Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After the initial rush of quirks, Izuku passes out almost immediately. His world goes black, but not silent. Hordes of voices scream in his mind, different words, tones, languages. Nothing makes sense.

-

Izuku wakes up to blinding white lights and an incessant beeping. He doesn’t sit up immediately, shutting his eyes and trying to use his previous unconsciousness to his advantage. Where is he? Who’s here? What happened?

All for One. Izuku took all his quirks. He should be dead now. Is Kac- Bakugou safe? What about the students that were there? Why can’t he hear the voices from the quirks?

“I know it was stupid, Aizawa. I also know we couldn’t just sit back when one of our classmates was in danger.” The voice is familiar. “Besides, what does it matter? None of us used our quirks, besides me trying to keep Bakugou from killing Midoriya, none of us got hurt, and the only reason your plan didn’t go the way it was supposed to was because Midoriya decided to save himself.” Aizawa? Who’s Aizawa?

“Todoroki.” There’s a name Izuku recognizes. Why is he here, though? And, again, where is ‘here’? “Just because you’re not the one in that hospital bed-” Hospital?

The first person to speak goes on the defensive. “Do you really think he would have come with you? I’ll tell you firsthand that when someone raises you to overthrow something or someone, they will force you to hate it or fear it. And they’ll do their best to convince you the best way to make that feeling go away is to destroy that thing.” He sighs and Izuku hears a small thump and fabric moving.

It’s Todoroki. Does this mean Izuku’s safe? The cold feeling on his forearms jumps to the forefront of the boy’s mind and he tries to move his arms to no avail. He lets his eyelids crack open slightly, attention being drawn to the bright blue covering a good chunk of his arms. Quirk suppressors. That explains the lack of shrieking. Eraser stands at the foot of Izuku’s bed, Todoroki sitting beside it, looking impetulant as all hell. Izuku lets out a huff that could resemble a laugh if you squint at the sight, turning both males’ attention to him in an instant. “Hi,” he rasps, letting his eyes open the rest of the way. “Am I going to jail?”

Todoroki regards him with a small smile, though it doesn’t reach his eyes. Eraser, on the other hand, comes closer and Izuku has to resist the urge to back away. The man must notice his discomfort, though, as he stops next to Izuku’s knees. “I think the only place you’re going is therapy, Izuku.” Given name? Why his given name? “My name is Aizawa Shouta. Your mother should be here soon.”

Tears slowly fill his eyes at the thought of meeting the person behind one of the names that kept him sane these past twelve years. The woman he never should have had to forget. “What… What’s she like?” Izuku murmurs, rubbing his tears into his shoulders and cursing the lack of mobility in his arms. “And would I be able to get these so they’re not holding my arms together? Unless I’ve been deemed a danger, which I would understand wholly, but it’s kind of uncomfortable and I happen to like being able to use my arms and I’m rambling. Sorry.” He starts to twiddle his thumbs anxiously, worried about literally everything. Did All for One die? Will they send him back? What if Kurogiri tries to come for him?

He stares at his hands, stuffing down his panic. Reveal no weakness. Anything could be used against you. It will be used against you. Izuku then mentally slaps himself. These two don’t want to hurt him. They don’t. Right?

“Midoriya,” Todoroki says, cutting through Izuku’s thoughts. “You’re panicking.”

Izuku glares at him. “Oh, really? Didn’t notice. Congrats, you have fucking eyes,” he snaps, his fists clenching. “So-Sorry. I- Uh- Knee-jerk reaction.” The boy starts receding into himself again, cursing himself. He’s out. He should be safe. He should be able to take down these stupid defenses he’s built up. So why can’t he?

Todoroki shudders a tiny bit. It’s almost too small of a movement to be noticed at all. “I understand. I was… the same before you… um…” He ends the sentence there, looking away.

That doesn’t mean Izuku doesn’t understand what he means. “I’m glad you’re safe now.” Izuku quietly inputs.

Smiling to himself, Todoroki nods. “I am, too. Your mother is a very kind woman. She’s short and has green hair like yours, though hers is straight. She cares about others very deeply and she makes really good katsudon. It’s starting to rival soba for my favorite dish.”

Er-Aizawa chuckles at that, and Izuku immediately starts to feel calmer. “Inko is good at cooking in general, Todoroki. Not just katsudon.”

Todoroki rolls his eyes and Izuku stares at Aizawa with wide, unrolled ones. “You know my mom, too?” he asks, awe and wonder filling his voice.

“I would hope so,” Aizawa says, sitting down in the chair next to Izuku’s bed. “She’s my sister.”

In this moment, Izuku’s mind both shuts off and goes into hyperdrive. Mom’s brother. Uncle? The one Todoroki mentioned living with? Uncle. Aizawa Shouta. Eraserhead. Knocked him out at USJ. Attacked his students. Stole his student. Saved his student. Killed his student. Helped his student.

Energy thrums in Izuku’s veins as a single voice creeps into his mind, calling him a murderer, rattling off the names of those he’s killed in chronological order, ending on All for One, which it applauds before turning back to condemning him. Another joins it, this one just crying. And another, begging for blood. Two more, singing a duet in a language Izuku’s never heard before. His eye twitches as more and more voices join the cacophony in his mind. “Suppressors losing effectiveness,” he forces out as he clutches at his blanket.

Hisade, my boy, All for One croons, forcing Izuku to imagine the bastard’s smile. You’ll never be rid of me. You should have just made it easy on everyone involved and let me do as I pleased.

Aizawa reaches for Izuku, looking concerned, but Izuku slaps his hand away with the metal of the suppressors. “Do- Don’t touch me,” he warns. “I don’t want to ac- to accidentally- Quirks-” It’s fine. He can deal with the voices. The voices are no problem. He’s had worse. He just wants them all to shut up. Shut up. Shut up!

Suddenly, the voices start to quiet. The hero stares at him, eyes red. Erasing his quirk? How does that even work if there are multiple? “More than one quirk?” Aizawa asks, more like he’s taking notes than talking to another human being. “But… how?”

“All for One’s quirk, which he was named after,” Izuku explains through gritted teeth. “The quirk can give and take quirks, apparently including itself. I now have the quirk, along with every quirk All for One stockpiled. Is he dead? Please tell me I killed him.”

The voices come rushing back when Aizawa blinks, forcing Izuku to clench his jaw as to not scream. It’s just pain. He’s had pain before. Pain is not something new. Sure, maybe on this level, it is, but pain itself is not new. One starts quoting the Bee Movie. “He is dead,” Aizawa confirmed. “Somethin-”

“Shut up!” Izuku bursts out at the voices, his eyes slamming shut. So much for not screaming. “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, s hut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! ” Loud. Loud, too loud, can’t think. Can’t think or hear or… or… or think of a third verb despite his entire body seeming to reject him. With a bit of fiddling, Izuku is able to get his hands up to his head, clutching at his temples, his breathing ragged. If I start giving you back… to your rightful owners… will you stop? Please? Yes, he is bargaining with the voices of quirks in his head. Don’t fucking judge him.

Seems fair, a feminine voice replies.

Sorry, kiddo, a kind-sounding man apologizes.

Wait, it’s not the old man anymore?

I am not the old man, Izuku confirms. So, please be quieter. It hurts. A lot.

His head immediately quiets down, only about five voices speaking at once. While it isn’t exactly favorable, it’s better than what it was just a moment ago. “I think I’m good now. We came to an agreement.” He offers a reassuring smile. It doesn’t do much to reassure his two visitors. “Have you heard of the Imprint Theory? The idea that quirks retain a part of their owners? ‘Cause, let me tell you, it’s a thing that is true. And it is a pain in the ass.”

A woman chooses this moment to stumble in, stopping dead in her tracks when she sees Izuku. “I...zuku?” she gasps after a moment’s hesitation.

She’s short, wearing a pink cardigan and a hopeful but scared expression. She seems sort of familiar. Izuku goes out on a limb. “Are you my mom?” Her expression drops as soon as the words leave his mouth. “I’m sorry,” he quickly apologizes. “I don’t remember much from before I was taken. At this point, it’s mostly just my name and Kacchan, barely. Bakugou. Whatever.” His brows furrow a moment. “Can I get these off?” He raises his cuffs in emphasis, turning to Aizawa. “They don’t seem to be doing much and I’d like to give Ragdoll her quirk back. I don’t have any need for it, just like most of the quirks I’ve found in here.” He taps his head lightly before letting his arms flop back into his lap. “I promise I’ll be good.”

Aizawa sighs, crossing the room, on his way to the door. “I’ll talk to the police about that,” he replies, shutting the door behind him. And then there were three. Again.

It feels strange, feeling more familiar with some random kid, no offense to Todoroki, than his own mother. Like his body and mind instinctively know that isn’t what’s meant to happen. “Can I hug you?” the woman who’s supposed to be his mother asks quietly.

“I mean… yeah? It should be safe to touch me,” Izuku reasons. “Though I’ll have a bit of difficulty hugging back.” Inko- it doesn’t feel right to call her ‘Mom’ or ‘Mama’ or anything like that- gives Izuku a sad look. ‘Mama’ feels like someone who’s meant to be kept in the abstract. “What?”

Inko… Did Izuku do something wrong? Say something wrong? What if she doesn’t… What if she won’t take him home? What if he just messed everything up? Anything has to be better than where he just came from, but he doesn’t want to lose his home before he even gets it. “Sweetheart, I don’t- Me asking if I can hug you is not about my safety. It’s about your comfort.”

His comfort? That’s something that matters? “Sorry?” Izuku doesn’t know what he’s doing. Not by any means. The fact that no one has tried to attack him yet has already put him so far out of his comfort zone he’d need a GPS to get back to it. “Ma’am, I don’t- The last twelve years of my life, no one has- I-” The words get caught in his throat. He can’t collect his thoughts enough to make any sense. Everything is just so disorienting and the lights are bright and so are his cuffs and he wants to not be here but doesn’t know where else he could go because he’s never really known anything better than this. “I don’t think I should be alive,” he finally whispers, staring listlessly down at his hands. “I’m not even sure what I went through can be called living.

“I know I’m not socially adjusted in the least. I know that I’m out and I should be safe but the main thing on my mind is the fact that I could hurt one of you or someone is going to jump out and try to kill me. The first and only time I set foot in a school was breaking into UA to steal All Might’s schedule and a mother doesn’t seem much more than an abstract thought anymore. It’s up there with safety and security on the list of things I never thought I’d be able to have. You’ll have to deal with some stupid answers for a while.” This just makes her look worse. Izuku doesn’t like hurting her. “I don’t think I want to be touched right now, thank you,” he mumbles, filling the silence. He almost wishes someone would attack him. Fighting is something he knows and knows well. Whatever this is? Not so much.

Chapter Text

The boy enters the room silently, head down, steps light, creeping along the walls rather than coming further into the room. “Shut up,” he hisses, turning his head toward the wall when he does it. He glances up only when he stands across the room from the foot of Tomoko’s bed, but that’s all she needs. The heroine’s hackles raise and her every instinct tells her to get away from this boy. He was the one in charge of the villains at the summer camp. He was the one that told the dark-haired one where to put her. Not safe. It isn’t safe. Her quirk is gone and she can’t use it against him. She’s too weak to do anything after having her quirk taken from her, anyway. Eraser stands in the doorway, but doesn’t make a move when the boy stops to look at her. Tomoko is terrified. “Get out,” she growls, eyes flicking around for anything she could use as a weapon. He doesn’t have suppressors on. Why doesn’t he have suppressors on?

“Can I give you your quirk back first?” the boy asks, voice fragile. He didn’t look away when she snarled at him, but it looked like he wanted to. Even now, it seems as if he’s forcing his dull eyes to remain on her. His scarred hands lay limp at his sides, empty, his shoulders squared semi-confidently. “Please?”

Tomoko shifts her gaze to Eraserhead, who nods gently. Does he trust this kid? Isn’t he the one that knocked him out and killed one of his students? When she doesn’t reply, Eraser nods again, this time a tad bit more forcefully. “How, exactly, would that happen?” the woman asks tentatively, eyes darting cautiously between her two visitors.

The boy’s stare flicks away from Tomoko for less than a tenth of a second, as if he’s afraid to take his eyes off her for too long. “I’m not sure,” the boy confesses. “I’ve had this quirk for less than a day and all I’ve done with it is take quirks. Am I allowed to try?” Tomoko nods apprehensively. What’s the worst he could do, take her quirk? “Can I see your hand?” When she tentatively extends her hand, the boy leaves the wall, approaching slowly. “I’m sorry about what happened to you. It’s… If I could have stopped it, I would have.” Closer now, Tomoko can see just how abundant the scars on his hands are, how they go up under the sleeves of the too-big open-faced sweater he wears- it’s probably not his. She can see the jagged cuts shaping his hair, as if it were cut with a knife and the extent of the dark circles behind his bangs. He looks pale- too pale for it to be healthy.

He takes her hand gently, deliberately keeping one finger from touching, attention travelling from her face to their conjoined hands. His hand twitches in Tomoko’s palm as he mutters indecipherably to himself. “Izuku?” Eraserhead checks quietly. “Everything okay?”

“I have no idea what I’m doing, and I would appreciate some quiet, please, sir. I have seven voices right now. I don’t need an eighth.” His voice remains quiet, though his tone becomes clipped. “I think I have it,” informs the boy. “I’m gonna try now and hope I have the right one. Tell me if it’s different than normal, please.”

A heat originates from every point of contact between ‘Izuku’ and Tomoko, travelling slowly up the woman’s arm. Every nerve ending the heat passes burns softly upon contact, leaving her arm tingling. Finally, the heat reaches her chest, swirling a few times before settling like a dog laying down. The kid lets go, his hand swinging back to rest by his hip before he heads back to the wall. “Is it done?” Tomoko asks, trying to get accustomed to the heat in her chest. It’s much better than the cold that sat there just moments ago.

Izuku glances toward Eraser before nodding his head. “I believe so. Can you try it quickly?”

Tomoko follows his instructions, tears springing to her eyes as information on the boy in front of her springs into focus. Midoriya Izuku. Kidnapped at age four, forced to become a villain. Rescued after killing the man that took him. Everything yet nothing at the same time comes up as a weakness, but Tomoko can’t find it in herself to care much at the moment. “Thank you,” the heroine whispers, letting her tears fall unceremoniously down her face. “Thank you so much.”

“You shouldn’t have lost it in the first place. I’m so sorry, Ragdoll.” With that, the boy walks toward Eraserhead, who gives the woman a wave before leaving with Midoriya.

Her quirk is back. Her quirk is back.

Chapter Text

For some reason, walking through the front gate of UA is much more terrifying now, when he has permission, than it was when he broke in before attacking the USJ. Izuku pulls the sides of the sweater Todoroki let him take across his front, stuffing his half-gloved hands under his arms to hide their shaking. He hasn’t taken it off since he put it on before going to see Ragdoll. It’s cream-colored and reaches about mid-thigh while covering his hands to the knuckles. It’s nothing like anything All for One would let him wear. Which means he really doesn’t want to take it off. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” he inquires quietly, keeping his eyes straight ahead as he, Todoroki, and Aizawa walk toward the new dorms. “I killed their classmate. And attacked them all twice. I wouldn't be surprised if they all attacked me on sight.”

“It isn't as if you had much of a choice,” reasons the other teen. “He would have killed you.”

“And my life is so clearly worth the however many I took?” Izuku refutes sharply, pulling the sweater tighter. Don't snap. No reason to snap. “Sorry.”

Aizawa glances back at the two, seeming to linger a moment longer on Izuku. “You’ll only be sharing classes with them. You won’t have any contact without a hero nearby.” The shortest of the trio wonders if this is for their safety or his. “You’ll stay in the teachers’ dorms.”

And that, my good bitches and hoes, is how you almost send a sixteen year old into a panic attack with six words. Teachers at UA are heroes. Izuku’s going to be living with heroes.

He might be living with All Might.

Izuku’s steps stutter as he tries to keep himself from bolting. It’s fine. It’s going to be fine. It almost feels like it was easier with All for One. At least there I knew what not to do to stay alive and relatively safe. He pulls up his hood, stuffing his hair up into it and wrapping the sweater even tighter around his body as the rest of 1-A starts to come into focus. Anywhere but here. Just keep your shit together for now. You can break down when you’re alone.

By the time he’s moderately safe from a meltdown, it’s too late for him to say anything else. The former-villain stops a few feet from the back of the group, watching Todoroki walk up beside the purple-haired boy at the back, easily picking up conversation with him. Must be nice.

The hero makes his way to the front of the group, addressing them as a whole. Izuku tunes it out until Aizawa calls his name. The boy looks up and sees him waving for him to come around front. He doesn’t want to come around front

He comes around front, hiding in his hood. “I don’t want to do this,” he mutters as he stops a few feet to Aizawa’s left.

“Better to do it now than have you show up randomly in their first class.” God damnit, the bastard has a point.

Reluctantly, Izuku takes off his hood, his bangs flopping into his face. “I’m Midoriya Izuku and I’m really sorry for attacking you all.”

Cue yelling. Cue lots and lots of yelling. Loud, loud yelling. His jaw clenches and the voices get a little bit louder. The ones inside and outside his head. Can’t think, can’t breathe. Monster. Is that him saying that? A quirk remnant? A student? Whoever it is, they’re right. Some quirks start flip-flopping in his gut and these are kids and they don’t deserve to get hit with these. He thinks he hears Aizawa say something about class, but he’s not sure.

Izuku starts shuffling backward, slowly at first until he can get his bearings, then quicker, turning on his heel and falling into a strong stride, rubbing the sleeve of his sweater between his thumb and forefinger, repeating what he knows in his head. My name is Midoriya Izuku. My mother is Midoriya Inko. My uncle is Aizawa Shouta. This sweater is Todoroki Shouto’s. I am on the UA campus. My name-

Where’s he even going? He doesn’t know where anything is here. Do the other heroes know about him? What if they try to fight him on sight?

What if he runs into All Might?

When he feels a safe distance away, Izuku breaks into a sprint, ducking and weaving between what he can only assume are the other dorms until- “Are you okay?” The blond’s voice is gentle as he holds out a hand to help the boy up off the ground. Despite his sunken eyes and gaunt cheeks, Izuku knows exactly who this is.

He scrambles back, putting his back to the wall of the dorm beside the pair, barely daring to move. “I’m fine, thank you,” Izuku replies, tone stiff in a way it hasn’t been since he was eight or ten.

All Might. It’s All Might. Should be safe. Not safe. Revenge for the fight against All for One? Danger. Get out. Get- "I deeply apologize, Young Midoriya." His panic isn't visible, is it?

"I wasn't looking where I was going. You didn't do anything wrong." Izuku's heart races and his palms sweat and he can feel his heart in his eyes and this is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong-

The hero shakes his head, taking a step back away from the child. "Not for that. For… For not getting you away from All for One sooner."

No revenge. Can't trust, though. "I'm away from him now. That's what matters." It's just like before. Feign comfort and confidence until alone. "You wouldn't happen to know where the teachers' dorms are would you?"

All Might points to the building Izuku currently leans against. "They’re behind you." There's a pain in the man's eyes that Izuku can't quite decipher. He doesn't like not being able to decipher it. Does it hurt him to see a connection to All for One?

Does he feel guilty?

Not Izuku's problem. "Thank you, sir," he says quickly, forcing himself to move calmly, walking around to the front of the building and entering the door like he thought it might break if he was anything but the picture of tranquility. He keeps his eyes away from the four heroes in the common area, moving for the stairs to try and find his room before anyone tries to interact with him.

It doesn't go very well. "Midoriya, where's Eraser?" Present Mic asks. At least they already know who he is.

"Back with the 1-A students, I assume." Please let me go. Let me find a broom closet to hide in. It's not that he hates heroes, per se. It's just that he's legitimately terrified because of a serious bout of conditioning that spanned almost his entire childhood.

Before the heroes can speak again, interrogate him or something, Izuku climbs the stairs as casually as he can stand, running as soon as he hits the second floor. Present Mic, Cementoss, Snipe, all the doors are labelled.

Second floor, third, fourth, fifth. Izuku's room is on the fifth floor, furthest from the stairs. Like they want him to have to go by as many heroes as possible to get out. Aizawa's room is next to his.

Izuku lets himself into his own room, locking the door behind him and opening the window, if only to give himself an escape route. He won't be able to sleep here. How long can he survive without sleep? Last time, he only lasted a week and a half, starting to hallucinate around day four. Sleep would leave him undefended. Can't have that. Not when surrounded by threats on all sides.

God, he’s going to hate it here.

Chapter Text

Under his door, Izuku sees pacing feet. A guard? Of course there’s a guard. He’s a villain.

Was a villain.

Wait, this means he can’t sneak out for food. He should have taken stuff from the hospital or grabbed something before coming up. Idiot.

A knock sends the boy scrambling away from the bottom of the door. “Midoriya? Aizawa said you were in here.” Not Todoroki. The purple kid he was talking to. Not a guard? No, he’s just a kid. They wouldn’t leave him to guard a killer.

Izuku contemplates staying silent, not replying. Then he thinks about the fact that Aizawa told him he was here and that if he doesn’t reply, people might worry that they lost the murderer and that wouldn’t be a great thing. “He didn’t lie to you.”

“Can I come in?”

Oh. I’m going to get murdered. This is fine. “Ask Aizawa. I don’t think I’m supposed to be in the same room as any of you without the supervision of a hero.” Aizawa should say no. I hope he says no.

“He already okayed it.” Fuck.

It’s fine. If he tries to attack, either Izuku dies or he doesn’t. It’s a win-win no matter what. He unlocks the door and sits on the desk he was given, which conveniently sits behind the door and across the room from the bed, the only other viable sitting surface unless the purple kid steals his desk chair. Izuku puts his feet on it just to be safe.

The kid takes the bed after shutting the door and quickly sweeping the room with his eyes. There’s quite a bit of distrust there. He’s still acting like a dumbass. He shouldn’t have shut the door. Sure, he has the window as an escape route if for some reason Izuku snaps and tries to kill him, which is highly unlikely, but still. What are they teaching these hero kids? Where’s the vigilance? This is how people get themselves killed. “So? Did you need something?” Izuku’s voice slips easily into that practiced nonchalance.

Fingers card through purple hair as the guy glances away, clearly uncomfortable. Welcome to the club. We have anxiety and sweaters. “I wanted to apologize. Uh… when you introduced yourself, I was just… an ass. I was a complete ass. Todoroki explained your situation a bit more after that and I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve it. You didn’t deserve the way we all reacted.”

Mmmm, that’s some touchy-feely shit. Not a fan of that touchy-feely shit. “I did, though. And it’s fine. So don’t… don’t beat yourself up over it.” Izuku was not made to provide comfort. “I hurt people. The students in your class were all on that list. Todoroki is probably insane for not hating me.”

“It’s not like you had a choice.”

“I could have died.”

Poor guy goes even paler than he already was. “You say that like it was an option.” He sounds… almost offended on his behalf.

Izuku just shrugs, not breaking eye contact. “You say that like it wasn’t.”

Hisade… a familiar voice croons, making Izuku sit up a little straighter. Not again. He’s dead. Aizawa said he was dead. “It shouldn’t have been.” There’s hurt in the unnamed boy’s voice. Like Izuku knowing his death would have probably saved a lot of people personally affects him.

“Understandable.” Izuku can’t say anything else. It’s not like he agrees. Why do you play at civility when you could turn him into a follower? Why do you treat him like an equal when you’re plenty stronger? He can’t deny it any longer. The boy’s mind starts racing around the one solid voice, an anchor amongst the chaos he’d much rather be lost in. Panic. He’s panicking. He’s been doing that a lot lately. Just like I taught you, right, Hisade? Take out his support system first, then- Quirks start to buzz around throughout his body, his hands tingling with fire beneath the surface and the thoughts of the heroes in the building and the boy across the room jumping in and out like a radio station you’re just inside the range of but it’s all staticy because you’re not close enough for a good signal. He’s going to lose control. “Get out,” barks the boy, starting to shake.

Purple kid doesn’t move, eyes wide as the quirks start writhing more violently. Izuku doesn’t want him to get hurt. “Get out of the room.” It’s too much to explain. What’s the matter? Didn’t you miss me? “Get out.” Izuku’s voice gets louder. More urgent. Why now? Why not twenty minutes ago when he was alone? The guy doesn’t move. “Out!” He’s almost pleading now, tears building up behind his eyes as his voice gets higher, nearly cracking.

A hearing quirk triggers, letting Izuku hear Aizawa outside, talking to All Might. He’ll have to stick through it. “Wh-” the other teen starts before Izuku’s howl cuts him off.

“Aizawa, help!” he screeches, making his company jerk back in surprise. The door flies open almost immediately as Izuku tries to calm his breathing to no avail. “Not safe, out, quirks, erase, away, help-”

All Might, as if knowing what needs to happen, shuffles the guy back out of the room while Aizawa takes his spot across the room, hair rising and eyes going red just before tears tip out of Izuku’s. I thought I taught you better manners than thi- All for One’s voice blinks out of existence and Izuku falls spineless into himself, shoulders heaving with each breath. The fire in his palms and the noises in his head both disperse, the noises outside his head falling back down to a reasonable level.

Better. Much better. “Thank you,” he breathes, unfolding, looking up only as Aizawa’s hair falls the rest of the way.

The hero meets Izuku’s eyes, seeming to search for answers. “You didn’t have to talk to Shinsou if it was going to set you off,” he points out bluntly.

So that’s what his name was. Izuku’s heart still stutters at every noise, not quite out of panic-mode, and Aizawa shifting isn’t helping his cause. “Wasn’t him. Not directly, at least.” The teacher eyes him like he wants more of an explanation. Unluckily for him, Izuku doesn’t want to give that explanation. Unluckily for him, though, his mouth decides to give it anyway, since he’s used to not having a choice. “I heard his voice and I wasn’t expecting it. It made me panic.” What are you doing?! Show no weakness! Lie, damn it!

Sadly, Aizawa is not privy to this internal monologue, so he asks for a further explanation. “All for One?” Izuku nods, panic rising again, though he feels like he can keep a handle on the quirks at his disposal. “I’m gonna go get you something, okay?” Another nod, though it’s most definitely not okay. What’s he going to bring? Something to hurt or kill him with? That wouldn’t benefit him at all. So what’s he bringing? Izuku doesn’t like not knowing.

He comes back with a cat. “This is Bastard, and she’s a registered emotional support animal.” A what? “Heroics takes a toll on one’s emotional and mental health. My way of coping is with therapy and cats. I’d give you Dipshit, but he takes a little while to warm up to new people.”

“You’re giving me your cat?” Izuku summarizes, incredibly confused even as the fluffy white creature hops up on his desk and crawls into his lap. When’d she even get out of Aizawa’s arms?

“Temporarily,” the teacher amends. “If she helps at all, we can see about getting you your own.”

A cat. This man is entrusting the life of something he clearly cares at least a little about to the local murderer. Why in the fuck would that ever be a smart idea? “I don’t know how to take care of animals,” Izuku admits quietly, running a hand down the cat’s back. She’s really soft. Who is he to refuse a gift? Aizawa promises to help him out and leaves him alone with the cat.

Bastard looks up at him and meows and Izuku feels his heart leaving his body to give itself to this fluffy little gremlin and he wonders if this is what love feels like.

Chapter Text

194

To me, I guess.

You did it. You’re out. All for One is dead and you killed him. You might have a home and friends could be happening some time in the next few years if you figure out how to interact with people in a casual setting rather than assuming they’re going to try and murder you at any second, which is still a massive possibility right now and--damn, I wish I had an eraser.

Todoroki is weird, isn’t he? It’s like he doesn’t expect anything in return for his niceties. I wonder what- Wait. I should restart this.

Dear future me, since I’m kind of thinking I might have a future now:

Does Todoroki want something from us? Do we have a future here at UA? Is this as free as we’re going to get?

Does Inko ever become Mom? What about Aizawa? Does he become Shouta or Uncle Shouta or something? Do we make friends?

What if we somehow became heroes? What if we… helped people? Fixed anything we broke and made the world a little better with this hell-quirk that was shoved down our throat? Stopped other kids from turning out like us?

Wouldn’t that be nice?

I’m sorry now me--past you--is so fucked up. I don’t know how that will mess with our future, but I’m going to try my best to get better. Maybe the world isn’t as scary as it seems.

I hope things get better for us. 

Midoriya Izuku, finally free

Chapter Text

Maybe 2:48 a.m. isn’t the best time to be writing a letter to yourself by the light of a small lamp you’ve covered with a thin shirt so you just barely can see but light can’t be seen from outside the room, but it’s not like Izuku has anything better to do. He tried sleeping. He tried really hard. It didn’t work. So now, here he sits, at almost three in the morning, hungry and on-edge.

If he leaves his room, he’s grabbing food, leaving the building, and not coming back until after classes. He doesn’t care what the heroes have to say. Bastard looks at him curiously as he opens his closet, looking at the uniforms inside. That’s all that’s in there. Midnight offered to take him clothes shopping after classes today. It doesn’t sound like a terrible idea. He’d rather have a choice in his clothing, unlike the way All for One gave him a choice of three outfits daily. Speaking of not having much of a choice, Izuku really doesn’t like the uniform. He doesn’t like not having the option. 

Fuck it. He’ll give himself the option. He’s pretty sure breaking the dress code doesn’t result in capital punishment. The slacks and the button-down will have to be enough.

I’m staying on campus and will probably be out in front of the school. I will not be going anywhere near the student dorms. I’m sorry, but I just can’t stay surrounded by so many heroes. If I’m not on the front steps, there should be a note explaining where I am.

Sorry if this causes any trouble or undue anxiety/worry.

Midoriya Izuku

He leaves the note on the coffee pot, grabs a package of Pop Tarts among other things, and leaves, sticking close to the furniture and opening the door as quietly as he can, sneaking out for the first time in his life since… Tomura. Does that mean he feels safer here?

-

He’s not sure how long he’s been sitting on the front steps with a half-eaten package of Pop Tarts in one hand and a small drawstring bag he found in his closet containing a singular notebook, two pencils, and the bag of cereal he stole from the kitchen in the other, but Izuku does know that the sun isn’t up when rhythmic footfalls alert him to the presence of another conscious being besides himself. They’re too quick to be someone walking, but too slow and even to be someone running from danger or out of panic or fear.

Without really intending to, Izuku slides back a little bit, trying to hide in the shadows. His breath catches when the running starts to slow, stopping in front of his steps. “Hello!” a chipper voice greets. Izuku peeks out to see a bright-eyed blond standing at the bottom of the stairs. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around school before. Are you new?”

Izuku doesn’t recognize him. That means he isn’t someone whose life Izuku messed with, right? Maybe he won’t be afraid of him? “Yeah. Today’s my first day.” He’s proud of his voice for not shaking.

“Why are you up so early?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Izuku half-lies, because ‘I legitimately cannot even relax the tiniest bit when surrounded by so many heroes, the likes of which I have to live with because I’m a literal criminal, villain, murderer, liability, monster, take your pick, they’re all correct, and they don’t trust me around my classmates or maybe they don’t trust them around me because I attacked them all at least twice and even I couldn’t blame them if they wanted me dead’ probably isn’t a socially acceptable answer. The bags under his eyes probably help this story.

The newcomer nods in understanding. “Do you wanna come run with me?” Izuku stiffens considerably, mind running faster than his legs ever could. Running with this guy. He shouldn’t get in trouble for it. At least, he doesn’t think he will. And he doesn’t seem afraid of Izuku. Maybe he doesn’t know what Izuku’s done. What a novelty. On the other hand, running with him would mean being alone. What if he does know? What if this is an act? What if he doesn’t know but still wants to hurt him? What if- “You okay? You seem kinda nervous.”

Izuku shakes his head, pushing to his feet. “I’m fine.” This isn’t the bar. Izuku doesn’t need to be so scared of being randomly attacked. Besides, he could probably take this guy if he needed to. “How far are we running?”

The guy twirls his finger by his head. “I was planning on one last lap around campus before getting ready for classes. Work for you?” That’s not too far. Izuku nods, scribbling a note about the run on a torn-out piece of notebook paper and putting it under the door, tucking his remaining Pop Tart into the bag, pulling it onto his back, and bouncing down the stairs to stand in front of the blond. He’s probably half a foot shorter than the stranger. “Do you want to get changed first?”

Most of a uniform and a long cardigan probably doesn’t count as athletic-wear but Izuku doesn’t care all that much. “Not really.” He starts walking in the direction the guy was running before he stopped, waiting for him to catch up.

When he does, the pair starts at a light jog. “I didn’t catch your name,” points out Izuku’s companion as the two fall into sync.

“Never tossed it,” Izuku replies casually, attention on the ground in front of him. “Midoriya Izuku. And you?”

“Togata Mirio. I’m a third year hero student. What about you?”

“First year hero course as far as I’m aware.” This earns him a laugh. It wasn’t meant as a joke.

The two fall into easy conversation, making Izuku feel the most comfortable he has since… ever. “You remind me a bit of my friend, Tamaki. He’s got bad anxiety,” Togata points out. “He normally comes on these runs with me. We would meet at the train station and run here before the dorms were implemented. He’d probably be here now, but Fatgum’s got him on patrol right now.” Izuku’s a little curious about this ‘Tamaki’ person now. He wonders if he’ll meet him any time soon.

By the time they’ve finished their lap, Izuku can see the pinkish glow of the sunrise starting to appear over the wall. “Thank you for offering up the run,” the younger says quietly, as if speaking any louder would wake him from the dream that is someone treating like a normal human being or break Togata’s image of Izuku that doesn’t paint him as the monster he knows he is.

Togata beams, nearly blinding Izuku with his smile. “Of course! I had a lot of fun! Same time tomorrow?” The greenette pauses in his movement back to the steps, looking back in confusion before nodding the tiniest bit. He's not quite used to being invited for anything. “Great! Maybe Tamaki can come next time, too! Speaking of him, he should be back from patrol by now.” The taller teen turns, probably to head back to his dorms. “If you're just going to sit on the stairs again, why don't you come back with me? It can't be too fun, sitting there all by your lonesome.”

That would be how Izuku finds himself sitting in the 3-A common area, scrunched into the corner of the couch, staring blankly at the seam of the cushion beside him as a blue-haired girl bounces about him excitedly, asking lots of questions and not waiting for any answers. “Hado, I think you're scaring him,” Togata points out as she asks about Izuku's curls for the fifth time.

The girl- Hado- tilts her head, getting in Izuku's face the tiniest bit too much. “He doesn't look scared. Are you scared, Midoriya?”

“Not scared,” Izuku replies despite being more than a little anxious, loosening his gaze's grip on the couch as he twists to look her in the eye. “If you're Hado, does that mean the guy who hasn't looked up once is Tamaki?”

Head remaining down, the teen in question raises a hand for a small wave. “Yep!” Togata confirms, since Tamaki doesn't seem inclined to partake in much social interaction right now. “Amajiki Tamaki! My best friend since grade school! He just doesn't do too well around new people.” When does grade school happen? That's the first school thing, right? Five to, like, ten or twelve years old?

His eyes find the dark-haired boy for a moment before Izuku starts unfolding himself from the couch. “Maybe I should go,” he says tentatively. “I don't want to make him uncomfortable or-”

“You don't have to.” It takes a moment for Izuku to realize that wasn't the voice of a remnant- quirk voice- but the anxious boy on the other couch. 

Togata nods in congruence. “Have you had something to eat yet?” asks the blond, moving toward the kitchen area. Izuku is pleased to notice that each dorm seems to be set up the same. He won’t have to come up with new escape routes.

Izuku sits back down, cautious about everything. None of them are being mean. None of them want to hurt him and none are scared of him. He’s lying to them. They’re being nice because they don’t know what he’s done. They’ll stop as soon as they know who he is. “I had a Pop-tart.”

The tallest of the four shakes his head. “That’s not enough for breakfast! I was going to make us three some french toast. How does that sound?”

Selfish. You’re being selfish. Just tell them, murderer. Tell them what kind of monster you are. Or draw it out. Wouldn’t that be fun? They wouldn’t know until you were pulling the knife from their chest or using one of your quirks to rip them limb from limb. The last words on their lips might be something kind. It might not, though, if they’re the last one to go. Who could possibly be kind to a monster? “I haven’t tried french toast before.” Izuku isn’t sure if the voice is a remnant or his own thoughts. He’s not sure he cares. Either way, it’s not like it’s lying.

“Never?!” Hado gasps. “You poor, sheltered child! Togata, we must amend this injustice!”

Togata laughs at her antics before thrusting a finger toward the kitchen. “To the stove!” he announces, marching off. Amajiki’s shoulders jump a little as he chuckles. It’s all so lighthearted and carefree. Would that change if they knew they were in the company of a murderer?

It’s probably better to not think about that.

Chapter Text

Togata gets Izuku to 1-A right before class starts, which makes the latter worry about him getting to his class on time. What if he gets punished for helping Izuku? No… they’re heroes. They wouldn’t hurt Togata for helping someone, right? Right. They’d instead force Izuku to sit furthest from the door. Right behind Shinsou. Oh.

That was probably the seat of that kid Izuku killed.

Needless to say, his first day of school ever is going swimmingly. Todoroki gives him a small smile, but all Izuku’s really thinking about is how badly he needs a haircut. He sits in the kid I murdered’s his chair, keeping his bag in his lap. The blue-haired guy with glasses starts yelling, telling people to settle down and get to their seats, as class is about to start. Izuku pulls his bag closer, teeth grinding as they clench. He realizes a few seconds into the yelling that… that kid seems familiar. So familiar that he’d bet good money that’s the guy Stain didn’t kill. “You okay?” Shinsou asks, having turned around at some point. The boy nods quickly, staring at his desk like it’s telling him a riveting story about turnips that has him on the edge of his seat. It’ll be over soon. Just have to get through it now.

“Iida, you’re freaking Midoriya out,” Todoroki calls as the loud boy takes a breath. 

The yelling stops almost immediately, which Izuku’s glad about. “Oh, I didn’t realize… I apologize, Midoriya. Please feel free to tell me if I make you uncomfortable again,” the boy--Iida, apparently--apologizes, but the former villain waves him off wordlessly, keeping his eyes on the desktop and trying to ignore the whispers around him.

Aizawa enters a few seconds later, addressing the class as a whole. Izuku doesn’t listen. The bag against his chest becomes his life vest, the only thing keeping him above wave after crashing wave of panic because he doesn’t belong here. These are hero students. There is no reality in which Midoriya Izuku could be considered a hero. He shouldn’t be here. This is wrong.  

Something’s going to happen. Something has to happen. He feels free and that’s wrong. Izuku doesn’t get ‘free.’ He doesn’t get ‘safe’ or happy’ and he definitely doesn’t get to exist in a room of heroes or heroes-to-be without getting attacked or threatened or cuffed or something. 

It’s a trap. It has to be. An illusion from All for One. Or maybe it’s a set-up. They’re going to use him to get at these kids again. They’re going to get hurt and it’s going to be all his fault. He could run. But no. He’s a murderer and then he’d be on the run from the law and it’d be a lot of useless trouble for innocent people. He could ask to go to jail. Aizawa might not go for that one, though. For some reason, he seems to care about Izuku. The kid doesn’t understand it.

He stays both zoned out and vigilant for the duration of the class. On the one hand, just being in the classroom makes Izuku want to jump out a window just to be away from all the people, so tuning them out helps. On the other, the kid’s been raised under the philosophy that the moment his guard falls is the moment someone’s going to smash a potted cactus over his head, and he learned after the first three times that that hurts.

After Aizawa talks for a while, he switches out with another teacher. Midnight. Is she going to take back her offer to take him clothes shopping because he left the dorms early? Either way, that's another class spent in another world. That is until Midnight asks if he's paying attention. "Lionel Fitzgerald, better known by the name Fizby, created a series of expressionistic paintings in an attempt to bring attention to the plight of quirkless people. These paintings were instead thought to symbolize the need to take care of our planet. While that's a noble cause and one Fizby supported wholeheartedly, the real meaning wasn't discovered until after his death when his brother found his notebooks detailing each painting he created and his intentions behind them. It is now widely debated whether the true meaning was just lost or was covered up," recites the boy almost word-for-word. The heroine doesn't ask him again after that. 

Then the class changes again. And All Might walks in. And Izuku can't breathe. It's fine. He doesn't want to hurt me. I don't want to hurt him. No one wants to hurt each other. Breathe. So he does. A shuddering breath in and a shuddering breath out. Shinsou turns to look at him, though he doesn't see the taller boy's expression. "What's wrong, dude?" Shinsou asks gently. Izuku shakes his head. Nothing's wrong. Nope. Nothing.

Someone taps on his desk, making the boy look up. It's Todoroki with a slightly concerned expression. If he asks if Izuku's okay, he might cry. "We're going out for a training exercise," he relays instead. 

Izuku nods, prying himself out of his chair and following Todoroki from the room, swinging his bag onto his back. Up ahead, Iida walks at the front of the pack with the brown-haired girl and Shinsou smiles as he talks to the blond guy with the lightning bolt streak. Bakugou acts like Kirishima's annoying him, but his posture says he's happy. Good. A few, like the guy with the tail and the pink girl with the horns, look back at Izuku warily, like they don't trust him. He can understand why. He doesn’t quite understand the cases they all have with them, though. "Who was that that walked you in this morning?" Todoroki asks, making conversation in a way he probably hopes won't make Izuku uncomfortable.

Luckily, he's right. "Togata Mirio. He's a third year."

"I thought you were staying with the teachers."

"I am." Todoroki raises an eyebrow. "I couldn't sleep, so I went and sat outside. Togata saw me on his run and invited me along. Then we went to his dorms and he made french toast for us and the other two. I didn't know how to get to 1-A, so he walked me over."

The taller teen nods before glancing at Izuku's chosen uniform that he's glad no one has gotten upset about. "Do you need another sweater so that one can get washed?" 

Izuku shakes his head, stuffing his hands in the pockets of said sweater. "Midnight said she'd take me to get some clothes today. You can have this one back then." 

"Keep it. I have more." Todoroki is… nice. What's he trying to do? What's his goal?

Whatever it is, Izuku thanks him and the pair enter the changing room. The guys of the class all stand in various stages of undress, some shuffling away when they catch sight of him. They're all changing into hero costumes, or so it appears. Todoroki points out a locker before heading to the other side of the room, probably for his stuff. Inside the locker is one of those blue uniforms they had on in the sports festival. It hits Izuku fast and hard how much he doesn't want to change right now. Not in front of all these people. Maybe it's the vulnerability that would come with being exposed or maybe it's the fact that he doesn't want to reveal his scars. He sits on a bench, waiting for the others to leave.

Then the anxiety of making people wait for him kicks in. The boy changes as quickly as he can, pulling the sweater back on over his scarred arms and waiting outside.

-

Absolutely no one can hold Izuku putting himself as far away from All Might with the entire class between them against him. The fact that he didn’t try to slip away as they were walking to the training area, the TDL, as All Might called it, is something everyone should be proud of him for.

The hero starts talking about how the summer camp was supposed to help the students get ready to take the provisional license exam and Izuku doesn’t even have to look up to feel the dirty looks. Either he doesn’t see them or chooses to ignore them, because All Might continues by saying the students should be working on super moves and costume changes to help prepare. One might think that’d be good for the greenette, as he has so many quirks at his disposal, but that’s actually the main issue. He doesn’t know what he has.

There’s also the fact that UA probably won’t have him take the test or whatever committee won’t let him because of his past and there’s that little mental block that keeps assuring him he can never be a hero. So, instead of hitting stuff like his classmates--which feels really weird to think. Classmates. Izuku’s at school. He’s a student for once in his life--Izuku opts to find a quiet corner as far from All Might as physically possible, take out his notebook, and try to write out the quirks he knows he has.

Warping

Can teleport to or from user

Uses specific person as end target

• Said person must be well-acquainted with user

Short range

Ex: the way we were warped to AfO at Kamino

Telepathy

Reads minds of those within ~100 feet

Cannot send thoughts

Ex: quirk freak out first day at UA, could ‘hear’ Shinsou & heroes thoughts

Metal Sprouts

Metal sprouts from the ground like beanstalks

Can control the sprout’s direction

Needs more testing

Ex: after killing AfO at Kamino

Pyro-  

The notebook gets ripped out of his hands and Izuku’s mind shuts down. “What the-” is all the jackass can get out before the former villain sweeps his feet out from under him and snatches back the book. “The fuck was that for, freak?!”

Bakugou. It’s Bakugou. It’s not Kurogiri or Dabi or All for One. He’s not writing letters anymore. The notebook just has his quirks. It’s fine. He’s fine. Breathe. “Hey, what’s going on over here?” asks the girl with the short, purple hair.

“He just attacked me for no reason!” accuses Bakugou, getting up. 

A crowd starts to form, the tail guy and the girl with the horns and the frog girl and the bird guy and they all look on with distrust and Izuku’s trapped in the corner and can’t get out. “He took my notebook,” he explains in a small voice. “I overreacted. I’m sorry.”

The blond bares his teeth in a way that really makes Izuku uncomfortable. “You think that’s enough to keep me from blowing your ass up?” he demands.

Izuku bites the tip of his tongue, forcing himself to think before he says something stupid. “No. Not if you were going to do it in the first place.” There’s the something stupid. Quickly, he amends, “When I was ten, I started writing letters to the police in the hope that they’d come save me. I wrote them in notebooks and tore out the pages before I was taken outside. If-”

“I don’t want your damn sob story!” Bakugou snarls, bringing his hand up, primed with explosions. Where’s All Might? Shouldn’t he be stopping this?

Taking a step back, Izuku tries to breathe and calm down but this? This is legitimately pissing him off. “If those letters were found, I would have been killed or tortured or turned into a fucking Noumu. You know, the monsters? Like the one at the USJ or the three in Hosu or the one at the summer camp? So forgive me for having a bit of residual protectiveness over the damn notebook.” His voice cuts into the air and into the ground, drawing a line between Izuku and the other teens. The look in his eye behind his bangs tries to spear Bakugou the way his fingernails do his palms. The taste of blood fills his mouth from how hard he’s biting his cheek to keep himself from continuing. Shutting his eyes, Izuku sinks back to the ground and starts writing again.

Pyrokinesis (maybe)

Hands got hot

Felt like fire was going to erupt from them

Needs more testing

Ex: first day freakout

A glance up reveals everyone fucked off except Bakugou. “Did you need something?” Izuku asks, tired. “I think we’re supposed to be doing something.”

“Which is what I came over to ask you about in the first place, dipshit. Before you fucking attacked me.” That is not what happened, but okay. “What are you doing?”

The shorter boy taps the edge of the notebook with his pencil. “Writing.” That just makes Bakugou look upset. “The day you were taken--which I’m sorry about, by the way. You just seemed like you’d be able to keep your morals regardless of what they threw at you--the guy in charge gave me his quirk. Which came with a ton of other quirks. I’m still finding new ones. I can’t very well come up with a move for something I don’t understand in the least. Good enough?”

All Bakugou does is grunt and walk away. It’s better than him yelling again.

“Bakugou’s a bit brash, isn’t he?” Midnight asks, coming to sit near Izuku but far enough away that he’s not quite willing to shower with a cheese grater rather than some sort of sponge to get out of the situation. “You handled that pretty well.”

So she was watching as, like, half the class ganged up on Izuku after Bakugou took his notebook and did nothing? That gives him a lot of faith in her abilities. “Thanks,” he replies, trying to figure out whether or not two quirks are actually one quirk. Then he stops. “Are they like that all the time or is it just because I’m me?”

The heroine sighs, making a face at the edge of the boy’s vision. “They’re scared. They’ve suddenly been told the guy who’s been a threat the entire school year is actually not a threat and are now being forced to interact with him. They’re just… taking out their fear in the wrong way.” Izuku looks over, meeting the woman’s concerned expression with a curious one of his own. “Midoriya… do you feel safe around the students?”

Izuku immediately looks away, staring up at where the boy with the tape quirk talks with one of Ectoplasm’s clones. Does he feel safe? “The third years are nice,” he replies, knowing full well that isn’t what she meant. “Togata made me french toast.” Please don’t.

Since, the kid decided to be stubborn, Midnight amends, “Do you feel safe around the students of class 1-A?”

He doesn’t respond. Not immediately, at least. He knows his answer, but can he say it? Is that allowed? No. If it wasn’t allowed, she wouldn’t have asked. Izuku shakes his head the barest amount, barely moving at all. Midnight, for lack of a better word, wilts. She seems upset, but not at him. Then, to make matters worse, his mouth decides to go for a light jog. “I don’t think I know what ‘safe’ feels like anymore,” he whispers, the wall he’s built to keep his emotions from getting him in trouble starting to crack. “Sorry.”

This makes the woman look up. “For what?” she asks, confused.

“I said no and it upset you. I should have just said yes.”

Now she just looks sadder. “Kid… no… You shouldn’t-” She takes a deep breath, seeming to fight with herself. “Whether or not you feel safe is far more important than my feelings, okay?” 

Agree to disagree. “What time does school end?” Izuku deflects, starting to get more uncomfortable than he’s comfortable with.

“Technically three, but it was decided you could be done after lunch if you wanted.”

“I want.”

-

Yeah, eavesdropping is rude, but Tooru is just… curious. This kid attacked her class multiple times, but they’re the ones in the wrong? She just wants to know why. 

As she listens, she nods along to herself, because nothing Midnight’s saying is exactly wrong. They’re scared. Even Bakugou, even if he won’t admit it. Then… “Midoriya... do you feel safe around the students?” Does he feel safe? What kind of question is that? If anyone doesn’t feel safe, it’s the kids of class A.

The villain dodges the question, staring off into the distance with an uncomfortable look on his face. “The third years are nice.” What reason does he have to not answer? Does he not have any manners at all? “Togata made me french toast.”

Midnight’s face twitches, momentarily revealing frustration and disappointment. “Do you feel safe around the students of class 1-A?” she tries again.

Tooru actually feels herself getting annoyed. This kid attacked her class, killed one of her classmates, and kidnapped another. It almost seems like Midnight cares more about him than she does them. Then the villain shakes his head the tiniest bit, the action so minimal that Tooru has to wonder if the heroine noticed it. Then Midnight withers. So she noticed.

Why doesn’t he feel safe? That’s just stupid. He could probably kill any of them with a flick of his wrist if he wanted. Her thoughts get cut off as her heart drops through the floor. The whisper is so small, she almost can’t hear it, but she barely makes out what he says and immediately feels terrible. “I don’t think I know what ‘safe’ feels like anymore.” At least it finally clicked. Damnit, Tooru. He’s not a villain. He’s a victim.  

Heroes are supposed to make people feel safe. She’s going to have to fix that.

-

So, lunch. Better known as the part of the day where Izuku finds a table in the corner of the room and starts munching on the rest of his Pop-tart from this morning, keeping an eye out in case anyone comes near him.

And someone comes near him. Two someones, actually. A blond guy with blue eyes and a cocky attitude and a girl with orange hair who acts like she has to be responsible for the guy. “You’re new, right?” the guy asks, eyeing the breakfast pastry but ultimately disregarding it. Izuku nods, protectively tucking his food a little under the table. “What class?”

“1-A,” replies the greenette, on edge. Who are these people and why are they talking to him?

The blond winces. “Ew.”

His friend glares, elbowing. “Monoma, don’t be rude. Even if you have some stupid bias against his class, he hasn’t even been here long enough for you to form an opinion on him.” She then gives Izuku a small, apologetic smile. “I’m sorry about him. He’s just…”

“Rude?” Izuku offers, face devoid of emotion. 

Monoma looks offended, but the girl just chuckles. “I was going to say ‘protective,’ but that works, too. I’m Kendo Itsuka.”

“Midoriya Izuku.” Kendo seems nice. Izuku actually holds out hope for an acquaintanceship here.

Until she blanches. “Wait… you’re…” She sounds legitimately scared, making Izuku shrink back into himself.

The blond turns to her, worried. “Kendo, what is it?” he asks gently.

She steps back a little, not taking her eyes off Izuku as the fear/horror starts to set in. “You’re the villain,” she whispers just loud enough for him to hear. “You attacked the USJ and… and the camp…”

There goes that opportunity. “Not because I wanted to,” adds the green-haired boy, guilt filling his stomach in a way that makes him not want to finish his Pop-tart. He should have just not come in here. Ate somewhere else. Maybe he can find a nice closet for tomorrow. 

Monoma doesn’t look particularly enthused by this revelation. Before he can say something, though, someone clears their throat behind the pair. “Monoma, he’s been in classes for half a day. I’m not sure you can bunch him up with the rest of the A class just yet.” Shinsou?

What is he- “You know who he is, don’t you?” the blond asks. “Why are you defending him?”

Shinsou raises an eyebrow, keeping intense eye contact with Monoma as he crosses his arms. “Midoriya, did you want to hurt anyone?”

“No.”

“Did you have a choice?”

“Well, going by your standards, no. Because death apparently doesn’t count as an option.”

“Did you try to keep people safe?”

“Of course.”

“How?”

What’s he trying to do here? “I tried to warn about various attacks and terror threats like the USJ attack. I told the police when I thought Endeavor was hurting Todoroki. Can we be done?”

His classmate nods, finally looking away from Monoma. “You’re allowed to defend yourself, Midoriya.” And his gaze goes right back to the other two students. “Find something with more base than ‘he was forced to be a villain’ if you want to hate him. He gets enough of that from our class.”

Izuku’s chest does a thing. It feels all… swelly. Like he’s got a balloon in his chest and someone’s blowing it up, but not bad? Not like anger or panic. Not hot. Just… warm. Happy. Is it because someone’s defending him? Is it because Shinsou said “our” rather than “my,” meaning he sees Izuku as part of the class? Whatever it is, the boy likes it. It leaves him feeling good as the other students walk away. He thanks the purple-haired teen as he wraps up the rest of his food and stuffs it back in the bag. With a smile and an assurance that it was nothing, Shinsou goes to leave, but Izuku stops him. “Hang on.” He turns back, full attention on Izuku. “I wanted to apologize for yesterday-”

“Nah, you’re fine,” the taller interrupts, waving it off. “Aizawa gave me the gist of it when he came back downstairs. It’s hard to stay in control when panic flares up like that. You were just trying to keep me safe.” He’s really understanding. Almost a little too understanding for Izuku’s tastes. “If you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask.” And he finally leaves, returning to his table. The girl with the brown hair suspiciously looks Izuku’s way a few times as Shinsou sits down, as does Iida, though his suspicion is a bit more toned-down. Todoroki doesn’t. Izuku decides not to question it. It feels like it’d bring more questions than answers.

Chapter Text

As promised, Midnight takes him shopping. Izuku thought it would be okay. Just him and Midnight, who was going to go in civilian clothes and stay back a bit so he could have space while still being supervised. Now it's Midnight and Present Mic, who is also in civilian clothes, thankfully, and a larger chunk of 1-A than Izuku would have guessed. Todoroki, Shinsou, Iida, Uraraka, and Asui all came along, too. He can't help but think that the last three only came because the first two wanted to and they didn't trust him being near them. 

There's a lot of people, to begin with. Izuku reaches into his pocket for a knife that isn't there then steps closer to Todoroki instead, hoping to use him as some sort of an anchor so he doesn't get lost. "You doing okay?" Todoroki asks quietly.

Izuku nods, though he switches sides, depositing himself between Shinsou and Todoroki.  "Lots of people,” he explains without explaining much. But it’s enough, apparently. The bicolored teen holds out his hand, nudging Izuku’s to make him look down. Then, tentatively, the shorter boy takes it, feeling a reassuring squeeze as their hands drop, relaxed but together. It feels better than having to walk alone. “Thanks.”

The first store they end up in has Izuku making a beeline for the sweaters in the corner, some shorter than his, some longer, some closed, some with and without pockets, and a ton of colors. He never really realized there were so many options. Todoroki appears next to him, though Izuku doesn’t remember letting go of his hand. It’s probably for the better, though, so he wasn’t dragging him all over the place. The greenette grabs a light blue one, a long, grey one, and a lavender one with thumb holes, holding them up with a small smile. How much is Midnight going to let him spend? “Find something you like?” Speak of the devil. Izuku shows the heroine his sweaters. “You sure, kiddo? This is the women’s section.”

What does that have to do with anything? “But they’re comfortable,” he replies, confused. Are guys not allowed to wear stuff marketed toward women? But Bakugou wears eyeliner. And Aoyama’s all glittery and stuff. That doesn’t make any sense.

Midnight shrugs, accepting his rebuttal. “So long as you’re sure.” He is. He is also sure about those sweatpants, that pair of camo pants, and those shirts that just say ‘shirt.’ In the next store, he’s also sure about the cargo pants, that cropped sweatshirt, and the bright red sneakers.

Between the second and third stores, a scent catches Izuku’s nose, making him stop, which forces Todoroki to stop, too. “You okay?”

It’s sweet and warm and it makes Izuku hungry. “What’s that smell?” It beckons him down the hall, promising good things.

“The cinnamon rolls?” Uraraka suggests.

“Is that the sweet smell?” asks the boy, glancing down toward where the scent is coming from.

Shinsou nods. “Have you… not had cinnamon rolls before?” he inquires. Izuku shakes his head. This is probably the first time he’s even heard the words together.

He looks to Midnight and Present Mic, wide-eyed. “Can I try some?” 

The heroine glances to her fellow adult, who shrugs, then hands Izuku a few bills. “Go for it,” she invites with a smile. 

His heart starts to race, but in a good way. One moment, he’s there, with his classmates and teachers, the next, he’s running down the mall...corridor? Dodging civilians and jumping benches and being chased by at least Shinsou--who swears with every step--before he screeches to a halt in front of the little booth. It smells even better up close. “Damn, Midoriya, you’re fast,” Shinsou jokes when he catches up, slightly out of breath. It’s right about now that Izuku realizes something. He’ll have to order his food. He must make a face, because Shinsou holds out a hand. “Want me to order for you?” Izuku nods. “A regular one?”

“Please.”

By the time the rest of the group catches up, Izuku’s blissed the fuck out and only halfway done with the dessert. He waves and Uraraka laughs. More of a giggle than anything, but it’s still a nice sound. “Uraraka, it’s rude to laugh at people!” Iida reprimands, but he looks ready to start laughing, too.

“I’m sorry!” Uraraka squeaks, though she doesn’t make any attempt to stop. Izuku wonders what’s so funny. Asui smiles a bit, too. Maybe it doesn’t matter what’s so funny. Maybe what’s important is that Izuku can make someone happy. 

Midnight tries and fails to suppress a smile and Present Mic hides his laughter behind his hand. “You have icing on your nose,” Todoroki explains, also grinning a little.

Izuku’s eyes cross as he focuses on his nose, seeing a little spot of white there. Uraraka laughs harder and Izuku goes red has he rubs it off with his thumb. “Thanks, Midnight,” he says instead of touching on his previously iced nose. “It’s really good.”

Present Mic drops his hand, elbowing Midnight. “He’s easy to please,” he comments as Izuku gets back to work on his pastry. Today… wasn’t too bad.

Chapter Text

Night two of not being able to sleep because he’s surrounded by heroes. Night three of not sleeping in general. With a thin shirt on the lamp and Bastard in his lap, Izuku tries to take down more information on his quirks.

Programming

Can program target with if/then commands

Target doesn’t remember being programmed until command has been completed

• Leaves a gap in the memory (memory quirk to fill in blank?)

Ex: USJ (If All Might might beat the Noumu, then kill a student.)

Decay

Tomura’s quirk (can’t return)

Destroys anything all five fingers touch

Ex: take off the gloves and see, dumbass

He keeps this up for a while, going through quirk after quirk before setting aside the notebook and giving all his attention to the white floof in his lap. She purrs as he strokes her back, but gets that much louder when he gets right behind her ear. 

Bastard gets tired of pets or something, since she hops out of his lap and moves to the window sill, staring out into the night. Izuku joins her, taking his desk chair over with him. 

How do people pick out shapes up there? There’s supposed to be dragons and bears and stuff, but Izuku doesn’t see it. At least they’re pretty. 

The cat rolls over onto her back, poking the boy’s face until he pets her again. “Needy brat,” he smiles, rubbing under her chin. At least he doesn’t feel like he has to escape this time.

-

Izuku stays in his room until a little before 4 a.m., when he heads down to go meet Togata and maybe Amajiki to run. He’s proud of that. He’s less proud of the way he jumps when Aizawa speaks from beside the coffee pot. “Morning.” He then takes in Izuku’s outfit: a lavender sweater, a plain black t-shirt that Midnight insisted he get because his entire wardrobe could not just be t-shirts that say “shirt,” thin sweatpants, and the red sneakers, all of which were acquired during yesterday’s trip to the mall. “Going somewhere?”

“Togata invited me to run,” the boy explains simply. “Am I not allowed to run?”

Aizawa shifts uncomfortably. So Izuku messed up. Again. “Are you coming back before classes?” he asks.

The boy shakes his head. “I wasn’t planning on it. I have my uniform and school stuff.”

“Breakfast?”

“I have cereal unless Togata offers something again today.” Izuku shifts his weight to his other foot, getting nervous.

Nodding, Aizawa looks away. “And you know how to get to the classroom?”

“Vaguely.” 

“Go on, then. See you in class.”

-

As Izuku leaves, Yamada sits up from his position on the couch, hair down rather that in that hideous banana-shaped monstrosity. Shouta would personally prefer if he just left it like this. He’s tired of almost getting skewered. “It feels like someone shoved me in a time machine,” the blond comments idly. “It’s like seeing you in our first year again.”

Shouta’ll admit he can see the resemblance. He hums his acknowledgement, refilling his coffee and replaying the previous conversation in his head. “Am I not allowed to run?” Izuku had said. Does he really expect to be kept on that short of a chain? Does he think Shouta’s just waiting on the child leash to come in the mail?

Is Izuku even sleeping? It doesn’t look like it. The dark-haired hero can’t help but worry about the boy.

-

The first lap acts as sort of a warm-up, the second becoming less of a jog and more of a race, Izuku’s toes digging into the grass as he dashes along beside the wall, smirking as Togata struggles to keep up. He guesses one good thing came out of the insane training he was put through.

Then Amajiki comes out of nowhere, flying, and passes Izuku. Quirk, probably. Two can play at that game. A few moments later, Izuku’s got his mind wrapped around a speed quirk, unwilling to try using multiple at once just yet, and tugging on it gently, slowly but surely getting used to the change. His steps come faster and faster til he’s barely touching the ground with each. A laugh slips out as he passes the airborne third year and he feels a surge of pride. “Cheaters, the both of you!” the blond shouts, though Izuku’s so far ahead he barely hears him.

He and Amajiki vie for first in the race with no winner, each surpassing the other just to have the lead ripped away from him a moment later. Amajiki, Izuku, Amajiki, Izuku. One in the sky and one on the ground, neck and neck until finally…

Izuku trips.

Rolling over himself a few times, the youngest pushes to his feet easily and keeps going, nearly catching up to the winged third year before he touches the 3-A dorm. Izuku drops to the doorstep, gasping for air with a grin.

Togata joins the pair a not too long after, fixing them both with a playful glare. “And here I thought we were playing fair.”

A chuckles slips from the boy’s lips. “I was... beating you with… without a quirk,” the greenette huffs. “We can go again, if you want.”

“Or you could come in and make breakfast,” Hado retorts, leaning out the front door. “I still don’t see why I can’t use the stove.”

“Because you started a fire the first night we were here,” Togata reminds, offering to help Izuku up. He waves his elder off, getting up on his own. “How are we feeling about omelettes today?”

The other two third years nod their agreement before the blond turns to Izuku. Ew. “Works for me.” Izuku hates eggs. With a passion. But who is he to refuse food?

Hado and Izuku stay in the common area while Togata and Amajiki head off to the kitchen. The former villain pulls his legs up under him, picking under his nails and waiting for the guys to be done. Maybe he should learn to cook. At least then he’d be able to avoid these awkward silences. Hado’s the hardest for him to talk to of the three, which is to say she’s a million times easier to talk to than a majority of his class. “Hey, Midoriya?” the girl says, breaking the silence.

“Hm?”

“I’m glad you got out safely.” Izuku stiffens immediately. She knows. She knows. Why does she know? How much does she know? Do the others know?

“Th-Thanks,” he stutters, trying to quell his racing mind. They know but they’re being nice. Are they faking it? Do they want something? Do they want to hurt him for what he’s done? Aizawa wouldn’t have let him come over here if he thought they might hurt him, right? “I am, too.”

She shifts, making Izuku look up to her guilty expression. “And I’m sorry you had to save yourself. You shouldn’t have had--We’re heroes, damn it!” she spits, tears glistening in her eyes. He hates that he’s the reason she’s upset like this. Unsure what else to do, the boy pushes off his couch and slides up next to Hado, kind of just leaning on her, letting her do as she needs to. She ends up shoving her head into his shoulder as he pulls his notebook from his bag, writing what he learned about the quirk he used in the race.

Acceleration

Run fast

No apparent drawbacks

Makes other things fast too? Write faster?

Ex: racing Togata and Amajiki

When the other two return with food, Izuku shuts his notebook and powers through the omelette, loathing every bite but not letting it show. Food is food and at least there’s bacon, too.

As Togata talks about his siblings and shows the videos his mom sent him, Izuku smiles. In this moment, it doesn’t matter that those kids are getting what he’s wanted for the past twelve years. He’s content. Things are finally starting to look up.

Chapter Text

Hi, Plants here! I'm putting this here because I know I personally have a slight tendency to ignore author notes. This chapter contains more violent and graphic imagery! If you're not about that life, or it's a trigger for you, I'll summarize it in the end note. You're safe till Ashido comes in, but skip to the end note when she's mentioned by name.

-

Sparring. Fighting. Something Izuku’s good at. He should be excited, but he can’t help but notice the way the others shrink away from him when Aizawa tells them to get partners. He’s content to just wait till there’s only one person left, but a set of gloves jump into his field of vision. “Midoriya, do you wanna be my partner?”

Invisible girl. Izuku doesn’t remember her name if he ever learned it. He does, however, remember how standoffish she was, just like most of the others. What changed? “Sure?” he agrees anyway, uncertain. His gaze finds her boots and stays there because he doesn’t know if she’s naked and he truly isn’t sure where her head is. There is no safe place for him to deposit his gaze besides her feet. 

When the hero starts his countdown, Izuku shifts into a fighting stance and the girl sheds her gloves and shoes, making life that much harder for the boy. Well, if she’s using her quirk to her advantage, Izuku might as well do the same. Aizawa calls go and the former villain clicks his tongue, testing the quirk for the first time. Echolocation, like a dolphin. Useful for finding things you can’t see, like walls and tables.

And opponents.

Eyes shut as to focus on the quirk’s information, Izuku shoots a hand to the right, grabbing a fistful of arm and dragging his partner close and thanking his lucky star (singular, since good luck is so incredibly not abundant for him) that he feels fabric under his hand. How’d they make her suit invisible, too? She tries to twist out of it, deciding a moment later to kick him in the gut. And in the side. And in the crotch. Anything to get him to let go. His grip just tightens and he whips her out in front of him and drives his knee into the back of hers, effectively dropping and pinning her. He opens his eyes as he gets up, holding out a hand for the girl who should be in front of him, but may not be. For all he knows, she disappeared as soon as he got up.

A hand wraps around his and he pulls his classmate to her feet. “Were you going easy on me?” she whines, probably pouting as she puts back on her discarded clothes. 

“Of course not,” Izuku replies, stretching his wrists and waiting for further instruction.

“You had your eyes closed the entire time!” the girl protests.

It takes a few tries, but the greenette finally forces out an explanation. “I was using a quirk to help me find you. Having my eyes open was distracting when the only thing I needed to see was something I couldn’t see.”

Her arms cross. At least, that’s what it looks like. “So you weren’t looking down on me?”

Wait, what? “Looking down on you? Why would I do that? You survived two villain attacks already. You don’t have a physically destructive quirk but you still made it into the hero course without starting in general education. You’re strong as hell and anyone who looks down on you deserves what’s coming to them.”

The girl sputters a bit, clearly surprised. Izuku tries to offer her a smile to, I don’t know, calm her down? Lessen the impact of his words? Long story short, it doesn’t work. It just leads to an awkward silence in which Izuku tries to figure out what he said wrong and the girl continues to make sounds of startled confusion, like she’s trying to comprehend the words that came out of his mouth.

Aizawa tells the girl--Hagakure, apparently--to switch partners with a girl named Ashido, who gets thanked by the tail guy for offering to switch. At least this one is visible. But it’s the horn girl. She doesn’t hesitate to make her disdain known, glaring at Izuku, yellow eyes filled with burning hot hatred. He doesn’t want to talk to her. The hero doesn’t call go this time, mainly because not everyone is done with their first matches yet.

Ashido rushes him on a trail of acid, drilling him with a clean punch to the stomach. He brings his knee up into her diaphragm in return, grabbing the back of her costume and throwing her over his shoulder, using the opportunity to take a few good steps back and reset his stance. This just pisses her off more. 

Not like I can blame her, Izuku thinks, ducking the glob of acid she hurls at him. He blocks every one of her hits he can, clenching his jaw when the acid starts to burn. He’s fine. He’s had worse. Mutation quirks, for example. And he’s probably got regeneration quirks, so it’s fine. He’s fine. The boy takes the knee to the stomach and the foot to the ribs and the fist to the shoulder and the acid down the back and he does it all without so much as a grimace, hitting back tit for tat. “Just go down already!” Ashido snarls, driving her fist into the side of Izuku’s face and something splashes up toward his eyes. It burns immediately, worse than anything she’s hit him with thus far and his eyes slam shut.

His brain goes into emergency mode. An injury never means stop. It means finish it before you die. His tongue clicking once more so he can find the girl, he makes the best of the situation. When one hand finds her collar and the other her forearm, the boy shoves her to the ground, pinning her for a moment and jumping back when she screams. 

Panic swells in his throat as he feels at his hands frantically. The gloves are still there. They’re still there. He didn’t use that quirk on her. What did he do? God damn it, what did he do?! “I- I’m sorry-” he stutters before… I was right about you all along, you monster. No. No!  

“What did you do to her?!” Kirishima shouts.

“I can- I can fix i- Ashido, I’m so sorry-” Izuku does his best to shuffle forward, stopping when someone grabs his arm. “Get off of me!”

“Izuku, you have acid in your eyes. You need medical-”

“I’ll heal!” he shouts, throwing Aizawa’s hand from his person and trying to reach the girl. “I need to give it back!”

A click shows Ashido further away than she was, still moving backward. “St-Stay away from me!” cries the girl, voice shaking as someone comes to stand between them. 

“You’ve done enough!” Tail guy.

Arms dip under Izuku’s from behind, folding across his chest to hold him back. “Midoriya, please, whatever you need to do can wait till-”

The girl with the ponytail. It’s the girl with the ponytail. “I took her quirk,” he whispers, going limp in her arms. “I was scared and I took her quirk.” Something drips down his cheek and Izuku’s not sure if it was just acid or if he’s crying. Ponytail girl drops him to the ground, letting him crumple to his knees. “Let me give it back, please. People… People are scared without their quirks. I’ve done a lot wrong and I can’t fix much of it but I can fix this. Let me fix it.” His nails scratch against the ground as he pleads. “Ashido, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to- I-” He cuts off with a choked sob, scraping a handful of acid off his face and flinging it to the ground in front of him, trying to salvage his glove by rubbing it off on the ground before getting the other eye.

“Recovery Girl’s on her way,” Iida informs the teacher.

When Izuku rubs the fingers he used to scoop off acid against his arm, he grimaces when he finds the fingertips gone. Then a hand roughly grabs his other hand. “Fix it,” Ashido spits, shaking his hand as if to let him know it’s her.

Shifting their hands to make for better access on his part, the boy squeezes hers gently. “Thank you,” he mumbles, rifling through his quirks. Telepathy, infrared--that would have been useful--strength augmentation, acid!   A sad smile on his face, Izuku feels the warmth stir in his chest, swirling and flitting about like a bird before shooting down his arm and out his fingertips, into the girl. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t-”

“Is it back?”

“It should be.”

“Then get off me.” She rips her hand back, marching off and getting consoled by her classmates if the noises are anything to go by.

Someone grabs Izuku under the arms and pulls him to his feet. “It’s Todoroki,” said someone introduces in a quiet tone. “Aizawa wants us to head out to meet Recovery Girl. Is that okay? I have your bag.” The boy nods, unzipping his top--still the gym uniform. He needs to talk to support for an actual costume--and using it to scrub at his eyes. “It was an accident, right?” Todoroki asks, guiding Izuku along as they walk. The shorter nods again, sticking close to the other student’s side. “Then don’t beat yourself up over it.”

“But I hurt her-”

“She threw acid in your eyes. What you did was clearly the lesser of two evils.”

Izuku bites his lip. “I don’t blame her.”

Todoroki, probably sensing that he isn’t going to win, switches topics slightly. “Shouldn’t you be in pain?”

“I am.” His face burns a lot. Pins and needles dance across his eyelids but they’re on fire. But, once again, it isn’t the worst he’s ever had. Todoroki doesn’t speak after that.

Did you know stairs are a pain when you’re used to seeing and suddenly can’t anymore? The only reason Izuku doesn’t trip and fall down several flights is that echolocation quirk. Around the third floor, a woman calls out to them. “Did Aizawa send you two up?”

“He did,” the seeing teen replies. “Ashido- Jesus Christ, you’re bleeding!”

Sure enough, a warm something runs down Izuku’s face as a small hand grabs his wrist and starts tugging him along faster, the woman grumbling about incompetence. “I’m sorry to bother you, ma’am,” the boy apologizes, assuming this is Recovery Girl.

The grip on his arm tightens and the pulling makes him speed up even more. “You’re going to come in here and apologize for something you had no control over when that something hurt you?” she reprimands. “You will knock that off right now, Midoriya Izuku.”

Something churns in his stomach while his heart starts thumping in his throat. “But I could have dodged better, and there’s probably a regeneration quirk stored somewhere in here-”

As she releases his hand, the woman tells Izuku to sit on what he assumes is a cot of some kind. “It is my job, not only as a hero, but as a healer, to help people who have gotten hurt. You have nothing to apologize over. And, while you look for that quirk, I can fix your face so you hopefully don’t have terrible scarring until you find it. Okay?” 

He wants to argue further, that there have to be better people for her to take care of right now, that he should have been able to avoid the blow, but he’s afraid she’ll get upset with him. “Yes. Sorry. Please be careful. It’s relatively strong acid.”

Chapter Text

Hitoshi feels sick, to say the least. Midoriya didn’t care. He didn’t care about the acid that burned a hole in his glove with just a few seconds of contact. All that mattered to him was giving Ashido’s quirk back. And Hitoshi kind of wants to punch her in the face. What kind of fucking bitch--? He can understand being scared. But all he wanted was to help her.

“Ashido,” Aizawa says, tone sharp enough to cut glass. 

“I didn’t mean to,” she says quickly. “It was an accident, I swear. I think I panicked a little.”

This does nothing to calm the man’s glare nor the anger in Hitoshi’s gut. “See me before you go back to the dorms for the day.”

“Yes, sir.”

-

Recovery Girl said Izuku had asked for him, which is why Shouta enters the infirmary instead of taking a nap in the teachers’ lounge during his free period. He winces when he sees the bandages around his nephew’s head, earning him a sympathetic look from the nurse. “Aizawa?” Izuku asks, turning his head in his general direction.

“It’s me,” Shouta replies, sitting at the end of the boy’s bed and hating what little part of his expression he can see. He just looks so sad. “What’s up, kid?”

In his lap sit a few origami cranes, another one half-folded in his hands. He flips up the second wing and makes the tail, forming the head as he opens his mouth. “What’s gonna happen to Ashido?” Izuku inquires quietly, grabbing another piece of paper and tearing it into a square shape. “She’s not in trouble, right?”

Shouta glances to Recovery Girl, who just kind of shrugs before going about her business. “Why wouldn’t she be in trouble?” the man counters. 

“I’ll be fine.”

“That doesn’t erase the fact that she went too far, Izuku.”

“Don’t punish her out for my sake.” There’s a level of desperation in his voice that, while it doesn’t match the desperation there as he pled for them to let him help Ashido, it still digs into Shouta’s chest. “Please. I’ve messed with their lives more than enough. I’m not mad--”

That. That’s what does it for Shouta. What makes him damn near lose his shit. “You have every right to be. Why are you forgiving her so easily? She took away your sight.”

“Temporarily, and it was my fault--”

“It wasn’t.”

“I deserved--”

“No. You didn’t. She could have killed you.”

“But she didn’t.”

“And that makes it better?” The teacher forces himself to breathe. Getting angry won’t help anyone. It’ll just cause Izuku to shut down. “What if it had been Todoroki?”

Izuku cocks his head. “It wouldn’t have been.”

Shouta sighs. “Just imagine it was--”

The boy shakes his head. “Ashido’s not afraid of him. She doesn’t dislike him for any reason as far as I can tell. He never attacked her or her classmates. It wouldn’t have been Todoroki.” Never did Shouta think he’d ever hate logic like he does right now.

Can’t he see how fucked up this is? How screwed up his logic is? He’s acting like she just accidentally opened a door into him. “Humor me. It was Todoroki she was fighting. It was Todoroki who was blinded. Would that still be okay? Would you still be fine with that?”

Izuku’s lips purse pensively, his hands stilling partway through the eighth crane. “Well… no, but--”

Despite the fact that the child can’t see, Shouta crosses his arms, raising a smug eyebrow. “Then why is it okay when it’s you? Kid, you don’t get a special set of rules. If it’s not okay for someone to hurt someone else, it’s not okay for them to hurt you. You’re not responsible for anyone’s actions but your own.”

This silences the kid for a moment, the half-constructed bird flipping in his fingers. “Fine,” he says at last. “Just don’t hurt her. Or expel her. Please.”

-

Suffice to say Izuku doesn’t go back to classes for a bit. When he does leave the infirmary, it’s to go down to the cafeteria with the hope that today’ll be better than yesterday was. He doesn’t like the infrared as much as he thought he would have, so he uses echolocation to navigate his way around the school. Which would be pretty sweet, if he had any idea of where he’s supposed to be going. Then there are the bandages around his face, primarily the eyes, that Recovery Girl insisted he wear until his face heals up. They itch. It’s annoying.

“Midoriya?” Togata. At least it isn’t someone like Monoma. That would have been a pain. “What happened?”

The boy shrugs, slowing to a stop so the blond can catch up. “Training got a little rough. I’ll be fine. Could you show me where the cafeteria is, though? It’s okay if you can’t. I just have no idea where I’m going.”

Togata agrees, stopping mid-step as Izuku starts descending the stairs. “You can see?” he exclaims, clearly confused.

Izuku turns back with a raised eyebrow that is completely concealed by his bandaging. “Thanks to a quirk, sort of. You coming?”

-

Midoriya comes into the cafeteria behind some blond guy Denki doesn’t know, head wrapped in bandages that cover his eyes and the tops of his cheeks. Ashido recoils in disgust when he comes in, and Denki’s not sure he’s ever seen her this… judgemental. Like, yeah, he took her quirk, but he gave it right back. It was an accident after she threw acid into his eyes. Denki’s not convinced he wouldn’t have shorted out if he were in Midoriya’s place.

Who would actually listen if he said anything, though? Everyone here, Bakugou, Ashido, Sero, even Kirishima, who is an actual puppy dog in human form… They all detest the poor guy. Even if they treat Denki like a joke sometimes, they’re still his friends. He doesn’t want to lose them. So he eats quietly and uncomfortably, laughing rarely and speaking only when spoken to.

-

“A--Acid?” Hado stutters as Midoriya gives what has to be a highly-condensed retelling of the events that led to the bandages. 

The kid nods, pointing to a pile of mac and cheese on the tray Mirio had gotten for him. “What’s this?”

“Mac and cheese,” the blond replies. “Who did it?”

Midoriya clams up a bit now, seeming unwilling to give it up. To give them up. And it pisses Mirio off nearly as much as it does Hado, who seems intent on telekinetically snapping their table in half. This person blinded him. Put acid in his eyes on his second day in school. And he wants to protect them. It makes him sick. The first year’s jaw clenches and his lip quivers and it makes Mirio worry he’s going to cry. “Ashido,” the boy mumbles, nonexistent gaze locked on his food. “Her name is Ashido.”

Before Hado can go on a warpath, Tamaki grabs her arm and shakes his head, pointing to Mirio, who nods. He’ll find her. What he’s going to say, he doesn’t know yet. But he will find her. He knows Endeavor’s kid is in Midoriya’s class, so he stops by his table first. “Hi, Todoroki!” he greets, chipper as always.

The bicolored teen looks away from his conversation. “Togata.” Did Midoriya say something? Mirio doesn’t often interact with the other years. “Did you need something?”

“I was just wondering if you could point out Ashido for me?”

Todoroki raises an eyebrow. “Midoriya’s sitting with you today?” Mirio nods, not oblivious to the way the brown-haired girl looks away or the boy with the glasses focus on his food or how the green-haired girl starts playing with her fingers. “Pink everything, sitting over there.” He points over his shoulder to where, lo and behold, a girl with pink everything sits.

A hand drops on the blond’s shoulder, making him jump. “What are you doing?” Midoriya asks, unseeing stare drilling into his soul. “Leave her alone, okay? I’m fine.”

Mirio’s jaw clenches, catching his cheek just a bit. “You’re blind,” he spits, his displeasure and anger finally spilling over.

“Temporarily,” the green-haired boy replies, folding his arms. “And I can get by like this. I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt as bad anymore.”

“What Ashido did wasn’t right,” Todoroki argues.

The purple kid next to Todoroki nods. “Even if it can be fixed, that doesn’t mean it’s okay. It doesn’t absolve her of guilt. It shouldn’t have happened--”

“I’m not ripping your class apart with people taking sides over me.” Midoriya interrupts, nails digging into his arms through the sleeves of his sweater. “I refuse. I’m not going to be the reason anyone turns on anyone. Just stop, okay?” Little does he know he’s drawing the attention of those nearby. “I’m fine! So leave Ashido alone and just drop it.”

That Ashido girl turns around, anger fully apparent on her face. Oh, no. Murmurs asking her to leave it alone carry to Mirio’s ears, but they don’t stop her from getting up and stomping over, getting in the blind teen’s space. “If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face!” she snaps, sending Midoriya stumbling backwards. She probably only heard her name and started assuming things.

“I--I wasn’t--” The boy tries his best to get the words out, but can’t. Then he spins on his heel, weaving between students and tables with more ease than he should really be able to achieve without sight. Luckily, Tamaki and Hado see this and follow him out.

“What’s your problem?” Todoroki demands in a low tone.

Ashido cocks her head, like she can’t believe someone might try and defend him. “He took my quirk,” she replies, as if it’s obvious.

The purple-haired kid laughs, a dry, sardonic noise. “He took your quirk? You took his sight!”

She winces, and Todoroki takes this as his signal to continue. “He only took your quirk as a reflex, an accidental reaction to you flinging acid in his face, whether that was on purpose or not. You might have your quirk back, but he still can’t see.”

“He’s a villain!” she justifies, only to get slapped with… air?

A uniform with no one in it appears in front of Ashido. “He’s a victim!” the newcomer--who must be invisible or something--cries. “A hero should be able to recognize that much! If you really need proof that he isn’t evil, he gave you your quirk back when he still had your acid in his eyes! You hurt him and he still tried to help you!" Empty sleeves fly up into the air. "Did you not hear the desperation in his voice as he begged everyone to let him help you? To let him fix it?!" The sleeves swing down as the girl's empty shoe slams against the tiles to emphasize her last sentence.

"What's your deal, Hagakure?" the pink girl bites back. "Just yesterday, you were just like any of the rest of us!"

"That was before I watched Midoriya tell Midnight he didn't feel safe around us! That he doesn't even remember what 'safe' feels like anymore!" Hagakure screams, uniform shaking with her fury.

At least their half of the cafeteria goes silent if not more as Ashido pales to a sickly peach. The others react in their own ways, but Mirio's not paying attention to that. He's too busy trying to calm himself down because one's classmates shouldn't make them feel unsafe. After a few deep breaths, Mirio walks away as quickly and calmly as he can. Those first years! And UA wants them taking the provisional exam? How are any of them supposed to pass if this is how they treat victims?!

-

Hagakure shouts and everything goes still. Togata ducks from the room quickly, just about ready to explode and thanking every deity that his friends weren't in the room for that. Hado would have gone ballistic and Amajiki… Togata doesn't know how he'd react. 

Todoroki and Shinsou both stiffen, neither having been aware of just how bad things were for Midoriya until this moment, feeling sick because they honestly should have noticed, shouldn't they have? They're training to be heroes, for fuck's sake. Iida, Asui, and Uraraka all feel sick as well, but for a different reason. Sure, they were all coming to see Midoriya as human, especially after his childlike glee regarding his cinnamon roll, but that doesn't mean they weren't still wary of the boy. He was a villain, and therefore he's a danger. It's just what's logical. But now? All three feel that much less certain of themselves. None of them could separate the person from the actions long enough to really absorb Midoriya's story. They're part of the problem. None of them stepped in when their classmates were obviously excluding him, treating him poorly. They were complicit.

At another table not too far away sits Bakugou, who pauses with his fork halfway to his mouth when the invisible girl yells. He doesn't feel safe. Midoriya doesn't feel safe? What kind of shitty hero makes someone feel like they're in danger? The fork, plastic, thankfully, shatters in his hand as his grip suddenly tightens. He can't be number one if the first time he comes across a victim, he scares them. The hell is wrong with him? Sero, on the other hand, is less frustrated and more mortified. He doesn't make people feel unsafe. He never has. His silly-looking face is something he's proud of just because of how it can make people smile. He puts on a big grin and his siblings are smiling through their shots. He relaxes people in stressful situations. At least, he's supposed to. At the same time, Kirishima has to reconcile the killer he knows, the boy he watched murder his classmate, with the scared blind kid who just ran out of the room not too long ago. The one who apparently told Midnight he didn't feel safe around the students in his class. And it's so fucking difficult. And Kaminari? Poor Kaminari. His nails dig in behind his ears as he covers them, wondering what would have happened if he had stood up. If he had advocated for Midoriya and risked getting shunned by his friends. Could he have stopped this from happening?

Don't forget the woman of the hour, Ashido Mina, who feels like a total bitch. Maybe Midoriya is the one who can't see, but she's the blind one here. Blinded by her own preconceptions. And here she claimed to be against bullying. If she doesn't get expelled, maybe she should just transfer to general studies or drop out all together. He's a victim. A kidnapping victim. And she couldn't look past the fact that he was forced to attack her class. It's not like he wanted to! "Hit me," the girl rattles, voice empty of emotion. Hagakure, confused yet still incredibly upset, begs her pardon. "Hit me. You'll feel better and I deserve it. I'm sorry about all this. Just…"

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," the invisible girl snipes, marching back to her table and promptly ignoring her stunned tablemates as she continues eating. Nothing resolves quickly, least of all something like this.

-

He found the stupid fucking regeneration quirk. He found it too late to avoid the scene in the cafeteria, but at least he found it. Behind his bandages, Izuku tries to heal his face, to bring it back to its past state as he does his best to find Recovery Girl's office again. She was on the third floor, right? He hopes everything just stopped when he left. No more yelling or arguing. And on the one hand, it only makes logical sense for them to stop. He doesn't need people to stand up for him. If he's not there, it isn't like they have to keep up the facade of caring about him. On the other, he has no reason to believe they would stop. Nothing's allowed to be easy for him, it seems.

By the second flight of stairs, Izuku thinks he has enough back that he can take off his bandages. Instead, though, he just messes with them enough that he can see out of one eye. Then he stumbles upon his third years. "What are you guys doing out here?" he asks, turning their confusion into relief.

"Looking for you?" Hado replies. "You were yelling then ran out. Amajiki and I were worried and Togata seemed too busy with your classmates to come check on you with us. Hey, wait, why's your bandage moved?"

Izuku blinks, whether as a reaction to the girl's declaration or just to see if he healed right, he's not sure. "So I can see.” He glances around before just giving up. “Could you help me to Recovery Girl’s office? I want to have her look before I take them off.”

Chapter Text

While the quirk helped fix the damage done by Ashido, it doesn’t leave his face unscarred. The skin isn’t particularly smooth, but, then again, none of his skin is. It’s nothing new, and it overwrote some of Izuku’s old scars, so he really can’t complain. He wonders if he could have gotten away without any scarring if he had been able to see what he was doing. Too late for that, though.

The boy walks into English a little late, since Recovery Girl had wanted to check his vision and stuff. He almost wishes he still couldn’t see just because of the way the students’ eyes follow him as he skirts the walls to his seat. Which is worse, the hatred or the… whatever this is? Pity? Guilt? Did he miss something when he left? Izuku does his best to avoid eye contact, keeping his eyes in his notebook for the rest of that class. “I’m fine, Shinsou,” he says during the break when Shinsou turns around. “Don’t worry about it. I can see.” He told them it would be fine. He told everyone it would be fine.

Maybe he shouldn’t have tried. He shouldn’t have attempted to open up. What did it get him, anyway? Acid burns and people worried about him and arguing. People upset at one another because of him. Why the hell did he think anything could turn out okay?

Next class, Izuku doesn’t talk, save working with Tokoyami on a worksheet for math. Which is to say most of the words out of his mouth are numbers or questions about the material and nothing unrelated to the assignment, no matter how hard his classmate tries to steer the conversation.

As soon as classes are over, Izuku grabs his stuff and leaves, waiting for no man as he dances between students and squeezes his way into the stairwell. If anyone’s looking for him, they’d probably go to his dorm room first, so he shouldn’t go there. That leaves support, since he’s supposed to be getting his hero costume, which is an oxymoron, and Aizawa, to ask to go see Inko. He should at least try to see her at some point. And this means he can’t go to either of those places, since they’d probably be the second and third places someone would look for him.

In the end, he decides to go to the roof after getting lost a few times. It’s a split-second decision that makes the boy scale the fence and sit on the very edge of the roof, feet dangling in the open air as he tries to sketch the skyline in front of him with just a pencil and his notebook. It’s soothing, not having to worry about questions or keeping on a content expression as to not worry anyone. Self-imposed isolation has its perks.

-

When she sees the green kid on the roof, Mei feels a spark of an idea. “Hey, Power Loader?” she calls as she helps the teacher carry stuff into the building. Most of it was ordered because of her, so she might as well lend a hand. “Do you think I could test some of my babies from the other side of the fence on the roof?”

“No?” the hero replies almost immediately. “It isn’t safe. Where’d you even get that idea?”

The girl points up to the roof. “The green kid in a sweater who’s on the other side of the fence. He’s not supposed to be over there?”

Power Loader drops the box he was carrying in his surprise. “Midoriya,” he hisses before sprinting inside.

Well… looks like Mei will have to find some other high place to test her babies.

-

Izuku can feel the panic before the door slams open, revealing… Power Loader, he thinks his name is. He’s seen him in the teachers’ dorms a few times, but not much beyond that. “Hi?” he greets, confused. One, how did he find him? Two, why does the hero seem so scared?

“Midoriya, why don’t you come back over here and talk to me, okay?” the man bargains.

The greenette raises an eyebrow. “But I’m comfortable,” he argues, still unsure of what’s going on.

Power Loader tenses momentarily. “You have people who care about you, kid. Whatever sent you up here, it can’t be fixed unless you’re around to see it.”

“I’m aware. I wanted to be alone for a bit. How does one fix that besides being alone for a bit? Why wouldn’t I be around to see it?” A few thoughts lock into place at once. Where he is, the purpose of the fence, the reason the teacher's so worried. “Wait- Wait, wait, I- I wasn’t-” he stammers, clambering to his feet and going back to the correct side of the fence. “I didn’t- That-” His heart hammers in his chest as he tries to fix his mistake. He’s become good at making those lately. “I don’t want to die. I’m sorry to have worried you. I just wanted to be away from everyone for a second. I’m really sorry.”

Visibly relaxing, Power Loader shakes his head. “I’d prefer to have been worried over a misunderstanding than for my assumption to have been correct. Though I’ll have to ask you to stay on the correct side of the fence.”

“Yes, sir.”

“There are much safer places you can go to be away from people.”

“Sorry, sir.”

-

Instead of sitting on the edge of the roof like a dumbass, Izuku ends up locked in his room, not answering the door. Not for Aizawa or Todoroki or Togata or Shinsou or Amajiki or Hado and certainly not Ashido. Why won’t they just leave him alone? He’s fine. He made it through the entire school day with minimal injuries. He didn’t go up to the roof to pull a self-death. He can see again. He has food. He has Bastard. What more do they want? He doesn’t need anything! If anything, he’s tired. Poor kid hasn’t slept in days. And he probably won’t do so until he passes out.

“Midoriya,” Togata calls through the door. Izuku’s almost convinced they have shifts now, that they’re taking turns.

“Please leave me alone,” the boy responds, not bothering to hide the exhaustion in his voice as he hugs his borrowed cat close.

Bastard glares up at him, like she disapproves of him cordoning himself off.  “We’re just worried about you.”

“That was a stupid decision,” Izuku grumbles, moving the cat from his lap to his bed and making for the door.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. I’ll see you in the morning.” The boy lays down on the floor in front of his door, looking under the crack. Two pairs of feet. Two people out there. And something in Izuku cracks. “I just want to be alone! Just for a bit! Is that too much to ask? Am I not allowed a moment of solitude?! I’ll be out later!” Cue the thing Izuku had wanted to avoid showing: the point of exhaustion that makes him emotional and irritated and weepy. The thing that could have gotten him killed even a week ago. That means he’s relaxing too much. At the first sign of tears, he rolls away from the door and heads to the opposite side of the room, contemplating going out on the balcony and locking the window behind him. The plus side of being in his room is that people know where he is. No one’s going to be worried they lost him. The downside is that people know where he is. It’s easier to be alone when no one can find him.

He’s just so fucking done.

-

Izuku wakes up an hour and a half later to silence, having cried himself to sleep or something. It was a good sleep, at least. No dreams. And he feels a lot better, so that’s a bonus. As he sits up, Bastard peeks up from her position next to him on his bed, nuzzling his hand almost immediately, earning herself a few pets before he gets out of bed. 

Not wanting to cut into his emergency supply, the child leaves his room, heading downstairs in search of food. He doesn’t reply to Midnight’s greeting or try to stave off Present Mic’s worried expression or even acknowledge All Might’s presence. He just throws some bread in the toaster, makes a cup of tea (with a shit ton of milk and sugar, because he refuses to let his leaf water taste or feel like leaf water), sits on the counter, and waits. “Izuku.” He looks over the rim of his mug to see Aizawa, looking more tired than usual with a twinge of worry in his expression. “Would you prefer to stay with the third years?” It looks like he has more he wants to say, but he stops there, much to Izuku’s relief.

“Stay with the third years?” the child repeats as his toast pops up.

His uncle nods, grabbing a plate for the toast and setting it beside Izuku. “Go stay in the 3-A dorms rather than here. It’s clear you’re more comfortable around them than you are us. Besides the teachers, those three are best equipped to handle your situation, anyway.”

It sounds… not terrible. Better than being surrounded by heroes constantly. “I wouldn’t want to impose…” mumbles the boy, grabbing his food and tossing it on the plate, stuffing a slice in his mouth.

Aizawa leans against the counter himself, folding his arms across his chest. “Togata and Hado offered it up. Amajiki was there, too. Though he didn’t say anything, he seemed fine with it.”

“... Okay. I want quirk suppressors, though.”

Not too much later, Izuku and his meager possessions find a new home on the third floor of the 3-A dorms.

-

Even after moving in with them, Midoriya doesn't talk too much. He talks decidedly less than he did when they'd first met, which was a small amount to begin with. Save a "Where are the forks?" or a "I can't reach the top shelf," he doesn't talk. He's shut down to the point that he makes Tamaki look like a chatterbox. Tamaki is not a chatterbox. 

He moves like a ghost, there but not at the same time. He smiles, but there's no feeling behind it. When he's out of his room, it's as if he wants to take up the least amount of space possible. The boy ignores attempts to check on him, not responding if anyone asks how he's doing. Needless to say, all of them are worried. But what more can they do beyond send him off with a smile when Aizawa comes to take him to therapy?

"I don't like this," Hado announces when the green-haired kid is gone, voicing Tamaki's own thoughts perfectly. "He's different, right?"

Mirio nods, letting his concern come in full-force. His brows furrow and he starts to pace, anxious strides carrying him quickly from one end if the common room to the other. "He's shutting down."

Tamaki's hands start folding over each other, his eyes landing on the small crane on the arm of the couch. "He had probably just started letting himself relax," he posits. "The moment his guard came down, he was attacked. Viciously. Can you blame him for putting it back up, stronger than before?" He's done the same over less. The dark-haired teen remembers the time in his first year when that blond kid wouldn't back off and sent him spiralling into a panic attack. He wouldn't talk to anyone but Mirio for a week, barely looking at that kid for two months. 

Understanding frustration will get him nowhere, Tamaki heads up to his room, nearly tripping over that white cat Midoriya brought with him. He might as well get some homework done.

-

“Hey, Shinsou, could I ask you something?” Hitoshi looks up from his book to see Ashido standing over him but looking away. Her hands wring together and she shifts from one foot to another nervously. “I’d ask Todoroki, but I don’t think he’s speaking to me.” As if to make her point, she glances to the other couch in the common room, where the guy in question has his face buried in his phone. The purple-haired teen raises an eyebrow, an indication she takes to continue. She’s learned well. “You’re kinda close to Midoriya, right?”

Well, Hitoshi wouldn’t word it that strongly. Just because he’s not a complete ass and actually stands up for the guy doesn’t mean he’s close to him in any way, shape, or form. He’s not sure anyone is, really. “So?” he replies instead, almost positive she doesn’t want nor need to hear his ramblings. 

The girl shifts, gluing her eyes to her hands and leaning back a bit. “I was just… Is there anything you know he likes? Something I could do to… I can’t exactly ‘make up’ for… what I did, but… Anything I can do to apologize?”

Hitoshi shuts his book, sitting straighter and forcing her to look him in the eye. It’s not like it’ll blind her or anything. And that, Hitoshi, tells us you have too much sodium in your diet, you salty fuck. “Cinnamon rolls,” he says laconically. “He went nuts over them yesterday at the mall when Midnight took us out.”

Ashido smiles just the tiniest bit before it grows, starting to fill her face when she thanks him. “Hey, Satou!” she calls into the open air, clearly just hoping the resident baker is somewhere he can hear her. Luckily for her, he pops his head out of the kitchen. “Wanna help me make cinnamon rolls?” He kind of just stares at her for a moment. “Please? I’ll do your chores for a week!”

-

When Izuku comes back after therapy, the common room is empty. The lights in the kitchen are off and so are the ones heading up to Hado’s side of the building. He didn’t really expect them to wait up for him, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel… lonely, maybe? With the teachers, there was almost always someone in the common room after school hours. Sure, it was never him, but still. Nevermind. It was stupid. It doesn’t matter. Just ignore him.

He heads up to his room and shuts the door, pulling out his notebook and pencils and sitting by the window. The room has a pretty good view.

Chapter Text

When Mirio goes to knock on Midoriya’s door, wanting to get him so he can have breakfast before classes, he's surprised to find the door not only unlocked, but not completely latched, either. The boy's cat meets him at the door, winding her way around his feet before going back to her human and curling up between his arm and face. 

Midoriya himself sits cross-legged in the middle of the bedroom floor, folded over himself so his head can lay on the floor, a pencil still gripped in the hand by his head. Around him lay several papers, most lined up in what seems to be a four by three pattern, though a few have been displaced by the kid laying on them, a couple bowls of colored something, multiple highlighter corpses and three pencil stubs. Up on his desk sit several more papers, none of which appearing to be schoolwork. As the third year crosses to the bed, careful not to disturb either the papers or the boy using them as a pillow, he actually looks at the stuff on the papers. The twelve on the floor seem to be part of the same image. Though the colors don’t match perfectly, he’d guess it’s the view out the window, what with the building, the wall, the trees, et cetera. The sky shifts from blue to pink, making Mirio think he did them one page at a time rather than as one whole big thing. The ones on his desk vary, some smaller sketches of the view out the window, some of the white cat, one that looks vaguely like a cinnamon roll and some he can't really make out.

He grabs the blanket from Midoriya’s bed, draping it across the younger’s shoulders before creeping out and back downstairs. “Is he not coming?” Hado asks when he hits the first floor.

“He’s asleep. I get the feeling he doesn’t do that much. I’m gonna leave him,” replies Mirio, grabbing a sheet of notebook paper and quickly writing a note for the kid. “We can just tell Aizawa Midoriya might not be coming in.”

-

“Hado?” Shouta’s surprised to see the third year outside his classroom. Then instantly worried. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah! Midoriya was sleeping when Togata went to check on him, though, so we decided to leave him be. He usually looks like he could do with a nap. Just wanted to warn you.” She beams as Shouta lets out a breath, smiling into his capture weapon. The kid’s finally sleeping. Only took him, what, three, four nights? “I’m gonna head to class now! Have a good day, sir!” He waves her off, reentering the classroom in a better mood than he was in to begin with.

As he prepares to start his lesson for the day, he gets interrupted by a specific student he’s keeping a very, very close eye on after yesterday. “Mr. Aizawa, what about Midoriya?” Ashido asks, sounding concerned. He’s glad she apparently had a change of heart sometime between the incident and the end of the school day.

Just like he asked, Ashido stops by his desk at the end of the last period. “Before you say anything, I wanna apologize for my behavior this morning. I had panicked and was completely out of line afterward and-”

“Ashido. Stop. Pleading your case won’t do a thing to change my decision.” Hope drains from the girl’s eyes in an instant. “A month of hour-long detentions. You can only spar under the conditions that your match is being supervised by someone who can end it if the need arises and they’re only watching your match. This lasts until the license exam. You may not spar with Midoriya period until the exam. After that, it is wholly his choice and you will have someone supervising once more. You will also be attending quirk counselling until your counsellor decides you no longer require it.”

And back is the hope, this time much more tentative. “I’m… I’m not expelled?” she asks, clearly having been expecting the worst.

Shouta shakes his head, adjusting his scarf. “It was close, though. You can thank Midoriya for that.” Ashido's brows furrow, clearly confused. Maybe the man's wording wasn't the best. "He pled your case. The kid you burned went out of his way to defend you for burning him." He pauses for a moment, working through his wording in his head. "You show real promise, Ashido. You’ll make a fine hero one day. But you can’t kill or maim anyone if you want to make it there. Rein in your temper, otherwise you won’t be the one putting criminals away. Understood?” She nods quickly. “Good. Then-”

“Is it true that Midoriya doesn’t feel safe around us?” The girl blurts it out, interrupting him with a worried, almost fearful look in her eye. “Hagakure said she heard him tell Midnight that, but it… She misheard, right?” Shouta’s lips purse uncomfortably and Ashido’s face takes on a pained quality.

A thousand different answers fly through the teacher’s mind, ranging from ‘you never gave him any reason not to,’ to ‘it’s honestly a miracle he’s talking to anyone right now.’ In the end he lands on one sentence alone. “Can you blame him? ”

Deciding to let Izuku reveal what he wants when he wants to, Shouta doesn’t halt in his preparations. “If he comes in, he comes in.” The girl’s expression drops as she glances to her backpack, emotions swilling around behind the yellows of her eyes, not a one of them positive. “He’s fine.” She perks back up at this, not quite smiling, but it’s clear she feels better. Finally, Shouta can get to his lesson.

-

It’s way too bright outside when Izuku finally wakes up. The clock next to his bed reads just a bit after noon and a flurry of thoughts shoots through his head all at once. He’s missing school. He’s been asleep for at least five hours. No one tried to wake him up. Noticing but not truly registering the blanket that slips off his shoulders as he stands, Izuku paces the length of the room a few times, careful of Bastard, last night’s stress drawings, and his bowls of highlighter soup. Maybe highlighter soup wasn’t the best idea, but when you’ve got the voice of the guy you killed after he kidnapped you waxing poetic about how you’re going soft because you don’t really blame the girl that blinded you for a bit and what exactly happens to people who are weak, you’re not exactly in your right mind. It started with pencil drawings. Then he added highlighters for a bit of variation because they were the only colors he had. Then he broke the highlighters and put the ink cartridges into bowls of water because the tips were too small and he wanted to cover more area. It would be why his fingers are stained with bright colors. Idiot. He shouldn’t have broken them. Now he needs more. Whose were they, anyway? Whatever. It can be dealt with later.

So, it’s noonish. Classes have already started, lunch should be happening soon, and Izuku has no idea what he’s supposed to do. If he goes in now, will he be in trouble? If he doesn’t go in now, will he be in more trouble? Is there a reason the third years just left him? He thought they liked him at least a little. They weren’t scared, at least. Are they mad at him? He knows he shut down a little yesterday. What if they’re avoiding him because of that? Jesus fuck, Izuku. Relax. No need to jump to conclusions just yet. You were sleeping. That hasn’t happened nearly enough yet. They’re probably looking out for you. But he never was quite sure.

Until, like, five minutes later, when he changes into his uniform and heads downstairs with his bag. He goes for the cupboards which he was informed contained snacks, stopping when he sees the note on the coffee pot.

Hi, Midoriya!

We decided to let you sleep. We already told Aizawa, so don’t worry about him. There’s some breakfast still in the fridge, since Tamaki had made you a serving before I saw you were asleep. Nice drawings, by the way!

-Togata

P.S. None of us will be here when school gets out. The three of us have internships with hero agencies. We'll see you when we get back!

See, dumbass? his rational side croons, rolling its eyes inside his head. They didn’t abandon you. They’re taking care of you. Then why doesn’t he feel normal again? Why is the pit in his stomach still there? Why does the feeling of his sleeves on his arms make him want to yank his shirt and blazer off and throw them as far as he can? Why does his anxiety spike and why does he feel so uncomfortable? People caring... it should make him feel good, shouldn’t it? Maybe he should ask Dr. Akemi at his next therapy session.

Not really paying attention to what’s on the plate in the fridge, Izuku sucks down the cold breakfast and books it. He’s going to class, damn it. A bit of unsanctioned speed quirk use later, he ends up in 1-A just before the students start to trickle in. None of them acknowledge his presence. Good. He rather not cause a--“Midoriya!”--fuss. Fuck. Hagakure bounces over to him, stopping next to Bakugou’s desk rather than his, which he’s glad for. Bakugou is… decidedly less so. “You came in!”

Izuku offers a small smile and wave, already uncomfortable with the attention. “I just overslept. Recovery Girl wasn’t kidding when she said her quirk tires you out,” he jokes, hoping she’ll just… leave him alone. When Ashido comes in, his smile becomes a little more genuine. That means Aizawa didn’t kick her out. 

Ashido winces a little when she sees Izuku, her expression evening out to a questioning glance that she turns to Aizawa who crawls out of a sleeping bag on the floor. That can’t be a comfortable sleeping place, but as a kid who just woke up on his bedroom floor all folded over himself maybe ten or twenty minutes ago, Izuku can’t really judge. Aizawa nods and a feeling of dread surges over Izuku’s entire body. Shit’s about to happen and he doesn’t like it.

Seemingly from nowhere, Ashido pulls out a small, blue food box thing. He thinks it’s called tupperware or something, but he’s also the least knowledgeable person in the room on mundanities. She takes Hagakure’s place after the latter sits down, hands gripping the container hard enough her knuckles go nearly white and the box shakes a little. Everyone’s eyes are on the pair and the greenette hates it so much. “I… I wanted to apologize. For everything.” Nope. Nope! That’s it! Izuku shouldn’t have come in today! This was a terrible decision! When the boy doesn’t respond, she continues. “Shinsou said you liked cinnamon rolls, so I asked Satou for some help and…” One slightly quivering hand leaves the side of the container and removes the lid, revealing five cinnamon rolls. 

His heart soars for a moment before it drops through the floor, doing its best to become one of the mole people. She hurt him yesterday. And this change of heart feels a little sudden. What if she did something to them? Some sort of toxin or something. Trying to finish yesterday's job or getting revenge for him taking her quirk. Can she act that well? It’s not impossible. Izuku apparently did for quite a few years. But what if she didn’t do anything to them? If he refuses, then he’s taking her peace offering and dragging it through the dirt, spitting in her face. He doesn’t want that either. The longer he takes to respond, the more anxious her expression becomes. Aizawa’s expression seems resigned, like he predicted this. Whatever ‘this’ is. “Can I share them? If we cut them into fourths, there’d be enough for everyone.” This way he’s not outright refusing and he’s not taking too much of a risk. Ashido probably hasn’t built up a tolerance to any poisons yet. Unless she can make poisons with her quirk? But… she wouldn’t put her innocent classmates in danger… right?

When both the girl and the teacher give it the okay, Izuku waits for Ashido to take a piece before taking one from the same roll. She wouldn’t eat one she messed with if she has any sense at all. After she takes a bite, he follows suit, actually dying of euphoria because this are even better than the one at the mall despite being cold. And thus starts Izuku’s day of watching the other teens for signs of poisoning. 

He pretends not to notice the sad look his uncle wears. It’s clear Aizawa knows why he asked to share.

-

By the end of classes, no one’s dead, so that’s a bonus. As he tries to return to the 3-A dorms, though, Izuku gets stopped by yet another nervous hero-in-training. “Hey, uh, Midoriya?” Izuku’s been good about smiling today, but he’s tired. He just wants to go hide in his room and stop having to pretend he’s okay. Well, he is okay, but--“Can we talk for a sec?”--his definition of okay is so much different than theirs. 

“What’s up?’ he chirps easily. He’s not as worried about Kaminari as he was Ashido. For the most part, the blond’s been good to him.

Kaminari twists his foot, digging his toe into the dirt as he chews his lip. Nervous tick, maybe. “I’m sorry I never stood up for you.” Oh, no. Not again. He doesn’t want apologies. He doesn’t want people to think they have to apologize. And he can’t fucking say that, because he feels like he’ll cry if he opens his mouth. “I knew what they were doing was wrong. The way they were treating you was wrong. And I just stood by and watched.” The blond just looks… so angry with himself. And all Izuku can do is keep himself from making any noise as the tears start to drip. “Wait--I didn’t mea-” The shorter, unable to speak without running the risk of some crying noise slipping out, throws himself at the taller, just wrapping him in a hug and holding him there. Izuku hopes the hug can convey everything he can’t. He’s not upset at him. He’s not upset at any of them. He completely understands why he didn’t do anything. He understands why everyone was--is--scared of him. He’d rather take the poor treatment than come between friends.

When he recovers from the shock of being one of the first people in class Izuku’s willingly touched so far--only Todoroki before him, but he probably doesn’t know that--Kaminari tentatively returns the hug, burying his head in his shoulder and murmuring apologies for being mean or a coward or a bystander or whatever word he can drag out of that self-criticizing cave in his mind. Then Izuku starts to feel the moisture through his sweater and uniform top and rips his classmate away from his chest, scowling even though tears still fall from his eyes. That bastard is crying. “Don’t you dare cry over me,” he snaps with a slight voice crack, green eyes piercing yellow with enough strength to smash through the front gate. He pulls Kaminari back into the hug before noticing with a grimace the cocky blond that stalks over to the rest of the class. The one that stops in front of Ashido. 

Izuku breaks away from the hug, enhancing his hearing as he approaches the scene and wincing when he hears Monoma croon, “So, you took a shot at the villain? Tried to kill your classmate? What a pathetic thing to do. Typical of 1-A.” A small burst of anger shoots through him, but he tamps it down right quick. Can’t go making a scene, can he?

Ashido, who looks ready to deck him, kind of startles when she sees Izuku, which makes Monoma turn to see him, paling immediately. “If you have to mess with someone in 1-A, I’d prefer it to be me,” Izuku announces, meeting the B student’s eye defiantly.

In a futile attempt to regain his cocky composure, Monoma squares his shoulders with a sneer. The fear in his eyes is still obvious. “The villain wants to play the hero now? Give me a break!”

“The villain wants to lead a peaceful life. The villain wants to keep people safe. The villain wants you to leave his classmates alone. And the villain, though he knows what he is and what he’s done, would prefer to not be referred to as the villain. The villain has a name and it is Midoriya Izuku. Either one is fine.” He sighs, remembering the fact that he was just crying and wiping his face. “They’ve been through enough. You all have. None of you need any harassment, and you definitely don’t need it from each other. So if you really need to pick on someone, pick on me. You have more than enough ammo and I’m more than used to it.”

-

Mina thought she understood things. Teachers were meant to teach things and villains were bad people and one should apologize when they wrong someone. Stuff like that made sense. Though Midoriya is slightly killing that second one, it doesn’t change the fact that there are things in life you should expect. There will always be bad people. Trains will always be packed. Every day will not be good, or even okay. If you hurt someone, you should expect a bit of a grudge. Midoriya apparently added that last one to his hit list, too. He lines up the rifle and pulls the trigger as he throws himself between her and Monoma, painting a target on his back bigger than the one on her own.

He doesn’t even glance at her once as he tells the blond to attack him rather than the rest of 1-A. He doesn’t speak with any hostility, either, which just sounds weird because Mina probably would be yelling if she were in his position. There’s actually not a lot of any emotion in Midoriya’s voice right now, if she really thinks about it. Just a tired resignation. “So if you really need to pick on someone, pick on me. You have more than enough ammo and I’m more than used to it.” He sounds like he hasn’t slept in a while. It only occurs to her now that he’s never really sounded well-rested. 

What’s he doing? Why’s he defending her? Defending any of them? Todoroki and Shinsou and vaguely Hagakure are the only ones that ever treated him especially well. But here he is, telling Monoma to pick on him rather than Bakugou, who stole his notebook, or Uraraka, Tsuyu, and Iida, who went to the mall with him because they didn’t trust him near Todoroki and Shinsou, or her, who threw acid on his face and blinded him for half a day. As Monoma walks away, disgusted with life and probably a bit scared--Mina doesn't blame him. Midoriya seemed too calm when telling him to target him instead--she just breathes out a simple, "Why?" Midoriya turns, confused and she drops her eyes to his lips, his eyes a painful yet so very prominent reminder of what she almost took from him. "Why would you try to help me?"

The boy kind of shrugs, glancing away before looking back at her once more. "He was being mean for no reason. And he was using me to do it. Monoma doesn't like me. He doesn't care about me and he damn sure doesn't want to help me or defend me in any way. 'S not like I blame him or anything, but he just took an issue surrounding me and used it to attack you. I won't stand for it." She opens her mouth to protest, but he apparently isn't having any of that. "Ashido, it's fine. It's like I told Monoma. I'm used to it already. Better me than you guys." Now that she listens with an open mind, he sounds sad. Not "I dropped my ice cream" sad, but the indescribable pang of loss and loneliness that you hope to never experience and nearly shut down because of. "It's fine," and "I'm used to it." What did he have to live through? And how much worse did I make it? No one stops him when he heads off to wherever he's staying.

-

Izuku heads back to the dorms and waits. And waits. And does some exercise. And waits. And grabs some cereal, sitting on the countertop to mindlessly munch on it. And goes upstairs and does some homework. And it hasn't even been an hour. When are the third years coming back? Why is he so bored? Maybe he should go for a run or climb a tree or something. Would anyone be practicing for the license exam at Gym Gamma right now?

Should he ask Aizawa if he can go see Inko?

Before he does any of that, Izuku steals a pair of scissors from a drawer and heads to the bathroom. He starts with his bangs, cutting them high enough that he can actually see. In the mirror, he watches as dull, green eyes worm their way out of the shadows of his hair and he smiles. Nothing big, but it feels… liberating. Just like wearing the brightly colored cardigans or the red sneakers and locking the door and drawing anything that isn't specifically analysis or other planning. Everything he was never allowed to do. By the time he sets down the scissors, Izuku feels so much lighter. There's enough hair in the trash can to make a small, green dog and the hair still on his head is nowhere near even, but he doesn't care. He's never cared much about his appearance. He's just happy it's gone.

Chapter Text

In the end, Izuku does end up heading to Gym Gamma, surprised to see a good number of students there. Then again, the license exam is coming up. They're probably trying to get as much training as possible in before then. As he creeps along the wall and takes a seat in the corner, he keeps an eye on the students. They all seem like first years. B class, probably, considering the only ones he recognizes are Kendo and Monoma. None of them really notice him, but that's probably for the better. He'd rather not distract them. He just wants to watch them train, maybe theorize about their quirks a bit. You wouldn’t have to study them for their quirks if you just took the quirks for yourself.

When I die, the first thing I'm doing is killing you again. Shut up. Izuku lets his eyes rake across the practicing students, vehemently ignoring the way All for One tries to persuade him to go back to Hisadeland. Hisadeland can burn for all Izuku cares. 

Some students spar and some try new moves with their quirks. That kid who seems to be able to solidify air interests Izuku. It's a versatile quirk. Can he choose the shape or how hard the air gets? After a while, the intruder finds himself mentally correcting people's form, thinking that the girl with the horns should have her legs closer together and the guy with pure black skin needs to tighten up his guard a bit. 

Before he can even register the explosion, Izuku's flying across the room, legs pushing him forward with the help of several speed quirks. Guess it's safe for him to use more than one at once. It’d kind of suck if it wasn’t. His shoulder slams into the back of the girl with the horns as the chunk of cement comes down on his back, four strength quirks barely enough to keep it from crushing him and the other three students. A sharp chunk does its best to cut between his ribs, but he still smiles, even if it reads more as a grimace. "Could you… move, please?" Izuku forces out, polite despite the strain in his voice. Kendo grabs two of them as the horn girl leaves of her own accord. 

The greenette lets out a breath and immediately regrets it, since the concrete shifts ever so slightly, making the whole situation that much more painful. He can't roll it off his back. It's too wide and he honestly doesn't think he has the strength to do much besides keep it from crushing him. "Could some--Could someone get a teacher? Cementoss or Power Loader or someone? Hell, even All Might would work." His teeth grind together and he gasps as his foot slips a little, leading the cement to move once again. Should've just smashed it. Except I didn't know if I could. Then there's the issue of debris. Better me getting hurt than any of them. 

An image of Atlas comes to mind briefly, a titan condemned to hold up the sky. And here Izuku stands, knees creaking and shins shrieking under the weight of a chunk of cement he wasn't actually supposed to watch fall. It's funny how a mere mortal such as himself could be put in the same situation as an immortal deity. "I can copy your quirk and help you hold it." Izuku looks to the right to see Monoma holding out a hand. He's under the cement. 

The boy's heart stutters as he does his best to keep the chunk of near-death from sliding off his back. "I've got it!" he snaps, panic making him standoffish, visions of various disasters flashing behind his eyes. "The villain's got it under control! Get a teacher!" He hates the way the blond winces at the word "villain," but at least it gets him out from under the debris.

"Honenuki," Kendo calls. Gone is the fear he saw on the first day, replaced by some heroic confidence. Wonder what that’s like. "Can you do something?"

"Don't come under--!" Izuku cuts off with a hiss of pain. His knee clicks something awful and his shin feels like it's trying to splinter apart. He won't be able to hold it up too much longer. 

Are there any other quirks he could use? He hasn't trained much with the metal things from Kamino and he's not really close enough with anyone at UA for him to use that warp quirk. The speed quirks wouldn't be quick enough and he doesn't think he has anything that could destroy the cement. He hasn't hoped to see a hero this much since he was eleven at the oldest. "Close your eyes and hold your breath." That's all the warning the boy gets before he feels the cement on his back soften and begin to flow down around him like dough. He doesn't fight. Not against the putty-like substance engulfing his being and not against gravity. Should he be trying to get out? Probably. But he just held something really heavy for much longer than he probably should have and he is therefore going to let the hands pulling at his arms do most of the work. 

When his face meets air and something starts scraping stuff away from his mouth and nose, Izuku takes slow breaths, not opening his eyes just yet. "Shit… is he dead?" someone, maybe Monoma, asks.

"He is not dead, thank you very much," the greenette sighs, letting a smile fall across his face because he's not dead. It was close for a second there. He isn't sure how much longer he could've held out for. His shins make their protests quite evident as he shoves himself to his feet and starts hobbling for the door. It’d probably be a good idea to have Recovery Girl check his legs. They really don’t feel gre--Izuku collapses a few feet from the door with a hiss of pain and all he can do is sit up, hang his head and cuss himself out. Stupid fucking legs can’t work the way they’re supposed to. 

A few voices shout in surprise, but it’s Kendo’s that comes to his side. “You okay?” she asks quickly.

And all Izuku does is laugh. Though his head still hangs, though he doesn’t so much as glance at her, he laughs right in her face because she wouldn’t have been concerned about him falling at all if he hadn’t thrown himself in the way of that concrete. Maybe he’s being too harsh, but some part of him just thinks this is hilarious. He only gets regarded as “human” rather than “villain” once he breaks his fucking legs. “Lovely,” he spits, then winces at the malice in his tone. “Sorry. I didn’t--” He tries to stand again just to fall once more, this time with a yelp of pain. God, he really got fucked up.

Morbid curiosity makes Izuku pull up the leg of his pants, merely pursing his lips when he sees the red around his shin that tells him that it’s going to bruise. Kendo stares at it for a moment before she says, “I’m gonna take you up to Recovery Girl, okay?”

She reaches out a hand but Izuku shoves it away. “I’m fine. I can walk.” 

“You can’t,” she insists. “You already fell twice. Putting more weight on your legs is just going to damage them worse. Either let me take you up or wait for the stretcher drone things.”

Finally, he looks her in the eye, confusion plain on his face where pain probably should be. It’s not too bad, he supposes. I mean, he hasn’t passed out yet. “But you’re training.” She should be training. He doesn’t want to cut into her training time.

Kendo sighs, expression pure confusion and exasperation. “You got hurt saving three of my classmates’ lives. It is the absolute least I could do to help you go get fixed up.” She doesn’t mean to. Izuku knows she doesn’t mean to. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t snap his eyes forward at her stern tone, stubbornly not flinching at the way her voice grew the tiniest bit louder than it was while still being perceptible.

“Please don’t yell at me.” The boy’s voice is even as he makes his request. It doesn’t shake in the least and remains as strong as ever. The only difference is that his throat feels tight. It wasn’t yelling. It wasn’t All for One or the doctor or anyone. They’re all gone now. He’s fine. He should be fine.

Why isn’t he fine?

It’s his fault he’s not fine. He should know this by now. Damnit, Izuku, don’t fucking cry! “I--Sorry…” Great. He’s being apologized to again. “Would you like me to help you to Recovery Girl or would you like to take the drones?” Her voice is much gentler now, thankfully. He nods, then belatedly realizes this was not in fact a yes or no question and he’s making himself look like even more of an idiot. “Okay… Come on.”

“Thanks.” Izuku gives her a small smile before allowing himself to be pulled up onto her back.

-

Monoma accompanies Itsuka and Midoriya on their journey to the nurse, the trio moving in relative silence save Midoriya’s occasional wince which gets buried in a cough or something similar. There are little things that bother the girl. One, for example, being the way Midoriya kept insisting he could make it, trying to get up when it was clear his legs couldn’t support him. Another is the way he smiled. He had to-- has to--be in a great deal of pain if his legs refuse to hold him up. But there he sat, conversing like they were having lunch together. And he smiled like she offered to sharpen his pencil. Like this was just an average day and he didn’t just save three people from injury or death at the expense of his own body. “I’m sorry for snapping at you, Monoma. I shouldn’t have--” He cuts himself off with a sigh. “It was mean and kind of a reflex. It was the quickest way to get you out of danger. I’m sorry.”

“I never gave you any reason to be nice--” Monoma tries to interject, but Midoriya cuts him off. 

“You did nothing worse than most anyone else I’ve met. If I can treat them kindly, I can treat you the same. It’s no excuse.” 

Silence befalls the teens once again. As Midoriya rests his head against her shoulder, Itsuka notices he doesn’t weigh much. He feels thin, too. Too thin to really be healthy. His hip bones lightly stab into her back and the girl can't help but wonder what exactly he's gone through. "Hey, Midoriya?" He hums behind her, letting Monoma know he's listening. "I'm sorry I've been a dick. You're… a lot better than I assumed you'd be."

Midoriya's head perks up a bit at that. "Haven't you been mean to at least most of 1-A as well?"

"Well, I--"

"What makes me more deserving of an apology?" There's an innocent curiosity in his voice that shows he doesn't mean to be rude. He simply wants to understand something he doesn't. "Unless you're planning on apologizing to them, too, but I feel like that may not be the case. Is it because I tried to help your classmates? That could be seen as vaguely heroic, but I’m sure other people in the A class have helped keep people safe. Like the girl with the black ponytail. She made masks to help protect against Mustard’s gas if what the others said was true.” Midoriya seems comfortably lost in his own head, which has to be the first time he’s seemed comfortable at all since Itsuka met him. He catches himself not too long after. “Sorry. Rambling was a habit when I was younger. It seems to be coming back.” It makes the girl smile. It makes him seem more human. 

-

At this point, Izuku should just move into the infirmary. Recovery Girl sent Monoma and Kendo away once he got situated, doing something to his legs he was too lost in his head to pay attention to. He’s starting to wonder if this is all worth it. Don’t get him wrong, he’s glad he could save the other students. It’s just… he’s tired of getting hurt all the time. 

The three he saved earlier come in and thank him. It’s nice. “Of course,” he says with a half smile. “I’m just glad you guys are okay.”

Next to arrive are Todoroki and Shinsou, who just kind of stare at him for a second. “Can’t go a day without getting injured, can you?” Shinsou says with a partial grin that tells Izuku it’s a joke.

“It wasn’t my fault this time!” he protests, which makes Todoroki’s expressionless face even more expressionless.

“It wasn’t your fault last time, either.”

“Sorry.”

After they leave, Aizawa and another hero Aizawa calls Vlad come in. It’s explained to Izuku that Vlad is 1-B’s homeroom teacher. “I wanted to thank you for what you did today, as well as make sure you were doing alright,” Vlad says quietly, casting glances toward Aizawa.

Izuku shrugs awkwardly. “There’s no need to thank me, sir. What, did you expect me to sit by and watch them get hurt?” There’s an awkward pause in which the hero refuses to even breathe in his direction which tells him that, yes, he did. Vlad thought that lowly of him. “I’m fine. No need to worry about me. I’ve had worse.”

Aizawa grabs the other hero’s shoulder and starts steering him toward the door, seeming to sense Izuku’s discomfort. “Let’s let him get some rest.” The boy sends him a grateful smile as they leave.

-

When Izuku finally leaves the infirmary, it's with braces on either leg and Todoroki by his side. At the dorm, the latter forces him to sit on the couch and just relax. That lasts for all of five minutes before he’s on his feet and shambling toward the stairs. “Where are you going?”

“I’m gonna grab some stuff from my room if you’re going to banish me to the first floor.”

Todoroki sighs, quickly catching up to Izuku. “I’ll go get it. You sit down. You don’t want to fuck your legs up further. What am I grabbing?”

“Nothing,” Izuku snaps, panic stunting his words. “I’ll go without it. Just forget it.” He drops back on the couch, glancing around. When are the third years coming back? 

Luckily, Todoroki heads to the kitchen for a bit, giving Izuku the opportunity to slip upstairs, grab his notebook and a pencil, and make it back down in time to catch his babysitter’s disappointed expression. “Really?”

Izuku takes a seat once more, doodling as Bastard hops up on the back of the couch by his head. “I didn’t break anything,” he refutes, not looking up. “You don’t have to stay, you know.”

A small silence stretches between the two until the former villain looks up. “But I want to.” Those four words make the poor kid’s heart do the Cha Cha Slide around his chest. “At least until someone else gets here. I don’t trust you to stay off the stairs.” What Todoroki doesn’t know is that Izuku stopped listening, too hung up on the fact that someone said they wanted to stay. With him. That is a choice they want to make. They’d willingly exist in his general vicinity.

The third years come back not too long after this, just after Izuku finally gets past the idea that Todoroki actually wants to be in his presence. “Hi,Todoroki!” Togata greets, ever the ball of sunshine. 

Todoroki stands, giving the three a wave. “Togata. Others,” he greets, heading toward the door. “Midoriya hurt his legs. Recovery Girl said to keep him off the stairs. Carry him if you have to.”

He leaves, the door shutting as Hado notices his braces. “What happened?” she asks, concern lacing her tone.

“Someone’s quirk broke some cement at the TDL. I caught it rather than letting someone else get hurt. It’s not bothering me.” As the older students start to mill around the room, Izuku hops to his feet, ignoring the way his legs protest the movement. “And Ashido apologized for yesterday! That means you don’t have to be upset with her anymore, right?” No one says anything. “... Right?”

Amajiki sits on the couch, gently tugging on Izuku’s shirt to get him to sit, too. “Midoriya, we never had to be upset. It was a choice, sort of. She knowingly and willingly hurt someone. That in and of itself was enough. But she hurt someone we care about, and that makes it so much worse.” Cue bluescreen.

It takes a good thirty seconds for Izuku to get his mouth to work. “You guys care about me?” The words come out as little more than a whisper

For a moment, the other teen looks almost hurt by his question and Izuku regrets saying anything at all. “Of course we do,” Amajiki replies in a gentle tone. He pulls the younger into a one-armed hug momentarily before letting go, worry written across his face. All Izuku does is pull him back into a full hug. They care about him. They really care about him. No, they don’t.

You wouldn’t know love or affection if Cupid shot you himself, All for One.

Neither would you. I made sure of that. You unloveable, unforgivable--

At least I have a chance to learn about it! The boy buries his face into his elder’s shoulder, as if that’ll silence the voice in his head. It doesn’t. But it feels nice, so he’s going to stay like that.

And he might cry. Because someone actually cares about him.

Chapter Text

By the end of the first week, Izuku’s a lot less jumpy, though he still has trouble talking to his classmates or even looking in Ashido’s direction. Monoma’s gotten significantly better, not just to Izuku but to the entire class. Then there are the presents. First, the third years got him stuff for drawing and painting, like a proper sketchbook, some brushes and some paint he’s not sure what he’s supposed to use on. It would probably mess with the sketchbook pages and he doesn’t want that. Maybe he could paint on himself? Next was the gift from Aizawa, which led to the upcoming chain of events, but we’ll get there later. Aizawa gave Izuku a cell phone. “The inevitable goal is to get you socially adjusted enough you don’t need to be accompanied everywhere,” he’d said. “This seems like a logical first step. My and the third years’ numbers are already in it. I’d recommend getting a few of your classmates’ numbers as well, but it’s up to you.” So Izuku now has a phone. Todoroki and Shinsou have him in their contacts. Izuku's never had a phone before. 

Todoroki: We're watching Disney movies and I was told to ask you if you wanted to come.

Izuku stares at the message a moment, unsure how to respond in both senses of the word. Luckily, he taps the message box on his third attempt and brings up the keyboard, typing slowly because the proportions are all off from a regular keyboard. 

Midoriya: Is everyone okay with it? I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. 

Todoroki: Bakugou was the only one to dissent, and he's going to bed soon. 

Todoroki: He also dissents to everything, so his opinion doesn’t usually count.

Does he really want to do this? It's just a movie, so it should be fine. And they'll all probably be paying more attention to the movie than to him. So it'll be okay.

Midoriya: I think I might like that. I'm going to check it with Aizawa though. I'm still not completely sure on what I can and can't do yet.

So he does.

Midoriya: Aizawa, am I allowed to go watch movies with 1-A?

Aizawa: I don't see why you wouldn't be.

Midoriya: I didn't know if I needed supervision to be around them, which I would completely understand.

Midoriya: And a movie generally lasts 1.5 to 3 hours I think, which would put us past curfew.

Aizawa: If you want to go, go. Have fun. If it's to go back to your dorm after the movies are over, you won't get in trouble for breaking curfew.

He stops typing the rest of his explanation, not even realizing he's smiling until he tells Todoroki he'll be over. 

-

Walking into the 1-A dorms is like walking into another world. Despite the fact that, at face value, it's exactly the same as both the teacher and 3-A dorms, it feels different. There isn't the inherent sense of discomfort he gets from the heroes' common room nor the slight comfort he feels in the third years', but instead a sense of liveliness that sparks across Izuku’s skin like lightning. His classmates dart across the room, in and out of the kitchen and stairwells. On the floor lay a bunch of pillows and blankets while more get carted in from bedrooms. Sero and Kouda start spreading stuff out on the floor, making a blanket nest, adding to it as more supplies arrive. 

A few minutes later, Izuku hasn’t moved from his spot by the door, but the rest of his class has started taking their spots on the floor and couch. Sero and Shouji each have a bowl of popcorn on the floor while Iida and Todoroki have the ones for the couch. “So, what movie?” Kaminari asks from in front of the TV.

Some start calling out titles, but Hagakure calls out, “Wait! We should wait til Midoriya gets here!” Have they not noticed him? He’s been here for at least five minutes. “You texted him, right, Todoroki?”

“He said he was coming,” Todoroki replies, checking his phone. Seeing his opportunity, Izuku walks as quietly as he can from the door to the couch, stopping behind Todoroki. “I could text him again.”

The greenette leans down so his face is by his classmate’s ear. In his regular voice, he says, “No need to text me. I’m already here.” Todoroki jumps, almost landing in Tokoyami’s lap before Izuku snickers a little, a grin secure on his face. 

Todoroki wasn’t the only one to jump, considering Sero’s bowl was barely caught by Jirou as he slammed into Kirishima. “Hey, dude! Didn’t hear you come in!” Sero greets, his voice just a little too high.

“I’ve been here for a bit,” he admits, still grinning. After the shock subsides, Todoroki shifts closer to Tokoyami, giving Izuku the spot in the corner of the couch. Shinsou slides back a bit, placing himself against the couch in front of him. His other two sides are clear of people. “Before we start, can I ask what a Disney movie is?”

His intent was to whisper it to Todoroki, but he was clearly a little too loud. “You don’t know what a Disney movie is?” Uraraka gasps, staring from the floor in front of Iida, who sits on the opposite end of the couch from him. The rest of the class also stares with varying levels of disbelief.

Izuku shrinks down in his seat a little, slightly hiding behind his knees. “In case you’ve forgotten, I didn’t have a childhood,” he mutters, flushing from the attention. 

Shinsou passes a blanket up to Todoroki, who wraps it around Izuku’s shoulders like they’re both using the same brain with the same thoughts. “Princess movies for the most part,” the former explains. “All with happy endings.”

“I think I’d be fine with anything you guys choose,” Izuku decides. 

-

They start with Tangled and, for the first half of the movie, Tsuyu actually watches the movie. But then she sees Midoriya out of the corner of her eye. The boy sits, rapt, absolutely enthralled by the story, eyes wide with childlike wonder and she can’t help but smile. It’s hard to believe he was ever a threat, despite having seen him kill someone and laugh while doing it.

She’s not the only one paying more attention to Midoriya than the movie. A quick glance around shows quite a few of their classmates such as Ashido, Kaminari, Satou, and Jirou watching him the same way she is. Maybe it’s because it’s the least guarded they’ve ever seen him.

-

Around 2 a.m., everyone but Izuku’s fallen asleep, leaving him to finish Frozen on his own. He doesn’t know why so many people groaned over it. It seemed like a pretty good movie to him. Then out of the darkness of the stairwell creeps Bakugou with an unpleasant expression that may or may not just be his face. He points to Izuku before nodding for him to follow and heading back upstairs. After carefully extricating himself from the pile of sleeping humans, Izuku does just that. Each story the two ascend just ramps up his anxiety. Bakugou takes him to his room, shutting and locking the door behind them. “Midoriya.” Oh, shit. That’s a real name. That can’t be good. “I’m gonna ask you shit, and you’re gonna answer. Sound good?”

The blond takes a seat on his bed, though Izuku remains standing near the door. If shit goes sideways, he wants to be able to leave. “It doesn’t sound as if I have much of a choice,” he replies, shifting his weight from side to side.

“Of course you have a fuckin’ choice!” Bakugou snaps before making a face and turning away. The shorter is proud of himself for not reacting. “I’m not gonna force you to do anything,” he rephrases, quieter. After a pause, Izuku nods for him to go ahead. “Why did you save me from the villains?”

The answer comes quickly and easily, as if his entire life was meant to bring him to say these words. “I wasn’t saving you. I was saving me.” That shuts the other teen up for a bit.

But only for a bit. “Do you really not feel safe around us?”

Izuku tenses, mind racing for an explanation of how he knew about that. Jirou, Hagakure, and Shouji all have quirks that could let them listen in on his conversation with Midnight. That’s probably what happened. And, considering her entire demeanor completely changed the next day, he figures it was Hagakure. “I don’t really feel safe around anyone. I don’t feel safe on this campus. I don’t feel safe away from the campus. I haven’t felt safe since before I was taken. It isn’t just you guys, I promise. Though a promise from a villain probably doesn’t mean much to you.”

Bakugou looks like he wants to say something, maybe argue with something Izuku said, but sighs instead. “Last question.” Thank fucking God. “The fuck is a ‘Kacchan?’ Why do you know that name? Why do I?” Never fucking mind.

The green-haired boy sits down on the ground, studying his pants as he crosses his legs. “That… is a bit of a story. Before I was kidnapped, I had a friend I called Kacchan. His quirk came in before then, and he had an explosion quirk. My memories of him and Inko, my mother, were the only things that kept me sane before I started writing the letters. I forgot his real name by the time I was ten. I just had a vague idea of what he looked like and his nickname. So, when I saw you at the USJ, it just clicked. I recognized you instantly… though you didn’t recognize me.” He backtracks quickly, seeing the look in Bakugou’s eye. “Not that I blame you or anything! You didn’t have to remember me. I… I might have turned into what he wanted me to if I’d forgotten you.” Anxiety fights to drag his next words back down his throat, but ultimately loses. “I know it might be a little late for this but… do you think we could start over? Try again? Maybe I won’t get kidnapped this time.”

What are you doing? You don’t have friends. You don’t deserve friends. Why would he want anything to do with y-- “I’m Bakugou Katsuki. My quirk’s Explosion. And you are...?” Screaming internally.

Tears prick at Izuku’s eyes as he smiles. “Midoriya Izuku. My quirk’s called… Repossession. It’s nice to meet you.” All for One is dead. His quirk is, too. It’s Izuku’s now.

-

Midoriya leads them back downstairs, mumbling something about how he should be getting back to his dorm. Katsuki wonders distantly where the kid’s staying. On the couch, Half and Half is actually awake, which is more than can be said for the other seventeen. He raises a curious eyebrow before he really takes in Midoriya’s face. The face that had been tearing up upstairs. God fucking damnit. This is going to be a mess. “What did you do to him?” Todoroki demands quietly, hopping the back of the couch to meet the two. 

“We just talked. Don’t worry about it,” Midoriya says in a hushed tone, only to get ignored.

Todoroki repeats himself, voice a little louder and a little harsher. Katsuki, remembering the way Midoriya tensed slightly when he yelled, glances over, relieved to see he seems fine. Midoriya also repeats himself, only getting a little louder. Half and Half turns his glare toward Midoriya, though it softens a little when it lands. “You don’t have to defend him,” he says.

Shoulders squaring, Midoriya meets the other student’s stare with one twice as strong. “I’m not defending him. I’m telling the truth.”

“You look like you either just stopped or are about to start crying.”

“Maybe I’m allergic to something in his room. Just drop-”

Todoroki whirls back to Katsuki. “Why was he in your room?”

By this point, the main reason the blond isn’t arguing his case is because, if he does, he’ll probably be yelling and would prefer not to scare Midoriya. “We were talking, for Christ’s sake!” Midoriya sounds incredibly done. Does he get sick of being treated like this? Like he’s made of glass?

Katsuki sighs before glancing back to the pile of people in the middle of the room. “You’re going to wake them up,” he points out off-handedly, which just serves to upset Todoroki further. 

Half and Half gets louder, which means Midoriya gets louder, which means people start waking up. First is Shouji, then Kouda and Tokoyami, all three of which look on with confusion before hearing Todoroki accuse him of upsetting the newest addition to their class. Round Face and Sonic both get up and join Todoroki, then Katsuki’s friends get up. They don’t say anything, but the way they look between him and Midoriya just says they know it’s possible and fear the worst. Everyone’s voices get louder and more angry until Midoriya’s cuts off.

Black starts to spew from his mouth, enveloping his form and reminding Katsuki a lot of the teleportation quirk that was used on him at Kamino. It would make sense, considering Midoriya had mentioned receiving the quirks the guy in charge had. Once the black evaporates, revealing a Midoriya-less gap in the conversation, Katsuki lets loose. “We just fuckin’ talked, bastard! I had questions and I asked and he fucking answered them. I didn’t make him do jack shit. Every question I asked was answered willingly and under no threat of fucking violence or any shit like that. He looked ready to cry because apparently we were friends before shit hit the goddamn fan and he asked to start over. I fucking agreed.” He jabs a finger into Todoroki’s chest. “And now you went and fucked it all up, didn’t you? You and those other fuckheads over there, accusing me of shit I didn’t fuckin’ do and not listening to a word Midoriya had to say, probably stressed him out enough that one of his damn quirks activated. You fucked up his fight or flight response so fucking badly that his body decided teleportation was a better thing to attempt than staying here!” No one says a word. “I hope you’re all happy. In trying to protect him, you probably hurt him more than I could have alone.”

Hopefully Midoriya’s okay.

Chapter Text

Izuku separates out of the black stuff, falls onto a desk, and to the floor with nothing but a sigh. Stupid emotions activating his stupid quirk. "Midoriya?" Stupid quirk using a person as an end point.

Poor Amajiki sits on his bed with a book, looking like a startled cat. "Hi," the younger greets with a pair of awkward finger guns. 

"Why did you… what?"

The boy shrugs, getting up and sitting on the desk. At least he didn't wake the third year up. That would have been less than pleasant. "Dunno?" 

Amajiki shuts his book, turning to fully face the intruder. "Weren't you watching movies with the first years?" he asks, confused.

"That I was."

"And you teleported here because…?" 

"I got lucky? Imagine if I'd teleported to Aizawa and he was asleep or on patrol. That wouldn't have been good."

The third year shakes his head, visibly getting frustrated. Izuku won't tell him what happened, though. Last time he told the third years when something happened, shit hit the fan and he doesn't want that to happen again. "Midoriya, did something happen?"

"Movies happened."

"You look and sound slightly upset."

Fuck. "Well, that's odd, isn't it?"

Amajiki narrows his gaze. "Midoriya…"

Izuku does the same. "Amajiki," he copies, as if daring him to try anything.

"Did something bad happen when you were with the first years?"

"Yeah. All the movies had a central conflict. Very bad for the protagonists." 

Apparently realizing Izuku's more stubborn than he bargained for, the older of the two gives up. "Are you going to sleep?" The greenette shakes his head almost immediately. The guilt of what he caused would probably just keep him up even if he wanted to sleep. “Would you like to stay?”

“If you’d allow me.”

-

The rest of the night is spent with Izuku rambling about quirks. How they work and things that could possibly help improve them. Amajiki, who was too anxious about a test to sleep, was happy to indulge the boy’s ranting, even throwing his own quirk into the bag and allowing him to poke at it as well, meaning he got a thorough analysis of the ability and an idea of how to get it working better. Izuku had thought that, if they were able to dehydrate the foods he tends to rely on and crush them into a powder, maybe they could make the powders into quick-dissolve tablets so he’d have easier access to different abilities in battle. 

In the classroom, Izuku makes a point to say good morning to Bakugou. He doesn’t, however, make an effort to not talk to Todoroki or anyone else that attacked Bakugou on his behalf, but shit happens. It’s not as if he’s mad at them. Maybe he's a little upset because no one would listen, but he's more upset with himself. Nothing would have happened if he'd just controlled his emotions better. Kept himself from almost crying when Bakugou said he'd be willing to start over. Kept his quirk from activating so he could explain what happened rather than disappearing and leaving Bakugou to the wolves. 

At lunch, it takes a lot of courage for Izuku to drop his tray--he actually got his own food for once. It was terrifying and he never wants to do it again--next to Bakugou, earning him surprised looks from the others around the table. "Midoriya," Bakugou greets gruffly.

Izuku gives the others a small smile. "Is it okay if I sit here?" The question is to any of them. A single no and he's gone. 

Bakugou rolls his eyes. "Just eat, damnit." Ashido nods, Kirishima and Sero both smile, and Kaminari ignores the question, turning to Sero to tell a joke. 

As the other five fall back into their normal lunch time, the new addition glances around. The third years typically sit a lot closer to the wall, but these guys are just out here in the thick of things. There's no way for Izuku to face the entire cafeteria when he's in the middle of it. This was a bad idea. He should go back over with the third years. "Dude, you okay?" It’s said quietly, low enough that, for all but Izuku, the words hide under the verbal brawl of Kirishima and Sero fighting to tell Ashido a story of what happened in today’s training exercise. Across the table, Kaminari gives him a look of concern.

The green-haired boy forces a smile and a nod. He’s fine. He’s just redoing his exit strategies. If worst comes to worst, he has enough speed and strength quirks to get him out the wall of windows easily. Either the blond takes his word for it or remembers what happened last night because he drops it then and there. 

-

Tamaki told Mirio and Hado what happened when Midoriya appeared in his room this morning after Midoriya had already headed out. Mirio doesn’t exactly like being kept in the dark, and neither do either of his friends, so the blond heads over to Todoroki’s table at lunch. He’s a little surprised that Midoriya’s not there either, considering he’s also not sitting at his table, but that just makes asking what happened easier. “Hey, Todoroki? When Midoriya came back to the dorms yesterday, he apparently seemed a bit off. Did something happen last night?” God, he hates the way Todoroki tenses.

The kid with purple hair leans forward, pulling Mirio’s attention to him. “Midoriya and Bakugou talked in Bakugou’s room before coming back downstairs. Todoroki saw that Midoriya looked like he was going to cry and automatically assumed Bakugou did something. He wouldn’t listen when Midoriya told him they just talked, so they started arguing a little, which started waking others up, some of which joined Todoroki. Bakugou figured it had gotten too much for him, because a quirk activated and sent him elsewhere. He seems fine now, though.” The kid really can’t catch a break, can he?

Mirio nods and thanks him, returning to his table. “It wasn’t anything serious. Not like last time,” he reports, repeating what the purple first year told him. “I say we leave it unless it seems like it’s becoming an actual problem.”

His friends make their agreement known before Tamaki sighs. “At least they’re not being mean to him anymore,” he points out.

“Is this what it’s like to be a parent?” Hado asks. “This is exhausting! Remind me not to become a parent.”

-

About halfway through lunch, Izuku let his guard down a little. Just enough for him to enjoy the conversation at hand. He even chuckled a few times. But all good things must come to a close. The period ends and the other students start leaving the room. Bakugou and his friends get up to head back to class, but Izuku doesn’t. He’s afraid to deal with the throngs of people. “You coming?” Bakugou asks, appearing beside the table once more. The shorter shakes his head. He’d rather wait and be late. 

But Bakugou sits back down. “What are you doing?” Izuku questions, confused. 

“Waiting for you,” the blond replies, as if that were obvious.

They sit in silence for a bit after that, waiting for the cafeteria to clear. Normally, Izuku leaves a few minutes early, but today he got too wrapped up in the conversation and lost track of time. “I’m sorry about last night,” the green-haired boy says quietly, filling the silence.

The other student gives him a funny look. “Sorry for what? You didn’t do anything.”

“Exactly. I couldn’t stop them an--”

“Stop that.” He does. “What I meant was you didn’t do anything wrong. You’re not fucking responsible for other people’s actions, got it?”

No, he doesn’t actually get it, but sure. Let’s pretend he does. Once the cafeteria is clear, they walk to class together. Izuku has to admit he likes having someone who won’t act as if he’ll break if they breathe wrong. At least no one seems to want him dead anymore. Beggars can’t be choosers, right?

-

“Aizawa, could I ask you a question?” The teacher looks up, noting the empty classroom before paying attention to his nephew. He nods once, visibly curious. That’s understandable, considering Izuku doesn’t ask many questions. “If someone doesn’t do anything wrong, but people still act on their behalf, is it the first person’s fault?”

The man blinks slowly, setting aside his papers. “What happened?” he sighs. The boy explains the events that had occurred that morning in as few words as possible, but his uncle luckily gets the gist. “You’re not at fault for Todoroki and the others going after Bakugou,” Aizawa deadpans when he’s done. That doesn’t make any sense, though. They were acting because of him. That wouldn’t have happened if he weren’t there. How could it not be his fault? “Izuku, you’re not responsible for any actions but your own. The things others do, regardless of their reasons, are not your responsibility. You’re not to blame. Do you understand?”

He really doesn’t. Back with All for One, any problem, if Izuku was involved in any way, was automatically his fault. It was his fault if he broke something in training. It was his fault if a plan went wrong, even if it only went wrong because someone wouldn’t follow instructions. It was his fault when All Might survived their first fight. It was his fault when Tomura was killed. 

It was no longer his fault when he embraced Midoritani Hisade. It wasn’t his fault when his plans were flawless and someone else fucked up when he embraced Hisade. It wasn’t his fault when the bombs wouldn’t go off at the train station. It wasn’t his fault when the police found the kidnappers before they could bring back the girl. It wasn’t his fault when All Might didn’t die at the USJ. It was only Izuku’s fault when he wasn’t being what All for One wanted him to.

Does that mean it’ll be Izuku’s fault again if he stops trying to be the perfect little hero? Accepts that, at this point, he could only be neutral at best? That he can never be good, that the goodness in him has been ruined forever? “Yes, sir. I understand. Thank you.”

The boy goes to leave, but stops when Aizawa tells him to wait. “Go down to support. You don’t have much time before the license exam and you need a costume.”

Despite the fact that expecting people to listen and maybe even respect his wishes has gone so well in the last twenty four hours, Izuku decides to take a leap of faith. “I don’t want one.”

“And why not?”

Because I’m not a hero. I can’t be a hero. It would be a lie. “It would be a waste of money and effort to make one for me. Anything I would use the costume for, I could do just as easily without it. Besides, my plan isn’t heroics. My plan is to get a hero license so I can give quirks back to their rightful owners legally. I'm not sure what I'm doing after that."

"You could remain in heroics," Aizawa offers. "You've got the skill for it."

That sentiment in and of itself sounds so wholly ridiculous, Izuku almost can't stop the laugh that tries to force itself into existence. "Do you honestly think anyone would be willing to even let me save their cat if they found out about my past?" The boy shakes his head. "I'll figure it out if I get there. But I don't want a costume. I'll wear the gym uniform to the exam."

Chapter Text

Izuku sits alone at the back of the bus, his back against the wall and his feet up on the seat beside him. All of the students have their costume cases with them except Izuku, who just has his gym uniform in his drawstring bag alongside his notebooks and the sketchbook the third years gave him. True to his word, the boy won't be wearing a costume. 

The bus pulls up to the exam site just before the former villain falls asleep, meaning he gets to drag his groggy ass out of the vehicle and immediately put himself on guard because good God is that a lot of people. Thousands stream through the gates before the class, a rainbow of uniforms, students of every shape and size. Someone nudges Izuku, who jumps and immediately goes on the defensive before realizing it was just Todoroki. "Are you still having trouble with crowds?" the taller asks quietly. Izuku shakes his head, then changes his mind and nods, pulling his sweater closer around his body. Today's is a mint green one that hangs a bit loosely on his lean muscle that Inko had sent with Aizawa when she heard Izuku liked sweaters. He really needs to visit her. "I'm here if you need me." Ever since that movie night, Todoroki's gotten a bit better about how he treats Izuku. He's stepped back across the line from overbearing to supportive and it feels so much less suffocating despite Izuku not knowing it was suffocating until that night. 

Just as the greenette contemplates asking Aizawa if he can just wait on the bus and not take the test, some guy comes over to the class and says a few words, slams his head against the pavement, and says a few more. It's like he doesn't even notice his forehead's bleeding. As the guy's getting reprimanded by who Izuku can only assume are the guy's classmates, the former villain pushes to the front of the class, grabs the guy's hand, and pulls on a weak healing quirk. It's only good for superficial cuts and stuff but it's more than adequate here. As soon as the wound is healed, he's back to the back of the class and the other examinee doesn't have a chance to see who did it. It's better that way. He'd hate for anyone to feel indebted toward him for something so minuscule. He’d hate for anyone to feel indebted to him at all. No one deserves that.

"Hey, Eraser!" The cheery voice puts Izuku on-edge. It's so clearly forced and reminds him of… himself. The voice he would use for Hisade, like he was putting on a show and those around him were either actors or audience members. He feels himself get wrenched back to the USJ and immediately gets nauseous. How he wishes he could just block that out and forget the blood on his hands. 

He looks over to see a woman with mint green hair and poofy, striped shorts approaching with a wide grin, her sights set on Aizawa. "Ms. Joke," the teacher greets, annoyance laced beneath his words.

The woman doesn't seem to care, though. "How've you been? It's been a while!" She then breaks into a fit of laughter, as if someone told an incredible joke. It just makes Izuku anxious. "Marry me!"

Aizawa reaction is small enough to go unnoticed by most, but not by Izuku. His jaw clenches momentarily and he glances away. His shoulders tense for just a second and he leans back from the woman, as if being that close to her makes him uncomfortable. As if the entire exchange makes him uncomfortable. "No," he replies, voice the same tired tone overlaying annoyance. She laughs again and Aizawa winces again, this time stepping back a bit. 

Before the boy can even think about doing anything, his feet are moving, shoving his tiny five foot something body between the two adults. "You're making our teacher uncomfortable," he announces in a small but strong voice. "Please stop." God, what is he doing? Standing up to someone who must be a hero? Stupid boy. I thought I got rid of this type of self-sacrificing idiocy a long, long time ago. Because a day wouldn't be complete without our daily interjection from a dead supervillain.

This, too, comes across as a joke to the woman. She must be a pain to have a serious conversation with. "A new student? I thought you didn't take new students, Eraser! And I didn't see this one in… in the sport…s… festival…" Something in her expression changes and places a ten pound weight in Izuku's gut. She knows who you are and what you did.

Steeling himself, Izuku pushes his shoulders back a little bit more and forces himself to meet the heroine's eye. "Who I am doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're making our teacher uncomfortable. If anyone here should be bothering him, it should be his students. He has more than enough to deal with with us in his charge." His chin drops the tiniest bit and his head tilts just so, his demeanor going from neutral-bordering-on-protective to hostile in an instant. The light menace in his voice completes the persona. "Leave. Aizawa. Alone."  Heart racing, the boy melts back into the class and stands by Bakugou, who nudges him lightly with his elbow and gives him a smirk that can only be described as proud-adjacent. “Why did I do that?” he hisses to himself.

“Dunno,” Bakugou replies, “but that was pretty damn entertaining. I didn't know you could do that."

"Neither did I," Izuku realizes with a hint of a smile. Maybe he can do this.

-

He can’t do this. “W-What do you mean I’m not in the same test as them? They’re all together. We’re in the same class. Why am I being separated?” A little ways away, the rest of 1-A files through a doorway, leaving Izuku alone.

The guy behind the counter types something into his computer. “It’s not a different test, it’s not a big deal and it’s not anything you should be worried about.” Too late. Izuku’s worrying. “It seems to be because of your quirk. You’ve been placed in a starting area with other strong and/or volatile quirks since your quirk isn’t registered. It’s still the same test. All that’s changed is the beginning location.” The boy’s mind is a motley of curse words as he heads numbly down the hall the desk person indicated.

This was a mistake. Izuku shouldn’t be here. This is for heroes-in-training. He’s not a hero of any kind. He can’t be a hero. They’re going to find out who-- what he is and they’re going to kick him out of the test or arrest him for existing and Jesus fuck, he just wants to go back to UA. The green-haired teen peeks in the lone door at the end of the hall and, seeing the room is nearly full, opts to stay outside the door. He wedges it open slightly so he can hear the instructions at least. 

As someone who sounds incredibly hyper explains the test, Izuku does his best to shove down his panic. It’s been a while since he’s been alone like this. He doesn’t like it.

-

“Eraser.” Shouta doesn’t know what’s worse: the fact that Ms. Joke is approaching his seat or the fact that she doesn’t sound happy for the first time in his memory. “A word?” He doesn’t even get a chance to reply before she sits beside him and launches into a rant. “That boy from earlier. He’s the villain that attacked your class, isn’t he?”

Shouta glances at the drawstring bag next to him. Izuku had asked him to watch it during the test. “He was,” he replies as students file out into the playing field. Maybe she’ll drop it once the exam begins. 

Ms. Joke takes his confession and runs with it. “You’d let a villain who murdered one of your students and laughed about it be anywhere near the other nineteen? Why isn’t he in jail? Hell, let him rot in Tartarus!”

The UA teacher glances over to his Ketsubutsu counterpart. “This has to be the worst joke you’ve ever told.” She looks almost offended. Would she still feel the same way if that were her student? Her nephew? “He’s a good kid with a good heart. He was forced into villainy at a young age, but has done his best to help people the entire time. The death of that student occurred because a quirk was used on Midoriya. The testimonies of the other students showed he changed far too quickly for it to have been voluntary and the quirk has been demonstrated for the staff. Ever since he’s come to UA, he’s done nothing but try to help others, even at the expense of his own safety. He may have been a villain, but he isn’t anymore and it was never willing. I suggest you keep all opinions about my students to yourself from here on out.” Here, Shouta stands and moves down the row, further from the heroine. Does she really think he can’t take care of his students properly? He’s not an idiot.

-

Izuku places his targets on his chest and his thighs, each covering a vital spot he’s used to defending: his heart and his femoral arteries. You’ve got this, he thinks as he moves through the field, following a group of three applicants through the city setting. If he can catch them off guard as soon as the test starts, he can be done. He’ll move on. 

Poor kids didn’t know what hit them. The buzzer goes off and Izuku springs from the shadows, using Acceleration as he darts between the three, tapping their targets with one of the balls the proctors supplied. Apparently Acceleration is faster than he thought. “One examinee has already passed?” calls a voice over the sound system. “But the test just started!” Whoops. With an apology to the three he got out, the boy hurries toward the waiting area.

Then he looks up to see the hailstorm of target balls raining down from the heavens. His entire mind becomes a flashing neon sign that reads “FUCK” in obnoxiously bright colors that change with every flash. The teen shoves into a building and shuts the door violently behind him, pressing himself into a corner with his knees to his chest as the the balls crash against the building, slam the pavement outside, shatter windows and dent whatever metal they can find. “What the fuck was that?” he breathes as the noises come to a stop. 

“Another applicant has moved on… after taking out the rest of the area. One hundred fifteen examinees taken out in one fell swoop.” Holy-- Izuku walks out of his building, seeing a figure on a roof down the street. That has to be them, right? The other examinee leaves the rooftop and Izuku waits in the shadows, if only to catch a glimpse of this person. Whatever quirk they have, it’s powerful. Thank God All for One never found them.

And it’s the guy from earlier. The guy that slammed his head into the pavement for no fucking reason. Izuku’s feet drag him out of the shadows and force him to meet this stranger head-on. “That’s a pretty strong quirk you’ve got there,” his mouth says of its own accord when the guy gets within earshot. What am I doing?! Stop it!

The other examinee, an absolute mountain of a human, beams at him. Oh, wait, this is the same guy from earlier, the one he had to heal. Fuck. “Thanks!” He then notices the fact that none of Izuku’s targets are red. “Did I not get you?”

“No. I hid in a building. And I’d already passed, so I don’t even think it would have counted.” The shorter starts heading toward the waiting area, still yelling at himself for instigating a conversation. He could have gotten through this without talking to anyone if he’d just kept his mouth shut.

His fellow student hurries to catch up to him, though his height makes five of Izuku’s steps equal to three of his. “You were the first one to finish?” Izuku nods. “The exam had just started and it was already announced! How’d you get three people out so fast?”

After a moment of thought, the greenette simply says, “Quickly.” It’s true. He was only able to do that because he moved quickly.

“Y’know, I really wasn’t expecting anyone to make it through from this area,” the guy says, stopping. Izuku stops as well, curiosity over what he’s going to do next stilling his feet. “Thank you for--” The taller teen’s head whips back and the shorter’s eyes widen, knowing exactly what’s about to happen.

As the other examinee swings his head down in another of those ridiculous bows, Izuku catches his head with his hands, strength quirk activating to keep the guy from eating pavement again. “Stop that! I healed your head once from that type of idiocy and I’m not doing it again!” Oh, no.

Their eyes meet, making the UA student want to book it. He feels like how Bastard looks when Izuku catches her trying to play with the toilet paper: he wants to run but running would make him seem guilty. “You did that?” Nervously, the boy nods. Oh, fuck. “That’s so cool! I saw the blood but was so confused because I didn’t see a wound, but that explains it! What’s your quirk? Is it just healing? Where do you go to--Oh, UA. That’s the gym uniform. Don’t you have a hero costume?” The questions come rapid-fire and all Izuku can do is blink a few times. This is too much human interaction. This guy has more energy than most of Bakugou’s friends combined and that’s terrifying. “I’m Yoarashi Inasa, by the way! It was probably rude of me to start interrogating you without even introducing myself!”

Why is he so loud? “Don’t worry about it!” Izuku smiles, realizing just how much his hands hurt from stopping this guy from consuming more than his daily amount of minerals. “I’m Midoriya Izuku, my quirk came in really late, so we don’t know too much about it yet, and I’m kind of new at UA, so there wasn’t enough time to get me a costume.” The lies roll off his tongue with a practiced ease that puts a bitter taste in his mouth. He might be good at it. He might have done it most of his life. That doesn’t mean he likes it at all. Especially lying to innocent people. “What about your quirk?” If Yoarashi’s talking, Izuku isn’t. That’s good enough for him. 

Yoarashi carries the conversation well enough that they can get inside the waiting area before Izuku has to speak again. Even then, it’s just a few words. But as they wait for the other ninety eight students moving on, the former villain begins to participate more actively in the conversation, relaxing just enough that he can communicate casually. “I was supposed to go to UA,” the bigger teen admits after a bit.

“Why didn’t you?” asks Izuku, curiosity piqued.

By this point, quite a few other examinees have entered the room, maybe thirty or so. Not one other from UA. At least until… “Him,” Yoarashi says, a negative emotion creeping into his voice for the first time since Izuku met him. 

And through the door walks Todoroki. “Do you mean Todoroki?”

“He’s as bad as his father.”

That protective feeling from earlier washes over Izuku once again, making his entire body tense. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he says in an even tone, no trace of the awkward or semi-uncomfortable boy that had been taking part in the conversation just a minute ago.

Yoarashi seems to jump at the change of tone, giving him a bewildered look he only sees out of the corner of his eye. Then it skews toward offense. “I have no--?!”

Izuku cuts him off, actually looking at him this time with a piercing glare. “If Todoroki were anything like his father, he would be dead by now. The two are incomparable.” The other student gains a hint of fear in his posture, forcing Izuku to step back and reevaluate his actions. “I’m sorry. That was… rude. I went too far. I shouldn’t have… Todoroki was… He was the first person to treat me well at UA. That doesn't excuse it, but… sorry." He stands, leaving the other student with just one last bit of wisdom. “There’s a reason Endeavor’s hero license might be revoked.”

-

When Todoroki sees Izuku approach, he gives a small smile. “Hey. Glad to see you made it through,” he says when the newer student gets close enough he doesn’t need to yell.

“You, too. I think you might want to talk to the big guy who slammed his head into the pavement earlier, though. He's got some misconceptions and it isn't my place to clear them up. He's nice enough, though." He finishes that off with a slight smile, leading his… God, is this… Is Todoroki a friend? Does Izuku have a friend? 

As he leads his… leads Todoroki to Yoarashi, the taller UA student checks in with him. If the amount of people is bothering him or anything. The green-haired boy says no, because it surprisingly isn't bothering him too badly, considering how few of these people he knows. "Were you waiting long?" Todoroki asks after a moment.

Izuku shrugs, hands sliding into the pockets of his sweater. "I mean… a little? I finished first, but Yoarashi was there and didn't set me off nearly as much as I would have expected, so it isn't as if I got very bored. He's like a bigger Kirishima with less 'I'm a manly man' in his every word." And Todoroki laughs, because this apparently counts as a joke. A pretty good one at that.

-

As Izuku asked, Todoroki and Yoarashi talked, the latter explaining his grudge after the former explained his situation. All in all, it was nice. The rest of 1-A also made it through, which was a bonus. Then the second part of the test started and he got separated from literally everyone he knew. "If you pull on that, the rest of the building will collapse on them," he points out, putting a hand on the piece of wall another examinee was going to yank out. 

"Shit, thanks," the guy breathes. Izuku thinks he's one of Ms. Joke's students. Shindou or something. "What do you think we should do?"

"Why are you asking him?" a confrontational voice asks as a girl with tan hair and a hat like Yoarashi's steps out of nowhere. "Don't you know what he is?"

Great. His infamy has reached outside the confines of UA. "What I am is a kid trying for my provisional license, the same as any of you," he deadpans, daring her to try again with his eyes.

The girl smiles a smile that makes Izuku's skin crawl. It feels almost familiar for some reason. "He's a villain trying to play hero."

Izuku's teeth grit together. "He's a kid. Trying to fix his mistakes," he forces out, which causes the girl to laugh.

And something in Izuku snaps. Because he knows that smile. And he knows that laugh. And he won't fucking go back. Without a moment's hesitation, he lunges forward, grabbing the girl's face and digging his ungloved fingers into her cheek. Repossession grabs at her quirk like it was made to steal it and, for the first time, Izuku happily lets it. The disguise melts away to reveal blonde hair and blood-thirsty eyes. "Damn, Hisade," Toga croons as he sucks away the rest of her quirk, feeling it jump erratically through his chest cavity like a rabbit on cocaine. She smacks something against his back. "You always were too smart for your own good, huh?"

"She's a villain!" Izuku screeches, pinning her down. "Get the heroes! Someone get a fucking hero!" He looks out to see Bakugou and Kaminari staring from around the corner of a building not too far away. But they're not staring at him. They're staring above him. And his entire world goes black.

Chapter Text

"Someone get a fucking hero!" Midoriya. While there's still not much Katsuki knows about him, there is one thing he knows: Midoriya doesn't call for heroes. Not unless shit's severely hit the fan.

Katsuki darts around the corner and freezes almost immediately after, loosely registering Kaminari and Kirishima beside him. Under Midoriya lies that psycho blonde bitch from the summer camp. What's above him is what truly draws Katsuki's attention. He knows that mass of black. He knows it from the USJ and the summer camp and he thinks someone called it Kurogiri once and he knows he needs to go in there and grab the kid and bolt but his legs won't fucking move. Why won't they move?! Blondie stops fighting out of nowhere, but it's too late. The portal sucks them both up, Blondie disappearing without a word, but Midoriya? He leaves with a scream.

Finally free from the trance he was under, he turns to Tweedledee and Tweedledum, all business. "Find Aizawa. Tell him the villains took Midoriya back. Make holes in the fucking arena if you have to, just fucking find him." And he dashes off once more. The test needs to be ended. If one or two villains got in, more could be here.

A wall explodes and, at first, Katsuki assumes his dumbasses took his advice a bit too literally too quickly. Then he sees the hulking mass that is Gang Orca and throws himself forward. "Blah, blah, blah, villain speech," the hero says, though it's actually a speech the blond doesn't give half a shit about. 

Todoroki grabs him before he can pull the very him move of rushing in and attacking solo that he wasn't going to pull. "Get the fuck off me!" Katsuki yells, frustration keeping him from pulling any punches. Literally. He decks Icy Hot . I was there. I was right there. "The villains got Midoriya again!" He doesn't wait for a reply before ducking and weaving through the grunts until he's standing right in front of the fake villain, who sets off his quirk.

As the boy fights to keep his mind on track, the hero laughs. "It was stupid to get within range, hero--" Katsuki punches him in the face, explosions and all. 

"This isn't part of the fucking test. Villains broke in and kidnapped my classmate and I won't fucking stand for it." The blond has been told he's scarier when he isn't yelling. He's glad that seems to hold true when Gang Orca stops talking and using his quirk. "I don't know if anyone else got in or if anyone else is hurt, but there is currently a sixteen year old boy back in the hands of the villains he just escaped less than a month ago. I don't care what you have to do. Just stop the fucking test."

-

Bakugou charges through the hole Gang Orca made and nearly straight into Shouta's chest. Kaminari called him and told him what happened, meaning the man came down here because he knows Bakugou and Izuku have been getting closer and, if Bakugou watched it happen, he's probably pretty pissed with himself. "They fucking took him," the kid hisses, looking about ready for murder.

"I'm aware. Go get on the bus. We're going back to campus immediately."

That stops the boy's pacing and fidgeting. "What do you mean 'we're?' You're not going after him? Are you just gonna leave him?! Is he supposed to save himself again?!" Each accusation sends a nail through Shouta's chest. This shouldn't have happened. Not here, in what was supposed to be a secure testing facility. Not now, so soon after Izuku got free and was finally starting to let himself exist. And most certainly not somewhere where he couldn't do anything. Where no one could do anything.

"Bakugou. Get on the fucking bus." Frustration morphs into misplaced anger and the random curse alongside the display of emotion is enough to get the brat off his back. 

On the bus, there are nineteen students. It feels like such a wrong number. Nineteen. Nineteen after one of his students died. Nineteen after another was kidnapped. Only one missing. Maybe that's why he always expelled people in groups. One missing feels too wrong. Nineteen, with the imagined image of his nephew sitting half asleep in the back of the bus, curled around the drawstring bag Shouta currently clutches in almost-shaking hands. Damnit… not again.

-

The moment he's able to, Izuku's killing himself. If he has no surefire escape plan, he's ending his life because a life full of the same bullshit he's been doing since he was a child isn't a life worth living. 

He's probably been drugged.

Well, he did murder All for One Thanks for that, by the way. Shut up. in cold blood, so this is probably deserved. His mind is rather clear, but he can't move for shit, which makes him wonder what they're using. That vein of wondering leads to wondering if he'll ever get out of here. What everyone he's come to care about will think. 

He never did visit Inko. Maybe it's better this way, though. I mean, she never really got the chance to grow attached to him. Maybe him dying won't hurt her as bad this way.

But then there's Aizawa, who has had a chance to grow attached to him, and Todoroki and Shinsou and Bakugou and everyone, all of which made the headassed decision to care about him in the least. And the third years, who cared about him enough to invite him to live with them. He'd laugh at how ridiculous it all is if he was able to. The villain, the murderer, the stain on this planet, the prime example of why All for One should never have been allowed to raise a child. The human weapon, the quirk storage unit, the ticking time bomb that's overdue for an explosion by a good couple of years. This disaster of a human person has people to go home to. Has a home in general. He has people he'd leave behind if he died, and that's just fucking hilarious to him.

Resigned to his whole suicide plan and bummed he doesn't have any way to make his words exist in the real world, he starts thinking about what he’d tell everyone if he had the chance.

He’d thank Aizawa. The third years, too. Hell, probably anyone who put up with him in the least. He’d thank them for doing what they did to make him feel more comfortable. God knows he never really deserved it.  He’s a villain, a murderer, whatever, but they all just went, “Yo, he’s chill, I guess,” and accepted him.

Out of 1-A, he’d probably be most thankful for Todoroki, Shinsou, and Bakugou. Shinsou and Todoroki completely accepted him from the get-go, and then there’s Bakugou. Sure, he was a dick in the beginning, but that attitude? Just how closed off he is in general? If Bakugou was willing to let him in, that means he can have hope for more people accepting him in the future. He’s also one of the only ones who doesn’t treat Izuku like he’s fragile or anything. He’s not going to break and Bakugou knows that.

The third years, too. They’re good about making Izuku feel accepted. They clearly have a close relationship with each other, yet they still treat him like they would each other. Even though he came later than them, hasn’t known them as long as they’ve known each other, they immediately began treating him as one of their own.

They make him feel loved.

Izuku hears some noises outside and wonders if he should be trying to figure out where he is. He knows it isn't the bar, since the heroes know about that one. It's probably one of the other bases. Musutafu, Hosu, Tokyo, somewhere. In all honesty, it doesn't matter too much. As soon as he can walk, he can just head off in any direction and use Tomura's quirk when something gets in his way.

Fuck dying. He’s going home.

-

“Shouta! How are you?” Inko greets as she answers the phone. She sounds happy, better than she’s sounded in years. It’s like Izuku coming back to them fixed every problem that’s plagued her since he was taken. Maybe it did.

God, Shouta doesn’t want to ruin it. She deserves to know, though. “They took Izuku back.” 

A record scratch plays in his mind and he can feel the way the news affects his sister. He can feel her heart shattering before she even speaks. “C-come again?” she asks, fragile hope leaking out of the holes the shards of her heart cut through her words.

“I’m so sorry. We’ll get him back. It won’t be like last time,” Shouta promises despite not knowing how true it is. But he does know, in a way. The villains now know Izuku isn’t going to cooperate, that he doesn’t agree and he will do whatever he can to get out. It won’t be like last time in that Izuku won’t pretend and go along with it this time. Either he’ll escape, or they’ll break him, or he’ll die. So he’ll escape, the stubborn voice in the hero’s head announces with a confidence he’s not sure the rest of him can muster. “Inko, I promise we’ll get him back.” Nothing. “Inko?”

A sob comes over the line, followed by a whimpered, “He doesn’t deserve this. He never deserved any of this.” Shouta’s heart drops into his stomach because she’s right. She’s so incredibly right.

Chapter Text

The noises get louder and Izuku can start to move a little bit. He doesn’t move too much, because if he does, if anyone’s watching, they’ll probably dose him again. Toga’s quirk continues to cuss him out the same way it’s been since he took it. Even All for One calls it annoying, which almost makes Izuku laugh. Almost. 

He hears a door outside open and shut, accompanied by a pissed off voice. Toga. She’s coming for him. She’s going to demand her quirk back. They’re going to hurt him if he won’t give it back. Who’s in charge, anyway? Is it the doctor? Kurogiri? Are they training one of the vanguard to take control? Do they actually think they can make Izuku go back to the life he just escaped? Idiots, the lot of them.

Finally, after what feels like an hour but is probably closer to half a minute, the door to the room Izuku’s in slams open, letting a ton more light in. His eyes blink open and he squints against the light, being greeted with the girl’s silhouette. “Rise and shine, sweetheart!” she shouts, barging in and gripping the front of his shirt, yanking him forward. It’s only then that he realizes his arms and legs have been bound to the chair. He really should have noticed that earlier. What happened to his vigilance? He’s going soft in his old age. “We’re gonna have a little fun.” Oh, torture. It’s been a while since he had to deal with that. Hopefully his pain tolerance is still up to snuff, even if his observation skills have died.

“Bite me,” he slurs, his body still not properly responding. Then he remembers she might actually do just that and mentally takes back his barb. Either because she’s aware he can’t move too well or because she’s an idiot who lost her brain with her quirk, Toga quickly cuts his bindings and yanks him to his feet, leaning in close with a sneer. But there’s something in her eyes besides the usual bloodlust. Hell, he’s not even sure that’s there.

Then she does something even more out of the ordinary. “This is the Musutafu compound,” she hisses. “Run when you can. I’ll make sure you get out.” She’s still got that vicious smirk and her voice is low. That means one of two things: one, she’s fucking with him, or two, she’s actually trying to help him. She doesn’t allow him time to dwell on that, as she drags him from the room, unconcerned with his shambling steps. Stupid drug. 

Dabi rears his ugly head, because things were going just a little too well. “What are you doing?” he demands as Izuku and Toga hit the main room. “Why is he free? The doctor said to leave him.” So the doctor’s in charge? Interesting.

“Doc ain’t here. I wanna see him covered in blood. Got a problem with that, you burnt crepe?” Toga taunts as Izuku starts to feel more secure in the movements of his body. God, he hopes she wasn’t just fucking with him.

Around them sit… most of the rest of the vanguard. Where Kurogiri is Izuku doesn’t know, but he’s not about to kick a gift horse in the dick and question it. So, six on one. Or… five on two, if Toga wasn’t lying.

Izuku wishes he’d had more time to mess with this quirk. With any of the quirks in his possession, really. Something before he was actually forced to use any of them. Too late. The boy, probably calm and rational only because of the drugs in his system, pulls a headassed move if he’s ever seen one. A familiar black sputters out of Twice’s mask and out from behind Mr. Compress’s before finally consuming them both. Spinner goes next as Izuku recoils, a searing pain in his temples making him wince. Perhaps it was too much to hope for, to have the quirk take them all. At least he got some of the troublesome quirks out of the way. Hopefully the doctor won’t be too upset by visitors. “You’d better not have been kidding,” Izuku mutters in Toga’s direction, taking off his gloves as she releases her hold on his shirt. 

Toga lunges at Magne, blades drawn, while Izuku circles Dabi. “I told them you wouldn’t come back,” the villain admits offhandedly. “You’re too weak. Why any of them thought you’d make a good villain, a good leader is beyond me.”

The boy has to fight back the urge to laugh. “I can’t tell if you’re trying to degrade me or use reverse psychology, but either way, you’re trying to play mind games. After All for One, that’s like taking me away from a game with the world chess master I was winning and tossing me in a game against an average eight year old. Worthless and disappointing for everyone involved. Just fuck off or hit me.” And the next few seconds are a blur.

One moment, Izuku’s staring down Dabi, both waiting for the other to make the first move. The next, he sees Toga pinned down by Magne, her own knife to her throat. The moment after that, he and Toga are running as fast as his drugged body will let him and his hands are covered in dust. What happened? What happened?! Heat slams into his back and blue lights up the girl’s. Both of them pick up speed, despite Izuku having to fight not to trip. He can see a door at the end of the hall. Toga starts running even faster. That has to be the exit.

But then Toga stops when they reach the door, opening it and shoving him out it. He falls, surprised by the push. “Run,” she urges, and he looks back to see her standing bravely in the doorway, facing Dabi head-on. As he pushes to his feet, the blond charges back down the hallway before the entire doorway lights up with blue flames. Every part of him wants to take her advice and get the hell out of there except the parts that matter. His legs send him flying back inside and all he can do is deal with the situation at hand.

It’s about this moment that he starts praying. Not to any particular deity. Just anything that will listen.

He grabs hold of a quirk he hasn’t even tested in full just yet. Izuku’s only interacted with it once, his first day at UA when Shinsou came to apologize to him and he freaked out. He really hopes it’s pyrokinesis like he thought it was. Dabi smirks as his flames die down and he can see the former villain. “Do you think I can get away with telling them you resisted and it was a total accident that you died?” he wonders aloud, raising his hand once more with a chuckle. 

Blue spirals toward Izuku’s face and he swipes his hand through the air in front of him, not knowing what he’s doing in the least. It does nothing. The flames get hotter and it feels as if time has slowed down. His arm extends in front of him one more time and he swallows, ready. Ready for whatever happens. Either he dies today, or he doesn’t. That’s fine with him. Maybe. Well… Regardless, he raises his arm one more time, feeling the heat of the quirk gather in his forearm before an orange column of flame erupts from his palm, morphing to green as it gets further from his body. Green engulfs blue, devouring the fire and converting it into Izuku’s own. Taking a risk, the boy barrels through the green, his hand balling into a fist and extinguishing it as a whole, revealing the scorched corridor around them.

A moment later, Izuku’s got Dabi pressed up against the wall with a hand around his throat, just the same way they’d stood when they’d first met. “I think you could tell them I ran away with your quirk,” Izuku growls, grinning slightly as he does just that. The quirk burns its way up the boy’s arm, running back and forth across his collar bones. Then he grabs Toga and books it.

“Why’d you come back for me?!” she demands, keeping pace with him pretty easily. 

Shaking his head, Izuku replies, “I could ask you the same thing. The Toga I knew would have never done that. Change of heart or was it just an act the whole time?”

“I don’t know what you did to me. It was that, though.”

-

[Earlier]

Kurogiri’s portal throws Himiko out in a random alley, where she proceeds to have a slight meltdown (read: massive fucking breakdown because fuck shifting, her entire world view has become a fucking Rubik’s Cube). Something happened. Hisade did something to her. He had her pinned and… and she put the thing on his back to signal that she had him and that Kurogiri could grab them. And now she's here, alone, disgusted with herself. She hurt so many people. She killed so many people. The way Hisade screamed when the portal swallowed them… Himiko can still feel it in her chest. She hurt him. She hurt him when he's been nothing but good to her.

Her chest feels cold, the space right above her diaphragm feeling empty. Why is it empty? What did he do? Blood. Blood always calms her down. She needs to calm down, calm down, calm down damn it, Himiko, breathe. She pulls a small vial of the stuff out of her pocket―she doesn't even know whose it is at this point―from beside the spare tracker she was given. You're fine. Just breathe. Drink the― Her thoughts cut off as she looks at the blood in the little glass container and retches, reflexively hurling it at the wall across the alley from her. She's not infatuated by blood anymore? That… At least she won't feel the need to kill anyone anymore. 

What's happening to her?

Something in the girl's head twitches and writhes, forcing incoherent thoughts out into her mind, those quickly getting more and more discernible until the thoughts are finally screaming at her to help him. Help Hisade. He was good to her. She was bad to him. Make up for it help help help him help him h elp him help him HELP HIM SAVE HIM SAVE HIM SAVE― 

With all the grace of someone who fell asleep during the daytime and just woke up to find it's dark outside and now has to figure out what day it is, Himiko stumbles out of the alley and into the street. Figure it out. Calm and rational, just like Hisade. She can’t go to a police station to tell them what’s happening, since they’d probably arrest her. She can’t contact UA. One, she doesn’t know how, and two, what would she even say? “Hey, by the way, I apparently had a change of heart or something after helping with the kidnapping one of your students and I know where he is and―” No, that’s stupid. She can just… save him herself. Yeah, save him herself.

-

[Back to the Present]

Izuku nearly trips over his own feet (which feel less like they’re weighted down by thirty cinder blocks each, thank you very much) at the explanation. “I took your quirk,” he says, his mind firing into overdrive. “Did the quirk mess with your head? It’s based around blood, so maybe. It might have drawn you to blood, which in turn drew you to villainy, so when the desire for blood was taken out of the picture, the morals that would have kept you from the blood were reactivated. That… makes sense, I’d guess.” Strange. Izuku never really knew quirks could have that kind of impact on one’s psyche.

“Yeah, cool. Less psychobabble and more running, please!” Toga insists, both picking up the pace.

Then Izuku hears a screech behind him. He doesn’t even have to turn around to know what it is. Noumu. Less-than-elegantly sweeping Toga onto his back, the boy grabs a speed quirk and sprints as hard as he trusts himself to. Once again, stupid fucking drug. He activates another and another, using three speed quirks and pure adrenaline to drive himself and his apparent savior to safety. Izuku, you need to breathe. That’s not All for One. Take a left. There’s a police station at the end of the road. It’s a woman with a gentle voice. It reminds him of the way people at UA would talk to him when he’s on the verge of a panic attack. Is he on the verge of a panic attack? You might be if you keep thinking about it. Left, now. He takes the left.

Skidding to a stop in front of the station, he lets Toga down and hears a scream. A human scream. No, no nonononono Noumu are mindless monsters and― Take care of yourself first. The woman is all but ignored as Izuku tells Toga he’s going to stop the Noumu and takes off once again.

-

Himiko watches as Hisade sprints back down the street, abandoning her in front of the police station with nothing beyond an order to stay there that she immediately ignores. Of course, she’s not nearly as fast as him, so she only catches up to find bodies.

Broken and lifeless hunks of flesh with piles of dust where the heads should be. The same sort of dust that Hisade pulled her out from under after he saved her from Magne. “Just run that way,” she tells the stragglers she comes across, pointing back toward the police station. “Everything’s―” Hisade lets out a roar of frustration as he hops off one Noumu’s back and onto another’s. “Everything’s going to be fine. Just go. It’s not safe here now.” She does this a few more times, getting closer to the action with every civilian she sends off.

It seems like things are going to be okay. Then Hisade gets thrown into a building, the bricks collapsing slightly with the impact. When he gets up, acting as if he just got thumped in the forehead, there’s a clear him-sized indent in the wall. “Fuck you!” he spits, his stance more like that of a threatened wild animal than anything. He launches himself back at the Noumu, digging his fingers into the monster’s eye and dangling until he drops, the eyesocket having dissolved beneath his fingertips. With the next one, he digs chunks out of the beast’s body, climbing to slam his palm against the top of its head and throw himself at another Noumu as this one starts to collapse.

He’s gone feral and all Himiko can think is that this is her fault. All of it. Not just that wild look in his eye, but the people running the other way. The casualties lying on the ground, dead or injured. The bodies of Noumu filling the street. Each time Hisade gets thrown or someone else gets beaten into the ground, a little, slimy voice in the dark part of her mind her quirk had blocked off since it came in croons that this was her doing. Every injury and death is on her head. The screams and the smell of blood, the pained expressions and crying, all of it makes the girl want to puke. 

The last Noumu falls, Hisade falling with it and rolling to his feet. He still stands like a scared feral cat, looking at any and everything like it’s going to kill him. So much for calm and rational Hisade, she thinks distantly. When he decides every danger is sufficiently dead, he runs, using that damn speed quirk to leave the scene faster than he really should be able to. Like a lost puppy, Himiko darts off in a dead sprint, futilely trying to keep up with him only to see him run into a store a few buildings down as she rounds the corner.

-

“I need a phone.” Izuku makes the demand out of breath, panic making his attempts to refill his lungs after his run useless. He disregards the fear on the faces of the civilians in the store, some of them bloody. Someone should get an ambulance or something. “I need to make a call. Please?” 

The startled cashier points him to a door behind the counter. “We have a landline back there. You can use that.” 

Nodding, Izuku heads toward the door, doing his very best to keep his shit together. Then someone tugs on his dirty and singed and slightly bloody sweater and he nearly bitchslaps a poor kid to Hong Kong. Damn… Inko got him this sweater. “Th-thank you!” the kid stutters, tracks of tears shining on his face. “One of the monsters a-almost got me, but you stopped it!” The child has turquoise hair and hope in his bright green eyes. He’s probably younger than ten. And he’s definitely what Izuku could have been. Silently, without an expression on his face, Izuku stares longer than he probably should and nods stiffly. The kid’s so innocent. What is that like? He hugs Izuku around the waist and the teen has to hold his breath as to not completely flip his lid and accidentally murder at least the child, if not the entire block. 

“I need to make a call,” the former-villain mumbles, patting the kid’s head. “Go back to your people, okay?” When the boy does just that, Izuku all but runs into the back room, ripping the phone from its hook and stabbing his finger against the numbers, dialing the only phone number he knows. 

“Who is it?” Aizawa demands, stress evident in his voice. Stress Izuku caused. Why couldn’t he just keep himself from getting kidnapped―He stops right there, knowing he’ll break down if he starts cursing himself out like that.

Tears start to well up in his eyes, the adrenaline keeping him semi-sane finally fading away. “I didn’t wanna go, Aizawa. They took me. I didn’t have a choice. You have to believe me.” He chews his lip, grabbing a tissue and wrapping it around his pinky so he doesn’t break the phone.

The line goes silent. “Izuku?” Aizawa breathes. “Are you okay? Where are you?”

“I don’t―I’m alive and there were Noumu, a lot of Noumu, and they hurt people and I think I’m okay, I don’t think I got hurt. Did I get my license? I used my quirks, I had to use them. Am I in trouble? I don’t know where I am, and―”

“Give me the phone.” Izuku turns to see Toga in the doorway. “You’re panicking. I’ll explain.”

“Are you still there? What’s happening?” Aizawa asks, starting to freak out, but Izuku hands the phone over.

Toga takes a deep breath, standing a ways away from Izuku, which he appreciates. “Hi, I heard him call you Aizawa, so I’m gonna call you that, too,” she opens.

Magne. He killed Magne. He wrapped his hand around her neck and watched her die to help Toga. He killed a ton of Noumu, though that was probably mercy by that point. He took Dabi’s quirk. He made Bakugou and Kaminari and that Shindou kid watch as he was taken. Quirks start to roil under his skin and he can’t breathe and he can’t think it’s too loud too loud fucking― “Quirk suppressors. I need―Toga, I need quir-quirk suppressors,” he gasps, focusing on keeping his hands away from everything.

-

“Hi, I heard him call you Aizawa, so I’m gonna call you that, too. I’m Toga Himiko, which probably throws you off, but I just want to help Hisade now.”

“Izuku,” the man on the other end of the line corrects. “Midoriya Izuku. If you really want to help him, tell me where you are.”

Hisa―Izuk―Midoriya. Midoriya, ever since she took the phone, has been sitting on the ground, his arms extended in front of him, elbows on his knees, staring off into space. His breaths are shallow, but he’s still breathing, which is what’s important. “Musutafu. We’re in a laundromat a few streets down from a police station. There’s a pharmacy next door?” Giving up with a sigh, Himiko changes her plan of attack. “He killed a bunch of Noumu. It has to be blowing up online by now.” Midoriya’s mumbling to himself, something about Magne. “He got tossed around a bit by some of the Noumu, but he’s able to move fine, so―”

“Quirk suppressors. I need―Toga, I need quir-quirk suppressors,” Midoriya gasps, eyes wide, still staring off into space though now filled to the brim with panic. “Not safe―”

Shit. That can’t be good. “Look, Aizawa, he’s freaking out and begging for quirk suppressors, so I’m gonna hand you back to him and go look for those. I don’t know how to help him beyond this. Please come get him.” And she does just that, giving Midoriya the phone and trying to ignore the way his hand shakes. Trying to ignore the way she shakes. 

Midoriya always seemed so… so unbreakable. Unshakeable. Invincible in a way Himiko could only dream to be. To see him now, shattered seemingly beyond repair… his broken pieces slice holes in her lungs, making it that much more difficult for her to breathe. Her heart threatens to burst out of her chest and tears burn in her eyes because he shouldn’t shouldn’t never ever never shouldn’t never have had to reach this point. And she wishes it wasn’t her fault. “Does anyone have any quirk suppressants,” she asks as she leaves the back room, her eyes scanning the room before seeing a tentative hand being raised in the corner. 

The guy digs through his backpack before bringing out a pill bottle. “My quirk gets messed up when I get stressed,” he explains, as if Himiko needs a reason for him to have these.

“Cool,” the girl deadpans, taking the pills from him. “What’s the max you can take of these?”

“My doctor said four at once, but only if it’s really bad―” 

Himiko cuts him off by pouring four pills into her hand and thrusting the bottle back into his hands. “Thanks. You got a water or something?” She takes that from him, too, and returns to Midoriya, who’s begun crying. “Come on, Midoriya,” she mumbles as she holds out the water bottle and the pills. He takes the water first, putting a mouthful in his mouth before snatching the pills and downing them all. Her work done, the girl goes to move away, but he stares at her with fear in his eyes, so she stays, letting him lean on her for a bit. This… is fine.