Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Class 1-A trudge into their classroom, near exhausted from both mental and physical exertion.

Just what was their homeroom teacher thinking by putting them through all those tests? On the first day no less!

And that comment about last place had to be a bluff, right? He wouldn’t actually go through with such a dirty blow before they could learn anything, surely?

But, oh, he did in fact hold his promise and expelled the loser on the spot, some plain-looking kid with brown hair who showed no outright sign of quirk usage.

It was crushing to watch, but a sigh of relief passed through the class all the same.

They didn’t get expelled, they were safe, for now.

So, onwards they pushed on. Back into the classroom exhausted but eager to officially start their journeys on becoming heroes.

Except.

“Dude, where’s my pencil?” Kaminari questioned loudly, riffling through his things.

They were already in disarray, a commendable feat considering they didn’t even start yet.

“I can’t find it!” Eighteen different sets of eyes glance at him over his yells.

Jirou sniffed. “It’s probably for the best. That thing was so worn down it was hardly bigger than your finger.”

The blond whined. “But I liked that pencil! I always received good grades with that pencil!”

“If it’s the only one you ever used, then of course you would! It’s not magically better just because you exclusively wrote with it.”

“Oh no,” he gasped dramatically, ignoring her. “What if the next teacher kicks me out because I can’t take notes? What the hell am I going to say to my parents if I got expelled over not having a pencil!”

“Just use another one, god fucking damn it!” Bakugou exploded already fed up with this entire year. “Can you stop whining over a stupid pencil and sit the fuck down? You’re driving on my nerves!”

“I don’t have another pencil!” Kaminari wailed to the angry teens great displeasure. “Oh no no no, is this it? Is this where my career ends? Am I going to have to pack my things and move to the st—” He broke off, blinking at the writing utensil held out in front of his face.

“Here,” Yaoyorozu’s sigh dripped in exasperation as she held out a simple yellow pencil, she had Created just a second prior to the distressed teen. “Just take this one.”

Eyes lighting up in joy, Kaminari jumped graciously. “Oh my god, you’re a life savior—er,”

“Yaoyorozu.”

“Yaoyorozu! Thank you!”

She waved him off. The classroom voices were fading now. Still a mumble of a “don’t worry about it” drifted before falling silent altogether.

“Can you believe that 1-A? They didn’t come to the opening ceremony; who do they think they are?” A boy with well-sleeked blond hair ranted to the unfortunate girl who was seriously rethinking her choice in sitting next to him.

He took an ungracefully large bite of his onigiri, stray bits of rice falling to the floor. He did not wait until he finished chewing before steaming rolling onwards. “I bet they think they’re better than everyone! That since they got into 1-A, they don’t think we’re worthy of their presence! Ha! Well, just they wait. 1-B will crush them and show they’re not anything special.”

Kendo sighed. It was only day one, and this idiot in front of her is already calling for war.

She probably should not fuel this.

“I heard a student has already been expelled,” she remarked.

Fueling? Negative.

No, she ignited it.

Monoma’s eye lit up dangerously. As he inhaled deeply to go on another tangent, Kendo knew she fucked up.

Her savior came in the clumsy fool dropping his onigiri.

It slipped from his squeezing grip and crumpled unceremoniously onto the cafeteria floor, scattering rice and jelly into an unappetizing squelch.

Monoma made a sad noise, his earlier dislike deflating to the sight of his lost lunch.

Kendo watched as the boy grabbed a napkin and bent over to clean up his mess, hastily scooping up the sorry sight. No need to make the janitor’s job harder, after all.

Her relief didn’t last long.

In no time at all he carefully wrapped his now discarded lunch, set it off to the side, and delved off again about his hatred of a class he hasn’t even met yet, and Kendo could feel this was going to be a tiring year.

If there were fewer grains of rice than what fell to the floor, then no one was the wiser.

It is the start of the second day at UA high and Hatsume has already checked out of reality.

Her surroundings, classmates, and time blurred out of her focus as it no longer required her attention.

Oh, no, not when she has an upgraded desk than what she was used to! Nothing but the tools, materials, and her creation existed to her manic obsession.

She waited so long, too long for this opportunity! She has a million and one ideas for her babies and so little time to craft them! There were not enough hours—enough minutes, seconds to a day, to an hour.

It was only the second day, and yet the sports festival was already just around the corner.

How many babies can she make before then? She could not rush it, they needed careful hands to guide them on the right path—to perfection.

Selling a faulty baby would be inexcusable and she would lose trust faster than an explosion hitting her in the face.

She concentrated, eyes zooming into the wiring. Still a few ports were missing some.

Not looking away, Hatsume blindly reached for the spool of wiring she keeps to her right.

Only for her hand to touch bare space on the table.

Disrupted, she glances to her side and see that yes, it was in fact not there.

Or anywhere on her station. How strange, she just used it not long ago!

Tilting her head, she confirmed it hadn’t fell on the floor, either.

Humming sharply to herself, Hatsume figured that another student must’ve borrowed hers when she wasn’t looking, how rude.

But this was UA, and there certainly wasn’t a shortage on wires. So, she shrugged and simply grabbed another one—setting back into her craft.

How much time flashed by was a mystery, but it felt like mere milliseconds before someone roughly nudged her shoulder, attaining her attention.

“What?” The inventor grumbled, annoyed at being interrupted.

“It’s lunch,” Powerloader announced. “The rest of the class left already, get going.”

Lunch!

She wasn’t hungry.

How could she be? There is too much to do and so little time to do it!

But Powerloader, the killjoy, was having none of it. “If I don’t send my students to go eat when they should, next thing ya know they kneel over from lack of rest and food in there system. Now get going, and I swear if I see you in here before lunch period is over, I’ll have to ban you for the rest of the day. Shoo.”

Banned! What an outrage! No, no, Hatsume could not let that happen!

Begrudgingly, she gave in.

As Hatsume went to set her tools down, her hand brushed against something, knocking it over.

She blinked down as it rolled so slightly on the table surface.

A second spool of wire?

She never saw anyone walk up to her desk to return it, and she was paying quite close attention to her work area, not wanting anyone to snatch her precious belongings again!

And yet.

Mei you silly fool, it was there all this time! You really need to pay closer attention!

With a skip in her step, she hummed energetically on her way to the cafeteria, her mind already speeding five different ways to improve her current baby.

It came suddenly, with no warning.

The school screeched with a blaring alarm, so loud and jarring the windows rattled where they were.

Students flinched against the call, wide eyed and surprised.

Then came the chaos.

Screaming, pushing, stomping, shouts of terror and cries of fear—there was nothing but uncontrolled, total, chaos.

It was loud.

It was unbearable.

Overloading, terrible, horrible, too loud, too much, stop, just please please stop—

There was no reprieve. There alarms uncaring to those who it effects worse than others—those who couldn’t even pry themselves from their curled in fetal position from where they lay, the noise traveling down to the bone, reverberating and threatening to tear them apart and it was too much---!

And then, it all stopped.

To the oversensitive, it didn’t feel like it had. Refusing to move as their ears rang in the throes of aftershocks.

Until, slowly, carefully—they got up.

And with the world still ringing—they stumbled unsteadily away.

It was a relatively normal school day as far as they go.

That is, until it no longer was.

Faster than a blink, it went from a normal school day—to the teachers suddenly rushing out the doors as staff evacuates the student body in an orderly fashion—unlike the day before. Are they learning? Good for them!

In surprisingly little time, UA was completely deserted.

That rarely happened.

How strange…

In the absence of occupants, a page was carefully torn out of a blank notebook.

Whistling filled the empty hallway as Present Mic strutted; his footsteps purposeful.

Due to the USJ attack yesterday, school was cancelled for the next two days.

Luckily, no students were seriously injured.

Unluckily, Eraserhead was.

But it was confirmed that he would get better! And what a breath of fresh relief that was!

So, school was out for the students. But the teachers had their work cut out for themselves, straddled to rein in the damage control and heighten security.

How did those villains even get in?! Where did they come from?  What would have happened if All Might did not come when he did?

It was a horrible mental image.

A soft patter from above has the whistle dying on his lips.

It pittered quietly, growing closer.

Present Mic looked up and realized with widening eyes that it sounded like tiny footsteps from inside the vent.

Mice.

A full body shiver wracked his body.

No way, no thank you, he is not dealing with that today.

Turning harshly on his heel, Present Mic rushed back from where he came. He’ll just have to take another hallway.

Later that day, mouse traps were carefully lined inside the school vents.

Two days later found every single trap, unsprung and untouched.

Present Mic was teased to no end of hearing things that simply were not there.

“It’s been a stressful couple days; don’t feel bad about it!” Midnight teased to her friend.

“I didn’t imagine it!” Present Mic proclaimed. “I swear! Before you know it, the school will be infested with disgusting little rodents! And I will sit back and offer no help because I tried to warn you!”

Snipe snorted. “This is one of the top schools in Japan. Do you seriously think we would get a rat problem?”

“Well, there is Nezu…”

A yelp of pain from an elbow.

A low, growling voice. “Hush!”

The creaking of a door being opened, followed by the fading voice of the school’s principle—already too far to make out.

Eraserhead hobbled into his classroom precisely thirty minutes before homeroom was due to start.

His good eye trailed to his desk, where he was greeted with a tiny note and a jelly donut.

Get well soon, Eraserhead! ヽ(o＾▽＾o)ノ

The handwriting was small and neat. Instead of a name, it was signed off with a little cutesy face.

Did one of his students write this?

He looked up. No one was here.

At breakfast, then?

The note and treat for him warmed his heart, just a little. Not that he would ever admit it.

Eyeing the donut, he was pleased to see it was his favorite kind he preferred from the cafeteria.

This would be the part where he would take a bite out of gratitude.

Except,

Eraserhead’s arms hung numbly where they were wrapped layer for layer. Any hope of using his hands was impossible.

The hero bit back frustration. He’ll have to go grab one of his friends to set the donut aside for later.

It was the thought that counted, at least.

Hitoshi had just declared war on 1-A, the hero class.

There was a vacant spot available, and Hitoshi will grab it. He cannot afford not to.

Not when his dream was at stake.

So far deep into his sulking, the purple haired teen failed to notice the incoming rushing student.

They collide harshly, sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

Pain blossomed on the back of his skull where it had connected to the wall. Hitoshi lifted himself onto his elbow, rubbing his aching head.

 Rising himself, Hitoshi was about to snap at the student to watch the hell where they were going but movement from the corner of his eye catches his attention.

A retreating, tiny tail disappears quickly just out of view.

Before Hitoshi can wonder if U fucking A has a rat problem, the student springs energetically to her feet.

“So sorry about that! Gotta go—stay on your feet zombie boy!” The girl-- completely covered head to toe in ash and soot looking like she crawled out of hell’s raging flames—dashes down the hallway faster than Hitoshi could even blink.

What the fuck?

Midoriya Izuku, safe once again in the walls, gulps great gulps of air directly into his straining lungs.

That was too close.

It was stupid to get so close—but he was curious! He couldn’t help it! That was his nature!

Why were all those students surrounding the 1-A door like that?

Something about kicking seats out? Why would they kick chairs? That was silly.

His tail curled from behind. Well, most humans tended to be just a little silly, anyway. He should know, he spent years inside the walls of this school and observe hundreds of humans on the daily.

Izuku straightened from his kneeled position, his lungs feeling considerably better.

He needs to be more careful, if a human spots him—it’s all over.

Quickly dusting himself off, the very tiny boy looks around him, sweeping the area. It would do no good if he ran into a bug or stray into a spider’s territory.

Seems luck was with him, showing his way clear.

Repositioning his makeshift bag and tools, Izuku carefully scurried through well-familiar walls.

Being a borrower was busy work, after all.

Chapter Text

All things considered, Izuku isn’t really that great of a borrower.

Borrowers are meant to take things that won’t be missed or noticed when gone. They were meant for small houses with as few humans living inside as possible. Fewer humans meant fewer chances to be spotted and caught and hurt.

Borrowers were to go out when no human were out and about, slinking through the walls and floorboards in the dead of night or when the humans were not at home. Being caught in the act meant leaving and finding a new home to live in, or in extreme cases; it could mean a borrower’s death.

Human’s did not take kindly to sharing their home with tiny people. Who would? No one wants their belongings to vanish, bit by bit. And no one wanted to be spied on by tiny little eyes when you think you are truly by yourself.

Not that borrowers are malicious—they only wish to take what they need to survive, and nothing more! Was that so wrong?

And with all that in mind, Izuku was a horrible borrower.

Not in the sense he was bad at what he does! No, he would have starved to death long ago if that were the case.

He was too curious and just a little bit greedy for his own good.

Borrowers should stay away and out of sight until humans are away?

Izuku actively seeks humans out during the busiest of times. Watching their habits, interactions, everything that makes a human, well, human.

Each individual was different and unique. They had their own likes and dislikes, their own friend groups, and personal little niches that made them who they were. They were interesting and fun to observe.

Borrowers should take what would go unnoticed, and only what they needed to survive?

Izuku takes what he finds interesting.

He is a hoarder through and through. If he thinks he can use something, the item in question will be snatched away the next day.

The humans notice, of course. They would be blind not to.

However, no one thinks of a borrower stealing their stuff, not when there are hundreds of other more likely candidates for the small theft.

Which brings to the next point: borrowers live in small houses, with as few humans as possible.

Living in a school was anything but small and few.

Izuku lost count of how many close calls he had over the years. How many times humans just barely spotted the tiny borrower in the corner of their eye. Or just often he was from being trampled to his death by unsuspecting shoes because he was an idiot walking around when humans were present.

It was nothing but pure, unrestrained chaos.

But it was his home.

And once he got used to the chaos, Izuku couldn’t imagine going back to live in some stuffy old house with the world’s most boring, uninteresting human living in it.

Everyday felt like a new adventure to the young borrower. It was interesting, it was fun. And he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Well,

It would be nicer if his parents were here. Or if he could know if they were safe.

But it wasn’t like you could really… enter the school grounds or your own. Izuku was pretty sure of that fact.

So, as it was, Izuku could admit that he might be… just a tiny bit… lonely.

But it was fine! It was impossible to spiral too far in his loneliness when the school was so packed full of humans!

During his downtime, when there was nothing much to really do, Izuku would sometimes peer down into a classroom and listen in on whatever they were being lectured on. If he closed his eyes it was easy to image him down there as well, doing his best at becoming a great student along with his fellow classmates.

He might not understand everything being taught but-- Izuku likes to think after listening in for several years he was at least starting to get the hang of some topics.

If Izuku had to pick on which class was the most interesting, he would have to say that would be the support department! The rooms were always so chaotic and busy and so very full of life, but Izuku had learned a lot from watching them. (Not to mention they had some of the best stuff to borrow!)

The worst was, by a long shot, the business department. Izuku never returned after his first visit. His head had spun in circles and produced the biggest headache the young borrower had ever experienced in his life.

Six years later, Izuku was sure he could probably understand the subject a bit better now but…

I think I’d rather pass.

Humming to himself, Izuku dropped the rag with a wet splat. He examined himself, making sure he wiped off every bit of dust off his person. With a satisfied nod, the boy confirmed not a trace remained and swiftly donned a clean tunic.

Should I clean that part of the vent? He wondered, it might be useful later and I’m not keen on cleaning myself every time I decide to walk that way.

Maybe he could later? Yeah, later might work better.

Poking his head in the tissue box-made-bed, (boy, was dragging that thing up into the vents an interesting experience) Izuku rummaged for his bag.

He found it buried under a corner of his blanket (a torn up piece of cloth he swiped from the support department) and quickly poked his nose inside to make sure he had what he needed.

String…wire…his super sticky-tac gloves and socks…a bit of paper and a stick of granite, along with a few other smaller, helpful items. Nodding, Izuku ducked out of the tissue box and flung the bag over his shoulder.

Next, he equipped his utility belt (a shoe string) that held his canteen (a small plastic sauce bottle in the shape of a fish) and climbing needles that were a bit long and had a bulb near their handles for easier griping.

The needles were stored in a leather pouch sheath that prevented the borrower from stabbing himself accidentally. (or humans) They were mostly for climbing up on walls, but they also made good tools at protecting himself when a bug or mouse gets too daring for their own good.

Izuku dipped his canteen into his water reserve, a large water bottle laying on its side. When Izuku isn’t using it, he screws the cap back on to be sure he loses not a single precious drop.

Then he carefully tucks a tissue over the entrance of his bed to discourage any spiders from using it to spin their webs.

This was Izuku’s favorite “room” he made for himself, but it wasn’t his only one as the school was too big, and sometimes, he wouldn’t be able to make the trip all the way back here. So, while he would plan to return back here later tonight, it wasn’t always a definite thing.

With everything properly closed and sealed up, Izuku nods to himself and takes to the vents.

Izuku has a plan for today, but he would like to check up on the hero teacher Eraserhead, first.

The borrower was shocked when the walking mummy that had suddenly showed up in the halls of UA was none other than Aizawa Shouta. Apparently when all of the teachers rushed out of the school that one day, another building was being attacked by villains and the hero had gotten seriously injured protecting his students.

No one else got hurt badly or died under the attack, and for that Izuku was grateful. The school could get real depressing if someone died.

The bell already rang… so he should be in the teacher’s lounge. I think.

He slows down as he gets closer, taking care in avoiding the mouse traps with already rotting food laid on top. Seriously, what do they take him for?

He couldn’t even get rid of them, unless he wanted to alert the humans farther.

Present Mic was, fortunately, the only one who heard the borrower that day. He was a bit careless with the building being empty and was carrying something much too heavy and made his footsteps produce more sound that he expected. Oh well. Izuku is pretty sure the other teachers thought the Voice Hero imagined the whole thing anyway.

Circling past one last trap, Izuku reached the grate and knelt down, peering below.

Right away his eyes are drawn to a mummified Aizawa.

Izuku very nearly snorted with laughter when he saw that the grumpy teacher was being hand fed jelly donuts by Present Mic.

The man was cooing and making mock baby noises each time he swooped the donut closer for the poor man to take a bite from. Izuku was sure if it were not for the fact his hands were bound so firmly, Aizawa would have strangled the blond hero.

Around the room he can hear stifled giggling and chuckles. Midnight forwent being subtle and was full-blown laughing at her friend’s antics.

Placing a hand to his mouth, Izuku desperately tried to quieten his own giggles. His green eyes travel along the room and stop when he sees a mess of blond hair that reminded the young borrower of a bright sunflower.

The new teacher, Yagi, was still a mystery to Izuku. He wasn’t quite sure what the man taught yet, but if the man was a hero, he must be a long retired one given his appearance.

He looks like he’s going to kneel over any day now, he couldn’t help but observe. The poor man looked like a walking skeleton.

Should I tail him today? He hummed in consideration.

Hmm, not yet.

He was interested, but convinced Yagi didn’t have a job too interesting enough for Izuku to observe. What if he was a new business teacher? No thanks.

Besides, Izuku had other plans for today.

Sweeping his eyes over the gathered teachers one last time, the young borrower hefted himself to his feet and scurried away—towards the support department.

The sports festival is right around the corner, and Izuku was very excited over this fact.

It was one of his favorite holidays because Izuku was fascinated with the quirks humans could use, a special power unique to them! It was incredible and finding out there was a whole event dedicated to showing them off in a flashy display of power was amazing!

When the young borrower first found out about the event, he borrowed a tv remote the next year right before it was scheduled to start. A new remote replaced it a few days later and Izuku was pleased by the fact he wouldn’t have to return it later because the tv in this room was one he could easily view without worrying about getting caught.

It was close to the back of the room and facing away from the door, so it wasn’t spotted when first entering. When someone did walk in, Izuku was quick to kill the power before they noticed.

He thinks someone did catch it once, though, and then screamed about the room being haunted.

But thinking you saw the tv flash off wasn’t really considered ‘haunted’ to the other students’ eyes, so it slid off the radar.

If it wasn’t for the fact Izuku was still new to the building, he was positive he would’ve sunk into the temptation of making students think their classroom was in fact haunted. He still very much wanted to.

Doing that now probably would not be the best idea.  

Still.

Getting back on track-- Izuku loved the sports festival.

But he can only watch it through the screen of a tv and he was dying to see it in person—like everyone else got to!

He could easily get to the stadium, that was no issue here.

The problem was that the stadium was deafening loud. So overwhelming that he could hardly get near the place without curling into a ball as noise attacks him from all angles. He was better off staying in the lonely school.

But this year—Izuku has a plan.

In the third year support class, a student has been working on a fabric that absorbs all sound that comes within contact of it.

Its main purpose was to make the soles of footwear stealthier. This would be extremely effective for heroes whose boots were more on the clunkier side.

Izuku had no interest in silencing his footsteps, he can do that easily.

But he is desperately wanting to know if they would work like a pair of noise cancellation earmuffs.

If they worked then…

Sliding down the metal vent, Izuku didn’t bother to quieten his landing. The effort was not needed during this time of day. Not when the room itself is already so loud with hammering, whirling, and tinkering.

This vent grate was on the wall as opposed to the ceiling. So Izuku walked up to it and squinted into the chaos.

His target usually sat pretty close—there!

To Izuku’s absolute delight, not only was the support boy working on the fabric again today but—he also was fitting it onto a piece of hero gear! Which means!

Squeezing his face up against the grate, the young borrower could spot a small trashcan filled with unused trimmings.

Useless for humans to put to use, but perfect for a borrower to snatch.

This way, Izuku will not have to feel guilty about taking any! After all, it was just going to be thrown out anyway!

Practically drooling that he would finally get the chance to get his tiny hands on that fabric, it took every bit of Izuku’s will power not to jump down and make a mad dash for his prize.

Usually, he would.

But…

It was too far in the open, and not even he was idiotic enough to chance it.

So instead, he backed away from the grate.

And sat.

Sliding his bag from his shoulder, Izuku took out some cake he compressed into balls and generously bit into one.

If the scraps were in a trash can, then all he needed to do was wait until everyone filed out for lunch.

From his angle, Izuku wasn’t able to see what time it was, but he knew he still had a couple hours until.

If he wanted to, he could go off and do some other sort of business and return here when they were gone, but he didn’t necessarily mind waiting and watching. Plus, if the trash bin was moved or thrown out into a bigger one, then he needed to see where unless he wanted to spend the entire period searching the room up and down.

So, he hunkered down, propped up his elbows, and watched as a student started throwing up hot glowing plasma from his stomach and molding it into some sort of armor with his bare hands, while another student down the room detaches their arms form the elbow, grows new ones, and then controls the now floating pair of arms to help out with their own project.

Quirks really just let you do anything, huh?

When the lunch bell rang, Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin as he jolted back to awareness.

The students below seemed the same, blinking out of their hyper-focused states as the teacher ushers them to leave the room—and no you cannot stay for another five minutes, Ren!

They empty out and Izuku stays still for a few minutes more, just in case someone rushes back in over forgotten lunch money or a prototype laser they wanted to sneak out and continue working on.

When no one spontaneously appeared, Izuku carefully lifted the bottom of the grate, sucked in his gut, and slipped through the opening.

He scaled down the wall with his twin needles until his feet gently touched the floor.

Sheathing the needles, the young borrower raced the distance to the trash bin where his treasure trove waited.

The bin was on the shorter side compared to the taller trash cans, but like most things, it still towered over Izuku. Black plastic spilled over its edge to the halfway point.

Izuku jumps up, swiping his hand for the plastic. It takes him a few tries, but eventually he smacks its surface and quickly takes hold, using it to climb over the rim and drop down in cushioned fabric—and oh, that was soft.

Shuffling around, Izuku pulls a piece from up under him then immediately discarded it.

Too big… too big… way too big, jeez that human is really wasting a lot of usable material.

Are there not any pieces that were not his own size?!

He was about to give up, and just grab one and go through the painstaking process of cutting it up himself, when he heard the tall-tale noise of a door opening.

Izuku ducked his under the scraps of materials. Who walked in? He couldn’t see.

Whoever it was, they were grumbling under their breath as heavy footsteps vibrated against the floor.

The sound of wrinkling plastic being disturbed.

The sound of several items falling and gathering.

The sound of footsteps on the move and the process repeats.

A bad feeling settles over Izuku, he needs to get out of here before—

A shadow fell over his bin and Izuku is jerked violently as his whole world is suddenly flipped upside-down and he is falling – falling – falling and slams into something hard and metallic. He has less than a millisecond to wonder just what he had landed on before the materials and fabric he was hiding in before falls on him from above and effectively buries the young borrower.

Darkness smothers him from all angles and Izuku panics because he knows exactly what the support department does with their discarded trash, and unless he wanted to be burnt to a crisp he needed to leave now.

Blindly reaching out, Izuku climbs with a fevered frenzy, the constant shifting, and jerking motions of the trash can swaying with each step the human above took made it exceedingly difficult and Izuku kept sliding back downwards, halting his progress.

A particularly hard jerk to the left, sends Izuku slamming into the side of the trashcan, knocking the air from his lungs. The swaying pauses for a moment, and then more trash falls from above, adding more weight. It was getting hard to breathe and Izuku could hear the blood roaring in his ears.

Hard plastic crinkles under his fingertips and he runs on autopilot as he hauls his small body upwards, using the bag as his support. He could see the faint glow of light above and doubled his efforts to break free.

Forcing himself not to completely reveal himself, Izuku quickly darted his eyes around the mountain of trash as he hid under a crumpled piece of paper and saw a large thumb gripping over the edge of the container.

A quick look up. The teacher wasn’t focused on what he was carrying. Good. If Izuku could just sneak out without him noticing…

The sharp screech of metal on metal grinding freezes Izuku’s blood in an instant as he watches in horror as the incineration hatch springs open. He has run out of time.

It was pure raw adrenaline flooding into his body like a crashing wave that had Izuku unsheathing one of his climbing needles and stabbing it into the fleshy meat of the thumb holding the trashcan in place, sinking it painfully deep as the human howls in pain from above, relieving his grip and scattering trash all across the floor in a messy heap.

Wasting not an instant, Izuku leaped to his feet and flung himself under a desk that was only mere inches off the ground.

He watched, with his tiny heart thumping rapidly in his chest as the human yanks the needle from their thumb and glare down at the mess of garbage littering the floor.

It was quickly swept up and dumped into the incinerator, reducing everything to a fine layer of burning ash.

Izuku shivered.

The teacher eventually left, going into a small room that was their own workshop, and left Izuku alone in the room once more.

By this time, the fast beating of his heart had slowed down to a healthy, calm rate and Izuku squeezed himself from his hiding place, dusted himself off, and slipped back into the well-familiar territory of the vents.

So, the expedition went a bit sour for a while there, it was no matter! No harm, no worries, right?

Losing one of his needles was a bummer, but he had plenty of extras!

Reaching one of his rooms closest to him, Izuku all but collapsed onto a squishy donut toy he repurposed as a chair.

He rubbed his face, and noticed his hands were still a bit shaky. He shook it out.

Taking a greedy gulp from his canteen, Izuku wiggled his hips until his bag laid flat on his lap. He capped his canister, and deftly untied the strings of his bag.

Already straining at the seams, it springs open the moment he gave it leeway.

Inside, packed and stuffed so tightly, was a ball of thick black fabric.

His prize.

Chapter Text

In the vents above a certain room, a young borrower was trying to take a quick nap.

A small leather bag functioned as the pillow beneath Izuku's head, who was content after eating a particularly big meal.

Someone had thrown out a taiyaki— a whole taiyaki! —in the garbage. Izuku, who witnessed this tragedy, was quick to dive into the trashcan and pull it out before anyone was the wiser.

Warmth flooded his mouth as he eagerly bit down, almost moaning at the sweet, delicious taste. His cheeks were stuffed to the brim of the baked treat.

Why would someone be so wasteful? There was obviously nothing wrong with it!

He took another bite.

Maybe they weren’t hungry anymore and decided to get rid of it? Izuku still couldn’t understand why they didn’t save it for later.

Oh well—who was he to complain? He should be thanking them, actually!

With intense gratitude on his mind, he closed his eyes and sent out a silent thanks to whoever was foolish enough to waste this food. Then he swallowed and took another enormous bite.

The taiyaki was bigger than himself, and he wasn’t able to finish it in the end. Instead the boy carefully wrapped it up, and started the journey to drop it off in one of his many rooms within UA.

Unfortunately for him, the nearest one was still pretty far away, and during his trek drowsiness started to overtake him.

Izuku rolled onto his back and stretched his legs in a daze, a dopey smile on his freckled face.

He barely registered the door to the room below him sliding open, his sleepy mind refusing to get up. A few minutes later when it happened a second time, followed by a strangled noise in the back of someone’s throat, Izuku begrudgingly began to wake up.

Right in time to hear: “What on Earth happened to your hair? ”

Well that got his attention.

He rolled onto his stomach and crawled towards the vent grate to peer down into the room.

Two men were in the small room usually meant for one-on-one meetings. One of the men was someone Izuku had never seen before. He was tall and lanky, to the point that his proportions reminded the young borrower of a silly cartoon character. His hair was a darker shade of green than his own, with three blond stripes. On his face sat a pair of rectangle glasses that made him look rather intimidating.

The man looked like someone who had stepped straight out of an accounting office, and therefore on principle, Izuku immediately didn’t like him.

His eyes wandered over to the second man who was in the room.

It was the new teacher, Yagi. Except…

Yagi rubbed the back of his neck. Izuku couldn’t see his expression from this angle, but he could imagine a look of sheepishness creeping along his face. “There was a mix-up with my shampoo bottles at home. I’m hoping to get it fixed tomorrow.”

Izuku wanted to giggle. Oh , he wanted to giggle so badly at the sight below him. He bit down hard on his fist.

Yagi’s hair was a brilliant shade of hot pink.

Someone must have pranked the old teacher. Maybe one of his children?

Yagi lowered his hand and sat on the couch across from glasses-man, sinking deep into the comfortable cushions with a soft sigh.

“With the utmost respect, I cannot imagine you simply… misplacing something like that near your shower. Or even having the item on hand. If you are still hav—”

“It’s nothing,” Yagi interrupted with a wave of his hand. “A simple mistake, really. I moved houses very recently, and the kid helping me probably didn’t know any better. Now,” he continued as he leaned forward, clasping his spindly fingers together on his lap, “what did you wish to speak to me about?”

Glasses inhaled, looking very much like he wanted to ask more. Instead he gestured to the neatly nondescript folder of what Izuku is almost certain is a student file. (As he had accidentally stumbled across the sea of files once before) Now, as Izuku is fairly certain Glasses is not a teacher here, he is curious as to how he managed to get his rat looking hands on something like that.

“A possible candidate to be your successor,” he said, handing the folder over to Yagi—wait, what? —“If you recall, I mentioned him to you over the phone.”

“Ah yes,” Yagi hummed unconvincingly and flipped open the folder. Izuku craned his neck trying to catch a glimpse, but it was frustratingly just out of his sight.

Thankfully, however, he didn’t have to wonder who they were talking about for long, as he heard the skeletal man murmur “Togata Mirio” under his breath.

There was a lull in conversation as Yagi continued to scan the folder in silence, Glasses waiting patiently as he did so.

Togata Mirio. Izuku knew who that was—how could he not?

Despite Togata’s poor grades, the boy was at the top of the school with ‘The Big Three,’ that was compromised wholly by hero students. There was a new ‘Big Three’ every year, but only in the third year classrooms. Izuku still wasn’t quite sure what slotted a student at the top with such a title.

Was it based on how effectively they used their quirk? How successful they were during training? Popularity?

Actually, no, probably not that last one. Amajiki wasn’t as popular as the other two (in fact, he was scared of attention) and yet he was up there as well.

A student’s success, then? How well they understood their line of duty? Togata was excellent at that, Izuku thought. The blond was cheerful and (as of recently) effective with how he applied his quirk. He could slap a smile on his classmates’ faces in the blink of an eye with his silly phrases and jokester attitude.

Last year, Tagata had phased right through a wall as the young borrower was milling about and gave him a major heart attack.

After that incident Izuku tried not to go near him if he could help it.

If he did, it would be during class time when Togata’s butt was solidly pressed into his chair and—oh, they’re talking again.

“—rfect to continue your legacy! Mirio is the prime example of what it means to be a hero, right after yourself.”

Izuku sent a doubtful look down at Yagi. He didn’t really look like an awe inspiring hero to him.

“I don’t know… I hardly know the boy.”

“Then get to know him. We can schedule a meeting like today and bring Mirio in. I am certain he would be honored to meet you.” A pause. “And then you will see that I chose a perfect candidate to receive the quirk—to receive One for All.”

Izuku is starting to wonder if he perhaps shouldn’t be listening in on this conversation.

Glasses sighed. It was a tired sound. “I only want what’s best for you. Whether you like it or not, your health is deteriorating rapidly. It is only growing worse as you continue to push yourself like this.”

“There are still people who need a hero.”

“And there always will be, even long after we’re both gone. That is why you should let the new generation take over. You did your part. Now please , rest.”

Glasses turned his head, looking at something on the far wall—a clock perhaps? He sighed again.

“I understand this is a decision you’ll need time to think on,” he said, standing up. “So at least watch his performance at the sports festival. You can use it as an opportunity to gauge his personality for yourself.”

Yagi’s reply was too soft for Izuku to hear, but it made Glasses give a small nod.

Then he left the room, leaving Yagi to himself.

The older man was quietly contemplating something. He spent several minutes in silence before he sighed to himself, rubbed the back of his neck, and left the small room as well.

What did it mean, to give away a quirk?

From Izuku’s understanding, every human had some type of power. Even some borrowers! He knows Papa has one, but him and Mama do not. It was more rare for them to develop one compared to humans; Papa had told him so.

Izuku suspects that is because there weren’t as many borrowers as humans. Humans were vast in their numbers, so their mutations naturally spread at a faster rate. Just like his family,  humans used to not have quirks. But that was a long time ago.

A pang of sadness squeezed his heart. He missed Mama and Papa.

I hope they’re ok…

Teeth bit down and a switch clicked on, a soft light soon following. A single tiny LED light bulb shone through a flashlight clenched in one hand, the other wrapping thin string around his tail. Maneuvering through the students’ desks could be a downright maze sometimes, and Izuku did not want to take the chance of getting lost or stuck inside. Again.

The borrower estimates he has about 15 more minutes until this class returns from gym. This desk will be the last he checks before scurrying back to the safety of the vents. So far, he has a fairly good haul of items! He managed to snag a few paperclips, rubber bands, sticky tack, a small eraser chunk, a pen cap, and an old receipt. He tries to push some of the… other things he found out of his mind. (Seriously, who keeps an apple core in their desk? And did that one kid realize he had a dead mouse stashed in his desk? Why?! )

Taking a deep breath, he sweeps those memories up into a trashcan and slams the lid closed, firmly sealing it shut and taking mental note to avoid those desks in the future.

He opens his eyes and catches sight of something a bit deeper into the desk. Carefully picking his way towards it, Izuku’s feet speed up when he realizes what it is.

A tiny notebook!

He could jump for joy at the find. Granted, ‘tiny’ still meant it was basically as tall as the young borrower—but still! If he could get his hands on it, he wouldn’t have to worry about paper for a long while!

Izuku wanted to grab it right away and stash it for safekeeping. But , a tiny voice chided him in the back of his mind, what if the student needs it?

Dang borrower rules.

Setting the tiny notebook down, Izuku decides that if it is blank—he will borrow it. He ignores that it’s only been a week since school started, and there is a possibility the student never got a chance to touch it yet. Because, hey, surely if they needed it they would’ve used it by now, right? Right?

Izuku flipped open the cover and to his disappointment, was greeted with a doodle. Damn.

At least it was a good doodle.

That’s a hero… I think? It certainly looked like it, or rather the outfit did.

Flipping through more pages he is greeted with a few more possible-heroes and a stray doodle of something else. A cat here, a random student there, a teacher—hey, is that Eraserhead?

Izuku bit his bottom lip. He… wanted it. The doodle was a whole lot better than anything Izuku could manage to do himself. His fingers twitched. It was only one drawing. Out of an entire notebook full of them, surely it would not be missed.

Carefully, he teared out the page at the seam. It was slow work as he didn’t want to accidently rip it or make too loud a noise. After about a minute, the page was free and he took great care to roll it up and set it in the crook of his elbow.

Right, that should be enough from this classroom.

With his foot, he closed the small notebook (while pushing down his feeling of still really wanting it) and made for the exit. There he used his string to leap safely off the desk. Then he wrapped it up and deposited it back into his bag.

He looked at the clock on the far wall.

Five minutes left.

Perfect.

He hung the Eraserhead doodle up in his tissue box bedroom.

It took up the entire side of one wall.

The 1-A changing rooms were loud, hot, and stank of sweat.

Rambunctious shouts faded into white noise in Shouto’s ears. He had no interest in whatever his classmates were causing a scene about. From what he gathered, most of the time it was nothing of importance. In fact, most of the time it was—

“WOULD YOU BASTARDS BACK OFF AND STOP TOUCHING MY SHIT BEFORE I SHOVE MY FISTS UP YOUR ASSES!”

—his classmates messing with the annoying blond as he explodes in retaliation.

A loud BOOM echoes around the dressing room as the boy screeches in outrage, his classmates laughing around him. Shouto bit his tongue and slammed his locker door shut, wanting nothing more than to hurry out of this loud and claustrophobic environment as swiftly as possible.

Something in the back of his mind itches and Shouto’s well-trained reflexes dodge a falling water bottle that had been resting on top of the lockers.

His eyes quickly dart upwards in time to see a retreating green tail flicking out of view.

Jumping onto the bench, Shouto grabs the top of the metal lockers and cranes his head upwards until his eyes can sweep the area.

There was nothing there.

Well no, that wasn’t quite right. There were things there. Enough so that Shouto questioned just how often UA got around to cleaning the top of the lockers.

He ignored his classmates questioning what he was doing, instead giving the scattered pencils, chewed up gum, wrappers, and various other pieces of trash one last look.

Before he could step down however, his eyes were drawn to the thin layer of dust.

And the tiny footprints.

That looked suspiciously mouse shaped.

Shouto leaned back, his heterochronic eyes narrowing as his mind whirled.

Suspicious mouse shaped footsteps.

A rat for a principle.

Hm.

How... peculiar.

(Later that night, Shouto will find himself hunched over his laptop, his notebook opened to a page labelled “PRINCIPLE NEZU USES ARMY OF MICE TO SPY ON HIS STUDENTS?” And he will nod, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.)

Toshinori hastily entered the break room and slid the door shut, letting go of his transformation with a sigh of relief. His time limit was at the brink, and he just barely made it in time to hide away.

Something clattered loudly to his right and he jumped in surprise. Shit, I thought this room was empty—!

He whirled around and saw—

Nothing.

Toshinori didn’t relax though, and warily walked towards the counter where he heard the noise. I hope UA isn’t haunted as well, he grumbled to himself, his gaze trailing off to the sink where a bright yellow capsule laid at the bottom. It must have rolled off and fell.

Picking it up, Toshinori realized with a small prick of embarrassment that the capsule had his smiling face decorated on the lid and his ‘bangs’ jutting straight up in a V. It was a bento soy sauce container.

Strangely, it held water instead.

At least, I think it’s water. Popping the lid open he held it just under his nose for a quick sniff. There was no scent of alcohol.

Humming softly to himself, he flipped the sauce container and the water splashed into the sink, then placed the capsule in his pocket. One of the staff must have left it behind on accident, maybe he could return it later.

Grabbing a mug from the countertop, Toshinori poured himself a cup of coffee, leisurely sipping its contents until he assumed enough time had passed to safely exit the room without raising suspicion.

Izuku was frozen where he crouched. Both of his hands covered his mouth as he refused to move until the door softly clicked once again and the room fell silent. Even then, he stayed still for a minute longer.

When he could hear nothing else, Izuku slowly peeked his face out from behind the mug he was hiding behind—the one that was right next to the one All Might had taken away.

That was way too close , the young borrower anxiously observed as he confirmed the room was, in fact, empty once again.

He sighed in relief and willed his heart rate to calm itself.

Izuku had been gathering water when All freaking Might rushed inside without any warning at all! He was so startled that he dropped his water storage!

Speaking of All Might… who would have guessed that he and Yagi were the same person?

…

That was when he realized that All Might just stole his water storage.

Rude .

Chapter Text

Izuku bent the flimsy paper clip metal until one side touched another. He squeezed it farther, rounding it until it was the size of his palm. He narrowed his eyes down at the loop and decided to make another to make sure it was properly reinforced.

When he was satisfied with the result, he placed the loop down between the two blades of a pair of scissors and put his strength into squeezing the handles together until the younger borrower heard a snip!

He hopped away from the handles and picked up the new loop, adjusting the newly cut edge down where it was needed.

Right that makes two.

Two was all he (hopefully) needed. Paperclips may be one of the flimsier metals the young borrower could get his hands on, but it still hurt to try and bend it down too much.

They’ll still need more metal to frame into a bowl shape, he acknowledged. But it can probably get away with cutting some strips and using strong string to tie them together.

Maybe if he wedged the extra pieces into the loop? That may work.

The loops were placed down as Izuku went about cutting off small bits that were just a bit longer than the diameter of the two circles.

Then he bent them just slightly, so the sticks would curve. A finger hooked itself on one of the loops as he jammed one end of the metal stick right in the middle, the pressure allowing it to stay put. Izuku fiddled with it, testing the object out and nodded in approval before sticking the other end of the metal in between as well.

He turned the loop and fitted in another stick of metal to crisscross with the first.

Some string to his side was grabbed and small hands wrapped where metal touched metal until they were tightly knotted.

When Izuku was finished, the loop now looked bowl shaped. Though considering its size, it was too small to be considered one, even for someone like him.

He placed it down and did the same process to the second loop.

That should be good enough… although it might be a bit on the bulky side, Izuku mused as his eyes swept over his project. Bulky would have to do, because he really did not want something firmly pressed against his ears all day long.

Ok, next is the fabric.

The cloth he had worked so hard to get (and very nearly got killed over) laid off to his right. About half was already cut into small pieces for him to continue with, while the other half was neatly tucked away for future use if the need arises.

Wrapping the fabric around the wiring, Izuku grabs a sewing needle (snapped in half for him to easily use for projects such as this) and with gentle care, the young borrower slowly works the thin string into place.

He created a nice padding around the form, then went over it with an extra layer. Better safe than deaf.  

All around, they came out pretty shabby once he added the other wire connecting the two. But aesthetics was not what he was after.

They still needed to be tested. If he arrived at the stadium and found out they didn’t work, it would be too late by then. He mulled it around in his head for a bit, then came to a decision. If the headphones could survive Present Mic’s screeching, then they should hold up for what he wishes to use them for.

Nodding to himself, he got to his feet, dusted himself off, then ran on silent feet to where the man should be stationed at this particular hour.

Mournfully, he couldn’t help but wish he had these headphones when the alarm system blasted throughout the school. It really was too bad. His ears had rung for days. Even now, the boy swears he could still hear it faintly in his left ear.

Hitoshi filed into the classroom along with the rest of his classmates. He gave a lazy look as one kid reached into his desk and pulled out a seemingly dead mouse. Well not seemingly. It was dead. But then a faint blue sparkle showered over the corpse, and it sprang to life, darting around the boy’s hand as he sat down at his desk.

From what Hitoshi gathered, the boy had a reanimation quirk that only worked on small animals, and the mouse was his childhood pet. But his quirk only worked as long as he was touching his target, otherwise it would fall over, dead once again. Hitoshi understood the boy didn’t want to lose his friend but thought the animal’s fate of dying hundreds of times over and over was a sad one.

Turning to his own desk, Hitoshi raises an eyebrow at the cookie laying innocently on his desk, cushioned slightly by a napkin that looked wrinkled to hell and back. The cookie itself looks completely fine, however. Perfect, actually, with not a crumb out of place.

It smelled strongly of cinnamon and sugar and that was when Hitoshi realized it was a snickerdoodle, a fresh one at that. His mouth watered slightly.

Straightening, Hitoshi’s gaze swept the room quickly, wondering just who left the treat on his desk and for what reason.

But just like every other day, no one paid him any mind. Was it someone from another class then? A frown tipped at his lips. But why him? It wasn’t like he had done anything lately other than edge on the hero class, and he doesn’t think they would reward him for that stunt.

Unless,

Hitoshi eyed the cookie suspiciously. A plot to get him sick? Maybe someone had added a nasty ingredient with the intent of him being unable to discern this until he had already taken a large unsuspecting bite from the sugary goodness.

Hitoshi looked around the room once again, then shot a glance at the clock. There were still a couple minutes until the next class officially started. Taking his chair, the purple haired boy sat and stared down at the innocent looking cookie as if that would reveal its secrets to him.

Ah, fuck it.

Picking it up, he took a small bite of the treat and was greeted with cinnamon, savory goodness dancing along his tongue. It tasted downright amazing .

I guess not everything has to be a plot against me, he thought to himself with amusement, taking another bite, larger this time.

One hand reached into his desk as he pulled out a tiny sketchbook, embarrassingly filled with hero costumes he had daydreamed of wearing when Hitoshi finally proves to everyone that he deserves to be one, and deserves a spot in one of the classes.

As Hitoshi takes one last bite right before the teacher walks in, he couldn’t help but wonder if the secret gift giver had known snickerdoodles were his favorite.

Izuku left the main school building approximately two days before the sports festival was due to begin. It would take a full day to travel the grounds on foot to reach his destination. Then he would have all of the next day to scout the stadium and figure out the best place to watch the students. Somewhere up close—but hidden. That was his goal anyway. In retrospect, he probably should have left the day before and given himself a safe, three day cushion. But he didn’t have enough space in his bag to pack for three days’ worth of food, he was just barely squeezing by with the two!

It wasn’t until sometime after the sun had reached its peak that Izuku realized he didn’t have food for the trip back.

He groaned, slumping in the cool grass, just under a tree that shaded the sweating borrower under it. Dang, was it blistering outside or was it just him?

Izuku let out a puff of air, blowing at a tuft of hair that stuck to his forehead. Really, if all else failed, Izuku could stick to eating small bugs as much as he would rather not. A shiver ran along his spine. Bugs had the worst meat texture and were crunchier than they were worth.

Maybe the humans will drop food on the ground, and I could feast on that?

The thought was tempting. So tempting, that he couldn’t help but imagine him ditching the stadium and instead running around the booths and stands and swiping delicious, festival food and stuffing his face with it until he became sick.

Tempting, tempting, so very tempting.

But if he did that, it would be awfully hard to keep himself hidden.

He wasn’t as familiar with the school grounds, and surely not when they would be extremely altered with all the additions. Too many eyes to possibly spot him, and too many feet that could trample him into the dirt. No, doing that would be too dangerous and even with as adventurous and daring as Izuku was, even he had to admit that would not be a wise thing to do.

I can almost hear my father scolding me for being so reckless, he snorted.

Giving an enormous stretch, Izuku hopped back to his feet and continued along his journey. There was still a lot of ground to cover.

It wasn’t until early morning the next day that Izuku had finally reached the dome-like stadium.

The young borrower looked at it with bleary eyes for a few moments before flinging his stuff into a well hidden corner, curling around it protectively as his mind slipped into a dreamless, exhausted slumber.

When he awoke next, he wasn’t sure on the time, but he knew it was at some point after noon—but before five in the evening, considering the sun’s point of reference.

Giving a massive yawn, Izuku equipped himself once again, ignoring how his feet still ached from his journey here. He didn’t have a whole lot of time to scout the place out, after all, and it had to be done before too many humans crowded the building.

So, staying close to the edge of the walls, Izuku explored the stadium, taking care to avoid any teachers or workers who were making sure everything was in top shape for tomorrow.

After a while, Izuku spotted a vent near the ceiling. With a bit of string (and lots of tossing) Izuku climbed his tiny body up and through the small bars, nearly getting stuck twice.

It was cold inside the vent, so Izuku had to dig out his (very obviously handmade) jacket and slip it tightly around his shoulders. It was also very dusty after a year of not being in use, and the young borrower had to hold a hand to his face to prevent him from inhaling any of it. Maybe walking along the walls would’ve been better…

The stadium was huge , but not as big as the main building of UA. It circled around in a donut shape and the venting system was strange in accommodating it.

At some point, the vents lead upwards and then span out into the seats outside, shooting cold air down towards empty placings below, so the occupants wouldn’t overheat during hot days.

Izuku considered taking his spot from one of the vents that overhang around the stadium, but then decided against it. He would rather not freeze all day. Besides, the view from the vents were terrible , so he opted that out entirely.

Eventually, he found his way into the control booth—or what he thinks is the control booth. Given all the buttons and flashing lights, he thinks his assumption is the correct one.

From what he heard, this room is soundproof—it has to be, given who is the commentator—so Izuku considers if this is where he should camp out.

But then decides, no this won’t do either.

The only way he would get a good look down at the field, is if he were right up against the window, and if he did that, well…

So that wasn’t possible either.

Besides, even though he had tested the headphones a few days ago with the man’s quirk, he didn’t quite trust it to uphold if he had to spend all day near the voice hero.

This is harder than I thought.

He didn’t want to be too high, because his eyes weren’t great, and he can only go so high for so long before nerves started attacking him. Being too close to the seats was a no-go either because someone could spot or crush him. Too low, and he wouldn’t be able to see what was going on in the field!

By now, the young borrower was circling around the grass, trying to see if he could see anything on the wall that would hold him up. The workers were long gone, and the sky was a dark shade, but huge lights still shone down above and around the stadium, almost blinding in their brightness.

Oh?

Izuku paused, his gaze fixed firmly at a point along the wall surrounding the field.

Do my eyes deceive me, or is that a rather large crack in the cement?

It must have been from a previous year that had never gotten fixed. Hand going for the long winding string around his waist, Izuku stepped back twice, twirling the makeshift grapple.

About a dozen attempts, the grapple had finally gripped the crack enough for Izuku to put all of his weight onto the string and haul himself up.

“I hope it’s bigger on the inside…” he muttered under his breath. He could probably make do with it, if it was not, but extra space couldn’t hurt if the boy ever needed a breather.

By the time he reached the crack in the concrete, Izuku was panting with exhaustion, his muscles aching hotly. How embarrassing, you’d think this was his first time climbing.

After taking a short minute to catch his breath, the young borrower eyed his find.

The crack was about as tall as him—so nearly five inches—and tampered out shorter and shorter closer to the back you went, before ending altogether. But it did go in as deep as ten inches he would guess, deeper than he would’ve guessed originally, but he was glad for it.

Turning around, he looked out from the hole and was satisfied with what he saw.

While the view on the field wasn't perfect per se, it wasn’t bad either. He would definitely get a better view of one side compared to the other—but one of the jumbo screens was stationed just in his view. The boy would have no trouble looking towards it to watch what he couldn’t see.

Pleased, he retreated back into the hole and threw down his bag. Tomorrow was a day full of excitement and he didn’t want to ruin it by being tired , now does he?

And with that, the boy effortlessly fell asleep—his mind full of quirks and wondering who would come up at top.

The soft chatter was the first thing Izuku noticed when he awoke.

He wanted to groan. It had to still be extremely early in the morning—what were people doing being awake?

People want to get a good spot early enough for the festival, a voice whispered in the back of his head.

Festival? What festival?

His eyes snap open. Oh right, that festival!

Excitement coursed through his body, reaching to heights that were simply too big for such a tiny package. He sprang to his feet instantly.

Only to fall down again with a pained yelp as his head cracked against the ceiling.

Right. Small space.

Rubbing at his forehead, Izuku crawled forward to dare a little peek from his hidey hole.

Judging by the sky it had to still be early morning. And yet, the stadium was steadily growing fuller as time went on.

I’ll need my headphones soon going by this rate.

What time was it anyway?

Ducking back inside, Izuku drug out his headphones and placed them next to him, ready to be used. Then he took out a bit of food, having only a small breakfast.

If he had to guess, there was still several hours until the event was due to begin.

Swallowing down the last bit of his breakfast, Izuku donned the headphones, realizing how loud it had gotten in the last few minutes.

The young borrower lazes around in the hole, fiddling with wiring he had brought along with him for something to do. He molds it into different shapes, his world completely silent thanks to the headphones.

It was kind of eerie, really.

Eventually, the walls started vibrating. This startled the boy at first, fear they were about to collapse. But then his eye catches movement outside and he realizes it’s starting.

Students in blue and white gym uniforms come pouring out onto the field below, their faces a mixture of fear, excitement, anxious, and—oh no, the one boy looks sick.

Izuku watches as the student turns right around and back down the wide hallways, quickly disappearing from view. No one really seemed to notice though, distracted as they were by the two hero classes.

The students all gathered in a huddle near a stage, looking up to the teacher—Midnight. Her lips were moving in what Izuku knew to be the opening lines where she would call on the hero student who scored the highest on the exam.

His eyes quickly darted to the jumbo screen and was pleased to see they were automatically updated with subtitles. Perfect.

This year’s top student was a spiky blond haired teenager, that Izuku recognized as Bakugou Katsuki. Due to his brashness and loud nature, Izuku wasn’t overly fond of the boy.

And apparently no one else was, as the entire student body booed and shouted up at Bakugou with angry expressions—shit he missed what he said!

It was nothing good, I’m guessing, he sighs inwardly, watching as the first event was revealed to be an obstacle course. And that means, I’m stuck using the screen only.

But so would everyone else.

UA can only really afford to do that once, otherwise people would get angry for not getting what they came to see. But he had to admit, it was a good first event. Perfect for thinning out the crowd from hundreds to a mere forty.

It became clear rather quickly that only those with a good handle on their quirks would be able to pass the first test as giant robots as tall as skyscrapers swarm the area. Seriously, what the hell?

Todoroki— he thinks that’s his name anyway —completely covers two of them in ice, allowing him to pass under them as they crashed down onto two students below. Izuku winced sympathetically. They both were fine, though, and crashed upwards and pierced the robots through their chests, freeing themselves. How lucky is it that they both had hardening quirks? If it had been anyone else, then Izuku wasn’t sure if they would have survived.

The screen briefly flashed to the back of the pack and Izuku could spot the purple haired boy that the borrower had snat—er, borrowed, the Eraserhead doodle from. He sent a silent cheer to the boy before the screen flashed back to the leaders. Bakugou and Todoroki were in the lead.

The next area were chasms where Izuku couldn’t even see the bottom, with how dark they were. He couldn’t help the shiver of fear that ran down his spine as several students fell into their depths. On the screen, Present Mic was reassuring that they were fine and there was no real danger, but it did little to ease his fears.

He had to actually squeeze his eyes shut after the twelfth student fell in, not liking what he was seeing.

That section ended soon enough, and they were on to the third and final section before the finish line.

A minefield. They had to dodge and sidestep mine after mine to avoid being blown up in a pink sparkly cloud of dust. Relatively harmless, but annoying when it happens.

During the last minute of the race, something in Bakugou snapped as he started flying through the air with the power of his explosions alone, directly on Todoroki’s tail.

The bi-colored boy dodges the assault and sends up a spike of ice right as the blond makes another swipe. Unable to pull back in time, Bakugou slams right into it full force, falls onto a landmine, and lights up in a pink explosion that sends him back several feet.

Honestly, it was kinda hilarious to watch.

With that sort of delay, Todoroki was able to take first place with Bakugou directly behind him. A few moments later, a girl with green vines in place of her hair passed through the gate, taking third place.

More and more students flood into the main part of the stadium, panting and generally looking like they would rather die than to take another step forward. To Izuku’s pleasure, he spotted Shinsou. A quick look at the scoreboards reveals that the purple haired boy was in the middle of the pack. Soon after him, he recognized Hatsume zooming by, hardly breaking a sweat as she crackled mechanically. There was a wide breath as other students gave her space.

The forty people had made it through eventually, but it still took another fifteen minutes before the rest of the students filtered out from the obstacle course—allowing the people who would go moving on to the second round a much needed break.

And oh boy was the second event something that only a chaos sated demon would have come up with.

Quirks were flying everywhere, bodies flying and scrambling in a mad dash for the ultimate one million point headband, very obvious greed filling their faces.

Izuku couldn’t help but think how that wasn’t the way to go. If you wanted to pass this round, ignore the one million and go for smaller targets.

Todoroki was extremely skilled—even a toddler could see that! Why go for an impossible goal?

His eyes darted to the jumbotron, a bit annoyed that it was only following Todoroki. He gets that is where the main action is—really, he does—but what about the other teams?

Feeling daring, Izuku pokes his head very slightly out from the hole, his eyes squinting against the sunlight as he ignores the still vibrating walls. (It took him awhile to realize they were vibrating because people were yelling so loudly, it literally shook the building. Scary.)

It was a bit difficult to see, but his eyes fell on Shinsou again. The teen was taking advantage of the chaos and using it to steal headbands as people were unawares.

By the time the second event wrapped up, the purple haired teen had sneakily squeezed his team into third place.

Vine girl got fourth— her name was Ibara! —Todoroki at first, and a very pissed off Bakugou at second. Izuku was starting to see a theme.

With the results, an hour long break was called for lunch.

Izuku yawned widely. He wasn’t used to this much sunlight and it was honestly making him a bit drowsy. While the headphones would make it awkward, maybe he could chance a nap?

But what if I miss the next event? What if I wake up and the whole thing is over?

Then he remembered the vibrating walls. Yeah, there was no way he would sleep through that.

I could observe the hero students, instead.

A tempting thought.

You can’t leave the hole without being seen, idiot.

Ah, so heartlessly shot down.

His body curled around his bag, another yawn playing at his lips. The whole experience would be Todoroki brooding and Bakugou being prissy, I doubt anything interesting would actually happen.

Besides, was it really any of his business?

…

Damn, he really wishes he could leave his hole.

When Izuku woke next, he had to pry his eyes open. How on earth did they get so sticky that fast? That should be both impossible and illegal.

He groans, one hand rubbing away at his eyelids. It didn’t feel like the next event started, but he couldn’t really tell how much time he had left. A glance to the jumbotron outside revealed no answer to his question, either.

He shrugged. It would be a good time for a lunch break as he waited.

Opening up his bag, he couldn’t help but grimace. What food he had left was smooshed and flattened. Looks like he used the wrong sack as a pillow for his nap. Oh well, flat doesn’t mean inedible. 

Nibbling silently on a piece of bread, Izuku drug himself forward again, watching a few of the humans still messing around on the field. They were doing a bunch of games and activities, but it didn’t look as though many people were paying attention to the students. Izuku was fairly sure it was just for the down time on tv between events. One hour was a long time when you were doing nothing but sitting on your butt watching television, people would lose interest too quickly.

He laid there watching them, wishing he had chosen a better spot to camp at. He could hardly stretch his legs in this cramped hole—and he couldn’t even leave it! His tail gives an irritated twitch. What was he thinking?   

I’ll do better next year, he vowed.

Soon, the field cleared off of the remaining students and the jumbotron went dark briefly before Midnight’s face flashed across the screen.

The third event was one on one matches, like every year, it was the part to see a quirk up close and tear it apart.

The tournament layout rolled and—

Izuku winced.

That Shinsou kid got paired up with no one other than the loudmouth, explosive teen; Bakugou Katsuki.

And he was doing so well, he couldn’t help but moan.

Izuku had only watched the explosive teen fight once during one of the heroics classes, but he knew that the blond was too aggressive in his fighting style for most to handle. As much as he wanted to root on the purple haired teen, he knew the matchup just wasn’t in his favor.

Bakugou’s hands crackled menacingly. The match has yet to start, but Shinsou was already talking—a smirk playing on his face as the blond’s lips draw back in a snarl. Does that kid have a death wish?

Midnight called for the match to start right as Bakugou gives a rage-filled roar and lunged forward, his hands outstretched as the crackling got louder, bigger, aiming right for—

Bakugou froze.

Izuku blinked.

His previously tense hands relaxed and fell limp to his sides as his body straightens and stares blankly ahead, all of his anger from before had vanished like morning dew on a hot day.

Baffled, Izuku looked back to Shinsou. The other boy’s pale face was palpable with relief, looking every bit like he had avoided a confrontation with a feral bear. His mouth opened again, saying a few quick words, and Izuku watched in amazement as Bakugou walked right off the stage.

A quirk! Izuku realized. It must be a mind control one of some kind. If the boy had a mental quirk, then he never would have stood a chance against the entrance exam.

The stadium was silent for a few moments, totally shocked with the anticlimactic end to the fight.

Midnight was the first to act and called Shinsou Hitoshi the winner of the first match.

Shinsou looked pleased with himself for a total of five seconds.

Then his hold on Bakugou was released.

The blond jolted out of his trance with a jerk, his entire body locking up in a sudden motion. On his face was a series of emotions passing all too quick as his red eyes took in the situation.

First was confusion at his placement.

Next, his eyebrows scrunched together as he turned, his eyes falling on Shinsou who stood his ground, his face unreadable.

Then, anger as the gears finally clicked in place. His face had quickly become a deep red as rage flushed his cheeks, beyond pissed that his sure victory had been stripped from him.

His mouth opened wide as a vicious roar tore from Bakugou’s throat as he lunged forward with every intent to strangle his no-longer opponent. Fear flashed over Shinsou’s features as he took several steps back.

But before an attack could be landed on the purple haired teen, a thick cloud of pink smoke filled the area faster than Izuku could blink, hiding both contestants from view.

Despite being a safe distance away, Izuku couldn’t help himself from shrinking away and holding his breath, not wanting to miss what would happen next.

Just as quickly as it had come, the smoke had dissipated revealing the two teens—both fast asleep thanks to the fast acting sleeping gas.

Izuku watched as they were both taken away and disappeared into the hallways that went inside the stadium. He tore his eyes away and focused back onto the screen, cursing to himself because he definitely missed some stuff from Present Mic, dammit.

This seemed like a good idea at first, but it’s getting annoying not knowing what’s being said if I’m not constantly looking up.

With no damage to the ring, the next match was to start in a couple of minutes—just enough time for the contestants to prepare themselves one last time and make their way outside for millions to see.

The bracket flashed back to life and the profiles of the next fighters popped up.

Todoroki Shouto vs Hanta Sero

A hum pulsed in the back of Izuku’s throat. He didn’t know much about either of the boys other than Todoroki was Endeavor’s son and skilled with his ice, and that Sero had an interesting face that reminded the young borrower of a Cheshire cat. Oh, and he shot tape from his elbows.

That would be helpful to have, honestly.

A never-ending supply of tape? Yes please.

As for the ice…

Well, given where he lived, Izuku was fairly sure he got first class tickets to being the coolest thing in the entire school. As in, he is freezing his dang butt off. Ice wouldn’t really help his situation.

Though then again, maybe an ice quirk would make it so I wouldn’t get so cold? Or—actually, some of that ice would’ve been nice on the walk here. Anything I drank sweated right out of me all too quickly.

Oh , how badly Izuku wanted a quirk. Why did it have to be so rare for borrowers? Papa has a quirk, why couldn’t he get one?

He could almost hear his uncle chiding and reassuring a much tinier Izuku that the young borrower didn’t need a one to do amazing feats. And given that Uncle nor Mama had one, Izuku guessed that it held some merit.

They were both pretty great.

Oh shoot—he spaced out again, didn’t he?

Luckily, the match hadn’t started yet. Both Todoroki and Sero were standing on opposite sides of the ring. He couldn’t see Sero’s expression from his perspective, but Todoroki’s stony expression was clear to see.

Actually, no, that wasn’t right. Not stony—stormy? The duel colored boy looked absolutely pissed.

But why? Izuku couldn’t help to think as he leaned forward. He doesn’t believe Sero is the cause of his ire, it didn’t look totally aimed at the dark haired boy. Something else then. Eyes squinting against the sun, his head poked out of the crack in the wall, the wind just barely ruffling his green curls. People would be too focused on the two boys center stage to notice something so small.

So, he leaned forward, as though getting a few centimeters closer would answer his question he had. From the corner of his eye he could just make out Midnight raising the flag, only to strike it down in one quick motion.

Something in Todoroki’s face shifted oh so slightly, and only by the sharp prickling of Izuku’s neck warning him did he manage to fling himself backwards as a glacier of ice snaps into existence and slams against the very wall he was taking shelter inside.

Izuku was thrown into instant darkness.

He panted, his heart pattering wildly in his chest and his tail twitches and throbs with telling danger. He swallowed past something thick down his throat, a lazy stream of cold at his feet as he shifted slightly in place.

It was dark and the silence rang louder than ever, pounding against his ears. Breathing in and out, Izuku willed himself to calm down, to relax. He was safe and was in no danger.

His back peeled itself away from the wall and Izuku attempted to take a careful step forward in the pitch black.

Something icy cold blocked his path right away, not even giving him an inch of room. Panic rose like bile as his hands shot out, feelings, grasping, searching.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

A body no taller than a pencil flung itself against the ice, slamming into it over and over with a fierce desperation. Fingernails clawed and scraped, the ice melting under his touch—but only to dampen his frozen, numb hands until he could no longer feel the tips of his fingers.

Izuku was trapped.

His heart thumped loudly against his ears and fear flooded his system. This was the worst possibility for someone like Izuku. Everything was a constant danger to him, but as long as he could run , he had the chance of escaping fate. But this? He was powerless to do anything. He was trapped and he was going to die here and no one would even know his fate. 

A whimper escaped and Izuku tucked his frozen hands close to his body, the cold stung at his bare skin. He attempted a step back, but only met the wall once again, giving him no reprieve.

By the time the ice had melted and gave way to a stream of warm sunlight, Izuku wasn’t exactly sure how much time had passed.

It could not have been that long, but to Izuku, it had felt like an eternity.

Uncurling himself from the tight ball he had tucked himself in to curb the aching cold in his limbs, Izuku stretched out—but only just.

Just enough for him to be reassured he was no longer trapped.

He laid himself out, no longer interested or motivated in watching the rest of the event.

Izuku closed his itchy red eyes and swallowed past his sore throat, wishing not for the first nor last time, for him to be back with his family.

The borrower stayed in that hole long after everyone had left and the sky turned dark and Izuku had slipped the earmuffs from his head, reveling in the world of sound once again. But his mind never strayed from Mama’s warm hugs, Papa’s brushing fingers, and Uncle’s gentle eyes.

I’m sorry that I disobeyed . He wanted to wail. Just please come back.

And his heart tugged.

Chapter Text

When Izuku was a small child, he wanted nothing more than to explore outside of his little home.

But unfortunately, his Papa and Mama would forbid him from leaving the safety of the brown, bland walls.

Izuku remembered being upset at this, and would stomp his little feet, clench his pudgy fists, and throw a tantrum at the unfairness of it all.

“They’re just protective of you,” his uncle would whisper as he embraced his nephew. “It’s a dangerous world, and you are so very small.”

And Izuku would still protest. “I’m strong, though! I can handle anything! Besides, Mama and Papa would protect me.” Then he would pause and blink imploringly up at his uncle with big green eyes. “And you would too, won’t you?”

His uncle would smile and say, “of course. You can always count on me.” And Izuku would.

The small borrower loved his uncle. The man was kind and had gentle yellow eyes that were as soft as the morning rays of light. He had white shoulder length hair that seemed feather-light and kept his left eye hidden more often than not. His presence was a relaxing and calming one as he would sit there and listen to his nephew rant on and on with an understanding smile.

(Izuku remembers fondly when his uncle told him as a baby, Izuku’s first word was ‘uncle’—and then would turn and laugh at his father’s displeasure.)

But what fascinated Izuku the most, was his Uncle’s long, elegant tail.

At nearly three times the length of its owner, the tail was the source of many hours of Izuku fitting beads and other items down the limb.

When Izuku asked just how his tail got to be so long, the man had said that a borrower’s tail length was how you could tell how long they have lived.

“Then how old does that make you?” Izuku would ask.

Other than a wink, he never got a reply.

Mama was a healthly plump borrower, a stark contrast to Uncle’s gangly limbs and Papa’s stocky build.

She was warm and soft, and Izuku loved her hugs more than anything else in his little world.

Between Papa and Uncle’s white hair, it was clear that Izuku got his coloring from Mama with her green hair and eyes. It was a very pretty color, he thought.

Mama was a bit firm, but she was caring as well.

If Izuku wanted a particular thing to eat, she would usually go out of her way to borrow some if any were available. (Though she made sure not to give him too much)

Izuku loved her soft fingers carding through his curls as he rested his head on her lap, dozing off more often than not. And her gentle kisses peppered onto his face.

She had taught him how to sew and craft his own clothes. (Though he could never get it quite as well as she could) And how to incorporate buttons and string to make tools that would help in everyday life. (Yet he was still forbidden from leaving their dwelling)

His favorite thing about his mother was, how strong she was.

Izuku would never forget the day when she had lifted a can of soda all by herself and dropped it in their living room without breaking a sweat—all because he was interested in what it tasted like. (Which was to say, kinda weird)

(And if Izuku would hang from her biceps as she flexed, well, that was his own enjoyment)

Papa, Izuku thought, had a rather unique appearance.

He had the same curly, wild hair as Izuku, but like his brother, it was white as snow. His eyes were almost comically large and the brightest red he had ever seen. With his skin so pale, the strange markings just under those ruby eyes stood out like a sore thumb.

Izuku thought they looked like whiskers, and even commented that his dad reminded that of a white mouse.

Uncle disagreed, saying he was more like a weasel.

He remembered Uncle’s bright yellow eyes flashing dangerously as his Papa had returned from borrowing, carrying a large plastic thing that was taller than Izuku in his hands.

“What did you take?” Uncle asked, as he marched up to his brother.

Papa side-stepped him. “Just something for a little shopping,” he said smoothly.

“That is a credit card. That is a human’s credit card.”

“Technically, it’s a debit card.”

“You can’t take that!” Uncle shouted. “You are stealing! That human will definitely notice their money going missing!”

Papa snorted. “I doubt that old human ever knows what’s going on, she won’t notice a few dollars less. She has plenty of money, I assure you she won’t miss it.”

“You slimy little weasel,” Uncle hissed. He attempted to grab the card from the red-eyed borrower, but Papa was quick to shove the thing behind his back like a guilty child. Uncle redirected and stood inches from his brother’s face. “You are going to return that, now.”

They argued back and forth for a few minutes, but in the end, Uncle won out and followed a pouting Papa out to make sure he returns the human’s belonging that he rightfully should.

Later that night, Papa curled up next to him and whispered in his ear. “Remember Izuku, a borrower’s job is to only take what won’t be missed.”

Izuku snuggled closer to his Papa. “Uncle said the human would miss her card, though,” he sleepily said.

“Not if it is returned soon enough. It’s called borrowing for a reason; you can always return what you take. Know the human’s limits and work around them to your favor.”

Izuku hummed. His Papa’s voice was a low rumble that reflexively relaxed his body.

“Your Uncle has the right intentions, but oh, he doesn’t realize how much more can be done…” his voice trailed off as Mama slipped in on the other side of Izuku, her arms coming up to wrap around both him and Papa.

Izuku fell asleep, feeling safe, warm, and comfortable.

“What’s outside?” He asked Uncle one day as he sat in his lap.

Uncle’s slim fingers comb through Izuku’s curls. “A big world.”

“How big?”

A hum. “You caught a look of how that human’s house looks, didn’t you?” Izuku nods. “Well, imagine that, but a million times bigger.”

Izuku frowns. “That’s impossible.”

“No, no, it’s quite real. I’ve seen so for myself.”

“I want to see it too,” Izuku breathed. He twisted his body to look up at his white-haired uncle. “When can I?”

Uncle smiled. “When you’re bigger.”

They always gave him that answer.

Izuku hated it.

One day, Izuku came upon the rare sight of Uncle sleeping in the middle of the day. Izuku suspected it was because the borrower had been out for most of the night roaming around in the main house, only returning in the early of the morning.

Izuku stared at him, half tempted to crawl up next to his uncle and nap right along with him.

But then he realized that Papa and Mama were out borrowing, and Uncle being asleep meant Izuku was essentially on his own.

With a surge of excitement, Izuku darts away from his uncle’s sleeping form. He wasn’t going to waste this opportunity!

It does not take the small borrower long to locate his uncle’s bag filled with borrowing equipment that had been carelessly tossed into a corner. He slings it over his shoulder and ties the string around his waist to secure it, already feeling like a true borrower as he donned it.

Then, as quietly as he could, Izuku snuck out of the little hole he spent his entire life in. Which was apparently behind a bookshelf, he soon found out as he took his first steps outside.

He looked up at it, wonder shining in his eyes as he took in just how tall it was, all filled up with books three times his height.

He tore his eyes away from the sight and gave a nervous look around. Papa and Mama are somewhere in the house too, so he’ll have to be careful not to get spotted.

But how?

A window caught his eye.

The outside world!

Izuku couldn’t think of anything more perfect to explore.

He fumbled with the grappling hook, not being experienced with the tool. It took him a few experimental tosses for it to catch on a nail near the window seal. One sharp tug proved that it should hold his weight.

The climb up was… a bit scary—Izuku had never been so high up before! He the promise of seeing what laid outside was enough to spur him on, so he quickens his pace despite his arms cramping from the effort.

Izuku pants once he reached his destination and wiped his sweaty brow. He glanced at that window and found to his pleasure that it was cracked open. The young borrower realized he wasn’t sure what he would have done if it had been closed shut.

He ducked his head under the window panel and for the first time in his life—took a giant gulp of crisp, fresh air.

It was wonderful.

So much better it smelled than the musty old house he and his family lives in. It didn’t smell stale or dusty or disgusting after the human cooked mush for food.

It smelt alive and free.

And the colors! There were so many!

Greens and blues and whites and pinks, all so startingly bright and beautiful. It was so different from the dull tans and brown monotones that Izuku was almost convinced he stepped into a whole new dimension. 

His spine tingled with exhilaration, and suddenly all Izuku wanted in life was to go down there and feel the grass and dirt under his toes.

A glance down revealed to the small borrower of thick, green ivy that was spread over the side of the house like a virus of green. It was an easy decision to use the plant to crawl down instead of removing the string from where it still hung off the nail, as the ivy had a lot more footholds that would be easy for his small height.

The trip down took nearly no time at all, and he jumped off the last few inches—impatient for this new experience.

As he lands in the grass, Izuku decides that it was his new favorite thing.

Grass smelled good.

He didn’t even think it had a scent, and yet here it was! The sharp smell made him giggle slightly as he took a single blade of green in his hands. The color reminded him of Mama’s shining eyes. It was such a nice color; he couldn’t help but notice.

Oh, and the sounds! His head shot up as he heard the chirping of a bird—so much clearer in his ears than when it was muffled through the walls. It was a nice, musical sound. His eyes dart around, as he tried to pinpoint where exactly it came from, hoping to catch sight of the animal he’s only seen photos of.

But unfortunately, he couldn’t spot one. 

“Izuku!”

He jerked his head towards the call, and there, perched a top of the windowsill was his Uncle, looking very irate with the tip of his long tail twitching. Izuku was not sure if his Uncle noticed the vines leading down yet, or if he had, he simply had no intention of scaling them himself. Yet, anyway.

“What are you doing out here? Your Father is still in the human part of the house! If he catches you out here, he’s going to lock you in a shoebox!” Due to the distance from the window to the ground, his Uncle had to raise his voice into a shout—something Izuku rarely heard white-haired male do.

Izuku’s tail tucked around his left leg as his head ducked, abashed. It sounded like his Uncle was more upset at the young borrower for deciding to sneak off now, instead of waiting until his papa was off on one of his expeditions away from the human house they reside in. But, his Uncle had always been the more lenient between mamma and papa.

“’M sorry,” Izuku mumbled, still mortified that he had gotten caught so soon. The string he used to climb up the window must have given him away, he suspected.

With how quiet he muttered the apology, there was absolutely no way his Uncle could have heard him from his current height. But still, the man eyed him from above, taking in his nephew’s submissive body language. And while Izuku couldn’t hear him sigh, he knew the pale-eyed man just did.

“What he doesn’t know, won’t hurt him. Just come back up here quick, ok?” He called down.

Izuku unwound his tail and gave it a small, happy flick, glad that his Uncle was not going to rat him out. Still… Izuku really, really, really did not want to go back yet! This was his first time ever seeing the sky—the grass! He wanted to enjoy it for just a little longer before he was forced to be cooped up indoors again with no idea when the next time he could sneak away!

But one look at his Uncle’s face and Izuku knew not to ask for extra time outside.

Instead, with his sweetest, most honeyed voice, he asks—“Can I at least bring something back?” It could be anything. An acorn, a blade of grass, a handful of dirt—literally anything. Izuku wanted a memento of this experience and some sort of proof that he really had escaped the stuffy house his family calls home—even if it were only for a few minutes.

Fortunately, his Uncle somehow understood that even without Izuku saying it aloud. “Just make it quick, ok?”

“Yes!” Izuku throws his fist in the air with a squeak of excitement. He was going to bring something back with him! My first borrowing! The thought sent a thrill of unrestrained exhilaration throughout his tiny body. That mean this was special.

What should I bring back? His eyes searched back and forth, his head whipping as he darted between blades of grass until, something bright caught his eye and cause the young borrower to skid to a stop.

Yes… that, will do just perfectly.

His prize was a large, red button nearly the size of his torso, along with four symmetrical holes just big enough for him to fit his entire fist through. Sure, it was dirty and caked in old mud, but it was his now and Izuku wanted nothing more.

Izuku grabbed the red button and quickly dashed back out into the open. “Look! Look what I found!” He shouted gleefully up at his Uncle; the button held above his head like a magnificent trophy.

From the windowsill, his Uncle smiled softly and with a hint of amusement.

Then his eyes traveled up.

Several things happened next.

The first was seeing his Uncle’s yellow eyes morph into horror.

The second was the world had gone dark.

It all played in slow motion. Uncle throwing himself from the windowsill, the button lowering as Izuku’s own gaze drifts above. A shout. The sound of a wingbeat.

Then, it all rushed forward as the ground vanished under Izuku’s feet within a blink of his eyes.

Izuku screamed as sharp talons dug into his torso and clipped his side. The red button, his very first borrowed item, fell from his hands as the world grew small. His eyes squeezed tightly shut before he had ever gotten a chance to see where it had landed. They snapped open when he and his kidnapper lurched in the air and, oh, Izuku doesn’t like that at all.

I’m going to fall! His heart thuds rapidly behind his throat until all he can hear is his own panic roaring in his eardrums, pumping his tiny heart full of terrifying adrenaline. Despite the talons squeezing him so tightly to the point Izuku could hardly breathe, the young borrower still found himself holding them with a white knuckled grip. He opened his eyes—when did he close them?—and attempted to look at his captor, but quickly snapped them shut once again with a squeak as they lurched midair.

I saw feathers—a bird? It must be. I… I was snatched by a bird? That would make sense. Birds fly and have talons, after all. But some birds also eat—

“No!” Izuku shrieked. “No, no, no, no!” He struggled wildly, his small fist pounding against clawed feet. “Put me down! Take me back! Take me b—” He cuts off with a shrill cry as the bird suddenly pulled into a dive, dropping towards the ground along with his stomach.

We’re going to crash! Izuku was hyperventilating, his chest working too fast for any real air to make itself known to his lungs as panic and fear squeeze them tight.

The bird did not crash, as it evened out well before they reached the ground (still much too high than Izuku would ever be comfortable with) and while the bird smoothed into an easy glide, the sudden stop was still rough for the young borrower it carried. Izuku felt as though the world was spinning. He felt faint and his stomach felt sick with fear.

Izuku’s face felt wet from the fat tears that rolled down his cheeks. He couldn’t open his eyes again. He wasn’t brave enough to. When the bird lurched once again in the air, he whimpered and wished so dearly that his Papa would come and pluck him from the air. Sure, he would be in trouble and probably confided to their home for ages, but he would be home, and more importantly, on the ground.

It wasn’t until Izuku could feel them descending that he chanced a brief second to crack one eye open. Were they going to land?

Below them, he could see what had to be a city street. It looked so similar to the pictures in the human books he learned to read from. With dozens of colorful cars doting busy streets as hundreds of humans that looked no bigger than a swarm of borrowers from up high. All while buildings stood tall in the high, bigger than anything Izuku has ever seen or thought possible. If it wasn’t for his current situation, Izuku is fairly sure he would have been extremely impressed.

As of that moment however, Izuku was more focused on not throwing up his lunch.

The bird continued its decent, until finally, it landed on the roof of one building.

It was a bit awkward, as it had to land with one foot, the other raised and clenched tight around the borrower it held captive.

Before Izuku could even start an attempt at escape, the small boy was slammed roughly against hard concrete and pain exploded across Izuku’s skull until he saw white stars dancing in his vision. He tried to blink them away as he felt his body lifting in the air, only to be slammed into the concrete once more until he felt like his brain was bouncing along in his skull as his breath was knocked from his lungs. He blinked, his limbs stunned and his thoughts sluggish and uncomprehending as a haze seemed to settle over his mind. He tried to move, but his limbs only gave a rough twitch, as though they were unsure what to do with themselves.

Pressure pushed down on Izuku as the young borrower could feel the bird’s weight shifting above him, and before he could decipher what this could mean—blinding pain pierced through Izuku’s shoulder like a white-hot spear. A scream tore from his throat as he felt what must be the bird’s beak, twist inside him until he could feel it scrape harshly against bone. His scream turned into a choking garble as he felt something crack beneath the hooked beak.

Izuku’s breaths came out fast and in gasps as the boy hyperventilated, his heart jackrabbiting in his tiny chest until he felt like it would explode. Fat tears sprung free from his eyes and leaked down his chin, barely dampening the blistering concrete below him.

Everything hurt.

Am I going to die?

He barely finished that thought before the bird ripped its powerful beak out of his flesh and his world plummeted into darkness so swiftly, he did not even have time to let out so much as a whimper.

He was in the air again when he regained consciousness—if it could even be called that.

Colors swam in and out of focus, blurry shapes dotting and circling, darting around like the smallest of gnats that buzzed in his ears and churned his insides. He watched with clouded hazy eyes as the ground crumbled away into fuzzy sand and an explosion of kaleidospheric colors move around one another in a dance, fading into nothing once again as Izuku’s eyes slip shut and allowing the rhythmic wingbeat lull him into a sense of no thoughts.

It felt only seconds later that he fought to blink open his eyes again, but the darkening blue sky spoke another story.

Shapes pass in a blur as he noticed he and his captor were still high in the air, soaring over impossibly tall buildings now lit with yellow lights that made the boy squint his eyes against their harsh suddenness. He could feel pain building up in the back of his skull that signaled a throbbing headache. Or maybe a concussion.

He blinked as he felt the air change as the bird dipped down and started to make a decent. Izuku lifted his head and nearly gasped at the building that laid ahead.

It was huge!

Four skyscrapers stood tall, the outer walls being taken over by glittering windows that reflected dark clouds and the city lights as clearly as a crystal pool. A few of those windows were lit up, but most remained dark, unused. In the middle, the buildings connect and bridge together, reminding Izuku of the letter H. He had no idea buildings could look like that.

The bird veered away from the strange building however, and instead headed for a mass of trees.

It’s looking for something, he thought, numbed. But what?

He doesn’t know.

His body hung limp in a taloned grip as the bird suddenly pulled up, going from a graceful glide to a wild flapping of feathers. The hold around Izuku’s abdomen vanished and Izuku landed in a heap before the boy could even process being afraid of the height he had been dropped.

Lucky for him, he only fell a few inches rather than the dizzying height of a tree. The ground under him felt stiff and prickly beneath Izuku’s fingers and as green eyes blinked open, the boy could see it was made from hay, grass, twigs, feathers, and other various, fuzzy things.

“What is this…?” He mumbled quietly to himself, his fingers scratching at the materials.

He didn’t have to wonder for long.

Izuku stiffened as a shadow shifted in the edge of his vision and a chirp sounded out.

Then another.

And another.

Dread sank low into Izuku’s stomach like a rock.

The bird brought him to a nest.

With shaking limbs, he tried to get to his feet, but immediately buckled under the pain of his right shoulder. A hiss of pain whistled through his teeth. After his flight his shoulder had gone numb and cold, making the young boy momentarily forgetting about his injury.

Izuku wished it was still numb. His pain, fear, and impeding doom was all too much for Izuku to handle at once. He attempted to stand once again, only to flinch back as the mama bird joined her babies and her catch in the nest with a light thump.

Izuku couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move.

His tiny body curled around itself into a tight ball and he refused to meet any creatures eyes as some silly part of his brain whispered and hoped that if he doesn’t see them, then maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t see him.

But he knows that is not how it worked, and he flinched as he could feel something large shift above him and Izuku’s terror spiked.

It’s going to eat me!

Insistent chirping shrieked in the borrower’s ears. He flicked them against his skull. Those babies were loud.

He glanced at them.

But they were young.

Izuku lunged forward as a shadow fell over him, his terror fueling into adrenaline as he hooked one of the hatchlings by its leg and, as best as he could with only one arm, held it close to his chest.

The hatchling shrieked and wriggled in his hold, but Izuku clung onto it with great effort. Despite being a baby, the thing as nearly as big as himself.

An earsplitting screech from the mother bird rang loudly against his skull. From behind the hatchling, Izuku could see the mother was very angry, her beady black eye blazed with outrage and malice.

She can’t attack me while I’m holding her baby, he panted, his heart in his throat. Izuku’s fingers strained to keep holding onto the hatchling, it’s excessive wriggling and weight made the borrower sag. If he could just find a way down—

The mother bird lunged for him.

Panic surged in the borrower’s limbs, and without thinking he flung the hatchling directly in front of him. A sickening crunch and a dying gurgle made Izuku want to throw up.

The mother bird, unable to pull away in time, had impaled the hatchling in its throat.

Before Izuku could revel in his horror that he had been responsible for the thing’s death, the mother bird pulled her beak and jerked her head to the side—and with the momentum of her action, along with the added weight of the dying body heavy in Izuku’s arms—was all that was needed to send them both tumbling over the edge of the nest.

Izuku slammed hard onto the ground, the breath completely knocked out of his lungs. The sky seemed to spin above him as his head and shoulder throbbed with pain.

Momentarily dizzy and confused, Izuku was unsure what to make of the blurry shape coming towards him until his instincts screamed for him to get up, idiot!

With a jolt, Izuku scrambled on his hands and knees and allowed his urging instincts to take over as they directed him to the trunk of a tree. A gap! There was a gap among the roots! He scurried towards it in a blind panic.

It was when Izuku was just a few inches from safety that he suddenly let out a shrill scream as pain shoot up from his leg. The bird had caught up to him.

It jerked its head back, its beak clutched firmly against the borrower’s left leg—trying to drag the small body away from the safety of the hole.

No!

His fingers dug into the dirt as he clawed at the grass, using every bit of strength he had left to not be snatched away again. Even so, he could feel himself being pulled back, his strength pitiful compared to the bird’s.

Fear threatening to drown him, Izuku kicked out with his free foot desperately until he could feel himself strike at something solid, and – Izuku doesn’t know how, but the bird had let go with a startled shriek.

Not wanting to let go of this opportunity, Izuku vaulted towards the gap in the roots. His hiding spot soon went dark as a shadow filled the gap, blocking dying sun from sight with an angry screech. The bird was trying to get inside the gap.

It clawed and scraped at the dirt and dead leaves, a hooked beak periodically shoving its way inside. But no matter how much it wriggled and screeched and dug—the bird was simply too big for the tiny little hole. Izuku leaned back, his tiny body hugged against the rough bark as he tried with every fiber of his being to get as far away as possible from his impeding doom.

After what felt like an eternity, the bird gave one last enraged screech at the hole and its escaped prey, then with a movement of ruffled feathers—it took off.

And yet, Izuku dared not to move. He dared not to breath for another few seconds, expecting the bird to come back and continue its assault but—it didn’t. Everything was finally, blissedly, quiet.

But still, Izuku shivered. His tiny heart still beat rapid as his fear overwhelmed him until he felt like he would explode with how powerful it was.

By the time it ebbed enough for him to think straight, the hole he was huddled in was pitch black—the sun having gone down what must have been hours ago. The borrower let out a shaky breath and pried himself from the bark, some bits of wood and dirt clung to his skin as he did so. Izuku winced as his shoulder flared in pain at the movement. He knew he should really look over his injuries properly, but as he moved away, and his body suddenly flooded with exhaustion until all he could think or do was curl up in a tight ball and slip into a dreamless sleep.

When Izuku awoke, his entire body felt stiff and sore and felt he had been stepped on, over and over. He still felt exhaustion behind his eyes and wondered just what had stirred him.

He jumped as he heard a scuffling come from the entrance of the hole, his eyes flew open to see the bird’s talons scrape long, impatient gashes into the dirt. It was trying to fish out the prey that had escaped from its grasp last night.

Body trembling, Izuku only curled up tighter in his ball, his eyes round and unblinking as he watched the bird try—and fail—to enter his safe haven.

The bird eventually stopped and with a frustrated huff it hopped back and thrusted its eye near the hole and—glared at Izuku with such anger that it made the borrower flinch. Then it took off, leaving Izuku be, but—its message was clear.

The bird was waiting for him to come out.

Izuku woke to the sound of a distant, shrill bell.

With a groan, he turned over, frustrated that he was jolted out of sleep that he desperately needed. He laid there, willing to fall back under, but to his frustration he could tell sleep was not going to greet him so soon. A painful growl from his stomach settled the decision once and for all.

He clutched at his stomach with a sigh. Izuku had been cornered among these roots for two days now. The bird kept visiting his hiding spot a few times within those two days, making the small borrower too afraid to venture out in search for safer shelter and scavenge for food.

Luckily, water wasn’t a big issue. Every morning the grass was lined with dew, giving Izuku a few hours to quickly snatch a few strands of grass and greedily gulp down the precious liquid. But since the water was only available in the early morning, the situation still wasn’t great.

Izuku was so hungry.

He eyed a passing ant scuttling on a root.

I could always eat bugs… I guess.

The thought of it made him gag.

He knew he shouldn’t be picky, not in a situation like this… but he really didn’t want to eat a bug.

“Then you need to escape, stupid,” he muttered under his breath. Even though the borrower wasn’t sure how far he would get with his injured foot.

His eyes close.

I want to go home.

Later that night, Izuku stood at the entrance of the small hole that kept him safe.

As much as it scared him to travel at night, the borrower knew it was his best bet if he didn’t want to starve to death and end up bird food.

The bird never bothered him at night—it had to sleep too, after all.

But they wake up really early in the morning, he reminded himself, so I need to be sure I’m far away from this tree before then.

Even if he left the tree, there was no guarantee that he would find food right away. So, the borrower had taken it upon himself to dig up a fat worm. It sat strangely in his stomach and Izuku still can’t help but grimace when he’s reminded of the slimy taste. But… he wasn’t starving anymore, and frankly he would need all the energy he could get tonight if he wanted to cover enough ground.

So, with a deep breath, Izuku left the cover of the roots.

By the time Izuku found a new shelter—a small empty can of soda—he was exhausted, out of breath, and cringing at the shooting pains his leg was giving out, angrily protesting to the foolish borrower for putting it through so much exercise.  

And frankly? Izuku wasn’t even satisfied with how far he managed to get. It might still be dark outside, but he could swear the tree was still within sight, if he squinted.

And is this shelter even safe? He wondered with a groan. It was so small compared to the hole in the roots.

And less stable.

If the bird really wanted to, it could probably snatch the can up and…

No! It didn’t see me come in! Hopefully nothing did. He would only stay in the can for one day, that’s it. Then, he’ll make more ground and find better shelter.

“And preferably one that isn’t as sticky,” the borrower mumbled with grimace as his hand comes in contact with a small puddle of the syrupy beverage. Izuku loved it when his parents would bring back a can of soda, but he soon learned that the stuff only lasts a few hours before the taste went from bubbly, to absolutely horrible. Izuku didn’t dare to get a taste of the remaining contents in this old can—who knows how long it’s been here?

He probably shouldn’t be so picky, but the borrower had managed to drink the fresh dew from the grass before he discovered the can, so he wasn’t that thirsty anyway.

Izuku carefully curled up in the cramped space and allowed his eyes to slip shut.

After that, it was hard to tell how much time had passed, but Izuku estimates that it took about two weeks for his leg to completely heal until he no longer felt pain when walking. It was harder to say for his shoulder where the bird’s beak had stabbed him, as Izuku lost track of the days not soon after, but it still bothers him if he stretched too hard or twisted too suddenly.

Or tried to support all his weight on it as he hung from a branch that he may or may not have messed up and fallen off from.  

“Ow ow ow ow ow… that wasn’t very smart…” Izuku hissed under his breath, grabbing at the branch with his good arm to help pull himself back up. His shoulder twinged and shrieked at him angrily at his mistake. After a few minutes of allowing his shoulder to rest, Izuku continued on, his small fingers gripping onto the small dips into the rough bark as he hauled himself up.

A few hours later, the borrower was up the tall tree at about what he guessed was halfway. Exhausted, Izuku rests tucked neatly against the truck and unwrapped a fat berry he plucked from the shelter of a thick bush this morning. The sweet juices soothed his throat as he bit into it greedily.

That fruit bush had been one of his best finds since he ended up in this new place and Izuku was hesitant to give it up. Even though he had been sheltering there for the past week, Izuku knew it wasn’t exactly safe.

He wasn’t the only creature around here who loved the sweet berries.

Izuku should have ditched the bush that first day a small hoard of birds swooped in and started to peck and gobble up what they could, but when they didn’t notice the small borrower cowering under the cover of a well-grown leaf—Izuku might admit he had gotten a bit bold in staying there a few days longer.

The chiming bell that rang everyday went off in the distance as he wondered where to search for new shelter. It was then that he got an idea.

That bell had to be coming from a building—and Izuku was going to find it.

So, here he was—already impossibly high in a leafy tree as the borrower tried to crane his neck for glimpse of the building.

It wasn’t hard.

The building was massive—it had to be, in order to poke out of the tree line like that. Something about it seemed almost mystical as it shone brightly in the sunshine.

He squinted at it as vague memories of his arrival played in his head. I think I saw that before that bird dropped me off in its nest. The memory was so foggy, he just assumed he hallucinated the whole thing.

Then suddenly Izuku jolted. “Wait! As the bird flew in, it came from this direction, so the way out must be…” he turned his head excitedly as he searched for the end of the woods. If he could find the way out, then he could go back home!

His mind refused to acknowledge the fact that when he was taken, the bird had flown for so long and so far, that Izuku would have no chance of finding his way back on his own. No, all he wanted to focus on was the possibility that would be back in the arms of his father, mother, and uncle once again.

But instead, what the borrower saw made his heart freeze in place.

The area was surrounded by a huge, towering wall—stretching as far as his eye could see.

He was trapped inside.