Shouta curled up in his sleeping bag on the couch in the break room. Only God knew how much he needed a nap. This years applicants seemed strong enough. None of them really caught his eye other than the one kid who scored first with explosions, but that's the props in having a "flashy Quirk".
There was one kid who got in solely on rescue points after saving a girl. He had a mental Quirk, so that caught his eye. There was one kid who was placed in his class who had a perverted look to him. Shouta thinks he'll be gone by the end of the first week.
Hizashi walked in and saw him there. "Hey, Shou! You ready setting up your classroom for this year?"
Shouta groaned in response.
"Aww. I'm sorry Shouta. I'll help you out this year. I know you'll miss the free time you had last year," Hizashi said.
Last year Shouta had expelled his entire class and the free time he had was amazing. He didn't see any potential in any of them and there's a point where you just have to let them go. Too many people wanted to be heroes for selfish reasons and it set a bad taste on his tongue.
It'd been seven years and he still thought a little boy had more potential. Izuku... He'd only known the kid for a few hours and he was already attached. That didn't happen to him, he wasn't the type of person to get attached to people quickly.
But this one small child had managed to be so memorable after one day.
Shouta thought about him often. He was supposed to watch one Quirkless boy for just one night until Tsukauchi came the next morning, and when he came back he was gone.
He liked to trick himself in believing Izuku ran away and grew up and got a job. That he was living a normal happy life as a young fifteen year old boy. But his mind told him otherwise.
The room had been left as a disaster. And there were clear signs of a struggle, not to mention the strange dust found on the carpet by the blanket.
He just didn't want to believe it.
Bringing himself back to reality, he looked to his husband with a grateful smile. "Thanks that'd be great."
Hizashi smiled back at him and went back to his desk to get his papers. There was a lot to be done in preparation of the new school year. Shouta had to move on with life. The world kept spinning and time kept moving forward. If he stayed stuck in the past, he'd get left behind.
Shouta just had to keep hoping that; wherever the problem child was, he was safe and happy.
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Izuku shifted on the bare dirtied mattress that lay on the floor of a small cemented room. The ceiling had wooden rafters that were too high to reach and looked so old that they might collapse on him. It smelled of dank rotting flesh and blood in there but the smell had long since became nose blind to him.
The room was tiny, so much so that he could touch the sides of it without moving his feet when standing.
There were no windows in the room and the only lightbulb had been busted years ago after one particularly rough beating session. A large thick wooden door was on the right side of the room, the other side full of monsters that called themselves humans.
He was human. They were just murderers.
Izuku curled up in a ball under the thin half moth eaten blanket. It barley kept away the chilly draft but it was better than nothing, right? He played with the hem of his shirt. It was a black band shirt with short sleeves, it was covered in dirt and his own blood but it was still baggy on him.
He guessed it was because he was so thin and small or the fact the person who gave it to him was an adult. Him. He was so kind. Izuku can't really remember his name, it'd been so long and he didn't think he even told the greenette his name. He remembers Present Mic, though. He made yummy stir fry for him and complimented his analysis skills.
His analysis.
The reason he was trapped in that room in the first place.
Because he was such a dumbass that he left full blown analysis of random people, some actual heroes, in restaurants and other public places for anyone to pick up. For Kurogiri to pick up.
Izuku fiddled his hands with the shock collar. It fit snugly, if not tightly, at his neck. He loathed it with all his being.
Especially the person who put it on him.
Like he was some sort of pet dog.
The worst part was that he couldn't pull at it or it'd shock him and alert Shigaraki. It also shocked him when he left the perimeter of the bar without Shigaraki, but that never happened. He's tried to escape before but was caught before he even made it to the door.
Punishments were always hard.
Shigaraki had a remote control for the collar and could shock him whenever he wanted. For punishment it was just one whole mess of pain. From the collar and getting beat up at the same time, sometimes they did it just for laughs and said it was because Izuku had been bad.
It left him tired and drained of all happiness. At that point he couldn't really remember what it felt to be happy. He knew he was happy with Present Mic and that other hero.
Maybe they forgot about him?
We're they looking for him?
Izuku snuggled up with the beat up and tattered stuffed bear beside it. It was something Kurogiri gave him when he was little because he had been good about following orders. Kurogiri might've been the only one who kept him sane, really.
He would sneak into Izuku's cell with books when Shigaraki was gone and teach Izuku to be smarter. He learned math and science and reading and all kinds of things from the books.
Kurogiri didn't tell him what level of learning he was at. All he told him was that he had to keep getting smarter if he was going to be useful to the League.
Izuku ignored the why.
He liked to think Kurogiri was teaching him because he actually cared.
The green haired boy stroked the head of the dirty bear and hugged it closely. He didn't want to loose it.
Sometimes he would use the bear as a pillow because he didn't have one. The bear didn't mind obviously, it was a stuffed bear.
The darkness creeped around him, consuming him whole like a blanket. He wasn't afraid of the dark anymore. The darkness kept Shigaraki away from him.
That was until he heard the door unlock from the outside. It opened with a creak and the hallway light flooded in. It painted the walls and showed new colors of dark red dried blood and dirt.
Shigaraki stood at the threshold of his cell with a wide and sinister smile. "Good morning, brat," He spoke.
Izuku scrambled to the corner of cell with his legs curled into himself in a weak attempt of defense. The man walked in a step and was already standing in the middle of the room. It was a very small cell.
He reached down and gripped Izuku by his now long curly hair and dragged him outside and into the bar, making sure to only use four fingers. No customers were there, just him, Shigaraki, and Kurogiri. The man of purple mist stood behind the bar, with his signature blank face as Shigaraki threw him onto the floor.
"I got a new gob for you," Shigaraki said. He pulled out a composition notebook and an ink pen. "New target. All Might."
Izuku felt his blood run cold. They'd asked him to write analysis on many heroes before. Sometimes even other villains that pissed Shigaraki off. He never knew if the people they asked him to analyze were still alive or not.
If not then Izuku played part in murder and it broke him in ways that he couldn't explain in words. He essentially killed them. He looked at Shigaraki in horror and violently shook his head no.
"You don't want to?" Shigaraki asked angrily. "And what makes you think you have a choice?" The sound of him looking in his pocket made Izuku stiff with fear. He pulled out a small slim rectangular remote. There were tiny buttons on it that Izuku never really could tell apart.
He waved the remote tauntingly in front of Izuku before pressing the first button. Izuku felt a wave of shock shoot through his body like lightning and he opened his mouth to scream for it to stop, but no sound came out. He spasmed on the floor and shook as the electricity wore off and he was left panting and sweating.
Izuku's throat was already sore before and now if felt like fire. He didn't think he could talk even if he wanted to.
"Did you learn your lesson, brat?" Shigaraki asked. "Or do you need to have more?"
Giving Izuku the notebook and pen, he backed off. Kurogiri sat him down at the bar stool and turned on the tv as he did every time Izuku analyzed someone. He would've said he didn't need it this time but he didn't really want to speak. Speaking was against the rules, and his throat hurt so he just stayed silent.
Not like he could speak, anyway.
He hadn't seen the face of the number one hero in so many years, it was like seeing a family member after years. He knew that it was him, but he didn't recognize him.
Izuku stared at his face for a moment. He guessed a part of him did hate All Might a little, for not saving him. But the feeling never lasted long. No one knew where he was or if he was still alive so why would All Might think about him? He could never really hate his idle.
The pen in his hands raced across the paper. Points and facts coming clear. The tv news showed clips of All Might using his Quirk and capturing villains. He analyzed the screen closely.
He wanted to put fake information to protect All Might. To save him. But the last time he tried to do that, the hand man knew exactly why he failed. The scars across his arms were testament enough of what had happened. The hero died in the hospital anyway, even after he wrote the fake information.
What was the point in trying anymore?
Izuku would just have to trust that the number one hero would survive.
After he was done, four pages filled the notebook about All Might. Front to back. Shigaraki looked over the notebook with glee and changed the input of the tv. He held up the notebook to the tv with a smile. "Isn't it great, Sensei! Is the information right? You wanted to see his abilities again, didn't you? Isn't it great!"
Izuku felt stiff in his seat. Sensei was scary with an ominous aura to him. He was like pure evil itself. Sensei hadn't really shown much interest in him in years since Izuku was given to Shigaraki. But now he wanted to see what he could do?
"Kurogiri, send the notebook over to me," A voice from the tv sounded. Izuku felt more scared than he did in his whole life. Shigaraki handed the notebook to Kurogiri, who then made a warp gate and left for a few moments.
Shigaraki then apparently saw it was time for Izuku to go and dragged him away again by his hair. The boy was thrown back into his small cell and locked in once more.
Why did the universe hate him so much?
Izuku curled back up on the mattress with the blanket and stuffed bear, trying not to cry. He couldn't make noise. Noise made Shigaraki angry and he didn't want him to come back.
He choked on his quiet sobs while leaning against the wall. Hopefully, Sensei will be merciful and just kill him.
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Izuku opened his eyes slowly to be met with the same darkness of his small cell just like every other day. It was still chilly in there but Izuku has spent enough time in the cold that he didn't bother caring anymore.
He'd been in much colder rooms with less clothing on.
The baggy band shirt he wore tugged at his waist and he wished he could tie it with a rubber band to fit better.
Not knowing what time it was, Izuku sat up. He noted that he'd accidentally used his stuffed bear as a pillow again. Picking up the bear he put it in his lap and sat with his back against the hard wall and started to count.
He would count as high as he could before starting over if he messed up. It kept his mind occupied so he wouldn't just be sitting there. Of course the counting was in his mind, he hadn't said a real word in years.
They always say that if you never speak, you loose your voice. And to that, Izuku says it's true. About a month prior Shigaraki complained about how Izuku didn't scream anymore and how it was annoying, and Izuku tried to say something in response but all that came out was a hoarse noise like whisper.
One time a costumer at the bar who happened to be a villain gave him a cigarette out of curiosity and said, "You look like you need it more, kid." When Izuku put it in his mouth, he breathed in and coughed out smoke. His throat felt like molten led had been dropped down his mouth. Talking had been even more of a pain to do after that.
The counting lasted for hours and he lost count a lot after reaching the higher digits, having to then start over. At some point he decided to test himself and count backwards from a thousand.
He made it to eighty-three before the tell tale sound of his cell being unlocked was heard. Out of panic or instinct, he backed away to the corner of the small room and shielded himself with his arms. The door opened and Izuku could see the light flood in from the hallway, but there were no steps coming in.
Izuku didn't dare look up in fear that if he looked them in the eye he would be punished, it's happened before.
The voice of Kurogiri spoke softly from the threshold. "I would advise standing. There is a task you must complete."
He looked up to be met with the deep mysterious yellow eyes of the man made of smoke. He stood there patiently waiting for Izuku to stand up. Deciding he didn't want to test that patience, he got to his bare feet and hugged his sides. On his face was a look of complete neutrality, with not a hint of what he was thinking.
Kurogiri might tell Shigaraki if he shows fear and then it will get the handman riled up.
Izuku followed him through the base and led him to a large bare room. He looked to Kurogiri questioningly as the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a dagger like knife.
Handing it to him, he left. Izuku looked down at the small dagger in his hand. He walked around before wincing and stepping away with a hiss of pain. Looking down, he sees that he'd stepped on a piece of glass.
His foot bled but he pushed the pain to the back of his mind. It was then he noticed that the floor was covered in glass. Spots were open to step safely but a wrong move would lead to pain.
Izuku looked back over to the door when Shigaraki entered. He wore a normal long sleeved black shirt and black pants with his silver blue hair tied back. Izuku also noted how he was wearing his red sneakers while Izuku was left barefoot.
The hand that usually covered his face was missing and Izuku saw the dried skin of his face and the scar on his lip and eye.
Bringing out a knife, Shigaraki held it in front of him with his three fingered gloved hand. At that point Izuku was very confused. Why did he bring me in here? Is he going to kill me?
Shigaraki walked out onto the floor of glass shards and stood opposite of the greenette. With a bored expression, he leapt forwards in an attempt to attack.
Out of reflex, Izuku brought his dagger up and blocked it. He should've known there would be no explanation. The silver haired man backed off and attacked once more, staying on the offense and forcing Izuku into defense.
He struck the boy with his fist during an opening and Izuku was knocked off his feet. He fell back onto the glass on felt it pierce his skin. Crimson spilled onto the floor and Izuku struggled to his knees after finding spots clean of glass to put his hands. "Get the fuck up, brat!" Shigaraki yelled as he kicked Izuku in the stomach.
More glass shards stabbed Izuku as he hit the ground. He pulled himself to his feet painfully slow and looked at Shigaraki in fear.
Shigaraki put the knife in front of him again and rushed forward once more. His knife grazed his face and Izuku grabbed his arm and threw him with whatever strength he still had. Sadly, the man did not get knocked off his feet as Izuku had wanted, and stopped his fall with his front foot and balanced himself.
The man looked back at him with shadowed eyes and smirked. Without another word, he rushed Izuku once more. Izuku kept getting his feet swept from under him and the more he did, the more lacerations he got.
One particularly large shard of glass stabbed his shoulder from behind when he fell back that bled all over his shirt.
He lay on the floor defeated as Shigaraki laughed at him. The handman kicked him once more in his side and left him there alone. At some point Kurogiri came back in and escorted him back to his cell after taking the knife from him, and then left without helping him with his wounds.
The thought came to him to just leave them as it is and not bother about treating them, but he decided against it. He dug behind his mattress and found the small medical kit he built up from pieces of medical equipment he swiped from Kurogiri when he wasn't looking.
Izuku treated his injuries in the dark, not really knowing if he got all the glass out of his skin. His arms now had new scars in addition to the collection he acquired from Shigaraki's Quirk and from the attacks of other villains.... along with the ones from a certain doctor.
He wrapped his arms in white bandages, not really being able to see. Although, he had to remove his torn up and dirty shirt to wrap his shoulder and torso. How he had enough bandages, Izuku had no idea, but he did have enough that his whole torso, shoulder, arms, and parts of his leg were wrapped up.
Carefully slipping his shirt back on, he hid the first aid kit behind his mattress again and laid down with the small blanket. He hoped they wouldn't need him again for the rest of the day, he was already tired enough.
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Hizashi Yamada was worried for his husband. The man was already sleep deprived but now that school was coming up once more he would have to teach a class again.
Maybe he would give his hubby a gift? Something to do with coffee? An espresso machine it is, or maybe a wet bar?
Shaking his head, he focused back on the scene in front of him to see the UA applicants fighting the robots once more. He stood atop the building he was on in case any of them were in any real danger.
He spared a glance to his watch. Eight minutes in.
A large groan of metal roared as the large body of a robot peeked it's head from behind a building. He really wanted to watch and evaluate the kiddies with the others but he guessed he was fine on standby. He saved people when he needed to.
The kids ran in the other direction like their lives depended on it. A sharp scream for help was heard and Hizashi was immediately on standby. There was a young girl trapped under debris who was having trouble activating her Quirk on it.
For a moment he thought that the boy with the glasses would go back for her, but to his disappointment, he ran with the crowd.
Sighing in exasperation, Hizashi swept down and scooped up the girl from under the rubble, then got her to safety. "Put these on," He instructed her.
Once her ears were safe, he screamed, "TIME!" The end of the exam was called and everyone who wasn't hurt during the test was sent home.
Finally having the time, he rushed to the store to get his husband a little gift.
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So this is chapter two UWU
Hope you're enjoying the story so far!
As you can tell, chapters will be updated every Sunday afternoon and if there is no update than it probably means that something is going on and I'll try updating as soon as I feel better.
If anyone has any suggestions on what you want I'm open to ideas as long as they match the plot that I already have planned out.
I hope everyone is having a good week and if not than I hope it gets better.
Anyway, Thanks for Reading!
Bye!
~Care-chan
(3706 words)