Chapter Text
Izuku wakes up early to prepare for school. Like, really early. Four in the morning early. He tiptoes out of his room, padding down the hallway towards the bathroom, careful not to make any noise. He almost jumps out of his skin when he’s met with a figure in the hallway.
Izuku clutches at his chest, trying to calm his wildly beating heart. Aizawa looks just as surprised to see Izuku as Izuku is to see him. He glances at his watch.
“What are you doing up, kid?”
Izuku crosses his arms over his chest.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
Aizawa smirks, quirking an eyebrow at him.
“I just got back from my patrol. What’s your excuse?”
Izuku huffs, rolling his eyes.
“I’m getting ready for school.”
Aizawa squints at him. He glances at his watch again.
“It’s four in the morning. Can’t sleep?”
“I slept fine,” Izuku says, lying through his teeth, “I just wanted some extra time to get ready.”
Aizawa frowns, clearly not buying his excuse.
“Whatever you say. Do you need the bathroom?”
Izuku nods, suddenly feeling bad for being so snappy when the hero was clearly exhausted.
“You can use it first, if you want.”
Aizawa waves him off, and Izuku takes it as a go ahead to enter the bathroom first. He brushes his teeth quickly and leaves the bathroom.
He hurries back to his room, shutting the door behind him. He opens his closet and pulls out his new uniform. Unlike his old, secondhand gakuran, it’s actually his size instead of being several sizes too large. The uniform consists of a white dress shirt, a blue striped tie, a navy blue blazer, and slacks the same color as the blazer. All of it was freshly laundered and pressed, courtesy of Present Mic. You need to make a good first impression, he’d said. Izuku rolls his eyes at the memory. As if a kid transferring in halfway through the year could make a good impression. He shakes the thought away, shrugging the uniform on.
He considers himself in the mirror. Not bad, he thinks. He didn’t look half bad, now that he wasn’t completely drowning in his clothes. Satisfied with his clothing, he sits at his desk in front of a mirror, pulling out a small bag of cosmetics. He didn’t do anything crazy, simply applying some concealer to cover his dark circles and blush to conceal his sallow complexion. Finally, he curls his eyelashes and coats them with a generous amount of mascara. He examines his face in the mirror, turning his head this way and that way. Good enough, he supposes.
He sits on his bed, school bag in his lap. He’d long since gotten rid of the old, disgustingly yellow school bag he’d had before, settling on a plain briefcase bag made of soft, brown leather. It was quite fashionable, apparently. He thought it was awfully boring. When he expressed this to Present Mic, he came home the next day with a plethora of cute keychains decorated with mascots. Hizashi had been embarrassed, claiming the stationary store was all out of the hero ones. Izuku just waved him off, choosing a Hello Kitty keychain out of the bunch. It was red, dangling with many red rhinestones and featured Hello Kitty herself holding an apple. He’d never been a huge fan of the character, but red was always his favorite color.
He squeezes the bag close to his chest for a moment before opening it to check his contents. He checks it, double checks it, then sets it back down after making sure that he has what he needs. After doing so, he allows himself to collapse in his bed. He gives his alarm clock a sidelong glance, surprised to see that it was only five in the morning now. The need for sleep weighs down his limbs, now, his desire made more evident by being in bed. He sits up, afraid he might fall asleep and be late for school. He makes his way into the living room, plopping himself down on the couch with a throw blanket. One of Aizawa’s cats joins him, making himself comfortable on Izuku’s lap.
Izuku sits for a while, petting the cat and thinking. Mostly worrying about all of the bad things that could happen. His mind races with all of the possibilities. What if he didn’t make any friends? It wouldn’t be anything new, but Izuku hopes that he could make at least one friend during his very last year of middle school. Even worse, what if everyone hated him? What if he did poorly on his test and was held back?
As he stews in his anxiety, Hizashi walks into the room in his pajamas, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He looks mildly surprised to see Izuku on the couch.
“Hey, kiddo. Whatcha doin’ up?”
Izuku shrugs.
“Just wanted to have time to get ready.”
Hizashi nods knowingly.
“Ah. First day jitters?”
Izuku nods. Hizashi sits down next to him on the couch, throwing an arm around Izuku’s shoulders and squeezing, giving him a side hug. The action is unexpected but comforting nontheless. He leans into Hizashi slightly.
“You’ll be okay, little listener. You’re a smart kid, and I’m sure you’ll have no trouble making friends.”
Hizashi smiles comfortingly at Izuku. Izuku tries to smile back, but it must fall flat. Mic’s brows knit together with concern. He pats Izuku’s shoulder, pulling away to stand up and stretch. Izuku misses the warmth as soon as it’s gone.
“Any breakfast requests?”
Izuku’s stomach turns at the thought of food.
“Can I just have a banana or something? I don’t have much of a stomach for food right now.”
Hizashi’s brows pinch together further, but he nods.
“You sure? You hardly ate anything yesterday.”
Izuku shrugs.
“I’m just nervous.”
Hizashi nods, but Izuku is sure he doesn’t believe it. He looks at Izuku for a moment before turning around and padding into the kitchen. Izuku slouches into the couch as soon as he’s gone. School hadn’t even started and he was already dead tired. Despite his best efforts, Izuku’s eyes start to close, and before he knows it he’s out cold.
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Izuku is woken by someone gently shaking him, calling his name. He squints at the person.
“Breakfast is ready kiddo. Well, just a banana and cereal for you, but I thought we should eat together before you left. I even dragged Shouta out of bed.”
Hizashi leans in conspiratorially, whispering.
“He’s extra cranky today.”
Izuku smiles weakly at him, standing to join his guardians at the table. He grabs the banana and peels it open, not bothering with the cereal. He knows he would vomit it all up immediately if he even tried, so he doesn’t.
Breakfast goes by too quickly, and before he knows it he’s at the door putting his shoes on. They were new, stylish platform brown leather oxfords that matched his bag. Another one of his guardians’ excessive gifts they insisted were necessary purchases. They feel odd on his feet. He’s gotten so used to ratty sneakers that he’d forgotten what a good pair of shoes felt like.
He finishes tying his shoes and turns to leave, but is interrupted by someone clearing their throat. He turns to look at Hizashi, who looks back at him expectantly.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Izuku thinks for a moment. Realizing his mistake, he gives both Aizawa and Hizashi a brief hug, then turns to leave once again. They look embarrassed, which confuses Izuku.
“I meant your lunch, kiddo.”
“Oh.”
Lunch in hand, he finally leaves the house. The walk to the train station is a short one, and before he realizes it he’s standing in front of the gates of the school. He looks to be right on time, judging by the flurry of students filtering into the school gates. Izuku takes a deep breath before walking in. As soon as he does, he’s greeted by various odd looks from his classmates. Some even stop to whisper, doing nothing to conceal the fact that they were talking about him. Izuku tries his best to ignore it, making his way to the front office.
When he arrives, there’s already someone there in the waiting room, a boy that looks to be his age. He has gravity defying purple hair, and tired eyes in a matching shade. He glances at Izuku, then does a double take. He blushes slightly. Izuku doesn’t mind. He was quite used to this reaction.
Izuku gives his name to the secretary at the desk, who tells him to take a seat while he waits for the guidance counselor to arrive and administer his test. Izuku nods, taking a seat one chair away from the boy. He sets his bag on his lap, fiddling with the keychain. In his peripheral vision, Izuku can see the boy sneaking glances at him.
“...Are you new here? I haven’t seen you around.”
Izuku nods.
“I’m Midoriya. What’s your name?”
“Shinsou. Nice keychain.”
Now it was Izuku’s turn to blush.
“Thanks. My dad got it for me.”
Izuku tries not to freak out about how he just called Present Mic his dad. Shinsou hums in acknowledgment. They lapse into a comfortable silence for a few moments before Shinsou speaks again.
“A word of advice? If you want to make friends here you shouldn’t be seen talking to me. You seem like a decent kid, I don’t want to drag you into being a social pariah with me.”
Izuku frowns.
“Why is that?”
Shinsou shrugs.
“People think I’m a villain.”
Izuku’s frown deepens.
“Why? You seem nice enough to me.”
Shinsou slouches in his seat.
“I have a villain’s quirk.”
Izuku gestures for him to elaborate. Shinsou hesitates for a moment.
“...It’s mind control. I understand if you don’t want to talk to me anymore.”
Shinsou slouches into his seat further, avoiding eye contact with Izuku.
“That’s really cool! How does it work?”
Shinsou blinks at him.
“Cool?”
“Yes, really cool! That’s not a villain’s quirk at all. I mean, any quirk can be a villain’s quirk if you think about it. But imagine the possibilities for hero work with your quirk! You could stop a villain attack by just mind controlling the villain into submission. Super cool! I bet you’d be a great underground hero!”
Shinsou looks taken aback. He looks at the floor. Izuku doesn’t take the hint, continuing to speak.
“Actually, my quirk is kind of similar! It’s not mind control exactly, but basically I just have to look into a person’s eyes and talk to them and they’ll listen to whatever I say. It’s pretty handy for getting people to leave me alone. How does your quirk work exactly? Is there some kind of activation requirement you have to meet, or can you just take control of a person’s mind right away? You know, I bet you could be a great therapist! Hypnosis would be so easy for you! But you should really consider hero work too! You’d be an amazing hero! I actually-”
“Midoriya, the counselor is ready for you.”
Izuku glances at the secretary, nodding and starting to collect his things. He turns back to Shinsou, smiling.
“I have to go, but I hope I can see you later. We should have lunch together. Actually…”
Izuku reaches into his bag, pulling a small piece of paper out and scribbling his number on it.
“Here! Text me whenever, I’d love to hear about your quirk!”
With that, he turns to follow the secretary into the guidance counselor’s room.