Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You saw her. Right there, Ochako Uraraka, your crush and former best friend. She was staring at Midoriya as usual. 

About two months ago, you started realizing that Ochako was really pretty, and not in the way that friends think friends are pretty but in a way where you just wanted to hold her face in your hands and kiss her. This wasn't your first time feeling like this but it was your first time understanding the consequences of your feelings. So you started distancing yourself. And when Ochako reached out two weeks ago, you snapped and yelled at her. 

This isn't what I wanted, You thought, I wanted to slowly drift away and disappear and never have to lie about not wanting to be friends.

All you were ever thinking about in class recently was to hug her. Confess. Explain everything, apologize, and have her say she likes you back. But you knew that wouldn't happen and you couldn't ever tell her. She was straight and had already fallen in love, with Izuku. 

Everyone in the class knew it, that they were in love.

Mina would always try to set them up. Kirishima would always go along with the plan. Momo even made a little banner for their ship. it was the biggest drama in the school and everyone wanted to be apart of it. You were pretty sure they would throw a whole party in the school if they got together but, since both of them were such dense idiots, you didn't have to worry about that at the moment. 

You realized you had spaced off for a moment and had been staring at Ochako. She noticed. She was looking back at you. You felt the heat rush to your face when you made eye contact and quickly looked away. She was confused and hurt. She didn't understand what was going on. No one did. 

At that moment in class, you heard shouting. It was Bakugou Katsuki again, the most aggressive, loud, and unexplainably mean person in all of UA. He was picking a fight with Izuku like always. You obviously hadn't heard what had happened to lead up to the argument but could piece together some of it in-between Bakugou's cursing. The bell soon rang and you were eager to leave the classroom fast. But as you grabbed your bag and tried to skooch between the desks and people, you got stopped... by Ochako. 

"Come with me," she demanded as she started tugging you through the hall way, probably headed to her dorm. You know its a bad idea. What ever is going to happen, you cant be close with her anymore. You nudge your hand out if hers and let go before stepping away. You could feel pressure behind your eyes and a knot in your throat but manage to get a few normal sounding words out.

"Why should I?" you ask. If the conversation lasted longer than a few more seconds, she might see you cry. You had to get out of there fast so you did the only thing you could think of. Hurt her and she will never speak to you again... which is what you needed her to do. 

"Because we need to talk since you obviously didn't mean-"

"Uraraka!" you shouted at her. "I meant what I said! You. Annoy. Me. I don't like being around you! All of your preppy little stories and stupid jokes! I can't handle them anymore! So leave me ALONE!" your voice was only loud to get past the pain in your neck so you wouldn't waver. 

You shove past her to keep moving as you feel the tears on your cheek. 

"you don't mean that..." she said quietly. Your heart broke but you couldn't look back at her. You knew if she knew the truth, she probably wouldn't want to be close friends either. So with your rumbled voice, you lowly said,

"I mean every word." and walked back to your dorm alone. 

...

Tears were running down your face. You couldn't get them to stop. You needed to get up and do something. Sitting around just gives you time to think about the pain so you got up, wiped your tears, and changed into your workout clothes of all black and a zip up hoodie to hide your face if Ochako crossed your path. You put together a load of laundry to take to the washers before heading to the gym. 

The walk was making you nervous, as if Ochako would just jump out of a corner and say she hates you, or worse, that she can see you've been crying. 

You made it to the laundry room without running into anyone. no body was doing laundry right after school on a Tuesday anyway. You set a timer on your phone for the end of the cycle and ran to the gym, not expecting to see anyone. But as you drew closer, you could hear one person running and- was that an explosion? 

"Bakugou?" you yelled into the room. The running stopped and for a moment you just heard him catching his breath. 

"What do you want you damn extra?!" he yelled back.

"Fight me!"

Chapter Text

...

“Huh? What the hell?!” Bakugou yells as you walk into the gym. You can tell he’s tired from whatever workout he was just doing.  

“You heard me right, fight me.” You repeated again.  

“Have you lost your mind you god damn idiot?!” he shouts, “Do you wanna die?!”  

“It’s fine if you’re worried you'll lose Bakugou, you can just say that.”  

There it was. The way to get Bakugou to do anything. You might have laughed at his reaction if you weren’t so angry with yourself. He responded with some insult about how weak you were and you would be in with med girl in a minute flat. You ignored him and started focusing your quirk.  

You could feel your body start cracking while creating bones from your skin. After a second, you had an exoskeleton-like mass around you and a dagger made of bone in your hand. Bakugou was ready to fight and didn’t need you to say start before he started charging you.  

Once Bakugou was in the air from his explosions, all you could hear was ringing right off the bat. He was probably yelling something but you really couldn’t hear him. But... you could see him just fine, and that’s all you needed.  

Dodge, turn, run, dodge. You thought to yourself. Right, forward, run, dodge. You knew you were faster than Bakugou when he wasn’t using his quirk but with his explosions, he was quicker. So, you dodge. Be patient, wait for the opening. NOW.  

You add bones to the bottom of your feet to dig into the ground. And brace for impact.  

“Shit.” you say right before Bakugou tries to blast you into next week. But, unknown to him, you weren’t going anywhere. The smoke clears and he sees you right in front of him with your dagger in his arm. It was only a graze obviously. You didn’t actually want to hurt him.  

“What the hell?!” Bakugou blasts your chest before ripping the dagger from your hands. You tumble backwards with smoke filling your lungs. It burns but it’s a welcome distraction. A cough and you speak, 

“What’s wrong Bakugou?” you had a shit eating grin on your face and he saw it too, then matched your expression.  

“You won't surprise me again dumbass,” he laughs hoarsely then jumps again.  

Dodging wont work right now. Jump, move, attack, NOW.  

Your internal dialogue matched Bakugou’s as you both tried to win. It was evenly matched with Bakugou’s lack of restraint and your anger and venting during the fight.  

At some point you both had taken the fight outside the gym. You were on a field of scorched grass from Bakugou’s explosions. Your skin smelled burnt and probably was but you didn’t mind as the smoke clears again and see him with a bruise across his face from where you hit him moments before.  

“DIE!” Bakugou shouted and ran at you again.  

“NEVER!” you yelled back before ducking out of the way of his explosion. Flinging a dagger by him, you pinned his shoe to the ground... but definitely didn’t mean to. That was a lucky shot. Your arms tired out at least ten minutes ago and all accuracy was lost.  

Suddenly, your bones stop repairing over your skin as you move and Bakugou stops combusting.  

“Shit,” Bakugou and you said when you realized Aizawa was watching both of you.  

Acckkkk- Aizawa grabbed you with his scarf and separated you and Bakugou. But Bakugou looked like he just might try to chew through the restraints as Aizawa glared at them both.  

“Why are you two fighting?” he asked in his tired but VERY angry voice.  

“Sparring, sir” you say. 

“Excuse me?” 

“I asked Bakugou to spar with me. We weren’t fighting.” Aizawa just took a big sigh and blinked.  

“The smell of burning flesh tells me a very different story.” he sounded so disappointed, how you imagined your dad would have sounded if he stuck around after you were born. “And not to mention, THE WHOLE COURT IS NOW BURNED!”  

That's when you and Bakugou actually looked around to see the damage you did. You almost laughed. Definitely not the time to laugh but... it was kinda funny.  

“You will BOTH be helping repair the yard after getting to recovery girl. Understood?”  

You nod but Bakugou just makes a gremlin face at him. You start coughing and laughing after Aizawa left you two to get yourselves to the med bay.  

“Why the hell are you laughing idiot,” Bakugou grunts.  

“oh whaaatttt~” you laugh, “Are you mad because we got scolded by Dadzawa? Or because if he didn’t stop us, I would have won?”  

“In your dreams dumbass!” he shouted and shoved you with his shoulder. You started laughing and could almost see him crack a smile too before returning to his brooding self.  

“Let’s head over to recovery girl quickly so we can finish the fight then!” you challenge him.  

“Thanks for the warm up extra, but when it’s a real fight, I’ll kick your ass!” He was as cocky as ever but the physical fatigue that hit the both of you after the fight and then seeing recovery girl, you both just wanted to nap.  

But before you both fell asleep on the cots in the med bay, Bakugou did something very out of character...

He thanked you. For letting him blow off some steam. 

"Hey I needed to blow off steam too. Not sure whats up with you, but just let me know if you want to spar again. It was fun. But maybe next time without quirks because... Aizawa would kill us." 

"Damn right." you both chuckled and drifted off to sleep. 

Chapter Text

Recovery girl woke you up a little while later. Bakugou was still asleep when she forced you out of bed to go get something to eat.

You walked into the first floor of the dorms to make some food... or steal some that someone else made... and found Shoto over the by the stove.  

“Hey Todoroki,” you say before searching through the fridge.  

“Hi y/n, what are you looking for?”  

“The north pole. What does it look like I’m looking for?” You responded with your normal level of sarcasm and a laugh until, 

“Well why would you look for the north pole? We know where it is now because of modern satalite-” 

“Sorry Todoroki, I forgot you aren’t familiar with sarcasm. I was just joking. I’m looking for food.” his face went red and he turned back to the food he was making.  

“Oh- right.”  

If you weren’t gay, you might have thought Todoroki was pretty cute. At least, if you're into traumatized and oblivious. Bless the poor soul who ends up trying to flirt with him, it’ll go right over his head.  

“Anyway, what are you cooking?” you ask, changing the topic. 

“I’m making soba, would you like some?” you eagerly nod your head. You were soooooo hungryyyy.  

“If that’s not too much trouble, soba sounds good.”  

“Of course not. I wouldn’t have offered otherwise.” he says. “It will be done in a minute or two if you want to wait with me.”  

You propped yourself against a counter and started looking around the room. You felt the need to start a conversation in the silence. 

“I never noticed how ugly the color of the walls is. No hate to the color orange, I just don’t think you should paint a whole room that color.” When Shoto didn’t say anything right away you prompted him.  

“What do you think Todoroki?” He turned to look at the walls but seemed a little distant.  

“It is a weird color to choose.” he agreed. Still felt like he wanted to add onto that sentence though. 

“But..?”  

“Well, I like the color. It makes me think of my brother.” you signaled for him to continue. 

 “He used to always eat orange food. Pizza, Doritos, spicy soba, and that’s how I knew he had been in the kitchen.” His response seemed very personal but his face didn’t change at all. neither did his tone. The momentary silence was cut off by the little egg timer ringing itself off the counter.  

“Oh, the soba is done.” Shoto says in his monotone way.  

“Egg-celent.” you say, turning to him with a straight face. He nods in agreement. You're laughing internally.  

Over all, the soba was good. Todoroki had cooked it to the perfect time and you both got out a bowl and chopsticks. You added spices and butter to your bowl where at Shoto ate it plain. You sat on the counter eating the food but he sat at the table in front of you.  

“You are a lot like Bakugou.” he said quietly while analyzing how you were sitting. Legs crossed and hunched over your food. 

You didn't really respond right away. you had never thought about it before. You barely gave that Blasty a second of thought except to laugh when he gets mad at Deku and calls everyone else extras. but the way he sits is kind of similar to you. And the insults he uses as well. 

“Hm? I guess we are kinda-” you thought about the way you had treated Ochako the past while, “...similar...” and how Bakugou has treated Izuku... maybe you might be crazy but... did Bakugou like Deku? 
Is that why he needed to blow off steam earlier too? What was it he had gotten mad at Izuku for in class?

“Hey Todo, this was great and thanks for letting me eat with you but.. I think I need to go talk to Mr. Blasty.” you said as you abruptly got off of the counter and put your bowl and chopsticks in the sink before running out of the room.  

You had put some extra snacks in your bag earlier that day and decided to grab them from your locker since it was close to the med bay. You were trying to think of a good way to bring it up but by the time you actually got there, you panicked. 

“Bakugou!” you shouted after slamming the door open. He woke up groggily and looked at you in a sleepy angry face for waking him up. You almost ran over to him.

“DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON IZUKU?!” your voice was shaky and loud. You were clearly panicked rather than angry when you grabbed his shoulders.

Bakugou woke up immediately. He looked so shocked. He didn’t know what to say. It was a few seconds and he hadn’t said anything, your vision was hazy, “If I was wrong you would have yelled at me right away.”

You pulled him into a hug and whispered the only thing you could think to say. That you’ve had the same secret as him.

“I-” but shit this was harder than you thought, “I have had a crush on Ochako this whole year.” You pause. “I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you to always be around him.”  

You felt Bakugou’s arms wrap around you and his face in your shoulder. His hands were uncertain and shaky but after a moment he held onto you. His breathing ragged and unstable.

He was crying. And so were you. You both sat together like that until you felt Bakugou stop shaking. You slowly let go of the material you had been clutching like a life line on Bakugous back and he did the same.

When you pulled away, both of you had red puffy eyes and tear stains on your shirts. You felt bad for the way you yelled moments before. But you had brought a piece offering knowing that bakugou wouldn’t take an apology.

You walk a step away from the cot and bent down. When you came back up, you held up the bag with food that you had dropped on the ground earlier.

“You’re probably hungry. I brought snacks.”  

“Of course I'm hungry you idiot.” he said, his voice ruff from crying, but he wasn’t yelling at you which you decided to take as a good sign. He grabbed a granola bar out of the bag and you grabbed chocolate. After a second Bakugou asked you quietly, “How- ah did you figure it out today? Or have you known for weeks.”  

You shake your head. “I really only thought of it when I was eating with Todoroki. He mentioned that we are similar and I agreed just- not the way he meant it.” Bakugou’s response was a small scoff. 

“What, you don’t like that you were compared with me?” you laugh. He glares at you but kind of laughs too. After both of you were done eating, you headed back to the dorms together.  

Chapter Text

Your walk back was quiet but you noticed Bakugou would slow down if you were a few steps behind him. He probably wouldn’t ever say he wanted you to stick by him or that he wanted to talk more about what happened but, when you started heading off in a different direction to get to your dorm he yelled.

”Where the hell do you you’re going dumb ass?!” He didn’t really look angry. He looked like when he would yell at Kaminari for sitting next to him but not blast him out of there. 

So you decided to follow him. Bakugou was leading you to him dorm. You would probably be the first person to have seen his room. 

Chapter Text

Bakugou kicked you out of his room a half hour later. His social battery seemed to be running low after your conversation and you were getting tired as well so you decided to say a polite goodbye... which is why Bakugou kicked you out. Polite isn't his thing.

"Just get out you damn idiot." was his version of polite. 

You headed down the hall to the stairs. You were on the floor above Bakugou so it wasn't too much of a trip back. 

Once you were in your room, you just sat on your bed. As tired as you were, you still had way too much on your mind to sleep. So your first course of action was to get your speaker and some clean clothes to then take a shower. 

Each floor had its own bathroom so all of them didn't have to share one all the time. It was relieving to know that Ochako wasn't on your floor and so a run-in wasn't going to happen. Even still, you kept thinking you heard her and almost bolted to the bathroom. 

You took your space up in one shower and put your towel outside the curtain along with your clean clothes. The speaker was on with a playlist labeled "I don't know what to do anymore" which was filled with sad songs obviously. The water was cold when you turned it on so you waited a minute before getting in. 

You hadn't realized before but, you were covered in dried blood and smoke. The cuts and bruises were all gone though thanks to Recovery Girl. 

The water washed over you and hit the floor with a red and brown tint. You used body wash twice before the water ran off clean. But your hair needed a little more effort since smoke and debris really likes to stick in it. A short second of alarm hit you when you found rubble in your hair. It was concrete. Just a piece sitting in your hair. You held back a laugh and dropped it outside your curtain so it wouldn't clog the shower. 

You finished washing up but didn't get out of the shower just yet.

would I ever get to the point of physically hurting ochako?

You wanted to stand in the water a little longer.

could I ever get to that point?

You turned the nob to cool the water and stayed there.

could I have lived with myself if I ever did?

It helped drown out thoughts... to stand with the cold water running off your hair to your shoulders to your hands. You felt it drip from your back to your legs and feet. Then you closed your eyes, music still playing. 

Deep breaths. You told yourself. 

Just take some deep breaths. No need to think about anything else right now. You sighed.

Body check like you always do. Wiggle your toes, now move one ankle at a time. You went through the motions as you listed them off in your head. It was good practice for when you start panicking. For you to stay in the moment rather than in your trauma. 

After you got to moving your neck, you turned the shower off and wrapped your towel around you. You set the speaker on the counter and washed your face in the sink. Slipping on your clothes and unlocking the door before turning off the lights, you left the bathroom. 

Your head never hit your pillow so quickly than when you got back to your room. Your phone wasn't plugged in, your lights were still on, you weren't even under the blankets. But sleep still over took you. Which was a relief because you didn't want to process anything more that night. 

Chapter Text

*AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!*

You woke up startled. Jumping out of your bed.

*AAAAAAHAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!*

Your alarm. You switched your alarm yesterday morning. That's what was yelling this early in the AM's. It was your phone. 

You quickly rummaged through your bed to find where you set it to then turn it off. Only to flop back down on your bed soon after. 

Even though you slept a while, you were still very tired. Crying the night before really took it out of you. You stumbled back out of bed and looked in the mirror to find your hair still damp from the shower. 

This is ridiculous. You thought to yourself. How does my hair stay wet after a whole night! 

You decided to braid your hair so it wouldn’t get super frizzy from brushing it. None of it took very long since you were used to braiding it with two minutes to get to class. (You kept sleeping through your alarm so you had changed it yesterday) 

Maybe today Ochako wouldn’t bother you. Hopefully she won’t even look your way. It would hurt but… it’s better for the both of you if you never speak again. 

As you put on your uniform you kept thinking about what you said to Bakugou last night. About Isuku forgiving him. Would he even want to be forgiven? If he was, Izuku could get the wrong idea and try to be close with him again. It’s the same with Uraraka. It’s a lose lose situation. 

You started hearing slamming of doors and loud chatter outside your dorm. You look at the clock and realize you’d been just standing thinking for too long. 

Rushing to get your shoes and socks on before dashing out the door, you left your room with your bag in hand. Running in crowded halls isn’t a good idea but you did it anyway. The elevator would definitely be full so you took the stairs, determined to get to class on time today. 

Down two flights of stairs and you got hit by a door. There was a loud smack noise as you ran into it and the person opening the door yelled in shock. You only stumbled back for a second before heading down the rest of the stairs, not caring who just hit you with the door. 

When you got down the stairs and out of the building, you stopped for a moment to catch your breath with a few weary coughs before running off again. 

You get into the classroom and slide the door open fairly dramatically. The only people who got there before you were Bakugou, Tenya (obviously), and Sero… surprisingly. 

Not surprisingly though, Bakugou was yelling at Sero for doing something. 

“-OP COMING IN TO CLASS THROUGH THE WINDOW TAPE FACE! YOU SLAMMED INTO THE WINDOW TODAY SINCE YOU WERE SO TIRED AND IT WAS ANNOYING AS HELL!” 

… is that how Sero got there before you? He just swings with his tape out of his room and into class??? God you were so jealous of him. You were still catching your breath at your seat from running. 

Bakugou turned to look at you and started yelling at you too. 

“What the hell happened to your face dumb ass?”  Your face? What is wrong with it? 

You pulled out your phone and opened the camera. Oh my god… the door… you didn’t think it would leave a bruise. 

While you were examining the damage, more people started filling into the room. One of them was Kirishima who immediately went to talk with Sero and Bakugou in a panic. 

“No dude! It was so unmanly! I don’t even know who I hit! I was in such a hurry to grab something from my dorm I wasn’t able to find who ran off!” 

It was kirishima- he hit you with the door. You let out a laugh and Bakugou looked back at you. Kirishima followed his gaze to you, and your face. 

“When did you get that bruise…?” Kirishima cautiously asked. You put down you phone and looked at the boys. 

“Ten minutes ago.” Bakugou and Sero started snickering as the color drained out of Kiri’s face. 

“I AM SO SORRY!” He started fussing over your bruise and apologizing repeatedly and saying how it wasn’t manly. Over all, it still hurt and you had a headache but his worrying was funny and you ended up laughing. 

“I’m fine. If I couldn’t handle running into a door, then I’m in the wrong career choice.” You said when your laughter died down. He seemed to calm down a bit and when Aizawa came in, he sat down. 

“okay class, today we are learning about… strategies of negotiation.” As soon as the words “form teams” came out of Aizawa’s mouth, everyone swarmed Midoryia. 

You stayed back knowing full well you were a great negotiator and could talk anyone into or out of something if you tried hard enough. Most of the time you refused to use this skill of yours because the methods can be.. morally questionable to manipulate someone like that. But this was the PERFECT situation to use it in. 

Ururaka managed to convince Midoryia to team up with her (which didn’t take much convincing) and a couple other people already teamed up. You wanted Kirishima on your team for two reasons, 1 because he could look super intimidating and 2 because he’s actually a softie. The opposite of you mainly. 

He was just about to team up with Sero when you snatched his arm. 

“well actually I was just about to team up with-“ 

“But I need your help!” You pleaded. “My head hurts and I can’t do this by myself…” you said, clearly striking a chord with Kiri. He quickly agreed, clearly feeling bad about hitting you. 

“Wow okay I see how it is.” Sero said to you, amused by how quickly you got him to agree. “Your playing the guilt card” 

“Me? *le gasp* I would never!” You dramatically disputed.

Steeling Kirishima was a good choice as soon as you found out exactly what you were doing with your partner. Your goal was to analyze and profile different people in your class and then target a group to steal one of their team members to make a group a three. 

The trick with this assignment is you also didn’t want to lose your partner to another team. Kirishima wouldn’t leave you with how guilty he already felt so you weren’t worried about losing him. 

… let the games begin. 

Chapter Text

Bakugou and Sero teamed up. No chance of stealing one of them. 

Iida teamed up with Tsu. You could steal one of them but not a super high chance. 

Ojiro and Koda teamed up and both of them too loyal to ever break apart. 

Tokoyami. He somehow got teamed up with Todoroki. He was gonna be your target. Kirishima and Tokoyami get along well since they both had their goth phases and he has no real attatchment with Todoroki. 

The moment you thought that, you saw Midoryia approach Todoroki. He was gonna steal him. You didn’t believe he would get todo to turn on Tokoyami so you stepped in between them quickly with Kirishima following. 

“hey Todoroki! And Tokoyami!” You started off. They both looked over at you and stopped strategizing for a moment. 

“I know you are trying to divide us and it will not work.” Tokoyami stated. (You briefly thought about if you could make him mad enough for dark shadow to show up. That definitely wasn’t part of your plan, you just always had a fleeting thought about if dark shadow responded to strong emotion from Tokoyami.)

“I mean yeah that’s the assignment. But not necessarily a bad thing for you.” Tokoyami glanced at todo. “Not a bad thing for Todoroki either.” 

At that statement, even Kirishima seemed skeptical. You glance at Sero trying to convince Bakugou to find another teammate. 

“Todoroki. You’re friends with Bakugou right?” He looked at you blankly and for a second you questioned if he’d say no. 

“of course I am” he said monotonely. You smiled. This was perfect. 

“then why don’t you join HIS team? Since you’re friends and he isn’t looking for a new teammate yet.”

After you said that, Kirishima started putting the dots together. You were making sure all three teams were covered. It wasn’t manipulative to do something is everyone’s best interest. 

“But why not join my team Todoroki-kun?” Izuku asked from behind you. 

“Don’t do that.” You said quickly. They all looked confused again. 

“why does it matter which team he joins?” Kirishima asked. Maybe… they didn’t understand the project as well as you thought they did. 

“Because Bakugou won’t get another partner if Todoroki doesn’t join them.” You sighed heavily before explaining further.

“The point of being a hero is to do what’s best for everyone. This isn’t just about negotiating. This is about being morally compromised. You don’t just want to manipulate people because then they will only deal with you once. If you are genuinely looking out for everyone’s best interest they are likely to agree with your instructions again.” 

Sometimes it was tiring to be so smart… especially when everyone else was so dense. 

“it’s simple. Bakugou- not likely to get another partner. Izuku- had everyone begging to be his partner. You don’t need todoroki but Bakugou does.” 

NOW the lights finally turned on in their heads. Everyone seemed to nod in agreement… well you weren’t sure if Ochako was nodding because you were avoiding her very existence. 

“OK.” Todoroki said as he walked over to Bakugou. Sero almost started to tear up when he saw someone wanting to be their partner. He had almost given up hope. 

Izuku left with Ochako understandingly but still a little upset. 

“I guess that means you’re out partner now man!” Kirishima says enthusiastically! 

“yes it does seem that way.” 

A few minutes later an alarm had gone off. It was Aizawa’s time limit he forgot to mention originally. 

“alright, everyone come up one group at a time and I’ll write your grade.” He said half asleep. 

Bakugou went up first and Aizawa was shocked that he’d found a second partner until Todoroki told him about your plan originally. He looked over to your group and almost smiled. He was happy that someone at least understood. 

The rest of class went by in a blur. Everyone in teams of three had gotten B’s except you (who got an A) and those who chose to abandon their partners and go with a group last second (they got F’s). 

You felt bad that they got failed but at the same time, loyalty and morality are really important traits to teach the hero students. 

you had managed to “kidnap” Tokoyami into your group without psychological violence or manipulation which no one else had managed. For that, Aizawa was impressed.  

Chapter Text

A couple days past. You kept ignoring Uraraka and she let you. Bakugou and you hadn’t really talked since that one night and you were okay with that. You weren’t sure if you could talk without saying the truth about everything… like your family. 

You tried to just focus on classes and training. Your last class of the day was ending and you started packing up your stuff. 

“Hey, y/n, can I talk to you?” Momo said after tapping your shoulder. 

This wasn’t good. You didn’t know what she wanted to talk about but it wasn’t good. Momo is the mom of the girls group so when there is a problem, they always go to her for help. 

“Yeah, sure.” 

When the bell rings she leads you down the hall and outside. The quieter the area, the more nervous you got. She really didn’t want anyone else hearing her conversation.

Then she stops.

”So what’s this about?” You ask, shaking hands holding your bag. 

“Uraraka told me about what’s going on between the two of you. I just wanted to hear your side.” 

There it was. The worst possible thing for Momo to be asking about. How were you supposed to respond? 

“I don’t know what there is to say.” 

“You have nothing to say?” She asks and you nod. “Okay. Let’s start with why you said those things to Uraraka. You have your reasons since you clearly wouldn’t say it for fun.” 

You just shrug it off like it’s nothing even though your lungs felt like they were filled with stones.

”Really? Nothing?” Momo sounded so disappointed in you. She knew there was something else but you couldn’t let her keep digging.

For a moment your mind spit out why? Why does it matter if she keeps digging? But you know better than to ponder on the thought. Even the most supportive people would treat you differently if they knew.

”Look, I get you’re doing this as a favor for Uraraka but I don’t need to explain to you why I did what I did.”

”No, but you can’t just act like she doesn’t exist. You sat next to her in the last group project and did it all yourself! The point was to collaborate. It’s not good for you or her.” She said so desperately trying to get you to understand. But she was the one who didn’t understand. 

“That won’t happen again.” You promised as knots started rising in your throat.

”Good.”

”Because Aizawa agreed to not pair me with her again.” You held your breath and your tears as you walked away.

Momo stood there with her feet planted in the ground, clearly stunned by your strange behavior. 

…

You had run to Bakugou’s room. You started knocking on his door and Jiro saw you. 

“He won’t let you in his ro-“ she started off.

”WHO THE HELL KEEPS KNOCKING ON MY DOOR?!” He comes stomping out from behind his door. 

“See I told you he wouldn’t.” She said sympatheticly.

“Oh. It’s you.” He notes your clear distress and  just opened his door a little bit for you to slip behind him. 

Bakugou takes a look at Jiro with her jaw on the floor. 

“What the hell are YOU looking at?! Huh?!” He yelled before shutting the door. 

You quickly took off your shoes and sat in his bed. Your panic slowly rising further than before. You felt a hand on your shoulder. 

“Alright nerd. Clam down.” He said gruffly. “Tell me what happened.” He flopped down next you and gave you a moment to collect your thoughts.

”Momo tried confronting me about Uraraka.” You started. 

Bakugou nodded and kept his hand on your shoulder.

”I- I don’t know how I can explain this to anyone else.” 

Another nod. 

“it’s not like I can explain to Momo that I’m being mean to Ochako so she leaves me alone. And then say I want her to leave me alone because I don’t want her to hate me for having a crush on her?! Like how could I ever- I wouldn’t even know where to start!” You started crying. 

“it’s a lose lose situation. She’s gonna hate me either way. But I’d rather her hate me because of something I chose to do than something I can’t change about me!” 

Bakugou consoled you through little gestures, grunts, and nods for the next half hour or so until you tired yourself out. 

…

but little did either of you know, Jiro had been listening through the door…

Chapter Text

Bakugou hadn't said much the whole time you were talking. You think he understood somehow that in that moment, you didn't need someone who related with you but someone to just listen. You gave yourself a mental note to do the same for him if the moment arises.

After a half hour, you started calming down. Bakugou huffed and got up. When he sat back down, he handed you a manga story.

"Go back to your dorm already." He said.

"Alright." 

You get up, manga in hand, and head for the door. But before leaving, 

"Thank you by the way," Bakugou looked at you.

"For listening to me.,, and the story," you say as you hold up the manga.

"Yeah yeah. don't let it go to your head," he gruffed. "And don't think I'm letting you keep the manga either!"

You give a small laugh and open the door. Neither confirming nor denying that you have to give the book back to Bakugou.

You walk back to your room in better spirits than before. Sure, talking to Bakugou didn't solve any of your problems. But it definitely made you feel better to share what you're thinking out loud to someone every once in a while. 

You quickly reach your dorm with plenty of time to take a nap, read the story, and get some dinner before starting homework. 

You start setting up your bed with different shaped pillows on different sides of you for your nap. You definitely kept your room colder so that you could snuggle up in so many blankets without getting too hot. You turned on your bedside lamp and laid down. The manga was a comedy about a guy's volleyball team. You started reading it and couldn't help but compare your class to some of the different characters in the story. 

You got so absorbed into the story that once you looked up at your clock, you realized a few hours had passed and it was time for you to eat. But you didn't feel like going to get dinner. As much as Bakugou had cheered you up, you still didn't feel like running the chance of another encounter with one of the girls. So you sat up and shimmied out of your nest you to get a water bottle and a bag of chips. 

Pacing around your room as you ate them, you start thinking about school the next day. Although Aizawa had agreed to you and Ochacko not being put as partners again (which you were surprised he was okay with) he couldn't exclude you from all group projects with the girls. Everyone would take her side, and for good reason, so you had to think up a reasonable excuse to be upset with her. Or at least be able to lie convincingly enough without tearing up. 

Maybe you could tell them she reminds you of someone involved in your traumatic past? No. That wouldn't work. People (especially Mina) would try to figure out your backstory then... and you can't have them digging around in your past either. It has to be a solid reason to not want to be around her. I'm allergic to her. Now THAT would be a funny response. Sadly, people would not believe it. 

Idea after idea you run through. All of it was feeling hopeless. You felt as if there was no escape or solution. You were spiraling. Maybe you could have just not said anything, you could have still stayed friends with her. You just had to go and ruin everything. You just had to fall in love with a girl. If you hadn't met her, where would you be now? If she hasn't been so kind to you? If you hadn't confided in her late at night? She would have been better off. She wouldn't be hurting right now. It was all your fault. You should have just been stronger. Not fallen in love. 

You were breathing fast. Too fast. You had stopped pacing and were just standing there, hyperventilating. 

Wouldn't the class be better off without you? Your family would have. Your old friends would have. Everyone was better off without you. But a little voice in you spoke you,

Not Bakugou. 

He's an exception. A rarity. You should stop ruining people's lives. Stop hurting them. Stop hurting yourself. Just give up. Die. 

But you've already gone so far. You've over come so much just to give up NOW? 

There it was again. The part of you that wanted to live. So annoying.

How would you a year ago, a month ago, a week ago feel if they knew it was all for nothing? They pushed through so much to get you to this moment. Don't quit now. You're almost there.

It's so annoying because they're right. You couldn't give up now. 

You steady your breathing. You sat down before you got lightheaded. You had started seeing stars for a moment. The beat pounding in your head started to slow down and fade off. Your eyes drooped after the adrenaline wore off.

You just need some sleep. You'll feel better in the morning. Bakugou is the only one who knows you're a lesbian. The rest of the girls will forgive you eventually. Worst case scenario, you can just join Bakugou's friend group rather than hangout with the girls. 

But morning came and you were so wrong. Bakugou wasn't the only one who knew and that definitely wasn't the worst-case scenario.

Chapter Text

You got up early. It was a rough night of sleep and you just wanted to get to class.

Picking up your bag and running down the stairs, you got to class at least twenty minutes early. No one was there yet, well besides Mr. Aizawa but him and his sleeping bag didn't count, and the silence was nice. It didn't last long as students started walking into class in pares a few minutes later. 

Iida and Deku were the first. Bakugou and Kirishima came in next (Kiri being too loud for the morning). Sato and Momo came in together (exchanging tea and mochi). And two by two, everyone arrived. 

You were still anxious from yesterday because whenever the girls gave you side glances, you started getting this intense feeling that they just saw right through you. All of them portraying different emotions behind their eyes. Although Mina seemed fairly normal. She plopped right down on your desk when she got in the room. 

"Sooooooo whats new?" She asked, clearly fishing for any more drama.

"Nothing much." Mina giggled.

"Well, I heard Bakugou let you in his room!" She playfully slapped your arm a couple times. "You have to tell me what he's hiding in there!!" 

She was bouncing her legs in excitement but huffed when your response was cut off by Hagakure calling her over to the other girls. 

"Finnneeee," she turned back to you for a moment. "I'm coming back to hear all about his room in a second!" 

Mina walked over to the girls and Hagakure leaned in and whispered something to her. She must have not known that you and Ochako were fighting. Mina looked back to you.

"I don't think she looks l-" Mina was immediately hushed by the girls. You didn't look like what? A mean person?

Your mind drifted to Aizawa when he stood up and started class. The class was more talkative than usual. You had even seen a few notes passed from person to person. 

Aizawa gave out pairings for your next project in class.

You were assigned a hero to make a presentation for. You and your partner's hero was Hawks.

Midoriya got up and sat at the desk next to you. He was your partner. 

"Hey! I already have a lot of information on Hawks so if you want, we can go straight to working on the power point or poster!" Midoriya said happy as always. 

"Sure. I'd prefer a poster if that's alright with you." He nodded and you walked up to grab a poster board. 

As you made your way up to the front of the classroom, conversations paused as you passed. Mina's gaze had changed to match some of the other girls. It didn't seem angry but... there was something about it that was unsettling to you. You hurriedly grabbed the things you needed and sat back down without looking at anyone else. 

"Hey, are you alright?" Midoriya asked when you sat back down. You grit your teeth.

"I'm good. What about you?"

"I'm fine." he paused, looking at you. "Well what color background paper do you want to use?" 

You two laid out the different colors and started cutting boarders. It was a lot of gluing in class that day. You had made feathered cut outs of the red construction paper to spell out the work "Hawks" on the top of the poster. It looked pretty cool by the end of class but needed the facts about him still.

The end of class bell rang, and you started cleaning up. Aizawa was the first to leave the room, inching across the floor in his sleeping bag. 

"Want to just take this to the library and finish it right now?" Midoriya asks. 

"Izuku, we were going to hangout after class. Remember?" Uraraka said to him. 

"Oh right! Well, we can all go to the library then!" he suggested. You flinched at the idea. 

"NO!" Uraraka shouted out too fast. She quickly covered her mouth as everyone was now looking at them. 

"What? Why?" he asks.

"It's fine Midoriya. We can finish the project some other time." you said. He wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"See? She says it's okay so let's just go." He looks back at you. "I can explain later." She adds when he frowns and stays put.

"Just explain to me now." he says, eyes still on you. He was thinking about your behavior before. He knew you were upset. 

"Not now. Please just come here," Uraraka says to him anxiously. 

"Why don't you want her to come with us?" 

"Because I'd be uncomfortable!" She said. Everyone had stopped packing at this point and were just watching this happen.

"But why? Aren't you two close?" Uraraka snapped at the questions.

"Because I don't want her hitting on me!" 

You froze and felt your heart drop. Every inch of your body was filled with dread. She knew. You had to be dreaming. You hadn't told anyone except- you heart dropped further- you hadn't told anyone except Bakugou. He had told someone. 

You started folding in on yourself. Your world started crumbling and falling to pieces. All you could do is sit and listen to what she said next.

"What do you mean?"

"She likes me, Izuku." everyone in the class was staring slack jawed. Eyes darting between the three of you. 

"Did you tell her that?" Midoriya asks you now. New emotions hidden on his face.

"She didn't have to! Jiro overheard her telling someone else!" She exclaimed. Everyone turned to look at Jiro while your eyes were still glued to the floor and tears dripped down your nose and to the little forming puddle.

Bakugou hadn't told anyone. You took comfort in the small moment of relief. 

"She not even denying it Izuku." Uraraka says and grabs his hand. "Let's just go." She lightly pulls him out of the room. No one else spoke. Your eyes on the ground but Jiro walked over to you. 

"I'm sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen. I just told her what I heard so she wouldn't take it personally that you didn't want to be friend. I never-" Jiro swallowed hard, "-I never would have thought she would just yell it out like that." You saw a tear drop hit the ground. "I'm so sorry." Jiro said. She must have been crying too.

You wanted to yell. How could she be so stupid?! You wanted to scream. How dare you?! You wanted to run. To get away from everyone's eyes and judgement. But you just quietly stood up with your bag and put a hand on Jiro's shoulder. 

"You didn't know." you whispered hoarsely. You walked back to the dorms with your eyes on the ground and no one in that class heard from you after. 

Chapter Text

Once you had gotten out of the classroom, you started running. 

Your backpack was slowing you down and irritating you so you just dropped it in the grass and kept running. Trying to run faster than the tears ran down your face. Trying to run fast enough to turn back time and never get up in the morning. You took jagged turns as if to throw off someone chasing you. All you could feel was this sense of dread pushing you and yelling for you to run faster. 

As trees whipped past you in a blur, and animals scurried out of your way, you kept running. Your lungs were burning but so was your heart, so you kept going. You were trying to outrun yourself. The part of you made this way. The part of you that told you to get up in the morning and to stay alive. It was wrong. You should have just ended it there and then. 

You sprinted past UA's water fountain, staying under the cover of the trees and bushes. You needed to keep going and ran deeper into the trees. Your vision was so clouded by tears at that point that you couldn't see the tree route sticking out of the ground. Aimlessly, you fell.

As you're crashing to the ground, you felt a snap in your ankle. The searing pain in your leg was dulled by the adrenalin as you laid curled on the ground. 

You started sobbing, partly from the pain but mostly from everything else. It was all too much. You tried breathing in, but you felt no air come. You felt like you were suffocating. You let out the most horrid scream you've ever heard. Fear pulsing through your whole body. Trying to breath in but your chest tightening, you started clawing at your neck to release the invisible noose around it. 

Your nose was running, eyes pouring out tears, gasping for air and shaking horridly. You couldn't do anything but get on your hands and knees, leaning over, and try to slow your breath before you pass out. Your arms barely able to keep you up. Your body was so tense, you stomach got queasy and a moment later, you started throwing up pure stomach acid. Your throat burned as badly as your lungs now. Your body was giving out and despite your best efforts, you started seeing back on the sides of your vision. 

You had no idea how long you were heaving on the ground or how long you spent just sobbing. You kept fading in and out of consciousness and each time finding yourself shaking and coughing. Your muscles were tired and tense. You were about to lose consciousness again.  

"Gai Buki?" you faintly heard someone call. No one in you class calls you by your hero name. This was someone else. 

"Gai Buki?!" the girl yelled with more panic as she saw you closer. Your hearing dimmed with your vision, and you fell on your side. 

...

"Hey, please wake up." you heard the soft voice call to you. You let your eyes stay shut but hoarsely and quietly, you respond.

"I'm awake." Your voice was so strained. You felt soft hands rub your back. The girl had set you in a recovery position on your side and was sitting next to you. 

"Would you please open your eyes darling?" She requested. Her voice was so comforting, you felt like you had to open your eyes just to see who she was.

They only opened a few centimeters. You hadn't realized how swollen they had gotten. 

"Thank you dear. Please try to keep them open now, okay?" she said. It was Vine. She was a girl in class 1-B. Normally you wouldn't have remembered someone's hero name, but she was so beautiful that your memory of her just stuck in your brain. 

No. You can't think like that. That's why you're here in the first place!  You scolded yourself. But still, you just studied her beautiful face as you lay there.

"Can you tell me what happened? Your ankle looks really bad." You tried to move to look at it, but her hands laid you back down. "No need to move yet. Just catch your breath and explain." 

You stayed there processing. Tears started welling up in your eyes again as you thought. 

"No no no, you're okay." She places her hands on your face, drawing you back into the moment.

"Vine, you should go before someone sees you with me." You drop your gaze from hers as guilt filled your heart.

"Why?" You pause taking a shaky breath in.

"Becasue- they- they might think you're gay too." you sobbed out.

"Well, they'd be right." You snap your gaze back to meet her soft eyes. You stuttered out a soft 'what?' and she just smiled softly. 

"Let's get you to recovery girl and talk about this later." You nodded; eyes still wide in shock. 

Vine had lengthened her hair, ultimately turning it into a stretcher. She gently guided you onto it and wrapped her vines in a seatbelt like fashion to keep you in place. 

"Don't worry," she said soothingly. "Everything is going to be okay." 

Chapter Text

Your head was spinning and the aching in your body was getting worse. Now that you had calmed down, the searing pain in your ankle was more noticeable. You keep taking deep breaths through clenched teeth. 

"We are almost there." Vine said. She had found your bookbag moments before and was carrying it for you at the moment. As well as carrying you too but careful to not let any thorns on her vines hurt you. A few more moments passed before you heard a door open and felt air conditioning hit your face. 

"Miss Recovery girl?" Vine called out. The older lady popped around the corner to come help once she saw your condition. 

"My god. What did she do now?" Recovery girl muttered to herself before loudly saying, "Get her on the cot." 

Momentarily you thought about being held by Vine just a little longer, but the thought soon passed as recovery girl poked at your leg, sending fire up your nerves each time. 

"Stop that!" you yelped, retreating further back on the cot. Vine quickly explained how she found you and that she thought you dislocated your ankle. 

"Thank you, Shiozaki. You can leave now if you want." Recovery girl said, keeping her eyes on you.

"No thank you." 

Your heart skipped a beat. She wanted to stay with you. 

"Okay. So, what happened before Shiozaki arrived?" 

"...I tripped over a tree root."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain throwing up and passing out. What else happened." Recovery girl seemed to be losing her patience and you glanced at Shiozaki before responding.

"Ah- Well- i-I was having a panic attack. I guess I got so nervous that I puked." 

"That's pretty serious. What were you nervous about?"

You started rubbing your thumbs in circles on your clasped hands; one of your nervous habits. 

"Wait-" Shiozaki cut in. "Was it about people finding out that you-" 

You looked down quickly, only managing to say a few words. 

"Yeah. Uraraka... outed me to the whole class." Breathe. You reminded yourself.

"WHAT?!" Shiozaki exclaimed. She seemed so mad on your behalf. It made you feel a bit happy to see someone as upset for you, but your smile disappeared quickly. 

"So now the whole class knows... and likely the whole school at this point." 

Recovery girl was just nodding along with the story. 

"I'll be right back." she said before walking away. 

She got on the phone and asked for Aizawa as well as grabbing some papers and a few different bottles before coming back over. She sets the papers in front of you and hands you a small cup of water in one hand and two pills in the other. 

"Those are for pain. I'm going to let those kick in before relocating your ankle." she picks up some of her own papers, "In the meantime, we can talk about the panic attack." She looks at Vine. "You can't be in here for this since it's a medical thing. She can choose to tell you later though." Vine nods her head, acknowledging what she was told. 

"I hope you feel better." she said softly to you before heading out.

"T-thank you." you whispered after her. 

"Okay..." Recovery girl clicks her pen, and her eyes scan a few pages. "Is this your first panic attack?"

"no."

She wasn't surprised at the response.

"Do you get them often?"

"yes"

Still not surprised.

"How many in a week?"

"Almost every day."

Lier. Definitely every day.

"Have you talked to your parents about this?"

"They know."

You wish they didn't.

"So, are you in therapy? I don't see any medications listed on here."

"No. My parents don't want me to be in therapy."

"Why?"

They don't want people to know how much they screwed up their own daughter. 

"They don't believe in it. They think only crazy people and traumatized people need therapy and I'm neither of those." 

Recovery girl just shakes her head. 

"I'm assigning you therapy in school. We have a therapist for students and don't need your parents' approval to have you meet with her."

"Okay." 

She will tell me I'm being dramatic.

"I know you might not want to, but I will be checking if you make it to every appointment." 

Well, shit. 

"Okay."

Recovery girl started writing down different numbers on the piece of paper and labeling them before handing you the sheet.

"This is my office number so if you get injured again, you don't have to walk all the way here. The second number is a crisis hot line. Call them if you ever have a panic attack that severe again. And the last one is Aizawa's office number. Him and Hizashi live on campus and will respond to emergencies." 

You pocketed the piece of paper but didn't intend on using it ever.

Mr. Aizawa walked into the infirmary moments later. Recovery girl took him into a separate room for a few minutes, leaving you sitting on the cot and in pain. You thought of getting up and walking out of there but the fact that your ankle was still not fully facing the right direction convinced you to stay sitting. 

When they came back in, you straightened up in the cot, almost fearful they would have heard you thinking about running away. 

"So, kid." Aizawa scratched his neck. "Recovery girl is going to patch you up and then we are gonna have a chat." That did sound good. Now you definitely wanted to run but you kept your face neutral.

Recovery girl stepped closer to your dislocated ankle and counted to three before trying to relocate it. You clenched your teeth so hard that you felt your ears pop. 

Damn that hurt. You thought as Recovery girl gave your forehead a kiss. You felt like passing out immediately after she used her quirk but tried fighting it for a few minutes.

Eventually, sleep overtook your mind and your eyelids shut tightly as your body fully relaxed. 

Chapter Text

You started to slowly wake up. You vaguely remember falling in and out of sleep for the past couple hours. 

They sky outside was orange like the sun was setting or rising. Since there wasn't a clock by you, you didn't know which one. 

As you sat up, you started wondering how long you slept. Had it been the whole afternoon or been almost a full day since you fell asleep? You were hoping only the afternoon. 

You pressed the button on the side of the cot to alert Recovery girl that you were awake. After a few moments of collecting your thoughts, she walks in with Aizawa. 

"How are you feeling?" Recovery girl asked as she started removing the circle stickers on your sternum and arm that had been monitoring your vitals. 

"Better." Good wouldn't have been accurate for you to say. 

"Well then, you can head out with Mr. Aizawa." 

You nod and slowly slide off the cot. Aizawa waited for you to get up before starting to leave the room with you slowly trailing behind. 

"Hurry up kid. I don't have all day." he gruffly said. You weren't expecting him to be nice, so you just shrugged it off and picked up your pace. 

"Sure, but two questions. What time is it? and where are we going?" 

"It's after 6 and my classroom." 

Shit. Were people in the classroom? Would you have to talk it through with the class? Was it some kind of sick trick of his to put us all in a room together to see what happens? 

Your mind was racing again with the possible horrors to come when Aizawa stopped. You were already there. 

You heart beat faster as he slid open the door, lights still off, hiding whatever might lie on the inside of the room. But when Aizawa flicked the light switch, the room was empty. 

You blinked a few times as you entered the room. Was there really no one else there?

"What are we doing in here?" you ask as you struggle to swallow.

"We are going to talk." He sat down and pulled another chair towards him before patting the seat. 

You cautiously sat down next to him, feeling really uncomfortable. 

"Just us?" you ask.

He nods and you feel an ounce of relief but also a new sense of fear of being alone with him. 

"O-okay." 

Aizawa gets up and shuffles around in some drawers before he takes something out of his desk and sits back down. You just shift in your seat, almost wanting to scootch it away from his chair despite being feet apart already. 

"You aren't the first hero student to be gay." Aizawa says. "And trust me, many students didn't like it then and many students won't like it now." 

You grunt in agreement with your eyes planted on the floor. 

"But-" Aizawa turns the paper he is holding to face you now, "Some people will happily accept you as you are." 

The paper was a photo. A WEDDING photo with him and Professor Mic. 

"You're-" and surrounding them was All might and Midnight and other heroes from Aizawa's class. Only a few you recognized. 

"You're married to Professor Mic?" you asked, even though the photo made the answer obvious. 

"Sadly." He sighed. You couldn't imagine how tired Aizawa must be from having such an Extroverted husband. 

You felt like crying. Not because you were sad but because he was living the life you wanted. They were both pro heroes. There were heroes is same sex marriages and society still accepted them as heroes. 

"When did you come out?" you asked. 

"Much like with you, I was outed." He scrunched his eyebrows together like even the memory gave him a headache. 

"It was our first year at UA. Mic and I had already been dating for a month or so when someone had taken a photo of us kissing." He frowned. "It was sent around the school. Mic was fine though. He was so loud and had so many friends that he could play it off. But me? I was the quiet kid. Rumors started going around that I had tricked Mic into kissing me and took a photo of it myself. People started sympathetically talking to him saying how they knew he was tricked and wasn't actually gay. After a few weeks, he got so fed up with it that he came over and kissed me in the middle of class. Everyone was shocked but he yelled something along the lines of 'Yeah I'm Gay! And if you have a problem with it, you can go fuck yourself!'." Aizawa chuckled.

"I don't think I've ever seen him as upset as he was right then. And I only liked him more because of it." He said. 

You just looked up at him with awe. 

"And did people accept it after that?" you asked.

"No. But we delt with the problems as they arrived." He looked at you and put a hand on your shoulder. "And you will too." 

"But you had someone that was going through it WITH you." You didn't feel as alone as before but you were still the only outed student. 

"And you have someone to go through it with too." You looked at him confused.

"You're friends with Bakugou aren't you?" You were shocked. He KNEW about Bakugou?!

"I was shocked to hear that it was you that got outed. I thought for sure it had been Bakugou. I knew he was gay from the first day of class, but I only recently realized you were too." 

"Wait- you just knew? How?" your jaw was practically on the floor as you asked him. 

"You know that English phrase 'takes one to know one', well its true." 

"That makes sense..." That's how you had found out about Bakugou too.

"Plus, I think another student in you class is Bi. So, you truly AREN'T alone in this." he takes his hand off your shoulder. "You'll find out who your friends are soon enough." 

"Thank you." you pause and let the words sink in. "Wait there is someone else?! Who?" Your first guess was hoping it was Uraraka, but it definitely wasn't her. Then you ran through a couple more likely people like Mina and Denki. 

"You'll figure it out," Aizawa said. "But for now, let me know what's going on in class and if things are getting bad, I can always step in." he said as he stood up from his chair. "Okay?" 

You nod and follow him out of the room but think of a quick question. 

"Is it okay if I tell Bakugou that you and Professor Mic are married?" He nods and walks you back to the dorms. 

Along the way you had gotten stares from other students and judgmental looks, but no one said anything since Aizawa was there. 

Your anxiety was quiet for once. You were feeling calm and prepared at that moment even if you knew it would come back later. You just wanted to enjoy the evening and eat some food as the sun hid below the horizon. 

Chapter Text

Once Aizawa got you back to your room and left, you wanted to talk to Bakugou but realized you had never exchanged numbers. 

Even though you felt much better about the whole situation at hand, you still didn't want to leave your room alone to go get him. So, you ended up sitting in your room and reading more of the manga you had borrowed. Finding comfort in the characters, your mind was set free from the ever-persistent anxiety. Your brain started wandering from one idea to the next and ended up thinking about tomorrow. Who would still be comfortable around you? The guys probably. Mina and Tsu might be fine around you. Maybe Jiro. Mineta would definitely make some gross and perverted comments. Denki too. 

You wondered if Bakugou would still hang around you. He might be worried that if he did, he might get outed too. You wouldn't blame him if he didn't stick around. Your train of thought got cut off by a knock on your door. 

You look up from the book you were just staring at. You walk over and look though the peep hole in your door. It was Bakugou and... Kirishima? 

Bakugou nocks again.

"Open up loser! It's me," he said. You could hear Kirishima scold him and say something about being nicer to you. So, Kirishima was cool with you, you assumed. 

You cracked the door open a little. 

"What do you want?" The comment came out a little more defensive than you meant it to. But before Bakugou could make a remark, Kirishima stepped in front of him. 

"Hey, we just wanted to check on you. We just passed Aizawa, and he told us you'd been in the infirmary." Kirishima softly said. "Can we come in? You've one hell of a day and some company might be nice."

You glance at Bakugou.

"Yeah, we wanted to check on you or whatever." he said. And honestly, you would like some company. 

"...sure..." You open the door enough for them to come through and then close it behind them. You realized your room was kind of messy and picked a few things up off of your bed and chair so they could sit down.

"Sorry for the mess," you mumbled. 

"It's fine. My room looks way worse," Kirishima laughed nervously. Bakugou made himself comfortable on your bed, but Kiri stayed standing. 

"Is it cool if I give you a hug?" He asked, holding out his arms only halfway open. 

Without saying anything, you walked into his embrace. Kirishima wrapped his arms tightly around you and you let your head rest in the nook of his shoulder and neck. He starts lightly rubbing your back and you bring your arms up around his waist, holding onto his hoodie. 

"I'm sorry how everyone reacted." he said. You still didn't respond. "No one should judge you on who you like. Unless it's like... Mineta or something. Right?" 

You let out a laugh and Bakugou grunted in agreement. 

"I mean, I can't judge you for liking girls because I like them too!" Kirishima said enthusiastically. 

"Good point." you said as you let go of him. You sat on the floor and Kirishima in a chair. 

"I'm sorry." Bakugou mumbled to you.

"What? Why?" 

"Jiro overheard you talking to me. If I had said anything to you that night, I would be in your spot instead." He was looking at the ground, but you glanced at Kirishima worriedly. 

"Oh! It's cool! Bakugou told me about why you two are friends." 

"Yeah, I told shitty hair I was gay after he said how mad he was at everyone for talking about you." You both looked at Kirishima, thinking the same thing. 

"Why are you so cool about this?" 

"Do I have to have a personal experience to want you to be happy and not cast out by people for something you can't control?" Kiri sighed. "It shouldn't have to be something personal to me to understand other people have value and that it's not my place to judge."

"I wish all people thought of it like that." you pause... "I wish I had been raised like that." 

It had taken you so long to unlearn things you had been taught. You can't even blame the kids in your class for hating you for being gay. You hated yourself for it. How could you expect others to accept something about yourself that you couldn't even accept? 

Kirishima was, very sadly, the first person you met that had empathy towards you. Bakugou of course was sympathetic, but he was in the same spot. But Kirishima? He didn't have to understand or care or try to understand and he did anyway. It was one of the most touching things someone had done for you. 

"I can't believe how Uraraka responded though," Bakugou said. "If Jiro had overheard me instead of you, at least Deku would have the brains not to shout it to everyone." 

You started remembering how everything happened. Still, you couldn't blame her. And definitely not Bakugou. 

"I was the drama in the class. The only reason Jiro even listened in is because it was me. It's not your fault. Hell, I don't even think it's Jiro's fault." You shakily sigh, trying to not let the conversation get to you.

"And it's not your fault either you know." Bakugou added in, looking insistently at you.

"Neither of you are to blame for this," said Kirishima. 

"That's what I keep telling myself. She just doesn't want to listen ya know?.." You let out a melancholy laugh, fidgeting with your hands. 

"Well, if anyone makes you feel bad about who you are," Kirishima put his fists together, "just let me know and I'll take care of them!" His said with a wide grin. 

"Yeah, me too." Bakugou said with a smirk.

"Thanks guys." You gave them a big smile in return. 

"Oh, and actually, I have some kind of shocking news." You said, remembering what you had wanted to tell Bakugou. 

"Mr. Aizawa and Present Mic are married." 

Bakugou and Kirishima's jaws drop to the floor. Maybe you should have led up to the statement rather than just saying it. 

"WHAT????" Kirishima exclaimed. Bakugou just stayed staring.

"Yeah. Apparently got married after graduating UA together. AllMight was there. Aizawa showed me one of their wedding photos." 

"NO WAY! THAT"S AWESOME!" Kirishima said excitedly. 

"So, the hero society still accepts them as heroes?" Bakugou asked quietly. You both look back at him. 

"Not that I care what the society thinks," he added defensively. You smile.

"Yeah, they still think Present Mic is a good hero and Aizawa a good teacher." You swore you almost saw Bakugou blink back tears. 

So, his angry facade was just his way of guarding himself. He couldn't be hurt if society already didn't like him. 

It was your turn to go over and give Bakugou a hug. Kirishima followed your lead. 

The three of you stayed sitting there together for a little while until Bakugou had enough.

"Okay I get it now get off of me you saps!" He grunted and wiggled around to get out of your grip. 

"Admit it Bakugou! You like us!" Kirishima said, only hugging him tighter. 

"No I don't!" He growled at the two of you. His hands started making little sparks and you jump away while Kirishima just hardened his arms and face.

"You can't get out of a hug that easily!" 

It looked similar to a rodeo when the cowboy tries to stay on a bucking broncho. The cowboy was currently winning. 

"If you keep hugging me, then you're gay!" Bakugou barked with another explosion. 

Kirishima jokingly jumped back from Bakugou and wiped himself off. Looking at himself in the mirror as if checking to make sure he didn't have something on him. 

"Oh no! I wouldn't want that!" He said, His voice dripping with sarcasm until he started laughing. 

Bakugou chuckled and you started laughing with Kirishima. 

It felt like for the first time in a long time, you had some real friends. Friends who actually knew you. 

Your day started out horrible, but it might have just been worth it. 

Chapter Text

When Kirishima and Bakugou left your room, you started crying from the overwhelming feeling of being cared for. 

Kirishima had filled up a glass of water for you before he left. Bakugou lent you the next book in the manga. They both made sure you were feeling better before they headed out. 

Vine had carried you to recovery girl and stayed with you as long as she could. Aizawa comforted and reassured you that you weren't alone in your struggles. 

That kindness was so foreign to you. Is this how some people get treated regularly? Where were these people before?

You fell asleep asking yourself questions about the good and bad from the day before. 

…

You woke up to your alarm literally screaming. Even after turning it off, you felt so tired and worn out. Your bed was swallowing you whole and you wanted to stay hidden and warm in it. Sleep was dulling your senses and lulling your eyes back closed. 

“Maybe a few more minutes…” you mumbled to yourself. 

But you knew if you closed your eyes again, you would sleep the rest of the day. You either got up right then or not at all. 

You hated when your brain told you something logical. 

Rolling out of bed, you slowly exposed yourself to the cold room outside of your blankets. You look into the mirror with slow blinks and long yawns. 

Man, you looked awful. You had never brushed your hair after laying on the forest floor and you had black smudges under your eyes from your mascara. 

…Yikes…

Reluctantly, you grab a brush and a makeup wipe. 

You rush to put on your clothes when you glanced at the clock. How were you always rushing for time even when you get up early?

You were out the door and dashing through the dorms. You knew the rumors would only get worse if you were late or didn't show up for class. 

Wishing you had arrived earlier, you quietly shuffled to your seat. 

Quiet murmurs had been carrying across the classroom. Most of them were probably about you but you just sat there patiently waiting for class to start.

Gritting your teeth, you try not listen as murmurs start again. You felt so alone even though some people in the crowd of whispers were defending you. It didn't matter. You just wish you weren't in a glass cage being stared at and talked about as if you weren't there. Does it really even matter if someone is "supportive" if they still view you as an abnormality? 

You noticed your thoughts spiraling and tried to snap yourself out of it. You took a deep breath and held it, imagining a wall built up around your heart and mind. 

You held it until your lungs screamed for air and then slowly let out the breath. You relaxed your eyes and shoulders, fixing your posture and sitting up straight with your eyes fixed on Aizawa walking into class. 

Izuku sat down next to you as he always does. Bakugou was in front of him and glanced back at you. He saw your blank face, physically feeling the wall you had put up. 

Good. Don't let them get to you. He thought, turning back around to face Aizawa. 

"You all know what day it is." Aizawa yawned, "Go get into your Hero Outfits."

It was training day. You forgot to get extra food packed in your bag to make up for all the calories you'd burn in training. 

You walked into the girl's locker room by yourself as the other girls didn't get up as fast as you. You took this chance to quickly change into your costume.

It had metal plates around different bone structures like on your hips and shoulders that would allow protruding bones to come out, but nothing could get through from the outside. Kind of looked like an inverted throwing star. The rest of your costume was covered in pockets filled with high carb foods and helpful tools. The suit came up to your chin but didn't have sleaves so you could still form weapons. 

You put your hair up in a ponytail and left the room, taking note that the other girls still hadn't arrived. 

You were on your way to the arena when you passed your classroom. The girls were in there. Talking to Mr. Aizawa. 

Dread overtook your body as you got closer to the door. You knew you shouldn't listen, but your body kept moving closer regardless. 

"-an't mark us tarty if we are late at least." Uraraka said.

"You have plenty of time to change. If you are late to class, you are late to class." Aizawa looked so tired of the conversation. 

"But I don't want to change when she is in there! If you aren't going to make her change somewhere else, the least you can do is let us wait for her to leave before changing."

Your heart sank to hear Uraraka say that about you.

"I don't think I'm very comfortable changing in front of her either." Momo added quietly.

You felt the pressure of tears behind your eyes.

"Oh, come on, I already know I'm hot. I don't care if she stares." Mina said. 

Another feeling hit you. One of disgust. You never even glanced at anyone in the changing room. You always changed in the showers and left with your eyes to the ground. Did they truly think so differently about you just because you wanted to hold a girl's hand?

You quickly started walking away before you could think any more about it. 

Just detach yourself from it. You knew this was coming. What's the point in caring about what they think? You told yourself. It's not like you need them anyway. It's not like they were your best friends only a few days ago. It's not like your crush hated you so much she talked to the teacher about making you change in a different room. It's not like they all think of you only in a sexualized manor or like a mindless dog that can only think of one thing. 

You felt your breath quicken and your hands start shaking. You were heading into a panic attack. You wanted to run away but that wouldn't solve anything. 

You keep walking to the arena and get into the room full of guys. 

"Hey, where are the other girls?" Izuku asked when he saw you come in. 

"I don't know," you lied. "I didn't see them."

"I'm sure they will be in soon!" Kirishima reassured the group.

He walked over in his upgraded suit. Bakugou followed him and laughed when he looked at the both of you. 

"It looks like Shitty hair stole the sleaves off of your costume." He said. Kirishima and you looked at your outfits and then at the others. Bakugou was right and you gave a halfhearted laugh. 

"You good nerd?" Bakugou asked. You gave a convincing smile and nodded. 

"Good. You need to keep your mind on training today anyway." 

Izuku walks up to the three of you.

"Hey Kachan! Hi Kiri-Kun!" He said, addressing the guys before turning to you. "When are you free to finish our project? I've come up with a few more ideas." 

"Umm, after class works for me, I guess." You responded as the girls entered the arena with Aizawa. Izuku left to walk over to Uraraka who seemed upset. 

Both you and Bakugou felt a pang in your heart when you saw them kiss. 

"It doesn't matter," he heard you mutter to yourself before walking away. 

None of it matters. I'm here to be a hero, not fall in love. 

Chapter Text

Battles. Your quirk training was battles today. 

You hold your breath as Aizawa sorted out the different people you would fight. You were fighting Sero and then Mineta. 

Good. You thought. I was wanting to beat up Mineta anyway. 

You and Sero walk over to the area for your fight. You start stretching and Sero looks at you for a moment and follows suit. One drawback of your quirk is that your bones can overgrow your joints, so you always stretch to help prevent that. 

You didn't really feel like the fight was going to be hard though. Sero's tape isn't a close range, flat ground sort of fighting quirk. Now, if you were fighting him in a forest or busy city, you might be worried. 

"Everyone get ready!" Aizawa called, warning you all that the alarm was about to sound to start the fight. 

You stand up and face Sero. This was going to be a quick fight. 

The alarm blares and Sero is immediately off the ground. In seconds you find yourself being bound by his tape. He was desperate to get this over before you had a chance to attack. 

You just let two long, sharp bones form on each of your arms to quickly slice the tape surrounding you. Tape fell to the ground around you, but Sero tried to throw you off balance. Wrapping his tape around your ankle and pulling, he was surprised when you didn't fall. In fact, you didn't even move at all. 

You had known he would try pulling you off balance, so you had already made cleat like bones on the bottom of your shoes, digging them into the concrete below you. 

"Shit." Sero said as he saw multiple speared bones flying at him. 

You had dulled the edges so that when the inevitable few got through his defenses, he wouldn't be killed. But damn if it wouldn't hurt like hell. 

You heard Sero shout. He definitely got hit. 

He was on the ground and his arm was bent weirdly. He dislocated it.

You dethatch your feet from the ground and walked closer. You bent down and formed circular bones around Sero's tape dispensers. The timer counted down for your match with you as the victor.

"Are you okay?" you ask as you helped him up. 

"That shit hurt," he groaned. 

"Sorry..." you gave a nervous laugh. "One on ones definitely aren't what your quirk is suited for." 

"Yeah, you're tellin me." 

You made sure he got over to recovery girl safely and retracted the bones on his arms. 

Other fights were still going on, but some had already ended. Denki and Momo's fight ended. Momo won for course. Ojiro and Kirishima's fight was still going. Kiri couldn't land a shot and Ojiro's shots barely had any effect on Kirishima. You suspected Ojiro would win eventually. 

Once everyone's fights had clear winners or tied, you all were split up into your next arenas. 

It took you a solid minute before you could spot Mineta getting trampled in the crowd as he tried to make his way to your ring. 

That brought a smile to your face.

"Thith ith ridiculouth." He muttered as he brushed foot prints off of his costume. He made eye contact with you in the arena, and you saw his small brain try to think of something to say. 

"Why did I get sthuck with her? I should have been put with Momo." He grumbled. He clearly used battles as excuses to harass the girls... and you would use it as an excuse to beat his ass. 

You calmly stood facing him as Aizawa gave a warning call. You slowly let bones grow to cover yourself fully in armor looking similar to Kirishima's hardening quirk. 

Mineta started shaking. You knew your bone mask made you look really intimidating but Mineta didn't know what he was even in for. Your armor wasn't for intimidation as Mineta was soon to find out.

The alarm blared for you to start your fight. 

Mineta threw ball after ball to try to immobilize you, but whenever part of your armor got stuck, you would shed that layer of bone and replace it. You slowly walk towards him, and he tries running away.

"Not so fast," you said. You shot a flat bone from you hand and it hit him in the back of his head with a loud thud. You weren't surprised his head sounded hallow. 

"OWwwww!" he whimpered. "That hurt you FAG!" he yelled at you. 

You stopped in your tracks. Your original plan was just to pelt him with bones from afar and leave a couple bruises. 

But plans change. 

You walked up to him and shot a sharp bone just shy of his leg but pinning his cape to the ground. 

When you got close enough, you picked up his petit body off the ground, rearing your bone covered fist before punching him as hard as you could. 

Mineta went limp when you dropped him back to the concrete. You definitely broke his nose. 

You walk back to the starting grounds, finishing your fight before anyone else this round. You retract and shed different parts of your armor and then decided to watch the end of Bakugou's fight. 

He was facing Ojiro (who had won his fight against Kirishima). It was a surprising fight. Ojiro landed some really hard blows on Bakugou but still lost as he couldn’t possibly dodge a full explosion covering the whole arena he was fighting in. 

You knew some people you could win against, and Ojiro was not one of them. His quirk wasn't super impressive, but his skill was amazing. 

When the fights ended, you stayed back.

"Mr. Aizawa?" you approached your teacher. He only grunted in your general direction from under his sleeping bag. 

"Ah," you didn't actually have something to say to him. You just didn't want to go into the locker room when the other girls were still in there. 

Aizawa picked up on your hesitation. 

"Go get changed." He told you tiredly. 

You slumped over and slowly walked to the girl's locker room. 

Chapter Text

Entering the locker room was so anxiety provoking that you felt physically sick. 

Your eyes were glued to the ground as you walked in. You barely looked up to enter your lockers combination. 

"Fuck," you cursed under your breath as you screw up your code. You scramble the lock and start over, hands shaking.

As soon as your locker opened, you grabbed your clothes and left the locker room. You kept your eyes on the ground and weaved your way through the lockers and the girls who were all talking to each other. You walk directly to the two bathroom stalls in the back corner of the locker room. Setting your clothes on the toilet lid, you start taking off your hero costume. 

It felt sickly taking off your costume, as if you were peeling off wet clothing. You felt nauseous at the idea of the girls observing your body in a sexual way, fixating on any flaws and scrutinizing your anatomy. Maybe you were coming down with something. Your head was pounding anyway. 

You unclip the buckles on your utility belt and holsters, letting the straps fall to the floor. Unzipping and some aggressive tugs got off the rest of the uniform. You slide on your school clothes before collecting the crumpled cloth off the ground. 

You sit in the stall as you listen for the fading voices (one might say you were stalling).

The problem with listening to see who was still in the room was that you had to listen to what they were saying. 

Momo was one of the girls currently talking. 

"I'm not homophobic at all. I still think she is a great student. I just don't want to be changing in front of someone who finds women attractive. I don't want her looking at me like that."

You never even glanced anyone's way in the locker room. You had never been anything but respectful and courteous but the moment you're attracted to women they think of you as a dog. No self-control, not respect, no honorability. As if, the moment given a chance, you would take advantage of them. It hurt to be thought so little of. 

"They should make students fill out a form about their sexuality before putting us in changing rooms together. That would prevent this from happening again." 

Hagakure was still in the room too. Although, she really shouldn't care since no one could see her naked anyway. 

It sounded as though everyone else left. Momo and Hagakure's lockers were on the other wall away from the stalls and exit. You could just shove your hero costume into your bookbag and leave rather than putting it back into your locker. Then you wouldn't have to pass them. 

You decided on that and quickly pushed the clothes into your backpack. Opening the stall, you quietly rushed out of the room leaving only muffled taps as you rushed down the hall. 

It's fine. You're fine. You breathe in. That could have gone worse. They didn't say anything you haven't heard before. You breathe out. 

You had one more class to get to. It was mainly with other student classes, so you weren't too stressed about the drama. 

After taking a moment to compose yourself, you walk the rest of the way to your next classroom. 

Chapter Text

History.

You hated the subject.

They never talked about the interesting people or the new speculations. The classes crushed the imagination and natural curiosity of what happened and who existed back then. 

You weren't sure if the rest of your class shared the same interest in history, but they definitely shared the same hatred of the boring lecturers. 

A few students were already laying on their desks half asleep. Koda was trying so hard to stay awake but even his bunny couldn't keep his eyes open. TetsuTetsu and Tokage were leaning on each other, practically snoring. 

You got out your notebook and pencil to take notes. You'd probably end up just doodling cats or ducks or something. That is, at least, what all your other note pages ended up looking like. 

The class doors slide open to reveal a handful of 1-A students. They must have all stopped at the vending machines before coming to class because you got there before them. 

Sero, Denki, and Sato walked in with Mineta (newly healed thanks to recovery girl) and sat at the row in front of you. You kept your head down so they wouldn't say anything to you. Mineta would probably want to make a comment about earlier. And you were definitely right about that. He was mumbling something about you under his breath. 

"Hey, you got to admit it man. You probably deserved it." Sero said, glancing at you. "We all know you don't have a filter between your junk and your brain." 

You could feel heat rise to your face. Sero was smarter than you originally took him for. You appreciated him backing you up. 

The class started shortly after and so far, you hadn't heard any comments about 1-A drama, and you started relaxing. Maybe no one in this class really cared about it. Class 1b had some openly gay students anyway. You start doodling after only a few minutes. More students were zoning out or falling asleep. 

Denki was just keeping the class interesting by raising his hand every time a question was asked. His responses varied in stupidity but your favorite one so far was when the teacher asked what a queen's role in a monarchy was. He just responded with, "A queen's job is to Slay." with little sparks on his fingers as he snapped. It was so dumb but the surprise factor and fatigue of the class made everyone laugh at it. 

When the class ended, you got up to leave but Kendo (the only student fully awake in class) stopped you. 

"Hey, I think you're supposed to go to the planetarium after class." Kendo said to you. After pausing for a moment, you decide to head there anyway. 

It was a long walk to the planetarium and a lot of stairs more specifically. You began to wish that you didn't decide to listen to Kendo as you ascend another flight of stairs. 

Once you got there, you open the large doors and peak around the corner. You didn't see anyone at first and started to get really nervous. 

"Are you just going to stand there?" someone said from behind you. 

You were startled and jumped into the room, letting the door slam in the face of whoever talked behind you. 

"That was rude," Ibara said as she opened the door. You remembered that she had promised to keep an eye on you and that must be why she was up here. 

"I'm sorry, I just didn't see you before!" you quickly explained yourself.

"It's fine, I was worried you wouldn't show. I'm glad you decided to come," Ibara said with a soft smile. 

"Yeah thanks," you said.

I'm glad I decided to show too.

Chapter Text

"How was today?" Ibara asked. 

You only shrugged your shoulders and kept following her through the planetarium. 

"Want to talk about it?" she asked. Another shrug. 

"That's okay. Sometimes it's better to just exist with nature than to talk about stressful things." Ibara said in her soft monotone voice. 

You felt your heart flutter. She had been so kind to you. Infact, most people in the other classes had been really accepting so far. 

"S-so... what's the plan right now?" you ask. Ibara lets out a small laugh.

"Does there have to be a plan?" she asked rhetorically. "Your plan on how to spend the next hour seems so obsolete when you stare up at the planets." 

You both sat down in chairs together as the fake night sky rotated over the ceiling. 

"Doesn't looking at the stars make you feel... Kind of irrelevant?" 

"I mean... yes." Ibara responded. "But in a good way, you know?" 

You looked away from the stars to give her a confused look. 

"I just mean that being irrelevant isn't a bad thing. It's okay to be small. You don't need to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. Especially as a hero, it's important to take a step back and trust that the world won't fall apart just because you took a break." She pauses for a moment to glance at you. "A bad day, or a 'Meh' day, is just that. A day. And you have thousands more to come. The world will keep spinning." 

You knew what she was saying was important but still couldn't help but stare into her dark green eyes. 

"Does that make sense?" She asked.

You quickly try and snap out of the trance you were in and start nodding along, trying to remember everything she just said. 

"I think I get it. Like... don't worry too much about small events?" you said uncertainly. 

"Even big events aren't as big a deal as we make them. Why stress about things out of our control?" Ibara reaches out her hand for you to take. "You shouldn't let a few bad people destroy your energy. Your aura is your own. Don't let anyone change it." 

"Oh, uhh," you hesitated before taking her hand. "A-alright."  

You both just lay there in your chairs and stare up at the modeled night sky. Ibara takes a deep sigh and sinks further into her chair, still holding her hand. 

You watched as the planets and stars danced around the ceiling. It was almost as if they were in a ballroom, with how they circled and spun around one another. It was beautiful. The sky with no light pollution. The stars with no sun or clouds to block their view. 

You felt yourself relax and grow rather tired. Your hold on Ibara's hand started to slip as you drifted closer to sleep. 

Ibara noticed you dozing off and gently let go of your hand. Without thinking, you immediately grabbed Ibara again and held tight. Her breath stumbled for a moment.

"We should head back to the dorms since you're getting tired," she said softly. 

"I don't want you to go..." you whispered. Ibara's usually calm demeanor quickly shifted as she became flustered. 

"St-still... you should get- um- go to- go to sleep." She stuttered out. 

"..MMmmMmmm..." you tried to argue. 

"Alllllright, it's time to get up," Ibara said as she tugged you back to a sitting position. 

Despite your complaints, you had gotten up and started walking back to the dorms... but you hadn't yet let go of her hand.