it was so sexy of horikoshi to give us the poem he got the inspiration for the name "deku" from, which also represents izuku's personal journey, on the day of izuku's birthday
A small fic for Izuku’s birthday! It’s Todobaku and rated T
hope you enjoy! Definitely has some angst though!
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Izuku wakes up later than he usually would, and stretches out with a groan. He checks his phone, wondering why the alarm didn't go off, then slowly peels himself out of the sheets. For a moment he's almost confused, not used to waking up at home any more, but then he remembers that he came home for his birthday, because he wanted to spend it with his mom. He hadn't told anyone at school, though, he doesn't really want a big deal made out of it.
Because it's really not much of a big deal.
But when he walks out into the living room and isn't greeted with his mom barrelling him over like she usually would, he's pretty confused. In fact, he finds her eating a bowl of cereal in the kitchen, as if it's just any other day.
“Morning, mom,” he says, giving her a soft smile. He grabs a bowl down and pours himself some cereal as well, sitting down beside her. He doesn't care what they have for breakfast, cereal is just fine. He wonders if they'll make a special dinner together like they have been. Izuku hopes so, he likes the way they do his birthdays. They're small and loving and warm. He wouldn't ask for anything else. It's always been just the two of them.
Inko seems to start slightly at him speaking to her, but she smiles back at him.
“Good morning, Izuku. I hope you don't mind that I'm a bit in a rush this morning, they asked me to come into work a little early today.” She finishes her cereal and stands up, rinsing the bowl, seeming to not notice the odd look her son is shooting her. She pauses to kiss his forehead and pull him into a tight hug. “But I'll be back later. I'm sorry that I have to go in when you're home, I know I never get to see you any more. I love you, baby,” she says, hugging him a little tighter before walking out of the room.
Izuku is still stunned. His mother has never worked on his birthday before. She always makes a big deal about the two of them spending the entire day together. He wonders if maybe he screwed the days up, but checking his phone lets him know that no, today <i> is </i> July 15. Maybe he was making a big deal out of nothing. He's older now, maybe birthdays aren't meant to be as involved anymore.
But he kind of regrets coming home if that's the case. He doesn't really want to spend the entire day home alone, and he took the day off of school. He sighs softly, finishing the cereal and rinsing his bowl out as well. Izuku feels his heart ache, but he knows it's selfish. His mom works really hard, and he can't fault her for that.
Even if she didn't even say 'happy birthday'.
Izuku makes himself smile when she walks out to kiss him goodbye, though it falls again the instant the door closes. No, he convinces himself, it's not important. He heads upstairs to his bed again and lays down, clutching his pillow to his chest. He sniffles softly.
“It's not important, it's not important,” he whispers to himself, as if the repetition will help convince him. But it really is important, he thinks as the tears well over and drip down his cheeks. He would have liked his mom at the very least to remember his birthday. He knows Katsuki knows it as well, though he doesn't expect much from his friend turned rival turned friend. Katsuki is still trying to figure it all out still, so a birthday wish from him would be a surprise all it's own.
His phone jingles and it takes a moment for him to clear his eyes up to read the message. He sniffles a few more times and uses the corner of his blanket to wipe away the tears still blurrying his vision.
From: Kacchan
'Hey nerd, where the fuck are you? Aizawa gave out a pop quiz. He said you were cleared to not be here, but pink cheeks is worried you're gonna have trouble making up the quiz.'
His phone rings again before he can come up with a good response for Katsuki.
From: Sho
'Hello Midoriya. You missed a pop quiz, I don't want you to worry. It was fairly simple, and I have no doubt you'll be just fine figuring it out, but if you'd like to study beforehand, my dorm is always welcome.'
Another jingle.
From: Ei
'Hey Izu! Are you doing okay? It's really rare for you to miss school. I know you probably have a good reason, you always do if you're gone. Any way, pop quiz was pretty hard but I think you'll probably do fine, Baku did. I miss you!'
Izuku blushes softly, but decides not to answer. He doesn't know how. They all sound so worried, and it makes him feel kind of weird about missing class. But he doesn't have his school stuff, and he's sure that by the time he makes it, it'd probably be around lunch. But oh well, his mom is at work and all, and he can come home again afterwards to make dinner with his mom.
If she even wants to do that. He supposes he can ask, but that feels selfish. Like how would he phrase that? 'Hey mom, it's my birthday, are we doing dinner like always?' 'Hey mom, do you want to make dinner for a kid you're not even supposed to have to make dinner for any more? I know you had a tough day at work but now I really want you feed me based on a random day that isn't even that important'. No he doesn't want to make his mom do that.
Unless his mom brings it up, he'll just act like today is any other day. He gets up and showers quickly, then heads to the dorms, changing into his school clothes. He sends Aizawa a quick email to let him know he'll be attending school after all, arriving at the classroom around the end of lunch. He surprised by the complete lack of students in the class. He knows some people get back pretty early, but Aizawa is sitting behind his desk.
He gets a copy of the test, assuring his teacher that he didn't get the answers from any of his classmates, then sits down. Izuku starts on the test, getting confused by the answers repeatedly. He doesn't remember learning any of this stuff in class, he's just lucky he already knew some of the answers about hero history, otherwise he probably would have completely bombed it. What's even weirder is that he doesn't see any other students in the room, even after the bell rings to announce the end of their lunch period.
Izuku silently turns the test in then sits back down, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. It's really uncomfortable to be the only one in the classroom, he thinks. He looks through the window, sighing when he sees Katsuki, Eijiro, and Shoto talking together in the courtyard below. He wishes he was with them, anything would be better than this. Or he wishes they would come and sit through this awkward torture <i> with </i> him. He looks up when Aizawa turns his test back to him.
The big red 'F' stares him in the face. He's never gotten an f score before. “W-Wait, Mr. Aizawa, what?”
Aizawa sits down behind his desk, giving Izuku a tired look.
“Trust me, it's not what I wanted to write either. All the other kids passed, that's why they're not here. I thought I was going to get to have a quiet afternoon to myself to nap, but instead we have to go over all the questions on the pop quiz. I'm kind of disappointed Izuku, you're pretty high up in class, and I expected you to do better.”
Izuku feels tears welling up into his eyes. He though school would have been better, a welcome distraction from the pain of his mother forgetting his birthday, but it seems like that won't be happening now. Instead, he gets to feel like a burden on his teacher, who clearly had engineered the test to give them all a break with how hard class has been lately. He sniffles softly, pulling out his notebook.
They start with the problems he truly didn't get at all, and he's really grateful for it. Then they move onto things that he was wary about, and several of them he finds he didn't fully understand how to do. But then Aizawa starts to explain something that he clearly got right but was marked wrong.
“Mr. Aizawa! I'm sorry to interrupt but I actually got this one right,” he says. “But it was marked wrong.” Izuku's voice is shaking as he tries not to cry any more, especially since he's pointing out something he knows he's correct on.
Aizawa glances at his phone, seeming to mull something over, before nodding and coming over to him. “Then we won't go over that one,” he says. He looks over his paper and sighs. “You got some of these right, my apologies for not looking thoroughly. My answer key has some errors. Let me re grade this, and then I'll let you retake the rest of it.” He brings back the paper a few minutes later.
Izuku takes it, relaxing when he sees the C. He's glad he didn't get as bad of a grade as he thought. When the new paper is handed to him, he starts to write quickly through it, since he knows everything now. When the paper is passed back to him with an A, he almost faints with relief, though he does burst into tears. At this point he's completely starving, his mom forgot his birthday, his best friend didn't say anything to him about it, and he's been harassed about this supposedly small quiz for a solid hour.
He's kind of surprised when Aizawa's hand claps down on his shoulder and gives it a couple comforting pats. “I bet you're hungry, aren't you? Missed lunch, probably. I'm sorry, Midoriya, why don't we go see if we can get you something to eat.” He feels bad about keeping him that long when he's obviously distressed.
“Yeah, I'm really hungry, sorry,” he whispers. Izuku stands up and nods. He packs up his stuff, then follows Aizawa into the hall. He gets confused when he's led past the cafeteria, but he reasons that they're probably not open at the moment. The kitchen at the dorms is a lot more likely, he thinks.
The dorm building comes into view and he's relieved. He just wants to eat and go lay down and try to forget about this day. This is honestly the worst birthday he's ever had, and his fifth birthday definitely happened. He drops his head and pushes the door open, about to kick off his shoes when a sudden 'surprise!' startles him. He practically falls back against Aizawa, eyes wide as he looks at the enthusiastic smiling faces of his classmates...and All Might. His mom slides out from behind a few kids with a bright smile, and numbly he accepts the hug she gives him.
Izuku starts to cry. Again.
He pushes his mother off of him and runs between the people trying to say happy birthday to him, slamming his door shut. He didn't want a big deal made out of it, not like this. He just wanted a quiet day with his mom, and maybe a few friends to say 'happy birthday'. This is a little too much, even though he loves his classmates a lot.
He jumps when he feels a hand on his shoulder, and his head shoots up to look into worried, crimson eyes. Izuku reaches up and grabs onto Katsuki's wrist, pulling him down so he can bury his face in his shoulder, sobbing softly against him.
“Hey, it's okay,” Katsuki mutters, awkward. He's still not used to Izuku leaning on him to cry, but he wants to help him calm down. He knew this was a stupid fucking idea, pretending that no one knew or remembered his birthday and then throwing him this giant surprise birthday. Izuku never seemed to like things like this, but Eijiro and Uraraka seemed so excited about it that he had a hard time telling them no. “Let's breathe for a moment then head downstairs. Everyone was really excited to spend your birthday with you.”
Izuku takes a panicked, deep breath, then lets out another sob. He grips Katsuki's shirt and whimpers, crying harder. He can't seem to catch his breath, it was all way too overwhelming. Why had they done that? Convinced him they didn't remember his birthday and then surprised him this way? It takes several more minutes before he finally stops sobbing. He reaches up and wipes away his tears, sniffling hard.
“I-I'm sorry,” he mumbles. Izuku looks up at him, then slowly stands up. “I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to run away like that. It was just...overwhelming to get yelled at like that.” He looks around then sighs softly. “I'm gonna change into something more comfortable, I'll meet you down there,” he says, giving Katsuki a forced little smile.
Izuku changes into his normal day clothes, and comes back downstairs, giving the room a sheepish smile. “Sorry for running away,” he says softly, then looks around. “You startled me, but thank you very much for giving me such a nice birthday. It's an honour to have all of you as friends.”
Izuku greets everybody, relaxing more as he falls into the familiar chatting with his closer friends. He's glad to see some of the students from the other classes are there as well. But his main focus? The massive table of food. He walks over to it, piling his plate high then sitting down on the couch and starting to eat. He was so starved, and it becomes obvious with how quickly he starts eating.
After he's gotten the chance to eat, his friends and family crowd him with presents, and it takes Katsuki telling them to back off for them to realize they shouldn't overwhelm him again, but he's grateful to all of them.
His favourite present, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is the signed limited time All Might figurine Yagi gave him. He runs up to his room immediately to add it to the rather large collection, smiling happily. What started as a really bad birthday turned into something really nice, he thinks as he admires it. A soft knock on the door frame gets his attention, and he turns his excited smile to the person coming in.
“Hey,” Shoto says, stepping into the room. He smiles when he sees the display. “I just had a question,” he starts. He sits down on the bed, awkwardly playing with the blanket he's sitting on. “I wanted to know...if you wanted to go out with me.”
Izuku blushes darkly, then rubs the back of his neck. “Like as a birthday present or like, seriously?” he asks.
Shoto sputters slightly. “Seriously. I've been thinking about this for a while, and I had a big romantic idea set up, but then when you ran away like that I realized you aren't really one for big public gestures, not like Eijiro or Denki or Ochako, the ones I mainly asked how to do it.” He gives Izuku a soft smile, though it's hard for him to hide how embarrassed he's getting the longer it takes Izuku to answer, not when his hair starts to smoke.
Izuku looks over his face, then smiles again. “Yeah, actually. I would really love to go on a date with you.” He reaches out then grabs his hand, then gives it a soft squeeze. “Thank you, for trying not to embarrass me. It means a lot. But it probably would have been okay, there was just a lot going on today.” He rubs his thumb over his hand softly. “Either way, I'm really glad. Cause I've had a huge crush on you for a long time and I've been wanting to ask but was worried you might be upset.”
“Oh. Well that's a relief then.” Shoto smiles softly at him, squeezing his hand in return. “Let's go back down, I'd hate to keep all our friends waiting. Today we're celebrating you, after all. And kind of your mom, because she honestly made and raised the best person I've ever met.”
Izuku blushes darkly and gives him a nudge. “Sappy already,” he teases with a smile. “Yeah, let's head back down.”
And surrounded by his friends and family, he decides, is a really good way to spend his birthday.
