TRIGGER WARNING: BODY HORROR

-\ XXX /-

Mina flinched when the door to the apartment slammed shut. She said, "Hey, Midori—", stepping out to see the arriving pair. Though, she found her voice dying on her tongue when she saw the looks on their faces.

It started with concern. Inko pulled her son towards their living room, setting him down on the couch. "Mom, I'm fine," he insisted. His mother ignored his words, moving to pick out a first-aid kit from the kitchen. When he opened his mouth, she shushed him – quickly and with a firm look.

Then, Mina realized how disheveled Midoriya looked. His uniform was all out of place, stained with patches of dirt. His cap was crumpled in a ball beside him, charred and flaking. "What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing," said Midoriya.

"He was attacked," corrected Inko.

"Attacked?"

"It wasn't that bad," he told her before turning back to his mother. "I'm fine."

"You burned your hand on that hat, first of all."

Midoriya repeated, "Mom, I'm fine—"

Mina reached out her hand, putting another foot forward. "Mid—"

"IT'S NOT!" finished Inko. "And I've had enough of hearing otherwise!"

Mina flinched, retracting her hand and stepping back. "I shouldn't get involved…," she thought before she noticed how stiff Midoriya became. His head hung, defeated, as he submitted to his mom's care. She applied ointment to his palm before wrapping his hand with a bandage. "Was it that bad…?", she pondered.

Inko let out a breath before raising to her feet. "Ashido?"

"Yea—Yes?"

A few things flashed over the mother's face: embarrassment, shame, and guilt before she offered, "Why don't you have a seat at the dinner table?" She gave a look to her son. "I'll have dinner ready soon."

Mina nodded, "Okay…" She walked beside Inko for a few steps before slipping into a chair at the table as Inko stepped into the kitchen.

The only noise that filled the increasingly small apartment was the sizzle of oil and the shift of a pan. Mina felt the need to fix her collar and meddle with the hem of her skirt. Pins and needles jabbed at her shoulders as her arms were held close to her torso. She peered over her shoulder at Midoriya.

Something was on the tip of her tongue. "I don't want Inko yelling at me…" she thought before she shook her head. "What am I thinking…? I can ask how he's doing… Right…? About what happened…"

As her eyes refocused, she saw how tense he was. She noticed how his hands twitched. His discolored thumb rubbed into the palm of his uninjured hand. His fingers wrapped around the thumb, gripping so tightly that his knuckles turned white. As he released, flexing his hands, he rocked back and forth, and the more she watched the more she seemed to tune in to him. Specifically, she started to listen to his breathing – how fast it was becoming, steadily.

Mina started to stand before Midoriya's hand moved to his chest – a flash of… discomfort or confusion across his face. The self-soothing rocking shifted to an unstable wobble. His eyelids fluttered and his skin began to redden. He scratched at his forehead as he tried to stand. However, as he rose, that wobble followed him; it rattled his balance. His foot caught one of the legs of the couch, causing him to topple forward.

Mina moved without a thought, stepping into his path and letting him fall into her. When he went practically limp in her arms, she shifted her hand to turn his head. "Midoriya!?" His half-lidded eyes were hazy and his quickened breathing fell to a labored pace.

Her outburst caused another as Inko cried, "Izuku?!" Whatever pan she had fell upon the countertop as she rushed into the living room.

Mina winced as she shifted her hand away from his head, slipping it to his torso. "He's burning up," she said as Inko came over.

"Izuku?" She turned her son's head. "Honey, tell me what's wrong…"

His face contorted as he said, "I… I don't know… I…" He trailed off – his voice turning to mutterings and mumbles.

Inko met Mina's eyes. "I'm sorry, Ashido, he's too heavy for me. Can you help me get him to his bed?"

"Yeah—yeah, of course." She did her best to lift Midoriya onto his feet. "Come on, Midori! Help me out here…" Midoriya seemed to hear her, shakingly putting his weight down on his feet.

"I'm going to get the door," said Inko as she went ahead.

As Mina helped Midoriya along, she thought to herself, "What is up with tonight…?"

Inko rushed past her, "I have something for a fever!"

Eventually, Mina got Midoriya into his bedroom and settled into his bed. His mom took over from there, and she made her way out of his bedroom, closing the door behind her. When she entered the living room, she picked up her fallen chair and found herself sitting down. She took a deep breath and started fidgeting in her seat.

Her mind kept shifting to that bedroom and Midoriya – both of them. She was so focused on it in fact that she nearly leapt out of her skin when her phone rang. She grumbled, looking for her abandoned blazer and fishing her phone out of its pocket.

When she turned over her phone, she blinked at the ID waiting for her, "Kaminari?"

-XXX-

From the moment he left the couch to the second he crawled onto his bed, Izuku felt tremendous heat radiating throughout his body. It was as if the very marrow in his bones had begun to boil. It was so sudden that he couldn't make sense of it. It was so overwhelming that he couldn't remember how he got to his bed. Though, he could remember Ashido's voice and his mother saying… something.

He laid in his bed; he couldn't say for how long. He shifted, throwing a blanket off his body before it was pulled over him by someone else. He felt the sweat build on every part of his body, and then he felt each droplet burn away.

"What's… happening to me…?" was the only thought he could cling to.

Until it wasn't. "You're going to help so many people, Chiyo…"

"A man… Who…?"

"You'll be a fantastic Hero…"

"A woman…"

Those words… Those thoughts seemed to cool his burning flesh. A warmth wrapped around him - something so familiar yet completely foreign. "Mom…?" he thought. His face contorted as that warmth was slowly eeped away.

From searing heat to comforting warmth to frigid cold, Izuku sat up with a jolt and a desperate gasp for air. He set his hand down, leaning on his arm, as he steadied himself. As his fingers dug into the fabric underneath him, he thought, "These aren't my bedsheets…"

Izuku pulled his blanket off him and looked down at the… hospital gown that he wore. His legs swung over the edge of the bed and his soles found a tiled floor. The details seemed to file in as he turned his head. There were white walls, cabinets, a sink on a countertop, and a polished, wooden door along the wall.

"Mr. Ishimura, please…", he heard. "The treatment takes time," said the doctor that stood before Izuku.

Izuku scowled, growling, "I know it does!" He pushed himself onto his feet. "But… We were all supposed to become Heroes! All I've been is a pincushion!"

The doctor kept a smile on their face, shaking their head. "I understand you wish to be in the field like your friends, but what we're doing here will help them too. If this treatment works, you'll all climb the ranks of heroism faster than even All-Might."

"Like I care about that old fart…" muttered Izuku.

The doctor gestured for Izuku to follow them. "Come. Let's see how your Quirk's been affected."

Izuku's eyes rolled, "Yes… Doctor."

They left the small room and started down the hallway outside - tiled floors and white walls accented by metal bands bolted into place. There were others going up and down the hall, but Izuku couldn't remember–see what they looked like? He kept his head for most of their journey.

Eventually, the doctor escorted him into a… testing chamber of some kind. "It looks… familiar…?"

"Center of the room," directed the doctor. "Our first test will be the standard, yes? Just a simple activation."

He nodded, "Yes, sir…"

A camera was set up and its red light flashed on. "When you are ready."

Izuku looked down at his hand, focusing on it. Tension built up at his wrist, causing his hand to twitch. As, at first, nothing happened, he gritted his teeth and furrowed his brow. He commanded his Quirk to activate.

Then, that bone in the tip of his index finger shifted. He could feel it meld into the follow bone before, suddenly, the entire structure of his finger shot into his knuckle, ripping through the ligaments and tissue.

"IT HURTS!" he screamed. "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

"Be strong," said the doctor. "A Hero cannot be weak."

Izuku looked up at the doctor before the words sunk in. He shakingly stood tall as he bit his lip to hold in his scream and shook off the tears forming in his eyes. Blood dripped off of his chin as the bones in his other fingers followed. He cried in pain as his thumb disappeared, leaving each digit as limp sacks of skin and tissue dangling from his palm.

Then his knuckles pulled in; then the structure of his palm amassed at his wrist. "I…" he panted. "-will be a strong Hero!"

The bulbous mass of bone choked its way through his wrist, ripping through his skin's surface before entering his forearm.

As blood trickled onto the floor, the doctor said, "Heroes do not allow their own suffering to stop them."

"It won't," growled Izuku.

His crackling, shifting bone forced its way into his bicep, "F-FUCK!" Tears fell down his cheeks. "Ah… shit…" His teeth grounded together. "C-Come on! Come on!"

As his bones crawled through his shoulder, he felt a point scrape across jaw. He began to hack and cough as a pointed limb grinded against his skull, shaking his vision. Its bloodied tip escaped the gums along the roof of his mouth, climbing into the air.

"Yes, Ishimura!" shouted the doctor. "It works…" They cackled and cried, "It worked!"

Izuku couldn't breathe. The jutting limb expanded the flesh around his throat in its escape, swelling it shut. He coughed and hacked as he could feel his skin shift color and the moisture from the blood pooling within his flesh. Darkness consumed his vision as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

His body rocked back and crashed against the cold floor.

-X-

Izuku awoke into a coughing fit. His head swiveled back and forth as his eyes adapted to the darkness. "My room…" he recognized. His old clock was still working. "Midnight…" He put his hand over his calming heart. "Did I have a nightmare…?"

His stomach growled, almost painfully. "I need something to eat…" He shook his head before he swung his legs out, pushing onto his feet.

He left his room and into the dark apartment. When he stepped into the living room, he found Ashido sleeping in the futon. A pang of guilt struck him before he held in his sigh and walked towards the kitchen.

He opened the refrigerator and found a plastic-wrapped dish inside. "She saved my portion…" He smiled when he found a little note atop it with his name. "Thanks, Mom…" He smiled before taking the plate out of the fridge.

He thought to himself, "I don't want to wake up Ashido by eating out here…" His head teetered, "I don't make a mess in my room either…" He rubbed his chin. "Hm…"

-XXX-

Mina snorted awake when the front door of the apartment was closed. "What the hell…?" She quietly got onto her feet. "Did… someone break in…? Did Ms. Inko leave for something…?" She cautiously made her way to the front door, noticing a lightswitch near the door was flipped on.

On her tippy toes, she peered through the peephole on the door and found someone with curly green hair sitting on the first step of the landing. She blinked before stepping back and opening the door. "Midoriya?" she said, squinting as the light above the door poured in.

He slurped up the mouthful of noodles he had before saying, "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

Mina let the unlocked door swing shut behind her. "What're you doing up?" There was a bit of a chill in the night air, but she could shrug it off. "You have a fever."

"Uh… I'm fine… right now, at least."

She frowned, "Midori."

He cautiously set his dish down, standing up. "No, I'm–I'm serious." He took her hand, placing its back against his forehead. "Here."

Where she would expect a scary amount of heat, she found a normally warm forehead. Her cautious look of doubt became one of confusion. "Weird."

"Yeah…" He then shrugged and sat back down. "But, uh, don't stay awake on my account. I'll be fine out here."

As he turned with his plate and chopsticks in hand, she leveled an incredulous look at the back of his head. "Hm." Her eyes rolled before she plopped down next to him.

"Ashido?" he questioned.

She rubbed her arms. "I'm just… sticking around since you might get that fever thing again."

"Oh… that makes sense," he said.

Mina sat quietly as he ate. She looked up at the night sky, but found that the porch light had effectively drowned out the stars above. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked. "And don't just say you're 'fine'."

She had caught him mid-bite–again. He thought for a moment before lifting his dish into view. "I'm hungry?"

She giggled, "I see that." She rubbed her knee. "Kaminari called. Said you called and that… it sounded like someone attacked you."

"I…"

Mina added, "He also mentioned that there was some kind of explosion?"

Midoriya deflated for a moment; the clear cause to defect or defend died on his tongue. "He… was an old friend…"

"Friend?"

"He was… someone…"

"Bakugo?" she said.

"How–"

A shrug followed, "Kaminari went on a calling spree after you hung up. Called Shinso before me. Shinso thought everything Kaminari heard was familiar to a certain someone mentioned by two jerks that attacked you."

Midoriya's face held a tired smile as he stared at the food in his lap. "Shinso has a good memory."

"Gosh… that feels like forever ago…" she muttered,

"Yeah…"

He went quiet after that. His body was tenser too: his back had straightened and his once relaxed legs were raised properly with his soles pressed firmly on the steps below. "Like he's ready to run…" she thought.

Mina brought her knees closer to her chest, wrapping an arm around them. Her head teetered for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Look… I… I get that you might not want to… get into all of whatever that or this is." She rubbed the side of her neck. "But… I want to make sure that… you know that you don't have to act like you're okay all the time, right?" He turned to her. "I mean there's already a bunch of stuff that you're okay with that you really shouldn't be. So, like, the actual stuff that bothers you must be… pretty important, and you know… kinda warrants being talked about."

Midoriya lowered his head. "I… I don't want to be a bother."

Mina thought to herself for a moment. "Let me borrow a rule… Please don't come off as patronizing like it always did when you said it…!" She took a breath. "Go for gold…! Go for glory…!"

She reached over to him. "How… about… you let me decide what bothers me?" His face was blank - probably absorbing what she had just said. However, she kinda reached out without really thinking of why or what she was going to do, but also, her hand was already there and she thought it'd be weirder to back out now so…

She poked his cheek. "Boop. Bop?" She reared back and pressed a slow, pathetic fist against his face. "Pow!"

He laughed.

"That's good…!" she thought.

His smile became hesitant. "But…"

"That's bad…"

"What if it is a bother?" he asked.

Mina scratched her cheek. "Ugh, okay… Um…" She snapped her fingers. "We'll have a keyword. With all of us! And if we're in the mood to hear about each other's problems or we're open to it, we'll say it and talk."

Midoriya's face contorted as he considered it. "Ok… I guess that could work." He rubbed the back of his neck. "What's this keyword?"

"Plus Ultra!" she said, punching her fist.

"No…"

She blinked, "Oh… yeah… that makes sense." She offered, "How about Detroit?"

He chuckled, "Still stuck on All-Might, huh?"

"Kinda, yeah."

He shook his head. "Detroit sounds fine to me."

"Cool." She pointed at him with both hands. "Detroit!"

He started to eat again, but paused to say with a damnable smirk. "Oh, I'm not in the mood to talk about anything. But, you know, feel free to share."

She groaned dramatically, but bemusedly.

"Tomorrow," he said. "We can talk about… some of it tomorrow."

Mina smirked, nudging him with her shoulder. "I'll hold ya to it."

"Oh boy…" muttered Midoriya before returning to his lukewarm dinner.

After a yawn, she returned to silence, waiting for him to finish meal and looking forward to going back to bed.

Unbeknownst to both, another Midoriya had opened the front door to their apartment. Not enough to be noticed, but just enough to hear through. And, just as silently as it had been opened, it was shut.

-XXX-

"Morning came too soon" was the general thought in the Midoriyas' apartment. Everyone seemed to be getting ready for the day in a sluggish manner. Izuku wasn't sure why his mom seemed so tired, but it was probably his fault.

Said guilt led to a rather awkwardly silent breakfast. Once their bellies were full, they finished getting dressed and were ready to leave. However, Izuku told Ashido, "You go on ahead. I'll catch up."

"Uh, alright," she replied. "Bye, Ms. Inko!"

"Have a good day, Ashido," said Inko.

When the door slid shut, Izuku turned to his mom. "I really am okay."

Her hand touched his cheek. "It was… very frightening…" She sniffled, "What was it?"

"I don't know."

Her eyes watered, "What's to stop it from happening again? I don't want you to go out like this. We should get you to a doctor."

His hand laid atop of hers. "Let's… Let's go, after."

She frowned, "Your Internship? Izuku…"

"I'm not… going out today…" he said. He shook his head. "We're just heading over to Shiketsu. Nothing dangerous today."

Inko looked into her son's eyes. "Do you promise?"

"Yes, I do," he said.

She took a deep breath. "Fine…" She concluded, "We'll go to a clinic after, and… talk."

Izuku sniffled before wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "I love you, Mom."

She returned it. "I love you, Izuku."

They parted and he made his way over to the front door before hesitating. "I'm off…" he said.

Inko nodded, "Be safe."

"I will," he said. "Have a good day," he offered.

She replied, "I will", before he walked out, letting the door swing shut behind him.

-\XXX/-

AN: Hello! This is gonna be a quick note. Chapter was a bit difficult to write with that opening - made me pretty anxious. I do hope that the treatment of that dream sequence, the heart to heart, and most importantly Inko's behavior works. We're heading towards the finale of this season but there's also a bunch of elements I'm setting up for later seasons.

With that said, thank you for reading and criticize away!

Update Window: July 20th - July 31st

Intended Due Date: July 20th - 25th