down to the earth. He stood up again , with a sniffle. guess he felt a bit better…

“Nice cartwheel !”

“AH!”