Adjusting the focus
Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia.
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Chapter 10
''If you ever would have gotten a second chance, what would you have changed?''
The boy looks up to the darkened sky with remising eyes. ''I think- I think my mom. You know she stressed so much because of me.'' A weak smile formed on his face.
''I think I never truly understood how much I strained her when I was younger. You know with dad gone, she had to pay the bills and raise me all on her own. We only really had each other. And I wasn't the most, you know, ideal kid. Always managed to get in trouble. It must have been horrible for mom who already stressed so much because of small things.''
His companion smirks ''Just like you.''
He laughs softly ''Just like me… But my mom… I love her so much. She's always been there for me and she, just- She deserves the world.'' There's a small pause.
Regrettably, I can't actually give her that.'' A small humourless chuckle from the both of them. ''But with a second chance, well, I think it would be an opportunity to be less selfish and I would like to take better care of her. Prevent her from getting involved in all this.''
The other hummed and grinned. ''You sound like a total momma boy.
But well, for as far as second chances go, it's one of the better ones that I've heard.''
When Fuyumi asked Shouto the precious day if he minded her setting up a play-date for him, he wasn't sure what to think. Sure, Shouto wasn't exactly what you call social, but he did have several acquaintances from other hero families. A play-date with someone he didn't know at all seemed a little bit extreme and certainly not necessary. Shouto was perfectly satisfied with his non-social life. He didn't have time for a social life. But even after telling her that, Fuyumi insisted for them to meet, going so far to even trick his father in giving him a day off, which was decidedly a very out of character action of her.
Shouto had decided as a consequence that everything was better than spending his day with his father being somewhere in a range of 200 feet or less. And thus, ended up in an unfamiliar park in another neighbourhood where they were supposed to meet. Supposed because his sister came walking to him while introducing ''Midoriya Izuku'' without a second person being there.
Shouto stared at her, wondering if this was a joke, and how he was supposed to react. ''Fuyumi…?'' Said person blinked back at him, before following his gaze to the empty space next to her.
''Wha-?''
.
It's only ten minues later, when they hear several harsh barks and Fuyumi is nearing tears, that his sister lets out a triumphant cry and Shouto finally lays his eyes on the mystery play-date.
He's rather small with casual, but a bit baggy clothes, greenish hair and later when Shouto has seen him from up close he will notice the freckles and disturbingly dark circles under green bright eyes, which made them look even brighter.
This all wasn't really the thing that stood out to Shouto when he first saw the boy though. No, the thing that stood out was that the boy was also holding three dog leashes, with on them three dogs, one in particular standing out with an intimidating air and a size almost as big as the boy himself, a ruffled, pitch black fur swamping the body. Besides that, the boy was too basically drowning under two garbage bags, a shopping bag and a leather messenger bag, and was seemingly talking to a distressed elderly lady. It was… quite the sight.
Even more so for his sister who was fretting with wide eyes. ''I had him next to me one minute ago, I swear, where did he get all those bags? And three dogs? Who would even let that boy hold onto that dog? That's like a hell-hound!''
It took some emergency interfering, but ten minutes later the boy was holding onto only the dogs and the messenger bag (which was apparently the only bag that was his own), all the other bags somehow having disappeared and the lady calmed. His sister had, of course, left them alone after that because she had no mercy, and because while she had emergency interfered, she very coincidentally recognized the distressed elderly and decided to sit down with her on a bench a little bit further in the park to catch up.
And so Shouto and the boy had been left alone.
And the three dogs. They were still there too and had all been introduced to him now. (Horrifically enough the black hell-hound was apparently named Rini. Rini, in addition, also didn't seem to like Shouto. Or anyone for that matter.) It was all a little bit out of Shouto's comfort zone.
The boy with the messy hair interrupts his thoughts with a shy wave. ''Hello''
Shouto nods at the boy, ''Hello, I'm Todoroki Shouto,'' and because this was someone his sister wanted for him to get to know, for him to get along with, ''It's nice meeting you.''
The boy blinks at him, and sputters, dipping into a bow, before looking up again. ''I'm sorry, I was being rude, it's nice to meet you too, Todoroki-san. I'm Midoriya Izuku''
Shouto feels his eyes widen a tiny bit, surprised at the apology and unsure of what to answer. ''It's okay.''
There is an awkward silence and Shouto continuous to analyse the boy. He seemed a little bit weird to Shouto, honestly. Different from all the other kids Shouto had met from other famous hero families. Shouto wasn't certain if it was their difference of status apparent in the way he talked, his clothes, his body-language, or possibly the first impression he gave Shouto, or even something completely different.
He hadn't stared at Shouto's scar or started talking about his father yet, at least.
''So, you're ehm. You're Fuyumi's brother?'' He said interrupting Shouto's thoughts.
Shouto stared at him, was the boy stupid? Was it a rhetorical question? Was he supposed to answer that? Shouto knew it was pretty obvious they were siblings; their hair colours were probably already telling enough. And Todoroki was pretty sure Fuyumi had already told him of their relation anyway, if Midoriya wasn't yet ware of it yet by the amount of media surrounding their family because of his father. God, he hoped this boy didn't just want to talk with him because he wanted to meet Endeavor.
''How's that? Ehm, I mean, is she a nice sister?'' Midoriya cringes.
Shouto shifted. ''Yeah, she's nice.''
Midoriya looked at him a bit longer, probably expecting a bit more information, but Shouto wasn't really sure what he had to say, or if he even wanted to say those things to someone who was a near stranger. It was true anyway. Fuyumi was nice and Shouto loved her more than any of his other siblings or god forbid his dad. Even if she was a bit of a nervous person, especially around their father. He couldn't really blame her though; their father was a real bastard.
''Ah, okay. Uh. Yeah, she seems very nice. Do you have other siblings?''
''Yes, I've two brothers.''
''Do you like them?''
''I don't interact with them much.'' Midoriya cringes again.
''… They sounded nice from what your mother told me.'' Shouto freezes, his eyes zeroing with intensity on the other boy. ''… My mother?''
And the two annoyingly bright eyes blink at him in confusion. ''Yes, your mother. Didn't Fuyumi-san tell you? It's how I met her, I, uh, I met your mom on accident and I visit her sometimes. She's very nice.''
A swirl of emotion whirled up in Shouto and he clenches his fists. Confusion, anger, sadness, joy, hurt, jealousy. He had an urge to scream, an urge to interrogate Fuyumi about this boy and his mother. He wants to punch his father so hard in the teeth he would lose several of them, leaving only empty holes, just as the ones he created when Shouto's mother disappeared to the hospital.
But he can't. Not right now. Because he's not yet strong enough, because his mother has been a taboo topic ever since the incident and because there's a small, sickly boy of his age staring at his clenched fists with wide, haunted eyes. He forces his muscles to relax, swallows and pulls his lips in what is no doubt a strained smile.
(It feels weird, to smile.)
''How-How is she?''
The other glances up at his face nervously again, and Shouto vaguely wonders what kind off past the boy has for him to notice the small hints in Shouto's body language that even adults seem to miss and even worse knows to be cautious of them; Shouto has been trained to read body language just like all other things by his father until he did nothing less than excel in it, and he recognizes the small shifts in the stance from the boy just as well. This boy had an extra guard up ever since Shouto repeated a part of his sentence.
But then after scanning his expression for less than a second, a small smile appears on the Midoriya's lips, and he seems to marginally relax. ''She's alright, I guess. She still has lapses but the nurses tell me it's already going far better, and she's recovering well.'' There's a small pause and the boy shoots him a look Shouto can't really discern. ''She talks about you a lot. She feels really guilty for what she did to your- '' He gestures to Shouto's scar.
And suddenly this is entirely to close and it's very obvious that Shouto is talking with a stranger and Shouto does not want to talk about this with a stranger, or at all really. The boy seems to notice his sudden hesitance and again there is a silence.
.
''So… Uh, do you like dogs?'' They're several minutes of painful silence, only interrupted by some sounds of the dogs later, and Shouto is really ready for this to be over but his sister is still talking to the woman and occasionally sending him encouraging glances. Like now.
''… What?''
Midoriya's eyes flicker up to meet his and Shouto doesn't think he's ever seen someone so red and uncomfortable. ''Ah, I-I'm sorry. That was a stupid question, you don't- I just thought since- ''
''Sure, I like them.'' Fuyumi had insisted Shouto should try.
The boy startles in surprise, freezing in the middle of his sentence. He shoots him a look again for a second, a weird calculating look, so quick Shouto can almost convince himself he imagined it, that makes Shouto feel like he's an ant under a magnifying glass, and then he curls his lips in a small smile again.
''Really?'' Shouto nods, before hesitating. ''Do you like them?'' He asks back. He can just imagine his sister proudly crowing at him.
''What? Oh, yes. I do. They are really amazing. I don't have one personally but me and Kacchan, a friend, now have to go to some, ah, uhm. We sometimes got to go to some therapy centre with them and it's really nice.'' The boy finishes lamely and tensely. Therapy. Midoriya fiddles for a few second and Shouto decides it's better not to ask. Then the other seemingly steels himself.
''Do you like any other pets? Or do you have one?''
''We've fish in the backyard, - '' Conversing with Midoriya is as weird as Midoriya himself, Shouto decides to peg it on them being used to different environments for now. It's careful; they both have topics they avoid and thus talk mostly about everyday things but it's also maybe a little bit nice. Midoriya is tense and awkward, possibly shy, but he's also enthousiastic and nice. He's expressive too. His face is an open book completely unlike Shouto and Shouto finds he likes it. It's difficult to dislike the boy when he's absoluteley beaming at you when talking about some topic or when you can literally see dawning horror on his face when he realises he may have said something offending. It all makes Shouto hope it isn't an act.
Midoriya seemed to be very determined to be polite though. Politely distand by for example keeping use of the suffix -san even after Shouto asks him to do otherwise. Even if Midoriya himself doesn't mind Shouto not being polite at all, which Shouto learns when the boy doen't even react when Shouto doesn't use a suffix or when Shouto accidently lets a rather blunt remark slip past his guard, Midoriya doesn't react insulted or shocked but he giggles.
(Not that it matters much. This all will be a one-time thing. Shouto didn't exactly have time for others, and it would only give him problems. And Shouto wasn't sure yet if the only reason Midoriya had talked with them was to get closer to Endeavor. Thus he wasn't to be trusted yet. Still, for this one time, it was agreeable.)
It's only when the sky begins to darken that Midoriya gasps before cursing, surprising Shouto in the process; Midoriya hadn't seem to be the type to curse, and telling Shouto he really has to go home, otherwise his mother will become concerned.
Just before he leaves he turns to Shouto and stutters. ''S-So, do you want to meet again sometime?''
Shouto says the first thing that comes up.
''I'm not looking for any friends.''
Midoriya looks terribly heartbroken for a second, before he schools his expression in a smile which would have been convincing if it hadn't been for the expression before. Shouto can almost see his sister look at him with those sad, disappointed eyes. The words are out before he can stop them
''But, uh, if you want to we can try?'' He tries and cringes mentally. This was not going as planned.
Midoriya beams.
Shouto doesn't have his own mobile-telephone yet, so when Midoriya asks him for it, Shouto gives him Fuyumi's number. (His shitty dad would be uninformed for as long as Shouto could keep him uninformed.) And then off Midoriya goes, waving excitedly while running away and carrying the leather messenger bag with him, the dogs having disappeared sometime along the 'play-date'. Shouto waves back, a bit awkwardly.
Then he turns around resolutely. For now, the only thing left was to convince Fuyumi to keep the boy secret from their father and to get his own telephone.
Afterwards Shouto could begin to think about how to find a way to tell the boy the next time that they can't be friends, and to convince his sister of the same thing.
''Fujita-sensei?''
''You've grown a lot these last years, Midoriya-kun. I think we can soon begin with muscle-training.''
Izuku felt his eyes widen, excitement beginning to grow ''Sensei?!''
The old man gave him a quick look from under his thick eyebrows. ''Yes, I think that would seem wise. Both your mind and body seem reasonably ready.''
Izuku frowned a little bit at the 'reasonably' but decided to let it go. His material-arts sensei, while amazing, wise and a whole lot of other things was also strict.
With his small, serious stature, his traditional clothing and his thick frowning eyebrows he already gave of some kind of air, and when he opened his mouth it just became worse. Izuku still liked him though. More than the other material arts sensei's he had had before Fujita-sensei.
Fujita-sensei was after all the owner of the dojo and only after all the other sensei hadn't anything left to teach him, Izuku was given to Fujita-sensei. Sensei, of course, could still defeat him while calmly saying talking about philosophies, or give cryptic messages, or give life-lessons or whatever he was in the mood of that day. Sometimes he would just stare at Izuku, expecting him to somehow telepathically get the message. (That hadn't happened yet, and Izuku was pretty convinced it never would.)
Izuku totally blamed his more often than not losing onto the quirk of the man, which gave him the same strength and fitness as a grown man in his fittest years, instead of the fitness and strength he should actually have as a rather old, small man. (God forbid he would ever let Fujita-sensei hear that however) But it didn't mean he minded losing that much. It was grounding and Izuku had always like a challenge.
It had been one of the reason it had been easy to bond with the man for Izuku. Other reasons were the, sometimes private, lessons he got from the man and Fujita-sensei's special talent to see through Izuku's mask.
Of course, it also helped that Fujita-sensei was the one who allowed him to come to the dojo to practice when he wanted and had even given him a spare key, or that sensei literally made the best calming tea.
''Midoriya-kun, hurry up, we don't have all day. I want to show you these exercises without your mother worrying again about you coming home to late. Now, I expect you to do the first set daily, and the second every three days. If you do more, I will notice.'' The words were accompanied by a heavy frowning look, making his eyes almost disappear under the eyebrows.
Izuku, of course, knew better by now. The last time he had not listened to his sensei, he had seen it the minute he had walked in, and had then ignored him for two weeks. Izuku really didn't want a repeat of that incident.
''Yes, Fujita-sensei!''
''Deku… Why do you have got a stun gun in your bag.''
Deku freezes and whips around to look at him. He gasps ''Kacchan!'' looking horrified. ''You can't just look through someone's belongings like that!''
Katsuki scoffs and begins rummaging around some more in the bag. It was only natural for him to be curious of the damned bag Deku would take everywhere with him (even though sometimes seeming to do so grudgingly). And Deku had never even opened it wherever they went. It was just there around his shoulder or in his hands, even if he had another bag with him for his schoolbooks or whatever.
''Are these… Why do you also have fucking handcuffs in your bag? What the fuck is this even.''
''Uh.'' Deku laughs uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his head and neck. ''It's- It's kind of a long story?''
''Well, it better be fucking interesting then.''
.
There was a long pause. ''What… What the fuck, Deku. I'm so not impressed.''
Again, a pause.
''At least this explains the reason of all the grannies looking at you like you hung the stars in the sky.''
''You fear letting people getting to close to you. You use your amicable politeness to put up a barrier between you and others, which most don't even realise is there.'' His therapist sighs. ''Midoriya-kun, it's not healthy, you know that.''
Izuku huffs slightly. ''I don't see the harm. Most people don't like me anyway, I'm nothing special, especially when they find out I'm quirkless. Besides I've already plenty people I'm close with. I've got mom, and Yagi-san. And I've got Kacchan and his parents, and Sansa-san and Machida-san. I even made a new friend!''
His therapist raises one brow ''Oh?''
''Yes, he's very nice.''
''Tell me something about him.'' Izuku sends her a mildly discontent look, and in response her expression gets slightly sad and disappointed.
''Only if you want to of course.'' And well, Izuku is weak.
He can't tell her how he met him. Because then he would have to tell about Todoroki-san and then he would have to tell her about he met her because he visited the villain and that was a whole can of worms Izuku wasn't ready to open yet. He was going to make sure Todoroki-kun wouldn't meet anyone of his family soon. Todoroki-kun and Kacchan had never liked each other anyway, it was for the best.
But Izuku could tell her some other things, so he did. ''His name Todoroki Shouto, and he's the same age as me. His favourite hero is also All Might, and he's really nice.''
That's how most of these sessions went after all. Compromises.
Izuku gaped at her. ''You want me to let out my quirk on purpose?!''
The doctor sighs as if his completely reasonable question is stupid.
''Yes.''
''But why?!''
''Research.'' The man besides her pipes up. The woman slaps him on the arm, before turning back to Izuku. ''No, not research. We want you to learn how to control your quirk. Which is the easiest done when you actually use it.''
Izuku blinks at them. ''You know this 'quirk' is incredibly destructive, right?''
''Yeah, we do, which is why we want you to be free every Saturday so we can take you to a facility outside the city to avoid unintended side-effects.''
That sounded unusually sensible. Izuku narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. The woman sighed again.
''Just. Just come here on Saturday 9 o'clock. Your mom already agreed, so don't worry about her.''
And that was that.
.
''Are you sure this is okay?'' Izuku looked doubtfully at the tree in front of him.
''Yes, kid. Just do your thing already.'' The man sounded annoyed. Which was logical as they had been having this conversation on their entire way here and then for another half an hour, but Izuku had to make sure. That way if something happened he would be able to blame the whole clusterfuck on them.
''Okay then.'' Izuku gave in.
And he focused carefully on all his negative feelings, letting them blow over him with all their power. When the crackling started along his skin Izuku tried to embrace it as much as he could. He could hear the doctors behind him gasp.
Then he pulled his arm back and punched the tree as hard as he could. A wave of wind pulled at his hair, and he squinted his eyes.
Yeah, not a good idea Izuku thought as he squinted at the remains and crater in front of him.
There was a small silence while everyone stared at it. ''Okayyy, so we may have underestimated the effects a little bit.'' Dr. Michi said as he stared at several metal plates flying out of the air.
.
It took them about ten minutes before they noticed the weird angle of Izuku's arm. ''What the fuck? Shit, kid, did you fucking break something?!''
Izuku looked at his arm, a tiny bit confused, to see his arm crooked unnaturally. It was surprisingly enough not as bad as he had had before with his skin not entirely red and bruised but only slightly. There were also obviously only a few fractures. He nodded.
''I guess.''
The doctors all rushed to him in disbelieve. ''KID, TELL US EARLIER!''
.
On the way back the kid is silent. His arm is already bandaged and up for real treatment later in the hospital and if Dr. Michi Arata was any less heartless he may have been concerned about the boy. But he isn't any less heartless and thus enjoys the silence that the weird mood of the boy creates.
Unfortunately, he isn't the only one in the car with the kid, and his colleague Saito Suzume isn't heartless enough to not be concerned.
''What's up, kid?'' The kid looks away from the window in surprise. ''What?''
His colleague shifts uncomfortably. ''You seem, uh, thoughtful?''
Yes, well done Suzume, very eloquent.
They boy fiddles uncomfortably and keeps silent. Bless him.
Two minutes there is a nice silence and then ''Why did you just let me go? After the, uh, kidnapping I mean. I was, am, dangerous. My quirk is dangerous.''
It was really a shame that they were in fact sitting in a car, and there was no way for Arata to nope out of there.
Suzume sighs. ''It's not that simple, Midoriya-kun. Almost every quirk can be dangerous. Every quirk can get out of control. You just have one which is a little bit more unstable and fluctuating. You can take Michi-chan here as an example. He's got the ability to separate two components from each other. A handy quirk, but it can be very dangerous. Once he was attacked and he accidently separated the water in the body from the attacker and the body. As you can probably understand the attacker didn't survive. But it was just an accident. It wasn't Michi-chan's fault.
And after that he even joined our organization to help others with difficulties with their quirks, be it because they are more irregular or dangerous quirks, or because the manifest in specific ways, or whatever really, and to avoid things like that from happening again.''
Oh, great, do tell the fucked-up kid of thirteen years my fucked-up life story. That will absolutely help.
The kid was staring at him with wide eyes. ''B-But why did you let me go then? If you want to avoid something like that happening you shouldn't you have not let me go?''
''Because you're going have to learn with this quirk eventually. We want you to learn live with this quirk. And you better learn early than late. Besides, you haven't had that much incidents lately anyway!''
There was a blessed long silence in which Arata assumed the boy was thinking about what she said, before ''I-I'm sorry, but Michi-sensei, your quirk can separate two components from one another?! Could I perhaps ask some questions?''
Arata sighs.
Seeing Shouto again is… it's amazing.
It isn't really Shouto. Shouto was from before, and Todoroki-kun, well he's from now. Izuku knows better than to confuse those two. Todoroki-kun is after all a child he barely knows, even though Izuku already knows how to read him better than most, possibly all in this point of time, and he knows more facts about his personal life than anyone would be comfortable with if the one knowing was not a close friend. Shouto had been a close friend. One Izuku could rely on without hesitation. One which could read him just well as Izuku could him. And Izuku had loved him a lot. And it was tempting to just look at Todoroki-san as he had done to Shouto. But he wouldn't.
Because this was another life with other people and Izuku had become terrifyingly knowledgeable about the butterfly-effect-theory and the effects it could describe. Every person Izuku had known could be completely different. He knew this.
(Because Shouto deserved so much more than that.)
That being said, meeting Todoroki-kun wasn't completely different from how Izuku imagined Shouto would be when young.
Izuku liked him. He hadn't noticed this, but Izuku had isolated himself a lot when he decided to just keep to his community, and not search for new friend outside of that small circle of people he surrounded himself with. Izuku loved every one of them but that didn't take away it could become a bit much.
So, Todoroki-kun was refreshing. A sweet kid, though a lot of people differed from Izuku's opinion there; finding Todoroki-kun's ever blank face unnerving and the fact Todoroki-kun acted very cold repelling.
Izuku still thought he was sweet. Todoroki-san was quiet, and he evidently often tried to distance himself from Izuku. He didn't seem used to Izuku's habit to talk a lot about everything or nothing, and honestly seemed a little bit overwhelmed by Izuku sometimes.
Their 'friendship' now was still rather tentative, with Izuku trying to pull Todoroki-kun from his shell and Todoroki-kun trying his hardest to stay in it.
Izuku already had some process though, while most times Todoroki-kun would close up and let Izuku do most of the talking, sometimes Todoroki-kun would talk and even tug the corner of his mouth up, if only a little.
They hadn't talked about personal stuff yet. Not about their quirks at all and their family relations only in passing. Izuku hasn't brought up Todoroki-kun's father yet and Todoroki-kun hadn't asked about his quirk yet. Izuku was thankful for that, even though Todoroki-kun probably not even noticed it was a big deal for him.
Izuku hadn't him invited him over either yet, it made Izuku feel a little bit guilty, but the chances of his mother finding out about the visits to the villain were too big for Izuku to take the risk.
He had had plans to use a cover story; Todoroki-kun and Kacchan would eventually meet after all. It would mostly correspond with reality but he would say he had met Todoroki-kun's mother in the building from the QSS. Only then there was the chance of his mother wanting to meet her. Which was only going to end up badly.
Izuku was going to invite him soon some time when he knew his mom would be on a business trip though. It was the only thing for now he would be able to do with the certainty that no one would discover Izuku's sneaking.
Izuku was of course also aware that his own nervous behavior wasn't especially helping with forming the friendship, as it confused Todoroki-kun. And man, Todoroki-kun really deserved a less messed up person trying to become his friend.
He had once asked Izuku why he asked him to meet so often if he didn't like being with him. Izuku had naturally been confused and had hurriedly told him that he did in fact like spending time with him, where after he had asked why he would ask him that. The heartbreaking answer had been that Izuku's reaction and body language where off putting and not corresponding with what he said. This had resulted in Izuku admitting he had anxiety-issues.
The confession had sparked something in Todoroki-kun's eyes that Izuku hadn't been able to read. He had received the confession well though. He had probably already suspected that Izuku wasn't completely 'fine', even though he had ever said anything of the sorts. And had been surprisingly enough a bit nicer to Izuku after the confession and had tried to take it into account with his actions.
Izuku wasn't sure if that made him happy though. On the one hand, he didn't want Todoroki-kun to pity him, on the other hand Todoroki-kun had never really been one for pity, and Todoroki-kun did act nicer now.
If one thing, it did make Izuku a bit more relaxed around him.
And it made him think that even if he wasn't Shouto anymore, Todoroki-kun wasn't so bad either.
''… Kacchan?''
Kacchan grunts angrily.
''Kacchan… What are you doing?'' Deku prompts weakly.
The boy grunts again.
A few seconds pass. The blond boy sighs and turns around when it becomes apparent Izuku isn't going to leave immediately.
''What does it look like that I'm doing?''
Frankly, Izuku has no idea what Kacchan was doing. To Izuku it also didn't appear like it should be obvious what he was doing.
There's some kind of bag hanging from the tree. It seemed like some paper of sort was stuck onto it, though it was largely unrecognizable now with most of it having been burned away, though Izuku swear he can see something on it which strangely resembles lab-coats. It wouldn't be so surprising. Ever since the... incident, Kacchan has had an irrational hatred for lab-coats.
It had nearly given their teacher a stroke when Kacchan had burnt the several ones he was given to put on in science-class. Apparently after that Kacchan had had a long, stern talking with his mother, therapist, teacher and some other adults. He didn't burn school lab-coats on purpose anymore. At least that's what he had grudgingly said, and Izuku like to pretend he didn't see the angry eyes focused on the coats when they were supposed to wear them, nor that he had heard of the mysterious fire that had started in the room that held them just after Kacchan had come back from the toilet.
''You're. Ehm, abusing a bag with suspicious pictures on it?'' There was a small pause where Kacchan rolled his eyes, looking extremely exasperated with him.'
''… Are you finally considering the anger-managing exercises your therapist recommended?''
His friend freezes. ''Ha?! Hell no! That bastard doesn't know what he's talking about! I don't have any anger-managing problems! And-''
Oh, oops. Izuku had forgotten, the anger-managing exercises were a sore spot for Kacchan. Kacchan already hadn't liked going to the therapist (from what Izuku heard, he was just as bad a client as Izuku was) and after that offer had refused to go to the therapist and had held up for almost a whole month before Izuku's mom and Masaru-san duo-teaming managed to convince him to go again. Whenever someone would bring it up, it would however almost unerringly end up in Kacchan throwing a tantrum.
''So, what are you doing?'' Izuku says, cutting Kacchan off. Kacchan sputters before gruffly ''I'm training.'' He says it so confidently that Izuku is almost convinced that should have been clear from the start on.
''I thought you trained by beating up people you don't like.'' Which was basically anyone. Izuku tried to keep his disapproval out of his voice but by Kacchan's irritated huff he reckoned he hadn't succeeded. So, he tried another route ''Are you sure this is the best way to do it?''
''Yes, now, will you leave alone?''
Izuku is quiet for a while as he stares at Kacchan starting his 'training' up again.
''Kacchan?''
''What now?!'' Kacchan snarls annoyed.
''You know your stance is wrong, right?'' Kacchan turns around to look at him in disbelieve. ''You're supposed to turn your left foot straight forward.'' Izuku elaborates after a second of hesitating, not sure if he should when he sees the look on the blond boy's face. He shifts to give the correct example of the stance while looking at him carefully.
Kacchan looks at him, scanning his movement closely before copying him. Izuku observes and nods. ''Yes, like that.'' And then Kacchan overbalances and trips, landing with wide eyes on his rear. Izuku starts before he presses his lips together to keep from laughing.
Kacchan however easily recognizes the amusement twinkling in his eyes.
''You bastard!''
Izuku begins to laugh.
.
Katsuki grumbled as he stepped inside later that evening. It was hot outside and his skin was sweat and awful and all he wanted is a long, cold shower to cool him off. Thus, he wasn't really focused when he put his stuff away and it took him a while to notice his mom standing at the stairs, looking at him with her arms crossed over her chest.
Feeling slightly unnerved, Katsuki angrily bit out ''What d'ya want, stupid hag?''
She kept staring at him, before bowing over slightly and picking up some sport bag standing beside her. Wordlessly, she shoved it to him, making him stumble. It was fucking heavy, dammit.
Now Katsuki definitely knew something weird was going on. Normally, his shitty mom would already have tried to tear of his head by now. Not that she would be able to.
''What the fuck is this?'' As he asked it, he opened the bag. In it there was a lot, but Katsuki was able to make out weights, a tracksuit, a head guard, gloves.
''What the hell?''
'That's a fucking sport bag, are you an idiot?''
Katsuki scowled, and she shoved something else to him. Some kind of card. ''And what is that?''
''That is a gym card. You start next week on Monday.''
''What?''
His mother sighed, obviously annoyed. ''It's a gym card. So, you can go to the gym and train without looking like an idiot.'' Katsuki bristled. His mom ignored him
''Look kid, you piss me off daily with your fucking action. And don't think this is some kind approval for you fucking those brats up; it's not like I'm excited about your attempt to fight everything that breathes. But you want to be a fucking hero, right?
''So, stop getting into these fucking petty things you call fights, and learn how to fucking kick the asses of fucking experts, not worthless little shits. Besides, someone needs to look out for your beansprout of a friend.''
Katsuki wisely stays quiet about the fact that the last time Deku and him wrestled, Deku had laid him onto the ground in thirty second flat, even if Katsuki had managed to overpower his hold later. He also decides not to declare that the nerd's sensei from his dojo apparently has been starting to focus more on strength lately and the nerd's annoying growing muscles resulting from that action.
They stare at each other for a minute, before Katsuki scoffs and turns around. ''It's not like I need any help. I'm going to be fucking number one anyway.''
And if he mutters a small something while walking away, nobody has to know.
''Thanks though''
''Yagi-san, are you there?'' There was a light crackling from across the phone.
''Ah, my boy, how are you?''
''It's actually going a lot better. We're, ah, we're dealing.''
Yagi felt his stomach twist at the words. He knew better than try to get farther into detail about the topic though. Yagi had been mostly informed about all the happenings but he knew better than to expect they would have told him everything.
Yagi regretted neglecting them those days. When they told him and he asked them if he should take some time off to help support them, them trying to convince him to keep on working should really have been enough indication of how bad it was. But in the end Midoriyas in all their nervous but stubborn glory had convinced him it wasn't necessary. He asked Naomasa to look after them anyway.
It was hard to try to comfort and take care of someone when they were several countries away.
''Mom is going to be able to take less long hours again for her work soon, my therapist said I'm doing better and I've been getting more sleep. And Mom's birthday is soon, and I already have already thought up something for her present so that's nice too.''
'Yagi hummed. ''Really?''
''Yes, I've been thinking she's been stressing a lot lately. And I recently met someone who owns some kind of relaxation clinic with spa and stuff. She apparently hates owing someone stuff, so she's been insisting I asks something back of her. At first I didn't want to, but in the end, she proposed to just give my mom several services for free over a span of time as payback. And, well, if it's for my mom I can't really refuse it. So, I hope she will enjoy it.''
Yagi decides to ignore the grown woman being in debt to Izuku-kun for now, and thinks it over. ''It seems something which would be nice for her. Inko-san should take some time off for herself and relax a bit more. It's a good gift.''
Izuku-kun thanks him, and Yagi can almost the pleased, shy smile on the other side of the phone.
''But, I've actually something I want to tell you and your mom. I've got some news.''
The first time Midoriya coughs blood in front of him it gives Shouto, quite frankly, a heart attack.
Sure, the boy is still suspicious and Shouto still doesn't want him as a friend, but that doesn't mean he wants him dead.
And Shouto doesn't know much about injuries or sicknesses that involve coughing blood but he's pretty sure that they're all serious. Midoriya reassuring him it's nothing doesn't convince him at all. He seems like the unreliable sort with these kinds of cases. Besides, who would call coughing blood nothing? The injury or sickness had obviously also touched his head.
It takes some effort but Shouto is bigger than Midoriya and Midoriya while reluctant didn't seem to actually want to use force to stop him, and thus they end up at the closest hospital.
Midoriya comes in the hospital looking defeated and exhausted with a mostly blank, but also a bit triumphant, Shouto next to him.
The moment they step up at the reception desk, the man behind it focuses on Midoriya.
''Ah! Midoriya-kun, right? You alright?''
Midoriya nods despondently. Shouto feels slightly confused.
''Your friend alright then?'' The man cocks his head.
Again, Midoriya nods.
A grin begins to crawl on the receptionist face. ''This one of those 'unfortunate misunderstandings' then?''
Midoriya makes a sound which distinctly sound like a cross between a whine and a groan, and then nods.
That day Shouto learns Midoriya is even weirder than he already thought. Also, somebody probably should look out for him, because obviously, Midoriya himself wasn't doing the best job of it.
It was evening. The wind was howling inside, and Katsuki was sitting at their kitchen table together with Deku, auntie and his mom and dad. They were eating curry and Katsuki was quietly enjoying the hilarious sight of the Midoriyas trying to complement the food while having tears in their eyes from the spiciness. Auntie Inko had even looked ready to interfere out of concern when she had seen Katsuki pick up another red pepper to add on to his plate. When she had once had carefully brought it up that it wasn't healthy for a kid to eat so spicy his mom had basically ignored all her protest, so she probably knew it was useless anyway.
''I wanna go to Yuuei.'' Katsuki interrupts the silence.
His mom hums indifferently as answer.
Katsuki frowns, annoyed but he contains himself and elaborated. ''At school, we were asked to begin to think about to what high-school we want to go next. I wanna go to Yuuei.''
''So? That's has been obvious for ages now. A freaking fanboy for All Might, that's what you are. Though you better clean up your act if you even want to have a chance, useless as you are.''
''Shut it hag! I'm perfectly capable of getting in UA!'' He roars.
''What's that, you little punk?! Get your attitude under control! You're already failing!'' His mother snarls back.
His dad, obviously used to this, sighs and interrupts before the argument could get out of hand. ''What about you, Izuku-kun? Have you already decided to what school you want to go?''
His stupid bimbo of a mom snorts ''He will obviously follow our fanboy #1 over there and save him from himself.''
Dad nods looking relieved. Katsuki feels a spark of annoyance igniting.
''Actually. I-I'm maybe thinking of not, uh, doing that?'' Deku interrupts nervously.
Katsuki whips around to look at him in surprise, and he sees everyone else follow his actions.
Deku looks somewhat tortured as he continued, sending Katsuki a nervous glance. ''I've actually been recruited by Himiko-high. So, I was possibly thinking about going there. I'm not sure I'm up to that level though.''
''You don't mean Himiko-high, ever prestigious, home of the genius and unbearably smart Himiko-high, do you?'' His mom says slowly after a short pause. Izuku stays silent for just too long.
''Oh my god, he does. You were recruited by Himiko fucking high?!''
Izuku nods uncertainly.
And fuck, if that isn't impressive. Of course, Katsuki has always know Izuku to be smart. Because Izuku was. He had the best grades of the class, of their whole grade. But Himiko-high, that was a whole other story.
Izuku goes on. ''I'm not sure if I want to go there though. It's said to have a really hard curriculum and I'm not sure I would be able to keep up. I'm not that smart.'' Izuku again continues before anyone can interrupt. ''They also don't have a curriculum for heroes.''
It's silent for a minute while everyone lets the meaning of what Izuku said sink in.
''So, just don't go then. You've been wanting to be a hero since three? Two? I don't even remember anymore. ''
Izuku fiddles and avoids their gazes. ''I-I've been thinking about it a lot lately. And, maybe I shouldn't become a hero?''
This, again, catches the focus of everyone. ''What the fuck- '' Katsuki starts, and he's not the only one. Everyone's talking begins to overlap, jumbling together and Deku shrinks into himself.
Katsuki decides then to do his one merciful deed a year and screams on top of his lungs ''SHUT THE FUCK UP EVERYONE, AND DEKU FUCKING EXPLAIN, YOU STUPID NERD.''
The rest of the table becomes silent reluctantly, and Izuku shrinks into himself ever more.
''I know, uh, I said I want to become a hero, for basically all of my life, and I-I do.'' He holds up his hands to stop any interruptions. ''It's just. Uh. A lot has happened this last year and I'm not sure I can be a good hero. I-I still can't control this quirk completely, don't know if I will ever be able to. And if accident happen it won't be just my own safety but also others on the line. Others that I'm supposed to protect as a hero.
And on top of that that my mental health hasn't been amazing these last months. Heroes aren't supposed to have panic attacks or flinch when someone touches them'' Izuku's shoulders slump and his ever-expressive face twists in self-loathing making Katsuki want to scream at him, but he doesn't because Deku isn't done yet.
''And, uh.'' Izuku's eyes flicker to his mom who looks conflicted, fiddling nervously. ''that's mostly it.''
And Katsuki understands. Because auntie was always worrying for Deku a lot. And Deku has always been very clear in the fact that family, his mom, is important for him. Deku, being the small idiot he is, probably doesn't want to worry Auntie any more than he already does with his usual craziness.
Still, that doesn't mean he's just going to allow Deku not go to UA after all these years. Katsuki still has to prove he's number one after all.
''Why did you save him?''
''Mmm?''
''I mean why did you even become a hero? This society has done nothing but belittle you ever since you took upon the tittle of quirkless when you were small. The ones with quirks will forever feel superior and the ones without quirks will forever let them walk over them.
''The only reason people with quirk fight for you is for because of selfishness and deceitful morals, so that they can better about their selves. To not even get started on the quirkless ones, they have not fought for their own rights, nor for yours. They have stood by while they and their companions were disparaged and ridiculed.
You don't owe this world, this city, these people nothing.''
''… It's been my dream since I've been small. I like helping others.''
''Others? Do you see them as they equal to you?''
''Well, yeah, of course.''
''Don't sound so surprised. They didn't see you as equal when you were young after all, did they?''
Heyy there...
I'm soo sorry. It's been even longer than last time, and last time it was a month.
Again, I got a lot of excuses. And even though I don't really have to give them, I'm going to anyway. I had two really really important weeks for school, one in which I could barely work on this, and one in which I couldn't at all. And as you may have noticed in my earlier notes. I… don't have a lot of free time. There's a lot going on for me, and writing is nice but also hard and not always priority. Besides that, I've been getting more up to date with the manga (finally) and I'm at chp. 126 (Almost up to date!). Which I'm actually pretty proud of with my limited time. The manga is a really exciting read, and I thank everyone for recommending it!
Anyway, after such a long time past, I felt kinda out of the story so I had to reread it. That is always awful, because basically you want to correct everything, and everything is just cringeworthy and incredibly OOC, especially now that I've read the Manga and got to know some characters better. (I will possibly be doing small changes at some places to make it more in character. But no big changes, so no worries, you won't have to reread everything. Only small thing like some reactions on others or the way some people speak. Gosh, my Inko is awfully OOC.)
Anyway, though this all plays in my late update, the main reason is that this chapter is an absolute clusterfuck, and I don't even know. I wrote this chapter, partly while I was already writing Chp. 11 because the time frame is overlapping a bit in those two and it was just one big mess. Cannon is actually starting next chapter. Or this one… I'm not sure anymore now. There will be more cannon though. All my ideas were (read: are) everywhere and every time I wrote something it sounded wrong. (I rewrote so much T_T)
And Todoroki is a bastard. Do you remember how I was complaining about Bakugou being the hardest, stupidest character ever? I think Todoroki is on par. Like what even Todoroki. Why are you this way. How do you work. I don't understand. I don't think I'm cool enough to write Todoroki. (Yes, I will probably complain like this every time a hard, new character comes into play, do I care? Nooo) Anyway, I'm sorry if he's OCC. I've done my best.
So, my points to address:
- Rini (the name of the 'hellhound') means little bunny.
- Yagi's coming home! Yass!
- Midoriya's smarts. I don't know if I already told you about this in detail, but I'm going to do it here possibly again anyway. Midoriya is already one of the smartest of his class in cannon. Now, imagine a whole lot of life experience on top of it in previous and new life. You're going to have someone who's already college degree smart, or at least busy with college. Which isn't normal for someone who's actually in middle-school. Thus, he's actually seen as an absurd genius though he's not really outgoing with it, and thus he's also recruited by Himiko-high.
- Himiko-high. Himiko-high is just on made up highschool. The name is after Himiko, the shamanqueen of Yamataikoku. Because she's Japanese and seems important. And schools are sometimes named after prestigious figures out of history. Now, I'm going to be totally honest with you all. I know nothing of this woman, nor of the history of Japan, but a small bit involving WOII. Western education, I guess? Anyway, do not expect something history accurate stuff here. It's just a made-up school with a name for very smart people, like genius smart, and it's just here to showcase that Midoriya is very smart.
- Yes, Midoriya would totally be obvious and forgetful enough to forget that not everyone (His age group) is as smart and developed as him and thus can keep up with him and thus uses stupidly long, hard word without realising how annoying it is and talks about stuff where for example Katsuki never has heard of before. (Katsuki is used to it now. He tunes it out.)
- No, I really tried to make Todoroki's and Midoriya's first meeting fun, because, hello, important, but I think I failed. It was just really hard to write. I've come to the conclusion that angst is just easier for me to write, which you most likely can see in this story so far, and happy or funny times are just not easy. At all.
I tried at least. It was awkward, but Midoriya is awkward and Todoroki is like a obvious blunt piece of shit so maybe it was destined to happen. I don't know.
- Yes, Todoroki likes Midoriya. Yes, Todoroki is already protective of Midoriya. Yes, he's in denial.
- I know Shouto possibly reads to much in Midoriya's body language and stuff since his age, but Shouto has been trained ever since he could walk, even harsher lster when his mom was sent to the hospital by his dad.
Shouto is aware of the fact that the world isn't all sunshine and he's experienced this. I have also no doubt in mind that Endeavor has trained him in reading others, at least negative emotions. He's an asshat sure, but I think he's an rather well-rounded asshat. He's after all the second best. You don't do that by doing things half-assed.
- I'm possibly still going to edit this chapter. But for I'm just really tired and want to get this out there.
- Oh my god, this was almost 10K. I created a monster.
- 4 communities. *gasps*
- The story got more than 200 followers *gasps some more*
That's all for now. Sorry if it's a bit rushed. I'm honestly a bit rushed. School's been killing me and time is limited. Anyway, as kind off maybe apology I've got a small thingy I wrote somewhere at the beginning of this story where Izuku meets Aizawa when he's younger. I eventually decided to cut it because I wanted another role for him, but maybe you enjoy it. (I also have one of those for Todoroki and Izuku younger, so if you enjoy this please tell me so, then I will post that one next chapter.)
Super lastly, I want to thank everyone so much for the support! It's been amazing and has really helped me keep going for this chapter!
Thanks for reading this chapter and hope to see you at the next one! Kisses!
- Meet Aizawa-sensei
It's a nice spring evening, when Izuku-kun comes home with someone else in tow. To be more precise, with him he brings Aizawa Shouta, better known as Eraserhead . Eraserhead who looks scruffy, and unsocial and permanently pissed off at life.
Izuku-kun introduces him to his mom as some man who was sitting on a bench in the park alone and reading that new literature book I was telling you about. Inko-san takes this as a good enough reason to let a complete stranger, a suspicious one at that, in her house for some reason, and Eraserhead, who's looking increasingly dumbfounded, is hurriedly bustled inside. They both are a little bit stunned when they meet each other in the hall, looking at each other, and Yagi feels a quiet understanding for Eraserhead, because the Midoriyas are truly a force to be reckoned with.
In those few seconds, they have a quiet understanding where they agree to not say anything about the hero-business which is somewhat too long because Inko-san is on them instantly. ''Oh, you know each-other? You come to visit again after this, we haven't met a friend of Toshinori-san before, ah um…''
(She calls them friends, which isn't entirely correct. Sure, they are colleague's but there are, ah, disagreements. He knows Aizawa-san becomes annoyed at his optimistic attitude as All Might and Yagi doesn't agree at all with his habits of failing as much student at the Hero Academia as he does.)
''Aizawa shouta'' He looks kind off confused why he just introduced himself, and Yagi desperately hopes the Midoriyas don't make it a habit to invite suspicious strangers in without even asking their names.
''Ah, yes, Aizawa-san!''
The night continuous in that tone, Aizawa-san being constantly gobsmacked by the Midoriyas and Yagi only sometimes, and the Midoriyas basically interrogating them both, mostly Aizawa-san though.
It ends with a ''Please come back again! It was super nice meeting you. You could try next week again, together with Toshinori-san! Also, make sure to sleep more, Aizawa-san, and eat healthy, lots of vegetables!''
And a ''But Aizawa-san, you look kind of familiar, don't you think so Izuku? Are you some kind of famous figure?''
Yagi laughs awkwardly ''I'm sure it's just because he just has a face like that.''
The midoriyas blink up at him, then at Aizawa-san. Izuku-kun begins to grin, like he discovered a secret – and please no, because Yagi knows how Izuku-kun is with heroes, and he'll never be able to answer all the questions. – but he keeps silent and Inko-san gives a doubtful if you say so.
Aizawa walks away, still stunned, and Yagi flashes back to years back, when he for the first time walked away from this house, completely stunned. He grins and gives Aizawa-san a small bump with his shoulder. And the next week, when Aizawa stands in front of the door of his apartment looking confused as of why he was there, his grin becomes a little bit more genuine.
Someone new has been included into their little family – Because that's what it is he realises with a warm feeling – and even though Yagi doesn't like Aizawa-san that much, Yagi can only wait for the moment Aizawa-san realises that he won't be able to escape anymore.