Once dressed in some comfortable clothes Izuku had returned to the living room to join her on the couch. Aoi could not deny her sour mood was very much still sitting heavy on her own shoulders. Or maybe it was the sleepless night and the exhaustion that had her still feeling rather grumpy. She did not even force a fake smile when Izuku had joined her on the couch. With some movie already going on the tv. She honestly had not even paid a lot of attention to what she had tossed on the tv. The only thing that had mattered was that she was not just sitting there in the silence. But even with the tv filling the room with a little noise she still found her eyes drifting over to look in the direction of the front door.
What was it that kept drawing her attention towards the front door even when she could not visibly see it? It is as if she expects the door to suddenly fly off the hinges once again. And for the man of her nightmares to suddenly stroll into the apartment. She was a complete nervous wreck even while doing something as simple as sitting in the living room attempting to relax and just watch a movie. But her body and mind seemed to refuse to relax. Her mind just kept replaying what could happen and what did happen. She was so engulfed in her own head that she had not even noticed when Izuku had joined her.
It was not till she felt the couch dip and shift that she jumped and whipped her head over to the large green haired man who gave her an ever so soft sorry smile. He pitied her, she could see it in the sorry little smile he gave her. Could she blame him? Not really. She would give someone she scared who was a mental wreck the same look. And yet it still irritated her to be given such a look of pity. She did not want his pity. But then again what did she want from him? She did not want his pity. And his help gave her mixed feelings. She did not want most of his help. And yet when was the last time someone went out of their way to help her? That last person left her. Even he had ended up being selfish and choosing himself over her and left her alone in this cruel world after he had helped her so much. What is stopping Izuku from doing the same? Just because he was some hero did not mean he would continue to go out of his way to help her. Nor did it mean that he would ever put her above anyone else. If anything, being a hero meant he would put the world before her.
Ugh her head was starting to pound. Was it from the lack of sleep? Or was it from all the stress and overthinking? Probably both reasons and more were contributing to her headache. Turning her eyes over to the tv she at least attempted to make it look like she was watching whatever drama show she had on the tv. Izuku did not complain about the show she had picked, although it had simply been the first thing she had come to when turning on the tv. Still he did not ask to change the show as the two of them sat side by side simply sitting in silence with just the tv filling the room with any noise. Aoi assumed he was simply being nice and assumed that he had thought she wanted to watch whatever was on the tv. While in reality she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Her body softly leaned against the warm body beside her. For such a large and muscular body, Izuku was oddly comfortable to lean against. Maybe it was the feeling of safety he gave off? Or the fact that he was nice and warm to the touch. As much as she let her anger be directed at him, she could not deny the feelings of how he could almost sooth her racing mind with nothing more than his presence. Unlike this morning when she had curled up on his lap, she was able to allow sleep to wash over her. Her heavy eyelids drooping down and closing as she could not force them to stay open any longer as she curled up against Izuku's side. Unaware of the way his bright green eyes had been watching her as she drifted off to sleep while her knees were tucked up against her chest and she leaned into his side.
How long she slept for she was not sure. But the sudden knock at the door had her jumping, and quite literally falling off the couch to land on her ass as she blinked the sleep from her eyes. Of course the first thing to greet her was the completely surprised look of Izuku as he leaned over asking her if she was okay.
"Yeah I am fine," she said, happy to take the outstretched hand Izuku offered before standing up as a second knock at the door alarmed her once again. Once again she jumped. Damn it she was more spooky than a damn alley cat.
"Coming," Izuku called as he looked down at her as she had turned to glare towards the direction of the offending noise. Stupid knocking.
"Sorry you were asleep. Some friends of mine are stopping by quickly to drop some things off," Izuku said, smiling softly. Before moving to the front door to go open it and let their company in. Aoi had followed behind slowly, happy to hide behind the large man as she glared at the front door as if it was going to open up and reveal a monster instead. Even though it would be incredibly hard for someone who was not a well known hero to just walk past an armed front doorman and security.
As the door opened, Izuku greeted two people. Peeking out from behind him Aoi took in the view of the two people. A man and woman. The man was tall, easily as tall as Izuku with a deep blue hair in a neat part over his left eye. His eye brows a dark blue as well though they reminded her of check marks. His blue eyes were behind some simple black rimmed glasses. He was karate-chopping the air with his left hand as he spoke. Aoi did not recognize the man, but Izuku seemed to clearly know both people as he had greeted them by name.
The woman standing beside the man though, was a semi recognizable face. Aoi most likely had seen the woman on the news or maybe they had ran across one another on the street even? Aoi could not name where she may have seen the woman but at least she did seem a little familiar. Still Aoi did not know either person, and she had not been paying Izuku any attention when he had greeted them. The woman was not the tallest. Though she was still taller than Aoi's short little 161 cm stature. But then again they may have been pretty close with the brunette only a few centimeters taller than her. Her brunette hair reached her shoulders in an almost outgrown looking style bob. The front was longer than the back. Her cheeks looked to be almost consistent light pink, or maybe she loved a little too much blush in her makeup choice? Aoi didn't know. Her body, even while clothed in civilian clothes, was clearly one that could make any woman jealous. She had curves in all the right places, a decent sized chest, and clearly strong arms and legs while not looking like she was some muscular gym rat. It almost made Aoi feel a little bad about her own stringy feeling body.
It seemed at that moment the woman had spotted Aoi glancing from behind Izuku as big brown eyes seemed to lock with her own chocolate brown ones.
"Oh Izuku, is this her?" The woman had suddenly said, completely interrupting the conversation the two men had been having. This in turn had both men stopping what they had been talking about to turn and look at the woman who was quickly uncomfortable with the attention of everyone on her.
"Oh yeah. This is my neighbor Sugahara Aoi. Aoi, these are two of my friends and coworkers. Ida Tenya and his wife Ochako. You may know them better by their hero names. He's Ignium and she is Uravity," Izuku had introduced the two newcomers to her. As so they were both heroes. That's not really surprising, after all she had long ago suspected that the man did not have any non hero friends.
"We are kinda roommates now," She had softly corrected when he had introduced her as his neighbor. Yeah they were no longer neighbors, but that was not an argument worth having at the moment. Forcing an ever so slight smile she bowed to both hero's standing before her.
"It is very nice to meet you," she said as she bowed to greet the two.
"It's so nice to finally get to meet you. Deku and Shoto have spoken a lot about you," the brunette woman was quick to step into the apartment and reach out to cup Aoi's hands in hers in front of them. Okay Izuku talking about her was expected. But Shoto saying anything was a bit surprising, and honestly made her a little skeptical.
"I hope it's all good things they Have said?" She asked softly though it was more of a rhetorical question. Yet the woman standing in front of her was quick to nod her head.
"Oh of course. Though Shoto said you were cute. He really did not give you enough credit. You are just so adorable," the brunette was almost squealing as she stepped into Aoi's personal space. Her face slightly heated up. Had she heard that right? Had Shoto actually said she was cute? Or maybe it was more so she was a little upset that it was not Izuku who had said she was cute that upset her. And what was that about Todoroki who was the one calling her cute?
"I believe it was Shoto who was actually teasing Izuku when he had called her cute after listening to Izuku describe her and said he had forgotten that part of the description. Shoto was simply teasing Izuku," Ida had corrected his wife. Though that had not exactly helped soothe Aoi's feelings over hearing that Shoto had still been the one to call her cute.
"So? Shoto wasn't wrong. She is so adorable," The brunette had said, glancing over at her husband. Poor Aoi was not sure how to handle the energetic and friendly woman who still had not yet let go of her hands. Feeling slightly overwhelmed, Aoi turned to look at Izuku for some support . But what she saw was a blushing man who couldn't meet her eye. God damn it now was not the time for him to be shy in her books. Well he was clearly going to be no help.
"Uhm can I have my hands back now?" She asked softly looking at the brunette standing before her. Ochako blushed softly and flashed her a quick smile as she let go of Aoi's hands and allowed her to step back and away from the female hero.
"Sorry about that," Ochako had said as she let go of the shorter woman and watched her as she stepped back. Aoi didn't even try to hide the fact that she was now hiding behind Izuku. Standing in the doorway of the apartment was making her skin crawl. Even if it was company, and company that were hero's at that, it did not stop her from feeling uneasy.
"You may as well invite them in," she said to him before she took that as her excuse to retreat further into the apartment. She was more than happy to retreat into the kitchen. Throwing on a kettle of water so she didn't look like she was being rude as she hid away from the newcomers that Izuku was now inviting into their home.
The voices seemed to slowly follow her as she retreated into the apartment. She had not even noticed that outside with his friends there had been grocery bags sitting on the ground. So she had to hide her displeasure when the three bodies followed her into the kitchen. Each one's hands now burdened with bags of food and necessities. But at least that did answer her unasked question of why they were there. So instead of chatting with the hero's she chose to busy herself with making tea and putting away groceries. And even though Izuku tried to help her she happily shooed him away telling him to talk with his friends.
Luckily he did not argue as he led the way to the living room where moments ago they had been nearly cuddled up together while she was sleeping. But now the three hero's were seated there chatting about what Izuku had missed during his days off. It did not sound like he had been missing out on much. Tenya had said patrols had been normal. What exactly normal meant she did not know but it seemed Izuku did understand. Probably meant they only saw the odd petty theft. That would be normal in Aoi's book, typical pick pockets, purse snatchers and drug deals were the norm in her books when dealing with people on the street doing illegal things.
But she did not know if that was also the normal standards for hero's to come across on the everyday routines they had of walking the streets doing their patrols. Either way it's not like it mattered to her about what they were talking about. She did not care about petty things that went down on the streets. If it did not involve her life she did not care. One thing she had learned a long time ago was that if the issue did not involve her directly then it was safest to turn a blind eye. She may not like it, but poking her nose into issues that did not relate to her could get her killed. After all, what could a quirkless woman do to stop someone with a quirk? Nothing. That had been made more than clear, especially lately. So she let the noise in the living room become simple background noise as she moved around the kitchen taking her sweet time putting away food and waiting for the water to boil before she made the cups of tea. Once she finally had nothing left to do she finally could avoid their guests no longer. With the cups of tea in hand she started towards the living room. Offering the couple the first two cups before she retreated for the other two cups and offered a cup to Izuku before she took her own seat to slowly sip at her hot tea. At least it gave her something to do with her hands rather than sit there and fidget.
"So Izuku, when do you think you'll be back?" The other woman had asked, drawing everyone's attention to look over at Izuku. Aoi had been wondering the same thing but Izuku would never answer her with an actual date. Maybe this time he would?
Then again as she watched him nervously rub the back of his neck it seemed that Aoi was too hopeful. Izuku was an open book as he sat there looking so unsure as he seemed to hesitate on his answer.
"I am not exactly sure. I hope you guys don't mind having to pick up my slack," Izuku said as he rubbed the back of his neck and quickly apologized to his friends for making them take over his work as well as their own.
"You can go back to work Izuku. I don't need a babysitter," she said simply trying incredibly hard to not snap at him. She wanted him to leave her alone. Sure he brought some comfort to her worried mind. But at the same time if she wanted to have any hope at finding a way out of the apartment then she needed him not to be watching her every move.
She watched the man open his mouth, apparently he was about to argue with her. But that earned him a glare from the woman. A heavy reminder for him to be careful about what he said next.
"I know. I'm not staying home to just baby sit you. I'm enjoying the days off I have earned is all," yeah that was a bit of a lie, and they all knew it too. But with people around she did not want to fight with him on the subject.
"Well, don't take too long. You're making your friends work extra hard," she said with a soft huff as she turned her attention back to her cup of tea. As if the tea leaves that sat at the bottom were somehow very interesting.
Two sets of eyes had been watching the pair go back and forth. Both finding the interaction entertaining. Usually people fawned over Deku, the number one hero. But not this woman. She did not seem to have any issues speaking her mind, and if anything she clearly wanted to say more but did not want to do that in front of strangers. Which only seemed to entertain the duo more.
"So Sugahara. Deku says you're a really good cook. I've seen the lunches you have packed for him before and they looked really good," Ochako said, trying to change the subject and lighten the mood. Looking up from her cup Aoi simply shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm okay. Though that idiot can actually cook pretty good himself. Why he took leftovers that I made for lunch I will never understand," she said, slightly jabbing a thumb over at the man she spoke about. That earned her a chuckle from the other woman.
"Yeah Deku can cook pretty well but he rarely seems to actually use those skills any more. He used to cook a lot when we were in high school," the brunette said which oddly sparked a little bit of curiosity from the woman upon hearing about her roommates' younger days in high school.
"What was it like? Going through school with the current number one?" Aoi asked with an arch of her brow and a soft tilt of her head.
"Oh you would not believe it. The first time I met Deku we were both on our way to the entrance exam to get into UA. And I saw this young boy walking. He was not paying attention and he tripped over his own feet. He was about to fall flat on his face, I used my quirk to keep him from falling. We then took the entrance exam together. Actually we all did. Deku, Tenya and I all took the same exam together. We all passed and ended up in the same class together," with that Aoi listened as the brunette happily talked about the three years she spent with both her husband and the other hero's. She had left out some of the gruesome details about the war they also were a part of. But she had been more than happy to share stories about their days training together. And living together after the dorm system had been set up after all the issues the school had with criminals during their first year. Aoi happily sat there sipping her tea as she listened to the stories being shared.