Chapter Nine

Even though she normally would have sat with the rest of the girls in her class, Levi instead took her lunch to a table at the far end of the cafeteria away from everyone else. She found a place next to a huge window and stared out over the lawn. It was starting to get cold-winter would be there before she knew it. She and Kat would have to get their coats out soon. How cold did it get in Japan anyway?

She sighed and poked at her meal. Over and over she thought about what James said before he left. Someone was coming and he didn't want them finding out about her and Kat. What did that mean? Who was coming? Did it have something to do with why he abandoned them? She didn't know, and she worried she'd never find out.

It was a personal affront, his leaving them and his abandoning them a second time without answering any of their questions. Deep down Levi knew James wouldn't have set out to hurt them . . . but it was hard not to get her feelings hurt. It was hard not to want to cry all the time. She didn't blame Kat for not leaving her room since it happened. She was just glad Todoroki was there with her-she didn't want a repeat of what happened back home to happen again. Neither of them would survive it if they had to go through that all over again.

Katsuki slid into the seat across from her without a word. He frowned at his lunch. "I don't know why I got this."

"Did you not want it?" She asked, barely hearing him, barely there. "Looks good."

"I mean its fine I guess. I was torn between this and something else and now I'm wondering if I shouldn't have gotten that instead."

"You remind me of Kat." Levi poked at the noodles in the bowl in front of her. "She'd be going back and forth fifty times because she can't make a choice."

"Jeeze, that sounds exhausting."

"I can't tell you how many times she's texted me since we came to U.A. to make sure she locked her dorm room door because she can't remember. And I do it because she'd freak out literally for hours if I didn't. That girl's anxiety is no joke."

"It sounds like i-"

"Hey!" Mina chirped as she slapped her tray down next to Mina. "It sure is getting chilly, isn't it? Brrr! I'm going to have to go find a new sweater soon!"

Tsuyu sat next to Mina. "Me too! Ribbit, Momo, we should go shopping again soon and look for winter clothes ribbit!"

"Ooh yes!" Momo squealed as she slid into the seat next to Tsuyu. "I've been dying to go shopping again!"

Kirishima sat next to Bakugo, who glared at him. "What's this about shopping? If you girls are going to be planning something, we dudes should do something too! Not something as girly as shopping, but something else!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?!" Bakugo shouted, bristled like a cat, as Kaminari sat next to Kirishima.

"Uh, eating lunch. What does it look like dummy?"

Bit-by-bit the entirety of Class 1-A congregated around Levi and Bakugo's table. Jiro, Tokoyami, Sato, Midoriya, Ochaco . . . Levi wished they would all have just gone to their usual table and left her alone. She quietly wished Katsuki would've gone with them but was also glad he'd come with her. As much as she wanted to be left alone she didn't want to be without him. His presence was a comfort . . . a fact that she was sure no one would have believed if she said so. They all prattled on about plans for the upcoming winter months. The girls wanted to go get some winter clothes, the boys were excited to start snowball fights and to go sledding. They argued over whose team Todoroki would be on since he had a marked advantage in winter sports.

Being around so many people exhausted Levi beyond measure. It took so much energy to interact with more than just Kat, Todoroki, and Bakugo on a normal basis and that was energy she just didn't have right now. Only a few minutes in and Levi wanted to put her head down on the table and close her eyes. She flicked her gaze up at Katsuki who eyed her with concern. He must've been able to tell how she felt. He was getting into a weird habit of that.

Levi looked up and saw Mr. Aizawa approach. "Mr. Aizawa?"

He didn't usually have lunch with them-none of the teachers did. What was he-?

A scream squeaked out of Levi's throat when she felt her arms pulled behind her back. She looked up and saw Ida overhead working them behind the chair. Momo stood and produced a rope from her arm and handed it to Ida. Kirishima and Kaminari both stood in time with Bakugo and shielded him from Levi.

"Hey, we're real sorry man," Kirishima said with an apologetic smile. "But we're worried about Levi and Kat and this is the only way she'd talk to anyone."

"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY DUMBASS!"

"Yeeeeah that's a no from us." Kaminari said, matching Kirishima's expression.

"Let me go!" She imagined a force pushing out from her body to scatter those around her-but nothing happened. "Wh-what? My quirk! It-!"

"It's taking a nap," Mr. Aizawa said with his arms crossed and eyes locked on her without blinking. Shit! She remembered hearing that his quirk was temporarily erasing quirks as long as he didn't look away or blink. Levi screamed a barrage of swears into the air as Ida tightened the rope around her arms and Momo made more rope to tie her to the chair. "Now, Kane, we want to talk to you about what's been going on with you and Garrison lately. It's no secret that, without warning, the two of you started acting strange out of nowhere. We haven't seen Garrison in weeks, or Todoroki for that matter. You in particular we've never seen act this mopey. Ida here says you haven't even broken any school rules in almost three weeks."

"That's when we knew something was up." Mina touched Levi's shoulder. "You love torturing Ida."

"The peace has been disconcerting!" Ida said as he pulled the rope tight and stood. "As your friend and your class rep, I cannot stand by and allow you and Katrina to suffer in silence. So please, tell us what's going on."

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Bakugo knocked his chair back as he stepped back. He held his hands out and fire sparked on his palms.

Mr. Aizawa, without looking away from Levi, pointed at Bakugo. "Do you want her to feel better or don't you?"

His words seemed to echo through the entire cafeteria, though only their table noticed anything was going on. All the other classes went on as if nothing were out of the ordinary. It was enough to make Levi wonder what the hell kind of school U.A. was if something like this could be going on and nobody would care. Then she remembered, and it didn't seem so odd.

She turned her eyes on Katsuki. He'd been stalled by Mr. Aizawa's words. He looked between their teacher and his friend, and then to his other friends who had all taken it upon themselves to try and help. He conceded.

"Yeah Levi," Midoriya said from down the table on Bakugo's side. "You can talk to us! We all care about you and want to help!"

"He's right." Toru's school uniform leaned forward. "We really consider you guys one of us, and there's no way we'd let one of our own be hurt by anything! So please, tell us what's wrong so we can help."

What was Levi supposed to think about all of this? Their faces, so kind and concerned . . . she'd never known this kind of affection from anyone except Kat and James. These were people who couldn't have been more different . . . yet they'd banded together and created a family. They wanted to help each other. They looked out for each other.

And here they were, wanting to look out for her too. Wanting to care about her too. She stared at all of their faces in a silence that seemed to stretch on forever. Then, when she least expected it, she hung her head and sobbed. It made her feel slimy to cry in front of so many other people but it also felt . . . it felt good. Like a release. Like a gasp of fresh air after holding her breath for too long. With the tears came the story, and with the story came a barrage of admissions about her family life and how much James meant to her and how he was her only real family because no one else loved her. She didn't mean to say so much and regretted a lot of it. But at the same time, she felt a release like none other.

The rest of her class came around and hugged her. Much to her surprise, she didn't want them to stop. For the first time in her life, she felt like she had an actual family that cared about what happened to her. They wanted to know why she was hurting and to do what they could to either ease or solve the pain altogether. Was this what it felt like to be in a normal family? To not be bred to be a tool and nothing else? To be worth more than just the strength of her quirk?

At the end of her story, she felt her quirk return to her. Mr. Aizawa looked away and told Ida to untie her.

The smell of sweet caramel enveloped Levi and wafted up her nose as she burrowed deeper into the black hoodie. She pulled the hood over her head and curled her legs up tight to her chest. Nothing felt safer than here. It was a strange place to end up for sure-but maybe she'd been friends with Kat too long because this strangeness made her feel good and all she wanted in that moment was to make herself feel good so she didn't question it. She overthought things all the time anyway. Why not let herself be weird like her friend and just do what she felt like?

She couldn't shake the feeling left behind by the lunchtime fiasco. They all went to so much trouble just because they were worried about her. It was still such a strange concept that she couldn't wrap her mind around it. It was the kind of thing she and Kat would do for each other, and that James had done for them once upon a time-but it never occurred to Levi that anyone outside those two people were capable of such a thing. No one loved each other. No one cared. It was the three of them against the world, and when James left that trio was bumped down to just two. His leaving might as well have been a death in a very small family.

Yet her entire class had gone to the trouble of tricking her, tieing her to her chair, and demanding to know why she was in so much pain. Even Mr. Aizawa, whom had treated her like just another troublesome kid he had the unfortunate luck to be teaching, cared enough to be part of that circus. She had no idea what to do with any of that information and her eyes burned from all the crying and she just wanted to hide somewhere and sleep.

Her eyes popped open when she heard the door click open. She watched a pair of boys' shoes walk across the carpet. Their owner sat on the bed above her, sighed, and muttered "Fuck, where did it go? I thought I left it right here . . ."

Katsuki Bakugo knelt down and looked under his bed, only to find Levi there curled up in his hoodie. She waved at him and smiled. "Hey."

He shouted and fell back. "WHAT THE FUCK?! HOW DID YOU GET IN MY ROOM?!"

Levi squirmed out from under the bed and stared at him, not bothering to get up. "It's not like you lock it."

"SO YOU BROKE IN?!"

"I didn't break anything. I opened the door."

He groaned and shook his head. "Whatever. Why are you under my bed? And why are you wearing my hoodie?"

"It's comfy under here." She wiggled an oversized sleeve at him. "And this is warm and smells nice."

Bakugo's cheeks burned red. He looked away. "You like how my hoodie smells?"

"A lot, actually."

He scoffed. "Well whatever. Get out from under my bed. You can hang out in here if you want but stop being under there, it's creepy."

Though she would've preferred to stay under the bed, she crawled out and sat on top of it instead. Katsuki sat next to her and leaned forward on his elbows. "I was wondering where you went. You ran off after lunch and weren't in your room."

"You don't get to get mad that I broke in here when you broke into my room too."

"Whatever. That's not my point. I guess . . . I'm just . . . I'm glad you're safe and whatever. Are you all right after what happened at lunch? I can't believe those guys-"

"Do you know why they did it?" she asked.

Katsuki looked at her with raised eyebrows. "You don't know?"

She shook her head.

"They did it because they love you, stupid." He pushed her over onto his pillows.

They did it because they love you. Levi lay on his pillows, breathing in his scent, thinking about what he said. Trying to make sense of the words.

"But why? They're not . . . I mean . . ." what did she mean? That they weren't her family? That might have been why they loved her. Her family wasn't capable of it, so why shouldn't a bunch of complete strangers be? That they weren't her friends? Maybe. She thought they saw her as just that random American girl who moved into their world and would always remain on the fringes of it. That Kat was the only friend she would really have. Bakugo, maybe, but he was more of a rival and guest in some late night steamy dreams than anything else. And yet . . .

"I hate to tell you this, Levi, but you and Kat are part of the family now." He shook his head. "It's a weird family that I didn't want to be part of either, but one day you just look up and realize you've been adopted by these freaks and they'll fight and die for you. So I guess your only choice is to just get used to it." When she didn't respond, Katsuki reached over and rubbed her calf. "Look, if you have another freakout or whatever you can come here. I don't care. But seriously, they're good people and care a lot about you. So you can . . . I don't know . . . relax around them or whatever. They'd die before they hurt you."

Levi's bottom lip quivered and she burst into tears.

"H-Hey! What are you crying for? Stop it!"

"I didn't know-I didn't-" She gasped. "I've never had-"

She couldn't finish her thoughts no matter what angle she tried, but she didn't have to. Katsuki sighed. "L-Look, I didn't to make you cry, okay? Quit it." When she didn't, Katsuki plopped down in the spot on the bed next to her and stared up at the ceiling. "Stop crying. I'll . . . I'll kill you."

Instead, Levi rolled over and put her forehead on his shoulder. She let the last of her sobs fall from her then took a deep breath and muttered. "Yeah, I'll kill you too numbskull."