Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Kakashi!?"

Kakashi jerked awake, what the hell had happened? Was this grass? Wasn't he last in a bar with Guy, about to do another one of their challenges?

"Oi! Oi! Bakashi! What the hell just happened!?"

Kakashi's heart skipped a beat. That was a voice he thought he'd never hear again. He sat up and right in front of him was a raven haired boy with his stupid, bright orange googles.

"Obito, back up a bit. You're right up in Kakashi's face."

No. You have to be kidding him. That was Minato-sensei's voice. This couldn't be real, they're both dead. Kakashi scrambled to his feet, backing away.

"Ah- Kakashi..?" There he was. His bright blonde hair and oh so sweet voice. He could see his lips move but no sound came out. A ringing in his head getting louder by the second.

His shinobi training kicked in. Is this a genjutsu? Kakashi formed the familiar hand signs, "Kai!"

Nothing.

Okay.. Okay. Don't panic this might be a strong genjutsu. He grabbed his kunai and quickly slashed himself across the wrist, wincing. That might've been a little harder than he intended but honestly he was so close to having a panic attack he couldn't care less.

A hard hand grabbed onto his shoulder. He looked up. Oh. Minato-sensei was right in his face, concern written over every inch, every thing down to the last miniscule.

"Kakashi..? What happened, you're not in a genjutsu.. what's going on and why is one of your eyes shut?"

Eye shut? Oh! His sharingan, that's the one thing a genjustu couldn't replicated. His split second relief was overwhelmed with panic as he could feel the faint pull of chakra to his eye. Fuck, oh fuck. Was this real then? His breath quickened and he shoved Minato-sensei off him.

"Kakashi..?"

That voice was new. He flicked his head around and saw a young girl with short brown hair up to just around her shoulders and those god forsaken purple stripes.

"Rin....?" Kakashi muttered, horrified. Images of a girl, too young, killed by his hand flashed through his mind. Was the world trying to punish him for all his misdeeds? Maybe this is all a drunken dream and he'll wake up soon with a pounding headache and away from these.. horrors.

"You're not real.." Kakashi whispered.

"We're are real, Kakashi.." Minato responded, his eyes so full of life staring right back at him.

"You're not real." Kakashi raised his voice, "You're just.. apart of my dream. You're all dead."

"..W-We're not dead, stupid!" Obito shouted, "This isn't a funny.. joke!"

"You're fucking dead.. You.." He raised a shaky hand and pointed to Minato, "Impaled by the very own beast sealed in your wife," Kakashi turned to Rin, "killed by my very own hand... suicide," and finally he turned to the raven haired boy, Obito, "you.. pushed me away from the boulders and gave me this very eye!"

Kakashi opened his eye and a pounding headache hit him head on and he collapsed to his knees, gasping in pain.

Minato rushed over to him, grabbing him up in a bundle.

"..Don't fucking touch me! You're fake.. YOU'RE ALL FAKE!" The boy screamed, thrashing about in Minato's arms.

"Kakashi.." Minato began.

"DON'T TALK TO ME.. PLEASE.. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT...…. I KNOW IT'S MY FAULT.. I KNOW.. all my fault.." His voice gradually got softer and he slumped into his sensei's arms. Completely out cold from chakra exhaustion.

"Obito.. Rin.. we need to get to the hospital." Minato commanded.

Chapter Text

Izuku stumbled backwards, the fear flowing through him. Kacchan and his friends were approaching him, what was he to do? A quirkless nobody doesn't stand a chance against them.

"Hahhh, Deku?" Kacchan smirked, "Where are you going? We just want to have a little fun."

Izuku took a shaky breath, "I-.. I don't want.. to.."

"Stop talking, your opinion doesn't matter." Kacchan hissed, "It never has. Honestly we'd all be so much better if you just stopped talking."

Izuku bit his lip as he leaned against the brick wall. Kacchan was right after all, what could he do anyway? Maybe he should just stop talking permanently. Would anyone even notice?

He gasped as an explosion flung him back. Hissing as his shoulder was burned from the explosion. He fell onto the concrete alley. He tried to scramble up but his burn was sending sparks of pain every time he tried to move.

"K-Kacchan.. I-" Izuku was cut off to a kick to his stomach, leaving him gasping for air as it all left him.

"Shut up, Deku." sneered one of Kacchan's sidekicks.

The trio have Izuku enough time to finally regain his breath before Kacchan's two henchmen started giving it to him. Izuku had little time to even gasp for air. Izuku.. no Deku curled into a ball, sobbing and shaking. A strong hand grabbed Deku by his shirt, hauling him up.

Kacchan's cold eyes glared into Izuku before they turned into something almost villainous. Another explosion, leaving his ears ringing. A burn covering right across his stomach and all the way to the top of his left leg. Izuku screamed, the pain shooting through him. He tried to stand up to run but he kept collapsing.

He kept trying to stand but to on avail. He eventually gave up and fell to the ground. His ears ringing, everything felt so far away. Who would find him? Nobody. He was certain he'd be left here to die. He's literally in a back alley and while it may be 4 in the afternoon, civilians would never help. Why would they? It's none of their business.

A hand grabbed onto him and turned him stomach side up, Izuku screeched. A flash of blonde hair, it must've been Bakugou. Izuku tried to get up but was pushed down. His tears flowing and he begged for his forgiveness. Well, he was pretty sure he was.

The hand grabbed onto the back of his head keeping him still and only then did he finally get a good look at his capturer. Long blonde hair tied into a half ponytail and a weird mustache that seemed oh so familiar. A pair of headphones were hanging off his shoulders, headphones. It seemed so familiar but he just couldn't wrap his mind around it.

He looked back up at the mans face and saw his lips moving but nothing was coming out. The ringing was still there. He shut his eyes as he tried to drown it out but only then did he realize how tired he was. His head bobbed forward slightly, he could just take a little nap right?

"..Kid? Oi! Oi! Can you stay awake for me? Kid!"

He could distantly hear the man's voice now. He opened his eyes again, "Mm.. I'm tired.."

"I know.. I know," The man's voice was full of concern, "Just a little bit longer? Just let me call some help, alright, little listener?"

Little Listener? What an odd nickname but so familiar at the same time. Where had he heard that name before?

"Hey, Hey..! Uh, It's Yamada here. I found a kid in an alley near Aldera Junior High, I'm pretty sure he's a student from there.. he's pretty badly burnt and all, I saw these other teenagers flee when I came up to them. " A pause, "Yeah, yeah. Please get here as quick as you can."

Izuku's eyes shut again. He could just rest until whoever this Yamada person called arrived? Couldn't he?

"Kid, Kid?" A repetitive tapping to his cheek forced his eyes open again and he groaned, "Aha.. ah, sorry kid! I can't have you passing out on me.. what's your name?"

"..Zuku... Izuku Midoryia.."

"Okay.. I'm Hizashi Yamada! Don't worry I'm gonna take real good care of you, right?"

Izuku nodded slightly. He could feel himself about to slip into unconsciousness.

.

Yamada looked up for a moment, "You have any hobbies? You like sports, art, music, what're you into little listener!"

He looked back down, "Ah fuck, kid? Oi, kid?"

Yamada's tapping became more aggressive until he gave up muttering, "Fuck.. okay. This kid better not have a concussion.."

Yamada foot tapped as he waited for the ambulance to arrive. After another 7 minutes it finally arrived and the kid was wheeled into it, Yamada leapt into the back with him.

The first responder gave Yamada a quick glance after she had set the kid up on the machines, she began to work on the wounds, "Present Mic, Lovely to see you again although not really the best situation but when do we ever have a genuine nice meet up?"

Yamada gave a small sheepish grin, "Aha.. uh yeah, nice to see you too Ms. Tanaka!"

"How's Eraserhead?" She asked.

"Still getting into trouble as always, anyway how is the kid? He'll pull through right?"

She paused for a moment, "I can't promise anything but as long as he didn't lose too much blood or damage any major organs he should be fine."

"Okay, okay.. thank you Ms. Tanaka." He smiled slightly, keeping his eyes fixed on the kid.

"..You know what happened here?" She asked.

"Ah.. I'm pretty certain it was bullying." He tried to keep his voice level but he ended up spitting the last few words out, "The bastards fled when they saw me coming."

Tanaka paused for a moment before she continued to work on the kid's, Midoryia's wounds. The rest of the ambulance trip was in silence.

.

Izuku slowly came to again. Where was he? What happened? He opened his eyes and hissed at the bright lights, he scanned the room. This was a hospital room? What happened?

"Oh! Kid, you're awake!" Izuku jumped and flicked his head around to spot the newcomer, he was leaning against the wall with his headphones hanging off his shoulders. Who was he? Izuku scanned this figure, his blonde hair was tied in a half ponytail.

"Who are you..?" Izuku asked, his voice wavering only slightly.

"Oh, I'm Hizashi Yamada but you can just call me Hizashi, little listener! You remember what happened?"

Izuku frowned, "Ah.. I'm sorry.."

"No, it's okay! It was expected that you wouldn't remember straight away, it should come back soon so don't worry!" He smiled, "I can tell you what I've pieced together if you're fine with that of course?"

"I.. Yes please." Izuku nodded.

"..Okay. I'm pretty sure you were being bullied by this blonde kid with spikey hair and these two others, one had like a dirty brown hair and the other had jet black hair. You've been burned pretty badly across on your shoulder and from your stomach to your left leg. You have a broken wrist and quite a few other injuries."

Izuku paused, oh. That's what happened. It was all starting to come back a bit, Kacchan and his friends cornered him into an alley on his way back from school.

"..Ah.. Thank you.. " Izuku nodded.

"Why the hell were they bullying you?" Hizashi grimaced, "And so harshly too! It's unjust and just.. fucked."

Izuku faltered. If he told him would this man still be so kind? He would probably find out soon anyway, "..I'm q-quirkless..."

"Ohh.." Hizashi nodded. He knew how unjust this society was, how high the quirkless discrimination rates were.

"Please.. Please don't hate me.. for it.." Izuku muttered, "or.. kick me out.. I mean I'd understand.. if you did of course but-"

"Stop." Hizashi said.

"What..?"

"Stop! I'm not gonna hate on you for being quirkless! I promise you little listener that with or without a quirk you're still awesome! Those jerks are just cocky, arrogant, self-entitled pricks! You can literally still do the things they can do and probably better!"

Izuku paused. No one had ever said something about his quirklessness in such a positive way before, god he was about to start crying.

"Even if I wanted to be a hero?" Izuku stuttered.

"Especially if you wanted to be a hero!" Hizashi grinned, "I know a man who fights basically quirkless in so many of his fights! I'm certain you can be just like that too!"

Izuku's eyes shone, "Really?!"

"Yeah!" Hizashi beamed, "I'm certain he could teach you a few things!"

Izuku was about to start sprouting a million questions but a knock on the door interrupted him. In came a man, well more like a lion and he must've been a cop.

"Ah! He's awake. Well, Present Mic, do you think he could come with us for a few questions?"

Present Mic. You've got to be kidding him, that man over there is Present Mic!? Oh my god, he got saved by the one and only Present Mic, the voice hero-

"Aha.. Uh, I mean he just woke up.. If he's fine with it and all..?"

TBC