The two weeks in the hospital had been very tough on Izuku, the pain medication took care of the near chronic pain Izuku normally was in, and without the ache days blurred together and it was harder for Izuku to focus on things, that on top of a lack of sleep weighted on him, Izuku always had difficulty sleeping in new places so the odd sounds, smells, and regular checkups from the staff made it much harder.
There were moments of clarity where he enjoyed the company and visits from his mom, Auntie Mitsuchan and Uncle Masachan but Izuku was practically jumping in his seat when they finally let him be released from the hospital even if he was restricted to a wheelchair, during his stay Inko had started and finished his transfer from Aldera to the online schooling platform they had settled on, it was one of the nicer ones with courses from kindergarten to a college level.
Neither of the Midoriyas knew there were so many options for online schooling, but they would happily take full advantage of it, Izuku would be able to start working right away once he settled at home and started his new schedule. Inko had made sure to instill how important following his recovery plan was to him and told him that both she and Uncle Masachan would be making sure he followed it, Izuku found all the attention overwhelming once he was home.
His mother helped him through the mornings taking pills, getting dressed, etc, until Uncle Masachan came over to watch him while she was at work, Izuku had tried to protest that part given Uncle Masachan was working full-time as a designer, but Uncle Masachan assured them all that he could easily work from home for the six months needed for Izuku to recover.
Izuku was also drowning in his free time because of his restrictions, he couldn't do most physical activities and was limited to only three hours of electronic time outside of his homework, he had tried to fill the time with his hero analysis but there was only so much he could do without the ability to look up fights or information.
So he was rather overjoyed when Auntie Mitsuchan brought him more puzzles, board games (hero-themed and otherwise), and a radio to listen to, Izuku greatly enjoyed playing with Uncle Masachan and even learned more about the Bakugous' business from Uncle Masachan working around him, Izuku also asked about his side of the business since it was probably a lot like support work making costumes, Auntie Mitsuchan had tried to explain it but that was mostly Uncle Masachan's wheelhouse.
The first month flew by faster than Izuku would have thought but it still dragged in places, and he was excited to start the physical therapy part of his recovery plan, they had arranged for Izuku to do the sessions at the hospital his mom worked so he and Uncle Masachan could sometimes see her on her breaks.
The physical therapist was nice and Izuku liked talking to him and seeing him three times a week, Izuku had been lonely since he left Aldera despite how much Uncle Masachan, Auntie Mitsuchan, and his mom tried, Auntie Mitsuchan's radio had helped particularly when the house was just... too quiet.
Izuku slowly grew to love his new schedule once he was allowed to start walking on his own for short distances at home and was given a bit more freedom to do things, by the third month Izuku had been able to stop using the wheelchair as he regained full autonomy and was able to start walking around the apartment without aid but he still stuck to a strict schedule as it was good for him and he was still recovering from his TBI after all.
He didn't go out much even though he was allowed to if he went with someone, he simply was too interested in his schooling now that he had a safe unbiased "classroom" to learn in, so with the electronics ban out of the way he basically threw himself into his school work and hero analysis with what he could scrounge up online since neither the Bakugous nor his mom trusted him to not get hurt from watching hero fights in person.
The TBI's damage had been a lot more serious than Izuku had originally thought, and the recovery process was... grueling but he did enjoy the part where he could start journaling and continue his hero analysis notebooks, while Izuku was still recovering from it he was surprised by how easy some things were becoming, like breathing.
It felt so much easier now to just suck in oxygen, something Izuku genuinely hadn't believed he was struggling with until he started his medication and was frequently left amazed how light his chest became with every breath, and once he started walking around the house again he noticed for the first time in years that he wasn't in pain from doing anything other than that one time he stubbed his toe, Izuku also found he could focus on things without obsessing over it for the next three hours to make absolutely sure he fully understood what he was learning/doing.
So, he had found life had been so much easier now since his mom found out about the bullying, he was very nervous at first about what was going to happen with Kacchan and made sure his mom, Auntie Mitsuchan, and Uncle Masachan swear multiple times that they wouldn't punish Kacchan harshly for bullying him
Despite not seeing Kacchan since the day his mom took him to the hospital, he had been kept up to date on his life through his Auntie Mitsuchan and Uncle Masachan, he didn't probe too much though given the unease both had, especially Auntie Mitsuchan.
As they had hoped and with a clean bill of health from a doctor Izuku had fully recovered with only some scars to show for it, by then Izuku had long since settled into his new life which made him feel incredible, especially since he could return to regular human levels of activity, though he was a bit sad he couldn't have daily visits with Uncle Masachan, he was also glad his uncle could get back to work and did still feel guilty about taking up so much of his time when he could've been helping Kacchan.
Currently, however, the greenettes were both at with Inko working on dinner in the kitchen as Izuku was doing his online course work in his room while listening to the radio, Izuku had loved his new coursework, the site allowed Izuku to work on as much as he wanted to in one sitting.
The coursework also left multiple links to the sources the site had so Izuku could freely dive deep on information binges when something interesting caught his eye, there was an option to text or video call one of the teachers if he wanted someone to help him through it, he didn't want someone to but having the option was still nice.
Izuku was happily typing up an essay for a test that he strongly suspected was a re-review of all his classes as there were questions from all the classes, Izuku had done such tests back in school and had done a few more since he started online school, but he chalked that up to being a part of the online format.
The review was quite easy since it was just a once over of subjects, he had covered previously in the curriculum was a decent handful of new ones and some that went deeper on some topics that Izuku knew well from the previously mentioned info binges.
Izuku finished the test in about an hour and expected the next assignment to pop up per usual only for a "Congratulations!" Message to come up instead and baffled he read it hoping to get some clarification from it, when he realized what exactly it was congratulating him for, he made a choked squeak, his noise of distress had been loud enough for his mother to hear "Izuku?" Inko called from the kitchen worried over the odd noise, Izuku would have answered but he was too caught up re-reading the message because he couldn't be reading it right.
Worried he had done something wrong Izuku took his laptop (a gift from the Bakugous) and walked into the kitchen. "M-mom, c- c-could you check my work? I-I think I messed s-something up." He asked anxiety rearing its ugly head making him tremble slightly, Inko sighed relieved by the question, and happily took the laptop then sat down at the table.
It wasn't uncommon for Izuku to have her double-check his work though it rarely needed any correction with how smart her boy was, still, even she was surprised by the message since it was congratulating her son on graduating middle school.
She blinked confused and brought up the index page for Izuku's program and upon reviewing the assignment list she saw Izuku had indeed finished all the middle school work, Inko felt a small bloom of pride well up in her chest as she absorbed the information that her son had completed middle school in just six months.
"Oh Izuku," Inko said pride overwhelming her and causing tears to fall from her face "M-mom!?" Izuku exclaimed panicking then Inko hugged him tightly "Oh Izuku, you're my little genius." She praised overjoyed and so proud of her son then turned back to the laptop "W-what?" Izuku questioned, bewildered by her reaction.
"You've finished middle school already, I'm so proud of you Izuku." Inko cheerfully responded as she clicked the confirm option about the offered graduation certificate.
"Oh, I'm going to make a cake roll!" Inko announced immediately getting up to gather everything she needed while Izuku balked, absolutely shocked he had actually graduated, Inko set the oven to preheat and got started on baking the dessert with excited and puzzled muttering floating between the two as they were both in their own worlds until dinner was finished.
They sat together in the living room and began to discuss what to do next, Izuku had to have been held back by his teachers given how fast he breezed through his curriculum and Inko suggested they take the site's aptitude test to properly judge where Izuku's level was which Izuku had agreed to, finding the beginning of the test rather easy.
He had expected as such seeing as the site started on the kindergarten level but all in all, it took Izuku around an hour and a half to complete the test then he submitted it, with nothing else to do they both sat back waiting for the result.
Izuku felt especially stressed and unintentionally took to picking at his fingernails, it was a nasty habit that he strongly disliked about himself that had originally developed so he could focus on anything when the pain was too much, or it was a really, really bad day that left him stumbling through a heavy mental fog.
His habit often left his fingers bleeding, but he hasn't had to do it as often since he just didn't need to anymore, but it reared its ugly head whenever he was anxious, so his fingers have been able to heal without the consistent abuse even if he did relapse.
Izuku wasn't left to his thoughts for long as a soft ding came from the laptop, Inko took hold of it and upon seeing the results of his test gasped "W-what!? What's wrong?" Izuku asked, suddenly consumed with the idea that he was actually behind on his education and that passing middle school was just a fluke.
*Of course, he couldn't be that smart! ' Stupid shitty Deku!' it was all just a stupid mistake made by him into a big deal, 'Stop causing a scene Deku, you're just being distracting' now he undoubtedly disappointed her beyond belief for being such a stupid useless burden of a bastard child-*
Izuku was ripped from the downward mental spiral because Inko had placed the laptop back on the table and wrapped Izuku up in a big teary hug "Oh Izuku. My brilliant baby, you're such an amazing young man." She proclaimed giant Midoriya family tears falling from her face which greatly confused Izuku.
Izuku shifted himself to better comfort his mother and was going to get the box of tissues when he saw the screen, revealing the fact that according to his test results he should be starting college and the revelation left him gaping then he was crying too.
It took about an hour for both Midoriyas to calm down and talk over what to do next, after a lot of discussion Izuku agreed he'd start the college portion if he could test out of the high school part, Izuku did the high school test while Inko busied herself with taking care of the dishes and putting away the leftovers.
Izuku squeaked once he completed the test and covered his flustered face when a second congratulations message popped up, Inko happily clicked confirm on the option to get a diploma then hugged her son again.
They had a third long conversation about what to do, though this one was about what courses Izuku should take. They had spent a long time discussing the pros and cons of each course, how many he should take, and what his major would be.
Izuku still desperately wanted to be a hero, but he knew and understood that realistically... he couldn't, his previous research of hero schools showed that most had a strict ban on quirkless students altogether, even U.A had a quirkless ban for their hero course (which was better than most seeing as some schools had a full ban on quirkless if they had multiple courses).
Instead, he chose to major in a subject that he loved, Quirk Studies and Analysis, Izuku hadn't even known that was an area of study. Izuku knew there were quirk counselors and analysts, but he had figured they were just a part of a subsection of psychiatrists, doctors, or scientists, not a whole other branch of study.
By the end of the night, Izuku chose six courses in all to round out his knowledge and was nervously excited to get started "Oh, I have to call Mitsuchan!" Inko said getting her phone out to inform her dear friend.
Izuku's stomach flipped once his mom said that and while he didn't want to hide things from Auntie Mitsuchan or Uncle Masachan, he was sure they'd both be just as happy about the news but if they knew then Kacchan might find out too... and that thought made a small part of him scared.
Izuku knew Kacchan wouldn't attack him for being ahead of him grade-wise or in education, even when they were in school the teachers had to prompt him to attack Izuku for that but that didn't stop him from being scared that Kacchan would hate him even more for getting so far ahead of him.
Izuku was contemplating whether or not to remove a few courses when his mom got him to his feet, it was slightly past his bedtime and he was too tired and emotionally exhausted from the evening's events to protest as his mom shooed him away to his room, Izuku went to sleep that night feeling conflicted about whether he should be more excited or nervous about starting college at twelve years old.