The Graveyard Boy

In Which Izuku Sees One Person He Planned To And Several He Didn't

A/N: warning: depiction of a panic attack. Skip from "'What a devious plan!'" to "'Yeah, of course we can.'"

Christmas had always just been Izuku and his mom, but the change of pace was nice, he thought. He was still sort of shocked by the new development, though-- he had a friend. He had a friend. That hadn't been the case since Kacchan got his quirk. Sure he'd whispered to a few people during classes- before they learned about his "villainous" quirk and Kacchan's odd vendetta against him- but nothing close to a real, genuine friend.

He cast a glance across his room to the limited-edition All Might figurine he'd received from Hitoshi. The other boy had apologized for giving such an obvious and seemingly impersonal gift, but he'd realized Izuku hadn't been able to get the figure and decided to use his new "in" with the hero community to acquire it for him. Izuku had teared up and said the gift was fine.

Since moving in with the Aizawa-Yamadas, Hitoshi had gotten his first phone. Unfortunately for him, that meant spams from Izuku about anything from bad puns to hero news to a cat he spotted on his way to school. Hitoshi was generally a blunt and vaguely irresponsive texter, but any response was more than Izuku had gotten the past few years of his life.

Small Might: Am I good to come over??

catnap: yea

Small Might: Awesome! See you in a bit :)

Despite the fact that the two lived across town from each other, Izuku made sure to visit as often as he could. From what he knew, Hitoshi could get lonely easily, having gotten used to having Sakura around all the time. Speaking of Sakura, while the two of them only really spent time with each other around Hitoshi, he thought he'd gotten pretty close to her over this past couple of weeks.

Throwing a journal, a couple of books, and his phone into his backpack, he slung it over his shoulder and began to head out the door, hugging his mom goodbye.

He kicked at a few clumps of grass sprouting newly from the ground, having survived the long and arduous winter. The sidewalk was grey and faded, the sky only barely blue above him, but the wind whistled softly in his hair and his ears, and this brought him peace. These past few weeks had been the best of his life. He'd become close with the pro heroes Eraserhead and Present Mic, although Shouta and Hizashi seemed like almost completely different people to Izuku than the heroes he looked up to and admired. It was hard to connect the dots between the pro hero Eraserhead and the man Izuku often saw lying on the couch with his hair up in a messy bun, reading intensely as he stroked one of his six cats curled up in his lap. It was hard to connect the pro hero Present Mic to the man with his hair in a low ponytail, stirring a pot of ramen and singing below his breath so as to not disturb his husband. It was hard to imagine pro heroes being so... domestic.

All Might must have a domestic life too, right? All Might ate, and he watched television and slept and surely liked cats or dogs or fish. All Might had to have people he cared about, who saw him laugh with humour instead of heroic bravery. All Might had to let his guard down sometimes too... right?

Distracted by his thoughts, Izuku's feet stumbled, and he fell. If he was going to be a hero, he'd have to work on his gracefulness and ability to walk without falling over. He slowly got up when a hand was shoved in front of his face, offering assistance. He gladly took it and looked up at the owner of said hand. He recognized that odd blonde hair and gaunt face-- ah, the man with the "condition".

"Hi again," Izuku said. "Thanks for helping me up."

"It's no problem," the other man was saying, rubbing the back of his neck. "I know I thanked you earlier, but your care really is appreciated. It's admirable how you pushed yourself through an obviously awkward scenario in order to check on the wellbeing of a stranger."