The Deku

Chapter 1: Phone Call

His curly green hair blew in the wind as he ran to catch sight of another villain attack.

Izuku Midoriya smiled as he stopped to get a good look from behind the gathered crowds.

A colossal villain smashed around an intersection in pure rage. He roared at anyone who was too close to stay back. And topped it with all sorts of violent threats.

Izuku cheered where he stood as a set of different heroes tackled the monster down. Mt. Lady, with her ability to grow to enormous size, kicked the villain down to submission swiftly. In no time, the situation was resolved and the villain was taken away by police.

The boy pulled out his notebook to write down his observations. "Mt. Lady sure has the looks and the strength for this type of work but her power isn't very useful in getting through smaller spaces. I wonder what her combat abilities are in tighter spaces." He said to himself.

With the time he thought he had now gone, he rushed off to school.

As he walked in to the classroom, most people were already in their seats and showing off whatever small part of their powers and mutations as they could.

But of course, when they looked at him, they would chuckle, roll their eyes, and resume talking amongst their friends.

The worst of them was Izuku's childhood friend turned bully Katsuki Bakugou. The blonde haired boy sat comfortably in his chair with his feet up on his desk, talking with his two friends. They behaved more like cronies.

Izuku didn't put much thought into his other classmates, or what they thought of him. He knew what they all thought and he refused to let it get to him.

He sat in his desk and scribbled in more notes.

His journal had accumulated notes from all kinds of superheroes old and new. About their abilities, their costume designs, their personal ideologies, and their techniques. Izuku absorbed it all up and loved it. But he kept it a secret.

Despite his best efforts to ignore what disbelievers have said and will say, Izuku still keeps his dreams a secret from most because he fears their ridicule and mockery. They all give the same criticism. The only set of criticism that isn't constructive to him in any way because all have said.

"You can't be a hero without a Quirk."

"Sorry kid. It's not gonna happen."

"I'm sorry, Izuku! I wish things were different!"

He shook off those thoughts. Those flashbacks. Truth be told, it was difficult staying optimistic and hopeful when everyone else told him otherwise.

But he refused to give up. He always looked to heroes such as All Might.

Despite being the absolute best hero in the world, All Might is surprisingly humble, behind a bit of a TV personality. He always said the most inspiring words. Some of his best, in the darkest of times.

For instance, a video Izuku loved to watch as a kid where the great hero, while rescuing people from a massive wreckage, is laughing. Smiling. Assuring everyone present that everything will be okay. Simply because he is there to help.

Now Izuku realistically cannot do what All Might can on such a scale. However his words and his image inspire him to do all that he can. To go beyond his limitations for the sake of others. No matter the cost.

And the cost for him was the mockery from his classmates and people who knew him.

The bell rang and first class began.

Izuku not only loved all things hero, he had a deep conviction to school. It's practically what made him love studying heroes, and the studying made it easier for school. It all went hand-in-hand for him.

Still, he couldn't help but sketch out the heroes he loved most. And a few designs for his own costume—if he ever actually became a hero of course.

"What are you doing?" His blonde haired bully asked.

Before Izuku knew it, the day had gone by. Class was over. He remembered submitting his name for high school. He wrote down that he wanted to go to UA High, the greatest school for heroes in all of Japan.

And now Katsuki Bakugou was standing over his desk, staring down at Izuku with eyes that reflected his clear irritation towards his powerless classmate.

Izuku held on to his notebook, which he had been making some last minute notes inside.

Still, Katsuki grabbed the journal and scanned the contents.

"What'cha got there, Bakugou? His diary?" One of his friends chuckled with the other as they walked up behind him.

As Izuku quickly went to protest and demand that he be given his journal back, Katsuki slammed it between his hands, scorching it with his powers. And just as quickly, tossed it behind him out the open window into the school's courtyard.

"Th-That's so mean!" Izuku cried out.

"I still can't believe a Quirkless loser like yourself wants to be a hero 'just like me'." He frowned. "Even if you had a power, you'd still be just as worthless to me as you are now. Same with everyone else."

"Haha. Okay, man. Let's get goin'." Katsuki's friend suggested.

Katsuki nodded with a snicker and began to walk out of the near empty classroom. "Y'know if you really want to be a hero, maybe you'll be born with a Quirk in the next life, after you take a swan dive off of the school tower!"

Izuku, with dried tears on his cheeks turned to make a statement when his eyes met with an equally fierce resistance in his bully.

Katsuki's hand was up, demonstrating a couple small explosions in his palm. "Something wrong?" He asked sinisterly.

It took the green haired boy until he gathered his belongings and walked out to pick his notebook from the koi pond to start breathing again. "That stupid jerk... He can't just go around telling people to kill themselves... What if I actually did it? What then?...."

Quickly brushing those dark thoughts away, he began to march home, forcing himself to think positively.

But as he turned the corner, his phone rang.

"I-Izuku?! Baby!" The voice of his mother cried out from the speaker.

"Mom? Mom, what's wrong?!" Izuku responded.

"Izuku! Don't.... Don't come home... Go to the police station! Please find help!"

"Mom! Mom!"

He didn't wait for anything more. No response. No decision making. His legs began to move. Fast. He sprinted down the road towards his mother's apartment.