Midoriya smiled as he stepped away from the wall and admired his handiwork. The frame tilted slightly to the right, but after fidgeting with it for more than ten minutes, he decided it wasn't going to be perfectly level and left it alone. But there it was, his degree in Hero Psychology, on display in his office, surrounded by smaller award plaques and certificates he'd acquired while attending school. At twenty-two years old, he'd spent a lot of time working towards this goal, and he wanted to enjoy this feeling of accomplishment for as long as he could.

"Midoriya, your first appointment is here, should I send them in?" The secretary for their department buzzed in on the intercom.

Walking back to his desk, he pushed the button to reply. "Yes, thank you, Miss Yonagishi." His stomach was a riot of butterflies and twists. This wasn't his first time working with a patient, but it was his first case working directly with a hero, or hero family, as it were, since graduating and being hired by this office. He'd taken a quick look through the case file earlier and it seemed to be a simple situation on paper. Taking a deep breath, he waited until he heard the soft knock on the door, then stepped forward to open it.

The silver-haired woman at the door blushed slightly as she made her introduction, "Hello, Doctor Midoriya. My name is Rei Todoroki;your office has assigned our case to you regarding my son, Shoto." Appearing as his name was spoken, the young man stepped out from behind his mother, though he only stared at the ground. Midoriya felt his heart squeeze within his chest. He'd seen a lot of heart-breaking situations during his internships, and knew that to make it in this field, he had to keep his own feelings and emotions out of the equation to maintain a professional manner with his clients.

But the sight of this child struck him the same as if he'd been kicked in the gut. The boy's appearance was unique; a perfect vertical split between soft white hair he'd obviously inherited from his mother on his right side, and a vibrant crimson red that must have been passed onto him from his father's side on the left. His left eye was tightly wrapped in bandages, and several spots on his arms and legs had similar dressings.

Crouching down to bring himself to the same eye level, Midoriya spoke to the boy. "Hello there, Shoto. My name is Midoriya, it's nice to meet you today." There was no reaction whatsoever.

"He doesn't speak anymore, Doctor. Shoto has just been so withdrawn lately. His grades and training at UA High have been consistently above average, but he's fallen behind his classmates in regard to social situations and training. The school suggested he talk to someone, so here we are." Midoriya observed her as she spoke. She did seem concerned for her son, which was a good thing in this case, since Midoriya could possibly rule out that Shoto's problem didn't stem from his mother.

"When did this behavior start?"

The woman nervously twisted the hem of her blouse in her hands, "I-I'm not sure. I spend a lot of time out of the house on business trips, so my husband Enji is the one that watches over him and his siblings. Although his hero work keeps him busy as well. Our children are capable of caring for themselves if need be, though."

Midoriya was familiar with her husband, the number two ranked hero Endeavor. His track record was impressive, but many fans and heroes alike have said his attitude was always cold and arrogant. Midoriya wondered if Shoto's behavior was a reflection of that.

"I see. Well, in cases like these, it's necessary to build a foundation of trust before trying to get to the root of the problem. I'd like to work with Shoto one-on-one for the next few sessions to attempt to establish that trust. It would be difficult for him to do so with someone he already has that bond with nearby."

Rei nodded, "I understand, I'll leave you to it then, and thank you Doctor. I wanted to bring him sooner, but Enji was… hesitant. He feared his reputation would suffer if word got out that his son was seeing a therapist. Once it was made necessary, he relented."

Midoriya didn't like the sound of that. More often than not, sudden personality changes come from the child's home life. The father just became his main suspect in this case. "Either way, I'm glad that he's here now. I look forward to working with your family, Mrs. Todoroki," Midoriya said as he offered out his hand. She timidly met it and gave a weak squeeze in return. Her sleeve slid up slightly as she did so, giving Midoriya a peek of her wrist and inner arm.

Finger-shaped bruises lined her skin, and Midoriya's suspicion was confirmed. The weather was warm, so her choice of long-sleeved clothing was questionable, but it was obvious to him why after seeing the markings. Abuse cases had always been the hardest for him to work on, and he felt that this one would be no different.

She gave a genuine attempt at a smile, then patted her son on the head. "Shoto, I'll be back shortly. Until I return, please listen to Doctor Midoriya. He's here to help you, okay? Please give him a chance to do that, for me?" Leaving a gentle kiss on his forehead, she closed the door behind her as she left.

"Why don't we have a seat, Shoto? Please make yourself comfortable anywhere." Deku gestured with an outstretched arm toward the couch and chairs. The boy's sights never left the ground as he slowly walked to the nearest chair and sat down. Midoriya took the seat directly across from him, grabbing his notepad and pen to write down his observations.

"I saw in your file that you're attending UA High as a First Year Hero Course student. I went to UA as well, but it was in the General Studies curriculum. I always enjoyed watching the hero students. So many interesting abilities and personas. If I had been born with a Quirk, it would have been interesting to see what I would have done with it."

Eye contact. Shoto met Midoriya's eyes for the first time after mentioning that he was Quirkless. Midoriya quickly jotted that down, intending to focus on that subject as their discussion went on. Perhaps the boy had some kind of complex about his Quirk.

"The UA Sports Festival is my favorite event every year. It should be coming up soon, right? It will be your first year participating, you must be very excited."

Darting his eyes away, Shoto found a spot on the patterned carpet and focused on that for the rest of the session. So that was another subject to touch on in future sessions. Midoriya didn't want to push him too hard for this first meeting. Giving the youth a small sample of his life was the best way to establish a trusting environment. It was true that he enjoyed the Sports Festivals and all, but his time at UA wasn't as cheerful as he made it out to be. Not everyone was welcoming to a Quirkless person. But he didn't want to scare Shoto further into his defensive shell, and there was no need to expose that much of himself anyway.

"Fire and Ice. That's a remarkable Quirk, Shoto. I think we can expect a lot of great accomplishments from you in the future."

Shoto's lone eye narrowed, finding Midoriya's gaze once again. He tapped his shoe against the floor, and from it sprang a wave of icy spears running towards Midoriya, moving so quickly that they had gone beneath Midoriya's chair and shoved it sideways, dumping Midoriya to the floor before he could think to move out of its way.

The boy stood up and walked over to Midoriya, stunned at being deposited to the floor in such a fashion. Wide-eyed and watching Shoto carefully, Midoriya smiled.

"See? That was amazing!"

Shoto's brow wrinkled in a display of mixed confusion. He had expected anger, fear, some other reaction than this. Shaking his head, he walked toward the door. But before he left, Shoto turned to the doctor once more.

"You're a very strange person, Midoriya." And with that, he left the room.

AN- Thanks for checking out my latest story! Just a head's up, this story's rating may change to M in the future. Also there will be mention and/or depictions of abuse and violence toward children. Since FFnet doesn't do tags or trigger warnings I wanted to make it known now so any readers that are sensitive to that content can be notified. I hope you enjoy reading this, see you again soon!