Blood mixed with tears as your napkin wiped the mess from Izuku's cheek. His gaze was fixed downwards as you worked your magic, his eyebrows furrowed in irritation and sadness as he sniffed occasionally.

Today sucked. Well, not like most days didn't suck, but this one somehow had gotten worse. He stayed a little back after class and made himself vulnerable to Kacchan's bullying again... Now there was a painful burn on his shoulder, new bruises on his body, a nosebleed too, and his precious Hero Notebook was... burnt and thrown out of the window straight into the school's fish pond, chewed by fishes, soaked, and completely ruined.

...At least he had you. He didn't understand why you weren't like everyone else; bullying or just ignoring him. Being picked on constantly for lacking a Quirk made himself feel like he had no worth... yet you saw something in him, and he was forever grateful.

"A-And then he told me that..." Izuku had to swallow back a sob, his eyes still teary, "That if I want to become a hero I should... take a swan dive off a building and hope I'll have a Quirk in my next life."

His eyes narrowed as he told you about his interaction with Kacchan today while you helped him with his bruises... He rarely shared those interactions with anyone, even his mother, but you just... made it so easy for him to open up to you. He held his ruined notebook to his chest, his head hanging low, voice raspy and bitter, "He's such an idiot..."