Izuku slowly sank into the soft cushion of his dorm bed. He had just managed to escape from the activities the rest of the class were participating in. He, Kirishima, Asui and Uraraka had just barely gotten back from their trip to the police station to fill out piles upon piles of paperwork. Who knew participating in a mission so big as rescuing Eri would take so much paperwork. He could only imagine the piles that each pro hero had to fill out for each case. He'd have to get used to it then. Maybe he could ask All Might for advice.
He traced the edges of his walls with his eyes alone. He was tired, so tired. Between the conversation with Mirio and his constant state of worry, he'd run out of energy long before getting back to UA. The warm greeting of his classmates was appreciated, but he could only handle so much. He was tempted to run off to his room when Todoroki and Kacchan did, but he didn't have their excuse. At least he was getting the chance to rest now.
Izuku sighed and turned around under his covers. As tired as he was, he wouldn't be getting much sleep. That he knew. The memories of holding a small -too young for the trauma she had just escaped- girl on his back, trying to destroy the one thing keeping her from freedom. He could almost feel the buzz of All For One at 100% still flaring through his arms and legs.
His mind turned to another tragic occurrence over the past couple of days. The image of Nighteye barely breathing, bandaged covering his weak and pale body, Mirio desperately crying for his mentor and even All Might shed a few tears.
"It's fine now." he whispered to himself, his voice too quiet to echo through the small room. "Mirio's going to get out of the hospital soon and then Eri after. It's going to be okay." His voice cracked at the end of it. He felt a single tear threaten to spill. It's just been too much. From the horror of Eri's torture to the death of a man he barely knew -and regretted not knowing better, consdiering how close he was to All Might- life had just become a bomb of depression. It was difficult for him to remember to smile, even if he didn't feel like it.
A soft knock came from Izuku's door. It wasn't intruding or demanding, but asking. "Can I come in?" A familiar, feminine voice asked and he half dreaded further interaction with anyone, but it would be rude to ignore her.
Slowly, Izuku stood up from his bed, dusted off his sheets a bit -incase she wanted to come inside- and opened the door even slower. Bright pink hair and dark, yet blazing yellow eyes stared back at him. Mina wore a small smile, not one for pity, but for sympathy. She still held Koda's white rabbit from earlier. It wiggled it's nose in Izuk's direction. "Hey there, Izuku. Um...well, I just wanted to check up on you."
"Oh." His voice held no surprise. He was too tired to fake it. "Well, I thought you already did, when everyone else was down stai-"
"I know!" Mina interrupted, then winced at her volume. "But I wanted to see if you were really alright. Not just pretending for the sake of everyone else." She chewed her pink lip and looked away. It wasn't really a bashful action, but a thoughtful one. Mina was never one to be bashful.
"Um…" Izuku said dumbly. "Well, I would say that I'm alright, but...I don't know if I'd be lying or not." He whispered the last part. Was he really alright with this? With Mirio being quirkless and Nighteye being dead?
"That makes sense. Would you...like to destress, then? I know a few tricks for this kind of stuff." Her quieter self seemed to disappear into determination. She did a small dance, careful of the way she held Koda's rabbit, and gave him a wink. Izuku blushed, feeling too close to her for comfort, but nodded.
"Um, sure!" he didn't mean to shout. Mineta, Tokoyami and Aoyama already told him so after a long night of hard studying. Did Principal Nezu assign the dorm rooms this way on purpose? One could only wonder.
"Cool!" She pumped her fist as she walked inside, ignoring his slight squeal of surprise. He was too tired to have a full freak out, but the anxiety that bubbled up his stomach wouldn't leave. "Sit now." She ordered, making herself comfortable on his -embarrassingly All Might themed- sheets.
Silently, he closed the door and did as told. He sat down and waited for her to start, but she didn't. She only stared at him expectantly. After a few minutes, Izuku's mind wondered and he began realizing how strange her eyes looked or how cute her little horns were. Her blue shirt was a nice color on her and the rabbit somehow made the entire scene that much cuter.
"Well, are you going to start talking or what?" she asked, tapping his hand softly.
"Yes! I mean...yeah." he cleared his suddenly tight throat several times before starting. "Um...well, I'm not really sure what all I'm still allowed to say. This was a secret case in the beginning and no one's said that I could say anything yet…" He left out the fact that that permission would've come from Nighteye, who will be 6 feet underneath the ground next week.
"Well, then let's do something a little different." Mina spoke as she circled around him, sitting directly behind him now. When he turned to face her, she grabbed his head -with surprisingly soft fingers- and turned him right back. He stayed there until she spoke again. "I'm going to loosen up some of your muscles, okay?"
Mina's hands retreated from his head and didn't come back until something was retrieved from where he assumed was her pocket. "What's that?" He asked, not quite trusting whatever she planned to do. She was known for pranks, but this was likely too cruel a time to pull one.
"This is a special kind of mix that's supposed to relax you. Momo helped me make it with my acid. It won't sting, so don't worry." She warned before something wet fell onto the tip of his neck. Her hands rubbed it into his skin and down to his shoulders.
Izuku couldn't stop himself from blushing, trying to hide himself in his hair, but after a few minutes, found himself relaxing. This was a normal thing, right? Mina wasn't romantically interested in him and would definitely not show it like this if she were, right? Right. He swallowed a lump in his throat and let his friend's gentle hands work out the tension that had been there since the start of his internship.
"It's mostly just grief. We lost someone special after the mission and...it's hurt a lot." Izuku found himself saying, even though she hadn't asked.
"I'm sorry, Izuku." She whispered, sending a chill down his spine. When had she gotten so close to his ear? "What do you miss the most about this person?"
That seemed like a very, very complicated question. "Well, I'm not sure. I didn't know him for that long, only from the news and through All Might. He was closer to Mirio, but seeing the way it's affected them just...it's painful. I mean, I've never really lost someone like that. Sure, my dad left both me and my mom, but it's not the same. He's not dead and I was too young to really remember him."
"So, you're grieving mostly for your friends? What else had been bothering you?" She asked, her breath making his ear hot with the combination of his blush.
"Well, just the fact that someone would be so willing to hurt someone else. Eri's still so young and yet, she's lost so much. She doesn't know who to trust anymore and she's lucky to have someone like Aizawa-sensei to look out for her while she's at the hospital. Him and Mirio too."
"Eri's that cute girl with white hair, right? Hm. Well, it seems like you have a big heart, Izuku, and being this stressed makes sense. From what Kirishima said, it was a fight for your life nearly the entire mission." Mina's hands retract from his neck and he can't help but feel disappointed. His skin is too cold without them there.
Mine turns around and looks at him in the eyes. Izuku smiled and wasn't sure what to do next. Did she expect him to keep talking or to return the favor? Were they done? A part of him wanted this to continue. No one's ever touched his neck or whispered in his ear like that, but he didn't mind it. Not at all.
Oh wow. That sounded very intimate when he thought about it that way. He should thank her and call it a night, leaving this strange yet peaceful interaction behind hi-
"I hope that helped, Izuku. Now get some sleep." Mina smiled and gave his cheek a soft kiss before he could even think of a response. She walked out and shut the door behind her, leaving Izuku in silence. When what had just happened finally registered, he covered his mouth to avoid yelling and blushed so hard, he feared he might bust a blood vessel.
Mina was a strange person, but then again, he kind of liked strange.