Quirkless, Not Powerless

Rise

"I-if you keep doing this..." Izuku steeled himself, preparing for the soon to come punishment for facing Katsuki, "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" The look in Izuku's eyes would have startled Katsuki, if the useless shit in front of him could even do anything.

———————

'The sky looks pretty...' its been a minute since Katsuki and his friends had left a bruised and dirtied Izuku on the ground. 'Heroes don't do what Kacchan does... right?' Izuku is fully aware of the pain that has numbed his body, but heroes don't stay down either. He ignores the pain as he sits up and wipes the tears before they can fall. 'All Might doesn't cry. All Might gets right back up with a smile...' Then Izuku rises, a shaky smile on his bruised face. He limps back home, ready to burst into tears at any moment. But heroes don't cry. He has never seen them cry. He has never seen All Might cry.

———————

Katsuki only gets worse, and Izuku knows this. He really wants to stay friends with Katsuki, he is smart and has a powerful quirk. Its like the teachers say, 'You'll be an amazing hero with a quirk like that!' Recently, Izuku has started to have very small doubts about that. 'I've never seen All Might enjoy beating someone up... All Might has never attacked a civilian... All Might doesn't bully people... Heroes aren't suppose to do any of that...' but adults know better, right? If they see Katsuki being a good hero, then thats just true...

Izuku doesn't know anymore. He shuts his Hero Analysis for the Future #3 notebook and rises from his spot on the grass. He just doesn't know right now.

———————

Izuku sighed as he lightly swung on the swing of the park that Katsuki just got done beating him in. They are now 6th graders. His uniform was messy, but not tattered. Katsuki knew what would go noticed and not. It was a normal day, a normal beating, a normal self worth lowering experience. Izuku was sure that he should be suicidal at this point, he already thinks about himself in such a poor light, but his nature has always kept him persevering. Right now, however, he was having trouble sorting through his thoughts. 'Why did none of the adults around help me? This is the most open Kacchan has beaten me, it was in the middle of a park! I saw plenty of older people walk by! Some even watched for a couple seconds... why didn't they help..? Am I just so worthless that they didn't care? Does no one care about a quirkless piece of trash like me..?' Izuku rises from the swing and starts the painful treck home. 'No... me being quirkless shouldn't be a factor to any of it! Anyone with a sense of anything right should have stopped it. A hero would have stopped it... a hero wouldn't be the one doing it. Kacchan... Kacchan is a horrible person, he isn't good. It doesn't matter what fucking disorder he clearly has, it doesn't matter how big his ego is. Kacchan isn't a hero.' Izuku, for the first time ever, scoffs.

———————

"Tch. Is the pathetic Deku still writing in these fucking notebooks?" Katsuki grabs his HAF #13 notebook. Izuku lost count of how many times Katsuki snatched his hero analysis books. He always calls them stalker-ish, then throws them across the room or rips a few pages out that Izuku just rewrites. "Fucking disgusting." He throws the book to the ground, "Why are you even still trying, huh? Being a hero is for people who can actually do shit, dumbass." Izuku slams his fist on his desk, startling everyone in the room that was watching like him being bullied was a fucking movie. "Why the fuck do you find it necessary to do this all the fucking time!?" That was the first time for many things. For Izuku verbally attacking Katsuki, for Izuku standing up for himself rather than others, and it was the first time that anyone had heard the boy curse and yell. "Mr Midoriya, that is uncalled—" "Don't you dare say that." The venom in Izuku's voice was palpable. The boy had finally snapped. No one knew but the boy himself, he had a realization the other week. "You've always turned a blind eye when I get bullied and beaten and cursed at, but now that the star student that I constantly out grade is being cursed at its an issue?" This quieted the room and the teacher himself. He didn't even get mad, because he couldn't. Izuku was just pointing out the obvious. It was the first time Izuku finally pointed out what was wrong with this school.

Izuku rises from his seat and looks Katsuki in the eyes, "Heroes don't do the shit you do, Bakugo." That was also the first time he had called Katsuki anything but Kacchan.

The bell rung, and that day was also the first time that Izuku left the classroom first.

———————

"Mom, I'm home." Izuku takes off his shoes, a scowl still ghosted across his features. "Welcome home Izu!" He walks into the kitchen, his mom probably being the best and making a nice dinner that will fill him up. She always has had a way of letting him slip away from the issues of his life.

Mother Midoriya turns to her son as she hears him enter the kitchen, and is surprised at the sour look on his face. "What happened Izu?" Izuku shakes his head and the sour expression leaves his face, replaced by a smile he reserves for Inko alone. There is a lot of expressions that only Inko has had a privilege of seeing from Izuku, since she is the only one that seems to care about him. "Do you think I could take defense classes?" The question comes out of nowhere for both the Midoriyas. Izuku hadn't even thought of asking that. "U-um, sure Izu! But, why?" He shrugs, "Its just... I'm quirkless, and I guess I... well right now I don't know what I want to do... but I'd like to at least know I could protect myself, rather than being helpless..." It was only really a sort of lie. Izuku still wants to be... in essence a hero, just maybe not necessarily by name. Not if Katsuki is allowed to be one. "Well... we have some extra money since I already went grocery shopping..." Inko puts her hand on her cheek and sighs, "Izu... If you really feel like its what you want... then I will support you without a doubt." The radiant smile that follows Inko's statement is also something she has only seen. The hug that follows after that is something that rarely happens anymore.
Now that Inko thinks about it, Izuku has seemed like he was on the edge of something for awhile now. If this is what be needs to be truly happy again, she will do anything to give it to him.