a/n : I gave poor Izuku a break :/

He was so warm, smothered in downy feathers and floating calmly. A dull throb echoed in the back of his mind, but he ignored it as the lulls of heat called for him. The very thought of opening his eyes was banished from the planes of his mind as comfort smothered him.

"Hey" said a calm, female voice, "Wake up now"

If he ignored it, the voice should go.

"Come on, Green" apparently not.

An annoyed groan erupted from his mouth and vibrated through his bones, indicating to the voice that he did not want to wake up and wasn't planning to get up. Until the person ripped the duvet off Izuku, exposing him to the winter chill.

"No, come back" whined Izuku as he lamely stretched his arms in a weak attempt to retrieve the thick blanket.

"It's been ages now"

He groggily opened his eyes to see a woman leaning over him and wearing a starched lab coat.

"Who are you?" his voice rasped from lack of water.

"I'm Ninurta, and I heal people. My grandmother used to heal the pros way back when, and she was super famous! The heroes wouldn't have been able to survive without her, so I'm carrying on the healing power for vigilantes"

Underneath the lab coat, Izuku noticed her t-shirt had a huge picture of a horned skull below the black words 'Slipknot'. She also had ripped jeans and huge, black boots. Her hair was auburn, curly and short around the ears, and her eyes were framed with huge eyelashes behind large glasses. Izuku got a punk-plus-nerd vibe from her but liked her unique style.

"That's cool, I like how you followed your grandma. Now, where am I?"

"Ah," Ninurta kissed her teeth, "You see, Nightburst warned me that you're quite the stubborn type. Ya get what I mean?"

"No, I don't" Izuku frowned.

"Well… you're at the vigilante base right now to get healed from the Stain attack"

Izuku sat bolt upright, "I need to meet people! Like, learn about morals… and Quirks… and techniques!"

"He said you'd fanboy over this," Ninurta slowly shook her head, making curls bounce around head.

"What do you mean?"

"Sadly, the entire base except from this room is top secret, and you can't see anything past this door. Thankfully, my Quirk has sedation powers so I can easily heal a really wounded person"

Izuku laughed dryly, threat and challenge pouring off his voice, "You wouldn't sedate me"

"Please don't hate me, I rather like you"

And with that parting sentence, the curly-haired girl touched his arm which triggered a sleepy haze across his vision.

"Is he safe now?" was the first thing that came out of Shoto's mouth when he saw Ninurta.

"Greenbean is safe in the bookshop" she did a mock salute and grinned widely, but then turned more serious , "He was pretty banged up, you know"

"I know" Shoto pressed his lips together and ran a palm over his face, "I wish I got there sooner"

"Don't go blaming yourself for it" Ninurta put her hands on her hips, "It was purely an accident, and the only one to blame is Stain. Anyway, how do you know him?"

Ninurta was one of the few who knows Shoto's real identity, as she was the healer for the entire vigilante base: an important asset. As well as being entirely loyal, she's fun, good at giving advice and is able to keep a secret which was helpful as she knows everyone's identity- a secret that was life-changing if it were found out. Luckily, she's nice to chat to and was one of the few who managed to get Shoto/Nightburst to talk. Her Quirk was healing and was activated by kissing the area of the person's body which was injured; she also was able to sedate people by touching them with her pinkie. The healing part of her Quirk was from her mother's side, and the sedative part was from her father's.

"He's this kid from my school, and I met him as both Todoroki and Nightburst"

"That's risky, man"

"I know, but both of them were coincidences. And Bakugo is sniffing round me again and is bringing Midoriya into this whole business. Sometimes, I see the cogs working in his head, and I'm worried what he's thinking behind those red eyes"

"What are you going to do?"

"I distanced myself from Midoriya at school like everybody else, but he took it differently. Instead of ignoring me and walking away, he looked really, really sad for a moment"

"And you've just distanced him again as Nightburst, haven't you?"

"Yes" he ducked his head from Ninurta's piercing gaze.

"Shoto" she placed a hand on his arm, "I know you don't want your secret revealed, but I don't think ignoring everyone is a good way to go. As well as you are lonely, you're also making yourself look suspicious"

"What should I do, though?"

"Well, you either need to apologise to him as Shoto or Nightburst"

"Okay" he rubbed his face again after she moved her hand to rest underneath her jaw.

"Stop worrying, you're going to get an ulcer"

"I wouldn't want you to heal that"

Her tinkling laughter gave Shoto a spark of hope. Maybe he should talk to Midoriya.

Izuku woke up a couple of hours later in his bookshop, feeling disorientated and achy. He sat up slowly, his head felt as though it was stuffed with cotton wool and picked up a notepad left next to him.

Hey, Midoriya. I'm sorry for the incident and I could've done better for you after you saved my life. You was saved by Arbitrium and Stain is now in custody. I immediately took you to the vigilante base where you was treated by Ninurta who you've just met. Anyway, I'm sorry for everything that happened, and I wish your safety. Thank you for saving me. -Kai

An unidentifiable screech left his throat as he threw the notebook against a beige wall.

"You were supposed to come back! Why…" tears fell down his cheeks and he curled up into a ball, "Why did you have to leave me again?"

Sobs racked through his body, and he kept throwing random objects around the room: a pillow, a book, another book. The pleasure of venting his never-ending anger as the world was addictive, and he felt a buzz every time he wrecked another thing. It wasn't until he threw an empty mug against a wall that he stopped and panted.

"A fucking hero you are" he seethed as he swept up white shards of china.

He'd been ditched multiple times by friends and family, but he couldn't help but hope for this time to be different than the norm. Someone he could stick by with, talk with, maybe even laugh with. Not even his mother talked to him anymore and cared more for her job.

"Nah," he shook his head quickly, "She's working for you and the house. I should be checking up on her like a good son"

Wiping his tears and blowing his nose, Izuku searched for a coat and shoes. Once he'd found them, he locked up (after Kai's angry warning) and jogged to the nearest tram station. He then pulled out a phone and started texting his mother with perfect grammar because acronyms annoyed him.

Izuku – Hey, mum. Sorry for staying all day and night, I probably worried you. I'm on my way home.

Mum – its ok and im home cooking :) i managed 2 get time off for next weekend btw. a whole day we can go somewhere 2gether

Izuku – Sure! /(^A^)/ see ya in a bit.

His mum clearly didn't bother with grammar just like the rest of the Universe didn't, either.

Not long after, Izuku pulled a key out of his back pocket and unlocked the wooden, white door. A smell of cooking mixed with air freshener wafted up his nose and Izuku breathed deeply.

"I'm home!" he called loudly.

"Hey, Izu! How was the bookshop?"

"Yeah, it was cool" he sat down at the kitchen stool behind his mother and watched her cook a meal.

"Dinner is going to be about half an hour. Did you eat breakfast and lunch?"

"Yeah" he fibbed. Where did the day go? How long was he asleep for?

"So, next weekend, which would be a Saturday. I was thinking about this café in Vellir. It's not too far away and is very unique"

"What type of café is it? They're sorta common" he stood up to pour himself a glass of water from the tap.

"Oh, its just one your dad used to love. It's very colourful because the windows are stained glass and the tables are like bar stools but instead of being wooden, they're multi-coloured. They play old, grungy music and serve awesome coffee and the workers there are always chatty" a small smile appeared at her lips, and Izuku had no doubts that she was reliving memories with Hisashi, Izuku's father.

A warmth settled in Izuku's chest: last time his mum was talking about Hisashi, she was crying. He knew his mother buried herself in her work to try and hide her emotions from Izuku and herself. It was nice seeing her openly talk about him after the years.

"Y-Yeah, that sounds nice" he took a sip from his water.

"Okay" she continued stirring whatever wonder was inside the pot.

After dinner, Izuku flopped onto his bed, and continued re-reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

"I feel infinite… what does that even mean?" he wondered for what felt like the millionth time.

He thought it might mean love. Izuku loved his mother dearly, and loved his late father too, but every time books explained about love he just couldn't get it. Sometimes they talked about freedom and cute day-to-day life, yet they also talk about beating hearts and passion. The main character of the book he was holding, Charlie, didn't really know either so he didn't feel too alone. Izuku just assumed it was like an ebony tunnel of doors: sometimes a door would be unlucky, and you want to escape from the bitter room, but sometimes the room behind the door can be so magical, that all you want to do is to lock yourself in there forever. Sometimes he wanted a door, even if it was a bad one. Sometimes he was frightened because this topic was something that books couldn't really explain to him about.

"Izu! I'm going now, make sure to eat breakfast"

He jolted awake, not even knowing that he had fallen asleep. Izuku hastily called a reply to his mother, then shot out of bed as he had to get to his job of which he was so dedicated to. Rushing downstairs, he shoved on a green shirt and flicked the kettle for a quick coffee; today was a Sunday so he preferred to open early as most customers come on a Sunday.

"Ah! It's almost eleven?" he shrieked and left the house with his abandoned coffee in it.

There was an elderly woman waiting patiently outside the khaki door and Izuku hastily apologised, even offering tea or coffee as compensation.

"It's okay, really" smiled the woman, "I was passing by and decided to wait around. It was only a few minutes before you came"

"But I must apologise!" Izuku's hands shook as he unlocked the door and let his customer in, who made a beeline for the endless racks of books.

He breathed a sigh of relief and winced at the mess he left before he left. Picking up the notebook, Izuku smiled sadly at the scrawled note left by Kai. Really, he shouldn't have gotten so het up and acted so irrationally.

"Do you have any suggestions?" spoke a voice, and Izuku turned to the woman with pale hair.

"Uh," he dropped the notepad and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "W-What type of book were you thinking of? Poetry? Fiction? Playwrights?"

"Tell me one of your favourite books" she smiled again.

"Okay, you've probably heard of it, but have you read The Secret Garden?"

"Oh, I've heard of it but never had the chance to read it"

"Well," he walked over to the specific shelf, "This book is really cool, I love it because you can easily see the main character's change in perspective. At first, she sees everything as negative and is a sour child, but after living in the moors and making friends, she becomes more positive. I've loved it for years"

Izuku presented the book to her and she took it from his hands, "Thank you, how much is it?"

"That would be £2, please"

"Let me get my purse"

After serving the woman, Izuku set to clearing his mess from last night by sweeping up the torn paper and putting the pillows back in the reading area like they should be. He picked up the notebook, re-read the message, then tucked it away in a drawer because he didn't have the heart to throw it away just yet.

"Hey, Mido!"

Izuku whipped round and saw a familiar face.

"Kirishima!"

Behind the redhead was the black-haired boy, the blonde, the pink-haired girl and lastly Bakugo. His body turned cold at the blood-red eyes, and Izuku avoided the gaze.

"I didn't know you worked here! You remember my friends, right?"

"Of course, I remember. Mina, Sero, Kaminari" he nodded at them each in turn, and they smiled and waved in response, "Bakugo"

"Ooh, I love those saucy sofas"

"Do you think they sell juicy love stories?"

"Gimme that orange juice just how I like it"

"That's kinda weird, not gonna lie"

"Why are we even here?" that was Bakugo, who asked the question with a dog-like snarl.

"To get study guides"

"I need a biology one desperately"

"Study guides?" Izuku interrupted the chaos, "Sure, we sell them here"

"I knew we could trust the trusty Midoriya trust bookshop"

"I didn't know you can read, Kami"

"How do I read the juice, huh? Me and Mina are experts on drinking it"

"What juice are we talking about? Apple? Aubergine?"

"Who the hell drinks aubergine juice? Does that exist? I want it now"

"Do it for the vine"

"Oh my god, shut the fuck up you're all useless"

"I feel as though Bakugo can be of meme-worthy material"

"Like…"

"Gordon Ramsey!"

"Yeah, but more studying than cooking"

"No"

"Study guides, guys?" Izuku cocked his head expectantly and Kirishima answered him.

"Yeah if you walk, they usually follow. Ignore the weirdness"

"You joined in!"

"I'm only semi weird. You're full weird"

"Like milk? Yannow, semi fat… full fat"

Izuku took Kirishima's advice and started walking towards the study guides.

"So, we have all the subjects here" he waved to the shelf, "Is there any particular ones you need?"

"I need biology"

"I need one on how to flirt"

"Everything available"

"Juicy ones?"

Giving up, Izuku sighed and said, "Knock yourselves out"

He then returned to behind the counter but couldn't help listening into the strange conversations the group was getting into.

"So, I was mining in Minecraft and I got some diamonds, yeah? And, you know the vine where people accidently drop the diamonds in lava, but I actually dropped them in water"

"What is water gonna do? Just pick them up"

"They floated! Down a waterfall! I-I lost them"

"That's literally the dumbest…"

"Can we just get on and leave, fuckwits?"

"Imagine a meme which is the Roblox 'oof' sound and the Minecraft 'you died' together?"

"That's cross-contamination, bro"

"I'm going to put whatever is in them shitty heads of yours and put it into a fucking blender"

"That's gross, bro"

"Are you like a secret zombie or something?"

"Wouldn't that be lit, though? Just a casual zombie"

"No, Kami, it won't be"

"I'm fucking leaving, idiots"

"Bye, Bakuhoe"

"No, we need mother hen"

"MOTHER, COME BACK"

"Daddy, we need you"

"Never say that again"

"He's leaving"

"See ya, Mido!"

They didn't even buy study guides. Izuku was very, very confused.