MHA : Venom

Izuku had two choices when it came to returning to school.

The first was to walk in with his quirk obvious for all to see and tell everyone that he no longer was quirkless.

The other was to keep it secret and not tell anyone about it at all for the remainder of his time there.

There were pros and cons to each option.

Telling everyone was easily the more appealing option at first glance. Izuku didn't like lies in general, much less telling them. He just didn't like doing it.

Not to mention that if he told everyone, the way everyone would treat him would change. Maybe he could finally be just another student, not "That quirkless guy". Was wanting to be treated like a human being that damned wrong?

On the other hand, the cons of telling everyone was all about one person.

Katsuki Bakugou.

His "Old friend", was violent, angry, and flat out hated him for being quirkless.

A week ago he would probably have seen the idea of telling Katsuki that he had a quirk as a surefire way to finally end the bullying, if not mend their relationship.

Right now though, he had no idea how Katsuki would react. Frankly, he couldn't imagine that whatever Katsuki's reaction was would be positive.

And then there was the final thing. He didn't WANT to make up with Katsuki anymore. As far as he was concerned, that ship had sailed. He wasn't sure exactly when it had reached the point of no return, but it was probably delusional to think that the events last Friday had been the decisive moment.

It wasn't. It was just the moment Izuku had woken up.

As for not telling anyone…

Well, the biggest drawback was obviously that things would remain the way they were.

He'd keep getting treated like a pariah just for being "Quirkless", everyone would continue to look down on him, laugh at any perceived flaws, every little mistake, all his hopes, and dreams.

Katsuki, in particular, would treat him the exact same way he had always done. Probably even worse now, after their last encounter.

On the other hand, there were pros to not telling anyone.

Or rather, there were situations that it might be best to avoid altogether.

The most obvious was that without knowing how Katsuki would react, he could most certainly not rule out the idea that Katsuki might attack him. Like, really attack him, like three days ago.

If he did, Izuku WOULD fight back. And with the strength he now possessed… Well, there was going to be collateral damage. The absolute worst-case scenario would be if the two of them got into a huge fight at school, wrecked a huge part of it, and put each other in the hospital.

Win or lose, it would probably tank both of their shots at a hero career, much less getting into Yuei, where any pre-criminal record was guaranteed to get you rejected on the spot. In fact, pretty much all hero schools were like that.

He couldn't risk that. He just couldn't.

He had dreamed of what had just happened for an entire decade. It would be the ultimate cruel twist of fate, if after all of it, after all that suffering, after finally getting a quirk, he blew it all on a pointless bout with Katsuki.

He couldn't let it happen.

So, he had decided to keep his mouth shut, and his quirk hidden for the rest of his final middle school year. 10 months. He just had to keep this quirk a secret at school all the way to the end of February next year.

That was a daunting prospect, even if he decided on it as the only course forward.

At least his quirk had seemingly liked the idea. It had so far been very willing to just fuse to his school jacket and not randomly pop out. Just one time of it doing that, and the secret was out of the bag.

He'd tried to explain the plan and why it was necessary for 4 hours yesterday to it. He was pretty sure it didn't understand anything about his long explanation other than the point that he wanted to keep it hidden for the moment.

THAT it had understood, and shown great enthusiasm about.

He wasn't sure why of was so happy about that specifically, but then again… There were a lot of things he didn't understand about his quirk so far.

So, as he walked back into Aldera Junior High for the first time since awakening his powers, he felt… Well, a lot of things. Frustration for not getting to show everyone his quirk, fear that he'd get into a fight with Katsuki despite his efforts, and just all around not being comfortable at all.

Then again, he had never been comfortable here at all. As he looked up at the building as he walked through the yard, he realized something.

He hated this school.

He probably shouldn't be as surprised by that as he was, he didn't have any positive memories of his time here whatsoever after all. Yet the revelation really did surprise him.

He hated this building. He hated this school as an institution. He hated the fact that he was stuck here for the entirety of the rest of the year.

It was just like with Katsuki. It was like he finally woke up, after so long trying to make something of himself here and trying to pretend it wasn't just godawful.

He bit his lip and forced himself to keep going. Standing around and glaring at the building wasn't going to make any of this any easier.

He would have to suck it up and deal with it.

...

This was so much worse than he had assumed it would be.

Izuku had expected everything to be just the same as always.

It wasn't. At all. But not because anything had changed with the class itself. No, the change was with Izuku, not his fellow students.

Izuku had never, in his entire life felt as alone as he did now in this classroom surrounded by his peers.

Like with Katsuki and the school itself, it was like Izuku had been living in a dream, only to violently wake up and seeing things for the way they were.

He had no friends here.

He had known that already, of course, he hadn't had any friends for years. The only people who cared about him was his mom, a couple of friends of his parents, and now his own quirk, who's life was tied to his own.

Well, and his dad too probably.

Sitting at his usual spot, however, he finally GOT it. These weren't his friends. They had never been his friends. They were never going to be his friends, no matter what happened.

They had every single one of them, stood by as he was humiliated, partaken in it by refusing to condone it, and actively encouraged Katsuki every time he had put him down.

It would have been easy if this revelation had brought rage and anger like it did with the school and Katsuki.

But it didn't. He didn't feel angry or pissed off at them. Just a crushing wave of disappointment, sadness, and bitterness.

Why had he wanted to reveal his quirk exactly? So THESE people would deign to treat him like he was a human being with feelings and dreams?

Now that was a joke. A far bigger one than he had been a week ago.

The only friend Izuku had in this entire school, was currently fused into his jacket.

At least he could take some solace in that. Whatever happened next, he would not be alone.

The door opened and Katsuki stepped into the room.

Every muscle in his body tensed like steel coils like he instinctually expected a fight the moment Katsuki walked into the room. In his head, the anger that seemed to shoot into his mind whenever Katsuki came up took hold as he braced himself for the inevitable confrontation.

Instead, Katsuki didn't even glance in his direction, walked up to his own table, unceremoniously drop his bag by it, then sat down in his seat, all without saying anything.

Well, that was… Different.

The completely silent Katsuki was noticed by other people in the class too, not just Izuku.

They didn't get to begin gossiping about it though, as their teacher walked in 20 seconds after Katsuki.

Their sensei glanced over at Katsuki for a moment, looking kinda sad, then he just began the day like it was a usual and regular day.

...

If you want to read ahead of the public release, or just want to support me.

You can join my p atreon :

[email protected]/Huvnn