Chapter 2 | No Accidents Just Happy Surprises

... ock 

'Wha-' 

Knock knock knock 

Izuku's eyes slowly opened before immediately squinting at the sun peeking through his curtains and hitting his green emerald eyes, he hears the birds singing and chirping outside his window when- 

Knock knock knock 

"Midoriya kun, this is Detective Tsukauchi, please open the door." 

'Detective? Why would a detective be-' 

- 

"IZUKU OUT NOW!" She pushed him out the window, his body landing roughly on the ground... He could see his mom's figure in the hands of the villain as she kicked and screamed, hitting his arms where he held her up... Izuku knows that he was very concussed, because he wasn't sure if the white thing that flew out of his wrist was real or not, but something landed on the villain's eyes blinding him for a moment, and Izuku took the opportunity to kick the villain where the sun doesn't shine. 

"AARRGH YOU BRAT- GAAAAAH!!!" The villain's arm flung toward his mother... 

- 

"Mom!" He scrambled out of bed running into the hall, frantically bumping into walls from turning corners before making it to the front door, his already extended hand reaching the handle only to freeze over it. 

'Mom's gone.' 

'Mom's... gone? She... S-she can't be gone.' His knees slowly betrayed him as they began to shake giving out under him. 'S-she can't... she said we'll f-fix everyth-' His breath hitched, bringing his hand over his mouth and muffling his broken sob. 'E-everything was supposed to get better.' He curled into a ball only to curl tighter as his muffled cries echo through their apartment. But no. Through the apartment. This isn't theirs anymore, not even his, he couldn't even call it home now. A home is supposed to have someone waiting for you when you come back and be greeted at the door with a warm smile, not come back to silence and coldness. A home is supposed to have laughter and hugs when you're feeling down, not sobs and cries. He will never be able to receive his mom's warm hugs when he walks in the door, never will have a heroes night watching all his favorite heroes documentaries even though they watch all of them before she was always happy to watch them with him, he will never taste her warm cooked meals again have nights where he helps cut vegetables before she burst out laughing when some of the slices were uneven, her never getting mad and always replying with a 'practice makes perfect, sweetie; or 'we'll work on it',  and they did. They always worked on it, she was always patient with him even when he messed up a lot she never got frustrated she was just... understanding... She always understood, she was the only one who could understand him or at least tried. And he'll... 

He'll never have that again. 

"... doriya? Midoriya?" A hand touched his back making him flinch back violently. He looked up to see a man in a trench coat and wearing a fedora like he was in some sort of noir tv show, all he was missing was a cigar. But more importantly, how did he get in here? 

The man sent him a lopsided smile "I ran to the landlord for an extra key." 

'How did he-' 

"You said it out loud." He chuckled softly before schooling his expression for a more serious look. "I was worried when I couldn't hear you anymore..." He trailed off, reaching his hand out again, Izuku watching the hesitant hand with wariness before it started drawing back. The detective scratched his head as he looked around, clearly not used to comforting children. Izuku watched him through his bangs, making sure to avoid eye contact. Slowly the detective turned back, raising his hand at a far enough distance between him and Izuku for him to shake, "I am Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa..." Izuku reluctantly shook his hand to not be rude which received a small smile sent to him in return. "I'm here to bring you to the station. The service worker will be a bit late so I just went ahead to pick you up." He reaches inside his coat's breast pocket and gently sets the badge in his small hands. 

"..." He swallows shallowly, "D-do I have to?" Izuku looked up hopefully to the detective but only received a, what he could guess, sympathetic smile. 

"I'm sorry Midoriya-kun, it's a procedure to do this to make sure you're okay. Honestly, we shouldn't have let you leave like that yesterday." He spoke gently as if he could lessen the amount of hurt that flashed through the small boy's eyes. 

Izuku brings his head back down, handing Tsukauchi his badge back. He takes it looking over Izuku again, seeing the dark circles around his eyes that could even rival a colleague of his, he then notices the boy's funeral clothes and shoes were still on. 

"How about you go get changed and we can stop to get you some breakfast on the way there?" Tsukauchi offered. 

Izuku blinked slowly, 'Changed?...' looking at himself noticing the white sleeves peeking under his black blazer. 'Oh,' His hand mindlessly brushes over the fabric, suddenly feeling itchy wearing it. Izuku could see all the fibers woven together, and the baby hairs on his arm that started to stand up as his eyes drew to his hand where he could see the intricate ridges of his fingerprints, as if they were under a magnifying glass. 

Interesting... 

Tsukauchi's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "Midoriya-kun? What's wrong?" 

Izuku jumped back and hesitantly shook his head, "N-nothing I'm gonna... I'm gonna go get changed." Izuku got up from the floor, ignoring the hand the detective offered him and made his way down the hall to his room, closing the door behind him. His back hit the door as his hand dragged down his face with a groan coming through his lips. 

- 

Tsukauchi watched Izuku turn the corner, listening for the soft click of Izuku's bedroom door before he stepped further into the small home. Inspecting the pictures on the walls and tables as he walked along, the first picture sitting on the table beside the empty key bowl had a very young Izuku, and a slim woman with long, green hair. If it weren't for the fact he was in the Midoriyas' house he might not have recognised her; although she doesn't look much different in the picture, as her eyes were much more alive than the ones he had seen on her corpse. The same could almost be said for Izuku as Tsukauchi thought back to the first time he saw the boy, saw the haunted look in his eyes as he was dragged away from his mother's body. 

Thump 

Tsukauchi's head shot up to where Izuku had left as he calmly walked toward his door. 

"Midoriya," Tsukauchi knocked twice and spoke gently to not scare the young boy, "are you okay?" There was a long pause and some rustling before an answer rang out the door. 

- 

"Y-yeah I'm fine... Just... Just fell trying to put my p-pants on." Izuku stumbled over snatching the paper that was stuck to his arm, which then got stuck on his hand. "I-I'll be o-out in a minute- ngh." 

'Why am I so sticky-' He tripped again as more things stuck to him as he tried to get unstuck. 

After a minute he got the last thing off of him and finished getting dressed. He took a deep breath before opening the door and walking to the living room, where the detective stood looking at some pictures on the wall. Hearing him walk in, Tsukauchi turned to face him, greeting him with a small smile. 

"Ah good, you're all dressed. Ready to go?" 

'Go where? Where could I possibly go? Why is he being so nice surely he knows? Why can't I just say here? Mom and I's stuff is still here. Will they let me take some of mom's pictures? Where will it all go? Who will take me in? No one would want a quirkless kid… no one will want a quirkless so… willingly.' Izuku learned the statistics, he saw them, memorized them, he knows quirkless people are rare. And most of the ones that do exist were in the older generation and the ones who weren't, like him, were only lucky enough to make it past highschool.

"Hey Midoriya, it's going to be okay." The detective scooted back giving the young green haired boy some space but close enough to reach just in case. The detective pulls out a handkerchief, gently handing it to Izuku.

Izuku didn't realize when he began to cry as his round cheeks were wet with tears, he was always such a crybaby. Now here he is crying in front of a stranger who's trying to take him away from the place he once called home. The very thought almost made him break into a sob. 

His shoulders shook, willing his voice to come out, "S-sorry… I… I'm sorry." he sniffed harshly, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand trying to get his breathing back together.

The detective may not be good with kids, but he knows a trick or two, "Midoriya can you tell me what you see?" The detective asked softly.

'S-see? Why-'

"Midoriya, what can you see?" He pushed.

Izuku took a shaking breath, "Um… I-I see… you?" 

Tsukuachi smiled encouragingly. "Good, what else do you notice? Can you tell me what you hear?" 

"Uh I-I hear t-ticking from the c-clock, it's… uh very l-loud." Izuku stuttered.

"Very good, now one last thing. Can you breathe in for 4 seconds and hold for 4. Just like this," Tsukuachi started doing it in an exaggerated way as Izuku copied the man. After a while Izuku began to get his bearings again. "Feeling better?" The older man asked as Izuku meekly nodded in response.

Izuku dared a glance toward the detective before getting taken back by the lack of annoyed expression on his face.

The detective cleared his throat, continuing on like Izuku didn't just have a meltdown in the front door hallway. Although Izuku was grateful as he'd much rather brush that under the rug as quickly as possible to at least save whatever dignity he has left. "After we get you settled at the office and the nice social worker picks you up, they'll take you back to grab some essentials. Everything will be put in storage okay?" With that knowledge Izuku relaxed just slightly even though his skin felt scratchy against the funeral attire he had on. He walked to the front door looking down at his wristwatch. "We still have time to get breakfast." He hummed.

Izuku shuffled over to the man looking down. "I-I'm not hungry," Izuku mumbled. 

The corner of Tsukauchi's lips twitched into a soft smile at the green-haired boy. "How about we just grab some shokupan and an onigiri just in case." He opened and held the door. 

Izuku sighed, walking through with his shoulders hunched without a word but seeing no reason to try and argue. 

Following the young detective down to the dark gray sedan, he hopped in the passenger side buckling up as Tsukauchi started the car and pulled off. The police station was only a 30 minute drive from hi- the small apartment, which became 40 minutes as the detective went into a store nearby grabbing Izuku a small snack as he promised. Now Izuku is currently sitting in said detective's office with the store bought onigiri and a water bottle (which a cat-like officer sneaked into his hand somehow?) and staring blankly at the wall as Tsukauchi sat behind his paper-filled desk working on some reports. He tried to make small talk with Izuku but all he got was short, clipped answers until he got the message that, that's all he's going to get out of the green-haired boy. It felt like hours before Tsukuachi went out and came back in with the social worker at his side. He closed the door behind them as Izuku looked over to the middle-aged women walking up to him. 

"Hi Midoriya-kun, my name's Nanashi Murin. I'll be helping you get settled in and make sure you're put with the right family." She said gently. 

"Family..." 

Her eyebrows twitch before replying more firmly "Yes family, a nice family you'll love." 

"Heh-" He almost laughed dryly at that thought, knowing good and well no one would want to adopt him. Not only was he quirkless but too old as well. No family wants to adopt a teenager, they're looking for cute little babies not some scrawny, quirkless 13-year-old. 

Her face pinched in confusion. "What's so funny?" Izuku slapped his hand over his mouth ducking his head, not realizing he laughed out loud. "Come on Midoriya-kun, the first family may not be the best- and that's okay! You can always call me if you feel like you're not very welcomed there." 

He slowly pulled his hand down from his mouth nodding his head fast. "Y-yes Ms. Nanashi, I w-will." 

"Midoriya kun," Izuku looked over through his bangs to where the detective was standing during the whole interaction. "She's telling the truth you know. Trust me you're in good hands, me and Ms. Nanashi worked together a lot when I come across kids like you in some cases." He gives Izuku a firm smile, his eyes not wavering a second. 

Ms Nanashi nodded, "It's true," She turned to pull a picture out of her bag and handed it to him. "This is Ms. Saki Sakura. She is the owner of the place you'll be staying at for the time being. She's been working there for over 20 years so you'll be in good hands." Izuku looked down at the picture, seeing an old woman with gray hair that probably once was blue, wearing a small smile on her face, her hands folded in front of her politely. 

He handed back the picture with a quiet thanks. 

"W-what about..." He licked his lips nervously mulling over the question. 

"What about what?" She pushed gently. 

He thought over it, wondering what good it would do to ask when he already knew the answer, he admittedly knows his curiosity gets him nowhere good and yet... 

He shook those thoughts away, clearing his throat. "W-what about m-my... my dad?" 

The mood dropped even further than before as both adults froze up trying to be careful with their next words. 

"Well," She cleared her throat nervously, "our... our call didn't go through, it seems his cellphone number is out of service," She grimaced at the next words, "and we tried but couldn't find any other living relatives unfortunately. I'm sorry." Her head lowered sympathetically. 

"Oh." He deadpan. 

His curiosity gets him nowhere good. He knows this, he's always known this, but yet he's hurt- no... not hurt just... just disappointed but more importantly, not surprised. 

"Hey it'll be okay, I'm sure it's all some misunderstanding." She tried to reach out to rub his back but immediately pulled away once he shifted away from the touch. 

He shook his head, "I-it's fine don't worry about it." 

"I-" Ms. Nanashi stopped when seeing the detective shake his head. "I-I think that should be all, is there anything else detective?" 

"No, that should be all. You guys have a safe trip, alright?" He walked over and shook her hand. 

"Of course," She shook his hand back looking over to Izuku. "Midoriya-kun say goodbye to the detective please." 

The detective bowed as Midoriya stood up and returned the gesture before following the woman. 

He was halfway through the door when Tsukuachi called out, "Oh Midoriya-kun wait," Izuku turned as Tsukuachi pulled out a card from his wallet and handed it to him. 

Izuku took the card looking at it, over seeing that it had the detective's contact information. Izuku looked back up to the detective confused. 

"Don't be afraid to call if you need anything," Tsukuachi lays his hand on his shoulder slowly to not frighten the boy giving it a gentle squeeze. "alright?" 

Izuku looks down at the card again before raising his head slowly nodding, "... A-alright I-I will." tucking the card in his pocket he jumped hearing Ms. Nanashi calling him. 

"Come on Midoriya-kun, Ms. Saki is waiting for us." 

He called back a panicked, "A-appologizes!" he bows a couple times fast before scampering off, catching up to the woman. Tsukauchi watches him go with a small frown. 

~Ring~ 

His phone goes off in his pocket. He sighs, pulling his phone out and answers without looking. 

"Hello this is Detective Tsukauchi speaking." 

"Tsukauchi we found more Kaipu... 

A lot of it."

-------------------------------------------------------------

The beginning of the car ride was no different than the one with Tsukuachi, except when Ms. Nanashi tried to converse with him she did not pick up the hint. Maybe she was just talkative or something, who knows. But whatever it is she wasn't giving up. Don't get him wrong, she seemed nice and all but... 

He looks back over to the brunette woman. "Oh and Ketou is also there, I hear he's quite the prankster but he means well. He's around your age actually!" 

Sighing, he looked back out the window watching the scenery fly by. His mind wanders as Ms. Nanashi's voice fades out. 

"You shouldn't have done that kid..." The gravelly voice came closer. 

"You could've escaped." 

The sound of choking rang through his ears "I-Iz...zuku..." A silent plea begged. 

"I-Izuku" 

"Izuku" 

"IZUKU!" 

Izuku jumped with a start and whipped his head over to Ms. Nanashi. 

"Uh... Hehe s-sorry. Um w-what were you saying?" Izuku sent her a strained, awkward smile, while rubbing the back of his neck. 

Nanashi looked over at him again, retracting her hand from his shoulder before repeating, "Oh, I said we're here." she pointed to the gray building parked beside them. 

The building that was slightly faded from age as it looked like it hasn't been repainted in years and vines started to cover the side of the building. But besides that, it didn't look too bad. 

Nanashi unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car as Izuku scrambled to do the same before grabbing his bag and ran to catch up beside her. She smiled down at him making her way up to the building. 

Izuku stopped, seeing the lady in the picture they showed to him before, Ms. Saki, in front of the main door, a cane in her hand helping propping her up. She was a lot shorter in person, practically the same height as him (which means a lot as he was always the littlest in his classes). Warily he continued walking, and hid behind Nanashi as she hugged the woman delicately greeting her. 

"It's nice to see you again Mrs. Saki. I hope you've been well." 

"Oh hush now dear it's Ms. Saki now and of course I've been well. You know I won't break that easily." She waves her cane over to Izuku making him jump from the action. "Now who's this little broccoli boy?" 

'I'm not broccoli,' 

"Haha don't look like that son I'm only teasing" She patted his cheek as he blushed, not realizing he was pouting. 

Beside them watching their interaction Ms. Nanashi laughed, "Ms. Saki, this is Midoriya-kun. He will be with you for a while." 

"Midoriya? Ha! How fitting," He blushed darker as she paid him no mind, "I am Ms. Saki Sakura, but you may call me Saki-chan. I have more helpers here but they're a little occupied at the moment." She joked. 

"No Ketou, get back here!" A white haired boy jumped the chain-link fence surrounding the building and broke into a sprint. 

"Like hell I'm staying here," The boy grumbled as he ran off.

'How did I-? ' 

"Um S-saki-chan," What looked like a worker poked out the door wearing a nervous smile. 

Saki-chan sighed, "Leave him be,  let him cool off, he'll be back before lunch, I'm sure." She turned to move into the house waving her hand for Izuku to follow. 

"Well I'll be off, I'm sure you'll like it here. Oh and," Nanashi pulled a card out of her pocket handing it to him, "Here call me if you need anything alright? Bye bye Midoriya kun!" She turned and hopped in her car, waving as she drove off. 

Izuku sighed, glancing at the sky before heading in. 

-

"Kids, this is Midoriya-kun. Please be respectful and help him feel at home." She turned to a cotton-candy-haired boy who was picking at their jacket's loose string. "Shiki-san, please be a dear and show Midoriya-kun where he'll be staying.' 

The boy, Shiki, looked up and stared at him before nodding and walking away. 

Saki-chan laughed sheepishly, "Please excuse them, they're always like that." 

Confused, Izuku quickly bowed before running off to catch up to the odd boy. Once he did, Shiki threw him a glance before looking forward again. 

The silence was awkward... really awkward. But Izuku has been awkward his entire life so it didn't really phase him.

They finally reached the top of the stairs making their way down to the last door on the left. Opening the door he walks in and flops down on the bed and lays on his back staring at the ceiling. 

Izuku looks around, seeing there were four beds in the room each across from one another with lamps on top of small dressers beside them. The room was painted a pale blue as there were two windows in the room with curtains a similar shade of blue as the walls. 

Izuku chuckles awkwardly, "Uh... E-excuse me." Shiki looks over with a blank expression. "Wh-which ones my b-bed?" 

His mouth shaped into an O, seeming as he realized they forgot to tell him where he'll sleep. He points across to the made bed in the middle beside the window.

Izuku awkwardly shuffles over, setting his bag down on the bed and begins putting away his stuff. Once finished he looks around the room one more time and stops at the boy, sleeping soundly on the bed without a care in the world. 

'Must be nice,' 

He sighs before flopping down his back landing on the bed. He stares at the ceiling for who knows how long before he realizes his eyes slip closed. 

- 

"Zuku..." 

What? The gargle nose echoed as his body moved to look around the dark hallway. 

"M-mom-?" 

"Izu.. Hel.." His body spins facing the sound of the voice and without hesitation he runs toward it. 

"Mom!" He stumbles and trips, landing on something wet. He lets out groan reaching to rub his head, "Mo-" 

Red. 

On his hand he sees red. 

Not the pretty red. 

Not the lovely warm rose red. 

He looks down seeing he's in the middle of a puddle of... red. 

"Iz..." 

The gurgling he hears it again but... closer. 

Right in fr- 

"Iz.. Izu-ku" 

He looks up seeing his mom crushed under a pile of rocks. Her hand stretched out as a silent plea for help. As her tear stained cheeks were her once pretty bright emerald eyes now dull, shallow and lifeless. Her mouth drips blood down her cheek as her head is covered in blood dripping down her face and falling to the floor collecting with the rest- 

Red. 

Red. 

Red... 

Her red. 

His body shakes uncontrollably, his tears well up in his eyes as he bit his lip trying to hold back the sob that breaks through his lips. 

"Iz-Izu..." 

He looks slowly up choking back another cry seeing her lifeless body talk. 

"Why... Why didn't you save me?" Her head lifts, lifeless eyes staring back at him. "Why didn't you save me." 

"I-" 

"Why?" 

"I-I tried-" 

"Why didn't you help me Izu?"  She asked sadly 

"I-I'm sorry I was... I wasn't strong enough. P-please I'm so-" 

"I thought you loved me." 

He jumped shaking his head as tears fell down his cheek, "I-I do! I-" 

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE YOUR MoThErRrRr!!!" 

He shot up with a start, his breathing heavy as sweat pulled down his body. It was only the 3rd night (his school pitied him giving him a couple days off) since he's been here and each night he wakes up from the same dream. Everytime he tries to go back to sleep she's right there. Everytime he closes his eyes, even for a moment she's still there. 

He sighs rubbing his hand harshly on his face before getting up out of bed slipping on his slippers quietly. The room was dark as he looked around checking on his 'roommates', hoping he didn't wake any of them up. He's been lucky enough to not have woken them up from his estranged dreams, as it was already bad enough that he was gonna be known as the quirkless orphan he doesn't need cry baby added to the list- at least not here. He creeps downstairs, mindful of the loose floor boards, making his way into the kitchen to grab a mug and filling it with water before downing it whole like a mad man who's been lost in the desert. 

He finished the drink with a sigh before going back to refill it again. Closing his eyes he takes slower sips this time, savoring the cold liquid soothing his throat. Suddenly the hair on the back of his neck stands. Casually he peeks an eye open and immediately chokes, spilling the water while fumbling the cup in his hand catching it from falling on the floor. He hits chest coughing, still mindful to keep it down from how late it was. 

He looks at the kid beside him, specifically his 'roommate', who's casually sipping a cup of water watching him silently like he wasn't just dying from choking a second ago. 

Finally gets his breathing under control he clears his throat, "U-uh... Hehe you, um... scared me there." He awkwardly chuckles. 

His head tilts before glancing at the glass of water in his hand. 

"Oh you were getting something to drink too?" Izuku walks over to the sink, rinsing out his cup and putting it back before getting a paper towel to clean up the water. 

Shiki nods with a hum before finishing his water. 

'Maybe they can't talk? ' Izuku wonders as the cotton-candy-hair boy hasn't said a word since his stay here. 

"Do you... know sign language?" Izuku tries. 

Shiki's eyes glint with interest while setting his glass before raising his hands, "I do." He signed eyes glowing with hope, "Do you? " 

Izuku smiles cheekily and immediately signs back, "Yes, I've been learning since I was 6! " Originally he only started to learn it because he thought Kaachan would one day become deaf from his quirk, but he realized it would be a very useful tool to have if he ever saved someone who only spoke JSL. Plus it really helps whenever he has moments where he struggles with verbalizing his thoughts. 

His lips twitched, "4."  he signs walking to the door before stopping. He looks back, "You coming? " 

Stunned, Izuku's head shook before following the short boy, signing, "Yeah," 

- 

He should've known everything was going too smoothly. 

Everyone at the orphanage was surprisingly nice considering his quirklessness hasn't been outed yet, but like all nice things it had to come to an end. It was only his first day back at school before it all started. 

At first, in the morning no one bothered him as he entered class. The teacher who usually likes to single him out ignored him. Even Bakugou, which was quite the shock, ignored him... In his own strange way, as whenever he did have to interact with him, he never looked Izuku in the eye and everything he did said was a little less heated (for his standards). During lunch he didn't have much trouble either besides a shove in the lunch line or a simple 'Move out the way Deku.' from Bakugou. Beside the obvious whispers and gossip about the accident, as upsetting as it was to have to be reminded of it, he considered that a win. 

He originally thought this treatment was only going to last for a week, maybe two if he's lucky but no. Unfortunately he's not that lucky. 

It was currently the end of the day as he was gathering his books, when he felt a slight tingle hit him, prompting a peek through his bangs toward the door. There he saw a couple of Bakugou's lackeys, Tesaki and Hashiga standing near the door. For what exactly? He didn't know. Nor was he inclined to find out. 

Throwing his bag over his shoulder he quickly walked past them. The tingle sensation never left as he got out the building. Taking that as a sign he walked faster out the school gates before the sensation flared. 

"Hey Deku!" 

Midoriya stopped with a curse; he goes through his choices of whether running will make it worse or not. Too bad he took too long to decide, as one of the boys' hands grabbed his shoulder. 

Only when he turned around slowly did he see the cocky smiles on their faces making him freeze all together. 

"Hey man, we heard what happened to your mum." Hashiga's grip on him tightens. 

"Yeah real shame too, should've been you." 

Izuku broke off his hold from his shoulder before turning around, quickly sprinting off when alarms flared in his head as he missed a swing from Tesaki. The boys swiftly chased after him. 

If there was one thing Izuku was good at, it was running. 

As if hearing his thoughts Hashiga shouted, "You know you can't run forever Deku!" But he, oh he ran faster. 

Ducking and dodging through alleyways around the neighborhood for what felt like hours (which probably was 15 minutes) he only stopped to catch his breath, his eyes closing as the nights of restless sleep started to catch up with him. 

"AAAH!!!" 

'Villain?! ' His head whipped over to where it came from. 

Abruptly visions of red-stained hair flashed in his head. "Zu-ku... h...help..." 

As quickly as it came, the vision dissipated, leaving him hunched on the ground, shaking. 'No! ' He grabbed his hair, 'Never again.' shaking his head and ridding his mind of negative thoughts, he quickly ran to the panicked scream. 

Getting closer, he saw a giant man standing over a couple of middle school girls. Maybe giant was an understatement... 

"Where's the Springer Hero Agency?" 

'E-eh? I-is he actually asking... directions? ' 

"I-I-" 

"You're not going to tell me?" The hand above them on the wall starts to crack, "Why won't y-" Stealing his nerves and swallowing down the flaring signals in his head, he approached. 

'This has to be my... well one of my most idiotic ideas yet... Well now or never.' 

"E-excuse me s-sir," His voice cracked as he jumped once the giant man turned his attention toward him. 

"Huh?" Gulping, he made his way over to the girls, stepping in front of them like a barrier. Now realizing how freaking big he was compared to Izuku only made his hands shake even more. He gripped his book bag to cover his shaking hands in a false sense of calm. 

Shakingly he smiled, "Wh- You were l-looking for the Springers Hero Agency r-right?" He swallowed thickly, throat becoming dryer by the second. The man in questioned only nodded. "I-If you continue down t-this road and turn the corner m-making a left in the uh... b-big street you s-should be able to find it." He stumble over the word big, hoping to not risk offending the man as he seemed to be less aggressive now. 

He removed his hand from the wall making some dust fall, "Thanks." turning he walked down the street and disappearing around the corner. 

Izuku gasped shakingly for air, not realizing he was holding it. He couldn't believe that actually worked. Deku talking down a villain, ha! No one would believe that. He almost laughed in his hunched form. Suddenly he remembered why he did that. 

Turning around quickly he went over to the 2- suddenly 3 girls, "H-Hey are you guys alright? Are you hur-" He fell over as three girls were suddenly hugging him. Making his face burn. "I-Uh-I-" 

"Waah that was so scary!" 

"Oh my gosh thank you so much!" 

"Thank you for saving us!" 

"Guhh... N-no problEm." Izuku remained frozen, not used to physical contact that wasn't his mother or a hit to the gut. 

"Uh... guys... I think he's uncomfortable." His head shot over to a boy with shoulder length black hair and shark like teeth scratching his cheek... shamefully? 

"Oh yeah sorry about that!" A pink girl with antennas on top of her pinker curls moves to stand up as the other girls follow suit. 

"Oh here man," The shark teeth boy stretched out a hand, grabbing it as he pulled him up easily. 

"Uh t-thanks," 

"That was really brave man!" He smiled sheepishly at Izuku. 

"Uh-" 

"Yeah I can't believe you just casually talked to a villain like that!" A brunette said excitedly after calming down. 

A pink-haired girl cut him off with a, "Man you must got balls of steel." making him blush harder. 

He shook his head aggressively, taking a step back before stammering out, "N-no I was just... I-it was nothing..." he looked away hunching on himself. 

The pink-haired girl paused for a moment before jumping closer. "Well we were just about to go to a new cafe that opened down the street." She started, "You should come with us as thanks for saving my friends! Right guys?" She turned to the other girls nodding their heads in agreement. "Oh and Kirishima you can come too!" She smiled, indicating over to the boy. 

"Oh, uh sure!" He smiled back shyly. 

The pink girl turns back to Izuku. "Oh, my name's Ashido Mina by the way! But everybody calls me Mina." She stook out her hand as he hesitantly shook it. 

"Uh my name's Kirishima Eijiro, it's nice to meet you." He said after the other girls' introductions. 

Deciding not to be rude, Izuku replied, "Uh M-Midoriya Izuku." while turning around getting ready to leave from this all around weird experience. "I should uh-" 

Ashido clapped happily, "Great! Now that introductions are out of the way, let's go!" She abruptly looped her arm around his, pulling him along and ignoring his strings of protests.

-

Halfway through his second cup of tea, the other two girls had to leave a little earlier than them so it was only him, Kirishima, and Ashido for the rest of that evening. 

"Bye Midoriya! See ya later!" Ashido said with a wave before turning down the corner.

"It was fun, we should hang out more Midobro!" Kirashima grinned his shark-like teeth on full display. 

Izuku shyly waves back with a small smile, 'Midobro? ' Deciding it was best not to question it, he hurriedly started his track back ho- to the orphanage seeing that the sun was almost setting. Today was probably the most fun he had since... since her. 

He didn't realize how far he ran until he started his way back. The orphanage was already far from his school, so the walk back from where he was took almost 30 minutes just to get back, even after going on a train. The sun had long since fallen, as the glooming building came into view, Izuku made his way up the stairs before turning the knob, finding it locked. He checked the time on his phone, and seeing it was only 19:23 made him sigh. He could bang on the door but he didn't really want to face the scolding and punishment he seen other kids face in his time being there. A couple whacks to the bum did not sound pleasing at all. 

Sighing, he made his way down the stairs before walking down the street aimlessly. He brainstorms where he could sleep the night, as there were a couple of old abandoned buildings around this part of the neighborhood; it was nice but wasn't that bad either... If you ignore the crooked looking guys that come and go. Speaking of bad, 

"Come on villain what ya going to do? You freak!" A thump sounded in a nearby alley somewhere, making Izuku look alarmed. Heroes wouldn't just call a villain a 'freak', right? Nah, he must have heard wrong, he could ignore as it and continue on trying to find a place to- 

"Come on, why don't you fight back, huh?" A very concerning whack followed. 

'Dang it again? ' Izuku jogged looking through alleyways before coming across one where three boys were obviously surrounding a boy with lavender hair, backed up to a wall. Quickly Izuku took his phone out, switching to the camera and making sure the flash was on before snapping a couple pictures, making sure he really caught their attention which- oh boy he did, everyone paused whipping their gaze to him as one boy, in particular, with an obvious rock quirk turned towards him, the boy's fists morphing into boulders. 

"Who hell are you?!" He all but growled out. 

Rolling with the plan formulating in his mind, nervously he replied, "I-If you don't leave him alone I'll call the p-police." clutching his phone as all his senses flared. 

"Why you!" A boy with elk antlers ran toward him with a raised fist. 

Time seemed to slow as Izuku dodged watching the fist flow past him in slow motion. 

'Woah-' Izuku sensed another behind him, fortunately he ducked and rolled out of the way, unfortunately for the elk kid he received the blow specifically by the rock kid who effectively knocked him out. 'One down, two more to go.' 

"Geez that's gotta hurt in the morning?" Izuku jokes, his nerves getting the best of him as he realized he didn't think this far ahead, wishing he had called the police before intervening but despite his sharp mind and strengths in analysis, his street smarts were severely lacking. He was just gonna have to tough it through and think of a plan. Instinctively he rolled out the way of the third boy, with black spiky hair reminding him of a sea urchin, he wondered if it's related to his quirk- 

A shiver went down his spine as his body involuntarily backflipped out the way of black spikes that embedded themselves in the wall where he once was. He could see the area around spikes slowly turn purple. 

'What the- how did I-? ' He shook his head, deciding to deal with that another time, seeing the spiky kid readying up more spikes, 'Sea urchin it is.' Izuku would have rambled on questions about their quirks if he weren't actively dodging these guys' punches and spikes. 'They have great quirks for hero work. They could do so much good.' Izuku thought with gritted teeth, 'Yet here they are bullying some kid in an alleyway behind a dumpster.' 

"What did he even do to you?" Izuku blurted out before he could take it back. Although still curious as to what their answer would be. In the corner of his eye he sees the lavender-haired boy still hunching on the ground, a hand clutching his stomach and face bearing a pained expression. And for a split second their eyes meet. 

'The rock kid must have been the one to hit him if he still can barely move.' 

Speaking of the devil, the rock boy charged again with a frustrated grunt, "And what's it to you, pipsqueak?!" He said with a swing that Izuku dodged effectively. 

All those years of dodging really came in handy now as he could actually keep up somehow (he ignores a voice in his head saying that he shouldn't be able to do this). Although he doesn't know how long his luck will last and he doesn't plan to find out. 

"You should also analyze villains too. Never know what might come up, right?" 

Well these weren't exactly villains but they sure do act like it. But nonetheless…

If Izuku's theory is correct the spike hair kid can't change the trajectory of his spikes once they leave his head; if he could he would have already hit Izuku with at least one. The rock kid on the other hand can only change his hands into the shape of a rock, but from what Izuku saw he can change the size of them to at least the size of an American football. That was his guess at least. Configuring up a plan and timing it just right, he charged head on to the rock kid and feeling the tingle, he rolled out of a swing to the face, behind him and looped his arms under his assailant's before intertwining his fingers behind his head putting him firmly in a headlock. 

"Shit!" The spiked hair boy cursed as his spikes shot off. 

And just like he planned, the boy in his arms panicked, "W-Wait! Zaro-!" Too late the spikes hit his chest making him quickly fall limp. 

Izuku ungracefully let go quickly, letting the boy fall with a satisfying thud. Izuku looked back at the last boy with an innocent tilt of his head. 

Shaking the boy stuttered, "S-sorry we'll leave!" Izuku nodded, heading toward the lavender boy but not fully taking his eye off the three bullies. The spiky hair kid quickly woke up the elk kid and helped up the rock kid before scurrying off. 

Once he was sure they were gone, he turned back to the lavender boy who's slowly lifting himself up. Quickly, he runs to the boy's side as the boy brushes him off. 

"I got it." Reluctantly Izuku backed off. Not too far away though just enough where he can step in to help immediately but enough to give him space 

"A-are you... um... O-okay?" Izuku stuttered, hand hovering in the air watching the lavender boy dust himself off, still leaning on the wall. 

The boy stilled before looking away, "I'm fine." He huffs and starts toward the alleyway exit. 

Izuku's hand lowers back to his side with a defeated sigh, 'Well at least he's-' 

"Hey," Izuku's head rose back up. The lavender boy looked at him... well not quite in the eye but just in general direction from the entrance of the alleyway. A light shade of red dust his cheeks from the street light illuminating his form. "Thanks... or whatever." The lavender boy quickly walked, disappearing around the corner. 

"Um... You're welcome?" Replied Izuku, into the empty alley. 

He stands there for a moment replaying the whole interaction again and again in his mind. 

'I don't know how to do a backflip? '