The Emperor's Dragon

People Are Cruel

Izuku is seven and a half years old

"Shut the fucking door!"

Izuku recognised Tomura's shout. The other boy needn't have bothered, he was shutting it as fast as he could. Inside was so much warmer than outside and he needed all the warmth he could get. It was snowing outside and-

"Izuku, where is your coat?" Kurogiri interrupted his internal thoughts.

The green haired boy looked down at the floor.

The misty man sighed. He knew what had happened. "Go and have a bath to warm up," he instructed, coming over to take Izuku's bag.

Izuku sniffed and reached up to dash tears from his eyes. Every day this week, something of his had been stolen. And today he'd been tripped several times into the snow.

The others claimed they were playing but Izuku knew better. They weren't playing when he was cold, and wet and freezing. Not when he'd told them to stop. Not when the teachers knew he'd told them to stop.

"Go on," Kurogiri encouraged. "I will replace your coat," he added. There was absolutely no accusation in his tone. It was a simple fact.

That caused Izuku to cry. He didn't want Kurogiri to have to replace his coat. He didn't want Kurogiri to keep having to get bento boxes. He didn't want these things to happen. He didn't know why people were tripping him, and stealing his stuff.

The only difference was he (supposedly) had no quirk. It wasn't like he wasn't human. Or anything like that. But they continued to do it and the teachers did nothing.

It wasn't his fault.

The misty man watched his tears for a moment before he was enveloped in a hug. "There, there, Izuku, there there." It was odd to hear Kurogiri croon but Izuku knew he was trying to comfort him.

He swallowed his tears and tried to pull back. He was seven and a half. He should be able to handle this.

Kurogiri felt the moment. "Go have a bath, and I will prepare some miso soup to help you warm up," he added.

Izuku nodded as Kurogiri released him. He needed that bath.

-ted-

"Izuku, where is your scarf and gloves?" Kurogiri's voice sounded concerned as he handed Izuku his bento. It was cold outside and had snowed in the night. One did not venture out without appropriate clothing.

The green eyed boy paused in packing the bento into his bag and just looked at the floor. That response was answer enough.

The bartender didn't sigh. He knew what it meant. He'd missed Izuku coming back last night. There'd been a delivery from Giran and he'd had to deal with that, which meant he'd missed the fact that Izuku no longer had his scarf and gloves. Instead, Kurogiri opened a warp gate and deposited a replacement scarf and gloves in front of Izuku. The gloves were a little large but would keep him warm.

"Thank you," Izuku said, and then resumed packing his bento.

"Do you-"

"I don't want to talk about it!" Izuku interrupted.

Kurogiri nodded. He'd expected as much. Sensei had told him this was likely as well. He didn't understand what Sensei was doing but he trusted the man even if it was hurting Izuku. There would be some lesson there.

Izuku did up his bag and put on the scarf and gloves. He walked to the door to put on his outside shoes.

"Kurogiri?" His voice questioned softly as the freckled boy paused at the door.