●~Not All There Anymore |REWRITTEN|~●

|5| Unremarkable

Izuku keeps quiet for a while. It definitely wasn't a rhetorical question, but even opening his mouth feels like too much of an effort at the moment.

After a few minutes of walking, Aizawa heaves a sigh and stops. Izuku, taking the hint, stops as well, looking at the floor.

"Midoriya, a few months ago you said you were safe and taken care of in that house." Izuku kept his gaze steadily on the white and blue tiles of the floor, counting the brown speckles. "Is the same still true?"

And oh, how Izuku wants to say it's not. He wants to say that the food is basically poison, wants to tell his homeroom teacher that he's hit and yelled at, that his brother gets hit even more because Izuku can't keep his stupid mouth shut. He wants to tell Aizawa that he can barely eat anymore, that he feels like spiraling, that his panic attacks only become more frequent.

Because it's common knowledge across the entire campus of UA that lying to Shouta Aizawa is futile, pointless, and irrational. That the underground will find out sooner or later, and it's better to just spit it out when he asks.

Instead, Izuku puts on his best smile and shakes his head. "Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

•~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~•

"You're gonna love her," Izuku said happily, swinging his arms as he walked. Ryuko walked next to him, hands stuffed into pockets.

"Sure I will," Ryuko said with a lazy smile. It was cloudy out, and chilly. For once, Izuku had taken his jacket with him, and Ryuko wore a brown one with holes in it.

There weren't very many people out on the streets, and the clouds warned of rain to come. The news said it was supposed to be bad, but Izuku doubted that it would do any real damage. After all, even the weather forecast loved to exaggerate.

Izuku beamed, speeding up as the tall white hospital came into view. "Come on come on come on!" Izuku laughed, tugging Ryuko with him. Ryuko smirked, letting the smaller tug him along.

Izuku opened the doors, pulling Ryuko to the front desk. He had to check him in, seeing as he wasn't a relative. Well, he wasn't biologically.

"Hi, Ms. Koniko!" Izuku said happily to the woman at the reception desk, who had light blonde hair and pale blue eyes. Koniko looked up, smiling.

"Ah, hello Izuku-" she suddenly cut herself off, her smile melting off her face at the sight of him. "Oh, Izuku. Ah, we should... probably talk outside."

Izuku tilted his head slightly to the side as his eyes narrowed in confusion. "Um... okay?"

Izuku and Ryuko followed Koniko out to the front of the hospital, standing just outside the doors.

"What's up, Ms. Koniko?" Izuku asked with a smile. Oh, maybe this was good news! Maybe Mom was almost done with treatment and rehab! The sad frown on the nurse's face told him otherwise.

Izuku changed his course of thought. Okay, maybe there was a setback. That's fine, he could wait a couple months.

Koniko hesitated, sparing a glance at a very confused and uncomfortable looking Ryuko. "Well, I'm sure it's information you'd rather hear privately..."