Chapter Text
“Wake up, Zuzu! Inko is on her way to wake you up for school! Get up, you lazybones!” A quiet, high-pitched voice whispered to a small green-haired boy who was trying to sleep in his bed.
Izuku rolled over, pulling his covers over his head. “Nnnnnnngh.”
“Really? REALLY? You wanna play, child!? Let’s play.”
The warm covers that had been shielding Izuku from the cold air of the morning were quickly yanked away onto the floor. He shot upright, staring sullenly at a tiny figure floating in the middle of his room. It wiggled its small fingers at him, long silver threads held in its hands. Threads that had pulled his covers away from him.
“Very funny, Ito,” Izuku grumbled, stretching in his bed.
“I aim to please. Now hush, Inko is here.” Ito ordered, chortling under their breath.
The door quietly opened, and the face of Izuku’s mother Inko peered in. “Ah, good morning! I didn’t expect to see you awake so early. Breakfast is ready.”
“I’ll be out in a second,” Izuku promised. As his mother smiled and closed the door, he turned to face Ito. “What the heck?” He whispered angrily under his breath.
“Inko is kind and sweet and has proven herself more than worthy of my Gift. She shouldn’t have to wake you up every morning.” Ito shot back amicably.
“So you just have to be a good person to have a quirk? Gee, I wonder why bad people have them,” Izuku grumbled under his breath. He had already begun to pack his bag for school. His homework was done, there was his notebook….
“Don’t call Gifts ‘quirks’!” Ito said snippily. “Besides, you can see us! Isn’t that interesting enough for you?”
Izuku looked over his shoulder at the doll-like being in his room, a teasing eyebrow raised. “Will it help me be a hero?”
Ito scowled, its tiny, childlike face pouting. “That’s all so many of you humans care about these days.”
“Not my fault.” Izuku shrugged. He shuffled to the kitchen for breakfast, quickly eating while trying to ignore Ito lecturing him on how lucky he was, to be able to see the beings that gave out their Gifts, or quirks, to those they wished to.
He quickly did the dishes, still pretending Ito wasn’t staring daggers into the back of his skull. Inko had gone to get ready for work, and the two were alone in the kitchen.
“I’m sorry that I snapped a bit earlier,” he muttered as he scrubbed. “Kacchan’s been escalating lately, and-” Izuku stopped as he stared at what looked like a ball of firelight above the sink. “Bakuchiku?”
“Katsuki is in a bad mood today, Zuzu. Do not let him catch you.” As quickly as it appeared, Bakugou’s Gift-giver disappeared.
“Bakuchiku? Wow, it must be bad if they stopped by to warn you. Usually, they just wander around that boy and try to somehow calm him down or warn you away.” Ito said idly, flying around the kitchen as their silver skirt billowed behind them.
“I know,” Izuku muttered uneasily.
“I can hang around you a bit today,” Ito suddenly offered. “I can’t interfere directly, but I can move a few things so it’s a bit inconvenient for your attackers.”
“That would mean a lot to me, Ito. Thank you.” The boy murmured. “Also, when did your nickname for me start spreading to the other Gift-givers?”
Ito laughed, the sound tinkly like a bell. “When you started giving us nicknames. If you give us names, we will give you names.”
“I thought you liked them!” Izuku spluttered.
“We all like our names, so we gave you one in return. That’s how it works, no?”
Izuku smiled. “Yeah, that’s how it works.”
“Excellent! Now, have you been practicing that move I suggested to you?”
“Yes…..”
“I hear a ‘but’ in there.”
“But Kacchan would hurt me even worse, and nothing Bakuchiku could do would make him stop, even a bit.” He finished off rinsing the plates and put them in the rack to dry. Ito hovered beside him, gently lighting down on his shoulder. Tiny, cool hands patted his cheeks reassuringly.
“Don’t worry. I like Inko, she has used my Gift well. It would make her upset if you got hurt.”
“So….?”
“So I’m going to try and help you! Just because her child doesn’t have a Gift-giver doesn’t mean that he deserves to be hurt!” Ito said indignantly.
“But the other Gift-givers help too, or they try to!” Izuku protested. “You don’t have to do it.”
Ito sniffed, flying so they were eye-level with the green-haired boy. “I’m stronger than some of them, and the stronger a Gift-giver is, the longer they can stay away from their Chosen.”
“And my mom is your Chosen?”
“She has my Gift, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah, Zuzu?”
“Mmm?”
“Look at the time.” Ito stood on top of the kitchen’s clock, staring at the clock pointedly.
“Oh crap, I’m gonna be late-” Izuku rushed out of the room and quickly got dressed, then ran out of the door as he grabbed his backpack. “Bye, mom! See you after school!” He hollered into the apartment. Ito flew by him, easily matching his speed.
“So, I haven’t seen any other spirits lately around you. Finally standing up for yourself, Zuzu?” Ito finally asked, settling into the boy’s fluffy green hair.
“...No,” Izuku admitted under his breath as he speeded to school.
“What is it then?” Ito queried.
“Kacchan said that the only thing I’m good for is to be something to test his quirk on. And that anyone who touched me could take my place.” He muttered under his breath.
Ito grumbled something under their breath and snuggled deeper into Izuku’s hair.
“Ito, I can’t- aggh!” The boy squeaked as he ran into someone. They both fell down onto the road’s pavement, getting scraped by the rough ground.
“Ah! Sorry, sorry!” Izuku screeched as he jumped up, trying to get the other to his feet.
“Zuzu! Don’t run into strangers! You don’t know them!” Ito berated from the air, hands on hips.
“Are you alright?” Izuku’s victim asked as he dusted his trenchcoat off. “I should have been more careful myself.” Ito scoffed, but the man didn’t hear.
“It was Zuzu’s fault, silly.”
“I’m fine, or, I will be fine!” The boy stuttered as he waved his scraped hands around, shooting a stealthy glare at Ito. The man’s eyebrow rose.
“If you’re sure. My name is Tsukauchi Naomasa. You are?” The man asked.
“I’m Midoriya Izuku.” Izuku said sheepishly.
“Well, next time you’re running around, don’t be on your phone,” Tsukauchi said genially, a small smile on his face as he continued on his way.
“I-I wasn’t on my phone,” Izuku mumbled. Tsukauchi turned around and gave the boy a curious look.
“Who were you talking to?”
“A friend?” Izuku said, unsure.
“And where is this friend?” The man asked.
“Uhhhhh, Igottagotoschool, bye!” Izuku sprinted in the direction of his school, leaving behind Ito and Tsukauchi.
“....I’m not sure if I should be glad Zuzu finally managed to get to school on time, or incredulous because he can run so fast,” Ito said. The man turned to leave, humming quietly to himself. “I do wonder where your spirit is, sir.” They grumbled.
“Right here.” A deeper, quieter voice that only Ito could hear said. A figure walked to where Ito floated in the street, long red hair and tunic drifting in the wind. “My Chosen is… absentminded at times, but he means well. And right now, that boy has caught his attention. He’s a police detective as well, so this could be troublesome for that child.”
“Ah.”
“Yep.
“ Oh dear, he just ran into Bakugou. This isn’t going to be good.”
“Damn quirkless freak!” Bakugou screeched as he swung at Izuku, his hands sparking wildly.
“I’m so sorry, Zuzu!” Bakuchiku whispered from behind their Chosen. “He won’t calm down, and-”
“It’s all right,” Izuku muttered under his breath to the spirit as he dodged the explosions. “I should have listened.”
“If you listened to me, you wouldn’t be here, you fucking nerd!” Bakugou seethed as Izuku slipped into the school building. No one saw long, silver threads winding around the blond boy’s legs and abruptly yanking, so he fell on his face in the school’s yard. They did, however, here the enraged screaming and sharp boom of explosions.
When a teacher ran to see what was happening, the spirit that Ito just met waved at Bakuchiku, who was anxiously hovering over their Chosen’s temper tantrum, and poked the boy’s forehead.
“What did you do?” Bakuchiku and Ito asked simultaneously.
“You’ll see,” The new spirit said, smiling to themselves.
“Bakugou-kun, are you alright?! What happened?” The teacher asked, hands fluttering anxiously over the school’s star student.
“I fucking tripped after I tried to hit Deku,” Bakugou said, freezing as he realized what came out of his mouth.
“Bakugou-kun!” The teacher was shocked. “Cursing isn’t a good thing to do; don’t do it again! Go to the nurse’s office and have him take a look at you. It isn’t good if you get injured.”
“Are you kidding me? He just admitted to trying to hurt someone, and they only reprimand him for cursing?!” The spirit asked, bewildered.
“No,” Bakuchika answered. “I wish this was a joke. Zuzu is kind to us, and it hurts seeing our Gifts turned against him like this.”
“Can I meet this ‘Zuzu’?” They finally asked, looking at the two smaller spirits.
“At the school’s lunch, Zuzu sits alone outside sometimes. You can meet him then if you want.” Ito answered guardedly.
“It would be interesting, I think.”
“You’re new,” Izuku said, staring at the new Gift-giver bemusedly. The tall redheaded figure smiled, nodding quietly.
“I was curious when you ran into my Chosen earlier today. Forgive me if this is odd.”
“Ah, not at all!” The boy answered quickly, shoving his lunch containers into his backpack. “Do you want me to give you a nickname?”
“A nickname?”
“Yeah, something to call you because none of you spirits ever tell me your real names!” Izuku said, nodding seriously.
“All right, then. Have at it.” The figure looked at Izuku, bemused.
“Uh, if you don’t mind, what Gift did you give your Chosen?”
“....Lie detection.”
“How about Veritas, then?” When all of the spirits (Ito, Bakuchiku, and the new spirit) looked at Izuku, he bristled defensively. “What? It’s a good name, and I like mythology!”
“I like it,” The spirit announced. “Please call me Veritas.”
The boy smiled, and the four of them talked for the rest of his lunch period.
“Hey, Veritas?” Izuku asked as he was walking home from school. “Why is your voice and size so different from Ito and Bakuchiku’s?”
Veritas looked at him as they drifted along the road with him. “I believe it’s because I’m older than them both, and have accumulated more power as a result. No one is completely sure, though.”
“Hmmm.”
Ito was floating along with the wind, looking at Izuku every so often. “What’s on your mind now?” They finally asked.
“I saw a weird spirit running around the other day,” The boy answered. “It looked like an old-fashioned knight, but also a bit like Frankenstein?”
Seeing the mildly disgusted look Veritas, Bakuchiku, and Ito gave him, he quickly rephrased.
“It was like a weird fusion of a bunch of different people, and it was following around a blond skeleton guy.”
“That does sound odd,” Veritas said.
“Ew,” Ito grumbled.
“I see the guy around sometimes, but his Gift-giver isn’t always with him.”
Bakuchiku sighed, the sound like a crackling fire. “I suspect you’ll see him around more often.”
“What does that mean?!” Izuku asked. But no matter how much he pleaded, the Gift-givers refused to say more about it.
Later that night, as Izuku slept, the Gift-givers talked.
“What do you think we should do?” Veritas asked, their long red hair writhing in irritation.
“I don’t know. Usually, when that one shows up, the bad one follows.” Ito whispered. “A Gift-giver who has been passed down for centuries…”
“Should we warn the boy?” Veritas wondered.
“No, not now.” Bakuchiku broke in. “We don’t know if the bad one is following yet. Izuku is a worrier, he’d never stop asking us if he heard anything about it.”
The trio sat in silence.
“Let’s tell him if he ever is in any danger or needs to know.” Ito finally offered.
The others nodded in agreement.
“Let’s do that,”
Bakuchiku whispered.