Broken Masks

Chapter 1: First cracks

Midoriya Izuku was a strange kid. Shouta would be the first to tell people, the kid was reckless and made it his mission to break every bone in his body with the same intensity as his love of heroes. He mumbled more than he seemed to actually talk and when he did, Midoriya seemed to always want to say more, but never did. But overall, Shouta was fine with his strangeness; recklessness could be tamed provided good teaching and training. With Izuku, it would be easier than most. The kid was dedicated to a fault, he had a strong set of morals which made him first in most things that mattered, always the first to offer a hand, always the first to cheer, always the first to help.

Inside the classroom, Midoriya was just as dedicated and more well-mannered. He was an excellent student a borderline obsessive note-taker with a thirst for learning. He asked questions that made his teachers run to Nedzu for help and wrote papers more in-depth than needed.

Overall, Midoriya was a good kid, but none of that was what made him strange. Something about the way Midoriya scanned a room before fully entering, the way he jumped when someone moved too fast around him, or the way his round innocent eyes would suddenly sharpen when someone stepped too close. The skittishness, the need to find an escape was what made Shouta watch Midoriya a little more closely. This is why he noticed when Midoriya's schoolwork began to slip when Midoriya seemed more focused on scanning the room than paying attention to his friends.

Normally incomplete or late assignments would slip his radar; after all, Ashido and Kaminari liked to push their ability to put off their work, but with Midoriya it sent alarm bells in his head. The in-depth analysis Shouta enjoyed reading, after the work of his other students, no longer appeared barely reaching the requirements of the assignments. And with every passing day, Midoriya's work seemed to get worse and worse as he seemed more concerned with looking out the window than class.

Despite this sudden shift of interest, Midoriya seemed more reluctant to leave school grounds after classes were over. Multiple times Shouta would spot Midoriya in the library working on the little work he did do. Nothing added up for Shouta. If anyone asked about home, about why he tried to stay late, Midoriya would grow restless and find an excuse to leave. Stress slithered around the boy like snakes and only seemed to tighten every day.

It all concerned Shouta, but it was Midoriya's overall mood, no matter how wide the kid smiled it never seemed to reach his eyes anymore. Midoriya had a natural, excessively emotional side that constantly bordered on crying, but with each passing day, it seemed like he forgot that's how he was meant to act. When Bakugou snapped at him, Midoriya would blink at him before slipping into his usual nervous nature.

Laying in his yellow sleeping bag, Shouta watched his class mingle before class completely unnoticed by his students. He was fine with that, it let him learn how his class interacted, let him know who he should push together in training, but overall, it let him catch little interaction his kids would rather he didn't see. Like how Ashido wandered around the room trying to get answers for the English assignment due next period or how Tokoyami let Uraraka stick a flower in between his feathers, or the way Bakugou kept glancing back at Midoriya with an unreadable expression before looking away when someone looked at him.

Shouta wiggled around to get a better view of the strange behavior. Bakugou glanced back once Ashido had moved to her next victim, his eyes following Midoriya's expressive hand gestures very reminiscent of Iida. Shouta scowled and leaned forward to watch Midoriya as he used his whole body to talk to Iida and Todoroki.