Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

To everyone around, Midoriya Izuku was an enigma. 

First, his quirk. It was so overpowered, and yet the boy seemed barely able to control it, like it was brand new. Second, Midoriya’s seeming distrustment of teachers and authority figures in general. Around people his age and younger, he seemed happy, but anyone older or in a position of authority and Midoriya seemed to walk on eggshells. 

One could go on for a while about him, but out of all the boy's mysteries, one stuck out. 

Midoriya would talk to thin air as if someone was there.

Chapter Text

Tenya jolted awake to his alarm. 

It was around 6:00 am in the morning, and if he didn’t get going soon, he wouldn’t have time to grab a snack before his and Midoriya’s near daily run.

Mumbling to himself tiredly, Tenya pushed himself out of bed and towards his dresser drawer. His regular running clothes were in the bottom drawer, so he grabbed them and walked into his bathroom. 

It isn’t worth taking a shower, Tenya considered, tugging his nice pair of sweatpants on, I’ll need to take one after my run anyways. 

So Tenya brushed his hair as neatly as possible (He had the worst bed head ever) and headed down the three flights of stairs. It just wouldn’t do to not have his orange juice and snack before his run. 

As he approached the common room, reaching the last couple of steps, Tenya heard Midoriya’s voice quietly emanating from the common room. But, Tenya realized as he came closer, he could not hear anyone responding. A phone, maybe?

Not wanting to intrude on his friend’s probably meant to be private conversation, as that would be very rude of him, Tenya took a couple steps back. But… he also didn’t feel like walking back up to his room, and his friend did sound rather upset… 

So, despite his better judgment, Tenya made up his mind and peeked around the corner to see what his friend was doing. Oh, if Tensei could see him now, how he’d laugh at his younger brother. 

Sitting at the common room coffee table sat Midoriya Izuku, surrounded by three other sets of Uno cards. 

“ No, I’m telling you Hikage, Nana has a point!” Midoriya was whispering furiously, as though he was in a deep argument with someone, “ Where the fuck is Banjo getting these plus four cards!? I swear he’s like eating them or something…” He continued, throwing his cards up in frustration. 

Iida’s eyes widened. 

Midoriya never swore, even when his best friend from childhood was kidnapped. And yet, here he was, playing uno with the air, the cards floating all around him, and swearing.

Did someone slip something in my orange juice last night? Tenya wondered to himself. 

Suddenly, Midoriya’s head whipped to his left, where a pair of cards was floating proudly in the air (How cards could float proudly, Tenya didn’t know.) “ Nana Shimura,” He hissed out, holding up his twelve cards, “don’t you dare play another fucking plus four card on me.” 

Iida stared at the cards, which were indeed plus fours, as they flipped themselves to face his friend. Midoriya also stared at them, before quietly face planting into the table. “ I’m going to burn all the Mattel factories that make uno decks, I swear to Kami.” The green-haired-boy grumbled. 

Iida walked out of the room. Who gives a shit about the run, he needed to sleep after this. 

                                                -0-

Jirou Kyoka would consider herself good at not spilling secrets. 

Because of her type of mutation quirk, she’d always had her earjacks. Most people with mutation quirks had been born with them. Some though, like Hawks, had grown them in. But something Kyoka considered a perk of being born with her earjacks was that, 1. She was better at dealing with her rather intense version of auditory sensory issues, and 2. She was pretty dang good at not spilling others secrets. 

This, however, didn’t mean that she did not get confused by some things she heard. Case and point, Midoriya Izuku. 

                                                -0-

She had been relaxing in her dorm room when she first heard it. 

“No, Banjo. I know you’re upset at third, but you are both literal ghosts and can not cause any bodily harm to each other no matter how much you want to do it.” Midoriya’s exasperated whisper sounded from a level below her. 

Kyoka froze, then pushed herself up on her bed so she was sitting. 

What was he even talking about? Ghosts? Maybe someone with a spectral quirk, though she didn’t know anyone in the school who had one, so who would he even be talking to? The rest of the class besides her, Midoriya, and Shoji had gone to the movies for the day. Due to their mutant quirks, neither she nor Shoji cared much for watching movies in the theater. 

Midoriya, though, didn’t seem to have a reason. Usually he was the person to either propose an outing or be one of the first ones to join in on the idea. Especially movie theaters. Midoriya had always seemed kind of tired, but for the past week or so, he had just been even more… tired . 

I guess it’s not that weird, she supposed, looking up at the ceiling from the book she’d been reading. Hero training had been particularly draining this week. 

She re-focused back on what Midoriya was saying just in time to hear shuffling, then “That’s just unfair at this point.” A pause, “And the only reason third is mad at you is because you cheated in Go Fish yesterday!” It seemed as if he was trying to mitigate a fight. 

What the…, Kyoka thought bewilderedly, no one responded, how is he even having a conversation?? If someone had been using JSL or been talking through a phone, she would have heard it. 

“How am I the most reasonable person in a room full of dead people?” Midoriya asked rhetorically. Falling back on her bed, Kyoka decided that she was not getting paid to deal with this and went back to her book. 

                                                   -0-

A week after the incident, Tenya decided to do some research. 

Nana Shimura. That name, one that Midoriya had said to thin air, had caused a spark of recognition in his brain. But, for the life of him, Tenya couldn’t remember who Nana Shimura was. Maybe the person was a Pro-Hero that his Sofu and Sobo had told him about when he was younger? But, Tenya thought, sitting at his desk where he’d given up on his homework, that doesn’t explain how Midoriya acted. Any Pro-Hero from Sofu and Sobo’s time would probably be dead. Then again, Midoriya was talking to thin air so none of this really made sense. 

So, trying to make some sense of this situation, Tenya got up from his chair, stretched, and grabbed his phone from his bed.

Me

Tensei?

Did Sofu or Sobo ever mention someone named ‘Nana Shimura’?

Brother 

I think so?

I that or either Otosan or Okasan might have mentioned her

All I know is she mentored All-Might so you might want to ask him

Idk

Why’d you ask anyways?

Me

None of your business Brother!

Thank you very much!

                                                       -0-

The next Saturday afternoon, Tenya had a perfect chance to talk to All Might. He was the one chaperoning their outing to the movies, after all. 

“All-Might Sensei?” Tenya asked with his usual arm chopping motion, walking up to the man. He looked up in surprise, probably shocked that a child was talking to him while they were in the mall. The expression quickly went away as All-Might saw it was Tenya, who did this very often. 

“I have a… question.” All Might nodded as Tenya hesitantly spoke, signaling for him to go on. “I was wondering if you knew someone by the name Nana Shimura was-?” The mini-Ingenium was promptly cut off by his sensei coughing up blood. The retired pro-hero’s face had gone many shades paler. 

“Ah, yes I did,” The man confirmed after getting over his shock, wiping blood off his chin with a handkerchief, “She was a lovely lady. But, young Iida, I must ask where you’ve heard that name?” 

Tenya shifted slightly, because how was he supposed to explain what he’d seen with Izuku a week ago without seeming crazy? He couldn’t outright lie to a teacher ( Tenya has done so multiple times, and would do so again, but those were for important things like revenge. He wouldn’t want to lie over something so simple.) But…

“My Sofu mentioned her sometime ago and I was curious as to who she was, so I thought you were the best person to ask.” Tenya tried his best to sound normal, but his voice still held a slight shaky-quality. “Thank you All-Might-Sensei!” He bowed, thanking the man, then quickly went to join the other students at the concession stand. 

As the young boy walked away, both him and his teacher shared the same thought. 

How odd…

                                                     -0-  

After overhearing Midoriya’s odd conversation(?) On Saturday, Kyoka was… concerned for her classmate. One does not talk to thin air without others being worried for them. There wasn’t much she could do. Kyoka definitely could not go to Aizawa-Sensei with this problem, as it all seemed crazy even to her. So there wasn’t anything to do… except talk to the only other person in her class with super-hearing. 

So, Kyoka had heaved herself up and out of bed and made her way up the one level of stairs separating her and Shoji’s floors. The multiple-armed-boy’s room was just to the left of the stairs so it wasn’t much of a trip. She knocked on it softly, not wanting to scare him. 

“Come in.” Shoji's voice came muffled from the door, but tiredness still seeped into his tone. Kyoka opened the door, the squeaking of the door knob simply white noise to her ears. She didn’t usually seek out Shoji despite their similar quirks, preferring to be by herself or with her girlfriend, Momo.

Like Tsuyu, Shoji was straight to the point, so he started the conversation by asking; “I’m gonna guess this is about Midoriya?” 

Kyoka nodded. “Have you heard him say anything recently?” She asked him, looking around his room despite the rather… interesting conversation she hoped they would have. 

“Not really, only once.” The boy said, also looking around to avoid eye contact. Though he didn’t specify, Kyoka knew which time he was talking about. 

“So,” She asked curiously, “what do you think about it?” 

                                                -0-

Shinsou Hitoshi used to hate Midoriya Izuku.

When they’d first met, Hitoshi had thought he was the golden boy of class 1-a, someone who didn’t have to work to get into the hero class. Someone who relied purely on their quirk for everything . 

Hitoshi couldn’t have been more wrong.

It happened after the sports festival. A woman, dressed in what looked like some sort of older hero costume, smiled at him. She’d… explained something to him, though what it was he couldn’t remember. 

And somehow, after that, he and Midoriya had become friends. 

                                                -0-

Hitoshi was searching for Izuku again. 

Somehow, the other boy had gotten lost on a class trip to the grocery store because of course he had. This was the second fucking time. How does he do this?? Hitoshi thought, scanning the mall’s crowd, does he just not have good luck with malls or what??? 

Though, maybe something had distracted him? Izuku had seemed more tired these past couple weeks. That or there was a sale on All-Might merch. 

Hitoshi was snapped out of his thoughts by the sight of a familiar head of green hair. Relief flooded his body as he let out a sigh, though it was followed by the overwhelming urge to give his friend a good smack on the head then do the same thing to himself for being friends with Izuku. Izuku, an absolute idiot. 

“Izuku!” He called out, walking toward his friend, “we’re gonna be late to meet the rest of the class if we don’t go n-” 

Hitoshi was cut off by Izuku snapping his head up. His face was vacant of expression, and his skin was paler than normal, green hair standing out like a sore thumb against sickly white.

But, perhaps the most concerning thing was how Hitoshi’s friend was clutching at his side, breath labored. Hitoshi sat on the metal bench with a soft thud. 

“What’s wrong Izu?” Hitoshi asked in concern, putting a gentle hand on his friend’s head. It was burning, quite the contrast to Izuku’s soft shivers. Izuku was muttering to himself, voice distracted and barely there, just repeated apologies. Hitoshi frowned. Was Izuku talking to him?

The thought was pushed out of his head when Hitoshi heard a slight dribbling sound. What…? He looked down and was met with the sight of blood covering Izuku’s sweatshirt. It was pooling on the bench, dropping through the holes and onto the floor. Recoling at the sight, Hitoshi whipped out his phone. 

Me

Okay so you know how I told you Izuku got lost again and I was gonna look for him?

Dad

Yes…?

Me

SO 

I found him

But, he’s bleeding 

Like badly

I’m trying to help but he’s really out of it. 

Dad

Shit

Where are you?

Me

(*location has been shared*)

                                                       -0-

All Shouta Aizawa wanted was a chance to sleep and maybe some coffee if he was lucky. 

At the beginning of the year, he had a feeling that this would be a problem class. Unfortunately, that proved correct in multiple ways. From numerous villain attacks in only the first couple months of school, to Problem Child breaking various bones, combined with Bakugou’s… everything. It was stressful. 

Shouta didn’t hate them, quite the opposite, though he’d never admit it out loud. 

But sometimes he really wished he could just take a year long nap. 

                                                 -0-

It had been two weeks since Problem Child had been attacked at the mall. 

After a week of being healed by Recovery Girl, the boy had been allowed to walk around, though he still wasn’t allowed back in physical classes. Apparently the knife was laced with some sort of poison quirk, so Midoriya had been affected worse than he should’ve been. Otherwise, he would have been able to walk around after a day or two.

But this?

It just made Shouta long for his sleeping bag even more. And it made him wonder if someone slipped something into his coffee. 

The man had walked into the 1-A common room at around three in the morning, intent on doing just his nightly checkover of the dorms. This was something that apparently scared the shit of his students ( as it should). Most of the students he caught out of their dorms this late were just getting a snack or calming down from a nightmare ( how Shouta despised how common that was.)

But out of all the things he expected to find that night, it was most certainly not Midoriya baking a cake.

The young boy stood in the middle of the kitchen, mixing a bowl of brown (Probably chocolate) icing. However, this wasn’t the weirdest thing. It was that Midoriya was staring at him with glowing eyes, the black tendrils coming out of his back mixing cake in bowls behind him, and the way he was floating ever-so-slightly off the floor. In all, the Problem Child somehow held a menacing aura despite the pink apron and flour he was dressed in. 

Seven smokey figures surrounded the kid, all with differently colored glowing eyes, all staring at him. As they did, Midoriya noticed him. “Oh hi Sensei!” The boy greeted both cheerily and sheepishly, as if he didn’t look completely possessed, “Sorry about the mess.”

Shouta just turned around and muttered, “This is way above my fucking pay grade.”

                                                 -0-

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