Inko Midoriya was lonely.
She was only 27 years old and she lived alone with her dog in a small apartment. She had never been married, unlike her best friend Mitsuki, who had married a fashion designer named Masaru.
And then Mitsuki went and got pregnant. Of course, Inko was thrilled for her, but couldn’t help but feel like she was being pushed out of her friend’s life by all the different responsibilities Mitsuki was gathering.
She sighed and reached down to pet her dog, Izuku, who was a large Alaskan Malamute/Siberian Husky cross, ruffling his ears as he huffed and placed his head on her legs. She smiled at the sight.
She had only gotten Izuku around 4 months ago, during an intense episode of loneliness induced depression. And while Izuku was a relatively new dog, she loved him with all of her heart, showering him in scratches, walks, gifts and everything else she could get for him.
So when he got caught up in a villain attack, she was justifiably, very scared for him.
They had been walking through a park when a villain attacked.
There were 2 small-time thugs running from Miruko after a botched robbery. One of them had a Quirk that allowed them to control the growth of nearby plant life, allowing them to create bindings or attack with them.
They saw Inko walking Izuku up ahead of them, and decided that they needed a hostage if they wanted to get away from the frankly terrifying Rabbit Hero. Inko yelped as she found herself bound by vines made by grass.
Miruko stopped in front of the pair and glared at them.“Yo shitbags! Drop the girl! If you don’t, I will kick your ass twice as hard!” She was about to launch herself at the guy with the plant Quirk when they all heard growling.
And then, there was chaos.
Izuku jumped up with a bark and grabbed the other villain, distracting the plant villain long enough for Miruko to knock him out. Izuku had grabbed onto the hand of the other villain and was pulling on the man’s gloves.
“Get this damn mutt off of me! Please! You gotta get him off!” Miruko scoffed as she helped Inko down from the vines, content to let the dog sort this one out for a short while.
As Izuku pulled the gloves off of the man’s hands, a green glow could be seen on them, sending Miruko on high alert immediately. She moved towards the man but wasn’t fast enough to stop what happened next.
“Shit! No!” the villain yelled, as the light enveloped Izuku. As soon as the light fully surrounded the dog, who just seemed confused, Miruko’s foot collided with the villain's face, sending him into the ground and knocking him out.
“Damn, sorry ‘bout your dog miss… wait, what the fuck?”
Sitting where Izuku had been, was a baby, with curly green hair, green dog ears, and a green tail. It was watching Miruko with awe on its face when Inko noticed it.
“What! Where is Izuku! What happened to my dog!” She ran over to Miruko. “Did you see where he went! I can’t lose my Izuku!”
Miruko was getting shaken faster than she had ever thought she would be and needed to place her hands on Inko’s shoulders to stop it. She held on until Inko seemed to calm down slightly.
“Chill out lady! I gotta check what that dipshit’s Quirk is. Just give me a minute, alright?” She pulled out her phone and took a photo of the guy’s face, sending it to the one other person that worked at her Hero Agency, her brother, Rin.
> Miruko: Yo! Rin! Check what this guys’ Quirk is for me, will ya? Need to calm down some lady who got attacked.
> Rin: Alright. Give me a minute.
> Rin: Uh, this is an odd one Rumi.
> Rin: I checked the database, the guy’s Quirk turns things into humans, differing in age depending on how old the thing is? Like, his hands glow and whatever he is touching turns into a person of equal age to the target. Does that help?
Miruko looked down at the baby, who was still watching her, although he seemed to recognise Inko, making grabby hands towards the woman. She huffed and sent a text back.
Miruko: Yep, that helps. Cheers or whatever.
Rin: You’re welcome Rumi, see you after your patrol.
She pocketed her phone with a huff and turned to Inko, who had picked the baby up. She had tears in her eyes as she approached Miruko.
“Miss Miruko? This baby… I’m, well, I’m not entirely sure what I’m meant to do with one if you find them out in the open. Do you know what I should do?” She seemed nervous as if she was expecting Miruko to yell at her.
Ok, Rumi could admit, she yelled at a lot of people, but never civilians! Usually. OK, so she yelled at a few hecklers who thought they could give her ‘tips’ on how to fight a villain. But they were being rude! She has years of experience in combat! What would those office workers know!
Miruko sighed. “Hey lady, there’s something you gotta know. The dumbass that zapped your dog has a Quirk that turns things into people. That baby you're holding? That’s the person your dog turned into.”
Miruko continued. “But by the looks of the ears and tail on the kid, it looks like it wasn’t a complete transition into a human, probably cause I knocked the dude out.”
She gave a weak smile at the woman while Inko just looked at her like she had just told her that her dog had been turned into a human.
Oh, wait.
That was exactly what she had done.
“What the fuck?!”
Izuku Midoriya smiled as he waved to his friends.
Izuku was a short, green-haired boy with dog ears and a tail of the same colour. People would describe him as ‘pure’ and ‘innocent’ and ‘someone who’s smile needs to be protected’.
There was a rumour around UA that Izuku’s smile was so beautiful and sought after, that getting a smile from him had been the deal many a criminal had made for information.
Izuku exited the dorms and ran over to where Uraraka was waiting for him, along with the newest member of the group, Todoroki (Izuku had helped him see the truth about his Quirk in the sports festival using a nearly lethal combination of cuteness and ferocity), Tenya, and Bakugou, who smirked and waved back to his best friend.
“Izu! It’s so good to see you! How are you!” Uraraka yelled as she jumped into the boy, squeezing him tight in a hug. Izuku laughed, and the entire group felt their worries vanish at the sound.
“Ocha! It’s so good! Mum called me this morning, and then I got to have pancakes for breakfast! Sato and Shoji made them for me! They’re always so nice to me! OH! And now I get to go to see Mr Aizawa! He said he would be helping me with my hero training today!”
Izuku was smiling the whole way through, never moving out of Ochako’s hug. The others in the group had to He didn’t kick up a fuss either as Ochako let go and jumped on his back, sitting on the top of his bag for support.
Luckily, Izuku’s “Quirk” gave him a fair amount of enhanced strength, as well as minor super-speed and an excellent sense of smell, meaning that he was able to support her weight without any difficulties.
He was happy to carry her, feeling ecstatic that he could bring happiness to others. Something Izuku’s mum said came from his “Quirk” . Arriving in the classroom with a smile on his face, he let Ochako get off of his back and jumping over to her desk, right next to his.
Classes went off like normal, and Izuku’s tail kept wagging the whole time. He was so happy to be learning how to be a hero!
Ever since he woke up, he knew he wanted to be a hero. The first thing he had ever seen was his favourite Hero, Miruko, drop-kicking a villain to protect his mum.
So now that he got to train to become one, every day was full of smiles and tail wagging! (Although he did have to admit, every day would have been filled with smiles and tail wagging anyway.)
Aizawa went on a spiel about how they all did in the tournament and showed the offers they had received. Izuku’s was clearly the highest, with just over 9000 offers. His tail started wagging even faster at that, his smile so bright Aizawa had to look away.
Then Miss Midnight visited them to help them pick hero names! He already had a few, but he wanted to see everyone else before deciding! There were some really awesome ones and some ones that were a little uninspired.
He loved the name ‘Froppy’ that Tsu picked, and his smile, somehow, got even brighter when Kachaan used the name he suggested for him, Ground Zero! He wasn’t the biggest fan of Sato’s or Ojiro’s, but he kept that to himself.
He smiled at Todoroki when he placed his card on the podium, reading: ‘Snowflame.’ And he adored the name the Ochako picked, ‘Uravity’ was literally perfect for her. He grinned at her, his tail wagging so fast it became a blur behind him.
(If a little wind smacked into Mineta, no-one mentioned it)
Izuku jumped out of his seat, bouncing up to the podium. He placed his card down, smiled at everyone, and allowed his One for All: Full Cowling to cover his entire body. “I’m gonna be ‘The Superdog Hero: Krypton!”
Midnight clapped in joy at the name, and Izuku beamed at the rest of the class, who cheered for him. He bounced a few times, before grabbing the booklet filled with his offers, skimming over all of them, looking for a certain hero.
He found it, letting out a small ‘bork’ in happiness. She had kept her end of the deal. After the day he had woken up, Miruko had taken a close interest in him. She had become something of an Aunt to the boy, and they had made a deal.
If Izuku won the Tournament, she would send him an internship offer. He got a quick flashback to his performance in said Tournament, zipping around with the speed of a bullet, decimating his opponents.
He had won the tournament, beating out Kacchan for the top spot. And that meant he got the offer. Writing down Miruko’s offer in his preferences and nothing else, he handed it back to Aizawa at the end of class.
He couldn’t wait for the internships!
As he entered Miruko’s office, Izuku had to duck quickly to avoid the foot sent at his face.
Full Cowling activating almost as soon as she passed overhead, he dodged Miruko’s kicks (barely) and tried to counter-attack. She promptly kneed him in the gut, punched him in the face, and pushed him to the floor, laughing.
She eventually stopped laughing, but it took a while.“You’re getting sloppy kiddo! Ain’t no intern of mine gonna be a weak ass scrub! Up you get… what did you choose for your Hero name again? Krypton?”
She shrugged. “It’s appropriate, I guess. Anyway! Hop up! We have some sparring to do to get you up to standard before we go kick some villains asses tonight! Guard up, buttercup!”
Izuku smiled as he pushed himself off of the floor, Full Cowling sparking at 12%. He knew this week was going to be fantastic for him, and he got to spend it with Miruko!
There was literally nothing that could ruin this for him!
Unfortunately, Stain showing up ruined it for him, at least a little bit.
But saving Tenya and Native from him made a lot of it better again! And both stopping, and getting acknowledged by the Hero Killer as a true hero, was a major bonus! Even if it left him with a weird feeling. Being acknowledged by a serial killer was weird.
And because he had permission to use his Quirk in Hosu from Miruko, he wouldn’t get in any trouble! And if Tenya, Native and Shoto were quiet about it, he would even get the credit for Stain’s arrest! And they had agreed to be quiet about it!
He smiled and waved at his friends as they all walked back into UA after their Internships, Ochako running over and hugging him tightly, worried for her friend.
He really liked being a human.
And he loved being a Hero.
