Nonchalant

Chapter 30

HAHA SURPRISE YALL EXTRA CHAPTER 

To make up for lacking

Love you guys and hope you enjoy <3

Izuku hated the hospital. How did he know? He could smell the distinct hospital smell of antiseptic, though it could be a nurse's office or someplace else. 

What else was there to say? It was the place where his life came crashing down. For a while, his mother had refused to accept his quirkless nature and would bring him to the pediatrician every day she could because she believed that he was wrong. Her baby was not useless. 

It turns out, he was.

It continued for almost a year, until the doctor had to ask her to leave and to not come back unless it was a real emergency. So she sought help from others. They told her the same unfortunate news, over and over again.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. He's quirkless."

"I'm afraid he has no quirk."

Izuku had heard those words so many times they were embedded in his head, just like many other words and phrases he'd heard throughout his life. Part of him was always hurt by it while part of him was numb.

He could tell he was asleep, though the dark expanse he was in could be death. He doubted Eraser Head would let him slip away so easily though, just like last time. He was a pro hero. It was his job.

Hello Izuku.

Hello to you too, subconscious. What memory will you show me today?

My, my. Someone's eager. Perhaps you enjoy reliving your worst moments, be it being talked down to like trash or getting kicked in the stomach behind the school?

Let's get it over with. He fell back and sank into the darkness.

Izuku knew this one well. It was his mother's birthday, and he was eight. He wanted to prepare something special for her, so he decided to bake her a cake. Her favorite was chocolate, which wasn't very hard to prepare. 

It wasn't too hard to measure the ingredients. It wasn't very difficult to bake the cake. It was fun to pipe the buttercream into pretty swirls. It wasn't annoying to wash the dishes.

Giving it to her was the hard part.

Balancing the tray in his hands, Izuku gently knocked on her door, waiting hesitantly. He heard her footsteps nearing him and she opened the door. His mother stared at him, then at the cake in his hands.

"H-happy Birthd-day..."

He wondered if it was the stutter that set her off.

His mother flung the cake to the side and slammed the door shut. Izuku stared at his destroyed creation, tears threatening to spill. Was it the cake? Was it ugly? Was it too big? Too small? 

No, it's because we were the ones to give it to her, Present Izuku thought as he watched himself pick up the pieces off the floor, salvaging what was still edible and cleaning everything else.

Eight-year-old Izuku packed the clean pieces into the fridge and set a smushed slice on a plate to eat. He knew what it tasted like, since he tried some before presenting it to his mother. It was sweet and chocolaty, but the dark cocoa flavor was more prominent. Just how she liked it. He liked it too. 

It tasted bittersweet.

Izuku couldn't stop the tears from falling, cascading down his face in big drops as he chewed his cake ruefully. 

Present Izuku felt himself getting sucked back into the dark place he was in originally, the voice coming back to taunt him.

You were so desperate back then. So eager to please your mother. You should've known that anything you did would never be enough.

I know that now.

Izuku woke up in a bright room. 

His face mask was off. His hoodie was gone. 

He was completely exposed.

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 Aizawa could not believe this. Any of this. 

Kuzu-no, Izuku.

It was him all along. All these years. 

He had cursed himself so many times tonight. 

Recovery Girl knew about this vigilante, as did all the other staff in UA, so she didn't hesitate to set up her office right away. She instructed him to set Kuzu on the bed. 

He was so pale, he looked dead.

Shut up, me.

Recovery Girl then proceeded to shoo him out of the office, despite his suggestions of being an assistant or just spectating.

"You'd go insane with worry. Stay outside, I'm good at what I do."

She wasn't wrong, but staying outside didn't lessen his troubled thoughts.

After a few hours, Recovery Girl opened the door. Aizawa shot up and would've ran inside if she didn't stop him.

"It wasn't too bad. He'll be fine after a week of rest."

Aizawa breathed a sigh of relief as she continued. 

"He's malnourished and exhausted so he needs food and sleep. I would have called Nezu, but I doubt the kid will want to see him when he wakes up."

Aizawa pointed at the door. "Can I... see him?"

Recovery Girl nodded. He went inside and pulled the curtain, not knowing what to expect.

Oh, no. He knew who this was. 

The green curly hair. Those unforgettable freckled cheeks that resembled diamonds, which now seemed like gems on a bed of snow; his face was that pale.

It was Midoriya.

He was alive.

He was breathing right before his eyes. If Recovery Girl was saying something, he wouldn't have heard. All he could see was the kid before him, slightly taller but still thin. 

Aizawa drew the curtain back. 

"It's Midoriya. Midoriya Izuku. The one from two years ago who threw himself off buildings a lot. I thought he was dead!" Aizawa rambled. Recovery Girl's eyes widened. He paced around the room, his thoughts and emotions like a whirlpool.

"But he disappeared when he was 10, and Kuzu appeared two years after. So what happened then? Where was he? What happened? What-"

Recovery Girl knocked him with her cane. "We'll talk about this outside. We don't want to wake him up.

He followed after his colleague, dazed and confused.