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The Ikari’s were watching a movie together. It was little Izuku’s fifth birthday and he had yet to get his quirk. His parents sat on either side of him on the couch. He reached his hand out to grab his dad’s hand, once it made contact his dad froze and became stiff. The couch cracked and split beneath them. “Dad?” his little voice rang out. His mom looked over and gasped.
“Hisashi? Izuku what happened?” She grabbed her son's shoulders and pulled him off the broken couch and away from the golden statue that used to be his father. Inko searched her husband for a pulse. She panicked when she couldn’t find one but she knew her son would follow her lead so she took a deep breath and pushed her panic aside, a cascade of tears getting past. Inko looked at the situation objectively, Izuku developed his quirk which turned people (possibly things) into gold, he turned Hisashi to gold, Hisashi had no pulse, the gold dented under her touch so it was likely pure. Hisashi’s quirk was never fully put down on paper. He had a fire breathing quirk, which is what all the paperwork said, but his fire could only melt gold. The yakuza found out about three years ago, Hisashi has been forcibly working with them since.
This all worked through Inko’s head quickly. She knew she couldn’t go to the police or the yakuza would come after Izuku, they couldn’t stay here or keep their last name for the same reason. “Izuku, I need you to repeat after me, okay?”
The little broccoli sprout was confused but trusted his mom implicitly, “Okay.”
“I do not have a quirk.”
“I do not have a quirk,” Came his reply.
“I am quirkless.”
“I am quirkless,” His voice rose at the end.
“Yes, good. Now, go pack your things, Izu-kun, everything you can fit in the bags you can.” Her boy ran off to his room and she got started. She grabbed a knife from the kitchen and a hammer from the tool kit, along with a couple of cardboard boxes. She tried cutting away chunks of gold first but it was densely packed and she had to use the knife as a chisel and break off several large chunks before storing them in the boxes. Half way, and many heavy boxes, through and Izuku came back into the room.
“Oh.” His tone low, tears still dropping off his chin, he looked at the broken couch, to his crying mother, to the boxes full of gold. “I don’t have a quirk.” he reached for the other, smaller, hammer in the tool kit and a flat head screwdriver.
“Hunny, you don’t have to-”
He cut her off with a giant watery grin, “It’s okay, mom, because I am here .” He helped her finish breaking the gold apart, they had to resort to using some old bags when they ran out of boxes. Inko packed a couple bags of her things and asked Izuku to stay in his room while she made a phone call. She called his pediatrician, Dr. Tsubasa Takashi, who has been a friend of the family since Inko and Hisashi got together.
“This is going to sound horrible but how much do I need to pay you to do something slightly illegal?” She asked the phone.
“Well it depends on how risky it is, Midoriya-san, I’ve known you for years but if I could lose my job…”
“I need you to diagnose Izuku as quirkless. I can pay you in gold or cash.”
“Midoriya Inko you aren’t making any sense. Quirkless? Gold? Please explain.”
“Hisashi is dead, Takashi, and if Izuku’s quirk is put in the registry then the yakuza will take him.”
“Inko, I need you to take a deep breath. Why would the yakuza come after young Izuku?”
“They blackmailed Hisashi into working with them because his quirk was gold related.”
“Why wouldn’t you go to the police?”
“We tried that before, they’re in the police.”
“Why not bypass the police and go to Pro Heroes?”
“Izuku touched Hisashi and he turned into solid gold. I can’t go to heroes about this, what if they’re corrupt? What if they take Izu-kun from me?”
“Inko, it’s going to be okay. What about Izuku’s quirk, is it five-finger or just touch activated? I’m going to make sure both of you make it through this safe. We are going to have to fudge some tests.”
“Izu-kun, can you come here?” Inko called down the hall, he ran into the kitchen. Inko grabbed some pieces of paper trash from the top of the trash can. “Can you touch this with just one finger?” She held up her pointer finger, he looked hesitant but touched the paper. It turned into gold. “Okay, could you touch this one with the back of your hand?” He did and nothing happened. They did a couple more tests and found out while it wasn’t five-finger activated, it was only the pads of his fingers that activated his quirk.
“I can buy realistic finger-pad-stickers, with little disks on the insides, directly from the supplier. They will not be cheap, especially the quality of ones you’ll need. They’ll take a couple days to arrive, so take Izuku out of school for a family emergency. Whatever you’re going to tell people happened to Hisashi should be an appropriate excuse. We will need to set up an appointment to legally diagnose him quirkless. I can’t help much more, other than helping to change your names.”
“Thank you, Tsubasa Takashi, I owe you a great debt.”
“That will be paid in plenty of gold, I assume? Be safe, Inko, and take care of Izuku.”
“I will, Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
Inko set her phone down and held Izuku close as they cried. One of his tiny fingers dragged along her back and she ended up with a gold shirt but that was inconsequential. “We need to keep this a secret from everyone, so do your very best not to touch anything from the Bakugou’s. We can try to wrap bandages around your fingers and have you wear gloves?” She whispered into his hair.
He nodded, “Yeah, that should work but if-” He continued into a mutter spree.
Once they gathered themselves a little, they grabbed their bags and Inko carried one box down a few blocks to the Bakugou household. She set the box down and knocked on the door. As soon as Bakugou Mitsuki opened the door, Inko was almost yelling, “I’m changing our name to Midoriya,” as she stomped into the room.
“What did he do?” Mitsuki seethed, lips pulled back showing sharp teeth.
“The asshole left for a promotion in America. He just left us with a promise to send money.” Tears slid down her face “On Izu-kun’s birthday…” She trailed off, Mitsuki pulled her into a tight hug.
“Did I hear Auntie?!!” Katsuki yelled from upstairs, already running to the door.
“Yeah Brat, Izu-kun’s here!” His mother called back.
“Mitsuki, I’m paranoid and won’t be able to pay for that apartment on my own. Could Izu-kun and I stay here for a couple of days?”
“Of course, Inko, stay however long you need. That bastard better send his pay, or he’s going to have to deal with me.”
“Izucchan!!”
“Kacchan!!”
The two boys slammed into each other and squeezed tightly. They ran up to Katsuki’s room.
“Kacchan can I tell you a secret?” Izuku asked, wringing his hands.
“Of course you can, idiot,” Katsuki replied.
“I got a quirk, but it did something bad so now no one can know. And mom was talking to Dr. Tsubasa and he’ll diagnose me quirkless, and we can’t let anyone know, and-”
“Izucchan, what the hell are you on about? Just tell me.”
Izuku pulled one of his gloves off and showed off the golden bandages wrapped around each finger. “I can turn things to gold with a touch. It’s only one finger activated, but just the pad of the finger.”
“Why can’t anyone know? That’s really cool, we could become heroes with a quirk like that, you can’t become a hero quirkless.”
“No one can know, Kacchan. I bet you can’t find a hero that fights quirkless as fast as me.”
“You’re on.” Katsuki grinned.
Izuku did find a hero that fought quirkless but he was an underground hero, Eraserhead was his name. He quickly became Izuku’s second favorite hero, just under All Might.
“Izuku, why don’t you have that glove on?” Inko asked from the doorway.
“I had to tell Kacchan.” Inko dropped to her knees in front of her son.
““You can’t tell anyone ” is what I said, it’s dangerous. You could get really badly hurt.” She turned to the other boy in the room. “Katsuki, come over here,” She put her hands on his shoulders and looked him square in the eye. “This could make people hurt Izuku badly. Do you want Izuku hurt or taken away?” He shook his head. “Good, then I need you to make everyone think he’s quirkless, okay? Repeat after me. Izuku is quirkless.”
“Izuku is quirkless,” He said quietly.
“Again, you have to make them believe it.”
“Izuku is quirkless!” Katsu-kun yelled. Inko smiled at him and gave him a little hug.
“Of course he is. Now, Izuku is going to be off of school for the next couple days because of his father leaving. You’ll be okay alone?” She informed both of them.
“‘Course, those extra’s love me.”
“I’ll be fine here on my own mom, and it won’t be for long.”
Over the next few years Katsuki would bully Izuku in school, calling him useless Deku, and pushing him around, sometimes hurting him to make sure no one suspected anything. Then they would go home together, and Kacchan would take care of all of Izucchan’s wounds, whether they were by his hands or not, and comfort him. The two cuddled and became closer over the years. They trained together and only one incident with Izuku’s quirk happened.
It was a day just like any other Katsu-kun and Izu-kun had been sparring in the yard which was all muddy from rain last night. Masaru was in the kitchen when they came in to get drinks.
“Did you slice your finger Izu-kun? I can go grab the first-aid kit.” He spotted the side of greenettes finger and thought it looked painful.
“Huh?” Izu-kun looked up at Uncle and down at his finger. The sticker had peeled off a little due to the moisture outside and inside the thing. Izu-kun tried to push it back on and laugh it off but the little gold piece slipped out. The sticker touched his exposed finger and turned gold, but was so coated in mud you couldn’t tell. They usually held up well to moisture but it must’ve been too old or just a dud. Masaru picked up the small disk of gold, shaped like the pad of a finger and handed it to Izu-kun without a word. They all stayed silent for a few more seconds then he walked over to the fridge.
“You’ll have to clean up before you try to make anything,” He handed each of them a cold water bottle and left the kitchen with a small smile on his face. Izucchan looked at Kacchan, then the doorway Uncle left through, back at Kacchan, then towards the disk of gold in his palm.
“Well, that was weird.”
“Damn right it was. We don’t fucking tell Auntie.”
“Agreed.”
The next eventful thing that happened was when Katsuki went too far at playing the bully and told Izucchan to jump off the roof. He intended to hurry home, they didn’t walk together anymore after a classmate saw them and asked why “Bakugou was letting shitty Deku walk next to him,” to start to make katsudon, but he was intercepted by classmates who would not leave him alone. He got away much later than intended and hoped Izucchan hadn’t beat him home.
As he hurried past an ally, on a crowded street, something came flying at him. He tried to blast it away but it was some type of sludge that moved to surround his whole body. He yelled but the sludge forced it’s way down his throat. He had just seen Kamui Woods and Backdraft patrolling, why weren’t they helping him. He was suffocating, and drowning, and aching, and the papercut on his hand was burning. He saw a flash of green in his darkening vision then a familiar hand grasped his and pulled, but it wasn’t enough.
A large gust of wind blew the villain apart and away from Katsuki. He knelt on the ground, coughed and emptied his stomach the best he could. The villain took most of himself out when being blown apart but what was left now resided on the concrete. He turned to Izucchan who gave him a thumbs up. Katsuki then yelled in Izucchan’s face before getting pulled and being looked over by paramedics. Izucchan got glanced over by the paramedics and scolded by the heroes before being sent on his way home. Luckily one of the EMT’s had a quirk that allowed them to look into the contents of a person’s stomach and purge one thing. There was no more of the sludge villain in Katsuki, thankfully. So they let him walk home.
Izucchan had left the scene before him but hadn’t made it back yet. He didn’t have any texts so he started making katsudon. If Izucchan wasn’t back before he was done, then something was probably wrong or he got sucked into watching another hero fight. He did come back before the katsudon was done and was very happy to get his. He also very quickly accepted Katsuki’s apology for what he said at school.
Izuku couldn’t stay still during dinner. He had to tell Kacchan that All Might was going to give him his quirk. It was a dream come true and Kacchan had to know. Kacchan knew everything about him. Just as the two finished eating Izuku grabbed his wrist and dragged him to one of their rooms, it didn’t matter which one.
“Kacchan, Kacchan, Kacchan,” Izuku was bouncing on his toes.
“What is it?”
“After I left school, I took the path under the overpass and the Sludge Villain attacked me; I thought I was gonna die but then All Might showed up and saved me; He signed my notebook that you burnt; I just wish he signed the original instead of the copy; I tried to talk to him and ask if I could be a hero quirkless, but he jumped away too quickly and while still panicking from the attack I grabbed onto his leg and held tight; He jumped so high he called me crazy before landing atop a skyscraper, and then smoke surrounded him and he turned into this stick of a man with sad bangs and gaunt cheeks; He showed me a horrible scar on this abdomen and told me that he got it in a fight that was kept from the public; He lost his stomach and half a lung; Then he told me I couldn’t be a hero without a quirk and jumped away, leaving me on the roof. Then I heard your explosions and you know what happened; Then All Might found me afterward when walking home and asked me to become his successor; His quirk is a stockpiler that can be passed on from one holder to the next; Isn’t that great Kacchan.” He heaved in a huge breath, barely having breathed while talking. Kacchan grabbed his shoulders and shook him.
“What the fuck Izucchan?” He took in the information more. “All Might. Wants to. Give you. His quirk?” He smiled, “Holy fucking shit Izucchan. Did he give it to you? Are you meeting up? Will it affect your quirk? Are you sure it’s actually All Might? How is the quirk passed on? Is he going to train you with it?”
“He didn’t give it to me yet. We’re meeting up tomorrow at Dagobah Beach. I don’t know, he thinks I’m quirkless. It’s definitely All Might. I don’t know how it’s passed on. I think he’s going to train me?”
“I’m coming with you tomorrow,” Kacchan stated firmly.
“No,” Izuku waved his hands around, “It’s a secret, I’m not supposed to tell anyone, you can’t”
“Fucking fine,” Kacchan huffed crossing his arms, “At least keep your location on and text me when you get there and leave. Dagobah is a dump and I don’t want anything happening to you.”
Izuku pulled him into a tight hug. “That’s so sweet Kacchan, thank you.”
“Whatever,” He gruffly replied but tightened his arms around Izuku.
Training with All Might was tough but Katsuki saw his friend gaining muscle mass faster than he thought possible. He was able to take One for All a week before the UA entrance exams. He woke up the next day with a gold blanket and socks. He put the accidental golden items with the others. He could now use his quirk with not only the pads of his fingers, but his palms, elbows, knees, and balls of his feet. Luckily Masaru and Mitsuki work in the fashion industry so Izuku could easily ask for fingerless gloves, because he wanted to try the style, and make some rudimentary but sturdy straps for his feet, knees, and elbows. Putting a layer of paper or tape on the insides was an easy solution. Of course, their parents saw the additions and made him better, more secure straps.
When he next met up with All Might he had to take Izuku to Recovery Girl because the boy shattered his arm. They decided to leave the quirk training until he was in UA in case of other accidents. They kept up their training for the week. Then it was time for the entrance exams. The waiting for results was killing both boys and they sparred most of the days away. They were floored by their results, Katsuki had won first place in the practical exam, and they had both been accepted.
“Are we going to keep up the big bad bully act? They’ll know I have a quirk.”
“Let’s do it for a shitty week to make sure there are no extras from around here at UA. Then we’ll fucking decide to keep it up or let the shitty plan go.”
There wasn’t anyone else from their neighborhood at UA but the boys forgot that they were going to drop the act, both having too much fun playing their parts. They gained more friends and had two different social groups.
Izuku was having an off day. It was the first day of school after the USJ and he was distracted all day. He got one of the rare defective finger-pad-stickers and accidentally turned his pencil gold. No one was paying attention to him, thankfully but it was a close call.
“Midoriya,” Aizawa-sensei called after class let out, “Stay back please.” Izuku was immediately on alert. Did he see the pencil? Was there anything he did during the USJ attack? Did he do something wrong in class? Kacchan was still in the room as well, he looked over at Izuku and raised an eyebrow.
“You need me to wait for your ass?” He asked gruffly. Izuku shook his head. Aizawa-sensei’s brows ticked upward, but no one could see under the bandages. Izuku walked up to his teacher's desk and stood shifting his weight.
“Why do you have quirk covering pads over your fingers?” Aizawa-sensei asked.
Izuku panicked, “No, I don’t,” He said rubbing said pads together.
“You don’t have fingerprints, you keep braces over your joints that are too loose to be braces, you always keep your gloves on, you shy away from touching people with your hands, and you turned a pencil golden today.” His unimpressed tone didn’t change while he spoke.
“I- I uh,” Izuku stuttered.
“It’s okay, Problem Child,” His voice took on a softer tone. “I won’t tell anyone you don’t want me to.”
Izuku nodded, then reached into his bag and pulled out a sheet of paper. He pulled off one of the stickers on his finger and touched it to the paper. It turned into pure gold before both of their eyes. Izuku pushed the sheet of gold toward his teacher.
“I can turn things into pure gold if I touch them with any of my finger pads, palms, elbows, knees, and balls of my feet. Something bad happened when it first showed up so I was registered as quirkless until it mutated into strength augmentation as well.” He rambled, ringing his hands.
“What happened?”
“I- Uhhh- The first thing I touched was my father's hand.” Aizawa-sensei was a Pro, he would understand, right?
“You know there are protections for four-year-olds not to be accused of murder when they have destructive quirks. No judge in their right mind would take that case.”
“There are?” Izuku’s eyebrows scrunched together and he frowned, “Then why did Mom make it so clear that no one could know?”
“It seems that I have to have a conversation with your mother. Do you know what happened to your father’s body?”
Suddenly thinking of all the pawn shops Izuku and his mother had visited over the years, he looked at his feet
Aizawa sighed, “Problem Child, you sold the gold didn’t you?” His student gave a small nod of his head. “We need to have that meeting sooner rather than later.”
Surprisingly, learning that his father had unwillingly worked for the mob didn’t change much in Izuku’s life. Aizawa understood and helped them set up a meeting with Tsukauchi to set the record straight.
“Kacchan!” Izuku suddenly yelled to his friend.
“What now, Izucchan?”
“We forgot to stop acting like enemies at school! What are we going to do for training camp?” The two looked at each other then started laughing.
“How did we forget? Holy shit!” Kacchan gasped between bouts of laughter.
“I was just having so much fun playing up our relationship,” Izuku calmed his laughs to chuckles. “I think we should wait until after training camp, have a little more impact.”
“Oh hell yeah, those extras won’t know what hit them.”
Izuku pushed himself to reach him before the portal closed, “Kacchan!!!”
“Izucchan!!!”
He was too distraught to notice his classmates' confused looks.
“Kacchan grab my hand!” Katsuki didn’t need to think before he blasted up and latched on to Izucchan’s hand. As soon as they touched the ground Katsuki pulled him into a tight hug. “I missed you so much, Kacchan.” He held even tighter.
“You came for me,” Katsuki told him quietly.
“Of course I did, everyone else was worried too. Auntie even cried with us for once.”
“The Old Hag finally broke to you and Auntie’s insistence on crying about everything.”
A few classmates learned about their acting that day but the rest would be quick to catch on in the dorms.
“Oi, nerd!” Kacchan stormed into the common area and threw something at Izuku, who caught it out of habit. “If you’re gonna push your way into my room at least take your stuff when you leave.” Izuku looked down at the notebook in his hands.
“Thanks Kacchan! Did you at least update the drawings?” He asked, already flipping through the pages.
“Drawings?” Asui asked with a head tilt from her spot on the couch.
“Izucchan can draw, but his colorings shit, so I’ve colored his sketches for years.”
It had been years since he had an accident with his quirk and anything bigger than a frying pan. It happened when Izuku woke up from a nightmare and stumbled out of his room with the intention of going to Kacchan. He didn’t notice the door handle turning gold but the door itself broke the hinges and fell to the floor of the hallway with a loud bang. Most of the dorms woke up. Tokoyami and Aoyama stuck their heads out of their doors. Tokoyami switched the light in the hallway on and his eyes widened.
“It’s so shiny~” Aoyama said, slurring his words a little. He knelt on the floor and ran his hands over the pure gold door. Izuku was frozen in his doorway, his hand still where the door handle used to be. Kacchan was suddenly at the door of his balcony, opened it, and stepped in. He pulled Izuku into a hug, uncaring that his shirt could be transformed.
“It’s okay,” He pulled back a little, “Look at me,” He pushed Izuku’s chin up a little, Izuku calmed down a little more. “Do you want to stay in my room for the rest of the night?” Izuku nodded and hid his head back in Kacchan’s chest. He picked Izuku up and stepped over the door. “Fucking leave it ‘til morning.” He told the few students that had gathered.
That morning they explained to the whole class about Izuku’s quirk and why he kept it hidden.