Chapter Text
Write about a childhood memory that shaped you into who you are now. Izuku started at the essay prompt almost as if it was a live bomb. To him it was. At least mentally because his childhood was not something, he wanted to write a 700-word essay on. He tried desperately to push down the itchy feeling of anxiety that was rising in his chest. It felt as if a hundred eyes lingered on his skin but by the frantic scratching noises of the pencil against paper everyone of his classmates were rambling away about one memory or another. How they first learned how to ride a bike? Izuku never learned how. How they first got their quirk? He was legally quirkless. How they made their parents proud when they won a science fair. Izuku could barely even remember what Inko looked like, let alone how she sounded like when she was proud. As for his father…. he feared the day that man would ever find anything he did worthy of giving praise.
Giving up on trying to find a safe enough memory he could sugar coat and sprinkle bullshit on he chose instead to write a quick 700 word analysis on a new up and coming hero he had caught sight of on his walk to school. It wasn’t the first time he had tried to avoid a topic of an essay by word vomiting about one hero or another. He kept their weaknesses and shortcoming out of the essays, he’d rather not be the cause of the heroes' fall if the wrong people got their hands on it. That’s why he kept his journals hidden under the floorboards of his foster home and even if someone had managed to find the analysis they were all written in a code only he knew. A little something, he created when he was 10. After the incident.
“DEKU!” He hadn’t heard the explosive boy walking up to his desk until it was too late. A hand raised up beside his temple before creating smaller explosions throwing the green haired boy from his almost silent mumbling. The slight ringing in his ears caused him to grit his teeth and he had to steady himself before he completely jumped out of his seat. His fists curled shut and he was quick to shove them into his lap leaning forward to make himself seem smaller. Maybe if he made himself smaller they would get bored of him and leave him to his own devices.
“Aww look at the scared little Deku!”
“Is little Deku going to cry?”
“You’re so weak! No wonder no one wants you!”
“S-shut up.” He growled lowly feeling his shoulders rise to his ears and a snarl pulling at his lips as he tried to steady his breathing like they had taught him. He couldn’t lose control, not here, not where everyone could see. That would just put him in more danger than he could afford, it was bad enough that his nighttime activities put an almost bright neon sign on his back. ‘ HEY IM RIGHT HERE.’ ‘IM NOT ACUTALLY DEAD’
“What did you say nerd?!?” Katsuki roughly grabbed the front of his school uniform hauling him from his seat. ‘…DaNgEr….DanGer....…’ A tiny voice in his head screamed as he stared into the burning red irises of his once childhood best friend. He could feel the shift in the air as he stared unblinking as everyone was waiting for him to stutter and shy away like he always did. His palms were beginning to itch dangerously leaning towards pain instead of discomfort, a very bad sign. Biting his lip hard enough to break the skin he allowed the tears to build up in his hardened eyes.
“N-Nothing Kacchan…” He wished things could be different, he wished he could stand up and show them just how strong he was, but he’d be damned if his pride were the reason They figured out where he was.
~
Clutching the edge of the roof and leaning forward with his toes hanging dangerously over the ledge Izuku looked through the window of an almost innocent looking apartment window. He had been there for most of his patrol waiting. The wind pushed harshly into his side and the young boy winced softly as his side and left shoulder throbbed painfully.
‘You pathetic Deku!’
Bakugo had taken it farther then he had in an awhile leaving him with bruises that littered the left side of his ribcage and a new explosion burn mark on his left shoulder. Luckily, he was right-handed and tended to favor his right side when fighting. Meaning he was safe to patrol like any other night he just had to make sure he didn’t take any hits on his left side. Easy enough…
“You make it a habit of peeping into people’s homes, kid?” Jumping up Izuku pulled his sai’s from the makeshift belt that hung around his waist and crouched low his neon green eyes glowing menacingly as he glared up at the man who had snuck up on him. The figure lazily raised their hands showing the universal sign of surrender as they stepped out of the shadows.
“You make it a habit of sneaking up on unsuspecting children, old man?” He snarked back, relaxing his stance when the figure came closer and Izuku caught sight of the tall tail capture weapon that hung around the pros' neck.
“Only you problem child.” Shouta Aizawa smirked down at the playfully glaring vigilante who clicked his tongue and walked back to his previous position. Over Shouta’s dead body would anyone know that warmth swelled in his chest when the kid turned his back on him to walk back to the edge.
A clear sign of the trust Shouta had meticulously spent the past year building up showing true in the relaxed way the kid acted around him. Sure, his fingers grasped the sai’s tightly but Shouta was half convinced that the kid slept with the weapons clutched to his chest. (He actually slept with a small throwing knife, easier to hide if his foster mother or father decided to barge into the room for their ‘random’ room inspections.)
“What did you find?” Looking at the pro hero from the corner of his eye Izuku smiled grimly behind his mouth guard. Eraserhead was one of the few pro heroes that accepted his help and didn’t immediately try to wrangle him into cuffs and slam him into a jail cell. Most pros hated him and often treated him like another villain they needed to round up. Guess they didn’t like that a 13-year-old was doing more than they could seemingly quirkless. Izuku had met Eraserhead about seven months into his newly found hobby and the face he pulled once he found out Izuku was a child would forever hold a special place in his heart.
“A sex trafficking check point.” He didn’t need to turn to look at the pro to know he had tensed and leaned forward inspecting the area in a new light. The apartment building was in a middle-class area and from what Izuku had been able to collect upon hacking into the apartments website and records three families lived beside or across from the single bedroom establishment completely ignorant to the dangers that laid only six feet from their front door. One of the families had a daughter only three years old and the last time he was here he had heard one of the men mumbling about taking her when they ditched the checkpoint and moved onto the next. Which was that night.
“You got a plan Clover?” Looking away from the opened window Izuku bit back a crazed smile, not like the pro would be able to see it from behind his metal mouth guard and tilted his head to the side. When he went to open his mouth to explain his pre planned strategies the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, ‘ DaNgEr! BeHinD! DaNGer’ Jumping away on instinct Izuku barely missed a sharp spear that was aimed right for his skull. He could hear Easerhead yelling his code name, but his vision zeroed on the six men that had snuck up on the two taking in their quirks.
‘ Three mutation quirks , spine tail, bat wings, and….some kind of Lizard .’ He zeroed in on the three standing on the right. Erasers quirk would do nothing against them but….his,if he could just... His gloved hands clenched tightly into fists the leather molding around his movements as he glared harshly at the six men before him.
No. He forced himself to shake away the mere idea of using their quirk even if it was on a few scum bags. He’d take them down quirkless like he had been doing for the past two years. Twirling the double sai’s in his hands Izuku allowed himself to retreat into the back of his mind and push forward his clover alter ego.
“Easerhead take the three on the left I’ve got the right. These are just the bodyguards the boss is somewhere around here so keep an eye out.” He growled lowly his voice darkening as he stared down the group, his mind reeling a thousand miles a minute as he created a separate plan of attacks. He didn’t need a mirror to know his eyes were glowing a brilliant neon green behind his forest green tinted goggles as he lunged forward catching the lizard man by surprise. That’s how he got his vigilante name, he had saved a reporter from a mugging and the next day he was on the news, The Green Clover, he snorted so hard when he saw the name water had squirted out of his nose. Though hilarious the news coverage did nothing but send the pros on his scent faster then he had expected. He had only been doing actual vigilante work for 2 months before he encountered his first pro. Death fists. Three broken ribs and a new outlook on heroes was what came out of that fight, for Izuku at least.
His scars burned under his gloves as he twirled his weapon between his fingers before swiping at the lizard man's legs leaving a deep slash in its wake. The man screamed in surprise falling to the ground when Izuku followed with another quick slash to his other shin. Shoving the lizard down with a sharp kick he turned just in time to duck as the bat wing villain swooped forward. “Kid!” ‘ DaNgEr!...LeFt…'' gritting his teeth Izuku expertly dodged the incoming spikes with a back handspring before crouching low to the ground letting the last two spikes wiz above his head.
Looking up, green clashed with red and Izuku was able to give the pro a subtle nod to confirm he was indeed not impaled but he was pissed. With the pain of that day's bullying, he was moving slower and more cautious, never leaving his left side open for more than a minute and the villains were bound to pick on it. He hated having a disadvantage that he could have at least avoided or- ‘ DanGeR!...Above!’
“CLOVER!” Huh…. He was in the air now a good nine feet above from the battle below. The bat dude was monologuing about how he had caught himself a lucky clover...blah blah blah. With a sigh of nothing but annoyance Izuku took his right sia and stabbed straight through the left wing. The man screamed in pain and his grip on the boy slackened until Izuku was free falling towards the concrete. Tensing the boy prepared for his right side to hit the rooftop, what were a couple of more broken ribs?
J ust when he had accepted he would indeed have new wounds to add to his list of problems a long white fabric wrapped tightly around his midsection pulling taught causing the vigilante to curse loudly as his side throbbed painfully. With a strong tug Izuku was now barreling towards Eraserhead who had his arms open ready to catch him. Sudden movement behind the pros head caught his eye as the figure moved quickly and quietly towards the unsuspecting man. Not missing a beat Izuku ignored his screaming ribs and pivoted left no longer aiming to land in Eraser’s arms and instead sailing over his head letting his black combat boots come into contact with the spike tail lackeys face a satisfying crunch echoing in his ears.
“You okay Clove?” Only giving the hero a grunt Izuku kicked the side of the man's head to ensure he was knocked out. ‘DaNGer…LeFt’ “On your left!” Izuku yelled feeling as the capture weapon untangled from around his body and whipped around successfully knocking the villain to the ground unconscious now only leaving one more, a man with more scars than skin, not that Izuku could judge seeing as his own skin was marred and scratched up.
‘Quirk: Possible vocal like president mic. He hasn’t spoken to taunt or command his friends or even warn them. Mute? Perhaps he can’t speak in this environment? Maybe he just doesn’t want to talk. Or a previous injury or sickness has stopped him from speaking-“. A shrill scream shattered the windows around them and Izuku shoved his hands over his ears as he waited for Eraser to cut the man’s quirk before he ruptured his ear drums. ‘Sonic scream.’ As he stood watching Eraser fight with the man, he was waiting for an opening to jump in when police sirens rang through the crisp air. Well fuck.