Chapter Text
As Izuku sat in the chair in front of the principal’s office, he twirled a white feather between his fingers, unsure of when exactly it found its way into his hand.
After the spectacular display of his Quirk, the day progressed in more predictable manner. The explosion he had caused attracted the attention of everyone in school and probably anyone that happened to be in a 1km radius around it. Ohzora, whose cries of anguish had continued to sound throughout the schoolyard, had been tended to by the school nurse, until the ambulance arrived.
After that, Mr. Nakamura, one of the more despicable teachers Izuku had to deal with, turned around and grabbed his shoulder. That had been uncomfortable – and not just because of how strong his grip had been. “I saw exactly what you did!”, he had said. Then he started to spin a story about how Izuku had attacked poor, little Ohzora.
Which brought him back to where he was sitting, waiting for the principle to get him. Said principal and Mr. Nakamura were currently talking with Ohzora’s mother alone, who had come after her husband went off to the hospital.
Katsuki, who had been ordered (meaning “told very kindly”) to go to his class room until it had been decided whether or not school would end early that day, ignored what the surrounding adults said and went to follow him. He was grateful for his blond friend, who gave him silent support and made sure that he didn’t have to play against a stacked deck.
And wasn’t that a fun memory…
Katsuki stood in front of the principal’s secretary, slowly losing his already limited patience. “Aunty Inko is currently on vacation and Izuku is staying with us, so call my mother instead!”
The secretary just looked at him, uncomprehendingly. “Why would I need to call anyone?”
Her genuine confusing did nothing to stop Katsuki from becoming more and more pissed off. “So that a guardian can be present for what’s about to happen?”
She frowned and Izuku was reminded of when one of his classmates, that was less mentally capable, tried to solve simple additions. “But the Principal didn’t say anything about calling anyone…?”
“It’s the fucking LAW!” he snarled menacingly. She didn’t ask any more questions after that. Not even when he added, “And tell her to bring the cat!”
Izuku was brought back to the present, when the doors before him opened. A stern-faced principal called him in, only to blink when he didn’t come alone. “Oh! Ehm, Bakugo? We are grateful for watching over Midoriy, but we are ready for him now. You can go back to class.”
“The hell I’m going to do! I was there when the explosion happened. Practically right behind Izuku. I’m going to stay here!” The principal looked a bit lost for a moment, but he conceded and Izuku had to roll his eyes. Really, as much as he loved his friend, sometimes he wondered if the school would let him get away with murder. Not to mention, class? How long exactly did the man think they had let him wait until they called him in?
“Now, Midoriya.”, The principal started his speech, folding his hands. “This is not the first time you have been in this office. You have a history of disruptive behavior and we repeatedly have tried to correct it. The goal of this institute is to teach our students what they don’t know and help them in their growth. But this? This is different. This is serious. Not only did you cause great property damage to this school and attacked one of the students. Your actions resul-”
The door slammed open, revealing an irate Bakugo Mitsuki, Shiretoko Tomoko following right behind her. Their arrival greatly disrupted the man, whose script was about to become obsolete. “What? Mrs. Bakugo? What are you doing here? Did you come for your son? You can take him with you immediately, this isn’t about him.”
Apparently, irate was an understatement of Mitsukis mood. “What am I doing here? No, the real question is, what are you doing here? Izuku is currently in my care, and even though something happened that warrant him being interrogated or lectured by you, I have NOT been called.” To be fair, the principal probably couldn’t have known that. “Have you at least tried to reach his mother?” The uncomfortable look on his face was answer enough.
… Speaking of murder, Izuku also wondered, if he was the one to die on school grounds for some reason, would they just hide the body and continue to not notify his guardians? He shook his head. ‘Enough with the morbid thoughts!’
Before the principal could stammer out some kind of excuse or as what would probably be pretty stupid questions, Mrs. Ohzora, who had been watching the proceedings, decided that now was the time to make her voice heard.
“He tried to kill my baby!” she screamed, pointing at Izuku, who could only grimace. And what a voice it was. Why were the ones these kinds of women had always so shrill? “He obviously needs to- WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY SON’S FEATHERS!?!”
She lunged at him, trying to do something. Thankfully, she was blocked by Katsuki, who stepped protectively in front him. Lucky for her, too, as Tomoko had already made to move and that would have had far more reaching consequences for her.
Still, thanks to her actions, the feather he subconsciously continued to play with, did fall from his hand. Not really thinking about it, he tried to catch it. Instead of grabbing it with his fingers, he overreached, touching it with his shield, which lit up in a brilliant green.
…wait…
As Mr. Nakamura and the principal dove behind the principal’s desk, making Mrs. Ohzora’s eyebrows to disappear behind her hair, Izuku only had eyes for the screen that popped up before him.
[A new Shield has been unlocked]
[Ohzora Feather Shield]
[Equipment bonus: Agility +4]
What? No really, What? What even was his Quirk?!? How could-
“MIDORIYA!” Izuku jumped after the principal had slammed his hand on his desk. “Do you think this is funny? The use of a Quirk is strictly forbidden in public, and just because you are in a building and only a select amount of people can see you, doesn’t change that this still is a public school. Not that you would be allowed to do that at a private school either. That’s not what is meant by ‘public’!”
Izuku felt mortified by what just happened, but even more, he felt indignant. He knew very well when and where it was allowed or forbidden to use a Quirk. Not only that, he also knew about a lot of loopholes that could be used to get around certain restrictions in certain situations. In fact, he was pretty sure he knew best of all at the school about it, looking at how much those rules were really enforced around here.
He feebly tried to explain what just happened, but the principle wasn’t even listen “This is not a joke! Your shield has seriously injured one of the students here. Your Quirk is dangerous. And you just mess around with it like it is nothing! I got a call from the hospital. Young Ohzora’s wings are severely damaged. They are broken in several places, a lot of his feathers are missing, which are not to be played around with! Not to mention the third degree burns…”
“But worst of all, there is no way for them to fix it all properly. He will recover in time, but he will never be able to fly again. Most likely, he will hardly even be able to move his wings. He is now no better than Quirkless. How about instead of fooling around you show some empathy and human decency and try putting yourself into his shoes!” the principal said, causing Mrs. Ohzora to sob at that. But that didn’t reach Izuku anymore, as all he could hear was the sound of his own blood rushing through his ears.
“You did not just say that.” he breathed out, utterly speechless. Katsuki, who was surprisingly apt at interpreting the mood of his friend, was the only one to take notice. There was no audible cracking noise like you’d read about in books. Nor the visible twitching or shaking that was present in movies. But he knew, something had snapped in Izuku.
“Putting myself into his shoes?”, his friend carried on, voice slowly getting louder. “I lived in these shoes for the last six years. SIX YEARS! Six years of pain, suffering and ridicule! I remember distinctly a time when one of my classmates here beat me until the blood was dripping onto the ground, which was the moment when the principle of our school decided to give me a detention for ‘making a mess’. Maybe you know him? A real asshat, that guy.”
Said assha-, principal was, quite frankly speaking, a huge push over, for the most part. Still, normally Midoriya Izuku would be the last person he would allow to talk to him like that. But this was not the same boy that would do his best to avoid any eye contact, ever. This boy was furious. Not to mention, Bakugo Mitsuki and the woman beside her, who were definitely not amused by that revelation.
Unfortunately, Mr. Nakamura didn’t pick up that and decided to be his usual charming self. “Midoriya!”, he said in fake indignation, which quickly changed into condescension. “That is no way to speak with your principal. With that level of disrespect, it will be very hard for you to keep your place at this school.”
“Shut up!” Izuku hissed, causing the man to flinch in surprise. “Nobody here cares about your opinion, as you should already be used to from your wife.” he carried on scathingly, barely even looking at his teacher. “That’s the other reason she doesn’t tell you that she knows about your affairs, by the way, outside from the shame she would feel from the public knowing her husband sleeps with other men.”
Instantly, the room became silent, everyone bug-eyed at his response. Mr. Nakamura had turned ashen, twitching slightly, but otherwise rooted to the spot. The principal’s jaw was wide open, without any chance of that changing any time soon. Mitsuki acted like someone had shown her the way to the holy grail and Tomoko wasn’t able to react at all. Katsuki, for his part, looked like someone who was put in charge of a fire and couldn’t decide, whether he should dim it or pour a gallon of gasoline in it.
It was Mrs. Ohzora who put a bit of distance between her and Mr. Nakamura. She was also the one that filled the silence next, going on about her poor defenseless son. But Izuku wasn’t having any of that. “God, stop acting like your son is an innocent angel or something. There are several kids around here that are being bullied by him. Did you know that he once brought a joint to school?”
Apparently she didn’t, nor did she believe it, judging by her red, angry face. “In his defense”, Izuku said, “he had no clue what it was. He really isn’t that smart. All he knew was that it was something ‘cool’ that he had seen his brother around with. Then again, joints are rather tame compared to the things your older son usually sells. Not that some who abuses prescription drugs would care about something like that.”
The fact that his last sentence made Mrs. Ohzora stumble backwards as though she had been slapped was validation enough for his words. Still, Mitsuki had no problem admitting that Izukus mood scared her to some degree – though by far not as much as she was in awe of what she was witnessing. So, being a responsible adult (for once), she decided to intervene. “Izuku? Don’t you think it would be better if you didn’t make such heavy accusations?”
But Izuku was on a roll, so her words or their intentions went right over his head. “What, why do you think she is here instead of with her son? There is a good chance some of the staff might recognize her for… certain things… But that’s ok, I guess. There is no danger of her husband finding out something like genetics and blood types not matching up with this son.”
Mrs. Ohzora ran from the room, visibly scared. Whether that was of Izuku or of her husband finding out any of her dirty secrets, nobody knew. Same could be said about where exactly Izuku had gotten all this information from. In that moment, Mr. Nakamura was reminded of all the times he had seen the boy muttering, observing others or things or happenings and writing stuff down in one of his notebooks. ‘Oh God.’, he thought ‘Oh GOD, no!’
What did the boy know? What kind of things had he found out? Having lovers on the side wasn’t the worst thing he ever did. Were his secrets safe? The principal’s thoughts went in a similar direction. But he had realized that it didn’t even need to go that far. Just Izuku telling the police of the way he had been treated while attending here was enough to make him lose his job, maybe even shut down the school itself.
It was fitting that Tomoko used that moment to clear her throat and said, “As the offended party has decided to leave, I think it would be a good idea to end this conversation for today. Let me give you notice of the fact that Izuku won’t be attending class for at least the next week, maybe longer. But don’t worry, we will get in touch with you, though probably to notify you of the fact that this school is not the right learning environment for him.”
Before the two men could make up their mind over whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing, Mitsuki added, “And you can be damn sure that the same thing applies to Katsuki!”
The walk home started out as a quite affair. Everybody needed a moment or twenty to digest what just happened, especially the three party crasher. Naturally, that meant Izuku was the first to break the silence. “So… looks like you won’t get to be the first miracle child coming from a trash school to become a hero.”
Katsuki almost looked insulted. “Tch, as if I needed a perfect backstory to become number one. Also, that would only really become important in middle school.” For a moment, he looked at Izuku, then anywhere but. “Not to mention, I wouldn’t be the only one from that school that became a hero anyway.”
Izuku stumbled slightly in his walk, looking at Katsuki with wide eyes. So, before he could say anything that would embarrass his friend, Katsuki quickly asked, “Did you absorb that feather and get a new shield in the office?” Izuku, jarred by the sudden change in topics, could only nod and explained it’s attributes.
Katsuki took that fact in stride and contemplated. “So, you don’t necessarily need blood for that to work? How about stuff like hair? That makes things a lot easier.” Wait, what exactly did Katsuki have planned? Said boy then made another loud ‘Tch’-sound and grumbled, “But I was sure you would manage to land in his blood and unlock his shield that way.”
“What do you mean by that, brat?”, Mitsuki said. “What did you do?” That of course got Katsuki going again.
While he and his mother were practicing their usual comedy routine, Izuku admitted, “I did unlock a shield that way.”
That brought their whole group to a halt. Izuku bumped into his friend in front of him. As he caught himself, he noticed everyone staring at him. Katsuki was the one who gave word to what all of them were thinking. “What?” Izuku simply switched to the shield and read out:
[Protective Wing Shield]
[Equipment bonus: Erster Schild]
The shield was a work of art. It was pretty big, compared to most of the other shields had gotten until now. Depicted on it where a multitude of wings that wrapped themselves protectively around the shield’s gem. Furthermore, when the sun reflected of it, the white feathers had a rainbow sheen on them.
Unfortunately, his friend wasn’t of any capacity to appreciate it in an appropriate fashion. “What the fuck? A shield that calls for an air strike? How overpowered is that? That doesn’t even make sense!”
Izuku was getting tired of the mood changing every 5 minutes today. He really didn’t have the energy for any more curveballs being thrown at him. He just asked, “What? What are you taking about?”
“That is what it does, right?”, Katsuki questioned. “Why else would it be called Air Strike Shield?”
“What? No, I said Erster Schild!” Did all the screaming and explosions suddenly do its job on the blonds hearing?
Said blond looked at him funny, for the first time that day directing his anger towards him. “What the fuck does that mean?!”
Izuku became exasperated “Erster Schild, you know? It means… first… shield… in some language…”. How did he know that? He didn’t even know what language that was. He only spoke Japanese and some barely passable English, but he knew exactly what it said... No. Nope. Not going to happen. He let out a sigh. “You know what? Not now. I can’t, really. Let’s talk about something else”
Katsuki didn’t look like he would let it go, but the one who spoke next happened to be Tomoko. “That reminds me, I finished all the preparations. A room has been decided on and furnished. In terms of paperwork, all that is needed is a couple of signatures. So, for next step, are you up to meeting my teammates tomorrow?”