Chapter 16: Scissors
Try to find the two hidden references.
_Ruby's POV_
"Excuse me Rubes, but I have to ask." Yang began, "But why hasn't Izuku been leaving his room since you two got the all clear after the kidnapping?"
"It is quite alarming." Weiss pointed out.
"Is he upset with us or something?" Blake asked.
"It's not that." Ruby began to explain, "He has been in a bad place since that one villian did that thing with the red energy to his back."
"Has mom said what might be wrong?" Yang asked in concern.
"She thinks the stress from both that and his earlier kidnapping might have affected his mind to think he might be attacked at any moment." Ruby explained.
"So he has PTSD?" a voice said from behind.
"Why do you even care?" Yang began to ask, "You are the one who usually tries to mess with him."
"Because I was there when he was taken at the camp and I heard about him saving that one kid at the camp." Monoma began to explain, "And judging by what I heard from Aizawa and Kan, he hasn't been sleeping much."
"Why is it even your concern?" Weiss asked.
"You've usually been really quick to attack him." Blake pointed out.
"What do you even think would be the best way to help him?" Ruby asked, trying to look intimidating.
"For one thing, we need to let him make the first move. Can't help him until he admits he needs help." Monoma begins to explain, "Secon, before that happens, you need to gain his trust by showing him you don't mean to harm him. It's kind of like dealing with a dog that was abused by a previous owner. You want him to see you as a source of safety and comfort."
"How do you know all this?" Yang asked in shock.
"I'd rather much not talk about it." Monoma explained with a sad tone, "Just know that it will not be an easy task."
"That was actually pretty helpful." Blake said as Monoma was leaving.
"Where is Midoriya today anyways?" Weiss began to ask, "I saw him leaving the building with his parents earlier."
"Either therapy or some kind of activity to try and calm his mind after everything that happened the last few days." Ruby explained.
_Izuku's POV_
'Why did I agree to this?' Izuku thought to himself while lighting a cigarette, 'All the crowds and noise is just too overwhelming.'
His silent musings were interrupted when something crashed into his legs, causing him to take an attack stance, before noticing it was a small child.
To say the girl was afraid was an understatement. As soon as she met eyes with him she immediately looked away as another person approached from where she had come from. Izuku knew the look she had in her eye, it was the same look he saw every time he looked in the mirror after the camp attack.
"Eri, come here, leave the nice man alone." the man said, causing Izuku to look up at the man who for some reason was wearing gloves and a plague mask, "Sorry about my daughter, she just got away from me for a moment."
Izuku looked at the little girl clinging to his legs before replying to the masked man, "I don't know she seems awfully scared of you."
"You know how children are." the man begins explaining, "She thinks she's going to be punished but you and I both know she won't be punished. Now hand her over."
"I would if she was actually your child." Izuku said, catching the man off guard, "Anyone who took 10th grade biology knows that the chances of a man with black hair having a child with white hair are really slim."
"I assure you she's my child." the girl's "father" tried to reason.
"Also, I'm pretty sure anyone who could see the condition of her clothes, the bandages on her arms and the fact she's clearly afraid of you." Izuku explained, at this point feeling heat spread throughout his body before speaking to the girl, "Alright love, in the building I was leaning against, there is a man with dirty blonde hair and a woman with green hair like mine, they will keep you safe."
At this point the girl left, causing the plague doctor to pull a gun on Izuku.
"You will regret this." Plague Doctor said, aiming at Izuku, causing him to shoot a jet of green fire towards the villain.
_Ruby's POV_
"Ruby. Yang. What's the occasion?" Tai asked his two daughters, who decided to visit.
"We need to ask you some things." Ruby said while looking at the ground.
"What is it?" Tai asked before getting a concerned look, "Neither of you are pregnant are you?"
"No, it's something else." Ruby replied in shock.
"What's wrong?" Tai asked his daughter in a concerned tone.
"Her boyfriend has a mild case of PTSD after the camp incident." Yang began to explain, "Sorry Ruby, but if you explained it we'd be here until curfew."
"PTSD huh. I can see why he'd have it at this point. It has been an eventful year for him so far." Tai replied, "I'll help you however I can, but Raven would be the better person to ask."
"She's a busy woman and we didn't want to bother her on her day off." Ruby began to explain, "We just need to know how to treat it without having to dope him out of his mind."
"Got it, something that works well is service animals. If you need it I can pull some strings and get Zwai certified, he is smart for a dog." Tai explained to his daughters
"If you think it will work." Ruby replied.
"Just how bad is it?" Tai asked his daughter.
"He hasn't been sleeping much and he's made a habit of punching mirrors when he looks at his reflection." Ruby explained.
"Also, he refuses to be near large amounts of people or sit with his back to the door." Yang added.
"Fuck, you'd think this kid would catch a break at some point." Tai replied before getting cut off by Ruby's phone ringing.
"Here Rubes, let me take this for you." Yang said while taking Ruby's phone and walking out of the room.
"You think having a service animal will help?" Ruby asked.
"Helped me after the incident eleven years ago." Tai replied, "Granted, it was Zwai's father back then."
"Ruby." Yang said from the doorway, looking like someone sucked her soul out, "We have to get to the hospital."
"What happened?" Tai asked, shocked at the look in his eldest daughter's eyes.
"They wouldn't say. Just that Izuku was admitted after getting into a fight with a mafia leader." Yang explained.
"This ought to be a good story." Tai said while getting his keys.
_Later, at the hospital_
"What exactly happened?" Yang asked as soon as she saw the boy's parents.
"We were in a restaurant and this little girl came running right to us and said the guy in the alleyway sent her so John went to check it out and saw Izuku burning some guy alive before passing out." Inko said while John was holding her shoulder.
"Thankfully the bloke Izuku was burning was a S class villain who was holding a gun so it was called self defense." John explained, "That and there was also the little girl he saved."
"I thought his fire attacks didn't involve attacking, just saying the words and standing back." Tai pointed out, causing Ruby to gain a look of shock.
"That one villian leader." Ruby began to explain, "He said he could both take and give quirks to his victims. You think he might have given him a fire quirk?
"Did this villian have silver hair and a shitty goatee?" John asked.
"Yeah, and he called himself All for One." Ruby replied, causing John to gain a brief look of terror before a doctor approached.
"I'm looking for John Constantine and Inko Midoriya." the doctor said while reading from a medical chart.
"That's us." John replied, "What's the damage?"
"No damage, he's just really tired." The doctor replied, "However you should know that he did burn all the eumelanin from his hair and it's permanent."
"So that means?" Inko asked.
"His hair is now completely white. Now we ran some tests and it will still grow, just completely white." the doctor explained.
"And what about the girl?" Inko asked.
"We ran some tests to try and find out who she is and we got nothing. From what we can see, she doesn't legally exist. As for her condition, she is fine aside from some scarring on her arms. However she refuses to leave your son's side." The doctor explained while leading them to one of the hospital rooms.
"Can we see him?" John asked.
"Why do you think I was leading you to his room?" The doctor explained before looking at Ruby, Yang and Tai, "Although I can only let in family at the moment."
"It's ok she's his fiance." Tai said while gesturing to Ruby.
"Got it." the doctor replied while letting the three into the room.
"Did you just lie to a doctor and say Ruby was his fiance?" Yang asked in shock.
"Yeah, she looked like she should be able to see him." Tai began to explain, "Also, I wouldn't mind him actually marrying Ruby."
"Did you just admit that you're ok with Ruby getting married to him?" Yang asked in shock.
_With John, Inko and Ruby_
"Who are you?" the little girl asked with a look of fear in her eyes.
"We're his parents." John said before gesturing towards Ruby, "And she is his girlfriend. We aren't going to hurt you."
"You're not going to send me back to the bird people are you?" the girl asked.
"Of course not. Why would we want to?" Inko said, reassuring the girl.
"What's your name anyways?" Ruby asked while crouching down to meet her eyes.
"Eri." Eri replied before asking, "What's yours?"
"My name is Ruby, kind of like your eyes." Ruby replied.
"What's going on? Where am I?" Izuku asked while waking up.
"You're awake." Ruby said while helping her boyfriend sit up.
"What happened?" Izuku asked, still confused.
"You sort of burned a villian half to death after you met little Eri here?" John replied.
"How is she?" Izuku asked with a concerned tone.
"You could ask her yourself. She is still clinging to your arm like it's a Hello Kitty plush." Inko replied while gesturing to Eri.
"I'm ok now." Eri replied while looking up at him.
"What are we going to do with her?" Izuku asked.
"Well she's a curious case." the doctor explained, "We would put her in foster care but because she isn't in any system, we have to find something else to do with her."
"What do you recomend?" John asked the doctor.
"Well either you and your wife could take her in." the doctor began to explain, "But due to the fact she refused to be separated from your son, she could stay with him at UA. If that's ok with him that is. The principal there already gave it the go ahead."
"So it's either stay with mom and dad or stay with me?" Izuku asked before gesturing to Eri, "I'll take her."
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" John asked his son in a concerned tone, "Think about this for at least more than a second."
"I'm ok with this." Izuku replied, "After all, it wouldn't be the worst thing I've taken up in an afternoon."
"What's the worst thing you picked up in an afternoon?" Ruby asked.
"It's a three way tie between daytime drinking, spending an extended period of time with a muffin obsessed idiot and playing Grand Theft Auto." Izuku explained.
"Ok, the first two I get, but how is Grand Theft Auto on the list?" Inko asked in confusion.
"It kind of made me numb to sex, drugs, violence and casual racism." Izuku explained.
"You need serious psychological help." Ruby replied.
"I'm trying." Izuku responded, "Let's get back to the dorms."
_Izuku's POV, at the dorms_
"So, a couple questions." Kaminari asked the four who walked into the dorms, "Why does Midoriya look like Anthony Kiedis during the Woodstock 99 concert? What's with the child? And why does he smell like a bonfire?"
"I'd rather not talk about it right now." Izuku replied.
"Come on." Ashido replied from behind him.
"Fine then." Izuku said before Ruby and Yang took Eri away from the prying students, "If you must know she was basically a prisoner of some mafia leader in a plague mask who I ended up burning half to death. As for my hair, I accidentally burned all the eumelanin in my hair and yes, it's permanent."
The two students were shocked at the response before Izuku left them to their own devices.
Character Bio: Izuku Midoriya
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Quirk: Light my Fire (Previously Quirkless)
Handedness: Ambidextrous
UA student, son of John Constantine and Inko Midoriya and boyfriend to classmate Ruby Rose, Izuku is currently mentaly unwell after getting his leg blown off by a former classmate, getting kidnaped and tortured by Papa Midnite, getting kidnapped by the League of Villains during the camp attack, almost getting turned into a nomu than finally getting a quirk forced on him by All for One, Izuku has a mild case of PTSD.
Authors Note: After a brief battle with writer's block and self-quarantining due to COVOID 19 I'm back to writing. As for introducing Eri, I was going to do it after the hell arc but I decided to do that and the culture festival before the inevitable journey to hell storyline I have planned. As you all can tell, I'm putting a lot of Red Hot Chili Peppers references in this.
As Always
Later
