Work Text:
Izuku waited outside the door to the teacher’s office, nervously wrapping and unwrapping his fingers around his arm. After the sports festival, he had been sent a request to meet with the homeroom teacher of 3-A. The request had been vague, and Izuku still wasn’t sure exactly why.
He knew who the teacher was, because of course he did. But there was information still vague, information that looked to be purposefully covered up, no matter how hard Izuku had dug. Eventually he’d just had to give up and rely on his own theories, despite his disappointment at not being able to get the answers he’d wanted.
Perhaps now he could ask those questions he’d desperately wanted answered.
“You can come in,” came the rough voice from inside the room.
Izuku jumped, and let himself inside, closing the door quietly behind him.
The Cremation hero, Todoroki Touya, was sat lounging in his desk chair. Instantly recognisable from the silver piercings embedded in his face, to the black leather jacket that mirrored his own hero costume’s design. The hero costume had been one of the many mysteries surrounding the man, the blue cables lining his wrists and shoulders constantly theorised about, but never an answer would come. Some suspected it was gasoline, meant to intensify his flames. Izuku suspected otherwise.
There was a file open in front of him. He flicked the cover over, and Izuku was met with a smiling image of his own face paper clipped to the front.
“You are allowed to sit, you know,” Todoroki said with an arched brow.
“Sorry!” Izuku slid to sit down in front of the hero, very aware of the file. What had Todoroki been looking at exactly? Why had he asked for him? He was only supposed to deal with third years, not first years. That wasn’t how it worked.
“You don’t know why I wanted to ask you in here, do you?” Todoroki asked, leaning forward on his desk and bracing against his elbows. The light caught off the piercings embedded in his nose and cheeks as he moved.
“No, Todoroki-sensei, I don’t,” Izuku quietly replied.
“I saw you in the sports festival, and I didn’t like what I saw,” Todoroki said.
Izuku stiffened. “Oh?” He said, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. It couldn’t be that bad, but those words set Izuku’s nerves aflame.
“Your quirk, it hurt you to use it, didn’t it?” Todoroki said.
“I… yes,” Izuku admitted. Todoroki must have seen it, seen his broken fingers. There wasn’t much point in hiding that.
Todoroki sighed, and fiddled with the metal embedded in his ear absently. He leaned back in his chair, and watched Izuku.
“Jesus kid, there’s no need to look so scared. I’m not going to tell you off for that.”
“You’re… not?” Izuku said slowly. From how Todoroki had been speaking, that was what he’d expected.
“That would be counterproductive, and believe me, I know.”
Izuku must have looked skeptical, for Todoroki smirked.
“I know you think I must be some high up adult trying to tell you to stop when you never ever will, but that’s not what I’m trying to do, I swear.”
“That’s not - “ Izuku tried to say, but Todoroki was not having it.
“Midoriya,” Todoroki said, a slight edge to his words. “Do you think you need to hurt yourself to be a hero? That you need to push yourself past your own limits, past what is safe for you own health?”
“I…” Izuku said weakly. This felt like a trap. Heroes were supposed to give their all, that was what All Might had done, and that was what Izuku would do. The only thing that mattered was saving everyone else.
Todoroki sighed. “I understand why you would think that, but listen to me, that mindset is not healthy. It’s only going to hurt you in the long run.”
“But I need to do this!” Izuku burst out. “You can’t stop me from becoming a hero just because of that, you can’t.”
Todoroki raised a brow. “Did I say that I was going to stop you from becoming a hero? You’re not listening. Being a hero doesn’t mean sacrificing yourself for the sake of your goal. It’s only going to lead you down a path of self-destruction, and that will not help anyone. Not you, not the people you want to save.”
Izuku fell silent, breaking eye contact and choosing to stare at the wall instead.
“You don’t believe me, do you? I suppose that’s fair, god knows I wouldn’t have listened to that as a kid.”
There’s a soft sound of fabric moving, buttons being undone, and Izuku dragged his eyes away from the wall to look back at whatever Todoroki is doing.
His sleeve was pulled down, arm bare, revealing his skin. Gnarled, burned skin. It was darker than the rest, whirls and vortexes of scar tissue twisted all the way down to his elbow, disappearing underneath his sleeve.
The fact that Izuku could never find a photo of him without long sleeves suddenly made sense.
“This wasn’t from a villain attack,” Todoroki said simply. “This was caused by my own quirk, because I was so desperate to become a hero that I pushed myself too far. I’m lucky I didn’t die, Midoriya. The only reason I didn’t is because someone found me before I could.”
Todoroki pushed down his sleeve, buttoned it up at the wrist.
“Your hand is scarred already. Do you really want to test how far you can take this?”
Izuku’s eyes wondered down to his own hand. The gnarled tissue, the reddened lines. The fact his fingers don’t move so smoothly anymore. It wasn’t exactly the same, the difference between One for All and burns being too different, but the similarities are enough to keep Izuku quiet.
“I don’t want to stop you being a hero. That was the entire reason I pushed myself too far to begin with, so I know it won’t work with you. What I want to do is offer you an alternative. I was given support equipment so my quirk wouldn’t harm me, and we tested extensively to explore my own limits so I could pursue heroics in a non-harmful manner. It is not necessary to force yourself through your own quirk harming you. I want to give you the same choice.
“I already have the necessary documents to send to Eraserhead to get him to check you in with a quirk specialist, one who can find you the right equipment to allow you to use your quirk without hurting yourself. I’m not going to let another child make the same mistakes I did, do you understand me?”
Izuku nodded, still unable to make eye contact. He wouldn’t have died… would he? He was just doing what he was supposed to do to be a hero. But Todoroki was offering another way, a way without the constant lingering burn in his fingers.
“But All Might said…” Izuku tried halfheartedly.
“All Might is an idiot,” Todoroki said blandly.
Izuku’s eyes shot forward, and he leapt forward, ready to defend his praised mentor.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great hero,” Todoroki explained. “But that doesn’t mean what he does is in any way healthy. He shouldn’t be pushing his own unhealthy methods onto someone as young as yourself.”
Izuku doesn’t have much to say to that. He doesn’t really want to argue with a teacher, even if he does think they’re wrong about All Might. But it’s even harder to argue with someone who has scars like him, who had the exact same mentality as him and it nearly got him killed. He knows people tend to disagree with All Might’s methods, tend to dislike how far Izuku is willing to push himself.
They always go to one extreme, insistent he should just stop outright. Recovery Girl did that, Aizawa might have expelled him. Hearing them just pushed Izuku to work harder.
But Todoroki was giving him another way. A third option.
Todoroki was just as much a teacher as anyone else here. Izuku should at least listen to him.
So with quiet acceptance, Izuku signed the form handed over to him by Todoroki. He let the pen drop from his shaking fingers, and doesn’t miss the way Todoroki’s eyes linger on his scars.
Izuku doesn’t miss the opportunity to ask for the form to be given to him after it’s scanned and digitally uploaded.
After all, he might as well make the most of this situation. Todoroki also had to sign that form. He’s not letting a free autograph escape him, not when he had to sit through the most awkward teacher-student conversation he’s had in years.
With his new autograph folded carefully and pressed it into his notebook, Izuku left, wondering what his new future will bring.