Chapter Text
Izuku had locked himself in his room the second he got back to the dorms. Everyone had been so busy worrying and looking for Shoto, that they had forgotten to ask him about his Classification and he would be lying if say he wasn’t grateful about it.
In the brief time between getting their Classification and returning to the dorms, everything had already changed.
Izuku had watched as the Denki, Tokoyami, and Aoyama were partially swarmed by the rest of his class the second Aizawa left. Denki and Aoyama didn’t seem to mind the attention, happily showing off their Classification letters and practically glowing as they answered questions. Tokoyami on the other hand had the opposite reaction, he seemed rather uncomfortable with all the new attention he was getting and was clearly trying to avoid the others as much as possible on the walk back to the dorm building. Much like Izuku, Tokoyami locked himself in his room once they got back to the dorms.
A little while later he heard the rest of the class starting to go nuts again. He wasn’t completely sure what it was about until he heard a door slam in the next hallway over and Kirishima yelling “Todoroki come back!” from the living room.
Well, at least Izuku knew he was safe now…
He curled up inside one of the many blankets his mom had made for him. He liked mom’s blankets, they smelled like her and it made him feel safe at night.
He felt tears well up in his eyes.
She would hate him now, wouldn’t she? He had always been such a burden, first Quirkless and now a Little. He had always tried so hard to keep her from seeing the truth, but now she would know… She would finally have to come to terms with how useless her son really is.
Mom always pretended like he wasn’t the reason left Dad, but he was. Dad was able to see how awful Izuku really was from the beginning, how he broke everything he touched, and how useless he was. Izuku didn’t blame him for leaving, but that didn’t make it stop hurting.
He just finally wanted to do something right… To be good, to be a Hero.
But he couldn’t even do that now.
All Might was going to take One for All away. Izuku just knew it.
He was weak, and soon All Might would realize someone like Mirio should have such a powerful Quirk. Mirio was strong and Mirio was a Caregiver which meant he was biology designed to help and protect people.
Izuku was biology designed to be helpless in every aspect of the word.
He wrapped the blanket tighter around himself and brought a stuffed plush of All Might up to his chest.
He could hear the rest of his class in the living room but unlike last night Izuku didn’t have it in himself to put on a brave face and go out there.
He shifted his body and turned his head the glare at the classification letter that was sitting on his desk as if he could will the content of the letter to change with enough anger and tears. But nothing changed, it just lay there tauntingly motionless.
He briefly wondered if he could lie to everyone and get a fake letter (maybe printing it off from some sketchy website) but it’s not like that would work for long. He was already on file as a little in the school system and tomorrow he would be given his pheromone shot. Even if he showed off a fake letter everyone would still be able to smell his pheromones a mile away. Plus the UA staff would know he was lying.
It was useless. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and pulled the blanket somehow even tighter around himself.
He tried not the focus on his own thoughts and instead tried to focus on the sounds of his classmates going about their night. He heard a loud string of laughter before he heard a debate on what movie they should watch. Someone (Mina, probably) suggested a horror movie, which caused Iida to go on a rant about how it was inappropriate for the Littles in the room. Eventually, his remaining classmates settled on watching a Disney movie.
“Deku?”
Izuku was snapped out of the dazed state he had been in by Ochako gently calling out his name.
“Deku? Are you awake?”
Her voice was just soft enough to not disturb someone who was sleeping but loud enough to be heard by someone who was awake. He didn’t respond.
“We’re gonna watch Cinderella… if you want, you’re welcome to join us.”
Izuku liked Cinderella. He liked almost all Disney movies, and watching them with his classmates would probably be fun, but he couldn’t face them right now. He just couldn’t.
Ochako waited a moment to see if he would respond and much like he had hoped she took his silence for confirmation of sleep.
“Ok, goodnight…” She said as she walked away from his door and back into the living room with the others.
Once she returned, they started the movie, and the soft sounds of old music filled the dorms.
Izuku just listened, occasionally laughter would fill the room as someone cracked a dumb joke or a pun and when a song would start he could hear some people singing along. It was nice. And so he just stayed like that letting the sounds of his classmates lull him into a sense of calm, allowing him to relax and forget his thoughts, even if only for a little while.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Izuku stayed in bed longer than he had originally wished.
He had snuck out once to use the bathroom and narrowly avoided Kirishima by sprinkling back to his room at full speed (One for All may have helped a little). He had also fallen asleep about halfway through the movie and woke up at about nine. But then a whole new problem arose.
His stomach growled again for what felt like the 50th time this hour.
He had missed dinner when he locked himself in his room but didn’t feel comfortable going back out for leftovers until he was absolutely sure the living room was empty and everyone else was asleep. Unfortunately, that took much longer than expected.
After watching Cinderella, the class decided to watch Ratatouille, and after Ratatouille his classmates decided to watch Mulan. Thankfully for Izuku’s stomach, they stopped after their third movie and started their nighttime routines.
Even though they started getting ready at 10:30 the lights didn’t completely go out in the dorms until after 11, much to Izuku's dismay.
After he saw the last bit of light disappear from under the crack of his door, he slowly pushed himself out of his bed. He tiptoed over to his door and pressed an ear to it holding his breath. A few moments passed before Izuku’s hand made its way to the doorknob. Gently twisting it as slowly as humanly possible, trying to avoid making any noise.
Then he pushed it open just wide enough so that he could get through and squeezed himself out.
He had socks on so his feet didn’t make any noise as he walked across the hardwood floors of the hallway. But even so, he still tried to move as lightly as possible. He passed Mineta’s room and once his feet hit the soft brown carpet of the living room all thoughts of stealth were promptly forgotten, as he rushed over to the kitchen area. But as his eyes adjusted to the dark and he could clearly see the two figures sitting at the kitchen counter and his feet betrayed him as his whole body froze in a moment of panic.
After a few seconds of unfiltered terror, he released that the two figures looked just as panicked as he did. After a few more moments he was able to deduce that the two figures were actually Tokoyami and Shoto, both staring with leftovers shoved into their mouths.
They stared in silence, no one daring to say anything and no one daring to move.
Then, as if comedically timed, Izuku’s stomach growled.
Tokoyami lowered his eyes to the Tupperware full of miso soup and rice sitting on the counter in front of him and then looked back up at Izuku. With a hesitant look, he pushed the container towards him.
Izuku stepped forward cautiously before lowering his eyes to the soup. He took a quick breath, feeling a blush slowly creep up his neck to cover his face. “Can I have a spoon, please?”
The words were rushed, quiet, and quite frankly barely understandable, but still, Tokoyami slowly nodded and started opening the drawer to his right.
Izuku turned to look at Shoto, who was staring at him with a fork still in his mouth. His eyes narrowed on Izuku with suspicion and his whole body was tense as if ready to pounce on Izuku if he made a sudden move.
Shoto broke eye contact first to look back at the bedrooms, checking to see if anyone had followed Izuku out. After a no one followed Shoto began to relax, if only a little bit.
Izuku sucked in a quick breath. “I’m not gonna tell anyone…”
“Good,” Tokoyami said holding up a spoon for him to take. Izuku took the spoon as an invitation to sit down. He reached over, took the offered spoon, and dipped it into the soup.
It was good.
Really good.
He hadn’t realized just how hungry he was until he had actually eaten something. He immediately abandoned the careful slow moments he had been using and started to quickly lap up the soup.
Tokoyami, seeing the desperation he was conveying, just pushed to bowl closer to him wordlessly. Dark Shadow poked its head out and started moving its way to the refrigerator, probably to get Tokoyami some new food.
Once the container was close enough to him, Izuku abandoned to spoon and started just drinking the soup straight from the bowl. It dripped from the corners of his mouth as he tried to drink as much of it as possible in one gulp.
“So,” Tokoyami said as Izuku sat the empty Tupperware down in front of himself and tried to clean himself up by whipping his mouth with the bottom of his shirt. “You too?”
Izuku froze. Tokoyami wasn’t looking at him, instead, he was poking at the plate of mixed fruits that Dark Shadow had placed in front of him. He couldn’t have figured it out that quickly, right? He must have just phrased his question wrong.
“Uh, yeah, I guess I was super hungry too…” He laughed nervously as he wrang the bottom of his shirt in his hands.
“No,” Tokoyami said flatly, looking up to meet Izuku’s eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”
Izuku felt his body start to shake, “I, uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re a Little as well, am I correct?”
Izuku almost fell out of his chair. Tokoyami knew. Tokoyami knew. He had to run. He had to hide. He had to get out of here. What was he going to do? What if someone heard? What if Tokoyami told someone?
The fork that Shoto had been using to eat dropped from his hand and onto the tile floor snapping both Tokoyami and Izuku’s attention to him.
He slapped his hand over his mouth and looked over to the bedrooms, checking to see if the sudden loud noise woke anyone up. Izuku and Tokoaymi look over cautiously as well, hoping no one noticed. After a moment of silence, they all breathed a sigh of relief as no one exited their room.
“You…” Izuku started to say something but couldn’t find to words to finish. Right, he needed to be on the defensive, don’t let Tokoyami know that he was right. “Why would you think that?”
Tokoyami picked up a piece of sliced apple and took a bite. “You never read your Classification out in class.” Izuku swallowed thickly. “You refused to talk to anyone on the way back to the dorms. You locked yourself in your room the second we got back and refused to come out until you thought the dorms were empty.” He took another bite of the apple slice. “It’s the same thing I did.”
Before Izuku could respond Shoto was already nodding along with a glint in his eyes that Izuku knew all too well.
“I’m not a Little!” He said in an annoyed tone. “I was just tired! It’s been a stressful week!”
“What’s been stressful about it?” Tokoaymi said eyeing him up and down. “All we’ve been doing is preparing to take the test, the only reason it would be stressful is if you were worried about the results.”
Shoto’s eyes got wider as he continued to listen to Tokoyami, following every word with bated breath.
Izuku mentally cursed even if he got Shoto to stop listening to Tokoyami a seed had already been planted in his mind that would never get removed. The dual-haired boy still believed he was All Might's secret love child (no matter how much he proved it wasn’t true).
“The test is stressful for everyone and you know it.” Izuku shot back at Tokoyami.
Tokoyami hummed in agreement. “Yes, but still… Most people celebrate once it’s over, not hide.”
“You didn’t!”
“Yes,” Izuku smiled, he got him! “But that’s because I didn’t want to be swarmed by our classmates due to my Classification. What’s your reason?” Damn it.
“I already told you I was just tired.” He tried to laugh as a way to sound confident, but it just came out weak and desperate. “Can we just stop? I just wanna eat,” Izuku stood up and started reaching for one of the fruits on Tokoyami’s plate but was stopped by Shoto’s hand grabbing his.
“Why are you changing the subject, Midoriya?”
“Why did you run away once you got the news of your Classification, Todoroki?”
They both glared at each other from across the table. Tokoyami slapped both of their hand away while popping a grape into his mouth (?).
Izuku stayed standing and look at both of them with anger. They didn’t understand. They weren’t going to have their dream taken from them because of their Classification. They weren’t going to lose everything they had spent their whole life hoping for because of something they couldn’t control.
“What right do you two have to interrogate me like this, huh?!” He huffed and crossed his arms. “I didn’t do anything wrong! It’s none of your business what I Classified as anyway! So what if I’m a Little! It doesn’t even matter to you anyway! You just wanna-”
The lights flicked on.
Tokoyami let out a hiss as he covered his eyes and Shoto rapidly blinked at the sudden change of light. However once adjusted to the light both of the boys froze in their spots.
“Deku?”
Izuku felt the anger leave his body as his shoulders slumped and his arms fell down to his side. Terror gripped his heart as he turned to face the voice.
Half of their class was gathered in the doorway, all staring at him with mixed expressions.
Ochako was standing front and center with her arm outstretched and a worried expression on her face. “Deku, we heard you yelling… are,” She took a small step forward. “Are you ok?”
Izuku took a step back in response. His back hit the counter and sweat started to leak from his pours. He had to get out of here.
“Dude,” Kirishima stepped forward gently nudging Ochako out of the way in an effort to get closer to him. “Are you a Little?”
He had to run. He had to hide. He couldn’t let the know. He couldn’t let anyone know.
He tried to move but his feet stayed locked in place, his body started to shake rapidly as his eyes grew wide.
They knew. They knew. They knew. They knew. They knew. They-
Kirishima noticed the panic that was sinking in and took several steps closer. “It, it’s totally okay if you are!” He reached out his hand to comfort him and that’s when Izuku's body finally listened to him.
He quickly dodged Kirishima’s attempt at physical touch and started slowly making his way to the entrance of the dorms still facing his classmates.
Shoto had stood up from his spot and had backed himself into the fridge while Tokoyami stayed frozen in his seat. Momo was making her way towards them with her hands up in an ‘I mean no harm’ gesture.
The rest of the class was focused on Izuku. He started back in the crowd watching for any sudden movements, waiting to see if any of them tried to get closer.
That’s when he saw him.
Izuku hadn’t noticed he was there at first. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts he hadn’t even seen him. But there he was, dressed only in a T-shirt and some boxers Kacchan stood near the back of the group, glaring at him.
Izuku’s feet stopped once again as their eyes locked, his breathing halted, and everything around him froze.
Kacchan knew.
He didn’t know why it was so scary for him that Kacchan knew. It shouldn’t have been any different than anyone else knowing, but somehow it was so much worse. He felt that it was over, that any chance of him trying to act like things were normal was gone because Kacchan knew and nothing would ever be the same again.
Time stayed frozen like that for only a few more seconds because Kacchan seemed to read his mind. His eyes shifted to the double doors of entrance and then back to Izuku. For a split second his eyes widened as he connected to dots and then Kacchan moved. He shoved Sero out of his way and started quickly moving through the crowd and towards Izuku.
Izuku turned and started running. He didn’t make it very far because he almost immediately smashed into a large chest. The force of the impact almost knocked him down but he was caught by large hands that steadied him.
“It’s midnight,” Aizawa’s voice rang out. “Go back to bed.”
It was silent for a moment. No one wanting to challenge their teacher, but no one wanting to leave either.
“But- Sir-” Iida started to say something in a rushed tone but he was cut off by his teacher.
“I said go to bed.”
Izuku didn’t turn to look at his classmates instead choosing to stare at his feet and hunch his shoulders in an attempt to make himself disappear.
“That includes you too, Yaoyorozu.”
Izuku did look up when Aizawa said that. He turned to see Momo who was standing in between Shoto and Tokoyami, both of whom look uncomfortable.
Momo straightened her back and took a step forward. “Actually, Sir I-”
“I’ll handle it.” His teacher's voice left no room for argument and Momo seemed to get the hint.
She let out a small frustrated sigh. “Yes, alright.” With that, she started on her way back to her room.
There was a moment of silence that passed over the living room as the occupants waited for everyone to get back to their beds.
Izuku looked over at Tokoyami and Shoto only to find out that they had been staring at him. He averted his eyes and looked back at the floor.
He felt his eyes burn. Now that the panic and fear were gone, shame and humiliation took their place. Tokoyami and Shoto must hate him now. They had come out so late at night for some peace and privacy but Izuku had ruined it.
Ruined it for them just like he ruined everything for everyone.
He quickly tried to use his wipe away any tears before they noticed but he realized he was too late once he heard Aizawa sigh.
“Just breathe, Midoriya…” He felt a large hand drop on his shoulder, “In for three out for five.”
Izuku knew what Mr. Aizawa was doing. It was the same trick his mom used when he cried in front of her.
He saw that Mr. Aizawa had maneuvered his hand in front of Izuku’s face and was holding up a single finger.
As he breathed in Aizawa slowly lifted up a second and third finger. As he breathed out and Mr. Aizawa slowly lifted up five fingers.
“Good job. Again please.”
They repeated the process until Izuku’s breath was steady and the tears had stopped.
Aizawa was still fully dressed in his hero uniform and it dawned on Izuku that he must have just gotten off of a shift.
“I, uh, I, I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Sir,” Izuku muttered, his face flushing.
“Eh,” Aizawa shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “It’s not the worst thing I’ve had to do for you. Now. Would anyone like to explain what just happened?”
Izuku dropped his eyes once again. Right. He still had to explain why-
“It’s my fault, Sir.” Tokoyami took a step forward and bowed slightly. “Midoriya and I engaged in a conversation while eating and I took it too far.”
Izuku blinked rapidly. “What? No, no, it’s not your fault! Yeah, maybe you overstepped a little but I was the one who flipped out and woke everyone up. It’s my fault, Sir. Please don’t blame Tokoyami.”
“It’s not either of their faults. They were both willing to drop the conversation but I insisted on continuing it and got Midoriya worked up.” Shoto shot up from where he was sitting and also bowed.
“It’s not your fault, Todoroki! You only said like one thing!” Izuku said taking a step forward. The two other boys stood up straight.
“Agreed. The issue was between me and Midoriya. You barely had any part.”
“But I-”
“It's my fault. I was the one who yelled.”
“Midoriya while I appreciate your kindness, I am the one who is truly a fault here-”
Aizawa let out a sigh as he dragged a hand across his face. “I’m gonna stop you all right there.”
All three boys stopped arguing at looked up at their teacher.
“It seems like no one really handled what was going on very well and you’re all somewhat at fault. So let's just chalk it all up to hormones, apologize, and go to bed.”
Izuku blinked before nodding.
He bowed before Shoto and Tokoyami. The other two did the same.
“I’m sorry.”
“I am as well.”
“Me too.”
“Good,” Aizawa said swiping the unfinished plate of fruit from the table for himself. “Now get to bed, all three of you have to get your shots tomorrow.”
He waved his hand as if dismissing them but none of the boys moved. After a moment Aizawa looked over at them again.
“What?”
Izuku’s face flushed red yet again. “We, uh…”
“We were not done eating,” Shoto said bluntly. Tokoyami and Izuku nodded in agreement.
Aizawa stared and them for a second before conceding. “Fine, pick something. But after you’re done eating go to bed.”
And with that, he set off towards the staff dorms.
Shoto moved for the fridge first happily pulling out a saran-wrapped plate full of Onigiri.
He passed and Tupperware full of something Izuku couldn’t see to Tokoyami who took both dishes over to the kitchen counter.
“Midoriya, what do you want?” He asked his head still tucked into the fridge.
Izuku blinked… He was still allowed to eat with them? He looked over at Tokoyami who just shrugged and began digging into whatever Shoto had gave him.
“I’ll…” He paused to think. “Do you see any Sushi?”
Shoto rummaged around and a moment later held up a package of premade Sushi. “Yep.”
Shoto handed it to him and moved to take a seat at the counter. Izuku followed.
They ate in silence, simply enjoying the food, and Izuku let his mind go wander. What the other would have to say was for tomorrow. Facing them was for tomorrow.
Right now, all he had to do was focus on was eating in silence with his friends.
“So just so that we’re all on the same page… Midoriya you are a Little, right?”
Tokoyami groaned and pressed a hand to his feathered face while Izuku just looked up to meet Shoto’s eyes. He paused almost like he was having trouble getting the words out, but after a moment he finally spoke.
“...Yeah, I am.”