Izuku limped back home. Blood ran down his leg, face and body as wounds began to scab and old wounds were reopened. Cars drove past him and the pedestrians increased as Izuku turned into one of the more busier streets. He felt someone shoving past him and suppressed a wince.

He didn't know what to say. Or what to feel. He should be feeling misery, sadness, anything except this. Izuku felt...calm. As if all his worries were behind a barrier. He felt a dull throb from his shoulder and looked at it, curious to see the reason. He looked at the ever increasing amount of blood soaking through his shirt. He stared at it before continuing on his way.

"Are you okay, kid?" A voice asked him. He turned around to see a man no older than twenty look at him with concern. His eyes widened in alarm as he took in Izuku's features, namely the blood that was clinging to every inch of him.

Izuku found it hypnotising how the man's black hair seemed to sway in the wind. He felt the man take his hand and lead him somewhere, looking at him for permission. Izuku was too busy gazing at the man to respond.

The man seemed to hesitate for a second before going down an alleyway and stopping next to a bright board that said 'Yoshimitsu Clinic'.

The rest of the visit seemed to be phasing in and out, vague images registering with Izuku.He vaguely remembered that at one point, both the men had left the room. He knew that at some point, he had been cleaned up. His wounds had been disinfected and he had bandages wrapped around the worst of his injuries.

Izuku looked at the man once again and catalogued his features. He was of an average build, slim and a height that could only be called normal. He seemed normal in every sense, from his cheekbone to his jawline, which was slightly visible. The only difference lay in his eyes. They were a green that could only be described as radioactive. They seemed to illuminate the room. And as friendly his features might have been, no matter what the man had done for Izuku, his eyes looked at him as if he were a prize.

And that woke up Izuku from his stupor. He blinked once, twice before looking around and panicking.

"W-Where am I?"

Izuku seemed to shrink into his chair, his eyes flitting about as he looked at the two people in the clinic. The doctor was a short and stout man who was bald. He had thick, bottle glasses framing his eyes.

The man who had brought him here looked at him in concern.

"Do you not remember me?"

Izuku stammered out a response, "Y-Yes, but I wasn't really thinking then."

The man looked at him with a gaze that he couldn't figure out before sighing.

"Well, you were banged up pretty bad kid. There's a difference between fighting and fighting to an inch of your life."

And as soon as he said this, the memories came back. Katsuki beating him up. A Hero leaving him alone. Leaving him to his bully. Leaving him as he begged for help.

Leaving him as he bled.

Izuku closed his eyes. He could deal with this pain when he reached home.

"I'm sorry. Was that a...sensitive subject?" The man asked tentatively.

Izuku simply nodded. He got up and headed towards the door before stopping.

"T-Thank you." He said, both to the man and the doctor. The man seemed confused while the doctor simply nodded.

"Where are you going?" The man asked him.

Izuku blinked before replying, "Home." Was the man expecting him to pay for the treatment? Or something else. It was only then did Izuku realise that he had followed a stranger to god knows where. What was wrong with him?!

"Do you even know where you are?" The man asked, interrupting Izuku's internal rant.

"Uh." Was all Izuku managed to say.

The man huffed before getting up and unlocking his phone.

"What's your address? I might as well drop you there."

Izuku began a counter argument before being cut out.

"No buts. You were beat up before I found you. It's counterintuitive to let you wander around a city in the night and get beat up by some thugs."

Although Izuku couldn't understand what the big word meant, he understood the gist of it. Thanking the doctor once again, he let the man lead him to a cab. He promptly gave him the address and spent the rest of the 10 minute ride in silence.

Izuku focussed on not breaking down in front of the kind stranger and making sure that they actually were heading home. He saw the yellow lights slowly change into harsh, white lights that illuminated the entire street. The lights seemed to blend together, the neon lights of shopfronts giving the blur a color that seemed to sway.

Izuku ran out of the cab and was surprised by a bone-crushing hug. Inko was crying and smiling at the same time.

"IZUKU! Where were you? It's ten 'o' clock now and you were supposed to be back by-why are there bandages?" Inko began before asking a much more pressing question.

The man stepped in and answered quickly, "I found your son bleeding. I took him to a clinic to get patched up. It wasn't anything very serious, but he was in a bad shape."

Inko instantly looked at Izuku for confirmation, who nodded in confirmation. Her lips hardened as she found out the culprit. Call it mother's intuition or basic psychology, but the pain in his son's eye led her to the name.

"Bakugo."

And unlike other times, this time Izuku didn't respond and simply headed inside.

Inko blinked back tears as she noted the change. Usually Izuku would try and convince her that no, it wasn't his fault. But this time he hadn't even bothered. What had happened to her baby boy?

She watched as Izuku entered the apartment complex, his shoulders tensed and his entire posture slumping forward. He looked utterly defeated.

Brushing past the pang in her chest, she turned to her kid's savior.

"Thank you for looking after Izuku. If you tell me how much the cab and the treatment was I coul-" She began before being cut off by frantically waving hands.

'It's no big thing really. I just saw somebody who needed help and decided to do my part."

Inko smiled, her heart warming at the thought that even in now, kind people existed.

She wanted to go back and talk to Izuku, but she couldn't just leave this kind man. He seemed to understand her hesitation and quickly said, "Anyway, I have to get going. It was nice to meet you Miss…?

"Midoriya, Inko Midoriya."

"It was nice to meet you Miss Midoriya, although I wish it could've been under better circumstances."

Inko nodded and saw the man retreat before she realised something.

'What's your name Mister?"

"Mase Hotako."