Summary:
Shinsou looks up at the monstrosity of a 0-pointer as a stab of panic cuts through him.

"We have to stop that thing."

He says this quietly to himself, as a thought said out-loud by accident rather than, say, a command. It doesn't matter though, because Shinsou is too late to realise that the boy, the boy under his quirk, heard him when he wasn't supposed to, and took it as an order anyways.

Shinsou stumbles forward as the boy leaps past him and into the air, and Shinsou can only watch in fascinated horror as the boy flies higher and higher and subsequently punches the robot head on. And then, if that wasn't enough, the robot crumples inwards and then back, no longer a danger to the girl, but the boy is falling down, down, down...

-

'This is it, this is how I die,' the boy lets out a quiet huff of breath as he stares up at the gates of U.A, 'Here lies Shinsou Hitoshi. Cause of death? Fucking anxiety.'

To be fair though, Shinsou thinks he's doing a fair enough job in keeping himself from kneeling over and curling up in a ball of panic. Sure, his heart is thundering in his chest and his breathing is a little irregular, but you can't blame him for that, okay? Today happens to be a very important day for him. If he manages to score well enough in this entrance exam, he could get into U.A.'s hero course. That in itself is no small feat, but for Shinsou it also means that all the people in his life who've looked at his quirk and told him it made him a villain: they'll be wrong. They'll be wrong because it's with his quirk that he's going to get into the hero course, no matter what anyone says, and he'll show the world that even a person like him with a quirk like his can become a hero.

So he takes a deep breath and takes his first step towards the place that will help him achieve his dream.

-

Shinsou thought that after all this time, after all the torment that world has put him through, that maybe he could finally catch a break.

He can only imagine that fate is cackling at his naivety. He hears explosions in the distance that only serve to remind him of the fact that in a point based exam, where the more points you have the larger your chance is of getting a good placement, he has yet to collect a single point.

Okay, maybe that's not exactly accurate and he's probably scavenged some points by scrambling the feeble remains of some half destroyed robots that the other examinees couldn't bother to finish, but still. The question that it always boils back down to: is it enough?

He knows the answer is no.

He can't help but blame himself for this. He honestly should have known better, you know? When his whole life he's seen the discrimination against quirks that aren't showy or flashy, quirks like his (thanks), why did he think that U.A. would be any different? Why did he think that this exam would actually be fair in any way at all? He should have expected this, he shouldn't have applied straight for the hero course in the first place and should've just stuck with Gen-Ed, why is he even here-?

His train of thought is temporarily derailed when he runs around the corner in time to watch one of his fellow examinees take down a 1-pointer with a swift kick to its head. Shinsou remembers seeing this kid before. He was the poor soul who was called out in the assembly for mumbling too loudly to himself. Who would've thought that the anxious kid who had immediately hunkered down in his seat and whispered an apology was the same one Shinsou has now seen taking robots down with practiced ease. It very much looked like the kid had some sort of speed or strength enhancement quirk that manifested itself in form of green energy cackling around the boy. In other words, the kind of quirk this exam fell over itself to cater to.

In another second the boy has already moved on, running away in search of more robots. Shinsou runs up to the fallen 1-pointer and sees that it is well and true out of commission, no points he can scramble for here, and he moves on. He finds himself running in the same general direction as the boy, half because the boy has been a good source of half alive robots until now and also because that sounds like the direction where the rest of his examinees are. So more leftovers for Shinsou to find, yay!

It's all well and good, and the disappointment that Shinsou has been carrying around with him has turned into numbed acceptance, until things truly turn to shit. Because one second he has a scrap of metal in his hand that he's using to dig out one of the 3-pointer's wires with, and then the next second there's a huge shadow that falls over his general area. Shinsou looks up to see a monstrosity of a robot that, to his growing horror, he realises is the 0-pointer, like what the shit? Present Mic seriously underwhelmed this one, didn't he? With the way the other kids immediately turn in the other direction and start running, Shinsou dropping his temporary weapon to do the same, he can't help but feel they weren't warned about the 0-pointer for a reason.

And then he sees the girl. For a second he doesn't understand why she's just laying there, until he sees that her leg is caught under the rubble, and she's not there because she wants to be.

'Someone has to help her'

Another looks around and he sees that no one else has seen her (or they have but they don't care. He doesn't think that though, because it seems too cruel of people who one day hope to become heroes in the future).

'Someone has to help'

"Hey you! With the green hair! Mumble boy!" And to Shinsou's utter relief the guy looks at him over his shoulder. They have time though, the robot is getting closer, "Can you help me?"

The boy gives Shinsou a confused look, "Huh?"

Shinsou smiles weakly as his quirk take over. "Come here and - uhhhh..." He turns back to the girl and the robot is almost here, they don't have time. Shinsou looks up at the monstrosity as a stab of panic cuts through him, "We have to stop that thing." He says this quietly to himself, as a thought said out-loud by accident rather than, say, a command. It doesn't matter though, because Shinsou is too late to realise that the boy, the boy under his quirk, heard him when he wasn't supposed to, and took it as an order anyways.

Shinsou stumbles forward as the boy leaps past him and into the air, and Shinsou can only watch in fascinated horror as the boy flies higher and higher and subsequently punches the robot head on. And then, if that wasn't enough, the robot crumples inwards and then back, no longer a danger to the girl, but the boy is falling down, down, down...

And Shinsou doesn't know what possess him to run forward, towards the boy, as if he has any hope at all in catching him without hurting the both of them. But he has to try, goddamnit, he has to try. He owes it to the boy, the one who's arms are bruised purple and definitely broken, the one who was all the more fool for ever responding to Shinsou's call in the first place.

Shinsou's shock riddled mind misses the girl though, misses most of the part where she pulls herself forward and slaps the boy even as he's falling, until he's not, until he collapses gently on the ground. All Shinsou knows is that one second he's running and the next he's kneeling next to the boy who is semi-conscious and grievously hurt and it's all his fault. Shinsou doesn't know when he started crying, just that the boy sees his tears and has the audacity to give him a shaky smile and says, "Hey- Hey, don't cry."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry- I- I didn't mean-" Shinsou's tirade cuts off when the boy coughs weakly and says, "It's okay. You- you didn't mean to."

"But-" Shinsou doesn't get to say anything else because he's being pulled away by sure hands and calm voices. His instincts scream at him to stay but he doesn't have the energy to protest, especially when he sees more people rush to help the boy. They take Shinsou to a medical station and start to fuss over him whilst checking for injuries. After that everything passes in a blur. He's so tired and some part of him realises that he must be in shock but there's nothing he can do about it except ride it out. A few minutes later and the nurses shoo him away and move on to the next student and that's that. He's probably supposed to go home, but the one coherent part of him screams that he can't, not until he's made sure that the boy is okay.

He can't find it in himself to move though. He watches blankly as medics and examinees move in and out of the tent, going about their jobs like- like all of this is normal. How can it be though? How can it be normal when Shinsou used his quirk and he hurt someone and god-

He needs to make sure that boy is okay.

He needs to move goddamnit. He can't just stand here in front of the medical tent like an idiot, he should find someone, maybe one of the teachers, ask them where he can find the boy, where-

There's a hand on his shoulder. Shinsou looks up to see a man who looks about the last person you might find at a place like U.A but-

But-

The scarf (scarves?) wound around his neck. A pair of yellow goggles that peak out from underneath. The black tracksuit that stays the same even during hero work. Shinsou's brain may have shut down a long time ago but some part of him knows-

This is Eraserhead.

"Kid. Go home."

Shinsou's mind has already reached its capacity for surprises though, so it simply stores that tidbit of information later and instead focuses on getting him through this social interaction, one step at a time. "I can't."

The tired man (Eraserhead!!!) raises an eyebrow at him, "You can't?"

"I have to make sure that the boy is okay." As an afterthought he adds, "The boy who punched the 0-pointer."

The man squints at him, probably parsing through his intentions? Who the fuck knows- before sighing tiredly. The hand falls away from his shoulder and the man turns around and beckons him with a one handed wave, "This way then. The kid is with Recovery Girl."

Shinsou quietly follows after.

U.A is a labyrinthine of hallways that look deceptively easy to get lost into without a guide. Luckily, Shinsou does have a guide, in the form of a tired man who looks like he needs a week long nap or two. They walk in silence, because Shinsou's brain has turned into a tired pile of goo and he can't even think of making conversation right now. Soon enough they stop in front of Recovery Girl's office, and the tired man pushes it open with one hand to let Shinsou inside. There is a woman sitting at her desk who looks up at the pair of them with her lips pressed in a thin, displeased line.

"I assume you're here for the idiot who broke both his legs and his arm dearie?"

'He broke his what?' Shinsou doesn't say that. Instead, what he goes with is more like, "Yeah I- yes. Yes I am."

The old lady gives a significant look to the tired man, who is now leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed in front of him, before she nods in the direction of one of the curtained off cots, "He's right there. He asked after you, you know?"

Shinsou doesn't know how to feel about that, "Oh. Okay."

The tired man opens the door for himself, "I'll leave you to that then. Seems like you're going to be here a while. Make sure to give a call to your parents, okay kid?"

"Yeah."

The door shuts with a soft click as Shinsou crosses the curtain to see the cot. His breath promptly hitches in his throat when 'broken legs and arm' really register in his mind now that they have an image to go with.

"Oh god."

Shinsou somehow manages to collapse in the chair keep beside the bed instead of the floor and curls up in the guilt that eats him alive because god, he did that. He brainwashed that kid into breaking his legs and his arm and god- what kind of fucked up monster does that?

"Um, hello?"

Shinsou's head jerks up from where it had been buried in his hands. The boy and him stare at each other for a second before Shinsou finds his voice, "I'm so sorry."

The boy's eyebrows furrow and then widen in alarm when the dam breaks again and suddenly there are tears streaming down Shinsou's face without his goddamn consent. He slaps a hand over his mouth to muffle any stupid sounds that think of accompanying his already embarrassing tears as he leans back in the chair and tips his head back, doing his best to avoid looking at the boy.

"Hey- Hey, don't cry. Please don't cry."

Shinsou furiously wipes at the tears on his face, "I'm so sorry I did this to you. I- I really shouldn't have- you shouldn't be here because of me."

"No, wait- listen- OW" Shinsou jerks in his seat and sees that the boy has been struggling to sit up the entire time he was crying and has probably jostled his leg or something. It's second hand instinct that has Shinsou half standing from his chair and reaching out, "Stop, hey- hold on." They work together, Shinsou supporting the boy's weight as he scoots up until he's finally semi-upright.

They pause, Shinsou's arm around the boy's shoulders and the boy's hand on his arm, but when Shinsou goes back to maintain the distance they had before, he's stopped when the boy grips his arm even tighter. Green eyes that seem to be filled with something fierce glare up at him defiantly, "Listen."

Shinsou watches, a little transfixed, as the boy closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He opens them again and asks, "You have to tell me first, what is your quirk?"

The boy can't stop him when Shinsou flinches back. They stare at each other for another second, the boy in surprise and Shinsou in rapid panic before Shinsou collapses back in his chair, face in his hands, "I owe you that much, don't I?" He looks up and the boy looks so concerned, concern that Shinsou doesn't deserve, "It's call brainwashing. I can control anyone who replies to a question I ask." Then, much quieter Shinsou adds, "I didn't have a choice."

The boy looks sad, and Shinsou can't imagine that it's for him, "I believe you." And then, "You saved that girl's life."

Shinsou looks up sharply, "That wasn't me."

The boy smiles sadly, "It was though. No one except you saw that she needed help. I didn't. You just did what had to be done."

Shinsou looks at the boy in disbelief, "I shouldn't have brainwashed you though. You- you're hurt because I was careless!"

The boy shakes his head, "You couldn't have known."

Shinsou laughs bitterly, "You're here with your legs and arm broken and I'm the one who put you here. Does it matter that I hadn't known?"

"It does."

Shinsou scowls openly, "Yeah right."

He can see that the boy is struggling to get him to see his point of view. Does it matter though? When someone got so grievously injured in the end, does it matter that Shinsou had never meant it to turn out like this in the first place?

"My quirk." Shinsou looks up, startled, to see the boy looking determinedly down at his hands, "My quirk, it's sometimes too much for my body. I- I've only recently learned how to lower its energy output so I don't hurt myself, and I learned through a lot of practice. But, before that- broken bones weren't a rarity for me."

Shinsou doesn't know what to do with this information, but the boy carries on, "The first time I used my quirk, I broke my arm. For a long time, I couldn't use my quirk without breaking myself. That's what probably happened, you know? The energy output was too high when I punched that robot."

He catches the boy's eye and he can't look away, "You couldn't have known that though. You saw someone in trouble and you wanted to help. You did your best, and you couldn't have known that I would end up getting hurt. You couldn't have known the nuisances of my quirk. You just- wanted to help."

And what can Shinsou say in the face of that truth?

They sit like that for a while. This boy, this stupid and foolishly forgiving boy looking at Shinsou like he never did any wrong, like he knows that Shinsou was only trying his best, that Shinsou only wanted to help.

"What's your name?"

The boy has one of the brightest smiles Shinsou has ever seen. "Midoriya Izuku. Yours?"

Shinsou gives him a small smile in return, "Shinsou Hitoshi."

-

When Shinsou slides the door of class 1-A open and takes a step inside, his new friend is right there, waiting for him with a bright smile.

(Shinsou learns that it's okay to forgive yourself sometimes, especially when you're only learning how to do your best to help.)

-

I have to say that I'm particularly proud of this. Don't worry my dear readers, there's more where that came from!

Your Captain, Lynda.