Midnight

10.4K 401 225
                                    

*Warning: Manipulation

"Izuku Midoryia. Why did the school just call me to say your homeroom teacher has taken you in? Do you realize how this makes me look? I better have heard that wrong." She practically yelled through the receiver. He hadn't heard her this angry in years.

Uh oh.

---

Panic immediately overtook him. His first instinct was to reassure his mother everything was fine, to lie, but he couldn't exactly do that when Aizawa sat two feet across from him. Okay, stay calm. Think. Izuku chanted to himself. I can still fix this. She'll understand if I just explain it rationally. She trusts me, she is always telling me how independent I am, this is fine.

He realized he'd been quiet for too long when his mother's shrill voice rang out. "Izuku? Are you ignoring me?"

Izuku covered the speaker with his hand and whispered to Aizawa, "It's my mom. She's mad at me."

Aizawa's frown deepened, his eyes growing darker. It was no secret Aizawa didn't approve of his mom's parenting methods. Izuku wondered if he was annoyed he was now talking to her. "Do you want me to speak with her?" Aizawa asked, his voice stern. That caught Izuku by surprise. He hadn't expected his teacher to actually want to talk with her, or what it is he could possibly want to say; whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"That's alright. This will probably be better coming from me anyway. She can be kind of...emotional." Izuku explained, cringing at the explanation. As bizarre as it was, he was actually the less emotional of the two. She had always been quick to tears, especially whenever anything was thrown off in her life. She was a woman of habit.

He uncovered the speaker. "Hi mom. No, I'm not ignoring you I'm just in a restaurant right now and it's hard to talk."

"You're in a restaurant?! Aren't you supposed to be in school right now? Are you by yourself?" Inko sounded more upset with each question. Izuku was half tempted to pretend to have a connection problem and hang up but knew that would probably just make things worse.

He took a moment to calm down so his voice would be steady when he replied. He slipped into the voice he always used when his mom got like this. The voice that convinced her they were okay. "I'm taking a day off for myself. I've been...sick." He stopped himself just before he said stressed. "Mr.Aizawa is with me right now and I'm completely fine."

"So now you're just doing whatever that man says?! You came to him before you came to me?" Her voice wavered like it always did before she cried. It made Izuku irrationally angry to hear it- he was supposed to be the one crying.

He snapped at her before he could stop himself. "How was I supposed to go to you? You're an ocean away."

Aizawa raised a brow at Izuku's outburst but didn't try to intervene. Maybe he was analyzing how Izuku reacted to her.

He sighed, closing his eyes as he spoke more softly, "I'm sorry I didn't mean that. I just meant Mr.Aizawa has been letting me stay with him. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner- but I-" Izuku stopped. What was he supposed to say to her? But I didn't want to talk to you? He doubted that would go over very well. Why does everything have to be so complicated?

"But what Izuku?"

"But I just couldn't. I'm sorry mom, I don't know what else to say." Izuku could feel the tears welling up already. The guilt that he thought was gone came right back up to the surface. Doubt clouded his vision, painting the situation in an entirely different light. Was he in the role of the ungrateful son?

"Don't make me the villain here. I've done nothing to support you and the minute I give you space you run off to someone else? Did you tell your teacher I've been neglecting you?"

He raked a hand through his hair roughly. No. It's not like that. It's just-"

He was cut off again. "This is unacceptable Izuku. I will not have my own son making me out to look like the bad guy. You know I had to go be with your father. You said you understood. You have no right to now decide you want some stranger to look after you. No- I will not accept it. You know I love you, baby. This isn't good for you, you shouldn't have your teacher pretending to be your father. because I care about you so much, I need you to move out for me baby. Just go live in the dorms again. Okay?" Inko's voice was wavering again, Izuku could all but picture tears streaking down her face as she cried.

All the sympathy he had saved for her, all the times he wanted to protect her, it all crumbled as if it had never been there in the first place. He was left only with the remnants of his underlying emotions. The warmth left him quickly, turning his voice stone cold.

"You're manipulating me." He didn't say it as an explanation, just calmly pointing out the fact. Aizawa sat up straighter as the words left Izuku's mouth. His face immediately grew tight with worry and he gestured for Izuku to hand him the phone.

Izuku leaned away from him. He didn't want to comforted right now or coddled. He wanted to be mad. Everyone else was allowed to lose their cool from time to time, why wasn't he?

"Baby no. That's just not true." Inko pleaded desperately. It made Izuku's stomach churn.

"Stop it mom. You're doing it right now. You always do this. You knew I was upset, you just pretended not to notice so you wouldn't have to feel guilty about leaving. You always know when I'm faking it, don't you?" Izuku questioned angrily.

All those times he had pretended to be fine. That school was fine. The teachers were nice. All of it. He thought he'd been building a protective bubble around her- shielding her from the truth. But he'd just been building a wall separating the two of them. Maybe it would have been fine if she had tried to break through that wall- even once. But she never did. She had been content to have the perfect child.

Izuku continued, his words coming out faster and faster now that there wasn't a filter to stop him. "Mr.Aizawa always noticed. Even when I didn't realize what I needed, he did. He never stopped trying to help me. I'm not leaving him, no matter what you say, you can't make me. " He paused, the next words burning in his throat. "You're right. I did go to him first, and I'll keep going to him first. No matter what you say." He didn't know he was crying until he subconsciously brought up a hand to touch his cheek. Once the words had left him he felt a strange sort of peace, like this huge burden had been taken off his shoulders. He smiled wobbly as he handed his phone over to Aizawa.

"The school will be in contact with you Mrs.Midoryia. Izuku will be staying in my custody until further notice." He said simply, hanging up the call before she could try and argue.

Aizawa's eyes locked onto Izuku's. "Are you okay kid?"

Izuku nodded slowly. "Yeah. This is the best I've felt since she told me she was leaving. I think...I think I really needed to tell her that."

It felt like a finale of sorts. Izuku got all the closure he needed. He could now move on with a new outlook on life.

Little did they both know, this was only the start.



---



Hi! Well, part one of this story is finished! Now that Izuku had evolved the question is...will Inko?

For those who guessed I have tall energy...I mean if you consider 4'11 tall then yes? Bahaha.

As always, thanks for all the support! Seeing your theories and comments makes this such a fun process for me!

Sunsets Lead To Sunrises (Dadzawa story)Where stories live. Discover now