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He's on his knees, leaning forward. The pull of the chains on his wrists is the only thing keeping him upright. It doesn't ache or burn anymore, that force. In fact, he can barely feel it at all.
He doesn't look up when the door opens in front of him, but he watches the familiar shoes pad across the floor quietly. They carry the gentlest member of the League, and perhaps the cruelest.
She lifts his chin with delicate fingers, smiling at him.
(His side screams at her touch, but he doesn't move. He swallows, closes his eyes, and tries to be anywhere else.)
He can hear her frown, since it is always followed by that slight huff. She takes a spoonful of something and prods at his mouth until it opens, and she slides it in.
He chews and swallows without tasting or feeling. Whatever he's been fed slides down his throat and sits like a weight in his stomach, burning.
She gives him a few more bites before administering a light pat on the head.
"See? That wasn't so bad," she says.
He opens his eyes and sees that she is standing again, her feet tapping in front of his face.
"I am getting impatient," she admits. "You know I don't want to punish you, but you're not even trying to cooperate."
He knows what comes next. His heart begins to race in his chest, and his side burns in preemptive terror.
"We wouldn't have to do all this if you would just talk, y'know."
And with that, she stabs that thick needle into his side, and he gurgles.
(The sludge in his stomach threatens to reappear, and it wouldn't be the first time if it did.)
Toga laughs, and after a moment he hears his own voice, sickly sweet and so wrong.
"Well, I'm going to be late for movie night! Can't keep my classmates waiting, can I?"
She hops away, and he wonders if she means to leave the needle in.
(She's done it before, he remembers. Once or twice, someone with soft, kind fingers has come in after her and pulled it from his side, wrapping the area with bandages.)
The door creaks open and slams shut, and Izuku is left in that dark, cold room on his knees.
He waits until she is truly gone, and he begins to shake. One for All still refuses to make an appearance under his skin, but he's been here too long to care anymore.
He takes a deep breath, and does the only thing he can do to break out.
snap.