Work Text:
“Hey Tokoyami! Do you want to come with us? We’ve convinced everyone else to go already, even Bakugou, well, not including Mineta for, obvious reasons, but anyway, will you?!”
Fumikage had never like social interaction. Even when he was little, he never played with the other children, preferring to stay in his room and read. He was quiet at school, getting good grades and staying unnoticed. It had never particularly bothered him that people thought he was weird, it hurt when they purposely avoided and excluded him, sure, but it was better than actively hurting him so he could deal with it.
Now however, he was being invited by people who were important to him to go to a social gathering and speak and interact with multiple new people at a time, on some days interacting with his class left him drained and exhausted, how was he supposed to get through this?
He wanted with all his being to decline and stay at the dorms, sure it would be lonely, but he wouldn’t have to worry about having a breakdown in public.
Looking at Kirishima’s smiling face waiting for an answer, he opened his mouth to tell him that he couldn’t go and apologize,
“Sure, what time and day and where are we meeting?”
and started panicking when he did the complete opposite.
What are you doing?
Keeping the panic off his face as the rest of the class broke into excited cheers, he kept his neutral expression firmly in place while slowly shying behind Shouji who noticed and just gave a slight nod of his head before stepping slightly in front if him. He saw Midoriya send him a worried look but he ignored it. He would be fine. He just had to get over himself. These were his friends. He would be ok.
That didn't stop him from holding his arms tight enough for his nails to dig into his skin.
___________________________________
The streets were busy today, He should've known they would be. As they walked down the streets and navigated through the crowds and busy streets Fumikage stayed close to Shouji as his breath hitched and he clenched and unclenched his fists, he had noticed the worried looks being sent his way by Midoriya and Shouji, even Todoroki had sent him a few. Meaning he was really slipping up.
Calm down, it's not a big deal, you don't even have to talk. Just calm down.
He was grateful for Shouji who had noticed his discomfort and made sure to stay close to him
He wished he could just settle down.
He wished he had Hagakure’s quirk right now.
When they finally ( finally ) got to the cafe Fumikage wanted to cry in relief, it was almost empty, instead he cuddled a bit into Shouji as they sat down, the one benefit of being short it seemed was having tall friends to carry you around or to disappear behind.
Dark Shadow cooed at him before going silent in his head again
It was peaceful and quiet, at least it was for the next 10 minutes.
Apparently, Class 1-A had come right before rush hour began.
Apparently this cafe was very popular
It became apparent that this was a very bad idea
It was fine at first. The panic not hitting him but instead creeping up in him slowly, suffocatingly.
The more people and the louder it got the more he started shaking, the panic clawing at his chest until it had his heart in its hand, squeezing it before crushing his lungs, restricting the movements of his chest, not allowing him air, he need air, he couldn't breathe, the room was spinning, going dark, why couldnt he breathe
People were pointing and staring at them, having recognized them as Class 1-A from the Sports Festival. They got louder, the pounding in his ears did as well. He was trying to calm down, he was trying . Why did he have to be like this? Why couldn't he just interact with people normally and go out without panicking, damn it, his heart was going to beat out of his chest, his breath hitched again as he tried not to hyperventilate.
Dark shadow was trying to calm him down, but he couldn't.
He could just barely make out noises, voices, were they speaking to him? He couldn't tell. He jumped when he felt something on his back moving in a repetitive circular motion. Someone moving one of his hands, unclenching it from the fist he had made, holding it against something. Someone's chest he realized, feeling the heartbeat and breathing. He looked up making out the blurry forms of his classmates,
“Breathe with me”
Midoriya
He did, breathing in tandem with them.
He heard another voice, soft, but forceful at the same time, counting
Momo
“I'll get him some tea”
That was Kirishima
They spent the better part of half an hour getting him out of the attack and he slowly untensed and regained his ability to breathe properly, after he had calmed properly and realized what had happened he curled into Shouji and attempted to hide away.
“i apologize for interrupting everyone's evening” he mumbled
There were outbursts and protests
“You didn't interrupt anything!”
“You're perfectly fine dude!”
“Seriously don't worry about it!”
“We're here for you!”
“We love you man!”
He looked up at them, “Thank you”
They all just smiled in return, (in Bakugou's case a neutral look, but everyone else had seen the worry he had for the bird headed boy, though he wouldn't admit it)
After that they spoke in softer tones and
Fumikage soon checked out of the conversation drifting off into a peaceful doze to the sounds of his friends conversation, he smiled a little. They couldn't stop it, but they did their best to help him through it, they didn't force him to socialize or berate him for it, and really, that was more important than he could say.
Fin.