Archive of Our Own

Izuku was tired, finals were coming up, and even with the school giving them a few days off after the practical to study for the written he was exhausted. While most of his classmates used this time to leave the dorms and see their families, Izuku studied. After all, he has to pass these finals, how can he be the next symbol of peace if he can’t even pass his finals? Izuku is still determined, he just has to get through finals then he can rest for two weeks. Just a few more days how hard can it be?

Everyone in class 1A could tell how overworked Midoriya was. His feet were dragging, the bags under his eyes gave Aizawa a run for his money, and no one had seen him stop to even eat. They all know how “plus ultra” he is with everything and they can still see that determined glint in his eyes, but sometimes they worry. Ilda, being the upstanding student president he is, is the first to address the issue.

“Midoriya while your dedication to studying is admirable. You must also take care of your health.” Ilda exclaims arms chopping through the air.

“You’re right Ilda, I go home tomorrow and rest” Izuku sighs defeatedly.

After getting permission to go home for the night from Aizawa he leaves. The trip home isn’t far only a 40-minute walk, but today that’s just too much for him so he takes the train. The ride home isn’t long but it does give him time to come up with a plan to convince his mom to make him katsudon. Arriving home Izuku inserts his key into the door but he notices it's already unlocked, ‘Mom must be home’ he thinks. He smiles as he opens the door, it drops to a slight frown as he sees the lights are all off, and there’s a slight smell he can’t pinpoint.

“Mom, I’m home” he announces to not scare her. 

Silence is the only reply. Shrugging he turns on the lights and makes his way to his room to drop off his stuff. After setting down his school supplies he goes to check to see if she sleeping. Giving a soft knock on her door asking if she’s awake, he is surprised when the door pushes open a little. ‘It’s not shut? She never leaves her door open’ he thinks. Confused and worried he slowly opens the door hoping everything is okay. 

The sight that greats him will forever be burned into his memory. She is just hanging there not moving at all. Panic fills Izuku as One for All hums in his bones. Moving faster than he ever has he takes her down. His hero's training kicks in and he checks for a pulse and then proceeds with chest compressions. However he knows it's too late, her body is way too cold. Midoriya Inko died yesterday night. He doesn’t remember when or how he called Tsukauchi, all he knows is that he’s standing next to him repeating apologies while trying to get him away from her corpse. The officer searched the house top and bottom but no evidence was found that showed it was anything other than a suicide, the only thing missing was a note, a reason why. Everything after is a bit of a blur he tells the detective what he knows, and informs him that no he doesn’t have anyone to stay with. The principal is called and he is officially made a ward of UA, meaning he will be staying at the dorms full-time now. Izuku doesn’t reach much nodding and answering when needed but other than that, he is quiet.

When asked if he would like Nezu to inform the rest of the UA staff about what has happened, he shakes his head no and says he will do it. All of the paperwork takes a few hours but no one seems to notice and by the time they walk back to UA it's already dark out. Luckily when they arrive at the dorms it’s lights out so the only person they run into is Aizawa he gives a concerned look towards Izuku about seeing him back already but Nezu tells him they can talk later. The walk to his room isn’t long but each step is grueling. Throwing his bag into the corner, he lies down in his bed staring blankly at the ceiling. While the Midoryias are famous for their loud and overflowing tears that can brought upon by the simplest of things, so no one suspected a thing as Izuku silently cried himself to sleep.

He startled awake, images of a rope dangling all around him mockingly. Panicking he grabbed his phone and called his mom it can’t be real. It was just a sick nightmare, right? They had just talked on the phone three days ago and she sounded so happy. Ring after ring went by, but no one answered. Time slowed as reality set in, and a choked laugh escaped his lips. Things were supposed to be better now, he had a quirk, he made it to UA, and even Kacchan stopped bullying him, he was no longer useless, worthless, and pathetic. Yeah life hadn’t been the best since his diagnosis and Izuku can’t count the number of times he was told to kill himself but if he could push through that then why? Why couldn’t his mother? She didn’t even leave a note. His panic rose as thoughts clouded his mind. ‘It was my fault, I didn’t go home enough’, ‘I was a bother’, ‘I was always coming him injured burned ’, ‘I worried her too much, I knew me being a hero was stressing her out’, ‘My fault’, ‘My fault’, ‘MY FAULT’, ‘ MY FAULT ’. His breathing was erratic, black spots slowly filling his vision, and a dull thud finally ended his panic attack.

“HAVE NO FEAR, FOR I AM HERE!..... HAVE NO FEAR, FOR I AM HERE!”, climbing up from the floor he passed out on, he turned off his alarm. ‘Time to get ready for school right, not like I can go home and hide or anything’ he thought. His stomach growled angry for having not been fed yesterday. With a heavy sigh, Izuku started his day. After struggling with his tie for two minutes he gave up and walked downstairs and grabbed some miso soup unsure if he could stomach anything else at the moment. Everything felt so muted yet staticky, he missed his classmates saying hi to him, his soup didn’t taste like anything but he still wanted to hurl, and one second he was eating the next he was at his desk waiting for class. A few of his classmates through him worried glances but from the bags under his eyes, and his far-away stare they just assumed he was tired. After all, he was nodding and responding to questions when asked, even if they were short one to two-word answers.

The test paper landing on his desk jostled Izuku out of his stupor. After a few seconds, he recognized the words and started answering what he remembered running off autopilot. Things were going well until he turned the page. The first question was a simple one, it was about one of the laws, Aizawa sensei had taught them. Izuku knew the answer of course he did, after all, it was the same law he had been reading right before he called his mom three days ago. Static redoubled its effort filling his head. Seconds turned into minutes as time flew unabated to Izuku's internal struggles. Finally, time was called and he walked up and turned in his final, having only answered the first page. The rest of school flew by in a blur but not all of it was bad, during lunch Uraraka even managed to make him laugh, it was short-lived but still nice. All that was left was homeroom, and then he could be done with two weeks of rest and time to figure ignore things. Pass or fail it didn’t matter he was done, everything was not okay. He made it through the day no one suspected a thing, he can do this. 

“Problem Child, stay after class for a second”, Aizawa called. 

“Yes sensei”, Izuku replied with a glare. 

Waving off his friend's concerned looks, he waited after class. Eventually, Aizawa told him to follow and he did, they ended up in a familiar room. It was one of the private rooms he had been in oh so many times with All Might. 

With a sigh, Aizawa started, “You know you can always come to me if anything is wrong problem child.”

“I'm fine, nothing is wrong. I’m not sure why are you even asking?” Izuku respond instantly

With a raised eyebrow Aizawa said, “I won't push but we both know only answered the first page of your final during the two hours given. Something is clearly wrong but like I said I am here if you ever want to talk.” 

Izuku tucked in on himself a little but still gave a small nod, he knew that was a mistake but honestly, he didn’t even know they had two hours for the final it all happened so fast. Izuku was not fine, he could not do this. Just keep it together a little longer and he would be home free. No need to bother anyone else after all look what bothering his mom got him. 

Softening Aizawa said, “Here come on, it's not too late I’m sure I can convince Lunch Rush to make you some katsudon, I know it's your favorite.”

Katsudon was his favorite but not just any katsudon, his mom's katsudon. He didn’t even know what she did differently. He never thought to ask her after all if he wanted it, he could just ask to make some. It was all too much, Izuku broke. His breath hitched and tears rolled down his face as a desperate cry retched his throat. With the dam burst everything came with it. Izuku told Aizawa everything as his teacher wrapped him in a tight hug listening to him. It wasn’t fast and he struggled to speak more often than not but Aizawa was patient. 

It took a while but Izuku started to feel better as time passed. There were still bad days when it felt like everything came crashing down, but he had his friends and his teacher to help him get through. Izuku had heard the phrase that time heals all wounds, and honestly, it does. Don’t get him wrong, he isn’t perfect now, but he is better. Thinking about his mom doesn’t always send him into a depression spiral and he can even talk about it to other people without breaking down now. He can’t express how thankful he is to have such an amazing teacher Dad , to help him get through it.