epiphanot

❛ OBEDIENT CHILD

~O~

"Ah, Mrs. Midoriya, I wouldn't worry much," He remembered his elementary school teacher's words on their first parent-teacher meeting, "Your Izuku is a very obedient child."

He didn't know why her words stuck to him as much as they did. It wasn't any news to his mother by the way she smiled afterwards apparently. Izuku had always been careful about that, to be respectful and good with his peers and teachers alike. He was taught to be an obedient child. Always listening to others, caring for them, doing as the teachers said and never raising his voice against anyone. He never made rude or mean comments and tried to stop others from making them as gently as a child his age could. Granted not everyone listened to him nor most people wanted him stepping in something that wasn't his business but the green haired boy tried regardless.

Not many people wanted to talk to him either due to his quirklessness but it was mostly just the children, the teachers at least made an attempt to make him feel he wasn't left out when he was a child. Of course, they stopped pretending as he grew up and time went by and more people knew about his disability. That was another thing; was not having a quirk really that bad that it was considered a disability? Was his body that lacking that he was called abnormal by many? But Izuku thought he was a normal healthy boy. Was that not normal? Was he really just a useless piece of meat if he couldn't fly or make explosions from his palms? Was doing something inhuman really necessary to be called a human now?

It confused him. But he learnt not to question it.

Majority believed that being quirkless was a disability and Izuku obeyed.

It wasn't his fault really.

He was taught to be an obedient child after all.

A few years down the line, Izuku was in middle school. The boy was practically vibrating in excitement on his first day. His mother took a picture of him in his new gakuran in front of the school gate as cherry blossoms flew around him. Izuku was as happy as the sky, his smile bright and eyes gleaming under the clear spring sky. It wasn't long before the sky stopped pretending too.

"Alright, kids, we are absolutely delighted to have you all here with us so how about we start off this year with you all giving us a little bit of an introduction of yourself one by one? How does that sound?" Their homeroom teacher said enthusiastically after they settled in their new classroom right after the orientation ceremony. Just as the man had asked them to, the students introduced themselves to the class according to the seat number. Izuku tried to pay attention, he really did. He wanted to know all about his new classmates, he was going to spend the next three years with them after all. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn't listen to them well as he was wrapped in his own mind, anxious on what to say about himself when it was his turn.

The emerald eyes boy listened to a few to get a socially acceptable format ready in his mind; basic things like your name, ambition, some hobbies and your quirk.

Even though the boy had been mentally preparing himself for the past ten minutes or so, he stood up and weakly stuttered out a bit about himself when he got called on. He stood there with his posture tense and eyes wide open waiting for the teacher to allow him to take a seat and move on to the next kid, if one looked closely the green haired boy might've been trembling under the man's gaze a bit too hard. The teacher didn't let him sit yet, instead he smiled at him.

"Midoriya, right? You said you want to be a hero?" Izuku knew where that was going and he didn't like it but he couldn't really stop it. He wished he could, he wished people would stop asking that question but the world didn't work according to him, "What's your quirk, kiddo?"