Archive of Our Own ^beta

Izuku likes to think he’s a rather observant person. He has to be, as a healer-in-training. There’s a lot of patients to keep track of in UA and a lot of those patients are stubborn hero students that act like injuries are no big deal. Over the past few months Izuku has developed a keen eye for signs that people are trying to hide or brush off injuries. Thankfully it doesn’t happen so often with his classmates anymore, as they know better by now than to try and hide anything from their healer. Still, being observant is a great skill to have and has helped him serve his classmates well in the past. 

They’re all in their classroom now, chatting quietly with each other while rain pours down outside. The light storm was apparently enough of a deterrent for Aizawa to cancel PE, and instead of lecturing, the man instead chose to crawl into his sleeping bag, giving them a free study period. Which means, of course, that none of them are studying. 

Students lean across the walkway to chat in hushed voices with the students in the rows across from them. Others choose to simply text one another, the ‘no phones’ rule nullified without the conscious presence of their teacher. Quiet bursts of giggles occasionally erupt from the murmur of voices, only to be quickly shushed. 

The only one who is actually using the study period for its intended purpose is Iida. The vice-class president eventually gave up trying to whisper-yell at the other students to get back to work and resigned himself to being the only one to actually study, a near-pout on his face the entire time. 

Izuku gives him a pitying glance that turns into a full-on grin when he sees the intense concentration on Uraraka’s face as she makes the sour candies Ashido gave her float back to the pink girl in a straight congo line over Iida’s head. He can’t tell if the other boy isn’t noticing or is noticing but resolutely ignoring what is happening above him. Ashido eats the candies out of the air when they float towards her, letting out a cry of protest when Asui snatches one with her tongue before it can reach her. 

“Shh!” Ojiro shushes and she puts her hands over her mouth, flushing apologetically. They glance down at Aizawa as he sleeps on the floor. 

Even though everyone is either messing around or chatting idly, there’s still a quiet lull that has settled over the classroom. Some might say it comes with the steady, peaceful thrum of the rain as it pelts down outside, but everyone in class 1-A would say it comes from the unspoken rule that a slumbering Aizawa must not be woken up. 

Surprisingly, they’ve gotten pretty good at it. Mostly because they know how pissed off he gets when his naps are interrupted and that fear is enough to keep them in line. But also because it’s far from an uncommon occurrence for Aizawa to fall asleep during class. In fact, they’re fairly used to it now, which in hindsight might seem strange to others, but they all know how much of a hard worker Aizawa is. 

So even if the thought of waking him up didn’t strike the fear of God into their hearts, Izuku highly doubts any of his classmates would want to accidentally wake him up anyway. Their sensei deserves his sleep. 

Speaking of sleep…

Izuku glances behind him, smiling softly when he sees Shinsou with his head buried in his arms on his desk. Gentle snores emit from amidst the fluffy mess of lavender purple hair. 

‘Looks like Aizawa-sensei isn’t the only one napping,’ Izuku thinks humorously. He’s glad that his friend has been slowly getting better with his insomnia. It took some trial and error, but Izuku discovered an excellent tactic that involves simply depositing Sushi onto Shinsou’s lap. Turns out, Shinsou loves cats, and Sushi decided that he is one of the few people that is not Izuku that is still worthy of his affection. Five minutes of petting and Shinsou is out like a light- it’s incredible. 

Needless to say, he’s been borrowing Sushi often. Not that Izuku minds- he’s thrilled his friend is finally getting the sleep he needs! Even more so that he’s apparently getting better at falling asleep without need for the cat. Although Izuku shouldn’t be encouraging too much napping- wouldn’t want to disrupt Shinsou’s fragile sleep schedule while it’s just being formed. He’ll wake him up soon. Naps shouldn’t be any longer than 30 minutes, otherwise he’ll just be more-

A low grunt catches his attention. 

Blinking, he tears his gaze away from Shinsou and glances around the classroom. A few of his other classmates have glanced up in confusion too, but then more sounds reach their ears. The heavy shifting of fabric, slow at first, dragging against one another, then quick, as if suddenly jolting. A sharp exhale follows. 

“Sensei?” Hagakure's voice asks. Izuku looks at her to see her uniform leaning over her desk, as if she were peering at something on the ground in front of her. 

Oh. Right. 

Izuku can’t see his face, but he can catch glimpses of Aizawa’s sleeping bag through the legs of his classmates’ seats. 

 “Oh.” Kirishima relaxes. “Did he wake up?” 

Across from him, Kaminari quickly puts his phone away. 

However, instead of confirming, Hagakure just makes an uncertain noise. “Umm…” 

More shifting, and then another low, barely stifled grunt. Izuku frowns as the students closest to Aizawa turn away from their conversations, their attention drawn to their teacher. 

“Sensei?” Ojiro asks softly. 

“Is he okay?” Ashido whispers. 

Those in the back who can’t see are starting to notice the commotion in the front. Uraraka leans out of her chair. “Hey, what’s up-?” 

A long groan interrupts her, piercing through the classroom and silencing any remaining chatter. The students freeze instantly, all eyes landing on their teacher. 

There’s a heavy moment of silence, only interrupted by the pouring rain outside, then they all hear a sharp, jerky intake of breath. The fabric of the sleeping bag shifts as Aizawa twitches and jolts. Then, in no more than a raspy whisper, he stutters out, “N-No… No- please…” 

Izuku stands up before he even realizes it. 

The movement causes everyone to look at him, but he hardly pays attention. His eyes are fixed on Aizawa’s face. He can finally see the man now and- he’s still asleep. His eyes are closed, but he’s anything but relaxed. There’s a thin sheet of sweat on his forehead and his expression is tense, as is the rest of his body, Izuku can only assume. Short, jerky breaths hiss through clenched teeth, occasionally accompanied by half-aborted grunts and pleadings. 

“Stop,” he croaks, “Nngh… no…” 

‘He’s having a nightmare,’ Izuku quickly realizes, his stomach sinking. ‘He’s having a really bad…’ 

His classmates are looking at him. His classmates are looking to him for- for guidance, for support, they’re looking to him to know how to handle this. And- for the briefest of seconds- he hesitates. He doesn’t know how. This isn’t an injury, this isn’t a sickness, but their sensei is in pain, and Izuku can’t stand to see anyone in pain. 

So like a moth drawn to a light, Izuku finds himself walking towards Aizawa. 

“Zuku,” Kacchan says as he passes him. Nothing more follows, but his voice is full of warning as he eyes their teacher laying fitfully on the ground. The message is clear: ‘Be careful’.

His classmates glance anxiously between him and Aizawa as he approaches the man, but they stay quiet. Aizawa’s breathing sounds even more labored up close, his face screwed up and groans emitting from his chest. 

Izuku quickly kneels beside him and says in a gentle but loud voice, “Sensei.” 

No response. Strands of Aizawa’s oily hair stick to his sweaty forehead, standing out in stark contrast to his sallow skin as he seems to gasp for breath through gritted teeth. Izuku frowns, taking in the bags under his eyes that seem darker than usual and the gauntness of his face. 

Reaching out, he gently places his hand on Aizawa’s head and repeats with a bit more force, “Sensei.”

Aizawa jolts under his hand and inhales sharply. His eyelids fly open and Izuku finds himself under a burning red gaze. The boy immediately retracts his hand and leans back as Aizawa jerks upright, cancelling his quirk and instead struggling out of his sleeping bag. Izuku watches as he pants raggedly, practically fighting with his sleeping bag until he can finally stumble out of it. Izuku stands up in alarm, but Aizawa catches himself on the edge of his desk, breathing heavily. 

There’s a few moments of silence where he simply stands there with his back to them. They listen as his shaky breathing slowly becomes more and more steady. Then, his hand comes up to pull away at the strands of hair sticking to his sweaty face. 

After what seems like ages, he says in his usual monotone voice, “Take out your books, turn to chapter twelve. We’re picking up where we left off.” 

Nobody moves. 

The rain continues to pour outside.

Aizawa suddenly straightens up and whirls around, his eyes flashing red with his quirk. “Well?”

As if jolted with electricity, his classmates collectively startle and begin scrambling for their books, but the heavy feeling in the air doesn’t change. The utter silence that presses down on them is one they’ve never felt before as they cast quick, fleeting glances at each other and their teacher. 

Aizawa’s eyes turn to Izuku. He’s the only one who hasn’t moved. Aizawa doesn’t speak, but the warning in his eyes is clear. 

‘Sit down. Don’t talk about it. Forget it ever happened.’ 

Izuku stares at him. Aizawa stares back. The rain continues to pour outside.

Izuku likes to think he’s a rather observant person. He has to be, as a healer-in-training. He’s developed a keen eye for signs that people are trying to hide or brush off injuries… but perhaps he’s been too preoccupied with the physical kind. He’s missed something here, he’s been missing signs, he hasn’t been observant enough and now his sensei is in pain...

Except- it’s a different kind of pain. One that Izuku knows all too well personally, but is… uncertain of how to approach with another. This isn’t physical, this isn’t his field, this isn’t his wound to heal but… something about Aizawa’s eyes tell him that he isn’t inclined to get help about it. 

‘Forget it ever happened.’

Izuku takes a step back. 

He drops Aizawa’s gaze and turns around, slowly walking back towards his seat. He can feel the man’s eyes on him the entire way.

Nobody talks the rest of the lesson. Aizawa’s monotone voice is steady and clear over the drumming of rain, not betraying a hint of any prior anomaly. He stands at his desk and lectures as if everything is normal.

And Izuku watches. And observes.

The rain slows to a stop outside. 

As odd as it may seem, Present Mic and Aizawa are very good friends. Even though Aizawa acts annoyed by the other man’s presence whenever he is around, it’s obvious to practically everyone who sees them that that is all it really is- just an act. Aizawa is not known to be the type of person to spare feelings, so if he didn’t want to hang out with Present Mic, he wouldn’t. 

Izuku himself has further evidence of the closeness of their relationship in the form of Aizawa’s medical file. As Recovery Girl’s apprentice, Izuku is allowed access to the file since Aizawa is technically one of his patients too, so he can confirm he has borne witness to the fact that Present Mic is listed as Aizawa’s emergency contact. Not that he would ever tell anyone this information of course! Doctor-patient confidentiality is a must, and he would never discuss the contents of a patient’s medical file with someone else without their consent!

But- it is interesting. A teeny tiny, hopeless romantic part of him wonders if there’s anything more to their relationship, but Aizawa’s file lists him as unmarried, so perhaps not. Or perhaps they haven’t gotten that far yet- but whatever, it’s none of his business anyway!

Regardless of the specific nature of their relationship, no one can doubt that they are close. So it makes what happens that evening all the more confusing. 

It’s a Friday night, about a week after the ‘incident’ in class. As per Aizawa’s silent threat request, nobody has spoken of it since, and Izuku never brought it up with him outside of class. Thankfully though, with the busy schedule of hero course students and a class full of generally light-hearted people, any lingering tension or unease faded quickly and the incident was soon forgotten about. Now they’re all relaxing after a long day of work, some sprawled out across the common room and others in the kitchen preparing dinner. Technically it’s Ojiro and Asui’s turns to cook tonight, but there’s always a handful of people that like to lend a helping hand or give some advice. 

Despite the active chatter in the air, Aizawa somehow remains unbothered by it all as he does his work at the table usually reserved for homework and studying. Izuku is there too, catching up on his own work, although he’s having far less success in the ‘not-getting-distracted’ department. He keeps glancing up every time his classmates laugh particularly loudly or someone shouts before reminding himself to refocus. After school lessons with Recovery Girl means he gets a late start on his homework, which means his classmates almost always finish before him. A price he’s willing to pay for being the apprentice of such an amazing healer, of course, but…

The door suddenly slams open and Izuku startles, looking up.

“HEEEEYYY, LITTLE LISTENERS, WHAT’S UP?”

… Maybe he should just do his homework in his room. 

Class 1-A collectively greets Present Mic as he swaggers into the room. Kaminari waves from where he’s playing video games upside-down on the couch and asks, “Hey, Mic, you joining us for dinner?” 

“Not this time, little dude! I’m on a different mission tonight,” Present Mic says- loudly, Izuku might add- and turns to look at Aizawa across the room. Their homeroom teacher hasn’t taken his eyes off of his laptop since Present Mic walked in, blatantly refusing to acknowledge the presence of the other man. 

Plastering on a brillant grin, Present Mic practically prances over to their table. “Sorry, listeners, I hope you don’t mind if I steal your teacher!” Pressing a hand next to Aizawa’s laptop, he leans obnoxiously into his space. “Come on, Sho, let’s go out tonight!” 

“I’m busy,” Aizawa replies bluntly, not taking his eyes off the screen.

“It’s Friday night, my man!” Present Mic laughs, finger-snapping with his free hand, “Take a break! Why don’t we go to-”

“Go by yourself,” Aizawa interrupts, “Or take Midnight or something.” He waves a hand dismissively. “Leave me alone, I need to focus.” 

His tone is gruff and he slouches even closer to his laptop, not having looked at Present Mic once since he walked in. It’s hardly the harshest he’s ever been to the other man, but to Izuku’s surprise Present Mic looks genuinely upset for a brief moment. His expression smoothes out a second later into another grin, but it’s smaller this time- softer. 

“Aww, c’mon, don’t be a grump,” he says teasingly, giving his friend a little nudge, “Don’t you wanna relax for a couple of hours? Take your mind off of work?” 

Izuku has been not-so-subtly pretending to not be watching their entire interaction from his own spot a couple of seats away, and he can tell that Aizawa isn’t budging, so he decides that it couldn’t hurt to give Present Mic a little assistance.

“Is there anything I can do to help lighten your workload?” He pipes up. The two pro heroes look over at him and his confidence wavers slightly for a moment before he continues, “Uh- if you’re so busy, I mean, maybe there’s something I could do to help? So you could go out with Mic-sensei…” 

Present Mic regains his blinding grin and straightens up. “YeeeAAH, see? Little listener’s on MY side, Sho!” He smirks teasingly at a disgruntled Aizawa.

Izuku smiles softly at his homeroom teacher. “You deserve a break, sensei.” 

“No!” Aizawa says sharply, startling both Izuku and Present Mic. A few students in the common area even glance over. Izuku is taken aback by his outburst, but Aizawa seems to be as well and he quickly catches himself. “I mean- no,” he says in a much softer but still firm tone. He looks at Izuku. “Thank you for the offer, but no, I need to do this work by myself-” He looks at Present Mic. “-And I need to get it done tonight. Another time, ‘Zashi.”

With that said, he closes his laptop and gets up. 

“Wait, Sho!” Present Mic protests, but Aizawa wordlessly brushes past him and walks across the common room, slipping out the door within seconds.

Present Mic lets out a heavy sigh and rubs the back of his neck. He has a… rather defeated expression on his face, but when he notices Izuku watching him he gives him a smile. It looks a bit forced. 

“Well, it was worth a shot! Thanks for your help anyway, little listener!” 

A hair ruffle, and then Present Mic is disappearing out the door as well. Izuku finds himself alone at the homework table, staring at the spot that Aizawa previously occupied. 

He frowns. 

Aizawa is always working, Izuku notices. 

He teaches all throughout the regular school day, then there’s also the after school sparring lessons he gives to Shinsou- and Izuku, when he can make it. That’s already a pretty long day, but of course as a teacher he also has to grade things. 

Aizawa likes to do his work around his students. Even though he has his own apartment in the teachers’ complex, he spends most of his time in the dorms grading papers or on his laptop. Izuku thinks its ‘cause he likes to keep an eye on them. He’ll see the man’s eyes glancing up and roaming over them every so often, even though he pretends to be engrossed in his work. Sometimes they can convince him to take a break and eat dinner with them, but that’s not too often- usually he’ll either grab a plate or just suck down a couple of juice pouches while working. 

And then they all go to bed and… and then what? Aizawa certainly doesn’t, Izuku knows that for sure. If the bags under his eyes didn’t say so, Shinsou confirmed it for him one night when his insomnia was being particularly stubborn and he told Izuku about how he saw Aizawa coming into the dorms in the middle of the night. The freckled boy recalls how their teacher mentioned when they first moved in that he would be stopping by periodically throughout the night to check on them. 

Does he sleep in between those check-in periods then? That’s so… impractical- although it would explain why he’s so exhausted during class. What time does he even go to bed? Why does he stay up so late doing work anyways? Izuku can’t imagine that it’s normal for all of the teachers to be staying up for so long grading their students’ papers. And if it is normal then he’s going to have a talk with Principal Nedzu! It just can’t be healthy to be doing so much work and getting such little sleep because of it- however, Aizawa is setting himself up for extra exhaustion with these late night visits. Izuku briefly wonders if those are required by the principal as well, but then dismisses the idea. 

No, this definitely seems like something Aizawa would take on by his own admission. But why? 

It’s bothering Izuku one evening while he’s catching up on his homework, Aizawa sitting a couple seats away from him at his usual spot at the work table. He’s so wrapped up in his thoughts that he doesn’t notice that he’s staring at Aizawa until the man says in a blunt voice, “Can I help you?” 

Izuku startles, mind snapping back to reality, and flushes when he realizes that Aizawa is no longer focused on his own work but instead fixing him with a bored gaze. 

“Oh, uh, s-sorry!” He stammers, immediately ducking his head and looking back at his own work, “I just, uh- I mean, uh…” His eyes hesitantly trail back up to the laptop in front of Aizawa, then to the small stack of papers beside it. Curiosity sparks. After a moment, he musters up his courage and carefully asks, “What… what are you working on?” 

If Aizawa is surprised by the question, he doesn’t show it- nor does he get upset with him for asking, thankfully. “I’m imputing the grades for the essays you all did on Tuesday,” he replies.

“Oh.” Izuku glances at the stack of papers. It doesn’t seem very big, definitely not big enough to warrant the man staying up very late working on them. But maybe he has other classes to teach when he’s not teaching class 1-A? Yeah, definitely, which means more papers to grade, but that still doesn’t explain… 

Frowning slightly, Izuku looks back at Aizawa and tilts his head. “Does that take a very long time?” He asks. 

Aizawa’s eyes narrow and his voice takes on an irritated tone, “If you’re impatient about getting your grades back-” 

“No, no, that’s not it!” Izuku immediately backpedals, flailing his arms, “I mean, that’s not what I- er, nevermind, I just-” 

Face burning, he ducks his head and determinedly pretends to continue working on his homework. He can feel Aizawa’s eyes boring into the side of his head for a few long seconds before hearing his teacher sigh.

“Spit it out, Midoriya-kun.” 

Izuku’s head snaps back up and he opens his mouth to protest, but his words die on his tongue as soon as his gaze lands on the dark circles under Aizawa’s eyes. A hard lump forms in his throat and he swallows heavily. 

“I…” He trails off, uncertain of what to say, “I…” 

Aizawa watches him silently. He looks as bored and tired as always, but there’s something different about this tiredness, something about it that’s more like… weariness… 

Izuku’s eyes flicker down to his laptop. 

“You wanna take a break?” He suddenly blurts out.

Aizawa blinks. 

“Let’s- take a break, I mean!” Izuku hastily stammers, “I mean- let’s, ah-” 

Crap, what’s something they could do? What’s something Izuku can do to pull Aizawa away from his work so he can take a goddamn break? They already had a sparring lesson earlier today- maybe they could go for a walk? No, that would be weird, they’ve never done that before. Maybe they could go get food? Agh, but they have food here! Crap, crap crap, Aizawa is staring at him-

“Do you-” His mind whirls rapidly. “Do you want some… tea?” He finishes lamely. 

Aizawa arches one quizzical brow and Izuku tries not to flush. He fails miserably. 

“Thanks for the offer, kid,” Aizawa grunts, “But I’m not really a fan of tea. And I’m all good anyway.” He glances at the time on his computer. “You should get some rest soon, though. You’ve had a long day. Almost done there?” 

Izuku’s shoulders droop and he nods. He reluctantly turns back to his work, but embarrassment still pricks at his heart at his sloppy attempt to help. After about ten minutes of staring at words that don’t make it into his brain, Izuku puts his homework into his backpack, mutters a soft ‘goodnight’ to Aizawa, and disappears into the elevator. 

The next night finds Izuku awake long past midnight, his mind restless. There’s been a new development in the Aizawa Situation, as he’s mentally dubbed it. Well, not new, he supposes, but something he only just noticed today. 

Ever since the Incident last week, Aizawa has stopped taking naps during class. Izuku can’t believe it’s taken him this long to notice- Aizawa almost always napped during class at some point before whatever… that was happened. Now he’s obviously avoiding sleeping in class because he doesn’t want to risk having another nightmare like that while his students are around. 

But he needs sleep. He’s getting so little with the way he’s working himself to the bone like this. And Izuku’s still confused about that part too…

Sighing, Izuku rolls over in his bed and burrows himself in his blankets. 

Izuku doesn’t know what’s going on with Aizawa, but if he keeps this up, he’s going to get himself sick. It’s one thing to not want to talk about nightmares- Izuku’s not a therapist, he understands he’s not in any way qualified to deal with that stuff. But it’s another thing to take on more work than you can handle and pushing off sleep because of it. Didn’t Shinsou call Aizawa a workaholic once? How did Izuku not see this problem earlier?

Letting out a frustrated huff, he shifts so he’s facing the other way again. The movement makes the bed bounce and disturbs Sushi, who hisses his displeasure and jumps off the bed. Izuku lies still for a few moments before reluctantly sitting up. 

There’s no way he’s going to be able to fall asleep with his mind wide awake like this. He might as well go downstairs and make a cup of tea. 

After ensuring that Sushi won’t leave his room, Izuku quietly makes his way down to the first floor, opting to take the stairs rather than the elevator so he won’t wake anyone up. Not wanting to blind himself by turning on the lights, he simply uses his phone’s flashlight to navigate his way towards the kitchen. As soon as he makes it there though, the silence of the room is broken by the sound of the main door being opened. 

Startled, Izuku nearly drops his phone as a faint light starts pouring into the room. He just barely manages to duck behind the counter, clutching his phone to his stomach in an attempt to smother the flashlight. The sound of footsteps reaches his ears. 

His breath catches in his throat. Heart pounding, Izuku carefully peeks around the side of the counter. In the shroud of darkness, he can just barely make out the familiar tall shape of Aizawa making his way across the common room. He instantly relaxes.

Of course it’s Aizawa. Who else could open the main door at this time of night? He must be doing those check-ins he’s mentioned. 

Aizawa doesn’t bother turning on any lights as he moves across the room, striding through the shadows with an ease that Izuku envies. Part of him wonders if his familiarity with moving through the darkness is related to his work as an underground hero. It probably is. 

Izuku waits until Aizawa’s back is facing him, then quickly takes his phone away from his stomach and turns off his flashlight. Aizawa is at the stairs now, slipping through the door without a single sound. It closes shut behind him and Izuku lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

He stands back up, fully intending to return to his own room, however… curiosity gets the better of him. He’d have to take the stairs anyway, since using the elevator would let Aizawa know somebody’s up, so using all the stealth skills under his belt, Izuku quietly slips into the stairwell after Aizawa. 

The man is already on the second floor by the time he enters, so the greenette quickly slinks up the first flight of stairs. Opening the door handle as slowly and quietly as possible, Izuku pops his head out the door. 

Aizawa is on the boys’ side of the dorm, walking along the hall. His pace is unhurried, casual, almost leisurely. He just seems to be taking it all in and observing. 

Izuku is amazed at how silently he’s able to move. There’s hardly a single sound that comes from him, barely even a shift of fabric. Izuku is suddenly very grateful he chose to wear his fuzzy All Might socks tonight for this impromptu stealth mission. 

Once Aizawa makes it through the boys’ side of the dorm, he moves onto the girls’ side, and Izuku decides not to follow out of respect. Aizawa goes through the door on the other end of the hallway, but Izuku knows that while the boys and the girls have their own individual elevators on their sides of the dorms, they share one large stairwell in the event of an emergency. Which means that Aizawa will probably loop back around to there, so Izuku should wait in the boys’ hall until he hears Aizawa making his way to the third floor- Izuku’s floor.

Sure enough, Izuku soon hears the girls’ stairwell door open and close, then- nothing. Aizawa is as silent as a ghost. 

Izuku waits about twenty seconds, then enters the stairwell after him, letting out a sigh of relief when he sees that it’s empty. He climbs up the flight and slowly opens the door, peeking out. Aizawa is already almost halfway down the hallway, moving at the same slow and deliberate pace as before as he glances around. For some reason, however, he pauses when he reaches Izuku’s door. 

Izuku’s heart leaps to his throat. Does Aizawa somehow know that he’s not in there? No way, that’s impossible! 

A weary sigh interrupts his panic. Aizawa’s shoulders droop and he hangs his head slightly, reaching up with one hand to rub his brow. There’s an emotion on his face that Izuku can’t decipher. He looks… tired. No, it’s something more than that.

Standing in the middle of the hallway in the dark of the night with such a… defeated posture, Izuku can’t help but think Aizawa looks like he needs help. 

He steps forward.

And accidentally bumps the door handle. 

Eyes flash red in the darkness. Before he can even cry out, grey cloth wraps tightly around him and then he’s being yanked across the hall. Hands grab him roughly and slam him up against his own door. Now he yelps, both from pain and fear. The blazing red eyes that glare down at him widen in recognition and the color vanishes, instead giving away to irritation. 

“Midoriya-kun?!?” Aizawa growls, “What are you doing up?” The capture weapon loosens around Izuku and Aizawa puts him down. “Are you okay?”  

Adrenaline pumping from the brief scare and flustered by the whole situation, Izuku frantically stammers, “Sorry, sensei, sorry! I- I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

“Shh! People are sleeping,” Aizawa scolds. 

“Oh! Sorry, sorry, I just-” Izuku clamps his hands over his mouth to shut himself up, flushing in embarrassment. 

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Aizawa straightens up and runs a hand through his hair. “What are you doing up?” He repeats, looking down at Izuku, “Curfew is at 11PM.” 

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” Izuku rambles apologetically, “I just- I couldn’t sleep. I was just going to get some tea, but then I saw you…” He trails off, thinking about Aizawa’s slightly strange behavior, and looks up at the man curiously. “What, uh, what are you doing up, sensei?” 

“I was checking in on you guys,” Aizawa grunts, “I told you I’d be stopping by throughout the night.” 

“Well, yes, I know, but…” Izuku purses his lips, eyeing Aizawa’s bedraggled appearance disapprovingly. “You know… Night time is for sleeping,” he says pointedly, “You should be asleep, sensei.” 

Aizawa blinks slowly, unphased. “So should you. And yet here we are.” 

Izuku resists the temptation to huff. 

Aizawa promptly turns and starts walking down the hall. “C’mon,” he grunts, “Let’s go get that tea.” 

“Huh?” Izuku is confused. 

“I could use a coffee,” he says in lieu of explanation. It takes Izuku’s brain a moment to catch up, but when Aizawa glances back at him expectantly, it clicks.

“Oh! Right!” He trots up to Aizawa’s side and follows him as they make their way downstairs, but he frowns to himself. Coffee this late at night? What a terrible idea. Maybe he just likes the flavor though- he’ll probably make decaf. 

But no. Once they’re in the kitchen, Izuku starts making his tea while Aizawa starts making his coffee. The freckled boy shoots a glance his way and sure enough, he’s reaching for the caffeinated coffee. His eyes then dart to the clock, which reads 2:34AM. Aizawa really shouldn’t be drinking coffee so late- or early. He won’t go to sleep at all tonight if he does! Plus, Izuku already knows for a fact that Aizawa drinks a lot of coffee in general. He has his morning cup during homeroom, then another during their afternoon hero lesson… and then there’s that mug that he always refills while he does his work after school. Izuku frowns. How much coffee is Aizawa drinking?!? And this is only what he’s seen, Aizawa probably has multiple cups throughout the day when he’s not teaching class 1-A!

“You gonna let that keep screaming?” 

Izuku startles out of his thoughts at Aizawa’s voice. He whips his head towards the man, who looks pointedly at his whistling tea kettle. Izuku was so wrapped up in his thoughts he hadn’t noticed the noise. 

“Oh! Sorry, sorry…” He apologises, hastily moving it off the heat. He glances back at Aizawa, who’s still in the process of making his coffee. After a moment of hesitation, he says, “You- You shouldn’t drink coffee so late at night. It’ll keep you up for hours.” 

“Yeah, that’s kind of the point,” Aizawa replies, not taking his eyes off of the coffee machine as he watches the liquid brew. 

His answer only proves to frustrate Izuku further. “But- you need to sleep, sensei!” 

“I’ve got work to do,” his teacher says dismissively. 

“Like what?” Izuku demands, “You can’t possibly still be grading our work! None of the other teachers stay up this late grading stuff!” 

Aizawa turns to give him a slight warning look that makes Izuku falter for a moment, but his frustration keeps him stubborn. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but this isn’t okay! What Aizawa’s doing isn’t healthy! 

“I’ve got things to do, kid,” Aizawa says with a hard edge to his tone, “Things that don’t concern you.” 

The coffee machine beeps to indicate that it’s finished. Aizawa grabs the pot and brings it over to his mug. In a sudden burst of courage, Izuku lunges and slaps his hand over the top. 

“I think you’ve had enough coffee for today, sensei,” he says in a single rush of air. His heart is pounding and his eyes are wide with horror at what he’s just done as he faces the counter. Aizawa stills behind him, his hand still clutching the mug that Izuku is covering. 

“.... Oh?”  

A shiver creeps up Izuku’s spine at the very clear danger in Aizawa’s tone. It’s incredible how much warning he’s capable of putting in his mere voice, let alone a single word. 

Izuku swallows heavily. Aizawa is his patient. His hero. He is his responsibility to care for and look after. But he’s also his teacher. It’s Aizawa’s responsibility to look after and care for him, to guide his actions and discipline him when he disobeys. So this is a… difficult situation. 

But… everything inside Izuku right now is telling him not to bow. That as much as he respects his- admittedly very intimidating- teacher, he needs to do whatever he can to stop him from drinking this coffee. 

So, pushing down his nerves, Izuku slowly turns around to face Aizawa, nearly shriveling under the intense gaze the man pins on him. Before he can lose his courage, he squeaks, “It’s- It’s not good to drink so much coffee everyday! And it’s not good to stay up for so long with so little sleep, and- and it’s not good to work yourself so hard, so- so.... So no more caffeine today, sensei! As a healer-in-training with a provisional license, I’m- I’m ordering you for your own health to- to go back to bed and get some sleep! And, uh, drink some water… too…” 

Izuku’s face is probably as red as a tomato right now, his heart pounding rapidly in his chest. He’s never tried using his medical authority on Aizawa before. He’s never had to. It feels wrong in so many different ways, for so many different reasons. Ordering his classmates around is one thing, but ordering Aizawa around? 

He kind of feels like he’s going to throw up. 

Aizawa is staring down at him with an indecipherable expression. His gaze is intense and unrelenting, making Izuku’s legs feel like jelly, but he refuses to move away from the mug. He gets the vague feeling that this is some sort of stare down, one that he’s very likely going to lose if Aizawa keeps staring at him like that, but thankfully, after what feels like ages, the man finally blinks. 

Leaning back, Aizawa lets out a huff. “You couldn’t have told me that before I made the coffee?” 

Izuku sighs in relief, feeling a bit faint. “Can’t you just put it in the refrigerator and heat it up in the morning?” He suggests weakly. 

Aizawa looks affronted. 

Izuku shrugs. “I don’t know much about coffee. I don’t drink it. I’m a tea person.” 

“Your tea is neglected.” Aizawa glances pointedly at Izuku’s tea kettle, which has cooled down now, as well as the tea bag on the counter near it. 

“Oh…”

In the end, they both just decide to get water. Aizawa reluctantly pours the coffee down the drain of the sink- “A waste of some damn good coffee.” “I still don’t see why you couldn’t have refrigerated it.”- and fills up his mug with water instead. With their thirsts quenched, Izuku expects them to part ways there, but to his surprise Aizawa begins walking him back to his room. A bit strange, but his sleepiness is starting to come back, so he just shrugs it off. 

When they reach his door, Izuku glances back and asks, “You’ll go to sleep now, right?” 

Aizawa waves him off. “Yeah, kid, don’t worry about me. Good night.” 

It’s not particularly reassuring, but Izuku is interrupted by a yawn before he can say anything else. Turning away, he opens his door and slips inside his room. “Good night, sensei,” he calls back over his shoulder. 

The door closes and the sound of footsteps fades away outside. 

As he sets down his cup of water and flops onto his bed, Izuku considers this little excursion a mixed bag. Aizawa’s situation is getting worse and worse the more Izuku looks at it- but at least he got him to drink water instead of coffee tonight. He’ll take that as a win. 

If Izuku’s going to help Aizawa, he should do things one at a time. No offense to the man, but Aizawa’s starting to become a real piece of work. Izuku just needs to take a step back and re-think this through, maybe make a game plan on how to tackle this. What did it all start with? The nightmare in class. No doubt a recurring issue for Aizawa, since he’s avoiding sleeping during class now, but since he’s not inclined to talk about it and Izuku is not a trained therapist, he’s going to push that one to the side. For now. 

Next problem he noticed was the over-working, which also sort of ties into the not-sleeping problem since Izuku assumed that Aizawa was sleeping in-between his nightly check-ins. However, his little powwow with the man during the previous nightly check-in revealed that not only does he not sleep, but he continues working. On what? Izuku still has no idea, but it lends to the fourth problem- which is caffeine addiction. 

Of all of the problems that this man has, this one somehow seems the smallest. And while Izuku may never admit it to anyone or himself, he’s almost happy that Aizawa has it, because at least this is a problem that Izuku feels like he can actually do something about.

Nightmares? Zero qualifications and an unwilling participant will absolutely lead to disaster. Over-working? Izuku doesn’t even know what he’s secretly working on half the time and he can’t exactly force him to tell him. Not sleeping? What’s he gonna do, drug him? Actually- No, no, bad Izuku! No drugging teachers to sleep! 

Caffeine addiction, though? Just watch him swap Aizawa’s coffee to decaf! 

The next morning, Izuku walks into class with a proud smirk on his face. Kacchan takes one look at him and bluntly asks, “Who did you kill?” 

“What?” Izuku blinks innocently. “No one! I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kacchan.” 

Ignoring the way the blond eyes him warily, Izuku takes his seat behind him and waits for homeroom to begin. 

He wonders how long it will take before Aizawa notices what he’s done. He swapped the man’s usual stash of coffee for decaf last night after dinner, but considering that Aizawa is up and working in the wee hours of the morning, he’s probably already had a cup or two. He’ll most likely be a bit crankier and sleepier than usual today, but it’s a small price to pay for better-

The door slams open. 

All heads turn to stare at Aizawa who stands in the doorway. As soon as they catch sight of his expression, everyone, including Izuku, freezes. 

Oh.

Well.

He looks pissed.

With a loud, heavy sigh, Aizawa begins trudging into the room, a coffee mug in hand. His feet practically drag behind him with every step and his expression is tense. When he gets to his desk, he leans heavily against it and reaches up to rub his temple, wincing in pain.

Ah. Right, migraines are another symptom of caffeine withdrawal. Still a small price to pay for better-

Aizawa lowers his hand and blearily opens his eyes. His gaze finds Izuku’s. The boy sweatdrops. After a moment, Aizawa looks down at his coffee. Then looks back at Izuku. 

His eyes flash red.

Izuku only has half a second to think, ‘Oh shit-’ before he’s lifted bodily out of his seat by Aizawa’s capture weapon and yanked across the room. 

“Hey!” Kacchan snaps, his chair screeching as he jumps to his feet.

“Yo, what the heck, sensei?” Kirishima jumps up too. 

“Let him go!” Todoroki demands. 

Others join in immediately, ready to defend their healer even from their teacher. Another time Izuku would be charmed, but right now he’s too busy trying not to shit his pants as Aizawa stares him down with cold, furious, blood-shot eyes. 

The cries of his classmates die down as they wait for the man to make his next move. A thick, suffocating tension fills the air, making Izuku’s breath catch in his throat. Finally, after a long moment of silence, Aizawa speaks in a scarily quiet voice. 

“I appreciate that you’re trying to improve my health, but let’s get one thing clear, Midoriya Izuku.” His glare intensifies and he leans closer, growling, “Don’t. Fuck. With. My. Coffee. Do you understand?” 

Izuku nods rapidly, feeling a bit faint. 

Aizawa then leans back, terrifying glare immediately being replaced by a bored, yet satisfied expression. “Good,” he says, “So what are you going to do now?” 

Izuku blinks in confusion. Aizawa arches a brow and glances pointedly at his cup of decaffeinated coffee on his desk. Izuku’s shoulders droop. 

He opens his mouth, then closes it. After a moment, he hesitantly says, “You know, the effects of caffeine withdrawal only last-”

The tightening of Aizawa’s capture weapon around him cuts him off before he can finish. 

“Try again,” Aizawa growls. 

Izuku sighs. 

“Get you another cup of coffee from the teacher’s lounge?” 

“What kind?” 

“Caffeinated?”  

“Good boy.” 

The capture weapon slips off of him and Izuku immediately starts walking towards the door, skin prickling under the stares of his classmates. Meanwhile, Aizawa turns to address his students.

“Alright, I hope you guys are ready for today’s hero lesson, ‘cause it’s going to be hell.”

As his classmates’ collective groans echo behind him, Izuku lets out an annoyed huff. 

God, what a pain in the ass. 

It all comes to a head when Recovery Girl leaves for a conference in America the next week. 

Even though she’s only going to be gone for a few days, Izuku is incredibly nervous. His mentor, however, has full confidence that he’ll be able to ‘hold the fort’ while she’s away. She makes sure to set him up with everything he needs and that he’s fully prepared to handle the infirmary, which does ease his anxiety, if only slightly. 

Before she goes, however, she mentions that she had given Aizawa a cream for a rash the previous day. 

“Oh, don’t worry, I hardly think it will be a problem,” she says when Izuku presses, “Just thought I’d mention it.” 

Izuku doesn’t quite know how to react at first. Part of him is tempted to scream because seriously??? A rash??? What other problems is this man going to have?!? But another part of him is slightly relieved because a rash is so… normal. He can deal with a rash. Actually, he doesn’t even need to deal with a rash, the cream will deal with it for him. Right?

Right?

Ha.

At 2AM, Izuku is startled awake by a pounding at his door. He jolts upright, causing Sushi, who was sleeping on his chest, to nearly tumble off the bed. The cat hisses while Izuku scrambles to untangle himself from his blankets and stumbles over to the door. 

“What- what is it- is everyone alr-” Izuku cuts himself off as he yanks the door open, blinking in surprise. “Mic-sensei?” 

He almost doesn’t recognize his English teacher- not only because his mind is still processing the fact that he is now suddenly awake, but because the man is out of costume. And looking rather frazzled, but he tries to hide it as he plasters on a smile. 

“Heyyyy, little listener!” He says, keeping his voice lower than usual so as to not wake up anyone, “Ah, so sorry to bother you this late at night, but we’ve got a bit of a situation in the teachers’ apartments.”

“What happened?” Izuku asks, forcing himself to wake up a little, “Is someone hurt?” 

“Er, well- yes,” Present Mic says, and a jolt of panic goes through Izuku, instantly erasing any remaining sleep clinging onto him. He turns around and quickly dives for his medical bag. “It’s not that bad!” Present Mic hastily reassures, “But Sho- er, I mean, Aizawa-kun got a little beat up while out on patrol tonight and, uh… Well, he isn’t really feeling too good…” 

There’s an odd inflection in his voice that Izuku doesn’t notice, far too busy with grabbing his bag and then putting on his shoes. Straightening up, he nods determinedly to Present Mic. “Let’s go.” 

As they quickly walk through the dorms and exit the building, Izuku feels irritation burning his chest. Aizawa. Of course, it’s Aizawa. Patrolling, is that what Present Mic said? So that’s what his secret work was? Patrolling when he’s already sleep-deprived, when he’s already working himself to the bone? Izuku’s going to get to the bottom of this tonight, he swears! 

“Tell me his injuries,” he bites out as they stride towards the teachers’ apartments. 

“Oh! Right, well, I don’t think anything was broken, but he’s got a pretty busted up nose and a knife wound on his side. Not a stab or anything! Just like a gash? Or like a slice…” Present Mic grimaces. “Sho- Aizawa-kun’s, uh, usually more careful out there, but for the past couple of days he’s had this weird rash? And he said it was annoying him all throughout yesterday, but tonight it looks really bad. Like really bad, kiddo. I think it probably distracted him.” 

Izuku considers this information. He did notice Aizawa scratching himself a bit more than usual yesterday, but he probably wouldn’t have noticed if Recovery Girl hadn’t told him about his rash. 

“If he was distracted, then he shouldn’t have gone out on patrol,” Izuku says. 

Present Mic gives a helpless little shrug as they approach the apartment complex. “Yeah, well,” he says, swiping his card and holding the door open for him, “You try telling him that.” 

Izuku frowns. 

There’s no time to take in the interior of the complex, as Present Mic is quick to lead him to Aizawa’s apartment. The man opens the door and quickly ushers him inside. A brief glance around the apartment shows that it’s rather bare, but Izuku’s eyes quickly land on Aizawa, who is lying across a couch in practically the middle of the room. 

His face is bruised and covered in blood streaming from an utterly soaked wad of gauze that he’s holding against his nose. His other hand- knuckles swollen and split in multiple places- is pressed against his bandaged ribcage, which is also blood-soaked. But most importantly, he is absolutely, completely, head-to-toe covered in hives. 

Izuku’s jaw goes slack.

Aizawa stirs at their arrival. As soon as his eyes land on Izuku, he closes them again and lets out a heavy sigh, “Fuck.” 

Behind him, Present Mic announces, “I brought Midoriya-kun!” 

Aizawa groans and turns away- as much as he can. A rather nervous-sounding laugh escapes Present Mic and he scratches the back of his head, looking down at Izuku. “Ah…he-”

“First-aid kit,” Aizawa grunts, “I thought you were going to get a first-aid kit.” 

“And I did!” Present Mic says, voice slightly strained as he tries to keep his tone chipper. He puts his hands on the back of Izuku’s shoulders and hastily nudges him over towards Aizawa. “Here he is!” 

Aizawa lets out another groan, this one sounding more annoyed. 

Izuku is still staring at his teacher in shock. The gash- and obviously broken nose- he’s upset about sure, but he’s seen injuries like those before. But the hives - God, they’re everywhere. Red, swollen, puffy patches all over his once-pale skin, making him look flushed and feverish. 

“...What?” Izuku whispers, slowly stepping closer to him, “Wh… How…?”

There’s no way it was this bad when he first went to Recovery Girl. It must’ve been getting worse and worse all throughout yesterday. Why didn’t Aizawa come to him for help? Why did he go out on patrol?  

Confusion morphs into annoyance- which rapidly turns into anger. 

He scowls down at Aizawa. “Sensei!”  

Aizawa’s jaw clenches in response and he hisses through his teeth, grimacing in discomfort. “Just-” His eyes snap open, glaring sharply at Izuku. “Help me,” he grinds out. 

Izuku suppresses the temptation to retort- to continue scolding him for being so utterly foolish. He wants to, he so desperately wants to, and he most certainly will, but not when Aizawa’s eyes are so full of pain. 

Forcing himself to focus, he puts his bag down and kneels beside the couch. First thing’s first, deal with the knife wound. Present Mic actually helped him out quite a bit by getting Aizawa out of his shirt and wrapping up his torso, so all Izuku has to do is unwrap the blood-soaked bandage to access the gash underneath. He winces at the sight of it, long and bleeding sluggishly, but thankfully it doesn’t look very deep. He places his hands on Aizawa’s abdomen and the wound disappears in a matter of seconds. 

Once that’s done, he puts on his gloves before turning to the next injury. Gently taking Aizawa’s face in his hands, he carefully removes the gauze to reveal a very obviously broken nose. Frowning slightly, he examines it for a few moments before carefully taking it and setting it back into place in a couple of quick motions. Aizawa grunts and a gush of blood follows, but Izuku swiftly takes off his gloves and focuses his energy on his nose. The bleeding slows to a halt. 

“Can you breathe?” Izuku asks, hoping he set the delicate bones of his nose correctly. 

Aizawa tries to inhale, then shakes his head. 

Humming, Izuku reaches into his bag and takes out a wad of tissue. “Here,” he says, handing it to Aizawa, “Blow. Hard.” 

Thankfully, Aizawa does as he says without complaint. A disgusting squelching sound follows and Aizawa winces, then grimaces as he pulls the tissue away. He inhales audibly through his nose. 

Izuku nods, satisfied. Even though he’s no longer injured, the man still looks like a mess, covered in hives and blood. Despite his irritation, Izuku spares him a moment of pity and takes out a few cleaning wipes from his bag. Aizawa thankfully doesn’t put up much of a fuss as he leans forward and cleans the blood off his face, but he does wince and flinch whenever Izuku brushes over his hives which are, well, everywhere, so Izuku does his best to soften his touch. 

Finally, once he’s clean, Izuku crumples up the dirty wipes and sits back, gaze roaming over Aizawa’s hives which are now even more visible. Aizawa stares back at him expectantly, eyes blood-shot. 

“Well?” He asks, a tinge of frustration in his tired voice, “What about my…” He trails off, lifting a stiff arm to gesture to his hive-covered body. “... rash?” 

“Your rash?” Izuku echoes incredulously, then shakes his head, “My quirk can’t do anything about hives.” 

“Hives?” Present Mic nervously chirps behind him, “This is hives?” 

“I’m no dermatologist, but yeah, my best guess is hives,” Izuku says, “I mean, I could sit here and ask you about your medical history, maybe do a few tests, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to come to the conclusion of hives. One hell of a severe case, but I have a hunch as to what caused it.” He narrows his eyes at Aizawa as he lies stiff and uncomfortable on the couch. “It’s fairly simple actually. You’re stressed.”

“What?” Aizawa scoffs, “You can’t tell me that all of this is because of stress.” 

“Yes, I can,” Izuku says patiently, “There are a number of hormonal and chemical changes that can occur in the body in response to stress. I won’t bore you with the specific details, but to explain it shortly, these changes can cause blood vessels to expand and leak, creating hives. Which can be made worse by the consumption of alcohol or caffeine,” he emphasises the latter word and Aizawa starts to look increasingly irritated. “You’re stressed. You’ve been over-working yourself, you’re drinking too much caffeine, and you’re not getting enough sleep. Mix that with an immune system hiccup and- well.” He gestures to Aizawa’s hive-ridden body and crosses his arms as if to say ‘what do you expect?’ 

There’s a brief moment of silence. Then-

“I told you!” 

Izuku’s head snaps over towards Present Mic, startled by his loud declaration. His English teacher is pointing at Aizawa accusingly and proceeds to huff, “Damnit, Sho, you can’t keep this up, you’re killing yourself, man.” 

Izuku turns back to Aizawa, who isn’t looking at either of them, instead glaring down at his lap. His expression is tense, jaw tight with pain, and Izuku doesn’t have the heart to keep scolding him while he’s in such discomfort. 

He sighs, relenting. “My quirk won’t help, but epinephrine probably will,” he says, turning to search through his bag for an EpiPen. Aizawa perks up slightly, and Izuku goes through the motions of injecting the pen into his thigh through his clothing. The epinephrine works fast and within a few minutes the worst of the swelling has gone down. 

“Whoa!” Present Mic exclaims. “That was quick!”

Aizawa lets out a sigh of relief, sitting up. “Thank you.” 

Izuku remains silent, gazing at him. Now that his skin is no longer severely red and swollen, the bags under his eyes look darker than ever. His hair is tangled and oily, while his pants are ragged and scuffed in places as if he had gotten tossed around on patrol. 

Izuku’s heart clenches. 

“Present Mic?” He asks, “Could I speak to Aizawa-sensei alone for a few minutes?” 

Aizawa, who was swinging his legs over the side of the couch, stills. 

“Huh?” Present Mic asks, “Oh! Uh, sure thing, kiddo.” Izuku hears him start to shuffle over towards the door, but doesn’t take his gaze off of Aizawa. “Er- call me if you need me, alright, Sho?”

Aizawa merely grunts in response and the door gently clicks shut soon after. Silence fills the room. 

Putting the used EpiPen back into his medical bag, Izuku slowly gets up from where he was kneeling beside the couch and instead sits down beside Aizawa. The man isn’t looking at him, shoulders hunched over and long hair hiding his eyes. For a long, heavy moment, neither of them speak. Then, Izuku breaks the quiet. 

“Sensei,” he all but whispers, “What’s wrong?” 

Aizawa lets out a sigh through his nose. “Midoriya-kun-” 

“And don’t tell me that nothing is wrong,” Izuku continues, frustration built up over the past couple of weeks making him bold and uncaring of being rude, “Because I know that there is. And don’t tell me that it doesn’t concern me, or that it’s none of my business, because this is affecting your health now, and that does concern me, and that is my business because guess what? I’m a healer, and you’re my patient, you’re my responsibility and I can’t just stand idly by and watch you hurt yourself sensei and I-” 

“Midoriya-kun,” Aizawa interrupts, finally turning to look at him. He reaches as if to touch him, but stops. 

Izuku cuts himself off, blinking back the frustrated tears that welled up as he got worked up. Inhaling sharply, he pours all of his desperation into his gaze as he looks at Aizawa. “Please,” he begs, “Please, sensei, let me help you.” 

Aizawa’s eyes widen ever so slightly before his expression closes off. He presses his lips together and glances away. “I don’t wanna…” He trails off, then sighs, “You don’t need to be bothered with this, kid.”

Izuku gazes at him earnestly. “I’d love to be bothered with this, sensei!” 

Aizawa gives him a strange look, almost as if he’s pained, and turns away with a grimace. Izuku feels the little flame of hope in his chest flicker. After a moment, Aizawa closes his eyes and inhales deeply, then exhales. 

“You’re a good healer, Midoriya-kun,” he says, “A great one. I know you’ve been wanting to help me. I know you’ve been trying to. This is just… this isn’t something you can help me with.” 

“How do you know?” Izuku presses, trying to keep his voice soft but wanting to be insistent, “I mean, maybe I can-”

“I just do!” Aizawa snaps, his voice cutting the quiet air, and Izuku flinches. Aizawa immediately looks regretful and apologises for his outburst, “I- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to- I just…” He sighs again, reaching up to rub his baggy eyes. “This isn’t something you can help me with, kid,” he repeats. 

Izuku stares at him, gaze roaming over his hunched shoulders, his tense muscles, his exhausted expression. He just looks so… defeated. After a brief moment of hesitation, Izuku reaches out and gently places his hand over Aizawa’s, making the man look up at him.

“Maybe… maybe my quirk won’t help, and maybe I can’t wrap up this wound or fix things with any medical knowledge, but…” Izuku gives him a small, hopeful smile. “Maybe it’ll help just to… talk about it? Doctor-patient confidentiality does apply here, and it might make you feel better to just… have someone listen.” 

Aizawa stares at him for a long moment. Then, his gaze drops and he turns away, shoulders slouching ever so slightly further. Izuku’s heart sinks. Aizawa’s hand is beneath his own, still and warm. He makes no move to pull away, but he also hardly acknowledges that Izuku’s hand is even on him. His eyes are focused on something on the opposite side of the room, some irrelevant object to hold his gaze while his mind churns over a dilemma Izuku so desperately wishes to know about. The long, heavy silence between them feels like it stretches for ages. 

Izuku swallows, disappointment settling deep in his chest as he realizes that Aizawa simply just isn’t going to open up to him. He’s about to pull his hand away when he suddenly feels the man’s thumb slide over his. 

Startled, he gazes at Aizawa with wide eyes, hope and anticipation making his breath catch. Aizawa looks down at the ground, seemingly trying to find the words to say. 

“I…” He starts, then closes his eyes with a sigh. “I have to protect you all.” 

Confusion immediately follows his words, but Aizawa says nothing else. Izuku tilts his head and gently questions, “Sensei?”

“I…” Aizawa presses his lips together, brows furrowing. His eyes trail down to their hands, and Izuku feels his thumb stroke over his own. “I have to protect you all,” he repeats, more firmly this time. “I can’t… I can’t let you guys get attacked again. I need to keep you safe. It’s my responsibility to keep you safe. So I… work and patrol and… push myself too hard, apparently.” He grumbles the last part and leans back slightly, pulling his hand away, but Izuku is quick to grab his hand back. 

The freckled boy gives him a reassuring smile. So all of this is because Aizawa is worried about them? Of course- try as he might to seem otherwise, they all know Aizawa is a softie that cares deeply about each and every one of them. Izuku should’ve known the repeated villain attacks would have a negative effect on him. 

Izuku can handle this. It’s not too different from what happened with Kacchan, actually. Aizawa’s just a little over-protective too, that’s all. 

He gives the man’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Sensei, you don’t need to worry,” he says softly, “That’s why we came to live in the dorms, for protection. You don’t need to be constantly worrying about us. We’re safe here.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Aizawa grunts, a tinge of annoyance in his tone, “But it doesn’t matter how many times you tell me that, I’m still going to be paranoid. That’s why there’s no point in talking about this. It’s just me and my paranoia, kid, there’s nothing you can do about it.” He starts to lean back again, but doesn’t pull his hand away. 

Izuku frowns slightly, recalling the night he saw him patrolling the dorms. How he slowly stalked up and down the hallways. How he paused outside of Izuku’s door. 

“And patrolling… checking in on us…” He asks carefully, “It helps?” 

Aizawa grunts noncommittally, but Izuku takes it as an answer.

“Why?” He asks, “There are cameras all over the dorms and campus, surely you can just access them when you want to see how we’re doing. Why do you have to come yourself?” 

Aizawa’s jaw clenches slightly. “I just do,” he says. 

“Why?” Izuku presses. 

“Because, I just-” He cuts himself off, exhaling sharply and turning to glare at the coffee table. As Izuku continues to gaze at him imploringly, he says, “I just need to be there. I need to protect you.” 

“Sensei,” Izuku sighs softly, “You’re only human. You can’t expect to be there to protect us all the time.” 

He doesn’t expect his words to have the effect they do. 

“I know that!” Aizawa suddenly snaps loudly, startling Izuku so loudly he jumps, “You think I don’t know that?!?” 

Izuku stares at him, wide-eyed. “Sen-”

“You think I don’t know that I can’t seem to be able to keep you guys safe from villains no matter what I do?” Aizawa nearly snarls, “You think I don’t know that I’ve failed over and over to do the one thing a hero is supposed to do best when it comes to you guys? You think I don’t know that I’ve failed you- God- fuck, I know I’ve failed you, and I-” His voice breaks and he cuts himself off, shoulders sagging as if shouting had taken all of his energy.

“Sensei!” Izuku gazes at Aizawa in horror, eyes stinging at his words.

The man inhales deeply as he quickly gathers himself back up, fixing him with a hard look. “So yes, Midoriya-kun, I will keep patrolling and I will keep checking in on you guys and I will keep working myself to the bone, because by God, if that’s what it takes to keep you guys safe, then it’s worth it.” 

Silence falls between them after his small rant. Aizawa’s breathing is slightly ragged, but his gaze is unwavering and unapologetic as he stares down Izuku. The boy stares back, utterly dismayed at what he just heard. His mind races, desperately trying to come up with something to soothe him. 

“You-” He stammers, “You- that- sensei, that’s not true- none of that is true. You’re a great hero, a wonderful hero! You haven’t failed any of us- you- you’ve protected us countless times, what are you even talking about? You protected us from that horde of villains at USJ! Remember? You- you jumped right in and-”

“And I became an invalid and you had to heal me,” Aizawa interrupts coldly. 

Izuku swallows and tries again, “What about during the summer camp attack? You saved Iida and I from that villain Muscular-”

“And then I let you run off into a forest full of villains,” Aizawa growls, “Need I remind you how that night ended?” 

Izuku’s breath hitches. He can feel his control over the situation rapidly slipping away from him with every second. Aizawa’s words make his stomach feel sick, but he still tries again anyway. 

“You helped me through a panic attack after the mall,” he says feebly, “After Kamino too. And you stayed with me when I was scared.” 

Slowly, tentatively, he lifts his hand off of Aizawa’s and brings it to the man’s chest, right over his heartbeat. Aizawa watches him with dark eyes. After a moment, he raises his own hand to cover Izuku’s, pressing it gently against his chest. The position is reminiscent of the night in the hospital after Kamino. 

“You shouldn’t have been,” Aizawa says lowly, “Those things only happened because I failed to protect you in the first place.” 

Izuku’s eyes sting with unshed tears. How can he turn everything against himself? He’s such a wonderful hero- how- how can he not see that? 

In one final attempt, he whispers, “You saved me when I was ten. I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you.” 

He gazes at Aizawa imploringly. ‘Please,’ he begs, ‘That has to count for something.’

Aizawa’s dark eyes soften ever so slightly. His hand gives Izuku’s a gentle squeeze. Warmth begins to bloom in the freckled boy’s chest, but it’s quickly doused by the words that come out of his teacher’s mouth. 

“And that’s about the only thing I’ve done right by you.” 

Izuku’s heart breaks.

After a long moment, Aizawa quietly gets up off the couch and turns away. Izuku sits in stunned silence as the man grabs his shirt off the coffee table, still torn from the knife, and slips it back on before disappearing. Slowly, he looks down at his hand, which now feels cold as it lies limply on his lap. The room is quiet, the utter stillness of it all seeming to press down on him as his mind reels, struggling to process the onslaught of information. 

Aizawa… Aizawa is guilty. All of this, everything stems from guilt, because he thinks it’s his fault that they kept getting attacked, that Izuku got taken. He thinks it’s because he keeps failing to protect them, and so now he’s being driven to constant paranoia, to overworking himself until he’s made himself sick. 

But... he can’t keep this up! This is killing him! Surely he sees that now, after what happened tonight with the hives and that disaster of a patrol? 

Izuku turns in his seat, opening his mouth to say… something, he doesn’t know what, just whatever he can come up with to convince his teacher to stop this self-destructive behavior, but his words die on his tongue when his eyes land on the man.

Aizawa has moved into his small kitchenette and is facing the counter, his back to Izuku. Even in the low light, the line of his shoulders is tense as he braces his hands against the counter, his head hanging low. 

For some reason, Izuku finds himself reminded of the day Aizawa had that nightmare during class. How he jolted up and caught himself on the edge of his desk. He had had his back to them for a good few moments, just clinging to it, looking like it was taking all his might to hold himself up. 

He looks like that now. 

Izuku presses his lips together. He’s… he’s missing something here. That day, when this all started- for him anyway, for Aizawa, who knows? He thinks back to the day when Aizawa had a nightmare during class. A nightmare that he now knows was no doubt about USJ or Kamino or whatever other event he blames himself for. Then he stopped sleeping during class- a way to avoid letting them see his nightmares, but…

A thought begins to form. The constant working. The grading, the patrolling, the nightly check-ins. Aizawa implied that it was a sort of assuagement for his paranoia, but part of Izuku starts to wonder if he was purposefully trying to avoid sleeping.

The thought is a scary one. Overworking is one thing, but if Aizawa is too… afraid to sleep… 

Izuku sinks back a little into his seat, daunted by the overwhelming situation. He… has no idea what to do here. There’s just so much to fix that he doesn’t even know how to fix. This isn’t what he’s used to, and he’s terrified that if he does it wrong he’ll make things so much worse, but he’s in too deep now to turn back. Aizawa is his patient- no, his hero, and he can’t bear the thought of the man thinking so lowly of himself any longer. But he needs to be careful…

What does he say? 

After a moment of hesitation, Izuku quietly gets up from the couch and approaches Aizawa. The man doesn’t react, still standing with his back to him. Swallowing thickly, Izuku whispers, “Sensei…”

Aizawa interrupts him with a rough sigh, “Midoriya-kun, go to sleep.” 

The dismissal makes Izuku falter briefly, but he doesn’t let it stop him. “Sensei, please listen-”

“No- no, Midoriya-kun, you listen.” Aizawa shakes his head and glances over his shoulder to fix him with a stern look. “This- this isn’t your responsibility. I… damn it, kid, you’re my student, you shouldn’t be the one to have to deal with this- provisional license be damned! So for the love of God, Midoriya-kun, just-” He suddenly exhales sharply and his shoulders droop, as if the energy has abruptly left him. He turns away. “Go to sleep.” 

Izuku stares at him in silence. He shifts uncertainly. Aizawa… might have a point, he supposes. This may be slightly inappropriate, but he’s also unsure. Something like this might be easy with other students- emotional consolation could be masked under the guise of friendship. But Aizawa… it’s not to say he’s not close to the man! Aizawa has gotten him through some of the hardest times in his life, and he would one day be happy to call him his friend. He just hesitates to call any adult his friend without their permission, especially one that’s his teacher. 

So he can’t consider this one friend being concerned for another. It wouldn’t be his place as a student to be this concerned for his teacher, and certainly not to act on it to this extent. As a healer, though, yes, he is well within his right to worry… but all of these different aspects of him are combined when it comes to Aizawa. And they’re clearly making the man uncomfortable- too uncomfortable to accept his help.

Izuku presses his lips together.

He tries one last time.

“Alright, sensei,” he says quietly, “Okay. But tell me… Are you going to get help for this?”

Aizawa doesn’t reply, back facing him. 

Izuku sighs through his nose. He glances at the door, but his heart tugs at him to stay. The job isn’t finished. The wound is still gaping. He knows he’s not done here. 

It’s like trying to heal something without his quirk. There’s no easy way to it, he just has to try and figure out how to lessen the pain as much as he can. 

“…I know that you think these things are your fault. And I know that you think that you’ve failed us, that you’ve failed me, and that you need to push yourself to impossible limits to keep us safe. But sensei…” Izuku slowly steps closer to him. “If you want to protect us, if you want to take care of us… then you need to take care of yourself too. We need our teacher to be strong and healthy, not falling apart at the seams from exhaustion. If you can hardly handle a normal patrol like this, then how do you expect to handle a serious villain attack, should one happen again?” 

Aizawa doesn’t say anything, but Izuku knows he’s listening. The boy is right behind him now, only a mere foot away. “We need you, sensei. We need you to be strong for us again.” He chooses his next words carefully. “I know it’s hard. I know… when these things happen… it’s hard to sleep… and it’s hard to feel strong.” The muscles in Aizawa’s back become tense at the implication of nightmares and his posture becomes slightly defensive, but Izuku is quick to continue, “We don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to. I won’t ask that of you. But…” He moves closer, stepping around Aizawa and lightly touching his arm. “What I will ask, sensei, is…”

Aizawa startles slightly at the touch and finally looks down at him, meeting his gentle gaze as he smiles up at him. “Be kind to yourself,” Izuku whispers softly. “You are one of the most protective, brave, strong, patient, compassionate, and stubborn men that I have ever known. I can only hope that one day you see yourself the way that I do. But until then, please do not disrespect me and the many people who cherish you by treating yourself poorly.”  

Aizawa stares down at him, an unreadable expression on his face. Izuku holds his gaze for a few more moments, then turns and quietly leaves. 

At first, it seems like nothing changes. Izuku still worries about Aizawa, but he tries not to keep as much of an obnoxiously close eye on him as before. He goes about his daily routine, seeing the man in class, during their after school sparring lessons, and sitting with him while he does his homework. He does his best not to worry about him during the night, telling himself to give it time, hoping that his words did something. 

Then, just a few days after the Hives Incident, Aizawa slips into his sleeping bag during class. 

Izuku has never been so happy to see a man take a nap before in his life.

He’s not the only one who’s happy to see it too. “Aww, hell yeah!” Kaminari whisper-cheers, whipping out his phone. 

It’s hard not to be eager, after that. He watches Aizawa everyday, expecting the dark circles under his eyes to disappear, expecting his ragged appearance to not look so ragged anymore, expecting him to just go back to normal Aizawa. But- that doesn’t happen. He doesn’t go right back to taking naps in class everyday. Izuku still sees him working for hours at the homework table after school with a cup of coffee beside his papers. His face is still weary with exhaustion and his sighs are too heavy. 

But sometimes… Izuku can convince him to take a break from work and they both get a snack. It’s good for him, Aizawa grumbles, because he works hard and his quirk is fueled by food, and Izuku just agrees with a knowing little smile because he’ll take what he can get. Sometimes the class can convince him to sit down and have dinner with them, and Izuku sees a small uptick in his lips as his gaze roams over the teenagers he pretends not to care so much about. 

Sometimes Izuku will go downstairs in the middle of the night and find him working on his laptop. Aizawa will half-heartedly reprimand him for being awake so late, and Izuku will just be grateful that he chose to stay in rather than go out on patrol when he’s having a bad night. Then, he’ll make two cups of tea and curl up by Aizawa’s side on the couch. 

And sometimes, sometimes, Aizawa will choose the tea over his coffee. He always grimaces and calls it ‘leaf juice’, but Izuku just smiles and leans against his shoulder. 

It may be a slow recovery process, but Izuku will be there for him every step of the way.