Simple Misunderstanding

10 | An Expected Visit

Aizawa lifted the duvet over Izuku's cold body as quiet snores filled the silence. The greenette had fallen asleep in his arms just moments ago after having another panic attack. Aizawa couldn't help but feel sympathy for the kid.

He had said something about burdening the couple, making Shota wonder what he'd grown up hearing. He did say something about his teachers. Did his teachers often refer to him as a burden they had to look after? Did they degrade him?

He tucked his problem child in, ruffling his hair before getting up to leave.

Hizashi stood by the doorway, leaning on the frame with his arms crossed. "Panic attack?" he asked, his voice soft and quiet. Shota nodded as he walked through the doorway, his husband trailing behind him as he began to speak. "Do you know what caused it?"

"He thought he was burdening us by staying here." the ravenette told him. "He said something about it leading to quotes from his past teachers filling his head, making him go into a panic attack. Which leads me to believe he didn't have the best childhood growing up."

"Hm, how so?"

"Well," he began as they reached the kitchen, "in the past week, he's told me.. things when he was in 'panic mode'." He looked at his husband, his eyes reflecting a type of guilt the blonde had never seen him feel before. "He had no father figure growing up, his mother worked long shifts constantly to provide for both of their needs, he was discriminated against in school for All Might's sake."

His husband walked into the kitchen, stopping in front of his favourite appliance. Hizashi turned the coffee machine on, placing Shota's comfort cat mug under it. "How badly was he discriminated, Sho?"

"He didn't tell me exactly, but he did mention his teachers never helping him out and referring to him as a burden."

He clenched his fist. "No child should ever have to hear that. What did he do to deserve that?"

"He was presumably quirkless." Shota could only feel guilty for not noticing earlier. "I didn't think quirk discrimination had gotten this bad. But.. Izuku proved to me it has."

"Wait, you said presumably?"

"He got his quirk on the day of the Entrance Exam."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Hizashi walked up to Aizawa, giving him the cat mug full of black coffee. He then brought his own mug to his lips and drank in comfortable silence.

Shota sat in the living area, seemingly staring into space as he sipped his coffee. Last night was a rollercoaster and he was now trying to recover. Everything was just.. a lot last night.

I-I'm s-sorry...

B-Because-- I-I probably inter-interrupted your sleep or s-something, sir..

I th-thought I was being a bur-burden to you and Present Mi-Mic.. and.. and that led to dialogue from m-my past teachers filling m-my head..

I-It was horrible! It was al-all overlapping and s-so loud!

A sudden knock at the door pulled him out of his thoughts.

He placed his mug down before standing up. "I'll get it!" He walked down the hallway to the front door, sighing as he opened the door. "Nemuri, I'm not accepting any more of your gif--"

"Sir.."

He looked down, seeing three of his students. Ochako Uraraka, Shoto Todoroki and Tenya Iida. He sighed deeply. "Come in."

They walked in, taking off their coats and shoes before going to the living area. They stood awkwardly by the sofa, their eyes avoiding eye contact. But Shota could see they truly felt guilty about the whole situation.

"Where's Izuku, sir?" Uraraka asked. "I, no, we need to apologise to him."

He leaned against the wall. "He's currently resting."

"Sir, if I may ask, can we stay here while we wait for him to wake up?" Iida spoke, way too formal for the average teenager.

He nodded. They stayed in silence until someone spoke up.

"Mr Aizawa, we're truly sorry for.. everything.." she apologised. "We wanted to talk to Izuku, but Mina was practically watching us the whole time and we didn't want to get on her bad side so.."

"So you continued ignoring him?"

She nodded. "But, we felt bad the whole time. We know Izuku better than the others in our class, so we were kind of aware of what he might've gotten like near the end of the.. prank." She said the last word with bitterness laced in her tone.

"Does Midoriya hate us now?" Todoroki asked suddenly. He was looking at Aizawa intensely, his eyes reflecting devastation.

Iida put his hand on Shoto's back, attempting to comfort his friend. The red and white-haired boy had opened up to them about his family issues a while ago. Tenya was sure he was thinking that Izuku hated them now like he thought his mother did.

"I'm sure he won't hate you." Shota replied, standing up and walking closer to the three. "But, I can't guarantee he'll forgive you and your classmates any time soon. He experienced a lot of.. mental pain as a result of that prank."

They nodded as Iida brought Todoroki into a hug. He knew he was having some sort of flashback to the incident that caused his scar. The only thing he could do was comfort him until he felt better. He couldn't make the trauma go away. That was one thing that couldn't be healed with bandages.

"Is Todoroki alright?" Shota asked, concerned about his student.

Uraraka nodded. "This is normal, sir. Except, normally, Izuku would be here telling him some comfort phrases to help."

"Why are the 'lil listeners here?"

They turned their heads to see Hizashi at the doorway.

"They're waiting for Izuku to wake up to hopefully apologise."

The blonde hummed in response, sitting on the nearest sofa. Iida continued to hug his friend as Ochako began to whisper incoherent phrases to the boy. Shota could only watch the scene unfold before him as he waited for an appropriate time to speak.

"Wh-What?..."