Archive of Our Own ^beta

Everyone in the class had drawbacks. Momo's quirk was no different. Momo tried, she really did, to manage her symptoms.

It was far too early for Momo to be awake. There was no light pouring in from her window. So why was she awake at this odd hour of the night/morning? She was in immense pain, of course. She was laying flat on her back on her plush bed but the whole world was spinning a hundred miles per hour. Her hands were clutching at her bed sheets in a desperate attempt to stop the spinning. She was also nauseous. That was what was keeping her awake despite how much she wanted to sink into her bed and sleep.

Momo has had far too many nights like this. After a long day of utilizing her quirk, she has to experience its super fun drawbacks. Knowing she can’t fall back asleep yet, she's just bored. The world hasn’t stopped spinning but she longs to push herself up and read or study or just do something. She really wants a cup of tea. That might actually help her to get back to sleep. Maybe she would try that.

She turned on her side, sat up cautiously, and slowly made her way to her feet. She used the edge of her bed to walk and launched to the door before she could fall.

She stumbled downstairs similarly, using the walls to aid her. By the time she made it to the first floor, she felt as if she could drop dead.

"Momo?" She looked up from the floor to see the newest addition to their class, albeit not as new anymore. "Are you alright?"

"I'm," she started but had to pause to ensure she wouldn't vomit.

"I'm quite alright Shinsou."

"I don't mean to call you a liar but you don't look good," he made his way over to her, helping steady her with a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm just a bit nauseous. I planned to come get a cup of peppermint tea," she explained as he helped her sit on the nearest couch.

"Stay here I'll fix us some," he hurried off to the kitchen before she could protest.

She laid her head back against the couch to try to collect herself. She hadn't expected to run into anyone. Though she supposed she should have with the bags that seemed to be semi-permanent under his eyes. She must have fallen asleep briefly because she awoke to the clink of china on the coffee table in front of her.

"Sorry," Hitoshi winced. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's quite alright," she sat up on the couch to not be rude. “I would have had to wake up to return to bed anyway,”

“Yeah, so why are you up anyway? Just the nausea?”

“Well,” she sheepishly took a sip of her tea. It wasn’t piping. How long was she out? “I suffer from a bit of insomnia due to late-night hunger pains,” she admitted.

“Hunger pains?”

“Yes, I’m afraid my quirk has some pretty nasty drawbacks,” the purple-haired boy laughed a humorless chuckle at this.

“Yeah, I’m learning,” when she looked confused he continued. “Uh, you, your whole class has some pretty gruesome drawbacks and you all act like it's nothing. Kirishima was literally paralyzed. Tenya Iida couldn’t go to class because he was exhausted. Tenya Iida! By the rules blue,” Momo chuckled.

“Well, when you get targeted by villains so early in the school year,” she sighed. “Everything else just isn’t as impactful,” Hitoshi’s shoulders drop.

“Wow, yeah. You all have been through hell,”

“Yeah, but we’ll pull through. We’re heroes after all.”

Momo and Hitoshi talked for a while as they drank their tea. This wasn’t unusual for them, meeting to drink tea together, but usually, it didn’t occur so late at night. Momo fell asleep on Hitoshi’s shoulder. He blushed before covering her with a blanket. He stayed there until he was sure she wouldn't wake up again. Then he left for his room.

Momo woke up to the sounds of people in the common room. It wasn’t too loud so it must still be early. She opened her eyes to see a floating uniform on the couch to the left of her.

“Morning Momo!” Tooru greeted, quiet yet enthusiastically.

“Good morning Hagakure,” she greeted groggily. She quickly went to stand and regretted that decision the second she stood up. Her vision became spotty and she hazily heard her name being called as gravity took its toll on her. She plummeted to the floor and blacked out when her head collided with the table in front of her. She thinks she vaguely hears someone yell to get Aizawa before she completely loses consciousness.

When she wakes up for the third time this morning she has a splitting headache. As she looks around she realizes she's in a hospital. She brings her hands to her head as she realizes someone outside the room is currently having a shouting match. The door to the room opens and slams. She opens her eyes to see her teacher, quirk fully active. When he makes eye contact with her he drops it.

“You’re awake,”

“Aizawa sensei? Who were you fighting with?”

“That’s not important right now Momo,” he comes and sits next to her bed. “How are you feeling?”

“I have a headache.”

“Yeah? Makes sense, you have a pretty bad concussion,” he explains.

“I have a concussion?”

“What do you remember, Momo?” He asks as he gets up once again.

“Um,” she thinks back. “I fell asleep on the couch last night. With Hitoshi,” she recalls. Aizawa shuts the door after talking to a nurse and returns to the seat. The surprise is clear on his face.

“With Shinsou?”

“Yeah, we were having tea?”

“At night?”

“Well, technically it may have been this morning,”

“What time this morning Momo?”

“I’m not entirely sure but the sun hadn’t come up yet,”

“So you and Shinsou were having tea at god knows what hour of the morning and then you fell asleep? What happens next?”

“Uh,” she tries desperately to remember. “I'm not quite sure?” It’s at this point a nurse comes in. She asks Yaoyorozu the normal questions, what day of the week is it, what's your name, and all that. Then she leaves them alone again.

“Sensei, if I'm in the hospital where are my parents?” He sighs at this.

“They were asked to leave,”

“What, why?” This information has her sitting up straighter in her bed.

“They were disturbing the patients,” he said, not really meeting her eyes. “And were making some comments about both the hospital itself and its staff that weren’t appreciated,” he finished. She could tell there was something else he wasn’t telling her.

“I’m so sorry Aizawa,” he met her eyes at this.

“No, Yaoyorozu. You do not need to apologize for your parent's behavior. They are adults and thus responsible for their own actions. Your health and safety are what's important to me,”

“What do you mean by that Sensei?” He sighed and looked away.

“Look, I know your family is well off. I mean you got in on a recommendation. However, you are a little too thin for your age and your quirk type Momo. So, if you ever need to talk to me about anything,” she cut him off when she realized what he was getting at.

“No, no, no! Mr. Aizawa! I don’t have an eating disorder! It’s actually a quirk drawback!”

“A drawback?” He looked at her incredulously.

“Yes, my body weight often fluctuates due to my quirk. Similar to how Sato’s blood sugar does,”

“Sato’s blood sugar drops?”

“Yes? I thought you were aware? He has medication for it so you must have seen it on his papers,” he sighs.

“I must have seen it and just forgotten. This is what I get for doing teacher work at odd hours of the night,” he leans back in his chair. “What can we do about your sudden weight fluctuation?”

“Well, I’m supposed to be eating bigger portions than the rest of my companions due to how fast my metabolism is,”

“Got it talk, to lunch rush,”

“I’ll have to talk to my classmates about it too, so they are aware whenever we have class meals,”

“Oh trust me, we’ll be having a class meeting after this incident,” he said with his classic Aizawa smile. It scared her a little. “Anything else?”

“That you would probably have to talk to the nurses and doctors about,” he nodded.

“Got it,” they did talk to both the nurses and doctors about it and got Momo some medication and a plan to get her back up to the size she should be. Aizawa had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy.

“Momo Yaoyorozu. My office. Now,” he left no room for argument as he strode the common room and towards his newly claimed office.

He had to get one after all of his children finally came clean about their issues. The Eraser-Mic family also had to switch dorms with a staff member closer to his class’ dorm building. It had to be easier for his students to get them. He had also gotten better about looking at his phone messages.

“Damn Momo,” Denki commented. “What did you do?”

“You aren’t the type to break the rules Yaoyorozu,” Shoto also spoke. “Why is he so upset with you?”

“I have an idea,” Hitoshi spoke bitterly. Momo looked sheepishly at him before getting up to follow their teacher. When she reached his office he was sitting at his desk, not the comfy chairs put in the room by Yamada sensei, with her medication in front of him.

“Come in. Close the door.” She did as instructed, sensing his anger. Though she knew it was at her actions and not at her.

“Would you care to tell me why you have almost three weeks' worth of extra meds in this container?” He put his pointer finger on top of the pill container in question. She looked down in shame. She heard his sigh.

“Momo,” his voice had softened. “Talk to me. A peer of yours came to me and told me you haven’t been eating right. I find you haven’t been taking your medication properly. You’ve been exhausted in training, homeroom, and classes. Mic said you fell asleep in one of his classes. Mic. His classes are hard to sleep through,”

“I’m so sorry Mr. Aizawa,” she was. She truly was.

“I know you are, kid. I just want to know why,”

“I’ve been gaining weight,” she can’t meet his eyes as she say this. She’s embarrassed. She knows the logic behind her embarruassment is fualty.

“You’re supposed to kid. Your body is meant to be bigger to handle your quirk. There’s nothing wrong with that,” he understands where she's coming from. He remembers him and Hizashi having a pretty similar conversation with Midnight when they were younger.

“I,” she stops as soon as she starts.

“Talk to me,”

“My parents don’t agree with that notion. They don’t like how much weight I’ve been gaining. I had to beg them not to take me off them,” She couldn’t look at him. She was trying not to cry. Momo wasn't looking at him so she couldn't see the pure rage in her teacher's eyes.

"Your parents," he started off far too strong so he paused to take a breath.

"Your parents are wrong Momo. There is nothing wrong with being mid or plus size," she didn't respond. He sighed again.

"You can't just stop taking your meds like this Yaoyorozu. It's dangerous. We're gonna talk to Recovery Girl ok? She's gonna tell us how to get you back on your med without hurting you. You're not going to stop taking them this time. When you feel like you need to, come find me. Or text or call," he had given his students his work phone number for emergencies a long while back.

"But that's for emergencies," Momo protested.

"And you contemplating a decision that could seriously hurt your body is an emergency,"

"Alright, Mr. Aizawa."

"I want you to work your way up to your bigger portions too. Go slow so you don't hurt yourself but get back up there,"

"Do I get to know who told you? About me not eating,"

"No, you don't. I can’t tell you because you could go take it out on them or be angry with them. They were trying to help, Yaoyorozu,"

"I know sensei, I'm sorry,"

"I don't blame you Momo,"

The 'I blame your parents' was left unsaid.