Chapter Text
Izuku clicked to the next slide of his presentation, staring down his new psychologist before he spoke. “Then, when I was 14, I got my quirk and made it into UA High.”
“Ahh. I see.” Dr. Shinsou said, nodding along. “Am I allowed to ask questions during your presentation?”
Izuku nodded. “Yeah.”
“Great. Have you told anyone about your years as quirkless?”
Izuku frowned for a second. “Uhm. No. You did sign the four different NDA’s, right?”
Dr. Shinsou nodded with an easy smile. “Yep. I was just wondering.”
“Why?”
“Just wanted some more information about you and your life.” Dr. Shinsou explained. “We’ll be coming up with different assignments for you to do to help you process your emotions differently than you’re used to.”
“Differently. Like, you want me to feel them?” Izuku scoffed, though he didn’t really mean to.
Dr. Shinsou just shook his head. “Nope. You’re clearly capable of feeling emotions. The assignments are purely to help your brain re-work how you process them when you feel them. That’s all.”
“Oh.” Izuku blinked, surprised to hear that was even considered a solution. “Huh.”
“Shall we continue?” Dr. Shinsou suggested, gesturing towards Izuku’s powerpoint.
“Sure.” Izuku blinked at the man, clicking to the next slide and forcing himself to keep a straight face when he saw Dr. Shinsou choke.
“What does that mean?” Dr. Shinsou asked, pointing at the screen that said ‘I Ate All Might’s Hair Only To Get Two Supervillains Chasing Me’ written on the screen.
Izuku blinked. “Exactly what it says, Doctor.”
Dr. Shinsou blinked. “I might need more of an explanation than that, Midoriya.”
“Why?” Izuku tilted his head, not understanding where he lost his doctor.
“Why…did you eat All Might’s hair and what does that have to do with two supervillains chasing after you?” Dr. Shinsou clarified.
Izuku nodded. “Ohhh- Yeah, I ate All Might’s hair since the quirk, One for All, was transferable through DNA.”
“And hair was the best way to transfer it?” Dr. Shinsou raised an eyebrow.
Izuku shrugged. “What was I supposed to do? Eat All Might’s finger?”
“No.” Dr. Shinsou shook his head quickly, obviously trying to expel such an image out of his mind. Izuku snickered. “Nope. Just…hair wasn’t my first thought for DNA transfer.”
“What was?” Izuku asked.
“Blood.” He stated bluntly. “A prick of a finger or something, nothing crazy, but that’s what I would’ve thought.”
“Huh.” Izuku blinked, wondering how weird it would’ve been to drink All Might’s blood instead of eating the man’s hair.
“Yep. So…” Dr. Shinsou furrowed his eyebrows, pointing the end of his pen towards the presentation once again. “Two supervillains?”
“Shigaraki and All for One.” Izuku confirmed.
“Right. Why were they after you specifically?”
“Cause One for All is the only quirk All for One couldn’t steal and he has family issues.” Izuku explained, skipping to the next slide. “Also, Shigaraki was the man’s successor and only knew that he wanted to destroy the essence of heroism, which meant All Might and, eventually, me.”
“Ahh. I see.” Dr. Shinsou said, still reading through the slide on everything Izuku knew about All for One.
“Shigaraki’s death…” Izuku tensed as the doctor spoke. “Are you comfortable talking about that yet?”
“I- uhh,” Izuku coughed into his fist. “I don’t know…how to.”
Dr. Shinsou nodded. “Okay. Do you think grief counseling would benefit you at all? That is an option here if you’d like to talk that over with your teachers.”
“Greif? I- oooo. Umm-” Izuku frowned. “That would take more NDA’s wouldn’t it? And- Well, I would have to give this whole presentation again…”
Dr. Shinsou smirked. “If you’d like, you can do grief counseling with me. I am licensed to do so.”
Izuku stared at him for a few seconds before nodding slowly. “I…don’t think I’d mind that.”
“Alright,” Dr. Shinsou nodded back, turning around towards his desk and writing a note on the top sticky note. “I’ll make sure to send your mother and the school an email.”
“Okay.” Izuku blinked, not sure what to do now.
“Did you want to continue with the presentation?” Dr. Shinsou asked, as helpful as ever.
Izuku nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, that’d be a good idea.”
“So, I got into UA with a brand new quirk, made some great friends, villains kept attacking us. All in all, it was almost my definition of utopia. Of course, the pressure to figure out One for All was all-consuming and, well, that wasn’t the best. And, of course, the nightmares from all the attacks and stuff aren’t super great or anything, but hey- they’re manageable.”
“And, what do you think about?” Dr. Shinsou prodded.
“Committing tax fraud.”
Dr. Shinsou blinked at him and Izuku made an awkward face, so ashamed of himself for saying that on instinct. He blames Kaminari for this.
“During your nightmares.” Dr. Shinsou clarified.
“Ohh-” Izuku nodded, like he was just now understanding that. “Getting caught committing tax fraud.”
“...We’re gonna focus on working on your emotional control for now.” Dr. Shinsou said, nodding to himself.
Izuku raised an eyebrow at the man. “What’s there to work on?”
“Don’t forget Japan saw you fight.” Dr. Shinsou rolled his eyes at him. “ I saw you fight.”
“So…” Izuku crossed his arms. “You know that we won?”
“I know you need some emotional coaching.”
Izuku pouted. How unfair.
“Ah-” Dr. Shinsou said suddenly, grabbing his phone and looking over at the clock. “Well, I’d say that was a pretty successful first meeting. You’re free to go and if you’re alright with it, I’ll be seeing you next Monday. Make sure to bring your teacher in here next time so we can go over the evaluation with him and I can give him the list of assignments I’d like to give you.”
Izuku nodded as he stood up, stretching out his legs slightly. “Yeah, I will. I’ll see you next Monday then. Nice meeting you, Dr. Shinsou.”
“You as well, Midoriya.” His doctor dismissed him with a smile.
Izuku walked out of the office, down the hallway and grinned when he saw Aizawa taking a nap in the waiting area. He bee-lined towards his teacher, ignoring the few families whispering and looking at them as Aizawa cracked open an eye, grunting when he saw Izuku.
“You done?” Izuku nodded. “Alright. Let’s get going then.”
Aizawa yawned, burying his face in his capture weapon for a second before getting out of his chair and finally leading them back towards his car.
The drive was quick and walking through the hospital was even more so, though that was thanks to Aizawa flashing his hero license and getting them escorted to Bakugou’s room right away. They stood in front of the door to his room for a few seconds, enough for Izuku to breathe in and try to calm himself down.
His eyes darted over towards Bakugou as soon as the door opened, watching the way his chest rose and fell with each breath, scanning the bandages that were wrapped around his shoulder and chest. He made eye contact with him and felt his body relax as he stepped through the threshold, eyes softening as he stared at him.
“Deku.” Bakugou greeted, strangely quiet.
Izuku nodded. “Kacchan.”
Aizawa sighed. “I’ll be outside the room if you need me.” He turned around, shutting the door harshly as he left and Izuku was left alone with Bakugou, unsure of what to say to him.
“You look better.” Izuku said after the silence had stretched on for too long.
Bakugou huffed, but didn’t refute it and didn’t fight against the blatant display of care coming from Izuku.
Izuku stepped closer, finally seeing the giant pink card standing on the nightstand beside him and stomped down his smile, refusing to let Bakugou know he knew his friend had been touched that their class had made that for him.
He might hint about it when he went back and saw Mina though.
“Auntie stopped by.” Bakugou broke the silence, staring at the wall in front of him. “You need to talk to her. She looked pretty stressed.”
Izuku nodded. “I know. I have. She…didn’t like watching our fight.”
“She watched it?”
“Apparently it was nationally televised.”
Bakugou clicked his tongue, but his shoulders relaxed, probably knowing Izuku wasn’t the main cause of her worry anymore. Izuku smiled.
“Is there something else you wanted from me?” Bakugou grit out.
Izuku inhaled sharply. He didn’t think he’d be called out so quickly, but, well, it was Kacchan. He stepped forward, closer and closer until he was right next to Bakugou’s bedside and bent down, closing his eyes, whispering as he spoke. “I- I wanted to thank you…for everything.”
“Wha-"
“ Everything, Kacchan.” He pulled back, looking into his eyes. “Thank you for it all.”
He wasn’t exactly thanking him, but it was the closest he could get to forgiving him before Bakugou got the chance to apologize to him. The boy needed to know Izuku never held any of it against him, especially now, since working with a psychologist was opening his eyes and the idea of boundaries was being brought to his attention.
They weren’t ever going to be the best of friends, Izuku knew that, but they were something to each other. Something that meant more than just rivals or childhood friends.
They were two halves of a whole and Izuku wouldn’t have it any other way.
He watched as Bakugou stared at him intently, trying to read his eyes. After a few seconds, Bakugou nodded, leaning further into his bed with a sigh and Izuku got the hint, back away.
“I’ll see you when you get back in class, okay, Kacchan?” Izuku said, smiling a bit as Bakugou nodded once again.
Izuku nodded in response. “Okay, then, I’m gonna- I mean, I don’t want to leave Aizawa-sensei all alone for too long-”
“I’ll see you soon, nerd.” Bakugou said, dismissing him.
Izuku brightened up, smiling at his friend. “See you soon Kacchan!”
He raced out the door, grinning at Aizawa, who had curled up and started taking a nap right there on the hospital floor. Izuku stood there for a few moments, unsure of what to do, until Aizawa cracked open an eye and got himself to his feet.
Aizawa didn’t say anything as he started walking away but Izuku knew better than to wait for an explanation. He walked behind his teacher, trailing after him as they both made their way back towards the car and got in.
Aizawa settled in with a sigh as Izuku wiggled around, grabbing at his seatbelt, content that he had been allowed to see Bakugou before he had to go back to the dorms.
“I am…here!”
Izuku screamed, whirling around and pressing himself against the windshield before finally realizing it was All Might who had snuck in the backseat, looking too confused about Izuku’s reaction.
“All Might.” Aizawa greeted. “Do not ever say that shit in my car again.”
“My…catchphrase?”
“You heard me.”
“What are you doing here?” Izuku finally asked, still holding a hand over his heart.
All Might looked sheepish then, smiling warmly towards Izuku. “I thought now would be the perfect time to tell him!”
“Oh! Ahh-”
“Tell me what?” Aizawa questioned.
“Here?!” Izuku shrieked.
All Might shrugged. “The best place for national secrets is away from listening ears.”
Izuku gaped at his mentor.
Aizawa grinned, locking the doors and starting the car, pulling out of the lot incredibly fast. “Yes. Tell me your national secret in a locked car, Yagi.”
All Might gulped. “W-well, it’s up to young Midoriya about when we should tell you-”
“You-” Izuku frowned. “I didn’t want to tell him in the car!”
“Well, why not?”
“We could crash!” Izuku pointed out, watching as Aizawa’s hands gripped onto the steering wheel tightly.
“I’m a safe driver, Midoriya.” Aizawa said, rolling his eyes.
Izuku shrugged. “That’s subjective.”
“You little-”
“Ahm!” All Might coughed pointedly at Aizawa with raised eyebrows.
“I’m just saying! The man is already stressed out.” Izuku said, slightly exasperated with his mentor.
Aizawa scoffed. “And whose fault is that?”
“Not mine.” Izuku said on reflex.
Aizawa shot him a look and Izuku pointedly looked out the window, watching the road.
All Might coughed. “Well-”
“We…should probably tell him.” Izuku sighed, glancing at Aizawa from the corner of his eye.
“Yes! Okay! Where would you like to start?” All Might grinned, obviously trying to encourage him.
Izuku hummed, putting a finger to his chin. Where should he start? With the supervillain tied to the quirk, the quirk itself, or both and pray Aizawa understood half of what Izuku was saying? Maybe start with the more tame part of the story-
“Just start at the beginning, kid.” Aizawa flicked his forehead as he spoke.
Izuku frowned at his teacher before deciding it wasn’t worth it and nodded. “Alright, well, it all started when All Might told me I could be a hero and told me he decided to pass along the torch of One for All to me.”
“One for All?” Aizawa questioned.
Izuku glared. “Save your questions until the end. You might have a lot of them.”
“Noted.”
“One for All is a transferable quirk, one that’s capable of stockpiling strength, power, and other users' quirks within it.” Izuku explained. “The quirk was actually made when All for One gave a stockpiling quirk to his quirkless brother and they found out that he actually did have a quirk. He had the ability to give quirks. The two merged and became One for All.”
“I am the Ninth user and All Might is the Eighth. He trained me and prepared me to be able to take the quirk and use it as my own before UA and throughout UA we tried our best to understand One for All, since it wasn’t working for me the same way it did for All Might.”
“What was your quirk before UA?” Aizawa questioned, not looking apologetic at all about interrupting Izuku again.
He fidgeted with the hem of his hoodie. “I…didn’t have one. I was quirkless before this.”
“Ah.”
“Yeah.”
“...Carry on then.”
Izuku nodded. “Right. Well, All for One, he took in Shigaraki after a terrible incident with his family and basically groomed him into becoming his successor, which meant as soon as I got One for All, Shigaraki thought he was my fated enemy.”
“So…during the fight, when Shigaraki’s arm grew and he was using more than three quirks…”
“All for One didn’t turn him into a Nomu. All for One figured out a way to pass on his own quirk and gave it to Shigaraki.” Izuku confirmed.
“I suppose that makes more sense then.” Aizawa nodded, turning to face Izuku. “While we’re on the subject, Nedzu and Midnight are going to be teaching your class how to deal with the press and other media questions since you’ll need to do an interview soon.”
“What? Why?”
“Kid,” Aizawa looked at him like the words themselves tasted sour. “Like it or not, two supervillains were killed during a battle, and two other villains died as well. You’ll need to answer questions because Japan does not like to see the harder parts of heroics, which includes people dying.”
“But I-”
“No one will blame you.” All Might promised, sounding sure. “I’ll see what I can do to set up my conference at the same time as yours so we can do them together.”
Izuku sniffled, wiping at his eyes before any tears could build up. “Thanks, All Might.”
Aizawa parked then, turning the car off and turning to face both of them.
“Let’s talk more about all of this, in detail, later. ” Aizawa said. “For now, you can head off to the dorms. Yagi and I have some things to talk about.”
Izuku gulped but nodded, ignoring how betrayed his mentor looked and took off towards the dorms. He ran around the bushes, through the grass and around the corner, nearly running into the front door before he opened it and stepped through.
“Midori!”
Izuku blinked, looking at his classmates who were hanging on the walls or perched atop counters and table spaces. “Umm… What’s going on guys?”
“S-Spider!” Mineta shakily pointed a finger towards the common room.
Izuku glanced up, seeing Uraraka and activated float, soaring up towards her as soon as he heard the explanation. He landed, taking a shaky breath as he did so, taking a moment to glance around and make sure the spider hadn’t made it on the ceiling.
“How’s it hangin?” Uraraka asked, grinning from ear to ear.
Izuku smiled. “I’m doing good. How’s the weather been?”
“It’s right there!” Sero screamed, shrieking as he climbed further onto the dining table.
“Wait, where?” Todoroki asked, glancing around.
Sero and Kaminari pointed at the couch, whimpering at the same time.
Todoroki opened his palm, letting his fire condense in his hand before throwing it at the couch, watching impassively as it burned.
“What the-”
“Did I get it?” Todoroki asked, eyebrows furrowing as he leaned forward, trying to get a glimpse of the spider on the couch.
The couch that was on fire.
“Oh my god.” Izuku murmured, jaw slack as he looked at his friend. Uraraka let her jaw drop as well and Izuku was thrilled to see at least one of his friends had some common sense.
The door slammed open, Aizawa waltzed in and sprayed down the couch with foam, a jelly packet clutched in his mouth as he did so. Once the fire was out, Aizawa put the spray down, slurped at his jelly packet, the package crinkling under his fingertips, and sighed.
“Get out here, now. ”
They scrambled over to him, Izuku dropping from the ceiling at the same time as Uraraka and standing to attention in front of the man, trying not to die when he glared at them. It was silent for a few, tense, seconds before Aizawa tapped his foot on the ground, hands on hips.
“What. Happened?” Aizawa growled out, looking at each and every one of them.
After a few tense seconds of silence, Sero coughed into his fist awkwardly. “Um. No hablo inglés.”
Aizawa glared at him. “No one’s speaking English here.”
“Oh.” Sero nodded. “No hablo español.”
“Dude.” Kaminari looked at his friend. “You’re the only one speaking Spanish right now.”
Sero nodded again and looked Aizawa in the eye then. “No hablo.”
Aizawa sighed, something long and suffering.
Izuku grit his teeth, forcing himself to glance down at the ground before he lost it. Uraraka coughed and hung her head as well, forcing Izuku to keep his eyes locked on his shoes. Izuku watched as Todoroki looked around the room, a picture of innocence like he wasn’t the one to light the couch on fire.
“Hell Track, tomorrow.” They groaned in unison. “Midnight will run it.”
Izuku paled. “I-It wasn’t that bad, was it?”
“Do you want to run the Hell Track for a week straight?” Izuku shook his head as fast as he possibly could. “Then I don’t want to hear any complaints.”
“Sir yes sir.” Kaminari said. Sero whacked him over the head as soon as he did.
Izuku held his breath when Aizawa gave him the stink eye, ready to start a count on the Whiteboard of Shame against Kaminari, but then he turned away.
“Clean up the mess. I’m not replacing the couch until the week is over.” Aizawa said, walking away.
They all let out a collective sigh together before Sero whirled on Kaminari.
“You can’t say that shit in front of him!”
“Me?!” Kaminari pointed at himself, looking baffled. “You spoke to him in Spanish bro. You don’t get a say.”
“Oh, so you have something against Hispanics now?” Sero fired back.
Izuku dropped his head in his hands.
“As a matter of fact, I do now!” Kaminari yelled.
Iida clapped his hands, stepping in between the two. “We’re already in enough trouble as is. If there’s going to be a fight, you know the rules. Outside only, no cameras, and allow 24 hours beforehand so people can finalize their bets.”
“Fine.”
“Yeah, alright.”
Both boys pouted, obviously not happy about their rules but they could suck it. They all made Izuku and Bakugou wait to fight it out now, which was horrible for their detention records, since they were much more irritable towards each other until they could duke it out.
“Maybe we should clean up the couch while we wait?” Todoroki suggested, looking towards the burnt couch, ash still falling off the armrests.
Izuku snorted. “I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t the one who lit it on fire.”
“Fair point.” Uraraka nodded. “Besides, I have to vacuum my ceiling tonight, so it’s really not a good time for me.”
“We could clean it tomorrow.” Todoroki spoke up then.
Izuku shook his head. “Uraraka and I have to build an aquarium in the sink so that doesn’t really work.”
Todoroki huffed. “Tomorrow. I want a 1v1 with both of you. Uraraka first.”
Izuku gasped. “What?!”
“Why me?!” Uraraka cried, looked positively scandalized.
Todoroki glared at both of them. “I’m not elaborating.”
They clutched onto each other, pretending to shake with fear. “Oh no! We’re so sorry, Todoroki! Please forgive us!”
His eye twitched and Izuku fought valiantly against his grin that was threatening to show.
“Stop taunting him.” Iida frowned, holding out a hand to silent their protests. “Don’t deny it. Todoroki, I’d be happy to help you clean up the couch.”
“Great!” Kaminari grinned, sending the two boys a thumbs-up before racing up the stairs, running to his room.
Iida sighed and Mina laughed.
“Well then! Midori! Come sit down with us!” Mina grinned, tugging him over towards the dining table, Aoyama and Tooru following them.
Izuku chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he sat down at the dining table, surrounded by his friends and family, his heart warming as he thought about how he was able to trust them more than he ever thought he would.
This whole process of opening up and learning more about himself and his emotions hadn’t been too fun, though he would never dream of faulting the kid that started this all. His life had been falling apart at the seams anyways and it was only a matter of time before One for All came to light and Izuku was stuck in the spotlight, not knowing what to do, how to keep his friends and family safe, or defeat All for One all by himself.
But hey-
“Midoriya! Get your butt back here and help us out over here!”
At least he knew how to ask for help now and rely on his classmates the same way they relied on him.
“Coming!”
And who knows. Maybe therapy actually has helped him and he might be able to figure out his emotions with the help of Dr. Shinsou.
Maybe.