Whumptober 2021

All Work and No Play

Izuku has always been behind the pack. He needs to catch up with them.

All work and no play
"You're still not dead?" | Too weak to move | 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗱

TW!

Passing out.

Izuku was behind. He was behind from birth, his lack of quirk putting him at a major disadvantage from the start. So, he had to work harder than the average person. It didn't help that his teachers often marked down his work due to his lack of power.

It only got harder when he did gain a quirk. Well, it mainly started when Izuku had first accepted All Might's offer of a quirk. He was physically unfit, having spent his years training his brain instead of his body. So, he was tasked with hauling trash off of a beach that was covered in piles five times his height. He had ten months.

All Might had high expectations of Izuku, standards that he planned to exceed. So, day in and day out, he'd spend his free time hauling garbage from point 'A' to point 'B'. Izuku barely had time to finish his homework by the time he finally graced his mother with his presence.

When Izuku did finally reach the U.A exams, he'd only just received the quirk earlier in the day. So, he was quite underqualified compared to all the other participants. Hence why Izuku only scored rescue points in the exam after having broken both of his legs and an arm. At least he didn't plummet to his death during that specific experience.

He did, in fact, make it into U.A but only barely. Sixty points only just placed him within the few lucky candidates. Izuku was still training as hard as he could, trying to become better at this newfound power. Even after a sick training montage, he came last in the quirk apprehension test. It only further proves his point over the fact that he was miles behind his peers.

The USJ made him feel hopeless, the Sports festival had singled him out. And even though Stain had acknowledged him as a 'true hero', Izuku still felt like he had a long way to go. But constant work often drains stamina, often burns you out. Izuku had been running on fumes for quite some time, it was only a matter of time before he overextended himself.

Dorms had recently been implemented for all students of U.A. thus creating the whole training room scramble in hero classes. You see, everyone could rent out a small room to train just about every aspect of themselves. Whether it be strength training or indoor quirk practice, they had almost anything that you could need.

The only downside was that everyone wanted to use them. You'd have to book weeks in advance and you'd only be able to book one session per week which lasted for three hours. Which, in Izuku's opinion, was too short. So, Izuku had taken to training out in the forest on the outskirts of campus whenever he couldn't book a spot in the training room. It was only logical that he was to train every day.

So after school, Izuku would dump his stuff, quickly change into sporting gear and rush off to the small clearing that he'd claimed as his own before starting his exercises. Today was no exception to this routine.

Izuku stretched as he sat at the base of a small tree, attempting to reach further past his toes than normal. He stood up after giving up on his small goal, the back of his knees practically sighing in relief.

Walking to the centre of the clearing, he activated his quirk, letting the warm embrace trickle around his body. He closed his eyes, focusing on the amount of power that flowed through his veins. After a few moments, he concluded that a solid seventeen per cent encompassed him.

Testing the slightly higher enhancement, he punched his hand out, grinning as he felt the air ripple around him. His confidence boosted, Izuku flicked out his other hand in a practised motion that had been ingrained in his mind since the beginning of the year.

After a few more punches, Izuku got more ambitious. He kicked out his leg when a sudden wave of dizziness encompassed him, white spots accompanying it. He lost his balance soon after as his vision turned black for a few moments.

Izuku fell forwards, attempting to catch himself with his arms before landing on his right leg, his full weight rested upon it. Izuku winced, attempting to stand up before deciding that it was a horrible idea, a sharp pain blossoming within it. Izuku pulled himself along the forest floor, deciding to crawl his way over to the nearest tree.

When he finally got to one, he pushed his back against it. Carefully, Izuku maneuvered his legs, flinching when he moved his leg the wrong way. He sighed, at the subtle red that was forming on the skin of his leg. Either it was broken or he seriously bruised it. Izuku rummaged through his pocket, glad that he was too lazy to have put it over with his drink bottle which lay on the opposite side that he was on.

Scrolling through his contacts, he hesitated, his finger hovering over the call button for his homeroom teacher. Mentally, he debated whether or not it was better to get scolded or to be in constant pain. He decided on the former as he firmly pressed his finger to the screen of his phone.

"Eraserhead," The phone announced after a few rings.

"Hi, Mister Aizawa," Izuku responded, "I uh, hurt myself..?"

"Where are you?" came the reply, a long sigh filtered across the speakers, quite obviously not impressed at the teen's actions.

Izuku explained his location, trying his best to mentally map out a path that his teacher could follow to reach him before trying to come up with an explanation as to what the hell happened. Izuku slumped back as much as he could without jostling his leg too much. Eventually, the teacher made it to the clearing, sighing as he caught sight of the teen that lay against the trunk of a tree.

"Do I even want to know how you did this?" Aizawa questioned as he carefully scooped Izuku up.

"To be completely honest," Izuku said, glancing up to his teacher's face, "I'm not too sure what happened myself."