Chapter Text
“Mommy, where are we going?” the young child asked his mother.
She just picked him up from his kindergarten and said they needed to make a short trip.
It was two months after his fourth birthday and he wanted to be with his best friend.
Kacchan developed his quirk a short while ago and he wanted to fanboy more about it, wanted to play with his friend and experiment with it.
But he also hoped that being around his best friend would help his quirk to manifest itself soon.
That is why the smile that didn’t quite reach his mothers eyes made him worry a bit.
She always smiled and was happy around him.
He never saw her like this.
Not like she never looked like this.
But she hid her sadness from her son quite well, ever since her husband left she wasn’t quite herself.
She knew that the relationship burned out and the passion was gone.
She wasn’t sad that it ended.
She was sad that her son didn’t have a father while growing up.
Hisashi works in America now, but sends most of his income to them.
She knows that he wants to do everything he can for their child, but can’t be around.
And now she was driving to the doctor with her son, to see when his quirk will manifest.
The idea was from Hisashi, ironically. They talked every few weeks over the phone, mostly to keep him at least up to date on his son's development.
When she confided in him about Izuku still not having his quirk, he proposed to her going to the doctor and taking tests.
Even if the doctor would say that her son would be quirkless, she still needed the answer.
An answer, no matter what kind, would give her at least some peace of mind.
And it isn’t as though being quirkless would be the end.
She knew that quirkless people had it hard, but the daughter of a friend was quirkless and she manages.
The room was silent, after the doctor spoke.
The small boy was trembling, sobbing quietly.
His mother was just sitting there, processing the situation and cursing herself for jinxing this.
Her son was quirkless.
His dream of becoming a hero was crushed with that.
She wants to support him, tell him his dream will still come true, but she has no idea if it is possible.
She didn’t even realize that they went home.
When she came back from her shock, she heard her son crying from his room, the familiar sound of All Might's debut video muffled by the heartbreaking sobs of her son.
While she herself fought with tears, she entered his room.
He must have noticed her, because he turned around at her, eyes red and tears spilling.
“He is so cool. He saves everyone with a smile.” he chokes out between sobs, “Can I be like him too?” he asked her, the smile strained and no hope left in his eyes.
At that moment, she felt her heart break and the tears started flowing.
“I’m so sorry, Izuku. It’s going to be ok.” she cried out, hugging her son close to herself, feeling her legs give out and dropping on her knees, still holding him.
That night, they cried each other to sleep.
When the next morning came, Inko tried her best to cheer him up, making pancakes for breakfast and allowing him to drink soda the whole day, instead of water.
Usually she would insist on a healthy diet for him, but she couldn’t bring herself to enforce that.
She would do everything to cheer him up.
He just looks so broken, like he wanted to cry but had no more tears left.
He did not speak a single word, did not look at her and wasn’t even excited for a live interview of All Might on the hero news channel.
That continued for the next three days.
No one of the two really left the house or did anything.
Izuku was too broken to do anything and Inko couldn’t really think of anything other than her son, not even fully aware of her surroundings.
That is why she almost had a heart attack, when her best friend, Bakugou Mitsuki, stood in her kitchen after she left the bathroom three days after the doctor's visit.
“Ok, what’s going on? Katsuki said that the bean sprout didn’t come to kindergarten the last few days and you haven’t taken a single call. Neither from me, nor Hisashi. He called me, for fucks sake.” she said, frustrated.
“He never calls me, unless it’s really important.”
Inko just looked at her, eyes already starting to water, before she just broke down.
“Shit, I’m not good at this…” Mitsuki muttered and tried to calm her best friend as best as she could.
It took Mitsuki a good two hours to get her friend coherent enough to tell her what happened, although she never once stopped crying while doing so.
“Allright, that's it.” she stated and walked to Izuku’s room.
She opened it, saw the boy curled up on himself and staring blankly at his All Might posters.
She went straight to him and picked him up, before leaving the room again and grabbing Inko by the hand, pulling her out of the apartment to her car.
“Where are we going?” Inko choked out between sobs.
“Izuku needs someone his age and you need to see something besides your home. You are coming to us.” she simply answered.
While Inko showed no resistant to that prospect, Izuku seemed to come back to life and started squirming.
“No, I can’t see Kacchan. I broke our promise. We can never be the best hero duo now.” he cried out.
While Mitsuki heard from Inko that Izuku’s dream was broken, hearing him say it like that, hearing her honorary nephew phrase it like it is his fault, broke something in her.
After that, the ride became a very nerve wracking affair.
Inko, after her son’s outburst, started crying harder again.
And Izuku? He completely broke down crying, but still tried his damn best to escape and hide somewhere.
She somehow managed to get both crying greenettes into her home, although she wasn’t sure how.
After she herself entered, her husband came from the kitchen and saw the mess.
He looked at both Midoriya’s and then at his wife, seeing how absolutely done she looks.
“I’ll get the kids and something to drink for you.” he simply said, before he left again.
While he did that, Mitsuki guided them to the living room.
Shortly after, Katsuki entered the room, having heard a familiar crying.
Izuku was always close to tears.
Katsuki was used to it, was used to protecting the smaller boy from harm.
But he never saw his friend like this.
“What happened?” he asked the boy, as calm as he could manage.
Because whatever led to his friend crying like this, he wanted to bow it into pieces.
But the boy didn’t answer.
He didn’t even look into his direction.
No, he even turned away from Katsuki, as if he wanted to hide from him.
He didn’t know why, but that hurt a whole lot more than he imagined it would.
The person who leaned against the doorframe, who watched all this, now entered the room, but went to Izuku’s mother instead.
“Hey, Auntie Inko? What happened?” she asked.
The woman looked up.
“Oh, hey Kasumi, dear.” she choked out.
“We…we went to the doctors a few days ago…” she began.
Katsuki was listening, while Kasumi’s expression already shifted.
She had a hunch where this was going, why her almost brother looked so broken and crying. Why the hero fanboy had no hero merch on him, despite him being almost glued to it usually.
“The doctor…” she continued, her sobs growing more intense.
“He said that Izuku was quirkless, that he will never have a quirk…” she broke down and next to her, Izuku did the same.
Katsuki looked absolutely shellshocked and didn’t know what to do.
Kasumi’s expression meanwhile went somber.
She now knows exactly why the Midoriya’s were in this state.
She knew of Izuku’s dream.
To be the best hero duo together with her brother Katsuki.
And that one diagnosis has broken that dream into pieces.
She knows how this feels.
She was at a similar point herself a few years back.
Kasumi stood up and went to Katsuki, taking his hand and leading both of them into the kitchen, to give their guests a bit of privacy, but also to talk to him and their parents.
Mitsuki and Masaru were already standing there.
Mitsuki seemed to be on the phone.
Probably with Uncle Hisashi. Kasumi hasn’t seen him in years, but knows that he does what he can from where he lives.
Both parents looked at her and then at Katsuki.
Before she addressed their parents, she turned to her little brother.
“Hey Katsuki, I need you to promise me something, ok?”
He looked at her for a moment, before nodding.
“Please stay Izuku’s friend.” she said and waited a bit.
“The world isn’t nice to us quirkless people. He will need a friend who has his back.” she sadly said, some memories resurfacing.
After her diagnosis, almost all her friends left her.
Her life isn’t easy, something her parents know full well, but they all tried to keep away from Katsuki.
He was too young for that.
But now? With his best friend being diagnosed quirkless as well?
Now he needs to know at least some things, so he can watch out for the other boy.
Katsuki just looked at her and nodded.
He was an observant kid. He knew that something was bothering his sister for a long time. But he didn’t know what.
What he also didn’t know is that he will learn what it is in the next few years.
After that, Kasumi turned to her parents and looked at them with determination in her eyes.
“I will help little Izuku find a new goal.” she stated before turning around and going back to the Midoriyas.
It has been almost two weeks after the Midoriya's surprise visit at the Bakugou’s.
And while Izuku started going to kindergarten again, he wasn’t as cheerful as before.
He was quiet and kept more to himself, although that was hard with Katsuki constantly trying to course him into doing anything.
And Inko got back to her normal life again.
Well, mostly.
She was still more prone to crying and spaced out every now and then.
But the Bakugous and Hisashi did their best to help her.
By now, Izuku was a regular visitor at the Bakugous, but spent more time around Kasumi then Katsuki.
After he learnt that she was quirkless as well, he clung to her like a lifeline.
In his eyes, she was always strong and cool.
She knew what she wanted to do.
And after learning that she did so, even while being quirkless, let him see her in an even better light.
That was even more enhanced by her doing her best to cheer him up, while being more patient than Katsuki.
While Katsuki wasn’t mean or anything, he was never the most patient person.
At first, she kept Izuku around in her room and let him observe her working on small projects, sometimes asking him for little things, like letting him hand her a screwdriver or something.
One of those days, he asked her what she was doing.
“You see, I wanted to be a hero, just like you.” she began to reminiscent.
“But I realized that I couldn’t be. Not necessary because of my quirklessness. There are heroes who fight basically quirkless, but because I gave up after my diagnosis.” she said with a sadness to her voice.
Izuku understood that. He felt the same way.
He knew of heroes fighting quirkless, but after his diagnosis, he broke down and gave up completely.
“But, there are more ways to being a hero, you know.” she then said with a slight smile.
At the questioning look of the boy, she continued.
“You see, even heroes have people that support them. People that fight for them from the shadows.” she continued and her smile grew with every word.
“The heroes behind the heroes are support technicians, analysts, doctors and managers!” she exclaimed happily.
The young boy looked at her with awe.
She could see a slight light return to his eyes.
“I am no good with medical stuff or planning, so I knew I couldn’t be a doctor or manager. And for analysis, I lack the abilities.” she said and looked at the boy.
“Unlike you and your notebooks.” she said with a wide smile.
His face lit up even more and a smile returned to him, after weeks of him only looking sad.
“That left me with becoming a support technician. And as it turns out, I have a knack for mechanics.” she proudly said and gestured to her small projects and blueprints, which are very impressive for a nine year old girl to have made.
Izuku just looked at her, the light having returned full force.
“Can you teach me?” he asked her with too much energy for her to even think about refusing him.
“What if we use another chip?” the green haired teen asked the older girl on the other workbench in the garage.
“That would make it smaller, but you’d need to do the whole code again for it to work properly.” she answered his question.
“That should be possible. At least Kacchan then wouldn’t complain about them being too big and visible anymore.” he answered with a shrug.
“But I’d have to go buy them. Do you need something as well, Kasumi?” he asked her.
“Yeah, wait a moment.” she said and searched her pockets for a piece of paper.
“There we go. Think you can get these, Izuku?” she asked him.
“It’s not the first time I am buying parts.” he said and mocked offense.
She giggled.
“Yeah yeah, now go. I think Hatsume Mechanics closes in about an hour.” she said and returned to her workbench.
He smiled and put the paper in his pocket, leaving the garage.
“Hey beansprout. Already heading home?” the blonde woman standing in the kitchen asks him.
“Nah, just going to buy some parts, Auntie.” he answers and takes his jacket from one of the chairs.
“Allright, be safe.” she called as he put his shoes on and left.
It’s been a few years now and he was almost daily at the Bakugous now.
Sometimes even over the whole weekend, just building.
He would do that at home, but the apartment he and his mother lived in was rather small and had a policy against too loud noises.
That’s why he was so grateful that the Bakugous had their own house with garage, that he and Kasumi use as their workshop.
Inko was grateful for all of that.
Her son was happy and had a dream, something she for weeks after his diagnosis thought he would never again have.
And she supported him with his new dream as much as she could.
Well, mostly him nowadays.
Since she turned 18 and started to attend the support course at UA University, she lived in the dorms there and was not home as often.
The only reason she was home this weekend was that some hero course student went overboard in training and threw his classmate all over campus grounds through the dorm she lived in, causing half of it to collapse.
He couldn't wait to try for UAs support course as well.
It’s only another year until he can.
And while Kasumi’s four years would be over by then, meaning they wouldn’t attend UA at the same time, Kacchan would attend it as a hero student then.
Thinking of Kacchan, the boys weren’t as close as they were when they were younger.
They attended different middle schools, so they didn’t spend the school day together at that time.
And Izuku was in the workshop most of the time.
Sure, he sometimes helped Kacchan when he trained and gave him pointers, but the blonde boy mostly trained on his own.
At first they both thought that would change when they attended Aldera Junior High together.
Well, it didn’t, for multiple reasons.
The first was that they were placed in different classes.
And the second was that they didn’t attend it for more than half a year.
Being quirkless, and kids being total assholes, Izuku was bullied from day one.
He hid it as best as he could and almost everyone believed him.
Everyone except Kasumi, who went through the same.
Although she didn’t say anything to him and he never did to her, she was still a silent support for him the whole time.
He knew what she went through.
She did tell him most stuff.
So he was prepared.
Or at least, he thought he was.
Daily beatings, illegal quirk use with him as dummy and verbal abuse was the norm for the whole time.
But one day, some kid with wings crossed a line.
“Why do you even bother living? A quirkless shitstain like you has no place in the world. Do us all a favor and just hang yourself.” he said.
To his misfortune, Katsuki was standing in the doorway as he said that.
He wanted to give something to Izuku, because it was the boy's birthday.
So with Katsuki’s patience snapped, he lunged at the boy and beat him to a bloody mess, without using his quirk mind you.
Katsuki was smart enough to not use it, as to avoid getting fined for illegal quirk use and be labeled a villain.
Both boys were expelled on the same day from the school.
That led to both families getting a lawyer and suing the school and the winged kid, which they won.
Katsuki went to a different school after that, while the ever smart Izuku just opted to test out of high school altogether.
He was always smart and ahead of everyone else in terms of schoolwork, since he studied when he wasn’t doing analysis or working on some inventions.
Izuku almost didn’t realize that he was at Hatsume Mechanics, because he was so lost in his memories.
He quickly shook his head and went inside.
The woman behind the counter looked up after hearing the bell and smiled.
“Ah, Midoriya. Came here for some parts?” she asked him.
“Yes, Mai-san. I need two small computer chips for me, the smallest you got, and these parts for Kasumi.” he said and handed her the paper.
She looked at the list of items.
“I should have all of that in the back. Feel free to look around while I get you these.” she said before leaving.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” she suddenly stated as she stood in the door.
“My daughter should come home any minute now, don’t be alarmed by her. She is very eccentric, but well meaning.”
Izuku nodded.
He heard some things about Mai-san’s daughter, Mei.
He never actually met her, which is a shame.
From what he knew, she was also a skilled inventor and mechanic, who also tried for UA support the same time as him.
From everything he heard about her, he really wanted to meet her.
Being eccentric is something, Izuku learned, that most good support technicians were.
He met two classmates of Kasumi over the past few years, and they definitely were.
Same as Kasumi and himself, although both were more subdued than her friends.
But he never had the chance to meet Mei.
She spent most of the time in the basement of the workshop, building things herself.
And while Mai-san often said she would take him there and introduce them to each other, he felt like that shouldn’t be the way they meet.
After all, he was of the opinion that a technician's private workplace is holy and shouldn’t be entered without permission of them.
So he just had to hope that he would meet her by chance.
And if it took him until they started UA, then so be it.
While he roamed the shop and put a few parts in his basket that he got ideas on how to use, he heard the bell of the shop entrance ring.
He looked around the shelves to the entrance to see a girl, about his age, that looked almost like Mai-san, except she had her hair in pink dreads.
So this must be Mei.
“Hey Mom, I’m home.” she called, but got no answer.
Izuku stepped around the shelf.
“She is in the back to get a few parts for me.” he said to her.
The girl turned to him and he could feel her eyes zoom on him.
Wait, forget feel, he can see her eyes zooming in on him, taking in every detail.
After a moment of silence, she grinned wide.
“You!” she suddenly exclaimed.
“You are that green haired boy she mentioned to me!” the girl continued.
“The one who gets it. Who knows how to respect someone else's workspace!”
A bit taken aback by the sudden volume, he couldn’t help but chuckle after what she said registered to him.
“Yeah, that would be me. Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you.” he introduced himself.
Think of the devil, eh?
She took his hand and shook it.
“Hatsume Mei, future CEO of Hatsume Industries.” she grinned wide.
“You said she is getting parts for you? What kind of babies are they for?” she asked enthusiastically.
Ah, that is what Mai-san meant by eccentric. Although calling ones inventiones your babies isn’t far off and by far not the weirdest I heard.
He thought with a smile.
“She is getting some small computer chips that I need to make better hearing aids for a friend and a list of items for another friend of mine. I don’t know what she plans on building with them.” he answered her questions.
She visibly vibrated out of excitement, but couldn’t ask any more questions, before her mother returned from the back.
“Here you go, Midoriya.” she said as she gave him the parts, before turning to her daughter.
“I hope she behaved herself?” she asked with an amused smile.
“She did.” he answered and gave her the things in his basket, so she could add them to the bill.
Izuku paid and then turned to Mei.
“It was nice to finally meet you.” he said with a smile.
“I would like to stay and talk more with you, but I need to get back, before dinner is ready, if I want to not be killed.” he said with a small laugh.
“Come back anytime, so we can talk babies!” Mei said with a wide grin.
And he came back, quicker than he first thought.
While he and Kasumi worked through the night without sleep, both being equally thankful for their insomnia and cursing it at the same time, they forgot that the Bakugou family had to get to Kasumi’s grandpa for his birthday at that day, which left Izuku on his own.
Sure, he could just stay in the workshop and continue building, he got a key to their house after all, but he could also go and meet Mei and talk to her, like she said the day before.
He entered the shop and went to the counter.
“Ah, Midoriya. I didn’t expect you here so soon again.” Mai-san said with a genuine smile.
“I go get Mei for you.” she then added on and went through the door to the back.
Izuku meanwhile just waited patiently for them.
It took only a minute for Mai-san to return with her daughter.
“Ah, it’s the greenie!” she exclaimed and Izuku couldn’t help but smile.
“Come, let’s talk babies!” she excitedly said and grabbed his hand, pulling him with her.
“Don’t blow him up!” her mother called as they passed her with a slight smile on her lips.
“Here we are!” the girl proudly proclaimed after she dragged him through the back of the store, behind a door and down a few steps into the basement.
And what he saw, made him smile wide.
A third of the room was designated to comfort, with a couch, bean bag chairs and a coffee table. There was also a small kitchenette and a definitely regularly used coffee machine.
The rest?
Filled with everything you expect to see in a well used workshop, from tools, machinerie, blueprints to different inventions scattered around.
It reminded him oh so much of the garage he and Kasumi used, although with more stuff for comfort.
He knew how inventing and building can get and was pretty sure that Mei regularly slept down here.
He would do the same in the workshop, were it not for Auntie insisting on him at least sleeping on a bed in their guest room.
“You said you needed the chips for hearing aids? That means you have experience on working with audio babies?” Mei rapidly asked him.
“I do.” he answered and watched her run to a stack of blueprints, obviously searching a specific one.
“Can you help me figure out where my issue here is? I’m not experienced with audio stuff.” she said and showed him the blueprint.
He looked it over and smiled.
“You want to have the speaker and earpiece be a encrypter and decoder respectively, correct?” he asked and studied the plan in detail.
It was honestly impressive and a very good idea.
If she can build this and patent it, every hero who uses it would have no issue with bystanders hearing what they say, while being able to communicate valuable information to everyone who has an earpiece and was on frequency.
It would be almost invaluable for underground heroics.
He didn’t even realize that he was mumbling, until she practically exploded with joy.
“That's exactly what I thought!” she cheerfully said.
“Can you help me figure it out?” she asked again.
“I most definitely can.” he said with a wide grin.
He liked her already.
A few weeks, multiple prototypes and explosions later, they had a finished product.
They could have been faster, but both got distracted with other ideas regularly and with two teens that have literally zero impulse control, they managed to build 37 different support items, all while initially wanting to build the mouthguard and earpiece set.
While Kasumi didn’t help them building, she was always listening to what Izuku talked about.
It goes without mention that she also liked Mei when she first met her and they got along like a house on fire.
Internally she already wished Power Loader all the luck in the world, when those two became his students.
He would need it.
In the same moment she thought that, the hero felt a cold shiver run down his spine, which made him visibly shake, leading to his colleagues giving him confused looks.
The months leading up to the UA entrance exam were filled with many sleepless nights, explosions, a good amount of new projects and just as much being built on impulse.
It was another evening of Mei, Kasumi and Izuku working in the garage in a shared project, when Mei brought up a new topic.
“So, you are in the support course at UA?” she asked Kasumi.
She nodded.
“I am. What do you want to know?”
“What’s the entrance exam like?”
She smiled.
“Fear you won’t pass it?” she teased.
“Nah. Just want to know how much fun I’ll have.” she waved her hand in front of her face dismissively.
Izuku was listening to the whole conversation.
Kasumi leaned back a bit.
“Hmm, that depends on what focus you want. Like, most support students just go with support technician alone. But there is the possibility to either add costume design or analysis to it.” she answered.
“While I would say you are best with support technician alone, I was thinking of recommending Izuku to add the analysis aspect.” she said and looked at him.
“What would that change?” he asked her, already interested.
“You would have an extra part to your exam, where they would see if there are some regular classes you can test out of, to make room for the analysis class. Otherwise that one would be extracurricular after the normal school day ended.” she explained.
“But in my time at UA there was only one who tried for analysis and he didn’t make the cut. To my knowledge there were only two in the history of the school that made it in.” she added.
“But even if you don’t make it into the added analysis class, that won’t reflect negatively on your other classes, so no harm done I’d say.” she shrugged.
Izuku was in thought for a few minutes.
“I guess you're right. No harm in trying at least.” he said.
“The regular support course exam consists of a written exam with focus on science and mechanic questions over most other topics, although they will be in there as well. Then there is a practical, where you have three hours to build something and the presentation part after it, where you present what you build. You will also have to submit an folder with an essay and a few blueprints from your private projects, as well as one invention you made before with an written illustration on what it is and does.” she explained the exam.
“Sounds easy enough.” Mei said with a smile.
“No, it’s more complicated than you thought, Mei.” Izuku said with a grin.
Seeing her confused expression, he continued.
“You will have to decide on a baby you will give them and won’t get back for some time.” he explained with a mischievous grin.
“They can’t do that. Those are my babies!” she exclaimed with slight fear in her eyes.
Kasumi just grinned.
Yeah, they will be fine. Power Loader not as much.
She thought.