MANGA SPOILERS, if not obvious by the 'Eri' in the characters section.

Is it possible to be unusual in a world of quirks?

This question pops into Izuku's head unannounced sometimes. It's a semi regular occurence.

And he can't stop thinking about it for the whole day once it latches onto his consciousness.

He always comes to the same conclusion. In a world where everyone is unusual that becomes the norm which means that no one is unusual. Therefore in a world with quirks no one is unusual.

But when he factors himself into that equation things get muddled up. Because in this world of quirks Izuku is unusual.

He is the boy with the mutation quirk. Everyone knows of him, but no one knows him. Articles were written about him but no personal information was shared, but it takes just one meeting with Izuku to work out that he is that boy.

Mainly because he'll just tell you outright if you ask, and "What's your quirk?" is practically a greeting with commonly it is exchanged.

"What's your quirk?" a classmate once asked, looking up at Izuku's tall form.

"It's nothing complicated. I'm just not human, I'm a plant. All of my body is in some way a plant. Muscles made of plant fibre, xylems and phloems instead of blood vessels." Izuku would answer with a light smile and an even lighter, calm voice. Izuku rarely raised his voice, panicked or otherwise. He is capable of human emotions, he just doesn't express them in the same ways, not always. He's very clumsy with human interaction.

Inko theorises about her son sometimes, and when she starts she doesn't stop.

How does he see? Is it light? That would make sense. But no... He can see perfectly no matter the conditions he's in.

What about emotions? Do they feel different to him?

She comes to the same conclusions every time.

Izuku most certainly can feel, he's capable of tears, shouts and everything that a human does to show emotion. I've seen him cry and I've seen him shout. But he only shouts when it makes sense to, he's never thrown tantrums, he's never shouted at someone because they offended him. He only shouts when he needs to be heard. He'd probably shout when he's angry too, just like a human would, she thinks. But she's never heard him shout in anger... Maybe Izuku doesn't think shouting when angry is an appropriate reaction, or maybe he fights his instincts. Wait, does he even have instincts? Oh I wish I knew what was going through his head.

There's some things she's never needed to question. Whether he was human.

Easy. He can feel, he can cry, he can learn, therefore he's human like anyone else.

And whether he was her son.

Even easier. She gave birth to him, she raised him, she cared for him. He was her son.

And she couldn't wish for a better son. He was kinder than most people Inko had ever met. From a young age Izuku cared about animals, humans plants and everything in between, he wants to help more than anything. Help anyone in any way.

So it's natural he'd want to be a hero even if it scares Inko half to death.

But how will he become a hero, how can he fight when his quirk isn't combative. Well. He's becoming a hero to save people, rescue heroes rarely fight. Take Thirteen for example, the last time they fought was in a massive operation two years ago. The heroes were forced to kill for the first time in a very long time. The space hero took a leave of absense soon after to focus on getting better and getting over memories of turning people to naught but dust in their wake.

It's a dangerous world. And while fighting isn't necessary for a rescue hero, well. That's only by technicality. The truth of the matter is even rescue heroes must have the capability to fight at the very least, they don't have to be proficient just capable of it. But she refused to tell Izuku this for fear that he'd give up on his dream, there's nothing that would make Inko sadder. He's done so much for her after all, she just wants him to follow his dream and do his damnest to become a kickass hero. But how can she help him?

That's one question she hasn't found an answer to, yet. Izuku had done so much for her, literally given away pieces of himself to earn money so that she could quit her job, deciding not to go to university cause it would put a strain on them with how much it'd cost. And in the face of all that hurt and hardship, the bullying, the money issues and everything else. He's never stopped smiling, never stopped wanting to help, never stopped being curious. And Inko loves him with all she has.

"Hey, mom?" Izuku pokes his head through the door leading into the living room, hand on the frame and leaning precariously "You got a minute?" he asks, a wide, happy smile plastered on his face. Something good must've happened.

"Course I do, sweetie," She answers mimicking that smile albeit slightly less radiant, she couldn't match his sunlike smile if she tried. 'Only All Might could match.' she thinks to herself "What is this about?"

He marches into the room hands behind his back seemingly clutching something, he stops roughly in the middle of the room standing a few paces in front of the sofa on which Inko was sat. Far enough so that she wouldn't have to crane her head upward from where's she sat to look him in the eyes.

"What do you have behind your back, Izuku?"

His smile widens even further, something Inko definitely didn't expect considering how broad his smile already was.

He whips out a small stack piece of paper from behind his back, the front page looks vaguely like some kind of document. It looks official and legitimate. For the first few seconds Inko struggles to read it, but when she makes out a couple of words her eyes widen and the beginnings of tears are evident within her eyes, she reads faster and faster.

And by the end of the page she's bawling while Izuku keeps smiling.

"I signed a few deals, this should be enough for the rest of our lives comfortably as long as we don't go completely insane with it." He angles his head a little, tears brimming in his tightly closed eyes "I've found us a nice house too, it's not extravagent but it has at least double the space we have in this apartment, it has a garden too ehehe. Want to che- Ah!" he's interrupted by Inko effectively charging the boy and clutching him tightly, he begins to run his hand through her hair as she cries into his chest "That being said, is there anything you really want? We have enough money to buy it."

She takes a moment to think or to cry, Izuku can't really tell. She looks up at Izuku, tears pouring down her face. He softens his smile a little.

"What I want, more than anything," she starts "is for you to be happy, Izuku. S-So," she sniffles "I'm d-directing that question back at you, what do you want Izuku? You've done enough for me, just think about what you want most."

What I want?

Izuku looks within himself, searching for the answer. What does he yearn for?

He looks through the massive database that is his memory. When he helped Kacchan from the stream, or tried to. Kacchan didn't take his hand, he seemed offended 'I should apologise to him if I ever see him again.'. All of his charity work, learning about his quirk, meditation, training.

He's taken extremely good care of himself all throughout his life, that's normal right? To try to be as healthy as possible... But... Izuku's training wasn't just the typical regime meant to keep you healthy and happy. It was more intensive, it was strength, stamina and speed building. He'd practiced his sprinting technique and everything else to perfection, he'd dappled in martial arts.

But why? What drove him to do that? Why those things of ever-

Oh.

It dawns on him.

Strength training. Carrying people, shifting rubble, combat.

Speed. The faster you are the less chance you'll be too late to save someone.

Stamina. To keep going as long as they need me to.

Quirk analysis on himself and other... So that he knew what he could do, how he could help. How he could fight.

So he... So he...

He cries just as viciously as his mom if not more so.

"I-I," he pauses, to work the lump out of his throat, so he can answer properly "I-I want to be a hero." He manages before devolving into sobs.

"I know you do and I also know you'll be an amazing hero."

And so, that tiny, undead part of Izuku that still held out hope that something would change, that he'd be able to become a hero despite everything, blossomed and sprung forward. Growing in intensity now that the feeling wasn't actively supressed. His wish to become a hero grows and grows until it becomes a physical need, a necessity to Izuku's survival.

And so Izuku upped the effort he put toward his hero training. Slowly but steadily building his 'muscle' strength and improving his speed. He actively seeked out people in need of assistance, from small things to larger things. The police quickly began recognising Izuku from the amount of times he'd assisted them in one way or another.

Times just like today.

"Hello again, Midoriya." reaches Izuku's ears as he pushes the door to the police station open, it's Tsukauchi's voice "What have you come about this time?"

"Oh, hello detective Tsukauchi." he crosses the threshold of Musutafu police station and lightly tugs on his hand, a small child shyly enters and cowers behind Izuku.

Pale greyish, unkempt hair falls around her shoulders and her red eyes have a hint of fear inside them, a small brown horn likely related to her quirk is present on the right side of her forehead

"Missing child, again?" Izuku nods "How do you keep finding them, Midoriya?"

Izuku shrugs, "I guess I'm just in the right place at the right time. Her name is Eri. I think she's an orphan, she said that she doesn't have a mommy or daddy." the little girl nods, Izuku lets go of her hand to which she responds with an alarmed look up at his looming figure. 'Seperation anxiety?'. However that alarmed look quickly melts away into a shaky attempt at a straight face as she fights a smile from manifesting on her face.

"I'll see what I can do." Tsukauchi looks down towards the little girl "Would you like Midoriya to stay with you for now?" the little girl, Eri, nods putting a small smile on Tsukauchi's face at how attached the girl has gotten to Midoriya in such a, presumably, short time. "Who takes care of you, Eri?"

"M-Mister Chisaki does." Tsukachi's eyes open wide in surprise as his quirk registers her words as the truth... The leader of the Yakuza responsible for such a young child? Chisaki, who doesn't have a family or anything of the sort? Something here doesn't sound right.

"I'm familiar with him, I'll call him to pick you up." the detective schools his features into his signature gentle smile "Is he nice to you?"

Eri suddenly stiffens when faced with the question then takes a moment to think through the answer she's going to give, "Yes." False. Obviously.

This can't be used as evidence on it's own. But those bandages on her arms are unlikely to be a coincidence. Izuku looks at the detective, face neutral. Which isn't usual for Izuku whose natural response is to smile at everything and everyone, even if it's just a small smile. His eyes betray the worry he feels, the question circling in his head 'Is she in danger?'.

Tsukauchi bites the inside of his cheek and focuses on ignoring the green-haired boy staring daggers at him. The kid overdoes things as it is, he doesn't need this weighing on him too.

"Does Chisaki hurt you?" he inquires.

"No." Eri answers, obviously troubled. False.

That's all the evidence Tsukauchi needs to spur his suspicion, he'd investigate Chisaki later.

"Okay," he smiles at her "Well, let's call him."

Tsukauchi almost winces physically at the way the girl shrinks at his words, at the prospect of seeing Chisaki again.

But there's nothing he can do right now.

Not without a proper investigation.

He's not a hero, he can't change things himself. Not this directly.

But he can and will gather evidence to incriminate Chisaki.

The despicable man doesn't even bother gracing them with his presence.

He simply sends one of his pawns to fetch Eri from the police station.

The man quickly grabs Eri by the arm and pulls her right out of the station. Tsukauchi and Izuku are left staring. Both resigning themselves to being unable to do anything for Eri, at least for now.

Little do either of them know.

They'd be getting to help her a lot sooner than either expects. A lot sooner than either is ready for.

But such is the path of self-sacrifice, heroism and altruism.