Chapter Text
”Why do you even bother?”
”Useless thing.”
”Nobody wants you.”
”The world would be better off without you.”
”They don’t care about you.”
”Stop being such a burden.”
The figures that surrounded them were blank, their faces only having wide, toothy grins as they taunted them, they tried to cry out, to argue, to say anything, but their mouth wouldn’t move, like it was glued shut. The figures circled closer and closer as the words started cutting into their skin leaving bloody gashes that covered the world in crimson and the figures started laughing.
”Look at them.”
”Weak.”
“Can’t even take an insult.”
”Pathetic creature.”
The figures reached forward and started tearing their skin off in chunks, fingers digging into them, removing flesh bit by bit. They felt tears roll down their face as their throat was taken, then their heart was pulled out of their chest, it was being held by one of the figures, one who radiated rage and anger and smelt like burning sugar. They wished to cry, to tell him to stop, but they sat helpless as the figure crushed their heart in his fingers, the blood dripping through his fist. They felt their limbs go numb as the other figures started taking off their fingers, then their knees, their legs and arms, piece by piece. Until they couldn’t move, the figures seemed to get bored, somehow that felt worse than anything else, after all, a doll is still useful as a plaything, but a broken one was truly useless. They felt someone beside them, someone who felt like safety and protection, but not for them, they couldn’t reach out and find them, and that someone walked away. They cried what was left of their tears, the last thing their mind could feel was the happiness of everyone around them, all around but never coming close enough to reach them.
Izuku woke up gasping for breath, their hands clawed at their chest where their heart was still intact. It was a nightmare, Izuku knew that, they’d had this particular one a few times now. They calmed themself down, their shaking form wrapped in soft, star covered blankets as they slowly became aware of their surroundings, right, they were in the guest room at Aizawa and Yamada’s apartment. It was supposed to be theirs, but, some part of them still felt that this was all too good to be true, no matter how much it seemed like their mentors, now guardians, really did want them around. Izuku slowly untangled themself from the blanket as they looked out the window above their bed, it was still dark outside, maybe close to dawn. They got out of bed, still shaking from the nightmare, knowing that the figures didn’t entirely lie, even if two people truly cared about them, that was all they’d ever have, they still didn’t have a place in the world, and maybe a few months ago, they would have just accepted that, and moved on, but now, a small spark inside them said that they could make a place for themself. But it was a small spark, and right now, after that nightmare, it was dangerously close to being snuffed out, no matter how much they trained, no matter how hard they tried, no matter how many times their mentors had told them that they could be a hero, they still had trouble truly believing it.
They had somehow ended up in the kitchen, Izuku didn’t know how or why, their legs just carried them here, they heard a small noise from the counter, and a sleepy looking Shadow blinked her large eyes at them. Izuku gently picked her up and she started purring softly. They sighed, knowing that no-body else would be awake right now, they had checked the clock, it was two in the morning, And while Aizawa would have been awake if he had gone on patrol last night, but Izuku knew that both him and Yamada had taken the day off, so he’d probably be asleep. They wondered what they should do, they didn’t really want to stand around in the dark until their guardians woke up, they did have their hoodie in the room, it wouldn’t hurt to go out for a quick run, right? They creeped back to the room, making sure not to make a sound, they set Shadow down on their bed and quietly changed out of their pyjamas into their hoodie, a pair of black pants and their bright red shoes. They snuck out of the window only to go right back when they realised they’d almost forgotten their face mask.
They climbed onto the fire escape of the nearby building, and scanned the area, realising that they had no idea where anything was, that made sense, they were several blocks away from their usual patrol area, but that just meant they’d have to explore and memorize this place. So they set off running, feeling the familiar cold air of the night as they hopped from rooftop to rooftop.
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Shouta stood in the living room, drinking coffee from a cat mug, it was four in the morning, so Hizashi was still asleep, most likely Izuku was also asleep right now, so he was just standing around with Mop who was making herself a nuisance, although surprisingly Shadow was nowhere to be found.
He had wandered around for a few minutes before he heard a thud come from Izuku’s room as well as a loud yowl, presumably from Shadow. Suddenly on high alert Shouta cautiously knocked on the door “kid?” He asked worry already creeping into his mind. The sounds of scuffling and the closing of a window caused him to tilt his head curiously, then the door opened and Izuku stood in the doorway in their Wraith outfit.
”Hey Aizawa, I can explain”
Shouta just sighed, sensing that this was going to be a headache, “you went patrolling?”
Izuku shook their head before pausing and looking down sheepishly ”well, I just wanted to go for a run, but I did stop a mugging. It was only one though!”
”And why exactly did you even go out in the first place?” Shouta asked now noting down Izuku’s movements to see if the kid was injured, luckily they appeared normal, but Shouta knew that only meant they didn’t have a serious injury. Izuku shuffled their feet for a bit, seemingly trying to decide what to say. “Just tell me what happened, I’m not going to get mad or judge you.”
”I had a nightmare” Izuku seemed to start shaking a bit.
”Do you want to talk about it?” Izuku shook their head “do you want to be alone for a bit?” Izuku shook their head frantically “okay then, how about I make us both some coffee and you can play with the cats for a while? Izuku nodded and picked up Shadow from where she’d been pacing on their bed.
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Hizashi walked into the living room to find Shouta and Izuku curled up on the couch petting the cats and, was that coffee!? Did Shouta give their kid coffee! Hizashi sighed internally, knowing that on one hand, they probably needed it seeing as they must not have slept that well, given that they were wearing their Wraith outfit, did they go out last night? On the other hand, Izuku was nine, and giving a literal child coffee was a terrible idea.
Eventually he just decided to leave them alone and get started on breakfast, hopefully today wouldn’t be too exciting, Izuku needed a chance to get used to the place after all. Especially since they had no idea what to do tomorrow, most likely they were going to have to take the little listener to work with them, and hopefully they wouldn’t get into trouble, and hopefully none of their co-workers cause them any trouble. Not to mention dealing with Nedzu’s inevitable curiosity was going to be a pain.
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The rest of the day seemed to go by far too quickly for Izuku, after breakfast the three of them had decided to stay at the apartment for the day and they just generally co-existed for the day, sometimes starting up conversations about whatever came to mind. Izuku generally started becoming more and more relaxed as the day went.
Dinner was great and Yamada had started telling a funny story about one of the heroes he’d worked with lately, eventually the topic turned to his and Aizawa’s co-workers at UA, and he seemed to remember something. “Izuku? I think I forgot to tell you earlier, but we might have to take you to work with us tomorrow, since we can’t leave you alone and most of our friends are too busy to watch you for the day, is that alright with you?” Izuku’s eyes widened and they nodded rapidly, who wouldn’t want to go to UA?
”Alright, if you’re sure then-”
”I’m super sure!” Izuku interrupted Yamada, who just chuckled at their enthusiasm. Izuku honestly couldn’t wait.