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Shouta knew what he was signing up for when he became the teacher on standby for his class. Knew that he’d be dealing with whatever bullshit his hellions managed to pull off. So that said, he’s not all that surprised to be getting a knock on his and Hizashi’s apartment door at silly o’clock. He mainly feels exasperated as he gets up to go open it, wondering which problem child he’ll be faced with.
Every ounce of irritation flys out of him when he opens the door and Is faced with none other than Midoriya Izuku, looking like he just came out of a villain attack.
Midoriya looks pale, eyes blown wide as he trembles slightly, he’s holding one of his arms to his chest, curled around it like he doesn’t know what else to do. He’s dressed in some plaid pajama bottoms and a long sleeved shirt that has words on it but Shouta can’t quite make out what it says with Midoriya’s arm blocking them.
He immediately stands to the side, beckoning his student in. Midoriya hesitates only a moment before stepping inside the apartment. Shouta closes the door behind him, turning around to see Midoriya shifting from foot to foot while clenching and unclenching his hand.
“Cmon kid we can go sit in the living room and you can tell me whatever it is you need to say.” Shouta tells Midoriya, putting a hand on his shoulder as he leads him into said room.
Midoriya sits down on the opposite end of the couch to Shouta, still trembling while chewing on his lip.
Shouta subtly looks the kid over, trying to assess if there’s anything glaringly wrong, he finds nothing but it’s also hard to tell with Midoriya. Just as he’s about to prompt the boy to speak Midoriya opens his mouth.
“Uhm s-sorry about b-bothering you so l-l-late but Uhm well I… I didn’t really k-know where else to go.” Shouta watches as he swallows, taking a breath to try and calm his nerves “a-anyway erm… gosh I don’t really k-know if I should just s-spit it out to get i-it over with.”
“If you think I need to know kid, I’d like you to tell me. I can help you out with whatever it is.” Shouta tells him calmly.
“R-right y-yeah. Okay.” Midoriya takes one more steadying breath “okay so Uhm, well I was in my dorm room cause well it’s l-late and..” Shouta notices how Midoriya’s stutter decreases the faster he talks “well I’ve been having these thoughts r-right? And I guess well I guess I thought that… that if j-just kept busy they’d go away. I-I I mean it’s not been this bad since middle school…”
Midoriya takes a deep breath, looking as if he’s getting his thoughts together. Shouta really doesn’t like where this could potentially be leading, but he has to trust that Midoriya will tell him whatever it may or may not be in his own time, and that nothing is an immediate concern.
Taking a deep breath Midoriya starts talking again. “A-a-anyway point is that I thought UA w-would be d-different and that if I was too busy d-doing hero stuff It’d never e-even cross my mind t-to…” he takes another deep breath before looking up at Shouta, eyes calculating. Shouta gives a little nod of encouragement, hoping against hope Midoriya won’t tell him whatever he thinks he’s going to.
“Mr Aizawa, I cut myself.” Is what’s blurted out of his students mouth as if he can’t get the words out fast enough.
Shouta knew this whole conversation was taking a turn down this specific road, but somehow he’d hoped it’d maybe swerve last minute instead, maybe Midoriya would tell him something else and Shouta could help him easy peasy. Self harm isn’t something that’s an easy peasy fix though, not something Shouta can help with one and his student will be okay. No it’s an addiction and from what Midoriya’s mentioned it’s been one of his for a while. Middle school he’d said.
Apparently Shouta’s been quiet for too long because now Midoriya is tripping over himself with words.
“I-I know it’s bad. I know it’s d-disgusting and stuff, and I h-have tried to s-stop, but… well nevermind, i-I’m really s-sorry for bothering y-you sensei, I can g-go no-“
Shouta cuts the boy off, placing a hand on his head of messy curls. “It’s not disgusting kid, it’s a hard thing to deal with and i’m glad you came to tell me about it.”
Green eyes look up at him in awe.
“That said, I need to know if you’ve done anything.” Shouta tells the kid, watching as he clutches his arm closer, awe turning to trepidation.
“U-uhm. Only a few, b-before I r-realised m-maybe I should c-c-come to y-you.” Midoriya stutters.
Shouta hates to make the kid even slightly uncomfortable but he has to make sure he’s physically okay.
“Can I take a look at your arm Midoriya? Just to see the extent of the damage.” Shouta asks, holding his hand out.
Midoriya stares up at him, gaze assessing, it only takes a minute before his arm is being placed in Shoutas’ hold. Shouta pulls the kids sleeve up as gently as he can. Shouta tilts Midoriyas’ arm from side to side, looking at the red lines all over it. Nothing looks in need of stitches, but it’s still bad. The fact that Midoriya harms himself in the first place is bad. He shouldn’t feel the need to cut himself, so Shouta will try to help him feel like he doesn’t need to bleed to feel something.
“I’ll go get the first aid kit to clean these up and then it’ll be okay.” He tells the boy.
Midoriya nods, watching as Shouta gets up to go retrieve it. Shouta returns pretty quickly, the first aid kit having been under then sink.
“Hold your arm out, kid.” He says as he gets some disinfectant out.
Midoriya holds his arm infront of himself, watching as Shouta gets a cloth.
“It’ll probably sting a bit.” He tells Midoriya who nods in understanding.
The kid watches as Shouta dabs at his arm, face blank apart from his wide eyes. Once Shouta’s done he wraps Midoriyas’ arm in a bandage, pulling the kids sleeve back down over it.
Midoriya looks up at him, eyes wide and filled with swirls of complex feeling Shouta could only hope to name. He watches the kid work up to say something, gears turning in that genius head of his.
“C-c-can I stay h-here tonight sensei?” He swallows “I-it’s just t-that I r-reckon I-I’ll r-relapse of if I-I’m alone a-a-again.”
“I had no plans of leaving you by yourself tonight kid.” Shouta places a hand on Midoriyas’ head. “The guest bedrooms free.”
Midoriya nods, relief showing in the way his shoulders slump. He follows Shouta to the guest room, trailing behind him on socked feet. The guest bedroom is plain, a bed and wardrobe with a desk sitting off to the side, being its main occupants.
“You can sleep in here tonight, kid” Shouta watches the kid look around “you sleeping in that or you need something else?”
“Oh no, what I’m wearing’s fine! Thanks sensei!” Midoriya gives him a smile that’s not quite a grin but genuine nonetheless.
Midoriya climbs into the bed, looking smaller than ever when surrounded by a puffy duvet.
Emerald green eyes stare up at Shouta, uncertain once again.
“Could y-you m-maybe stay S-sensei?” Midoriya finally manages to get out.
Shouta huffs fondly, nodding. He closes the door behind him, sitting next to Midoriya on the bed. His hand finds its way to the kids curly hair.
Midoriya gives him a sleepy smile, head titling into the touch. It only takes a few minutes before his eyes are closed and his breaths have evened out, mouth slightly apart.
Shouta knows in the morning they’ll have to talk more about what’s came to light tonight, knows that he’ll have to talk to the kid about how he’s got to tell his mother. Right now though, he lets himself look down at his students sleeping face. He looks younger in sleep, like most people do, freckles dusting his cheeks faintly, but there all the same.
Shouta’s going to help his kid, help him feel, help him be clean too, because Midoriya Izuku helps anyone and everyone, so it’s about time someone helps him in return.