Chapter Text
So many times Izuku would come home crying into his mother’s arms with blood on his shoulders and burns along his arms. Nothing ever too severe to cause permanent damage but the moment her son flinched when she raised her arm to hug her tall boy she refused to stay quiet anymore. Inko Miodriya tried to take action, Bakugou’s mom did scold him to no success as the school allowed it to happen. They didn’t want to sully a record of a boy whose quirk was so promising. They feared, ‘if we discipline him now, what Is stopping him from just turning on us. If we crush his dreams of getting into a hero course, what’s stopping him from turning to villainy?’ It was this line of reasoning she got when she met with the school principal.
Never had Inko felt so helpless, so terribly frustrated.
But when his final year of middle school rolled around her son began to workout- the light that had dwindled over years of abuse was starting to flicker in his eyes again. Despite his exhaustion she had never seen him so fulfilled and anxious-but in a good way. Like he was anticipating something eagerly. And then he got his quirk, a blessing. From there she couldn’t bring herself to talk about Bakugou anymore. Now it was time to support her son with all she had.
Class 1-A is a rowdy bunch and a healthy one at that. Sure, every flu season a few would have the sniffles or runny nose. But nothing to write home about. It is this fact that makes Midoriya getting sick all the more worrying.
“Midoriya-kun!” Uraraka hovers protectively around him with evident concern. The two had just entered the dorms alongside Iida-who was also giving in an inspective look.
“Midoriya I’d advise that you go to bed early tonight and take some vitamin C! You were able to finish everything at the library were you not?” Iida did his usual hand motions but this time a little slower as to not nauseate the poor teenager who with flushed cheeks and slumped shoulders, seemed to be locked on following the movement of his arms.
“Guys, thanks, but I’m fine, really. I’ll just get some sleep tonight and be ready to go in the morning. Let’s all hang out okay?” He waved off his friends and headed to his door, leaving the two at the entrance.
Both Uraraka and Iida shared a concerned gaze as they watched the green hair boy shiver despite the dorm’s insulation against the cold and heavy snow outside.
Turns out, Izuku was not fine. He was pretty sick. It began when Todoroki woke up early to go on his morning jog when he saw the teenager curled in on the sofa with an All Might blanket wrapped around him. Todoroki usually isn’t the type of person to invade someone’s personal space but the whole situation seemed odd, especially with the irregular breathes and noticeably flushed cheeks.
He decided to shuffle over and place his right hand on Deku’s forehead. It was certainly hotter than it should be. He didn’t know what to do beside lightly frost the boy’s head-resulting in an audible sigh of relief. Usually when Todoroki got sick, he just pushed through it. He didn’t have anyone to rely on. But that was back then-and this wasn’t him-it was Midoriya.
He ultimately willed himself away from Midoriya, much to the unconscious boy’s displeasure to the loss of his cooling pad, and walked to Uraraka’s room to wake her up. Uraraka took control of the situation once she saw him on the couch. She sighed as she floated Izuku into a more accessible position and placed a washcloth on his forehead:
“Ah oh my—I knew I should have kept asking if he was okay last night. At least he would’ve had someone by his side.”
“Well we are here now right? I will let Aizawa know.” Todoroki said as he left to Aizawa’s room on the other side of the dorms.
Aizawa was pretty stoic as always. At least that’s what any outsider would say. 1-A knew that the slight twitch of his eyebrow, the slight scowl, and abandonment of his yellow sleeping cocoon meant he was concerned. And most certainly cared.
Other students were beginning to get up but Uraraka and Todoroki made sure their respective girl and boy halls knew the situation before entering the main area. Everyone was being quiet in the kitchen while getting their breakfast. Nevertheless, they were trying to get a peek at their sick friend-it was a rare occasion after all.
Asui ended up being boldest-most of the class was huddled behind the kitchen counter trying to get a glance without angering Aizawa as he fiddled with a thermometer. He certainly wasn’t used to this stuff but he was trying. Koda gave a thumbs up from behind the counter.
Asui softly hopped over and placed some fever reducing pills on the coffee table in front of the couch and carefully went away. He gave her a quick appreciative nod as she left. Aizawa had mentioned Recovery girl couldn’t heal sickness. Only physical harm.
But that doesn’t take away from the fact that she is a doctor. As the thermometer beeped, he spoke into his phone, “Its 102.5…no physical activity for him then huh?” While no one heard the other side of the conversation with Recovery girl it was easy to tell that Izuku wasn’t dying. But he certainly wasn’t going anywhere today.
Aizawa stood up and looked at the group of concerned students, “Calm down everyone he is going to be fine, from what Recovery girl and I discussed, he will be up in no time but for the next day-and probably tomorrow, he needs bed rest and that means silence. I want to keep him in the main room so its easier to get to him, and as long as your quiet, I’m sure he would appreciate the company.”
The class’s shoulders seemed to ease, turns out they were all tense and holding their breath, and they didn’t even realize until now. Lucky for Izuku, there was no class today and if it kept snowing, Aizawa may be half tempted to cancel the outdoor class planned for tomorrow. Sure he could have Todoroki clear the field but with Midoriya sick he wondered if standing in the snow for a few hours would only serve as a catalyst to get the others sick.
So. What ultimately happened was a slumber party around Izuku. Everyone had mugs of hot chocolate and Midoriya-despite his initial confusion on why he was there-until ‘oh that’s right I wasn’t feeling that great yesterday-I fell asleep but I woke up in the middle of the night andteasoundedreallygoodsoIgotsomebut IguessIfell asleep…’ at least he wasn’t sick enough to stop rambling.
Most of the class was chilling around the main area in pajamas and watching movies like the Christmas Express and all the while made sure Midoriya was comfortable and took his medicine. Cause that’s what friends do! And even more so because they knew without a doubt Izuku would do it for them.
Sero, Kaminari, and Kirshima took up one sofa and was trying to find another movie for everyone on Netflix-it was their turn to pick. Meanwhile Jirou and Momo were sitting nearby trying to make a castle of cards with Ashido. Uraraka watched with interest-wondering if she tried to float the bottom foundation of cards she could make it a floating card castle. Asui seemed to be having a interesting conversation with Tokoyami and his quirk:
“So, were you born with a normal human head or? Cause believe me, when I turned four, I was surprised to find that I could stretch my tongue across the living room.”
It was certainly a good question-they continued talking as Shoji joined with interest.
Sato was cooking sweets in the kitchen with Hakakure and Ojiro. Shinso seemed content enough to just take a nap in one of the chairs. And at one of the many kitchen tables Aoyama had somehow managed to get Koda into making a pair of bedazzled boots for his rabbit just in case he wanted to frolic in the snow. Izuku sat in the place he was before, still feeling flushed and a little delirious. It felt nice to have Todoroki at his side to facilitate as his own heater and cooler. The two-colored hair guy didn’t seem to mind as he turned the next page in his book. Izuku had let his head rest on his shoulder and his eyes began to flutter shut. Iida also seemed invested in one of his own books as he sat to his left. Bakugou had come out a few times to get food but it seemed like Kirishima wasn’t enough to get him to chill out with the rest of the group that day. He mentioned something about not wanting to be around that ‘green germ’.
“Man there really isn’t anything else?” Sero sunk into his seat with the remote. They had been looking for about 15 minutes now-turns out the three couldn’t make up their minds.
Kirishima crosses his arms, “I like the holiday movies but we have seen most of these, how about something more action orientated? I don’t know maybe a hero movie?” He pauses as a moment of inspiration hits him, “Forget the holiday stuff I have a whole dvd set of interviews from Red Riot’s golden age-lets just watch that!”
Sero and Kaminari do seem to give it a considerate thought but that was cut off by Izuku who upon hearing Red Riot and Golden Age opened his eyes, “Actually Kirishima, we still haven’t had a chance to talk about Red Riot.”
Kirishima grinned ecstatically, “Dude yeah if you’re up to it! Didn’t you say you had notes similar to those you were taking at the sports festival?”
“Yeah! Oh my gosh this is awesome we can talk about the heroes, maybe we could do a game were I list the quirk-you guess the hero-or we try to guess their weaknesses…” Izuku goes on as he tries to get up but ultimately just manages to stand before stumbling into Todoroki’s embrace before falling back into the couch.
“Maybe you aren’t really good to be walking around yet?” He says as he situates a very dizzy Midoriya next to Iida and rises. “I’ll go get your books, where are they?”
Izuku tells Todoroki the location and to grab volumes 1-10 and to the whole classes surprise the guy comes back with a stack of books full with information.
“Whoa Izuku how much time did this take you?” Iida had leaned to look at the page Midoriya had opened up to. “Oh this is only 1-10 I have about 25 of these but Red Riot is in this volume here.” At this point most of the class had quieted down around the center table and sofa to hear their conversation. Meanwhile a single Christmas hat floated around handing out cinnamon rolls as Sato passed out napkins.
At this point Kirishima had maneuvered to the backside of the couch to see the books as Izuku began to open his notes. Izuku relished in the comforting attention as the two talked about his notes on Red Riot. From his costume design to his amazing fight with a villain. They enthused about how he did a interview on the verge of passing out because he didn’t want to be impolite to what was obviously to a nerve wrecked first-day-on-the-job reporter. “He is so manly! A gentleman too!” Kirishima yelled with a high to low volume as he saw Midoriya recoil at the loud noise. “ah sorry.”
“No worries really! Actually I think you would find this hero interesting too.” Izuku continued to talk and eventually the whole class got involved-asking about what he thought about their favorite heroes and if he knew about them (of course he did). He even had notes about Eraserhead which to his reluctance, let Aoyama put a cat sticker on the corner of the page. “Its our beloved teacher chéri, lets make his page special too.” Was his justification.
It was a light but jovial conversation as the class bubbled about sharing their favorite heroes around Izuku but they all noticed something strange. It was Sero who asked first, “ Hey Midoriya, do you want to use my tape? Volume 3 has like. A lot of water damage and the pages are falling out.” Midoriya smiled gratefully and accepted the offer as he carefully used his tape to adhere the torn pages together.
Izuku was grateful for the conversations and interaction but was honestly really liking Todoroki’s shoulder. He could feel his heart beat slow as he pulled his book into his chest like a beloved plushie.
However this wasn’t the end of the questioning as Iida picked up volume 4 and remarked, “Friend, if I may be direct, why are some of your earlier books in such bad condition? This one looks like it was lit on fire!” Izuku opened his eyes. (When did they close?) Trying to quickly answer his question Izuku mumbles, “The damage is from Kacchan. Don't worry about it.”
He thought that would be the end of it. He closed his eyes.
Turns out it wasn’t.
“Midoriya as your class representative I need to know if something like this is going on-if Bakugou is damaging your work you should tell me-Momo-anyone.”
Midoriya opened his eyes, realizing that the conversation was taking a turn away from his desired nap. “Its not a big deal, it was from middle school. The first 5 volumes are damaged because of him." He shifted a bit, now in distant remembrance. "First time he gave it to a dog, then he tried placing volume 2 in a shredder but it got stuck before any major damage was done, volume 3-well he threw it in our class’s fish tank, volume 4 he decided to blast it with his quirk and throw it out the window and volume 5 is burned also because he claimed he wanted to perform target practice on me with a flaming object.”
The whole class had gone completely silent. Izuku who had obviously tensed up at the memory of such violent interactions, shook his head and smiled, waving dismissively, “It wasn’t that bad guys serious-I got good at the whole drop and roll thing.”
Kirishima, who had now moved to stand next to the coffee table in front of Izuku, rubbed his temples. “Bro, you mean to tell me he did all that?”
“Yes?” Izuku’s voice dropped. Did he do something wrong?
Kirishima frowned but it didn’t seem like it was supposed to be a mean one directed at him, “I knew Bakugou, well I think we all knew you and Bakugou had history.” The rest of the class nodded in agreement.
“Midoriya-kun, I’ve always wondered why Bakugou calls you Deku. I know you chose it as your hero name and good on you, but that name. What else did he say to you in middle school? Why did he do all this? Was he like this to all your other classmates?”
Izuku frowns and looks down at his book, “Guys its not a big deal.”
Asui clicked her tongue disapprovingly, “Your body language says otherwise. We all haven’t asked because-well-I suppose we were afraid to see what we would find. But if we are to continue to work alongside you we need to know your relationship with him.”
Uraraka put a hand on Midorya’s shoulder and gives him a warm look in the eyes, “Midorya, please, lets just do it like this. It’s a certain middle school day, you get to class, do all that busy work and its in between classes. What happens.”
Izuku pauses thoughtfully but begins to talk, “I used to like writing in my books between classes but with like volume 4, he blasted it. He was angry I was applying to U.A. You all know my quirk developed abnormally late and at the time I was quirkless. He’d call me worthless and nerd all that teasing stuff. He didn’t think I could make it and if anything, I was taking away his glory of being the only student in our class to apply to U.A.”
Uraraka pressed, “What did he say when he blew up your book?”
“He told me not to apply to UA and said that there was a easy way for me to get a quirk.” Uraraka glared.
He sucked in a breath, “He said I should hope to have a quirk in my next life and take a dive off the school building.”
Everyone looked at him in shock. Jiro spoke first as if in disbelief, “ To think he would say such a thing. I mean, I knew he was violent, but this. This is just bullying, its beyond cruel. And you have known him for how long? Your entire lives? What the actual hell. Why didn’t anyone do anything? Sure his quirk is great but that’s not reason to shield him from repercussions!”
Iida's eyes widened, “Your entire childhood?” Izuku nodded. Midoriya wanted to shrink. He wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He’d never be so open if he wasn’t borderline delirious with a cold. This was so embarrassing, Kacchan is going to be so mad at him. He started to pull up his blanket when Iida pulled him into a tight hug.
“I’m so sorry. I-i-I wish we met sooner Midoriya. Quirk-less or not you’re incredibly smart and your analysis of heroes may as well be a quirk of its own. Even without your strength quirk you would have found a way. If I knew... How could I have been so awful. I see how you flinch around him. How many times does a person have to be attacked to have such a fearful and instinctual reaction to someone. Damn it. I should have asked earlier so we could have addressed this. Not because I’m your class representative. But because I’m your friend. ” A rare moment as their class representative slipped up on cussing as he rubbed his face in his hands after leaving the embrace.
Todoroki was the next to act as he ruffled Izuku’s hair and leaned his head into it (as the tall man he is) and sighed, “Midoriya, you changed everything for me, and if you are suffering... You know I would do anything to help right? We are friends. You are like.” He paused as if gathering the courage to talk amongst his peers so openly. “You are like a beacon to us all. And to think Bakugo could've snuffed that out before I met you..”
Todoroki gave a light squeeze on his shoulder with his throat tight, hiding his face in the green vanilla smelling hair he barely gets out, “I’m so glad you had the courage to apply, I’m so glad you are pursuing your dream because I. I literally cannot imagine how dark my path would have become.”
Iida gave a similar nod and Uraraka smiled. “Midoriya you inspire me to improve everyday! Your passion is contagious! You know that right? You know you are worthy of being a hero? Because you are. Izuku. Look at me.”
Izuku’s head lifted up, small tears began to roll down. He doesn’t even know when he started crying. Why was he crying? After all this time-why now does all the pain and sorrow he buried away start to seep through the cracks of its lid?
“You are worthy of self-respect and never did anything wrong to anyone for them to deny you common decency. And despite all that, you jump into action to help people in a world that had only tried to push you down. Midoriya, no Deku. I know its pretty obvious to all of us, but let me remind you.” She smiled. “You are worthy of being a hero.”
At that point Izuku took a quiet breath, a brief smile with his head slowly descending into his hands as quiet sobs began to shake his body. The rest of 1-A swamped together to give hugs and let him know that he will never have to be alone because now, he has his friends and they care for him just like he would in return for years to come. Giving him their love, compassion, and loyalty.
Izuku has never felt so blessed in his life.
Little to Izuku's knowledge, at that moment 1-A knew something needed to be done before Bakugou did this to someone else or even Izuku again. No hero should act like this, and especially as heroes in training themselves, they couldn't let it go unaddressed.
Kirishima was furious and he was going to make sure Bakugou knew what he did wrong. Because that’s what friends do.
They let them know when they’ve been a dumbass!