All The Power

1: Beginnings

It's been a year since his mother took him to the doctor's to get his quirk checked. A year of bullies and looks of derision. His closest friend became his most violent adversary with Katsuki's followers joining in whenever they can. Izuku was was smarter than most and he could see how people began to treat him because of something everyone has. From the day he returned from the doctor's, his life became hellish.

At first, he didn't understand why teachers and other adults looked at him in a particular way but he learned what that was, it was pity. He had to learn through the internet what the facial expression was because when he asked his mother she turned away in sadness. From pity turned to worse as his life went on.

But his dream of being a hero kept him going on with a smile. Somedays felt harder to smile than others but he tried his best anyway. Izuku still tried to get along with his classmates but they mostly pushed him away from his quirklessness or mocked him for thinking such a thing as befriending them. He was beginning to learn what loneliness was.

A year after the fated doctor's appointment marked the worst day of his beginning life. It was a Saturday and Izuku played alone in his room with his action figures. His mother had the day off and was in the living room while he distracted himself from everything.

He was reenacting a fight between All Might and a villain from the news when he felt something at the corner of his eye. He looked in that direction to see nothing but the wall. He felt it again but in the direction of the sunny window, looking at it gave him the same result of nothing being there. Confused he tried to think what might have gotten his attention but his only answer was a quirk. His quirk, he had a quirk! He felt something, he didn't know what but excitement surged through him. With a quirk, people will be nice to me, he thought.

In joy, he ran out of his room and to his mother who sat on the couch reading a book. "Mama! Mama!" He shouted in glee startling his mother.

"What is it, Izuku?" She asked when she had calmed her beating heart.

He clenched his fists and vibrated with barely contained joy. "I have a quirk!" He said but his joy came crashing down when his mother looked at him the same way the others had, with pity. The rush of elation was replaced with confusion and other things he couldn't understand until later on.

"Lying is bad, Izuku. Don't do it again." She said gently and turned to her book again.

"But I..." Izuku felt wrong. He felt sad about his mother brushing him off so quickly and the indignity of not being believed.

His mother cut him off before he could argue. "You have the toe joint and the blood work said you didn't have a quirk, don't lie." She didn't say it with anger but instead with firmness. She didn't want to put delusions in anyone's head so she cut them off before they could sprout.

Izuku didn't know what to say as he backed away with tears beginning to come up. He stayed quiet as he returned to his room and cried silently. He tried to bring that feeling back from earlier but he couldn't. As he cried alone, he couldn't get the image of his mother looking at him with pity. It made him sad and mad at the same time. He didn't want to see that expression on his mother's face, especially when it was directed at him. He had enough of that outside his home.

This day would mark when his life began to worsen. Slowly as life went on and years went by, his mother grew more distant towards him. She began to take longer shifts at work and when she wasn't at work she spent them by herself. When Izuku grew old enough to take care of himself, she switched to the night shift. Less and less they saw of each other as time went on. Izuku learned to cook and take care of himself at a young age. When food ran out, his mother left him money for groceries or lunch. By nine, he was getting groceries by himself when his mother left him a note saying she didn't get a chance to do it herself. It was becoming rare if he saw her once a week.