Puppet Master

First Day Of School

*-eep beep beep beep beep*

Izuku shot up. Kirishima groaned and pulled himself to a sitting position. Izuku stared at the clock the boy slammed his tired fist on. "Just theeeee alarm clock..." Kirishima grumbled. "Tells us when to get uuuuuppppp..." Izuku took a few seconds to still his racing heart.

Izuku was dreading this day. The first day of school.

Kirishima swung off of his bed and groggily moped around the room until he finally opened his dresser and pulled out his school uniform. It wasn't much. The school's boy uniform consisted of black slacks with a belt and a white, short-sleeved button-up that was tucked into the pants. Still, it was fancier than anything he had worn. His Golden Whip costume did not count. They had decided on adding a black arm sleeve to Izuku's on his right arm that would go under the sleeve. They were accepted as support for those who had injuries and Izuku, under the guise of all of his scars, could get away with it. They were mostly using it to cover his tattoo when he changed for PE or mixed martial arts.

Izuku was shaking so much that he could hardly buckle his belt.

Mrs. Kirishima was making their lunches as the boys ate cereal. Well...

"Dude..." Kirishima spoke softly, "you gotta eat." Mrs. Kirishima glanced over. Mr. Kirishima looked up from his newspaper.

Was Izuku relapsing? Definitely not. Right?

He just... wasn't breathing again.

Because he was going to school. A school full of hundreds of kids and adults and people who could find out and people who could hurt him, use him, torture him, send him back to that hell hole he could home almost five years ago and now he had to go there and fit in when all eyes would definitely be on him and there were just so many things that could go wrong! He didn't know the layout of the building so he had no escape plan aside from the outside. He knew that he could survive a jump from the second story but what if his class was on the third? He might die but wouldn't that be better? He couldn't fight anyone unless in his fighting class so what should he do to prote-

"Izuku."

Izuku jumped so hard he fell from his seat and the chair fell to the floor with a *BANG*.

Izuku opened his eyes slowly, having expected pain in his rear but felt nothing. He looked up. Kirishima had turned in his own seat and caught Izuku by the arms. Kirishima stood to also help Izuku stand before letting him go.

"See!" Kirishima pushed a thumb into his own chest. "No need to panic, man! I've got your back!"

Behind him, Mr. Kirishima, who had originally called out to him, stood. He held out something.

Izuku paled when he saw a thin pair of handcuffs. Mr. Kirishima held up a hand. "Wait, before you get the wrong idea, these are quirk-suppressing cuffs. With these on, no one should be able to reach out and see the strings."

A bit of the tension released from Izuku's shoulders but he hesitated.

"A- are these... a- a- allowed?" he asked.

Mr. Kirishima nodded. "I've spoken with the school about them." Izuku took them.

"T- thank you..."

He clipped them around his wrist. They didn't really stand out all that much but they were enough for someone to notice. What really stood out was the empty feeling in his chest when they were on. That dull feeling was still there but just much less significantly. Izuku subconsciously raised a hand and felt his chest. He whipped his head around to Kirishima.