Guidance, or To Help (those in need) by orionchildofhades / shwwmf

12. i'd like to thank you

Izuku was feeling a bit nervous.

Kurogiri had left him in an alley near the school, saying that he was still reachable with his phone whenever Izuku wanted to leave, before vanishing.

Izuku had made his way, actually glad to not be moving around in crunches anymore. He arrived in front of the school with a bit of time to spare and sat not far from it. He didn't know this Kirishima guy, he never met him. Kurogiri had described him and his actions when he arrived all those weeks ago. Apparently Izuku was laying lamely on the ground, pale and grim with destroyed clothes. The kids had gotten away, laughing and mocking. Kurogiri had just arrived and had been approaching Izuku when a dark bolt crossed the street and stopped above the greenette. He had checked if Izuku was still breathing fine and had called for help. He seemed extremely distressed, concerned and fear painted his face.

Sensei had sent him a picture of the boy, black hair down his shoulders, sharp teeth and deep red eyes. He hoped to find him when class would end but if not, he would try to go inside the school and look for class 3-C.

The bell rang, and soon enough, teenagers flooded the street. Noise and laughs and chatter made Izuku cringe a little but after some time, the amount of people coming out lessened. Izuku felt a little desperate, afraid to have missed the guy. He had tried to scan the crowd but people were just so eager to leave the school that he found himself unable to discern faces and people. He had never been very good with crowds to begin with, even less so since he left school.

Luckily, which for him happened every blue moon, once the crowd had calmed down and left, Izuku saw the face he was looking for. And he was apparently recognized in return. Kirishima was looking around, saw Izuku and did a double take before his brows rose in shock and he hurried toward the other teen. On his way he slowed down, and his confidence seemed to leave him in a second, leaving him slightly deflated and twitching with anxiety.

Not exactly comfortable either, unused to contact with new people, Izuku lamely waved at the dark haired teen. Once he had come close enough, Izuku tried to smile weakly.

"Kirishima, right?"

"Yeah, hum, you're that kid from that one time, right? You got, hum..."

"Beat up to a pulp? Yeah, someone told me you were the one who called the hospital for me."

"I mean, yes. I just... what they did was so unmanly. They left you there like that, passed out and— you looked bad. I mean, no offense of course, I don't think I would fare much better in the same situation."

"No it's alright. I think 'bad' describes exactly how I was feeling afterward. I, hum, I wanted to thank you, for helping I mean."

Kirishima then looked down to the floor, shame covering his face.

"Don't thank me, I could have done more. I was there, I could have stopped them."

"Probably not, they wouldn't have let you. Better one than two, I'm glad you didn't jump in or they would have tried to do the same with you."

"They wouldn't have been able to. My quirk is just, it's called Hardening, I can turn my skin into rock... i know it's not much but,"

"What? Hardening? That sounds so cool," and here was Izuku, nerding about quirk already, "you can take on damage far better than most, maybe even turn into a weapon if the rock is sharp. No? I mean, it can be very cool if you use it right..."

"But it's not flashy at all, it's a lame quirk."

"Why would quirk have to be flashy?"

"Heroes' quirks are."