Twisted Nightmares

Chapter 14

Misunderstanding

Pain. That's all Mineta felt when he slowly opened his eyes. That action proved to be a mistake however, when a blinding light pierced his retinas. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to block out the offending light. Groaning, he threw an arm over his already shut eyes out of reflex. Slowly taking the time to open his eyes and let his eyes adjust, he took a look at himself. He was lying on what Mineta guessed was a guest bed. He noticed a few cold compresses on his arms, one on his lower left leg, and one nicely settled on the top of his forehead. Other then the slight ease of pain thanks to the frozen pads on him, he still felt sore.

He groaned. Wasn't the pain supposed to at least be a bit more bearable? Or was it one of those situations where the pain would get worse the more it went on? Like having a stomach bug? He didn't have the faintest idea. Mineta certainly wasn't a medical expert, perhaps he'd ask Iida or Yaoyorozu for their second opinion. Although maybe that wouldn't get much out of them, they probably didn't know stuff like what a professional doctor would know.

He sat up, and looked around the room. Mineta knew immediately that this definitely wasn't a hospital, it looked more like a guest room, other than the rather cheap bed he was currently on. He was no home designer, but he thought it was pretty dull, not as dull as the white hospital rooms, but still pretty plain. No accounting for taste, this wasn't exactly an HQ sort of building, it was just a random building in the middle of a forest.

Well, save for Recovery Girl's room, something about it was very memorable. Probably her little Pez dispenser, didn't it have a little Kamui Wood head? He remembered getting a candy from her after he had to go to her after a rough day of training.

"Good to see you are up." A voice suddenly said, bringing Mineta out of his thoughts. He turned towards the direction where the voice came from. Pixie Bob looked at him dead in the eye, leaning against the wall with a very stern expression on her face. Her blue eyes pierced Mineta's.

Mineta sighed. He was definitely in for it now. Well, at least it wasn't Aizawa. Speaking of the tired eye teacher, where was he? Mineta tilted his head slightly. "Um, where is-"

"Aizawa?" Pixie finished for him. "He's somewhere else at the moment. You should probably head down to where you're friends are eating and join them. They're probably wondering if you're okay."

That last part of the sentence made Mineta raise an eyebrow. "But I am okay, right?" I'm not feeling anything internal. I'm pretty sure I'd be able to feel internal bleeding.

Pixie stood up, no longer leaning against the wall. "I don't know, you tell me. After all, you decided to willingly throw yourself off a damn cliff, and because of that you had pretty nasty bruising, even after I managed to catch you halfway." The woman's tone had an unspoken message. "Mind explaining yourself?"

Mineta gulped. So it was her who caught him. It explained how she knew how he got the bruising. "I...I uh..." He couldn't think of anything to answer her question. Well, nothing believable that is.

Noticing his lack of a response, Pixie Bob took that as a sign to continue her rant. "That could of killed you! I had to watch as you sprinted towards the cliff and jumped off. If I didn't see you, the fall would of definitely ended your life. What the hell were you thinking?" The blue Pussycat walked over beside the bed, her posture clearly showing strain, as if she was keeping in anger.

Mineta sighed as he absentmindedly scratched his neck. How to explain this? "It's complicated." Mineta being able to time travel wasn't something he could explain under a ten minute time frame. And she'd probably think he was insane, which he didn't blame her for.

"It's complicated." was the only thing he said in response, which made Pixie's stern expression soften. What had happened to this boy that made him feel like he had to take his own life? Family issues? Did something happen to him? Bullying? Did someone...?

Pixie shook her head. No. She couldn't be having dark thoughts right now. Right now her only concern was helping this boy, who was clearly troubled. Perhaps being near his friends would lift his spirits. Well, maybe not that Bakugo kid. She'd keep a close eye on him, from what she'd seen so far, he was definitely bully material. Better to be safe than sorry.

Pixie sighed, she knew that the boy's mental health wasn't going to get anywhere at this rate. She'd have to try later. "Look. You're friends are eating in the lunch room, you should go join them." The Pro gestured towards the exit. "As long as you're good enough to go?"

Mineta started to twist his arms experimentally in response. "It hurts a little." His arm wasn't exactly covered in purple splotches, but he could see a bit of odd coloring.

Pixie walked over to the bed and crouched down, getting a good look at the arm. "Where does it hurt?"

"Here." Mineta said as he rubbed the top of his arm, the side with the back of his hand. "If I press down on my arm here, it hurts."

Pixie raised her eyebrows. "Well, I have a solution to that problem."

The grape haired boy raised his eyebrows. "Really?" He rubbed the back of his head. "What do I do?"

Pixie narrowed her eyes."Don't press on it."

Mineta's face was blank for roughly five seconds. Five whole seconds of Mineta just staring blankly. Until his mouth curved upwards. Mineta let out a loud laugh that sounded genuine, to Pixie's delight. He let out one more sharp chuckle, which descended into a few giggles. His body shook as he vocalized his amusement.

Pixie wasn't very well known for having a sharp tongue, because she didn't like to use it. As her costume was modeled after cats, The Pussycats were more liked by children, as the booming colors of the paws, ears, and outfits caught the eyes of the younger generation. Most kids loved animals, and Pixie wouldn't be popular in a positive tone if she was snarky or sarcastic. She had to be cheerful, bright, and energetic. Especially to keep up with those younger kids who never seemed to run out of energy.

Sure, they were no "All Might" type heroes that punched the bad guys away. But they specialized in rescue operations, and the kids they rescued usually would trust the Pussycats more than the other heroes. So she had to keep a friendly persona up for the public eye, and for the children. Besides, the kids they rescued would be more at ease if she was smiling and speaking in a soft tone. The kids usually would be distracted from whatever was happening, and smile back.

It's why she usually didn't have a snarky or sarcastic attitude usually, unless it was a rare time like now. She knew that trying the soft voice route would probably irritate Mineta. From what she'd heard from Aizawa, the boy had recently gotten more prickly over the past weeks. So having a smart ass attitude was a vain attempt to make the poor boy laugh, and it seemed to pay off, for once. The kid was smiling now, and it definitely was a real smile. She probably caught the kid off guard with with the smart ass comment, but he seemed amused enough.

Mineta giggled again. "R-Right." He let out one last chuckle, and exhaled softy. "I uh, I'll keep that in mind."

Well, there was one thing that Pixie never got tired of, and that was making the kids smile. Something about it, she always found it very rewarding. She simply smiled back. "Good to hear." But as she looked at the smiling kid, she inwardly cursed. The Pussycat desperately wanted to talk to Mineta about his...situation, but since he was in higher spirits now, she'd wait.

Mineta looked at the door after he experimentally moved again. "So, am I good to go?"

"You tell me," Pixie said simply. She looked at him once more with a raised eyebrow. "Do you think you're good to go?" She didn't want the boy acting like he was okay, especially just to get out of this room. Straining himself was the last thing she wanted him to do.

He moved again. "Well, I think I'll be alright for now." Mineta moved his legs a little under the blankets, and flexed his toes. The test didn't bring any pain, as his expression didn't change when he did it.

Pixie sighed. The kid was probably going to try to get out either way. "Alright, fine. Just don't over exert yourself, got it?"

The grape boy seemed to light up as she removed the cold compresses that had become lukewarm over time from his body heat. Mineta excitedly struggled out of bed, wincing at the pain, and made a beeline towards the door.

Pixie frowned at the boy as he winced in pain. "Are you sure you're alright?" The boy seemed to be breathing a bit harder, as if moving this much caused him great exhaustion.

She saw Mineta grit his teeth. "I'll live." His tone held a bit of agitation, which Pixie quickly picked up on.

"That didn't answer my question." Pixie stated.

Mineta quickly opened his mouth to say something, but held his tongue to Pixie's relief. Injured or not, insulting your teachers wasn't a very wise thing to do.

Eventually the boy sighed in defeat. "Alright, I'm still a bit sore. But I'm alright." He looked up at Pixie. "May I please go?"

"Alright," Pixie finally gave in. "But don't strain yourself."

The boy nodded and after putting on his shoes, he headed for the door. His walking seemed a bit strained, but Pixie would let it slide. The boy wanted to be with his friends, and especially after what happened he needed someone to talk to. But it wasn't over, not yet.

"Mineta."

He looked back in response to her calling his name.

"You're not off the hook yet though, me and Aizawa are going to have a talk with you. Soon."

Mineta swallowed, obviously nervous. "R-right." Mineta quickly exited the room.

Pixie sighed as Mineta left. Only two things were on her mind now; What was she going to do with him, and how did Aizawa not go crazy? Class A was a handful, Pixie certainly pitied Eraserhead.

Mineta felt like slapping himself, he almost raised his voice at a Pro Hero. A Pro. Hero. That would of definitely got him in serious trouble if he did that. Mineta knew he'd have to watch his tone, it was going to get him punishment if he didn't watch his mouth. She even raised an eyebrow when he opened his mouth, so she was expecting it as well. He'd been trying to be a better person, and now he almost messed it all up right there. Insulting his friends was bad enough, but a Pro Hero...

Well, he'd probably would not be in UA anymore if he did that.

After he finished with his inner conflict situation, Mineta turned and started heading down to the dining room. He roughly got 8 feet away from the door when a voice called to him.

"Hey."

Mineta jumped upon hearing the new voice. How many more people were going to just start talking when his back was turned to them? He turned and saw the red Pussycat standing at the end of the hall. It was Mandalay. She had a rather indifferent expression that was not unlike Tsuyu's. She looked at his slightly bruised limbs, a flash of concern in her eyes. "You feeling alright?"

Mineta gave a smile he knew was half assed. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?" He wasn't one hundred percent alright, but he was making it so far. So technically he was alright.

Mandalay's blank expression didn't change at all, which Mineta knew that meant she didn't really believe him.

The red clad Pussycat sighed. "I was there too you know. I didn't see you jump, but after we all fell for your distraction, I turn back around and hear Aizawa shout for you, and Pixie suddenly sprinting towards the edge of the cliff to look down at something. You jumped off the cliff." Her tone wasn't accusatory, but surprisingly soft.

But now Mineta knew that she was interested in the situation as well. Now he had 3 Pro Heroes breathing down his neck for answers. What to say? "Well, I...I wanted to..."

Get a head start so I could get to camp first. But that seemed to have failed most spectacularly.

"I wanted to..."

Die?

Mandalay's eyes went wide at the thought that entered her head. Dammit, this was all sorts of messed up. First day, and stuff was already happening. But with the way this Mineta kid was dodging questions, he obviously didn't want to talk about it. After this camp, she'd make sure to let Nezu know that Mineta needed a therapist. If Pixie hadn't talked to Mineta about it yet, she was going to.

"Look," Her voice was calm, but firm. "If you don't want to talk about it, fine. I can't actually make you talk." Forcing someone to talk, especially after a suicide attempt was definitely a bad idea. Mandalay had learned that the hard way, after innocent people screaming and yelling from the stress...she hated to see it.

The boy seemed to exhale in relief. "Thank you." His eyes shifted to the wall, avoiding eye contact. "I promise I will talk about it. I swear."

Mandalay felt a ghost of a smile on her lips."I'm glad Mineta, you can go eat with you're friends. I'm sure they'll be glad to see you."

Mineta smiled once more, and nodded. "Thank you Miss Mandalay."

As the kid walked off, she knew that he'd be fine. He seemed to be alright other than being a bit sore. Although, everyone was now aware of Mineta's stunt. The boy didn't seem to be planning anything, but the Pussycats would rather be safe than sorry. Mandalay and Pixie had made sure to ask Ragdoll to keep her eyes peeled for Mineta... in case he tried again.

"So good! Rice is so good!" Kirishima cried, borderline dumping the white rice from the bowl into his mouth. The only thing keeping the rice from falling to the floor was how Kirishima shoveled the rice in his mouth before gravity could take effect.

Kaminari was also destroying his bowl of white rice, though he wasn't tilting it to dump it in his mouth. "It's soaking into my internal organs! It's a match for Lunch Rush's cooking!"

Mineta smiled at his friends enthusiastic eating. It must have been a hard day for them, they certainly earned the free meal. They had been fighting earth beasts all day, while a certain someone had been conked out for the majority of it all. Scratch that, he was out for all of it.

They did. All you did was throw yourself off a cliff trying to get a cheap head start. A venomous voice in Mineta's head reminded him. Those bruises they had were from battling monsters, not from plummeting down a damn cliff. The guilt seemed to eat Mineta from the inside. He knew they probably didn't want to talk to him, and he didn't blame them. He stood and watched as his classmates wolfed down their food, knowing damn well that he didn't earn the right to eat.

Thankfully none of his classmates had taken notice to him, now would be the perfect time to make a subtle exit and go to bed. Mineta turned to leave, only to hear a voice call to him.

"Hey, Mineta!"

He turned and saw Midoriya waving him over. There was a spot open by the green haired boy, and he was beckoning him to come over there, most likely to sit by him since there was the open spot. Mineta was tempted to turn down the idea, but he knew that the boy was just trying to be nice. Even if Mineta knew he didn't deserve Midoriya's kindness, rejecting the boy's offer would probably upset him.

Well, Mineta didn't plan to eat, but he also did not want half of Class A at his door with torches and pitchforks because he made Midoriya feel sad. So he settled with accepting Midoriya's request, and plopped down next to him. "Thanks." Mineta winced at his own tone. That probably didn't sound genuine. Funnily enough, even though he had been out of commission for the entire day, he still managed to feel exhausted.

He also had noticed Bakugo's glare once he entered the dinner room earlier, so he decided to avoid eye contact now that he was in a closer proximity.

The next 30 seconds was probably the most awkward moment of his life, since he couldn't think of any way to start a conversation with the light hearted boy that sat by him. He didn't bother grabbing any of the food on the table either, as tantalizing as it looked. He had to remind himself of his failure each time he caught himself looking at the food.

"So, uh..." Midoriya began. Mineta turned to face him, making the boy shift uncomfortably. "How...how are you?"

Mineta resisted the strong urge to sigh, but it'd be disrespectful to Midoriya. The boy was just trying to cheer him up. Why should he take his frustrations out on someone who didn't deserve it? Mineta blinked as he looked at Midoriya. "I'm alright, thanks."

Midoriya's smile went down a little, but not completely dying. The boy had picked up on Mineta's dull tone. "I uh, I'm glad to hear! The Pussycats made food for us, wasn't that nice of them?" Midoriya said as he gestured to his own bowl of food. Some white rice and and chicken, but Mineta couldn't tell what flavoring it was.

His optimistic look on everything was definitely infectious, Mineta would give him that. But he was afraid it wouldn't be enough. "Yeah, you guys definitely deserve it, after the stuff you guys did, fighting those earth beasts and all of that."

Midoriya tilted his head. "Oh, they told you Pixie used her quirk to make beasts?" He seemed surprised at Mineta knowing what happened.

Oh yeah. Mineta cursed his loose tongue. He was conked out for the entirety of the forest battle, wasn't he? Midoriya had a very good point. How would he know about the beasts if Mineta technically didn't see any of the monsters at all. Mineta felt a cold feeling in his gut. He need to stop and think before he blurted out whatever was on his mind. "Y-yeah." Mineta said, thankful that Midoriya had assumed that someone had told him. If Midoriya had blatantly asked how he knew, the grape boy might of froze on the spot. He wouldn't have an answer for the question.

"Aren't you going to eat? Or did they bring you something up at the med room?" Midoriya said, his face becoming concerned at Mineta.

Yeah right, like I deserved any of that. "You guys got fed because you earned it Midoriya. I just was sleeping the entire time. I'll eat tomorrow. I can handle it."

Truth be told, he was lying. He was starving, and he was absolutely parched. He planned to just go to the men's restroom after everyone went to bed, and proceed to drink tap water from the sink for ten straight minutes, he was just so damn thirsty. And hungry.

Midoriya frowned at Mineta's refusal to eat. "You haven't eaten all day? Or drank anything? You need to eat Mineta, especially for tomorrow's training." His tone had concern, but also a sternness to it.

Mineta clenched his fist. Did Midoriya not understand that Class A had earned their meal? He knew that he didn't since he threw himself off a damn cliff in a foolhardy attempt to get a head start. God, why don't ever think these things through? "I don't deserve it Midoriya, all right?" Mineta gestured to the other kids wolfing down their meals. "You guys had to fight for hours, and I was out for all of it. I really haven't used much of my energy. I'll be fine."

The green haired boy glanced at his meal, his features were scrunched up. Mineta knew that expression from anywhere. Frustration. The boy looked up to say something, but went back to silently eating. It appeared the conversation was over, to Mineta's relief.

Well, he thought it was over, but it seemed Mineta's luck had run out for the day.

"Dekoof rite!" Urarak said across the table, her voice muffled by the white rice currently shoved in her mouth. "Yull meeb yur stremf fer tomorrah!" It appeared that Uraraka had noticed Mineta and Midoriya's conversation and decided to join in.

Smiling at Uraraka's sudden assistance, Midoriya began talking again."Yeah! Besides, they probably won't be pleased if they heard you were starving yourself, you'd just get in more trouble for not taking care of yourself." Midoriya refrained from mentioning that Mineta was probably already in trouble for not taking care of himself earlier today, but he didn't want him feeling anymore down, seeing as he already was feeling bad enough.

And the other students wanted to know how Mineta's mental state was, and once they started asking questions, it was bound for disaster. And Midoriya wasn't looking forward to seeing how Mineta reacted to these questions, since he already was probably asked about it. No one else had noticed, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed Pixie Bob enter the dining room shortly after Mineta had walked in and begun looking around. Had the Pussycats spoken to him? Had Aizawa spoken to him as well? Eraserhead was obviously well known for his stern scoldings, completely merciless to whoever was unlucky enough to be scolded by him.

Staring at the food, Mineta didn't feel deserving. He had messed up big time on the first day at camp, and had angered all the teachers there, save for two others who he technically hadn't met yet. He also had probably caused the few classmates who cared about him a great amount of stress. At first he didn't want to admit it, but he was sort of glad he was going to be chewed out. He deserved it.

But Midoriya decided to pull him out of his thoughts. Mineta was acutely aware that a bowl of fresh white rice and a pair of chopsticks were currently being shoved in his face. "Eat Mineta! You'll need the energy!" Midoriya said cheerfully.

The sight of the steaming bowl of rice was tempting enough, but when that incredible scent hit his nostrils, Mineta felt his will begin to slowly break. "Uhhh... I uh..."

"And try the chicken! It's great!" Uraraka said.

Mineta remembered last time he had eaten the food last time he was here. It was the best damn thing he had eaten that week, and he remembered wanting to eat it again after he had a taste of his own attempt at cooking. Screw it.

He used the chopsticks to get a nice amount of white rice, the taste was just as incredible as it was last time. It really was as good as Lunch Rush. Danger was just around the corner, but Mineta decided to relax, to Midiroya and Uraraka's delight. Besides...

That white rice was pretty damn good.

Added a longer scenes as this original chapter was a bit fast paced, which I didn't like. Hope you enjoyed the rewrite to this chapter! If you do, Please Review/Follow/Fav!