Awkward Energy - MinaDeku

The Truth

"U...Uraraka?"

"Oh, morning Deku! How'd you sleep?"

"I... I slept okay. I uh... Sorry to throw this on you first thing in the morning –"

"It's ten-thirty."

"... I need a favour."

"Sure. What d'you need?"

"I... I need you to tell everyone to meet me in the living space in an hour."

Somehow, when he said that to Uraraka, Izuku had felt once he was in front of his classmates, things would be easier to say to them. Like the words would become easier to string together the more he spoke. Almost like talking to her was practice at talking to people again, now that the excitement of arriving at the dorms had warn off. He was a little shaky, but that was more to do with the subject matter, rather than any inherent resurgence of his inability to speak to people.

The nerves were there before he met with his class, though that was to be expected. Anyone would be nervous in his position, so he didn't beat himself up over it too much. He kept rehearsing what he was going to say, a bit like he was about to perform a dreaded middle school presentation all over again. Presentations that had him feeling nothing but utter terror as he got up in front of about twenty unblinking, judging eyes who listened with unflinching focus as he spoke.

It had been a long time since then though. And he had improved a lot more when it came to public speaking, hadn't he?...

Now that he was here though, he was fully aware of just how wrong he had been.

Lying had been the one thing Izuku had always hated about getting his Quirk. It had always been a comparatively small price to pay, and he knew that he wasn't lying just to make things easier for himself and for All Might, and he wasn't doing it because there was some sort of immoral goings on around the Quirk. He understood the necessity of it. It didn't mean that he had to like it though.

That was why, in a way, everyone learning about the fact his power wasn't his was almost a relief. Because it meant that he could finally come clean about it.

He had never liked lying. It was just one of those things that he didn't like doing. It wasn't even that he was raised specially to despise lying, or had grown up where he'd be severely punished if he did lie. He just didn't like it. Honestly had always worked out for him, and he always did his best to be just that.

All Might's request had changed that. And even though he disliked it, really, who was he to argue with the man who bestowed such a great power onto him, and the number one Hero – His idol – At that? His mentor had been round much longer than he had, and he'd had One For All for longer than Izuku had been alive. He understood it all more. The Quirk, the world, the risks, and the dangers of this power falling into the wrong hands. There were certain dangers to being so open with One For All, risks that were just unavoidable due to the nature of the power in question. So when All Might asked him to keep it a secret, Izuku had agreed without question.

That secret was out now though.

It hadn't been a surprise at all that All Might had, to put it as leniently as possible, been concerned about Izuku's plan to reveal One For All officially to his classmates. He seemed to recognize that they couldn't hide the exact nature of the Quirk any longer. Toga's charade had blasted that option right out of their hands, but to be outright about it could still lead to troubles, and the less concern that there was about One For All, the better it would be in the long run. Not only for society, but for Izuku himself. Now, more than any other time since the green-haired boy inherited the Quirk they had to tread carefully, and be sure about what they were doing.