Chapter Text
Can you come over? – had been how it started.
Can you come over? – the text had said. No explanation. No text above that hadn’t come from yesterday.
Can he come over? Of course he could come over. It was just that there was no context to why he would come over.
Izuku thought of possibilities as to why Ochaco would ask if he could come over at eight at night. Maybe she had a question about homework? Though, she often added that bit into her text, usually, like, Deku, math’s bumming me out :< can you help? That sort of thing. This had none of that.
He’d been in the common area with some of his classmates when he’d gotten the message. When he stood up, perplexed as he looked at his phone, his hand pinching his chin, he was half sure some of the girls who’d been chatting on the other couch stopped whatever they were talking about at that exact moment. The boys hadn’t reacted, so that was why Izuku was only half sure the girls had quieted because of anything to do with him.
But then he went for the stairs, and this time he was definitely sure he heard Mina whisper, “Yes, yes, yes, it’s happening,” Toru trying to hold in her squeal of delight, and Kyoka telling Mina that no, she wouldn’t listen in.
Izuku briefly stopped and looked their way. He saw Mina’s head immediately dip behind the couch, as if that didn’t look suspicious at all.
This was orchestrated, whatever this was.
To him, it wasn’t new for social things to go over his head. Heck, sometimes he couldn’t understand his own best friend, Ochaco. She’d do things like suddenly sputtering and denying something in a muffled voice, covering her face, all while Izuku had no idea why she reacted that way.
Or she’d be standing there doing absolutely nothing with a smile on her face, he’d ask her “Are you ready?” in an excited voice, regarding the field training exercise they were paired to do together. She’d happily hum an approval, then seconds later, purposely punch herself in the chin. He’d ask her, “Are you okay?”
She’d shake her head, nervously laugh, and say, “Yeah!” with her voice cracking twice.
Sometimes, he thought maybe he’d done or said something that made her uncomfortable.
All he wanted was to hear her giggle and be excited with him, like today’s exercise, where she and him were in a group made out of five people, and they had stuffed dummies – decoy civilians – to transport safely from one location to the other without harm. His team had strapped him up to a shopping cart in ropes like a reindeer. Considering it was a race with the other team, it was decided the only person to sit in the cart with the dummies would be Ochaco, so she could use her quirk on everything in the cart.
They waved at their remaining teammates goodbye and Izuku shot forward, wreathed in the lightning of his quirk.
To say Ochaco had a blast back there was an understatement. Her squeals of joy from behind him had him laughing as well, making him momentarily forget this was a training exercise, their still-growing minds grabbing onto the illusion of this being a game. He didn’t get to play often like the teenager he was. Heck, he didn’t even get to play much with anyone as a child without getting beaten by bigger kids.
Acting like a sled dog, he glanced back every now and then with a wide open smile, unaware of how loudly he himself was laughing, to see her enjoying herself, her hair flapping about.
“Go, Deku, go!” she encouraged happily, smiling back at him.
Of course, he didn’t go faster for the safety of her in the cart. They won against the other team, anyway, so it didn’t matter. When he slowed to a stop, he caught the cart just before it could smash into him. Because everything else on the cart was also weightless, Ochaco came flying out, so he let go of the cart and caught her in his arms, the both of them laughing. His laughing fit had made him dizzy.
When Ochaco said, “Release,” he fell back on his ass and took her with him, the both of them still giggling. He wiped at tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.
“Let’s do that again!” Ochaco cheered, breathless. And, oh boy, did he want to do it all over again, so he could hear her laugh like that again, her high-pitched voice music to his ears.
He played in the snow with her during Christmas. She’d drag him outside to join a snowball fight, crouching behind snow shields and reloading on snowballs. He was clumsy in the snow. His speed didn’t work too well on slippery surfaces. He’d slipped and faceplanted so many times just trying to go uphill while dragging a sled by the strap, each time hearing Ochaco tried to muffle a snort behind her glove.
“Are you okay?” she asked through her smile, lending him a gloved hand to take.
He let her heave him up. “Yeah,” he said. He shook the snow off of his hair like a dog, spraying her a little and making her laugh some more.
Still holding his hand, the grip unsteady due to both of them wearing snow gloves, she hiked up the short hill, pulling him with her. “Here, use the holes I’m leaving.”
She’d purposefully stomp her toes into the snow with each step to make deep footprints for him to step into after her. Those were more compact and less likely to be lost under his steps.
At the top of the hill, he held the sled in place for her to sit down, then carefully sat behind her, his legs parted on either side of her, his arms hugging her midsection. This time, he felt her laughing against him as he hugged her tight and laughed in her ear. He felt her stomach, saw white puffs of her exhales wisping through his face.
There was something about her laugh, about seeing, hearing, and feeling her so happy, that made him feel high on something… That something being love. Being in love with your best friend was a dilemma. You could either stay with things as they were, or risk it and have everything you’ve built together up to this point crash. Teenage crushes were messy, or so he heard.
He was messy. He was one big mess, awkward and nerdy, either not talking at all or talking so much and unable to put a lid on it, and he wasn’t good enough for anyone like that. Sometimes he’d wake up Yuga, Minoru, Denki, and Kyoka with his screams of terror that happened sometimes at three thirty in the morning after a nightmare that gave him panic attacks and had him gasping for air, reaching a hand out toward nothing.
So, he was more than okay being her best friend. He was too much Deku and not enough of what a person like Ochaco would have as a partner.
Can you come over? – she’d asked him out of the blue via text.
He texted back, Sure! I’ll be right up.
She was nervous when she let him into her room and closed the door behind him.
“Hey. Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Hm. Thanks for coming. Sorry if this is all sudden.”
He didn’t like how unsure she was, looking down, all around but at him, fiddling with her fingers: a thing she did when thinking through something.
Whatever this was about, it was serious.
She sat on her bed and patted the spot beside her. Her apprehension was contagious, and now he, too, was anxious and stiff at the shoulders. He plopped down almost mechanically, Tenya would be proud (but then scold him for his posture, he imagined).
She didn’t say anything for a few seconds. He sweated the whole time.
She then said, “You know, it’s funny. I practiced this a lot. But now you’re here and I can’t even say it.” She chuckled nervously.
“Is… is everything alright? You’re okay, right?”
“I’m okay. Didn’t mean to scare you. I just… wanted to ask your opinion on something.”
“Oh. Sure, I mean– About what?”
She twiddled her fingers. “See, I have this friend. She thinks she might like her best friend. Like… love him. She wants to be with him, but… she’s scared, because he’s her best friend and she doesn’t want to ruin that.”
Oh. Romance. He wasn’t good at any of that. Heck, he was in the same situation as her friend. “I’m… not experienced with this… I mean… Does he make her happy?”
Ochaco nodded. She was blushing like mad. “Yeah. She likes him a lot. He’s a nice boy and… and she says he’s very cute and determined, and he always does his best, and that makes her want to do her best…”
Izuku knew he was bad at unspoken social messages. He wasn’t this unaware. Ochaco stopped talking, looking down and biting her bottom lip, and that was what really made him simmer with all he’d just heard. His own cheeks turned pink. His mouth fell open and it took a considerable amount of effort to speak.
The friend she was referring to did not exist.
“Uraraka… What are you…? I… I– I…”
“It’s… It’s okay if– if you don’t want me like I want you,” she managed, whispering because it was clear she was scared of him hearing her voice cracking. “I’m just scared you wouldn’t wanna be my friend anymore.”
Izuku hadn’t had many real friends in his life. The friendships before UA had been either nonexistent, or unhealthy and toxic. And he’d stuck around with those unhealthy and toxic relationships for some time, because when you’re young and alone, it’s easy for you to be exploited, to be hurt, and think this is all there is out there. Besides, they were all he had to cling to.
“Why?” he asked. “Why me?” His heart thumped so loudly in his neck.
She finally looked at him, head tilted like the question was puzzling to her. A soft smile then graced her lips. “You’re amazing, Deku. How can I not love you? I don’t know when I started seeing you that way. I know when I figured it out, but it was really hard to make myself believe it isn’t what it is.” Her lips quivered. “And… you’re really sweet, and kind, and thoughtful, and just fun to be around, and I really, really wanna be with you. I’ll understand if– if you don’t want me that way.” She gave him an encouraging smile, her fingers curled into fists like she was about to do a cheerful air punch. “And that’s okay! We can work to be Heroes together like we always do.”
There was a hint of dread in her voice. Izuku knew she was trying to mask it with this happy tone.
He’d been in disbelief that anyone at all would find him interesting enough to want to date. Hearing Ochaco, of all people, say she was in love with him made him question if this was real. But the hitch in her voice, her effort to smooth over what she believed to be a big mistake by admitting her feelings to him, made him drop all that doubt.
He placed his palm over her closed fist, and said, “I… I’m in love with you.”
She unclenched her fist, like all the tension was leaving her hand, and now her hand was lamely held in his. She had a bittersweet smile and looked ready to shed tears.
She’d been so scared.
And that was even more proof of every word she told him about her wanting him.
She leaned against him, so they touched shoulders, and gave a short, breathy laugh that sounded like a huff of disbelief. Her laugh, no matter how loud or quiet, always got him to smile. And he did just a little.
As unreal and incredible as this was, it was actually happening.
He leaned his head against her, savoring her touch, the feel of another human he trusted to never hurt him. “Are you sure you’re okay with having me?”
She giggled happily and nuzzled her head against him. She exhaled in bliss. “Yeah. You make me happy.”
She said it with such confidence, Izuku felt himself tear up.
He wiped at his moist eyes, and she just smiled in endearment, reaching up to use her thumbs to wipe underneath his eyes, the both of them blushing and smiling so hard their cheeks hurt.
“I really love you,” he said just as truthfully. It came out easily. He wasn’t sure why.
She tilted his head so their temples were touching.
And that’s how it started.
Being close to the one he loved turned out to be a rollercoaster.
His mind sometimes wandered off whenever he waited at his classroom desk for his homeroom teacher. Those few minutes of waiting were enough for him to just remember how nice it was to hold Ochaco’s hand so naturally.
Being in love made him dizzy.
Maybe he was just being a normal teenager for once.
At night, he dreamt of blood, and the screaming of the people he loved, his mother and All Might and Ochaco and his friends, and he’d run and run and not go anywhere. There was no air and he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t need to breathe– he needed to scream. And scream he did. He wasn’t sure how long he screamed for.
It woke him up; he could only remember the two seconds of screaming he did in his bed, no way to know how long he’d been screaming in his sleep. He choked on spit. Coughed. He couldn’t remember where he was – maybe in an alley, maybe in a grave – but after a few seconds of his eyes darting everywhere, seeing the All Might figures highlighted by moonlight seeping through the curtains, recognition trickled into his jumbled mind.
It was just his dorm room. He was safe. Nothing bad had happened.
He was so sweaty that it was disgusting to shift in those sheets. Inhales were hard, but he knew he had to breathe. He did, gasping like he’d been holding his breath the whole time he was asleep. His muscles hurt, the same as every time he woke up like this. His nightstand clock read 3:53 in red. He stayed huffing in bed, struggling to remember how to breathe, and trying to calm his galloping heart that just seconds ago tricked him into thinking he was dying.
His phone, plugged into the charger, chimed, the screen momentarily lighting the room. It was the sound of the text app. He was too tired to reach for his phone at that moment. It took another ten minutes of lying around to force his hand to grab it.
It was Ochaco.
She asked: Can I come over?
It was late. Everyone should’ve been asleep. He didn’t make it easy for his neighbors and the ones with sensitive ears. He’d apologized so much for waking his classmates up. He wished he could not scream, at least. The first time he’d screamed, his classmates had broken his door down, thinking he was being attacked, even though no security alarms had gone off. They’d even called Aizawa, thinking it was an emergency.
Seeing him gasping for air and writhing in his sheets, sweaty and as though in intense pain, half of his friends had frozen in place, disturbed at the sight, and half came up to his bed to talk him out of it whilst they too sounded panicked at seeing their friend in such state. At the time, he hadn’t been aware the people surrounding his bed were his friends. He’d panicked harder. The bang of having his door getting violently opened hadn’t helped.
Aizawa had arrived to get back to their rooms, then instructed Izuku, “Breathe, kid. You’re alright. Look around you. Name things you see.”
It took a few more reminders on what to do, but he’d eventually manage himself to do it.
The posters.
The curtains.
The figures on the desk.
His books.
Aizawa out of costume, breathing quickly because he’d ran all the way there.
Izuku would never stop feeling guilty over the worry he’d caused over a stupid nightmare.
They were pretty much accustomed now to his occasional loud sleep disturbances. He had a panic attack at least once a week. At most, it would be multiple times a night on a nightly basis if his days were stressful. Most of the time, he didn’t scream, just gasped for breath or groaned and whined. The screaming was a rare but incredibly bothersome occurrence.
He hated how it bothered others. He didn’t mean to. His friends didn’t have to just accept that they might not get a goodnight’s sleep because he couldn’t keep it together.
Now, instead of barging in, they’d send him texts. Things like:
Eijiro: You OK bro? Sounded like a bad one.
Tenya: That was you, I presume. Is there anything I can do to help you through this?
Denki: Holy crap I almost shat myself D:
Ochaco: Deku? I know you must not be feeling ok right now. Remember to breathe like Aizawa said, ok? We all love you.
And now: Can I come over?
He remembered her touch, her soothing voice. He typed with shaky fingers: Yes.
She came in quietly, careful of his state. Her slippers brushed over the carpet of his room. She sat on the side of his bed while he was on his back, the front of his shirt soaked in sweat, his chest rising and falling with his now controlled, tired breaths.
“Hey,” she whispered gently.
He was too tired to make noise. He sighed deeply instead.
“Not a good night, huh?” she said.
He managed a hum in response. Then murmured, “Sorry. I woke you up again.”
She shook her head. She raised her hand, reaching for his head, stopping a few inches away. “Can I?”
He gave another hum and closed his eyes when her fingers combed through his hair. Four fingers slowly massaged his scalp.
“It’s okay. I’m right here. You’re safe,” she reassured.
At some point, he regained enough energy to weakly reach for her, a nonverbal way to ask if she could come closer. She understood, climbing into the bed with him, letting him put his ear against her chest to hear her heartbeat as her fingers continued to brush his hair.
“Iida’s not gonna like how we’re like right now,” Ochaco joked. It got a muffled chuckle out of him.
He slowly reached for her free hand, weaved his fingers with hers. He looked up lovingly at her, and she ducked to nuzzle his head, a smile on her face. She gave him a kiss on the forehead.
This was nice.
He’d like to stay like this a little while longer.
The boys in his class were very confused.
Especially when Ochaco kissed Izuku on the cheek oh so casually, said to meet her in the cafeteria, and he’d just said “Sure!” It was the first time she’d done that in public.
Denki and Minoru looked at him like he’d grown a second head. And maybe some wings and extra eyes. The rest of the boys tried looking at each other for confirmation that, yes, they did, in fact, see that too.
Katsuki snapped out of it the quickest, only for him to say, “Gross.”
Some of the boys turned to the girls, saw how unperturbed they were, with Mina grinning and Tsu smiling lightly, and instantly accused the girls, “You knew!”
Izuku hadn’t stayed around to be interrogated. He’d quickly packed away his notebooks to join his friends at their usual table at the cafeteria. They talked about the upcoming team-up exercises they’d be having with other Heroics schools.
That’s when they noticed Tenya watching the both of them, rice bowl in hand, analyzing what he was seeing.
“You two seem much happier these few days. Has something happened?” asked Tenya. Izuku and Ochaco looked at each other. They nervously explained as briefly as they could. Tenya’s brows rose in slight surprise. “You’re together romantically? That’s wonderful. I’m very happy for you.”
Tenya took it so well. He seemed genuinely pleased.
“Really? You mean it?” Ochaco asked.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be? As long as you focus on your studies and do not get distracted with one another, I hope to be there to support the both of you. Although I must emphasize, please do not engage in sexual intimate behavior in the dorms. I highly advise against sleeping in each other’s dorm rooms so as to not be tempted.”
Both Izuku and Ochaco flushed at that. They denied anything sexual, rather dramatically, which just made it sound like they were hiding something.
In truth, throughout the weeks, they hadn’t done, nor had they planned on, anything sexual. They kissed in bed. They cuddled. They nuzzled and grabbed hands and took naps hugging. The closest it ever got to being sexual was when Izuku was in her bed and she’d decided to smother his face in kisses after they finished homework, and he had a slight boner going because she smelled good. Her thigh bumped into it. flustered to no end, he’d stuttered apologies, only for her to blush and laugh and dig her face into his neck.
“It’s okay. It happens,” she said between laughs, her face so red and so happy. “I’m flattered.”
He joined her, laughing, nuzzling his blushing face into hers. It didn’t go anywhere further than that. Sex sounded scary. They weren’t ready for that. They were teenagers who just found out they liked kissing. It was hard to keep their voices down when they went into laughing fits.
Kyoka was below Ochaco’s room, and no doubt heard every time Izuku came over. Kyoka never really said anything of what she must’ve hear. They were moments for Izuku and Ochaco, and Kyoka knew that enough to not say anything.
Mina was helpful in that she sent warning texts to Ochaco’s phone whenever Tenya noticed it was late and began wondering if Izuku was still in Ochaco’s room.
Iida’s on the move. Hide your man – Mina’s text would say.
And Ochaco and Izuku would just find it endearing and amusing how everyone behaved about this relationship they had.
“Can you call me Ochaco?” she’d asked him sweetly.
He’d said, “I’ll try, Uraraka.” Fucked it up on the first try. It got a laugh out of her, at least.
She was patient with him. He’d flip-flop between Uraraka and Ochaco. It was going to take some getting used to, not that he minded. She’d let him have her name on his tongue, and he couldn’t be happier about it.
Can you come over? – Ochaco would text him often. She’d add a heart at the end sometimes.
He’d get excited for those texts.
He felt like he was finally just being a teenager, kissing his crush, and just having a good time.
She helped him through tough nights, nights when his body forgot how to breathe. He had one that did not come with a scream, so that was good, at least. It didn’t mean it was any less intense than the other panic attacks he’d had in his sleep.
He caved in.
Texted her:
Can you come over?
Even though it was two-twenty in the morning.
But she had the app on her phone to have a specific chime when a message came from him. Either that got her awake enough to grab her phone, or Kyoka had given her a head’s up, because Ochaco did answer:
Yeah. I’m on my way.
I love you ♥
She made sure to say it in person when she reached him, got in bed with him and let him plop his head on her chest to hear her heart beating.
The sound of her heart helped ground him. He followed her breathing. She’d deliberately breathe more loudly so he’d mimic her.
He’d whisper back, “I love you.” He’d feel tears in his eyes, because saying it just felt so beautiful.
Their class was being split up into four groups of five students. They were to join an external young adult Heroics training program for three weeks to use the facility’s flexible training classes. It was mostly to mingle with students from other Hero schools and get used to taking orders from new teachers to simulate real life Pro Hero work of needing to team up with other Heroes they’ve never met before.
The class got ready in casual clothes, knowing it was going to be a long trip up a mountain. They brought their bags and carried around their costume carriers, stepping off of the train in a messy line and lining up for the bus that had the facility’s logo - THE SUMMIT - on the side.
Izuku sort of felt bad for Aizawa. The man sat in front of the bus, pinching the bridge of his nose as the kids in the bus couldn’t sit still for a few seconds. There was loud chatter, kids moving back and forth between seats, Katsuki threatening to blow up Denki’s face if Denki didn’t stop nudging the back of Katsuki’s seat. Someone threw a paper airplane, and Tenya yelled for whoever threw that to apologize immediately, his voice being the loudest.
Izuku had brought a small book with him, but it was impossible to read in this environment. It didn’t help that he hadn’t slept well last night. His eyes felt dry.
He put his book away and leaned his head back against the seat, closing his eyes.
“Deku, do you need a nap?” asked Ochaco beside him.
“Just resting my eyes.”
“Here.” She grabbed the armrest between them, clicked it and let it fold in-between the seats. She scooted closer and guided his head to rest on her shoulder.
A blush dusted his cheeks. “Thanks. Let me up if I’m making your arm uncomfortable.”
She simply hummed and rubbed her cheek on his head. She seemed just as happy to have him tucked close. She smelled good. It was relaxing.
He wasn’t sure if he actually managed to sleep with all that noise. Maybe he slept but kept waking up every few minutes and falling back asleep. He couldn’t be sure. If he did, it wasn’t restful sleep.
The bus stopped at the first building in the woods. The first group of five got off. Two teachers were already waiting for them at the entrance.
“I’m putting my faith in you to handle them,” Aizawa tells the teachers.
“No worries.” One of the teachers gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up. “We’ll keep ya’ updated.”
The bus started, drove for another few minutes, and dropped off another five.
Third stop was Izuku’s group, which consisted of him, Ochaco, Mina, Denki, and Momo. The last stop would be for the remaining five. It was a bit jarring, knowing they’d have temporary classmates from other schools for the next two weeks.
Two teachers picked Izuku’s group at the bus stop in front of the facility’s gates. The two teachers were retired Pro Heroes in their late thirties to early forties: the woman, Rubberskin, who was impressively tall and muscular, with her hair in a pixie cut, hair strands dyed a dark blue, a few old scars on both arms and her face, and teeth similar to what Eijiro had. The man, Gin, was on the lanky side, had a bit of a stubble and the beginning of a light mustache, his brownish golden hair in a manbun, and a cigarette between his lips.
“I’ll leave them to you. Send me an update before and at the end of their lessons,” Aizawa reminded the teachers. He then swept his eyes over the children. “Call if anything happens.”
“Yes, sensei!” the five of them said.
The facility itself was similar to UA in the way it was an impressively modern building surrounded by nature.
“Right, listen up,” said Rubberskin, grinning. “The kids you’ll be staying with are gonna be total strangers to you. It’s how it is when you’re expected to work with other Pros on the job. The whole program is so you get used to teaming up with people you sorta know nothing about. This might be a struggle if you’re, like, not a social person in general. At the same time, these classmates you’ll have for the next two weeks will be Pro Heroes just like you, and maybe a few years from now you’ll bump into them and know exactly what to expect. You won’t be told what the exercises will be. It’s a surprise. Don’t want any of you planning ahead, now, do we? That’d be cheating. No – you’ll all be thrown into an exercise and just do your best. I’ll be reporting to your homeroom teacher on how you’re doing. So if any of you pull any funny business, know that Aizawa will hear about it.”
Izuku was both excited and nervous. He was going to meet other students with amazing Quirks and fighting styles! At the same time, it was going to be hard not to hyperfixate on Quirk analysis and end up chatting up a storm to kids who just knew him. His UA classmates had gotten used to his mannerisms. These new kids didn’t know and it was guaranteed at least one person would find him annoying.
Turned out, that wasn’t much of a problem.
The teachers walked them to the dormitory. As soon as they walked in, there were a few students already there in the common area waiting for the new arrivals.
“The UA guys!” one kid exclaimed in excitement. A few kids were calling their friends over. Soon enough, there were fifteen kids coming to check out their new classmates. Some were especially excited to meet the students from UA and to know which ones they’d be having in their class.
A girl was so happy to meet Ochaco that the girl grabbed both of her hands and started waving them up and down exaggeratedly. Ochaco simply smiled and managed to yank a hand free to bashfully scratch the back of her head.
“Broken bone dude!” one boy greeted Izuku, his eyes sparkling. “Heck yeah, we got broken bone dude!”
Izuku smiled nervously. He’d really been over the top at the Sports Festival for kids to know him as the ‘broken bone dude.’
“You’re Midoriya, right?” another boy exclaimed. “Is that a Glasswing watch?”
Izuku looked at his red wristwatch. “Oh, yeah. You noticed it.”
“Course I did! I’m surprised not many know of Glasswing. She’s awesome. Underrated Hero.”
Izuku's eyes sparkled. “Right? She’s amazing!”
“Did you read about that mission she took in Osaka?”
“The one she took with Hammer, yeah!”
It turned into a string of Hero adoration from both sides, the both of them talking faster and faster. There was just so much to say.
A girl then joked, “Oh my god, it’s becoming a tornado. Somebody separate them!”
Everyone laughed.
His classmates for the next two weeks turned out to be incredibly friendly, some of them having the same energy as people like Eijiro and Denki, and the others who got socially tired much faster were generally calm.
“Get settled for now,” said Gin, rubbing his stiff neck. “We’re starting at two. Be in your costumes by then and wait in the courtyard.”
Rubberskin pointed at the kid who called Izuku the ‘broken bone dude’. “You. Show them around.”
The kid saluted. “Aye aye, Ma’am!”
The rooms were like hotel rooms, really; plainly furnished in white and brown with just the necessities. They were designed with the intention to accommodate kids and only stay for a short time, then got replaced by more kids.
Izuku found himself with a bit of a problem the moment he stepped into his new room. He’d only been told to pack things like clothes, anxiety medication, and anything he used daily, but he brought some of his Hero merchandise from his room. A few posters and a plastic All Might figure. He needed them. How’d he ground himself with the technique Aizawa had taught him if he woke up and this was not his room his mind remembered? These kids didn’t know he screamed at night sometimes. So he brought some things with him with the hope it would help.
Not that they’d stop him from screaming in the first place. He would just hope he didn’t have a bad night.
His phone beeped.
Can you come over? – Ochaco texted. My room is on the second floor. It’s the last door.
He could tell she was being cheeky. They still had two hours before they’d need to get dressed in their costumes and head downstairs.
He said sure. It wasn’t like they did anything special in particular. They just sat on her bed and showed each other stuff on each other’s phones for a bit. It made him happy to just be there with her.
“Hey, Deku?”
“Hmm?”
They were both on their backs on her small bed, his leg dangling off the edge.
She grabbed his hand and asked in a neutral tone, “Are you going to be okay tonight?”
Izuku kept looking at the ceiling when he answered honestly, “I don’t know.”
“Would it help if I slept in your room with you?”
She’d spent the night with him at least twice before, usually to calm him down, then she’d just… stay until the morning. He was tempted to say yes. He wanted her there with him. He wanted her heartbeat, her smell, her touch that made him feel safe.
He went with, “You don’t have to.”
“I want to. I like being with you.” She squeezed his hand for emphasis.
“…Yeah. I think… it’d help.”
She shifted to her side, facing him. She gave him a chaste kiss on the lips – a cute peck – then hugged him, nuzzling against him, her smile bright and puffing out her cheeks. He liked cupping her cheeks, especially when she smiled, when they bunched up. They felt nice in his palm.
With a sudden surge of energy he’d picked up from all of her affection, he hugged her back and pressed his reddening face into the side of her neck, his breaths ticklish and making her laugh in his ear.
The day had been surprisingly less stressful than Izuku had initially thought with how new everyone was to each other. Having kids from four different schools seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, but everyone seemed friendly and cooperative, with Denki and Mina becoming popular with the louder kids, and Momo being getting along fairly well with the calmer classmates.
Rubberskin reminded Izuku of Mirko, only she was slightly tamer in attitude and was very engaged with everyone. She supervised during a Capture the Flag exercise in the woods where Izuku would spot cameras in the trees when he’d perched between the branches. She’d communicate with them through the earpiece, offering criticism or encouragement as needed. He liked working with her.
The class had been split into teams A and B, with Ochaco, Momo, and Denki being with the kids in A, and Izuku and Mina being in B. A won the first round thanks to Momo planting a fake flag as a distraction. B took the second round, but lost in the third round because of course Denki had to go all out and shock as many as he could all at once.
There were no bad feelings at the end of the day. No sore losers. They were here to learn and have fun at the same time.
“Good work, everyone,” said Rubberskin. She raised her palms in the air for the kids to high-five. “Up top. Up top.” At least six kids high-fived her before her arms got tired. “Alright. Sort out dinner among yourselves. There’s ingredients in the food storage room. See what you can use. You’ve got class with Gin at seven in the morning. He’s a grouch, so don’t be late.”
Izuku sometimes saw Rubberskin pop a pill from a pill organizer whenever her phone chimed. She’d retired from Pro Hero work a few years ago due to a head injury, from what Izuku read online. Her Quirk was similar to Eijiro’s, only it got tough and stretchy instead of spiky.
Gin, on the other hand, had a Quirk that made his opponents disoriented and woozy as though drunk. It activated with touch and the effects lasted a few minutes. He seemed to have just retired from the field, with only two years of teaching so far.
Back at the dorms, the kids got to decide if they wanted premade store-bought dinners from the fridge in the common area kitchen, or to just make something from scratch. The latter sounded much more appetizing, and Izuku got to help watch over the stove while the other students did their own parts. He was used to his own classmates’ cooking styles. The ramen soup tasted much different than how his classmates at UA made it, but it was still good.
Can I come over? – Ochaco texted him before bed.
He said yes, like he always did.
He let her crawl into bed with him, tucked his head beneath her chin and snuck her fingers through his hair. She was so warm, so safe. He’d woken up at just past four in the morning, confused, unable to breathe. No scream, just gasping for air, his hand reaching for anything to save him.
“Deku? Deku, breathe,” Ochaco’s voice said gently. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Breathe. I’m here. I’m right here.”
A hand grabbed his. He felt the finger pads at the tips of those fingers, the warmth of her skin, the slight dampness of her palm being sweaty in her sleep. He liked hearing her talk. Her chest vibrated against his ear when she did.
She brushed the hair on his temple, and he had to warn her, “I’m sweaty.”
She gave a light snort. “It’s okay,” she whispered.
He managed to fall back asleep, listening to her heart.
When they got up to leave his room in the morning, the boy whose room was next to Izuku’s saw the two of them come out of the same room. The boy whistled, and said, “Damn. Nice.” And gave them a thumbs up.
Izuku and Ochaco blushed massively.
“We didn’t–” Ochaco attempted.
“It’s not what it looks like!” Izuku tried.
“It’s cool. I’m not telling on you,” the boy said, grinning. “None of my business.”
It was light teasing, but like his friends back at UA, it was tame, and they usually let Izuku and Ochaco be for the most part.
It seemed like the two weeks would pass by with no issues.
Until they started their second day lesson, this time with Gin.
It was immediately apparent that he wasn’t as friendly as Rubberskin. He talked like he was bored and just wanted to get things done already. His tone was similar to Aizawa. He even resembled Aizawa a bit, with bags under his eyes and a similar bodybuild. Izuku hoped he was reliable like Aizawa, at least.
He was wrong.
It started inside a building just behind the dorms. A fake, rundown laboratory type of building, with wires sticking out of holes in the walls, screens everywhere, computers, scientific books lined up in the bookcase, and ID scanners on the walls.
They weren’t to use any Quirks in here, the only exceptions being mutation Quirks who couldn’t exactly turn that off. They were even told they didn’t need their Hero costumes for this, so everyone came in comfortable, casual clothes. They were instructed to leave their phones, costume bags, and smart devices that weren’t medical on a table in the hallway.
“This is built like an escape room,” said Gin. “Only the objective isn’t to escape, it’s to find a password to stop a timer which I will start soon. This entire building has clues. You’ll be spread out and stay in the room you’re in.” He lazily pointed at the camera at the corner of the lab. “You’ll have one student in the control room overseeing everything and directing you what to do next. They’ll have their own puzzle in the control room. Whenever you find a clue, relay it to the person in the control room, have them put it together using their own puzzle, and wait for feedback from them that’ll help you find the next clue. The puzzle is simple. Be fast. You’ll have fifteen minutes. That’s more than enough.” He a tablet, he swiped his finger over a list of names. “Ochaco Uraraka.”
Izuku felt Ochaco visibly stiffen beside him.
“You’re in the control room with me,” Gin said.
Ochaco huffed, determined. “Yes, sensei!”
Mina gave her a cheer. “Good luck, girl!”
Denki, Momo, and a few other students wished her luck as well. One even mentioned, “Repeat things for me please – I forget in, like, one second.”
She looked Izuku in the eye, gave him a confident nod, and he gave her one back.
Gin called out a few other names to position them in other lab rooms. Izuku ended up in Lab No. 22 with a girl named Riko Takahashi. The big screen on the wall read fifteen minutes and zero seconds. It stayed that way until the buzzer sounded. It began counting down.
Ochaco’s voice spoke through the earpiece. “Okay, everyone, look for anything that stands out and tell me. I’ll try to put it together on my end.”
Izuku and Riko immediately started sweeping through the lab, opening and slamming drawers. Sifting through pages of notebooks and files from the file cabinet. Within minutes, many kids were telling Ochaco they found this and that, numbers and symbols and what appeared to be a thumbtack on a map. It was so much at once, Izuku felt bad for Ochaco. She’d sometimes leave her mic on, and he’d hear her typing, possibly having her own puzzle on a computer in the control room with her.
Izuku gave her some of the numbers and names he’d found in a notebook, heard her repeating the names to herself, then went, “Oh! That’s it. The girls in Room 14, you found a thumbtack on a country, right?”
“Sure did. Singapore,” one of the girls confirmed.
“Room 22 found a date.” Ochaco started murmuring, possibly reading a worksheet in front of her. “Room 5, you have a locked box. Try inputting 32 in the computer in the box.”
Within a few seconds, a boy said, “Bingo! Got it open. There’s a wooden figure of a sea turtle in here.”
Ochaco murmured some more. “Chelonioidea. There it is. It’s in yellow. Room 11, you’re with the cables, right?”
“Yeah!”
“Grab the yellow cable and put it in the socket that has the triangle above it.”
“Got it!”
She was panting. A mixture of stress and panic and just trying to hurry up. She was in charge of nineteen students and each puzzle piece, as well as her own puzzle they couldn’t help her with. They were making good progress, but Izuku wasn’t having much fun. Not when it sounded like Ochaco was stressing out from all the pressure put on her. It wasn’t obvious to just him; the other kids tried to sound chipper the entire time.
One even said, “You got this, boss,” through the mic when another puzzle was solved.
At some point, Ochaco started pausing between instructions. Mina asked her, “Ochaco, can you repeat that? I didn’t hear anything.” Mina assumed she’d missed an instruction.
She hadn’t. Ochaco hadn’t said anything. She’d click her mic off and on but hadn’t said anything in a full two minutes.
Gin’s voice was suddenly heard through the earpiece. “Read it.” The order had to have been directed at Ochaco.
It was jarring to Izuku, hearing that man in his ear. He’d almost forgotten Gin was supervising Ochaco in the control room. Izuku had even seen Riko jump a bit next to him. She’d hadn’t been prepared to hear his voice all of a sudden.
Gin had sounded mad.
Again, Ochacos mic clicked off, then on again within seconds. “I…” Ochaco sounded exhausted and nervous.
“It’s right there in front of you. Read it. Can you read?” Gin’s tone was threatening.
Izuku felt the hair at the back of his neck stand up.
Ochaco choked out, “Room… Room 11, type 2209.”
“…Sure.” Even the kid in Room 11 taking the order sounded disturbed. “Sure. Yeah. Give me a sec.” After a minute, he said, “It’s not right. Gave me an error.”
“Okay. Okay, just… just give me a minute,” Ochaco sounded so tired.
Gin then said, “Are you going to say you have a minute if it was a real bomb you’re dealing with?”
“No, I–” Ochaco stuttered.
“The numbers are correct, but you gave them to the wrong room. Look at the paper right in front of you.”
“…Room 13. Can you please use the code 2209?”
Gin sighed, exasperated. “Kid, I can’t keep reminding you the whole time that you got everything right in front of you. Just read. Does that look like Room 11 to you?"
“…No, Sensei…” Her voice quivered. She was close to crying.
Izuku couldn’t take it. “She’s doing a lot, Sensei. It was one mistake.”
Mina joined in through the earpiece, “Yeah!”
Denki came on as well. “I would’ve screwed it up in the first second.”
Momo spike as well. “Please, let her keep going, Sensei. We still have seven minutes. It was one mistake anyone could’ve made.”
“This is what you’ll say when it’s a real situation?” Gin snapped. “You have a bomb ready to go off, so you’ll say you have seven minutes left and you could’ve screwed it up much earlier? That’s what you’d say if this was real?”
“But it’s not, Sensei,” Izuku said. “It’s not real.”
There was a moment of silence, then Gin’s chilling tone spoke in their ears. “You understand that when she fails at something, you all do, too.”
Izuku was familiar with bad teachers. The teachers who bully. The teachers who singled somebody out and tried to pit everyone against that target. The teachers who said they were right just because they were the adults, and therefore, in their minds, that made them correct at everything.
He hadn’t heard a teacher like that since Aldera Junior High. It was surreal, seeing this kind of teacher targeting someone other than Izuku himself. It was a disgusting feeling in his gut, hearing what he was hearing, knowing fully well what that teacher was doing, knowing the long-lasting damage that did to a kid.
Izuku wasn’t supposed to talk back to teachers. He’d never done so when he’d been the bullseye. He’d tucked his head down, became as submissive as possible. Teachers could be unfair, but teachers who were bullies were just seen as being strict. Teachers worked with other teachers, and other teachers would see another teacher and say, ‘Yes, you did the best you could’ve with that situation. Children are tough to deal with, after all.’
Izuku remembering the abuse his past teachers had encouraged just made him sad.
Izuku hearing abuse inflicted on somebody else – on Ochaco – made his blood boil.
Izuku spoke with as much respect he could muster in his voice without giving away just how angry he was. He looked straight at the camera on the ceiling. “She’s doing amazing. I’m impressed she only slipped once knowing someone like you was putting pressure on her. We’re here to work as a team. That’s the whole point of this, isn’t it? I can’t understand why you’d try to make us fight one another.”
Riko gave him a nod and shook her fist in the air as a way to say, That’s right. Good on you. No other kid was attempting to speak. And while everyone was spread out all over the building, Izuku could feel the tension of the situation. Everyone was uncomfortable. Ochaco, especially, must’ve been uncomfortable, probably the whole time the exercise had started.
Gin had made it uncomfortable. If a simple slip up had made him snap this quick, Izuku wondered how long the man had been breathing down her neck for, expecting her to make a mistake at any second.
The mic from the control room clicked off. It was another twenty seconds before it clicked back on, only for Gin to threaten, “You want to repeat that to me, boy?”
“Please let us finish the exercise, Sensei.” With Izuku’s firm voice, the ‘Sensei’ part felt more like he’d wanted to say ‘fuck you.’
The other kids started speaking through the earpiece, all at their wits end and just wanting to be over with this. There was a beep from somewhere, and the kid from Room 13 said, “Got it. The combination worked. I got the English word ‘elephant’. The ‘e’s are in orange, ‘n’ is in pink, and the ‘t’ is in green. What's next, Uraraka?” The kids were trying to move the exercise along without waiting for Gin’s approval.
The mic turned off again. And again, it came back on within a few seconds.
Ochaco’s voice was shaky. There was fear in her throat. “R – Room 22.”
That was Izuku’s. “I hear you,” he told her firmly.
“On the c – computer near the cabinet. The small one.”
Izuku ran for it, threw himself onto the swivel chair. Riko grabbed the back of his chair and leaned over his shoulder to see the screen that was black with what was similar to HTML text, only there was hardly any pattern for this. Izuku’s eyes were straining to lock onto one line of text.
Ochaco continued, “I’m going to give you a long thing to write down. Go between lines 115 and 116 and press Enter, okay? You’ll type it there.”
Izuku could already tell this wasn’t going to go well. He was sweating, but not from the task itself. Just as Ochaco was in the middle of relaying a combination of symbols for Izuku to type down, Gin had to insert himself again.
“Pay attention,” Gin ordered. “You read it wrong. Look at that again. It’s right in front of you. How many times do I need to remind you?”
“I’m sorry,” Ochaco hiccupped. “I’m trying.”
“No, you’re not. Get your head out of the clouds.”
Ochaco sniffed. She was crying.
Gin continued his ruthlessness. “Look. At. The paper. You have two minutes left. Do you want your class to fail because you can’t read?”
Izuku felt his heart quicken. His teeth hurt from how hard he’d been grinding them. He wasn’t thinking when he punched the desk and yelled, “Stop bullying her!”
That set off a chain. He’d said what most of the students had been suspecting. He made it clear. This was bullying. He shouldn’t have yelled. He wasn’t the one there with Gin. He wasn’t the one facing his anger at the moment. But goddamn it, he was angry. He wasn’t thinking.
The other kids weren’t either. The second he’d called the teacher a bully, everyone started yelling:
“Stop it!”
“Pick on someone your own size!”
“You’re not allowed to do this!”
“What crawled up your ass, old man?”
“Let her finish, damnit!”
A few kids started chanting, “Leave her alone! Leave her alone!”
Izuku heard one girl yell “Asshat!” loudly in his ear.
That was it. That was all he needed to know the students did not respect this teacher at all. Whatever chance they were willing to give him in the beginning had evaporated. They did not see him as a teacher. He was some grown up picking on one of their own. Izuku silently wondered how many of them had been suspicious of Gin, how many had been familiar with bad teachers, how many had a hunch but didn’t feel safe enough to say so until Izuku had shot the first arrow.
“Enough!” Gin tried.
Everyone kept yelling.
Gin tried again. “That’s enough!”
Again, no one listened. He’d lost control of his class. It was utter mayhem. The earpieces were being abused relentlessly.
“I said THAT’S ENOUGH!” Gin shouted into their ears. At the same time, all the lights went out in unison.
Izuku had assumed it was just his room, but everyone had gone silent, momentarily stunned, which meant it was all the rooms as well. Gin had turned off the lights and computers in his attempt to regain control, stopping the timer at just over one minute.
It was a whole minute before the lights turned back on again.
“Go back to your dorms,” Gin ordered, breathless. “All of you get a zero. I’m going to mark each and every one of you down and inform your homeroom teachers tonight. If you think this behavior is acceptable for Heroes, you won’t last long in school. I could kick you out of the program for this. You better behave yourselves next time, you hear? Now get out. I don’t want to see any of you wandering around by the time I finish resetting everything for the class after you.” With that, the mic from the control room clicked off.
“What a loser,” muttered Riko.
Everyone was grumpy, sifting through phones piled on the table in the hallway, trying to find their phones and equipment left in the hallway, outside the lab.
“Who does he think he is?” Mina grumbled. “What kind of teacher is that? Gosh, I’m so angry!” she whined. She found her phone and shoved it roughly into her skirt pocket.
“What the heck was that guy’s deal?” Denki said, scratching his head. He found his phone and began scrolling through it. The kids who had already retrieved their phones and walked out were already cussing the teacher out in the group chat. “Glad I wasn’t the one in Uraraka’s spot. I can’t even Math, let alone do all that. I would’ve seriously screwed you guys over in seconds if that’d been me.”
Momo had found her phone earlier but had stayed around. She placed a hand on her cheek in slight worry. “I hope Ochaco’s okay. That must’ve been so stressful on her.”
Izuku was conflicted. It felt good to be angry. But there was no doubt in his mind that Ochaco got chewed out right after the control room’s mic got turned off. He’d agitated Gin, but Ochaco had been the one taking the brunt of Gin’s aggression. Izuku’s retaliation, and how the class had responded to his outrage, must’ve made things worse for Ochaco. He should’ve thought better. He shouldn’t have let his temper get to him. No amount of apologies to Ochaco would erase all the nasty things Gin had told her. Izuku was going to apologize regardless. And hold her hand and see if she’s okay. She probably wasn’t, after all that. He’d ask anyway.
But he, Mina, Momo, and Denki had been waiting for a good four minutes, and she hadn’t been back yet from the control room, wherever that was.
“Do you think he’s still scolding her?” Momo asked, nervous.
“What a jerk,” Mina huffed. “I wanna punch him.”
Ochaco’s pink flip phone was the only one left on the table. Izuku took it, held it for a bit, then pocketed it. “I’m going to go find her.” If Gin was in the middle of lecturing her, then the least Izuku could do was interrupt him.
“I’m coming, too,” Momo said, walking after him.
“Count me in!” Mina declared with enthusiasm.
Denki followed after them. “Wait, there’s a million rooms!”
“Then we start looking,” said Izuku.
He already knew it wouldn’t be in any of the lab rooms the other kids had been in, so any door number they came across that he remembered hearing throughout the exercise were skipped over. Ochaco wasn’t in any of the rooms on the ground floor. They started looking upstairs as one group, their shoes clapping tiles. There were labs that had their lights turned off, and offices with unused computers.
Izuku had an unnerving tingle in his heart. Something kept nagging at his mind. Something serious he couldn’t decipher.
Something about the way Gin had ordered Ochaco to “Read it.”
There was something disgusting about it. It gave Izuku a crawling sensation in his gut.
He didn’t like it.
He didn’t like how Gin sounded. He sounded like he owned her. Like he had full control of her. Like he intentionally sounded malicious to scare her.
Izuku hated it. He hated that man.
He couldn’t stop remembering things that just… made him feel gross. Something about this Gin was gross. The way that man spoke, the way he scared and continued to scare Ochaco, the way the mic would turn on and off.
What had he said to her when no one was listening?
“Midoriya? Are you okay?” Momo placed a hand on his shoulder.
Izuku now could hear himself breathing heavily. His heart was galloping.
“Oh, shit. Remember to breathe!” Denki tried to be helpful, but Denki saw him panic and now he was panicking too.
Izuku managed to utter “Have to find her” before he launched into a sprint. His friends called out to him to wait, to hold on. He couldn’t. His heart was drumming in his ears, and he couldn’t get himself to understand the details as to why. Logically, it was safe to assume it was just his anxiety attack doing its thing. He was out of breath. His chest hurt. It was very much an anxiety attack.
It was okay to have anxiety attacks.
He’d had many before. It would pass.
But what had Gin said to Ochaco when Izuku couldn’t hear?
Where was she? Maybe he was overreacting, and she was probably downstairs looking for her phone, which Izuku had because he thought he’d be giving it to her.
Yeah.
Downstairs. She’d probably figured out Izuku had her phone and decided to go join him at the dormitory where she thought he was.
Yeah.
It’s okay.
Breathe.
Stop for a second and breathe.
He slowed to a stop, leaned against the wall and panted. His friends caught up to him, breathless.
“Jeez, you’re fast even without your Quirk on,” Mina gasped, leaning against her knees.
Momo rubbed his back, between his shoulder blades, encouraging him to breathe.
Denki panted like he’d run across the desert and desperately needed water. He still managed to give Izuku an encouraging grin. “We got you, buddy. Take it easy.”
Izuku tried. He honestly tried. He was in the middle of trying to get his breathing under control when he heard it. It sounded like a door slamming shut. It came from ahead, in the left hallway somewhere.
Izuku forgot all about his breathing exercises and started running again. He slowed down when he reached the particular hallway, glancing through each door’s glass panel above the handle. He heard a man growl, “Damnit!”
There. That room, two doors ahead.
He got to it, then saw the scene happening through the thin screen panel on the door.
He saw too much within seconds.
Ochaco with disheveled hair, her head lolling to the side, facing away so Izuku couldn’t see.
A rolling chair on the floor, on its side.
Gin violently shoving Ochaco so hard, the back of her head slammed into the wall and she slid down to the tiles, now revealing a bloody nose and lip, and how unusually loose her pink button-up shirt was. It wasn’t just loose, it was open. The middle of her white sports bra right there. She flopped to her side, like she was dizzy, like her limbs were too lazy to cooperate. Her upper-body wobbled, then she face-planted.
Her hands. They were duct taped together in a messy manner, only managing to wrap around three fingers, something that indicated Gin had been in a hurry and Ochaco hadn’t been still for that.
A memory pricked into Izuku’s mind. The sound of the door slamming. She’d been trying to escape. Gin hadn’t let her.
Something was tangled with her shoes. Some sort of white fabric with thin, pink stripes.
That fabric was her panties.
Gin growled something at her. Izuku didn’t hear it. He’d seen too much within a second. All he understood was that Ochaco was bleeding, and Gin was leaning against the wall above her and looked to have been hastily fumbling with his belt buckle when Izuku broke the door at just that second.
A roar ripped through Izuku’s throat. He couldn’t think. He knew he had tears on his face which was twisted into a snarl. He knew he heard himself scream like he was dying. He didn’t know what his body did. It just moved. It moved so fast, this bastard hadn’t had enough time to even register what was happening.
Izuku wasn’t about to give him time to breathe, let alone think of using his Quirk on him.
Izuku couldn’t breathe either. He was instinctively taking the quickest, shortest breaths, with the occasional deranged grunts.
“Midoriya, stop! You’re going to kill him!”
He didn’t want to stop. Something at the back of his mind told him to go ahead, kill him. There was a monster inside of him he never knew he had. His friends calling out to him just sounded like mindless noise.
“–check on Ochaco!”
That.
That snapped him out of it.
Slowly, Izuku remembered he had a body, and that he now had control of it again, not his emotions taking hold of it. He could see now that he’d repeatedly punched Gin in his face and arms which Gin had attempted to shield with. He’d punched his lights out; the man was out cold on the floor, wheezing.
Izuku flinched when a hand landed on his shoulder
Denki reassured him. “Hey. It’s good. You got him good. You with us, buddy?” Denki’s face was pale.
His friends all were.
Not because of how Gin looked, but for Ochaco.
Mina let Ochaco lean against her for support. Those brown eyes were blurry, unfocused. Drunk. Gin had used his Quirk on her. He was so much bigger, yet he felt that he needed to disarm her further, making her dizzy and messily taping her hands up.
Momo got on the floor and began undoing the tape, her own hands shaking from what she and all of them had just seen.
What they’d just witnessed.
What Ochaco’s undone button-up and the panties pulled down implicated.
Izuku wanted to beat Gin all over again, consequences be damned.
But Ochaco was there, on the floor, bleeding from the nose and a busted lower lip. Her face was disturbingly blank.
“Ochaco?” Izuku approached carefully, knelt to be eye-level with her. He reached his hand out, noting how much his own hand was shivering.
It was like she wasn’t seeing any of them. Her eyes stayed staring at nothing, her cheeks tearstained. When Momo got Ochaco’s hands free, Ochaco finally moved. It was to reach for her legs. She grabbed her bunched up panties in a loose grip, and dragged them back up at an agonizingly slow pace. She stopped halfway, like she forgot what she was doing.
It was heartbreaking.
Momo silently helped tug the panties on more neatly, the panties disappearing under Ochaco’s black mini skirt. Momo then looked at Ochaco and said, in the calmest voice she could manage, “We’re calling for help, okay?”
Ochaco didn’t respond. Most likely hadn’t even heard or understood what Momo had said. Ochaco’s eyes drifted to the side. Everyone followed the direction.
Gin, lying on the floor.
They decided to move her to another room while Momo tied Gin up. Izuku was careful when he gently picked her up and carried her placed her on the couch of an empty office. Mina got on her phone and fought back tears while asking for the police, a Hero, and an ambulance. Denki had called someone else. Izuku heard him sob ‘Aizawa-sensei.’ Momo created a blanket and draped it over Ochaco’s shoulders, then proceeded to button up her shirt, only there was a button missing. It hadn’t been missing the last time Izuku had seen her.
Izuku kept one of her hands sandwiched between his.
He spoke to her calmly, trying to pretend all this wasn’t killing him.
“Help’s on the way, okay?” he told her gently, stroking the back of her hand and found she had cuts from how hard she’d tried to slip her palms out of the tape. Her neck was turning pink. It was a solid outline. Hands had been at her neck. Hard. Izuku swallowed thickly, kept talking. “We’re here for you. It’s going to be okay.”
He didn’t know about that last part. Right now, it felt like the end. The earth was ending right now and there was nothing he or anyone could do about it.
And it was Izuku’s fault.
He’d angered Gin.
He’d waited for four minutes thinking Ochaco would come back.
He’d taken his time looking for her when Gin had been hurting her.
He’d been in the same fucking building as her, and he’d still failed so, so badly.
He wanted to say sorry. He wanted to cry and scream and tear his hair out. But he couldn’t. Not in front of her. Not when she’d been hurt and needed someone to tell her it’s okay.
At some point, her eyes changed. She wasn’t drunk anymore. Instead, she seemed hyper focused; her pupils had shrunk, darting to look at random things in the office, her skin had gone cold, and had started breathing quickly. The Quirk had evaporated, now letting everything that had happened crash into her, rendering her in a state of shock. Her breathing was painful to listen to. Her nose was damaged, and her lips were swelling. She had her mouth half-open the whole time. Her teeth were painted pink.
She was more aware of him, now. More aware of his hands holding her. Her thumb kept going over a particular boney bump on his uneven finger. She wasn’t seeing him – her eyes never landed on him – but she recognized the feel of his disfigured hand. She was savoring the familiarity of it, using it as an anchor for her sanity.
People started trickling in. Izuku didn’t bother with them. He didn’t answer when Rubberskin whispered, “What the fuck happened? Someone. Tell me. What the fuck happened.”
Nobody answered her. Frankly, there was a revival of Izuku’s distaste for teachers at the moment. He didn’t feel like talking to another teacher.
Rubberskin rounded the couch and bent over to see Ochaco’s bloody face. “Let me see that, sweetie.”
Rubberskin had not seen the open shirt and the panties. She just saw a bloody face. Her hand made contact with Ochaco’s chin, and Ochaco took a sudden intake of breath and slowly turned her head away.
“Please don’t touch her,” Izuku said in a monotone voice.
It was another minute before other people started trickling in. Medics, and police being escorted by another Hero. Izuku couldn’t remember much after that. They took Ochaco away. He heard the siren of the ambulance outside wailing.
The police had questions for him. He was numb, answering robotically.
Bits and pieces of everything after that were missing from his memory. It felt like he was just time skipping forward, seeing pictures here and there, until he found himself with his backpack on and his costume bag hugged to his chest, sitting on a chair in a hallway next to Denki, Momo, and Mina, who also had their bags and, just like him, had been quiet the whole time.
He heard Aizawa’s voice from behind the door next to them, along with the voice of Rubberskin, and someone from the police. Words were exchanged in that room. Words like surveillance cameras, prosecution, and that bastard’s name. It got heated at one point; Rubberskin said something about hearing both sides of the story. It pissed Aizawa off. He growled, “I strain my eyes for these children day and night. You expect me to let you handle it when your partner put one of my students in the emergency room? I’m inserting myself, and I frankly do not care whether or not you like it.”
Aizawa walked out, one hand carrying a pink backpack by the top strap, the other hand holding a costume bag with the number 5 on it. He looked at each of his students. “We’re going back to UA. Is that all your things?”
They nodded, all of them looking everywhere but at their teacher.
Aizawa sighed tiredly. “Alright. Get on the bus.”
Aizawa was pulling all of his students out of the program. He didn’t trust it enough to keep anyone here. It wasn’t just him, but other schools wanted their kids back as soon as they were informed of the nature of the incident that took place. The media was going to get a hold of this eventually.
Some of the kids Izuku only got to know for two days met up with him and his classmates by the exit. Everyone had their own bags on.
“Hey,” said one of them in a somber manner. “I... don’t know what that fucker did, just that… he hurt your friend. Saw the cops and the ambulance so… yeah… Tell her we wish her well, ‘kay? You guys were all awesome, and she was too.” The kids behind this one nodded in agreement.
“Thanks, you guys.” Izuku’s throat was dry. “I’ll let her know.”
“You want our numbers? Maybe we can meet up sometime.”
“…That sounds good. Yeah… we can meet up sometime.”
He’d had so much fun on the first day here.
It all got snatched away on the second.
Izuku and his three classmates climbed into the bus, one friend fewer than when they came here. Everyone was silent for the ride. Mindful of the existence of the bus driver, Aizawa moved himself to sit at the back, closer to the kids so he’d talk only for them to hear. He slouched, hands clasping each other.
“None of you are at fault,” was the first thing he said. “Stop blaming yourselves.”
Mina burst into tears. Full on open-mouthed crying, arms messily wiping at her teary face. She’d been holding it in until she couldn’t.
“We waited,” Momo whispered, her voice cracking. “We waited, when we could’ve been looking for her.”
“I was useless.” Denki grabbed at his hair, a petrified look in his eyes. “I… I saw her on the ground and–” His voice hitched. Whatever he was going to say got cut off. “I froze. I fucking froze. Damnit!” He smacked his own head with both hands. “Damnit!” and again. Twice more with every “Damnit!”
Izuku’s fists tightened around the knees of his pants. Tears welled up in his eyes; he couldn’t see his own hands anymore. “I did this. I made him angry. He took it out on her.”
He felt Aizawa’s hand on top of his head, the weight of it making Izuku bow a little.
“You can’t say anything that will physically make an adult do what he did. None of you did that. He did. He chose to do that. His actions were all his. Do not blame yourselves for the faults of adults” Aizawa removed his hand. “Forgive me for putting you all in this situation. I’m partly responsible for even thinking of handing you over to someone else. For that, I’m sorry. This should’ve never happened. Uraraka’s parents have been informed. Midnight should be at the hospital with her right now. I must ask you to not speak of the incident to any of your classmates or anyone else until further notice. The only exception being Hound Dog. This is going to trial. Gin’s going to lawyer up. Don’t let any information slip until I make sure that bastard’s behind bars. Do you understand?”
They whispered, “Yes, Aizawa-sensei…”
The next two hours were quiet, only interrupted by Aizawa making a phone call with Midnight. Izuku heard snippets of it. “DNA” and “Done the rape kit.” Izuku wanted to throw up.
Ochaco’s nightmare wasn’t over. While he was sitting in a bus on his way back to his comfortable bed at UA, she was getting prodded by more adults who wanted to make her retell everything, stick her with swabs, take her clothes and bag them up, take pictures of the bruises on her body for evidence, and touch her to measure the length of injuries. Hearing the word ‘rape kit’ made this whole ordeal all the more disturbing. Part of him had been hoping he’d misunderstood what he’d seen. Gin had been wearing his trousers… but Ochaco’s panties had been down. Izuku didn’t want to know how far Gin had gone.
He wanted to burn that memory out of his head. It kept flashing in his eyes when all he wanted was for his brain to shut up already! Please!
The seat next to Izuku was empty. There was no shoulder to lean on. He’d cried twice more during the journey. He cried so much, he started developing a migraine behind his eyes.
Each one got off the bus with heavy shoulders and stood waiting for the train.
“Aizawa-sensei,” Izuku began. “Will she be okay?”
Everything was falling apart. It didn’t seem like today would have a tomorrow. Everything after seeing the medics take Ochaco away didn’t feel real. He couldn’t do anything to fix it. He wanted someone to tell him it’d be okay, that she’d be okay. He wanted someone to lie to him just to make him feel a little better, make him feel someone will at least try to make things better when Izuku couldn’t.
Aizawa regarded him, his eyes more tired than usual. “Uraraka’s stubborn. She’s a fighter. No matter which way this goes for her, best believe she’ll keep fight.”
Izuku agreed with that. “Midnight’s with her?”
“Yes. And her parents are taking a train to be with her.”
“That’s good.” At least she wouldn’t be alone in the hospital after such an experience. Izuku fumbled with his pocket. “Can you give this to her when you can?” Izuku put a pink flip phone in Aizawa’s hand. “She needs her phone back.”
Aizawa looked between the phone and him. “Of course.” He pocketed her phone. “I’ll make sure this gets to her.”
“Thank you.”
“Go rest. I’ll round up the rest of your classmates.”
“Yes, Sensei.”
He tried to go to bed early. His body ached. He was so damn tired.
Tired of crying.
Tired of thinking how things would’ve gone if he hadn’t made Gin angry.
Tired of his mind flashing him the scene of that man slamming Ochaco into a wall, dazed and unable to fight back. Gin had made sure she couldn’t.
He wanted to cry in bed. He had no tears left. He closed his eyes and saw it again, saw that monster’s snarling face, saw him grab her by the throat, rip her shirt open, a white button popping out and flying, rolling across the floor towards the door where Izuku stood stiff. He heard the sound of her hitting the wall, over and over, heard the slam of the door, only it was coming from everywhere.
Izuku reached for her.
He was reaching for nothing. In front of him was his dorm room ceiling. His clothes were drenched in sweat. With whatever energy he had left in him, he turned over on his stomach, hugged the pillow to his face, and wailed into it.
He screamed, cried, and sobbed for what felt like forever.
TBC