Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Izuku arrives at his house he’s out of breath and panting heavily. 

As he closes the door, he slides down to the floor and stares numbly at the wooden floorboards. He doesn’t think he saw a car outside, so his mother’s probably on a business trip, as usual. 

He’s alone. As usual. 

His heart speeds up, his breath stutters, a lump forms in his throat, and his eyes start to water. As the tears start to rapidly pour down his cheeks and off of his chin, Izuku grabs fistfuls of his hair and starts pulling harshly. He usually pulls his hair to ground himself, but it’s not working. 

Do you even want to be a hero?

Selfish 

Disrespectful 

Ungrateful

Wouldn’t have even considered you as a successor

He’s a failure . 

Izuku takes deep and quick gasping breaths, it feels like he’s drowning, he can't breathe, he can’t breathe , he’s going to die.

The feelings overwhelm him. Sadness, betrayal, disappointed. But most importantly, he was angry.

He lets out a bone-rattling screech, full of rage and pain, and he didn’t care who heard. 

“Goddamnit!” He shot up from his position on the floor. He needed to break something. 

Stomping around his house, Izuku grabbed whatever breakable thing he could see and smashed it on the ground. There were pieces of shattered picture frames, vases, plates, and glass cups everywhere he stepped. 

After everything he’s done for All Might and everyone else, after the secrets he’s kept without telling anyone, all the overwhelming workouts he’s done, all the bones he’s broken, after all the villains he’s beaten, he’s called selfish ? Izuku has done nothing in his life but give and give and give until there was nothing left to give away, and he’s never once asked for anything in return. 

Crash

He’s spent his whole life keeping his mouth shut and following orders obediently, showing respect and kindness to people who don’t deserve it, and he’s called disrespectful ? 

Smash 

Ever since he could remember, he’s admired All Might, watched his videos, and took his word like it was his religion. And then the man he admired the most gave him a chance to restart, a reason to live. Izuku's never, in his life, felt more grateful to have met a person. He’s willing to dedicate his whole life to learn how to use One for All and make All Might proud. And he’s ungrateful ? 

Crack 

The anger leaves his body as he falls to the ground in a useless heap, the shards of glass and porcelain digging into his palms and knees. It stings and he knows he’s bleeding but it doesn’t hurt as much as his chest does. His violent sobs make his whole body shake. 

He feels so weak. It feels like someone’s standing on his chest. It’s so hard to breathe.

When he can no longer support his body weight, his arms give out, letting the rest of his body fall on the sharp pieces of glass.

Even if a part of him knew that everything that All Might said was because it was in the heat of the moment, just like how Izuku accused him of being a bad mentor, it still hurt. It hurt so fucking bad. 

He trusted and confided in All Might with his whole being. Everything he did was because he wanted to make All Might proud of him.

For the longest time, Izuku never had anyone that he could show his achievements to. He gave up a long time ago on trying to make his mother proud of him since it seemed like nothing would ever satisfy her. Here’s the first adult in Izuku’s entire life that was decent to him, the first one to ever believe in him. Of course he would do everything in his power to make him feel a sense of pride when he looked at Izuku. It crushed him to think that he also failed All Might.

He just wants to be good enough for somebody. 

Izuku laid on the floor, sobbing pitifully until he fell into a deep slumber. 

Chapter Text

The first thing he noticed when he woke up was that his whole body hurt. He laid on the ground and tried to remember what happened the day before, why there was glass everywhere. As the memories flooded in, he’s filled with dread once again. 

Choosing to ignore it, for now, he carefully pushes himself off of the ground, getting more glass in his palm during the process. He winces slightly and decides that he should probably go to the bathroom and check how badly he hurt himself during his mental breakdown. He slowly limps his way to the bathroom.

He sheds off his clothes to get a better look at the injuries. Thankfully, his clothes prevented too much damage, so he only has a couple of glass shards embedded into his knees and hands. Looking into the mirror, he sees that there were also some on his left cheek. After he’s done finding the places where he got injured, he takes out a first aid kit from under the cupboard under the sink.

Opening the kit, he takes the tweezers and hydrogen peroxide. One by one, he pulls the glass out of his body and disinfects them when he’s done.

Then he hears the front door open and his heart stops. 

The sound of heels slowly making their way into the house, until they stop.

Why does this have to happen, why did she have to come home now, why-

“Izuku.” His mother’s cold, heartless voice. 

It was just his luck for his mother to come home early from a trip she was supposed to be on for another 2 weeks at least. She absolutely had to come back after Izuku destroyed their house. What had he done to the Fates to deserve this?

“Izuku,” her voice was calm but there was so much fury behind it. “When I speak to you, you respond.”

Izuku puts aside the first aid kit, quickly puts his clothes back on, and gets up. He exits the bathroom and is met with his mother’s furious glare. “Yes, mother.”

She looks around the house, surveying the mess that Izuku created during his breakdown. She bends down and picks up a broken picture of her and her friends, quietly looking at it for a while. Then she looks back up at Izuku. “Do you want to explain to me what happened here.”

Not a question. He had to respond or else he’d get punished. Actually, he’d get punished either way, but maybe she would go easy on him? “I just had a stressful day yesterday, mother. I promise I was going to clean it up-”

“What so you had a temper tantrum? You’re 16, does that really seem like an appropriate thing you should do.” She’s walking closer to him. He wants to run away, but he’s cornered. Like a beast and her prey. 

“Well, no, but-”

She slaps him across the cheek, hard. He almost loses his balance and falls, still weak from the day before, but he manages to ground his feet. “Do not interrupt me.” He nods.

Her hand starts to glow green, showing him that she’s activated her quirk, and before he knows it, he’s pinned to the ground. Inko sighs and shakes her head in disappointment, “What did I ever do to deserve such a failure of a child.” A knife starts to float towards her from the kitchen until it stops in front of her. It’s pointing at Izuku. 

”Problem children like you deserve to feel pain.” She makes the knife fly at Izuku, stabbing him in the shoulder. He flinches violently but bites back a scream, she hates it when he makes noises. The knife pulls out of his shoulder and starts slicing into his skin. 

No matter how many times this happens, Izuku’s still not used to it, it’s still so painful. He’s grown more tolerant of the physical pain, but it’s the emotional pain that he’ll never get rid of. The fact that his mother truly hates him and doesn’t want him to be alive affects him on a completely different level. Throughout his whole childhood, it made him believe that he was unlovable. He hears all of the other kids affectionately talk about their mothers, and he sees mothers on the news say that they still love their children even if they were a criminal. If his mom didn’t love him, then why would anyone else.

The knife continues to carve into his skin, deep enough that they would probably scar, which is nothing new. When he feels the pain stop, he hesitantly looks up at his mother. 

“You know, Izuku,” His mother looks at him with disinterest. “I came home early so that I could pack my bags.” Izuku gives her a look of confusion. Was she going to… 

“To be honest, I felt a little guilty about leaving, but your little fit,” she gestured lazily at the glass. “Is enough proof for me to know that this is something I should’ve done a while ago.” She released her quirk on him and grabbed a fistful of his hair. “As a goodbye gift for myself, I’m going to give you an extra punishment.”

She pulled his hair harshly and dragged his bleeding body towards a storage closet they had. When he realized where she was taking him, he thrashed wildly in her grip. In that closet, there’s an empty metal toy chest with a lock. Inko used to lock him in there as a child when the teachers called home saying that he got into fights with the other kids. The chest haunts him every day, it’s so small and confined, he feels like he’s suffocating when he’s inside. 

Inko slams his head into a wall to get him to stop resisting. Izuku didn’t tear up once while she was slicing his skin up, but this made tears start to fall from his eyes. 

“Mom, please, I’ll do anything, just don’t put me in there.” His throat was hoarse, and it hurt to talk.

Inko ignored him and kept walking. She opened the closet door and dragged him towards the chest. Izuku’s breaths grew more labored. Inko used her quirk to stuff him into the chest and keep him down until she closed it shut and locked it. 

“I’m moving to America. Pray that someone cares enough about you to try and look for you.”

He starts screaming and banging on the roof of the chest. He begs desperately, “Mom, please, I’m sorry, I’m sorry about everything, just let me out of here I’ll let you leave-” The closet door closes and he hears the heels click to his mother’s room. 

He scratches at the sides of the chest until his fingers are bleeding, kicks at it, and screams until he can’t make a sound anymore. He doesn’t know how long he’s doing it for, but he hears Inko leave out the front door. Then it hits him. 

He’s going to die here. He’s going to run out of air, die from dehydration or starvation, or he’s going to bleed out. The knife wounds are bleeding profusely and most of them look like they need stitches. 

He doesn’t have his phone on him, he left it at the dorms, like an idiot. He’s stuck in here for at least six more days, alone. He hyperventilates and chokes on his sobs. If only he’d taken a minute to get his phone, or even just shut up while All Might was lecturing him, he wouldn’t be in this situation.

He would’ve used One for All, but he knows he doesn’t have enough energy to use it without breaking a bone, and he’s already injured enough as it is. One for All is going to die with him.

Before passing out from the lack of oxygen reaching his brain, Izuku’s last thought is of Aizawa and All Might. He wants them to help him. He needs their help. 

Chapter Text

Toshinori’s pacing the room impatiently. Spring break has started, but he and Aizawa are still on campus. “It’s been three days, and we haven’t heard anything from him.” 

“Well, we kind of destroyed whatever bit of trust he had in us.” Aizawa pretended to be calm and collected about Izuku’s radio-silence, but it wasn’t hard to see that he was also worried sick. “He has every right to ignore our calls.”

“He doesn’t have his phone on him.”

Aizawa arched his eyebrow, “And you know that how, exactly?”

“After Izuku ran out, I asked Young-Uraraka and Young-Todoroki if they knew where he was, but Young-Uraraka said she never saw him return to the dorms, and Young-Todoroki said he didn’t take his phone with him when I took him with me.” 

The men sat in anxious silence. 

“I have an incredibly bad feeling about this.”

Aizawa grunted in agreement. Ever since Izuku ran out, the feeling of dread in his stomach kept growing. “I know what you mean. So what do you want to do?”

“I think we need to pay his home a visit.”

That seemed a bit excessive, but Aizawa’s feeling of foreboding was something that he learned not to ignore. If Toshinori felt the same way, there was no way he wasn’t going to listen. What if Izuku was in danger and they could prevent it? What if they ignore the feeling and Izuku ends up getting hurt? They have to go to the Midoriya household, and if Izuku was still angry, that was fine, he has every right to, they just want to make sure he’s safe. 

He nods at Toshinori and both men walk to the campus parking lot.

The car ride is quiet but they both secreted pure anxiety. The apprehension grew stronger the closer they got to the house. 

Pulling up into the driveway, they see that the door is slightly ajar. The heroes immediately get out of the car and rush inside the house. The scene they see before them leaves them pale and shaky. 

“Do you...” Aizawa clears his throat, trying to push the worry out of his voice. “Do you think it’s a robbery.”

Toshinori’s hands are shaking violently, but he has to keep his composure, he can’t break down, not when Izuku could be hurt. “Search the house, maybe he’s still here-”

There’s a muffled banging coming from a room. The men follow the noise with caution. Aizawa places his hand on the doorknob and they brace themselves before opening the door. The room is empty. They hear banging again, it's coming from a metal box. Whoever’s inside is screaming, but their voice sounds worn out. 

The blond quickly rushes to the box and pulls at a padlock that’s keeping it locked. Using his All Might form for a split second, he pulls and breaks off the padlock, then opens to box to reveal... 

Toshinori makes a pained sound. “Izuku?”

Aizawa stands in shock before rushing to Toshinori’s side to look inside the box. He noticed that there were several scratch marks of different sizes on the sides of the box, some appear to be years old. He turned his attention to the boy who was covered in dried up sweat, tears, and blood. He was pale and shaking uncontrollably. He looked like he’s been through hell and back, and Aizawa wouldn’t be surprised if he did. 

Not wasting any more time, Aizawa pulls out his phone. “I’m calling an ambulance, take him out carefully and check for any injuries. I’ll go get some water.” Aizawa bolted to the kitchen and looked for a cup that wasn’t broken.

When he found one, he filled it up with water and took it back to the boy. Izuku didn’t have the strength to hold it himself, so Toshinori carefully held the cup to the boy’s chapped lips and helped him drink. He gulped it down in seconds and looked like he needed more. 

While Aizawa took the cup to fill it back up again, he called the ambulance. They were going to arrive in at least 30 minutes. 

Toshinori moved Izuku to the living room and Aizawa continued to bring water for Izuku until he looked like he had enough, then he sat to the teen’s right. Izuku was quietly leaned up against Toshinori, who was rubbing comforting circles on his back and whispering reassurances in his ear. 

Aizawa scanned the floor of the house and wondered how this could’ve happened. Who did this to Izuku? Who came into the house, broke almost every piece of decor in the house, attacked him with a knife, and then locked him in a metal box before leaving? 

Before he could think about it too much, he felt something grab his hand. Looking down, he saw that Izuku’s shaky hand was weakly holding onto his. Aizawa tightened his grip and gently held his boy’s hand as the ambulance pulled up to the house.

Chapter Text

Only one of them was allowed to get into the ambulance with Izuku. Aizawa let Toshinori go with him while he followed the vehicle to the emergency room with Toshinori’s car. Even though Aizawa wanted to go on the ambulance, he felt like Toshinori would break down in the middle of the drive and get into an accident. Plus, Aizawa was probably not someone Izuku would want to see after being beaten so badly.

In the ambulance, Toshinori held onto Izuku like a lifeline. He felt that he would lose his boy forever if he let go. The injuries were bad, and many of them got infected due to Izuku being trapped in that box for almost two days. He also developed a fever from the infections and dehydration. While he lost a lot of blood and was in awful condition, the paramedics on the ambulance were able to stabilize him. 

Two days. His son boy was in terrible pain for two days and Toshinori didn’t save him until it was too late. The shame and regret engulfed him. He failed Izuku again. The boy was right, he was an unfit mentor. What kind of mentor would allow their students to be injured on so many occasions? Izuku was almost dying in front of him, and that wasn’t even the first time it had happened. 

He shook his head. Now’s not the time to wallow in self-pity. He’s made many mistakes, yes, but right now, he has to be there for his boy. He wipes Izuku’s sweaty forehead with a rag that one of the paramedics gave him, heart clenching painfully when he sees the look of suffering that’s plastered on the small teen’s face. “You’re going to be ok, Izuku,” he whispered to him. “I’ll be here for you.”  

The men find themselves sitting in silence in the waiting room. They aren’t technically Izuku’s relatives, so they aren’t allowed to go into his room until a nurse gives them the ok. It pissed them off that they had to leave their boy alone after he had to be in solitude for two days, but they didn’t put up a fight. 

Aizawa kept himself busy by trying to contact Izuku’s mother, she needed to know that her son was injured. He’s called about 10 times now, and every time he was sent to voicemail. Then he remembers a thought he had a couple of days ago. Izuku showed signs of an abused child. 

The door was left unlocked and open, it didn’t look like there was a forced entry. Broken glass, Izuku being locked in a box, which looked like he’d been in more than once. And, finally, Inko Midoriya is not present while her son is in the hospital in critical condition. 

He felt his whole body tense up. He’s dealt with several child abuse cases, but it was different when it happened to someone that he knew personally. 

Toshinori noticed his sudden stiffness and tiredly turned his head to face him. “Are you alright, Aizawa?”

“I think I know who did it.”

The blond shot up in surprise. “Who?”

“I think it was Izuku’s mother.”

The retired hero tensed up as well, understandably so. They didn’t want to think of their sweet, kindhearted child being abused at home. They knew about the situation with his father, which was already a misfortune on its own, it would be worse if he had two shitty parents instead of one 

“How… did you come to this assumption?”

The shorter man bit the inside of his cheek. “He shows signs of being abused. I’m sure you’ve noticed too.”

He nods dejectedly. “I never wanted to admit it. I was hoping that he was just reserved, but that was foolish of me.”

Aizawa pats his shoulder to show that he thought the same way. 

Sighing sadly, the blond took out his phone. “I’m going to contact Tsukauchi, he could help us confirm or deny if Inko is responsible for this.”

Chapter Text

The blinding lights make his head pound as he slowly opens his eyes. 

As he struggles to sit up, a hand touches his shoulder and Izuku flinches away. He starts to shake and hyperventilate. His skin starts prickling with discomfort and his stomach is churning with unease and anxiety. In a desperate attempt to calm himself, he pulls at his hair roughly. The memories of his mother replay in his head. 

He’s still in the house. All Might and Aizawa were never there, they never saved him. He was just hallucinating all of it. His mom is still here. 

“-Izuku, hey, kid, breathe.” Aizawa’s gentle voice broke Izuku’s downward spiral. 

Was everything that happened real? Is he safe?

“Yes, Izuku, this is real. You’re at the hospital, you are safe now.” That was All Might. 

Izuku turned to face his mentor, who was giving him a shaky yet relieved smile. Slowly, he scanned the room to see who else was there other than All Might and Aizawa. Izuku felt conflicted. On one hand, it was comforting to have the two heroes be with him, but on the other, he still felt betrayed and angry about everything that happened at school. 

He looked down at the hands laying on his lap and chewed on his lip nervously. 

All Might flinched slightly at the lack of response that came from the teen.

Aizawa slowly got up from his chair, to not startle Izuku, and he bowed deeply. “Izuku, I’m extremely sorry for my actions. What I did was inexcusable. I had no right to release my anger on you just because I had a stressful day, and I had no right to demand for your apology when you did nothing wrong.”

The guilt was so overwhelming. Even if Izuku did accept his apology, Aizawa would never forgive himself for doing such a disservice to his student. The things he said to him were all bullshit, Izuku belonged to the small portion of students that always gave it their all, who never let themselves slack off. The only reason he was so vacant during their spar was because he was scared of Aizawa. 

He’s had his fair share of students that were afraid of him, who would try to minimize interactions with him as much as they could because they were intimidated, and he was fine with that. But the fear in Izuku’s eyes that day was different, and Aizawa will never forgive himself for ignoring it. Putting his own needs before his student’s was despicable, he needed to make things right.

“You don’t need to forgive me, Izuku, but I need you to know that I am sorry for what I did. If there is anything you want to change so that you can feel more comfortable, don’t hesitate to ask, even if it means I lose my ability to teach at UA. Anything to ensure that you feel safe.”  

Slowly raising his head, Izuku looked at him in awe. He was willing to lose his teaching license? He must be bluffing, there’s no way anybody would sacrifice so much for someone like him. 

All Might stood up from his chair and bowed as well. “My boy, everything I said to you was wrong. It was so hurtful and terrible, you didn’t deserve any of it. I was a fool who spoke without thinking, and I will forever be ashamed that I dared to say those words to you. Izuku, you are none of those things, you never have, and you never will be. I am especially sorry that I ever made you feel that way about being my successor. Because of my careless behavior, I led you to believe that I only saw you as a vessel. My boy, I cannot express how much I regret the pain that I have caused you, but I promise that I will do better, but only if you still want to be near me.” A tear slipped out of All Might’s eye. “If you don’t, I completely understand, and I will respect your decision.”

Izuku has never met an adult who apologized to him, who accepted that they made a mistake. They spoke so genuinely, so honestly… 

He doesn’t understand. Why were they apologizing? Years of experience taught him that adults never cared to ask for forgiveness when they’ve wronged a child. 

Not once has he heard an apology come from his mother, who would leave for months at a time and who would beat him whenever she was home. Or from teachers who ignored the bullying while looking at him straight in the eyes. 

At some point, he believed it was impossible for adults to apologize, but here he was being proven wrong.  He wanted to believe that they were lying, that the apologies were just a formality… but the anguish and regret in their voices were too raw to be lies. It was easy to tell that they knew what they did was wrong and wanted to fix their mistakes. 

Maybe Izuku was wrong, maybe not all adults were the same. 

When both adults straightened up, they were met with Izuku’s tearful expression. They were instantly alarmed, maybe they said something wrong, or they offended Izuku with their apologies- 

The boy pulled them into an embrace and sobbed into their arms. “Thank you,” he cried harder. “Thank you so much.” 

The three stayed in each other’s arms and bathed in the warmth and comfort.