The first day of the second semester begins the following day. All of the classes gather in the sports grounds first thing in the morning for the opening ceremony where Principal Nedzu gives a long, drawn-out speech about disturbances in lifestyle and the importance of the UA students' future place in society. He also mentions something about hero work studies that apparently second and third-years partake in that catches the attention of Izuku and his classmates.
They glance at each other in confusion, but no one seems to know what it is. Izuku makes a mental note to ask his senpais about it later.
All Might goes up to the podium and gives a few words of encouragement once Principal Nedzu is finished. It's quick and brief, but it's the first time he's appeared in front of the whole school ever since his fight against All For One, and he looks stronger and prouder than ever before in his muscular form.
His spirit and energy is infectious, and he finishes off with a resounding 'Plus Ultra!' that everyone enthusiastically joins in on.
When they return to homeroom, Asui asks Aizawa about the hero work studies. He tells them that they're similar to the internships they did under heroes before, only closer to the real thing now that they have their provisional licenses. They're also not part of a class and done at the discretion of the student, so they rely on the scouting from the Sports Festival for their connections.
Izuku wonders if Recovery Girl will allow him to do something similar to his internship again. His first internship experience kind of got cut short with the whole incident with Stain after all. Or perhaps he could even work with a rescue agency. There'd still be the matter of convincing Principal Nedzu and the heroes to actually let him go, but surely if he's at a hero agency there will be sufficient security for them to feel comfortable with him leaving?
Well, it's worth a shot, anyways. And if not, he's got plenty here to keep him busy.
The rest of the first day of school passes by fairly smoothly, if a bit slowly. Izuku is mostly distracted thinking about his after school lesson with Recovery Girl. He's so eager to try out all the tips Nejire gave him for directing his energy! He hopes he has plenty of injured patients to practice on!
...
Not that he wants people to get hurt, of course…
He eyes the clock impatiently all throughout seventh period and when the final bell rings, he immediately jumps to his feet and swings his backpack over his shoulder.
"See ya, guys," he says hurriedly, brushing past a startled Kacchan as he rushes towards the door and darts out of the classroom.
"Oi," Kacchan grunts.
"Don't run in the hallway!" Iida shouts after him.
Izuku groans but begrudgingly slows down. He speed-walks as quickly as he can, expertly utilizing his smaller stature to slip through the throng of students flooding into the hallway until he reaches the infirmary. His eyes light up when he sees Recovery Girl tending to an injured girl lying on the bed.
"Yes!" He fist pumps.
The girl blinks at him in surprise. Recovery Girl gives him a disapproving glare.
"I mean, uh," he stammers, eyes widening as he flushes in embarrassment, "Sorry, are you- are you okay, what happened?"
Recovery Girl tsks, but thankfully has mercy and chooses to say nothing about his little blunder. Instead, she gestures to the girl's foot, which has an ice pack pressed to it, and says, "Just a sprained ankle, nothing too serious." She gives Izuku a pointed look. "I figured you would like to do the honors, though."
Izuku nods rapidly. "Right! Um…" There's just one thing missing, however. He looks at the girl, suddenly nervous. How does he ask this? "Er- What's your name?"
"Suzuki Yuki," she replies in a high-pitched voice, looking equally anxious, "I'm a second-year."
"Suzuki-san," he says, plastering on a reassuring smile that he knows helps to calm down all his nervous patients. After all, getting hurt can really ruin someone's day and she doesn't look like the type to be in the hero course. "Don't worry, I'm going to fix you up right away."
Suzuki blinks at him wide-eyed and relaxes slightly, giving him a soft smile in return.
Izuku pauses slightly, then adds, "If you don't mind, however… I've been needing an opportunity to train my quirk, just in regards to directing the flow of my energy. See, right now, it kind of just goes all throughout the body, but I want to be able to focus it to specific wounds so that I can heal one thing at a time, if I need."
"Oh." Suzuki looks a little confused. "Okay?"
"So… if you don't mind… could I prick your finger and try healing just that before I heal your ankle?" He asks hesitantly, "You're absolutely free to refuse, of course."
"Oh." Suzuki finally understands, then shakes her head. "Oh yeah, sure, go ahead."
Izuku smiles and thanks her before quickly grabbing a needle and an antiseptic wipe from the drawer. He cleans her finger and pricks it hard enough to draw blood, muttering an apology when she flinches. Then, he takes off the gloves he put on and lets their skin make contact.
He shuts off his quirk almost instantly, fast enough so that he can still feel that the prick on her finger remains unhealed. Then comes the tricky part. Nejire had described it simply enough with the hose analogy. Hoses themselves are meant to control water, he just needs to angle his in order to direct the flow to where he wants it to go. But saying it and doing it are two different things, especially considering that the analogy isn't exactly literal.
She also gave him the idea of… kind of squeezing it to where he wants it to go? Since he already knows how to narrow down his metaphorical hose in order to slow the flow, then perhaps he could utilize that same feeling to guide it, sort of like… putting his thumb over the top of a hose in order to make a smaller, more controlled stream.
He isn't quite sure which idea he's going to try first. Both seem rather daunting, but now that he thinks about it, the second one is probably a bit more viable. He isn't quite sure if he can angle his hose since it's… within him?... and also not a literal hose, it's just the closest thing he can compare it to. But the second idea is good both because he already knows how to do part of it and because the smaller stream of energy would probably be easier to control.
So he decides to go with that one and takes a deep breath, bit by bit easing up on his hose and letting some of his energy slowly trickle out. He feels it automatically branch out throughout Suzuki's body, the majority going towards her sprained ankle. Not quite sure how to proceed from here, he hesitantly attempts to press down on the side of the hose closer to her sprained ankle.
To his surprise, a small, narrow stream of energy bursts out of his control and shoots straight towards Suzuki's cut, healing it within a second. Without any other injury to focus on, the rest of his energy starts immediately flowing into her sprained ankle. Izuku startles, but lets it finish.
Suzuki smiles when he pulls away, flexing her ankle. "Thanks!" She glances at him. "Did you do… whatever you were trying to do?"
Recovery Girl comes up beside him, gazing at him imploringly.
"I… I think so?" It comes out more like a question. He looks down at his hand, bewildered. "I… yeah, I- I think so." It happened so fast, he could barely focus on it, but even though he did it, he still felt like he barely had any control over it- it was just so fast.
"That's- That's going to take a bit more practice," he laughs nervously.
But he did it.
That means it's possible! He can still heal All Might! A massive weight lifts off his chest and he turns to grin brightly at Recovery Girl.
She smiles back at him, eyes crinkling, and says, "Alright, then. We'll have more incoming soon, no doubt. Suzuki-san-"
"Oh, right!" Suzuki startles, jumping off the bed, "Sorry, I'll get out of your way. Thanks, Midoriya-kun!" She calls over her shoulder as she hurries out of the room.
They don't have to wait long before the next injured student walks in, this time a third-year hero student with a mild black eye. Like most of his hero patients, Izuku doesn't know him by name but has treated him before and eagerly asks him if he's willing to help him train his quirk. He's happy to, and Izuku quickly pricks his finger before attempting to direct his energy once more.
He stops his quirk as soon as he touches the other boy, then presses down on the side of the hose closest to the larger injury. Like before, the smaller stream of energy shoots out towards the pinprick at an alarming speed. It heals instantaneously, mostly likely due to the fact that it's such a small wound and it's a very concentrated stream of energy, but the rapid speed causes Izuku's little experiment to end so quickly. He's going to have to do this numerous times in order to get a good feel for this new stream of energy.
Luckily for him, there's a good handful of injured students coming in throughout the hour. Not nearly as much as one of their busier days, since it is the first day of school, but a decent amount for Izuku to get in some good practice. He's so grateful that his patients are willing to help him, many claiming that they're simply repaying the favor of all the times he's helped them by healing them.
It's still frustrating how little time he has to focus on the stream of energy before it heals the prick and disappears- it's practically gone in two seconds- but after doing it over and over a few times, he thinks he's sort of starting to become familiar with it.
The process is rather simple, really. Stop his quirk, press down, and then shoot. The last part is the most troublesome since it's so fast and will probably be hard to control if he needs to- and he will need to, or he'll need to figure out something, since All Might obviously has more than two injuries he needs to worry about- but for now, this is progress, and he'll take what he can get.
By the time his lesson is over, he's practically giddy with happiness.
"I can't believe this was the answer all along!" He chatters to Recovery Girl as they get ready to close the infirmary, "I mean, it's so simple, really! I basically knew half of it already! I just have to adjust how I narrow down the hose and then- whoosh!" He throws his hands up in the air, then giggles, "Man, Nejire-senpai has the best ideas!"
Recovery Girl very blatantly rolls her eyes. "Oh please, don't let her hear you say that," she sniffs, "And for that matter, don't let those two boys hear that either. You'd break their poor hearts."
"What?" Izuku snorts, shaking his head. He grabs his backpack off his chair and is about to take his leave when a thought crosses his mind. He pauses and glances over his shoulder. "Oh, by the way, Aizawa-sensei was talking about hero work studies today, and he said they were thinking about letting the first-years do them too since they have their provisional licenses. I know I'm not a hero student, but I was wondering if maybe I could do something similar to my internship or maybe work with a rescue agency?"
Recovery Girl purses her lips. "The heroes wouldn't be too keen on the idea of you leaving UA everyday. You know how they are, especially after everything that's happened…"
Izuku winces and shrugs one shoulder. "I know, but I mean, it's worth a shot at least."
His mentor inclines her head. "It is," she admits, "Actually, ever since Kamino Ward, I've been contacted by pretty much every healer in Japan. They all want a chance to have you as their intern."
Izuku's eyes widen. "Seriously?!"
"Seriously."
"Wow," he breathes, shocked. He didn't think something like this would come out of Kamino. "What… What should I do, then?"
Recovery Girl pauses, considering. "Well, if you want any chance of the heroes approving of this, then you definitely can't be following around a combat medic like Kamei-san again," she says.
Izuku nods. Of course, no way would Principal Nedzu allow that, not to mention All Might. Or Aizawa. Or any of his friends.
"But perhaps you could go to another big agency," Recovery Girl suggests, "A rescue agency isn't a bad idea- as opposed to something like Endeavor Agency which is more combat-oriented. Agencies that are more focused on rescue tend to have larger medical wards to accomodate a large amount of patients and instead of moving around multiple agencies you could just stay in that one for the duration of your work study. And," she adds, "You would be safe in an agency full of pro heroes."
Izuku perks up. It's not a bad idea. Similar to what he did during his internship, except he wouldn't be moving around as much obviously. But it would be a chance to get to learn about a hero agency's medical ward on a more personal level- he feels like he barely got to spend any time in Sir Nighteye and Endeavor's medical wards before everything went sideways. And he's never worked in a rescue agency before!
But where would he go?
He can only think of a few big rescue agencies nearby and Team Idaten is one of them. Izuku pauses.
Idaten.
Ingenium.
He had pretended not to notice, but during their usual morning run, Iida had been repeatedly casting him quick, furtive glances out of the corner of his eye. The taller boy was too polite to say it, but Izuku knew what he was thinking.
He has his provisional healer license now- so what is he waiting for? Izuku hasn't forgotten his promise.
"Recovery Girl?" He asks and his mentor glances up at the questioning tone in his voice, "When can I heal Ingenium?"
Her eyes widen ever so slightly, but then understanding flickers within them. Her face smoothes into a pleased expression. "I'll contact Team Idaten's healer," she says and Izuku's heart flutters with excitement. After a moment, she adds, "And I'm assuming you were thinking of doing your work study there as well?"
He nods eagerly and she smiles. "Very well. We'll still have to clear it with Principal Nedzu, however seeing as Iida-san is an alumni of UA, he might make an exception."
"Awesome!" Izuku grins.
"I'll make the call now," Recovery Girl says, turning back towards her desk, "You go get ready for your therapy session. Don't keep Sano-san waiting too long, now."
The reminder slices through Izuku's bright mood like a knife, dampening it slightly. He swallows nervously, then takes a deep breath, steeling himself. "Right."
His first therapy session. He had promised Recovery Girl he would start after his provisional license exam. Somehow he just… didn't think it would come so soon. It's a little daunting- actually, it's really daunting, the thought about opening up to a complete stranger about the hardest parts of his life. But Recovery Girl thinks it will help, and he is still having nightmares, so he bids his mentor goodbye and makes his way over to where he's meant to meet his new therapist.
Sano Koji is… nice. Izuku isn't sure what his quirk is, but he seems to know immediately that he's feeling extremely nervous because he offers him tea and does his best to make him as comfortable as possible, which is… nice. They don't even talk about much at first, which is nice too- Sano tells him about himself and then he asks about Izuku. Not about Kamino, or how he's feeling. Just little things, like school and his friends. It takes him aback, but he answers anyway. And he finds himself gradually relaxing as he converses with this man that he just met, but is slowly getting to know.
Then, after a long while, Sano does ask him to talk about how he's been doing. But he asks him in a way that makes him feel like he's not really pressured to talk if he doesn't want to. And- he doesn't. He doesn't want to talk about the bad things, not yet, not with him. He tells Sano this and he apologizes, but Sano just brushes it off and reassures him that it's okay.
He tells him instead to talk about the good things, and so he does. And there are plenty of good things. The truth is, despite all the nightmares and the exhaustion, he has been feeling pretty good over the past few days, especially compared to how he was doing before. He talks about living with his friends in the dorms, passing his license exam, his new control over his quirk- things that have been making him happy, even if everything hasn't always been great.
And when he leaves his therapy session an hour later, he leaves with a smile on his face and a tentative blossom of hope in his chest.
He still dreams about Kamino that night, but when he startles awake from a nightmare at 4AM the next morning, he does so with the vividly satisfying memory of him punching Shigaraki in the throat.
So there's that.
Izuku yawns and stretches his arms over his head, giving Sushi a quick scratch before getting ready to meet Iida for their usual morning run. The darkness of the early hour casts his room in a gloomy blue hue, and he rubs the exhaustion of last night's nightmare out of his eyes as he trudges around sleepily in search of running clothes. He slips on his leggings, pulls on a t-shirt, makes a pitiful attempt at taming his bed-head, and walks out the door-
-and collides straight into Iida's chest.
Izuku squeaks in surprise and stumbles back.
"Iida-kun!" He exclaims, rubbing his nose, "What are you-? What are you doing here? I thought we usually meet downstairs?"
Iida is gazing at him with a bright, eager look in his eyes. "My brother called me last night!" He says a bit too loudly in his obvious excitement, voice piercing the silence of the morning as he steps closer to Izuku. "He said you were going to heal him today!"
It takes Izuku's brain a moment to catch up. He blinks. "I am?"
Iida's smile falters and he tilts his head in confusion. "Aren't you? He said- He said you were." He suddenly seems unsure of himself. "Recovery Girl- she called Idaten yesterday and-"
"No, no, right, I know!" Izuku hastens to reassure him, "I knew I was going to heal him, I just didn't know it was going to be today- I was just a little surprised, that's all!"
"Oh." Iida looks immensely relieved.
Izuku scratches the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry! Recovery Girl hasn't had the chance to tell me how that call went, yet."
Now it's Iida's turn to look sheepish. He flushes, taking a step back, and pushes his glasses up higher on his nose as he sputters, "Right, of course she hasn't! You have your lessons with her in the mornings! My apologies, I shouldn't have gotten ahead of myself like that!"
Izuku giggles and shakes his head, already waving him off. "It's alright, it's alright, you're just excited. You're allowed to be excited- he's your brother."
"Yes, well..." Iida coughs lightly, eyes flickering away briefly as the faint flush on his cheeks refuses to leave. He glances back at Izuku and smiles softly. "Thank you."
Izuku smiles back. "Don't thank me yet." Arching a brow, he jerks his chin down the hall and asks, "So we going, or what?"
When he walks into the infirmary a couple hours later for his morning lesson, Recovery Girl spins around in her chair with a gleam in her eyes and announces, "Looks like we're taking a trip to Team Idaten today!"
"Yup, I heard," Izuku says, setting his bag down on his chair.
"What?" Recovery Girl's expression falls. "From who?"
"Iida-kun told me this morning," he replies.
"Aw," his mentor grumbles petulantly, spinning back around, "I wanted to be the one to tell you."
Izuku snickers. "Here, my reaction would have gone something like-" He gasps and makes an expression of exaggerated awe. Recovery Girl snorts.
"Very funny."
Taking pity on her, he says pointedly, "However, he did fail to mention anything about my work study at Idaten."
She perks up and turns to face him again.
"Well, then, I'm glad to hear that he didn't spoil everything for you," she says, "So I spoke to Team Idaten's healer yesterday- Morita Naoki, nice man- and of course he was very eager to take you under his wing for your work study. He was also very understanding about your particular situation regarding your need for extra protection and therefore your inability to go out in the field. He said he didn't think it would be much of a problem since he's not a combat medic. However, since healers do tend to move between agencies often- Morita-san works with Team Idaten as well as a few smaller agencies throughout the city- he was concerned that there might be some 'details' to work out and invited you to come over this afternoon so you could discuss it." Recovery Girl's lip twitches. "Personally, I don't believe he actually needs to have a face-to-face discussion with you in order to figure this out, he just wanted an excuse to get you over there so he could ask you to heal Ingenium."
Izuku blanches. "Oh my God, Recovery Girl, please tell me you offered for me to do it."
She rolls her eyes. "Of course I did." He lets out a sigh of relief and she chuckles. "You should have heard him sputtering as he thanked me. He's a rather skittish man- very polite, though. Kind of like you, actually. You would like him."
Izuku wrinkles his nose childishly. "I'm not skittish," he says. Polite, he'll take.
Recovery Girl gives him a look that he doesn't know whether or not he should be offended by before she continues, "Well anyway, he informed Ingenium, who as I'm sure you know then informed his brother and no doubt the rest of his family, and- well, let's just say that everyone at Team Idaten is very excited to see you." Izuku smiles, his heart giving a nervous little flutter. "We'll be leaving right after school is over and I've already gotten permission from Principal Nedzu, so you don't have to worry about that. Hound Dog and Aizawa-san will be escorting us."
Izuku is a little surprised at how quickly everything is moving- he certainly didn't expect to finally be healing Iida's brother today! He won't be able to train more with his quirk this afternoon, but of course this takes precedence! It's about time he's finally fulfilled his promise to Iida.
He nods resolutely. "Okay!" After a moment, he asks, "Do you think Principal Nedzu will approve of my work study, then?"
His mentor waves her hand. "You handle Morita-san, I'll handle the mouse."
She then gives him a brief rundown on what to expect for the upcoming training session class 1-A is going to partake in today before the warning bell rings and he has to rush off to homeroom. He dashes down the hallway and darts into the classroom, hurrying past his classmates until he reaches Iida's desk.
"Iida-kun!" He exclaims, slapping his hands down on the blue-haired boy's desk. Iida startles and stares at him with wide eyes.
"Midoriya-kun, what-" He frowns, taking in his wayward curls and his labored breathing, "Were you running in the hallway-?"
"I'm leaving right after school," Izuku says, blatantly interrupting him.
Iida blinks, then straightens up. "Oh! Me too!"
"Haah?" Kacchan's voice calls out from across the room.
Izuku perks up. "You are? You're going to be there too, then?"
"Of course!" Iida says, "I mean, yes, my mother is going to pick me up and- we're all going to be there, my mother and father- I hope you don't mind, we don't mean to pressure you or anything-"
"Oh, no, not at all," Izuku stammers, flailing his hands, "I totally understand!"
"Oi, oi-!" He glances up at Kacchan's familiar growl to see the blond stomping over with an irritated expression. "What the fuck are you two idiots talking about going somewhere? Zuku's not going anywhere today!"
Internally, Izuku winces. Kacchan won't be happy about him leaving campus on such a short notice.
On the outside, he gives him a cheerful smile and says, "Yes, I am! I'm going to Team Idaten to heal Ingenium." That gets the attention of a few of his classmates.
"You are?" Todoroki, who had been idly watching from his desk, asks. Izuku nods and he gives Iida a small smile.
"Hey man, that's great!" Kirishima leans back in his seat to grin at Iida.
"Yeah, that's awesome!" Uraraka's head pops up over Iida's shoulder. "Good luck, Midoriya-kun!"
"Thanks!" Izuku smiles at her. There is, of course, a little seed of worry in the back of his head, because he wouldn't be himself if he didn't have anxiety about every situation. Even though he's fairly confident in his ability to heal Ingenium, even though he's literally regrown entire organs, what if he can't heal a broken spine? What if there's something different about it and he's about to let down all these people that are coming to see him heal their loved one?
But as he stands there, he listens to his classmates call out their encouragements without a second thought, as if they already know he'll be able to succeed easily. And as they express their belief in him so doubtlessly, it's hard not to feel a warm bud of confidence blossom within his chest.
A smile grows on his face and he turns to look at Kacchan, beaming. The blond's eye twitches and he clenches his jaw.
"Why didn't you fucking let me know earlier?" He grinds out.
"I just found out today," Izuku replies truthfully. Kacchan holds his gaze for a moment before glancing away begrudgingly, grumbling under his breath.
"Aw, come on, give him a break, Kacchan," Kaminari drawls teasingly as he boldly sidles up to Kacchan's side and drapes an arm over his shoulder. Kacchan snarls and whips around, shoving the electric blond off and grabbing him by the front of his shirt as he raises his other hand up in preparation to deliver a blast.
In an instant, Izuku has darted between them, putting one hand on Kacchan's chest and the other on the hand grabbing Kaminari's shirt. Silence fills the room as Kacchan glares at Izuku. The smaller boy holds his gaze firmly. Everyone's attention is immediately turned to the scene in the middle of the classroom.
Meanwhile, Kaminari hangs limply in Kacchan's tight grip, glancing around the room with an awkward smile as he hides behind Izuku. Shinsou gives him an unimpressed look.
"Let's not pretend the only reason you were brave enough to do that was because Midoriya-kun was there," he says dryly.
Kaminari shrugs helplessly, not admitting or denying it.
Kacchan's teeth grind audibly and Izuku's lip twitches as he smothers a laugh. He doesn't think Kacchan would appreciate it right now, but from the way he scowls even further, he must not do a very good job at hiding his amusement.
"Who's fucking taking you there?" He snaps.
"Aizawa-sensei and Hound Dog," Izuku replies. Kacchan may not say it out loud, but Izuku knows he respects Aizawa and would trust him to keep him safe, so surely he'll be alright knowing he'll be coming with him? Already, he can see the miniscule relaxation of Kacchan's seemingly constantly tense muscles as his glare gradually loses some of its heat.
Finally, he lets out a huff, "Fine."
All of the sudden, he releases his grip on Kaminari, who yelps as he falls to the ground with a loud thud.
"Kaminari-kun!" Izuku exclaims, whirling around.
"Ow." Comes Kaminari's pained whimper.
As Izuku bends down to check him for head injuries, he shoots a glare at Kacchan over his shoulder while the blond shoves his hands into his pockets and trudges back over to his desk. Shinsou arches a brow at him as well.
"I mean, let's not pretend he would have gone anyway whether or not you were okay with it."
Kacchan curls his lip and raises his hand threateningly.
"Kacchan!" Izuku says, warning in his tone. The effect is rather ruined by his weak voice cracking, but it still gets Kacchan to tsk and plop back down in his seat.
Izuku sighs and helps the relatively uninjured Kaminari stand back up. "Kaminari-kun," he says sweetly, "In the future, please do not use me as a human shield against Kacchan."
Kaminari's face heats up and he smiles innocently. "Okie dokie."
Shaking his head exasperatedly, Izuku turns back to Iida with an apologetic smile. "And Iida-kun… uh, yeah, I guess I'll see you there, then!" He laughs awkwardly, "I was also thinking of doing my work study there too, but there's still some kinks to work out about that, I think."
Iida visibly perks up, eyes brightening. "Really? Oh, my brother's agency will be wonderful for your work study! I- well, I admittedly don't know much about the medical department, but my brother hires dozens of sidekicks and people from all sorts of backgrounds which makes his agency an incredibly diverse environment! I have no doubt you'll find it a very enriching experience!"
There's such an immense amount of respect and enthusiasm in- in everything- his eyes, his face, his voice- as he talks about his brother's agency that for a moment Izuku feels like he can't quite catch his breath. Iida loves his brother and his family legacy so dearly, and Izuku almost starts to feel like it's a little… inappropriate for him to be doing this. This is Iida's family, this is Iida's world, Izuku doesn't want to seem rude by encroaching on that. He's probably super familiar with his brother's agency, it might even be like a second home to him, it would be weird for Izuku to just practically invite himself over…
The bell rings just then and Aizawa slides the door open with a bang, startling Izuku. He gives the freckled boy a sharp look that sends him scuttling back into his seat before striding up to the podium and announcing the day's events.
The next few hours go by excruciatingly slowly. Izuku squirms in his seat all throughout his morning classes, watching the seconds of the clock tick by. At least he knows he's not the only one- Iida actually gets called out by Midnight to pay attention, which he knows is probably the most mortifying moment of the poor boy's life (which is probably why Midnight did it). But Iida is lucky because he has something to distract him during their hero lesson in the afternoon, which is quirk-based combat training, meaning Izuku is stuck on the sidelines watching with Aizawa.
After Izuku fidgets impatiently for the fifth time in half-an-hour, Aizawa turns and gives him a chilling glare that has him standing stiff beside him for the rest of the lesson.
Finally, the end of the day arrives. Izuku grins and bids Iida goodbye after seventh period before racing out of the classroom, letting out a bark of laughter at his cry of, "Don't run in the hallways!"
Recovery Girl has already gotten the infirmary ready to be closed up for the day by the time he arrives, skidding to a halt in front of the door. She glances up, smiling at his obvious excitement, and hands him his healer costume. He quickly ducks behind a curtain and gets dressed in record speed while she waits for him outside. Since this is going to be a more formal occasion- his first healing of a pro hero!- his outfit includes the long white labcoat over his usual combat costume, similar to Recovery Girl's, just to make it look a bit more nice and proper.
When he emerges, his mentor gives him a once-over before nodding in approval.
"You ready to go?" She asks, already locking the door.
"Yeah!"
"Alright, let's go then." She begins to turn away, then pauses. "Oh wait, I think I forgot something in the teacher's lounge."
Izuku's heart plummets. "Recovery Girl," he groans dramatically and his mentor snickers at his dismay.
"I'm joking, I'm joking," she says, turning away for real this time and beginning to walk, "Come on."
Disgruntled, Izuku trods after her. "You're cruel," he sniffs.
"Oh, yes, I'm an absolute monstrosity," Recovery Girl says with dry sarcasm. Izuku snorts and rolls his eyes. "How dare I poke fun at my apprentice?"
"You don't understand Recovery Girl," he whines, sagging his upper body forward and hanging his head as he walks, the image of pure drama, "I've been dying all day!"
"That's too bad," she says mercilessly, "I guess I'll have to tell poor Ingenium that you died of impatience before you could heal him." He lifts his head to give her a withering look and she meets his gaze with an arched brow. "It will be your undoing."
He sighs and straightens up. "I knowww."
They walk throughout the hallways of the main building and meet Aizawa right outside the doors. He nods in greeting and begins leading the way over to the gate, where Hound Dog is waiting with a car. To Izuku's mild surprise, Aizawa politely opens the passenger seat for Recovery Girl while Hound Dog gets in the driver's side, leaving both the homeroom teacher and Izuku to sit in the back.
Hound Dog starts up the car and a moment later they're leaving UA and on their way towards Team Idaten. It's a bit of a drive, so Izuku knows he should probably get comfortable, but he's still practically vibrating with nervous energy. He doesn't even know why really; it's not that he's anxious exactly- well, sort of, especially if he's going to meet Iida's family and heal Ingenium in front of all of them, but he's also really excited to see Team Idaten and meet a new healer and a bunch of new people and- it's just going to be a very new and probably a little overwhelming experience, so yeah, he's a bit nervous!
The first five minutes of the drive are filled with silence, only broken by the soft background noise of the radio. Then, Izuku shifts in his seat.
Aizawa sends him a warning glare.
Izuku shrivels and looks down at his hands, wringing them in his shirt. Finally, he can't take the silence any longer and blurts out, "So what's Ingenium like?"
"Hm? Oh, he's a kind boy," Recovery Girl replies, "Not much like his brother, I must say, though. I haven't seen too much of him since he graduated from UA, but Aizawa-san still hangs out with him from time-to-time, don't you, dear?"
Izuku blinks and glances at Aizawa to see him lower his face into his scarf. "Haven't had the chance to recently," he grunts, voice muffled slightly.
Izuku tilts his head, gazing at him imploringly. "Did you two go to UA at the same time?" He asks.
Aizawa's eyes flicker to him briefly before he continues looking straight ahead at the back of Hound Dog's seat in front of him. "Maybe," he sniffs.
"They were in the same year, actually," Recovery Girl supplies helpfully, "Although, Iida-san never got into quite as much trouble as you, Hizashi-san, or Kayama-san did." Her voice has a certain mirthful tone to it.
Hound Dog makes an odd chortling noise and Izuku blinks, glancing quizzically back at Aizawa who seems to be determinedly burning holes into the back of the driver's seat. Not entirely sure what's going on, Izuku decides to file that piece of information away for later and instead presses, "So, you're friends then?"
Inhaling slowly through his nose, Aizawa huffs in a short, clipped tone, "Yes."
Perking up, Izuku turns to face him. "So, what's he like, then?"
Aizawa finally looks at him again. Izuku smiles. After a moment, the man lets out a long sigh.
"... He's nice-"
HONK!
Hound Dog suddenly slams down on the horn and jerks the car to a stop. They aren't moving very fast so it doesn't hurt, but it is a bit surprising. But what's more surprising is Hound Dog's reaction.
He literally snarls at the offending car through the window. Like, full-on guttural, animalistic snarl. It makes the hair on Izuku's skin immediately stand on edge. Then he proceeds to growl and snarl even more, spittle flying from his glistening fangs as his rage only increases. It builds and builds until it boils up into a deafening howl that shakes Izuku to his core and then-
And then Hound Dog lets out a giant, disgruntled huff and continues driving as if nothing happened.
Izuku stares at him like a deer caught in headlights, practically plastered to the back of his seat as his heart threatens to pound out of his chest. He frantically glances at Aizawa, who merely blinks once at the furry teacher, then looks back at him.
"So he's nice-"
"What was that?!" Izuku shrieks, voice cracking in a million places.
Aizawa looks entirely unbothered by his alarm and simply replies, "Road rage."
Recovery Girl sighs.
Thankfully, they manage to make it to Team Idaten in one piece. It's a large building- understandably so, if what Iida said about Ingenium's numerous sidekicks and employees is true. They park underground, get out of the car, and are immediately greeted by a young mousy-looking man with round glasses and even rounder eyes flanked by a few sidekicks.
"Midoriya Izuku!" The man exclaims, grabbing his hand and shaking it vigorously, "How wonderful it is to finally meet you! I've heard so many things about you- good things, of course! Great things! Oh, and I'm Morita Naoki, by the way!" His voice quivers with nervous energy as he laughs.
Izuku stares in shock. He wasn't expecting Morita to be so young! He looks like he's in his early twenties- he can't be more than a few years older than him! It's… kind of a relief, actually. Izuku doesn't think he's ever met a healer even close to his age before.
The freckled boy smiles and squeezes his hand back. "It's nice to meet you too, Morita-san!" He rasps, "Thank you so much for having me on such a short notice."
Morita's eyes light up. "Thank you for coming on such a short notice! And just call me Naoki- no need to be so formal! If-If you want, of course!" He adds hastily.
Izuku can quickly see what Recovery Girl meant about him being skittish, but he finds it rather charming. His smile grows. "Alright, call me Izuku, then."
"Oh!" Naoki visibly startles, then perks up. "Okay! Well, would you like to come in then? Oh- And Recovery Girl! It's nice to meet you too!" He suddenly exclaims as if he just remembered, rushing over to shake her hand as well. "And Eraserhead- and Hound Dog!" He shakes their hands enthusiastically too. "Forgive me, thank you all for coming! Would you like to come in?"
"That would be nice," Aizawa says dryly, seeming a bit unimpressed as he eyes the energetic man up and down.
"Right! Of course!" Naoki says, spinning around, "The main lobby is just this way!" He begins walking across the parking garage, brushing past the trio of sidekicks he came with that remain where they are.
"Oi, Morita-san," one of them calls after him, "Don't you think we should take him straight to Ingenium's office? Everyone's waiting for him."
Naoki pauses. "Right, yes, that's- that's a better idea, of course!" He quickly scurries back over to them and begins leading them in an opposite direction. "This way!"
Izuku giggles softly to himself while Aizawa lets out a small huff behind him as they follow the healer towards an elevator. A moment later, one of the sidekicks comes up to his side and gives him a smile.
"I'm Blindspot," he greets, offering his hand for Izuku to shake, which he does.
"Midoriya Izuku," he replies.
"I just wanted to thank you for what you're about to do," he says, "It really means a lot to us that you came all the way out here today, even though it's not entirely safe for you to leave UA yet. It's very brave." Beside him, his fellow sidekicks nod in agreement.
Something stirs in Izuku's chest. "I… didn't really do it to be brave," he replies hesitantly. He glances away, trying to find the right words. "It's just… I mean, if I can do something to help, it's like… how could I just sit back and… not?"
Blindspot smiles at him and Izuku realizes that the other adults are glancing at him now too. He flushes.
"Spoken like a true healer!" Naoki chirps from the front.
Recovery Girl's eyes twinkle. "Spoken like a true hero."
Izuku ducks his head, face burning, and casts a quick glance up at Aizawa. The man is gazing down at him with his usual hooded eyes, but there's a slight upward tick to the edge of his lip. He raises a large hand and rests it on top of Izuku's curls for a brief moment before giving them a single ruffle and letting it drop. Izuku ducks his head again to hide his smile.
They reach the elevator, which is surprisingly spacious on the inside so it's hardly a squeeze even with all eight of them, including Hound Dog's significant size. It takes them up multiple floors before finally stopping on one that Izuku assumes must be near the top of the building. When the doors open, he suddenly finds himself underneath a multitude of gazes.
He gulps.
"Midoriya-kun!" Iida's familiar voice calls out, and Izuku is relieved to see his friend walking over to him as soon as he steps out of the elevator.
"Iida-kun," he rasps, "When did you get here?"
"Just a couple of minutes ago." Iida clasps his shoulder with a smile and nods over his head politely. "Recovery Girl, Aizawa-sensei, Hound Dog," he greets. Still holding Izuku's shoulder, he turns to look at an older man and woman that are approaching them. "Midoriya-kun, these are my parents. Mother, Father, this is-"
"Midoriya Izuku," Iida's father interrupts, sticking out his large hand for Izuku to shake. "It's a pleasure."
"Father!" Iida looks embarrassed.
"Oh, of course we know who he is," his father says exasperatedly and gives Izuku a grin, "Keiko and I have heard such good things about you from Tenya. I'm glad that we're finally getting the chance to meet you."
"Pleasure's all mine," Izuku replies, then internally winces. Was that the right thing to say? It didn't sound quite right to his ears. Neither of Iida's parents seem to think it's weird, or at least they don't make any outward reactions to it.
Wow, they look really similar to Iida, especially his father. It seems he passed down more than just his engine quirk to his son.
"Thank you so much for coming on such short notice, too," Iida's mother says, "How was the drive? Everything went safely, I trust?" She looks up at Aizawa and Hound Dog.
The former nods. "No trouble."
"That's good," Iida's father says, "Well, if you need any extra escorts on your way back, I'm sure my son would be willing to spare a sidekick or two. Wouldn't you, Tensei?" He glances over his shoulder and Izuku follows his gaze, breath catching slightly.
Iida Tensei rolls out in his wheelchair from behind a small group of his sidekicks standing around, his eyes meeting Izuku's. Of all the Iidas, he looks the most like Izuku's friend, the most noticeable difference being the lack of glasses and the engines in his elbows rather than his calves. However, that's not to mention the fact that he's the only one in his family that's wheelchair-bound and something about seeing the hero roll his way over to him makes Izuku's chest feel tight with some unknown emotion. Despite this, Tensei approaches with an easygoing smile on his face.
"Two, three, you could take the whole lot after this!" He says jokingly and Iida's father laughs, along with a few sidekicks. Izuku swallows and smiles.
"Oh, I'm- I'm good," he laughs nervously, "I've already got my hands full with enough heroes."
"So I've heard," Tensei says, shaking his head as he chuckles, "I've gotta say, I don't envy you. I know how hard it is just to manage this one-" He jerks his head towards Iida, who sputters. "I can't imagine how hard it is to manage a whole school of 'em." Izuku finds himself smiling as Tensei rolls up to him. He holds out his hand. "Iida Tensei."
Izuku looks at his bare hand. Then, his eyes flicker down to his wheelchair.
He doesn't have his gloves on. It didn't seem necessary to put them on earlier- he's not going out in the field, so he just tucked them into one of his pouches, but if he shakes Tensei's hand…
Izuku hesitates, long enough for Tensei to notice.
"I don't mean to be rude," he explains quickly, "It's just that my quirk will activate as soon as I touch your skin."
Tensei blinks. "Oh." He retracts his hand. "Of course, no it's alright."
Plastering on a smile, Izuku bows politely instead. "Midoriya Izuku."
When he straightens back up, he opens his mouth to say more, but nothing comes out. He falters, looking down at Tensei's friendly smile, then glancing around the room, finally noticing the faint tension in the air. Everyone's eyes are on him, watching him, Tensei's family, his healer, his sidekicks- they're all waiting for him to heal him. And of course they're being polite welcoming him in with pleasantries and small talk, but why delay it any further? They all know why he's here.
Pushing down the flutter of nerves in his stomach, he glances over his shoulder at Recovery Girl and hesitantly says, "So I guess I should… get started then?" It comes out sounding like a question, but she nods steadily.
"If you're ready."
Izuku looks at Iida and his parents, and sees the eager hope in their eyes. What excuse does he have to not be?
Taking a deep breath, he turns back to Tensei. Okay. Where should he start? He'll need to feel out his injury before he heals it, obviously, but Tensei is sitting in his wheelchair. Moving him to a bed might not be completely necessary, though.
He clears his throat and asks, "Do you mind leaning forward and lifting your shirt?"
Tensei complies without a second thought. "Sure." As he shifts forward, Izuku steps over to him and walks around behind his wheelchair so he can see his exposed back. Looking down, he immediately notices the scar a little over halfway down his spine. It's a clean cut and he's a bit surprised at how small it is, but then he recalls Stain's knives and the villain's deadly accuracy, and he supposes it makes sense. The memory of Stain still makes unease churn in his stomach.
"Naoki-san," he says, "Come here, please." Naoki makes a small noise of surprise, but scuttles over to his side in an instant. "You know Iida-san's injury better than I do. If you could please enlighten me before I use my quirk to feel it out, that would be helpful."
"Oh- of course," Naoki says, "Well, the injury is located between his T11 and T12 thoracic vertebrae and it appears to have completely severed his spinal cord, so he currently doesn't have any feeling whatsoever in his legs, but he's been very diligent with his rehabilitation and therapies in order to keep his muscles strong."
"That's good." Izuku gives Tensei a small smile even though he can't see him from this angle. "And all his other injuries from the fight have been healed at this point, correct?"
Naoki nods vigorously. "Correct! My quirk- it's called Coma. I can make people go to sleep and for every hour that they're asleep, their wound will age a day."
"I call him my sleeping pill," Tensei supplies.
"Unfortunately, it's not helping very much in this case," Naoki adds, casting a regretful glance at the hero's scar.
"Still, that's a wonderful quirk," Izuku says honestly. The man smiles. When he turns back to Tensei, Izuku spies Recovery Girl out of the corner of his eye and sees that she's made her way to stand on his other side. She's still giving him his space to make him feel independent, but silently letting him know that she's still there, if he needs her. It's reassuring and he gives her a grateful smile before he raises his hand, letting it hover over Tensei's back.
"I'm just going to get a feel for your injury first with my quirk before I go ahead and attempt to heal it," he tells him. After a pause, he considers maybe he should explain further. "By the way, my quirk allows me to feel people's energy- their body's natural energy- and it kind of swirls around the points of their injuries and so… and so that's what I'm going to do." He internally cringes and curses himself for his awkwardness.
He's not used to having such a big audience when he heals people, alright! Everyone has gone absolutely quiet, watching him so intently- he can't help that it's making him a little nervous!
Izuku gives himself a mental shake. Come on, focus! He's been through a lot worse than this, he can handle a little stage-fright.
Taking a deep breath through his nose, he lets his nerves settle for a moment before placing his hand on Tensei's back. Immediately, his quirk activates and he slams down on the hose. As soon as he's confident not a trickle of his own energy will leak out, he turns his attention to Tensei's wound.
Despite being a relatively small cut on the outside, it's fairly deep. Stain must've severed his spine by stabbing him. There was no doubt some damage to his internal organs on the other side if it was a complete sever like Naoki said, but thanks to the healer's quirk, there doesn't seem to be any more damage that Izuku can feel. Everything is contained to the single, deep- yet ultimately compact injury on Tensei's spine.
A small wave of confidence washes over the rest of Izuku's nerves. This shouldn't take too much energy.
Glancing up, he meets Recovery Girl's gaze and nods.
"I'll begin now," he announces. He hears Iida's mother inhale and Tensei tenses up ever so slightly beneath his palm. "Don't worry, you shouldn't feel a thing," he reassures.
"I know," Tensei replies quickly, "I mean, that wasn't me being worried or anything…"
One of his sidekicks snorts.
"Son, he's a healer," his father says in a teasing tone, "Don't bother putting up a tough-guy face with him, he sees through them everyday."
Tensei sputters, "Wha- I- I wasn't-!" He cuts himself off when his own sidekicks around him start laughing. Instead, he groans, "Dad."
Izuku grins at the amused smirk on his father's face. He never would have thought that a boy as prim and proper as Iida would have a father that teased his sons like this. He always imagined that the Ingenium patriarch would be more serious and stoic like Iida himself. It's a pleasant surprise, one that he certainly isn't complaining about.
The light joke eases some of the tension out of the room and once the laughter dies down, Izuku concentrates on his task once more. Since there aren't any other injuries, he doesn't have to worry about controlling his quirk as much as usual, but he doesn't like to just let his energy run wild without anything to hold it back, so he eases back on the hose gradually, feeling his energy flow once more. As expected, it automatically goes right towards Tensei's spine, but then… it slows down?
Izuku frowns in confusion and immediately pulls back a bit. His energy is still managing to seep into the injury- that's a relief- but it's not being absorbed nearly as quickly as it normally would be and the healing rate is a lot slower. But why? It's not resisting, but why is absorbing his energy so slowly? He's never healed a spine before- this is new territory for him. However, he does know that the cells of the nervous system don't heal the same way that other cells do due to the fact that they are incapable of undergoing mitosis, so maybe that has some effect on this? Then again, he has just straight-up regrown complete organs, although that doesn't really slow down his energy like this is right now, it just takes up a lot of it.
Hmm. This is a new part of his quirk that he'll have to learn more about later. Either way, Tensei's spinal injury is still accepting his energy, which is all he really needs, but just to be cautious, Izuku decides to pause the healing and inform Recovery Girl of his discovery.
Pulling away, he turns to his mentor and is about to open his mouth, when Naoki suddenly speaks.
"Is that it?" He asks eagerly, "Are you done?"
"Huh? Oh, no, I just ran into a bit of a problem-" Izuku instantly regrets the words as soon as they come out of his mouth.
"Problem?!" The alarm in Iida's voice spikes tension throughout the room. "What's wrong?!"
"Nothing!" Izuku hastily reassures him, "Nothing! Nothing's wrong, sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Something new just came up, that's all."
Iida relaxes slightly, but the worry doesn't entirely fade from his eyes.
"What is it, Midoriya-kun?" Recovery Girl asks steadily, grabbing his attention.
Eased by his mentor's presence, Izuku explains, "I think it's just because it's a spinal injury, but it's not really accepting my energy as readily as most injuries do. It's still absorbing it, just a lot more slowly than normal. Even though it's a small injury, it feels very deep and concentrated, kind of like it's… almost a big one?" He shakes his head. "It's a little hard to describe, but I'm pretty sure I can still heal it, I'm just going to go slow to stay safe."
Recovery Girl nods in approval. "Alright. Be careful, and if you start using too much energy, you stop."
Izuku nods and turns his attention back to Tensei, who has remained quiet. He lets his energy flow once more and like before, it seeps into the hero's wound at a slow pace. Still, he narrows down his hose ever so slightly, reducing the flow to just above a mere trickle.
It seems to take hours for him to heal the wound, although in reality it's probably only a few minutes. It's so concentrated, like there's just so much damage condensed into this one small injury, and even though Izuku is feeding his energy into it slowly, it almost seems like it's never going to stop eating it up. Izuku feels fine for now, but this is taking a lot more energy than he thought it would. Thankfully, however, he soon starts to notice the injury gradually decreasing in size until eventually it fades away. His quirk shuts off.
Izuku lets out a sigh of relief, feeling a familiar sense of fatigue pulling at his muscles. It's not too bad, though, and he manages to push it aside for now in favor of pulling away and gently tugging down Tensei's shirt.
"Alright," he says, smiling softly, "Up on your feet again, Ingenium."
Tensei's throat bobs as he swallows.
The whole room seems to hold their breath as he slowly leans back and looks down at his legs. Izuku steps around the back of his wheelchair just in time to see him wiggle his feet. He startles, then starts moving the rest of his legs. His breath hitches, and a choked noise escapes his throat.
All of the sudden, he pushes himself out of his wheelchair and launches himself at Izuku. The greenette squeaks in surprise and stumbles under his weight as he wraps his arms around him and proceeds to burst into tears.
"Oh my God!" Tensei sobs, crushing him to his chest, "Oh my God! Thank you so much!"
Izuku blinks, stunned and flustered. "O-Oh-"
Then, the rest of the Iida family is swarming around him, all crying and sobbing in joy. They hug their son tightly, which means Izuku gets caught in the middle of everyone and squeezed practically half to death while also showered in tears. It's incredibly uncomfortable and overwhelming, but Izuku doesn't have the heart to try and wiggle free from their grasp.
They keep thanking him over and over again- Iida's father looks like he's two seconds away from getting on the floor and bowing, and wouldn't that just send Izuku into an absolute cardiac arrest. Iida's eyes are streaming tears and his voice cracks in every which way as he thanks Izuku and God, he rarely ever sees Iida cry, and of course being the emotional boy he is, seeing one of his best friends cry makes his own eyes start watering as well.
Meanwhile, everyone around them is either crying hysterically or cheering loudly. Some of the sidekicks even start shooting off little confetti poppers. Aizawa and Hound Dog gaze at the scene with pleased expressions and Recovery Girl claps her hands lightly.
This goes on for a few long, overwhelming minutes. As he's repeatedly squashed by the Iida family members, Izuku suddenly finds himself reminded of the fact that he is indeed very short. All he can do is let out flustered sputtering as he's hugged tightly against his friend's broad chest before being passed on to an even taller Iida to be hugged. Needless to say, it's starting to get a little hard to breathe, and his hair is wet from how much they've been crying into it.
For what feels like the hundredth time, Tensei grabs Izuku and turns him to face him, repeating over and over again, "Thank you, thank you!"
"You're welcome, you're welcome!" Izuku yelp, voice cracking. Clearing his throat, he asks, "And- your legs are feeling okay? Everything's feeling fine?"
"Yes, yes, everything's perfect," Tensei insists, beaming as he clutches his hands in his larger ones. Izuku's face heats up. "Thank you so much Midoriya-kun, I- I seriously never thought I would be able to do this again," he says sincerely, "I thought Stain had ended Ingenium that night in that alley, but you- Midoriya-kun, you've given me another chance at being a hero again, so seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you."
His words are so earnest and he gazes at Izuku with such gratitude and happiness that it makes his heart feel like it's going to climb right out of his throat. His face burns even brighter and he's all too aware of the numerous eyes staring at him.
God, he's never been good with praise. This is too much.
"Um," he squeaks, "You're welcome." After a moment, he scratches the back of his head and smiles sheepishly. "Sorry it took so long to get here!"
Tensei makes a noise that sounds like a mixture of disbelief and laughter. "My God," he says softly, staring at Izuku with a faint smile, "You're really something else Midoriya-kun."
Izuku blinks and smiles.
Iida's mother, still bright-eyed and tearful, then offers for him to stay for dinner. At first he politely declines, not wanting to overstay his welcome, but they insist, almost aggressively actually, to the point where Izuku looks at his mentor helplessly and she just shrugs as if to say 'what can you do?'. So, even though it flusters him to no end, he lets the Iidas endlessly shower him with their gratitude.
The next few hours are filled with laughter, music, and food. Iida's father has a massive array of common restaurant food as well as delicious delicacies ordered and delivered that reminds Izuku just how rich his friend's family probably is, but that hardly matters because he barely gets to eat any of them since he's too busy practically being passed around the room like a bottle of champagne. Everyone wants to meet him, all of the sidekicks, the doctors that work in the medical ward, other miscellaneous employees- Tensei has a lot of people working in his agency. The blue-haired man and his younger brother enthusiastically parade him around the room, stopping every two seconds to introduce him to whoever comes up and starts chatting with them, each time inevitably leading to another long conversation.
It's a little exhausting, to be honest. Izuku is already kind of tired from healing Tensei. But it's worth it to see how happy the two Iida brothers are. Tensei's laughter is loud and boisterous, ringing clearly across the room for everyone to hear, like he hasn't had a reason to laugh so genuinely in a very long time. And Iida is practically glowing as he gazes up at his brother with shining eyes- he's hardly taken them off him since Tensei stood up and Izuku realizes that he's probably dearly missed being able to look up at his older brother rather than down.
It fills him with a sense of… well, he can't quite name the feeling. It's a warm, bubbly emotion in his chest that kind of makes his throat feel just a little bit tight. As Izuku looks around the room, sees all the people that are so happy to meet him, so grateful for what he's done, watches them all chat and mingle as the occasional burst of laughter echoes above the noise, he realizes… he did this. He made everyone… really happy. He brought them all together to see their boss, their friend, their loved one be healed. He…
Izuku glances up at Tensei as he marches over and wraps an arm around Aizawa's shoulders, grinning brightly. The freckled boy smiles softly at the exasperated eye roll his teacher gives.
He saved a hero.
It's... a nice feeling. It's one he's felt before, of course, but somehow this feels... different, seeing the effect that his healing has on others indirectly. The mix of emotions and his fatigue results in Izuku becoming rather quiet and contemplative after a while, but the soft smile doesn't leave his face for the rest of the night.
Eventually, he manages to slip away from the Iida brothers long enough to find a quiet corner away from all the commotion. Unfortunately, it's not unoccupied, but thankfully Aizawa merely arches an eyebrow as Izuku slinks over to his side and in return the greenette doesn't question how he got away from the party as well.
Izuku lets out a tired sigh, resting against the wall as he holds his drink with both hands. Parties are normally pretty draining on their own, but combine them with a quirk that saps energy, a bad sleep schedule, and the fact that it was a school day, and that leaves him absolutely exhausted. His muscles feel heavy and his eyes cry out for sleep.
He's too tired to feel much remorse for sliding his head over and plopping it against Aizawa's shoulder.
"Tired," he grunts.
"Me too," Aizawa agrees, sipping his drink, "Parties suck. I didn't sign up for this."
Izuku makes a noncommittal grumble.
"Good job, by the way," Aizawa adds after a moment.
Izuku's lip twitches. "Thanks."
"You tired?" The teacher glances down at him.
He wrinkles his nose childishly. "I just said I was."
"I mean like 'quirk' tired."
"Oh. Yeah."
Aizawa hums in acknowledgement, then pushes himself off the wall. Izuku makes a noise of protest when he's dislodged from his pillow. "Now I have a good excuse for us to leave," the man says, "Sit tight, we'll be on our way soon."
Izuku snorts and watches him walk away.
Sure enough, Tensei soon announces that Izuku has to leave and people start coming up to say their goodbyes as he goes to rejoin his teachers. Iida's parents shake his hand and thank him for the millionth time, telling him that he'll always be a welcome member in any of their family's agencies. This suddenly reminds Tensei about the work study and he eagerly reassures Izuku that he would provide the utmost protection for him if he did choose to come to Team Idaten for it.
Izuku blinks and glances at Naoki. "Wait, weren't there some details you wanted to work out-?"
Naoki lets out a nervous laugh and waves him off. "Oh, no, no, that was- I was just trying to get you to come over here." He grins sheepishly, bright red. "There was a little worry because I don't work here exclusively, but most of the other agencies I work at are relatively close by, so even if you stayed here during your work study it shouldn't be too much of a problem, that's all!"
"Oh." Izuku smiles tiredly. "Alright then."
After exchanging their contact information so they can talk, they bid each other goodbye. The Iidas insist on escorting Izuku and his teachers back down to the parking garage and even offer to personally escort him all the way back to UA, but both Hound Dog and Aizawa deem that offer unnecessary.
Iida is going to be staying the night with his family, so Izuku hugs him goodbye, and then turns to hug Tensei- except Iida hasn't let him go yet. He squeezes him tightly to his chest, curled down to tuck his face against his neck.
"Thank you," he whispers.
Izuku thinks he'd be a millionaire if he had a dollar for everytime someone said that to him today, but he just smiles against Iida's shoulder and reaches up to wrap his arms around his broad back.
His hug with Tensei goes much the same, except it ends with a hair ruffle that he playfully glares at him for. Then, they're back in the car and the Iidas are waving at him through the window as they finally begin making their way back to UA.
Izuku lets out a long, exhausted sigh, sagging against his seat.
"You survived," Aizawa says.
"You survived!" Recovery Girl cheers.
"You survived," Hound Dog grunts.
"I survived," Izuku rasps.
"You did a very good job, Midoriya-kun," his mentor says, "I'm proud of you."
"Thanks," he sighs, eyes already closing as he leans his head back, "Tired. Sleep."
It's going to be about a twenty-five minute drive back to school, that's enough time for a solid nap. He only wishes he could have eaten something before he left- he had been so busy talking all night long that he barely got the chance to eat any of the delicious food that Iida's father had ordered. His stomach growls and he shifts uncomfortably.
"You weren't able to eat, were you?" Aizawa asks. Izuku opens his eyes to see the man looking at him. "I saw Tensei-kun dragging you around all night and you never touched a single plate. You must be starving."
Izuku whines pathetically in his throat and nods.
Then, Aizawa reaches into his pocket, takes out a crumpled up napkin, and unfolds it to reveal a mushed up onigiri.
"Figured I'd grab this for you," he says, "Sorry it's a little squashed."
Izuku stares at him like he hung the moon and stars.
"Sensei," he chokes, eyes watering, "I love you."
Silence.
Hound Dog snorts from the front seat.
Aizawa takes a deep breath. "Just eat the damn onigiri, Midoriya-kun."
Izuku tearfully blinks and nods. "Okay!" Sniffling, he gratefully takes the rice ball from his teacher and then proceeds to shove the entire thing into his mouth all at once.
Aizawa stifles a sigh.