The Formula for Villainy

Clatter Clatter on the Hallway Floor

A picture of himself, Uraraka and Iida in the cafeteria together. Uraraka has her big, cheesy grin on and is giving the peace sign. He's in the centre, matching her grin with a toothy smile with his arms outstretches to take the selfie. And then, there's Iida. In the background, just smiling nicely like the polite boy he is. His best friend and his boyfriend, those who give him the courage to struggle on no matter the strength of his adversary. Even when the adversary is the sports festival.

"Stop it," he scolds himself, sniffling into his hand. "I can't cry at everything!"

There's a soft knock on the door.

"Come in!" Izuku calls happily, wiping his tears on his uniform sleeves. Whoever it is, probably a friend here to wish him well, he wants to show how well he's handling the festival. Take it with a smile, just like All Might.

The clicking of the handle is even softer than the knock. Aizawa's blank expression worries him more than it should. There's a lingering melancholy in the teacher's eyes Izuku can't place, but can identify all too well. The trepidation of delivering bad news. "Huh, Mr Aizawa?" his toothy smile falls to a confused frown. "Excuse me but, what are you doing here?"

The man's face concealed by darkness, the door opens further to shine light upon the smooth tears at the edges of his eyes. The bandages around his face can't conceal such despair. "Midoriya, please follow me," he walks away from the door, disappearing into the corridor.

Izuku grabs his earphones and runs after his teacher, who's stride has him halfway down the corridor already. Or did he run? It would have been odd to run just to that one spot and stand s still to wait for him. "Mr Aizawa, sorry but what's all this about?" he asks innocently, brows furrowed in worry. Something isn't right, he has a knack for analysing people. For reading their emotions. And Aizawa is acting off, in a way he never knew possible for the withdrawn hero.

"To the hospital,"

"The hospital?" Izuku gasps, more in confusion than anything.

"Yes, keep up. There's an escort waiting for us,"

*

When Izuku arrives, his boyfriend is sitting on one of the blue plastic chairs in this depressing waiting room. The chairs don't even have armrests, Iida's hands are clenched into fists on his lap, drawing up the cloth of his PE trousers. His face is pale, deep bags under his eyes and an expression of pure horror. He looks like he hasn't slept in weeks, or like a fire alarm just startled him from a nap. Tears fall, but his face is drained not only of colour, but anything resembling sentience.

"Tenya?" Izuku sits in the chair beside him. Iida looks like a fragile vase, thinly blown glass just dried. A slight wind would shatter him. Aizawa was silent the entire ride, he hasn't been told anything. He places his hand on Iida's, the skin is so warm his own fingers feel like ice. "What's going on, Tenya?"

Iida looks like he's about to explode. Like he's holding in a burst of blue charge to propel him 50 mph into the wall by his engines. "My brother... he's been hurt. We don't know if he's going to make it,"

"I'm so sorry!" Izuku wraps around Iida's shoulders, crying into his nape. It's enough to trigger sobs from the larger too. The chains of shock no longer bind him. His emotions flood to the bottomless pit of despair passing between him and Izuku. "What happened?!"

"Hey kid," Yamada whistles Izuku over, who slides his arm off his boyfriend's shoulders with reluctance. Approaching his teacher, he jumps in for a hug too.

"Iida's in shock," Izuku didn't think Mic's voice could be so gentle and quiet. "It was a violent attack, his brother is suffering severe injuries. He might die. Just... try to comfort him for now, okay? I don't think anyone else could get through to him,"