The Emerald Prince

Chapter 21: Recovery

^ Illustration drawn in the original manga style and heavily referenced.

———

Izuku did not interfere with All Might's battle nor those of the newly arrived pro heroes. He had more respect for them than to steal their spotlight.
He instead, made his way back to the thankfully unharmed class, and their injured teachers. He nodded a polite thanks to Kurogiri for keeping his word as he passed, not even noticing the villain's surprise.

Uraraka was the first to spot him, making his way toward them.
"IIIIZZZZUUUU!" She yelled it, her voice filled with relief.
At her call, the others turned and he grinned at their surprise.
"Sorry I'm late."

Before any of them could begin asking him questions, he knelt beside Aizawa, his heart breaking a little at the sight of his broken arm and bloodied face; but Izuku fought to maintain his mask. Searching through his list of quirks he found a painkilling quirk and subtly used it on both heroes.

"What happened to you?" Croaked Aizawa.
He could hear the class listening so couldn't resist answering in a double meaning.
"I went face to face with handyman."

The class saw the fight they must have had in the scratches he'd got scaling the Ruins Zone. He heard Bakugou splutter at the thought of their faces pressed together again. Aizawa raised his own eyebrows weakly.

"Capture him?" He already knew the answer but they had an act to keep up. Also another double meaning, Aizawa was in on it. He may have been beaten to within an inch of his life...but that wouldn't stop his sense of humour.

"How can anyone with Kurogiri around?"
Poor Bakugou looked ill.
"The portal man huh? He's gonna be a right pain."

"Yeah..." Izuku's brows furrowed when Aizawa coughed up some blood, "That monster had fun with you didn't it?"
"Strong as All Might." Aizawa said glancing worriedly at where the pair fought.
"He'll be fine. Now, you've been a really cool dad but it is time for you to save your stamina, RG incoming."

———

Recovery Girl shuffled towards the students after doing her best for the teachers, both surprised and relieved at their lack of injury. They shook their heads as one when she moved to check them more thoroughly.

"Izuku was the only one that fought." Said Tsu.
She turned to the scratched boy behind her, and he smiled politely, neither inviting nor refusing her help.

She moved over to him anyway, and as she leaned forward, Izuku met Bakugou's gaze, the blond was grinning. She kissed him on his forehead and his scratches healed before she moved away to instruct some pros who were to carry the injured teachers back.

Heal
Take          Copy          Leave

Izuku gazed at the letters in front of his vision, deep in thought, before turning to look at Recovery Girl. He honestly doubted she would have any objections to the presence of another person who could heal others, besides, he just knew someday he'd probably really regret not having this.

He copied it, and rose to move out of the way as the heroes lifted Aizawa carefully onto a stretcher.

———

The greenette was surprised when the class didn't crowd him, letting him join their ranks in relative peace as they were shepherded back onto the bus; once, as he had known he would, All Might punched through Tomura's hopes, and that strange duo vanished in a swirl of black fog.

Only when they were settled, did the questions begin.
Izuku answered them, though he tried his best to avoid details as he really hated lying and his calm mask was getting steadily harder to maintain.

Eventually Bakugou came to his rescue.
"Fucking extras, can you quit interrogating him for five fucking seconds, can't you see he doesn't want to relive that shit?"
"But Izuku, you weren't scared at all!" Exclaimed Satou in admiration.

Izuku hesitated, glancing up to check no adults were looking their way but the bus was still empty of heroes. Asui noticed and spoke up gently.
"They aren't watching Izuku, and even if they were, they wouldn't dare judge you for anything."

That was all he could take, the remaining strength he had mustered to hold everything together vacated him and he slid to the floor.
Just like back in that bathroom, the fear and stress that he'd hid away returned with a vengeance and he curled in on himself, breathing erratically and eyes gazing firmly downward as he shook, coming apart before them.

"Satou...I was... fucking terrified."

They stared at him in awe and shock, as he let the mask peal back. His voice was wavering, and his next words tumbled off his tongue in waves.

"The only real father I've ever had was fighting hundreds of villains essentially alone and I couldn't see if he was still even alive... My friends were left without the protection of any heroes in their first ever villain fight and I couldn't see what was happening to them. And I was facing the leader of the fucking league of villains, and he talks of his creation designed to kill All Might, and I know that it is fighting my dad... I'm a good fucking actor and a pretty quick thinker, but otherwise when it comes to this stuff... I'm no more goddamn experienced than the rest of you. Of course I was scared shitless..."

The last line came out as more of a wail than anything.
Bakugou moved forward and Izuku lunged into his arms with no embarassment, gripping on to him so tightly, it took everything Bakugou had not to blush, go after the league of villains, or cry himself.

It was Uraraka who started it.
She moved over to the pair and embraced Izuku from the other side. Kirishima, Asui and Iida also moved forward, Todoroki hesitantly following. Soon the entire group were in a close huddle, the others letting their own held back fear show. Those that cried cried, and not one of them judged the others.

By the time the few pros assigned to them came onto the bus and began to drive them back, the group had pulled apart, but even those heroes who'd never spoken to the class before, felt their strong unity burning bright.

———

Tomura sighed and leaned against the well polished bar top.
"Your UA student is an intriguing one." Said Kurogiri, moving over to wash glasses.
"He is."
"Are you going to mention him?"
"Not yet. Do you think that is right?"

The golden gaze within the blackness watched him for a while before nodding.

The monitor sparked to life but remained blank. Tomura complained, a voice reassured, and spoke of future plans. And there was not a word of Aizawa Izuku.

———

Name: Heal
Ability: Able to amplify and speed up the human body's natural healing process by planting a kiss on the injured person
Side effects: Instant popularity. With e v e r y o n e.
Drawbacks: Required a lot of life energy from the recipient, not able to regrow lost body parts