Chapter 17: The Junior High
Izuku is sweating up a storm as he and Mashi walk towards their new school life. He had hardly slept and had managed to work himself into a tizzy thinking of dealing with new teachers, new students, new everything. He had been so panicked he'd made sure to go over their directions to the school a good twenty times, fearful he would get them lost.
He flexes his hand, the robotic one, and glances down not for the first time to check that it still looks somewhat like a flesh hand. Mashi is eying him out of the corner of her eye, one brow arched as he frets.
She looks nice, for once, partially because Inko had gone over all of them before they left, including Aizawa. Mashi's hair, instead of in a ponytail, was now pulled into a long braid, which already had a couple of strands sticking out, and her black uniform jacket and grey slacks aren't yet wrinkled, stained, or dirty as they would most certainly be soon. She had even known how to tie her tie, which was more than could be said for Izuku, who's looked more like a crumpled mess.
("How do you even know how to tie a tie?" Izuku had asked.
"Dude… Online videos…" Mashi deadpanned, giving her friend an unimpressed look.)
Izuku, despite his sad attempt at a tie, which he stubbornly would not let Mashi fix for him, still felt like he looked pretty nice. He had never had to wear a uniform like this before. He felt kind of fancy with his white button up, black jacket, black with white stripes tie, and grey slacks. His long hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, which he usually didn't do unless he was working, but his mother had insisted on making a good first impression.
It was all almost enough to drown out the anxiety pulsing through his veins.
Mashi, thankfully, doesn't ask why Izuku was trying to hide his prosthetics. He didn't want to admit to being afraid, to fearing all these new people and their judgments. He felt weak and pathetic and sad, but no matter what he said, no matter the logical reasoning in his head, he couldn't make it go away.
Shouldn't he be proud of what he had accomplished? Shouldn't he be happy to show off? No, he didn't want to show off or gloat, and he didn't want people to only see his handicaps.
Wasn't he always saying people needed to see more than quirks? Well, he needed to be more than his injuries, or his quirklessness, and maybe this was the best way to do it, to make sure people saw him and only him.
Or maybe it wasn't. Now he was agreeing with the anxiety, saying this was okay, but then another voice began screaming that he was hiding and pathetic. That he should be ashamed of himself. When he became a hero people all over would see his injuries. His missing parts. He needed to get used to people and their judgments.
So why couldn't he just wear his regular prosthetics? Why couldn't he just man up and get over this panic in his gut and walk in, showing everyone what he really was? Why couldn't he—
A dark hand comes into his line of sight as it engulfs his prosthetic one, squeezing it and pulling it to let it dangle at his side. He looks up at Mashi, who is looking back at him, gently swinging their hands between them, her eyes hard and her brows pinched determinedly.
"I like your arm," is all she says and Izuku lets out a wet chuckle. Had he been crying? Apparently so.
"I feel stupid," Izuku whispers, ducking his head.
"Welcome to my world," the redhead smirks and Izuku shakes his head.
"You aren't stupid."
There's a long stretch of silence and he peaks up at his friend, who is looking at him with a considering and confused expression. He doesn't have time to ask her what that look means because she's shaking her head to rid herself of it. "Who cares what other people think of what you do?" she says at length and Izuku sighs.
"I know… It shouldn't matter what they think, but… I just don't want them to judge me before they get to know me. That's what everyone has ALWAYS don—"
"No, I mean," Mashi sighs in frustration, having a tough time with her words. "If you need to take your time, than that's fine! Like… just… take care of yourself because fuck anybody who thinks they know you better than yourself, right? Don't let anyone judge you on how you need to deal with your shit, including yourself!"
Izuku stares at Mashi for a long while, his eyes wide in surprise. She always did amaze him with how well she could understand people, how she could read an atmosphere and just know what was up. Sure, she had a difficult time actually acting out what she needed to, and words were harder for her than actions, but somehow she always figured it out.
Mashi is beginning to squirm under Izuku's stare, and he feels bad for not saying anything yet, so he smiles and nudges her with his shoulder. "You know… you're my hero, Apex."
The redhead sucks in a sharp breath, now her turn to look surprised, before she smiles and ducks her head, flustered. "Yeah, well… you're my hero too, Titan…"
They smile, squeezing each other's hands, and keep walking to their new school life, much more at ease than ever before.
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Izuku and Mashi didn't get to sit next to each other in homeroom. There were assigned seats and Izuku was in the front row, while Mashi was three rows back and one seat to the left. It was equal parts a blessing and a curse.
Or course they wanted to sit next to each other, but there was also a very high chance that if they did one, or both, of them would not pay attention to class.
Their teachers seem fine enough, none seem exceptionally cruel or foolish, but also not especially kind either. Time would tell, especially once people began to realize Izuku and Mashi were quirkless, and that Izuku was partially made of machinery instead of flesh.
Izuku diligently takes notes through everything, even when he understands everything the teacher is saying perfectly. It never hurts to go over things again, and he knew Mashi was an awful note taker and he would be able to help her out with his own.
As usual, history is his least favorite subject. He grimaces to himself as they go over names and dates and events he just doesn't care about, but he tries to remember what Aizawa had told him all those years ago, that history was important for a lot of unexpected reasons.
As most things in school tended to be, Mashi and he contrasted each other and she was quite good at history. She still took terrible notes, but they made sense to her so she could recite what they'd learned later on. She was good with names and dates, and often would re-word lessons as a story instead of just a reciting of facts, which helped a lot.
English Izuku, of course, breezed through. He was already fluent, after all, it was no challenge at all to him. Again, he knew Mashi would have issues, but she was getting better when they had realized she could learn from constant, regular practice. They'd realized this when they found out she was pretty great at speaking Arabic just due to necessity when visiting her mother's parents in Egypt, so Izuku and Hizashi both had made a point of speaking only in English some days to help her learn.
When lunchtime comes Izuku felt exhausted. He was used to school, was great at school, but the nerves from a first day at a new school made his energy levels deplete much quicker than usual. Mashi came bounding over to his desk, her own box lunch in hand courtesy of Midoriya Inko, her energy unending, it seemed.
"This place is so much more intense!" she says, yanking over a chair to sit on the other side of Izuku's desk while he pulls out his own lunch.
"That is what happens when you go up a grade, yes," Izuku teases with a smile and Mashi huffs at him, pouting and flicking some of her rice at his face.
"You know what I mean," she grumbles before beginning to stuff food into her mouth. Izuku snorts a small laugh at her but follows her lead, beginning to eat as well.
Most of the kids were sticking in small groups, probably those that knew each other from elementary school, similar to Izuku and Mashi. From what he could tell his friend and him were the only ones from their own old school. They would miss Hayashi, but what a blessing it was to never have to deal with Kaito again.
That is, until they figured out who the bully was here. Izuku wanted to be hopeful that there wouldn't be one, that everyone would be kind and understanding in this class, but he highly doubted that would ever happen.
"You thinkin' of joinin' a club?" Mashi asks out of the blue and Izuku looks up. She's nearly entirely done with her food while Izuku isn't even halfway finished yet.
"Club? I hadn't… really thought of doing so, no. Were you?" Clubs had something of a nice ring to them, but Izuku had a lot he wanted to do outside of school. He wasn't sure he would have time to join a club.
Mashi looks at him for a long second, then ducks her head to poke at the last remains of her lunch. Was she flustered? "Well, uh… kinda, yeah? I've always wanted to. Maybe a club that's a bit more laid back? Or one about old movies??"
"I'm not sure that's a thing," Izuku says with an apologetic smile. Mashi pouts.
"We could make it a thing…" she mumbles, stuffing a tiny sausage into her mouth.
"What? Start our own club?" the boy questions, brows raising in surprise. Mashi shrugs but doesn't say anything. Where was this coming from? Why was she so interested in joining a club? Izuku wouldn't stop her, but he didn't really know where to begin supporting her either. "That would take a few more than two people…" he says at length, "Why do you want to be in a club, Mashi?"
For a while the redhead says nothing, before finally she releases a frustrated breath and sets down her chopsticks. "It's just… I dunno, I know we have each other and Street Flare and the clubhouse, but it'd be cool to be part of an organized group too. Included… y'know?"
Included? Mashi had never shown any signs of caring if she was included or not, but Izuku supposes that after so many years of only having such a small pool of friends, and being such a high energy person like herself, the draw of a club would become enticing. Izuku didn't fully understand the feeling, he had his group of friends and family and he loved them, and while he did feel a desire to be included by society, he hadn't really considered a club.
Maybe Mashi was onto something, though. They couldn't be avoiding everyday, normal school life activities. They should be active and interacting as much as possible.
Inko would love it too.
Izuku's mother and Aizawa had both been trying to get Izuku to just enjoy his childhood for a long, long time now, and Izuku was trying, but sometimes it was hard with all the ideas in his head and the things he wanted to do. Joining a club might be a good opportunity to do just that.
"Yeah, okay," he nods and Mashi looks up, eyes owlish in surprise. "Let's check out some clubs after school."
Mashi grins at him eagerly before stuffing the rest of her food in her mouth.
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Majority of classes were meant to be taken with the exact same class through all the class periods. That was how it had been in the past and how Izuku expected it to be here in Junior High. It was supposed to be that way, but apparently this school was doing something a little different.
For classes that required students to go to another classroom themselves some of the students would swap around with the other class of the same year. It was meant to be an attempt to spread social interactions, and had been working relatively well for the school for the last two years, but it still meant that the class on his Monday schedule right after lunch was without Mashi.
He would be going to a Home Economics class while Mashi went to Music.
He was sad, Mashi was dramatically "weeping" and crying for their lost time as she spun down the hallway, embarrassing the life out of Izuku, but it went well enough.
The class was in what appeared to be a lab, but with more tools for a kitchen rather than chemicals, which somehow made it even more intimidating to Izuku. He knew chemicals, he didn't know cooking. There was no Home Economics in elementary school, this would be his first exposure to it.
The teacher seemed to be fully aware no one in this class had ever taken a class like this before and was gentle with them. He was a tall, skinny man with much larger eyes than usual a little farther on the sides of his face, and all eight, because apparently he didn't have any pinkies, of his fingers were long and tentacle like. He could apparently also change the color and texture of his skin.
His name was Octavius Damon, he was from America, where he was Damon Octavius, and everyone called him Octopus-sensei. He had a terrible accent that they tried hard not to laugh at, and he was very aware they were trying not to laugh, so he was making an extra show of speaking like an American and being silly. His teaching style was a bit more laid back, but Izuku did feel a bit more at ease with him. He was a little odd, didn't assign seats, and just seemed to want the kids to enjoy themselves as they learned in his class.
Izuku was feeling a lot better, until Octopus-sensei decided to go around the room, asking people their name and a fact about themselves. It became achingly clear everyone, alongside their personal fact, was going to also be sharing their quirk information after the first few students. They would say their name, a fact, and then add on their quirk at the end.
He could feel static in his ears as the panic began to set in. He didn't actually have to share he was quirkless, no one had said he had to, but he felt kind of bad keeping that a secret too. He was already hiding his arm, his eye, and his spine; he felt awful hiding this as well. Mashi was proud of her quirklessness, why couldn't he be?
"Excuse me, young man?" Izuku looks up in surprise to find the whole class staring at him, Octopus-sensei smiling kindly at him. He must have missed the last few students because now it was his turn.
"Uuh… My name is Midoriya Izuku…" he begins slowly. It felt like his spirit may have left him as he shakily introduced himself to the class. "I really like science and heroes and…" was he really going to do this? Was he really going to disclose that he was quirkless on his own? He had been so sure Mashi would accidentally do it for them both, but… that was cowardly, and not fair to her. He needed to be confident in himself and who he was, and maybe he was still scared about everything, but admitting one thing could be the first step to admitting the rest.
"My quirk is that… I don't have a quirk," he keeps his head up, but he looks up at where the wall meets the ceiling, He didn't want to see anyone's faces, he could already hear a couple of the students whispering to each other, a snicker over to the side, until Octopus-sensei claps his hands and laughs.
"Oh great! My little sister is quirkless! Good to have you in my class, Midoriya-kun!"
That was it? No stunned or pitying response? No badly hidden scorn? Octopus-sensei was just… accepting this? Izuku supposes that if he does have a quirkless sibling it must be easier for him to work with this, but it still baffles the genius boy for a few seconds.
When he's relaxed Izuku lets out a held breath and they move on to the next student. He leans heavily against the clean table in front of him. He can still feel the eyes on him, staring and judging and he feels sick, but he'd said it. He'd told the class what he was, all on his own, and he was still standing.
He'd see how long that lasted…
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He meets up with Mashi again after class in the halls. She's grinning extra wide and before he can even ask why she's raising a small instrument case and thrusting it into his face to show it off. "I got a trumpet!"
"Oh heaven help us," Izuku says immediately, staring in mild panic at the school instrument. Seriously? What kind of person would give someone like Mashi a trumpet? Even on the first day, heck, in the first minute of knowing her that should have been an obviously bad idea.
Mashi sticks her tongue out at him and he joins her in putting the instrument up. He can still feel eyes on him as they walk through the halls, more now than before, the news of him being quirkless sure to have spread.
When they drop off Mashi new instrument he stops her, laying a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. She looks over to him, brows furrowed in confusion at his serious expression.
"I told them…" he whispers and her eyebrows shoot up.
"About your prosthetics?" she whispers right back, though a little louder in her concern.
Izuku shakes his head. "No, I… Last class we were all introducing ourselves and everyone was saying their quirk and I admitted to being quirkless. I was trying to be brave, but now I feel kind of sick."
Mashi tilts her head, considering her friend with puckered lips. "Bravery makes me nauseous sometimes, too," she admits with a nod, trying to look sagely.
That surprises Izuku. Mashi was always brave, and always ready to go, to think that she got sick over things sometimes too felt oddly surreal. "Really?"
"Oh yeah! One time I actually DID throw up, but I just real quick swallowed it before anyone would notice!" the redhead says cheerfully, perking up, and Izuku shudders and cringes.
"Mashi! That's gross!" he whines.
"You asked!"
"I really didn't!" Izuku lays his face in both hands while Mashi cackles.
"Yeah, well, anyway! Bravery is… uh… what was it? Not the lack of fear but… Like, you have fear still, you're just saying 'fuck you' to the fear and getting past it, so, uh…" Mashi was squirming now, trying to get her words right, so Izuku waits patiently for her to work it out. "You're still scared and stuff, so even though you worked past it you can still get all sick and bleh from still being scared… y'know?"
"Yeah, I think I get it," Izuku nods, smiling at her, and she smiles back. "Thanks, Mashi."
"Yeah, yeah! No problem! Now let's hurry up to PE already! I wanna go run around and shit!" she says eagerly, grabbing Izuku's left hand and dragging them away, heading for the locker rooms to change. The green-haired boy laughs at her eagerness. He can still feel eyes on them, but now, in this single moment, it feels unimportant. Everything was going to be okay.
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They wait before heading into the locker rooms, wanting to make sure that when they separate to go into the boy's and the girl's they wouldn't be alone with any would-be bullies.
It ends up making them late, however, and they hurry out as quickly as they can to the field where the entirety of their grade is standing out with the instructor. Izuku keeps his head ducked, both out of nerves to the students and respect for the teacher.
"Where were you two?" demands the teacher upon their arrival.
"Sorry, sensei, we were—" Izuku begins but Mashi cuts him off, her arms crossed and voice loud.
"We're both quirkless and have a problem with people bullying us so we waited outside the locker rooms so we couldn't be ganged up on and treated like we're less than human, but, y'know, sorry we're late!"
Izuku very slowly turns wide, unbelieving eyes on her. What was she doing? Not only was she advertising herself as being quirkless alongside him, but she was being incredibly rude to their teacher.
Apparently the response is shocking enough, though, that it dazes the teacher enough to just let them off with an awkward warning, sending them to join their classmates. Mashi is grinning wide, Izuku is still giving her a stare like he's trying to understand this insanity, and they all quickly get to work.
The class, after everyone is gathered, is then split up into different activities of one's choosing. With how strict the teacher had seemed it felt a little odd to suddenly just be let loose, but Izuku wasn't going to complain. This would give him a chance to get some good exercising in.
Aizawa had begun teaching him self defense again, finally able to really get into it now that Izuku could move freely with his Reinforcement, and they still tried to go jogging everyday and get in some light exercising. Despite all this Izuku didn't want to just sit around during PE, he wanted to use this opportunity to continue building up strength, so he and Mashi head for the track to start jogging. Mashi needed this, too. She was strong, but her cardio wasn't the best. Natural energy could only take one so far.
"There was a kid in my music class," the redhead suddenly says as they jog. Izuku looks over to her, curious. "I heard some kids that knew him from elementary… I think maybe he's quirkless, too."
Izuku isn't expecting the sudden information so he doesn't know what to do with the sudden jolt of energy that fires through his veins.
It feels similar to when he ran after that monster in the alleyway, or when he went out in a thunderstorm to help Dapple. This desire to help, to protect and save, to go out and keep someone safe and unharmed. The issue is there's nowhere for that sudden energy to go. All he had just heard was that there was another, possible, quirkless kid in their grade, and that was it. That didn't mean anything. They could be perfectly fine and happy. Just because they were quirkless didn't mean Izuku and Mashi had to go and make friends with them and protect them. Heck, they may not even be quirkless.
"We should go and make friends with him!" Mashi exclaims, and Izuku blows out a breath.
"Are we even sure he needs new friends?" Izuku questions nervously. The protective energy was still bubbling in his system, making him begin to run faster. Mashi yelps in surprise and also picks up her speed.
"That's not why you make friends, Zuzu!" she berates, eyes forward and focused on the track, not wanting to trip. "Besides, us quirkless folk gotta stick together, remember?"
Izuku sighs. Yes, he certainly remembered. That's how he and Mashi had become friends, because they were both quirkless and could look out for each other.
He still wasn't sure if this was a good idea… but it couldn't hurt to reach out either. Maybe this person didn't need them at all, but they could still gain a new friend.
"Alright… Let's talk to him some other time, though. We're all still getting used to a new school," he replies and Mashi grumbles. She had probably meant to go speak to this kid immediately, but she would do things Izuku's way.
For the time being.
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After school Izuku and Mashi begin looking for club options. They make sure to let their mothers, and Aizawa, know what they're doing and that they're still at school, then they get searching.
None of the sports clubs seem to speak to them. Despite Mashi's energy she wasn't a fan of serious sports. She only wanted to do things like that for fun, and Izuku just didn't care about them enough to give them a shot. There was a literature club, which was easily marked off their list, same with the music and art clubs. They needed something that could interest them both but also wouldn't be too time consuming.
Their top choice, by the end of their search, was a movie club. It would probably be more recent movies, much to Mashi's disappointment, but it would at least be something. Perhaps she would have a chance to bring in some of her own movies on occasion? Educate these people on some real art.
So they head to the classroom that the movie club meets in. There were already kids inside, some from their grade, some not, chatting and getting to know each other.
It isn't the busiest club, but still the crowd is a little intimidating. Mashi can handle it, however, tons of people rarely actually deterred her, but she feels Izuku stiffen at her side. He was always so anxious around strangers, especially those their own age. Adults he seemed to bond with more easily, able to speak to them on a more common level, but other kids he struggled with at first.
They shuffle in, keeping to the sides. Despite the nerves, Mashi feels excitement bubbling up inside her. Ever since she was little she had wanted to join a club when she got into secondary school. Her mother always told her stories about playing in her tennis club, and the camaraderie between her and her fellow teammates. It had made Mashi excited to have something like that. She had Izuku, yes, and even Katsuki, and all the adults that looked after them, but the idea of a club, of forming a team amongst their peers, of being part of something like that had always made Mashi excited.
She and her friend stand near the chalkboard, looking over the crowd. She was near bouncing, looking around in hopes of finding someone that looked like the president of the club.
A few people are glancing over at them and murmuring but Mashi thinks nothing of it. She was too happy.
When someone, an upperclassman girl with a Mohawk of rubies, breaks away from the group and heads their way, the redhead perks up, while Izuku shrinks. This must be who they needed to talk to.
"Hi! I'm Haganehato Mashi!" she immediately greets once the girl is near enough to them, "Call me Mashi though, it's bett—"
"I'm very sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Both kids freeze, Mashi's mouth still open in a smile from when she had been speaking, Izuku's tense energy beginning to wash over her. That wasn't what was supposed to be said. They were supposed to say hello and talk about what everyone did in this club and what Mashi and Izuku could do. What was going on?
"W-why?" Mashi finally croaks, trying to keep the mounting distress and disappointment out of her voice. Had she done something wrong? Had she already screwed everything up somehow?
The upperclassman sighs and shakes her head, like maybe she pities them, and Mashi hates it. She hates it with every fiber of her body. "You must know why. We're a small club, only started last year, we can't have our image messed up like this," she says as if she actually cared and Mashi grits her teeth, hackles rising.
"The fuck you mean, 'like this'?" she demands, teeth bared like a wild animal, and Izuku must be mad deep down as well, or perhaps shocked, because he doesn't even lay a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"Please, there's no need for hostility," the upperclassman raises her hands, offering a gentle smile, "It's just the way things are, you know? You both would just create an image we wouldn't be able to handle."
"Why us?" Izuku suddenly whispers at Mashi's side and she looks to him. His head was down but he was looking up at the upperclassman through his bangs. His expression was frighteningly devoid of emotion.
"Pardon?" the upperclassman questions, brows rising like they're innocent. They have everyone's attention by now, but they don't care, they're just focused on this bitch in front of them.
"Why would we give you a bad image?" Izuku clarifies calmly, slowly, "Go ahead, say it."
The upperclassman smiles and looks back at the club, at some of her peers her own age, like this is a big joke to her, then back to Mashi and Izuku. "Well… Because you're both quirkless, of course."
Mashi kicks her in the shin.
----------
They don't get in trouble. The movie club, with how small it actually is, and for reasoning given, were really not supposed to be turning them down, so they don't tell on Mashi in order to keep their own hides safe.
Mashi is still furious, but she tries to hold out hope…
Until it happens again. And again. They even go to the basketball court, just wanting to see if they could get into a sports club, but it happens there too. They keep getting turned down for seemingly different reasons, but they know the truth.
Everyone knows they're quirkless now. The word has spread, on the very first day, and there's no getting around it. Everyone knows they're quirkless, and no one wants anything to do with them.
Mashi is furious. She hadn't hurt anyone else since the movie club, but she had flipped a desk on their second attempt, flung around some backpacks on the third, and popped a basketball with her pocketknife on the sports club attempt.
("Why do you even have a pocketknife?" Izuku had asked once, months ago.
"What kind of woman doesn't have a pocketknife?" she questioned back, honestly baffled.)
They end up sitting on a bench outside of the school. Mashi was steaming and cursing under her breath, but Izuku had been especially quiet ever since the movie club. He kept staring down at his feet, or his hands, or out at nothing. Mashi hated to think what might be going through his head.
"If you blame yourself for any of this, I'mma hit you," she says to him and he looks over to her, eyes startled, before he sighs and lowers his head again.
"I'm not…" he croaks. He was probably trying to keep in the tears. "I don't really know what I'm thinking…"
"How about… 'The system is broken and this is the proof,' that kinda thing. Did I get that right?" the redhead offers, leaning back against the bench and glaring up at the sky. There were cherry blossoms fluttering everywhere and she hated them all of a sudden.
Izuku snorts and replies, "More like, 'I hate shallow brats.'" Mashi smirks at that. That sounded about right. "We need to do something about this…" the green-haired boy finally says after a long stretch of silence, the two of them uncertain where to go from here.
"I don't wanna demand we get put into one of their clubs. Who'd wanna be in a club with all those assholes?" Mashi snarls. She should have known this wouldn't be that easy. It never was for them. Like Izuku said, society had made it that way, dug a hole and dropped them in, then spat in their faces and blamed them when they struggled trying to get back out.
"We need to be active, not silent," Izuku mutters and Mashi is just close enough to hear as he begins to think aloud. "Not doing anything won't help us and it won't help anyone in the future. No lessons will be learned and the destructive behavior will continue. What active roll can we take, however, without being seen as cruel or foolish?" Izuku straightens up, an idea having hit him, and Mashi leans closer, curious. The boy turns to her, eyes wide and excited, not caring that the redhead is inside his space, life returning to his features.
"We should make our own club!"
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As it turns out it isn't that simple, but it isn't impossible either. They need more people to join, and they need a faculty member to sponsor them. Luckily, when they had gone to the teachers' lounge a lot of the faculty were still there. They'd explained what they wanted to do and almost immediately peppy, American Octopus-sensei had popped up, having overhead their plea.
"I would love to sponsor these young ones!" he had said immediately, grinning broadly, and Mashi had grinned right back. Izuku had to admit, he was really beginning to like Octopus-sensei and his eager attitude. He was just happy to help, it seemed, even when he hardly knew the students.
The difficult part was going to be getting more people to join their club. For a new club to be viable they needed four people. Right now they only had two, but Mashi had an idea for where they could get a third.
They would be killing two birds with one stone with their plan the following day. At lunch they would take their bentos over to the other class in search of the third quirkless student in their grade. If they could convince him to join their club not only would they be one step closer to it working out, but they would also have successfully befriended someone else like them.
So, the following day Izuku has his hair tied back again, once again wanting to make a good first impression, and Mashi reties her braid beforehand so it isn't an entire mess.
They're the first ones out the door when class ends, rushing for the other classroom, a giddy excitement in their bones. Izuku, for the longest time, had only known Mashi as another quirkless individual. He'd never even met someone other than her that didn't have a quirk. So, despite knowing nothing about this kid, he felt optimistic and eager about this meeting.
The enthusiasm dwindles a little when they actually get to the classroom and Mashi lets out a growl. Izuku doesn't know who the kid is they're looking for, but she does, and she's staring over with a fire in her eyes at a small group gathered around a single desk in the back corner of the room.
Sitting in that desk is a skinny, frail looking boy, who has to be even tinier than Izuku, with platinum blond hair so light it may as well be white. It's hardly as long as Izuku's or Mashi's, but it's not short either, and has been slicked back tight to his head until it feathers out at the back of his neck.
Izuku can't see his eyes with the way he's ducked his head, but he's pale as a ghost and his lips are pinched tight as the small gathering of kids talks to him. As they get closer they can hear some of what's being said and it sounds familiar in the worst kind of ways.
"Is it true? Are you quirkless?" "So you can't do anything?" "Whoa, talk about useless!" "I heard about the other ones yesterday, but you too?" "Why are you even allowed into school?"
Well, that certainly answered the question if it was true the kid of quirkless or not, but that hardly mattered right now. What mattered right now was that Mashi wasn't beside Izuku anymore and was instead marching towards the small gathering.
"Hey! How 'bout you fuckers screw off! That sound good?!" she roars once she's close and the kids all jump and look at her, eyes wide in shock at how they're being addressed. They're so shocked they don't even move, so Mashi lurches at them, roaring gutturally, and they scream like they've seen a bug and scatter.
The pale boy sits ramrod straight, dumbstruck and startled, his head up as he stares at Mashi, who is still trying to chase people off, and Izuku, who is making his way over. Izuku watches as his friend roars and rants at the other students, a nervous smile on his face, before he turns fully to the other quirkless kid. He stops beside his desk, hands clasped behind his back as he bows his head in greeting.
"Sorry for the scene," he offers politely, "Mashi tends to go overboard pretty regularly, especially when people are being mean."
The kid is staring up at Izuku, his eyes thin, sharp, and his irises one of the deepest blues Izuku has ever seen. He isn't saying anything, though, so the genius boy quickly continues.
"M-my name is Midoirya Izuku, that over there is Haganehato Mashi—"
"Call me Mashi! It's better!" the redhead grins, finally joining them at the desk, her hands on her hips. The boy looks to her, his eyes narrowing, then back at Izuku.
"I didn't ask for any help," he snaps so suddenly and venomously Izuku leans away like he's been slapped. He can almost hear Mashi's mouth snapping closed and they glance at each other, dumbfounded. Why was he angry with them?
"Don't look like that. I get it, you guys wanted to save the day, right? I didn't need any help, though, I was doing fine on my own," the boy continues and Mashi's energy is very quickly turning sour and angry at Izuku's side.
He'd forgotten what he'd told himself the day before. He had forgotten that it was possible this kid didn't want them or need them, that he was fine without them. He had been so excited to meet another quirkless person and start up a club, however, that he had ignored his own brain. He had jumped to a conclusion and now it was coming back to bite him. Still… there was something off-putting about the other kid's words.
"Doing fine?! You weren't doing anything! You were just… SITTING there!" Mashi snaps, hands coming off her hips to curl into fists at her sides. She looked angry, but Izuku could hear the disbelief in her voice, could see it in the turn of her brows.
"Exactly," the boy says, looking away from them in a fashion that could only be called "snooty." He lifts up a book he had been reading, a manga Izuku didn't recognize, and begins flipping through the pages, speaking to them like it's an afterthought. "The best way to deal with bullies and people like that is to simply ignore them. Eventually they'll go away on their own."
Izuku is stunned. Completely stunned. What was this he was hearing? He had never met someone who simply ignored the bullies in hopes they would leave. It made… a tiny bit of sense, maybe, but it still made Izuku's stomach begin to twist. "S-sure, ignoring some bullies might work, but not if it proceeds, right?" he questions, leaning towards the boy. This was not at all how he had expected this meeting to go.
"Look, I just want to get back to what I'm doing. Confrontation isn't going to help me do that," the boy huffs, still looking down at the manga in his hand.
"Don't you… want to do something about it, though?" Izuku asks, shaking his head, still not getting where this was coming from. He remembered when he was little, and even now on occasion, when he would be bullied and he would freeze up. He would be scared, but he would still see the injustice in it all. He knew it was wrong and he wanted to do something about it. He had never wanted to just stay quiet until the storm passed.
"Not really," the boy shrugs and Izuku's floored. He had no idea how to deal with this person. He had never met someone who just didn't seem to have any kind of drive like this.
"What about when they get physical?!" Mashi snaps, leaning against the desk and trying to force the boy to look at her. She looked furious, her eyes fiery and teeth bared.
The white-haired boy shrugs again, still not looking up, "They weren't."
Mashi groans in frustration. "Not just those fucks from a second ago! Anybody!"
"They don't," he says a bit more firmly and looks up at Mashi, finally, his own eyes angry now as they glare at each other. "I'm not a threat to them. I make sure I'm not, so they leave me alone. When you get all upset like YOU are doing right now? You've let them win."
"Oh, fuck you!" Mashi snarls, leaning in closer, but Izuku grabs the collar of her jacket to reel her back some. "'Let the bullies win'? Go fuck yourself! What we decide to do isn't up to anybody, and it doesn't mean the 'bullies have won,' what the hell? When you're taking care of yourself, it doesn't matter what the bullies think, YOU'VE won!"
"Well, this is how I'm winning," the boy says coolly, "I'm not rising to their challenge. That's how I'm doing this. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to keep reading."
"Taking care of yourself is one thing," Izuku says before the boy can look back to his manga. He pulls Mashi fully away, ignoring her growl of protest, and sets a single hand on the boy's desk. He tried to school his expression but right now he just felt so… sad, there was no telling what his face actually looked like. "But wouldn't you say that if you had an opportunity to stop further negative actions from continuing that you should? What if your silence led to a reinforcement of their beliefs, that what they're doing is totally fine, and they go and do it to someone else not as strong as you?"
"Their actions are not my responsibility," the boy argues, but he isn't as heated with Izuku as he had been with Mashi, probably because Izuku wasn't getting in his face.
"You're right… they aren't… but society isn't going to teach them they're wrong, so if you have the opportunity, don't you think you should?"
The boy stares at Izuku for a long, silent moment, his blue eyes still narrowed, his hands still grasping his manga, his thin lips twisted. Izuku had no idea what he was thinking, he just hoped it was something good.
"You trying to be a hero, or something?" the pale boy finally questions with a small sneer and Izuku lets out a nervous little laugh, a hand coming up to run over the top of his hair.
"One day," he says quietly and the boy actually snaps his mouth shut, staring at him.
"You're quirkless, though," he says after a second and Mashi pops up on Izuku's other shoulder, leaning against him with her arms crossed.
"So?! We can be heroes, too!" she says confidently, grinning. It seemed that as the other boy calmed down, so too did Mashi.
"That's dumb," he says flatly and the redhead yells in anger. Well, so much for that… "You two are dumb."
"It's what we want to do," Izuku says firmly, "You can't fault us for that."
"You faulted me for how I dealt with my problems," the other boy sets down his manga, finally, and leans back in his seat with his arms crossed. He was glaring at them again.
Izuku didn't understand the boy's thinking. He didn't know how someone could just silently take people bullying them and act like it was nothing. It wasn't that the boy was scared or unable to do something, he simply chose not to, from what Izuku could see, but he was also right. It wasn't fair for them to judge so harshly. It wasn't their place.
"We're sorry for that," he bows his head, then elbows the redhead beside him to make her do the same. She grumbles viciously but does a quick bow of her head as well.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry or whatever," she growls and for a second she and the boy glare at each other again, energy crackling between them like a storm.
"We never wanted to start a fight," Izuku continues, getting the boy's attention back on him, "We actually were hoping to ask you to join a club we're working on making."
"A club?" the boy's thin eyebrows furrow. Whatever he had been expecting for their visit, it hadn't been that.
"No club will let us in because we're quirkless," Mashi says, looking away and scowling at just having to say that. "So we're making our own! Show them we don't need them!"
"What kind of club?"
"Something like a cultural club," Izuku says but hesitates. The actual definition of their club wasn't yet determined, they just knew they wanted to start one. "It won't be very demanding at all, and it won't take up much time. It's more like a hang out spot, really, but we want to work on bettering how people see us as well…"
"Sounds like it's all very up in the air…" the boy arches a brow at them and Izuku's shoulders slump. He wasn't wrong. "Looks like we'll have to work on that."
For a second the words don't fully process, but when they do Izuku and Mashi's heads snap up towards the other boy, who is smiling smugly at their surprise. "Wait… so you'll join us?" Izuku questions, not certain he'd heard that right.
"My brother has been pestering me to get into a club. He doesn't like how much time I stay at home, or something, but if this is such a relaxed club, and you don't expect me to do much, it sounds like it would be pretty good at getting him off my back," the boy explains, but then points a thin finger at them, "I still think you're both dumb, though."
Izuku laughs anxiously at that and Mashi growls beside him, grumbling in his ear, "Are we sure we need him?" Izuku elbows her in the side and she quiets down.
"We really appreciate your help, even if you don't fully believe in what we're doing," he says with another bow to the boy. He still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about this kid. He saw the world so differently than Izuku or Mashi, in a way that made Izuku's stomach twist, but he didn't seem all that bad, especially if he was going to help them out.
"What's your name, anyway? You never said it," the girl beside Izuku says, still leaning against him, her eyes narrowed and a frown on her face. She was obviously unhappy with their new club member, but not unhappy enough to throw a fit or deny him.
The boy looks to her, obviously unimpressed by her attitude, then sits up straight and nods to them both. "Inazumi Ken. Pleasure to meet you."
----------
The three of them could hardly be considered friends. Mashi and Izuku were close, but Inazumi – he didn't like people using his given name unless they were family – seemed to just be along for the ride.
They would meet and have lunch together in one of their classrooms, usually his, and would talk about their plans for the club. Izuku realized very, very quickly that Inazumi had no interest in becoming a hero, so it couldn't really be a hero club. Inazumi seemed to only be interested in manga and anime, although he did apparently have a talent for coding, so at least he and Izuku had something to occasionally talk about.
They thought maybe to make their club similar to the ones for young leaders, but more for encouraging and bettering those treated badly by the system to become something greater than anyone ever expected. That was the running plan, even if Inazumi still didn't really match the bill.
He had no drive, no desire to stand out or become better. All the pale boy wanted to do was drift and be left alone. Izuku didn't want to judge him, he didn't want to judge anyone, but it baffled him to no end.
It didn't help that Mashi and Inazumi despised each other, that much was made clear very early on, and Izuku always felt like he may smack them both at any second. Or himself, because this was ridiculous. Mashi and Katsuki bickered because they had a few too many things in common, but Mashi and Inazumi had verbal brawls because of how incredibly different they both were. Heaven help them when – and that was definitely a "when" not an "if" – Katsuki met the new boy.
It wasn't an ideal situation for Izuku, the stress making his head hurt and his back ache. The Reinforcement helped keep the back pains at bay, but Izuku could still feel them when they were exceptionally bad. He would usually just remove the Reinforcement and lie down for a while at home, let his body naturally work out some of the pain, and put some icy hot on the muscles for extra help.
Add on the isse that they still didn't have a fourth member and Izuku was just riddled with stress pains. Octopus-sensei was being so kind and patient, helping them find a room where they could meet and not once pressuring them to hurry up. That didn't change the fact they needed at least one more person to actually make their club a reality.
It's not until the following week on a Monday that some hope finally reveals itself. Mashi and Izuku are sitting in their classroom, eating lunch, and wondering if Inazumi will show or if they'll have to go join him for lunch in his room. They'd decided their best option with dealing with the snooty, absentminded boy was to do what they wanted, get it done, then go find him. If he showed, he showed. If he didn't, he didn't. So they keep eating and when they're finished, if he still isn't there, they'll head to his classroom.
It is looking like that's exactly what they'll need to do as they near the end of their meals, Mashi grumbling about rude, twig boys she could easily snap in half if she wanted to, but then hurried footsteps are entering the room and making their way over.
They both look up as Inazumi makes his appearance, smacking his hands on the desk they're sharing for lunch, a smirk on his face. "I have the answer to your prayers," he says, sounding out of breath and with more energy in him Izuku has ever seen him express.
Mashi gasps dramatically and leans forward. "You're moving and never coming back?" she asks with wide eyes and Inazumi turns a glare on her.
"No!" he snaps then focuses entirely on Izuku instead, back to smirking. "I think I found our forth member," he says lowly and Izuku straightens up, eyes widening.
"Really? Who?" the green-haired boy asks, pushing back some of his loose hair. It wasn't tied back anymore.
"Are they better than you?" Mashi adds on towards Inazumi and Izuku pinches her arm, making her yelp but quiet down.
Inazumi shoots Mashi another glare, this time scowling a little, before focusing once again on Izuku. "He has a quirk," he begins like it's a warning, and Izuku's brow furrows, "but he still seems like a good fit for the club, from what I've seen."
"But our club is for people who have been beaten down and shit. If he's got a quirk, how bad can it be?" Mashi questions, one brow arched and a small curl to her lips, but Izuku is shaking his head at her before she even finishes.
"Remember that boy from our Leech experiments? The one that could disintegrate stuff?" he begins and Mashi looks to him, nodding slowly that yes, she did remember. "He obviously wasn't used to people complimenting his quirk or being kind to him. He wasn't hurt the way we've been, but he was still hurt."
Society had a way of screwing a lot of different people over in a lot of different ways. Quirkless people were treated like they were useless, handicapped people were treated with pity like they needed constant help, neurodivergent people were treated like they were lying, and certain quirks were treated like a death sentence. This desire to put people in boxes just because of a single trait no one had any control over needed to stop.
"Well, this guy's quirk is like that," Inazumi cuts in, crossing his arms and standing up straight. "Not as intense… but he's treated pretty crappy for it."
"How do you know him?" Izuku asks, looking up at the white-haired boy, who shrugs.
"He's in my class, obviously. He keeps to himself so I didn't notice at first."
"He got a name?" Mashi questions, leaning her chin against her palm.
"Obviously," Inazumi rolls his eyes, glaring at Mashi, who stares right back at him, waiting for him to disclose said name. After a pause the boy clears his throat and looks away, the embarrassed pink on his cheeks vibrant against his pale skin. "I just don't know it…"
Before the redhead can make any snide remarks Izuku cuts in, standing up and looking between the two. "Let's go meet him, then. We'll introduce ourselves and get a name that way. Okay?"
Mashi nods up at him and stands as well. Despite her distaste for their third club member she still had an eager glint in her eyes. It didn't matter that this boy had a quirk, if he was being beaten down and treated poorly, and was a decent person himself, than they would happily have him, and their club would finally be ready to go.
----------
He is not at all what Izuku had been expecting, but then again, nothing ever seemed to be anymore.
The three quirkless kids gather at their target's desk and look down at him. Izuku has his hands clasped in front of him, Mashi has her arms crossed and her head tilted, and Inazumi's arms hang by his side, expression bored.
The boy that stares up at them looks exhausted, bags under his droopy, purple eyes, his dark bluish-purple hair has been styled into messy, slicked back spikes, and he is very obviously, even if he's sitting, much taller than all of them. Izuku can't help but be reminded of Aizawa, but more like a younger, skinnier, more purple version of the man.
"Uh… hi there," Izuku begins as the boy just keeps quietly staring up at them, waiting for them to speak. "My name is—"
"Midoriya," the boy cuts them off and Izuku blinks in surprise.
"Eh?"
"Your name is Midoriya. You're Haganehato—"
"Mashi's better…"
"And you're Inazumi. Everybody knows you three, the quirkless kids."
Izuku cringes at that. Not only did people know about them, they knew their names too. They'd become something of a phenomenon it would appear.
Inazumi actually curses under his breath, looking away. Izuku knew just from the short time knowing him that the boy wouldn't want people knowing about him. He wasn't making a fuss, though, so Izuku took that as a good sign.
"Yeah, that's us," Izuku finally sighs, ducking his head. The kid stares back at him for a while, tired eyes boring into the green-haired boy's skull, waiting for him to continue. "We, uh… we actually wanted to ask if you'd like to join our club?"
The boy blinks slowly but his expression doesn't change. "Your club?" he questions dubiously, eyes flicking between them.
"It's for kids like us that have been beat down by people and wanna prove we ain't gonna deal with that shit anymore!" Mashi says proudly, grinning and puffing out her chest. "The Club of Unrecognized Talent! Aka CUT! Get it? Cut? Because we've been cutout of the picture?!"
"I didn't agree to that reference," Inazumi looks behind Izuku over at Mashi, his brows lowered in obvious frustration.
"I didn't ask," she grins back at him and he huffs daintily, flicking his head and looking away while she cackles.
"CUT?" the boy repeats, still sounding uncertain despite his expression not changing. "Seriously?"
"It was almost the Club of Unrecognized, Natural Talent…" Inazumi adds dryly, looking somehow defeated at just the thought of that. The purple-haired boy thinks about that before a blush forms on his face and he clears his throat.
"I thought it was a good idea!" Mashi exclaims.
"Yeah, Mashi… you've said so," Izuku sighs and rubs a hand over the bridge of his nose. He needed to get this conversation back on track. "We've heard people have been cruel to you based on your quirk," he continues to their hopeful, new club member, getting right to the point, "so we thought we would extend an invitation."
For a while the boy is silent again, but his eyes have narrowed. He leans against his desk with both arms, watching them. "Do you even know what my quirk is?" he questions and he sounds defensive and frustrated.
"Dude, we don't even know what your NAME is," Mashi says honestly, scratching at her head.
The boy gives her an unimpressed look before sighing and saying, "Shinsou Hitoshi."
"Shinsou-kun…" Izuku tests the name on his tongue and he finds he likes it. "No, we don't know what your quirk is. Honestly, all we heard was that you may be having issues and we… wanted to extend the invitation," Izuku smiles down at the boy, trying to show his sincerity on the issue.
"Yeah… I'll pass," the boy says with little hesitation, blinking slowly, and Izuku's stomach drops. He feels a small sense of déjà vu having dealt with Inazumi and the disappointment he'd felt then, but the other quirkless boy hadn't just denied them like this.
"O-oh…" Izuku says slowly, the smile on his face dropping. This had been quick, hadn't it?
The other boy, Shinsou, sighs and lets his head fall, looking even more tired, before looking back up at them with his blank look. "You have to get it, right?" he begins slowly and all three of them, even Inazumi, stiffen. Whenever they heard something like it usually led to someone being cruel to them. Naturally they all went on the defensive.
"I'm already treated bad because I have a villain's quirk. You guys seem fine, but I don't need anymore negative attention on me. It's exhausting," Shinsou explains simply and Izuku's shoulders deflate. This had to be the first time the excuse of "because you're quirkless," despite being unsaid, actually made reasonable sense. Izuku didn't want to cause this boy anymore trouble than he already had, he really didn't, but he also wanted to argue that Shinsou should stand up with them, fight back against the bullies.
Unlike with Inazumi, however, Izuku didn't know the full depth of what Shinsou could be going through. He was aware certain quirks were treated badly, but it was not the same as being quirkless and Izuku had no experience with this.
He wanted to argue, but he had no references. No experience or research to back him up.
"ARE you a villain?" Mashi asks suddenly, her arms crossed and one brow arched, looking irritable.
Shinsou looks over at her, his brows raised in surprise. "What?" he asks. This was the first real emotion Izuku thinks he's seen on his face.
"Are. You. A. Villain?" Mashi asks more slowly this time, punctuating each word by leaning in a little closer. Shinsou's eyes narrow defensively as she gets nearer, though he's still slouched in on himself.
"No," is all he grounds out and the redhead stares at him for a long time, examining him, then straightens up and hums, looking like she suddenly doesn't care.
"Guess you don't have a villain's quirk, then!" she says with a big shrug, shaking her head. Again Shinsou looks surprised.
Izuku tries hard not to smile as he watches his friend work. He didn't know what to do in this situation, but Mashi was good with people. She was good at reading them and reacting, even with strangers, so long as they didn't make her mad. Maybe they weren't out of luck after all?
"A villain has a villain's quirk," Mashi continues, pulling her long braid over her shoulder and running her hands over it, lips puckered as she speaks like this is a normal conversation. "You have more of a…"
"Student's quirk," Inazumi finishes and everyone looks to him. He looks disinterested, but he had definitely just said that, helping out the conversation.
"Yeah…" Mashi says slowly, giving the skinny boy an odd look, but not arguing. If he wanted to help no one was going to stop him. "A student's quirk," she turns back to the purple-haired boy, "'Cause you're a student, and that's your quirk. It ain't about the quirk, it's about the quirk…er? Quirker? Quirkee?"
"Just say person," Inazumi grumbles and Mashi throws him the bird. Well, there went the teamwork.
Before either of them can continue, however, Shinsou shakes his head and gives them a very sudden glare. Izuku isn't sure, however, but it looks like there may be a desperateness in his eyes hidden within as he looks at the three at his desk.
"Just… Leave me alone, okay?" he growls, his hands curled into fists on his desk, knuckles white and shaking. For a second the three quirkless kids freeze, surprised by the strength and emotion in his voice, the blank, expressionless boy gone. When the kids don't move Shinsou scowls and says, voice rough, "Please."
Izuku feels his heart break. He wanted Shinsou to fight. He hardly knew the boy but he wanted him to fight for himself, to stand up and say that he decides what he is, not someone else, but… Izuku can't push him when he's so obviously upset. Izuku won't.
So he bows his head deeply, long hair falling around his face.
"I'm sorry Shinsou-kun. We'll leave you alone, now," he says quietly, stands up straight with his head still lowered, and turns and leaves.
----------
It's a Monday so Izuku's next class is Home Economics.
The entire meeting at lunch sent all three of the quirkless kids into a low mood. Mashi and Inazumi had hardly even bickered as they both went to Music and all they had mustered was a quiet good-bye when they parted ways with Izuku.
They weren't going to give up, they still wanted to get their club going, but Shinsou was proof that trying to help wasn't always going to work. None of them had wanted to upset him, but they'd been so wound up in their own plans that they hadn't thought ahead at all.
Izuku and Mashi had done that with Inazumi as well, just jumping into his life, and that had luckily worked out fine. Perhaps that was what had made them overconfident to believe that they could do it again.
It was foolish and arrogant of them, and it definitely didn't help that Shinsou was in Izuku's next class. He hadn't noticed before, had no reason to, but when he enters class he spots the spiky, purple hair almost immediately. For a second Izuku freezes and Shinsou looks up. They catch eyes and the green-haired boy quickly ducks his head. He doesn't know what the other boy's reaction is; he doesn't see it as he rushes to a seat on the other side of the room.
This was going to be difficult to deal with. After what he'd done and the guilt in his system he didn't want to be near the other boy for a while, in fear of upsetting him again. That previous feeling, the one where Izuku had wanted so deeply for this boy to succeed and be great, returns, and with it the desire to see him happy. Anyone who was being bullied and judged deserved that, and Izuku was certain he was not going to be of help with that anymore after what he'd done.
With the anxiety and the terrible feeling in the genius's gut it seemed like class should somehow be less normal than usual. Like something should happen, but nothing does. Octopus-sensei begins class like he always does, with a cheerful greeting and asking how everyone is doing, before they hop into class.
Throughout the whole class Izuku avoids even looking in Shinsou's general direction, but as class lets out the curiosity gets the better of him and he glances over, wanting to know what expression was painted on the tall boy's face.
But Shinsou is already gone while everyone else packs up their things to head for PE.
Izuku cringes. He wasn't sure if Shinsou just tended to leave quickly, but he felt like he and his friend's actions had done this. He'd made the environment thick and difficult for a boy he hardly knew. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he learn to just let things be?
When he makes it out to the field Mashi and Inazumi are already waiting for him, dressed and ready to go. Izuku still feels downtrodden, but at least they look livelier as they argue.
"It's not my fault you don't got any appreciation for art!" the redhead is saying, sticking her nose high in the air while Inazumi fumes beside her, his arms tight to his sides, fists clenched.
"Art?!" he exclaims, voice cracking in a way that has both Mashi and Izuku smiling and holding back giggles. "You call that art? You were just blowing into your stupid trumpet all willy nilly! There was no order, or purpose, or delicacy about it at all!"
"Not to shock you, but Mashi isn't exactly delicate," Izuku smirks, laughing to himself when his friend puffs out her chest and grins proudly. Of course she would take that as a compliment.
"She ruined the entire piece!!" Inazumi shrieks, voice high and scratchy and this time Mashi and Izuku do begin to giggle, making him grind his teeth and fume.
"I'm surprised you care," Mashi pokes at the skinny boy's side, smirking at him as he swats her hand away.
"Usually I wouldn't," he huffs, straightening his exercise shirt, trying to compose himself, "It was just so atrocious I felt someone ought to tell you."
"Uh-huh, sure," Mashi is still smirking and Inazumi growls, cheeks turning red, before he turns to storm off, done with them. Their whole grade was out for PE, which meant they all three could be together, but that rarely happened. Usually they would hang together at first, but it would soon end with Inazumi finding a nice, cool spot in the bleachers to play on his phone while Izuku and Mashi exercised.
It doesn't look like that is going to happen today, however, as Inazumi almost immediately comes face to face with a fellow student. The tiny boy yelps in surprise and steps backwards, bumping into Mashi as they all three look to the newcomer, curious at who has approached them so suddenly.
He's a large boy, looks a lot larger than someone their age should be, with shiny, gold skin and spiky, blue hair. His eyes look like they're made of actual diamonds, giving him both an inhuman and snooty expression almost immediately.
He wasn't from Izuku's homeroom, so he had to assume he was from Inazumi's. He looked familiar enough from when they had visited the classroom, but Izuku can't place ever having interacted with him.
"Kinasa," Inazumi says in recognition, his voice carefully calm. He was shutting down, Izuku could see it, ready to just silently let the boy say what he wanted then go. It was a warning sign that this was not about to be a pleasant meeting.
"Hey, freak," the golden boy says with venom on his tongue and Izuku's shoulders square up. Yep, definitely not pleasant.
He focuses entirely on the newcomer but sees Mashi, still behind Inazumi, also flex up dangerously. Kinasa looks at them and sneers.
"Okay, I can tell you aren't happy about something," Izuku begins slowly, raising his hands in hopes to stop the mounting altercation. "Why don't we—"
"Shut it, freak two!" Kinasa snaps, glaring down at Izuku in a way that made him feel small and it floors him. It had been a while since someone had looked at him like that, with pure disgust and superiority. Katsuki used to, but he didn't anymore, and the biggest bully in elementary school had been Kaito, who was more psychological than anything. This guy was definitely more about action than talking and he meant business.
"Midoriya, shut up," Inazumi hisses under his breath and Kinasa snaps his head towards him.
"I saw you guys," he says in a low tone, stalking towards the smallest member of their group. Mashi takes a step around Inazumi to stand at his side, puffing up like a wild cat, baring her teeth and glaring fire at the bully. "You trying to bring people with quirks down to your level now?" Kinasa spits out a wad of saliva right at Inazumi's feet, making the boy step back. "Disgusting! It's bad enough you're all grouping together like a bunch of roaches!"
"I'm surprised you know that cockroaches prefer to gather together," Izuku says coolly, stepping closer to Inazumi to try and show this bully they weren't going to let him pick on their friend, or on any of them. He knows Inazumi preferred to lay low and avoid problems, but right now Izuku and Mashi were there and he would just have to deal with them and their "innate need to save the day," as he'd put it.
"You insulting me, freak two?" Kinasa turns to Izuku now. Izuku didn't know what it was about people like him that got a kick out of breaking people down like this. They hadn't done anything to him, hadn't approached him or said a word, but he didn't care, he just was looking for a fight and saw them as the best target.
Or perhaps he honestly thought he was doing the world a service by telling the quirkless kids to leave people with quirks alone, and that was even sadder, that picking on a bunch of kids was seen as a heroic act in this boy's mind.
Whatever the reason may be, however, the issue was they had a bully in their faces, eager to throw down, and Izuku had no idea where the teacher was. He couldn't go looking for him, there was no telling the specifics of this boy's quirk, nor the limits of his sanity. He could seriously do any of them a lot of damage. They stood their best chances sticking together.
"No, if anything that was a compliment," Izuku offers. His expression stays blessedly blank, but he can feel his every muscle shaking. He hadn't stood up to a bully in a long time and his entire body was screaming at him to run away and get help. He wanted help, he wanted a teacher to show up and stop this already, but he didn't think that was going to be happening anytime soon so he needed to be strong and brave. He would stand up to this bully no matter what he felt.
"It better have been," Kinasa says slowly. He was a lot taller than Izuku and he looks down his gleaming nose at him, "Unless you want me to start 'complimenting' that ugly ass scar of yours." Izuku's previous drive, the one to keep his friends safe and to fight the bully, screeches to a halt as his stomach drops and a coldness settles into his bones.
No one had ever… commented on his scars before. He got stares and he got whispers and he got judgements, sure, but no one, not even Kaito, had ever actually used them to inflict cruelty. It was like they were off limits in the realm of bullying, that saying anything about them would be stooping too low. Izuku had foolish assumed anyone would realize that. Had thought he was safe but… he wasn't.
"It's a good thing you have that girly hair, too, otherwise everyone would see your stupid raisin face."
Izuku feels like he might actually be sick. His mouth has fallen open and his lip is quivering, tears beginning to form in his human eye. The brutality of the comment has him reeling, unable to respond, unable to think, unable to do anything. This was wrong. This was so, so wrong and he couldn't think of a way to respond. He shouldn't have to, this shouldn't be happening at all!
The gut wrenching desire for his mother makes his breath stutter on his tears. Luckily, he tries to remind himself, digging to yank up the dwindling fire in his chest, he at least always has someone at his back—
"Forget you, Kinasa!" Except that wasn't Mashi. Mashi was the one that always jumped to his defense, but that hadn't been her.
Izuku looks back in surprise and sees Inazumi standing a little taller, his body shaking like a leaf. Mashi is staring at him, obviously dumbfounded, and Inazumi has a look in his wide, blue eyes that says he's shocked at his own actions as well.
Kinasa slowly turns to him and begins to walk closer.
"J-just… Just go away… p-p-please," Inazumi quivers in fear, shrinking in on himself, terrified and wanting to disappear. Mashi has a hand on his arm, squeezing tightly and keeping him close to her side as she now glares up at Kinasa.
"Yeah, ya fuckin' nugget! Get the fuck outta here!" the redhead roars, fire in her eyes as she glares down the bully much larger than her.
"Y'know," Kinasa begins, suddenly sounding conversational as he glares down at Inazumi. Thankfully nothing has gotten physical yet. Now if the teacher would just notice them already and put a stop to this…
"I knew this bitch," the snapped word makes Inazumi flinch with his whole body, eyes beginning to widen even further, like he was realizing something, "back in elementary. Back when it was all pigtails and skirts, but now you wanna act like you're some kinda boy," this flinch is even more violent and Izuku can see Inazumi's eyes fill with the most raw horror he's ever seen, the boy's whole body freezing and he retches on nothing. At the reaction Mashi bodily drags him behind her, standing between their new friend and the gold boy.
"And now you're acting like you're all tough and powerful, trying to build up some stupid gang, when you AREN'T!" Kinasa goes on and Izuku sees it at the last second. He sees the hand coming back as the boy glares down Mashi and Inazumi, a fist clenching, and the green-haired boy is moving. "You're just a bunch of quirkless FREAKS!"
The resounding bang that follows fills the field, a shockwave of dust reverberating around them, and Izuku thinks time might freeze for a second. The air turns heavy, but inside him there's a furious fire burning, encouraging him beyond his fears, making his body stand tall and steady as his robotic hand easily holds back the bully's fist.
Kinasa blinks and looks to his right hand, shaking from the impact of colliding with Izuku's palm. Izuku hardly feels anything, holding the fist there with ease, glaring over his arm and up at the golden boy.
He had been scared before, far before this, of what people would think and say about his handicaps. That he would be treated only by his arm and his eye and his spine, not on his merits or his morals or his flaws or his dreams. He had been scared, was still scared, but now – standing down a bully ready to hurt his friends – he felt strong.
He makes his robotic eye, just visible under his hair, glow red and Kinasa lurches back, trying to pull away his fist, but Izuku holds on. He doesn't have any weapons built into this arm, not like he would use them at school anyway, but he does wish he could show them off.
"You came to the wrong hood, bitch!" Mashi roars behind him, holding her hands out wide in a "bring it on" gesture, and a loud, boisterous laugh erupts from her mouth. Izuku can't help but smirk, still staring down the wide-eyed Kinasa, before he pushes his robotic arm forward and flings the boy onto his butt in the dirt.
"Never insult my friends again," is all he says, voice so sharp and angry for a second not even he recognizes it as his own.
Mashi must think it's cool, though, because she suddenly does a tiny, gleeful giggle, poking at his back, and whispering, "Holy shiiiiit! Badass Zuzuuuuuu!"
Kinasa scrambles to get up, tripping once before he rights himself and faces them again, a fury in his diamond eyes. He evidently couldn't take a hint and Izuku shifts his feet into a stance Aizawa had taught him, ready to defend himself again.
"You quirkless—" Kinasa begins, Izuku's eyes narrowing at him.
"Hey!"
"What?" The call comes from out of nowhere and the second Kinasa responds he freezes, eyes glazing over, looking like a zombie. Izuku's shoulders slump in surprise, eyes widening, and before he can question what happened a figure appears at his side, bumping shoulders with him.
Izuku looks up at the tall form of Shinsou Hitoshi, who is looking at Kinasa, and begins to piece things together.
"Go find the teacher," Shinsou says to Kinasa, voice steady, his arms crossed. He looked angry. "Tell them what you did and deal with the consequences." The zombie Kinasa stands there for a moment before turning with a snap and heading off, seeming to be following Shinsou's orders.
"Whoa…" Mashi whispers and Izuku has to agree. Whoa, indeed.
"Did… Did you just brainwash that guy?" the green-haired boy asks, dumbfounded, and Shinsou raises a hand to clasp the back of his neck, twiddling with some of the baby hairs there.
"Uh… yeah. I can control anyone who responds to me—Whoa!" the boy had slowly, sheepishly, been turning towards Izuku but jumped in surprise when he catches sight of the boy's still glowing eye.
"Oh!" Izuku's eyes widen and he quickly turns off the glow, a blush rising. "S-sorry about that."
"I thought you didn't have a quirk?" Shinsou questions, his tired face baffled as he points in Izuku's general direction.
With the adrenaline gone the fear returns to the boy full force. He had just shown not just the truth about his eye, but his arm as well, in the middle of PE, against a bully who would have no issue sharing that information. Everyone was going to know. Everyone was going to judge him and…
Izuku takes a deep breath, glancing away. No, he had taken his time and now he was ready to reveal his full self. He would no longer be afraid. He couldn't be. He was strong, and he had his friends to support him.
But Mashi isn't standing behind him anymore, he notices with a jolt. She's moved a few paces away with Inazumi, letting Shinsou and Izuku talk, while she speaks lowly with the shell-shocked boy. He didn't look good, but he was grasping at the redhead's hands, head down, nodding as she spoke, seeming to at least be a little better. Izuku feels a sense of pride that his friend was looking out for their newest addition, that she was able to move past their differences and bickering and be there for him.
She really was amazing.
But he couldn't be focusing on that right now. He would speak with Inazumi in a moment, make sure he was okay, but for now he had Shinsou to deal with.
"I don't have a quirk," he says, finally looking back up at the purple-haired boy, expression as steady as he can make it. "I was in an accident when I was six. Now I've replaced my arm, my eye, and my spine with machines."
Shinsou stares at him for a long moment, looking him over. When one knows to look for them the seams in Izuku's arm are obvious, showing where the panels fit together. The tall boy instinctively reaches out towards the arm and Izuku instinctively flinches away, cringing at his own reaction while Shinsou yanks his own hand back.
"Sorry," Shinsou says quietly.
"It's okay," Izuku says just as quietly back.
An awkward silence settles between them, neither looking at each other. Izuku still felt awful for having pushed Shinsou before, the guilt angrily gnawing at his stomach.
"And sorry… for before," the purple-haired boy cuts into Izuku's thoughts before they can get much worse and they look at each other. Shinsou looks sheepish beneath his exhausted exterior, his hand right back to the back of his neck. Was that a nervous tick?
"What do you mean…?" Izuku questions, brows furrowing. He wasn't sure what Shinsou could be apologizing for. He'd done nothing wrong. If anything they all should be thanking him for helping them with Kinasa.
But Shinsou obviously feels regretful for something, his face twisting with his discomfort. "For lunch?" he says quietly, shoulders slumping a little, and now Izuku's eyebrows lift in surprise. "I didn't mean to snap at you guys, you were just trying to help. I…" Shinsou takes a second to let out a weary sigh, bracing himself for what he's going to admit. "I'm not really used to people actually… supporting me like that? And you don't even know me…"
"Doesn't matter," Izuku cuts in with a shake of his head, "Everyone deserves the right to determine their own future. The beliefs that quirks choose what you'll be when you grow up is a toxic way of thinking."
"Yeah…" Shinsou says slowly, brows furrowing, not certain how to deal with Izuku's strong and knowledgeable words. "Well… I wasn't used to it, and I reacted poorly because of it. That wasn't fair…"
"We shouldn't have pushed you, though," the shorter boy argues, looking up at Shinsou with a pleading look. He didn't want the other boy to take all the blame onto himself. It wasn't right.
"Yeah, well, you weren't wrong…" Shinsou says grudgingly, looking away. "I always get so frustrated with people throwing around their 'heroic quirks' like they're so superior, acting better than everyone else, but I've never actually… spoken up against it." He shakes his head, obviously frustrated with himself, and Izuku wants to say something but he isn't done. "And you guys don't even have quirks to back you up, but you're still doing something about all this…"
Shinsou shakes his head and looks to Izuku, a hard look in his eyes that keeps Izuku from speaking. He wanted to hear what the tall boy had to say next.
"You all are completely insane, and I want in."
Izuku actually chokes on his own spit, coughing in surprise and Shinsou steps closer, hands raised as if to help, the hard look in his eyes replaced with alarm. "Are you okay?" the purple-haired boy questions as Izuku clears his throat.
When he feels better the genius turns determined eyes up at Shinsou, expression serious and hopeful. "Really? You want to be part of our club?!"
The other boy is baffled at the complete turn around and how quickly Izuku recovers, but he soon sets his own face into something serious and nods. "That's what I said, didn't I? I… wish I'd said it earlier, but I was having that freak out…"
Joy bubbles up inside Izuku. Joy, hope, excitement, and everything good. Shinsou Hitoshi wanted to be part of their club. He wanted to join them and make the world better for people like them. He believed in them and agreed with them. This was a huge step forward, for quirks and the quirkless, even if it was just four kids in a single Junior High.
"Wait, for real?!" Mashi's voice calls as she and Inazumi head back over. The small boy is still quiet, pressed to Mashi's side, their arms hooked, but he wasn't shaking. He looked exhausted, but that was a step in the right direction.
"I'd like to," Shinsou says, looking over to the other two. He takes a nervous step closer to Izuku when Mashi leans towards him, all big, wild energy.
"Fuck yeah! Fourth member in the house! We can finally get this thing going!!"
"So…" the purple-haired boy begins slowly, looking to Izuku while Mashi cheers and Inazumi quietly watches her, a very small look of disapproval on his face. "I'm… in?"
Izuku turns to look up at him and gives him the biggest grin he can muster. "It looks like it!" he laughs, his energy high and happy despite having just dealt with that bully. They would surely have to deal with the teacher in just a moment, but the odds would be on their side for sure, especially with Shinsou with them. "Shinsou Hitoshi… welcome to the CUT!"
Shinsou slowly smiles back down at Izuku, his eyes still tired but a small, happy light filling them up. "Glad to be here," he says lowly, an eager lilt to his voice.
"Hey wait a minute…" Mashi suddenly cuts in and they look to her. She's giving Izuku an odd look and pointing at him while he keeps smiling. "Isn't the 'Cut' a place in Horizon Zero Daw—"
"OOPS SORRY CAN'T CHANGE THE NAME NOW IT'S TOO LATE!" Izuku yells in a sudden stream of words, grinning bigger, and Mashi lets out a surprised shriek of laughter, Izuku quick to join in.
The Club of Unrecognized Talent was now, officially, ready to go.