[WARNING: description of suicide attempt at the beginning]

(To preface, this first chapter is meant to establish setting, characters, plot, etc. In the following chapters there are more conversations and character interactions)

Author's note at the end.

Izuku ran a hand through his green hair as he finished the last of his homework. Leaning back in his rickety wooden chair, Izuku glanced out the single window in his small room as a clacking rumble slowly got closer. Nearby, a subway train rumbled across a metal bridge and honked its horn before trundling out of sight. When Izuku had first arrived in New York the sights and sounds were almost overwhelming to the young teen. After months of living in the bustling city, the background noise had almost become unnoticeable unless Izuku was trying to listen to it. Putting his homework in a binder and slipping the binder into his backpack, Izuku stood up and yawned as he walked over to his old and squeaky bed. Flopping onto the single mattress with holes in it, Izuku grabbed his smartphone out of his pocket and began idly scrolling through various websites.

Life had been hard for Izuku up to this point. Being told he was quirkless as a boy had shattered any dreams of becoming like his idol All-Might. Deep down, the young Izuku had still clung to the small hope that he might become a hero without a quirk. However, after recklessly trying to save his friend Bakugo from a villain, All-Might himself told Izuku to give up on his dreams of becoming a hero. In the depths of pure despair, young Izuku tried to find anyone who might help him. His mother simply avoided the topic, his teachers at school just parroted All-Might's advice, and in a final crushing blow his childhood friend beat him up and told him to just kill himself if he was so sad about it.

So that is what Izuku did. After coming home bruised and battered, Izuku waited for his mom to fall asleep before gathering any kind of medicine or pills he could find. He felt alone and worthless, angry at the world that played a cruel joke on a boy who just wanted to help others. Izuku was not sure what exactly was most successful method of suicide, but he was too scared to cut his wrists or jump off a building, so pills seemed to be the best option. With his deadly cocktail of pills in hand, Izuku wrote a tear stained note to his mom then watched his favorite All-Might video one last time. Cursing everyone and everything, Izuku downed the fistful of pills and passed out on his bedroom floor.

The next thing Izuku knew, he was in a hospital getting his stomach pumped with the sound of his hysterical mother in the background. He had failed once again, his mom had just by chance woken up and found young Izuku motionless on his floor. After being resuscitated, Izuku was confined to a hospital room for a week while under constant supervision. At this point Izuku just felt hollow inside, all emotions simply replaced with the cold pain of utter failure. His mom repeatedly tried to lift his spirits, but Izuku knew that she was just once again avoiding the root cause of all of Izuku's problems. After being discharged from the hospital, Izuku's mother pulled him out of school and immediately began trying to find a way for Izuku to cope with his depression. The whole time Izuku simply slept and ate like a robot, the once bright-eyed and loving kid replaced with a cynical and broken human with the appearance of Izuku.

However, fate works in mysterious ways. Days later, Izuku's mother came to him with a proposal. After spending many hours contacting friends and family members, Izuku's mother had found someone who was willing to take Izuku in and give him a change of pace. Apparently Izuku's father had a brother that nobody really talked about. This uncle named Kaito lived all the way in America, in New York City. After nobody else would help her, Izuku's mom contacted this mysterious uncle and tearfully begged him to help her. It took some convincing, but eventually the uncle relented and agreed to let Izuku move in with him and attend a nearby high school. Of course Izuku simply did not care what happened, and simply followed his mother's instructions to pack his things and get ready to travel.

A week later, Izuku had flown to America on the cheapest international flight and moved in with his uncle. As it turned out there was a reason Izuku had never heard about his uncle. This uncle was the black sheep of his family. While Izuku never knew the full details, he did know that his uncle had fallen out of favor with his family and moved as far away as he could so as to never talk to them again. Of course his uncle had a quirk like everyone else, but it was pretty much worthless. He could temporarily change an object's color orange for five minutes. So to make ends meet Izuku's uncle had become a mechanic and worked in a garage. What Izuku also found out was that Uncle Kaito spent most of his money on booze and barely functioned on a good day. Somehow Uncle Kaito was enough of a skilled mechanic that he never got fired from his job. With very little to his name, Uncle Kaito lived in a rundown apartment and survived off of delivery pizza and various types of take-out food. When Izuku found out what he was being put into he found it strangely fitting. Like his uncle, Izuku simply wanted to get as far away as possible from his past and just fade into the background. That was how Izuku started living in New York City.

Izuku knew that he was going to be subjected to all sorts of new challenges when school started, but he simply did not care. He did contemplate trying to kill himself again, but he eventually decided he did not want to trouble his uncle any more than he had to. Izuku and his uncle barely spoke to each other at all, mostly just communicating through notes or gestures when Uncle Kaito was not incoherently drunk.

When he eventually started high school Izuku was subjected to a new kind of hell. His uncle lived in a rough part of town and the local highschool certainly did not house the best aspects of humanity. From day one, Izuku was picked on and bullied. They made fun of his accent, his looks, his second-hand clothes, and especially because he had no quirk. Like an emotionless robot, Izuku simply took every beating and insult with silent apathy. The teachers were too busy with bigger problems to help a new transfer student, and everybody enjoyed abusing the fact that Izuku never fought back.

However, one day Izuku would encounter someone who would change his life forever.

Izuku had been walking back to his uncle's apartment after another long day of abuse. His backpack was wet and smelly from being in a toilet, and his face sported a fresh black eye from a particularly vicious sucker punch. After briefly being shaken down by a trio of neighborhood thugs, Izuku was about to cross a street and go through a nearby alley when he saw something very out of place. A girl with platinum blonde hair and a slight tan was looking around like a lost puppy, her outfit made up of designer brand clothes and a backpack that looked like it cost more than a month's rent. Everything about the girl screamed upper class, so Izuku was wary of this harmless looking girl. He had heard and seen how rich citizens had special privileges, and Izuku certainly did not want to end up in the back of a police car because of a misunderstanding. Ducking his head, Izuku had quickly crossed the street and was about to enter the alley when a dainty and well-manicured hand grabbed his arm.

"Hey! Could you like, help me? I think I got on the wrong train and my phone is broken. This place looks really sketchy but you look nice so I was wonderin if you could like, give me directions?"

The girl spoke with a bubbly and cheerful voice which only made Izuku want to avoid her even more, but he mustered his courage and began talking with the beautiful girl. After trying to explain where to go, Izuku simply gave up and tried to lead the girl to a main intersection where she could take a cab. Unfortunately fate had other plans, and within seconds a group of local bullies had stopped Izuku and the girl with evil intentions in mind. Obviously the bullies knew Izuku, so they gave him a chance to escape a beating and leave the girl with them. Izuku was tempted, after all why should he risk his neck for someone he just met? But somewhere in the back of his mind, Izuku had that same feeling he had experienced when he saw Bakugo taken hostage by the villain. Before he knew what he was doing, Izuku urged the girl to escape as he tried to hold back the thugs. Of course, Izuku presented minimal challenge to the street-hardened thugs and received a vicious beating that ended when Izuku had his head smashed against a curb.

Izuku then awoke in an eerily familiar room with bandages wrapped around his body and an IV bag feeding some liquid into his arm. At first Izuku had hoped that he was dead and finally given a release from his pain, but those hopes were banished when a nurse came into his room and informed him he was in the hospital. Apparently, the girl had subdued the thugs by herself and then dragged the bloody and broken Izuku to the closest street where she was able to get help. Upon hearing this information, Izuku simply chalked the whole experience up to another cruel twist of fate and resigned himself to a continued life of pain and misfortune. However, after the nurse left the girl Izuku had unsuccessfully tried to save rushed in and began fussing over him. Though it was difficult at first to follow the girl's ramblings, Izuku found out the girl's name was Cassie and that she was very grateful for what he did. The old Izuku would have had a near panic attack with such an interaction with a girl, but all Izuku felt was that familiar cold emptiness as always. Tuning the girl out, Izuku had simply waited for her to leave and never hear from her again. To his slight surprise, Izuku was visited by someone he had never met before, Cassie's father. The man wore a black suit, had brown hair in a buzzcut, and had a slightly scarred face with menacing red eyes. When Izuku met the man's gaze a shiver ran down the teens spine, and he could easily envision the man breaking necks with his bare hands. However, the man had come to thank him for trying to save his daughter. With a pointed look, Cassie's father told her to leave the room and let him speak to Izuku privately.

Once Cassie had left the room, the menacing man locked the door then went to tower over the nervous Izuku. When he spoke, his voice was rough like someone gargled broken glass and his eyes reminded Izuku of a predator eyeing it's next meal.

"You are different than what I expected. I imagined you would be some dumbass boy who got in over his head trying to impress my little girl. Yet when I walk in I see a boy who has the eyes like a soldier who came back from hell on earth. You don't get those kind of eyes through a loving family and good upbringing. You look like you are dead on the inside. Now I think you were simply looking for an excuse to end your miserable life, it just so happened that my little girl needed help at the time. I am going to give you a choice. When you get out of here you can go back to your sad and pathetic excuse of a life and never hear from me again. Or, you can call me and I can give you a reason to live. I am not going to sugarcoat it, if you call me I am going to put you through five kinds of hell until I get results. Looking at you, something tells me you might just have what it takes to become someone great. I heard from the doc you don't have a quirk, that's probably why you act like a sad sack of shit right? Everyone has probably said the same thing, that you should just accept it and move on right? Well let me tell you something, life isn't fair. But just because you were dealt a shitty hand doesn't mean you should give up. You want to prove everyone wrong? You want to go tell everyone who pitied you to shove it? I can make you a force to be reckoned with even if you are quirkless, but it won't be easy. Here is my card, you have two weeks. If I don't hear from you by then I never want to see your face again."

Cassie's father then reached into his suit pocket and flicked a business card onto Izuku's lap. He left before Izuku could even think up a reply, leaving the green haired boy with a plain white card that only had a single telephone number printed on it.

After spending several days in the hospital to recover from his injuries, Izuku was picked up by his uncle and silently escorted back to their apartment. Of course Izuku's uncle never said anything comforting or helpful, just took Izuku back home then immediately broke out a bottle of hard liquor. For the next week, Izuku continued to think back to what the scary man said. Was he telling the truth? Could he really turn Izuku into someone noteworthy even without a quirk? The questions continued to pile up over the days as Izuku spent all his free time examining the mysterious business card. Two day before the deadline, Izuku called the man's number from his cellphone. Izuku reasoned that if the man was lying it was not like his life would get any worse (he hoped). But if he was telling the truth? It might be the beginning of something great.

The next few weeks passed by in a blur. After the initial phonecall, Izuku was simply told to wait and get ready for training. The very next day, a notice arrived that informed Izuku he had been enrolled in a different school, a private academy to be exact. The day after that, a grey uniform with gold trim arrived in the mail, somehow already perfectly fitted for Izuku. Then Izuku received a phone call from the mysterious man with instructions on what to do. It was up to Izuku to figure out a way to commute to the academy and arrive on time. Izuku's tuition and supplies would be paid for as long as he kept his grades above a B and had good attendance. Izuku was then told that after school he would have physical training in a nearby warehouse. Lastly, Izuku was to refer to Cassie's father as either Colonel or Sir. Days later, Izuku arrived at the academy and braced himself for the worst as he was introduced to his new classmates. To Izuku's surprise, Cassie was also in his class and the peppy girl immediately welcomed him with happy enthusiasm. After school, Izuku found the strangely empty and generic warehouse with the Colonel waiting for him in grey military style fatigues. The man immediately outlined a grueling physical training program and began working Izuku until he was about to pass out.

The next few days after establishing a routine and getting familiar with the school and curriculum Izuku faced his first set of challenges. Cassie had made it her mission to help the quiet japanese boy befriend everyone in class, and for the most part Izuku's new classmates were at least polite. However, Izuku immediately noticed several students with hostile attitudes. At first it was simple pranks, but eventually the bullies found out Izuku was quirkless and immediately began abusing him like all the others in the past. At first Izuku took the bullying like he always had, with silent acceptance. However one day Cassie found Izuku being bullied and nearly blew apart a classroom in her protective fury. As it turned out, Cassie had the ability to cause implosions and Izuku could not help but find it eerily similar to Bakugo's explosive quirk. While her implosions were powerful, Cassie did not have the best control over them and she revealed to Izuku that her father had forbidden her from using her quirk in school. Cassie assured Izuku that she would stop any bullies from hurting him, but all Izuku felt was that he was causing Cassie trouble simply by existing. While at first Cassie's presence kept the bullies at bay, the malicious students simply found more creative ways to bully Izuku. Trash in his locker, homework and class notes ripped apart, water in his backpack, the attacks seemed to never end. One day in the middle of his training with the Colonel, Izuku confessed that he felt he was causing Cassie undue stress because she wanted to protect him. As Izuku did push-ups with heavy weights on his back, the Colonel stared at him with an intense gaze and barked at him like a veteran military instructor.

"So you are just going to take this bullying and hope it goes away? I specifically remember you getting pulped after going into a fight one-on-six, what happened to that young man? You want these little shits to stop making your life hell, well guess what? The only way they are going to stop is if you MAKE them stop! So what if you don't have a quirk? That just means you have to fight smarter and harder than your opponents!"

The next day, Izuku found that the Colonel now supplemented his physical training with lessons in unarmed fighting techniques. The way the Colonel taught was by example, so after pushing his body to the limit Izuku found himself getting beat down and tossed around by the callused hands of his menacing instructor. But as time passed, Izuku slowly but surely made progress. Sure, everyday he went back to his room exhausted with piles of homework, but along the way Izuku realized he was somewhat enjoying the challenge. The Colonel did not coddle him like everyone else had, the tough man held Izuku to the same impossibly high standards he did everyone else and expected the green-haired teen to exceed his expectations. Also, whenever Izuku talked or worked with Cassie it felt like she was a ray of healing sunshine recharging his will to live, and he had even made a few friends with his other classmates. After another week of grueling training and challenging homework, Izuku realized that he actually was now looking forward to the next day of school. Sure the bullies were still there, but after all Izuku had been through he simply ignored their attacks and threats like they were beneath him. Izuku also started to eat healthier, learning to cook simple meals for himself and his uncle with the little bits of cash he was given.

As time passed, an event occured that Izuku would later realize was a turning point in his life. It had started out like usual, but when Izuku had arrived to class he was greeted by the sight of a tearful Cassie being comforted by her friends. Immediately worried about what happened, Izuku was informed that Cassie's desk had been vandalized overnight. Her textbooks had been ripped while racist slurs and offensive insults had been scrawled all over her desk in permanent marker. Of course Izuku immediately knew who the culprits were, it was the same bullies who had been targeting him from day one. However they must have realized that going after Izuku directly was no longer working and went after his best friend instead. That afternoon, Izuku found himself being subjected to a particularly harsh training session at the hands of Cassie's father. Normally the muscular man shouted at Izuku with various insults and commands, but that day he only spoke with cold fury in his voice. Izuku knew why he was angry, but he did not know how to fix the problem. All his life it had been ingrained into Izuku that answering violence with violence was morally wrong, to always take the moral high ground and be better than your enemies. Finally after some sparring disguised as a beat down, Izuku snapped at the Colonel in frustration, asking why he was taking out on him when the man could obviously take care of the problem himself. The Colonel responded by knocking the wind out of Izuku with a vicious kick then pinning him to the ground with a booted foot, his voice deadly cold as he spoke through a clenched jaw.

"You just don't get it do you? What will change if I solve my daughter's problems? Nothing! All she will learn is that daddy will always bail her out when things get tough. You think I liked seeing my daughter come home in tears!? If I could I would tear that fucking school apart and rip the throats out of those who bullied my little girl! Remember what I keep telling you! LIFE. IS. NOT. FAIR! You of all people should know that. The solution is staring you in the face but your that fucking hero bullshit is holding you back! Guess what? Sometimes the only thing that can stop a villain, is another villain. You have all the tools at your disposal, but your mindset is what is preventing you from accomplishing your objective. Three days. If you have not solved this problem in three days this whole thing is over. I want this problem solved, permanently."

Izuku went back to his room that night with his mind tearing itself apart over his dilemma. What was more important, his sense of right and wrong, or the well-being of his best friend? He had never experienced someone having high expectations of him. Sure the Colonel expressed that in a somewhat twisted way, but Izuku knew that the man was expecting big things from him. The next morning, Izuku woke up and knew what he had to do. Cooking breakfast for his uncle who was passed out in a nearby chair, Izuku made his plan and mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do.

Izuku knew exactly who the bullies were, after all they were in his class. Whenever Cassie was around they acted sweet and innocent, but when away from prying eyes their true malicious nature came out. It was just three of them, two boys and one girl. One of the boys hand metal hands, the other could enlarge small flames, and the girl could spit acid. Going about his usual schoolday routine, Izuku formulated his plan and waited for the daily lunch break. When everyone left for lunch, Izuku put notes in the bullies desks telling them to meet him in the gym locker rooms after school. When everyone came back from lunch, Izuku kept his eyes on his desk and made sure not to act suspicious around Cassie. He could feel three sets of eyes burning into his skull, but Izuku simply bided his time and waited. Finally classes ended and Izuku made his way to the locker room. Quickly preparing himself, Izuku readied his tools and turned on all the nearby showers. Minutes later, three sets of footsteps entered the tiled room and the bullies emerged to face the emotionless Izuku.

Words were exchanged, insults hurled, and taunts uttered, but Izuku simply repeated his demands. Confess to vandalizing Cassie's desk and leave himself and her alone. Of course the bullies laughed off Izuku's demands like some kid-show villains, but Izuku refused to back down and told them that he would force them to listen if he had to. The gauntlet had been thrown and the bullies looked at each other gleefully, finally happy that they had an excuse to teach a quirkless loser who was in charge. They spread out and Izuku simply waited, slowly backing them up and drawing them closer towards the showers. The bullies attacked in unison, clearly confident in their numbers and quirks, but that is where they made costly mistakes. The first to go down was the metal-handed boy, Izuku ducking a haymaker and slamming his foot into the side of the boy's knee. With a wet snap the bullies knee bent sideways and the boy tumbled to the floor howling in pain. Next was the girl, who simply stepped back and spat a large wad of boiling acid at Izuku's face. To the girl's surprise, Izuku flipped up his jacket as he rushed her and blocked the acid projectile. Throwing away his jacket before the acid ate through it, Izuku stepped forward and delivered a precise punch to the girl's pointed nose, breaking it with a soft crunch. As the girl cried out in agony, Izuku turned to face the fiery bully. Arguably the most dangerous of the three, the bully had pulled out a hidden lighter and ignited it before Izuku could close the distance. Smiling victoriously, the bully held his hand over the small flame and increased the size of the fire until it was as big as a beach ball. Izuku retreated backwards into the freezing water of the showers just as the bully released his fireball, unfortunately the two other bullies were caught in the crossfire. Fire enveloped the room, Izuku throwing himself onto the wet floor as the inferno burned the exposed skin of the bullies. Realizing his mistake, the third bully backpedaled as steam filled the room, desperately holding out his hands trying to find the door to escape. The pudgy bully was stopped when Izuku grabbed him from behind and threw him against the hot steel of the nearby lockers. The bully wailed as the indents of the lockers were burned into his face, Izuku following up with a punch to the solar plexus and knee to the chin. The bullies had been taken out, all three lying on the floor with various injuries. Izuku had a few light burns, but the water had shielded him from the worst of the fireball. However, Izuku knew his job was not done, the bullies had been defeated sure, but they would more than likely only come back for revenge later. So Izuku went to work. Gagging the bullies by shoving towels in their mouths, Izuku grimaced as he began systematically breaking bones. The bullies tried to cry out as elbows were shattered, hands crushed, and eyes gouged, but Izuku simply continued until the only sounds the bullies made were choked gurgles. Pulling all three next to each other, Izuku pulled out the now blood-soaked gags and stood over the blinded and broken students. Izuku repeated his demands. The green-haired boy emphasized that should the bullies try to get adults involved or come for revenge, he knew where they lived and would kill them while they slept. The bullies choked out various cries of mercy and agreement, making Izuku nod satisfactorily and leave the three in a large blood soaked puddle.

The next day the school was abuzz with the news of the savage attack. The three bullies had been rushed to the hospital and were expected to live, all three giving different bizarre stories of someone with three or five quirks attacking them. The official report was that an intruder had broken in and attacked the three bullies, but was driven off before the three succumbed to their wounds. The school officials were quick to praise the three bullies for their noble sacrifice and immediately shut down any further questions by reporters. When Cassie saw Izuku she immediately was concerned about him because supposedly he had stayed after school when the intruder broke in, but Izuku had played off his burns as the result of fumbling a pot of boiling water at home. After school, the Colonel simply reverted to his usual gruff behavior and never mentioned the incident again.

The following months, Izuku settled into a regular, albeit strange, routine. Go to school, train with the Colonel, go home, do homework, go to sleep. The three bullies had transferred to different schools, leaving Izuku with a feeling of pride and accomplishment. The Colonel was right, being quirkless was not the end of the world.

Over time, Izuku and Cassie began to hang out more and more. At first it was simply staying after school and chatting with friends. Later it turned into going out with friends on the weekends and studying together during class. Eventually Cassie invited Izuku to come over for a study party at her house. While he did have more self-confidence than before when he had first arrived, Izuku was still nervous about going over to a girl's house for the first time. The other scary aspect was the Colonel himself probably watching Izuku like a hawk. Eventually the weekend of the study party arrived and Izuku took a train to the upper class areas of New York. Gone was the depressed and morose young boy who walked around like he was on death row. Instead he was replaced by a shy but enthusiastic young man with a body that any pro-athlete would be envious of. When Izuku arrived at the skyscraper Cassie lived in, he felt like some poor plebeian intruding on a king's castle. However, once up in the penthouse Izuku felt more at ease surrounded by his cheerful friends. The Colonel had gruffly introduced himself to everyone, wearing a striped polo shirt and slacks that made Izuku almost burst out laughing. The real surprise was Cassie's mother, a warm and cheerful woman who was a former Californian supermodel and chef. For the first time in years, Izuku felt totally at ease with himself. Surrounded by actual caring friends and guided by a mentor who did not care about the fact that he was quirkless.

Izuku yawned loudly and rubbed his eyes as he plugged his phone into a nearby charger and set it on the creaky wooden floor. With summer break right around the corner, Izuku had been wondering what exactly he should do. At first he had simply wanted to stay in New York and just keep having phone calls every other day with his mom, but Izuku had realized he was just avoiding what he should do. So the next day, Izuku had called his mom and started making arrangements to come home for a few weeks. Of course his mom was ecstatic that he was doing well and had spent a good thirty minutes blubbering on the phone about how proud she was of her boy. The real kicker was that when Izuku had told Cassie of his plans she immediately wanted to tag along. At first Izuku had denied Cassie's request on the fact that all he would be doing was seeing family and old friends, but the cheerful girl had insisted and somehow even convinced her overprotective father to let her go. Cassie's argument was that her best friend had already seen her house and met her parents, so it was only fair that Izuku should let her meet his family and friends. Izuku realized he was not going to win that metaphorical battle, so he asked Cassie how she would overcome the language barrier. Surprisingly, Cassie revealed she had been diligently learning japanese over the past few months and was actually on a decent conversational level. When Izuku tried to ask why Cassie wanted to learn Japanese, the girl simply blushed and immediately changed the topic.

Smiling to himself, Izuku took off his clothes and crawled under the covers as he set his alarm for the next morning. Izuku never thought in a million years he would be looking forward to going back home (with a new best friend to boot), but the teen found himself strangely excited for the trip. Yawning again, Izuku muttered to himself as he closed his eyes.

"Maybe everything will be okay after all..."

-I forget how many versions of this story I have written and deleted, it always ended up looking strange to me so I deleted the stories before anyone got invested in them.

-I decided to go full alternate universe with this version because trying to fit a unique story line in with existing canon was way too complicated for an amateur like me.

-Next chapter will and begin the actual story/conversations.

-As you probably already guessed this is going to be a Deku-x-OC story, I have nothing against any of the canon girls I just wanted to try something a little different. Might include a love triangle later on.

If you have read this far, thanks for reading my story, hope you have a good day/night.

Reviews and comments are always appreciated.