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Chapter Text

"Give it up, kid."

Four-year-old Izuku's heart dropped along with his favorite All Might action figure. Quirkless? He looked between his mother and the doctor who said that terrible word. Extra joint? So what! I'm not quirkless. I'm not quirkless. I'm not quirkless. 

He repeated that phrase in his head all the way home.

I'm not quirkless.

Izuku was watching his favorite All Might video. I'm not... right? He turned to his mother watching in the doorway. "C- can I be a hero t- too?" He was immediately enveloped in his mothers grasp as she sobbed.

Say something...

"I'm sorry..." 

No...

"I'm so sorry!

Not that...

____________________________________________

All men were not created equal. Izuku Midoriya hated that.

He hated every time Kacchan pushed him down.

He hated the name "Deku".

He hated always playing the victim or villain when they played Heroes and Villains.

At four years old Izuku hated a lot of things. He'd be okay though. He always was.

All men were not created equal. Izuku Midoriya hated that. 

He hated the way the teachers praised Kacchan for his "amazing" quirk.

He hated every burn under his clothes.

He hated the dark circles under his eyes.

At eight years old Izuku hated a lot of things. He'd be alright. His plastered smile always said he was.

All men were not created equal. Izuku Midoriya hated that. 

He hated the slits on his wrists fresh every other night.

He hated feeling his mothers slap when she came home drunk saying it was his fault. 

He hated never sleeping til four in the morning.

At 12 years old, Izuku found something he didn't hate. 

www. quirklesspals. net

____________________________________________

Izuku really didn't know what he expected when he opened up www. quirklesspals. net. His eyes skimmed over the welcome message.

Hello, fellow quirkless friend! Welcome to Quirkless Pals, the online site for the quirkless around the globe to chat freely. Join a chat room, make one yourself, or start a blog to tell your viewers about your day. Have fun interacting with others who are just like you!

Login
Sign Up

Izuku checked his watch. 7 pm, his mother would be back soon. Izuku sighed but nevertheless, he clicked the "Sign Up" option. A screen asking him to enter in a username and password popped up. Being the overthinker he is, Izuku left his desk and toiled over a good name for around half an hour when he heard the front door of the apartment open and slam shut.

"Where are you, brat!"

Izuku mentally hardened himself before leaving his room. Inko was a little overly drunk, haha, tonight so the beating wasn't too harsh. A couple kicks to the ribs and a lob across the face was about all she had in her.
Inko Midoriya looked down at her son in disgust.

"Tsk... Useless."

It stung more than when Kacchan called him useless. Izuku's mom was loving in the morning but her true feelings came out at night. Izuku dragged himself into his room and closed the door. He leans his back against the wooden door and brought his legs to his chest, laying his head on them.
"I- I'm sorry." He sniffed. "I'm so sorry..."
Izuku cried for a good hour.

________________________________________

*DING DING*

Izuku looked up.

*DING DING*

In the darkness of his room, his open computer illuminated the surroundings.

*DING DING* "Please enter a username and password."

Izuku pulled himself into his chair, eyes still somewhat blurry. A username, huh?

*Tip Tap Tip Tap*

Izuku filled in the password bar and pressed enter.

*DING DING*

Welcome, Deku, to Quirkless Pals!

Chapter Text

"DEKUUUUU!!!"

Katsuki stormed up to the curly haired freaks desk and slammed his hands on it creating a small explosion. Said curly headed freak paused for a moment before slowly lifting his head to meet Katsukis face.
Katsuki grimenced. The nerd had even bigger rings under his eyes now. He didn't care what was happening at Deku's home but for the past month or so Deku had been even more tired and sunken in, if that was possible, and it caused him to react slowly like he just did. If there was one thing Katsuki hated, it was being ignored.

He slapped all of Deku's papers and pencils off the desk and into the floor before placing a hand on the nerds shoulder, smoke rising from it.

"Ignoring me huh?! You think your better than me, huh DEKU!?"

The mopes head frantically shook back and forth.
"N- no of course n-ot K- kacchan!"

Katsuki spat on his desk. "Don't freaking call me that like I'm your pet."
He shoved Deku hard enough that the boys chair tipped over and he fell onto the floor. Katsuki looked down at him.
"You're below me, bug. Trash, useless. Just a worthless Deku. Don't forget that!"

He spun on his heel and left the classroom, lackeys following suit. "Tsk." Deku was always looking at his phone now or writing up something new. He physically looked terrible. Not that Katsuki cared. The quirkless nerd could go jump for all he cared but he certainly won't have him ignoring his presence!
"Deku..." he huffed under his breath.

____________________________________________

Izuku sighed and pushed himself off the ground. He looked at the mess Kacchan had made just now. Pulling out his phone, he snapped a picture of the thrown papers and pencils, the black scorch marks on the desk, and the tipped chair.
It was no use trying to get out before the fiery blonde, it always ended up this way so Izuku just waited for Kacchan to come to him. After gathering his things Izuku hurried back home.
He quickly finished all of his homework using the notes he got on voice recordings during class. He began taking notes that way so he could chat with his online friends from Quirkless Pals while in class. His grades weren't dropping and even if they were, the teachers wouldn't care enough to confront him about them.
The only reason he still worked to get good grades was so his mom wouldn't beat him for it.
Izuku put all his work away and speedily opened his laptop to Quirkless Pals. He was probably getting addicted to it but hey! At least it took his mind of the real world and he didn't even cut himself anymore! Well, not as often that is.

Signing in he began working on his blog, uploading the picture from earlier. He never had an actual picture of himself on it for safety reasons of course. Izuku didn't have to worry about anyone recognizing him from school since no one there cared about the quirkless enough to open up a quirkless chat site.
Izuku after school hours went something like this.

-Bullied
-Rush Home
-Homework
-Work on Quirkless Pals Blog
-Get Beat (except for rare occasions)
-Eat Small Snack
-Chat on Quirkless Pals til 1-2
-Lay in bed til 4 am
-Sleep
-Wake up at 7 am

It wasn't exactly the best schedule and maybe Izuku didn't have the best habits but that was okay with him.
Izuku uploaded the blog about his day.

DEKU DAYS!
-November 5, 2016
Hey guys! I'm back after another treacherous day at school but hey, what can you expect when your a quirkless nobody like me???

\(-_-)/ Middle school sucks.

Soooo.... Random fact!
Did you know that cats can be allergic to human beings? While it is usually due to the type of perfume or cologne you wear, cats are living beings as well and can have allergies as well! =^-^=

OKAY! So today school went fairly well actually! ish. I ate on the roof again, looking over the railing at the beautiful ground below and thinking to myself *cough cough* nothing. :3

Mom packed me leftover Katsudon tho so that was delish! Of course, I'll forget all that niceness when she comes home tonight but that's beside the point. +_+

Blah blah blah. School ended and you know who came to say hello! He threw my papers all over, burned my shoulder, singed my shirt, and pushed me on the floor to call me names. The normal.
(insert picture of the mess)

*cries internally eternally*
Whatever did I do??? ;(

Homework was easy but that's a given. Wish me luck with my mom tonight! Until tomorrow my fellow quirkless pals!
(/^-^)/

-DEKU

Izuku sighed and closed his computer after hitting publish. He'd check the comments later but as for now-

*SLAM*

"Here we go again," he grumbled as he left his room.

Chapter Text

Izuku opened up a chat room on Quirkless Pals. It was called "Trying But Not Really".

-Trying But Not Really-

-DEKU had come online-

LittleLife:
DEKU! YOUR ALIVE!

-SpliTtHeCheeSe has come online-

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Hows it going guys???

ReadySetDIE:
Are your boens in tact still?
*bones*

Deku:
Hey guys! Somehow they still are :3

Grimlin:
That's good. How's everyone today?

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
So grammatically correct :P
Good tho.

Grimlin:
Well excuse me for wanting to achieve my goals in life.

Deku:
Salt.

LittleLife:
SALT!!!!!

ReadySetDIE:
Salt

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Your so mean!!!

Deku:
Life's still moving I guess

ReadySetDIE:
Yeah.

Deku:
Any villain attacks near you guys???

ReadySetDIE:
Why?

LittleLife:
Oh you know our little Deku just wants to know about the heros fighting! SORRY FRIEND but not fights here!

Deku:
heh heh yeah.

Grimlin:
I don't know why you are so fascinated with them.

ReadySetDIE:
Yeah. they oppress us and put us quirkless down too much.

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Aw guys give the man a break Deku cant help hes to thick headed to see that the heros are what cause our junk lives!

Deku:
HEYYYY! @_@

LittleLife:
That's not 100% true but it kind of is.

ReadySetDIE:
If it were me, I'd fight against them.

Grimlin:
Who, the whole hero society?

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Villains?

LittleLife:
ARE YOU A VILLAIN IRL READYSETDIE!?!?!?

ReadySetDIE:
No I'm not I just think the quirkless are shoved around too much. You of all people should know this Deku.

Deku:
ha ha... yrah.
*yeah*
but I don't see what any of us could do.

Grimlin:
Actually if any of us could do anything, it'd be you, Deku.

Deku:
ME!? \(0_0)/

ReadySetDIE:
Yeah youre the smartest out of all of us.

LittleLife:
YEAH!

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Like rreeereaaaallly smart!

LittleLife:
but Dekus to innocent to do that stuff
^-^

Deku:
yeah let's not try to take down the whole world XD
We don't even know each other irl.

Grimlin:
Fair point. Deku isn't about 1 in the morning where you are? Go to bed.

Deku:
kicking me out already!? ;( plus we all live in Japan...

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Oof

LittleLife:
NOOOO we just love you Dekuuuu!

ReadySetDIE:
Sleep.

Deku:
Wow Ready, really feeling the love :P

ReadySetDIE:
If you don't go to sleep I'll ban you from the chat.

Deku:
IM GOING IM GOING!
Night guys!

Grimlin:
Good night.

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Nifht!
*Night!*

ReadySetDIE:
G'night

LittleLife:
GOOD NIGHT DEKUUUU!!!

-DEKU had gone offline-

Izuku smiled as he closed his laptop. Quirkless Pals was the only thing that could get a genuine smile to form on his lips. Izuku turned to the showcase displaying a multitude of All Might and other heroes merchandise.

Is it really all that bad?

He shook his head before climbing into bed with aching bones. Izuku shut off his lamp and stared up into the darkness of his room, thus beginning his insomnia-filled night.

Chapter Text

Throughout the couple years he had been on Quirkless Pals, Izuku had been in many chat rooms and many that faded out, but he often thought back to his first one with LittleLife, SpliTtHeCheeSe, Grimlin, and ReadySetDIE. It faded out but he never deleted the chat. Even when he had no chats to talk in, Izuku posted on that site every day, or almost every day, because that was a place he could be himself.

DEKU DAYS!
- December 25, 2016

Merry Christmas everyone! :D
Yeah yeah, it's pretty sad for me to be posting on Christmas but I don't have anyone to celebrate it with til mom wakes up. She took today off guys so we could celebrate together meaning I'm safe for the day! What could possibly be a better present than that!? 

Well, you already know what but that's beside the point. Either way...
RANDOM CHRISTMAS FACT!
I'm sure you all know the 12 Days of Christmas song, right? Well if you add up all of the all the gifts it equals 364 gifts. Coincidence? I think not!

Moving on. Me and mom set out store made cookies last night and some milk, cause she also took off last night and guess what that means... SAFE TWO DAYS IN A ROW! Can I get a YEAH!

-_- sorry Mic.

It's about five in the morning now so I've got about an hour. In the comments below all of you always show your support for me and my struggles and I just wanted to say that you guys are amazing and I couldn't make it without you! *sending out love and affection*

Well, Merry Christmas friends!

-DEKU

________________________________________

DEKU DAYS!
-July 15, 2017

Drumroll please!
*cricket cricket*
Thanks guys.
IT IS MY BIRTHDAY! I am officially 13 years old and still celebrating it with no one! Yay!

While mom's beatings have been a little harsher the past couple weeks, I know it's because she is just working hard to earn money to celebrate it in a fun way! Or she just really hates me!

*cries* haha. ;(

Without further a due... Random Fact!
August is actually the month when the most birthdays are celebrated. Guess I got left out of the loop again! Yeah.

Either way, it's gonna be a great day! I hope. Nope nope! Got to stay optimistic! Mom said she'll be back early so she isn't going to the bar, happy thoughts! 
Ah... puppies and kittens and heroes.
There we go, all better!

Alrighty guys I'll post about the "party for two" me and my mom are "holding" tomorrow! Ta Ta!

-DEKU

________________________________________

DEKU DAYS!
-September 12, 2017-

It is exactly one month into my second year of middle school and it already sucks. Stay toon for why I hate my school! For the moment however...
RANDOM FACT! It takes five pounds of pressure to crack someone's nose into their skull. Wish I could do that. Maybe I should start taking self-defense? Tell me down in the comments if you think I should! XD

So today at school you know who's lackeys decided "Oh! Let's go beat up the quirkless kids!"
So yeah, I got punched a good many times. Oh and did I mention I got pushed down the stairs and sprained my ankle??? Well I did! When Mom gets home it's gonna suuuuuck! >:/

*sighs loudly*

Why can't I just get through a day without pain??? Until next time...

-DEKU

________________________________________

DEKU DAYS!
-January 1, 2018

Happy New Years everyone! Starting off the new year on a good note! No beatings usually happen in the first week of the year because mom if off of work so yay! ^-^ So let's give you guys a RANDOM FACT!
If you refine the dust on the highway you can make platinum. Of course, that'd take a lot of work and money but it's still pretty fascinating!

Winter break is about to end though so that's a little bit depressing. Means I have to go back to school and deal with all that junk but let's not focus on the depressing stuff! It is the New Year guys! Let's see...

Resolutions. I will be top in my class again, not that anyone cares. I will learn self-defense. And... I will maybe take up the guitar again!

You guys don't know this but I play the guitar, the acoustic, but stopped in maybe June of last year? +_- It'll be fun to play again. Maybe I'll post an audio clip of me playing sometime! Until tomorrow friends!

-DEKU

________________________________________

Yes, Izuku might not have many friends offline and might not talk in any chats on Quirkless Pals anymore, but he had this site. And everyone who commented on his blogs were so supportive. He didn't need real friends.

In all honesty, Izuku was so grateful for Quirkless Pals because without it he might just snap.

Chapter Text

Izuku started self-defense class February first. They started with a simple workout regimen because, let's be honest, Izuku wasn't the most built teenager and he wasn't going to be able to do half the techniques they would be teaching him. It didn't cost much but he still didn't want to ask Inko for money so, behind her back, he got a job after school. Self-defense was from 4 to 5 after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every day from 5 to 9 he worked at a library.

Except for Sundays.

Surprisingly they hired him even though he was only 13 but I guess it's not too dangerous and he got direct cash.
School became progressively harder between juggling self-defense, a job, school work, and Quirkless Pals.

The bullying didn't stop. In fact, it increased. His newfound drowsiness was taken as a personal punching bag but nowadays he couldn't even care anymore. He played guitar as often as he could, usually when his mom was passed out drunk. Izuku yawned loudly. He had been going on like this for a month now and with finals coming up it wasn't good but he couldn't bring himself to care. At least his grades were still as high as they were.

________________________________________

Tsk Deku. 

Just looking at that idiot makes Katsuki want to punch him. What was he even doing anymore? He looked like a wreck!

The nerd's green mop had grown to just past his shoulder blades and was messy as every. It looked like a rats nest! His bangs basically covered his eyes but even that couldn't hide the ever-increasing dark circles under his eyes. He was pale as death and so skinny he basically was dead! The only thing different was that instead of just bone it looked like he had gained some muscles. Not that Katsuki cared but the nerd was bringing the whole mood down.

*RIIIINNNG*

Katsuki stood at the sound of the bell and gathered his belongings before going over to Deku and kicking the desk out of the way violently.

"Wakey wakey nerd!"

Deku didn't move for a good second before his head slowly raised to meet Katsuki's eyes. If Katsuki had cared enough he might have been worried about his childhood friend but now he couldn't give a care in the world.

He slapped the greenette across the face. "Your dumb mug is such a mood dropper idiot. Get your junk together so I can actually have some sort of a fight."

Katsuki turned to leave before he heard a mumble from behind him and swung around.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY, NERD!?"
Deku wasn't even looking at him. Katsuki scoffed and left slamming the door behind himself.

________________________________________

"Your dumb mug is such a mood dropper idiot. Get your junk together so I can actually have some sort of a fight."

Kacchan began to walk away.

"Is that all I am to you..." Izuku huffed under his breath. Kacchan whipped around "WHAT DID YOU SAY, NERD!?"
Izuku kept his head down and looked away not wanting to start more. He flinched when the door slammed shut.

"So I'm only good to be a picture for others viewing and a punching bag..."
He looked at his chair a good minute before picking it up and throwing it at the wall. It landed with a loud *CRASH* and left a large hole in the wall but Izuku didn't care. He just yanked his bag on and left, his signature red boots tapping on the floor the only thing to be heard in the school corridors.

________________________________________

Katsuki was jogging back to the class because he had forgotten his math book when he heard a sudden crash. He waited at the corner before peering into the corridor only seeing the tip of Deku's yellow backpack turning the opposite corner at the end of the hall.
Katsuki made his way to the classroom that was still open. When he got there the table was still shifted but that wasn't what caught his attention. It was the fairly large sized hole in the wall and the chair, missing from Deku's spot, on the floor.

"What the heck?"

Since when was Deku this strong?

Chapter Text

Izuku has found himself to get more pissed off as days go by. Maybe all of the junk he's had to put up with was getting to him? July 14th rolled around again and Izuku turned 14 years old but it wasn't a momentous occasion. The kids always do the same thing every year. They all think, "Oh, why don't we give the birthday boy a little surprise?"
Ha. In all honesty, Izuku doesn't care for his birthdays anymore. Even when Inko celebrates it he knows it's all an act. Her actions at night are enough to prove that and it just leaves Izuku feeling bitter and dull inside.

He tries, he truly does. Izuku tries to be happy but it gets harder and cutting is more prominent. His dreams of being a hero the only thing besides Quirkless Pals that truly make Izuku smile.

Something was off today though. Starting the cool October morning shocking awake by the sound of a pan falling in the kitchen. Izuku could have sworn that his mother snapped and decided to start morning beatings as well.

Of course, he got overly excited about a villain battle on the way to school. The man he talked with was so kind but when Mount Lady showed up, effectively stealing the show, the gross reporters basically trampled Izuku. By the time he had all his belongings gathered Izuku had to run to make it to school on time. In the rush, he stepped in a puddle caused by last night's rain.

Izuku Midoriya was late to class for the first time since he was four on October 5th, 2019.
Of course, OF COURSE, his teacher had to call him out in front of the class for wanting to attend UA. They all laughed and mocked him and needless to say, Kacchan was not pleased.
As the bell rang signaling the end of the day Izuku pulled out his notebook to record the villain battle when Kacchan ripped it out if his hands.
"K-Kacchan!?"
His lackeys laughed loudly pointing at it. "Hero Analysis: For The Future!?!"
"Number 13!?!"

Izuku reached for it. "J-just give i-it back!"

*BOOM*
Kacchan put the notebook between his palms and made an explosion.

"WAHHH!? W-what was that for!?" Izuku stumbled over his words.

Kacchan scoffed and tossed it from the window and Izuku looked after it in despair.

Why? Why is it always me? What did I do?

He wasn't listening to anything Kacchan was saying anymore but the final comment cut through the fog in his mind.

"If you want a quirk THAT badly, take a swan dive off the roof and hope for one in your next life!"

They left laughing.

Stupid Kacchan, thought Izuku. What if I actually did it?
He was holding his burnt, dripping notebook under the underpass of a bridge when a bang came from behind Izuku. The greenette barely had time to turn around before he was engulfed and suffocating in the clutches a slime-covered being.

A lot of things led to this point and Izuku could do nothing but stand in shock on that rooftop facing his deflated idol, All Might, who had saved him from the slime being.

"Can someone be a hero without a quirk? No, I can't confidently say they can. It's good to dream kid but make sure your dreams are reachable."
He grunted and stood, making his way to the roof door.
"Policemen get a lot of guff for only containing the villain's heroes bring in but it's still an admirable line of work."
All Might left Izuku on that rooftop without another word.

"Oh..." The wind blew, his hair that reached past his shoulder blades now lifted softly. Something in him broke. Oh, it was his heart.
Izukus head turned to the railing.

"Take a swan dive off the roof"

His feet moved and he looked over the railing.

"Swan dive off the roof"

He bent down to untie his shoes.

"Off the roo-" *BOOM*

Izukus eyes turned towards the sound at the opposite side of the building. Whether out of instinct or habit, he quickly ran to the source. Izuku's heart stopped when he saw Kacchan stuck in the slime being's grasps. He gagged remembering that suffocation.

How did this happen?

Izuku remembered hanging off All Might in the air.

IT'S MY FAULT!

He couldn't help feeling as though the blonde deserved this but when red eyes met green, Izukus body moved on its own.
Why am I doing this?
He swung his bag.
He made my life hell!
The villain let go.
Why can't I stop!?
He clawed at the slimy texture.

"DEKU!? What the *bleep* are you doing?"
With watery eyes and a broken voice, Izuku looked at his tormentor.

"You looked like you needed help."

All Might stepped in and saved Izuku for the second time that day and saved Kacchan too. Izuku couldn't bring himself to look at the Number 1 hero that he so adored, that crushed his dreams.

While Katsuki Bakugou got praised for his powerful quirk and bravery, the only child, the quirkless nobody, the only one who had the guts to step forward, Izuku Midoriya got promptly chewed out.

Shut up...

_____________________________________________

Izuku was, slowly, walking down his street after the villain fight. Kacchan had come to give his peace.

"I never asked for your help, Nerd! Don't think I'd ever be indebted to a useless Deku like you!"

Nice.

Izuku was so, so drained. How could everything go so wrong in the spand of just 24 hours? He wanted to cry.

"YOUNG MIDORIYA!" Izuku practically jumped out of his skin when the muscle form of All Might bolted out from behind the corner ahead.
"I-" he deflated.
Uhhh... then spit out blood.
"Ahhh! All Might!!!"
The man in question held up his hand, "I am quite alright, Shounen. I have been looking for you!"

"F-for me?" Izuku tilted his head confused.

"Yes! Young man, I've come to thank you and to apologize! If it weren't for you, I would have not had been spurred into action and been able to save that boy. Shounen, the best heroes always have stories of how they started."

Izukus breathing was growing ragged and his eyes started to water.

"Their bodies moved before their minds."

Izukus knees hit the pavement as he clutches his chest.

"This happened to you, am I right? Young Midoriya," All Might extended a hand forward, "you CAN become a hero!"

Izukus tears fell freely.

"I deem you worthy of my power. Izuku Midoriya, inherit my quirk!"

He choked. What? Izuku lifted his head confused.

"My quirk, One For All, has been passed on from generation to generation like a sacred torch, each holder cultivating its power more through each use. Only those with the pure hearts of a hero wield One For All! Will you accept?"

Oh, thought Izuku as he lowered his head again, I get it now. I can become a hero but I still need a quirk. I can't be a hero a just me, huh?

"No." His voice was measured and cold.

"What?" All Mights faced showed nothing but confusion. Izuku lifted his head and the blonde was shocked to meet the stone eyes with his own blue.

"I should have known," chuckled Izuku. "Actually, I've known all along, I've just been in denial. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE! Every harsh reminder, every cut, every burn, every laugh," Izuku began one of his signature rants, built on escalating anger. "All the junk I've gone through! This world just hates me, doesn't it? That's the only explanation for why I've had such a jacked-up life!"
He got to his feet and pointed an accusatory figure at All Might.

"And YOU!" Izuku was yelling at this point. "YOU, Number One hero, the great All Might! YOU took all my hopes, dreams, and aspirations and threw them out like TRASH!"

All Might took a step forward, hands in front of his in a gesture to try to placate the angered Midoriya. "Calm down, Young Mido-"

"Don't you DARE call me that like we're close! Calm down? Calm down!?"
He stomped forward. "I will not calm down."

Izuku reached forward and took All Mights collar in his grasp, pulling the lanky man to eye level.
"Screw quirks. Screw you. And screw this world."

Izuku pushed the man away and walked passed him. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at the shocked form of All Might.
"Deku. Remember that name, Jerk."
Izuku walked off.

________________________________________

Yagi Toshinori looked after Young Midoriya. Shock and intimidation still fresh in his system. Yagi's frail body hit the floor.
"What have I done?"

Chapter Text

*BAM*

The apartment door slams shut so hard the wooden doorframe splinters but Izuku can't find it into himself to care. He swung open his door and looked at his clean room. Never has he wanted to scream and cry at the same time so much.

Impulsively, Izuku tore the bed sheets from his bed and threw them to the floor. He swept his arm across the desk effectively wiping everything to the ground. Izuku kicked over his small book shelf, books falling everywhere.
Turning to the case dedicated to heros, namely All Might, Izuku tore up all his posters, cracked all of the pins and pens, he chucked all of the action figures at the walls.
He reached for the last one when he paused. It was an old, faded All Might figurine, the one he brought to the quirk doctor's ten years ago.

________________________________________

Four year old Izuku Midoriya sat on his bed at night, the only thing illuminating the room being his bedside lamp. He gripped the an All Might toy staring at it's blinding smile. A salty water drop fell on it. Then another, and another, and another. Izuku cried and cried.
"N-never fear f-for I am here!"

________________________________________

Fourteen year old Izuku Midoriya fell to his knees in his trashed bed room gripping an old All Might toy. A salty water drop fell on it. And another, and another, and another. Izuku cried and cried.
"W-why am I here?"

*DING DING*
Izuku lifted his head towards the source of the noise. His laptop he had pushed on the floor lay on its side, screen cracked.
*DING DING* "Daily Login?"

*Sniff* Izuku grabbed it and saw that Quirkless Pals was notifying him that he hasn't logged in today. He was about to do so when the apartment door opened and slammed shut. "Where are you brat!?"

No... not now...

Izuku practically threw himself at his door and locked it. He pressed his back against it.
"OPEN UP YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT!"
Inko began banging on the door and rattling the door knob. Izuku pressed "record" on his audio recording app. It recorded Inko Midoriya swearing loudly and banging on the door knob. If you listened closely enough, it might have picked up a teens voice and soft sobs.
"Please stop..."

After a while she gave up and went to her room. Izuku shakily got open and wrapped himself in his covers on his bed with his computer. He didn't unlock the door that night.
He signed into Quirkless Pals and hit "Make A New Blog".

________________________________________

DEKU DAYS!
-October 5, 2019

Hecking bad day guys. I'll give you your random fact before I get into what a sucky day I've had.

For all you Italian lovers, did you know a single strand of spaghetti is called a spaghetto? Ha.

SO! Today sucked. For the first time I was late to school because my mom scared the life out of me and I got trampled by reporters then stepped in a puddle. What a great way to start your day, right?

It gets worse. >:/

So of course my teacher just HAD to call me out for wanting to attend UA High and you know who did NOT like that. After the initial laughingstock I was made into, after school he promptly burned my hero analysis notebook and tossed it out the window into the koi pond. Great. Then I was told to kill myself if I wanted a quirk soooo badly.

Contimplated it for a tad. Obviously didn't do it.

Oh and then my favorite hero out right told me to give up on my dreams and to be "realistic".

Give me a break!

Oh I got something special for you guys today.
<Insert Audio Clip Of Inko Outside His Door>
I'm sure you can guess what that is. So yeah, a pretty sucky day in all.

Guys I don't know how often I'll post anymore. I'll still make blogs of course but probably not everyday. I just... can't. I'll be active daily still tho so hit me up if you wanna or something. Until the next time I decide to blog!

-DEKU

________________________________________

Izuku sat in bed for a while just staring at the screen. It went dim and he moved the curser. This repeated a couple times before he decided to go over his old chats on whim. Izukus curser hovered over "Trying But Not Really" which hasn't been active for over two years. He recalls one of their first conversations.

________________________________________

ReadySetDIE:
If it were me I'd fight back.

Grimlin:
Who, the whole hero society?

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Villains?

________________________________________

He had chocked it up to nothing but now the words rang clear as day in his head. Fight.

It's so wrong! Everything is! Why can't we fight back? Because we are weak and quirkless that that makes us lesser?
We could though... if I got them in on it we could start a revolution... Get a warehouse, do some crazy stuff. Of course we'd be living illegally so they probably won't go for it. Heck we don't even know each other IRL and we haven't chatted for like, two years?

Izuku stopped his in-brain rant and steeled himself. Only one way to find out. He opens the chat for the first time in two years.

____________________________________________

-Trying But Not Really-

Deku:
Let's fight back.

____________________________________________

*DING DING*
A college student in Japan woke up in the middle of the night the the sound of her phone going off. Black haired girl with pink dyed tips reached over and turned on her phone. Her eyes widened at the sight on her screen. "Trying But Not Really" was being used!?
"What the heck?" she said. The girl logged in as LittleLife.

Deku:
Let's fight back.

Deku!? What's with that opening???

<LittleLife has come online>

LittleLife:
DEKU! Are we reviving the chat!?

Deku:
Hopefully.

LittleLife:
What do you mean by "fight back"?

Deku:
Wait for the others.

<Grimlin has come online>

________________________________________

*DING DING*
A graying man groans as he is woken from his slumber.
*DING DING*
*DING DING*
"Shut up!" His hand slams on his phone and turns it on. He jolts up. "Trying But Not Really" is in use?
He logs in under Grimlin. Deku and LittleLife seemed to be talking. Grimlin scanned over the chat. Now, the graying man hasn't talked to these people in over two years but the Deku he knows doesn't say things like "Let's fight back."

Deku:
Wait for the others.

<Grimlin has come online>

Grimlin:
Oh, and what is this?

LittleLife:
Welcome back Grimie! ^-^

-He rolled his eyes.-

Grimlin:
Deku, what's with the sudden text?

Deku:
Again, let's wait.

<SpliTtHeCheeSe has come online>

________________________________________

A certain first year in middle school was up way past his bedtime playing on his computer when a notification popped up on his screen. *DING DING*
"Woah the gangs on!"
"Who?" said the boy on the other side of the mic. The ginger shook his head. "Nothing nothing but I gotta go Joe!" Without waiting for a reply, he got off and opened up Quirkless Pals signed in with the tag SpliTtHeCheeSe. His hazel eyes looked over the chat. "Oooooh sounds serious."

Deku:
Again, let's wait.

<SpliTtHeCheeSe has come online>

LittleLife:
CHEESE!

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
LITTLE!

<ReadySetDIE has come online>

________________________________________

A highschool senior studying late at night was trying his darnest to ignore his buzzing phone but eventually gave in and opened it.

"Quirkless Pals? Oh... OH!" In all honestyz he hasn't really opened it on a long while. Reading the chat he sided to himself, "Deku's getting fiesty."

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
LITTLE!

<ReadySetDIE has come online>

ReadySetDIE:
What's up guys?

Deku:
Finally. I'll cut right to the chase.
Ready, do you remember our conversation back when we first started this chat?

Grimlin:
Son, nobody remembers that far back.

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
No kiddin bro!

Deku:
I'll refresh your memory. You guys were commenting on me liking heros and Ready made the comment "If it were me, I'd fight back."

LittleLife:
Oh oh oh! I remember that one!

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
What about it?

Deku:
Ready, would you still do it? Would you still fight back?

ReadySetDIE:
...
I mean sure I guess. I still don't like the way the quirkless are treated but there's no revolution going on about it nonw.

*now*

Deku:
Then let's start one.

Grimlin:
Excuse me?

Chapter Text

-Trying But Not Really-
-October 6, 2019, 1:38am

Grimlin:
Excuse me?

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Deku? You ok man???

Deku:
Honestly, no, I'm not. I'm so done with this society and how it treats us quirkless people.

LittleLife:
I mean I understand the anger and all but how would we "fight back"? Become vigilants? Villains? @_@

Deku:
Both. 

Show the world we are good enough to be of use but this is what happens when you oppress us.
Before I go into detail, I want to meet up.

Grimlin:
You want us to take off work and skip school to meet up with people we've never met in real life about doing something illegal.

Deku:
No.
I want you to quit your jobs and drop out of school to talk to people just like you about making a change in the world.

LittleLife:
WHAT!? O_O

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Deku you have screw loose!!!

Deku:
You said it yourself, I'm smart.

Grimlin:
So?

Deku:
Quirkless people have the capability of being a whole lot smarter than those with quirks, unless it's an intelligence quirk, because they don't have that space taken up. I'm making full use of that extra space for this cause.

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
I dunno man... we all live in different places in Japan. Like hours apart probably

ReadySetDIE:
I'll do it. I meant what I said and I still do. I knew you'd come to this conclusion at some point Deku and I was just waiting. I knew I'd need you brains.

Grimlin:
Calm down guys, you are being too impulsive.

LittleLife:
I- I'll do it! I don't like what this society is forcing the quirkless to go through with backs turned. :(
But I have one request.

Deku:
What is it?

LittleLife:
I don't know you guys, you don't know me. I don't want to just be exposing my identity to you guys right off the bat.
So... can wear masks till we trust each other to show our faces and share our real names?

Deku:
...
Alright.

Grimlin:
I'm going to regret this but someone has to watch over you guys. I guess im in on this too. Cheese, what about you?

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Totally! I hate school and have no friends besides online friends anyways!

Grimlin:
So, leader, what's the plan?

Deku:
L-leader!? @_@

ReadySetDIE:
Well aren't you the one organizing this whole shabang?

Deku:
I guess...
Anyways, I need money for a building. Grimlin this is a lot to ask but I need you to pay for it.
I'll go around for a week looking at old warehouses further out from town and send you guys pictures and you guys will give me your input.
I'll furnish it with my own money but I don't have a steady job for a whole building.

Grimlin:
Wow, you're really throwing me under the truck aren't you? But I already committed so fine, I'll do it.

ReadySetDIE:
You know with all the gripe you give us on being impulsive you are supprisingly leaniant, Grimlin.

Grimlin:
Ok well the truth is people at work treat me worse than the others and I can't help but think how the younger generations like you guys with a lower percentage of quirkless people in it have to deal with this.

LittleLife:
Awwwww! That's so sweet!

Deku:
Thanks Grimlin! ^-^
Alright. I guess guys just get prepared to say goodbye to your families and pack only the bare minimum needed.
A few changes of clothes, phones will cut off when your parents cut off the phone bill for you so probably not those, toiletries, and a few momentos if wanted.
Sound good?

LittleLife:
O- okay.

ReadySetDIE:
Alright.

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Kk!

Grimlin:
Okay.

Deku:
Well then, good night guys.

<Deku has gone offline>

Grimlin:
Are you all really okay with this?
Never seeing family again, becoming basically vigilants and villains?

ReadySetDIE:
Yup. My life isn't particularly bad but I don't like the world as it is and everything takes sacrifices of some kind.
What can I say, I'm a justice freak.

LittleLife:
I mean I'm nervous and all and honestly sad about leaving my family and how hurt they'll be but... but yeah.

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
I'm not in the best place, kind of like Deku besides my parents love and coddle me. But school sucks and I just wanna leave it so I'm down.
Plus this sounds realllllly exciting!

Grimlin:
Okay, just checking. Good night everyone.

ReadySetDIE:
G'night.

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Night!

LittleLife:
Nighty night!

<LittleLife has gone offline>
<Grimlin has gone offline>
<SpliTtHeCheeSe has gone offline>
<ReadySetDIE has gone offline>

________________________________________

When Izuku woke up in his trashed bedroom he was almost confused as to what on Earth had happened until he remembered the day before. His expression immediately darkened.
Izuku changed the bandages on his wrists in the bathroom. He knew that he shouldn't cut but there was something satisfying about hurting himself rather than the world hurting him.
Kind of like a "screw you world".
He pulled on a pale green hoddie, a black ball cap, and some running shorts before heading into the kitchen. There was a note on the counter.

"Sorry dear! Trisha needed a fill in for her shift. I left you a bowl of rice in the fridge. Have a good day!
- Love Mom"

Izuku rolled his eyes and heated the rice. Yeah right. Like hell I'm going to school today. No, he had work to do. While eating Izuku looked up warehouses, abandoned sights, and closed down restaurants. He quickly sent Ink a text saying how he was "sick" and "staying home" today.

They were all 30 minutes to 3 hours away so he had to get to work.

Izuku deposited his bowl in the sink and in less than 20 minutes he was boarding a subway to the first location, an old warehouse in the construction district.
He snuck around back of it and took a deep breath.
Izuku prepared himself for his first crime. 

Trespassing.

Chapter Text

Sneaking in through the back window, Izuku began his picture taking. It has two floors, the bottom filled with empty metal highrise shelves and the top had only a few empty cardboard boxes. The construction outside was really noisy and Izuku found himself disliking the warehouse more by the minute. He boarded the subway soon after.

Falling apart bars, old shacks, another warehouse. The day was coming to a close as the greenette dropped from the air vents of an old café. It was in the middle of a small town, so a little bit more public, but Izuku found the place quite charming.

The front had glass windows so those outside could look in. The main room where customers ordered and ate had wooden floors, a small counter, a couple empty showcases, and a turned over chair. In the back was a small room where the bathroom was most likely, and a much larger room with a few pots and pans shrewn around. Probably where the baking went down.

Izuku snapped a few more pictures than necessary before making his escape.

It was probably around 7pm when he got home. Izuku flopped onto his bed and let out a long sigh as he got swept away by sleep, not noticing his room was clean.

He woke at 8:32pm to a soft rapping on his door. "Sweetie? Dinner is ready. Do you want to come eat with me?"

No. "Sure."

It was awkward around the dinner table. Silence and tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Katsudon, Izuku's favorite, on purpose.

"Izu..." his mom started.
"Hmm?"
"I saw your room."

He paused. "Yeah, it got messy." She eyes him disbelieving. "Izuku you are not the type to leave your room dirty. I noticed all of your hero merchandise was broken as well." No comment.
"What happened, dear?"
His eye twitched. Don't call me that...
"Nothing."
"Izu-"
"I said it's nothing!" he snapped. Inko sharply stood up, dropping her fork. "Don't raise your voice at me young man! I'm your mother!"
Izuku glared up at her. "Well you sure don't act like one." She gasped.
"Izuku Midoriya! I oughta-"

"Oughta what? Hit me?! Kick me like you do every night?!"

Inkos eyes widened.

"Well?" he pressed. "I know you aren't drunk every time you do it, your breath doesn't smell like alcohol. But you still beat me!"
"I- Izu..."
"Tch... Forget it." Izuku got up and left the room.

________________________________________

Inko stood there looking after her son shocked. Izu has never snapped at her like that before. Yes, Inko knew what she was doing was wrong. Sometimes she was completely lucid too.

But it wasn't her fault!

It's hard being a single mother with a minimum wage job and a quirkless child chasing a fruitless dream of being a hero! People whisper, she hears her co-workers talk behind her back saying that Inko is infertile, only has "diseased" children, then act all nice and friendly in front of her. She needs to vent sometimes!

Inko loves Izu will all her heart, she truly does. He's her baby boy. But she can't help but think that it's mostly his fault.

Hisashi left because his son was weak. Nobody wants to hire a woman who gives birth to the quirkless, and no man will even so much as look at her beyond just friends so she'll never get another lover.
But Inko knows she is wrong. She knows she could of handled it better. She knows it's not Izu's fault.

Inko didn't feel like she should be allowed to cry those tears that night.

________________________________________

Izuku scowled at his now clean room. All of his hero merchandise was glued or taped back together.

She didn't mention about me being gone when she got home early.

He draped a sheet over the hero shelf.

Or ask where I was.

Izuku shook his head and opened Quirkless Pals. He posted all the pictures along with short summaries of the places in "Trying But Not Really".

-Trying But Not Really-

<LittleLife has come online>
<ReadySetDIE has come online>
<Grimlin has come online>
<SpilTtHeCheeSe has come online>

LittleLife:
That was fast

Grimlin:
Indeed.

Deku:
Well I'm serious about it.
What do you guys think?

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
that shack looks cul!

ReadySetDIE:
Yes but it's not good for big work.

Grimlin:
Yes, it needs to be bigger but affordable.

ReadySetDIE:
You know my girlfriend is currently working at a bakery. If we got the café it'd work as a nice cover up business.

Grimlin:
As well as a good source of income.

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
...

Ready you have a girlfriend?

ReadySetDIE:
Yeah and she is on this site. I'm sure she'd be down to join the fight. Her sister got out on juvy for fighting against my girlfriend's bullies. My girlfriend is still salty about it.

Deku:
I think it's a great idea.
All in favor say I.

LittleLife:
I!

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
I

ReadySetDIE:
I

...

Deku:
Grimlin?

Grimlin:
Fine, I.

ReadySetDIE:
I'll invite her now.

...

<Bubblegum has joined the chat>

Bubblegum:
Hello?

LittleLife:
HIYA!

Bubblegum:
Is this the revolution chat?

Deku:
It is!
We're glad to have you! ;)

Chapter Text

In the end, they decided on the café location and Bubblegum had joined the party. Izuku sent the address in the chat and Grimlin would tell them when he had gotten it without the sellers being able to trace it back to himself.

Izuku ordered two items for his cover up the next morning and they arrived three days later. He put in a two week notice at the library and began to go to school again after his little "break". Can't become too suspicious. It got just the slightest bit better when Kacchan stopped bullying him as much. The other kids still did some but not as extreme.

Izuku and Inko stopped talking. He'd either ignore her when she called out to him or glare at her till she gave up. A part of him longed for a better relationship with his mother but it wouldn't be happening any time soon.

After he stopped work, Izuku dedicated all of his time to cleaning up Dagobah Municipal Park Beach, which was covered in trash, as a form of muscle training. Izuku knew better than to believe that he could fight pro heros and villains as he was now. The others thought so too and also agreed to training where they were.

A month into strength training, "Trying But Not Really" got a message.

-Trying But Not Really-

Grimlin:
I got it.

<Deku has come online>
<LittleLife has come online>
<Bubblegum has come online>

Deku:
phew! for a second there I thought you ditched and reported us!

Grimlin:
I'm wounded that you would think so lowly of me.

Deku:
Sorry ;(

Grimlin:
Besides the point, I got the café. It is only an hour from my location.
I also put in my two weeks notice at work.

LittleLife:
YAY! \(^-^)/
What's next chief?

Deku:
C-chief!?

Grimlin:
Oh, I like that.
Deku, what would you like to be labeled, Leader or Chief?

Deku:
W-why?????? @_@

LittleLife:
Cause it's fun!

Grimlin:
And we all look to you for what to do so it's befitting. Plus it'll make understood better for the people we recruit later on to realize there is an authority figure.
People are more at ease when they don't have to make the decisions.

Deku:
I mean... I'm ok with it but with you guys, I want you to call me just Deku.
The other recruits can call me chief, leader, or whatever.

Grimlin:
Alright. So what's next?

<SpliTtHeCheeSe has come online>

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
YOU STARTED WIRHOUT ME AND READY!?

Bubblegum:
Ready is at the workshop.
I'll relay all the information to him.

Deku:
Thanks Bubble.
Alrighty then, <addressattachment. pdf>
Once again, this is the café address. We'll meet here in a few weeks on New Year's Eve.
At night.

LittleLife:
We can't even spend New Year's with our families???

Deku:
You get Christmas but trust me, it'll only make it harder the longer you stay.

LittleLife:
Ok...

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
Plus then all of us quirkless rejects can start the New Year's off together!

Bubblegum:
That sounds like you have us a name.

Grimlin:
It's not a bad idea. No nameless parties end up making a change. You need one that sticks out to make your party stand out.

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
I did something good???

Deku:
Very.
All in favor of naming our group the Quirkless Rejects say I!

LittleLife:
I!

Grimlin:
I.

Bubblegum:
I

SpliTtHeCheeSe:
I!!!!!!

Bubblegum:
I'm sure Ready will say I too.

Deku:
OKAY!
Quirkless rejects, we meet at the café on New Year's Eve night. Bring only the necessities. Few pairs of clothes, toiletries, a momento or two if you really feel like you need it.
See you soon! (/O_O)/

<Deku has gone offline>
<LittleLife has gone offline>
<Bubblegum has gone offline>
<Grimlin has gone offline>
<SpliTtHeCheeSe has gone offline>

________________________________________

Izuku had three weeks to get everything together. Of course, it wouldn't take that long and he couldn't keep it all packed, even if it was just his backpack, which he needed for school, without seeming suspicious. He did prepare though.

He pulled out his t-shirt that read "Dress Shirt" and a black long sleeve. He got a pair of black jeans and blue shorts out as well as a couple pairs of underwear and socks.
Izuku got out his toiletries and the first aid kit he hid in his room. He also grabbed his computer, charger, and some notebooks and pencils.

After practicing a few times quickly and quietly storing it all in his backpack he put it all away. He left his chosen clothes a little bit separated from the rest of his wardrobe so he could tell which was which.

Izuku was looking online when something caught his eye in an add. He smirked.
"How ironic," he mumbled to himself as he pressed purchase. They'll arrive in three days.

Chapter Text

Izuku woke up on the first day of winter break. December 23.

Eight more days...

He went to the bathroom to "brush" his hair but froze at the sight of himself, or better yet, the lack of himself. His curly green hair went past his shoulder blades and his hands touched the tip of his nose. Was this the face of someone who was going to change the world or die trying? He thought not! The man in the mirror was weak, a coward, a child.

It's time for a change, Izuku decided.

He quickly got dressed and ate a light breakfast before leaving the house. Izuku did something he hadn't done in four years: he entered a hair salon and got a haircut.

________________________________________

It took everything in Christoph to not make a face when a teenage boy came into his salon with what was possibly the worst hair he's ever witnessed. Still, he smiled and greeted the kid.

"Good morning! What can I do for you, sir?" asked Christoph.
"I want something that'll make me new."
An odd request but not an unusual one. He sat the greenette down and cloaked him. Christoph studied the boy infront of him long and hard.

He wanted something bold. Something to give himself vigor and show himself off. No... he wanted something else. Something deeper.

What this kid wanted was confidence. Christoph got to work.

He thoroughly washed the mop of hair and took at least half an hour blow drying it cause it was A LOT of hair! He finally got to trimming it and boy those clippings had to fill at least two gallon bags. Christoph whipped out an electric razor and turned it on. The boy flinched.

"Are you okay, sir?" Christoph questioned. The boy nodded and replied, "Yes. Do what you need to."
"Okay," Christoph replied and continued.

He shaved the left of the kids head but not so much that it was bold. There was approximately two centimeters of green. He split the rest of the hair to make bangs flowing over the right side of the kids head. It stopped halfway over the ear and just above the right eye.
Now that he could see the pale skin and emerald eyes of the teen, he could see just how perfect this style was for the kid. Save for the freckles dusting his cheeks the greenette looked like an idol! It was a shame that this face was covered for so long but it wasn't hidden any longer!

Christoph smiled. "Are you ready for the reveal?" The teen nodded frantically, practically shaking in his red hightops. Christoph took off the black cloak and turned the chair towards the mirror. He will never forget the pure happiness that spread across this strangers face. He wouldn't have noticed the muscles on the teen if it wasn't for the sudden hug Christoph was pulled into.

"A- air!" he gasped. The greenette immediately let him go. "I'm sorry! I- I love it, thank you so much!" Christoph waves his hand. "It's no problem."

After the greenette paid and left Christoph couldn't help but think to himself, What an innocent kid, I hope he has a good life.

________________________________________

To say Izuku was happy would be an understatement. He was ELATED! His head felt so light and there wasn't that constant brush of hair on his nose. It felt so good! His decision to get ear pieced wasn't bad either. The silver diamond pendant hanging from his left ear suited the new look quite well if he said so himself. It was like Izuku was walking on clouds as he practically skipped home. His good mood instantly dropped like a rock when he opened the apartment door Inko waiting for him in the hallway.

She looked taken aback by Izuku's new look. Like she hadn't see his body getting more tone as days go by, like she hadn't seen her son's face before, and, to be realistic, she hadn't.

"Izu-"
He walked past her but she turned and grabbed his forearm. "Izuku dear, please wait..." He didn't look at her.
"Let go, Inko." He didn't call her mom, it hurt too much.
"I'm sorry, Izuku! I'm so, so sorry!" His eye twitched at those wretched words.

________________________________________

"C- can I be a hero too?"

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

________________________________________

"Ple- AH!"

Izuku ripped his arm from her grasp causing her to fall to the floor. His emerald eyes help nothing but anger when he looked down at the petite woman. "Don't you dare say those words to me," he hissed. Izuku stormed off and slammed the door behind him.

Izuku tried his hardest to believe that his heart didn't twist at every sob he heard from the hallway.

Izuku looked at himself in his phone camera and he like what he saw. This, this was the face of the man prepared to change the world. These were the eyes of a man who would go on to greatness, who would leave a mark. He liked that face.

The next time those who wronged him would see Izuku, they wouldn't see the weakling they pushed around all those years. No, they'd see the person about to serve them justice on a gold platter.
His new comrades may never see his face but what they would see is a strong confident leader who, teen or adult, would lead them to a new dawn.

Yes, Izuku very much liked the man he saw. He was confident, good-looking, and a "take no junk from no one" kind of guy.

But underneath the character Izuku was creating, he knew he was still the same old Izuku who gushed at kittens and still took exotic hero notes, even if they were for a different reason now. The same Izuku who loved his mom's katsudon and looked up to his childhood friend to some degree. And even though a little part of his consciousness echoed that he should stop what he was doing, Izuku ignored the cracks in his heart at Inko's wails and the longing for the hero world he knew he'd never reach.
Yes, Izuku Midoriya was still the same weak boy he was before.

He'd never let anyone know that though...

Chapter Text

Christmas was... hard, to say the least. Even if he didn't post a blog ever day or every other day, let it not be known for Izuku Midoriya, Deku, to skip a holiday on Quirkless Pals.

________________________________________

DEKU DAYS!
-December 25, 2019

Merry Christmas friends! Did Santa eat your cookies? Did you find anything cool under the tree? Well for my gift to you...... A RANDOM FACT! Of course ;)

The Santa figure we all know and love was actually created by Coca Cola as a form of advertisement.

Well friends, I won't be able to post on New Year's or New Year's Eve so I'll just say it now. Have the merriest of Christmas and the happiest of New Year's!

Don't worry about being quirkless friends. The sum of all fear and resentment spurs something to change. This year will be different. >;)

-DEKU

________________________________________

Izuku looked over at the wrapped box on his dresser. Despite all of the resentment and anger he held, Izuku loved his mother and still had the heart to do something for Christmas.
Still, he hesitated. Giving this gift would hurt and make it harder to leave in six days. He set it on his closet.

I'll do it when I leave... probably.

Opening his door, Izuku heard a soft *thunk*. He looked down to see a small wrapped box with a card. His eyes stung with unshed years as he sat in his bed and read the card.

Merry Christmas Izuku!
We haven't talked much but I wanted to say I love you and I am so proud of you. I know I haven't been the best mother but I promise to do better this year. I made you some Christmas cookies and left them on the counter. Merry Christmas dear!
-Love, Mom.

A couple tears fell on the paper. Izuku out the card next to his computer. With shakey hands, he unwrapped the present. Inside was a purple and blue tye-dye hoodie that read in all white, "YOU'RE MY HERO".

Inko was unable to get off work today so I'm the silence of the apartment, Izuku wept loudly.

________________________________________

When Inko got home late, she certainly did not expect to see her son sleeping in the hallway just inside the door. In his lap was a small box wrapped in pink, her favorite color. It had the word "Mom" in black sharpie over the top.
A soft smile formed over the woman's lips as she scooped up the sleeping boy and tucked him into his bed.
On her own bed, Ink unwrapped the gift. She let out a small gasp when it revealed an old music box. It was her mother's music box that he mom gave Inko when she was only 5. The box had broke a while ago and no longer sang to Inko but she kept it all the same.
Inko turned the knob. She cried as the nostolgic tune filled her bedroom.

________________________________________

December 31st, New Year's Eve, 8:00pm.

Izuku folded the last of the notes he had been writing and put them in his hoodie pocket. He was wearing his newest hoodie from his mom, who he had yet to talk to, black shorts, and his trademark red hightops shoes. She got New Year's Eve and New Year's day off so she was still at home. Currently, she was in her room working on paperwork.

Izuku quietly crept through the apartment to where she always left her purse, on the counter. He quelled the guilt he felt as he pulled out fifty dollars from her wallet. He placed the card on her purse.

In his room, he quickly packed everything just as practiced, this time with the Christmas card from his mom in the backpack as well. Izuku slung the backpack over his shoulders and grabbed his guitar case. He put in his earbuds and turned on his IPod for music. He was about to climb out the window when he looked back at his room.

"Goodbye..."

As he climbed onto the pipe leading down the complex and slid down the The ground, the sheet covering his hero shelf slowly fell off.

Izuku ran as fast as he could. He took multiple turns before arriving before the Bakugous house. He set his items behind the wall so they'd be hidden from the residents eyes and walked up to the front door.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

Mitsuki Bakugou, Kacchan's mom, answered.
"Izuku? I haven't seen you here in forever! How have you been?"
"I've bee well," he lied. "Is Kacchan home?"

She nodded. "Yes. Come in, come in!" Izuku shook his head. "Thank you but I can't right now. Can you give this to him?" Izuku handed over the card.
Mitsuki took it. 
"Well alright but you stop by some time, you hear?"
Izuku gave her the best smile he could. "I will. Have a Happy New Year's!"

When the door shut, Izuku picked up his belongings and ran. He ran to his middle school. He climbed into the window and left a note on his desk before once again making his escape.

At 9:00pm on New Year's Eve, Izuku Midoriya boarded a subway heading three hours away from the city of Musutafu, Japan.

________________________________________

December 31st, 2019, New Year's Eve, 6:57 pm.

A black haired girl with pink dyed tips sighed loudly. She wanted to cry and laugh all at the same time. She was excited but also so very sad. The girl couldn't make it home for the holidays so she was stuck at the college.
She stood infront of the closed mailroom. The girl slipped one card through the mail shoot that she hoped would make it to her parents.
She sent one last text to them before she turned and chucked the phone at the wall. The girl didn't care if others heard the sound.
She picked up her satchel that held a red dress, two pairs of blue jeans, two blouses, undergarments, and her toiletries. It also had a picture of herself with her family and herself with her roommate.
The girl left a note for her college roommate before she left the dorms.

At 7:30pm, a black haired girl boarded the subway for a 3 and a half hour ride.

________________________________________

December 31st, 2019, New Year's Eve, 9:30pm.

A graying man closed and locked his apartment with nothing but a duffle bag carrying a couple pairs of black slacks, some nice shoes, a few collared t-shirts, and his toiletries. He took one last look at the door before leaving and not turning back.

At 10:00pm, the man boarded an hour long subway ride.

________________________________________

December 31st, 2019, New Year's Eve, 5:30pm

Brown haired highschool senior and his blonde girlfriend walked towards the subway station together. The boy had in his hands a bag containing two t-shirts, two pairs of black jeans, socks, undergarments, his toiletries, and his favorite pair of drumsticks.

The girl had a cute pink backpack on that held two dresses, a pair of pink shorts, a purple shirt, undergarments, and toiletries. Under her right hand was a stuffed fox from her brother on Christmas. in each of their free hands was each other's hand.

At 6:00pm, the couple settled into their subway seats for a 5 hour ride.

________________________________________

December 31st, 2019, New Year's Eve, 8:30pm.

A ginger in only his first year of middleschool stole a couple left over Christmas cookies and stashed them in his yellow hoodie pocket. He had given his parents and extra long hug before bed, telling them he'd see them next year! 
Hopefully.
The ginger placed his yellow headphones on over his ears and turned on some music. He pulled his backpack over his shoulders. It held a white hoodie, a yellow and a white t-shirt, black shorts and black jeans, his toiletries, and a picture of his family and dog. The boy also grabbed his trumpet case. "Thanks for everything mom, dad, Johnny, and Varla."

At 9:00pm, a a yellow bearing ginger boarded the subway for a two hour trip.

Chapter Text

Izuku got off the subway at 10:43pm. On a normal night, the streets would have been pitch black but because it was infact New Year's Eve, all the restaurants were open and packed.

Izuku ducked into an alleyway and dug through his backpack. He pulled out his cover up items that were too suspicious for a subway ride. They consisted of a black medical mask with a white "X" over it and the digital pair of sunglasses that show your emotions.
Basically, if you are happy it shows the " ^ ^ " on the lens. Confused it shows swirls, angry it had red dots, and anything else it was just blank like a regular pair of sunglasses.
Izuku put both on. He left the third item in the bag deciding they'd be better for when the group actually got to "work".

He looked at himself in a nearby window
"Alright. Here we go."

Izuku stayed in the alleys till he came to the back of the café to which he promptly crawled through the vents like last time.
Two heads whipped around when Izuku dropped from the ceiling air duct.

"What the heck!"

One had long black hair with her tips dyed pink pulled into a ponytail. Her face was covered by a neon red veil.

The other was what seemed like an older man, Grimlin if Izuku had to guess, with a purple mask that covered his hair and the top half of his face, stopping at the nose. Izuku assumed it was see through.

"Hey guys," greeted Izuku.

"W-which one are you?" asked the veiled girl.
"Deku. Considering you aren't with a boyfriend in tow, you are most likely LittleLife and you are obviously, no offense, older, you are Grimlin?"

They both nodded and smiled at each other! Izuku's sunglasses showed the happy eyes.

"I would of expected our leader to get here first, eh Deku?" Deku rolled his eyes, unseen, and lightly knocked the man on the shoulder. "Give me a break. It was a long day."

"You can say that again," said a voice coming from the back. All heads whipped around towards two people crawling in through a window.
One, a male with brown hair, had a bikers mask over his face that had a skull smile. The other was a girl with blonde hair that wore bright pink sunglasses that were big enough to cover most of her upper face and bright pink lipstick.

"ReadySetDIE," said the male, holding out his hand.
"I'm Bubblegum," said the female doing the same.

They all shook hands and addresses themselves.

At 11:38pm, a shorter boy waltz right through the front door. He had ginger hair, yellow headphones around his neck, and a yellow bandana over his eyes. "Hiya! It's me, Cheese!"

Grimlin went right up to him and whapped the boy upside the head.

"Hey! What was that for!?"
"Do you want us to be found out walking through the door loud as life?"
The boy frantically shook his head. "N-no, Sir!"

Izuku chuckled. After they all introduced themselves again, a few divided to change the names they'd be called by. LittleLife didn't want to be called LittleLife. Likewise for SpliTtHeCheeSe and ReadySetDIE. Bubblegum decided to go by Bubble.

"Animation, like the digital form of life," said LittleLife. "But, like, Anima for short." They all nodded and continued.

"How does Jester sound?" asked Cheese. "I mean, I have been using a lot of knives in training so I'd be like some sort of dude just whipping them out from nowhere like magic!"

They wanted to comment but didn't have the heart. Izuku, having been semiforced to take on the leadership role, smiled and nodded. "Sounds great!"

"Doom," is all Ready said.

"Still carrying that theme then," commented Grimlin getting a nod in reply.

"Okay," announced Izuku. "We've got Deku, aka myself, Grimlin, Bubble, Jester, Anima, and Doom." He looked around and got confirmation nods from everyone in the party.

While they could not see the smile under his mask, Izuku's sunglass eyes showed happiness as her joyfully proclaimed, "Welcome, Quirkless Rejects, to the starting block of a new era!"

*BOOM POP BANG*

The inside of the café was illuminated by the fireworks in the sky filtering through the windows.

"Happy New Years, friends."

Chapter Text

Inko Midoriya woke up early on January 1st, 2020. It was the new year and she was eager to prove that she could be a better mother to her baby boy.

She got dressed quickly and began making pancakes in the kitchen. An hour later, the greenette stepped back from the table to admire her work. On the wooden table lay a tall stack of pancakes, a plate of bacon, some scrambled eggs, syrup, butter, and orange juice. She nodded and went to go wake up Izu.

*Knock Knock* "Izuku?" No response. Just as she was about to open the door to his room, her phone rang. Inko went back in the kitchen and picked it up.

"Inko," came the voice of her friend Mitsuki Bakugo. "Where is Izuku?"
"Asleep in his room?" replied Inko questionlying.
"Check." Something in Mitsuki's voice was unsettling. Inko opened her son's bedroom door to find it without her son in it.
"H- he isn't there?"
There was a pause. "Mitsu-"

"Inko, last night Izuku came and gave a note to Katsuki." What?

"What did it say?"

"It's... I... Inko, Izuku either ran away or he kil- he's gone, Inko. Izuku is gone."

*Clack* Inkos phone fell to the floor.

"In... ko... You the... Inko?"

The line cut off.

________________________________________

"KATSUKI!!!"
"WHAT DO YOU WANT HAG!?"
There was no reply til a banging came to Katsuki's door. Dang it. His mom was at the door.
"You got a letter from Izuku." Deku?
"Don't want it," he replied. A moment passed before he heard paper shuffling. Katsuki looked to see a slip of paper sliding underneath the crack in the door.

It's probably some sappy junk. He sighed and left it for the night.

When Katsuki awoke New Year's Day something felt off. Rather than it being a new year, it felt like a sense of foreboding. He shook it off as nothing though. As he got up to use the bathroom, Katsuki heard something crumple. He looked down to see the note underfoot. Katsuki rolled his eyes and picked it up.

He read it.

In five seconds flat, Katsuki was banging on his parents door. His mom swung it open with a massive bedhead.
"WHAT DO YOU WA- uph!" Katsuki slammed the paper in her face and she took it. "Goodbye?"

"Call Auntie Inko. Right now."

Mitsuki dialed Inko on speaker, her husband Masaru standing by. Inko answered on the third ring. "Inko," started Katsuki's mother.
"Where is Izuku?"

"Asleep in his room?" came Aunties voice from the mic.

"Check." The creaking if a door could be heard. Katsuki held his breath. "H-he isn't there?"

No...

Mitsuki bit her lip. "Mitsu-"

"Inko, last night Izuku came"

NO!

"What did it say?" came the soft voice of Auntie Inko.

"It's... I... Inko, Izuku either ran away or...
Suddenly the words Katsuki said sometime ago repeated in his head.
________________________________________

"If you want a quirk THAT badly..."
________________________________________

"he kil- "

________________________________________

"take a swan dive off the roof and hope for one in your next life!"

________________________________________

"he's gone, Inko. Izuku is gone." Katsuki's breathing began to shorten. It's my fault...

*Clack*

"Inko? Inko? Are you there? Inko?" The phone cut off. His heart was beating a mile a minute.

It's my fault!

"Ink- KATSUKI!?" Katsuki's knees hit the floor and he doubled over. His chest tightened and his vision grew hazy.

IT'S MY FAULT!

Masaru and Mitsuki were by his side trying to calm him down.

ITSMYFAULTITSMYFAULTITSMYFAULTITSMYFAULTITSMUFAULTITSMYFAULT!!!

Katsuki Bakugou passed out from lack of oxygen.

________________________________________

Durning the 24 hour period that one has to wait to file a missing persons report, Mitsuki spent all of her time with Inko.
Katsuki was made to stay home with Masaru, his father, by his side. He had yet to udder a single sound since blacking out.
The next day a missing persons file was started for Izuku Midoriya. Inko did not have a photo of Izuku's recent change in appearance so they had to use one of his old self.

The day after it was on the local news.

The next day, on Japan News Today, the national news, was the headline:

SIX PEOPLE GONE MISSING ON NEW YEARS EVE, ALL QUIRKLESS

along with pictures of the missing persons.

After a month of Izuku being gone, Inko Midoriya was entered into a psychiatric hospital. Guilt, worry, shame, saddness, pain. Inko was mentally unstable. She was known by all the nurses as the one who wouldn't turn off her music box.
The Bakugous visited often, Mitsuki ever day.
Inko made a few other mentally unstable friends there, her best being Rei Todoroki, wife of Endeavor.

Katsuki Bakugou started therapy for sudden muteness. They chocked it up to the shock of his childhood friend gone missing and he was currently undergoing sign language classes. He kept the note in the dresser by his bed.

A month after Izuku went missing, Soft Blossom Bakery opened for business.

____________________________________________

GOODBYE KACCHAN

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT LIFE

-Deku 

____________________________________________

Chapter Text

For the past month, the Quirkless Rejects have been setting up the bakery which they called Soft Blossom Bakery. It was a name that sounded normal but soft enough to ward off those who thought there was an ulterior motive behind it.

Most of Izuku's work money went towards kitchen appliances. Everyone else pitched in for the dining area where the customers would be.
The dining area had wooden floors with light green walls. Pink cherry blossoms on branches were painted on for asthetic as well. It had a few round tables with chairs. At the back of the dining area was the counter with a coffee maker, coffee condiments, and cash register. Next to it were display cases for the pastries.

The group also had uniforms which consisted of black slacks, black baseball hats, a white button up shirt, and a green apron on top. Bubblegum had been so generous as to teach them all the basic baking and kitchen skills.

The gang still had the rule of no looking at each other's faces so they had a code when there were multiple of them either serving or running the cash register.

Two taps of the foot meant "Can I turn and leave?" One meant "Yes." And a scratch on the floor meant "No."
They had a sit in bakery which was basically the same as a restaurant besides you ordered pastries and saw the displays. You could also go up to the front and order some to go like a regular bakery.

February 4th, opening day. The group woke up early to bake the pastries fresh and open up shop. After wiping down tables and filling the display cases, the Soft Blossom Bakery opened for the first time at 7am.
Izuku put in blue eye contacts, used makeup to cover his freckles, took out his earring, and put on his cap. He smiled and greeted the first customers.

________________________________________

Izuku could get used to this, yes siree he could. Every day for the past week he was a 16 year old named Mikumo, not a 14 year old named Izuku. He was the barista at the coffee machine and made small talk with all of his customers. His smile was genuine and the happiness in his voice was real.

Izuku was content.

Today was different however. Now that they had their business set up, the Quirkless Rejects needed to get moving.
The group made a schedual where every other night one of them would go out and patrol. They'd stick to leaving petty criminals on the door steps of the police station until they were good enough to take on heros.

Today was the first round and Izuku, as Deku, got choosen first. He was estatic!
Izuku could barely contain his excitement infront of the customers. It was 5 o'clock in the evening and they closed at 6. They agreed that Mikumo would get off an hour early to change back into Deku and prepare.

Izuku tapped his foot twice. He got a tap from Grimlin, as Hisou, from the cash register and a tap from Anima, as Himiki, from the far table seeing as she was serving the table.

Izuku left his station which was taken over by Jester, as Triston. Doom, as Yul, and Bubblegum, as Fransy, was in the kitchen in the back.

Izuku exited the building out back to a shack which they had built for sleeping quarters. There was a sheet inbetween the girls and the boys side.

He crawled into his sleeping bag and pulled out his digital sunglasses, earring, and medical mask. After dawning all of them, Izuku pulled out the item he bought a little after for the sheer irony and symbolism of them, black hand cuffs but with out the chain.

He put one on each wrist. He explained to the gang that it was to show how they were trapped by society. They liked it and got some too but in different colors.

________________________________________

"They can be our trademark!" exclaimed Anima.
________________________________________

He put one on each wrist. Izuku undressed into his t-shirt, purple and blue hoodie, and black jeans, neatly folding his uniform off to the side.

"Maybe we could get outfits like hero or villain costumes when we get the funding sometime..." he wondered aloud. As time ticked by Izuku got more and more nervous so he pulled out his guitar and played to calm himself down.

At 6 they closed down, at 7 they finished cleaning shop, at 7:10 a knock came to the side of the shed. "Come in," said Izuku. He turned away as each person, one by one, climbed in and dawned their cover ups before they all turned to face
each other with faces concealed.

"How are you feeling, kid?" asked Grimlin.
"H-honstly, I'm a little nervous." Jester gave his a nudge. "You're gonna be fine dude!"
Anima nodded frantically. "Stay strong Chief!" She called him that periodically to keep moral up in her own sort of way. Bubblegum gave Deku a thumbs up and Doom gave a curt nod.

Anima pipes up suddenly. "Sing us a song! We got some time till it gets dark!"
They did this often when they were bored and dusk had fallen. Izuku smiled and picked up his guitar. He began to stum and sing.

"Lost in the world of fallen dreams...
Lost in the world of broken hearts..."

It was a song Izuku had written a long time ago.

"We bare our fangs and fight with swords, falling in and out of war..."

The members of the Quirkless Rejects liked it a lot. It resonated with them.

"One coal, one spark, one flame... Can change the world."

The darkness of night had fallen as Izuku finished his final cords. They all clapped quietly and smiled back at him, or at least, from what of their faces he could see he thought they did.

Doom looked at the black sky and looked back at Izuku. "Go get em' cowboy."

"You got this Deku!"

"Come on Chief!"

"Be safe."

"Good Luck Deku!"

Izuku smiled, for the first time in his life the name "Deku" didn't hurt so bad anymore. He set down his guitar and stood up, brushing himself off. Izuku pocketed a black sharpie and walked towards the door. He turned back to face his comrades.
With his digital glasses showing the happy eyes, DEKU gave the group a big thumbs up to them all.

"See you soon!"

He closed the shack door and climbed up the water pipes of a nearby building. Hoping a few buildings away, he looked out across the quiet city.

Let's do this.

Chapter Text

Wow! How do they do this on UTuBer!?

Jumping from roof to roof was a lot harder than it looked. Especially in the dark with digital sunglasses that requires a tiny camera to relay what was on the other side of the screen on. Izuku was doing well but it was hard to do something so unfamiliar while looking for criminals on the streets.

Izuku liked it though. The short bursts of air with every leap, the thrill of doing something illegal.

It was fun.

He glanced down as he was jumping at the alley below and saw a scene not meant to be viewed. He stopped and peered over the edge. A smaller man was pinned to the wall by a bigger man.

"Pay up!" all but yelled the bigger man.
"I- I don't have anything," replies the captive, emptying out his pockets. "S- see?" The bigger man glared, vines slowly encasing his hands. "Tsk... how am I supposed to pay him back now..." It was almost unintelligible. He face shifted. He pulled out a strange gun. It was a little bigger than a pistol and gold. "Minus well make use of what I got off the man before he kills me for not paying up!"

He turned off the safety and Izuku decided now was probably a good time to step in. He climbed down and stomped his foot to drag the man's attention.
"Who the hell are you?" shouted the bigger man. The red dots of Izuku's glasses must have intimidates the man because he instantly took a step back.

He quickly pointed the gun in Izuku's direction as the greenette began walking forward.

"I'm very interested as to whom you got that gun from," cooed Izuku.
"Screw you!" The guy fired. *BANG* But the guy had bad aim, it flew right past Izuku. His face grew worried so he threw up his hand letting vines grow from them. But they were slow and easily breakable.

"Trigger happy aren't you," mocked Izuku. The man tried to shoot again but Izuku ducked and dashed forward. He quickly took the man's arm, twisted his body, and flung the guy over his shoulder. *BOOM* The man landed back first and winded.
While he was still down, Izuku's sunglasses turned happy and went over to help the other guy up. Upon closer inspection, the guy had dag ears and a dog tail.

"W-who are you?" Izuku smiled under the mask.
"You don't know me, yet, but call me Deku." He steadied the man. "Now off you go!" Izuku exclaimed with a stiff pat in the back. The man ran off, dog tail steaming out behind him. As soon as he was gone Izuku knelt next to the guy on the floor. "Again, tell me who you got the gun from."

The man spit at him. "Screw off." Instantly the red dots came back. Izuku hauled the man to his feet only to sock him in the face. He turned on his heel and kicked the man in the ribs. Izuku set the finishing blow straight to the gut.
The bigger man doubled over and threw up.
"G- Giran!" he gasped.
"Hmm?"
"H- he's a black market drug and weapon seller for criminals, villains, and villain sendicates. H- happy?"

The happy eyes came back. "Very," replied Izuku. Izuku grabbed the man by the hair and hit his head against the ground. "Nighty night."

Izuku tied the man up before slinging him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He less then gently set the nameless man infront of the police station. Izuku took out the sharpie and wrote the words QUIRKLESS REJECTS on the man's forehead. Izuku pocketed the sharpie once more. In the corner of his eye, Izuku saw the camera.

He stared, and stared, and stared. He don't know why he stares at the camera, but he liked to think that whoever was on the other side with a little unnerved by it. That it scared them.

Izuku doesn't know how much time had passed when he turned away and left, carefully avoiding all survalanced areas.

________________________________________

Naomasa awoke around midnight to his ringtone ringing loudly. He grumbled and answered yawning loudly.

"Who is it..."

"Detective Tsukauchi," Sansa, his aid detective, spoke with a level voice. "Check your email."
"Sansa? Why?" questioned Naomasa.
"I sent you a video from the from the front security camera at the station. It's... odd." The sigh that Naomasa let our could be heard around the world. "Fine..."
He got up and went into the living room. He opened his computer and the email. Naomasa pressed play on the video.

Nothing was really happening though. "Sans-" "Just watch."
Soon, a boy, looked like a teenager, came up to the front and roughly set down a man that was tied up with a slightly bloody head wound.
The kid wrote something in sharpie on the man's head before stashing it away. He stood up and turned his head towards the cameras. The kid didn't look away, or move, or do just anything. He just stared.
Looking at the clip Naomasa could tell that, just from the hair cut and the piercing, this kid was either highly dangerous or very rebellious. The black sunglasses that he had on, at night, and black surgical mask with a big white "X" on it showed gave Naomasa no indication of who was under the cover.
He looked up at the corner of the screen showing the time. This kid had been staring for nearly three minutes now.

Finally, FINALLY, the teen moved. He walked away and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

"That was odd..." stated Naomasa into the phone.
"And obviously deliberate," replied Sansa. Naomasa sighed again. "I'll look at it tomorrow. Thanks Sansa."
"Good night, Detective."
They hung up. He was about to shut off his computer when he remembered a detail from the video. He had written something...
Naomasa replayed the video and paused it when the kid stood up. He zoomed in to see the blurry words.

"Qu... Quirkle... Quirkless Reje... Quirkless Rejects?"

What does that mean? Pural, multiple people, organizations, beings, things?

Naomasa toiled his mind until eventually he just passed out on the couch.

The next day he had to interview the man left infront of the station.

"Name."
"Tskumo Yoiche." True.
"Crime."
"I ain't done nothing." False. "Crime." The man scowled but complied.
"Attempted murder and mugging." True.
"Reason for being on the steps."
"Some dumb kid caught me!" True.
"Kid's name."
"Dunno." True.
"Appearance."
"Green hair, black mask, black sunglasses that had these, like, red dots for eyes almost," True, and oh that was new. He hadn't seen anything showing as eyes in the video. "Couldn't really see the clothes but he had a hoodie on." True.

"Alright Yoichi," said Naomasa," you'll be going into a detention center for a minimum of a one year term or longer until we see that you are not dangerous."

Naomasa left the questioning room and went to his office. He pulled out the very small file labeled "Quirkless Rejects" that he had started that morning. He updated the only piece of paper, a description of appearance which also had a blurry picture from the security cameras.

Dang it... I was hoping for more.

________________________________________

Yagi Toshinori watched the video his friend Naomasa had sent him. While it was technically illegal for Naomasa to leak this footage to Yagi, he still did when he needed a second opinion or to just keep things lively. He was currently watching the kid stare directly at the camera.

Creepy...

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Yagi felt as though he should know who that child is.

________________________________________

Izuku was sitting on the edge of a highrise building, looking at the stars, feet dangling off the edge. He had pulled his mask down to hang around his neck and placed his sunglasses on top of his head. He sighed and smiled.
"Today was fun."

A sound from behind caused Izuku to turn his head sharply giving himself whiplash. Low and behold, behind him stood Pro Hero Eraserhead.

"Hey kid, whatcha doing up here at night?" asked the hero. Izukus heart pounded. Please don't notice, please don't notice.

"J-just watching the stars." Izuku willed his voice to not crack. Eraserhead walked up and sat next to him. Leave!
"What's your name kid?"
"Mikumo," lied Izuku. Izuku, Deku, Mikumo, what did it matter anymore?

"Lovely night, eh?" stated Eraserhead, trying to make small talk. "So, why are you really up here Mikumo?"

Oh. OH!

Izuku frantically waved his hands infront of his face, head shaking. "I'M NOT JUMPING! I- I mean I used to consider it sure but not anymore! Things are better and I've got friends, an income! Suicide doesn't cross my mind anymore, much! I hardly even cut anymore, only occasionally! I'm really just watching the stars! I-" The hero put his hand over Izuku's mouth.
"Breath kid..." Izuku nodded and Eraserhead removed his hand. "I'm not here to judge you Mikumo. I was just concerned. It's unsettling to see a person this high up at night so close to the edge, you know?"
Izuku nods. "S-sorry," he squeaked, not trusting himself to say more. "It's okay, kid." Eraserhead patted his back and oh how Izuku missed that feeling.

Izuku didn't remember much of his father, only the bitterness of betrayal as he left. But if Izuku had to choose what a fatherly touch felt like, a strong, down to earth, caring touch, he was sure he'd choose that touch.

The affection starved boy still flinched when one of his gang offered a high five or fist bump. In truth he was glad for the disguises, that way they'd never see the real, scared, weak Izuku Midoriya under the strong character of Deku.

Eraserhead gave his shoulder one last pat before standing. Without thinking, Izuku grabbed the man's hand.

What am I doing?

"U- um, Eraserhead, sir..."
"Yes, Mikumo?" replied the man in question.
"I d-don't have a phone b-but perhaps, if it's okay with you I mean, w-we could chat o-over A- Acebook?"

While they had no phones, Izuku had kept his computer since he could access the internet at the bakery. In order to seem more legit, each member of the Quirkless Rejects made Acebook accounts for their fake public identities, those who were seen only in Soft Blossom Bakery.

He waited for what felt like forever for a reply. What am I thinking!? He's a pro hero and I'm a runaway who literally just started life as a vigilant! And soon villainy! An illegal! Those he takes in! Even if I wasn't, he wouldn't anyways, he's a pro he-"

"Sure." What? "Look up Shouta Aizawa, that's my regular account. I'm never on it or my hero account but I'll try to chat if you message me."

Izuku got up quickly and bowed deeply, glasses almost falling off his head. "T-THANK YOU SIR!"

"No problem, problem child." He waved and leapt off the side of the building with his scarf. Izuku stood for a while with his head down before his legs gave out and he fell to his knees.

Izuku cried heavily on that rooftop.

________________________________________

Shouta was doing his nightly rounds going from one rooftop to the next survaying the land we he saw him. A teenage boy dangling his feet from a highrise roof. While Shouta was typically stoic towards to world, his heart broke a little everytime he saw someone on a rooftop at night, it healed a tad when he got them to leave it safely, and it shattered when he couldn't.

It was the worst and best part of working as a hero at night. Many more people does or tried to off themselves at night then during the day.

He landed and the kids head swivelled his way. Good hearing.
"Hey kid, whatcha doing up here at night?" Shouta asked.
"J- just watching the stars," came the reply. Yeah right. Forgive me if I don't believe you. He did what he always does, strike up a conversation, or try to, and get the person to open up to him. Shouta inwardly sighed and sat next to the visibly tense teen.

"What's your name, kid?"
"Mikumo," stated the greenette.
He nodded.
"Lovely night, eh?" stated Shouta. No reply. Fine, I'll just cut right to the chase. He turned to Mikumo and asked, "So why are you really up her, kid?" Shouta watched. as realization dawned on the teens face.

The boy began speaking at an inhuman speed but Shouta got the gist of it.
Mikumo had a rough life that was just getting better, he self harms himself through cutting, and even though he doesn't think about it often, Mikumo has suicidal tendencies.

"Mi-"
"Miku-"
Shouta placed his hand over Mikumo's mouth. "Breath, kid." Getting a nod in reply, he removed his hand. "I'm not here to judge you Mikumo. I was just concerned. It's unsettling to see a person this high up at night so close to the edge, you know?"

It was hard, seeing how badly this world screwed up and pushed people to that point.

Mikumo nodded and let our a cracked "S- sorry." Eraserhead patted his back. "It's okay kid." He got up, believing his job was done, but still something felt wrong. Mikumo grabbed his hand.
What's this?

"U- um, Eraserhead, sir..." started the greenette quietly.
"Yes, Mikumo?" Shouta replied.

"I d-don't have a phone b-but perhaps, if it's okay with you I mean, w-we could chat o-over A- Acebook?"
Now Shouta is a realistic man, he doesn't latch onto or cling to anyone. He doesn't interact with fans and he hates the press for their junk stories. It's why he was an underground hero. He wasn't well known and Shouta was surprised that Mikumo even knew who he was.

His first thought was "No." but he couldn't bring himself to say it. As he looked at this boy who refused to look up but still clutches his hand as if his life depended on it, that seemed to come to a standstill between life and death at this time, Shouta felt something in him twist.

He knew he'd berate himself later for this but Shouta said, "Sure. Look up Shouta Aizawa, that's my regular account. I'm never on it or my hero account but I'll try to chat if you message me."

Geeze, I even gave my really name. What am I even doing with my life?

Mikumo got up and bowed at Shouta. "T- THANK YOU SIR!" Oh that was loud. Shouta checked his internal clock. Time to go.
"No problem, problem child." Shouta offers a wave before using his capture weapon to leap off the building and swing towards his condo.

"Man... I need coffee."

Chapter Text

Soon after Izuku turned in the first guy he made quick work of identifying and contacting Giran. While he fetched quite the high price, he was reliable and had great merchandise.
Giran was currently working with the newest villain and self proclaimed vigilant, Stain. While the Quirkless Rejects had gained a little under the table game, it definitely could not be compared to that of the hero killers.
He was also supporting an unknown group that called themselves the League of Villains but they haven't done anything really so Izuku didn't care about them. Giran also supported the Yakuza, which, to be honest, Izuku had thought the Yakuza had disbanded.
The more Izuku delved deeper into the the dark undersociety of the world, the more he learned just how corrupt things really were.

The Quirkless Rejects bought many weapons and gear from the black market through Giran.

Jester got many blades, like Stain, some long, some short, some medium. They also came with knife holders fitted to be under his clothes but also able to be used for easy access.

Anima got many bomb balls. There were smoke bombs, sleeping gas bombs, firecracker bombs, ect. They were all a little bigger than her palm. Anima also got a tall extending no staff with a curved end to look like a wizards staff. She said that when she got a costume, which they all soon would have, she wanted to look like a wizard.

Grimlin's gear was the cheapest. He got a pair of stainless steal knuckle gloves that incased his knuckles in steel. It made his punches more deadly.

Dooms was definitely the most expensive. He got a long range sniper rifle so he'd would usually be away from the action. He was also equipped with two pistols if someone was to jump him.

Bubblegum wanted to be mobile and dangerous so she ordered a grappling hook and long katana. It quite suited her jumpy personality.

Deku's fighting style revolved more around kicks and foot work than punches so he got metal souls that could be attached to the bottom of his red hightops whenever he goes out. He also was allowed to keep the pistol he stole off the man that he had turned in.

It was all very costly but definitely needed assets. Still, their team needed more than weapons. The groups fighting prowess was less then great and needed a lot of help. Izuku had an idea but...

It's very far fetched...

Izuku contacted Giran. He stayed up till 3 in the morning, which, by the way, really impacted his work performance the next day, negotiating with Giran. By the end of the video chat,

Izuku got Giran to set up a meeting between the Quirkless Rejects and the Hero Killer: Stain.

________________________________________

Anima was scared. Scratch that. She was VERY scared. She knew that, even if they didn't show it, her friends were also just as terrified. The six, along with Giran, were in an underground bunker waiting for Stain. Sure, he might be a great fighter. Sure, he might be good for training them. That's all good and well but...

THIS MAN HAS KILLED THREE HEROS AND PERMENANTLY IMMOBILIZED TWO!

And this man was going to train them maybe? Anima knew that she was going to have to hurt heros but to that extent, to death? Not really something she had on her bucket list.

The metal door opened and in walked Stain in the flesh. The silence was thick and intimidation radiated off of the murderer. Deku stepped up as leader and Anima couldn't help but wonder just what expression he had under that mask and sunglasses.

"Hello Stain," his voice was leveled as he held out his hand. "I am Deku, lead-"

"You expect me to believe a little kid is your leader?" Stains voice felt like ice down Anima's back. A pause.

"Yes."

It was a cold, short response. Confident. Not one of a child. Deku kept his hand in the air, not putting it down. Stain seemed satisfied with the courage of the young greenette.
"What do you want, Mr. Leader of the Quirkless Rejects?"
Anima was sure Deku was smirking under the mask, even if his sunglasses showed nothing. Maybe he has them off? Doesn't that mean he couldn't see?

"We want you to train us," responded Deku.

That was something Anima liked about Deku. Besides introducing himself, it was almost never an "I want." It was always "WE want." He addressed himself as leader but also as just another member not above them. Anima liked that.

"Why? What is your motive? If it opposes mine then I will refuse." countered Stain.

Deku took a deep breath, he was going to make this a long answer.

"The quirkless are oppressed. We live as shadows to the more powerful, treated like trash, forced to be below those with more power. We don't like that and are going to change it. We've only taken in about 15 petty criminals so we aren't too well known. We won't make a change unless we do something big. We need to aim higher if we want to change society as we know it. We want to prove our strength over heros and villains alike. For that we need to actually be able to fight. As we are now, we can't make my big moves. That is why we want you to help us, Stain."

Anima's cheat swelled. YES CHIEF!
Stain considered it for a tad. "What do I get out of it?"

"Money and assistance when needed," came the immediate reply. "Fine." Stain grabbed the hand Deku still held out.

It was only then did Anima realize why Deku had refused to put his arm down the whole conversation. In the black undersociety power is everything with a secret language. If Deku had out that hand down, the negotiation would have failed. He would have lost. Stain taking the hand was not exactly obedience but a form of complying and submitting to the other party. It was a battle of power.

________________________________________

The Quirkless Rejects once again started a new routine. Everyday one of them would train with Stain while the rest would run Soft Blossom Bakery. Except Sundays. Sundays were off days and patrol days.

"Mikumo..."

They've gone so far on my words...

"Mikumo!"

I wish I could do som-

"MIKUMO!" Izuku jumped and almost dropped the cup of coffee in his hands. He turned to Anima, who had her body turned away from him, of course. Still not allowed to see each other's faces.

"What Himiki?" "Serve the man his coffee."

OH RIGHT! Izuku was so lost in thought that he forgot he was working for a second and dazed out. "Sorry Micheal," he said giving the man his coffee. Micheal was a regular. Most of their customers were.
"That's no problem Mikumo," that also meant they got to know them as well. Micheal left.

Get your head in the game Izuku!

Izuku... that name felt so foreign to him. The only time he heard it nowadays was when he stood in the mirror staring at himself chanting "I am Izuku. I am Izuku. I am Izuku." He could feel himself slowly going crazy.

Maybe I'm developing an identity disorder?

Izuku could almost visualize the real him being buried by the facade he kept up. It screamed and writhed but to no avail.
Were his friends also going crazy? Forgetting who they were before? Feeling foreign to their own names and faces? Were they even their own? Did every shadow threaten to expose them for how weak they really were? Wanting to curl into a ball and scream until the world turns to black and you your heart gives ou-"

"One caramel mocha please!"

Izuku snapped out of his musings and looked up at the girl. "Y- yes ma'am." He began to make her beverage but looked at her every once in a while. She had a brown bob for hair and rosy cheeks. She looked around his age, his real age.

Sometimes he forgot he wasn't actually 16 but still 14.

"Are you new here?" Izuku asked because she definitely wasn't a regular.
"Yup," she replied cheerfully. "I moved here alone to go to UA!"

"Oh?" Oh. Yay. Izuku almost rolled his eyes. He had almost forgotten that moving here was also moving closer to UA High. He forced a smile. "Are you a hero course student? I don't think the entrance exams have happened yet."

She shook her head. "No but my parents had enough confidence in me to send me here even though they didn't exactly have the money too." She scratched the back of her head in a nervous gesture.

Oh aren't we confident? He wanted to scowl as he put on the whipped topping and caramel drizzle. "One caramel mocha," he said handing the brunette the cup which she took.
"Thanks..." she leaned in to look at his name tag, "Mikumo!"

Izuku blushed a little, thankful for the makeup covering his freckles. The girl began to walk away.

"W- wait!" he called out.
She turned back. "What's up?"
"W- what's your name?" Izuku asked.
She smiled brightly.

"Ochako! Ochako Uraraka!"

Chapter Text

*DING DING*

Shouta looked at his Acebook chatting app. Mikumo had messaged him. Shouta smiled softly. He and Mikumo had gotten somewhat closer over time. The more they talked, the more Shouta learned. And the more Shouta found out he really didn't know.

As far as Shouta knew, Mikumo didn't have parents or at least had really bad ones. Anytime to subject came up the topic was quickly changed.
He worked at the fairly new Soft Blossom Bakery that had been opened some months ago. Mikumo was also in online school so he didn't go to public school but as to which school Mikumo took online, he didn't know.
Shouta didn't even know the kids quirk. It was like he refused to tell him or even mention it. It was also a subject he avoided. Quirkless perhaps. Shouta sure hopes not, he wouldn't want the kid to get tangled up with the Quirkless Rejects. He just settled for it being a less than great quirk.

Mikumo:
You're a hero right?

Aizawa:
Uh, yes? You know this though. Why?

Mikumo:
Do you work at UA?

Aizawa:
I do.
You looking to go there?

-A pause. A long pause.-

Mikumo:
No.
But a customer at Blossom came in today.

-Mikumo often just called it the Blossom. Easier to type Shouta guessed.-

Aizawa:
And?

Mikumo:
She's trying for it.
Just thought it was cool.

-Oh, so it's a girl. Shouta knew better than "Just thought it was cool."-

Aizawa:
So, do you like this girl then? Got a crush?

Mikumo:
What!? NO! Of course not!
I just met her today!
Shes just a customer!

Aizawa:
I mean, you're obviously interested.

Mikumo:
SHUT UP!!!!! 0///0

Aizawa:
Fine whatever kid.

Mikumo:
anyways... wanna stop by Blossom tomorrow?

Aizawa:
why?

Mikumo:
Just wanted to see you

-A pause-

Aizawa:
Fine. See you tomorrow Mikumo.

Mikumo:
See you!

Shouta smiled. "'Just wanted to see you,' he said." At the start Mikumo was so timid and scared to really say much. Now he was so bold and not afraid to say what he had thought.
Shouta always thought it was illogical to have children as a hero so he never did. Nobody would guess but Shouta wouldn't mind being a father, it was why he agreed to being a teacher at UA.
If Shouta had to guess what it was like being a dad, he hoped it was something like what he had with Mikumo.

He pinched his eyes. I really hope Mikumo's not quirkless...

He closed the app and put his phone down. Shouta pulled open the file of the Quirkless Rejects. He'd been assigned to them since they still weren't really public so it counted as underground hero jurisdiction. "Now if only I could get rid of these guys." His eyes skimmed over the six descriptions in the files.

________________________________________

Name: Deku
Age: N/A
Height: 5'5"
Sex: Male
Quirk: None
Appearance: Green curly hair, pale skin, freckles, digital sunglasses, black medical mask with white "X", purple and blue hoodie, black handcuffs, red hightops.

Other Information:
Cynical. Fighting style more in the form of beating the victim into submission. Rapid mood changes. Seems to be trained in some form of hand-to-hand combat but uses feet more. Shoes have metal souls for damage.

________________________________________

Name: Jester
Age: N/A
Height: 5'4"
Sex: Male
Quirk: None
Appearance: Short ginger hair, yellow headphones, yellow cloth over eyes, pale skin, freckles, yellow hoodie, black shorts, yellow tennis shoes, yellow hand cuffs.

Other Information:
Very playful and smiley. Uses knives skillfully but not masterfully. All victims come back with at least three cuts, at most 24. Talks a lot but doesn't give any personal or useful information. Uses multiple blades and knives.

________________________________________

Name: Grimlin
Age: N/A
Height: 6'5"
Sex: Male
Quirk: None
Appearance: Purple mask that covers top half of face, shows only mouth, wrinkles, grey blazer, black slacks, nice black tennis shoes, grey handcuffs.

Other Information:
Formal and strict. Usually offers an option of coming with him peaceful or getting knocked out. Uses steel knuckle braces and punches. Most victims come with broken bones. Powerful and ruthless. Complains a lot.

________________________________________

Name: Doom
Age: N/A
Height: 5'11"
Sex: Male
Quirk: None
Appearance: Brown hair greased back, bikers mask with skull grin over mouth, brown eyes, leather jacket, blue jeans, riding boots, white handcuffs.

Other Information:
Doesn't speak much. Almost sociopathic. Uses guns. Has a sniper rifle but typically uses pistols. Misses vitals but always makes sure that the victim is able to be taken in without bleeding out.

________________________________________

Name: Animation, Anima
Age: N/A
Height: 5'6"
Sex: Female
Quirk: None
Appearance: Long black hair with pink dyed tips. Neon red veil over face, light blue blouse, skinny jeans, black flats, neon purple handcuffs.

Other Information:
A little timid but very perky. Makes conversation while fighting. Uses a boa staff as a weapon. Uses different bomb balls for various smokes and pops. Very mobile with boa staff. Higher pitched voice. Uses smoke balls after staring at camera to get away unseen.

________________________________________

Name: Bubblegum, Bubble
Age: N/A
Height: 5'4"
Sex: Female
Quirk: None
Appearance: Shoulder length wavy blonde hair, bright pink sunglasses, bright pink sunglasses, black t-shirt, blue utility belt, black jeans, white tennis shoes, pink handcuffs.

Other Information:
Uses a grapling hool and katana. Compliments the victim a lot. Mobile and flexible in the air. Has a very bubble personality.

________________________________________

Shouta pinched his eyes and groaned loudly. This was not what he signed up for, but also, kind of was. There were other details too of course, but as for usefulness only the descriptions and time of day they worked really mattered.

"I mean I understand being quirkless isn't the best situation," he thought aloud, "but is this really the best way to go about handling it?"

Trigger, his orange tabby cat, came and curled up in Shouta's lap. Shouta pet it mindlessly.
All they are doing so far is being vigilants but it's not really doing anything.

"At this point I'm just waiting for something big to happen."

Not that I want the extra work...

________________________________________

The next day Shouta went to the Soft Blossom Bakery. "Ah, Aizawa!" exclaimed Triston from the counter. "Where's Mikumo?" "He's in the kitchen."

"I'll be out in a sec!" Shouta heard Mikumo shout from the back. He ordered his favorite, because, at this point, Shouta was very much a regular, and went to go sit in his usual spot, the corner furthest from the counter and closest to the door.

He sipped on his black coffee as he went through the hero forums. Shouta absolutely despised sweets. All they were good for were an energy boost that but lasted for a short time and left you with a headache. Plus, they tasted terrible. Completely illogical.

Mikumo joined him about 10 minutes later. Everytime Shouta saw the kid, he couldn't help but think of when he first met the kid. He knew it was night time but Shouta was so sure that Mikumo had green eyes and freckles. The greenette still had the piercing, though the earring was out, but everytime since then when the two met up, Mikumo had no freckles and blue eyes.

Maybe I'm going senile at a young age?

"Hey Aizawa!" Mikumo sat at the other side with his regular, a strawberry banana smoothie and a strawberry tart. That was another thing! Mikumo had the exact opposite taste buds of Shouta! He absolutely loves sweets and adored strawberries. Shouta wanted to cringe at the sugary smell but refrained.

He reached forward and ruffled Mikumo's hair. The greenette was the only person Shouta ever showed affection to aside from his family. He wondered why it was so different with him.

"How've you been kid?"

Mikumo smiled. "Pretty good!" Shouta was glad to see him smiling. He liked to think that, in some way, Shouta changed this kids life for the better. Those who contimplated suicide enough to go through with it or almost go through with it almost never make it back to fully being happy.
"Any luck with the quirkless whatever's?" Mikumo were one of the few who knew about the under the table group. But then again, the kid's always been smart.

"Quirkless Rejects. And no, I have not. Everytime I get to the station they are already long gone or some how weazel their way out."

Mikumo nodded. "I'm sure you'll get them soon enough."
"I hope."

The two talked for a while about any random subject, avoiding the ones Shouta had deemed taboo like quirks and family. Eventually however, Mikumo did have work to do so he got up and picked up their trash.

"I'll see you later Aizawa! Good luck with the rejects!" "See you kid," Aizawa simply replied offering a little wave before leaving.

Yeah. There is no way Mikumo could possibly be part of the Quirkless Rejects.

________________________________________

Izuku watched Aizawa leave.

Sorry Aizawa for lying to you... I hope you will forgive me when the truth is revealed.

________________________________________

Shouta was on patrol tonight when he got a call. He picked it up.

"Eraserhead, QR at station, swing by."

The call ended and Shouta made quick work of getting there. Animation was staring at the camera. She also had a habit of waving at it as well. They each had their own styles. Doom's was probably the creepiest because he held a pistol to his own neck while doing it.

Shouta was just about to jump in for the capture when Anima threw a bomb ball to the ground that released a large cloud of smoke. Typical for Anima's escape.

Shouta jumped in and tried to grab the girl. He almost did too, feeling her hair slip through his finger tips. He tried to follow the sound of her footsteps but to no avail. He called in.

"Animation got away."

When the smoke disappated Shouta saw a man unconscious on the steps. He was wrapped in a capture net, probably from Anima's capture bomb. Shouta checked the man out for injuries. He had a large bruise on his abdomen, probably from the bo staff. The blow that most likely knocked out the man was also probably from the bo staff. There was a large bruise on his left temple. He probably had a concussion.

"QUIRKLESS REJECTS" was written in black sharpie on his neck. They all wrote it in different places on their victims bodies.

Making sure the man couldn't escape, because the Quirkless Rejects only brought in criminals after all, Shouta took him in.

He sat on his bed at 3am stroking Tigger typing on his phone.

Aizawa:
Another QR got away.

Mikumo:
Aw man!
Maybe next time!
Which one was it?

Aizawa:
Animation.

Mikumo:
Bombs?

Aizawa:
Yeah. She's always tricky.

Mikumo:
Well better luck next time
I got to hit the hay, have work tomorrow.
Night!

Aizawa:
Good night Mikumo.

-A pause-

Mikumo:
You know I'm rooting for you, right Aizawa? I'm on your side.

Aizawa:
Yeah. Thanks kid.

Mikumo:
^-^

Shouta smiled and turned off his phone. He plugged it into the charger and looked out the window. "Next time..."
Shouta fell asleep.

________________________________________

Izuku looked at the last two messages. Aizawa? How long are we going to be able to be like this?
Izuk- no, Mikumo, wanted to cry. Izuku wasn't part of this life. Mikumo was. If he separated the lives maybe Izuku wouldn't feel so guilty everytime he escaped from Aizawa. Maybe being three people at once isn't so bad.

Izuku instantly slapped himself at the thought. "You are Izuku," he whispered. "You are Izuku, you are Izuku, you are Izuku."

Izuku chanted this for hours as he sat outside the shed while the others slept, arms holding his knees to his chest, body rocking back and forth.

"You are Izuku, you are Izuku, you are Izuku..."

________________________________________

Grimlin sat with his back against the inside of the shed wall listening to Deku repeat his name to himself.

Grimlin will admit that having three lives, with the only real one fading, had impacted him but as an adult in his 50's, he knew how to take care of his mental health and stay mentally and emotionally stable.

Deku was only a teen though, probably 14 or 15 at most, judging on him being in his last year of middleschool. His brain was still developing. Trauma had already racked through this kid from when he was just a toddler and Eraserhead wasn't helping. He was probably making it worse actually. Grimlin could visibly see Deku's sanity slipping.

The others probably noticed too. Actually, Grimlin saw it in a couple of the others. Jester was still a kid as well so this was turning him around in some ways as well. But he still had a better life than Deku in his life before the Quirkless Rejects so it wasn't as prominent.
Bubblegum had become more loose. Her free will and multiple lives colliding were causing her to be more free with herself. She used to be so reserved but now was loud and rash and almost dangerously irresponsible. A crazed smile on her lips that wasn't there before. Even if he never saw them, Grimlin expected the same look in her eyes. Bubble was loosing it little by little.

Grimlin inwardly sighed. What could I possibly do to help though? Grimlin remembered his time in the military. Many veterans had service dogs for mental instability after serving.

It'd be okay to get one of those, right?

Deku needs it the most, obviously. Grimlin set it in his mind to get him one. He'd inform the others about his plan when it was Deku's day to train with Stain.
Even if Deku was their leader, Grimlin was the oldest or more life experienced so he had an obligation to look after his new found family.

For now, Grimlin would listen as Deku comforted himself, or Izuku, as he called himself, probably his real name but Grimlin wasn't supposed to know that so he wouldn't say anything.

He watched over him as Deku rocked himself in a ball, chanting his old life name. He'd stop him if he saw Deku try to cut himself or claw at his skin like he had tried before. Grimlin watched over Deku all night long with sadness as his leader fell deeper into the darkness of his mindscape.

"I am Izuku, I am Izuku, I am Izuku..."

"Right?"

Chapter Text

Over the time that the Quirkless Rejects had been training with Stain, they had all been getting increasingly better. While they all shared the same teacher, Stain made good work of teaching them each their own individual fighting styles.

Izuku tended to use his legs more and had the metal souls so they focused on that for him. He knew several different techniques like landing a kick after jumping, spinning and kicking into the side, the roundhouse kick from the air, and many more. He was also able to be able to twist off when an attack was deflected and in whatever position he landed on, he could effectively Dodge or attack again from that point. He learned basic fist fighting so he could throw a punch and basic gun skills to fire the pistol Giran allowed him to keep.

Grimlin was their close combat fighter with his steel knuckles. He was taught boxing and could knock a grown man out could with a single blow. Breaking ribs and other bones were easy game. Grimlin was actually quite ripped despite his age. It was probably from his time serving in the military.

Jester and Stain got along very well considering they both used knives and swords predominantly. Jester was taught human atonomy and how to judge the distance between his hand, the hilt, the blade, and the person on the receiving end of said blade so that he could accurately hit someone from behind or infront without hitting any vitals.

Anima learned to use the bo staff almost professionally. She could jab someone in the front, force it into the gut of an attacker behind her, then twist and sweep surrounding forces in one swift move. She could twirl that staff like a conductor could his boton despite its size. Anima also learned how to vault off the ground over people and obstacles to dodge.

Bubblegum was very mobile. The grappling hook was retractable so it pulled her forwards when it latched and thrusters in the back propelled her at a greater speed. She also learned distance like Jester so she could use her katana midair. Bubble learned a more traditional and graceful form of swordsmanship for when she was on the ground.

Stain only taught Doom basic hand to hand combat because Doom used guns. They had to higher a black market gun specialist to teach him. He learned how to accurately hit a target in vitals and none vitals from long distances with the sniper and how to shoot short distances with the pistols. He was trained on how to shoot a man attacking a comerade without hitting the comrade even if they were basically touching.

The team was stacked, to say the least. They also got their offical costumes in.

Izuku had a forest green vest with nothing on underneath. He worn black pants that looked like slacks but we're very easy to move in. His staple red hightops had the metal attachments. On his side was a black gun holster and the golden pistol. Izuku had forest green handcuffs and black gloves as well as the obvious digital sunglasses, black mask with the "X", and earring.

Jester had a similar bright yellow vest but strapped down in an "X" formation were multiple short blade knives for easy access. He wore tight black jeans with two long swords hanging off either side. Jester had bright yellow headphones, hand cuffs, the cloth over his eyes, and combat boots that went halfway up to his knee cap.

Doom dawned a black denim jacket with a tight black t-shirt underneath. He had loose black jeans and black boots on. The black sniper was strung across his back and the two black pistols were in black gun holsters on either side of him. The only other color in Doom was the white of the skull smile on his medical mask and his white handcuffs.

Grimlin went shirtless to show off his abs. He wore the steel knuckles purple hammer pants, the purple mask covering the top half of his face, purple handcuffs, and black tennis shoes.

Anima stayed true to the witch look. She dyed her pink tips blue and wore a light blue witches cloak. She also wore a light blue witches hat with a black sash that held gunpowder. She had black leggings since the cloak went to her knees. Anima wore black heal boots and her veil was changed from red to blue and her handcuffs were also blue. In her pockets were the bomb balls and a lighter for the gunpowder. attached to the waist of her back was the brown wooden extendable bo staff.

Last but not least, Bubble wore a pink kimono with white flowers. The sash his the grappling hook and thrusters and she held the katana. She had pink flats, pink lipstick, and pink handcuffs but her pink sunglasses were changed to look more like a halo of roses.

The Quirkless Rejects looked amazing!

________________________________________

Dek- Izuku. Izuku stood in the underground bunker with his teammates. Besides their initial meeting with Stain, this was the first time they had all been here together. Stain had suddenly called for a meeting
They waited in tense silence, casually clothes but still masked.

Stain soon entered and turned to face the group.
"You're ready," were the first words out of his mouth. "You said you wanted to be on par with the villains and heros? Well now you stand a fighting chance."

They all looked at each other happily.

"From here on out, our contract ends. You no longer need to supply me support or give me money and in turn I do not have to train you."

He paused.

"We don't know each other. This is the dark side of society, their are no alliances. If we cross and have a disagreement it will end in blood. Goodbye."

Stain left without another word.

Izuku turned to his teammates. He didn't say anything but he stuck out his fist. They all smiled as they did a group fist bump.

At the shack, which was soon to be upgraded into an apartment, the group sat in a circle.

"What now?" asked Jester. Izuku smirked. "We take down a hero, obviously." All heads snapped towards him.

"What? If we want our cause to be known and the Quirkless Rejects to be public, we need to do something big."

They nodded in agreement. "It'll be just the same as our patrols but in daylight."

"So who goes first?" asked Bubble. They all turned to De- Izuku and grinned. The swirls of confused emotions showed on his glasses.

"W-wait! Why me!?"

"You are the leader aren't you? We need our publicity to be shown off by our head," said Grimlin.

"I'm going to be forced to do this even if I say no aren't I." There was a collective nodding of heads.

"Fine," complied Izuku. "But I've got a plan."

________________________________________

The hero chosen was Uniforce. He could make a forcefeild around anything he chose of varrying sizes both trapping things in and keeping things out.

It was noon, an hour before he usually went on patrol. Izuku and her gang all sat in their costumes in the shack circled around Izuku and his guitar.
Izuku began to play and sing.

"We fought for this day! We clawed our way up!"

His voice was loud and strong.

"When the clock strikes done we throw our fists up,"

They all threw their fists into the air in the last note.

"IN VICTORYYYYYYYYYY!"

________________________________________

Izuku was perched at the top of a highrise building, in costume, surveying the streets. He had a hidden camera set up on the designated point. A commotion arose as Uniforce came walking down the street greeting everyone.

Izuku smirked. He wait, and waited, and waited. Finally Uniform got in the cameras vantage point and Izuku kept down. He spun in the air and landed a roundhouse kick to Uniforces head, and audible bang from metal and field rang loud. Uniforce had just barely got a shield up in time but Izuku saw it. The crack.

He flipped off and landed across from Uniforce.

"Who are you?" questioned Uniforce.
"Deku."
"Dek-?" Izuku ran forward. Uniforce cut off and tried to trap him in a field but Izuku had seen enough of his videos of fights to know that there was a delay and his eyes had to look at the spot or target. He dodged and spun on his heel landing a kick that was blocked by a field.

This went on for some time before Izuku landed a kick and the field SHATTERED. Finally. His kick pushed through and metal met skull. A quite crack was heard as Uniforce hit the floor unconscious but not dead.

Police that were holding civilians back turned to look at the situation. Whispers began to stir.

Deku turned towards the masses and with a loud, commanding voice, he spoke.

"LOOK! HEAR ME!" Everyones attention was drawn to Izuku.

"The world has wronged the quirkless for far too long! They treat the weak as trash forcing them to be the shadows of society! They are not allowed to shine in the light!
Look at this man, this all so power HERO! I am quirkless and have taken him down without power!"

Out of the shadows, Animation, Bubblegum, Grimlin, Jester, and Doom, all in costume came up and stood behind Deku.

"I am Deku, leader of the Quirkless Rejects! These are my comrades, each just as strong. To all of you oppressed, weak, angery quirkless out there...

JOIN US!"

He stretched out his hand.

"If you reach out we will surely find you.
Heros and Villains heed my words and be afraid. Fear us for the quirkless are weak no more. The time for heros and quirks is over. Hear and understand when I say...

THE AGE OF THE QUIRKLESS HAS COME!"

Chapter Text

A knock came at Katsuki's door. He didn't reply. The blonde hadn't uttered a sound since Deku disappeared. His days were shrowded in in guilt that he felt he shouldn't be allowed to feel. He lived in constant fear that his words would cause another to...

Either way, Katsuki doesn't speak. His mother opened the door. "Are you done with your UA application?" She had been softer after Deku disappeared. Sure Mitsuki still cursed like a sailor and yelled for no reason but she was always more tame around Katsuki. Somehow that hurt more.

-Yes,- signed Katsuki. Make no mistake, he was still going to be the number one hero. He was going to be bigger than All Might himself, mute or not. It seemed that guilt and empathy came as a package deal. He decided to try to reach out to the less fortunate, try not to be violent to everyone around him and instead help. Katsuki learned quickly that he wasn't better then anyone and that they had every right to look down on him.
After all, no one like him could possibly be above others.

"Alright, food is ready." She closed the door. Katsuki out his application in an envelope addressed to UA and sealed it. He made a mental note to take it out after dinner.

They had spicy curry and made small talk over the dinner table, Katsuki signing where he say fit.
"Oh well would you look at that?" piped his father suddenly referring to the TV. The news was covering a fight.
"Oh yeah, that video is all over the dang internet," said Mitsuki.

-What video?-

"You don't know? Some group has started. Apparently it's a group of quirkless people trying to prove a point or something. Multiple videos of the fight are all over the web but this one takes the cake."

She handed her phone to Katsuki who pressed play. It had editing to make it look more intimidating, and it worked.

A close up came to a masked boys face. "The world has wronged the quirkless-" static surfaced and showed him kicking a force field.
"forcing them to be in the shadows". Static, then it showed his masked face again for less then a second before flipping it to when he knocked the hero out. The boy grabbed Uniforce by the hair and held his head up.
"I am quirkless and have taken him down-"
It flashed then came back on, with several dressed figures behind him.

"I am Deku,"

Katsuki almost had a heart attack.

"leader of the Quirkless Rejects!"

No way... Only he... Only Izuku would know that name...

"To all you oppressed, weak, angery quirkless out there..."

But the hair, shorter but still green. Freckles... The voice...

"JOIN US!"

Katsuki shook his head. No. I-its not possible!

It fizzed into a close up of Deku's face, tinted in red. "The time for heros and quirks is over."

The screen went black for a few seconds, then red words faded in with static in the back ground. The distorted voice of the speaker sounded loud in clear about the static.

"The age of the quirkless has come..."

It ended. Katsuki dropped his mothers phone.

-I am not hungry right now- he signed with quaking hands. He got up and left, his parents didn't try to stop him and Katsuki knew that they knew just who that really was too.

________________________________________

He punched the punching bag hanging from his ceiling till his knuckles bled.

Why? WHY!?

Katsuki wanted to scream and cry and shout and say a million things but his mouth would not shape the words and his voice box would not vibrate. He knew why.

His lackeys probably knew who it was too. Or at least, his former lackeys. They stopped trailing him after Deku disappeared.

I should turn him in, tell the police who he is.

Katsuki punched and punched.

No... I can't. He landed one last hit. His fist lingered till he moved forwards and rested his head downcast upon the bag.

After all... It's my fault that Izuku turned out like this...

________________________________________

Shouta got a call from the police station. "What is it?"

"Eraserhead, the Quirkless Rejects just assaulted a hero."

"What did you just say?" They redirected him to the video of the fight and the speech made by the leader.

What the hell!?

*DING DING*

Mikumo:
Aizawa did you see the video!?

Aizawa:
yeah kid it's not good.

Mikumo:
it's not good? ITS TERRIBLE!

- Oh yeah, Mikumo was an avid hero fan, of course he'd think so. But he's right though...-

Aizawa:
yes. if more people start joining them and starting an uproar this could get worse fast.

Mikumo:
>:) it won't though cause your on the case.
YOU GOT THIS AIZAWA!

-Shouta smiled-

Aizawa:
thanks kid.

Phew! For a second there I thought that the leader Deku was Mikumo.

Somewhere in the deepest parts of his consciousness lingered the feeling that Shouta was indirectly rejecting, the feeling that Mikumo really was Deku...

________________________________________

The stations phones were going off the hooks! People calling saying they recognized the Quirkless Rejects despite the masks. Aunts, Uncle's, friends, families, co-workers of the six that went missing months ago claiming that the QR were them.

The police had already been suspecting it for a while now but with this stunt and with all the evidence of the calls, they could finally finalize the report.

The Quirkless Rejects were in fact the six missing quirkless people that disappeared months ago on New Year's Eve.

As formalities they had to inform the parents and families even if it was them who called. It was published on the news and papers that:

"MISSING PERSONS FOUND: SIX QUIRKLESS REGISTERED NOW AS THE QUIRKLESS REJECTS".

The only one that they had problems with was Inko Midoriya who was currently in a psychiatric hospital for mental instability. There was no way to know how she's react. Still they were required to do it.

________________________________________

Inko stared at the screen stunned. When Detective Tsukauchi had come by and told her that they'd found Izu she was so happy! But now, her body shook in fear and guilt. Rei was trying to calm her down as Inko's breathing sped up severely. Suddenly she stood up and shouted,

"There's no way that was my Izu!"

"Ma'am," started Detective Tsukauchi when Inko lurched forward and grabbed him by the collar shaking him violently.

"It's an imposter! IMPOSTER!"

Rei grabbed her but Inko pushed her away. She walked backwards into a corner, crunching down holding her hands to her ears.

"My Izu would never do that! Stop lying! It's a fake! Imposter!"

The nurses came in and kicked everyone out as they calmed Inko down. Needless to say, Inko Midoriya did not handle the news well.

________________________________________

Dek- Izuku laughed heartily at all of the comments on the videos. The others did too. "Anima, Grimlin, Jester, Doom, Bubble..." They all looked at Mik- Izuku.

"Hope you're ready..." He turned to his comerades and stretched his arms wide open, his sunglasses showed crazed red dots as he chuckled darkly and proclaimed,

"It has begun."

Chapter Text

Dek- Izuku crawled through the window of the apartment. The Quirkless Rejects had bought it off of a black market retailer a week ago. The news has been blowing up about the Quirkless Rejects and to celebrate their small victory and true start the group got an upgrade. It had two bedrooms, one for boys and one for girls, a small dining room with a table and chairs, a living room with a blue sofa, coffee table, and cracked TV bought used, a kitchen, and a bathroom. It was small but better than where they previously stayed.

They all came in one by one through the window after work to avoid cameras.
Bubblegum smiled and pulled a cake she had made and decorated at the bakery. She placed it on the table everyone had gathered and sat.

"How's a little celebratory cake sound?" Everyone smiled in happiness. As Deku received his slice, he stood up.
"It's been 7 months since we all met in real life but... none of us have really met, have we?"

They all looked at each other then back at Izuku knowing where this was going. Izuku reached up and took a deep breath. He took off his mask and sunglasses. A collective gasp echoed around the room as they all witnessed his real face for the first time.

"Hello, I am Izuku Midoriya." He smiled. While he didn't know how true that statement was to him anymore, Izuku wanted more than himself to know who he was before.

Grimlin stood up and followed suit taking of his mask. "Taro Natsuko, it is nice to meet you."

Jester smiled and untied his cloth, standing. "Naiyu Daich!"

"Yuuta Yotora," stood Doom.

"Niaomi Scarlet," copied Anima.

"Kiki Hisaha," lastly stated Bubblegum as she stood. Izuku smiled and looked around. "It is nice to meet you all!"

"Likewise." "Same!" "Nice to meet you!"

"Does this mean we will be calling each other by our original names?" asked Anima.
Grimlin shook his head. "While we should never forget who we used to be and who we still partially are, our lives aren't those of the past."

Izuku nodded. "We know each other by our code names and always have. I only think it is befitting to keep calling each other by them."

There was a collective hum of agreement. "Alrighty! We still have a cake that we literally can't afford to let it go to waste!" announced Bubblegum.

The Quirkless Rejects spent the rest of the evening and well into the evening eating cake, singing to Izuku's guitar, and sharing stories of their past lives.

Yes, they very well may be different people now, but some things should not be forgotten.

________________________________________

"Have a good day Juna!"
"You too Mikumo!"

Miku- Izuku was working as barista at the Soft Blossom Bakery. It was a slow day but he was anxious for it to end. Anima had gone out to go take on a hero today and Izuku was worried, sue him.
"Hiya Mikumo!" He looked up to see Uraraka. "Uraraka! I haven't seen you in a while."
She smiled and Mik- Izuku almost swooned. "Yeah, I've been working myself, one small caramel mocha."

"Coming right up." he began working on her drink. "You got a job?"
"Yeah, my parents pay for the apartment but our families business isn't doing so good, I know they don't have the money so I thought I'd help them out."
Mikumo nodded, understanding. "That's sweet. Here you go," he handed Uraraka the caramel mocha and received the payment. "Hey do you get a break soon?"
He looked up at her. "Yeah, in about ten minutes actually."
She smiled, "Would you mind me waiting for you? I'd like to be able to have a longer conversation then just one across the bar."
Mikumo was so grateful for the makeup because he was sure he'd be blushing right about now. Of course the Quirkless Rejects had to keep their identies hidden in public still.

He smiled brightly. "Sure thing!"
Ten minutes later, Mik- SHUT UP! Izuku joined Uraraka at her table with a strawberry banana smoothie and a slice of strawberry shortcake.

"Hey," he greeted. She waved and smiled back. "Hi!"
"So your here for UA. How are you feeling about the exams?" he asked.
She scratched the back of her head. "T- to be honest, I'm a little nervous..."
"Well what's your quirk?" Izuku asked.
Zero Gravity. I can make anything I touch with five fingers have no weight."
"That's so cool!"
"Y- you think? Well what's yours?"
Izuku smiled. "Oh... It's nothing as good as yours."
"I'm sure it's great," she pressed.
"It's really not, that's why I'm not going to UA."
Uraraka could probably tell he was uncomfortable so she changed the subject. "So what school do you go to then?"
"I'm online schooled." "Ah, which?"

Izuku and Uraraka talked and laughed and joked for a while. He could feel Grimlin watching him from the counter. Izuku knew he shouldn't get close. He knew he shouldn't get close to Aizawa. He knew he shouldn't feel happy when the hero patted his head and that his chest shouldn't tighten when Uraraka laughed.

But He didn't care. He was Mikumo right now, not Izuku, not Deku. He had this life and they were a part of it-

________________________________________

"You look so awesome Anima!" Jester exclaimed as they ate rice around the TV watching Anima's fight. She had taken down Ballerina, the dancing hero that could pose in any form and make the opponent copy it. When she moved the opponent stayed that way a little longer allowing Ballerina to get a hit in.

At the end Anima had turned to the cameras at the scene and said,

"It's not magic, the quirkless are just stronger!"

A little contradictory due to her costume but also very befitting. "Thanks!" Anima replied. "It was actually really fun!"

Izuku nodded. "I thought the same when I was fighting Uniforce!"

They watched the news for a while longer before- BARK! Izuku leapt from the sofa dropping his bowl if rice.

"What was that!?" It was close by, like, really close by but no one else seemed startled. Grimlin smiled. "Deku, stay here." He gently pushed Izuku back to sit down before going towards the bathroom.

Izuku looked at the others but none of them made eye contact with the greenette. "Guys wh-" he stopped when a beautiful light brown and white border collie came up to him and sat infront of Izuku.

Grimlin sat next to Izuku and placed his hand on his shoulder. "It's a service dog," he said placing the vest and collar in Izuku's lap. "Sunny, you've obviously had more trauma then the rest of us and it is horribly obvious when you aren't in public."
"Wha-"
We got her trained to you and your scent with a shirt of yours so she knows that you are her owner," Grimlin continued. "She is trained to handle panic attacks and PTSD symptoms."

Izuku felt tears burn behind his eyes. "I- I... Did you all know a-about this?" He looked around to see everyone nodding. Izuku looked at his lap, vision blurry as drops fell from his eyes. The collie nudged his hands and placed her head on them. Izuku suddenly lurched forward and hugged the dog crying.

"T- thank you. Thank you so much!"

The group smiled at each other, the sound of Izuku's sobs and the TV in the background filling the space.

________________________________________

Honey. Izuku named the border collie Honey. When he told Aizawa and sent the man pictures, Aizawa seemed pleased and said he'd like to meet Honey sometime.

Honey went around with Izuku everywhere, even at the bakery since she was a service dog. She was trained to the name Izuku, Mikumo, and Deku.

"A service dog?" asked Uraraka as he prepared her regular drink. She was becoming a regular herself around Soft Blossom Bakery. "What for? I-if you don't mind me asking. I know some people are sensitive..." Mikumo chuckled. "It's fine, it's for PTSD."
"Oh," was all she replied.
Honey stayed behind the counter by Mikumo's side throughout the day, nudging his hand anytime she noticed him pause because he usually got lost in thought about something they called a "trigger".

It was... nice.

Mikumo took a break and sat with Uraraka at the tables again, Honey by his side with her best and collar on.
"She's so pretty!" commented Uraraka.
"You can pet her if you want." Mikumo said.
"But her vest is on."
"It's okay if I say you can."
Uraraka smiled and bent down to let Honey. He could tell that the two would get along just fine.

________________________________________

It was the day of the UA entrance exams, Honey was at home, too easy to be noticed by kids who may have stopped by the bakery, and the Quirkless Rejects stood outside the massive UA building.

Kids walking in whispered and pointed, obviously recognizing them. They weren't really doing anything, just leaning against the buildings walls right next to the doors.

The reason? There were multiple.

One, to scare and/or discourage the examinees. Two, to show the kids what they'd have to face if they were to pass and become heros in training. Three, to get info on potential opponents. Fourth, and last, to make a point to the UA staff because Deku was sure they could see them from where they were standing.

Uraraka passed by and he wanted so badly so tell her "Good luck!" but Mikumo had done that a week ago and it would blow his cover.

Deku looked up and his breath got caught in his throat, sunglasses going completely blank, as oppose to the happy eyes.

Kacchan.

Kacchan was walking up the oath to the building. The blonde stopped when he saw Deku. His mouth opened, like he wanted to say something. He closed it and kept walking but stopped next to Deku. Kacchan looked at him, the sunglasses showed nothing, no sign of any emotion. Kacchan's held so, so much. So much unsaid but kept silent. The blonde looked down and kept walking.

W-what? Was he ashamed?

The sunglasses immediately turned to angery as soon as Kacchan had walked off and oh how badly he wished Honey was here cause he sure as hell needed her.

HE HAS NO RIGHT TO BE FREAKING ASHAMED!

The others seemed to notice but couldn't comment at the time.
Luckily their weren't many examnees left. When the last went in the six stepped out to the front of the building and looked at it. All six of the Quirkless Rejects pointed finger guns at the building, Deku holding a real one.

He pointed it straight at the camera which he knew was fixed on them. Deku could hear heros coming for them, the ones that couldn't while examnees were entering. He smirked and shot, the other five acting as if they had to.

*BANG*

It shattered the camera just as the heros were existing the building. Anima threw a hidden smoke bomb on the ground and they made their escape unseen.

________________________________________

Izuku sat in the bathroom at the apartment clutching onto Honey for dear life.

Kacchan...

His shuddering breath was short as he silently cried. After a short while he looked up.

"I'll beat him..." whispered Izuku.

"I'll tear him and make him bleed till he begs for me to stop..." his voice was getting louder and steadier with each word. His eyes were getting darker with each syllable.

"I'll make him feel just like he made me..."

Izuku punched the floor, ignoring the pain.

"He'll wish he'd never crossed me."

________________________________________

Luckily, a certain group was planning to infiltrate UA and news in the dark undersociety of the world traveled fast.

Chapter Text

"Did you hear...?"

"Attack UA?"

"It's not possible."

"They're recruiting..."

"Let's go!"

News got around fast in the dark undersociety of the world and all the rumors were bound to reach the ears of the Quirkless Rejects at some point.

________________________________________

"Dekuuuuuuuuuu!" Izuku looked up from his chat with Aizawa as Jester practically threw himself into the room. "What?"

"G- Giran sent us a letter!" He handed a blank envelope with the initial "G" written on it. "H-he says he has a job we'd be interested in."
Izuku opened the letter. His eyes widened as he skimmed over the words.
"No way..."

________________________________________

The Quirkless Rejects stood in the underground bunker infront of Giran. "An attack ok UA?" questioned Deku. "By a no name group of misfits? Impossible."
Giran shook his head. "They have a man with a warping quirk and are gathering criminals and thugs for man power."

"Eh? What good will that do against pro heros? And how can we trust that they won't screw us over or even accomplish anything?

Giran smirked. "Listen kid, this isn't the bright sunny side of life, this is the dark side of the world you know. You can't trust anyone here. This is a dangerous game where you're playing for power. Sometimes risk is needed to get on top."

Deku bit his lip under his mask, sunglasses showing none of his inner turmoil. Grimlin lightly bumped his shoulder with a closed fist. He almost chuckled.

Right, I'm not alone anymore.

"Fine," Deku said. "Let's meet this 'League of Villains' then."

Giran gave a sly grin. "Give me a week."

________________________________________

"Man," said two voices in unison, "everyone has been looking at us funny."

Two mirrored boys looked at each other. "You thought the same thing too?" they said in unison again. The twins looked down at their math homework they were doing together.
The two attended a charter college. Most students there, like them, were children of wealthy and powerful business men and women so the two weren't really picked on for being quirkless. Just... avoided. Like the plague.
Consequently Kiru and Siru were always together. They never talked to anyone else besides the teachers and only when asked did the two answer together as one voice. They might as well be the same person.

"It's almost like," said Kiru,
"they expect us to," continued Siru,
"join that quirkless gang." they both finish.

"Are they wrong?" asked Kiru.
"Probably not." replied Siru. "You know it'd be better than this."

"Yeah. This place is boring."
"No fun."
"No games."
"No friends."

"That could all change," the white haired twins said together.

"It would anger father."
"That's okay."
"He never liked us anyways."
"That's okay."
"His company name would be damaged."
"That's okay."
"I guess we don't like him that much do we?"

...

"No."
"That's okay."

They pulled out their shared phone. "If they said that they'd reach out," started Kiru,
"then they'd need a way," finished Siru.

"Kiru! Siru! Off your phone!" shouted their professor from the front of the lecture hall.

They both look up at her. "Shut up."
The teacher scowled but continued teaching knowing it was a loss cause. The two were the smartest in their class anyway.

"I heard there's this quirkless site for those without quirks to chat."
"What's it called?" asked Kiru.
"Quirkless Pals. Want to try it?" They look at each other and nod. They tapped in the link on their phone, Kiru using the left side od rhe keyboard, Siru on the right. 

Hello fellow quirkless friend! Welcome to Quirkless Pals, the online site for the quirkless around the globe to chat freely. Join a chat room, make one yourself, or start a blog to tell your veiwers about your day. Have fun interacting with others who are just like you!

Login
Sign Up

"What should our username be?"
...
...
...
*TipTap*

*DING DING*

"Welcome, WhiteFox, to Quirkless Pals!"

White Fox, a name given to them by the butler in their manor for always pitpocketing him.

"Hmm... A blog would be the fastest to reach out."

"Yeah."

________________________________________

REACHING OUT
- August 5, 2020

# Quirkless Rejects

You said that if we reached out you would take our hands. We are reaching out. We are bored of our world and our current lives. We want change, if that means in the form of rebellion, we are willing to do that too.
We are requesting for you're hands, Rejects. Please accept them.

-WhiteFox

________________________________________

"I don't think it'll work," they said, sitting down their phone.

*Vrrrr...*

"Hmm?" Kiru picked up the object, Siru looking over his shoulder. "Oh. We got a private message from someone."

________________________________________

"Hey, guys, come look at this," Izuku said gathering his comrades.
"What is it?" asked Bubble.
"Someone on Quirkless Pals is requesting to join us."

"WHAT!?" shouted Jester.

"Publicly."
"Oooh. That's bold," commented Doom. "What will you do?" "Message them, of course," replied Izuku. He clicked on the username, Whitefox, and hit private message.

Deku:
Hello. I am Deku, of the Quirkless Rejects.

<WhiteFox has joined the conversation>

WhiteFox:
Hello

Deku:
I saw your blog, rather risque don't you think?

WhiteFox:
How else would we have found you?

Deku:
Fair enough.
You use "we" a lot. Are their multiple of you?

WhiteFox:
Twins.

Deku:
Ah. Well, if we do bring you on board, how do you propose to help our cause?

...

WhiteFox:
We have money.
They are more than likely others like us out there who will reach out to your call.
You will need a way to keep them all.

Deku:
What do you mean?

WhiteFox:
We mean that wherever you are staying now won't hold many more.

Deku:
Yes but that doesn't mean everyone would be staying with us.

WhiteFox:
No, but if they don't go into hiding they will certainly be found out and give the QR away.

Deku:
Fair enough.
So what are you proposing?

WhiteFox:
We will buy a warehouse to be a dorm house of some sort for the incoming members.

Deku:
You can be tracked.

WhiteFox:
You obviously aren't.
We'll use the same methods to buy it without being traced.

Deku:
And we are just supposed to give free housing and electricity?
The QR doesn't have that kind of funds.

WhiteFox:
We can charge a cheep rent of somesorts.

Deku:
How will they obtain the money?

WhiteFox:
Even with your true identies known to the public you have not been found. So that means you are living under the cover of a different life.
They could do the same.Or not change their identies at all and just do black market dirty work or the like.

Deku:
Alright.
Let's talk power though.
What can you two personally do to help in fights?

WhiteFox:
We were both trained in self defense from a young age.
We can tag team and pickpocket well.

...

Deku:
Fine. What are your quirks?

...

WhiteFox:
We don't have quirks.

Deku:
Good, that was a test, of course. Welcome to the Quirkless Rejects!

WhiteFox:
Thank you.

Deku:
You'll need to buy the warehouse near this address.

<insert bakery address>

When you do contact us again with picture proof and we will finish with buying you your own costume.
We expect to hear from you soon!

<Deku has gone offline>

________________________________________

"No way!" yelled Jester.

"This is so exciting!" cheered Anima.
Izuku smiled, casually petting Honey.
"They were really smart. Why did you drag them on like that?" asked Grimlin.
"Had to test them. They could have been police or heros." replied Izuku.

Grimlin nodded. "So based on what you asked we won't be accepting every quirkless person?"
"I mean, for the most part we will, we can always train them. But at some point a group gets too big to handle."

They all nod in understanding. Izuku clapped his hands together. "Okay we have an important meeting tomorrow. We go with our costumes on, not just our masks alright?"

"RIGHT!"

"Now off to bed everyone!"

________________________________________

Jester scrunched up his nose. He found that he doesn't like the smell of alcohol and smoke at all.

The League of Villains live in this bar?! It reeks!

Of course he didn't say that out loud but it was a pretty prominent thought in his mind. He shook his head and focused on the conversation between Deku and...
Shig- Shigaraki? Meh who cares about his name, what I care about is those hands. Creepy!

"You brats want to join in on our raid? Steal our fame?" spoke the blue haired man. His voice sounded like he smokes six packs a day or something!

"We aren't here to steal your time in the spotlight," replied Deku. "We just want to damage the heros pride a little."
Oooooh that must of made Shigaraki happy because Jester was sure that was a grin under that hand.

"We also want to weaken the public's faith in heros."

Jester could tell that this Shigaraki man was bad news and, like, really powerful. After all, he had disintegrated a cup with just his hand. But whatever Deku was saying clearly was something the handyman likes.

Whooo! You got this boss man!

"What do we get out of it?" came the inevitable question.

"Like we offer everyone, money and extra man power when needed. Anything we do we can turn back to the power of the quirkless so it's beneficiary to us as well when we help who we make the agreements with."

"Alright, but-"

"One last thing," Deku quickly said.
"What?" said the clearly annoyed man.
"You warp me and my comrades at as soon as I say. You can stay there if you want to but we will leave on our own time."

"Fine," complied Shigaraki. "But if you ever cross us-" he took a chair in his hand, it disintegrated immediately.
Dekus sunglasses showed happy as he held out his hand. "Of course." Handyman took it with four fingers.

"I wouldn't expect anything less."

Jester let out a breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding as soon as the warp gate behind them closed leaving them in an alley way close to the apartment.

"Phew! That was intense!"
Therw was a collective hum of agreement. "Well, we got our next project. But UA doesn't start for a week so within the time frame of now to when we actually infiltrate," Deku turned to him, "Jester you will take down a hero."

"WHAT!? ME!?"

He got hit on the back of his head. "Shush idiot," scolded Doom.

"Yes, you," continued Deku. "Don't worry, you can do it." Dekus happy eyes gave Jester a boost of confidence.

"Y-yeah! I can do this!"

He got another hit on the head.

________________________________________

<WhiteFox has come online>

WhiteFox:
We got it.

<Deku has come online>

Deku:
Proof.

WhiteFox:
<insert picture of warehouse with proof of residency>

Deku:
Great! We actually just got our next gig to infiltrate UA so you guys are just in time!

WhiteFox:
Infiltrate UA?

Deku:
Yeah.
What's wrong? You scared? Backing out?

WhiteFox:
No.

Deku:
Good.
We will meet at the warehouse then in three days. We don't use our real names, of course, so how would you liked to be known as within the QR?

WhiteFox:
Just Fox instead of WhiteFox.

Deku:
Both of you?

WhiteFox:
Yeah.

Deku:
Okay. Also you will need costumes and masks which, as promised, we will provide and send to your address. We need your measurements as well.
Any ideas?

WhiteFox:
Yes actually-

________________________________________

Deku, Animation, Grimlin, Jester, Bubblegum, and Doom all stood in the second story of the abandoned warehouse bought by their newest additions.

*Step. Step. Step.*

All heads and bodies turned to the sound. Out of the shadows two tall, slender male figures walked up looking like exact copies of each other besides the part in their hairs were swept to opposing sides.

They had bleach white hair, pale skin, a white cloth over their eyes and both wore full tuxedos of pure white with white dress shoes. The signature handcuffs being the only color, a midnight blue.

Deku smiled and walked forwards, the rest following suit. He stopped midway and held out his hand to which they both shook.

"Hello, Fox, welcome to the Quirkless Rejects. We are glad to have you!"

"Thank you for accepting us," the two said in perfect unison.

Jester whistled. "Well dang."

Chapter Text

Ok so this is not a story chapter.
A buddy o' pal in has been asking for a bit for what the characters look like, their attributes, and about the characters themselves so it's basically fulfilling that request and describing them from everyone here!

So without further a due... Here is your character descriptions!

________________________________________

Name: Izuku Midoriya.
Sex: Male
Age: 14
Quirk: None
Birthday: July 15
Height: 5'6
Family: Inko Midoriya (mother)
Aliases: Deku and Mikumo

Appearance:
Half shaved green hair with bangs to the left. Slightly starting to grow out and in need of a haircut soon.
Emerald green eyes, pale skin with freckles. Right ear pierced.

Personality:
A kind soul with a vengeful spirit. Has a nervous stutter. Has trauma and PTSD and identity disorder with his other lives he is living.

Likes:
- Sweets and Strawberries
- Tye Dye items of any kind
- Helping others
- Taking notes
- Talking to Aizawa
- Honey, the dog

Dislikes:
- Spicy and bitter foods
- Talking about himself
- Talking about hero's
- Talking about quirks

Habits:
- Mumbling to himself
- Getting lost in thought
- Wringing hands together when nervous
- Stuttering

Fears:
- Getting caught
- The QR being a dream
- Returning to his old life
- Loosing a comrade
- Snakes

Battle Style:
His high IQ makes for great strategy making, negotiation prowess, and strong commanding spirit for him to lead.

________________________________________

Since Izuku counts them as different lives, I went ahead and described Deku and Mikumo.
Also his battle style was not kicking because that's Deku's.

________________________________________

Name: Mikumo
Sex: Male
Age: 16
Quirk: None
Birthday: ???
Height: 5'6
Family: None
Aliases: None

Appearance:
Half shaved green hair with bangs to the side but always has a black cap on for work. Blue eyes, pale skin, no freckles. Piercing in left ear but never has an earring in. Always in work attire.

Personality:
Calm and collected and charming. The kind of person everyone likes. Helps everyone with a charming smile.

Likes:
- A certain brunette UA student
- Talking with Aizawa
- Making coffee and kneading dough
- Making small talk with the regulars
- Heros and Quirks
- Honey, the dog

Dislikes:
- Co-workers disapproving looks when he talks to Uraraka and Aizawa
- Rude customers
- Burning pastries
- When the coffee machine breaks

Habits:
- Getting lost in thought while working
- Talking to Honey

Fears:
- His other selves being found out
- Not being able to talk to Aizawa and Uraraka anymore.

Battle Style:
Attacks the dough with a smooth knead and kills the customers with a charming smile and great coffee! ;)

________________________________________

So Izuku's love for heros and quirks didn't just completely disappear, he basically just transferred his previous love for them to Mikumo. Out of sight out of mind kind of thing.

________________________________________

Name: Deku
Sex: Male
Age: 14
Quirk: None
Birthday: December 31st, New Year's Eve
Height: 5'6
Family: None
Aliases: None

Appearance:
Half shaved green hair with bangs to the left. Silver diamond shaped earring hanging from left ear. Green best with no shirt underneath, moveable dress pants, forest green handcuffs, red hightops with metal souls, gun holster, black medical mask with white X and digital sunglasses.

Personality:
A pissed vigilant for the justice of the quirkless. Cynical with a happy grin everytime he brings down a hero or villain.

Likes:
- Attacking heros and villains
- Creepily staring at cameras
- The dark undersociety world
- Escaping from police

Dislikes
- Heros, with a passion

- Villains, with a passion

- All Might, with a passion

- Kacchan, with a passion

Habits:
- Pissing off the police and heros

Fears:
- Getting caught
- The QR falling apart

Battle Style:
Fights with his feet and legs. Kicks reinforced with metal souls on his shoes. An unrelenting force of kicks to anywhere and everywhere.

________________________________________

I won't do the others separate from their real life and new life because it is only occasionally you see their point of view.

________________________________________

Name: Naiomi Scarlet
Sex: Female
Age: 21
Quirk: None
Birthday: April 2nd
Height: 5'5
Family: Jesol (Dad) and Griana (Mom)
Aliases: Animation, Anima, Himiki

Appearance:
Long black hair, usually in a ponytail, with light blue hairtips and hazel eyes. When at work it's tucked into a bun with tips hidden and she wears the uniform with purple eye contacts. She had a slight tan. Outside of work she usually wears a short sleeve t-shirt or pajamas. When out as Anima she wears her wizards robe, hat, boots, and her veil and cuffs.

Personality:
A sweet but timid, go with the flow, kind of girl. She is very cautious around people not in the QR and watches her words carefully to not give anything away.

Likes:
- Classical Rock
- Grapes
- The QR
- Working as a waitress at the Soft Blossom Bakery

Dislikes:
- Death
- School
- Aizawa and Uraraka getting so close to Deku

Habits:
- Stuttering
- Repeating others

Fears:
- Aizawa catching on
- Death

Battle Style:
Uses a wizard shaped bo staff to maneuver and jab her opponents in weak spots. Often gives concussions. She uses bomb balls to distract opponents from herself and make it easier for her to attack or get away.

________________________________________

Name: Taro Natsuko
Sex: Male
Age: 54
Quirk: None
Birthday: October 12th
Height: 6'4
Family: Two Cousins
Aliases: Grimlin, Hisou

Appearance:
A greying man with a deeper than skin and some wrinkles. Brown eyes but wears green contacts at work. Outside of work he wears a t-shirt and jeans. When working as Grimlin he wears no shirt, hammer pants, tennis shoes, steel knuckle gloves, cuffs, and a purple mask that covers the too of his head and face.

Personality:
Despite his attire, he is actually a very formal and curtious man. He prefers to follow the rules, except being a vigilant/villain and all.

Likes:
- Reading
- Math and English
- Working Out
- Various nuts

Dislikes:
- Aizawa, is ok with Uraraka
- Cleaning up after others
- Rabbits

Habits:
- Correcting other people

Fears:
- Being caught
- The bakery being shut down because he was traced

Battle Style:
Hard core fist fighting. Punches along with steel knuckles lead to many broken bones. He is a brutal fighter.

________________________________________

Name: Yaiyu Daich
Sex: Male

Age: 13
Quirk: None
Birthday: July 24th
Height: 5'2
Family: Johnny (Brother), Varla (Sister), Juna (Mom), Reno (Dad)
Aliases: Jester, Triston

Appearance:
Short for his age with short ginger hair and forest green eyes. Usually wearing headphones except for at work. At work he has his cap on and red eye contacts. When protraying Jester, he wears a yellow vest strapped with knives, cuffs, tight black jeans with long blades off them, yellow combat boots, and his yellow headphones and eyecloth.

Personality:
Very excited and jumpy boy. He is annoying most times without even knowing it.

Likes:
- Cheese, like, A LOT
- Uraraka and Aizawa, he thinks their cool
- Working in the kitchen
- Music

Dislikes:
- When Doom reprimands him
- Moldy cheese
- Mushrooms

Habits:
- Blurting out whatever is on his mind

Fears
- Seeing his family again and them rejecting him

Battle Style:
He uses knives and various types of blades. Swift and messy but deep cuts. Careful to not hit vitals but still able to immobilize target.

________________________________________

Name: Yuuta Yotora
Sex: Male
Age: 19
Quirk: None
Birthday: September 3rd
Height: 6'2
Family: Hola (Brother), Guuta (Dad)
Aliases: Doom, Yul

Appearance:
Dark brown hair usually gelled back with dark brown eyes and pale skin. At work he ungells hair, uses yellow contact lenses, and uses makeup to dot on freckles. When going as Doom, wore a black jacket, t-shirt, jeans, combat boots , and a black mask with a white skull smile. He also wore white cuffs and had multiple guns strapped to him.

Personality:
Quite and reserved but a big sense of justice. Not the leader type but the follower who will only work for what he believes in.

Likes:
- Bitter foods
- His girlfriend, Bubblegum
- Dogs

Dislikes:
- Jester when he is annoying, so most of the time
- Sweets
- Cats
- Aizawa and Uraraka, too dangerous

Habits:
- Hitting Jester when he his being annoying, he hits him a lot

Fears:
- Loosing his girlfriend

Battle Style:
Long range and short range shooting. A supporting role from far away but can be effective close up when needed. Prefers to stay out of the hand to hand fight and just shoot from further back.

________________________________________

Name: Kiki Hisaha
Sex: Female
Age: 18
Quirk: None
Birthday: January 9th
Height: 5'4
Family: Guisha (Sister, in Juvy), Hona (Mom), Jeckle (Dad)
Aliases: Bubblegum, Bubble, Francy

Appearance:
Short, curly blonde hair with blue eyes and pale skin. Tucks hair under cap at work and wears brown contacts. When she is out as Bubblegum she wears a pink flower kimono with flower band over eyes, grappling hook under sash, and long katana in hand. Wears pink flats, cuffs, and lipstick.

Personality:
Bubbly and bouncy. Likes to have fun and enjoy life, always there to lift you up when you are down. Loves a good joke.

Likes:
- Candy
- Popcorn
- Giraffes
- Uraraka, ships her and Deku

Dislikes:
- Nuts
- Aizawa, he's to sketchy
- Boring situations
- Seeing her friends cry

Habits:
- Taking an extra pastry home secretly

- Butting into situations that aren't any of her business

Fears:
- The bakery getting shut down, it was her dream job before the QR
- Breaking up with Doom

Battle Style:
Graceful and traditional. She soars through the air with a graping hook or fights on ground with traditional swordsmanship, making clean cuts.

________________________________________

Lastly, but not least, the two newest editions to the team!
________________________________________

Name(s): Kiru and Siru Ocolands
Sex(s): Male
Age(s): 20
Quirk(s): None
Birthday(s): December 22nd
Height(s): 5'8
Family: Orochi (Dad), Masaru (Mom), Kochi (Brother)
Aliases: Fox

Appearance:
Twins that both have bright white hair, silver eyes, and pale skin. Kiru's hair is swept to the right and Siru's is swept to the left. Job tba. When out as Fox they both wear full white tuxedos and ties and dress shoes with white bandages around their eyes and midnight blue handcuffs.

Personality:
Lonewolves that prefer to be all, aside from each other, but always are looking for something to cure their boredom. Thoughts are almost completely alligned and this they speak in unison most of the time.

Likes:
- Watermelon
- Horses (Kiru prefers miniature horses, Siru prefers ponies though)
- Excitement, even if they don't act like it

- Video games

Dislikes:
- Pizza
- Mushrooms, but Siru does
- Comedy shows, too cliche

Habits:
- Talking in unison
- Ignoring others

Fears:
- Loosing each other
- Being trapped in a void of nothingness and bordeom

Battle Style:
They tag team their opponents using sneaky tricks and jokes to confuse their target.

________________________________________

There you go to all of you, *cough cough* guy who wanted this so badly!
JK love ya!

Next chapter WILL be a story chapter, I don't plan on making many of these none-story chapters often.

If y'all want though I could try to do a Q&A for a chapter if y'all ask the questions but I won't answer any that ask for story points and spoilers! >:/

Well then, Stay Tuned!

Chapter Text

"Two days til school starts huh?"
"Yep!"

Mikumo smiled as he made Urarakas favorite drink. "Hey," he said as he drizzled on the caramel topping, "there's a new ice cream shop that just opened." He handed her the drink and received the payment. "You wanna go celebrate?" Uraraka's face turned red.

"W- well I don't think I could afford it. I mean I can barely afford this..."
"I'll pay," offered Mikumo.
"A- are you sure!?"
"Yep! It's a day to celebrate you getting into UA right? Why should you pay?"
She smiled. "O- okay!" she agreed.
"Meet here at 11?"
"Yep!"

________________________________________

Ochako looked at herself in the mirror. She wore a pink t-shirt tucked into light blue shorts and white tennis shoes. A butterfly hairpin clipped back her right bangs and she had a little bit of mascara on.

Ochako suddenly blushed furiously and covered her face with her hands making her float.

"A d- date!? No he never said date. It's just me and him... getting ice cream... alone with him paying. Definitely not a d- date!"

She felt her stomaches turn so she lowered herself to the ground. "Alright!" she fist bumped the air. "You got this Ochako!"

The brunette walked up the sidewalk to the Soft Blossom Bakery and saw Mikumo leaning casually against the wall of the bakery.
He wore a black beanie over his hair with just enough of the bangs showing to look hot. He had a blue diamond earring in his left ear and wore a purple and blue tye-dye hoodie that read "YOU'RE MY HERO" on it and tight black jeans. And, of course, his staple red hightops.

Oh goodness he's hot! she swooned. No, not a date! Not hot! Not hot!

Honey was by his side in her green service vest.
Mikumo turned his head towards her and waved, pushing himself off the wall. Ochako waved back. "You look nice," he complemented when they reached each other. "Thanks, you too."
He grinned. "Shall we go?"
"Sure!"

The two walked side-by-side in a comfortable silence. When they arrived at the stand a tall man with bright white hair and silver eyes stood at the counter. Ochako noticed Mikumo staring at him, Honey nudging his hand. The man stared back.
"Mikumo?" she questioned.
The greenette seemed to snap out of thought. "O- oh right, sorry. What do you want Uraraka?"
"Vanilla please," she replied. Mikumo nodded and turned to the man. "One vanilla and one strawberry cone please." He passed over the money.

As they turned to leave, Ochako noticed that Mikumo's eyes seemed to longer on the man.

The two sat on a couple swings in a nearby park when Mikumo suddenly raised his cone.
"Here's to Uraraka and her getting into UA!"
Ochako laughed and raised hers as well. Mikumo turned to her and grinned widely making her heart skip a beat.

For a while the two swung back and forth, eating ice cream like they were little kids again.

They played fetch with Honey using a stick, laughing when the collie jumped on them and covered them in licks.

Mikumo took her around town. The two pointed out random things and made scenarios about them, blowing them way out of proportion and laughing at how stupid they sounded.

Ochako's face hurt from smiling and laughing so much when the sun just started to go down. Mikumo suddenly stopped.
"What's up, Mikumo?" she asked.
He looked at her. "Stay here, please." Ochako nodded and he went into a shop.

What was that all about?

Ochako shrugged and flipped open her phone. She scrolled through the photos they took today. Mikumo with ice cream on his nose, Ochako with a bird in her hair, the two making funny faces in the camera, ect.
The last one was her favorite by far though. Mikumo had slung his arm over her should and held her phone up. They smiled as he snapped the picture. The sunlight caught his blue eyes just perfectly and Ochako saw a small red tint to his cheeks. Their smiles were wide and happy.

Ochako smiled and set that picture as her background.

"Hey," Ochako jumped at Mikumo's voice. "Welcome back!" she greeted. He smiled. "Close your eyes," he said.

What? Why? "Okay?" Ochako closed her eyes. Her breath caught in her throat when he grabbed her hand and placed something in it then closed her palm.
He let go of her.
"You can open them now."

Ochako opened her brown eyes and looked to see what he had placed in her palm. She gasped. It was a silver neckless, looked like Sterling Silver, expensive, with a butterfly charm hanging from it. A gold jewel rested in it.

"M- Mikumo it's beautiful!" she exclaimed.
"It's yours." No way!
"I- this was probably so expensive!"
He shrugged. "That's ok. Turn around, I'll put it on you."

Ochako complied and held her brown hair off her neck for him. She blushed when she felt his slender fingers softly graze her neck.

"There!" he announced and Ochako let down her hair, heart pounding. She turned to him.
"It looks nice on you," Mikumo commented. Ochako blushed for the umpteenth time that day.

"T- thank you. For this. A- and for today."
Mikumo smiled that angel smile that caused Ochako's heart to skip a beat. "It's no problem. I'll walk you home."

They walked in silence in the soft orange glow of the setting sun. Ochako felt something graze her hand. She looked down just in time to see Mikumo take her hand into his and intertwine their fingers. She blushed furiously and looked up at his face but he was turned away. She saw it though, a blush that seemed to be covered by something akin to dust.
Ochako smiled softly and looked down, not letting go of his hand.

They passed by an old couple. Ochako heard them speaking. "Ah, young love. Do you remember when-"

She smiled.

"Oh, we're here," Ochako said as they stopped outside her apartment complex. Mikumo turned to her, not letting go of her hand still. Brown eyes met blue and Ochako decided that if time stopped ticking, and if the world were to stop turning, she'd be perfectly content with staring into those ocean orbs for the rest of eternity.

"I- is this ok?" asked Mikumo.
"Mhmm," she nodded.
"I- I really enjoyed today, Uraraka. And I... I really like you. If you... if you wouldn't mind, Uraraka would you be my girlfriend?"

Ochako knew her cheeks were red as she replied, "Yes."

They both smiled. Mikumo turned his head towards the sun going below the building. "I should probably head in," Ochako commented.
"Yeah," he replied letting go of her hand. "Have a good night."
"You too."

Ochako left and went to her apartment on the fifth floor. She locked the door behind herself. Ochako looked down at her hand.

She found that she missed the feeling of Mikumo's hand in hers.

________________________________________

Perhaps, in another life, they would have gone to UA together and been best friends both working their hardest to be hero's and avoiding relationships to do so.

________________________________________

Izuku entered the apartment at 6:35pm. He made his way to the men's bed room.

"Have fun, Deku?" He froze at the voice. Doom. The two had never really talked much so it was a bit strange but considering the circumstances, maybe not at all.

"I did."
"You shouldn't get close to her." Izuku narrowed his eyes. "You're putting us all in danger."

I know, thought the Izuku part of him.
I know, thought the Deku part of him.

"I'm not close to her," said Izuku, "Mikumo is." He ignored the shocked eyes of Doom as he closed the door behind him. The greenette sat on his air mattress and pulled off his beanie.

You shouldn't do this Mikumo.
"Shut up..."
Tell him Izuku, tell him.
"Shut up..."
I'm trying Deku. You need to stop Mikumo.
"Shut. Up."
Why are you doing this Mikumo?

He pressed his hands against his ears. Honey laid her head in his lap. He bent down and pressed his head into her fur.

"I- I- I'm Mikumo, not you two... I have a right to do this..."

Are you?
Do you?

Tears fell down his face as he held onto Honey.
"I don't know..."

________________________________________

"I'm not close to her, Mikumo is."

Doom sat in shock. Anima, Jester, and Bubble came out from the kitchen they were ease dropping in. "I knew it."

*BANG*

Doom slammed his fist onto the table. "We're loosing him."

He's heard of and read many stories about those who have indentity disorders. Most don't have much trouble but when they begin to dissociate between personas they loose themselves and go crazy. Add trauma like Deku's past to it and most fall into insanity.

Those eyes... we are loos-

"No we aren't!" Jesters obnoxious voice cut through Dooms thoughts. "He's still Deku, he's still our leader! Deku is still there. A- and so is his old self too, I think. Just sometimes they're gone."

"Yeah!" Bubble exclaimed. "He is still our friend. As Deku, Izuku, or Mikumo we still love him right?"

Anima nodded harshly. "Right! We wouldn't be here without Deku but in turn he wouldn't be here without us either! Think of everything we've gone through together, Deku's been supporting us through everything, we need to be there for him too!"

Jester grinned. "Right! We all have our own ways of coping and this just happens to be his. We are all still here, no one's lost."

Wow, that's probably the smartest thing Jester has ever said in his entire life.

Doom smirked. "You guys are right. Still, let's at least try to keep him in check before we get caught by his personas making a mistake."

A collective hum of agreement sounded.

________________________________________

Grimlin leaned against the wall in the hallway between the dining room and the bedrooms.

In one conversation he smiled, everyone was coming together. Supporting each other and their leader.

Well, almost everyone.

The other conversation made him sad. It was the conversation Grimlin heard between Deku and seemingly no one. But Grimlin knew better, he knew Deku was very well having a conversation with himself.
He was doing the very opposite of coming together. Deku was falling apart.

Grimlin was glad he got Honey for the greenette. He could see just how much of a positive impact the caring border collie had on the teen.

Still, Grimlin knew Deku was falling. It was a slow fall, but an inevitable one. The only thing that Grimlin could do was wait for the eventual shattering of Dekus sanity and be there to collect the pieces.

He may never be able to put them back together but he could always help the boy along the way and keep them safe.

It's the most he could do because even if Grimlin never said it, and he gave off an adult air,

Grimlin owed so much to Deku for bringing them all together and would repay him with his life if need be.

For now, he'd just listen to the quiet cracking of a glass soul.

Chapter Text

<Deku has come online>

Deku:
That was way too obvious.

<WhiteFox has come online>

WhiteFox:
So that was you.

Deku:
No duh
I understand you need to make money but at least change your appearance!

WhiteFox:
Sorry.

Deku:
Aren't you like really rich anyways?

WhiteFox:
Yeah.

...

Deku:
nevermind. just nevermind.
Anyways come to the back of the bakery tomorrow at 2, the league wants to talk.

WhiteFox:
Ok.

Deku:
In costume

WhiteFox:
Ok.

...

Deku:
no offense but you're boring to text.

WhiteFox:
We're sorry.

Deku:
it's ok just saying.
See you tomorrow.

<Deku has gone offline>

________________________________________

"Who the hell are they?" growled Shigaraki, referring to Fox.

"They are the Quirkless Rejects newest members," replied Deku. "Why? You got a problem?"

The two stared at each other in silence for a long while.

"Tsk, Kurogiri tell them the plan." Deku smirked under his mask.
"Certainly," said the mist man behind the counter. Deku pulled down his mask and sipped on a margarita as he listened. Grimlin had warned his not to drink but Deku ignored him, like always. Izuku didn't like that.

"Tomorrow we will cause a distraction and use it to warp in and get a class schedule. We will tell you guys when and where we will inflitrate but we expect it to be within the next week after retrieving the schedule."

Deku nodded. "Mind if I ask a favor?"
"What is it?"
"If you find the class with a kid named Katsuki Bakugou, choose that one."
"Why should we?" hissed Shigaraki.

"I have personal vendetta against him."

"I don't see why not," said Kurogiri. "Coolio."

The group was warped back to the back of the bakery soon after. "Okay," started Deku, "stay on standby. They'll contact us soon so we need to be ready to leave at the drop of a pin, ok?"

The all nodded. "Back to work then!"

________________________________________

"Reporters broke in." stated Aizawa.
Mikumo and the hero sat at a table in the Soft Blossom Bakery.
"What? How?"
"I don't know but it's got me on edge. Reporters shouldn't be capable of that."

Mikumo nodded in understanding. "Well, besides that, do you like your class?"

Aizawa hummed. "Mostly. I expelled one kid already, he was a major pervert. We have a mute kid, actually two. One is really strong, the other has potential. Oh and your girlfriend is there." He smirked as Mikumo blushed.

"O- oh that's good!"

"Yeah, she got the best ball throw score of infinity." Mikumo laughed. "That sounds about right!"

"Mikumo! Back to work!"

He sighed and stood up, Aizawa did the same. "Don't worry, Aizawa, I'm sure nothing will happen. UA is, like, the most protected place in Japan."

Aizawa smirked and ruffled the kids hair. "Yeah, you're right. Have fun at work Mikumo."

"You too," Mikumo said with a wink. He chuckled as Aizawa groaned and left. Mikumo went into the kitchen and put his cap back on, eyes dark.

Nothing will happen, eh?
"Shut up, Deku."

________________________________________

"Everyone get in here!" yelled Izuku. The other five in the apartment came around Izuku.

"What's up, Deku?" asked Anima.

He turned to them. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow we are infiltrating UA." A tense silence filled the room.

Izuku broke it first. "Tomorrow at 11:30 we will be warped to the underground bunker where the league and the criminals they have collected will be. At 12:05 we will warp into the Unforseen Simulation Joint when the class has gathered there.

I'll contact Fox. For the rest of tonight, spend time on your own to physically and mentally prepare yourself for this."

They all nod and leave to their own devices. Izuku turned back to the computer.

<Deku has come online>

Deku:
Get on. Now.

...

...

...

<WhiteFox has come online>

WhiteFox:
Did we do something wrong?

Deku:
No.
We are attacking UA tomorrow.
Meet at the back of the bakery tomorrow at 11:30 in costume. Wear something over it of course.

WhiteFox:
Of course.

Deku:
Don't be late.

<Deku has gone offline>

_______________________________________

Izuku sat in the bathroom, back against the tub, petting Honey mindlessly trying to calm himself. He was so conflicted.

There was a fifty-fifty chance of getting Aizawa's and Uraraka's class. A 100 percent chance of Kacchan's. A 25% chance of them all three in the same class.

He was nervous but also so excited to finally beat Kacchan with his own fists.

He took a deep breath, trying not to hyperventilate. Honey was the only thing keeping him tethered at the moment.

________________________________________

The Quirkless Rejects stood with the League of Villains and their large group in full costumes. 12:04 hit.

"You guys ready?" Deku turned to his group. They all have sharp nods. He smirked. 12:05, the warp opened and people began to disappear into it.

The Quirkless Rejects entered last.

"Let's go then."

________________________________________

"Get back! Those are villains!" Shouta turned to No. 13. "Get them out now!" Without waiting for an answer he dashed into the fray of villains. as he was battling, Shouta saw what seemed to be the main group, the leaders.

Then he saw the Quirkless Rejects further apart. They were waiting for something... something...

"Ah!" Shouta turned around quickly to see his class get swallowed by a purple mist. He looked to see the Quirkless Rejects get swallowed as well.

Deku. Deku was staring straight at him.

Shouta wanted nothing more than to run in after them but he was too wrapped up.

Dang it!

________________________________________

Ochako watched in horror as No. 13, her favorite hero, had his back turned to dust.

Why... why is this happening!?

Suddenly the purple mist from before began to fog over them. Many screamed, Ochako among those who did.
She heard "RUN IIDA!" before darkness overcame her.

________________________________________

I had him! thought Katsuki. I had him!

If only he had been a second quicker. The dang mist man's mist spread around Katsuki's class. He heard many of them scream before he was dropped in the middle of the ruins zone.

He was in a falling apart apartment complex alone. Or, at least, he thought he was.

"Kacchaaaaan..." cooed a voice. Katsuki's heart stopped.

No...

An all too familiar voice. 

Please no...

The blonde turned around to see the one person he severely wished he didn't see. Deku.

Izuku Midoriya, in his new get-up, was walking towards him from behind a crumbling wall.

"Miss me, Kacchan?"

Chapter Text

"Miss me, Kacchan?"

Katsuki froze. All of his joints seemed to lock in place, his bones like led. For the life of him, he could not get himself to move as his childhood friend, aquaitance, turned villain, strode up to him.

"Oh well don't say it all at once," Izuku, can I call him that, Deku scoffed sarcastically. Katsuki had oh so many things he had wanted to say if he ever saw Deku again but it was as though his jaw had been bolted shut, mouth as dry as a desert. Deku didn't seem to like this. Katsuki observed as the blank lenses of the sunglasses switched to those with red, angry dots.

The greenette dashed forward with incredible speed and punched Katsuki in the gut, hard. The blonde toppled over, clutching his stomach.

"Say something!" yelled Deku.
I'm sorry...
Deku spun on his heel and his left foot collided with Katsuki's jaw, metal to bone, forcing him to the ground.
"SAY SOMETHING!!!"
I'm so sorry...

The red eyed teens jaw hurt something aweful. He see's Deku's feet move to attack again but instinct finally kicked in and Katsuki rolled out of the way, a metal plates foot landing where is head had been just seconds before.

"Oh? So you can move," Deku commented. Katsuki pushed himself to his feet but said nothing. Deku stared for a second before,

"Ha. Ha! HA HA HA!" The blonde watched in confusion as Deku laughed hysterically, a laugh that was so different from the weakling's he knew before.

"I- it's you!? You're the one Aizawa said was mute!?" How the hell do you know Aizawa-sensei?
"Why'd you go mute huh? You used to have so much to say back then, didn't you Kacchan." Not a question, a verbal jab. It hit the mark.

"I know why... You're scared."

Katsuki snapped his head up and scowled. Excuse me?
"That's right," Deku took a step forwards. "You are scared that if you open that mouth of yours that it'll all come out." Another step. "How you beat me, bruised me, mocked me, burned me." Another step. He stopped inches away from Katsuki's face.

"How you suicide baited me."

Katsuki's breath caught in his throat. I'm scared?
"You're running away Kacchan. Like a coward." Katsuki felt his blood boil. I'm no coward and

"I don't run away from anyone!" Katsuki's eyes widened as his thoughts were verbalized from Deku's mouth. "That's what you were thinking right?"
The greenette stepped backwards and held his hands and arms out.

"Then fight me! Fight me Bakugou!"

Katsuki lunged. You... you of all people can't call me that! He thrusted his right arm forwards only for it to be caught by Deku and for himself to be swung over the shorter boys shoulder, landing harshly on his back.
"Tsk tsk, always with the right hook, Bakugou."
Katsuki growled and got up. He immediately sent an explosion in Deku's direction causing the greenette to dodge. When he did, Katsuki's hand was right in his face already setting off an explosion.

Deku jumped backwards. "What's got you so angry, Bakugou?" He was charred but not out of fighting energy. Shut up!
He lunged again but Deku spun out of the way and kicked him in the side, metal connecting with Katsuki's ribcage.

Kick, explosion, mock, punch, kick, explosion, jeer, punch. The two stopped multiple feet away, both panting.
"What's wrong? You tired Baku-"

"SHUT UP!" Both boys were taken back by Katsuki's sudden outburst. "Y-you can't c-call me that." Katsuki felt his voice crack from disuse over many months but he carried on.

"Y- you, you're Deku. You lo-ve heros and quirks. Y- you talk to yourself a-at a mile a min-ute. You're weak and q- quiet a-nd... and you don't call me by my na-me!" He screeched.
"I'm K- Kacchan remember!? That gosh aweful name y-you called me since we were k-kids! Where...

WHERE IS THE IZUKU I KNOW!?"

Katsuki was panting, his throat and voice raw from being used so suddenly with such force. His face hurt from the initial kick, everywhere else hurt as well. None of it, however, hurt nearly as much as his heart.

"Oh, didn't know know?" Deku started.

Katsuki looked up at him, eyes widening as the greenette pulled a golden pistol from his holster.

Suck! From this range...!

"That boy you claim to know so well,"

The charred sunglasses and mask fell from Dekus face. Two childhood friends met face to face for the first time in months. Red eyes to green. Deku's face distorted into that of a crazed man as he pointed the pistol at Katsuki. The blonde started to back up.

"You killed him, Bakugo."

Katsuki slipped.

*BANG*

________________________________________

Oh. That's right. I did.
________________________________________

Shouta lay on the ground pinned by what the villains called "Nomu." His head throbbed with an unimaginable pain and he could no longer feel the arm that the beast had crushed.

"Shigaraki," Shouta looked up, as much as he could, at the sound of a new but also very familiar voice. If his throat wasn't clogged with bile, the hero would of choked when he saw Deku, the leader of the Quirkless Rejects, walk up to the hand villain with Bokugou slug over his shoulder. He winced when the greenette dropped the blonde on the ground uncaringly.

Is he even breathing?

"Can I have a moment with Eraserhead before you warp us out?" What does he want with me. Shigaraki was it? He grumbled something that Shouta could only assume was an agreement because the blue haired man snapped his fingers and the weight of the beast disappeared.

Still, Shouta was in no condition to move as Deku waltzed up to him.

He tried his darnest to glare but could only stare in shock as the teen crouched down and Shouta was met with the face of Mikumo.
Sure the kid had green eyes and freckles now, but without the mask and sunglasses, and at this range, there was not denying it. Mikumo was Deku from the Quirkless Rejects.

"Miku-" he was cut short as his mouth was covered by Deku's hand which stiffled his breathing that was already hard to do. Luckily, Deku soon removed his palm.

"Shhhh," hushed the greenette as he tapped the back of his head. "Mikumo's back here right now."

The heck is that supposed to mean?

"You know, Mikumo is always to talk to you, I've been waiting a while to get a chance to myself."

A personality disorder?

"I *cough cough* don't remember anything in Midoriya's file stating *cough* that he had a- a personality disorder," choked out Shouta. Deku tapped his chin.
"Well when your life sucks enough that you have to escape it and go on living three different lives I guess it just does that to a man, you know?" replied Deku.

Shouta coughed harshly. "W-what do you want with me, Deku?"

A glare, one that was definitely not Mikumo's, spread across the greenette's face. "Don't think so highly of yourself when you and your students lives are at stake, Eraserhead. Quite frankly, I don't like you hero. In fact, I very much hate you. Like, a lot. If it weren't for the fact that Mikumo likes you so much I'd kill you here and now."

Shouta had to suppress a flinch.

*BOOM* The door of the USJ blew clear off followed by a "DO NOT WORRY FOR I AM HERE!"

Finally!

Deku was far less happy about the arrival of All Might, obviously.

"Well, it would seem our time here is up, but, before I go, I'll warn you of this now, Eraserhead. Talk things out with Mikumo before you do anything dirastic. If you hurt him I sware that yours and your students necks will each be individually snapped by my own hands."

Shouta glared as Deku turned to Shigaraki. "Shig! Warp us!" A warp gate opened infront of Deku.

A memory of Mikumo flashed in Shouta's mind. The kid was in his uniform, smiling happy, flour smeered across his face. 'See you tomorrow Aizawa!'

"MIKUMO!" Shouta called out. Deku turned back with a face much softer, much more like Mikumo's.

"Mikumo..." he whispered.

"I'm sorry, Aizawa..." Shouta felt his heart break as the warp gate closed. As soon as it did, the Nomu was back and it smashed the hero's face into the ground.

________________________________________

Yagi burst through the doors of the USJ. "DO NOT WORRY FOR I AM HERE!" he announced. He took a second to survey the scene. It was bad, to say the least. Young Bokugou lay in the ground bleeding, Aizawa was wounded badly.
Then Yagi saw him, Deku, the leader of the new-ish Quirkless Rejects, talking to a beaten Aizawa next to a floating purple mist.

When Yagi had seen the kid on the news he couldn't quite figure out why the name 'Deku' had sounded so familiar to him. Now, seeing him, even from far away, without his cover up, Yagi finally remembered.

________________________________________

"Can I be a hero even without a quirk?"
___

"Screw quirks. Screw you. And screw this world."
___

"Deku. Remember that name, jerk."

________________________________________

This is the same kid!? Does this make this my fault for crushing his dreams?

Yagi flinched as the kid disappeared and Aizawa's face was smashed into the ground.
No, I can't think about that now. They need me!

Yagi, as All Might, bolted forward. He quickly but carefully lifted both Aizawa and Young Bokugou and brought them to safety.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he gently laid them down. "You shouldn't have to suffer through this because of my mistakes."

Yagi dashed off to fight the villains.

________________________________________

Ochako watched in horror from the waters edge as a man, Deku of the Quirkless Rejects, that looked a lot like her boyfriend, dropped the limp body of her classmate onto the hard cement.

No... That's not him.

Ochako held tightly onto the unconscious form of Tsuyu. He had talked so casually to the villains...
Is Mikumo really...

NO! He's not! Ochako slapped her cheek. I'll ask him later, he'll tell me the truth!

*BOOM* Ochako whipped her head to the front of the USJ. "DO NOT WORRY FOR I AM HERE!"

All Might! We have a chance!

________________________________________

The Quirkless Rejects were dropped from several different warps in the underground bunker.

"All right!" chirped Bubblegum, punching a fist into the air.

"That was so much fun!" cheered Jester.

Doom smirked as they all celebrated what wasn't necessarily a victory, but a huge step forward.

All eyes and heads turned as Deku suddenly collapse to the floor, hand over his ears, mask nowhere to be seen, shaking violently. His eyes were wide, staring off into space as he mumbled something at an unintelligible speed.

The mood dropped like a rock.

________________________________________

*CRACK*

Chapter Text

BREAKING NEWS:
UA HIGHSCHOOL ATTACKED BY QUIRKLESS REJECTS AND NEW GROUP LEAGUE OF VILLAINS

"At 12:05 pm one of the first year hero courses of UA High was attacked during a rescue exercise at the Unforseen Simulation Joint by the members of the Quirkless Rejects and a new villain organization that calls themselves the League of Villains. What do you think about this recent event, Shawn?"

"Well Sherri, it would seem like many more revolts against society are forming as we speak. Stain, the Quirkless Rejects, and now this League of Villains. They all claim to seem something is wrong with modern society."

"I think I can see where they are coming from but cannot personally empathize."

"Yes, Stain claims it's corrupt, the new League claims it is oppressive, and the Quirkless Rejects claims that it is abusive. What do you think will come of this recent turn of events, Sherri?"

"I'm sure that the hero's and authorities will retaliate of some form but of which I have no clue."

"According to our sources, the Quirkless Rejects had two perviously unknown members during the attack."

"Yes. Suspicion says they are the twin son's of the Santcliff Clothing Brand's head that went missing just recently."

"Well, I can't speak for the quirkless as one with a quirk myself, but it would seem that the Quirkless Rejects have become heros of some sort to the quirkless community. Based on the stats, more are for the Quirkless Rejects then against. Even some with quirks of their own."

"Do you think that the Quirkless Rejects will grow in members."

"I believe it is highly probable."

"Well, I guess we shouldn't be preparing just for the hero retaliation but for more from those who support or are part of the Quirkless Rejects. But on to other news now."

"Yes. The puppy on 42nd..."

________________________________________

Incident Report:

Eraserhead: Major concussion, shattered arm, permanent eye damage.

No. 13: Large part of back disintegrated.

Katsuki Bakugou: Bullet wound, broken jaw, two cracked ribs.

Ochako Uraraka: Multiple knife wounds, quirk exhaustion.

Tsuyu Asui: Literally tongue tied, concussion, many knife wounds.

Eijiro Kirishima: Broken arms, three broken ribs, concussion.

Denki Kaminari:  Two bullet wounds, quirk exhaustion.

Yuga Aoyama: Quirk exhaustion, deep cut on side.

Tenya Iida: Quirk exhaustion

________________________________________

Katsuki woke up slowly to the sound of a beeping heart monitor. His vision was blurry as he opened his red eyes. The smell of antiseptic and the lull of the beeping filled the senseless void. He blinked to clear his vision and looked around as much as he could from his laying down position.

Nurse, his brain helpfully supplied.

Katsuki pushed himself up, wincing as the bandages shifted in his chest and pain shot through his shoulder. His left arm was oddly numb. Suck, that hurts...

The blonde turned his head at the sound of the door sliding open. Recovery Girl walked in with her cane and sat on her stool. "You are lucky to be alive, young man," she stated bluntly. "If that bullet had been just a little lower then you surely would have died. You also retained a broken jaw and two cracked ribs."

Oh. Right. Deku. Wait! Just a little lower? So if I hadn't of slipped... Katsuki's right hand subconsciously moved to cover his wound. Deku was trying going to kill me! He gulped audibly.

"You will notice that you more than likely can't feel your left arm," continued Recovery Girl knowing that Katsuki wouldn't talk. He nodded. "Feeling will come back but not to its original strength. The nerves had been damaged for too long before I could treat them so your left arm will be partially numb for the rest of your life."

Katsuki just nodded again. Dang it.

"You've been out for about a day but don't worry, school was cancelled for today and tomorrow is the weekend. Take this time to rest and get used to the lower feeling in your arm. Come see me as soon as school starts again." He nodded.
"Your parents will be here to pick you up soon." Recovery Girl left soon after.

Red eyes stared blankly at the white hospital sheets but they weren't really focused.
________________________________________

"You killed him, Bakugo."

________________________________________

"You're running away."
"Like a coward."
"You're scared."
"Beat me, bruised me, burned me, suicide baited me."
"SAY SOMETHING!"

"Kacchan?"

________________________________________

The blonde stopped, breath hitching. Kacchan? That's right... Deku was calling me that from the start. He switched midway through.
Katsuki wanted to laugh, cry, and scream all at the same time.
He's still there! Somewhere the real Izuku is in that mind. Katsuki slammed his fist on the table next to him.

Like hell it's going to end like this! I'll save you, Deku. I'll save you, Izuku.

The door opened again. "BAKUBRO!!!" Kirishima came waltzing in looking worse for wear. Katsuki, being Katsuki, promptly flipped him the bird.

 ____________________________________________

Shouta woke up feeling numb, body swallowing pain relievers from the IV next to him. His face was next to completely covered in bandages aside from his eyes, which, by the way, looked at the world slightly blurrier than before the USJ.
Right, the USJ. Mikumo...

________________________________________

"MIKUMO!"

...

"I'm sorry, Aizawa."

________________________________________

If Shouta could move his arm he would have punched something. Why? Why did it have to be him!? How did I not notice!?

But Shouta did notice. He did see all of the signs, all of the details and clues pointing towards Mikumo being Deku. He just chose to ignore them by will of his own selfish, irrational desires. Shouta enjoyed the kids company. He enjoyed visiting Soft Blossom Bakery and sitting at his table drinking black coffee. He enjoyed, perhaps, having a son-like figure... He just didn't want to admit that it was all part of a much bigger scheme.

Shouta looked over at the calendar hanging in the room. Two days had passed and it was now the weekend and Shouta was stuck on a hospital bed.

With his mobile arm, the man reached over and picked up his cracked phone on the bedside table. It still worked, thankfully.

<5 New Messages>

Mikumo:
Are you ok?

Mikumo:
Aizawa please answer me

Mikumo:
Aizawa I'm worried about you please reply.

Mikumo:
Anything! You don't have to ever talk to me again but please PLEASE just say something!!!

Mikumo:
I'm sorry, Aizawa... I'm so, so sorry...

Shouta sighed sadly. What am I supposed to say to that? I need to stop and be rational about this.

<Aizawa has come online>

Aizawa:
I'm okay.

<Mikumo has come online>

Mikumo:
I'm so glad! ^-^

Aizawa:
Look, kid, we need to talk.

...

...

...

Aizawa:
Seriously.

...

Mikumo:
I know.

Aizawa:
Give me a week to heal up then I'm stopping by the bakery.

...

Mikumo:
Ok.

<Aizawa has gone offline>

Shouta put his phone down. Dang it. Why can't I just be rational like I was before I met him?

________________________________________

Yagi sat in the nurses office in a hospital bed next to Young Bakugou. He was unconscious. Aizawa and No. 13 as well. Yagi looked out the window as Naomasa talked.

If only I had been faster.
If only I hadn't talked with Nedzu.

All of the "if onlys" went through his head.

If only I hadn't met Young Midoriya maybe none of this would have ever happened...

A tap on his should snapped Yagi out of his daze. The blonde turned to his old friend. "Yagi, are you okay?" asked Naomasa.

Yagi couldn't help the tears that fell from his blue, sunken eyes. Naomasa sat and held him gently with an arm around Yagi's shoulders.

"I- I'm supposed t- to be a hero! The Symbol of Peace!"

Naomasa patted his back. "Not everyone is perfect, Yagi. We are only human. Maybe this was just destined to happen. You had to tell him the truth," Naomasa was one of the few who knew about Yagi's and Young Midoriya's previous meeting. "It would have been more cruel to let him keep going even after offering the boy your quirk. You can't blame yourself for this, Yagi."

Yagi still did though.

________________________________________

Izuku sat on his air mattress in a ball rocking himself back and forth. The squeaking of the plastic filling the silence. He hadn't even changed from his costume.

"You almost killed him!"
But I didn't.
"If he hadn't have tripped you would have!"
But he tripped so I didn't.
Deku, Izuku, calm down.
"Shut up Mikumo, this is between me and Deku. I thought we agreed on not killing people."
He deserves it!
"I- I mean sure h-he made my life he-"

He killed you, Izuku. *CRACK*

"Shut up. He didn't kill me"
Didn't he thou-
Deku stop-
No. Izuku needs to hear this. Baku-
"Kacchan."
BAKUGO. Bakugou killed you.

"He didn't kill me!" *CRACK*
Think about it. Where is that same old nerd that loved heros and quirks? That cowarded around his own peers? That flinched at the slightest movement of a hand? Where is the kid who smiled and laughed at dumb hero videos?

"I'm still here!"
Are you? Do you still love heros?
"No..." *CRACK*
Do you still bow down to your old bullies?
"No." *CRACK*
Are you still weak? Can you not stand up for yourself? Do you still go to that middle school, live in that city, that apartment, wear those old clothes, laugh at the same things?"
...
"No-"
HE KILLED YOU! You may still refer to yourself as Izuku but he took the you you used to be and told you to jump off a building! The second you considered, it the old happy, still motivated you died. Your hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes, all that is gone! *CRACK*

Okay Dek-

See? You even have completely different lives! If that person isn't here anymore then tell me, Izuku. Tell me where he is.

...

"He's gone..."

Why is he gone?

...
"H- he's dead."
Who is?
...

"I- Izuku Midoriya i- is dead."
________________________________________

*CRACK*
*CRACK*
*CRACK*

*!!!SHATTER!!!*

Chapter Text

The seven members of the Quirkless Rejects stood outside the door of the boy's room, Kiru and Siru as well, all in their costumes. Anima was quietly sobbing and Jester's eyes were wet. The twins seemed as apathetic as ever.

"H- he's dead."
...
"Izuku Midoriya i-is dead."

Anima lurched forward to grab the door handle but Grimlin grabbed her arm and shook his head. The group silently made their way into the small living room and sat around the coffee table. Grimlin sighed. As the adult, or at least the oldest here, I should probably say something.

"So, from what I gathered, Deku met the guy he had asked for and almost killed him." A few nodded slightly but no one spoke. Tough crowd.
"Look guys," Grimlin continued," I know that this looks bad, and I know, we all know, that Deku isn't stable. And he may possibly be even more unstable after this. But we all saw this coming, am I right?" They all nodded. "We all choose to continue to follow him even knowing that. The leader part of him is still there, even though Deku just tried killing Izuku, which he almost, ALMOST, succeeded. However, due to the fact that memories can't die, Izuku is still there so he isn't dead. The leader and friend we all know and love is still there, we will just have to compensate for what was lost."

Silence. And then...

"But..." started Jester, "... he won't be the same anymore..."

Grimlin shook his head. "No, he won't. But none of us are the same as we were before either. We've all changed dirastically. Actually, it's probably because of Deku that we aren't breaking like him as well," Everyone lifter their heads to look at him questioningly. "Have none of you noticed? I only saw it once, but I got a glimpse of his notebook. Deku has detailed notes on every single one of us. I didn't notice it until after I saw his notes but Deku tries his darnest to bring up and remind us of everything we liked and disliked before our time in the Quirkless Rejects. He works hard to make sure we don't forget who we were before."

"Haven't we done the same for him?" asked Bubblegum.

Grimlin sadly shook his head. "Besides getting Deku Honey, not really. We all just watched." They all hung their heads again.

"But!" suddenly piped Bubble. "That fact of us still being here still remains! This is our life now, our family," they turned to look at her, "so we keep marching forward together, Deku included, and together we will succeed in our goal."

"What is our goal though?" Fox asked in unison.

"The justice of the quirkless and those who have been rejected. Our numbers will grow and we will reach our goal. But none of this would have been possible without the original Rejects so we must stick together and keep moving forward okay? Heads up!"

The group looked at each other then back at Bubble. "Right!"

________________________________________

Izuku did, in fact, change.

At the bakery, Mikumo was the same as always but he'd constantly check the front door. Deku was a little more brash and proud, like he had done something good by killing off Izuku, but he didn't change too much.

It was different at the apartment though. Sometimes Izuku was normal. He'd laugh and joke and play the guitar like any other day. But that would change rapidly. At random times, mid-sentence maybe, Izuku would just start laughing hysterically or curl up in a ball mumbling to himself, each with a faraway look in his eyes.
A member of the Quirkless Rejects would often walk in on him sitting, or standing, eyes blank, perfectly still and unreachable from the world, with this doll like smile on his face. He would seem like a puppet waiting to be used. It was... odd, to say the least.

Honey became a necessity anytime Izuku wasn't Deku, a lifeline of some sorts.

While the twins didn't really witness much of this because they lived separately, the rest of the Quirkless Rejects took this change in stride.
By now they had all witnessed or had one of their own panic attacks so they were basically pro's on calming one. When Izuku was on a laughing high one of them would put a pair of headphones on him with soft music playing. It calmed him down somehow. Whenever the greenette was found staring into space or asleep, he'd always wake up in his bed.

Izuku was different for sure, but also very much the same as before and they'd continue to support him just like he would them.

________________________________________

"Why don't we go to an amusement park?" asked Anima. They all looked up from their bowls of rice to look at her.

"Why the sudden want to go out?" Deku asked. Anima shrugged. "We need a break, something to relieve stress, you know?"

"Heck yeah!" Jester shouted, punching the air. "Watch your mouth, young man," reprimanded Grimlin. Jester stuck his tongue out at the older man.

"I think it's a great idea," said Bubblegum. "Don't you think so, babe?" Doom nodded. "I'm down." They all turned to Deku.

"Sooo....?" Anima pressed. He grinned.

"Alright," complied Deku. "Tomorrow we'll go to the amusement park!"

________________________________________

Izuku stroked Honey after putting on her vest and collar. He pulled on his beanie. "You ready girl?" She barked happily. "Ha ha, let's go then!"

All of the Quirkless Rejects, aside from the twins, had their bakery disguises on. Colored contacts, make up, hats, ect. They were going to Universal Studios Japan today.

Mikumo:

I won't be at the bakery today.

Aizawa:
Should you really be telling a pro hero when you are going hero hunting?

Mikumo:
I'm not! That's Dekus job!

...

Aizawa:
Right.
So what are you doing then?

Mikumo:
We are going to an amusement park to destress.

Aizawa:
Okay but tomorrow I'm stopping by the bakery after school. Be there.

Mikumo:
Okay! See you then!

He and Aizawa were on the border with each other but Mikumo was just shoot he still replied to his messages.

"You coming, Mikumo!?" he heard Himiki, Anima, call. The greenette smiled. His friends always knew when to call him Mikumo, when he was present and not Deku or Izuku. They called him as such and in turn, he called them by their bakery names. It helped separate himself from the other two.

"Coming!" Mikumo replied as he and Honey left the room. The six made their way to the subway station chatting about random topics.
Mikumo watches as Yul, Doom, casually put his arm around Francy, Bubble, and how she leaned into him.
Maybe I should have brought Uraraka? But she hasn't been responding to my messages. I hope she is ok.

The group entered the park. "What should we do first?" he asked. Triston, Jester, turned to him with a sly grin, pointing at the teacups. "Six obviously above average in strength people spinning cups that are already spinning at a semi high speed."

Everyone grinned and got in line.

Three to a cup, the two cups began to spin. They got faster, and faster, and faster. So fast until the ride operator was yelling at them to stop over the intercoms.

Let's just say that they weren't allowed on the teacups again.

"Ooooh!" cooed Francy. "That'll be fun!" She pointed at a large rollercoaster.
"I've never been on one before," commented Mikumo. Five heads turned to stare at the greenette. "What? Mom was always gone and we didn't have the money to go."

Yul pushed Mikumo into the front lane.    "Wha-" "Don't worry," said Doom. "You'll like this."

Mikumo sighed and accepted his fate. Honey sat by the ride operator while they road.

They boarded the ride. Seems harmless enou- "AHHHH!" Mikumo screamed as he held onto his hat. What the hell is this!? It dives and takes sharp turns, looping multiple times.

Turns out Mikumo is susceptible to motion sickness.

He and Hisou, Grimlin, sat on a park bench. Well, more like hung off one.
"I'm too old for this..." groaned Hisou.
Mikumo only grumbled in reply.

Triston was laughing in the background. "Alright," spoke Himiki, "lets not do you many of those then." She sounded like she was trying not to laugh as well.

For the rest of the day, up until the evening, the group road a few more rides, played the park games, and ate junk food that probably wasn't the best for them. They laughed and chatted and smiled till their faces hurt.
This is nice, thought Mikumo.

The group boarded the subway heading back to their city still laughing over a picture of Mikumo's face on a ride.

Mikumo eventually nodded off against Himiki's shoulder.

________________________________________

Shouta sighed and rolled his eyes as a group of teenagers got on the subway. They weren't too loud per say, but the man already had a headache and he certainly didn't need the added noise. He had only just gotten his bandages off today and lowered the pain pill dosage.

Shouta was about to go over and tell them to shut up when he looked over and saw him. Mikumo, asleep, on a girl with a black bun's shoulder. His friends from the bakery were still talking but at a lower level. Honey sat faithfully by the greenette's feet. At first, Shouta had wondered why the boy needed a service dog, especially after Mikumo avoided the question, but after the recent turn of events, it was kind of obvious.

Shouta smiled softly. Mikumo had a small smiley face painted in his cheek, a pair of those fake sunglasses with the plastic lines on them sliding off his face, and one of those fake bead necklaces around his neck.

He looked so... peaceful.

Shouta looked at the boy that he had come to think of as a son. What the hell am I supposed to do?

________________________________________

Izuku woke up on his air mattress. He remembered waking up, walking back to the apartment, and crashing as soon as his face hit the pillow. His stomache grumbled loudly. Alright, I see how it is.

Izuku quietly made his way to the kitchen. Night had fallen and it was pretty late. He read somewhere that you shouldn't eat at night or that if you sleep right after you eat you'll gain weight faster. He honestly couldn't care less at the moment.

As the rice heated in the microwave, Izuku went over to the window and opened it. He smiled as the cool night air hit his face. Something, or someone, walking further down the street coming in his direction, caught Izuku's attention.

It wasn't hard to recognize the person as the son of Endeavor as the hero was very popular. Shoto Todoroki was walking down the sidewalk, illuminated by the lampposts

You know... thought Izuku. He felt Deku grin.

That's not a bad idea, Izuku.
________________________________________

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

A bowl of rice sat in a microwave unopened as it beeped in a silent apartment.

Chapter Text

Shoto sighed, exasperated, as he walked down the streets at night. Endeavor had kicked him out for being "ungrateful", and told the bicolored teen that he should find "a new place to sleep for the night" if he was going to be this way. Jerk. What if I never came back huh? Your prized doll just off and left?
Shoto inwardly chuckled to himself. Outwards he was just as apathetic as he always was.
Even if he did leave, Shoto would have hell to pay when he was inevitably found. It was just wishful thinking.

Shoto passed by an alley way when something suddenly grabbed his forearm. Before he even had the chance to shout out, a hand was over his mouth and he was pulled into the darkness. WHAT THE HELL!?

Shoto started to form ice in his hand when the unidentified figure leapt backwards. "Wait," it said. "Wait, wait ,wait." Shoto glared at the man. When his eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness of the alley, Shoto was met with the face of none other than Izuku Midoriya. He was well known for being the kid that ran away and started the infamous Quirkless Rejects.

I guess they really did find his mask at the USJ, thought Shoto because this teen obviously was uncovered. That little smilely face on the teens cheek was very creepy considering the time of night and the fact that this boy, who was probably Shoto's age, was a villain.

"Why should I?" growled Shoto. "If anything, I should turn you in, Midoriya."

The greenette put his left hand up, the other one on his forehead. "Stop right there. Don't call me that. I'm Deku, Izuku isn't here."

"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Take that as you'd like to," shrugged Midoriya. "I didn't drag you here to talk about me though. I wanna talk about you." Shoto narrowed his eyes but otherwise showed no emotion, like usual.

"I was curious," continued Midoriya, leaning on the buildings walls, "as to what the life of a child of the number two hero is like."

"Why would I tell you?"

Midoriya shrugged again. "I mean, it can't be easy. How did you get that scar? Did Endeavor do that?"

"No-" he was cut off.

"Does he beat you? Hurt you? Burn and bruise you?" Shoto froze. What? How...

"How does he know this?" His eyes widened. "That's what you were thinking, right?" Midoriya pushed himself off the wall and placed a hand on his own chest. He grinned.

"How? Because I'm the same!" Ha? "Beat by my mom, bullied by my peers, mocked for the one thing that made me different. It sucks right?"

Shoto scowled. "Don't compare me to you, villain." Midoriya's eye twitched. "Then how much are we different? Please, enlighten me."

And that's just what Shoto did. If you were to ask the bicolored male why he told a total stranger about the quirk marrige, the story of his scar, the "training" that he received from his legal guardian, Shoto honestly couldn't tell you. He couldn't give an answer as to why he told this... this villain why he didn't use his fire, something that could be used against him. Maybe it was that the two did, in fact, have many similarities in their pasts or because he just need to get it off his chest. It felt good to tell someone.

"If you could change it, would you?" Shoto stared at the greenette, not expecting a question that mirrored his own wishes. Midoriya smirked.
"The past can't be changed, Todo, but the future can. You could have the suckiest past but if you let that hold you back, you'll never reach you full potential. Honestly, listening to you sickens me. Here you are complaining about this powerful quirk you've got that could help you, and almost guarantee you a spot as one of the top heros when I never even got a quirk in the first place and have had to deal with that and the junk that comes with being quirkless. But I can sympathize. So, instead of wallowing in your self-pity, why don't you challenge fate? Make your own destiny?"

Shoto scoffed. "Not possible, Midor-" "Deku." "Not possible, Deku. Endeavor would beat the living heck out of me if I went against him."

Midoriya seemed to think for a second. "Then do something that he'd literally have to disown you for."
"Like what?"
"I don't know, maybe joining one of the most wanted villain organizations."
Shoto's eyes widened. "You don't mean-"

Midoriya smiled. "Join us, Todoroki."

Shoto stared at the teen, shocked. "I'm not quirkless," he said in the same monotonous voice that never showed his true emotion.

"Well no," started Midoriya, "but you have been rejected for your quirk, right?"

Shoto thought for a moment. Have I really? I mean, isn't this quirk the reason Endeavor pays so much attention to me?

Midoriya continued. "You've been rejected in the worst way too, Todo. You've been rejected as a son." Shoto felt his heart squeeze. "If it weren't for that quirk of yours, your mother wouldn't have rejected you, would she have? Your father wouldn't treat you as a tool, would he? So, just as the Quirkless Rejects have been rejected for their lack of a quirk, you were rejected for yours."

He's right. He's right! It's all because of this dang quirk!

"So, Todoroki, I'll say it again. Join us. Use that fire that your father has caused you to loath and use it against him and the hero society that has failed you and left you in the dark."

Shoto didn't know what to say when he was presented with something so... so luring. A chance to escape. What should I do?

Midoriya stepped forwards and placed a hand on Shoto's shoulder. "You don't have to decided now, Todo." He walked to the alleyway entrance. The greenette turned back to Shoto at the end.

"The sports festival is coming up, right?" Shoto nodded. "If you truly want to escape your father's tyranny and leave behind the role of being a tool, prove it. Make a scene at the sports festival. Something big to let the world know what they've done and to show where you stand in life. Disown your father and the path of a hero. Then meet me here that night." He left, final words echoing in the cold night air.

"I'll be waiting, son of Endeavor."

________________________________________

Mikumo was nervous, very nervous. And oh so very tired. Dang Deku just had to go and poke the rod at Todoroki last night after an already long day at the amusement park. Sure their consciousnesses were different but they still used the same body dang it!

So now here he was, sleepily making coffee for customers at the Soft Blossom Bakery while all his nerves and sense were firing off waiting for Aizawa. The smiley face on his cheek definitely did not show his true mood.

*Ding Ding* "Hey, kid." Mikumo's head whipped around to the voice of Aizawa. Mikumo's breath caught in his throat. "One black coffee," ordered the man. Mikumo silently made the beverage and recurved the payment.

"Come see me on your break," Aizawa said, commanded, before retiring to his usual spot by the window.

He's so cold... Mikumo wanted to cry. He feels so far away...

________________________________________

Shouta watched as Mikumo sat at the table, no sweets or strawberries with him. The boy just looked at his lap. The painted yellow smiley face seemed to mock at the boys pitiful demeanor. It did not do justice to the way Mikumo hung his head. He looked as though he was about to cry.

Why? What on Earth could have caused someone like this turn to villainy? How can I fix this? What happened to being rational?

Questions shuffled through Shouta's mind. He sighed audibly but kept his voice low so that others around them couldn't hear their conversation.
"So, Mikumo, or should I say Deku?" His words might as well have been a whip with how hard the boy flinched. It hurt to see that. Why?

"Don't..." whispered Mikumo. "Don't call me that... I- I'm not Deku." Shouta narrowed his eyes. "Right, something about a personality or an identity disorder." The greenette shook his head. "No. If that's true then... then that would mean I'm not real."

"Do you believe you are real?" questioned Shouta.

"Of course!" snapped Mikumo. "I am NOT Deku nor Izuku. I have my own hopes, dreams, feelings. I am real!"

"Miku-"

"See, you even call me by MY name!" Shouta sighed. "You being real or not isn't what is truly important here," said Shouta. "The fact that you, or Deku, is a villain is what is important here."

The kid nodded. "It's not their fault..." Shouta raised one eyebrow. "Oh? How so? How is all the damage they have caused not their fault? How-"

"He had no choice!" Mikumo suddenly shouted at a volume louder than necessary. He quickly quieted his voice.

"I- Izuku's life sucked. He was abused by his mom," What? ", abandoned by his father," Excuse me? ", and bullied everyday for not having a quirk. Even his favorite hero told him to give up on his dreams. He couldn't just stay there! He had to escape!"

"So why didn't Midoriya just go to the authorities?"

"He tried. But no one listens to the quirkless kid." Shouta could almost see Deku slipping in. "The world's so corrupt over power that they turn their heads at the pain of the weak. The world is jacked."

Shouta want to just bang his head in the table be stopped himself. "You're going to report us, aren't you?" asked Mikumo.
"I have to."
"Or you could join the Quirkless Rejects."

Shouta looked at the kid, shocked. "What?" The kid shrugged. "You practically fight quirkless. All you do is make others quirkless, kind of a befitting quirk if any should be for the QR's cause."

"That is completely unreasonable, kid," deadpanned Shouta. Mikumo looked away again. "I know. I guess it's just wishful thinking. Wishful thinking to think I was real,"

Wait. ", to think I had a future,"

Stop.", to think I could have a father figure in my life." Shouta choked because he knew he felt the same about the greenette. It was why he was having such a hard time with this.

"Am I fake to you, Aizawa?"

His eyes widened. The question shook Shouta to his core.
"We're all of our conversations fake? Did you lie to me everytime you spoke?"

No! "We're all our laughs and smiles false?" The kid was starting to ramble, not even really talking to Shouta anymore. "Have you been laughing at me behind my back!? Waiting to watch me fall!?"

No! Tears fell from Mikumo's eyes. Honey was whining and pawing at her owner.

"You've been mocking me! I bet you wish you could take it all back!" Shouta lurched forward, chair falling to the ground.

"None of this should of happened!

I SHOULD HAVE JUMPED OFF THAT ROOF WHERE YOU FOUND ME!"

Shouta fell to his knees infront of the crying teenager and incased him in a tight hug. People were watching, he knew they were, but he didn't care.

"No Mikumo..." he whispered. "You're not fake. I've never once thought that. Every laugh and smile was real. I have never laughed at you and never will." Shouta felt the kids body shake.

"You are not fake, not to me. I've only thought of you like a son." Shouta heard the boys breath hitch. The kid looked up at Shouta, one of his contacts had shifted, blue and green overlapping.

"R- really?"

Shouta nodded. "Really. If you had papers I would even consider adopting you." He didn't think it possible but more tears fell from Mikumo's eyes.

"You don't have a last name, do you?" Mikumo shook his head. He wiped his eyes, readjusting the contact back in place.

"Well," said Shouta, "if you want, you can add the last name Aizawa to the end of yours." The kid stared at him.

"M- Mikumo Aizawa?"

"Mikumo Aizawa."

"C- could I call you..."

"You can call me dad if you want to," Shouta answered the unfinished question. Mikumo suddenly lurched forward and hugged Shouta tightly. Shouta hugged him back with just as much force.

"I may not be much to Deku or Izuku," he whispered lowly, "but I'll help out the QR as much as I can. I'll do it under the table while still working as a hero on the surface. How does that sound?" Mikumo nodded his head against the man's shoulder.

"Thank you, D- Dad." Shouta felt his heart swell. He pat the kid on the head before straightening his chair and sitting down on the otherside of the table again.

"Triston!" he called over the boy. "Can you get me another black coffee and then a strawberry tart and strawberry banana smoothie for Mikumo."

Triston seemed pleased with what just took place, rightfully so. Shouta recognized all of them as Quirkless Rejects members after the USJ.

"Sure thing, Ai!" said Triston, using the nickname he had given Shouta.

Shouta and Mikumo spent a lot of time just chatting like usual. Without even realizing it, the sun had began to go down and it was time to close.

________________________________________

Shouta made his way to his home from Soft Blossom Bakery. He yawned. I don't think I'm on call tonight...

He laid on his bed and his tuxedo cat, Shepard, curled up beside him. Shouta read his messages.

Mikumo:
Thanks for today!
Have a good night!

Aizawa:
You too.

Shouta plugged in his phone and laid it down on his beside table. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm being completely irrational aren't I?"

"ME-OW!"

________________________________________

Deku sat at Soft Blossom Bakery on Mikumo's break staring at the cracked computer screen. He was trying to figure out how to word his next blog on Quirkless Pals. Deku might not post nearly as often as before, but he does try to blog at least twice a month. October had come and Deku had an idea. Actually, it was Izuku's, surprisingly. He smirked and started typing.

DEKU DAYS!
-October 5th, 2020

Hey friends! By now a lot of you have more than likely guessed who I am so thanks for not spilling the tea. Before I get into this blog it's time for the staple in my blogs. It's random fact time!

Did you know that there is a rare genetic trait that allows those with it to make sound with heir own ears? Cool right!?

So, yes. I am Deku of the Quirkless Rejects and this blog is just a little different from the usual mundane ones.

This one is a call to arms. >:)

Friends, we invite you to join the fight against injustice on the quirkless. Join us on the Kyota Bridge on October 31st, Halloween night, 10 pm. Come, not only those without quirks, but those who have been rejected because of their quirks!

We accept those who have be rejected by society! ^-^

Those who want to join the QR will be welcomed. But, be warned. If you show up on that bridge, you will never be able to return to your old life and your old home. Wear masks and cover ups because, heck, it's Halloween!

Make Quirkless Rejects posters as well for traffic driving by to see, to let them know that we are growing. That we aren't backing down just yet. No. That we aren't backing down EVER!

Take your stand against society, friends!

-DEKU

Deku hit post and leaned back in his chair. "Mikumo!" He almost got whiplash by how fast Mikumo switched in at the sound of Uraraka's voice.

"Uraraka, what's up?" She smiled but it looked... off. Oh. "Do you want to go on a walk with me?" the brunette asked. Oh. He looked over at Hisou who waved him off. "Sure," Mikumo replied. He hung up his apron but, of course, kept his black cap on. The two left the bakery. He looked over at Uraraka's contrite expression.

Oh.

________________________________________

Ochako walked beside her boyfriend in silence. It was tense, like they both knew what was coming. And maybe they did.
"How are you feeling after... you know... the attack?" asked Mikumo. She hummed uncommitted. "I'm ok." Silence again. Ochako inwardly sighed. I've got to do this.

"Mikumo, I- I saw Deku there," she said.
"Deku of the Quirkless Rejects?"
"Yeah..."

She took a deep breath.

"Mikumo... what is your quirk? He stopped and turned to her. "Let's stop somewhere, Uraraka."

The two sat in the swings at the park they ate ice cream at in their first date. "You're a smart girl, Uraraka. What do you think my quirk is?"
Ochako looked over at her boyfriend. He wasn't facing towards her but she could see his eyes looking at her.
"Y-you don't have one, do you?"
"No. I don't. So ask me the question that you meant to ask first."
She nodded, tense. "Mikumo, are you Deku?" Ochako held her breath.

...

"No." Phew! I knew it- "But I share a body with him." What!? "You probably find that very confusing."
Ochako nodded. "I do, so explain it to me." He sighed. Loudly.

"So, as I'm sure you've heard, Izuku Midoriya is Deku." She nodded. "But I, too, am Deku. But we are also not each other." Now that's just a whole lot of confusing! "Izuku had a lot of past trauma so he ran away. At first, Deku was just the name he used for the public when he went out as leader of the Quirkless Rejects. I, Mikumo, was made for a public cover up in the bakery. Actually, the whole bakery is a cover up." Excuse me!? "But as time went on, I guess you could sort of say an identity disorder formed. It started as a personality disorder but transformed into this. Now we each have 'separate' consciousnesses, likes, dislike, the whole shibang. So, in a sense, we are three different people who live in the same body."

Ochako was having a hard time wrapping her head around this. "I- I don't know wha-"

"I understand if you want to break up..."

Ochako whipped her head to Mikumo. "N- NO! I just don't know what to do, with this information, you know?" Mikumo looked up at the sky. "I won't ask you to join us," he said. "I think that what you are trying to do for your parents is very admirable."

"T- thank you," whispered Ochako. She closed her eyes to think. They stayed like this for a while. Ochako knew Mikumo was giving her time and she really appreciated that gentlemanly side of him. She finally opened them and took a deep breath.

"I... I don't want to break up." He looked at Ochako. "But, I don't want to be part of the Quirkless Rejects either. I will keep training to be a hero and, if you are okay with it, I'd like to continue being your girlfriend."

"Of course!" Mikumo blurted out. She smiled. "But you can't end up in jail, drag me, or my family or friends into this, and you can't talk about the QR, Deku, or Izuku around me. Okay?"

Mikumo nodded eagerly. "Yes ma'am!" Honey barked loudly and jumped on her.
Ochako laughed. "Ha ha! Honey!"

Yeah, this is ok.

I hope.

________________________________________

Doom walked up to the apartment door after taking out the trash. There was a box for "Mikumo Aizawa" infront of it. Doom grimmenced. Sure, Doom was glad to have a hero on their side, it was great fighting and informative power. But he wasn't sure about how reliable it was or about how he felt on 'Mikumo' being 'adopted' by Pro Hero Eraserhead.

He picked it up and entered the apartment, closing the door behind him. "Deku, your new mask and sunglasses arrived!" No response. Doom sighed when he walked in on Deku staring blankly at an open laptop at the table. He put the box on the table and waved a hand infront of Deku's face. The greenette didn't respond.

"Guess he's out," commented Doom to himself knowing that Deku wouldn't, couldn't(?), hear.

Doom glanced down at the lit computer screen. Deku had informed them of what he had posted and what the plan was. His eyes widened as it was opened to the comments on Deku's most recent blog.

QUEEN!:
Heck yeah!

PurpleTree:
Def gonna be there.

EmotionalBaggage:
Gotta stand up for ourselves you know?

PurpleTree:
hundred percent.

Insomniac:
So I actually have a quirk but am "rejected" and bullied for it. Is that ok?

Turtles:
Sure dude. You heard Deku right? we rejects got to stick together man.

BrokenWings:
Cool cause I got one do but everyone calls it a "default" and makes fun of me for it. Wish I didn't have one at all!

Insomniac:
Ok. Thanks. See you there.

QUEEN!:
Those who say I'm weak for being quirkless are wrong! I'm a whole hecking QUEEN jerks!

PurpleTree:
hundred percent

There were many more as well. Doom read in shock, scrolling down to read the rest. "Well dang," he said aloud. Doom closed the laptop and did what anyone does when they see Deku like this.

He grunted when he picked up Deku bridal style. He carried the worlddead boy to his bed in the boys room. Doom laid Deku down and gently closed his emerald eyes. It was so... so... disturbing to do that. It was almost like when you closed the eyes of someone you found dead.

Not far from, he thought grimmly.

After pulling the covers over Deku, Doom left and went into the bathroom to change into his costume.Those who go out always take the trash out first so the security cameras have "evidence" of the resident being home. Kind of like an alibi.

He exitted the bathroom and went into the living room. "Yuuta," he heard his girlfriend say softly as she got up from the couch. "Kiki," he responded. The blonde walked up to him. She placed her hands on his chest and leaned in, looking up at him. He bent down and kissed her.

They disconnected. "Come home safely, Yuuta." He kissed her again. "I will." He crouched down by her slightly rounded belly. "Daddy will be back soon." He smiled and left through the window.

Chapter Text

Kurogiri sighed inwardly. The Quirkless Rejects were at the bar, again. Well, five of them were. Deku, Grimlin, Jester, and the Fox twins. Tomura and Jester, who had a strange bond over video games, were in what Kurogiri had deemed the "tantrum corner" playing games.

Fox were over at one end of the bar drawing. Each drew something, passed it, and the other twin added to it. This had been going on for a while. They were pretty good at clothing design.

Grimlin sat closer up the bar drinking. Deku was also at the bar, which would be all fine and dandy if it weren't for the fact that he, too, was drinking. Kurogiri spends a lot of time observing people and could tell that Grimlin wasn't too fond of his leader taking part in this practice.

"Say, Giri," piped Deku. "Hmm?"
"The League of Villains haven't done much recently, have you?" A gaming controller flew across the room. Kurogiri caught it in a warp gate, as he does more often than he'd care to admit, and deposited it back in Tomura's lap.

"No, we haven't," replied Kurogiri. "Why do you ask, Deku?"
"Well, the UA Sports Festival is coming up. We are expecting a little something something to happen and we could use the League's help." Kurogiri watched as Tomura got up and walked over to the greenette. He was surprised that the teen didn't flinch as Tomura wrapped his hand around Deku's neck, keeping his middle finger lifter. Childish. "Why would we help you, Rejects?" he mocked in his scratchy voice.

"Tomura, let us at least hear what Deku has to say first." Everyone was watching, tense. Waiting to pounce if need be to defend their leader. "Tsk," Tomura let go and sat on a bar stool.

"The Quirkless Rejects are about to expand in size exponentially," stated Deku, "and we need a stage to let the world know that." Ah. They want me to warp them. It was usually what people wanted when they asked a favor.
"So you need us to get you inside of the stadium, am I right?" questioned Kurogiri. Deku nodded, confirming his suspicions.

"As well as get out." Deku slid a button and a small screen across the bar to Tomura, smart to give it to what the League recognized as their 'leader.' "The button is for the Quirkless Rejects. The screen is for the League of Villains. Each of our group will wear a wristband that, when that button is pressed, will send each of our cordinates to be displayed on that screen. At that point, Kurogiri, you will need to warp us out."

Tomura glared at Deku. "What does the League of Villains get out of this?"

"Publicity," replied Deku, calmly. Kurogiri knew that Deku was well aware of how riled up Tomura was about not getting much coverage. To be fair, we haven't really done anything since the UA attack. "You can make as much of a ruckus as you want within the stadium, or outside of it if you so wish. Not only will you for sure get on the news and live broadcasting, the League of Villains and the Quirkless Rejects will inevitably be associated with each other after their second time attacking together. Having your organization known for being affiliated with a more well known 'villain organization' such as the Quirkless Rejects will be a sure fire way of getting more publicity and focus on you guys."

It made sense. Kurogiri knew that Tomura would take the bait, this was just up his alley. He also knew that Deku was no idiot and knew exactly what he was doing. He was pulling Tomura's strings.

Tomura grinned. Expertly pulling them. "Fine, reject, you got yourself a deal."
Deku's sunglasses showed the happy screens. "Pleasure doing business with you. As soon as that 'something' happens, you will know. That's when we need to be warped in."

________________________________________

Before Deku stepped into the warp gate to leave the bar, he leaned over the bar to Kurogiri and whispered, "When we are warped in, place me right in front of whoever is on the second place podium." He left without another word.

Deku of the Quirkless Rejects, thought Kurogiri as he closed the gate. What a truly terrifying man you are.

________________________________________

Giran sat on his sofa in his office. He was looking at a dark green envelope with the white "QR" insignia on it. Inside held the next request order from the Quirkless Rejects.
Giran owned the envelope and pulled out a blank piece of paper. He pulled over a blacklight and shown it on the paper to reveal the words, a common practice in his line of work. His eyes widened as he read the words.

G, we need several large ground shakers (aka explosives) that can be screened (set off) over the lines (a far distance).

- QR

While Giran didn't know what they were needed for, he was absolutely excited. He knew that, after their first request of meeting Stain, working with the Quirkless Rejects was going to be a fun partnership. They're great for business, that's for sure.

Giran knew that the Quirkless Rejects would pay most any price he set for whatever they requested, but due to them being high on his priority list, he didn't scam them. Not that much anyways. They were almost reaching the level that the Yakuza were at on his list. In fact, he was surprised that Deku hasn't asked about them yet.

He might soon as the Yakuza are starting to move again, thought Giran.

Giran smirked and dialed his weapons dealer from the dark undersociety.

________________________________________

"You are leaving the Quirkless Rejects?" asked a stunned Izuku. No, how, what!?
Bubblegum shook her head. "Not forever. It's just m-me and Doom, well, we are..." she trailed off.
"You're what?" Izuku asked with a little more mence than he had intended to put behind his tone.
"We are pregnant," Doom stated boldly.

Eh?????

Everyone stared at the couple. Jester, being the immature kid he is, asked, "Where and when did you even find the time to do that?" Bubble blushed furiously and Grimlin whapped the ginger upside his head.
"We will leave New Year's Day," continued Doom. Ironic... "Until our baby is born and maybe a year or two after that. That is how long we will most likely be gone."

Dang it, thought Izuku, I can't get mad at that. So he smiled the best that he could. "Well congratulations first off! We understand completely. May I ask will you will stay? You are outlaws after all."

Bubble finally recovered enough to reply. "In the apartment building over. We already have fake ID's from Giran and with our jobs and Acebook accounts we will seem legit enough to look as normal people without much suspicion." Izuku nodded. "We also want you all to be part of our child's life," she finished quietly.

"Awwwww!" cooed Animation. "We will be godparents!!!"

They spent a good half hour talking, thinking of both girl and boy names and other baby stuff. At some point they all left to their own devices, leaving Izuku in the living room alone.

He tried. He tried oh so hard. But as the silence lulled on, it felt so suffocating. Izuku couldn't help it when his arms wrapped around himself, his brain short circuited, and he doubled over laughing hysterically. Tears filled his wide, emerald eyes but didn't fall.
At some point a pair of headphones with a soft tune were put over his ears and Izuku blacked out. He woke up in his bed again.

________________________________________

<Mikumo has come online>

Mikumo:
Are you at home?

<Aizawa has come online>

Aizawa:
Yes.
Why?

Mikumo:
Can I come over?
If it's ok with you of course.

-Shouta's eyes widened. Can't say I was expecting that.-

Aizawa:
Sure kid.
<address attachment>

Mikumo:
Thanks! See you soon! ^-^

<Mikumo has gone offline>

Shouta was sitting on his leather couch when the soft rapping of a knock on his front door sounded. He got up and opened it. Mikumo and Honey stood infront of him.
"Hi Dad!" the boy said cheerfully. Shouta smiled softly and ruffled the kids hair. "Hey kid."

Shouta stepped out of the way and gestured for Mikumo to come in. The greenette took off his staple red hightops and looked around. "Wow! This is so fancy and big!" he exclaimed.
"Is it?"
"Yeah, a lot bigger than our apartment." Shouta closed the door and sat down on his couch again. Shepard came walking from down the hallway.

"Is that your cat?" asked Mikumo. Shouta hummed. "Yeah, Shepard." The cat took one look at Honey and bolted. Mikumo chuckled before he walked over and sat on the couch.

Shouta narrowed his eyes slightly. He's tense.

"What's wrong, kid?" he inquired. Mikumo was silent for a second as he just pet Honey. "Deku met your student." Shouta raised his eyebrow.
"Which one?"
"Todoroki."
"Okay?"
"H- he offered Todoroki a spot on the QR."
Shouta choked.

"He did what and why?" Mikumo looked away. "Todoroki has a hard past too and Deku thought it was a good reason for him to join. I just thought that I should warn you he may or may not do something at the Sports Festival. Oh, also, we are attacking the arena."

Shouta sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Well, thanks for telling me, but why are you telling me this? Nevermind, that was a dumb question. What are you asking me to do?"

Mikumo looked up at him, finally. "I want you to help evacuate everyone." What?
"Isn't that the opposite of what you should want?" asked Shouta. Mikumo shook his head. "No, that's the opposite of what Deku wants," he said. "Its inevitable that there will be injuries but I personally would like them to be few and far between."

Shouta nodded. Right, sometimes it's hard to remember the separation. "Just don't go after Todoroki," Mikumo finished. Shouta sighed, again, but nodded. "Okay."

Mikumo was still tense though. "That's not all, is it kid?"

Shouta didn't expect tears to fill his sons blue eyes. "Mikumo?" The greenette looked away again, tightly holding on to Honeys vest. Shouta did the only thing he could think of, he scooted closer and wrapped one arm around the boy, pulling him to his chest.

"Mikumo," he whispered, "what's wrong?"

"Y-Yul and Francy are l-leaving," the teen choked out. What? "Francy i-is pregnant s-so they said t-that they are l-leaving for two y-years," he sobbed.

Shouta hugged the boy tightly. He really didn't know how to deal with these kind of things yet but Shouta figured that he should probably learn soon.

"It'll be okay, Mikumo?" is all he could manage. For now, I'll just be here to lend an ear. So Shouta did.

Mikumo ended up sleeping over. It was nice. They had dinner together and watched a movie. Shouta noticed a sudden weight on his shoulder, Mikumo had fallen asleep. Shouta smiled softly and gently laid the kid down. He pillow under Mikumo's head and pulled a blanket over him. After turning off the TV, Shouta went to his own room.

Shepard curled up on the hero's bed and Shouta left for his nightly hero rounds.

________________________________________

Kyota Bridge, October 31st, Halloween Night, 9:50pm.

The eight members of the Quirkless Rejects stood on Kyota Bridge in full costume watching traffic go by.

9:58pm

Deku smirked. "Look," he said. Out of the darkness, a few people were walking towards them with masks on. Some held signs.

10:05pm

Deku looked around at the multitude of new people with masks and signs that read something along the lines of "QUIRKLESS REJECTS", "VIVA LA QUIRKLESS", and "SCREW QUIRKS."
Deku grinned under his mask, sunglasses showing happy.

"Welcome, friends, to the revolution."

Chapter Text

"Welcome, friends, to the revolution."

Deku looked around. Those that had gathered were whispering to each other excitedly. "Great turn up," commented Fox in unison. Deku gave a slight nod before jumping into the rail of the bridge and turning to address the crowd.

"All those without quirks, raise your hands," he commanded. The majority did. "Ok, now all those quirked, raise your hands." Only a few did. Deku looked down. He took a deep breath before snapping it up and yelling,

"PUT THOSE DANG HANDS DOWN!"

Every hand went down quickly, those infront of him, people clearly shocked.
"That, my friends, is what we call segregation. Right here, right now, quirked or quirkless doesn't matter. What matters is the justice to be served for all of us that have been rejected because of being either quirked or quirkless!"

"YEAH!" the crowd roared.

Deku cleared his throat and continued. "Now on to stricter matters. As I told you all in the blog, coming here meant leaving home. Forever." It got tense. A hand went up. "Where will we all stay?" asked a boy with a full-face cat mask on.
"Good question. We have housing in a warehouse near here. All of you will either get fake ID's and receive an alternate identity to take on a low profile job or work in the dark undersociety to pay rent."

"What is the dark undersociety?" came an adult voice.

"That is the place where all the under the table illegal work such as weapon selling and drug gang activity happens out of view from the heros and police. It is a very dangerous network. There are also other risky options such as fight clubs, that are also illegal but pay well of you win."

The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves. Deku clapped his hands together loudly, successfully gaining the attention of every person. "Now, who is up for scaring the passerbys on this bridge?"

There was a lot of laughter as the larger group filed along the bridge, flashing their signs, flipping off driver's, and watching as driver's wobbled when they focused on the people and not the road.

A driver must have called someone because a few minutes later a news helicopter was flying overhead shining lights on them and recording the Quirkless Rejects.

"Don't forget to stare at the cameras!" yelled Jester. There was a collective laugh as every single person on that bridge either stared or flipped off the camera crew. Cars stopped coming so Deku decided that was a good time to leave, the authorities would probably be by soon.

"Everyone, I'm sure you've heard of the League of Villains from the UA attack," he said, projecting his voice so that everyone could hear. "Well, they're our ride!" A large warp gate opened infront of Deku.

"This is your last chance. Step in and be apart of the revolution or leave and be caught by the authorities." He looked around and was pleased when no one walked away. "Alright, everyone wave goodbye let's go!"

The group single filed into the warp gate. Deku, Animation, Grimlin, Jester, Bubblegum, Doom, and the Fox twins all lingered for a second to stare at the cameras before giving a mock salute and walking through the warp gate. It closed just as one could hear police sirens coming down the bridge.

The new members gasped as they entered a Halloween themed party in the warehouse. Deku stepped forward. "Well, do not let it be known that the Quirkless Rejects don't know how to have a good time. Go have some fun everyone!"

Deku watched from the side mostly, only a few came up to talk with him. Am I that intimidating?

Well you are their new leader, supplied Izuku, so it's only natural.

"Fair enough," he murmured.

There were a few girls surrounding the twins, who had no clue to the ladies advances. Jester was talking up a storm in the corner with kids who seemed to be of his age.

Deku, we are only a year older than Jester, commented Mikumo. Deku inwardly stuck his tongue out at Mikumo.

Doom was watching as Bubble played a party game with the new members. Anima and Grimlin were eating while talking with the new members.

Deku pulled down his mask and took a sip of the blood punch. A teenager, the one with the cat mask from before, came up to him.

"Deku, sir," the kid started before Deku chuckled. "Sorry," he said, "it's just, you sound like you are my age so being called sir was odd. Just call me Deku if you want to." The kid nodded.

"Okay. Um, I just wanted to thank you for, you know, including the quirked people that are also rejects."

Deku observed the teen infront of him. He was pale with a black t-shirt, grey sweatpants, and a cat mask. His purple hair stuck up, unkempt. "Are you quirked?" asked Deku.

"Yes." he replied. "I know it's a touchy subject, especially doe this crowd, but do you mind telling me what it is?" questioned Deku. The purple-haired teen looked down. "I can brainwash people to follow my commands if they answer me..."

Deku took one last sip before setting down his cup and pulling up his mask again. Wow... That's... That's... "That's amazing!" he exclaimed. The kids head snapped up. "W- what? Really?" Deku nodded frantically. "Yeah! That could be so useful for our cause! Think of all the heros you could easily catch off guard, villains too. Recons, alibis, manipulation, anything! What's your name?"

The stunned teen sputtered out, "Hitoshi Shinso, sir."

________________________________________

Hitoshi joined Quirkless Pals because, honestly, he didn't want a quirk. Or, at least, not the one he got. He truly wished that he could have been born quirkless rather than born with the quirk Brainwashing. So he joined a quirkless chatting and blogging site under the name Insomniac.

He didn't really do anything on the site besides read blogs. It wasn't until he stumbled across a blog called "DEKU DAYS" that he thought of doing his own. The writer of DEKU DAYS was really encouraging to read as the kid, who didn't seem much older or younger than Hitoshi, told them all about how he struggled day in and day out. It was really uplifting.

So, Hitoshi took a leap of faith and made his first blog.

Midnight Chats
-February 12th, 2017

Hey. It's Insomniac. None of you know me but that's okay. This won't be an exciting blog. Sorry not sorry. It comes with the lack of sleep. I don't really know what to blog about, maybe just the strange thoughts every insomniac has as they try and fail to sleep at night.

Before I go actually get serious about blogging, I am quirked. But I don't want to be. I'm hated on a lot irl for my quirk and would much rather be quirkless so I'd appreciate it if you all treated me as such.

So, I guess I'll just post a blog whenever I'm in the mood if this one goes over well. See you later, maybe.

-Insomniac

Hitoshi had been expecting nothing but hate comments for being what this community labeled those with quirks as "quirked." Instead, he got...

Ultradumby:
That's ok, we all know quirks suck anyways.

Megabean:
Yeah! Consider yourself an honary quirkless!

...lonesome_person...:
finally some real hecking news. the thought of our sleeoless kind on display for the world to see

BrokenWings:
Hey hey! I got what other call a "default quirk" so I'm on here too! Wouldn't it be so great to be quirkless!? Everyone would be equal!

It does a mans heart good to finally be accepted. Even Hitoshi's own parents ignored him, aside from keeping him alive, because of his quirk. He was forced to learn sign language so that he wouldn't talk.

Hitoshi's viewers grew over time but he would never forget when he saw it, the blog by Deku saying that he wouldn't be on as often anymore and why. It really reminded Hitoshi just how fragile humans are. Soon after six quirkless people went missing. Hitoshi didn't really care all that much until they were on the news as found when Deku was shown in a viral video beating down a newer hero. Hitoshi knew instantly that it was Deku from DEKU DAYS.

Hitoshi had always wanted to be a hero, he couldn't help that part of himself, but something shifted in him when he heard Deku's message that was spread across the world on every social media platform.

He followed everything that the Quirkless Rejects did and payed attention intently. It wasn't until he was already a General Studies student at UA did that shift start being noticed.

Hitoshi logged into Quirkless Pals on October 5th when he got the notification that Deku had posted one of his few blogs. It was in this one that Deku admitted to being Deku from the Quirkless Rejects but the theories were already out there on the site. As he read the blog, Hitoshi felt that shift shift intensely when he read the words,

"Come, not only those without quirks, but those who have been rejected because of their quirks!"

For the longest time Hitoshi had wanted to meet the man that inspired him so much. Now I finally have the chance.
Hitoshi knew what he was doing. He was giving up his chance at his life long dream of being a hero for something he considered to be far more important.

Acceptance.

Halloween night finally rolled around and Hitoshi came with his small bag of the few necessities he would need to live because he knew that he couldn't return home after this. Seeing and listening to Deku on Kyota Bridge left Hitoshi grinning under his cat mask. When he had seen Deku all alone at the party, he so badly wanted to talk to him. So he walked up to Deku.

The inevitable question came up though. "Are you quirked?"

He didn't want to tell Deku but he didn't want to lie either. So he said yes and explained to Deku what his quirk was.

He hung his head as he waited for the usual comments. Villain. You could get away with anything! The perfect crime! Stay away from me, I don't want you using your creepy quirk on me. Freak.
They were all the same. It came along with the sucky qui-

"That's amazing!" What? Hitoshi's head snapped up. Did... did I hear that correctly? Deku was complimenting him on his villainous quirk!

The sunglasses Deku was wearing shown the happy lenses. "Shinso, we are very lucky to have you."

Hitoshi wanted to cry.

________________________________________

Shinso, Deku thought as he ascended omto a chair with his empty glass and a knife, interesting kid.

*ting ting ting*

All the heads turned to look at him in unison. Creepy. Is that how it's gonna be everytime? "Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you have been enjoying the party. I will now announce what will be happening in the next week. All of you presumably brought the necessary items to live away from home, right?"

Almost everyone nodded. A few ducked their heads with new friends comforting them. "We will get you all your rooms in this warehouse tonight," he continued. Fox came on stage. "At any point in time you want to retire for the night, find one of these two. They will take you to your respective rooms and list you as which room. You can have roommates if you so wish and it is actually greatly incouraged!"

He could see people making plans for roommates already.

"Tomorrow we will clean this all up then start on deciding who wants or gets public identities or jobs in the dark undersociety. Lastly, a week from now, we will be attacking the UA Sports Festival."

And the room exploded with a collective, "WHAT!?"

Chapter Text

Dang, thought Deku, I knew there would be some commotion but this is ridiculous!

He had just announced that they would be attacking the UA Sports Festival and everyone, aside from the main members, was shouting over each other. Deku ducked his head. Ah… this is annoying. He lifted his foot,

*BANG*

and slammed it down on the chair. It was loud and the metal soles of his hightops only contributed to that. The crowd quickly shut their mouths. He sighed and lifted his head up again. “Now, if you’d give me a chance to speak, I’ll finish my sentence.” He waited. No one spoke up, so Deku continued. “We will be attacking the UA Sports Festival. The morning news will most likely be covering what we did tonight on the bridge but that is not enough.” He grinned under the mask but his sunglasses showed the angry red dots. “We need a much bigger stage.”

This time they were excited whispering.

“We will only subdue the hero's that come down to fight, none of the civilians, that wouldn’t get the Quirkless Rejects anything but bad publicity. No killing anyone though. Past that, we have many explosions. One of you will stay back to set them off just as we are making our escape. Everyone here will be equipped with a high explosive. When fighting, throw it in a circle so that they surround the heros but far enough that they DO NOT hurt them. Am I understood?”

The crowd nodded before one raised their hand. “What is the point of doing that then?”

“Well,” Deku started, “it is a high scale threat, basically. The notion that we could have blown up the future of the hero society and have the power to do so. Seeing the students, those who are supposed to grow up to be society’s next protectors, be attacked twice will lower the faith in the hero’s and the future of them. Is that a sufficient answer?” The asked nodded.

Deku’s sunglasses shown happy. “Well then,” Animation, Bubblegum, Jester, Doom, Grimlin, and Fox circled Deku, “We would like to officially welcome you to the Quirkless Rejects, friends!” The crowd cheered.

___________________________

The night was long but the new members did get to their new rooms, eventually. Deku and the original members sat at a table in the trashed warehouse. He was just nodding off when Shinso came up to them. “Um… Deku, sir?” Deku opened his eyes and turned towards the voice. “Oh, Shinso, was it? What's up?”

The purple-haired teen looked away. “I am actually a student at UA.” 

Deku’s eyes widened. “Oh,” spoke Grimlin, “are you worried about the attack, then?” Shinso nodded.

“Yes, Grimlin sir. I’m not sure whether I will be able to get away with skipping that day.”

“Then don’t,” piped Doom. Everyone looked at him. “Just bring your mask to school and when we show up, put it on. But make sure they know it’s you, it’ll have more of an impact to see another UA student turn.”

“Another?”

“You’ll see.”

Deku nodded, “Yep! Don’t worry Shinso, it’ll be okay. Now go head back to your room, we’ve got a long week ahead of us.” Shinso bowed. “Thank you.”

___________________________

Yes, it was, in fact, a very busy week and Giran got the bulk of it. The Quirkless Rejects all got registered through a paper system run by Grimlin to keep track of the ever expanding group. So many fake IDs and identities were needed and he had to contact a lot of the blackmarket network for positions that could help the sudden expansion. Giran was so done by the end of the week that he almost thought about cutting ties with the Quirkless Rejects but thought better of it. They were now, by far, his best customer.

____________________________

Deku and his friends stood in the underground bunker apart from the larger group with the League of Villains. “Here is the screen,” said Deku as he passed it to Kurogiri. “Every one of our members have a wristband.” Kurogiri nodded. “Thank you, Deku. When do you expect this ‘something’ you spoke of to happen?” They were watching the Sports Festival’s final battle between Todoroki and Bakugo. “At the awards ceremony,” he replied.

_____________________________________________________________________

Shoto was panting hard. Dang! He just won’t go down!

He and Bakugo had been going at it for a good ten minutes now and they were both tired. Shoto scowled every time he looked over and saw Endeavor grinning because Shoto was using his fire. Oh, how he couldn’t wait to see the look on his legal guardians face when he completely trashed the Todoroki name.

The blond rushed at Shoto in a swirling vortex of smoke. Shoto prepared an ice barrier before skating forward on his ice. He produced as much heat as possible in his hand and the two forces collided. 

*BOOM!*

It was a while before the smoke cleared. Finally, “Ka- Katsuki Bakugo is out of bounds! Shoto Todoroki is the winner!” The crowd erupted and Shoto smirked as his father yelled “SHOOOTOOO!” from the sidelines. Just you wait, old man, I’ll wipe that conceited smile of yours right off your dang face. Shoto stood on the first place podium with a tied up Bakugo and a calm Tokoyami on either side. All Might came and placed the medal over his head. “Great job out there, Young Todoroki.” The crowd cheered once again. As soon as All Might had flown, jumped(?), away and out of range, Todoroki did the unthinkable for a hero student and son of the number two hero.  

He froze the whole stadium.

“W- w- w- what is t- this?” he heard Present Mic. stutter. “THIS” yelled Shoto, loud enough for the mics to pick up his voice, “IS WHAT THE HERO SOCIETY DESERVES!!!” A big, really big, warp gate opened in the middle of the frozen arena and some in the stands. A group of about twenty people exited the gate along with the main members of the Quirkless Rejects. Members of the League of Villains came out into the audience from the gates in the stands. “Good to see you decided to join us, Todo,” he heard a familiar voice say. Out of the corner of his eye, Shoto saw another open and Deku stepped out in front of Bakugo. Deku grabbed the blonde and yanked him from his restraints, immediately body slamming the blonde onto the ground.

He felt the floor disappear and Shoto gasped as he fell through a warp gate and into an underground bunker.

_________________________

Deku body slammed Bakugo onto the ground. Before Bakugo could react, Deku grabbed him by the neck and held the blonde at gunpoint.

“Greetings UA Sports Festival!” he shouted. He felt Bakugo struggle against him but the boy was already exhausted from the festival. “Bakugo,” he whispered, “if you keep moving, I will have to shoot you…” The blonde stopped. He knew Bakugo knew that he really would. Deku watched as his new comrades began spreading the explosives and attacking heros from the stands that had jumped in. There were only a few that weren’t already occupied with the League of Villains.

Deku chuckled before he slammed the gun into Bakugo’s head, effectively knocking out the teen. Sure, it was cheap considering the blonde was already worn from the festival, but it got the point across to the audience. He saw Shinso in the audience jump down and get caught by a few of the members. They lowered him to the crowd. Deku watched as Shinso put on his cat mask and flipped off his former classmates. Nice.

“Feast your eyes, world, at the new members of the Quirkless Rejects! Do not be fooled by our former small show up. We are growing!” Deku pointed an accusatory finger at the crowd. “All of these people are here because YOU failed them! Make no mistake, this did not happen because we were just rebellious. YOU FORCED OUR HANDS AND THESE ARE THE CONSEQUENCES!!!” He grabbed the unconscious Bakugo and held him up to the crowd. “If it weren’t for your failures, this wouldn’t have happened,” he dropped the blonde, “but you did fail. This is your fault.”

Deku pressed the button and warp gates began to open. “Watch and weep as we destroy the society you love so much.” As soon as the gates closed and the stadium erupted as all of the explosives were set off.

_____________________

BREAKING NEWS:

UA SPORTS FESTIVAL ATTACKED BY QUIRKLESS REJECTS AND LEAGUE OF VILLAINS

"The UA Sports Festival, a festival that people from all around the world watch, was attacked by the Quirkless Rejects and the League of Villians. Here are pictures from the scene. Only a few were seriously harmed but the stadium was in pieces, only a few pieces still intact. They seem to be working together nowadays, don't you think?"

"Yes, Sherri. At the first attack on UA the two groups came together and at the more recent cast at the Kyota Bridge where we witnessed a large group of what seemed to be Quirkless Rejects supports, the camera's caught what looked like the purple mist that sources state is a teleportation quirk that comes from the side of the League of Villains."

"Do you think that the League will begin to be more active now?"

"It is is more than likely. Speaking of the Kyota Bridge, that was quite the turn up for the Quirklee Rejects and the show they put on was on a large scale with those bombs."

"Checking the statistics, many are wavering on how confident they are that the heroes can truly protect them. With all of the attacks on UA, the most prestigious hero academy in the world, people are starting to question the system."

"There are also those in hiding that are secret supporters of the three highest threats in Japan right now: the Quirkless Rejects, League of Villains, and the Hero Killer, Stain. In fact, it isn't just those in Japan. Here is a picture of a small riot in the US for the Quirkless Rejects."

"Are you trying to say that the Quirkless Rejects are branching out into other regions of the world?"

"It would seem so. It is only a matter of time for the leader of the QUirkless Rejects, Deku, to contact those outside of Japan looking for retribution as well. Quirklessness isn't something that just occurs in Japan. Stay safe, viewers, the quirkless are getting more violent as we speak."

"The world might have a serious problem on its hands."

_____________________________

Shoto paced in that alleyway where he first met Midoriya. His father and siblings had tried to call him a multitude of times so he had his phone turned off. He didn't need it to check the news. Shoto could watch clearly as everything went down on the wide screens on buildings in Japan. It was actually pretty terrifying to see the stadium get blown up like that. Well, the arena. The Quirkless Rejects never hurt civilians so they kept it out of the stands.

"Shoto Todoroki," Shoto's head whipped around to the voice of Deku who was stepping out of a warp gate. "Great job, out there, Shoto," the greenette complimented. "Thanks," mumbled Shoto.

"Well, are you ready to go?" asked Deku. Shoto looked out at the streets. What other choice do I have? He had acted impulsively, he knew he had, but Shoto was just so desperate to get out of his situation that he didn't care. He couldn't go back now. Endeavor might literally murder him. Sure he would miss his siblings, but not too much. It wasn't like Endeavor allowed them to talk much anyway. He turned back to Deku. "Let's go." Deku clapped his hands together. "Great!" Shoto took a step forward.

Wait... Deku must have noticed his hesitation because Shoto was pushed through the warp gate. He had thought it over. He wanted this! He stumbled into the warehouse.

He doesn't know why, but Shoto remembered something from his past. He and his mother were watching All Might on the news. 

____________________________________________________

"Yes, quirks are a blood inheritance from parent to child but what is really important that it isn't their power, it is your own flesh and blood."

Young Shoto held his breath.

"This is why, whenever I show up on the scene, I always say: I AM HERE!"

Shoto stared in awe. His mother turned to him. "Shoto, you still want to be a hero, right?" she asked him. "YES MAMA!"

______________________________________________________

Shoto had never felt more regret in his life.

Chapter Text

Shoto stared at the ceiling in his room in the warehouse. It’s been a week since he made the choice to join the Quirkless Rejects and essentially throw away his dreams of being a hero. He didn’t really know how to feel. He looked over at his roommate. He actually found a kid who was also from UA already at the warehouse. His name was Shinso. Shinso was probably one of the few good things here. Take that back, compared to his life before, there was a lot of good things in the Quirkless Rejects. Shinso was just one of the better ones.

He was like a brother that Endeavor never really let Shoto have. Their stories were so different and yet very much the same. Shoto never felt forced to speak because Shinso wasn’t much of a talker, and neither was Shoto. They were both in the same training for using their quirks for the Quirkless Rejects and both had given up dreams of being a hero for this cause. Shoto still didn’t know how he felt about that still. His chest hurt every time he thought about it.

His last words to his ex-classmates were harsh and he was always so cold towards them. Shoto found it funny that it took a villain, or a vigilant, to realize this. If I had allowed myself to make friends would I be here? If I accepted help from others would I have chosen this path? If I hadn’t had been so blinded by rage would I be laughing with friends right now? Shoto tried not to think about such things.

It wasn’t like his life here, so far, was bad or anything. He still trained but if he asked for a break, they would give him one. Shoto actually met Shinso through quirk training here, as well as two others with quirks that they were “rejected” for. One had butterfly wings but they were cracked and she couldn’t fly with them and the others could see inside someone. Like, the organs of a person. Shoto shivered. They were each learning how they could use their quirks that the world has deemed faulty or gross or, like Shoto, were used for them.

Shoto also didn’t get jolted awake from a surprise attack to “test his reflexes.” That was nice. He had gotten a job smuggling weapons to buyers in the dark undersociety so that he could pay for food in the...dorms? Can I call the warehouse rooms that?

Shoto sighed to himself. Shinso was on his DS, the boy never seemed to sleep; he said that he has been medically diagnosed with insomnia. Shoto almost didn’t believe Shinso at first until he noticed that Shinso hadn’t been going to sleep until four, maybe five, in the morning every night only to get up at seven or eight in the morning. Shoto checked his clock. It was 11:59 at night. He knew he should get some sleep, Chief Deku had mentioned talking with Shoto tomorrow about a plan he had come up with for the overthrow of Endeavor. Oh yeah, Deku was known as “Chief” around the warehouse, which Shoto guessed made sense because the greenette was their leader after all so he should be addressed as one. Still, after their… odd meeting, Shoto found it weird calling Deku as such and only did so when the two weren't alone besides Shinso.

That was another thing, Deku was weird. Like, really weird. He’d talk to himself a lot, that is to say, when he was at the warehouse. Deku and the other main members, which those in the warehouse have deemed the “Lights”, worked public jobs at a bakery. 

Shoto and Deku had a strange relationship but it wasn’t a bad one. Deku had insomnia too, which apparently everyone in the Quirkless Rejects did, even Shoto could feel he was starting to get it too. Deku would sometimes just join Shoto and Shinso in their room to play cards or chat. Shoto thought it weird at first but Shoto knew very well just how it feels to be lonely. Deku was the leader of the Quirkless Rejects but he still was a teenage boy. He probably wanted friends his age to hang out with just as Shptp had when he was younger.

Shoto yawned. He could feel sleep creeping up on him and he graciously let it take over him.

___________________________

Izuku sat up and stretched in the apartment. Everyone else had already left for work but Mikumo had the day off because what he, Deku, and Izuku had come up with for the downfall of the number two hero. Honey jumped on him and licked his face.

“Haha! Honey, what are you doing, girl?” Izuku laughed. He laughed a lot more nowadays. Hanging out with Shinso and Todoroki had brought back memories of his days before the Quirkless Rejects; just being another teenager goofing around. He didn’t know why, because he never had that part of him in his life, but it was like a piece of glass that had been chipped off from the start. Like maybe something in him was healing but he really didn’t know what that felt like.

Izuku, you don’t have time for this, said Deku. Izuku sighed and got up, patting his legs. “Right, right. Ah… Mikumo, you got a better memory. Where did we hang the costume?” Izuku asked as he walked into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Hmm… didn’t we hang it over the shower railing to dry after Deku got it damaged in training and had to wash it? replied Mikumo. Izuku nodded as he sat at the table with a bowl of cereal. “Right, thanks.” No problem.

Izuku sat in silence as he ate. He watched birds fly by the window. It was a mundane life that he lived for the few hours he was present. Deku and Mikumo hardly talked to Izuku when he ate breakfast just the same as when Mikumo was working or Deku was leading. They had their respective lives and respected those boundaries each had setup. That didn’t mean that they didn’t occasionally joke with each other throughout the day but hey, it gets boring waiting for your turn to be present.

Izuku placed his empty bowl in the sink and left to get ready for a long day.

___________________________

Deku put in his signature earring and looked at himself in the mirror. “Time to go.”

Don’t jack up our body.

Stay safe.

“Shut up, I’m not an idiot.”

I should hope not, we share the same brain. Deku chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Deku left out the window, like always. He used tinted cars paid for and supplied by Giran to get around. Soon he arrived at the warehouse. A few of the members milling around waved to him. “Morning, Chief Deku!” “Good morning, Tanaza.”

“Hey, Chief!” “Hey, Jodie.”

“Big plans today, Chief?” “Perhaps.”

Deku made his way to Todoroki's and Shinso's door on the second floor. He knocked on it and Todoroki answered in a black hoodie and red shorts. “Ah, Chief Deku.” Deku cringed. He hated it when Todoroki called him Chief but he knew that unless they are hanging out at night privately, he had to keep up appearances because the leader couldn’t choose favorites. “Todoroki, are you ready to go?” The bicolored male slipped a black eye mask, one much like Bakugo’s but tinted, over his face. “Yes sir.” “Good.” Deku turned and left down the hall, not waiting for Todoroki to follow.

“Have a good day Chief, Todo!” “You too, Kishera.” “Thanks.”

“Good luck!” “Thank you.”

“See ya later Chief, Todoroki!” “Don’t wait up.” “See you.”

The two teens left the building through the back and entered the tinted car. Deku sighed as it drove off and he pulled open his laptop and opened an article. “Hey hey, Todo look at this!”

Todoroki looked over. “Wow,” is all he said. Yeah, Todoroki wasn’t much for talking. “I know right!? People in other countries are starting to rebel too! Our next time on the screen, I’m going to reach out to them.”

“When do you think that’ll be?”

“Real soon if this goes well.”

“What exactly are we doing, Deku?”

Deku closed his laptop and turned his blank sunglasses covered eyes to Todo. He saw Todo's eyes widen when he read the name of the building they were passing. The car stopped behind the large building.

“Mafusa Psychiatric Hospital.”

Chapter Text

The car stopped and Deku got out. “Well, come one.” Shoto reached out and snatched his forearm. “W- w- w- wait! This is-” “Where your mom is, right?” Shoto gulped and nodded. “Todoroki,” ah, Chief time, “in order for this to go down correctly, we need the testimony from your mother. She will be a great asset in our removal of Endeavor from the hero title. Do you understand why we need this to happen?”

Of course, he understood…  but Shoto wasn’t ready to see his mom again, everything was happening so fast. Yet, a part of him wanted to see her again. He missed her more than he let on. Shoto also knew that this was going to be a major step in removing his father from his title as the number two hero, and hopefully as a hero in general. He took in a large breath and nodded. “Ok. Let’s go.” He saw Deku’s sunglasses turn happy before they began their climb up the side of the building with special gloves that adhere to surfaces to let someone climb as such. Shoto very much did not like these gloves, they felt weird. It scared Shoto to think that Deku had already gone and found the room his mother was admitted into but considering who Deku was and how confidently he navigated the blindspots in the windows, Shoto knew that the greenette already had.

Deku stopped outside a window and began fiddling with the latch. There was a soft *click* before Deku opened it. He scooted, crawled(?), aside and gestured to Shoto. Oh, I’m going in first. He took another deep breath, again, before climbing through the window. Shoto’s breath caught in his throat when his mother’s head turned to face him.

“Shot-OH!” and Deku came in as well.

Shoto always had an emotionless face, it was kind of like his trademark that went along with his cold personality. Yet now, he couldn’t help the way he trembled and how he felt the scar on his face burned with a phantom pain that wasn’t really there anymore. “Mom,” he cooly said. Deku nudged him just a more harshly than necessary. He cleared his throat and was about to speak before he noticed his mom pat the hospital bed beside her. He directed his eyes to Deku who simply walked away to lean on the wall in the opposite corner of the room. Message received. Deku had an odd way of showing he cared but it was in times like these Shoto was grateful to the teen even if he hadn’t known him for too long. Shoto walked over and sat beside his mother.

She lifted her hands and gently caressed his face, he thumb ran over the scar. Tears filled her eyes. “I saw the festival… I did this to you, didn’t I, Shoto?” the white-haired woman asked. Shoto took her hands and held them in his lap. “No,” he replied. “You know who did this to me.” Her frail frame shook and she looked away. “I have always wanted to apologize to you, Shoto. I should have been there for you.” Shoto shook his head. “Don’t. We both know that one of us was bound to snap, you had a lot more stress. I guess, in the end, we both snapped.” She nodded then looked up again.

“Could you take off the mask? I want to see the full face of my son.”

“I’m sorry, mother, this is what has become of your son. I cannot take it off now. I am sorry, I did not become the hero you wanted me to be.”

“It is every mothers wish to see her child happy. If this is the life you have chosen then smile with every step you take down this path. Only when you do not is when you need to apologize to a mother.” she said. “And at that moment, I will apologize for letting you turn away.”

Shoto didn’t have the heart to say it, but he had long since forgotten how to smile. But, perhaps, in this new walk of life, as he learns what it means to have friends and comrades to stand by his side, Shoto can relearn what it means to be happy. “Why are you here, Shoto?” she asked. Shoto sighed inwardly, not really wanting to have this kind of conversation when they had just reconciled, if he could call it that. Shoto instead slightly turned his head towards Deku and gave a small nod. Deku pushed himself off of his position on the wall and strode over to the Todorokis.

“Madam,” he started, very formal, “I do not know how you wish to be called hereafter your life's turn of events.” It was nice of him to ask. Shoto knew that his mother would not want to be called by her husband's last name. “Rei is fine,” she said. “Thank you for taking in my son, Deku.” He gave a curt nod. “It was the Quirkless Rejects pleasure and we plan to take care of him with as much hospitality as we can offer. On to business though, we are here to discuss removing Endeavor from his hero title.” Shoto heard his mother's breath hitch at the name “Endeavor.”

“I am sure you know just how poor the number two hero’s practices are behind closed doors that are hidden from the media. As both a spouse and a father, he has been less than satisfactory and even though he has taken in a larger percentage of villains and criminals, he is more cold towards the public than his flames let off.” Shoto’s mom nodded again and Deku continued. “We have records that there was once a Toya Todoroki in the family, a son, that had run away and we are currently looking into confirming his whereabouts to get his statement as well but for now, we would like to use your testimony in a court case against Endeavor.”

Wow, Shoto thought, he is more diplomatic than he lets on. Thinking back, didn’t Deku say that Midoriya wasn’t “present” when we first met? Over the week the two have gotten to know each other, Shoto has questioned that statement along with the sudden mood changes and talking to one’s self. He had come up with a personality disorder but he would have to look into it later.

Shoto’s mom nodded. “I would be more than happy to give my statement on that man.” Shoto could have cringed at the malicious note in her voice. Deku’s sunglasses turned happy. 

“Great!” He pulled open his laptop and opened a document. Shoto peered over. It had a few points that he assumed Deku had wanted to cover. “Now, could you please tell me-”

*Knock Knock* 

“Rei?” Shoto saw Deku stiffen. “I brought the biscuits!” Shoto looked at his mom. Her eyes were staring wide at Deku. We should leave but… what’s going on? The door began to open. Rei stood suddenly. “Wait In-” The door opened completely to reveal a short, stubby female with straight green hair holding a plate of biscuits with a nurse by her side. Deku looked towards the greenette. She looks oddly like… Oh, suck!

The woman dropped the plate. *CRASH*

In the doorway stood Inko Midoriya.

Chapter Text

*Knock Knock*

“Rei?” Deku stiffened. No… That voice… I know that voice. While Deku may be present, all three of them very much despised the owner of that voice. He felt Izuku curl up and Mikumo comfort him. “I brought the biscuits!” Rei stood up. “Wait In-” the door opened. Deku turned his head to a sight he had hoped never to see. Inko Midoriya stood in the doorway with a nurse by her side and a plate in her hands. Her green eyes met Deku’s sunglasses. She dropped the plate. *CRASH*

“I- Izu?” Don’t call me that. His heart twisted, Deku could hear Izuku trying to suppress tears.

“Izuku?” She took a step forward. “Is that really you?” Rei put an arm around Inko to stop her. “Inko, dear, let’s go back to your room, okay?” Inko shrugged her off. “No... “ She walked up to Deku and reached out.

*SLAP*

Deku slapped Inko’s hand out of the way. “Don’t touch me so casually.” Everyone was tense. He saw the nurse try to call the authorities but Todo had stopped her. Dekulaid the laptop on the bed. “Todoroki, you continue the conversation with Rei and keep the nurse here.” He turned back to Inko. “You and me have a lot to talk about.” Inko looked down, shaking, obviously trying to keep her composure. “Take me to your room, Inko.” Rei stepped forward. “Are you sure that is a good idea?” His sunglasses turned angry. “Very.”

Luckily Inko’s room wasn’t too far away and there were no nurses in the hallways. Deku closed the door behind them. Inko sat on the bed and Deku once again leaned on the wall on the other side of the room. “Izuku-”

“Don’t. Let me get this straight with you, I am not Izuku Midoriya. I am Deku. Maybe at one point I was Izuku Midoriya but I am my own person and refuse to be called Izuku.” She tilted her head. “W- what do you mean?” Deku strode up to her and crouched down to eye level. 

“Do you know what happens to a teens underdeveloped psychological state when for ten years of their lives they are bullied by their peers and abused every night by their drunk mother after their father abandoned them all for the one thing that they can’t change and makes them different from the others? Do you know what has to go through a teenager's mind and happen in their lives to make them run away and start a criminal organization? Do you know what happens when they have to live three equally different lives every day with trauma spewing lies into their ears every single second of their breathing lives?”

Inko shook her head, she was crying by now.

“An identity disorder forms. So, to answer your question, because of what you and all Izuku’s classmates put him through, he has developed that and that identity disorder evolved into both him, me, and another identity all having different consciousnesses in one body. So I am not Izuku and you will not call me that. Understand?”

Inko nodded. “I- Deku… Where is my baby boy now then?”

Deku almost choked. Izuku… He could feel him. He was thrashing, clawing, screaming to be let out. Deku’s chest began to throb as if it was being repeatedly beaten. “He isn’t present right now but that doesn't matter. What matters is you. You, Inko, are at a psychiatric hospital, a place where mentally ill patients go. Almost befitting that someone as insane as you would end up here.” Inko began to cry harder. Let me out…

“So, Inko,” he punched bed next to her with such force that it shook, “tell me why it is you think you deserve to be here, to have a mental disorder prominent enough to be here when you are the cause of all of this? How mentally damaging could it really have been for you?” Let me out! The pain was getting worse. Deku’s head began to throb. He scowled.

Inko was balling. “I know I was wrong!” she all but screamed. “I shouldn’t have hurt you! I didn’t know you were getting bullied at school, you never told me and I know why. It was all my fault, I could have, no I should have done better and had been there for you and taken care of you rather than getting drunk at night. I should have stood up for you and loved you, and hugged you. I thought that I did! But I knew that what I was doing was wrong but I couldn’t stop and… and I got addicted to the buzz and the hangover and what I was doing and I couldn’t stop. Every night it tore away at me!”

Let me out!

“A- and when I had finally cleared my head, and when I had finally come to the point where I wanted to be a good mother, the mother you deserve, you had left. It tore me apart.”

LET ME OUT!

Inko looked up at him. “L- let me see him.” What? “Let me see my son… I know you are in there, Izuku!!!”

An almost invisible force pushed Deku back and he fell onto the floor. Let me out! He breathing became ragged and vision blurry. “I- Izu?” Deku pushed himself up against the wall, shaking, hands pressed over his ears. Let me out! “SHUT UP!” His head felt as though it was tearing itself apart, his heart was in a vice, little to no breath entered his lungs. 

letmeoutletmeoutletmeoutletmeoutletmeout

Shut up!

…

Let. Me. OUT!!!!!

Deku screeched as he was forcefully yanked from his presence.

______________________________

Inko was kneeling beside a silent Deku. He just screamed out almost like he was in pain! Then he was just… silent. The door swung open and Todoroki bolted in, instantly crouching by Deku. “What did you do…?” he growled at Inko. Rei was in the doorway. Inko shook her head. “I… I don’t know… He suddenly clutched his head screaming at himself before he just… yelled out… as if he was hurting.” Todoroki’s eyes widened ever so slightly. “They are fighting…” he whispered, almost inaudible. Oh. Inko’s eyes widened too. OH! I get it… Izuku was trying to take control! It almost sounded silly but after all that Deku had said, maybe not. She could have smiled, her baby boy was fighting to see her.

She reached forward but Todoroki grabbed her wrist and glared at her. Inko glared just as harshly. “This is my son,” she growled. Todoroki narrowed his eyes before letting go and standing up. Rei walked up beside the bicolored male.

Inko reached forward and gently touched Deku’s arm. The boy flinched violently but she didn’t take away contact. “I- Izuku?” she dared to say the name of her son. The younger greenette lifted his head, the digital sunglasses slid off his face. His emerald eyes were wet with tears falling down his cheeks.

“Mom…” Inko gasped quietly. She softly held his hands in hers. “Yeah, I’m here, Izu. Momma’s here.” He stared down at their interlocked hands then looked up at her. Fresh tears fell from his emerald eyes. It was almost heartbreaking to see how broken her son truly was. To think, Inko thought, I was the cause of this… Inko leaned in and hugged her son tightly. 

“It’s good to see you, Izuku…”

They stayed in that position for a while before Izuku suddenly pushed her away. “No! I can’t- I just- You can’t just-” He was stumbling over his words so much it was almost incoherent. He’s confused by himself. It’s not healthy to this extent. Inko couldn’t help but think that it is Izuku that should be in this psychiatric center. “Izu, what’s wrong, sweetie?” He looked at her. “I- I don’t know what I am supposed to do. It’s not like we can just go back to how things were before.” 

“I know,” she said. “You… you don’t want things to go back do you, Izuku?” Inko wanted to cry when he gave a small nod but she suppressed it. “That’s alright. I don’t expect you to want to. As much as I hate it, to know that I pushed you to this point, I know you are happier with the life you live now. But... that doesn’t mean we can’t see each other.” 

Izuku looked up at Inko. “I still want to be your mother, Izuku. Will you give me the chance to start anew with you?” Maybe it was just a Midoriya trait but Izuku began to cry again. “Y- yes!” Inko hugged her son again. She saw Todoroki and Rei look at each other and hug each other as well. She smiled softly. She patted Izuku’s back. “Alright, the nurses will be making their rounds soon, you guys better go.” Izuku let go of her. “I’ll come to visit, if I find the time.” Inko nodded. “I know you will.” They stood up.

“OH!” Izuku passed out in her arms. Inko chuckled and looked over at Todoroki. “Think you can handle this, Todoroki?” The bicolored teen nodded. “Yes. ma’am.”

Inko and Rei watched as Todoroki expertly commanded his ice to lower himself and her son to the ground as he carried Izuku bridal style. For the first time since Izuku had disappeared, Inko finally felt the chaos in her mind calm down. For the life of them, the nurses couldn’t figure out why or how the reading on the two psychiatric patients had suddenly calmed down to those of almost not being a mentally ill person.

______________________________

Shoto sighed as he sat in the back of the car, Deku sleeping peacefully in the seat over. He closed the laptop in his lap. At first, he had been sickened by the story he got from his mother but after the recent turn of events, Shoto couldn’t help but feel content. This had been a good day for both him and Deku. Well, maybe not Deku, but surely Izuku. After today, Shoto was able to confirm the disorder he had thought Deku had.

He used the laptop to message Grimlin and passed off his sleeping leader to the man behind the warehouse.

He entered his room late at night. “You look happy,” commented Shinso. Really? Most people can never read my emotions. He smirked slightly. “Yeah, I guess I am.” Shinso hummed. As Shoto sat on his cot, Shinso came over with a bowl of cold soba. Shoto stared at him. “Deku mentioned that this might be a rough day for you so, here, I guess.” Shoto took the bowl. “Thank you, Shinso,” he said. It was great having a friend, especially one who knew how to interpret his cold personality since they both were previously friendless before the Quirkless Rejects. “No problem.”

Shoto sat the bowl in their bowl of warm water and soap they used to clean dishes. He got in bed. Shoto might never get rid of that longing of the dream he gave up for this, but perhaps he could get used to this, just enough to suppress the sadness in his heart

______________________________

Izuku woke up in his bed. He yawned and sat up. Honey jumped on him and he laughed and pet her. Good morning, Izuku. “Good morning, Mikumo.” Deku was strangely silent. “Deku?” Izuku… “Good morning, Deku.” Silence. ...Good morning... Hey, Izuku… “Don’t. It’s okay, Deku.” Okay… Izuku smiled. “As long as we all are present in this mind, let us remember that we need to mind the boundaries.”

That means no killing off Izuku, Deku.

Fine fine. I hear you, Mikumo.

Izuku smiled what felt like the first real smile in a long while.

Izuku got up and he and Honey walked into the kitchen of their apartment. Animation, Grimlin, Jester, Bubblegum, and Doom were all sitting at the table, an extra plate of still-warm food was in his spot. Izuku smiled and sat down. “Good morning everyone.”

“Mornin’”

“Good morning.”

“Morning, Deku!”

“Good morning!”

“Good morning, bro!”

He smiled wider.

Yeah, I don’t think I’d trade this for my old life. This is my family now.

Chapter Text

Mikumo sighed. It was a slow day at the bakery. He even resorted to talking to Deku and Izuku periodically throughout the day. The door opened and Mikumo’s blue eyes widened in surprise. Uraraka and a few of her classmates walked through the door, amongst them was none other than Bakugou. Nevertheless, he smiled and greeted them. “Uraraka! Are these your UA friends?” His girlfriend waved, Mikumo ignored the wide eyes of Bakugou. Good acting skills came with the job.

“Yup!” she cheerfully replied. “This is Tsu, Kirishima, and Bakugou. Iida couldn’t make it today, sadly.” She gestured to each of her friends. Tsu resembled a frog, Kirishima had tall red hair, and Bakugou, well, he was Bakugou. “It’s nice to meet you all,” Mikumo said. Kirishima gently hit her shoulder. “Wow! I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t believe you Uraraka when you said you had a man!” Uraraka blushed. “What can I get you all today?” Mikumo asked.

They all ordered. It was interesting to see Bakugou order by signing what he wanted and his friends easily translating. Did they really learn sign language just for him? Deku thought. Not a bad skill to have. commented Izuku. I guess.

“Is your break soon?” asked Uraraka.

“Yeah,” the greenette replied. “Actually, I’ll take it a little early.”

“Okay! We’ll be at one of the tables.” He nodded as they walked off.

Mikumo went in the back to hang up his apron, keeping his cap on like always. He washed his hands before joining the group at the table, sitting beside Uraraka with his strawberry banana smoothie and strawberry shortcake slice. 

“Hey man!” greeted Kirishima. “I guess we should introduce ourselves again. I’m Kirishima, my quirk is Hardening!”

“Tsuyu, but my friends call me Tsu. Ribbit. I can do basically anything a frog can, ribbit.”

Kirishima threw his arm around Bakugou. “This is Bakugou, he makes explosions!” Bakugou shrugged off his arm and scowled at the red-head making a few explosions.

“Mikumo,” started Tsuyu, “Uraraka told us that you are quirkless? Ribbit.” Bakugou was staring daggers at him.

“I am,” said Mikumo.

“I am always one to speak my mind, ribbit. What do you think about the Quirkless Rejects?”

Uraraka sputtered. “Ts- Tsu! That's-” He put his girlfriend's hand on her shoulder and smiled. “I can see the reason behind their… actions but I cannot agree with how they go about ‘retribution’ or something like that.”

“Alright, ribbit.”

The group chatted for a bit, Bakugou sighing when he wanted to add his input. They were all very different personalities but it made Mikumo happy to see that Uraraka had such good friends, aside from the blonde who sat across from him currently. He learned about the internships they would all be taking. Mikumo felt Deku smirk when Bakugo signed that what hero he was going under but Kirishima laughed and corrected him saying, “Aren’t you going under Best Jeanist, Bakubro?” The blonde's eyes flashed in Mikumo’s direction for a half-second before he rolled them and nodded.

Uraraka was going Gunhead to learn martial arts.

Soon, though, Mikumo’s break was over. He gives Uraraka a quick peck on the cheek, both blushing before Mikumo went back to work. As Mikumo was pulling on his apron Deku started talking. Who did she say Iida was interning under? Mikumo paused. “Manual, I think,” he replied. Hmm… A kid from a distinguished family like that, and with his ranking in the Sports Festival, should be able to get a better internship.

Manual is based in Hosu, comments Izuku. Isn’t that where Stain has been active recently?

Deku hummed. Right, and I believe the news said that Pro Hero Ingenium was permanently injured because of Stain.

Mikumo’s eyes widened, “You don’t think that…”

Deku grinned. I think we have our next plan of action.

______________________________

“We are traveling to Hosu?” questioned Anima. Deku nodded. “Why?” questioned Jester.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard of the fame our former teacher, Stain, has been getting.” They all nod.

“Yes,” said Grimlin, “but what does that have to do with us going to Hosu.” Deku laid out a chart and map. “This is the statistics to where Stain has striked and how many per place. If our sources are in line, Stain should only need one more kill before he moves on to the next place. Recently, Ingenium has been immobilized by his hand and taking what Uraraka told me about her classmate, Iida Tenya, Ingenium’s little brother, I have reason to believe that he is planning on avenging his brother.”

“Ooooh,” cooed Jester, “so we are going to go take down Ingenium’s little bro!” Deku shook his head. “We will see what happens with Iida, but I have a different goal for this trip.”

“What is it, Deku?” asked Bubble.

“Well,” he started, “it was Stain that told us never to trust anyone in the dark undersociety. So, let’s have him eat his words for his final meal.

“You mean…”

“Let’s kill the hero killer.”

______________________________

Deku sat with the main group of the Quirkless Rejects across from Shinso, Todo, and a middle aged man with brown hair named Ruske. “Ruske, you are good with computers, am I right?” The man nodded. “Yes, I was previously hired as a professional hacker for when companies got locked out of their software.” Deku hummed. “Alright, here is the plan, You will hack into the main system of Japan News Now and get us broadcast all over the world. Is that possible?” The brunette nodded. “It is but it could very well shut down the power of the whole city using that much output.”

Deku just shrugs. “The world hates us anyways. So, you will do that after Todoroki freezes the entire building and nearby area. Shinso, you will brainwash the people so that we can lock them in a room and freeze them as well.” They all nod.

“Why are we doing this?” asks Todo. Deku grinned under his mask.

“You’ve heard that other countries quirkless people are wanting to join the cause, right?” A nod. “Well, what better way to get the rest of the quirkless population on this train? We may be able to start branches of the Quirkless Rejects in other countries.”

Shinso narrowed his eyes. “You do realize the significance of what you are implying, right Chief Deku?” Deku nodded and in a cheerful voice, said something not befitting of his tone.

“We are going to start a worldwide war between the forces of the quirked and the quirkless.”

Chapter Text

Mikumo stood by Uraraka at the subway station. She was nervously looking over at Iida. “If you’re so worried about him, go talk to him,” suggested Mikumo. She shook her head. “I- I can’t. He won’t tell us anything. All his smiles feel like lies…” The greenette nodded. “Maybe so, but trust me, sometimes just knowing your friends are there for you means more than you know.” Uraraka looked up at him then nodded sharply. “Right!” she piped. She and Mikumo walked over to Iida. “Hey, Iida!” The tall teen looked over at them.

“Ah, Uraraka,” he greeted. Iida looked over at Mikumo and did a robot karate chop motion with his hand. “Is this your friend?” She nodded. “Well sort of, this is my boyfriend, Mikumo.” Mikumo held out his hand, which Iida took and shook firmly. “Nice to meet you, Mikumo. I have heard much.” Uraraka blushed slightly. “Likewise.”

“Well, I must be off,” stated Iida, turning away. Mikumo nudged the brunette gently. “Ah, I- Iida!” The taller teen turned around. “What is it, Uraraka?” She fiddled with her hands. Mikumo put his hand on her shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. “Um Iida, I just wanted to say t- that we are always here for you!” She smiled brightly. Iida stared at her. “Right,” he replied. “Thank you, Uraraka.” Iida walked away and Uraraka’s smile faltered. Mikumo wrapped his arm around her should. “It’ll be okay. Don’t worry.” He looked down at her. “Don’t let this get you down, you gotta go out there and work your hardest at your internship!”

“Right!”

“You’re gonna do amazing!”

“Right!”

“The best!”

“Right!”

“You got this!”

“Right!”

“SO GO OUT THERE AND HAVE SOME FUN!”

“RIGHT!”

Uraraka sped off to her train. She turned and waved. “Bye!” He smiled and waved back. As the train zoomed away someone whacked Mikumo uptop the head. He whipped his head around.

“Daaaaad! What was that for?” His adopted father, aka Aizawa, stood behind him. The man, as apathetically faced as ever, looked down at the greenette. “You guys were too loud. This is a public place, you know?” Mikumo rolled his blue eyes. “It’s called encouragement, Dad. You should try it every once in a while. Though, I’m sure your students would faint if you were to suddenly start caring.” He tapped his chin. “Oh, like you would know,” scoffed Dad. Mikumo turned to his father and smiled. “Come to the bakery?” Dad hummed. “Sure.”

The two soon found themselves at Soft Blossom Bakery with Hisou, aka Grimlin, by their side at their favorite table. This was the first time one of the other Quirkless Rejects joined the two. Dad turned to Hisou and spoke lowly. “So, the fact that you are sitting here that means something important is about to happen.” Ope, Deku it’s your turn, called Mikumo. Alright! Deku jumped in.

Grimlin nodded. “We are about to broadcast all over the world in a couple of weeks to start branches in other countries.” Aizawa looked at him at the man, skeptical. “How?” “We will be taking over a new station, Aizawa,” Deku used the hero’s name to signal that he isn’t Mikumo anymore. Aizawa stared at him. “You’re what?”

Grimlin nodded. “Yes, we are planning on highjacking Japan News Now. Now, we aren’t planning on hurting many citizens, because you know we aren’t about that, so the most that will harm people outside the station is that most of the cities, if not all of the cities, power will go down.” Aizawa nodded slowly. Then sighed.

“I know I said I’d help you all and I’ll stay true to my word… So, what do you need from me? You wouldn’t have told me otherwise.” Deku nodded. “Quick on the pickup, Aizawa. We want you to come with us.” Aizawa immediately opened his mouth but Deku held up his hand. “Wait, wait, wait. We are not asking you to expose yourself. You will be in disguise, obviously, and even then you will be as hidden from cameras as possible. We want you there purely to keep the people that Todoroki will freeze from using their quirks while frozen, though they more than likely don’t have quirks we cannot handle if they work in a news station. Will you do it?”

Aizawa stared at him long and hard but Deku knew he would agree. Aizawa may be a “rational man” but he always kept his word. He also wasn’t very “rational” when it came to Mikumo and since this body is also Mikumo’s, Aizawa knew Mikumo was indirectly involved and thus would agree. Finally, Aizawa sighed dramatically, or as dramatically as the man could. “Fine…” Deku grinned. “Good! We will contact you the day before and the day of the highjacking we will have Kurogiri from the League of Villains send over a warp gate which will have you will walk through. Beforehand, Mikumo will come over with your disguise. Understand?” “Understood.” Deku nodded.

“All good, Mikumo.” Mikumo jumped in and smiled. “Hi, Dad, Hisou!”

“Welcome back, Mikumo,” Hisou casually replied. Aizawa paused for a moment.

“Hey, kid.” 

______________________________

Shouta sat at home. “Dang it, what have I gotten myself into?” He looked up at the ceiling as he pet his cat. “Well at least that confirms that the Quirkless Rejects and the League of Villains are working together. Not that I’d report it.” “MEOW!” Shoto sighed and got up to get Shepard some food. It was a little odd to see how Mikummo and Deku 'interacted' and how Grimlin reacted to the two just casually 'switching places'. Or as Mikumo called it, when they switched who was "present."

*DING DING*

“Hmm?” Shouta abandoned his excursion to get cat food and checked his phone.

<One new message from Mikumo>

Mikumo:

Look at this!

<insert bald cap image>

Aizawa:

What is that?

Mikumo:

The first part of your costume!

Aizawa:

Kid, no.

Mikumo:

<insert picture of Shoto with hair edited out>

Aizawa:

Kid. No.

Mikumo:

:)

I’ll see you when the rest of it comes together!

Aizawa:

Wait.

<Mikumo has gone offline>

Aizawa:

Dang it.

Shouta looked at the picture of him without hair. He audibly sighed. “MEOW!!!” Shoto looked down at his cat that was currently pawing at his leg. “Fine fine. Give me a sec.”

______________________________

Kurogiri was, once again, astounded by the guts this kid had. Deku, along with Animation, had just waltzed into the bar, sat at the bar, next to Shigaraki who had just LOST a game, and said, “Hey, need your help again.” Everyone who knows Shigaraki knows two things. One, he HATES losing games. And two, he HATES helping people or any form of submission that isn’t towards Sensei. Shigaraki immediately lurches for Deku’s next face and Kurogiri immediately opens a gate redirecting the hand.

I swear, sometimes I think Deku plans on me saving his hind from getting disintegrated.

“Deku, I urge you to be a little bit more subtle and aware when coming into the bar,” says Kurogiri as he prepares Dekus favorite drink, a Strawberita. Deku looks at him, or at least he thinks he does, it’s hard to tell with those sunglasses.

“Yes, sorry Kurogiri.” Kurogiri nods.

“What do you need, Deku?” He passed the greenette the alcoholic beverage. Then he made Animations and passed it to her.

“I need you to teleport me, Animation, Jester, and Doom to Hosu in three days.”

“What for?” asked Kurogiri.

Deku took a swig of the drink. “If you do as I say,” Shigaraki’s eye twitched, “I can get you some publicity.”

Shigaraki turned to the teen. “You expect us to believe you are just gonna help us?” he growled in his raspy voice. Deku turned to him. “Of course not!” he piped a little bit too cheerfully. “We need you to do cause a big enough distraction for us to do what we want to do!” “Which is what?”

Deku took another drink. “That is none of your concern. All we want you to do is make a big enough ruckus and cause enough damage and hero intervention so that we can get our job done. I’m not saying that we will directly get publicity but if you can do enough damage, you definitely will get some air time.”

Shigaraki narrowed his eyes. “Or… we could kill you now and still do this either way.” Kurogiri prepared a warp gate but Deku’s sunglasses turned happy.

“Yes, but our job will get rid of a big obstacle for you.” This piqued Shigaraki’s interest. “But, as I said before, that is none of your concern. You will know about it on the news soon enough.”

Shigaraki disintegrated a glass cup. “And take our viewers?” Deku shrugged. “We both need some air time, it’s just up to you and what you do to get more than us.”

Kurogiri’s eyes widened, very hard to notice with his mist luckily. This kid knows exactly what he is doing.

Deku held out a hand. “So, Shigaraki, a battle to get the most air time. Care to join me for a game?”

He chose his words perfectly, thought Kurogiri. He knows Shigaraki doesn’t back down from a game, Deku planned this from the beginning.

Shigaraki slapped the hand. “Fine, let’s play.”

______________________________

As Deku walked through the warp gate, Kurogiri though the same thought he had thought every time the teen leader came into and left this bar.

Deku, leader of the Quirkless Rejects, what a truly frightening man you are.

Chapter Text

Deku, Doom, Jester, Animation, and Todoroki stood in the bar across from Shigaraki and Kurogiri.

Deku thought it would be funny and ironic if Todoroki and Iida met face to face. What? He was allowed to have some fun with this, right?

Shigaraki wasn’t too pleased with the sudden addition but he’d have to deal with it. He didn’t plan on losing this game anyways. Then again, neither was Deku.

Behind the two villains were a line of not yet fully developed, but still just as intimidating, Nomu’s. Deku whistled. “Woah, Shig, those sure are terrifying looking. It’s gonna be hard to compete against that.” Shigaraki narrowed his eyes. “You’re not backing out.” Not a question, a command. Deku grinned under his mask. No, not when I have you exactly where I need you. His sunglasses turned happy.

“Of course not!” Then angry. “I still plan on winning.”

Shigaraki growled. His eyes flashed to the cracked clock hanging tilted on the wall. “Kurogiri,” he rasped. The mist villain nodded and opened up a warp gate. All beings stepped through.

On a water tower in Hosu, Japan stood five members of the Quirkless Rejects, two of the League of Villains, and a line of unsightly humanoid creatures in the darkness of the night. The wind blew eerily, the sounds of the citizens enjoying their lives below filling the air. A few men coming out of a bar, a couple walking home, the karaoke joint blaring loudly. Deku turned to Shigaraki and Kurogiri.

“Let the games begin!”

______________________________

SUCK! Thought Tenya. I almost had him!

Tenya remembered getting the call at the sports festival saying that the hero killer had almost killed Tensei. Tenya was so… so… ANGRY! He had never felt this way before. Tenya was always what they called a goodie-two-shoes. He didn’t feel like one. He felt vengeful. He went all the way to turn down all of the good offers he had gotten for internships just to make it to Hosu. He was going to make Stain pay.

That’s what Tenya thought at least.

His perfect chance to go looking for the hero killer came in the form of Nomu, like the ones at the USJ, terrorizing the city. Manual told Tenya to go held the citizens to get to safety. He had a different plan. Tenya read that most of the kills happened in dark alleys. He ignored Manual calling out for him saying he was going the wrong way. He ignored the screams of the citizens as they cried out for help. He ignored how his consciousness told him to stop but he didn’t. He was a man on a mission.

Tenya found Stain, too! He found him standing over Native, a new hero. The teen couldn’t help but envision Tensei in Native's spot. He saw red.

He couldn’t stop himself as he propelled forwards. Tenya kicked out at Stain but the man expertly dodged. “Oh, another hero?” cooed Stain. “I don’t think I’ve heard of you yet.” They fought for a minute or two before Stain pinned Tenya to the ground, his helmet rolled off. Dang it!

“A teen? What angry eyes you’ve got.” Tenya hated the murderer's voice. He hated just how casually he spoke to him. “SHUT UP!” he screeched. Tenya’s eyes were wet. “In- Ingenium… I AM THE YOUNGER BROTHER OF THAT AMAZING HERO!” Stain glared down at him and Tenya felt his veins run cold. “No. You’re just a pitiful excuse for a hero.” Stain rose his long blade above Tenya’s head. No. I have yet to avenge my brother! I can’t die now!

*BANG*

A gun sounded and Stain's sword was blown from his hands.

Tenya looked up as much as he could from his frozen position on the ground. Ice traveled down the side of the building and formed a wall between himself and Stain. Todoroki? Tenya’s question was confirmed when a familiar bicolored male dropped down in front of him. He was in all black with a black eye mask on his face so it was hard to truly make out the figure too much.

“Todoroki, what are you doing here?” Tenya asked. The teen slightly turned to Tenya. “I could ask you the same thing.” He watched as Stain sliced through the ice like crunchy butter. Deku of the Quirkless Rejects dropped from seemingly nowhere and kicked out forcing Stain to jump backward. Behind Stain, Animation swept her boa staff below him. He lept.

*BANG*

Stain lurched forwards as a gun rang from the darkness. Tenya couldn’t see well but he knew that Stain had been shot. Jester threw a few knives from the back of the alley causing Stain dodge yet again. It came to a standstill. Todoroki stood in front of Tenya, Deku a few feet in front of Todoroki. Animation stood to Stains left, Jester to the back, Native still frozen and stuck sitting on his right. Doom was nowhere to be seen but Tenya knew it had to be him shooting. 

“Get away!” he shouted. “This is my fight! You shouldn’t be here!” I’m supposed to be the one taking Ingenium’s name!” Rage boiled under Tenya’s skin.

Todoroki looked at him. “Really? The Ingenium I knew didn’t have that look on his face.” Tenya’s breath caught in his throat.

Stain started moving again. He swung his sword, Animation swept her staff, Jester threw his knives, Deku kicked, and Doom shot. Todoroki threw up a wall of ice anytime Stain got too close.

Todoroki spoke again. “But I know who I am now. You? You aren't anything like the Iida you were before this. What happened to being a hero, Iida?” Tenya glared at the bicolored male. Tenya growled. “You abandoned us, Todoroki. You have no right to say anything!” “Maybe so,” the bicolored teen replied. “But I have a purpose now besides being my father's toy.” Eh? “Iida… you’ve suffered but you shouldn’t let that turn you the same way it did me.”

What is he saying? I’m not turning! I’m still going to be a hero! “Iida… open your eyes!” he looked up at his former classmate turned villain.

“LOOK CLOSELY AT WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO BE!”

Tenya choaked. Tears welled in his eyes. Todoroki’s right, I haven’t been acting like a hero at all! And now I’m having villains save me?! I’ve got to get up, I need to move!

Stain sliced through a shield put up by Todoroki. MOVE! His leg twitches.

Stain threw three blades at Todoroki. *BANG* One was shot out of the air. MOVE DANG IT!

All at once, Tenya felt his body jolt forwards. MOVE! He got up reached his arm forward. The blades sank past his armor and into his flesh. Tenya gritted his teeth in pain. Todoroki stared at the taller teen in shock. “Todoroki…” he gasped through the pain. “Thank you for reminding me of who I want to be.” Todoroki smirked, the first time Tenya has ever seen any emotion on the bicolored males face. “Don’t thank me now, Iida.” Right, Tenya looked over as Stain fought with the members of the quirkless rejects. He seemed to be slowing down. It must be hard fighting trained fighters with Todoroki also protecting them. Stain had a few bullet wounds, the shots were too hard to dodge them in the dark when Doom seemed to be changing positions. He had a few cuts and bruises as well. The Quirkless Rejects looked a little worse for wear as well.

Tenya looked down at his legs. He couldn’t use his engines, he had used Recipro Burst to move in the way of the knives. Tenya whipped his head around to Todoroki.

“Todoroki, can you regulate the temperature of your ice?”

“What?”

“I need you to cool down my engines.”

Todoroki stared for a second. “You do realize you are asking a villain for help, right?” Tenya narrowed his eyes. “We were classmates before we were enemies.” Todoroki’s eyes widened slightly. “You wouldn’t have helped me if we weren’t at some point comrades, at the very least. One last fight together, Todoroki.” Todoroki seemed to steel himself and nodded sharply. He knelt down and began to gently frost Tenya’s legs. Tenay ripped the blades from his arm painfully as he waited.

Kick, swipe, slice, shoot, repeat. The time seemed to tick by so slowly. Hurry! HURRY! Todoroki stood up. “How’s that?” he asked. Tenya looked down and tested his engines. He saw a few flames pipe from them and looked up. “Thanks, Todoroki!” He got into running position and began to rev them up. Wait for it… Jester threw a knife and Animation swept her boa staff below Stains feet causing his to jump up. NOW!

*BOOM!* Tenya let out the strongest Recipro Burst he could from his left leg and lept. He used it again in his right leg, swinging his body around with it and twisting in midair. Deku also lept and spun. Deku’s foot collided with Stain's jaw as Tenya’s connected with Stains ribs. He felt them snap under the pressure as Stain's body twisted in an unsightly manner. The three began to fall but Todoroki was quick to create a slide of ice to catch them. The whole group in the alley froze panting for a good minute. A fight that probably didn’t last more than 15 minutes in total felt like an hour at least. Finally, Tenya spoke up. He looked over at Stain.

“I- is he…”

“Not yet,” said Deku. Yet? Yet!?

Deku stood and looked at his comrades for a second. They all stared back, a few of them nodded. Deku looked over at Tenya, his sunglasses turning happy. It felt as though ice cubes had been dropped down Tenya's back. He shivered.

Deku went over to the limp body of Stain and grabbed the man by the collar. He dragged the much larger man with ease, a testimony that he truly was a man capable of taking down pro heroes. Deku dropped the hero killer at Tenya's feet. “Wha-” Deku thrusted a long blade, one of Stains, into Tenya’s chest causing him to stumble a tad. Tenya took it only to not drop the bloody sword.

“Tenya Iida,” Deku said, voice level, “you came here for vengeance, am I right?”

Tenya gulped. Yes, but… “So, if you truly want vengeance, kill him.” Tenya’s mouth felt dry. What? No! I can’t do that! I don't want to-

“You don’t want to kill him, do you?” “Of course not!” blurted out Tenya. Deku’s sunglasses went angry. “Then what did you intend to do when you first found Stain? Give him a stern talking to?” the greenette mocked. What was I going to do? Tenya froze as he realized what he had just thought. Would I have killed him? Would I have killed Stain if Todoroki hadn’t opened my eyes?

Bile rose in Tenya’s throat because he knew the answer to that question.

He hated the answer to that question.

Deku leaned in and growled, “Don’t joke around with this kind of business, Iida. You’ll get yourself killed.” Tenya audibly gulped. Deku stood up straight again. “Turn around, Iida,” commanded Deku. “Wha-” Deku tore the blade from Iida’s hands. His eyes widened in understanding and Tenya lurched forwards. “No! Don’t kill him!” Tenya reached for the blade again. “Todoroki, Doom,” Deku said with a calm voice. Instantly ice froze Tenya in his place. Doom was behind him, a gun pressed to the side of the teen's neck. Todoroki wrapped his hands around Tenya’s eyes and mouth, one warm, one cold. He screamed against the hand and tried to bite it but Todoroki froze his mouth shut. Tenya tried to move and struggled but to no avail. 

No! Stop! You can’t-!”

*Squish*

Tenya’s heart stopped at the sound. He heard the sound of someone choking and gurgling. The sound of metal falling to the ground. After a few minutes Doom put down his gun and Todoroki removed his hands. Tenya gagged. Stain laid on the ground, blood spewing from his throat. His stomach twisted violently. “Well, teach,” he heard Deku whisper as he crouched by Stain who was gasping for air, “you always said not to trust anyone from the dark undersociety.” Tenya wanted to throw up. Deku stood and grabbed Stain by the collar. The members of the Quirkless Rejects all began to walk down the alley and past Tenya and Native. Todoroki froze the wound so it wouldn’t trail blood. He then thawed the ice holding Tenya but Tenya couldn’t bring himself to move.

He saw Native just beginning to stand up from is paralysis out of the corner of his eye.

The Quirkless Rejects, with Stain in tow, all walked out of the alley. Todoroki stopped at the entrance and turned slightly to Tenya, but Tenya only stared at the spot where Stain had just laid.

“Thanks, Iida,” his former classmate said. “Thanks for being my comrade for one last fight.” Tenya felt tears well up in his eyes. “I’m sorry, but the next time we meet, we’ll be enemies.” Tenya heard Todoroki's footsteps get quieter as he got further away.

Tenya stared at the puddle of blood before him. This… It’s… It’s my fault… If only I hadn’t been so keen on vengeance! The image of Stain choking on his own blood flashed in his mind. Tenya fell to his knees and threw up, the gentle hand of Native patted his back.

______________________________

Deku dragged Stain silently through the darkness. Everyone was silent, the sounds of the Nomus rampaging through the city, screaming people, and the relief efforts of the heroes and medics in the background. He eventually turned down a different alleyway, one that had no recollection of the terror that had just occurred multiple blocks down, only to receive its parting gift. He laid Stain against the wall. The ice had just finished melting and Stain’s blood ran freely from his neck once again yet Deku couldn’t find it in him to feel anything.

The man who agreed to help them, who trained them, who traded sarcastic remarks with them, who gave them meaning, an identity. The man who made the Quirkless Rejects really the Quirkless Rejects. One they might even call a friend if fate had been kinder to the group.

Deku couldn’t bring himself to shed a single tear. He just felt… nothing.

He knelt down and pulled off Stain's red eye mask. Deku gently closed the lifeless eyes. Stain’s body had begun to get cold. Deku folded the mask and put it in his pocket before pulling out a black sharpie from his pocket. He drew a large “Q” on Stains forehead before standing and passing the sharpie to Jester who crouched down and drew drew an “R.” They all took turns adding letters until the words “QUIRKLESS REJECTS” were boldly written on the hero killer’s forehead.

The five of them, all sporting wounds of their own, stood and stared at Stain. If Jester or Anima shed any tears, no one commented on it. After a little bit, Deku pressed the same button from the Sports Festival attack. A minute passed before a warp gate opened in front of them. “Great job everyone,” Deku whispered, almost inaudibly, before they walked through.

_______________________________

The main eight of the Quirkless Rejects: Deku, Animation, Jester, Bubblegum, Doom, Grimlin, and the Fox twins, all sat in the League of Villains bar. They were all seated on the bar stools while Kurogiri stood behind it cleaning shot glasses and Shigaraki sat on their old ragged couch. Deku held the remote in his hand and turned to Shigaraki. “No matter what happens, no hard feelings, right?” Shigaraki glared at him. “Shut up and turn it on.” Deku sighed and turned on the TV to the news.

_______________________________

BREAKING NEWS:

LEAGUE OF VILLAINS SET LOOSE MULTIPLE “NOMU”

LOOSE IN HOSU AND THE HERO KILLER: STAIN

WAS FOUND DEAD BY THE QUIRKLESS REJECTS

“Footage of the League of Villains and the Quirkless Rejects together on the Hosu water tower was captured last night just before the two groups went separate ways. No footage was shown of the actions of the Rejects afterward but we have footage of the League letting loose multiple Nomus such as the ones seen at the USJ attack.”

“They caused thousands and thousands of dollars in damages. Three deaths and twenty-four injuries were counted. The relief efforts of the first responders and multiple heroes, including the number two hero, Endeavor, kept the damages, deaths, and injuries to a minimum. What do you think about this recent attack, Sherri?”

“Well Shawn, I think this confirms that the Quirkless Rejects and the League of Villains are indeed working together. The Rejects have already been performing larger actions such as attacking heroes often. We don’t know much about the League however they always seem to do something on a grand scale. Whenever they do something it is always side by side with the Rejects.”

“Speaking of the Quirkless Rejects and them attacking heroes under their basis of society being oppressive towards the quirkless community, the hero killer Stain was found dead last night. He was found in a dark alleyway with multiple bullet wounds, broken bones, and cuts. The killing cut was presumed to be the large slit on his neck which cut through his windpipe and throat. The Rejects signature that they leave on every hero or criminal they leave on the police’s footsteps was drawn onto Stains forehead.”

“Yes, we got quotes from new pro hero Native and hero in training Tenya Iida who had witnessed the killing. Native claimed to have gotten found by Stain and frozen by his quirk. Iida claims that while he was helping get the citizens away from the Nomu attacks, he came across Stain about to kill Native and stepped in to help only to get caught by Stains quirk as well. During that time the Rejects Deku, Doom, Animation, Jester, and newly, the son of Endeavor, Shoto Todoroki, stepped in and killed Stain. It is to be believed that they finished the job in a different alley due to the large amounts of Stains blood found in a different one.”

“Speaking of the son of Endeavor, many critics are starting to question the number two hero. It is already well known that he isn’t exactly the most sociable hero out there and actually called one of the rudest. His fans say that that is just part of his charm but many can’t get past the fact that this could also lead to some behind the scenes mishaps in his home life.”

“Are you saying that Endeavor was the cause of his son’s sudden rebel, Shawn?”

“I’m saying that that is what the public's majority thinks but without proof, authorities and police cannot look into it and no matter what you say, Endeavor is one of our best heroes. He certainly isn’t number two for nothing.”

“The Quirkless Rejects have pulled off two great stunts back to back from the Sports Festival and the son of Endeavor joining them to killing Stain. It is almost as if they are trying to send a message by killing the hero killer.”

“Yes, Sherri. The Rejects have never killed before this incident, the hero killers and their ideals clashed by a landslide even with the similarities. ‘Equality Does Not Require Death,” or something like that.”

“That sounds about right. Having done such big actions recently, we can only hope that the Quirkless Rejects will let the world calm down from the recent destruction.”

“A break from all of the commotion would be really nice but on to other news, Mrs. Doolittle…”

_______________________________

Deku smirked under his mask knowing that no, they were not going to slow down. In fact, this was just the start though he did really like that “Equality Does Not Require Death” statement. As he thought this, Deku dodged Shigaraki’s hand and pinned the man to the ground. “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” he sighed. “I thought we had an agreement, Shig.” “Screw off.” Kurogiri hummed from the bar. “I will admit, I did not see the death of the hero killer coming.” Deku’s sunglasses turned happy as he turned to Kurogirir, skipping back to the bar to take another swig of his drink. “Right? Well, Shig,” he said turning to the man getting up. “We won but that doesn’t mean you didn’t get anything out of this so keep your chin up!” “Shut up,” the man growled. 

Deku sighed and turned to Kurogiri. “A week from now we need you to warp us in front of Japan News Now, think you can do it? We’ll pay you of course. Maybe you can use the money to get new recruits and finally start getting more publicity. It’s hard to get publicity with only two people you know.” Shigaraki glared at him. “And I presume you won’t tell me what you want with the news station?” “Nope!” Shigaraki stared but complied. “Fine, but only for the money.” Deku nodded. “Well then, see you in a week! It’ll be a lot of the members, just so you know.” He heard Shigaraki grumble under his breathe as they left,

“Dang brat.”

_______________________________

Deku and the main members all stood on the stage they had constructed in front of the whole of the Quirkless Rejects. Deku cleared his throat and stepped forward.

“In a week from now, we will be taking control of Japan News Now.”

…

…

…

“EHHHHHH?!?!?!?”

Chapter Text

Deku cleared his throat. “Calm down, calm down,” he said as he waved his hand. Once the group quieted down again he continued. “So, yesterday I’m sure you heard what happened down in Hosu, including the death of Stain.” There were a few murmurs from the crowd. “No one expects the Quirkless Rejects to do another large scale attack after the Sports Festival and killing Stain. That is why this is the perfect time to launch the biggest action yet! We will take over the station and broadcast all over the world to other quirkless people or to those who have been cast aside because of their quirks,” he saw the few quirked people look down slightly.

“Recently I have been looking over the web and seeing multiple people wishing that they had a Quirkless Rejects base in their countries, more so on the black web. So, we will broadcast a plan to get branches started and to connect the leaders of each to the main base, here.”

A purple-haired girl raised her hand. Deku pointed at her. “Yes, Jodie?” “How are we supposed to stay connected to them, Chief? And won’t the lines be cut if they notice the Quirkless Rejects on the news instead of the normal news?” He smirked under his mask.

“Great question! We are splitting into two groups. One will take over Japan News Now, and the other will take over the headquarters of Broadcasting Live, the corporation that actually puts out the footage you see on television. At Broadcasting Live, the group will keep the staff from calling the police and heroes and from cutting off the lines that will be broadcasting us live. At Japan News Now, the group will be taking over by force and be broadcast all over the world. Ruske, come up here.” The middle-aged brunette climbed onto the stage and faced the crowd. Deku placed a hand on his shoulder.

“This man will be the one to hack into the broadcasting systems at Broadcasting Live to get us live all over the world.” There were a few applauds.

“And for connecting with branches around the world?” questioned Jodie.

“We will create a black web website through the dark undersociety to decide and contact the other leaders and branches and coordinate attacks and actions. Now,” Deku clapped his hands loudly, “please line up in a single file so that we can divide you into two groups.”

Ruske went back down and the group began getting into line. The main squad split as well. Deku, Doom, Animation, and Grimlin to go with the Japan News Now team and Jester, Bubblegun, and Fox to go with the Broadcasting Live team. Once they were all split up, they immediately started working in their teams with plans, outlines, and battle plans. Deku started working that night with a few computer geeks in the underground bunker with their online dark undersociety web worker and Giran to make their black web website. It was a very long week.

_______________________________

*KNOCK KNOCK*

Shouta looked away from the television to the front door. I wasn’t expecting anyone.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

I really don’t want to get up…

*Knock* … *Thud*

Shouta narrowed his eyes and reluctantly got up, Shepard protesting loudly. Shouta made his way to the door and opened it. “Who’s the- woah kid!” Mikumo slumped into his arms, Shouta relying on the reflexes he had honed as a hero to catch the falling teen. “Mikumo?” The kid didn’t reply, in fact, judging by the steady rise and fall of his back, he seemed to be asleep. Shouta looked down. A box lay on its side at the kid's feet. Shouta sighed, but he was still worried. He scooped the sleeping boy into his arms and carried him to his couch where Shouta gently deposited him. Shouta went back and got the box and closed the door. He left it on the table before getting a blanket and pillow for Mikumo. When he came back and took a good look at his son, Shouta got even more worried.

Despite the make up the greenette uses to cover his freckles, Shouta could see that he was pale with a flushed face and he had dark circles under his eyes. Shouta gently place a hand on the teen's forehead and reeled back in shock. 

He’s burning up!

Shouta wasn’t exactly used to treating fevers since he used to be so apathetic towards others until Mikumo came along and he lives alone. Being unqualified for this, Shouta texted the one person he knew that knew how to deal with this, Recovery Girl.

Eraserhead:

I need help.

Recovery Girl:

What’s wrong? It is odd for you to text me at all?

Eraserhead:

I’ve been taking care of a kid and he caught a fever.

Recovery Girl:

Eraserhead.

Eraserhead:

What?

Recovery Girl:

Do you have a kid?

Eraserhead:

Well, not officially but I kind of adopted him unofficially.

Anyways, I don’t know how to deal with this kind of thing, what do I do?

Recovery Girl:

I’ll be over in a second.

Shouta stared at her last message, then at Mikumo. “Suck!” His cat jumped at Shouta’s sudden outburst. Shouta ran a hand through his hair. Please let this go well…

While he waited, Shouta did what he knew to do. Shouta pulled the thick hoodie Mikumo was wearing off of him. He chuckled slightly at its caption: “YOU’RE MY HERO.” It was quite ironic but anytime he brought it up, Mikumo got this wistful look in his blue eyes so Shouta just didn’t question it. He had a feeling it came from Izuku’s past. Shouta draped it over the couch. He covered Mikumo with a blanket, put a pillow under his head, then put a cold, wet rag over the kid's forehead. He felt as though he should take off the kids beanie but if Recovery Girl was coming over, it was very much part of his cover-up.

Shouta sat on the floor by the couch waiting for Recovery Girl.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

Shouta stood up and looked over at the still sleeping boy.  As much as he wished Recovery Girl wasn’t here in person, Mikumo’s breathing had gotten rougher in the short time he was there and Shouta knew that this was probably for the best. He took a deep breath before going to the door and opening it to reveal a short elderly woman in a nurse's coat with a cane shaped like a shot needle. “Recovery Girl,” he greeted and let her in.

“Honestly, Eraserhead, why did you even take in a kid if you couldn’t take care of it? You of all people too.” Shouta didn’t answer. He followed the woman to the couch. Recovery Girl looked at Mikumo and her eyes flickered to Shouta. “Get me a bowl of water.” He left to do so. When he returned, she changed out the damp towel Shouta had placed on his son’s head earlier by dipping it in the bowl and ringing it out again.

She checked Mikumo’s temperature with a mouth thermometer. “He’s running a 103 fever, pretty high.” Shouta’s eyes widened. Recovery Girl continued. “Judging by how tense he is, it is probably stress-related.” She placed a bottle of pills on the coffee table. “One every five hours, when he wakes up, get him to eat something light, like a thin soup.” Shouta sighed. Stress huh? I guess between the Sports Festival, Stain, and the attack coming up, this was probably inevitable. Shouta will admit, he was surprised to see the death of the hero killer in the news. That most likely was a bigger part in this, as far as Shouta knew, Deku had never killed before and since the three shared a brain, or consciousness, or something, it would have a big impact mentally and emotionally on Mikumo too.

“Thank you, Recove-”

“Wait,” she stopped him. Recovery Girl grabbed Shouta’s forearm and dragged him away with the strength he didn’t think the elderly woman had. She stopped down the hallway. “Explain to me why the pro hero and class 1-A heroics teacher Eraserhead is housing Deku, the leader of the Quirkless Rejects, in his house.”

Shouta’s eyes widened slightly. Wha- How? Then he remembered. She looked at him oddly before sending Shouta away for water, it must have been then. Shouta took a deep breath. “Look, Recovery Girl, as a woman who has been in the medical field since your teenage years, I’m sure you have seen many mental disorders.” The woman nodded. “Well, he has an identity disorder.” 

Recovery Girl narrowed her eyes. “Elaborate.”

Shouta combed a hand through his hair again. “He, Deku, and Izuku Midoriya are essentially three different people living in the same body because of a combination of past trauma and having to use different identities as cover-ups. Mikumo, my kid on the couch, admits that it wasn’t supposed to go as far as it has but it wound up like this.”

“So why on earth did you not report this to the authorities?” she questioned.

“When I first met the kid, he was about to commit suicide.” Her eyes widened. “I think, at least. It was probably the start of, and one of the trigger points of the disorder, honestly. As much as Izuku was trying to escape his past, a part of him longed for the loving parental relationship he never had and that formed into something he probably subconsciously cut apart from himself since he didn't want the weakness but it formed into the identity of Mikumo.” It almost sickened Shouta to think that he was the focal point of the shift from normal to identity disorder but he still wouldn’t change what happened for the world.

Recovery Girl let out a waverly, old lady sigh. “Look, Aizawa,” she said, using his name on a more personal level. “I’ve lived a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of things, and met a lot of people.” Shouta only nodded. “When I looked at you, I saw a man empty. You were void of emotion and you based your life so much off of rationality that it left you not feeling the emotions humans are born with like love, compassion, and kindness.” Shouta was lost for words. Yes, it was true that he was rational but to that extent? Really? “But recently,” she continued, “I’ve noticed a change in you. I couldn’t place my finger on it but I saw you acting less rational and more like a human, one that listens to his heart. You had light in your eyes and you were happier. I didn’t know why until now. You found something, someone worth living for.”

Shouta looked down the hall at the sleeping Mikumo.

“You found someone worth bypassing rationality. Something with the potential, as you would put it, to make you feel something again. I think through all of my years of experience, as much as you said that boy was longing for a connection, so were you. And I think you both found it in each other.”

Is that true? Shouta looked at his hands. He knew it was. He felt it too, that shift Recovery Girl was talking about. At some point in his life, Shouta had given up on the thought of getting married and having a family. He knew it was irrational as a hero. Still, Shouta wouldn’t have become a hero if he didn’t long for it even a little. It brought him joy keeping families safe and together when he couldn’t have one of his own. It helped him cover up that longing. Being a teacher? He wouldn’t have accepted the position if he hadn’t longed for a family, a child of his own as well. Mikumo? Well, Mikumo was exactly as Recovery Girl described him, the longing for a family and connection. Now he was about to be taken away? No! Not after he had just found him! Shouta clenched his fists. I can’t let her take my son away! Even as an adult, Shouta guessed that he still had room to learn from those older than him, even about himself.

“I won’t report this to anyone, Aizawa.”

Shouta snapped his head up. She’s not? “Your not?”

Recovery Girl shook her head. “I think it would be cruel to take him away from you, not only for you but for the boy as well. However, you are a hero, do not forget this, Eraserhead. That kid, whether it be him or the other side of him, is a villain. If you become one due to this kid being in your life, I will not hesitate, Eraserhead.” She began to walk down the hallway and to the door.

“So you won’t tell anyone?” he asked, just to be sure. Recovery Girl tapped her head. “Who, me? I’m too senile, I’ll just get the story mixed up anyways. See you sunny! One every five hours, don’t forget! And change that towel every once in a while!” She left leaving Shouta to stand in silence. After a few moments, Shouta let out a huge breath of relief he didn’t know he had been holding. Then he looked over at Mikumo and his mind trailed off to his thought process from before. I was ready to fight for that kid… “Dang kid gonna get me in trouble.”

Shouta huffed and rewet the towel.

He went to get up again but something snagged his sweatpants. Mikumo had grabbed onto them. Shouta looked down at the boy, blue eyes looked up at him. “Mikumo?” The boy didn’t respond, he just closed his eyes, grip growing slack as he fell asleep again. Shouta smiled softly. He gently lifted the boy's head and pillow, he sat down laying the pillow on his lap and Mikumo’s head on the pillow. 

Yeah… I’d fight for this kid.

Shouta silently drifted off into sleep.

_______________________________

Shuzenji didn’t know what to think. Aizawa was taking care of a kid? No way!

At least, that’s what she thought. Then she was there and looking at this obviously very feverish child that looked suspiciously like a certain villain leader. She had to be sure though so Shuzenji sent Aizawa to fetch a bowl of water and while he did, she checked under the kid's beanie and sure enough, same exact haircut. The sweat had wiped away some of the apparent makeup and Shuzenji could just make out freckles under makeup.

No way was Aizawa really harboring a villain! She had to be sure though. So she, with all of her old lady strength, dragged the man to his hallway and confronted the man about it only for her fears to be confirmed. Still, Shuzenji couldn’t bring herself to take the two away from each other, not after that story and the change she had seen in the man before her.

After giving her parting words to Aizawa she left.

“Aizawa, I really hope that when the time comes, you will know what side you are on.”

_______________________________

Mikumo felt awful, to say the least. Deku and Izuku too. Deku had been running them ragged, and with the bakery work as well, it was hard to keep up with! Still, Mikumo had something to look forward to, today he was delivering Dad's costume to him. Still, something felt off. His head throbbed terribly and bile felt stuck in his throat. Flashes of hot and cold came and went and Mikumo was so, so dizzy.

He almost passed out on the walk there alone. The stairs to Dad's floor seemed like there were a thousand more and his legs felt like lead. He finally, FINALLY, stood in front of the door. Mikumo lifted his heavy arm and knocked on the door.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

There was no response. Is he not home?

*KNOCK KNOCK*

No response. Ah… I really don’t want to go home…  He lifted his arm one more time but his vision swirled and body swayed. Mikumo dropped the box, fist hitting the door first and head following soon after.

*Knock* … *Thud*

He blacked out.

_______________________________

A cool sensation on his forehead, the soothing feeling of fingers running through his hair. Izuku opened his heavy eyelids. His vision was blurry. A memory of his mom holding him when he was sick when he was younger floated in and for a second, he saw her again, but as his vision cleared, it was a shock that the one in his view was very much not his mother! Izuku screeched and fell off the couch he had been laying on.

“Kid, calm down.”

Deku kicked it into overdrive and jumped in. Deku got to his feet but his vision tilted and he stumbled backward over a coffee table and fell on his butt. The black-haired man had stood up. Deku vaguely registered him as familiar but was too dizzy to really think about it. Or care. All that registered was !!!DANGER!!!

“Calm down, it’s just me…”

Deku grabbed the first weapon nearby, a TV remote, and pointed it at the man like a knife. 

“S- stay back!” his voice cracked and ugh… his head was pounding. He couldn’t even see straight!

The man crouched down. “Mikumo.” What? Oh… OH! Eraserhead!? What the hell!? Mikumo jumped in quickly, rightfully so because Deku was on the verge of throwing a television remote at the one hero on their side.

Still, the sudden mood change and adrenaline drop were not wanted. Mikumo dropped the remote. “D- Dad?” The blurry figure of his adoptive father nodded. Mikumo pressed his hands to his mouth. “I- I’m so sorry!” “It’s alri-” “I- I really didn’t mean it!” He could feel his body reacting to all of the years of beating Izuku had acquired and subconsciously began to curling a defensive ball.

“I’m sorry! P- please don’t hurt me! I’m sorry! I’m so sor-” His voice got cut off by his father’s arms around him. “Shh…” hushed the older male. “It’s ok Mikumo, I would never hurt you…” Mikumo shook violently in his arms. Since when had Izuku’s past affected him this much? It was almost like they were the same… NO! Not the same! Still, the heaviness in his head had not cleared and Mikumo once again fell asleep in the safety of Dad's arms.

Mikumo ended up staying at Dad’s house a couple of days, apparently, he had gotten sick due to stress. It made sense, in retrospect. They watched movies and played board games and bonded like the father he never had and Mikumo felt… content. He laughed at Dad in his costume and Dad rolled his eyes and sighed for the thousandth time. Mikumo wished that he could have stayed like this forever as he fell asleep on his father’s shoulder.

_______________________________

At that point, what none of them knew was that is was possible to come back from an identity disorder.

Chapter Text

“Pfft…! Bwhahahahahaha!” Deku doubled over clutching his stomach. Before him stood a clearly annoyed Eraserhead in his costume. Now Deku will admit, he had a little bit of fun when putting together the pieces but even Mikumo didn’t stop him. He had full reign of what to choose!

So now pro hero Eraserhead stood before him in a blue and yellow spandex suit with a big smiley face on it, big pink boots, face painted like a puppy, and a bald cap on so he looked like he had no hair. He even shaved his stubble for this! Deku could feel Mikumo laughing too. Deku stood up straight and walked over to Eraserhead and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry, you j- just look so amazing, Da-” he stopped and froze. What? Deku’s sunglasses shown the confused swirls. Eraserhead looked shocked too. Deku put a hand on his forehead and waved the other slowly in front of him.

“Sorry sorry… I didn’t think Mikumo was that present. Just… give me a second…” Deku turned away and walked a bit further away to a wall in the underground bunker where the whole of the Quirkless Rejects was waiting. He leaned his head against the grey wall.

What the hell, Mikumo!?

I- I didn’t mean to! I- it just c- came out, you know?!

Guys, calm down…

Izuku, shut up. Both of you shut up! Even if you are normally present right now, Mikumo, I need to be present for the attack, so please, let’s just try to keep quiet for now?

Ok, but I really didn’t mean to...

Deku knows he didn’t mean to. It’s something that has been on all of their minds but none of them wanted to bring it up. Even when one of them was present, the others seemed to start having an influence. It wasn’t as prominent as before but it really shook them all up when Izuku’s past influenced Mikumo’s reaction to Eraserhead three days ago. Deku knew they needed to have a talk about it, not only the three of them but with the other main Rejects as well. He sighed. Let’s just get through this first.

Yeah!

You got this!

He smirked. As much as he wants his time present, Deku liked how supportive they were and the little side conversations he, Mikumo, and Izuku would have. Ah, I sound like Izuku. He would apologize for his rude behavior later but now, he had a successful attack to pull off.

Deku went back over to the smaller group, his sunglasses going happy. “Sorry about that, had to have a little personal talk with the others, ya know?” They all nodded and Deku clapped his hands together. “Alright! It’s about time to get started. Eraserhead, go to blend in with the crowd as much as you can… pfft…” Deku and the main group went to the other corner of the room. The greenette cleared his throat. “ATTENTION!” The large crowd turned to face him. “We are about to start the attack.” It got quiet. Deku took a deep breath and looked around.

“The first showing of our much smaller group on television, the showing of power and growth at the Sports Festival, and even the killing of Stain have all been building up to this point. Take a good look around you,” he watched as heads turned. “These are your comrades! The people with whom you have fought with and against in training. With these people, you are about to start a war. It will start slow, but this is our first step into an actual war!”

It got tense.

“What the Quirkless Rejects are trying to prove is not their superiority but their equality with the quirked population. Sadly, it has come to the point of force but we will not back down! We will take this to the world and band together with the rejects across the planet, not just in Japan!

Now, tell me, ARE YOU READY TO START A WAR!?”

“YEAH!” The crowd punched the air.

Deku smirked underneath his mask. He raised his hand and pressed the button. Two large warp gates appeared behind him, one to Japan News Now and on to Broadcasting Live. “Let’s get started then.” The two respective groups went into their own portals.

_______________________________

Bubblegum took a deep breath. Deku put me in charge of this. I can do this, I can do this. This would most likely be her last act as a member before she and her boyfriend left the Quirkless Rejects for a couple of years and you best bet your bottom dollar that she was going to make the most of it! “Let’s get started then,” said Deku. Bubble nodded and stepped through the gate leading to Broadcasting Live with Jester, Fox, and the group going with them. As soon as they all stepped out, Bubble turned sharply to the crowd.

“Form a circle around Ruske! If he gets hurt or dies this will all fail! More defensive fighters in the front and the back with a few heavy hitters in the front just as practiced! Subdue and capture all workers and take away all means of communication. TEN MINUTES TOPS, NOW LET’S GO GO GO!”

It was nerve-wracking, sure, but the more she did this, Bubble got more comfortable with this kind of work. They all ran in. Bubblegum lead a group consisting of one of the Fox twins, Ruske, and five members up the stairwell heading for the main panels. Bubble shot her grappling hook to the top and grabbed a member. They both swung to the top. A couple of employees had begun to call authorities but Bubblegum caught the calls in time. While the member took care of the callers, she spoke to the police on the other side.

“Hello? What is your emergency?”

“Nothing! Sorry, it was 'bring your child to work day' today and my kid thought-” she swung around and pinned a man to the ground, katana in his shoulder, “that it’d be funny to call 911.”

“Okay, make sure to keep your calls limited to emergencies only next time, ma’am.”

“Yes, officer. By the way, you should check out the 5 o’clock JNN news coming up! It’s gonna be a springer for sure! Ta ta, officer!” She hung up.

As the group below took care of the security on the lower levels and she and the member she had grabbed had just gotten all of the employees locked in the soundbox, Fox, Ruske, and the four members from the stairwell all burst through the door. Bubblegum whipped around to them.

“Ruske, panel, now!”

“Right!”

The man quickly got to work, fingers fast across the keys. She stood at the front entrance to the room, Fox stood at the entrance to the sound room, and members on the computers helping where they could and checking the security cameras. Jester stood tense at the main floor, a few members were standing guard in front of a janitorial closet, presumably where they had locked in employees. Some members, along with the other Fox, were spread out across the second floor and stairwell, all were ready at a moment's call.

“We need a passcode!” shouted Ruske. Bubblegum nodded and turned to Fox. He opened the door and closed it behind him. A minute passed before he came out with a female employee. Fox locked the door behind him again. Six minutes left. Bubblegum crouched by the girl, sort of hard to do with the ever-growing baby bump but manageable. “Passcode for the computer now.” The girl shook her head. “P- please! I have a daughter at home!” Oh, now that made her feel bad. She didn’t have time to worry about it though.

Bubble put her still slightly bloody katana to the woman's neck. “Passcode. NOW.” The fear that was in the innocent woman's eyes might never leave Bubblegum’s memory as she choked out “99088546!” Bubblegum smirked and stood. “Thanks, take her back, Fox.” Fox grabbed the woman’s arm and hoisted her up. “W- wait! Please!” she yelled as he dragged her to the door. “I have a daught-” *SLAM* Fox closed the door harshly. Bubblegum sucked in a waverly breath. Five minutes. “Keep going! Get us online and hooked up to all the lines connecting to Japan and overseas! Four and a half minutes to go!” “Right!” hollered Ruske.

“B- Bubblegum! Fox!” The two looked over to the girl manning the security cameras. “Authorities have shown up!” Bubble met gazes with Fox. They both nodded slightly. Bubblegum grabbed the megaphone they brought along from the table and opened a window.

“Attention police and heroes!” Wow… she thought as she looked down at the multiple heroes and police cars below. Calm down, you’ve got this. “We have every single employee here under lockdown. They are all our hostages!” Three minutes. “If you make a single move that we can perceive as an attack, we will harm one. Please think carefully before you make a reckless action, it could cost an innocent life.” Bubblegum closed the window. She really hated this, taking hostages like this. It really wasn’t her style. Now that she was carrying a life of her own, her unborn child, she felt differently but Bubble knew that there was no backing down now. She set down the megaphone and went over to the intercoms that were hooked up to the whole inside of the building.

“All Quirkless Rejects members, those in the stairwell don’t know this but there are authorities outside. Regardless of this, STAND YOUR GROUND AND LET NO ONE PASS!”

She turned to Ruske. One minute. “One minute, Ruske, where are we?”

He was silent, tapping away like lightning. “Juuuuust… a few more…” Five. Four. Three. Two… 

“Come on!” One! “AND WE’RE ON!” A member quickly flipped on the news.

Deku and Animation sat in the seats where the normal newsman and woman, Sherri and Shawn, usually sat.

“Hello, world, and welcome to World News Quirkless.”

Bubblegum took a deep breath and clenched her fist. “YES!”

_______________________________

Deku walked through the warp gate with Doom, Animation, Grimlin, and the group that accompanied them. “Thanks, Kuro.” He hadn’t tested if Kurogiri could hear through the gates even if he wasn’t in the place presently but Deku said it anyways. Got to keep on the good side of their mode of transportation, right? He turned to the group. “Doom needs to get to the roof as well as the other long-range shooters to keep authorities at a distance! We will subdue and take captive of all employees, take all of their means of communication with the outside! Remember, they are all hostages but we will NOT harm them unless necessary! NOW GO! WE HAVE TEN MINUTES BEFORE FIVE!”

They all rushed into the Japan News Now building. Immediately Shouto froze the whole building, careful to avoid comrades. Shinsou got to work on brainwashing every employee and Eraserhead began making their pathway up to the second floor. Doom, Animation, and eleven members went to the second floor with him. There were only two stories. Before entering the second floor, Deku turned to Doom. “Get yourself and your shooters to the roof.” Doom nodded. “Roger.” He turned to head up to the roof but Deku grabbed his shoulder and turned Doom to meet him face to face-ish. It was hard to convey emotions through the two persons cover-ups but they know each other well enough.

“You better not die, Yuuta. You have got a child on the way.”

It was tense. Doom gave a sharp nod. “Don’t worry.” He turned and started to make his way to the roof. “I won’t.”

Deku watched Doom disappear as he rounded the next flight of stairs with three of the eleven members that were also long-range shooters. Animation nudged Deku slightly. “No time, seven minutes left.” Deku steeled himself. “Right, let's go.” With Grimlin and a large portion of the group on the first floor and a few lining the stairwell, Deku and Animation, and their eight remaining members stormed the room where they captured the news live. He quickly whipped out his pistol and shot the far wall. There were some screeches.

“Subdue everyone!”

The members all ran in and began capturing the employees. Eraserhead, in disguise, proved to be a great asset in keeping the quirks at bay and detaining the employees. One particularly brave one rushed at Deku. He spun on one foot and kicked out with the other, his metal sole meeting the person's ribcage and they toppled over. Deku looked down at the man. “Shawn? Ah man, I’m such a fan! Your commentary on us is so great!”

The newsman glared at Deku.

“W- why are you doing this, D- Deku?” he wheezed. Must have broken a rib. Oops. “Why? I dunno, you seem to know sooooo much about us in the news.” Deku’s sunglasses turned angry and the man paled. “You tell me, Shawn.”

When the newsman didn’t reply, Deku scoffed and tossed Shawn, who grunted in pain because he definitely had a broken rib, over his shoulder. So Deku had a little grudge against the man but all's well that ends well. “I got to say,” Deku commented as he carried Shawn over to the room the others were putting other employees, “what you said on the last time you cover the Quirkless Rejects, what was it, ‘Equality Does Not Require Death’? I quite like that.” Shawn coughed slightly as Deku set him down less than gently amongst his crew and tied him up. “I hope your next coverage of us does it justice but hey, what can I say?” Deku began to close the door. “Let’s keep it that way, don’t make a fuss and we won’t kill you.” Shawns eyes widened. Deku smirked and closed the door.

“Three minutes till air!” he called. Deku quite liked saying that, it felt so professional. *BANG BANG* Deku looked up. Doom and his crew? Suddenly his buzzer went off. Authorities. Deku instantly understood. He ran over and grabbed a megaphone. On a spare thought, Deku opened the room where he kept the employees. He looked around for a quick second before storming in and grabbing a frail-looking man with a large bruise on his face. He hauled the man out to the window and opened it, letting the other members close the door. Deku turned on the megaphone and pushed the man's head out the window.

“Greetings heroes and policy!” he greeted. “As you can see, we have taken control of the news station! As you can also see,” he gestured to the man, “we have hostages. Isn’t that great!? Well, it is for us. Mark my words, one wrong move by any of you and we won’t hesitate, will we?” he asked, turning to the man who stared back in terror. Deku turned back to the authorities and patted the man on the head. “See? You wouldn’t want to put this man or the other employees in any more danger than they already are in now, do you?” Deku leaned back with the man. “So keep yourselves in line heeeeroes.”

*SLAM*

He roughly closed the window and shoved the man towards Eraserhead. “Lock him up with the others.” Eraserhead nodded and did so. Deku sat down the megaphone and clapped his hands together. “One minute! Everyone on guard! Animation, join me in front of the camera?” She nodded. “Sure.”

Deku and Anima sat in the seats usually filled by Shawn and Sherri. Thirsty seconds. Jodie got behind the camera and pointed it at them. “Chief, they haven’t hooked it up yet.”

Deku smirked. Twenty seconds. “Don’t worry, they will.” She nodded. The interpreters that they had hired from the dark undersociety had set up screens behind them to display word for word Deku’s and Animation's words in various languages behind them while they typed them on keyboards. Ten seconds. Deku and Anima both cleared their throats. Five, four, three… His sunglasses went happy. Two.

ONE!

Jodie waved her hand frantically behind the camera. That’s our cue!

“Hello, world, and welcome to World News Quirkless. I’m sure by now you know who we are, right Animation?” She nodded and grinned. “Quite right. Hello, world, we are the Quirkless Rejects coming to you live from Japan.”

“We come with news for all of the quirkless around the world. We very well know that there aren’t quirkless people,” “or those rejected for their quirks,” “only in Japan but in the rest of the world as well.”

There was a banging at the door with the muffled sound of fighting.

“So we decided it is about time that the quirkless across the world join the fight!” Deku exclaimed. “Care to explain, Animation?”

“My pleasure. Currently, you have only heard of us in snippets but we are looking to start branches in every single country. We can’t inform you of how over the news for it runs the risk of getting caught, but trust us, when it’s set up to be put into action, you will all know.”

The door burst open with a hero fighting against a couple of members. Deku’s sunglasses turned angry and he snapped his fingers. While the hero seemed to get increasingly confused as to why his quirk wasn’t working, thank you Eraserhead, a couple of members of the Rejects brought out two hostages. The whole room went silent aside from the quiet sobs of the hostages.

Deku cleared his throat. “Heroes, I do believe that I said not to make any foul moves on your part. Understand the consequences before you cross your boundaries.”

There was a squeal and a thud heard in the camera as both were knocked out, bleeding heavily from their heads. “Stop! Don’t hurt them anymore, villains!” commanded the hero. Deku laughed heartily. “Villain!? Hardly! If only, you so-called ‘heroes’ are the villains for pushing us to this point! They aren’t dead but surely won’t be waking up anytime soon. Now hold your tongue and shut the hell up. Someone detain him.”

As they were doing so, Deku and Animation continued.

“With that,” said Deku, “we would like to issue a warning and a declaration to all of you. To the quirked, to the government, to the authorities, heroes, and to society as a whole, what you have seen so far, from the USJ attack to the killing of the hero killer Stain, does not compare to what is coming up. We are not afraid of you but you should be afraid of us. We are the spawn of your failures and now you have to deal with the consequences, just like that hero who so rudely interrupted us. What are those consequences? It’s simple, really. What has the world always used to fix such large scale issues?” He smirked.

“The most simple but deadly answer in the book, of course. It’s war.”

Somehow, Deku could feel the tension of the whole world that lingered on that word.

“Welcome society to the war you have brought to your own front doors,” said Animation. Deku grinned under his mask but sunglasses turned angry. He took a deep breath and stared into the lens. The door burst open with more heroes. “Hands up!”

“The third world war starts now, World War Quirkless.”

_______________________________

“Cut it now!” Bubblegum commanded. One of the members pulled the large lever to the whole Broadcasting Lives power box and the whole city's power short-circuited and cut off. The room illuminated by the evening sun through the windows, heroes and police finally broke through.

“SCATTER!” she screamed as she pressed the button on her side, they made an extra for this purpose. A warp gate opened but Bubblegum was struggling against a hero. She saw one of the Quirkless Rejects members starting to loose against a newer hero.

___

‘Bubblegum, Doom, Animation, Fox, Jester, and Grimlin. What we are doing is something incredibly dangerous. By putting so many of the Rejects in a single place, we are cornering ourselves. Remember, it is more important that we all get out safely than if we finish broadcasting. All of us, even the other members. We must all get out, no matter what.’

___

Bubble ducked and dashed over. She grabbed the member's shirt and flung them as hard as possible through the warp gate. She began to make her way down the stairs when a hero grabbed her hair and swung her around. Bubblegum hit her back harshly against the wall. “Ack!”

A strong fist punched her across the face. It was about to hit her in the stomach but she luckily moved out of the way. “You dare hurt my child?!” Of course, the hero didn’t know she was pregnant but all her maternal instincts kicked in. Bubble and the hero tussled for a few minutes, she had some pretty deep cuts on him but was sure she had broken her arm. Finally, she got the higher ground and pushed the hero down the stairwell.

Multiple members were starting to flee to higher floors.

“Go!” she yells. “There’s a warp gate on the third floor!” She looked down and saw Jester, with a nice sized gash on his head and right leg stumbling up the stairs, a hero, Kamui Woods, quick on his heels. Bubblegum hooked her grappling hook on the railing above her and jumped just as Jester was passing her. She swung and nailed Kamui in the face. He caught her by the legs and flipped her onto her back. Jester had turned back.

“Don’t look back! Get the others out!”

“But-!”

“Deku put me in charge now listen to your elders brat and get out!”

She could see a tear drop from under his yellow bandana over his eyes. “Yes ma’am!” He limped up the stairs. Bubblegum and Kamui flipped over for a few, exchanging blows. It was hard to cut his wooden skin but she got a few splintering chops in. She had been able to make openings for them few members still coming to get through before managing to get some distance from Kamui Woods. She shot her grappling hook up and felt it latch on the railing somewhere above and began propelling forward when something snagged her leg.

Kamui Woods had extended a branch to wrap around her leg. As much as she used her thrusters, he had his branches tangles around the railing. She felt her leg pop out of place and gasped. Then something stabbed her. Bubblegum felt her head fog up. She looked over her shoulder. One of Kamui’s branches had stabbed through her shoulder. Bubblegum coughed, a little blood dripping from her mouth.

No… I can’t die now… I can’t! I HAVE A CHILD!

___

‘P- please! I have a daughter at home!’

‘W- wait! Please!’

‘I have a daught-’

___

Bubblegum swallowed the bile and pain and grabbed the hilt of her katana. With as much force as she could muster, she threw it directly down. It buried itself in Kamui’s chest. He choked and the branches receded. Bubblegum propelled upwards. She pulled herself over the railing. Bubblegum wobbled over to the warp gate. She looked up to see Jester standing there.

“Brat,” she chuckled, “I thought I told you to get out.” He rushed over to her and let Bubble lean on him. “I know,” he said with a scratchy voice, “I guess I’m just not good at listening to my elders.”

Bubblegum and Jester, both sporting battle wounds, crossed through the warp gate.

_______________________________

Deku struggled against Deck Arms, an incredibly strong hero. He was already bleeding from the head and was sure he had broken multiple ribs. Deck Arms swung again and Deku took the hit, flying across the room. And there was his right arm too. He had seen Eraserhead try to cancel Deck Arms quirk but it seemed to be a mutation type so he couldn’t. Due to all of the muscle mass, just kicking, even with the metal soles on his shoes, did nothing more than bruise the hero. He had been able to get a few bullet wounds on the man but Deku wasn’t the best shot and ran out of bullets so he had to holster his pistol again.

The most he could do was keep the heroes from getting his comrades long enough for all of them to get through the warp gate. Deck Arms landed a straight punch to the stomach and Deku went soaring. He coughed harshly as he slammed against the wall. As he got to his feet, Deku had to quickly dodge another hero but ended up running into a blade that sliced deeply across his abdomen. He coughed up blood.

Deku pushed himself up against a wall and slowly got up, leaning heavily against it. His head was foggy and black spots dotted his vision. He could see the last of his comrades get through the warp gate. Good…

His breath caught in his throat as he met eyes with Eraserhead.

___

‘Hey, Deku, give me a moment with Mikumo, k?’

‘Tsk, fine.’ He let Mikumo take over.

‘Dad? What’s wrong?’ The man suddenly hugged him.

‘Just… don’t die. Don’t die, son.’ Mikumo hugged him back.

‘I won’t, Dad.’

___

“D- Dad…” Mikumo coughed, taking present, tears began to fall from behind the sunglasses. He saw Dad rush forward towards him. No… don’t come… You have to escape… 

Deck Arms rushed at him again. He couldn’t move but he could drop. So he did. Mikumo wasn’t too good at this but all of them were jumbled together currently so it really didn’t matter. Mikumo dropped his body and Deck Arms punched the wall. Just then Dad reached the group. It was hazy but Mikumo could see snippets of them fighting. He had gotten them far enough away to pick up Mikumo, or was it Deku, or… ah… my head hurts… 

He looked up at the man that was running towards the warp gate. “D- Dad…” he choked out.

“It’s ok, Mikumo. Don’t speak, we are almost there.” Mikumo grabbed his Dad's arm. "Dad..."

___

‘Just… don’t die. Don’t die, son.’

___

“I’m sorry, Dad.”

They crossed through the warp gate.

Chapter Text

- JAPAN -

BREAKING NEWS: THE QUIRKLESS REJECTS HIJACKED JAPAN NEWS NOW AND BROADCASTING LIVE DECLARING WAR

“Hello, I’m Kyle. Today I am taking over the news for Shawn and Sherri as they recover from the attack that happened two days ago. Two days ago, the Quirkless Rejects hijacked the Broadcasting Live station and Japan News Now station and broadcast themselves all over the world to call out to other countries and apparently start branches overseas. Not only that, but the Rejects have also declared war on the world, calling it the third world war, or World War Quirkless.

This has riled up the authorities quite a bit. This has also got the governments of other nations and countries angry at Japan for Dragging us into your problems.”  The Rejects have claimed that they will be sending a means of communication over to the quirkless communities all over the world in ways that the authorities won’t recognize but the quirkless community will.

There were quite a few casualties among heroes, police, the employees they kept hostage, and even the members of the Quirkless Rejects. Currently, the whole world is waiting on the edge for some sort of reaction, plan, or another action from the Quirkless Rejects. It’s tense as we all sit in silence, not being able to do anything. The world as we know it is changing and not for the best. Stay safe, Japan."

_______________________________

- North America -

“Good morning, America! Just yesterday the whole world’s news channels were hacked and diverted to Japan’s news which had been taken over by the Quirkless Rejects, a criminal organization in Japan fighting for equality amongst the quirkless and quirked communities.”

“Yes, I believe we have all heard of them and even a few gatherings and riots have taken place even here in the United States where equality is a big topic currently.”

“Still, the US government was not too pleased, and I am sure that other countries are not happy to be dragged into this.”

“I assure you, they aren’t. The government is starting to take action. They have begun to regulate all forms of social media and contact with Japan and take action against the quirkless population. Those without quirks have been put under watch in fear of a terrorist movement.”

“This has further agitated the quirkless population though. Just this morning, as I was driving to work, I saw in many windows signs that had words like ‘Viva La Quirkless’ or ‘Quirkless rule, Quirks drool!’ and some less than pleasant ones as well.”

“I, too, think this is a little prejudice. It reminds me of how we used to keep the Japanese on the containment camps when we thought there were possible terrorists and spies.”

“Quirks, the things that we used to think kept us together and protected are suddenly tearing us apart.”

_______________________________

- China -

“We are losing our sense of unity.”

- England -

“It is quite a dangerous place to live in. Stay safe.”

- India -

“The quirkless are becoming dangerous. Shield yourselves.”

_______________________________

- World -

!STAY SAFE, WORLD!

_______________________________

Ochako was watching the news in shock. Her boyfriend, or his, like, alter-ego or something, was starting a freaking war! Ochako liked Mikumo, don’t get her wrong. But she was a heroin in training and Deku, who was something akin to a brother or just a body holder of the body Mikumo had, was a villain. He proclaimed vigilance but so did Stain. Ochako’s parents poured so much of their already low funds to get her to this point, to get her into UA and an apartment of her own so that she could attend it. She couldn’t give all of that up just for a boy.

She liked Mikumo, a lot. However, maybe it was the time that she turned that “like” into a friend-like. 

“The third world war starts now, World War Quirkless.” *Bzzt*

The power cut off.

_______________________________

Inko sat next to Rei in the mental ward. Their mental states had improved enough to allow them to begin to share a room. The news was playing and they both watched in shock. Her baby… Izuku was on television starting a war with the whole war! Well, Deku was. Still, it didn’t do a mother's heart any good to witness this happening. She took in a shaky breath. I should just be happy to be able to have a relationship with Izu again. She looked over at Rei slightly.

Rei was looking down. Her son, Todoroki, was also there. The ice encasing the walls in the background of the scene was enough to tell her that. Why were they still in the mental ward after all of their progress? Regret. They might have “made up” with their respective children but they still had some lingering regrets that bombarded their minds and wracked their mental states enough to keep them here. After all, both of them, whether directly or indirectly, played major roles in turning their sons into villains.

“Please be safe, Izu,” Inko whispered to herself as she turned back to the screen.

_______________________________

Shota sat in a different underground bunker, back in his normal clothes, next to fifteen hospital beds. There were many casualties, among them were Jester, Bubblegum, Doom, Grimlin, and Deku. But to him, it was Mikumo. And to him, Mikumo was his son. Jester and Doom were far better off than the rest of them but the others were severely wounded. Bubblegum had woken up once now after passing out when she exited the warp gate but fell unconscious soon after and hasn’t woken up again, and Doom had all of the bullet wounds that he had received from the police helicopters patched up and was doing well. Gimlin had begun to recover movement after the electric shocks that were so powerful that it made his muscles and joint tense up to the point of becoming immobile. Mikumo though…

He had yet to wake up. It was hard keeping him, Bubble, and the few members that are also still unconscious stable after the power cut off. The city’s power had been cut off for two days and with little power and only the work of black undersociety “medics”, they had little to work with. It had come on yesterday so those unconscious began to receive some much needed medical attention. Animation had the bakery closed for the week posting a sign that read, “In light of the attack and family members hurt, we are closed for the week,” on its front door. The mood was dark.

Shota sat next to Mikumo’s bed. The gash on his head was stitched but he had gotten a major concussion. The large cut across his abdomen was hard to stitch with his broken ribs but they had all been wrapped up and his right arm was in a cast. He had lost so much blood that he had yet to wake and was on a breathing machine with that dreadful mask over his mouth because a rib had punctured a lung. Mikumo had a black cloth over his eyes. Doom thought it necessary since the members that weren’t of the main group haven’t seen him sans cover-up. Shota thought it just made him look more dead against his pale skin and damp hair.

Shota sighed as he leaned against the chair next to Mikumo’s bed.

___

“I’m sorry, Dad.”

___

“Aizawa,” he turned his head towards Jester’s voice. “You should head home. You come here every day after your classes.” Shota shook his head. “I’m ok… Thanks though, Jester…” The kid nodded. The KID nodded. Mikumo, Jester, and many more of the Quirkless Rejects are just children that the world has pushed beyond return. He swallowed. It was sickening. Shota set the stack of papers he had been grading on the ground and turned to face Mikumo’s bed.

“You’re friends at UA are worried about you, kid. They saw the sign saying that the bakery worker's families had been injured. You gotta wake up some time to talk to them, you know?”

No reply, of course.

“Ah, your girlfriend too.” Shota always came and told the sleeping Mikumo about his day at work. “Those few that come to the bakery and you talk with often, who was it? Ochako, Kirishima, Tsuyu, and Bakugou. Oh and Iida joined them recently, didn’t he? Yeah, well, they cause another stir today. Apparently everyone thought we would cancel school when the power went out but we didn’t. Bakugou almost blew up another table, he’s ironically loud even while mute. Kirishima stopped him, again, with Iida being, well, Iida trying to calm them down.”

He sighed.

“Then we had a test…”

Shota spoke to the unconscious form of Mikumo for a while longer before he got up. “Night, Mikumo.” He walked over to the cot that he had personally set up for himself. Jester was right, Shota never left except for work. He was terrified of Mikumo waking up without him there. That sounded selfish but after the kid’s last outbreak, that is what he decided to call it, Shota just felt like he should be there.

He felt bad for asking Hizashi to take care of his cat while he was away but Shota had a nagging feeling that the loud blonde knew something was up when he agreed overly happy.

Shota climbed onto the cot and pulled the covers over himself. He slowly fell into a restless sleep.

_______________________________

*BEEP*

*BEEP*

Deku tightened his eyes close. 

*BEEP*

Slowly he opened them but there was no light. His eyes were open, right?

*BEEP BEEP*

I can’t see… He took a breath. Holy cowl it hurts to breathe!

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

He slowly sat up but the bandages across him shifted. Suck! That hurts! He clutched his head. Everything… hurts. A black cloth fell from his face. Huh?

Deku!

Mikumo?

I need control!

Wh- what? Why?

Da- Eraserhead! He- He-

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Deku remembered. He remembered it all. The news station attack, the heroes, Erasethe- HOLY COWL! After the way Mikumo passed out he’s gotta be crazed!

Ok, Mikumo, you got control. Mikumo took present and immediately swung his legs off the bed. His vision tilted.

*BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP*

“Deku?” He whirled his head to face around to see Jester and Doom sitting up from their… hospital beds? Wait? Where are we!? He lurched forward. I have to keep moving! He quickly stood up and stumbled.

“DEKU?!”

*BEEPBEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP-* The cords fell off him. He felt Doom and Jester grab him and tried to push him back onto his bed but Mikumo resisted. He struggled. “Let me go!”

“No, Deku! You need to calm down!” hollered Doom. “Someone get Eraserhead!”

“Dad!” Mikumo cried out!

He looked over and saw Grimlin shaking the hero awake. Dad sat up and looked around. Their eyes met and the man leaped off the bed. Mikumo pushed past Jester and Doom but his vision was spotting and his legs felt like they were going to give out. Mikumo reached forwards. His legs gave out and Mikumo felt himself start to fall when two arms grabbed and steadied him. “Kid, calm down!” Mikumo shook his head harshly. Dang, why is it so hard to breathe!?

“D- Dad- I just - You- The attack,” he stumbled over his words, completely disoriented. He felt something wet run down his body but couldn’t register as blood when his wound reopened.

“Mikumo,” Dad calmly spoke, “you’re hyperventilating. You need to breathe.” Mikumo shook his head. “Can’t- breath… Need to- say,” “You need your machine-” 

“I’m sorry-” Mikumo gasped out.

The room went silent, by now all other members who had woken up stared in shock. “Kid, you- MIKUMO!” He blacked out and collapsed into his father’s arms.

_______________________________

Deku woke up again on his hospital bed, re-hooked up to the machines.

*BEEP*

*BEEP*

He was a lot more calm, between him, Izuku, and Mikumo. Mikumo seemed content in having seen Eraserhead and said his sorries. Deku sat up, more gently than the last time. Bubblegum walked over to him. “Deku, you gave us all a fright last night…” He looked down. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” It was hard to breathe still and his voice was muffled by the breathing mask. She nodded in understanding. It wasn’t until now that Deku realized that the rest of the main group was there. “We know,” said Grimlin. “That’s why we think that it would be a good idea for you to stay off the front lines for a good month or two.” Deku whipped his head around, not the best idea if his aching head was anything to go by.

“What?”

“You are still our leader but you know very well that your mental state is a whole lot worse than the rest of ours.” Deku averted his eyes. Yeah, kind of hard to not know. “Of course, we still need you to lead us,” continued Grimlin, “just not on the front lines. We ask, as your family, Deku, and as people who genuinely care for you, that you don’t go out to take on any more heroes or criminals in the next month at the very least? You can still plan attacks, direct the Quirkless Rejects members, and command us all as always, but we want you to take some time off to get back into your own mind, or minds.”

Deku understood perfectly, he knew that this was all a very good idea but, “What about the bakery? Mikumo can’t very well disappear from the bakery, it would cause too much suspicion.”

“We know,” said Anima. “Mikumo can still work in the bakery, we just don’t want you fighting in the mindset you are in right now. Also, you are still very much wounded so even Mikumo will have to take it slow.”

Grimlin nodded. “Go hang out with Todoroki and Shinsou like normal, be with friends like Kirishima and Uraraka, just calm yourself. Actually, this goes for all of us, even if it is just with members of the Quirkless Rejects, we all need to spend some time talking with others our age and of the same interests. We will always be family but I think it would be good if we made relationships with the other members and with other people.”

“Are you okay with this, Deku?” asked Bubblegum. “You know we only want the best for you.”

Deku looked up at the ceiling of the bunker. You know it makes sense, Deku, said Izuku. I feel like this is my fault, commented Mikumo. It’s not, Deku replied. We all need this and we know it. No reply. Deku closed his eyes and gave a looooooong sigh before opening them and turning to his family. “Yeah, it’s okay,” he said with a strained smile.

They all smiled back.

_______________________________

Izuku woke up in the apartment. He had moved back to it two days after the talk with the other members and he was able to breathe without support. Honey was very happy to have him back, it was evident in the way she happily clambered onto him, careful to avoid his chest. “BARK!” Izuku laughed. “Hey, girl.” He pet her for a good minute. Everyone else had gone to work, the bakery was opening back up today but Mikumo was getting a late start. Izuku was very grateful for that.

He got up and went into the kitchen. There was a note on the fridge stating food for him was inside. Izuku popped it in the microwave before going to get ready in Mikumo’s uniform. It was a tad harder to accomplish with a broken arm but he’d make it work. Izuku looked in the bathroom mirror.

“I need a haircut,” he commented.

Very much so.

Maybe we could ask one of the members?

“Perhaps. Deku, can you check on it later?”

Sure thing.

“Thanks.”

Izuku heard the microwave go off so he quickly finished up and left to get his food. Izuku ate his rice as he looked out the window and Honey ate hers. It was good to be home. He wondered how Mom was doing. She must be worried. Ah, the sky is pretty. Oh, a bluebird. The weather is getting chillier.

Just simple observations but it was peaceful to be in his own mind alone. He began to nod off.

Izuku.

“Wha- huh?”

Wakey wakey.

“Sorry,” he apologized.

You know, I don’t have to work if our body isn’t ready for it just yet.

Izuku stood up sharply, greatly regretting it due to the sharp pain in his chest, and carried his bowl over to the sink. “Nope! All good! Mikumo you have free reign for the day!” Ok, if you’re sure. Mikumo took over and left with Honey, pulling on his black work cap.

_______________________________

“One coffee with three sugars, same as usual, Marice.” Mikumo handed the cup to the man and received the payment. Working efficiently was hard with the consistent pain in his chest and with one immobile arm but he made it work.

“Thank you, Mikumo. It is good to see you back. I hope your aunt is okay after the attack, I had no idea she worked at Japan News Now.” Mikumo laughed and his eyes flickered over to Himiki, who averted her eyes and looked back to Marice. Since when do I have an aunt?

“She is, thank you for your concern. I’m glad you and your family are well after the sudden power outage.”

“Thank you, it was quite a shock for our little girls but we got threw it. Have a good day, Mikumo.”

“You too, Marice.”

Ah, this is nice. It’s good to be back at Soft Blossom Bakery.  Honey yipped cheerfully from the corner as if she had read his mind and agreed. Mikumo chuckled and turned to the next customer.

*Ding Ding*

Mikumo turned his head to the sound of the front doors little bell that rang when a customer entered. “Ah! Uraraka!” His girlfriend gave a week wave as she approached Mikumo who was behind the bar. He picked up on it immediately. Something is wrong. “One caramel mocha, I presume?” He smiled at her. Uraraka nodded. “Yes, please.” Please? Why so formal? “Coming right up!” He got to work on her usual beverage.

“U- um Mikumo, are you on your break soon?” Yeah, something’s up.

“Yup! I’ll be out in a few,” he said as he passed Uraraka her drink and received the payment. She nodded. “Thanks.”

Mikumo went to the back as she left and took off his apron. Jester took his place at the coffee machines. He went out after washing his hands and getting a strawberry banana smoothie. Mikumo sat across from his girlfriend at a table in the corner. “Heya,” he greeted cheerfully. “Hi,” she quietly replied. “How’s school been? We haven’t talked in a while, you know?” The brunette shrugged. “It’s fine." ... "I- I saw the news, Mikumo.” There it is. “Oh that was wild wasn’t it?” He played ignorant. Uraraka nodded stiffly. “Uraraka. You have something you want to say,” he stated. Uraraka was silent for a while before she finally met his eyes.

“Let’s break-up, Mikumo.”

Yeah, I thought so. As much as Mikumo was prepared for it, ‘cause it was bound to happen, it didn’t hurt any less hearing her say it. “Why?” He asked. “You know why,” she said. The greenette nodded. “You’re right, I do. I want to hear you say it though or neither of us will be able to let go. You know it, too.”

Uraraka gulped. “I- I’m a hero in t-training and you, or Deku, are a villain a-and I can’t give up my future for a villain boyfriend.”

Silence. Then…

“Okay.” Her head snapped up. “Okay? That’s it?” she questioned, sounding almost hurt. Mikumo nodded. “Uraraka, I told you that I would never force your hand, and I still hold true to that. If you want to break-up, then I will break-up, no matter how much it hurts. I do not want to see you hurt because of something that we do.”

Uraraka looked down. He saw a few tears drop from her brown eyes. “O- okay. Then I guess that’s it…”

“That’s not all, though?” Her head snapped up again.

“N- no, it’s not. Mikumo, I- I’m going to tell my teacher about you.” Mikumo suppressed a grin. “A- as a future hero, I cannot let this slide.”

Mikumo nodded. “I understand, but I cannot guarantee Deku will think the same." She flinched. “I know…” Mikumo felt his heart tighten. “Uraraka, please look at me.” She did. “Thank you for being my girlfriend, even for a short while. Thank you for being my friend as well.” She reached up and undid the butterfly necklace Mikumo had given her. “Here, you can have it back,” she said holding it out. Mikumo shook his head. “Keep it, as a sign that you met me, that you were my friend, and as proof of my existence.” Her brown eyes widened. Mikumo stood up with his drink. “You are always welcome at Soft Blossom Bakery, caramel mocha,” he said before turning and walking away. Mikumo suppressed his tears as he put his apron back on and retook his place behind the bar. “Bark?” He gave a small smile. “Yeah, I’m fine, Honey.”

Uraraka got up soon after and left. She turned and looked across the room at Mikumo. He smiled at her and waved. “Come again, caramel mocha!” She didn’t reply and left. Mikumo walked out from behind the bar and went over to her empty table. He stared.

The necklace chain was left without the butterfly pendant. A note was under it. He picked it up and read it.

“Until we meet again, barista boy.”

 Mikumo sucked in a breath. He put the chain around his neck. Mikumo wiped away a single tear before returning to work.

_______________________________

Shota stared at the young teen in front of him. When Uraraka had asked to speak to him after class, in private too, this was not what he was expecting. While he did have the smallest inkling about it, he was not ready for it so soon. Uraraka walked up to him after her classmates had left.

“Aizawa-sensei, you go to the Soft Blossom Bakery often, right? I see you there sometimes.”

Shota nodded. “That’s right. Your boyfriend works there, correct?” She looked away. “No, we aren’t dating anymore.” What? When did this happen? Is Mikumo okay? “Ah, ok.”

“Actually, this is about my ex.” Calling him ‘ex’ already, huh? “Look, Uraraka you are my student, I’m not really allowed to get tangled up in your pers-” “My ex is the leader of the Quirkless Rejects, sensei.”

…

“What?” I assumed she knew but to go so far as to tell a pro hero? I guess she is a heroin in training after all. “My ex, Mikumo, has been using a worker at the bakery as a cover-up when in reality he is Deku of the Quirkless Rejects,” she said sternly.

“It was good of you to tell a hero but why did you not tell Principal Nedzu?”

“I see you talking with him sometimes and believe you should know before I tell the principal.”

Hold up, that’s not happening.

“Thank you for the warning. I will do some investigating as the hero in charge of the Rejects case and if I find anything I will tell Nedzu asap.” She bowed slightly. “Thank you, Aizawa-sensei.” Uraraka began to walk out of the classroom before she turned back. “You really didn’t know that Mikumo was Deku?” With the most leveled, cold voice he could, Shota looked his student dead in the eye and said,

“No, I had no idea.”

Uraraka’s stare lingers before her usual peppy smile returns. “Okay! See you tomorrow, Aizawa-sensei!” She leaves the room.

Shota grabbed his phone.

<Aizawa has come online>

Aizawa:

Your girlfriend just told me that you were Deku.

…

…

<Mikumo has come online>

Mikumo:

Oh.

Aizawa:

Right.

Your ex. What happened kid?

Mikumo:

She couldn’t be a villain’s girlfriend. I don’t blame her.

Aizawa:

You ok?

Mikumo:

Yeah.

I didn’t expect it to last long, sadly.

So what did you do?

Aizawa:

I told her that I’d investigate and handle it.

Mikumo:

Thanks.

Aizawa:

No problem, problem child.

Mikumo:

Problem child?

Aizawa:

Am I wrong?

Mikumo:

Touche.

Aizawa:

I’m coming to the bakery.

Mikumo:

Okay, see you soon Dad.

Aizawa:

See you soon.

<Mikumo has gone offline>

<Aizawa has gone offline>

Shota put his phone in his pocket and left with his folder of papers to grade. On his way out he passed Uraraka ‘walking back’ because she ‘went the wrong way.’ He briefly glanced at her. “Stay safe, just in case he follows you.” Uraraka looked stunned. “A- ah, right! Thank you, sir!” Shota kept walking.

Best keep your eyes straight, Uraraka. What lies in the dark might scare you.

_______________________________

Mikumo sat across from Dad with his strawberry banana smoothie. Honey sat nearby, as per usual. “Are you really okay, kid?” Dad asked. Mikumo nodded sadly. “Yeah, just a little depressed, you know? I should have known it wouldn’t have gone further than that. It was wishful thinking.”

Dad nodded. “Maybe so. As a hero I found that it was irrational to have a family of my own,” he said. “That was until you came along, you dang problem child messing up my plans.” Mikumo smiled slightly and looked up at his father. He stuck his tongue out. Dad scoffed. 

“Either way, don’t worry about it.” Mikumo nodded again.

They sat in silence for a little bit as Dad graded his papers. Mikumo looked down and swallowed a sigh. “You… you might lose your job over this.”  Dad’s pen stopped, hovering over the papers. He looked up at Mikumo.  He’s not replying… Mikumo bit his lip. Mikumo, what the heck are you doing? questioned Deku. He’s our ace in the hole! Mikumo swallowed. I know… I know but…

“So?”

Mikumo looked up slightly. “I became a hero because, despite not being able to have a family of my own,” Dad continued, “I wanted to still have that sense of being needed and helping, whether I portray that well or not. While I still enjoy being a hero, now I have found a family, someone worth giving that up for.” Dad smiled softly. “You, Mikumo Aizawa, my son.”

Tears swelled in Mikumo’s blue eyes.

Dad leaned over and pat his head. “Such a crybaby.” Mikumo chuckled. “S- sorry. But thank you, Dad.”

Dad looked at him. “No problem, kid, but please don’t apologize. The last time you said those words I almost had a heart attack.”

Mikumo sputtered and laughed. “Haha! Sor- Pfft… What else can I say then?”

Honey yipped happily.

_______________________________

Deku, in his casual wear, but still with sunglasses and mask on, walked through the warehouse with Fox on either side and Ruske on his left. “Okay, when will the website be ready to be put on the black web?” “Next Tuesday,” Fox said in unison. Mikumo nodded. “Ruske, how is the coding going so we can post the site under the table on the Quirkless Pals website?”

“Grimlin and I have been working on it a lot the past week so it is almost ready, Chief. Can we have until next Friday?” Deku nodded. “Sure thing, just contact me or one of the Lights when they are done.” It was odd calling the main group: Grimlin, Fox, Bubblegum, Doom, Jester, and Animation, ‘Lights’ but that is what the members of the Quirkless Rejects had deemed them so he called them that when referring to the group around other members.

“Yes, Chief Deku,” replied Ruske.

Chief, too, was odd, being called that, but it was getting more common and Deku found that he quite liked it. “Alright, I’ve got to talk with some other members so unless your dark undersociety employer needs you, go and enjoy yourself for the rest of the day. Fox, you should probably get back to your ice cream stand starting tomorrow. No need to attract suspicion.” The three nodded and departed from him. Deku approached a group of three at the couch in the far left. Since the Kyota Bridge gathering, the large group living here has really made the bottom floor a home, aside from the construction of a new wall to block off a portion. They were planning on welcoming more members coming this Christmas. Speaking of Christmas…

“Animation, Jodie, Jester! How’s the Christmas party plans going? Only two weeks away!” The three waved at him. Jodie was a quirked member but she had purple butterfly wings that were cracked and was rejected by society for having a ‘faulty quirk.’

“Heya, Chief.”

“Chief Deku!”

“Hey, Chief dude!”

Deku sat on the armchair to the side, grateful to sit down finally. His chest had been aching all day. He sighed. “Did you take your pain killers?” asked Jodie. He nodded. “I did but that was hours ago. I may drink every once in a while but I’m not a druggy, Jodie.” The purple-haired female quickly shook her head. “N- no! I wasn’t say-” Deku laughed. “I’m just joking with you, Jodie. Don’t worry. Still, I don’t want to focus on that, let’s hear how the Christmas party is coming along.”

Animation pulled out some papers. “Well,” she started, “we will be hosting a Christmas tree decorating day tomorrow to set up and decorate the Christmas tree we are planning to set up in the middle of the first floor as well as decorate the room.” His sunglasses shown happy. “Sounds like fun! Did we decide on the buffet food for the party?” Jester nodded. “Yuppers! We are going to have an assortment of various ethnicities holiday foods, punch, and multiple members have volunteered to make the desserts.”

“As for party games,” began Jodie, “we have Dirty Santa, find the baby in the cake, an ugly sweater contest, slap neck Christmas bingo, and the Christmas talent show.”

Deku nodded, looking over the papers and costs. “We will have just enough in the budget to get Dirty Santa gifts for everyone, and a few extras for the new recruits. You said tomorrow is the decorating?”

Anima nodded. “Yes but you might still want to take it slow, you know?” “If that was the case then so would Jester, he got cut in the leg, right?” Jester lifted up his pant leg to reveal the stitches. “Yes, but they weren’t as deep. I’m fine.” “And I am too,” claimed Deku. “I will take it slow but I don’t want to miss out on decorating with the gang.”

Deku stood up with a huff. “Alright, you guys can take the days off unless your jobs need you. Jodie, you have a public identity, am I right?” “Yes, Chief,” she replied. “Mk. As always, keep safe.” “Thank you, Chief.”

Deku walked away towards the stairs leading to the second floor. It was draining being all ‘businessy’ and all that junk. That tied together with the bakery, the pain, and the painkillers that made him really drowsy and Deku was just about done with the day. While he longed to go out and fight, Deku will admit, he is very grateful for being able to stay back and rest some. He looked up the stairs in disgust.

How much do I really want to hang out with Todo and Shin? He asked himself.

A lot, commented Izuku. Izuku, while not present, was actually fond of the two, surprisingly.

Enough to go up two flights of stairs?

Yup.

Deku sighed because he knew that he, too, wanted to just chill with the boys. Sometimes, he, Izuku, and Mikumo just needed to be a teenager. Deku and Izuku weren’t really present at the bakery and even if Todo and Shin and Izuku didn’t interact, hanging out with them was how both Deku and Izuku got that ‘normal teenager’ feeling.

Deku resigned himself and began the hike up.

About halfway up, Deku remembered that, Oh, Todo and Shin are both still working in the dark undersociety. And, Oh, they won’t be back till really late. He stopped midstep. He thought about turning around and walking back down but didn’t. Stupidly, he thought that he could stay up late enough to greet them when they got back. He had a key to their room, they gave him one, so Deku finished the climb up and entered their room.

Deku sat on the floor with a grunt. He took a shaky breath.

The greenette looked at the digital alarm clock on Todo’s counter. “Oh, I can take my pills now!”

Wonderful! He didn’t feel like he could make it back down those stairs without them, or the night in general. It’s not recommended by doctors to take pills on an empty stomach or without a liquid but Deku pulled the bottle from his pocket and popped three dry.

Deku pocket the bottle again and put in his earbuds. "Three hours, I can last till then."

Liar.

_______________________________

Hitoshi and Peppermint, aka Todoroki but we won’t discuss what lead to Peppermint, ran into each other in the back of the warehouse, each just getting back from ‘work.’ 

“Ah, Cateye,” we won’t discuss that either. “Peppermint.” They didn’t converse much but somehow words weren’t a necessity between the two former UA students. In silence, and with trained soundless footsteps, the two entered. Two of the Lights, Jester and Animation, and Jodie, a fellow quirked member, were moving boxes around.

Hitoshi and Todoroki waved as they passed. It’s funny, really. The most well known ‘villain’ organization being this peaceful and serene, the original members preparing a Christmas party even. It is not really what one would expect from such a crowd but you know what? Hitoshi couldn’t care less what outsiders think. This is the first place he felt like he belong, where he was accepted. This was home.

He knew that many, if not all of the other members felt the same.

Hitoshi and Todoroki walked up the stairs to the second floor. Todoroki suddenly put his arm in front of Hitoshi to stop him. “What’s wrong?” “Look,” the bicolored make replied, tense. Hitoshi looked where Todoroki indicated. Their room’s door was slightly ajar, light filtering into the dark from it. Now, Hitoshi didn’t think anything was wrong. If something were, the few downstairs would have told them or wouldn’t be there in general. Still, as technically villains and workers for the dark undersociety, Hitoshi and Todoroki both were trained to react cautiously when something seemed out of the ordinary or off.

They approached the door quietly. When the light was close enough to touch their skin, Hitoshi lightly nudged the door open. What was inside, however, made them both chuckle.  Deku, the leader of the Quirkless Rejects and one of the most wanted ‘villains’ known in Japan today, was leaned against Hitoshi’s bed sound asleep. A single earbud hung down while the other was still in his ear.

“Wow. Scary,” commented Todoroki with his odd sense of sarcastic humor. Hitoshi snorted. “Very.” 

“That can’t be good on his wound.”

“Probably not.”

…

They both simultaneously turned and held out their hands. “Rock. Paper. Scissors-” “SHOOT!”

…

Deku slept on Hitoshi’s bed that night while Hitoshi slept on the floor.

Chapter Text

Deku looked down from the ladder next to the Christmas tree as Jester handed up another ornament. Christmas music was playing cheerfully in the background as the whole of the Quirkless Rejects decorated their usually dim warehouse with bright, happy Christmas decorations. Red, white, and green streamers were hung from the ceiling, a wreath hung in the middle of each wall, the stockings were hung along all of the blacked-out window sills, and the Christmas tree stood proudly in the middle. Lights were hung all around with the Christmas colors.

Deku smiled as he received the star. He reached up and carefully put it on the very top of the bright tree. “There!” he exclaimed.

“Whooo!”

“Yay!”

The whole group cheered and smiled. The Christmas season was upon them. Deku climbed back down the ladder. “Two weeks till Christmas, everyone. This will be the first Christmas we celebrate as a team, let’s make the most of it, k?”

“Yes, Chief Deku!”

_______________________________

Deku sat by the Fox twins and Ruske as they stared at the computer screen four days later. Their website was complete and oh how he couldn’t wait for Friday. He patted the nearest twin on the shoulder. “Great job, guys. This is perfect.”

Three days later, as Deku was sitting on the corner sofa, Rusku and Grimlin came up to him.

“Chief, it’s ready,” said Grimlin. Deku nodded. “Gimlin, gather the group, I made sure they all had today free.” Grimlin nodded and ran off. “Ruske, go get the projector set up with the new website and Quirkless Pals in the tabs.” Deku got up and walked over to the stage. He got onto it as the projector screen came down behind him and waited for the group.

They all came down the stairs and stood before the stage in less than ten minutes.

Deku nodded to Eraserhead in the corner, by now, the whole group knew that he was working with them. That was a ball to go over with Todo. Eraserhead shut off all of the lights and the projector screen came on behind Deku with the logo of the Quirkless Rejects behind him.

“Comrades,” he started, “fellow quirkless, those quirked, all those here. Rejects. Today, December 19th, 2020, we are going to reach out to the whole world. Everyone here knows clearly about the website Quirkless Pals,” the screen changed to a blog Deku had previously written but not yet posted. “If you didn’t, you would not be here, sans a select few. We all have very personal and emotional attachments to this site, would you agree?”

From those who were in the light of the screen, Deku saw many nods.

“We are hacking it,” he said boldly.

Multiple people grumbled, some shouted out in shock, but none protested. Other's had just come to expect such wreckless and wild moves.

“We will be posting this blog shown behind me with the link of the official website we have created and encrypted with a code that will allow us to hack into the devices of those who click on it so that we can make sure they are not affiliated with any potential enemies. Posting this will also cause the Quirkless Pals website to be shut down for a day. While that is happening, we will be encrypting a code onto it that keeps government coded devices off of it completely.

Afterward, it will reboot with a link sent to every server of the Quirkless Pals site, not just the Japanese servers.

My blog will then appear in every server in their designated language for them to join the official Quirkless Rejects website.”

The screen changed to show a new website: bw. quirklessrejects .blackweb. It had a black background with the Quirkless Rejects logo on top. The subtabs were as listed: Main Branch, Leaders Convo, Coordinators, Chatrooms, Country Rooms, Attack Plan, and QR Events. Each was in a color that was one of the original member's main colors.

Deku spoke again. “Main Branch, aka us, is the subtab for the main branch to communicate to the rest of the world what we are doing over here in a blog-like format that will be translated in each branch server automatically. I have already appointed a few that will watch over that tab. Leaders Convo is where each leader of every country branch will talk about plans for coordinated attacks once I appoint them. Coordinators, a subtab that will be hashing out and figuring out all of the logistics of attack plans and events before we make them public. I have also already chosen Coordinators for our branch.

Country Rooms. This is for each individual branch to tell their own branches from all over their countries about how they will complete each attack.

In this sense, while we will be bringing over more people to our locations, this will be a way for us to have something akin to spies. Those who cannot leave their locations will still be able to communicate with their country's branch and be able to perform their tasks as needed from their location.

Attack Plan, a tab where we will post a blog each time we plan an attack so with all information needed for each branch to participate as well as the leaders of each branch telling and coordinating with their own branch on it.

Lastly, QR Events. This is a subtab for when we plan little events like the upcoming Christmas parties that the other branches might want to join in to keep things less tense and more lighthearted. They can also post things like how we could post an article from our country about the Quirkless Rejects on it or a picture of a hero or criminal we took down.

Everything posted, even in the Country Rooms subtab, can be viewed by the main branch to make sure there are no planned overthrows or takedowns. Any questions?”

There were none. Deku thought he explained that pretty well.

“Well then,” he said, “Ruske, please post the blog now.”

Everyone held their breaths as the Quirkless Pals site was pulled up again on the big screen. The cursor hovered over the “Post” button.

*CLICK*

It froze for a few seconds before an odd gradient spread over the screen and it blacked out. Soon an alert box popped up.

“www. quirklesspals .net has been shut down for a twenty-four hour time period. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Deku turned to the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have officially hit the world.” A collective sigh of relief was let loose.

_______________________________

Katsuki walked to Soft Blossom Bakery with Frog-Girl, Robot, and Sucky Hair. The place had sort of became a hangout joint for the group. Round Face hasn’t been coming with them recently after her and the barista broke up but today, a new dude took her place, Dunce Face, aka Denki Kaminari. Of course, Round Face wasn’t being replaced, the idiot was just tagging along. Speaking of Round Face and the barista, Katsuki almost had a whole hecking heart attack when he first saw the brunettes ex.

He looked exactly like Deku aside for the freckles and the kid had blue eyes. Also, Katsuki couldn’t really get a good look at the man's hair because he never freaking took off his stupid work cap and Katsuki was 99 percent sure it was to hide the haircut of Deku.

Still, what right did Katsuki have to even question it?

His mind wandered to Auntie Inko. She was getting better but…

_______________________________

‘Izu came to visit me!’ she cheered.

‘He what!?’ shouted his mother. Inko nodded happily. ‘And Rei’s son visited her, too!’

They all stared dumbfounded.

_______________________________

Let’s just say Katsuki’s mother didn’t take it very well when they got back home from the hospital. To be fair, neither did Katsuki if the hole in his wall was anything to go by.

“Bakubro,” said Sucky Hair, “we’re here.” The blonde looked up at the sign of the bakery then signed to Sucky Hair: ‘Congrats dumbbutt, you can read a sign.’

The redhead slapped Katsuki on the shoulder and opened the door, COMPLETELY IGNORING THE COMMENT. The group entered.

“Mikumo-chan, ribbit.” greeted Frog-Girl as they, as usual, went over to the bar to greet their friend ‘Mikumo.’ The greenette smiled brightly, just like Deku used to in middle school.

“Tsu! And Kiri, Baku, and Iida! Oh? Who is this?” he asked referring to Dunce Face. The yellow-haired teen held out his hand, which Mikumo took. “I’m Denki Kaminari! I’ve heard a lot about you, dude!”

They sat at their usual table and Dek- Mikumo soon joined them. Katsuki really didn’t understand this kid. He could very well be Deku but also very well could not be and the difference between the two was so big, not including looks, that it pointed more to the side of him really not being Deku. It’s just impossible! They looked so similar! The greenette even talked with the blonde. He would make a point of making sure everyone was included, no one being left out of the conversation, not even the mute Katsuki Bakugou. What’s more, Mikumo had even started to pick up sign language so that he could “communicate better” with Katsuki. Katsuki sort of, not really, understood his school ‘friends’ learning it but Mikumo? Not really.

_______________________________

‘I want to be able to understand you too! After all, you are my friend, Bakugou.”

_______________________________

Ugh… it almost made Katsuki puke. “Did you see what the Quirkless Rejects did?” asked Dunce Face. Mikumo nodded. “I know! Scary…” Bull. Iida grimaced. “How irresponsible of that group of hoodlums.”

“Can they really be called a group of hoodlums, ribbit?” They are quite large now,” commented Frog-Girl.

The group soon moved onto other subjects but Katsuki kept an eye on Mikumo through the whole thing, especially through the topics pertaining to quirks, the Quirkless Rejects, and the like.

Barista at a bakery? What a load of bull.

_______________________________

Izuku stared at the ceiling in the apartment, it was late at night and everyone was asleep. Honey, laid next to him, Izuku absentmindedly ran his fingers through her fur.

Mikumo?

Hmm?

You and Kacchan, what is your relationship?

…

Well… I’m not sure. Sort of friends?

…

I- is that ok, Izuku?

…

Yeah. It’s your life after all. It just… I have to turn away when he’s around and try to keep calm. Keep Deku calm, too.

Hey! I’m calm!

Sorry, guys… But, he’s, you know…

It’s okay, Mikumo. Right, Deku?

…

Deku?

Fine! It’s okay!

Thanks, guys. Goodnight.

Night!

Night…

Izuku took in a deep breath. His fingers curled in Honey’s fur, thankful for her stability because no, it’s not fine and Izuku knows it’s not fine.

Chapter Text

Tina Chase, the developer of Quirkless Pals, opened her website on Friday, December 20th, 2020 only to find that it had been shut down for maintenance apparently? Why didn’t I know about this? I didn’t contact the developers about a sh-

Tina remembered watching the news a couple of weeks ago. The Quirkless Rejects had said we would know. To be fair, Tina had an idea that this would happen; as the creator, Tina had the ability to check all country servers thus she had seen Deku’s call for gathering on the Kyota Bridge. Tina will be honest, she was really excited to see that the quirkless population was getting representation like this but at the cost of her website? Heck no!

She took a deep breath. No, let us not get worked up. It could very well not be the Quirkless Rejects.

That was wishful thinking. The next day it was up and the first thing she noticed was a tag at the top that reads: “Gov’t Exempt”, aka, the government was exempt from being able to see this site! Tina immediately flipped to the blogs and what was on the front page made her heart stop.

_______________________________

DEKU DAYS!

- December 20, 2020

Greetings friends! It’s Deku! Before I get into this blog, I’ll give you the fact because the rest of this blog is going to be WILD.

If you press no to technology agreements it kicks you off your computer. Depending on the computer.

Alright! So first and foremost I would like to apologize to the creator of this site and thank them. It has been a great help to me in my past struggles. I am sorry for hacking it but I promise that i did not do anything bad. I just recoded it to keep the government sources and outlets from getting on it. In short, I put it on the blackweb but didn’t because you can still see it from the outside.

Now onto business. Below is a website for an actual blackweb site. This is the official website for the Quirkless Rejects. Each subtab on it explains itself when you click on it. As we said before, we are looking to reach out to the world to start branches everywhere. Two days after Christmas, or on the 27th for those whose countries don’t celebrate the holiday, all who wish to be leaders of the branches will join the “Leaders Convo” chat and I will begin there in deciding the leaders at each country's branch which I will code into each country's individual chat as the leader.

In the same way, through the “Leaders Convo” subtab, leaders will submit who they want to be the coordinators, which roles will be described when clicking on the subtab, for their branch. That way, we can coordinate attacks and plans together as well as events. The main branch, aka the Japanese branch, where we started with me and the original members, will be able to view all actions on the site and it is coded so that anything you post will be seen on whoever reads it screen in whatever language their device is put on so we can all communicate all around the world.

I will warn you now, if you click the link below, we will hack your device to make sure you are not a threat. You will be joining what the world views as a criminal, no, a villain organization. One of the largest one’s known. It might not change as drastically for those who will be able to join from the confines of their homes, but those who are the leaders, coordinators, and any who wish to, you will have to leave your home and go into hiding like we had to do. In all aspects either way, your life will not be the same. You will be committing to changing the world itself.

So, my friends, if you want to join the Quirkless Rejects and change the crooked world that we live in today, click at your own risk.

bw. quirklessrejects .blackweb

Until later,

-DEKU

_______________________________

Ah. So it was them…

…

*SLAM*

Tina slammed her fist on the table. She was shaking but, surprisingly, it wasn’t for the reasons she thought. Tina was excited.

_______________________________

Deku and the large group of Quirkless Rejects stood in the dark around the tree. It was December 25, 2020, and at 9pm, they gathered for the Christmas party. Deku smirked. “Here we go!” He held the cable cords together and the group chanted together.

“Three… Two… ONE!”

Deku plugged the cords into each other and the tree, along with all of the twinkling lights in the room lit up.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!”

Everyone cheered around the beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the center of the room. Green, white, and red streamers hung from the roof, lights strung over the blacked-out windows, and mistletoe and Christmas wreaths hung on the walls. It was so festive!

The crowd soon departed from the tree to go enjoy the party games and Christmas cookies. Deku walked up to Todo and Shin. “Hey guys,” he said casually. “Chief,” they both replied. Deku chuckled. “Hey, it’s Christmas! Drop that title for today will ya?”

They both… smiled? Well, as much as either of them really do. “How does snacks sound?”

They both nodded.

The three boys walked over to the long food table together.

Dirty Santa was hilarious! You should have seen the looks on some of the member's faces! Especially when Rishana got the screaming clown Santa doll, that was funny. Who knew that she was afraid of clowns? Le shrug.

Find the baby in the cake, a French tradition to find a tiny plastic baby in a slice of cake. Whoever finds it gets to be crowned king or queen for the night. Animation won it and proudly strutted across the stage with her overdramatic green crown with exotic rainbow lights. The group clapped and cheered for the Light.

And Eraserhead won the ugly sweater contest sporting an honestly amazing sweater that revealed to fold into an elf dress? The festival season really didn’t fit the image of the monotonous man but he seemed to be enjoying himself so whatever. Still, Deku snuck in a picture after the incessant pleading from Mikumo.

Slap neck Christmas bingo, aka Christmas bingo where the winner gets slapped in the back of the neck by everyone who lost, so not the best thing you want to win, was won by Jester. He got a prize though! An elf on the shelf and a red neck. Also, new discovery, Jester is terrified of dolls in general. The talent show though? That was something to behold.

It is great seeing everyone perform without quirks, just using their own physical abilities. Knife throwing, dancing, singing, stand-up comedy, you name it! The five quirked members got together and put on a “magic show” for the crowd. They proudly boasted that they were not ashamed of the quirks that the world rejected. It was amazing.

Then Deku and the Lights got on stage.

Deku looked over the people, his comrades, his friends. Are you okay, Deku? He took a deep breath. Yeah, Izuku… I’m just… Izuku didn’t say anything but Deku knew he understood. This was something new for both of them. Deku felt Grimlin lightly nudge his shoulder. Not a “get on with it” nudge but a “we’ve got your back” nudge. Deku grinned behind the mask and his sunglasses turned happy.

“It hasn’t been long, friends,” he started, “only since the Kyota Bridge on Halloween. But I am sure that I can speak for most everyone here that we are more than just people in the same group of people who met over a screen through some blog or chat.” Multiple nodded, a few punched the air happily. “Comrades, friends, and dare I say family, this is our first official holiday together and we are still growing so...” Deku held up a cup of red punch, 

“Here’s to the Quirkless Rejects and the relationships we made through it! Merry Christmas, family!”

Every thrusted their own cups into the air.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

_______________________________

Inko looked up from her book on Christmas night when a soft knock came to her’s and Rei’s door. The two women were still up at 11:09 pm both expecting something. “Come in,” Rei said quietly. The door opened to reveal the two nurses assigned to look over the two mental ward patients. Rei’s nurse held a small box wrapped in red and white paper. Inko’s had a slightly smaller box wrapped in pink, her favorite color. He remembered… She smiled softly.

“Ms. Inko, Ms. Rei, these boxes came for you.” Inko knew that the nurses were aware of who they were from but they wouldn’t ruin the Christmas gifts from son to mother. Inko and Rei got up and retrieved their respective gifts. “Thank you, Julia, Kylie.” They both bowed and turned to leave.

“Ah,” gasped Rei softly. “Kylie, Julie! We have gifts for you too!” The nurses turned back around as Rei set her box down and picked up a small green bag of Christmas cookies. “Here,” Rei said, handing the bag to Kylie. “Merry Christmas from the both of us.” “Merry Christmas!” Inko piped as well. The nurses smiled and took the bag. “Thank you, ladies. Merry Christmas to you too.” They left with the cookies.

Inko sat by Rei at their small table, each with their respective gifts in front of them. Inko smiled softly as she opened the card on top of hers and read it.

“Dear Mom,

Merry Christmas! We have been very busy over here but we had some good times too. There was even a Christmas party today. I will be around soon hopefully. I’m sorry for being there today though. I love you, Mom. Have a very Merry Christmas.

- Izu”

Inko set the card to the side and opened the pink box. Inside was a brown teddy bear. It wouldn’t have meant much if it hadn’t been the one that the music box had come out of when it stopped working. Inko never threw the bear away though. There was a zipper that kept the hole together instead and a note that gave directions to how to put the music box back in to make it work again. A few tears fell from Inko’s green eyes.

Across the table, Rei looked fondly at a pair of white gloves and a white hat and gloves. She was smiling as well.

_______________________________

Shota held a box that had wrapping paper covered in Christmassy cats on it. Mikumo had given it to him real quick before Shota left the party at three. Three! IN THE MORNING!  He sighed. He entered his apartment and flopped on the couch after locking the door. “MEOW!” Shepard came and lay on Shota’s back. The black-haired man grunted and held his torso up by his elbows to open the box so that his stubborn cat wouldn’t have to move. There was a card inside.

“Merry Christmas Dad!

I hope you enjoyed the party, I have a picture of you in your amaaaazing sweater by the way. I wish I could have spent the day with you but the party was then and well, you know. Anyways, hope you like the gift. Merry Christmas!

- Mikumo”

Shota rolled his eyes. At least someone got a good laugh out of that darn sweater. “Alright,” he announced as he got up, Shepard protesting loudly, “you need to get off.” Shota got himself into a sitting position before unwrapping the actual gift. He almost, ALMOST, snorted. There was a black cat lanyard, a cat-shaped coffee mug, and inside of the mug was a bad shot from somewhere in the warehouse of Shota in his ugly Christmas sweater. Then, behind that picture, Shota saw another one. It was a picture of himself and Mikumo at the Soft Blossom Bakery. Bubblegum had taken it. They were facing the camera and Mikumo was smiling widely, his black cap tilted a bit. Shota had a slight smirk, as per usual, and both held up their very different choices of beverage. It was a good picture.

Shota smiled and got up. He put the cup in the dishwasher, to clean off the residue from sitting on store shelves, before making his way to his room.

Shota transferred his school ID, and all of his keys and items, not that there were many being a rational man and all, onto the new lanyard. Shota turned and pinned the photo of himself on his bulletin board for crimes he follows in the area that was under his hero jurisdiction. Shota put the photo of him and Mikumo in his clear phone case so he could always see it before finally, after an incredibly long day, falling asleep in his bed.

_______________________________

*KNOCK KNOCK*

Mitsuki Bakugou looked up from the kitchen counter. The Bakugou's had company over for Christmas and she was currently cleaning up the mess left behind. She checked the time. “It’s legit two in the morning. What the hell would be over now?” she grumbled. The blonde woman less than gently threw her dishrag into the counter before answering the door.

“WHAT THE HE-!”

Before her stood Izuku Midoriya. Or… Wait. What? Is this really him? It certainly looked like the boy Mitsuki used to think of like a son before, well, yeah…

“Merry Christmas, Auntie Mitsuki!” the greenette before her chirped. He frantically scratched the back of his head with one hand. “W- well, the day after, I g-guess. It’s a little late, you k-know?” 

Same stutter as always. Same nervous gestures. What on earth is going on here!? Why is Izuku here!? Mitsuki took a deep breath to collect herself.

“Izuku, dear? Is that really you?” She couldn’t help but ask.

The teen nodded. “Y-yeah. Our last, you know, meeting l-last year wasn’t all t-that good. You know? L-like not bad! Just n-not, well, I kind of l-lied by not coming to s-see you and all so h-here I am! I- I thought that it was ab-bout time to come and s-see you all again and i-it’s C-Christmas, well was, s-so I-” Mitsuki held her hand up. “Stop, Izuku. I get it.”

Yup, definitely him. I should call the poli- “Don’t.” The sternness of his voice shocked Mitsuki. “You just thought of calling the police, didn’t you?” No stutter. Izuku had always been good at reading and analyzing people. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t,” she commanded.

“Auntie,” it gave the blonde shivers to hear him call her that in a voice like this, “take a good look at me, I’m sure you can physically see why you shouldn’t.”

Mitsuki looked the boy up and down. Scars littered his arms and he very, very fit for a teen his age. Or for anyone for that matter. “Are you threatening me, Izuku?” He smiled innocently with that same childish smile he always has, except it was different this time. It was like a ghost. “You tell me, Auntie Mitsuki.”

“Suck,” she muttered under her breath. “Ok, what do you want, Izuku?” He lifted two boxes into view that she had not noticed before. “W-well,” the stutter is back, “it is Christmas after all s-so I got you a g-gift. The bigger on i-is for K-Kaccan and the smaller one is for y-you and Uncle Masaru.” He held them out. Mitsuki took them cautiously.

Something on his arm buzzed. “A- ah! I’ve got t-too go! I’ll see-”

“Izuku, sweetie,” Mitsuki said in a voice smaller than she’s ever used before, “couldn’t you come back?”

His green eyes widened. “Wha- W-what are you t-talking about, Auntie? I c-” “But you could! Hell, we could take you in, hide you and everything! Or get you placed in a mental ward like Inko because you obviously need one! But still-!”

“Mitsuki.” She froze. “Shut up.” “Izuku?”

His expression grew dark. “I know you don’t believe any of that. Don’t get my hopes up.”

The greenette turned around to where a warp gate had started to open behind him. He turned back with that darn smile.

_______________________________

“Auntie! I got a All Might card!”

“Auntie makes the best cookies!”

“Thank you Auntie! This is the best birthday ever!

“Auntie Mitsuki!”

_______________________________

“M- Merry Christmas, Auntie Mitsuki.” He stepped through and the gate closed.

Mitsuki wanted to cry. A sound from behind caused her to whirl around. Katsuki was in the kitchen getting water. She closed the door. “Katsuki…” He turned to her. -What do you want, hag?- he signed.

She sighed and took a deep breath. “DON’T TALK TO YOUR MOTHER THAT WAY, UNGRATEFUL BRAT!” She tossed the box for him on the counter. “Izuku dropped by to give you a present.”

-Deku was here?-

“Don’t call him that, Katsuki. Though, after what I just saw, maybe he really isn’t Izuku anymore.” She shook her head. “Dang brats getting me all emotional! I’m going to bed!

She took the box for her and her husband to her room. She woke Masaru up.

“Honey…”

Mitsuki told her quiet husband about what had happened. They sat on the bed together silently staring at the box. Finally, Mitsuki began to open it. They both looked at the gift in shock. It was an old photo of herself, Masaru, Inko, little Izuku, and little Katsuki. On the frame, it was written in black ink: “Merry Christmas Uncle and Auntie!” They turned it around. On the back was a short message.

“This might be the last time I see you. Thank you for everything. Goodbye.”

If either of them cried, no one said anything. The couple decided not to tell Inko.

_______________________________

Katsuki sat on his bed wide-eyed. A long time ago, when he and Deku were very young and what one would consider “friends”, he and Deku both bought one of those little special prize card packages with their saved allowances. A long time ago, Katsuki got All Might from his special prize card package and Deku got a famous villain at the time. A long time ago did they both believe that it was nothing but chance.

Not so long ago Katsuki began training to be a hero under All Might. Not so long ago Deku became a worldwide villain. Not so long ago did Katsuki realize that it probably wasn’t chance.

In his shaky hands and short breaths, Katsuki looked down at his gift.

An old, special prize villain card from a long time ago. On it, written in black sharpie: "Guess you were right, Kacchan."

Chapter Text

Deku watched the computer screen. It’s December 27th, two days after Christmas and currently the leader's chat of the new website was active as every person wanting to be the leader of their own countries branch was answering the questions put out by Deku. They were simple questions at the start but they held deeper meanings to really assert the compatibility with Deku’s thought of what a good leader should be.

Then it switched quickly to hard questions.

Then to super easy ones.

It flipped on and off to see how well they can think on the fly and see if the change would cause the competitors to either over access a question or underestimate it.

It was late, almost eleven at night, for his timezone that is, and the group was just finishing up. It might seem ridiculous to draw it on so long but if Deku was going to be the “Chief” of a world-wide “villain” organization he had to make sure that the branch leaders were fully able and could take his orders from afar without a problem.

Deku leaned back in his wooden chair in the apartment and let out a long sigh. Bubblegum looked up from the kitchen where she was currently making them both a cup of coffee. That was another thing to think about. It was pretty apparent by now to everyone in the Quirkless Rejects that she was pregnant, pretty hard to hide that baby bump. Furthermore, four days, well almost three considering the time left until she and Doom both left the Quirkless Rejects for an extended amount of time. It was understandable but still a hard pill to swallow.

To think, this coming new year it would be a whole year being together as the Quirkless Rejects, and this coming new year it will be the last time being with the original members.

He shook his head as Bubble put the cup of coffee next to his cracked laptop. “How is it going, Deku?” she asked quietly. The greenette took a sip of coffee. “Pretty good. I think I’ve got who I want to be the leader for each branch. I was just about to announce it.”

“How?”

“I’m gonna tell the chat that I’m kicking anyone in it that isn’t a leader from the leader’s subtab. Their screens will go to the opening page of the website while the people I chose to be a leader will stay and receive a notification saying their new title.”

The blonde nodded. “Well, I’m sure whoever you have chosen is the right pick.” He smiled. “Thanks, Bubble. Have you gotten your bags packed?”

She nodded. “Yes, even though we will only be moving a few stories up.”

“Yes, but if you want to raise your child “normally” this is for the best,” the emerald-eyed teen stated. “None of us will stop you.” “You will see us at the bakery, well you’ll see Doom at least.”

He looked at her with a deadpan look. Bubble sweatdropped. “I- I mean, I’m sure Mikumo will tell you all about us and even let you talk with us during our breaks!” Deku rolled his eyes and faced the screen again.

“Are you okay with us giving you a send-off at the warehouse?”

She looked shocked.

“Yeah... I assume you will put it on the main branch subtab as well?” Bubble questioned. Deku nodded. “Well, that’s what it’s there for, so every other branch knows what’s happening in the main branch.” “You won’t put it in the events tab?” He shook his head.

“No, that’s for the other branches to post fun stuff happening in their branches and for us to announce when a big “raid”, as the members have started calling them, is happening.

Bubble nodded in understanding. She finished her coffee and stood up. “Well, I’m going to head off to bed.” Deku nodded. “Night.” Bubblegum took both their cups to the kitchen. She returned and placed a new cup from the leftovers of the pot next to Deku. “Goodnight, Deku.”

He looked after her as Bubble disappeared. Then at the cup of coffee. He took a sip gratefully. Deku was going to be up all night. He still had to decide on coordinators.

_______________________________

“YAAAAAWN!”

Izuku slumped over the worn sofa in the apartment. Dang Deku…

He had been up all night. When Deku had finally finished with whatever he was doing, Izuku was too tired to really remember, or care for that matter, Deku announced tiredly that he was done and forced someone else to be present. Mikumo denied it instantly because the main group gave Mikumo the day off from the bakery knowing this would happen.

So, in turn, Izuku got stuck with a gosh darn headache and bones that felt like lead.

“YAAAAAWN!”

He looked at the clock. Ten in the morning… TEN IN THE FREAKING MORNING! That’s when Deku got off! Izuku couldn’t bring himself to move from his awkward positioning on the couch before drifting off into the sweet dreams of sleep.

_______________________________

'Where are you, brat!?'

'Tsk… Useless.'

…

'Just a useless Deku.'

'WHAT DID YOU SAY NERD!?'

'If you want a quirk THAT badly, take a swan dive off the roof and hope for one in your next life!'

… 

'Can someone be a hero without a quirk? No, I can't confidently say they can. It's good to dream kid but make sure your dreams are reachable.'

'I deem you worthy of my power. Izuku Midoriya, inherit my quirk!'

…

'YOU, Number One hero, the great All Might! YOU took all my hopes, dreams, and aspirations and threw them out like TRASH!'

…

'OPEN UP YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT!'

'Don't raise your voice at me young man! I'm your mother!'

…

'BRAT!'

'DEKU!'

'NERD!'

'A hero!? HA HA HA HA HA HA!'

'Be realistic!'

…

'Goodbye...'

_______________________________

Izuku jolted up screaming.

“Woah! Chill dude! It’s just us!” Izuku whipped his head around to the familiar voice of Kirishima. He wasn’t hung on the couch anymore, rather he was properly laying on it with a blanket and pillow. Only then did he notice that Tsu and Bakugou were there as well.

Bakugou…

'If you want a quirk THAT badly…'

Izuku instinctively froze in front of his childhood tormentor. NOPE! Mikumo quickly swapped places with Izuku. “Kirishima? Tsu? Bakugou?” He noticed Bakugou’s eyes widening. SUCK! My makeup! “Woah, dude, I didn’t know you had green eyes.” “Or freckles, ribbit.”

Mikumo shook his head and chuckled. “A- ah right. I was trying out green contacts today. I thought that they’d look cool but they don’t really. A- and I usually hide my freckles, I feel they make me look washed out.”

Kirishima patted his shoulder. “It’s okay man! Are you okay though?” “Yeah,” commented Tsu. “You were having a pretty bad dream, ribbit.”

Deku nodded violently, immediately regretting it. “Yes, b- but my contacts are bugging me now, let me go take them out real quick.” He quickly got up and sped off to the bathroom. He put in his blue contacts and applied makeup to cover his freckles. As he left, the bathroom to go back into the living room he checked the laptop. There was a message from Hisou.

Hisou:

Your friends are worried about you and are coming over so get ready.