MHA Au where Izuku’s quirk let’s him see spirits/monsters but instead of befriending them like usual, he becomes a whole ass monster hunter. I’m talking full on spn salt and burns, illegal fire arms in his backpack, monster journals, etc.
Hmm gonna switch it up a bit but:
Izuku's neighbor is a monster.
Hands fisted tightly in the length of his Mama's skirt, Izuku watches, wide-eyed and trembling, as his Mama chats softly with the thing in the elevator with them.
"Say goodbye to Akuhara-san, Izu-kun," Mama prompts gently.
But all Izuku can do is clutch tighter to her and whimper.
"I-I'm sorry," Mama frets softly as she ushers him out of the elevator. "He's not normally this shy."
"Adorable little thing," the thing called Akuhara croons, voice whispery and soft in a way that makes the hair on the back of Izuku's neck stand on end. "Could just ,,, eat him up."
When Izuku manages to peek around his Mama's leg and look Akuhara-san grins at him with too many teeth, one spindly hand raising to wiggle long gnarled fingers in Izuku's direction.
Izuku squeaks and hides his face again.
But even after he's back in the safety of the apartment he can't help but wonder just how someone with antlers as big as that thing's had been could fit inside the elevator.
~~~
Later, when it's time for bed, Izuku tries to tell his Mama about what he saw.
"Scary," Izuku manages to whimper, remembered terror tracing down his spine.
"Izuku!" Mama gasps, one hand coming up to press against her chest. "What a rude thing to say, young man! I don't want to hear anything like that out of you again, you hear me?"
"Y-Yes," Izuku whispers, unsure of what, exactly, he's done wrong.
The kiss Mama presses to his forehead is a bit shorter than normal.
Sleep is a long time coming for him that night.
~~~
He tries again though, after another run in with the monster.
Tries to tell her about how wrong Akuhara really is.
How that thing, whatever it is, is dangerous.
But ,,,
It doesn't go well.
~~~
Izuku looks at Akuhara and he sees something more than a man, something twisted and wrong, staring back at him.
But the problem is ,,,
Izuku's not the only one looking.
~~~
"I see you, little morsel," Akuhara whispers to Izuku, mouth split wide in a vicious grin as a long, black tongue slides out to flick almost teasingly in Izuku's direction.
Izuku can't help it ,,,
He screams.
~~~
"-ever been more humiliated in my life!" Mama says, hand tight around Izuku's wrist as she drags him into the apartment.
Izuku cowers just a bit when she finally releases him, shoulders hunched and head bowed.
Mama is never really angry with him, not like everyone else, so for Izuku this is just ,,,
Bad.
So much worse than Kacchan or the sensei at school being mean to him. So much worse than anything and everything the other kids have ever said or done to him.
"You will apologize to Akuhara-san," Mama finally huffs, hands planted on her hips and face flushed.
And Izuku ,,,
"No," It's a whisper but in the tense silence of the apartment, it might as well have been a shout.
"What did you say?" Mama blinks, obviously shocked.
He just can't anymore.
He's tried so hard to tell her, to make her see, and she still won't ,,,
"I-I'm not saying s-sorry to that, that thing," Izuku manages to shove the words out. "It's a m-monster. It's ugly and scary and you shouldn-"
The slap catches him off guard.
He yelps, hands flying up to clutch at the familiar throb of his cheek.
He's been hit before, gets hit often really these days, but never here, never at home where he's always been safe, and never by her.
"Y-You can't say things like that," Mama whispers, expression stricken as she clutches the hand she'd hit him with to her chest. "Y-You, Izuku, you can't just," she heaves in a shuddering breath, "just because you don't have a quirk doesn't mean you can say things like that about people who do."
Izuku's hands fall down to his sides as he stares up at her in horror.
And then he turns on his heel and runs to his bedroom.
Inko doesn't follow.
~~~
That night, with the bedroom door locked, his cheek still throbbing, and his chest heaving from the force of his sobs, Izuku tucks himself down in the darkest corner of his closet and cries himself almost sick.
~~~
It's not a quirk.
Izuku knows that.
Whatever it is about Akuhara-san that sets Izuku off so deeply isn't a quirk.
Izuku might only be nine years old and he might be quirkless but he knows quirks.
Whatever Akuhara-san is?
It's not natural.
~~~
Except, as Izuku learns through hours of research, hours of study and computer time when his Mama isn't home, maybe it is.
Maybe whatever it is that's pretending to be a regular man named Akuhara-san is actually very very natural.
And maybe that's not a good thing at all.
~~~
Izuku kills his first monster at 9 years old.
He comes out of the encounter bruised and bloody but alive and satisfied.
Come to find out, no matter how big a Jubokko's branches, not antlers as he'd first thought, are they're still vulnerable to salt and fire just like any other tree.
Inko never looks at him the same, never actually asks the questions Izuku can see lingering in her mouth but, well, she's alive and well and really that's all Izuku wanted in the first place.
~~~
Teeth gritted against the pain and careful of his bandaged arm, Izuku pulls a black-covered notebook from his desk and grabs a fresh pen.
Monster Analysis Vol 1 he scrawls across the front cover before he flips it open.
Akuhara-san might be gone but Izuku refuses to be caught unaware and vulnerable ever again.
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I hear people are rustling about again saying that if Katsuki called Izuku "Deku," it would be a regression of character development.
Other people have talked about it before, but I'm here to remind you that 1. Katsuki has already called him "Deku" again, and 2. it is actually further proof of his development.
This isn't an "old habits die hard" situation -- we already got that in chapter 327 with "De-Izuku!" No, this is something else.
Why?
Because "Deku" is Izuku's hero name.
Chapter 345
Katsuki is communicating combat information here, so he addresses Izuku as a hero, as opposed to how he would address him in a personal context, and he still uses it when talking to Best Jeanist.
If anybody cares about being addressed properly by their hero name, it's Katsuki!
Chapter 319
He bristles at Yaoyorozu for calling him Bakugou-san during their mission to rescue Izuku.
Chapter 346
The first time Mirko calls him the wrong name, it's during the heat of battle, so he actually ignores it and answers her with the pertinent information.
Chapter 347
He only argues with her the second time she calls him by the wrong name when they are regrouping.
And, wait, okay, look, I actually want to point out something hilarious here--in the English release, they had Mirko calling him "Dynamight," dropping the Great Explosion Murder God part, but in Japanese she actually says Dainama (ダイナマ), not Dainamaito (ダイナマイト), both times.
Which means she shortens his hero name not just by ditching the grandiose title, but also by removing the All Might reference.
I like to think that is what he is most pissed off about LOL.
(Bonus: I highlighted in blue where he calls her ウサギやろー, usagi yarou, meaning "bunny bastard." The word "yarou" is typically an insult directed at men; the etymology itself is masculine. The official English release made this "bunny gal," I'm guessing to avoid readers walking away with the notion that Katsuki is confused about Mirko's gender or that he was insulting her gender. In reality, Katsuki is simply a progressively-minded foul-mouthed youth who does not discriminate between bastards!)
Anyway, see, we have already been shown how Katsuki refers to Izuku when he isn't communicating battle information.
Chapter 362
He uses Izuku's name out loud to himself as a personal aside right before his moment of heroism.
I think everybody is missing out on a much more delightful question. Katsuki has used Izuku's hero name, so are we ever going to get to see Izuku use Katsuki's?
And if he doesn't, if he just blurts out "Kacchan!" on the battlefield like the damn nerd he is, will Katsuki correct him?
I mean, we've never once seen him demand Izuku stop calling him by his childhood nickname, so is he just gonna let that one slide?
What a funny fucking exception that would be, huh?
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