The classroom is dark when Shouta comes in, there's barely a glimmer of light from the windows, and he immediately stumbles over something tossed against the front of his desk. He glares through the darkness, blinking until he could see a rough shape. Some sort of bag? Backpack?
He takes a closer look. It's a duffle bag, stuffed full of god knows what. What the hell, whose duffle bag is this? Who left a duffle bag here at seven in the morning?
"It's mine." The voice was muffled slightly, but it still cut through the near silence of the room like a knife.
Who the- Shouta jolted, his head snapping up to stare at a shadowed figure across the room, a huddled shape in the corner, their silhouette barely illuminated by the light of the window.
Midoriya? Hold on… how did he… He shook himself mentally. He knew he hadn't said that aloud, had he? "Kid?"
"I know, I shouldn't be here so early, I just…" Izuku sighed, leaning against the window frame, the metal creaking slightly under his weight, and looking down at the campus. "I just needed somewhere quiet to think."
Aizawa said nothing; he understood that need for silence and isolation more than most did. He stepped quietly, his boots squeaking slightly as he walked around his desk, setting down his days paperwork.
A near-silence falls over the room, the rustling of papers and fabric, and the sound of breathing the only things keeping it from real calm. Every few moments, Aizawa's thoughts would circle back to the kid in the back of the room and the way he had fought like a cornered animal just the day before.
He scratched at the thick bruises that wrapped around his wrist and up his arms, a dark smudged grey after the previous days healing. Didn't stop it from hurting, though. Almost as if he could read his thoughts, Midoriya spoke up, startling Shouta from his focus.
"... I'm sorry." He was quiet, regret and exhaustion tinting his words.
"What."
"I'm sorry. For what happened yesterday." Izuku sighed quietly, thunking the side of his head against the window. Even though his eyes were hidden, he still looked away, some form of guilt not letting him do otherwise. "I panicked. It won't happen again."
"Can you guarantee that."
Izuku jolted, blinking rapidly. "Hih?" The noise cracked as it escaped from his throat, shock and confusion tinging his tone.
"Can you guarantee it," Aizawa repeated, watching Midoriya intently.
"Nuh, no?"
"Then don't apologize for what you can't control," Aizawa stated calmly, wishing someone had told him those same words when he was the kids' age.
"I… thank you?" Izuku couldn't say he understood the sentiment behind those words, but he was grateful. Grateful that Eraserhead at least tried to lift the blame from his shoulders, even if he felt it justified.
He had attacked his teacher in a blind panic, and his teacher was just… brushing it off as if it was no big deal.
"Don't thank me for having common sense." Don't really know why they call it that, it's not exactly common. Aizawa sighed, leaning forward with his hands on the podium and his head hung down. "Just… don't apologize." Whatever the hell you thought was really happening, it wasn't your fault.
"Sorry, I mean, tch." Looks like getting out of this apology spiral would be harder than he thought. "I'm sorry for the," Izuku waved his hand vaguely. "The bruises and uh, hairline fractures?"
"How did you…" Aizawa glanced down at his bandages, narrowing his eyes at what Midoriya had just said. Hairline fractures? Nobody knows about that except Recovery Girl, how did he find out?
"Recovery Girl didn't tell me, I saw the fractures as soon as you came in…" Izuku hissed under his breath, good going Izuku, you overshared again and said too much! Just like the last time… maybe he needed to work on his impulse control. He's gotten too trusting in the past ten months. "I want to be trusted. But I need to trust you."
"Trust me?"
It was time, Izuku decided, his breath held tight in his chest before he released it, and with it, a question. "What do you know about Project Bloodlines?"
"About what?"
What.
Izuku blinked twice, carefully sifting through his teachers' thoughts. There was nothing. Usually, most people had at least heard of it, but there wasn't a single scrap of information in his head.
He didn't have to convince him that Project Bloodlines was what it really was, he had to convince him it actually existed!
"Huh…" Izuku ran a gloved hand through his hair. "... huh. okay."
"Uh," Izuku frowned, trying to think of other programs his teacher might have heard of. "What do you think about Blackbriar?"
"What?"
"Thorn Ridge?"
"Who?"
Izuku bit his tongue to keep himself from cursing, this was just unbelievable. "What about… Bloody Peak?"
"What's that?"
"Geh…" Izuku threw out the most ridiculous and underground secret society he could think of, something almost nobody would know about. "Talon on High?"
"Oh, I've heard of that one." Aizawa just shrugged, shuffling the papers on the podium. "Thought they were just a do-nothing cult."
Izuku blinked, confusion freezing his thoughts. "How… you've heard of Talon on High but not Bloody Peak or the rest… sure, why not." The only one more secretive than the rest is the only one he's heard of.
Of course, that makes… no sense at all!
Well, Eraserhead is an underground hero, he and Izuku probably get their information from similar sources. Izukus' just happen to go deeper underground than heroes can reach.
And after Project Bloodlines was scrapped, Talon on High lacks the resources to continue to keep their secrets. Based on the ads he's seen taken out in Conspiracy, Talon members are being attacked by villains in steadily increasing numbers. Almost as if they were being targeted.
Izuku hates to think about it, but All for One is probably trying to choke out the last of the possible opposition. Talon on High still has-
He was getting distracted.
"Uh, where was I…" Izuku frowned, running a gloved hand through his hair again, frustration mounting by the second. "Right, I'm guessing you can tell there's something weird with my quirk?"
"Yeah, you could say that." Aizawa narrowed his eyes, thinking about how odd the quirk of Midoriya's had been. "When I tried to erase it, it felt strange." It's like he doesn't have a quirk factor at all, he thought, eyebrows furrowed.
"That's because I don't," Izuku answered instinctively before mentally cursing. He had gotten used to being around people who knew his secret. He had gotten used to being able to talk like this. But he's too tired to control it at this point. "All of this is artificial, it's all a… it's a lie."
A lie? Aizawa frowned, stepping away from the podium and to the window, leaning against the frame where it joined with the wall at the front of the room. He crossed his arms over his chest, wondering what Midoriya meant.
"Yeah, a lie." Izuku tapped the glass with a gloved hand, careful to control his strength. He'd broken enough windows this week already.
"You're making it sounds like you're not human." Aizawa narrowed his eyes, his hair falling over his face and hiding his concern. This sort of thinking… and from a child of all people. What kind of life makes you think like that. Like you're not real.
"Oh, no. I'm real. Just not… hm." Izuku cut himself off. That line of thinking wouldn't get him anywhere.
Everyone who cared about him kept telling him he was normal. Detective Tsukauchi kept telling him he was just a kid. Yagi-san kept telling him he was human. To stop thinking that just because he had been altered, he wasn't a lesser being.
Izuku grumbled under his breath before he shook his head, "this conversation doesn't seem to get any easier no matter how many times I have it."
"There you go again, answering questions I haven't asked yet." Aizawa crossed his arms over his chest, not liking what this conversation was turning into. "What does your quirk have to do with secret societies?"
"Nothing," Izuku frowned before correcting himself. "Everything." Talon on High had benefited from Project Bloodlines; at least, they would have if it had been seen through to the end. They would have had their own little obedient army of superior soldiers. But he was getting off track again. "That's the purpose of a secret, isn't it? Being hidden from society?"
This was going nowhere. Shouta recognized that sort of thinking, though. Clipped sentences. Sudden moments of what you believe is introspection but is really a mild delirium. "... when's the last time you slept?"
"Does being un-
The underground hero cut his student off, already knowing what was going to be said. It was a question he himself had asked more than once. "No, being unconscious doesn't count."
"Oh." Izuku did some quick math before smiling sheepishly as he answered. "Um… about four hours since the onion?" Maybe less than four hours if he was being honest with himself.
"... that was two days ago." How the hell do you get less sleep than me and not show it?
"Lots of naps," Izuku replied.
"How are you doing that?"
Izuku opened his mouth to answer, only to be cut off.
"You're answering my questions before I can even ask them." Aizawa's eyes went wide as it struck him. It was impossible, but it was the last remaining possibility. "...you… you can hear them, can't you?"
Izuku was quiet, looking out the window almost wistfully as he muttered, "yes." He sighed, closing his eyes and letting the constant waves of overlapping thoughts wash over him and break upon the shores of his mental defenses before they dissipated, replaced immediately by more of the same. "I hear everyone and everything."
"You're a mind reader."
"Nobody likes mind readers," Izuku said instinctively. He opened his eyes again as he leaned a little heavier against the window. "It's not as useful as it sounds, it's just. Loud."
"So, you don't sleep because of it?"
Izuku snorted to himself, derisively, "I wasn't designed to sleep, it's not something I can do."
"'Designed,'" Aizawa echoed, concern lacing itself through his tone.
"I'm supposed to be the pinnacle of the Project's achievements, and I can't even have a damn conversation…" Good to know that anxiety can overcome even the most significant technological advancements. Medical miracles mean nothing in the face of his overwhelming social awkwardness. Izuku bared his teeth in a frustrated grimace. "It'd be easier to just show you."
"Show me," Aizawa questioned, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?" What is this Project Bloodlines?
"It's what made me the way I am," Izuku answered before asking a question of his own. "What do you think my quirk is?"
"General Enhancement." That's what it said in his file, so that was it, right? Right?
"It is. Sort of. Not really. Not at all." Izuku shook his head, trying to collect his thoughts. He didn't want this to be more confusing than it already was. "General Enhancement wouldn't let me see your injuries, would it," he asked, not expecting an answer.
"I suppose it wouldn't." Wouldn't let you read my mind, either. Aizawa narrowed his eyes, "so what does that mean for your quirk?"
"It's artificial." Izuku pushed up his sleeve; even in the low light, the scars on his arms were visible. Thin and thick lines carved up his forearm in perfect surgical precision. He pushed his sleeve back down before he pulled down the neck of his undershirt, showing identical thick and thin scars that twisted up into his hairline.
Izuku pulled back his hand, smoothing his shirt collar back over his neck before twisting both his hands together nervously.
Aizawa choked back a sound of shock, thankful that his hair covered his horrified expression before he realized it didn't. For someone else, maybe it would have. But if this kid could see his injuries, he could definitely see his face.
An artificial quirk… Shouta tried to swallow around the dry lump in his throat, the pieces plunking into place. Surgical scars, knowledge of secret societies and supposed underground programs, and an artificial quirk.
It was an ugly picture that those thoughts painted, twisted and dark, unsuitable for children and those with weak hearts. Graphic and cruel.
Whatever Project Bloodlines was, Shouta was sure he needed to get to the truth of it. Whatever it was had done this to a child, and he had a sinking feeling Midoriya wasn't the only one who had been involved.
Clearing his throat, Shouta struggled to find his voice for a moment before he forced out a question. "What's the… extent of your abilities."
"Well, I can make people vomit with eye contact, so there's that," Izuku said, his tone almost conversational. As if it wasn't a big deal.
"... okay, sure. That makes... sense." That made no sense at all. How the hell does that happen?! He forced himself to remain calm, even though he knew that Midoriya would hear his spiraling thoughts. At least, the wide grin on the kids face made him think he was listening to them. "What else."
"My bones are unbreakable, and my tendons and ligaments are the same." He continued speaking, ignoring the concern that laced through his teachers' thoughts at the fact that Izuku already knew they were unbreakable. Izuku made a mental note of that. Aizawa might seem like he doesn't care, but he really does, he just doesn't show it. "My muscles? Not so much."
"Superior strength and durability," he continued, listing off what he knew. His abilities were easily defined, at the very least. No room for questions or evolution. "Mind reading and… it's not really 'x-ray' vision, it's more like ultrasound and x-ray combined." Even Izuku knew how confusing his explanation was, so he tried to clarify, "I can see bones, organs, through walls, but deep water gives me difficulty. But if I'm looking for a person, the mind-reading covers that blind spot."
"What else." Aizawa grew more horrified with each word Midoriya said in that matter of fact tone, but he needed to know exactly what this kid was capable of. How much damage he could do to himself. How much potential he had been hiding.
"Uh, various organs were replaced with synthetics. Kidneys. Liver. Adrenal glands. One super messed up pituitary gland? Various bone marrow. I think there's more-
"I've heard enough," Shouta paused, trying to process everything he had heard. "Is any of it able to be turned off?" Please say yes. Please say you don't have to live with hearing and seeing everything.
Izuku just shook his head, his green curls falling over his eyes.
I'm so sorry. That's no way to live life. Aizawa cleared his throat, wishing he hadn't just thought that. He had a feeling Midoriya didn't want to be pitied. "Who knows about this?"
"All Might. A detective, do you know detective Tsukauchi?" A quick glance into his teachers' mind confirmed his suspicions. "The doctor who made me." For the last, Izuku gritted his teeth, glaring behind his dark lenses. "My mother," he growled.
Listed his mother last. Bad relationship?
"You could say that." After the shock and horror of how much and how well Inko had lied to him wore off, his feelings towards her were tainted with betrayal. How could she sign him up for Bloodlines? How could she do that to him? Had she ever cared about him, or just about the quirk he could have had?
She was his mother, she was supposed to protect him from the horrors of the world, not shove him into them.
Izuku's thoughts spiraled, only being pulled out of them when he clenched his fist too hard on his knee, the flesh bruising under his grip as his artificial cartilage ground against itself.
I'm no good at this sort of thing. Aizawa sighed, sliding to sit on the floor, still staring out the window as he spoke. "I know I'm not any sort of… parental figure like, whatever All Might is to you. But I can listen pretty well."
"All Might… he's like my dad." Izuku snorted, "hell, I wish he was my dad." His life would probably be a lot simpler that way. Less dramatic and traumatic.
"Oh?" All Might would be an… interesting parent.
Izuku just raised an eyebrow before continuing. "I already have a father, and from what I can tell, he's a caring person. But I don't know him at all. I never got a chance." Inko had taken that choice from him. "And All Might was there when I needed someone to care about me."
"And what does your mother think of that," Aizawa asked curiously, wondering why it took the nation's number one hero to make this kid feel like anybody cared about him.
"It doesn't matter what Inko thinks," Izuku said coldly, his hands balling into shaky fists. "She lied to me. That's why I've got that bag over there."
"Where do you plan on going?" Please don't say outside.
"I don't know yet." Probably the sewers. Or a tree. Maybe the abandoned subway station that was never repaired after the last villain attack. "I just can't live there anymore."
Aizawa took a deep breath, looking out the window before muttering, "there are a few empty rooms in the teacher's dorms, I'll talk to Nedzu, he'll probably let you in."
Don't know why I'm offering, but I'll do it.
Izuku froze, blinking dryly in his disbelief. "You really would do that," he said, not needing to question what he could tell was the truth. He smiled, the expression lopsided and small. "Thanks. Still not used to people trying to help me out," he said quietly, not missing the way his teacher's thoughts tinged with worry at his words.
Near silence fell back over the classroom, all that needed to be said had been said. Neither of them moved from where they sat on opposite sides of the room. The occasional rustle of fabric from Izuku, and the shuffle of papers from Aizawa cutting though the quiet before Aizawa cleared his throat, setting his paperwork on the floor.
Usually, he loved the silence, but this silence was stiff, filled with an unidentified wrongness that hung in the air like the Sword of Damocles, ready to cut them down unless it was broken.
Finally, he settled on something to say. "It was good."
"Whuh?" Izuku started, blinking back to awareness. He stared over at his teacher, watching him from behind black lenses.
"The onion. It was good. Better than what I usually buy in the stores." Aizawa didn't cook often, but he felt he had to once he had been given such an unusual gift.
"Oh! Tha, that's good." Izuku smiled, the expression genuine for the second time in just one hour. "I'm glad."
"How do you plan to move your rooftop garden?" Aizawa had to admit he was curious. How does one person move that much soil? "I'm sure Nedzu would allow you to have it on campus, but how will you get it here?"
"I don't know yet," Izuku shrugged. "Probably ask All Might or something."
"Heh," the underground hero snickered, imagining All Might awkwardly helping move plants, it made for a far too ordinary and strangely serene scene.
Izuku snorted, not saying a word at how close his teacher was to the truth.
By the time the rest of the class began to trickle in for the day, it was as if their conversation had never happened, neither of them acknowledging the other, keeping their secrets as they should.
Izuku stays quiet through the first four classes, too tired even to say hello when his friends greet him. If he's being honest with himself, he's emotionally, mentally and physically drained. With how exhausted he is, he might actually sleep a full four hours tonight once he's moved into the dorms.
He knows he's going to have to ask what the classes were about later, because the only thing he's learned today is that Iida is class president, Yaoyorozu is vice president, and his friends are all worried about him.
Friends. People care about him. It's still strange to think about.
Shinsou. Tsuyu. Uraraka. Iida.
More friends than he's ever had before. Even before he was just a 'quirkless deku,' he only had Bakugou. Then he had no one. And then when he was a 'weird quirk freak,' he still had no one.
But now even Bakugou was worried. His rival of all people was concerned about him.
He's not sure how that's supposed to make him feel. Izuku doesn't like people worrying about him, but something about the way Bakugou has changed makes him almost glad that he's worried.
It's weird, and he doesn't even realize he's grinning like a loon by the time the bell rings for lunch.
Bakugou snapped his fingers next to Izuku's head, glaring down at him with no heat behind the expression. "Oi, freakshow, stop making that face, it's creeping me out."
"Guh!" Izuku nearly jolted out of his skin, his fingers denting the wood of his desk as he gripped it in shock. "Why?! Why would you do that," he yelped, his hands shaking as he tried to calm himself.
Bakugou just rolled his eyes, trying to cover his concern. "Jumpy much?"
"The day he stops being jumpy is the day you know he's been replaced by a repto-synth," Shinsou drawled, stepping up to Izuku's desk, unintentionally helping Bakugou trap him.
"A what," Bakugou asked, already glaring, confident he didn't really want an answer.
Shinsou just crossed his arms over his chest and calmly stated, "hyper-realistic androids built by reptilians to mimic their own behavior that have gone rogue and are wearing human suits." His lip twitched in a half-grin, really, he loved absolutely over the top and wild conspiracies. Fake Space, Hollow Moon, Flat Mars Society, all the really out-there theories.
And making people think that he actually believes in them is just half the fun.
"Oh, so you're crazy crazy." Bakugou leaned away from the unsettling grin that Shinsou wore, not wanting to get infected with his specific brand of insanity. He didn't need that right now.
Shinsou just continued to grin and snapped his fingers, "bingo."
On Izuku's other side, Uraraka and Iida began to approach his desk, effectively boxing him in where he stood.
"Midoriya!" Uraraka vaulted the desk beside Izuku's, ignoring the undignified squawk Iida sent her way when she landed in a crouch in the aisle. Straightening up, she grabbed Izuku's sleeve, concern written across her features. "We were worried!"
Walking between the desks, you know, like a normal person, Iida asked much more calmly, "how are you feeling?"
Izuku brushed off the worry from his friends, "I'm fine." Behind the lenses of his sunglasses, his eyes darted to check the rest of the classroom. Empty aside from the five of them and Aizawa napping under his desk at the front of the room. "No need to worry about me."
Are you really okay? You look like you slept less than me.
"Everyone was wondering where you went after lunch…" Uraraka could almost feel the intensity of Midoriya's stare, and she quickly added, "don't worry, we didn't tell them."
Izuku let out a tense breath, he knew his friends wouldn't share his secrets, he trusted them, but he was still afraid of people knowing what had happened. Of them knowing how broken and beaten down he really was.
His friends began to talk at once, voices and thoughts overlapping, he couldn't tell who was saying what.
Does he need help?
"Are you really alright?"
"Did you sleep properly last night, you look a little tired."
What can I do, I don't know what to do to help out.
"Wait, what did you do yesterday, creep?" Is this about why you missed class?
"Are you feeling okay?"
Izuku stood silently until he realized the waves of sound had stopped. Oh, they were expecting an answer, weren't they? "Yes, never been better," he said tonelessly.
"You don't have to pretend-
"I'm not pretending!" Izuku slapped a hand on his desk, denting the wood in his frustration. He grit his teeth, hanging his head, his face unable to convey the storm of negativity in his chest. He didn't need people treating him like he was fragile. He wasn't going to break.
He wasn't.
Hoping to stop the feeling of doubt in his chest, Izuku tried to force himself to believe his words. "Stop worrying about it, I'm not weak, I don't need to be treated as if I'm fragile!"
He didn't believe himself.
"We never said you were…"
A little voice, and he knew this one was his own, whispered in the back of his mind. Telling him to push them all away. It's safer to be by himself.
He's better off on his own.
He can't be hurt if he's alone.
He hung his head, not hearing how bitter and filled with grief his voice was. "No, you just think I need help. I don't need help," he lied, trying to push them away from the truth in a last-ditch effort. "I'm not struggling, I can handle it no matter how loud it gets."
"Loud," someone asked, maybe it was Shinsou, maybe it was Iida, maybe it was no one.
Bakugou grumbled under his breath, clearing his throat and glaring as he spoke back up. "Is this about the mind reading, freak show?"
"..." Izuku straightened up, staring incredulously before adjusting his black sunglasses. "Wow, just shout it from the rooftops, why don'tcha?" Izuku shook his head, exasperated by his rivals behavior and by his own. He was too tired for this. He could barely keep ahold of his senses, much less his emotions or words. "..." Izuku sighed, giving up on his pointless fight. "Yes."
"Well?"
"It's… complicated. It's not entirely just the mindreading." Izuku sighed, not ready to tell his friends the truth. He was emotionally exhausted already from his earlier talk, and he just can't right now. So he did the next best thing and lied through his teeth, tiny bits of truth laced through it in a weak attempt to be more convincing. "I didn't get enough sleep the night before, and the night before that… or ever … but I'm better now," he finished weakly, hoping he had sounded sincere.
He hadn't.
Lies. Uraraka shook her head, not believing him for a single second.
Lie? Shinsou took a moment to finish processing what Bakugou had said. And you can read minds?! I fucking knew it!
No, you're not, fuckhead, even in his thoughts Bakugou snarled, an angry energy filling his mind.
Are you really alright? How can you be so blase about this? Iida pushed up his glasses, wanting to believe his friend, but not able to push his worries from his thoughts.
Izuku brushed off the concerns of his friends, face flushing at the constant stream of worry that flowed at him in an unstoppable wave. "Yeesh, yes! I'm fine… you don't have to believe me, but I'm fine." His world had been irreparably shattered less than twelve hours ago, but he would be okay. He had to be.
He looks so sad!
Wow, look how concerned everyone is, freakshow. Bakugou looked away, squaring his shoulders in an attempt to appear nonchalant and unworried. Stop looking so sad, dumbass.
Izuku rolled his eyes, tired of fending off their feelings, he might as well just accept it. Even if he wasn't sure how to handle it, people still cared about him.
"Stop… thinking at me!" Izuku chuckled, trying to hide the sound behind his hand. That wasn't a sentence he had ever thought he would say in his entire life. "Geez, you're all…so..." Izuku grinned crookedly, pausing for effect.
"Don't say it," Uraraka warned. She didn't have to be a mind reader to know what was coming.
Shinsou shook his head, "you better not have a pun!"
"Don't you dare!" Bakugou narrowed his eyes, glaring at what he knew was coming.
Unsure of what was happening, Iida said nothing.
"So thoughtful, " Izuku said through his crooked grin, "heh."
Bakugou bared his teeth, "fuck you, you… fucko!" He threw up his hands and stomped away and out of the classroom, wanting nothing more to do with his pun making rival.
"Ah, no!" Shinsou clapped his hands over his ears, blocking out any potential incoming puns.
And why the hell were Bakugou and Shinsou's thoughts so similar? Izuku sighed, following Bakugou out of the room before squaring his shoulders and making his way through the crowded halls to the lunchroom, the swarm of people parting before he reached them, his unsettling aura doing the work for him.
His hands still over his ears, Shinsou fell into place beside his friend, "so, you got any more puns?"
Izuku shook his head, snickering when Shinsou waited a moment before taking his hands away from his ears.
He wasn't going to risk more mental punishment. Oh no, now he's doing it! The puns must be infectious, he thought in irritation, not missing the way Midoriya snorted in laughter. Oh. That's going to take some getting used to.
It's been less than five minutes since the group of four had sat at an empty table when Izuku heard a voice call his name.
"Midoriya!" Energetic and upbeat. An absolute ray of positivity in a dark, dark world.
"Oh no," Izuku ducked, nearly slamming his face into the table in his rush to avoid the arms that tried to grab him. "I should have expected this," he muttered as he sat back up, avoiding the questioning gazes of his friends.
"Wow, he dodged like the wind." Shinsou blinked, leaning against the table to watch what he was sure would be far more entertaining than anything else he had seen all day.
"Who is that and why is he trying to hug you," Uraraka asked, pointing over Izuku's shoulder, a curious look on her face.
"Sorry Midoriya, he's been trying to track you down since he got to school." Hadou giggled at the display, not mentioning how the two almost acted like some sort of siblings.
"I heard you weren't feeling well!" All Might was worried about you! He didn't stop worrying during training yesterday!
Izuku leaned to the side, narrowly escaping another attempt at an arm slung over his shoulders. "I'm fine," he muttered, glaring through his black lenses at his other friends' confused thoughts. "Go away."
"No way, I was so worried!"
"Stop that," Izuku grumbled, freezing when he saw a collection of fractures enter his vision as Mirio tried to capture him again. "What did you do to your hand?"
Ignoring the question, Mirio took advantage of Izuku's lapse in dodging, slinging his arm around the first year's shoulders before his other arm was immobilized in a vice-like grip by said first year. "Aha, gotcha!"
Izuku grabbed Mirio's wrist, pulling it forward and glaring at the bandages wrapped around his hand. "What did you do?"
"Ahah, uh, nothing?"
"'Nothing,' huh?" Izuku didn't let go of the others' wrist as he moved to stand. "I'm taking you to Recovery Girl."
Mirio planted his feet and tried to pull away from his friend's iron grip, pushing with his other hand to keep Izuku in place. It was like playing tug of war with a statue. Embarrassing and hilarious. "No, she'll hit me with her cane!" Again.
"'Again,'" Izuku echoed, narrowing his eyes intensely. "How many times have you gone to her office?"
Mirio didn't answer, he just turned his face away and pretended he hadn't heard the question. "So, nice weather, huh? Cold as hell but pretty swell!"
Hadou and Amajiki, however, were more than happy to answer for him.
"A lot!" Hadou rocked forward on the balls of her feet, glaring at Mirio in a way that was both playful and severe. "Almost every day!"
"Every day this week," Amajiki corrected, doing nothing to move the hair away from his face. And school's only been in for a week… that's too many times, right?
And he would be right, visiting the nurse that many times in one week would be unnecessary and excessive for anyone else.
"Geh," Izuku rolled his eyes, letting go of Mirio's wrist. "That's what I thought." He shook his head, scooching over on the bench and closer to Shinsou, glaring and daring his friends to say something as Mirio immediately took the offered seat on the end.
Takaki and Hadou sat down as well, Hadou sitting herself beside Uraraka, staring intently at the younger girl's hands, questions bubbling up faster than she could speak them.
And Tamaki just sat silently beside Shinsou, thankful for the quiet.
That was, thankful until Shinsou leaned forward, fingers steepled and asking, far too seriously, "is lava wet?"
Izuku just blinked once before shaking his head. "No."
"But, it's liquid?" Uraraka frowned, "no, wait, is it?"
"No, it's fluid, not liquid." Iida tried to correct, but he wasn't quite loud enough as other voices cascaded over his own.
"It's neither, it's a rock," Mirio said, confident that he was right. And he was, but that's not the point.
Uraraka amended her previous line of thought. "So, it has liquid traits?"
Hadou shrugged, "I dunno, maybe?"
"That makes it a liquid," Uraraka continued, her brow scrunched in thought. "Yeah?"
Iida chopped the air with a hand, struggling to be heard. "It's fluid!"
"But, it's a rock!"
"A non-newtonian solid?"
"No!"
"Fluid!"
"It's a rock, why won't you just admit it!"
"But is it wet?!"
"It's a rock!"
"Is it wet?!"
As voices began to rise and tempers began to flare, Shinsou just grinned sadistically, hands flat on the table as he watched the chaos unfold. This was just what he had wanted. Chaos. Mayhem. Wonderful.
"No, it's a fluid, not a liquid, and only liquids can be wet, what is wrong with you people," Izuku muttered under the argument, picking at his food. "You're all so stupid, so damn stupid, I would cry if I still could," he grumbled in a near whisper. But he had to admit, he was thankful for Shinsou causing such a distraction, managing to almost seamlessly blend the two groups together with just one question and draw attention away from himself at the same time.
Tamaki glanced over to him when he said that, and Izuku just shrugged. "I'm right, and you know it," he whispered, low enough that most wouldn't be able to hear over the increasing volume of the 'discussion.' He was curious about something, but he knew it would be weird to just ask outright.
"Yes, you are," Tamaki answered back, his own voice a whisper, Izuku depending more on the matching thoughts to understand what was said.
Izuku grinned lopsidedly, he was right! Amajiki could hear better than an average person! Was it the shape of his ears? Was heightened senses part of his quirk? Was it possible that he retained some of the effects of animal manifestation? How did-
"You're mumbling, it's kinda terrifying," Mirio said, turning to stare at Midoriya with a concerned smile.
Amajiki leaned away, trying to hide behind Shinsou to no avail. "Ah, no, stop talking about me, please."
"But I have so many questions," Izuku said, eyes wide behind his sunglasses. If they weren't so dry, they would gleam in excitement. "Like, if you manifest a part, is it identical to the animal it came from, or is it just a general...whatever?"
"I don't know?"
As soon as Izuku could breathe, he shot out another question, "do you have to eat that specific part of an animal or just any part?"
"Any part?"
"Wild… what about animal hair? Can you use actual body parts if you only ingest hair?"
Don't eat hair, Mirio thought, it's not worth it.
Izuku turned back with an eyebrow raised before he shook it off, reminding himself to ask about whatever the hell that was later.
"I don't know?" Amajiki frowned nervously, not sure what was going to happen in the next moments. "I don't want to eat hair."
"What about people with animal type morphic traits? Could you become people?!" At this point, Izuku was all but trying to force Shinsou out of his way and onto the floor to continue his line of interrogation, the entire table quiet and watching in fascination.
Shinsou took a slow breath, patting Izuku on the shoulder. "Midoriya… this is a truly horrifying line of discussion," he stated far too calmly before leaning forward, his hands pressed together and an odd gleam in his eye. "I want in on it."
When two looks of absolutely horrible fascination were aimed his way, Amajiki cowered back, wishing he had chosen somewhere else to sit. Like the floor. Or outside with wild animals. "Someone help…"
But help did not come as the terrible twosome began to rattle off questions, rapid fire, no silence or quiet surviving the barrage.
Izuku leaned past Shinsou, "do your cells become that of the animal, or is it just cosmetic?"
"I don't know?" He had never thought about it before… and nobody had ever asked!
Shinsou leaned back, giving Izuku room before he began his own line of interrogation. "Can you become a plant?!"
"I can grow plants."
"Can you grow fruit?!" Shinsou asked this question with a look of queasy horror, uncertain if eating the potential fruit would be cannibalism or not.
"Yes? Please, someone, help me…" Mirio, help… I don't want to be here
"If you eat venomous or poisonous animals can you create venom or poison as well," Izuku asked, "followup question. If you can, is it possible to poison or envenomate yourself once you get rid of the parts?"
"I'm not sure? Maybe, I haven't really tried." He didn't want to try it out, he wanted to go home! "No one's ever asked…" the next question stunned him into a moment of silence and disbelief.
"If you eat an axolotl, can I cut your arm off?"
Izuku smacked Shinsou's shoulder as gently as he could, still knocking his friend to the side a bit. "No!"
"But how else will I know if he could regenerate?!"
Amajiki just muttered to himself, seriously debating taking his lunch and running away. "No..."
"Could you breathe underwater if you eat fish? Or would you lose the ability to breathe on land?"
In the midst of the chaos, Mirio leaned forward across the table, quietly asking Hadou, "what's happening?"
"I think it's science," Hadou answered before turning back to Uraraka, questions still bubbling up as fast as she could think them. "Can you remove partial gravity? Or all or nothing?"
As their questions faded to a reasonable volume, Shinsou laughed loud enough to drown them out, "you could become shark man!"
"Hey, Shark Man is real, don't you diss him!" Izuku pointed at Shinsou with a faked stern look, the beginnings of a smile ruining the effect.
"Shark Man is as real as space!"
"Whaa?!" Izuku shook his head, "don't tell me you believe in Fake Space!" There's a lot of real conspiracy theories out there, but this just goes too far!
"You can't believe in something that's not real!"
"I will end you," Izuku said flatly, clenching a fist and shaking it once. "Say goodbye to your spleen."
"Dang, all this over Fake Space?"
"I will have Uraraka help send you to that so-called 'fake' space."
Uraraka jerked back to attention at the call of her name, not having been paying attention to the other conversation after it devolved into… whatever was happening right now. "What now?"
"Oh shit." Shinsou chuckled, wiping at his face to try to hide his escalating laughter. "Do it, launch me!"
A light clatter of a tray being set on the table cut through the laughter, "I could hear you all arguing all the way across the room," Tsuyu sat down, staring at Izuku unblinkingly. "I didn't see you on the train this morning, Midoriya." Uraraka, Iida, and Hadou all moved down the bench, making room for the newest addition to the group.
Amajiki took this as an opportunity to make his escape, moving away from what he now understood was a madman, and pushed Mirio over, sitting as far from the insanity as he could.
Eight people were almost too many for the table, but Izuku couldn't help but think about how right it felt to be surrounded by people he didn't have to be afraid of.
"Oh, yeah," he finally responded, realizing how long the silence was drawing on. "I took the early train this morning."
Tsuyu croaked out a small ribbet, a tiny smile on her face. "Your fan club was worried about you." She didn't know how Midoriya did it, dealing with all the questions from nearly fifteen excitable grade-schoolers. She had only spent one day with them, and it was almost too much to handle, all the questions and energy. The sooner Midoriya was back on the train, the better for all of them.
"Fan club?" Iida turned to look at his mysterious friend, adjusting his glasses as he leaned forward, awaiting the answer.
"Yeah, what's with that?" Shinsou nudged Midoriya in the side, trying to prompt him to speak.
Uraraka giggled, covering her smile with her hands. "You a secret celebrity?"
"I can see it," Mirio nodded, turning to look at what he was starting to think was actually All Mights secret child. He huffed out a pained noise when Midoriya jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow.
"I have a gaggle of grade-schoolers that love harassing me," was all Izuku said, ignoring the surge of questioning thoughts.
"I think they just love you," Tsuyu corrected, watching as a reddish-grey blush spread across Izukus face.
"No, they're just evil little children." Izuku looked away, turning his face so far he was almost looking over his own shoulder in embarrassment. "Except for your sister. She's alright."
"No, she's just as evil as the rest of them," Tsuyu said with the hint of a smile in her flat tone.
The rest of the lunch period and the rest of the day flew by; Izuku's mood lifted to something higher than he had felt all week.
After school is out and the sun has begun its descent, Izuku and All Might were sitting across from each other in the living room of Toshinori's apartment, the coffee table and an unholy amount of coffee between them. The heating vent was uncovered, but the window was open, the lock jimmied from the outside. The grate that used to cover the vent was hung on the wall, the warped metal an odd piece of art, a testament of Izuku's place in Toshinori's life.
After a few moments of silence, Izuku leaned back in his seat at the table, not looking up from where his hand was wrapped around the ceramic of the mug. He hadn't told All Might about anything he'd found in Inko's apartment.
It's not as if he didn't want to, but how was he supposed to do that? How was he supposed to tell the man he thought of as his dad that he was trying to get back in touch with his father?
So he stayed silent, keeping it all to himself.
"You're oddly quiet today," Toshinori stated, not missing the way Izuku hummed vaguely in response. "Something on your mind?"
Izuku just shrugged before asking, "you still have that truck, right?"
"Yes?" After spending months on the beach leaning against the side of it, it had been hard to part with. Not just the truck, but the memories soaked into the metal. Sunsets on the beach shared with his son and spent talking about everything and nothing. "Why?"
"I need help moving out of Inko's apartment," Izuku answered, his words dripping with toxic venom. He might not be able to talk about what he had found in the boxes, but that didn't stop the incredible fires of wrath that burned whenever he thought of it.
"You're moving out?" What? Why? What did she say this time? Toshinori had so many questions, but the most pressing of them was, "where are you going?" Why didn't you ask me, I have room.
He had a spare room, he had a living room, hell, the building had an entire extra floor! There were empty offices, he had the room for his kid to stay with him.
Izuku's face burned at the thought of actually staying here, with his real family. He wasn't ready for that. He couldn't even handle the idea of it, so he hid his face in his coffee, draining half the mug before he could focus enough to speak. "I was tempted to just sleep in your vents, but…" There was plenty of room for himself and all his bedding, but while it would be convenient, comfortable even, he didn't want All Might to overhear the sound of his memories turning to nightmares while he slept. "Well, just know that you're lucky."
"Okay? Thank you for not doing that," Toshinori said as if he actually meant it. He didn't. He would prefer Izuku to sleep in the vents, as long as he knew his boy was safe. "But where are you going?"
Taking another sip of coffee to mask his expression, Izuku quietly stated, his words tinged with anxiety as if speaking his plans would make them go up in smoke, "I'm going to live in the teachers' dorms. Aizawa-sensei said there are a few free rooms, so he talked to Nedzu during lunch." He shrugged, wishing this wasn't so damn hard to talk about. "Room will be ready in the morning, I just need my stuff moved after school."
"You did that real fast," Toshinori glanced into his coffee, looking away from the reflection of his worried expression. "I'm impressed," Toshinori shook his head, wishing he didn't have to be impressed. If he had known, he would have taken Izuku in. He thought of the boy as his own son; he just wished he could be there for him when he really needed him.
Izuku cleared his throat with a subtle cough, pretending he hadn't heard All Might's line of thought. "I already have everything packed… I just need some help moving it. And with my garden." He shook his head, thinking over his action plan. "But that'll have to wait until I can get a plot marked out and tilled. Don't want to shock any of my plants." And he didn't have enough burlap for transfer… and he'd have to set up a shade, at least for a few days… god, he loved garden work.
Toshinori did not feel the same way about gardens or garden work. He thought of the creeping feeling he got the few times he had visited the supposed 'garden.' He barely suppressed a shudder at the memory. "Right, that radioactive hellscape you call Eden."
"It's not a hellscape!" Izuku thought about the Geiger counter he had packed away in the boxes in the living room, the rapid clicks and squeaks it made whenever he passed it through Eden. Or over his own skin.
He bit back his next words of defense before giving in with a sigh of agreement. "Well, it's a little bit of a hellscape."
At least the radiation was so low it didn't build up in the plants. While the radiation he put out was in the millisieverts, about the amount of a full-body ct scan, the garden put out exponentially less. About as much as two bananas. So about… .2 Microsieverts. Maybe. Math isn't his strong suit. Neither is science.
Being self-sufficient is his strong suit. Hiding in the shadows normalcy and the shallow expectations of average are his strong suits.
But as good as he is at hiding… he's getting tired of it. Ever since he got attacked by that sludge villain, hiding has been harder and harder for him to want to do. It's insane to be walking around like he does when so many people want him dead. But he likes it.
Likes being around people that like to be around him. Likes going out and forgetting that he's a medical monstrosity, if just for a little while.
"You okay in there," Toshinori asked, concern written across his face. Don't get lost in that head of yours.
"...yeah. I'm fine." Izuku chewed his lip to keep himself from… he wasn't sure if he was trying to stay quiet or keep himself talking, before downing the last of his coffee, standing and taking the cup to the sink.
That's just how he is. Always fine.
Izuku washed and rinsed out the cup, setting it aside in the dish drain, tuning out his own internal monologue. "So, we've got a field trip tomorrow?"
"Did you read my mind or one of your other teachers?"
"Don't worry about it," Izuku said, waving off the question. He had actually gotten it from Nedzu the day before, but he wasn't going to say that. It was unnecessary, and thinking about the way the principal's mind worked made him jittery.
"Every time you say that it makes me worry more," Toshinori muttered, knowing that Izuku preferred to keep some things secret. He was just so unused to people caring, he still had a hard time with sharing. "But yes. And Nedzu is going to have at least seven of those robots from the exam there."
"Hmmm," Izuku nodded, crossing his arms over his chest as he thought over the possible protection from the battle drones. He hates machines, hates cameras, and all of the robots from the exam are basically just heavily armed mobile cameras… he can't say he likes the thought of that.
But his comfort was a small price to pay for security.
With a small sigh, Izuku closed his eyes, leaning against the kitchen counter. He still felt like he needed to tell All Might about the letters… but he couldn't. It makes him feel weak, the way he can't even bring himself to speak about what he found, but he can't force himself to.
Instead, he chokes back the self-hatred that his thoughts sparked up, and makes his way towards the window. "I'll see you tomorrow for rescue training," he said with a grin as he seated himself on the windowsill.
Toshinori wasn't a mind reader, and he didn't need to be to see that there was something Izuku wasn't saying. But it was late, and he could tell he wouldn't get anything if he pushed the issue. So he just gave a nod before saying, "I'll bring the truck around after school, and we'll get you moved in in no time."
"Yeah…" Izuku gave a small wave before he dropped backward out the window. He flipped back upright as he fell through the air, and he clasped one hand around the drainpipe to control his slide downwards towards the empty streets. As the heels of his ratty shoes scraped down the side of the building, he just had one thought that warmed his heart and excited his blood. Everything's going to change tomorrow.
