Begin Again

Izuku had been walking home from the park when he saw it happening. He had spent the morning playing and was running home for lunch when he saw a group of much older boys hanging around the high brick wall that fenced off his apartment complex. Izuku slowed his run to a sluggish walk and watched the older boys in wide eyed curiosity, wondering what they were up to.

Three of them he recognized as older boys from his building, and one of them he admired ever since he had heard he had gotten into a high school with a focus in training sidekicks because of his limb-stretching quirk. The other two were always with him, and from observing them Izuku knew that the black haired boy who wanted to be a lawyer (which was stupid since his quirk was hydrokinesis) was the leader of the small trio, and that the meek looking boy with a wide set of horns was his twin brother.

The other boy Izuku didn't recognize, though. He didn't live in the area and there was something deeply … unsettling about his appearance. Not that a six year old would know a word like that. All he thought was 'creepy' as he slowly inched by on the other side of the street.

Hydrokinesis was jeering and the silver haired boy shrugged as he said something Izuku couldn't hear. Whatever it was made stretchy arms bristle and hydrokinesis punched silver hair in the gut so hard that he doubled over. Izuku stopped dead and stared in shock.

He didn't know what was going on but his better nature made the world a simple place, and before he could stop himself Izuku had sprinted across the street and grabbed the older boy by the arm, grabbing a fistful of sleeve and clinging for dear life.

"What the fuck?" Hydrokinesis blurted out as Izuku tugged on his shirt, "what do you want!?"

"S-stop hurting him!" Izuku squeaked.

"Kid, seriously? Piss off!" The older boy tried to harmlessly shake him off but Izuku refused to let go.

"Holy shit, Freaky actually got saved by a baby," stretchy limbs snorted. Izuku suddenly didn't look up to him anymore and he felt tears well up in his eyes. But he had stood up to Kacchan before and he was mush scarier. And being scared was no reason to back down from doing the right thing!

But hydrokinesis was less willing to hit him than his explosive friend and he seemed to relent. "Heh, guess you did get saved by a baby, freak." He shook Izuku off as he drew back, "next time you're around here you might not have a toddler watching your back."

"I'm SIX!" Izuku protested but the boys were already leaving. Izuku's frightened indigence dissolved into concern and as the boys got out of earshot he turned. "M-mister are you alright?" Izuku squeaked but the face he was met with wasn't a friendly one.

The boy's hair hung around his face, casting it in deep shadow but Izuku could still see the sunken red eyes glaring at him, and that his dry, cracked lips were pulled into a tight frown. Izuku quickly took a step back and looked down. "S-sorry I didn't mean to offend you M-Mister. I, I'll j-just get going…"

"Why?" The boy asked before Izuku could flee.

"Why… What?"

The boy looked impatient, "why did you do that?"

Izuku tried to smile but it felt weak against the glare. "B-because it's the right thing to d-do and I w-wanna be a … Be a…" The boy towered over him.

"You heard them. I'm a freak."

Izuku cocked his head before his faced stretched wide into the most grateful smile. "Oh don't worry about that, I'm quirkless too!" The boy looked.

"No, that…" The silver haired boy started before he shook his head, "if you're quirkless why did you step in?"

Izuku held up his arms the way Kacchan did when he wanted to look dramatic. "Cause I'm gonna be a hero, and that's what heroes do!" The older boy flinched at the words but Izuku didn't notice the out of place reaction. Or at least it didn't register as being any different than the reaction of anyone who heard that.

"… Oh."

Izuku nodded sagely before he peered around the silver haired boy. "I got to get back home before Mom gets mad," Izuku grumbled, "have a nice day, Mister!"

"… You too …"

XXX

"Welcome back, Shigaraki," the man at the bar said as the teen stalked in like a half feral cat. He looked twitchy and agitated and the friendly greeting was met with a hostile glower.

"Where's father?" He demanded and with a resigned sigh Kurogiri pointed to a spot along the counter. Exactly where Shigaraki had been sitting before he left that morning. Ah. Oops.

Shigaraki snatched the hand off the counter with four fingers before he rested it comfortably over his face, obscuring the vision of one eye and pushing back his hair. He relaxed into the familiar contact, and the tension in his neck and spine ebbed away. Good, he needed to be collected.

"Welcome home, Shigaraki," the television said as it flickered to life. The teen slid on to a stool and nudged the screen so it was facing him.

"Thank you, Sensei."

"So? How did you find your day trip?"

"It was as you said," Shigaraki said as he picked at an ash tray, rolling it between alternating four fingers. "But …" He closed all five fingers onto the glass tray, "I think I met someone interesting today, too." And the ruined dust slid through his fingers.

XXX

It was another week before Izuku saw the older boy again. He was back in the park, trailing after Kacchan and friends on the hot summer day, sweat making his shirt cling uncomfortably to his back. He was nursing a burn on his palm and sniffling, upset and confused with how his friend had lashed out at him. Was he still mad that Izuku had stood up to him? But Izuku had already explained his logic … there was no need for Kacchan to hurt him.

His friends were far ahead, far enough that Izuku could only hear them when they raised their voices and getting farther ahead by the second. Izuku really should hurry to keep up but he couldn't bring himself to join in. He almost wanted to just go home but Kacchan had said they were going to the river where he could rinse off his burn. If he didn't then he was being a baby. Izuku kicked up dirt miserably with every step and told himself that he wasn't a baby

He heard the faint noise of chain link rattling and Izuku looked over then stopped dead. The boy from before! He was standing and dusting himself off, and it seemed clear to Izuku that he had climbed the fence and his face lit up. Amazing! That was the tallest fence Izuku had ever seen! Not even Kacchan could climb it! AND the silver haired boy was quirkless, too!

Izuku cast a glance at the shrinking backs of his friends before he turned and ran down the hill, waving one arm wildly as soon as the silver haired boy looked up. He could see Kacchan whenever, but the quirkless teen was rare. "Mister!" He chirped in delight, "hi!"

"Hey kid," the boy said. He frowned when he noticed the burn on the hand Izuku had been waving but he said nothing. "I was hoping I would find you."

"R-really?" Izuku's eyes widened in awe. A cool older kid had been looking for him!? … Why?

"You really helped me out earlier, I wanted to thank you." Izuku turned scarlet and smiled sheepishly. He hadn't actually done anything, really.

"Oh, um, it was nothing-"

"Those boys would have pummeled me if you hadn't stepped in. And if you're going to be a hero you have to get used to people thanking you." Izuku didn't hear the bitter tone the teen had taken and he took the comment at face value, a look of earnest delight on his face. This teen knew he was quirkless and said that, it was the first time anyone had believed in his dream since-!

"Anyway," the boy went on, "I wanted to thank you for helping me."

"No problem!" Izuku said proudly and he flashed a thumbs up, like he had seen on television. "Oh, um, and my name is Midoriya! Midoriya Izuku."

The boy nodded, "nice to meet you, Midoriya, I am … Tomura." Izuku let the name roll around in his skull, noting the strange way he said it. "Well Midoriya, I was wondering if you would let me buy you a treat." Tomura pointed to the edge of the park where an ice cream cart was set up, and Izuku lit up.

"Okay!" He agreed readily. He followed after the teen, bouncing with every step until he had popsicle in the shape of All Might's head clenched firmly in his sticky fingers. The older boy had bought something caramel flavored but he wasn't eating it. He sat down on a bench under the shade of large tree and Izuku sat with him, chattering away about heroes between licks.

He was almost done with his popsicle before the teen finally spoke, "I don't get you, Midoriya."

"Huh?"

"Why you admire heroes so much?" Izuku went bug eyed at the statement and Tomura actually snorted. "I mean, look. Most of them are just in it for the game and fortune, and it's because of them that people like you … Like us … Get called freaks. Anyone who's quirkless is weaker and anyone with a dangerous quirk is a villain in the making. And then there are those boys from last week. They had great quirks but they didn't do anything to earn them. They just have them and because of that they think they're better than you and me."

Izuku looked down at his feet.

"You want to be a hero, right? But I bet no one takes you seriously, right?"

"Y-yeah…"

"And then there are kids who everyone thinks should be heroes, even if they don't want to be or don't deserve it."

Izuku couldn't help but think of Kacchan and he frowned. "I guess?"

"It's not fair."

Izuku felt the sticky melted trails of his popsicle start to run down his hand but he was suddenly uninterested in eating it. "I … Never thought of it that way before."

"Don't worry, Midoriya," Izuku looked up and was surprised to see Tomura grinning. His cracked lips were bleeding in the middle and he was showing too many teeth, but it was the glint in his red eyes that made the hair on izuku's neck stand on end. "That's for adults like me to fix."

Izuku swallowed and put his ice cream back in his mouth so he didn't have to say anything.

They fell into an awkward silence that seemed to stretch endlessly before the teen sighed and stood up. He tossed his untouched ice cream over his shoulder and he cracked his knuckles. "Hey, Midoriya? Answer this for me, at least." Izuku looked up and cocked his head. "If you had the chance to gain a quirk, would you take it?"

Izuku blinked. What a strange question! "Yeah. I think I would," he decided. His enthusiasm had been curbed by the conversation and the impossibility of such a thing but … Tomura asked it so genuinely. The teen nodded before he turned and walked away, hands buried in his pockets and shoulders hunched. Izuku opened his mouth to say something but before he did he felt a hand slam down on his shoulder.

"Deku! There you are! I've been looking for you, do you want me to get in trouble?!"

XXX

Tomura became a fixture in the park after that. He wasn't there all the time, in fact he wasn't there often, but he was there enough to catch Izuku's attention. At first Izuku only ever would shyly wave and pip hello, still unnerved by the previous conversation but as weeks passed he started to warm up again. On some days, usually the days Kacchan burnt him, he spent the afternoon talking with Tomura who seemed uncharacteristically interested in what he had to say compared to most teens.

They talked a lot for talking about nothing, mostly Izuku just rambled and Tomura listened, and added comments that swayed between very wise and very petulant. The only time he dictated the conversation was when he was mad about heroes, or when he wanted to know about the quirks if the people in Izuku's life.

Izuku told him that his mom said his dad could breathe fire, which sounded okay he guessed, but his mom could leverage things! She could draw things towards her gravity and Izuku told Tomura in great detail about how she used it in everyday life. Tomura seemed amused and irritated in equal measure by his admiration, and he made a few guesses as to what kind of quirk Izuku could have had. Of all his suggestions, Izuku liked the idea of having the opposite of his mother's quirk the most. The ability to move things away, use psychic power to clear out debris or throw evil doers.

Of everything, he talked about Kacchan the most. About how amazing he was, but how he kept lashing out. How Izuku wanted him to stop but was too scared to confront him properly. Tomura didn't have much to say about that.

Izuku didn't ever really know what he was thinking

At times Tomura would grow silent and make strange, eerie expressions as he considered what Izuku said. When he got like that Izuku stopped talking all together and just sat in silence close to the silver haired teen, doing his best to avoid those sunken red eyes. Izuku felt like a small bird when Tomura began to sulkx. Small, frail, and unaware of the true horror of the creature that sat beside him. He was too frightened to take flight when that happened, he just sat and waited until Tomura decided to leave on his own.

XXX

"Why would someone be friends with someone who hurts them?"

The bartender looked over at Shigaraki. The teen was seated neatly at the end of the bar, picking at an uneaten plate of food with a look of confusion under the hand on his face. Kurogiri set down the glass he had been polishing with a little clink and he slowly walked along the bar until he was standing before the boy. He put his hands on the counter and leaned forward so that, if Shigaraki chose to look up they would be eye-to-eye.

"I don't understand. If someone is afraid of and hurt by another person, why would they actively seek out contact with them?" Shigaraki went on. He picked at his bowl of rice before he finally set down his chopsticks and folded his arms on the counter. "Why not run away? Why get someone stronger to defend them?"

"Is this about something in particular?" Kurogiri asked but the teen only shrugged. The smoke man sighed and thought for a moment about what Shigaraki had asked. He had been taking more and more trips outside but only Sensei knew to what end. "Well, maybe they think they deserve it?"

"He doesn't deserve it," Shigaraki snapped indignantly and Kurogiri raised his hands. 'He'?

"Maybe he doesn't, but he might think he does. People are weak, people are stupid – and sometimes people hate themselves whether they know it or not. They accept things other people wouldn't because they think that they deserve it. Or maybe he thinks the one hurting him isn't really like that." Shigaraki's fingers twitched and Kurogiri tapped the back of his wrist. "Don't destroy my counter, boy."

"Well . . . how would you make someone understand that they're better than that?"

"Why would you want to?"

Shigaraki frowned and hung his head. "I . . . I don't know." It was the right thing to do? Izuku had potential? He was already so beaten down that any attention for Shigaraki made him light up like the sun. He was a little kid, someone that Shigaraki ought to pay no mind to but he couldn't stop wondering about the child without a quirk.

Finally, Kurogiri cleared his throat, "If you want to help this person then I suppose it would be wise to find a way to make them see the worth that you see." Shigaraki looked at him with an unreadable expression for a long while before he slid off his seat.

"I need to talk to Sensei about something."

XXX

"Come on, you'll be back before your mom's done with dinner if you actually move," Tomaru said impatiently as Izuku dragged his feet. He wasn't sure where they were going, but he trusted the teen after so many months – and no one had told such a young child of the dangers of strangers. He hadn't even told anyone where he was going, outside of telling Kacchan he had to go with a friend instead of playing in the forest. But now that he was in the city, in a strange town, he was uneasy.

"S-sorry," Izuku said meekly. He hurried along, now pressing a little too close to Tomaru as the teen led him through the thick press of iron and cement. "B-but are you sure?"

"Yes. I. Am. Sure. Now come on, we're here," Tomura said as he turned to a nondescript building with an unmarked door. It looked like a warehouse and when Izuku was brought inside he gasped in fear. It looked like a lab from a cartoon, large dark tubes stood around with pipes hanging around them, and there were a couple sleeping people on metal tables with bits of tubing going into their arms. The whole place looked clean, more than Izuku had expected from the outside, but his young mind could provide no reason for what he had been presented with.

Tomura had paused and was looking back at him with an air of irritation. "Come on! It's just a hospital, Midoriya."

"I've never been to a hospital . . ."

"Well, now you have. So come on before I take you back to the park." Izuku swallowed before he followed along, between the people with the dead stares and the large vats and to a door in the far back. A small door was set in the back, and behind it Izuku could hear the faint hum of an air conditioner unit and electronics. Izuku had to force himself not to grab at Tomura's shirt. He had to be brave.

"Sensei," Tomura rapped the door with a single knuckle before he pushed it open, and Izuku went slack jawed at the rudeness. Not that the man inside seemed to care.

"Ah, hello Shigaraki. Come in, come in." Izuku stepped in after the teen meekly, and he tried not to whimper as he saw the man. He was dressed in a fine suit one that radiated class and money but his head was incased in a metal mask. His posture was proper, even seated, but not unkind and Izuku stepped forward at his beckoning.

"G-good afternoon, S-Sensei," Izuku sputtered. Tomura had told him to use that title but it still felt strange, "My name is Midoriya Izuku." He bowed deeply and the man radiated approval.

"Such a polite boy," he noted, "Shigaraki has told me you live with only your mother. She has done well in raising you." Izuku felt a stab of pride. He loved his mother, and he was pleased with the complement to her skills. "He also tells me that you would like a quirk like hers."

"Yes Sensei!" Izuku said. Tomura had told him about this and he tried to hold himself as high as he could, puffing up his chest and holding his breath.

"I could not find a skill to repel, but I found something similar enough if you would like it. Tomura has told you that I may gift quirks, has he not?"

"Yes Sensei!"

Even with the mask, Izuku thought the man was smiling. "And would you like a quirk of your own?" Izuku nodded firmly and the man held up his hand. "But first, you must swear to me one thing." He paused for a moment, "you are a mere child and I do not demand your loyalty but you must swear that you will never attempt to harm Shigaraki with what I am about to give you."

Izuku looked at his older friend. Try to harm him? Izuku could never imagine doing such a thing and he said as much, "I won't ever hurt him! I can be loyal too, u-um, Sensei, Tomura is my friend, Sensei."

"Well, with any luck you will feel the same way when you are older." The man rose from his seat and stood over Izuku like a mountain. "But until then, I hope you can make use of this gift." The man reached over and placed his palm against Izuku's forehead.

Then everything went white.