Paralyzed Ch. 3 Like A Dream.
1 Month Ago/1 week before the Cultural Festival...
Location: Jiro's room.
Time: 1:00 am
"So, have I done this one right," Jiro asked her messy haired companion, holding her notepad in front of him, revealing a crudely answered quadratic function equation, following up with holding her free hand up to her mouth for a small yawn.
"Hmmmmm," Midoriya took the note pad from her hands, needing to focus in on the equation, the reason for this being the many bags under his eyes. With their relationship growing in status from classmates to friends, came the mutually beneficial lessons the two could teach each other, Midoriya could learn to have more confidence in himself and reduce his social anxiety, and Jiro could be tutored in algebra by Izuku when Momo was busy with the other members of their class. Like tonight for instance, since Aizawa was planning on giving them all a quiz the next day, and considering how brutal he was with these tests everyone did their best to brush up as much as possible, in Jiro's case that meant she needed Midoriya's help.
Although she'd have to admit that she felt a little guilty, Midoriya had to put in the work that day and his current physical condition was very much reflective of that. His eyes as previously mentioned were quite baggy, having been such a way since he didn't exactly get a whole lot of sleep recently in part due to some nightmares about the yakuza raid, and his current quirk training with All Might plus his constant workouts. At various intervals during the school day and their study session, the green cinnamon roll almost fell over into state of unconsciousness, his only saving grace being him kicking or pinching himself, and Jiro using her quirk to jab him when he was close to shutting his eyes per his request. Aizawa caught some of these throughout the day, reminding Izuku to take better care of himself as always, this making Midoriya go into the opposite direction and hide his growing exhaustion from his friends.
This fooling nobody, but they respected his wish to keep going as endurance training, but if he passed out now, Jiro wouldn't exactly stop him even if her answers needed correcting, speaking of, "Close but *yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn* you plotted the point wrong on the x-axis," Midoriya corrected in a very hushed/monotoned voice, "It's supposed to be negative eight not negative six."
"Craaaaap really," she whined, as he handed back the note pad, "Well two off isn't that bad," she yawned the current all nighter and Midoriya's state becoming contagious.
"S-see, you're doing better all readyyyyyyyyyy," Midoriya wobbled left and right against the side of the bed, the two opting to sit on the floor since the bed would've been too comfortable and allow sleep to easily take them, and even if the floor was comfortable enough to do this to, Jiro played some songs from her favorite band Deep Dope to keep them awake, this had happened most times that they hung out in her room, a tradition of the shy rocker's whenever she invited her friends to her quarters; this making Deku an eventual fan. Midoriya quickly slapped himself, waking him up, albeit only slightly, "Gah, al-alright, just two more to go, then you'll be prepared."
"We can stop early," she winced at his sleepy state, two questions weren't that big of a deal to her; she was ready to get a B on the test at the very least, "You need to sleep dude, I can handle missing questions, you don't need them all right to pass."
"Y-yes buuuuut you need to get better like you said, and I owe you so much for heeeelping me with my anxiety," his words beginning to get drawn out, his body almost begging him to close his already narrowed eyes, his motor skills starting to shut down.
"Listen *yaaaawn* you don't owe me anything, and even if you did, I wouldn't let you torture yourself for just my sake. You need to pass to, and ya know NOT die," she looked at him, flashing him a sad expression, knowing his selflessness was his greatest strength and weakness.
"N-no, I can do iiiit," he shot up, trying to still his body, barely working as he still shifted, "Th-this is nothing, I did this in middle school allllll the time."
"This explains a large amount about you," she frowned.
"Jiro I…I'm sorry, you're right I need to sleep more."
"Don't apologize, if anything I need to."
"Huh? *longer exasperated yawn*"
"I should've just waited on Yao-Momo to get done with Mina and Kaminari instead of asking you first."
"W-wait, yooooou a-aaaasked me first," he asked as his speech slurred even more.
"N-no," she blurted out, blood rushing to her face, her own drowsiness breaking down the walls of her mental filter.
"B-bubut you just said-"
"Anyway," she yelled nervously, "I'm really sorry that I dragged you up here, I could already tell that you were pretty tired..."
"N-n-n-no it's fiiiiiine, anything to help out a friend, and besiiiides it let's me spend more time with you," Midoriya yawned out, his own speech awareness having left him hours ago, accidentally (or intentionally in a way) saying the truth.
"…What," her eyes widening by a minuscule margin.
"Y-yeah, I always love spending time with you, you're funny, smarter than you give yourself credit for-"
"O-okay, you should probably stop," she muttered, knowing he would probably speak about some private information that he kept buried, and she didn't want to get her hopes up as to what he might say, understanding that his state of mind could be allowing him to speak his true feelings or exaggerate some details.
Despite her plea, he kept going.
"Yooooooou have the most amazing singing voice I've ever heard, you're h-h-h-honestly very talented, I wish I could've told you this earlier when you were insecure about it but K-Kaminari beat me to it, I was honestly a tiny bit jealous of how close you two are b-b-but *yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn* it's fine now."
"O-okay dude, you've made your point," she blushed harder and harder with each sleepy compliment, her eyes locking onto her feet and floor as her head turned away from him, wrapping her arms around her legs, burying her face into her knees, "Y-y-you can stop t-talking now."
"A-a-a-also it's really cute how you play with your quirk when you're t-th-th-thinking, and when you tap the tips of them together when you're nervous. Don't even get me started on how beautiful you are, Mineta doesn't even know what he's talking about-"
"ALRIGHT STUDY SESSION OVER," she nervously screeched as she flipped the cover of the note pad over the current page, her head shooting up to reveal her now crimson face, "You need to go to your room and get some sleep right now, asap, pronto!"
"A-a-ah yeah," he smiled, his eyes now fluttering open and closed, "S-s-s-sleeeep sounds, niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice."
…..
…..
Darkness took his sight of the lightened room, his body finally gave out after having delayed his much needed trip to dreamland too many times today. Jiro spoke to him a little, being able to understand her words enough to respond, but after a couple minutes his mind drifted away, his memories of the evening fading away, the only thing he had kept in his recollection was that he landed against fabric of some sort when his body fell to his right, aside from that, just the darkness.
The same darkness he saw…
Right.
Now…
Recovery Girl got to work after Aizawa restrained the group of troublemakers, All Might helped clean up his successor by removing the glasses, taking off the party hat, and emptying out the pile of cheese puffs into the first floor kitchen trash can. Once Midoriya was finally cleaned up, the doctor started examining him, keeping him on the table since it was more convenient, and the couch was currently occupied by the four troublemakers who were being questioned by the man in black.
Recovery Girl: (patting a stethoscope up and down Midoriya's chest) Hm.
All Might: Anything you can figure out?
Recovery Girl: Nothing so far I'm afraid.
Aizawa: While you four decided to play a little game with him, did he show any signs of movement?
Mina: No, his breathing adjusted after too many puffs got into his mouth, aside from that nothing.
Aizawa: And you still thought proceeding with your game was a good idea?
Hagakure: Hey it's not our fault, Kaminari and Bakugo were the one's starting to toss the chips in his mouth after Kirishima left!
Kaminari: Yeah but I didn't see you stopping us!
Mina: Because we thought it wasn't that bad if you half-wits were playing with him.
Aizawa: Enough! (activating his quirk again) Next person to point the finger gets three extra detentions!
Kaminari/Mina/Hagakure: Yes Mr. Aizawa sir!
Aizawa: Glad you get the message (deactivating his quirk, glancing over at the far end of the couch where Katsuki was sitting). Bakugo, you've been suspiciously quiet.
Bakugo: (Looking over at the table where All Might and R.G. were at, his expression oddly neutral despite his annoyance) Hey, Mr. Aizawa.
Aizawa: Yes?
Bakugo: Can I go over and talk to All Might?
This question causing slight confusion for nearly everyone present, minus the man in black who was more curious than anything else. Never seeing any real concern for his fellow classmate's health emanate from the ball of rage and destruction, raising his right brow before he spoke again.
Aizawa: Why?
Bakugo: I got something personal I wanna ask him.
Aizawa: You aren't planning on annoying them are you?
Bakugo: Like I want you to yell at more, I just wanna ask a question, after that you can throw the book at me all you want.
Aizawa: (sigh) Fine, but first answer this: where is your babysitter?
Bakugo: (Growling) He's. NOT. My babysitter, and I don't need one.
Aizawa: I've seen a heavy amount of proof otherwise.
Kaminari: Ohhh he's got you there!
Aizawa: Two more detentions for you.
Kaminari: Ight, I'll shut up now.
Aizawa: And one less headache to deal with.
Bakugo: To answer your question, Kirishima went to go ask Deku's pals if he's ever froze up like this before, they should be down here in a minute.
Aizawa: Alright, you can go ask your question, and behave yourself.
The teen stood up from the couch, placing his hands in his pockets as he stood up, as he did the sound of various thumping's could be heard across the room as Kirishima, Tsuyu, Ochako, Momo, and Iida all entered the scene.
Kirishima: Hey Mr. Aizawa, I asked around a bit and nobody else seemed to have any info on what's going on.
Aizawa: Don't worry, Recovery Girl's taking a look at him over there.
Ochako: Is Deku okay?
Iida: We came as soon as we heard
The rest of the new crew crowded around the table, taking in the sight of their petrified friend, worried looks all over faces, whilst they were all caught up in their concern, Bakugo nudged All Might with his elbow, tilting his head toward the main doors of the dorm, picking up on the signs, the former number one nodded in response.
All Might: If you will excuse me Recovery Girl, me and young Bakugo have to go have a conversation outside.
Recovery Girl: It's fine, I've got this handled All Might.
All Might: Im confident you do, and don't worry kids I'm sure young Midoriya will be fine.
Tsu: Are you sure All Might, he's apparently been this way for hours.
All Might: I'm quite sure young Tsu, young Midoriya has pulled through worse, I believe he'll be up in not time.
The blond teacher flashed a smile at the worried group of teens, raising their spirits just a little, as both him and Bakugo exited the building.
Outside…
Bakugo: You think this is a One for All thing?
All Might: It could be, it's certainly nothing too serious, but Aizawa told us that he cancelled Midoriya's quirk when you and the others came upon him.
Bakugo: Didn't Deku see the other users at some point during the sports festival when Eraser Junior got him to talk?
All Might: You mean young Shinso, well yes, but he was already in a trance when that happened, the other vestiges appearing to him is what snapped him out of it, so unless he was already under someone else's quirk when he froze then I don't believe any of the former users have anything to do with his current state. If anything, they should have gotten him out of it by now.
Bakugo: You think they're talking to him?
All Might: Could be, but what about I wonder.
Bakugo: Well we've tried everything to get that nerd to rise and shine, so either he's in a coma or he muttered himself into wonderland.
All Might: Let's just hope he'll come around soon enough, for now lets get back to the others before something happens.
Bakugo: Like what, he blinks?
All Might: Not exactly, he flicks and accidentally puts a hole through the wall.
Bakugo: At least the pain should wake him up.
'It may be unconventional, but in his own little way he cares,' All Might thought to himself as followed behind the young man into the building, the weakened pro couldn't help but to let his own worries overtake him as the fear for his surrogate son intensified, beginning to get lost in thought, 'Young Midoriya, if this isn't a One for All issue, then what is it, and…what are you thinking about as we look over you?"
2 Weeks Ago… Aka The Cultural Festival.
Location: UA Gate Entrance.
"Extra sweet," Eri smiled after having taken a bite out of the candy apple, much to Izuku's delight, having been overjoyed that the little girl had a great time at the festival.
"You really like it huh," he asked as he smiled at her, as he bent down to pat her on the head.
"Mhm, it's amazing," she excitedly yelled as she munched on the apple again, making Mirio laugh while Aizawa just stood there expressionless; although he couldn't say he wasn't glad that Eri was happy.
"I can always make more if you come back to visit again," he revealed to the tyke, her mind nearly exploding from the proposition.
"Really," she shouted again.
"Uh huh."
"C-can we visit tomorrow Mirio," she asked as she turned to the taller teen.
"Maybe not tomorrow but, we'll be back soon, I promise," he smiled at her giving a thumbs up, eliminating the frown that she had from not being able to visit again tomorrow, but optimistic that this wouldn't be her last visit.
As Aizawa chatted with the two boys about her upcoming visitations and possible adoption, Jiro and the others were packing up the last of their equipment and heading straight to the dorms. The shy rocker averted her gaze from the sound equipment, looking over to see the two teens and Aizawa conversating, curiosity following through her mind, eventually laying eyes on the little girl that this was all about for them, having never seen her in person since she was always practicing with the band for their performance.
"Are you okay Jiro," Momo asked, catching her looking at them as she walked up next to her, a large bag slung over her shoulder containing her keyboard.
"…"
"Jiro," she asked waving her hand in front of the rocker's eyes.
"…Uh huh, y-yeah I'm good," she blushed, embarrassed that she started a little too long.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah I'm sure."
A sigh escaped Momo's lips, a smile formed on her lips as she removed Jiro's bass case from her arm, surprising and confusing her, "Go talk."
"Wh-what," Jiro raised an eyebrow at her best friend.
"Go talk to them, I'll carry this back to the dorms, don't worry."
"How did you?"
"You have that look on your face, like you want to do something, and I'm letting you go do it, now you may wanna hurry before Eri leaves."
"…Th-thank you," Jiro smiled at her, before backing away, waving at her as she made her way over to Midoriya, "I'll catch up with you in a minute okay?"
Momo simply waved back, happy to see Kyoka so ecstatic to speak with Eri and even more so with Midoriya, before Momo started walking toward the dorms though, Mina Ashido made her way over and stood next to the raven haired girl, "You think she knows that we know?"
"I don't think she does."
"Can I tease her about it now?"
"Nope," Momo responded as she walked away
"Awwwww come on but they're adorable when they are embarrassed," Mina whined as she kept pace with her class vice president.
"Still no."
"Pleeeeeeaaaaseeeee?"
"Want me to tell Kirishima about your diary?"
"…I'll leave them alone."
"That's what I thought," Momo giggled as they finally left Jiro's line of sight, whom had finally arrived at the gate.
"H-hey Midoriya," she shouted, causing him to stop speaking mid conversation and turn around to see her.
"O-oh, hey Jiro," he smiled at her, but blushed as they made eye contact, forcing him to look away, "Wh-what is it? Is something wrong?"
"N-no," she stuttered finally, standing right next to him, eventually looking over to her homeroom teacher, a little confused as to why she arrived, and Mirio…whom she glared at, remembering the traumatizing match the class had with him where he saw his…anyway, she finally landed eyes on the white haired little girl.
Eri had looked at her wide eyed, after having seen the 1-A band play she had registered Kyoka as a celebrity in her mind, growing a little shy but this didn't stop her from staring at her with her mouth gaping open, "Woooooooow, y-you're the pretty girl who was singing!"
Jiro's blush spread across her cheeks, having not been considered to be so high profile to anyone like this before, understanding now how her dad probably felt when he had met his first fan; aka her mother, "…Hehe, yep that's me," she replied, bending down to meet her eye to eye, "And that means you must be Eri right, I'm Kyoka Jiro, but you can just call me Jiro if that's easier okay?"
Eri nodded, looking down bashfully, but still smiled, "J-Jiro, o-okay, nice to meet you."
"Diddo, you enjoy our performance?"
"Mhm mhm," she nodded again, this time with more effort, excited to think about it all over again, "It was great."
"Glad you thought it was."
"I really liked the sound that the weird shaped stick made you pulled on the strings," Eri replied, confusing Jiro a little to what she was referring to.
"Those are called instruments Eri," Aizawa clarified.
"Oh right! Instruments, well I really liked it," Jiro giggled at the six-year old's confusion, finding her the most adorable thing she had ever seen.
"W-well if you like them so much, if you visit again, I wouldn't mind playing for you," she smirked, as Eri's body language exhumed excitement as she jumped up and down.
"You mean it!?"
"I do, so come back real soon if you can, deal," Jiro outstretched her hand, offering it to the little one, her jumping having halted as she grew shy again. Mirio quelling this, as he patted her back to motion her forward.
"Go on, it's okay," Mirio smiled down at her, giving her courage to take Jiro's hand (well at least grip her fingertips due to her tiny hand), the two then shaking on it.
"Deal," Eri said, their handshake ending as Jiro stood back up.
"Good, see you later Eri."
"See you Jiro," the little one said goodbye as she started walking away with Aizawa and Mirio, heading toward the car to take her back to the hospital, Mirio waved goodbye to Izuku whom waved right back, eventually lowering his hand as they left his sight, flicking his finger as he remembered his struggle with Gentle.
"Mission accomplished," Jiro asked as she looked at him, snapping him out of his memory.
"Hm? Oh, yeah," he smiled looking back at her, his eyelids narrowing, "It really cheered her up."
"Happy to hear," Jiro blushed as she looked down at the ground, overjoyed that the little one thought so highly of her, and the song having done what Jiro always wanted to do: make people smile.
…
"That was really great of you ya know."
"Hm?"
"Telling her that you'd play for her when she visits again."
"Oh yeah, well, I saw that it made her happy and how much it would mean to her so I just…did what I guess you would do," Jiro looked back at him, seeing the shock on his face.
Blood rushed to Midoriya's cheeks, flattered by the compliment/comparison, "T-t-th *gulp* Thank you, but I don't think I'm that good."
"Could've fooled me."
'Fight the tears, fight the tears, fight…the…tears,' he thought as smiled, his heart beating faster and faster after hearing her words, the setting sun highlighting her blushing/cute face, biting his lower lip to not yell something out like an idiot.
"Either way, I'm glad that she had fun today," Jiro looked back toward the ground as she turned back toward the campus, "Let's go, I'm beat after today."
"…R-right," he responded as he followed behind her, "Me to."
A moment of silence came between them, neither knowing what to say next, they both knew how they felt about each other, that becoming clearer in their minds as they spent more and more time together, the stolen glances in school, the study sessions, listening to music in their rooms, all of this served to tell them that, despite not having interacted a whole lot the last year or so, these few weeks had been so special.
If only they knew how to say it.
Jiro wanted to make the first move as they made their way back to the 1-A dorms, her hand drifting to his but stopped short, too nervous to follow through.
Fortunately, Midoriya caught what she tried to do, having opened his fingers to allow her to do so, and before she could position her hand back to her side, she felt his fingers intertwine with hers, his tender grip catching her by surprise, as she looked up at him. Midoriya's lips were quite jagged, he looked as nervous and scared as he had ever been before (at least socially), Jiro was merely surprised, as she looked down at their hands, eventually looking back to see his eyes were on her now.
This time…he was smiling, they locked eyes and he didn't dare look away no matter how bad he wanted to, Jiro then slowly smiled back at him, as they both looked forward, finally speaking.
"So, does this mean that we are," Midoriya asked.
"…Yeah, I guess so."
"Are you okay with that…?"
"…What do you think," Kyoka asked as she got closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder, making him blush harder than before.
"Y-y-y-yes."
"That's right freckles…
"Yay," he whispered under his breath, forgetting how well Jiro could hear, the girl smirking at him even though he couldn't see her.
"Ya know…"
"Hm?"
"The campus is pretty large, maybe with all the events we get a little lost and walk around like this for a little longer, that is if you're cool with that?"
"F-f-fine by me," Midoriya muttered, leaning his head on hers, happily walking with her.
"Hmmm, your shoulder's soft to."
"Huh?"
"Oh, nothing sleep talker, nothing at all."
Time: 6:50 pm
Dorm Arrival Time: 8:50 pm…
This was one of Jiro's favorite memories to look back on, that and when he fell asleep on her shoulder that night they studied, she could've easily let his head down and put a pillow underneath him, but opted to just let him lay there. Following his lead, by resting her own head on his busy hair, soft as can be.
This made her let out a joyous sigh, as she left her room, Yaoyorozu having texted her earlier to come down stairs, having oddly enough left out the reason as to why, Kyoka just assumed it was something to do with her birthday and left it at that, but before she could come down she was intercepted by Aizawa.
"Hey Mr. Aizawa," she smiled at him.
"Hello Jiro, oh and happy birthday," he said in monotone as he did with all things.
"Thank you, do you need something?"
"Yeah, I have to tell you a couple things."
"Fire away."
"Alright, 1. Eri won't be coming up to hear you play for her today."
"Huh," her smile faded, "Why?"
"That's where two comes in, your boyfriend has turned into a statue."
…
…
…
…
"WHAT!?"
End of Chapter 3.
Next Time: Finale.
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, i've been sick recently and didn't feel like immediately writing this chapter, im doing better now though and I should hopefully get the final chapter for this story out soon enough and I really hope you'll both enjoy this chapter and the next one to.
I wanna take this moment to thank each and every one of you for taking to time to read and enjoy this story, and i wanna also apologize for not updating all my other previous works, and i will hopefully get Todoroki family dinner done soon to, and I thank you for your patience.
Hope youre all doing okay, stay safe out there, and have a nice day.
-T.L.C
