Chapter Text
The question ‘can i be a hero’ was one of the first things Izuku ever wanted to ask.
It had been something he had wanted to ask since he first saw a hero on TV. When he would ask his mom that question, to the best of his abilities as a 3 year old, she would always chuckle and pat him on the head before telling him he was too young to know for now.
Yet, every time Izuku saw All Might or other heroes on screen saving lives, Izuku wanted so badly to become a hero.
Him and Kacchan had both gotten together frequently to play heroes after they learned what they were. It made him feel as though one day he could also be flying through the sky and saving people. So,when he approached age 4 and Kacchan got his quirk, Izuku was ecstatic to get his. But soon his 4th birthday passed and no quirk spontaneously developed.
Izuku tries everything he can.
He tries to push the couch and hurts his arms, so he knows his quirk isn’t super strength Like All Might.
He tries to levitate his cereal spoon until he gets a headache, so it isn’t telepathy like his mom
He whistles and huffs air until his throat hurts and he almost passes out from lack of air, so his quirk isn’t fire breathing like his dad.
It hurts every time another kid comes to class with a quirk but Izuku only gains injuries from his attempts to gain what they gained naturally.
Eventually, his mom decides it's time to visit the doctor. They go to the hospital and Izuku fidgets nervously in the waiting room. Inko urges him to go play in the kids area with a few others and though Izuku is nervous he excitedly runs to join the other kids and ask about their quirks.
He is in the middle of asking about one girl's quirk when his mother calls for him. Izuku looks over and sees their doctor so Izuku says goodbye to the other kids and runs to his mom’s side.
He peeks out from behind her legs and Doctor Tsubasa grins at him.
“Well hello Izuku! We’re gonna do some fun tests and hopefully we can tell what your quirk is.” He explains
Izuku perks up at the promise of finding out his quirk and gives the doctor a blinding smile. Him and his mom follow the doctor to their room and they start the tests. It seems like what each of his checkups have always been like until they move to a different room. Izuku overhears the doctor calling the machine an ex-ray.
Izuku giggles as the machine whirrs to life and passes over the lower half of his body. He wonders how it works and why it makes so much noise as he is helped off the bench and led back to the previous room.
Doctor Tsubasa doesn’t follow at first but reappears soon. He seemed slightly disappointed and Izuku had wondered why. When he told his mom that she should take a seat he wondered why. When Doctor Tsubasa brought out his ex-ray and his mom started to seem nervous he had wondered why.
He got his answer.
Quirkless
Izuku is quirkless and his dreams seem unattainable.
Izuku does not let go of the vice grip he had on his All Might figurine. Not as his mom ushers them out of the hospital and buckles him into his car seat, not as they drive home and his mom cries silently, and not even as they get home and Izuku rushes to his room and slams the door shut.
Later his mom would find him sobbing as he rewatched his favorite All Might video. He would ask the most important person in his life, a very important and frequently asked question.
Can I still be a hero?
And maybe in another world Inko would have broken at seeing her child so desolate. Maybe she would have tried to shield him from further hurt by telling him she was sorry. For what she was sorry for she wouldn’t know.
But in this world, Inko walks over to her son and forces herself not to cry as she hugs her baby.
She doesn’t know if this is best for him but she knows it is what he needs to hear.
“Yes, Yes you can be a hero Izuku.”
It’s a quiet moment full of uncertainty but it changes everything.
Izuku knows now, he can be a hero.