Izuku shook his head, eyes welling up with tears, and jammed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets. I knew this was coming, he reminded himself. I knew I couldn't be a hero. I knew that this was the only answer. So then why does it hurt so badly?
He felt his legs go weak underneath him and he crumpled to the ground, chest tightening as he sobbed into his fists.
I cannot simply say you can become a hero even without power.
"I don't care what you can and can't say," Izuku sobbed into his hands. "I don't care!"
It took him a few minutes to calm down again, but when he'd succeeded he stood up, resolve strengthening once more.
"I can be a hero," he said firmly, clenching his fists by his side. That was a blow, but I can still do it. "I don't care what anyone says, I'll do it anyway."
His words had an air of emptiness to them now, but he was determined.
Later that night, Izuku was sitting at his computer, looking into possible options for where he could go to become somebody other than a useless quirkless nobody.
His first thought, of course, one that had crossed his mind many times in the past, was the possibility of getting a quirk from someone. Once in an online forum, he'd come across a rumor that there was a man who could take and give quirks as he pleased. The idea had obviously seemed wonderful to Izuku, who had then spent several nights breaking many laws to hack into some very high security information vaults. His hacking skills weren't the best in the world, mostly because it was against the law, and as a hero it was going to be his job to preserve the law, but occasionally he'd have a little lapse into curiosity and unearth his hacking knowledge again in order to get some piece of information or other. The point of all this being that Izuku wasn't the best hacker, and was, in fact, pretty rusty. It took him a while, but eventually he found confirmation that the man did , in fact, exist. However, having this information was pretty much pointless, because all the leads as to where the man might actually be were dead ends.
So that was out.
His second thought was just to train really hard by himself and hopefully pass the entrance exam by a combination of luck and… no, just luck. That idea fell through quickly.
After that, Izuku had started going through lists of pro heroes who had quirks that weren't exactly… hero-like. People like the underground hero Eraserhead, whose quirk couldn't be used for offense, and who had to rely on actual physical skill to get anything done. After a while, he realized that even if he could find a hero like that close enough to train him, the chances of him actually being able to convince that hero to train him were extremely low, next to zero. He was quirkless, after all, and none of the pro heroes he'd met seemed to believe that a quirkless boy could ever be a true hero.
All that led Izuku to where he was currently, researching the Hero Killer, Stain. He'd already dug in pretty deep, and was once again utilizing his rusty hacking skills to look into some security cameras near where Stain's last sighting was. The Hero Killer was mobile enough to be able to train Izuku near his home, and he had some amazing technical expertise, even without use of his quirk. He also probably would be easier than a pro hero to convince, which was kind of disgusting the more Izuku thought about it. After a long night of searching, a night that could have been much shorter if he hadn't forgotten a few hacking essentials, Izuku was able to create a list of a few viable options for where Stain could be hiding out. He filled a backpack with his hero research, waited for his mom to fall asleep and then snuck out, dropping quietly into the night.
By the fourth location on his list, Izuku was starting to give up hope. The night was nearing its end, he hadn't found Stain, and he still had school tomorrow. He sighed and knocked on the door. If this wasn't it, he'd have to start all over again tomorrow, and that was going to really, really suck.
To his immense surprise, the door opened a crack and one suspicious looking eye peered out.
"Um, hello!" Izuku said bowing a little. "I'm looking for, uh--" he glanced nervously down the hallway, worried about being heard-- "someone…" he finished vaguely.
"They're not here," the person said, starting to close the door again.
"Oh, it's you!" he exclaimed, eyes brightening up as he recognized the villain's -- or maybe vigilante's, as he wasn't sure exactly what he thought of Stain yet-- voice from some unprofessional footage he'd found online. "I was wondering if you could train me, please?"
The door froze and then opened even wider than it had been before, revealing Stain's entire left side, a lot of which was covered in blood.
Izuku took a step back, forcing himself to remember that he'd been expecting this. He'd need to put his morals aside for just a little bit while he got stronger and learned to fight.
"You want me to train you," Stain said, in a tone of immense disbelief.
He nodded weakly. "W-well, I was originally going to go to a pro hero," he began explaining in a low mutter, "but then I realized that none of them probably had time, and I don't really have any leverage or way to convince them that I'm worth training, especially since I don't have a quirk, and so I was looking for other ways for me to learn and your name came up, and while I'm not really all that excited about your whole killing rampage, I still thought I'd--"
"Kid," Stain interrupted. "Slow down, I have some questions."
"Y-yes, sir."
"Are you with the police?" he asked bluntly, hoping to put everything out in the open right away.
Izuku shook his head. "No, they'd have to be pretty desperate to send in a fifteen year old to catch a--"
"Here's a free lesson for you," the Hero Killer said, interrupting him again. "When someone you don't know you can trust asks you a question, answer it in as few words as possible. When you ramble, you reveal too much information about yourself. Got it?"
Izuku nodded, already making a mental note to put in his notebook later.
"Now did you say you're quirkless?"
"Yes, I--" Izuku cut himself off before he started to ramble.
Stain smirked a little at his attempts to keep his replies short. "And you found me all by yourself?"
Izuku nodded, lips pursed together.
"And why do you want training?"
"I want to be a hero," he said with conviction. "But everyone told me I can't because I don't have a quirk." He opened his mouth to say more, but then, remembering Stain's lesson a moment ago, closed it again.
"Why do you want to be a hero?" Stain asked, folding his arms. Izuku could sense that one misstep here and it was all over.
Izuku's eyebrows furrowed together and he set his jaw in determination. "I want to be a hero who saves people with a smile. One who runs in and helps people no matter the danger they're in. I want people to feel safe when they see me, and know everything will be fine, because I'm there."
Stain flat out stared at him, and Izuku couldn't tell if he was impressed or angry, so he stayed quiet, pursing his lips together.
"Why don't you come in and we can finish this conversation?" Stain suggested, pulling the door open all the way.
"U-um." Izuku hesitated, looking into the dark room behind Stain. It seemed like a really bad idea to just walk willingly into a villain's lair. "Is this a test?" he asked nervously.
Stain chuckled. "No, but if it was, I'd be very impressed with you for hesitating."
Izuku planted his feet in the hallway. "Then, I think I'd like to continue this conversation here, until we come to an agreement."
Stain laughed, a sound almost like a low throaty cough. "Smart. My last question, then. If I help you, what's in it for me?"
"Ah," Izuku looked at his feet, checking to make sure he actually wanted to go through with this. After a moment, he nodded to himself, deciding this was going to have to work, and brought his backpack around to his front.
Stain watched curiously as he opened his yellow backpack and removed a stack of notebooks.
"I take notes on all the pro-heroes I find interesting," Izuku explained, holding up the top one to demonstrate. "These notebooks have their quirks, strengths, potential weaknesses, and potential improvements all listed, although I don't know how you'd use that one."
Stain plucked the notebook out of the kid's hand, flipping through it with some interest. After a moment, he looked back up at him, impressed. "You did this all yourself?"
Izuku nodded, reaching out to take the notebook back. "I do have one condition, though," he said, pulling it from Stain, who was clearly very reluctant to let it go.
"And what's that?"
"You can have all my notes (photocopied, of course, not the originals) after, and only after, I've finished training with you," Izuku said. "I don't want a direct hand in any of your… ah… business," he continued, throwing a glance down the hallway again, "and I would strongly prefer it if nobody died while I'm out training with you. If you get my drift."
Stain nodded slowly, considering the kid's condition. "Very well," he said slowly. "And when do you intend to finish?"
"Ten months," Izuku said immediately. "That's the-- uh…" he cut himself off again as he remembered what Stain said about not revealing too much about himself. He'd been about to say that in ten months, the U.A. entrance exam would be taking place, and everything would be decided, but that was too much information right now. "That's when I'm going to high school," he finished vaguely.
Stain smirked. "Deal," he said, disappearing into his room. "I'd assume we have to work around your middle school classes too. Which one do you go to? Aldera?"
Izuku was almost surprised Stain guessed that on the first go. Maybe there was some cool vigilante thing he'd learn about scouting new territory or something! That could be really cool. He nodded absentmindedly.
"It's not rocket science, kid," Stain said, looking amused.
Ah, he'd been muttering again.
"It's a good practice to spend a few days going over every inch of a city before you start committing crimes there," Stain said, leaning against the doorframe. "Lowers your chances of getting caught. Aldera has some dumpsters in the back that are completely secluded from security cameras."
Izuku knew that, yeah. He knew that. That's where all the bullies went. Lower chances of someone catching them if they beat people up back there.
"Anyway," Stain said, pushing off the wall and disappearing into his temporary home again, "just wait outside today after school, and we'll begin." He slammed the door in Izuku's face.
Izuku stood in shock in front of the closed door. He was going to train under Stain. This was either the worst or the best decision he'd ever made, it was hard to tell which. But, either way, he was going to train with the Hero Killer, who was arguably the best at hand to hand combat in Japan. He was just starting to turn away, shaking off his shock, when the door opened again and Stain poked his head out.
"Hey, kid," he said. "What should I call you?"
"Uh… you can keep calling me 'kid' for now, I guess," Izuku said, suddenly understanding what Stain had told him about not rambling. There was always a chance he'd tell the wrong information to the wrong people, and everything would go south.
Stain's lips curled up in a smile. "Kid. You learn fast." The door closed between them.
Izuku gave the door a resolute nod, and started down the hallway. Later today he'd have training, but for now, he had to get to school.
Chapter End Notes
EDIT: Hello people who are new to this fic!!! Welcome welcome!
Really fast, constructive criticism is always welcome in my comments section! However, constructive criticism is not complaining about things you don't like! I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE DO THAT. DO NOT MAKE ME ANGRY, I AM GOD HERE AND CAN DELETE EVERYTHING. If you want to give constructive criticism, the format is, "[this] is something I didn't like. I think you can make it better by [doing this]." I will take suggestions for improvement, but I will not take any random complaints. That's annoying.
Thank you! :))) please continue on and enjoy :)
Burns
Chapter Notes
I think I should warn you that the words "consistent update schedule" don't really fit together in my head, and there will be no such thing for this work. I think what I can say with some certainty is that I will always post at least once before or on each Sunday, unless I tell you otherwise. So, you can expect an update at least once a week but I can't tell you exactly... what day... And sometimes I get excited and post like three chapters in a day.
Anyway! Chapter two!
tw// implied bullying, burns
See the end of the chapter for more notesStain had been impressed, if not a little weirded out, by the kid that had knocked on his door at an ungodly hour of the morning. It took guts to go searching for a serial killer in the dark, it really did. And the kid had had that look in his eye… a look of determination coupled with desperation. He had copious amounts of sheer intelligence and practicality, and just one look in that crazy notebook was enough to show that he was observant and analytical. The only thing he was lacking was any semblance of physicality, but that could be fixed. All of that would serve him well as a hero, if he could get there.
But as sad as it was, the kid was right. No pro hero would ever train a quirkless nobody with an unattainable dream of being a hero. Stain really was his only option.
That's really what caught his eye about the kid. He wasn't trying to be a hero for the money, or the fame-- he could get that somewhere else, in a profession less biased towards quirks. He wanted to be a hero to be a hero , and he was willing to jump hoops and bounds to get there. He was willing to tear down the entire structure of hero society just to be someone who saved people with a smile.
Stain could already tell where the kid's ambition was going to lead him. The world would hate the kid for trying to be a quirkless hero, for trying to be special . It was inevitable. The kid would try to not let it get to him, he'd ignore it for as long as he could. But eventually he would reach a breaking point.
Stain knew because he'd been there. He'd once been a kid with an unattainable dream too, because he had a villain's quirk , and how could he possibly be a hero if he needed to eat people's blood to use his quirk? He'd struggled and fought against society, but it was hard being one against all, and he'd lost that battle. That's when he'd started to realize what was wrong with society and hero culture. Surely, if someone wants to save people, they should be accepted into the hero community without question. But because of the flashy nature of the hero world, and the popularity problems, and the government sponsorship, Stain couldn't ever have been a hero. He knew that now. So instead, he'd launched himself into trying to change the hero community, to make it embrace people who wanted to be heroes because they wanted to save people, like he once had.
He'd been in this kid's position before. He'd seen the hating eyes and he'd fought against them. But even Stain had snapped, and inevitably this kid would too.
And when he did, well. Stain would rather have all that anger on his side.
Stain lurked outside the kid's school, waiting for him to show his face. He was hiding in the shadows of buildings, on the fire escape, but it was hard escaping prying eyes and he couldn't watch all corners of the school at once. He hoped the kid would have some common sense and stay away from the front entrance, but he honestly didn't know how good the kid was at situational analysis.
It was taking too long. The kid was either dead in there or he was getting beaten up, and Stain didn't like those options at all. He was starting to prepare plans to break in and extract him, when he heard light footsteps behind him.
He whipped his head around, drawing a knife. It was just the kid, curly green hair falling into his freckled face. He looked like he'd been close to tears for quite some time, and he was holding his shoulder oddly.
And now he was vaguely panicked, since Stain was pointing a knife at him."Um… Stain-sensei?"
Surprised and impressed that the kid had gotten so close, and had had the foresight to go around the back way, Stain stared for a moment before dropping down to the ground, tucking the knife away. "Don't add the honorific, it's just Stain," he said, looking the kid over again. Something was definitely wrong with his arm.
Choosing to ignore that fact right now, Stain slipped down the alley, smirking when he heard the kid padding after him. He definitely had a lot to learn about stealth, but he was keeping up with Stain reasonably well, which was a good sign.
When they were far enough away from the school that Stain was back in his comfort zone, Stain abruptly turned around and grabbed the kid's shoulder.
The kid gave a sharp intake of breath, tearing up.
"That's what I thought," Stain said sharply. "What happened, who did it, and where do they live?"
"Um-m," the kid looked somewhere between terrified and desperate. "I fell into the lockers at school and--"
"Don't give me that crap," Stain scolded, pointing at the shoulder of the kid's uniform. It was hard to tell with the dark color of his uniform, but the fabric was a little rough there, like it had been scorched. "You were burned."
The kid gave the ground a resigned frown. "They were just trying to tell me that I couldn't be a hero."
"Still haven't answered the questions."
He sighed, eyes flickering up to meet Stain's. "W-well, that's because I don't want to," he said.
Stain opened his mouth to demand an answer, when he caught the look in the kid's eye. There was pain, sure, but behind that pain he had a determined protection brewing. The kid wasn't going to tell Stain anything, because he was trying to save the people that hurt him. He was trying to protect his bullies.
If that wasn't something a true hero would do, Stain didn't know what was.
"Fine," he said shortly, grabbing the front of the kid's shirt. The kid looked terrified again, but Stain just pulled the shoulder of his uniform off and looked at the mark on his shoulder. It had a small second degree burn just above his collarbone, like someone had cupped their hand over his shoulder and let out a contained explosion. It wasn't too bad, and even if Stain wasn't trying to avoid hospitals, he still probably wouldn't make the kid go to one. Still, it needed treatment, and Stain hadn't found a new home to commandeer for the day.
Plus, the kid looked absolutely dead on his feet. Stain hadn't thought about how little sleep the kid must have gotten the night before, but now that the evidence was sitting right in front of him, he had to admit that the kid was clearly tired.
"Are your parents home?" Stain asked finally, letting go of the kid's uniform. The kid's hand drifted up to hold his shoulder.
Looking confused, the kid shook his head. "My dad is… gone… and my mom's at a business meeting."
"You're going to sneak me into your house," Stain said decisively.
The kid took a step back, eyes narrowed. "I am not going to do that," he said firmly.
If he hadn't been annoyed with the kid for not accepting help when he clearly needed it, Stain might have been impressed. The kid was a fast learner, and he already understood Stain's lesson that one shouldn't just blindly trust people. "You are going to do that," Stain said, "and I'm going to fix your shoulder."
The kid didn't move, still watching Stain suspiciously. "Could you just tell me how to do it myself?" he asked at last, relaxing a little.
Sighing, Stain gave the kid step by step instructions on how to deal with his burns. The kid whipped out a notebook halfway through Stain's spiel and took fast notes, pencil practically flying across the page. When Stain had finished, and dismissed him, the kid gave him a short little bow and scurried off, stuffing his notebook in his bag as he went.
Stain was half-tempted to tail the kid anyway, but he supposed there was a level of trust he was supposed to keep with the kid, and that meant he couldn't stalk him, as much as he wanted to. Instead, he went on a hunt for a hero to kill. He did need to keep up appearances, after all.
The next day, Stain was waiting for the kid in a different alley and found himself surprised when the kid managed to sneak up on him again, this time making it even closer than the day before. Either Stain was losing his touch, or the kid was getting better. Either way, it was impressive.
Stain did another quick look over the kid and then nodded when he could see that the kid had managed to avoid getting bullied today.
"Shoulder," he said gruffly, holding out a hand to push the uniform out of the way. The kid pulled the uniform down off his shoulder, letting Stain look at his work.
It was neatly bandaged-- neatly enough that Stain could tell it wasn't the kid's first time.
"I wasn't going to bandage it but I was worried my uniform would irritate it," the kid said, pulling his uniform back up over his arm. "I washed it out with cold water for a really long time, like you said, and then I kept it cool, so it's not swelling very much."
Stain made a noncommittal sound and then started down the alley, planning out a route.
"Um, Stain-sensei? I mean, Stain?" the kid asked hesitantly, not following him. Stain stopped and looked over his shoulder, frowning. The kid looked nervous and apologetic, like he had something to say and was worried Stain would be mad.
"I was just rem-remembering that you don't like, um, working in the daytime much," the kid said, shuffling his feet a little. "And then-- well, I was wondering if you, um, wanted to start meeting at night?" His body curved in on itself, like he was expecting to get hit.
Stain wasn't going to hit him.
"You're right, that's very observant," he said, nodding. The kid looked relieved, letting his shoulders relax a little. "How about tomorrow, instead of meeting here, you meet me at the skate park at 10:00. Then we can work on your balance and start learning how to jump from high things."
The kid nodded a few times, clearly excited. "Okay!" he started after Stain, radiating with energy. "So what are we going to do today?"
Stain wasn't really used to being around bubbly teenagers. Any teenagers he'd met were usually put up with society and ready to murder someone. This was… not that. It was kind of nice, actually. Just might take a while to get used to.
"You are going to follow me around and I'm going to lose you."
The kid nodded, a determined look in his eye, and Stain slipped off, vanishing into the shadows. After taking a halting step in the direction Stain had just gone in, the kid gave the alleyway a despairing look. "How did you do that?" he asked the empty alleyway.
Stain had to keep himself from snorting out a laugh as he dropped down from the fire escape. "Let's try again."
Nodding again, the kid narrowed his eyes, focusing them on Stain.
Stain jumped off, trying to lose his tail, but the kid learned quickly and wasn't about to lose him again, not without a fight. He managed to keep up with Stain for a full minute before losing him again, and when Stain went back for him, he found the kid sitting in the middle of the alleyway, notebook in front of him, muttering as his pencil skimmed the page.
"Seems to be using the shadows to his advantage, harder in the daylight, I bet, but not impossible, keeps his body lower to the ground so it's more out of eyeline. Uses height to his advantage, sometimes jumping and climbing the fire escapes and more than once used dumpsters to get up higher, although I do wonder how he does that without making noise…" he kept going, muttering out all of Stain's tactics, and Stain watched, grinning.
Two hours later, the kid managed to follow Stain for fifteen minutes without losing him once, even climbing a fire escape with his wimpy noodle arms at one point.
Stain decided that was enough for the day when he realized the kid had been doing all of this with a backpack which was probably full of homework he had yet to do.
After thanking Stain a million times, which was an odd experience to say the least, the kid vanished, using Stain's own stealth techniques to lose him.
He really did learn quickly.
Chapter End Notes
So!
I am not a medical professional, but here is what I know about first aid for burns, in case you get in a bad situation--
FIRST AID TIPS (TW FOR BURNS AND BLOOD):
There are many types of burns!
When should you go to the doctor/ER for burns, you may ask? You should get a doctor:
IF you have electric or chemical burns!
IF you have been burned in a sensitive area, such as hands, feet, face, throat, major joints, or, you know, other places!
IF you have a third degree burn (the skin is leathery, the bone is showing, or you can see black, brown, or white patches)!
IF you have a burn that covers a large area (bigger than 3 inch diameter) of your body, or is very deep!
IF a burn starts to get infected or scar!
Deku did NOT need to go the the doctor in this scenario. However! Some second degree burns do require medical attention! Use the list above for help :)
If you get a burn, do not apply ice onto it. That can numb the area and make it hard to tell if further damage is being done. Do not break open blisters, as they help keep the burn from getting infected.
For major burns, make sure to not submerge it in water. Use a cool damp cloth to cool it off until a medical professional arrives. Try to elevate the burned area above the heart.
For minor burns, apply a cool damp compress or run it under cool (NOT COLD) water. Apply lotion or burn cream. Aloe works too! Anything that will help the skin cool down and be less inflamed (EXCEPT ICE).
ANYWAY! Like I said, I'm not a medical professional, but, you know. Safety! Don't get hurt! Be safe when you're cooking! Take care of each other! And as always, stop drop and roll if you are on fire!
Byeeee
Growth
Chapter Notes
no. consistent. update. schedule. I mean it.
have a chapter!
tw// violence, bullying, implied homelessness, discrimination, mentions of injuries, mentioned suicide
enjoyyyyy
Izuku wasn't sure how to feel about Stain. He'd been training with him for a few weeks now, and honestly, it wasn't that bad. Of course, there were times when he questioned the man's sanity, like his first parkour lesson. They had been at a skatepark, which is where they did most of their 'here's how you jump off a building and don't die' training, standing on the edge of a particularly high drop. Stain had said simply, "Today I'm going to teach you how to fall," before suddenly grabbing the back of Izuku's shirt and shoving him off the ledge. Naturally, he hadn't landed well, but Stain only said flatly, "That is not how you should take a fall," before jumping off the edge himself and falling into a perfect roll, coming up completely unharmed.
So, yeah, the guy had some interesting training techniques.
Training at night was way better than the weird alleyway chasing thing they'd done that first day. The first time Izuku tried following Stain at night, it had been exponentially more difficult, and he still couldn't follow him for longer than ten minutes, although, to be fair, Stain was currently struggling with tailing Izuku longer than twenty minutes, so there was some clear improvement there. The only problem with the late-night training was that it meant he was a little bit more sleep deprived, and that made him more vulnerable at school.
Luckily, Stain was actually really conscientious of Izuku's time and the state of his health, and he intentionally built rest days and first aid training into their action-filled schedule. At first, Izuku had assumed the rest days were so Stain could go off and… finish his business with heroes, but they happened too regularly to be entirely based on that, and anyway, Stain had finished his work in Musutafu a while ago, and was now branching out into other districts, searching for his next group of targets. Izuku was working hard to ignore the fact that Stain killed people in his free time. It was surprisingly easy to forget. Stain wasn't actually that bad of a guy, once you looked past all the blood on his hands. He had some fascinating opinions on hero society, and more than once, Izuku's hands had itched for a pen while Stain was ranting, wanting to write down his crazy ideas.
Actually, the more time Izuku spent with him, the more he grew to realize how similar their opinions on heroes were. Izuku was a lot more hesitant to lay praise on All Might than Stain, but putting that aside, they both agreed that hero society was growing corrupt in general. They could spend hours listing the crimes of dirty heroes and thinking of increasingly crazy plots to take down the Hero Commission-- and they did. Both of them hated quirk discrimination with a passion, and if Stain wasn't so set on killing heroes he didn't like, Izuku honestly thought the two of them could be a fantastic vigilante team, tearing heroes and villains down from their pedestals by bringing light to the things they were hiding.
Becoming a vigilante was looking increasingly appealing to Izuku. He wasn't a huge fan of fighting or punching things, but he felt like he could really make a difference with his computer. He'd unearthed his weak hacking skills and started building them up again. It quickly became apparent that he could find a lot of dirt on people when he really looked, which led to the realization that it wouldn't be that difficult for him to destroy careers from behind a computer. From behind his laptop screen, he had the power to find and spread information, to save lives, to move masses.
In other words, he really, really liked hacking.
Unfortunately, hacking wasn't everything. That's why he was training with Stain.
Stain said that Izuku was naturally good with stealth and speed based operations, and that with his size, he'd probably be well-suited to ambush style fighting. That meant that he needed to know how to throw a punch, and he needed to be able to use weapons.
The punching thing actually didn't take him that long to catch onto. After a few training sessions in which he'd spent the majority of the time feeling like nothing but a splat on the ground, he started to catch onto Stain's movements and match them. Of course, Izuku still couldn't hold a candle to Stain's skill level, but he could hold his own for a few minutes before becoming the splat. Also, as a result of training with a villain, Izuku fought dirty. Really dirty. It actually made him feel bad a few times, but, as Stain said, if the only way you're going to beat your opponent is by gouging out their eyes, then you should go for it .
On second thought, maybe that wasn't a great lesson.
But either way, he learned quickly enough, and Stain seemed impressed.
Then, there was the matter of weapons.
"I prefer blades," Stain told him, standing over a table with a large array of weapons spread across it. Izuku didn't know what most of them even were, to be honest.
They were in Stain's current apartment-- he moved around every few days, hopping between buildings. He called it squatting , but Izuku thought that was a weird term to use to describe illegally living in someone's house while they were gone. Maybe space stealing would be a good term. Or bed borrowing . The alliteration was nice.
"The main reason I like them is because they're helpful to my quirk," Stain continued, picking up a long sword thing and running his finger along the side of it. "There are lots of weapons you could use to immobilize people. Long range, close range, whatever you want. And I'm going to teach you the basics of how to use all of these. Then, whichever ones you like the best, we'll focus on."
Izuku nodded numbly. He didn't really like the idea of cutting people, or shooting people, or hitting people with long sticks. That being said, he really did need to know how to fight, and having a large arsenal of weapons he knew how to use could really come in handy.
Stain decided to start them out with knives, since they were his personal favorite. And actually, Izuku found that he liked them. A lot. They were super easy to control, so he could pick how much damage he wanted to do. And he could throw them -- badly, at the moment, but still-- so he could use them for long range and short range attacks. They were useful, easy to hide, and Stain happened to be very, very experienced with them, making him a great teacher.
After a while of Izuku chucking knives at Stain and having them easily deflected, Stain made a grimace and told him to stop.
"It seems unintentional," he said, "but you keep aiming at major arteries. How much do you know about anatomy?"
It quickly came to light that Izuku knew close to nothing about anatomy.
So, on top of all the other homework he had, Stain tasked him with learning about where exactly he could stick knives without worrying about blood loss.
The other advantage to training under Stain came to light a few days later, at school. Izuku had recently been doing an excellent job of using his newfound stealth techniques to avoid his bullies, but there had been a couple times where it had been a close call. This time, he completely didn't notice their presence until Kacchan grabbed his shirt and slammed him into the wall, keeping a firm hold on his shoulder.
"Hey, shitty Deku!" he snarled, lips twisted up in a sneer. "You been avoiding me, damn nerd?"
Silently cursing himself for not paying more attention, Izuku instinctively grabbed Kacchan's wrist and twisted outward, using Kacchan's arm as a pivot point to smack him face first into the wall. He ducked under Kacchan's friends' arms, intentionally stomping really hard on their toes as he passed, and used a couple of Stain's tricks to disappear into the crowd of students leaving school. It was after school hours and Kacchan hated to admit he'd gotten beaten in a fight, so Izuku hoped he'd be safe from getting reported.
And he was really grateful to Stain.
Midoriya Inko would consider herself to be a pretty good mom.
She'd been disappointed when Izuku got his diagnosis as quirkless, but mostly she'd just been upset that because her baby was born different, he'd get treated differently. She knew all about quirkism because when he didn't manifest a quirk at four, she started looking into quirklessness. And the statistics… the statistics were not good.