Chapter Text
It’s hard to hear over the pounding of the rain, the rumbling of the train, and the general buzz of chatter that comes from other people on the train. Before, it all would have been too much and Izuku would have turned off his hearing aids entirely. The old ones didn’t have reliably working dials; the only volume settings he knew would work were on and off. His new ones, though, let him lower the volume so it’s all muffled instead of roaring.
He suppresses a yawn and stares at his phone, frowning at the darkened screen in front of him. Ever since getting Shouto’s number, they’d been texting sporadically over the few days they had off from school. Though, Izuku had noticed that Shouto only ever responds consistently at night. They have a tendency to text until the early hours of the morning, mostly because of Izuku’s habit of sending multiple long texts one after the other.
To be honest, he’s surprised he’s been able to text so much. It’s hard to do with his hands still wrapped in bandages. Eventually, Izuku got to the point where he started using the speech to text application instead. That worked as long as he kept his voice down so he didn’t disturb his mom. The only mishap there, though, is the one time Mei came over while he was talking and immediately began to loudly rant about a new baby of hers.
Needless to say, Shouto was incredibly confused at the sudden change in topic from the drawbacks of capes on costumes, as based on the argument by Dr. Mode in America, to Mei’s opening words of, “IZU I NEED YOUR HELP MAKING A NEW BABY!” The conversation that followed had Mei rolling on the floor laughing as Izuku frantically tried to reassure Shouto that, no, they weren’t talking about actual babies.
“Midoriya from the hero class!” someone behind him shouts.
Izuku blinks and turns up his hearing aids before looking behind him. It’s nobody he knows; just an average looking man with an encouraging smile. As Izuku smiles back, he notices other people on the train are all staring at him and whispering. All the attention makes his face heat up as he looks back at the man who had originally called his name.
“Good job at the sports festival! You were so close!” the man says. It’s definitely not what Izuku was expecting him to say. Actually, he never considered the fact that somebody who didn’t know him personally would be encouraging him. Usually, it’s just been people telling him to stick to something safer than hero work; trying out for the police force has always been a common piece of advice from concerned adults.
The man’s comment seems to spark something as suddenly everyone on the train is complimenting him. He doesn’t know where to look first, with words of encouragement coming from strangers all around.
“You were in the top eight, right?”
“You were so cool!”
“He’s smaller than I thought he’d be.”
“He reminds me of when I was young.”
“It’s so impressive, what he was able to do despite being quirkless.”
“He did the opening speech, right? Doesn’t that mean he also placed first on the entrance exam?”
“Yeah, he’s really trying hard!”
“Do your best, hero!”
Izuku knows he’s getting frazzled and probably looks it. Still, he can’t help the nervous smile he gets as he looks around at all the people talking to him. It’s hard to choose one person to focus on, since the moment he spots one, there’s another that’s started talking.
The comments and encouragement continue until he gets to his stop. Izuku loses count of how many times he says thank you before he manages to get off the train just before the doors close. He turns and waves to the people as the train leaves, smiling brightly. Despite the rain, it feels like a good morning.
Izuku hums softly to himself, rain making a constant drumming beat against his umbrella as he walks up the hill to the school. He glances down at his phone, frowning a little as he realizes he’d forgotten to check his messages because of everything that happened on the train. When he does open the messaging app, Izuku doesn’t feel too surprised to see there still isn’t any response from Shouto.
He sighs and reaches up to scratch at an itch on his head, pausing when he feels the bandages in the way. Izuku drops his hand and huffs in frustration. As much as he doesn’t regret going all out in his fight with Shouto, the injuries from it kind of suck. They’re not as bad as they were before, and Izuku can still move and fight without much of a problem, but the bandages are annoyingly in the way.
Over the sound of the rain, Izuku hears someone’s rapid footsteps splashing in the water on the ground. It must be someone running, so he drifts to the right edge of the sidewalk, hoping to get out of their way. He glances back, blinking when he sees Iida in a bright green poncho and rain boots.
“Good morning, Midoriya!” Iida calls. Izuku stares at him as he runs up the hill, not slowing down. “Why are you just standing there? You’re going to be late!” his friend says as he runs right by Izuku.
“Late? But there are still five minutes until the first bell!” Izuku says, jogging after Iida despite his words. He can’t help it. Iida’s excitement seems to be infectious. Izuku hears him mention something about ten minutes, but he’s a bit ahead of him now and the rain is still loud. Turning up his hearing aids would just make the rain louder, too, so it’s not like he can do that to help.
When they get to the school’s entrance, Izuku huffs softly and shakes out his umbrella. He looks over at Iida as he places the umbrella in the 1-A box, studying the way he seems tenser than normal. “Um, Iida, is everything okay?” he asks gently.
Iida straightens up and looks at Izuku after taking his poncho off. “If it’s about my brother, there is no need to worry. I apologize for worrying you needlessly,” he says, flashing Izuku a reassuring smile. It doesn’t do much to reassure him.
He walks off to class before Izuku can say anything, leaving Izuku standing in the entryway with his still dripping umbrella. Iida’s behavior is worrying, to say the least, even though it doesn’t seem too different from how he normally acts. It’s in the way his friend is carrying himself, the way his shoulders form a tenser line than usual. Izuku just doesn’t know how to help him. Yet.