History Fanfic / IfIOnlyHadAHeart

'''Izuku:''' I... I don’t know...? I just… I just really wanted to do this... There was... so much... ''[begins to keel over]''

* GlamorousSingleMother: Subverted. Unlike her canon counterpart, Inko has to take up a job in order to pay for Izuku's medical bills while Hisashi is continually absent from his son's life. This means that she can't spend much time with Izuku, leaving him to his own devices while she worries about all the things he's doing to himself.

* ChildhoodFriend: Izuku and Katsuki as per canon. Izuku also bonds with Hatsume Mei over their shared passion for inventing and OriginalCharacter Mottai "Mashi" Haganehato.

* {{Autodoc}}: Izuku's "Neko Nurses" are these, being what are essentially cat-shaped [[Disney/BigHeroSix Baymaxes]] to act as first-aid for people who need them.

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Original Character Inazumi Ken is mentioned to have worn skirts and had his hair in pigtails in elementary school. [[spoiler:Turns out that Inazumi Ken is a girl crossdressing as a boy.]]

** The Midoriya "family" is one of these, which includes Aizawa, Nemuri, Hizashi, and Mashi.

** When Katsuki insists on Izuku selling his inventions to fund new projects, Izuku points out all of the difficulties in the process as well as his fear that his new technologies could be weaponized to dish out severe harm if they fall into the wrong hands, since patents involve making the process used to create and mass produce an invention along with its properties public. He does patent and license his Hera material for sports equipment, [[spoiler:receiving 600,000 yen[[note]]$5,469[[/note]] from one of his two licensees as a upfront payment and 1,200,000 yen [[$10,833.60]] as his 2% monthly royalty check, allowing his mom to leave her stressful day job (though she still goes in if they need help or someone calls out sick).]]

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Original Character Inazumi Ken is mentioned to have worn skirts and had his hair in pigtails in elementary school.

** When Katsuki insists on Izuku selling his inventions to fund new projects, Izuku points out all of the difficulties in the process as well as his fear that his new technologies could be weaponized to dish out severe harm if they fall into the wrong hands, since patents involve making the process used to create and mass produce an invention along with its properties public. He does patent and license his Hera material for sports equipment, [[spoiler:receiving 600,000 yen[[note]]$5,469[[/note]] from one of his two licensees as part of his 2% monthly royalty check, allowing his mom to leave her stressful day job.]]

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Played with. Mashi points out that Izuku wouldn't even have to be a hero to help lots of people if he could just mass produce his amazing inventions. Izuku then points out that there are still tons of kinks to iron out (namely the intense pain that comes with getting the thing to work) and he doesn't feel ready to reveal things like his prosthetic arm on the world stage.
** When Katsuki insists on Izuku selling his inventions to fund new projects, Izuku points out all of the difficulties in the process as well as his fear that his new technologies could be weaponized to dish out severe harm if they fall into the wrong hands, since patents involve making the process used to create and mass produce an invention along with its properties public. He does patent and license his Hera material for sports equipment, [[spoiler:receiving 600,000 yen[[note]]$5,469[[/note]] from one of his two licensees as part of his 2% monthly royalty check.]]

* KindHeartedCatLover: Aizawa takes care of the stray cats in his neighborhood. Izuku also picks up on this habit, being especially close to a fat, orange, dull-witted stray Izuku calls Pumpkin. They're so close that Izuku refuses to move Pumpkin when she sits on his head pillow, getting into an uncomfortable position instead.

* FromStrayToPet: While there are many stray cats that flock to Izuku and Aizawa's apartment complex, Pumpkin in particular is constantly referred to as being “very bad” at being a stray due to his overly affectionate demeanor.

Enter Izuku Midoriya, a burgeoning Quirkless inventor who is visiting the local pawnshop where he gets the parts he needs for his creations. Quirk or not, he was going to be a hero, as soon as he could fix up the gadgets he needed to do it. But his plans were severely derailed after a sudden villain attack leaves him with a missing eye, an amputated arm, and a damaged spine. Quirkless ''and'' handicapped, it seemed to be the end of this young lad's dreams.

But who said he had to see it that way? Even if he's damaged, ridiculed, and put down for his impossible dream, he wasn't ready to let it go. No matter what challenges the universe throws at him, he's was going to be strong. Not just strong, but the strongest hero, one who will change the very society that expects to see him fall.

But who said he had to see it that way? Even if he's damaged, ridiculed, and put down for his impossible dream, he wasn't ready to let it go. No matter what challenges the universe throws at him, he's was going to be strong. Not just strong, but the strongest hero, one that will change the very society that expects to see him fall.

''If I Only Had a Heart'' is a Manga/MyHeroAcademia FanFic written by [=LumartheDragon=] on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn. Noticing the abundance of fics where Izuku manages to become a Quirkless hero through raw training (or gaining a CharlesAtlasSuperpower ala [[Manga/OnePunchMan Saitama]]), they decided to take a different approach to Izuku's path to heroism, making him a teenaged mix of [[{{Cyborg}} Genos]] and ComicBook/IronMan. You can read the story [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13705821/chapters/31483173 here.]]

-->'''Izuku:''' When you don’t have a quirk, you don’t have as many expectations. Some people just stop, think that this means that they have no future, but I think that just means that our future is all the more open to our molding. When you have a quirk people assume what you’ll be because of it, right? If you don’t become aware of that what you can become a slave to those expectations, thusly limiting your imagination. You don’t have that issue if you don’t have a quirk. When you’re Quirkless the possibilities are endless!!

** When Katsuki insists on Izuku selling his inventions to fund new projects, Izuku points out all of the difficulties in the process as well as his fear that his new technologies could be weaponized to dish out severe harm if they fall into the wrong hands, since patents involve making the process used to create and mass produce an invention along with its properties public. He does patent and license his Hera material for sports equipment, [[spoiler:receiving 600,000 yen from one of his two licensees, with a 2% monthly royalty check to come in.]]

* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Katsuki. When they were younger, they were extremely close, designing all sorts of gadgets together, including the Firework Flasher that was Izuku's last gift to him before they had to move apart due to the Midoriyas' financial troubles. The next time they see each other, Katsuki has gone full {{Jerkass}} as he is in canon, deriding Izuku as a worthless quirkless cripple. They begin to mend the bridge later, but he still derisively refers to Izuku as Deku, but Izuku notes that Katsuki left out the "shitty" part at least.

* AdultFear: Inko suffers from this as her son continues to experiment on himself with devices she doesn't understand. In some cases it's almost relieving to know that she can't comprehendhow Izuku's inventions work, since they include performing surgical procedures on his own spine, burning out excess blood while implanting an artificial eye, and dosing himself with painkillers of his own design in order to handle each procedure. One only wonders how she would react if she caught Izuku doing these things to himself. Izuku himself is aware of this, only performing the procedures while she's away at work and soundproofing the bathroom to make sure that she doesn't hear them should she get home early to avoid worrying her.

* CountryMatters: A potential name for their school club was "Club for Unrecognized, Natural Talent". Mashi thought it was a good idea (and was pretty much the only one).

* CountryMatters: A name for their school club was "Club for Unrecognized, Natural Talent". Mashi thought it was a good idea (and was pretty much the only one).

* FreakinessShame: Izuku ''knows'' that most people will judge him by his scars, prosthetic, and Quirklessness, and instinctively flinches when someone tries to touch his prosthetic arm (though he HatesBeingTouched in general).

* GadgeteerGenius: Izuku is a budding chemist, engineer, and neuroscientist who creates all of his inventions from pawnshop pieces and junk from the scrapyard.

* NoIndoorVoice: Hizashi, as in canon, is very loud even without his Quirk, with his "whisper" being any other person's normal volume. Mashi is also loud, and the two together send Aizawa reaching for his POMs.

* [[spoiler:Shinsou's]] parents aren't much better. They provide food, a roof, and other things to survive, but don't cook for him or really have anything to do with him. He mentions that one time he ran away for three days, and when he returned home they didn't even realize he'd done so.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Katsuki. When they were younger, they were extremely close, designing all sorts of gadgets together, including the Firework Flasher that was Izuku's last gift to him before they had to move apart due to the Midoriyas' financial troubles. The next time they see each other, Katsuki has gone full {{Jerkass}} as he is in canon, deriding Izuku as a worthless cripple. They begin to mend the bridge later, but he still derisively refers to Izuku as Deku, but Izuku notes that Katsuki left out the "shitty" part at least.

* NeverRecycleABuilding: By Chapter 10, Mashi's connections led her to point out a decayed and abandoned two-story building for her, Izuku, and Katsuki to use as their "clubhouse". She justifies it by pointing out that it's in an inconvenient location and that it would cost too much money to knock it down or renovate it. Katsuki and Izuku point out that this is technically trespassing, even if it's a condemned building, but Mashi brushes this off by expecting Izuku to come up with a cloaking device. Even a full year later, they've still managed to get away with running around in it and are busy renovating it in their free time.

** The Midoriya "family" is one of these, including Aizawa, Nemuri, Hizashi, and Mashi.

** Aside from the villain attack that left him handicapped, Izuku just hasn't been exposed to danger that isn't self-inflicted. [[spoiler:So when he chases down a monster (implied to be a Noumu) that's following Eraserhead, Izuku loses his composure when he comes face to face with it and ends up killing it by setting it ablaze with the Equalizer.]]

** While the adults are in awe after Izuku shows off his new and improved prosthetic arm that's directly linked to his nerves through a spinal implant, they are understandably horrified at the prospect that a kid who hasn't even left elementary school is performing medical experiments on himself without any sort of oversight.

** When Katsuki insists on Izuku selling his inventions to fund new projects, Izuku points out all of the difficulties in the process as well as his fear that his new technologies could be weaponized to dish out severe harm if they fall into the wrong hands, since patents involve making the process used to create and mass produce an invention along with its properties public.

* TimeSkip: The story regularly skips through entire years to get to the parts where Izuku has finished an important invention.

* ScarsAreForever: Even seven years after the accident, the left side of Izuku's face is still badly scarred from the incident that took his eye and arm, with scars streaking from his eye to his jaw. The bones of his eye socket are also visible. While he still managed to keep his eyelids, one of them has a clearly healed split down the middle. He thinks it looks freakish and laments that he won't be able to get rid of his scars even after he installs a new eye. Mashi is initially shocked at the sight of them, but then tells him that no one will care once the eye is completely installed.

* AdaptationNameChange: Izuku isn't taking Deku as his Hero Name this time, but as of Chapter 13, he's still not sure what it's going to be aside from the opener, "The Genius Hero". Cue WildMassGuessing in-verse and out-of-verse to try and figure out what it is.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Izuku decides to begin growing his hair out and tying it into a bun to match Mashi's and to look less "normal". He also plans on styling it like Aizawa's since thought it looks cool, though whether or not it's going to stay that long is an experiment in and of itself.

* FreakinessShame: Izuku ''knows'' that most people will judge him by his scars, prosthetic, and Quirklessness, and instinctively flinches when someone tries to touch his prosthetic arm (though he DoesntLikeBeingTouched in general).

* RoboticReveal: Izuku tried to spend his junior high school debut like a normal kid, hiding his prosthetics by making them as life-like as possible so no one would judge him for them. [[spoiler:Izuku drops the act when a bully harasses another Quirkless boy, allowing his eye to glow red before stopping the bully fist with ease.]]

* HatesBeingTouched: Izuku here doesn't like being touched if he hasn't gotten to know you, but once you're goood friends with him he'll be very touchy-feely.

* AllThereInTheManual: The author sometimes posts details about the series on their Twitter account, [[http://lunarthedragon.tumblr.com/post/172436705840/facts-about-iiohahizuku like this list of facts about this story's version of Deku.]]

* ArtificialLimbs: Izuku created his own prosthetic arm after being dissatisfied with the one the hospital provided him, with each successive model being more and more functional than the last. He plans on loading them up with weapons once he's worked out all the kinks. He later replaces his missing eye and reinforces his damaged spine to allow himself to walk normally again.

* AbledInTheAdaptation: Inverted. In canon, Izuku has no health issues aside from his own Quirklessness. Here he's Quirkless and clinically disabled due to his missing arm and damaged spine, but he's working on remedying the latter.

* ElectronicEye: Izuku replaces his missing left eye with a cybernetic one of his own design that glows a vibrant blue. In addition to restoring his depth perception, it's equipped with telescopic and thermal version functions and is a miniature supercomputer that allows him to connect to the internet. He hopes to eventually be able to use it to directly interface with other pieces of technology to remotely control them. It's also removable, allowing Izuku to use CT scans without a hitch and monitor his nerves to prevent damage.

* EyepatchOfPower: Izuku wears an eyepatch to cover his missing eye. Unlike most examples, he does suffer from the lack of depth perception, but his missing eye does nothing to dull his intelligence.