Chapter Text
I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine Izuku thought as he ran away from his bullies for the umpteenth time this month. He just wanted to get a meat bun from the convenience store after school, was that too much to ask for? A quick glance over his shoulder told Izuku that he had lost the group of classmates, but Izuku knew that wouldn’t be for long no matter how fast he had gotten at running over the years. As Izuku rounded the corner into the dirty alley, he spotted a dumpster to hide behind until his pursuers ran by.
As he dove for cover, Izuku quickly discovered his hiding spot currently had an occupant curled up against the dumpster, a person with lavender hair and matching eyes that grew quite alarmed as Izuku practically jumped on them. Miraculously Izuku was able to stop himself from toppling onto Purple-san and sat down next to them. Izuku brought a finger up to his mouth to silently ask Purple-san to keep quiet; thankfully, they complied. After a few moments Izuku heard his bullies run by while loudly questioning where he had run off to. Finally, after a few tense seconds once Izuku was sure that they were alone he finally dislodged himself from his hiding spot. Now no longer fearing for his safety Izuku realized exactly what he had done and turned to Purple-san and bowed.
“I am so s-sorry for almost f-falling on you and crowding you I wasjusttryingtohidefrommybullies…but I still shouldn’thavealmosttoppledontoyou…I am so sorry!”
Silence, that was not the normal response to his rambled thoughts. Izuku finally looked up and took in Purple-san. They were still curled up and pressed against the dumpster and they were glaring, which Izuku was used to, but Izuku also noticed they had what looked like a muzzle digging into their face.
How did I miss that! How could someone muzzle another person like a dog! While Izuku was intimately aware of the mistreatment of others in this quirked society it still didn’t stop him from feeling upset over the cruelty to those deemed as different or lesser for something a person didn’t choose – like what quirk they did or didn’t get. That line of thinking had led to a few too many beatings when Izuku would try to stop the neighbourhood bullies from picking on others.
“Um, I could get that- that thing off you if you would like?”
Purple-san eyed him distrustfully, they reminded Izuku of the stray cats that hung around his apartment complex, wary of people until you gained their trust. With that thought in mind, Izuku tried again.
“I promise I am not going t-to hurt you, I really just want to take, to take it off,” he said placatingly with his hands up in the universal symbol of ‘I mean no harm’.
While still looking distrustful the want of having the muzzle off must have outweighed the potential hurt from Izuku and they tentatively nodded their consent. Izuku slowly walked towards Purple-san arms still up placatingly.
“I just need to see what I am working with can you let me see the back of your head?” Izuku spoke softly, hoping not to scare them any further.
Slowly Purple-san shuffled so that Izuku could see the back of their head and it was not a pretty sight. While there was no lock on the strap there were several layers of packing tape wrapped around the clasp. There was no way Purple-san would be able to get it off themselves unless they wanted to blindly try to cut away the tape, though they might just cut off their hair in the process. Speaking of hair, some purple strands were stuck in the tape and looked like it was tugging painfully at the scalp. Luckily Izuku carried a set of scissors in the mini-med kit he always had in his backpack.
“I am going to have to cut away the tape, I’ll try to avoid cutting any hair, but it looks like some hair is stuck in there so I might have to cut a bit off. Just give me a minute and I will be back with scissors.”
After digging to the bottom of his bag Izuku found his med kit and grabbed the scissors. Turning back to Purple-san he got to work on the mass of packing tape. It took a little while as his scissors were quite small but finally, he got it off and was able to undo the clasp. Purple-san grunted slightly as Izuku slowly peeled the straps off their face. There were little rivulets of blood from where the muzzle was digging in too tight along the bridge of their nose and cheeks.
“Just one moment, I am going to have to disinfect the cuts, so you don’t get any infections from that … thing,” Izuku said, spitting out the last word with vehemence as though it had killed his family.
With the muzzle off Izuku finally got a good look at Purple-san’s face and his first thought was Oh wow they’re pretty – wait focus Izuku you can panic over pretty people later, first disinfect the wounds!
Purple-san hissed as Izuku carefully disinfected his wounds.
“I am sorry, but I am almost done … there we go all done; hopefully, that prevents any infections but keep an eye on it over the next few days.”
Purple-san just nods and starts to get up. Izuku knew it wasn’t his business, but he just couldn’t let Purple-san go without making sure he would be ok even though no one has wanted Izuku’s help before, though that was usually because they knew of his quirklessness. Taking the plunge Izuku tentatively asked “Will you be ok to go home? Is your home safe? Sorry, you don’t have to, don’t have to tell me but I was just worried that maybeyoudidn’thaveanywheresafetobe,” as he dissolved into barely understandable mumbling.
“I’ll be fine,” the deep melodic voice of Purple-san answered.
“Oh, that’s g-good I just wanted to be s-sure. I’m Midoriya, Midoriya Izuku, he/him. Maybe I will s-see you around?”
Curse this stupid stutter, it only comes out when I am nervous, which granted is most of the time but it is still annoying.
“Shinsou Hitoshi, he/him.”
Purp – Shinsou-kun’s reply brought Izuku out of his self-deprecating thoughts. Izuku didn’t know what to do now as he usually didn’t get this far in trying to make a friend before someone barged in to inform the person that he was quirkless. That often led to one of two reactions - the new person would scrunch their nose up in disgust making some rude comment about how he was lesser or contagious, or they would eye him with pity before quickly walking away.
Shinsou-kun also looked a little lost as to how the rest of their interaction was supposed to go. Before Izuku could think of something to say his phone began to ring. Izuku lost the colour in his face as he noticed his mom was calling, it was a lot later than he thought it was. Stealing his breath Izuku answered the phone and waited for the barrage of fretting from his mom for being 15 minutes late to his curfew of 3:45, half an hour after school lets out. The curfew was stifling and quite ridiculous for an almost 14-year-old, but his mom fluctuated between helicopter parenting her fragile baby boy and ignoring his existence. It looked like today was a helicopter day as Izuku tried to placate his mother that he was held up because of asking his teacher for some help on homework, which was the farthest thing from the truth, but she didn’t need to know that. After reassuring her that yes, he was on his way and that yes, he was fine he was finally able to hang up.
Looking up Izuku was surprised to see Shinsou-kun still there. The boy looked like he was about to say something but couldn’t quite find the words. Unfortunately, Izuku didn’t have the time to wait to see what Shinsou-kun would say if he wanted to avoid even worse babying when he got home. So, in a moment of bravery Izuku wrote his number down and ripped a page out of his notebook that he always had on him and gave it to Shinsou-kun while quickly saying “Text me!”
As Izuku ran home he hoped that Shinsou would text him and that maybe, just maybe he could have a friend.