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Shouta sighs. "Kid, you can't keep doing this." He groans. Midoriya laughs.
"'m sorry," he says, though Shouta doubts it's sincerity. He looks at the kid, who's laying down in a hospital bed, IV connected to his arm and his broken foot elevated slightly. He sighs again.
"Why won't you just wait for the heroes? You're just a kid. Nobody will blame you," he promises. A look of resignation pulls at the kid's face.
"I… I can't." He mumbles. Aizawa quirks an eyebrow. "I can't just sit there while a villain threatens everyone. There were children, Aizawa-sensei. I can't let a child stay in danger."
Shouta takes a deep breath in. And out. "You're a child, too." He says, slowly, unsure of how to actually get through to the kid. "You're sixteen. The whole world doesn't rest on your shoulder like you're a god, you're just a hero in training. I'm afraid that if you keep this up, you're going to did."
Midoriya sighs and parts of it sounds like it's scraping against gravel. "I don't care." He admits and Shouta stops. What? "If I die, then so be it."
Images of debri, kids, and clouds flash under his eyes, and Shouta can't think.
"You have to be joking," he mutters. Midoriya meets his eyes and they're so full of determination, it's pulling Shouta apart at the seams.
"I'm not. Aizawa-sensei," he says. "Please. My life doesn't matter, not when there's people to save."
He doesn't think.
He decks the kid in the face.
"Are you stupid? You can't just sit there and tell me your life doesn't matter." He says, quirk burning at his eyes. He feels the ends of his hair raise slightly and fall against his shoulders and back, but he chooses to ignore it.
"You're only sixteen, Midoriya. You've done so much for so many people. Just take a look around you- Uraraka, Bakugou, Iida, Todoroki, hell, I would be dead if it wasn't for you."
Midoriya is silent. Shouta keeps going.
"Don't say your life doesn't matter, because it does. Me, All Might, your classmates, all of us care about you. So please, don't."
Midoriya inhales, hiccuping slightly. "I'm… I'm sorry. I don’t- I don't know. I don't know why you care so much!"
The answer comes easily.
"I care because you're worth caring about."