Chapter 3
A teacher stood in front of a loud group of students.
"Alright kids. Settle down, settle down. I know you are excited for the semester to end, but I must remind you that it's coming time soon to consider your futures. While you still have two years left of high school, now is the best time to work towards entering the best colleges. I want you to fill out these papers with the careers you all are aiming for." The teacher holds up a stack of papers, only to suddenly throw them up into the air. "Oh, who am I kidding, you all want to be heroes!"
The class burst out of their seats, letting loose their quirks cheering over the prospect of being heroes. The loudest amongst them being a blonde boy with explosions releasing from his hands.
"Don't lump me in with all these other extras! I'm gonna be the FUTURE NUMBER 1!" Katsuki Bakugou yells out.
The teacher raises his hands to calm the class. "Alright settle down, settle down. You all know unlicensed quirk use is illegal." Even though he said this, he had a proud smile on his face.
Izuku paid little attention to what was going on around him. He was scribbling notes on the villain fight he saw on his way into school.
A villain with a size changing quirk had been running rampant in Tatooine Station with Kamui Woods, Death Arms, and Backdraft trying to subdue him. Kamui Woods had been about to use his special move Lacquered Chain Prison, when a new hero had literally jumped into the scene with a drop kick to the villain's head, knocking him unconscious.
The hero had announced her debut as the Mineyama Hero: Mt. Lady and proceeded to pose in a provocative way meant to attract the attention of the nearby media.
He was finishing the details of his drawing of the new hero when he heard the teacher say something that had the entire classroom go silent.
"Ah Midoriya. You are aiming for U.A. as well, yes?"
Izuku looked up to see his classmates staring at him before bursting out into raucous laughter.
"As if he could be a hero!"
"A mutt like him, a hero?"
"As if anyone would find a dog heroic."
He heard many comments like this. He didn't pay them any mind.
Izuku looked to the teacher. "Yes, I am. My quirk could be of great use in rescuing people with the enhanced senses."
When Izuku looked back down to his notebook to continue writing notes, he pulled his notebook from his desk suddenly.
The hand that landed on his desk, popping sparks, drew his attention to the person standing over him.
Bakugou looked down on him with a scowl, clearly pissed that Izuku had moved his notebook out of the way in time. "Don't even think about getting in the way of my debut, stupid Dekumutt! I'm the only one here who has a chance of being the future Number 1!"
Izuku looks up from his notebook, unimpressed. "Ok. I already know my quirk won't let me be the number 1 hero, but I want to help as many people as I can." He put on a smile that would shine anywhere else.
Bakugou just snarled at his response. His hands started letting out larger pops when the teacher spoke up, "Bakugou, quirk use is not permitted in class. Please get back into your seat."
Even if the teacher seemed to be defending Izuku, he could tell by the expression on his face that the teacher was only doing it out of his obligation as a teacher.
The teacher did an amazing job of skirting that line between encouraging the other students to bully him and stopping them from belittling him for his quirk.
Izuku would have found it amusing how ironic the clear quirkism was if it wasn't spread so far and wide amongst the student body. There were quirks in his own class that were worse for heroism than his own.
He could tell he was being singled out amongst the rest of his classmates, but he couldn't tell why. That even the student who could only extend his fingers an extra foot with no enhanced strength or durability was valued higher than him was telling.
While Izuku himself could think up some scenarios where it could be useful, the fact that the teachers and student body felt that fingers was better bothered him. Not because Izuku thought he was better than the other boy. It just seemed strange that the entire school singled him out specifically for just having a wolf transformation quirk.
He was thankful for his long-distance friend, not for the first time. If not for her, he would have struggled to stand above all the insults.
He had asked her how she was able to ignore people making fun of her mutation quirk.
"Who cares about what other people think, ribbit?"
Izuku stared down at his phone is shock.
Before he could formulate a response, she continued. "People have been making assumptions of me based on what they think my quirk is. My unemotive face hasn't helped at all, but I have been lucky in finding Habuko. The best advice I can give is to act like any superiority they can hold above you means nothing, ribbit."
"But their quirks are so much better than mine! At least Kacchan's is…"
"Why do you still call him that, ribbit?"
"Why? He's still my friend. Why wouldn't I call him that?" He had a look of confusion.
There was a moment of silence on the other line. "Izuku, does he still call you that awful name, ribbit?"
Izuku froze before responding. "W-well, it's just a nickname! Like how I call him Kacchan."
"IZUKU, ribbit!" He flinched at her tone. She never yelled at him. "That's not a nickname, ribbit, and you know it. You told me what it really stands for remember? Ribbit."
Izuku curled up, his chin resting on his knees, free arm wrapped around his legs. Tears started coming to his eyes. "W-well, I mean that's just one w-way its c-could be read, r-right? I-I mean, he's g-going to be the next n-number 1. T-there's no way t-that's h-how he meant it."
"Izuku…" Tsuyu hesitates before continuing." Have you ever considered, ribbit, that he isn't your friend anymore?"
Izuku lets out a shuddering sob. "B-but w-we're best f-friends. I-if we're n-not friends a-anymore, I don't, I don't…"
"Ribbit, if Bakugou won't be your best friend, then it's a good thing you've already got a new one."
Izuku lifts his head up, confused. "I-I do? Who?"
Tsuyu let's a ribbiting giggle. "Well, me of course! Ribbit. And if you ask me? Based on what I've heard of him, I think you would be a much better hero than him, ribbit."
A hesitant smile starts to grow on his face. "Are you sure? But all my quirk does is turn me into a wolf. Kacchan's is so strong he could take down villains like it was nothing."
"…Do you remember when we talked about why All Might was the Number 1 hero?"
"Y-yeah, he's so strong he takes down e-every villain he fights in one punch!" Izuku perks up, his fanboyism of the number 1 hero standing out above his funk.
"Sure, ribbit, but do you remember telling me about how he always prioritizes the safety of people lives before taking down a villain?"
Izuku's brow furrows. "Y-yeah, sure, b-but I don't know what that has to do with-"
Tsuyu swiftly interrupts him. "All Might always prioritizes the civilians before the villains, ribbit. Bakugou would always prioritize beating the villain first. In all of our training, you always focus on ways to mitigate casualties as we fight. That's why I think you would be the better hero, because you care more about saving people than anything else, ribbit."
Izuku starts openly crying. Despite this, Tsuyu carries on.
"That's why I think you'll be the best hero there ever was, better than All Might even. So please, ribbit, don't let what they say lower your self-worth and kill your smile. After all, heroes have to make people feel safe with a big smile, ribbit, right?"
Izuku couldn't hear much after that through the tears.
Izuku smiled as he continued to write notes. His free hand thumbing a tab sticking out towards the back of the notebook. Every time he moved onto the next edition of "Hero Analysis for the Future", he made an updated entry for his best friend.
He never told her he did this. He always transcribed the new version over to the other notebook he shares with her and pretended he just updated the older entry.
His mood was so good that he had lowered his guard. So much so that he almost didn't pull his notebook away from the smoking hand that landed upon his desk. He was not fast enough, however, to stop the person behind him from grabbing it out of his hand.
The extended fingers pulled the notebook towards the boy. "'Hero Analysis for the Future', huh? What use could something like this be to a mutt like you?" He then tosses the notebook to Bakugou, who had originally made a grab for it.
"Stupid Dekumutt. You know you aren't going to be a hero, why even make these notes." His growl of annoyance soon changed into a smug smirk as he flipped over to a specific tab. "Ohoho, looks like the dog has a focus on a particular Mutie." He shows the open page of Tsuyu Asui to the other kids in the class.
Something in Izuku shifted at hearing Bakugou use the term Mutie to reference his friend. His eyes narrowed, his fists clenched, and let out a low growl. "Give that back."
Bakugou sneered right back at him. "Oh? And what are you gonna do, bark at me? As if you have the balls to do anything." He then brought the notebook between his hands, let out an explosion between them, scorching the book.
Izuku was so shocked by this action that he couldn't react in time to catch the notebook as Bakugou threw it out the open window.
"NO!" Izuku got to the window just in time to see the notebook land in the koi pond below.
Behind him, at the doors exiting the classroom, Bakugou sneers. "I'm going to be the future NUMBER ONE, and my origin story doesn't involve some useless PUP! You're so useless! If you really want to be a hero, maybe you should go chase a car like the dog you are and hope the car that hits you gives you a quirk in the next life!"
Izuku is stunned by the sheer audacity that is required to say something so disgusting. So shocked was he that he barely noticed he had made it to the koi pond. As he reached towards the notebook being nibbled on by the koi fish, they swam away. As he grabbed it he muttered, "Silly fish, notebooks aren't for you to eat."
He flipped through the notebook, making notes of pages he would need to rewrite, where he had lost sections on heroes, and such. He paused as he flipped to one page in particular. Somehow, someway, Bakugou had exerted enough control to entirely destroy only one entry.
Tsuyu's entry.
His shoulders started trembling, his hands clenching, and even an uncharacteristic snarl started on his face. "I've already accepted he wasn't my friend anymore, but what is the purpose of this. Why go so far just to hurt me? Does he really think this is something a hero would do? It's so… petty."
This last thought drains some of his rage. Bakugou's actions were petty, childish even.
He let out an exhausted sigh as he put the burned notebook into his back, determined to make a copy of it and toss this version away.
He decided to take a longer path home from school that day to let his simmering emotions calm down. It wouldn't be unusual. He regularly took longer routes to get a run in for exercise, and he texted his mother that he would be doing so now so she didn't worry about him getting home late.
He had finally gotten his emotions settled he was walking through an underpass when a noise had him freeze up. Hackles he didn't have in that form rose. Fight or flight instincts roaring so loud he couldn't even tell which direction they wanted to go in when he heard someone speak.
"Oh man am I glad I found you, kid." Izuku slowly started to turn around. "You have no idea how long I have been running from him. Do you know how easy it is supposed to be to lose someone in the sewers?" The form sloshed, like some disgusting sludge trying to create a facsimile of human motion. "You will make a convenient disguise. Gotta love it when a meat suit shows up right when you need it."
Izuku's instincts were still throwing his mind in several different directions, so he was unprepared when the humanoid pile of sludge threw itself at him.
He tried to swipe at it with claws he wasn't sure he had drawn, but it was too much. Too fluid.
It had moved so quickly he wasn't prepared when it started shoving sludge down his throat. He tried to close his mouth, to fight the villain off, but he couldn't get any kind of hold on anything. The villain was entirely mushy liquid, and it was succeeding in choking him.
As his vision started to fade, he heard a loud thud of metal hitting concrete. As the darkness finally claimed him, he could have sworn he saw a familiar head of blonde hair before a great wind pressure claimed him.
"Detroit…SMASH!"
Izuku came to with the sensation of being slapped in the face lightly multiple times. He almost thought someone was smacking him with a turkey leg before his vision cleared and he realized who the culprit was.
He sat bolt upright. "A-a-a-ALL MIGHT?!"
The blond hero stood tall, hand raised, trademarked grin proudly shining on his face. "Ah, a fan! I am glad to see you are alright. I am sorry it took me so long to arrive, the sewer system around here is like a labyrinth!"
"Oh my goodness, I can't believe I was saved by you, I'm a huge fan! Oh!" Izuku reaches into his backpack to pull out his notebook, flipping it open. "Can I please get your autogr- YOU ALREADY SIGNED IT!"
Indeed, All Might had looked around the boy's belongings to find some form of identification in case of the worst scenarios involving the villain and had found his "Hero Analysis for the Future" notebook and signed it while the boy was out. He had found it quite odd that such an amazing showing of quirk analysis was as damaged as it was.
"Indeed, I have, young man! It was the least I could do after this poor showing of mine, AHAHAHAHA!" He let out his All Mightiest laugh. "That notebook of yours is very impressive! I must say, I don't see analysis of that detail most anywhere. My, even the best analysts I work with might struggle to meet your level of detail! Tell me, are you looking to be a Hero Quirk Analyst in the future?"
Izuku looks down at his notebook, hands clenching on the edge of the pages. "Well, no, actually." Izuku looks up into All Might's glowing blue eyes. "I-I want to be a hero! I d-don't have the most amazing quirk… I can turn into a wolf, with senses that are better than the animal variant. I-I know it's not super flashy, or strong, but do you think I could still be a hero with a quirk this weak?"
"Weak…?" All Might was about to respond that of course he could be a hero, but something made him hesitate. He wasn't sure if it was a certain lingering pain, or if it was the boy's eyes.
Eyes that held a determination he hadn't seen in a long, long, time. A look of determination that fought to hide a depth of vulnerability. Something almost nostalgic.
His gut told him that his words would be far more important to this boy's future than any words spoken on a tv screen. He couldn't figure out why felt this way, he just knew that he needed to properly consider his question.
It was at this time that All Might felt a familiar clenching in his guts.
"Not now, I should have had a bit more time!"
Izuku watched as the #1 Hero held his chin in thought. A knot of concern fought a little spark of hope in him. All Might always said on television that anyone could be a hero. He had hoped that his favorite hero would tell him this now, but seeing him take time to think had him worried.
What if he didn't think he was worthy of being a hero? Maybe he was just considering how to let him down easily? No, what if he was contemplating how his powers could be useful? He himself did that on occasion while writing in his notebooks.
…Maybe he was just like everyone else at school. Thinking his simple transformation was useless…
Before he could spiral into his self-deprecating thoughts, his mind finally registered something. Something he was quite familiar with.
Blood.
But not just blood. Old blood. Like a festering wound that refused to heal.
He was quite familiar with these. While he had a healing factor, it wasn't very strong. So, while he could heal from injuries faster than most, they still took time. Time that could build up infections. He could still heal from these, but they were extremely uncomfortable, and hard to hide. He had gotten used to it over the years, so they no longer bothered him.
Maybe this is why it took him so long to notice the smell. The odd thing, though?
It wasn't coming from him.
Yet this smell was somehow worse. This smell was something similar, but he had only smelled it while running through the forests whenever he had been camping. After the first few times he had gotten used to it as a natural cycle of life in the wild.
He looked over to All Might, who was still in thought. He stepped a little closer, sniffing the air.
It couldn't be, surely? The number 1 hero never got hurt. But then again… her had slowed down the number of patrols in recent years. Had someone hurt him? That couldn't possibly be.
He was about to act as if his senses were playing a trick on him… until he noticed the scent get stronger, as All Might clenched a fist into the side of his shirt.
"Dammit, why did the injury have to act up now of all times! I need to come up with a quick response and get going before it's too late!"
"Well young man, as I always say: 'Everyone can be a hero' and I'm sure with your senses you could be-"
"A-All Might, w-why do you s-smell like you are d-dying?"
Those words chilled the large man down to his very bones. Before he could come up with a response, his body finally gave out on him, and steam exploded from his form.
The visage Izuku saw as the steam cleared almost had him panicking. Had this man been an imposter? No, the All Might from before and this man smelled almost exactly the same, even down to All Might brand hair product that he endorsed.
All Might himself looked like an Olympian god, standing at 7 foot 3 inches tall. The man before him looked like if someone drew a skeleton, then drew All Might's signature locks as if they had been so beaten down by life they had given up. It was a scraggly mess. His signature bangs, instead of flying proudly, hung low and lifeless. His large smile now looked like a grimace of teeth, holding no emotion. No assurance.
The change that stood out the most to Izuku's senses? That awful smell of death.
Izuku never once doubted who this man was. As a fan boy, he had spent plenty of time visiting local sightings of All Might after he had solved crime. This had allowed him to get plenty of scents of both All Might and the villains. So many visits had ingrained an innate knowledge of how his favorite hero smelled to his senses.
This man. This skeletal, living remnant of a man smelled exactly like the hero he had grown to admire.
While most people would stare in horror at the scene. Recognizing that the Symbol of Peace was really this worn out old man. Most people would realize that their peace was hanging on by a threat. A weak peace. These same people would likely lose all hope after seeing what was left of All Might.
Izuku was not most people. Something in him, something he could not pinpoint at that time, drove him in a different direction.
Izuku watched as his favorite hero began to cough into one of his hands. He noticed blood leaking between his lips.
Instead of panicking, instead of baulking at how horrific it could possibly be for the man who holds up Japan on his shoulders to be in this emaciated form… he held out his handkerchief.
As All Might got a handle on his coughing fit, he noticed the young man holding the handkerchief to him. He expected to see fear or pity in the young man's eyes, but instead he saw something else. He saw compassion and understanding.
As All Might grabbed the item to wipe his mouth, Izuku spoke.
"I know what it's like."
The large man paused in wiping his mouth. He looked over to the greenettes, seeing him sitting down on a nearby curb.
"I know what it's like, having to pretend like nothing is wrong. Like you aren't getting hurt." Izuku looks up to his idol with what he hopes is a reassuring smile. "I don't have the world on my shoulders, or very many people relying on me. I can't even pretend to understand the full weight of those burdens, but I know what it's like to worry how people can see us when we are hurt. I won't tell anyone what I saw here."
All Might watched this young man speak. Something about how he mentioned being hurt had him concerned. No boy this young should be used to hiding being hurt to those around him.
He wasn't sure how to feel. This young man just had one of the biggest secrets of Japan's hero industry dropped on him, yet he prioritized the comfort and health of what he knew to be the number 1 before him. Rather than panic, he had provided something of his own to clean up some stranger's blood.
Rather than yell and scream about the downfall of heroics, he had opened himself up, revealed a sense of vulnerability he believed he saw in the man before him, not knowing how right he was.
The large man sighed and sat down next to the green haired youth. "Hit the nail on the head, kid."
Izuku looked up to the larger man in shock, having not noticed him sitting next to him.
All Might meets his gaze. He lifts his shirts up, revealing a horrific scar on his left side. "I got this injury 6 years back in a fight with a villain. Lost most of my stomach and left lung trying to stop him and have been on the decline ever since. Been patrolling less and less, but I can't just let loose that I've slowed down. The world needs the Symbol of Peace to be strong."
All Might tucked the handkerchief into his pocket.
"I never answered your question before. "I haven't even seen your quirk in action, but if it as you described, I think you could be a great rescue hero. Senses as strong as you've described, not to mention how sensitive your nose must be to notice my condition, then you could be amazing at finding and rescuing people!"
Izuku curled in on himself more. "So, I'm not strong enough to fight villains? Guess I wouldn't be a great hero after all."
The large man looked over to the smaller boy. "Who said anything about beating villains being a sign of being a great hero?"
Izuku looked up, meeting eyes with the glowing blue eyes of his favorite hero.
"Just because your powers focus more on saving people than defeating the villain doesn't make you any less important. I dare say, being able to help people is the more important part! If your dream is to be a hero to save people, don't let what anyone says about how strong your power is stop you!" All Might stares directly into Izuku's gaze. "You'd be surprised what you can do if you set your mind to it."
The large man wrapped an arm around Izuku's shoulders as the young man started to sob. All Might wasn't sure what the boy had been dealing with, that this short conversation had him releasing such emotion, but he was glad he could provide some help. Even in his emaciated form.
He would have to watch out for this kid, there was no telling what potential he held.
The two had gone their separate ways, All Might to turn in the sludge villain, and Izuku heading home.
Izuku had a bounce in his step. A weight had been lifted from his shoulders that had been weighing him down for many years. If even All Might thought he could be a great hero, who cared what anyone else thought!
Sure, there were still some doubts floating around in his head, but something about the smile that All Might had shown him in his skeletal form belied a form of comfort the number 1 hero's bulky form didn't provide. Was it because it was more personal? Izuku wasn't sure, but he felt a level of confidence he hadn't felt in years.
He was just considering updating his Hero Analysis notebooks(perhaps make a level of encryption?) when he heard a scuffle from a nearby alley.
He ran to the entrance of the alley, and what he saw made his stomach twist in on itself. He looked around to call for help, but he didn't see a single person in costume.
No heroes were nearby. No one would be able to help.
No one but him. He moved before any thought of consequences could cross his mind.
What defined being normal? In a world where quirks varied wildly from one another, normal didn't really mean much. From people shooting energy from their fingers, to having animalistic physiology, the sense of "what was normal" had changed a long time ago.
Such thoughts crossed a troubled young woman's mind as she stumbled through the alleyways, avoiding the attention of those who would consider themselves "normal".
"So thirsty. Why is it, no matter how much water I drink, this thirst won't go away?" Images flashed in her mind. "NO! No. Can't think about that. Can't think about how beautiful it looked. It's not normal to think about that intoxicating color…"
She kept wandering, looking for a place to rest.
She had just found a comfortable crevice behind a dumpster when she her the footsteps and grumbling of a few men passing nearby her little hiding spot. She listened in as they walked past her.
As she heard them stop right near her hiding spot, she heard one of them mention needing to take a leak. She curled further into her dark cubby as the man walked closer, unbuckling his pants, and letting loose a stream of urine.
Fortunately for the woman, none of it flowed towards her. She heard the man start cursing about his own piss getting onto his shoes, him stumbling around, likely trying to keep the fluid off of his footwear.
It was at this moment she realized the men must have been inebriated based on this idiot's stumbling.
Unfortunately for her, this very same stumbling had the man hitting the wall he was aiming towards. As he hit the wall, she came into view between said wall and the dumpster he was near.
As he cleaned himself up, let a drunken sneer slip onto his visage. "Well, hey there little lady, what are you doing in a place like this? Don't you know, it's not safe for you to be wondering around alleys this late in the day?"
She scooted further back into the darkness behind the bin, but before she could get far, a large hand grasped the dumpster behind her and tossed it against the opposite wall.
She looked back in a panic to see a large man with a shark mutation quirk, obviously giving him enhanced strength.
She looked around in a panic, hoping to find an escape route, only to realize she was surrounded by the three men.
As the first man got closer, reaching his hand out towards her promising how wonderful the night would be if she spent the night with the three of them, that she pulled a box cutter from her pocket, swiping at the man's outstretched hand.
He recoiled back, screeching in pain. "You bitch! We were going to treat you right. Be gentle about it if you came with us, but after cutting me, gentle went out the window. Fella's? Show this bitch her place."
The other two men advanced towards her. As she swiped again to keep them away from her, the shark man threw a punch faster than she could react.
She was hit so hard that she was thrown into the nearby brick wall with all of her air immediately drawn out of her.
She tried to struggle to her feet when a boot impacted with her already bruised ribs.
The men continued to land blows on her as she curled in on herself. "Why is this happening? I tried so hard to be a normal girl. Is it really so wrong for me to be myself? Maybe I really am a monster… I'm so sorry-"
Her thoughts were cut off by a growl. A growl so deep that she could have sworn she felt the ground beneath her curled up form was trembling.
It took her a moment to realize that she wasn't being hit anymore. Part of her wanted to look up, see what had caused her attackers to stop. Something in her curled in on itself even tighter than when the three men had attacked her. She wasn't sure what had caused this sensation, but it made her feel like she needed to remain as small as possible.
She didn't notice the retreating footsteps she was so focused on remaining small. "Stay small, maybe it won't notice me. Please don't eat me…"
She was shaking so hard that she just knew that the predator before her wouldn't ignore her. Since the others had escaped, surely this easy prey would its target?
She was just accepting her fate when she felt the pressure fade. The voice that followed jolted her out of her panicked state. "E-excuse me, a-are you alright?"
She slowly peeked her eyes out from behind her arms, fully expecting to see some big monster, or maybe even someone sent by her parents to locate her.
What she was not expecting, however, was a boy about her age crouched down on one knee before her, a hand outstretched. "H-huh…?"
He seemed to draw in on himself for a moment. "I-I'm sorry if I scared you there! I saw those men surrounding you, b-but there weren't any heroes nearby. I couldn't just let them continue hurting you!"
The boy before her had green hair resembling a head of broccoli, yet somehow looked as fluffy as a cloud. His school uniform hid his physic, yet something about the spread of his shoulders told her that he was well built. Not thick muscle, but well defined.
He reached his hand out to her again. "A-are you ok? T-those guys gave you quite a beating."
She stared up at him. Her instincts fought her, telling her that this random person couldn't be trusted, but something compelled her to speak. "I-I'm ok…"
She tried to sit up straight but winced in pain. Her bruises from the beating finally having registered.
He had noticed her reaction and reached towards her again, but hesitated. "A-are you sure? I know they hit pretty hard."
"I-I'm FINE!" her shout had her curling in on herself, having caused a sharp pain in her ribs.
Izuku was thankful his mother had worked with him to learn signs of pain that most people would try to hide. She had seen much in her career as a nurse, and she had seen fit to teach him what she could so that he may use a limited form of EMT training as a hero.
Her wincing at the slightest movement of her torso had him worried she may have a broken rib or more.
Rather than confront her on it, he decided on a different approach. "Y-you say you're fine, but you look like you are hurt." He sat down with his legs crossed, emulating as loose a stance as he can. "H-how about this. If you can prove to me you are actually ok, I will leave you alone."
She had been struggling to get away from this troublesome person. Everyone else would have left her alone to her own devices, whether she was hurt or not.
She didn't need his help, yet her attempts to make him leave her alone seemed fruitless until this olive branch.
She had gotten a few feet down the alleyway when she heard hi offer. She turned her head to get an eye on him over her shoulder, sure he would be taking pity on her, but… she saw him sitting on the ground. He had taken no position that would allow him to immediately react to her.
Something about his expression almost had her thinking he was even being sincere, but no. He would of course stop helping her once he learned what she really was…
Yet some part of her couldn't ignore that look in his eyes. She had seen plenty like it. People who wanted to help. People who thought she needed help. Yet, as soon as they learned what she was, they all turned on her. Sending her back to those people.
She almost disregarded this boy, but something made her hesitate. She wasn't sure if it was his eyes, his tone, or if it was the fact that he was the first person to let their guard down to point that he even sat down on the ground in front of her.
Regardless of the reason, she paused, turned towards him and leaned against the wall as she slid down into a seated position.
Some semblance of her price forced her to raise the hand holding the knife towards the greenette. "F-fine. What p-proof do you need? The sooner I can get you to leave me alone the better."
He didn't react to the obvious threat before him. He maintained eye contact with the girl. "Simple. I want you to sit up straight and stretch your arms up straight above your head without curling in on yourself or whimpering in pain."
"Easy", she thought. After all, she had dealt with her fair share of pain. It wouldn't be the first bruise to her ribs she had dealt with. Her father had certainly done worse.
She fought her sore muscles to sit up straight, certain she would be ok, but it was as she stretched her arms up straight that she realized her mistake.
She thought she could bear the pain. After all, what was a bit of soreness? It was as she reached her full extension that both 16 year olds realized the true extent of her injuries.
She had just fought through that apex of the stretch when she felt a sharp pain in her right side, and she started coughing in pain.
She curled in on herself, trying to lessen the pain. The boy had even gotten closer to her, rubbing her back in an attempt to lesson the pain, assuming it was just a stretched bruise.
Part way through her coughing fit he noticed the hand she had covered her mouth with, and his blood froze at the sight.
Her hand was covered in blood. He knew how bad beatings to one's ribs had to be to cause someone to cough up blood.
He had almost a had panic attack before he saw her face.
Her face was calm, almost accepting of her fate.
Izuku had visited the hospital many times when his mother couldn't secure a babysitter, or even times when he had simply wanted to help her out.
He had seen people whose lifespan was expanded by modern medical science. Some were extremely thankful to live another day, or week, or however long. Others treated their treatments as a delayed death. Pointless. Some even saw the first signs of their death as a relief. A release from a life of pain.
As this girl started coughing blood into her hands, he saw a similar look in her eyes. No one this young should have those eyes. Her injuries came from a physical beating, yet her acceptance of these injuries was like a person accepting that her injuries would kill her.
She wasn't just accepting of the possibility of death, she wanted it.
Izuku's fists clenched. That pain he saw when she pushed through the task he gave her. He knew. He knew that hiding the pain was something she did regularly.
After all, he did that very same thing himself.
As she was recovering from her coughing fit, Izuku sat before her. "I-I know this whole situation has been a bit much, but can you tell me your name? Mine is Midoriya Izuku."
...
She tried; she really did. She knew that relying on other people would get her in trouble. She had held on so long. Her quirk therapist told her that she didn't need that fluid, that consuming it would make her "not normal".
She was about to get up and leave. Going back to her solitude, this time wandering the streets instead of suffering that place.
She prepared herself to suffer through the pain of what was surely a broken rib, when his question stopped her. She had lost her chance to escape when her hesitation led her to look at the boy. Specifically, at his eyes.
She hadn't looked before then, but as she stared into them, she couldn't look away. She saw something in them she had never seen before.
She couldn't tell what it was at the time. Her fear kept telling her it was pity, but she had seen pity before. This was something else.
"Why is he crying? It's not like he cares right? I'm just a monster, no one would care about me…"
Before she realized she did it, words spilled from her mouth. "Toga Himiko."
Izuku grew a wide smile on his face. "Ok, Toga. This may seem rude, but can I touch your side? T-the one that hurts, of course! I want to try and see how bad it is."
She stared into his eyes, assessing his intentions. She found no deceit in them. She looked away but gave a silent nod.
He reached forward and gently rested a hand against her side. Even that light touch had her cry out in pain right into another bloody coughing fit.
He froze, his fear of a punctured lung now more likely than he had hoped.
He was thankful that he had visited the hospital with his mother on occasion, so he knew how to avoid panicking in front of a patient when they see something bad in their tests.
He put in his best reassuring smile as he got her to look at him again. "O-ok, it's not as good as I'd hoped, as long as we get you to a hospital quickly it should be fine. They'll be able to patch you up, right as rain." He pulls his phone out of his phone. "Let me just call an ambulance and we can get you there as fast as-"
Himiko let out a loud "NO!" before lapsing into another coughing fit. "Y-you can't call an ambulance! If you do, they'll call my parents! I-I can't go back to that. Please don't make me go back to that…"
Izuku wasn't sure he could be more worried about her until he heard those words. "Doesn't want her parents called? Why? Possible domestic abuse? What kind of parents would abuse their child, and what for?"
He shook his head, letting those thoughts float off into the ether. He had more pressing issues to deal with. "Ok, no ambulance. Would it at least ok if I carried to the nearest hospital?"
"P-please no…" She had started shaking.
His eyes moved back and forth, trying to think of something when his eyes landed back on his phone. More specifically, his contact list, and on the very few phone numbers he had saved to his phone.
"Ok, no ambulances or hospitals. How about this? I can take you to my place." She looked up at him. "N-not for any nefarious reasons! My mom is a nurse and the kindest person I know. She wouldn't hurt a fly! If you won't let anyone else look at you, would you at least let her? I promise she won't hurt you, and if you don't want her to call your parents, I think we can get her to understand. Please? You look like you're in so much pain and I just… I just want to help. I can't just leave you here, like this…"
She stared up at him, wanting to say yes. Something in her mind, however, kept telling her she shouldn't. "Once they find out what you are, they'll abandon you like all the rest. You can't trust anyone, especially not some sentimental fool looking for pity points!"
As she looked into his eyes, seeing something in them. "Hope? I'm the one in pain, dying on the street, why is he the one feeling hope?"
"Y-you promise? She won't call them?" Her eyes were stinging. Was she about to cry? What was it about this boy that bashed through every wall she put up?
"Of course, I promise. I won't let you get hurt, and if your parents aren't treating you right, we certainly won't let them take you. This I promise you, and a hero never breaks a promise!" He raised a hand towards her, pinky out. "Pinky promise!"
Tears started to fall from her eyes. Hesitantly, she raised her hand and linked her pinky with his. He didn't even baulk at the fact that it was the bloody one, as her other hand was holding her side.
The smile that came to his face almost blinded her. It was like staring at a full moon on a cloudless night. Shining a light in the darkest time, illuminating what tries to hide the hardest.
She started to sob. Great rivers of tears streaming down her face. Waves of relief washed through her. Her painful coughing in between sobs didn't seem to hurt as much.
Izuku hit the call button on his phone, knowing he needed to get her help as soon as possible. When the line connected, he didn't even wait for her greeting.
"Mom, I need your help."