#and he's so ridiculously understimulated and poorly socialized that he's like

[purgatoryandme]

As silly as I find the big ol’ war arc of BNHA, it has such tasty potential for Quirkless Izuku AUs. “That wouldn’t be tasty at all!” You say, “Izuku would be a regular guy in the middle of an apocalyptic battle where he’d genuinely be outclassed in every way.”  EXACTLY. THAT’S THE SPICE.  Quirkless Izuku being rejected from UA, making it into some second-rate hero school, just desperately struggling to get by when UA is splashed all over the news. USJ attacked, hero students kidnapped, a hero student MURDERED on their internship...and the school is liable.  All hero schools are liable for their kids, in one way or another.  And this second-rate school took a risk on Izuku. They don’t think he’ll go anywhere, but were happy to take his money. Now that he could DIE, though? Nu-uh. Blocked from internships, coddled and kept safe - Izuku would absolutely be losing his mind with the reckless need to prove himself.  And hey! He makes progress! Builds gadgets, uses his head - all the classic Quirkless Izuku traits. He’s even garnered some rather unfortunate villain attention, but it’s gotten him into the news and now there’s kids looking up to him and FINALLY he feels like maybe he can be a symbol of something GOOD.  But wow, Izuku absolutely cannot win out here, because now there’s ridiculously OP villains and the Quirk singularity is blowing anything Izuku can do out of the water. It’s war out there and Izuku is back at square one. School closes down! He’s sent home! He’s practically told not to go out, because he’s a known hero student and there’s a massive target on his back. And for once the situation has escalated so far that he actually has to realize recklessness alone won’t prove a single thing here - in fact, if he dies, he’ll be proving a lot of people right. 

So he’s got to do something else. Something that hasn’t really occurred to him so far in his journey of always, ALWAYS, fighting something.  He’s going to have to convince people stronger than him, who have all the resources he didn’t, to team up with him.

#and that's how you get non-UA Izuku involved with the UA kids #more jaded and prejudiced UA kids that need a few love taps #from an Izuku that has had to grind SO SOOOOO HARD to prove he's #still worth something and will not be ignored #all the dynamics change! everything gets so wonky! #it's more grimdark than the usual AU I'd prefer but ahhhhhhhhhhh you could have #the GROWTH y'know? #I really really love Izuku as this frustrated ND kid who isn't even trying to fit in #who doesn't even WANT to fit in #but just wants to be a GOOD person who is living their passion #and he's so ridiculously understimulated and poorly socialized that he's like #so weird and such an earnest little bean who doesn't know how to lie about his motivations #best boy #bnha