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Izuku always knew he was fated to die young cause all quirkless did, he’d been told that as long as he could remember, he just was so stupid as to take this long to figure out why!
Trying not to blame himself to hard for his ignorance he said, "Well, no computer at home so I can't do research, no library access so I can't do research, no unmonitored computer access at school - and fuck me if I ever wanted to risk what would happen to me if I was caught doing anything not allowed online - so how would I know this stuff?"
He frowned down at the new bruises, wincing as he washed the scrapes, wishing he had anything other than an old sheet to cover the damage with but, ‘No bandages, no cream, no ointment, no pain killer, nothing left.’
Giving a sad sigh as he closed his little first aid kit he’d stolen last year in desperation, and pushed it away, still thinking about his inevitable death.
"I mean, everyone dies right? And things like mice only live about a year, and fuck, mayflies only get a few hours and I’ve had fourteen years, FOURTEEN! So what the fuck am I complaining about?"
"And at least then I’ll get some rest, I guess. I wonder what being dead is like?"
Feeling the anger boiling in his guts, he gave up even trying to make it go away, he was angry all the time now, he just couldn't show it without suffering for it so, he’d long ago mastered the art of blank faces, bowed heads, non-confrontational acceptance of his lot, after all, quirkless meant he wasn't allowed to fight back.
Quirkless now seemed to mean an early death caused by someone he knew or by himself and he’d be damned if he was the one to do it, if they wanted him dead so badly, then they’d have to do the work!!!
“I wonder," he whispered to himself, “can I make them pay for it when they kill me?”
*****
The idea of making them pay for his death took possession of him, he was a dead kid walking and he accepted that now, especially after sneaking into a library a few miles away from the apartment last week and having an hour all to himself (he'd run all the way to give himself the time free) to look up quirkless deaths…
Of course, the librarian just had to come over only thirty minutes into that free time and asked to see his ID card and then, just like always, he’d been told someone else needed the computer and he should go home, "People like you shouldn't be out and about on a day like this."
That the day was sharply cold but clear and the streets were packed by people out enjoying the sunshine? The adult spouting the same sort of fucking insanity he always had to deal with didn't even seem to see it so he just sighed, grabbed his bag, and left, never seeing when they came running out to try to find him after they'd checked his search history….
Even clueless to their own prejudice, some people can get a wake-up call when seeing that a kid had been looking up ways to kill themself painlessly after reading page after page of quirkless life expectancy statistics.
But he was already gone, winding his way back to the apartment, pondering ways to make his death mean something.
Detouring behind a row of shops and restaurants, he checked skip after bin after garbage can until he’d found enough to fill his belly, for some reason he was always hungry, nothing seemed to fill him up anymore, the constant ache a grinding background misery to his life, keeping him awake when he was locked into his room at night, no longer being able to slip into the kitchen for food after his mother caught him one too many times and put a padlock on the door to his room.
The bars on the window stopped him from escaping at night too after she caught him coming back in after slipping out to find enough thrown-away food to fill his belly for a little while so now he just had the scant hour between school letting out and him supposed to be home to forage for something, anything, to eat!
And gods forbid he actually look like he was gaining weight, then someone would inevitably point it out and bam, no food would be left in his hands for long at school, breakfast and lunch trays would be knocked flying and, he sighed at the memory of the last time it had happened, yeah, his life was a thin stretched tightrope and it was running out….
But at least he was full for now, he thought as the door clicked shut behind him. He had asked what would happen if a fire hit the building but his mother just said she’d let him out but, well, it had taken a few years for the disbelief to set in but he knew better now, half the time she wasn't even home after she locked him in, a few times even missing letting him out for school.
Hunger be damned, he loved it when that happened, then he’d move his desk, lift the floorboards, and take out his latest journal, and lose himself for hours in his imagination, drawing, and writing while hunger and thirst faded away to faint irritations.
Now though, as he carefully put everything back in place, holding the latest in a long line of stolen notebooks, now he had to plan.
If he was gonna die, then it was going to mean something!
******
The plan he came up with was simple, and basic, and required him to learn a few new things really quickly so, instead of keeping his head down, he spent what time he had left getting onto busses and walking into libraries and just lying, saying he’d forgotten his ID, or it had been stolen, or once that the dog had eaten it, but he needed to figure out how to record a video/audio diary and then upload it to several social media platforms, already knowing what he was going to do would be taken down really fast so the more places he could put it the better.
He also had to figure out how to have a dead man’s switch on his upload, a timer to upload that had to be manually reset so that, as soon as he died, his content would upload automatically.
Asking for a free phone at the communications shop was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, actually talking to a stranger, pushing himself on someone else's notice, and taking their time but, well, free phones were for kids like him, too poor to buy one yet still needing to be in contact with the world.
At least that's what the government program that offered them said, and who was he to argue?
Spending some time learning how to record, to upload, to set his plan up, he felt fulfilled in a way strange and new to him. Holding his shirt where he’d stitched a hidden pocket for the phone to hide in, he smiled. Audio would have to do for most of the plan, if anyone caught him with a phone it wouldn't last more than a few seconds but that was okay, audio would do just fine.
******
Something was wrong with that fucker Deku, he wasn't reacting right, sure his head was down but, Katsuki clenched his teeth as he watched the useless piece of shit scribbling notes faster than should be possible, big green eyes fixed downwards in concentration, the urge to simply stand up and smash him gowning but, even as much as Sensei let him do what he wanted in class, that kind of disruption wouldn't fly so he’d just have to wait for after class.
Yeah, then the fucker was going down!
*****
Seeing Bakugo glaring at him all day let Izuku know the plan was almost finished so, as soon as class rang for the end of the day, he rubbed his chest, hitting record again - he’d practiced the movement a million times and could do it in his sleep now - and just waited, knowing he would be adding powerful content if he was just brave enough to go through with it.
*-*
Picking himself up as he caught his breath, being slammed full force into a wall tended to make him gasp, he wobbled and watched the rest of the kids start to move, thinking 'Shows over you fuckwads!' but he was wrong because then Sensei said, oiled voice making him cringe, “It seems like you didn't learn the last time Midoriya, how many times have I told you to not antagonize your classmates?”
Blinking pain fueled tears from his eyes he looked up into the sadistic bastards' face, and asked, knowing the plan needed him to do this, “How, Sensei, how do I stop antagonizing them when I wasn't doing anything but taking notes?”
"How dare you? You fucking little piece of shit, you dare cast aspersions against your classmates? Detention," and then he smiled, "not today, detention tomorrow." Laughing, the teacher looked down at the shivering child and pointed to the door, “Get out of my sight, worthless!”
Taking the chance he bolted, avoiding the kick aimed at him, and ran.
As soon as he was free of the building he said, as clearly as he could manage through his chattering teeth, “I ddddon't know wwwhat hehehe's pppplanning but fffor it tttto be pput off a ddday it's gonna bbbbe bbbabababbbbad!”
Despite how he felt, he dragged his aching body not home but to the nearest library, not to sit inside in the warm the way he wished he could, but to lean against the wall outside and use their wifi. His phone would call emergency numbers without hitting his data use limit but free phones gave very little internet access time and he had so much he had to do but at least now he could work as long as he wanted to for free, uninterrupted cause he was hidden behind the book return box.
It was only when his fingers were almost frozen that he nodded, pleased with what he'd done. Resetting the timer to twenty-four hours he headed to the bins he found the most food in usually. He had given up on trying to please his mother by getting home from school at the time she demanded. If he was locked in and berated and yelled and cried at anyway, he may as well use his remaining time wisely.
After all, he was going to die soon and his bucket list only had one thing on it, make them pay!
All of them, her too!
****
"Hi, my name is Midoriya Izuku and if you're watching this, then I’m already dead."
It should have been a normal vlog hitting the social media websites, just the normal kid kind of thing, homework, school, friends, the usual, but instead, it was something else entirely, and despite how many times the powers that be took it down, people who had seen it, had listened to it, kept reposting it, and now, as Aizawa Shouta sat in the main conference room of UA, his boss having called them all in to see it in its entirety, he’d only heard the first few words and already he felt sick, horrified that anyone who sounded that young was already out of reach of any help.
The only thing left now was to honor them by listening to their last words and trying to get justice for them.
Because if his boss was involved, it wasn't just a new kind of suicide note, it was going to be something much, much darker.
****
"Hi, my name is Midoriya Izuku and if you're watching this, then I’m already dead."
"But that’s okay, I realized I was gonna die not too long ago but that seems to be normal for people like me so, while I really wanted to live, like, really REALLY wanted to live, I know it's impossible for me so I decided to do the next best thing."
"The only thing I ever wanted to do was help people, like, when I was little I wanted to be a hero but then my quirk never showed up and, well, quirkless don't get to be heroes."
"Then I thought I could be a doctor but, nope, I’m not even allowed to get higher than a seventy in my classes or else I get punished, and grades that low can't get into medical school so not only can’t I be a doctor, I don't get to be an EMT either."
Looking down at his hands the entire time he’d been talking, he suddenly looked up, right into his camera, and said…
"I’d even be happy holding a stop sign and letting kids across the street but," he smiled sadly, holding up what had been in his hand, his school ID badge clear and sharp, his finger tapping beside the bright holographic letters QL.
"You see this? It'll be on every ID I ever have. I checked yesterday and it will never go away. And as soon as anyone sees it, I’m not even allowed to stay on a computer in the library because someone better might need to use it, even if there are already five empty ones just sitting there."
"How on earth do you think I’ll ever get a job at all, never mind one in a position that lets me help someone?"
"Quirkless die young, just look it up, but it's not 'cause we’re weak, or stupid, I keep my grade a seventy across the board, never higher, never lower, and that's so much harder than getting a proper grade, I can promise you that."
"So no, I’m not stupid, and neither are any other quirkless people you might meet."
"We die young because people like you kill us."
Blinking slowly at the camera he repeated, "because people like you kill us."
"They take the jobs away so we can't earn any money and with no job we get no housing, with no bank account we can't even get the government help that is so happily pointed out on pamphlets and leaflets anywhere people like me might go for help but its a con, a scam! 'Cause if you don't have a bank account and you can't get one with QL on your ID, then you can't get the money the government says is there to help you because they will only send it by direct deposit."
"See how that works? No money, no job, no home, no food, and that's only if you get all the way through school and out on your own."
"Most of us don't get that far."
"I recorded all of my last three weeks at school, and I’m going to do it for as long as I can but my main bully is getting stronger every day and hates me so MUCH so I know I don't have long but just listen to this and tell me how long YOU’D live if this was your reality."
"Oh, the voices you'll hear? The kids are in my school, the adult ones are my teachers and my mother."
~~~~~
What played then made it hard to breathe, the heroes sitting in the darkened room gripped their fists tight and listened to a child being told, in many different and creative ways, to kill themselves.
And the fact that the boys' own mother was there, saying, "Ohhhhd Darling, sometimes I wish you didn't have to deal with this but weak as you are, maybe a fall or something and then you’d just never wake up. Wouldn't that be nice?”
Reaching out, he captured Hizashi’s hands, not letting him hurt himself in his distress.
They were only a short way into this, and he knew in his heart there was worse to come.
~~~~~
"Well, that's about how many times a week I’m told to kill myself, and sure, I get that some of them are just suggestions, or gentle musings and not outright “Just murder your selfish bastard self already!” commands, but all of them hurt, you know?”
The kid on the screen shook his head. "I am such a stupid kid, it took me until a few weeks ago to understand it was never gonna get better and that they actually MEANT it, like, you know, that they want me dead and gone."
"Yeah, I may be smart enough to figure this social media shit out in a week or two but I am so fucking stupid to think anyone was ever gonna care enough to save me."
"Oh, well, never mind, I KNOW I won't be taking THIS advice! Oh, the voice you next hear used to be my best friend in the entire world but now, well, yeah...."
“I know how a worthless piece of shit like you can get a quirk Deku, just take a swan dive off the roof and pray for a quirk in your next life!”
"Yeah, how stupid can you get Bakugou, the school roof is only four stories tall so I’d most likely survive the fall and yeah, I’ve woken up in more alleys and trash lots and dumpsters to count after being caught by him and his gang so I when I die this time, I am NOT gonna wake up, not knowing where I am, in so much pain I don't even know who I am, ain't…. gonna… happen!!!"
"Wish for a quirk? Not a chance!" Green eyes brightening up, an almost impossible eager grin showing for the first time, Shouta felt something in him shatter when the kid said, "Did you know time isn't a straight line?"
"How fucking cool is that!"
"We just perceive it as a linear progression of experience after experience but time is actually happening always, so now is also the witch hunts of Salam and the pyramids being built and people hammering tools outa stone and everything all at once!!!"
Panting slightly from the rant he gave a big beaming smile as he said, "So I’m not gonna pray for a quirk in my next life cause that’ll just make me like them, instead I’m gonna pray my next life is back when everyone was quirkless like me!"
"It doesn't matter when. Just imagine it, no quirks at all and yet," he suddenly frowned, "and yet we went all over the world, spread to every inch of the globe. We invented almost everything we have now, even the social media platforms you're watching me on and even the very phone I’m using to record this."
"Why do people think I’m weak and stupid if quirkless made the world and quirked people just took it over?"
"Maybe I really am stupid cause I just don't understand it but never mind, maybe I’ll come back and be an astronaut and walk on the moon!"
"But I’m getting ahead of myself cause I’m not dead yet!" and he gave the camera a big thumbs up.
"This next bit is me getting detention for getting hurt by the class's biggest bully, name of Bakugo Katsuki so Imma gonna let the recording run - and yes, I know it’s illegal to record someone without their permission but then again, it's supposed to be illegal to attack them too so you know what, fuck it, just listen!"
~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of an explosion, a child screaming, feet walking away, and the child that was hurt panting as they clearly were struggling to their feet and then an oily voice say, “It seems like you didn't learn the last time Midoriya, how many times have I told you to not antagonize your classmates?”
Everyone in the room was already frozen in fury but then a tiny voice asked, shaking with tears, “How, Sensei, how do I stop antagonizing them when I wasn't doing anything but taking notes?”
And then, instead of doing anything a normal human being would do, like comfort and protect a child under their care, this child's teacher raged at them, saying, “How dare you? You fucking little piece of shit, you dare cast aspersions against your classmates? Detention, and then a pause before a short harsh laugh, “Get out of my sight, worthless!”
"That, ummmm, that last bit was me getting detention and the next bit is me having it but, ummmmm, I gotta warn you, it’s not nice. I’ll let it run and then when it's over I’ll come back and talk a little bit more so, yeah, here we go…"
The recording suddenly took up where the teachers' voice had left off, still the same person but inexplicably cheerful as they said, 'Oh fuck,' Shouta thought, 'holy fuck, they did not just set him up!’
*****
"One final note before we break for lunch class, Midoriya saw fit to earn himself detention yesterday, he will be cleaning the nearest toilets. Please, let's all make sure he learns his lesson fully, alright?”
The video suddenly coming on, after simply hearing the voices was jarring, but not as jarring as what they now could see.
It was an ordinary school bathroom, eight cubicles with several hand basins and paper towel dispensers and, overall, it should have looked clean and cared for but instead…
The walls were splattered by what could only be shit, thrown and splashed against the walls and mirror and window, every towel covering the floors or stuffed into the toilets that had been flushed anyway, the floor now awash with a mix of foulness that would be hard for a trained sanitation worker to deal with and instead….
"Midoriya," the voice was back, video blacking out an instant before the voice started, "You will clean this up and be grateful for the chance to redeem yourself in my eyes, and tomorrow you will stand up and thank your classmates for helping you to learn your place.”
"No," the tiny voice said, clear and resolute, "no, I don't deserve this, you can't make me."
Every hero listening held their breaths, praying, but they'd been warned already and instead of any clemency, they heard the sound of fist hitting flesh, and the child gave a pained cry and the splash as they fell had half the room on their feet, despite its being just a recording.
The jungle of a buckle being undone, the child crying out "No no I didn't mean it Please I'll - which is as far as he got when a whistling hiss and a sharp crack of leather striking hard, and the child screamed as that hateful voice yelled, punctuating their words with hit after hit after whistling hit. "You will do as your told, worthless useless child how dare you speak back to me how dare you!"
By the time the sound of the beating ended several of the teachers listening were in tears and a stampede of bodies were headed for the door, they were going to find this bastard and make them pay and only Nezu's voice stopped them, got them back to their seats, assuring them that the case was already underway.
The sounds still filling the room, of broken-hearted sobbing, made it hard to even sit down but they managed it, they were strong enough to stand witness for a child failed in every conceivable way, and get them not justice, but revenge.
And the final nail in the coffin of this person's hopes of life continuing as they expected it to, were the words, "I think, for your little uppity spell, you’ve lost rubber gloves privileges.” and the splashing footsteps and slamming door briefly drowned out the boy.
Then there was nothing but the sound of a child crying, with no hope of being helped, and they listened, as honor bound them to do.
Eventually, they heard him roll over, give a groaning moan, and say, "I read that an abuser is most dangerous when the abused says no more and shhhhhhit," he started laughing then, a broken sound, "They got that right! All I did was say no. How is this right?"
The child's voice was stronger, even as sobs broke their ability to speak, "It's not right, it isn't…… I don't wanna die!" Was whispered with all the strength of a prayer.
Splashing and movement could be heard as the kid dragged themselves up eventually, clear time skips in the audio because their voice was much calmer, no more sobs, as they said, "No glubs eh? Bastard!"
"Oh," an impossible chuckle, "Glubs is from a book I found one day in a broken-down house, there wasn't much of it left and it crumbled as I read it but I loved it, it was all about Death and his granddaughter Susan and a holiday, and Glubs is what a tiny child called gloves and I’ll shut up now, sorry, but cause that fucker took the rubber gloves it means I have to clean this all up with my bare hands and that's just nasty but at least I’ve done it so many times now that I have things hidden in the vent to help me…"
Scuffling and bumping could be heard, and finally a splashing yell of triumph mixed with pain, "I’m gonna turn the recording off now and use the squeegee I stole, and the hose that hooks to a tap, and get this mess cleaned up so I can go find some food, at least it’ll be late enough when I’m done that the dumpsters'll be full."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nezu paused the vlog, saying, "I tracked his movements as he left the school at eight pm, he got out of the building via a back door and then had to climb the perimeter fence to actually leave the grounds. He then proceeded to spend quite some time, clearly in some considerable pain, hunting for food thrown away behind several restaurants and eventually made his way to the apartment he shared with his mother."
"I do not know what happened there but he did make it to school on time the next day, so perhaps it wasn't as bad as the rest of his day."
"We will never know."
"What follows is the last of what they recorded, to which I have attached the last footage I have of the child that I could find, the two dovetail neatly. Please, listen and watch in full, and then I will take questions."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dark shadowed eyes stared into the camera as the battered child spoke, trying to smile bravely but failing, "I think it’ll be today, Bakugo never likes it when someone else hurts me, he always has to hurt me more so that, I dunno, maybe it’s like he thinks he owns me or something and has to mark me up even worse?"
"But since Sensei hurt me yesterday and I can't hide it cause every time I move it hurts so bad that I keep crying he’ll know and wanna hurt me worse so today I’m gonna say something insulting to him cause if I have to die then it’s time, I’m too tired to take more, I'm afraid all the time, I'm sorry if I can't be brave anymore, I just want it over."
The camera cut out, switching on to the sound of the boy talking to what seemed to be himself, saying, "Just cause your so strong Bakugo doesn't give you the right to hurt me!" and then loud pops and a voice yelling, "What the FUCK did you just SAY TO ME?" And the sound of a door slamming and feet running and the loud kids' voice screaming in the distance and the running and screaming went on for several long minutes until....
"HAH, caught you, you stupid fuck! Didja think you'd get away? You know this lot doesn't let out anywhere or were you too fucking stupid to remember that? Got cher back to the water now fucker, and I’m gonna make you scream, you’ve been getting uppity lately, shit like you don't get to even look at people like me, never mind talk back!"
The entire tirade was accompanied by the sound of water rushing and small explosions and then Midoriya's voice sounded out, loud and clear.
"I used to love you, did you know that Kacchan? I thought you were so amazing, so strong, so smart, I loved you. And then something I had no say over happened and you got a quirk and I didn't, and then you hurt me like it was your right to do it or something."
"You say I’m weak and helpless and stupid and useless and to kill myself and then you hurt me over and over and over again but then you say you’re gonna be a hero, be the number one hero?"
And suddenly the audio was accompanied by the footage, clearly from a street cam, and Mizoriya gave a lightning glance up, looking directly at it, and gave a tiny smile, and said…
"Fuck that!"
The words were spit at the bigger blond kid that had him trapped between him and the winter raging river, the protective wall that should have stood tall was instead smashed and gone, leaving dark water clearly on view as the heroes watched, spellbound.
The blond reared back at being sworn at and was clearly baffled when he was on the receiving end of someone else for the first time in a long time.
"FUCK THAT!!!" Midoriya said again, "You aren't a hero, you will never Be a hero, because I’m weak Bakugo, I’m hopeless and helpless and tired and afraid and I'm gonna die soon because people like me don't get to live as long as people like you do but you will never forget me Kacchan, you will never forget right now and do you know why?"
Lights were flashing off the blond kid's hands now, the explosion clear on the recording, even clearer on the street cam footage Nezu had found of these last moments.
"You will never be a hero because you, Bakugo Katsuki, are a fucking villain!"
"You have always been a villain, you're a villain right now, and you will always be a villain and all I have to say to you is fuck off, get back out of my face, and go hurt someone else and when your sitting rotting in jail, remember me!"
And the tiny curly-haired kid shot two finger birds at the blond bully and the scream and explosion whited out the cam footage of a brief moment, ended the audio totally, and then they had a fraction of a second of seeing the kids body flying, broken and smoking, a tiny relieved smile on their face, and disappearing under the raging torrent.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Nezu had never been so angry, or sickened, by anything they had ever witnessed, and now, surrounded by his family and friends, already far too late to save this tiny scrap of humanity, the child whose body still hadn't been found, all they could do was rain down the fires of hell onto everyone who had treated them as he had been treated.
A child who had only ever wanted to help people had been driven to letting himself be murdered, all in a final last-ditch effort to be useful, so that what happened to him didn't happen to anyone else.
Well, Nezu swore, and the room backed him up on it, hellfire would fall, and it would start with Aldera Middle School and Midoriya Inko and spread from there.
Things were going to BURN!
*******
Izuku was still breathing.
In and out and in and out and in and 'Fuck, ohhhhhhh fuuuuuuck, why am I not dead yet?'
Floating in a dreamlike haze, feeling the soft pull and tug at every part of him, he just drifted for a long moment. Nothing hurt very much, well, he had been throwing himself backward as Bakugo hit him with a huge double blast so that, in motion, the powerful explosion simply picked him up and hurled him into the river instead of smashing him to a pulp.
His chest and ribs hurt, he’d thrown up his arms to cover his face so yeah, his chest had borne the brunt of it but while it hurt, he’d had worse.
The entire point of having his confrontation with the murdering teen though was so that, when he was exploded he’d fall into the river and if he survived one, he would die from the other.
It had taken him weeks to find just the right place, it had to have security cameras not just in place but maintained, it had to have easy access to the river, and it had to be close enough for him to out outrun Bakugo long enough for him to reach the spot.
Everything had WORKED damn it, why wasn't he dead yet?
Anger and resentment and then, a sudden surging flood of dread, he wondered what time it was, had his dead man's switch activated?
Had his time bomb hit the internet?
Was he famous for being dead yet?
Jerking upright he gave a warbling cry, eerie and distorted, as claws seemed to snatch at him, his eyes snapped open in shock, and, okay, he was dead.
Dead and drowned and snagged in a sunken tree and the afterlife was MUCH different than he was expecting and it hurt more too, was he in some kind of freshwater hell or something?
Holding dead ('Ha, pun intended!' he crowed to himself) still, he blinked and tried to take stock of what was going on.
First, he could see, which was a surprise because the river was black dark from above but now from underneath it was like a moonlight room, dark but still clearly visible.
Second, he wasn't cold, like, at all. There were chunks of ice floating overhead for kami's sake, he should be frozen by now.
Third, and maybe it should have been first, he was breathing.
In his dash for the river, he’d made sure to shuck his school jacket off, leaving only his cotton shirt on, knowing how the blazer would melt in an explosion he wanted his last seconds to not be filled with the smell of melting fabric and roasting flesh and he knew cotton flashed as it burned, crumbling to ash so fast it hardly had time to burn him so he wasn't surprised to find his shirt mostly gone, hung up on one arm and the branches he was caught in.
What he was surprised by was that he was only breathing one way.
Putting his fingers in front of his nose and mouth he took in a deep breath and could feel the water entering past his fingers, deep into his lungs only to whoooosh out but not past his hand.... he reached around in puzzlement to feel his twin birthmarks, two low ridges of flesh right where his ribs began to curve around to his front, and the exhale was coming from them.
Breathe in through his nose and mouth, breath out through the birthmarks that weren't birthmarks, despite what he’d be told by that doctor, they were his quirk.
He had a quirk.
Had had a quirk all his life!
Been born with it, in fact.
Emotions overwhelming him at last he screamed, a high-pitched cry that rebounded back to him as a sensory overload of echolocation, and he curled sobbing, clutching the tree that had caught his unconscious body tight, and for the first time in his life, he simply screamed his hurt, cried aloud to the gods and the fishes and to no one at all his rage and hurt and pain and loss and eventually blackness took him from the pain, and into weird dreams that he didn't remember upon waking.
*****
The next time he woke up he was lying on a gravel stretch of river bed, still not cold but incredibly hungry.
Sitting up had him floating gently down river like a leaf so he turned and grabbed fists full of gravel, trying to stop his drifting away, only for his eyes to spot a ‘Shole, gaggle, flock, bunch, what does one call a bunch of carp?’ he wondered as his eyes fastened to the five large bodies, holding close to the wall that guided the river at this point, and now Izuku realized he could hear traffic, and feet, and voices, and he must be in the city!
Grateful the water above him was black and wild and no one could see him, he looked again at the fish, and then at his hands, wondering if 'Holy shit!' his fingers were tipped not with nails but with talons, not long but very sharp. ‘Huh, maybe a slight transformative element to my quirk?’ pushing away how sick the thought of his having a quirk made him, he waved the hand he’d been examining through the water, feeling the resistance given by the new webbing between his digits, looked again at the large fat fish and ‘People eat sashimi so raw fish is fine, right?’
Giving up the fight he tried to move closer, knowing if he could get his claws into one he could eat but his shoes, still on his feet, dragged and pinched now he noticed them so he kicked them violently off, following them with his trousers, leaving him in his black underwear, glad they were tight ones rather than boxers.
'Less chance of mooning the river that way, they should stay in place,' he hoped with crossed fingers.
He failed to catch one of the fish, and then the next ones he found, and then the next ones too but eventually as night fell and he could still see them only he guessed by their electrical emissions rather than by any light, he finally got one, and then the fun really began as it dragged him, thrashing and fighting, up river for at least a mile before it died and then, well, just teeth - sharp now, pointed and serrated - and fingers against twenty pounds of raw carp would have once given him a challenge but now, he just ripped into it, eating and eating and eating until he was filled to the bursting point, happy in a way totally new to him, and only bones were left to roll down river to the sea.
He pushed himself under a half-buried log and let sleep claim him a third time, only now he smiled as he slept.
*****
He hid in the river until spring, learning how to hunt the fish that lived in it with him, learning how to echolocate, to use sonar to navigate in pitch blackness, how his eyes that had always been so much bigger than anyone else's now let him see clearly even in murky gloom and only needed to be blinked a few times a minute, rather than every few seconds.
Working hard he tried to catch up with the years everyone else his age had had to learn their quirk, and on his own managed to learn enough, fast enough, to survive.
Eating was always on his radar, 'Never pass up a chance to eat 'cause you might not get another one anytime soon.'
So he focused on mapping not just the river he was in, but all the canals that branched off from it, and all the other rivers and streams that joined with it on their way to the sea and used his time to learn all about himself.
His new self, that is.
But, weeks after being blasted into the river, completely ignoring his old life and just pretending that Midoriya died that day, only Izuku the fish kid was left, and Izuku The Fish Kid was bored!
Clicking a few times, letting them ping back at him, he flicked his feet in annoyance, thrusting him into speed mode against the current, he was filled with energy and didn't know what to do with it. He had finally reached a point of either heading out to sea and leaving the world behind him or trying to reverse the quirk and walk on land again.
In his experiments, he’d learn that in his aquatic form - which he may be trapped in forever, he just didn't know - he couldn't speak, although he could make more sounds than he’d ever made before.
He could even sing, a wordless ululation of whatever emotion he was feeling at the time, letting them bleed out of him and into the song, leaving him tired and content.
‘Sea or land?’
Holding up a flat stone, light on one side and dark on the other, he contemplated just tossing it for a decision but something this big couldn't be left to chance.
'No one knows I even exist anymore so I’m not on a time crunch. I can just stay where I am, or, heeeey, how about I go to the ocean and see if I can even tolerate salt water, I may be a freshwater mutation and then that sorts my ass right out.'
Having nothing better to do, and not being hungry, he simply rolled himself over and gave idle kicks to help the current along, headed downriver this time, to the sea.
Salt was a slight tang, pleasant at first but the more of it there was in the water, the more the tingle turned to an itch, then to a burn, and then he turned back, still only in brackish water, not yet at the sea but in that strange world that lived between ocean and river.
He had a feeling that, if he stayed to acclimate himself in the in-between zone he might be able to manage true salt water in a week or three but, he swam gratefully back to his usual area, he’d save that for later, it had been awful enough to not want any more of it right then.
'So.... learning how to get out of the water it is, I guess?’
*******************
Izuku had already learned that his ears worked above and below the water, and any time he thought about it he felt anger stir again, if that fucking doctor had bothered to look into his ears a mutation that allowed him to hear above and below water would be clearly visible!
And the things he’d been told were birthmarks but instead were part of his respirator system?
‘Fucking jerk, messed my life up and for what, nothing, just cause he was....'
Forcing himself to stop that train of thought he instead thought about his breathing, and how words were formed, using air.
How for most of his life he’d done it like that, and how he should be able to do it again, that his breathing could work in and out from his nose and mouth because his back openings that let spent water out could close so tightly that no one had ever guessed they could open in the first place.
So in theory all he had to do was empty his lungs of water and breathe air, everything else should work out on its own. It had for breathing water anyway so, going back should be a cinch!
It wasn't a cinch!
But it did work.
Climbing to just below the water level on a sandbank that night he braced himself and exhaled as fully as he could, expelling the water from his lungs and stood up, stepping onto the sand bar and taking a breath of air…
Which is where he collapsed, racking coughs dropping him to his knees, hacking and gasping as water ejected across his back and air entered like fire into his lungs and for a long time, he thought he really was going to die but he couldn't coordinate his limbs to get back to the water!
But in less time than expected, he was breathing in and out, in and out, and the burn was receding, like the pain from getting water up your nose fades, and he was naked in the dark in the middle of the river, tall building towering on all sides, cars, and pedestrians and noise and lights, "Oh fuck!" the lights as a beam hit him where the noises he'd been making caught someone's interest and he was scrambling back into the water, and the reverse happened, a rush of choking coughs and bubbles were everywhere and he was finally breathing properly, in through his nose, out past his ribs, in and out, in and out, in and out, and he had his answer, he could do both, land and water, so what to do with that information?
*****
Saving the drunk man who fell in upriver of him was the real turning point.
He’d heard the thrashing and gone to investigate only to find the man clinging to a crack in the wall, not able to yell for help over the sounds of the traffic on the bridge beside him, people going by overhead in the dark not even knowing anyone was in trouble.
Coming up under the man he grabbed them by the shirt and their belt, tipping them to keep their head above water, and kicking firmly to drive them both downstream, knowing a landing point was close.
Once they got there he pushed the man, no longer struggling as their drink-fuddled brain loosely gripped the fact that someone was helping them, up onto the steps of the dock, urging them upwards, and watched them crawl their way up, giving them a smile when they looked back, and ducked back down, amazed at how great it felt.
Helping was amazing!
****
He got very few chances to help across the next two weeks but, a wallet tossed back to dry land here, a ball thrown back to a child there, he even withstood the claws of a panicked dog who had fallen in, managing to get them to a place they could climb out, sinking down to let the bloody scrapes wash clean.
Bit by bit though, people started talking about the helpful spirit haunting Musutafu’s downtown stretch of river.
And then, as Izuku was floating under a dock well away from the bright downtown river park stretch that was all lights and loud noises and he needed a quiet undisturbed stretch of river to hunt the bigger fish that hid there, he heard a slight scuffle above him. Raising his ear above the surface to listen harder, he heard…
“Fucking hero, think you got the drop on me eh?” and a long piece of something was falling in coils and waves into the water all over the mostly submerged boy, and then, as he looked up in shock, he saw the body falling fast, shoved through the broken planks of the derelict dock that the bigger catfish tended to lurk under.
Lunging forward he grabbed two fistfuls of hair and kept the person's nose and mouth above water and that was all he did, knowing how well hidden in the dark they were with only enough head exposed to let the person breathe, tugging with the current he floated the unresponsive body, trying not to tangle in the loop after loop of fabric, hearing the cursing and banging still going on above.... and now behind them.... and finally the noises and the dock itself faded away into the darkness and Izuku was moving faster, trying to get to the low beach he knew was just a quarter mile away, bordering the river's edge it was a good place to find interesting stones and river glass and things like that for his ever-expanding collection.
Finally reaching it he gave a whistling click of despair, the man was still out, unresponsive yet breathing and now they were starting to shiver in their soaked clothes so, taking and holding a great big breath of water, he stood and dragged the man up onto the shingle and rolled him to be more comfortable on his side.
Jumping back in for a fresh breath he gasped a few times before jumping out and trying to find a phone but again he ran out of oxygen and finally gave up, ejecting the water from his lungs in a now practiced motion, a long steady stream and sucked in his first breath of air, only coughing a tiny bit.
And now he found the phone in a pocket in the heroes jumpsuit, trying to get it to switch on but it was locked so, in a last-ditch effort to get the man some help, he simply pushed the three numbers of the emergency services and crossed his fingers that he was right, that they would work even on a locked phone and then a calm voice was speaking in his ear.
"Please state the nature of your emergency!"
Almost yelling, hands shaking with shock, he said, "It's a hero, he's hurt, I caught him and dragged him out of the water but he isn't breathing right and he won't answer me even though," and he gasped in surprise, "his eyes are open his eyes are open come get him please please I don't know what to do next!"
Being told help was on the way, to breathe, and given questions to answer he managed to sit beside the hero until he saw red lights flashing and turning into the nearby parking lot and said, voice breathless in fear, "I gotta go, please help him!" and with one flex of his powerful legs, he lept back into the water.
Hiding under bushes and branches dangling into the river he watched as the man was loaded into the ambulance, even the ribbon thing was gathered up and then everyone was gone, like they’d never been there before, and Izuku indulge in a hearty bout of crying, letting the stress and shakes start to reduce, and then he swam back for his home, a sunken cave, singing as he went.
It was only later on that he remembered, “HOLY SHIT!!! I saved a Hero!”
*****
Saying it again for the third time, Shouta said, “I wasn't imagining it, I didn't nearly drown, my brain was working fine, it was a paralysis quirk, if I haven't had help I would have drowned but instead someone grabbed me and dragged me to a river bank and then, in the streetlight, I FUCKING know what I saw and it was Midoriya fucking Izuku!!!"
Glaring at Hizashi who had the gall to grin at his swearing - because of course he believe Shouta, the first time he’d said it even - and Nezu who was also smiling at him, damn it to hell and back again, he was going to be in for endless teasing from one and a gently worded lecture on patience delivered over cup after cup of, admittedly excellent, tea from the other.
But none of that mattered right now because he knew what he'd seen - forcing away how it had felt to be paralyzed, eyes open and helplessly seeing the river tumble at him as he fell, to know he was going to drown and Hizashi was going to be all alone and fingers laced gently with his own and Hizashi was pressed against his side and a voice murmured in his ear, "Well get him, now we know, now NEZU knows, we'll find him."
It took more time and even more swearing to get the case reopened but once it was, it gave all three of them permission to act.
******
Sakamata Kugo was hunting a dead child at the request of one of the scariest people he knew.
Nezu had called him in, explaining about how Midoriya Izuku, the victim of systematic and systemic bullying and eventual murder victim that had showcased his own suffering so clearly that no one could look away, no one could ignore it any longer, and change had swept through the school system, blowing corruption and villains away and with new rules and rigid enforcement, even the poor kids' school was now a safe place for all quirks, or no quirks, as the case may be.
So much had changed in nine months, so much better than it had been, and all through the words and actions of this one person, and now to hear that may be alive after all?
Well, sign Kugo UP!!!
Now he was gliding silently, almost motionless, using the intel gathered over the last week by a crack team - all of them UA staff and damn, Kugo thought in amusement, he'd never seen a firmer intention to get someone to safety than they had for this kid.
Sorrow briefly filled him, he understood how they could feel they failed him, even if not a single one of them had ever been anywhere near the kid, but maybe this way they could all stop feeling guilty and the kid could be safe because the media was going to go shit wild when the news broke and nowhere was safer than UA so he could be reintroduced to society.
Maybe he’d be happy with the things that had changed through his death but as Kugo had a shy streak in him too, carefully hidden, he cringed at the thought of being in this kid's shoes when the world rediscovered Midoriya Izuku!
Gliding quietly past a wall, feeling the traffic above thrumming through the stone, he settled where a bridge column and the wall gave him the perfect hiding space, allowing him to get a breath when he needed yet giving him an uninterrupted view for at least a mile up and down river.
If Nezu was right the kid had a quirk that let him breathe water so it was a bit trickier for Kugo but not impossible, no, nothing was going to be impossible if it got this kid to safety.
*****
It took five days for them to catch their first glimpse of the kid as they slipped past the hidden hero, large green eyes scanning the river bottom, the sudden dart to catch a glint of gold, and then the kid was examining the ring they found, watching as they suddenly didn't quite seem to know what to do with it, it clearly once belonged to someone, but how to get it back to them.
The ring was finally tucked into a pouch attached to a belt around the kids' waist, the only thing they were currently wearing. Well, Eraserhead had already mentioned their near nakedness but fabrics didn't react well to long immersion, he should know, so the bare skin was just practical.
Letting himself drift clear of his hiding space, he followed the kid soundlessly as they worked the bottom, picking up bits and pieces here and there, it took hours and it was miles, but eventually, Kugo saw Midoriya go into a cleft in the rocks of the river bank and not come out so he pinged the location.
Finding the kids' home was just step one, step two was actually contacting the kid.
Good thing Nezu was in charge of that because the only thing Kugo could come up with was grab them and carry them to UA and deal with everything after that so, as that would probably make the kid hate them all forever, yeah, good thing Nezu had this.
******
There was something on the wall near the bridge and, as Izuku slowly got close enough to see what it was, his blood froze. It was a sign, and it said, You are not in any trouble, I simply wish to speak to you Midoriya.
Kicking as hard as he could, he swam for his cave. Panicked breaths streaming across his lower back and sides, he slid inside and burrowed into his woven nest and simply hid until he could breathe again, and his heart slowed down, and the shaking stopped.
Then curiosity hit like a sledgehammer! Who knew he was here, how did they know, why start like this, with a sign, was it a sign or was it a communication device, and best of fucking all, what did he do about it?
It took him three days to work himself up enough to go back, and when he did the message was the same but then it changed as he watched, half hidden on the bottom.
Greetings Midoriya, please be assured you are safe.
He clicked in disbelief but, after nothing happened for at least an hour, he began to believe it.
Getting closer he looked at the device, two feet square, lit a bright white, and, oh, ‘A keyboard, I didn't see that the first time.'
Hanging from the bottom was indeed a keyboard, clearly able to lift and brace in any position.
Still not seeing anyone ready to grab him, he left the keyboard where it was and, belly brushing the wall, he lay against it like he used to lay on the floor, and typed: Who are you?
Start with the basics, right?
He almost died of shock when the word Nezu appeared.
The sound he made was between a squeal and a scream, high pitched enough and with enough power backing it, to shatter the device.
He’d long since discovered he could hunt with sound, but destroy NEZU’S EQUIPMENT???
Fuck, he was so dead!
Disappearing under the bridge, he thought the ocean was looking better and better, even if his salt tolerance was still only letting him get near the sea rather than actually into it.
Watching the device disappear as it was lifted free of the water, another one slid into place, and he could clearly see, Please do not worry this is all very much for you to take in!
Feeling slightly better he crept up on the screen again, typing out: Sorry
No reason to be sorry, I have several of these units on standby, just in case! :)
Feeling his heart doing weird things at the thought that Nezu used smiley brackets, how funny is that!
Still, he typed, I’m sorry I broke it.
As we could do this all day and I would rather ask a few questions, we will simply move on, knowing that no real harm was done.
Watching intently, Izuku had no idea he was being watched just as intently back, the control room in the parked van was full to the bursting point, Nezu was a given as it was his op but Aizawa and Yamada were there as well - “Just try to keep us out!” - and Inui Ryou, Hound Dog in other words, was there as a child psychologist, and Recovery Girl so she could get eyes on in order to assess his general health.
It wasn't that big a van either.
Now, Midoriya, is it alright for me to actually ask you a few questions?
Watching the kid swim away again, clearly uneasy at the thought of being asked questions, disappearing into the darkness under the bridge, they waited for almost an hour, quiet and patient - although the endless cups of coffee from the device built into the van helped keep everyone patient - and then he was back, clearly frightened, yet eager, and they shared a relieved smile as the kid started with….
Yes, if I get to ask you questions too!
Nezu nodded with satisfaction, and Ryou bared his teeth in pleasure, the kid was approaching this logically and giving himself breaks to think about things, so far it was a healthy and positive interaction, better than they had dared hope for, considering how they had learned of the child in the first place.
Ah, of course, you do Midoriya, as well as that, you do NOT need to answer any question if they make you uncomfortable, you can merely say pass and we will move on. Like the child's game, twenty questions but with no upper limit on question number.
Does that sound good to you?
Watching the kid study the words, the way his large green eyes gleamed with interest, he nodded and typed out, That sounds perfect, who goes first?
Ah, that would be you child, which answers your question and now it's my turn.
Well used to Nezu’s playful side (after all, they were all family in the van) they all tensed up slightly in case the kid took it wrong but instead, he bared his teeth in a huge grin, laughing in tiny clicking whistles, and typed out, You're funny, go on then, your turn.
Are you safe? Came from Nezu and the kid froze, but it was important to establish if they were going to have to flood the area around the waterproof computer with anesthetic and forcibly get the kid to safety so they all breathed a sigh of relief when he typed out: Yes, I’m safe. A pause and then he continued, I have a cave, it's in the rocks, and I hunt the fish of the river but I can't go to the sea yet but I’ve almost gotten to the river mouth, it's just the salt burns my, oh, sorry - and the kid blushed bright bright red and typed out - I’m really really sorry, I haven't talked to anyone in so long I can’t seem to stop….. And he was clearly about to bolt when Nezu used the largest text possible and typed out…
CALM DOWN
Take a few breaths
I asked and any information you share with us helps us to help you so please, do not stop when you have something you wish to share.
You know who I am?
Izuku blinked and came back the few feet he'd put between him and the computer, and typed: Nezu, the thinking hero? Principal of UA high school? Right?
Correct, now, child, do you think a hero like me will EVER SAY NO to information?
It was a very well-hidden fact but Nezu was incredibly good with children, and again he managed to make the frightened boy laugh, and type out: I guess I shoulda thought of that cause you're all about information, aren't you?
Oh, whose turn is it? And NO! That’s not my question! And he pointed at the screen like he knew it could see him, smiling when Nezu replied, It is your turn, of course.
Watching the kid try to decide what to ask they were surprised when he wrinkled his forehead as he typed: Who is us? You said US, who is with you, and can you SEE ME???
Calm down child, please relax, us being able to see you is only so that we can gauge your health, and would it be something you might like for you to see us too?
Typing so fast he made several mistakes, Izuku gave an affirmative, and then the screen split, the left was still showing their texting and the other side was split into six squares, one blank, the others showing the members of the team in the van.
Seeing five people smiling at him was overwhelming, and Izuku almost swam away again but curiosity kept him rooted to his spot, staring back and then typing frantically, YOU, You're the one I saved, are you alright? I’m sorry I couldn't stay but you needed help and them not to delay trying to see me so I hid but I watched and made sure you got away and are you really really okay now?
Showing that he was the one now typing, Shouta said, Thank you for saving me, and gave a bow, watching the kid's eyes blow wide in shock, if you hadn't pulled me from the river I’d be dead now so again, thank you. And I'm fine, was fine as soon as the paralysis quirk wore off. We caught the one who did it later that night….
Which was when the keyboard was snatched from him and the one with blond hair took over: Yeah, we couldn't stop stupid head here going back out to catch them but don't worry, he's fine now, once we got him back home he got a lecture to end all lectures and Dad even grounded him so, yeah, he’s all good now!
Seeing the death glare aimed at the blond, and the dark blush, Izuku couldn't help it, he whistle clicked another laugh, and how amazing to laugh so much in one day, he was filled with the most amazing feeling and he didn't even know what it was but it was nice, THEY were nice!
Not being able to hear them as they clearly were bickering, he typed out: Is there any way I can hear you? Like speakers or something?
Ryou felt huge relief at the question, the kid clearly had a bump of curiosity to rival any cats and they were now farther than he’d dared hope for. He’d planned to use the text feature for a few days so to be interacting face to face already, well, the kid was every bit as amazing as they all knew he’d be so he said, as he flipped the switch, making sure it was turned very low, "If you would rather, we certainly can speak like this, but, can you speak in your aquatic form?"
Oh, no, I really can't, but I can hear really good, actually, he grimaced, could you turn it down a little bit more, It's really loud!
Hours later Izuku swam to his cave, almost limp. He was so tired, still amazed and slightly frightened at his having agreed to, if he still wanted to by then, meet them in person at the sand bank that he'd saved Eraserhead at.
Only the tiredness from interacting with actual people for the first time in so long had him tired enough to sleep but he slid into dreamless slumber as soon as he tangled his limbs in the woven bed net he’d invented when he first started sleeping on purpose in his cave, willing to let tomorrow take care of itself.
*-*
Letting the kid swim away was so fucking hard, Hizashi hugged himself as the small form faded into the gloom, jumping when he felt warm arms gather him close, content to be held as he listened to Dad tell him again that it was safer for the kid to come to them in his own time, and he agreed, even nodded and everything, but Other Dad gave a huffing bark at him and when he looked up, Ryou smiled, saying, "Pup, everyone here feels like you do, but trust us, do you remember how hard it was to get Shouta to come to us? And how long it took to get Keigo free?"
Snuggling closer to Shouta he nodded, believing the words, "These things take the time they take, and we are already WEEKS further along than I ever expected so, who is going to stay here so that Midoriya can contact us if he needs, and who will be going to get food and rest?”
When everyone in the van said, in the same tone of voice, “I’ll STAY!” he laughed, turning to his spouse and saying "Nezudear, executive decision?"
"I think it should be you love, I’ll be sure to send something good your way and I’ll be relieving you at oh three hundred, no, don't argue and you lot," he pointed a stern finger at the rest of the van's occupants, even his lovely Chiyo who was as prone to overworking herself as the rest, "ALL OF YOU!!! Home to UA, eat, shower, rest, and tomorrow will come as it always does. Ryou will sleep in the van when I releave them so he doesn't have to make his way home to bed at that time of night. Chiyolove, if you’d check in on the boys for me please, make sure they actually get to bed." And he cocked a warning eye at the two younger team members and they muttered, "Yes sir."
Eventually, his family were all off and away and Ryou settled in to rest and keep watch, as they had assured the child they would.
It was going to be a long night but he had enough to think about so, stretching out for another cup of the frankly amazing coffee his wonderful Nezu had made possible in his surveillance vans, he took his first sip and hit replay on the monitor.
He’d spend his time going over it a few times, jotting any notes that struck him, and soon enough Nezupet would be back, and maybe he'd even manage to leave Chiyo home in bed, well, he could hope so anyway.
Laughing, he went to work, one eye on what he was doing, the other on the empty waters below the van, and was content to let the hours slide by uncounted.
*****
Staring through the final few inches of water, knowing the morning glare hid him (well, not from the glasses Hizashi was wearing but his subtle signs letting everyone else know how the kid looked passed his notice) and let his nerves swell and almost send him scrambling away but, well, he wanted to talk to them, wanted to hear what they sounded like above water, to ask questions without having to take the time to type them out so, taking as big a breath of water as he could manage, he stood up and forced it out behind him in one long fountaining flow, finishing with a wheezing WHOOOOOOSH and took his first deep breath of air, giving a coughing bark as the final drops of water were expelled and his breathing slits clamped closed tightly and he was fully land worthy.
Sloshing up to the sandbank he suddenly realized he was standing almost totally naked and gave a yelp and almost dove back into the river but the tall blond one, Present Mic was the hero name they'd given him but he's also said to call him Hizashi, waved and held up a robe, "Heeeeey there listener, no worries! Here, me and Shou brought you this in case you wanted it, ya dig?”
Tears rose unbidden at the thoughtfulness, and he nodded and reached out tentative fingers, not comfortable enough yet to let anyone get close and then, unbelievably, they knelt to his eye level and held the robe out at the full reach of his arm, letting Izuku come to him and take it from careful fingers and breathed, "Oh my gods, it's so SOFT!!!”
"Yeah," Hizashi said softly, "Shouta loves soft things so I thought you might like it too, glad I was right. Now," he moved back before standing up, another point in his favor in Izuku’s eyes, "you hungry? Chiyo-baasan thought the savory pastries we bought shouldn't upset your digestive system and we brought a blanket so," he waved to the impromptu picnic, "you wanna sit with us?"
Watching Hizashi charm the kid Shouta felt nothing but pride and happiness, his family was the best in the entire fucking world and you could fight him on this and lose!
Letting the adults all settle onto the blanket first, Izuku took the place clearly set for him, one that gave him a direct line back to the river, Autumn low that it was, it was still deep enough for him to escape into if he needed to.
He didn't think it would be necessary, not with how careful, and kind, they were all being.
The savory pastries were amazing, he was handed a bottle of watered-down juice with an apology that it wasn't full strength, something about it might be too strong on a digestive system used to raw fish and nothing else, and then someone handed him a wide-brimmed hat, saying that the sun felt nice but he was really pale and they didn't want him to burn and, was this what family felt like?
***********
It only took Nezu and his family three more river bank visits to convince Izuku to come back to UA with them, and from there it took even less time for Midoriya Izuku to become first a UA ward, and then to become Yamazawa Izuku, a fully-fledged member of Nezu’s pack.
And while his return from the “dead” was a shock and media sensation, he had the backing and support of his new family to get him through it, even the reduction of the sentence Bakugo Katsuki had received at murdering a classmate after years of proven bullying didn't upset him for long, after all, he was still in Juvie so, well, he’d take it.
Especially when he could see what his words had done, the changes that had already taken place, and were still ongoing, yeah, he was ready to step into the new world with his family, and help more people.
Yamazawa Izuku, Hero in training, yeah, that sounded like music to his ears!