Neutrality

Old Wounds

Nezu's POV

I enter the room and see that the others are still awake and Izuku seems to be back to his normal self.

I walk over to Kayama and wake her up gently.

"Can you please wake up the other two... I need to talk to Izuku alone"

I noticed Kayama was still slightly drowsy but she understood and quickly agreed.

I walk-over to Izuku, a friend who I thought I knew inside and out. We are not the only ones in the room.

The silence was suffocating; what seemed to be a few minutes felt like dozens of hours.

The silence was thankfully broken

"H-hi Nezu" Izuku said timidly

He seems to be fine but I know he isn't. The Izuku I know was anything but timid. This reminds me of when we first met; maybe there was some truth in that facade.

"Hi Izuku. How are you?"I reply with a smile

"I'm not going to pry but I'm here if you wanna talk about it" I continued with a reassuring tone

3rd person POV

Izuku knew that he would have a hard time with the next batch of students if he didn't tell Nezu. 'time to put on my big-boy pants'

"Bakugo Katsuki"

Nezu turned his head into Izuku's direction.

"Bakugo Katsuki and I were close friends back in kindergarten. He was also my neighbor. I used to call him 'K-Kacchan'. We were close until I was said to be 'quirkless'. After that, he bullied me for the rest of the school year. I left that same year so I didn't have to endure it for too long."

"Thank you for trusting me. Are you finished?"

Nezu knew Izuku had a bully before but never thought it was that bad. Izuku pushed himself to say this so he didn't want to pry too much.

"Yes... no. No, there's more"

"Izuku you don't ha-"

Izuku cut Nezu off

"No. I have too. Not only for me but I don't want the students to ever see me like that. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to make the students feel safe and give stability in their lives even when they are not in the best position. I need them to know that I will always be there for them, that I can always be there for them but if they see that I myself am not stable then what kind of teacher would I be?"

Nezu was happy and touched at the impact he made on this child

"Again, you can continue this if you want to but I won't push you to say anything and remember, you may be a teacher but before that, you are a human."

Nezu's words made him smile.

Izuku continued "At the time my parents were beating me and Kat- Bakugo knew about it. H-he would hit me in wounds and bruises my parents would make the day before. I could handle the pain but every time he hit me it made me remember my parents. A-and I-I had a lot of trust issues."

Nezu was shocked but was also relieved. Izuku was always extraordinarily mature for his age and seeing him act in his own mature way made Nezu reassured.

Izuku is smart and mature but he is still a child after all.