another MHA angst story

the slime incident

(but different with intense angst)

"Why don't you just take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in your next life?" Kaachan yelled at him, an rude sneer following as angry eyes met his and his friends laughed hysterically in agreement.

"Just kill yourself!" One of his friends added, "your life is literally pointless!"

Izuku stood frozen in the middle of the room, holding tightly onto his hero analysis notebook. He wanted to be a hero so badly. More than anything. He would do anything for a quirk. Maybe even kill himself.

Maybe.

It had always been an option. They didn't know how bad things had gotten. They didn't know that every weekend, across town at his dad's he got beat and burnt for the stupidest shit. They didn't know every week-day at his mom's she called him useless so many times he threw up because of how hard he was sobbing.

They didn't know about the deep cuts wrapped up on his arms. They really had no fucking idea.

He stood there silently, they had all gone silent as Izuku just glared at them, there was something so sad in his eyes, but behind that it was furious. He was angry that they couldn't understand.

"You have no fucking idea." He said at them. They all looked to each other, shocked that the innocent boy had spit so much frustration into those words.

Izuku stormed out of the school. He didn't care where he was going. He had a bad habit of running off and not knowing how to get back, thankfully he had a phone now. That helped him out a lot.

In an instant he was in a completely unrecognized area. He walked under an overpass. He felt a sludge on the exposed part of his leg and whipped his head down, only to find an icky green substance climbing up his leg.

He tried to move, but found himself being quickly absorbed in it. Before he knew it it was covering his only ways to breath. It's voice coaxed to him, trying to get him to give up.

He almost wanted to.

His life was pointless anyways. It was like Katsuki had said. He was planning to kill himself anyways, sooner rather than later. But he still had a hope, some hope that he could be a hero, some hope that he could save people like how he so desperately needed saving now.

He decided the way he was gonna die was not going to be because he was quirkless and weak. He was going to defend himself, prove that he was stronger than the world knew, if it was the last thing he did.

So he clawed. He clawed at the green sludge villain. He struggled. He was exhausted. He kept screaming for help through the sludge, until the substance was in his mouth. It was choking him, he couldn't breath at all.

His face began to go purple, but he kept struggling. But then there was someone fighting with him, he couldn't tell who, he couldn't see well, everything was blurred and going black.

In an instant he could breath again. His legs came free. He collapsed to the ground, whoever had helped him was behind him, containing the villain.

He vomited, chunks of green sludge came flying out of his mouth. He coughed afterwards, trying to repel the ugly taste. There was someone rubbing his back. Black filled his vision and his body went limp before he could find out who.

When he woke up, there was someone tapping his face, he almost didn't believe it. The person who had just saved him was All Might.

"Are you breathing okay?" He asked once Izuku was fully conscious again. He nodded as All Might helped him stand up.

He stood there, shell shocked for a moment, before thanking him profusely. The hero just nodded and assured him that it was his job, but that he needed to go quickly.

Izuku couldn't let him go. He had so many things to ask. So many hopes that he was beginning to think might not even be possible.

He grabbed All Might's pant leg just before he took off.

All Might looked down, mid-air to find the boy desperately holding on to him. He sighed and landed on a nearby building. He was out of time. The boy would have to see.

He landed on the building, and then deflated.

Izuku landed with him, looking at him curiously. He didn't seem mad, he didn't seem shocked, he didn't seem scared. Just interested.

"Where's All Might?" He asked.

"It's me." All Might responded, "this is who I am. I can't stay buff forever," he lifted his shirt up, showing a nasty stomach scar, "my time gets shorter by the day."

Izuku nodded slowly, "I won't tell anyone." He said, "I'm sorry I latched on, I just have something I really need to ask."

All Might nodded, "go on." He wasn't sure what to expect.

"Can you be a hero without a quirk?" Izuku asked.

All Might looked down at the boy, there was something soft in his eyes, something he longed to tell the boy. Something he knew wasn't a possibility in this day and age. He wanted to say yes. He wanted to say it could be done.

But it couldn't. Not because of physical ability but because society wouldn't accept it.

"No." He said, watching the boy in front of him sink a little bit, "you really need a quirk to be a hero. If you wanna help people, maybe become a police officer or a fire fighter, even a nurse, they save so many people everyday, just like a hero."

He tried to soften the blow with another option. Another way that the could still help people, but when he looked down at the boy he had just saved, he could tell he had already given up.

All Might watched the boy's teary eyes linger a little too long at the edge of the rooftop. He decided to walk him down the stairs rather than just leaving him there.

Izuku walked out of the building mindlessly. And down the street. He didn't cry. He didn't bother with it.

He just started working. He began to schedule a plan in his mind, and before he knew it, he was in the middle of a crowd.

He zoned back in, his eyes focusing on the situation in front of him. The sludge monster, a familiar tuft of blonde hair choking underneath it.

His heart sank, why wasn't anyone doing anything? Why wasn't anyone helping? Why were the heroes stopping?

His legs moved without his permission. He flung his yellow backpack right into the villain's giant, morphed face and began clawing at the goo around Kaachan's face, letting him get in a couple extra breaths.

Just as he began to become entrapped as well, All Might was there. He blew the creature away and let the other heroes deal with the cleanup.

He got them both to another hero speedily, Katsuki watched in awe the whole time, Deku was worried about his time limit, if the hero was gonna make it out okay.

He didn't have much time to think before he was being scolded by heroes. About how his act was reckless and stupid, while Katsuki only got praised for how brave he was.

Izuku was sent home late. Thankfully his mom wasnt there.

He felt like shit. He truly didn't have a reason to live anymore, he couldn't save anyone, he couldn't save himself. He was doing the world a favor, no one wants a useless, quirkless, hero wannabe kid anyways.

No one.

Not even his own parents.

So he wrote. It didn't take anything. He had so much he wanted to say and yet he knew no one would care, so why waste his strength? It was 3 sentences.

"I can't do this anymore. Maybe I'll be worth something to the world in my next life. I'll be helpful and I'll love everyone I can so no one has to feel the way I did.

-deku"

He laughed at it. He looked at it and laughed so hard. He laughed until there were tears dripping down his cheeks from pure joy. It was finally gonna be over. He wiped his eyes and folded the note. He had a plan.

A plan that would be executed at 8am sharp the next morning.