Chapter Text
*SHATTER*
The sound of breaking glass cut through any conversations happening in the common room, leaving cold and heavy silence in its wake.
Standing in the kitchen area was Midoriya Izuku. Shattered glass shards and puddles of water scattered around at his feet, while small cuts on his hand started bleeding.
Midoriya Izuku, resident sunshine boy with a reputation for being one of the kindest and most caring people in the class, dawned one of the most hateful and betrayed looks to ever grace someone’s face.
Time seemed to completely stop.
The air felt heavy, so heavy it could probably be mistaken for waves of a raging torrent crashing down on them.
It was weighing them all down. Everyone’s instincts seemed to be screaming some form of get away, run away, get as far as you can.
All the while everyone’s bodies couldn’t move.
It was terrifying.
“Waddup guys, *YAWN* I heard a cra—“ Shinsou stopped dead in his tracks as he paused in rubbing the tired out of his eyes and took in the scene after just coming down the stairs.
That seemed to snap whatever trance the class was in as the pure waves of rage that were weighing the room down suddenly lifted, instead leaving Midoriya with a cold and closed off look as he started swiftly making for the stairs. He stopped for a moment to take a long, over the shoulder glance at Shinosu before finally ascending the stairs. Out of sight.
No one dared move to stop him.
“What the fuck?”
/
Hitoshi liked to think he was a people person.
No, not in the sociable way. God no. Instead, it’s more in the way of reading people and learning the type of person someone is so that they can be easier to predict and therefore easier to avoid. Midoriya, by all accounts, was no exception to this rule. Sure, he’d surprised him on a multitude of occasions, like with his complete absence of fear towards his quirk and his distinct lack of opinions about how “villainous” it was. But overall, Hitoshi thought he had a good mental profile on him-- at least kind of.
That is, until he stumbled upon that shit show, whatever the hell that was.
Now, Hitoshi knows better than anyone that everyone has a breaking point. It’s kind of the reason he’s able to use his quirk so effectively. He digs for what makes his opponent tick and uses that against them so they lash out. Midoriya, again, is no exception. In fact, Midoriya is usually the most susceptible to it because of his complete unconcern about it and the trust he gives Hitoshi. He’s seen Midoriya get defensive, determined, and even occasionally agitated, but never has Hitoshi seen such pure malice radiating from the green hair teen than when he did at that moment.
So, excuse him for standing there like a doofus and casually letting a “what the fuck” roll off his tounge like some kind of unreaslied proficey.
“Sho- Should someone go talk to him?” The first to snap out of it was, surprisingly, Momo.
For a while, that question went unanswered. People just kinda shuffled around, not really knowing what to do. Iida and Todoroki at first glance looked as perturbed as everyone else, though there seemed to be an underlying unsettlety that was only unique to them. Why, Hitoshi couldn’t tell you.
“I don’t think that's a good idea man… did you see how-- how mad Midobro looked?” said Kirishima, voice laced with uncertainty and wavering slightly.
“But what was he even mad about!?!” pirked Kaminari “Last time I checked, most of us were just sitting here chatting about the news!!” He said while pointing to the paused flat screen for emphasis.
That’s when Hitoshi let his gaze flit over to the paused tv. The headline was: Quirkless teen once again falls to the new suicide trend “journey for the weak”.
Hitoshi scowls, he’d heard passings of that challenge when he was in middle school but it had supposedly vanished before the beginning of his 2nd year in said middle school. Basically, there was a set of “tasks” that the person participating had to follow, eventually leading to the last “task” which isn’t really that hard to guess. Frankly, Hitoshi doesn’t blame Midoriya for his reaction. Though, something still nagged at the back of his head that told him there was something more at play here.
Walking over to the couch area where most of 1-A was strewn, Hitoshi picked up the remote to unpause the Tv when he suddenly stopped himself, thinking.
Slowly, he turned to face Kaminari.
“What… what were you talking about...?” He asked, slowly.
“Whatchu mean? I just said we were talking about the--”
“Yes I know, that’s not what I meant.” Hitoshi leveled him with a glare.
There was once again silence, the awkward energy getting to everyone present. Everyone in the common room collectively glanced at each other, seemingly waiting for someone to answer.
“Well…” Iida, this time, started slowly.
“We were just discussing the quirkless and how they are… how do I put this… underdeveloped” Iida concluded with a hand chop.
“Yeah! I’ve personally never met one, but if you think about it, they’re just kinda… there? Like- what can they even do?” Kaminari said almost dismissively, waving his hand around like he could physically swat the topic away.
“Not to mention their overall suicide rates are pretty high- according the news at least” Momo said, looking at the paused headline on screen.
“Maybe they just can’t handle it, you know? Being around a bunch of kids with quirks and not having one yourself would make me pretty envious. Not to mention you couldn’t really do-- anything, really.” Sero piped in.
“I’m just glad they aren’t suffering anymore, they must’ve had it pretty hard…” Hagakure said solemnly, shoulders hunched as she slumped on the couch.
Hitoshi just stared at them all with steadily increasing incredulity as the whole room seemed to mumble in agreements, opinions tacked here and there as he just stood there, baffled at the sheer naivety of his classmates.
Looking around a bit more, Hitoshi could spy a few notable exceptions out of the corner of his eye. Tokyami seemed to look more than a little uncomfortable with the conversation, looking away and mumbling to himself a bit, probably talking to Dark Shadow. Kyoka also looked a bit out of place, looking like she wanted to interject, but uncharacteristically holding back. Other than them, it seemed the people who didn’t contribute to the conversation were in general agreement with everyone else discussing as they mumbled affirmations here and there.
Though this was all, quite frankly, unsettling … Hitoshi still couldn't explain Midoriya’s reaction. Whatever Midoriya’s reaction was, it wasn’t the dumbfounded unsettlement or whatever else Hitoshi was currently feeling… no… what Midoriya exhibited was pure, unnerving, rage.
Hitoshi was about to go follow Midoriya back up, suddenly losing his appetite for the snack he was originally after…
Until-- he saw it.
There, standing on the other side of the room was none other than Bakugou Katsuki. Headphones lay loosely around his neck as he stands uncharacteristically Stalk. Still. He was facing away from everyone with a water bottle in hand, and upon further examination, Hitoshi could make out a slight shake to Bakugo’s hands.
Ok… that's kinda weird.
Hitoshi let his eyes linger, staring right at Bakugou over the crowding of students as he studied the blond carefully.
It seems Midoriya isn’t the only one breaking Hitoshi’s carefully crafted profiles.
It could’ve been because he stopped or because of the eyes currently drilling into his head that got Bakugou moving again, but before Hitoshi could identify any more, Bakugou started walking off.
Hitoshi took the chance to make his leave too, shooting a quick, but cold glare at his class before finally ascending the stairs.
Hitoshi had a lot to think about.
/
The next day started off without much fanfare.
Hitoshi did his regular morning routine before class with little interference— wake up, contemplate existence, fall asleep again to somehow make up for the 4 hours he may or may not have gotten, wake up 15 minutes before class and rush to the fountain of life (coffee maker), make it to homeroom 2 ½ minutes before the bell, get chewed out by Iida for getting to homeroom 2 ½ minutes before the bell, and all's well that ends well.
However, Hitoshi still couldn’t shake the off feeling he’s had since yesterday, and the cause of said off feeling seems to only contribute to it the more Hitoshi looks at him.
Midoriya is facing away from everyone currently milling about and instead locks his focus onto the world outside. He has a distant look if you look closely, and if you look even closer you can see the slight shake of his clenched hands that very quickly breaks the illusion of anything thoughtful or calm.
Hitoshi doesn’t really know what to do in a situation like this. He knows little about Midoriya -this fact only heightened by yesterday's events- and despite him being the only person he’s most comfortable around in 1-A so far into his transfer (excluding Aizawa-sensei), there’s not much he can think of that he actually knows about Midoriya. He thinks he has a solid profile, and then it's gone and broken a couple days later.
So instead of leaning over his table and getting Midoriya's attention to ask what was wrong like any normal person would, Hitoshi instead opts to just “keep an eye on him”. Now, some might call this a weird form of passive stalking, but Hitoshi thinks that's too creepy for his taste so he's just going to go with the former.
Much like the morning, the rest of the day goes on without much fanfare, except of course for Midoriya’s subtle odd behaviour, but that’s neither here nor there at the moment. Anyway, the day goes on and the bell finally rings for the lunch period and Hitoshi is excited for another fun period of staying in the classroom all by himself while everyone else scrambles towards the cafeteria.
Everyone except him and Midoriya.
The friends that Midoroiya usually hangs out with during lunch shoot him a beckoning look but are very quickly shut down by the sideways glance Midoriya spares. It seems nobody is quite ballsy enough to actually approach Midoriya today so Hitoshi acquires a lunch buddy.
They don’t actually share any words for the better part of lunch, as Hitoshi is currently occupied with his foody goodness and Midoriya merely writes in his notebook. It’s not actually an awkward experience but Hitoshi can feel the subtle way the air gets heavier and heavier every couple minutes.
That's what Midoriya’s notebook slams shut.
“Hey, Shinsou…” Midoriya asks, voice quiet.
If Midoriya were actually turned around and facing Hitoshi, he would’ve seen how startled he was. But luckily he’s not so Hitoshi answers with a quick “Yeah?”.
“How do you feel about the quirkless…?” It’s asked in a kind of drawl, slow and almost wistful in nature if you squint.
“Uhhhh…” Whatever Hitoshi expected from the green haired enigma it was not that, but despite that he shakes his head and delivers his honest answer.
“Well— I don’t really have any opinions to be honest. They’re people just like everyone else, what’s more to say?”. Hitoshi responds back with a shrug.
That’s when Midoirya stills-- His body going rigid and back stick straight. It’s only after Hitoshi opens his mouth to ask if he said something wrong did Midoriya almost slump in his seat, turning to look at Hitoshi with something akin to hope and… apprehension?
“D-do you think, uh, somebody quirkless could become a hero..?” Midoriya asks, hope and an almost worn feeling leaking from the seams of his question, almost like he’s asked this question so many times the words themselves come out tired and used up.
This fact makes Hitoshi all the eager to answer.
“If I can become a hero, I don’t see why someone quirkless can’t” Hitoshi answers simply.
That’s when the water works start, but there’s something distinctly different about these tears than there are to the ones Midoriya often lets flow. These leak out unsteadily, as if being held back, and they are almost completely silent. Midoriya’s shoulder’s shake violently as he lets silent tears fall onto his clenched and scarred hands and tries to hold back choked sobs.
Oh…
I’ve seen this kind of crying before…
Before Hitoshi can even think, he’s getting up and reaching out to hold Midoriya close in a tight embrace. Midoriya stills again for a moment in surprise, but very quickly melts into it, letting Hitoshi try and hold all of his old and bleeding wounds together as he sobs.
This goes on for a while. Hitoshi holds Midoriya close, whispering sweet nothings as Midoriya lets old wounds bleed. Letting every last tear dribble down, the clogged and built up pipelines of Midoriya’s suppressed tears finally being used and he suddenly can’t stop the stream.
Only after Midoriya finally starts to quiet down does he look up at Hitoshi and smile. It’s not like his usually blinding 100 watt smile he’s so known for, but it's still somehow more genuine. It’s tired and fragile, but Hitoshi still can’t help but think ‘oh… is that what his real smile is supposed to look like...?’.
“Thank you.” Midoriya states, barely above a whisper but no less meaningful and filled to the brim with emotion.
Hitoshi lets a small grin claim his face.
“You’re welcome.” Hitoshi shoots back. Hitoshi’s glad that he was able to help him in some way…Though, something still nags annoyingly at the back of his head. So instead of going back to content silence, Hitoshi continues.
“Though… if it’s alright with me asking…” Midoriya looks up at him questioningly.
“Why?” Hitoshi asks and promptly cringes a bit— that’s not as descriptive as he would have liked... he should back track—
“I-“ Hitoshi’s saved from his own mental panic as Midoriya seems to have gotten the message.
“I was— before UA, before the entrance exam—“
Hitoshi listens.
...
“I was quirkless ”