Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku never meant for them to see the scars.

In fact he’d tried his hardest to keep them hidden. He wore long sleeves no matter the weather, including a compression shirt underneath his gym uniform. Any scars he couldn’t hide with clothing had liberal amounts of hero-grade concealer and scar wax applied to them. He never got changed in front of others, always using the stalls in the changing room instead.

Nevertheless, this was not enough.

—

It had been a blessedly peaceful day. Almost the entire class had decided to make full use of their free day and go out, some were visiting family and others were just enjoying the opportunity to go off campus.

Despite the numerous invitations to go out with his friends, Izuku had decided to stay on campus and reap the benefits of using the school’s gyms and facilities without any of his classmates around to distract him. Sure he usually enjoyed their company, but there were also times he simply wanted to check out of reality and do his training without any interruptions.

So he gladly took the opportunity for some alone time and spent the day being as productive as he could. He analysed quirks, he finished his homework and he practised using one for all and the various quirks that it had given him.

This was what inevitably doomed him.

Nearing the end of his workout he’d been attempting to control blackwhip and lost control for a second, resulting in the long sleeves of his T-shirt being ripped to shreds. Usually this wouldn’t be much of a problem, the class were quite aware of the scars trailing up his arms, which he got before he could control one for all; and any other scars on his arms they simply assumed came from when he’d still been learning control, they were wrong. Unfortunately, blackwhip had ended up destroying so much of his T-shirt that the scars on the upper parts of his arms and chest, which were clearly not from one for all, were now visible for all to see.

But Izuku held back from panicking, his classmates were out and as long he was quick to get back to the dorms and shower, then afterwards he would be able to get a new long-sleeved T-shirt to cover up the scars he’d gained from years of abuse and mistreatment. So that is exactly what he did, rushing across campus and gathering his towel from his locker so he could shower.

He was quick to shower and put his old clothes back on, having forgotten to put a new set of spares in his locker and being unwilling to go to his room before showering to get a new set.
Then, he set off back to his room, feeling far too aware of the scars streaking across his body and the ones now visible on his face as a result of removing his concealer and scar wax in the shower. It was just his luck that he’d forgotten to bring his makeup supplies with him and so couldn’t re-cover his scars until he was back in his room.

Izuku was just crossing through the common room to get to the stairs when he heard a noise which made his stomach drop.

At the sound of the dormitory doors being pushed open Izuku froze in his panic. Quiet footsteps sounded across the floor before he heard a soft gasp of excitement.

“Deku!” Eri called out, and Izuku only felt further dread as the footsteps abruptly stopped and Eri stood before him looking deeply concerned. “Deku?” She asked more hesitantly now that she could see the long scratches and burns which marred his face and body.

“Hi Eri. What are you doing here?” He replied softly, trying not to worry her or convince her that she’d done something wrong.

“Deku, are you okay, what happened?” Was the tentative reply he received. At this point all he wanted to do was hide away in his room and prevent himself from ruining the image of Eri’s hero any further. He was meant to be strong for her, the undefeatable hero Deku who would always be there to protect her. Instead he had to watch as her image of him was destroyed by his weakness, and he just didn’t have the energy to lie to her.

“I-I’m okay Eri, I got these a long time ago…” He paused, unsure whether to tell her any more, but was saved from answering by another unsure question.

“A-are you like me? I-I thought people like me couldn’t be heroes.” She asked quietly, pulling her sleeves up to reveal the scars coating her arms.

He felt his heart break at her self-deprecating words. “Oh Eri, anyone can be a hero. Even if we’ve been hurt by bad people, we can’t let that stop us from following our dreams” And stating the words he’d wished to hear all those years ago when he felt weak and alone he stared her in the eye and put as much belief as he could into his next words.”I know you can be a hero Eri, you can be anything you want and no matter what I’ll always believe in you and be here to support you.”

Eri stared at him with watery eyes as if she couldn’t quite believe him but desperately wanted to and was willing to try. Then quietly stated, whilst staring desparedly at her scarred arms “But don’t I look like a monster? W-when I’m taken off campus people stare at me, my scars they’re so ugly… don’t they make me bad?”

If he’d thought that his heart couldn’t break anymore then he’d been wrong. As he stared into those young eyes which had seen far too much he decided that he’d do whatever he could to make her happy and unafraid of her body and scars, even if that meant learning to accept his own.

“Eri, you’re beautiful. Your scars don’t make you ugly or a monster or bad, they make you strong. You survived so much, so much more than many people can handle. Your scars, just like mine, show that we survived.” It was a lesson that he sometimes struggled to learn, it was hard at times to believe that he didn’t deserve these scars. But if it helped Eri, then he was willing to do whatever he could, including accepting this part of himself he’d hidden away for so long. “You know, sometimes I think that my scars are ugly…”

Before he could finish what he was saying he was interrupted by a vehement voice. “They’re not, Deku. Your scars are so pretty a-and you got them protecting people didn’t you? I-I didn’t protect anyone, I couldn’t do anything to stop them and they-they used my blood to hurt people… doesn’t that make me bad?” Somewhat losing the wind in her sails, the last question was whispered hesitantly.

“That's the thing Eri, most of these I didn’t get while protecting people. I couldn’t do anything to stop the people who hurt me, and to be honest I rarely tried to fight back. But that doesn’t make us bad, it just means we’ve been hurt in ways that left a permanent mark. Our scars… they’re not ugly… they don’t make us bad, they show that we survived… that even if we couldn’t fight back, we fought to continue living even in a world which hurt us.

Whatever the bad people did to us or made us do isn’t who we are. They may have used part of you to hurt others, but you’re not responsible for that. Did you ever want to hurt anyone?”

At that he received a vehement head shaking and a desperate reply of, “No! Never! I hate hurting people. I just want to help…”

“Well, there's your answer. There’s nothing about you that’s bad or evil Eri. The things the bad people used you to do are their fault, not yours. And no matter what they did, I’ll always love you. You never deserved to be hurt or used, no one does, all you deserve is to be cared for and you will be now that you’re with us.”

At that Eri made a choked off noise before leaping into her hero’s arms with tears running down both their faces. Izuku clung desperately to her, hoping to communicate all of his love and acceptance into his embrace so that she knew just how much he cared for her.

They seemed to sit there for both an eternity and no time at all before Eri fell asleep, exhausted from their emotional afternoon. Cradling her gently, Izuku stood up from the ground and brought her over to the sofa in the common room, where he sat down and just held her. He didn’t think about how Aizawa-sensei would surely come looking for her any moment now, or how his classmates were due to return soon. He just thought about how he would do anything to protect her, even face one of his greatest fears.

At the sound of the common room doors opening once again, Izuku made no moves to cover any of his scars, simply continuing to cradle Eri in his arms.

“Problem child, have you seen Eri?” Aizawa-sensei’s question was answered as he walked around the side of the sofa and saw Eri and Izuku’s tear stained faces. His eyes widening slightly as he took in the previously covered scars now bared for the world to see.

“She’s sleeping now sensei, I guess all the emotions wore her out…make sure you look after her well sensei. She deserves to live a happy life.” The emotions must have worn him out as well, if he wasn’t so tired there's no way he would be so bold when talking to a teacher.

It seems that Aizawa-sensei understood that as he simply replied, “I will, problem child. You know, I’m here for you too if you ever need anything.” And looking into the tired yet caring eyes of his sensei, Izuku couldn’t help but want to believe him. Maybe there was a teacher who would be willing to help him, maybe for once someone else could help shoulder the burden which he’d been suffering under ever since he was first diagnosed as quirkless and told he’d never be a hero.

They both sat there in the comforting silence of the common room for a while, the only noise a slight whistling snore from Eri and the distant sounds of students moving around the campus. They both sat there as the distant sounds of students came closer and the common room was once again filled with life and noise.

Izuku’s classmates returned to the dorm in groups and stages, all trickling in and falling silent at the sight of a sleeping Eri and scar-covered yet content Izuku. There were questioning looks and faces filled with concern, but out of respect for the delicate peace they found and the little girl sleeping calmly in Izuku’s arms, they held back their concern and questions.

There would be time for questions and answers, for concern and truths revealed, for changes to be made. But that time would be later. For now, they simply sat with each other, content that they were all alive and together.

It didn’t matter that things would change, that the peace would eventually have to be interrupted, that hard-to-accept truths would be revealed, because for now they just accepted the small content smile on Izuku’s face and promised themselves that they would always be there for each other.

Chapter Text

After an indeterminate amount of time Aizawa decided that it was time for Eri to be returned to the teachers’ apartments so that she could sleep in her actual bed, and although Izuku was reluctant to let go of her and break the fragile peace that they had cultivated, he knew it was time to face the music.

Without Eri or Aizawa there, the silence was more tense as the class waited for Aizawa’s return so that they could finally ask the mountain of questions which had been building up. Izuku stared around at their faces and he could see a range of emotions, many of the class looked concerned, whilst others were trying to hold back from showing too much emotion. The most interesting of all was Bakugou who looked pale and was quite clearly trying to avoid making eye contact with Izuku.

It didn’t take long for Aizawa to return and for the rest of the class to prepare themselves for asking all the questions which had been building up since they first walked in and saw Izuku’s face.

Izuku tried to savour his last moments of peace before the change that was to come. He wasn’t surprised when Todoroki was the first to ask a question.

“Midoriya, what happened? You didn’t have any of these scars before we left.”

The question was blunt, something Izuku had come to expect of Todoroki and as he looked at the expectant gazes of his friends and classmates he knew it was time to be honest; if not for himself, then for Eri, who deserved someone who lived by the words they preached.

“I-I’ve had these scars for a while now, you don’t need to worry, they’re all long since healed. I just- I hid them. I didn’t want to show any weakness.”

“But Deku, how did you hide them? Surely we would have noticed the ones on your face.” That was Uraraka, who was practically radiating concern. He prepared himself to answer but was interrupted by, surprisingly, Kaminari.

“That’s why you always wear shirts under your uniforms right? And you always change in the stalls. I’d always wondered why you did that, but I suppose it makes sense now.”

And once again as he tried to answer someone else spoke up.

“You use hero grade makeup products right?” At the questioning looks Hagakure received she elaborated on just what she meant. “There are certain brands of makeup made using quirks specifically to be durable. They usually get marketed as for heroes because they don’t come off in fights but there’s a lot of people out there who use them to cover mutations or deformities. I tried to use some once to make myself visible but it didn’t really work out.”

“You’re right, I’ve always done everything I could to cover them up and well, I never wanted to worry my mum so when the scars were ending up in more visible places I did research to find ways to hide them. I always save up whatever money I can so that I can buy the good brands.” Finally able to speak without anyone interrupting Izuku was quick to explain just how he had covered the rather obvious scarring stretching across his face.

“But, what happened? Those don’t look like accidents.” At Ashido’s rather insensitive question Iida looked like he desperately wanted to scold her, but was also far too interested in the answer to get a word out. It seemed much of the class had reached the same dilemma, as they couldn’t quite wipe the curiosity from their expressions.

Izuku had hoped that they wouldn’t ask this, but also knew that it was rather inevitable. He wished he could just hide away from revealing anything more, showing any weakness, but then he thought of the little girl he’d cradled in his arms not even an hour ago and he knew he’d do anything to make her happy and comfortable. Even if that meant being vulnerable in a way he wasn’t quite ready for.

“P-people, well, they haven’t always been the nicest. I was- different- from the people around me growing up and, well, people don’t like things that are different. I suppose it was inevitable that the other kids would get bored of teasing growing up, and I didn’t mind being hurt. As long as they focused on me they wouldn’t hurt others, and it was good practice for their quirks. The teachers didn’t really mind as long as it didn’t disturb lesson time.

I suppose I must have deserved it somehow, I could have tried harder to be what they wanted, or to fly under the radar. But I’ve always had a problem with sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong.” He chuckled awkwardly along with his words and looked around expecting to see disgust or understanding.

Instead he was met with looks of deep concern and tears running down a number of his classmates faces.

“Problem child- Midoriya, no one deserves to be hurt. Absolutely no one, what your classmates and teachers did to you was wrong. You never should have been put in a situation like that. Was anything ever done about it, surely your mother noticed?” Was Aizawa-sensei’s first interjection since he’d returned to the dorms.

Izuku looked around at his classmates, seeing them all seemingly agreeing with their sensei and he couldn’t help but wonder if this is what he should have had all along, people who cared when he got hurt. Who were angry on his behalf. He’d never had anything like this before; his classmates hurt him, his teachers stood by and watched it happen, sometimes even encouraging it, and as much as he loved his mother he knew that she should have noticed that something was wrong. She should have noticed the bandages and the pain, the flimsy excuses and the missing supplies from the first aid kit. She should have been around to see the harm done to him, instead she was distant, rarely at home and willing to overlook the injuries he couldn’t hide.

“No one-” He cut himself off with a choked sob before continuing. “No one ever cared. When I was really young and they first started hurting me I tried to ask for help, but my teachers just ignored me, told me I was making it up for attention. And my mum, well she used to be really overprotective, she was constantly scared I’d get hurt and I didn’t want her to worry. I think, at some point, she just didn’t have it in her to care as much anymore; there was too much going on for her to focus on me.”

“I don’t understand Deku, why’d they hurt you? You’re so nice! I don’t know why anyone would ever want to hurt you?” Uraraka stated with a pleading look, her eyes absolutely filled with tears, many of which were now streaming down her face.

“For- for a really long time my quirk didn’t come in. I had the double toe joint and everything, so people thought I was quirkless. I guess they focused too much on the ‘less’ part of quirkless… to them I wasn’t really human. I wasn’t a person worthy of respect or care. I-I was just a-an unevolved waste of space.”

That seemed to send Uraraka and a few of his other classmates into yet another round of sobs.

Ever the one to keep composure, Aizawa-sensei was the next to speak. “Midoriya, being quirkless doesn’t make you any of those things. Everyone deserves basic respect and care. When did your quirk come in?”

Izuku’s next answer was muffled and quiet, something very few in the class heard. Although, judging by Jirou and Shouji’s gasp they’d understood what he said.
“You-you only got your quirk on the day of the entrance exam?!” At Jirou’s shocked response the rest of the class reacted similarly. As far as they knew, it was unprecedented for a quirk to come in so late.

“The doctors said it was because my body couldn’t have handled it any sooner. There was just too much energy, if I was any younger or had any less muscle mass my limbs would have exploded as soon as I used it.” Thinking back on how he’d broken so many bones at the beginning of the school year it certainly made sense that he couldn’t have developed any younger.

The contemplative silence that had developed as they all took in what they’d just learned was broken by Kirishima’s hesitant question.

“But, if your schoolmates were hurting you then where was Bakubro in all of this? I thought you said you went to school together.”

It was at this question that the class collectively turned to look at Bakugou and noticed how pale he looked, his fists clenched at his side and his eyes trying to look everywhere but at them.

“You-you helped him didn’t you? Bakugou, please tell me you didn’t join in.” Kirishima’s last sentence was more a quiet plea than a question, as if he desperately hoped that what he was thinking couldn’t be true. At Bakugou’s silence the class turned to Izuku, who was trying to keep his face as blank as possible.

“He hurt you, didn’t he Midoriya? You’re not rivals, he’s your abuser.” At Todoroki’s blunt statement, Izuku couldn’t help but flinch before hesitantly nodding.

Izuku wanted nothing more than to defend Bakugou, to defend the person who was once his best friend, his Kacchan. But that person had been gone for a long time and he hadn’t been ready to accept that. His Kacchan was nothing but a figment of the past and maybe it was time for Bakugou to face consequences for his actions. Maybe he could redeem himself, maybe he couldn’t, but that responsibility didn’t belong to Izuku. It was Bakugou’s and his alone, whatever happened to him going forward was his choice.

So as the class erupted into a chorus of shouts Izuku just watched as Aizawa managed to calm them and tell Izuku that he was free to go to bed, but they’d be talking tomorrow. As he left he watched as Aizawa dragged Bakugou away to talk and he knew that things would be different from here on out. But maybe that was a good thing.

—

In the coming months a great deal of changes would take place. Bakugou was on probation from the hero course for the foreseeable future, at least until he displayed sincere regret for his actions and attended a set number of mandatory anger management sessions.

Izuku was also in therapy, and it was hard, but he kept going. And eventually, he realised that he didn’t have to go just because it was what others wanted, but also because it was good for him. It was okay to make decisions that were for himself and himself alone, he didn’t have to always sacrifice his happiness for others.

It was a long road to self-acceptance and it took a while before he could really accept that what had been done to him was wrong. With the help of Nedzu and the school’s considerable influence the staff at Aldera, his old school, were investigated and many faced punishment for the abuse they had been complicit in. The consequences were long reaching and the entire school district came under fire, including the students who had done so much to harm him, although they were given a chance for redemption.

Perhaps the hardest thing to accept was that his mother’s treatment of him wasn’t okay, it was neglect, he never should have had to fend for himself like he did. It was difficult to realise that someone he loved didn’t care for him like she should have. But as he walked hand-in-hand with Eri and entered his new guardian’s apartment, he couldn’t help but hope that maybe he’d finally have the family he deserved.

With Eri, with Aizawa and with his classmates, his friends, maybe it would be okay to hope that everything would work out.