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Aching bones always felt like a normal side effect of being a hero.
Joints locking up before you are 30.
Sleepless nights that never ended because it was impossible to stop thinking about everyone that could be needing saving. People expecting a hero to save them in the dead of night. To be there when they needed it most.
Now though, Izuku just sort of felt numb.
He knew he had plenty of broken bones. He knew he was bleeding from multiple places. He knew he should get some help, but he also knew he needed to get home.
Yet on top of all those things. Izuku couldn’t make his feet move from the roof he had landed on to rest.
Shredded flowers gripped tightly in his hand.
White lillies slowly turning red.
He knew he needed to go see his mom. It was late enough that she was up, but Izuku couldn’t go see his mom with blood caked onto his suit and plastered to his hair. He couldn’t hug her knowing he let a woman not much younger than her die right in front of him.
He couldn’t do that.
So Izuku just stood on top of the roof. Still as a tree only swaying when a particularly strong gust of wind ripped through the buildings around him.
The night was quiet and empty. Hardly a cloud in the sky or noises among the streets.
It was usually like this after a big battle.
People went home to their spouses or kids and gave them a tight unbreakable hug.
They called their parents or grandparents, nieces or nephews, aunts and uncles that they hadn't seen in a while because they could have died today, and if they had died then their family would go on thinking they had forgotten about them.
The reality of death coming so soon scared people into not wanting to be forgotten.
Izuku wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He hadn’t had someone to go home to in a long time. Not since he moved out.
After today though, Izukus wouldn’t mind having someone to go home to instead of his empty baren apartment. That probably had another eviction notice plastered to the door. He knew what awaited him at home was a dusty room and rotting food in the fridge. He knew there wasn’t a sound inside the apartment because if the faucet dripped too loud Izuku would be awake. One for All at the ready to attack the sink.
Even now beaten and exhausted Izuku was on edge. Despite seeming zoned out he was attentive to the noises around him.
People were laughing in the apartment building below him.
The electric sign in front of him buzzed every few minutes due to a dying light.
There was a puddle of water next to him off the ledge that rippled with the wind.
Izuku was listening, he was always listening. A skill he could never turn off. Especially with his mask strapped tightly to his face.
His hood had fallen a long time ago. His mothers present was resting behind him right next to a little box he used to store his break supplies like food and first aid.
Izuku couldn’t make it to either of them though.
He wouldn’t make it to his moms house either before midnight.
He would miss her birthday again because he couldn’t bring himself to let her see him in pain. Izuku wouldn’t put her through that.
Not again.
“What the hell are you doing dumbass?”
An instantly familiar voice spoke. One that Izuku knew from anywhere. One he could pick it out in a crowd of people or a sea of noise.
“Hey Kacchan.” Izuku greeted flatly still staring out at the city. The flowers were getting heavy in his hand.
“You didn’t answer,” The blond spoke. His heavy footsteps got louder until they stopped right behind the ledge Izuku chose to stand on. “Shouldn’t you be getting home. If I remember correctly it’s your mothers birthday today.”
Izuku didn’t answer.
He wasn’t in a talking mood.
Kacchan unsurprisingly didn’t get the memo, “I saw your fight. Looked tough. I'm surprised you didn’t call for backup. Not many heroes would take on that many villains alone. Besides me at least.”
“No one was around.” Izuku stated, ignoring Kacchans self-indulging comment, hoping the blond wouldn’t notice how stupidly incorrect he knew he was.
“I was,” Kacchan replied, “But instead I got to clean up after you bounced away trailing blood behind you.” The blonds voice dropped a few octaves. His tone was flat and emotionless.
Silence fell for a few moments after Kacchan had spoken. Izuku knew the blond was mad that he didn’t include him in the fight, but honestly he hardly remembered the fight. He just let instinct and study coordinate his movements.
Frankly he paid the price by accidentally overexerting himself without paying attention and couldn’t tell if now he wanted to scream into the darkness or crawl into a hole.
Eitherway Izuku was so tired, but knew another sleepless night would follow him. “You look like shit.” Kacchan stated flatly, per usual holding nothing back.
Izuku huffed a laugh that hurt his ribs. It felt like he got kicked again.
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Okay,” Kacchan began, the tense air getting thicker between the two of them. “How about your mother sitting on her porch waiting for you to come home. Abandoned dinner set out on the table while she sips on some tea and cries into a napkin.”
Izuku hadn’t been expecting that and the blonds words sent a shockwave through his body. His wounds ached and the flowers dripped scarlet drops onto the concrete ledge.
“How do you know that?” Izuku exasperated, finally turning his head from the flickering city lights to Kacchans red eyes.
It was then he noticed his clothes. It wasn’t his hero gear. The blond wore jeans and a t-shirt. He seemed showered and shaven. Cleaned up in a way that he wasn’t normally.
“Because that was how I found her when I stopped by to wish her a happy birthday… like I do every year.” Kacchan trailed off, clearing his throat. “And every year she looks sad, but this year she got to watch you almost die on live tv. So I told her I’d come find you and so I came to the one spot I knew you would be…” Kacchan trailed off and pointed diagonally and down towards a building across the street from the roof the two stood on.
Izuku followed his direction. Watching through his mothers apartment window. “The roof across the street…”
Izuku saw a flash of movement behind the living room curtain. The silhouette of his mother was clear, “Because this is where you stop every night so you can pretend like you are visiting her.”
Fuck you for knowing me so well.
Izuku thought bitterly, turning away from the apartment and stepping down from the ledge. He landed with a thud, the flowers dropping as he did so.
He wouldn’t say aloud that he had forgotten why he always stopped at this building, or that it hadn’t occurred to him how close to home he was.
Izuku Midoryia seemed to have a different life and different memories than Deku the hero.
When his mask came off Izuku got to take hold and be the All Might that the people loved, but when the mask was on Deku was the hero that could save everyone and nothing else mattered.
“I can’t go home like this Kacchan… I worry her enough. I cause her enough pain-”
“So not seeing her at all is somehow better? How thick is that fucking mask of yours!” Kacchan shouted, pushing Izuku by the shoulders.
He stumbled backwards, eyes locking with the blonds. His red eyes sparkled with a familiar rage, “I might have acted like I hated my mother and maybe I did sometimes, but at the end of the day when I came back bloody and bruised she patched me up! She brought me Advil and water when I got sick even when I didn’t live there anymore. At least you still have a mother to do that for you!” Kacchan bellowed, little explosions coming off his hands.
Izuku didn’t know what to say. His mouth gaped open behind his mask. He hadn't thought about it like that.
“I-I’m sorry… I didn’t- I’m being selfish-”
“Oh shut up nerd I’m over my mothers death, and I know she’d kill me if I sulked for too long about it anyway. The question is, what are you not over.” Kacchan spoke sarcastically, waving an accusatory finger in Izuku's direction.
Izuku froze.
What sort of question is that?
Apparently, Kacchan had known the answer before Izuku could even sputter out a few words. “You know what I don’t think I even need your answer.” He laughed out, turning in his heel while throwing his hands up towards the sparkly night sky. “I know more than a couple just off the top of my head!”
Izuku watched the blonds gaze snap back to him and he held up three fingers. “Number one! All Mights death,” Kacchan then put down a finger, while the image of All Might dying in his arms flashed across Izukus mind. He hadn’t been able to get the blood out of his suit the days following, so he threw it away and let Deku bury the memory inside.
Izuku had attempted to protest as well but was promptly cut off by his old classmate. “Number two, how about the fact that you never really saved Shigaraki. The kid’s long dead and we heros are just prolonging his vegetive state of life!” Kacchan spat out next.
Izuku forced down another protest, because he knew for a fact that memory still haunted him. He had sworn he would save Shigaraki, but he hadn’t really saved him. The damage All for One had done on his body was irreversible, and Izuku was at fault. “And lucky number three!” Kacchan shouted out into the night sky. “How about the fact that you couldn’t save Uraraka…”
Izukus pupils retracted as his gaze snapped from the ground to Kacchan staring in front of him three fingers still waving in his hand like a taunt. “You couldn’t save her like she had done for you so many times before…”
As much as he wanted to hold back it appeared Deku had taken the full reigns and his body lunged.
Izuku flew forward powered by One for All and tackled Kacchan to the ground.
The blond had to have seen it coming because he dodged. Launching in the air with one powerful blast.
The explosion echoed and broke pieces of the roof sending concrete pieces a few feet into the air. Dekus punch landed right where Kacchan had been standing except hsis punch cracked the damaged cement in the shape of an X.
Izuku whipped around immediately after his attack to see Kacchan throwing his hands out to his sides as if to embrace the night sky, but the smug look on his face showed an inkling or something completely different. “Are you really going to try and fight me when you can barely move?!” The blond snapped, “Thought the great number one hero was above that?”
Izuku was struggling to contain his rage and the fiery pain that was spreading throughout his body. It burned through his veins like One for All had once done, like blackwhip as well, the burning in his lungs and heart from his many quirks were nothing but normal everyday pains.
Normal everyday chronic, bone rattling, numbing… pains. “What? Not talking now? Is that mask really a muzzle or can you speak?!” Kacchan sneered, still not moving. His knees were slightly bent and his hands twitched every once in a while. Izuku knew he was prepared for him to attack, and that somehow made him feel so much worse.
He didn’t want Kacchan to be afraid of him.
He didn’t want his mother to be afraid of him, that was why he refused to go home now. Refused to face the reality that he was covered in blood. That yes he had killed that villian partially in defense, but he enjoyed it. Enjoyed beating the shit out of them like they were a goddamn punching bag.
That reality was what pulled weights to Izukus knees and dropped him to the cement flooring.
It cracked underneath him, and with it the mask Izuku so often wore to trigger instincts. He tore the metal from his face and threw it across the roof to Kacchans feet.
Izuku let gravity pull him forward, catching himself with his elbows in an attempt to just rest.
Now matter how much his ribs and injuries screamed in protest.
The first tears that fell were utterly silent but his shaky breathing could definitely be heard from where Kacchan stood.
“I-I’m sorry.” Izuku muttered out. Not entirely sure if the blond could hear him. “I don’t want people to worry about me. I don’t want to put my mother through UA again, and Shigaraki and… Uraraka-” Izuku cut himself off with a sob. He heaved heavy breaths bringing his arms over his head to cut some of the noise off. “I don’t want my mom to see me like this. In pain and hurting. I-I can’t-”
A hand on Izukus shoulder broke off his rant.
He knew it was Kacchan, because who else would be there to pull him out of his own sea of tears and misery. Who else would be willing to take that dive?
“Come on, let’s just start with getting you patched up.”
Kacchans voice was soft and his hands gentle as they lifted Izuku from the cracked cement. The blond lifted his arm over his shoulder and helped Izuku walk towards the med kit.
A couple minutes later and with more uncomfortable movements Izuku was placed against the wall to the entrance of the roof access.
Izuku didn’t know how much time had passed.
He assumed he had dozed off finally in the upright position against the roof entrance while Kacchan bandaged his wounds. He only woke when the blond tapped his wrist a couple times to wake him up. “You are stupid you know that?”
Monotoned and unassuming, uncharacteristic to Kacchans normal explosive responses. Still, Izuku huffed a pained laugh.
“I know. You say it a lot.”
“Yeah and I fucking mean what I say.” Kacchan snapped, Izuku winced against his tightened grip on his wrist, but the blond didn’t ease up.
Izuku dared a glance at Kacchans face. His eyes were watery but his brows furrowed. Like he couldn’t make up his mind. Emotions were fighting with each other. “You go in without back up like you don’t mean something to people.” He choked out finally. A stray tear escaping from his eye. “When that stupid mask comes off you are Deku the Hero, but when it is on, you are closer to a vigilante than anything. Just like how you were after your coma. When you left m- us… Left everyone.”
Memories flooded Izukus mind.
Cold nights alone sometimes sleeping in destroyed buildings or dark alleys. All Might trying to rally him home. To his classmates… to his mom.
In part he knew his instincts were that broken side of him. Trauma like that had nestled and flicked on when Izuku felt threatened or scared.
In a way it protects him, from both pain and failure.
In a way Izuku was fine with it.
But in reality the damage that it caused made him not trust his own self. He didn’t trust Izuku to help him, he trusted Deku, and Kacchan currently trusted neither.
That much was clear.
The ash blond was hurt, or perhaps betrayed fared better resemblance to the emotion clear across his face.
“I’m sorry.” Izuku finally said, voice hushed and blending into the high winds. He honestly didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to feel. He knew sorry wasn’t going to help anything.
Izuku knew that.
Kaccahan huffed an exasperated laugh. He even leaned his head back and looked ready to curse the night sky.
“Sorry?” Kacchan hissed out, piercing red eyes boring into Izukus green ones. “Sorry for what? You’ve said sorry about this before but it has never changed the way you approach being a hero. No matter what I try-”
Kacchan cut himself off with a shaky breath. He breathed for a few more seconds. Pretending the tears falling from his eyes weren’t actually there.
Izuku did the same.
The blond waited a few seconds more before releasing his tight grip on Izukus wrist and sliding it down to his hand.
Kacchan grabbed it tight and brought it up to his forehead. “I can’t help you, no one can help you, if you don’t help yourself first, Izuku. You have to want to be okay.” Kacchan spoke softly, a stark difference to how he had just been speaking.
Izuku pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, stifling a sob.
If I become okay, what about the people that will never get that chance because I wasn’t fast enough. I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t heroic enough.
“What about everyone that I can’t save?” Izuku asked aloud, drawing Kacchans attention back up to his eyes. “I can’t not see their faces, Kacchan. Their lives, their stories, their beings follow me around. I can’t look at you or my mom or my friends without seeing the people I’ve let die.” Izuku stopped himself mid-ramble and took a breath.
He needed to calm down. That was his problem. He just needed to rest, his emotions were spiking because he was tired and injured.
All of this will be forgotten tomorrow.
Deku would make him forget about all of this tomorrow.
“You are never going to be able to save everyone, dumbass. All Might couldn’t save everyo-”
“All Might wasn’t me!” Izuku exclaimed, shooting up straight from where he was sitting. Pain streaked through his entire body.
When he relaxed again he took a deep breath, “All Might wasn’t meant to be the best. He was meant to be great, but I was supposed to be the best. I was supposed to save everyone ! I am supposed to be unstoppable. Deku is unstoppable no matter what pain he is in because if he stops then. People. Die.”
Kacchan seemed to have been struck speechless while Izuku screamed and shouted.
The blond just sat there Izukus hand still tightly in his grasp. “The first time I stopped, All Might bled out in my arms. The last time I stopped, Uraraka died saving me . It didn’t matter that I was injured or bleeding or fucking dying my family and my friends died. You could have died today had you been there or my mom, and those are the only thoughts left to haunt me, so I. Can’t. Stop.”
Izuku let out a shaky tear filled breath and wiped his stuffy nose on the back of his bloody sleeve. More than likely smearing blood across his face, but it probably blended in anyway with a collection of sweat and grime. “As much as I wish I could sleep and eat or dream about a different life. I am One for All Kacchan, I am Deku the hero, and that is the only I will ever be.” Izuku sniffled once more before ripping his hand away from Kacchan who still sat shocked next to him.
Izukus injuries still burned, but he didn’t have time to feel sorry for himself or to amend things that had already been broken.
He just stood up.
Joints locking, and particularly nasty cut bending beneath the new cloth bandages on top of it. Blood soaking through what parts of his suit had been torn away.
Izuku was a mess.
An injured, stupid, and selfless mess.
A mess he knew for sure now he didn’t want to show his mother or his friends.
He didn’t want anybody to worry about him, and as long as Hatsume patched his suit and equipment Izuku wouldn’t even have to worry about the public being worried about him either.
Slowly he hobbled toward the middle of the roof where his metal mask still sat on the ground a large crack down the middle.
He huffed a pained laugh and knelt down to grab it, and when he did he heard a mumbled sentence from Kacchan.
“How much longer till you get evicted?”
Izuku froze,
How does he know…that son of a bit--
“Better question is; how long have you been checking up on me?” Izuku asked, finding his gaze locking over the ledge to his mothers apartment window, not really trying to hide the bitterness in his voice. Though it came out much more angry then he had intended.
“Only after big fights… like the one today.” Kacchan replied, his tone soft, as what Izuku assumed were his feet scuffed as he stood. “When you weren’t home I knew you would be here. Longing for something only you refuse to have.”
Izuku didn’t reply to that one. Just watched his mother walk past the living room window of her apartment. “So answer my question dumbass.”
Kacchan ordered versus asked.
The blond's voice was right next to him now as he peered across the street.
“Probably soon. Next few days are more likely. I won't be approved for a new place so I’ll have to figure someth-”
“Get your shit packed up and moved into my apartment by tomorrow evening. By the looks of your… living space… you don’t have that much shit in the first place.”
With that Kacchan turned on his heel and started to walk away. Izuku whipped around to protest when he was hit with denim and cloth in the face. He reacted to grab them and in doing so dropped his mask with a loud clang! “And put those on you bloody freak.”
“What the he-”
“Nope not doing anymore of that shit, dumbass. We had our soft ‘I’m here for you moment’ and now it's over.” Kacchan interrupted again, still walking away.
It shocked Izuku completely out of his mental block and he stood on the roof dumbfounded with clean clothes in his dirty hands.
Kacchan had finally turned after reaching the roof access door. “At the end of the day Izuku, I’m not letting you go home to that shitty ass apartment and you need to be monitored in case those wounds open up.”
He explained, cracking his neck side to side as if they both were not almost crying a few minutes ago. “So tonight we are both staying with your mother which means you need to get changed.”
Izuku knew if he speaked it would be met by another interruption, but he desperately wanted to. The back of his brain itched with the fact that he didn’t deserve clean clothes or a home to go back to, however, his exhaustion and fatigue were currently winning the battle over control of his body.
By the end of his idle standing, Kacchan had opened the door and was holding it for Izuku to walk through. It was a stark brightness against the dark night, and Kacchans clothes looked tattered and dirty from Izukus wounds and their collective tussle. “So are you coming or what?” Kacchan asked, his lips forming into a familiar smug smirk.
Izuku huffed and took a hobbled step forward.
“Not like you gave me much of a choice.” He grumbled, the corners of his mouth perking up in a grin.
Kacchan seemed pleased with his pestering… unsurprisingly, and he didn’t stop being pleased. Not even as the two reached a bathroom on the ground floor of the building they had been on.
There Kacchan helped Izuku wash his hair as well as they could with what they had. Which happened to be hand soap, and he reached the parts of his exposed skin that were dirty or full of dried blood.
By the end of what could be deemed a half-way decent makeover Izuku looked a little more… alive.
If that was the benchmark they had to reach.
The bags under his eyes were still ungodly dark and could certainly rival even Eraserheads, but his skin at least looked clean… sorta.
Kacchan had pushed back his growing hair with water to keep it out of his face while also putting some steri-strips over a cut across his forehead.
Despite their best efforts Izuku still had a few visible scars that had faded over time across his cheeks and mouth. Ones that he had honestly forgotten existed since his face had been longed caked in dirt.
Kacchan let out a defeated sigh, but mumbled something about it being the best that he could do. The blond then stepped out from in front of Izuku to let him look at himself better.
He racked his eyes over his own body glancing between the tight black shirt and tapered jeans that definitely were too tight in the waist.
The wrong sizes made Izuku feel all the more uncomfortable. He already barely recognized himself, and it was visible that he had lost body fat, likely from over exercising and little eating.
He let his mind wander to the thoughts that he knew his mother would have. The worry that would encompass her to the point of insanity, and how it would be Izuku's fault.
He didn’t want to hurt her again, but Kacchan clearly did not care since he nearly shoved Izuku out of the bathroom door and dragged him throughout the front of the building.
Izuku's anxiety hit an all time high of the night and he felt his heart racing beneath his clothes. He felt like the more steps he took the more weights piled onto his back. The more worry he would cause. The more pain he would inflict.
It was then Izuku wished he had his mask. He wished he could put it on and let himself become someone else. Someone who could handle anxiety riddled situations and the pain behind them.
He wished he had Deku.
But the hero was nowhere to be found, and Izuku suddenly felt like everyone who he needed to be saving.
Everyone who was looking for him now.
Calling for him now.
Kacchan had moved his grip to Izukus wrist and pulled him out of the elevator door to march a few feet away to his mothers apartment.
The blond rose a fist up to knock when the door flew open.
In less time than he had prepared for his mother stood in front of him, her green hair in a low messy bun and her night clothes baggy over her figure. Like they were two sizes too big.
“Izuku!” She cried out, stumbling forward and pulling Izuku in a bone crushing hug. He froze for a few seconds before wrapping his arms as equally tight around her.
Her sobs were more than muffled by his t-shirt yet they were still loud enough to echo in the hallway.
Her hands clutched and pulled at the shirt around his body, and Izuku could feel her relief washing over her. He could tell she was trying to speak. To cry out or say something about him not stopping by, but any attempts she made to speak were cut short by wails and streams of tears.
Kacchan had been the one to usher the two inside so at the very least they weren’t standing in the middle of the hallway.
Yet the closed door still did nothing to temper Izukus mother's cries.
It was several minutes until she had finally taken a breath.
After that was a few more breaths until her tears slowly stopped completely and she pulled her head slowly away from Izukus chest.
“Izuku…” She repeated from earlier, this time congested and with a slight crack in her voice.
Izuku looked at her this time… really looked at her, and what he saw wasn’t what he remembered seeing when he moved out.
There wasn’t a bubbly worried mom on the verge of tears of pride, a smile so big it could have rivaled even All Mights.
No, the woman in front of him was thin and pale. Eyes red from floods of tears and shadowed by dark circles. Ones that looked eerily similar to Izukus.
It was a haunting difference, one that Izuku knew would be burned in his memories for a long time.
“I told you I’d find him.” Kacchan said, from behind the two of them. Still standing where he had shut the front door behind them.
“Katsuki…” Izukus mothers whimpered out, letting go of Izuku to then give the blond just as big of a hug.
Izuku watched Kacchan grip her tightly while whispering something into her ear. Something Izuku wished he had the energy to tune into. Although it turned out he didn’t need to listen, by the looks of the way his mother turned shakily back towards him he knew it was about his injuries. “Oh my baby…” Izukus mother muttered beneath her breath.
“I’m okay ma. I promise…” Izuku trailed off as his mother stumbled back into his arms. She seemed exhausted, but her body relaxed as soon as the two hugged again.
“You aren’t, baby… you aren’t, but that’s okay. You’re gonna be okay.” She stated plainly, her voice slightly muffled again by Izukus shirt.
He felt stunned, unable to say something he hadn’t already rehearsed in his head.
He frankly was never prepared for when people disagreed with him or fought back against his statements. Afterall, people didn’t like getting on the bad side of the number one hero. Except, Izuku wasn’t the number one hero right now.
He was just Izuku Midoryia.
Bleeding and bruised, Izuku Midoryia.
“I’m so sorry.” He finally said, crouching down to bury his head in the crook of his mothers neck.
She didn’t smell like her old perfume. Not like the way she did the last time he hugged her. It made the reality of his absence all the more real.
He hadn’t realized how long it had been. “I’m- I’m so sor-sorry…” Izuku, choked out.
His shock wore off and in its place took over fear, regret, sadness. Everything Izuku never wanted to feel hit him like a ton of bricks. He felt like he was sinking and his mother was the only thing he could hold on to.
She seemed to understand that, because the next thing that happened was the two dropped to their knees. Arms wrapped around tighter than ever, because Izuku was just as afraid to lose her again as she was afraid to lose him.
Neither of them said anything.
Kacchan was still silent by the front door.
Izuku didn’t know how long they sat there like that, he just knew at some point he dozed off.
His exhaustion had won the battle over his body and forced him into a half sleeping half awake like conscious. Where he couldn’t control his actions but was aware in some part of what was going on around him.
During his haze he had been lifted off of the ground. Strong arms, that Izuku assumed were Kacchans, carried him about the small apartment where he was then placed on an equally small bed.
He thought then he would be left alone.
Like every night, and in the back of his mind Izuku waited for the nightmares, but comforting presence never left the room.
He could hear his mother and Kacchan speaking in hushed tones near the end of the bed.
Izuku was too exhausted to pick up their conversations, but that didn’t matter right now. Knowing they were there made him feel better. That if something happened Kacchan could take care of it.
Izuku was safe, and he didn’t feel like he needed Deku right now to protect him.
He had his family.
“Hap-” Izukus voice cracked and he cleared his throat, blinking his eyes open as much as possible. He fought against the weighted eyelids to stare at his mother. Whos tears had dried up a little bit. Kacchan appeared next to her, a small smile tilted on his lips and an ‘I told you so’ expression plastered on the rest of his face.
“What is it baby? Are you okay?” Izukus mother asked, taking a step toward where Izuku laid.
He nodded, and smiled at her the best his beat up face could.
“Happy birthday, ma.