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Izuku is odd. He's known that since he was four, and cast out by his peers.
However, he especially knows it now. Even before he got One for All, those past few months after that slime incident were weird. Things happened around him; his hands would subconsciously catch falling objects before he even registered they were falling, he could dodge Kacchan's targeted explosions like he knew what was going to happen before it did, and eventually, others noticed too.
Kacchan strayed from him more and more often, blazing red eyes finding him wherever the two went.
Then came UA. Oh, his dream school - he'd wanted to go here since he was small, teensy and mighty and weak.
His bones creak under the force of his power, but never break. Izuku never seems to notice how red lines warp and shift under his skin like ribbons.
Others do.
Ochako tilts her head at the sight, but doesn't point it out - she finds it vaguely fascinating, the way he pushes his body to limits he doesn't even seem to acknowledge, and all for her. When she asks him about it later, he just tilts his head.
"No?" Izuku frowns slightly. "I've never been able to do that."
He walks off without a goodbye, muttering something about his 'new' quirk under his breath, and Ochako finds herself drawn to him. There's just something off about the way he's so genuine and so false in the same breath that calls her like a moth to a flame.
Shouto finds him the same. When they fight in the cavalry battle, he never even manages to so much as graze those headbands. Izuku's arm grasps his wrist with what sounds like a sickening crack, his shoulder crunching although the boy doesn't flinch.
For a long while, Shouto wonders if Izuku was like him; forced to be strong and trained to ignore whatever limits he had. Once he meets Midoriya Inko, though, he shoves those thoughts aside, and goes right back to the drawing board.
"Are you some sort of entity?" he probes Izuku late one night, turning his paper around and sliding it over Izuku's desk. "I don't believe you got it from your mother, but anything's possible."
Izuku raises an eyebrow at it, lifting the page like he can't quite believe what's on it. "Shouto, I'm fully human," the boy insists. "Although I can't remember my dad, I'm sure Mama would've mentioned if his quirk was anything other than just fire breath."
Shouto walks away with more questions than answers, but something settles in his chest. He knows the truth, and he's going to keep it to himself. After all, he doesn't want anyone else hurt by the government, and people in power loved to hurt others who had it too.
Tsuyu never directly brings it up. She understands weird quirk habits, especially considering how some of hers can seem just as gross as his.
However, she can't help but notice how he seems to fit through areas too small to be humanly possible. It's like he compresses himself.
Tsuyu never points it out, but she does acknowledge it. Frogs have a good memory; each little moment and action taken are stored.
He permits it, too - never says anything but thanks her for the information she brings to the table, that sometimes even he doesn't know his own limits and that he appreciates her work and her attention.
Izuku is weird, but she's just like him.
Tenya has a similar thing. Izuku never shies away from his energy, but never reciprocates it; at first, Tenya had worried that he'd made the other uncomfortable. Eventually, he just realized the greenette sometimes wasn't himself.
He wasn't dissociating. Tenya had studied psychology since he was young in order to educate himself on potential civilian protection risks. No, if anything, it was like someone else was there. He'd call it OSDD or DID, but it really wasn't.
Izuku is sometimes not human, and Tenya comes to terms with it like all people do - through a late night realization. He takes his glasses off and rubs his eyes.
"Perhaps it's for the best," Tenya sighs. "That he cannot truly harm himself with that quirk."
"Izuku?" Shouto calls as Ochako floats next to him, the group trying to peer their way behind the fridge. "The noises are gone, you can come out!"
The speaker from movie night is smashed on the floor from where Tenya had tried to get to the kitchen in his hurry. Denki had accidentally discharged, and Izuku had retreated faster than anyone could see.
They'd finally found him from the shadow that occasionally retreated from the fridge, only to shove itself right back into its place between it and the wall. To be honest, Shouto knew they should've checked there - Izuku always had a penchant for slinking into crevices.
"What hurts?" Ochako calls, brows furrowed in worry as she keeps trying to get a look. "We can't help if we don't know what's wrong..."
Eventually, his voice warbles through the air, quieter than usual and more strained. "The vibrations - I just... I can't come out until it's gone."
Tsuyu turns and catches Tenya's eye, the boy nodding. As soon as she scoops up every piece of shattered plastic and puts it in a bag, he runs off to dispose of it across campus. "Is that better, ribbit?"
A hand comes from the shadows, testing the waters, and their friend slowly creeps out, making everyone still there let out the breaths they didn't even know they were holding.
"The vibrations," Shouto half-states, but everyone knows it's a question.
"It's like they were forcing me back," Izuku frowns, glancing to where the speaker once was and relaxing once he sees that it's gone. "Really didn't like that."
"We're sorry it hurt you," Ochako pats his back. "We'll have to be more careful about tech in the future, right?"
"Y-You really don't have to-" Izuku tries, but Tsuyu gives him an unimpressed look, and he heaves a fond sigh. "Fine, okay. I'll come with you when we buy anything."
"Thank you," Tenya pipes up from the doorway, arm chopping the air. "We were very concerned!"
The rest of the night devolves into continued apologies, but Shouto and Tsuyu share a look.
"Vibrations?" she ribbits under her breath, and he nods sagely.
"Like those liquids that react to noise."
"Ah. That does make sense."
Midoriya Izuku may be odd, but his friends loved it.