Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ever since he extended a hand to Bakugo at the stream, but instead got pushed in, a young boy named Izuku Midoriya lost most of the hearing in his ears. Midoriya got pushed underwater with a concussion from the rocks and partially damaged his frontal lobe. All from trying to help Kacchan.

After that day, Izuku became terrified of water. He didn’t even know himself until he had a panic attack on a trip to the beach with his school. Although, that could be because of his classmates too.

After coming back from the hospital, Kacchan finally started backing off after seeing Izuku get rushed to the hospital from his window… At least for a while.

His first day back at school, he had to get sent to the office because apparently no one told his teacher that he has lost his hearing and had to wear hearing aids to hear even some of the loudest of sounds.

Heading to his principal’s office he felt, more than saw, his classmates laughing at him and trying to trip or shove him off balance to the ground. I guess I deserve it for being such a useless Deku and having to get help on my first day back. Surprisingly or not, that voice in his head sounded like Kacchan after all the years of listening to him.

After being waved away uncaringly by the principal, Izuku went back to his class only to find out that they were supposed to go to the beach to learn about their local minerals in science.

Grabbing his backpack, he saw a note fall out from his mom,

Have fun at the beach sweetheart! I packed you an extra pair of clothes in case you get wet, love you! <3 :)

Once they got to the beach, Izuku was, for the most part, ignored. However, when the rest of his bullies decided they got bored of looking for rocks, they came over and started yelling at him. All that he could see were the malicious grins on their faces as they approached him.

Izuku kept backing up cautiously but when his back was against the edge of the dock and he was cornered on all other sides, he threw an almost desperate glance at Kacchan.
Kacchan, who was standing apart with a bored expression on his face, but when he saw the terrified boy staring at him, he crossed his arms and turned away.

Izuku felt his breath start to quicken and his eyesight blur as images from the river overlapped with the present and when he backed up from the edge of the imaginary river, he fell in the water and lost all sense of everything.

When Inko got a call at work about her injured son, she dropped everything to speed towards the school. She could already feel the tears dripping down her cheeks and felt like she had had a heart attack when she saw her Izuku sitting in a chair in the infirmary, unresponsive to everything yet still awake.

Ignoring the nurse, she grabbed Izuku and smothered him in her arms, almost feeling like she could drop with relief when she felt him hug her back.

“Izuku? Honey? Are you okay, what happened? I heard that on-”

“I’m okay mom, I just… Fell… into the water and I guessIgotkindashockedi’msorry.”

Inko tightened her grip on him, “Let’s go home. We can talk later when you feel better.”

Yet all Izuku could hear was every other word because his hearing aids became damaged from the boys and water currents.

It was only three hours later after Izuku had taken out his hearing aids, at around five, when Izuku broke down. He started having a cascade of tears run down his face and he couldn’t stop them. Trying to wipe them away, Izuku couldn’t even hear himself murmuring about how scared he was, how he didn’t want to go back, he can’t handle the feeling of being submerged and unable to escape again.

Inko had a hand against her mouth and a furious expression on her face when she realized that a bunch of bullies pushed her son into deep water the first day he got back from the hospital. She decided that he should go to a school where he’ll be able to learn and live with his hearing until they could get enough money to try the surgery.

Having to go to a school further away from his home, the money the Midoriya family received from Hisashi strained even further. Inko ended up having to get another job and no matter how hard she tried, she wasn’t able to muster up the energy to smile as brightly as she did before. She knew that it was her idea but it costs so much more than she expected. Still, she couldn’t even get his hearing back but at least he could learn to communicate more easily with his new friends and his new school.

At his new school, the youngest Midoriya became a loner. He didn’t have Kacchan to follow after and he didn’t even know enough sign language to talk with the other kids. But, Izuku never told his mom because he didn’t want her to cry for him again, she already had had to enough.

And so, every day Izuku would go to his classes, learn what he could understand, then go to the library for lunch. Every. Single. Day.

He saw less and less of his mom, and what he did see was the dark eyebags blooming under her eyes, how her face was thinning unnaturally quickly, how she was barely home long enough to lay a kiss on his head and tell him goodnight… Not that he could even hear it anymore since his hearing aids hurt his ears and gave him migraines when he wore them too much.

But, when they went to the doctor about his issues with his hearing aids, he was told that it probably had something to do with the quirkless ‘mutation’ and no specialist cared enough to help him after finding out he was Quirkless.

His mom was ready to throw a fit and try to make them help him, but eventually, he managed to convince her it was fine and not to worry about him. (Little did he know that only made her worry more but there was nothing she could do about it.)

Years later, around a month into grade eight, a new student got transferred into their class. Their class was full of people who were deafened later in life, not at birth. The new kid, however, didn’t seem to join in with the already existing groups. He separated himself as much as Izuku did, seemingly hiding away from the world.

It was only a few days later when Izuku’s sanctuary in the back of the library was breached. The transfer student with bright purple hair and no visible quirk slipped into the dark corners of the bookshelves; Seconds before the ‘popular’ kids who ‘could still do some good in life’ ran by.

While still in a bit of shock, all he could hear was the heavy breathing of the kid on the other side of his bookshelf.

Collecting himself, Izuku rounded the corner only to find Shin- something kneeling on the ground.

His purple eyes were unfocused and there was a panicked stream of almost-words escaping his barely open mouth.

Remembering the time he had felt frozen and so incredibly detached at the beach, he recognized this as a panic attack and crouched toward the paralyzed boy reaching out a hand to try to gently shake him out of it.

The minute Izuku’s hand touched the other boy’s shoulder, the panicking student immediately quieted and snapped his eyes to Izuku’s.

With some hesitance, Izuku signed along while haltingly speaking. “S-sorry! I n- d I don’t know how to stop- …. p-a-n-i-c a-t-t-a-c-k-s.” He started to lower his hands before pausing, then signing one of the first things they learnt. “Hello, my name is Midoriya Izuku.”

Chapter Text

“Hello, my name is Midoriya Izuku.”

“Shinsou Hitoshi” was the curt reply from Shinsou as he slowly lowered his hands from their raised position.

“Are you okay Shinsou-kun? You have blood on your arm.” Izuku signed, his hands fluttering in worry.

The way that Shinsou defensively pulled his arm closer to his body was answer enough. Izuku raised from his crouched position on the floor and started walking away after signing a quick goodbye.

As he was almost at the library door he felt something tug lightly on his shirt.

“Could you show me the way to the nurse's office, please?” The please was tacked on to the end as Shinsou stood staring pointedly at his feet.

Izuku quickly agreed and began to lead the way to the nurse, trying to make conversation until it was painfully obvious that Shinsou was done having to converse with him.

Feeling awkward the whole way there, at the door, all Izuku signed was “Here it is, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Before dropping his hands to his sides immediately and walking away.

It was the first time Izuku interacted with someone his age other than for a group project and he remembered exactly why he didn’t have any friends. He was always incredibly jittery and never could seem to have his words and actions make sense for others; Just a worthless Deku.

After speed walking home with his head down, he opened the door ready to shout out that he was home, before realizing that his mom was still working double shifts for a coworker on vacation.

Even alone in the house, Izuku still holed himself away in his room and started rereading his All Might comics.

When his mom came home, they quickly ate their dinner (Soba). The small family had some stilted talk about how their day had gone during dinner, but then went their separate ways to their rooms, as he could see the way his mom was itching to go to bed, tired from another long day of work.

Of course sometimes he wished he could be with his mom more, but he understood. It was his fault that he got hurt and now his mom had to take another job and take as many shifts as she could to try to be able to pay for the recently discovered surgery that might get his hearing back.

Izuku still wished to be a hero and help save people, but if he could help his mom by getting a safer, well paying job more quickly, he’d do it.

The next day at school, Izuku was woken out of his daydreams by the thunk of a bag that was dropped near where his cheek was laying on the desk. Thinking at first that it was someone coming over to bother him, the quirkless kid, when he saw the purple hair of Shinsou-Kun sit down beside him!

Looking in shock at the dead looking boy to his left, Izuku had a smile stretching from cheek to cheek staring at his new friend… Acquaintance? Panic buddies? Friend.

Only a few minutes before class began Izuku finally gathered up the nerve to start a relatively painful conversation about the weather signing back and forth with Shinsou-Kun, also discussing how his friend had to take a train to school.

During the signing back and forth, Izuku couldn’t curb his nervous habit and kept periodically reaching up to feel his hearing aids. He could already feel the migraine coming on from them, and the pain that was ‘because of his quirklessness.’

It was with great relief for both of them when their teacher roughly opened the door and while Shinsou-Kun barely moved from the sound of the loud slam, Izuku startled back roughly, heartbeat accelerating quickly from the noise.

With all the new knowledge of learning sign while having to deal with the new information they were learning in their school subjects, the two lonesome boys had no chance to talk during their morning classes.

At lunch Izuku just automatically started following Shinsou-Kun to his locker to get his lunch before getting his attention. “Where do you want to go eat?”

“Roof? Fewer people to have to deal with.”

Shinsou nods before seemingly disappearing into the crowd, shoving his way past everyone.

Hurriedly, Izuku follows after him, hands repeatedly apologizing to all the people whose feet he probably stepped on by accident.

Finding Shinsou-Kun, who was waiting for him near the stairs, they left in pace up the stairs to their chosen lunch spot.

Taking out his packed lunch, Izuku nudged the purple-haired boy and offered him a piece of his lunch.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to take away your food.”

Getting the message from all the insistent waving of Izuku’s yakitori, Shinsou decided to just lean forward and bite the chicken off the skewer.

Ignoring the red flush, quickly spreading up to his (first ever) friend’s ears, he let out a hum of approval at the delicious home-cooked food.

But when Izuku heard the sound of Hitoshi’s laughter, a ragged, unpracticed sound, he ignored his embarrassment and grinned in delight at being able to do something right.

“Hey, Shinsou-kun? D- Doyouwanttocomeoverafterschool?”

Shinsou stared at Izuku with pink splotches appearing on his cheeks. Trying his best not look flustered, he quickly ducked his head down in a sharp nod, murmuring under his breath that there’s a first time for everything.

Unlocking the door into his house, Izuku stepped inside and made a ‘tada’ sort of gesture.

“My mom will be home around 6:30, feel free to stay for dinner!”

“I- Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude or make more work for your mom.”

“It’s fine, I’m cooking!” Izuku started walking toward the kitchen, done standing awkwardly in the living room and signed for Shinsou to put on whatever he wanted on the tv.

Sitting stiffly on the -quite admittedly comfortable- couch, Shinsou grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels waiting for Izuku to come back.

When Izuku finally returned with popcorn for snacks, they sat in silence just eating the popcorn and avoiding eye contact.

“... so where’s the bathroom?”

Izuku immediately jumped up to be a gracious house guest and led Shinsou to the washroom, naming every door on the way.

“Kitchen, that over there is a small closet, this is my mom’s room, mine, and the toilet!”

“Well… thanks.” Yet again just staring off in the doorway, both boys, like a brainwave through a mental connection, turned around to do something else.

Slamming a foot in the door before it could close, Izuku quickly signed that “I’m going to change out of these school clothes, I’ll see you in the living room!”

Drying his hands on his jeans, Shinsou walked back to the living room, stopping by Izuku’s door to see the All Might plaque on his door.

Huffing out a laugh, all Shinsou could think was that Izuku is such a fanboy.

Izuku, hearing the footsteps stop by his door, started yelling through it. “I’ll be out in a minute,” the last bit came out in a muttered huff, “I hate these stupid ties.”

Finally dropping back onto the sofa, Shinsou saw an old journal title ‘Hero Analysis For The Future, #1’

He picked it up and started leafing through it, seeing the messiest kanji he could ever imagine, (probably written by a four year old) and was only stopped by Izuku padding into the room.

“Wh, what’re you doing?”

“Oh! Sorry Izu-Kun, I just saw it on the floor and thought it was really cute!”

Poor Izuku. He didn’t know whether he felt like blowing up because he was called Izu-Kun and cute, or because yet again someone thought he couldn’t be a hero.

But, as if seeing him war with himself, Shinsou piped up again. “Sorry if that was too much, I just… like how you wanted to be a hero ever since then, it’s really dedicated!” Yet Shinsou looked saddened, as if he was left behind.

Even though his hands couldn’t clog up like his throat did when he got nervous, Izuku still got that feeling when he lifted up his hands and signed the words that turned the world against him.

“I’m quirkless.”

Chapter Text

In the past, before the age of four, Izuku had had many friends. Although he was seen as more delicate, everyone was pulled in by his wide smile and shining eyes.

All the parents seemed to coo over him, his friends always wanted him to be the princess that got saved, and his dad could breathe fire, so of course, he’d get a cool quirk!

However, approaching his fifth birthday with no quirk to speak of as of yet, he started getting pushed away.

Every day turned into, “Hey Izuchan! Didya get your quirk yet?”

“IZUKU!! Light this stick on fire!!!”.

“‘Zuku… where’s your quirk?”

“Hahaha, Izuku didn’t get his quirk yet. He’s quirkless!”

As his smile dimmed every day, Izuku finally went to the quirk doctor a few weeks after his fifth birthday.

“I’m sorry Midoriya-san, your son is quirkless.”

Returning home from the quirk specialist, Izuku ignored his mom’s worried glances and headed straight for his room.

Inko next saw him at the computer screen, when she was going to go fetch him for dinner.

“HAVE NO FEAR FOR I AM HERE!”

Hearing the familiar voice from All Might’s debut, she saw her son wetly mouthing the words.

Inko rested her hand on Izuku’s tiny shoulder and felt her heart clench when he turned around to look at her, tears in his eyes,

“Mama, was Tsubasa-san right? I don’t have a quirk? How will I be a hero?”

Inko couldn’t stop herself from mirroring her son’s tears, blurring her vision and causing a waver in her voice.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Izuku!”

The sound of his wailing increased as Izuku threw himself at his mom and clutched at her shirt.

Tiring himself out from his crying, Izuku softly murmured out before falling asleep.

“I just wanted to help people.”

It only took three days after returning to school, before everyone knew he was quirkless. Consequently, he also got made fun of for it.

The first day that they knew was the worst. Without any warning, Izuku was left out. He was shoved away, told not to bother them, and even was dissuaded from playing with the other kids by the teacher, told to go read in the corner.

It hurt.

He didn’t know why he was alone, WHAT DID HE DO? So what he had a double toe joint, was it his fault? Did he do something so bad that now everyone hated him???

That day, he hid himself away and became no one.

The next, he got included again, but it wasn’t much better.

“Haha, Izuku can’t even be a good villain because he’s quirkless”, whenever the ‘hero’ in their game beat the ‘villain’, Izuku.

“Stop crying, it’s just a little scrape stupid! I bet you only cry so much because you don’t have a quirk.”, and so on.

Before finally, Katsuki, who never really said anything before, screamed out while flashing his party popper looking quirk.

“LOOK! This loser’s name is Deku! It means useless, like you are!”

“K-Kacchan,” Izuku sniffled, feeling torn down all over again, “Why? A- I .. didn’t do anything to you!”

“Ha! I guess that was from just existing then.

••••

Even though Izuku wasn’t four years old anymore, telling his ‘friends’ he was quirkless never got any better.

Of course, the few times students tried to just be neutral towards him, Kacchan’s group made sure to show them exactly why he was a ‘useless piece of shit’.

So, that’s why Izuku wasn’t looking forward to Shinsou-Kun's reaction, Looking at past statistical data, the conclusion would not be pleasant for him.

Oh, and apparently Shinsou was talking to him. Now he’s shaking Izuku by the arms.

Izuku closes his eyes preparing for Shinsou-Kun to hit him, before carefully opening them when a hand cards through his hair.

Slowly relaxing his tensed body (When did he freak out so quickly?), Izuku’s brain decided to rejoin his neural pathways to his ears and heard the panicked voice of the other boy.

“-Midoriya? Midoriya-Kun, are you alright?” Shinsou-Kun only stopped talking to him when Izuku’s voice weakly rang out.

“Why are you still here?”

“Do you want me to leave? I didn’t want to let you say here like tha-“

“No. Why didn’t you leave when I told you I’m quirkless?” Shinsou let out a tiny sigh and dragged Izuku into his arms.

“Because it doesn’t matter to me Izu-Kun.” Was the reply, muffled by his face being buried into Izuku’s hair.

With that, Izuku released his crybaby tendencies. But, he didn’t think he could have stopped himself from sobbing in Shinsou’s arms if he tried.

When Izuku finally stopped bawling his eyes out in the arms of someone he met only a few days ago, he took in the position that they were in.

Somehow, when Izuku threw himself into the embrace, even more, he ended up pressed right against Shinsou-Kun.

Jumping back hurriedly, Izuku started babbling. “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to cry all over you. It’s just thefirsttimesomeonebelievedinmeanddidn’thatemeforbeingquirklessand-“

“It’s okay Midoriya-Kun, I… don’t really mind being a source of comfort.” Shinsou said rubbing the back of his neck.

He then leaned forward to hear whatever his friend started mumbling, “Midoriya-Kun, I can’t understand that.”

“AH! I’m sorry! I… was just saying that… I like you calling me Izuku! Ifyouwanttocallmethat.”

With the flush on both of their faces growing, Shinsou-Kun rapidly signed to his friend, worried that his voice would jump an octave if he spoke,

“I guess you can call me Hitoshi then too,” before adding on quickly, “don’t worry you’re not pressuring me. I want you to call me by my first name.”

Realizing that they’ve just been standing by the couch during this whole emotional mess, they sat on the couch, collectively decided to ignore the notebook for the moment (Hitoshi more for the reason of not wanting to raise Izuku’s stress levels again), and started watching an old Crimson Riot movie.

When Inko got home after her second continuous shift, she was more than ready to get home to eat with her son.

Of course, she felt horrible leaving her son to cook for both of them half of the time, but she had no time to do it herself.

She’d love to still be living mostly off of Hisashi’s paycheques, who she also wanted back, but he hated the idea of a child, especially a quirkless one.

She needed the work to be able to pay for their train tickets to work and jobs, Izuku’s new school, his old pair of hearing aids (she wasn’t getting more if they were hurting her son!), and trying to save up for an invasive surgery to try to relate his hearing.

Inko was grateful that her ex-husband paid more than his part in excuse for him leaving (But it wasn’t worth him leaving), but that only covered the rent on their apartment.

He knew that her job as a news reporter didn’t always get her much money, so he sent cheques for rent and some spare. However, even those got sparser and sparser as time went on.

But back to the present, when Inko got back, she heard a movie playing. Quietly walking over to see what was happening, she saw her son and another boy (A friend!!!) asleep on the couch, with end credits still up on the screen.

Inko faintly remembered her son texting her that someone was coming over, but in the struggle of finding a good lead on her current story, she honestly forgot all about it.

Creeping to the tv to turn it off, Inko grabbed a blanket and spread it over the two boys while cooing at how cute they were, leaning towards each other in their sleep.

Eating fridge food, Inko went past the living room to check on the boys, and almost laughed aloud when she saw that her son had moved in his sleep, and was now stretched out with his head against his insomniatic looking friend’s shoulder.

So happy that her little boy had friends again, that night Inko went to sleep with a large grin still stretching across her face.

Chapter Text

The next morning, when Shinsou awoke, he, at first, had no idea where he was. He even freaked out a bit when he felt something move against his shoulder, but nobody was awake to see it.

Looking to the weight laying on him, Shinsou remembered exactly where he was when he got a face full of soft hair.

He jerked back but stopped himself trying to not wake his sleeping friend… Even though his shoulder now felt like it was amputated in his sleep.

Shinsou noticed that Midoriya-san probably laid a blanket on them after they fell asleep when she got home from work.

‘OH NO! My first impression on my friend's mom was me in their house sleeping with him!’ Shinsou immediately turned red before rectifying his thought process, ‘Having him fall asleep on my shoulder!’

As the purple-haired boy tried going back to sleep to lessen his dark eyebags, he heard a door creak and searched for the noise.

Inko padded out of her room and was on her way to get breakfast when she saw her son’s friend’s open eyes.

“Hello dear, you must be the friend Izuku brought home!” Inko’s voice was hushed as her son was asleep on the poor boy’s shoulder.

Well, was. He certainly wasn’t when Shinsou jumped up off the couch, filled with nerves and social interaction to greet Mrs. Midoriya.

“Hi, Midor- Oops.” Turning to his friend who just got pitched headfirst into the arm of the sofa, he immediately began fussing over him awkwardly.

“Ah, I’m so sorry M- Izuku-kun! I just… wanted to make a good impression on your mom because you’re my first friend and you don’t care about my quirk and-“ Shinsou’s voice eventually faded into nothing, which wasn’t surprising as it was lowering in volume after the first sentence before petering off.

Breaking an awkward standoff, Izuku let loose a loud strand of giggles.

“Ahaha! I’m sorry Hitoshi-kun, it’s fine I don’t mind getting woken up,” he added a faux, angry, tone to his voice, “so cruelly!”

Suddenly remembering his manners, Izuku piped up again, “OH! Mom, this is my friend, Shinsou Hitoshi. Shinsou-kun, this is my mom, Midoriya Inko!”

The corners of Mrs. Midoriya’s eyes crinkled as she watched her son introduces her to his friend.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you Shinsou-kun. Now, what would you boys like for breakfast?”

Shinsou looked at Izuku, clueless, but quickly became concerned when he saw his friend hunched over, fingertips pressed against his temples.

“Midoriya-kun? Are you all right?”

Inko let out a weary sigh, that Shinso didn’t even think she could produce, and gently tabbed her son’s shoulder.

“Go take out your hearing aids and take a chintzu zai. Drink lots of water, we can decide on breakfast when you get back.” Signed Inko, once she got Izuku’s attention.

After Izuku left, Shinsou brought attention to himself again by asking Inko a question.

“Midoriya-san, what’s wrong with Izuku-kun? Is he okay?”

Letting out a huff of laughter at the worry, barely hidden, on the young man’s face, Inko quickly put those fears to rest.

“He’s fine Shinsou-kun. Hearing aids just react badly to Izuku when used for long periods of time. It’s nothing bad just a…,” Inko paused trying to avoid telling her son’s friend he was quirkless if he didn’t already know, “- health complication.”

Shinsou was wondering if it was because he didn’t have a quirk, but decided not to ask as Izuku came back into the kitchen.

“What are we having?” Signed Izuku excitedly with a grin on his face.

“Want some Miso Shiru, boys?” Inko wasn’t sure about whether Shinsou-Kun had any allergies or not but was happy to see his face light up.

“I- uh,” Shinsou switched to sign, “yes please, if- if you guys don’t mind, Midoriya-san!”

Following them silently to the small table, Shinsou sat and watched mother and son work together in perfect tandem.

Finally finishing preparing the soup, the two-person family sat down beside Shinsou.

“Itadakimasu!” Their voices rang out before Shinsou almost fell to the floor at how good the food was.

“IZUKU-KUN! I didn’t know you could cook! This is delicious, thank you Midoriya-san!”

“It’s no problem dear, now do your parents have any specific time they want you to be back? You’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like!”

Shinsou’s smile froze on his face before dropping completely. Staring down into his empty bowl, Shinsou just lifted a hand to communicate his thoughts.

“They won’t care.”

The two Midoriya’s shared worries looks over the purple-haired boy’s lowered head.

Seeing as Shinsou wasn’t likely to look up any time soon, Izuku silently got out of his chair and padded over beside Shinsou’s

Placing a hand cautiously on his shoulder, Izuku carefully articulated his words to ask his friend if he was all right, voice varying in pitch and volume.

Looking up at his friend, Shinsou pasted a strained smile on his face. Body posture turned away slightly from the eldest Midoriya, Shinsou hesitantly signed to Izuku, expanding on the worrying reaction at the mention of the boy’s family.

“-... My quirk was found out by me accidentally brainwashing my mother. I developed mine early, and no one in our family had something like this, so they didn’t even worry about the possibility of me getting a malicious quirk.”

Izuku looked ready to jump in to defend his friend from himself but stopped at his mother’s raised hand, gentle eyes locked on his friend.

Shinsou let out a bone-weary sigh to himself and carried on, “I accidentally brainwashed my dad into getting me a toy and almost got him in big trouble for trying to steal it, not being able to know better. Luckily someone was able to snap him out of it by physical contact, (as my quirk was very weak the first time it presented), but I can’t even remember a time when they didn’t treat me like this.”

Inko placed her hand over Shinsou’s tightly clenched fist and signed carefully, “What do they do to you, child?”

Face quickly blanking into a seemingly practiced mould, Shinsou started signing about how “It’s not that bad/ Other people have worse/ etc.” before glancing over at Izuku.

Izuku’s eyes were glazed with tears but he seemed so angry for him. He looked at Shinsou, not with pity, but with sadness that he had to go through so many problems because of his quirk.

Cutting off the babbled excuses, Shinsou started talking about what his quirk had caused, focusing solely on the soft grip on his now boneless hand, and the pressure on his shoulder, meticulously rubbing circles into his shoulder blade; Steadying him through his story.

Chapter Text

“When my quirk came in, I was ignored. After going to a quirk specialist and finding out that it could only be activated through a verbal response, my parents just stopped responding. Words and hugs became them shoving me out of the way or forgetting me in the house alone. My mom tried, but with my father’s constant warnings, and her accidentally being placed under my quirk, she stopped. I was terrified, still am terrified, of using my quirk around other people; Even to help.”

The breathing filled up the quiet air while Shinsou momentarily rested his hands and heart.

“I got called a villain. I had a villains quirk so why wouldn’t I be one? All my ‘friends’ stopped talking to me, the teachers ignoring me being pushed around and my parents ignoring even the biggest of injuries!”

Shinsou’s signing became quicker and sharper, the gestures flying off his hands like screams.

“THOSE KIDS HAD BROKEN MY ARM! AT FIVE YEARS OLD AND THEY DIDN’T CARE! I HAD TO GO BY MYSELF TO THE SCHOOL NURSE BECAUSE I COULDN’T MOVE THAT ARM BUT I WAS ACCUSED OF ‘BRAINWASHING’ THEM INTO HURTING ME!”

Vision darkening, Shinsou felt ready to keep on going, the tear in his heart, after years of being sealed away, reopening. And he would’ve, he would’ve gone on in he didn’t feel arms wrap around his shoulders and chest. If he didn’t feel Izuku’s hair against his neck, and tears dampening his shirt. If he didn’t feel wet streaks running down his face as Mrs. Midoriya joined in, wrapping her arms around them both, shaking with anger and grief. He would’ve if he didn’t feel the anger drain away and be replaced with the sadness of ‘what did I do wrong?’

Sitting still, Shinsou cried out his emotions with Izuku draped over him and Mrs. Midoriya clutching onto them both tightly.

“You’re not going back.”

Unhearing of his mother’s words, Izuku shakily kept signing, over and over, that he wouldn’t let that happen to Shinsou again.

Feeling as if he would burst from happiness, Shinsou just closed his eyes and leaned into the Midoriya family’s warmth.

Their little bubble broke when a phone’s ringtone rang out from Shinsou’s pocket.

“Is it them?” Inko signed to Shinsou seeing the somewhat stricken look on his face.

When answered with a nod, Inko held out a hand and got a grateful look in return when Shinsou passed his phone to her.

Inko answered the phone and pressed it to her ear. Even as she was walking away, the boys could hear the yelling from the phone.

Keeping Shinsou from flinching back, Izuku tightened his arms around his friend, trying to give comfort.

Reaching an arm out in front of Shinsou’s face, trying to distract him from the murmurs of his mother’s voice through the wall, Izuku asked one-handedly if the food was good.

Seeing an arm right in front of his line of sight, asking such an unrelated question to the last conversation, Shinsou couldn’t help but burst out laughing. It might have had a slightly hysterical tinge to it, but it was a nice change from the tear tracks still dried on all their collective faces.

Shinsou blinked in surprise when the weight on his back was suddenly lifted. All he saw was a blur of green rushing to the sink area before Izuku appeared back in front of him.

“Try to keep still Hito-chan!” Izuku grabbed Shinsou’s face, carefully tilting it upward from the jaw, and started gently wiping the salty tear tracks away with a damp towel.

Concentrating heavily, Izuku didn’t realize how close he was to Hitoshi until his mom walked back into the room.

She had a somewhat tense smile on her face, that brightened when she saw the view that greeted her with the boys.

Izuku, panicking at invading his friend’s personal space (Hitoshi didn’t care), had fallen back while trying to apologize. He was now on the floor, covering his beet-red face while Shinsou tried to calm his laughter.

It was only later after Inko managed to explain that the elder Shinsous suddenly decided to take a vacation and that Hitoshi would be in her care, that he worded his worries.

“But… Midoriya-san? Why do you care? I mean- I’ve known your son for three days, and I’ve known you for less than 24 hours…”

With a sad look on her face, Inko placed a hand on Shinsou’s knee, “Honey, I could’ve met you on the street and had I heard about your family problems, tried to help you. You don’t deserve the pain of a bad family, no one does.” Said Inko with a faraway look in her eyes before refocusing on the purple-haired boy, “Besides, you’ve been so good to my Izuku. He never really had friends because they were self-centred, egotistical-“

Inko took a visible pause in her explanation, trying to cool off before continuing.

“He never really had any friends, and you’re also just a lost little boy. You deserve help and happiness Shinsou-kun, no matter what your parents have said.”

The next day, Izuku woke up and started sleepily walking to the bathroom to get ready. However, what he had forgotten was that there was someone else sharing his room for the time being.

… Cue a stifled scream from Izuku at almost stepping on somebody’s face.

Because Izuku is smart and quick thinking, instead of accidentally stomping on Hitoshi’s face, he stepped across it, tripped on his torso, and face planted into his carpet.

His guest had a rude awakening by getting jerked around like a rag doll.

Shinsou cracked open an eye and groaned out in the most dead voice to ever be voiced.

“Why the fuck are you awake right now.”

Realizing that his friend had his hearing aids out and probably only heard the barest of his zombie noises, Hitoshi included everyone in the room by signing his intense judgement.

Sheepishly, Izuku signed back after turning on the lights (ignoring what was most likely a noise comparable to a screech from hell from Shinsou’s mouth).

“Sorry! I forgot you were sleeping on the floor!... Want some breakfast?”

Hitoshi gave an angry cat-worthy glare but signed yes before hunting around for clothes.

By the time Izuku got back from the bathroom with his hearing aids in and dressed, Hitoshi had given up on looking for clothes apparently and was curled up on his bed.

“Do you not have any- Right! You don’t have any clothes! You can borrow some of mine,” Izuku looked his friend up and down, taking in their height difference, “-maybe…”

Hitoshi watched in amusement as Izuku seemingly forgot about his existence and just went dumpster diving in his closet. He went and tried to sneak up behind him, but his plan got ruined when a ball of clothes was thrown at his face.

“KYAAA!”

This time, being able to appreciate the sound of Shinsou’s squeaky scream, Izuku burst out laughing.

Barely slipping in apologies between his gusts of air and snorts, Izuku ended up having a silent laugh attack.

Face red, Hitoshi stormed to the bathroom before having to pause at realizing that he didn’t have any toiletries or anything.

Still giggling, Izuku followed him and started grabbing unopened toothbrushes, deodorant and clean towels before handing them to Hitoshi.

“Haha- here- Aha- Hito-kun. S-sorry Heh. Y- ou can use this! It’s all unopened and stuff!”

And like that, the two boys got ready for school.

Chapter Text

The two fourteen-year-olds walked to their school, conversation flowing between them much less awkwardly than they feared.

“Wait, you want to be a hero, too?” The words slipped out of Izuku’s mouth before he could censor them but Hitoshi didn’t bat an eye at the “too” at the end of his sentence.

“Yeah, um, I guess I always wanted to but didn’t think I could because of my quirk,” Hitoshi said, scratching somewhat sheepishly at the base of his head.

“BUT YOUR QUIRK IS SO COOL! There are so many other awesome pro-heroes with mental quirks too!! There’s Mandalay whose part of the Wild Wild Pussycats that had-“ Continuing on and on, (slightly off track), Izuku wasn’t fully present to see the slack-jawed awe that Hitoshi was showing.

Finally cutting himself off after mention of a pencil hero? Hitoshi could finally thank Izuku for… everything he does and is, basically.

Not feeling certain about the stability of his voice, Hitoshi grabber his friend’s attention with his hands. “Hey Izu? We’ve only really known each other for a few days but… you’re a really good friend, you know that?” He flashed a wide smile that somehow even made his eye bags seem less prominent.

Izuku, instead of replying, flushed red and jumped on Hitoshi for a hug. Luckily, while he was scrawny, Hitoshi at least had enough muscle to balance their combined weight for the 0.5 seconds Izuku held on to him.

Giving out a bright smile, Izuku just signed a simple thanks and grabbed Hitoshi’s wrist to get him to move again.

“... You know that I meant what I said though, right? You’ll be a hero, and …. Maybe we’ll be ones together.”

Corners of his mouth turning down at Izuku’s self-deprecation, Hitoshi just reached out to his friend’s hair.

“Of course, we’ll be the best hero students ever.”

After that day, the two hero wannabe’s started a workout and eating plan to actually be fit enough to pass a hero course entrance exam. Getting up early to run, going to the school gym (and consequently avoiding any particularly nasty students), they soon settled into their daily routine and saw the efforts paying off.

Except…. They were still teenage boys, and like all teenagers, they loved their sleep.

“Ughhhh Hito-chan. Gimme another minute.”

Shoving his face into the pillow, Izuku tried to block out all sensation to ignore Hitoshi’s insistent poking directly into his spine like an Epidural.

Finally giving up, Izuku sat up with eyes that were still closed, blindly searched for his hearing aids on his bed-side table, and jammed them in his ears in time to hear Hitoshi’s continuously amused rant.

“- You said that we had to get up every morning at 5 o’clock sharp, ha you need sleep, and to get ready for a 7 kilometre run so, get. Up.”

The last two words were punctuated by particularly sharp taps against his shoulder that were made to keep him awake. Izuku should probably be used to this because he had done this every day for the last two months, but he was studying for midterms until late last night and willfully ignored how early he forced himself to get up.

Tuning back in, to the background noise of Hitoshi’s voice, he caught the last words, “How else are we going to get into these high schools if you can’t even control your own body.”

“HITO-CHAN!” Screeched Izuku, after which deciding to ignore the suggestive tone.

Quickly getting ready in the washroom, Izuku sped out by the kitchen and pulled on his shoes, ready to go.

“Yeeeeeet.” Was the only warning to catch the apple that his, oh so dear, best friend threw at his head.

“Thanks.” Replied Izuku dryly not even looking behind him.

Locking the door behind them, the boys left all conversation to rest as they counted their breathing patterns and started a quick pace.

Finishing their run in record time, sprinting competitively on the way back, Hitoshi and Izuku didn’t even have enough air left to laugh, as they leaned against the door and panted.

Dashing inside quickly, Izuku yelled out behind him, quiet enough not to wake up his mom, “I call first shower.”

Feeling more light-hearted than before, not thinking about the stress of exams, Izuku managed to forget his spare change of clothes. Still damp out of the shower, he wrinkled his nose at the thought of putting his sweaty, gross, running clothes back on and just wrapped a towel around his waist and walked to his room.

“AH! Mother-fucking, son of a bitch!” Izuku blurted with a hushed voice, not wanting to get caught swearing by his mother.

Hitoshi, who heard Izuku’s light tread back from the shower, had clothes in hand and was by the doorway, ready to go ‘freshen up’.

Hitoshi watched Izuku re-arrange his grip on his towel, having almost dropped it from running into him and stubbing his toe.

Ignoring the faint spread of pink high on his cheeks, Hitoshi tried to keep all trace of embarrassment out of his voice.

“Well… You’re not as much of a twig as you were two months ago, Izu.” Ignoring the understatement of that almost complete lie, Hitoshi averted his eyes from defined muscles and small traces of water- dripping… down. ANYWAY! And brushed past his friend to go get ready and dressed for school.

Thinking about how easy it was to call Izuku by his first name now, Hitoshi felt kind of relieved that he had a friend like him and that he wasn’t the only one that was socially inept. Within days of meeting each other, they acted like a friendship of whole weeks, even by English standards. Their friendship progressed seemingly years quicker by Japanese standards because of their inability to know what was normal for friends as they had never had any real ones before.

Saying hello to Mrs. Midoriya on his way back, Hitoshi was reminded about how kind the Midoriya family was. After the month-long vacation Mrs. Midoriya ‘suggested’ his parents take, they decided that they had a business trip, out of the country for the next, hopefully long, while.

Walking out of the front door for the second time that day, the boys walked to school at a much more relaxed pace than their early morning torture. However, it wasn’t that bad anymore. They kept to a certain level of difficulty before upping it just a bit more to push themselves further. But, they knew not to strain their muscles so they kept Sunday’s an easy day, cheating their diet and doing no exercises except for lunge-walks around the house.

Nothing much differed from this morning and any other, the same old lady walking her dog, the same pile of garbage that is Dagobah, and of course, the source of the constant stream of muttering from Hitoshi’s right.

Well, it was until he almost ran into a homeless looking man, that had eye-bags the size that Hitoshi’s used to be, (They shrank quite a bit under Inko’s insistent mothering, but he felt like they’d always remain to some degree because of his insomnia) and a scarf in the height of summer.

Feeling annoyed that he was so distracted that he hadn’t seen someone no more than five feet in front of him, Hitoshi apologized and made sure to keep some of the ‘dead-inside’ out of his voice so he didn’t sound sarcastic.

Getting ready to move on and get to school on time, he got held back yet again by Izuku’s hand squeezing around his wrist and his breathless gasp.

“ERASERHEAD?”

The name pinging a memory in Hitoshi’s head, made him blurt out, “Pencil dude?”

Hitoshi didn’t realize he voiced his thought until the unkempt Pro-Hero threw a glare his way, before swinging it to focus on Izuku.

“Who?”

Chapter Text

Izuku felt like he could ascend from happiness. THAT WAS ERASERHEAD!!! IN FRONT OF HIM!

He didn’t doubt for a second that he was wrong (pushing away the doubting voice that sounded suspiciously like Kacca- Katsuki), and ignored the hero’s efforts to make him think otherwise.

Visibly seeing the man give up on the ruse, Eraserhead dragged a hand down his face and mumbled something that sounded like putting the blame on someone named Hizashi?

“Uhm… Eraserhead-san? C-could I please uh- haveanautograph?” Izuku blurted out. Since Izuku wasn’t an idiot, he didn’t bother Aizawa with any of the millions of questions flowing through his head, instead mumbling them through his hands down at his sides.

The hero’s eyes hardened for a minute before glancing over the excited child and giving an exasperated sigh. He held out a hand, doing the universal ‘gimme’ motion expecting something to be handed to him to sign.

Well…. Really, Shouta shouldn’t have been surprised when the kid grabbed a full on notebook and pen from somewhere.

Looking away from the almost literal sparkles in the boy’s eyes, and ignoring that rude teenager, Aizawa grabbed the notebook (Hero Notes for the Future #14?) started flipping through it to find a blank page, only to stop, shocked.

Reading some of the information of the analysis of heroes made him have a feeling similar to a punch in the gut.

“Kid, do you know how dangerous this is?” The older man said trying to keep his eyes and hair under control. “This could absolutely destroy some of these heroes.”

Aizawa started flipping through the entries, pausing at certain spots.

“Weaknesses, organized chronically and in some cases alphabetically… Preferences and behavioural patterns… Private lives and sometimes even quirk based things that could be taken advantage of.” Aizawa stopped, point proven. “Who are you?”

“I-uh… I think you’re misunderstanding Eraserhead-san,” Midoriya squeaked at his glare before continuing on even faster than before. “These weren’t made to hurt heroes! I’ve wanted to be a hero my entire life and I thought that if I could analyze villains like I do heroes, it’s help me take them down!”

Seeing no lies in his body posture and reading the panicked ‘muttering’, half signed by his hands, Aizawa relaxed his tense body posture and tried to comfort the young boy by placing a hand on his shoulder.

Key word: tried. Aizawa had not remembered the other older looking kid until he grabbed his wrist to stop him from touching his friend. The boy glared at him until the scraggly haired man shook him off and continued on his way to comfort this sad child.

“Hey, it’s okay kid, everyone makes mistakes.” Aizawa said somewhat soothingly. Trying to remember his ‘How To Not Frighten Kids Out Of Their Minds’ lessons by Hizashi, Shouta crouched down to his level and kept steady, calm, eye contact.

“It’s really good analyzing and you can use it for good, but can you see why it’s dangerous the way you’re doing it now”

Izuku gripped his uniform pants tightly, before releasing them, “Yeah. It could be found by other people and if they really are right then they could hurt others.”

“Good job kid. Be careful with your work.” And with that, Aizawa stood back up before striding away to U.A.

“Hey Izu-kun? You okay? Because we really need to get going to get to school.” Hitoshi shoved down his worry and tried to get his friend to act like normal.

Izuku let out a grin, and stepped forward a few steps, before looking back over his shoulder, “Race you.”

Ever since they became friends, the amount of bullies that tried to threaten them lessened quite a bit.

A quirkless ‘loser’ was an easy target until his ‘villain’ best friend showed up. That was not counting the muscle mass they gained over the last two months.

Working out every day, they greatly increased their stamina and started having hard, lean, muscle packed on their arms, legs, abdomen and other places. (Hitoshi couldn’t help but realize that their workouts also affected Izuku’s butt too)

They still didn’t want to fight people, because they would fight to win and save, they being Izuku as Hitoshi’s self control on occasion when they started picking on Izuku, so they learnt to run away.

Figuring how to make tight turns in the streets and blend in with the crowds, learning how to hide in plain sight and make use a children’s fear of adults being present when they instinctively know they’re doing something wrong.

While working out was changing them physically, keeping themselves safe was like a mental exercise, tiring but getting easier.

Today, however, turned out not to be one of those days.

“Ha! Looks like these losers can’t always run away.”

The two boys started getting picked on when they didn’t immediately join any of the large social groups because they couldn’t fit in, even amongst the ‘weird’ non-quirk related, deaf kids.

“What? You’re not going to try to control us, villain?”

At this school, the kids who still could hear were actually the outliers, however they were fine if they had a friend group who could protect them.

“Not even gonna help your friend?”

And of course, there were some who had hearing problems because of their quirk, caused at a young age. They stuck together but were largely unbothered because…,

“Right, as if anyone could be friends with a quirkless freak.”

Shaking with rage, Hitoshi glared above his friend’s shoulder at the random bully that wanted to ‘prove their worth’ in their social group, by bullying the quirkless kid.

Ignoring the feeling of his quirk within his mental reach. Hitoshi stepped towards the boy with the almost purely bone and skin limbs, he ignored Izuku who had already broken out of the weak grip of one of the boys, and punched that asshole in the face.

Feeling a crunch under his fist, Hitoshi started getting ready to avenge his friend before feeling a calm hand grab his wrist and Izuku’s comforting smell surrounding him.

“Let him go, they’re not worth your time. Plus look at what you’ve done to them.”

The bullies were scattered and helping the fallen boy scramble away, terrified out of his wits and in pain.

Hitoshi turned around to look into Izuku’s bright eyes, twitching up a corner of his mouth, he answered him. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go home.”

As the two boys walked home together, their shoulders almost brushing, Hitoshi ignored the satisfaction shimmering through him. Whenever using his quirk, he felt an almost nauseous, depressive feeling, but like this? Physically taking care of Izuku from that idiot? He was proud of being able to save Izuku, who no doubt could take care of himself too.

“So that hobo looking dude was a hero, right?” Hitoshi asked, lounging on Izuku’s bed with his face smushed in his hands.

The green boy spun around wildly on his spinning chair. “HITOSHI-KUN! THAT WAS ERASERHEAD!”

He turned back, continuing to rewrite his analysis notes before continuing.

“Eraserhead is an underground hero,” Izuku ignored the muttered ‘no duh’, “My best theory is that he has a type of nullifying quirk. When fighting, the opponents quirk seems to temporarily stop working, following the rising and falling pattern of his hair. However, his quirk is useless against mutant types, most likely,”

“That’s why he has those weird ass scarves right?” Hitoshi butts in.

“Yeah, probably. He doesn’t really have any other way of subduing them so he and they must be reasonably strong.”

“Wait… if you said he’s an underground hero, how did you find so much information on him?”

Izuku turned red and ducked his head even lower to his work, trying to keep his thoughts about (mostly) legal videos and accidentally seeing his takedowns inside his head.

“IZUKU!”

By the screaming Hitoshi was directing at him, he wasn’t very successful.

Chapter Text

As time ticked closer to the hero entrance exams, Izuku and Hitoshi got closer and closer with no other company to spend their time with.

They balanced each other and kept one another from making bad decisions. (“IZUKU! Don’t run in front of a moving truck to save a cat jumping down a tree!”) However, not even Izuku could stop Hitoshi when he finally found out about ‘Kacchan’.

As he was admiring Izuku’s fighting form, Hitoshi, watching the sweat run down his back with Izuku was viciously beating his fists into the punching bag, saw it divert its course on what he thought was a birthmark.

Idly walking up to Izuku, Hitoshi tapped his bare shoulder and jumped back to avoid the punch he knew was coming, feeling the air current from the force of it.

“Nice punch, would’ve left a nice, purple bruise on my belly button, shortie.”

“AH! I’m going to grow more eventually, I’m still stronger than you. Sorry, Hito! But, I told you to stop doing that. When I work out I kinda zone out.”

Izuku let out an embarrassed half chuckle and stretched out his torso to get rid of the lingering soreness in his core. Finding this the perfect opportunity, the fully clothed insomniac lightly tapped the discoloured, lighter patch on Izuku’s side.

Ignoring the shriek of laughter from being poked in a ticklish spot, and subsequently the hand swatting at him, Hitoshi voiced his question to his friend. “What’s that?”

Not even glancing down, Izuku turned back to the punching bag and got into his stance before answering, “An accident.” What he didn’t mean for Hitoshi to hear was “-At least the first time it was.”

Concerned, Hitoshi moved closer, “What does that mean, Izu?” Seeing his friend’s now tanned skin pale, he repeated himself forcefully.

“Did someone do that to you?”

“It’s fine, we don’t go to the same school anymore.” Izuku’s face twisted bitterly as he realized why it was that they didn’t go to the same school anymore.

“That’s not okay! Those look like burn marks, did you ever get it treated? And- ARE THOSE BURN MARKS TOO?”

Looking to where Hitoshi was staring at him horrified, Izuku traced the star-like scars all over his body. He traced random patterns down the faint marks, from his neck and shoulder, down to the bottoms of his wrists. Pushing aside the pain from the past, both physical and mental, he replied with confidence, more-so to himself.

“Kacchan didn’t-... He didn’t want me to get hurt? Plus he just got his quirk so it’s not like he meant it.”

Seething, Hitoshi blew air through his tightly ground teeth before replying in a forcefully calm voice. “So this person had been using his quirk on you, on purpose as kids don’t accidentally harm others more than once at different locations and I’m guessing different dates,” Added Hitoshi when he saw Izuku going to deny it, “And no one healed them or stopped him?”

“It’s fine. It was a long time ago, I haven’t seen him in a long time, and no one would care about the quirkless kid.” Izuku kept his eyes averted and tried to portray confidence, even as he did his nervous tick of tracing around his hearing aids.

Hearing the unfaltering belief in his words, Hitoshi stepped forward and scooped Izuku into a hug, trying to make him care for himself more. “You know we love you and care for you, you need to love yourself too. If not for yourself, then tell me, would it be okay if he did the same to someone else?”

Izuku’s voice was muffled by shoving his head into Hitoshi’s shoulder, “N-no. But he wouldn’t! Everyone else just followed him around. I don’t know why but he just has something against ME!”

Even if he didn’t recognize the wobbling in his voice, Hitoshi felt the tears soaking into his shirt and felt an unbelievably large amount of rage towards someone he’s never even met.

Grabbing the work-out water bottle that laid forgotten near their feet, Hitoshi passed it to his friend and rubbed soothing circles into his back. Not letting his voice reflect his anger, Hitoshi continued questioning Izuku about the trauma he’s been through.

“What did he do to you, Izu?”

Izuku’s shoulders slumped even further against him as he told a story that he’s never let out.

“It started when we were really little. He always wanted to be the best but it was just a kid’s ego and competitiveness. As we got closer to getting our quirks, he kept insisting that no matter what, he’d have the better one, but that I’d be his sidekick.” Hitoshi made a noise of protest deep in his throat that Izuku could ever be just a sidekick and resumed tracing circles on Izuku’s back with the palm of his hand.

“It got worse when he got his quirk. He got tired of waiting for me to get mine and started using his ‘gift’ on me. I didn’t even do anything!” Izuku’s voice cracked and kept changing volumes, but Hitoshi was so proud of him for continuing to talk about it.

“Then… once, we went out to play in the forest. He fell in the stream with the boulders and I went to him and tried to help him. He- Hito, he’s the reason why I lost most of my hearing. I, we fell and hit the rocks and when I tried to help him up, he set off a giant explosion near my ears, which already got damaged by the rocks- He lives near here. I saw him sometimes when I walked to school and at first, I thought he got better! He didn’t apologize but he didn’t talk to me either! But then he started saying these things again! He…”

Dangerously little air was passing through Izuku’s body, Hitoshi could tell because he couldn’t feel his lungs expanding, only him shaking and hyperventilating. Why did he notice this about Izuku? Because he was the only thing he cared about and could concentrate on. His need for helping Izu overrode his need to grievously harm ‘Kacchan’.

“Kacchan kept telling me I was worthless a Deku, I know I am! He doesn’t have to tell me! But every day he kept saying these things and started hurting me again if he had the time in his schedule but… I keep thinking about it because he’s right. He’s always right and-and HE TOLD ME TO KILL MYSELF! I know I’m useless and I’m a waste of time, space, and money, but he was my only friend!”

Scratch that, Hitoshi was going to murder this person.

But meanwhile, Hitoshi placed his hands to hold Izuku’s face and brought it up to his. Telling Izuku that he wasn’t worthless, he was the best thing the world had to offer, that he was one of the most amazing people he knew, getting him to breathe with him. So focused on telling Izuku the truth and trying to destress them both temporarily, Hitoshi barely noticed when Izuku’s face slipped and they stood, forehead to forehead, starting to calm and ending up breathing in time.

“You’re not alone. You’ll never be alone. I’ve got you.” Breath in.

“What he did to you was wrong, you didn’t deserve it, no one would deserve it.” Exhale.

“He was wrong to harm you and his age doesn’t matter because the intent was there.” Need to stop- need to stop.

“You are strong, you are kind, and you are brave.” He needs to understand.

Hitoshi’s eyes slid shut. “You have people who love you. You are not alone.”

Chapter Text

Yo, it’s Natamyron ‘ere!

As you would know if you’ve read the end notes for the previous chapter, I’ll be taking the reigns for this fic.

I have no idea when the next chapter will be out considering my own fics, and the million other projects I have going for me.

Dw, this fic won’t be abandoned, but there probably won’t be an update schedule.

So uh, yeah, I’m Nat, and I honestly can’t wait to see what’ll happen!

(Shameless self-promo: If you need something to read, I have fics of my own on my acc that do have some sort of schedule... Despite the fact I’m hitting major writers block but-)

Avian Rights Enthusiast, Out!