Work Text:
Izuku groaned as he reached his arms reaching towards the sky, back arching a bit as he stretched. He had just finished his English homework and was on his balcony getting some fresh air before heading to bed when he saw a shadowy figure dash across the AU grounds several meters away from his dorm building. The teen frowned, knowing it was 12:05 at night, and, while students were allowed to stay up as long as they wanted, they weren't allowed to wander outside at night unless they had specific permission from their homeroom teacher (a rule that may or may not have been implemented after he and Kacchan had their little... talk). Izuku leaned over his railing, trying to get a better look at the mystery person below as they ran towards a densely wooded area near the dorms. The figure was small, and the greenette knew they would have to be a student. Or a short teacher.
But UA didn't have short teachers. The closest they had to a short teacher aside from Nedzu and Recovery Girl (both of whom were too short to be this person), was Iida, and he wasn't that short (actually, he was rather tall. And if he wanted to run around at night, he'd be much faster than the figure).
Izuku thought about going to his classmate to alert him to the dark presence, but Iida, like the responsible young man he was, had a strict schedule he insisted he had to keep. One that had him going to bed at 10:30.
His second thought was to go get Aizawa, but he'd overheard his sleep-deprived teacher talking with Present Mic about patrolling tonight somewhere near Fennrau, a city too far south for the homeroom teacher to be able to help with suspicious peoples on UA grounds.
His third thought was to call the police. He should've listened to that one.
But that thought was dwarfed in comparison to the thought that it was probably nothing and he shouldn't bother anyone so late at night. So he shrugged thought #3 away.
Thought #4: I'll just go check it out on my own and if it seems dangerous I'll call a teacher.
It was a semi-good (mostly bad) plan until the UA student forgot to grab his phone, which had been charging on his nightstand.
Since he was technically already outside, Midoriya thought it'd be faster to just jump down from his balcony (he was only on the second floor) and run ( barefoot ! a voice in his head that sounded a lot like the class president reminded him) after the figure. He grinned as he let One For All course through his body, the sudden rush of adrenaline, paired with the green lightning surrounding his body and the feeling of absolute freedom taking over his brain, filled him with ecstasy for a second before he was shaking his head and dashing into a wooded area he'd seen the figure run towards.
It was dark, but the brief flashes of bright green light his quirk let dance over his form lit the way enough to help him avoid running into trees and bushes or trip over rocks and tree roots. He could barely see the figure bobbing in and out of his view ahead, moving in a zig-zag motion and causing the teen to do the same. Izuku let out a curse for being forced to run back and forth instead of straight ahead. A straight line is the shortest distance between two people, Izuku remembered his teacher saying to his class before chasing them down in ground beta, if you're chasing someone, try to figure out the general direction they're heading in and cut them off . Izuku wished he could take his teacher's advice, but the longer he chased the mysterious figure, the more he realized they didn't have a destination. They were just running all over the place (left, right, forward, back, diagonally).
It was as if they were playing with him.
Izuku frowned. That thought made him a little mad. Why would someone want to mess with some random student so late at night? Why couldn't they just stop as soon as they knew he was trailing them? Didn't they know how tired he was?
The teen grit his teeth and continued the pursuit, breathing a sigh of relief when the figure suddenly came to a stop at a small clearing and he halted a few feet behind them, taking note of the dark hoodie and jeans on the unfamiliar person.
"Who are you?" Izuku asked as he tried to catch his breath, making sure to stay in a fighting stance in case this person decided to either continue their late-night run or fight the hero course student.
"You're all alone," They said in a calm voice as they turned around to face him, their hood covering their face. He didn't recognize the voice, but it was definitely a male.
"Yeah, so are you," He responded, hoping his confusion and worry weren't as obvious to the stranger as it was to him.
"This is going to be hard," The figure shoved their hands in their pockets. "For you,"
"What are you talking about?" The teen said in exasperation, letting his annoyance leak into his voice. This guy was getting on his nerves.
"Who can trust you when you can't trust yourself?"
Izuku huffed and glared at them. The unknown person removed their right hand from their pocket and held up a small marble-sized smokey blue orb out to Midoriya, the light from the night sky bouncing off it and illuminating the figure's face. They wore a wicked smile that wasn't helped by the creepy lighting and the teen could see their eyes were dark and soulless giving away the fact that they were just an illusion. The sphere slipped through the person's fingers and upon impact with the ground, it shattered into dust, blue smoke quickly spreading around the two of them.
Izuku pulled his shirt over his mouth, trying to filter out the possibly potent gas, and coughed as he wave a hand in front of his face in an effort to disperse some of the vapor. His eyes were starting to sting and dizziness flooded his head. His breathing became shallow the more smoke he breathed and his vision was blurring. If he'd been paying attention to anything other than the pounding in his head he might've noticed the world starting to tilt. Or maybe he was falling. Yeah, that would make more sense.
The last thing he saw was the figure's creepy looking face (which was way too close for comfort) as they said, "Let's see how long it takes for the little hero to get help,"
He passed out.
"-oriya! Hey, Midoriya! Wake up!" The voice of 1-A's class president invaded Izuku's mind as Iida shook his shoulders to wake him. A groan escaped Izuku’s mouth as he pushed himself up one hand, the other rubbing his eyes. "What were you doing out here?"
Out where? The ninth One For All holder thought before finally opening his eyes. He was sitting on the side of one of the AU race tracks where Iida liked to jog every morning. A little startled, Izuku shook the fogginess out of his head and tried to remember what had happened for him to end up here, but all he could recall was passing out in that small clearing in the woods, which was nowhere near here.
"What am I doing here?" He muttered to himself in confusion.
Iida scoffed. "That's what I was wondering," The young man stood to his full height and crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for an answer.
"I was-" chasing someone and they threw some blue smoke at me that caused me to pass out.
Wait.
Why had only the first two words left his mouth?
"You were...?" Iida asked after a pause, clearly expecting Midoriya to finish his sentence.
Izuku tried again, but this time no words came out. What's going on? Frustrated, Izuku continued trying to tell his friend what happened, opening and closing his mouth like a fish, but all he managed to do was get an increasingly worried look from Iida.
"Are you okay? Perhaps we should take you to Recovery Girl,"
"No!" At least he wasn't entirely mute. "I went for a walk and fell asleep," That lie was far too easy to say. And it was so obvious.
"After curfew?" The strict rule follower in the class president was presenting itself.
"No!" A look of disbelief crossed Iida's face. "I mean, yes. But I wasn't going to be out long, I swear! I didn't mean to fall asleep here!" Iida was getting his signature ' I should tell a teacher ' look that was usually reserved for when their classmates tried to do something dumb with their quirks, like when Kaminari tried to use his electricity to pop popcorn. "Please don't tell anyone! I promise it won't happen again!"
"I'm sorry, Midoriya, but rules are rules."
"But Aizawa will expel me if he finds out!"
And there it was. Iida was a stickler for rules, but he was extremely loyal to his friends, and the possibility that his actions could keep one of his best friends from their dream of being a hero wasn't something the taller boy wanted. Izuku felt a pang of regret rush through him when Iida froze, looking conflicted.
"You promise it won't happen again?"
"Promise!"
The class president sighed. "Alright, I'll let you off with a warning this time, Midoriya. Now go back to the dorms and get ready for school. And if you ever feel the urge to go for a late-night run, make sure you bring a buddy. As long as that ‘buddy’ isn’t Bakugou. We don’t want a repeat of what happened the night of our provisional licensing exam." And with that, the speedster dashed off to finish his morning run.
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief and made to head back to Heights Alliance when guilt rushed over him and he realized two things;
- He'd just lied. Twice.
- He'd manipulated one of his best friends.
These thoughts made him want to puke. He'd always tried to be honest in everything he did and said (keeping One For All a secret had been hard, but he did his best). He prided himself on the fact that he just couldn't lie. That his eyes were open and honest to anyone and everyone, no matter the situation.
The fact that those lies came out so easily scared him.
Izuku sighed again, thinking about what had happened the night before. He hoped that perhaps he was just stressed and what he saw last night had just been some crazy hallucination because he’d rather not be having a complete mental breakdown. However, he didn't normally tell falsehoods and the memory of the figure was a bit too clear for him to wave aside as anything less than real. Something happened last night to make him act this way. Perhaps that strange blue smoke had something to do with it. Maybe it was some sort of lying gas with a side effect of temporary muteness.
Hopefully, he'd be able to tell someone about it. Maybe Aizawa. He always seemed to know what to do in any given situation.
As he approached his dorm building, Izuku realized he wasn't wearing his shoes (thankfully, Iida hadn't seemed to have noticed). It was too late in the morning for him to hope no one would be in the common area and he didn't want to lie to anyone else--especially about why he was barefoot . , So instead, the teen ran around the side of the building and leaped up to his room, once again thankful that his room was only on the second floor.
Once inside, Izuku sat on his bed and stared at his floor, his thoughts running rampant in his mind. A feeling of dread slowly crept up his body, from the tips of his toes up to his neck, claiming every inch of him--inside and out--and Izuku's breathing became shallow. The feeling of something sharp and pointed pierced his chest. His hands were shaking, barely visible on the edges of his dimming vision. He unconsciously raised his hand to his neck and started clawing away at the skin there, trying to physically force air into his lungs. How long he attempted the pursuit of air , he didn’t know. But at some point, far past the point for wheezing to be normal, he felt the urge to collapse on the floor, stopping only when he heard a knock at his door.
"Midoriya?" Iida's voice broke through his foggy mind. "Are you okay? It's about time for us to start heading to class,"
"I'm fine!" The teen winced as another lie escaped his lips. "I'll be out in a second!" Another lie. Dammit.
"Alright. I'll see you in class,"
Izuku grunted in response. He quickly showered and threw his school uniform on. Grabbing his homework, he headed downstairs. Most of his classmates had already headed out. but Uraraka was standing by the door, presumably waiting for him.
"Hey, Deku!" Uraraka bounced next to him. "How'd you sleep?"
"Fine," He replied. A lie. "How about you?"
"I forgot to do my homework and had to stay up until two getting it done, but after that, I crashed pretty hard on my bed, so I still got a decent amount of sleep," Izuku nodded as his friend talked. He wasn't really paying attention, his brain still trying to decipher the mystery person's words.
Who can trust you when you can't trust yourself?
What did that mean? Who was that guy? What was that strange gas? Was it the reason he couldn't stop lying?
"Are you listening, Deku?"
Yeah , He almost didn't catch the fib. If I can't tell the truth, maybe I shouldn't say anything at all.
"Deku?"
Midoriya rushed out of the building and to the 1-A classroom, leaving a confused and concerned Uraraka behind to worry about him.
"Midoriya," Aizawa said after their final class ended. "Come with me,"
As any other teen would’ve done (if they couldn’t stop lying and were asked to meet with their teacher and they didn’t usually have a very good track record with authority figures anyway), Izuku followed his teacher through the halls, his head filling with things he might've possibly done wrong and possible punishments he'd have to endure to atone for them. The mind can be helpful like that.
They made their way to an office (probably Aizawa's but the man clearly hadn't thought putting his name on the nameplate was necessary) and Aizawa gestured for the boy to sit down on a rather comfy-looking chair. Izuku quickly took a seat on the edge, holding his yellow backpack against his chest.
"What's going on, Midoriya?" Aizawa asked as he sat down in a chair across from his student.
Izuku looked at him, frowning in confusion. "With what?" he asked because really there were so many things the man could be referring to. He could be wondering about how classes were going or if Izuku’s mental state was okay (it wasn’t). He could also just want to talk about general stuff, like how he’s adjusting to life in the dorms or what he thinks of the economy (unlikely). Or he could be referring to the fact that Izuku hadn’t been acting like himself all day (which was absolutely what his teacher was asking about, but Izuku held out hope that, just this once, the man would let it go).
Aizawa raised an eyebrow and, after a moment, sighed.
"You've been acting strange all day.” He explained “You ignored your friends this morning. You haven't answered any questions in class. I could go on, but I think you get the picture,"
Izuku shrunk in on himself. Why did Aizawa have to be so perceptive?
"So, what's going on?" the man repeated.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Looks like lying was going to become a consistent thing. Aizawa gave an exasperated sigh.
"Why are you lying to me?"
"I'm not!" I am! Please stop me.
"Midoriya," Aizawa's voice was threatening. "Don't lie to me again,"
Izuku gasped tears pricking his eyes, threatening to spill out. "I'm not lying! I'd never lie to you!" I'm lying to you, but I don't know why. "You just don't trust me because I'm your 'Problem Child'!" I know you trust me, even though I keep breaking the rules. "If you don't believe me, then go away!" Please stay. "I don't need you!" I really, really need you.
Please help me.
I'm so scared.
Aizawa's gaze hardened. "Fine. You're on house arrest. Go to your room," His teacher's voice was cold and unfeeling.
Izuku hid his mouth with his hands in an attempt to keep from sobbing and ran to his dorm. What the hell is going on!?
Aizawa buried his head in his hands and sighed heavily from the headache his Problem Child was giving him. As far as the teacher could remember, Midoriya never lied. Sometimes he… omitted truths. But he never straight up lied. Today, however, lying seemed to be the only thing the kid could do.
Shouta frowned deeply, searching his recent memory for anything that could explain Midoriya’s change in behavior. His mother had planned for him to spend last weekend at home, but that had been canceled last minute and even though the teen had gotten that dejected look that tore at something in Shouta’s chest, he couldn’t imagine that that could be the reason behind his lies.
He breathed another sigh and pulled his hands away from his face, his eyes falling easily to the blackboard at the far side of the room, as they often did when he was deep in thought. Something about his conversation with Midoriya seemed off. Like he'd been watching a movie but the actors were reciting lines from a completely different script.
It just… it didn’t make sense.
Shouta shook his head and moved to sit in the chair behind his desk. He was overthinking this. He just needed to grade his student's homework and go on patrol. Taking a breath, he began the task to the best of his ability. Or, he tried to, but thoughts of the Problem Child kept getting in the way. He'd been at it for around two hours when he heard a knock at his door and the face of his best friend, Hizashi, poked into the room.
"Hey, Shouta?" The Voice Hero spoke softly as he entered the man’s office. Shouta responded with a groan, rubbing his temples.
"What?" He winced at the gruffness in his voice.
"Do you know why a certain little listener is crying his eyes out in his room?" Hizashi asked, taking a seat in the chair his student had sat in. He seemed apprehensive.
"Midoriya?" His friend nodded.
"His friends are worried about him. They've tried to get him to talk about it but he keeps telling them nothing's wrong. Iida and Yaoyorozu came to the teacher's lounge looking for you,"
"Fuck," Shouta said, scrunching his face as a guilty feeling took hold in his chest. Mic cocked his head in a confused gesture. "He was acting strange today so I tried to talk to him but all he did was lie to me. I told him to go to his room,"
“Ooh, he activated ‘Dad Mode’, huh?” the blond questioned, earning a (well-deserved) glare.
“That’s not even a thing,” Shouta responded, trying to incorporate all the exhaustion he’s ever experienced into his tone. Moving the conversation back to Midoriya, he said, “I don’t understand what was going through that kid’s head today. It was as if he were an entirely different person.” His friend opened his mouth to say something, but Shouta cut him off, already knowing what he was going to say. “It is him, Zashi. I used Erasure on him and he didn’t morph into something--or someone --else.” Hizashi nodded and the underground hero continued. “Midoriya’s a good kid, and he never lies. I honestly thought he couldn’t lie, but-” he waved his arms around, gesturing at nothing in particular “-guess I was wrong.”
“Has Midoriya gone off-campus recently?” Hizashi asked after a long pause.
“No,” Shouta shook his head. “He was supposed to visit his mom, but something happened and she had to cancel. Why?”
Hizashi had a look come over his face. A look that said, ' I think I just figured something out, but it sounds really crazy and I don't think you'll believe me.'
A look Shouta had become quite familiar with over the years.
"Just spit it out, 'Zashi,"
Hizashi jumped slightly and blinked at his friend. "Well, uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "You know how I've been getting calls from listeners saying people they know have been acting... different?" Aizawa nodded. "Well, we did some research into it and each of these people had one thing in common,"
"Don't tell me," Shouta grunted.
"They lied. Extensively. About everything,"
"A lying quirk?"
"Most likely," the blond nodded
"How long does it take for it to wear off?"
"About two to three weeks,"
"Shit,"
"Yeah. You might want to talk to him,"
"Why can't you talk to him?"
"He respects you,"
"No, he doesn't," Aizawa shook his head. "He respects heroes,"
"No, Shouta," Hizashi moved from where he was sitting to stand by his friend. "He likes heroes. He respects you,"
"Maybe he used to but after today..." Shouta trailed off. There was no way Midoriya would trust him after their conversation.
"That's why you have to talk to him," Hizashi stood and approached Shouta, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "Make this right now. Don't wait for it to get easier, because it won't."
Shouta groaned. "I hate it when you're right,"
Hizashi grinned and pulled his friend to his feet. "Just go, Kitty," Shouta glared in disgust at the old nickname and stomped out of the room, leaving a satisfied-looking Voice Hero behind.
If Shouta felt bad after his talk with his best friend, he felt even worse when he entered the 1A common area. Most of his students were milling about, quietly doing their homework or picking at their dinner. Some were attempting to have a conversation, but it was clear their hearts weren't in it.
Damn, Shouta, what have you done?
The man walked as fast as he dared past his class, hoping not to worry them. He took the stairs to the second floor and dashed to Midoriya's room thankful no one was waiting at the kid's door. He took a deep breath to steel his nerves and knocked.
"Midoriya? Can I come in?"
"No" Came a muffled reply. "Go away,"
Did he mean 'no'? Or was he lying because of a quirk like Hizashi suggested?
"I can't do that, kid," Shouta waited for a moment before opening the door. "Midoriya?"
The greenette was lying face-down on his bed, but he looked up when the door opened. Izuku's eyes were red and puffy from crying. When their eyes met, the teen shrank in on himself, scooting as far away from his teacher as he could. Aizawa's breath hitched when he saw those green eyes. Usually, they'd be filled with hope and determination, but right now they held fear and suspicion. They were the eyes of a victim.
"I'm sorry," The words exited Shouta's mouth before he could think. Midoriya shrugged and looked down at his scarred hand, running his fingers over the scars. "Can you tell me what's going on with you?"
The kid shook his head.
"Please, Midoriya,"
The boy sighed and shook his head again, but glanced up at his teacher before focusing back on his hand. Shouta grabbed his students' desk chair and moved it next to the bed to sit down in.
"Zashi--Present Mic--says there's a person out there with a quirk that makes people lie," Judging from the flicker in his eyes and the way his hand stuttered in its movement, this information sparked the teens' interest. "I need to know if you've been in contact with anyone who might've seemed suspicious,"
"Even if I had, I wouldn’t tell you," Izuku rolled his eyes at Shouta.
"Right, sorry," The man said, understanding the problem. He needed to establish that his student couldn't tell the truth. The thought to call Detective Tsukauchi over crossed his mind, briefly, but he shook it away. There was a much easier way to establish whether or not his student was lying. "Is your name Midoriya Izuku?"
"No," A lie.
"Do you want to be a hero?"
"No," Another lie.
"What do you think of All Might?"
"I hate his guts,"
"You know he doesn't have very many of those, right?"
Izuku chuckled and Shouta allowed himself a small genuine grin.
Being satisfied that his student was lying (something he’d usually be concerned about), Shouta tried again. "Have you been off campus recently?"
"No," Yes.
"Did you run into any questionable people?"
Midoriya frowned and cocked his head to the side in thought. "... No?" Yes.
"Do you remember what they looked like?"
"Yes," No.
"Dammit," Shouta rubbed his eyes. "Alright, look, I think you've been hit with a lying quirk and if I'm right you'll probably be like this for about two to three weeks," Distress took over the teen's face and Shouta's hand found its way onto the boy's shoulder. "We're trying to find the person that did this but in the meantime, I think you should stay in your dorm," Midoriya's shoulders sagged and his eyes started to water. "I'll help you with your schoolwork if you need it. Or, if you prefer, I can have Iida help you,"
"I'd like to be a bother to Iida and distract him from his studies," It took a lot of self-discipline to keep from smirking at that.
"I'm sure he wouldn't consider it a bother, but I understand what you're saying. I'll come over as often as I can to help you through this," Shouta smiled at the boy and ruffled his green curls. Izuku's eyes closed as he leaned into the touch. "And obviously I still expect you to train your body, though it's become quite clear that the real problem there is trying to get you to stop training," The student let out a huff of laughter and, for a moment, Shouta forgot he was a teacher. Forgot the teen in front of him was a student. His student. Instead, he felt a bond form. A connection. The kind that a father might have with his son.
My son.
A wave of emotion rushed the man and before he could stop himself (not that he would ), Shouta moved from the chair to the bed and wrapped his arms around the boy. Izuku tensed for a moment, not expecting the sudden show of affection (especially from his strict teacher) but he relaxed into the hug, his smaller arms wrapping themselves around the larger body.
"I'm sorry, Izuku," Shouta said, eyes squeezing shut. He wasn't going to cry.
But this kid was. Big fat tears soaking the pro hero's clothes.
"I hate you, Aizawa,"
Shouta chuckled.
"I hate you, too, Problem Child,"