Chapter Text
Being quirkless means being alone.
He will walk down busy hallways with his shoulders hunched and his eyes on the ground. He will shuffle around with his bright red shoes hoping not to be noticed because being noticed does not mean company.
It means harsh words and harsher hands, surrounded by hateful faces- but always, he will be alone.
Sometimes, it is easy to ignore. If he kept himself busy with quirk analyses and late night runs across rooftops, then surely his mind should never have the chance to wander.
But here Izuku Midoriya was, on a late night free run, letting his mind wander. The distraction costs him, because he misjudges the length of the jump from one building to the other and suddenly he’s falling.
His gut slams into the edge of the roof and his hands scramble to get a purchase only to find none- just his luck. He feels himself slip, and he barely has enough time to curl into a protective ball before his body slams into the ground and he rolls until he is face down in a puddle.
With a groan he pushes himself up and spits out a mouth full of water that tastes like… something unpleasant.
Izuku scowls down at the puddle, his reflection visible because of the lamppost settled right outside the alley. Through the ripples in the puddle he sees the outline of a tan freckled face still stubbornly clinging to its baby fat. Large muddy green eyes stare back at him, and he can't help but wonder if his eyes had always been so tired. A nasty yellow bruise decorates his cheek bone and travels up to his temple- it still hadn’t completely faded from Katsuki’s last slip up, usually he didn't aim punches at Izuku's face.
With a sigh he stands up, wincing at the tug of a new bruise on his abdomen but wasting no time to check how serious it is. No, he’s had enough kicks to the ribs to know that nothing is broken, it’ll just be a bitch to heal.
“There goes my four and a half week streak of not falling off a building.” Izuku mutters to himself, making his way out of the alley and down the street towards the apartment he and his mother lived in.
If Izuku was being honest he'd say the only person actually living in the apartment was him. His mother was still alive, and still around, but very rarely does Izuku see her at home.
She chooses to take ridiculous shifts at work, eating at restaurants and bars, and sometimes even avoiding sleeping at the apartment by staying over with her newest 'romantic interest’.
So yes, Izuku was living relatively on his own at ten years old, and yes he understood why.
It was because he is quirkless, and being quirkless meant being alone.