Izuku Midoriya

**Izuku Midoriya**, also known as **Deku**, is a character from **My Hero Academia.** He is a pro hero in training at the prestigious U.A. High School, where he is a member of Class 1-A.

## Appearance

Izuku is fairly short with a somewhat wiry build. His skin is littered in scars, most notably on his arms and hands from repeatedly breaking them; he also has thin, lightning-bolt shaped scars all over his body, most notably in an X-shape on his face, from repeated usage of Full Cowling. He also has a lot of freckles all over his body, most prominently on his cheeks. He is often described as having a 'baby face' and looking younger than he is. His eyes are wide and bright green, while is hair is a mossy green and extremely thick and curly, to the point of casting shadows onto itself. His hair is usually worn quite messy and reaches down to his jawline.

## Personality

Despite his inherently shy and eager personality, Izuku is incredibly intrepid and brave. He is selfless to the point of recklessness, with a lack of regard for his own safety, and is kind and caring to a fault. He is friendly to most everyone, though he's easily flustered and it’s not hard to take him by surprise with things that are out of the ordinary for him. He’s a lot more guarded and polite around strangers, but if you befriend him, he’ll open up and become more relaxed.

He is highly intelligent, with an analytic mind, and an excellent strategist to boot, though he has a tendency to get carried away talking about the things he's interested in, especially if it comes to heroes or Quirk science. He has a bad habit of mumbling when he gets carried away or focused on things. He also keeps multiple notebooks on heroes he admires, which is pretty much all of them; he'll often take out a notebook and start feverishly scribbling information down about those he meets or asking them a million questions about their powers.

Above all else, Izuku is incredibly protective of his friends and loved ones, and relentless when it comes to injustice, though he makes an effort to understand the motivations of villains, unlike most heroes. He recognises that the world is not black and white, but painted in many shades of grey, and makes an effort to understand everyone’s point of view, no matter what, though his own biases towards hero society can occasionally cloud his view. He is also excessively determined; when it comes down to it, he will absolutely refuse to give up under any circumstances. He also has a very damaged sense of self due to years of bullying, so he tends not to see his own worth other than someone who exists to save those who are in danger.

## History

**Content warning: bullying, suicide baiting.**

Izuku is the only child of Inko and Hisashi Midoriya. His father Hisashi left to work overseas when Izuku was very young, and hasn't been seen or heard of by his family since. Izuku grew up with Katsuki practically from birth, due to their families being close friends. The two of them bonded over their love of All Might, often playing heroes and collecting hero trading cards together. As young children, the two made a promise to open an agency together as pro heroes, trying together to manifest Izuku's Quirk when Katsuki's had already come in.

It was found when Izuku was five years old that he was Quirkless, and would never manifest a Quirk. Izuku's dream to become a hero was apparently over, but he continued to take notes on heroes and immerse himself in the world of heroism from a hope that it would still one day come true. Due to Katsuki's own complicated feelings over Izuku's Quirklessness, he began distancing himself from him, despite Izuku still trying to tag along and play.

When out one day with a group of friends, Katsuki fell off a log arching over a river. While the rest of his friends stood by and expected him to get up on his own, Izuku rushed to his aid, reaching a hand out to him. At his breaking point, Katsuki knocked Izuku's hand away, refusing to accept his help. It was after this incident that his bullying of Izuku began in earnest. He coined a mean nickname for Izuku, 'Deku', in reference to his 'good for nothing' nature, and would push him around and berate him with his friends.

Izuku befriended Kyouka in elementary school, where they got along well due to their nature as outcasts. Kyouka ended up defending Izuku from Katsuki's bullying often, up until they were separated in middle school. Katsuki's bullying only worsened in middle school, which eventually came to Katsuki telling Izuku to jump off their school's roof, in hopes that he would get a Quirk in his next life. Walking home from school, Izuku was attacked by a villain, before being saved by All Might. Izuku asked him if he could become a hero, to which All Might stated that he could never become a hero as long as he was Quirkless, leaving Izuku completely listless.

On his way back home, Izuku encountered the same villain yet again, this time attacking Katsuki. With no other heroes helping him, Izuku rushed in blindly to attempt to save him from the villain, his body moving before he could think. This spurred a weakened All Might on to act and save Katsuki; after the fact, Izuku was not praised, but rather berated by the heroes for his heroic actions, crushing his momentary confidence. All Might later caught up to Izuku and reaffirmed the fact that he could, in fact, become a hero, and offered to train him as his successor, bringing Izuku to tears.

## Mental Illnesses & Disabilities

Izuku has been diagnosed as autistic since he was very young, probably around the same time he was diagnosed as Quirkless. He has learned to mask it very well out of a feeling of necessity, though it’s obvious when you look at some of his mannerisms; his obsession with heroics and tendency to mumble, his ineptitude in social situations, his tendency to fidget, and his need for something to occupy his hands. He has a tendency to shut himself away from the world when experiencing a lot of stress, and very rarely depends on anyone else, even his friends.

He has also suffered with social anxiety and depression most of his life. His anxiety has gotten better after opening up and making friends at U.A., but he still often clams up and panics in social situations, especially when things happen that he hasn’t accounted for. Despite having a dream to fight for, he still gets painful feelings of depression at times, despite feeling like he isn't allowed to be due to how 'blessed' he is.

The most pertinent of his issues, however, is his tendency to sacrifice himself for just about anyone, resulting in a hero complex; on top of that, Izuku has zero sense of self-worth, and will run headlong into danger without considering his own physical or mental condition if it means it’ll save lives. He’d gladly give his life for someone he met yesterday. Unfortunately for him, this has been hailed as a virtue and encouraged by most of the people around him; after all, he’s being selfless, just like a hero should be. He’s internalised this belief, but at the same time, will often remind others to care about themselves, despite not doing the same for himself, which can make him come off as a hypocrite through a lot of his actions and words. It seems he simply refuses to view himself as on the same level as others he cares about.

Izuku also refuses to acknowledge the fact he was bullied and now has low self-worth as a result; he will often act as if he and Katsuki have no bad blood whatsoever at times, but it’s mostly because he’s repressing how he feels about it rather than admit he was traumatised. He is also a notorious overthinker, and experiences intrusive thoughts from time to time based around his former Quirklessness and feelings of impostor syndrome.

## Headcanons

* He plays the ukulele in his spare time. He’s not very good at it.
* He’s really good with little kids, and has a fiercely protective streak when it comes to them being hurt or in danger.
* Izuku hardly understands the concept of someone wanting to be friends with him, let alone having a crush on him. If you’re friends with him, expect him to be secretly wary of your intentions, but if you have a crush, expect him to pretty much laugh you off; not out of cruelty, he just genuinely does not believe it’s possible.
* He’s a talented artist. As for his handwriting, however, it’s basically chicken scratch. He’s the only one who can read it.
* His favourite animals are bunnies. He also likes really weird sea creatures and bugs.
* He can do a near-perfect, scarily accurate impression of All Might.
* His eyes are actually reflective, like a cat’s, which is why he sometimes appears to have white pupils.