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Izuku was tired.
Not the ‘bone deep and done with everything’ kind, but the ‘it is four thirty-three in the morning and I need a cup of coffee.’ So, he went downstairs to the kitchen to get his life juice.
Izuku just blankly stared at the mess of purple hair in front of the coffee pot. It’s not like he hates Shinso or anything! Its admirable how hard he worked to be a hero, even when he failed the entrance exam. He did end up transferring into the hero course recently. He is skilled in hand to hand and controls a capture weapon like Aizawa-sensei.
His quirk is called Brainwashing and looks to be some sort of voice-activated mind control, which is so cool! It will be handy to forgo a fight and capture a villain peacefully. Hostage situations would end as soon as he arrived on the scene! Could he use his quirk in interrogations? Does it work through electronics? Does Shinso have to see the person who responds or just hear their response? Does he have to hear their answer or will them verbally responding fulfill the activation requirements? Does he have to focus on the person he wants to control or will anyone who answers his question fall under his quirk? How many people could he control? Is there a limit? Oh! He went on a rant again.
He couldn’t help it, Shinso is going to be an amazing hero! Izuku just hadn’t had his caffeine and couldn’t human right now. Especially since Shinso didn’t seem to like him that much. Although, it doesn’t matter whether he could or couldn’t because Shinso is looking at him with his ever-present deadpan. They sit there for an awkward moment, just staring at each other, before Izuku opens his mouth.
“Soo… can I have some?”
In lieu of a reply, Shinso blurts, “How did you get those scars?”
Izuku slowly blinks and must gradually piece out the meaning behind the words. In his defense, he still is without his bean drink and the social interaction part of his brain left a couple hours ago. Besides, he has so many scars that he had to think of which ones Shinso hadn’t seen (all the ones he hides, the ones he hates, the ones that were pain pain pain-) and which of those was Shinso silently gaping at.
He lifts his left hand to run across his upper cheek, “These ones?”
“Yes,” he whispers breathlessly.
Shinso snaps his gaze to meet Izuku’s own so intensely that Izuku would have stepped back if he had more cognitive function right now. Instead, it reminds Izuku’s useless brain to answer the original question.
“Fucking muzzles,” Izuku, way too honestly, states.
Shinso promptly chokes on air and drops his highly sacred bean milk filled mug. Izuku, the sensible teen he is at the moment, catches the drink and downs it without a care.
“Thanks,” Izuku says because his mother always taught him to be polite, “Is there anymore?”
The other doesn’t look truly present now, but mechanically starts a whole pot anyways. The heroes-in-training don’t speak a word until they sit at the island, and each have consumed enough coffee to kill a small child.
Izuku talks first, “Could you, possibly, forget we ever even saw each other?”
Shinso doesn’t miss a beat when he says, “You wish.”
“That I do,” he sighs.
The silence returns before Shinso asks, so uncomfortable and hesitant, “I have scars too. I mean- like- I also wore a muzzle.”
“Because of your quirk?” Izuku questions as this is a much better than the interrogation he was expecting. (Izuku is not shocked that society would be so cruel; he has seen it before, to those with and without a quirk)
“Yeah.”
“That’s dumb.”
“…My quirk is villainous,” Shinso responds, as though that is a valid explanation.
“Is Shoji’s quirk villainous?”
“No!” Shinso rejects vehemently.
Izuku takes the reply in stride and continues to speak his mind, “I agree, but other people don’t. If you dig around online, then you can find people questioning why UA would let someone so ‘villainous’ into their walls, and training to be a hero no less. You have had similar experiences of people hating on you because of your quirk. Just because all these people have said your quirk is ‘villainous’ doesn’t mean it is. Any quirk can be used to harm or help those around you, so no quirk is truly ‘villainous’ or ‘heroic.’”
Once Izuku ends his spiel, he looks at Shinso and is immediately startled at the tears forming in violet eyes. Izuku uncertainly pats his head full of incredibly fluffy hair in an attempt of comfort.
“There, there…?”
This got a chuckle out of Shinso and Izuku ended up snickering along. The quiet atmosphere was much more peaceful this time. Izuku almost thinks that Shinso forgot what started the conversation in the first place, but he can never be so lucky.
“What about yours?” Shinso asks, and Izuku does consider ignoring the question, but he is staring at Izuku so expectantly.
Now, Izuku can’t just say ‘I was quirkless and was treated accordingly,’ so he settles on, “People never liked my muttering.”
Which was true, he was muzzled or gag when he muttered, but also when he talked back or analyzed someone’s quirk. Or talked bad about a hero. Or talked about heroes. Or anything really. Chances are, he was muzzled even more than Shinso. He might see a difference in the size of their scars when put side by side. They would need a mirror for that though. His thoughts were put on hold when Shinso spoke again.
“That’s it?” Shinso probed.
“Basically. I tended to analyze people’s quirks in murmurs to process the information better, so anytime I mumbled they put one on me.”
This time, the silence felt much more suffocating. He was trying to think about mirrors again because if he didn’t then he would think of pain. Of burn and cuts. Of quirks and knives. Of muzzles and closets. Of worthless, useless, better off dead-
“I’m sorry”
Izuku froze because why would anyone apologize to him? And what did Shinso have to apologize for?
Apparently, Shinso’s actual quirk is mind reading since he elaborates, “For my behavior, especially what I said at the Sports Festival.”
He doesn’t know how to react. Nobody has ever apologized before. On top of that, Shinso’s words barely mattered to him. Someone was bound to hate him for his heroic, flashy quirk eventually.
“I forgive you, I guess.”
Shinso raises an eyebrow and asks, “You guess?”
“Yes, your forgiven or whatever. I don’t know- no one has ever apologized to me for something like that before!” Izuku informed while waving his hand around.
Shinso deadpans, “That is just sad, Midoriya.”
“Really? I would never have guessed,” Izuku said, voice thick with sarcasm.
Izuku let his head fall onto the countertop as Shinso snickered.
Laughing over each other’s trauma is probably unhealthy, but it is like their own sense of humor. Just between them because who else will they befriend 5 in the morning over muzzle scars?