Chapter Text
Izuku pulled at his hair, flinching at the familiar discomfort that radiated off his head. It was better this way. To hide. Don’t stand out, make them underestimate you, make them mess up. He can’t mess up. Not even here, at school. He just needs to survive.
Is it lying? Yes. Is it justified? Technically anything can be, but that doesn’t mean that it’s deserved. It hurts him, it does, but the pain is little now. He’s used to cuts and burns and bruises. He’s used to skipping lunch and sometimes breakfast, to the names and the bullying and the attacks. But his tolerance grew each day.
They were nothing.
He sprang over the rooftops at night, wind rushing by his face, yet a mask still covered his features. His loose green hoodie was enough to keep him warm, and the bagginess often left people guessing about his true height. His boots were modified by himself to add an extra couple inches yet still be as flexible as sneakers. He was silent as the night, a shadow in the dark.
Until he saw who needed help, that is.
A woman, getting mugged in an alley by two scarred men. His eyes narrowed as he crept closer to the edge of the roof, eavesdropping for the perfect time to strike. They were both distracted, one starting to root through her purse while the other held her to the wall.
He leapt off the building and landed on the one with the purse, using his leftover momentum to quickly push back through the air and knock the other guy off of her. He tossed the purse back to its owner and sent her a sharp glare. “Run.” He ordered, voice an octave lower than usual. Scared and confused, she nodded, obeying.
Now he could view his enemies better. One had a clearly visible defensive Quirk that seemed to grow scales around his body, The second one’s Quirk was unclear so far, but from the way he seemed to stand, he wasn’t used to physically fighting.
“Will you surrender, or do I have to beat some sense into you?” He asked. The smaller guy cast a look at his companion, still standing strong, and then looked back defiantly. He sighed. “Fighting it is.”
His muscles screamed as he woke up the next morning. Obviously they weren’t as happy with Izuku’s nighttime adventures as he was, but it was completely worth it.
His home was drafty, as such it was extremely cold. Once it might’ve been called a house, but it’s been abandoned for a long time, leaving a shell behind to rot. It was still a building, so it wasn’t falling apart particularly quickly or anything, but he had to go around every month and make sure that plumbing was still working, and electrical currents were unbroken.
One could say he lived in a forgotten apartment complex, though it wouldn’t be true as long as Izuku knew of it.
It was another school day, which meant painstakingly hiding his Quirk, his living conditions, his strength and personality and every other aspect of his life. But it was worth it.
It wasn’t. It wasn’t worth it. The pain never went away, even if his instincts told him this was the right thing to do. He ignored his thoughts though. When was the last time logic had helped him?
He checked the bandages around his waist, wincing at the ugly purple-green crawling up from his hip. Even if he was used to this sort of thing, that didn’t mean he didn’t feel it, or that it wasn’t ugly. It just… was something he could ignore.
His school uniform was long sleeved. He never worried about his arms. He could hide half of the visibility of his Quirk with that. The rest, though, he had to improvise. And he did. A simple headband could hide it. Of course, it had some complex technology to hide his abnormal eyes. He had to use contacts before.
He still remembers when she forced them on and told him not to touch them. But they’re so uncomfortable, itchy, he didn’t like them, take them off take them off take them off-
He should get to school. If he doesn’t leave soon, he might be late.