Content warning:

Mention of abuse, injury, and worried Inko
____________________________________

Shinso didn't know what to expect when he arrived at the Midoriya residence.

The moment he knocked on the door, he was pulled in and immediately showered with every hospitality under the book by Mrs. Midoriya.

But, after Mrs. Midoriya took his bag and coat, she became serious. "Alright Shinso."

The dramatic change in mood gave Shinso mental whiplash. He stood straighter under the cold glare the older woman was giving him.

"I'm going to say this only once. If you hurt him, you're done for. Clear?"

Shinso nodded, and the mood shifted back as equally as fast.

Mrs. Midoriya gave him a warm smile. "Good. Izuku is in his room."

He walked to Izuku's room shivering. He knocked. "Come in!"

As he entered, he saw walls covered from edge to edge in posters, drawings, and other various hero related merchandise. He also saw Izuku, who was tearing a fair chunk of it down. "Hi..."

"Hi! Sorry for the mess. I couldn't stand staring at his face after what happened. It's making me uncomfortable."

Shinso looked at the box he was holding. It was full of all might posters. "You never did tell me exactly what happened."

"Right..." Izuku slowed, as if he was thinking, before resuming his task. "Well, if you are going to put up with my sorry butt, I guess you should know."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Shinso started to take down some of the posters as well.

"But I do want to. You're easier to talk to than my mom, and I need to tell her at some point, so... practice."

"Alright then, talk away."

And talk he did. Izuku told him, in vivid detail; what happened at school, the slime villain, All Might's rejection, and saving his bully. Shinso struggled to keep himself from interrupting. When Izuku was finished, the usually calm and collected boy had to take a deep breath.

He held his fist to his mouth, and tried to gain a semblance of calm before speaking.

"Izuku, what the fuck. How are you still standing."

Izuku shrugged. "By a thread."

Shinso stared at the other boy in disbelief. "Have you told anyone else?"

Izuku finished taking down the last poster. His shoulders slumped. "No. You are the first person I have ever told."

They stood in silence. Feeling uncomfortable with the vibe in the bedroom, Shinso decided to redirect the conversation. He pointed at the multitude of boxes, "What are you planning to do with those?"

Izuku shrugged again. "I'm not sure. I don't want them, but they do hold some value..."

"You could sell them." Shinso suggested. "Use the money for other things."

Izuku thought for a moment. "That could work..." He started mumbling to himself as he pulled out his laptop, stripped of stickers. Shinso just watched him do his thing for a while, until Izuku broke out of his trance.

"I'm sorry. I completely forgot you existed for a moment."

"Completely alright dude." Shinso said, "So, how much do you think you'll get off of these?"

"From my research, at least 232,542 ¥." Izuku said, rubbing his thumbs, "a lot of this is limited edition stuff or out of stores."

"What do you plan to do with the money?" Shinso said, settling himself by Izuku on the bed.

"Well, I want to buy some new posters," Izuku answered, "and I'm thinking about the online schooling you were talking about. I'm pretty sure I have been severely undergraded by my teachers for years, so I don't actually know how good I am at things."

"That's fair. What posters do you want to get?" Shinso asked, scrolling through the online shop Izuku had pulled up.

"I'm not sure. I currently don't have a favorite hero as of 5 days ago, so..." Izuku trailed off.

"My favorite is Eraserhead." Shinso said, "He's an underground hero who can erase quirks as long as he looks at them." He pokes Izuku, "He basically fights quirkless and he has a great track record in all areas."

"He does?" Izuku was interested. It wasn't often he came across a hero he knew nothing about. "How come I haven't heard of him?"

"He is notorious for avoiding any sort of media."

Izuku took the laptop back. "So how do you know about him?"

Wiggling his fingers at him Shinso said, "I have my ways."

----

"Boys! Dinner is done!" Inko called from the kitchen.

"Coming!" They both said in unison.

Shinso nudged Izuku. "I'm expecting to hear, at the very least, what your quirk is by the end of the month, dude. You can't keep me in the dark forever, not when I have told you mine."

Izuku nudged him back. "Then I'll be expecting an explanation about the whole ' No parents' and 'living on your own' thing."

Shinso shrugged. "Deal."

They both headed to the dining room for dinner. Inko had made miso soup. It was warm and fulfilling, and something Shinso had not had in a long time. He almost cried just from eating it.

"So, Shinso, how did you meet Izuku?" Mrs. Midoriya asked after they started eating.

Both boys froze for a split second. Thankfully, Shinso is a master of making excuses. "Um... Well, we bumped into each other on the way home last week and ended up talking. Turns out we are both hero nerds..." Mrs. Midoriya gestured for him to continue.

Shinso started to internally panic. Izuku was shooting him looks that showed he felt the same.

"I found out he hadn't watched many pre-quirk movies outside of marvel and D.C., so we had a sleepover at my place to watch some."

Mrs. Midoriya seemed apprehensive but pleased with that answer. "What movies did you watch?"

Izuku took a turn answering this time. "We watched Cars 2 and then marathonned the trilogy. We are planning to watch Tangled next."

Mrs. Midoriya's eyes lit up. "I think I might have that one! We had a whole case of ancient Disney DVDs when I was younger. They should be in a closet somewhere..."

The boys have each other a look and nodded.

"Can Shinso stay over? We want to watch them together." Izuku asked.

Gathering up the dirty dishes, Mrs. Midoriya answered. "As long as Shinso's parents don't mind."

Shinso already had an excuse for this. "I already told them I might stay over. I don't live far from here."

After dinner, the boys spent an hour setting up a place to sleep, and then another hour setting up Izuku's Ebay account for the All Might merch. Shinso noticed the worried glances that Mrs. Midoriya was giving her son, yet she was also respecting his wishes. She set the account to Izuku's spendings, and let them do their thing.

They hunted for the movie case for a while, finally finding it in the back of the linens closet.

They set up a mass of pillows and blankets in the livingroom and designated it as where they were going to sleep.

Decked out in pajamas and a borrowed oversized hoodie respectively, Izuku and Shinso binge watched Tangled, the Toy Story series, and Moana. Mrs. Midoriya left to sleep in her own room after 2 movies.

After finishing Moana, they decided to turn the tv off and go to sleep. Both were laying down faceing the ceiling when Shinso spoke.

"People don't tend to like my quirk."

Izuku rolled over so he could see Shinso on the floor. "I said it once, and I will say it again. There is nothing wrong with you or your quirk. People are just assholes."

Shinso rolled over so he could face Izuku. "I know, but you are one of the only people to ever think that." He slowly sat up before speaking again. "Do you know how I got the scars on my face?"

"You mentioned bullies, but it's more than that, isn't it." Izuku said, also sitting up.

Shinso took a deep breath. "When my parents discovered my quirk, they put me in the foster system."

Izuku froze. That was one of the things he continually worried about. His mom realizing he was worthless and throwing him away. He was lucky it hadn't happened, Inko was too good of a mother for that, but he had worried for a long time about it.

And here was Shinso, living it.

"They didn't treat you well, did they." Izuku said, realizing that Shinso was waiting for a response. "That was actually one of the fears I had when I found out I was quirkless."

"If 'didn't treat you well' includes locking a muzzle on my face any chance they got, then yeah." Shinso said, curling his knees into his chest and rubbing his face. "No one came to help. I was being attacked, thrown away, and forgotten so often that I-" Shinso choked.

"Almost broke." Izuku finished for him. He understood the feeling, the dread. "It's suffocating."

Shinso nodded. "Ran away instead." They sat there in silence, just floating in the company of someone who truly understood their brand of pain. "They never bothered to take the size of my face into account. That's how I got the scars on my face." Shinso finished.

"Y'know, I promised to tell you my quirk and how I got it, and now seems like a good time." Izuku said, pulling off his shirt and grabbing the lighter from the kitchen. Izuku's shoulder, hip, and back were covered in bandages. Shinso couldn't help but cringe at the pain it must have been to have those injuries. Izuku started peeling off the one on his shoulder.

Shinso started freaking out. "Wait, wait! Are you sure you should be taking those off?"

Izuku nodded. "It wasn't really a wound, and it's important to the story." Izuku had already told Shinso of the encounter with Bakugo, but he hadn't told him the aftermath.

Izuku finished peeling off the bandage and turned so Shinso could see the full extent of the hand-shaped, almost raw looking, mark.

"It should have been worse." Izuku said, and Shinso was agreeing with him. Point-blank fire attacks are nothing to laugh about.

"I discovered it when I was patching myself up after the villain attack. It hit me that maybe, stupidly, I had a quirk that interfered. There is no risk in trying, is there?" Izuku sighed and the trembling in his hands became more apparent. "Never thought I would be right."

"So what does it have to do with the mark? Or well, reduction of it?" Shinso asked. He was getting more comfortable asking questions with Izuku, and it felt nice when he didn't get mad.

"Well, it's better if I just show you." Izuku flicked open the lighter. He focused for a small moment, his face scrunched up, until something happened. The fire formed into a ball, the size of a marble, and separated from the lighter.

"Oh." Shinso said, amazed. Shinso couldn't help but watch how the flames danced across Izuku's freckles and softened the tired look on his face.

"Yeah." Izuku's face relaxed and the ball of fire disappeared. "When Kacchan used his quirk, I used mine without even realizing it."

"Why do you call him that?" Shinso asked.

"I've called him that since we were toddlers. I had a really bad stutter when we were kids and it stuck. We were friends back then." Izuku said fidgeting.

"Are you friends now? He doesn't seem to act like one." Shinso said. Izuku's trembling got worse. Sensing a possible panic attack, Shinso carefully took his hands and started rubbing circles in them. Izuku started crying, and just like yesterday, Shinso was willing to be a shoulder to rely on.

"Do you want a hug?" Izuku nodded and Shinsou hugged him as hard as he could without pressuring his injuries.

When his sobs quieted, Izuku answered, in that same soft, broken voice Shinso heard on the roof. "I don't think we are."
____________________________________

AN:

Thanks for reading Chapter 13!

This is the chapter I spent the most time on this week, obviously. I should of split my time evenly but this one was longer and more important so...(:/).

Feedback is appreciated. Updates on weekends.