Izuku wakes up in an unfamiliar place. The blank white walls remind him of his childhood bedroom. The same bedroom where his mother used to beat the shit out of him if he misbehaved. Izuku can feel his heart rate pick up and his muscles freeze in terror.
He tries to move his arms, but there is something around his wrists holding him there. Izuku starts to panic immediately. He HATES things touching his wrists. He struggles but the restraints won't come off! He starts to scream. All of his senses are dulled, so he doesn't immediately notice when the door opens and Eraserhead rushes in. Izuku try to see through the tears and hear what the blob of a human in front of him is saying, but he can't. The roaring in his ears won't go away.
---
Aizawa hears screaming down the hallway. For God's sake, he only went to the bathroom for five minutes! He runs into Midoriya's room to see the kid thrashing around and screaming his head off. Aizawa walks to the bed and tries talking to him.
"Kid! Hey, you're safe! Calm down, it's okay!" It's useless. The boy can't hear him.
He does the only thing he can think of and undoes the restraints keeping the vigilante from running away again. Immediately, the boy's hands go to his chest and he starts scratching at his wrists. The screaming stops and instead, he curls into a ball and cries. Aizawa reaches over to rub circles on his back, trying to help him relax.
Midoriya's ragged breathing slows and his sobs abate into silent tears. He goes back to laying on his back, hands still kept close to his chest.
"You with me, kid?" Aizawa asks.
"Y-yeah," he stutters and takes a deep, shaky breath. "Where am I?"
"You're at a hospital. We found you bleeding out on the floor of your old house and rushed you here."
Midoriya pulls up his shirt to see what remains of the knife wound. He looks a bit troubled at the sight of the mostly healed scar and puts his shirt down after a moment.
"I can't pay for this..." he starts.
Aizawa thought the look on the boy's face was because of his newest scar, but apparently, that didn't seem to phase him at all. Problem child.
"What do you want them to do? Reopen it? Don't worry kid, it's all taken care of. Do you remember any of what happened?" Aizawa asks, relief starting to show through his features. Midoriya obviously remembers getting attacked, but does he remember the events that led up to it?
"I-I was walking away from capturing three criminals when I felt someone behind me. I kicked them and they fell and hit their head. I went to check on them when..." his eyes go glassy.
"When what?" He refocuses.
"When they slashed open my stomach, kicked me in the face, and stomped on my leg. I walked to my old house to get a first aid kit when I collapsed. Looking back, I guess a first aid kit wouldn't have done much good, would it?" he laughs weakly.
"No, it wouldn't," Aizawa agrees, smiling slightly.
The door to the room opens and Recovery Girl walks in. She's been in the room at least seven times already to heal the boy.
"Hello there!" she says to Midoriya. "How are you feeling?"
Midoriya looks a bit panicked. Probably because he can't hide behind his vigilante persona.
"It's okay, kid. She's with us. And the only person other than the pros who went to find you and the police chief that know your identity," the hero reassures him.
Midoriya relaxes his shoulders. "I'm fine," he says.
"Okay, so, your stomach is fully healed aside from a scar, your nose and leg are no longer broken but are a bit bruised, and your arm is fully healed," Recovery Girl says with pride.
Healing that kid's broken body as well as she did was definitely something to be proud of.
"Wow, thank you!" Midoriya says, smiling. "You really didn't have to go through all that trouble for me," he says quietly.
"It was really no trouble, my dear boy! You needed help and I helped you. I will see you around!" She exits.
He sits there confused for a while.
"What did she mean, 'I will see you around'?" Midoriya asks.
Great, Aizawa really wished to save this conversation for later.
---
Izuku is panicking over Recovery Girl's words. Why did she say that she'd see him around? It's not like he was planning on being fatally injured again. What are they hiding?
"Well, you see, I kind of enrolled you in UA High School. Recovery Girl, that healer, works there. So, you'll probably... see her around," Eraser says, keeping his eyes on the wall next to Izuku.
"You enrolled me in UA? Why? I don't even have a quirk! I mean, nobody has ever heard of a quirkless hero. Even as a vigilante, everybody assumed I had a quirk and that I just kept it hidden or didn't use it for some other reason. That's not even to mention my vigilanteism! No hero would accept me as a student after all I've done. Sure, I've never killed before, but I've injured people. My methods aren't very heroic, either. I also can't just leave my vigilante job. Crime rates will skyrocket! I also probably know everything school-related that you are going to teach so why even bother?" Izuku mutters.
"You done?" Eraser asks.
Izuku nods his head, embarrassed.
"Well, you have already proven that you are an incredible force to be reckoned with, even without a quirk. Your techniques could use a little critiquing, however, which is why you are enrolled in the hero course. I am sure the heroes would be happy to work alongside you as long as you don't go overboard. As for your vigilanteism, we can discuss that later."
Izuku's still not sure about this. Ha! Like he even has a choice! If he doesn't go, what are his options? The heroes already know too much about him and he doesn't have the money to find somewhere else to go. He could always live on the run, but that sounds exhausting.
"Okay, fine," Izuku says, surprising Eraser with his compliance. "But, a few things..."
Eraserhead's face drops into deadpan expression. "Of course there are conditions," he rolls his eyes.
"First, I am not giving up being a vigilante. You saw how much crime went up when I was away. Second, I already have my GED and several bachelor's degrees so I don't want any homework. It would be a distraction from vigilante stuff, anyways. Third, I want all my stuff back and any security removed from my warehouse."
Eraser sighs. "We will talk to Principal Nezu about your vigilanteism, and I'm sure it would be okay to skip out on homework. We'll give you your stuff back, but you can't move back into that warehouse."
"Why not!?" Izuku can't lose the only place he's called home for the past seven years!
"Let's see, you have been illegally getting water and electricity sent to the warehouse, you are underage, and you have been using it as a base of operations for illegal activities. It's also not safe for a kid to be living far away from everyone, all by themselves," Eraserhead says.
"I can take care of myself!" he couldn't argue with the other points the hero made.
"Kid, we just found you half-dead in a pool of your own blood not 24 hours ago!"
Shit, Izuku forgot about that.
"Well, then where am I supposed to stay?" he asks.
"UA just built dorms so you would have a room there. Also, if you don't want to stay there, you could always stay at my place. Eri has been talking about you nonstop since the day we brought her home. She'd really love to see you."
Memories of his encounter with the adorable little girl flash through his head. It makes him happy to know that she has a kind and supportive family.
"Okay," he says.
---
After Izuku is discharged from the hospital, he and Eraserhead take the latter's car to the Aizawa household. It's been a quiet ten minutes and Izuku has a question gnawing at his mind.
"Hey, Eraserhead?"
"You can just call me Aizawa if you like," he says.
"Alright. Aizawa, what is high school like?" Izuku asks.
Aizawa seems taken aback for a moment before he realizes that Izuku hasn't gone to an actual school in seven years.
"Well, you went to school when you were younger, right?" he asks.
"Yeah, but that was only for a few years a long time ago. I'm also pretty sure that high school is going to be a lot different than elementary school."
"You'd be right about that. First of all, the classes will be more advanced, but it seems like you've got that handled. Everyone in your class will be the same age as you and you will remain with that class through the duration of high school. You'll be starting at the end of the year so your classmates will have been training their quirks all year. I would say to watch out for that during the hero training, but you could probably take most, if not all of them, out easily."
Damn. He sure has a lot of faith in his students, doesn't he?
"How many kids are there at the school?" Izuku asks.
"Around 700 students, I think," he says.
That's a lot of kids. Izuku feels his breathing quicken as he thinks about being in the same building as that many kids. The most people he's ever encountered at once was a maximum of twenty at the cafe, and even then it put him on edge.
"What's wrong?" Aizawa asks, picking up on the boy's panicked state.
"It's just that I'm not good around people. The most people I've been around has been at the cafe and you've seen how dead that place usually is. I don't know if I can even keep it together."
"I'm sure you'll be fine. Most everyone at UA is nice and your classmates will surely help you out if you need it. Just a perk of being in a class with aspiring heroes."
"Then why am I in that class? I don't really want to be a hero."
"Well, heroes get paid and don't get chased down by other heroes. I thought you might find that enticing."
"Fair enough."
"Going back to the cafe, you used an alias: Arashi Hodaka. Why'd you pick that name?"
"It means 'Stormy Sky'. I don't know why, but it's always resonated with me. Kind of like how the sky can be beautiful but can turn dark at any moment, kind of alluding to my double-life."
The pair pull up to Aizawa's house. No sooner than they exit the car does the front door fly open, and a smiling Eri comes running out.
"Daddy, daddy look what I made!" She holds up a marker drawing of what looks like a sunset.
"That's gorgeous, sweetie!" Aizawa says and picks the girl up. "I'd like you to meet someone," he says.
Eri looks down at Izuku from her dad's arms.
"Actually, we've met before," he says.
"Tsuki!" she shouts.
Surprise shows on both Izuku and Aizawa's faces. How does she know?
"I remember your voice from when you rescued me! You turned off that funny-looking mask and talked to me with your real voice!"
Right, he did do that.
"I missed you!" she says and reaches for me from Aizawa's arms.
Aizawa hands her over to the teen and she gives him a hug.
"I missed you, too."
Maybe this won't be so bad.
"Hey, dad!" a voice shouts from the front door. There's a kid who looks around Izuku's age with purple hair. "Pops lit the kitchen on fire!"
"Not again, Hizashi!" Aizawa says and runs inside.
Izuku's not entirely sure what to do so he walks up the driveway with Eri still in his arms.
"Who are you?" the purple-haired kid asks.
"I'm... uh..." Izuku struggles for an answer.
"Do you not know your own name?" he asks, staring at the green-haired teen on his doorstep.
"Well, I have three," Izuku says.
"Alright, come inside, all of you," Aizawa says from within the house.
The purple-haired kid moves aside and watches Izuku as he goes inside.
"Midoriya, this is Hitoshi. Hitoshi, this is Izuku Midoriya." Aizawa uses the vigilante's birth name when doing introductions. It's not like it bothers Izuku, it's just weird to not have to hide it anymore.
"Nice to meet you, Hitoshi," Izuku says.
"Yeah, same," Hitoshi grunts. He's a lot like Aizawa.
"HELLO, LITTLE LISTENERS!!!" Present Mic screeches as he enters the room.
"Hizashi, what did I say about using your quirk in the house?" Aizawa asks tiredly.
"OOPS, SOrry. Hey!" Aizawa uses his erasure quirk to make Mic quieter.
"Hold up! You're that vigilante kid from the warehouse!" Mic says, pointing at Izuku with a stupid grin.
Hitoshi stares at the new kid with a look of realization and seems to warm up to him instantly.
"Hizashi, his name is Izuku Midoriya, not 'that vigilante kid'," Aizawa says, unamused.
"Nice to formally meet you Present Mic," Izuku says awkwardly. The only other time they met was when Izuku knocked the hero out with sleeping gas at his warehouse.
"Call me Yamada! It's good to make your acquaintance!" Even with his quirk turned off, the voice hero is still really loud.
"Midoriya is going to be staying here whenever he doesn't want to live at the UA dorms. Hitoshi, can you show him to the old spare bedroom, please?"
Hitoshi grunts and starts walking through the house. Izuku puts down Eri and follows him at a safe distance. He simultaneously works on memorizing the new layout.
The boys walk through the living area, through the kitchen, up a flight of stairs, and to the room that has become Izuku's, which is at the end of the hallway on the left.
At the sight of his new room, tears prick Izuku's eyes. He has never felt so taken care of in his life. Sure, he had the warehouse, but it got really lonely sometimes. He also had a room back at his old house, but that was more like a prison cell. This room is different. It feels safe. The soothing robin egg blue color of the walls, the queen-sized bed with tastefully patterned sheets, and a small balcony protruding from the far end of the room make the whole situation seem unreal. Does he really deserve this? He's only been here a few minutes, but it already feels like home.
"How do you like it?" Hitoshi asks from behind him.
"It's perfect," Izuku says.
Hitoshi notices the wetness of the other boy's eyes and the slight tremor in his voice.
"What's wrong?" he asks, an eyebrow raised.
"Nothing! I swear. This is just so... I can't describe it. It's just perfect."
The two of them stand there in silence for a minute. Izuku can see Hitoshi itching to ask him something.
"What?" Izuku asks, as vague as can be.
"So you're a vigilante?" the other boy asks in turn. Wow, straight to the point.
"Yeah," Izuku says. He doesn't know how much Aizawa has told Hitoshi about him so it's probably best to let Hitoshi ask the questions.
"What made you become a vigilante?" he asks. Damn, he's certainly not holding back with his questions.
Izuku walks over to the bed and sits down, suddenly tired, yet eager nonetheless, from the conversation yet to happen, a conversation he's been waiting a long time for someone else to care enough to initiate.
"Well, it's kind of a long story, and something I still struggle with... But since we're going to be living together, I guess I should probably tell you." Izuku takes a deep breath. Hitoshi moves to sit next to him, giving Izuku a supportive nod. "I guess it all started when I found out I didn't have a quirk."
"Wait, hold up! You're telling me that one of the most famous vigilantes in all of Japan doesn't have a freaking quirk?!" Hitoshi balks.
Izuku laughs at his reaction. "Yes, yes I am. Anyways, the doctor told me I didn't have a quirk. Of course, my parents were furious with those results." Izuku was also devastated, but he quickly realized his feelings about it didn't matter because his parents were too busy being angry to notice. "My father just up and left the next morning while my mother stayed." He wishes she'd gone with him.
He takes a deep breath and continues. "After my father left, I was the only one she could blame. She blamed me for him leaving, for being quirkless, for struggling in school, and for random other things like the weather. That woman blamed the world on me, and the only way she could get rid of the pain she was feeling was to inflict it upon me. To put it in simpler terms, she became abusive."
Izuku lets the words sink in for a minute, as much for himself as Hitoshi. Hitoshi's eyes widen and hold a glimmer of sadness and... understanding?
"The woman went through all that work to put me through hell, but never lifted a finger to do anything else. I was the one in charge of cleaning, shopping, cooking. She left everything to me while she would lounge around the house, bottle in her hand. It did make living on my own a lot easier, though, but that happens a little later. Anyway," Izuku pulls himself back on track, "the bullying at school got really bad. Almost nobody would go near me because they thought being quirkless was contagious. The ones who did go near me used to beat me up." And leave him bloody and broken on the school's front lawn.
"Nobody tried to help you?" Hitoshi asks, unknowingly keeping Izuku from spiraling too deep into his elementary school memories.
"No. I told my mom but she just said that I deserved it. Teachers saw but did nothing to stop it. Nobody ever stops to help the quirkless kid, they're not worth the energy." Izuku felt like absolute garbage every day and nobody gave a shit. "I was worthless, a burden to society. I was better off dead. Did you know that 90% of quirkless people commit suicide before the age of 18?"
"But you didn't..." Hitoshi reponds, eyes pleading for him to continue.
"Death is something that I have contemplated many times throughout my life. Although in my case, those thoughts are pretty much unavoidable. I think the closest I got to attempting was the day of the fire. I was running late to school after being roughed up by my mom. So, the day was already off to a pretty crappy start. The day went along per usual, kids either physically attacking me or avoiding me. Classes finally ended and my childhood friend, my biggest bully, told me to jump off the roof. I won't lie, I thought about it. I almost turned right back around to go find the roof access when I was attacked by a sludge villain. He wanted to use me as his vessel." Izuku shivers and takes a long breath.
"I was about to fall unconscious when All Might showed up. I was convinced he was there to save me, to make sure I was okay. But, no. He just took out the villain and prepared to leave. You see, he was my idol. He was the one person I aspired to be. I stopped him and asked if I could be a hero even though I didn't have a quirk... He said no and disappeared."
"What a dick!" Hitoshi yells.
Izuku laughs. "Yup, it was a pretty dick move. The man just casually crushes my dreams, then takes off. " He sobers. "After that, I had no idea what to do. I felt completely useless. Worthless. Alone. I thought that maybe if All Might didn't save me, the world would have been a better place.
When I returned home, the house was up in smoke." That fire was the most beautiful and terrifying thing Izuku had ever seen. He remembers wishing he was there when it went up. "I heard a fireman on the radio say that my mother and I were dead." If only that were true. But, it wasn't. "I, of course, was still alive. I wanted to stay out of the foster care system because nobody is going to want a child without a quirk, so I did the only thing I could think of... run away. I holed up in an abandoned warehouse. I reflected on my life and decided it just wasn't worth living anymore. The world already thought I was dead, anyway. But then I realized the opportunity my situation provided me. At that point, I knew couldn't be a hero anymore. But, I could become someone with their own rules, who saved everyone, regardless of quirk, money, or opportunity for fame. That day, I found out what the best path was for me. That day, I knew what I wanted to become... a vigilante."