Where the Light Hides
is a My Hero Academia Self-Insert Fic by Cheebs. The story follows the reader (aka Aria), who is a teenage girl with a Dark and Troubled Past. Her classmates in 1-A must deal with her abrasive attitude and constant lashing out as she proceeds through school to become a Pro Hero. During the reader's time at U.A. she'll have three Implied Love Interests, that being Midoriya, Todoroki, and Shinsou.
This fanfic is followed up by a series of one-shot AUs called The Paths Between.
Where the Light Hides shows examples of:
- Abusive Parents: The first chapter establishes Aria's dad as missing and the mother as neglectful.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Bakugou, surprisingly enough. In canon, he never really hit his classmates hard, except for Midoriya (although he was still terribly unpleasant). Here, after getting into a fight with Aria at USJ, he ends up hurting her badly enough that it affects her ability to fight in a life and death situation. Not only that, but he's the one that picks the fight even after realizing that villains are attacking USJ! He shows no remorse for it afterwards, despite the fact that Aria could've died.
- Almost Kiss: Happens twice between Aria and Midoriya, though both times were because of her Quirk.
- Bittersweet Ending: Potentially a bit more bitter than sweet for Part 1. Aria's stalker ends up erasing her memories of Midoriya and their relationship becomes cold once more. After the stalker was killed, her memory loss will eventually wear off but until then Midoriya says they should start over, even if it hurts him.
- Cry into Chest: Happens on several occasions between Aria and Midoriya and once with Todoroki after their reconciliation in Chapter 12.
- Darker and Edgier: The fanfic serves as a darker version of the original timeline. It's mainly because of the protagonist getting kidnapped and stalked that's making the fic darker than it would've been otherwise.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Happens often around Aria, though she doesn't seem to care.
- Et Tu, Brute?: In Chapter 1, Aria overhears her (now former) friends gossiping about her behind her back. The betrayal coupled with what happened with Miki instills trust issues in Aria that her future friends now deal with.
- Everyone Can See It: Many students of Class 1-A (namely Ashido) notice the romantic subtext between Aria and Todoroki.
- First-Name Basis: Aria accidentally calls Todoroki this. He's fine with it.
- Garden of Love: In Chapter 15, Aria's love confession to Midoriya takes place in a literal rose garden.
- First Love: The first crush Aria's ever had is Midoriya, though she doesn't recognize it at first.
- Headbutt of Love: Shared between Aria and Midoriya after he kisses her in Chapter 15.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The reader's name is written as "(Surname) (Name)".
- Hopeless Suitor: The stranger and Kouta both apply for this trope, in regards to their crush on Aria. This is obviously due to their serious age gap, as the former is too old while the latter is too young.
- Love Confession:
- In middle school, a student named Hiro confesses to Aria, unaware that Aria's best friend Miki likes him. Aria rejects Hiro and tells Miki of what happened, leaving Miki jealous and ending their friendship.
- The reader is hit with these often and she rejects several of them, annoyed that anyone thought they could change her. The whole ordeal makes up part of her Dark and Troubled Past.
- Another example takes place in Chapter 12, where Midoriya confesses to the reader and ends up rejected as she fails to realize she likes him back.
- Oblivious to Love: Despite being on the receiving end of many people's crushes, Aria is completely oblivious to her own growing feelings towards Midoriya.
- Parental Neglect: Aria's mom is this. There is a point in Chapter 1 where the mother is drunk right in front of her daughter and fails to notice her guy friend eyeing the reader.
- Precocious Crush: Kouta apparently has one for Aria.
- Relationship Reset Button: After the events of Kamino, Aria's memories are forcibly removed, leaving Midoriya to deal with the fallout.
- Secret Relationship: Between Aria and Midoriya. Considering how often she gets teased about Todoroki, it's only natural she'd want to keep it on the down low.
- Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: Aria gets kidnapped by a stalker in the end of Chapter 12 and the stalker professes his love for her.
- Skewed Priorities: Aria gets hit with this in Chapter 13. The reader spends worrying over Midoriya's Love Confession, which is pointed out as odd considering she just got kidnapped and has no memory of the last four days.
- Stalker with a Crush: Quite literally in Chapter 13. Aria is kidnapped and drugged for most of the chapter until she is rescued by Hawks.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Chapter 15, Aria says she isn't designing her costume to take her mind off of her recent revelation. That revelation being her newfound love for Midoriya.
- Their First Time: In Chapter 18, between Aria and Midoriya.
- Trauma Button: Mina brushes Aria's hair, which triggers memories of her kidnapping.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In Chapter 1, after overhearing her friends gossip about how useful she is, the reader suspects her friends will dump her the moment they realize she isn't useful to them anymore.
