BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE-
Izuku groaned and hit his alarm clock. Yesterday was a really shitty day, after which Izuku had holed up in his room all evening and finally cried himself to sleep at 4 am.
When he slept, however, he had a nightmare, which is why he was awake again at 5:32 am and had been wide awake in bed for almost an hour and a half.
He actually considered calling in sick from school, but decided against it because he didn't want to disappoint All Might. After all, in reality he wasn't worth that power- No, he didn't want to think that way now.
Izuku knew that All Might would surely have understood if he had explained what had happened, but the irrational part of Izuku's feelings was the firm belief that All Might would hate him and that the Symbol of Peace would think it was a mistake to make Izuku his successor.
Maybe Kacchan was right after all. Maybe he really just had to take a swan dive off th- no. He didn't want to think like that. He sighed and looked down at his left forearm.
There scars over scars were visible, that overlapped but ran horizontally for the most part. He wasn't proud of what he'd done to himself in the past, but he didn't regret it either. Not really. He was still firmly convinced that he didn't deserve it any other way. After all, he was just a worthless, useless-
Before his thoughts got further out of control, he shook his head and stood up. He skipped his morning training, it was too late for that anyway.
He sighed and slowly put on his uniform before going into the bathroom and looking at himself in the mirror. He could tell without lying that he looked terrible. Well, apart from the fact that he had never really liked the way he looked.
His eyes were red and puffy and his hair was even more messy than it normally would be. He tried to straighten his hair a bit and to cover his dark circles with make-up, but in his opinion that didn't help. So he sighed and gave up. He went back out of the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed.
Izuku breathed deeply for a few minutes and then wanted to slowly set off.
When he had just put on his red sneakers, there was a knock on his door and before Izuku could answer Katsuki came inside.
"Kacchan ... What ... Uh ... What are you doing here?"
"Saw the news. Not that I care... But how are you? ", The blonde asked and Izuku noticed that his voice sounded a little friendlier than usual.
Deku sighed and collapsed back onto his bed while Kacchan sat down next to it. "To be honest, I feel like a truck hit me. Well, a mental truck, you know? "Izuku said with a humorless laugh. He sighed and put his right forearm over his eyes. "I'm scared, Kacchan. I'm so fuckin' scared...", he mumbled.
"Hm. Yeah, no shit Sherlock. It's no wonder you're scared if that bastar- "
"Kacchan. Sorry, but really don't want to talk about it. Let's just go, okay? "Izuku said and then sat up with a groan.
"Yeah, okay. But if the fucker shows up, I'll rip his teeth out. "
Izuku chuckled knowing full well that this was Kacchan's way of reassuring him.
As the two left the dormitory, Katsuki said, "Hey, Deku. Don't worry. I know you, you don't even have to look at me like that. You are here at the probably safest place in Japan, he can't hurt you here. "
"Well, the rational part of me knows that too. But my feelings are so crazy that I can't help but be afraid. But thank you Kacchan. "
Katsuki just growled in response and neither said anything for the rest of the way. But it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, which Izuku was clearly glad for.
He was able to relax a bit along the way and when they got to the classroom and sat down in their seats, Katsuki turned back to him and gave him an encouraging look.
Izuku nodded gratefully and the blonde turned around again.
The classroom was still completely empty. It was so early that even Iida wasn't there, so Deku folded his arms on the table and laid his head on them.
As the class gradually filled up, Izuku got more nervous again. What if someone noticed that he was feeling bad? If they would besiege him until he blurted out the truth and then they no longer wanted to be his friends and he would be alone again and what if-
"Deku. You're mumbling. ", Kacchan grumbled in front of him while he gave Deku's table a light push with his elbow. At that Izuku started and his train of thought stopped.
"Oh...Sorry...", Deku replied and Katsuki only grumbled in response.
"Hey, Deku-Kun!" Izuku suddenly heard from the other side of the room and he flinched.
"O-Oh H-Hi Ochako.", He replied with a smile and hoped that the girl hasn't noticed how bad his mood was.
This hope was of course in vain. Today was really not his day. "Is everything okay Deku?", Ochako asked with a concerned look.
He had to pull himself together in order not to answer immediately in panic and therefore took a deep breath, but did not show anything outwardly. He just smiled, even if some people could clearly see that it was a fake smile.
"I'm fine. It's all right. But thanks for your concern."
If he had gotten money every time he said this sentence in the past, then he would be rich and therefore he was of the opinion that he could hide his real feelings well.
"Okay, if you are sure.", Ochako said even if she did not seem 100% convinced.
Deku nodded and smiled "happily" at her. She smiled back and then went to her seat.
5 minutes later the door was slid open and Aizawa shuffled into the room.
"Mr. Aizawa! Where's All Might, we have heroism now and that - "Iida shouted, but was interrupted by Aizawa.
„All Might called in sick, so I'm taking over class today. And now sit down. I want to start now."
Iida shouted an apology and sat down again.
Great. Just great. Not only that today was a really shitty day, now All Might was sick too. Presumably he had exceeded his time limit for a change. Izuku had hoped to have lunch with All Might and to distract himself a bit, but no, of course fate thwarted his plans.
"Due to yesterday's events, we will be talking about a certain villain who escaped from Tartarus Prison yesterday," said Aizawa.
Izuku paled.
No. Please not that. He began to breathe faster and began to shiver. Great. A panic attack.
Katsuki wanted to say something but Aizawa just kept talking.
"This villain is very dangerous and killed and injured many people a few years ago. He calls himself "Dragon Breath" and- "
He couldn't take it anymore. He had to get out of here. Before Aizawa could say more, Deku got up abruptly and ran out of the room.
"Shit.", Katsuki cursed and got up too. But then he thought. Should he run after him? He knew that the nerd still regarded him as a friend, but Katsuki also knew that the nerd was clearly in panic, or at least was there to get one, and his years of bullying might not necessarily be the best of his times. It was certainly not great to have your former bully guide you through a panic attack.
"Round face, glasses. Follow him," he said, took a deep breath and sat down again. "You can probably help him better than I can."
Ochako looked really confused for a second, much like the rest of the class and Mr. Aizawa but she stood up and ran after Deku. Iida hesitated a little, but when Aizawa looked at him and nodded, he knew that he had to follow his two classmates.
He stood up and ran into the hallway, where Ochako was waiting for him.
The two had no clue where Deku had run to, so they split up and stayed connected via phone call.
Tenya used his quirk and searched the toilet blocks and the entire floor. Ochako ran into the cafeteria and when they couldn't find him anywhere, they slowly despaired.
But suddenly Hatsume appeared out of nowhere.
"Heya! What's the matter with Zuzu? He just ran completely panicked in the direction of the dorm buildings and when I called him he just got more panicked, "she said.
Of course. The dorms. Why hadn't Ochako thought of it himself? He will probably have run into his room.
„Tenya did you hear that?", she asked.
„Yes. I'm on my way, we'll meet there!", Tenya answered from the other side of the phone.
"Thank you Mei! I owe you one! "Called afterwards. Ochako hung up and ran to the dorms.
"Um...?You're welcome? ", Mei said and when Ochako disappeared from her field of vision she turned around and said" Well, I'll keep working on my babies! "
Ochako ran out of the school building and made her way to the dorm. What's the matter with Deku? I hope he wasn't hurt. Please let him be okay!
Ochako arrived at the dorms and ran through the common room. Nope. No Deku, no Iida. Deku. So as a precaution she ran into the kitchen to look there. Nope. Also empty.
She ran in the hallway, took the elevator to Deku's floor and stood impatiently in the elevator, teetering on her feet.
Damn, go faster you stupid metal box!
The doors opened and she could hear Tenya directly. He stood in front of Izuku's door and pounded on it. "Midoriya! Please open the door!"
Ochako ran up and called out: "Tenya! What's happening?!"
"No idea! He's in there and you can hear him, but the door is locked and he doesn't open! "
Crap. She thought and knocked on the door.
"Deku! Please open up! It's me Ochako! "
She put her ear to the door and tried to hear what was going on inside. She could hear sobbing and she could understand a few words.
"... Don't ... hurt ... Please ... don't ... hurt me ..."
"No, Dek-Izuku. I won't hurt you. I promise! And Tenya won't hurt you either. We just want to help you. ", She said and tried to calm Izuku, Tenya and herself down at the same time.
"No...you don't understand ... he ... he will ... hurt me ... again."
Ochako had no idea what was going on here. In class they talked about this villain who broke out yesterday. Obviously it had something to do with it, but of course she could only guess. Maybe Izuku met this villain somewhere before?
What could she say to help him?
She had an idea!
"No Izuku. He won't hurt you. Everything will be fine! And do you know why? Because I- uh we, because we're here now! ", She said and if she hadn't been so tense she probably wouldn't have been able to resist laughing.
She hoped that it worked and that this sentence triggered something in him. And sure enough, after a few moments she heard the door lock click and the door slowly opened.
It was dark in the room and you could still hear Deku sobbing. What surprised her most, however, was that the door had apparently opened by itself. Deku wasn't behind the door, Ochako hadn't touched the door and Tenya was a bit behind her, so it couldn't have been him either.
Izuku was sitting on the floor on the other side of the room and had stretched his open hand towards the door as if he had reached for it. His eyes were wide open, tears were running from them and his eyes glowed in a bright green.
No, not as usual. His eyes always shone, but this was different. His eyes glowed a light green and they stood out clearly from the dark surroundings.
What also stood out from the area were the floating objects that flew around the room. Books, pens, pillows, even the chair and desk floated around as if Ochako had used her quirk.
Tenya was obviously as amazed as she was, and made a noise that sounded like a mixture of frightened and fascinated.
"Izuku?", She asked and walked slowly to him, Iida hot on her heels.
As both were completely in the room, Deku jerked his arm to the side in a sweeping motion. Then you suddenly heard a loud bang and it was completely dark. The door was slammed and Ochako was scared to death. She could hardly see anything except Izuku's eyes and the floating things which, like the eyes, had a green glow.
"Izuku. Everything will be fine. We want to help you. ", Ochako said and narrowed his eyes to see Deku.
"I ... I'm ... sorry ... I ... I can't ... can't really... control it ...", Izuku said and clearly had difficulty breathing.
Ochako was getting totally confused. Okay, obviously Deku had another quirk. And he was obviously still having a panic attack. She could ask questions later, first she had to calm Izuku down.
"Hey, Izuku. Everything's gonna be okay. Can I come over to you? "She asked carefully and in a calm voice.
Izuku sobbed, wrapped his arms around himself, looked down and after a few moments nodded cautiously. Ochako could just see it in the dark and she released a relieved breath.
She turned briefly to Tenya and showed him that he should stay back for now. He nodded and she turned back to Izuku.
She walked carefully to him and slowly sat on her knees in front of him.
She saw that he had grabbed his arms so tight that he had already started bleeding. She then first noticed that his blazer laid on the other side of the room and his sleeves were rolled up.
She would have loved to hug him, but she didn't want him to panic and injure himself even more.
"Can I touch you?, she asked. Deku mumbled something she couldn't understand very much, but she could hear the word "safe" out. It sounded like a question and so she trusted her intuition and said, "Yes, it is safe. I am safe. I won't hurt you and I will protect you. I promise."
Deku let out a relieved breath and his shoulders loosened visibly.
Ochako carefully put one hand on his upper arm and when he had relaxed a little, she put the other hand on his other arm.
That seemed to break the ice. Suddenly all the floating things fell with a thump on the floor, whereupon Izuku sobbed and threw himself into Ochako's arms.
At first she was surprised but then also infinitely relieved and she closed her arms around him.
"Everything is fine Izuku. I'm here, "she said while he cried into her shoulder...