A Silent Kind of Strength

Chapter 5

The sunrise painted across his face the next morning outshone the one in the actual sky. The bruises were ugly and black across his nose and under his eyes. And faded to bright irritated reds and pinks. He knew the next couple of days would see them be even more colorful as they healed.

Fun.

At least he could still open his eyes enough to see.

He dressed in front of his mirror so he could check the swelling on his ribs and the bandages on his arm and back. With a groan he realized the cut on his back had bled through. And he would have to change it before he could go to school. It was just as painful the second time around. Twisting to reach sent painful twinges across his side from his ribs. And the dirty bandage stuck and peeled off some of the scabs, making the cut bleed sluggishly again.

After that wonderful experience he threw on what was left of his uniform. Sparing a second to request a new one from his mom through text. The walk to school was blessedly quiet. No kids he saw seemed to notice the limping green haired peer in their midst. 

He managed to make it to the classroom and into his desk with little fanfare. From there it was just a matter of ignoring the etched insults on the wooden surface in front of him. Kachan was absent again. His mom probably tied him down to the bed so he could rest. Izuku wouldn't put it past his auntie.

His classmates were back to the more offhand torment. Tripping and snide insults in the halls. They didn't manage to find him during lunch so he at least got to eat his sandwich in peace.

After the last bell he was out the door as soon as possible. Wobbling along as quickly as he could without hurting himself too much. He had texted Kuma-chan that he would be a few minutes late to class due to an appointment. That didn't mean he wanted to miss anything Mirokuma sensei wanted to teach them today. It was bad enough that he missed yesterday.

He wished he could run to the mechanics shop but he knew running now would only make things worse for him when he finally did make it to class.

The door to the shop came into view and he sighed in relief checking his phone for the time. He had 15 minutes before he needed to leave. Hopefully Hatsume-san had things ready to go like she said.

He pushed open the door, the lobby was once again empty so he limped over to the desk to hit the button. At least this time he was prepared for the fog horn. Again he watched as the red haired woman skipped out from behind shelving units. As they locked eyes though her beaming smile froze, as did the rest of her. Izuku frowned and cocked his head to the side in question. Did he do something wrong?

The door to the front of the shop opened behind him and he had to suppress a violent reaction as he was suddenly accosted by an unknown assailant. "Hi! Are you the kid with the cool fossils in your ears?!" An excited voice squealed by his head as its owner nearly climbed on his back to see over his shoulder. He couldn't quite stop the full bodied flinch at her touch and loud voice so close to him. He quickly spun around and backed up until he hit the desk. "I-I-I u-uhm?!"

Too close, she was too close. She was still focused on his ears, not noticing the panicked body language, and spouting off words a mile a minute. Izuku wondered if this was what it's like on the other side of his mutter storms.