Izuku stares down at the ball within his grasp. His fingers curl around its spherical shape, clenching tightly to not let it slip away. All of his classmates are watching with anticipation after Katsuki's fireworks show, expecting something of equal level. Though his teacher doesn't have any expression other than 'resting bitch face', Izuku is pretty sure that Aizawa is in a similar state of suspense. There's not much to be done should he transform right here and now but he knows that he can't just simply toss the ball normally either. Weighing his options, he shifts his hold on the ball. That's when he gets an idea. He opens his mouth to ask Aizawa about the rules of the throw, but something comes out other than words.
Warm murky fluid bubbles up the boy's throat until it breaches the exit of his mouth. A jet of red liquid spills out, the copper taste making Izuku retch. The firm grip he has on the softball suddenly becomes very weak, loosening and allowing it to slip free from his fingers. He hunches over when his sides ache and that pain blossoms into another wave of blood climbing out. Izuku's throat burns more than his ribcage as he coughs on his own bodily fluids.
"Midoriya!", Kyoka moves forward to help her friend as soon as she notices his extreme nausea. But the other students crowd in front of her, blocking her path. They express their own concerns and drown the girl out.
"Bro, are you okay?!", Eijiro refrains from pushing past the collection of students. His arms extend and retract, unsure of whether to reach out and help or stay back.
"Nod your head if you require CPR!", Tenya tries shouting over the concerned crowd as he robotically searches with a stiff neck for some sort of medical practitioner.
A vein bulges from Aizawa's forehead before he has enough of the commotion and silences them all in one fell swoop, "Everybody just calm down!" The class recoils in fear from the scary shout. Meanwhile, Izuku still struggles to get a hold on his breathing. "Midoriya, are you feeling alright? Can you tell me what's wrong?", Aizawa places a consoling hand on the boy's back as he leans down to the same level.
"I'm f- fine, Sensei..", Izuku wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. The blood on his lips smears across his cheek from the motion. "J- Just..", another coughing fit stalls the boy's speech. When he finally gets a handle on himself and he comes up with an excuse, his eyes widen with realization as he says, "It's just allergies.." All the times that his mother had similar hacking habits suddenly set off alarms in his mind.
"Allergies don't cause internal bleeding", Aizawa pinches the bridge of his nose as an exhibited sign of vexation. When his hand falls away from his face, he doesn't hide his frown either. "I think you should go see Recovery Girl", though the teacher's tone conveys an amount of worry Izuku usually only hears from his mother.
Izuku forces himself to stand upright, trying to blow off the incident as casually as he can. "Really! I'm fine–", but his hoarse throat heaves a nasty cough that puts him back down. Izuku covers his mouth with his hand as he gags. When he pulls his hand away, blood dots his palm.
"Let me rephrase that. You're going to see Recovery Girl", Aizawa's tone turns stern as he helps Izuku regain some composure. The elaboration of that sentence being an order and not a request forces the boy to numbly nod in agreement with his teacher.
"Somebody should walk him there", a few of the students part for Kyoka when she speaks up amidst the grouping of them all. When the girl gets a few stares, especially a sly one from the horned pinkette, she blushes profusely. "T- To make sure he gets there safely!", her ear jacks wriggle with her arms as she tries to conceal her embarrassment.
Tenya stiffens into a statued stance, "Excellent idea! I volunteer!", oblivious to the girl's mortification as he offers himself for the suggested duty.
"I could take him", the boy with multicolored hair surprisingly proposes himself to perform the task as well. Though his demeanor is far more casual than the bespeckled boy's.
"I- I was thinking maybe myself..", Kyoka timidly taps the tips of ear jacks together the way one would with their fingers. The shy stature and quiet voice would have gone unnoticed if not for her pink classmate's shit eating grin.
"Or I could~", the pinkette teases her peer by getting up in Kyoka's personal space and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
"Nobody needs to go with him", but Aizawa puts a stop to the fun with his usual grumpy attitude. The teacher turns towards Izuku and turns down his temper to ask, "You're capable of getting to the nurse's office alone, right?"
"Y- Yeah.. I'll be fine", Izuku shakily nods before facing his class and forcing an assuring smile, "Thanks for offering though, everybody."
"Of course!", Tenya returns the smile with one of his own.
"Just..", but Kyoka's having a hard time showing any equal optimism. She quells her worries well enough to look Izuku in the eye and say, "You'd better be okay." To which Izuku gives her a single nod in response.
"Wow.. First day and someone is already about to croak", the blonde with a lightning streak in his hair whispers to the ballheaded boy beside him. Then he realizes there's a girl that resembles a frog on his other side and awkwardly whistles. "Uh, no offense..", he scratches his head nervously with a forced laugh in a failed attempt to make the wisecrack slide.
As Izuku heads for the facility doors to go back inside, he notices somebody watching from the sidelines of the field. Recognizable by the man's extremely gaunt appearance, the boy recalls the skinny blonde as the person he'd bumped into while looking for his class in the halls. Though the odd fellow's eyes are sunken in, bright blue orbs find Izuku's eyes and convey compassion.
A breeze brushes through Izuku's green curls as he passes by the man's hiding spot. Then he steps inside U.A and leaves the blonde behind. Though he's curious about the stranger watching the performance of he and his classmates' quirks, he's far more concerned about the recent revelation of his mother hiding her bloody cough from him. That is, if his hunch about her using the same excuse as him is true. The boy's thoughts linger on his mom's wellbeing as he heads for the nurse's office and not his own, despite a few more wet coughs escaping his mouth on the way there.
When Izuku finally reaches the closed entrance to Recovery Girl's small infirmary, he overhears the tail end of a joke muffled by the barrier. "Did you hear about the guy who lost his whole left side? He's all right now!", the comedian's voice is one that the boy is all too familiar with that he knows exactly who's on the other side of the door before he slides it open. Present Mic sits on the edge of a medical mat where he has the old nurse giggling. The hero notices Izuku before she does, "Hey little listener! Don'tcha know you can't tell a knock knock joke without knocking first?"
Izuku blushes in embarrassment before trying to pull the door back closed, "Ah! I didn't think about–" His tugs on the sliding mechanism work to no avail. "Sorry!", his face flushes even redder when he hears Present Mic laughing along with Recovery Girl.
"It's no problem, dearie, come on in", the school's nurse ushers him to enter her office once she stops giggling.
Present Mic nods next to her, "It was only a joke, kiddo!" Izuku notices the hero's usual hairstyle of a singular spiked tuft has been opted for a neatly tied man bun. It's odd seeing the pro during his off hours, an ordinary outfit instead of his uniform making him appear like a civilian. "Don't tell me ya ain't got a sense of humor!", Mic must notice Izuku's staring since he takes to twirling his pencil stache like it's a nervous tick.
"O- Oh! I dunno how I didn't realize.. I listen to your podcasts all the time..", Izuku jumps to assure his idol that he didn't take any offense before bashfully rubbing the back of his head and admitting his stare was starstrucken instead of solemnity.
Hearing that, the hero perks up with a wide spread grin. "Ho-ho! A fan, eh?!", he snatches a sticky note from a dispenser and steals a pen from Recovery Girl's white coat before asking, "What's your name, little listener? I'll give ya an autograph and a shoutout the next time I go live!"
Izuku's head nearly snaps off from the amount of whiplash that goes into his eager lean forward. "Really?! That'd be amazing!", tiny glimmers of light dance in his eyes like stars twinkling in the sky.
Present Mic laughs before gently bopping the boy on the head with his pen, "Not without your name, it won't be!"
"O- Oh! Right!", Izuku slaps his hand against his face when he realizes his mistake. Then he quickly bows in order to properly present himself, "My name is Izuku Midoriya, s- sir!"
Recovery Girl shakes her head in disbelief, "No need to be so formal with this goofball, Midoriya" The nurse gestures with her specialized cane towards the hero, "Hizashi here is probably more childish than you are", before handing him two small white devices, "It's a wonder Nezu ever allowed you to teach."
"Hey!", Present Mic defensively whines despite not actually taking any offense to the teasing. His voice reverberates throughout the small medical station, shaking the window's pane and nearly causing the glass to burst.
"I told you to be cautious about using your quirk when you get too rambunctious!", which earns the hero a smack on the head from Recovery Girl's walking stick. Due to the cane's abnormal size and depth, it leaves a giant welt on the man's skull. "It's shouting like that which led you to needing those hearing aids", she gestures to the two tiny objects that she handed him as though she never walloped him though.
"Hearing aids?", Izuku disregards the nurse's poor bedside manner for the same reason. He's intrigued by the two pods that the hero sticks into the crevices of his ears.
"He wouldn't be here if he didn't damage his hearing with his own quirk all the time", Recovery Girl tuts with a wag of her cane. The blunt object's movement puts the hero on edge, making him wince reflexively.
"One of my drawbacks, kid, everybody has them", Mic chuckles to calm his own nerves before snapping his fingers together and pointing towards the boy, "But don't go telling anybody about it, okay? It's our little secret!"
"O- Of course! I won't tell anybody!", Izuku nods like a bobblehead that's been jostled to work to show his allegiance. Which earns him the hero's autograph as an award.
"Now, why are YOU here, young man?", Recovery Girl diverts her attention from Present Mic to address Izuku once she's finished finalizing the man's report. The elderly woman adjusts the visor fixed to her face like they're glasses to get a good look at her patient as she mumbles, "That hardass wouldn't have sent one of his students here during class if it wasn't for good reason."
Izuku's eyes widen in shock when he hears the way that Recovery Girl refers to his teacher. "O- Oh.. Aizawa-Sensei ain't so bad..", he feels obligated to defend the man after seeing how concerned Aizawa had been for him.
Mic laughs, hard. He laughs so hard that he has to hold his stomach with one hand and slaps his knee with the other. "Good to know you've already seen through his tough guy act!", the hero even has tears in his eyes that he needs to wipe away with a flick of his finger.
"Hush! Let the boy finish!", Recovery Girl gets him to quiet down when she threateningly hoists her cane over her head. Mic recluses with his arms defensively shielding himself as he nods to show his surrender.
Izuku blinks as he witnesses the odd interaction. But he shakes it off just as quickly as it passes. "I, um, I just started coughing up.. B- blood..", the matter of his health is much too glaring for him to worry about heroes getting abused by old ladies right now.
Mic and the nurse share a quick glance before Recovery Girl starts searching through one of her desk's drawers, "Really now? Any theories as to why?"
Izuku shrugs and stares down at the floor. "No.. That's why he sent me over", grinding the crook of his shoe into the tile suddenly feels as oddly calming as it did to pet Pochita.
"Alright then, have a seat and I'll run some tests", Recovery Girl finally finds the tool that she was searching for and gestures to have Izuku sit down. In order for the nurse to make room, however, she first shoos her other patient away from the spot. "As for you, you're a grown pro hero, quit your whining and get back out there", she practically chases Present Mic out.
"Aww, but I didn't even get a lollipop!", Mic complains like the man-child he is as he's pushed out the door. His heels screech against the floor in protest as he tries to stop the mad woman from forcing him to leave.
"Shoo, you buffoon!", but it's no use when she resorts to violence again by raising her giant walking stick. The massive syringe styled cane swings like a broad sword that the hero has to dodge with a duck.
"Nice meeting you, Midoriya!", Mic shrieks with a wave goodbye before fleeing the area with speeds that would rival the pro hero Ingenium. The blonde even manages to kick up dust in his wake like smoke from an engine's exhaust pipes.
"You too!", Izuku calls after Mic in the hopes that the hero can still hear him. Then, Recovery Girl slides the office door closed.
"Now.. Tell me.. When did you start coughing up blood?", the nurse uses a stethoscope to check the boy's heartbeat first.
"During our Quirk Apprehension Test", Izuku glances nervously at the other medical equipment she has on standby though. Some of the tools look like they'd cut more than his chainsaws once he transforms.
"That man.. Skipping ceremonies and straight to business..", Recovery Girl's face tightens like she just sucked on a lemon. She finishes listening to his heartbeat and begins to take his blood pressure while asking, "Was it outside?"
Izuku raises an eyebrow, surprised that the woman guessed correctly. "Um, yeah?", he wonders where she's going with her analysis so far.
"You could have just been suffering from nerves or the heat, you seem like the jumpy type that you might get a case of the first day jitters", the nurse shares her theory as she moves on to the next test. A weird bracelet straps itself around each of Izuku's wrists like a pair of handcuffs.
"O- Oh, you think? That's a relief", Izuku relaxes when he hears that his condition may not be so bad. He has a sliver of hope that his mother may just have seasonal allergies after all.
"Or.. Oh dear..", until Recovery Girl reads the output on the device attached to Izuku's wrists. The boy stiffens when he hears the tone of her voice.
"Wh- What is it?", he worries for the worst as he tries to gauge her pensive frown.
Recovery Girl removes the device from Izuku's wrists to replace with a wooden mouth stick. "Let me take a quick swab from your mouth", she instructs him to open wide so that she can place it under his tongue.
"Aahh", Izuku tries not to gag on the stick in his mouth as he lets her move it around to get a sufficient amount of saliva. Once Recovery Girl is finished, he swallows the remaining amount of spit that she didn't get.
"Good boy", he's suddenly taken by surprise when she shoves something else into his mouth though, "Have a gummy" Much to his relief, it's just a sweet treat that tastes like cherry once he begins chewing on it.
"Thanks", he mumbles through a mouthful of the small snack before swallowing it down.
Recovery Girl sticks the DNA sample into a machine that quickly provides results. The nurse looks through a microscope at the slides. "Oh my..", her tone from earlier hasn't changed. "Midoriya, does anyone in your family exhibit similar coughs often?", she spins around in her chair to face the boy that she's taken to studying.
"Um.. My mom.. I think", Izuku begins squirming from his spot now that his worry has ventured from himself to his mother. He finds it hard to sit in place as he waits for Recovery Girl to deliver his diagnosis.
"I see", the nurse hums as she cross references her findings once more. Only after she's certain of the result, she shares with him her discovery, "I believe you've inherited a disease through your gene pool" Izuku's fingers curl to make his hands into fists when she adds, "Quite severe too, I'd say."
He finds it hard to believe. The room suddenly seems out of focus. He sits back, trying not to pass out. "Really?", he breathlessly asks for confirmation that this isn't some elaborate prank set up between her and Present Mic. He idly waits in denial of the harsh reality.
"Yes, I'm surprised you failed to notice or be checked until now", but Recovery Girl pulls no punches and tells him the truth. She sounds sympathetic but it still hits the boy hard.
"Wh- What do I do? What can be done?", Izuku sits forward to lay his head in his hands as he tries not to cry. If it were just him, he'd not be so worried. His mother though.. He feels himself becoming numb when he realizes that she's been keeping her condition from him all this time.
"Not much, I'm afraid", Recovery Girl gets up from her chair and uses her cane as a crutch to get near the boy. Once she's in his proximity, she places a consoling hand on his knee. "First and foremost, I think we should call your mother", she tries to sound as soothing as possible when she sees how rough he's taking the news.
"O- Oh.. Yeah..", he numbly nods when he thinks about actually talking to her about it. Now that he's inherited her sickness, he can only imagine how she'll take the news herself. "She's gonna freak out", he sighs in sorrow.
"I can imagine", Recovery Girl nods in understanding. She gestures to a spare cot for him to lay on before going for the landline phone, "In the meantime, you can rest here and take the rest of your classes off."
Hearing that he'll be kept in the nurse's office and isn't allowed back to class, Izuku sits up straight with a sudden renewed source of energy. He tries to argue, "But–"
"No buts, young man! I don't want you straining yourself any more than you already have", but gets met with a whack on the head like Present Mic had. Izuku rubs the throbbing bump that Recovery Girl leaves behind.
"But it's the first day..", his whine is both a mixture of physical and emotional pain as he surrenders to the nurse. He's led to the bed against his will and plops down in defeat.
"Which means you won't miss much", Recovery Girl has the kindness to offer him assurances at the very least before leaving him to wallow in self pity, "I'll write the proper notes for your teachers that you should be fine."
"Okay..", Izuku slumps over to rest his head on the bed's soft pillow with a sigh. Before long, he's closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.
The boy dreams of drowning. He inhales his own blood, left unable to breathe. All that he can see is a deep depth of red. The liquid washes over him as he sinks deeper and deeper. He can't swim no matter how hard he paddles. There's a scream that bubbles up in his throat but it comes out as a silent cough. And then. He looks down at his chest, feeling the warmth of his heart. The string that hangs from his sternum floats in the clouded crimson sea. Izuku grabs the small handle and pulls.
"Pochita!", Izuku shoots up from his bed in a sweat. His body heaves as he breathes heavily, every pant as rugged as he looks. The green curls atop his head are matted down, just as drenched as the rest of himself. Izuku looks down to see he has a finger interlocked with the small handle of his chest's pulley string. A strange sound escapes his mouth, a mix between a sob and a choked cough. Then he lets the wire go and falls back down onto the cot. It's not his own. He remembers, he's in the nurse's office.
The clock in the corner shows that hours have passed since he fell asleep. His mother should be arriving by now. Izuku climbs off the cot and looks around for Recovery Girl. When he sees that the nurse is nowhere to be found, he works up the courage to slide open the office door himself. He nearly has a heart attack when he finds someone on the other side. The girl opposite of him jumps in equal alarm, a startled shout escaping her lips.
"Jirou?!", Izuku recognizes his friendly classmate but can't conceal his surprise to see her.
Kyoka is just as shocked by the sudden removal of the barrier between them, but contains her composure in contrast to the boy. She averts her gaze and twirls a jack absentmindedly, "H- Hey.."
Izuku adopts her strategy, avoiding looking directly at her while adorning a mild blush. He fidgets in place as he tries to think of something to say back before settling on asking, "What are you doing here?"
Suddenly, Kyoka flares up with her line of sight lifting to glare at him. "I came to check on you, stupid!", she snaps incredulously. Realizing her reaction was a bit much, she recoils and simmers down. "I mean.. I was worried about you..", her gaze falls back to her feet.
Izuku blinks after registering her outburst. It takes him a while to process but he eventually jumpstarts his brain when he scratches the back of his head. "Oh, I never did come back to class, huh?", a dry laugh escapes his lips when he thinks about his first impression to his peers.
"Everyone kept asking about you", Kyoka consoles him as though reading his mind. When Izuku hums skeptically, she shrugs. "Well, mostly everyone", her own laugh is just as null and void of humor.
"Like you said, that wasn't my best impression to make on the first day", Izuku means to sigh but groans instead as he places his head in his hands.
"Could've been worse", Kyoka tries assuring him again with a shrug but then remembers that he can't see her with his hands covering his eyes. She tries cheering him up another way instead, "Um, I took some notes for you."
"Oh! Thanks!", which does manage to make him look up at her. He pauses and asks, "So, classes are over, huh?"
Kyoka nods in confirmation before tilting her head to the side, "Are you able to head home now?"
"I.. Guess?", Izuku glances around as though he's searching for the answer. When he finds nobody other than himself and Kyoka still, he shrugs and explains, "Recovery Girl called my mom and I fell asleep waiting for her."
"Gotcha", Kyoka nods. A moment of silence passes between the two before she takes to her habit of curling an ear jack on a finger, "I was gonna say we could walk together, but.."
Izuku offers her a smile as he responds, "Maybe next time."
"Next time", to which Kyoka agrees and smiles in return. Her lips level out as she looks past Izuku and remembers they're standing outside of a medbay, "Hey.. Can I ask you what that cough was all about?"
Izuku's mind buffers, the boy caught off guard by the question. He looks away, mulling over his answer in his head. He suddenly understands, to an extent, why his mother had kept her illness hidden from him. "It was.. Nothing major", he blows off the matter by forcing his smile to come back, "I'll be fine."
Though, Kyoka doesn't seem so convinced. "You know.. I can hear a person's heartbeat to tell if somebody is lying to me", her soft tone sets Izuku on edge and he's suddenly very aware of the pounding organ in his chest that she's speaking of. The girl reaches out, quickening the thrumming before her hand even makes contact with his chest. "But yours ever since I met you has always sounded..", her eyes are as alluring as her lingering voice when Izuku looks into them, "Different."
Izuku's lips part, exhaling the breath that he didn't realize he had been holding in. "D- Different?", he stutters as he feels the warmth of Kyoka's gentle hand transferring to his tone of voice. The girl nods, leaning in with the movement, her lips also parting to say more.
"Oh my", but there comes an intrusion to their private moment before things can continue. A woman with green hair like Izuku's glances between them as she coyly asks, "Am I interrupting something?"
"Mom!", Izuku jumps back at the same time that Kyoka retracts her hand. He stares at his mother like a deer that's been caught in headlights, his face as red as a tomato.
Kyoka matches the boy's hue, glowing like a red ruby. She flails about in such discomposure that Inko can't help but be reminded of her son as she squeaks out, "Mrs. Midoriya! I mean, you must be–"
"Please, call me Inko, dear", the greenette gives Kyoka a polite smile before shifting her focus to her son and changing her expression to something far from a smile, "Izuku hasn't done me the pleasure of telling me YOUR name though."
Izuku's panicked reaction and then pleading glance urges the girl to answer, "K- Kyoka! Kyoka Jirou!" Embarrassed enough for one day, she starts backing away and gestures with a pointed thumb over her shoulder, "I- I should probably go!"
"Of course, you wouldn't want to keep your parents waiting", Inko bows to bid her a farewell before waving goodbye, "Lovely meeting you!"
"Y- You too!", Kyoka shouts over her shoulder before taking the chance to flee.
"Ah, b- bye.. Jirou..", Izuku whispers to himself as he lowers the hand he was about to wave with. Abandoned by his friend to his mother's vices, he accepts his fate by bravely facing his mother head on.
"Well, and here I was worried about my baby the whole way here, just to find you getting all lovey dovey with a girl", she crosses her arms and gives him a disappointed stare as opposed to an angry rant though. Izuku is caught off guard, but quickly recovers.
"I wasn't lovey dovey, mom! She's just a friend!", he waves his hands in denial with a matched shake of his head. He winds up casting a look down the hall to make sure Kyoka didn't overhear them.
Tracking his gaze, Inko raises a brow. "For a friend, she sure did enjoy feeling up your chest", and smirks when she sees the boy's blush return. She laughs at how easy it is to get one over on him.
"Mom!", Izuku whines indignantly to make her stop. When Inko does finish teasing her son, each of their faces level out and they both become serious. "Mom..", Izuku meets her gaze and takes a tentative step forwards, "Wh- Why didn't you tell me you were sick?"
"Oh, Izuku..", Inko's eyes water as she holds her son's stare. "I'm not sick..", her response almost relieves the boy even though he knows it's a lie. Although, he can tell by the sad tone of her voice that she's not well. He's not fooled when she pulls him into a hug. It's until Inko says, "I'm dying", that he realizes she was just clarifying the severity of the disease and not telling him she'd be okay.
Things wouldn't be okay again for a long time.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I'm just gonna skip straight to reading reviews this time!
To TheHuntBegins18:
I definitely don't plan on having Izuku make up with Katsuki any time soon, so I'll consider boom boy's fate for the foreseeable future.
If we're all on the same page about not liking Bakugo, then next chapter really won't help his case.
