When Izuku woke up, his mind registered three things. His back throbbed with dull pain, a vast improvement over what it had been before, yet still almost unbearable. He was laying, back up, in an actually comfortable cot. Oh, and he was completely shirtless.
He grimaced and turned his head a little bit, opening his eyes in a squint, to look at the room he was in.
It was a clean, sterile kind of stereotypical nurses office. The lights were off but the curtain in front of the cot were open, allowing him to see the sunlight streaming through an out of sight window. He couldn't see the door from where he was—it was either obscured by one of the other side curtains, or he was just looking the wrong way. Izuku glanced around again and finally took stock of the most important detail.
Eraserhead (Aizawa Shouta) was sitting in a chair next to the cot.
He was asleep, head tilted at an angle that suggested it had fallen after a failed attempt to stay awake and would definitely result in a crick. Eraserhead didn't look more peaceful in his sleep. He looked restless and worried. Izuku noted that the bags under his eyes were even deeper and darker than he'd ever seen them.
Well, it wasn't his problem. Izuku shifted his arms and started to slowly push himself up, gritting his teeth. He got a few inches up before a quiet hiss escaped him. Eraserhead's eyes snapped open and he leaned forward to slap Izuku's head with a thick file, spot on even with eyes averted. Whining, Izuku collapsed back onto the bed.
"Owww." He groaned, shooting a wounded look at the glaring Pro Hero. "Was that necessary?"
"Stay here." Eraserhead ordered shortly instead of answering. He stood and dropped a pen and the file he'd hit Izuku with onto the cot. "Fix anything in here you want, I have to get Chiyo."
He strode off without another word. Izuku stayed still for a few moments before taking the file. It had a picture of him, Starry mask on, pinned to it. Next to that was another picture, this time of him as a young kid. Izuku sighed, opening it. Obviously they had been able to run some sort of identifying test when he was... Asleep. They probably already knew everything, so it couldn't hurt to annotate.
Immediately, he winced, and grabbed the pen to change his deadname. Yikes. Didn't need that, thanks.
He was still flicking through pages, changing the details of case reports and adding unnecessary commentary, when the room's lights turned on. Izuku looked over. He noticed Eraserhead first, then the much shorter and older person in front of him.
"Recovery Girl?" He said, tone confused, suspicious, and respectful all at once. He directed the next part at Eraserhead. "Is she here to heal me?"
He nodded, but Izuku had already zoned out, focusing on Recovery Girl.
Her quirk took energy from the recipient, so using it on someone unconscious would probably be detrimental to their state, which would explain why his back still hurt if they had access to Recovery Girl. Izuku figured that probably meant that his back would have some scarring, since she would have had to wait an undetermined amount of time for him to wake up.
Izuku blinked back into the world of the living to hear Recovery Girl reiterate what he had just thought in her explanation. Then she planted a wet kiss on his forehead. The pain from his back immediately diminished to just a whisper, and his eyelids drooped from the energy drain. A few excited, analytical thoughts rushed through his mind, but his mouth apparently didn't get the memo that he was supposed to be smart.
"Gross, cooties." He blurted. He turned red in mortification when his brain caught up with his mouth. Recovery Girl, thankfully, just looked amused. Eraserhead on the other hand sighed and looked to the ceiling as if asking some god to please give him patience. "Um. Sorry."
"No worries, dear." Recovery Girl chuckled, pressing a few fruit gummies into his hand. "Eat these, you'll need the energy to deal with Nezu. Shouta brought you a shirt, so don't forget that."
"Thank... You?" Izuku glanced between the Pro Heroes, reasonably suspicious. "Wait did you say Nezu—"
"Goodbye now, dear!" She interrupted, patting Eraserhead's arm as she passed him to leave the room. And to leave Izuku and Eraserhead alone.
The silence was awkward, to say the least.
"You freaked Mic out." Eraserhead spoke up abruptly. Izuku blinked at him. "He's the one who found you."
"Oh. I'll have to send him a fruit basket then." Izuku replied with a shrug. He picked up the file and held it out. "Here's your file."
"And here's your shirt." Eraserhead took the file, putting a large, plain black shirt in its place. "I'll be waiting outside."
"Okay."
Izuku waited for the sound of the door closing before quickly clambering out of the cot. He pulled the given shirt on with minimal effort as he darted away from the bed and towards the room's only window. To his disappointment, it was not only locked, but cemented shut. Courtesy of Cementoss, probably.
Still, he could chip at it or something, right? His hands went to his waist and met nothing but thin fabric. They'd taken his belt. Who took a belt?! Granted, it was a utility belt with a crow bar and other little chaotic things, but seriously. His belt?
Someone had prepared for him. He scanned the room and found a camera staring at him from a corner.
Izuku gave it a very disappointed thumbs down.
With a huff and a glance at the door, Izuku moved from the window over to some cabinets in the room, throwing Recovery Girl's gummies in his mouth. He pulled one open and crouched, rummaging through with new energy. Even if his belt had been confiscated, he didn't need to be unarmed. There had to be something in here that could be used as a weapon.
The door opened and Eraserhead stepped into the office again, taking a moment to lock onto his new position. Izuku froze, arms in the cabinet and a deer in headlights look on his face.
"What are you doing." Eraserhead said, narrowing his eyes. Izuku slowly grabbed a jar he had noticed and pulled it out, holding it up. Eraserhead raised an eyebrow. "You were... stealing... lollipops."
"Don't judge me!" Izuku replied, pulling the jar of lollipops to his chest with an offended face. "I deserve something nice! I got incinerated!"
"Just..." Eraserhead dragged a hand down his face with a tired sigh. "Take one and put it back."
Pouting, Izuku did so. He stood and kicked the cabinet closed.
"Spoilsport." He muttered, taking the wrapper off his sucker and sticking in his mouth. So much for a weapon. He guessed if push came to shove, he could shank someone with a pen, but that wasn't the point.
Eraserhead rolled his eyes and stepped back into the hallway.
"Follow me, problem child."
"Rude but okay." Izuku told his back, following nonetheless. Eraserhead led him through the empty halls of Yuuei, heading up to what Izuku was betting was Nezu's office.
The reason why he was meeting Nezu instead of sitting behind bars was a question he had yet to answer.
Eraserhead stopped abruptly and Izuku barely managed to avoid running into him. If he noticed Izuku's near miss, he didn't show it, instead pushing open a door and holding it open for him. Izuku stepped in, Eraserhead following, letting the door swing shut.
Nezu sat behind a desk bigger than himself, doing what seemed to be his version of a pleasant smile. There was a chair placed in front of the desk, which the principal motioned for Izuku to take.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Izuku!" Nezu greeted cheerfully. "You've been ignoring my discord messages!"
"I've been on an authority cleanse." He shot back around his sucker while hesitantly taking a seat. "Didn't exactly work as planned, though."
"Yes, yes, sorry about that." Nezu nodded in sympathy. "Endeavor is a nasty person to run into. But enough about all those grim details. I brought you here for a reason. Can you guess why?"
Izuku took a moment to stare at him, biting down on his lollipop so it cracked under his teeth. He chewed on it, keeping unblinking eye contact, until all he had left was the stick. Nezu continued to smile agreeably.
"Some kind of deal?" He finally guessed. "You've gotta have something worth it in mind, for me to not already be in police custody. I don't know what kind though, because I don't know enough about you."
"Very good!" Nezu clapped his paws together. "I do have a deal for you! Say, how would you like to be Starry Smile legally?"
"You want to help me get a hero license?" Izuku asked, picking up on the implied meaning. "Why?"
"I want a chance to teach you!" Nezu corrected. "Aizawa wants to get you a hero license. I don't mind helping, as long as I get what I want."
"Which is?" Izuku prodded, glancing at Eraserhead. He was looking back, so Izuku quickly refocused on Nezu. "Teach me. Right. Because... I'm smart. And you have High Specs?"
"Exactly! If you're this good at analysis now, imagine after three years of my tutelage! The hero license is an added bonus, along with classes to help teach you more about hero work and better support tech from our facilities."
"Okay..." Izuku said slowly. "Just to clarify, you want to teach me, get me a hero license, and keep me out of jail. And in return I... what?"
"You promise to only go out as Starry when accompanied by a pro hero." Nezu started, making Izuku immediately scowl. "Listen, listen. Only go out with a pro, so we can keep you safe. We'll spend the rest of the break getting you caught up on any schooling, and then you'll start hero lessons. If at any point you don't want to continue, you are free to leave."
"But I'll be back to being hunted by the police." Izuku guessed. Nezu nodded.
Honestly, this seemed too good to be true. Izuku wasn't sure if he could trust it. But it sounded better than prison, and it had an escape. There were more pros than cons. And really, what did he have to lose?
"... Alright." He agreed. "I'm in."
"Wonderful!" Nezu cheered. Behind Izuku, Eraserhead let out a soft, relieved sigh. "Well then, you can go with Aizawa-san to collect any of your things, and then he will take you to your new home!"
"Ah wait," Izuku raised his hand, "Can I get my other stuff back?"
"Maybe after we're sure you're staying!"
Izuku looked at Eraserhead, who stared steadily back.
"That's called blackmail." He informed the hero.
