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Izuku’s hands still ache the day after the sports festival. His mother changes his bandages, her mouth a tight thin line. Guilt twists his stomach but he can’t force any words out. He’s already apologized for worrying her, but that’s not what she wants. Recovery Girl wanted him to rest after the surgery. She had called his mother before he’d been put under and hearing her panicked voice is nothing to the resignation in her eyes.
She wants him to regret going so far against Todoroki, but he can’t. The other’s eyes were screaming out to Izuku. His fingers twinge in pain, a sharp hot pin-prickling that shoots through every few minutes.
Recovery Girl said she’d heal him again when he was back at school, not wanting him to drain his stamina by giving too many healing kisses out. He hadn’t wanted to push, not with how angry the woman had been about the state of his hands. Izuku knows he needs to learn how to control One for All better...but he can’t help but to help as much as he can.
His mom finishes the bandages, standing with a sigh. Her knees creak at the movement and he winces.
“I need to run to the store,” she says, reaching out to gently ruffle his curls, “Do you need anything?”
He takes in her fragile smile and tired eyes. He put his mom through so much at the Sport’s Festival, he knows she has problems with anxiety.
Yet all he does is add to it.
“Uh,” He starts and she perks up, “I could go, if you want?”
A frown creases her face and he bites his lip.
“Izuku...you should just rest! Take one of the pain pills Recovery Girl gave you!” She reaches towards his desk, picking up and shaking the bottle. His pain isn’t that bad, honestly, and he can’t help his nose scrunching up at the orange container.
His mom doesn’t miss his expression, sighing and setting the bottle down with a hard tap.
“I don’t like how sleepy they make me!” Izuku blurts out, “Besides, I’m not in much pain!”
Her eyebrow rises and she leans back, arms crossed.
“I promise.” Izuku pleads, “I just want some sunshine! I spent all day in bed with those.”
He accidentally clenches his hand, pain shooting through it and Izuku suppresses the yelp that rises from the motion. He can’t show weakness, not now. Yesterday was spent in a foggy haze, his mom hovering almost all hours of the day.
Izuku loves her, but he doesn’t want to be treated as fragile, as if he still doesn’t have a quirk. It reminds him of the year after his diagnosis, her just out of reach at all times.
Except Izuku is a hero student, he has a quirk, and he’s a teenager.
When he stood across from Todoroki and chose to break his fingers with One for All, he knew what he was doing.
He just wants room.
His mom uncrosses her arms and signs again, but her face is less pinched, her shoulders slumped.
“Fine,” she huffs, “But I’m not giving you the full list, alright.”
“Of course!” Izuku says, almost bouncing in his seat. He’s careful to not curl his fingers when he draws his arms close in excitement.
Getting dressed is a pain, but mitigated by the loose athletic shorts and baggy t-shirts he usually wears. It’s the shoes that are the problem.
He flushes, warm and bright, when his mom bends down to tie them for him.
“It’s no trouble,” she reassures, finishing off the bow on the left sneaker.
“Still…”Izuku says, resisting the urge to fiddle with the hem of his t-shirt, “I’m sorry.”
Her arms come around him and he inhales the soft vanilla of her perfume.
“I’m your mom, silly, it’s my job.” She releases him but gives another stern glance, “If it becomes too much for your hands, let me know.”
“I will,” Izuku promises. She smiles again, patting him on the shoulder and handing over a short list.
“I love you,” she says.
Izuku smiles back at her, tucking the list into his pocket.
“Love you too, mom.”
The sun is shining high, the heat soothing through the bandages. There aren’t many people out, which makes sense. UA only closed because they had the Sport’s Festival. The rest of the world moves on, unmoved.
There’s nothing on the list that he can’t get from the small store a few blocks away from their apartment complex.
A few older people pass by and a couple of cars shoot down the street, but overall there’s a peaceful quiet that permeates the air. The wind rumples his hair and clothes, the throbbing from his hands easy to ignore.
Perhaps this is the reason he doesn’t pay attention to the footsteps heading closer and closer.
“Hey!” Says someone slightly behind Izuku and he startles, flinching hard. A turn of his head reveals a somewhat older teenager.
“Um, hi!” Izuku answers.
The older teen smiles stiffly, “Saw you in the Sport’s Festival, pretty impressive.”
“Oh!” Izuku flushes, pressing his palms against his face. His fingers twang in pain at the movement, “Thank you!”
The other’s smile widens, showing the front row of his teeth. Izuku’s gut twists at the sight and his own smile droops at the sight. Oily shame creeps in at his reaction, he can't even take a compliment normally.
“I can’t deny that it was pretty reckless though…”
“Ah- so I’ve been told,” Izuku chuckles awkwardly, hands sliding down to clutch the front of his shirt.
A pause of incredibly awkward silence has Izuku shifting. He’s not used to being known...is there something he needs to do or-
“Sorry! My name is Nakamura!” The other blurts, “Midoriya, right?” He gives a quick bow that Izuku returns.
“Right!”
“This is kind of embarrassing...but do you think you could help me with something?” Nakamura asks, rubbing the back of his head.
“Of course!” Izuku nods, “What is it?” As a hero student he may not be able to fight villains, but there’s nothing against a little community service.
Nakamura gestures over to one of the small shops lining the walk. This looks like a shoe store, it sets beside a small dark alleyway.
“My old man said there’s something wrong with the window...I can’t see anything and just wanted a second opinion.”
Izuku breathes a slight sigh. While he was willing to help with most anything, this at least seems simple and easy on the hands.
Izuku follows Nakamura to the side of the shop, curious to see what’s wrong with the window. He stands on tip-toe peering up at the pane, nothing looks wrong but maybe…Izuku steps even closer, completely under the shadow of the roofing.
He reaches up but his hand is snatched mid air.
Izuku yelps, pain spiking through the injured limb, knees going weak and wobbly.
“Woah there,” Says Nakamura, hand grasping tighter and Izuku lets out a sharp whine, he can almost feel the delicate, not quite healed bones scraping together. He yelps, trying to jerk away unsuccessfully.
Izuku still tries to tug his hand away again, sparks of hot pain pulsating through, “What- what are you doing?”
Nakamura does an odd two-step backward that Izuku is forced to follow. They end up in the dark alley, the wince on Izuku’s face in full bloom, his body hunched over the hand that Nakamura has in a tight grip.
Izuku scowls, digging his foot into the ground.He may not be able to do anything about his hands, but he can always kick this jerk where the sun don’t shine.
“I asked what are you doing?”
One for All bubbles beneath the surface of his skin. He might not be able to do anything with it, but it’s comforting in a space where previously there hadn’t been power at all before.
“Oh,” says Nakamura, “I’m just trying to help.”
Izuku frowns, ready to say he doesn’t need whatever ‘help’ this asshole thinks he’s going to give, when a pulse of dizzying numbness flows from where Nakamura’s hand touches his bandaged one.
“Wha-” He tries to ask, but rapidly, over and over, the pulses don’t quit, numbness spreading all over Izuku’s body, causing him to stumble ankle on top of foot. The world swims, colors blending together in a mashed-up mess.
His skin tingles, he can’t even feel the pressure of the other teen’s hand anymore. He falls over, back slamming against the brick of the store wall, though it feels strange. There’s no pain, barely any pressure.
Nakamura’s face swims in triplicate and Izuku tries to say something beyond the thick dry thing that his tongue has become. His ears ring, making it impossible to tell if he’s managed to speak or not. Nakamura ignores it either way.
Izuku’s knees buckle beneath him and they slam on the ground. He should be feeling pain from it, bare skin on concrete has never felt good, but there’s nothing.
In Izuku’s swimming head he knows it’s a quirk, something to do with painkilling probably, but he can’t focus, can’t breathe through the dizziness and electric sparks of disassociation that kick him out of the present moment.
“You really should take better care of yourself!” Nakamura scolds from above him, both arms in his hands now (when did that happen?), “I can’t even feel an over the counter! What a mess!”
Izuku feels roughly five centimeters to the right of his skin, absently he’s aware that his cheek is pressed against Nakamura’s stomach but the soft blooming dazed dizziness draws over him, foggy unreality seeping through the cracks of his perception.
“Yo! The fuck do you think you’re doing!?”
Kacchan-?
“It’s not my fault Midoriya can’t take care of himself! I’m just lending a helping hand!”
“Yeah, I don’t think anyone would believe that.”
There’s sparking, popping, a familiar noise that has Izuku slumping forward. Nakamura is gone and there’s just empty air that has Izuku almost crumpling onto the dirty ground.
Kacchan stops in front of him, scoffing, but stopping his tumble onto the ground. Izuku is jerked upwards by his arm, swaying and stumbling into Kacchan’s side.
Izuku’s head is still on another plane of existence so he lets it fall sideways, resting on Kacchan’s shoulder.
“Oi! Did I say you could do that?”
“Mrgh?”
The arm hovering awkwardly under his arm finally clamps down, straightening Izuku up and forcing him forward a few steps.
“Tch, whatever. Time to get your dumbass home before anything else happens.”
Izuku tries to force out a ‘thank you’ but mostly just manages to mumble. Kacchan snorts again, studiously ignoring him.
But that’s okay.