Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Awkward.

This is-! Super awkward…

Izuku tucks his chin in, clinging taut to the edges of the swelling sweater that had been pulled around him.

He may look downtrodden on the outside, a little anxious even, but really, on the inside, all alarms are blaring firefighter red as he barely keeps from having a meltdown.

It does not help in the slightest when he hears the softest sigh from the kitchen area.

“Karma-kun…” A warning note.

One peek at a hand sliding towards the bluenette’s pants has him exploding in flames and furiously spinning around.

He saw nothing He saw nothing hesawnothing…

Inwardly, he whimpers as he wonders for the nth time, why did these two kind souls (wait. Scratch that. Is the redhead really one?) had to be the ones he ran into.

His afternoon had gone dastardly great. Just freaking well. Katsuki screeched at him to die, he got his dream crushed by All Might himself (and to think he’d thought All Might would understand, given the limitations of his own quirk. He thought he’d get being weak). Then, he had to go and charge in to rescue Katsuki even though he knew it wouldn’t end well (Those heroes were not doing anything). It all ended up with those heroes telling him off.

Aha. Just a normal day in the life of Deku.

But that had ended off with him crashlanding into this pair.

Forest green orbs timidly slide up to their bantering figures at the counter.

By ‘crashlanding’, he meant… literally.

All it took was a look at the long, unravelled teal hair before horror slammed like a truck.

“I’m sorry! Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that- I-I—” It was then that he noticed his hands were still planted on the girl’s chest. He snatched them off as though burned.

“I-I-I—” Izuku could barely breathe. What had he done? What had he done, both back there and here? – And he covered his face with his hands reflexively, dulled surprise hitting him when he realized his face was sopping wet. “I-I-I’m sorry—I shouldn’t have—I—I didn’t intend to—”

Hic.

Great.

Now, he was crying.

Bead by bead, the tears fell off their invisible thread.

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe, and—

A firm hand latched onto his shoulder, squeezing tight.

“Hey. Cop a second feel, will you?”

Izuku’s world was dizzying, but somehow, strikingly red eyes, so similar yet different to Kacchan’s, caught him with a smirk—

“This guy.” He jabbed a thumb at the downed fellow. “He’s got one down there.”

And Izuku couldn’t breathe. Not because he was hyperventilating, but because he was full out gawping at the redhead who grinned triumphantly. Next thing he knew, his chest rose with sweet, glorious air, and the person he was still pinning down rose up on slender elbows, shooting a mock glare at the other stranger.

“You know, the typical response should be to get the patient’s breathing under control.”

“What fun is that?” The redhead tossed his head back in laughter.

Izuku… Izuku stared, at a loss over what to do.

The bluenette rose to a sitting position – an action Izuku absently processed should be tough to do, given his skinny frame and the fact that Izuku was still sprawled all over his feet. Close up, the blurry heat of the tears gave way to reveal surprisingly teal eyes softening at the sight of him. He jumped at the brush of gentle hands over his face, pressing a handkerchief to the tears.

“I’m-! So sorry!” Izuku was standing in an instance, at full attention. He flung himself into a 90 deg bow. “I shouldn’t have ran without looking! Neither should I have lost control of my emotions either! That… That was so embarrassing…” But his emotions didn’t matter here. Izuku squeezed his eyes tight, muscles tensed and ready to take off. “P-Please excuse me—!”

“Hold up.” The redhead redirected him effortlessly with a hand slung around his neck. “Don’t you think you owe us a lil more than that?”

Izuku knew that gloating. It was typical of school bullies and gangsters.

“I-I’M SO SORRY!!!!” Please let him off!

“Karma, we’re not in middle school anymore. Stop it.” The bluenette deadpanned.

“Huuuh~ I wonder.” This ‘Karma’ drawled as if he’d said nothing. “Since Nagisa’s the one you ran over, why don’t we see what he’s got to say about your apology?”

Izuku’s eyes popped out. It took a moment to process this scene right out of Lion King– of being held up by the scruff, feet dangling mid-air. (A distant persevering voice in the back of his head whispered in awe. How was he so strong-?)

“I-I’M SORRY!” He squeaked, feet flailing reflexively.

The teal-haired boy gave a deep-seated sigh and buried his face in a palm.

“For now, why don’t you put him down? We can deal with what comes after.”

“Sorry. Did we make you wait long?” The clicking of porcelain dishes snatches his attention.

Nagisa offers an apologetic smile as he removes his (pinky, frilly, heart-shaped) apron. (Karma is snickering cheekily at the side.)

“You’ve got no allergies, I hope?”

And—And Izuku is still breathless from it all.

Mid-journey, the redhead ‘Karma’ (an ironic codename, he thought) had tossed him over a shoulder, complaining of his speed, and they’d bundled him up in a clean sweater the moment he was plopped down in their plush couch. He was buried beneath a dozen cushions, further smothered by a pikachu-speckled blanket, and Izuku had zoned off to some chick flick playing on the TV, overwhelmed by it all.

Why. How. What. Where.

“Eep.” Izuku chirps, because yes, he was the poster boy for articulate.

Nagisa’s smile somehow turns even more apologetic. Izuku is still struggling to swallow the welling guilt when the other explains his actions.

“I thought you might not want others to see you crying on your way home. I know we may be strangers, but we’re here to offer a listening ear… if you’re fine with us?”

Izuku stares, flabbergasted again. It’s not the first time he’s heard those words. The teachers had said that at first, before they learnt he was quirkless, that he was a ‘troublemaker’. His mother, too. She’d said that, but he never wanted to make her worry.

Having a stranger say it feels liberating in the oddest fashion.

Izuku swallows the growing bump in his throat, feeling his eyes heat up again.

Stupid tear ducts. Weak and useless, just like him.

“—Why?” He chokes, strangled.

Nagisa’s eyes soften. He looks at this boy, bruised and torn down with the tracks of his tears still not yet faded before they’re overridden by new ones. The guardedness to the slouch of his shoulders reminds him of them months ago, when they were stricken by that first glimmer of hope Koro-sensei offered them.

“Obviously, it’s cause we’re heroes.” Karma states with all the bluntness of their hidden daggers as he plops down at his seat, backrest upfront. He pops a broccoli in his mouth. “Nah. This just looks like lots of fun, kid. Tell me where your bullies are and lemme go bully-fishing, will ya?”

Izuku gawps, and he laughs through his tears.

These two are so weird.

Chapter Text

Izuku doesn’t say a thing.

Izuku doesn’t say a thing, but nonetheless, they do not push it.

Dinner that day is curry rice, extra-spicy, which Karma wrinkles his nose at and shoots a pointed pout at Nagisa for. Izuku giggles awkwardly, nose still stuffy, voice still choked, but they smile and make conversation around the dinner table, loony tunes of all things playing on in the background. Nagisa is gentle when he offers his phone for him to call his Mom thereafter. Mom cries when she arrives, the wait gruelling but alleviated so, so kindly by Karma’s shoulder leaning against him, Nagisa’s fingers a gentle thing wrapped around his own – And not long later, he’d be jumped by All Might’s deflated form, asked if he wants a quirk, but for now—

“I can’t possibly thank you enough for what you’ve done for us today.” Mom’s face is flushed, arm a grounding grip around his shoulders.

And the apartment he had been in just a second ago makes him pang with an odd sense of longing, even if they hadn’t known each other for more than a day.

Nagisa, for all his comforting presence, is the same height as him. He smiles at him.

“Come on, Izuku. Say ‘thank you’.” Mom nudges at him, more a figment of her own nervousness than anything.

There is a bump in his throat.

He wants to say it. He did try to say it earlier. But when he hears the TV droning on with baby bunnies chasing after an annoying squawking duck, he can’t help but let the words die out; The peace seemed everlasting in Karma and Nagisa’s apartment. He was reluctant to ruin it with speech. It’s with a startling jolt that Izuku realizes he really, didn’t want to go.

“Don’t worry about it, Ma’am. This is no big deal.” Nagisa smiles reassuringly but Karma bends down, all 180 centimetres of him, and bares his teeth in a grin at Izuku.

“Your mother’s right. Where are your manners, kiddo?”

Nagisa flinches at his friend’s decidedly counterproductive comment. “Karma-kun!” –An added ‘-kun’ for reproach, Izuku notices.

Mom’s hand flies to her mouth, gasping in panic for offending the teen. Izuku bursts out in breathless laughter to her surprise, hunching a little as he holds his belly. All three are smiling faintly – or smirking, in Karma’s case – at him when he recovers himself.

“Thank you, Karma-san, Nagisa-san.” Izuku bites down on the urge to cry again. “Meeting you made today seem not all that bad.” He blurts.

And truly, he means it. Having his dreams debunked three times over might have been worth it, if he found people (friends) like Nagisa and Karma. He still can’t say it confidently aloud, but tomorrow, he’s sure he’ll try to stand up again and fight through the words talking down on his dreams, just as he always had – even if All Might’s voice is now added on to those terrors.

Nagisa gives a soft smile.

“Come back here anytime. Our door is always open to you.”

Izuku wonders how he could have been so lucky to run into them.

(So lost in his thoughts is he, he fails to notice Karma being a tad less chirpy than he usually is. The redhead keeps a discrete eye on Izuku’s stalker, a lanky blonde hidden around the corner of their apartment. He grins at Izuku, but raises a scissoring peace sign behind his back. He waves after them, but that peace sign soon turns into something else. That butt smack and snigger have got to be the absolute most scandalizing thing Toshinori has ever seen.

Of all children Izuku had to encounter, why did it have to be those two chaps from Class 3E?)

-

Izuku tries to keep out of their way. But by the end of the week, the seemingly seamless attempts at bullying, open murmurs behind his back, and piercing stares get to him. He’s worn down, and when Mom brings up the idea of baking a cake to thank Nagisa and Karma for what they have done for him, he couldn’t even muster the grit to refuse it.

The doorbell chimes.

He fidgets on their doorstep, beet red and looking at anywhere but the peek hole.

“He—”

“Thank you very much!” Izuku blurts out his prepared blurb before Nagisa can even finish his greeting. He thrusts the cake in his face. “For helping me the last time! M-Mymomhelpedmewith it! DoyoumindifItakeyouuponyouroffer?!”

There is a moment of silence as Nagisa processes that word vomit.

“—Well, well, what do you know? It’s our replacement Shrek.” Karma easily leans in over Nagisa, reaching through the crack of the door to nab the cake (and only the cake).

“Um. Ehm—”

“Kaede’s going to be mad if she hears that again.” Nagisa says crossly.

“My bad. I mean, so we’ve finally got a Shrek to our Fiona.” Karma snickers as he stalks off, opening the box on the way.

“Um. I. Am I allowed in?” Izuku asks really, really awkwardly.

Nagisa takes one look at him and giggles, soft and feminine in every way possible. He parts the door wider.

“Come on in, Izuku-kun. Before Karma adds your name to the family registry.”

-

Izuku visits. And Nagisa and Karma become the older brothers he never knew he wanted:

-

The first time they see Katsuki’s burns—

“Wasabi.”

“Hm?”

“Definitely wasabi.” Karma smiles brightly, teeth bared in a way that has Izuku fearing for his life.

“I don’t know. How about a stun gun?” Nagisa, much to his horror, smiles pleasantly alongside him.

-

“—I’m sorry. I just thought given how you are dating, you wouldn’t want me to stay over on Saturday nights—” Izuku buries his face in his hands.

Nagisa stops.

“Who,” He starts testily, “Did you say are dating?”

Izuku stares in reply, dumbfounded.

Nagisa groans, swiping a hand down his face.

“God, Karma, why do you always have to go and make that impression for others?—”

Izuku does not shrink so much as he does shirk back in realization, eyeing the other contemplatively as Nagisa grumbles on. He gets it. He smiles, tiny, secretive, plotting. It’s sort of like a dog peeing all over a tree, except in this case, he thinks it is worth encouraging—

-

-A boot slams into the bricks at the side of the bully’s head.

“Karma-san?!” Izuku squeaks in alarm.

“—Heeh~ That’s quite a fine mouth you’ve got on you right there.” Karma’s lips turn up, but his eyes are not smiling. “So what if Izuku-kun here is quirkless, huh?” He cracks his knuckles, leaning in to breathe all over the bully who flinches back and whimpers at his killing intent. “I’m quirkless too, see? And I’m still perfectly capable of emasculating you. Haha.” He tops it off with mockingly affectionate pats to the face.

Izuku doesn’t breathe for a few short moments.

Quirkless? His mind races. Karma is quirkless too—?

-

The second time they see his burns—

“I hear habanero peppers are all the rage recently.” Karma remarks casually.

“Air guns? Air guns sound good.” Nagisa deliberates, stuffing one into the badass fanny pack they’d armed Izuku with – which they had not so gloriously titled the ‘Anti-Bully Fly Fish Pack’.

Izuku wants to cry just as much as he wants to laugh.

What had he done to deserve them?—

-

“—Yep. We’re students of UA, first-years.” Karma shrugs after having pulled his school ID on that bully, and Izuku has pulled him out of that scene. “Hero Course. Can’t say we joined voluntarily, but—”

Izuku exhales, and he throws himself on his senior immediately, causing Karma to go deafeningly still in a heartbeat.

“What’s wrong? Is the honour of meeting us really so moving?” Karma teases half-heartedly, raising a hand to pat the crown of Izuku’s head absent-mindedly and Izuku inhales deeply and couldn’t – He just couldn’t hold it—

“Y-Yes.” He sobs.

Karma freezes, eyes wide.

“Oi, are you seriously crying on me?” He asks in disbelief.

“You don’t—” He hiccups. “You don’t know how much this means to me—”

Even without a quirk, Karma himself proves that it is possible to be a hero. He is one of Izuku’s heroes, one of the very first in fact, who he admires not because of clout but because he’s saved him. And he wonders again, what would have become of him if he didn’t crash head first into Nagisa that day; didn’t get asked by All Might the day after.

He’s sure he’d have been okay.

Afterall, Karma would have become a hero and proved him wrong.—

-

There is a kid in their lives who reminds him of them.

He looks at them like they’ve hung the stars and moon in the skies. He dashes to them first thing when he scores a major achievement (probably because his mother couldn’t understand the training jargon for dear life, and All Might himself is there to see it with him). He stutters and is meek, rambles when he’s excited, lays flat on the couch like a dead fish whenever he’s tired and wants to be cuddled. Karma settles for covering him with a sheet and a snickered, “Amen”.

Nagisa knows whatever they have between them won’t be destroyed by that incident last night.

(-He stepped up. He smiled. And he clapped to break the waves – the same way Korosensei taught him –

The biker two decades their senior crumpled to the ground like a stringless puppet.

Nagisa turned, expecting Izuku to call the police. Except.

Izuku had fallen alongside him.)

Korosensei wouldn’t have let it. They wouldn’t have let it.

…even so, there is a tiny bit of anxiety.

When he leaves his room, Izuku is still knocked out on their couch, curled up on his side and mumbling in the most adorable manner.

“Izuku-kun?” He makes another mug of coffee for him.

“-Gah!” Izuku leaps rather than jolts awake. Hair mussed, eyes wide, when he spots the startled Nagisa at the head of the couch, his entire face lights up like sunbeams rather than quake in terror – the way Nagisa is so used to. “That was amazing, Nagisa-san! What did you do? What is your quirk? That man was five times your size and yet, all it took was a single blow and he’s down! Yourquirkstuns,right? Howmuchtimedoesitusuallytake? Doesitalwaysrequireyoutoclap? Isthereawaytocontrolitseffectsonotherparties?Ohareyouplanningtogoundergroundbecauseofthat—”

“Izuku-kun,” The lines that puts Izuku’s emotions in perfect display are going out of wreck, taking Nagisa’s eyes with them.

He smiles, unable to help the gentle crinkle of his brows at the easy acceptance Izuku gives him. Nagisa reaches out and places a single finger against Izuku’s pulse.

“Calm down.”

Izuku goes stock still, eyes growing to the size of dinner plates. When he spots fists trembling from excitement, Nagisa’s smile turns into a wry one. He wonders if this was how Korosensei felt every time he blew their expectations out of the waters. Proud. And maybe, just a tiniest bit concerned.

“Breathe.” He reminds Izuku.

Freckled cheeks which have turned red from literal breath-stealing awe puff up in unison before deflating with a sigh. Izuku turns sparkling eyes on him, mouth flapping now in attempt to ask. Nagisa can’t help but crack a laugh as he leans back.

“Shall we talk about my quirk over breakfast?” He smiles.

He wonders how Korosensei ever dealt with being this fond of them.