Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya remembers the day each person in his class came in and showed off their quirk. He remembers how that day was a day for celebration. He remembers how excited everyone would be for that person, no matter how weak their quirk happened to be. He remembers when his best friend discovered his quirk in the middle of class and how their teacher stopped the lesson and the whole class celebrated. The excitement in the room was contagious, none of his classmates, including Izuku, had seen the moment someone’s quirk had manifested. That was a great day, Izuku was so happy for his friend. Kacchan had a very powerful quirk and it would be perfect for becoming a hero, something they both wanted to do. Izuku could wait to get his quirk.
Izuku remembers how he never got that special day in class. He remembers how Kacchan had changed when he got his quirk. He remembers his best friend started giving his weird looks when his quirk hadn’t manifested by the end of the school years. He remembers how his classmates would start to distance themselves from him the longer it took for his quirk to come.
Izuku remembers the day he was told by the doctor that his quirk would never come.
When he had come to school the next day after his appointment, the teacher had immediately told the entire class that he was quirkless. Everyone had started laughing and Kacchan had given Izuku the coldest glare that he had ever seen on his friend’s face.
~~~
Since that day Kacchan was no longer his best friend. Kacchan had stopped talking to him for a month after his diagnosis. Izuku wished that he could go back and stop his teacher from ever mentioning his lack of a quirk. When Kacchan did start talking to him again, Izuku wished he didn’t.
That was the first day that Izuku was actually bullied. Before it was just snickers and whispers that his classmates thought he couldn’t hear. That day Kacchan set a precedent for the rest of his schooling. From that day forward Izuku was now only called “Deku” by his classmates and eventually his teachers. Kacchan had loudly exclaimed that Deku was Izuku's real name and showed everyone the kanji used could only be read as such. He went on to say that Izuku had been lying to all of them because he didn't want everyone to know that his parents knew he was useless from birth.
This verbal abuse continued and within two years it had escalated to physical. Every day Izuku was coming home with new scrapes and bruises. When questioned by his mother, Izuku just kept using the excuse that he fell or tripped or bumped into something. His mother had attributed it to Izuku hitting a growth spurt and becoming clumsy with it. Izuku let her believe this.
Once Kacchan started using his quirk, it got worse. Izuku could no longer use being clumsy as an excuse anymore. He was coming home every other day with burns on his arms and legs. His mother became so worried she was talking about pulling him out of school if it got any worse. After that day, Izuku became very adept at first aid. As Izuku started coming home with less visible injuries his mother’s worry began to recede.
Izuku was resigned to this life. The scars on his body seemed to multiply every time that he checked them. He started wearing long sleeves and pants everywhere he went just to cover up the numerous marks that would be visible. He spends almost his entire allowance each month on bandages and burn cream but that doesn't stop these marks from appearing starkly on his skin.
The worst incident with Kacchan takes Izuku out of school for two weeks. Izuku was nine then and had been dealing with the bullying for four years at this point. He had been on his way home from school. He had been taking longer and longer routes as of late to avoid Kacchan and his friends. He was successful for the past couple weeks. That day, however, Izuku was not successful at all.
Kacchan and his group had him surrounded. Izuku didn't remember what his blunder was on this day. Each interaction with Kacchan came from some false offense Izuku had committed toward him. There was nowhere to run with his back up against a tree. Izuku had tried his best to de-escalate the situation but it was to no avail. Before he knew it, Kacchan was sparking small explosions next to his face. Izuku saw the punch coming and was able to duck down before Kacchan could hit him across the face. The next thing he knew there was a loud thud above his head and a large explosion came right after. A searing pain came across his face. The pain and loud noise disoriented him so much it caused him to black out.
By the time he came to, Izuku was alone. As he looked around the vision in his left eye was tinged red and his ears were ringing. His forehead burned when he touched it and when he pulled his hand away it was covered in blood. Izuku knew from experience that head wounds bleed the most. He could see pieces of tree bark scattered on the ground around him so he guessed that was what cut him. He needed to make his way home before his mom. He checked his phone and found it was dead and he had no clue what time it was. He started rushing home, getting looks from the people he passed. His whole face was throbbing in pain but at the moment he had no way of seeing how bad it was. The moment he stepped through the door, he noticed his mom’s shoes. ‘This is not going to end well.’ Izuku usually can patch up any injuries before his mom sees them. There was no way for him to hide this from her.
“Izuku? Is that you?” his mom, Inko Midoriya called out, sounding slightly frantic.
Izuku wondered how late he was for his mother to sound like that. He hoped she wasn’t too worried about him. He cringed, pain lancing through his face, “Yeah Mom, I’m home.” Izuku sighed, if he could hear the strain in his voice his mother definitely could.
“Honey, are you alrigh-”, Inko started to ask, coming around the corner. The moment she saw his face she screamed, “IZUKU! WHAT HAPPENED?” Before Izuku could think of a response to her she said “Let's go, you need to see a doctor.” With that said she had her shoes on and dragged Izuku from the apartment.
~~~
By the time Izuku got home from the hospital he was exhausted. Once at the hospital he was seen immediately, another indicator that this was worse than he assumed. There were multiple cuts on his face but the worst ones went from his hairline above his Left eye through his eyebrow down to the bridge of his nose. The other bad cut was from under his left eye across his mouth to the middle of his chin. Both these cuts were about four inches long, luckily missing his eyes. He also had other cuts ranging from small scrapes to cuts about an inch and a half long. Izuku was given pain meds as his face was being cleaned by a nurse. Once the pain medicine kicked in his head started to clear. He was then forced to tell everyone what had happened. And Izuku did, omitting some parts making it seem like Kacchan didn't do it on purpose and that he chose to walk home on his own. The doctors and his mother didn't seem to believe him but he said no more after that.
Now finally home after spending a few hours at the hospital, Izuku was diagnosed with a concussion and had 65 stitches across his face.* He had bandages covering most of his face and the doctor had said he would need them there for the next couple days.
Izuku laid back on his bed thinking about everything that had happened that day. Kacchan had left him there. Left him bleeding and passed out for at least 20 minutes considering how late he had gotten home. The more he thought the more angry Izuku got. Kacchan had put him through so much in the past nearly 5 years and he had allowed it. Izuku had continued to be around him to try and see if any part of his friend would show that had been buried so long ago. He was so stupid to think Kacchan would change, Kacchan had already changed into this person that made his school life miserable. With that though Izuku realized something, ‘He will never be Kacchan again, Kacchan died when I was diagnosed quirkless. Now he will only be Bakugou’.