Chapter Text
A green kwami meditated in a dark room before opening their eyes and flying towards a man.
“Master,” the green kwami spoke. The man grunted in reply. “I can feel the butterfly. It is being activated once again."
“...What does that mean?”
“We must choose new wielders. The ladybug and the cat must fight once again.”
The man sighed. “How long do we have?”
“The holder is weak and Nooroo is unwilling. A few days if we’re lucky.”
The man nodded. “Alright. Let’s get started.”
Izuku was covered in sludge and staring at a box on his desk.
The sludge was not intentional. It was the worst walk home ever; being told you’ll never be a hero by your idol and then scolded by other heroes for trying to save someone without a quirk.
Izuku planned to take a shower as soon as he got home and try to scrub away the sludge and the memories. But as soon as he walked into his room to drop his bag and grab a fresh change of clothes, his eyes were drawn to the wooden box sitting on his desk.
He knew he didn’t put it there. His mom left for work before he went to school and wouldn’t be back until late. So why was there a box?
The box was obviously meant to be seen. It sat in the middle of the desk where he usually kept it clear of junk. It was oddly octagon-shaped and had a complicated red design on top.
Well, no use staring at it. He wanted to get in the shower quickly. Izuku placed a hand on top of the box and flipped it open.
Suddenly a pink ball of light shot out. Izuku jumped and covered his eyes with his tattered notebook so he wouldn’t blind himself before peeking out at whatever just happened.
A tiny red creature stared back at him with large eyes. Izuku didn’t know what to do and just stared at it for a while.
“It’s nice to meet you, Midoriya Izuku!” The tiny red pixie smiled. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a male holder!”
Izuku’s brain finally caught up to him. He yelped loudly and stepped back, his legs hitting the side of his bed. “Wh-What the heck?!”
“Don’t be scared!” The red creature smiled brighter and floated towards him, making Izuku lean back. “Everything’s going to be okay! You have been chosen as the newest Ladybug!”
“Ladybug?” Izuku edged around his room, keeping an eye on the creature. Its eyes followed him. “Is that what you are?” He had seen ladybugs before, and this wasn’t one.
“I am the kwami of Creation, but you can call me Tikki!” The creature, Tikki, said. “I am here to grant you power.”
“Power?” That was all the kids at school talked about, and he was Izuku, the powerless. “Is this a prank, did someone from school do this? That one girl with the illusion quirk?”
“No, I am really here,” Tikki giggled. She took a look at her holder, taking him in. She noticed the tattered, dirty uniform and the destroyed notebook he was clutching. “You look like you’ve had a long day. Would you like to talk about it?”
Across the city, a similar and yet different conversation was happening.
“...You are a cat,” the boy stated.
“Yep.”
“...Can you do anything…?”
“I can grant you the power of destruction.”
“Cool.”
“So, you’re an immortal goddess possessing a pair of earrings, which I have to put on to gain powers and fight some evil dude?”
“That’s the basics!” Tikki smiled. She looked so sweet, but Izuku honestly wasn’t sure if this still wasn’t a prank. It seemed like something his classmates would do to get his hopes up, but he wasn’t sure if any of them were determined or smart enough to do something like this.
He wasn’t sure which part of the story to address first, so he started with the simplest. “I don’t have my ears pierced.”
“That’s okay! Many of my holders had no piercings before they met me!” Tikki was still smiling sweetly.
Izuku knew he should believe this was all fake. It was too good to be true, isn’t it? A life of no power, only to come home and find a goddess granting it to you? It sounded made up, but…
Izuku sighed and pulled a clean notebook out of one of my desk drawers. His dirty clothes were forgotten as he sat down. “Okay. Explain everything.”
Izuku wrote down everything Tikki said and asked just as many questions. He had a pretty good idea of the powers he would have such as the lucky charm, the time limit after activating the lucky charm, and how kwamis recharged. He was currently sketching a hero costume and coming up with a name when he heard the front door open and his mom calling his name. “Izuku! Sweetie, I saw the news! Are you okay?”
Izuku sighed and looked at the little goddess that was currently reading his other notebooks. “How am I going to explain this to my mom?”
“You aren’t,” Tikki said firmly. “You can’t tell anybody.”
“But-! My mom-!”
“No! This is just temporary for now, Izuku. Not until the guardian knows you can be trusted with the miraculous. Plus, the more people that know about them and who wields them, the more dangerous it is. We already have one man about to cause evil with the butterfly.” Tikki looked very desperate.
Izuku sighed. He wondered how his mom would react anyways. He remembered when she held him and claimed she was sorry he would never be a hero.
“Fine. Just stay here.”
Izuku went out to greet his mom, grimacing at the fact he hadn’t changed or showered. He was still covered in sludge, but it had dried on his skin by now.
“Oh, Izuku!” His mom hugged him, despite how gross he was, tears already building in her eyes. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? What made you run into that fight! You always stay behind the police line at villain fights!” She looked worried and let go to examine him.
“I-I know, mom. I’m sorry. It was...Kacchan was there…” Izuku looked down. His mother sighed gently.
“I know you’re both close, sweetie.” No we’re not. “But please, never do that again! My heart can only take so much.”
Izuku nodded. “I know, Mom. I won’t.” Usually he was a horrible liar, but right now, after this whole day, he just felt kind of numb. “Um, mom, can I ask something?”
She smiled. “Of course, sweetie. Anything.”
“Can I get my ears pierced?”
She blinked. She wasn’t expecting that.
“I mean, um,” Izuku stuttered. “I meant to ask you anyways, before all this happened… The kids at school say I look kind of plain? And I don’t want to do anything drastic, but I thought about getting some small earrings?” He looked up at her with a pleading look. She had to say yes!
“I...well…” She looked at him and sighed before giving a small smile. “Alright. We can do that. But only one piercing on each ear, okay?”
Izuku grinned. “Thanks, mom!”
“Of course, sweetie. Now, go get a shower, okay? I’ll cook dinner.”
“Okay, love you, mom!” Izuku watched her walk into the kitchen and looked back at his door. Tikki was peering through the crack and smiled at him. Izuku smiled back.
Izuku was trying not to rub his ears the next day. His mom had agreed to take him Saturday morning for his piercings before she went to work and it went quicker than he thought.
He had stayed up last night researching piercing places while talking to Tikki. He showed his mom the next morning which one he found: a place across town that specializes in tattoos and piercings. His mom didn’t want to go at first; she thought it might not be a safe place, since the website showed lots of pictures of tattoos and non-earlobe piercings. Izuku was able to convince her, though, when he showed her the research he did and how they had low infection rates.
The people there were actually really nice. The guy who greeted them had large horns along with lots of tattoos and face piercings, but smiled and walked them through the process. It was a weird sight, a nervous middle schooler sitting in a chair with his mom next to him. The guy next to them that was getting a tattoo had burns all over his face and facial piercings that looked like staples. He simply raised an eyebrow at them before turning away.
“Oh, I thought they used guns or something?” His mom asked as the worker brought out some needles. He just smiled.
“That’s usually at kiosks and jewelry stores, ma’am. They’re quicker, but they get used a lot, so there’s a higher risk of infection. They also don’t have any needles, they push the stud in through the ear and it hurts a lot more.”
When he went to grab a pair of starter studs, Izuku reached into his pocket and pulled out the miraculous earrings.
“C-Can you use these?” His mom looked at him curiously, not knowing he already had a pair. “I, uh, saw them at the store last week and that’s what gave me the idea?”
The worker simply took the earrings and examined them. Tikki had worked her magic and turned them pure black. She said that was what they would look like in civilian form when not activated.
“These have a slightly wider post than I’m used to,” he said, “but I should be able to use them.” Izuku let out a small sigh while the man smiled. “Just keep them in for at least 6 weeks and then you can try different studs. Don’t try anything heavy or dangly until 6 months or it’ll damage your ears.” Izuku nodded and the man got to work.
It wasn’t actually that painful. Just a sharp pain and then a dull sore. The second one went even quicker since he wasn’t nervously gripping his mom’s hand (although he thinks she was gripping his just as hard.)
Now he was walking to the train station with his mom when he spotted a corner shop and suddenly remembered he needed some food for Tikki. His mom didn’t keep many sweets around the house and Tikki had said her favorite food was anything sweet.
“Um, hey, mom,” he suddenly stopped and she turned to look at him, “why don’t you head home? I want to grab a snack.”
“Are you sure, sweetie? We can stop by somewhere if you’re hungry.” She frowned slightly.
“N-No, it’s fine! I don’t want you to be late for work. Besides, Musatafu Park is nearby and I think some fresh air would be good.”
His mom smiled. “Alright. You have your jacket? It’s getting cold.” Izuku nodded. His jacket was in his bag along with Tikki. “Okay, have a good day, Izuku. I love you. Stay safe.” She hugged him and he waved her off as she entered the train station.
He immediately went to the back of the store and opened his bag. Tikki flew out and looked around. “I don’t have many sweets at home,” Izuku explained. “So I thought we could get some?”
“Oh, that’s so nice!” Tikki flew off, looking at the different shelves of candy while Izuku watched to make sure no one saw them. Tikki ended up grabbing a lot of different kinds of candy. “I haven’t been in Japan since the samurai!” She explained happily as she handed them to Izuku. “I was in France last time I was active and they had the best pastries!”
Izuku grabbed a large bag of cookies as he walked to the register as a back up.
“Throwing a party?” the girl at the register joked as he set down the large array of snacks.
“No! A-Ah,” Izuku chuckled nervously, “my, uh, friend hasn’t had many sweets before. W-We wanted to give her a bunch to taste, you know?” The girl simply nodded and rang him up. He stepped out of the store with a bag full of sweets. He turned to walk back to the train station when a scream sounded behind him and there was a loud bang.
He turned and saw a woman standing in the middle of the road. She had a dark blue spandex outfit on and a bright pink visor. He might’ve thought she was a new hero, if it weren’t for the angry scowl on her face.
“I am Locator! I will find what was lost and then I will find the ladybug and black cat miraculous!”
“Tikki?” Izuku squeaked out.
Tikki was already peeking out of his bag. “That’s an akuma!”