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There are two classes of quirks in the world. Regular quirks and mythic quirks relating to the traditionally supernatural. It’s not something that determines the efficacy or strength of a quirk. The only true relevance is that when someone with a regular quirk has a child with someone with a mythic quirk, the outcome will be a child who is not quirkless, but has two quirks that cannot express except in circumstances of extreme duress.
Izuku Midoriya is one of these unlucky children. His mom has a minor telekinesis quirk, his dad has a firebird quirk. It’s not that he has bad parents. No, both his parents accepted the possibility when they got together and they’re quite fine with him being effectively quirkless. The problem that ‘can’t express without serious trauma’ is easily interpreted as ‘will never express’ by others and then becomes ‘quirkless and useless’ in their minds.
Kacchan is the first to turn on him, but far from the last.
Fortunately, even though the teachers are biased towards Kacchan, they don’t tolerate outright bullying, so it never really escalates beyond playground fights where Izuku gets between Kacchan, Kacchan’s friends and whoever they’re picking on that day. Well, until it does. Izuku’s application to UA is mentioned in class by the teacher. A prick of a teacher who respects policy as little as the class respects him. At any rate, Kacchan is vastly displeased and Izuku has the smarts to grab his bag, get out of the classroom and flee to the roof before Kacchan and his buddies can corner him.
Unfortunately, they happen to see where he goes and follow him onto the roof.
The notebook still in his hand is taken away, exploded and tossed off the building. It hits someone below, resulting in cursing and the notebook being kicked aside pointedly. Well, that’s not too bad. It’s sure to be scuffed and scorched, but at least it’s not deliberately ripped up. Izuku will take a win when he gets one.
“Pay attention, Deku!” Kacchan grabs his upper arm and jerks him around to face him. “Why don’t you make like your notebook and hope you get a quirk in your next life?”
“Kacchan-” He starts to tell him that they need to back away from the edge before someone falls, but Kacchan takes it as talking back and shoves him a little.
“Don’t even start with me, De- Deku!” Kacchan’s snarl turns into a shriek of dismay as he realizes that he’s actually tipped him over the edge of a three story drop.
Well, yeah, murder won’t look good on his record. Izuku thinks spitefully even as he panics with everything in him. He feels something in him reach out and…fill him and… Huh. Apparently he got his quirk. His fall slows abruptly until he touches down lightly on all four paws. Paws. What!? He twists frantically to look at himself and realizes that he’s some sort of small, green canid with curly fur.
Oh.
He wonders what kind of canid. It’s probably a mythic type, but that leaves several options. Then he looks at his feet, because it doesn’t feel like cement under his paws. It seems to be cement powder. What the-? Did he do that? He looks up at the school building and sees the brickwork is crumbling in a widening pattern, starting narrow just below the roof and a full ten feet wide at the base of the first story.
A teacher on the second floor slams open a window that promptly turns into glass dust which she pays no mind to and peers down with fear on her face. “Midoriya? Are you ali-?” She pauses, hand over her heart. “Midoriya? Ah, your quirk came in. You know, it’s generally not recommended to try to force activate a quirk by jumping off the roof.”
Izuku tries to turn back to let her know that no, he had not jumped. He fails. In irritation, he glares at the roof and chatters angrily. Literally what the fuck!? Kacchan had almost killed him on accident!
Chatters? Huh. Must be a kitsune, then. But why does he only have one tail? Shouldn’t almost dying be worth a second tail? And why is he tiny?
The teacher blanches. “Did someone push you? Are they still on the roof?”
She disappears from the window, apparently to go check.
Grumbling to himself, he checks over his backpack for damage. It’s fine. Then he goes after the notebook, which fortunately had landed just outside the destruction zone. It’s a bit tricky to get the zipper down to put the notebook in the bag and then zip it up again, but he manages. There.
~
To his surprise, Kacchan and his buddies were found on the roof, apparently suffering from energy drain. Kacchan, as the closest to the epicenter was the most severely affected and only by the grace of kami didn’t tumble off the roof when he collapsed. Apparently the reason the effect on the building was lesser at the top was because his quirk initially drew from the three boys instead.
Fortunately Kacchan is fine after being hospitalized and the other two are fine after a mere half a day of hospitalization.
Unfortunately, the school can’t overlook Kacchan literally pushing the quirkless kid off the roof. So Kacchan now has a black mark on his record that will prevent him from being accepted into UA or Shiketsu. He’ll have to settle for a second or third rate hero school. If he’s lucky.
Izuku tries to tell them that it was truly an accident, but he has no way of communicating it. He can’t turn back, can’t speak and it takes several weeks for a custom laptop with extra-large keys to be given to him so he can complete school work. By that time the black mark is already on record and nothing he says can change that.
Kacchan is definitely going to kill him.
~
Kacchan does not try to kill him. Not with words or actions. Though his glare makes up for it. He’s also apparently afraid of Izuku just a smidge.
Which is good, because Izuku apparently lacks a filter entirely as a fox and has no fear, so he tends to scold Kacchan and has even nipped him sharply a few times. Which usually ends up with a halfhearted warning to Izuku and scolding from the teachers to Kacchan about provoking him. Apparently Izuku is the school’s new hero hopeful now that Kacchan has a black mark, and his ability to pull in vitality from his surroundings and use it to float himself seems impressive to others.
He guesses it’s better than everyone being terrified of him and calling him a villain. Apparently being ‘cute’ outweighs the possibility of being drained of vitality.
At least his parents are happy after they get over the heart attack of being told their son nearly died because of his childhood friend turned bully.
Drain Float, with its pulling and telekinetic effects is from his mother’s quirk and Green Kitsune is a mutation of his father’s quirk. Probably. The quirk specialist is puzzled at how a bird quirk translates to a canine quirk, even though both fit the mythic quirk category.
Izuku, honestly, does not think his quirk is very impressive. Unless he’s terrified for his life, he can only use Drain Float on a very small scale, which makes him highly mobile, but not exactly scary. And he’s stuck as a smaller than average fox. Which is a pain! He now has a specially made backpack that he carries things around in, along with his special laptop on a specially made harness. Fortunately, he’s abnormally strong for his size, so he’s able to carry both with ease. That doesn’t make it less inconvenient! Doors are his new nemeses.
~
Applying to UA is…complicated.
It takes his mother four months to get an appointment with Nedzu to discuss Izuku’s predicament. As a result, Nedzu himself ends up recommending him for the recommendation exam, saying that the regular exam would be too biased against him.
Don’t get him wrong. Izuku appreciates it. It’s just the anxiety of knowing that Nedzu expects him to do well in the recommendation exam is enough to have him chewing through several rawhide bones in a row.
The exam is…well. The written part he’s allowed to take on his laptop and it’s not as hard as he expected it to be. He even enjoys the bonus questions on analysis, since that’s a beloved hobby.
The obstacle course is practically a breeze. His small size, agility, speed and ability to make himself effectively weightless with Drain Float makes him hyper mobile. Even with powerhouses like Inasa and Todoroki in the race, he wins by a small margin.
His interviewer is a scruffy looking man with tired eyes, stubble, shoulder length wavy hair and a thin, long scarf that identifies him to Izuku as Eraserhead, an underground hero.
“Normally Nedzu does all the interviews, but he can’t with you, since he recommended you. What do you have that is worth UA’s time? Convince me.”
Izuku twists around and unzips his backpack, noses around for the right notebook and pulls it out and sets it on the table between them. He zips the pack closed before jumping up on the table to release his laptop from its harness and flip it open. Then he types, *First, can I get your autograph, Eraserhead?*
Eraserhead gives him a dead stare for a long moment, then sighs and reaches out to take the notebook. He flips it open and his eyebrows raise as he slowly flips through. Finally, he finds his own entry and stops to read it thoroughly before casually signing it, flipping it shut and setting it back on the table.
“That’s a good argument, kid. Intelligence work is vital in the hero field. But why UA?”
*It’s the best and closer than Shiketsu.*
“Why do you want to be a hero?”
*It’s always been my dream to save people with a smile, like All Might.*
“Hm. You do realize that your quirk makes it impossible for you to be like All Might?”
*Physically, I agree. But I can still help save people and help people feel safer.* He replies, before returning his notebook to the backpack. He got Eraserhead’s signature!
“And you’re okay with the fact that most people will see you as an intelligent pet for the course of your career?”
He droops. *I know they will, unless I can turn human again. But I just want to save people.*
“Hm.” His eyes flash with a red glow and Izuku feels different. Then it stops. He’s still a fox. “Interesting. Your results will be sent to you by mail two weeks from now.”
Izuku feels like he’s failed the interview and dejectedly types, *Thank you.* before shutting the laptop, reattaching the harness and jumping down. He starts to leave, only to be stymied by the door. After a moment of glaring, he turns his head and gekkers at Eraserhead.
The man hides a smirk in his scarf and rises to let him out.
Yeah. That happened. Damn doors anyways.