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Izuku knew from the moment he woke up that today was going to be a bad day.
No, not the kind where he’d lose his filter and snap at everyone, no, this was the kind where he’d get a little too stuck in his memories. Honestly, he wished it was the former.
Izuku got out of bed and started walking to his closet. For whatever reason, maybe because he was tired, Izuku stumbled and hit his hip against his desk.
Izuku cried out as he was shoved against the teacher’s desk. The group of bullies loomed over him. He didn’t know their names but it’s not like it mattered. No one would listen to the quirkless kid.
”Honestly, you’re so useless, Deku, how are you supposed to be a hero when all you do is cry? You should do everyone a favor and just give up.” The leader grinned, shoving him harder into the desk.
“Hey, null, did you hear about that quirkless girl on the news?”
Rin Tanaka.
She’d been bullied for years by both teachers and students. Her parents had thrown her out at 9 when it became clear she wasn’t getting a quirk. It all continued to build up until it got too much and she killed herself.
She was twelve.
”Why don’t you do everyone a favor and follow her lead?”
It felt like a bucket of ice had been dumped over Izuku’s head. The bullies laughed cruelly as they walked away.
Izuku was brought back to reality by the throbbing in his hip.
Right.
He was at UA.
Sighing, Izuku got dressed and headed down to the kitchen. He grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and filled it up with water.
Apparently, whatever god was out there had a grudge against him because the second he lifted the glass to take a sip, it slipped out of his grasp and shattered on the floor.
Izuku stared horrified at the broken vase on the floor. He hadn’t meant to break it! His classmates had tripped him on purpose!
"You worthless shit!”
Izuku’s head snapped up at his teacher’s scream. He flinched back as his teacher picked up her wooden ruler and advanced on him, hurling insults. He recoiled as he was struck with blow after blow.
"-Worthless null, need to learn your place. Obviously you haven’t been displined enough-“
“-Midoriya!”
Izuku snapped out of it and looked up from the broken glass. Kirishima was staring at him, concerned.
”Are you ok, man?”
Not at all. “Yup!”
Izuku smiled brightly even though on the inside he didn’t feel anything.
“Ok… Well, you’re bleeding…” Kirishima still seemed hesitant and a little nervous.
Izuku glanced down.
Oh. He was.
He must’ve cut his fingers when he tried to pick up the glass. It didn’t even hurt. Izuku just stared down at his injured fingers with morbid curiosity.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Mido?”
Izuku glanced back up at him and smiled. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine! Just tired. I’ll go see Recovery Girl.”
He did not go see Recovery Girl.
It wasn’t really his fault, though! She said she wouldn’t heal him anymore and this was definitely his fault. Besides, school nurses never seemed to like him in the first place. This was nothing new.
”Here again, really, Midoriya?” The school nurse glared down at Izuku with disgust.
It wasn’t his fault this time! His classmates had shoved him down three flights of stairs and even though he tried to tell the teachers it was fine, they sent him to the nurse and told him to stop being so clumsy.
He knew they saw it happen.
It wasn’t his fault, it never was, but when did that matter.
“Midoriya?”
Izuku blinked and suddenly he found himself in front of the classroom door. He turned around to see his homeroom teacher standing behind him, staring at him with a weird expression.
“O-Oh, sorry, Sensei! Just got a little distracted!” Izuku stammered out, flashing a sheepish smile. He hurriedly rushed into the classroom and sat in his seat.
He needed to get it together. He could feel Aizawa-sensei’s eyes on him for all of homeroom.
Luckily, he managed to make it all the way to English without any incidents. And then, everything went horribly wrong.
Yamada-sensei had given them free time in class today. It was a little weird if you asked Izuku. Especially with the how unusually quiet the blonde man was today. He also kept glancing over at Izuku every once in awhile.
Izuku just shrugged it off. He wasn’t going to say no to time he could spend writing in his notebook, no matter how weird his teacher was being.
He hadn’t meant to set Kacchan off, he was just really excited about a new hero he had heard about and wanted to write them down in his notebook! He hadn’t even noticed he was mumbling.
“-So cool! Her quirk is so useful and I bet she could-“
Kacchan slammed his hands on the desk and stood up, quirk crackling at his fingertips, as he turned around to snarl at Izuku.
”WILL YOU SHUT UP FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, SHITTY DEKU!”
Izuku’s flinched and nearly toppled out of his chair. His muscles locked and his breathing stopped.
"Hold him down.”
Izuku stared up pleadingly at his childhood friend as the lackeys pinned him to the floor. Kacchan just gazed down at him with a cruel smirk.
"You’re always mumbling and writing in those creepy nerd notebooks of yours. I guess we’ll have to teach you a lesson.”
Izuku heard the telltale pops of the explosive boy’s quirk moments before he felt searing pain wash over his body.
He screamed.
“Haven’t you realized it yet? You’ll never be a hero. You’re just a useless Deku.“ they taunted him.
"N-No! Please!”
They lackeys delivered punch after punch, unrelenting as they brutalized his limp body. Another explosion sounded and white hot pain traveled up his body, smothering him. His skin burned. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. It hurt so much. What did he do to deserve this?
Exist.
In that moment, somewhere deep inside Izuku, something finally shattered.
Hizashi was worried about Midoriya.
The kid just seemed a little off today, and he wasn’t the only one who noticed. Shouta had told him that Kirishima had found him earlier that morning to tell him about the green haired boy’s actions.
Apparently, Midoriya had accidentally dropped his cup and instead of immediately cleaning it up, he just stared at it for a good while before Kirishima finally managed to get his attention.
The boy had seemed checked out all day. Shouta mentioned that he had found the boy just standing outside of 1-A’s door.
Frankly, it was worrying. Luckily, class 1-A had English today so Hizashi could keep an eye on him. Midoriya seemed a lot better when he walked in to the classroom, but Hizashi still gave them a free period just in case.
He had just finished grading the last of 1-B’s English papers when he heard Bakugou yell. He opened his mouth to reprimand the explosive boy, but froze when he saw the look on Midoriya’s face.
“Everyone out now! Go to the dorms!” He quickly ordered, nearly toppling his chair in his hurry to get up.
Several students opened their mouths to protest, but one sharp look had them deciding against it and hurriedly leaving. Kirishima, dragged the still screaming Bakugou out of the classroom by his collar, shooting Midoriya one last worried look.
Hizashi crouched down at Midoriya’s side. The boy’s eyes were wide and unseeing and it didn’t look like he was aware of his surroundings.
Dissociation, his mind supplied.
“Hey, Midoriya can you hear me?”
No reaction.
Hizashi didn’t want to touch him and risk accidentally triggering him more, but he needed to get Midoriya’s attention.
Slowly and carefully he placed his hand over the boy’s. The boy didn’t flinch or recoil so he decided to keep his hand there, making sure to watch for discomfort.
“Izuku? It’s Yamada, can you look at me?” He tried again.
Izuku slowly turned his head to look at Hizashi. Hizashi’s lips curled up into a small relieved smile. This was progress.
”Good… Do you know where you are?”
Izuku didn’t answer for a moment. He blinked, confused, before he opened his mouth to answer.
”UA…?”
Hizashi nearly slumped in relief. He gently squeezed his student’s hand.
“That’s right! Good job, little listener!” He made sure to keep his voice soft. Loud sounds were obviously a trigger. God, whoever hurt this child, Hizashi was going to make them pay.
“Can you tell me five things you can see, sweetheart?”
This one took Izuku a little longer as he blinked to clear whatever image was playing in his head.
“U-Um… the board, y-you, the clock, our hands… t-the door?”
“Good, four things you can feel?”
“Y-your hand, the desk, my chair, u-um…” Izuku paused his brow furrowing.
“You’re doing great, one more.” Hizashi reassured.
“M-My uniform?”
“Amazing! Now three things you can hear?”
“Your v-voice, the clock, and um… breathing… my breathing.”
“Doing amazing, hun, two things you can smell?”
Hizashi continued working through grounding techniques with the kid until Izuku started looking more present and aware.
Izuku practically slumped out of the chair and into Hizashi’s arms, exhausted. He hummed and pressed his face into his teacher’s shoulder. It made Hizashi want to coo and cry at the same time.
How could anyone hurt someone this precious?
“I’m going to take you to the staff dorms, ‘kay, kiddo?” Hizashi asked, only scooping the boy up after he got a hum of agreement.
He shot off a quick text to Shouta, explaining the situation before he left the classroom using one of the hidden passages. He figured Izuku wouldn’t want anyone to see him like this.
When he got to their dorm, the poor boy was already asleep. Hizashi immediately laid him down on their bed and tucked him in. He left the room to find his husband waiting for him on the couch, two files in his hands.
Hizashi slumped down next to him and laid his head on the other man’s shoulder. He reached for the closest folder and took a deep breath. He looked up at Shouta.
”Ready?”
They opened the folders simultaneously. He had no idea what would be on the other side, but he knew that whatever it was, it was important to helping Izuku.
Shouta wanted to scream.
How the hell did these people get their teaching licenses?
“‘Constant disruption to class, frequently lied about cause of injuries to get classmates in trouble’ This is bullshit!” He hissed.
He could feel the anger radiating off of Hizashi. No wonder the boy dissociated, he had been treated abysmally! He probably had severe distrust in teachers.
The main thing Shouta didn’t understand was why. Why did they treat Izuku like this? With the way the school seemed so obsessed with “heroic” quirks, you would think he’d be treated like a prince. None of this made sense.
Shouta looked up as the bedroom door creaked open, and the aforementioned boy entered the room. The boy looked anxious and the second they made eye contact, Izuku averted his eyes.
It made Shouta’s heart ache. This was obviously conditioned behavior. How could someone do this to a child? How did Shouta never notice?
“Hey, how are you feeling, little listener?” Hizashi asked in soothing tone. They didn’t want to accidentally set the teenager off.
“I-I’m fine…” Izuku responded quietly.
Shouta frowned slightly but quickly schooled his expression. He obviously wasn’t okay but this definitely wasn’t a good time to point that out.
“Come sit, we have some things to talk about.” Shouta patted the space in between him in Hizashi, giving Izuku enough room so as not to trigger him.
“So, we were looking through your file-” Shouta started but Izuku immediately panicked.
“I-I’m sorry! I promise I didn’t do those things! Please don’t expel me! I’m sorry! I promise I didn’t do it! Please!” The boy sobbed out.
Shouta’s eyes widened in alarm. He shared a look with his husband before quickly wrapping his Problem Child up in his arms. This would probably ruin his reputation, but Shouta didn’t really care.
”Hey, hey, you’re not in trouble. We know you didn’t do those things. You’re not being expelled,” He reassured the boy. “We just need to know what was going on at that school and then we can talk about what happened today.”
Izuku hesitated for a moment before murmuring quietly, “Promise…?”
Shouta’s heart clenched. “I promise.”
“I um… I got bullied a lot in middle school and I guess elementary school too… But um it got really bad later.” Izuku took in a deep breath and then he started rambling.
”I-I- It hurt so much, it still does! I don’t understand! They tortured me, Sensei! They burned me and beat me over and over! They wanted me to kill myself! A-And I didn’t even escape it because Kacchan’s here and no one seems to care that he’s hurting me a-and I can’t take it! Why am I not allowed to be a hero but my fucking tormentor can?!” Izuku sobbed into his chest. Shouta sat there shellshocked.
What. The. Hell?!
“I-I just- Why did they hurt me? What did I do wrong? I- I know it’s because I was q-quirkless but it’s not fair! Why am the useless one because I don’t have some stupid power that could easily be worked around! I didn’t choose to be quirkless! I k-know I don’t amount to anything without this quirk, b-but why?!” Izuku was practically screaming by the time he reached the end of his rant.
Shouta took a deep breath. There was a lot to unpack there.
“Kid… what do you mean by quirkless?” Shouta asked. “You’re not in trouble! We just… you have a quirk?” He hurried to add when the boy stiffened.
Izuku was silent for a while.
“I… I didn’t get a quirk until really late. Like, entrance exam late. So, up until UA, everyone thought I was quirkless. And that obviously didn’t go over well…”
Shouta felt like he had been dunked in ice. The entrance exam? But that meant…
“I am so sorry, Izuku.” He blurted. The green haired boy just stared at him in confusion and disbelief. “F-For what?”Shouta ran a hand through his hair with a sigh.
“I treated you harshly because I assumed you hadn’t trained your quirk out of laziness. If I had known your situation I would have done this whole thing differently and hopefully prevented you from doing so much damage to your arms. That was a fault on my part for not looking into, and for that I am sorry.”
Izuku stared up at him with wide eyes. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to find the words to reply but nothing came out. He just nodded in thanks instead.
“I am also sorry for how we’ve neglected your situation. There were many warning signs that we ignored, and maybe if we hadn’t, today wouldn’t have gone as badly. From here on out, we will do our best to rectify the situation.” Hizashi continued for Shouta.
Izuku looked between the two men before murmuring shyly, “C-Can I make a request? Please don’t expel Kacchan. He was as much of a victim of the system as I was. Please, he’s getting better.”
Shouta shared a look with his husband. He wanted to disagree. Based on just what Izuku had said alone, Bakugou definitely did not deserve a second chance. However, Izuku was finally trusting them with something, and he’d be damned if he didn’t do everything in his power not to break that trust.
”Fine, but he’s being moved to Gen-ed. He’ll have until the end of the year to prove himself, and then he’ll be moved to 1-B. If not and his behavior gets worse, then he’ll be expelled.” Shouta stated, his tone leaving no room for argument. Izuku nodded.
“There’s something else you’re leaving out, isn’t there?” Hizashi prodded gently.
Izuku bit his lip and nodded. “Yeah, but I’m not ready to tell anyone yet. I promise I’ll tell you everything one day.” Shouta looked him over with a scrutinizing gaze before nodding.
“As long as it’s not actively causing you harm, we’re fine with that. I just want you to know that I think you would have been an amazing hero, even without a quirk. If anyone could do it, it’d be you. Being quirkless is not the same thing as being weak.
Izuku’s eyes welled up with tears and he started crying again, even harder than last time. Shouta just sat there and comforted him while the boy cried himself to sleep in his arms. He looked over at his husband. Hizashi stood up.
“Looks like I have a meeting with Aldera.”
Izuku woke up to warmth and a gentle hand running through his hair. He was still so tired.
He made a noise of protest as whatever he was laying on shifted and snuggled closer to the warmth. The thing- person made a rumbling noise and it took Izuku an embarrassingly amount of time to realize they were laughing.
His cheek brushed against a cloth like material and he realized just who he was laying on. He opened his eyes slightly and gazed tiredly up at his teacher.
“‘Zawa?”
The hand stilled for a moment before continuing.
“Yeah, it’s me, kiddo. Go back to sleep.”
Izuku hummed in response and closed his eyes again.
“Thank you, ‘Zawa...”
“…Any time, kid.”
Izuku was awake when Yamada finally got back.
The blonde man had a satisfied smile on his face and his clothes and hair were a little messed up. He immediately made a beeline for the pair on the couch.
“You never have to worry about that school again. It’s all been taken care of.”
Izuku felt his heart warm at the English teacher’s words. He hugged him tightly.
”Thank you…” He whispered into his chest.
“Of course, sweetheart. Now, we do need to talk about today and how we’re going to prevent another episode.”
They spent the rest of the day making plans. Izuku now had weekly appointments with Hound Dog and the ability to miss class and stay in his office or spend the day with Yamada in the dorms if he felt a bad day coming on. A light feeling started growing in Izuku’s chest.
When he went back to class a few days later and he didn’t hear any loud explosions or screams about how useless he was, the feeling grew and found himself unable to stop smiling.
He still had his bad days, but with the support of his two teachers and the rest of the staff, along with his friends, Izuku found that it wasn’t nearly as bad.
And if after a few months ‘Zawa turned to Dad and ‘Zashi changed to Papa?
Well, that was no one’s business but theirs.