MHA/BNHA and Aftons Oneshots/Story Starters

Puppeteer AU

Figurines.

There has to be a reason why Izuku has so much merch, doesn't there?
— — —

Izuku collected figurines of heroes like Pokémon cards.

Sure, it was normal to have a bunch of hero merch, but all of Izuku's merch was figurines. In precise detail, too. When someone stepped into his room, expecting to see All Might merch on the walls like a normal kid his age, they saw glass cabinets filled with figurines, organized with the detailed ones in the back and the cheapest ones in front, heroes sorted by some unknown factor only he knew. The figurines were lined up in groups, figurines of the same hero clumped together. Plastic heroes were lined up like soldiers in the cabinets, which went from floor to ceiling. Izuku's entire room was dedicated to the figurines, though it was smaller than it should be.

Only his mother knew the entirety of the reason. His quirk had come in five years late. As such, it was never registered, but he found out when one day he was playing with an All Might figurine, watching a live fight of the hero, when suddenly a hidden villain swooped down towards the number one hero.

Izuku reflexively moved the figurine to the side, hoping All Might would notice and move too. And to his surprise, he did. But rather oddly.

All Might didn't seem to realize he was moving, and he seemed to sweep himself to the side jerkily. As if he was being moved like a puppet.

Izuku gasped. Had he done that? The doctor had said there was a high chance his quirk would come in late, so it might be true. He ran to his mother, carefully placing the figurine on the table first.

Inko, aka sidekick hero Magnet, decided to test this. She ordered a figurine of herself from the agency she worked for, and gave it to Izuku. Izuku concentrated and moved the figure to the side, and Inko was pushed to the side too, like the wind had pushed her.

They discovered over time and testing that the more figurines Izuku had, the more force, and the more detailed the figure, the more precise he could make the movement. Izuku started collecting more figurines, and one day his mother bought him two big display cases.

Izuku was ecstatic. That summer, they renovated his room, and since his notes could probably take down any hero, they carved a secret passageway from the back of the cabinet into the back of his room, which had a door to a little side room. They took out that wall, and Izuku now had a little 5x7 room behind the bookcases. Inko bought a simple, compact writing desk and moved some bookshelves into the room, and he stored all his hero analyses in that secret room.

Katsuki was mean to him sometimes, but did it only when people were around to scare them off from touching Izuku. They weren't friends, more like...acquaintances who mutually helped each other, Bakugo would scare off bullies and Izuku would help him with his studies and quirk.

When Izuku was 14, some kids in his class started trying to grab his notebook. Izuku was terrified they would read it, so looked across the room to Bakugo. He noticed and stomped over.

"Hey nerd, whatcha writing about in that notebook of yours? That your little diary?"

Izuku played along. "N-no Kacchan, of course not! Please don't read it..."

Bakugo snatched it out of his hands and tossed it in a casual way out the window. Izuku ran over to the window, seeing he had thrown it into the bushes near the koi pond.

"Oops! Missed... I was aiming for the water. Whatever, let's go. He's not worth our time."

Izuku and Bakugo shared eye contact, thanking him through his eyes.

Bakugo fake scoffed, turning away and prompting the other kids to do the same.

After they left, Izuku walked out the door and retrieved his book from the bushes, brushing it off. Thank Artemis that Kacchan had showed up...His notebooks were in code but it would be difficult to explain why he wrote in Grecian morse code.

He walked home, carefully moving his Magnet figurine. It took concentration to not use his quirk, so he practiced with his mother when she was off duty.

As he was walking through an underpass, a goopy sludge thing came out of nowhere. Izuku quickly stopped blocking his quirk, tapping the figure's hand three times fast, two times slow. He then stopped his quirk and shoved the figurine in his backpack, stuffing it into the pocket he'd filled with stuffing to stop the figures from breaking.

The sludge crawled up to him as he tossed his backpack to the side, slowly surrounding him.

He looked up at it with worry. His mother would take a few minutes to get her support items and find him, and at the rate the sludge villain was going, he wouldn't suffocate before she got here, but he might be overtaken.

— — —

All Might had showed up and saved him. Izuku wanted to know if he could be a hero without using his quirk, but All Might had crushed the dreams of quirkless kids.

Izuku had walked home that day in complete anger and despair, telling his terrified mother what had happened. She was livid, and Izuku sold all his All Might merch- for at least ten million yen.

Published November 2, 2021
~900 words