Chapter Text
Learning what had happened to Iida’s brother through the news had pulled the air out of Izuku’s lungs. He had gotten dizzy, reading about the Hero-Killer’s attack, having to sit down on the couch heavily while he absorbed it.
“Izu-kun?” He heard his mother ask, noticing the abrupt change in her son. “Is something wrong?”
He didn’t even know how to address that.
It somehow hurt more that Iida hadn’t said anything about it first, Izuku realized over the past few days. Like he didn’t trust them, or he couldn’t talk to them about it. Izuku pushed quiet feelings of rejection away; after all, it was not his brother. He couldn’t judge his friend for the way he was dealing with... this . It wasn't his place to do so.
But it still hurt to watch. His friend was normally so chipper and composed and the first day back at school it was like all that had drained away. The facade was still there, but it lacked the spark behind it.
Izuku didn’t know if it was the right way to deal with it, if he was crowding his friend. But he did the only thing he was capable of, and he crushed Iida in a hug against him. He could hear him start to protest, insisting nothing was wrong, going tense under Izuku’s grip. But Izuku wrapped his arms around his neck, rubbed Iida’s back, and hooked his chin over his shoulder in the tightest, most empathetic hug he was capable of; a long one, one where he wouldn’t let go until Iida was ready.
Iida went slack against him, and it was only seconds later, when he realized Izuku wasn’t letting go that he wrapped his arms around him and hugged him back. He felt a face press against his neck and if there was a quiet noise of anguish that escaped his friend, he would never tell.
When they finally parted, Iida’s eyes looked red and his eyes darted away, but Izuku put his hand on his arm and told him with all the earnestness he could muster that he was there for Iida.
But when Izuku saw Iida, he knew it wasn’t enough.
Things were different after the Sports Festival, at least for a time. Iida was more subdued, Uraraka had a fire lit under her, Bakugo’s competitive nature was reaching a boiling point, and Todoroki...
It didn’t escape Izuku that when the split-haired boy walked into class, briefly catching his eye, his cool expression had softened. The tight line of his mouth seemed to turn up a little at the ends. It was subtle, almost more of a grimace than anything else, but it hit Izuku out of the blue.
Todoroki was trying to smile.
Izuku took too long to respond though; and he watched the expression start to slide off his face.
“ Todoroki-kun! ” Izuku burst out. Maybe with too much enthusiasm; Todoroki looked startled . “Good morning!” Several members of the class looked over, attention drawn by Izuku’s outburst.
“...Good morning, Midoriya.” The teen finally answered, slowly. His expression had softened again. Not quite a smile; but getting there. “How...is your hand?” He asked and Izuku was having a hard time reading the tone in his voice. Regardless, Izuku stuck his scarred hand up into the air. Todoroki winced, visibly.
Izuku flexed it, grinning back.
“It’s good as new, Todoroki-kun!” Izuku insisted. Maybe that wasn’t quite true; it was a little crooked, a little stiff. It was mostly cosmetic; Recovery Girl had said that with some physical therapy and hand exercises, it would loosen up as long as he was diligent and avoided injuring it again soon.
She had said the last part with not even a shred of faith in him.
“I doubt that. But...I am glad to hear you are doing better.” Todoroki said, almost solemnly. With a dip of his head, he took his seat in the back, signifying the conversation was over. Kirishima leaned over Sero, eyes sparkling mischievously as he caught Izuku’s attention.
“Thawing the ice prince, huh?” Izuku threw his pencil at Kirishima, who hardened his forehead so it bounced off uselessly. He let out a barking laugh.
When Aizawa walked in, the inane chatter came to an end quickly. He took his spot at the front of the room, looking out on the class, and pinching the bridge of his nose. The bandages had been removed, and despite the sudden rush of congratulations and questions about his condition, he silenced them with a glare.
“As you may all know, I was providing commentary and analysis for the Sports Festival.” He said, looking out at the group. They tittered nervously in their seats; Izuku could still remember walking in with his busted arm, forehead, and ribs and Aizawa’s scathing commentary about USJ. He winced at the memory.
“Pretty cool, huh ?” Kirishima said, pushing out his chest proudly.
“I watched you and a student with identical Quirks knock each other out.” Aizawa responded flatly. “If I wanted to see two fools crack their heads together and end up unconscious, I could just watch Kaminari and Ashido during gym.”
“ Hey! ” The blonde cried.
“Watching all of you clowns gave me a headache.” Aizawa snapped. Izuku sunk down in his chair as the unkempt man’s piercing gaze ran over the class, ultimately ending on him anyways. “ Midoriya .”
“Uh, yes, sensei?” Izuku choked out.
“You know that this is a school event and if you are too injured to continue, you can say so at any time, correct?” Izuku nodded timidly. “I need a verbal answer, Midoriya, so I can ensure that I did indeed lay out the rules appropriately and your skull just happens to be made of granite .”
“Uh, yes, Aizawa-sensei. I knew I could forfeit.” He says, staring at his desk, bright red. His cheeks felt hot.
“Todoroki.” Izuku raised his head to see Aizawa pinning the split-haired teen to his seat with his glare. He briefly made eye contact with the other boy, who averted his eyes quickly. Aizawa hadn’t even said anything yet, and Todoroki looked equally chastened, knowing what was about to come. Izuku wanted to protest, to confess that he had pushed Todoroki so hard on purpose and baited him into the fight. But he figured Aizawa would not appreciate the sentiment. “Were you aware that Midoriya’s Quirk means he is highly resistant to extreme temperatures?”
Todoroki’s eyes widened.
“No.” He admitted.
“Then I would like to impress upon you the fact that if it had been anyone besides Midoriya caught in an explosion that blew a concrete stadium apart -,” Aizawa sounded like he was grinding his teeth. “-, the potential magnitude of the force you utilized. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sensei.” Todoroki’s expression was largely unreadable, except for the wide eyes that looked shell-shocked. “It won’t happen again.”
“See to it.” Aizawa leaned back, bracing his hands against the podium and sighing.
“While I saw advancements in many of your performances, the best technical performance I saw was Bakugo’s.”
“I don’t want to HEAR IT-, ” Aizawa silenced the blonde with a sharp look.
“And yet, despite winning , had to be restrained on the podium .” He crossed his arms over his chest. “While there are individual victories that should be celebrated, I don’t want any of you to think that there aren’t necessary improvements to be made.” He said. “All of these will be addressed; but as for the rest of today, we have a different task ahead of us.”
“ Training?”
“Studying?”
“Pop quiz?”
Came the nervous suggestions.
“Hero names.” Aizawa said.
XXXX
Shouto wanted to sink down and die .
He knew that Aizawa was going to call them out; his match with Midoriya had been so rife with violence and injury that their teacher had to. The magnitude of the power shown in the stadium that day necessitated addressing, even shaming . He hadn’t realized that Midoriya was resistant to high temperatures and he had felt almost nauseous at the thought of what could have happened to anyone else.
He glanced over at the green-haired boy who was writing on the board and erasing it periodically, obviously deep in thought over his choice of hero name. He couldn’t stomach the thought of the short, sunny boy being burnt and broken. Even seeing him laying limply against the ice had sent a spike of fear through Shouto’s heart, far too reminiscent of Midoriya’s condition at USJ.
Shouto hadn’t known what it was like to care about... a friend before. But that’s what it was, right? He hadn’t known it, but it was unmistakable. The rush of fear at seeing his...friend injured. The idea of damage being done to him.
Shouto hadn’t pinpointed exactly when he had officially put his classmate so near to his heart. Sometime in between watching him crack his broken knuckles in the arena and a bone-crushing hug that forced his feet off the ground and watching Midoriya tackle his former opponent to the ground with unbridled optimism.
Maybe when he told him he was proud of him, even though Shouto was wearing the second-place medal and not the first. His father would have ripped it off of him and told him that second place wasn’t good enough; that he had thrown away first and any contentment with his current position was failure.
Maybe then, Shouto decided.
Though if it hadn’t been then, it probably would have been the kiss on the cheek that sent a rush of heat to his face so violent he had quite literally burst into flames. He wanted to bang his head into his desk at the thought; he wasn’t active on social media in any form, but he had caught glimpses on his classmates’ phones and the press had gone absolutely wild over his fiery debut in the public eye.
It was just that Shouto hadn’t had someone touch him so tenderly in years. The last time he had been kissed was by his mother and the last memory he had of her was her disfiguring him permanently with boiling water.
So that had gone so well, obviously.
It was so soft and sweet and sudden-,
And Midoriya was cute and it made it so much worse.
Shouto tried not to think about it too much, but he certainly had thoughts about being this disfigured, ugly freak. Scarred. Mismatched. He tried not to let it affect him too much; after all, personal relationships had always been impressed upon him to be weaknesses. It didn’t matter if he wasn’t attractive; he didn’t need to be, to be a hero. It didn’t matter, right?
And then the soft, sweet, absolutely jacked boy had called him pretty and kissed him on the cheek and had reached a hand out to him when he had needed it most-,
Shouto let out a sharp breath and pinched the skin on his arm.
His face was feeling hot again and if he went up in flames in the middle of class he would die on the spot of embarrassment.
It felt stupid to even consider; Midoriya had done so much for him, protecting him from his father, fighting tooth and nail to get through to Shouto, forcing him to look at the truth and take a step closer to accepting himself instead of fighting it. The least of what he had done had anything to do with Shouto’s looks and he felt dumb for even thinking about something so trivial.
But for a moment, Shouto had entertained the thought that someone so cute thought he was pretty and he had held his face into his pillow and tried to get ahold of his stupid self without lighting on fire again.
Fuyumi had even teased him.
His mother hadn’t said anything about the Sports Festival yet since he began to talk to her again. After all, there was so much else to catch up on. But he didn’t miss the faint smile when she asked how he liked his new classmates.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by Midoriya putting his board down on the podium without hesitation, jaw hardened. He jerked in his seat at what was written.
“Midoriya-kun...” Uraraka whispered. “Are you sure?” A ripple of unease went through the class; they all knew what the word meant. Useless . An insult from a childhood bully that had followed Midoriya to high school. Shouto almost snapped his pencil in his hand.
Midoriya nodded firmly.
“For a long time, this meant something negative. Something bad.” Midoriya admitted, running a hand through his curly, tangled hair. “But it means what I want it to mean. And it reminds me of my time here, with all of you, and everything to come that I look forward to. It inspires me to be better, and I want it to do the same for everyone who hears it, one day.”
Deku .
Written in bold letters across the board and not a single ounce of hesitation on Midoriya’s face.
Shouto could swear he saw Aizawa crack an eye open from his sleeping bag in the corner of the room.
Midnight cheered and approved Midoriya’s name nonetheless, sending him back to his seat for the next person.
Shouto swallowed as he caught another glimpse of Midoriya’s board, the moment of confidence in those green eyes.
I don’t deserve him . None of us do.
XXXX
Izuku needed to talk to Todoroki privately, he realized.
But it was hard to find the time, really. Todoroki hadn’t sat with them at lunch, though Izuku had already mentally made a to-do list that involved harassing the teen until he did. After all, it wasn’t like Todoroki looked sad when he sat at lunch with a book and ate quietly alone. But Izuku knew how unbearably lonely it could get and for the first time in his life he had friends and by God he was going to share them.
“Hey, what’s this?” Kaminari said, bending down near the wall in the locker room. They were all in various states of undress as they changed, Kaminari still shirtless. The blonde could get distracted easily though, and the moment he spied whatever he was currently examining, he had dropped his shirt on the bench and walked over.
Izuku stepped out, frowning. Most of the boys were trying to figure out what exactly Kaminari was looking at.
“What is it?” Sero asked.
“It looks like a hole? But like it’s been purposely drilled-,” Kaminari squinted against it.
And then he jerked away, letting out a shriek of shock and discharging some static that traveled along the lockers and had Kirishima swearing as he jumped away from the metal.
“Kaminari-kun?” Izuku tilted his head as he walked forward. “Are you okay?” Kaminari was on the ground, his face bright red, stammering.
“ Nothing! ” He responded.
“I don’t think that was his question, bro.” Sero said, snorting. “If you aren’t gonna tell us, I’m gonna take a look.”
“ You can’t! ” Kaminari shrieked. He covered his face with his hands. “I know I should be enjoying this but I feel so guilty , even though it was an accident-, ”
“Bro, your muttering could rival Midoriya’s.” Kirishima said.
“I fucking doubt that.” Bakugo snapped from the back. “Spit it out, electric weasel. We’re all waiting with fucking bated breath for your goddamn brilliant reveal.”
Izuku had a deep, dark confession that he would never ever ever say out loud to anyone.
Sometimes...the mean things Bakugo said were funny and Izuku had to fight the urge to laugh.
Sometimes, he thought about Bakugo calling Shigaraki a freaky one-armed bastard with fat fucking fingers and he couldn’t control his wheezing.
He felt so bad about it, because after all, no one really deserved Bakugo’s ire and the comments directed at their classmates were unkind and Izuku would never condone that. Most of the time, it didn’t get to him. But once in a blue moon, when it hit just right, Izuku had to excuse himself or he would choke on his own spit.
“ Spark plug! We don’t have all day! ” Bakugo barked.
“It’s the girl’s locker room .” Kaminari said with horror .
“ Oh. ” Izuku squeaked out. Iida started to sputter uncontrollably, hands making wild chopping motions.
“Mineta probably drilled a hole in the wall before he left. A pervy calling card, if you will.” Sero suggested. “A gift for the generations.” He joked. “But we should probably cover it.”
“Jiro is going to kill me.”
“ Kaminari .” Izuku couldn’t help his disapproving tone.
“ It was an accident! ” he wailed. “I didn’t know what I was looking at!”
Sero held out his arm and shot off a piece of tape towards the hole in the wall, covering it. Kirishima walked over and flattened it, smoothing it out for good measure. He glanced at Kaminari who was bright red and wailing on the ground.
“I won’t tell if you don’t tell?” Kirishima offered. “It was an accident, after all.”
“Right?” Iida demanded, looking at Kaminari pointedly. Though, with the way he was crying, Izuku didn’t think for a second that Kaminari had meant any harm.
“It was!” he cried. “I feel so guilty!”
“Y’know, you acted like such a perv when Mineta was around but have you ever seen a girl naked?” Sero asked quizzically, clearly already knowing the answer to his question.
“Guys, stop! ” Sero laughed. He offered a hand out to Kaminari, helping him up from the ground. “Like any of you have seen a girl naked!” Most of the boys shrugged nonchalantly, admitting so. Ojiro looked briefly guilty, and Kirishima zeroed in on him instantly.
“Ojiro! I see that flush!” Ojiro averted his eyes.
“I just spend all my time at the dojo and some of the girls there...don’t really care about closing doors when they change.” Ojiro admitted with a shrug. “It’s just kind of weird. They’re like my sisters.” Shoji nodded behind him.
“My family is pretty body positive.” He said, lifting several of his arms with a nonchalant tone. “I walked in on my sister and her friends showing each other their mutation type Quirks, once. The worst part was when they started drilling me on mine.”
Izuku flushed next to him, letting out a small squeak. Shoji turned immediately.
“Oh, not like that, Midoriya! I mean...they wanted to know what other body parts I could make multiples of. It was uncomfortable.”
“ Oh God. ” Izuku slapped a hand over his mouth, understanding immediately what the taller boy was saying.
“Don’t know why fucking Deku is acting all sweet and innocent.” Everyone’s heads snapped towards him immediately.
“ Kacchan! ” Izuku squeaked.
“In the sixth grade, these fucking idiot girls wanted to tease him and they grabbed him and pulled him into the bathroom with them and started getting changed to see what he would do.” Bakugo said, ignoring Izuku. Izuku wanted to lay down and die; he could feel everyone’s eyes boring into him. “Idiot was too dumb to understand and he ran out with a red face and fell down the stairs and busted his nose.” Izuku covered his face with his hands.
A body slammed into him from the side, hard enough to almost knock him over and Kirishima rubbed his knuckles into his head, howling with laughter.
“Aw, Midoriya. You’re too good!”
“It was inappropriate!” He yelled between his fingers, wincing under the strength of Kirishima’s noogie. He remembered the incident vividly; he knew after the fact that they were making fun of him. It was a group of older girls and he had been so shy and quiet for his age. They were generally friendly to him, in the way one might play around with a small animal. He was a novelty; Quirkless and shy and rambling and absolutely nothing about him was threatening. It was cruel, though. And he knew later that it was. But in the moment he had just been so flustered that he ran out of the bathroom while they laughed.
“Midoriya-kun was acting in an appropriate manner and I am glad to hear so!” Iida said, chopping vigorously. “I would expect nothing less from his upstanding moral character!”
“Can we please change the subject?” Izuku begged. A ripple of laughter ran through the room as they finished getting changed, boys starting to head upstairs. When there were only a few people left, Todoroki being one of them, Izuku decided to try and talk to him. He sat down on a bench near the split-haired boy, tying his shoe .
“Hey, Todoroki-kun.” He said, as Todoroki adjusted the sleeve of his gym uniform that had rolled up awkwardly. His classmate glanced over at him.
“Yes?”
“Can we talk for a minute?” Izuku asked quietly, tracking the last person, Kaminari out of the corner of his eye. He was heading up the stairs, oblivious to their conversation.
“I suppose so.” Todoroki said, shutting his locker and turning to Izuku expectantly.
There wasn’t really an easy way to approach this topic, but Izuku understood more than most that it needed to be done.
“I wanted to talk to you about your dad.” A mask immediately fell over Todoroki’s face.
“I don’t think there is anything else to say.” He said coldly.
“Todoroki-kun, I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but I’m worried. About you. That you’re not safe at home.” Izuku confessed. “And I know how hard it is to ask for help, especially when you still have family that he can hurt, even if it’s not you.” Todoroki jerked back as if he’d been burned. Izuku didn’t know Todoroki’s exact situation, but there was something about violent fathers with fire Quirks, he supposed. “But whatever he’s doing, he’s not going to stop.”
“Have you been spying on me?” Todoroki was uneasy. Izuku tilted his head, confused. He shook it.
“No. I just know my father wouldn’t have stopped until he killed me or my mom.”
Todoroki closed his eyes.
“So...when you say you understand-,” Todoroki cut himself off, jerking his head away.
“I understand .” Izuku said, seriously. “Quirks can be repressed, y’know. Because of trauma. Emotional. Physical.” He tapped the side of his skull. “Head.”
He had suspicions that he had brought up with his counselor. Not that it mattered, what the specific event was that had caused him to repress his Quirk was. It had happened. It was done.
But he remembered one argument. Right around his fourth birthday. Seeing Hisashi grab his mother’s arm and knowing immediately what was to come. Of balling up his little fists and pushing on his father’s leg, trying to help his mom and Hisashi shoving him so hard he went careening into the counter and cutting his head open. He remembered bleeding all over the floor, dizzy and hot and confused and his mother’s sobbing, concerned face swimming into view above him. Something about that night felt pivotal to him, in a way that was hard to put his finger on.
His counselor had told him that ultimately, the repression of his Quirk was a psychological response. If he felt it was pivotal, even at the time, it probably was. She didn’t brush him off or tell him it didn’t matter, but talked to him about it seriously.
“What did happen?” Todoroki asked quietly. “To him?”
“He was arrested.” Izuku said honestly.
“For-,?” Izuku shook his head.
“No, he killed six people.” Izuku said and Todoroki stilled even further, if that was possible. “He wasn’t a villain, really. If that’s what you’re wondering. He was angry . And a bad person. But my mom never told anyone and he never would have stopped otherwise.” Izuku stretched his legs out.
“He’s the number two hero.” Todoroki said numbly. “I don’t think anyone would believe me.”
“Aizawa would.” Izuku said. “When all this started...happening.” He gestured at his throat. “He knew that it had something to do with trauma and he suspected my mom. He came to me and offered me Quirk counseling and therapy, through the school, completely confidential, and I think he started building a case about me. In case it was her, so he would have everything needed to take legal action.” Izuku said, trying to get all the facts out before Todoroki could shoot him down. “And I mean, he didn’t need to after all. But he kept it under wraps, even from me. If you tell him something, he’ll keep it a secret. He won’t do anything that will get you hurt.”
“There’s nothing he can do.” Todoroki said bitterly.
“I don’t know about that.” Izuku said. “Plus, the school has Principal Nedzu on their side. I think he could take Endeavor any day.” Izuku didn’t think now was the appropriate time to launch into the explanation of hero matchups he had considered before; Endeavor was brawny and fiery, but he had no doubt Nedzu’s superior intellect would demolish the devastatingly predictable hero any day. He had never hated Endeavor before learning the truth, but he lacked the same spark that had driven All Might to number one.
Todoroki wavered at the thought; seemingly having forgotten about their High Spec-principal.
“I’m not saying everything will go right away to being alright. But they can help. They can try and protect you.” Izuku rubbed his head. “You have older siblings, right? Maybe they could help them try and get custody of you. Or get you and your mom financially independent from him. Or they could add extra ‘training’ for when you don’t want to be at home with him-,”
“Midoriya.” Todoroki’s voice cut through his rambling. Izuku’s head jerked up. Todoroki seemed deep in his own thoughts. “I-i’ll think about it, okay?”
And Izuku believed him.
“And I know you might not feel totally comfortable with me yet, and that’s okay, but I also thought if you ever just wanted to talk about it I’m not exactly a qualified therapist but I could listen or if you needed help with injuries I got pretty good at first aid-,”
“Midoriya.”
“Sorry.” Izuku apologized for rambling, rubbing his neck sheepishly. He offered the split-haired teen a small smile. “I ramble.”
“No, don’t apologize.” Todoroki said. “I might-,” He paused. “I might take you up on it.”
“Oh.” Izuku blinked. “Good!” He gave him the sunniest smile he could manage. If he wasn’t sure it was just the odd lighting in the locker room, he would swear Todoroki was blushing. Even so, the split-haired boy definitely averted his eyes.
“We should go.” Todoroki said, jerking his head towards the door. “We’re going to be late.”
“Oh, yeah!”