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It really shouldn’t have turned out this way. They were just on a quirk trip to the grocery store, for goodness’ sake! “Why is it always villains?” Izuku whined to himself from where he was crouching behind a display of All Mighty-O’s.
“Maybe you’re just a villain magnet like they say,” Shinsou said, inexplicably appearing behind Izuku and speaking over his shoulder. Izuku jumped slightly, before turning to glare questioningly at his newest classmate.
“Like who says?” Izuku asks, exasperated. Shinsou just shrugged before grabbing his arm to pull him further into the store for a better view of the villain.
It was a simple robbery, but the villain had such a destructive quirk that they would need to be careful. Currently, the man had a cashier held hostage by his quirk, which let him shoot knives out of his fingers. A hand was curled around the cashier’s neck, knives extended but not yet cutting her skin. He was yelling at a different cashier to put money in a bag he brought with him, which they were doing quickly.
“And if anyone calls the police, this girl gets it!” He yelled to the citizens nearby, who were all cowering against a wall. He shakes the poor girl to emphasize his point, and she lets out a tiny whimper in fear. Izuku turns to Shinsou.
“If we can get him to respond to you, this would be over immediately. It doesn’t seem like he has any backup. Your quirk’s perfect for this!” His friend nods resolutely, long grown past his aversion about his quirk. They were nearly finished with their second year at UA, and after being transferred in (and man-handled into a friendship, as Todoroki says, but that’s definitely not what happened), he had quickly learned that his new classmates could care less if he thought his quirk was ‘villainous’ or not. What mattered was how it was used.
“Hey Knife-fingers!” Shinsou steps out into view, probably trying to startle the villain into responding.
“You brat! Sit the f-“ The villain stops talking and grows lax, eyes dimming. Izuku immediately runs out and gets the victim out of his grasp and begins to comfort her, reassuring her amidst the fresh tears.
“Call Sensei?” He turns to Shinsou once the woman is marginally calmer.
“Already on it,” he says, phone in hand. The villain is still standing in the middle of the store, but as long as no one jostles him, he’ll stay that way until the police arrive.
“T-thank you… for saving- ” A choked sobs cuts the woman off, as she grabs his arm almost in a vice. He almost winces as fingers dig into his arms, feeling strangely hot, but Izuku elects to ignore it in favor of giving her a sunny smile.
“Of course! It’s what heroes do!”
-
About ten minutes later, Aizawa arrived with the police right behind him. While they ran to retain the villain and check on the citizens, their teacher ran to them. The hostage is handed off to the police to take her statement and check for injuries. A quick look over to make sure they had no injuries, and a short run through of the events later, and Aizawa finally turned to look pointedly at Izuku. He sighs exasperatedly,
“Why is it always you, Problem Child?”
“It’s not always me,” he defends, but knows it’s a lost cause because it usually is him.
“The going theory is that one of his secondary quirks is a villain magnet.” Izuku turns to Shinsou, betrayed. Aizawa actually looks thoughtful.
“ Do you have a villain magnet quirk, by chance?”
“What? No!” Aizawa just hums.
“Well, I’m glad you’re both alright. And you did well handling the situation.” His eyes follow the villain, now out of Shinsou’s quirk and locked in quirk-restraining cuffs, as he is shoved into a police car. He looks back at them. “Let’s go ahead and give your statements to the police so we can head back to UA.”
-
Back in the dorms and swarmed by their friends is when Izuku begins to feel a little… off.
“Dude, another villain?” Kaminari complains, “And you didn’t even get my chips!”
“Come on, Kami!” Kirishima punched his shoulder lightly, “If you had to fight a villain, I doubt you’d remember the chips.” Uraraka muscles her way to the front of the group surrounding them.
“You okay, Deku?” Izuku laughs lightly,
“Totally fine! Shinsou did most of the work, so there wasn’t actually any fighting. And no one was injured by the villain.”
“Ah! Shinsou,” Mina drapes an arm over his shoulder a bit awkwardly (due to his height), “Kicking names, taking butts as we all know you can!”
“Don’t you mean taking names and kicking butt?” Mina waves off the concern,
“Doesn’t matter.” Shinsou has a tiny flush on the tips of his ears at the compliment, despite the incorrectness of the phrase. Izuku smiles at his friend,
“Yep! He was awesome!” A bit of a deeper pink now.
“But what are we gonna do about snacks?” Kaminari wails, dramatically collapsing onto Kirishima.
“I’m sure you can find something to your liking in the kitchen, Kaminari.” Iida chops his way into the conversation, then turns towards the two, giving them a relieved smile. “I’m glad you are both alright.” Izuku smiles back, but feels a bit guilty. It’s not like he’d done anything useful. He doesn’t deserve their worry-
Izuku stops himself. Where had that come from? He knows that the best choice for the situation was to use Shinsou’s quirk. His fighting might’ve only escalated the situation. So him making sure the victim was okay while Shinsou handled it was what needed to be done. But he could’ve done more. Izuku shakes his head to clear himself of those thoughts. He was supposed to be working on his self-confidence, which had been greatly improving over the last year-and-a-half. His friends always tell him he needs to be nicer to himself. But what if they’re just saying that? What if they don’t actually care-
“Midoriya?” Izuku is drawn out of his thoughts by Todoroki, who is looking at him in concern. He blinks a few times, before noticing that most of his classmates had made their way to the common room couches, getting settled for movie night. He could hear faint arguing in the background. “Are you alright?” Todoroki asks. Izuku blushes. How silly of him! Zoning out in the middle of the room like that! Todoroki having to waste his time checking on him-
“I’m fine!” He laughs a little, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Just zoned out a little bit.” Todoroki gives him one more concerned look before nodding.
“I think they are about to start the movie.” He gestures to the crowded couch, and Izuku feels his stomach lurch at the thought of sitting with so many people. Too many hands too close. How easy it would be for any of them to hurt him-
He furrowed his eyebrows. Why is he thinking that? He hasn’t been afraid of his classmates since his first day at UA nearly two years ago. He’s long gotten past his anxiousness around them and meeting new people. Sure, classmates had hurt him in the past, but these were his friends! They’d never do that, right?
He realized that he’s taken too long to respond, and Todoroki has been staring at him expectantly. “Ah! Sorry Todoroki, zoned out again.” He says sheepishly.
“It’s alright.” Todoroki says, deadpan. “Let’s sit down?” Izuku nods, and follows his friend to the spot Uraraka has saved for them on a couch. He is soon squished between Todoroki and her, while her legs are draped over Iida’s lap. Shinsou is next to Todoroki, arms and head thrown over the back of the couch with his eyes closed. Izuku leans slightly into Todoroki fire side as Uraraka leans on him, and for now, his unease is settled.
-
Halfway through the film, Kacchan appears, looking somewhat infuriated at the ecstatic Kirishima who’s pulling him to a spot on the floor.
“Why would I want to watch a stupid movie with you extras?” Kacchan growls with only a little heat. He’s usually much less antagonistic than he was last year, but Kirishima must’ve woken him up to get him to come.
“Look who I found!” Kirishima announces cheerfully, completely ignoring the protest. He plops down at Sero’s feet and drags Kacchan with him. The blond growls, but ultimately relents. Izuku chuckles a little at that, slightly marveling at the ease at which Kacchan will do things with his friends now.
“Woo hoo! Blasty’s joined the party!” Mina pumps her fists from where she’s splayed across Hagakure.
“Shut up! I only came because I couldn’t sleep, since you lot were being too god damn loud!” Kacchan crackles his palms, and Izuku feels himself flinch at the sound. He blinks at himself. He hasn’t flinched at Kacchan in… forever. It’s not like the blond hurts him anymore, outside of sparring. Maybe he’s just tired and it startled him. Or maybe Kacchan’s going to burn him again. What’s one more scar added to the mix? It’s not like he ever held back before-
It only takes one more incoherent yell from Kacchan and another flinch from Izuku for him to decide to leave. He stands abruptly, startling Todoroki and Uraraka. “I, um, I think I'm gonna head to sleep.” Uraraka pouts a little.
“Aw, Deku! You should stay now that we’re all here!” Izuku bites his lip. Uraraka’s right. He’s just being silly, he doesn’t need to leave, it’ll be fine.
Another tiny explosion accompanied by a yell causes his hand to clench into fists, and his shoulders to hunch in an unfortunately familiar way.
“Sorry, Uraraka. I think the villain really wore me out. You guys have fun though?” She pouts harder, but lets him go easily.
“Goodnight, Deku!” Iida wishes him a restful sleep, Todoroki simply nods to him as he passes by, to which he gives a strained smile. They didn’t try very hard to get him to stay. They probably didn’t want him there in the first place-
Shinsou peers at him with one open eye, before standing up as well. “I think I’mma go too.” He drawls, then walks out with Izuku, ignoring any protest.
Their walk is quiet and short. When Shinsou moved into the hero course, he ended up replacing Mineta, and also got his old room right next to Izuku’s. They stop once they reach their destination, and stare at each other for a moment too long.
“Um, goodnight?” Izuku says, right as Shinsou says,
“Are you okay?” They stare at eachother again, Izuku fiddling with his fingers awkwardly, before Shinsou snorts, and asks again. “So are you?” Izuku answers immediately.
“I’m fine! Just tired.” Shinsou levels him with a stare so judging it could rival Aizawa’s. Then he shrugs.
“Whatever. If you’re sure.” He leans in a little closer, however, using his height to tower over Izuku. “I noticed you flinched when Bakugou came in.” He says it nonchalantly, but his underlying tone is something accusational. “Did he do something?” Izuku waves his hands frantically, hoping to dispel the thought. He knows that Shinsou is not a huge fan of Kacchan, mentioning a few times that the blond acts like every other quirkist, self-entitled asshole he’d ever met, and Izuku doesn’t want to make that opinion worse, especially since Kacchan actually isn’t that. Not anymore.
“No, no! He’s not done anything! I promise.” Izuku clears his throat a little when it squeaks. “I think I’m just on edge from this afternoon. I’ll feel better in the morning.” Shinsou appraises him for only a second longer before shrugging, and turning to enter his room.
“Okay. But if you ever need to talk, I’m here?” Shinsou says it a little uncomfortably, and phrases it almost like a question, but the sentiment is nice. Izuku smiles,
“Okay. Thank you, Shinsou. And the same goes for you.” Shinsou waves his hand without turning around again, and shuts the door behind him. Izuku sighs, and enters his own room, locking the door behind him. He slowly slides down it until he’s sitting on the cool surface of the floor, and buries his face in his knees. What is with him today? Stupidly making everyone worry about him, getting nervous for no reason… His friends all probably hate him for wasting their time. He doesn’t deserve their concern, they probably aren’t even really concerned. They just want to get rid of him. Kacchan probably can’t wait to beat him up again for being so stupid and thinking he has friends-
Izuku chokes out a gasp when he realizes that he’s starting to hyperventilate, tears pouring in droves down his cheeks. He tries to take in a deep breath, but ends up letting out a shuddering sob. Do- do his friends really hate him? No, no, why would they? They care about him enough to check on his well being. They don’t. They’re only doing that to blindside him. Eventually, the joke will be up, and he’ll go back to being a worthless, friendless loser-
He wraps his arms around himself and sobs into his knees, gripping tightly onto his opposite shoulders. His friends don't want him. Why would they? He’s not done anything to make him worthy of being their friend, and he takes up so much of their time! They don’t need someone like him, someone who can’t even do anything during a simple villain attack! Really, how useless! His fingers dig into his arms hard, grounding him enough to take a deep breath. He doesn’t need to make himself pass out, that would just prove how utterly useless he is. Not like they don’t already know.
He shakes his head harshly, and stands on wobbling legs. How long had he been sitting there? Izuku checks his clock, seeing that it’s only been about thirty minutes. Okay, that’s fine. He can just go to bed and hopefully he’ll feel better in the morning. He hasn’t had a bad day like this in a long time, not since he started UA.
“Quit being silly, Izuku,” he says to himself as he begins getting ready for bed. “You’re fine. Just go to sleep, and it’ll be better in the morning.” Crawling under his covers, he falls quickly into a restless sleep.
-
It was not better in the morning.
If anything, it was almost worse . All Izuku found himself thinking as he got ready for class was how much he did not want to go. His classmates all hate him and they want nothing to do with him. He doesn’t deserve to be at UA, he shouldn’t be here at all-
He’s more anxious than he was on the first day of school, and it’s getting progressively harder to hide.
Izuku finds himself in the kitchen, looking in the cabinets for some breakfast before he heads to class, when someone grabs his shoulder from behind. He jumps, dropping the cereal box he was holding onto the counter. He turns around to see Iida looking at him in concern.
“A-ah. Iida, you startled me!”
“I apologise, Midoriya,” His friend said with a slight bow to his head. “I was just wanting to ask if you were feeling better after last night?” Izuku smiles placatingly,
“Yeah, I’m fine! Just not fully awake yet, haha.” Iida gives him another look, before nodding.
“Very well. Make sure you eat a good breakfast and I’m sure you’ll be ready in no time!” Izuku gives him a hasty nod, before his friend is speeding away. He turns back to his fallen cereal. He was so stupid for getting nervous about something like that. Iida probably thinks he’s stupid too. After all, who jumps after being touched by a friend? He’s probably tired of him always acting this way, he wouldn’t be surprised if the next touch from Iida was something painful-
Izuku puts the cereal back into the cupboard. He seems to have lost his appetite.
-
Class goes by, but Izuku is having a hard time concentrating. He’s too focused on his peers, and on his teachers. Oh god , his teachers. He never realized how much they must hate him for everything they have to put up with. They’re the same as middle school. They’re just waiting for him to slip up, for the chance to punish him to fail him to expel him -
“-lem Child. Midoriya?” Izuku tunes back in, holding back a flinch that comes when he meets eyes with Aizawa-sensei.
“Uh, yes?” He squeaks, to which there are a few snickers from his classmates. Oh god he’s messed up, he can’t believe he zones out so hard. His classmates are probably making fun of him. Stupid, useless-
“I asked if you were alright, Problem Child. You seem pretty out of it.”
“Oh. Uh, y-yeah. I’m fine.” Aizawa-sensei looked skeptical, a soft frown tilting the corners of his mouth. Now he’s done it! Sensei is probably upset with him for wasting his time and-
“-maybe you should see Recovery Girl.” Izuku blinks.
“Huh?” There is no laughter this time, but Izuku doesn’t have it in him to look at his classmates for fear they are just hiding it better. Sensei gives him another look that Izuku’s mind helpfully supplies as disdain, because no way his teacher is concerned for him -
“Shinsou, would you take Midoriya to Recovery Girl?” Izuku focuses back in as Shinsou stands from his seat behind him and gestures towards the door. After shoving everything in his bag as quickly as possible (don’t want to make them mad by making them wait), he follows Shinsou out of the room.
The walk is quiet, but Izuku can see the glances (not concerned, never concerned) that Shinsou sends his way. Izuku just fidgets with his fingers and watches his feet, staying a step behind his friend. Just in case. Eventually, Shinsou breaks the silence.
“Are you okay?” Izuku answers too quickly,
“I’m fine,” and gets a deadpan look in reply.
“You’ve been acting off since we got back yesterday,” Shinsou continued, as if Izuku had never spoken.
“I- uh,” Izuku hunches his shoulders. “It’s nothing.” Shinsou looks at him quizzically and purses his lips.
“Okay. But remember what I told you last night.” His classmate sends him a crooked grin, and reaches out to place a hand on his shoulder. Izuku hates himself for what he does, but he can’t help it. He flinched back, just slightly, but it’s enough to make Shinsou pause and the grin to fall off his face. His expression is quickly replaced by hurt.
Izuku’s never been afraid of Shinsou, ever . He got way too much crap about his quirk and people were always afraid of him using it on them and him being a villain. Izuku trusts him. He trusts him.
Shinsou’s hand is paused in the air between them like he can’t decide what to do with it.
“Uh, I’m, I’m sorry!” Izuku takes a few steps back. “T-thanks, but I can get to Recovery Girl now!” And Izuku doesn’t wait for an answer, leaving Shinsou paused in the hallway with an indescribable look on his face.
Shinsou hates him now he hates him now he hates him-
-
Izuku doesn’t go to Recovery Girl. He can’t go to Recovery Girl.
She told him herself, she won’t heal his self-inflicted injuries. Sure, this isn’t from his quirk, but it is his fault. Plus, there’s nothing really to heal. He’s fine and nothing’s wrong. So he goes to his dorm instead. Class was almost over, he won’t be missing much. He’s going to fall behind-
He can get started on his homework.
He actually ends up finishing pretty quickly, the work just being review from the last class. It also proved to be a pretty good distraction, because the voice in his head stayed quiet. In its absence, Izuku could finally concentrate. Maybe whatever was causing him to stress and think like that has calmed down?
He occasionally has bad days (as does everyone) where he feels constantly on edge, like something bad is going to happen and he can’t help but to stress himself out until he feels almost sick. Hopefully today was just one of those days, even if it felt somewhat different.
Feeling slightly more confident, he decides to join his class for dinner. Usually his friends can make him feel better after a bad day.
When he arrives in the common room, Todoroki is the first to see and greet him with a nod. “Midoriya,” he says quietly, “Are you feeling better?” Izuku gives him a half-smile.
“Yeah,” he breathes, “I must’ve just been worn out.” His friend nods again, understanding, and pats his shoulder lightly.
“Dinner?” He asks, gesturing towards the kitchen even as he begins walking. Izuku smiles, and follows. Dinner was never anything extravagant at the doors, since it was cooked by a bunch of teenagers, and tonight was no different.
Izuku served himself a bowl of food and took a seat between Uraraka and Todoroki, hoping the comfort of his friends would keep his mind at ease. It was going well, and he hastened to believe that the weirdness of the day was over. He should’ve known something would happen, Izuku knows his luck is utter trash.
Kacchan was just being irritable again, as he often was during dinner if he wasn’t the one who cooked it, and he was yelling and letting off small pops from his hands. It’s fine, it’s normal. Izuku doesn’t know why this was the trigger (he does, he never forgot the sound the smell the heat of explosions) but Kacchan’s actions worm into his brain, settling between the folds and latching on.
He’s going to hurt him he’s going to hurt him he’s going to hurt him again-
Kacchan yells something indiscernible, and releases a slightly larger explosion against the hardened skin of Kirishima’s arm (Kirishima doesn’t care, just smiles and laughs and pats him on the shoulder, but he never knew what it was like before).
The sound makes him flinch, just like last night, and Izuku has to bite his lip to stifle a distressed sound trying to force its way out. It seems it is futile, however, as those closest to him turn to face him with varying degrees of concern.
(Kacchan hears, and Izuku sees something crack behind his expression at the realization that Izuku made that noise at his outburst.)
He feels his breath catch in his throat. Why are they all looking at him?
“Deku?” Uraraka’s concerned face comes into view. “Are you feeling alright?” He tries to speak, but all that comes out is a choked noise. His mouth opens and shuts with the effort, but he can’t speak. Tears spring in his eyes and he chokes on a sob. Why is he like this? Why can’t he just answer like a normal person?
He isn’t aware that he’s not breathing until his head starts to spin, and a hand ( hot, burning ) clamps on his shoulder, jolting him into looking up.
Blurry figures are all he sees through tear-filled eyes.
They are pushing, crowding around him. Speaking words that he can’t quite hear, but they overpower him. It’s loud. It’s so loud . Their hands are reaching, grasping, are they going to hurt him like everyone else?
“I-I can’t !” And Izuku runs.
(little does he know, but the hands were reaching to help, and the words were spoken to comfort)
Lighting crackles around him as he sprints out of the dorm building, out of UA, and deep into the city. He doesn’t go home, he doesn’t run with any direction. He just runs and runs.
When his eyes open again (when did he close them?), he takes in the sight of a familiar skyline. The roof that All Might left him on nearly three years ago.
It’s quiet.
He dangles his legs off the edge and just breathes. From up this high, the city is just background noise. The people are just blurs barely visible in the dimming light.
For once, his mind is silent too. There’s no people around to hurt him, after all.
-
He isn’t sure how long he sits, but it’s enough time for the sun to completely set and the stars to rise and glitter in a black sky. He can’t quite make out all of the constellations he remembers, given that he’s deep in a city and there are so many lights around him, but he can recognise a few. And it’s pretty, regardless.
He doesn’t quite register the sound of boots hitting the pavement behind him, until a familiar voice speaks.
“Midoriya?” He startles, too lost in thought to be aware, and wobbles on the edge of the roof. It’s only his combat training (and a white strip of fabric wrapping around his wrist) that keeps him from falling. “Sorry, Kid.” The fabric stays on his wrist even as he gains enough balance to look at his teacher.
“Hi Sensei.” There is something swimming in his dark eyes that give Izuku pause. And then- “Ah! I’m so sorry, Sensei! I left campus without telling you where I was going and it’s got to be past curfew now, oh gosh I’m going to be expelled-“ a hand is placed on his head. He jumps, but it is not from fear, only surprise.
“It’s okay. I’m not going to expel you,” he rolls his eyes fondly, “but I would like to know why you’re here.” Izuku can sense the serious undertones of that statement, and he takes a moment to fully address the situation.
He ran from the dorms, obviously distressed, and ended up on… a roof.
“Oh, no no!” He waved his arms even as one is still held in tight grip (he understands now), “I uh, just got overwhelmed and needed to be somewhere quiet.” Sensei looks at him pointedly, before gently tugging him off the ledge to sit leaning against the door, far away from the edge. Izuku complies easily, and some of the tension lessons from his teacher’s shoulders.
“What’s going on, Kid? Your friends are worried about you.” Izuku blushes, tucking his face against his knees.
“I didn’t mean to worry anyone.”
“I know. But they just worry because they care.”
“It’s just,” Izuku sniffles, “I’ve had a really bad day. And not like normal-bad, but it’s like a voice has been telling me all this- all this horrible stuff and it’s really hard to ignore because it’s me and who wouldn’t listen to themselves, and I-“ Izuku stops.
“Midoriya?” Sensei says something else, but Izuku is checked out for the moment, deep in thought.
The voice wasn’t normal. It was almost like an auditory hallucination rather than his subconscious. That’s never happened before, and there wasn’t really a trigger for anything drastic like that (he supposes it could’ve been Kacchan, but he’s definitely not afraid of him anymore. He could almost say they’re friends.) So why…?
Izuku smacks himself on the face.
“I’m so dumb,” he whines, startling Aizawa from whatever he was saying into looking at him in concern.
“Kid, you’re not dumb, I don’t know why-“
“No, I am.” Izuku sighs, completely unaware of the fact that he just interrupted a teacher . “I think this was a quirk.” Aizawa’s eyebrow ticks up.
“Someone used their quirk on you?” He asks, seeming very concerned. Izuku winces, because he hates making people worry about him.
“Maybe?” He fiddles with the fabric around his wrist. “I started feeling weird after the villain attack, but his quirk had nothing to do with it so I didn’t even think it could be a quirk until now.” Sensei taps his chin in thought.
“Who would it be then?” Izuku falters, thinking back.
Ah.
“The victim.” He says assuredly. “I didn’t realize at the time, but when she grabbed me her hand was really hot? It could've been activated then on accident since she was so distressed.” Aizawa nods.
“We’ll have to get in contact with her to make sure the effects are completely over, especially since it appears to mess with your emotions.”
“That makes sense.” Izuku taps his fingers together. “I would assume it only lasts twenty-four hours based on the timeframe, but it made me feel pretty bad, so I'd want to make sure it’s completely over and that there are no adverse effects…” Izuku dissolves into light muttering, before Sensei interrupts.
“So is it still affecting you?” Now that he thinks about it, he hasn’t heard the voice in a while. And he’s actually aware that there was a voice. It’s a weird, confusing feeling. Like while the quirk is active he can’t tell that anything is different? Like the voice felt normal, but now that it stopped he realises it wasn’t. The villain attack did happen more than twenty-four hours ago, that seems like a realistic timeframe. He doesn’t know quite how to put that into words, however. So he settles with,
“I don’t think so.” He smiles at his teacher, who is looking contemplatively. “So I'm fine now!” Sensei looks at him, hard and long, before leaning his head back against the door and undoing the tie from his arm.
“But those thoughts had to have come from somewhere.” He states it as a fact. Izuku looks down and fidgets with his sleeves.
“Yeah, I guess.” Aizawa is quiet, and it isn’t long before Izuku steals a breath, and explains.
“You know how I was a late bloomer?” Aizawa looks confused at the seeming non-sequitur.
“Yes?”
“Well, I-“ he bites his lip, “I was, um, bullied for a long time because of it. Everyone thought I was quirkless until I joined UA.” Sensei’s eyes furrow.
“UA? Are you saying you got your quirk that late?” Izuku nodded, and steeled his shoulders at the accusational tone. “Sorry, kid.” Izuku looks up to see his teacher run a hand exasperatedly down his face. “No mad at you. Just wish someone would’ve told me sooner.”
“Ah, sorry.” Aizawa waved his hand to dismiss the apology.
“How come the bullying wasn’t on your record?”
“Oh. Well, no one really cares about the quirkless kid.” Izuku chuckles mirthlessly. “I didn’t matter.” He hears his teacher sigh, and a hand falls on his head and ruffles his hair lightly.
“You do matter, kid . Then and now. Your lack of quirk didn’t make you any less important.” Izuku tries valiantly to hold back his tears, but ultimately fails. Aizawa just runs a hand through his hair gently as he sobs into his shoulder.
“I wish someone had told me that then,” he chokes out, once his crying subsided enough for him to speak.
“Me too, Problem Child.” Izuku smiles wetly at the fond nickname, and allows himself to be pulled to his feet. “Let’s get back to campus, alright?”
-
As soon as he walks in the front door, he is practically tackled by his friends.
“Deku!” Uraraka squishes his face between her hands, carefully keeping one finger raised. “Are you okay? we were so worried!” Izuku laughs, eyes still red from crying, but feeling much lighter than he had all day.
“All good. Don’t worry about me!” Uraraka studies his face carefully, before letting him go. Iida expresses his concerns and thankfulness that he is alright, and Todoroki pats his head with a tiny smile.
Eventually, they are shooed to their rooms by a grouchy Eraserhead, seeing as it is way too late for them to be up. Shinsou stays, however, making eye contact with their teacher and doing something because the man allows it.
Izuku shifts his feet a bit, not uncomfortable, but worried Shinsou was mad at him.
“It was a quirk,” Izuku says quickly. “It was a quirk that made me act so weird and made me, well, not scared of you but it just made me super anxious about everyone so it’s totally not your fault -“
“ Breathe , Midoriya. It’s okay.” Shinsou smiles, a little awkward, but genuine. “I’m not mad.”
“You're not?” Izuku questions quietly. His friend shakes his head.
“I was worried, idiot.” He flicks him on the nose. “I could never be mad at you.” Izuku feels the tension in his shoulders relax.
“That’s- yeah. That’s good.” He breathes out, “I’m sorry I worried you.” Shinsou rolled his eyes.
“Don’t be. We’re friends, aren’t we?” Izuku smiles lopsidedly.
“Of course!”
“Now, tell me about this quirk so I can decide if I’m still mad at Bakugou.” They had begun walking to their floor, so Izuku had to stop and stare at his friend.
“What? Why would you be mad at Kacchan?” Shinsou scowled.
“You flinched at him more than anyone else. And,” he pauses, “Some things happened after you ran off.” Izuku felt nerves spike through him.
“What happened?” Shinsou must recognise the tone in his voice, because his scowl lessens.
“Bakugou,” he weighs his words before finishing, “Admitted to bullying you.” Izuku’s eyes widened. Kacchan…? He admitted it? Izuku had always assumed that they were going to keep it a secret forever, not that it was a secret , per say, but they’ve never quite talked about it.
“Wha- why?” Shinsou’s scowl returned.
“So it’s true.”
“Well, yes , but please don’t hold it against him!” Izuku clasped his hands tohis friend’s arm.
“Why not?”
“It was a long time ago, and I’ve already forgiven him. He doesn’t do it anymore, anyways.” Izuku looked at him pointedly. “My reactions yesterday were just from the quirk. It was some form of emotional manipulation that made me anxious about everyone . I probably just reacted stronger to Kacchan because it was drawing out insecurities or something.” Shinsou bit his lip in thought.
“Fine.” He looked away. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like him.” Izuku sighed in relief.
“I’m not asking you too.” A moment passed where they finished the walk to their dorms, pausing out in front of them. Izuku gets a small sense of dejavu, having stood the same way just the night before.
“So you’re really okay?” Shinsou asked. Izuku smiled brightly. This time he could actually reply honestly.
“I’m okay, I promise!”
…
Omake:
Aizawa, leading Izuku down from the roof: you know you’re getting therapy right?
Izuku, still crying: obviously