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Izuku doesn’t know how it got out. It was a secret, something he never wanted to have resurfaced and show its face to the world again. His past self was far behind him. He wasn’t weak anymore. He wasn’t scrawny and worthless enough to repeatedly require peers to yell at him to jump off the roof of the building. He wasn’t quirkless anymore. No longer did Izuku have to force himself to hide in the shadows out of fear that someone would find him before he made it home. No longer did he have to avoid certain streets to avoid the very people that terrorized him.
Izuku has changed. He doesn’t have to do such things anymore. He’s normal now. He fits in with the rest of the population. When he arrived at this new school, it started his new slate, his new life. Here, he could make a name for himself. He could build his shunned name into something great. Here, Izuku had power.
Now that he had a quirk, he was redeemed into being a human again. If someone knew of his past status, Izuku fears that they’d shun him the same way again. Because it would prove that he was worthless in some way or form, and they’d call him out on it. Even if he had a quirk now, he fears that because he didn’t have one in the past would automatically render him useless again.
When Aizawa had immediately set an appointment with him after his past status got out, Izuku’s immediate thought was that Aizawa was about to expel him. He was going to expel Izuku for being useless. He was going to get expelled because he didn’t release his status to him. He was going to lose his dream because somehow his secret had gotten out.
Izuku’s not sure what he’s going to do if he gets expelled. Even as a tortured, bullied kid, he still aspired to be a hero. Realistically, his mind is instantaneously brought to the hidden away parts of his life. Days that were filled with taunts to go and kill himself. Thoughts of cutting open his skin with a razor blade from his pencil sharpener.
If he gets expelled, he fears that’s what he will return to. He fears that all of his hard work and All Might’s quirk would’ve been for nothing. He’d revert back to the useless individual he once was. Izuku knows that if he is expelled, he’s going to end up dead.
With a looming pressure, Izuku takes short strides to Aizawa’s office, trying to bide his time. Was this going to be the last time he sees his friends? Will they still want to be his friends after all of this? They must’ve known by now. News travels fast around this school.
When he approaches the heavy door, Izuku has to pause. His heart is beating out of his chest. It’s palpating painfully against his chest, making Izuku nauseous. This really is the end for him, isn’t it?
With three light knocks against the door, Izuku is invited in by his cold-stared teacher. Izuku wants this moment to be over with. He just wants to pack up his things now. He doesn’t even need a formal dismissal. Just a note stating he’s being removed from the school would be fine. He’d gladly pick up his things and go to his mother’s house.
He sits across from Aizawa, taking short, brief breaths. He’s waiting for Aizawa to kick him out. He’s ready for breathing words and sentences that are filled with venom. He wants to rip off the band-aid He just wants to get it over with.
Breaking the silence, Izuku blurts, “Just get it over with, please, Mr. Aizawa.” He tugs profusely at the sleeves of his uniform. His nerves are getting out of hand. It’s taking all of his might to not bolt out of the room to the safety of his dorm room, even if it’s only for an hour. He’ll move after that. He knows he isn’t wanted at Yuuei.
His teacher raises his eyebrows at that. “Get over with what?”
Is Aizawa playing dumb with Izuku? “You know. Please, just make it quick. I’ll be out of your hair soon, I promise,” Izuku rambles.
“I don’t understand what you think is happening here.” Patiently, he says with what Izuku thinks is a false sense of comfort, “Could you explain?”
“You’re-” Izuku chokes, “-you’re going to expel me, Mr. Aizawa.”
Eyebrows raised higher, Aizawa begins to shake his head firmly. “No, I will not be doing that.” He grips the arms of the chair he’s sitting in and leans forward toward Izuku. “I brought you here so I could apologize to you.”
Izuku, for lack of a better response, has his jaw gaping open. He’s utterly shocked. His eyes are blown wide and his body stills at his teacher's words. What does he mean to apologize? What does he even have to apologize for? It’s Izuku who should apologize. Apologize for lying, apologize for wasting time, and for being somewhere where he shouldn’t have been.
“Apologize?” He squeaks.
Aizawa sighs. “Yes. Formally, I’d like to apologize for not knowing sooner.” Izuku stills. Did he want it that way because it would’ve had Izuku out of his class sooner? “I knew you had trouble with your quirk at the beginning of the year. So much so, that I previously thought you had no potential to be a hero.” Izuku’s heart is just about ready to leap from his chest by now. Aizawa really doesn’t want him there, does he? “I was wrong. I misinterpreted it all, and for that, I’m sorry, Midoriya.”
He’s… sorry?
His confusion must be evident on Izuku’s face because Aizawa reiterates, “I didn’t realize that you were working with a quirk you hadn’t had previous to coming to Yuuei for long. You were being compared to people who have had at least ten years of practice. For me to make that judgment that you were lazy and lacking.”
Is this a joke? Is this the calm before the storm?
“Mr. Aizawa,” Izuku interrupts. “Please, just get it over with. I don’t need to be let down easily. I’m fine with packing up as soon as you let me go.”
“That’s not happening. I have no intention of expelling you. I now realize that in the span of half a school year, you’ve been able to control your quirk by leaps and bounds to the level your fellow peers have in years. Kid, that’s amazing.”
Izuku’s mouth is once again hanging open for flies to catch inside.
“I-I, I don’t get it. You were-you were supposed to be expelling me.”
For the first time since All Might had offered his quirk to Izuku, he heard the words: “You can be a hero.”