My Ordinary Academia (MHA/UnOrdinary)

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And a special thank you to Joe, you absolute madman.

My father wrote a book for me a year ago, after… the consequences of my actions finally caught up to me. It was called UnOrdinary- it was a story about a single man born with superpowers, who used them to help a world filled with unpowered people.

While, spoilers, the man died at the end… I knew the story was made for me. It was a rallying call for people with great abilities, to use them to help others instead of using them selfishly.

It showed the gratitude of the helpless, and the heroism of the gifted. Both sides of the coin I had lived through firsthand, that I failed to do the first time. It was a promise, that I could be better…

… And yet, feeling the random jerk’s nose crumple beneath my fist, surrounded by bullies of all sorts in a country I’d barely been in a week… I knew I could never live up to his hope for me.

I’d always be a Monster.

The Kangaroo Mutant fell onto his back from my punch, eyes filled with tears and blood trailing down his broken nose, but I focused on the two others rushing towards me.

For a second I tensed, preparing for whatever physical abilities they were going to use on me- but then I remembered I wasn’t in America anymore, and the Japanese were weird about using their powers without a license.

So I ducked under the obvious swing and jabbed an elbow into the exposed side of the first, before throwing him towards the much slower guy who just barely stopped himself from being bowled over.

That didn’t help him at all, as while he was catching his friend, I socked him in the chin full-force. He crumpled like paper, falling over from the force of the blow- hell, he seemed to spit out a tooth afterwards.

Huffing to myself, I looked over the so-called battlefield I’d charged into without second thought. It was just an alleyway, deep enough that the people walking past couldn’t see or hear what had been happening before.

I looked towards the kid that I’d fought for originally, and could barely stop myself from clicking my tongue at the fact he’d ran. I immediately felt bad for that, though- not everyone was a fighter, and I wasn’t doing this for praise.

I didn’t deserve it.

So, instead, I looked over at the sprawling bodies, futilely trying to push themselves back up and staring at me with an enraged fear I gladly took head-on.

“Alright guys, so what’d you learn?” I asked in a gross approximation of Japanese, voice gruff and hoarse from the three minute workout I’d just gone through kicking their asses. They all groaned and growled at me, clearly frustrated beyond all belief. “That’s right, don’t pick on people just because they’re weaker. Trust me, it’s better to be weak than an asshole.”

Rolling my neck to work out any kinks, I might’ve twinged a muscle with that punch to the jaw, I turned around and went back to pick up the bag of groceries I’d left behind.

Only to hear an enraged cry from one of the kids, and I shot a glance back at them as the Kangaroo mutant rushed at me. He practically skid towards me as he lifted himself onto his tail, using the signature move of the animal his Quirk based him off of.

Alright, reasonable self-defense acquired.

A black blur crossed the air between and stomped right between the two straightened legs coming my way. A high pitched shriek filled the air as every muscle in the mutant’s body gave out and he fell back onto the ground once his tail went limp.

I hissed in sympathy at the absolutely dishonorable blow I’d just dealt him, lowering the glowing black kangaroo leg wrapped around my own. Beads of sweat poured down my back as I realized how close to death I’d just been.

Letting the Kangaroo legs disperse, doing my best to ignore the phantom sensations of the kick, I shook my head and went back to my grocery bag.

Without turning, I threw a bag of frozen peas at the guy, and decided to go back and buy another bag.

And then the police ran into the alleyway. “This is the police! Drop the bag and lay down on the ground!” A man with a metallic set of lips cried out, badge and baton brandished in either hand. 

Oh shit, my dad is going to kill me.

“John!” My father, the single greatest man on the face of the earth, rushed into the police station without a moment’s hesitation before wrapping his arms around me. “Are you okay?”

William A. Doe was a cripple, born without any superhuman abilities whatsoever, and it seemed to me that life continued to beat down on him from the word go. His wife, my mother, disappeared one day without warning. His most recent book had caused a second resurgence of vigilantism in America, to the point we had to move here.

And his only son was a monster who couldn’t help but drag him into his problems, committing violence as easily as he always had.

“... I’m sorry.” I didn’t deserve to have a father half as strong and kind as him, to still be concerned after what I’ve done. The guilt forced the apology out of me immediately. “I… saw some delinquents messing with some kid… and I…”

“I understand.” And he really did. He knew, more than anyone, what it was like to be powerless and beaten down by any idiot with half a brain and any semblance of strength. And… I never wanted people like him to be hurt in front of me again. 

Even if I had to hurt instead, so be it.

“Sir, you and your son have a visitor who wishes to speak with you.” An officer with a cat head spoke up, and my father pulled away to respond as I ignored the dull orange glow from the mutant’s eyes.

“Is it really that important?” Apparently I was being let off lightly considering the people I’d fought were using their… ‘quirks’ on the other guy. And considering how my own ability worked, it was valid to call what happened self-defense.

So with that, we were supposedly being let off with a warning- though I didn’t expect a rat/bear/koala thing to be the one doing it. Though I was probably being extremely rude, since in America most ‘Mutants’ had the ability to turn it off and on.

Staring at the… man, based on the cutesy suit he was wearing, revealed a mis-matched, patchwork glow emanating from his body that itched at the back of my head like nothing I’d ever seen before.

“Ah, I’m sorry if my abilities irritate you, Misters Doe and Doe.” The white furred mutant said cheerily as my father and I sat across from him, hiding my immense discomfort at someone knowing about my powers, even if he spoke in fluent English. “Considering how recently you’ve moved here, you may not be aware that I’m the headmaster of UA Academy, Principal Nezu.”

“Ah- forgive us, Nezu-san!” My father, realizing that the man in front of us worked closely with the hero industry, immediately bowed in concern for how he’d treat us. “I’m Willaim Doe, and this is my son John. It’s nice to meet you!”

The excessive politeness was a defense mechanism, considering his most recent book single-handedly made every Hero across the world’s job at least twice as hard. Nevermind the standard police.

The principal laughed good naturedly at his actions, and again the broken glow in his beady eyes made my brain itch, but I also knew I couldn’t copy it. Which was odd- as long as the ability had a visible component to it, I could usually copy it. Mutations included.

Does that mean Nezu was forced to look like this, or something?

The scar over his right eye suddenly seemed much more meaningful.

“Ah, don’t worry about it, if anything I should be the one bowing to you. Your book, despite the unfortunate response and backlash, was an extremely entertaining read!” Oh no.

My fathers eyes watered. “Y… you read my book? And you don’t want to throw me in prison?” I covered my face in shame as my father grabbed the… white-furred principal by the shoulders with complete and utter joy.

God, could he be embarrassing sometimes. Though to be fair… bias aside, it was a good read.

“Of course not! You haven’t committed any crimes in this country, have you?” I flinched, the specification of where the crime was committed reminding me exactly why we’d had to move across the world.

“Ah, no sir! But, what brings a principal to meet with us?” My father asked, after he decided to stop being embarrassing and sit back down.

“Why, to recruit a potential student of course!”

“No.” The word raced out of me without warning, and immediately ruined the mood as my father and the rat looked towards me. “I… I don’t want to be a hero. I can’t.”

Monster.

“Can’t?” Nezu asked, tilting his head as if he were looking at a particularly puzzling sight. “Why, I’m of the belief anyone can be a hero, young man, though I can understand why you’d say that.”

Right. Of course he knew about my past, it was probably plastered on my record like a fucking billboard. “If you know what I did, then why did you even offer it?!”

My voice raised by itself, a burning pit of anger in my chest bubbling over the longer we talked about what I did in New Bostin. How many people I hurt, enemies, bystanders… friends. I didn’t want to think about it, but all of it flashed to the front of my mind the second we spoke of Heroism.

Of going to the Number One’s alma mater.

“Because no matter what your classmates, or teachers, or policemen said, all I see right now is a young man that regrets his actions so much he’d disguise himself as Quirkless.” My eyes widened as my father turned towards me, shocked by that information considering how… busy he’s become.

And the fact I was hiding it from him on purpose.

“... son, why would you hide that?” The look in my father’s eyes asked the question of me, but he didn’t want to talk about this in a police station in front of a stranger. Even now, he was accommodating me.

I really am the worst son in existence.

“Right now, I see a young man who will throw himself into the fray when he sees someone being hurt. A reckless decision born not of someone who lusts for combat, but someone who understands what it means to be powerless at the hands of someone else.” There was a dark look in his eyes as he spoke, and I decided to be the bigger man and not poke at his wounds.

“That’s not true!” I rebuked him, the… the twisted view he had of me being completely wrong. “I… I can’t be trusted to have any authority, any power at all! I know if I had the chance, I’d just hurt everyone around me all over again!”

 Because I’m an angry piece of shit, a monster who’ll hurt anyone and everyone if given the slightest chance. I… don’t deserve the chance to be a hero. To be anything more than another cripple.

I wish I’d never gotten my powers, that me and Adrian… and Claire had never discovered it. Never chased power, never got the taste of what it meant to be a High-Tier. 

I wish I’d stayed a cripple.

The sound of paper ruffling drew my attention, since I’d begun curling on myself in my introspection. In front of me was an envelope.

“That is the form to register for the UA Entrance exams. I cannot, and will not, force you to become a hero. I just want you to remember that if you ever want to prove everyone wrong, and be more than what you think you are… just send that letter our way.” Nezu turned to my, largely silent, father. “Thank you for meeting with me. We’ll be sure the others are given the proper consequences for their actions.”

And with that, as suddenly as he appeared, Principal Nezu left. Leaving nothing but a letter behind.

“Why?” Halfway through the drive home, the heavy silence that had filled the car was broken by a single word.

I couldn’t play dumb. I knew exactly what he wanted to talk about.

“... I can’t let myself have any power over anyone again. If people… look down on me for being a cripple, then I can’t- I’ll be left alone.”

“... John, you aren’t some- some animal that needs to be locked in a cage. You’re my son, John Doe. Sure, you’ve made mistakes. But you regret doing them, and don’t want to do them again.”

“I- I only started regretting when-” When the police found me. Beat me down after finding me surrounded by piles of unconscious students. Not that they knew that, considering the blood from them all.

When I was being beaten into the ground, I was so angry and scared. I thought I didn’t do anything to deserve it. I tried to fight back, but my powers had faded after the long battle, but I mustered up some ability I’d had.

And then I looked to the side, and saw one of my only real friends unconscious, a bruise the exact shape of my fist on her temple.

I stopped fighting back after that, realizing who I’d just hurt. And who I’ve been hurting all that time.

“-John, son, please speak to me.” My father’s concerned words brought me out of my reflection, and I turned towards him. Really looked at him.

His black hair was plastered to his head with obscene amounts of hair gel, and he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt since he ‘didn’t work in a stuffy office’. And his brown eyes stared at me, tears filling them as he looked for his son.

“I… I know you feel like you can’t forgive yourself, that you shouldn’t be forgiven. But, son… when you do bad things to people… locking yourself away isn’t the answer. Cutting off the parts of you that, that you think are the problem… doesn’t work.”

And that’s what I’m doing, he doesn’t even need to say. Burying my powers, my past, my feelings won’t make the problem go away.

“But then how do I make sure… that I don’t do it again?” I asked, feeling so much smaller and weaker than I’d felt in years, begging my father to tell me how to make things better.

“You change. Learn from your mistakes, master your flaws, become the John you want to be instead of ripping it all away from yourself.” My father spoke.

And I had no response to that, because once again my father found the perfect way to reach me.

… what kind of John do I want to be?

I gripped the crumpled envelope in my hands.

“- Oh shit I’m driving!” My father suddenly hollered out into the streets, and I whirled towards him.

“What?! Fuck you mean ‘I’m driving’?!”

“Language. And, when you get to my age, you sorta forget you’re driving sometimes.”

“... We need to get you tested for dementia.”

“Wh- hey, it’s not my fault everyone drives on the wrong side of the road here! Back in my day-”

“Dad, car!”

“Bah, I’ve been driving one handed since before I met your mother! Speaking of, what the hell are you even doing in that school? Meet any girls yet?” And instead of looking at the road, my father turns and wiggles his eyebrows at me.

I whined pitifully, even though I was smiling from ear to ear on the inside, at the efforts to distract me my father was going through.

Truly, I don’t deserve him.

A/N: Hah! Surprise story jumpscare!

Sorry for the lack of warning, I got a virus, and illness that needs to be sated. And the only way to do that is to put BetterDeku™ into My Hero and watch the setting collapse.

In other news, I dropped My Hero after Deku started sprouting multiple quirks, so we’re going fucking blind!

Thank you all for reading, Peace.