BNHA/MHA Scenarios + Headcanons

Antihero! Bakugo saves Quirkless reader

When you were four years old, you stood by impatiently as you watched the quirks of your classmates slowly develop and appear. Every time a new quirk showed up, your childish wonder turned to jealousy, standing back without a quirk yet as everyone showed off their new powers or traits. Eventually you were the last one in the classroom without a quirk, feeling the eyes of your friends and teacher on you day after day until your parents took you to the doctor.

She confirmed that you would be quirkless, and any hopes you had of experiencing a quirk were dashed like petals in the wind.

As you grew up, you really tried not to let the fact you were quirkless hold you back from your aspirations and goals. You could still be smart, and strong, and successful without a quirk. There were plenty of job opportunities available since so many people wanted to be Heroes, but only a select few saw that ambition through to the end.

Without a quirk you had no way to defend yourself in the event of a villain attack, so you really hoped all the professional Heroes out there knew what they were doing in the event of a disaster.

...However, over the past couple of years someone new appeared; someone who wasn't a Hero, or at least didn't want to be openly recognized as one. He'd never given an interview and never stuck around for the media to show up, but news outlets eventually gave him the nickname "Ground Zero" for all the chaos he usually caused. Only glimpses of him appeared on news segments, a shadowy figure who swooped in when he felt like it to provide a bit of aid, but didn't care much for following laws or regulations regarding the use of quirks or property damage...and his quirk caused a lot of damage.

The police weren't fans of his tactics, which put an emphasis on raw power rather than just incapacitating villains and rescuing civilians. But, there was something almost appealing about him to you? Maybe you fell into the "dark and brooding, possibly also handsome" trap, but you always enjoyed reading articles where the people in charge were obviously frustrated with his "reckless tactics" even though he saved as many people as pro Heroes on a regular basis. If his goals were still good, what was the harm of letting him do his thing? Maybe he was a little more violent than Batman...but, same gist.

Your days were routine and fairly boring, though: get up, go to work, go home, sleep, rinse and repeat. Villains rarely came around your neighborhood or office, which weren't particularly spectacular or anything. You didn't live in a super ritzy part of town, and your office building was unassuming and bland. Overall, you felt safe.

It was early Monday morning and you were attempting to sip the coffee that was still too hot to drink when the ground shook beneath your feet. People looked up and stared with wide eyes as a lumbering shadow filled nearly the whole width of the street.

Tendrils stuck out from it's body like flowing ink as a hideous roar overpowered the sounds of honking cars and morning chatter.

Everyone started to panic, yourself included.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit...oh man it was only a matter of time, right?!" Heavy footfalls echoed on the pavement as people fled the opposite direction of the large and monstrous villain trying to find safety. But then someone stopped and pointed, which made other people stop, too, because doing what everyone else was doing was oftentimes an unconscious act.

"A hero!"

"OK, we should be fine now, right?"

"Are the trains still running?"

You were too busy trying to brush off some of the coffee that had spilled on your blouse while running away to notice that the villain seemed to be splitting itself up into smaller blobs, and one - no, now two - heroes might not be enough to deal with the current threat.

"I just bought this..." you mumbled, too distracted to notice the other people around you continuing their run to flee from the encroaching villain...until it was right on top of you. "Huh?"

A gaping maw filled with teeth loomed over you like a nightmare, and as you dropped your coffee and stared up into the face of impending demise, you screamed.

"BACK OFF, FUCKER!" A deafening blast made your ears pop as heat enveloped you, but your eyes were screwed shut and you had no intention of seeing what was happening if you really were about to get eaten. At the same time you were lifted off the ground and felt yourself flying through the air before landing with a thud. "Oi, moron! Don't just stand around and let some damn villain swallow you," the same gruff voice from before said. Finally you opened your eyes, and were met with the familiar silhouette of the vigilante.

No one had managed to get a close-up of his face at any point, and you realized that was a damn shame because he was way more handsome than you'd imagined him to be...which unfortunately caused you to stumble over your words like the moron he called you. "Uh... uh huh!"

"Stay here," he said, pointing to the ground like an owner asking a dog to stay put before he ran back out from the alley. He didn't even give you time to thank him...or sass him for that comment!

As curious as you were to see how the fight was going, you hid in the darkness like Ground Zero told you to do. The last thing you wanted to do was piss off a guy who had an explosion quirk, so you leaned against the brick wall, took out your phone, and emailed your boss that you probably wouldn't be making it into work today.

After about ten minutes things finally seemed to quiet down. Footsteps caught your attention, and you looked up to see Ground Zero walking towards you. A little scuffed and his hands were still smoking, but he didn't look particularly injured. "So you can follow directions after all."

"Thanks for saving me but you don't have to give me an attitude," you said while sticking your tongue out at him, which made him scoff.

"Moron, when a villain shows up you run away if you can't fight."

"Maybe I wanted to be saved by the famous Ground Zero," you said without thinking before turning around and clapping a hand over your mouth when the words registered. Oh nothat wasn't supposed to happen! Damn you, brain!

But instead of snipping back at you, he just laughed. It was a surprisingly nice sound. "You got some nerve basically asking to be rescued like some weakling, but at least you're honest about it."

"I'm quirkless, not like I can do much about it anyway..." you mumbled, not really wanting him to hear. His boots crunched under the gravel before he passed you and started walking into the darkness of the alley, probably not wanting to be seen or caught by police that were no doubt about to show up.

"If you don't have a quirk, figure something else out. And don't expect me to swoop in next time and save your ass." Without turning around he trotted off until you were left alone as sirens blared somewhere on the streets. You looked down at your hands and wondered if, just maybe, being quirkless didn't mean you were helpless.