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Izuku rolled over with a huff; he had been trying to sleep for over an hour yet he was wide awake. He decided that he wasn’t going to try to wrestle with the sleeping gods anymore, and grabbed his phone to head downstairs. Stepping out into the dark halls of the dorm, he didn't see any indication that anyone else was awake at the devil's hour with him.
That was when he noticed Aizawa-sensei sitting at one of the dining area chairs nursing a cup of black coffee, rubbing his eyes while grading some papers. The teacher noticed him and raised an eyebrow. "You should be in your bed."
Izuku stumbles, having been caught by his teacher, and stammered out the words, “I-I c-couldn’t sleep”
"You couldn't sleep?" Aizawa repeated, with a raised brow of disappointment. "Then why are you down here?"
“I-uh, well I didn’t expect anyone to be here, I just wanted to grab a cup of tea to relax.” Izuku was looking more abashed by the second, fingering the sleeves of his pajamas.
Aizawa just sighs and his eyes soften minutely in a way only 1-A and other UA teachers could tell. "Fine, you can sit next to me while you drink your tea, and I fail your class."
Thinking it best not to argue, Izuku busied himself with making his tea before settling down beside Aizawa and relishing the comfortable silence, only punctuated by the scribbles of a pen on paper. Aizawa looked at him, tired eyes examined him before asking in his gruff voice, “Has this happened often lately?”
"What? No?" Izuku's hesitant answers coming out as a question.
"Problem Child, I can tell when you're lying."
Izuku considered his options for a moment before deciding honesty was the best policy. "I've just been having more nightmares lately... they stopped for a while but you know.. now they're back I guess… The whole thing with the attacks and such, and I guess other stuff from, well, back then has been affecting me.”
Aizawa let out a heavy sigh... "And I'm sure this most recent fiasco with Overhaul hasn't helped you any more than it's helped me right?"
"Well, no. If I had just been faster and stronger maybe he would still be alive." Izuku looked close to tears at the admission, ducking his head to try and hide from Aizawa's gaze.
This damn kid and his too big heart , Aizawa thought to himself. "Nighteye knew what he was getting himself into, Midoriya. In fact he knew better than most of us, and I'm sure he wouldn't want you beating yourself up over this like you are." Like you always tend to do , he left unspoken.
Izuku understood what he was saying, that he shouldn’t do this to himself, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all his fault.
"But..." Izuku trailed off, struggling to accept that he had support despite his past abuse from peers and teachers alike. Izuku kept stewing in his thoughts... "I should've been the one to die," Izuku accidentally blurted out, "or at least the one to lose his quirk."
Aizawa sighed, looking at the self sacrificial problem child that was cowering before him, “Listen Midoriya, you shouldn’t put the blame on yourself, you shouldn’t wish pain on yourself, what would your mother think if you had been hurt? What would your friends think? Look Midoriya, you are important to a lot of people, and they would be sad if you got hurt.”
“No they wouldn’t,” Izuku mumbled softly to himself. “They would be happy to get rid of such a useless Deku.”
"Midoriya," Aizawa started with a dawning understanding, "What did Deku mean originally?"
"Useless...?" Izuku said with a question in his voice.
"Yes, and what did you tell Midnight it means now that it's your hero name?" Aizawa took this moment to reach over and knock firmly, but gently on Izuku's head "Exactly. Now you cut that out."
"But," Izuku protested, "just because I'm not quirkless anymore doesn't mean I'm not still useless." Izuku slapped his hands on his mouth. He had spilled the secret again, he thinks with horror.
Aizawa glared and Izuku flinched, wondering what would happen now, then Aizawa sighed again. “Problem child, we have to talk tomorrow, but for now, relax.” After a moment, Aizawa stilled and put down his pen. He took a breath, and then faced the teen. "What do you mean, not quirkless anymore?"
"I- uh, umm... it's nothing really. Or at least not my story to tell. Entirely. Sort of? Gosh I-" but before Izuku could spiral into some long winded rant Aizawa cut him off with a wave.
"Forget I asked. Drink your tea, kid. And next time, come to me if you need anything at all. I'm here to help you, but I can't do that if I don't know you need help."
Izuku relaxed and leaned into the couch, letting the calm scribbling sounds wash over him. He must have dosed off at some point, because the next thing he realizes is that his alarm is going off and he's tucked into bed. Looking over at his alarm, it takes him a moment to notice the note hastily scribbled in a purple pen on his nightstand. Izuku kind of wished he didn't have to get up because he didn't want to face the day, and All Might's inevitable disappointment. He steeled himself to read the note anyway.
Find me when you're free, or I'll find you, the note says, handwriting scrawly and clearly hastily written.
He sighed, tucking the note away for later thoughts- when he was actually ready to deal with the very possible disappointment he would face from Aizawa when he talked to him. Getting up, he walked to the kitchen to make coffee, the smell already making him feel more awake. But, it also reminded him so much more of Aizawa and their looming meeting. He checked the time and saw that it was early enough to still make his morning run with All Might. He quickly pushed himself to get ready, and rushed out the dorms. Hopefully All Might would know what to do about Aizawa-sensei and his blunder last night. All Might always knew what to do, he always had the answers, and Izuku was sure it wouldn’t be different this time.
"Young Midoriya! I was almost worried you weren't coming! Did you get enough rest last night, my boy?"
"Oh, uhh. It was fine. So actually about that..."
"Hm?" All Might said, leaning forward slightly but otherwise allowing Izuku to take his time gathering his thoughts. And gather his thoughts he did. His mind was a jumbled mess of random ideas and ways to start this conversation, but he couldn't decide on any. He didn't know how to talk about this... That's why he never had.
Izuku looks down at his worn red shoes. "I may have accidentally told Aizawa-sensei that I used to be quirkless." Like ripping away a bandaid he thinks.
All Might merely blinked at Izuku for a moment before leaning back on his heels and putting a pensive hand to his chin, clearly thinking. All Might blinked, snapping out of his thoughts, then bellowed out in laughter, “Of course my boy!!! It was doubtless it would happen at some point!! Just tell him you were a late bloomer!!!!”
Izuku looked up at the other, quite shocked at how well he was taking the news, blinking rapidly to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He may have squeezed his arm too.
"It will be alright," All Might smiles.
"But All Might, he knows something is wrong!" Izuku tried to stress that lying to the underground hero wasn't going to work. "Also, you've seen me try to lie."
All Might just laughed in ignorance, then began laughing harder, because yes, he remembers the boy trying to lie. All Might shook his head. “Well even so, there’s no other possibility for him to think of, so just let your stammering lies work and do your best, it’ll roll over.”
Izuku crossed his arms and let out an indignant huff, but if All Might wasn't worried he wouldn't be either, he supposed. Although, it still sat uneasily in his stomach. But All Might thought you'd be able to use One for All like he would, and look how your arms turned out.
"Please, All Might! You've successfully avoided all interview questions about your quirk. Can't you give me a few tips?" Izuku desperately asks. It was his only hope. Apart from telling the truth. And he wasn't really ready for that just yet.
All Might laughed again, a booming sound. “Just put a smile on your face and say it’s classified! They’ll believe me as trying to hide it from the villains!!”
"But Gran Torino knew you're quirk, and he was your homeroom teacher!" Izuku replied, trying to make his mentor see his point. I don't think it'll work that way this time , Izuku thought weakly. Aizawa-sensei won't buy an excuse like that… "He's not the media, I don't think he'll take that excuse..." Izuku trailed off.
All Might's eyes harden a little, "He'll have to."
Izuku looked worriedly at the other, trying to ignore the fact that he knew Aizawa wasn't going to let this go. His note said as much. “A-Alright.”
All Might claps Izuku on the back. "That's my boy! Home room starts soon, why don't you head down first?"
"Okay, All Might. See you later!" Izuku yelled as he rushed back to the dorm to clean up quickly. Izuku changed into his school uniform and tried to cover the heavy bags under his eyes, then grabbed his yellow backpack, some toast, and walked to the classroom.
"Hey Deku-kun!" Uraraka waved from her desk, pausing in her conversation with Tsuyu.
"H-hey Uraraka-chan," Izuku parroted. He rushed to his desk, just wanting to sit down and sleep. Although he knew he couldn't because class was about to start and apparently you need to be awake for that. Uraraka frowned at his nervousness, but didn't say anything as Aizawa-sensei walked through the door. He took out a thermos filled with coffee that he had prepared before his run with All Might, and took out the materials for the day, ignoring Sensei’s pointed glare. He continued to ignore throughout the class, acting as if it wasn't bearing down on him at all.
Class seemed to drag on as Izuku struggled to keep his head from slamming into his desk and taking mediocre notes. Well, mediocre in Izuku’s standards, they were quite alright to anyone else. When the bell finally rang, he nearly cried in relief. He burst out of his seat, running away from Aizawa as fast as he could.
Or he tried to.
"Meet me in the Teacher's Lounge at lunch, Midoriya." Aizawa had somehow appeared in front of him, acting as if it was normal for a person to move that fast. And now he wanted to meet... And talk. Just great.
Maybe if he went to sleep Aizawa would let him go. Maybe he could collapse, that would get him out of anything. "Can I just sle-"
"No." Aizawa glared at him, seeming to know what he was up to.
Izuku rolled eyes, resigning himself to his fate.
"Besides, there's a couch in the teacher's lounge I can bribe you with." Well, it was comfier than his desk, he supposed.
"Maybe if there's coffee..." Izuku accidentally mutters.
Aizawa smiled at that. "Oh, there's definitely coffee. It's the teacher's lounge." Izuku almost growled in annoyance. Well, he can’t get out of this now, he sighed and walked to his next class, dreading what would happen next.
At lunch, his nerves wouldn't leave him alone, fluttering in his stomach like butterflies and yet, this was anything but a date. He started waking to the teachers lounge after finishing his meal, and quivered as he knocked on the door. It had been virtually impossible to shake off Uraraka and Iida on his way over, so he was already more on edge than before.
"Come in," Aizawa-sensei called out.
How did he know it was him? Izuku wondered fearfully. He entered the room, immediately feeling more relaxed as he had been here many times before. With All Might of course. Who was a lot easier to fool. Oh boy , Izuku thought. He was in for it.
"Close the door behind you," Aizawa-sensei says, shuffling a few papers. Izuku did with a heavy heart, glancing around and seeing that none of the other staff were there. So he really wasn't getting out of this.
Aizawa began talking and said, “Ok, explain this to me, you were quirkless?”
Okay, you got this, just like All Might told you. "A-ah, um, I was a late-bloomer!" He hoped Aizawa-sensei missed the voice crack. He didn’t.
Aizawa levelled a stare at him, disbelief written across every part of his face. “Yeah, sure, then why are you so nervous? What aren’t you telling me? Are you hiding something from me, problem child? At what age did this happen?”
Fuck , Izuku thought gracefully. Okay plan B. What was plan B, you ask? Throw All Might under the bus. And as the trend seems to go, Izuku blurts out the next thing on his mind, "All Might said my quirk was classified!"
"Well All Might is a fucking idiot."
"But that's the truth, sir."
"Is it really, Midoriya?" He leaned closer to him, his eyes piercing Izuku's own with their sharp gaze.
"Absolutely classified, can't say anything about it, sir!"
"And what would Detective Naomosa say?"
"Well, of course I'm not lying. Not at all." Izuku sweatdropped.
Aizawa nodded. "Right well I guess that's simply all there is. Thank you Midoriya, you can go." Izuku would have been relieved except for the look in Aizawa's eye. This was not over. Oh no. Far from it apparently.
"Oh, and if you see him," Aizawa-sensei calls out, "tell All Might to come to the Teacher's Lounge."
Izuku looked back nervously from the door, nodding before he bolted out. Welp, at least it wasn't Izuku's problem alone anymore, he couldn't help but think, only feeling slightly guilty.
"All right, Small Might, spit it out. What's going on with Midoriya's quirk?" Aizawa confronts All Might later.
All Might was as bad of a liar as Izuku. He just didn't accept it. Once All Might had recovered from his bloody coughing fit he could only stare incredulously at Aizawa. “Did Young Midoriya not tell you he was quirkless?” All Might asked, using a napkin to wipe at the blood dripping down his chin.
"Yes, he did mention something along those lines, but he is as bad as a liar as you, so I took it with a grain of salt." Aizawa deadpanned.
"Oh... makes sense."
"He also mentioned something about it being classified,” Aizawa prompted.
All Might glanced around the room, obviously trying to look for an escape route. Pity that was impossible when Aizawa was involved. All Might seemed to latch on to that, speaking in a booming but slightly fearful voice. “Yes, of course! So stop asking about it!”
"That's bullshit, Yagi. Now sit your ass down. You're going to tell me what's going on or you're not leaving."
All Might flailed internally. Aizawa gave him a positively withering look before dropping his trump card. "Don't make me get Nedzu involved, you know I will."
"Nedzu is aware of the classified nature of young Midoriya's quirk!" He tried.
"And as his home room teacher, I too should be aware!"
All Might tried to refute that but couldn't find a way to. Even his homeroom teacher, Gran Torino, had known.
"I'm in charge of his safety and the fact that there's things he won't tell me is incredibly frustrating, All Might." All Might had to pause for a moment, taken aback by the amount of emotion in Aizawa's voice. Huh. “I need the background of what’s going on, quirks don’t develop so late in life, and I need to be able to help him Yagi.”
All Might gave in. He really needed some help with teaching Young Midoriya anyway. "This can't leave the room. I mean it. Absolutely no one can know," he stated with uncharacteristic seriousness. But All Might trusted Aizawa. This man had almost died for these kids, Midoriya included, back at the USJ. Of course he could trust him. But before he could say anything, Aizawa started down another route, too caught up to listen.
"Have you seen how he struggles to stay awake in class? He is obviously recovering mentally from some form of trauma, whether it be from his quirk and memories, or past experiences. So you better tell me now." Whoa wait a minute, All Might thought, Shit maybe we should have talked sooner, dammit. I'm not experienced enough to deal with trauma. I just save the day and leave that stuff to the other heroes.
"I-I didn't know Young Midoriya was having problems. I know he was bullied back in middle school but-"
"What do you mean he was bullied? There were no notes about that in his file."
"Ah, yes! It's a common thing for Quirkless children to face. I had to deal with some myself when I was younger."
“Why didn’t you report this? This is important information to know! I don’t care about what is normal!!“ Aizawa said scathingly.
"It wasn't too bad when I was in middle school. Just some light teasing,” All Might supplied.
"And what was it like for Izuku?"
"I-I don't know-"
“Do you not know how quirk discrimination has increased?!! Do you live under a rock??!! You've been out of middle school for decades, Yagi. You have no clue what it is like today."
"He just seemed so friendly with Young Bakugou; I thought he protected him from the worst of it.”
"IT WAS BAKUGOU!?" Aizawa nearly shouted, incredulous and staring at All Might agape.
"Why the fuck didn't I know about this?" he hissed, spittle flying from the corners of his mouth, a manic look forming in his eyes. “Do you not see how he treats him?! Do you not see how Izuku acts?! This is the same Bakugou who tried to blow him up after being told not to on Day One of UA! The same Bakugou who lashed out at him when he didn't get his way!"
Aizawa scoffed, “ This is why I don’t want to let you teach a class. You don’t know anything about teenagers or how to deal with and teach them.”
"That's just not true!" All Might tried to defend himself, standing up suddenly, but Aizawa's capture weapon unfurled with grace, pushing him right back into his seat.
"Don't you dare talk about things you don't know. I have watched Izuku unfurl slightly from his shell, the shell of a broken and abused boy from the start. And you have the audacity to speak about this to me? As if you even noticed ."
"You may have been the number one hero, Yagi," Aizawa hissed, "But you're not a teacher." He took a deep breath, and then glared again, letting his capture scarf fall. "Tell me about his quirk. Now ."
All Might sat there staring at the other, until Aizawa snapped his fingers in his face, growling. "Tell me. NOW!"
All Might sighed, then nodded. And finally, he told a story of two brothers.
The other man listened intently, not interrupting but allowing All Might to finish his story before saying, "You're a fucking idiot. You gave a child- a bullied, lonely child who looked up to you- a quirk meant to combat the world’s greatest villain. A man who has killed thousands and has a far longer reach than we can imagine."
All Might wilted under the chastisement. "He was supposed to be dead. I thought I killed him..."
Aizawa had to resist the urge to rip all his hair out. "Well you clearly fucking didn't. Props to you. You took a child when he was at his weakest and you gave him the tools to be a fucking child soldier. What the fuck is wrong with you?!”
If possible, All Might wilted further. "I didn't think..."
"As if he was just going to go out and sacrifice himself for your stupid fucking cause of trying to kill a super villain. And might I add: kill him alone. As if anyone could kill a basically immortal man who had hundreds if not thousands of quirk at his disposal. And you really think one is going to be enough to stop him. One measly quirk. Just because you were a symbol doesn't mean Izuku has to follow in your fucking footsteps. Maybe you should think about that .”
Aizawa glared at the man before him, trying desperately to believe that he couldn't have been that stupid, that inconsiderate, to Izuku's fragile mental state, after what was turning out to be years of bullying that hadn't been addressed.
Sadly, that was not the case.
"I never meant to push Young Midoriya into my position. I thought All for One was dead, I thought I was just giving him a chance to become a hero," All Might says softly.
"Well regardless, forcing him to keep it a secret surely isn't helping a damn thing. This type of situation takes a village, All Might. Not a single emotionally vulnerable child and a washed up hero."
All Might gave an indignant squawk but otherwise didn't argue Aizawa's point.
“And besides, there were a million other ways he could have become a hero! Instead, you gave him a quirk that rips him to pieces every time he uses it! What he’d needed, still needs, is guidance!” Aizawa snapped.
"But I couldn't have become a hero if Nana never gave me her quirk!" All Might snapped back. "And look at me now! Look at what being a hero even with a quirk did to me! There's no way any quirkless can be a hero without dying!"
"You don't know that! Just because it has never been done before doesn't mean it never could! You didn't even give him the chance. Did you even listen to him when he was asking you that question, one of the most important questions of his life, hmm? Well, did you? Or did you just crush his dreams where he stood, not even bothering to consider his talents?"
“I listened to him," All Might defended. "He needed a reality check before he died and left his mother heart broken!"
"Really," Aizawa questioned skeptically. "Tell me, what skills did he have before your training, before you gave him this cursed quirk? Because I can list one very important one that is invaluable out on the field, and he had it before you ever stepped into his life."
"What is i-"
"INTELLIGENCE ALL MIGHT! He was smart before you came along and he will be smart after. And he is smart. I've seen it with my own two eyes. Maybe you were blinded by the power and greatness of your quirk, but I am not. I don't care. I don't care about you or your fucking quirk. I'm going to help Izuku, whether you want to join or not."
With that, Aizawa stormed out of the room, the door slamming behind him, echoing in the silence.
Suddenly Nedzu popped out from behind the sofa in the room, staring at All Might with a slight smile lifting his features. The animal wasn't great at smiling, which only served to heighten the creepy aspects of the expression.
"Well, that went splendid!" the animal remarked.
He peeked at All Might from behind the teacup that seemed to magically appear in his hands, slurping the contents loudly.
All Might spluttered, “W-What are you talking about??!! That was horrible!! He clearly doesn’t understand the dangers of the hero business and is going to teach Midoriya-shounen the wrong lessons of life!!”
"No. It was very... entertaining, to say the least."
"But I'm right aren't I-"
"Don't ask me to pick sides All Might. We both know which I'm going to pick, and I don't want to disappoint you this early into your teaching career. Or what's left of it."
With that, the principal sprung up and hurried out of the room, leaving all Might to sit there and wonder what the fuck was happening in his life.