Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hitoshi had a relatively good day. He had slept at least a few hours, saw a beautiful sunrise when he went on a run in the morning instead of just sitting in his room without any hope of sleep and then the classes passed rather quickly. It was still strange for him to be in class 1A, having replaced the purple haired pervert only a few weeks prior, but even he had to admit: His new classmates are nice enough. Of course, they were boisterous and most of the time simply too loud for his taste, but none of them seemed to bear animosity towards him. That didn’t mean that he liked them, though. None of them had to go through what he had to endure in elementary school and junior high. Their quirks were perfectly suited to be heroes and they sure as hell weren’t bullied, so they just couldn’t understand what it was like for him. And there was still the chance that they were all just playing nice because they feared their homeroom teacher, after all, Eraserhead was famous for his high expulsion rate and to impose UA’s zero-tolerance policy resolutely.

Yeah, that was probably the only reason why nobody had called him a villain yet. In the end, they were and always would be just some hero brats.

And the worst of all was Izuku Midoriya, 1A’s golden boy.

He just wouldn’t let Hitoshi be. When he sat alone at lunch, the green-haired boy would walk up to him and ask him to sit with the so-called Deku squad. He would invite him to hang out or study with them. And he would always go on about how he wanted them to be friends.

As if Hitoshi was dumb enough to fall for that nice guy fuss and his stupidly bright smile. Midoriya was blessed with the perfect quirk for heroics, he was everybody’s darling, most teachers’ favorite student and he was mentored by All Might himself. People must have told him his whole life how perfect he was, how great of a hero he was going to be. Everybody must have wanted to be his friend and the teachers would get out of their way to stay in his good favor. There probably never had been a single person who talked badly about him.

Izuku Midoriya got everything Hitoshi wanted and worked so hard for handed on a silver platter without having to raise a single finger for it. And now he wanted to be “friends” with the villain to look like a good person.

It was disgusting.

And that was the reason why Hitoshi’s day suddenly became a lot worse during their last period on this Wednesday.

They had Law and Ethics with Aizawa at that time. Usually, Hitoshi enjoyed these classes, not only because they were taught by his favorite teacher. They always discussed really interesting topics and their teacher was always ready to critique the actions of even pro heroes if they didn’t live up to the moral standards UA and the man himself wanted to drum into their heads. And in the beginning, when Aizawa announced the topic of the next few lessons in this class, Hitoshi was excited.

“Discrimination”, his sleep-deprived mentor said. “It’s a huge topic in our society which is mostly orientated on strong and flashy quirks. However, quirk discrimination is not the only problem we have to fight. We can find discrimination in various places and various forms. I know that even some of you have had to face their fair share of discrimination. Thus, the next few Law and Ethics lessons won’t be me just lecturing you, but you are going to talk about it. To be more precise, you’ll be doing presentations on assigned topics. You’ll be paired up in groups of two and no, Kaminari, Ashido, you can’t choose the groups yourself and no, Iida, I won’t make the pairs either, we’ll draw lots. You need to be able to work together with any of your classmates, so it’s only logical to shake up the well-acquainted groups sometimes. Afterwards, you’ll decide together on what topic you want to cover in your presentation. First come first served. On these sheets here”, he held up a paper, “you’ll find all necessary information concerning content and length. Class Rep, please distribute them.”

While Iida and Yaoyorozu went to distribute the papers, Aizawa continued his explanation:

“Obviously, there are ten topics in total. These are: Discrimination due to gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and wealth, as well as discrimination against the disabled or certain religions. And then there are the cases of quirk discrimination, namely against weak quirks, mutation quirks, so-called villainous quirks and finally quirkless discrimination.”

Immediately, the class started to murmur as everybody stated to their friends what topic they wanted to choose. Completely forgetting that the groups were made by chance and therefore they may have to adapt their plans.

“You have one week do prepare your presentations and I won’t give you other homework so you have enough time for it. Next Wednesday, Ectoplasm is out of the house, so we will use your math class right before law and ethics too to have enough time for all your presentations. They will be graded, so give your best. Also, I want to hear informative presentations, but don’t stop with the pure statistics. I want you to make clear to the class how these types of discrimination work and what they do to the victims. Be vivid. Make an impression.”

He looked at every single student to make sure that his message came through and Hitoshi felt his heart rate pick up in excitement. This was it! His chance to show these hero brats what it was like for him. How much he suffered due to his quirk.

“Alright”, Aizawa drawled on, “let’s get you paired up.”

He pulled a little cardboard box out from under his podium and shook it briefly. Then he opened the lid and pulled a little slip of paper out of it.

“First group: Uraraka and…” He pulled out another slip and continued like this. “… Todoroki. Second group: Tokoyami and Hagakure. Third group: Kirishima and Asui. Fourth group: Midoriya and Shinsou. Fifth…”

Hitoshi didn’t listen any further. Why had he to be paired up with Midoriya of all people? The golden boy of 1A with his perfect quirk who wouldn’t know anything about being discriminated. This had to be some kind of joke, the universe trying to screw him over.

He could feel Midoriya’s eyes on him, but he didn’t look back. He had no intention to work any more with the other teen than strictly necessary. He wouldn’t let himself be bossed around, not when they were dealing with this important topic. And therefore, he had to make sure that he got the perfect topic for himself. Thus, he tuned back in to the voice of his mentor and teacher, just in time to hear him say: “That’s all the information I’ll give you. Now decide on a topic together and come up to me so I can put it in the list.”

The moment he stopped speaking, Hitoshi already shot up from his seat and nearly sprinted to the front of the classroom.

“I’d like to have the villainous quirks”, he said quickly.

Aizawa mustered him with an unsettling emotion in his dark eyes. It looked like… disappointment? But that couldn’t be. He said that they could tell about their own experiences, so he can’t be disappointed in Hitoshi for taking the obvious choice. Maybe he just imagined it. But before he could dwell on this any longer, his Sensei drew up a single eyebrow and drawled: “Nice to know what you want, but this is a team decision. And I didn’t see you talk with your assigned partner. So, go back to him, discuss your choice and try again.”

The purple-haired teen looked at him incredulously. No way. Sensei knew full well how Hitoshi suffered under his so-called villains quirk, heck, Aizawa himself had gone through the same. And now he refused to let him talk about it?

“Why?”, he asked.

Aizawa sighed, deeply. “This is a team exercise, Shinsou. You need to work with others. Even as an underground hero, you’re not always a lone wolf. Also, do you believe that you’re to only one in this class who suffered discrimination? That it’s all reserved for you? Believe me, during the presentations, you’re going to see how wrong you are with this assumption. For now though, you’ll go back to your partner and make your choice together.”

With that, Aizawa turned his attention to Shoiji and Ojiro behind him to write down their choice to talk about mutation quirks.

Stunned and slightly angry, Hitoshi turned on his heel and stalked over to Midoriya, who stood behind his desk and looked at him with a very anxious expression. When Hitoshi came closer, he slumped slightly, as if he tried to appear even smaller than he was and his green eyes turned to the surface of his desk.

“What, What is our topic?”, he asked shyly when the purple teen stopped in front of his desk.

“Nothing. Apparently, we have to discuss it first”, Hitoshi answered and annoyance dripped from his every word. Midoriya flinched at his tone as if he’s been hit and his shoulders hunched.

“I-I see. I assumed you w-wanted the so-called villainous q-quirks…”

“I did.”

“…but it seems Tokoyami and Ha-Hagakure beat us to it now.”

Hitoshi whirled around to see the bird-headed boy and the invisible girl walking back to her desk, already sharing some stories of how they were treated because of their quirks.

Great.

Just fucking great.

They hadn’t even started this project and Hitoshi was already fed up with it.

“W-We… We could d-do quirkless discrimination?”, Midoriya suddenly piped up, his voice low and shaky. His green eyes were fixed on his desk as if he wouldn’t dare look up to the purple-haired teen he had to work with.

“Quirkless? Why?”, Hitoshi asked. “Why would someone like you be interested in the quirkless and how they’re treated in this society?”

Yes, why indeed.

“I… I can explain later… Just… I’ve seen how quirkless people suffer. In my junior high, there… It wasn’t a good school for the quirkless. Not at all.”

Finally, wide, emerald eyes looked up to meet his gaze and there was so much sincerity in his face that it sent a shiver down Hitoshi’s back. Whatever Midoriya had witnessed in junior high, it must have been really bad and left a lasting imprint on him. And to be honest, Hitoshi himself wasn’t opposed to the idea to talk about the quirkless, since it was the only section of the population that was treated even worse than people with villainous quirks. Which sometimes led to the strange situation that people with villains’ quirks joined in the bullying of the quirkless to be more accepted themselves.

“Alright”, he said with his usual bored expression.

“A-Alrigh?”

“Alright. Let’s do the quirkless.”

Midoriya beamed at him and Hitoshi suddenly longed for a pair of very dark sunglasses to shield himself from this 1’000’000 Watt smile.

“Yes! Let’s do this!”

Half an hour later, Hitoshi sat in Midoriya’s dorm room and tried to ignore All Might’s obnoxious grin that met him from every corner of the room. Really, how could anybody live here without getting completely paranoid? He felt so watched in his spot on Midoriya’s desk chair.

With a shake of his head, Hitoshi turned back to Midoriya, who was sitting nervously on his bed, fiddling with his hands and twisting his fingers in angles that must hurt him. Why would he do this to himself?

“So…”, Hitoshi drawled, “you wanted to tell me something? About that quirkless kid you had in your class?”

The green-haired boy looked shyly up from his hands, but quickly lowered his head again. But then he took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, as if he was readying himself for a battle. When he lifted his head again, his eyes held a steely expression.

“I am quirkless”, he said.

“No, you’re not”, Hitoshi answered immediately, deadpan.

And Midoriya crumbled. His shoulders slumped and he ducked his head again.

“I-I know I’m not q-quirkless now. I have a quirk. B-But I was quirkless. I’m a so-called false negative.”

“A false negative?”, Hitoshi asked incredulous. Somewhere in his head, there rang something. He had heard about false negatives somewhere before, but it was a very uncommon topic and he couldn’t say that he knew much about it.

“Isn’t that like… extremely rare?”

“It-It is. Of all the quirkless people in the world, which are still about 1.6 billion people, there are only a few hundred false negatives.” Hitoshi noticed how Midoriya’s stutter nearly vanished when there wasn’t a chance of prying ears or eyes on him. “A false negative is a person who’s body shows all signs of quirklessness, meaning they have the extra pinky toe joint, an appendix and wisdom teeth, but they still possess a quirk. Usually, these quirks come in very late and they often are strong and usually come with big drawbacks, since the body is not really made for a quirk and thus has problems handling it. Like, in my case, I broke my bones at the beginning.”

“You still broke your bones at the beginning of the school year.”

“Yes… Well, the first time I u-used my quirk was during the UA entrance e-exam…?”

Hitoshi was speechless. Truly and utterly speechless, a rarity for a person with a voice based quirk. Usually, he chose not to speak, but right now there were just no words to describe his feelings or his formulate his questions. Still, he tried.

“Y-You mean… That you got your quirk only a few months ago?”

“Y-Yes.”

“And until then, you were quirkless?”

Midoriya just nodded and a strange emotion crossed his face. Was that… fear? Was he scared what Hitoshi might think about him now? What he might do to him?

“Well, shit”, was his only very eloquent comment. His thoughts raced and spiraled into self-deprecation. All his assumptions about Midoriya, that he was too lazy to train his quirk before UA, that he was praised all his life and all teachers kissed his ass, that he never knew how bad some people were treated by society, that he didn’t know the despair and tiredness when you had to fight for everything in your life all other people got for free.

Hitoshi had resented him for it.

But he got it all wrong.

His memory raced back to the sports festival and what he had said to Midoriya and he cringed.

“I’m so sorry”, he breathed, purple eyes wide in horror.

Midoriya looked confused at that. He probably wasn’t used to people apologizing, just as Hitoshi hadn’t been before he was adopted at age 11. He’s had enough of a normal life (at least at home) to build up the self-confidence he needed to for example make a declaration of war to the class 1A, but it wasn’t enough to let him forget all his previous foster homes. And it surely wasn’t enough to make up for the still terrible treatment he got at school that made him so bitter and sarcastic.

And the worst part of all: He had seen it. He had seen all the red flags that Midoriya’s behavior raised. The flinching at loud noises or when somebody touched him. His hunched posture, as if he was always ready to protect his vital areas. The way his eyes flickered over every room he entered to look for escape routes. How he didn’t seem to be able to trust his teachers and got extremely anxious whenever he was called on or even worse, had to stay behind for some reason. His anxiety in general. How he apologized for everything even if it wasn't his fault. The way he cried whenever somebody was kind to him. Or how he threw himself head-first into every battle without any regard for his own personal safety, which was not, as Hitoshi had thought, a sign of his overconfidence but of his low self-esteem and practically non-existent sense of self-worth.

Hitoshi had noticed it all, but he had disregarded it because Midoriya had a strong quirk. Because of his own stupid prejudices.

Hitoshi really wanted to kick his own ass.

“I’m sorry”, he mumbled again, not knowing what else to say.

“It’s alright”, Midoriya answered and his viridian eyes were wide and sincere. “It really is. You couldn’t have known.”

“Still. I made assumptions about you because of your quirk, just like other people did with me. And I was completely wrong with them. All the things I said during the sports festival… Really, I’m sorry. I wish I could take it back.”

“D-Don’t worry about it! I’m not angry at you!”

Hitoshi huffed. “Yeah, but you’re too forgiving. I… I saw it, okay? Your anxiety and how you react to loud noises and all that stuff. I know what it means. But I just… ignored it. That’s not what a hero should do.”

Midoriya looked at him, his head tilted to the side like a little kitten. Then he slowly nodded.

“I understand. I see where your mistake came from, but I have to admit that it still was a mistake. But the only thing you can do about is apologize, which you did and I forgive you, and be better in the future.”

Hitoshi sighed, not completely satisfied but somehow relieved that Midoriya at least stopped denying that he had been wronged and accepted his apology. Suddenly, another thought hit him.

“Does Sensei know?”

And Midoriya’s reaction was enough of an answer: He paled immediately and his eyes got even wider, something akin to dread pooling in them and he twisted his fingers in his lap in ways that had to be painful.

“I take this as a no.”

“I-I was s-scared. He… On the f-first day he threatened t-to expel one of us and I didn’t… I didn’t want him t-to judge me based on this.”

Yeah, Hitoshi could see it. Aizawa-sensei was intimidating at the best of times, but outright scary otherwise. As a formerly quirkless person, surely not having a good track record with teachers, it was no wonder that he’d be afraid to tell him.

“But if we do this presentation, I assume that you’d disclose your quirk status to the class. He will find out. And the rest of them, too. Does anybody in 1A know about you being a false negative?”

“Todoroki knows. And I-I know. I believe… Aizawa-sensei doesn’t like me m-much, but I think I p-proved that I belong in the hero course so h-he’s less likely to expel me now. And my f-friends… They c-could turn at me but they’re so nice so I believe…”

“He doesn’t…” Hitoshi interrupted, only now finished processing the first part of Midoriya’s mumbling. Of course, Sensei liked Midoriya, which was actually another reason why Hitoshi didn’t before. “Aizawa does like you, Midoriya. When he calls you Problem Child, he means it fondly.”

“Y-You really think that?” Green eyes lit up with hope at these words.

“I’m sure of it. But I don’t think he’ll be very enthusiastic if he only finds out during the presentation that you had your quirk for less than a year.”

“Yes, I know. I wanted to talk with him in advance. Also, I have some ideas for the presentation that probably need his permission. And his help.”

Midoriya’s stutter completely vanished when the topic got less personal, causing a strange, warm feeling to pool in Hitoshi’s stomach. This skittish person (like a little street kitten) felt secure enough in his presence to not stutter. It was a good feeling.

Hitoshi grinned. “Alright then, what is your plan?”

Midoriya returned his grin and it wasn’t his usual sunshine smile but really a feral grin.

“It’s intense, for the class. Very much so. That’s why I want to ask for permission first. And it will be quite a bit of effort for us, but if we want to leave an impression they won’t ever forget it will be totally worth it.”

Hitoshi leaned forward and supported his upper body on his elbows on his knees, while he listened to Midoriya describe his plan, gesticulating wildly with his crooked, scarred fingers and emerald eyes sparkling amidst his many freckles. And when he heard what ideas Midoriya exactly had, he had to stop himself from cackling like Nedzu.

Yes, this presentation would definitely leave an impression, that was for sure.

Chapter Text

After Izuku had told Shinsou about his ideas (and he felt a little giddy at the thought that the could maybe become friends now that the purple-haired teen knew), they worked out a detailed plan on how they were going to put it to practice. They drew up a schedule for the following week and Izuku sent messages to several different people who’s help they would need. Then the looked up a few free apps they could use and decided who did what. It took them quite some time, but after about two hours, they were done and ready for the week.

Thursday:

The most difficult thing to do this week followed already on Thursday: To speak with Aizawa. Izuku was downright scared to tell his teacher, but he knew that he needed to tell him at least a part of the truth. Actually, he was relieved that the definition of false negatives only said that they were people with a quirk and a quirkless body. No mention of quirk factors, so technically Izuku wouldn’t be lying to the hero, even though he couldn’t tell the whole truth.

So, after their last lesson on Thursday, Shinsou and he approached their homeroom teacher. Aizawa was shuffling a few pieces of paper on the podium, but he looked up when his students paused in front of him. He arched an eyebrow questioningly.

“What is it, Problem Children?”, he drawled. Izuku was pretty sure the black-haired hero expected there to be a problem with the presentation, and there kind of was, but surely not what Aizawa thought it would be. After their talk yesterday, Izuku and Shinsou found out that they actually got along flawlessly, with the both of them being victims of discrimination. So, if Aizawa expected them to want to change their pair-up or their topic, he was wrong.

Izuku wrang his hands together and twisted his messed-up fingers until they hurt, but he needed the pain to ground himself. He was scared what Aizawa would say, scared what he would do. What if he didn’t want to have a formerly quirkless person in his class? What if he said he couldn’t do it? What if he expelled him because he was too much of a burden? Because he was weak and stupid and under-evolved and just a worthless deku…

No!, he thought. No, he wouldn’t do that. Eraserhead fights quirkless most of the time, he wouldn’t expel me for not having a quirk a while ago. He wouldn’t.

So he took a deep breath, ignored the slightly worried look he got from Shinsou at his side and met his teachers dark eyes. His face was completely expressionless except for a raised eyebrow. “W-We need to t-t-talk to you in p-private, ple-please”, he stammered, internally wincing because his stutter hadn’t been that bad while talking to Aizawa in a while.

The underground hero stared at him for a second, then he nodded slowly.

“Alrigth.”

He pushed the stack of papers into his capture weapon (and how did they completely vanish without falling out? Was there some kind of magical pocket in his scarf?!?) and lead the way out of the room, but he stopped right outside the door.

“Todoroki. Did you need something, too?”

“No, Sir. I’m just here for Midoriya.”

“I-It’s alright, Sensei. I asked him to… to…”

“He’s emotional support”, Shinsou interrupted casually and Izuku sent him a grateful look.

Aizawa sighed and rubbed his eyes, murmuring something unintelligible under his breath. Then he sighed again and gestured for the students to follow him, while he turned and lead the way to his office. Shoto was immediately at Izuku’s side and the backs of their hands brushed against each other. The dual-haired teen knew how hard this talk would be for his friend (cough - or rather crush – cough) and Izuku would be eternally grateful for his support. He didn’t know how else he should stand his teachers intense and probably disappointed stare.

A few minutes later, they arrived at one of the private meeting rooms. It was not the same one Izuku usually met with All Might, but it looked completely similar: A small table between two couches, a little kitchenette with a tea cooker in the corner and a large plant adding a little touch of something living.

Aizawa took a seat on the couch facing the door while Izuku and Shinsou sat on the one opposite. Shoto followed soon after, carrying a cup of fresh tea which he handed to Izuku. The green-haired boy slung he hands around the mug and felt the warmth seep into his slightly aching hands and easing the pain.

“Thanks”, he murmured lowly and Shoto blushed a little.

“Ugh”, said Shinsou, “you two are sickeningly sweet. Gross.”

Just a day ago, such a comment would have hit Izuku hard and made Shoto stand up and position himself between the other boys, but after their talk yesterday (and a talk Izuku had with Shoto this morning before school), they both just shrugged and smiled a little embarrassedly.

“Alright, what did you want to talk about?”, Sensei interrupted abruptly. Immediately, the mood in the room was tense. Shoto lay a hand on Izuku’s arm and squeezed it briefly, encouragingly. Once again, Izuku took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on his hands still curled around the mug. Then he looked up to his teacher and said:

“I’m a false negative. I was quirkless until I was fifteen. The first time I used my quirk was when I smashed that zero pointer during the entrance exam.”

He exhaled, his eyes turning down again and his whole body shaking with nerves. Here it was, the moment that would decide about his future. The moment he could get expelled, and all his dreams could get crushed. And he just couldn’t stand to see his teacher’s reaction. But he could feel that dark eyes on him, could feel Shoto’s grip on his arms tighten and Shinsou at his other side straighten up.

“You…”, Aizawa began, but broke off before he tried again. “You are a false negative.”

Izuku nodded without looking up.

“And you were quirkless most of your live. You didn’t have a quirk before UA.”

He nodded again.

And Aizawa sighed.

“Problem Child.”

“I-I’m sorry I didn’t t-tell you sooner, but m-most people don’t react well to menothavingaquirkandIwasscaredandpleasepleasedon’texpelme…”

“Slow down, Midoriya”, Sensei said at the same time as Shoto took the mug out of his hands and clasped his own hands, one warm and one cold, around Izuku’s.

“It’s alright, Izuku, you’re alright. Take a deep breath. Please. Just breath with me.”

And that was when Izuku noticed that he indeed wasn’t breathing properly. Tears started to pool in his eyes, obscuring his vision. He tried to do as he was told and match Shoto’s breathing, but it took him a few minutes until he felt like there was actually some air reaching his lungs and how the tears streamed down his cheeks.

“Good job, Midoriya”, came Aizawa’s voice from across the table and Izuku was so startled by it that he looked up at the man on instinct. The black-haired hero looked impassive on the first glance, but Izuku had learned to be attentive, to look out for every little tell in a person’s face, and so he saw the worry in the tightness of his jaw and the compassion in these deep, dark eyes. And suddenly his whole body relaxed because there was no mistaking that expression: Aizawa understood.

He understood.

Tears of relief fell from his eyes and wetted his cheeks anew.

“’m sorry”, he said again, not knowing exactly for what he was apologizing.

“It’s alright, Problem Child. You were scared. And I guess you don’t really have a good track record with teachers. Not when you were quirkless.”

Izuku nodded, sniffling, and Shoto rubbed his back soothingly with his warm hand.

“Okay, then I want to make one thing clear”, Aizawa said intensely, “You are not in trouble. I’m not going to expel you. You have proven that you belong into the hero course and this has nothing to do with your quirk. It wouldn’t have anything to do with your lack of quirk if you were still quirkless.”

Izuku stared at him, completely taken aback by these words. Did Sensei mean…

“Being a hero is not about quirks. It’s about your determination and your hard work. About your wish to help others. It’s about your heart. And you, Midoriya, have the heart of a hero, there’s no doubt about that. I’m sure, even quirkless you would have found a way to be a hero.”

“Oh”, Izuku whispered. “Oh!”

And he broke down crying again.

“I… I’ve always w-wanted… I just… Nobody ever believed…”

He couldn’t finish a single one of his sentences, but the three others in the room all got the message: He had needed to hear that so bad. He had needed someone to believe in him, not in his quirk. And even though All Might did believe in him now, there still was the memory of a rooftop and an answer that shattered every dream he had.

“Th-Thank you”, the greenet finally said and there was so much emotion behind these two simple words that it took the others breath away.

Aizawa was the first one to find words again: “No need to thank me for telling the truth. And I… I wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

“Wh-What? Why? You’re the best teacher I’ve ever had!”

“Well, that’s just sad. But I really do need to apologize. When I saw you break all your bones while using your quirk, I assumed you were just lazy or arrogant and didn’t bother to train your quirk. That you thought having a strong quirk was enough even without putting any effort in. But after I got to know you better, I should have seen that this wasn’t the case. You’re probably the most hard-working student I’ve ever had. I should have noticed that something wasn’t adding up and talked to you. Then you may have gained control over your quirk before it gave you chronic pain. But I just overlooked all my concerns and for that, I’m very, very sorry.”

And he bowed his head. Low. To Izuku. In front of other students.

Izuku’s brain short-circuited and needed a moment to reboot, but then the situation finally sank in and the teen waved his hands around frantically.

“I-It’s alright, really! You don’t n-need to do that!”

“I do.”

“He does.”

“Sh-Shoto!”

“What? He should have helped you and he didn’t. That’s a valid reason to apologize. And to do better”, he added while glaring at his teacher, his hand laying on Izuku’s arm again in a protective gesture.

Aizawa took his animosity in stride and nodded.

“I will do better.”

“Then you should make sure that Midoriya isn’t paired up with Bakugou again in training”, Hitoshi spoke up without giving any further explanation. But the underground hero didn’t need any more explanation judging by the way his eyes widened and then closed, an almost pained expression on his usually stoic face.

“You’re not rivals”, he murmured. “Was he your bully?”

“I… Well… N-Nobody ever told h-him to stop…”

“He still should have known that it wasn’t right to use his quirk on you until he left scars”, Shoto deadpanned.

“Scars?”

Shinsou stared at Izuku and there was barely concealed rage in his bright purple eyes. “This little shit! I’m gonna make him…”

“Whatever you plan, I’m obliged to tell you you shouldn’t do it. So please talk about it somewhere I can’t hear it”, Aizawa interrupted him, somehow managing to sound even more exhausted than usual and unbelievably angry at the same time.

“Y-You don’t have to do anything! Please!”, Izuku begged.

“We’ll talk about this again later, Problem Child. But right now, am I right in assuming that your presentation about quirkless discrimination would reveal your… condition to the rest of the class?”

“Yes. That’s why I w-wanted to tell you before.”

“And I’m grateful that you did. What have you planned to say?”

In the next few minutes, Izuku and Shinsou explained their plan and what they would need for it. Izuku recounted all the things that happened to him and that he wanted to tell the class. The teacher listened without showing any reaction, but in the end he agreed to help them as much as they needed.

When they left, Izuku felt light like he hadn’t in a very long time. Actually, like he hadn’t since his diagnosis. Although the thought of telling the class about him having been quirkless made his stomach churn, he knew he’d have at least Shoto, Shinsou and Aizawa-Sensei who would support him.

He could do this.

The next day, Aizawa held Izuku back and informed him that he scheduled regular meetings for the boy with the school counselor, Hound Dog. And if Nedzu already worked on burning down a whole school district, sipping tea and cackling, well, nobody could blame him. He was a hero, after all, and there was a boy who needed justice.

Friday:

During lunch on Friday, Izuku and Shinsou took their bento boxes and excused themselves from their friends (Shinsou insisted that they were only Izuku’s friends and he was just dragged into their group without his consent), to walk down to the labs of the support course. When they neared the door, they already heard maniacally laughter, the desperate shouting of Powerloader and then an explosion. A rather small one, however, since the door to the lab still stood when the arrived, so Mei couldn’t have gone full out.

They didn’t bother to knock and Izuku opened the large door and peeked inside, clearing his throat to draw attention. Powerloader stopped in the middle of his scolding and looked over to the door, while Mei, covered in soot from head to toe, bounced happily and completely unbothered over to the door.

“Ten Million!”, she screamed.

“H-Hi, Mei. Hello Mr. Powerloader”, Izuku greeted back and entered the room, allowing Shinsou to follow after him. “Do you have what I asked from you?”, he wanted to know, looking at the pink-haired girl expectantly.

Mei’s grin widened and she ran over to a work bench covered in metal scraps and blueprints. After throwing half of the papers to the ground, she found three metal objects and brought them over. Powerloader had switched to his desk in the meantime and kept an eye on his personal problem child, clearly fearing she might blow something else up.

“Here you have it, Ten Million. So, short instruction. She continued to explain each of the devices she had made for them. They were just some simple little items and Mei was a little disappointed that there was no need for her to add some weapons or anything like that. But well, the customer was king. 

“Thank you, Mei!”, Izuku beamed when she finished. “That’s exactly what we need! Right, Shinsou?”

“Yeah, thanks”, the taller teen drawled, his face as bored as ever. Inside, however, he cheered a little bit. Now they had at least the right equipment to make their presentation.

Saturday:

They met Aizawa-sensei at the gate since they needed a teacher to accompany them off-campus. Izuku and Shinsou had packed Mei’s devices and together with the black-haired hero, the made their way through the streets and alleys of Musutafu. Their first stop was a district in a darker part of the city.

Aizawa’s face remained impassive, as he sat on a fire escape and watched Izuku first walk, then sprint through a dark alley and nearly slam into the wall when he’s too fast around the corner, Hitoshi hot on his heels and purposefully slamming into one of the dumpsters just to make some more noise. The underground hero shook his head at his two students in fond exasperation. At least they gave his assignment really their all.

Their second stop was a tall building in a slightly better part of the city. When they reached it, the sun was nearly setting and Izuku stared upwards along the building with a strange expression in his eyes.

“You’re good, Problem Child?”, Aizawa asked. Izuku flinched a little, but then he smiled and nodded. “Yes, I’m fine. Just memories.”

“What kind of memories?”

Izuku lowered his head and for a moment, he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to answer at all, but then he decided that he could trust his teacher with this.

“I considered it here. Jumping, I mean.”

A shocked gasp came from Shinsou and Aizawa frowned worriedly. “We don’t have to do this here”, the gruff underground hero said surprisingly soft, but Izuku waved his hands around wildly and replied: “It was… It was just a very bad day. I’m much better now.”

“You still shouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place”, Shinsou grumbled, but he sighed and followed his green-haired classmate into the building.

And Izuku was better, he really was. The memory of the day he met All Might and was left on this very roof still hurt sometimes, but it didn’t crush him anymore. He had friends now and he knew that they would be sad if he wasn’t here anymore. Still, he felt warmth bubble up in his chest as he felt his teacher’s capture weapon wrapping itself strong and tight around his waist when he climbed over the railing. Even more so when Shinsou held his hand out to help him climb back to the safe side.

Sunday:

This time they met in Shinsou’s room and Izuku couldn’t help but notice that the purple teen was far more relaxed here than in his own room. If it was because it was a familiar environment or because there weren’t dozens of All Mights smiling at him he couldn’t distinguish. But it didn’t particularly matter anyway.

“Are you ready?”, Shinsou asked and Izuku hurriedly concentrated back on his laptop and the microphone he plugged in via micro USB.

“Yes, I’m good. Are you?”

Shinsou pulled up the mask from his hero costume and nodded.

“Let’s go”, he said in Iida’s voice and the two boys got to work.

Monday:

On Monday after school, Izuku and Shinsou left the classroom together with the so-called Dekusquad.

“Hey, what about we ask Kaminari if we could use his console to play a little?”, Ochako suggested with a wide smile.

“But not before we’ve done our homework!”, Tenya insisted, chopping the air with his right arm.

“Yeah, of course, class rep”, the bubbly girl answered with a fond roll of her eyes, gaining her a small giggle from Tsuyu. “But afterwards we should play something!”

“Sorry, guys”, Izuku said only a little hesitantly, “Shinsou and I can’t join you. We’ve still got some things to do for our presentation at Wednesday.”

“What? You have to work more?!”, Ochako cried out and Tsuyu tapped her finger to her lip and added: “You’re really putting a lot of work into that assignment.”

“It is very commendable to take your schoolwork seriously!”, Tenya shouted, chopping the air again. “I have to admit that Kouda and me didn’t invest quite as much time as you did. We all should take you as an example!”

“Yeah, whatever”, Shinsou drawled, “we have to go now.”

Izuku nodded and smiled brightly at his friends. “See you later!”

The others gave their greetings as well and left, Ochako and Tsuyu planning an epic tournament in Mario Carts while Shoto walked behind them silently and Tenya reminding them of their homework again.

Izuku shook his head fondly at their antics, then he turned and followed Shinsou to the classroom of 1C.

Upon entering the room, their greeted with two wide smiles and an enthusiastic “Hey, little listeners!”.

“Hello, Yamada-Sensei! Hi, Mirio!”, Izuku greeted, smiling equally wide.

“Oh dear gods”, Shinsou muttered and resigned himself to the fate of being surrounded by sunshine people for the next few hours. “I should have brought sunglasses.”

Izuku shot him a curious look, but then he turned back to the two blonds in front of them. “Thank you so much for helping us out!”

“No probs, little listener! How could I not help two so hard-working students! Gonna show Eraser how it’s done right, ya dig?”

“Yeah, I’m always glad to help my little Kouhai!”, Mirio added, but then he frowned a little in confusion. “But what exactly do we need to do?”

“Well”, Izuku explained, “as I said we’re doing a presentation on quirkless discrimination and… Ahm…” He fiddled with his hands and lowered his eyes to the floor. “I was quirkless until recently. “ He heard the two blonds gasp, but he carried on: “And I wanted to show how it was, how I was treated.”

“Oh, little listener!” Present Mic’s voice was lazed with compassion and sorrow. He, just like Aizawa, knew immediately what Izuku meant with “how I was treated”. It can’t have been nice or kind. The world was cruel to the quirkless and the statistics spoke volumes about how bad they really had it.

“What do you mean with ‘until recently’?”, Mirio asked, his own demeanor a lot more subdued than before.

“I walked into the UA entrance exam without a quirk and left with one that shattered my bones”, the greenet replied in a monotone voice that clashed with the wobbly smile on his face. “It was… something.”

“Oh MY GODS!”, Yamada cried out, before he quickly pressed a hand to his mouth to hold in his quirk. When he had full control over his voice again, he said softly: “That actually explains a lot.”

“And it makes you even more impressive!”, Mirio added, his happy smile back on his face.

“Y-You think so?”

“Absolutely! I mean, you’ve had your quirk for not even a year and still you’re keeping up with the toughest hero course in Japan! How’s that not impressive, little kouhai?”

Izuku sputtered something unintelligible until Shinsou interrupted him: “Alright, we should get started.” He pulled two papers out of his bag, handing each blond one of them. “This is a short description of what we need you to do.”

They both read the instructions and soon after they started, first in the classroom, then in the halls. At some point, Mirio texted his friends, Nejire and Tamaki (after the Shie Hassaikai raid, they all decided that Izuku should use their first names) and they helped them out, too.

About two hours later, they had all they needed and Izuku could add Present Mic and the big three to the list of people who still supported after knowing about his former quirklessness. When they said their goodbyes, Mirio demanded that they’d tell him about how it went.

“If they give you a hard time about you being a false negative, just tell me. We’re work study buddies, I'll always have your back, okay?”

Izuku just nodded with tears in his eyes, as Mirio clapped a rather surprised Shinsou on the back and left with another little wave, his friends in tow.

“Not only him. You can always come to me or Aizawa, ya dig, little listener?” Then Present Mic’s eyes and voice softenend: “I’m so very sorry you had to go through all that. And I’m so proud of you to stay strong like that. I’m so glad you’re here.”

He smiled and Izuku smiled back through his now streaming tears.

Tuesday:

They were almost ready. The presentation slides were nearly done, they only had to add the material they gained yesterday with the help of Present Mic and the Big Three. There was only one thing left.

“When we look at the seating chart, the ones most in the middle are Kaminari, Kirishima, Jirou and Sero”, Izuku said.

“Yes, but did you ever sit in the middle? Like, the outcasts are always at the back or on the side, aren’t they?”, Shinsou argued. “I never set in the middle of the room in my whole school career.”

“Well, that’s the difference between the outcasts and the victims”, the green-haired teen replied quietly, a faraway look in his eyes. “My desk was always surrounded by others. That made it easier for my bullies to reach me and I couldn’t really evade whatever they did because I had no way to dodge.”

Shinsou breathed out a puff of air and deadpanned: “Well, shit. I’d never thought I’d one day be glad that my classmates were afraid of me, but here I am.”

“Sorry.”

The purple teen sighed heavily, then he slapped Izuku’s forearm lightly with the back of his hand.

“There’s nothing to apologize about, you’ve done nothing wrong. Now, back to the seating chart. If we want to take someone in the middle, it should rather be in the second row than the third. We’ll have to go back to the front anyway.”

“Mhm”, Izuku nodded. “That leaves Kaminari or Jirou. I’d rather go for Kaminari, actually. He’s more carefree.”

Shinsou nodded in agreement.

So that’s how they found themselves holding Kaminari back when they returned from lunch and pulling him into an empty toilet.

“Ahm…” The blond looked pretty confused as to why he was basically kidnapped by two of his classmates, but when they explained to him what they needed his help for, he agreed easily.

“Just remember: No word to no-one. Understood?”

“Yeah, Shinsou. Geez, no need to look at me like that. My lips are sealed.”

He made a motion like he zipped his lips, locked them and threw the key over his shoulder.

“We count on you, Kaminari!”, Izuku chirped from the side and the blond immediately knew that he couldn’t disappoint that smile.

Though luck, since he wasn’t actually the best at keeping secrets. But he should be able to manage for one day. If one of his friends asked, he could just tell them it was a secret and he didn’t know much about it himself. Which was true, actually, since he really didn’t know what exactly the other two planned, just that it was run by and accepted by Aizawa and that he shouldn’t take anything personal, even though he should act to do so.

Great, now he was really curious. What the hell had these two planned? Even more so when they weren’t even friends a week ago…

Well, Kaminari internally shrugged, he would see tomorrow.

Wednesday:

The day of the presentations arrived. Izuku felt his stomach churn and he could barely eat anything at lunch. It was only Shoto’s cool presence at his left side that calmed him down enough to at least take a few bites of his lunch.

And then their Law and Ethics lessons came around and he swallowed his nerves. They would be the last group to go. They had everything planned out. They were ready.

He closed his eyes and took some deep, measured breaths.

When he opened his eyes again, he caught Sensei looking at him and his teacher gave him a barely noticeable nod that calmed him down more than he would have thought.

Right, Aizawa-Sensei was on his side. So were Yamada-Sensei, the Big Three and Shinsou. And of course Shoto. Whatever would happen this afternoon, he would not be alone.

No, he would not be alone.

.

.

.

But would he be lonelier?

Chapter Text

One week after the announcement, 1A held their presentations about discrimination. Of the first nine presentations, some were better than others, but all of them were fairly standard. Informative, including all the necessary statistics and lazed with personal experiences and opinions, and overall Aizawa was fairly content with what his students made of their topics. But there was one presentation he was waiting for.

The first pair was Yaoyorozu and Bakugou, who talked about gender inequality in general, but mostly regarding heroics. (“Like, when these fuckers thought I shouldn’t go hard on Round Face during the sports festival just because she’s a girl, so what the fuck is wrong with these assholes?” “Language, Bakugou.”)

Sero and Jirou talked about discrimination against people with a certain sexual orientation, a topic that Aizawa himself found rather important, seeing as he was married to Present Mic. Sero and Jirou both disclosed their own sexual orientation and the class took it without comment, only Kaminari playfully mourned that Jirou was lost for men if she was into women. However, it was obvious that he didn't have a real problem with it and it was all meant as a joke.

Kaminari and Aoyama chose to talk about discrimination against certain ethnicities. The presentation slides were filled with sparkling emojis and glittering fireworks animations, but the talk itself was good. Aoyama’s mother was French and apparently the two teens had interviewed her to gather more information.

The forth talk was the one of Uraraka and Todoroki. They presented the topic of discrimination based on wealth. Interestingly, they not only covered the discrimination against the poor (Uraraka blushed when she admitted how much trouble her family had to make ends meet) but also how the wealthy may suffer from prejudices or from staying in the spotlight.

Next was a very passionate presentation from Iida, who reminded the class that discrimination is not only actively harming people but also neglecting their needs and how hard it sometimes was for his brother to conduct simple tasks just because some places weren’t easily reachable for people in a wheelchair. He was joined by a far quieter, but not any less passionate Kouda, who revealed that he regularly visited homes for mentally disabled people and let them play with his pets. It was heartwarming when he showed them a picture of a little girl with his rabbit in her arms, a bright smile on her face.

Ashido and Sato talked about religion. It wasn’t the first choice for the two of them, but Sato’s grandparents were apparently Christians while Ashido had a cousin who was a member of the Wicca cult. The presentation was more informative than personal, but it was a solid standard presentation.

More personal was the presentation of Kirishima and Asui, who chose the topic of discrimination against weak quirks. The class (and Aizawa) was moved by the redhead’s description of his feelings when he still thought his quirk was too weak to be a hero and how lonely he was, since his classmates always outcast him. Asui added her own experiences with being called weak and how others laughed about her wish to become a hero.

Shoji and Ojiro found a very fitting topic: discrimination against mutation quirks. Especially the other students with obvious mutation quirks like Tokoyami, Ashido, Asui and Kouda could relate when the two boys talked about how they were called monsters and freaks and how children on the street pointed at them.

Finally, the last presentation before the grand final was the one of Tokoyami and Hagakure, who presented the discrimination about villainous quirks. Aizawa was very pleased when they started with the statement, that the term “villainous quirk” was downright stupid, since no quirk was villainous per se. And when they talked about their personal experiences and even dark shadow was allowed to say a few things from his perspective, the black-haired teacher saw many people in the class gulp, certainly relieved that they had it better.

If they only knew what was still to come.

After Tokoyami and Hagakure returned to their seats, Aizawa stepped in front of his podium and announced a little break.

“There’s one presentation left and we’ll have a few more teachers here for that. Before you ask, Iida, you will see why that is a good idea. In the meantime, just take a breather, we’ve already heard some heavy stuff. Be all back in your seats in five minutes.”

With that he turned around and left the room, leaving the door open behind him. Kaminari followed after him, as well as Midoriya and Shinsou after they set up their laptop. The rest of the class began to chatter quietly.

None of them noticed the camera hanging from the ceiling, right over Kaminari’s desk.

Outside of the classroom, there were already a few teachers waiting: Hound Dog, Present Mic, All Might and for some reason even Nedzu, although he wasn’t invited.

“Ah, Aizawa”, the mammal greeted him with a smile. “How were the presentations until now?”

“They were a little better than expected, honestly. But none of them can even compare to what is to come.”

“Indeed.”

“Then could somebody tell me what exactly is to come?”, All Might asked. The gaunt man looked pretty confused. “I’m only here because young Midoriya said he wanted me to see his presentation and since you agreed, Aizawa…”

“You’ll see”, the younger man answered unhelpfully, leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. Still, he could practically feel Hizashi’s fondly smiling at him.

“Well, let’s go inside, then”, the principal decided and lead the other three heroes into the room to take a seat on the four chairs that were readied for them before the lesson started.

Aizawa stayed outside in the hallway, waiting for his moment to enter. He had to supress a wide grin and hid the lower half of his face in his capture weapon. 

That would be interesting.

“Are you ready?”, Shinsou asked.

He stood beside Izuku in front of the 1A classroom door, waiting for the five minute break to end.

“As ready as I can be, I guess.”

“Sounds convincing.”

Izuku laughed a little breathlessly, then he shook his head.

“I’m nervous since I don’t know how they’ll react. What if they have a problem with me afterwards?”

“Then they’re assholes who didn’t deserve you in the first place.”

The greenet shook his head, then he turned to his other classmate. “Kaminari, you know your part, right?”

“Jepp, sure thing.” The blond gave them a thumbs up and a grin.

“Perfect. You ready too, Shinsou?”

“You know what? Just call me Hitoshi.”

“R-Really?”

The violet teen sighed. “Really. No stop stalling and get going.”

“Then you can call me Izuku”, the greenet answered with determination in his eyes. “Let’s do this.”

He pulled a remote control out of his pocket and turned on the projection in the front of the classroom  and the camera over Kaminari’s desk. The surface of the desk was broadcasted and visible for everybody in the room. There were a few confused murmurs from inside the room, the loudest being Tenya asking if they really could begin if Aizawa wasn’t there. But they calmed down quickly after Yamada-Sensei gestured for them to be quiet.

Izuku plastered a nasty grin on his face and entered the room, followed by Shi… Hitoshi. He walked over to Kaminari’s desk and shoved the purple teen lightly with his shoulder.

“Look what we have here”, he said and Hitoshi answered with a grin full of malice:

“Such a boring desk. Let’s decorate it a little.”

They both pulled out some markers and started to write and draw things on the surface.

Freak

Null

Under-evolved

Go die!

Somewhere, Hitoshi drew a penis and pointed an arrow to it, labeling it with “you”.

Finally, Izuku pulled a flower, it’s stem wrapped up in a plastic bag full of water, out of his bag he had slung over his shoulder and left it on the desk.

It was a read spider lily.

They made sure to stay upright enough that the camera could show their artwork to their classmates. The silence in the room was tense as the two boys laughed about their “decoration” and made their way to their own desks.

In that moment, Kaminari entered the room and made his way over to his desk. When he saw it, he stood there frozen for a moment, his shoulders slumped and his gaze downcast. Finally, he pulled his chair out from under his desk, but before he could sit down, he was interrupted by Aizawa, who followed after him:

“Kaminari. Next time I see your desk like that, you’ll get detention for a week. Now clean that mess up before I tell the principal that you damaged school property.”

The blond student opened his mouth as in protest, but before he could bring a word out, his shoulders slumped again and he answered quietly: “Yes, Sensei.”

Then he sat down without looking at anyone and Aizawa walked over to the wall, where he slumped down on his sleeping bag.

In the meantime, Izuku and Hitoshi made their way back to the front of the room and stood to either side of the projected video. With another hit on a button on the remote, Izuku switched from the video to their presentation slides, showing the title of their presentation: Quirkless discrimination.

“We already heard a lot about discrimination today”, Hitoshi began, “but no other group in our society has it as bad as the quirkless. They face discrimination around every corner. Some of you might think ‘well, they’re a dying breed, so what’, but that’s not true.”

They showed a slide with statistics on the world population and Izuku continued:

 “As you can see, still 20% of the world population is quirkless. This means every fifth person doesn’t have a quirk. In Japan, however, it’s a little different. Here, only about 4.6% of all people are quirkless, and most of them are over 50 years old. In the younger generations – in our generation – there are barely any quirkless people left. Most of you have very likely never really met a quirkless person.”

The green-haired boy’s voice was a little monotone, as if he was just reciting facts he learned by heart. He sounded still compassionate, but not like it was a topic that was personal in any kind of way. And how should it? He had one of the most powerful quirks at this school. How could he ever have encountered discrimination other as from the side lines? What would he even know about anything?

Only a week ago, that was exactly what Hitoshi was thinking and he could see in the face of their audience that they thought the same. Their looks were directed more at him than at Izuku, most likely because they thought he was the one who could relate most. Well, they would learn how wrong they were shortly.

But now it was his turn again:

“What you just saw, the slurs on the table and the teacher who clearly knew that the person the desk belonged to wasn’t the one to write them was a fairly standard start of a school day for a quirkless person. And that’s what we want to show you today: A day in the life of a quirkless teen.”

There were a few gasps in the class and – interestingly – from All Might.

He continued: “At some of the things we’re going to tell you, you may think that we exaggerated. Surely it can’t be that bad. But I assure you: It is. Every little detail we’re going to mention comes from personal experience.”

Immediately, Hitoshi could see the pity in their eyes when they looked at him. Clearly, they all believed that he was the one who had a life like that. That he could relate most to the quirkless since he himself had a villain’s quirk. They all thought like he did, not too long ago: Izuku had a strong quirk, so how could he ever know anything about being powerless and pushed down by society?

Oh, if they just knew how wrong they were.

Another push on a button showed the next slide, which was actually a video. A video of Present Mic slamming an English exam on a table with a disgusted look on his face. There were almost no false answers on the first page, still a big, fat zero adorned the upper left corner.

“You tried to cheat again, didn’t you?”, Yamada-Sensei in the video sneered, “There’s no way someone under-evolved like you could pass with such a grade. You’re stupid by nature and we both know it. So stop cheating! That’s zero points and two hours of detention for you. Next time, I’ll put a mark on your record.”

The video ended and Hitoshi spoke up: “Being graded unfairly and even failed by teachers for no reason is to be expected when you are quirkless. In fact, it’s far more likely than having a decent teacher who would look out for you. Normally, teachers not only ignore the bullying done to you, but they even contribute to it.”

Izuku continued: “In an anonymous survey about three years ago, more than 60% of all quirkless students in junior high or high schools admitted to being graded unfairly or otherwise harassed by their teachers. However, the real number is most likely much higher.”

Another slide showed another video: It was made from the perspective of a person who wore a body cam, but the person wasn’t recognizable. Very much recognizable, on the other hand, was the blond third-year student, Mirio, that pressed the quirkless person up against a wall, smirking down at him cruelly.

“What do you think you’re doing, hm? Just walking around and wasting air that’s meant for people who deserve it. Really, I’ve never seen such a waste of space!”

Behind him, his two friends laughed at his oh so funny words.

Then Mirio took a swing and his fist rushed straight for the camera, which clearly would have been a hard blow to the quirkless person’s upper body.

A cut showed the person with the cam running through the halls of UA until they reached a restroom. Then they saw a bento box on the ground. Clearly, this person eat lunch hiding in the restroom.

"The discrimination quirkless teenagers face from their teachers is tame, however, compared to what the other students do”, Hitoshi explained. “Wherever you go, there is always someone seeing a chance to use you as an outlet for their aggression or bad mood. It starts with name calling in middle school, then it gets physical. It’s just shoving at the beginning, but then there are suddenly fists in your stomach and scratches on your back. Maybe there is even a stair so conveniently before you when you’re pushed from behind. You learn to walk silently, to hide, to run. You learn to read expressions and to know which body parts you should protect. And finally, they use their quirks on you. And at first, you’re happy. By being their target, you’ll get to help them, right? You’ll help them gain better control over their quirk, like a friend would. Not that you would know what having friends is like. But you imagine it could be like this. If it just wouldn’t hurt that much…”

The purple-haired teen saw tears in a few of his more emotional classmates’ eyes as Izuku took over:

“74% of all quirkless children under 12 say that they’ve been bullied by their classmates at least three days a week. 89% of all quirkless teens up until they’re 18 reported extensive bullying in school every weekday. More than two thirds of them received injuries that left scars on them.”

He switched to the next slide, which showed a clock slowly ticking away. Judging from the time it displayed, it was symbolizing the passing of the afternoon.

It was Hitoshi’s turn again:

“In the afternoon, you hear how the others talk about what they’re going to do after school. About how they wanted to play the new video game their dad bought them or how their mother promised to make their favorite food for dinner. And you think about your own family. How your father left the second he heard your diagnosis as quirkless. How you cook your own dinner most days of the week because your single mother has to work late to earn enough money to pay the apartment. The rent went up higher the moment your landlord heard about your quirklessness, so it’s your fault and you don’t complain. You know your mum loves you. She tells you she does, and whenever she’s home she cooks for you and listens to everything you have to say. She’s the only one whose always kind to you. She’s your everything. So you hide your injuries because you don’t want to see her cry.”

Hitoshi took a deep breath when he finished and he cast a glance at Bakugou, who sat ramrod straight in his chair. There was no mistaking anymore what quirkless person they talked about, not for the ash blond teen at least. Then his glance strays away, swiping over the rest of the class. He noticed that most of the girls now had a few tears rolling down their cheeks.

“This scenario is one of the best ones you’ll find in regards of quirkless people’s home lives. Almost every sixth quirkless child is abandoned by their parents in the first half year after their diagnosis. Of the remaining children, a third is abandoned at an older age, but still before their sixteenth birthday. Of the quirkless children that stay at home until their old enough to stay on their own two feet, 58% are subjected to physical or psychical abuse by their own parents. 71% admit to being neglected or treated like they were too fragile and dumb to do anything by themselves.”

A few shocked gasps where heard in the room and Todoroki looked almost as if he wanted to vomit.

A new slide showed the picture of the 1C classroom, Yamada-Sensei slumped in his seat. “Sit down over there and shut your mouth”, he commanded and the person wearing the body cam did as he was told. It was clear that this video showed the detention he got. But instead of working or even just sitting in his chair, Yamada in the video got up and walked over the desk the quirkless person sat at. Hitoshi glanced at the real Yamada, who was pretty pale at the moment and fiddled with his hands uncomfortably. The teen knew exactly why the man reacted like that. This was one of the hardest parts of the whole presentation. In the video, Yamada had reached the students desk and sat on the chair in front of him, backwards with his arms crossed over the chair back. And then he started speaking, a dark glint in his eyes (Mic-sensei really was a great actor):

“You know, you should stop getting yourself in trouble like that. If you keep this up, I’ll soon have no other chance then putting a mark on your record. Except…” He slowly reached out, apparently touching the person somewhere above the body cam. “… I could let it slide a little more, even though I’m not supposed to. But that could get me in trouble, so… I’m sure even you understand that I can’t do this for nothing. I’d need you to… make it up to me.” He grinned like the pervert he pretended to be. “Just… be a little nice to me and we can forget about the cheating, all right? Except you want to have a black mark in your record. That would ban you from any hero school, wouldn’t it? Would be hard to get into UA like that… It’s up to you… sweetheart.”

Hitoshi swallowed and tried to wet his dry lips with the tip of his tongue.

“There is one teacher you fear more than every other. He’s not one of the truly cruel ones. Not one of the ones that cane you or muzzle you because you’re ‘too disruptive otherwise’. No, he never hit you, but he loves giving you detention. He loves just how much he has you in his hand. And he…” Hitoshi had to swallow down a bit of bile trying to creep up his gullet. “And he loves it if you have him in your hand. But he never goes further. He’s careful not to leave any traces behind.”

The whole class gasped and most of them pressed their hand to their mouth, probably trying not to throw up. And Hitoshi understood. He wished he didn’t have to say what he just said, but they wanted to show them the truth. This was one of the big reasons why they wanted to have the school counselor with them. The class would need it afterwards. But for now, Izuku had some statistics to relay. It wasn’t any more pretty than what Hitoshi had to say, but at least it was clinical and emotionless.

“13% of all quirkless children until the age of eighteen admitted that they had been sexually harassed and abused by one of their teachers. In the last five years, there were 14 reports of sexual abuse by teachers filed by quirkless children in Musutafu. In the statistic of the police, all of them were listed under “false accusations” and none of them was investigated further. Generally, only about 8% of all reported crimes against quirkless people are taken seriously and investigated. In most cases, they get completely ignored by the police forces.”

The next video starts to play at the press of a button. It’s the one they made on Saturday. The unknown quirkless person runs through the streets. There are footsteps behind him, taunting voices. He slams into a wall when he rounds a corner as fast as possible and there is the sound of metal rattling coming from behind, mixing with his own hard breaths. A deep voice laughs cruelly.

It’s clear that this is a hunt.

And Hitoshi speaks again:

“One of the most important things you learn when you are quirkless is that you’re never safe. There’s not just the teachers and bullies at school, no, it goes way further than that. Wherever you go, whatever you are doing, you’ll always expect someone to attack you. Sometimes you don’t even know how they know about your quirk status, but it doesn’t matter. You learn to run, not only fast but far. You learn how to hide in the shadows behind dumpsters, praying not to be discovered. Because you know: If they find you, than being beat up and left bloodied on the ground is the best case scenario.”

“Quirkless individuals are four times more likely to be attacked than quirked people”, Izuku explains, his green eyes glassed over as if he read a script in his mind. “Often these attacks result in the death of the victim. Actually, 31% of all quirkless deaths under the age of twenty are caused by hate crimes. Many of them could have been saved if the police and medical personal helped them like they would have helped a quirked individual. However, hospital stuff and police officers tend to find that there is always a quirked person that needs their attention more.”

He took a breath.

“There are several illegal platforms in the dark net that displays names, pictures, addresses and every other information they got their hands on of quirkless people, just to make them easier to target. Usually, these platforms are hosted by anti-quirkless groups. Although we know that some of them have been reported repeatedly, the police have still never taken them down.”

The green-haired boy took a deep breath, the slight hitch in it only noticeable to Hitoshi, since he stood right next to him.

“However, hate crimes are not the most common reason for the death of quirkless people”, he continued. “42% of all quirkless born in the last twenty-five years died before they reached their sixteenth birthday. 63% die before the age of twenty. And more than half of their deaths are caused by suicide. Three out of five quirkless children in school admitted to have been suicide baited regularly, nine out of ten had to experience it at least once. The quirkless population is faced with a far higher chance of ending up homeless or unemployed and UA is one of only 11 high schools in all of Japan who allow quirkless people to apply. All in all, they don’t really have much perspectives for their future.”

They switched to the last video, the one that was cut the most. First, they saw a stairwell, the filming person climbing up the stairs. Then you could see a door that was opened, and the person stepped out onto a rooftop. Slowly, they walk to the railing and the camera turned down to show how high up they were. The single person walking down on the street looked small like a toy. Falling from this height meant immediate death. Hitoshi heard a small noise, almost a whimper, from the teachers at the wall and he glanced over to see All Might, pale as a ghost und with tears in his eyes, his hands clawed into his too boney knees. The camera panned back up and showed the beautiful sunset.

And Hitoshi spoke, spoke the soft words Izuku had muttered on that rooftop, enlightened in the orange hues of sunset and staring into dark memories:

“When you are quirkless, you mean nothing. You’re less then dirt under everybody’s feet. And one day, you start to think what if. Maybe it’s because you see your mom cry over the bills she doesn’t know how to pay. Maybe it’s because the beating you got that day just hurt that tiny little bit more. Maybe it’s because somebody told you that the world would be better without you. Maybe it was the red spider lily left on your desk that day. And you start to think: What if it really would be better for you to just be… gone. Wouldn’t it be easier for everyone? If you stopped being a burden on everybody, stopped wasting air and space and other resources that other people deserved more than you.

If you stopped wishing for a better life.

If you stopped dreaming.”

The video continued. They still saw the sunset, but now there were voices.

“Stop being a burden”, Iida’s voice said and the blue-haired teen stiffened.

“You’ll never amount to anything!”, Kirishima’s voice continued, making the redhead shake in his seat.

“We’d be better off without you!”, Hagakure’s voice echoed through the otherwise silent room.

One after the other, the voices of every class member joined the chorus of slurs and suicide baiting, faster and faster and louder and louder until they all mixed together in a cacophony that filled the room and made some of the teenager clasp their hands over their ears trying to shut it out. And the picture changed, too. The railing vanished out of the picture as the person climbed over it. Pale, bare feet could be seen when the person looked down. And then the feet took a step forward and the camera tipped over as the person fell… and the projection got black.

Everything was silent besides the labored breathing of the students and some of the teachers. Most of their classmates had tears streaming down their cheeks at this point, and even All Might and Present Mic had to press a hand to their mouths to muffle their sobs. And Izuku…

Izuku looked like he wasn’t completely there. For once, he wasn’t crying, wasn’t moving, he wasn’t doing anything. If he wasn’t visibly breathing, Hitoshi would have thought he was just a statue. But he wasn’t. He was a living, breathing, feeling human being and this presentation must hurt so much.

So unbearably much.

But he could stand to live a quirkless life for eleven years; if there was one thing he was familiar with, it was pain.

And he could gain so much, too.

He could gain his peace of mind. Gain the knowledge that here were people, future heroes that would care for somebody like him. That could help make a better world.

And nothing could stop Izuku Midoriya from trying to make the world better.

So they carried on. For the first time in the presentation, the two boys broke the rhythm they established with Hitoshi saying something personal and Izuku following with the facts. This time, it was the purple-haired teen who started the information part.

“Quirklessness”, Hitoshi began, “is diagnosed at the age of four or five. The most common method is to make an x-ray of the child’s foot, since quirkless people possess a few body parts that quirked people lack. One of them is an extra toe joint in their pinky toe. Others are wisdom teeth or an appendix. Having these bodily markers is enough to destroy one’s life. But…” He paused for the dramatic effect (and not to swallow his own tears and get his voice back under control, absolutely not!), “this diagnosis method is not foolproof. There is something called false negatives.”

“False negatives”, Izuku took over, “are people whose bodies show all the signs of quirklessness, but who still have a quirk. Usually, these quirks come in very late, but once they’re first activated, they are very strong. Strong enough to break one’s bones. And it happens suddenly. You can go into the physical part of your high school entrance exam without a quirk and leave it with a quirk that could demolish a giant robot in a single punch, shattering both your legs and one arm in the process.”

The green-haired teen took another deep breath. Then he said:

“Hi, everyone. I’m Izuku Midoriya and I’m a false negative. I was quirkless up until the UA entrance exam. All the things you just saw, they all happened to me. And that one day on the rooftop… I was so close. So close to leave this cruel world and this painful live behind. So close to never get to know any of you. All my life I’ve been waiting for a hero to come and save me from my misery, but everybody just looked the other way. Nobody came to my rescue. I was never worth it to be helped. And it nearly broke me. So…”

And finally, finally the tears streamed down his face freely, silently.

“… so I hope that one day, you and me, we all can be heroes who will help everybody. Who will give hope to the quirkless people that their… that our suffering will matter to someone. That we are worth something to someone. That we are still human. That there are heroes out there who try to make the world a better place for us, too.”

“Thanks for your attention”, Hitoshi closed their presentation and there was no applause like there was after all the other presentations.

There were just silent tears on pale faces and shaking hands and wide, horrified eyes.

And a boy waiting for a verdict.

Chapter Text

Izuku stood there motionless, but his thoughts were running.

Oh dear gods, what have I done! I just told them… They know that I was quirkless. They know… It’s going to be just like middle school, isn’t it? All my friends will turn their backs on me and I’ll be alone again, just a useless, worthless, pathetic freak with his creepy stalker notebooks and…

Warm, but boney arms wrapped themselves around him as he was pulled against a light chest.

“Oh my boy”, a deep, warm voice whispered somewhere above his ear. The person holding him shifted, buried their face in his unruly curls and warm breath tickled his neck.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through all this. So, so incredibly sorry. Please forgive me that I wasn’t there to save you. I should have been your hero, but I failed you. I’m so sorry.”

“All… Might?”, Izuku whispered.

“Yes, my boy. I’m here. I’m here now.”

And to the teen’s utmost horror, he felt little droplets fall on his face, mingling with the tears that were still streaming over his cheeks.

All Might was crying.

He was crying because of him.

“No, young Midoriya. Not because of you. For you.”

“Oh. Did I say that out loud?”

All Might chuckled, lowly and wetly.

“Yes, you did. And it’s alright.”

Oh.

And suddenly his throat felt too tight as a strangled sob made his way out of his mouth and Izuku broke down. He slung his arms around his hero, his idol, and buried his face in his chest, his hand gripping at the tall man’s shirt until his knuckles turned white.

And he cried, loud and messily, tears and snot mixing on his face and staining All Might’s shirt. He would feel embarrassed about dirtying it, but right now he couldn’t think about anything else than how much it had hurt, all these years, and how good it felt to finally, finally be supported by somebody else than his mother. Being supported by All Might, not just by watching his videos on Herotube, but having him here, in person, holding him in a secure embrace. As if he would never allow anyone to hurt him ever again.

And even though All Might wasn’t the larger-than-life number one hero he once was anymore, Izuku still felt so incredibly safe in his arms. The greenet couldn’t do anything else than burying his face deeper into his mentor’s bony chest and try to breath, even though his tears and violent sobbing made it hard for him. But he managed and slowly he tuned other noises back in, hearing a sniffling from somewhere behind All Might’s back, probably Yamada-sensei, and Hound Dog’s low growling. And he heard sobbing from the direction of his classmates, too.

Suddenly, another warm hand landed on his shoulder and when Izuku glanced sideways, he could make out Hitoshi, patting his back awkwardly. He clearly was out of his depth, but still wanted to comfort his presentation partner. The realization made Izuku tear up even more. Soon enough, however, Hitoshi’s hand was replaced by another set of arms, one warm, one cold, wrapping themselves around his middle.

“You’ve been so brave. I’m so glad you’re here with us. With me”, Shoto whispered in his ear, a slight crack in his voice that the green-haired boy never heard before. But before Izuku could overthink what that meant, Shoto squeezed him a little bit harder and lad his chin on top of his shoulder, relaxing his own shoulders in the process. He was clearly content to stand there like that for however long it would take for Izuku to calm down, which paradoxically made him cry even harder.

After a few more minutes, his erratic breathing evened out again und his sobs subsided enough that he could hear a low, tentative voice: “Deku?”

Izuku lifted his head from All Might’s chest and pushed back a little against Shoto, so the latter would give him some space (and nearly smiling at his friends soft complaining whine) and looked over to Uraraka, who stood halfway between her desk and his current position, as if she started to walk towards him and stopped in the middle. A few other classmates (Iida, Tsuyu, Kirishima) were also standing and looked about ready to sprint to him.

Instinctively, Izuku tensed and his eyes roamed over the windows and the door, making sure that his escape routs were still accessible. If he could slip out of All Might’s and Shoto’s embrace fast enough, that is, but they wouldn’t hold him back if his classmates attacked him, right?

Never, a small part of his brain stated, they’d never hurt you. They’d protect you.

And the greenet didn’t know where this thought came from, but somehow it felt true. His mentor and his best friend, they were safe. He could trust them. Just like he could trust Aizawa-sensei who even protected him from Kacchan at the first day of school even though no other teacher before had ever bothered to do that.

With this realization, Izuku looked back at Uraraka. The girl’s voice sounded heavy with unshed tears as she asked: “Deku, did all of this… really happen to you? I… I mean, I don’t think you would lie or something but…”

And the green-haired teen understood. No, she didn’t believe he lied, but she wished it wasn’t true. She wished he didn’t have to go through all this. But he had to, so he nodded, unable to form any words.

His friend pressed her hand to her mouth, before she suddenly threw herself forward until she bumped into him, nearly knocking him of his feet as she tackled him in a bone-crushing hug.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry”, she sobbed.

“I-It’s not your fault”, Izuku breathed out, closing his eyes in a futile attempt to reign in his own tears. “I’m fine now.”

“You’re not fine”, Shoto disagreed. “And that’s perfectly fine. You have the right not to be fine.” The dual-colored boy continued to murmur sweet nothings and reassurances, while the rest of his classmates slowly came closer, crowding around them and finally joining the hug until the whole class was just one big mess of heavy, wet breaths and tangled arms.

Izuku stood at the center, surrounded by his mentor and friends and their warmth and their kind words and … oh. He really wasn’t alone anymore, was he? Even though they knew that he used to be quirkless, they still comforted him. Were still there for him.

Warmth spread throughout his chest.

After a few minutes, they let go of the group hug. Most of the class went to grab some chairs, but the so-called Dekusquad just sat down on the ground, circling Izuku who leaned against the forefront of the teacher’s podium. Shoto still had an arm slung over his friend’s shoulders and Uraraka held his hand in a death grip.

“Problem Child”, Aizawa called while the students all got seated. The gruff man stood next to the podium, staring down at his students and looking stoic as ever, but his eyes betrayed his concern. “Are you alright to continue? If you need a minute or don’t want to talk anymore about it today, that’s fine. You don’t need to push yourself.”

“T-thank you, Sensei, but I’m fine. To… To talk, I mean.”

“Fine. But if that changes, we will stop anytime.” The man then looked up and addressed the rest of his students as well. “I know that’s a lot to stomach for all of you. I know that this assignment may have brought up some bad memories for you, and knowing how your classmate has been treated is probably a shock to you all. So, if you need to step out, you’re always welcome to do so. I also want to make sure that you know you don’t have to deal with this alone.” He gestured to the teachers still sitting along the wall. “You can talk to any of us teachers, but for more severe issues I’d recommend you to talk with Hound Dog, since he’s the schools counselor. Getting help for mental issues is no sign of weakness, I want to be absolutely clear on this. Almost every pro hero sees a therapist regularly or has seen one at some point during their career. There’s not shame in that, it’s only logical to get help if you need it. Just like you would go to a hospital if you broke something. So please don’t hesitate to come forward to one of us.”

After this uncharacteristically long speech, their homeroom teacher gestured to Izuku, signaling him to continue.

The greenet nodded and addressed the class: “Um… Well, I guess you have some questions…?”

There was a beat of silence, before Iida spoke up, a lot softer than he usually would: “It’s not a question, but I just wanted to thank you for telling us. I think I can speak in the name of the whole class when I say that we’re honored to have your trust.”

“He’s right, kero”, Tsuyu added. “But… Why did you decide to tell us? You could have held this presentation without mentioning your personal involvement.”

“Yeah, I guess I could have. But… I wanted to tell you. Because… Growing up like that was… It was hard. Sometimes I didn’t even know why I kept on living. And it’s still impacting me, obviously. All my life I pretended to be fine and when I got into UA, I just kept pretending. And it was fine, for a while, but now… I have friends now and the whole class really is closer to me than any of my former classmates were. And my pretending started to feel less like a way to survive but more like I’m deceiving you. There’s so much I kept from you and you probably all have a picture of me that is… far from the truth. So I basically just… I wanted to be honest with you. The hero Deku who always smiles… It’s more a farce than anything. I’m sorry if that disappoints you.”

“We could never be disappointed with you, Deku!”, Uraraka immediately cried, and Iida nodded his head vigorously.

“Yes indeed”, the class rep added, chopping the air with his hand, “On the contrary. All your accomplishments are even more impressive now. You’ve had your quirk for not even a year and you’re still able to keep up with the rest of your classmates, all of whom had their quirks for more than ten years. And you not only keep up but you’re even one of the best in heroics. We all should strive to live up to the example you are setting!”

Izuku looked at his friends with big, watery eyes, another choked sob ripping from his throat. “Y-You… You really think that?”

“Of course!”, Iida responded, nearly hitting Tsuyu in the face with his moving arm.

“Yeah, that’s so manly!”, Kirishima shouted from his seat and others also expressed their agreement:

“Sure thing, Midobro!”

“Yes, kero.”

“Absolutely! You’re the real deal, Midori!

“Why would we think anything else?”

“Course, kiddo, you’re rockin’!”

Izuku looked over the his English teacher, who sent him an encouraging smile despite his red-rimmed eyes. Once again the boy was overwhelmed by how different the teachers at UA were. Even though they knew about his former quirk status, they didn’t turn at him or punish him. They still supported him.

It was a nearly incomprehensible concept for him.

“So…”, Kaminari piped up next, “that teacher you mentioned in the presentation…” The blond didn’t finish his sentence.

Izuku gulped, but after a deep breath and an encouraging squeeze of his hand from Shoto, he felt as ready as he would ever be to talk about that topic.

“Yes, he r-really touched me. And m-made me touch him.”

Breath, Izuku. In two three, hold two three, out two three… Just keep on breathing.

“I-It was… I felt so gross. But I wanted to apply to UA and he said he’d put a black mark on my record if I didn’t do what he wanted or if I told anybody about it… I was scared. UA is one of the only high schools that allows quirkless people to even apply and even though it was highly unlikely that I’d make it into the hero course, UA’s gen ed course has a good reputation. I-It would have been my only chance to get higher education. I couldn’t risk losing that. So I just… let it happen, I guess.”

“You never told anybody?”, Yaoyorozu asked, clearly looking uncomfortable.

“I tried, once. I went to the police station, but as soon as they saw my quirk status, the officer told me to get lost before he would arrest me for false accusations.”

“That’s so fucked up”, Sero murmured.

“So this teacher was never punished for his actions?”, Iida asked incredulous.

“Not yet”, the principal interrupted calmly, before Izuku could do more than open his mouth. The stoat – and yes, Izuku was quite sure that the furry principal was mostly stoat – walked over to the Dekusquad, who’s members were still sitting in a circle on the ground. He stopped once he stood next to the green-haired child and lay a paw on his shoulder.

“After Aizawa informed me of your talk last Thursday, I started to investigate your junior high and middle school. I gained access to the security footage and ran a face recognition program through it to find all the incidents you were involved in.” His beady-black eyes stared straight into emerald green ones, conveying his seriousness. “I just finished to view them all this morning and I was… shocked, to say the least. This school will be closed and the teachers arrested by the end of the week, that I can promise you. No other child will ever have to suffer from the hands of these… teachers ever again.” He spit the word “teachers” as if it left a bad taste in his mouth, full of venom and righteous anger, his usually cheery façade slipping for a moment.

Izuku just stared at him, completely shell-shocked.

“You… You investigated Aldera?”, he whispered unbelievingly.

“Why, of course!”, the principal chirped, a creepy smile on his furry face. “They’ll all get the punishment they deserve.”

“T-Thank you!”, Izuku sobbed, another wave of tears stinging in his eyes.

“No need to thank me, young man. As an educator and even more as a hero it’s my duty to rectify such injustice.”

“And it’s really that bad that the teachers need to be arrested?”, Yamada-sensei asked.

A shadow flitted over his boss’s expression as he nodded solemnly.

“Shit”, the teacher cursed in English and he stroked his mustache with his thumb and pointer finger repeatedly in a nervous gesture.

“But wait a second!”, Jirou suddenly spoke up, “Didn’t you go to school with Bakugou before UA?”

Deathly silence fell over the room, as all eyes turned to the ash blond boy who’s been uncharacteristically silent for the last few minutes. Even now he was just sitting on his desk and staring down at his hands on the tabletop.

“Bakubro?”, Kirishima asked tentatively.

The blond scowled like usual, but didn’t otherwise react to being addressed.

“Bakubro! Please tell me that you did something to help Midobro!”

“Why would he?”, Shoto asked loud and clear, his voice even colder than his ice. “After all he…”

“Don’t!”, Izuku interrupted him and looked at him with wide pleading eyes. “Please… It’s not…” He shook his head, a sad smile on his face. “It’s not important anymore.”

“You’re still scared of him!” Shoto glared at him, but the greenet could see the worry in his eyes.

“Why would he be scared?”, Kirishima asked, his voice thin and brittle. “Bakubro always wanted to be a hero! He must have helped him! Right?”

“…”

“Right?!”

“Shut the fuck up, Shitty Hair!”, Katsuki finally screamed, small explosions popping in his hands. “What the heck do you want to hear, huh? That I didn’t help him? I never even lifted a single fucking finger to help him! And you know why? Because I was too busy making his life miserable. Too fucking busy with taunting him and pushing him around and destroying his worksheets and shit and… and…”

“Kacchan!”, Izuku called out desperately. The ash blond teen turned to him, staring at him with wide eyes, breathing heavily.

“I-It’s alright. It wasn’t your fault and it’s not like that anymore. I know you changed or are at least trying to. It’s all different now.”

“Is it, really?”, Nedzu suddenly asked. Izuku flinched. He had already forgotten that the principal still stood next to him and Shoto.

“Then there never was an incident when Bakugou attacked you with unnecessary force while here at UA?”

“Well… It was just training and…”

“And no situation, let me think, maybe during the end of term exams, where he hit you in the face hard enough to break your cheekbone because you dared to mention that fighting All Might head on probably wasn’t the best idea?”

“I… I… N-Nobody said anything about it! Aizawa-sensei never mentioned it! Why… Why were you alright with it then and not anymore?”

“You are right. We only watched the actual exams and because it happened in the preparation time, we didn’t notice it at the time. I am very sorry for this oversight. I apologize.”

At that, the principal bowed his head low to Izuku. It was the second teacher – even the principal – now who bowed to him in the course of a single week. It was really strange after years of teachers ignoring and belittling him and now they suddenly apologized to him. And Nedzu wasn’t finished.

“To be frank, we as UA failed you, Midoriya. We failed to make this school a place for you where you can feel save and for that I am truly sorry. I will do whatever is necessary to change that. If this means that Bakugou can no longer stay a part of this class, then that’s what will happen.”

“NO!”, Izuku immediately cried out. “You can’t expel him! He… He always wanted to be a hero! And it’s not his fault, all our teachers in middle school and junior high never did anything to help Kacchan getting better!”

“Very well. Indeed, in my opinion, Bakugou is not solely to blame for his behavior. Although he should be old enough to know right from wrong. However, we also failed to take action. Bakugou would have needed a lot more guidance than we provided for him so far. Which will be rectified right away.”

He turned his black gaze to Katsuki.

“I will sign you up for mandatory anger management sessions with Hound Dog to learn how to keep yourself in check. Also, you’ll have to attend therapy, since I suspect that there might be some deeper routed issues causing your behavior that you need to work on. However, you won’t be able to do therapy with Hound Dog, too, since this would pose a conflict for our school counselor. Of course I’ll contact your parents and work something out with them. You’ll have UA’s full support, as long as you put in the effort to try and get better.”

Katsuki just stared at the mammal, then he nodded courtly and lowered his gaze again. He didn’t even glance at his friends and classmates, probably not wanting to see the expressions on their faces. And when Izuku did just that, he could understand why. Shock, horror, anger and resent showed on all of their faces.

“So…” Mina sounded uncharacteristically hesitant and sad. “Bakugou really was Midoriya’s bully?”

“Did he apologize?”, Hitoshi suddenly asked. “Did he ever apologize to you? For what he did?”

“N-No…?” It was said more like a question than like a statement.

“Figures”, the purple-haired teen huffed angrily, crossing his arms over his chest and Shoto pulled Izuku a little closer to his side, glaring daggers at Katsuki.

“I-It’s alright. I’m sure if-if he has proper help, he will. And he will mean it. Right now, he couldn’t mean it. Not really.” Izuku looked over the self-proclaimed Bakusquad, meeting each of their gazes. “Please, don’t stop being his friends. He’s already doing better. He’ll need your help to become a better person. So, please, help him!”

They all looked conflicted, but finally Kirishima spoke up: “Alright. But you have to promise to tell us if you feel unsafe or anything. And you!”, he turned to Katsuki, “You’ll do anything necessary to be a better person. I’m not friends with bullies. So you need to proof that you aren’t one anymore. Or so the gods help me, I’ll kick your ass right out of this class!”

Katsuki’s eyes widened. He looked up at his friend, gulped and finally nodded.

“Yeah”, he croaked. “I can do that. I’m going to do that.”

“Very well”, the principal clapped his paws and smiled gleefully. “I think that was quite enough for today. I’d recommend you all to go back to your dorm.”

“Go watch a movie marathon or something”, Aizawa-sensei drawled. “I’ll come by later. All Might, stay with the kids.”

“Of course, Aizawa.” He walked over to Izuku and offered him his hand with a kind smile. “Let’s go, my boy. What movie would you want to watch?”

Slowly, the whole class got up and left, Izuku sandwiched between All Might and Shoto, Iida, Uraraka and Hitoshi walking behind them. It made the greenet feel save and protected.

He threw a look over his shoulder and saw the rest of the class following them. Their faces still showed how affected they were by everything that was revealed this afternoon. The last one to follow was Katsuki, his friends walking a few steps in front of him. Izuku furrowed his brow. He didn’t want the blond to lose his friends. He really needed their support and they were good people, they already helped him so much…

His heart clenched at the thought that he might have ruined their friendship, enough to nearly make him cry again, but he pushed the tears back. He’d cried enough today already and more tears wouldn’t help anyone with anything.

He was pulled out of his musings when All Might laid a large hand on his shoulder and asked him for his opinion on the fight Hawks had this morning with a villain with a pretty nasty wind quirk, which wasn’t a very good match-up for a hero with wings. Although, Hawks handled the situation very well, letting some of his feathers stray away and hiding under cars until the were in the villains back and could attack him before he even noticed them. It reminded Izuku of a fight a few months back when…

As Izuku fully went into his mumble-mode, he could finally relax a little and the tension seeped out of his shoulders with every step the made.

- - - - - - -

Shouta sighed deeply when he pushed the door to the teacher’s lounge open, immediately making a beeline for the coffee machine in the corner. He knew this afternoon would be exhausting but dear gods, how could the world fail a child like that? And if it was hard to hear for him, a seasoned pro hero, even an underground one, who was already aware of all the topics Shinsou and Midoriya were going to talk about, then how hard must it have hit the rest of the students?

He poured himself a cup of coffee and gulped it down in one go. He set the mug down in the sink, but before he could make a move to wash it (or rather turn around and leave it for someone else *caugh Hizashi caugh* to wash it), two strong, familiar arms wrapped themselves around his waist.

“Poor little listener”, Hizashi sniffed slightly muffled, hiding his face in Shouta’s neck. The scent of his husband, a mix of cat, coffee and his own scent, always helped calm him down and the underground hero was usually more than ready to provide his love with whatever he needed to feel better, even if it was just staying still and let himself be breathed in deeply.

Although… Standing still definitely wasn’t as appealing as turning around and give Zashi a proper hug. So that’s what he did.

Hizashi took half a step back and loosened his embrace to give Shouta more room to move, but tightened his arms again immediately after the dark-haired man faced him. Shouta slung his own arms around the blond, pressing him into his chest until there wasn’t even a millimeter of space between them. Hizashi had taken his speaker off when he entered the teachers lounge, giving Shouta the chance to burry his own face in his neck now, too. For a while – a minute, a year, a lifetime, he could never bother to keep track of time when he was so close to the love of his life – they just stood there and held each other, finding comfort in each other’s strong embrace.

“We’re helping him now”, Shouta murmured lowly. “He’s not alone. And therapy will help him.”

“I know. I’m just… when he asked me to play the role of this degenerate teacher… It hurts so much to know that he had to go through that. That he endured it to have a chance to apply to UA… It just makes me so, so angry and sad and…” He took a deep, stuttering breath. Shouta leaned back to look into teary, light-green eyes. He wished Zashi wouldn’t wear his hair up in this ridiculous cockatoo-style right now, he’d love to burry his hands in these golden, silky strands and combing through them in the slow, steady rhythm that calmed them both.

“We’ll make sure that this never happens to any other student. This man will rot in prison for what he did. And Midoriya will get all the help he needs. From Hound Dog, from Nedzu, from his friends, from us.”

“Yeah, don’t forget us!”, Zashi insisted, “We’ll be there for our little listener. I know he has his mother to care for him, but he lives in the dorms now and there’s no-one else to fill that space momentarily…”, he rambled.

“Zashi, of course we’ll be there for him, but please remember that we’re not his parents. And if there’s an open spot for a father figure, you’ll have to battle Yagi for that position first.” He smirked.

“True”, the blond replied, laughing a little at himself. “And I don’t think I could hit All Might. He’s too much of my teen idol for that.”

“Oh, you shouldn’t underestimate Yagi just because he can’t hold his muscle form anymore”, Nedzu piped up happily. When the two men turned around, they saw the mammal sitting on one of the couches next to Hound Dog, dangling his short legs and sipping a cup of tea. Neither of them knew where he got it, seeing as they still stood right in front of the sink in the little kitchenette, the only place in the room where somebody could make tea.

“However, I don’t think there will be a reason to fight. I’m sure there’s enough of Midoriya for everybody.”

“If Todoroki is willing to share his boyfriend, that is”, Zashi added and laughed again.

“They’re not boyfriends”, Shouta deadpanned.

“Shoooutaaa! You’ve seen the little listeners! They’re totally crushing on each other and Todoroki won’t pass up the opportunity to be there for him and we both know how that can get two pining people together, don’t we?”, he asked teasingly.

Shouta buried the lower half of his face in his capture weapon, but it was not enough to completely hide the blush on his cheeks. It was true, Hizashi and himself had been crushing on each other since their first-year sports festival, but both of them were to afraid to make the first move. Then Oboro died and Hizashi successfully blocked all of Shouta’s attempts to withdraw back  into his shell, forcing him to talk about his feelings and rely on his friends. Talks became just sitting in comfortable silence, became a first date, became a first kiss and the rest was history.

Shouta would never stop being grateful for everything Hizashi had done for him and continued to do every day, for all the love he got and all the love he was allowed to give.

But still…

“I’m not dealing with teenage hormones fluttering around in my homeroom and even less in the dorms. They are not boyfriends and they are not allowed to date until they graduate.”

Hizashi shamelessly laughed in his face and even Nedzu and Inui snickered from the couch, but Shouta stood by it. He was paid to make them good heroes, not to stop them from sneaking into each other’s dorm rooms and indulge in what Iida would call inappropriate behavior, damn it.

“Well, be this as it may”, Nedzu spoke up after they all composed themselves again. “I think there are a few issues we need to address. As you know, Aizawa, I’m already in contact with Detective Tsukauchi regarding the Aldera School District. Midoriya will have to give his statement at some point, but there’s enough time for him to sort through his emotions beforehand. I’d also like to talk with his mother. Even though it sounded like there wasn’t any abuse coming from her, I’d like to be sure. We already failed this boy enough and I’m not ready to let anything else slip. Also, we’ll have to talk more about Bakugou and his punishments, as well as his requirements to stay in your class. Inui, I’d ask you to talk to Midoriya about it. Try to find out if he really is fine with him staying or if the thought is just stemmed from his lacking sense of self-worth.”

He clapped his paws.

“There’s much to do, so let’s get started!”, he said cheerfully and the other teachers in the room nodded and took a seat as well. There were a lot of details to discuss, decisions to make and meetings to set up. It meant that Shouta’s life was about to get even more stressing in the near future, but when he thought about his green-haired student, his Problem Child, it was more than worth it.

Epilogue:

It was Saturday, three and a half weeks after the presentation that changed so much for Izuku, starting with a very tearful talk with his mother that left them both a sobbing mess. He had to promise to never hide things like that from her ever again and he intended to keep it.

 Contrary to his fears, his classmates took his reveal really well, accepting his former quirklessness without a problem. Of course, there were little hitches every now and then. For example when Momo would sometimes suddenly stop speaking in the middle of a sentence, afraid to hurt Izuku’s feelings. Or when some of his classmates tried to help him with things he usually didn’t need help with and he was left all teary-eyed, feeling weak even though his brain told him that they only tried to be nice. However, it was nothing an open-hearted discussion of what was appropriate behavior around quirkless people or false negatives (namely to behave like usual, you dorks) couldn’t fix.

Katsuki had had some rough weeks. His friends were a lot more distant than before and the majority of the class tried to interact with him as little as possible. However, as the time went on, they saw that he tried. He started regular anger management and therapy sessions, which of course would need time to show effect, but it was a first step in the right direction. The teacher looked far more closely on his behavior during class and he calmed noticeably down. Of course he was still abrasive and brash, but they all could see the effort he put into trying to reign his temper in. He wasn’t forgiven, neither by the class nor by Izuku, not by a long shot. But, as Aizawa-sensei would say, the chances of that happening were not zero, so the greenet kept his hopes up.

Izuku himself had spent the last weeks talking a lot about his emotions, something he absolutely wasn’t used to. Of course he spoke with Hound Dog, anything else would completely undermine the idea of going into therapy, but also his friends had made it their mission to get him to talk. Iida started to join him on his morning runs sometimes, always using the chance to ask how he was doing. Uraraka gave him hugs every chance she could and whenever he looked only slightly down, she asked him how he felt. Even Hitoshi started a few awkward attempts at talking about his feelings, though he looked like he rather would be anywhere else doing anything else, even Aizawa-sensei’s suicide sprints.

The one that really succeeded in make him talk, however, was Shoto.

The dual-haired boy would barely ever leave Izuku’s side; wherever the greenet went, he went, too. The two boys spent hours sitting in either of their rooms, talking about everything and nothing. Sometimes they held deep conversations that left tear tracks on their cheeks, sometimes they discussed quirks or Izuku listened to the newest conspiracy theory (clearly, Shoji had to be best jeanist’s secret love child since they both always covered their mouth). As the days passed, they started to sometimes just sit in silence, reading or doing homework or, in Izuku’s case, quirk analysis. Neither of them felt the need to talk in these moments, both content to just share the space with the other and have them near.

This Saturday, however, Shoto broke the silence. In the early afternoon, the two teens sat in Izuku’s room, Shoto reading a book and his friend scribbling in one of his notebooks, until Shoto spoke up:

“There’s a new cat café not to far away from here. Do you want to go with me?”

“Hm?”, Izuku looked up, still a little lost in thought. “Oh, yeah, that would be nice. When do you want to go?”

“Right now.”

“R-Right now?” Izuku stared at him with wide eyes. “But we need to ask Aizawa-sensei if we are allowed to leave campus and…”

“I already asked him.”

“Oh.”

Izuku blinked at his friend, not sure what to say anymore. Shoto stared back stonefaced.

“Alright then.”

“You want to go with me?”

Izuku beamed. “Yes, of course. If we’re allowed to, it’s always nice to hang out with friends. We should ask Iida and Uraraka if they want to tag along…”

“No.” Shoto took a deep breath and suddenly he looked nervous. “I want to go only with you. Like… on a date.”

Izuku’s brain bluescreened.

“W-What?”

“I don’t want to hang out like friends. I tried to ask you out on a date. So… Would you go on a date with me?”

“I… ahm…”

The longer he took to answer, the more nervous Shoto looked, until he averted his eyes and murmured: “I guess that’s a no…”

That was what pulled Izuku out of his stupor.

“NO!”, he practically screamed. “No, I do want to go on a date with you!”

“You do?”

The green-haired boy couldn’t contain his wide smile. “Of course I do.”

Shoto smiled back just as wide. “It’s a date, then.”

“It’s a date.”

So on their date they went. The cat café was small and cozy and the coffee delicious. The boys sat down in booth in the corner and let all the felines climb all over them while the sipped their hot drinks and chatted amicably. At one point, Izuku laughed so hard that he nearly fell from his seat, which upset the orange tabby cat sitting on his shoulders at the time greatly. They had to bribe her with cat treats Shoto bought at the counter to make her come back afterwards. When they left the café and headed back to their dorms, they were both smiling.

Before they reached Heights Alliance, Shoto suddenly stopped in his tracks and grabbed Izuku’s hand to hold him back, too.

“What’s wrong, Shoto?”, Izuku asked worriedly.

“Nothing”, the other boy responded hesitantly, “just…”

He grabbed Izuku’s hands and pulled him forward, so that they stood opposite and pretty close to each other.

“Shoto, what…”

He couldn’t finish his question as Shoto leaned slowly forward and brushed his lips against Izuku’s. He pulled back a little to shoot the greenet a quick, assessing glance, then he leaned back in and pressed his mouth more firmly against the other boys.

Izuku didn’t know what happened to him. It was just a gentle press of lips on his, but it made his heart race and his knees weak. Warmth pooled in his stomach, fluttering upwards into his chest and creeping through his whole body. He didn’t know why his body reacted like that, but he didn’t want it to stop. So when Shoto pulled back again, it was him who followed the retreating lips to catch them again in another kiss, his hands simultaneously reaching out to land on Shoto’s hips and pull him closer.

In the end, they couldn’t tell how long they just stood there sharing gentle kisses, but really, time was such an abstract concept when you could get lost in the person you cared so deeply for. How could it even matter in a moment like that. When they finally separated, they smiled shily at each other. Izuku grabbed Shoto’s hand and held it tightly while the walked the last fifty meters to their dorm building.

To Izuku, it felt like fate, as if their story was already written and they had just to follow the paths laying out in front of them.

Long talks turning into time silently spent together. Silence turning into a first date. A date turning into a perfect first kiss.

He wondered what more would wait for them.

He couldn’t wait to see it.