Brittle Skin (KiriDeku)

#1 Blobs

Izuku Midoriya knew from a young age...

That some kids are born lucky... some DNA strand that seems to cause the manifestation of quirks from your parent's quirk or exceedingly random moments when a mutation occurs... though having a quirk doesn't make you lucky... it's what quirk that you get that defines that luck.

Katsuki Bakugo... his best friend for as long as he could retain memory had explosive sweat... something perfect for their dream... the dream to be a hero exactly like All might, a hero so renowned of success that he was defined as the pillar of hero society, a symbol of peace... just like the American flag, but globally... it was something special to behold as a child as wonderous as Izuku, he had sworn he saw a glimmer of All Might behind Katsuki and he could only compare the two with so much happiness...

He knew his friend was lucky... he knew in time he would be comparable to All might and he knew that every praise would have been enough for Katsuki to be great...

Izuku wasn't so lucky... he had gotten a quirk. The doctor had told himself that he had a quirk... but it couldn't be defined as anything besides one aspect... small green blemishes dotted around his body... most of them were on his face, and it made him different... but different in such a wrong wrong way... he had nothing practical about his quirk... all he knew was when he was more upset more would pop up...

Izuku stared down at his hands as the little kids all around him started converging all around Katsuki stared at his quirk in wonder while Izuku was staring from afar, silently wishing everything would go back to normal... "I wish my quirk is going to be as cool as yours Kacchan!" just months before his quirk first manifested  Izuku had told Katsuki in one of their playdates. "Come on Izuku, even if you do get a quirk it's not going to be better than mine!" Katsuki gave a grin as Izuku could only nod in agreement... what would be better than explosive sweat after all...

Not green blobs... Izuku clutched his hand that had been one year ago... and now... "DEKU!" Izuku jumped as he looked up, his eyes held a sadness as Katsuki gained a smirk. "Still nothing? You really are a Deku..." Izuku stayed silent as Katsuki said all the things he did. Katsuki turned and gave a disgruntled scoff before walking back over to the others that were praising him...

"Just lucky," Izuku muttered as he tilted his head back towards the window, looking up at the sky as the rain started running down the window... and at that moment so did Izuku's tears.

All are not created equal... some are just born for greatness while... others have to stand in that shadow and work their way up.

...

"Momma..." Izuku's mother, Inko Midoriya had turned towards the table to see Izuku staring at the bowl of Katsudon, looking up from it as she walked over towards him and leaned down. "Yes Izuku?" She asked in worry as Izuku brought up his arm. "W-What was dad's quirk again?" His father he hadn't known... the man seemingly disappeared from his life when he was younger but he knew his mother kept getting letters and money monthly so he could assume his father was away... but he didn't remember his face.

"His quirk was to breathe fire, why Izuku-Kun?" the question itself threw her off but she answered nevertheless. "So it was a mutation..." Izuku muttered as he looked down in sadness, he had been going online quite a lot and looking things up for how quirks cropped up in those sequences. Inko could only nod as she placed her hand against his cheek, lightly rubbing one of the blemishes as he closed his eyes, the spots were very sensitive, he looked up as a tear fell down. "Can I still be a hero momma?"

She gave him a smile silently rubbing his cheek affectionately. "Oh, Izuku... if you work hard enough anything is possible... yes, you can be a hero." She slowly pulled him against her chest and he felt himself shake as he sobbed out, placing his short arms around his mother he cried out... it wasn't the first time she called him a hero... when he was younger he remembered running around in his little onesie acting like all might... The cry that shot out his chest really spoke volumes to Inko as she whispered silently and soothingly into his ear.