Chapter Text
Izuku stood in a gym- Aizawa’s and Yamada’s personal gym, located not too far away from their home and Yamada’s agency. He hadn’t known they owned something like this but it made sense that they’d need facilities to train and U.A. whilst most likely allowing teachers to use the on-campus facilities, didn’t mean they were free or open the whole day and night. It simply made sense.
He was here for the fourth time already, just a week before going back to school getting his training schedule reorganised for school hours, to ensure his progress wasn’t lost. Ever since Aizawa brought up the training Izuku had been put on a training regime of working on his stamina and bulking up before going into fighting techniques and whatnot. It made sense but Izuku kind of also wanted to fight. He missed the feeling quite a bit, despite not engaging in fights that much when he was still running around. But now and then he had to use his trusty bat to beat the shit out of thugs who cornered him. There was no proper technique or grace, but he still loved it all the same.
And yet the prospect of learning proper fighting hand to hand combat was exciting. Even though he would have to fight Hawks after all this and go to the U.A. if he won, which he still didn’t think would happen. Nevertheless, new knowledge always excited him.
There was the prospect of his quirk, as well, something he had pushed away for the longest time, not thinking much about. But it had been nagging him for the longest time, even more so as he began to exercise feeling some kind of energy build up beneath his skin that he never could quite get rid of and would often get worse when he exercised more. It didn’t hurt or anything but it felt uncomfortable, like an itch he couldn’t scratch.
Izuku didn’t have much time to dwell on it. Not when Aizawa’s training was demanding enough to keep his mind occupied and eventually let the train of thoughts slip away from him. He knew it would come to bite him in the ass eventually.
“Run through these exercises as fast as you can comfortably,”
“Is this some sort of evaluation?” Izuku looked up at Aizawa who had come into the gym a few minutes after Izuku arrived, just done with his warm-up. His skin buzzed in anticipation of something new.
“Yes. I need to see how fast you are progressing,”
Izuku went through the little training regime as fast as he could. He knew he was pushing himself but it didn’t hurt anyone. Though he was winded by the end of it, light-headed as well. Aizawa sent him a worried glance as he finished, collapsing on the floor trying to get his breathing under control.
“You’ve been following the training every day?”
“Yeah,” He breathed out. Fuck his chest hurt.
“Rest days included?” Izuku groaned rolling onto his side trying to calm down his beating heart. He knew that his stamina was shit when fighting with Shinsou on that beach but man this sucked.
“Am I not doing enough?”
“It’s alright, everyone progresses at their own pace,” Izuku sighed, breath stuttering when he didn’t have enough oxygen in his lungs to expel. Aizawa was thoughtful for the longest time. It set Izuku on the edge but he said nothing still breathing raspy breaths that did nothing to quell the stabbing pain in his lungs.
“Tell me. During your time as a vigilante, how much did you engage in fights?” Izuku turned to Aizawa, slowly sitting up. He married his eyes at him unsure where the question was coming from. And it was villain time not vigilante. Something everyone seemed to get wrong.
“Uh-”
“Relax. I’m only asking to understand how much movement was on your day-to-day basis,” Right. Of course. Training. It made sense.
“I didn’t fight a whole lot, tended to run more than not- I knew which fights I couldn’t take,” Aizawa nodded, looking down at the papers he was holding a frown on his face.
“Is everything alright?” Izuku chewed his lip unsure if he was doing worse than he thought. At this rate, he wouldn’t even be ready in three years, much less in 10 months.
“Do you know how your quirk impacts your body?”
“What do you mean?”
“Besides healing. Recovery girl noted heightened pulse, but what else,” Izuku hummed to himself. Despite his likeness to analyse and explore quirk possibilities, he had never really done anything of his own. Thinking at first that it was nothing more than a dream and then later feeling like it was wrong to do so. For one reason or another. So he didn’t have a whole lot to say really.
“Oh well I’m not really sure- I mean yeah pulse, uhm probably blood pressure, I had a run-in with someone that made me think that my blood cells regenerate faster than a normal human,” He hadn’t actually researched what was the normal regeneration rate but it sure as hell wasn’t the same as him, that much he knew.
“Okay that makes sense,” Aizawa nodded to himself, scratching something on his papers and turning back to Izuku with a certain look in his eyes that Izuku had no idea how to read.
“What does?”
“If your blood cells regenerate faster, that’s probably the reason for your higher pulse and that must impact the oxygen in your blood and lungs, probably making it much lower than it should be- which is why you’re getting winded from basic exercise despite training for two weeks already,” Izuku hummed slow and thoughtful.
“Did you not notice before?” Izuku shook his head.
“I wasn’t really thinking about being winded and light-headed when running away from villains you know?”
“Fair enough,”
“So- what does that mean?” Aizawa tapped his papers once-twice before speaking.
“We’ll keep up the cardio- see where it goes. Other than that I believe it’s best to focus on bulking you up- no offence but you’ve got sticks for arms. If you are unable to depend on your stamina then ensuring that you have enough power to knock someone out fast is the best plan,”
“Ah- I think that might be easy, I don’t get muscle fatigue that much. I think my muscle tears heal up almost right away,”
“Unless they heal too fast,” Izuku nodded, right that was also a factor there was no saying that the fast healing didn’t impact the ability to grow his muscle. If so then it would be near impossible to bulk up like a normal person would. He would have to put in a lot of extra work to ensure that he was gaining muscle. Izuku grimaced looking down at his scarred hands. Why did it have to be so complicated? Why did his quirk have to come with so many drawbacks? Wasn’t it enough that he was as broken as he was already?
“Hey,” During his little rant in his head, Aizawa had come towards him, kneeling by his side. “It’s alright,”
Izuku shrugged his shoulders.
“Is it? I’m supposed to fight one of the strongest heroes in Japan in less than half a year, my quirk is making training complicated and it’s essential to even give me a chance to win against Hawks,”
“You don’t think you can win?”
“Are you kidding? He’s Hawks- the youngest hero to make it to the number ten, and I’m just well-me, no one in their right mind would even think I have a chance here,” Izuku’s voice cracked at the end unable to keep his emotions at bay. He had no chance of winning this fight so he wasn’t sure why was everyone so set on believing that he could. Statistically, his chance is one big fat zero.
“I guess I'm not in my right mind then,”
“What?”
“You heard me. I think you can with against Hawks, Hizashi thinks so too. You have a bright head on your shoulders, pure brute strength won't win you the fight, not against someone who has years of training and hero work over you. But you’re smart, you’re clever and you need to believe in yourself,” Izuku turned away from Aizawa. Zero. Big fat zero. No matter what they believed. Izuku wasn’t set to win- ever.
“Listen Izuku, no normal kid would be able to do what you did out on the streets,”
“I was just messing around enough so I would get killed and I did, only that it’s not a consequence I needed to deal with much,” Aizawa flicked him on the forehead.
“Don’t speak of your life as invaluable,” Izuku rubbed his forehead, avoiding Aizawa’s gaze. He wasn’t exactly prepared for such a talk today.
“It’s whatever,” What point was there in keeping himself alive if he’d go back to living right away anyway? Wasted energy honestly.
“It’s not and I’ll drill it into you to a point where giving up your life will never cross your thoughts ever again,” Izuku snorted. Yeah right.
“I’m supposed to train, can we not talk about this?” Aizawa gave him a long look but sighed, nodding his head.
“Okay. But this is not something I will stop bringing up, if you don’t want to talk to me you can talk to Hizashi, he will listen, you know that. Or if you want you can always try a therapist,”
“Therapist?”
“Yes, ideally I would make you visit one anyway, but I can’t force you to, it will just make things worse so I’m just suggesting. It’s an option one you can take and drop if it doesn’t work out,”
“I don’t think I really need one,”
“You do Izuku, it’s not a statement, it’s not a bad thing. I go to a therapist myself every other week, have been for years.” Izuku gave him a look, not one of judgment but one full of thoughts behind his eyes.
“Think about it, okay?” Izuku nodded numbly. He would think about it. Maybe. He didn’t really think he needed one. Sure he had a lot of shit happen to him that would warrant a visit to one, but he knew how it impacted him. Wasn’t it enough? He knew his faults and wasn’t blind to his issues. But wasn't that enough? What would a therapist say to him that he didn’t already know?
“Okay.”
“Good. I’m proud of you,” Izuku ducked his head but Aizawa still ruffled his hair, messing up the curls more than they already were, throwing the hair over his eyes in a way that had Izuku pushing them away from his eyes. He should consider a haircut.
“Now get up and run through the exercises again,” Izuku groaned hefting himself up and gearing up to feel out of breath in five minutes. He didn’t miss the warm smile that Aizawa sent him, ducking his head to hide his blush but the warmth in his belly was hard to ignore.
Izuku wasn’t exactly sure how what he was expecting from school on the first day. He had been transferred rather quickly, despite the missed finals- the Aldera school had put the lowest grade possible for him. Sure that put his record rather low but Izuku didn’t care much for it when he was out of there. Especially as he was now sharing both school and class with Shinsou. Not that he had told his friend about it.
He kept it a secret as a surprise, or well rather he forgot about it. Too many things happening to really care about something as trivial as school at the moment. But he was still a teenager who had to get his education like it or not. Sure Aizawa and Yamada had brought up homeschooling but Izuku didn’t want to be confined to home and wanted to get out a little bit. And home schooling was tricky when living with pro heroes. It wasn’t easy to find reliable teachers who wouldn’t leak information or go snooping around the place.
In any case. Izuku was nervous. In the back seat of the car clutching at his uniform tie, one that he couldn’t tie for the life of him and left a jumbled mess. Yamada had given him a look first thing in the morning at the tie but said nothing about it, serving breakfast.
“Ready?” Izuku looked up at Aizawa who gave him a knowing glance as Izuku kept shaking his leg the whole ride. He nodded mutely. He was so not ready.
And yet sooner than he had wanted to he was by the door of his new classroom, about to meet new people who didn’t know about his former quirkless status. People who had no opinion of him, an opinion he could fuck up with just his nervous energy alone. He took a deep breath and entered the classroom merely a few seconds after the final bell just as the teacher had caught everyone's attention.
“Good timing,” He turned to him as Izuku smiled nervously. He was so gonna throw up later from all the nerves. Fuck facing villains whilst bleeding out, it could never compare to any type of public embarrassment. Good forbid if he made a fool of himself.
“Class, we have a new transfer student- Midoriya Izuku, please introduce yourself any way you see fit,” Izuku sent a nervous glance across the class, catching Shinou’s very surprised look. Heh.
“Hello, I-uhm- my name is Midorya Izuku, please take care of me,” He gave a deep bow and shuffled to the only free seat right beside Shinsou- how lucky. And that was that. Homeroom went by fast. Nothing exciting that Izuku hadn’t heard before, only less wild. He hadn’t realized how used he had gotten to see his former classmates letting out their quirks whenever they pleased back in Aldera. Here. It was quiet. And nice.
Well. He jinxed it.
Fuck that. Whatever he said about nice? Fuck that. His classmates were assholes. It didn’t take even a minute after the homeroom was dismissed for people to approach him from all sides to explicitly say one thing- Shinsou should not be befriended. Just in case. A reminder.
“You see Shinsou has a quirk that makes him dangerous-”
“Really?” Izuku leaned back in his chair, quirking up an eyebrow at the person who was speaking. He didn’t get a name not that he cared anyway.
“Yes, he can brainwash people be careful and don’t speak to him,” Izuku let out a laugh at that. He expected better from people. Maybe. He kind of hoped this would be different. Guess he was hoping a bit too much.
“I think I can decide for myself who to be friends with or not,” The guy squinted at him.
“Midoriya-”
“Listen,” Izuku got up from his seat, sadly he didn’t tower over the guy, far too short to do so with anyone really. The guy was a head taller and much, much broader but Izuku did not care. He faced villains far bigger and scarier than his classmates could ever be.
“If you think you can tell me what to do, tell who to befriend or not based on their quirk then you have another thing coming,” Izuku escaped from his desk, taking two steps to the side to stand beside very bewildered Shinsou.
“In fact, I think Shinsou is really cool, so whatever you have to say, lay it on me. Just know, when I punch your teeth in, I had every reason to do so,” The class stood silent. In any other situation, Izuku would feel nerves flaring up from having everyone's attention on him. But not now, not when his friend was being insulted by some bigoted assholes.
“What are you, another one with a villain's quirk?” The same guy sneered, coming closer. “No wonder you two flock together,” Izuku frowned.
“The only villain here right now is you, if you didn’t know verbal abuse is the first ticket to becoming one,”
“It’s not abuse when I say what is true. You didn't tell your quirk Midoriya, what can I do other than assume?” The guy tried to explain, pointing out the lack of information as a basis to hurl insults at him. How great. A repeat of Aldera.
“Does it matter?” Izuku slouched against Shinsou’s desk, feeling his friend's hand come up to his back in a light tap, almost a stop. Izuku didn’t want to stop. He didn’t want to let the bullies win and think they can get away with this shit.
The guy gave him a look and sneered going back to his seat. Izuku turned to Shinsou giving him a look but they didn’t have time to talk as the teacher came back starting the next lesson.
In the end, Izuku got into a fight. When the guy approached them again during lunch time, just as they had sat down on the further place on the roof. He had started spewing shit and Izuku landed a punch square into his face. He was pretty sure the crack under his knuckles was the bully's nose.
Twenty minutes later he was sitting in the principal's office with a broody Aizawa by his side. He didn’t get to talk much with Shinsou as he had been taken home right after.
Izuku slumped on the couch grabbing Sprinkles into his arms, to pet him.
“Why are you getting into fights on the first day?” Aizawa sat down on a chair near the kitchen.
“They were insulting Shinsou, I wasn’t going to stand by and let them do it,”
“Izuku-”
“They were telling to my face that I shouldn’t talk to Shinsou because he has a villainous quirk, I told them to fuck off. They didn’t, I punched the guy, end of the story,” Aizawa let out a heavy sigh but it wasn’t one laced with anger. Rather he sounded simply very, very tired.
“Alright, just- don’t get into more fights this won't look good on your record,” Izuku shrugged. He made no promises. He wasn’t gonna let himself or his friend get bullied. He had enough of that in Aldera.
“At least this time they’ll be real incidents,” Izuku grumbled under his breath, absentmindedly petting Sprinkles who seemed to purr and stand oblivious to what was happening around him.
“What do you mean?”
Izuku flicked his gaze to Aizwa. “Aldera liked to write things into my record, shit I didn’t do or wasn’t my fault. If the teacher saw me getting beat up it was my fault. If my desk was all scribbled over, it was my fault. If someone brought flowers to put on my desk, it was my fault,”
“They- they put flowers on your desk?” Izuku sighed.
“Yeah. I mean it’s not like they were wrong,” Izuku laughed but the joke didn’t really go through with Aizawa it seemed.
“I’ll deal with this later. Go do your homework, we’ll be going to train later,” Izuku hefted Sprinkles in his arms and left for his room with a sour taste in his mouth. He wasn’t sure what to think of it all. Playing hero but punished by rules because it was wrong to hit someone. Izuku clicked his tongue. Bullshit.
Izuku knew it was a bad idea. He did it anyway. Because when had his ideas ever been good? Never.
He had gone out for an early morning run. The nagging in the back of his mind reminding of how poor his stamina was. Even if it was due to his quirk somehow, it didn’t mean he couldn’t make it better by training. And what would some extra training do? Well. A lot.
Izuku was winded just a few minutes into the run but he powered through. He didn’t mean to run much just a few blocks to the park, round it and back. And he had been fine till he almost made the lap around the park. Near the end of it, he started to feel his chest constricting trying to suck in all the oxygen he needed but it was getting hard.
By the time he was pounding up the stairs to get back to the apartment black spots had started to appear slowly in the field of his vision. He just needed to get back, drink some water and lie down for a bit. His heart felt like it was trying to crawl out of his mouth with how fast it was beating. The nausea was making its appearance as well. All in all not the best combo to have to stumble into the apartment loud enough that Aizawa and Yamada immediately approached the entryway. Just in time.
“Izuku?”
“Hey,” Izuku smiled and promptly met the ground. He fainted, like a loser.