Chapter Text
It was only 8AM, and yet Iida already felt ill at ease. He didn't know what exactly it was - maybe his breakfast went down wrong, maybe he accidentally swallowed his toothpaste instead of spitting it out, but his stomach twisted with a vengeance and his engines felt choked up with grease.
"Good morning, Iida-kun!" Uraraka was cheerful as always. Yes, today was a normal morning. Soon, Midoriya would enter, too, and they'd chat for a bit before class started. Like normal.
And then it was a few minutes until the bell, and there was still no Midoriya.
-
An odd calmness settles over Midoriya. He's sitting in a bathtub, blade in hand, and alone. It trembles in his grip, sweat making it slick. He can smell the metal.
Midoriya is going to die tonight. Thank fucking god.
He makes his first cut. Hurts. Hurts a lot. He might've cut into the styro. He doesn't want to check, in case he lose his nerve.
Second cut. Ouch, what the fuck? Adrenaline is one hell of a drug, but evidently he's pushing it. His arm stings like a bitch and he really wants this to be over already.
Third, fourth in quick succession. On the other arm. The blood squirts out, a bright red. Midoriya is unaccustomed to this type of bleeding, unlike the typical sluggish beading, then dripping, of dark red. He assumes he hit an artery, or something. The nitty gritty biology of human bodies isn’t taught here - they want heroes to incapacitate, not fatally injure. Students looking into being medical supports were taught more, but Midoriya didn’t bother looking into that pathway.
How disappointing.
He's onto his fifth and final cut. He aims his blade for the throat. This will be it.
No point in deliberating. He swings and it's a hit - blood cascades down his shirt, down his throat, and now he's choking. The sound is ghastly, gurgling inhalations echoing in his lonely porcelain bed. His body instinctively fights for life, for any air, but between the blood loss and the oxygen deprivation, it's a losing battle.
He gasps once more - long, keeling, like a very pathetic death wail. It's finally over. Midoriya closes his eyes and greets Death with open arms.
Midoriya wakes up in his bed, wrists unslit; a perfectly intact neck. It was a dream.
.. How disappointing.
-
His absence isn't unnoticeable per se - Midoriya typically arrives on time for class with minimal fuss, and always has his absences excused far ahead of time. At the very least, he gives a heads up to Iida or Uraraka. But then the bell rings, and Iida exchanges a worried glance with Uraraka. So Iida raises his hand tentatively when Aizawa takes attendance, and no one's seen Midoriya - "He didn't say anything to us, Aizawa-sensei."
Naturally, this incites pandemonium. Kaminari whispers to Ashido behind him, and the rest of the class takes this as an opportunity to interrupt each other about where Midoriya could be, voices clambering to be heard, layer upon layer of groundless conjecture. He's a curious figure - most of them haven't had much time yet in the year to know him beyond his meek demeanour hiding his monstrous quirk.
Iida struggles, warring between the need to correct his classmates and the want to stay quiet. He's class president, surely he can handle this much, but all of a sudden without Midoriya in the class he feels a lot less confident. Uraraka looks hesitant, too - after all, the object of gossip is their friend, but they both know Aizawa will act soon enough.
A flash of red. "Settle down!" The disquieting sensation of losing access to their quirks is enough to reel the rest of Class 1-A back in. "Iida, please run by Midoriya’s room for me. He's probably just sleeping in. The rest of you - class is in session.”
Iida feels a flush of pride. This, he can do easily, and it feels like recognition for his decidedly scholarly behaviour. He gives a nod, and power-walks off. As he shuts the door behind him, he hears no more chattering. Aizawa is such a trustworthy teacher.
Iida walks down the halls. U.A.’s halls are typically empty around this time, save for a few meandering students who have business with other classes, or maybe kids who have been sent on errands by their teachers, just like Iida. The thought is simple, yet comforting. He's never truly alone in U.A., it seems.
Iida arrives at the doors. He walks to Midoriya’s room. He raps on the door precisely three times.
No answer.
Okay, this is a bit of a pickle. He wasn't expecting that, but nothing the class president can’t solve.
Another rapid-succession of three knocks, just in case, and he makes them particularly vigorous. There is still no answer. Aizawa wouldn’t approve of him kicking in the door - unlike how certain others may, which is probably why he picked him - so he power-walks back to the classroom, and politely informs his teacher that Midoriya is not opening his door. Easy.
The bags underneath Aizawa's eyes somehow grow in depth as he asks Iida to take a seat. Midoriya-kun is in for a big lecture, Iida imagines.
-
Aizawa conveniently has a master key to all of the dorms, so he goes to check for Midoriya himself. Kids get up to all kinds of hi-jinks when unsupervised, especially the younger ones. Typically, dorms are introduced in third year, but through the amount of incidents they’ve already been through - well, better safe than sorry.
He gives a precautionary knock, calling out, “Midoriya?”
No response.
“Midoriya?” He calls louder.
“I’m coming in, then.”
He inserts and turns his key. The dooms are shaped like a rectangle, with no nooks or crannies to be hiding in. Midoriya’s room, as per its reputation, is decked out in head to toe in hero merch. Specifically, All Might. His smiling countenance greets Aizawa as he steps in, but somehow Aizawa senses judgement in that gaze, as if the hero himself is severely judging Aizawa for daring to break into his owner’s room. Not like Aizawa has a choice - Midoriya is currently unaccounted for and is missing class. His student is fairly reasonable, so he doubts he’s skipping for no reason. Aizawa recalls Midoriya’s penchant on visiting his mother on weekends, maybe he overstayed his welcome by accident?
His eyes look around. No Midoriya. His bed is obviously slept in, but there’s no residual body heat. He raises the covers. Nobody there. A stray All Might plush gets flung out, which he tucks back in along with the blankets he’s disturbed. The closet and bathroom also provide nothing.
He sighs. He thought better of Midoriya than to skip school. And it wasn’t like Midoriya was somewhere else - if one of the staff wanted him, they’d inform him ahead of time.
Upon his return to the classroom, Midoriya's friends are there, waiting for him.
“Was Midoriya-kun there?” Iida asks.
Aizawa shakes his head. He’ll email Midoriya's mom after class. “Just asking again, but would you guys know where Midoriya is? I checked his dorm, he wasn’t there. Did he warn you two about his absence?”
Iida solemnly shakes his head, “If he did, I would’ve told you.” Which, okay, makes sense. Kid has a lot of faith in his teacher, it makes Aizawa almost want to tear up at how simple Iida is to teach.
Uraraka audibly ‘hmms’, placing an index finger at her left cheek. “Dunno. Last time I heard from him, he was going to his mom’s house for the weekend. He should’ve returned...”
Todoroki only shakes his head, a boy of few words.
Nothing he doesn't know already. Looks like a call home is in order.
“Thanks. I’ll write up a late pass for you all.” He holds some compassion in his heart, okay?
-
It turns out he didn’t need to call Mrs. Midoriya. She calls him first, using the number Aizawa gave her personally. She was particularly antsy about the dorm changes - which he can’t fault her for - and Aizawa ended up giving her his personal number to give her peace of mind. Raising an eyebrow, he picks up.
“H-Hello, is this Aizawa-san?” Midoriya’s mother and him were oddly alike. They stuttered the same way too.
He responds with a gruff yes.
“Do you - is Izuku in class right now? Um, usually he visits me on the weekends whenever he can, and he said he could come this week. He’s not likely to stand me up, and I reserved calling until now in case he had something to do at the last moment and would, I don’t know, be late. Um - is he?”
Oh. This is unexpected.
“.. I was actually about to call you about this. Midoriya is absent today, and he isn’t in his dorm. His friends don’t know anything either.”
If he listens hard enough, he thinks he can hear the nervous grinding of teeth. Huh, he took her for a nail biter.
“O.. Okay. Please tell me if he shows up. This is unlike him...”
“I will, Midoriya-san. We take our students’ wellbeing very seriously here.”
Mrs. Midoriya huffs a laugh on the other end, likely having heard this spiel many, many times before. Whether through T.V., or personally.
“Thank you,” she hangs up.
Aizawa runs a hand through his hair. It’ll be fine. Midoriya is smart enough not to get lost. He’ll be fine.
... Nah. Kid is a living and breathing trouble maker. With his luck, Midoriya probably got kidnapped, or landed in some small-town hospital with his phone broken so he couldn’t tell his mother about his location, or-
Hypothesizing isn’t going to do much. Time to find a Midoriya Izuku.
Come kitty, kitty, kitty.
-
He first performs his own little investigation via pulling kids out of Present Mic’s class and asking them questions - he isn't one to disturb his colleagues, but he takes special pleasure in bothering Yamada.
Kids who don’t talk to him much say they didn’t notice him in the dorms over the weekend, but that’s typical. More informed classmates tell him what he already knows - he visits his mother every weekend. An unconcerned Bakugo tells him that ‘Aunt Inko’ called his mother about it, who in turn asked Bakugo. Bakugo, who’s always been a bit too observant for his own good, asks him if Midoriya is missing. Aizawa responds to him in no certain terms, but that is enough of an answer for him.
“Fuckin’ nerd always sticks his nose into shit that doesn’t need him, probably landed into some dumb shit again,” he says. Bakugo has faced Midoriya’s unwanted interference before, judging by his bitter tone.
Todoroki, being uncharacteristically firm, asks Aizawa if Midoriya is missing. Again, Aizawa responds in vague and deflecting answers, but his class is skilled at reading in between the lines.
It means yes.
The matter has been kept under fragile wraps - the problem hasn’t escalated, per say. For all he knows, Midoriya is skipping school and is currently at the movies, or something. There’s an All Might movie airing, he remembers Midoriya rambling about it once before class started. But something niggles at him, chipping away at his steady demeanour. Saying, is this as small as you think it is?
Anyways, regardless of the thin cover that’s been placed upon the situation, his coworker has caught wind. How? Aizawa doesn’t know. Toshinori has always had a weird seventh sense concerning his not-son.
“Midoriya-shounen hasn’t showed up to school?”
“..Mhh. Yeah. Why?”
Toshinori awkwardly laughs, “I was supposed to meet up with Midoriya-shounen this morning, and he was a no show..”
“So?” Aizawa feels fatigued, deep in his bones. He already knows where this is going.
“I was wondering if you knew where he was.” Yep.
“I don’t.”
“Well, would you possibly want my help in finding him?”
There it was. Aizawa gave a long-suffering sigh, pinching his nose. “And what do you possibly think you could add to the investigation? For all we know, Midoriya is just skipping class.” But Aizawa knows he isn’t. Toshinori knows too, and he knows that Aizawa knows that. The boy would probably rather face off with Shigaraki alone than miss a single meeting with Toshinori. Toshinori inches closer, face somehow pleading even with his burly features. Aizawa distantly wonders if Midoriya's father ever feels like he's getting replaced.
Instead of answering his question, he regales Aizawa with a single, “Please?” As if Aizawa is easily swayed by such tactics.
Aizawa's bed misses him. He misses it too. His back aches, and Aizawa forgets that he is susceptible to such tactics, even when it's coming from a towering, elderly man.
“What. Did you. Have in. Mind?” he grits out from behind his teeth. Toshinori ignores his attitude, and brightens up, giving a wide smile.
“Leave it up to me!”
-
Aizawa did not ‘leave it up’ to him.
Rather, he dragged him to the principal’s office. To be completely honest, he isn’t sure if this was important enough for Nedzu to deal with, but he doesn’t really know where else to look, and his bad feeling from earlier hasn't left him. Heroes always trust their instincts. This might be something serious enough to involve the law force, and it’s always better to start searching now rather than later.
A slow sort of pressure is making itself known on his shoulders, as if his mind already knew there was some unknown time limit.
“Oh? What brings you to my office, Aizawa?” Nedzu greets, ignoring Toshinori. He finds this a bit humourous.
“Midoriya is missing. Mom doesn’t know. Friends don’t know. Not in dorm,” he says, “What do we do?” His last sentence sounding more like a statement than a question.
“Hmm, a pressing matter indeed. What do you think we should do?”
Aizawa feels like he’s being patronized - which is a common theme coming from Nedzu.
“I don’t know. You’re the principal. Do what protocol comes for, or whatever.”
Nedzu gives a little laugh, “Okay, okay. So grumpy, hm?”
Aizawa doesn’t respond. Nedzu shoos the pair away, already starting to dial up someone. Aizawa hopes it’s someone competent, so his headache doesn’t grow bigger. Toshinori walks behind him, fingers twisting together in a rare display of nervousness. Aizawa doesn’t get it - he did most of the talking, afterall. Toshinori didn’t say a single word the entire time they were in the room.
Walking away, Aizawa can only hope the sunken feeling in his stomach is a false indicator of what’s yet to come. He hates to admit it but -
He's worried.