Chapter Text
The first week at U.A has been going… well. Alright, he’s pretty sure Aizawa thinks there is something wrong with him and well, Izuku can’t really fault him for that because there is a lot wrong with him and he probably should get his head checked at some point because he fell down the stairs really hard on the second day. To be fair, he was scared someone was going to shove him down so he didn’t pay enough attention, and—Izuku groans. He is way too easily distracted.
Anyway, the first week has been alright. Recovery Girl probably hates his guts by now, but it’s been fine . He didn’t fail the quick test Aizawa had them do and he even made two friends. Iida and Uraraka are really kind (although he’s sure Uraraka could murder a man. Her gaze upon seeing Mineta is enough evidence). Both don’t seem to mind his… well, everything , and he’s really glad for that. They approach him for chats and both don’t complain about his constant muttering. Seem to be curious about it even, if their questions were anything to go by.
It still leaves him baffled if he’s honest.
He never really had friends before.
(Katsuki used to be one but sometimes Izuku can’t even remember if those times were real or just a hallucination.)
He sits with them during lunch and all he can think about how he never had that before. Uraraka grins and ruffles his hair whenever he says something she deems adorable and Iida makes sure that Izuku feels comfortable whenever they are in places with many people.
He has never had people other than his mother looking out for him. Maybe Auntie Mitsuki, when she stumbled upon him, covered in bruises but he always made sure to lie and shift her attention away from the injuries.
His classmates aren’t terrible either. No one picks on him or calls him insults. In fact, so far, they all seem to be okay with him. He doesn’t interact much with them but he knows all of them have really cool quirks and he’s already spent a good portion of that week analyzing their quirks. He hasn’t had a chance to talk with all of them yet but Kirishima, Kaminari and Yaoyorozu all were really nice when he talked with them. He doesn’t outright avoid people but he does try not to stumble too much upon Mineta if it can be helped. He doesn’t hate the boy but he does seem a bit creepy sometimes and he makes Uraraka and the other girls uncomfortable most of the time. Then there’s Todoroki. His quirk is so cool and the boy is really pretty but he seems so cold. He scares Izuku. Not in a way his bullies scared him but just… Izuku decides it’s best not to bother the other too much.
Regardless of all that, Katsuki seems to ignore him mostly except for the occasional insult but Izuku figures it’s a lot better than it was back in middle school, so he lets it be even if his loud voice and the use of his quirk freak him out.
Uraraka’s bubbly voice and Iida’s frequent movements give him a sense of comfort and security.
At the start of his second week, he isn’t able to eat lunch with them due to a talk with Toshinori. Once it’s over he immediately wants to make his way back to the cafeteria where his friends are waiting but he notices something in the corner of his vision. Despite his better judgment, he turns around and walks to the stairs and up to them towards the rooftop.
That’s when he stumbles upon Shinsou Hitoshi.
He looks really tired.
Is his first thought upon noticing the other boy.
“U-Um, sorry for disrupting you,” he mumbles. The other boy doesn’t answer, focusing on his lunch instead and Izuku feels the telltale signs of an awkward silence approaching, closely followed by a sense of uncomfortableness. He doesn’t want that so he decides to turn around and leave—that’s when the other student speaks up.
“Are you from class 1-a?”
He blinks, immediately moving to face the other once more, a slight smile on his face. “Y-Yeah, I am.”
“Must be nice,” the student scoffs. His tone is bitter and something sinks inside of Izuku. Tired and hopeless. That’s how he sounds like.
“… It is,” Izuku admits after a few seconds pass. “I’m really grateful.”
“You should be,” the other replies, a smirk on his face. “Not everyone gets so good chances.”
Not every man is equal.
The thought crashes into his mind, invading it and suddenly he doesn’t feel as uncomfortable anymore. With confidence he shouldn’t have probably, Izuku steps closer and sits down beside the other, getting a surprised expression in return.
“My name is Midoriya Izuku,” he introduces himself, “do you want to know a secret?”
The boy blinks at him, obviously stunned into silence.
“I’m a late bloomer. Really, really late.”
Then he smiles shyly.
“I got my quirk the before the entrance exam.” Not a lie technically . He just didn’t specify on which day exactly but managed to imply that it was around that time.
Now the other gapes at him and Izuku sighs.
“Life’s got a way of taking one by surprise, so… don’t worry. You’ll get your chance.”
It’s really quiet for a while and Izuku worries that he overstepped a line but then—
“… Shinsou Hitoshi.”
Izuku’s smile brightens at that.
“Nice to meet you, Shinsou! Let’s be friends.”
“I’m not here to make friends…”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t make any despite that.”
Shinsou just sighs and Izuku relishes in the feeling of comfort.
And then he realizes that he hadn’t lunch yet and the break is ending soon. He stands up immediately.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Shinsou!”
And then he rushes down the stairs towards the cafeteria.
The last class of the day ends uneventfully and Izuku is on his way home, waving goodbye at his friends before continuing the road down. He decides to stop at a nearby stationery shop to buy a few new pens and a new notebook. It’s after he pays and turns around to exit the store that Todoroki Shouto walks and turns to face him. Izuku freezes and at that moment the other notices him.
“U-Uh… h-hello, Todoroki,” he mumbles, holding the plastic bag full of pens and notebooks closer to himself.
The other’s gaze remains cold and disinterested in a sense. Perhaps he should really just go home, it doesn’t seem like Todoroki wants to talk with him. Izuku lists the cons and pros in his head before he shakes his head and tells himself to just get over it.
It’s then that the dual-haired boy finally answers him.
It’s only a nod and quiet, “Good afternoon, Midoriya.”
(But you see, Izuku didn’t expect the other to even know his name, so it’s more than he hoped for.)
Relief settles at the core of him, a little reminder that the other’s not Katsuki or any of his former bullies.
He smiles brightly at the other boy before waving him goodbye and leaving the store.
Sure, they didn’t really talk but for Izuku that is enough—that kind of reassurance that the other isn’t cold .
There is something off about Midoriya Izuku.
Other than the fact that his quirk seems to literally shatter his bones in pieces whenever he uses it.
That makes no sense at all. The boy doesn’t seem like someone who would neglect his own quirk. Shouta can’t believe that, especially not when he observes how driven the boy is during training, always trying his best to keep up with his classmates and better himself. There’s also the quirk analysis skills the boy seems to possess. He’s not sure to which extent they are developed but he did pay attention to some of the green-haired student’s mumblings sometimes and he always makes some impressive observations, the underground hero wouldn’t expect to hear from a 15-year-old boy.
Something about the boy just screams strange and Shouta just can’t tell what exactly.
But he knows he needs to find out what the student’s hiding. He knows he needs to because something tells him that it’s important for someone to know.
He’s going to find out what is wrong.
But he’ll have to be careful. Finding out what’s wrong maybe his goal, but that doesn’t mean he can afford to be careless and lose the boy’s trust. It would undo all his discreet work to make sure the boy would eventually get the hang out of his quirk and especially his self-esteem issues. Otherwise, Midoriya will never stop breaking all his goddamn bones.
Shouta sighs.
He could really use a coffee at the moment.
When Izuku gets home, he sets on preparing dinner so that his mother wouldn’t have to cook once she gets back from her shift. He isn’t good at cooking but it’s edible and doesn’t cause anyone sickness, therefore it’s not bad. Plus, his mom seems to appreciate the food. Then again, he could probably put burnt rice on the table and she’d still tell him how wonderful it is, because his mom has a ridiculous amount of love to give. So, no matter how bad he is at cooking, he practices and cooks recipes until he can do them well enough—he owes his mother that much.
In general, Izuku tries to be a good son, not wanting to cause any trouble or stress for his mother. He studies and writes the best grades he can write, he cleans the house when he has time and helps his mom with any tasks she might struggle with. He stays quiet and doesn’t speak too loudly or screams as Katsuki does—his mom is very anxious and doesn’t like loud noises. He knows how that feels, so of course, he does his best to make sure she doesn’t have to deal with that as well.
He really despises the thought of troubling his mother. Always has.
That’s why he brought make-up with his own pocket money, so he could hide the bruises and scratches infected to him by others from her. He wrong long-sleeved clothes most of the time, so she would never see the wounds. Did his best to hide tune down his reaction when she accidentally touched a wound without knowing.
(It did wonders for his pain tolerance but the number of beatings he got multiplied. His bullies apparently didn’t like him not showing any reaction to the simple stuff anymore.)
He did a lot of things to make sure his mom never worried about him.
Izuku wasn’t 100% happy with all of these but he would have done it all over again if he had to. There’s only one thing he regrets.
And that is using Hoax on her.
Or well, still continuing to do so.
(Yes, he lied. He did use Hoax frequently, just not in a way that was good .)
The thing is, Izuku understands very well what danger a quirk like Hoax could bring upon people. He understands that because he made the mistake of misusing it.
To explain Hoax, it shifts reality.
No, to be more accurate— it turns deceit into reality.
Izuku can make people believe any truth or lie he utters when he uses his quirk. But Hoax goes beyond that even.
It affects reality.
It actually affects reality—sure there are some ground rules he has to follow and just because it does affect reality, that doesn’t mean it’ll just keep affecting reality. There are a lot of circumstances around the use of that part of the quirk and Izuku tries to avoid using it, simply because he knows it’s terrible.
But in the end, it’s also very useful.
… There’s been a lot of times when Izuku used Hoax on his mom to make sure she’d continue to believe that he was fine and definitely not being bullied by everyone in the neighborhood, including her best friend’s child.
And he stills keeps on doing it because he doesn’t want her to ever realize that he’s never been okay from the beginning, that people are cruel to quirkless kids and losers and every one different than them.
He told himself countless times that it was just to make sure that his mother wouldn’t worry herself to death.
But Izuku knows better.
He knows a lot about laws concerning quirks, knows what he’s been doing is technically illegal.
And he has some understanding of psychology and the mind concerning the nature of his quirk.
He knows, somewhere deep inside of him, that he’s harming his mother and probably himself as well.
(But he’s a good pretender.)