Work Text:
For all that Izuku tries to tell himself to keep a positive outlook on life, to stay upbeat and keep pushing through day after day, his sleeping hours are more often than not plagued by nightmarish representations of the bullies that occupy his waking hours.
For years and years and years, Izuku wonders if it'll ever stop. The dreams, that is — he knows the bullies won't give up no matter how he pleads or acquiesces. He wonders if he must be haunted by these visions even when he's at home and physically out of harm's way. He wonders if this is the consequence for being a quirkless boy who dared to dream of helping others when, in reality, he was too helpless to even help himself.
The day he encounters the Sludge Villain, his first thought amidst all the panic and suffocation and flailing and weak struggles is: I'm going to die.
His second thought follows soon after: If I make it out alive, my nightmares are going to be hellish tonight.
And then-
He meets All Might. All Might!!
And in a whirlwind of events, he saves Kacchan, and as he's trudging home from the craziest thing he's ever done, All Might offers for him to take on a centuries-old quirk — his quirk.
That night, and a few glorious night after, the ghosts that haunt Izuku's nightmares stay quiet.
And then they return to taunt Izuku just as if they had never left, except slightly less so than before. For with all the training from All Might (Toshinori-san, now) plus his rigorous self-improvement regimen and all the studying he stays up doing for the entrance exam's written portion — Izuku occasionally manages to fall into blessedly dreamless sleep.
The day of the UA entrance exam, Izuku wakes up with a pounding heart and nerves that make his stomach clench. Accepting the quirk is wholly underwhelming; he doesn't feel any different, and tripping up the steps on his way to the auditorium makes clear that he's no more heroic and no less clumsy than he was previously. What isn't underwhelming is blowing his limbs to pieces when he activates One For All for the first time, nor is the whirlwind of events that happen after — the falling, the passing out, Recovery Girl, and finally, going home.
He expects another dreamless sleep the moment his head hits his pillow. Instead, his nightmare comes and starts out all the same as usual, faceless shades with cruel eyes and mocking laughs and false smiles, surrounding him, crowding him, bearing down upon him until he can barely breathe, until his cries are muffled and absorbed by dark masses.
But then, a shade of light emerges, breaking through those that have circled him — and it's followed by a second, a third, a fourth, until Izuku counts eight of them protecting him and the darkness that had been attacking mere moments ago is no more.
"You're safe now," the shades seem to whisper as they float around him, their harmonious voices kinder than any have ever sounded. "We won't let the ghosts harm you anymore."