" Izuku?! W-what happened to you!?" Inko cried, the famous Midoriya tears falling from her face as she rushed over to him, Izuku's body was trembling only staying upright thanks to a hand firmly placed on the wall, Inko eyes taking in every inch of his bruised form.
Massive patches of black, blue, green, yellow, and red overtook his skin leaving little left of his pale skin. Sticks, twigs, and leaves stuck in his hair and muddy uniform. His uniform was soaked in mud, torn in multiple places revealing gashes and multiple hand-shaped scorch marks meeting where burnt skin and cloth nearly fused.
Izuku's mind meanwhile was spiraling as he desperately grasped for an excuse that would calm her down " M-mom I'm f-fine. I-it looks w-worst than it is." He sputtered out but he flinched when she touched his heavily bruised cheek " Midoriya Izuku don't y-you dare try to tell me that, t-this is fine!" She scolded him sternly and started pulling him to the bathroom, Izuku numbly followed along mentally kicking himself for upsetting and worrying her while simultaneously trying to string together a fictional series of events that would reasonably explain his injuries.
*I can say the mud was from getting too close to a villain fight, maybe I can also say some of the bruises were from flying debris oh but wait what if mom thinks it's too dangerous for me to watch fights in person anymore and that wouldn't explain the burns. I can't say anything about Kacchan. Don't say anything about Kacchan. Don't say anything about Ka-*
Izuku was torn from his thoughts when he felt the cold rim of the tub against the back of his legs then Inko gently ushered Izuku to sit there and quickly fetched the first aid kit from under the sink.
Inko grabbed a washrag as well letting it get damp then started to clean Izuku's face softly asking " Izuku, tell me what happened." Panic came back and Izuku's half-baked excuse fumbled its way out of his lips " I- I-it was an accident, I-" but he was swiftly cut off " Izuku," Inko said firmly, Izuku opened his mouth to defend the lie but stopped once he saw her teary eyes
" Please." Inko pleaded, making Izuku's chest tighten painfully at how fragile her voice sounded, he felt the corners of his own eyes start to prick up from unshed tears.
Izuku wanted to spit excuses out until he convinced her nothing was wrong like he always did but his brain refused to do anything other than stare at the utterly heartbreaking look on his mother's face, but he found himself incapable of lying like he usually would, he just simply couldn't lie to his mom to her face when she was looking at him like that.
Instead, he felt like he was being hit by wave after wave of emotions that he had previously ignored or repressed for years and that the mental dam that normally helped him keep from being drowned in said emotions burst and he began sobbing, words just falling out of his mouth as he told her everything; the bullying, the teachers that abused him, the neglect from just about everyone, and even about what Kacchan did to him.
Once Izuku started talking he just couldn't stop the words from coming until he was clinging to his mom unable to speak and reduced to weeping, Inko was a rock during Izuku's breakdown simply silently listening to him as she wiped away grim, cleaned the visible wounds and pulling out the various things that got stuck in his messy hair, she had also cried along with him until Izuku was just hiccupping in her arms " Oh Izuku, my poor baby." Inko whimpered as she wiped his tears " You've been so brave, baby. You're so strong Izuku." She told him, rubbing his back carefully minding his injuries.
Inko gently brought Izuku's face up to look at her " Izuku, do you think you can handle a car ride?" she asked, Izuku blinked and sniffled before he answered " I-I guess-I-I mean I think I could. W-why?" Inko stood and slowly helped Izuku to his feet
" Because I am taking you to the hospital." She replied and Izuku nearly fell back into the tub.
" W-what!? W-we don't have to do t-that! I- I-I'll be fine." He protested and would have argued more but Inko fixed him with a look " Midoriya Izuku, you've been living with untreated wounds for years and who knows how many other injuries you've been hiding from me. We are going to the hospital now." Inko insisted, Izuku's eyes began to water again and he was going to protest but Inko shook her head.
" This is not a discussion Izuku. We are going, now." She told him, putting her foot down and Izuku let his head hang " O-okay." He muttered barely above a whisper, Inko quickly got together a change of clothes for him then helped him limp to the car, the guilt ate at Izuku throughout the car ride and he began to apologize over and over again for being such a burden on his mom and how much much money this was going to cost them.
Inko did her best to comfort him as she drove and tried to assure him that he was the furthest thing from a burden, Inko got Izuku to be seen as soon as she could once they got to the hospital, he was brought to an examination room to and left to change into a pair of scratchy scrubs. Afterward, he was carefully examined by the nurse with Inko for support while they waited for a doctor but the nurse became very concerned when she found a gash on Izuku's leg he'd stitched up a couple of days ago.
Inko and the nurse were equally horrified to see the likely infected wound, upon being seen by a doctor Izuku was immediately admitted to the hospital to get the full scope of the severity of his injuries, when they questioned them how Izuku got hurt Izuku reflexively wanted to say it was just an accident but Inko held his hand and helped him explain the bullying and abuse, they separated the two to confirm it but once they ruled out domestic abuse Inko was given permission to stay overnight with Izuku as they waited for the results of the multiple tests they had to run on Izuku.
The testing time was shortened thanks to a nurse's X-ray quirk that let them confirm Izuku didn't have any broken bones but he did have three cracked ribs and many fractures all over his skeleton, it wasn't until midnight that they had a complete list of Izuku's medical problems.
- Izuku had secondary burns on his left shoulder, right side, back, and chest
- numerous lacerations both old and new all over his body
- a black eye
- broken nose
- a split lip
- bloody scrapes on his knees and chin,
- a severely twisted left ankle
- multiple subcutaneous and intramuscular bruising
- old and new damage to his fingernails
- symptoms of nitroglycerin poisoning though no traces of nitroglycerin in his body
- an untreated bacterial infection from the improperly treated gash on the outer right calf
- and most concerningly a confirmed TBI from primary blast damage
Given the various serious conditions, the Midoriyas' would have to talk for a long time about Izuku's treatment for the more serious conditions, eventually, that conversion came back to the bullying that left him laying on the medical bed which further lead to an argument about what to do about it.
" It i-isn't Kacchan's fault." He told her once they got to Izuku's childhood friend Inko's shoulders slumped and she had a morose look on her face " Izuku-" Inko tried to speak only to be cut off by Izuku " Mom, it's n-not Kacchan's fault. The teachers w-were supposed to stop him and make sure he d-didn't get out of control, th-hey didn't and let-t the others do wh-hatever they wanted to me, and-" Izuku argued but was stopped when his mom put a hand on his shoulder.
Now silent he could hear the heart monitor he was connected to beeping faster than it should've and a glance showed his erratic heart rate, they both waited silently for it to calm down with Inko gently rubbing the back of Izuku's hand, the doctor had warned them both about the dangers of stress in Izuku's state.
It took some time given how worked up he accidentally had gotten but once his heartbeat was back in the safe zone he took a deep breath then turned to his mom
" M-mom, I know Kacchan c-can be a great hero. What he d-did to me was... N-not good but we c-can't tell anyone. T-they'd put a mark on h-his record and h-he'd be t-turned away from the h-hero schools. I-I don't w-want to be t-the reason he c-couldn't... P-please mom, please." Izuku begged tears welling up in his eyes.
Inko felt her heart wrench at the poor sight of her son " Izuku, I can't just let him get away with what h-he's done to you." She protested unwilling to just let this be dropped " T-that's not what I m-mean. I- I-I just don't want t-to be the reason h-he can't be a-a hero." Izuku clarified and Inko sighed " Alright Izuku, we won't report Katsuki," she told him and the boy's relief was visible " But I will be reporting Aldera for discrimination and abuse of power." She added and immediately Izuku's relief was dashed and he was going to protest but Inko shot him a look.
" Izuku, if they treated you like this just because you were quirkless, what's going to stop them from treating every quirkless child like they did you?" Inko asked causing to Izuku get a very conflicted look on his face as he mentally debated it and that made Inko's heart ache, as amazing as Inko knew her son was she hadn't missed how selfless he was or his lack of confidence but considering the revelations of the last twenty-four hours that selflessness had to of crossed the line to self-loathing at some point.
" Even if we were to ignore what they did to you (which we aren't) they are also hurting the rest of their students by giving them an unhealthy and dangerous view of the world, that if they are stronger than someone they have the right to hurt them like they did with Katsuki, we can't just let them do that okay?" Inko elaborated further and while Izuku still didn't seem happy about it he accepted it and nodded " O-okay." He muttered rubbing his eyes to get rid of his tears, Inko couldn't help feeling tears building up in her own eyes as she could already see the uphill battle of getting Izuku to a better mindset was going to be more of a trek up a mountain.
" M-mom?" Izuku said worry clear in his voice " Izuku I've tried my best to be a mother for you, however, it seems I've clearly failed in that." Inko told him her tone rueful, Izuku was quick to jump to her defense " N-no! You're a great mom. Y-you do so much f-for me." He argued starting to cry again " Oh Izuku... You're far too kind." Inko replied causing the boy to make a choked squeak and Inko smiled sadly " I was so worried about teaching you to be kind that I must have forgotten to teach you the importance of respect." She said and Izuku balked confused by her words.
" Izuku I'm sure I've told you the saying 'Treat others how you wish to be treated.'" Inko mentioned and Izuku nodded, he had always gone out of his way to help others, he took notes for his struggling classmates and slipped them into their bags when no one was looking, helping their neighbors with their chores even if they never asked and Izuku had lost count of how many times he had stepped in to protect other students from being bullied.
" But I think I should have told a phrase my mother taught me to help with my anxiety, 'Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face.'" She told him, Izuku blinked mentally going over the words but ended up still being confused " But I think another one she taught me would be more fitting, 'Raise your standards to create change.'" She mused making Izuku even more confused about what the two sayings had anything to do with their conversation.
" The second one means to raise the standard you expect of others," Inko softly explained seeing his bafflement " The first is about how you let others treat you unintentionally sets a standard for how people are allowed to be treated." She continued, Izuku's face twisted tried to understand what she meant but was unable to connect the dots " What?" He questioned feeling dumb for not being able to understand " Izuku do you think quirkless children should be bullied?" Inko asked and Izuku shook his head " N-no!" He exclaimed.
" Then why was it okay for you to be bullied for being quirkless?" Inko questioned, Izuku opened his mouth only to turn away as his hands fiddled with the blanket " T-that's different... " he meekly protested unable to look at her, Inko shook her head " No it's not Izuku. Either no one should be bullied or everyone should, there's no middle ground when it comes to bullying." She argued causing Izuku to shrink into himself.
" Izuku if they're only bullying you because your quirkless, then they're going to bully everyone that's quirkless for being quirkless. If no one says that's wrong and even encourages it they're going to grow up thinking they have the right to hurt people just because they're quirkless." Inko laid out plainly for him, Izuku seemed blown away and was trying to wrap his head around the idea.
Seeing his heart rate picking up again she took his trembling hands in hers " I-I know this is hard for you to understand r-right now but you don't have to right away. I-it's something we'll work on, t-together." Inko promised, rubbing the back of his bandaged hands " O-okay." Izuku shakily agreed.