Beta'd by Greed720 and HardwinPotter

Izuku's baggy eyes and slouched demeanor drew eyes the moment he plodded through the doorway. Kaminari whistled and said, "Dude, Midoriya-san, you look like shit."

Jirou slapped him on the shoulder. Kaminari looked back and said, "What? It's true."

"You don't have to say that," Jirou hissed. "Especially since…"

Jirou froze with the forbidden topic on the tip of her tongue. A gloomy pall settled over the class at the reminder of Izuku's secret. Kaminari winced and said, "Right, my bad."

"A-actually, it's not that. I, um, stayed up all night by accident."

Iida sat up, reprimand ready, but a flash of irritation crossed his features as he sat back down. Yaoyorozu glanced at him before saying to Izuku, "If you're having trouble sleeping, you should talk to Recovery Girl. It's important to get plenty of rest."

"No, it's not that, really. I just, well, got distracted."

"Distracted with what?" Mineta asked in a suggestive tone, wiggling his eyebrows.

Tsuyu tapped him on the head with a fist. When Mineta turned back to glare at her, she said, "Behave, kero."

"Well, I was working on some art, and before I knew it, I lost track of time." Izuku took out his phone and showed the version he had uploaded to the cloud. Mineta openly gawked at Midnight, and several others in view admired the detail.

"Please tell me you do nudes," Mineta said in a low whisper. "I'll pay anything for stuff that good."

His whisper wasn't low enough to slip past Jirou's hearing. A jack whipped halfway across the room and knocked Mineta out of his seat.

"You better not, Midoriya-san," Jirou said, her jacks raised menacingly on either side of her.

"He doesn't do that kind of stuff," Mina said. She held out her phone, which had Izuku's twitter bio open. "There's whole threads of people complaining about it. Someone even said they offered Izu-kun half a million yen and he turned it down."

"Whoa, seriously?" Kaminari asked, leaning closer to the phone. "Jeez, Izuku-san, you gotta be rolling in it! How much are you making?"

Izuku felt himself at the center of attention much as he might feel stuck at the center of a raging whirlpool, in danger of being whisked away and drowned at the slightest twitch. Blushing furiously and stammering enough to pass for morse code, Izuku said, "W-well, I mean, I don't make that much money. I've just been saving it all for my mom so she could stop working two jobs when I-"

Izuku felt his heart stop as his metaphorical train of thought screeched half an inch short of that conceptual cliff. He didn't know how the rest of the class would take hearing about how he had been saving money to give his mother an inheritance, and he wasn't in any hurry to find out.

"Your mom works two jobs?" Yaoyorozu asked, her brow furrowed. "Why would anyone work two? Isn't one enough?"

"Sometimes it isn't," Ochako said gravely. She gave Izuku a look of sympathy and solidarity. "I wanted to help my parents out too, since their business hasn't been doing well, but from the sound of it, you're way ahead of me on that. I'm a little jealous."

"Oh, um, thanks."

Izuku was spared further embarrassment when the 2-A homeroom teacher walked in. Present Mic glanced at Izuku's desk and did a double take.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be out today? I got a note from Recovery Girl and everything."

Izuku made a valiant effort at thinking, though the gears in his head smoked and made grinding noises like a rusting car engine. All at once, memory of what was supposed to happen that day flashed through his mind. Ojiro and Iida gave him knowing looks as horror slowly dawned on his face.

Right, that day. The day with Hound Dog. The day Izuku had deliberately been trying not to think about. That day.

"Uh, yeah, sorry, I forgot. I'm not supposed to be here."

"You sure look like it, little listener! I haven't seen bags under eyes like those since Aizawa-san ran out of juice pouches. Get over to Recovery Girl, and get well soon!"

As much as Izuku would have liked going to Recovery Girl, or better yet, crawling into bed and sleeping for the rest of forever, he knew what he needed to do. He rubbed his eyes and splashed some water in his face before heading to Hound Dog's office.

The school counselor took one look at Izuku's haggard face and said, "You had a rough night, didn't you? Why don't we reschedule for next week?"

"No, I'll be fine, I just didn't sleep last night."

Inui frowned and furrowed his brow. "Technically, I'm supposed to refer you to a psychiatrist before prescribing you with anything like sleep medication, but they would report anything they learn to the Commission, which we're trying to avoid. I could discuss it with Recovery Girl, she might have a way to get you some."

"No, I'm fine, really. I just got distracted. It might be because my Quirk used to do all my time management for me. I tried working on some art, to see if I could do it without my Quirk, and it didn't go very well, so it took a lot longer than usual, and by the time I was done, it was morning." Izuku gave Hound Dog a sheepish grin. "It was an accident, and I'm definitely not doing that again."

"You lost track of time?" At Izuku's nod, Hound Dog asked, "Have you thought about setting alarms each night to tell you when to go to sleep?"

After some fiddling with his cellphone and picking from a long list of All Might-themed ringtones, Izuku had his daily reminder to never put himself through this fatigue-induced suffering ever again.

"Considering your lack of sleep," Hound Dog said, "It would be better to reschedule. These conversations will be emotionally stressful, and you aren't in any state to deal with that kind of stress."

"It's been too long already," Izuku countered. "I can tell some people are angry and frustrated, and it feels like the class is falling apart. I owe them this much for what I did."

"You had no choice in the matter, considering how you had no control over your Quirk." Hound Dog stared down Izuku, who straightened his shoulders and stared right back. After a few moments, Hound Dog relented. "We can try it, but if I feel that you're under too much stress, I'm sending you straight to bed. In the meantime, why don't you tell me about how your art project went?"

Hound Dog hid a smirk at the sight of his coworkers in maid outfits. Izuku had captured their attitudes perfectly, from Aizawa's done-with-this-shit scowl to Hizashi's enthusiastic service. Even though he could tell there were a few lines out of place, Hound Dog said, "It's very impressive. You did a great job on this."

Izuku beamed at him. "It was hard at first. I made a lot of mistakes that normally just don't happen. Once I figured out how to fix them, though, I was able to get it done right. I suppose this also means that anything I practiced with my Quirk should still be doable, but fighting feels a lot harder. Maybe it's because I only did that for a year? I've been drawing since my Quirk came in, since I knew I'd make a lot of money from that, but I didn't know I'd be in the hero course until Aizawa-sensei erased my Quirk, so I never had any reason to train."

"You mentioned your savings earlier. Is it all sitting in a bank account, or did you invest some?"

"I didn't invest in stocks, but I did buy a lot of hero merchandise. All Might stuff in particular gained a lot of value over the years. I suppose it ties into my passion for heroes, so it's a lot less obvious than a ten-year old with a giant stock portfolio."

Every time yet another facet of Izuku's Quirk reveals itself, Inui realizes why Izuku thought it had a mind of its own. The secrecy and tangled motives make puzzling out why Izuku's Quirk did what it did nearly impossible to sort out, though it all stemmed from his personal desires clashing against his personal safety. Perhaps, if he could get Izuku's desires properly aligned with self-preservation, his Quirk would be a lot less self-destructive.

Before Inui could act on that line of thought, a knock came at the door. He checked the time and found it was the first appointment he had lined up.

"I got it." Izuku rose from his chair, stretched, shook himself in a vain effort to ward off his drowsiness, and opened the door. Tsuyu smiled and waved at Hound Dog.

"Is it alright if I come in, kero?"

"You're right on time. I have black tea, if you would like some."

Tsuyu thanks him, and Izuku jumps on a chance at a cup. It's too strong for his taste, but the bitter tang perks him up a bit.

"You should be in bed," Tsuyu said bluntly.

"This needs to be done. It's not fair to everyone else if I put it off."

"I suppose, kero." Tsuyu tested her tea with the tip of her tongue before taking a long swallow. "I mainly took this appointment because I thought you would want to hear someone support you instead of blaming you for something you couldn't control."

"Oh." Izuku felt something lighten in his chest. "Uh, thanks Tsu-chan."

"Are you alright? You're crying."

Izuku sniffled and rubbed his eyes. "I've been doing that a lot lately. I'm not sad, really. Just… it felt good hearing that, for some reason."

"Do you want a hug?"

Izuku felt his cheeks burn up. His stammer approached jackhammer levels of choppiness as he said, "A-aren't you dating Todoroki-san?"

"It's just a hug, kero. Friends can hug each other too."

"Oh, well, I don't know, I mean, I haven't really hugged anyone before, so I don't know what it's like, and I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable, and-"

Tsuyu cut him off with a quick hug around his shoulders. Izuku felt his face heat up from how much she was touching him, though she was keeping her chest away from him. After a few hesitant seconds, Izuku reached around her and lightly touched her back. He shied away from the embrace at first, but the warm, comforting sensation around his chest drew him closer. Before he could stop himself, he was sobbing into Tsuyu's shoulder.

"I'm s-sorry," Izuku said as he backed away and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "I didn't mean to cry on you."

"It's okay. I don't mind getting wet."

Hound Dog checked the time, and his eyebrows shot up. "Better wrap this up, the next appointment should be here in a few minutes."

Tsuyu stood and rolled her shoulders. "Let me know if you need another hug, alright, kero? I could also mention it to Shoto-kun if you want."

"Oh. T-thanks."

When Tsuyu opened the door, Ojiro was on the other side, hand raised to knock on the door. Startled, he stepped aside to let Tsuyu through. when he stepped into the room, he immediately noticed Izuku's tear-stricken face. He glanced at Tsuyu as she went down the hall, then Izuku, then back to Tsuyu. A knot formed in Ojiro's stomach as he tried to imagine what Tsuyu had done to leave Izuku looking like she had just stomped on a whole litter of puppies.

"Should I come back later?" Ojiro asked warily.

"No, I'm fine," Izuku said with a sniffle. "Don't worry about me."

Ojiro warily took the open seat. Hound Dog made some more notes in Izuku's file. "Feel free to start, Ojiro-san," Inui said, "Though I'll be stepping in if I think Izuku needs a break."

Taking a deep breath, Ojiro said, "I was angry, at first. Mainly that you were hiding your Quirk all this time, though I also felt mad at you because, this whole time, I've felt inferior, compared to you. You started the first year as an obvious novice in martial arts, yet by the Sports Festival, you beat me easily. I trained every day since I was a little kid, so seeing someone else surpass me so easily… it hurt."

Seeing their fight in the Sports Festival from Ojiro's perspective made Izuku feel all kinds of guilt. He had besmirched Ojiro's years of training by beating him with his own combat style. "I'm sorry," Izuku said. "I needed to win every round of the festival, and though I guess I didn't need to beat you that way, I thought it was the right way to do it. I didn't realize how you'd feel about it."

"I guess it's fine. I can't be too mad since we were both using our Quirks. Still, why did you need to win every round?"

"I had to be in Endeavor's agency so I could save Iida-san."

Hound Dog's eyes flashed with recognition, but Ojiro remained confused. Remembering that night, Izuku knew he couldn't tell Iida's entire story, so he gave a redacted version.

"He got cornered by Stain. I fought him long enough for Iida-san to escape."

"And save a bunch of people caught up at Hosu," Ojiro finished. Ojiro's tail swept from side to side behind the chair as he concentrated on his thoughts. "It makes sense, now, how you got so good so quickly. In training and in combat, every move you make would always be perfect."

"I'd rather beat you without it." With a mortified expression, Izuku hastily said, "I-I mean, I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything again, I just want to be able to work without my Quirk, since I haven't been able to do much without it. I've been trying, but it's hard to know what to do next while I'm fighting, and I freeze up-"

Hound Dog gave Ojiro a frantic signal to interrupt Izuku. Ojiro gave Izuku a tap on the shoulder with his tail and asked, "You want to train again, after school at my place, like last year?"

Izuku beamed at him. Even after the river of tears he poured out over Tsuyu's hug, he still had some left to trickle down his chin. "That would be great! Thanks, Ojiro-san."

"Mashirao's fine," Ojiro said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Let me know when you have free time, Izuku-san."

Once Ojiro was gone, Hound Dog sifted through his notes. "We have a bit of time before the next one. Why don't we discuss those conversations while we wait?"

"I don't know if there's anything to discuss?" Izuku asked, confusion audible in his voice. "Neither of them really seemed mad at me. Well, Mashirao-san was, but wasn't," Izuku groaned and put his head on Hound Dog's desk. "Why are emotions so hard to deal with?"

Inui chuckled and patted Izuku's shoulder. "That's what counseling is for. The main thing I wanted to get at was your word choice earlier. You said that the Quirk showed you what was 'supposed' to happen. What prompted you to use that word specifically?"

"There's this feeling I get, anytime I think about doing anything other than what I see. It feels like something bad would happen if I tried. What I see isn't great, but if I didn't do it, something worse would happen."

"Is it the Quirk that prompts you to feel that way, or are those your personal feelings?"

"I don't know. I don't really feel anything when my Quirk is active. No happiness, no worry, I'm just waiting for the end to come. I'm just… there. Trying to do anything else, though, feels uncomfortable. Wrong, maybe? I don't know how to describe it."

"If our idea with the feedback loops is accurate, then theoretically, you could decide not to act on what you see and create a new future."

"But what if I screw everything up by doing that? At least this way, I know everything will work out in the end."

"What if you make a better future?" Hound Dog countered. "Couldn't you at least try to change what you see?"

"I - I don't know." Cold sweat dripped down Izuku's face. He ran his hands through his hair, and his breathing grew shallow. "I don't - I'm not supposed to… I - I can't…"

"Easy Izuku, easy." Hound Dog walked around his desk and wrapped an arm around Izuku's shoulders. "I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm trying to help make you aware of your hang-ups. I thought as much, given how you described your Quirk hurting you until you gave up fighting it."

"What do you mean?"

"Learned helplessness. In response to painful stimuli, avoidance of associated triggers, even if they are no longer harmful, becomes hard-wired into us. There's nothing wrong with you for it. Nezu had similar problems I helped him out with." Hound Dog shivered and made a quick prayer that Nezu would never realize he was handing out even the tiniest details of his psychiatric records. "We can't know for sure, but it is possible that you only believed you couldn't change what you saw."

"So, this whole time, I could have-"

"Maybe you could, maybe you couldn't. The point is that, now that we're aware of it, we can do something about it."

"What can we do? I mean, what's the point if it's just going to hurt again?"

"Using your Quirk only when necessary is a good start. Over time, the conditioning will wear off once the negative stimulus is gone."

A knock came from the door. Hound Dog glanced at his watch and went to get it.

"Yaoyorozu-san, thank you for coming."

Yaoyorozu looked past Hound Dog and saw Izuku in the chair. "I didn't schedule one of these appointments."

"No, but there's something Izuku needs to tell you."

Yaoyorozu blinked, and a guilty expression flashed across her face. "Oh. Alright then."

She stiffly took a seat next to Izuku. Izuku, meanwhile, was staring in confusion at Hound Dog. He had no idea what he was talking about.

"I… don't really know where to begin," Izuku said, hoping for prodding from Hound Dog.

Before the counselor could say anything, however, Yaoyorozu said, "I think I know why I'm here."

Both Izuku and Hound Dog had mirrored expressions of surprise. "R-really?" Izuku asked.

Yaoyorozu took a deep breath and stiffly bowed. "I'm sorry I was a poor classmate last year. I felt… inadequate in the face of your academic excellence. Regardless of whether your Quirk was responsible, I should not have held it against you. Again, I apologize."

"Apology accepted?" Izuku chuckled nervously and said, "I don't really know what you're talking about. I never noticed anything bad about you."

Yaoyorozu blushed and looked away with embarrassment. "Oh. Then why am I here?"

Izuku sent another pleading look at Hound Dog. The counselor cleared his throat and said, "The future."

Izuku sifted through the few visions of the future he had until the answer slapped him in the face. Was he even allowed to talk about it? Would it hurt again? Remembering what Hound Dog said about learned helplessness, Izuku braced himself and said, "I see you getting kidnapped."

"I see." Yaoyorozu straightened her shoulders. "How do we stop it?"

"I don't think we can," Izuku said nervously. "I mean, I guess All Might could stop it, but I don't know how or when it happens. I see heroes rescuing you, and nothing after that."

"Any idea why they wanted to kidnap me?"

"None. I don't know who the kidnappers are either."

Yaoyorozu thought for a moment, then asked, "When I'm being rescued, do you see me raising any fingers?"

Izuku flipped through the moments he could see and said, "Yes, a pinky finger."

"Right or left?"

"Right hand."

Yaoyorozu relaxed and said, "They're after my Quirk. They probably want me to make something for them."

Hound Dog, who had been closely watching the exchange, asked, "Did you just make a code?"

Yaoyorozu nodded. "Left pinky was for ransom. Left index meant I didn't know, and right index was something I'd rather not discuss."

To Izuku, Hound Dog asked, "Did the future change at all, or was it always like that?"

"No change. I didn't know what the finger meant until now, but it was always like that."

"Is that why the new rules were made?" Yaoyorozu asked. "The ones keeping us from leaving?"

"We would have done something similar anyways," Hound Dog said, "But what Izuku told us was considered when we made those rules."

"But it's not going to help, is it?"

Hound Dog sighed and said, "If we're understanding Izuku's Quirk correctly, no. All we can really do is have a plan in place to recover you quickly. The longer it takes before you're abducted, the more time we have to make that plan. Does that make sense?"

Yaoyorozu nodded reluctantly. "It's to be expected, I suppose. My parents had me take lessons on it, considering the position our family is in. Hearing it's actually going to happen, though…" Yaoyorozu shivered and stood up. "Excuse me, I would like to be alone for a bit." She bowed to Izuku and said, "Thank you for telling me. I trust you'll do everything you can."

"I will. You'll be fine." Yaoyorozu's gaunt, haggard expression sent a pang of guilt through him. Couldn't he stop it from happening in the first place? He tentatively reached out, tried to push at the vision, but in the end, he couldn't make himself change it. He looked away as Yaoyorozu left the room.

"I think we're done for today," Hound Dog said. "You need rest."

Izuku caught himself nodding off where he sat. Rubbing his eyes, Izuku tried to stand, but he toppled forward and caught himself on the desk. He was vaguely aware of Hound Dog helping him walk back to the dorms before he felt his blankets tucked around him.

A/N: first off, if you haven't checked out Atlas: The Titan Hero by Greed720, I'm a beta for that now, so go take a look! Should have plugged that fic earlier, but hindsight is 20/20. Oh well.

Next week gets spicier, so bear with me. Blood will be shed. I know a lot of people aren't happy with the slower pace, so I'm getting on to the next arc.

It's late, and if there was anything else I wanted to say, I don't remember it. As always, many thanks for favorites, follows, reviews and first-born children.