This is definitely a heavier chapter. Just some warnings: referencing to abuse(medical, emotional, and mental), and references to the Shiketsu Incident.

Leinei shifts the blankets and pillows around on the floor in her dorm, pursing her lips to the side as she arranges them to support her and Katsuki for the impromptu movie night she had planned. She had several different genres lined up on the computer she borrowed from Yaoyorozu, a bucket of popcorn with chili powder sprinkled on top, and Mr. Spokes propped up on one of the pillows because that poor thing deserves a break from everything too.

"Perfect," she sighs in relief, smiling at her effort. This should cheer him up. He did really well today. He deserves this.

She sits down on the blanket, pulling her phone over and unlocking it. She goes to their chat, starting to type out for him to come over when there's a knock at the door. Groaning, she stands and walks over to it.

"Denks, if this is to show me your license again-"

Her throat closes as she opens the door and sees Aizawa standing there. Out of instinct, she looks around him to see if Katsuki is behind him, or if her siblings somehow managed to sneak into the school without letting her know.

"Is…everything okay?" she asks, leaning back and looking up at him. "I didn't do anything wrong today. At least I don't think I did."

"No you didn't do anything wrong. There's actually someone here who wants to speak with you. If you're busy, they can wait."

"Um, no I'm not really busy…it can wait," she mumbles, glancing over her shoulder at the would be makeshift date night for the young couple. "It shouldn't take long, should it?"

"I don't believe so."

"Alright. We can go then."

We have tomorrow off…We can stay up most of tonight to watch movies and talk. That would be nice…We haven't really spent a lot of time together lately…

She follows Aizawa to one of the conference rooms, him holding the door open as she walks in. She pulls her sleeves down over her hands, anxiety creeping up as she sees Detective Tsukauchi sitting at the table. He smiles warmly at her as Aizawa closes the door behind them.

"Leinei, it's wonderful to see you again!" he says. "You seem to have healed up nicely. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," she says softly, sitting in the chair in front of him with her hands in her lap. She pulls at the cuff of her hoodie sleeve, her legs trembling as tears start to creep in her eyes. This feels too familiar, I don't like it.

"Did..did I do something wrong?"

"No, no!" he says quickly, seeing the fear in her eyes. "I know the last time you were in one of these rooms was following a traumatic incident. I promise you aren't in any kind of trouble right now. We actually just wanted to talk to you about your living situation prior to UA. Do you feel comfortable sharing that with us?"

"Um…I'm..it.."

"No one outside of this room will be privy to any of this unless you want them to be," Aizawa adds, standing off to the side with his hands in his pockets. "If you aren't comfortable talking about it right now, we can change the subject to something else."

"Can..Can I ask why? Why are we discussing this?"

"Your teacher has brought it to my attention that you may have an unsafe home environment."

"Wouldn't a social worker take care of that then? Why would the police need to get involved?" Leinei asks, looking between Tsukauchi and Aizawa. "N-no one is going to be arrested, right?"

"No ma'am. A social worker isn't involved due to the fact they would have to report it to your guardians, which as we are all aware, are not actually Reina Salinsa and Keigo Takami as per your student file. I do not," Tsukauchi says softly. "It's safer for you this way."

"Right…because they would probably pull me out of school if they knew," she murmurs, her shoulders slumping. She glances at the table, seeing a thin stack of paper and a pen. "What..what's that for?"

"In case you feel like writing any of this down," he assures. "Sometimes people are able to explain things better in writing than speaking it out loud. Plus, a written statement is better admissible."

"Admissible for what?"

"We're trying to get you emancipated," Aizawa finally says, watching the way her face goes pale. She stands up, trying to leave until he stands in front of the door and stops her. "We already talked it through with your brother-"

"No, you don't understand," she whispers, starting to hyperventilate. "They-they won't let you, they'll-they'll-they control so much. They're the reason I'm not in Tartarus, and why my siblings are heroes-they won't let us go. Please, please, if you do this, I'll never be allowed to see my siblings again!"

"Why do you say that, Leinei?" Tsukauchi asks as she tries to wipe the nonexistent tears from her eyes. She can't stop shaking, Aizawa gently leading her back to the seat. "This is a safe place, you can tell us why you think that."

"Because they told me," she whimpers, sniffling and shrinking down in her seat. "We have to do everything they say or we'll be punished. Reina had her disobedient streak, and they sterilized her for it."

"They did what?" Aizawa says in horror, blinking fast.

"Could you elaborate on that for me, Leinei?" the detective asks softly. "What do you mean they sterilized her?"

"They caught her um…" Leinei takes a breath, closing her eyes as she tries to steel her nerves. "They caught her having sex with an older man outside the Commission itself, and as punishment, they…took it out."

"Why would they do that?"

"They said it was because physical things like sex distract us from our duties. They said that they left her ovaries in so she wouldn't go into menopause prematurely, but my sister can't have children because of a decision they made for her."

"Did they make that decision for you and your brother as well?"

"N-no, as far as I know, he and I are both still intact. I have regular periods. I-I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable asking Keigo if he was, y'know."

"Understandable. Well, what if I was able to reassure you that you would still be able to see your siblings even if you are legally cut away from the Commission? They are technically adults and capable of making their own decisions."

"Hawks had the same concerns," Aizawa says softly, trying to encourage her. "But he's with you the entire way no matter what happens. He loves you and wants the best for you."

"I'd still be able to see them..?"

"The only thing that would change is that you have the power to make your own legal decisions. There's a handful more legal ramifications to it than that, but that's the biggest concern we have at the moment. It would be treated as an emergency situation, depending on the evidence we get."

"Hawks already gave us several written statements on your guys' treatment growing up. We just need yours, preferably including Gorlov and how they handled your quirk situation. We don't have to do it all in one day, and can spread it out over the course of a few days or a few weeks, depending on how you feel. None of this leaves this room, and the only ones outside of this room that are even remotely aware that we're doing this are Principal Nezu and your brother."

"But..you won't do any of this if I don't want to," she says, trying to clarify this fact.

"Yes. If you choose you aren't ready for this right now, we can file this away and you can contact me when you are," Tsukauchi assures her. "Or if you choose you never want to go through with this, I will completely destroy the file and forget we ever met here tonight. It's entirely up to you."

It's up to me..?

"I…" She bites her lip, taking a soft breath. "I want to do this. I just don't want my siblings to get in trouble because of me."

"None of this will be breathed in the direction of the Commission until after the paperwork has been finalized and a judge has seen it," Aizawa affirms, nodding his head for emphasis. She lets out the breath and pulls the paper over with the pen.

"Take as much time as you need."

So she starts writing, pausing here and there to revise and fix what she was saying. She loses track of how long she writes, hearing Aizawa's phone go off at one point and the door opening and closing as he leaves. Eventually, she gets through the entirety of the stack of paper, her wrist and fingers cramping as she finally puts the pen down. Her heart is racing, seeing the words across each page, front and back. Tsukauchi takes the stack and pulls it over, making sure the pages are in order as she rubs some feeling back into her joint.

"Thank you, Leinei," he says softly, nodding. "I'm going to tell you now, you're very brave for doing this. I've seen people in similar situations end up in even worse situations because they were unable to do this. I will make sure personally you don't end up that way."

"Thank you, Detective," she murmurs, standing up. "If you need more..please just tell Mr. Aizawa and I'll write as much as I can to give to you."

"Of course. Please, go rest. I will hopefully be in touch soon."

"Right…"

She leaves the room, feeling exhausted and drained as she walks down the hall. The movie night was the furthest thing from her mind. She just wanted to go back to her room, curl up with Mr. Spokes, and sleep until someone got worried enough to come check on her.

Katsu will understand…I'm just so tired…

The words she had written already left her head, a blur through the anxiety and stagnant terror twisting her stomach. What if the Commission finds out? What if they pull her from UA? What if, what if, what if?

"Oh hey, Lei, do you want to-" Mina starts, only to see the exhaustion written on her face as she slowly lowers the deck of cards. Her shoulders slump as she sees her friend's face, concerned for the way she was dragging her feet and seemed to be disconnected from the world.

"Is..she okay?" Sato asks as they watch her trudge up the stairs. "She usually says hi."

"Something must've happened," Denki says, shaking his head as Mina starts to deal out the cards. "We can check on her later. If we try now, she won't talk."

Leinei gets to her room, barely opening the door before seeing Katsuki sitting on the blanket with the pillows she had set up before going to meet Tsukauchi. It nearly shocks her for a moment, seeing Mr. Spokes in his lap and eating popcorn as he reads something on his phone. She closes the door behind her, the click of it shutting being what gets him to look up. He locks his phone and sets it down, moving the stuffed animal to the side as she comes to sit next to him. Without a word, she turns and lets her forehead fall against his shoulder.

He says nothing, placing his chin on top of her head and places his hand on the back of her neck. After a few seconds, he shifts and places a gentle kiss against her temple, pulling back slightly.

"You okay?" he says softly, getting her to look up at him. It was then she finally noticed the bruise on his cheek and the bandage on his forehead, like he had just been in a fight.

"What happened?" she asks, brushing her fingers against it. "Who did-"

"Deku and I fought," he mumbles, grabbing her wrist and rubbing his thumb across her palm. "And a lot of stuff got said, and I don't exactly want to relive it right now because he may have kicked my ass and I may have cried."

"I missed seeing you cry in front of someone that wasn't me? Darn," she teases, only to have him roll his eyes at her. "What did you two talk about?"

"Stuff," he says with a shrug. "The Kamino thing, his quirk, some other stuff. What about you? Where have you been?"

"Um, Aizawa needed me for a paperwork thing," she replies, half telling the truth. It made her sick to lie to him again. "It took longer than I thought it would. Are you and Izu friends again?"

"It's…complicated."

"Meaning complicated complicated or you don't wanna talk about it complicated?"

"Can I say both and we change the subject?"

"Sure," she laughs, smiling at him. He relaxes and shifts so he can lay down, placing his head in her lap. He grips the edge of her shirt, burying his face in her thigh as she starts to gently run her fingers through his hair.

"I was actually going to invite you to watch movies with me tonight," she says softly, getting him to peek up at her. "Yaoyorozu let me borrow her laptop so we could use the Netflix account. I didn't know what you wanted to watch-"

"Can we watch 50 First Dates?" he mumbles, lifting his head up. "I really just want something stupid to laugh at and make fun of."

"That is perfectly fine with me," she replies with a giggle, reaching over for the laptop and pulling it to her side. She gets the movie going, pushing the device back slightly and grabbing the pillows to lay them behind her. After she gets comfortable, Katsuki shifts around so he can lay his head on her chest and wrap his arms around her.

"Someone's clingy today," she murmurs. "Usually it's me hanging off you."

"Yeah well, watching some dumbass flirt with you today and you losing your shit, then the crap with Deku, I just…"

"Want to be held for a few?"

"You tell anyone and I-"

"Will vehemently deny it like everything else," she says teasingly, rubbing his back in slow circles. He nods and settles his head back on her chest, watching the movie with her instead of arguing.

It's nice that he can be vulnerable with me like this…He's honestly kinda cute when he's like this.

After the movie ends, Katsuki sits up, getting to close the computer before Leinei can pick the next movie. She looks at him, brow furrowed in confusion as he runs his fingers through his hair. Anxiety settles back into her stomach as it seems a thousand thoughts fly behind his eyes.

"Every..thing okay?" she asks.

"You told me before that you didn't remember what the names of the people from the Incident were," he says, pulling one knee up to his chest as her shoulders slump. "I told you before, I don't like liars. So what's the actual truth here?"

"It…it's one of those repressed memory situations I guess. I didn't want to remember, so I didn't," she replies, trying to make it make sense to the both of them. "I knew Galliant because y'know, his being a pro hero and all. The others-it's a bit more complicated."

"Okay, you don't have to tell me all of them. That doesn't matter," he tells her. "But why did that dumbass have that personal grudge against you?"

"His brother was one of the students that killed themselves," she says quietly, looking down at the blanket. "It..he was the one who encouraged the others to bully me after I told him I didn't want to date him."

"Well that makes what you said make a helluva lot more sense. Why did he get upset because of that?"

"I..I don't really know. He said that he liked me from the moment he met me. He wanted me to drop out of the hero course and marry him after I graduated. No clue why, the girls that were always around him were prettier and better. And after I told him no, he called me pathetic and an attention seeker, that I was weak and would never make it as a hero." Her voice cracks and she hugs herself, blinking fast. "He told me I should be grateful that he was kind enough not to take advantage of a broken girl like me. He asked who would ever truly want to date me."

His nostrils flare hearing the story, seeing the way she shrank in on herself. Rage burns his chest as he tries his best not to lose his shit on an already dead man. Instead he hugs her, squeezing her tight as she hiccups and her arms dig into his chest.

"I don't care how many fucking times I have to tell you," he whispers in her ear. "You are not broken. You are not pathetic or an attention seeker. Any fucking dumbass would be grateful to have you. I know damn well that…that I am."

"Katsu.."

"You're gorgeous," he keeps going, pulling away and digging his knuckle into the side of her head. She laughs, trying to lean to the side to escape the digging. "Your laugh is fucking contagious. You're there for everyone, no matter what. Hell, honestly, I was surprised you even wanted to be my friend, or rooted for me, or anything."

"Why wouldn't I?" she asks, grabbing his wrist to finally escape his knuckle. "I mean you were a bit of a jerk at first but…you…" She brings his hand to her lap, trying to remember her first day here, a day that feels so so far away thanks to everything that had happened. "I dunno. It's…it's hard to say," she tells him after a minute, moving his fingers back and forth. "I'd like to say we resonated with each other, but that's cheesy isn't it?"

"Just a bit," he teases, pulling his hand away to cup her cheek with it. She melted into his touch, covering his knuckles with her fingers. "I want to say it's more like you understood me, in a way. I don't think you'd believe how worried I was when you collapsed at the Sports Festival."

"I think everyone was pretty worried," she laughs. "I hadn't slept that entire week. I was surviving off caffeine and sheer spite honestly."

"What the hell do you mean you didn't sleep that-" He stops himself, his eye twitching. "It's already been dealt with, but if you ever do that crap again, I don't have a clue what I'll do but I'll make sure you sleep. Did you take your antibiotics today?"

"Yes and they're getting refilled tomorrow," she promises, looking down at her lap and trying to hide the small blush on her cheeks. "You don't have to keep reminding me."

"I just like making sure you're okay, dumbass." He pulls his hand from her cheek and pokes her forehead. "I know that you can take care of yourself. But I also know you're a bit of a ditz sometimes, so if you oversleep and forget, I can remind you."

"Alright, Katsu."

He's changed so much since we first met. I don't know if we'd be able to talk like this if things had moved differently.

"I have…one more question."

"I have an answer," she replies teasingly, at which he rolls his eyes at the corny joke. He settles his hands in his lap and looks away, trying not to show the irritated blush.

"...about that guy from Ketsubutsu. Do you like him?"

"Shindo? He's cool, fun to talk to. I think he and I are just going to be friends who talk every once in a while like I am with Shochan and Izu."

"...so you aren't going to dump me for him?"

"What?" she asks, confused. She cups his cheeks, getting him to look at her again. "No. No, why would I? I don't know him. I lo-I like you a lot. I would never do something like that to you."

He nods, leaning forward to press his forehead against hers before wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She chuckles softly as she slides her hands along his jaw and neck to loosely interlock her fingers against his nape.

"I was just..he..I don't know. Shut up," he mumbles, his eyes closed.

"You were just a little insecure huh?" she says, filling in the blanks. He growls softly, flexing his arms in a way to squeeze her and warn her off the road she was going down. "You can tell me these things, I'm not going to judge you for them."

"Short Stack, if you don't stop, Aizawa is going to add on three more days of house arrest. I'm already stuck here with Deku."

"Alright, Katsu."