Izuku wasn't dumb, he was actually incredibly smart. So smart in fact, it was hard to believe he hadn't absorbed an intelligence quirk yet. Being that smart, logically, he knew why no one could know he wasn't actually quirkless. Of course, that didn't make the situation suck any less.

Since his mother, bless her well meaning heart, insisted that he go to regular public school until at least high school, he was stuck being a victim of bullying. It's not like any of it really got to him, he knew that he had more smarts and raw power than any one in Japan, aside from maybe his dad. Even knowing that, it wasn't necessarily fun to be told to kill yourself every other day either.

Izuku's childhood, before school, was an interesting one. His father was, in fact, the world's greatest super villain, All For One. The dumb old man went out and fell in love with a simple, kind hearted woman. He was determined to give her anything she desired, so when all she asked for was a family, he was quick to give in.

Out popped Izuku Midoriya.

His parents weren't really sure what to make of him during those early years. Even before starting preschool, he was much more developed than other children his age, Inko couldn't be prouder of her little genius. Hisashi though....

To say he was worried would be an understatement.

Kids that smart always end up at one extreme or the other. Since he didn't fancy having a showdown with his son later on in life, he decided that Izuku would simply take over for him. He'd finally be able to pass on the gauntlet and retire from villainy. He could settle down with Inko, for real.

With that thought in mind, he started Izuku's training as soon as he could walk. While being trained, Izuku and his father would live at the compound Hisashi had developed for his organization. Inko decided that she was too faint hearted to bear living there and stayed back at their family home. Izuku and Hisashi would be home on the weekends, holidays, and any other days off they could manage.

It was a strange arrangement, but their family had never been anything close to normal.

Izuku, being the son of someone with one of the strongest quirks in history, ended up developing his early on. At around three years old, it started to manifest.

Hisashi will never forget the day one of his men came sprinting into his office, not knocking, and rushed to explain what had happened. The man in question had a strong pyrokinesis quirk, he could make and control fire.

And that day he lost it.

He had been watching over Izuku while Hisashi was taking a phone call, (he didn't trust anyone else to train his son in his absence, so Izuku had a break). The toddler had been playing with a few cars and had accidentally pushed one too far to reach. He whined and his nanny for the time picked it up, intending to bring it to the little boy.

But that's when it happened.

Izuku scowled at the man, clearly thinking he was trying to steal his toy car. He lifted his hand in the man's direction, looking more concentrated than any three year old should be able. The man described the sensation that took over him like he had a string tied to his ribcage, and it was tugging towards Izuku's chubby, little hand. It gave two tugs before there was a snap. It left the man gasping and shivering.

He said he saw his quirk float over to Izuku, before the boy absorbed it. It was a fuzzy, bright orange ball of light. It was twisting and wrapping around itself like a snake made of flame.

Hisashi rushed from his office after hearing the story. He ran straight to Izuku, who was giggling merrily while shooting flames into the air.

That was the day All For One realized he was no longer the most powerful person in the world.
Hisashi needed to be able to touch someone in order to steal away their quirk. From the sounds of it, Izuku just had to be able to see them.

He was incredible.

And so Izuku became his father's little prodigy.

Training became more intense and now involved the use of his own quirk and any others he had on hand. As he got older he discovered more about it. He had three, for lack of a better word, slots for permanent quirk holding. He would keep these quirks as long as he wished. Then he could have up to two different quirks that only lasted for about an hour, if he was really trying. As far as he knows, once he let's a quirk go, it eventually finds its way back to its original owner.

So yes, he could steal quirks without touching someone, but he couldn't have an unlimited amount like his father.

Once he turned five, his parents got into a fight. A huge fight. About him.

His mother didn't want him to become a villain, obviously. His dad said that he either joined him, or became a hero, people with Izuku's gifts don't just fade into the background. His mother was a wreck those few months. He tried to cheer her up, but everything he tried just seemed to make her more sad, despite the forced smiles she gave him.

"You're too good for this world, my little Izuku," she'd whisper to him, placing a kiss on his forehead.

As a five year old, he had always thought she was talking about his quirk. After all, it was all anyone seemed to talk about. Even at that young age, he knew it was amazing.

It wasn't until many years later that he realized she had always meant his heart.

Since his father would rather disappear with him instead of giving up on the idea that Izuku would be a villain, Inko had no choice but to surrender. In an effort to appease his wife, Hisashi said they could enroll Izuku into normal school. It seemed to be enough for Inko to forgive him.

But he couldn't make his quirk public, so he was registered as quirkless. The kids at public school were cruel and disliked anyone different from them.

So quirkless Deku was an outcast.

(Izuku always had a suspicion his father was pleased with the bullying. He figured Hisashi would be happy that Izuku wasn't able to make any friends or form any positive opinions about society. It would make it easier for him to be a villain when he grew old enough. Although he was never able to prove any of it.)

Izuku was raised to despise All Might. Or at least, his father tried to raise him that way. It wasn't exactly successful. Izuku simply didn't care. He didn't have any sort of strong opinion towards the hero he had never met before. Why should he care that All Might is the current holder of the quirk his father gave to his weird younger brother years and years ago? It didn't seem like it involved him.

Frankly, it sounded like his dad's problem, not his.

Once Izuku was around the age of thirteen, his father became more and more worried. It wasn't that Izuku had stars in his eyes and wanted to become a pro hero or parish trying. He didn't want to take over the world and destroy One For All either.

He just.... didn't care either way.

Izuku wasn't a goody-goody (Hisashi thanked his lucky star for that), but he wasn't a hardened villain either. He didn't go out of his way to follow or break rules. The young teen just did whatever he wanted for his own reasons. Reasons neither of his parents could figure out.
Inko didn't care what his reasons were. She had prayed Izuku's entire life that he would somehow manage to blend into the background. That he wouldn't become a famous hero or villain. She wanted her baby to have a normal life, and from the looks of it, that's what Izuku wanted as well.

And Hisashi almost let him have it, a normal life. Until the last day of junior high, when Izuku did
absolutely nothing and had the second greatest quirk on the planet dropped into his hands.

A sludge villain had attacked a group of students that were leaving Izuku's school. All Might (Izuku didn't even know he was in Japan) had come to their rescue (not that Izuku needed it).
He told them that they were all very brave and would make great heroes one day. One of Izuku's classmates couldn't pass up the opportunity to try and embarrass him. They shouted that Izuku was quirkless and wouldn't amount to anything, let alone become a hero.

All Might got very awkward while Izuku simply shrugged. He didn't want to be a hero anyways. But the pro hero simply said anything was possible and hopped off to god knows where.

Only a few minutes later, while Izuku was walking home, the same villain struck again. To this day, Izuku still has no idea how the villain escaped All Might.

The villain had Katsuki Bakugou this time. He was the closest thing Izuku had to a friend, or rather, had. Bakugou became a bully not long into their school careers. Either way, Izuku didn't really want to see him killed.

"Hey slimey!" he shouted down the alley.

The villain's eyes widened when he saw Izuku. So he worked for Hisashi, good to know.

"Let him go. Go find someone your own size to pick on," Izuku said with a bored look, something he had mastered after years of villain training. Or maybe he really was bored. Everything before he was fifteen is a bit of a blur.

The villain instantly let Bakugou go, sliding a few feet away from the panting blond. "Yes, yes, of course. I'm deeply sorry, I didn't know he was off limits."

Izuku rolled his eyes. "Get out of here."

The villain was about to slither away, but All Might jumped out from nowhere, swinging his fist and sending small bits of the villain everywhere. Izuku scowled in disgust as he got covered in slime.

He quickly left before the hero, or Bakugou, could question him.

He was almost back to his mother's house when All Might landed in front of him, popping out of nowhere for the third time that day. Izuku debated putting a bell on him.

All Might gave Izuku a big, long speech about his quirk (that Izuku was already very familiar with) and told him that his actions earlier had shown his true heroic nature. The man was offering his quirk to Izuku.

Izuku wanted to slap the man. He had to be the stupidest person on the face of the planet.

But he restrained himself. If he could get All Might's quirk, then his dad would be satisfied, yes? That's all his old man ever wanted or talked about. He said it was Izuku's destiny to get the quirk back. Well, here he was, getting the quirk back. Once he had it, his dad could finally give the whole revenge thing a rest. Thank god.

So he took the quirk. All Might didn't want to give it to him right away, saying he needed to train up his body, or it would destroy him. Little did he know, Izuku had been training his whole life to take over One For All.

All Izuku had to do to convince him he was in good enough shape was to lift his shirt. For young teen, he was fucking ripped.

All Might seemed too surprised to question it. He handed over his quirk, in the form of his hair, and said they'd meet the following morning right there.

Unfortunately, Izuku went missing that night.

Inko was hysterical, playing the grieving mother well, but Katsuki always felt it was off. He had known Inko his whole life, the woman was practically his second mom. There was just something off, fake, about her reaction. Of course, his own mother didn't believe him, saying it was insensitive to say such things about a mother who had just lost her son.

Katsuki never bought it. He knew he'd see Deku again, never expecting it to happen like this though.

"Deku?..."

The mop of green hair turned, flashing those iridescent eyes at Bakugou. Izuku had barely grown over the year he'd been gone, but there was something terrifying about him now.  Maybe it was the fact he'd taken out the entire security system with the snap of his fingers, or maybe it was the lazy grin he wore as he strolled over to his old 'friend'.

"Miss me?"