Chapter Text
Breakfast was quieter than dinner had been the night before. Aizawa wasn’t trying to talk either just because he rarely spoke in the mornings. Mic was trying his absolute best to keep something going, albeit quietly for his morning-sensitive husband. It wound up with Mic pretty much just talking to himself and listing his plans for the day. Izuku felt kind of bad.
But the mornings after nightmares, he usually didn’t want to talk. Shinsou being here just made his hesitancy to speak worse. His silence wasn’t abnormal and no one questioned it.
Izuku had hoped that if he didn’t speak to Shinsou first, there wouldn’t be any issues. He was wrong. Shinsou had no problem speaking first. “You look like crap,” he had commented while they were getting ready. Izuku paused buttoning up his uniform jacket.
He hesitated to respond for too long. “That wasn’t even a question,” Shinsou scoffed. “You won’t get brainwashed just talking to me. It doesn’t work like that.”
“Actually, I think it could,” Izuku mumbled, thinking over what he knows about Shinsou’s quirk. “You probably subconsciously limit yourself to questions because it’s an open sentence that calls for a response, unlike a statement, which is closed and response is optional. It’s possible you don’t even need a verbal response as much as an audible one. A laugh or a groan could work too. It might take more concentration on your part but if you train long en--”
“What would you know about training?” Shinsou interrupted. “And what the fuck was that? You’re so scared of my quirk that you brainstormed all the ways I could use it on you? I mean, I’m used to people making wild accusations, but dissecting me to prove I could do what they’re thinking? That’s creepy and a dick move! People already fear me enough without you adding to it!”
“I wasn’t trying to--”
“Fuck off! Don’t you dare go spreading that shit! Keep your bullshit theories to yourself!”
Shinsou grabbed his backpack and stormed out of their room. Izuku stared at the door that closed behind him wondering how he made it worse. Shinsou seemed even angrier than before. The analysis? He hated Izuku’s analysis? Creepy… Creepy … He hadn’t been called that in a while. Creepy stalker… Stalker notebooks… The smell of paper burning…
“Izuku?” Mic was at the door, breaking him out of his spiral. “We need to head out soon. Are you almost ready?”
“Yeah,” Izuku replied, finishing buttoning his jacket. “I got distracted. Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Mic reassured him. “Shouta already tried to go back to sleep. You’re doing better than him.” Izuku laughed lightly as Mic left him to finish getting ready. Aizawa was always trying to sneak in more naps. The man really liked to sleep. Maybe he had the right idea.
Sleeping sounded way better than dealing with all this right now.
School was immediately less stressful since Izuku and Shinsou were in different classes. Izuku was able to just fall into the rhythm of his usual morning classes until lunch. Then he practically fell out of his desk trying to get to Sero before he went off with his usual group. “Sero-kun! I need your help with something. Will you please sit with me at lunch?”
“Sure, Midoriya,” Sero replied with a smile. “What do you need help with?”
“I’ll tell you when we get to the cafeteria since I want to ask Tsu-chan as well,” Izuku told him.
Sero agreed and they headed to the cafeteria, as usual, the only difference being Sero sitting with Izuku and his friends. Uraraka looked like she was gearing up to ask about that so Izuku blurted out his request. “Tsu-chan and Sero-kun, you both have multiple siblings and seem to have close relationships with them. I recently got a new sibling and I was hoping for advice.”
“A foster sibling, kero?” Tsu questioned. No one knew who was fostering him, but the whole class had heard a sanitized story about his mother’s death and his change in living situation.
“Yeah,” Izuku nodded with an awkward smile. “I was an only child and aside from Kacchan, I didn’t really interact with other kids. So I’m not sure what to do to get along with them. They’re already pretty mad at me because we keep having misunderstandings.”
“Can you not clear up the misunderstandings?” Iida asked, chopping his hands.
“They kind of keep… interrupting me?” Izuku shrugged. “The misunderstandings keep building up and they won’t let me explain because they’re so mad and I don’t know what to do.”
“Tape their mouth shut so you can speak,” Sero suggested. Tsu nodded seriously.
“Isn’t that mean?” Izuku questioned.
“Tensei has done that to me,” Iida admitted. “It was deserved.”
“If you don’t want to do that, you could get your foster parents involved as mediators,” Tsu pointed out. Izuku shook his head. He definitely didn’t want to do that. “Then… Maybe write them a letter? They can’t interrupt you and if you go somewhere else while they read it, there won’t be any fighting if emotions run high. Discuss it together later.”
“My next idea was to take their favorite thing hostage until they agree to listen,” Sero laughed.
“I think my siblings are calmer than yours from what you’ve mentioned in class,” Tsu smiled.
“A letter could work,” Izuku mused aloud. “I’ll try that. Thank you both for taking the time to talk with me about this.”
“No problem, dude. It’s what friends do,” Sero dismissed.
“You’re always helping us. It’s the least I could do,” Tsu added.
Nothing really changed in school for Hitoshi despite the fact that he was now living with Mic, his homeroom and English teacher. It probably wasn’t something either of them could share for safety reasons. Mic didn’t act any different around him and neither did Hitoshi.
He spent most of his morning classes quietly seething about the incident with Midoriya this morning. People accused him of weird shit all the time, but it was always ridiculous and not well thought out. Midoriya’s theories actually had some weight to them. Running them over in his head, Hitoshi was pretty sure they had a chance of working if he really tried. They made sense.
But he didn’t want them to. He didn’t need more reasons for people to fear him.
At lunch, he sat by himself as usual. This time though, he found himself seeking out Midoriya as he ate. The Golden Boy was sitting several tables away with five other kids from the hero course. He looked a little distressed. Probably complaining about Hitoshi.
Looking away, he scowled at his lunch. If he ever got into the hero course and he was unlucky enough to wind up in 1-A, everyone would already hate him. That guy with the tail already seemed to hold a grudge for the Sports Festival and now the class favorite had a problem with him. There was no doubt in his mind that everyone would shun him if Midoriya told them to.
“Ah, the villain is glaring pretty hard,” someone from his class said to their friend as they passed him. “Do you think he’s planning a murder or something?”
“Maybe we should report him for suspicious behavior,” their friend replied. Neither one bothered keeping their voice down. They knew he could hear them. They just didn’t care.
Hitoshi sighed and got up to dump his tray after they had walked a little further away. At least the bullies at UA never got physical with him. Words didn’t leave him bleeding or bruised.
“How was school, boys?” Hizashi asked once they had gotten in the car.
“Fine,” both teens replied in unison. Shouta turned in time to see them look at each other with Shinsou glaring and Izuku blushing. One covering up embarrassment with anger and the other just an awkward kid. He and Hizashi had been like that. They still were sometimes.
“Nothing more to add?” Hizashi prompted. “Just fine?”
Shinsou looked away from Izuku to stare out the window, offering nothing. Izuku seemed to consider his day though and had something after a moment. “Yaoyorozu-san is holding a study session at her home for finals prep.”
“Are you going to go?” Shouta questioned, hoping he’d say yes. The kid needs to socialize a little. Even Shouta has his group of friends despite being an introvert. He settled back into his seat, listening to his kid rather than watching him. Twisting like that was uncomfortable.
“Oh, no…” Izuku replied quietly. “Ashido-san and Kaminari-kun are really worried about the written tests and I don’t want to take any aid from them by accident. I can study on my own.”
“But if they’re studying in a group, help isn’t a finite resource,” Hizashi pointed out.
“I don’t want them to waste their time on me when I can do it myself,” Izuku muttered. His tone told them he was shutting down so they dropped the subject.
“Alright, kid. That’s your choice,” Shouta assured him. “We won’t make you go.”