“Alright.” He placed the cold wet patch of paper onto his skin and pressed in there tightly for a few seconds. It was something he had done hundreds of times, an act that he had perfected, so much that he could do it flawlessly ten thousand times without a single slip up. He peeled off the paper and examined his handiwork. “You can do this.”

 

A small caricature of All Might rested on his arm for a few moments before it began to move around, still flexing and smiling like nothing was wrong in the world. A few seconds later, a small fiery Endeavour head appeared and began to breathe fire at it. 

 

“For once, would you two not?” Izuku asked his quirk. It happened every time he applied the cheap sticker tattoos he could pick up from the toy store for a yen, Endeavour would always try to start a fight with All Might, and the other pro heroes wouldn’t help. 

 

“Woah,” another U.A. applicant said. Another person that had come to the bathroom to prepare themselves for the practical exam. He had spiked red hair and just as red eyes and had punched himself in the face the moment he walked into the bathroom. “That’s pretty wild dude, is that your quirk?”

 

“Yeah,” Izuku nodded and gave a light smile. He summoned the stickered version of Endeavour who gave a light pout at not being able to torment All Might anymore. “I’m a living Mural: any art that gets put on my skin becomes alive and I can summon them. And kind of control them.”

 

“Woah! That beats my hardening by a mile!” The redhead held up his hand and  turned his arm into a jagged rock-like substance that actually looked like it was hard, which was something that Izuku considered pretty useful. “But, like, why are you just putting on those sticker tattoos? Wouldn’t you be better off with something manly? Like an actual tattoo of like a tiger or a shark. Something manly.”

 

Leave it to a stranger to start pouring salt on an old wound that never stopped festering. “You’re right, I’d love to get an actual tattoo. My quirk is stronger the larger and more detailed something is.” He felt like it actually being permanent would help a lot too, but he hadn’t had the ability to actually prove that yet. “But, it’s my mom. She won’t let me get a tattoo.”

 

The redhead winced. “That’s a bummer dude. Well, hopefully you get in, you seem like a cool dude.” He extended his hand and gave a great big cheerful smile. “A quirk that’s all about tattoos is manly as hell, I’m Ejirio Kirishima by the way.”

 

“Izuku Midoriya,” Izuku grabbed his hand and took in a deep breath. “I hope so too, best of luck out there.”

 

“You too man, and uhh, is that normal?” Eijiro pointed towards Izuku’s sides where a miniature Hawks and Miruko were fighting it out.

 

“Yep,” He let out a long sigh and then smiled. “They kind of have a mind of their own, they’ll do what I tell them, but they still have their own personalities.” 

 

“Radical.”

 

Who the hell still uses that word?

“So, like, what happens when you wash them off? Do they like, die?”

 

Izuku glanced at the temporary tattoos currently running amuck on his body. “I have no idea.”

 

XXXX

 

Ever since he had first put on an All Might sticker tattoo during Katsuki’s fifth birthday, and it came to life to punch Katsuki in the face, Izuku had known that temporary tattoos weren’t strong. They were incredibly weak. A light tap could destroy them, and they could barely even do any damage. Endeavour could boil water eventually, Hawks could maybe cause a paper cut, Miruko’s kicks were a bit like having a wad of paper thrown at him, and All Might… 

 

All Might just flexed. 

 

Izuku watched as his tattoos along with his hopes and dreams were completely and utterly crushed underneath the smallest possible robot he could have found. Given that it was still the size of a car it wasn’t all that small, but there was absolutely nothing that his pathetic little temporary tattoos could do about it. 

 

“Fuck!” Izuku shouted, and pulled out a sharpie from his pants. A desperation move in every sense, he dragged the marker along his extended arm and ended the tip with a sharp looking arrow. Permanent marker was just about the only thing that gave credence to his quirk being stronger the more permanent the marking was. In the case of anything drawn with a sharpie, he could use it as a weapon that was about as solid as something made of metal. 

 

With another roar, Izuku tossed a poorly-drawn spear towards the robot. 

 

As expected, it bounced off. 

 

The robot turned towards him, its lone red light acting like an eye. 

 

Was he going to die in the U.A. entrance exams? 

 

The robot sped towards him, its armor-plated body ready to crush him.

 

He flinched and waited for pain. Instead, he heard the sound of metal bending and tearing. He opened his eyes and saw a girl wearing a blue tracksuit; she was in his group, her long orange hair tied in a ponytail had made her stand out. Izuku’s first thought was that she was cute and had that mystical girl-next-door property he had heard so much about. 

 

And watching her rip apart a robot he couldn’t even dent with her giant hands only caused a single thought to enter his head. 

 

This was his mother’s fault. 

 

“Hey,” the orange-haired girl jumped down, and her hands shrank down to normal size, “are you okay? I heard you scream. Is it because you lost your shirt?

 

Izuku let out a sigh, and scratched the back of his head. “No, it’s just easier to use my quirk when I’m shirtless. I’m just coming to terms with the fact that my quirk isn’t strong enough to do anything.”

 

“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped and she looked down the street. “Well, umm, your All Might thingy is cute, anyways, I gotta go! Good luck!”

 

And with that, she was off running. A moment later, the sound of her tearing apart another mech could be heard. 

 

His Miurko tattoo walked over to him and hugged his leg, her large red eyes almost making her look adorable. “Congrats, I’m going to wash you last.”

 

XXXX

 

There were a dozen other things he should have done besides go home. He’d just end up being annoyed if he went there, and angry, so, so, so angry at his mother. He should have gone for a run, he should have gone to the gym, he should have gone over to Katsuki’s and watched him gloat about how many robots he destroyed. 

 

But, part of him wanted to go home.

 

He wanted to get angry at her. 

 

And he should be. 

 

She was the one to break the promise, not him. 

 

If he got good grades in highschool. If he was at the top of his class. If he applied to Tokyo U. If he had done everything she asked, then he could get a tattoo. 

 

He had jumped through those loops. He had worked so hard to get his grades, he had worked so hard to study, and harder still to train to become a hero. 

 

But, that promise was broken.

 

He stared at the door to their apartment for a few moments. It wasn’t too late. He could turn away now and avoid the coming fight. He could go cool off. The doorknob was cold enough to burn. 

 

The scent of his favorite meal greeted him and made his stomach twist as the memory of that meal instantly soured in his mind. Why was she making his favorite food today? Why not last night? Why not tomorrow? But today, the day that he failed to get Into U.A. because she refused to let him get a tattoo. 

 

Because she broke her promise. 

 

He slammed the door behind him, mostly on accident, and took his shoes off. 

 

“Izuku?” His mother popped her head out of the kitchen, but her smile died when she saw him. She wiped her hands on her apron as she looked towards the ground. “How’d it go?”

 

“How do you think?” He plopped his shoes off and tried not to yell at her, tried not to blame this all on her. He could understand her not wanting him to get a tattoo at his age; he knew that the laws made it so that minors were prohibited from getting a tattoo, but there were exceptions. He just needed his mother’s permission. It was for his quirk. 

 

“That you tried your hardest.” She met his eyes again and gave him a big smile. 

 

Tried his hardest?

 

How could he try his hardest when he wasn’t allowed to use his quirk? He had to use a sharpie to draw the equivalent of a sharp stick on his arm to get any real results! The stupid sticker tattoos he had were worthless! 

 

How the fuck could he try his hardest when she broke her promise 

 

Izuku took in a deep breath and walked past her, his entire body tensing as he ground his teeth. 

 

He missed not being so angry all the time. But every single time he saw his mother, he couldn’t help but feel betrayed and manipulated. 

 

That’s why she was cooking his favorite meal. To calm him down.

 

“A letter came.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a white envelope. A big red U was stamped onto the front. Tokyo U. The school she wanted him to go to. “It’s for you, I thought you could use a bit of good news.”

 

It was still sealed. At least she still respected his privacy. 

 

He nearly tore it from her hands and ripped the envelope open. The fact that this was an acceptance letter to one of the top colleges in Tokyo did absolutely nothing to cheer him up. He shoved the letter back into her hand. “Congratulations. I got accepted to your school.”

 

He tried to walk away, tried to get back to his room where he could lock the door and brood in peace. But she spoke up.

 

“Izuku!” She stomped her foot and flailed the letter at him. “This is a big deal! You’ll be able to go to college, get a good job, a good, safe job and—”

 

“I don’t want a good safe job!” He spun on his heel and towered over her. “I don’t want to be whatever it is that you want me to be! I want to be a hero! And to do that all I needed was a tattoo! That’s all! It could have been on my back! It could have been on my legs! It could have been hidden so that it could only be seen when I was doing hero work! But because you broke our promise! I couldn’t get one! You’re the reason why I failed to get into U.A. and I’m the reason why I got into Tokyo U.”

 

She started to cry.

 

It wasn’t the first time he had made her cry.

 

It wouldn’t be the last.

 

He turned, taking a few steps away from her and towards his room. “All you had to do was support me.”

 

“Izuku.” He could hear the sound of her breaking down once again. He found himself with zero sympathy for her. He tried to understand her. He tried to make sure that she understood him. He was clear with his intentions. She was not. She made zero effort to actually understand him; hell, she went out of her way to misunderstand him. 

 

The dinner he ate that night was cold. 

 

XXXX

 

“Izuku?” A light knock came from his door.

 

A pounding lack of sleep roared through his mind and a flash of anger greeted him when he pushed it away. He spent so much time last night just being angry. His sketchbook was filled with designs for his tattoos he’d get the moment he could. His artistic skill was lacking, which was why he just had rough drafts of what he wanted. 

 

He had a plan to get a tattoo. With or without his mother’s permission. 

 

Once he was eighteen, he’d be able to travel on his own, and then he could get a tattoo whenever he wanted. Which was right now. That was five months to save up for a ticket, and the cost of the tattoo. A decent part time job would help. 

 

“I wanted to wait for this weekend so we could go shopping together, but…” she trailed off. She always trailed off when she wanted him to feel guilty over something. “I left some money in front of your door. Please use it to buy school supplies, and some new clothes! You’ve earned it and…” Another pause. “I love you.”

 

He heard his mother shuffle away and then a few minutes later the apartment door closed.

 

Izuku rushed towards the door, and found the Tokyo U. envelope just sitting on the ground, bulging with a healthy amount of cash. It wasn’t enough for a ticket. And even if he did just keep it, she’d probably ask to see what he’d bought. He might be able to save some of it though. 

 

It was a start. 

 

But, he might be able to convince someone to give him a tattoo with this money.