the copycat hero: Deku

Chapter 50

Izuku came to slowly. His entire body felt like lead, his brain not much better. He blinked, looking up at the white ceiling, trying to figure out where he was.

"Ah!" an unfamiliar voice said, startling Izuku as the nurse came into view, "You're awake!"

I am, Izuku tried to say, though his mouth refused to cooperate, barely more than a ragged breath escaping his throat.

"I'll get the doctors immediately!" the woman said as she rushed from the room, Izuku able to hear the door slam on her way out.

Izuku was left alone with his thoughts for the moment, eyes moving sluggishly as he looked around the hospital room. There was a table in the corner, piled high with gifts and cards, probably from his classmates, which made Izuku smile. Or it would have if his body would cooperate.

He heard the door open again, hearing multiple footsteps hurry into the room. He looked up as the doctors crowded around him, all talking to each other quickly, too quickly for Izuku to understand. He picked up a few words here and there.

Quirk-exhaustion.

Impossible feat.

Effectively Quirkless.

The last one made him wince. Maybe that was why he couldn't feel them. Maybe that was why he couldn't feel anything, just like when he was in that box. He'd pushed his quirk too far. Broken it. Made himself, as the doctors had said, effectively Quirkless.

"IZUKU!" the sound of his mother's voice made him choke slightly, the woman shoving past the doctors as they tried to stop her, wrapping her arms around her son as she pulled him into a tight hug, "Oh, my baby! My baby boy! You're finally awake!"

What did she mean by finally? How long had he been out?

"Ma'am," one of the doctors said, "I know that you're worried, but you need to allow us time to fully assess your son's condition."

"But he's awake!" the woman sobbed, "My baby is awake!"

"We know ma'am, but you need to leave now, we'll have a nurse call you once we're done."

Three days.

It had been three days since the fight with All for One when Izuku woke up, his body unresponsive and his quirk non-existent. He'd spent a lot of time lying in the hospital bed, quirk specialists and doctors towering over him as they tried to figure out what had happened. He could barely follow their words, no matter how interesting he thought they probably were. The nurses bathed him every day. Changed his colostomy bags, checked his catheter. Fed him. There wasn't much Izuku could do about it, so he just let himself be manhandled. Treated like fine china. Like an invalid.

Now, almost four days later, his voice finally returned. Dry and scratchy, barely even there as he spoke in a raspy tone. The nurses had left him propped up in bed, so he could more easily watch the television in the corner, his mother fretting about the room as she spoke constantly, telling him all about her day. About what was happening at UA. About the Dorms.

"Mom…" he said, the woman freezing as she turned to look at him, tears welling in her eyes as she stepped closer.

"I-Izuku?" she whispered.

"Sorry…" he replied, making the woman burst into tears as she rushed forwards, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Oh, my baby!" she sobbed into his shoulder, "You can talk! You can talk again!"

"Hurts…" he managed, the woman quickly letting go and looking at him.

"My hug?" she gasped, "Or to talk?"