Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Imagine being a perfectly healthy teenager. Ready to take on the world with a new found confidence after being given a chance to become what you’ve always dreamed of being. Making tons of new friends and having many new experiences. Everything was going amazingly for Izuku. That is, until the first villain attack at the USJ. Well, more like right after.

He noticed it before but never thought much of it until now. Small bouts of pain after he used his new found quirk that he blamed on the excessive healing and breaking. Now he was in so much pain he couldn’t be moved from his spot on the bed in recovery girls office. His head throbbed sharply as he buried his face in his blankets, the light being too bright for his sensitive eyes. But why were they sensitive? He didn’t know. It was near impossible to touch him since every time something brushed against his skin he whined that it felt like he was being bruised. Recovery girl had tried to put in an IV earlier and it was made very apparent that this was going to be difficult. His joints screamed as they grinded at every movement, body feeling like it was on fire inside but on the outside he felt freezing cold. He was sweating and shivering, breathing unevenly as he held his arms close to his torso. He was going to vomit. Thankfully, there was a trash can right next to his bed. He was on the verge of tears now, wondering what he did to make himself get in this situation.

He had somehow felt much better after emptying his stomach. Grimacing at how weak he felt physically and the bitter taste of bile in his mouth. Recovery girl just tutted sympathetically at the boy, giving him a wet towel to wipe his face. Turning back around to grab a glass and a few pill she gave them to him. Watching as he took them with no issue. When she took the glass back she noticed his hands looked odd.
“This doesn’t seem right….have your hands always changed color like that?” She asks, pointing at his purple knuckles.
At this point all he had noticed was that his entire body hurt and the pain meds he was given hadn’t taken effect. All might had been kicked out of the room for a bit since this ‘pain episode’ started. And frankly, deku was grateful. He didn’t have the energy left to even hold a proper conversation, nor do anything else. Looking at his hands he to saw that his knuckles had turned a dark shade of purple while the rest of his hands showed deep red. Thinking back his hands had kind of looked like this in the past but since he used his hands a lot in practice and combat he thought they were just bruised. Shaking his head he almost puked again, groaning at the sudden movements.

Sighing quietly Recovery Girl quickly shuffled over to the phone on her desk. After making a few calls she decided to let him go home, but not before making him take a muscle relaxer. Inko soon arrived looking as panicked as ever. She would have been here sooner had it not been for the traffic and police everywhere. Thanking her profusely izuku’s Mom helped the boy to the car, being as careful as possible not to cause him anymore pain. They would soon be going to the doctors hoping to get some information as to why this is happening. But for now they would go home and rest. Poor Izuku was so out of it due to the meds and inflammation that as soon as he made it to the car he was fast asleep.

The next few days consisted of nothing but doctors visits. They drew vial after vial of blood, doing test after test. They looked at his heart, lungs, skeleton, and everything else important they could think of. Eventually they found some mild tissue damage on his deltoid muscles that led to them finding major inflammation to his joints and veins. They found out at the end of the second day of testing that his body had basically went into overdrive and tried to destroy everything it could get to. His immune system maxed itself out and went on to cause damage to his organs and muscles. Thankfully it didn’t get to do very much to his organs as it did to his arm muscles.
“It’s an autoimmune disease, which one is hard to tell but we can clearly see he has something causing both inflammation of the joints and damage to his muscles. The treatment plan will be up to you, but I would recommend going the supresent Route to make sure things get to where they need to go. The only problem with that is it takes a few weeks to get used to and a few months for it to start working properly.” The doctor stated, looking up from his clipboard that was holding a thick stack of papers. Inko looked down at the floor frowning. After a bit more discussion with the doctor of different treatments they found it best to go for the slower paced one. This would cause a slight upset to his schooling but it was something she was willing to do if it meant helping her son.

On the way home izuku texted with Iida and Uraraka, telling them what little he could remember from the visit. Feeling completely drained and sore he leaned his head against the windows of the car. Breathing slowly as he started to doze off again. When he woke they had arrived home. Looking over he noticed a large paper bag his mom carried opening his mouth to ask she just smiled weakly.
“Your medicine. Come on, you can nap while I make dinner.” And with that, he was silent.

Chapter Text

Finally making it to his room he flipped off the lights and stumbled to the bed. Izuku’s head barely hit the pillow before he had black spots creeping up his vision. He felt dizzy and exhausted, barely taking in his surroundings. His phone buzzed softly in his pocket, signaling that the group chat he made was still going. Bringing it up to his face he squinted at the bright screen.

Gravity girl: So are you coming back any time soon?

Boy wonder: probably. The doctors put me on some meds to beat my immune system back into place. It’ll take a while so they said not to do anything that could stress my body for awhile.

Speedy: that makes sense. Want us to get your notes for you?

Boy wonder: if you can. I’ll try to get back as soon as possible.

Gravity girl: Ok! Do you want us to tell the others what’s going on?

He paused. Did he want the others in on this? I mean they just survived a mass villain attack and probably have their own stuff to worry about and he didn’t want to add to any more stress. Besides, he could probably act like nothing was wrong and get by with it. Though he has been out of school for a few days. The only reason he told Iida and Uraraka was because they flipped out when he said he was at the hospital. Thankfully they were taking it pretty well.

Boy wonder: nah, they got their own stuff to worry about. I’ll tell the teachers but I think I’ll keep this on the down low if that’s ok with you two.

Speedy: alright. Well keep it quiet for now. But if something comes up we will tell what we know.

Gravity girl: what he said!

Sighing quietly he sent them a good night message and rolled over. Laying his phone on the bed he closed his eyes. A migraine grated against the back of his eyes as he laid in the dark. He just wanted to sleep, he wasn’t really hungry and didn’t think his mom would mind if he slept the rest of the night. Wiggling under his cover he drifted into a fitful night's sleep.

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When dinner was done Inko went to get her son, finding him fast asleep. She knew she should probably wake him up and make him eat but….he needed his rest. So she closed the door and went to put his dinner in the fridge. Finishing her own Inko pulled out the paper bag that rattled with pill bottles. Sighing sadly she opened the pill box she bought and began dealing out each dose into each section. Four sections vertical for every single day and seven horizontally for the days of the week. She only used the one for mornings and nights, finding that easier then having him keep up with his medicines at school. Once it was filled with the right doses she closed it and set it on the table. Deciding to show him in the morning what his new routine will be for the next who knows how long. Looking at the time she headed towards bed herself, hoping everything would work out.
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When he awoke the next morning he felt sluggish and stiff. Groaning as pain pulsed from his shoulders and back he sat up and stretched. Eyes widening when his shoulders cracked loudly he slowly let his arms down, hoping that wasn’t anything major. Finding it about time for breakfast he stumbled to get dressed for school. Brushing his hair and teeth he splashed some water on his face, hoping that the dark rings under his eyes would go away. But it was futile.

“Ah izuku! Can you come here for a second?” He heard his mom say from the kitchen.
“Yeah I’ll be there in a second.” Trying to sound more normal he shuffled his way into the kitchen. Finding a large colorful pillbox sitting on the table he looked at his mom for an explanation. She just smiled like normal and placed his food on the table, motioning for him to sit and eat.
“That’s your medicine. I just thought it would be easier to have a box instead of having lots of bottles strewn about.” She chirped as he sat at the table. Izuku could only muster a sad smile. His eyes half lidded and dull as he ate his breakfast. He frowned as he was in deep thought. ‘That should have been easy to understand. I’m probably still tired.’

One thing he can say for certain is that if you let some medicine touch your tongue it can and will destroy your taste buds. He almost spat out one of the pills he was supposed to take when it started to dissolve in the he back of his throat. Quickly taking a drink he coughed, squeezing his eyes shut. Once his tongue recover he noticed his mom getting ready to go out as well. Her small handbag already on her shoulder as he put his shoes on. She was probably going to explain his situation to the principal who would probably tell the other teachers.

‘That includes All Might.’ Izuku thought with a straight face. It took his a few seconds before he froze with his backpack on one shoulder. ‘How will he react when he realizes I’m not in perfect health? What if he started treating me differently because I won’t be able to do as much as I used to?? What if I can’t be cured and-‘ he stopped. Another headache inching its way back. Making a noise of discomfort he saw his mom pull a pill bottle from her handbag.
“Here,” she held out her hand, “this is for pain. Well mostly joint and muscle but the doctor said you could have one of these every four hours if needed. Take half for now.”
And so he did.

———————

When they arrived at the school they went their separate ways, waving to each other. Walking to the classroom he felt anxiety and dread creep up his spine. Quickly walking down the halls he slowed when he got close the the door, stopping in front of it. Taking a few deep breaths he gently opened it, quickly realizing his mistake. As soon as his classmates saw his hair they had already surrounded him. Bombarding him with questions and concerns. He winced at how loud they were, finding Uraraka and Iida talking around his desk. When they made eye contact he waved slightly, making his way over with his crowd of noisy classmates.
“Dude where have you been?!” Kaminari shouted.
“Yeah deku, you like dropped off the planet there!” Mina added.
He did his best to answer their questions without exposing himself too much. But his facade faltered when Kirishima greeted him.
“Hey man! Glad your back!” Kirishima said, giving him a hard pat on his shoulder.
Freezing up he tried his best to hide his pained expression but he couldn’t help but make a hissing noise as he sucked in air through his teeth. Everyone was dead silent for a few moments looking a bit alarmed at his reaction. He sat there like a statue hoping he didn’t just blow his cover. Thankfully a familiar voice rang out throughout the room.
“Alright, all of you in your seats. Make it fast we don’t have all day.”
It was Aizawa, wrapped from what looked like head to toe in bandages. This of distraction allowed Izuku to breath as his classmates went to their seats. Focusing all their attention and questions on their teacher.

Everything was going good until mid-homeroom Present Mic walked in and said something to Eraserhead. Izuku could see the frown on his face from here as he turned to look at his student.
“Midoriya come with me. Now.”
Not one to argue (much) he nodded and followed the two teachers out in the hallway. As they walked he fiddled with his hands as the teachers walked in front. Taking notice his hands where once again very red compared to the rest of his arms. When he looked up they were at the office, his mom sitting inside with her handbag in her lap. When they saw each other she just smiled. Principal Nezu motioned for them to come in and have a seat. Izuku noticed the other teachers were here except for All Might.
“Now,” Nezu said, sitting on his raised chair, “explain to to them what you just told me Mrs.Midoriya.”

Chapter Text

Clearing her throat inko begins, “ my son has currently been diagnosed with a rare disorder called overlap syndrome. Which is basically several different diseases combined into one. Myositis, which causes muscle inflammation, in this case has caused Izuku’s deltoid muscles to weaken and deteriorate slightly.” She takes a deep, steady breath before continuing.

“ Rheumatoid arthritis which causes joint inflammation/swelling all around the body, including hands.” Inko motions to Izuku’s hands which were an angry red. The boy just looked down at his lap, frowning in thought.
“And finally, he had lupus which causes fatigue, joint pain, and what they call a butterfly rash to appear on the person’s face if they stress their body too much. We have started him on his medicine and I will be leaving some extra pain meds here for when he needs them. I hope you got the medicine list I sent you?.....”

looking at nezu he just nodded and held up two pieces of paper full of medicine names izuku didn’t even want to try and pronounce. Inko smiled and sighed, turning her head back towards the teachers in the room. Nezu passed the list around for all of them to look at.
“He is not allowed to stress his body out too much in this stage. According to the doctors, anymore stress put on his body would lead to his immune system reacting violently and attacking his organs and muscles at full force once again. Once his medicine has kicked in and started calming his immune system he will be allowed to do about half of what he was allowed to do before all this.”

As she finished, the teachers were more or less shocked silent. Aizawa’s face partially hidden by his capture weapon but you could tell he was frowning. Present mic’s mouth hung open as he looked back and forth from the list of meds and Inko.
“This is….a very large amount of medicine….” he murmured.
Midnight nodded and handed the papers back to nezu before sighing. It was quiet but izuku barely caught her mumble. ‘All might won’t be too happy with this….’ before straightening herself.

His stomach felt like he had just swallowed an iceberg. Heavy and freezing all the while his throat felt ripped to pieces. The adults voices blurred together into a sort of static as his dread settled in the back of his mind, starting to consume him. Izuku only snapped out of it because he heard Nezu saying goodbye to his mother before turning back to him. He just barely caught her waving as she exited out the door led by Midnight and Present mic.

Looking back he found himself staring into the principal’s beady black eyes. Swallowing hard he straightened up quickly, causing his shoulders to pop loudly and painfully. Wincing he bit his lip and hissed quietly. Not missing how the principal stared into his soul for a good minute before asking,
“Would you like to tell All Might about this? It would probably be much easier for you to explain it to him then we will give him all the technical details and accommodations we will have for you.”

Before he could even think Izuku nodded, agreeing to face the one person he feared the most that day. Nezu just grinned and clapped his paws together.
“Great! He’s late getting in this morning so you might have to catch him at lunch. I’ll tell the other teachers not to say anything so you can explain it to him without their input. Now, get back to class I’m sure you’ll have plenty to do there!”

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As izuku and Aizawa walked back to the classroom they stopped in front of the classroom door again. Izuku felt like he was standing on an unstable wall, teetering back and forth between his thoughts and his emotions. The loud noises of the classroom saved him from falling into either pit inside his mind. The excitement pulled him back to reality, a small smile plastered itself on his face.

Making his way to his seat he noticing his classmates staring at him. Heat creeped up his face as he buried himself in his arms. Aizawa announced they would be preparing for the sports festival that was to take place in a few weeks. This caused an uproar of new excitement to rush through the room. Everyone started chattering and shouting about what they would do and who they wanted to go against. Midoriya just sighed and watched them.
‘Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.’

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Oh how he regretted those words.
By lunch he had to hang close to Iida for balance, as his legs had started hurting. His knees felt as if they were burning, literally. He could feel the heat off of them when he put his hands close and they were bright red just like his hands. On their way towards the lunch room he leaned against Iida’s arm as Uraraka fussed over how pale he looked. Spotting a blond head duck behind a wall he slowly regained his balance, telling the other two to head on without him. It took some convincing but they finally went on ahead. Leaving Izuku to stand there in the hallway unsteadily.
“Their gone. I’m surprised they didn’t see you.” He said bluntly, turning towards the wall he saw the blond duck behind. Slowly All might emerged from his hiding spot and cleared his throat.
“Ah… the teachers said you had something to tell me….?”

Izuku nodded, throat feeling dry.
“Let's go somewhere more private then. I also have something I want to tell you.”
As All might said that the dread came back full force. Almost causing the boy to lose his balance. His mind raced as he absentmindedly followed All Might to a room with a couch and several other small pieces of furniture.

All Might deflated and made some teas as Izuku sat on a small stool across from him. He had never noticed how uncomfortable they were until now. Gladly taking a cup of tea he noticed All Might look at his red hands in concern before opening his mouth to say something. Izuku being the quick thinker he is spluttered out,
“I-I have overlap syndrome.”
Silence
More silence
“.....What?”
Then, all hell broke loose.

Chapter Text

“And so they won’t let me do anything, not even be in the sun too long….” Midoriya finished. His face and hands dark red, but whether it be with embarrassment or the lupus Toshi couldn’t tell. After a few seconds of tense silence Toshi just hummed.

“I understand, we can work around it. There’s always a way.” He smiled as the tension in the boys shoulders relax. Though he almost missed the small popping noise that came from the boy as he did so. Toshi was familiar with the transition from completely healthy to….disabled. Wincing internally at the thought he cleared his throat. “You should get to lunch, their probably waiting for you.”
Looking up quickly Izuku nodded, standing and excusing himself. As he exited the room Toshi fell into deep thought.
‘How am I going to deal with this….I know I was going to give him that big speech about the sports festival being his time to shine but….’ he sighed, running his hand down his gaunt face.
‘I know he’s-....I hate that word. It has become like a curse word. Disabled. Once you have that label stapled to your forehead you will never be treated the same.’
Toshi’s eyes flickered to his injured side, wondering how he was going to help his successor through this without making it worse.

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As he sat down with his lunch, Izuku felt all eyes on him. Uraraka and Iida being the main culprits. Uraraka spoke first,
“Hey, you ok? Your knuckles are purple….” she reached out and placed her hand on his only to pull back quickly. Her face scrunched up in concern.
“Your hands are freezing!”
Izuku just winced, the sounds around them echoing slightly in his skull. He didn’t even notice how cold his hands were until Uraraka said something. Smiling weakly he tucked into his food, not really wanting to talk. Iida who was watching him put his hand against Izuku’s free one on the table. Face mirroring Uraraka’s before frowning.
“Is this normal? Do you need gloves or something to warm them up?” Iida’s hands made small chopping motions as he spoke. Izuku shook his head, trying to answer without talking. He didn’t know why but he felt drained, emotionally and physically. And talking just seemed like too much trouble. His friend’s catching on, they decided to talk so that he didn’t have to. Or in a way he could answer without words. Izuku appreciated it immensely. As they finished up their lunch they started walking back to the classroom. His shoulders and neck ached.

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When he got home, Izuku felt like he’d just been hit by a brick wall. His knees and ankles burned. The ache in his shoulders persisted. Causing him to drop his bag haphazardly on his bedroom floor. Walking(?) over to his bed he started to flop down, only stopping when he noticed a box on his bed with a note attached.
I read that heat helps some people with joint and muscle problems. I hope this can give you some relief :)
Love,
Mom
Izuku grinned tiredly, he knew she was at the store right now picking up the stuff for dinner. He’d hug her when she got back. For now he would test the theory for himself.

After about five minutes he began to relax, his shoulder pain not leaving completely but it did lessen. His phone buzzed lightly beside him. Picking it up he found the screen still bothered his eyes.

Gravity girl: Do you think you’ll be able to participate in the sports festival???

Speedy: He should be able to, at least in the first few parts. Idk if they’ll allow you to enter the student vs student part though.

Boy wonder: eh, I’m still going to train for it. Though I’m pretty sure your right.

Speedy:*you’re

Izuku chuckled as they continued to text about their day until his mom called him for dinner.

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When dinner was over he slinked to the bathroom to shower. Finding himself feeling grimy and gritty from the time outside today. He was surprised to find that hot water also helped his aching muscles and joints. After standing in the shower for about ten minutes he quickly became tired and washed up quickly. Shimmying into his pajamas and drying his hair with a towel.

When he got to his room he found a glass of water and a small plastic cup with different shaped pills inside on his desk. Another note taped next to it.
Here’s your night medicine. If you need anything don’t hesitate to come get me. :)
Love,
Mom
Quickly swallowing the pills Izuku stretched, finding his shoulder popped again but it wasn’t painful. Wiggling into his blankets he turned the heat pad on and sighed heavily. Something felt off and he didn’t know what it was.
‘Oh well,’ he thought ‘I’ll figure it out tomorrow.’
And that he did.