I'm a mess

Izuku’s alarm blared and with a shout he awoke, head thunking into his headboard and legs tangled in his sheets. With a quiet groan, he managed to untangle his legs and forced himself into a sitting position, reaching over to silence his alarm and check the time.

4:30

Just in time for his morning run.

Suppressing his urge to sigh he swung his legs over the edge of his bed and froze, shifting in place with a soft rustle of fabric.

Did I really just….? Again?

His pajama pants were soaked and when he stood to get a better look, he noticed a puddle on the bed and another small one on the floor where it had dripped off the side. Face aflame and shame in his heart, Izuku gathered up the evidence of his accident with practiced hands and forcefully shoved them into his closet, peeling his wet clothes from his body while he was at it and tossing those into his hamper to wash later.

Every night. This had been happening every night for the last week and it was all because of those stupid nightmares!

It felt like he was going crazy.

With a heavy sigh, Izuku wiped himself down at his bathroom sink and got dressed. He’d shower when he finished his run.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Dude, you okay?”

Izuku looked up from where his head was pillowed in his arms, catching sight of Kaminari. He gave a weak thumbs up and buried his head in his arms again. There was a thump from beside him and the clatter of a tray being set down.

“Rough night?”

Another thumbs up.

“Wanna talk, man?” Kaminari rubbed circles between Izuku’s shoulder blades. Izuku slowly lifted his head out of his arms and banged his head against the table hard.

“Nightmares?”

Another head bang.

Two more thumps sounded on the other side of the table and Izuku looked up again, glancing over at Iida and Uraraka with weary eyes.

“You okay, Deku-kun?”

He groaned.

“We’ll leave you be then.”

The rest of lunch continued on in comfortable silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you okay, Mister?” The tall silhouette was back, standing silently in the corner of his room opposite his bed, staring at him.

“Do you have a name?”

The longer Izuku stared the more he felt like his breath was being stolen from him, an unnatural chill taking over the relatively small space. He hunkered down further under his blankets, keeping watch warily over the tall man that had seen fit to invade the privacy of his room.

“I-If you don’t h-have one, can I call y-y-you….. Surimu-san?”

The tall man cocked his head to the side, shadows cloaking the features of his face like some kind of magic trick. Was that the mans Quirk? Did it have something to do with shadows? The last time Izuku had seen him he’d been covered in shadows then too, staring at him from the cover of trees at the edge of the park.

Staticky screeching emerged from the man, filling Izuku with a feeling he didn’t recognize mixed with something akin to dread.

This felt wrong.

Wrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwro-

Izuku jolted awake with a gasp, sitting up so fast he managed to make himself dizzy in the process. Thoughts still muddled somewhat from sleep, he patted at the grass and then his shorts frantically.

Dry. That’s good.

He must’ve fallen asleep when he finished his evening training and from the looks of it, he hadn’t been out long. The sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon, casting long shadows over the grounds of the school. A lone bird let loose it’s mournful call in the distance.

With a low grunt Izuku forced himself up out of the grass, stretching out until he managed to pop his spine in several places.

Silently, carefully, he leaned down to pick up his bag and froze.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see it. A tall silhouette standing by the tree a few paces away from him, its face oddly blurred out. He couldn’t tell if its body was made of shadows or it was just wearing a really dark suit.

Moving slowly, Izuku grabbed his bag and turned but the…. Entity was already gone. Surimu-san, his brain supplied and he couldn’t help but agree. The thing was indeed eerily slim, practically emaciated.

This thing was real, wasn’t it? All this time he was under the assumption that it was some sort of fever dream. Maybe even some screwed up form of coping after he was diagnosed Quirkless, a lonely boy only wanting a friend and concocting an imaginary one when real ones were unavailable to him. And he could feel it now, a memory catching at the edge of his awareness, long buried and forgotten but not forthcoming.

He could feel his heart beating fast in his chest, fear climbing up his throat like bile and weighing heavy on his lungs. Just like his nightmares, Izuku’s breath was gone. What was that thing? What was going on? Was it…. Was it stalking him?

Izuku didn’t know and he sure as hell didn’t want to find out.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m worried about Deku-kun.” Uraraka stated quietly and Iida looked up from his study spot on the floor by the coffee table. She looked stressed from what he could see, shoulders hunched and face pale. It looked like she’d been worrying about Midoriya for a while.

“He’s been jumpier than usual. Quieter.” Uraraka continued when Iida prompted her with a look. He finished up a line of notes and set his math book to the side, gently closing it.

“You’ve noticed as well, I take it?” Iida whispered and Uraraka nodded, humming quietly.

“I snuck up on him without meaning to yesterday and he nearly threw me into a wall.” Iida winced in sympathy, rubbing a hand down his face tiredly. “And the day before that I caught him muttering to himself about a…. a Surimu-san, I think. It was after his evening training.” Uraraka flopped onto her back on the couch, shoving her books to the floor to land in a disorganized heap. There was no way she’d be able to study now.

“Slim-san?” Iida asked and Uraraka nodded again.

“That’s what I heard. He clammed up as soon as he saw me though.”

“That is…. Worrying.”

“I know.”

“And you were unable to hear more?”

Uraraka hummed a yes. Iida brought a hand up to his chin in thought.

“Perhaps nightmares?” He suggested and Uraraka adopted a thoughtful look of her own, running a hand through her hair in a familiar way. It would make sense, after all. Maybe something from his childhood? Or someone? She’d never heard him mention a Surimu-san before though, other than the night before last. Come to think of it, neither she nor Iida knew much about his childhood, other than that he was friends with Bakugou.

“We’ll keep an eye on him.” She decided aloud, smiling softly when Iida nodded his assent.

What were friends for, after all?

~~~~~~~~~~~

The more he thought about it the more his head hurt, a migraine pounding behind his eyes like an angry giant rampaging through a town and leaving destruction in its wake. It was a couple of days after his encounter with Surimu-san, having decided to hold off on any possible research in favor of attempting sleep to no avail. He’d gotten a couple of hours at most in the last couple of days.

So, here Izuku was on the third night, the light of his laptop making his eyes water and his ass numb from how long he’d been sitting in one spot.

Despite all of that, he’d only managed to find four articles that seemed credible.

The first article he’d come across in his search had been from the Pre-Quirk era; two young girls had gotten together and stabbed a third girl – one of their classmates – nineteen times as a sacrifice to what they called ‘Slender Man’. The third girl didn’t make it out of the unfortunate encounter alive while the first two went missing shortly after being brought in by the local police. They’d never been found.

The next article was a little more recent; an entire class of kindergartners had gone missing during recess about fifty years ago and three of said class had been found mangled in the wooded area by the school. Most witness reports stated the same thing; a tall man wearing a suit had been seen in the area when the kids had disappeared. Another witness report stated that one of the little girls in the class, Himari Yua, had been seen a day earlier with the tall man. She was one of the bodies found in the woods.

The third article Izuku managed to find went as far back as the 1980’s; a group of five highschoolers decided to go on a camping trip in the mountains during spring break. While en-route, they stopped at a gas station at around 3:30 AM to get coffee and snacks. One of the highschoolers was seen talking to a tall man in a suit, witness reports stated. They were found strung from the trees around their camp two months later.

Finally, the fourth article involved the disappearance of four kindergartners from the Musutafu area somewhere around ten years ago. No bodies were ever found. There was no indication as to what happened. They just up and disappeared, like they’d never existed to begin with.

It nagged at him. Pulled at some half buried memory that refused to fully resurface and if he really thought about, none of it made sense. It couldn’t be the same man, especially with the first and third article having been made over two hundred years ago. No one – except for, possibly, All for One – would be able to live that long, especially in an age before Quirks. And he noticed a trend; nearly every incident he came across had children or teens involved. It was almost like this entity attracted them somehow. It was creeping him out.

Sighing heavily, wearily, Izuku rubbed a hand over his eyes to relieve some of the burn and stood, stumbling on wobbly legs to his bathroom to freshen up before bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hello?” Uraraka called nervously, twisting the end of her blouse in her hand as she stared into the darkness. She’d decided to come out for some fresh air before curfew, maybe take a walk around the courtyard, but she felt afraid. She felt like she was being watched.

“Is anyone there? Hello?” If she strained her eyes, she almost thought she could see someone half hiding behind the building. A very tall someone.

Her breath caught in her throat when the very tall someone moved, impossibly long legs stepping gracefully out from the shadow of the dorms, their head tilted like a curious animal. Their pale skin seemed to gleam in the low light of the moon.

This felt wrong.

They felt wrong.

“D-do y-y-you…..?” She coughed in an attempt to clear her throat mid sentence, eyes glued warily to the stranger as they took a step towards her. She stepped back, glancing quickly to the entrance of the dorms and back to the tall someone. If she was fast, she could make it into the building before the…. Man? Were they a man? Uraraka shook herself mentally. She had to stay on topic here. Anyway, if she was fast, she could make it back to the dorms before he had a chance to catch her.

Maybe….

The tall man was striding towards her now, legs longer than she’d ever seen carrying him quickly towards his goal. Uraraka made a dash for the door, lightening up the clothes she could reach with her Quirk to make herself faster.

Twenty feet.

Fifteen.

Ten.

C’mon! Just a bit more!

Before she even had a chance to react, the tall man stepped into her path. She tried to stop herself from crashing into him but the forward momentum she’d built up worked against her and she barreled hard into the mans chest.

Arms longer than they had any right to be wrapped around her, steadying her, stealing her breath. His arms were like a vice, crushing her to him with a strength that made her wheeze. There was a strange buzzing noise in her ears and she felt dizzy; delirious.

She looked up and froze for but a moment before she startedstruggling, trying to twist away from the creature that had entrapped her. That was one of many mistakes she made that night.

It had no face.

Had no eyes and yet it felt like it could look right through her.

A scream caught in her throat, terror bubbling in her chest and tightening in her stomach. She was going to be sick. She was goi-

The last thing she heard was a staticky screech.

~~~~~~~~~~~

His alarm blared and Izuku awoke with a start, falling out of his swivel chair and landing on the floor with a loud thud. His pants were wet again.

Groaning to himself as loudly as he dared, Izuku forced himself up and started his morning ritual of cleaning up puddles and getting ready for the day. He’d skip his usual run though, far too tired to even attempt it.

Twenty minutes later and feeling something close to alive, Izuku trekked downstairs to the communal kitchen in search of breakfast. He was nearly to the kitchen entrance when he heard voices.

“No. I don’t believe she ever came back last night.” Izuku paused just outside the door frame, peeking in to see Iida standing opposite Aizawa.

“Any idea where she might’ve disappeared to? Did she say anything?” Iida started to shake his head but then stopped, looking thoughtful.

“She said she wanted some fresh air about twenty minutes before curfew. I attempted to dissuade her, but she said she’d only be a few minutes.” Aizawa nodded and wrote something down in a little notebook barely larger than his hand. He looked exhausted.

“Classes are canceled for the day. Let everyone know.” Aizawa closed his notebook, clasped Iida on the shoulder and turned to leave when he spotted Izuku hanging by the door. An unreadable expression passed over his face for a split second before it was gone, and Izuku was almost certain it hadn’t been there to begin with.

Aizawa left without another word.

“Iida-kun?” Izuku said from the door and Iida jumped, turning quickly to look at Izuku. There were dark bags under his eyes and a tightness to his face that told of a sleepless night.

“A-Ah! Midoriya-kun! Good morning!” Iida started and Izuku could just barely pick out the tremble in his voice. “You’re up later than usual. Are you alright?” Iida sounded off. Brighter than was normal for the rather stern boy.

“I’m fine, Iida-kun. What was all that with Aizawa-Sensei?”

“Yo-you heard?” Izuku nodded his assent. Iida let out a puff of air, his shoulders hunching inward. He dropped his previous act entirely.

“I suppose there’s no need to tell you then….” Iida trailed off, leaning over the counter top to put his head in his hands. Izuku stepped silently over to him, placing a hand on the taller boys back in an attempt at comfort. It was as much for himself as it was for Iida.

Their morning was spent in mournful silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~

His room was darker than normal; colder. Surimu-san was always watching, standing silently in the darkest corner of his room . Izuku could almost make out where his eyes were supposed to be despite the shadows hiding the majority of his not-face , but it didn’t really make him feel any better about it.

Four kids were missing from his class now, too; Yuna-chan, Aki-kun, Aika-chan and Amaya-chan. Mom told him that he had to be careful; that a stranger was going around stealing little children like himself and that he couldn’t go out to play after school anymore.

That didn’t stop Surimu-san.

He was always there.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Missing persons reports were starting to pop up. Twenty two people in the last month alone had gone missing and nearly all of them were children between the ages of three and sixteen, one of his own students included.

Pushing his chair back with a loud scrape, Aizawa downed the rest of his now cold coffee in one go and stood. He might as well try to get some sleep, the case wasn’t going anywhere and he’d have to be in tiptop shape when it came time to physically track the kidnapper down.

He had a feeling he was too late to be of much help.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It was still dark when he jolted awake and a quick look at his alarm confirmed that it was too early to consider leaving bed. He was just beginning to wonder what woke him when he heard it.

Giggling.

Soft, childlike giggling, accompanied with a strange buzzing noise. It sounded like it was coming from the corner of his dorm.

Izuku huddled beneath his blanket, pulled his pillow over his head and closed his eyes. If he couldn’t hear it, then it wasn’t there.

It giggled louder.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“She’ll be found, dude. It’s only a matter of time.” Kirishima leant down, wrapping an arm around Izuku’s shoulders and giving him a squeeze.

Izuku knew she wouldn’t, but he wasn’t going to say that. Whenever Surimu-san was involved, whatever he did, his victims would only be found if you knew where he took them. More often than not they were found dead. He wouldn’t get his hopes up by thinking Uraraka would be any different.

So Izuku turned, laid his head against Kirishima’s chest and wept until his tears were spent; wept until the pain had numbed and he couldn’t be sure it was his to begin with.

Kirishima rubbed between his shoulder blades.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“No leads?”

The Detective shook his head and Aizawa sighed, leaning heavily back in his seat. They’d been working almost nonstop for the last two months, sorting through old cases that were similar to their current one, going through security cam feed where it was available and questioning anyone that had even the smallest connection to the case.

What they found was strange.

Security cameras in areas people were last seen seemed to loop or cut out entirely and any witnesses all reported the same thing; there was always a man around, tall and slender, wearing a dark suit. His face was always hidden.

Most of the cases they’d managed to dredge up were over two hundred years old at this point in time, but those, too, had one thing in common; they all described what sounded like the same man.

But that couldn’t be right. No one was able to live that long, it just wasn’t possible, so Aizawa could only deduce that this was a copycat. A copycat that was active just ten years ago, if he had that right.

Motive unknown.

Age unknown.

Everything about this man was unknown and that didn’t set right with Aizawa. If anything, it put him on edge.

He didn’t like working with unknowns.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Izuku felt exhausted. Mentally and physically. It felt like he was at the end of his rope, tired and more than ready to throw in the towel, but unable to out of obligation. Maybe fear? He was certainly afraid enough nowadays for it to count.

Whenever he went to bed, he did so with the knowledge that Surimu-san would always be watching, even if he wasn’t physically there. That didn’t stop him from getting to sleep though; it was just staying asleep that was the problem. He almost exclusively had nightmares now and almost always woke up with soaked pajamas and his heart pounding.

None of that really mattered though.

He didn’t matter.

His life didn’t matter.

The investigation didn’t matter.

Because sooner or later, whether he wanted it to or not, Surimu-san would take everyone he loved. Maybe if he was lucky, he’d get to join them soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ I don’t wanna play!” Izuku whisper-yelled, shaking his head frantically. He clutched his All Might plush to his chest tightly, glaring down at the floor so he didn’t have to look at Surimu-san. Soft giggles met his ears, followed by a static filled screech that made his chest feel tight. His ears were ringing.

“I said no!”

A long, black clad arm reached out to wrap around his head and caress his curls. Izuku shuddered, flinching back and wanting nothing more than to curl up and disappear.

He didn’t know what this feeling in his chest was; didn’t have enough experience with life to describe it, but he knew it felt wrong . He felt dizzy, like he’d been spinning for a really long time and his head had gone all fuzzy.

The long appendage wrapped further around his head, more times than a normal arm should, and constricted until he felt like his head would pop from the pressure.

“ Please. ” Izuku whispered.

Surimu-san giggled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Six months. Their investigation started six months ago and they were no closer to finding their copycat now than when the investigation first began. To top it all off, five more of his students had gone missing in that time, while those that remained were emotional wrecks.

The school tried its best, placing restrictions on leaving campus and shortening curfews, but it seemed like nothing they did helped. Whatever was happening, whether this was a Quirk or not, they weren’t able to fight it.

Aizawa felt sick. He wanted to scream and rage. He needed to do something, but there was nothing to do.

Nothing that would help.

At least he tried to help his students feel safe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Surimu-san was back, standing by his bed and staring at him with his not-eyes. Familiar terror bled sluggishly through Izuku’s veins, but he was too used to it to care.

Too tired.

When the childish laughter started, Izuku moved before he even understood what it was he was doing, rising from his bed and reaching out for Surimu-san. A tendril like arm wrapped around his own offered one, brushing gently against his scars in a way that made him feel sick.

He didn’t really care though.

The tendril wound up his arm to his head, caressing his cheek and sliding into his hair. If Izuku was naive, it would have been easy to believe that this monster cared for him, but Izuku was not and so he wasn’t fooled

Careful not to dislodge Surimu-san’s arm, Izuku swung his legs off his mattress and allowed himself to give in to the whispers that had been plaguing him for months now, leaning against the monsters chest. The other too long arm wrapped around him, squeezing him in a way that had bile rising up his throat. Izuku swallowed it back down through the haze that formed in his mind, his vision swimming.

And Izuku smiled against Surimu-san’s chest.