What Makes a Hero

33

Izuku laid on his back exhausted. He bit his lip and hesitantly brought his hands up to his neck. He winced as his fingers touched raw skin and where needles had stabbed through him for all those years. The puncture wounds were probably bigger since the needles were ripped out once the collar broke. Suddenly, the realization dawned on him. He scrambled to his knees and turned to his side throwing up his dinner.

His collar was off of him. The collar was on the floor and broken beyond repair.

He wiped his mouth off, mind racing with different outcomes of what would happen when the league found out. While panicking, he didn't notice that he subconsciously started looking for his teacher until his hand bummed into Aizawa's head. He reeled his hand back and paused.

He would let me, right?

Before he could second guess himself, Midoriya placed his right hand back onto his neck and desperately started taking the scarf off of Aizawa and quickly wrapped it around his own neck in an attempt to calm himself down.

Midoriya activated his telekenisis quirk again, ignoring the searing pain running through his arm, and blocked off the bleeding. He actually could've died in the hands of some random low-level villains. He shivered at the thought and tightened his grip on the oversized scarf.

Shuffling at the front of the alley and rushed voices alerted Izuku that people were coming. Without thinking twice, he grabbed his lighter and created a wall of fire between the intruders and his teacher. He can't risk anything happening to Aizawa after all the hero has done for him, and Shinso would never forgive him if his teacher was killed while on his watch.

"they're heroes" Shinsou's voice assured him.

Izuku sighed in relief and collapsed the wall of fire. "Took you long enough," he leaned against the wall forcing a weak smile and placed his hand back on his side which was now soaked in blood. He slid down onto the floor and slowly closed his eyes, his words dying down to a hum.

"I'm tired" he muttered leaning his head back onto the wall.

"huh? Didn't you just sleep yesterday?" Shinso questioned.

Before he could wait for a response, the hero interrupted their conversation to ask Shinso about what happened. While shinso was distracted, another pair of steps walked towards where Izuku sat blind and bleeding out.

"He's the most hurt," Shinso tells them "he got the brunt of the attacks."

"oh, it's Midoriya" the voice gasps.

Izuku lazily leans his head forward recognizing the voice. "Mario" he smiles.

"It's Mirio," The boy corrected with a quick laugh.

"Mario" Izuku repeated with a lopsided grin. Damn, he was very tired.

"bubble girl, call for help, these two need to go to the hospital," the hero instructed.

Izuku shakily tried to stand up only to be gently pushed back down "I can still walk" he complained

"Bubble girl is calling for an ambulance right now, save your energy" Mirio assures him. "The wound on your side looks pretty nasty, don't want to risk making it worse."

Izuku groaned in protest but stayed down. Instead, he laid his head back and loosened the grip around his side. A soft tap to his shoulder caught his attention, and he raised a brow.

"no can do" Mirio tsked, "you shouldn't fall asleep after losing so much blood," he told him.

"I know," Izuku sighed, "I've been through worse, but...just for now..." Izuku knew how much of a risk sleeping while badly wounded was, especially since he knows he's only tired because of the amount of blood he lost - and the massive headache he was feeling was more than a hint to know that quirk exhaustion was a big part of it too- but he couldn't help it. Using his quirk to slow the bleeding after everything that had happened was a lot for him.