Be Careful What You Wish For

What Is a Hero?

Izuku didn't think this hospital visit was necessary, but he supposed it was only standard protocol. As expected, neither Todoroki nor Iida had received any serious injuries. Izuku made sure of it. The one to receive the worst of it was himself, but the red gashes on his back looked worse than they really were.

Hopefully, they could leave soon. He just wanted to go home already. I wonder if mom heard about what happened yet.

His mouth twisted into a grimace. It would be nice to have an invincibility quirk like Hagakure. If he did, he'd be able to disappear at a moments notice. And by the time someone finally realizes, he'd already be far, far gone.

He could feel eyes on him. Had been, for a while. It made his skin crawl, because he knew what kind of eyes those were. Curious eyes. Questioning eyes. Concerned eyes. He wanted to puke.

Stop it. Stop looking at me. Stop caring. Why can't you just forget about me?

He knows it should make him happy. His friends worried about him, because he was important to them. But it didn't make him happy at all, and that just made Izuku hate himself even more, because it was so selfish of him. Wallowing in his own little pity party of despair when he should be happy, because he's gotten everything he wanted. The least he could do is show some fucking appreciation.

Look at you. You're a hero now. A

                                great

             fucking

    hero.

You should give yourself a gold star, or something.

He let out a bitter laugh that caught in his throat, threatening to morph into a sob, because Izuku just couldn't keep his emotions in check it seemed. He didn't know what was so funny, but it felt like the only appropriate response to the situation. That's right, just laugh it up. I'm sure you'll stop hating yourself then.

When the door to hospital room holding Izuku and his two classmates clicked open, he turned his head in its direction. There stood Gran Torino, along with the hero Manual and—a man?—that Izuku didn't recognize. The stranger "woofed" in greeting, and Izuku really should have expected that, considering the person was sporting the head of a literal dog. Nonetheless, it still managed to catch him off guard. He looked to Gran Torino, but the retired hero only shook his head at his inquisitive stare.

The dog-man's name was Tsuragamae Kenji, chief of police. From the sounds of it, he was here to scold them for their unlawful quirk usage. Which no, he's totally right! They should have just let Stain kill them without even attempting to fight back. Which, sure, Izuku would have called it self-defense, but no, we must think of the poor, poor serial killer. He might have gotten seriously hurt!

Izuku immediately cast a paranoid glance around the room, making sure that he didn't say any of that out loud. But when all the of attention still seemed to be focused on Tsuragamae, he let out a sigh of relief. As much as he wanted to speak up, this wasn't the time to pick a fight with the police.

"Hold on," Todoroki interrupted the lecture, furrowing his brows. "If we hadn't done anything, Iida and Native would be dead right now. Are you saying we should be punished for that?"

Izuku suddenly felt much lighter, glad he wasn't alone in his opinion. He's been filled with so many unwanted and intrusive thoughts lately, he was beginning to forget what was and wasn't appropriate. Encouraged by the elemental user, he straightened his back and added to Todoroki's words.