hero's shadow // mha

67) any strings attached

"Those boys at school gave you that, didn't they?"

Izuku keeps his eyes on the ground. He hates looking at his father, as the face that stares back at him now only resembles that of the Nomu in the basement. "It doesn't hurt, sir."

"I'd be shocked if it did. I've given you far worse for better reasons." Sensei moves from his seat on the plush couch and comes towards Izuku. His dress shoes click against the glossy floor, matching the erratic thumping inside Izuku's chest. "Why didn't you fight back?"

"I'm stronger than—" Izuku cuts himself off with a low hiss when his father grabs his chin and lets his fingers roam over the mottled bruise on his jaw. His large thumb presses into the injury, igniting the nerves in Izuku's entire face and causing him to stiffen even more. "I'm, uh, a lot stronger. I didn't want to hurt them; they would snitch on me."

"And?" Father tilts Izuku's head to inspect more of his face. How he still manages to sense things so clearly without eyesight is a mystery not even Izuku can begin to solve. "Worst case scenario, you get suspended. Or, better yet, expelled. At least then I'd have an excuse to pull you from public school."

Izuku doesn't have a reply to that, so he keeps quiet. Father is in an extraordinarily good mood today, so it's best to be on guard. Izuku has to be even more alert than usual right now.

"Tell me, was it that 'friend' of yours again?" Sensei says the word in a mocking tone, his contempt thinly hidden.

Izuku swallows, letting his father manhandle his face however he wants. Now the man is touching the healing scars on his face and tracing over them. "No, sir. Kacchan wasn't around after school when... when it happened."

"Shame." He hums and lets go of his son. "Izuku, my boy, you do feel it inside you, don't you?"

Izuku's brows furrow, and he finds himself moving his gaze in question to the empty sockets on All for One's face.

Sensei pulls away from him and goes to the fridge to put ice in a glass. Izuku goes back to focusing on the cracks in the counter before him.

"That anger," he specifies, as if amused. "I can sense it inside of you so clearly. It's residing right there in your chest, just past your bones. You're angry at those foolish boys, aren't you?"

The grape soda doesn't taste good anymore. It just tastes bitter. Izuku puts his glass down before he ends up shattering it.

"I don't blame them anymore, Father," Izuku whispers.

All for One pours himself a drink, his back to Izuku. "Yes, you do. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with your anger, little one. It doesn't make you any less credible or mature. You can use it freely. In fact, that's its sole purpose, you know. It's one of life's greatest natural weapons."

"But..." Mom said not to give into anger, didn't she? It's only been a couple of years or so without her, and Izuku has already forgotten her voice. Is this really what she would want from Izuku?

He shifts uncomfortably in his seat, his bad arm beginning to throb again with little pins and needles digging into every square inch of his skin. Hawks' quirk is like a drug you don't want to ever try again. It's potent, addicting, and the most damaging of all.

It scares Izuku. Here, in this restaurant surrounded by the top three heroes, he's terrified.

Although maybe, just maybe, there's something else clawing up Izuku's throat. Maybe there's something... more. Something Izuku has always tried his best to keep at bay, for he remembers the last time he let it loose.