Midoriya hesitantly looked around his room, and checked his bag for the umpteenth time in the past hour. He had packed the day before, but had woken up two hours earlier, just to get ready and check to ensure that he had packed everything.
He had packed three sets of clothing, as well as a towel, his toothbrush and toothpaste. Although Yaoyorozu had mentioned that he only had to bring two sets, Midoriya didn't want to end up borrowing anything should something go wrong. He didn't bother about a comb; his hair was untamable, and Midoriya didn't really care anyways.
He had also packed his notebooks for all his subjects, as well as his homework. Yaoyorozu had mentioned a study session, and while Midoriya was confident he didn't need any help, he wasn't too sure if his peers would expect him to contribute to the study session. It was better to just bring everything instead of risking angering them.
He also packed enough food for the two animals; he didn't want to bother Yaoyorozu any more than was necessary. As an extra precaution, he packed two pocket knives and stuffed them at the bottom of his bag.
Midoriya grabbed his wallet, and checked that he had enough for train tickets to and from from Yaoyorozu's house. He could run there if he needed to, but he wanted to save his energy just in case something happened. Plus, if he happened to leave Yaoyorozu's house with someone, he had to be able to buy train tickets so he wouldn't appear to be suspicious.
Midoriya hastily made his way down the stairs, and was about to leave the house when he spotted something on the table. He curiously made his way over to check it out, realising it was a small bag of cookies, alongside a note.
"Dear Izuku, sorry that I couldn't send you off to the train station, some last minute work cropped up. I know you don't normally enjoy breakfast, so here's a little something in case you feel like taking a bite or two. Regards, Nezu."
Midoriya bit his lip, almost dropping the note, and stuffed the bag of cookies into his bag. He wasn't really fond of eating anything in general; he preferred bland or instant food because they were simple, and he threw usually threw up most kinds of other food because of his bad experiences with his former foster mother.
Midoriya gently closed the door to the dorms behind him, before walking towards the front gate. He looked around warily, before deeming it safe enough to move, and started walking towards the train station.
Midoriya gulped as he stood at the entrance to Yaoyorozu's house, his relaxed posture betraying none of the fear and anxiety that he felt inside. Thank goodness for the oversized clothes; no one would notice him twitching nervously as he surveyed his surroundings. He would have to thank Kayama for that when he got back to UA.
Yaoyorozu, surprisingly, had decided that she would bunk with the girls instead of in her own room, but she would still be going to her room whenever she needed something. She quickly opened the gates, letting the group into the front hall.
Out of everyone, he had packed the least, aside from Yaoyorozu for obvious reasons. All the girls, as well as Aoyama and Todoroki, had luggage that were bigger than his torso. Shoji, Sato, Tokoyami, Koda and Ojiro had large backpacks, while everyone else had bags that were around twice the size of their school bags. Pretty much all of them also had another smaller bag for bringing stuff like their phones around. Midoriya himself just had a small backpack, but it was more than enough to fit all of his belongings; he stuffed his phone and wallet in his hoodie pocket anyways. Ryuto was perched on his shoulder, while Reiko surveyed the room from Midoriya's hood.
"Guys, is there anything you'd want to eat? It's almost lunch time." Yaoyorozu asked, "The maids can make pretty much anything; they're an awesome, talented bunch! So just state your requests, I'm sure they can make it."
Midoriya wasn't sure how to respond at all. He hadn't eaten breakfast; he didn't have the habit of doing so, but he had forced himself to eat cookies on normal school days so that Nezu wouldn't worry. He didn't really like them, and neither did his stomach; he often felt like puking it all up. He was used to not eating a lot anyways; it wasn't healthy, but hey, it saved money and Midoriya could spend his time doing something else. He wasn't hungry at all, but he didn't think that Yaoyorozu would accept it he just flat out rejected lunch.
"Alright, Midoriya, do you want anything?" Yaoyorozu asked, after everyone else had told her what they wanted.
Midoriya just shook his head. He felt sick just thinking about eating something prepared by someone else; at least, he knew that he wouldn't be throwing anything into his cup noodles.
"You sure? I mean, I know you normally don't eat lunch in school…" Yaoyorozu trailed off, before continuing, "Alright, I supposed. But if you ever feel hungry and want to snack on something, don't be afraid to ask."
He did request that they should refrigerate Ryuto's food, and heat it up slightly; he didn't want it to go bad, and possibly make the baby bird sick. Yaoyorozu passed the list over to one of her maids, before she whirled around to face the class again, "Okay! Now that's done, I'll show you to the guest rooms!"
She led them through the main hall, and past a few hallways, before she pointed out one of the larger rooms, saying that they would be studying there. Midoriya did his best to try and memorize the layout of the house; it would prove useful should he need to escape. She then showed two rooms to the girls, before leading the boys a bit further down the hall.
"Alright, you can put your stuff here!" Yaoyorozu threw open three doors, "Two of them have five beds and one has four beds! You guys can choose your roommates, but make it quick! I think we can squeeze a small study session before lunch."
"Aww! Party pooper! Can't we enjoy the rooms? This is so cool!" Ashido whined, and Iida stood up straight, and adjusted his glasses, "The earlier we start studying, the earlier we will finish! Therefore, there will be more time for you to "fool around", so to say. It's a weekend tomorrow, so I will set a later bedtime at midnight instead of ten."
"Well, that's Iida for you. The class dad." Ojiro scratched his cheek, while Kirishima cheered, "Awesome! That's manly! Let's get started as soon as possible!"
It didn't take too long for the students to split into groups, surprisingly. Bakugou, Sero, Kirishima, and Kaminari grabbed the four person room, and Shoji, Tokoyami, Aoyama, Sato, and Ojiro took the other room, leaving Koda, Shinsou, Iida, Todoroki and Midoriya to bunk together.
"Well, it's not that bad, right? At least we're not with the Bakusquad; they're going to be a riot at night." Shinsou laughed, as he dumped his backpack on the bed, before sitting down on the bed, "Woah! Soft! There's even a bathroom directly connected to the room."
Reiko leapt off Midoriya's shoulder, landing on the bed gracefully, as Midoriya stifled a growl in disdain at the thick blanket that was draped over his bed. He would deal with the stupid, suffocating monstrosity later, though he was going to be careful with how he did that; he was sure Yaoyorozu wouldn't appreciate the bedsheets being torn apart.
"As much as I'd like to enjoy the room, I believe we should get going. Like I said earlier, the earlier we start studying, the earlier we will finish." Iida said, "Let's grab our study materials and make our way to that room that Yaoyorozu pointed out earlier.
Koda shot them a thumbs up, before digging into his bag to fish out his worksheets. Meanwhile, Midoriya merely dumped his clothes out of his bag and neatly folded them, placing them at the foot of the bed, secretly slipping his pocket knives into his pants pocket. What good were knives if they were too far away to be used?
Midoriya tried his best to stop his hands from shaking. It was just a sleepover, right? There was nothing to be scared of. He was just at the complete mercy of his new classmates, it wasn't too different from what he was used to.
So why did it feel so different?
Midoriya shook himself out of his daze as he heard footsteps coming towards him. He looked up, seeing Koda standing in front of him.
"We're good to go." He signed, "Iida's chasing the others out of the room. You okay to leave now?"
Midoriya quickly nodded, grabbing his bag, and following Koda out of the room, seeing Iida poke his head into one of the other rooms, "Come on, guys! Stop delaying!"
The room they were using had one large table, and Midoriya found himself wedged between Shinsou and Todoroki. Reiko was curled up on his lap, and Ryuto was napping in his hood.
"So, should we start with maths?" Yaoyorozu asked. The class cheered, and Iida started saying, "Alright, guys, we'll start with the algebra homework that Ectoplasm-sensei set us."
Midoriya blinked. Ectoplasm didn't give him any algebra homework; he had given him a set of university level calculus questions. Iida surveyed the table to see if everyone had brought their work, and frowned slightly when he saw that Midoriya didn't have it.
"Midoriya, where's yours?"
Midoriya almost panicked, hastily trying to defend himself, "I didn't get it."
"What do you mean, you didn't get it?" Shinsou asked, confused, "Ectoplasm-sensei gave you homework as well."
Midoriya fished his huge stack of calculus questions out of his bag, and tried not to flinch as Todoroki leaned over to look at it, "You are aware that we're not learning calculus now, right?"
The green haired boy nodded, trying to push his panic down, and Reiko uncurled herself from her position on his lap, and rubbed herself against Midoriya's arm in an attempt to calm him down. Ryuto popped out of his hood, before he sat down on Midoriya's shoulder, rubbing his head against Midoriya's neck.
Iida's sharp eyes caught sight of Reiko and Ryuto, and he clenched his fists; all the attention on Midoriya and his homework was stressing him out. He quickly pulled Todoroki and Shinsou away from the green haired boy, "Well, if Ectoplasm-sensei gave him something else to do, then we can't do anything about it. Midoriya, I honestly don't think that any of us are good enough to help you with that… but should you need any help… we'll try our best, okay?"
Midoriya relaxed when Shinsou and Todoroki finally got out of his bubble of personal space, and nodded at Iida tiredly. He knew they were curious why he had a different set of questions, but he didn't think Ectoplasm would be too happy if Midoriya couldn't hand in his homework due to it being torn apart. None of his previous teachers ever believed him; why should the pro hero, who had many other duties to take care of, bother about him as well?
Plus, it was no excuse. If he couldn't even protect and take care of a flimsy piece of paper, then he really was useless.
Midoriya quickly grabbed his pen, and worked through his calculus questions, not even bothering with a calculator even though the question had asked him to use one. He finished the first five-part question, before flipping over to the next page.
He could feel Ashido and Kaminari staring at him from across the table, and he hastened the pace at which he wrote. It didn't take him too long to finish his worksheet, and he quickly checked his work, before he put his worksheet back into his bag.
He looked up, and stared right back at Ashido and Kaminari, whose jaws had dropped as they gawked at him.
"What? How did you… you're done already?"
Midoriya just blinked, confused, as Jiro sighed from beside Ashido, "Focus, Mina. We're not going to get anywhere if you keep getting distracted."
The group finally finished their maths homework, and Yaoyorozu led them to the dining area, where all the food was already set on the table.
Midoriya wasn't hungry at all; the sight of so much food just made him sick. He found a quiet corner to sit in, and grabbed Reiko and Ryuto's bowls. He carefully emptied out the food into their bowls, and they tucked in. Ryuto had grown enough that he was capable of eating on his own, given that the meat was in small enough pieces for him to pick up.
Midoriya sat back against the wall, pulling his legs to himself, and closed his eyes, trying to relax and save his energy, blocking out all the sounds of his classmates chatting and eating while trying to figure out who was where. He never did like mealtimes; he always left the dining table after eating as fast as possible, or just didn't eat dinner at all and holed himself up in his room. His foster mother stopped bothering to cook for him, and Midoriya was more than happy to just grab cup noodles from the nearest convenience store before reaching home. He usually ate one on the way home, and bought another home to eat in the middle of night while doing homework, before going out to patrol.
He tolerated lunchtimes in the canteen because there were so many people that he wouldn't draw attention to himself. In such a large room with just twenty people, it was obvious that he was the odd one out when he stuck himself in the corner.
"Hey! Midoriya! Come eat with us!" Sero waved at the green haired boy. Midoriya opened his eyes slightly, and shook his head. He wanted to stay as far away from that nauseating smell as he could.
"You have to eat something." Kirishima pointed out, "You need energy."
"Yeah! You can have some of my pie if you like?" Ashido offered.
They got up, and walked towards Midoriya with their plates, "Come on, please? It's not healthy to just starve yourself."
Midoriya tensed up as they got closer; he wasn't hungry at all, dammit. He hated that he had decided to stick himself in a corner; now he couldn't go anywhere without going through both Ashido and Kirishima, and they had quirks that he'd prefer to use weapons to deal with rather than barehanded.
Iida was about to stop Ashido and Kirishima, but much to everyone's surprise, Bakugou was the one who grabbed the two students and dragged them back to their seat.
"Leave him be, you noisy assholes. If he doesn't want to eat, then he doesn't fucking eat." Bakugou snapped, tossing Ashido and Kirishima back into their seats, "Stop being such nosy fuckers for once and mind your own fucking business."
"Thank you for that, but you could have said that with less swearing, Bakugou." Iida scolded.
"What is it to you, Four Eyes!?" Bakugou slammed his palms on the table, "You wanna go!?"
"Well… maybe you'd want to drink something, Midoriya?" Uraraka asked, trying to diffuse the situation, standing up to get a clearer view of Midoriya; her view was being blocked by Sato.
Now that he thought about it, Midoriya did want coffee; he had forgotten about it that morning. Maybe Yaoyorozu wouldn't so much about his lack of appetite if he got coffee to drink, except he didn't trust that they wouldn't mess it up like anyone else.
Reiko nudged his arm, and Midoriya shifted, extending his legs slightly so that she could sit in his lap. Midoriya tiredly looked at her, and she rubbed herself against his arm, urging him to do something.
Midoriya just looked back her and shook his head. He wasn't going to ask them for anything at all; he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, and he wasn't going to need their help any time soon. It wasn't like they could help him anyways.
Reiko glared back at him, and growled, before she pranced up to perch on Midoriya's knees and meowed, grabbing Koda's attention. Koda looked up from his vegetarian fried rice to face Reiko, and she purred.
Koda quickly signed something to Shinsou, and Shinsou raised his eyebrow, "Coffee? Do you have that, Yaoyorozu?"
"Well, yes. Latte, mocha, or espresso?" Yaoyorozu asked, after calling the maid over to ask some questions.
Midoriya mock-glared at Reiko, and she just looked up at him smugly.
He sighed. He only knew that he got the cheapest kind of coffee from the convenience store; what the hell was a latte or a mocha or an espresso anyways?
Reiko looked equally confused, and she turned to look at Midoriya. Ryuto had decided to nestle himself in the crook of Midoriya's arm, and chirped. Midoriya looked back and Reiko, and shrugged, gently running his fingers through the soft downy feathers on Ryuto's head.
"Do you know the difference between the different types of coffee?" Shinsou asked, and Midoriya hesitantly shook his head; not knowing anything was a weakness, and he wasn't happy showing it.
At this point, Midoriya just wanted to finish his homework and call it a day. Interacting with his peers was tiring, even more than hunting down villains and kicking their asses.
"Which is the strongest?" Midoriya tiredly signed, and Shinsou replied, "Espresso. It's bitter though."
Midoriya just shrugged again; he didn't mind bitter, the coffee he usually drank was bitter anyways. Did he always get espressos?
"Sugar or no?" Yaoyorozu asked, and Midoriya shook his head.
It didn't take too long for the drink to be made, and Midoriya hesitantly peeled himself off the ground to pick up the warm beverage. He usually drank his coffee cold, but at this point, he didn't really care anymore.
"Careful! It's hot." Yaoyorozu stated, "You might want to let it cool for a while."
Midoriya ignored her and held the drink with both hands. It was hot, but nowhere as hot as the flames that Enji had used to burn him; if he could withstand that, then a hot cup was no biggie. Midoriya sat back down in the corner, letting the heat from the cup warm up his cold, shaking hands.
Calm down, it's just coffee. How bad can it be?
Midoriya hesitantly sniffed the drink. It smelt like… well… coffee, and it felt safe, but he still couldn't be sure. But still, it was really rude to ask for a drink, and not drink it, even if Reiko was the one who ordered it for him.
He just decided to take the chance and drink it. It wasn't like he could die from it anyways; he'd deal with the consequences later.
Would they care if he could die anyways? Probably not. He didn't really care either.
Maybe they really did hate him.
Maybe he was really better off dead. He had to bother half of his class simply because he couldn't suck his nausea down and just eat something. He had to bother one of Yaoyorozu's maids after they had already finished making so much food for everyone else.
Maybe he should just -
Midoriya placed the cup to his mouth, and took a huge gulp. The scalding hot liquid trickled down his throat, and burning pain that came from his scalded throat anchored him to reality, pulling him away from all the thoughts swimming around in his head.
It was bitter, but Midoriya didn't really know if it tasted nice or not. Taste, after all, was just like emotions, just impulses travelling through neurons, just chemical signals that were meaningless in the long run.
It didn't matter.
Midoriya gulped down the remainder of the drink, exhaled. He usually never drank coffee in the middle of the day; he wondered how the caffeine would affect his sleep schedule. Not that it mattered anyways, it had always been messed up.
He just sat in the corner, feeling more awake than before, and trained his sights on the rest of his classmates who had, under Iida's coaxing to leave him alone, gone back to their meals.
Midoriya stood up, picking up the bowls that Reiko and Ryuto had used, and with a silent order to stay, he moved to the bathroom to wash the dishes clean.
Midoriya wasn't too sure what to do when they had decided to go through the english quiz, or the physics test that Snipe given; he had gotten full marks and didn't need to do any corrections. His papers had ended up being used as the mark schemes as Iida and Yaoyorozu tried to figure out how to best explain the problem to the weaker students. Kaminari was surprisingly good at physics, but it did make sense, given his quirk.
Midoriya leaned back into his chair, and closed his eyes. He needed to file his work for later reference; hopefully, if he just acted well… maybe they'd spare his tests and assignments.
Midoriya looked around the room subtly, trying his best to stop his hands from shaking.
Why were these people so nice?
Why couldn't he sense any traces of malice in them?
What's going on?
Trying to keep calm was harder than he had expected. He was hoping that he'd be getting beaten up; at least, that was normal and he knew how to handle it.
But this? People being nice? It made no sense; this was something knew, something he hadn't analysed, hadn't experienced before.
And Midoriya hated being stuck in situations where he had no idea what to do.
He'd rather let Enji burn him again, he'd much rather let that stupid Nomu rip him to shreds; at least, in those scenarios, he knew what to do in order to get out, even if it meant being bedridden again.
Against his classmates, Midoriya was helpless. He knew he couldn't fight back, or he'd be the one getting in trouble.
You don't deserve to fight back, you worthless quitter.
Midoriya bit his lip, trying to push that voice to the back of his mind.
"You quirkless fuckers are just defects! Leave everyone alone, you vermin! Go and die like the rest of your useless, worthless kind!"
He remembered fire, the horrendous stench of burning bodies and gasoline mixed into one nauseating smell. He remembered his own hoarse cries, as he cried over his mother's corpse, his father dying right in front of him.
Midoriya dug his nails into his palms, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Stupid useless emotions. Leave me alone.
Midoriya exhaled. It was going to be a rough night, whenever that happened, it was a cycle that Midoriya had gotten used to. He looked up as someone was shoved in front of him, and he blinked; his test papers were neatly stacked and clipped together. Midoriya couldn't help himself, and picked up his papers, scanning over them warily.
They're not damaged? At all?
"Well, we're done! Aw yeah!" Ashido cheered, leaping out of her seat, "I feel so smart right now!"
"Make sure to revise as well; just because you remember today, doesn't mean you'll remember it tomorrow." Iida stated, "You should try and make your own notes as well, and not do all of your homework in the last minute."
"Okay! We still have an hour before dinner, so we can figure out what you guys want to eat, and maybe, go to the nearby mall to get stacks for later?" Yaoyorozu suggested.
Midoriya did not want to go out. He was already tired of just sitting there with his classmates, the last thing he wanted to do was to go to a crowded mall, filled with people and possibly villains that could know his vigilante persona and might target him because of that.
Because this was Shigaraki he was talking about. The man that had successfully staged an attack on UA and almost destroyed the hero course students. Who knew how many villains he had under his watch, or who many he had told about his Void persona.
What if they got hurt because of me?
He could feel his paranoia setting in, but he couldn't outrightly refuse; not unless he wanted to tell his classmates about his fears, about the true worthless, useless freak that he was.
He couldn't show any weaknesses; people would just take advantage of it.
All he could do was to just stay vigilant, to keep an eye out for anything weird, to make sure that his classmates got to the mall and back safe and sound.
He wouldn't let anyone get hurt because of him, even if he didn't get anything out of it. He may not like his classmates, but that didn't mean it would stop him from doing the right thing.
After all, what else could he do with his worthless life?
Shinsou could practically feel the pressure emanating off the green haired boy. They were currently in the supermarket, picking out snacks, but Midoriya was just standing at the side of the aisle, unmoving, glancing around warily. In fact, besides from the 1-A students, there wasn't anyone else in the aisle.
None of the other patrons went anywhere near him, leaving a wide berth around him. Iida and Uraraka were standing next to him, chatting, but other than that, there was no one near him at all.
"Hey, Midoriya, want anything? There's a huge variety of food here!" Kaminari waved, and Shinsou grabbed Kaminari by the collar before he could jump Midoriya again.
Midoriya glanced at Kaminari emotionlessly, before shaking his head. Midoriya originally wanted to get a cheap, six-pack coffee, but Yaoyorozu refused to let him have it, saying that they had more than enough coffee back at her house.
He spotted Reiko peek out of Midoriya's hood, surveying the area, before ducking back inside. He wondered if Midoriya brought Reiko out on patrols; she seemed wary of anyone who came anywhere near Midoriya, and overprotective of Ryuto.
"Everyone has their snacks? Great!" Yaoyorozu grinned, before facing Midoriya, "You sure you don't want to buy anything besides the instant noodles?"
Midoriya shook his head again. He never ate snacks; they weren't very filling, and they were way too expensive. They weren't worth the money; he didn't have a lot to spend in the first place, just whatever money he got from being called in to the pet rescue center to deal with some of the animals, and from occasionally manning the cashier when no one was around.
"It's fine. I think we have more than enough for everyone. If you want any of ours, just ask, okay?" Ashido shot him a thumbs up, and Midoriya just indulged her enthusiasm with a half-hearted nod.
Dinner passed by relatively quickly. Midoriya had tucked himself into the corner, along with Reiko and Ryuto, and the cat was currently sleeping on the boy's lap while Ryuto was getting his talons tangled up in Midoriya's hair again.
Midoriya wasn't hungry, but he just ate the cup noodles so his classmates wouldn't bother him about not eating at all. It was supposed to be for the middle of the night, but either way, it was going to get eaten one way or another, so Midoriya didn't care.
They had gone to the guest rooms after eating, and Ashido ripped open her bag of chips, and nibbled on one, "So, what are we going to do now?"
"Uh… I don't really… know… I never had a sleepover before." Yaoyorozu sheepishly scratched her neck.
Kaminari leaned over and stole a chip from Ashido, "Well, we can play Uno? I brought a set of cards. Or we can just go with the usual Truth or Dare kinda games?"
"Uno is fine, I think. We can go to the study room and play, since I don't think that all of us won't fit in a room." Sato scratched his head.
"Truth and Dare is fine… just… I don't think it's a good idea for him." Jiro stated, using an earphone jacks to point at Midoriya, "Forcing him to talk about something that he doesn't want to talk about won't help the situation at all, and he might take the dares as an order and end up going too far."
"How about Hide and Seek? Yaomomo's house seems large enough for that!" Hagakure suggested.
"As long as we have a rule that states that you can't off your clothes, I don't mind." Ojiro scratched his cheek, "That would be cheating, and very inappropriate."
Hagakure merely huffed at him, but agreed nonetheless.
"Alright, can we go with Hide and Seek?" Iida asked, and everyone nodded.
Midoriya didn't really care. He hated Hide and Seek, detested it; it was a game that had tormented him since his first camp when he was five. He knew it was stupid to be scared of a child's game, but his pain tolerance when he was five was nowhere near his current threshold. Every time he had been found, he had been viciously thrown out of his hiding place, and mocked and laughed at as he got beaten up for being absolutely worthless at it. Even if he did win, he was still beaten up and accused of cheating. He was forced to get good at the game, he didn't have a choice, and had several strategies made just to beat this game.
But he didn't want to ruin the mood; everyone else seemed eager to go.
"Here are the rules." Iida ordered, "Quirks can be used, but you cannot damage the property!" He glared at Bakugou.
"Secondly, don't force a door open; if it's locked, it's locked. Third, Hagakure, what Ojiro said; no taking off your clothes. You guys can move and change hiding places as you please, and you have to be tagged by the seeker for you to be considered out. Once you are out, you can help the seeker find the others. Also, we are going to be restricted to those few areas that we had been to today. We don't want anyone getting lost."
"Okay! I'll just find that random number generator application, and whoever's index number pops out will be the seeker. We'll have five minutes to hide." Ashido fished her phone out of her pocket, selecting the app, "Okay, number twelve. That's Jiro! Alright guys, let's go!"
Jiro sighed, and sat on her bed, grabbing her phone and setting a timer for five minutes.
The students rushed out of the room, and Midoriya just scooped Reiko and Ryuto into his arms, and walked blearily out of the room.
This was going to be a long night.
Rule One of Hide and Seek: don't go to the places with tons of hiding spots. Everyone would go there, and the seeker would obviously know where everyone would go. He would just have to move around, and go to places where the seeker had last checked; it would usually take a long time for them to check the remaining areas before coming back to recheck areas.
Midoriya walked into the study room, it's doors already open, and surveyed the darkened area, his eyes already well trained to make out the different objects and furniture in the dark.
Rule Two: Hiding in plain sight is better than specifically finding a hiding spot. The seekers would usually be looking for anything out of the usual, and would often not check the more open areas as they were more often looked over, since usually no one hid there.
Midoriya had considered the vents; Yaoyorozu's house was huge, and it was almost impossible for any of his classmates to enter them. And that was the reason why Midoriya refused to hide there; it wasn't fair.
Midoriya slipped behind the door, and sank to the ground. No one checked behind the doors for some reason, and there was a bookshelf that would block the seekers view of his hiding spot.
He sighed, and leaned back against the wall, content to just wait it out.
He hated tricking people that weren't villains, but this was one instance where he was willing to do so.
Rule Three. Manipulate their emotions, and use it against them.
Because emotions don't help you at all, they just hinder you.
Jiro scratched her head. Most of her classmates had gone to the dining area and the kitchen for some reason; she could tell that much just by listening. She ran out of the room, and made her way to the dining room.
She did pause by the study room and the way there, and she glanced through the open doors.
The room was barren save for the table and the bookshelves. There wasn't anywhere to hide there; none of her classmates would come and hide here, surely.
She continued on her way to the dining room.
"Where is he!?" Yaoyorozu asked.
Jiro had caught Shoji, Sato and Koda the second she entered the dining room; they were just way too bulky to hide anywhere. Todoroki, apparently, didn't even try to hide; he had been sitting under the dining table.
Bakugou, Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari and Ashido were next; they had all been crammed in a closet and Bakugou had been screaming at them to leave him alone in his hiding place. Jiro had checked the closet right next to theirs, just for good measure, and ended up finding Ojiro in there.
Asui had just gotten unlucky; she had hidden herself in plain sight on the ceiling, but Jiro had accidentally tripped over Ojiro's tail, and had seen her on the ceiling. Aoyama had holed himself up in the bathroom, and was looking at his reflection in the mirror.
Tokoyami and Shinsou were hiding on the top of some bookshelves in the main hall. They were really quiet, and Jiro wouldn't have found them if not for Shoji; his height and sharp eyes caught sight of Shinsou's fluffy purple hair.
Uraraka had tried the same method as Asui, hiding on the ceiling using her quirk. But her nausea got the better of her. Shoji managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Iida was wedged between the refrigerator and the wall, and Dark Shadow was the one that dragged him out. Hagakure had tried to hide in a cabinet in the kitchen, but she had taken out the pots and pans and didn't think to hide them before diving into the cabinet.
Yaoyorozu had done the same, but did it smarter than Hagakure; she had placed the cutlery neatly on the counter instead of strewn all over the ground. Iida had found her when he had opened all the cabinets in the kitchen.
They had backtracked to find Midoriya, checking the guest rooms again, and even the barren study room, but they couldn't find a single trace of the green haired boy anywhere. Not even a single strand of fur or feather.
"I don't know, we checked everywhere." Shinsou scratched the back of his head.
"He was here before, I can tell." Dark Shadow spoke up.
"Maybe he changed hiding spots. Let's check the dining room again." Yaoyorozu suggested.
It was no good.
They had checked the entire area another five times; the main hall, the dining room, the kitchen, the guest rooms, the study room, and the bathrooms.
They had even stationed people inside each room after the third cycle in case Midoriya kept changing hiding places, but even that didn't work on the former general education student.
There were several times when they thought they had found him; the cabinet was closed when the last time it had been left slightly open, the door to the kitchen was open when they had closed it behind them, the potted plant in the dining room had been shifted slightly.
Midoriya still hadn't been found, and they were getting worried.
"Should we just give up? I'm getting worried. It's creepy, it's like he just disappeared into thin air." Kirishima stated.
"Yeah… we should." Iida sighed, before calling out "Okay, Midoriya! We give up! You win! You can stop hiding now!"
The door that led from the dining room to the hallways creaked, and everyone whirled around. The doors had been left wide open, with a potted plant standing between the open door and the wall.
Midoriya pushed the door away from the wall, slipping out of his hiding spot. Reiko and Ryuto both popped out of his hood, and Reiko gave the students a meow.
"Were you there the entire time?!" Ashido jaw dropped.
Midoriya shook his head, and Shinsou translated his signing, "Nope. He's been continuously changing rooms until we stationed Shoji and Tokoyami outside the hallway. But he has been hiding behind the doors in every room."
"Why didn't I think of that?!" Yaoyorozu sighed.
"But… the door? And the potted plant? And kitchen cabinets?" Hagakure stammered, "Was it a ghost or did you move them? Why?"
"Diversions."
"Oh… That's honestly really smart, Midoriya!" Uraraka smiled, after Shinsou had to, once again, translate the signing, "Constantly changing your hiding place to make you harder to find, and creating diversions to distract us!"
Midoriya just stared at her blankly.
It was a dirty trick.
It was to make them excited, thinking that they had found him.
To make them disappointed, when they realised that they hadn't found him.
It distracted them, stoped them from thinking about other hiding places.
What on earth did theymean by "smart"?
Yaoyorozu stretched, and yawned, "Well… I was honestly thinking we could play a few rounds, but this round took so long, and I'm kinda tired. I think we should sleep now."
"Agreed! We can sleep earlier, wake up earlier, and start studying." Iida nodded, "If we finish it quickly, we can still have more bonding exercises before going home!"
It's fine?
They're okay with it?
Midoriya merely slouched in confusion, and Reiko rubbed her cheek against Midoriya's comfortingly.
Yaoyorozu's house had several guest bathrooms, and everyone who was sharing a room took turns to use them.
Koda had been the first to shower, followed by Iida and Todoroki. Shinsou had volunteered to be the last to shower since he needed the hair dryer; his fluffy hair, while it wasn't that long, was pretty thick, and he would need quite a bit of time with the hair dryer.
Reiko sat on Midoriya's bed, grooming herself as Ryuto tried to preen himself by copying her. Needless to say, it took some time for him to figure out how to preen properly.
"Hey, Reiko, can I ask a quick question, if it's not too personal?" Iida spoke up, out of nowhere, "Koda, you'll translate, right?"
Reiko looked up from her grooming, and faced the purple haired boy as Koda nodded.
"Does Midoriya usually bring you out for patrols, or does he leave you at home? And what about Ryuto?" Iida asked.
Reiko tilted her head slightly, wondering how they knew about Midoriya being a vigilante, before remembering that Nezu had told her that Shigaraki had revealed Midoriya's identity during the attack.
"Brings me out most of the time. Then he went to Hosu. I stayed with Ryuto. Said it was foreign territory and Stain was too dangerous for us."
Koda haphazardly signed her reply to Shinsou, who translated it once again for Todoroki.
"Ah… that makes sense… I didn't remember seeing you there." Todoroki mused, "It was the right call… Stain wasn't even the problem; my dad tried to set him on fire."
Reiko glanced at him, and hissed.
"He did what?!"
Everyone flinched at the sudden hostility the cat displayed.
Midoriya had never really been fond of fire, and she knew that Midoriya had lost his parents in a fire from the bullying in his secondary school while being hidden in his school bag. She already knew that Enji was Todoroki's father; it had been mentioned time and time again in the cafeteria and during lessons.
But he tried to set him on fire?!
No wonder Midoriya was a terrified, shaking mess who had to stab himself in the arm to snap himself out of it when he got home. She really wanted to go give Enji a piece of her mind, but one, he couldn't understand her, and two, he would probably set her on fire when he deemed her annoying.
The door to the bathroom popped open, and they turned around, finding Midoriya with a towel around his neck. He was wearing another black hoodie and black pants, and he was holding the clothes that he had just worn for the day.
Midoriya walked out, and sat on his bed. He folded his clothes neatly, and placed them on the floor, next to his bed, before he started rubbing the towel through his green fluffy hair.
"Oh... I guess it's my turn…" Shinsou muttered, grabbing his clothes from his bed and making his way to the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him.
Reiko and Ryuto promptly hopped up onto Midoriya's lap and curled up, and Midoriya stopped drying his hair to look at the two animals, before continuing to work the towel through his hair.
He draped the towel over the headboard of the bed, and he carefully placed Ryuto and Reiko on the ground. He grabbed the thick blanket, and flung it off the bed, before chucking it in the closet. He proceeded to place Ryuto and Reiko on the bed, before climbing onto it himself.
"You don't… need the blanket?" Todoroki asked awkwardly.
Midoriya just stared at him, not answering the question, before he curled up protectively around the two sleeping animals. The tension never left his form, thought, but Todoroki settled back down on his bed, grabbing his phone to text Fuyumi.
It was another twenty minutes until Shinsou was done with his shower and his hair was finally dry, and Iida had gone out of the room to force everyone to go to sleep; there was shrill screaming from Bakugou's room and it sounded like it was either from Sero, Kaminari, or both of them.
Shinsou slipped under his blanket, and yawned, scratching the back of his head, and Iida walked into the room and closed the door behind him gently.
"It's nothing. Kaminari and Sero thought it would be funny to scare Bakugou after he got out of the bathroom. Bakugou couldn't blast them, but they're all running from him." Iida sighed, "Well, it's late. We should sleep now. Can I turn off the lights?"
"Sure." Shinsou shrugged, and Iida flipped the light switch, throwing the room into darkness.
Todoroki bolted awake, and blinked, cold sweat lining his brow.
He pressed his hand against his scarred face, trying to slow his heavy breathing.
Just a nightmare.
Todoroki looked around the room, trying to see if he had woken anyone by accident.
Iida was tucked under his blankets, Koda was curled up around his pillow, Shinsou had partially thrown the sheets off his bed -
He found a pair of emerald eyes gleaming in the moonlight, staring at him, right into his soul.
Todoroki froze, unsure of how to react to the predatory gaze of Midoriya, until Midoriya's gaze softened, and he closed his eyes, seemingly going back to sleep.
Todoroki heaved a sigh of relief as the pressure died down.
At least Midoriya seemed to be doing it on reflex instead of on purpose.
"Papa! Mama!"
"Shut up! You useless, quirkless scum!"
"What do you want!?" Hisashi hissed, throwing a broken bat that he had just broken to the ground.
Izuku couldn't do anything; he was scared, frozen stiff, dangling limply in the villain's grasp. There was a weird smell in the air, one that he recognised whenever his mother turned on the gas before cooking, and the furniture was drenched, for some odd reason.
"Get out of the way. Mr and Mrs Midoriya, you both have great quirks, fire breath and minor telekinesis. But your child, on the other hand….. He's quirkless. He doesn't deserve to live."
"Leave Izuku alone. It isn't his fault he doesn't have a quirk." Hisashi growled at the stranger that now stood in their living room.
"Last chance! Protect that useless freak of nature and I will kill you!"
"Never! Forget it! Izuku's my son and I'll protect him with my life! I don't care what you say! He's not useless and he'll never be!" Inko glared harshly at the man holding Izuku, as another held a knife against her neck, "He's just a child! Leave him alone!"
"Why do you even bother!? He's quirkless! He doesn't deserve anything! He's just a useless waste of space!" A villain cackled.
"What do you have against him anyway? Who are you, even!?" Hisashi took a step forward threateningly, but was stopped with a knife pressed against his throat.
"He's weak and worthless! He can't do anything, even if he does grow up! Just a waste of valuable resources!" The stranger shouted, "He's worse than nothing! He's better off dead rather than living a meaningless, worthless life!"
"Now, you may have your own viewpoints, but you do not treat my child with disrespect." Hisashi snapped, "Now get out before I arrest you and charge you with assault, trespassing of property and quirk discrimination."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" The villain shrieked, "Your house is drenched in gasoline and filled with petroleum gas! Take one breath of air and you'll die! You may breath fire, but I don't think that you're fireproof, are you!? Now let me kill the worthless child!"
Hisashi and Inko refused to budge, despite being threatened, and the man just growled, fishing a lighter out of his pocket.
"Very well, then. You just signed your own death warrant! You'll just die with him! You quirkless fuckers and everyone that accepts them are just defects! Leave everyone alone, you vermin! Go and die like the rest of your useless, worthless kind!"
He heard his mother screaming as gasoline was dumped directly over her and set ablaze, and Hisashi lunged, roaring in anger, ripping Izuku out of the villain's grasp, ignoring one of the other villains that slashed him in the chest with a knife.
And all he could see was fire.
He was surrounded by malicious orange and yellow flames that licked visciously at the walls of his home. The nauseating smell of burning bodies and gasoline filled the air. His mother's burning corpse, or what even remained of it, was on the other side of the room, where their assailant had once stood.
His father's body was still, wrapped around him limply on the ground. Izuku's shirt was drenched was blood, his father's blood. Izuku's hands shook, tears running down his cheeks as he tried to process what was going on.
"... Mama? … Papa?" Izuku cried out, shaking Hisashi's dying body.
"Zuku… get out of here…" He coughed, spitting out a bit of blood, "I'm so… sorry… Zuku…"
"No! Papa!" Izuku wailed, kneeling next to Hisashi's body and grabbing his hand. His legs and back were slowly turning black as the fire crept closer and closer to his upper body, and Izuku desperately tried to pat the flames away, burning his own hands in the process.
"Come on… we can get help… It's not too late"
"I'm so sorry, Zuku… there's no time..." Hisashi apologised, weakly pulling Izuku's hands away from the fire, "This… was the worst birthday ever… wasn't it… I'm sorry… "
"I don't care about that!" Izuku hiccupped, tugging weakly at Hisashi's hand, "Please? We can ask the heroes -"
"It's too late … I'm sorry… please… get out of here, hurry… " Hisashi hoarsely replied, the light in his eyes fading, "Remember… it's not your fault… you're not worthless… and you'll never be. Go be… the hero… that we all believed that you could be…"
He closed his eyes, and fell silent.
"No! Papa!" Izuku weeped, trying to shaking his father awake, "Papa!"
The front door burst open, and a man rushed into the house.
"There's a child! I'm going to bring him out!" He said, carefully making his way over to Izuku, and picked him up.
"No! Go away! Papa!" Izuku wailed, reaching out as he was picked up against his will, getting carried further and further from his father's corpse.
"PAPA!"
Midoriya forced himself to snap awake.
Just a nightmare, just a nightmare, you're fine, you're safe, it's just a nightmare -
He was biting his lip harshly, clenching his fists so tightly that his nails drew blood from his palms. He was curled up in a tight, shaking ball, Reiko having grabbed Ryuto and pulled him away the second she sensed Midoriya having a nightmare.
She looked down at him, wrapped around Ryuto protectively, and Midoriya looked up at her blearily. Midoriya pushed himself up, his head in a daze, and stumbled clumsily to the bathroom. He flung the door open, and turned on the tap, splashing cold water on to his face, waking the boy up instantly.
Stupid, useless, worthless emotions. Leave me alone.
He closed the bathroom door gently, and walked back to his bed. He climbed onto the bed wearily, and sank onto it, still breathing heavily.
Reiko leaned down, and licked Midoriya's cheek gently. Ryuto waddled over and pressed himself against his neck, before proceeding to nibble Midoriya's ear again.
Midoriya's heart clenched as he thought about his nightmare, or more accurately, his memory, replying over and over in his mind. His head was buzzing with static, and Midoriya tried to push away the revolting smell of burning bodies that surfaced from his mind.
He should have died that day, not his parents.
He wasn't useless? Yeah, right. He was the villains target. He was the one they wanted dead, not his parents.
Not worthless?
The villains were right. He didn't deserve to be alive.