Chapter Text
Izuku found that his stress from sneaking out nearly every night was lessening every time he did it. Which was probably a bad sign. But if he didn’t nearly jump out of his skin at every small noise that the house made after dark, well, then maybe it was almost okay.
Well, it wasn’t actually okay, but he could pretend.
As it was, after nearly a week of sneaking out at night to see the scarecrow Izuku had grown, not bold with his sneaking around. But he was less cautious with it. Which was probably also not good, but he was also not going to think too hard about that.
Tonight he crept out of the bunkhouse, still watching the farmhouse to make sure that Aizawa wasn’t out on the porch or waiting in the living room.
With no sign of the older man, h e crept out into the night. Focusing more on getting to where he didn’t have to worry about being quiet than actually being quiet.
"Scarecrow? Scarecrow? Where are you?" Izuku called into the night, still trying to be quiet but also rapidly moving towards the barn where he knew that Scarecrow was most likely to be.
Izuku could hear the quiet but still quite hellish noises that the scarecrow made, honoring his request to alert the boy of his presence.
"There you are!" Izuku found him on the other side of the barn calmly petting one of the goats. "How are you doing today?" Izuku asked.
Scarecrow's signing ability had increased in leaps and bounds since Izuku had started teaching him, but still, Scarecrow signed back carefully, Well-surprised-you-out-here-close-to-sunset.
"Aizawa went to bed early today so I felt pretty safe sneaking out earlier than usual," Izuku explained, leaning down to pet the now neglected acting little goat.
Bad-idea-what-if-teacher-faking, Scarecrow signs at him, sparing a worried look at the house as though to check for himself that all the lights were off.
"Then I'll probably be expelled from the class sooner rather than later and there won't be much I can do about it," Izuku answered, then he shook his head to refocus. "But never mind all that, I actually think we should go to Aizawa."
The scarecrow freezes, the burlap sack that covered his features somehow conveying the sheer terror that he had to be experiencing for it to come across that well. Bad-idea-teacher-shoot-me
"He won't shoot at you if I'm there." Izuku sighs, he can feel that this is going to be a long, long, long conversation in the making and he's already a little exasperated. Or still just eternally exhausted. "And either way, you're a good guy! You help around the farm, you take care of the animals. It's not like you're going away any time soon either." He wasn't pleading with Scarecrow, really, probably. Maybe just a little.
Bad-idea, Scarecrow signs, he's not looking at Izuku again, focused on the goat as though it will keep Izuku's terrible plans at bay.
"Come on, Scarecrow!" Now Izuku was definitely whining. "Trust me on this! Aizawa isn't a bad guy, he's just worried about the kids living here. Right now he considers you a big threat to them, but maybe if he realizes that you want to protect them just as much as he does he'll calm down some." Izuku picks up the goat so that he can make sure Scarecrow is at least kind of looking at him. If the way the blue light darts between his face and the goat is any indication, it's working at least a little.
What-would-calm-down-look-like, Scarecrow asks, his hands moving slowly, and shaking in a way that Izuku hadn't seen from the giant-of-a-man before.
"I'm not sure." Izuku answered, then, speaking more to himself than the scarecrow he continues, "Letting us out after dark and maybe being a little laxer about chores?"
Chore-need-doing-animals-need-you-to-watch-over-them, Scarecrow is quicker to sign. When he was confident with his words he got faster, same for if he felt the need to correct Izuku on something, rare as it was.
"Well, yeah of course. But maybe he wouldn't feel the need to go around behind us to check that we did every single job he gave us correctly?" Izuku hated when Aizawa did that, it was like he did trust the kids even after months of seeing that they all did good jobs.
Old-man-farmer-did-same-when-I-was-here, Scarecrow signs carefully then continues before Izuku can get a word in, not-insult-to-you-care-for-animals.
After a moment of pondering Izuku asks, more rhetorically than anything, "You really think so?"
All-still-kids-all-still-learn-animals-can-be-hurt-or-sick-if-you-do-wrong-while-learn. Scarecrow explains to him.
"That's a good point, although it's not like he's been doing it much longer than we have." Izuku feels the need to point out around the goat who's starting to get annoyed being in his arms.
Teacher-studied-more-than-you-all-alone-for-1-month. Scarecrow is quick to retort.
"Yeah, and he also spent who knows how much time beforehand studying up on all this too." Izuku concedes.
Still-kid-you-learn. Scarecrow pats Izuku's shoulder then takes the goat from him, putting it back in the pin with the others.
"I will." Izuku agrees, not really sure what he's agreeing to learn but still willing.
The two of them watch the small goat go back to its little herd before Izuku turns to Scarecrow, ready with his next question that Scarecrow may or may not remember the answer to.
"Hey, Scarecrow? How long did you work here?" He adds a moment later, "Before, I mean."
Under-year, Scarecrow signs, hired-fall-killed-spring.
"Oh." What a short time to work somewhere. Then something occurs to Izuku, "How long did you work on farms before that?"
Most-summers-and-falls-for-I-think-10-years, Scarecrow answered which shortens and lengthens the mental timetable Izuku had been building in the back of his head.
"But not at this farm?" He checks anyway.
All-over, This Scarecrow signs happily, walked-town-to-town-did-small-jobs-where-I-could.
"Why did you stay on this farm?" Izuku asks, "I mean, I assume you didn't stay most winters."
Farmer-and-wife-seemed-nice, Scarecrow answers, offered-lots-money-to-stay.
"Ah, the age-old reason for anyone to work anywhere." He grins at the Scarecrow, and he thinks the other is smiling back. "But you seem really good at all of this, more so than just working on and off at various farms over the years would get you."
Here-long-time, Scarecrow signs, people-come-and-go. He pauses, they-leave-books-and-tools-I-read-and-use-and-keep-together.
"So you've been doing your best to keep this place up single-handedly?" Izuku asks shocked, he didn't think one person would be able to keep everything going.
Yes-hard-two-things-break-for-one-thing-fixed. Scarecrow shrugs to end his statement, a very ‘what can ya do about it?’ vibe about him.
"Yeah this place is huge, and even with all we've been doing we can barely keep up." Izuku shakes his head, "You're practically superhuman! Uh, bad choice of words."
Why? Scarecrow cocks his head.
"Because you were human but, you're not anymore," Izuku explains, each word feeling (and likely coming out) more awkward than the last.
Did-you-mean-that-in-bad-way, Scarecrow cocks his head the other way while checking.
"No!" Izuku blurts, shocked. Then quieter he repeats, "No, I swear."
How-did-you-mean, Scarecrow asks.
"Like that, you went above and beyond what a- a normal person would be capable of! You're not human, you're superhuman, more than human." Izuku tries to explain.
Call-me-s-u-p-e-r-h-u-m-a-n-good-thing-call-person, Scarecrow doesn't seem offended.
"Do you-" Izuku stops, shaking his head, "You're too nice. Most people would just get offended and leave but you don't. You bothered to ask to make sure I wasn't insulting you."
Better-to-think-a-c-c-i-d-e-n-t-not-mean, Scarecrow slowly signs, making sure Izuku can understand him.
"It's better to assume it was an accident, not done out of malice?" The boy questions just to be sure.
Scarecrow nods then looks out into the night, and up at the moon.
"I suppose it's better than saying I'm stupid," Izuku mutters more to himself than the tall, not-man.
What-do-you-mean? Scarecrow asks, refocusing on him.
"There's a fairly famous quote, 'Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by ignorance.' Basically don't assume someone is being mean on purpose when it might be out of ignorance or stupidity. So I was thanking you for not using the direct quote which uses 'stupidity' as the reason." Izuku explains.
You-are-welcome, Scarecrow signs.
"Oh, very funny." Izuku laughs at the Scarecrow and the Scarecrow laughs back.
There's a moment of quiet from both for a while before Izuku once more breaks it.
"Were you like this before? So..." Izuku pauses, "Forgiving?"
Yes-should-not-forgive. Scarecrow signs before shaking his head and stargazing once more.
"You shouldn't forgive? What shouldn't you forgive?" Izuku asks, surprised the other is so willing to agree with him.
Others-killed-me-were-mean-in-many-very-bad-ways-should-not-forgive-them, Scarecrow pauses then shakes his head. He signs less agitatedly, should-not-speak-to-you-about-them.
"You should speak to me about them, I'm listening and I want to know.” Izuku presses.
Scarecrow watches him for a moment, his hands still resting at his side.
“Please, Scarecrow, I do want to know.” The boy tries, doing the best pleading eyes that he can manage.
What-do-you-want-to-know, Scarecrow finally signs.
“What do you mean by ‘they were mean in many bad ways?’" Izuku asks.
They-treated-me-worse-than-dirt. Scarecrow pauses, they-treated-me-like-cow-dirt.
"Does that mean what I think it means?" Izuku asks him haltingly.
Dirt-from-cows-yes. Scarecrow sighs, though it sounds like the wind whistling through trees.
"Ew and how could they! You're so nice!" Izuku protests.
Wife-did-not-like-me-made-others-not-like-me.
"Wait the farmer's wife didn't like you? I thought you said she was nice?" Izuku taps his chin like he can discover the answer if he thinks about it hard enough.
Early-yes-later-no, The scarecrow hesitates with his hands in the air before continuing. She-is-the-one-who-killed-me.
"She killed you?” Izuku gapes at the scarecrow in shock, “What made her hate you enough to kill you?"
Don't-know-would-stop-when-I-know. The scarecrow shrugs.
"So she hated you enough to kill you, and turned everyone against you too?" Izuku muses out loud.
He offhandedly notes that the scarecrow nods at his assessment.
"That's, why would she do that?" He says, muttering to himself instead of to the scarecrow.
Scarecrow taps his shoulder and signs, Speak-to-you, with his head cocked in question.
"Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry.” Izuku tries to better gather his thoughts, but they’re still spread all over, trying to figure everything out from the info he’d been given. “I just want to know the hows and whys and everything else there is to know about all of this, but-" Izuku pauses, a thousand words for the problem running through his head but none of them seem right.
Don't-know, The scarecrow answers for him.
"Yeah. That's the biggest problem right there.” Izuku shakes his head and throws his hands out in an exasperated gesture that encompasses everything and doesn’t mean anything, “And I know that you just plain don't know a lot of the whys, and the hows are probably way out there too. I'm, I'm sure the fact I keep asking probably isn't terribly nice either. I mean if I were in your shoes I'd probably want to forget it all too."
The Scarecrow taps Izuku’s shoulder again to get his attention. When Izuku stops he signs, you-done?
"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry.” Izuku flushes with embarrassment, “What did you want to say?"
Don't-be-sorry.
"Sorry- erm, uh." Izuku stutters over something to say but only ends up blushing worse than he already was.
Scarecrow laughs, his laugh sounded like a revving chainsaw or a choking beast, and pats him on the shoulder, his hand weightier than it had felt in the past.
Izuku waits for the scarecrow to sign something else, and when he doesn’t Izuku asks, "Is, was that all?"
Scarecrow sighs, a gusty noise like wind through rafters, and signs, I-will-talk-to-teacher.
"You'll talk to him?" Izuku asks him, vibrating with excitement.
Scarecrow nods, about-past-yes.
"That's fantastic! Let's go now!" Izuku snags the scarecrow’s arm and starts trying to pull him towards the farmhouse, he only barely catches the waving of Scarecrow’s other arm in his peripheral.
What-no-stop, are the few words that Izuku catches before the scarecrow plants his feet, physically stopping Izuku from dragging him any further.
"But you said you would talk to him? There's no time like the present!" Izuku protests, trying and failing to drag the very tall manlike creature with him.
Midnight, Scarecrow signs, then points at the where the moon is creeping across the sky. Teacher-sleep-let-sleep.
"But-" Izuku protests.
Let-teacher-sleep. Scarecrow signs, teacher-does-no-sleep-enough-since-kids-here.
"He doesn't?" Izuku pauses. No-sleep-late-awake-early, the scarecrow signs, obviously trying to get his point across.
"Oh, but he seems fine?" The man didn’t show most of the signs of sleep deprivation that Izuku kept an eye out for.
He-need-sleep-dark-circles. The scarecrow points towards his own glowing eyes for detail that he didn’t know the words for.
"You mean under his eyes?" The bags under the teacher’s eye had been noticed by every one of his classmates at some point or another. He himself had noticed that the man went to bed later than everyone except Izuku himself. The man didn’t even seem to catch up on sleep like Izuku did with naps in the afternoon, he just powered on and on.
Yes.
"Yeah, I mean. I understand where you're coming from, I just-" Izuku let the different hopes and ideas rush across the front of his mind, but none of them are concrete enough for him to argue before Scarecrow starts signing again.
You-e-x-c-i-t-e-easy. He tells the boy.
Izuku laughs a little, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d been told that. "Yeah, I guess I do. But, if not now, then when?"
Scarecrow pauses for a moment, then another, and another after that. Just as Izuku is about to call him out on stalling he signs: Tomorrow.
"Are you sure?" Izuku had expected him to try to put it off as far as he possibly could.
Yes.
"Okay, we should probably do it sometime after dark. When does he usually go to sleep?" Izuku wants to plan some for the next evening.
2-or-3-hour-before-you-visit.
"So like 10ish?" Izuku asks, trying to figure out the best time to head over.
Don't-know. Scarecrow signs while managing to give Izuku a disappointed look.
"Yeah, yeah, that's on me. So we'll go see him before he goes to sleep around ten. So I should be out here before then so we can go over what we should say and do."
Good-idea. Scarecrow tells him.
"Thank you!"
Izuku shuffles his feet, he was suddenly worried, scared, even. The burst of adrenaline that had come from getting Scarecrow to agree was wearing off and it left only the cold chill of reality in its place. If it went really badly there was a chance he’d never see Scarecrow again.
Scarecrow taps his shoulder once more, It-will-be-ok. He signs to the suddenly nervous teen.
"Yeah, it's all going to be okay, I promise." Izuku tries to put on a brave face for Scarecrow.
You-l-i-a-r.
Okay, he hadn’t put on as good of a brave face as was needed apparently. "Hey! It's going to be okay. We're going to go see Aizawa, and he's probably going to freak out a little. But I'm sure once we explain he'll be more understanding and everything will be fine."
Convince-me-or-you? Scarecrow asks.
"Maybe a little of both," Izuku admits to the nearly parental monster in front of him.
Will-be-A-ok. The scarecrow signs to him, no face to fake reassurance with nonetheless showing it with his body language.
"Yeah, yeah it will be." Izuku agreed, even if he didn’t feel it.
Go-sleep-kid. Scarecrow signs, with a little shooing motion. When that isn’t enough to get Izuku gone he adds, will-not-sleep-tomorrow.
"Why do you say that?" Izuku asks, not really wanting to go to bed.
Going-to-talk. Scarecrow tells him, long-story-night.
"That makes sense,” Izuku mutters, mostly to himself. If everything went well there’d be so much explaining to do. “Goodnight Scarecrow, see ya tomorrow night."
Izuku risks a hug to the scarecrow before running back to the bunkhouse, only turning back in time to see Scarecrow sign, Goodnight-Izuku.
Trying not to catastrophize as he went back towards his room, Izuku tried to think of all the good things that could happen once Aizawa found out that Scarecrow was a good guy.