checkmate rewrite

chapter two

Having friends was one of the biggest curveballs life had ever thrown at him. It wasn't that he thought he wasn't deserving- Izuku thought overall, he was pretty freaking awesome. In the early years, his mother had told him he was the biggest social butterfly she'd ever seen. Every child on the playground or kid at the mall was fair game, he would force everyone to be friends with him in some capacity. It was easy too. He'd just walk right up and tell someone they were going to be friends with him and the whole relationship would be cemented in seconds. It wasn't until they all started gaining awareness and realizing they were actual people the problems emerged, or maybe he should blame it more on the realization that some people, and their quirks, were better than others. From that realization till high school, Izuku assumed himself lower on all accounts because he did not have the same abilities as his peers and the rest of the world agreed.

Quirkless. His least favorite word in the human language. Izuku had worked his entire life to rise above the diagnosis. He went through what must have been over a hundred notebooks, filling them with observations, and then later down the road, his thoughts turned to analysis. It helped him in other aspects of his life as well, he found himself becoming more detail-oriented, and every little change in his life felt huge when he was constantly in observation mode. The practice made him score higher on tests, even physical ones when he could see each task as a puzzle he had to solve. It became almost effortless to pretend he had a quirk, to make a deal with Nezu to change his medical records and get into the best hero school in Japan. Suddenly, he had his pick of groups to join. He has friends. He met Tsuyu, Tokoyami, and Shouji. Connecting to them felt like breathing when he could relate to them, so easily that sometimes he forgot he was lying. The Izuku that had an analysis quirk was the Izuku that became a hero.

It didn't become an issue again until he reached the workforce. His quirk wasn't flashy enough. They wanted him making the plans but not following through on them, someone who spoke to heroes through a radio and directed them, or at the most, to be a sidekick. Izuku had, admittedly, thrown a fit. He'd threatened to go off on his own. They'd threatened to arrest him. Yadda Yadda. He became an underground hero and signed a mountain of disclosure forms, Tokoyami, and Shouji knowing he was Occult was part of the deal. He designed all his gear, down to the stitches used to make his costume. It was like a lifetime-length independent study with him in the smack center.

"Izuku. Izuku," a very annoying voice repeated. A cool hand lightly landed on his shoulder and shook him.

"Go away," Izuku groaned. He pushed his face deeper into the pillow. It was cold and slightly damp from the compress but that made it even more delicious. He couldn't remember the dream he'd been having but whatever it was he wanted to finish it. He was all comfy and the smell of fish was lulling him back under.

"It's not even noon yet and you're already napping?"

"I pulled an all night last night, now leave me alone."

It was quiet for a few seconds longer than usual and Izuku began to think Hitoshi gave up. He strained his ears to listen to where Hitoshi had disappeared to but then decided he didn't. He fell back into a strange half-sleep for what might have might ten minutes or ten seconds- it was hard to say. He just remembered the last part- where he dreamt of a giant boulder rolling over him. Izuku woke with a start, immediately tensing and trying to shove the boulder off of him. He regretted falling asleep on his stomach.

"Oh my God I think I'm dying," Izuku said with a groan. It took him a moment to realize the rock felt very much like a human body crushing him and not an inanimate object.

Hitoshi sounded slightly offended when he said, "I am not that heavy."

"Goodbye cruel world."

"Yeah, say your goodbyes because I feel a nap of my own coming on."