Work Text:
To say Izuku was happy with his work study would be a lie. He wasn’t happy with his work study.
But then again, how could he be happy when the only reason Nighteye accepted him at all, was to make him give up One for All?
The man never missed a chance to make him and Togata-senpai spar and he made sure to referee the match, clicking his tongue at every mistake Izuku made, giving disapproving looks whenever his eyes met the man.
It got so bad that Izuku got uncomfortable and felt suffocated with the mere presence of the man.
It was the last day of the week when Nighteye gave him a desk job for finishing and filing some reports. It was 2 minutes from the end of the day and his employer threatened Izuku not to leave before he had filed all the reports.
Izuku had no problem staying late, or doing the job, it was just...the man had given no instructions on how to do what he was asked of and no one else was available for help.
Nighteye had given Togata-senpai an early leave and Bubble Girl and Centipeder were out on patrol, they would come back after the dorm curfew.
Izuku decided he could figure things out, Nighteye wouldn't give him a job which he had no knowledge about.
Turns out everything in those reports went way over his head, he had seen Bubble Girl file these but he had no idea what many of these words meant.
He tried to search up the internet and found vague solutions and advertisements for a software that would help but no actual instructions.
He felt frustrated and defeated.
An hour later he got a call on the office line, and Izuku scrambled to pick it up.
“Midoriya,” The stern voice of his mentor cut through the phone.
“Sir Nighteye, I..” Izuku greeted and went to ask for help, thinking maybe Nighteye made a mistake and is calling for him to go home
“I still don’t see the mail of those filed reports Midoriya, how long does it take for you to do such a simple task? “ Nighteye interrupted.
“I...I don’t know how to fill them or file them, I...if only you could give me some guidance on what and how to do…” Izuku stuttered out, scared and hopeless.
“It’s such a simple task, how stupid are you?” Nighteye angrily intervened.
“I will not spell everything out for you. You are used to your teachers giving you handouts but I am not one of those. Figure it out and complete it, and don’t leave before you do,” he threatened and hung up.
Izuku sat there listening to the call disconnected beep, for a good few minutes, till he hung up.
He sat there crying, frustrated at being so dumb and stupid.
If he needed help in filing these supposedly easy reports, how was he a deserving candidate for the world’s most powerful quirk?
He cried and cried and did not realise he fell asleep.
It was Bubble Girl who woke him up.
Izuku was surprised and ashamed of falling asleep but since she was here, Izuku decided he would ask her how to fill the forms and file those reports.
He was about to ask her when Centipeder came in saying, Nighteye has asked Izuku to leave, and he will talk to Izuku when he comes back next week.
Izuku accepted this and packed his bag as he said goodbye to both the sidekicks.
He rode an empty train and as he entered UA, he was met by an angry homeroom teacher.
Nighteye had decided to not notify the school of keeping him later than usual and it had landed Izuku in trouble.
Izuku tried to sleep, but he his mind was stuck on how he had failed so miserably today, during the spar and failing to do a job in its entirety.
He woke up to get ready for school and realized it's a weekend, so they only had hero training today.
It was an individual vs a group situation and he gave his all because he wanted to win at something.
He failed. All of the individual participants did, there was no way to win in the situations they were put in.
But Izuku didn’t know this.Hhe stormed out as soon as he lost, opting to train the stupid and weak out of him.
He trained and trained and trained till the sun was down and the moon was up.
He saw Togata-senpai and his friends come and go, discussing what cafe they would go to today. Izuku felt tempted, he wanted to have fun too, talk with his friends, sleep...but he couldn't when he was lagging behind so much.
Uraraka, Asui, and Kirishima were all going to their respective workstudies and they seemed tired but they also looked happier than he was. Maybe they were not as weak or dumb as he was.
He pushed himself further into training, tactics, control over One for All, brainstorming strategies while being completely exhausted.
He accidentally broke a some equipment and damaged a few punching bags but he decided he would apologise for it later as he left.
Aizawa woke up at 1 am on a weekend to an alarm from Gym beta.
One of his children was causing property damage. He turned on the camera and saw Midoriya leaving.
The boy had the decency to apologise in the morning, but did not offer any reason for why he was in the gym at that hour.
Aizawa had seen him go there right after his match but surely he would know better than to train for 10 hours?
He let the thought go for the moment, to observe the shade of dark circles and the number of bruises he was sporting.
He also observed that he looked grumpy and fidgety, like a less energetic Bakugo.
He decided he would ask All Might about what was happening to Midoriya, as long as he did not cause trouble.
Aizawa let the boy deal with his own problems, if it got too bad he would surely go to someone for help. Midoriya was a smart kid, smarter than all of his peers if Nedzu’s declaration to take him on as a personal student was anything to go by.
Bakugo had realized something was wrong with Deku the moment he stormed off the training grounds after losing.
Deku was not the kind of guy to take losses that hard, he was the guy who would appreciate his opponent and think about what he did wrong.
He waited in the common room for Deku to return, but he never did. He dealt with all those extras in Deku’s group sharing how their work studies were going, even shitty hair joined in with his comment of how manly Fatgum was.
He went to sleep thinking he would talk to the nerd the next day.
Bakugo was the kind of guy who did not care about how others were feeling, the less bullshit emotions you get into the better.
According to Racoon Eyes his emotion-sensing radar was nonexistent.
He felt the temperature of the room drop when Deku came back from wherever the fuck he had gone.
“Hey Deku-kun!! we were playing, never have I ever, want to join us?” Uraraka cheerfully asked.
“I don’t have time for stupid games Uraraka.” Izuku snapped at her as he turned to leave.
Bakugo realized this wasn’t like Izuku, he didn’t look like himself and this anger….It was for something else. He looked over to Round Face who seemed to have come to a similar conclusion and nodded.
“Oi nerd,” he called out as he blocked the boy’s path.
“What do you want Kacchan?” the boy asked.
“A chat, outside.” Bakugo whispered as he held the boy’s hand and guided him outside. All the extras turned their eyes on them as they opened the door to leave.
“We are not going to fight, just need to talk somewhere private.” Bakugo clarified as he pulled the nerd outside with him.
When they reached mock city A, Bakugo let go of the hand and turned around to talk.
“What’s gotten into you nerd?” Bakugo asked cutting through the chase.
“Nothing...leave me alone.” Izuku replied as he turned to go back to the dorms.
“It’s about that borrowed power of yours isn’t it?” Bakugo asked and Izuku snapped, yeah. It seemed about right, from the moment he got that power everything about him became irrelevant, everyone forgot the quirkless boy, including him.
All Might had seemed so confident when he announced Izuku as his successor, but with what Nighteye said, All Might made a mistake. There were so many people who deserved the quirk more than him.
“You were right that night…” Izuku started as he tried to suppress the anger and frustration he was feeling.
“Huh?” Bakugou made a questioning noise.
“When you said, what did All Might see in me that wasn’t in you….you were right, I am no one special, all I am is because of this quirk, while you or any of our classmates are so much more.”
“Why are you saying things like that...didn’t All Might say he couldn’t have dreamed of finding a better candidate, are you contradicting him ?” Bakugo managed, trying to make Deku realize what he was saying.
Izuku stayed quiet for a while, he could feel the beginnings of a headache in the back of his mind, his vision was going dizzy, he tried to keep himself awake as he angrily bit back,
“Well All Might was wrong, he is a human who can make mistakes, I am one of those mistakes, how can I be a candidate for this quirk when I can’t even keep up with the first choice?”
Bakugo could see the tears that glazed his eyes.
What Bakugo could also see was something black coming out of his sleeves, like tentacles.
“How can I be a better candidate when I can’t file stupid reports that should be easy for me?”
Izuku questioned no one but himself, the tendrils now coming out of his back as well.
“How can I be a candidate if I am nothing without this quirk?”
He finished as a plethora of black tentacles shot out of him and his vision went black.
Aizawa was thankful that Iida had decided to notify him of the supposed chat that was going on between Bakugo and Midoriya and for the first time since the start of the year, he was worried that Midoriya might do something bad.
Powerloader declared all the equipment in the gym a lost cause, Midoriya’s training had rendered Gym Beta almost useless, even after being specifically made for the people with strength enhancement quirks.
Powerloader reasoned that Midoriya is still a growing boy and his quirk is getting powerful with him.
It was a nice way of saying that Midoriya’s quirk was going to be out of control for a while and with the temper he had seen the boy sporting...he was a walking time bomb, ready to explode.
He had found the bomb just as it exploded literally.
Midoriya was yelling something at Bakugo, did he see that right? And immediately lashing out with what looked like black tentacles, a whip of sorts, but they had a sentience of their own
It was like the night itself had awakened right in front of Aizawa's eyes. He didn't know where the training area began or where it ended because everything had taken on the color of vantablack.
All he really could see were the small sparks of green lightning shining through every once in a while alongside the small hints of orange explosions. Not that the lightning was moving. It seemed stationary in place, more like it was struggling to move.
The blackness circled around the green and orange looking ominously ready to take one of them out. It didn't take long. The blackness circles around and the orange popped out of view. That was when Aizawa ran.
Aizawa sprinted hard. Unlike he'd ever run before. Well, except for one time. Chasing the blue haired cloud had been quite a nightmare he'd thought. But as he got closer and closer, he saw Midoriya screaming at the top of his lungs while sitting hunched over on the ground, the blackness emanating from his back and around his sides.
He looked like he was being crushed by... himself. Aizawa didn't take long to open his eyes and activate his quirk. The whips quickly receded and Aizawa heard Midoriya's screams die out as Midoriya's hands unclenched and his body went limp. Aizawa picked up the greenette not realizing his other blonde-haired problem was stirring next to the buildings on his right.
Aizawa was mad at himself, he had seen something was off about Midoriya and now carrying him proved it.
He carried the boy all the way to the infirmary, Recovery Girl shooed him out to get a look at the boy and said she would call when he was needed.
Katsuki banged at All Might’s door, he needed to know what had happened that made Deku doubt himself so much.
It wasn’t his loss during training because the nerd was much more likely to have blown up with this sort of anger after having bottled it up for months.
“Young Baku…” All Might opened the door.
“Move,” Katsuku bit back as he shoved the sickly man out of his way and closed the door.
“All right, Small Might spill, who were the people you considered giving the quirk to before Deku?” the boy inquired .
“What has gotten into you? I only ever saw Young Midoriya as a candidate.” All Might struggled under the questioning gaze of the boy.
“Then why did Deku just say he can’t even keep up with the first choice?” Bakugo retaliated.
All Might stayed quiet for a while, then his face turned from sickly to angry as he went to his phone.
“I surely did not do so but I have an idea who might have.”
The man broke the silence in the room as he walked towards his room to make a call
“Nedzu, ...yeah… I need that footage, how did you...alright, thank you.”
“There are signs of muscle fatigue; when he didn’t listen to what his body was saying, his brain decided to force him to rest. He has a high fever, which can be fixed with medication, but… with these symptoms, I think it’s better to sleep it off.” Recovery Girl sighed and turned away, looking at the ground.
Shouta stared at the boy’s unconscious form, “You didn’t explain the part where he has a new quirk.”
“His actual quirk is still unexplainable,” the old lady turned her chair to her computer.
“I would say give it time, don’t bombard the boy with questions, I have a feeling it’s new to him as well.”
She instructed as she proceeded to shoo him away once again.
Shouta walked to Nedzu’s office, he knew the rat knows something that he doesn't, he turned to the corner to be met with said rat waiting for him.
“Aizawa-kun, I believe we have somewhere to go,” the rat instructed.
“Where?” the man questioned.
“Nighteye Agency, I believe he is mistreating our student, I will explain the rest on the way.” Nedzu explained as he hopped onto Aizawa’s shoulder.
Toshinori angrily paced in the waiting area of the Nighteye Agency. When Mirai had accepted young Midoriya as a student, he thought that maybe he had gotten over their fight and was thinking straight.
No, this was good old Mirai, forcing his choices on others. But to think he would mistreat a child under his care….he had truly fallen apart.
“Ah...Yagi-san, Sir will be here soon, he was not expecting you and is sorry for the wait.” Bubble Girl apologised as she set her things up, probably returning from her patrol.
Toshinori had seen her from the days of her internship, when he and Nighteye used to be partners.
He needed to ask her just how bad was Mirai treating Midoriya because the boy would never complain about anything.
“Say, Awata, do you know young Midoriya?” All Might asked, trying to sound as vague as possible.
“Yes, I do...oh,” the sidekick stopped as she realized something.
“You are here as a UA representative, oh thank kami, take that boy away from here, for his sake, please, being here is not going to do him any favours,” she pleaded.
“How badly is he being treated?” All Might asked, his tone cold.
“I would say...very, Sir isn’t willing to give him any sort of guidance or anything, he just gives the boy disapproving glares and...I would hate to be in his place.”
“He had treated Mirio so well, explaining to him and helping him every step of the way, we were so happy that we were going to see that caring side of Sir’s once again...but we haven’t yet.”
Bubble Girl confessed, a somber expression on her face.
“Sir is giving the boy impossible tasks from the moment he got here, he is making him spar with Mirio who uses his quirk unintentionally all the time, I have trouble fighting him…. But Sir expects Midoriya, a much less experienced fighter to win against him.
Not only in the physical aspect but also in terms of desk work. The boy is brilliant, he has a knack for all of it, but Sir gives him jobs even I have to ask questions on sometimes. Just last night he gave him the hero commission reports, to fill and file, and I am being honest with you here, Midoriya was in no way shape or form capable of doing that job. Sir just gave it to him, without any sort of instructions and outright refused to help him, he made the boy stay way past acceptable office hours just to ...be mean I guess ....”
Kaoruko slammed her palms on the desk as she finished.
A familiar bell tinged as Nighteye entered the building.
“Toshinori...you are not one to make last minute appointments, anyways, here I am, let’s go chat in my office shall we?” The tall man suggested as he went inside.
“Please, get the boy away from here, it’s not going to do him any good.” Bubble Girl whispered as Toshinori started in the direction of the office.
“I would try my best to have Midoriya removed from here, but if I can’t I will make sure to knock some sense back into Mirai.” he whispered back as he went into the office.
“I thought you would have grown up Mirai.” Toshinori started, voice cold as ice.
“So at least I realized what this urgent meeting was about, what has that incompetent student you call your succesor told you?” Nighteye bit back.
Toshinori remained silent for a while, he could sense the venom in Nighteye’s voice for just mentioning Izuku’s name, he shuddered to think what he had done to his boy.
“Nothing, Mirai...Young Midoriya told me nothing, he is not the kind of child to complain about his problems.” Toshinori clarified as he switched on the voice recorder on his phone.
“Is he not? Because to me, he is the quirkless worthless kid you picked up from the street and gave away the world's most powerful quirk to.” Nighteye replied.
“You realize what you sound like Nighteye? A quirkist.” All Might retaliated
“There is logic behind that. I trained Mirio, handpicked him myself, his quirk along with his personality would be the perfect to go along with One for All. He will be perfect for replacing you. Giving away this powerful quirk to a quirkless boy is a waste.” Nighteye declared.
“So what you are saying is I was also not an ideal candidate for One fro All, a waste, in your words.” All Might coldly replied.
“You are different, this boy...you made a mistake and I am trying to correct it, you aren’t even listening to what I have to say! He’s emotionally manipulated you, hasn't he?” Nighteye shouted, his neatly combed hair now falling on his forehead.
“The quirkless boy has a name...Izuku Midoriya, he is the most compassionate and kind hearted person i have ever met, there are flaws in him, but those are emotional ones,” Toshinori started heatedly,
“He has grown up without a father and a mother too timid to do anything about his problems, he put up with you because he is used to being mistreated while no one is standing up for him,” he yelled at Nighteye.
“You don’t understand, I have seen his middle school grades, below average at best.” he said as he threw a file, presumably Midoriya’s report cards from his middle school.
“I have seen his record, known for being jealous of his fellow classmates,” the man continued as he threw another folder on the table.
“These are interviews with his past teachers, they are of the view that the boy is a liar and a cheater.” Nighteye explained as he went on.
“Believe me or not that successor of yours is nothing without the quirk and I wanted to show him exactly that.” Nighteye said, voice raised.
“I had him spar with Mirio, does not even realize any of his mistakes, he is so inexperienced, Mirio is far better than him.”
“I started with giving him normal work but he somehow made Bubble Girl do it, so I had him do things that she can’t help him with, and predictably he failed spectacularly.” He banged his hand on the table as if to get the point across.
“I did all this and he still won’t let go of the power that should have never gone to someone like him, he doesn’t even feel bad for failing! He is playing a game with me, emotionally manipulating you to come at me!” Nighteye shouted at the top of his voice.
Toshinori was at a loss of words, just how much hatred did Mirai have against Midoriya?
He shivered at the thought of what his boy had gone through, probably without saying a word of complaint.
He was so sorry for Izuku and so angry at Mirai.
“So All Might, you understand why you have to take One for All from that worthless kid and give it to Mirio, right?” Nighteye said as he began to fix his hair and sit down.
“As a matter of fact I don’t understand.” Toshinori said, hands folded and expression cold.
“What...we just discussed this, take One for All from Midoriya and give it to Mirio.” Nighteye stuttered.
“I understand that very well, what I don’t understand is who are you to tell me what I should do with my quirk?” Toshinori answered coldly.
Nighteye remained silent for a while, All Might was completely under the boy’s thumb, he would have to resort to keeping Midoriya for now and wait till thet boy realized that All Might can’t do anything to help, he would have no choice but to give up One for All to Mirio then.
“Very well, I won’t interfere then.Jjust let me properly train him then, so that he does not die out there. From what I have seen, he would probably freeze up in the face of any real danger.” He remarked trying to get Toshinori to agree and leave, he thought he had succeeded till another man entered his cabin.
“I am afraid we can’t allow you to have either Midoriya or Togata after what we have heard.” A high pitched voice cut through the air.
Nighteye recognised the voice as he looked for the familiar rodent. Said rodent appeared out of Aizawa’s scarf not a moment later.
“What is the meaning of this?” Nighteye sputtered at a loss of words. Why was the U.A principal here?
“We have heard your views on Midoriya and have come to an understanding that you coaxed him into a contract only to force him to give up One for All.” The rodent paused for a while before continuing,
“You knew that One for All being a sensitive topic cannot be used by him as a reason to leave and took advantage of that.” Nedzu explained as he jumped on Nighteye’s desk and started looking through the folders kept there.
“That boy already had a huge burden to bear and as a mentor, rather than easing it, you took advantage to further your own goals.” Aizawa hissed. He had just come to know just what kind of a mess Midoriya was in and he was very angry.
“You know you can’t take that up as a reason with the commission, for Midoriya to leave, if he does leave without a genuine reason his career is ruined and you won’t do that.” Nighteye smugly replied, thinking he had them in his grip.
“We can’t take that up but from what your sidekick told us, you did keep Midoriya here for no reason and failed to inform us, and because of the new guidelines that we have to follow, we can report you as an incompetent mentor.” Nedzu replied, sporting an animalistic grin, one he usually wore when he was preparing to destroy someone.
“You can dispute that claim, but the commission would want CCTV footage of your office for the hours Midoriya was there. You do realize that these cameras record sound and will clearly show you mistreatment towards Midoriya right?” the rodent mocked.
Nighteye realized that he had lost the battle before it had even begun as soon as Nedzu came into the picture.
“Alright, I can let Midoriya go, wasn’t getting anything out of him anyway.” he said, accepting his defeat.
“Who said you had a choice?” Nedzu asked smugly, while Aizawa and Toshinori grinned.
“As a victim of abuse myself, I have zero tolerance for it, I can’t let you get away with what you have done to Midoriya, that is why ….” Nedzu paused as he tossed a file towards Nighteye,
“You are hereby being sued for child endangerment, incompetence, and obstruction of justice for trying to waive us off by letting Midoriya go.” Nedzu paused so as to let his words sink in and he continued.
“We have incriminating evidence in the form of a recording of your conversation with Yagi-san here and with the testimony of your sidekick, you would be lucky to have a hero license much less a teaching one once I am done with you,” the rodent finished as he began going through his bag again.
Nighteye was at a loss of words, why was this happening?
Nedzu brought out 2 large files, “This is Midoriya’s academic report card, he is a very smart boy if he graded fairly won’t you say? He has a keen eye for quirks and strategy, I am going to take him on as a personal student” he said pointing to one file.
“This is the record of the arrest of all those teachers who claim Midoriya to be a liar. They were all part of the infamous meta liberation army and have been arrested and put on trial for various counts of child endangerment.” Nedzu remarked as he jumped down from Nighteye’s desk as he began to leave.
“Also, for one of your earlier comments...when you said he would freeze in face of real danger...He is unofficially credited as one of the 3 man group to take down Stain and he is single handedly responsible for the arrest of Muscular, as well as for helping in the capture of Moonfish. Those are three S class rated villains. I am pretty sure he would face any and all real danger with a smile on his face.” Nedzu finished as he left.
“He is also a first year student, Togata has 2 years of experience on him and sometimes uses his quirk unintentionally during a spar, anyone is bound to have trouble with that.” Aizawa
remarked.
“And when you said Young Midoriya is unaffected by your comments….have a look at this when you can.” Toshinori handed Nighteye a recording as he got up to leave with Aizawa.
Mirai sat on his chair, rewatching the video of Midoriya breaking down from all his comments, rereading those arrest records of the teachers he had met and who had been happy about what they had said.
It was too late to make things right. Bubble Girl handed him her resignation alongside Centipeder as he prepared a resume for a job with something to do with intelligence.
When Izuku woke up the next day he was told by All Might that he did not have to go to his work study anymore. He freaked out for a while before All Might explained that it was not his fault and Nighteye would pay for what he had done.
All Might told him how he can rely on him for standing up to something like this and Izuku agreed.
It goes without saying a lot of tears were spilled.
When the boy finally stopped crying he told All Might about his meeting with the past holders and Aizawa just smashed his head into the ground after he heard that the problem child would be unlocking 6 more quirks.
They participated in a raid on the chie Hesaikai and Izuku ended up rescuing a young girl from the base.
A cheery Izuku got an offer from the no.5 hero Miruko for his work study and he accepted. All Might drank a full bottle of whiskey while complaining about how his boy had acquired a foul mouth.
What were you thinking All Might, he grew up with Bakugo.