I’ll be gathering fics and metas about quirklessness! Expect fic recs, analysis, and fan theories! Feel free to submit or ask about anything quirkless!
Deku Centric Gen Fanfiction I’ve read this year (Ft. Dad For One )
I’m back again with more Fanfiction recs. My taste tends to center Midoriya Izuku in non-ship fics, though there are one or two “ship fics” listed in the category.
This is a list of all my favorite MHA / BNHA fics I’ve read this year. The My Hero Academia / Boku No Hero Academia fandom produces so much that it’s hard for me to get to everything, so I thought I’d help out others in a similar situation by posting the fics that I personally were moved or impressed by in some way this year. A surprising number of them were Dad For One, where Midoriya Hisashi (Izuku’s father) is All For One.
The list is sorted from word count descending, with the fics with the most words at the top and the least words at the bottom.
If you click on the name, it'll lead you to the fic.
If you press on the number, it'll lead you to a summary with my thoughts and a link to the fic if you're on the fence about one (I've also put some navigation so you can hop to the previous/next summaries directly).
Category goes by Ao3 standards, where it'll say if it's gen or list the ship that is the main focus.
Of course, status refers to whether or not it's complete and how many chapters it has
It’s a list I’ve posted to Reddit, but maybe I’ll convert it to Tumblr one day.
For now, here’s the link.
Reddit - Dive into anything
I’d also be remiss as a quirkless blog not to mention the fics that deal with quirklessness in some way!
So All I Hear Are Echoes isn’t technically a quirkless fic, but it interestingly deals with Izuku being assumed quirkless for a bunch of the first few chapters, and therefore you get a sense for how a quirkless identity shaped his character, such as police discussions of fighting style, job hunting, being underestimated by villains, etc.
Mischief in Musutufu is the familiar brand of Quirkless fic that features Deku becoming the quirkless hero he dreamed of while sticking it to those who said he couldn’t—in this case, it was All Might. This quirk plays with the fluidity of quirklessness in a way that kinda inspires me for future fics, but otherwise it’s very classic I’m its lore as a Quirkless Izuku/All Might bashing story. Despite this, I discuss how this fic is honestly more than it seems in this post. Overall a FUN and heartwarming slice of life AU!
in darkness blooms the spider lily is one of those RARE quirkless villain Deku fics that just work so well. First of all, the OOC nature of villainous Izuku doesn’t really matter due to Izuku’s total amnesia surrounding his own villainy.
SPOILERS Second of all, the conditions of living quirkless is portrayed so well, starting from the first few chapters where Izuku assumed his poor medical treatment is due to quirklessness, to the chapters about how he changed the landscape on how a lot of heroes view quirklessness due to his grand villainy, as many heroes had underestimated him based on quirklessness in the past, to the way his villainy is directly tied to his poor treatment as a quirkless person in the vein of a political radicalization (that happened in that time period forgotten through amnesia). The major tension of the fic is whether hero society has improved enough in their treatment of quirkless people to prevent this blank slate from radicalizing again.
Two Hundred Years Isn’t That Long is fascinating because it captures the nuance of how quirklessness is, although very physically real, mostly a social construct. It does so by placing quirklesss Izuku in the context of a time right before quirks were a common thing, and then flinging him to modern society where everyone has one.
SPOILERS. As such, it’s really fascinating to see him interact with students like Bakugou and describe the way he comes from a majority quirkless area, which is unfathomable to the students, until it’s revealed he’s from the past. In a lot of ways, this changes the way they view his quirklessness, since he’s placed within the context of being normal within his own time instead of lacking in this time, especially because this Izuku is actually deathly afraid of quirks and views them the way we would as humans without quirks as a social construct.
So while Bakugou still scoffs at this “useless” person, Izuku in contrast does not take this to heart. This is because quirks are not a real social construct to him, yet, so the significance of his lack of one bounces harmlessly off his skin. And his confidence in his physical capabilities are not mired in any beliefs about his lack of a quirk, so he takes an active role of physical combat in a way he just never did in canon pre-OFA (and therefore impresses Bakugou in a way he would’ve never been able to as normal quirkless Izuku).
This fic is just so cool the way it highlights the socially constructed attitudes about quirks and quirklessness without making it a focus of the fic, which is what I originally liked about MHA in the first place (before I realized that it just wasn’t actually as thought out as I thought).
One Exception is notable for how stereotype about quirkless people contribute not just to their poor treatment, but making them seem harmless. SPOILERS Much like how female abusers are taken less seriously due to the perception that women are weak, it’s fascinating the way this fic uses Izuku’s status as a bullied quirkless character to hide from Katsuki the ways their relationship is actually imbalanced in favor of Izuku, to hide the fact that Izuku is not harmless.
The Steps Taken From Us takes a very fun and similarly indirect perspective into the nuances of quirkless issues by killing Izuku off for unrelated reasons. While this story indeed plays off the fandom trope of “What if Izuku really did take a swan dive like Bakugou said?” the actual truth is that he was murdered, not suicidal, and the story is about Katsuki trying to find Justice for him (and running up against the effects of quirkless discrimination despite not being quirkless himself).
A lot of these monkey’s paw Bakugou Bullying stories are about this concept of Bakugou learning consequences or of directly experiencing how quirkless discrimination causes harm, but I often cringe at how they inadvertently portray suicide in inaccurate and ill-advised ways, especially because it just feels a little unsubtle of a point. Thus, this fic solves that by highlighting the way real life marginalized groups struggle to get Justice for crimes done against them.
Thus, even though Bakugou has benefitted from having a strong quirk’s reputation, in trying to find Justice for Izuku, he learns about the ways quirkless people are dismissed as lost causes, the way saying otherwise will label you crazy, the way Izuku’s concerns were ignored as crazy, the way quirkless people are targeted for this very reason, etc. It’s interesting to see a Bakugou with a messed up reputation instead of Izuku, as it fulfills that monkey’s paw impulse without using suicide as a cudgel.
On top of that, the larger metaphor about Izuku’s voice as a quirkless person being silenced is very poignant, as it helps to symbolize that it’s not about quirkless people being incapable of achieving, but that they’re actively prevented from doing so by other people and society.
Multilante is a classic Quirkless Izuku vigilante story told through the cute gimmick of animal hoodies and other characters projecting onto those hoodies.
Float is interesting in the way it explores Izuku’s relationship to quirks and Bakugou as a post-quirkless person in a way canon never really thought to. In canon, Izuku’s chief concern is proving that with a quirk, he’s now equal to Bakugou and can fight him or whatever, but that kind of just assumes that Bakugou was logical for bullying him over something he couldn’t control. You know, ‘he was quirkless and therefore useless, but now he’s not.’ You know, ‘it wouldn’t have actually been bullying if Deku could just fight back’ (with the quirk he didn’t have lol).
SPOILERS In contrast, this fic throws down the gauntlet to ask, point-blank, what Izuku did to deserve any of the bullying? Nothing. It was illogical, it said he was never good enough, and that cuts someone far deeper than getting a quirk would heal. As such, it’s less about quirklessness and more about the lasting emotional scars of it.
Quirkless Deku Fanfiction Recs Organized by Wordcount
My Quirkless Deku Rec list after like 5 years of being in the fandom, on and off. Focus on unique fics that highlight or complement Deku's quirkless status in some way, usually with strong storytelling.
It has 48 fics on it!
It first lists the outline, where fics are ordered based on length, then the summaries with my thoughts will be posted at the numbers. The numbered links will bring you to a post with the summary for only that fic, so you can bookmark which fics you want to read by clicking the number and bookmarking the post there.
It’s a list I’ve posted to Reddit, but maybe I’ll convert it to Tumblr one day.
For now, here’s the link.
Reddit - Dive into anything
Have you read any on this list? Let me know which ones and what were your favorites!
I find it really funny that every once in a while I read a BNHA fic where the author inadvertently stumbles across ACAB issues but then lightly shuffles around that because this is a superhero story so we don’t really care about that rn.
funniest part about this post is the ppl in the tags being like "there's only ONE exception and it's [fic that's already been mentioned 24 times in the notes]"
So the model has been updated since those renders, but it’s still not done because honestly forgot about it. XD But I’ll finish it up nicely after mid-thesis review. Above shows a boys or girls side (in this case, boy’s as according to Hori’s vision). Two emergency stairwells, one near the front, one near the elevator / storage closet. There’s room in these plans to actually put “guest” rooms or larger bedrooms, and I assume there HAS to be because I don’t think they’d put Eri in a single person’s room. There’d have to be a larger shared room of sorts. So that’s what’s at the front of the building there.
Hope this helps as an update, but I’ll make a more sensible one later~
I was gonna do a “missing the point”-style meme but I’m honestly not sure that would even work tho so:
Harry Potter and My Hero Academia/Boku no Hero Academia have similar issues with introducing and then immediately ignoring ENORMOUS issues re: ableism.
I think these two series in specific come to mind bc it’s ableism within a specific empowered community, and in both cases the series are pretty well-known and the community (Wix/Heroes) are immediately identifiable to many audiences.
[WARNING: Discussions of ableism, child harm, and abuse on multiple levels.]
What’s the problem?
SQUIBS.
[This post got stupid huge SO here is a tl,dr for all you lovely people who understandably have no time for this.
TL, DR: Both Harry Potter and Boku No Hero have a bad tendency to implement or imply a level of disability regarding unempowered people in empowered societies. They then continue on to completely disregard important conclusions to these implications, such as how heavily it is implied that these unempowered people (Squibs) are so ‘worthless’ to those societies that their very deaths are merely a byline rather than an actual tragedy.
This is especially troubling in MHA/BNHA when so many other political and worldbuilding considerations HAVE been planned out, and seems to be less-discussed in the fandom as a whole, so that’s a much larger chunk of this post.]
That’s your tl, dr!
Here’s the Harry Potter angle:
HP has a bit that I’ve seen people discussing already: Neville’s magic was discovered when his uncle dropped a literal child a potenial lethal distance.
Finally watched the 3rd My Hero movie. My stance has not changed that teh film would have been better if Rody Soul was quirkless. His quirk could easily be replaced by a well trained and very loyal pet bird.
Also we just not gonna get any reflection from Izuku about his past quirklessness in a film where a largely quirkless terrorist organization was the main threat?
Also surem most of the members of this villain group are quirkless but only the ones with quirks are allowed to do shit and be in charge. B/c having quirkless people who could do shit would undermine one of the core pillars of this series.
And the whole fight between Izuku and the dude who can reflect attacks back upon his attacker where Izuku’s entire fucking plan was ‘hit harder‘ was really fucking stupid. Like, I know this child is smarter than that but no, the whole fucking plan was hit the fucker till it worked.
#also the whole copoganda of this series is just so on the nose#especially with the plan of these villains to kill the top celebrity law enforcement officers#which would somehow cause society to collapse
“Izuku couldn’t be a quirkless hero, he’s no Batman he doesnt have–“
Y’all are aware that there’s superheroes who don’t have powers who also aren’t billionaires right? Superheroes who don’t have powers and aren’t billionaires and also aren’t genius gadget builders either.
There’s a dude in the Justice League who’s just really fucking good at boxing and knocking people the fuck out with his hands. There’s a dude in the Avengers who’s just good with a bow and arrow. There’s just a guy who’s a very good investigative journalist who knows martial arts. A chick who’s really good at shooting people, martial arts, and spying. Folks who use tech that they found or was given to them with no idea how to make the shit but use the shit to the best they can.
Yer not limited to just two fucking options for a person without powers being a superhero.
There are multiple characters in this series performing superhuman feats of strength, speed, agility, etc that have absolutely nada to do with their superpowers.
If Izuku could work out enough in 10 months that he could lift and haul at least about 600 lbs b4 he got the damn quirk he could do whatever the fuck he wants.
Hid a note on this from someone who didn’t get the point of this post.
There’s no reason Izuku can’t be a superhero without powers as everyone in the setting can be superhuman with shit that doesn’t involve their powers at all.
He doesn’t have to settle for anything other than his dream of being a hero. Not a vigilante, not an ‘underground‘ hero, not a paramedic/emt, fighfighter, or anything else. There is no reason that he can’t train himself to be absolutely busted physically and be a whole ass prohero out in the limelight and everything.
20% of the global population is quirkless and we get 4 canon born quirkless characters
2% of the global population is blond and we get 49 (minimum not including white-haired characters who might be platinum blonde or characters with clearly artificially bleached hair) blonds in this piece
20% of the global population is quirkless and we get 4 canon born quirkless characters
2% of the global population is blond and we get 49 (minimum not including white-haired characters who might be platinum blonde or characters with clearly artificially bleached hair) blonds in this piece
And yet the quirkless are a dying breed. Somehow.
OP tags
#20% is a ctually enough of the population to be common
#that's one in five people that is a large amount of people
#20% of the population of several fucking billion is a viable fucking population to continue perpetuating quirklessness into#future generations
#bc a certain amount of these millions of quirkless people are probably not going to want to have kids with quirked people
#plus also if quirk doomsday theory true (which I don't buy b/c its stupid and I'm a biologist)#then if people continue to be born with more and more powerful quirks that come in earlier and earlier that their bodies cant handle#then quirked people will stop being born after a certain point#if fetuses in utero can't handle the shit or if the pregnant parents end up dying more birthing#uber powerful babies
"the same people who interprets mha as copaganda also wants to see LoV as revolutionists who will fights against the corrupt system "
Ah yes, the series which has a branch of law enforcement that double as celebrities isn't copaganda. Clearly.
I don't understand mha fans that try to argue that the series isn't copaganda and then write think pieces on why it's ok for proheroes to do extrajudicial murder b/c the villain is too strong and resisting arrest
just b/c the series portrays prohero society as corrupt and imperfect doesn't mean that it's not copaganda? the writer still wants us to root for the proheroes whole heartedly and has them trying to do extrajudicial murder, saying that citizens are worse than useless and need law enforcement to keep them inline/protect them, and makes villains that have valid points to demonize those points and fighting against a system that hurts them
#plus also if quirk doomsday theory true (which I don't buy b/c its stupid and I'm a biologist)#then if people continue to be born with more and more powerful quirks that come in earlier and earlier that their bodies cant handle#then quirked people will stop being born after a certain point#if fetuses in utero can't handle the shit or if the pregnant parents end up dying more birthing#uber powerful babies
I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on the quirk singularity theory/quirk doomsday theory from a biologist standpoint! This part of the tags on your quirkless demographics post was so interesting.
Mostly the quirk doomsday theory makes a lot of assumptions that a trend will just accelerate into infinity to an entirely illogical endpoint. Like, it looks really similar to a lot of shit pop cultural takes on evolution in media, and given the mangaka is acting like 20% of a population is a 'dying breed' showing just an astoundingly bad understanding of statistics, I wouldn't be surprised that their understanding of evolution is similarly fucked.
Plus the character who proposed it did so in like the what? 2nd generation of quirks at best? So their information/research was probably very limited given the political climate at the time (which seems to have been a lot of fucking chaos and a semi societal collapse?). (Also the character who coined the theory is clearly biased and a demonstratively shit scientist. And the person who bankrolled the research, assuming any actual research was done, is also biased in favor of the theory.)
Also, the entire existence of vestigial mutations that aren't connected to a quirk is very good evidence against that theory b/c it shows that quirks can weaken to the point of nonfunctionality across generations.
Plus, like, quirks becoming uncontrollable wouldn't lead to the end of humanity. It would more likely lead to people with wild overpowered quirks declining in the population either due to having issues like living, troubles carrying babies to term, quirks that develop too soon in a fetus ending the parent or the fetus, being passed over as partners for multiple reasons and just... wouldn't be the end of humanity. Especially if like every one-in-five people are quirkless. At the very least a decent chunk of the population would survive the so called singularity/doomsday.
(Also so much about the body horror 'singularity' fuckery going on with Shigaraki and AfO is extremely silly to me. Just b/c the mangaka decided that fuckers can pull mass out of thin air and ignore all forms of physical trauma doesn't mean I have to pretend that bodies can do any of that. Like? It takes calories to move that finger forest fuckery that Shigaraki's puppet zombie body does not have and hasn't taken in.)
#quirk doomsday theory#was created by a shoddy excuse of a scientist and hasn't gone through any actual testing to make it a proper theory#in the scientific sense#there's enough evidence against in in the setting to call it a bunch of croc
general society is such an underthought aspect of mha. obviously there’s the big things like the obsession over heroic quirks and the demonisation of villainous quirks. quirkless people are dismissed entirely but i don’t think we talk about how society in general would have to handle a world with super powers.
we know after afo’s first uprising, the government overcorrected and outlawed public quirk usage. we know people have their quirks registered and go through quirk counselling as well as a type of gym class where they practice under teacher supervision.
how in the hell is that supposed to work?
the closest equivalent i can think of is mental health services. someone would have to study for a long time to be able to pursue quirk counselling as a career. it’s also a highly personalised system: everyone has a different quirk - even similar ones have different activations, triggers, exceptions and drawbacks - so no two sessions could ever be the same. if anyone’s been through mental health services, you know how rough it is; it’s an overworked, underpaid system and if you live somewhere that only offers a few free visits, it can also be expensive.
and that’s an elective service.
almost everyone on the planet would need quirk counselling.
there’s no way they could implement such a labour intensive and individual public system and we literally see that they can’t.
we see the gym class in amajiki’s flashback and he only has a few minutes with his teacher before he’s chided for not being more impressive and utilising his quirk to the fullest and they move on to the next student. say a standard class is twenty students like it is at ua. that leaves just over two minutes for each student to learn and practice their quirks. you can’t focus on just one kid per lesson bc what will the other nineteen do? do teachers also have to have a degree in quirk counselling? is that part of becoming a phys ed teacher or is it some random joe schmo trying to wrap his head around literal super powers?
given that inko goes to garaki - a doctor - to confirm izuku’s quirklessness, it can be assumed that quirk counselling is entwined with the medical system. i don’t know if you’ve ever had to apply for a specialist before but you can be on their waiting list for a while. a quirk counsellor is essentially a specialist. are there subcategories of counsellors? do you focus on either emitter, transformation or mutation the way doctors become cardiologists, paediatricians and neurologists? or is one person expected to be equally knowledgeable about all three?
we see through toga that her counsellor identified her need for blood but they didn’t find a way to curb those instincts or even find a supplement for her. she’s left to be abused by her family for something she can’t control bc it’s literally in her dna. compare that to iida who knows he needs orange juice to power his quirk. his entire family are pro heroes so it would be easy to assume they could employ a private quirk counsellor the same way richer people can employ private doctors.
how many people have specific requirements due to their quirks? changes in their physiology that have to be treated the same way nutritional deficiencies and allergies do? even people without mutations probably have those requirements: does kirishima’s shark teeth mean he’s an obligate carnivore? does mina’s acid change her ph levels and what vitamins and minerals she needs? how would they figure that out? quirk counselling.
what about kids like touya who would need extensive counselling so he could figure out how to live with his quirk without hurting himself? kaminari essentially has seizures and they’re so normal to him and everyone around him that they’re the butt of jokes. they wouldn’t be a one and done patient; there’s always going to be people that need continued support the exact same way there’s people that need developmental and disability support. there would be so many quirks that harm their user, are they just taught to bury their quirks? as if that wouldn’t cause any physical or mental consequences?
governments can’t create a system that applies to only some people, we’re expected to believe they’ve made one that applies to all of them?
#i imagine its similar to therapy in that the first session would be free since its probably required in order to register a child’s quirk
#they probably figure out activation in that time and thats it#onto the next kid bc there will always be another kid
#you want more information on your child’s power? you better be able to pay for more sessions
#even quirkless people need to be fully assessed to ensure theyre quirkless
#i doubt anyone else is as interested in this as i am but it feels like just another world building aspect horikoshi just kinda skipped
#quirk counselling is just sort of thrown in with toga and curious and it becomes just another concept that is brought up and discarded ie #quirk counselling quirklessness mutant prejudice the quirk singularity theory general mutations outside of mutant quirks
#theres so many little interesting concepts that are never given the development they deserve#and when they are like in the last few chapters its done in such a shallow handwavy way that i wish hed just leave them alone altogether
#no wonder the plf exists quirks are so suppressed in society while also being a status symbol#and yet its a completely hypothetical advantage if they dont become a hero or a villain#if a kid has a heroic quirk theyre held on a pedestal and if they have a villainous one theyre demonised at best and abused at worst
#koichi was almost given a fine bc he was using his quirk to get through foot traffic quicker how is there not a riot every year about#quirk freedom and rights violations?#and yet its completely glossed over#go beyond plus ultra#coming out of my cage and ive been doing just fine.txt
If you’ll allow, I’d like to ramble and ponder a bit about one of the more interesting and lesser discussed aspects of Hero Academia’s world building; the looming threat of the Quirk Singularity. A…strangely forgettable plot line, considering not only how often it’s brought up, but how it can end the world.
To catch everyone up; the Quirk Singularity theory is the in-universe idea that as time passes, quirks become more complex & powerful, and eventually this will lead to quirks that cannot be controlled by the normal human bodies that will be born with them. We recently learned that Eri’s Rewind quirk is one such example.
What’s more is that while this will start as isolated instances, eventually quirk development will cause every baby born to have a high chance of having these highly destructive and uncontrollable quirks, meaning every baby will be a potential literal time-bomb that could eventually all destroy the world unless humanity stopped reproducing. But that’s all an eventuality…which is part of the danger, considering how it’s treated. See, it’s almost like an environmental allegory; how it could eventually end the world, but that possibility is far enough away that the powers that be don’t care (not that they wanted to hear it to begin with), even though a solution may take too long by the time it really gets pressing. I mean they’d have, what, one (1) generation from when things get noticeable?
The day started off well. Really, it did. Izuku got up on time, still filled with warm fuzziness from the time he spent with his friends (friends!) the afternoon before, had a good breakfast, left early enough to catch an earlier train, saw an interesting hero fight, and then...
He was hit with a wave of nausea as he caught sight of the crowd outside UA's gates. Was it a mob? An attack? Terrorists?
... Reporters?
Yeah, those were cameras and microphones. But why was a crowd of reporters making him feel this way?
Maybe they were terrorists disguised as reporters. Or, maybe Izuku had picked up some paranoia to go with his anxiety. How fun.
If they were real reporters, they were probably here about All Might. Him cutting back on active hero work to teach had been big news.
Ughhhh. What should he do? Whoever they were, they weren't likely to leave. He didn't want to walk through them, though. What if they were dangerous? (And even if they weren't, he didn't want reporters looking at him, asking him questions. What would he say to them?)
He bit his lip and watched the crowd from around his chosen corner. Why did he have to be so wimpy and timid? He was a hero student, now. He should be better. Braver.
Oh! There was Iida!
He scuttled over to his friend.
"Ah! Midoriya! You're early today! Few people arrive at school at the same time I do!"
"Y-yeah! I managed to catch the earlier train today, so..." He looked back at the crowd of reporters. Maybe reporters. Maybe terrorists. "I think, maybe we should wait to go in as a group, though. I mean, it'll be more efficient than trying to fight through those reporters one at a time, right?"
"An excellent idea, Midoriya!" exclaimed Iida, waving his hands enthusiastically. "It's very admirable of you, to always be thinking about how to help others."
"W-well," said Izuku, blushing. It wasn't untrue, but it also wasn't the whole story. "I mean, I don't... It's more that they kind of freak me out a bit? The reporters..."
Iida nodded sagely. "There are heroes like that, too. Are you planning on going underground, then?"
There was a certain amount of appeal to underground heroics, but he was supposed to be All Might's successor. Then again, if One for All never worked properly for him and Mr. Yagi asked for it back... Quirk or not, Izuku was here, now, in UA, in the hero course, and Mr. Yagi had said he could be a hero without a quirk.
"I haven't really decided yet. But UA teaches all hero course students the three main branches of heroics, so we don't really have to choose a specialty until later, and even then there are heroes like Sir Nighteye who blur the lines, right?"
"Yes, it's one of the things that make UA such a superior institution!" chortled Monoma.
"Ah, Monoma! I agree! It is important for all heroes to be aware of the work their colleagues do, and to be well-rounded individuals!"
Monoma!?
"Um," said Izuku. "When did you get here?"
"Just a minute ago," said Monoma. "I was looking for a way around these savages when I overheard your conversation. Really, it's a shame that UA allows such rabble to prevent students from entering. If only there was something they could do..."
"I'm afraid I must disagree," said Iida. "Freedom of the press is exceedingly important for the function of society!"
Monoma looked slightly alarmed. "I don't mean to say it isn't, it's just-" he gestured at the gates, "-we can't get in. The other entrances are like this, too. It's aggravating."
"There... might be another way in," said Iida, after a moment.
"Oh?"
"Yes, my brother told me about a hidden entrance that was here when he attended UA. I suppose... I suppose these would be the right circumstances to use it."
"Lead the way, then, Iida," said Monoma.
Iida nodded stiffly. "We should wait and see if any of our classmates would like to come with us."
Several of their classmates did want to come with them, including Uraraka, Asui (who was still a little under the weather), Tokoyami (Dark Shadow was not a fan of flashing lights), and Hagakure. They were also joined by a couple of 1-B students, a cadre of business course kids, and a pink haired support course girl who seemed very interested in Iida's legs, much to his flustered confusion.
Kacchan did not join them, much to Izuku's dismay, instead choosing to bulldoze his way through the ranks of reporters, nearly giving Izuku a heart attack when he body-checked a man with blue-white hair.
At this point, their group was becoming rather large and noticeable, and Iida was getting antsy about the time, so off they went.
Iida led them to what appeared to be an entirely unnoteworthy piece of wall and knocked. There was a pause just long enough to make Iida start to sweat, and then the wall opened, revealing Midnight- Ms. Kayama!
"Oh?" she said, clearly delighted. "Chibiida using the top secret teacher's entrance? Has high school done what we couldn't? Are you finally loosening up?"
Chibiida.
Chibiida.
CHIBIIDA.
First: how? Why? Iida was over ten centimeters taller than Izuku! Secondly: Iida was never going to recover from this.
"That- that's not it! At all! I am simply attempting to help my fellow students enter the school without being harassed by reporters, Ms. Kayama!"
"You can still call me big sis Nemuri, you know."
"I refuse! It would be inappropriate of me as a student!"
Ms. Kayama sighed. "Well, you aren't wrong about those reporters. They can be a pain. So, just this once, let me welcome you kids to the forbidden environs of the staff area!" She made a grandiose gesture with her arm. "And it's all thanks to Chibiida here."
Iida started muttering about propriety and rules.
Izuku had the feeling it would be a long day.
.
"All right, Hikage, in your professional opinion-"
"What does building inspecting have to do with anything?"
"What?" said Nana. "I didn't say anything about building inspecting."
"You asked for my professional opinion."
"Yes?" said Nana, already dreading where this would go.
"I was a vigilante. For the purposes of money, I was a professional, licensed building inspector."
"I thought you were a professional hermit," said En.
"I was an amateur hermit. You don't get paid for that."
En blinked. "I can't believe people let you into their buildings."
"There were a few times-"
Nana decided to table the question of how neither she nor En had known Hikage was a building inspector. "Okay, fine. Forget the professional part. In your opinion, what was going on with that one reporter guy?"
"Oh," said Hikage. "He's definitely planning a murder."
"A murder!" exclaimed Yoichi.
"Yes, and probably of someone close to Ninth."
"Why didn't you say something?" demanded Yoichi, attempting to lift the taller man up by the front of his shirt and failing.
"Because there's not much we can do about it?"
"Just because you're right doesn't mean I have to like it!" He spun on his heel and stalked up to the silent and incomplete ghost of Toshinori. "It had better not be you, do you hear me? Don't you dare pull an Obi-Wan on poor, sweet Izuku!"
"Does anyone know what he's talking about?" asked Nana.
"Not really," admitted Banjo.
.
"Today," said Mr. Aizawa, after he finished passing out feedback from the battle trial, "you'll pick a class president."
All around Izuku, his classmates threw their hands into the air, eager for the chance to show off their leadership skills.
Izuku kept his hand down. It wasn't that he didn't want to stand out or do the work! It was just... between training after school with Mr. Yagi and Aizawa and trying to get his anxiety under control, he didn't think he'd do a very good job.
.
Yoichi started disappearing his "Izuku for President" banners.
.
Iida, though... Iida would do well, Izuku thought. Look at him, organizing everyone into a vote.
"You're not running, Midori?" asked Hagakure.
"N-no, haha, I have too many other commitments to do a good job, I think."
"That's too bad! I would have voted for you."
There was a smattering of agreement, mostly from Iida and Uraraka. Izuku started blushing.
"R-really? Why?"
("Strawberry," someone whispered.)
"Well, you helped me out during the entrance exam, and you were pretty cool during training yesterday." More agreement. "But if you're not running, I guess I'll pick Monoma. He did get rid of the purple creep."
"Ahahaha, yes, I am clearly the superior candidate!" crowed Monoma, standing up and putting his foot on his chair to pose.
"But his personality's really weird, which is why you would have been my first choice, Midoriya."
"I think Iida would be a good choice!" said Uraraka, raising her hand. "He's super organized and he helped a bunch of us get past the reporters this morning."
More general agreement. Then Todoroki cleared his throat. Everyone looked at him.
"Yaoyorozu," he said.
That was it.
"Good point," agreed Jirou.
.
"A TIE?!"
.
As the only one who hadn't voted for one of the three in the tie, Aoyama was forced to be the tiebreaker. This was done as dramatically as humanly possible.
Yaoyorozu was now president of class 1-A.
This led to a ferocious battle between Monoma and Iida that Iida won by a single vote. Monoma was promptly chosen as class treasurer. Just in time for their other classes.
.
"Those who possess forbidden knowledge should stay together," said Tokoyami gravely as he sat down with Uraraka, Iida, and Izuku.
"Are you talking about the staff area?" asked Asui, who slid in after him.
"Indeed," intoned Tokoyami gravely. "The dark path we have all walked-"
"Fumi is just bad at asking people to be his friends!"
"Dark Shadow!"
Izuku almost started crying into his rice. Having friends was so great.
"I'll be your friend!" said Izuku.
"Me, too!" said Uraraka, pumping a fist.
"Ah," said Tokoyami, coughing into a fist. "I am sure we will be great companions in the darkness of the coming days."
Speaking of darkness... Izuku couldn't help but feel uneasy about... something. He had been ever since seeing those reporters.
"So, Midori, is your hair full of secrets?"
"Wh-what?"
"Don't listen to her! She's just being silly! Like a little sister."
"It's what you always say about that actor you like! His hair is fluffy because it's full of secrets!"
"So, you and Dark Shadow are like brother and sister?" asked Midoriya, changing the subject.
The conversation segued into discussion of their families, and just when Iida was extolling the virtues of his older brother, Izuku's unease spiked. He dropped his chopsticks.
"Is something wrong?" asked Uraraka.
"I... don't know? It just feels like something bad is going to-"
The school alarm promptly went off.
.
"Wow!" said Kirishima. "Iida can do entrances and exits! Manly!"
.
"Wow," said Banjo, "I guess they picked the right guy for the job, after all. He can find entrances and exits! More than my class vice president ever did..."
"Are you copying the small red child?" asked Hikage.
"What?"
"Never mind."
.
"Today's heroics class will be focused on how to fall safely and other basic combat techniques. Before we begin, although you may practice these techniques on your own, outside of class, if you want to spar with others, you need adult supervision until you reach a level where I'm satisfied you won't seriously injure yourself or others by mistake. Now, firstly..."
.
"Mr. Aizawa? Is- um. Was it really just the press breaking in earlier?"
It was time for his first special quirk training with Aizawa, and he should be asking what they were doing today (especially since Aizawa had him change out of his gym uniform and back to his regular uniform), but he couldn't stop thinking about the break-in.
"What makes you think otherwise?"
"I'm, well, I'm not sure? I just, this morning, when I saw them, I got a really bad feeling? Like something bad was going to happen. And it doesn't seem, um, logical, that normal reporters would be able to do that to UA's gate. I mean, anyone can have any quirk- no such thing as a villainous quirk. But someone with a quirk like that, they'd put a lot of effort into controlling it and stuff so stuff like this wouldn't happen by mistake. I guess a reporter could have done it on purpose, though, but then it'd be really easy for UA to find out it was them, wouldn't it? Or the police. Since heroes and police have access to the national quirk registry, so you just have to cross-reference reporters with the registry to find quirks that could fit. But would they know that? Anyway, it seems more logical for a third party to have used the press as cover to infiltrate the school. But why? If nothing is missing and no one is hurt, which would be grounds for school being canceled, the next conclusion would be information gathering. But that still leaves the question of the ultimate ends- Mr. Aizawa? Are you okay?"
His teacher had been glaring at a camera mounted in the corner of the classroom and mouthing things at it.
"I'm fine," said Aizawa. He sighed. "You are right that we haven't located the person who destroyed the gates, but please be assured that we are investigating the incident throughly. Especially Principal Nezu." He shot another glare at the camera, as if to say he'd better be.
"Regardless, it isn't something you need to worry about as a student. We're adding more safety protocols to make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Oh, okay. S-so, what are we doing today? Sensory deprivation? Electric shocks? Stress positions? Bean bag barrage for dodging? High stakes hell exam?" He was ready for anything and very excited.
Aizawa stared at him flatly. "We're... doing quirk counseling."
"Yes?"
"Kid... except for maybe the last one... what exactly gave you the idea that any of those things had anything to do with quirk counseling?"
Izuku started to get the feeling he'd seriously messed up. Except he didn't feel particularly anxious about it.
"Oh, uh, Mom used to get brochures like that in the mail, after I was diagnosed? She didn't ever answer any, but... Apparently, some people originally thought to be quirkless got quirks after being in a high stress situation."
"But no one actually did any of those things to you."
"Not really?"
"Midoriya..."
Izuku looked away. He shouldn't have said anything. He didn't like the quirk counselor at Eisley Elementary, but he didn't want to get her in trouble, either. After all, he was the only one she had to do that stuff with, since his quirk hadn't shown up...
Aizawa sighed with the air of someone exercising a lot of self-control. "Except for that last one," said Aizawa, "and that's debatable, all of those are torture techniques."
Ah. Well. That maybe explained a few things.
"They are not a normal part of quirk counseling. At some point, we may incorporate some combat into this, but that will be to help you become more familiar with your quirk. Not just for the sake of making you stressed."
"But if we aren't doing combat, what are we doing?"
"Well, first we're going to try to figure out what your quirk is. Why don't you sit down." He took out some papers as Izuku made his way to his desk. "Alright. I'm going to go through these questions and write down your answers... then we're going to go through them again while I'm canceling your quirk." He paused. "Actually, first. What did you mean when you said you had a bad feeling about the reporters?"
.
"If I were alive," said Yoichi, "I would be committing so much murder right now."
"I thought we left this behind when Ninth graduated," said Nana. "I thought you said you were going to forgive them because they were stupid kids and Ninth forgave them."
"Well, first off, I lied. Secondly, teachers aren't kids. If we ever get hit by a quirk that brings us back to life, the quirk counselor at his old school will be my first victim."
Nana sighed. "That isn't going to happen."
"Who's going to stop me?"
"Less a who, and more the fact that there has never been a quirk that could revive the dead."
"Think he's finally lost it after all this time?" asked En, leaning towards Nana.
"No, I think he's just messing with us," hoped Nana.
.
"Alright, kid," said Aizawa exhaustion evident in his tone. "Between your answers, your exam results, the battle trial results, how you react when I use my quirk on you, and Monoma's assessment... Your quirk is at least partially sensory.",
Izuku tried not to feel disappointed, but that seemed rather incomplete as a conclusion. Even though he knew about Danger Sense and this probably was Danger Sense.
"Yeah, I know, it's underwhelming, but remember this is the first session. Whatever your quirk actually does, though, you seem to be using it to detect threats."
Okay, that was more in line with expectations.
"I mean... maybe? I think so. That feels right."
"We also need to figure out what it's stockpiling. Have you ever felt any particular draw to certain situations? More than your peers?"
"Um. I watch a lot of hero fights?"
"You're a fight chaser?"
"A little bit?" admitted Izuku, squirming a little.
Aizawa sighed heavily. "I seriously hope your quirk doesn't stockpile danger- don't test that."
He wasn't going to!
Probably.
Speaking of, though, what did One for All actually stockpile? Power was a very vague description... He'd just went along with it because a) quirk and b) All Might, but it would probably be good to know.
"Next time we meet, I'll be running you through the basic quirk assessment battery- that's a series of tests usually given to five-year-olds to help their pediatric quirk doctors and quirk counselors identify difficult or stubborn quirks. You should have gone through it when you were younger."
Izuku shook his head. "All I remember is the x-ray."
"Why would you get an x-ray?"
"For the toe joint? To tell whether or not I was quirkless?" Why was he saying this? He was going to blow his cover and his secret out of the water! This was so dumb.
But he did say it. Maybe it was his guilty conscience from lying to and misleading Mr. Aizawa so much.
"That's a myth," said Aizawa.
"What?"
"It isn't true." Aizawa began to slump down in his seat. "It's an old wives' tale. Everyone quirkless has the double joint, but not everyone with the double joint is quirkless. I have the double joint, as do about twenty-five percent of people with meta quirks." By the time he finished, only the top half of his face was visible.
"Oh," said Izuku. He wasn't sure what else to say. At least the secret of One for All was completely intact.
"I hate to say this, kid, but it sounds like everyone involved in your early quirk education was incredibly incompetent. You shouldn't have had to deal with that, even if you were truly quirkless. It takes just as much counseling to deal with that in today's day and age as something like, say, Ashido's quirk."
Izuku had never heard it put like that before. "Okay."
"Now, before I send you off for today, do you have any questions about anything we'll be doing? Any of the tests we'll be running, normal quirk counseling procedures, anything. It's important for you to feel comfortable about this."
Izuku's eyes teared up. This had already been a very emotional day, and he wasn't sure a teacher had ever asked him that and meant it. "Mr. Aizawa," he said, earnestly, "you're the best teacher I've ever had."
"Is that a joke?" asked Aizawa, flatly.
Izuku shook his head, centrifugal force flinging his teardrops away.
"That's messed up, kid. I'm terrible."
"You're the best," protested Izuku.
"I just need you to know how incredibly low that bar is. Your other teachers must have gotten shovels to dig tunnels under it. They must be dancing limbo in hell."
Izuku blinked. He had no idea what that meant. "I think they're all still alive..."
I absolutely adore this fic! But especially the way it expands on quirk
counseling worldbuilding in My Hero Academia!
Excerpt from Chapter 2:
"Combined with Monoma's ability to sense your quirk, I'd say you
are not, in fact, quirkless."
"But I have the toe joint?" Izuku wasn't sure why he'd said that. Не
shouldn't be arguing against this, because, as Aizawa had said, he
did have a quirk. It just wasn't exactly his.
"Yeah, that's an old wives' tale."
"Really?"
"As real as my quirk counselor license. Whoever diagnosed you
was a quack."
The idea of Aizawa being a licensed quirk counselor makes so much
sense given his quirk and employment at UA. As he also acts as the introduction to a lot of the nuances to the world of heroics and quirks, seeing him introduce new worldbuilding elements separate from canon feels both natural and exciting! Not to mention the subtle nod to the Dr. Tsubasa is Dr. Garaki theory!
And the elements themselves are so cool! Myths and misinformation are such goldmines of cultural artifacts, and the way this is developed in chapter 5 is so poignant and great pacing!
"Oh, okay. S-so, what are we doing today? Sensory deprivation? Electric shocks? Stress positions? Bean bag barrage for dodging? High stakes hell exam?" He was ready for anything and very excited.
Aizawa stared at him flatly. "We're... doing quirk counseling."
"Yes?"
"Kid... except for maybe the last one... what exactly gave you the idea that any of those things had anything to do with quirk counseling?"
Izuku started to get the feeling he'd seriously messed up. Except he didn't feel particularly anxious about it.
"Oh, uh, Mom used to get brochures like that in the mail, after I was diagnosed? She didn't ever answer any, but... Apparently, some people originally thought to be quirkless got quirks after being in a high stress situation."
...
"Next time we meet, I'll be running you through the basic quirk assessment battery - that's a series of tests usually given to five-year-olds to help their pediatric quirk doctors and quirk counselors identify difficult or stubborn quirks. You should have gone through it when you were younger."
Izuku shook his head. "All I remember is the x-ray."
"Why would you get an x-ray?"
"For the toe joint? To tell whether or not I was quirkless?" Why was he insisting on this? He was going to blow his cover and his secret out of the water! This was so dumb.
But he did say it. Maybe it was his guilty conscience from lying to and misleading Mr. Aizawa so much.
"That's a myth," said Aizawa.
"What?"
"It isn't true." Aizawa began to slump down in his seat. "It's an old wives' tale. Everyone quirkless has the double joint, but not everyone with the double joint is quirkless. I have the double joint, as do about twenty-five percent of people with meta quirks." By the time he finished, only the top half of his face was visible.
"Oh," said Izuku. He wasn't sure what else to say. At least the secret of One for All was completely intact. "You did say something like that before..." He'd been too upset and nervous about the test to really process it.
"I hate to say this, kid, but it sounds like everyone involved in your early quirk education was incredibly incompetent. You shouldn't have had to deal with that, even if you were truly quirkless. It takes just as much counseling to deal with that in today's day and age as something like, say, Ashido's quirk."
First of all, the idea of explicitly widespread, incompetent/quack quirk counseling is fantastic and fits right into the world of MHA, given what we know about Toga.
But on a worldbuilding level, the failure of Izuku's quirk counselors also reflects the reality of getting counseling in general, whether for mental illness, neurodivergence, physical disability, chronic illness, addiction, etc. That's a unique level of authenticity right there!
And while it has analogues to real world examples of misinformed counseling, I love the way OP fleshes out the quirkless variant! The 'Stress-manifesting' idea is such a clear play on other superhero stories employing that trope, like Deadpool, and it's so easy to imagine these counselors ignorantly applying these fictional narratives to real life quirkless people.
It's such an interesting little story about how misinformation leads to actual harm, reflecting the struggles we face in the real world, while still firmly couched in the context of quirklessness and MHA!
Not to mention the idea Aizawa having an extra toe joint as well is just so fun! Meta quirks are so relevant to this AU, since it's so focused on the mechanics of One For All, so it's just so fun to get these extra nuggets of meta quirk worldbuilding details!
These types of stories are exactly why I read fanfiction! Worldbuilding like this is like reading a beautifully in-depth analysis post packed into a couple lines, and the narrative format highlights why this analysis matters! The reasons the characters care becomes reasons that we care!
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discoholicmusic
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