Talk The Talk

The problem with dreaming of going to U.A. was that Izuku could never get in without a quirk. He needed his quirk, he was useless without his quirk, but he had to try to enter without it anyway. He couldn't just show up with a quirk one day; he and Sensei had already talked about how that would draw unwanted attention. But . . . Izuku no longer had any real sense of self worth outside of his gifted powers. And besides, he needed practical training with his quirk so what was the point of even trying if he couldn't give it his all? He could be as educated as he wanted but he needed the practical skills to aid Shigaraki's cause.

He thought of little else during his second year of middle school. In his most recent hero notebook his adoration dissolved into notes about himself, ideas to bring up to Sensei that he jotted down during class or walking home. He spent years coming up with wilder and wilder schemes before Kurogiri finally pointed out something that should have been obvious.

Spontaneous quirks.

Of course that wasn't really a thing, quirks were always written into DNA and none of them formed out of nowhere. But back when quirks were new to humanity there were times when a quirk would go unnoticed for years at a time, sometimes until adulthood. It was mostly because no one knew how to find them back then and it wasn't until something triggered the activation of the quirk that it was discovered. Nothing like that had happened in a long time, at least not in Japan, but it was the most efficient way to free up Izuku to start openly using his quirk.

And having a 'newly discovered' quirk meant that he was able to practice layering quirks as well, then just claim that it was a side effect of his single one. So long as there wasn't anything too breaking Izuku could work with it.

After that, all it took was a simple set up for Izuku's big revel.

XXX

Inko held her shopping back close to her chest and she smiled weakly at her son as he talked animatedly. "I-I don't know, sweetie," Inko said softly when he finally paused for air, "Y-you'll be in danger all th-the time. And a quirkless hero w-would be-"

"Unprecedented!" Izuku said as he flung his arms wide, one of Inko's bags swinging wildly from his arm. "I'd be the first! And plenty of heroes don't actually have combat effective quirks – I'll just have to train as hard as them. Harder, even. But I've been studying, and there isn't a villain I've seen that couldn'tave been defeated with a careful plan And one of my friends, Kurogiiiii-Kuro. My friend Kuro said that the best quirk in the world is useless if you don't have the brains to use it."

"Sounds like a . . . very . . . interesting person." Inko furrowed her brow, "B-but surely there are other things you could do. What about being a detective? O-or-"

"Hero," Izuku said firmly, "I'm going to be a hero. And I'm going to get into U.A. I mean, Kacchan is going for it." He said it like that would make everything clear. Inko bit her lower lip. She didn't want her son to be disappointed by a rejection but she didn't want to tell him no either.

"Um, would you like t-to get some dinner on the way home?" she offered instead. Izuku turned his head and looked up at her, giving her one of his most dazzling smiles.

"Okay Mom!" He said with a nod. It was odd, Inko thought, it felt almost like they were just a normal parent and child out getting chores done. Almost. There was still something strange about her son's behavior although Inko couldn't quite put it into words.

He kept looking at the street, his brow creasing together. She had asked him if he was looking for anything and he had said no. Then she had asked if he was looking for someone and he had laughed nervously. It was all so very odd and it was putting her on edge. What had him so distracted? Nothing bad, she hoped, but if it was Izuku would refuse to tell her.

All of the sudden, Izuku seemed to perk up and he waved to someone in the distance. Inko looked over his head, trying to figure out what he was seeing but no one in the thrum of people particularly stood out. She purse her lips and frowned as Izuku angled himself so he was walking along the sidewalk again. He was trying so hard to act natural, and she cleared her throat nervously. "I-Izuku?" He blinked curiously at her and cocked his head as she went on, "you know you can talk to me about anything, right? I'll understand, a-and I really want to know if anything is wrong. . ."

"Nothing's wrong," Izuku said. He gave her an odd look before he turned his head. He was doing the thing where his shoulders slumped a little and he tucked in his arms closer to his sides. The way he did whenever he was about to get defensive. Inko reached out, slowly moving her hand to place it on his shoulder, trying to get him to understand that she wasn't mad at him. She wanted to support him, she wanted to understand him. He was distant and she had accepted that but she wished he understood how much she loved him.

But before she could touch him there was a loud squeal of tires and everything seemed to slow down. A bright red car, somehow missing a front tire, was swerving directly towards them. Inko reached out, dragging her son backwards with her quirk but Izuku seemed strangely relaxed as the front bumper dipped into the gutter, barely a foot away from them. She screamed his name in terror but as soon as the car lurched onto the sidewalk the front of the car was ripped to shreds, all the way down to the cabin and leaving the horrified driver untouched aside from a bad case of whiplash.

Little scraps and needles of metal launched at them at full speed and Inko winced as hard metal tore into the soft skin of her arm, her face, her chest; not that it mattered at all. She wheeled on her son, her focus narrowing into a tunnel as she grabbed his face and turned his head before she checked his arms and chest for any shrapnel. She couldn't feel any of her own pain and she couldn't hear the shouting around her. All Inko cared about was that her son was safe and when she was finally satisfied that he only had a small scrape on the back of one hand she threw her arms around him and dragged him into a hug.

Izuku was saying something in an urgent tone but she didn't care. Her baby was unhurt, why should she care that she was pumped full of car debris? She didn't let go until she realized she was bleeding all over his ALL M shirt, but even then she wouldn't let him withdraw more than arm's length. "Oh sweetie, I-I'm so sorry!" There were tears streaming down her cheeks, "I promise th-that will come out in the wash." But before she could say anything else Izuku had latched onto her in another tight hug. He was crying too, she realized, and for a moment she was afraid that the cut on his hand hurt worse than it looked.

Then she heard what he was saying.

"I'm so sorry Mom, I didn't t-think that this w-would. I wouldn't have – n-no one was supposed to get hurt! Y-you were s-supposed t-to be-"

"Shh, shh Izuku," Inko soothed but she screwed up her face. Done it? She kissed the top of his head and watched from the corner of her eye as the driver was helped from his car. Done . . . that? Was that what he meant? The entire front of the car looked like it had been eaten by a small army of termites, and the remains not buried in her were mostly harmlessly scattered about the sidewalk or wedged into the trunks of the city's decorative trees. Izuku kept repeating 'I'm sorry' and Inko turned away from the damage, trying to ignore the sudden feeling of dread in her throat. But she had to know.

"D-did you do that, Izuku?"

XXX

He was so used to it being a secret that he had forgotten to be excited enough to tell everyone in his class. He just walked in, head down and hands in his pockets, without saying anything more than a polite, stuttering hello to the class president before he wedged himself into his chair.

He … didn't have many friends. Kacchan had only ever been the one who was willing to talk to a quirkless fuck up, the rest treated him as if his defection was contagious. It was easier just to sit meekly by than to even try. It wasn't like Izuku was particularly lacking in friends anyway, at least not outside of school.

Class went by as usual, moving at a speed comparable to molasses on a winter day and Izuku kept looking at the clock ever couple of minutes. He was eager to leave since he was going to visit Sensei in the lab and he was seriously considering sitting through a scolding and just skipping the rest of class. He was finally going to practice how it felt to take a quirk himself! From Sensei's vast collection, though, to keep it straight forward and controlled. But it sure made payed attention to class agonizing. All he could think about was what it would feel like to pull an ability out of another person and turn it into his own. Would it hurt as much as being gifted powers? Sensei never seemed to suffer any side effects but he was also on a whole 'nother level compared to Izuku. He was overestimating himself to think he could come close to measuring up to that.

He only snapped into the present when the class around him erupted into cheers as the teacher declared they were all trying to be heroes. What? Izuku looked around the room for some clue about the context before he spied 'career aptitude test' scrawled across the blackboard. Ah. So they were just skipping that, then? Probably for the best. Dully, Izuku wondered if the test had 'criminal mastermind' listed as one of the options. Izuku couldn't imagine that he would get anything else. Actually, with that in mind he kind of wanted to see where he would place now. . .

"Fucking Deku!?" Izuku blinked as his attention was dragged back to class.

"Wha-?" Was as far as he got before his desk rammed into his gut as the front of it exploded. Izuku gasped painfully as his chair tipped backwards and as soon as he hit the ground he scrambled backwards until he had his back against the wall. "Kacchan!?"

Bakugou loomed over him, furious and smoking. I really need to start paying attention in class, Izuku thought. What the hell had he done to piss him off THIS time? Not only was Bakugou towering over him with a face like Izuku had just pissed in his drink, but the rest of the class was giving him dirty looks too. Despite himself, Izuku suddenly felt very small and very weak.

"Seriously, both wannabe delinquents think they have a chance?"

"I mean Bakugou-!"

"Okay, but Midoriya?"

"Hey! Don't fucking lump me in with him!" Bakugou snarled at the girls who had been stage whispering together. "I'm going to pass the fucking top, and this quirkless little shit-" Bakugou kicked the wall next to Izuku's head and he couldn't help but flinch. "You spineless punk, you really think you can get into U.A.!?"

"Um," Izuku glanced around. Who the fuck had told Kacchan about that? The only people who knew were the … staff … "Y-yeah?" Izuku said. Ah, there was his teacher. Still at the front of the room and looking very casual about the whole thing. Fucking prick. Izuku knew he was unpopular but had his teacher really set him up like this? Or was it just a few careless words? Knowing Kacchan either would set him off.

An explosive punch stopped just short of his nose and Izuku flinched back, sinking his head into his shoulders. "No hero school will let you in, fuckwit, not without a quirk! And especially not U.A.! Just give up and stay out of my way!"

"W-well there's no," Izuku started before he remembered. He didn't have to hide his quirk anymore. After his Mom got out of the hospital he had gone to get himself registered and it was official. Izuku looked past Kacchan's fist as he raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Um, a-actually Kacchan I do have a quRRRAH!" He yelped as Kacchan swung and landed a fist on his cheek. Izuku cried out and raised his arms defensively over his head

"Bakugou, that's enough we have a lesson to get back to," the teacher finally said. Kacchan snorted and buried his hands in his pockets as he stalked irritably back to his desk. Izuku waited until he sat down before he got to his feet and picked up his chair. He could feel mocking eyes boring into him and he couldn't help the hot pink flush that rushed through his face. He wasn't sure what he had done to deserve that public humiliation but a voice in his head (that sounded a bit like Kurogiri's voice) was telling him he should punch back.

Izuku hunched over his desk and tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his cheek as he stared at his desk. Yeah, he wanted to go to U.A. and yeah, maybe he wouldn't be the best person to go (although not for any reason anyone in class knew about) but surely Kacchan didn't have any kind of personality for it. Did he? Well, maybe he had the personality to be a hero for show, Izuku thought bitterly. The kind of person who wanted to be a hero for fame and fortune instead of because it was the right fucking thing to do.

Oh . . . Shigaraki's cynicism was really starting to get to him. Since when had that sort of thing bothered him?

In all honesty no attempt was made to pay attention to the rest of class. He just sort of sulked, resenting his classmates and resenting himself. There was a sour taste in Izuku's mouth now, and he couldn't bring himself to be as excited as he had been. Ugh, it wasn't fair! Why did he let Kacchan ruin his mood so easily? Why did he always have to shy away from any sort of confrontation with him? Some feeling Izuku didn't fully understand made his stomach hurt and dully he wondered if Sensei would be too upset with him if he decided to just go home and go to sleep.

XXX

When the bell finally rang, Izuku dragged his feet in getting out of his chair. He didn't want to smile or wave at anyone so he took as much time as possible putting his things away. The other students filed out slowly, as the students drained out and he was left in the room with only Kacchan and his two other 'friends'.

Oh god. Please, just leave him alone. Please, please, please Izuku felt sick after the confrontation earlier and he didn't want to feel any worse than he did now.

He saw Kacchan come closer out of the corner of his vision as his silent pleading went unanswered. Izuku closed his eyes and braced himself to get punched again but the fist didn't come. Instead, Kacchan's hand shot forward and he snatched Izuku's notebook out of his hands. "Ah-Hey!" Izuku protested as he tried to snatch it back but Kacchan smacked his hand away with a small explosion.

"We need to talk, nerd," Kacchan said as he leaned back against the desk across from Izuku's. "I don't know what the fuck you're trying to pull, Deku, but you're not going to apply to U.A., got it? You don't stand a fucking chance."

"Then w-why would it matter i-if I did?" Izuku asked and Kacchan raised an eyebrow.

"Every good hero has stories about them from their school days, and I'm going to be the first, and only, student from this shit show to get to the top school. And you're just in my fucking way." Kacchan held up his notebook and looked at the title before a smirk played across his face. With a deft flick of his wrist Kacchan threw the notebook to one of his lackies.

"What's this?" The brown haired boy asked. He held up the notebook before he snickered too and he ready the title out loud theatrically, "'Quirk Analytics for Future Reference', seriously? What are you, five?" He threw the book back to Kacchan over Izuku's outstretched hand. He caught it effortlessly, and flipped Izuku's journal open to a random page.

He looked down at a page describing Mount Lady and snorted. "Give it back," Izuku said, straining to keep his stutter out of his voice. "Kacchan, give it back." That notebook wasn't like the others, it wasn't something he could let Bakugou just casually browse!

And the reason happened to be on the next page that Kacchan flipped to. 'Shigaraki Tomura' was printed boldly across the top of the page, and under it was a sketch of Tomura covered in his hands. Along the side was a detailed analysis of his powers and tactics, and under that was a list of his weaknesses completed with annotations about how Izuku himself could theoretically cover them. That single page laid out almost everything and Bakugou's sneer turned into a frown as he looked at it. Even at a glance it was clear how much care had been put into those pages, and Izuku was terrified he might gain clarity into Izuku's . Stupid! Why had he let them take it!?

Before he could stop himself, Izuku sprang across the table and tackled Kacchan around the middle, sending them both crashing to the ground. "What the fuck!?" Bakugou cried furiously and he threw up a hand, ramming his palm against the underside of Izuku's jaw and detonating full force. Smoke made Izuku's eyes water and pain seared across his skin but he had grabbed Kacchan by his collar with one hand and his notebook with the other. "Deku! Fucking get the fuck off me!" A hard kick landed in Izuku's stomach and he lurched back, dragging his notebook along with him.

Izuku scrambled back, knocking over a desk before he managed to get to his own feet and stare down Bakugou. The other boy looked entirely unharmed, while Izuku himself had been scored across his throat and chin. But Kacchan actually looked rattled. Even so Izuku was trembling like a leaf in a hurricane but he clutched the notebook to his chest. Of all the pages Kacchan had to see . . .

"What's is wrong with you!?" Kacchan snarled. He balled his fists as they smoldered and he glared hatefully at Izuku.

"D-don't touch m-my stuff," Izuku said. Kacchan growled at him.

"Are you out of your goddamn mind, Deku? Did you fucking forget how this works!? YOU are just a fucking useless quirkless little-"

"N-no." If Kacchan's eyes could catch fire Izuku would have been incinerated then and there. Without looking away from him, Izuku moved one hand and put it against a large sign against the back wall, one that said 'no bully zone' or something to that effect in English. Tomura had told him to stand up for himself, his quirk wasn't a secret anymore. "I-I'm not quirkless," Izuku said and under his fingertips the sign spider webbed into little cracks before it tore apart into little shreds. He didn't bother to piece it back together, instead he let his hand fall. "I'm n-not worthless." He had people who believed in him, trusted him, needed him. Compared to that . . . what did Kacchan's opinion matter?

"I can be a h-hero, Kacchan." Kacchan's expression was unreadable, but his lackeys had shock written plainly across their faces. Izuku held his hands close to him and he decided to take their shock as an opportunity to grab his backpack and scurry out. No need to wait until Kacchan got over the revelation to get the hell outta dodge.

XXX

Kacchan was following him. He wasn't even trying to be subtle about it; as soon as Izuku had gotten on the train he was there, sitting across from him arms folded and glowering. Izuku had stared at him, eyes wide and feeling very small. He had expected a peaceful ride to the bar, not his first confrontation with Kacchan after a month of avoiding him.

Coincidence. That was it. It had to be a coincidence. A really, really shitty coincidence that landed Kacchan on the same train as he took to meet Tomura.

Well, no reason to lead Kacchan to his friend, was there? Especially not after the only time they had met before had almost ended in a spat. Just to be on the safe side Izuku had scrambled off on an early stop, hoping to lose his unwanted tail but as soon as he was on the platform, Kacchan was there with him like a fucking gargoyle. Still. Could be a coincidence. Izuku picked a random train going the opposite direction and got on that but as soon as he sat down Kacchan was right there, sitting across from him again, all angry eyes and hunched shoulders.

It was then that Izuku started to get a little agitated.

He got off the train and left the station entirely this time, catching a bus back to the center of town. This time it seemed like Izuku had lost Kacchan for real but as soon as his feet hit the platform the jerk was right there with him. "Were you even on that bus!?" Izuku demanded in frustration.

"I didn't have a card so I had to pay exact change," Kacchan explained casually. He actually seemed amused by Izuku's irritation as he followed along after the shorter boy. Izuku walked around the big clock sitting in the middle of the station a few times, keenly aware that Kacchan had wasted three hours of his time with this before he turned on him again.

"Are you following me?"

"Fucking duh."

"Wh-what!? WHY?"

"Eh," Kacchan shrugged and had the audacity to look bored, "I wanted to meet that creep you're in buddy buddy with. Tomura? You're going to see him again, aren't you?" Izuku bristled at the sound of the informal name. It had taken him years before he addressed him so casually and now Kacchan was just- no, that wasn't important right now. "I didn't get a good look at your page for him, but you're a real big fan of his, aren't you?"

"Don't count on it. I h-have a page for you too," Izuku said. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and he slipped it out, unsurprised to see 'WHERE ARE YOU TOMURA IS DESTROYING MY BAR' across his screen. Woah, all caps? Must have been really bad. Izuku tried to disguise his sheepish laugh as a huff but it still caught Kacchan's attention.

"What's that?"

"A friend." Izuku shimmied away before Kacchan could get a good look at his phone as he began to furiously text back. "Hey, c-can I get privacy?"

"No," Kacchan growled. Izuku glared and spent his whole time texting with Kurogiri ducking around benches and signs to avoid Kacchan until he was finished. Izuku almost wanted to scream at him, but every time he opened his mouth Kacchan's hands sparked and Izuku flinched away. Still, he managed to keep his phone out of sight until he had worked out a plan. He jammed it into the back pocket of his jeans (even Kacchan wasn't willing to try grabass in public) before he stopped and held up his hands.

"Okay, okay! You can come along t-too."

Kacchan seemed surprised and he blinked a few times before he grunted and folded his arms. Well, that was that then. Kacchan followed Izuku onto another bus and they rode in silence for over two hours. The city faded into country slowly, over time, and they made it halfway out to the small town Izuku's mother had grown up in before Izuku finally stood and got off at a stop in the middle of nowhere. Kacchan looked around in confusion and Izuku shrugged. "W-what? You're the one who wanted to follow m-me." Izuku stretched his arms over his head before he took off up a trail through the woods. It looked overgrown and Izuku hoped that Kurogiri knew what he was talking about. Izuku didn't think he had left the city in twenty years at least.

It was made very clear that Izuku was out of shape as they hiked through the forest. Kacchan wasn't breaking a sweat while Izuku was already red faced and panting. Good lord he needed to work out; maybe one of the villains could tell him how to get in shape? As much as Izuku didn't care for most of them they were skilled and most would jump at the chance to get in Tomura's good books. Or was that taking advantage of his position? Woops. He could talk to Sensei about it later.

Izuku was still pondering that when they got to the old shrine. It was run down and abandoned and as soon as Kacchan saw it he whirled on Izuku. "Are you fucking serious?"

"What? You didn't ask where we were g-going," Izuku said. Behind his back he sent a text to Kurogiri as he edged around Kacchan to stand in front of the shrine. "I-it's not like I spend every day with Tomura." That was an absolute lie. Izuku paused and pressed his lips together for a moment. "A-and call him Shigaraki, Kacchan. He doesn't like you."

"Fuckin' excuse me!?" Kacchan snarled. He looked like he was about to attack so it was well timed that Kurogiri chose then to open his warp. The front of the shrine swirled in purple-black mist and Kacchan took a step back in surprise.

"Uh, s-sorry Kacchan. G-go ahead and go back without me," Izuku said meekly as he stepped through the warp. The last thing he saw before it shut was Kacchan's enraged face as he realized that Deku had just ditched him in a forest in the middle of nowhere.

Notes:

If it wasn't clear, Izuku missed meeting All Might cause he was fighting Bakugou. I guess that's probably one of the major canon divergences but Izuku won't meet All Might until he starts class! WOO HOO!

And Izuku's really getting a lot more comfortable with the idea of being a villain, isn't he? Hmm, or maybe he's just salty over Bakugou being a dick.